88 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



attention of the attendant was lately drawn to the cage by the 

 excitement of a crowd in front of it, and on going to ascertain 

 the cause he was surprised to see the monkey seated in the 

 middle of the cage, witli one of the opossums lying quietly on- 

 her back on his lap, and her head under his arm. " The 

 monkey had just discovered the marsupial pouch of the 

 opossum, and was diligently investigating it. Had he not been 

 a close observer, it certainly would have remained unseen, for it 

 was so tightly closed as to be perfectly invisible in its normal 

 condition. The monkey carefully lifted the outer wall of the 

 pouch, and peered into the cavity. Then he reached in with his 

 hand, felt about for a moment, and, to the astonishment of every- 

 body, took out a tiny young opossum, about two inches long, 

 hairless, blind, and very helpless, but alive and kicking. Jock- 

 held it up to the light, where he could get a good view of it, 

 scrutinised it with the air of a savant, and presently returned it 

 to the pouch very carefully. After replacing it he looked into 

 the pouch again, and presently drew out another for examination,^ 

 which he looked at with solemn interest, smelt it, and then care- 

 fully put it back. It was thus it became known to the attendants- 

 that the old female opossum had the young ones, which had 

 previously been looked for in vain." — Nature. 



Humming-bird and Mantis. — In a letter lately submitted 

 to the Elliott Society, and printed in its Proceedings, Mr.. 

 G. W. Alexander, of Charleston, S.C., tells a strange tale 

 of a humming-bird. Mr. Alexander heard in his garden 

 what he knew must be a cry of pain, and going to a vine,, 

 from which the cry seemed to proceed, he found a humming- 

 bird "struggling violently, but unable to extricate itself.'^ 

 He took it in his hands, and, to his astonishment, saw 

 that it was in the clutches of an insect, which he identified as a 

 mantis, popularly known in those parts as " Johnny-cock-horse."' 

 " The bird," says Mr. Alexander, " was wounded under the 

 wing, upon one side of the breast, which had evidently been 

 lacerated with the powerful mandibles of its captor. The 

 wound looked ugly enough to lead me to fear that it would 

 prove fatal ; nevertheless, my children and I cared for it as 

 tenderly as we knew how, but we found it difficult to administer 

 nourishment to a humming-bird, so at night I placed it among 

 the leaves of the vine, for it was a warm night, and in the 

 morning the little sufferer lay dead on the ground beneath." 

 — Nature. 



ERRATUM. 



Vol. IV., page 120 (December, 1887), read Tachyglossus for 

 Trachyglossum, 



