Intellectual Character of Animals, &c.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 606, 4 February 1852, Page 4

Intellectual Character of Animals, &c.

The mole is a meteorologist. The torpedo, the ray, and the electric eel, are electricans. The nautilus is a navigator. He raises and lowers ! his sail, and casts the anchor, and performs other nautical evolutions. The beaver is an architect, builder and wood-cut-ter. The marmot is a civil engineer. He not only builds bouses, but constructs aqueducts and drains to keep them dry. The white ants maintain a regular army of soldiers. The East India ants are horticulturists, they make mushrooms, upon which they feed their young. Wasps are pajter-makers. Caterpillars are silk spinners. The bird ploceus textor is a weaver. He weaves a web to build his nest. The squirrel is a ferryman. With a chip or piece of bark for a boat, and lub tail for a sail, he crosses the stream. Dogs, wolves, jackalla, and many other animals are hunters. So also is the ant lion. His funnel shaped trap is exnctly correct in conformation, as if it had been foimed by the most skilful artist of our species, with the best instruments. Bees are geometricians. Their cells are so constructed, as with the least quantity of material to have the largest spaces and the least possible quantity of interstice.