B 3 3bl 035 .-- T.RYMER THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID THE ANIMAL CREATION. BY THE SAME AUTHOR, Uniform in size and price. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. Q popular Introduction to rnitfjologg. LONDON: FREDERICK WARNE AND Co. / ' / T HE ANIMAL CREATION: A POPULAR INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. BY THOMAS RYMER JONES, F.R.S., Professor oj Natural History and Comparative Anatomy, in King's College^ L Examiner in Physiology to the University of London ; Fullerian .:sor to the Royal Institution of Great Britain, o Hydatid -6 Tape-Worms 56 Flukes 56 Guinea-Worm 57 Hair- Worm 57 Turbellaria 57 Planarias 57 Long Sea-Worms 58 CHAPTER IX. SECOND DIVISION OF INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS. ARTICULATED ANIMALS 59 Includes Creatures existing under great diversity of circumstances 59 Their external conformation the most obvious character of distinction 59 Worms 59 Centipedes 5; Insects 59 Scorpions, Spiders, &c 60 Crabs, Lobsters, &c 61 FIRST CLASS OF ARTICULATED ANIMALS... 63 WORMS. ANNELIDA 63 Divided into three Orders 64 Abranchia 64 Dorsibranchiata 64 Tubicola 64 First Order Abranchiate Animals 64 Divided into two Families 64 Setigera and Suctoria 64 Earth-Worms 64 Their importance in the economy of Nature Naides ............................................. 65 Leeches ............................................. 65 Medicinal Leech ................................. 65 Second Order Dorsibranchiate Annelidar.s .................. 66 Their splendid appearance .................. 66 Their variety of Weapons .................. 68 Sand-Worm ....................................... 69 Nereids ............................................. 70 Singular structure of Mouth ............... 70 Erroneous notions concerning Worms ... 70 The Sea-Mouse ................................. 70 Third Order Tubicolous Annelidans ........................ 71 Serpulse ............................................. 72 Shells of Serpulae .............................. 72 Singular Trap-door ........................... 72 Annelida (continued). Pas's Terebellae 72 Construction of their Residencs 72 Sabella alveolaris 72 CHAPTER X. SECOND CLASS OF ARTICULATED ANIMALS. CENTIPEDES. MYRIAPODA 72 Intermediate between red-blooded Worms and Insects 73 Structure of Myriapods 74 Myriapoda remarkably distinguished from Insects properly so-called 74 Two Families belong to the Class 74 Millepedes and Centipedes 74 Millepedes, how distinguished 71 Their habits 74 Centipedes 74 Their formidable Mouth 75 Giant Scolopendra 75 Forked Centipede 75 Electric Scolopendra 75 CHAPTER XI. THIRD CLASS OF ARTICULATED ANIMALS. INSECTS 7=; How to study Insects 77 What is an Insect 77 Three principal portions of Body 77 Divisions of Leg of Insect 77 Wings of Insect 78 Diversity in construction in instruments for procuring nourishment 79 Mouths of Insects divided into two Classes 79 Their formation 79 Organs of Sense in Insects 81 Eyes of Insects 81 Respiratory System of Insects 82 Admirable contrivance for preserving the flexibility of their Air-tube-. 83 Extraordinary strength of Insects 84 No Insect in its winged condition per- mitted to grow 85 Metamorphosis of Insects 85 SHIELD-WINGED INSECTS. ORDER Couc- OPTERA 88 Characteristics of Coleopterous Insects.. 88 Divided into four Sections, according to number of joints in Feet 88 First Section. PENTAMRRANS 88 Tiger Beetles, their rapacity, beauty, and activity 89 Dens of Larvae 89 Ground Beetles, their habits 89 Bombardiers 89 The work intrusted to the Cannvora essential to the well-being of Nature.. 90 Water-Beetles 90 Their predatory excursions 90 Their Larvae " Water-Tigers" go Equally active and ferocious 91 Insect Scavengers 92 Brachelytrous Pentamerans 92 Rove-Beetles 92 Serricornes, how distinguished 92 CONTEXTS. XI Insects (continued). Page Their magnificence 92 Vegetable feeders 92 Spring Beetles, for what remarkable 92 The Cucujo, its brilliant light 92 Glow-Worms, their luminosity 93 Death-Watches 93 Habit of calling to their .Mates 93 Ciavicornes 93 Carrion Beetles 93 Sexton Beetles, their remarkable instinct 93 Bacon Beetles 94 Palpicornes, principally aquatic 94 Large Water-Beetles 94 Their singular table 94 Lamellicornes, how distinguished 94 Live on vegetable substances 94 Scavenger Beetles 95 Live in tropical climates 95 Second Section. HETEROMERANS, how distinguished 96 Melasomes, for what remarkable 96 Meal-grinders 96 Taxicornes 96 Stenelytra 96 Trachelides, how distinguished 96 Blister Beetles 97 Thiid Section. COLEOPTEROUS TETRA- MERANS .*. 97 What Beetles included in this section ... 97 Snout Beetles 98 Weevils 98 Diamond Beetles 98 Wood-eaters, for what purpose appointed 99 Long-horned Beetle v 59 Fourth Section. TKIMERANS 99 Ladybirds destroy Aphides 99 STRAIGHT-WINGED INSECTS. OKDER OR- THOPTERA 100 In what circumstances they differ from Beetles TOO Their habits 100 Earwigs 100 Cockroaches 101 Leaf Insects, their singular appearance.. 101 leaping Orthoptera 102 House-Cricket 102 Grasshoppers 102 Locusts, formidable by their numbers ... 102 Mole-Cricket, singular adaptation of its strength to the habits assigned to it ... 103 LACE-WINGED INSECTS. ORDER NEU- ROHTERA, how distinguished 104 Dragon-Flies, their brilliant appearance, their humble guise in an earlier stage . of existence 104 Predatory habit> 105 May- Flies, "Duns "and " Drakes." 105, 106 Scorpion- Flies 106 Ant-Lions 106 Their singular pitfall 106 Lace-winged Flies 107 Their Larvae named "Aphis-Lions" 107 Their curious disguise 108 Stone-Flies 108 White Ants 108 Congregate in societies 108 They work concealed from observation... 109 Sometimes construct towers 109 Labourers and Neuters, Winged -Males and Females 109 Their curious economy 109 Insects (continued). MEMBRANE-WINGED INSECTS. ORDET: Hv- MENOPTERA IIO Saw-Flies no Cuckoo-Flies in Their office in Creation m Gall- Flies lay their Eggs in leaves or tender shoots '. 112 Second Section of Hytnenopterons Insects 112 Ants, their societies 112 Their dwellings 113 Wasps, their constructions 113 Bees, their societies 114 Their different employments 114 Their various Cells 115 Humble-Bees 115 BEE PARASITES. ORDER STREPSIPTERA... 116 Stvlops 116 Stylopized Bees 118 LEPIDOPTEROCS INSECTS. ORDEX LEPI- DOPTERA Il8 How recognizable 118 Larvae, Pupa? 119 Classification of Lepidoptera 119 Diurnal Lepidoptera 119 Butterflies 119 True Butterflies, how distinguished 119 Chrysalids, whence their name 120 Crepuscularia 120 Hawk-Moths 120 Their Caterpillars and Chrysalids 120 Death's-head Hawk-Moth 121 Nocturnal Lepidoptera 121 Phalense 121 Eombyces 121 Silkworm, Us mode of life on the T '. berry tree 122 Tusseh Silkworm 123 Leaf-rollers 123 Their various domiciles 124 ^ioth** 124. Pack-Moth '. 124 Feather- Moths 124 HEMIPTEROI/S INSECTS. ORDER HEMIP- TERA, how divided 124 Geocorysae 125 HydrOCOrySSe ... . .... 125 Their use in Nature 125 Skip-jacks 125 Water-boatmen 126 Water-Scorpion 127 PLANT-SUCKING INSECTS. ORDER HOMOP- TERA, structure of 127 Tree-hoppers 127 Plant-Lice 127 Coccidaj 128 The Cochineal Insect 128 The Lac Insect 128 Manna 128 Chinese Tree Wax 128 Blight Insects 128 Lantern Flies 129 TWO-WINGED INSECTS. ORDER DIPTERA... 129 Gnats and Mosquitoes 129 Transformations of Common Gnat 129 Birth of Gnat an interesting spectacle ... 130 Crane-Flies 130 Daddy-long-legs 131 Whame Flies 131 Tsetse, its bite poisonous to certain ani- mals 131 Chameleon Flies 131 Xll CONTENTS. Insects (continued). Page Phenomena attending their Metamorpho- sis 131 Wasp-Flies 132 Rat-tailed Larvae 133 Gad-Flies 133 Flesh-Flies 133 Important agents in the police of Nature 134 Domestic Fly 134 Spider Flies 134 Forest Fly 134 TUFT-TAILED INSECTS. ORDER THYSA- NOURA 134 Lepisma 135 Spring-tails 135 PARASITES. ORDER PARASITE 135 Pediculus 135 Ricinus 135 INSECTS WITH IMPERCEPTIBLE WINGS. ORDER APHANIPTERA 136 Fleas 136 Chigoe 136 Apterous Insects 137 Winged Insects 137 CHAPTER XII. FOURTH CLASS OF ARTICULATED ANIMALS. ARACHNIDANS long confounded with the Insects 137 Distinguished by very conspicuous cha- racters 137 Three principal Divisions of Arachnidans 138 Mites 139 Scorpions recognizable by the peculiarity of their external configuration 139 Spiders, how distinguished 140 The implacable foes of Insects 140 The effects of their poison instantaneous 140 Various purposes to which the threads of Spiders are converted 141 Mouse Spiders 142 Bird Spiders 142 Mason Spiders 142 Their subterranean Caverns 142 Sedentary Arachnidans 144 Lurk near their snares 144 Rectigrades 144 Tube-weavers 144 Web of Garden Spider 144 Spiders in Rio Janeiro 144 Spiders with nets in community 145 Tent-making Spider 145 Spiders living in a Shell 145 Spiders properly so called 145 Water Spider, her Diving-bell 146 Thread-spinners, care of their Eggs 146 Net-spreading Arachnidans 147 Saltigrades 148 Vagabond Arachnidans 148 Wolf Spiders 148 The Tarantula 148 Leaping Spiders 148 Gossamer Spiders 149 CHAPTER XIII. FIFTH CLASS OF ARTICULATED ANIMALS. CRUSTACEANS 149 Articulated Animals breathing Water ... 149 Crustaceans (continued). Page Land Crustaceans, their wet Gills 151 Wood-Lice fitted for a damp atmosphere 151 Senses of Crustacea 151 Their periodical moult 152 Diversity of external forms of Crustacea 153 Lobster's Claws, one an anchor, the other a cutting instrument 154 Crustaceans, Division of 155 TEN-FOOTED CRUSTACEANS. ORDER DECA- PODA 155 Divided into three groups 155 MACROURA 155 Sea Cray-Fishes 155 Lobsters 156 River Cray-Fish 156 Prawns 156 Their interesting history 156 Shrimp 156 BRACHYURA (or Crabs), their habits 157 Spider Crabs 157 Swimming Crabs 157 Shore Crabs 158 Edible Crabs, they plunder by night ... 158 Crabs, their remarkable Metamorphosis. 159 Racer Crabs 159 Beckoning Crabs 160 Cocoa-nut Crab 160 Land*Crabs cutting grass 160 ANOMOURA 161 Soldier Crab 161 Wonderful adaptation of its Limbs 162 FOOT-MOUTHED CRUSTACEANS. ORDER STOMAPODA 163 Mantis Shrimp 163 Opossum Shrimps 164 AMPHIPOD CRUSTACEANS. ORDER AMPHI- PODA 164 Their importance in Nature 165 Examples of the abundant happiness of the lower Animals 165 Sand-hoppers 165 THROAT-FOOTED CRUSTACEANS. ORDER L^MODIPODA 166 All marine 166 EQUAL-FOOTED CRUSTACEANS. ORDER ISOPODA 1 166 Boring Shrimp, pierces planks of Ships.. 166 Fresh-water Shrimps 167 Wood-Lice 167 GILL-FOOTED CRUSTACEANS. ORDER BRANCHIOPODA 167 Divided into two sections 168 Tufted-feet Entomostracans 169 Cyclops 169 Common Cyclops 169 Cythereas 169 Cyprides 169 Daphniae 170 Phyllopeds 170 Fairy Shrimps 170 Salt-water Shrimps 170 SWORD-TAILED CRUSTACEANS. ORDER XIPHOSURI 170 King Crabs 170 SUCTORIAL CRUSTACEANS. ORDER SIPHON- OSTOMATA 172 Pycnogons 172 Fish-Lice 172 Lerneans 172 WHEF.L-ANIMALCULES. ORDER ROTIFERA 173 Skeleton Wheel-bearer 174 CONTENTS. Xlll Crustaceans (continued). Page Ciliary movement 174 Eggs of Rotifera 175 CIRRIPEDS. ORDER CIRRIPEDIA 177 Remarkably constructed Limbs 177 Their casting-net i7 8 Divided into two Families 179 Barnacles 179 Acorn-Shells J79 CHAPTER XIV. THIRD DIVISION OF INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS. MOLLUSKS, "Shell-Fish" 180 Definition of Mollusks 180 Heterogangliata 181 CHAPTER XV. FIRST CLASS OF MOLLUSKS. POLYZOA 184 Sea-Mats 184 SearMoss 185 Aviculariae 186 Fluviatile Polyzoa 187 CHAPTER XVI. SECOND CLASS OF MOLLUSKS. TUNICARIES. TUNICATA l88 Ascidians 189 Beauty and delicacy of their internal structure 189 Salpians 189 Pyrosoma, its dazzling splendour 190 Compound Ascidians 191 CHAPTER XVII. THIRD CLASS OF MOLLUSKS. ORDINARY BIVALVES. CONCHIFERA 192 Scallop, its structure 192 Its Mantle, Gills, Mouth, and Hinge ... 192 Elaborate mechanism of the Gill-fringe.. 192 Classification of Conchifera 195 First Family Oysters 195 Common Oyster 195 Tree-Oyster 195 File-Shells 195 Scallops 196 Pearl-Shells 196 Pearl Oyster Pearl fishery 196 Second Family Mussels 197 Their Foot, its use's 197 Pinna, Byssus 197 True Mussels 197 River-Mussels, sometimes enclose Pearls 197 Third Family Clams.... 198 Clam-Shells '.. 198 Giants of the Bivalve race 198 Strength of their Byssus 199 Fourth Family Cockles 199 Common Cockle, its Foot a wonderful organ 199 Mollusks (continued). Page Fifth Family Inclusa 200 Razor-Shells 201 Stone-borers, their excavations 201 Pholades, their Dens 202 Their tools for boring 202 Teredo, its destruction of submarine woodwork.... .. 202 CHAPTER XVIII. FOURTH CLASS OF MOLLUSKS. BRACHIOPODA, their arms 203 Contrivance for procuring food 204 CHAPTER XIX. FIFTH CLASS OF MOLLUSKS. GASTEROPODA 204 Why so called 204 Different Orders of, how distinguished... 