The Bats of British Guiana. 103 
exceed considerably the bulk of the males, body against 
body. 
The second species, A. bilobatus, is smaller than the 
preceding, and is sharply distinguished by the edges of the 
basal part of the nose-leaf, or horse-shoe portion, being 
produced upwards into lobes. The nose-leaf is still 
thick and fleshy. This species is much less common than 
the foregoing, and is but rarely to be obtained in the 
town. Its habits seem to be identical with those of 
A. planirostris. 
The blood-sucking bats, which I have provisionally 
referred to the species Desmodus rufus, offer a pecu- 
liarly difficult problem to deal with. All over the colony, 
from the forest districts of the coast, throughout the 
whole interior, depredations from these no6lurnal pests 
are to be feared. Generally the toes, not infrequently 
the hands, and occasionally the face, of the sleepers are 
the points of attack, though, in the domestic animals, 
any and every part of the body seems liable to the opera- 
tions of the little blood-letters. Many persons seem 
to be exempt from attack, and though, as in the case 
of CHARLES Waterton, constantly exposing themselves 
in an unprotected manner, have yet remained unbitten ; 
while, on the other hand, others are peculiarly liable, and, 
especially in the case of Indian children where precautions 
against the pests amount only to sitting up and watching 
with them, certain individuals are constant victims — the 
continuous bleeding being productive of so great weak- 
ness as occasionally to result in death. 
As to the exacl; species that causes this damage in 
British Guiana, or whether there is more than one, 
nothing is certainly known. No record exists as to the 
