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The loliowing diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire film6 fut reproduit grdce d la g6n6rosit6 de I'dtablissement prdteur suivant : La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul cliche sont film^es d partir de I'angle sup^rieure ga'jche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n^cessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre ia m^thode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 hp: first lesson to be learned ■IS THAT- BE^k-T TMEM: ^?LlliL ! Just Look at the Rush to Goff Bros, for boots © o o (|harIoMouin, |. (5. Jsland. fflWs, Boys' ai Mi's Glofflm ! •«- School Supplies of ALL Kims BU^BOMsSil^^ J^^. Brown's Block, Market Square ^MotUiown, §. %. J. RD t^ f^\ \j c crij^_Q__j, 3 / WcL-i^c^A ST y ■■^ £) W ^^ •^n mm e CANADA PUBLIC ARCHIVES ARCHIVES PUBLIQUES T C/5 C/5 C/3 V bO C/3 P«< T THE Natural History OF Irina mwmd Jsland. BY FRANCIS BAIN. AUTHORIZED FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. G. HERBERT HASZARD, PUBLISHER, brown's block, queen square. 1890. lo(p B3 Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year 1890. by George Hekuert Haszakd, In the Office of the Minister of Agriculture, at Ottawa. s ! 7^ So 7 PREFACE. This little work is intended as an introduction to the study of the natural history of Prince Edward Island, for the use of our Primary Schools. In it we have aimed to be concise and yet to present the important features of the subject ; we have studied simplicity and yet regarded scientific accuracy. We would here urge the importance of studying natural history in the field. No book informal n take the place of this. Let the student be taught to coK.^ct and identify each object for himself Thus will he form an intimate acquaintance with nature in all her beauty and richness, and learn the lofty art of investigating her hidden secrets for himself. CONTENTS. Rocks of Prince Edward Island : 9 General Features ... 9 Formation and Structure 1 1 Position and Exposure I2 Surface Features. Trap Rock I5 Historical Geology : i6 Permian '" Triassic ^^ Quaternary 22 Boulder Clay 22 Glacial Strise. Granite Boulders. Glacial Moraines. . 23 Surface Deposits 24 Mussel Beds. Sand Dunes. Subsidence 25 Soil 26 Useful Minerals 27 Glossary 20 f 0tang. Structure of Plants : 3' Leaves 32 Compound Leaves 34 Contents. Vll The Flower Calyx Corol.a Inflorescence Fruit Classification of Plants . , Dicotyledons : Crowfoot Family . . Side-Saddle Flowers. Violets. Pinks Maples Wood-Sorrels. Cashew Family '.. Pod-Bearers. Rose Blooms *.!*.!.**.'.!.*.*' 46 Cucumbers. Currants. Evening Primroses \ \ \ \ * .' ' .' .* .* 49 Cornels. Umbelflowers. Ivy Flowers .' co Cross- Flowers, 35 35 36 yj 39 40 41 41 42 43 44 Woodbines. Composite Flowers Lobelias Cranberries. Heath Blooms Ashes. Bindweeds. Figworts Labiate-Flowers. Primroses Ribworts. Saltworts Buckwheats. Elms Mast-Bearers. Birches ^^ Willows ^ _ ^ Monocotyledons : Sarsaparillas. Lilies. Rushes .'.*.'!!.*.'!.'.'"" 62 Flags. Orchids \ . Sedges. Grasses ' ] ' * } Gymnogens : ^ 51 53 54 Nightshades ^r 56 57 58 59 Pin (^1 es, Spruces, Firs, &c ^^ 69 69 Cryptogams : Ferns. Club-Mosses Horse-Tails. Mosses Lichens. Mushrooms. Seaweeds 7, Glossary. . . ' 72 70 vni Contents. Divisions of Animals 75 Protozoa 76 ccelentera 77 echinodermata 78 mollusca : 79 Lamellibranchiata 80 Gasteropoda 83 Cephalopoda 85 Annulata 86 Arthropoda : 87 Crustacea 87 Myriopoda. Insecta 89 Arachnida 100 Vertebrata: lOI Fishes : loi Eels, Herrings, Salmons 102 . Fiat-Fishes 103 Cods 104 Blennies, Mackerels, Perches 105 Gurnards, Pipe-Fishes, Sharks 106 Amphibia: 107 Toads, Frogs, Salamanders 107 Reptiles 108 Birds : 108 Swimming Birds 109 Waders no Scratchers, Birds of Prey in Climberij, Perching Birds 113 Manwialia : 117 Gnawing Animals 118 Insect-eating Animals, Wing-handed Animals 119 Whales H9 Hoofed Animals, Flesh-eating Animals 120 Etymology of Names in Zoology 122 75 76 n 78 79 80 83 8s 86 87 87 89 100 lOI lOI 102 103 104 105 106 107 107 108 108 109 no III 113 117 118 119 119 120 122 .^■5 'M The Natural History OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND Geology treats of the structure of the Earth and the mode of its formation. The Geology of any particular country is an account of Its rock formations and the causes which have pro- duced them. ROCKS OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. SECTION I. GENERAL FEATURES. 1. The rocks of this Island consist principally of red sandstone and red clay shale, with some calcareous oeds. 10 Natural History. 5( 2. This may be observed on any of our coasts, wliere the rock, underlying the general covering of boulder clay, will be seen to be red sandstone and red clay shale arranged in beds of varied thickness. 3. The Sandstones are formed of sand cemented together by chemical action. They are generally fine- grained; rarely coarse and pebbly, ioxmm% conglo7nerate. They are sometimes thick-bedded and compact^ forming building stones ; often thin bedded and friable. In places they are hardened with lime, and are then cal- careous sandstones. They are generally micaceous^ that is, filled with glittering scales of mica. Black manga- nese in thin layers, and carbonaceous matter from the decay of ancient vegetation, frequently darken the strata. A band of grey colour marks the junction of a bed of sandstone and shale. 4. The Shales consist of imperfectly indurated red clays, and are soft and friable. They are sometimes mottled with grey spots, from the action of organic matter. 5. Limestone is composed of carbonate of lime. When burned, it forms lime used for building and in agriculture. It is not common in the Island. Small deposits of nearly pure, light grey concretionary limestone occur at Miminigash and Crown Point. Generally, the beds are red-coloured and impure, being mixed with sand and clay, and are called arenaceous liinestone. Many of them contain magnesia, and might be called magnesian limestones. A coarse rock, composed of lime, sand, and hardened masses of clay, is called calcareous conglomerate. Geology. 11 w lie re )iilder ' slialo united y fine- nerate. )llUlllg 'e. Id en cal- ls^ that manga- 3111 the en the on of a SECTION II. FORMATION AND STRUCTURE. 6. All these various rocks were laid down in the waters of the Gulf, or along its coast, as beds of sand, clay, or limy material, obtained from the wear of ttie adjacent coast, and the decay of marine animals and plants. 7. In long process of time, chiefly by chemical action, they became hardened into rocks. 8. They all exhibit that arrangement in layers, or strata, which material deposited in water always assumes, and belong to the class called Sedimentary, Aqueous, or Stratified Rocks. The arrangement in layers is called the Stratification. 9. The Stratification is sometimes very regular and even, showing that the beds have been deposited in Fig. I. tranquil water (Fig. 1, a). Sometimes it is very irregu- lar and broken, from the action of strong currents or tide."^, as shown at ^, Fig. 1. Many beds are ripple- marked, proving their deposition in shallow water. Some I)eds, as seen at Eice Point, exhibit sun-cracks, showing that they were left bare at ebb-tide to dry in the sun. 12 Natural History. 10. Terms. — The smallest divisions of stratified rocks are called layers. A Lumber of layers of the same material form a stratum. A number of strata, generally of dissimilar materials^ constitute w. formation. SECTION III. POSITION AND EXPOSURE. 11. The original position of our beds was horizontal, like that of all sedimentary strata. 12. Present Position. — By the commotions of tlie earth's crust, these beds have been disturbed from their original positiorr and thrown into a number of ridges, called anticlinals (A, Fig. 2) ; with their intervening depressions, called synclinals (B, Fig. 2). Fig. 2. 13. Dip^ Strike^ ^c. — The irrclination of beds is called the dip. The beds at D, Fig. 2, dip to the right ; those at A dip right and left. Their direction at right angles to the dip is the strike. The exposure of the ends of inclined strata is the outcrop (D, Fig. 2). By the denudation of an anticlinal a large number of beds may be exposed in outcrop. Such an exposure affords us an opportunity of studying the lowest as well as the higliest beds, as will be seen at D, Fig. 2. stratified IS of the of stiatn, vrmation. lorizoiital, lis of tlie "rom their of ridges, tervening ■ beds is he right ; 1 at right e of the ,2). By imber of exposure st as well .2. ,1 Geology. |g 14. Example.— \xx the Hillsborough Bay we have a fine examine of denudation on an anticlinal. The Hillsborough Anticlinal ruTis nearly east magnetic through this hay, bringing up the lowest Permian rocks m Governor Island and Gallas Point, and exposing 2,000 feet, vertical depth, of beds in the outcrop on its shores. a^.-- Fig. 3- 3 Denudation of Hillsborough Bay.-a, Tea Hill; b, Pt. Prim- c Governor! nS'r' '' \^' '^^^' ^° '^^ -sections'of he Srmian Dotted lines show strata removed by denudation 15. Let the student take his stand on the sandstone acclivity of Tea Hill, and look across the Bay to where the hills of Point Prim rise blue in the distance. Let him ren^ember that those hills are a continuation of the same stratum on which he is standing, and that the vast intervening mass was removed by the same slow process of denudation that he sees in progress among the red cliffs at his feet, and he will have Tome small Idea of the grandeur of geological operations, and the time required for their completion. IG. Anticlinals.— Five important anticlinals up- heave the Island beds. The Hillsborough Anticlinal, already mentioned, whose median line runs south of bt Peter's Island, through Gallas Point and Cardigan and south of Souris, as far as the East Point. The 14 Natural History. South Shore Antid^nal^ running (lo\vn tlic Strait scnitli of Wood Islands and Little Sands, and giving a northern in-line to the rocks of those districts. The Cape Iryon Andclinal, a short and biokeii one, ex- tenc^'ng from Cape Try on towards Malpeque Bay. These anticlinals are all parallel, and run nearly east magnetic. They are all connected with the system of upheavals which elevated the Cobequid Mountains, in Nova Scotia. 17. Two anticlinals disturb the western parts of the Island. One runs along the Western Shore. The other crosses the Island near Cape Egmont. They are con- nected with ti.e New Brunswick system of upJieavals, and run northeast and southwest. 18. A transverse upheaval runs through St. Peter's Bay. Another crosses the Hillsborough Anticlinal at Nine Mile Creek, accompanied with a fault which has lifted the beds on its western side 300 or 400 feet above those on the eastern side, as seen in Fig. 4. 11 Fig. 4. Section showing fault at Nine Mile Creek. At A is the fault in the basin of the Creek. The numbers 2, 3, show the corresponding parts of the same beds. Dotted lines show parts removetl by denudation. Geology. 15 t Kouth viiig a . The »iie, ex- e Bay. ly cast stem of ains, 111 3 01 the e other ire coii- leavals, Peter's ilinal at lich has ;t ahove 19. Means of Observation, — By this scries of iiiove- iiicnts— as ilhistrated in Figs. 3 and 4 — the Island rocks have been upheaved and exposed to denudation. In the numerous outcrops thus afforded, we have ample opportunity of studying the beds of tae entire system. SECTION IV. SURFACE FEATURES. 20. The denudation, or wearing dowi\ of those beds of unequal hardness has produced the varied features of the surface of our country. The outcrop of a sand- stone bed forms a liill or elevated tract, like Tea Hill, or Highfield. An outcrop of shale leaves a valley or low-lying district, like Emyvale, or Pownal. A bed of shale on the coast makes a bay, like Orwell Bay or Pownal Bay. A thick mass of sandstone forms a cape or headland, like Point Prim or Cape Turner. So, the whole form of the Island, and every surface feature, have been determined by tlie character of the rock and its denudation. . ?v 21. Trap Rock. — A dark mass of fine-grained Dolerite rises tlirough the sandstone strata on the north- east end of Hog Island, in Malpeque Bay. It is a true volcanic rock, having been ejected from the interior of the earth in a molten state, hardening and altering the strata with which it came in contact. IG Natural History. HISTORICAL GEOLOGY. u i 22. Geologists divido the rock structure of the globe into the following formations, beginning with the oldest : Laurentian, Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Eocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Quaternary. 23. Each of these formations represents an extend- ed peiiod of time, the whole many millions of years. The rocks of Prince Edward Island belong to the Permian and Triassic arrd hold a middle place in the rock-written history of the past. t ; 1i' secTidN I. Watchia. ecoptens. PERMIAN. Calamite. 24. Extent, — The greater part of the Island belongs to this formation. It occupies Prince County, the eastern half of Queen's County, and the great(;r part of King's County. fliiil Geology. 17 25. Kind of AVX'^.— Following is a section of its strata, their kind and depth, in descentling order : FKKT 1. Dnrk red Sandstone with few Shale beds 700 2. Red Sandstone, thick-bedded and compact . . 200 3. Red Shales with thin Sandstones 1,000 4. Grey, brown, and dark red Sandstones ; red and mottled Shales, with calcareous beds. . 800 Total thickness 2,700 26. The Lower Section (4) is seen at (Julias Point, Governor Island and St Peter's Island. The sea shore cliffs in these places are seen to consist of grey ami brown rocks, with beds of the usual red colour. They contain many remains of plants. 27. Governor Island. — Ribbed and jointed Cala??i- ites are here cast in the grey sandstone rock ; and oval Trignocarpi, or seeds of sigillaria, are scattered in the clayey beds. There is a bed containing remains of l)]ants fossilized in copper. 28. Gallas Point contains many siliciHed stems of ancient pine trees ( Dadoxylon), and dark, flinty splinters of this material, showing perfectly the woody structure, are scattered thickly about the grey, sandy floor of the sea beach. Some large stems are converted into layers of coal. Trunks of tree ferns, fluted stems of sigillaria, numerous catamites, and delicate ferns, painted in dark carbon, or traced in white calcite, lie on the rocky beds. Stems of tylodendron, imbricated and noded, form beautiful flinty shafts, one to two inches in diameter. 18 Natural History. <.\ i i \ ' % \ I 29. St. Peter^s Island. — Here tlic; gnjy and brown l)0(ls contain nnineroiiH remnants of tree ferns and tylo- dendra, with remains of the j^r'^nf calaniite, Catamites Gigas, wliicli towered forty feet above the grey soil of tlie Permian swamps. Small quantities of iron ore are found in these localities, and some thin beds of con- cretionary limestone. 30. At Miminigash the red shales and dark red sandstones, impregnated with iron, contain many beau- tiful impressions of ferns. Pecopteri'i arborascens i.s the most abundant. Its large, thick-leaved, regularly- cut fronds, sometimes ten feet in length, leave very distinct impressions on the fine-grained beds. Aleth- opteris is a more delicate -^nd less symmetrical fern. Cyclopteris has rounded leaflets with delicate circular veinlets. Sphenopteris has graceful, wedge-shaped leaflets. Neuropteris has many delicate nervures on its ovate leaflets. At this place, the large, ribbed leaves of cordates are common, and the whoiled leaves of Annularia lie like shadowed stars on the bright red matrix, with plume-like branchlets of Walchia. 