The Wit of the Wild 



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time to this the variation it has undergone hag 

 been extremely small, so small that the teeth 

 found fossil in the Laramie formations of 

 Wyoming are hardly distinguishable from 

 those of the " 'possum-up-a-gum-tree " to-day. 

 Now it must be remembered that the world 

 of that era was peopled almost wholly, so far 

 as interested opossums of the time, with preda- 

 cious reptiles, brutes often of enormous size and 

 strength but of low and sluggish nervous or- 

 ganization. The relatively minute size and 

 smooth interior of their brain-boxes show that 

 their brains were of little value as instruments 

 of intelligence, and all their senses were doubt- 

 less far inferior to those even of the dull-witted, 

 sluggish crocodilians, lizards and turtles of the 

 present. Small objects would not attract their 

 attention unless they moved, and a little animal 

 remaining absolutely motionless would in most 

 cases be overlooked, or if seen would not be 

 attacked. Put a tree-toad in a cage with a 

 bull-frog to-day and the little one will be safe 

 from his ravenous neighbor, no matter how near 

 he sits, until he makes a move. Should the crea- 



