HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



lOI 



across them they have made no effort to escape from 

 my open hand — even when placed upon the earth 

 have made no haste to seek cover. The pretty 

 dormouse {Muscardinus avellanarhis) finds many a 

 snug retreat in the woods hereabout, and of course 



Fig. 72. — Nuthatch [Sitta Europi^a), 



the domestic mouse (j1/«j- muscules) abounds. Our 

 lane, too, can boast of more than its complement of 

 toads, frogs, and slow-worms, and not long since we 

 found a large adder that had been recently killed on 

 the sunny open at the top of the lane * — whilst the 

 grass-snake is common. 



(To be continued.) 



THE VOICES OF ANIMALS. 



IITR. J. G. HODGSON, President of the Man- 

 -^"-L Chester Elocutionists' Society, recently gave 

 an address on the above interesting subject. In the 

 mammalia the general structure of the larynx was 

 like that of man ; the power and character of the 

 sound depending on the different degrees of develop- 

 ment of the vocal cords, and the peculiarity of 

 structure of the vocal organs. All animals had 

 their characteristic voices and calls, in more or less 

 distinct intervals and varied degrees of compass. 

 The timbre or quality of voice was remarkably 

 distinct in the different classes of animals, so that a 

 mistake could not well be made. It also varied in 



• These snakes are particularly abundant in certain un- 

 frequented spots. 



those of the same class ; the lamb could disting-uish 

 the call of its dam by the timbre of her bleat from 

 that of the rest of the flock. Here the president 

 showed the larynx of a sheep which he had dissected 

 the day before. He explained the cartilage?, epi- 

 glottis, and vocal cords, and noted 

 that in this instance these cords did 

 not meet the whole of their length, 

 for there was an elliptical orifice in 

 the centre. Lions and tigers with 

 their magnitude of chest made a 

 roar that filled the human ear with 

 a sense of horror, as no doubt it did 

 the ear of their prey. The depth of 

 voice gave to the mind the idea of 

 an enormous being which made 

 children try to frighten each other 

 with imitating the sound. The 

 horse neighed in a descent on the 

 chromatic scale without even omit- 

 ting a semitone. It was one of the 

 most musically-voiced of mammals ; 



and the imitation was very difficult. 



The ass brayed in a perfect octave, 

 beginning with a modest whistle, 

 and, as the poet said, "sings in 

 sonorous octaves loud and clear." 

 Haydn had copied one of its ejacu- 

 lations in his seventy-sixth quartette 

 i._~*^==- with great success. The bark of a 



dog was an instance of an acquired 

 voice by domestication, much in the 

 same way as the trotting of the horse 

 was an acquired movement. In a state of nature the 

 dog whined, howled, or growled. Columbus found 

 that the dogs he had previously carried to America 

 had lost their bark. As with many animals, the dog 

 was capable of showing difference of feeling — the 

 shepherd's dog gave the sound of command to the 

 flock, while a horse knew from the bark whether the 

 dog would bite his heels or not. Humboldt said the 

 howling or preacher monkey of South America coidd 

 be heard two miles, which was due to certain pouches 

 connected with the larynx and to a drum-like develop- 

 ment of thehyoid bone. An ape, one of the Gibbons, 

 produced an exact octave of musical sounds, ascend- 

 ing and descending the scale by half-tones, so that 

 perhaps it alone of brute animals might be said to 

 sing. In the elephant house at Belle Vue Gardens 

 there were several small monkeys with pleasing sing- 

 ing voices. It seemed a pity that the meek-looking 

 and beautifully marked giraffe, that reached in one 

 case that he had seen a height of 17J feet, should 

 be voiceless, yet it and the armadillo had no vocal 

 cords. The chirp of the long-eared bat was said 

 to be the most acute sound produced by any animal. 

 Only fiive out of six people could hear it. In reptiles 

 the larynx was in a rudimentary condition, and the 

 vocal organs showed considerable divergence. The 



