742 General Notes. (July, i 
tive dread they subsequently acquire, for their own preservation, 
and transmit it to their descendants. At the Galapagos islands 
Mr. Darwin pushed a hawk off a tree with the muzzle of his gun, 
and the little bird drank water out of a vessel which he held in 
his hand. But this tameness is not general, but special towards 
man; for at the Falklands the geese build on the outlying islands 
on account of the foxes. These wolf-like foxes were here as 
fearless of man as were the birds, and the sailors in Byron's voy- 
age, mistaking their curiosity for fierceness, ran into the water to 
avoid them. In all old civilized countries the wariness and fear 
of even young foxes and wolves are well known. At the 
pagos islands the great land lizards (Amblyrhynchus) were ex- 
tremely tame, so that Mr. Darwin could pull them by the tail; 
whereas in other parts of the world large lizards are wary enough. 
The aquatic lizard of the same genus lives on the coast, is adapted 
to swim and dive perfectly, and feeds on submerged alge ; no 
doubt it must be exposed to danger from the sharks, and conse 
quently, though quite tame on the land, he could not drive them 
into the water; and when he threw them in they always swam 
directly back to the shore. Animals feigning death seemed to 
Mr. Darwin a remarkable instinct, but he considered that there 
was much exaggeration on the subject. It struck himasa strange 
coincidence that the insects should have come to exactly s 
the state which they took when dead. Hence he carelully BY 
the simulated positions of seventeen kinds of insects (including 
an Iulus spider, and Oniscus) belonging to the most distinct gen 
era, both poor and first-rate shammers ; afterwards he pori a! 
naturally dead specimens of some of these insects, others heki poi 
with camphor by an easy slow death. The result was that a xi 
one instance was the attitude exactly the same, and in seve e 
stances the attitude of the feigners and of the realig oe peek 
i i ird- i and te i 
unlike as they possibly could be. Bird-nesting 1 conclusion 
herited m 
stincts to suit varying circumstances, yet that these wee oie 
ducing to the “ survival of the fittest.” Although he did ae | 
lay in the sett 
sense to draw it in lengthways; ae Whi Paynes 
martins which year after year built their nests on agi 
and year after year they were washed down. The ane 
nicularius in South America makes a deep burrow in Mr umet- 
for its nest; and he saw these little birds vainly burroying taniy 
ous holes through mud-walls, over which they were not neatly 
flitting, without thus perceiving that the walls were of ie 
thick enough for their nests. After an exhaystive ace ai 
