NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS 375 



new to many to read that the Puma never attacks a human 

 being : — 



"In places this animal is the only large beast of prey. It is 

 notorious," says Mr. Hudson, " that it is there perfectly safe for even a 

 small child to go out and sleep on the plain. At the same time 

 it will not fly from man, except in places where it is continually perse- 

 cuted. Nor is this all ; it will not even defend itself against man, 

 although in some rare instances it has been known to do so. The 

 mysterious gentle instinct of this ungentle species, which causes the 

 Gauchos of the pampas to name it ' man's friend ' — amigo del cristiano 

 —-has been persistently ignored by all travellers and naturalists who 

 have mentioned the Puma." 



In support of this statement several good stories of adventure 

 are told, some of which befel acquaintances of the author. In 

 Chapter III., entitled " A Wave of Life," Mr. Hudson gives an 

 account of a plague of Field Mice, belonging to the genus Hes- 

 peromys, which overran the district in La Plata in which he 

 resided, just as those of the genus Arvicola have been over- 

 running of late the plains of Thessaly and the hill pastures of 

 Scotland. In the attendant circumstances there are some curi- 

 ous points of resemblance, particularly in the way in which the 

 "wave " of mice was succeeded by a " wave " of owls {Otus bra- 

 chyotus) and Storks (Ciconia maguari), which preyed incessantly 

 upon them, as did also the foxes, weasels, opossums, and even 

 the common armadillo (Dasypus villosus). Of the last-named 

 animal a very amusing account is given, including a description 

 of the curious way in which it contrives to kill a poisonous snake 

 (p. 72) by sawing it with the sharp edge of its carapace. 



In the same chapter (on animal weapons) the author describes 

 some of the natural methods of defence adopted by the Teguexin 

 Lizard, the Wrestler Frog, and the Horned Toad, some of which 

 are very singular. In succeeding chapters the following subjects 

 are dealt with in turn, — "Fear in Birds," "Parental and Early 

 Instincts," "Mimicry and Warning Colours in Grasshoppers," 

 "Dragonfly Storms," "The Death-feigning Instinct," "Music 

 and Dancing in Nature," and many others equally fascinating. 



Mr. Hudson gives some curious instances of the paralysing 

 effect of fear in animals. He was told by some hunters, in an 

 outlying district of the pampas, of its effect on a Jaguar which 