31. The Great Shale Beds (3) of the third division are chiefly interesting on account of the extensive denudation which they have undergone. The low lands about Pownal, Orwell and Nine Mile Creek, have been formed by them ; also the extended plains on the west of the Island. Their denudation has produced the basin of the Hillsborough Bay, and, to a large extent, effected the separation of Prince Edward Island from the mainland. The associated sandstones are drilled Geology. Vd 1 brown 111(1 tylo- ^alamites y soil of I ore nro 3 of con- lark red ly beau- 2scens ifi 3giilaily- ivG very Aleth- :al fern, circular e-shaped /urcs on id leaves eaves of iglit led division xtensivG ow lands ave been the west Lced the I extent, nd from B drilled with ])iirrows and casts of worms, many of large size. Corals — Cyathophillum and Petrana-, — and fragments of Eficrinites^ with s[)ong(!s, are found in the calcareous beds. 32. The Compact Red Sandstones (2) of this divisif i( HP. the bulk of Tea Hill that towers its green swell ov'^ 'ho northern shores of the Hillsborough Bay; the same range continued south of the West Kiver ; the hills of Belfast and Up)»er Montague, and the hilly tract from Souris to East Point. They contain few organic remains, but afford much superior building stone. 33. The Upper Section op the Peumian (1) coiu- ])rises the rolling and pictures(iue district around Charlottetown harbour and its river estuaries, and most of the Island to the eastward. Its varied and gently- undulating surface everywhere affords pleasing scenery, and a rich and easily cultivated soil. 34. Beds sufficiently compact for builduig stone are found among its sandstones, as at Mount Edward quarry ; but much of the rock is friable and shaley. The calcareous sandstones bear corals, tentacles of oncrinites, and minute spines of fishes. The few vegetable remains found are : fragments of silicified wood of Dadoxylon^ stems of Araucarites, branches of Walchia, and imperfect casts of ferns and Calamites, with numerous remains of Fucoids. 35. The Life and general conditions of the Island during the Permian may be gathered from the fore- going account of its rocks and fossils. 20 Natural History, 36. Widespread sand shoals filled the southern basin of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Its surges broke in foam on the broad reefs, or rolled in sullen a. rKness over abysses shadowy with fucoids, or gay with the living blossoms of corals and encrinites. Spined and plated fishes scoured its deeps, and cephalopods left their chambered shells in its drifting sands. Sometimes a breadth of land rose above the waters. Its marshy borders waved green with thickets of reed-like cala- mi tes. Here the Great Calamite rose its fluted shaft forty feet above the reeking soil. On the firmer ground groves of tree ferns wove fairy canopies of their frondage. Above these, like some tall miraret, shot the sculptured trunk of a rare sigillaria. All tne drier hills were dark with pine trees ; while plumy thickets of ferns and cordates, and whorled annularia and tylo- dendra, and crowned cycads, filled every opening in the forest and crowded down to the restless margin of the wave. Geology, SECTION II. 21 Palm Leaf Voltzla. Dinosaur. TRIASSIC. 36. Extent. — The Triassic rocks cover the north- western half of Queen's County, including that extensive range of hills stietching across the Island from Bonshaw to New London, and eastward to Wiltshire and Rustico. They also include r-uie areas in King's County. 37. Position. — They lie liorizontally on top of the PerLiian beds, not being disturbed by the Permian anticlinals. 38. Kind of Rocks (1).— At the base of the forma- tion is a thin stratum of quartz pebble conglomerate. It appears to be of drift origin, and is seen at North River, Murray Harbor Road, and Bear River. A mass of sandstone conglomerate, hardened with lime, in Mill River, is on the s-me horizon, and proves the consolidation and upheaval of the Permian previous to the deposition of the Trias. 39. The remaining 300 feet (2) of the formation is composed of sandstones, often thick-bedded, and some- times calcareous, with some beds of shale. 22 Natural History, 'm 40. Organic Remains are rare. Particularly so in the inferior beds. Calamites^ tree ferns, Walchia^ Voltzia, branches and wood of conifers of diiierent species from tliose of the Permian, and the palmate leaves of palm trees have been found. 41. At New London part of the jaw of a Dino- saurus reptile, called Bathygnathus horealis, was dis- covered, in digging a well, on the farm of Mr. D. McLeod. This animal has been described as a " moderate-sized alligator, scaled and crested, mounted erect on a pair of powerful posterior limbs which enabled it to leap with the agility of a frog." Its jaws were short and powerful, and armed with sabre-shaped teeth, four inches in length. Its whole structure evinced great strength, agility, and ferocity. It be- longed to the most perfect family of reptiles that ever appeared on the earth. Its length was about ten feet, and with a bound of sixteen or eighteen feet it leaped upon its prey. 42. All the Formations (22) between the Trias and the Quaternary are wanting in Prince Edward Island. Probably during that time the Island stood above the sea-level. SECTION III. QUATERNARY. 43. The Boulder Clay everywhere spreads over the surface of our Island, covering up the older rock formations. Its upper part forms our soil, so varied and so fertile. Sections of it are everywhere to be Geology, 23 ly so in Valchia^ liiierent paliiiato a Dino- k^as dis- Mr. D. i as a lonnted which [ts jaws -shaped ^ructure It be- lat ever )ut ten feet it lias and Island. lOve the seen in the red banks of our rivers and bays. It is composed of clay, sand, gravel, and anoular stones. The latter are often glaciated, that is, smoothed and scratched by the action of ice. It varies in depth from one foot to fifty feet. It is not .stratified. 44. The Boulder Clay was formed by the Great Glacier, a moving sheet of terrestrial ice, which, durin^^ a period of intense cold, covered North America down to lat. 40^^ N. 45. Glacial Strice. — The rock under the boulder clay is often seen to be smoothed, scratched and grooved. This was effected by the movement of the vast mass of ice forming the Great Glacier. The direction of the heavier grooves and scratches is generally east-south- vst. They are well seen at Simpson's Point, Bay View ; French River ; Cable Head ; St. Peter's Bay, and many other places, 46. Granite Boulders and masses of other crystal- line rocks are scattered over many parts of the surface of the Island. They are most numerous in a line from Cape Wolf to north of St. Petei's Bay. They were brought from New Brunswick by the moving ice mass whose course was east-south-east. 47. The Stratified Sands and Clays which underlie the swamps and barrens of Prince County, and the deposits of Brick Clay which are found in many places, were formed by sub-glacial streams and lakelets during the existence of the Continental Glacier. 48. Glacial Moraines, — As a glacier is a mass of ice moving down a valley or slope of land, it carries 24 Natural History, with it quantities of clay, sand, and stones. These it deposits at its lower extremity. In tinio they accumu- late into liea[)s and ridges, forming moraines. Moraine on St. Peter's Road. Elevated ridges frequently occur in the boulder clay formation, filled with worn and rounded stones and gravel. They are moraines, formed in the latter days of the Glacial Era, when the great Continental Glacier had been reduced to local glaciers. 49. Examples may be seen on St. Peter's Road, six miles from Charlottetown ; on the upper North River, below More's Mills ; on the Brackley Point Road, near Black River School ; in Cliarlottetown Park, and many other places. They may always be recognized by the number of well-rounded stones which they contain. 50. Surface Deposits, — Accumulations of i7iuck and peat are found in all swanq^y places over the Island. Large deposits are near Alberton, on Lennox Island, and at Squirrel Creek, in Prince County. They were Geology, 25 all formed by the growth and decay of vegetable mat- ter in damp situations. They form, when properly composted, valuable manures. 51. Mtissel Beds are found in nearly all our bays and river estuaries. They are often many acres in extent. Altogether, they probably comprise 3,000 acres. They have been formed by the accumulation of decayed shells of oysters, mussels, quahaugs, and other marine mollusks. They are from two to twenty-five feet in depth, and have grown up from the bottom with the amassing of sediment in the beds of the rivers or bays. Mussel mud is extensively used as a fertilizer. The lime which it contains is its chief active agent. It holds small quantities of nitrogen and phosphoric acid. 52. Sand Dunes, or ridges of blown sand, some- times forty feet in height, stretch along much of our northern coast. They are of a tawny grey color, tlic particles of silica being washed free from iron,' clay, and other red coloring matter. 53. Subsidence.—k. most interesting geological feat- ure is the secular subsidence which our Island, in [common with a large part of eastern America, is under- : going. The land is sinking at the rate of about two feet in a century. Evidence of this is distinctly seen on the borders of salt marshes, where stumps of trees, firmly rooted in the soil where they grew, are sunk considerably below tide-level. In some cases these stumps are found covered up with many feet of marsh Igrowth. 54. This slow subsidence is a fair example of the 26 Natural History. II great movements which, in the long course of time, have depressed or elevated extensive regions of the earth's surface. Soil. 55. The soil of Prince Edward Island is generally a fine, red, sandy loam, rich and easily cultivated. Its superior quality makes the Island the hest agricultural Province in Eastern Canada. Indeed, red j?aiidstone soils the world over aie the most valuable for agricult- ure. Several varieties of soil occur on the Island corresponding to the rock formations whose disintegra- tion has produced them. 56. ist, The great shale beds (No. 3) of the lower Permian (25-31) afford heavy clay soils. They are often swampy. Originally they were covered with a growth of black spruce, larch, ash, and willow. In cultivation they are cold and damp, ill-suited for tillage, but, under good management, supply rich pasturage. The stratified clays of the Boulder formation afford very clayey, wet soils, requiring draining for profitable culture. 57. 2d^ The stratified sands of the same formation, occurring in parts of King's and Prince Counties, supply very light, sandy soils. They were originally clothed with shrub pines and birches, and the prostrate arbutus. They are not profitable for culture unless well filled with humus. 58. j^. The best and most extensively distributed soil is formed by the Boulder Clay formation Avhich WiSim-vS^'t Geology. 27 of time, 3 of the jeiiemlly ;eil. Its icultural andstone agiicult- e Island sintegia- he lower riiey are id with a low. In )r tillage, | asturage. 3n aiford profitable 3rmation, Counties, 3riginally prostrate L'e unless Lstributed j on which 1 overlies the varied and rolling districts of the Trias and upper Permian, and the sandstone tracts of the lower Permian. It is a fine, sandy loam, friable and easily tilled. It was originally clothed with noble deciduous forests of beech, birch, and maple ; and the annual harvest of their autumn-tinted leaves, decaying in the shadows at their feet, accumulated a store of the richest humus. This, mixed with the upper layer of earth, formed the productive virgin soil of our Province, capable of yielding such bountiful harvests. Useful Minerals. 59. Building Stone of good quality is procured from the beds of compact sandstone already referred to. Section 2 of the Permian (32) contains a large quantity of the best material. Its outcrop at the entrance of Cliarlottetown Harbor, along Tea Hill range, and at Belfast and Souris will afford an unlimited supply. 60. Z/Wj/^;?.?.— Besides the small beds of con- cretionary limestone mentioned previously (5), the calcareous conglomerates of the lower Permian some- times afford limestones sufficiently good to burn for agricultural purposes. They are found at Park Corner Freetown, the vicinity of Summerside, Kildare, and many other places in Prince County. 61. Iron,~K^i\ Hematite and Manganetic Iron Ore are found in small quantity at Gallas Point and St. Peter's Island. Bog Iron Ore is found under many swamps. Manganese, in cellular concretions, is ob- tained from similar situations. 28 Natural History, 62. Copper. — Sulphide and Carbonate of Copper occur at Gallas Point and Governor Island, but not in sufficient quantity to be of practical value. 63. Gold^ in very minute quantity, was discovered, \\\ 1885, on the western shore of the Island. It occurs in connection with black sand — magnatite — in beds of calcareous conglomerate and on the sea shore. GLOSSARY. Anticline. Strata inclined in opposite directions. Araucaritea. Belonging to the Arau- cariae, a genus of pine trees, some of which are found growing in S. America. Calcareous. Containing lime. Carbonaceous. Coaly. Decayed veg- etable or animal matter is often found in a black, coaly condition in the rocks. Commotions of the Ear.H's Crust. These are produced oy various causes. The cooling and contrac- tion of the interio'- of the globe cause the crust to be ".umpled and thrown into ridges. The action of volcanic fires causes local disturb- ances. And the gradual contracting and expanding of vast bodies of strata produce, in time, disturb- ances of great magnitude. Concretionary Limestone. This con- sists of masses of limestone, more or less pure, formed by concretion, or the accumulation of limy materi- al round particular centres, in the substance of sandstone rocks. Conglomerate. Water - worn frag- ments of rocks, or pebbles, cemented together by another mineral sub- stance. Crystalline Rocks. Rocks in Mch the component parts are in a crys- talline state. As these rocks have generallybeen formed from ordinary sediments by the long continued action of heat or chemical forces, they are called metamorphic rocks. On our Island they only appear in drift brought by ice from the Prim- ary districts of New Brunswick. Dioiite,felsite,quartzite,'iornblende and gneiss are found associated with granite boulders. Dadoxylon. Meaning " pine wood." A name given to a genus of fossil pine trees. Denudation. The carrying away of a portion of the solid materials of the land by running water, by which the inferior rocks are laid bare. Drift. Material carried from a dis- tance by ice action. Encrinites. Animals allied to the star-fish, but with their bodies and numerous arms elevated on a long flexible stalk. The small divisions of the arms are called tentacles. Fault. The interruption of the con- tinuity of strata in the same plane, accompanied by a crack or fissure, caused by the elevation of the strata on one side or the depression of them on the other side. Geology. 