more than sticks, set up closely together; on which were placed flags and coarse grass. Their parallels may, occasionally, be seen in Gloucester and Monmouth-shires; where wood is cut for charcoal. In the Manillas, trees budding, blossoming, and bearing fruit all the year, the inhabitants in past ages had only trees for their houses; and removed from one place to another, as they consumed the fruit. Some insects form nests for their young; others have methods still more curious for their protection. The ichneumon fly deposits its eggs in the body of a caterpillar with the point of its sting. These become maggots, and feed upon the live body of the caterpillar that matured them. The sphix genus of insects are less cruel: for they deposit theirs only in spiders and caterpillars that are already dead. The ox-fly lays its eggs in the skins of oxen: another species in the nostrils of sheep; and another upon the manes and hair of horses; which the horse licking, takes into its stomach; where they become bots, and not unfrequently cause the horse's death. The chegoe of the West Indies lays its eggs even under the skin of men's legs; and unless the bag is removed, a mortification frequently ensues. ANIMAL AFFINITIES. ANIMALS of different genera resemble each other, not unfrequently, in the attitudes they respectively assume. The leech, when touched, rolls itself into a spherical form. The gally-worm, also, rolls itself up like a ball: so does the oniscus armadillo: and the domesticus dermestes, when alarmed in the least degree, draws its feet under its abdomen, and its head under its thorax, and seems to be dead. Thus these insects have an affinity in manners with the hedge-hog and the three-banded armadillo. This latter animal, armed with a shell, is almost invulnerable: but, when pursued by hunters, it throws itself down, coils itself up, and rolls down preci pices; leaving the hunter, while lamenting its escape, to admire its courage. The drum-fish of Peru, in the same manner, inflates itself, when alarmed, till it is round: when none of its enemies can either bite or swallow it. Its size prevents the latter, and its shape the former. Curious affinities may be also traced in the language of animals. The Hindûstan antelope chews the cud like a lama, lies down and rises up like a camel, croaks like a raven, and, at a certain time of the year, has a rattling in its throat, like a deer. The eared owl of Brazil sports and frolics like a monkey; Leonine seals roar like angry bulls; the female lows like a calf, and the young ones bleat like sheep: while the raven fowls like a hawk; fetches and carries like a dog; steals like a jay; smells like a stork; whistles like a boy; speaks like a man; and sings like a woman. Similarities may be observed, too, in the separate parts of particular animals. Thus the camelopard has horns like a deer; and a neck, in some measure, like a camel: it is spotted like a leopard; and it has a tongue and ears like a cow. The Nhu antelope has the mane of a horse; the head of a heifer; and its hind parts resemble those of a mule. The barbyrousa of Boura has the shape of a stag; a nose and tail like a boar; feet like those of a goat; the legs of a roe-buck; and hair like that of a greyhound. Some animals bear resemblances to each other in having olfactory partialities and antipathies. The olfactory power of rein-deer is so great, that they can ascertain where the lichen rangiferinus lies, though buried under the snow. When they come to a spot where it is concealed, they smell it, and dig for it. The Polar bear has a great antipathy to the smell of burnt feathers. Several ostriches lay eggs in one nest. If they are touched by any one, they discover it on their return by the smell: they break the eggs and never again lay in the same nest. Even insects enjoy the olfactory sense. Bees and flies love the perfume of flowers; ants : hate cajeput oil; and cock-roaches have an aversion to camphor. Some animals are peculiarly sensitive to particular sounds. Horses become animated at the sound of trumpets, and at the cry of dogs in the chase; elephants delight in music; the camel, when fatigued with a long journey over the Deserts, will revive in an instant, if its master sing loudly, or play upon a musical instrument. Bees are soothed by timbrels; and mullets are attracted to the hooks of African negroes, by clappers, which the waves knock against pieces of wood to which they are attached. CHARACTERS OF MEN TRACED IN ANIMALS. WE may even recognize human characters in animals : Nature frequently translating the same sentence, as it were, into various languages. Ventenat seems inclined to extend these analogies even to the external character of plants. Hence he calls a flower of New South Wales, Josephina, from the beauty of its corolla, and the elevation of its stalk: and a tree from Owara M. de Beauvais named