58 YERTEBRATA. 
tapering, in a fourth of moderate length and cylindrical, in a fifth extremely long, but uniformly 
covered with hair; in others, again, of equal length, divested of hair beneath and near the tip, 
and capable of being twisted round the branch of a tree, or any other similar substance, in such a 
manner as to support the whole weight of the animal, even without the assistance of its hands. 
In none of them, it may bo observed, are the hands formed for swimming, or the nails con- 
structed for digging the earth ; and in none of them is the naked, callous portion, which corre- 
sponds to the sole- or the palm, capable of being applied, hke the feet of man or of the bear, to the 
flat surfaces on wliich they may occasionally tread. Even in those which have the greatest pro- 
pensity to assume an upright posture, the body is, under such circumstances, wholly supported by 
the outer margins of the posterior hands. The earth, in fact, is not their proper place of abode; 
they are essentially inhabitants of trees, and every part of their organization is admirably fitted 
for the mode of life to which they were destined by the hand of nature herself. 
Throughout the vast forests of Asia,''' Africa, and South America, and more especially in those 
portions of these continents which are comprehended within the tropics, they congregate in nu- 
merous troops, bounding rapidly from branch to branch, and from tree to tree, in search of the 
fruits and eggs which constitute their principal means of subsistence. In the coarse of these pere- 
grinations, which are frequently executed with a velocity scarcely to be followed by the eye, they 
seem to give a momentary, and but a momentary, attention to every remarkable object that falls 
in their way, but never appear to remember it again, for they will examine the same object with 
the same rapidity as often as it occurs, and apparently without in the least recognizing it as that 
which they had seen before. They pass on a sudden from a state of seeming tranquillity to the 
most violent demonstrations of passion and sensuality, and in the course of a few minutes run 
through all the various pliases of gesture and action of which they are capable, and for which 
their peculiar conformation aflfords ample scope. The females treat their young with the greatest 
tenderness until they become capable of shifting for themselves, when they turn them loose upon 
the world, and conduct toward them from that time forward in the same manner as toward the 
most perfect strangers. 
The degrees of their intelligence, which in general is very limited, and is not capable of being 
made subservient to the purposes of man, except as a show in a menagerie, vary almost as much 
as the ever-changing outline of their form. From the grave and reflective orang-outang, whose 
docility and powers of imitation in his young state have been the theme of great wonder and 
equal exaggeration, to the coarse and brutal baboon, the gradations are gradual and easy. A 
remarkable circumstance connected with the development of the faculty of being educated, or 
perhaps we should rather say, with its gradual extinction, consists in the fact, that it is only in 
young animals which have not yet attained their full growth that it is capable of being brought 
into play, — the older individuals, even of the moat tractable races, entirely losing their gayety, and 
with it the docility of their youth, and becoming at length nearly as stupid and as savage as the 
most barbarous of the tribe. 
Although, as we ha\ e said, nearly all the monkeys, as avcII as the apes, live on fruits and the 
eggs of birds, still many of them devour small birds and quadrupeds, and some occasionally feed 
on fish. AVe are told that certain species display great address in getting at the flesh of shell-fish. 
The oysters of the tropical climates being larger than ours, the monkeys, when they reach the 
sea-side, pick up stones and thrust them between the open shells, which being thus prevented 
from closing, the cunning animals eat the fish at their ease. In order to attract crabs, they put 
their tails before tlie holes in which they have taken refuge. AVhen they have fastened on the 
bait, the monkeys suddenly withdraw their tails,' and thus drag their prey on shore. 
It is to be remarked that our acquaintance with the monkey tribe is chiefly founded upon 
* In the Garden of Plants, at Paris, there is a large circular rotunda, inclosed by wire, within which the numer- 
ous monkeys of the establishment are permitted to go at large. Here may be seen almost every variety, from the 
large and grave chimpanzee to the oiiistiti, little and lively as a squirrel. This gallery is the favorite resort of spec- 
tators, and especially of children. Nothing can exceed the tricks, caprices, frolics, and grimaces of these four-handed 
people— many of tlieir actions being exceedingly ludicrous from their resemblance to things we have all seen in cer- 
tain people of our acquaintance. (See engraving, p. 57.) 