2d Fish-Spines. Ancient fishes generally had their fins supported by strong spines. These are often found as fossils. In our rocks they occur from one-eighth of an inch to six inches in leniTth. Fucoids Species of alga;, represented on our own shores by the common rock-weed (Fucus vesiculosus). Granite. A rock composed of grains of quartz, felspar, and mica, all in crystalline form. The hard, clear, glassy part, in which the other crys- tals seem imbedded, is the quartz. The felspar is less hard and in white or flesh-coloured crystals. The mica is often black and always easily recognized by its splitting readily into thin scales. The hard, grey, granular boulders found scat- tered over the surface of some parts of the country are granite. Historical Geology treats of rocks in their chronological order, or the order in which they were formed. All strata formed at the same time are said to be on the same geological horizon. Organic Remains. Remains of ani- mals and plants. Permian. The most recent of the Paleozoic formations, named after the ancient kingdom of Permia, in Russia, where it is extensively de- veloped. Ripple-l\/!arl<, This is a series of wavy ridglets formed by the ripple of the waves on a sand beach, and is often seen preserved in the rocks. Sandy Loam. A soil containing 60 per cent, of sand is called a sandy loam. Sediment. Material thrown down from suspension in water. Sigillaria. Tall trees with fluted stems and erect, sword - shaped leaves, or fronds, very abundant in the Carboniferous. SHicified. Petrified, or mineralized by silex (flint). Syncline. Strata inclined together. Transversals. Lines of upheaval crossing the general direction of the anticlinals in a district. Trias, The most ancient of the Sec- ondary formation ; name from tria, three, because of its threefold division in Europe. Tylodendron is now known to have been a large coniferous tree, of which the trunk, foliage, and fruit have been found fossil at St. Peter's Island. The pith, an inch and a half in diameter, is the most com- mon part found. ^Cv3}E-*- 30 Natural History. ^otang. EoTANY is that branch of natural history whicli treats of plants. 1. The sandstone swells of Prince Edward Island are everywhere clothed with a rich and varied vegeta- tion. Its flora is much the same as spreads over the rest of Eastern Canada, but its dry and fertile soil produces a greater abundance of deciduous forest trees and the flowering plants which usually accompany them. 2. On the rolling districts, aff'ording the best agri- cultural soils, Beech, Yellow Birch, Maple, Oak, and White Pine flourish, with an undergrowth of Mountain Maple, Rowan, Hazel, Elder, and thick-tangled bram- bles. Grasses carpet the soil, jewelled with roses, convolvuli, and sweet-scented violets. These plants belong to the Central Canadian flora. 3. On the cold soils of the swamps and barrens a different class • of vegetation abounds. Spruces and sparse-foliaged Larches, Poplars, Birches, Aspens, and moss-grown Firs form the timber growth ; while a Botany, 81 thick, slirubby carpet of Andromeda, Ledum, Whortle- berries, and prostrate Arbntus spreads at their feet. The-se are members of the Sub-Arctic Flora, inhabiting the far north of Canada, and penetrating even within the Arctic Circle. Thus, two distinct floras occupy the two distinct classes of soil common on the Island. 4. Other peculiarities are noticeable. The Cedar is confined to Prince County, and we never saw the Arum, the Calapogon, or the Grand-flowered Habinaria in other parts of tii^ Island. The Hemlock is not found east of St. Peter's. The assemblage of plants on the Triassic hills is something diff'erent from that on Permian districts. The sand dunes have a flora peculiar to themselves. And amid the surf -lashed skerries of our rocky coasts, the lover of Nature will find a distinct field of study in the Algas, Fucoids, and Corrallins of marine growth. 5. In order to understand the descriptions of plants it is necessary that the student should become acquaint- ed with their general structure and the names applied to their different parts. STRUCTURE OF PLANTS. 6. The principal parts of a plant are the root, the stem, the branches, the leaves, and the flowers. The Root attaches the plant to the earth, and is generally the means by which it draws nutriment for its growth. Roots are of various forms, being branched^ 32 Natural History. aa in forest trees ; fibrous^ us in most grasses ; spindle- shaped^ as in the carrot ; tuberous^ as in tlie potato ; bulbous^ as in the turnip ; repent or creeping, as in the strawberry ; and floating^ as in duck-meat. 7. The Stem, or Stalk, is tliat part of a phint which rises above the ground. It may be woody^ as in the trunks ot forest trees ; or succulent^ as in herbs. Culm^ or Straw, is the stem of grasses. Scape is tlie stem of flowers. It springs from the root and bears the flower, but not the leaves. Ex. While Violet. . . . Peduncle is a flower stalk which springs fronr the stem or a branch, and bears the flowers but no leaves. Pedicils are divisions of the pedunch. ^ Petiole is the foot-stalk of a leaf. - Frond is the stem and leaf in one, as in the Ferns. Stipe is the stem of Mushrooms, or Toadstools. ,,,,;;;,:";^;;,;, / LEAVES. - 8. Leaves are the organs by which plants respire, and in wdiich the sap is prepared for the growth of the plant. They assume a vast variety of forms. Leaves are Simple or Compound. Leaves are called simple when only one grows on the same petiole. Common forms of simple leaves are the following : Ovate^ egg-shaped (i). — The length is V ^ ^ / ] o^®^*®^ ^\\^Vi the breadth, and the base is >vvi/ broader than the apex. Ex. Birch. . Obovate yL. I. ^^ ^^"^ io'^vcL reversed. Ex. Bear Berry. Botany, 33 Fig. 2. Oblong (2), having the length several times greater than the breadth. Ex. Solomon's Seal. Lanceolate (3), si)ear-fiha[)e(l. It is several times longer than wide, and tapering towards the two extremities. Ex. Narrow-leaved Plantain. Linear^ narrow, with the two sides almost parallel. Ex. most Grasses. Fig. 3. Cordate (4), heart-shaped, having the length greater than the breadth, with an ovate form hollowed out at the base. Ex. Cowled Violet. Saggitate, shaped like an arrow-head. Ex. Arrow-head. Lyrate(^), shaped like a lyre. Ex. Lyre-leaved Sage. 9. Runcinate^ eut into several acute segments pointed backwards. Ex. Dandelion. Sinuate (6), cut into round- ed lobes. Ex. Sugar Maple, Ked Oak. Pinnatifid. — The leaf is transverse- ly divided into lobes, but the divisions do not roach the midrib. Ex. Polypodium. pig. 6. Lancinated (7), cut into numerous irregular portions. Fig. 7. Ex. Buttercup. Fig. 4. 34 Natural History. ! I Fig. 8. Serrate (8), tlie border being cut into notches like the tGoth of a saw. Ex. Yellow Birch, Rose, Nettle. Double Serrate (9), having large teeth beset witli smaller ones. Ex. White Birch. Dentate^ beset with projecting teeth on the margin. Ex. Beech. Nerved^ having small, longitudinal ribs running from one extremity to the other. Ex. Narrow-leaved Plantain. Veined^ when the veins form a network through the leaf. Ex. Apple, Mullen. Compound Leaves. 10. When several leaves, or leaflets, grow on a common foot stalk they are ^'^' 9* called compound. Ex. Sumac. Ternate (ic) is when the foot- stalk bears three leaves. Ex. Clover. When a petiole has a number of leaflets growing on its sides, it is called winged, or Pinnate (ri). Ex. Rose, Mountain Ash. Radical is when leaves proceed directly from the root, generally round the stein, but never on it. Ex. Dandelion. Fig. II. Fig. 10. Botany. 35 Stellate^ or Whorled (12), is when leaves grow in a circle round the stem. Ex. Bedstraw. APPENDAGES. 1 1 . Stipules are leafy appendages to the leaves, or their foot-stalks. Bracts are leafy appendages to the flower, or its foot-stalk. THE FLOWER. Fig. 12. a Fig. 13. 1 % The Flower consists of : — The Calyx (b, Fig. 13) is the exterior envelope, and enclosed ^ the whole flower when it was in bud. The Corolla (a^ Fig. 13) is the delicate coloured part of the flower. It is generally divided into a number of sections called petals. Inside the corolla are the stamens ; and inside the stamens, and surrounded by them, is the pt'stal or pistals. The stamens consist each of two parts, the anther and the filament. The pistal consists of three parts, the germen^ or seed bud, the styky and the stigma. Calyx. 13. The calyx is sometimes divided into a number of distinct parts, or leaves, called sepals. When it is formed of one p iece only, it is called monophyllous. 36 Natural History, Perianth is the calyx when contiguous to the petals which it siirroi;nds. Involucre is the calyx remote from the flower. Ex. Bunch Berry. Ament, or Catkin, — This consists of a number of scales attached to a thread. Each scale is the calyx of a separate little flower, a number of which form the ament, as in Willow and Poplar. Sometimes these scales are hard and persistent, forming cones^ as in Pines. Glunie^ or Palss, is the calyx of the grains and grasses, covering up their tiny blossoms. Volva is the membrane covering up some of the Mushroom tribe \\ in young. Calyptra, or Hood, is the cap which covers the fructification of many mosses. Ex. Urn Moss. < 6'i Corolla. 14. When the corolla consists of one piece, or petal, it is called monopetalous. When it is formed of more than one petal, it is called polypetalous. The following are common forms of monopetalous corollas : Campanulate (14), having the form of an open bell. Ex. Convol- vulus. Infundibuliform^ shaped like a funnel. Ex. Morning Glory Fig, 14. (Ipomea). Botany, 37 Ex. Speedwell. Fig. IS- Rotate (15), wheel-shaped. Labiate (16), irregular and gaping, like the mouth of an animal. Ex. Skull Cap. Polypetalous Corollas. 15. Any corolla with more than one petal is termed polypetalous. Ex. Kose. Papilionaceous{ 1 7 ),or butterfly-shaped. This consists of four separate petals. The upper and largest is called the vexillum, or standard {c). The two side petals, under this {b), are called the alee, or wings ; and the lowest {a\ placed between the alse, is called the carina, or keel. Ex. Pea, Bean. Cruciform. — Cross-shaped corollas consist of four petals placed so as to form a cross. Ex. Turnip, Cabbage. - V'Sr^^" \ \ _ "mc INFLORESCENCE. 16. Inflorescence means the mode of floweiing. The kinds more worthy of notice are : Umbel (18). — This is the kind of inflorescence produced when several flower stems proceed from a Fig. i6. Fig. 17. T El I 5- ' il ■M 38 Natural History, coninion centre in a wlior], all rising to about the same heiglit. Ex. Carrot. Verticillaie (19), when the flow- ers, on very short peduncles, or sessile, form rings at intervals round the stem. Ex. Mint. Raceme^ o r Fig. i8. Cluster (20). — This consists of numerous scattered flowers, each on its own proper stem, the whole Fig. 19. Fig. 20. Fig. 21. proceeding from a common stalk. Ex. Currant. Spike (21). — This has many sessile flowers on a common erect peduncle. Ex. Speedwell ( Veronica officionalis)^ Wheat, Bar'ey. Panicle (22). — This is a loose cluster in which each pedicle bears several flowers. Ex. Oat, Meadow Grass. Spadix has the flowers close packed together on a succulent stem, and this partly enclosed in a spathe, or sheath. Ex. Indian Turnip, Cala. pig. 22. Botany. 39 Corymb (23). — This is an erect raceme v^ which the lower flower stalks are long and the upper ones short, so that the whole assemblage of flowers forms a nearly level head. Ex. S}»ear- leaved Golden Rod, Yarrow. Capitum or Fead (24). This consists of sessile flowers crowded together in a globular form. Ex. Clover. Fig. 23. FRUIT OR SEED. 17. Pericarp means any vessel or substance enclos- ing the seed. Common forms of pericarps are : Capsule. — This is a dry, woody kind of seed vessel, which, as it ripens, discharges its seeds by dividing into several parts called valves. The seed vessels of the Mullein and Plantain are capsules. Siliqua is a seed vessel of two valves, one on each side of a middle partition. Ex. Cabbage, Turnip. Legume is the pod of the Pea and Bean. Drupe has a fleshy pulp enclosing a bony nut or stone which contains the ker- nel, or proper seed. Ex. Cherry, Plum. Fig. 24. :#^r ,i ' 4f: 'k 1 If' 40 Natural History, Nut is a dry, bony fruit enclosing a kernel. Ex. Hazelnut. Bacca^ or Berry, is a succulent fruit in which the seeds lie loose in the pulp. Ex. Currant, Gooseberry. Compound Berry, — This consists of many simple berries, each containing a seed, united into one mass. Ex. Raspberry. Povie^ or Apple. — This is a fleshy pericarp contain- ing a capsule which encloses the seeds. Ex. Apple, Pear. CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. III iSfc- 18. All plants have been arranged in the following natural divisions : DIVISION I. FLOWERING PLANTS. Class. I. Dicotyledons, — Plants having the stem formed of bark, wood, and pith distinct. Leaves net- veined. Embryo with a pair of cotyledons. Parts of the flower mostly in fours or fives. Class II. Monocotyledons, — Stem without distinc- tion of bark, wood, and pith. Leaves parallel-veined. Embryo with one cotyledon. Parts of flower in threes. Class III. Gymnosperms. — Plants with naked ovules and seeds. DIVISION II. FLOWERLESS PLANTS. Class IV. Acrogens, — Plants with a stem contain- ing woody tissue and vessels. Botany, 41 Class V. Thalogen5,—V\^\\i& having no distinction of stem and leaves. CLASS I.— DICOTYLEDONS. RANUNCULACiE.-— C/-^e/^^/ Family. 19. The Buttercups, which spread so much golden bloom over our summer pastures, are good examples of this family. We have four. All have bright yellow flowers, with five petals, five sepals, and many stamens and pistals. Ranunculus acris, or Tall Buttercup, is two feet hioh, has a branched stem and lancinate leaves. R. repefis or Creeping Buttercup, has the main ctem prostrate, but the flower stems erect, leaves ternate. Both these frequent our pastures and meadows, but R. repens weaves a dense mat of foliage in the border of running streams ; and Seaside Buttercup creeps along the skirts of salt marshes. The Marsh-Marigold (Caltha palustris) is a large, succulent plant with broad, rounded-cordate leaves, and many large, yellow flowers. In May and June its golden bloom adorns the damp borders of the swamps. Meadow-rue (Thalictrum pubescens) grows in creek Wild Rose. rr 42 Natural History. bottoms, rising np through the alders, five feet in height. It has decompound leaves of a smoky blue color, and large masses of anthers showing as the most conspicu- ous part of its bloom. Coptis trifolia is a low, swamp plant, spreading its smooth, ternate leaves over the moss-grown soil, and erecting its white, star-like flowers on scapes six inches long. Its roots are bright yellow and thread-like, and the plant is sometimes called Gold-Thread. All this family is moie or less acrid or poisonous. S ARRACEN I ACEiE. — Stdc-Saddle Flowers. 20. The Pitcher-Plant (Sarracenia purpurea) grows in the lonely swamps of King's and Prince Counties. It has a whorl of large, inflated, tubular, radical leaves. They form natural pitchers, generally filled with water. Its purple flower is raised on a scape a foot in height, and contains a single, much-expanded stigma. Birds resort to it for drink in times of drouth. The plant is considered a valuable medicine in cases of small-pox. 21. Corydalis glauca belongs to the family of Fumitories. It has decompound, smoky-blue foliage, and bright red and yellow flowers of irregular form, with a long spur to the upper corolla. CRtciFERiE. — The Cross-Flowers. 22. The plants of this family have four petals arranged like a cross, and their seed-vessels a siliqua or a silicle. Botany, 43 The Sea Rocket, a prostrate, flesliy-leaved plant, found growing cm the bare, drifting sands of tlie sea- coast ; and tlie Shepherd's Purse, a weed of our door- yards, are our native representatives of this extensive family. Our great field and garden plants, Turnips, Cabbages, Cauliflowers, &c., belong to it. These were wild European plants, and have been brought to thefr present i>erfection by careful cultivation. The original wild cabbage still grows on the cliffs of Doverj^'aud other parts of the south coast of England. The soil and climate of this Island are eminently adapted for the cultivation of these plants, and large crops are produced. Of Turnips, we raise annually 1,200,000 bushels. ViOLACB^..