It is important for museums to use all available modern techniques to reach and educate the general public (and of course be centres for the conservation of artifacts and a source of research material). I always enjoy visiting a good modern museum, almost regardless of subject covered. However, I still enjoy the few old-fashioned, overcrowded, Victorian-style museums which remain, often with a mass of unrelated objects.
The original Suffolk Museum at Ipswich was probably crowded - it contained some 900 "natural curiosities", but it had a high scientific reputation and would then have been fully up-to-date.
In the 1840s A. Dorkin published a catalogue of the "natural curiosities" in the Suffolk Museum and it is interesting to see the style of presentation and the state of knowledge at that time. The original notes are given here on some of the bats included in Dorkin's catalogue. My own comments are added in italics below each note.
This species of bat is very common in England; it makes its appearance early in the summer, and begins its flight in the dusk of the evening in quest of insects. The Bat brings only two young at a time, which it suckles from two teats placed on the breast.
The scientific name given here is of the Parti-coloured Bat, found mainly in eastern Europe. However, it is a regular long-distance migrant. There are about 10 records of this species from the mainland or on oil or gas platforms in the North Sea (Stebbings, 1986). This is clearly a mis-identification and the specimen most probably was a Pipistrelle.
A species first discovered by M. de Buffon, since that in Flintshire, and other parts of England. It ranges high in the air for food and retires early in summer.
The Noctule, Nyctalus noctula, was known as the Great Bat by many naturalists. It is one of our largest bats and flies from 20 to over 100ft.
The principal distinction between this and the common bat is the ears in this are above an inch long, within each of these is a less ear.
The Brown long-eared Bat is now known as Plecotus auritus (not auristus). The catalogue probably made a mistake over the specific name. Gilbert White of Selborne got it wrong also. In a letter to Thos. Pennant, dated 9th September 1767, he mentioned Verspertilio auribus.
In addition to these British species the museum had a specimen labelled
The description is somewhat muddled but is of interest:-
These bats are common in the islands of the East Indies. They are carnivorous and ferocious. This is the bat to which Linnaeus applied the title of Vamprey, on the supposition of it being the species of which so many extraordinary accounts have been given, relative to its power of sucking the blood of men and cattle: such is the account of authors who have described it. The bat in the museum was kept alive at Yarmouth, and contrary to what has been asserted, found it very harmless: it refused animal food, and fed on fruits and vegetables; it slept with its head downwards, wrapping its wings round its body, in form of a mantle. This bat, with wings extended, measured thirty-five inches.
The bat in the Museum would have been the Malay Fruit Bat (Pteropus vampyrus), sometimes kept as a pet. It can fly long distances to raid fruit trees and is unpopular with the local people, but it is ecologically important in spreading the seeds of forest trees. I have seen these bats in large numbers in the tropics - e.g. they roost on trees by the central post office in Lae in Papua New Guinea, and they appear in the markets, smoked, but I have never tried eating them.
The real Vampire Bat (Desmodus rotundus) is no bigger than a Field Mouse, and far from ferocious. It is shy and creeps towards its victim. Its canine teeth are extremely sharp and can make a cut without waking a man. It then licks blood, with the tongue moving in a groove in the lower jaw. There is an anticoagulant in its saliva and the victim may lose a lot of blood.
Acknowledgement: Thanks are expressed to Bob Stebbings for his valuable comments on this article.
Reference: Stebbings, R.E. (1986) Which Bat is It? The Mammal Society, London.
Geoff Heathcote