Monkey Land 7 
There is a certain kind of wood- 
beetle that bores mto dead bark and 
wood. By placing the ear against the 
tree near the pomt where the insect is 
at work the sound of his gnawing is some- 
times audible, but it requires a delicate 
sense of hearmg to detect it and a clear 
‘eye to find the hole where the insect enters 
the surface. Mona’s quick eyes and ears, 
however, never failed to locate one cf 
these. She would first examine the aper- 
ture to see whether or not it was freshly 
made. If it was an old one she gave 
it no further notice, but if new, she 
quickly put her ear to the surface and 
listened, im order to locate it. Then in an 
instant she began to tap her knuckles on 
the surface im order to drive it out, mean- 
while anxiously watching the hole. As 
soon as the beetle was fairly outside she 
would seize and kill and then devour it. 
She is perfectly familiar with the habits 
of certaim imsects and knows the poisonous 
and stinging sorts from all others. 
Mona was allowed to go at lberty 
mbes thiewtime, bat) site was) 2) real ttle eee nae 
thief, and I sometimes thought she must jungle, but much to Aaron’s distress soon sickened and died. 
have cleptomania. Her femininity could 
not resist a mirror, and her idle curiosity was more than feminine. But with all her 
simian faults she was a dear and affectionate little creature who seemed always at 
night to have repented of her sins committed during the day. Cuddling herself in 
my arms, and uttering a peculiar, tremulous sound she always cajoled me into 
absolving her from. all blame for anything she had done. 
To those who live in the wake of human progress, far removed from the normal 
order of things, the voice of nature is lost in the strife and turmoil around them. They 
hear only the echoes of human vanity, of the wail of human want; but go with me 
into Monkey Land, live among its strange people and gaze into the unmasked face of 
Nature, and I will show you a new world of thought and action. It will not ahenate 
you from mankind, but it will draw around you more closely the bonds of fellowship 
with all living things. 
RA ee 
) 
ELISHEBA AND AARON. 
(Professor Garner has promised to contribute other articles to future numbers of “Animal Life.” The next 
one from his pen will be a collection of hitherto unpublished anecdotes—collected by him for many years 
past—giving remarkable illustrations of extraordinary intelligence in dogs from well authenticated sources. ] 
