The vast forests of America, such especially as border the shores of the Atlantic, harbour in considerable numbers the playful and capricious race of Racoons (Ursus loter); while their less hardy brother, the Crab Racoon (Procyon cancrivorus) prefers the milder climate of the south.

The former of this interesting species is peculiarly active in the night. During the day he seems asleep, curled up in his nest like a dormouse; but when evening draws on he is all alive. He then climbs the highest trees, in order to surprise the unconscious birds, and plunder their little citadels; or ferrets into the hollows made by woodpeckers in aged trunks and waving branches, strips off the moss and lichens to search for insects, and peeps into every fissure of the earth, that may chance to excite his curiosity. As he drinks by suction, and water seems essential to his comfort, he frequents the banks of rivers, and is often seen running along the sea coast, to catch mollusca and crab-fish. His sense of smelling is exquisite, but not so his organs of hearing; and though easily tamed, or rather made familiar with the hand that feeds him, he seems incapable of either obedience or affection. If once a prisoner, he must always continue such; he cannot be trusted with partial freedom. Captivity causes him to contract new habits, but he never loses his love of liberty.

This animal has been frequently brought into Europe, and is well known with regard to character and organization. But little has been ascertained with certainty respecting his wild habits, the means by which he obtains his food, or in what way he

defends himself against his enemies. Captivity is unfavourable to the developement of instinct. Close confinement and the monotony of an unvaried life frequently make the most vivacious appear dull of apprehension. Animals must be observed in their native haunts, before an accurate judgment can be formed respecting them; they must be seen also in their various relations to others, before we can decide whether they are gentle and affectionate, or ferocious and incapable of being tamed.

Like most of the wild commoners of nature, he has his bounds prescribed and tenaciously preserved. Mackenzie found him on the borders of the Red River, at forty-five or fifty degrees of north latitude, and he also descends far towards the south, ranging at will, from cold and frost-bound regions, to countries blessed with perpetual spring, and, again, ascending from those lofty mountains, which lie beneath the equinoctial line to the verge of perpetual winter, where a few gray lichens and stunted pines proclaim the utmost limits of vegetable life. It seems as if the racoon delighted to experience the vicissitudes of soil and climate, as if it was indifferent to him, whether he sojourned amid lawns and pastures, beside clear running streams, or sunny hills, and in sheltered vallies, or sought a precarious sustenance among dreary rocks; in wide inhospitable deserts, and gloomy woods, which the cheerful sunbeams can hardly penetrate.

Respecting the Brown Coati (Nasua fusca. Cuv.), which affects the warm regions of America, the natural historian has little to record, excepting that although his feet are demi-webbed, he can ascend

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with facility the highest trees, and subsist much in the same way as our common martens; that further, he lives in small communities, and occasionally commits serious depredations among the sugar

canes.

In speaking of the Red Coati (N. rufa) M. Cuvier regrets that his native language is inadequate to describe the multifarious colours which distinguish the animal creation. But the wonderful manifestations of wisdom and beneficence which are everywhere discoverable, exceed the scope of human language, and the limited faculties of men, accurately to comprehend or to pourtray. The prodigality of colours, the variety of tints, which are obvious even in a shell or flower, in a bird or insect, can never be adequately described; they are perceived by the eye, they gladden or elevate the mind, but who may convey an accurate idea of them to another? No one ever formed a correct picture of a beautiful animal from mere description. The same remark may be made on the varied hues of a magnificent sunset; and the changing lights, the radiance and the blendings of those playful tints which sport on the surface of the

ocean.

The red coati has been known for a considerable time, but he has not till lately been described with accuracy. Smelling is the most remarkable of his senses; those of taste, of sight, and hearing, seem peculiarly obtuse. His nose is perpetually in motion, and he applies it as if trying to feel every object presented to his attention. He also uses it in digging, with the aid of his fore-paws, which

are extremely useful to him while climbing and descending trees. For the coati does not descend backwards like the cat or bear; he comes down with his head foremost, and clings in his perilous descent to the rough bark, or to small twigs and projections, which serve him as a ladder. This is effected by means of his hinder claws, which are SO constructed as to enable him to turn them back, like

hooks, to a great extent. His voice is a gentle hissing when in a good humour; a shrill and piercing cry when under the influence of fear or anger.

The individual which gave rise to these remarks was an inmate of the French Museum. Without being actually malicious, he was never completely domesticated, and though at times allowing himself to be caressed, he would more frequently bite the hand that was extended to play with him. On this account it was necessary to keep him shut up. Possibly he was irritated by the remembrance of his past condition. We know that animals are endowed with memory; they recognise those who were kind to them, even after the lapse of many years, and it is more than probable that they often recur when in a captive state to their native haunts. In the present instance, confinement seemed to depress the faculties of the red coati, yet in disposition he so much resembled his brown relative, that we may conjecture little difference to subsist between them, excepting that the former live retired in small parties, while, on the contrary, the brown coati love to associate in large communities.

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We have reason to believe that the species of which we have just spoken is principally confined to the province of Rio de la Plata-to that woodless and mighty plain-that continued level, uninterrupted by the smallest hill for several hundred miles, yet beautifully varied with rich pasture grounds, and fields producing an abundance of trees yielding delicious fruits, with cotton and tobacco, indigo, pimento, and ipecacuanha, and the valuable herb called paraguay, which is annually exported to the value of one hundred thousand pounds, merely to the provinces of Chili and Peru. This plant is serviceable in disorders of the head and stomach, it preserves the miners when brought in contact with the noxious mineral streams that would otherwise suffocate them; it is also a sovereign remedy in many fevers, it allays the gnawings of hunger, and purifies the most unwholesome water.

Palms also grow there, the noblest productions of the vegetable kingdom in southern countries, but no where so abundant or so beautiful as in the finest parts of South America. It is curious to trace their progress from the equator to the temperate zone, to observe how gradually they diminish in size and beauty, and how fully they expand in countries where the usual degree of heat is from 75° to 80° or 83° of Fahrenheit. America is, therefore, the land of palms, for both in Asia and in Africa the species are comparatively rare, with the exception of the date, which is invaluable in the country where it grows, and which even thrives in the south of Europe.

The Jagua and the Piriguao are the most magnificent; the first especially, which seems to concen