The Ternat bats are carnivorous animals, voracious, and possessed of an appetite for every thing that offers. In a dearth of flesh or fish, they feed on vegetables and fruits of every kind. They are fond of the juice of the palm-tree, and it is easy to take them by placing near their retreats vessels filled with palm-tree water, or any other fermented liquor, with which they are sure to intoxicate themselves. They fasten themselves to trees, and hang from them by their claws. They usually fly in flocks, and more by night than by day. Places which are much frequented they shun, and their favourite residence is uninhabited islands. To copulation they are strongly inclined. In the male the sex is very apparent, and not concealed in a scabbard, like that of quadrupeds, but extends forwards from the body, nearly as it does in the ape. In the female the sex is equally conspicuous; she has but two nipples, and those situated upon the breast; she produces more than once a year, but the number at each time is but small. Their flesh, when young, is not unpalatable; the Indians[Z] are fond of it, and compare its flavour to that of the partridge or the rabbit. [Footnote Z: The Moors and Malayans are most certainly meant, as the Indians neither eat nor kill any animal. Lett. M. La Nux.] The American travellers unanimously agree, that the great bats of the new continent suck the blood both of men and animals while they are asleep, and without awakening them. Of this singular fact, no mention is made by any of the Asiatic or African travellers, who speak of the Ternat bats. Their silence, nevertheless, is no adequate proof of their being guiltless, especially as they have so many other resemblances to those great bats, which we denominated vampyres. I have, therefore, thought it worth while to examine how it is possible that these animals should suck the blood of a person asleep, without causing a pain so sensible as to awake him. Were they to cut the flesh with their teeth, which are as large as those of other quadrupeds of the same size, the pain of the bite would effectually rouse any of the human species, however soundly asleep; and the repose of animals is more easily disturbed than that of man. Thus it would also be, were they to inflict the wound with their claws. With their tongue only, then, is it possible for them to make such minute apertures in the skin, as to imbibe the blood through them, and to open the veins without causing an acute pain.