94 TlMEHRI. 
tents, they are not perceived by the bats, and, owing to 
their weight, the blow is sufficient, when the animals 
strike against them, either to stun or to kill the crea- 
tures or eventually to frighten them away. The method 
has been tried, though not in my own experience, and 
has been found successful in lessening the attacks on 
fruit ; and it is said to be perfectly efficacious against 
blood-suckers in enclosed places where domestic animals 
are housed. 
There is yet another aspect of the case in which bats 
obtrude themselves most unpleasantly on public notice in 
our towns, and that is in the fouling of the rain water col- 
lected from the roofs and stored in tanks and vats for 
drinking purposes. The matter is of some importance, 
since this rain-water forms almost the entire drinking 
supply of the towns-folk, the dark and impure canal 
water laid on throughout the town from the Lamaha 
being seldom utilised for drinking, except in the dry 
season, and then only by the poorer classes. The eaves 
of a very considerable number of our buildings are in- 
fested with bats, markedly so with those of the smallest 
species, which from their small size are able to insinuate 
themselves for shelter into almost impossible-looking re- 
treats, and sometimes even under the shingles and slates. 
The excrement from these creatures falling into the gutters 
on the upper eaves, or on the projecting roof of the lower 
part of the houses such as the galleries, and thence col- 
lected by the lower gutters during rain, provides a con- 
stant supply of foul matter for the pollution of our rain 
water ; and this pollution can only be prevented satis- 
factorily by collecting water for drinking purposes only 
from the upper roof, and at the same time taking care 
