. The naturalist's library : containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects . e juice of the palmtree, so it is easy to take them by placing in the neighborhood of their retreata few vessels filled with palm tree water, or any other fermented liquor,with which they intoxicate themselves. They fasten to, and suspend them-selves from trees, with their claws. They are usually seen in troops, andmore so by night than by day; places which are much frequented they shun;and their favorite residence is in the deserted parts of islands. I have fre
. The naturalist's library : containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects . e juice of the palmtree, so it is easy to take them by placing in the neighborhood of their retreata few vessels filled with palm tree water, or any other fermented liquor,with which they intoxicate themselves. They fasten to, and suspend them-selves from trees, with their claws. They are usually seen in troops, andmore so by night than by day; places which are much frequented they shun;and their favorite residence is in the deserted parts of islands. I have frequently thought it worth while to examine how it is possiblethat these animals should suck the blood of a person asleep, without causing,at the same time, a pain so sensible as to awake him. Where they cut theflesh with their teeth or with their claAvs, the pain of the bite would effectu-ally rouse any of the human species, however soundly asleep. With theirtongue only, then, it is possible for them to make such minute apertures inthe skin, as to imbibe the blood through them, and to open the veins withoutcausing an acute The tongue of the spectre I have not had an opportunity to observe ; butthat of several roussettes, which Mr Daubenton has attentively examined,seems to indicate the possibility of the fact. It is sharp, and full of pricklesdirected backward; and it appears that these prickles, or points, from theirexceeding minuteness, may be insinuated into the pores of the skin, may MAMMALIA—BAT. 95 enlarge them, and may penetrate them so deep, as to command a flow ofblood by the continual suction of the tongue. But we can only conjectureupon a fact of which all the circumstances are imperfectly known to us, andof which some are perhaps exaggerated, or erroneously related, by the \vriterswho have transmitted them to us. Captain Stedman, while sleeping in the open air in Surinam, was attack-ed by one of the spectre bats. On awaking, about four oclock in themorning,
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Keywords: ., bookauthordwightjonathan185, bookcentury1800, booksubjectzoology