Napoleon, from its splendour, and from the circumstance of its presenting the figure of a double crown. Animal resemblances are, however, more positive. In the jay we may trace the airs of a petulant girl; the magpie has all the restlessness, flippancy, vanity, and intrusion of the beau: while in the young bullfinch we recognize a young woman, modest and goodhumoured, imitating the manners and virtues of her mother. The caprices and propensities of a goat the debauchee acknowledges for his own: and the selfish we may compare to the one-horned rhinoceros, since it is incapable either of gratitude or attachment: the intemperate to the rougette bat, intoxicating itself with the juice of a palm-tree: a man easy of forgiveness resembles the Cape antelope: fierce when assailed; yet taking food within a minute, even from the hand which struck it: while a man, who derives his enjoyments from his family, seems animated with the same spirit as the antelope of Scythia, which will seldom eat, unless surrounded by its mate and her little ones. Envious men and calumniating women we may compare to serpent-eaters; such as porcupines, the deer of Afgaunistan"; the ciconia of the Arctic regions, and the secretary bird. In the courage of the shrike, we acknowledge the courage of man. Eagles attack animals they feel certain to conquer; but shrikes attack, and not unfrequently- subdue, birds more than three times larger than themselves. Man, however, is the most courageous of animals; since he encounters dangers of every species; not from hunger, instinct, or an ignorance of their nature and extent, but from reason and calculation. Indian antelopes, like old men, sequester themselves, and become solitary in age. The green maccaw is a perfect emblem of a jealous wife. If its master caress a dog, a cat, a bird, or even a child, nothing can exceed its anxiety and fury nor can it be appeased, till its master forsakes the new favourite and returns to it. In respect to colour, it is remarkable, that while red is the most agreeable to the eyes of women, it is a colour, which provokes the greatest possible abhorrence in turkeys, bulls, buffaloes, bisons, and several other animals. Some men resemble the great bat of Java. This bat, when wounded and unable to revenge the injury, wreaks its vengeance on its own wounded limb d. The Japanese, out of revenge to others, will, in the same spirit, not unfrequently rip up their own bellies e. Other men resemble the tavouaf parrot of Guinea. This parrot is one of the most beautiful of its tribe; but it is the most ferocious in its intentions, when it exhibits a disposition to caress. A negro slave, mild, faithful, and a Pallas, South Russ. vol. i. 150, 4to. c Barrow, Cochin China, 146, 4to. • Kaimes' Sketches, vol. i. p. 67, 2nd ed. b Elphinstone, Caubul, 142, 4to. d Abel's Journey in China, p. 43. f Psittacus festivus. : prudent, may be associated with the Javan buffalo since, though intractable with a stranger, that animal will permit itself to be guided and governed by the smallest child of a Javan family, in which it has been domesticated. a Wise men sometimes appear blind, and then the fool fancies them unable to see. He is ignorant, that some birds, by means of the nictilating membrane, cover their eyes without shutting their eye-lids. Obstinate men may read their own characters in those of the Arctic puffin and the Lapland mouse. The former seizes the end of a bough, thrust into its hole, and will not leave its hold till it is drawn out and killed. The latter, in wandering from the mountains, descend in vast bodies, and in their progress will move out of a direct line for nothing. They have eyes, and yet they run against stones, rocks, and animals; and bite and contend with every object that they meet. They pass rivers and cross lakes; and when they arrive at the sea, plunge in and become lost in the waters. Men, who are solitary from bad passions, resemble the Tenebrio beetle; which is of such a solitary nature, that two of them are seldom or never seen together. How many men are there who resemble the laurus arcticus? This bird never fishes itself, but lives upon fish caught by other birds, which it pursues. They drop their prey from fear, and the larus seizes it before it falls into the ocean. Even inanimate objects have their contrasts and resemblances to the human character. An elegant and good woman may be associated with the pine-apple, which has the flavour of many exquisite fruits. In retirement she resembles an opaz, emeralds, and sapphires, glowing in silence in their native quarries. Men of learning, who waste their knowledge without communicating it to others, may be compared to the Caspian Sea; which not only receives the seventy channels of the Wolga, but of many other rivers, without having any visible outlet for its waters. There is an a Raffles' Hist. of Java, 4to., vol. i. p. 112. |