WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 
company, and Mr. Skunk, with his perfumery, would most 
assuredly have been in imminent danger of being thrown 
overboard, and probably been the innocent means of dis- 
gusting some hungry shark. 
It may naturally be supposed that the skunks, which 
have arrived safely after a long sea voyage, have been sub- 
mitted to some kind of operation, and that the glands, by 
which the foetid odour is secreted, have been removed, or, 
more reasonably, that they have been subjected to some 
wonderful and far-famed disinfectant ; in fact, that the art 
of an American Kimmel had triumphed over nature ; but 
such is not the case. 
An amusing incident occurred not long since to a dealer 
in wild animals, who boasted that he had skunks that 
“ had been deprived of their unpleasant properties, and 
thereby rendered clean and wholesome.” However, to his 
utter dismay, while exhibiting a tame and harmless skunk 
to a customer, he accidentally held it within reach of a 
mischievous monkey, which, grasping the tail of the skunk, 
inflicted a sharp bite upon that sensitive appendage. At 
this trying moment the poor skunk resented the insult 
and injury in “ true skunk fashion,” and the result was 
perfectly astounding to the monkey, to the dealer, and to 
the would-be purchaser of the tame skunks ; had an ex- 
plosion of gas or of gunpowder taken place the latter 
would, in all probability, not have disappeared so com- 
pletely, for upon the dealer looking round his customer 
was nowhere to be seen, not even a vestige of him re- 
mained to bear witness to the “ ’orrible tail,” and it may 
not be out of place to mention that he never returned to 
complete the purchase, or even to inquire after that ‘‘ tail.” 
It is therefore advisable not to make too free or play too 
roughly with your tame skunk, or, like the unlucky ape, 
you are liable to be poisoned at any moment. 
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