THE COATI-MONDI. 349 



Curious practice of gna\ving the tail. 



from six in the evening till midnight, without 

 the least regard to the weather. 



The coati-mondi stands with ease on its hind- 

 feet; and has a curious practice of gnawing its 

 own tail, which it generally carries erect and 

 moves with perfect facility in every direction. 

 " This seeming unnatural habit/' says the Comte 

 de Buffon, " is not peculiar to the coati ; for 

 some monkeys, and other animals with long tails, 

 frequently shorten them a fourth, or even one 

 third, in this manner. From this circumstance 

 the inference has been drawn, that in very long 

 members the extremities of which must conse- 

 quently be very remote from the centre of sensa- 

 tion, the feeling must be weak; and the more 

 so the greater the distance and the smaller the 

 part ; for if the extremities of the tails of these 

 animals were very sensible, the pain excited 

 would prevail over their inclination to mutilate, 

 and they would preserve their tails with as much 

 care as any other part of the body." 



The coati-mondi is carnivorous, and, like the 

 fox or martin, destroys small animals and poul- 

 try, hunts for the nests of birds, and devours 

 their eggs ; and it is probably from this confor- 

 mity of disposition rather than from any external 

 resemblance, that some writers have considered 

 it as a small species of the fox. It is principally 

 found iu Brasil and Guiana. 



