146 NATURAL SCIENCE. apr.l. 



adequate cause for the extinction of the original American horses of 

 which the remains are found in the superficial deposits and caves. 

 Mr. Hudson gives full credit to the statement of the occurrence of 

 the puma in Tierra del Fuego. 



In the fourth chapter, entitled " Some curious Animal Weapons," 

 we desire to draw particular attention to certain very interesting 

 observations regarding the hairy armadillo. This animal (of which 

 we reproduce Mr, Hudson's figure) is stated to have a good chance 

 of surviving all the other members of the group (which are rapidly 

 diminishing), owing to the omnivorous habits it has acquired, and the 

 assumption of a partially nocturnal mode of life. The curious manner 

 in which this armadillo burrows after its prey is graphically described, 

 and the illustration reproduced exhibits the mode in which it actually 

 saws the flesh of unfortunate snakes by means of the sharp edges of 

 its carapace. 



Omitting the interesting chapter on " Fear in Birds and 



Fig. 2. — Wing-display of J acanas. 



Parental Instinct," we pass on to the seventh, where we find much 

 entertaining reading as to the terrible effects of the secretion from 

 which that noisome creature, the skunk, derives its name ; and we 

 confess that until we read the anecdote detailed on pp. 117, 118, we 

 had no conception how persistent and how effectual is even one drop 

 of that fluid. After five chapters devoted to Insects — among which 

 the one on Dragon-fly-storms will be found especially interesting 

 — we have in the fifteenth an account of the death-feigning instinct, 

 which curious mode of protection is developed in such widely different 

 animals as foxes, opossums, and tinamus. The sixteenth chapter is 

 devoted to Humming-birds, where we find it remarked that, after 

 exhausting his powers of admiration on their gorgeous colouring and 

 strange modifications of form, the naturalist finds little scope for 



