36 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

Megaderma lyra which have the reputation of being cannibalistic.
The various families are “The Horseshoe Bats,” ‘‘ The
Nycteridz,” ‘‘The Vespertilionide,” ‘‘The Emballonuridz,”
and ‘‘The Phyllostomida.”
The The common English bats belong to the
Common Vespertilionide. The Pipistrelle feeds upon
Hnglish Bats. insects but will eat flesh if opportunity serves,
jIn his ‘‘ Natural History of Selbourne,” Mr. White describes
a tame bat which he saw, which would take flies out of a
person’s hand. “If you gave it anything to eat,” he says,
“it brought its wings round before the mouth, hovering and
hiding its head in the manner of birds of prey when they
feed. The adroitness it showed in shearing off the wings
of the flies, which were always rejected, pleased me much.
Insects seemed to be most acceptable, though it did not
refuse raw flesh when offered; so that the notion that bats
go down chimneys and gnaw men’s bacon seems no improbable
story.” The Long-eared Bat, Plecofus auritus, is also common
in England. ‘Its ears,” says Mr. Wood, ‘‘are about an inch
and a half in length and have a fold in them reaching almost
to the lips,” hence its name. ‘‘It is very easily tamed.”
The Vampire Bat which belongs to South

The
Vampire America has been invested with a halo of romance
Bat. by the stories which have been told about its
sanguinary character, ‘‘It lives,” says the Rev. J. G. Wood,

“fon the blood of animals, and sucks usually while its victim
sleeps. The extremities, where the blood flows freely, as the
toe of a man, the ears of a horse, or the combs and wattles
of fowls, are its favorite spots. When it has selected a
subject, on which it intends to feed, it watches until the
animal is fairly asleep. It then carefully fans its victim with
its wings while it bites a little hole in the ear or shoulder,
and through this small aperture, into which a pin’s head
would scarcely pass, it contrives to abstract sufficient blood
to make a very ample meal. The wound is so small, and