ZOOLOGY. 



There is in the two different specimens which we have 

 observed, a remarkable white square mark placed in the 

 middle of the forehead, but this may perhaps not be common 

 to the whole of the species. The animal above described 

 used to carry on frequent battles with his keeper with nut- 

 shells, in which he displayed singular skill and dexterity ; 

 when he was intentionally presented with a few deaf nuts, 

 he displayed considerable contempt and anger, and conti- 

 nued sullen for a long time after. But the most remarkable 

 instance of an approach to reason in these creatures, is 

 mentioned by Edwards in his Miscellanies. " A pair of 

 these animals, which belonged to a merchant at Lisbon, 

 in their state of confinement, brought forth young ones at 

 that city. These at their birth were exceedingly curious, 

 having no fur, they used frequently to cling fast to the 

 teats of their dam, and when they grew a little larger they 

 used to hang upon her back and shoulders. When she 

 was tired she would rub them off against the wall, or 

 whatever else was near, as the only mode of ridding herself 

 of them. On being forced from her, the male would very 

 affectionately take his turn of nursing, and allowed them to 

 hang round him, for the purpose of giving ease to the dam." 

 Monkies are excessively troublesome in the gardens and 

 plantations of South America, as they sometimes descend 

 in large parties from the woods, in the night, leaving the 

 marks of their depredations too obviously in the morning. 



An instance of their officious activity lately occurred 

 at the house of a gentleman who had received a monkey of 

 the larger kind, as a present from abroad, and who, while 

 the family and servants were at church on a Sunday, used 

 to amuse himself with shaking the Roughs of a large apple 

 tree, to which he was chained, over a pig-stye, and which 

 the pigs were busily employed in devouring. 



