THE SPEECH OF MONKEYS. 19$ 



suiting from the force applied, but not in itself 

 constituting any part of the means of communi- 

 cation. It is not unlike what, we call sound in the 

 fact that it is generated in the same way, trans- 

 mitted in the same way, and received in the 

 same way as sound. When I have time and op- 

 portunity I shall carry my studies of the lan- 

 guage of fishes much farther. Their means of 

 communication are very contracted, but it is 

 superfluous for me to say that they have such 

 means. 



Many observations have already been made 

 on the language of insects, and much diversity of 

 opinion prevails. Very little has been said about 

 the details of their intercourse, but the consen- 

 sus of opinion is that they must in some way 

 communicate among themselves. To me they 

 seem to live within a world of their own, as other 

 classes of the animal kingdom do. The means 

 of communication used by mammals could not be 

 available among aquatic forms, any more than 

 could their modes of locomotion. Each different 

 class of the animal kingdom is endowed with 

 such characters and faculties as best adapt them 

 to the sphere in which they live, and the mode 

 of communication best fitted to the conditions of 