205 ORDER PULMONIFERA 206 Air-breathing Gasteropods 206 Terrestrial, how recognizable 206 Slugs 206 Snails 207 ORDER PECTIMBRANCHIATA 207 Aquatic Air-breathing Gasteropods 207 Their Operculum or door 207 Their Eyes on Footstalks 208 Curious Egg-cases 209 Wentle-trap 209 Legend of the Origin of the Tyrian dye. 212 Its changes of Colour 212 Stromb-Shells 212 ORDER TUBULIBRANCHIATA 213 Their Tube-shell and door 213 ORDER SCUTIBRANCHIATA 213 Keyhole Limpets 214 ORDER TECTIBRANCHIATA 214 For the most part naked Slugs 214 Sea-Hares 214 ORDER INFEROBRANCHIATA 215 ORDER CYCLOBRANCHIATA 215 Limpets 216 Coat-of-Mail Shell, Chiton 216 ORDER NUDIBRANCHIATA 216 Naked-gilled Mollusca common on the British coast 216 Their great diversity and beauty of form 217 Homed Doris 217 Tritonia Hombergi 217 Young of Nudibranchiate Gasteropods... 217 ORDER HETEROPODA 218 Their fin-shaped Foot used as an Oar ... 218 CHAPTER XX. SIXTH CLASS OF MOLLUSKS. ORDER PTEROPODA 219 Their locomotive apparatus 219 Northern Clio, its instruments of pre- hension 220 Limacina helicina, its exquisite Shell ... 220 Hyalsea 221 Cleodora, its luminosity 221 XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXI. SEVENTH CLASS OF MOLLUSKS. ORDER CEPHALOPODA 221 Their remarkable habits and appearance 222 Their ink 222 Mechanism of their Suckers 223 Enormous size of some Cephalopods 224 The common Poulpe, its terrible aspect.. 224 Its powerful Arms 225 Its Chameleon-like change of Colour ... 225 Its amusing stratagems 226 Calamaries, their additional Arms 226 Their plate of Horn 226 Squids used for bait 226 Their Eyes 226 Hooked Squids, the tenacity of their grasp 226 Cuttle-Fishes 226 Common Cuttles, their ink 226 Cuttle-Fish Bone 227 Eggs of the Sepia 227 The Argonaut, fiction of the ancients respecting it 228 Nautilus, its chambered Shell 229 Characteristic structure of Nautilus 229 Its food 229 CHAPTER XXII. 231 231 232 232 232 VERTEBRATE ANIMALS ........................... 230 Distinguishing characters of Vertebrate Classes Complete Skeleton, how composed Nervous System of Vertebrates ............ Increased perfection of the Senses ......... Blood of Vertebrata ........................... Variations of its temperature the cause of important differences .................. 233 Its effect upon the Instincts and Affec- tions of different races of Vertebrata. . . 233 CHAPTER XXIII. FIRST CLASS OF VERTEBRATE ANIMALS. FISHES 234 The. infinite variety in their forms and endowments 234 Teeth of Fishes 235 Fins of Fishes 235 Food of Fishes 236 Armour of Fishes 238 Division of Osseous Fishes ORDER ACANTHOPTERYGII. SPINY-FINNED FISHES 238 Perches 238 Sea-Perch 239 Basse 239 Mullets 239 Surmullet 239 Mailed-cheeks 240 Flying Gurnards 240 Squamipennes, how recognized 240 Archers 241 Shooting Fishes 241 Labyrinthiform Pharyngeals 241 Climbing Perch 242 Mackerels 242 Fishes (continued). Common Mackerel .............................. 242 Mackerel fishing ................................. 243 Tunnies ............................................. 243 Common Tunny ................................. 243 Important fisheries .............................. 243 The Madrague *""'"'""*" TheBonito ...... ..... Sword-Fishes Centronotus 244 244 244 244 Dolphin-Fish, its variety of'tints 245 Riband-Fishes 245 Mugiloids 246 Grey Mullet 246 ABDOMINAL SOFT-FINKED FISHES. ORDER MALACOPTERYGII ABDOMIXALES 246 Carps 247 Common Carp 248 Golden Carp 248 Barbels 248 Gudgeons 248 Tenches 248 Breams 248 Minnows 248 Roaches 249 Pikes 249 Common Pike .... ... 249 Sea-Pike 250 Gar-Fish 250 Flying Fishes 250 Siluroids 250 Sheat-Fish 251 Electric Silurus 251 Salmons 251 Common Salmon 251 Salmon fishery 251 Herrings 252 Common Herrings 252 Their periodical migrations 252 Herring-nets 252 Sardine 252 Sardine fisheries 252 Pilchard 253 Sprat 253 "Whitebait 253 Shad 253 Anchovies 253 Common Anchovy 253 Anchovy fishery 253 Anglers 254 Lophius 254 Common Angler, its curious baits 254 SUB-BRACHIAL SoFT-FINNED FlSHES. ORDER OF MALACOPTERYGII SUB-BRACHIATI. 255 Gadoids 255 Cod fishery 255 Cod 255 Haddock 255 Whiting 255 Coal-Fish 255 Flat Fishes 256 Turbot ... 256 Brill .. 256 Sole i 256 Holibut 256 Plaice 256 Flounders 256 Dabs and Flukes 256 Do not swim like other Fishes 257 Means of concealment 257 Position of their Eyes 257 CONTENTS. xv Fishes (continued). Page Cyclopteri 258 Lumpsucker 258 Sucking-Fishes 258 Remora 259 FOOTLESS SOFT-FINNED FISHES. ORDER OF MALACOPTERYGII APODES 259 Their chief characteristic 259 Eels 259 Their singular journeys 259 Conger Eels 260 Muraenae .'. 260 Gymnpti 261 Electric Eel, its electric apparatus 261 TUFT-GILLED FlSHES. ORDER OF Loi-HO- BRANCHI 261 Sea-Horses (Hippocampi) 261 ORDER OF PLECTOGNATHI 262 Gy mnodonts 262 Jaws furnished with a species of beak ... 262 Globe-Fishes 262 Why so called 262 Their curious structure 262 Sun-Fishes 262 File-Fishes 263 Balistes : 263 Trunk-Fishes 263 DIVISION II. CARTILAGINOUS FISHES ORDER CHONDROPTERYGII (with free bran- chiie) 263 Sturgeons, their general form 264 Caviar 265 Spatularia 265 Chimaeras 265 (With fixed bronchia:) 265 SLH-ORDER OF PLAGIOSTOMES 265 Sharks 265 White Sharks 267 Greenland Shark 267 Saw-Fishes 268 Skates 268 Torpedos 268 SUB-ORDER OF CVCLOSTOMES 269 The Lamprey 269 The Sea-Lamprey 269 The River-Lamprey 269 The Lampern 270 The Hag-Fishes 270 The Ammocsetes 270 CHAPTER XXIV. SECOND CLASS OF VERTEBRATE ANIMALS. REPTILES 270 Admirably adapted to the duties imposed on them 271 Characters of Reptiles 272 Eggs of Reptiles 272 Grouped under four principal sections ... 272 CHAPTER XXV. ORDER AMPHIBIA 273 Mud-Fish 273 Footless Amphibia 275 Blind Worms 275 A. wphibia wit /tout Gills 276 Ail exception to the universality of Meta- morphoses 277 Amphibia (continued). Page Amphiumas 277 Gigantic Salamander.... . 277 The "Hell-bender" 277 Amphibia, i/uith permanent Gills 277 Four Genera known Axolptus, Mono- branchus, Proteus, and Siren 278 Axolotle 278 Snake-like Proteus 278 Its curious Branchial organs 278 Mud Eel 279 Batrachian A tnphibia 280 Their Metamorphoses 280 Batrachia divisible into two sections 281 TAILED BATRACHIANS. URODELA 281 Terrestrial Salamander... 281 Great Warty Newt 282 Smooth Newt 283 TAILLESS BATRACHIANS. ANOURA 283 Frogs 28^ Curious arrangement of their Tongue... 284 How distinguished from Toads 284 Tree-Frogs 284 Toads 285 Pipas 286 ORDER OPHIDIA 287 First Order of true Reptiles 287 Their formidable attributes 287 Family I. Water-Serpents 287 Sea or Pelagic Serpents 288 Fresh-water Snakes 288 Family II. Venomous Serpents 288 Their poison most potent 289 Poison-fangs 290 Poison-gland 290 Rattlesnakes 290 Fer-de-lance 292 Horned Vipers 232 Viper 292 Family 111.- Boas 293 Boa Constrictor, Teeth of. 293 Special contrivance to aid deglutition ... 293 Anaconda 294 Family IV. Harmless Snakes 295 Common Ringed Snakes 295 Family V. Double Walkers 296 ORDER SALRIA 296 Lizards, their resemblance to Serpents... 296 Classification of Saurian Reptiles 297 Saurians, their diverse habits 297 Transition from Serpents to Lizards 298 Slow-Worm 298 Glass Snake 298 True Lizards 298 Sand Lizards 298 Flying Lizards 300 Scinks 3 Galliwasp 3 Monitors 3 Guanas 3 Geckos 3 Chameleons - 3 01 Crocodiles, how distinguished 3 02 ORDER CHELOMA 33 Arranged in four principal Families 304 Turtles, Structure of their Limbs 304 Tortoise-shell 35 Leather-backed Turtle 3 06 Soft Tortoises 3 6 Marsh Tortoises 36 Land Tortoises 36 XVI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXVI. THIRD CLASS OF VERTEBRATE ANIMALS. Page BIRDS 308 No department of Nature unfurnished... 308 Internal structure of Birds 308 Their hot Blood imparts intense vitality. 308 Perfection of their respiration 308 Skeleton of Birds 309 Peculiar mechanism in the Legs of Perch- ing Birds 310 Feathers of Birds 3" Birds oviparous 312 Divided into seven Orders 313 ORDER RAPTORES or ACCIPITRES 313 Divided into Diurnal and Nocturnal Birds ofPrey 3*3 Diurnal Birds of Prey 313 Eagles, how distinguished 313 Golden Eagle 315 Fisher Eagles 315 Falcons 315 Vultures, their aspect 317 The Ossifraga of the Romans 318 Nocturnal Birds of Prey 318 Owls 318 ORDER PASSERES 319 Divided into five Tribes 319 TRIBE I. DENTIROSTRES 320 Shrikes : 320 Fly-catchers *......... 321 Thrushes 321 Nightingales 321 Wrens 321 Wagtails 321 Titlarks 321 TRIBE II. FISSIROSTRES 322 Divided into two Tribes, Diurnal and Nocturnal 322 Diurnal Fissirostres 322 Swallows 322 Swifts r. 323 Nocturnal Fissirostres 323 Goatsuckers 323 TRIBE II. CONIROSTRES 324 Larks 324 Titmice 324 Finches 324 Weavers, Linnets, Goldfinches, Chaf- finches, Canary, Bullfinch 325 Crows 325 Birds of Paradise 326 The Emerald Bird of Paradise 326 TRIBE IV. TENUIROSTRES 327 Nuthatches 327 Creepers 327 Humming-Birds 327 Hoopoes 327 TRIBE V. SYNDACTYL/E 330 Bee-eaters 330 Kingfishers 331 Hornbills 331 ORDER SCANSORES 331 Peculiarity in the outer Toe of Birds o/ this Order 331 Woodpeckers 33 2 Their remarkable Tongue 332 Wrynecks 332 Cuckoos ; .' 333 Toucans, how distinguishable 334 Parrots 334 Birds (continued). Page ORDER GALLING .................................... 335 Divided into two sections ..................... 335 Gallinae properly so called .................. 335 335 330 Peacocks Guinea-Fowls .................................... 337 Pheasants .......................................... 337 Barn-door Fowl ................................. 337 Curassows .......................................... 337 Grouse ............................................. 337 Capercailzie ....................................... 339 Second Section of Gallinaceous Birds ...... 339 Pigeons ................................................ 339 ORDER CURSORES .................................... 340 Ostriches .......................................... 340 True Ostriches .................................... 340 African Ostrich ................................. 340 American Ostrich .............................. 341 Cassowary .......................................... 341 Bustards .......................................... 341 Apteryxes .......................................... 342 Shaw's Apteryx ................................. 342 ORDER GRALLATORES : ............................. 342 Separated into four Tribes .................. 342 TRIBE I. PRESSIROSTRES ........................ 342 Plovers ........... , ................................. 343 Sandpipers .......................................... 343 Oyster-catchers ................................. 343 TRIBE II. CULTIROSTRES ..................... 344 Cranes ............................................. 344 Herons ............................................. 345 Storks ............................................. 345 Spoonbills .......................................... 345 TRIBE III. LONGIROSTRES ..................... 345 Ibis ................................................... 346 Scarlet Ibis ....................................... 346 Curlews ............................................. 346 Snipes ................................................ 346 Woodcock .......................................... 347 Turnstones ....................................... 347 TRIBE IV. NACRODACTYLES .................. 347 Jackanas .......................................... 348 Rails ................................................ 348 Land-Rail .......................................... 348 Coots ....... ... ...................................... 349 Flamingoes ....................................... 349 ORDER PALMIPEDES ................................. 349 TRIBE I. BRACHYPTERES ........................ 350 Divers ............................................. 351 Grebes ............................................. 351 Divers properly so called ............. . ....... 351 Great Northern Diver ........................ 351 Penguins .......................................... 352 Puffins ............................................. 352 Penguins properly so called .................. 352 Common Penguins .............................. 352 King Penguins .................................... 353 TRIBE II. LONGIPENNES ........................ 353 Petrels ............................................. 354 Albatrosses ....................................... 354 Sea-Gulls .......................................... 354 Terns ................................................ 355 Skimmers .......................................... 356 TRIBE III. TOTIPALMATJE ..................... 356 Pelicans ............................................. 356 Pelicans properly so called .................. 357 Cormorants ....................................... 357 Frigate Birds .................................... 357 Gannets ............................................. 357 Tropic Birds ....................................... 