Fauna 



Ferments 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



248 



new assemblage of land quadrupeds, and 

 this again differs from the fauna of Texas, 

 where frosts are unknown. It will be ob- 

 served that on this continent there are no 

 great geographical barriers running east 

 and west, such as high snow-clad mountains, 

 barren deserts, or wide arms of the sea, 

 capable of checking the free migration of 

 species from north to south. But notwith- 

 standing the distinctness of those zones of 

 indigenous mammalia, .there are some 

 species, such as the buffalo (Bison ameri- 

 canus), the raccoon (Procyon lotor), and 

 the Virginian opossum (Didelphys virgini- 

 ana), which have a wider habitation, ran- 

 ging almost from Canada to the Gulf of 

 Mexico; but they form exceptions to the 

 general rule. The opossum of Texas (Di- 

 delphys carnivora) is different from that of 

 Virginia, and other species of the same 

 genus inhabit westward of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, in California, for example, where al- 

 most all the mammalia differ from those 

 of the United States. LYELL Principles of 

 Geology, bk. iii, ch. 37, p. 634. (A., 1854.) 



1214. FEAR OF MAN AMONG ANI- 

 MALS An Acquired Propensity. We learn 

 from Mr. Darwin that in the Galapagos 

 archipelago, placed directly under the equa- 

 tor, and nearly 600 miles west of the 

 American continent, all the terrestrial birds, 

 as the finches, doves, hawks, and others, are 

 so tame that they may be killed with a 

 switch. One day, says this author, " a 

 mocking-bird alighted on the edge of a 

 pitcher which I held in my hand, and began 

 quietly to sip the water, and allowed me to 

 lift it with the vessel from the ground." Yet 

 formerly, when the first Europeans landed, 

 and found no inhabitants in these islands, 

 the birds were even tamer than now: al- 

 ready they are beginning to acquire that 

 salutary dread of man which in countries 

 Iong 4 settled is natural even to young birds 

 which have never received any injury. So 

 in the Falkland Islands, both the birds and 

 foxes are entirely without fear of man; 

 whereas, in the adjoining mainland of South 

 America, many of the same species of birds 

 are extremely wild ; for there they have for 

 ages been persecuted by the natives. 



Dr. Richardson informs us, in his able 

 history of the habits of the North American 

 animals, that, " in the retired parts of the 

 mountains where the hunters had seldom 

 penetrated, there is no difficulty in ap- 

 proaching the Rocky Mountain sheep, which 

 there exhibit the simplicity of character so 

 remarkable in the domestic species; but 

 where they have been often fired at they are 

 exceedingly wild, alarm their companions on 

 the approach of danger by a hissing noise, 

 and scale the rocks with a speed and agility 

 that baffle pursuit." LYELL Principles of 

 Geology, bk. iii, ch. 35, p. 597. (A., 1854.) 



1215. FEAR TAUGHT BY PARENT 

 BIRD Young in Shell Know Warning Cry. 

 This fear caused by the parent bird's warn- 



ing note begins to manifest itself even be- 

 fore the young are hatched and my obser- 

 vations on this point refer to several species 

 in three widely separated orders. When the 

 little prisoner is hammering at its shell, and 

 uttering its feeble peep, as if begging to be 

 let out, if the warning note is uttered, even 

 at a considerable distance, the strokes and 

 complaining instantly cease, and the chick 

 will then remain quiescent in the shell for a 

 long time, or until the parent, by a changed 

 note, conveys to it an intimation that the 

 danger is over. HUDSON Naturalist in La 

 Plata, ch. 5, p. 90. (C. & H., 1895.) 



1216. FEAR WITHOUT REASON 



Stage-fright and Shyness. Both stage- 

 fright and servile terror may exist with the 

 most indefinite apprehensions of danger, 

 and, in fact, when our reason tells us there 

 is no occasion for alarm. We must, there- 

 fore, admit a certain amount of purely in- 

 stinctive perturbation and constraint, due to 

 the consciousness that we have become ob- 

 jects for other people's eyes. Mr. Darwin 

 goes on to say : " Shyness comes on at a 

 very early age. In one of my own children, 

 two years and three months old, I saw a 

 trace of what certainly appeared to be shy- 

 ness directed toward myself, after an ab- 

 sence from home of only a week." Every 

 parent has noticed the same sort of thing. 

 Considering the despotic powers of rulers in 

 savage tribes, respect and awe must, from 

 time immemorial, have been emotions excited 

 by certain individuals; and stage-fright, 

 servile terror, and shyness must have had as 

 copious opportunities for exercise as at the 

 present time. Whether these impulses could 

 ever have been useful, and selected for use- 

 fulness, is a question which, it would seem, 

 can only be answered in the negative. Ap- 

 parently they are pure hindrances, like 

 fainting at sight of blood or disease, sea- 

 sickness, a dizzy head on high places, 

 and certain squeamishnesses of esthetic 

 taste. They are incidental emotions, in 

 spite of which we get along. JAMES Psy- 

 chology, vol. ii, ch. 24, p. 432. (H. H. & Co., 

 1899.) 



1217. FEELING A SUM OF EXPE- 

 RIENCES Experience is remolding us 

 every moment, and our mental reaction on 

 every given thing is really a resultant of our 

 experience of the whole world up to that 

 date. JAMES Psychology, vol. i, ch. 9, p. 

 234. (H. H. &Co., 1899.) 



1218. FEELING, THE DOMINANT 



Molds Images in Dreams. The analogy of 

 feeling is a common link between dream- 

 images. Now, if any shade of feeling be- 

 comes fixed and dominant in the mind, it 

 will tend to control all the images of the 

 time, allowing certain congruous ones to 

 enter, and excluding others. If, for ex- 

 ample, a feeling of distress occupies the 

 mind, distressing images will have the ad- 

 vantage in the struggle for existence which 



