5S VERTEBRATA. 



tapering, in a fourth of moderate length and cylindrical, in a fifth extremely long, but uniformly 

 covered with hair; in others, again, of equal length, divested of hair beneath and near the tip, 

 and capable of being twisted round the branch of a tret-, or any other similar substance, in such a 

 manner as to support the whole weight of the animal, even without the assistance of its hands. 



In none of them, it maj be observed, are the hands tunned for swimming, or the nails con- 

 structed for digging the earth; and in none of them is the naked, callous portion, which corre- 

 sponds to the sole or the palm, capable of being applied, like the feet of man or of the bear, to the 

 fiat surfaces on which they may occasionally tread. Even in those which have the greatest pro- 

 pensity to assume an upright posture, the body is, under such circumstances, wholly supported hv 

 the outer margins of the posterior hands. The earth, in fact, is not their proper place of abode; 

 they are essentially inhabitants of trees, and every part of their organization is admirably fitted 

 for the mode of life to which they were destined by the hand of nature herself. 



Throughout the vast forests of Asia/" Africa, and South America, and more especially in those 

 portions of these continents which are comprehended within the tropics, they congregate in nu- 

 merous troop-, hounding rapidly from branch to branch, and from tree to tree, in search of the 

 fruits and eggs which constitute their principal means of subsistence. In the course of these pere- 

 grinations, which are fri quently executed with a velocity scarcely to be followed by the eye, they 

 set m to give a momentary, and but a momentary, attention to every remarkable object that falls 

 in their way, but never appear to remember it again, for they will examine the same object with 

 the same rapidity as often as it occurs, and apparently without in the least recognizing it as that 

 which they had seen before. They pass on a sudden from a state of seeming tranquillity to the 

 mosl violent demonstrations of passion and sensuality, and in the course of a few minutes run 

 through all the various phases of gesture and action of which they are capable, and for which 

 their peculiar conformation affords ample scope. The females treat their young with the greatest 

 tenderness until they become capable of shifting for themselves, when they turn them loose upon 

 the world, and conduct toward them from that time forward in the same manner as toward the 

 most perfect strangers. 



The degrees of their intelligence, winch in general is very limited, and is not capable of being 

 made subservient to the purposes of man, except as a show in a menagerie, vary almost as much 

 as the ever-chaniniiLT outline of their form. From the grave and reflective oranff-outangf, whose 

 docilitv and powers of imitation in his young state have been the theme of great wonder and 

 equal exaggeration, to the coarse and brutal baboon, the gradations are gradual and easy. A 

 remarkable circumstance connected with the development of the faculty of being educated, or 

 perhaps we should rather say, with its gradual extinction, consists in the fact, that it is only in 

 young animals which have not yet attained their full growth that it is capable of being brought 

 into play, — the older individuals, even of the most tractable races, entirely losing their gayety, ami 

 with it the docility of their youth, and becoming at length nearly as stupid and as savage as the 

 most barbarous of the tribe. 



Although, as we have said, nearly all the monkeys, as well as the apes, live on fruits and the 

 eggs of bird-, still many of them devour small birds and quadrupeds, and some occasionally feed 

 on fish. AYe are told that certain species display great address in getting at the flesh of shell-fish. 

 The oysters of the tropical climates being larger than ours, the monkeys, when they reach the 

 sea-side, pick up .-tones and thrust them between the open shells, which being thus prevented 

 from closing, the cunning animals eat the fish at their ease. In order to attract crabs, they put 

 their tails before the holes in which tiny have taken refuge. AVhcn they have fastened on the 

 bait, the monkeys suddenly withdraw their tails, and thus drag their prey on shore. 



It is to be remarked that our acquaintance with the monkey tribe is chiefly founded upon 



* In the Garden of Plants, at Paris, there is a largo circular rotunda, inclosed by wire, within which the n timer- ' 

 ous monkeys of the establishment arc permitted to go at large. Here may ho seen almost every variety, from the 

 large and grave chimpanzee to the ouistiti, little and lively as a squirrel. This gallery is the favorite resort of spec- 

 tators, and especially of children. Nothing can exceed the trick*, caprices, frolics, and grimaces of these four-handed 

 people — many of their actions being exceedingly ludicrous from their resemblance to things we have all seen in cer- 

 tain people of our acquaintance. (See engraving, p. 57.) 



