MARTEN. 



'225 



ie marten family would thrive the best, these ani- 

 als must be in the worst condition. This species is 

 jscribed as inhabiting the margins of the woods 

 ither than the depths of the tangled forests ; and it 

 ands charged with attacking farm-yards and de- 

 roying poultry. We should feel inclined to doubt 

 lis part of its character, though it is highly probable 

 tat it may destroy eggs and also the callow young 

 ' birds. When the animal is not alarmed, the odour 

 ' it, though offensive certainly, is not intolerable ; 

 id it appears that the animal uses its battery for the 

 ,me purpose that a vessel uses her stern-chase guns, 

 imely, to retard the progress of an enemy, and thus 

 crease the chance of escape. The offensive odour 

 confined exclusively to the apparatus by means of 

 hich it is produced and emitted ; and when this 

 tparatus is removed, it is said that the Indians, and 

 r en the Guachos, do not hesitate to eat the flesh of 

 is animal, nor eat it without a high relish, though 

 >t equal to the flesh of an armadillo roasted in its own 

 lell. When the animal is pursued and annoyed, the 

 ittery is discharged, not in mere gas, but in a liquid, 

 hich, however.instantly evaporates, and is so buoyant 

 id dispersive, and at the same time so powerful, that 

 will taint the air for a mile or even several miles 

 und. Nearer at hand it is perfectly intolerable, 

 id the staunchest dog is instantly arrested by it. 

 /a do not give implicit credit to all the stories which 

 e told of it, although we believe it would be Tery 

 fficult to exaggerate its offensive qualities. As a spe- 

 men of what is said, we quote the following short pas- 

 ge from Kalmen. " In the year 1749, " says he, "one 

 'these animals came near the farm where I lived. It 

 as in winter time, during the night, and the dogs 

 at were on the watch pursued it for some time, 

 itil it discharged against them. Although I was in 

 y bed a good way off, I thought I should be suffo- 

 ited ; and the cows and oxen, by their lowing?, 

 lowed how much they were affected by the stench, 

 bout the end of the same year another of these 

 limals crept into our cellar, but did not exhale the 

 nallest scent, because it was not disturbed. A 

 olish woman, however, who perceived it at night 

 f the shining of its eyes, killed it, arid at that moment 

 } stench began to spread. The whole cellar was 

 lied with it to such a degree, that the woman kept 

 jr bed for several days after, and all the bread, 

 eat, and other provisions that were kept there, 

 ere so affected, that they were obliged to be thrown 

 it of doors." 



D'Azzara gives a similar account of the extreme 

 tfensiveness of the discharge given out by the me- 

 hitic animal of Chili, which is an animal resembling 

 ie former in many respects, though differing from it in 

 there. We have not thought it necessary to give 

 ay one of the many names which this Chilian animal 

 iceives ; because there is not any one of them ex- 

 ressive of its character, and in its manners it is not 

 jry different from the chinche. Like the other, it is 

 sry subject to variation of colour, and the colours of 

 ie male and female are rarely the same, so that a 

 escription founded upon colour would describe 

 icrely the individual and not the species, and thus 

 3 in effect no description at all. According to 

 '"Azzara, the Chilian animal lives in the open country 

 ither than in the forests ; and we might expect this, 

 r the general character of at least a great part of 

 hili is more that of open country than of forest. It 

 urows in the ground ; and though the naturalist to 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. III. 



whom probably we are indebted for our best inform- 

 ation respecting it describes it chiefly as feeding 

 upon eggs, insects, and such birds as it may occasion- 

 ally capture, yet we strongly suspect, that from the 

 vegetable character of the teeth, and its excellent 

 provision for burrowing, it adds both earth-worms 

 and bulbous roots to the food which he mentions. It 

 is represented as having an easy and gliding motion, 

 but not a rapid one ; so that, though it can gallop 

 when danger puts it to its speed, its motion is not 

 faster than a man can follow it. It is not known to 

 attack any of the mammalia, and it is altogether very 

 mild and inoffensive in its manners. The Indians 

 seek after it with some eagerness, and relish its flesh. 

 When they pursue it they teaze it with a long cane, 

 in order to make it discharge the contents of its 

 offensive apparatus. When they once succeed in this, 

 the animal is taken with the greatest ease and with- 

 out offending any one ; and they have the art of 

 extracting this apparatus, which of course destroys 

 the power of ever after emitting the odour, and the 

 animal may then be kept in the house in a completely 

 domestic state. 



The secretion which these animals emit, and which 

 is so volatile in its nature and so offensive in its 

 smell, has not, we believe, been subjected to anything 

 like an accurate chemical analysis, and thus its com- 

 position is not known. Indeed, the analysis of this 

 substance would defy the nose of almost any chemist, 

 how well inured soever to the unsavoury smells of a 

 common laboratory. It is generally supposed, how- 

 ever, to have phosphorus in its composition, or, at 

 all events, to have phosphorescent properties, so that, 

 when the animal discharges it in the dark, it comes 

 off like a jet of light, and thus it is literally a species 

 of firing. When it takes effect upon the skin in sub- 

 stance, it appears tobe caustic and painful in its opera- 

 tion, as well as offensive to the smell. Old dogs, who 

 have experience in the pursuit of this animal, are not 

 fond of going in upon it behind at any time, and will 

 not venture until it has madejts discharge ; but young 

 dogs readily run in upon it, and as its march is very 

 slow, they soon near it ; when they do so, however, 

 they are certain of receiving the offensive discharge 

 right on the nose, and this throws them into a state 

 of the greatest apparent agony. They turn away 

 from the animal with great fear, scrape the earth 

 with their paws, and bury and rub their noses in it 

 with piteous winnings, and tear them with their claws 

 till they are all lacerated and bleeding. They do not 

 desist from those demonstrations of suffering until 

 they are completely exhausted, and fall panting to 

 the earth through fatigue ; and if one of them has 

 suffered in this manner, nothing can induce him again 

 to follow an animal of the same species. 



If this matter is projected upon the clothes of a 

 human being, those clothes are useless ever after, 

 because no means have been discovered by which the 

 offensive smell can be removed, at least in any rea- 

 sonable portion of time. Hamilton Smith, whom 

 Cuvier very justly characterises as " trcs savant 

 naturaliste," mentions that Mr. Skidder, of New 

 York, had a suit of clothes stained by this matter, 

 which were washed with the greatest care, and 

 afterwards suspended over the top of the house, riot 

 less than fifty feet from the foundation, and yet 

 the rank odour was strongly smelt a long way off 

 in the streets. Smith further mentions, that when 

 one day travelling by coach in some part of the 

 P 



