The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1893-04-13
BLOODSUCKING BATS
Differing Stories About the vam-
pireS Of South America.



Ever since tho South American con-
tinent was discovered, especially chat
part of It lying between tho Amazon
and Orinoco rivers, travellers have come
from there with wonderful tales of the
vampires, or, as they call them, blood
sucking bats. As q fact, little Il
known about these pests, says the New
York Tribune. That there are blood
sucking bats which feed not only on the
blood of man but also animals is an un-
doubted fact, and though the writer
himself has never been bitten by one,
he has, while travelling in the interior
OF British Guiana, seen Indians and
ponies that had undoubtedly been
bitten by these pests. In the Gaze Of q
man attacked the toe OF nose is the
point punctured, while ANIMALS are Il.
able to be bitten anywhere How the
bat does its work has not been made
clear, for no man has yet awakened
while being operated on by one of these
bats, despite the fact that considerable
blood is extracted and more or less loss
of blood takes place after the opera
ton. 1t Is probable that the bat hovers
during the operation rather than rests
on the body. The rapid vibration of
the soft wings probably also has a
soothing effect upon the skin of the part
operated on.
The blood-suckers belong t. only two
or three species, and wherever these are
found there are also many others whose
food is only fruit or insects, or both.
The most natural mistake about the
bats which are innocent or preying on
man or beast is the common superstition
that vampyrus spectrum is blood
sucker. The stretch of wings of this
bat frequently reaches three feet and It
has most ferocious aspect, with enor-
mously large and pointed canine teeth.
It Is perfectly certain that in most parts
of British Guiana this bat is only fruit
eater and is serious pest to fruit
growers. Bates and Edwards, who
travelled much In that country, vouch
for It's harmlessness, and the writer
could never hear of q case where one
OF these giant bats was even suspected
Of being blood-sucker. Wallace. how
ever, gives different account, s.-s
'"The vampires are especially plenti
ful in the Amazon valley. Their carniv-
Ckouo RIOpChSAbAC6 "CE0 ouCo uA0CIS0.
tied, but are too we'll authenticated.
Horses and cattle are often bitten, and
we found them In the morning covered
with blood, and repeated attacks weak
en- and ultimately destroy them. Some
persons are especially subject to the sA-
tacks of these bats, and as native huts
are never sufficiently close TO keep them
out, those unfortunate persons ore
obliged to sleep completely muf1ed up
In order to avoid being made seriously
i'll or even losing their lives"
Wallace, in saying that "the huts are
never sufficiently close TO keep them
out" evidently uses the word vampire
as generic term and does not mean
the vampyrus spectrum, for that bat
would find no space large enough TO let
him into even the loosely built huts Of
the natives. It Is this slipshod way Of
using the word vampire that brings
trouble to many useful bat. The
writer has been In house where every
precaution was taken to keep out bats
which would have been perfect bless
ing in the rooms, as they would have
caught hundreds of mosquitoes.