— 7v^building, also in cabinet-work and for engraving. Indians make axe-handles and baskets of it. From tiie sap of this tree maple sugar is manufactured. Each tree will give about four pounds. The annual production on the Island is 25,000 pounds. The Red Maple (A. rubrum) is a smaller tree. Its blossoms are red and its leaves assume a brilliant crimson in autumn. The leaves have acute sinuses, which distinguishes them from those of the Sugar Maple. Its timber is also softer and less valuable. Striped Maple (A. Fennsylvanicum) is a small tree, with the young bark striped with olive and green. Its large leaves are three-lobed, rounded at the base, and have a soft, rich texture. The greenish flowers are in drooping racemes. Botany, 45 Mountain Mapl(3 (A, montanum) grows as a thick under-shrub in the forests on the hilly parts of the country. Its small, rugose leaves are five-lobed; racemes, large, erect. Much of the brilliant coloring of our autumn woods is [►roduced by the rich tints of the ripened maple foliage. OxALiDACEvH. — The Wood-Sorrels. 26. The Wood-Sorrel (Oxalis acetocella) opens its single, white, veined chalice on the brown, leafy floor of the great birch woods. Its ternate, obcordate leaves, often purple underneath, spread a most delicate tracery of verdure along the silent forest shadows. O, stricta is a field plant with small, yellow flowers. 27. The Wild Balsam (Itnpatiens fulva) belongs to the family of the same name. The bright yellow blossoms of this plant, in September, make many an alder coppice by the brooks flame with their brilliant coloring. Its flowers have a large, conical nectary ; and the stem of the plant has that singular pellucid appearance characteristic of the family. Anacardiace^e. — The Cashew Family, 28. The Sumach (Rhus ijphina) is a handsome, pinnate-leaved shiub, six to eight feet high, with dense panicles of purple fruit. It is grown in ganJens and shrubberies for its ornamental appearance. The whole plant is valuable for tanning white leather. M Natural History. I'j M R. toxicodendron^ or Poison Oak, is a shrub twu feet in height, found growing in dry, rich woods. It is acrid and poisonous. Lbgumi N I FERiE. — /'t;^-i9^drrerrj. 29. This family has generally papilionaceous corolla and the seeds always in a pod. We have but few native representatives of this extensive family. The Sand-Pea ( Lathy riis maritimus) covers the rough sand-dunes with its bright purple blossoms. The Vetch ( Vicia Craca) everywhere adorns the field borders with its blue clusters, or climbs the shrubbery to hang high its floral banners. The White, or Creeping, Clover, and the little Yellow Clover are native plants. The Red and White Dutch Clovers, so extensively cultivated, are introduced European plants. Alsike Clover came from Sweden. All the varieties of cultivated Beans have originated from the European Fabia vulgaris. The garden Peas come from Pisum sativum ot the south of Europe. Scarlet Runners a'^" natives of South America. .JEM. — Rose Blooms. - ... 30. This ovjautiful family is well represented in our flora. We have three Wild Cherries. The Choke Cherry (Prunus Verginiana) is a large tree with erect racemes of flowers. The more common Red Cherry (P. Pennsylvanica) has racemes few-flowered and not erect. P. depressa is a low shrub growing along river banks. Botany, 47 Tho coiiimoii red Raspberry (Rubus strigosus) is very abundant along fences and in stump lands. Its fruit makes a delicious preserve, for which it is exten- sively used. The black-fruited Brambles ( R. villosus and /rondos us) are easiiy distinguished from the red by their larger growth and conspicuous, white flowers. They are found in the newer parts of the country. R. occidentalis has a long, slender stem, R. trivialis is procumbent and armed with recurved prickles, while R, Canadetisis creeps along the borders of swamps, raising its ternate leaves on long petioles above tho moss-grown soil. All three have black fruit, and are commonly called Dew Berries. Our delicious Strawberry, so abundant in pastures and vfWd lands, is Fragaria Verginiana. It is the re- ceptacle of this plant which is the edible part. The seeds are like little points on its surface. Where land is di'essed with mussel mud, strawberries nearly dis- appear. The large, cultivated fruits are improved varieties of several different species of wild strawberries growing in various parts of the world. We have five Potentillas. P. anserina, or Silver Weed, creeps along the borders of salt marshes. It has liandsomely-cut, pinnate leaves, silvery underneath, and brilliant yellow flowers, resembling buttercups. Amalanchier Canadensis^ A. ovalis^ A. botriapium ; and Pirus arbutifolia and P. melanocarpa are all small trees or shrubs, growing in swamps and thickets, bearing conspicuous white blossoms in May and small edible fruit in harvest. They are sometimes called Wild Pears. ^ 48 Natural History, Our common wild Rose is Rosa Carolina. It is a beautiful shrub, generally three feet high, but in thick- ets mounting taller than a man's head. It has brilliant red, five-petalled flowers. Sweet-Brier grows wild in many places. The Cinnamon Rose, with tlouble flowers, grows about old gardens. CULTIVATED TREES AND SHRUBS. 'I 31. The cultivated Plums have all been derived from Prunus domesticus^ a native of Asia Minor. The garden Cherries are from two trees growing wild in Britain. The Pear is also a native of Britain. Our most valuable orchard fruit is the Apple. All our magnificent standard varieties have been produced from the wild crab tree, of which different species exist in Europe, Asia, and North America. The best varieties are propagated by grafting. Great difficulty has been experienced in obtaining kinds suited to our climate. At present. Duchess of Oldenburg, Emperor Alexander, Red Astracan, Northern Spy, and Ben Davies are the most successful kinds grown. Apple trees raised from seed will bear in six or seven years, but their fruit is often inferior and quite unprofitable for market. The common Scotch Roses were derived from a wild British species. The Damask Roses came from Syria. The China, Noisette, and Tea Roses were all derived from the Rosa Indica of the East. The Climbing Rose ^*s a Prairie Rose. Botany. CuCURBITACEiE. CuCU77lber5. 32. We have no native members of tliis family, but som'^ of our most valued warden vegetables belon^ to it. The Great Gourd (Cticiirbita 7?iaxh?ia) produces fruit of immense size, sometimes weighing 212 pounds. It is round, depressed at the ends, and ribbed. Tha Pumpkin is C. pepo. Squashes are C. melo-pepo. They are always flat, with prominent ribs on their sides. Vegetable Marrow is C. ovifera. The common Cucum- ber is Cucumis sativus. All these were originally from India and the East ; but the Melon came from Jamaica. RiBESACEiE. — Currants. 33. We have three species of wild Currants. Two of them frequent the swamps ; and one, with smooth, red berries, puts on its foliage earlier than any other plant of our borders. The wild Gooseberry is a small fruit but of good flavor. The garden Currants and Gooseberries are English plants. (ENOTHERACBiE. — Evening Primrose Family. 34. Willow-herbs are tall, showy plants with loose spikes of bright purple, four-petaled flowers, and long capsules filled with downy seeds. They grow in wild lands and are especially luxuriant on newly burned grounds, often covering acres with one blaze of purple bloom. The Evening Primrose, with yellow, octandri- ous flowers, grows about tields and on the exposed fronts of clayey sea-clifi's. i I ?!" ' 60 Natural History. Corn ACBiE. — Cornels. 35. The Bunch Berry (Cornus Canadensis) is a dwarf cornel six inches high. Its white, petal-like involucre and bunches of bright scarlet berries make this very common plant well known. We have five other species of Tog Woods, all small trees or shrubs of the rich alder bottoms. The bark of C. Circinata is esteemed in medicine as a tonic and astringent. ,11. \ I rj' t Umbellifer^. — Umbelflowers. 36. The Wild Carrot, Wild Parsnip, Cow Parsnip, Water Parsnip, and the spotted and poisonous Cicuta, or Water Hemlock of the swamps all belong to this family and bear the characteristic flowers in umbels. Besides these native plants, the cultivated Carrot, Pars- nip, Celery, and Caraway are members of it also. These were all wild European plants, and have been brought to their present perfection by long cultivation. ARALIACE.E. — The Ivy Family. 37. We have three Aralias, plants of the wild wood. A. nudicaulis is nearly stemless with one lar<'e tri-quinate leaf, and a long scape with a globose three- umbel of greenish flowers which ri»^9^. into a mass of black berries. It is called Wild barsaparilla, and the root is highly esteemed in medicine. A. hispida is two feet high, stem hispid. A. racemosa is a shrub four feet high, with ternate and quinate leaves, and numerous umbels of flowers. Botany. 51 Caprifoliace^. — Woodbines. 38. The common Elder (Sambucus pubens), useful on account of its large-pithed stems, needs no descrip- tion. Viburnum nudum and V, acerifolium are shrubs of the swamps, six to eight feet high, witli opposite leaves and large cymes of bloom, and oval berries. Linnea borealis is a beautiful little creeping evergreen of the ancient moss-floored fir wood. It has opposite, ovate-round leaves and two pale, rose-colored flowers drooping on an e^ect peduncle. Q'Owso^iTM— Composite Flowers. 39. This is the largest family of the vegetable kingdom. We have Hfty species belonging to it, besides many cultivated plants. The peculiarity of the family is tlie aggregation of a number of small florets on a common receptacle, sur- rounded by a common involucre like the J)and'elion and the Daisy. Eupatorium purpuriuvi is a swamp plant five feet high with rough, ovate-lanceolate, serrate leaves, and a large head of purple flowers. The root is valuable in medicine. We have thirteen Asters. A. salicifolius is a smooth-stemmed plant, two feet high, with linear-lanceo- late leaves, and a spreading panicle of showy, reddish- blue flowers. It delights in the shadowed borders of streams. A. mutabilis is a very variable plant with large purple flowers, growing abundantly on the heavy 52 Natural History. soils of Prince County. Sometimes it is three feet high, sometimes not six inches, and then a perfect mass of bloom. Where it creeps down on to the sands of the sea shore, its leaves grow thick and fleshy. A, cordifolius grows abundantly on the north side of the Island, mingled with the brighter flowered A.salicifoliiis, Jt has cordate leaves. A. pimiceiis is the greatest of the Asters, mounting its panicles of purple flowers six feet high in the damp shades of swamps and creek bottoms. A. multiflorus and A. dracunculoides are tall, white-flowered species. 40. The Golden Rods, with their tall panicles of yellow flowers, are common plants, and add much to the golden blaze which autumn spreads over our land. The most common along fences are Solidago gigantia and A", altissima. Both are three to four feet high, have large, dense panicles, and broad lanceolate leaves. S, altissima has broadest leaves. S. stricta grows on heath lands. It is two feet high, has smooth leaves, and a compressed, dense panicle. S, lanceolata has narrow lanceolate leaves and flowers in a flat head, or corymb. S. levigata grows on salt marshes. Everlastings are grey-colored, woolly plants, with narrow leaves and dry, lusterless, everlasting flowers. They grow by fences and in neglected fields. Our four Groundsels all have beautifully-cut, sinuate foliage. Senecio aureus and S, balsamite have showy umbels of bright yellow flowers. 41. Three Thistles haunt our fields. Cirsium arvensis is the prickly perennial of old pastures. C, ' Botany. 53 discolor is the large, briglit-Howered biennial growing in wild lands. Soncus oleraceus, or Sow Thistle, has large yellow blossoms, and is a troublesome weed in grain fields. > . Prenanthes serpentaria, or Lion's Foot, has large, palmate-sinuate radical leaves, and purple flowers, and is reputed to cure the bite of the rattlesnake. Wild Lettuces are erect plants, five feet high, with smooth, clas])ing, runcinate leaves, and a large, loose panicle of small yellow or voilet flowers. The milky juice of these plants has been recommended as a substitute for opium. 42. The hooked Burdock, the yellow-flowered Tansy, the bitter Wormwood, the Milfoil, with a thousand segments to its leaves ; and the biennial Mayweed and perennial Daisy, both with large white flowers, are plants which obtrude themselves in every waste place, and are too abundant in cultivated fields. The golden disk of the Dandelion (Taraxicum dens-leonis) blows round our sheltered yards the first week of May, and is then welcomed among the few early blossoms of our tardy springs. Its runcinate leaves are all radical. After its blossoms fade, the scape grows much taller and bears a globular head of downy pappus, called " blow balls " by the children. The Autumn Dandelion has a dry flower-stalk and yellow pappus, and blooms till October. LoBELiACEiE.— Z^^^//dr Family. 43. Lobelia inflata is a plant less than a foot \\vA\ *Y^ 54 Natural History. T with an erect raceme of pale blue, monopetalous flowers, and large inflated seed-vessels. It is acrid and esteemed as a valuable drug. Vaccini ACEiE. — Cranberries. 44. The shrubby Blueberry bushes grow in pro- fusion on inferior, sandy soils. We have five species. Vaccinium Tennellum and V. Fennsylvanicum are valuable for their abundance of agreeable fiuit The fruit of the latter is of superior quality. Two species of Cranberries are common on low grounds. Both are trailing plants with large, reddish and acid fruit, valued for tarts. 'f ; ' li^^ I i iip;| ': U\ Ericaceae. — Heath Blooms. 45. This hardy family of northern plants is repre- sented by many beautiful and interesting species in our damp woods and swamps. The Bearberry (Arctos- taphylos uva-ursi) is a low, evergreen plant, with roundish, leatliery leaves, and a bundle of bright red berries. It is very abundant on sandy barrens in King's County. The North American Indians value this plant as a powerful astringent and tonic. Epigcea repens is the May Flower, the earliest blossom of our spring. The plant is a trailing ever- green, and its sweet-scented, pinkish blossoms appear before the snows of April are well gone from the cold barrens where it grows. mm Botany. 55 The nisty-leavcd Labrador Tea; the brilliant Rhodora, that blooms before it loaves ; the Andromeda with pale, drooping racemes ; and the Kalmia, called Lain el, with showy corymbs of rose-colored blossoms, are all shrubs of swampy and barren lands. Five species of Pyrolas are little evergreen plants of the dry fir wood, with large, sweet-scented blossoms of a greenish or reddish white color. Afoneses Ufiiflora, resembling the Pyrolas, has a single odorous blossom. Ornace^ — Ash Fafniiy. 46. The Black Ash grows in wet swamps. It is a largo tree, with handsome, pinnate foliage and large, deep-blue buds. Leaflets sessile. The White Ash assumes drier ground. Its leaflets are petiolate and white beneath. Ash wood is much used for hoop-poles and baskets, as well as in cabinet work. ComoiswLA^c^M.—Bind7veeds. 47. Calystegia sepium, or Convolvulus, is an elegant climbing plant, with sagittate leaves and large, delicate, pinkish, bell-shaped flowers, growing along river banks. SoLANACBiB. — Nightshades. 48. The Common Nightshade would not be worth mention if it were not a dangerous narcotic. It resembles an inferior growth of potato plant. 7r 56 Natural History. CULTIVATED PLANTS. 