357 CONTENTS. xvii Birds (continued). Page TRIBE IV. LAMELL1ROSTRES 35$ Ducks 358 Swans 358 Geese 358 True Ducks 358 Periodical migrations of 358 CHAPTER XXVII. FOURTH CLASS OF VERTEBRATE ANIMALS. MAMMALS 359 Essential character of 359 Classification of, on what based 361 Connecting-link 361 SUB-CLASS OVO-VIVIPARA 361 ORDER I. MONOTRBMATA 361 Duck-billed Platypus 362 Porcupine Ant-eater 363 ORDER II. MARSUPIALIA (Pouched Quad- rupeds) 363 For what remarkable 363 Kangaroos 364 Opossums 364 Dasyuri 365 Phalangers 365 Bandicoots 366 Mynnecobius 366 Wombat 367 Carnivorous Marsupialia very few in number 367 Zebra Wolf 367 SUB-CLASS II. PLACEXTALIA 368 Placental Quadrupeds 368 ORDER CETACEA 368 Cetacea are Mammals deprived of hinder Limbs 370 They breathe Air 370 Their Blood is hot.. 37 "Blubber" 370 SECTION I. ORDINARY CETACEANS 37* Dolphins properly so called 372 Common Dolphin 372 Porpoises 372 Common Porpoise 372 Grampus 372 Narwhals 372 Sea-U nicorn 372 SECTION II. TRUE WHALES 373 Whale's head exceedingly large 373 Cachalots 373 Whalebone Whales 375 Whalebone forms a kind of sieve 375 SECTION III. HERBIVOROUS CETACEA 375 Have Teeth with flat crowns 375 Sea-Cows 376 Dugongs 376 ORDER PACHYDERMATA 377 SECTION OF PROBOSCIDIAN PACHYDERMS . 378 Elephants 378 Indian Elephants 379 African Eiephants 379 SECTION OF ORDINARY PACHYDERMS 379 Hippopotamus . 379 H g s 380 Rhinoceros 381 Tapirs _ "," 381 SECTION OF SOL1PEDES 382 Horses ". 382 Ass "',"' 382 Mammals (continued). Page Zebra 383 Quagga 383 Onager 384 ORDER RUMINAKTIA 384 Divided into two sections..... 385 RUMINANTS WITHOUT HORNS 385 Camels 385 Llamas 387 Alpaca 387 Vicunia .. 387 Musks 388 Other Musks have no Musk-pouch 388 RUMINANTS WITH HORNS 388 Horns cf three kinds 388 RUMINANT WITH HORNS PERMANENTLY COVERED WITH HAIRY SKIN 390 Giraffe 390 RUMINANTS WITH DECIDUOUS HORNS* 391 Stags 391 RUMINANTS WITH HOLLOW HORNS 391 Antelopes 392 Goats 392 The genus Sheep 393 Argali 393 The genus Ox 394 The Common Ox 394 The Auroch 395 Bison 395 Buffalo 395 Cape Buffalo 395 \ak 396 Musk Ox 397 ORDER RODENTIA 397 Live on the harder parts of vegetables... 397 Chisel-like Teeth 397 Rodents are timid and feeble 397 Beavers 398 Classification of Rodentia 309 Musk-Rat of Canada 400 Water-Rat 401 Lemmings 401 Donnicdf. 401 Rats 401 Hamsters , 401 The Harvest Mouse 401 The Squirrels 402 Common Squirrel 402 Flying Squirrels 404 Porcupines 404 Common Porcupine 404 The Hares 404 The Common Hare 404 The Rabbit 404 Rat Hares 405 Cavies 45 Capybara 45 Guinea Pigs 45 Agoutis 45 Jerboas 405 ORDER EDENTATA 407 Includes all Quadrupeds having separate Toes, without incisor Teeth 47 Sloths, their structure adapted to their mode of life 407 Armadillos 408 Ant-eaters 409 Tamanoir or Ant-Bear 409 Scaly Ant-eaters 411 Cape Ant-eaters 411 Ground Hog 411 Old age permitted to Man alone 411 XVI 11 CONTENTS. Mammals (continued). . Page ORDER CARNIVORA ................................. 411 Carnivora, how distinguishable ............ 411 Teeth ................. . ................................. 412 Canine ............................................. 412 False Molars .................................... 412 Lacerator ................. '...'. ..................... 412 Blunt Molars .................................... 412 Differences in the Teeth of Carnivora .. 412 Differences in the structure of their hinder Feet .................................... 412 PLANTIGRADE CARNIVORA ..................... 413 Bears ................................................ 413 White Bear ....................................... 413 Racoons ............................................. 414 Badgers ............................................. 414 Common Badgers .............................. 414 Glutton ............................................ 414 IGITIGRADE CARNIVORA, how distin- guished in walking ........................... 415 Divided into Groups ........................... 415 Vermiform Carnivora ........................... 415 Polecats ............................................. 415 Common Polecat ................................. 415 Ferret ................................................ 417 Weasel ............................................. 417 Ermine ............................................. 417 Martens ............................................. 418 Sable Marten .................................... 418 Skunks ............................................. 418 Otters ................................................ 418 Sea-Otter .......................................... 419 Second Group of Digitigrade Carr.ivora, how characterized ........................... 419 The Dogs .......................................... 419 Domestic Dog .................................... 419 Wolf ................................................ 419 The Foxes .......................................... 420 The Civets .................... ...................... 420 The Civet properly so called ............... 420 The Ichneumon ................................. 421 Third Group of Digitigrade Carnivora... 421 Separated into Hyaenas ............................................. 421 How distinguishable ........................... 421 421 421 422 423 424 Cats Most formidably armed of all Mammalia Silent tread of Cats Lion Royal Tiger Jaguar or American Tiger .................. 424 Panther ............................................. 425 Leopard ............................................. 425 Lynx ................................................ 426 Common or Domestic Cat .................. 426 Mammals (continued). Page- AMPHIBIOUS CARNIVORA 426 Divided into two Groups 426 Seals 426 Morse or Walrus 427 ORDER INSECTIVORA 428 Shrews 428 Hedgehogs 429 Common Hedgehog 420 Moles 429 Their admirable conformation 430- Hand of Mole 430 ORDER CHEIROPTERA 430 Mammiferous destroyers of Insects not restricted to surface of ground 430 Bats 431 Divided into several families 431 Fox Bats 431 Spear-nosed Bats 431 Vampire Bats 432 Horse-shoe Bats 432 Common Bats 432 ORDER QUADRUMANA 433 How distinguishable 433 Formed for living in trees 433. Flying Cats 435 Fox-headed Monkey (Lemur) 435 Sloth Monkeys 436 Marmozets 436 Monkeys of the American continent, how distinguished 436 Differ in conformation of Tail 436 Capuchin Monkeys 436 Tail prehensile 436 Sakis 436 Tail not prehensile 436 Capuchin Monkey includes Howling Monkeys 436 Spider Monkeys 437 American Monkeys 437 Tabular arrangement 438 Cynocephali 438 Mandrils 439, Macacus 439 Semnopithecus 439 Guenons, or Long-tailed Monkeys 440 Magots 440 Gibbons 441 Siamang 441 Gorilla 442 Orang-outang 443 Chimpanzee 443 ORDER BIMANES 444 Man 444 Conclusion 445 LIST OF PLATES. Fig. Page 1. Volvox 5 2. Microscopic Occupants of a Leaf of Duck- weed 7 3. Vegetable Forms of Microscopic Or- ganisms 9 4. Amoeba n 5. Rhizopods 12 6. Noctiluca miliaris 13 7. Sponges 1 6 8. Framework of Sponge 17 9. Flint Crystals of Sponge 10. Sponge in action 11. Halichondria oculata 12. Paramecium, &c. 13. Swan-neck and its Divisions 14. Coleps and Chilomonns 15. Vorticellse 16. Vaginicola 23 17. Long-armed Hydra 25 18. Hydra vividis 26 19. Coryne 27 20. Tubularia indivisi 28 21. Sertularia operculata 29 22. Laomedea 29 23. Jelly-Fish 30 24. Sarsia 31 25. Thaumantias 32 26. Velella 32 27. Cydippe 33 28. Food of the Whale 34 29. Physalia 35 30. Turns and its Young 31. Madrepores 32. Alcyon 33. Polypes of Alcyon 34. Madrepore 35. Cell of Madrepore 36. Red Coral 37. Isis 38. Sea-Fan and Sea-Pen 43 39. Organ-pipe Coral 44 40. Actinia 45 41. Animal Flowers 46 42. Fungia 48 43. Fossil Lily-stones 49 44. Echinodermata 50 Fig. 48. Sucker of Urchin 49. Spine of Echinus, segment of section 50. Holothuriae 51. Hermit Sipunculus 52. Cysticercus 53. Leech 54. Divisions of a Beetle 55. Scorpion and Centipede 56. Common Crab 57. Nerves of Leech and Cockchafer . . 58. FootofNais 59. Throat of Leech laid open 60. Tooth of Leech magnified 61. Cocoons of Leech 62. Pushing-poles of Serpula 63. Sand-Worm Page 53 -. 54 55 45. Brittle-star 46. Sun-star (solaster papposa) 47. Green-pea Urchin 68 69 64. Sea-Mouse 71 65. Serpula 71 66. Terebdlla medusa 72 67. Julus 74 68. Hind Leg of Bee 78 69. Wing of Dragon- Fly 78 70. Parts of the Mouth of an Insect 79 71. Mouth of a Beetle 80 72. Various Antennas 80 73. Eyes of Bee 82 74. Compound Eye of a Dragon- Fly ... 82 75. Spiracles of Insects 83 76. Air-pipe of Fly 83 77. Metamorphoses of Butterfly 85 78. Larva of Tiger-Beetle 89 79. Water-Beetle 90 80. Larva of Dyticus 91 81. Death-watch Beetle 93 82. Cockchafer and Larva 95 83. Goliath Beetle and Hercules Beetle ... 95 84. Blister Beetle 97 85. Copper-coloured Weevil 97 86. Nut-Weevil 97 87. The Stag-horned Prionus and Diamond Beetle 98 88. Ladybird in its stages 99 89. Earwig on the wing 101 90. Mantis 101 91. Locusts 103 92. Mole-Cricket 103 93. Dragon-Fly 104 94. Pupa of Dragon- Fly 105 95. Larva of Ephemeron and section of its Cell 105 21 X LIST OF PLATES. Fig. 96. 97- Page . 106 107 99- 100. 1OI. IO2. I0 3 . I0 4 . 105. 106. 107. 108. 109. no. in. 112. "3- 114. 11. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. I2 3 . 124. I2|. 126. 127. 128. I2 9 . I 3 I 3 0* I3I- 131* 132. 133- 136. 137- 138. 139- 140. 141. 142. 143- 144. 145- 146. J 47- 148. 149. 150. 151- 152- 153- 154- HI: 159- May- Flies in sunset dance ... Circular Ditch of Ant- Lion Lace-winged Fly, manner of depositing Eggs Aphis- Lion Worker Termite Soldier Termite, and jaws of the same, magnified Section of Nest of Termes bellicosus ... 108 Male Termite 109 Queen Termite 109 Pupa-Case, Larva, and Fly of Caddis- Worm Saw of Saw-Fly .. Gall-Fly Working Ant, and portion of Ant-hill. Festoon of Wax-makers Proboscis of Honey-Bee Honeycomb, with Male, Worker, and Royal Cells Grub in Cell Pupa Humble-Bees Male, Female, and Worker Stylops Female, Pupa, and Male of Stylops ... 117 Scales of Butterfly's Wing 118 Comma Butterfly 119 White Hawthorn Butterfly Pupa of Vanessa Unicorn Hawk-Moth Death's-head Hawk-Moth Silkworm on Mulberry-leaf Female Silkworm Moth and Eggs Cocoon of Tusseh Silkworm Leaf-rolling Caterpillar Suspended Leaf-tents Larva of Clothes-Moth in its Case Field-Bug Metamorphoses of Water-Boatman Water-Scorpion, different states of Nepa 126 Lime-tree Aphis 127 Cochineal Insect 128 Larva of Gnat 130 Escape of Gnat from its Pupa-case ... 130 Metamorphoses of Plume-Gnat 130 Pupa and Insect of Chironomys ... 131 Larva of Stratomys 132 Wasp-Flies 132 Gad-Flies 133 Metamorphoses of Flesh-Fly ... y . 134 Domestic Fly ... 134 Arctic Spring-tail 135 Louse 135 Metamorphoses of the Flea 136 Spiders 137 Head of Cheese-Mite 139 Nervous System of Spider 140 Fang of Spider 140 Garden Spider 141 Spinning Apparatus of the Spider ... 141 Trap-door Spider 143 Nest of Trap-door Spider 143 Trap-door opening by a lever 143 Section of Nest 143 The Lyes of Spider 144 Nest of House-Spider 146 Foot of Spider 147 Crab covered with Oysters 153 Common Lobster .... 154 Young of Crab 158 107 107 108 108 no III 112 "3 114 114 "5 "5 "5 116 116 119 120 120 121 122 123 I2 3 I2 3 I2 4 124 125 I'M Fig. Page 160. First Stage of Shore-Crab 158 161. Second Stage of Shore-Crab 158 162. Third Stage of Shore-Crab 159 163. Soldier Crab occupying an empty Shell 162 164. Soldier Crab removed from its Shell ... 162 165. Mantis Shrimp 163 166. Opossum Shrimp 164 167. Talitrus the Sand-hopper 165 168. Caprella 166 169. Limnoria terebrans 167 170. Water-Fleas 168 171. Marine Entomostraca 168 172. Fairy Shrimp 170 173. King Crab 171 174. Pycnogon 172 175. Lernean 172 176. Skeleton Wheel-bearer 174 177. Rotifera 175 178. Brachionus 176 179. Cirri of Barnacle 178 180. Young of Barnacle 178 181. Barnacles .. 180 182. Acorn-Shells on the Shell of a Whelk ... 180 183. Flustra foliacea 184 184. Cells of Flustra magnified 185 185. Eowerbankia 186 186. Cellularia avicularia 187 187. Plumatella 187 188. External form of Ascidia 188 189. Diagram of structure of Ascidian ... 189 190. Salpa maxima 190 191. Pyrosoma 191 192. Compound Ascidian Starry Botryllus 191 193. Scallop 193 194. Venus Chione 194 195. Spined Venus 194 196. Lima 196 197. Great Scallop 196 198. Animal of Mussel 197 199. Pinna 198 200. Mussels 198 201. Clam-Shell 199 202. Tellina 200 203. The Sandgaper 200 204. Saxicava 201 205. Animal of Razor-Shell 201 206. Pholades 202 207. Ship-Worm and its Shell 202 208. Brachiopod 203 209. Shelly Framework of Brachiopod 204 210. Volute crawling 205 an. Snails and Slugs 206 212. Garden Snail 207 213. Linnams auricularis 207 214. Planorbus corneus 207 215. The Whelk, showing its Operculum ... 208 216. The Wentle-trap 209 217. Tiger, Cowrie, Harp, and Cloth-of-(Jo!d Cone 210 218. Young Cowrie 210 219. Money Cowrie, adult 210 220. Cassis tuberosa 211 221. Thorny Woodcock 211 222. Granulated Trochus 212 223. Pelican's-foot Strombus 212 224. Vermetus 213 225. Fessurella reticulata 214 226. Sea-Hare 214 227. Phyllidia 215 228. Limpet 216 229. Tufted Chiton 216 LIST OF PLATES. xxi Fig. 230. Crowned Eolis 231. Tritonia Hombergi Page 216 .. 217 fig. f age 280 281 282 282 283 284 285 285 286 287 289 290 290 291 291 292 293 294 295 295 296 296 298 299 299 300 301 301 302 302 303 34 305 306 307 37 309 309 3i5 316 316 3*7 3i8 320 321 321 322 322 323 324 325 326 327 327 328 328 329 329 330 33i 332 333 333 333 334 334 337 8 302. Skeleton of Salamander 232. Horned Doris 233 Young of Eolis 217 217 234. Carinaria 235. Cymbuiia and Clio 236 G'iss Shells .. 