Il8 OMENSETTER : 



on their part. "I have seen," says Dr. Goldsmith, "an 

 otter go to a gentleman's pond at word of command, drive 

 the fish into a corner, and, seizing upon the largest of the 

 whole, bring it oflf in his mouth to his master." 



The sphex wasp is a burrowing insect which provides food 

 for its young by paralyzing the nerve centres of its prey by 

 stinging. A similar occurrence has been noted by a writer in 

 the " Magazine of Natural History," who relates : — "I dug 

 out five young polecats, comfortably embedded in dry, with- 

 ered grass ; and in a side hole, of proper dimensions for such 

 a larder, I picked out forty large frogs and two toads, all 

 alive, but merely capable of sprawling a little. On examina- 

 tion I found that the whole number, toads and all, had been 

 purposely and dextrously bitten through the brain." 



All are acquainted with the extraordinary wariness of rats 

 in regard to traps, which is only equalled in the animal king- 

 dom by that of the fox and the wolverine. It has frequently 

 been regarded as a wonderful display of intelligence on the 

 part of rats that while gnawing through the woodwork of a 

 ship, they always stop before they completely perforate the 

 side, but this is probably due to their distaste of salt water. 

 No such disparaging explanation, however, is possible in 

 some other instances of the display of rat intelligence. Thus, 

 the manner in which they transport eggs to their burrows has 

 been too frequently observed to admit of doubt. " The cap- 

 tain of a merchantman trading to the port of Boston had con- 

 stantl}^ missed eggs from his sea stock. He suspected that he 

 was robbed by his crew, but not being able to discover the 

 thief he was determined to watch his storeroom. Accordingly, 

 having laid in a fresh stock of eggs, he seated himself at night 

 in a situation that commanded a view of his eggs. To his 

 great astonishment he saw a number of rats approach ; they 

 formed a line from his egg basket to their hole, and handed 

 the eggs from one to another in their forepaws." 



The higher mental faculties of the elephant are more 

 advanced in their development than in any other animal 



