them ever build a house for himself, four hands as he

has?

7. After the mammals come the birds, in the scale of being; and here a very sharp line seems to divide two classes of creatures, mammals confined to the earth and the sea, suckling the young, and feathered animals gifted with flight, not suckling the young, but laying eggs.

8. Below the birds rank the reptiles. Here also two classes of animals are abruptly separated. Between the feathered biped and the creeping snake, the hopping toad, or the sprawling turtle, there is surely a marked interval. Easier is the transition from the reptiles to the fishes, which now follow in order.

One habit is common to the birds, the reptiles, and the fishes they lay eggs, and from those eggs the young are hatched. There are exceptions as regards reptiles and fishes, for some there are that bring forth their young alive, the little ones escaping from the egg previous to birth.

9. Differing in some things, as do the four classesmammals, birds, reptiles, fishes—one most important characteristic is common to them all: the vertebral column. The backbone, with its accessories of skull, ribs, and limbs, is a strong mark of the nature of the animal. Varied as the backbones are in the four classes, there is yet an evident similarity in them all. Between the skeleton of a bird and the skeleton of a mammal the resemblance is most striking. Looking at them, we can see why it is that the birds walk on two legs only, whilst the quadrupeds walk on four. The two front limbs of the bird are modified into wings. In man the fore-limbs are arms, and those arms are terminated by perfect hands. At the end of the bird's wing can be seen the bones of an imperfect hand.

10. Coming to the reptiles, we find already in the turtles, alligators, and lizards the limbs greatly shortened, and in the snakes they entirely disappear. Then, again, there is a faint reappearance of limbs in the fins of fishes. And with the fishes ends the list of backbone animals, called vertebrates. Here, then, nature makes a pause.

11. Seemingly a wide gap separates animals that have a backbone and animals that have none. The creatures without a backbone are called invertebrates. A snail, an oyster, a clam, or any shell-fish, bears the name of mollusk; and these mollusks come now in order, followed by the insects, and these again by crabs and lobsters and their kin called crustaceans, and towards the last, the sagacious spiders appear.

12. With all these creatures, from the bird which is a warm-blooded vertebrate, down through the mollusks, the insects, the crustaceans, to the spider, there prevails a common habit the laying of eggs. As among reptiles and fishes, so with these invertebrate creatures, there are exceptions, the young ones escaping from the eggs prior to birth.

13. Creatures there are innumerable, mostly in the sea, that grow in clusters, such as the polyps (which build the coral islands), looking more like flowers than animals. And some creatures there are that can be separated into parts without destruction, each part becoming a new animal. Others again that grow in clusters seemingly put forth buds like plants, and the flower-like buds separate from the stem and grow into new animals.

14. Withal, there is an endless host of curious microscopic forms of life, of which it is often impossible to say whether they are animal or vegetable. The entire series

of organic forms is not an obvious unbroken chain linking the highest to the lowest. Animals are separated, as we have seen, into great typical groups, and it is within these groups only that we may trace an evident continuity. However, one principle animates them all, — the life principle; one impulse moves them all, love for the young.

1. THE equatorial coast of Africa has recently yielded to science a gigantic kind of man-like ape, which affords a curious confirmation of an old classic story. Somewhere about the sixth century before the Christian era, one Hanno is reported to have sailed from Carthage, through the Strait of Gibraltar, on a voyage of exploration along the coast of Africa.

2. In the record of this voyage there occurs the following passage:" Passing the Streams of Fire, we came to a bay called the Horn of the South. In the recess there was an island, in which was a lake, and in this there was another island full of wild men. But much the greater part of them were women, with hairy bodies, whom the interpreters called Gorillas.' But pursuing them, we were not able to take the men; they all escaped, being able to climb the precipices, and defended themselves with pieces

of rock. But three women, who bit and scratched those who led them, were not willing to follow. However, having killed them, we flayed them, and conveyed the skins to Carthage; for we did not sail any farther, as provisions began to fail."

3. The "wild men" of Hanno were doubtless identical with the great anthropoid ape lately rediscovered, and to which, in allusion to the old story, the name of "gorilla" has been given. The region visited by the ancient navigator is a richly-wooded country, extending about a thousand miles along the coast from the Gulf of Guinea southward; and it is precisely within these limits that the gorilla has been found in modern times.

4. This great ape makes the nearest approach of any brute animal to the human form. It is fully equal to man in stature, but immensely more broad and muscular, while its strength is colossal. Though exclusively a fruit-eater, it is described as always manifesting an enraged enmity towards man; and no negro, even though furnished with fire-arms, will willingly enter into conflict with an adult male gorilla. He is said to be more than a match for the lion.

5. The rivalry between the mighty ape and the elephant is curious, and leads to somewhat comical results. The old male gorilla is always armed with a stout stick when on the scout, and knows how to use it. The elephant has no intentional evil thoughts towards the gorilla, but unfortunately they love the same sorts of fruit. When the ape sees the elephant busy with his trunk among the twigs, he instantly regards it as an invasion of his rights; and, dropping quietly to a lower bough, he suddenly brings his club smartly down on the sensitive finger of the elephant's