49. The Potato is the most valuable root grown for the support of the human family. It is a native of the elevated table lands of Mexico and Peru. From these it spread to the northern parts of America, and, in 1586, was taken by Sir Walter Raleigh from Virginia to Ireland. The soil and climate of Prince Edward Island are eminently adapted for its culture, and more potatoes are here grown, in proportion to extent of territory, than in nny other part of America. The annual production is 6,000,000 bushels. Fresh potatoes contain seventy-five per cent, water; sixteen per cent, starch ; one and a half per cent, protein compounds ; besides sugar, fat, and fibre. As human food, they are light and healthful. They are extensively fed to domestic animals. Starch is manufactured from potatoes, on a laige scale, in factories. New varieties of potatoes are produced by planting the balls which contain the seeds. They come to per- fection in four years, but unless showing good qualities the first year, they are not worth cultivating. The varieties at present are endless, every district in which they are grown having a special variety of its own. The Tomato, abundantly cultivated in our gardens, is a native of Mexico and South America. It requires to be started early, under cover, to ensure a crop of ri|je fruit. SCROPHULARACKiE. — FigWOrtS. 50. This family has monopetalous (corollas. Botany. 0/ The Mullein, which grows on waste lands, is an erect, grey, woolly nlant with large leaves and a lona •spike with bright yellow flowers, from three to six feet Speedwells are an interesting group of little plants growing everywhere about our fields and roadsides spanghng the sward, like dew, with their tiny pearl! tinted blossoms. The flowers of Veronica officionalis are blue and spiked, those of V. serphyllifolia are numerous and white tinged with blue. Eye-bright flowers abundantly in August along the way-sides. Labiate. — Labiate-Flowers. 51. The nine species of this family growing about our fields and brooks are of little interest except as flowering weeds. Only the fragrant mints which grow on the damp boixlers of streams are useful in medicine and confectionery. They have ovate-lanceolate leaves and dense whorls of small flowers, with exserted stamens. They grow about two feet high. PRIMULACB^. — Primroses. 52. Star-Flower (Trientalis Americana) is a pure white, star-like flower that, in warm June days, blows "long every shadowed border. It has seven sepals, seven pointed divisions of the snowy corolla, seven stamens, a single pistal, and about seven smooth, lance- olate leaves arranged in a single whorl. Brook-Weed .s a rank-growing plant with small, white flowers, which 58 Natural History. often buries in its succulent foHiige the flowiu*,' waters of wood-land streams. Sea Lavender ( Statice Hmonium) belon^^s to tlie family of Leadworts. It glows on salt marslies and is easily recognized by its large panicle of small, blue flowers. Its root has been recognized from ancient times as a useful astrin<>ent. m PLANTAGlNACEyE. RUnVOrtS. 53. We have three Plantains. Plantago major has smooth, ovate leaves spreading close to the ground, and a dense pike of inconspicuous flowers. It is abundant about house yards. P. lanceolata grows in meadows and has ribbed, lanceolate leaves. P. viaritima )ias linear, fleshy leaves, and finds its home on the dingy field of the wet salt-marsh. ■| h ■ I i ) I -!i S ALSOLACEiE. — Salt7Vorts. 54. Goose-Feet are tall, woody-stemmed weeds with mealy leaves, frequenting gardens. Saltwort (Salsoli kali) is a decumbent, herbaceous plant spreading a heavy mass of spiny foliage on the dry, clear sand of the drifted dunes. CULTIVATED PLANTS. Common Beet (Beta vulgaris) has several varieties. The blood-red Garden Eeet is grown for table use. Sugar Beet, from which sugar is made, is not grown to any extent here. Mangold Wortzel is the large, field beet raised for feeding stock. Botany, V\ Oats, it makes excellent food for horses, cattle or hogs. Rye is here cultivated only in very small quantity for the sake of its straw which is used l)y saddlers. 71. Indian Corn is grown here only as a garden vegetable. Sweet Corn is the variety mostly used. A large kind, called Fodder Corn, is grown and cut as fodder for cattle in midsummer. Indian Corn (Zea Alaize) is a native of India. Our climate is too cold for its profitable culture. 72. Timothy is the principal fodder grass-grown on this Island. It is a perennial exotic. As it does not come to perfection till the second year, it is sown with grain in connection with red clover. It lasts in the soil four or five years, when it usually gives place to the more hardy native grasses. It is more productive Botany. 67 than any of our native grasses, except the Tall Fescue, yielding- from one to three tons per acre. Orchard and Vernal Grasses thrive well, but are not much grown. « CLASS III.— GYMNOGENS. Conifers. — Cone-Bearers, 73. This family contains our most important forest trees, useful alike to the farmer and the artisan. Their perennial foliage spreads heavy shadows all over our laiul, green amid the snows of winter as in the sunshine of summer. The White Pine (Finns strobus) is the grandest, towering eighty to a hundred feet in height, and spreading its tasseled arms above the summit of the deciduous forest. Its long, slender leaves grow five in a bundle ; cones long and pendulous. This tree affords the most valuable pine lumber, used for house- finishing, in cabinet-work, and wherever fine work is required. Red Pine (Pitius rigida) is a smaller tree with large, ovate cones and leaves in twos. It is not common. A considerable grove grows on the banks of Mill River. The Spruce (Abies nigra) is a large, heavy-foliaged tree of lofty conical form. Leaves quadranguhir, erect. Cones ovate, and drooping. Its timber is used for rough-boards and shingles, in shi])-building and for spars of vessels. 74. The Fir (Abies balsamea) is an elegant, tapering tree, with symmetrically divided branches. It grows on 68 Natural History, i I ! drier soils. Leaves flat. Cones erect, cylindrical, bluish. Fir tim>)er is soft and light. It is used for fencing and for frames of buildings. Canada balsam, used in microscopy and other arts, is the produce of this tree. Hemlock (Abies Canadensis) is a large tree with small, flat, denticidate leaves and small cones pendu- lous from the extremities of the branches. Its great, rounded dome of foliage has a soft and delicate appear- anc Hemlock timber is valuable for bridge and wharf building and is used for rough-boards. The bark of the Hemlock is that which is used in this country for tanning leather. The Larch (Larix inicrocarpa) grows in swamps. It is a medium-sized tree with long branches, sparsely clothed with little bundles of small, light-colored needles which are deciduous. The timber is very durable. It is used for railway ties, fence posts, and knees for vessels. 75. White Cedar (Cupressus thuyoides) is a large, rough tree with minute leaves appressed to the branch- lets, like scales. It grows in the peat swamps of Prince County. Cedar is the most durable native timber. It is used for fence and telegraph posts, sills of buildings, and shingles. Yew and Juniper are prostrate shrubs with the general Jippearance of conifers. Instead of cones, how- ever, uho first bears red, and the last blue, berries. Juniperis prostrata is a creeping shrub which some- times covers, with a dense mat of foliage, the summits of exposed sea-cliffs. Botany. 69 -CRYPTOGAMS. FiLiCEs. — Ferns. 76. Sixteen species of tlicse graceful plants adorn our summer wood-lands. They are deli(;ate plants, nearly all of them withering with the first breath of autumn frost. The Brake (Peris aquilma) is the most common. It flourishes on all wild land, but attains its greatest size in the openings of heavy timber. It is easily recognized by its tripartite frond, which bears the seeds in a continuous marginal line on the back of the leaflets. 77. The Osmundce, or Flowering Ferns, are the largest and most beautiful. They grow in plume-like clusters of pinnate or bi-pinnate fronds, sometimes five feet high. The seeds are produced on a separate frond in O. cinamomea ; on modified divisions of the frond in O. Claytonia ; but on the summit of the frond of O. regalis. 78. The Dixonia clothes the cradle-hills of dry, woody districts with its light-green, finely-divided and fragrant fronds. Much resembling it in appearance is the Shield Fern (Aspidium spijiulosum), which alone preserves its fron'ls green through the winter's frosts. The Sensitive Fern, with seeds on a separate frond, grows plentifully about the borders of ponds ; and the delicate Spleenwortses flourish in dry or wet woods. LYCOPODACEiE. — Club-Mosses. 79. These are evergreen plants, covered thickly V- 70 Natural History. with small, lanceolate, one-veined leaves. They bear their line, dust-like seeds, ealled spores, on erect spikes. They grow ahiindantly in all our wood-lands, and are used to ornament dwellings at Christmas festivals. We have five species. Equ I si tace.'E. — Horse - Tails, 80. IIorse-Tails are small plants growing in damp fields and swami)s. The fertile stems are usually without leaves, simple, hollow, ribbed, and sheathed, beai'iug a si)ike of fruit on the summit. The sterile stems have whorls of long, narrow, divided leaves. Equisitum Jiyeniale grows three feet high without leaves. Its sheaths are white, with black at the Lase and summit. This plant has a deposit of silica, or flint, in its cuticle, which makes it rough and harsh. It is used for polish- ing steel and other hard substances. M usci. — Mosses, 81. Beautiful forms of these minute plants everywhere carpet our wood-lands and cover up decaying trees and stumps. Urn-Mosses are upright little plants with urns, or capsules, con- taining their seeds, erected on foot-stalks. They clotlie the cradle-hills in stump lands with a dry vegetation before the grasses get a foot-hold. Feather Mosses are more delicate prostrate plants spreading their feather-like leaves over the ground in damp, woody shades. Sphagfium stel- Moss. ^^^^ is a large moss with its pointed leaves Botany. 71 arranged in a thick, star-like whorl round tlic suniniit of the stem. It grows in wet bo'^s. \ Lichens. 82. Licliens grow with a broad, irregular thallus, or frond, bearing shields which contain the spore cases. They are very numerous, and of various colors, on trunks of trees, some species clasi)ing the surface closely, others growing in loose, olive or green festoons. Fungi, or Mushrooms. 83. To this (,'xtensive family belong the moulds which flourish in damp places, and the rusts and smuts which affect our crops. Numberless Mushrooms grow in every damp situation. Most of them are poisonous. Only the E d i b 1 e - i\I u s lir o m (Agaricus campestris) is certainly known to be innoxious. These plants consist of the kileus, ot cap, the lamelue, or thin, radiating plates under the cap, the stipe, or stalk, and the mycelium, or fine, ramifying roots. The lamellaB bear the spores. Mushrooms. Algm, or Seaweeds. 84. Large numbers of these low-typed plants darken the waters of our coasts and are cast ashore })y every 72 Natural History. f! W titlo. The coninion, f^rass-like Seaweed of the liaibora is not an Algae but a flowering ])lant (Zostera marina). The great, broad Kelp-Weeds are common in deep water, growing ten to twenty feet in length. There are two sjieciea, Lamitiaria longicruris and L. caperata. Dulse (Rhodymetiia palmata) and Irish Moss (Chond- rus crispus) are both abundant on our coasts. They are both beaiitiful little purple, cartilaginous plants a few inches in length. Ii'ish Moss is the more contracted into a stem below, and has the leaves more divided and moss-like. Fucus^ or Kock-Weed, grows on every shore, covering the half-tide rocks with a thick mat of dark olive vegetation. It is easily recognized by its branched form and turgid air-bladders and receptacles. There are three species, F. vesiculosns, F. serratus and F, furcatus. Chordie fili are those brown, cord-like weeds ten or twelve feet in length growing in clusters on stones, in deep water. GLOSSARY. A, in composition, signifies wanting, or without : as acaulis, without a stem. Acrogens. Plants increasing by growth on the extremity only. Ament. The inflorescence of certain trees, as the willow, birch, etc. Annual. Living but one year. Anther. The upper part of the sta- men which contains the pollen. Bacca, A berry. Berry. A succulent fruit containing a number of seeds in its substance. Biennial. Living two years, in the second of which the fruit is pro duced. Bi-pinnate. Twice pinnate. Bracts. Leafy appendages to the flowers. Ccespitose. Forming little tufts or clusters. Calyx, The exterior envelope of a flower. Campanulate. Bell-shaped. Capitum. A globular head of sessile flowers. Capsule. A dry, woody seed vessel. Catkin. An ament. Botany. 73 Corolla. The delicate, colored part of a flower. Culm. Tht: stem of grasses. Cyme. A mode of iiifltMcscence in wliich the flower-stalks rise from the same point, but are afterwards variously suhdividcd, as seen in Scitpus lacnstris. Decumbent. LyiiiK down. DnltoiJ Shaped like the Greek delta. Deciduous. Falling. A term used to designate those plants which shetl their lf;aves everj' autumn, and are thus distinguished fnjm evergreens. Cordate. Heart-sliaped. Corona. The whole head of a forest tree,.'" med by the mass of branches and leaves. Dentate, Toothed on the margin. Dicotyledonous. Having two cotyle- dons. Drupe, A succulent fruit containing a bony nut in the centre. Flora. The assemblage of plants found in a country. Frond. The leaf of crypt ogamous plants. Glume. The calyx of grasses and grains, Gymnospermous. Having naked seeds. Herbaceous. Not woody. infundibuliform. Shaped like a fun- nel. Jnuolucre. The calyx remote from the flower. Labiate. Corolla with two lips. Laciniated. Cut into many irregular divisions. Lanceolate. Spear-shaped. Legume. The pod of the pea and bean. Linear. Long and very narrow, like the leaves of grasses. Lobes. The divisions of sinuate leaves. Lyrate. Shaped like a lyre. Monocotyledonous. Having but one cotyledon. Monopetalous. Having only one petal. Served. Having small longitudinal ribs. A/ut. A seed enclosed in a hard shell. Obcordate. Cordate reversed. Oblong. Much longer than broad with the sides nearly parallel. Obooate. Ovate reversed. Octandrous. Having eight stamens. Opposite. Standing directly again each other on opposite sides of the stem, as in Fig. 12. Ouate. Kgg-shaped. Palmate. Hand-shaped. Deeply di- vided into spreading segments. Panicle. A loose cluster in which each pedicle bears several flowers. Papilionaceous. Butterfly - shaped corolla. Peduncle. The flower-stalk which springs from a stem or branch. Pendulous. Hanging down. Perennial. Living more than two years. Petals. The divisions of the corolla. Petiole. The stalk of a leaf. Perianth. This is the calyx when contiguous to the petals. Pericarp. A seed vessel. Petiolate. Having petioles or leaf stalks. Pinnate. A leaf is pinnate when a single petiole bears a row of leaflets on each side. Pinnatifid. Cut in a pinnate manner. Pistal. One part of the reproductive organs of plants. It consists of the germ, style, and stigma, and is usually surrounded by the stamens. Polypetalous. Having more than one petal. Pome. An apple. Procumbent. Lying down. Prostrate. Lying fiat on the ground, Quinate. Five together. Raceme. A cluster. See Fig. 20. Radical. Proceeding from the root. Receptacle. The expanded end of the flower stalk to which the other parts of the flower are attached. Ringent. An irregular corolla with an upper and an under lip. Rotate. Wheel-shaped. Runcinate. Having large teeth point- ed backwards. Rugose. Rough, wrinkled. Saggitate. Shaped liked an arrow- head. Sepals. The divisions of the calyx. Serrate. Notched like the teeth of a saw, the points inclined out- wards. Serrulate. Minutely serrate. Sessile. Having no foot-stalk. Sinus. A deep, large notch cut out of a leaf. r ¥ li! ] 'T 74 Natural History, sinuate. Notched with sinuses. Silique. A long seed vessel of two valves. Spathe. A sheathing calyx opening lengthwise on one side, and enclos- ing a spadix. Spike. A dense, erect cluster of ses- sile flowers. Spur. A sharp projection from the corolla of a flower, usually the nectary. Stamens. One set of the organs of reproduction in plants. They sur- round the pistal, or pistals', and consist of a stalk, called the Jila- ment, and the anther on its summit, which contains the pollen. Stellate. When leaves grow in whorls around the stem. Stigma. The summit of the pistal, Stipe. The stem of mushrooms. Stipules. Leafy appendages to the leaves. Strobile. A cone. Ternate. When three leaves are on a single foot-stalic. Thalogens. Plants consisting of a leaf-like expansion called a thalus. Trailing. Creeping along the grt)und. Triqulnate. Three fives. Turbinate. Shaped like a top or pear. Umbel. A kind of inflorescence in which the flower stalks diverge from one centre. Veined. When the veins form an irregular network on the leaf, Vertlclllate. Whorled. Leaves or flowers in circles round the stem. [■ t: -HfCvJJ^S- Zoology. 