Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1910-02-25
bLOODSUCK|NG BATS
These Pests Are Plentiful In the
Forests of Brazil.
THEY ARE TRUE VAMPIRES.

'tSs FutI sssSs sVUt hi@Ss
But Cattle and Horses Are Their Chief
Victims, Which They Prefer to Hu.
man Beinss-Their ChiseI-like Teeth
and Peculiar interior Anatomy.
Half a dozen Of US had been telling
what we thought we knew about
bloodsucking bats. but our converse
tion had developed only an astonish-
ing amount Of misinformation and IT.
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 confu-
sion," he began. for at one time or
another | have believed above every
thing your questions would suggest.
When was schoolboy the vampire
was bat as large as crow, had
horn on his nose and was described as
sitting on his victims feet, flaming
him with bis wings while he worked
his pumping apparatus. There is such
bat, but when it was proved that 1t
was a fruit eater many Of us doubted
the whole bat legend along with the
sid mythology. There is a bloodsucking
vampire, however-millions Of them.
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 10 the biggest ones they
found. which are nearly all vegetari.
ans. The real thing Is Il 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
a pair of chisel-like teeth. sharp as a
knife. Their interior anatomy differs
from other animals as we'll as their
teeth. All the other animals. so far as
I know, have a stomach and necessary
organs for converting food into blood.
The true vampire has ouly an eloD
gated sacklke 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, il has no alternative. 1t
must find nourishment ready made.
This popularity may or may not
account for one very strange thlng
about it's selection Of victims. Cattle
and horses are the chief ones. Not
one human being in hundred entire
" satisfies their taste. Not half the
people who live among them all their
lives are ever bitten. But II one of =
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 tipple.
THE stories Of their bleeding people
almost to death are true only partly.
l 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. de
was always bitten in the same place
the end of the great tOe-and it De-
: came so lacerated that there was con
i 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
of the others was ever bitten.
"Cattle and horses are attacked al
ways at IL spot ON the spine just ba'E
: of the shoulders. where the halr sep
arates in starlike spot. This ID thi
case of a horse is just where the ron
end of the saddle comes. and the al
tack therefore makes vast zeal 81
trouble where every one rules morse
back. A majority Of the brazliia'
horses and nearly all the COWS are h't
ten by these plaques.
Fortunately the pests are moStI!
confined to the forest country. me!
give comparatively little trouble i'll CT
les and villages. though the cnhStru'
tion of houses makes it Impossible T.
keep them out. In cities tiles are eS
clusiyely used for roofs and III III
country palm leaf matching. ana ~
kinds of bats come and go at pleasure
One rarely goes to sleep without iron
one to dozen flying about the room
; They are nearly all harmless ana ar
, welcome because t.ley catch insects
. They all look so much alike that on
= does not know which to attack.
: How the genuine vampires eluue
f scientific research so long is my'
4 terry. The species was not positivei
identified until the visit Of Darwin
: the Beagle. 1t was in the seventies,
think. and there is not at the presen
+ lay. so far as | can learn. singi
4 we'll authenticated case recorded !
Z the natural histories OF a true van
/ pire being captured while feeding o
o human being" dewey Austin COD
I, IN New York Tribune.