vuvvayyagaay 
yaw 
TAILS 35 
unimportance to its possessor—a quantity of plastic 
substance capable of being moulded into almost any 
shape and utilized in all manner of ways. 
The fish and the whale needed a propelling organ to 
enable them the more rapidly to force their way through 
the water; the tail was pressed into service. The 
squitrel and the fox felt the want of a warm counter- 
pane to protect them from the chilly blasts of the cold 
east winds, so Nature took the plastic tail, lengthened it, 
covered it with thick, soft, fluffy fur, and thus presented 
the animals with warm quilts. 
In other cases Nature has made the tail into a prehen- 
sile organ, so that its possessors have become very 
expert tree-climbers, and are also able to utilize the 
caudal appendage in carrying their young. 
Some creatures inhabit damp marshes and hot 
countries where flies abound, ready to sting them and 
worry them to death. A fly-whisk is almost a neces- 
sity to such animals, so Nature has made one for them 
out of their tail. 
The skunk hit upon a strange mode of keeping off 
his enemies. He devised the plan of secreting a fluid 
emitting the most disgusting odour, so powerful that 
no animal will willingly venture near him. He needed 
an advertisement of this fact, lest some animal should 
attack him in mistake for an inoffensive creature, so his 
tail was converted into an advertisement board. He 
trots along slowly with his caudal appendage aloft, and 
every animal recognizes it, so he is allowed to pass 
through life unmolested. 
The tail is a conspicuous feature in the anatomy of 