75 Zoology is that cl(3partmeiit of natural history wliich treats of animals. The Fauna-* of Prince Edward Island is numerous and varied. A few lar-er animals, as the Moose, the Caribou, the Wolf, the Raccoon, and the Wolverine, which roam over the continental lands, are excluded iTom the Island by its insular position. But this is much more than compensated by the numerous marine animals which inhabit our coasts, and which afford some of the most interesting studies of animal life. Animals are naturally arranged in the following Divisions : 1. PiiOTozoA.— Simplest forms of animals without regular structure. 2. CcELENTERA.— Hollow-bodied animals: Corals, Sea- Jellies, &c. 3. EcHiNODEiiMATA.— Spiney-skinned animals : Sea- Urchins, &c. The assemblage of animals found in any country. 76 Natural History. 4. M0LLU8CA.— Soft-hotlied animals: Snails, .Bi- valves, &c. 5. Annulata. — Animals composed of ring like segments : Worms, &c. 6. Arthropoda. — Animals with jointed feet : Insects, Spiders, &c. 7. Vertebrata.— Animals ^vitli a vertebrate skele- ton : Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, &c. I- DIVISION I.— PROTOZOA. The greater ^.lumber of these are minute animals, requiring a microscope for their study. Many of tlunn inhabit the slime of i>()nds and decaying vegetation ; and some, as Bacteria and Microbes, are the origin of decay and of disease in animals. Vast multitudes fill the waters of the sea. One interesting genus, Noctiluca, is abundant on our coasts, and produces those aurora- like flashes of light which appear at night when the waters are disturbed by the passage of a boat. Small Sponges are common on our shores. Some of them are shapeless masses an inch or two in diameter, resembling pieces of water-soaked bread, and are called Halicondria. The beautiful Cup Sponge (Isodictya) is often seen cast on the sands in a broken condition. When perfect, it is the size and shape of a drinking goblet. Sponge., f the ,.)nus Cliona burrow into the substance of dead shells. Zoology. 77 DIVISION II.—CCELENTERA. '8" Tlie Ilydroid Polyps of our coasts are small Polyps witli horny coverings, or cells. They are seen attached in great numbers to sea-weeds and submerged timber. Tuhidaria have simple, horny tubes. Sertiilaria are in the form of minute wreaths, Campa?iitlana are bratu",hed, witli cups along the branches which bear the flower-like polyps. Jelly-Pjsiies are soft-bodied animals with clear gelatinous disks, abundant on all our coasts. Our large purple Jelly-Fish is Cyanea arrtica. Its disk is gene^i-- ally a foot or more in diameter, but specimens have been observed seven feet in diameter. The great purple disk of this creature, as it goes pulsating through the waters and trailing its long red tentacles after it, is a conspicuous object of our sea coast. Its tentacles are stinging, and benumb small animals which they touch, thus making them the easy prey of the Cyanea. Underneath the centre of the disk is the mouth sur- rounded by fringes. Eight eyes and eight ear vesicles are on the margin of the disk. The common white, or colorless, Jelly-Fish of our coasts is Aurelia flavidiila. Its ovaries form four white clusters on its under part. Sea-Anemone, are gelatinous animals found adher- ing to submerged timber or rocks. When expanded, they exhibit a large number of red or purple tentacles, and resemble a brilliant flower. The beautiful Metridiiwi marginatum is our common species. 78 Natural History. Pleuhobranchi^. are little, transparent, f,'e]atinnus balls, less than an inch in diameter, tliat, by the aid of their zones of locomotive Wwv^i^M, go coursing through the waves of our summer seas. Two h.ng, plumed tentacles stream after them, delicate as if woven of translucent glass. These tentacles are capable of rapid expansion and contraction. At one moment tliey are rolled up to the anim;d's body in a mass no bigger than 0. pin's head, the next instant they are streaming lialf a yard behind it, witli expanded fringes, like the beard of a glassy feather. I, DIVISION III.-ECHINODERMATA. The Star-Fisii (Asterias vulgaris) is very common on mussel beds. It is shaped like a five-rayed, purple star, covered with spines on its upper ruiiface and bear- ing great numbers of retractile feet on ito lower surface. The mouth is in the centre below, and a single eye is at the extremity of each ray. The animal is very voracious, and will even abstract the Oyster from its strong bi-Viilve shell. The Sea-Urciiin (Echinus Drobachiensis ) is com- mon on our shores. It is of a globular form and covered with hard spines. Among the spines are a number of retractile feet, by means of wliich it crawls about the sea bottom. The dead shells are often found drifted on the beach. They are then divested of their spines and are very beautiful little objects, marked ■LL 6' Zoology. 79 with ra(liatin.£( linos of tubercles to wliich tlie ,spines had been attached. The Cake-Urchin lias a flat shell. JSea Oranges are animals of this division, of a bright red color, found in the deep waters of the gulf. DIVISION IV,~MOLLUSCA. The Mollusca are soft-bodied animals. Many of them Jiowever are i)rotected ])y a hard shell, or test, whence these are called Testacia. More than eighty species of Mollusca are found in our waters and damp wood-lands. Of the low order, Brachiopoda, we have the Rhynconella and the Terebratella inhabiting the abysses of the Gulf. If we examine the common shells of the shore, we will observe that some of them, as the Oyster and Sand- Clam, consist of two parts or valves, united by a hinge, while others, as the Natica and the Periwinkles, have only one shell. This difference in the shells marks two very distinct classes of ^m\m\\^~\Xm La7nembran€hu ata and the Gasteropoda, The Lamellibrarichiate, or Bivalve animals are without heads, have their gills iu broad lamellae round the body, and have little, often no powers of locomotion. The Gasteropods, or Uni- valves, have a distinct head, the gills in a plume-like tuft, and a large, muscular foot by which the animal moves from one place to another. _,„____. __.^__^:__ h I n • i^ Hi :l i MM 80 Natural History. Fig. I. Bivalve. Fig. 2, Univalve. LAM ELLI BRANCH I ATA. The Teredo is a curious genus of Mollusca wliicli drills into submerged timber. It has on its anterior part a pair of sharp valves by means of which it cuts into the solid wood. It lines its excavation .with a thin shelly tube. The bottoms of vessels are perforatcvl by these animals and the timber completely destroyed. It is as a protection against their ravages that vessels are sheathed with copper, 'iwo species inhabit our waters — T. navalis and T. Nonngica. The Sand Clam (Mya arenaria) is found in great numbers in the sands of all our rivers and bays. It is P-ovided with two strong, muscular syphons^ by one of which water is drawn in and by the other expelled. It is expelled with great force, when the animal is suddenly disturbed, and thrown in a jet from the sand. The clams are used in large quantities for fish bait. our Zoology, 81 Mya tnmcata has a sliorter shell. Thracia Conradi somewhat resembles a Sand Clam and is a l)eautiful white shell. The Razor-Fish (Solen Americana) has a ])eautiful glossy, horn-colored shell of a much-elongated form and gaping at both extremities. It burrows in the saml at low-watermark. ., , Petiucola (P, pJwIadafonnis) is a [)are white shell of oblong form, elegantly wrinkled at its anb'rior end. It burrows into sandstone reefs and drift fragments of limesione rock. The Tellina (T. Groe?iIandica) is a delicate, white, little shell, with circular and con]})ressed valves. It inhabits the mouths of creeks and runs. The QuAHAUG ( Venus mercenaria) buries its strong, sub- globular shell in great nund)ers in the muddy bottoms of our river estuaries. Cytherja is a very similar but smaller shell. The Mactra (M. solidisima) somewdiat resembles the Quahaug but it is a larger shell, longer, flatter, s moother, nd in a fresh condition, bears some yellowish epidermis. It is the shell of the sea coast, burrowing in the sand reefs and leaving its great white valves to be ground up along the rocky cliffs. The Bank Clam ( Cyrtodaria siliqua), with a dark epidermis, irdiabits the fishing baidvs of the Gulf, and is a favourite food of the cod. . -....::;-.,-.::-..,._, ^.>.,- :,-:,-. -:,::,^^it,- The minute Cardhwi Pi?iulatum is our only com- mon Cockle. Cardium isia?idtcum is found in the deep waters of the Gulf. Unios are fresh-water bivalves inhabiting streams. 82 Natural History. til 11'^ They liave oblong sliells two inches and a half in length, covered externidly with a dark e])idernns and pearly inside. They are not common on the Island, but U, covipla?iatus is found in the St. Peter and Morell Rivers. The cr 'nmon Mussel (Mytiliis edulis)^ witli its dark, ovate shell, is abundant on every shore, where it attaches itself to the rocks by its fibrous byssus. The Horse Mussel (M. modiolus) is a larger species, found on the sea coast. The beautiful Modiola plicatula has a more elongated shell marked by radiating striae. It inhabits salt marshes and runs. In Britain, Mussels are extensively used as food. Shells of AsTRATE are common, drifted on the shores, and several si)ecies of Yoldia are found in the deep waters of the Gulf. The Pecten ( Fig. i ) has a large, strong, and some- what circular shell, marked by regular radiating ridges running from the beak to the circumference. It has two ears which widen the hinge surface, and a single adductor muscle. P. temiistriatus is common all around our coasts. The Oyster is the most valuable of all Moluscous animals. It is consumed in great numbers by the inhabitadts of both the Old World and the New. It is very abundant on the coast of the United States, but does not extend further north than the Southern Basin of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is plentiful in all our bays and tidal rivers. The Oyster has two stout, rough shells, united by a hinge and held firmly closed by a single strong muscle, called the adductor muscle. In a: T Zoology. 83 order to open an Oyster we mnst sever this muscle. We then find tlie animal enclosed in a pellucid mem- brane, called the ma title. Four rows of gills ^ like silky fringes, form a semicircle within the edge of the mantle. Close behind the adductor muscle is the hearty a little, ribbed purse, seen to ])ulsate even when the shell has been opened. A mouth with tentacles, and laige intestines are seen. An Oyster will produce 1,200,000 eggs. These are hatched within the parent shell. The young animals, called spat^ immediately adhere to some firm surface, as stones or shells. They grow very rapidly. In three months they are as large as a quarter- dollar ; and in a year and a half are fit for use. We have two varieties of the Oyster. The Northern Oyster, which has a short, ytout shell, and the Virginian Oyster, which has a long, narrow shell, and freipients muddy situations about the heads of rivers. Pteropods are small, free-swimming Moullusca inhabiting the deep waters of the sea. The delicate, glassy shells of Hyalina are sometimes cast on our shores. The Doris, or Sea Lemon, is a naked mollusk in- habiting rocky shores. It looks like a flesh-colored gelatinous mass an inch in length. GASTEROPODA. The Slipper Limpet (Crepidula) is abundant on oyster beds. It has a convex shell with a shelf across one end of the inside. The little, dark-shelled Periwinkles are seen in 84 Natural History. i v^ great numbers crawlin" about the sea-beaches and feeding on sea-weeds. Four distinct species are all common. Velutina is a strongly-built little globular shell of a briglit yellow or red color, common on our shores. The largest univalve of our shoi'cs is the white, globular Natica (N, heros)^ (^'in' 2). On the sea coast the sliL'lls are much larger than in the livers. The animal is carnivorous, preying on other shell-fish. It has a very large foot by means of which it buries itself in the sand. The shell is closed with a spiral, horny operculum. A beautiful little species, N. triseriata, with three rows of brown spots on its shell, is common, and may be seen crawling about in pools left by the tide. ■-:;>'..:•:;/:. ^ :.■-- ■- liocK Shells (Purpuria lafillus) are abundant on rocky shoies, -vlhering to the low-tide skerries. They have strong, rugose, white or yellowish, spiral shells, the apertures of wdiich are notched for the siphon. This siphonal notch is also observed in the two follow- ing species. The eggs of Rock Shells are deposited in leathery cases and fastened to the rocks which they frequent. Nassa obsoleta is a dark brown, spiral shell very common on flat, muddy shores. Nassa trivittata is a smaller and more elegant, flesh-colored shell living below low-w^ater mark. Urosalpinx is a beautiful, rugged, white, spiral shell, much larger than a Rock Shell. It is sometimes found on mussel beds. warn T Zoology. 85 AIoi^l;' the san(l-l)Oii('li, l(^ft l)y tlio tide-wash, we often find nnmerous eoUeetions of niuny species of tiny shells. The young of sand ckuns sonietinies f(jrni ii large part of the mass, hut the valves of Gemma^ the shells of Rissoa, Turbonella, Columbella^ Utriculus^ Odostomia, Bitiii/m, and Lacuna are all in nund)ers. We all know the eonnnon yellow (Jauden Snail that carries its house on its hack, lint we are not all so well aware that five other sj)ecies of Snails, all carrying spiral shells, inhahit our woods and fields. They are all of small size, living under leaves, stones, and logs. Sucinnea resembles the snails, hut has a M'ide-rnouthed, oval shell with a very small spire. Melampus lives on salt marshes crowding among the stems of the thick marsh grasses. The dusky, fragile shells of Pond Snails (Limnca) are abundant on the glassy borders of every mill pond. With them we find the shorter spires of Physa and the large, whorled shells of Planorbis. The delicate, glossy shells of Vitrina and Zua are abundant on alder bottoms. • > CEPHALOPODA. , Our only representative of this class is the Squid. It occurs in shoals on the fishing grounds, where it is caught for mackerel bait. The Squid is from one to two feet long, of a yellow or livid color, and spotted. It has a large, rhomboidal tail fin, ten strong tentacles wdth suckers round the head, and two large, prominent eyes. 8G Natural History. DIVISION v.