HI THE SERVICE OF TAILS •j'i, 



until it froze in, and its discomfited owner could 

 get away only by breaking it off — mighty near 

 its root, as any one can see to this day. This 

 story, paralleled elsewhere in folk-lore, is an amus- 

 ing fancy ; but one might imagine a monkey really 

 able to do something of that kind, if any monkey 

 could be found which cared for fish. 



An actual instance, however, is afforded by the 

 fish-eating bat of Trinidad {Noctilio leporinns), 

 which finds its tail, and the membranes that con- 

 nect that appendage with the thighs, of eminent 

 service to it. Observers in the Trinidad Field 

 Naturalists' Club report (see their Journal, Vol. I, 

 page 204) that this bat catches its prey (a fish) by 

 throwing it up with the interfemoral membrane. 

 Simultaneously the bat bends its head toward its 

 tail to seize the fish as it is thrown from the water. 

 Probably its long, sharp, curved toe-nails are also 

 of assistance in this queer method of fishing. 



Similarly, ingenious rats have been known to 

 purloin oil, jelly, and such desirable liquids from 

 bottles too narrow for their entrance, by inserting 

 their tails, and then licking the dripping member, 

 or giving it to a neighbor to lick. Professor 

 George J. Romanes proved beyond question that 

 they did so, by experiments which are detailed 

 in his book, " Animal Intelligence," to which the 

 reader is referred. 



A like utilization of resources is the strategy of 

 the puma, as observed on the Patagonian pampas, 



