TAILS 35 



unimportance to its possessor — a quantity of plastic 

 substance capable of being moulded into almost any 

 shape and utilized in all manner of ways. 



The fish and the whale needed a propelling organ to 

 enable them the more rapidly to force their way through 

 the water ; the tail was pressed into service. The 

 squirrel and the fox felt the want of a warm counter- 

 pane to protect them from the chilly blasts of the cold 

 east winds, so Nature took the plastic tail, lengthened it, 

 covered it with thick, soft, fluffy fur, and thus presented 

 the animals with warm quilts. 



In other cases Nature has made the tail into a prehen- 

 sile organ, so that its possessors have become very 

 expert tree-climbers, and are also able to utilize the 

 caudal appendage in carrying their young. 



Some creatures inhabit damp marshes and hot 

 countries where flies abound, ready to sting them and 

 worry them to death. A fly-whisk is almost a neces- 

 sity to such animals, so Nature has made one for them 

 out of their tail. 



The skunk hit upon a strange mode of keeping off 

 his enemies. He devised the plan of secreting a fluid 

 emitting the most disgusting odour, so powerful that 

 no animal will willingly venture near him. He needed 

 an advertisement of this fact, lest some animal should 

 attack him in mistake for an inoffensive creature, so his 

 tail was converted into an advertisement board. He 

 trots along slowly with his caudal appendage aloft, and 

 every animal recognizes it, so he is allowed to pass 

 through life unmolested. 



The tail is a conspicuous feature in the anatomy of 



