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Show 2 ZOOLOGY OF TilE VOYAGE OF TilE BEAGLE. nose-leaf ; aml, at a short distance behind the nose-leaf, this naked membrane is slightly elevated, and forms a transverse fl eshy tubercle. Jn. Lines. ln . Lines . Length of head and body 3 3 Length of tar us ( cl::lw in cluded) 0 8,\ intcrfcmoml mcmlmmc 0 3 ~ car 0 4 the untiuraehium 2 2 tmgus 0 3 thumb ( clnw includc(l) 0 R nosc-lu:Lf 0 ')j_ '"".:I tibia 0 10 Expanse of the win g~ 12 8 Habitat, Coquimbo, Chile. (JJiay.) " The Vampire Bat," says Mr. Darwin in his MS. notes upon the present species, " is often the cause of much trouble, by biting the horses on their withers. The injury is generally not so much owing to the loss of blood, as to the inflammation which the pressure of the saddle afterwards produces. The whole circumstance has lately been doubted in England; I was therefore fortunate in being present when one was actually caught on a horse's back. We were bivouacking late one evening near Coquimbo, in Chile, when my servant, noticing that one of the horses was very restive, went to see what was the matter, and faneying he could distinguish something, suddenly put his hand on the beast's withers, and secured the Vampire. In the morning, the spot where the uite had been inflicted was easily distin guished from being slightly swollen and bloody. The third day afterwards we rode the horse, without any ill effects. Before the introduction of the domesticated quadrupeds, this Vampire Bat probably preyed on the guanaco, or vicugna, for these, together with the pnma, and man, were the only terrestrial mammalia oflarge size, which formerly inhabited the northern part of Chile. This species must be unknown, or very uncommon in Central Chile, since Molina, who lived in that part, says (Compendio de la Historia del Reyno de Chile, vol. i. p. 301 ,) "that no blood-sucking species is found in this province." It is interesting to find that the structure of this animal is in perfect accordance with the habits as above detailed by Mr. Darwin. Among other points, the total absence of true molars, and consequent want of the power of masticating food, is the most remarkable. On the other hand we find the canines and incisors perfectly fitted for inflicting a wound such as described, while the small size of the interfemoral membrane (giving freedom to the motions of the legs,) together with the unusually large size of the thumb and claw, would enable this Bat, as I should imagine, to fix itself with great security to the body of the horse. I have named this species after M. d'Orbigny, who has added so much to |