ZOOLOGY. 285 



surgeon would a probe. At length he came to a part of a branch 

 which evidently gave out an interesting sound, for he began to tear it 

 with his strong teeth, rapidly stripped off *the bark, cut into the wood, 

 and exposed the nest of a grub, which he daintily picked out of its bed 

 with the slender tapping finger, and conveyed the luscious morsel to 

 his mouth. I watched these proceedings with intense interest, and was 

 much struck with the marvellous adaptation of the creature to its hab- 

 its, shown by his acute hearing, which enables him aptly to distinguish 

 the different tones emitted from the wood by his gentle tapping ; his 

 evidently acute sense of smell, aiding him in his search ; his secure 

 footsteps on the slender branches, to which he firmly clung with his 

 quadrumanous members ; his strong, rodent teeth, enabling him to tear 

 through the wood ; and lastly, by the curious slender finger, unlike 

 that of any other animal, and which he used alternately as a plexime- 

 ter, a probe, and a scoop. But I was yet to learn another peculiarity. 

 I gave him water to drink in a saucer, on which he stretched out a 

 hand, dipped a finger into it, and drew it obliquely through his open 

 mouth ; this he repeated so rapidly that the water seemed to flow into 

 his mouth. After a while, he lapped like a cat ; but his first mode of 

 drinking appeared to me to be his way of reaching water in the 

 deep clefts of the trees." 



ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. 



At the conclusion of a monograph, recently published by Prof. Owen, 

 of England, on the "Aye- Aye," this eminent naturalist takes occasion 

 to express his views in regard to that most interesting question of the 

 day, namely, " The Origin of Species" and the following notice and 

 critique of the opinions thus and there put forth, is derived from the 

 pages of Silliman's journal. 



Those who have joined in the issue involved in this question the 

 origin of species may be arranged in one of two classes; 1st, com- 

 prising those who maintain that the present condition of the animal 

 and vegetable kingdom was reached by a series of " progressive crea- 

 tions ; " each species being created and suddenly introduced upon the 

 surface of the earth, and the first-formed individuals having the same 

 specific characters as all the successors ; 2d, those who deny the pre- 

 ceding view, and assert that all animals and plants are the result of 

 "progressive development,"" deviation," or " transmutation" of species, 

 the first created forms being of the simplest kind, or at all events of a 

 simpler kind than those of the present day, and in the course of time 

 transformed into them. How the changes from simple to complex 

 forms were effected, or how specific characters were modified, has been 

 very differently explained. Lamarck says by a " besom" Darwin by 

 " natural selection " and " the struggle for existence," and Owen " by 

 the ordained potentiality of second causes," and by transmutation " un- 

 der law." 



We do not propose to enter into a discussion of these different theo- 

 ries, but, before citing Prof. Owen's views, we will merely remark that, 

 if the progressive-creation hypothesis is adopted, we should be glad to 

 see a better answer than has yet been made to the question, How, and 

 in what condition did the first forms make their appearance ? When 

 a mammal was created, did the oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon 



