COB.EA COBALT. 



stiffening for want of use. This is indeed simply a 

 digging nose, and does not appear to perform any 

 other function, at least in the lengthened part of it ; 

 and therefore it is not only a peculiarity in the 

 animal kingdom, but it is perhaps one of the best 

 foundations of generic distinction in the whole of 

 zoology. 



Animals of this genus have five toes on all their 

 feet, the three intermediate ones being the longest, 

 and the thumb or inner one the shortest of the 

 whole. These feet are furnished with sharp and 

 crooked claws, which are not at all adapted for dig- 

 ging; and indeed, though the animal dwells in 

 burrows, it appears to excavate those burrows entirely 

 by the action of the nose, and it is probably the only 

 one of the mammalia which does so. The soles of 

 the feet are furnished with tubercles, one very large 

 One, answering to the three middle toes, very soft in 

 its substance, but rendered adhesive by having the 

 surface divided into smaller tubercles. The pupil of 

 the eye contracts in the daylight to a transverse line. 

 The ears are short and rounded ; the tongue is soft 

 and extensible like that of the bears, to which indeed 

 these animals have a very considerable resemblance 

 in their general character of being among the most 

 omnivorous of the sub-order. The body is very 

 long, as compared with the legs, which are not only 

 short in their absolute length, but appear still shorter 

 when the animal walks, in consequence of the whole 

 sole being applied to the ground. The tail is of the 

 same length as the body, of nearly equal thickness 

 throughout, and when the animal walks it is carried 

 recurved over the right in the same manner as in 

 many of the monkeys. The hair over the whole 

 body is thickly set, and of uniform length. The 

 head is much elongated, and bears no inconsiderable 

 resemblance to that of a fox, only the continual mo- 

 tion of the cartilaginous snout gives a very singular 

 expression to the animal. 



These animals are chiefly found in the forests o 

 South America, where they assemble in small packs 

 and make their burrows or nestling places under the 

 roots of old trees. This habit is a necessary conse- 

 quence of the peculiar form of their digging instru- 

 ment; for as the snout necessarily digs by an upwar 

 motion, it is obvious that it cannot dig so as to leave 

 a firm roof, as is the case with those animals which 

 dig downward or laterally with the paws ; indeed, i 

 is quite evident that an upward digging animal couk 

 not possibly get under a roof of earth at all, unless 

 it were to burrow in the face of a perpendicular 

 bank, and these animals are found in the dry forests 

 nuher than by the margins of the waters. It is saic 

 that they often undermine the trees to such an extent 

 that when even a moderate wind comes, they are 

 overturned in great numbers; and thus the coatii 

 serve, to a very considerable extent, as foresters o 

 woodmen, in cutting down, or which comes to thi 

 same thing, uprooting those trees which have begun 

 to encumber the soil. They are by no means inexpert 

 as they climb, and pursue birds, and also rob nests in 

 the trees. Contrary to the general habit of climbing 

 mammalia, they descend the trunks of trees head 

 foremost, and they do this in consequence of a pecu 

 liar mode ^hich they have in reversing the hind fee 

 externally, and thus suspending their weight by thei 

 crooked claws. It is said that in a state of nature 

 there are many more males produced than females 

 and that the bachelor coatis live solitary in the woods 



As their motion on the ground is very slow, and 

 s they are incapable of digging so as to bury them- 

 elves, they are easily taken, and they do not refuse 

 o live in a state of confinement, in which indeed 

 hey are very tame, and fond of being caressed, 

 hough they do not follow their masters, or show 

 nuch attachment in return. While feeding, they are 

 uspicious animals. They use their fore-paws as hands 

 n feeding, and also in dividing their food, so as to fit 

 t for being received into the mouth. They are very 

 estless and inquisitive in their manners, continually 

 moving about. 



As already mentioned, there are only two species, 

 joth natives of South America; and it is doubtful 

 .vhether even these are any thing else but varieties 

 differently coloured, but the differences of colour is 

 very considerable. These two species are the red 

 and the brown. 



The red Coati has all the parts of the body of a 

 jright red, with the exception of the muzzle, the ears, 

 the soles of the fore feet, and some spots or bands on 

 he tail, but the ridge of the back is darker than the 

 rest, and has a blackish tinge. The muzzle is greyish 

 black on the upper part, and grey on the sides ; and 

 there is a white spot surrounding each eye. The 

 covering is everywhere of very thick and rough hair, 

 which consists of two sorts. The colours appear to 

 be subject to considerable variations. The smell of 

 the animal is strong and offensive. 



The brown Coati is still more variable in colour 

 than the red ; but its most constant character is 

 described as being two white lines, which extend 

 along the sides on the back of the muzzle, and meet 

 the circles which surround the eyes. The most de- 

 cided character, however, is described as being the 

 different number of mamma; in the females, the red 

 having five pairs, and the brown only three ; but it 

 does not appear from all the information which we 

 possess, that the number of young in the red is equal 

 to that of the mammae, as is the case with most of 

 the animals of South America. We are, however, 

 in a great measure ignorant of the manners of the 

 coatis. 



COB^EA (Cavanille). A Mexican ornamental 

 climbing perennial, common in greenhouse collections. 

 Liunxan class and order Pcntaiidria Matio^yiiia, and 

 natural order Cobccacea;. Generic character : calyx 

 bell-shaped, five-cleft, peltate at the base and per- 

 sisting ; corolla bell-shaped, five-lobed, lobes three- 

 cleft; stamens declining, filaments twisted; stigma 

 three or five-cleft ; capsule inversely egg-shaped, from 

 three to five-celled, all the valves opening, seed imbri- 

 cated and margined. This plant having large purple 

 flowers, fine foliage, and a free grower, is a great 

 favourite, especially for hiding the columns in a con- 

 servatory, or covering the back wall of a greenhouse. 

 In the summer months it grows well in the open air, 

 and quickly forms a bower over any kind of trellis or 

 veranda, which it may be desirable to cover with 

 verdure and showy flowers. As it ripens seeds, new 

 plants are easily raised, or it may be increased by 

 cuttings in moist heat. The C. scandcns was formerly 

 included in liiqnoniacete, but now forms an order by 

 itself. 



COBALT. This metal is rarely found pure in a 

 native state. The cobalt from Tunaberg in Sweden 

 is combined with sulphur ; in other cases it is mine- 

 ralised by arsenic ; and both of them much resemble 

 iron pyrites in form and colour. At one plu-. 



