BAT. 
The antients had fome knowlege of thefe animals. 
Herodotus * mentions certain winged wild head's, 
like bats, that molefted the Arabs , who collected 
the Caffia to fuch a degree that they were obliged 
to cover their bodies and faces, all but their eyes, 
with fkins. 3t is very probable, as M . de Buff on 
remarks, it was from fuch relations the Poets formed 
their fictions of Harpies. 
Linnaeus gives this fpecies the title of Vawpyre y 
conje&mring it to be the kind which draws blood 
from people in their fleep. M. de Buffon denies it, 
afcribing that faculty to a fpecies only found in 5. 
America : but there is reafon to imagine, that this 
third after blood is not confined to the bats of one 
continent, nor to one fpecies •, for Bontius and Nieu- 
hoff inform us, that they of Java ** feldom fail at¬ 
tacking thofe who lie with their feet uncovered, 
whenever they can get accefs ; and Gumilla -f, after 
mentioning a'greater and leffer fpecies, found on the 
banks of the Orenoque , declares them to be equally 
greedy after human blood. Perfons thus attacked have 
been known to be near palling from a found deep 
into eternity. The Bat is fo dexterous a bleeder as 
to infinuate its aculeated tongue into a vein without 
being perceived, and then fuck the blood till it is 
fatiated \ all the while fanning with its wings, and 
* zflsgwTa, rriiri vvxTEgitrl 7 rgo<rsixE\c)&. 'Lib.iii. 
** 'Bontius India, 70. Nieuhoff\ 255. Thefe writers fay that this 
kind is as big as a pigeon. I fufpe£t that the fpecies jail defcrbed 
is common to India and S. America ; Mr. Greenwood, painter, long 
refident at Surinam, informing me that there is in that colony a fox- 
stored bat, whofe extent of wings is above four feet. 
t Hi/}. Orenoque , III. 100. 
agitating 
