1 82 



Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



on crackers and given to the male, he would lay them down 

 and pound them with his hand, and scatter them over the 

 floor. At first, they ate boiled eggs, but the last two years 

 would not eat them. Beef tea they did not like. They were 

 generally in the best of health. At one period, they fre- 

 quently took slight colds, and it puzzled the Superintendent 

 to account for the cause. He noticed that when clean straw 

 was brought in (during cold weather) from the outside for 

 their beds, they w r ould take it up in their arms and squeeze 

 it ; this seemed to force cold air out of the hollow straws. 

 After the straw was first warmed before putting it in they 

 very rarely took cold. In disposition and temperament they 

 were very different, the male being playful and a tease, the 

 female more amiable and affectionate. When the keeper wished 

 to make things lively in the cage he gave them a beef-bladder 

 inflated with air ; this the male would grasp by the fleshy 

 end and take fiendish delight in pounding the female with 

 it, she cowering in the corner and covering herself with 

 straw. When the female did not care to play, the male would 

 tease and try to provoke her into doing so, much after the 

 manner of a mischievous boy. When they were quite small 

 a carpenter at work in the cage dropped his hammer ; this 

 w T as instantly seized by the male, who had been w r atchinghim 

 - use it. Taking it in both hands he attempted to drive a nail 

 with it. The male walked erect frequently, and the female 

 never did. The male w T as very fond of children, and was 

 happy when a school visited the Zoo. Both animals were 

 very much frightened at thunder, crouching in the corner in 

 abject terror. * They always drank their own urine when 

 they could get it. When the floor w r as clear of straw they 

 would-get it ; afterward, when the straw w r as put in to prevent 

 this, the} 7 hollowed out a dent in the seat of the leather-cov- 

 ered sofa, and used that to secure it. The sofa was then taken 

 out, and the}' used the table top. The top of the table was 

 then perforated to prevent this disgusting habit, the effect of 

 which was to cause an eruption to break out on their bodies. 

 At one time, when the male w r as three years old, it was found 

 necessary to treat this eruption with a medicated wash, and it 



■■■ A gorilla, mentioned by Hartman, was also so frightened by thunder, and 

 similar noises, as to cause an impairment of digestion. 



