The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1892-08-17
QUEER NOTES ABOUT ANIMALS.
Remarkable Beasts and Remarkable Acts
by Beasts Not Remarkable.

A pet cat owned by a New York
family is fond of expensive playthings,
says Rarper's Young People. The wife
of its owner missed $40O diamond a
few days ago, and after notifying the
police and advertising largely for it,
offering suitable reward 4ar its re-
turn, the cat was found playiSg with
it on the floor. Whether the cat re-
ceived any portion of the reward or
not the papers failed to state.
A horse, while drinking from a mill
pond the other day, swallowed an eel
and ever since that time has SHE'D at
everything. The animals owner does
not know whether to attribute the GU
rious wriggling of the horse to sud-
den growth of timidity or to the eel,
which is, presumably, still alive.
There is dog in Yonkers belonging
to friend of the writer that is over %
years old. 1t has never barked, it
never moves from a sitting posture,
and for the last eighteen years it has
eaten nothing. It is a cast-iron dog,
and has just had a new coat of paint
to keep it warm during the summer.
There is curious-looking animal in
South Africa that looks for all the
world like piece of toast with four
legs, head, and tail. 1t resem bles
pussy cat about the forehead and
ears, but it's nose is distinctly that of a
rat, while it's tail is not very dissimilar
to that of fox. This strange animal
is called the aardwolf. and doubtless
dwells in South Africa, because, judged
by his looks, he would not be admitted
into good animal society anywhere
else.
1t is said that German family liv-
ing out west have in their possession
tame fox with a beautiful, bushy
tail, with which the animal has been
trained to dust the parlor furniture
every morning. Itwould certainly be
great saving in time and strength OF
many overworked people if dogs with
long tails and cats with soft furry sides
could be trained to do similar work.
A great many years ago, when ouI
grandfathers were very young, and be-
fore the flood, there used to be q
strange-looking animal called the
glyptodon. He was called a glyptodon
because he had futed teeth, and per
haps because the people who named
him hadn't heard of tarts. We should
doubtless have called him tartodon,
because his back, in the pictures we
have of him, really resembles tart
more than anything else, though il
weighed somewhat more than most
tarts do before they are eaten. The
glyptodon also had four feet, and eoulG
always tell his hind legs from his from
ones by the singular fact that his hinC
| feet had five toes each, while the from
feet had to get along on four. Thi:
animal does not exist at this presen
time, and it IS just as we'll that h
doesn't, because he could be very dis
agreeable if he wanted to, as you cal
very well imagine when you remem
Der that he was really nothing NOR,
than a turtle, and he was quite a
large as an ordinary elephant in hi
stocking feet.
A useful South American animal i
the kinkajou, which, as the dictionar.
will tell you, is procyoniform quad
| ruped, with protrusile tongue and
prehensile tail. Under ordinary cir
cumstances, if you were to meet kin
kajou on the street, you would Loo
for an Italian with a hand-organ
though should be inclined to look fo
policeman, because l know how un
pleasant the animal can be, particu
larly in the fruit season, for the kinka
jou loves fruit, and eats all he Cal
find. The chief reason for assertin,
that the kinkajou is useful is, that il
addition to his fondness for truth
has a great liking for insects for lunch
and when tanned is valuable assist
ance in southern homes, where fy-pa
per is unknown and where a mosquit
net is more expensive than a silk dress
1t has always seemed strange to m
that some enterprising person has nc
imported few thousand of these in
sect eaters from South America for US
in North American summer hotels