rue
that seems to show the least _design_ on the part of the brute
creation--who denies everything that appears at all singular or
fanciful, and simply because it appears so. With the truthful
observations that have been made upon the curious domestic economy of
such little creatures as bees, and wasps, and ants, we ought to be
cautious how we reject statements about the habits of other animals,
however strange they may appear.

Who doubts that a mosquito will perch itself upon the skin of a human
being, pierce it with its proboscis, and suck away until it is gorged
with blood! Why does it appear strange that a bat should do the same?

Now your closet-naturalist will believe that the bat _does_ suck the
blood of cattle and horses, but denies that it will attack man! This is
sheer nonsense. What difference to the vampire, whether its victim be a
biped or quadruped? Is it fear of the former that would prevent it from
attacking him? Perhaps it may never have seen a human being before:
besides, it attacks its victim while asleep, and is rarely ever caught
or punished in the act. Where these creatures are much hunted or
persecuted by man, they may learn to fear him, and their original habits
may become changed, but that is quite another thing.

As nature has formed them, the blood-sucking bats will make their attack
indifferently, either upon man or large quadrupeds. There are a thousand
proofs to be had in all the tropical regions of America. Every year
animals are killed by the _phyllostoma hastatum_, not in hundreds, but
in thousands. It is recorded that on one extensive cattle-farm several
hundred head were killed in the short period of six months by the bats;
and the vaqueros, who received a bounty upon every bat they should
capture, in one year succeeded in destroying the enormous number of
_seven thousand_! Indeed, "bat-hunting" is followed by some as a
profession, so eager are the owners of the cattle-farms to get rid of
these pests.

Many tribes of Indians and travellers suffer great annoyance from the
vampire-bats. Some persons never go to sleep without covering themselves
with blankets, although the heat be ever so oppressive. Any part left
naked will be attacked by the "phyllostoma", but they seem to have a
preference for the tip of the great toe--perhaps because they have found
that part more habitually exposed. Sometimes one sleeper is "cupped" by
them, while another will not be molested; and this, I may ob