Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1880-04-03
A BIG COLLECTION OF BATS.

A BIG COLLECTION OF BATS.
The Bat as a Table Luxury-Tame BATS
The Vampire and its Exaggerated
Power-WOnderful Collection at the
American Museum of Natural History.
THE Museum of Natural History at the
Park, among its other valuables, pos
sesses one of the most complete collec-
tions of bats in the world. A majority
of them belong to the great collection of
mammals purchased by the Museum
from Prince Macmillan of Weld, Ger
MANY, and the list has been continually
swelled by specimens indigenous to
American localities, SO that New York
can fairly claim to be authority on bats.
Strange to say, the majority of people
are inclined to consider this creature a
bird, or, far worse, reptile, while in
reality it is far more nearly related to the
COW, giving milk and nursing its young
in similar manner.
Aristotle, however, made like mis-
take, and perhaps no other creature has
been such paradox to the would-be
scientist of the past. The case devoted
to these strange creatures is colored
light blue, SO they stand out as if against
the sky, ranging from three and one-half
feet in width to as many inches, and from
the terrible (?) vampire to the genial
companion of our summer nights, at
whom, as boys, we delighted to throw
our caps to the measure of the well
known line, "Bat, bat, come into my
hat''
One of the best known and most dread
ed is the vampire. The very word has
become terror, and the person who has
never had the good fortune to have seen
one of these monsters sees in his minds
eye terrible creature of the Pterodactyl
| type, with hooked wings of enormous
spread, and sharp, tiger-like fangs, that
are sunk like SO many artesian wells into
the quivering flesh of the victim. Such
is the vampire of hearsay, but the real
animal before us seems terribly warped
when denuded of the fiction and glamour
that has SO long chung around them.
They are not much larger than our COM
mon bat, resembling it in great meas
ure In the countries where they are
found they are often driven by hunger to
attack the feet of sleeping natives. Dar-
| win had an experience with them in the
neighborhood of Coquimbe, Chill, where
he was travelling and had halted for the
night One of the horses becoming very
restless, servant, who went to see what
was the matter with the animal, fancied
that he could see something strange on
its withers. He put his hand quickly on
the spot and secured vampire bat.
Next morning there was some infamma-
ton and soreness on the spot where the
bat had been captured, but the i'll effects
soon disappeared, and three days after
ward the horse was as well as ever.
Mr. Waterton, to settle the vexed
question as to whether they would attack
man or not, slept for the space of eleven
months in an open loft, where the vaIh-
pires came in and out every night. They
were seen lowering over the hammock,
and passing through the apertures that
served for windows, but never made 8
single attack. Yet, an Indian, who slept
within few yards, suffered frequently
by the abstraction of blood from his toes
This distinction was not on account o.
color, for young lad, about twelve
years of age, the son of an English gen
tleman, was bitten on the forehead with
such severity that the wound bled freely
on the following morning. The fowls O
the same house suffered so terribly tha
they died fast, and an unfortunate donkey
was being killed by inches. He looked
to use Mr.. Waterton's own language
g like misery stepped in vinegar Thi'
? shows that the vampire seems to be yer.
l capricious in its tastes.
: A distinguishing feature of the vam
l pire bat is peculiar leaf-li membrane
r that protrudes from the nose. What thi
r is for is as yet unsettled among natural
$ lists. 1t probably has something to d.
l with increasing their keenness of scent
| hat hot hnn ~
near the former in the case, is so name'
from similar appendage. They ar
I quite common in England.
The long-eared bats are often found il
e immense numbers in caves, and it wa
), once the writer's fortune to fal
: among them. A party of us had en-
: tered the den for the purpose of invest
b eating its length, and, after proceeding
0 700 or 800 yards, one of the party set O
e a rocket. Hardly had the fiery meteo
c reached the top of the cave than tn
!, stiffness was broken by loud scratch
e ing and an almost deafening whirring
r 1t actually rained bats. Thousands G
them, of all sizes, curved and rushe
t around the cavern, striking against us i
n their confusion, and hitting against tn
S lanterns we carried, SO that we soon bes
q a retreat, considering, in that case, sure
: ", the better part of valor was discre
ton.
: One of the most wonderful cases of
e large bat roost came to light in tow
of New Jersey, where house and FIN
lot were deserted by tenants, who wer
d unable to stand the encroachments c
these midnight marauders. AS soon a
s the sun went down the house SCENE
surrounded by them, and was windo,
g left open the room would soon be tn
: scene of wild confusion; the very al
g seemed alive with them. The plac
was called the Battery and the
were left in undisputed possession of tn
place until within a few months, when
gentleman, taking possession, deter
It mined to unearth the mystery. He 500
s traced the bats to an unused barn, and
u thorough investigation brought to light
e wonderful sight. The garret of the bar
|, had never been used, so was boarded uI
a leaving only few small holes of access
and through these the bats had passed
T and for fifty years or more had live
e there. and multiplied. The room wa
e one living mass of them, piled upon eac
other and hanging in every possible pos
ton. When the roof was broken in the
rose, thousands upon thousands, In
! cloud. The floor was covered to adept
4 of four feet with guano, mingled wit
;, myriads of bones of those that had dice
: It was combined birth and buris
r place for all Jersey bat-dom. The owner
! in relating the occurrence in report
= the Smithsonian Institution, at Washing
: ton, states that without exaggeratio
! there must have been over SOC, 900 bat
i in the place. The old building was d.
a stroyed, and since then only the ord
nary number of bats have been seen.
) The large bats in the center OF th
g case are. perhaps. better known as hyin