358 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [15:9— Dec, 1919 



like playfulness seems quite masculine, so "he" he shall remain as 

 long as he is our pet. 



His inain charm is never failing playfulness. You clap your 

 hands. He jumps a foot clear of the ground and cavorts about like 

 a bucking broncho in a tiny way, first running away from you and 

 the next minute, charging you at a tremendous rate of speed ; he 

 runs up yotu- leg and tucks his head between his legs, with his hands 

 over his nose, indicating scratching is required immediately. 

 If you hesitate a second, up comes his head and beady eyes in a quick 

 interested way ; and if this fails to call forth the needed response, 

 nibbling is the last resort. We called him Kippy for some time 

 from the Indian name, but finally it evolved into Cooty. It is 

 hard to explain just why "Cooty" fits him so exactly. Maybe it is 

 because of his real name — Coati, or the association with scratching 

 or the suggestion of some thing cute or both; but at any rate 

 "Cooty" has remained with him. 



" Cooty 's" nearest relatives in the United States are the raccoons; 

 but he differs by possessing a long nose which is well adapted for 

 digging after grubs and insects, for which purpose he uses his strong 

 little claws ; he is an efficient destroyer of the large termite nests 

 which are found in the South American jungle. He climbs trees 

 well, shinning up and coming down backwards, his tail, being used 

 as a brace, although it is not prehensile. He eats everything that 

 can be imagined from rice to "all-day-suckers." Any fat, jtdcy 

 insect is a wonderful treat and he smacks his lips after biting it 

 apart and swallowing it. His actions with hairy insects are very 

 amusing and exactly similar to the habits of the skunk. If the 

 morsel is a large moth, he first breaks off the wings as unworthy of 

 a Kippachee's menu, and then rolls the body on the ground until 

 every hair is off. During all this seeming rough treatment the soft 

 body of the moth is not broken in the slightest. It then disappears 

 amid smacking of lips, down the mouth which is under the nose, 

 where it ought to be, of course, but considering the nose it seems 

 be placed in a peculiar way, similar to that of suckers. Cooty's 

 main ambition in life is to be scratched. He prefers all places at 

 once, but usually is satisfied as long as you use both hands con- 

 tinually. 



One night we were all sitting at our desks in the laboratory with 

 the windows open when we heard his plaintive squeaks, and upon 

 looking out the window, there was Cooty on a ladder leaned against 



