Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
Rio San Miguel, 13°25'N Dept., San Miguel
Feb., 2, 1986 - Feb., 21, 1986
Fringe-lipped Bat-
One day while hunting
through some dry pasture jungle
around the edge of an old lagoon
I discovered a large hollow log
perhaps five feet in diameter
at the back.
The next day I
returned with assistants
and a large mosquito bed net
to raid the place for bats. We
arrived at the log just as it
getting dusk and arranged our
net at the opening making a
bag to catch the bats. As I
forgot to put water in my
small calibic lamp I was forced
to go into the log with a box
of matches to light my way.
For the first four or five feet
I was able to proceed by stooping
but soon had to drop to my
knees. The bats were squeaking
all about me and occasionally
heavy wings would fan my face.
It was impossible to light matches
for fluttering bats put them out
as fast as I did so. Or I went
groping through the darkness
on my hands and knees and
as I gained the upper end of
the hollow I could feel the
heat from their bodies and the
air was quite close.
The hollow
was now so small that my