NEST-BUILDING APES. Reference was made, but with sonar hesitation, iu the arti cle Gonim,A, to certain new species of apes of the same genus with the chimpanzee and gorilla, said to have been discovered by M. du Chaillu in western Africa. The complete vindication which has since taken place of that traveler's reputation as it truthful and trustworthy observer, makes it necessary to give some further notice of these now unquestioned discoveries, exceedingly remarkable on account of the habits of sonic of the animals. To protect themselves from the rain, they construct nests, or rather umbrellas, among the branches of the trees, of long branches and leaves laid one over the other very carefully and thickly, so as to be " capable of shedding water." The branches arc fastened to the tree in the middle of the structure by portions of the stems of twining shrubs, abundant in these forests. When the leaves dry, so that the struc ture no longer keeps out the rain, the owner builds another shelter; and Du Minn says this happms once in ten or fifteen days. The nest-building ape (troglodytes calms, called ushiego mbouve by the natives) is nearly four feet in length. Du Chaillu supposes this ape to rest all night on a projecting branch under its nest or umbrella, with an arm round the stem of the tree for security. The nests are generally constructed about 15 or 21) ft. from the ground,and invariably on a tree which stands a little apart from others, and which has no limbs below the one in which the nest is placed,probably in order to insure safety from serpents and other animals. These apes inhabit the most lonely parts of
the forests. The nests are never congregated together, so that this ape does not seem to be gregarious. It feeds on fruits.—Du Chaillu discovered a second species of nest building ape on his second visit to the Ogobai, very similar to the troglodytes coleus, but which constructs its nest in a somewhat different fashion. It is called nshiego nkengo by the natives. It makes its nest or shelter at the height of about 20 or 30 ft. from the ground, by bending over and intertwining a number of the weaker boughs, the foliage of which forms its protection from rain.
according to ancient Grecian legend, the son of Neleus and Chloris, b. in the Messenian Pylos, escaped destruction when Hercules slew all his brothers, being then a dweller among the Geronians, with whom he was brought up. He married Eurydice, by whom he became the father of a numerous family. In his youth he was distinguished for valor in wars with the Arcadians, Eleians, and the centaurs, and in his advanced age for wisdom. Although lie was an old man when the expedition against Troy was undertaken, he joined it with his Pylians in sixty ships. Homer makes him the great counselor of the Grecian chiefs, and extols his eloquence as superior even to that of Ulysses. His authority was even considered equal to that of the immortal ads. Nestor returned iu safety to his own dominions after the fall of Troy, along with •enelaus and Diomedes, and continued for long to rule over the people of Pylos.