220 221 308. Toad 238. Structure of Suckers of Cuttle-Fish... 22 3 225 240 Cuttle-Shell 227 . 22 7 228 311. Heads of Poisonous Snakes of different 241. Cuttle-Fish and Eggs 243. The Pearly Nautilus 244. Skeleton of Haddock 245 Scales of Fishes . 22 9 235 . 236 2 3 8 239 239 . 240 241 314 Rattlesnake 246. The Perch 247. The Basse 248. Red Mullet 249. Oriental Flying Gurnard 250 The Shooting Fish 318. Boa Constrictor watching for Prey ... 319 Skull of Python 320. Common Ringed Snake 243 244 322. Belly and Tail-shields 254. S\vord-Fish 255 Pilot-Fish 24* 245 256. Coryphjena 257 Scabbard-Fish 2 4| . 2 4 6 2 4 6 . 247 2 4 8 . 2 4 8 249 . 249 250 251 252 253 254 254 258. Thick-lipped Grey Mullet 259. The Carp 260 The Barbel 328. Chameleon 261 Tench 331 Skeleton of Turtle 262 The Pike 332. Hawksbill Turtle 263. The Gar-Fish 264. The Flying-Fish 335. European Marsh Tortoise 336. Galapagos Tortoise 266. The Common Trout 267 The Herring 269 Marbled Angler 270. The Angler 271 The Cod 255 256 341. Golden Eagle 272. Upper side of the Sole 257 274. Lumpsucker 275. The Remora 276. Sharp-nosed Eel 277. Conger Eel 258 ' 2 1 200 . 260 260 26l 345. Grey Shrike 280. Globe-Fish 281. Sun-Fish 282. File-Fish 262 .263 263 .. 26 4 265 266 Sir T I *" 352. Long-tailed Tit and Nest 283. The Sturgeon 284. Northern Chimasra 266 .. 267 " 268 260 287. White Shark aS3 Greenland Shark 289. Thornback 292. River-Lamprey 293. Myxine " *~? 269 .. 2 7 274 275 2 7 6 "III .. 279 279 362. Foot of Parrot and of Woodpecker... 363. Great Black Woodpecker 295. Two-lined Caecilia 296. Two-toed Amphiuma 297. Gigantic Salamander fifi' TC 1 h 1- H T 3 :|j ee j e ^T\T 368 Peacock 299. Proteus 369. Hastings's Trapogan, Argus Pheasant, and Crowned Pigeon loo. Skeleton of Siren ... XXII LIST OF PLATES. Fig. Page Fig. A 430. Stag's Horn in successive years 431 Giraffe (ige 388 390 39 r 392 393 393 394 394 395 396 396 397 398 400 401 402 402 403 403 404 405 406 406 408 409 410 410 412 413 414 415 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 423 423 424 42.5 425 426 427 428 429 430 430 432 432 434 435 437 439 440 441 442 443 339 340 433 P 34i 435. Sheep of Palestine 436. Head of Argali or Wild Sheep 343 438. American Bison 344 381 Ibis 345 346 441. Musk Ox 442. Skull of Porcupine 347 385 Land-Rail 348 446. Nest of the Harvest Mouse 350 . 35i 35 2 448. Rocky Mountain Flying Squirrel 380 Puffin 391. Stormy Petrel 354 393. Common Tern 394. Cormorant 305. The Gannet 396. The Wild Duck 397. Beak of Duck 398 The Duckbill 355 . 356 357 358 359 ' 3 * 2 362 . 3 2 363 453. Three-toed Sloth and Giant Armadillo 454. Weasel-headed Armadillo 455- Gre.it Ant-Bear 456. Manis 457. Skull of Tiger 458. Bear 399. Burrow of Ornithorynchus 459. Polar Bear 460. Badger 461. Weasel 401. Common Kangaroo 462. Otter 3 6 S 35 366 . 366 463. Wolf 464. Fox 465. Civet 466. Hyaena 4 ' ,y^ , 367 . 368 408 Zebra Wolf 468 Skeleton of Lion 409. Troop of Dolphins, Manatee in the 469. Lion 470. Tiger .... 410. Bones of the Fin of a Dolphin 411. Dolphin 37i 372 373 471. Jaguar 473. Foot of the Seal. Skeleton of the same 474. Harp Seal and Walrus 475. Shrew 412. bpearin^t e a 413. ope 374 41- Whalebone Wh'ile 376 377 . 378 379 . 380 38i . 381 382 . 38 3 384 385 386 . 380 387 477. Mole 478. Hand of Mole ... 479. Heads of Rhinolophus ferrum equinum and Megaderma frons 480 Pipistrelle 417. Wart-Hog, Indian Rhinoceros, and River-Horse 418. Head of Indian Elephant 420. Wild Boar 421. Skull of Rhinoceros 422. American Tapir 423. Wild Ass 424. Zebra 425. Quagga ... 481. Skeleton of Man and Orang 482. White-fronted Lemur 483. Howling Monkey 484. Orang-Outang, Mandril, and Spider Monkey 486. Bornean Orang 487. Gorilla 488. Chimpanzee 427. Water-cells of the Camel THE ANIMAL CREATION: Q |)0jniJar $nf rob action to zoology. CHAPTER I. science of Zoology teaches us the forms and habits of the countless animals with which we are everywhere sur- rounded,* their mutual dependencies upon each other, and their relative importance in the economy of Nature. Among the in- numerable beings which crowd this world not one is idle ; all are actively employed each in its separate sphere of usefulness, and though they blindly do the work imposed upon them by their Great Creator, ignorant of other's ways, the grand result is per- fect harmony. When we consider how innumerable are the species of animals distributed over the whole surface of the earth, and throughout the immeasurable realms of water, and are called upon to recog- nize them individually, and to identify all the members of such a multifarious host, the task might well be considered as hopeless as that of the unlettered savage who, unable to count beyond twenty, sets about the enumeration of the stars, and tries to fix their places and assign their names. Yet even those stars have been reduced to order, the very skies have been mapped out, and the astronomer points with as much satisfaction to the buckle of Orion's belt or the tip-of the nose of Bootes, as if these respect- able gentlemen were up on high sitting for their portraits. A disbanded army presents to the observer nothing but a wild scene of inextricable confusion ; but when at trumpet-call, the soldiers hasten to their ranks, and the appropriate banner waves above each company, these companies fall into regiments, and the living mass, directed by one chief, moves on with the utmost order and regularity. Systematic arrangement is, therefore, the very foundation of 1 CLASSIFICA TION. the science of Zoology : it is only by the establishment of classes, and orders, and genera, and species, which constitute, so to speak, the colours of the different regiments, that such arrangement is at all to be accomplished ; and to define the limits and the cha- racters of these genera and species, the efforts of the scientific zoologist are principally directed. It must consequently be our first endeavour to explain what these words, species and genera, mean. By Species is understood a number of animals so closely re- sembling each other, that they all might be supposed to be the offspring of the same parents, and in turn to give birth to progeny exactly resembling themselves. The domestic mouse, for example, is a species, the exact facsimile both of its ancestors and its off- spring. Species,, however, may be slightly modified by the con- tinued operation of external circumstances, such as climate, abun- dance or deficiency of food, or other similar accidents ; there may, for example, be a white mouse, or a piebald mouse : fliese are called Varieties of the species. A Genus is a group embracing a number of species which have a striking general resemblance to each other in certain important particulars, whereby they are distinguishable from all other animals. The domestic mouse (Mns mnscnlns), for instance, is at once recognizable from the squirrel, the beaver, or the hare, from the circumstance that it has a long tail tapering to a point and denuded of hair; but there are many other animals, which, though evidently not real mice, have this feature in common. There is the rat, Mns rattus ; the brown rat, Mns decnmanns ; the field- mouse, Mns sylvaticns ; and the harvest-mouse, Mns mcssorins, all of which are species more or less resembling the mouse, but all distinguishable from each other by minor characters ; these, therefore, constitute a genus. An Order is a far more extensive group, including several genera, allied to each other by some important feature in their economy. The rats and the mice, for example, are all remark- able for their chisel-like front teeth ; but there are other animals that have their teeth of the same coustruction, although they have not the same long and tapering tail, e.g., the squirrel, the beaver, the hare, and the porcupine ; these, therefore, form the order Rodentia, or animals distinguished by their chisel-like teeth. A Class embraces all the Orders related to each other by some grand and general character possessed by them all in common. Thus, the Rodentia suckle their young ; but so do dogs, so do CLASSIFICATION. monkeys, hedgehogs, cats, whales, elephants, cows, anteaters, and kangaroos ; a circumstance whereby they are distinguished from birds, reptiles, or fishes. All animals that give suck are, there- fore, associated to form one great class the Mammals. Or we may take the converse of all this. Thus, in the animal kingdom there is a Class of creatures recognizable by the circum- stance that they suckle their young ; among these is an Order, distinguished by having chisel-like teeth in the front of their mouths ; belonging to this Order is a Genus, remarkable for the possession of a long tapering tail, and the smallest Species be- longing to this genus is the harvest-mouse, Mns messorius. An arrangement such as this enables us to find out the name of any animal, and is called a system, which, in fact, is a dictionary, with this difference, that here the properties enable us to find out the name, whereas in ordinary dictionaries the known name serves to acquaint us with the properties. Thus, the study of Zoology is one eminently calculated to accustom the mind to habits of order and precision, to a close and accurate comparison of objects presented to our notice, and to a clear and neat perception of their distinctive characters ; it gives a facility of expression to our de- scriptions, and in this way its importance, as a branch of educa- tion, can scarcely be exaggerated. Perhaps nothing has contributed so much to the advancement of the science of Natural History as the happy expedient first adopted by Linnaeus, of giving to every object in Nature a double name, whereby its identity is at once satisfactorily indicated. Thus, in the examples given above, we say Mus musculus, JMiis rattns, filus messorius. The first of the two names is that of the genus, and, therefore, common to all the species of that genus ; the second is the specific name that is, points out the species to which we refer, just in the same manner as in the names of persons. The family name Milton or Shakspeare may belong to anybody, but John Milton and William Shakspeare are indi- viduals at once recognizable. The cnly difference is that in this case the specific name is placed first, instead of after that of the genus. To understand the importance of this great step in zoological science, it is only necessary to read the descriptions of old authors, who, after devoting half a page to the identifica- tion of an animal, leave you in doubt whether they are speaking of a cat, or a rat, or a hippopotamus. With regard to the classification of the immense series of living beings composing the animal creation, various systems have been 1 2 CLASSIFICA TION. at different times sketched out by the master minds of science, all of which have more or less fallen short of their great object. Of these, the most useful and most generally adopted is that of Cuvier, and as this will be more or less our guide throughout the following pages, a knowledge of its leading features becomes in- dispensable. According to the system of Cuvier, all living animals are divided intor ist. Those that have back-bones (vertebras) ; 2nd. Those that have not back-bones. Those animals that have back-bones are called Vertebrate. Those that are without back-bones are called Invertebrate. The Vertebrate division includes Fishes, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals. The Invertebrate division is much more numerous, and com- prehends animals of very various construction. These are ist. Mollusks, or soft-bodied animals, such as cuttle-fishes, snails, oysters, &c. ; 2nd. Articulated Animals, or a'nimals enclosed in a jointed skin, such as insects, spiders, and lobsters ; 3rd. Radiated Animals, under which head are included all the lowest and least perfect members of the animal kingdom many of them having few characteristics in common. The completeness of the above classification, so far as it relates to the more perfect animals, is generally admitted, and we shall, therefore, take it as our guide ; but among the lower tribes of creation such guidance fails us, and through this labyrinth we shall have to make our way by the aid of more recent investiga- tions. In the preceding paragraph, as the reader may have remarked, we have spoken of " the more perfect animals " as contradistin- guished from those of "the lower tribes ; " and, as we shall again and again be obliged to have recourse to similar expressions, the terms require some explanation. Every animal is perfect in its kind, and to add to, or to take from, its attributes would deterio- rate its usefulness in creation. By the perfect or imperfect struc- ture of an animal, we simply mean Vhe degree in which it approxi- mates to Man the type and pattern of zoological perfection : just as in estimating the value of money, we take the highest coin in the realm as a standard of comparison. Man, the paragon CLASSIFICATION. of animals, is the union of what is most