448 



Marvels of the Universe 



IHE GOLDEN HELMET. 



through which a nourishing 

 liquid passes along canals 

 into the bells. The movement 

 forward is accomplished b}' the 

 alternate absorption and ejec- 

 tion of water, so that the bells 

 advance head foremost and 

 regulate the motion of the whole 

 compound animal. The bells 

 also perform the duties of 

 rudder. When the\' act to- 

 gether the creature advances 

 straight ahead ; but when the 

 right bell is alone in action it 

 goes to the left, and so on. 



TOUCANS 



BY SIR H. H. JOHNSTON, G.C.M.G. 



The Toucans are a group of 

 birds which have developed 

 very fantastic and, in some 

 cases, most disproportionately 

 large beaks : in fact, the Toco 

 Toucan, which is here illus- 

 trated in colour, is probably 

 the culminating marvel in big 

 beaks, proportionately to the 

 size of the bird. In their dis- 

 tribution they are entirely 

 Tropical American, and even 

 here their range is somewhat 

 limited. No Toucans are 

 found, for example, in the 

 West Indian Islands or to 

 the west of the Peruvian 



So called from the two large swimming-bladders whic.K serve to propel the 

 whole colony of polyps attached to the principal "thread." 



Andes. They are mainly 

 confined to the Equatorial 

 region of north-eastern South America and the forested parts of Central America. Like so 

 many Tropical American animals, in fact, their geographical origin seems to have been from 

 the direction of West Africa, and their ancestors probably passed over to Brazil from Africa, 

 together with the parent forms of so many beasts and birds, at the close of the Eocene Period, 

 before the land bridge or archipelago of islands which once connected the Guinea Coast with 

 Guiana or Brazil had broken down. 



The Toucans wdth their big beaks made a great impression on naturalists, and on travellers 

 in South America, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries ; so much so, that when 

 the natural history of Africa was first investigated and explorers encountered a very common type 

 of African bird — the smaller hornbills, or " tocks " — they were wont to style them " Toucans." 



