352 Transactions. — Zoology. 



common occurrence, he told me, during the protracted drought, 

 which had then just broken up, to see a couple of horses 

 gnawing at each side of the stem of the tree at about a foot 

 from the ground. The tree, it is necessary to remark, is of the 

 palm family, and has all its leaves at the top. The rest of the 

 horses might be seen at the same time grouped in all directions 

 along the side of the hill, watching, but not interfering with, 

 the operations. At last, when the stem was gnawed through, 

 down would come the tree, and there would be a general rush 

 and scramble for the leaves. This over, the tree-fellers would 

 move on to the next Cordyline, and set to work, with, after a 

 httle, a similar result. Mr. Fleming told me that he had fre- 

 quently brought visitors to witness the operation. 



The above would, perhaps, form an instance of a chance 

 discovery, utilised as soon as found, of w-hich there are in- 

 numerable others in the history of the development of instinct. 

 The horses, no doubt, in the first instance chewed the bark of 

 the tree simply to appease their hunger. By chance one was 

 brought down, and this result w'as followed by a rich find of 

 succulent food. After a few such chances — perhaps after one 

 — they no doubt went about the gnawing with the set purpose 

 of bringing the tree down, and soon improved on that by 

 arranging with one another that one should gnaw, say, the 

 western side of the tree, while the other gnawed the eastern, 

 at about the same height from the ground. The concert and 

 co-operation implied in this exhibit no inconsiderable approach 

 to human intelligence. We can see, too, in such a case some 

 of the factors necessary for the origination of a new instinct. 

 Supposing the drought protracted for generations, and the 

 supply of cabbage-trees unexhausted, we should soon have a 

 breed of horses that were born tree-fellers, and whose jaws 

 and teeth would, no doubt, in time become endowed with the 

 increased strength and sharpness necessary for the rapid and 

 efficient performance of the operation. 



I was informed by another of my Hawke's Bay neighbours 

 of a circumstance in connection with the habits of the wild 

 — that is, the feral — dog, which I believe is familiarly enough 

 known to those to whom the habits of this animal are a 

 matter of concern. When a slut has a litter of pups to feed, 

 she will gorge herself with the flesh of her quarry, then go 

 home and vomit it out for their benefit. I have heard since 

 that the habit is not peculiar to the wild dog. Mr. Sims, who 

 was manager for Mr. Cotter, of Ashurst, and was afterwards 

 with me for a short time in a similar capacity, informed me 

 that an imported slut belonging to Mr. Cotter was in the 

 habit of doing precisely the same thing. What is, perhaps, 

 most remarkable in connection with this case is the control 

 acquired by the animals over the muscles of the abdomen and 