perfect and beautiful in them all. Hence, animals which have a resemblance to Man are not without reason styled perfect in a degree proportioned to that resemblance. With these preliminary observations, we enter on our pleasur- able task, and proceed to trace the varied forms of animal exist- ence from the first dawn of life to Man himself, who, standing supreme in his mental capacities, rises by his immortal destiny incomparably beyond them all. Turning our attention to the great scene before us, " Beast, bird, fish, insect, which no eye can see, no glass can reach," so strange and diversified are their shapes and attributes, that the student naturally inquires, What is an animal ? a question which he will soon find to be much more easily propounded than satisfactorily solved. At the first glance ot the superficial observer, the distinctions between the animal and vegetable kingdoms seem plain and obvious. We all know a cow from a cabbage, a horse from the grass upon which it feeds ; and yet, as we come more closely to scrutinize forms of life less violently contrasted, doubts and hesi- tations soon begin to teach us that the discrimination is not always so easy, and that at length the differences between the animal and the vegetable creations become almost imperceptible. Light and darkness seem distinct enough, and no one possessed of eye- CLASSIFICA TWN. sight could be in danger of mistaking noon for night ; but he who gazes on the morning's dawn, and tries to mark the line that separates the parting darkness from the coming day, will find the task by no means an easy one, so gently do the lights and shades tincture and mingle with each other. The axiom of Linnaeus is well-known : "Stones grow, vegetables grow and live, animals grow, live, and feel." The capability of feeling, therefore, was regarded by the great Swedish naturalist as the distinctive character of an animal ; but how can we define where feeling has been first bestowed ? The sensitive plant which coyly shrinks upon the slightest touch, does it not feel ? The flower that shuts its bells as evening comes, and seems to go to sleep, is it insensitive ? We cannot tell. To move from place to place, to have the power of locomotion, has been said to be an attribute of animals, whereby they are distinguishable. Yet, although we see the Volvox* (Fig. i) roll- ing through the drop that forms its space with slow majestic movement, wielding upon its surface countless living filaments, we are forced to believe the chemist who informs us that it is a vegetable, f If we take a drop of water from any stagnant pool, and place it under a microscope, we shall soon perceive that it contains a great variety of living organisms, very diverse in their shape, and all equally remote in their structure and appearance from any with which we are elsewhere familiar. Let the reader cast his eye for a moment upon the annexed engraving (Fig. 2), which represents a piece of duckweed, gathered from a neighbouring pond, surrounded by the microscopic creatures that live in its vicinity. Some fixed upon the stem (Fig. 2, 9) like trumpets in their shape, spread out their gaping mouths, around which whirl the swarming atoms that they swallow ; others, like wine-glasses in miniature, stretch out the little bells that constitute their bodies to the length of their transparent stems in search of food, or, if alarmed, folding their stalks in spiral revolutions, shrink timidly from danger (Fig. 2, i). * Volvo, I roll. f* The Volvox globator, of which a figure is given in the text, is acknowledged to be a vegetable production. In shape it seems a microscopic globe, rolling slowly on its axis. More accurately examined, we perceive the body to be formed of a transparent spherical membrane, studded with small green dots, and having all its surface covered over with vibrating filaments of infinite minuteness, which produce currents in the sur- rounding water, and thus cause the revolution of the little sphere, as well as its pro- gression. CLASS! PICA TION. The Volvox (Fig. 2, 2) silently revolves, a little world within itself. Others (Fig. 2, 6), of different shape, resemble films of ever- changing cloud. Others, again, transparent globes of jelly (Fig. 2, n), shoot forth star-like rays in all directions. Some have the form of glass-like shuttles, coloured with bright green contents, creeping more slowly than the hour-hand of a watch along the bottom. Some (Fig. 2, 8) have the shape of rolling mulberries, that gently make their way through the surrounding water. FIG. 2. MICROSCOPIC OCCUPANTS OF A LEAF OF DUCKWEED. 1. Vorticella convallana. 2. Volvox giobator. 3. Vaginicola crystalline,. 4. Amphileptus fasciola. 5. Nai/icula hippocampus. Highly Magnified. 6. Amoeba, dijfluens. 7. Trachelocerca olor. 8. Polytoma nvella. g. Stentor polymorphus. 10. Bursaria truncatella. 11. Pattdor 12. Stylonychia ntytilus. 13. Paratnecimn aureha. 14. Euplotes truncatus. 15. Enplotes striatus. Others (Fig. 2, f), like swans in form, glide up and down with graceful elegance. The Vaginicola* (Fig. 2, 3) lives in a crystal vase, from which it sketches itself forth in search of nourishment. The Paramecium^ (Fig. 2, 13), like a meteor, shoots along, prowl- ing in all directions ; some (Fig. 2, 14, 15), clad in shells, and armed with leg-like hooklets, creep much after the manner of insects ; while others skip from point to point like living scintil- lations. Such are the creatures that we find in swarms in every stagnant ditch, as any one possessed of a very ordinary micro- scope may soon convince himself. These wonderful organisms have little resemblance to each other. It is difficult, indeed, with * Vagina, a sheath ; colo, 7 inhabit. , paramekes, oblong. 8 CLASSIFICATION. the exception of their miraculous minuteness, to fix upon any character that they possess in common. We are not surprised, therefore, that by the earlier observers with the microscope, they were all grouped together under the very extensive designation of Animalcules, a term simply significative of their small size ; or of Infusorial Animalcules, in allusion to the circumstance that they are generally met with in infusions of animal or of vegetable substances, and are easily attainable by exposing such infusions to the atmosphere. Modern improvements in the microscope, and a close attention to the habits and organization of the creatures under considera- tion, have, however, revealed to us the startling fact that in the drop of water under contemplation we have examples of no fewer than three distinct classes of organisms : one belonging to the vegetable, and two to the animal series of creation. By using a very simple test namely, the addition of a little iodine to the drop in which they swim it is found that four specimens in the little group before us, namely, the Volvox (Fig. 2, 2), the Polytoina (Fig. 2, s), the Navicula (Fig. 2, 5), and the Pandorina (Fig. 2, 11), at once turn blue, indicative that they contain starch, a substance thought to be peculiar to the vegetable creation, and thus confess that they are vegetable productions. The slimy substance of the Amoeba difflucns (Fig. 2, 6), that we have stated to be continually changing its shape, like the outline of a cloud, refuses to alter its colour under such a test; and. more- over, as it flows or glides from place to place, is seen to devour and to digest the materials with which it is surrounded, thus claiming admission into the animal series, and soon making good that claim by exhibiting attributes and capabilities decidedly of an animal character. The remaining forms (Fig. 2, ], 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, M, is), more active and energetic in their move- ments, and evidently of higher capabilities, are all distinguished by having their bodies either partially or entirely covered with a wondrous machinery of vibrating hair-like appendages, which, from their resemblance to our eyelashes, have been named cilia* By the assistance of these admirable organs, the little creatures possessing them are rowed rapidly about from place to place, or causing whirlpools in the surrounding water, drag towards their mouths the tiny victims upon which they feed. The vegetable forms above-mentioned are known to botanists under the names * Cilium, an eyelash. CLASSIFICA TION. of Diatoms* Dcsmidice^ Conferva, &c. The slime-like animals are called by zoologists Rhizopods, while the ciliated forms are distinguished by the appellation of infusoria. These, then, are the usual occupants of a drop of water, the contemplation of which cannot but excite the curiosity of the spectator, and call forth his warmest admiration. Curiosity will, however, perhaps assume a deeper interest when he still more closely examines their history. FIG. 3. VEGETABLE FORMS OF MICROSCOPIC ORGANISMS. There are in Sweden certain extensive tracts of country entirely composed of an exceedingly fine earth, which, from its whiteness and from an idea extensively prevalent that it possesses nutritious properties, has long been distinguished by the name of Bcrgmelil, or " mountain meal." A little of this earth, for long ages trodden underfoot, submitted to the modern microscope, has revealed it- self to be entirely resolvable into minute shells of exquisite beauty * 5i'aTo/xoj, diatomos, divided, f der/jAs, desmos, a band. io RIUZOPODA. and delicacy of sculpture. These shells, being composed almost entirely of pure flint (silex), arc almost indestructible, and to a practised eye are at once seen to have belonged to vegetable organisms resembling those represented in our engraving 2, ), which must have lived for centuries in some quiet lake, and, as they perished, sinking to the bottom of the water which covered the vast area where they are found, left their shells records of their history. CHAPTER II FIRST DIVISION OF INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS. RADIATED ANIMALS. ROOT-FOOTED ANIMALCULES. RHIZOPODA,* TO return to our magnified drop of water. We have already described the Amoeba diffluens^ H i; : -. 2, r>), as resemb film of ever-changing cloud, so soft in its consistence that it is but a little removed from fluidity. It Is not firm enough even to be called jelly : it may almost be compared to a drop of ^urn-water, or mucus, and yet it is endowed with very extraordinary capa- bilities. It evidently has a voluntary power of moving from place to place, and its mode of doing so is not inaptly / the epithet "diffruens" Jlvwing-aiuay, by which it is distin^u \^\\>A. On first perceiving one of these creatures under the fieM of the n scope, it will be found perhaps contracted japelcss mass, resembling a small patch of mucilage, and offering little to attract attention ; while we watch it, however, it b' move, sp. out intoashape something like that represented in our f. we are almost tempted to make a drawing of so Meanwhile, it flows into another out water spilled upon a greasy board, and fO ,lace, and form to form. The microscopic film is hungry too, but having neitli- ii nor stomach, it is not at fir.r easy to conjecture how such a feat can be accon Its body is rally seen to contain the shells of Nu-. fada (Fig, 4), and oth'-r '.irnilar or^ani .rrr, ; it <\<><:. not ICCffl to IWallow them, but over- whelms them with its semi-fluid substance, and as it passe * fa'. wfa Tottf, pott*, podoft, ajoot. f 6./< them, dissolves whatever is digestible, and the:: Tth their empty* shells. The sea-side visitor who \vill be at the trouble of placing a little sea-weed, Iresli gathered from the rocks, in a ; tilled \\ith its native element, and allowing it to remain fora lew hours undisturbed, will occasionally find, clin^in^ to the sides of the i^lass, lilmy patches. >o small as to be inconspu the assistance of a lens, which change their form and i;lide aloni; with slow hut equable movement, \\~hen magnified, their central body will be seen to throw out threads resembling filaments of melted i;lass, which spread \\ , in all directions; and as these creatures seem to use their root-like filament- . they are named Rhizopods that is, root-fo^cd animals. Tin , in truth, marine forms of the .