MAMMALOGY. 



der the appellation of Homo Nocturnus. For the term Orang-Outang 

 which LinnjELis applies synonymously to this animal, he refers to 



idea of the writer, that the assistance of the hands is so very advantageous 

 in the act of swimming. Nor is he more fortunate in his conjectures as to 

 the support the creature is likely to derive from the position of these pec- 

 toral and ventral fins which it is said are " evidently formed to support, the 

 animal upright when it is in the attitude generally described as seen 

 while combing its hair." This witticism, if really intended as such upon 

 the credulous good nature of our country, is beneath notice ; we pass to 

 the simple fact of its real conformation, and at once perceive that instead 

 of being so situated as to bear the fish in an erect position, its organization 

 is designed for horizontal movement : these fins lie flat or horizontally to 

 the body, as in the Salmon, and in all other fishes whose motions are direct. 

 But were it otherwise, of what utility we might inquire would be four little 

 fins of about an inch and a half or rather more in length, to raise and sus- 

 tain in an erect position an animal two feet ten inches long, with an enor- 

 mous preponderating head as large as that of a child three or four years 

 of age, and with arms which, when let fall, would reach as low down per- 

 haps as the end of the tail ! 



The impression upon our own mind is, that we have bestowed already 

 much more discussion upon this deformity than it can in any manner merit ; 

 but from a due respect for the good understanding of the many respectable 

 individuals who have been deceived by this fabrication of man, we have 

 been induced to enter upon its analysis with minuteness, and for the same 

 reason shall venture to pursue the inquiry a little further. We shall now 

 speak of the internal as well as the exterior character of the animals com- 

 pounded in this heterogeneous mass. 



The internal character of the Salmon does not preclude the possibility 

 of its suspension for a few moments in an erect position ; most fishes pos- 

 sess this power ; and with respect to the Salmon in particular,we have often 

 witnessed it in Alpine streams contiguous to the sea, where rocky masses 

 have impeded their progress during the spawning season, as in the Tevi, ce- 

 lebrated by old Drayton, and at the falls of the Glasllyn stream, at Pont 

 AberglassUyn among the Snowdon mountains ; but in all these cases it is 

 obviously the whole power of the fish that is exerted, and not simply the 

 action of the pectoral and ventral fins. The movement in an erect position 

 is an effort in which many fail, their strength proving unequal to the task ; 

 and, when they do ascend, it is with a strong vibratory motion of the whole 

 body, not the comparatively feeble exertion of these fins : they even then 



