Part 9

The vampyre[Y] is smaller than the rougette, which is itself smaller than the roussette. The first, when it flies, seems to be of the size of a pigeon, the second of a raven, and the third of a large hen. Both the roussette and rougette have well shaped heads, short ears, and round noses, nearly like that of a dog. Of the vampyre, on the contrary, the nose is long, the aspect as hideous as that of the ugliest bats; its head is unshapely, and its ears are large, open, and very erect; its noise is deformed, its nostrils resembling a funnel, with a membrane at the top, which rises up in the form of a sharp horn, or cock's-comb, and greatly heightens the deformity of its face. There is no doubt, therefore, that this species is different from the Ternat bats. It is an animal not less mischievous than it is deformed; it is the pest of man, and the torment of other animals. In confirmation of this, the authentic testimony of M. de la Condamine may be produced. "The bats," says he, "which suck the blood of horses, mules, and even men, when they do guard against it by sleeping under the shelter of a pavilion, are a scourge common to most of the hot countries of America. Of these some are of a monstrous size. At Borja, and several other places, they have entirely destroyed the large cattle which the missionaries had brought thither, and which had begun to multiply." These facts are confirmed by many other historians and travellers. Petrus Martyr, who wrote not long after the conquest of South America, says, that there are bats in the isthmus of Darien which suck the blood of men and animals while they are asleep, so as to much weaken, and frequently kill them. Jumilla, Don George Juan, and Don Ant. de Ulloa, assert the same. Though from the above testimonies it appears that these blood-sucking bats are numerous, particularly in South America, yet we have not been able to obtain a single individual. Seba has presented us with a figure and description of this animal, of which the nose is so extraordinary, that I am astonished travellers should not have remarked a deformity so palpable as to strike the most superficial beholder; possibly the animal of which Seba gives the figure, is not the same with that which we distinguish by the name of the vampyre, or blood-sucker; It is also possible, that this figure of Seba's is false or exaggerated, or at least that this deformed nose is only a monstrous accidental variety; though of these deformities there may be found permanent examples in some other species of bats. By time alone will these obscurities be removed.

[Footnote Y: An American animal called the Great American Bat, or Flying Dog of New Spain.]

Both the roussette and rougette are in the cabinet of the King of France; and it is to the island of Bourbon that we are indebted for them. They belong exclusively to the Old Continent; and in no part either of Africa or Asia are they so numerous as the vampyre is in America. These animals are larger, stronger, and perhaps more mischievous than the vampyre. But it is by open force, and in the day as well as night, that they commit hostilities. Fowls and small birds are the objects of their destructive fury; they even attack men, and wound their faces; but no traveller has accused them of sucking the blood of men and animals while asleep.

The ancients had but an imperfect knowledge of these winged quadrupeds, which may, indeed, be termed monsters; and it is probable, that from those whimsical models of Nature, they received the idea of harpies. The wings, the teeth, the claws, the cruelty, the voracity; the nastiness, and all the destructive qualities, and noxious faculties of the harpies, bear no small resemblance to those of the Ternat bat. Herodotus seems to have denoted them, when he mentions that there were large bats which greatly incommoded the men employed in collecting cassia round the marshes of Asia, and that, to shield themselves from the dangerous bites of these animals, they were obliged to cover the body and face with leather. Strabo speaks of very large bats in Mesopotamia, whose flesh was palatable. Among the moderns, these large bats have been mentioned, though in vague terms, by Albertus, Isidorus, and Scaliger. With more precision have they been treated of by Linscot, Nicholas Matthias, and Francis Pyrard; Oliger Jacobeus has given a short description of them with a figure; and lastly, in Seba, and in Edwards, we find well-executed description and figures, which correspond with our own.

The Ternat bats are carnivorous animals, voracious, and possessed of an appetite for every thing that offers. In a dearth of flesh or fish, they feed on vegetables and fruits of every kind. They are fond of the juice of the palm-tree, and it is easy to take them by placing near their retreats vessels filled with palm-tree water, or any other fermented liquor, with which they are sure to intoxicate themselves. They fasten themselves to trees, and hang from them by their claws. They usually fly in flocks, and more by night than by day. Places which are much frequented they shun, and their favourite residence is uninhabited islands. To copulation they are strongly inclined. In the male the sex is very apparent, and not concealed in a scabbard, like that of quadrupeds, but extends forwards from the body, nearly as it does in the ape. In the female the sex is equally conspicuous; she has but two nipples, and those situated upon the breast; she produces more than once a year, but the number at each time is but small. Their flesh, when young, is not unpalatable; the Indians[Z] are fond of it, and compare its flavour to that of the partridge or the rabbit.

[Footnote Z: The Moors and Malayans are most certainly meant, as the Indians neither eat nor kill any animal. Lett. M. La Nux.]

