The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1910-07-08
B||l|0ODSUCllIl| Bats
These Pests Are Plentiful ID the
Forests OF Brazil.
THEY ARE TRUE VAMPIRES.
But Cattle and Horses Are Their Chief
Victims. Which They Prefer to Hi.
man Beinss-Their chisel.l like Teeth
and Peculiar interior Anatomy.

Victims. Which They Prefer to HUI.
man Beings-Their Chisel-Iike Teeth
and Peculiar interior Anatomy.
Half Il dozen of US had been telling
what we thought we knew about
bloodsucking bats. but our converSa-
ton had developed only an astonish-
ing amount OF INSTRUMENTATION and ir-
reconcilable differences SO we called
In the doctor who had lived some
years in Brazil and asked him to comb
out our tangled ideas.
I'm not surprised at your contu-
Gion," be began. ''for at one time or
another have believed above every
thing your questions would suggest.
When | was a Schoolboy the vampire
was bat as large as crow. had q
horn Oh his nose and was described as
sitting on his victims feet. fauning
him with his wings while be worked
his pumping apparatus. There is such
bat. but when it was proved that it
was fruit eater many of us doubted
the whole bat legend along with the
old mythology. There is Il bloodsucking
vampire. however-millions of them.
1.-The old Spanish conquistadors
found proof OF its existence in sore
great toes. which looked as if the skin
had been delicately shaved off. just
deep enough to ooZe blood. but they
never caught one and naturally laid
the blame to the biggest ones they
Snf1n6 which ri oil ri
ans. The real thing is small reddish
brown creature closely resembling bats
of the same color caught here not in
frequently.
'"The naturalist finds. however. some
surprising differences. They have no
teeth for any purpose save for thin
ming the skin - not enough for the
blood to flow freely. but just sufficient
to enable them to draw it by suction.
The wound rarely bleeds after they
leave it. This preparation is done with
q pair OF chisel-like teeth. sharp as
knife. Their interior anatomy differs
from other animals as we'll as their
teeth. All the other animals. so far as
know. have a stomach and necessary
organs for converting food into blood
The true vampire has only an elon-
gated sacklike intestine for the storage
OF the blood taken. which requires no
digestion till it is taken up into the
circulatory system. With neither teeth
nor stomach. it has no alternative. 1t
must find nourishment ready made
This popularity may or may not
account for one very strange thing
about it's selection of victims. Cattle
and horses are the chief ones. Not
one human being in a hundred entire
" satisfies their taste. Not half the
people who live among them all their
lives are ever bitten. But if one of n
family. for instance. just suits them
they'll follow that person to any part
OF the house. and no matter how care
fully he may be covered or screened
they will find their particular tippIe.
1.-The stories of their bleeding people
almost to death are true only partly.
have known of one boy who was so
persistently followed that. while the
loss Of blood was small from q single
attack. after months Of the drain he
was greatly reduced in vitality. He
was always bitten in the same place
the end of the great toe-and it be-
came so lacerated that there was con-
siderable subsequent hemorrhage. This
lad was the youngest Of four broth.
ers. They all slept in the same room
and sometimes changed beds. but none
NJ tho nfharS ~
Cattle and horses are attacked al
ways at spot on the spine just back
Of the shoulders. where the hair sep
arates in starlike spot. This in the
case of horse is just where the front
end of the saddle comes. and the at
tack therefore makes a vast deal of
trouble where every one rides horse
back. A majority of the Brazilian
horses and nearly all the cows are bit
ten by these plaques.
Fortunately the pests are mostly
confined to the forest country. They
give comparatively little trouble in cit
les and villages, though the construc-
tion Of houses makes it impossible to
keep them out. In cities tiles are ex-
clusively used for roofs and in the
country palm leaf matching. and all
kinds Of bats come and go at pleasure.
One rarely goes to sleep without from
one to a dozen dying about the room.
They are nearly all harmless and are
welcome because tley catch insects.
They all look SO much alike that one
does not know which to attack.
"How the genuine vampires eluded
scientific research 30 long is mys-
terry. The species was not positively
identified until the visit of Darwin in
the Beagle 1t was in the seventies, 1
think. and there is not at the present
day. so far as can learn. single
we'll authenticated case recorded in
the natural histories of a true vam-
pire being captured while feeding on
Q human being" dewey Austin Cobb
IN New York Tribune.
Here and There.
y man was waiting patiently for a
street car the other day at q transfer
station. says the Boston Record. when
= woman. highly excited. rushed up to
him and cried ssAro vOs, tho man