Reptiles, Bats, and Insects.
Reptiles and insects abound both in the jungles and in the villages. In the latter they are, indeed, more numerous than is agreeable to strangers. Among them are lizards, frogs, snakes, centipedes, tarantulas, spiders of great size, hornets, beetles, ants, and myriad other inmates of the minor world. The snakes while usually harmless are not always so; one species,—the manapo,—found in the rice-fields, haunts the mud and the tall rice-blades; its bite is fatal if not immediately cauterized. Leeches are numerous in swamps and stagnant pools, and one tiny species, found in dense forests only, has the disagreeable habit of leaping from the trees upon passers-by, and at once beginning its blood-imbibing habit.
Boa-constrictors are the giant members of the serpent family. They are rare, and when caught are caged. Large as they are, little dread is felt of them, they being far less dangerous than the manapo, the small tenant of the rice-fields.
Bats are numerous, and some of them are of enormous size, measuring five feet from tip to tip of the wings, and with a body almost as large as a cat. One of these uncanny creatures, gone astray from its native haunts, flew into the dining-room of a Manila hotel once where I was dining. Its appearance was appalling: women shrieked and fainted, men rolled under the tables, and an earthquake could hardly have made more commotion. These huge bats are much hunted by Europeans, and their soft skins are eagerly purchased by those that are returning home.