The American travellers unanimously agree, that the great bats of the new continent suck the blood both of men and animals while they are asleep, and without awakening them. Of this singular fact, no mention is made by any of the Asiatic or African travellers, who speak of the Ternat bats. Their silence, nevertheless, is no adequate proof of their being guiltless, especially as they have so many other resemblances to those great bats, which we denominated vampyres. I have, therefore, thought it worth while to examine how it is possible that these animals should suck the blood of a person asleep, without causing a pain so sensible as to awake him. Were they to cut the flesh with their teeth, which are as large as those of other quadrupeds of the same size, the pain of the bite would effectually rouse any of the human species, however soundly asleep; and the repose of animals is more easily disturbed than that of man. Thus it would also be, were they to inflict the wound with their claws. With their tongue only, then, is it possible for them to make such minute apertures in the skin, as to imbibe the blood through them, and to open the veins without causing an acute pain.

The tongue of the vampyre I have not had an opportunity of observing, but those of several Ternat bats which M. Daubenton attentively examined, seemed to indicate the possibility of the fact; their tongues were sharp, and full of prickles directed backward; and it appears that these prickles, or points, from their exceeding minuteness, may be insinuated into the pores of the skin, and may penetrate them so deep as to command a flow of the blood, by the continued function of the tongue. But it is needless to reason upon a fact of which all the circumstances are imperfectly known to us, and of which some are perhaps exaggerated, or erroneously related.

SUPPLEMENT.

Among other remarks which I received from the ingenious M. de la Nux upon this work, after its first publication, were the following respecting these animals. He says, in general terms, that the size and number of the Great Ternat Bats are both exaggerated; that instead of attacking men they invariably endeavour to get from them, consequently never bite but when taken, or defending themselves, which they do then most dreadfully; and that instead of being ferocious animals, they are perfectly gentle in their dispositions. Speaking from his own experience, he says, both the great and small Ternat bats are natives of Bourbon, the isles of France, and Madagascar, in the former of which he had resided upwards of fifty years; when he first arrived there they were very numerous in many places where at present they are not to be found, and for these reasons, that the forests were then adjacent to them, which had been cleared away by the settlements, and that it is only in forests they can subsist; besides, they bring forth but once a year, and are hunted, both by whites and negroes, for the sake of their flesh and grease. The females are in season about the month of May, and produce towards the end of September. They appear to come to maturity in about eight months, since there are no small ones to be seen after April or May, and the young are to be known from the old by their colours being more vivid: they become grey with age, but it is uncertain at what period; at this time their flesh is very disagreeable, and their fat alone, of which they have plenty during the summer, is eaten by the negroes. They never feed upon any kind of flesh, but entirely on bananas, peaches, and other fruits and flowers with which these forests abound: they are exceedingly fond of the juices of certain umbellated flowers; and it is possibly for the purpose of sucking the different species of them that they have such a number of sharp papillæ on their tongues. They never touch the skins of the mango, perhaps because it is resinous. Some of them which have been caught, and kept alive, have been known to eat bread and sugar-canes, but I believe, even in that state, no kind of meat, either raw or prepared. There cannot be any thing to apprehend from these animals, either personally, or even for poultry, because they are incapable of seizing upon the smallest bird, for if they come too near the ground they fall, and are then under the necessity of climbing up some elevated object before they can resume their flight, and in this case they climb up the first thing they meet with, even if it be a man. They trail their bodies along, consequently move very slow, and which is of itself sufficient to prove their incapacity for seizing birds. These animals, when going to take wing, cannot, like birds, dart at once into the air, but are obliged to beat their wings several times to fill them, and to release their claws from what they have hold of, and even then the weight of their bodies frequently bears them to the ground; from this necessity of filling their wings they cannot take flight from any part of the tree, but are obliged to crawl to a part of the branch where they can act with perfect freedom. They are much alarmed at the firing of a gun, or at a peal of thunder; and if a large flock of them, resting upon a tree, are surprised by either of these reports, in their haste to fly, numbers of them fall to the ground, not having sufficient air in their wings; in this case they hasten to climb up the first object they met with; let us therefore only suppose that object to be a traveller unacquainted with these animals; he would naturally be struck with terror at being suddenly surrounded with a number of creatures of such an ugly form and aspect, and especially when they began to climb up his body; he would of course endeavour to extricate himself from them, and they, in turn, finding themselves roughly treated, might begin to scratch and bite. Would not a circumstance of this nature be sufficient to give rise to the idea that these bats were ferocious animals, rushing upon men for the purpose of wounding and destroying them? when the whole would arise from the rencounter of different animals mutually afraid of each other. They are led to reside in forests by instinct, it being there only they can procure subsistence, and not from any savage disposition; besides this, neither of these bats ever light upon carrion, nor do they eat upon the ground, but generally in a hanging posture, and which appears to be necessary when they feed all of which is surely enough to prove they are neither carnivorous, voracious, nor cruel animals; and as their flight is both heavy and noisy, there cannot remain a doubt of their being a species very distant from the vampyre. The great Ternat bats have also been charged with feeding on fish, because they sometimes fly very near the water; but this is equally untrue, for it is certain that they live entirely on vegetables, and it is solely for the purpose of washing themselves that they go so near the water, being an exceedingly clean animal, for of the numbers I have killed I never found dirt upon any of them.

