42 THE DESCENT OF MAN. [Part I. 



a most ludicrous appearance. They became extremely 

 nervous ; so that when a wooden ball, with which they 

 were familiar as a plaything, was accidentally moved in 

 the straw, under which it was partly hidden, they all in- 

 stantly started away. These monkeys behaved very dif- 

 ferently when a dead fish, a mouse, and some other new 

 objects, were placed in their cages ; for, though at first 

 frightened, they soon approached, handled and examined 

 them. 1 then placed a live snake in a paper bag, with 

 the mouth loosely closed, in one of the larger compart- 

 ments. One of the monkeys immediately approached, 

 cautiously opened the bag a little, peeped in, and in- 

 stantly dashed away. Then I witnessed what Brehm has 

 described, for monkey aftei monkey, with head raised 

 high and turned on one side, could not resist taking mo- 

 mentary peeps into the upright bag, at the dreadful object 

 lying quiet at the bottom. It would almost appear as if 

 monkeys had some notion of zoological affinities, for those 

 kept by Brehm exhibited a strange, though mistaken, in- 

 stinctive dread of innocent lizards and frogs. An orang, 

 also, has been known to be much alarmed at the first 

 sight of a turtle. 9 



The principle of Imitation is strong in man, and espe- 

 cially in man in a barbarous state. Desor 10 has remarked 

 that no animal voluntarily imitates an action performed 

 by man, until in the ascending scale we come to monkeys,* 

 which are well known to be ridiculous mockers. Animals, 

 however, sometimes imitate each others' actions : thus two 

 species of wolves, which had been reared by dogs, learned 

 to bark, as does sometimes, the jackal, 11 but whether this 

 can be called voluntary imitation is another question. 



9 W. C. L. Martin, « Nat. Hist, of Mammalia,' 1841, p. 405. 



10 Quoted by Vogt, 'Memoire surles Microcephales,' 1867, p. 168. 



11 ' The Variation of Animals ana Plants under Domestication,' vol i 

 p. 27. 



