Evening star., 1901-09-25
NONDESCRIPT ANIMALS
QUEER SPECIMENS SOME, PEOPLE
HAVE For FETs.
The Delightful but teMisehievous Kin
kajOu-Three Specimens Difficult to
Assign to Any Family.

are not Inks, ana often not Inc any
thing else in creation. Accidental evi-
dence of this detachment and nonconform-
ity IS forthcoming whenever old and new
natural histories are compared. The gen
eral arrangement of the orders and fami-
lies corresponds, but these nondescript de-
tached creatures are constantly shifted or
moved on to some other position deemed
more in keeping with recent discoveries as
to their anatomy, or more rarely, their
habits. Some of these animals are so beau
tiful and interesting in themselves that
were it not for the form of obligation
which the doctrine of evolution has laid
upon students Of nature to find a particular
place in the schedule of life and pigeon
hole in the bureau Of creation for each in
dividual creature, we might well be content
to regard them as exquisite and highly
specialized beings whose. very existence Is
evidence of the perfection to which nature
can bring single and isolated creation.
with, as it were, no practice beforehand,
no studies, prior to making the single
masterpiece, and no gradual approaches to
the final and conclusive product The nom
descript creatures are, owing to the opera
tion of causes not yet perfectly understood,
always scarce in numbers and difficult to
see catch; when they are. caught they
are seldom brought to England, and when
they arrive, have such uncouth native
names that they attract little attention
Ine h1nkaJOus
The kinkajou Is among the most attrac-
tive of any of the detached creations, but
to most minds 1t only represents name In
natural history books. Two Of these ami
mails are in the collection of the Geological
Society at the present moment, and were
it not for their polite but dreamy disin-
Clination to do more than oblige visitors
by letting themselves be handled during the
day, much might be learnt of their habits.
1t is only at night that they display the
full charms Of their disposition and accom-
plishments; but even seen by daylight they
are obviously almost the most desirable Of
possible pets which the world contains. To
describe creature so unlike any other is
necessarily no easy task but the tamest Oh
these kinkajo Is so serenely confident that
man is a friend, If not brother kinkajou,
that 1t affords every facility for making
careful inspection of its beauties. 1t is COW
cred from its head to the tip Of Its very
with texture like plush, and tints varying
from olive-brown on the back to "old gold
under its arms, stomach and the lower or
flattened side of it's tail. It's legs and shoul-
and exquisitely furred. Its hands are beau
tifully made, plump and soft like baby's,
with bare fingers and palms. By prefer
ence 1t passes the tip of its tail round its
visitors hand. and then slides down It's
own tail, lowering Itself by it's hind hands
or feet. Then it hangs at full length, still
holding on to it's tail by its hind hands,
which just reach comfortably about an inch
and half from the base sof the tail, and
spreading It's arms and little fore-hands on
either side, as If 1t were going to make
speech, swings gently 8to and fro. rOeca~-
sionally 1t puts out a very long ribbon-like
tongue and Hicks its fingers, or friends
fingers, or smooths the fur on it's ear or
eyebrow. 1t should be said that its head
is short, its muZzle somewhat pointed, its
ears round and upright and its eyes brown
and dreamy, with the pupils contracted to
a mere point, for though not SO drugged In
sleep as the lemurs, it is night-feeding
creature It's length is perhaps two and
half feet, and it's home is in the tropical
forests of Central and South America. Why
it should hold on to it's tail as If the latter
were a rope the end of which was not con-
nected with it's body, is not obvious, nor is
1t certain how it obtains its living. It's
little fingers are webbed almost up to the
nails, yet it lives in trees, and Is said to
thrust It's long tongue into all kinds of
crevices and draw thence the insects and
beetles hiding there. The Spaniards In Mex
leo called it the honey BEAR" because 1t
robs the wild bees nests and licks up the
honey from the comb. One kept for seven
years at the zoo would hold q piece OF
bread and butter in one hand, and break of
and eat bits with the other. as it hung in
it's favorite attitude, suspended by it's tail,
and drew in food through the wires of its
cage with it's tongue AT night 1t was full
Of play, activity and affection.
Strange Names, Stranger Beasts.
Three other A'odd volumes OF the animal
world are generally found placed more or
less in 1uxtaposition in the list of various
between the iemurs and whatever family Is
selected to follow them. These are the
aye-aye, the colugo and the tarsier strange
names and stranger beasts. The first is
a thickly furred, slow-moving, long-tailed,
tree-living beast, found in the most mac
ortS nf 4 70
other rare animals from that home Of alb
normal life, it was first described by French
naturalists, who from the proximity OF
their colony at Reunion always seem to
have endeavored to learn something of the
strange fauna Of the great island near
them. 1t Is quite unlike any other animal,
has no ''affinities' and the most -extraordi--
nary weird and skeleton hands. In addi-
ton to their being twice too large for its
body they are almost f1eshless, with very
long, thin fingers. These are armed with
claw-like nails One finger, the central one,
seems to have become atrophied and with
Iered and all the fingers are of different
lengths, like the implements in one Of those
knives which hold every tool from a cork
screw to a toothpick. Apparently this Job
lot' of fingers Is employed much in the
same way some to pick out fat grubs from
holes in the bamboo stems, some to clean
it's fur, the fourth fingers the largest and
longest) to thrust into any moist food, like
rice and pick it up the other two to keep
Ii
the longest finger into liquid and sucking
it. These peculiarities by no means ex-
haust the points Of an aye-aye. The
name is said to be taken from the -exclama-
ton of surprise uttered by the natives (who
had never seen one) when M. Sonnerat first
discovered 1t. In 1881 there was only one
specimen In Europe. Now it is occasionally
to be seen at the zoo
If the aye-aye is a structural puzzle the
colugo is equally difficult to place in any
order 1t was first thought to be bat, for
it hung like a bat from the branches of
trees in the Moluccas. Then it was pro-
nounced to be flying squirrel, next a le-
mur, and now may fairly be called monde
script. 1t is as large as a. cat, is covered
with soft, lemur-like fur, but has a para
chute, not only between the forelegs and
hind-legs, as flying squirrels have, but also
between the hind-legs. Hike bat-"a
strange and perpleXing animal as an early
naturalist plaintively remarked The tar
sier is not less SO. Spectrum Is it name
and its appearance Is weiro and fantastic.
1t has tail like piece of fox-tail grass,
hands and toes with fiat discs like tree
frog enormous eyes, upright ears. and
woolly body. It's mere appearance scares
the Javanese peasants fromtheir rice fields
in fear Of the "evil eye," though 1t ap-
pears to live mainly on lizards and to be
quite harmless
The Water-ShFew.