Aug. 1, 1867.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



179 



MY LITTLE GREEN MONKEY. 



I HAVE the prettiest little monkey I ever saw, 

 a wee green creature, with large red-brown 

 eyes, and hands wonderfully like a human being's. 

 Pretty may seem an inappropriate name to apply to 

 a monkey, but this particular one is really deserving 

 of it. 



I have only had it a short time, and I wish to 

 know how to treat it in the winter, in cold weather. 

 It now lives in a hut on the lawn, fastened, by a 

 chain, to a long pole which it can run up and down 

 at will. It eats bread, milk, and ripe fruit. Milk 

 and raw eggs are its especial weakness. 



I fancy the poor little thing has been very badly 

 treated in its earlier years by some organ-man or 

 other, for one of these wandering gentlemen entered 

 my garden the other day, and Jock evinced intense 

 terror. He spraug on my shoulder and nearly 

 strangled me with; his long slender arms, clasped 

 them tightly round my throat, and began to chatter 

 in monkey language, telling mc I have little 

 doubt, could I but have understood him, some tale 

 of sensational cruelty. 



"That ere monkey will hurt you," cried the 

 organist. 



Poor Jock, I believe, understood him, for as if to 

 reassure me, he let go his grasp, and nestled down 

 •on my arm with such an imploring look, that I at once 

 unfastened his chain, and carried him off in-doors, 

 flung him on the rug where his friend the cat lay 

 curled up, and giving the man a few pence asked 

 him to move on. When I came back, Jock was rolled 

 up like a ball in the cat's arms. It is amusing to 

 watch their friendship for each other ; puss shares 

 his saucer of milk, and then licks Jock's coat all 

 over. He will gravely hold out his hands to the 

 process or put up his face to be so washed, just like 

 a man holds his face up under the hands of the 

 barber. This cat I must tell you is an old acquaint- 

 ance of his, belonged to his former mistress, a 

 clergyman's wife, and I was presented with puss in 

 order that the friends might not be parted ; but 

 Jock is not fond of kittens. I have a white one ; 

 she ventured one day rather too near his domain, 

 and after he had thrown her about like a little snow 

 ball for a few minutes, he coolly flung her into the 

 pond to frighten the stickle-backs. My little boy 

 was fortunately at hand, otherwise she would soon 

 have been food for them. Chickens he invariably 

 begins to feather alive ; he holds them cook fashion, 

 and plucks away finely, regardless of the old hen 

 who from a coop close by abuses him loudly. 



It is the custom in country villages for the dif- 

 ferent clubs, headed by a band of music, to call at 

 most of the houses in the neighbourhood. I had a 

 visit last week, and Jock, who hates music, was so 

 frightened by the sound of the drum, that he broke 



his chain, sprang across the lawn, and mounted a tall 

 beech tree. We tried in vain to coax him down, 

 but early the next morning, he was on the top of the 

 greenhouse, peeping in at mc ; a little fresh milk 

 proved too much for his powers of resistance. He 

 came down with a run, and having finished his 

 breakfast very quietly, went to pay his respects to 

 the cat, and was soon chained agaiu. 



H. E. Watney. 



THE BLIND WORM. 



THOUGH I can throw no light on the climbing 

 propensities of the slow-worm, perhaps a few 

 particulars concerning one which was in my 

 possession for several months may not be un- 

 acceptable to Mr. Guyon, nor altogether uninte- 

 resting to some among your readers. My specimen 

 was captured one warm day in May, on Clifton 

 Down, was twelve inches long, with beautifully 

 iridescent scales about the head, and a skin smooth 

 and shining as satin. The "pretty fellow" soon 

 became a favourite, and although his proper abode 

 was a covered basket, furnished with some folded 

 flannel, yet, as he was not an object of repugnance 

 to any member of the family, a considerable portion 

 of his time was spent in comparative liberty, thus 

 affording every opportunity for observation. The 

 only food he would ever take was the small delicate 

 grey slug so destructive in our gardens and fields ; 

 of these four or five would generally satisfy his 

 appetite, though he would sometimes eat as many 

 or seven or eight at one time, renewing his repast 

 every three or four days-; but he could bear long 

 fasting without any perceptible diminution of vigour 

 or activity, and the summer being a very dry one, I 

 had sometimes great difficulty in finding the requisite 

 food, and was unwillingly obliged to put his powers 

 of abstinence to severe tests. However hungry, he 

 would take no notice of anything else I could offer 

 him, neither would he eat the small black slug, 

 yellow underneath, perhaps on account of the very 

 viscid slime and tough skin of these little creatures. 

 When about to take a slug, the slow-worm would 

 open his mouth to its widest extent, generally turn- 

 ing the head on one side, and gliding slowly up to 

 its victim, seize it exactly in the middle, with a grip 

 like a vice. This appeared entirely to disable the 

 creature, which was then slowly gorged, the opera- 

 tion, even on so small a scale, being decidedly 

 unpleasant to witness. Erom this mode of capture 

 he never varied, but if, as occasionally happened, 

 from the very slippery nature of the prey, the first 

 attempt failed, he never made another immediately, 

 but would turn away with a most ludicrous air of 

 unconcern, a very flimsy attempt to cover his evident 

 mortification. He would drink freely of water, 

 lapping it with his dark forked tongue, and every 

 now and then lifting his head, precisely in the same 



