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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The tail of Nasua is quite suggestive of the raccoon ; but Nasua's 

 tail is a much handsomer affair longer, and with rings more numerous 

 and of gayer colors. With admirable intelligence, our pet put this 

 beautiful appendage to a remarkable use. She was tethered by a 

 string to a chair, and an egg was put on the floor at a tantalizing dis- 

 tance. She could just touch it with a paw, and that touch caused the 

 coveted prize to roll out of reach. She then turned her hind-feet tow- 

 ard it, pulling hard so as to stretch her neck ; still even with a hind- 

 foot she could not touch it. The logic of events was now, " Get it if 

 you can ! " All this Nasua well understood, for she turned tail on the 

 subject altogether not, however, as did Reynard on the grapes, but 

 strategically. She gathered herself up, and looked at the coveted ob- 

 ject with speculative eyes. Then she swung herself round again, pull- 

 ing hard on the tether by the neck. She then curved the tip of the 

 tail so as to make a little hook. Now she grasps the base of the tail 



Fig. 4. 



Brown Bear (TTrsns aretes). This cnt shows the plantigrade step, in which the entire sole of the foot is 

 put down at once. The same step characterizes the Coati-Mondi and Raccoon. In the Bear this 

 characteristic finds its highest expression. 



with one paw, as with a hand, thus stiffening and steadying the organ. 

 She next slowly and cautiously rolled the egg, by the curved tip of the 

 tail, through a section of a circle, until it was brought within reach of 

 one of the front-feet. The egg now seized, sitting on her hind-feet, 

 like a bear, she cracks it, extracts the contents, and neither spills a 



