MARVELS OF THE ANIMAL 

 WORLD 



CHAPTER I 

 ANIMALS WHICH SHAM DEATH 



|V VERY animal which populates the earth has 

 -L' to fight against numerous perils that beset 

 its path throughout life in order to claim the right 

 to live, and although Nature has given each one 

 at least some power of defence against its enemies, 

 yet it remains with the individual to make the most 

 of its endowments, and to work out its own salva- 

 tion. 



Of the many methods made use of by the members 

 of the Animal Kingdom to outwit their foes, that 

 of shamming death is probably the most remarkable, 

 and although such behaviour may be merely the 

 outcome of an instinct handed down from generation 

 to generation, and cannot be regarded as revealing 

 any special mental power of those creatures which 

 indulge in that means of deception, yet, nevertheless, 

 one cannot ignore the fact that the habit certainly 



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