HEAD OF JAVELIN BAT.
The Javelin Bat, which lives in all parts of tropical America, and also occurs in the West Indies, is a large species, measuring more than five inches in total length, and nearly twenty-three inches in expanse of wing. Its fur is usually of a uniform brown colour; its ears of moderate size, somewhat pointed, strongly excavated on the outside below the apex, and with a lance-shaped tragus; the short tail extends about one-third of the length of the interfemoral membrane, which is stretched straight across between the long heel-spurs.
We have already referred at some length to the habits of this species in connection with the charge of blood-sucking that has been brought against it, and stated that when examined only remains of insects are found in its stomach. It is described as having a lofty and powerful, although not rapid flight. These Bats frequently make their way into rooms through the open windows, when they fly about rather noisily. In the neighbourhood of houses they sleep during the day among the leaf-stalks of the cocoa-nut palms; in the open country they resort to the hollow trunks of trees.
Numerous species nearly allied to this occur in Brazil and other parts of America, such as Phyllostoma discolor and elongatum, Mimon Bennettii and megalotis, in which the chin bears two warts separated by a furrow; Tylostoma Childreni and crenulatum, with only two lower incisors; Carollia brevicauda, in which the middle of the horseshoe is scarcely distinct from the upper lip; Rhinophylla pumilio, in which the tail is entirely wanting; and Phylloderma stenops with three instead of two premolars on each side in the lower jaw.
THE VAMPIRE BAT.[237]
The genus Vampyrus differs from Phyllostoma and its allies (except the last) by the presence of three premolars on each side in the lower jaw. The lower lip has two broad warts separated by a furrow; the ears are large and separate; the first joint of the middle finger is more than half as long as the metacarpal bone; and the tail is altogether wanting. The nasal appendage has the horseshoe part well developed, with the margin free and quite distinct from the upper lip.
HEAD OF VAMPIRE BAT.
The Vampire, which was one of the earliest known species of these American Bats, and is also the largest of all, is by no means an amiable-looking animal. Its head is considerably elongated; the nose-leaf is long and pointed; the wings reach the base of the outer toe, and the middle of the hinder margin of the interfemoral membrane projects in a little point, although, as already stated, there is no tail to cause any such projection. The fur, which is long and soft, is usually chestnut-brown above and pale beneath. The length of the head and body in this Bat is about five and a half inches. From various considerations, no doubt in part from its large size and ugliness, this Bat has always been regarded as one of the most noxious of the blood-suckers of its family, and, in fact, it owes its name of Vampire to the belief in its sanguinary nature. But Mr. Bates, who certainly had good opportunities of observing it, acquits the Vampire of this charge. In describing his residence at Ega, on the Upper Amazon, he says:—“The Vampire was here by far the most abundant of the family of Leaf-nosed Bats. It is the largest of all the South American species, measuring twenty-eight inches in expanse of wing. Nothing in animal physiognomy can be more hideous than the countenance of this creature when viewed from the front; the large leathery ears standing out from the sides and top of the head, the erect spear-shaped appendage on the tip of the nose, the grin, and the glistening black eye, all combining to make up a figure that reminds one of some mocking imp of fable. No wonder that imaginative people have inferred diabolical instincts on the part of so ugly an animal. The Vampire, however, is the most harmless of all Bats, and its inoffensive character is well known to residents on the banks of the Amazons. I found two distinct species of it, one having the fur of a blackish colour, the other of a ruddy hue, and ascertained that both feed chiefly on fruits. The church at Ega was the head-quarters of both kinds. I used to see them, as I sat at my door during the short evening twilight, trooping forth by scores from a large open window at the back of the altar, twittering cheerfully as they sped off to the borders of the forest. They sometimes enter houses. The first time I saw one in my chamber, wheeling heavily round and round, I mistook it for a Pigeon, thinking that a tame one had escaped from the premises of one of my neighbours. I opened the stomachs of several of these Bats, and found them to contain a mass of pulp and seeds of fruits, mingled with a few remains of insects. The natives say they devour ripe cajús and guavas on trees in the gardens; but, on comparing the seeds taken from their stomachs with those of all cultivated trees at Ega, I found they were unlike any of them; it is therefore probable that they generally resort to the forest to feed, coming to the village in the morning to sleep, because they find it more secure from animals of prey than their natural abodes, in the woods.”