olonel Montague, who was one of the first
to describe it minutely[1], says its speed exceeds that of any
known insect, and as its joints are so flexible as to yield in every
direction (like what mechanics call a "ball and socket"), its motions
are exceedingly grotesque as it tumbles through the fur of the bat.

[Footnote 1: Celeripes vespertilionis, _Mont. Lin. Trans._ xi. p.11.]

[Illustration: NYCTERBIA.]

To enable it to attain its marvellous velocity, each foot is armed
with two sharp hooks, with elastic opposable pads, so that the hair
can not only be rapidly seized and firmly held, but as quickly
disengaged, as the creature whirls away in its headlong career.

The insects to which it bears the nearest affinity, are the
_Hippoboscidae_, or "spider flies," that infest birds and horses;
but, unlike them, the Nycteribia is unable to fly.

Its strangest peculiarity, and that which gave rise to the belief that
it was headless, is its faculty when at rest of throwing back its head
and pressing it close between its shoulders till the under side
becomes uppermost, not a vestige of head being discernible where we
would naturally look for it, and the whole seeming but a casual
inequality on its back.

On closer examination this, apparent tubercle is found to have a
leathery attachment like a flexible neck, and by a sudden jerk the
little creature is enabled to project it forward into its normal
position, when it is discovered to be furnished with a mouth, antennae,
and four eyes, two on each side.

The organisation of such an insect is a marvellous adaptation of
physical form to special circumstances. As the nycteribia has to make
its way through fur and hairs, its feet are furnished with prehensile
hooks that almost convert them into hands; and being obliged to conform
to the sudden flights of its patron, and accommodate itself to inverted
positions, all attitudes are rendered alike to it by the arrangement of its
limbs, which enables it, after every possible gyration, to find itself
always on its feet.

III. CARNIVORA.--_Bears_.--Of the _carnivora_, the one most
dreaded by the natives of Ceylon, and the only one of the larger
animals that makes the depths of the forest its habitual retreat, is
the bear[1], attracted chiefly by the honey which is found in the
hollow trees and clefts of the rocks. Occasionally spots of fresh
earth are observed which have been turned up by the bears in search of
some favourite root.