LONG-ARMED CLIMBERS. 131 



with slow and painful marcli, tlie hind feet held up 

 at an angle ahove the level of the back ; but gene- 

 rally it seeks an elevated position. We usually see 

 it in the morning perched on the summit of some one 

 of the more bushy weeds in the Aquarium, as the 

 Chondrus or Phyllo])hora ruhens, where it has taken 

 its station dming the night, the season of its chief 

 activity, as of most other Crustacea. It interested 

 me much to see it climb : seizing the twigs above it 

 by stretching out its long arms alternately, it dragged 

 up its body from branch to branch, mounting to the 

 top of the plant deliberately, but with ease. While 

 watching it, I was strongly reminded of the Orang- 

 otan at the Zoological Gardens ; the manner in which 

 each of these very dissimilar animals performed the 

 same feat was so closely alike as to create an agreeable 

 feeling of surprise. 



This circumstance led me to think of another : the 

 resemblance was not only in habit, but in conforma- 

 tion also ; viz. in the great length of arm. This is 

 obviously an adaptation for climbing in the Quadru- 

 mane as well as the Crustacean ; and a few examples 

 occurred to my remembrance in which a similar struc- 

 ture is associated with the like habit. All the Monkey 

 tribe, for instance ; and the Sloths of South America, 

 which are almost exclusively arboreal, have the ante- 

 rior limbs excessively long. Many of the Longicorns 

 among beetles are remarkable for their developed arms, 

 and these are essentially tree-insects. Again, among 

 the Spiders, the perpendicular web-makers — as Epeira, 

 Tetragnatha, &c., which run to and fro on the tracery 

 of their slender lines, like seamen manning the shrouds 



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