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Otago Daily Times, Issue 18310, 29 July 1921, Page 6

Molly, the orang-outang at Melbourne Zoo, haa given up cigarettes and has taken to a pipe (says the Age). Once she was inordinately fond of the cigarette; but some time ago, through dropping a lighted butt amongst the hessian sacks which she uses to keep herself warm, she set fire to her cage and narrowly escaped being burned to death. That alarming experience gave her a distaste for cigarettes, and after that it was only when the craving for tobacco was strong upon her that she would consent to smoke one. Lately she was presented with & briar pipe and a package of “ aromatic flake cut,” Though she had never used a pipe before she took to it immediately as “ one to the manner born,” ro’ling the tobacoo up between her palms in the orthodox manner and filling the bowl with the skill of an old smoker. Nor did lighting her pipe present any difficulties, for she can strike a match without trouble. Puffing away at her pipe, she is a sight to wonder at, for it makes her look more grotesquely human than ever. Experiments of great interest are being carried out in the scientific world. The creatures thus honoured are tho olm, email, eel-like, and quite blind, with tiny limbs and feathery external gills, and the menobranoh, a somewhat similar creature, byt with better developed limbs and minute eyes. Though unable to live for mere than a few hours on land, tho mcnobranoh can exist in water without any apparent inconvenience after the amputation of its gills, while the olm can live for five years without any form of nourishment! Encouraged by tho success which attended the use of thyroid on the Mexican axolotl, scientists have now been tempted td try_ its effect upon tho even more mysterious olm and menobranoh. It is hoped that they will respond to treatment by absorbing their gills and cultivating terrestrial habits, thus developing into animals hitherto unknown to science. Thu Mexican axolotl and the menobranoh can be seen in the reptile house at the London Zoological Gardens.