George Edward Dobson

“ It is probable that this superstition gained much ground from the reports of those who had examined the bodies of persons buried alive though believed to be dead, and was based on the twisted position of the corpse, the marks of blood on the shroud and on the face and hands—results of the frenzied struggle in the coffin before life became extinct. ”

“ The fur is long and dense, varying in colour in different individuals; the prevailing shades are dark, almost black, brown above, beneath more or less bright ashy tinged with yellowish; but occasionally we find individuals with the under surface dark-coloured. In the number and shape of the teeth the water-shrew differs from the common shrew: there is a premolar less on each side above; the bases of the teeth are more prolonged posteriorly; and their cusps are less stained brown, so that in old individuals they often appear white. ”

“ The dentition is very peculiar and characteristic: there are in all thirty-two teeth, tipped with deep crimson; of which twelve belong to the lower jaw; of the remaining twenty ten occupy each side of the upper jaw, and of these the first three are incisors. The first incisor is large, with a long anterior canine-like cusp and a small posterior one; then follow two small single-cusped teeth; which are succeeded by three similar progressively smaller teeth, the first being a canine and the other two premolars ”

“ They seek their food, which consists of insects, grubs, worms and slugs, under dead leaves, fallen trees and in grassy places. They are pugnacious, and if two or more are confined together in a limited space they invariably fight fiercely, the fallen becoming the food of the victorious. ”

“ It fell to the lot of Charles Darwin to determine one of the blood-sucking species at least, and the following is his account of the circumstances under which the discovery of the sanguivorous habits of Desmodus rufus was made: "The vampire bat is often the cause of much trouble by biting the horses on their withers. ”

“ On each side of the body, about one-third of the distance between the elbow and the knee, is a gland covered by two rows of coarse inbent hairs, which secretes a fluid with an unpleasant cheesy odour, and which is protective, rendering the creature secure against the attacks of predaceous animals. ”

“ Two species of blood-sucking bats (the only species known) —Desmodus rufus and Diphylla ecaudata—representing two genera (see Chiroptera) , inhabit the tropical. and part of the subtropical regions of the New World, and are restricted to South and Central America. They appear to be confined chiefly to the forest-clad parts, and their attacks on men and other warm-blooded animals were noticed by some of the earliest writers. ”

“ The canines, though smaller than the incisors, are large and sharp; but the cheek-teeth, so well developed in other bats, are very small and reduced in number to two above and three below, on each side, with laterally compressed crowns rising but slightly above the level of the gum, their longitudinally disposed cutting edges (in the upper jaw) being continuous with the base of the canine and with each other. The lower front teeth (incisors) are small, bifid, in pairs, and separated from the canines, teeth (incisors) , with a space in front. ”

“ Both these shrews live in the neighbourhood of woods, making their nests under the roots of trees or in any slight depression, occasionally even in the midst of open fields, inhabiting the disused burrows of field-mice. Owing to their small size, dark colour, rapid movements and nocturnal habits, they easily escape observation. ”

“ But here the resemblance ends, for, unlike the mouse, it possesses a long and slender muzzle, with prominent nostrils, which project far beyond the lower lip; the small eyes are almost concealed by the fur; the ears are wide, short and provided internally with a pair of deep folds, capable when laid forwards of closing the entrance; the tail, which is slightly shorter than the body, is quadrangular in section and clothed more or less densely with moderately long hairs, terminating in a short tuft, but in old individuals almost naked ”