-J;/;r/\7 we have just been describing. Ironi which, houcvcr, they differ in beini;' able to construe: themselves shelly coverings, pcrfo:. innumerable littl, :. : fM, through which their root -like filaments (psattb- f<>ih'ti)* are }>rotnuUxl. l : rom this circumstance, the shells and the creatures inhabiting them have been named Foraininifera.t * K;ll-> f Foramen, ,v. 12 FORAMINIFERA. Minute as these shells are, invisible for the most part to ordinary vision, the microscope reveals many of them to be structures of exquisite beauty, emulating in their shape the model forms of ancient vases, and presenting an elaborate sculpture surpassing that of Chinese carvings in their decoration. It is not, however, from their beauty, but from the numbers in which they exist, that these and similar organisms derive their FIG. 5. RHIZOPODS. chief importance. Few visitors at the sea-side can have failed to observe that often in the summer-time the waves are luminous, and shine with phosphorescent splendour. The ripples as they totter towards the beach sparkle with scintillations, and the crested waves blaze with a pale but brilliant light. The fisherman, who from his boat surveys the lambent flames that play around him, seems to float in fire. The mariner can trace his path by the long wake of light that streams behind like the train of some vast sky-rocket, or looking from the prow, he sees his vessel, as she breasts the waves, dash from her bows broad sheets of liquid FORAMINIFERA. -13 splendour. As the morning dawns the fairy vision vanishes, nor can the keenest eye perceive in the translucent element the tiny lamps that caused the grand illumination. Night comes again, again the sea, lit up, repeats the glorious lesson. Not a breeze sweeps over its tranquil surface but evokes a flash of splendour that extends for miles, and emulates the lightnings of the skies ; and so from day to day the gallant ship sails on ; from week to week, from month to month, the mighty ocean, through its wide extent, renews each night the impressive spectacle. FlG. 6. NOCTILUCA MILIARIS. If we inquire into the cause of a phenomenon thus widely ex- tended, it will be found in every part of the world to depend upon the presence of infinite myriads of living atoms resembling those we are discussing. On taking a glass of the sea-water thus made luminous, it will be found that every sparkle is an animal (Nocti- luca miKaris) composed of living substance such as forms the Rhizopods described above (Fig. 6). We have as yet spoken only of the simplest of these animals, but by far the greater portion of the Foraminifera are composite fabrics. The Rotalia* (Fig. 5, c), for example, might almost be taken for the shell of a microscopic nautilus, nay, has been so mistaken even by the most eminent zoologists. These exquisite * Rota, a ic/itst. structures consist of a series of compartments, in the interior of which the semi-fluid substance of the animal is lodged. The walls of each of these compartments are perforated with innumerable holes, through which the slender glass-like filaments protrude in all directions to a considerable distance, so that the shell in which the main body of the creature is encased, has somewhat the ap- pearance of a spider sitting in the centre of its web. (Fig. 5, &.) The semi-fluid filaments (psfudo-podia} also constitute the pre- hensile organs of these simple beings. Any small objects sen able for nutriment with which they come in contact are laid hold of apparently by the viscidity of their surface, and except they are animalcules of considerable size and power, they are unable to escape. When a filament has so seized its prey, adjoining fibres aggregate about it and coalesce, a current of the viscous substance, so to speak, sets in towards the spot, and very soon envelopes the object in a thin film. The prey being thus secured. the glairy cords shorten themselves and draw it towards the chief mass or body of the animal or else the object seized continues in the same place, and the whole organic substance moves towards it, the result being in either case that it is engulfed and dissolved. The size of the Rhizopods is exceedingly minute. Ehrenberg describes Anurbtr the dimensions of which range from 1^00 th to T^T th of an inch. The largest fresh-water forms only attain a diameter of ^*nd part of an inch, whilst the largest marine species, which are just visible to the naked eye, do not measure more than from -s\;th to |th of an inch. vithstanding their minuteness, however, the reader will now begin to perceive that these humble creatures, diffused in count- less multitudes through every sea, and cased in shells of such ex- quisite workmanship, are by no means unimportant agents in the economy of Nature. Their numbers make up for the minuter.. of their dimensions, and assiduously employed as they have been from age to age, we are not surprised to find that they, like the vegetable forms described in the last chapter, have been important agents in the construction even of extensive geological strata. The extraordraaiT abundance of focammiferoos shells in the sand of some ; has been long observed: F1ancas,in 1735, counted, with the aid of :: ::.; Air.-.; S-. 1 J : : - . 5-;.; -J-i: :.:_;;,;,; ; and Schnhz -. -..?: '-- :-'-. :-_-:-: :: 5-ir.i r:~ :~-~: AT. :._".:= s : :.r.i 5:r/_.::e ::u-:ei :":: shell? :::.-:..- :: =:.-:. ::'...::-.:. :::~ :"-; :".= ::" fien :z -J:: FORAMINIFERA. 15 both on the surface of the sea and also on the bottom, even at a depth of J2,ooo feet From these great depths they are procured by soundings ; the sounding-lead, after being coated with grease, brings up attached to it the small particles with which it comes in contact Numerous such soundings were taken by Sir James Ross in his Antarctic expedition, and have been practised by others in different regions. Dr. Barclay records the results of a series of deep-sea soundings made in the Atlantic, over a considerable geographical area, from latitude 42" 4' to latitude 54 I/, at depths varying from 1/380 to 2,000 fathoms. " None of the soundings contain a particle of gravel, sand, or other unorganized matter. They all agree hi being made up entirely of the shells of Foraminifera."' There is, therefore, little doubt that the bottom of the ocean is in many localities covered, perhaps to considerable depths, by a sedi- mentary deposit, consisting principally of shells of this description, and which, were they raised to the surface, would constitute thick beds of incalculable exit In a fossil condition, the shells of the Foraminifera enter largely into the composition of the crust of the earth in every part of the world. They form by far the most important constituent of chalk wherever that substance is met with. Dr. Barclay speaks of them as importantly concerned in the formation of the tertiary rocks of South Carolina, and adds, u they are still at work in countless thousands on that coast, filling up harbours, forming shoals, and depositing their shells to record the present state of the sea-shore as their pre- decessors, now entombed beneath Charlestown, have done with regard to ancient oceans." In many parts of the world the accumulation of these shells has given origin to widely-extended strata, many hundreds of feet in thickness. Mountains of Nummulitic limestone, entirely composed of them, extend through the Alps and Northern Italy, and are met with in Greece, Syria, and Northern India. The Mokkadam range, from which the stone used' in building the Pyramids was obtained, are simply masses of foraminiferous shells. According to M. Deshayes, there is found in most of the stone from which Paris is built, as large a proportion of the shells of Foraminifera as of particles of sand, so that it may be said, almost without exaggeration, that even Paris owes the materials of which it is constructed to the persistent agency of these microscopic or- ganisms. Thus we perceive a film of living slime for such essentially these creatures seem to be, moulded into a thousand beauteous forms, labouring incessantly has silently produced results on which we can but gaze with awe. CHAPTER III. SPONGES.* * I "HERE seems to be little relationship between the Forami- JL nifera we have just been speaking of and the race of * Spongia, a sponge. 1 6 SPONGES. Sponges in fact, few things could be pointed out more unlike each other. Infinitely diversified in their shape, the sponges, as we all know, are distributed along the shores of every climate : some overspread the surface of the rocks like living carpets, others expand in fan-like growths of softest texture ; some are cylindrical in shape, while others emulate the forms of branching shrubs ; others, again, are moulded into cups and giant goblets, many festoon the walls of rocky caverns, or depend, like living FIG. 7. -Si ONGES. stalactites, from wave-worn roofs. Examined with a microscope, however, a living sponge is found to differ but little from the organisms we have just been contemplating. No matter what its form, the living portion of a sponge consists of a soft slime that coats each fibre of its structure, and this soft slime, when highly magnified, resolves itself entirely into particles so like the Amoeba in their characters and attributes, that they are evidently of the same nature, the main distinction being that, whereas in the case of the Foraminifera, they secrete a calcareous shell, the sponges construct a common framework, over which the living film is spread. This framework varies in its composition in dif- ferent kinds of sponge. Sometimes it is made up of tubes of horn, SPONGES. FIG. 8. FRAMEWORK OK SPONGE. forming- a network interlaced in all direc- tions ; such is the common sponge of com- merce, which owes its resiliency and its capability of absorbing and retaining fluids, qualities which render it so useful in domes- tic economy, to the construction of its horny skeleton. Instead of tubes of horn, the sponges usually found upon our coasts de- posit in their substance crystals of pure flint, which vary very much in form in different kinds, while a third group strengthen their framework with calcareous spicula of variable shape. Three different kinds of sponge may, therefore, grow close to each other, bathed alike with the same sea-water, yet they elaborate therefrom products so different as horn, and flint, and lime, wherewith to build a fabric that supports the whole commu- nity. On viewing a living sponge in sea- water with care and atten- tion, it is found to exhibit a con- stant and energetic action, which Dr. Grant's account of the disco- very of this motion in a native species is very interesting. " I put a small branch of a Spongia coalita with some sea-water into a watch-glass, under the microscope, and on reflecting the light of a candle through the fluid, I soon perceived that there FIG. 9. FLINT CRYSTALS OF SPONGE. sufficiently shows its vitality. FIG. io. SPONGE IN ACTION. was some intestine motion in the opaque particles floating through the water. On moving the watch-glass so as to bring one of the i8 SPONGES. apertures on the side of the sponge fully into view, I beheld, for the first time, the splendid spectacle of the living fountain vomit- ing forth from a circular cavity an impetuous torrent of liquid matter, and hurling along, in rapid succession, opaque masses, which it strewed everywhere around. The beauty and novelty of such a scene in the animal kingdom long arrested my atten- tion ; but after twenty-five minutes of constant observation, I was obliged to withdraw my eye from fatigue, without having seen the torrent for one instant change its direction, or diminish in the slightest degree the rapidity of its course. I continued to watch the same orifice at short intervals for five hours, sometimes observing it for a quarter of an hour at a time ; but still the stream rolled on with a constant and equal velocity." The sponges perpetuate their race by a very curious mode of increase. At stated periods there project from the interior of the larger canals, that traverse their substance in all directions, minute oval masses of jelly, which grow, till at length they are detached and driven out by the issuing currents into the surrounding water. One would naturally expect that such apparently helpless atoms would fall at once to the bottom ; but in such a case how could the species be dispersed ? Here we behold with wonder a beau- tiful instance of providential care. A power of locomotion is conferred upon the offspring, which is not possessed by the parent sponge ; for whereas the latter is firmly rooted to the bottom, incapable of changing its place, the little germ is able to swim rapidly through the sea. This is effected FIG. ii. HALICHONDRIA OCULATA.* hals, the sea ; x chondros, cartilage. INFUSORIA. 19 by cilia, or minute hairs, with which one end of the pear-shaped gemmule is beset : these constantly keep up a rapid vibration, and thus row the embryo sponge from place to place, until it reaches a distant and suitable spot, where it quietly settles down, and soon takes the form peculiar to its species. Were we to inform our young readers that flints have been sponges, and that every flint wherewith, in many parts of the country, the roads are paved, and which, before the invention of lucifer matches, constituted almost the only means of obtaining fire, had grown at the bottom of the sea, rooted upon rocks, and sucking in the surrounding water through innumerable pores on their surface, which conveyed through every part of their soft texture materials for their subsistence we could scarcely expect the assertion to be credited, at least without considerable hesita- tion ; and yet no fact in natural history is more easily demon- strated. Not only do the fragments of flints examined under the microscope reveal the fossilized texture of the sponge, but not unfrequently the shells of the animalcules upon which they lived are found in their substance, and even portions of the sponge itself, as yet unpetrified, are often contained in their interior. CHAPTER IV. CILIATED ANIMALCULES. INFUSORIA.