— ANNULATA. i^ ;■ liif This division comprises the Intestinal Worms, Earth-Worms, Leeches, and Sea- Worms. Of the intestinal parasitic worms one of the most injurious is the Tape- Worm wliich })roduces the disease of measles in the domestic hog. The hog takes the eggs of the tape-worm along with its food. These become developed in its system, and having gone through several cl'.anges, establish themselves in a rest- ing or pupa state, when they are termed Cysticercus^ and are known as measles. These intioduced alive into the human stomach would produce another horde of worms in the human system that might cause fatal results. Trichina spiralis which inhabits the muscles of the hog is a distinct worm, but its mode of life is much the same and it is equally dangeious to human beings. The great safeguard against these and other parasitic worms is cleanliness in preparing and care in perfectly cooking food. The common Earth-Worm is known to all. It feeds on particles of organic matter present in the soil, and swallows much fine earth with its food, which it ejects at the mouth of its burrow. It is of value to the agriculturist in working over the soil, particularly in grass lands. Earth-Worms serve as food to many of our summer song-birds. The TuBicoLA are sea-worms. They form tubes of various materials from the openings of which they Zoology. 87 exsert their i^'ills in graceful and j^aily-colored tufts. The (lelic'jite little tu})es, formed of <^raiiis of sjind cemented to^^^ethcn', which are found so ahundantly on our shores, helong to a worm of this order — Pectinana an?iulata, Spirorbis has a small, white «})iral shell, found attached to sea-weeds. The genus Nereis consists of long, reddish water- worms with tentacles ahout their heads and tufts of gills along their sichis. The Sea jVIouse is a curious animal of this class, five inches h)ng and more than two broad, covered with respiratory organs and In'istles which look like a clothing of hair. All these are f(jund in the mud dredged by diggers on mussel beds. DIVISION VI.— ARTHROPODA. This division includes the Crustacea, Myriapoda, Insecta, and Arachnida. CLASS I.— CRUSTACEA The little white Acorn-Shells which crowd so abundantly on the tide-washed rocks of every shore are aberrant forms of this class. There are two species. Balanus crenatus and B. porcatus. The Barnacles proper have long, fleshy foot-stalks by which they attach themselves to submerged objects. They adhere in great numbers to the bottoms of vessels. Sand-Hoppers (Talitrus locusta) are small brown crustaceans an inch or more in length, with a great r IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) / O m # ^ (< ^ f/. 1.0 1^ Ilk 1^ 12.2 ^ m U i^-^ IIM 1.8 L25 iU IIIIII.6 ^ ^/^ V] / » ^v:^v >^ ^J"^ ^' 'W o / ■A%'\ 'II lO' . m 88 Natural History, \\.\ m \A iiiiiii])er of feet and gill-scales. They are very plentiful on the sands of our shores and among drift sea-weed always hopping with great agility. The common Lobster (Ilomarus Americanus) is abundant round our coasts. It belongs to the iJecapo- dous, or ten-foote 1 division of the Crustacea. It swims with great ag'ility by the aid of its large tail fin. Or it CT-iiwds along the bottom of the sea, and digs holes among- the rocks, where it may hide itself. It is car- nivorous in its habits, and is taken by the use of animal bait. In September, young Lobsters appear in great numbers along the sliores. They attempt to hide themselves in empty t^'biells and other shelter. When a few weeks old, they tire devoured in multitudes by cods and other large fishes. Lobsters fre(i[uently change their shells, by casting off the old ones and growdng new ones of larger size. During the period of this change they are inert and sickly, and easily become the prey of their enemies. The shell is rarely changed after the animal comes to maturity. In September Lobsters retreat to deep water for the purpose of spawning. They return to the shore in May, the time varying with the locality. Vast numbers of Lobsters are taken in traps for the purpose of canning. Not less than 20,000,000 are annually caught on our coasts. These are cooKed in large boilers, at the factories, the meat extracted by hand, and hermetically sealed up in tin cans. The flesh of four lobsters wdl fill a pound can. The annual value of this fishery is $500,000. Common Shrimp, Prawn, and many allied animals Zoology, 89 L'utiful a-weed ms) is )ecapo- , swims 1. Or s holes ; is car- animal Q great ,0 hide When ides by qaeutly les and eriod of become changed ptember ["pose of :lie time Lobsters .-. Not ir coasts. )ries, the ed up in a pound 1,000. L animals \ are common about our shores. Tlie Hermit Crab, whicli has naked posterior extremities, may be seen domiciled in the empty shells of Natica. Our Common Crab is Cancer borealis. The Small Crab is Hyas araiiea. The Great Crab, eighteen inches in diameter, inhabits deep water. ^ CLASS 2.— MYRIOPODA. This clnss includes the Centipedes and their allies, distinguislied by their lengthened forms and great number of feet. • - CLASS 3.— INSECTA. This class contains the Insects, which are as numerous as all other members of the animal kingdom taken together. Insects are remarkable for the per- fection and energy of their muscular system, for their singular juid often beautiful forms, for the complete metamoi'phosis which many of them undergo, for their wonderful instincts, and for the delicacy and perfection of their structure compared with most Invertebrata. The body of an insect (Fig. 3) consists of the Head, healing the mouth, eyes and antennse, or feelers ; the Thorax^ bearing the six legs and two pairs of wings; and the Abdomen^ containing the digestive and reproductive organs. The nervous system consists of an abdominal cord running the length of the body, having a ganglion, or nerve centre, at each segment, which gives off nerves for that segment. In the head is a considerable nerve 90 Natural History. ! i:H 11 . - i II mass giving off the nerves of sense. The senses of taste, smell, touch, sight, and hearing are all possessed by insects. The eyes are very different from thoso of higher animals. In general, what appears to he a single eye is ■Heaa of a multituae of small eyes. Tlie House Fly has 4,000 of these distinct IZIjI Thorax _ -Abdomen Tibia --- Tarsus — Fig. 3- eyes. A species of Beetle lias m ore than 25,000. The digestive organs consist of a gul- let,croi), gizzard true stomach, and intestines. The heart is an elongated vessel in the upper part of the body, furnished with^ valves for propelling the blood forward. Respira- tion is effected by trachecE, or breathing tubes, which ramify through all parts of the body, and open by spiracles, or breathing holes, in the abdomen and thorax. Their metamorphosis is one of the most interesting features of insect life. The perfect insects lay eggs which are hatched into larvae, or grubs, exceedingly unlike the perfect insects. These larvcE, after a greater Zoology. ses of sessed tllOS2 to V»e eye is gat ion Ititude eyes. se Fly 00 of istinct species le lias than The organs f a ••iil- 'Hzzavd o oniach, Bstines. ;-/ is an rnished "iespira- , wliich 1 pen by thorax, eresting ay eggs ledingly L greater or less time which has been spent in voraciously devouring food, are changed in.o pupcB which are en- closed in a hard case and remain inactive. After a period the pupse burst their cases and come forth us perfect insects, or imagos. Insects are divided into nine Orders. Order i, — Aptera. These have no wings and undergo no metamorphosis. They are ihe Lice and Spring-Tails. Lice are too well known, existing in many different species on men, beasts, and birds. Small black Spring-Tails sometimes appear in great numbers on the snow in winter, par- ticularly under the shade of spruce groves. Order 2. — Aphaniptbra. These undergo metamorphosis. Fleas lay their eggs in dust and di'y dirt. They hatch into worm-like larvae which change into pup* and then into perfect insects. Order j. — Diptera. These insects have but tM'o wings. Their larvae are footless maggots. They are the Flies and Gnats. Tlie Horse-Bot (CEstris eqiii) is an insect less than half an inch in length, woolly, and of a yellowish and rnaty color, which is troublesome to horses in the latter part of summer. It fastens its yellow eggs by a glutinous secretion to the hairs of the horse's legs. The horse ? 92 Natural History. I J i, I; removes them, when lickiii*,' himself, with his t()ii<^iie, and they are conveyed to his stomach. Hoie tlie huvse are hatched and remain all winter, bciny known as "bots." In the spring the larvtie pass through tlio horse. They then bury tliemselves in the ground, where they are changed into oval, black puj)9e, from which, in a few weeks, they come forth as perfect insects. The eggs, or "nits," sliould be carefully cleaned off the horse's legs so as to prevent the animal taking them into his stomach. The ()x-BoT deposits the zvarbles in the backs of cattle, and the Sheep-Bot forms the grub or maggot in the head of sheep, which is sometimes fatal to this animal. Warbles should be removed from the backs of cattle and destro3'ed ; and it is proper to smear the nostrils of sheep with tar, in June and July, so as to prevent the flies depositing their eggs in them. The common House-Fl\ belongs to this order, as vlo also a vast number of related flies, whose larvae form an endless tribe of maggots and lioppers. The Wheat-Midge (Cecidomyia tritici) deposits its eggs in the blossoms of Wheat on calm evenings the last weeks of July. This fly is a delicate little insect, with orange-colored body and plumose antennae. Its eggs are soon hatched into minute, yellow larvsB, which feed on the juices of the young grain aiid destroy its growth. When the larvae, called " weevils," are fully grown, they descend into the ground, where they re- main all winter, to come out the next season a new horde of perfect insects. Zoology. ^ The wliole wheat crop of the country has frequently l)een ruined by the ravages of this minute insect. As a remedy against the " weevil," wheat is sown the last of Aj)ril or tlie first of May so that it will be past the perifjd of ])loom before the midge appears. Or the sowing is deferred till the first of June, which makes the period of blo(jming later than the appearance of the midge. The Hessian Fly attacks the stalk of the wheat. It is little known here. An allied species attacks timothy. The larvae of the Mosquito inhabits ponds, where it may be seen in great nuniljcrs, in warm June days, actively wriggling through the water and coming at intervals to the surface to breathe through its posterior air tube. Wiien the period of transformation comes on, it partly ascends a stalk of grass, splits its larval skin, leaving its old shell to float on the surface of the pond, and mounts on gauzy wings into the summer air. The whole period of transformation occupies only three or four weeks, and, as the females lay several hundred eggs, great swarms are soon produced. The^ are always more troublesome in wet or swampy districts than in a dry country. Order 4. — Lepidoptera. These insects have four wings, usually of large size, clothed with colored scales. They are the Moths and Butterflies. Many beautiful butterflies enliven our summer fields. Before the snows are well gone, a bright, sunny 94 Natural History, Xi V\- day in April will hx'wv^ out the Antiopa Buti'erfly, with rich brown wings, edged with bhie and gold. The first weeks of June, the white Cabbage Butteufly flits throu'di the garden walks in search of beds of young cabbage plants. A week later the yellow Philodice Butterfly sports abroad on the meadows. Then conies the beautiful Aphrodite Butterfly with brilliant tawny wings, spotted with brown, and bearing silver spangles on the under sides. The Thistle and Hunter Butter- flies are tawny with some reddish spots. In the first days of July comes the great yellow and black Swallow- tail Butterfly (Papilio turmis) floating through the leafy glades. Then, when the hay fields are ripe, the dusky^colored Hipparchia Butterflies will appear in numbers all over the fields. The Nymphalis is a showy, midsummer species, with white bands on its blue-black wings. The Copper Skipper is a beautiful little variety, of a brilliant copper color, that may be seen, in July, rapidly flitting from spray to spray in the blooming meadows. The Bordered Skipper has dark borders on its tawny wings, and stays amid our grass fields till the chill days of October. Moths are distinguished from Butterflies by the possession of plumose anteirnsp, and by resting with their wings in a horizontal position. Hawk Moths are large, stout-bodied moths with often narrow wings. The larvse of one of the largest species feeds on the potato plant. The dun-colored Tiger Moths come in abundance into our houses on summer evenings. Arctic virgo is a Zoology. 95 grass with with heautifully-colored moth. The largest moths are the fawn-colored Emperor Moths. They are silk-worm moths, and their largo silky cocoons may he found hung in our hedges and wood-borders. Attica luna is a large swallow-tailed moth of a delicate green color. The Text Caterpillar has large, dark-colored larvae which go in swarms and are very destructive to orchards. The Fall Web-Worm appears in July and August, weaving a silky web for its protection on the limbs of apple tiees. The caterpillar is much smaller thair the Tent Caterpillar, and hairy. It destroys the foliage of the trees, and, like the Teirt Caterpillar, should be destroyed at its first appearance. The Coddling Moth lays its eggs in the apple blossoms, and produces the grub which injures the fruit, causing it to fall prematurely. The best remedy against this insect is to cook or feed to hogs all fallen a))ples. Order j. — Hymenoptera. The Humble Bee is our wild honey bee. Early in May the solitary queen is heard buzzing through the air. She soon selects a site and excavates a nest under stones, stumps, or animal droppings. This she stores with pollen and in it lays her eggs. Now her feeding ground is among the early bloom of the willows and maples. In three weeks the first workers are out, and the regular labors of the hive begin. Now the workers range the blooming fields, bearing home pollen and honey for the young. In autumn, a warm apartment, f 96 Natural History, ?i j i I * * !l: r :<: lined with grass, is provided for the young ([ueen where she passes tlie winter, the sole survivor of the colony. Carpenter Bees excavate their cells in dead wood. Upholsterer Bees line their excavations with fiag- ments of leaves, which they clip from the smooth foliage of the rose. Mason Bees build their cells of mud, fastening them in chinks of buildings and trees. Burrowing Bees dig into the soil and rear theii young there. It is the Hornet ( Vespa viaculata) which ))uilds the large paper nests, that we find hung in tiees and shrubs, composed of pulp from macerated woody fibre. Several smaller species of wasps build smaller nests in brush, or under the soil. Wasps feed on insects, llesli, and fruit, and rear their young on the juices of these. Ants are abundant with ns. Large Bhick Ants excavate their galleries in the trunks of spruce and fir trees. Smaller Black and Red Ants raise their In lis in pastures and borders. Yellow Ants make tlieir nests under stones. Three kinds of ants live in every com- munity, viz. males, females, and neuters. Male and female ants are winged insects. The little wingless insects which we see running about, so busily exploring every cranny, are the workers, engaged in collecting provisions for the colony. Saw-Flies wound the leaves and twigs of trees with their cutting ovipositors when depositing their eggs. One species wounds the young twigs of the sugar maple and produces that beautiful curl in the grain of the timber known as "bird's eye." Horn-Tails deposit if 5! Zoology. 