When near, the great Ternat bat is certainly rather disgustful, and all his motions are disagreeable, and it is only when perched on a tree that his natural deformity is concealed; he then hangs with his head downward, his wings are folded close to his sides, his vibrating wings, which are his greatest defects, as well as hind paws, by which he is suspended, are concealed, and there then appears only a round plump body, covered with a clean, smooth brown hair, terminated with a head rather agreeable than otherwise. This is the only attitude in which they take repose, they frequently remain in it the greatest part of the day, and in it they are seen to the greatest advantage, especially if they are at the height of 40 or 50 feet, and about 100 feet distant. The great Ternat bat is always placed for shew with his wings extended, by which means he is seen to the greatest disadvantage. The representation given of him in your work is not exact, as they never rest with their four feet on the ground. Both species are excellent food, and have never been known to produce any bad effects, although frequently eaten to excess; nor is that in the least surprising when we consider they feed entirely on ripe fruits, the juices, flowers, and according to Herodotus, "the exudations of trees."

THE SENEGAL BAT.

The Senegal Bat[AA] (_fig. 119._) or as it is called by some, the Marmotte Volante, is of a dark brown colour upon its head and back, with a light mixture, which increasing under the belly, renders that considerably paler; the tail, as well as the membrane of the wings, are quite black. That which I saw and had been brought from Senegal, by M. Adanson, was not more than four inches in length, and his wings extended to about 21 inches; his head was long, ears short, and his nose rather pointed; he had 20 teeth in the whole, two incisive, two canine, and eight grinders in the upper jaw and six incisive and two canine in the under.

[Footnote AA: Of this and the two following Mr. Pennant's Synopsis contains very accurate descriptions.]

THE BULL-DOG BAT.

The Bull-Dog Bat, (_fig. 118._) has a short thick nose, and large broad ears, which bend forward. The greatest part of its body is a dark ash-colour; the middle of its belly is brown, and its chest and throat a clear ash, without any mixture; the tail and membrane of the wings are nearly black, from the latter of which there comes a part of the tail, composed of five false vertebræ. It has 26 teeth, two incisive, and two canine, in each jaw; eight grinders in the upper, and ten in the lower; it is not more than two inches in length, measuring from the top of the nose, nor does its wings extend to quite ten.

THE BEARDED BAT.

The head of this bat (_fig. 120._) is very peculiarly constructed; the nose is sunk in the front, and, contrary to all other animals, it has not its nostrils divided by a partition, but are placed on the sides of a kind of gutter entirely open from one end to the other; the exterior edges of them join above the upper lip, forming a cavity from thence to the front, where it terminates with a deep hole covered all round with long hairs. It has long narrow ears; the hair on the top and hind part of the head, along the neck, back, tail, and shoulders, is of a reddish brown, and all the remainder is of a yellowish white; the membrane of the wings and tail have a kind of mixture of black and reddish brown and its claws are yellow. Its body is about an inch and a half long, and its wings extend to about seven.

_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._

THE STRIPED BAT.

This bat is very small, has a short nose and broad ears, bending forward; it is of a whitish yellow colour, excepting under its throat, breast, and belly, which is a light blue, with a yellow shade; the tail, and membrane of the wings are a mixture of yellow and brown.

THE POLATOUCH.

I have chosen to continue the name this animal bears in Russia, its native country, rather than to adopt those vague and uncertain ones since appropriated to it, such as, the Flying-rat, Flying-squirrel, &c.