* T") ETURNING once more to our examination of the drop of XV water which has already furnished us with lessons of such interest, we find it still offering to our notice animalcules widely different in their structure from any that we have as yet encoun- tered. They are all of them, however, distinguishable by one striking feature in their economy namely, that they are pro- pelled through the water by means of vibratile cilia, which are sometimes distributed over the entire surface of their bodies ; while in others, these wonderful organs are restricted to certain parts, more especially to the vicinity of the mouth. The posses, sion of a moutJi, as the reader will at once perceive, is in itself an important character, whereby they are broadly separated from the mouthless Rhizopods. And when we add to this that they * Met with in stagnant water. 1 2 20 INFUSORIA. are active in their movements and definite in their shape, we have said enough to insure their not being confounded with any of the creatures we have as yet examined. The evolutions of the ciliated Infusoria are exceedingly vivacious ; they swim about FIG. 12. PARAMECIUM, &c. with great activity, avoiding each other as they pass in their rapid dance, and evidently directing their motions with precision and accuracy. Their instruments of locomotion are of various kinds : some are provided with stiff bristle-like appendages which are moveable, and perform in some measure the office of feet, and with little hooklets serving for attachment to foreign bodies. But the most important locomotive agents are, as has been already stated, the cilia with which they are invariably furnished. Their vibra- tions never seem to tire. At whatever period of the night they may be examined, they are always found as actively at work as in the day-time : they never sleep. The cilia are intrusted with another function equally important, viz., the procuration of food ; for those situated in the vicinity of CILIATED ANIMALCULES, 21 the mouth, in which position they are always most evident, pro- duce by their vibration currents in the surrounding water, which bring to the mouth smaller animalcules or particles of vegetable matter that may be floating in the neighbourhood thus insuring an abundant supply of nutriment which, without such assistance, it would be impossible for these living atoms to obtain. The food thus procured is at once swallowed, and accumulates in little pellets in the interior of the semi-fluid substance of their bodies, giving rise to an appearance which misled Ehrenberg to suppose that these tiny organisms were possessed of numerous stomachs : hence they were formerly named P.ofygastria 9 *or many-stomached animalcules. FlG. IJ. S\VA. \-.\E IK AND ITS Dl _ FIG. 14. COLEPS AND CHILO.MONAS. By no means the least remarkable part of the nistory of the Infusoria is their mode of propagation. This is usually accom- plished by the spontaneous division of the adult animalcule into two or more portions, each of which in a short time becomes in every respect a complete individual. We remember in our boyish days hearing of some strange machine for grinding old people young again, and smiled at the idea little thinking that the con- version of old animals into young ones was, in sober truth, one r i ot the commonest operations of Nature. The body of an animal- cule about to propagate in this manner, becomes at first slightly elongated, and a line, more transparent than the rest, is seen to cross its middle portion ; a constriction next becomes apparent at each extremity of the line indicated, which, becoming more decided and growing gradually deeper, at length divides the animalcule into two halves, only connected with each other by a narrow isthmus, and as this gets thinner and thinner, a slight * TroXi's, polus, many ; yaarep, yaarpos, gaster, gastros, tJit stomacJi. 22 INFUSORIA. effort on the part of either of the now nearly distinct portions is sufficient to sever the frail bond of union and complete the sepa- ration. In some elongated species this fissure is effected in a longitudinal direction, the separation gradually proceeding from the posterior to the anterior portion of the body. Examples of both these modes of increase are delineated in the appended engravings (Fig^. 12 and 13). If the organization of these animalcules were as simple as it was supposed to be a few years ago, when they were thought to be mere specks of living jelly imbibing nourishment through all parts of the soft texture of their bodies, this kind of spon- taneous division would be a very simple matter, and every step of the process easily understood ; a little observation, however, will show that there are circumstances attending this operation of a very inexplicable character. Some species, as for example, Prorodon teres* represented in our engraving (Fig. 12, b), are furnished with a very curious mouth surrounded by a cylinder composed of horny teeth, through the agency of which their food is seized and swallowed. Should a deed of separation, therefore, have to be drawn up preparatory to the act of division, it might be a puzzling question for the infusorial lawyers to settle which half should have the mouth. Even this difficulty has, however, been provided for ; and, accordingly, a new mouth and a new dental cylinder is seen to sprout from the hinder half, before the animal, originally one flesh, proceeds to divorce itself into two. This mode of propagation, in which multiplication and division go hand in hand, is amazingly productive, and, indeed, far sur- passes in fertility any other with which we are acquainted. Every schoolboy is familiar with the celebrated problem about the nails in a horse's shoes, or the squares of a chess-board, where the re- sults attainable by duplicative multiplication soon pass ordinary numerical expressions. Let any of our readers try the same problem with one of these animalcules. An individual, if well supplied with food, has been observed to divide at least once in twenty-four hours. So that in a fortnight, allowing the product of each division to multiply at the same rate, sixteen thousand three hundred and eighty-four would be produced from the same stock, and in four weeks two hundred and sixty-eight millions four hundred and thirty-five thousand four hundred and fifty-six, would be the astounding progeny derived from a single animalcule. * TrpJjpa, prora, fore part ; odbvs, cdbvros, odous, odontos, a tooth- CILIATED ANIMALCULES. We feel, therefore, but little surprise that, with such powers of propagation, these minute creatures soon become diffused in countless myriads through the waters adapted to their habits. FlG. 15 VoRTICELLjC. Nor is this all : the reproduction of these prolific animals is sometimes effected in various ways, and not unfrequently the same individual is found to propagate by two or three different modes thus, many species are multiplied by buds which sprout like those of plants from the surface of their bodies, and speedily attaining the shape of their parent, develop the cilia character- istic of their species. FIG. 16. VAGINICOLA. ' Neither is it difficult to understand the necessity for such amazing fecundity. These moving atoms are the source from which innumerable animals derive their sustenance, which, in their 24 HYDROZOA. turn, become the prey of creatures higher in the scale of life ; they, therefore, form the basis of that mighty pyramid which bears upon its apex Man himself. They are the boundaries be- tween life and death, the steady barrier of the organic world, and although until a few years ago man was ignorant of their very existence, they have not the less been actively employed since first creation dawned. As individuals, they are weak enough ; but in their countless legions they become perhaps the most im- portant agents in the grand economy of Nature. A grain of sand is but a despicable atom viewed alone ; but when upon the beach these sands present themselves arrayed in the:r broad phalanx, where can we obtain a stronger bulwark to oppose the raging storm ? CHAPTER V. CORALLINES. HYDROZOA.* lt T N the army of Xerxes there was a certain race called Sagar- J_ tians. The mode of fighting practised by these men was this : When they engaged an enemy, they threw out a rope with a noose at the end ; whatever any one caught, either horse or man, he dragged towards himself, and those that were entangled in the coils he speedily put to death." HERODOTUS, vii. 85. Never was there more truth than in the old saying, " There is nothing new under the sun." Who would have supposed, while reading of the strange feats performed by the Brazilian with his lasso, by the aid of which he literally takes the bull by the horns, or trips up the. fleetest steed, that the same weapon was used ages ago to catch Greeks by the neck, instead of horses ? much less could we have imagined that an onslaught apparently so uncouth and barbarous was the mode of warfare of a very considerable proportion of the animal creation ; and yet, seriously speaking, this is the case, the only difference being that the lassos employed by mankind ark clumsily made of twisted leather, whereas their prototypes present a delicacy and refinement of structure, which it requires the utmost penetration of the miscroscope to reveal. There is an animal easily obtainable in summer-time by simply scraping off the slimy surface from the sticks or leaves that float on almost every pond, called * Hydra, the Hydra ; faov, zoon, an animal. HYDRA. 25 The Hydra,* the history of which is so curious and important as to demand our special notice. This little creature resembles a small portion of green transparent thread, fastened by one end to the stems of water-plants, while the other is furnished with several radiating filaments of extreme tenuity, which float freely in all directions : should one of the numerous water-fleas, or any other minute animal, come in contact with these floating filaments, though it touch but the tip of one of them, it is at once arrested in its course, and in spite of all its struggles dragged to the central mouth, which opens to receive the helpless prey. The body of the hydra consists simply of a little gelatinous bag, the margins of which are furnished with filaments employed as tentacles, whilst at the opposite end there is a little sucker whereby it fixes itself to foreign objects. The microscope reveals FIG. 17. LONG-ARMED HYDRA. the substance of these creatures to be composed entirely of a transparent glairy matter, in which granules of slightly greater opacity may be observed to float. Notwithstanding this sim- plicity of structure, however, they are able to move from place to place by fixing alternately the extremities of their body after the manner of a leech, and they are sensible to the presence of light, which they always approach. But their most wonderful attribute is that of being able inde- finitely to reproduce any part of their body which may be cut off. If a hydra be cut into pieces, each individual fragment, however small, will speedily become a perfect animal, in all respects like the original, the parts which were defective being produced in their proper situation. If with fine scissors we slit one half-way down, the result will be a hydra with two mouths, each surrounded * Hydra, a fabled monster that reproduced its heads as fast as they were cut off. 2.6 HYDRA. by the usual number of tentacles ; if these be again and again and again divided, each division will become a new head, thus form- ing a realization of the fable of the Lernean Hydra. Every one FIG. 18 HYDRA VIVIDIS. of the tentacles of this newly-formed monster will capture food, and all the mouths will devour it. If two be cut across, and the fore part of one be applied to the hind part of the other, the two parts will unite and form a perfect Polype without leaving a scar. They may even be turned inside out like a glove without injury, and in this state will remain, that which was the external surface now being the stomach. Their ordinary mode of increase is by the young ones budding from the side of the adult ; but previously to their separation, the offsets themselves often send out side-buds, so that several gene- rations may sometimes be found branching from one parent : nine- teen young of various ages have been seen thus connected, their numerous long tentacles twining about in inextricable confusion. To the earlier observers of the habits of the Hydrae, nothing could be more mysterious than their power of seizing and retain- ing active prey ; but this is now readily explained. The whole surface of their tentacula is densely provided with a set of organs that appear, under high powers of the microscope, to be minute oval vesicles, something like little soda-water bottles, in each of HYDRA. 