97 ,vliere )l()ny. wood, frag- iiooth 3lLs of trees, young builds !S and fibre. 3sts in , iieslj, these. Ants md fir r liills r nests y coni- le and ingiess ploring lecting es witb r eggs, r maple of the deposit their eggs in the trunks of i)ine and spruce trees, and their larvae are very destructive to the tiniljer. Ichneumons, or Cuckoo Flies, deposit their eggs in the bodies of the larvffi of other insects, and by this means keep the numerous hosts in check. They are abundant witli us. Order 6. — Hemiptera. The Water Bugs belong to this order. Their hind legs are fringed with bristles, which adapts then\ for svvimming. The Gerris, or Water-Skater, is seen abun- dantly in August, skating and whirling on its long h^gs over the calm surface of pools. Millions of Aphides, or Plant-Lice, infest the ten- der shoots of plants in summer. They arc tiny, gr<;enish insects which multiply witli extraordinary rapidity. One individual may produce in three months ten thousand million millions. The Apple Scale Louse infests the limbs of apple trees. The brown scales contain the eggs which are hatched in July, when the lice ascend the tender twigs and suck their juices. The Cicada, or Seven teen- Year Locust, is common in August, when its loud soridulation, or song, may be heard ringing from fence and tree top. Order 7. — Neuroptera. The firso of July, the great Dragon-Flies (^schna heros), vulgarly called "Devil's darning needles," hawk V 98 Natural History. :! Hiiciiuli till* \V(if»r]y i;];ul('S aftoi' tln'ii insoct prey. {Siiiiill'? sjM'cifs aic (MiiinnoM iilMUit s\V!nii,;s jind inai'sluis. Order 8. — Outhopteka. The Red-Legged Locust ivS common in our fijrass fields at liiiyiiig time. Yellow-striped Locusts may also be seen. The small, green Meadow Grasshopper is abundant. The Great Green Grasshopper is common, as is also the Sulphur- Winged Locust which goes cracking along the dusty roads in the hottest mid- summer days. The little black Crickets live in holes and trill the sunny air of the harvest fields with the music of their tiny harps. i i Order p. — Coleoptera. These have four wings, the first pair being hard covers for the under pair, which are membraneous and folded transversely. Lady-Birds (Cocchiella) are red beetles with black spots, occuiring in groat numbers in the harvest fields. They are useful insects as they feed upon plant-lice. The Turnip Fly is a little black beetle which feeds upon young turnip plants, and often does great injury to the crop. The Potato Bk le ( Doryphera decemlineata) feeds upon the potato plant, and where abundant completely destroys tlie crop. It is a brown beetle, with ten black stripes on its yellow wing-covers. Length, less than Zoology. 99 half an incli. Tt ..ri-inatr,! iu rn],.,;,.].. nvIm-h it fyJ on a npecics uf wiM potatn plant. In LS'):) iL Kit its native territory, and in twenty yeais afti-rwaids had infested the whole continent to the Atlantic sead)oard. The insects winter in the ground and come out in May, producing thiee generations in a season. Each female lays 500 eggs, and will producM^ 22,000,000 descendants in a season. Wherever the leetle makes its ai)pearancc it should be instanily exterminat(Hl before it multi])lies. We luive a number of beetles related to the Potato Beetle, but they are innocent little insects, remarkable only for their brilliant coloring. The Capricorn, or Long-Horn Beetles, have antennse much longer than their bodies. Some of tliem are very destructive to timber trees. Saperda Candida is the Apple-Tree lk>rer. Fire-Flies aie dun-colored beetles which have the power of emitting light at night. They are quite common and make the . jroves flash with their glancing lamps on damp summer evenings. The June Bug (Lachnosterna fusca) is a large brown beetle which flies after dark on June evenings. Its larva is a large, white grub, which lives under ground and is destructive to crops. Among the earliest Lsects to appear in the spring are the red and brown Dung Beetles. They feed upon the excrements of animus, whei. they may be found in great abundance. Various Water Beetles inhabit the ponds of our country feeding upon the larvse of other insects. The green and purple Ground Beetles (^ C«n/^/^^y) are beauUful, active insects, found under stones and f :i! .ill 100 Natural History, loaves, and among grass. Thoy feed on other insects and are constaiitly prowling about for their prey. Tiger Bp]ETLEs ( Cicindelidce) are light, greenish grey beetles, with l)riglit metallic spots, seen running about sandy rc^ads witli great swiftness in search of insects on wliicli they feed. CLASS 4.— ARACHNIDA. I r- i-ii This class inchides the Mites, Ticks, and Spiders. They are all destitute of wings, and Ijave four pairs of legs. Flour, Clieese, and Sugar Mites are minute but destructive insects. Gr(;at numbers of Spiders inhabit our fields and gloves or hang their dusky webs in our luibitations. Those beautifully - constructed circular webs, witli tlircads radiating from tlie centre, which we see hung between tall plants or fence stakes, are formed by the Geometric Spider (Epeira vulgaris). The long-legged PIousE Spider weaves a web of close texture and hangs it in neglected corners. On a bright dew^y morning in late summer we may observe the grass fields completely overspread with fine filmy webs too delicate to be seen only when covered with dew drops. These are the v^ebs of the little Gossamer Spiders. Some spiders do not M'eave any webs. Among these are the Wandering Spiders whose scale-like tents for the protection of their young we find adhering to stones. The Leaping Spider constructs a silken nest for itself under stones. Zoology. 101 DI/ISION VII.— VERTEBRATA. The division Vertebrata is composed of the foHow- ing chisses : — Fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, Mammals. CLASS 1.— FISHES. Prince Edward Island has long been famous for the abundance and fine quality of its fish. Slioals of deep sea fishes return to the Gulf with each summer season, making our north shore one of the most valuable fishing grounds in America, while many of our rivers still afford abundant sport for the angler. Fig. 4. — Salmon. a, Gill Cover ; 6, Pectoral Fin ; c, Ventral Fin ; rf, First Dorsal Fin ; e, Second Dorsal Fin ; /, Anal Fin ; gr, Caudal Fin. Fishes are adapted for aquatic life and breathe by gills situated on the sides of the head. The heart has only two cavities. The brain is smaller than that of other vertebrates, and they have fins for limbs. The two pectoral and two ventral fins represent the four limbs of quadru[)eds. ir- 102 Natural History. Our fislies may bo arranged in the two following orders. Order i. — Teleostei. This order includes the ordinary fishes with a bony skeleton. Eels are abundant in our rivers and ponds. They frequent springs and runs and are speared on the weedy flats of the rivers when the tide is low. In winter, Eels retreat to deep sea water, from whence also the young come in great numbers in the spring. Clupeid/e, or Herrings, The Herring comes in great shoals to the coasts of the Ishmd the last week of April, and remains all summer. It is caught in nets and sold fresh or salted in barrels. It is one of our most valuable fishes, more than 40,000 barrels being annually caught. The greater part, however, is used for bait in mackerel and cod fishing. The Brit is a small fi^^h which affords food for the mackerel. A few Shad are found on our coasts, and great numbers of Gaspereaiix crowd, at spawning time, into the narrow runs at the outlets of ponds and streams. Salmonid/e, or Salmons. TIm- Siilh'um is tlie finest fish for tlie tal)le found in '',iit,M]ian wnt.is. A few cnnu' round our coasts where Uicy arc taken iii liic traps and nets set for other fish. Zoology. 103 great Salmon ascend the Dunk, Winter, Morell, and other rivers for tlie j)urpose of spawning, whieli takes place in October. Wlien the Salmon spawns, it makes a turrow in the sand with its snout. In this it deposits its eggs and then covers them up. The young fry descend to the sea before winter. Salmon caught here average about ten pounds each, and sell for fifteen cents per pound. Speckled Trout are plentiful in all our streams and ponds, and afford abundant sport fur juvenile fishermen and tourists. 71,000 pounds are annually caught. I Trout spawn in October and November, and should then be left quietly alone to enjoy their domestic arrangements. Smelt. — Tliis delicious little fish comes in multi- tudes, in early spring, to spawn in the head waters of our streams. It is then readily taken with tlie scoop net. The rest of the year it lives in the rivers and bays and is taken with hook and line. Caplin is a small fish lesembling the smelt. It schools round the coast and is caught in large quantities for bait. To the Carp family belong the Gudgeon of the shores and the little Minnows of the streams. Pleuronectid/€, or Flat-Fishes. The Halibut is the most important fisli of this family. It attains a length of six fe(^t and oft( ii wcigls 300 or 400 pounds. A few are taken on out coasts. 104 Natural History. The Flounder is the conimoii flat-fish seen ^'liding along ck)se to the sandy bottoms of our rivers and bays. They are sometimes a foot k)ng and are good for the table. ," GadiD/C, or Cods. The common Cod is one of the most valuable fishes known for human food. It inhabits all the North Atlantic and is caught in great numbers both in Europe and America. Cods come to our coasts about the first of June and are taken all summer, sometimes as late as December. The best tish are caught on the banks with sandy bottoms some miles off sliore. Cod-Fish feed on squids, caplin, young lobsters, clams, &c. They are taken with hook and line, and are split, salted, and dried for market. Haddock resemble codfish, but are distinguished by a dark sti'ipe along the sides. They sometimes associate with cods l)ut generally school alone. Haddock are used fresh. The Hake, or Ling, is distinguished from the cod by possessing only two dorsal fins and no barbule on the chin. It iidiablts muddy bottoms, and is taken from July to November. The catch is one half that of cod-fish and is exported to tlie United States. The annual value of these three fishes taken here is $170,000. Tom-Cod is a small fish of inferior quality, common in our harbors. Zoology. 105 BLENNID/C, OR Blennies. Blennies are found in t^^e vvaters of the Gulf and appear in our harbors. They have elongated bodies witli a single continuous dorsal and ventral fin. The Sea Wolf is a voracious species, six feet long, savage as a shark, and troublesome in robbing nets. ScoMBERiD/t, OR Mackerels. The Mackerel is distinguished by its beautifully clouded smooth skin, and broad-spreading, strong tail fin. The hinder parts of the dorsal and anal fins are divided into a number of small fins. Mackerel come to our coasts the last of June. Then the glint of their scales may be seen as they sport in shoals in all our baj^s and harbors. Mackerel feed on small fishes, Crustacea and worms. They frequent sandy and gravelly banks and dislike muddy bottoms. The north coast of our Island is one of the best mackerel fishing grounds in the world, and the mackerel is our most important fishery, being worth $200,000 or 1300,000 annually. They are taken by hook and line and also by immense seine nets, which enclose a whole shoal at a time. The greater part of the catch is exported to the United States. The Tunny^ or Horse Mackerel^ is a large fish of coarse quality, seldom used as food here. « PERCID/C, or t»ERCHES. Perch are common in all our rivers. Bass^ which is a large and excellent fish, is taken at Miminigash and in King's County. 106 Natural History, % TmniD/E, OR Gurnards. The Sculpin is an i;ila<;k. The fur of all, especially the latter two, is valuiibh). Wolves have been known to cross the Northunilx'r- land Strait on the ice and visit the Island. The Wild Cat, or Lynx, was once not iinconunon here but is now unknown. It is more than three feet in length and of a hoary grey color with a dark brown space on the back. It lives on small quadrupeds and birds, pursuing the latter to the tops of trees. ETYMOLOGY OF NAMES IN ZOOLOGY. n, ml m I I'll I Wl lit? Annulata (Lat. anulus a ring), the 5th division of the Animal King- dom. Aphaniptera (Gr. aphanos obscure, and ptera wings), an order of the Insecta. Aptera (Gr. A without, and ptera wings), an order of the Insecta. Arachnida (Gr. arachne a spider), the highest class of the Arthropoda. Arthropoda (Gr. arthroa a joint, and podes feet), the 6th divirion of the Animal Kingdom. Brachiopoda (Gr. braohim an arm, and podes feet), an jrder of the MoUusca. Campanularla (Lat. campanula a lit- tle bell). Cephalopoda (Gr. kephale the head, and podes the feet), the highest class of the Mollusca. Coleoptera (Gr. koleos a sheath, and ptera wings), an order of the Insecta. Crustacea (Lat. crusta a crust or hard covering), a class of the Arthropoda. Dlptera (Gr. dis two, and ptera wings), an order of the Insecta. Echinodermata (Gr. echinos a spme, and derma skin), the 3rd division of the Animal Kingdom. Elasmobranchii (Gr. elassoo to re- duce, and branchicB gills), an order of Fishes. Gasteropoda (Gr. gaster the belly, and podes the feet), a class of the Mollusca. Hemiptera (Gr. hemi half, ; .id ptera wings), an order of the Insecta. Hydroid (Gr. hydor water, and eidos resemblance). Hymenoptera (Gr. hymen a mem- brane and ptera wmgs), an order of the Insecta. Insecta (Lat. cut into), a class of the Arthropoda. Lamellibranchiata (Lat. a thin plate, and branchice gills), a class of the Mollusca. Lepidoptera (Gr. lepis a scale, and ptera wings), an order of the In- secta. Mollusca (Lat. mollis soft), the 4th division of the Animal Kingdom. Myriopoda (Gr. myrias a myriad, and podes feet). A class of the Arthropoda. Zoology. 123 Neuroptera (Gr. neura nerves, and pteta wings), an order of the In- sec ta. Noctiluca (I.at. noctis of the night, and lux light). Orihoptera (dr. orthos straight, and ptera wings), an order of the In- secta. Pteropoda (Gr. ptera wings, and podes feet), a class of the Insecta. Polypi (Gr. polys many, and podes feet). Protozoa (Gr. prota the first, and zoa life), the lowest division of the Animal Kingdom. Sertulatia (l.at. sertum a wreath). Teleostei (Gr. teleos perfectly, and osteon a bone), an order of Fishes. Tubicolce (Liu. tuba a tube, and cola to inhabit). Tubularia ( I .at. tuba a tube). Zoology (Gr. Zoon an animal, and logos a discourse). ERRATA. On page 69, first line at top, the words " CLASS IV." should be omitted. On same page, sixth line from top, the word "Peris " should be spelled Pteris. ' f p -H}c HEADQUARTERS $^ ■FOR 3 atch€0, Jetoelrg SPECTACLES E. W. TAYLOR Cameron Block, Cliarlottetowii 4^0 excuse to be late for school or for any appointment so long as our time-keepers can be had at such a low price. go not holb print too close to the eye in reading, as near-sightedness is often induced thereby. Jf BOn cannot see the finest print distinctly at 12 or 14 inches (the proper distance) call or send for a pair of our fine spectacles. E. W. TAYLOR CarYjeron Block, Cl^arlottetowq FOR THE BEST HORSE POWERS -AND- THRBSHERS V I '•y 4 i i tf A r>T !l j^CHOOLDESKS df. HURCH PEWS aLPITSH COFFINS 1^^ CASKETS i/^T^A' WRIGHT & CO. Jumitttvt JttattttfactttriTB (Sharlottetown, f, E, Island 7■ s DRESS GOODS eLOTHS SILKS QH 106 B3 ew A large stock Hard -^ Soft Felt HATS CORSE ST,