The Polatouch (_fig. 121._) resembles but in a few particulars either the squirrel, loir, or rat. To the squirrel it has no affinity but in the largeness of the eyes, and form of the tail, the latter of which, however, is neither so long, nor bushy as in the former. He is more like the loir by the shape of his body, his short and naked ears, and the hairs of his tail, which are of the same form and length; but he is not like him, subject to numbness in cold weather. The polatouch is a different species from the squirrel rat, or dormouse, though he participates of the nature of all three. M. Klein gave the first exact description of this animal, in the Philosophical Transactions, 1733; he was, however, known long before that time. He is found in the northern parts both of the ancient and New Continent,[AB] but he is more common in America than in Europe, where he is seldom seen, except in Lithuania and Russia. This little animal dwells upon trees, like the squirrel; he goes from branch to branch, and when he leaps from one tree to another, his loose skin stretches forward by his fore-legs, and backward by his hind ones; his skin thus stretched and drawn outwardly more than an inch, increases the surface of his body, without adding to its weight, and consequently retards the acceleration of his fall, so that he is enabled to reach in one leap a great distance. This motion is not like the flight of a bird, nor the fluttering of a bat, both of which are made by striking the air with repeated vibrations. It is one single leap, caused by the first impulsion, the motion of which is prolonged, because the body of the animal presents to the air a larger surface, and thence finds a greater resistance, and falls more slowly. This singular extension of the skin is peculiar to the polatouch, and this characteristic is sufficient to distinguish him from all other squirrels, rats, or dormice. But the most singular things in Nature are not unparalleled; there is another animal of the same kind, with a similar skin, which is not only stretched from one leg to another, but from the head to the tail. This animal, whose figure and description has been given by Seba, under the denomination of the flying-squirrel of Virginia, seems so different from the polatouch, as to constitute another species; though probably it may be only a simple variety, or an accidental and monstrous production, for no traveller or naturalist makes mention of it. Seba is the only one who has seen it in the cabinet of Vincent; and I always distrust descriptions of animals made in cabinets of curiosities, which are often disfigured to make them appear more extraordinary.

[Footnote AB: The Hurons of Canada have three different species of squirrels. The Flying-squirrels are frequent in North America, but they have been lately found in Poland.]

I have seen and kept a long while the living polatouch. He has been well described by travellers, particularly Sagard, Theodat, John of Laet, Fernandes, Le Hontan, Denys, Catesby, Dumont, Le Pague du Pratz, &c. and Messrs. Klein, Seba, and Edwards, have given exact descriptions of him, with his figure. What I have seen of this animal agrees with their relations. He is commonly smaller than a squirrel. That which we had weighed little more than two ounces, about the weight of a middling sized bat, and the squirrel weighs eight or nine ounces. However, there are some of a greater size, since we have a skin of a polatouch much larger than usual.

The polatouch has some analogy with the bat by this extension of the skin, which unites the fore and hind legs, and supports him in the air; he seems also to participate of his nature, for he is quiet and sleepy in the day time, having no activity but towards the evening. He is easily tamed, but soon offended, and must be kept in a cage, or fastened with a small chain; he feeds upon bread, fruits, seeds, and is remarkably fond of the buds and shoots of the birch and pine trees. He does not seek after nuts and almonds like a squirrel. He makes a bed of leaves, in which he buries himself, and sleeps through the day, leaving it only in the night, or when pressed by hunger. As he has little agility, he becomes easily the prey of martens, and other animals who climb up the trees, so that the species is not numerous, although they have commonly three or four young at a time.

SUPPLEMENT.

In the original work I remarked having seen the skin of a polatouch larger than the common size, but the difference was very trifling, to one the Prince de Condé has since permitted me to examine, whose bulk was perfectly gigantic, compared with those of Russia or America, the latter never exceeding five inches in length, and this measured twenty-three. It was taken upon the Malabar coast, where they are very common, as well as in the Philippine Islands, and other parts of India, where they are called taguans, or great flying squirrels; but notwithstanding they resemble the polatouch in figure, and the extension of their skin, yet I think they ought to be considered as different species; for among other varieties, the tail of the taguan is round, and that of the common kind flat; the hair of the former's tail is also of a blackish brown, the face is quite black, the sides of the head have a mixture of white hairs, and on the nose and round the eyes, there are also some red ones; it has long brown hairs that cover the neck, the whole back is a mixture of black and white, the belly of a dirty white; the upper part of the extended skin is brown, and the under a greyish yellow, the legs black with a reddish shade, the tail brown, deepening by degrees until it becomes quite black at the end, the toes are black, and the claws hooked like those of the cat, from which, and the resemblance of the tail, it has been called by some the flying cat. M. de Vosmaër, in his Description of an _Ecureuil Volant_, gives a very particular account of both species, as does M. l'Abbé Prevost, and both of which perfectly coincide with the above.

At this time, March 17, 1775, I have one of the small species alive; I kept it in a cage, with a box at the bottom filled with cotton, in which it covers itself all day, and only comes out at night to seek for food. Whenever it is forced to come out, it cries somewhat like a mouse; its teeth are small, but sharp, and it bites violently; it can only be made to extend its wings by letting it fall from some height; and it is so very chilly, that I am astonished how it preserves itself in the northern climates, since it would very soon perish, even in France, if it were not supplied with plenty of cotton to cover itself all over.