ich, having no defence, flee in close
troops, and break down the bushes they find in their way. Terrified at
this struggle, the timid and distrustful monkeys answer, from the tops
of the trees, the cries of the large animals. They awaken the birds that
live in society, and by degrees the whole assembly is in commotion. It
is not always in a fine moonlight, but more particularly at the time of
a storm of violent showers, that this tumult takes place among the wild
beasts. 'May heaven grant them a quiet night and repose, and us also!'
said the monk who accompanied us to the Rio Negro, when, sinking with
fatigue, he assisted in arranging our accommodation for the night."

Life is indeed among animals a struggle for existence, and in addition
to the more usual weapons--teeth and claws--we find in some animals
special and peculiar means of offence and defence.

If we had not been so familiarised with the fact, the possession of
poison might well seem a wonderful gift. That a fluid, harmless in one
animal itself, should yet prove so deadly when transferred to others, is
certainly very remarkable; and though the venom of the Cobra or the
Rattlesnake appeal perhaps more effectively to our imagination, we have
conclusive evidence of concentrated poison even in the bite of a midge,
which may remain for days perceptible. The sting of a Bee or Wasp,
though somewhat similar in its effect, is a totally different organ,
being a modified ovipositor. Some species of Ants do not sting in the
ordinary sense, but eject their acrid poison to a distance of several
inches.

Another very remarkable weapon is the electric battery of certain Eels,
of the Electric Cat Fish, and the Torpedoes, one of which is said to be
able to discharge an amount of electricity sufficient to kill a Man.

Some of the Medusae and other Zoophytes are armed by millions of minute
organs known as "thread cells." Each consists of a cell, within which a
firm, elastic thread is tightly coiled. The moment the Medusa touches
its prey the cells burst and the threads spring out. Entering the flesh
as they do by myriads, they prove very effective weapons.

The ink of the Sepia has passed into a proverb. The animal possesses a
store of dark fluid, which, if attacked, it at once ejects, and thus
escapes under cover of the cloud thus created.

The so-called Bombardier Beetles, when attacked, discharge at the enemy,
from the hinder part of their body, an acrid fluid which, as