27 which is coiled up a long and delicate filament, not unaptly com- pared to the lasso used by Brazilian horsemen The neck of each vesicle is furnished with three sharp spines, which, when the arms are prepared to seize the prey, become erect and prominent. The mode of action of these weapons is as simple as the result is efficacious. The " lasso-threads," with their viscid extremities, speedily involve the seized victim in their tenacious folds, and closely bind it against the spines with which the skin of the hydra is studded ; these, probably, in their turn, become prehensile instruments, and moreover apparently form an appa- ratus of poison fangs of a very deadly character, for it is observable that an animal once seized by the hydra, even should it escape from its clutches, almost immediately perishes. We have dwelt at some length upon the history of the hydra, partly on account of the interest which attaches to an animal so simple in its apparen structure and yet so formidably armed, but more especially because it is the type of a large class of beautiful creatures, to which we must now beg the attention of the young naturalist. The Hydrse, as we have seen, are capable of loco- motion, and wander about from place to place ; but a vast majority of the animals most nearly allied to it in organization, in their adult condition are fixed to some foreign object upon which they grow. The Club Hydrae (Coryne)* for example (Fig. 19), are always found growing upon the surface of some shell or stone, to which they seem rooted by the extre- mity of a horny tube in which they live. In these creatures the upper part of the body is dilated into a kind of club-shaped head, armed with tentacula, which, in- stead of being arranged in a single circle around the mouth, are distributed irregularly over the exterior in such a manner that, at first sight, FIG. 19. CORYNE: a b, magnified; c, natural size. ], korune, a club. 2:8 CORALLINES. they seem as though they could be of little use in procuring food. On watch- ing a living specimen, however, their efficiency is soon rendered manifest. No sooner does a passing animal impinge against one of these filaments than it is seized upon by the lasso-threads, with which they are armed, and held with mortal grasp. The mouth of the Coryne is not a simple orifice, but a pro- trusible and flexible proboscis, the extremity of which can be directed towards any tentacle whereunto the prey happens to be adherent, and thus the creature feeds itself exactly in the same manner as the hydra described above. The Tube Hydra (Tubularia)* constructed very much after the same plan as the preceding, resides in a slender horny tube resembling a straw full of mucilaginous pith, rooted on a solid substance below, and crowned by a living head, resembling a fine scarlet blossom with a double row of tentacula, and often with pendent clusters like grapes. Though perfect as a single stem, it is seldom found solitary ; from ten to one hundred and fifty stalks are generally crowded together, and constitute a brilliant group,too gorgeously coloured to be effectively portrayed by art. The tallest specimens rise thirteen inches high, and are generally found on dead shells. The heads, or hydrf Linnaeus, that the " phosphorescent sea-pens cover the bottom of the sea, and there cast so strong a light that it is easy to count the fishes and worms sporting among them," is by no means devoid of foundation. Hitherto we have seen the solid part either stony or horny, called the skeleton or polypidom, deposited within the living flesh, but there are some species of Anthozoa in which it forms a protecting sheath to the bodies of the Polypes which are lodged in its interior. The elegant ag- gregation of tubes called The Organ-pipe Coral (Tubipora* Musica) is an example of such a structure (Fig. 39). It consists of small cylindrical tubes of a rich crimson hue, placed nearly parallel, but at a short distance apart, and united, at regular distances by successive stages of horizontal plates, that divide the FIG. 39. ORGAN-PIPE CORAL. series into ranges, or storeys, like the diffe- rent floors of a house supported by many pillars. From the mouth of each tube, in the living state, protrude the eight tentacles of a starry Polype of a brilliant green colour, forming a striking contrast with the crim- son polypidom. ActiniaB.f In the succeeding group of Polypes, while the general form and structure of the Anthozoa are preserved, we find an organization much more complex than we have yet encountered. In the Actiniae the tentacles are very numerous, and ranged in several circles round the mouth. When ex- panded, being often of gay colours, they so much resemble composite flowers, such as the daisy, the marigold, and others, as to have obtained their names for different species, and the term u animal flowers " for the entire group. When expanded and viewed in profile, the form of an Actinia is that of a short, broad cylinder, with the tentacles radiating from the upper margin (Fig. 40), the base being somewhat dilated. But when the absence of light or water, or any other cause, induces them to repose, the tentacles contract, and the upper part of the body, by a partial inversion, closes over them, leaving no trace of the place where they disappeared, except a wrinkled depression in the centre. In this condition their shape is, more or less, that of a bell, as may be seen in the figure (Fig. 40). When still more firmly closed, the creature looks like nothing but a rounded lump of fleshy substance, plastered on the rock (Fig. 41, ) ; but as the animal * Tubus, a tube ; porus, a pore. f d/cri?, aktin, a ray. ACTINIA. 45 again expands, the central opening at the top gradually widens, the margin slowly rolls back, and the tentacles it concealed begin to show their tips. As the expansion goes on, the tentacles continue to enlarge, and the margin to spread outwards, until, finally, the disk with the mouth in the centre is fully displayed, and the tentacles,'like petals, fringe it round. FIG 40. ACTINIA. In the species delineated in the next figure, Actinia gemmacea, there is an instinct displayed of a very admirable character. Such individuals as have taken up their resi- dence on the half-submerged rocks, where the daily recess of the tide exposes them to observation, are covered with rough warts, and blotched with dusky brown and dull orange ; and still further to insure their concealment, cover themselves with fragments of shells, sea-weed, and gravel, which adhere to their skin so strongly as not to be washed off ; and being thus veiled, the animals are quite concealed from observation. On the other hand, those species which inhabit deep water, as if aware that the neces- sity for concealment no longer existed, use no such precaution : their skins are smooth and naked, and adorned with the vivid- tints which make the species so beautiful. These Actinias are easily procured, and may be kept alive in sea-water for a long time without difficulty : in a glass vessel their beauty is displayed to advantage. They are capable of very long fasts, although sufficiently voracious when food is to be obtained. Although the Actiniae are usually affixed to the rocks by their broadly-expanded bases, many of them can detach themselves, and float through the water to a new resting-place ; or they will slide along slowly over the ground, by the action of their base or foot, and some are said to turn themselves over and walk upon the extremities of their tentacles. There is, indeed, a small group of Actiniae (Actineta) fitted expressly for an ocean life, by means of an air-cavity in the base, containing a vesicular or spongy disk made up of air-cells, which serves as a float Thus provided, the animal lies on the water with its base uppermost and its mouth and tentacles below the surface, and in this position it is carried about by winds and currents. The tentacles of the Actiniae are not always simple tubes : in the A. alcyonoides, represented on the left hand of our engraving CORALS. (Fig. 41, i), they are of a very complex character, and are pro- vided near their tips and at their sides with minute suckers, with which they are enabled to grasp their prey. FIG. 41. ANIMAL FLOWERS, i. Actinia alcyonoides ; 2. A. gctmnacca. In common with the Hydrozoa, the Actiniae are furnished with an armature of oblong, transparent vesicles, which have the power of shooting out a long thread-like lasso of excessive tenuity. These abound on the tentacles ; but there are also certain special organs upon which they are crowded to an extraordinary degree, and which seem to be simply magazines of these weapons. Certain species of Actiniae have the faculty of emitting, from small orifices scattered over the surface of the body, slender white filaments in great profusion, coiled up so as to resemble tangles of sewing- cotton. The slightest touch is sometimes sufficient to make these filaments shoot forth from various points with great force and rapidity. They have a strongly adhesive power, which is de- pendent upon a very wonderful mechanism. On being examined with a microscope, the entire surface of the tentacula and the cotton-like threads are seen to be densely crowded with transpa- rent oval vesicles, in each of which is coiled up a delicate filament, often thirty or forty times longer than the capsule which contains it, and moreover this lasso-thread is variously armed with sharp ACTINIAE. 47 barbed spines of inconceivable minuteness, but formidably effective for their purpose. On the slightest irritation, the spiral thread bursts forth and entwines the victim in its spiny folds, which seem to be armed with some potent venom, as a small animal once seized by them dies, even should it escape from their tenacious grasp. The Actinia;, like the Hydrae, seem to defy the effects of mutilation : they may be cut in two perpendicularly or across, and each cutting will soon furnish forth the want- ing parts, and present itself in all respects well and hearty. MR. GOSSE. In some species, when a large individual has been a good while adherent to one spot, and at length chooses to change its quarters, it does so by causing its base to move slowly along the surface on which it rests. But it frequently happens that small irregular fragments of the edge of the base are left behind, as if their ad- hesion had been so strong that the animal found it easier to tear its own tissues apart than to overcome it. The fragments so left soon contract, become smooth, and spherical or oval in outline , and in the course of a week or a fortnight, may be seen each fur- nished with a margin of tentacles, and a disk transformed, in fact, into perfect though small Actiniae. Occasionally a separated piece, more irregularly jagged than usual, will, in contracting, form two smaller fragments, each of which becomes a separate animal. Dr. T. Strethill Wright cut off a minute piece of the base of a sea-anemone; the part immediately receded from the parent, and in three weeks became a perfect Actinia ; he then cut pieces from these with the same result, and ultimately get fourteen from the original one. The ordinary mode of reproduction in these Zoophytes is by minute germs or ova, which are to be found suspended in dense clusters in the interior of the animal : these escape into the creature's stomach, and are discharged into the sea through the mouth. Some of the Actiniae are exceedingly prolific, producing from a hundred and fifty to three hundred young in a single day. The characteristic form and markings of the parent are distinctly recognizable in the newly-born progeny, the principal distinction, besides the difference of size, being the fewness of the tentacles, which at first are only about twelve in number. The Mushroom Corals (Fitngia)* are so called on account of a striking resemblance between the arrangement of the stony laminse upon the upper surface of their framework and the gills of a mushroom (Fig. 42). This, * Fungus, a mushroom. ECHINODERMS. FIG. 42. FUNGIA. however, is but the skeleton, and though it is a very pretty object, those who are acquainted with it alone can form from it but a very poor idea of the living animal. When removed from its native element, the violence at first causes the soft living flesh to contract so forcibly that scarcely any difference is perceptible between it and the dry skeleton, nor is any alteration at once manifest on putting it into salt water. But let it recover its confidence, its equani- mity, then a pellucid gelatinous flesh will be seen emerging from between the plates, from which arise exqui- sitely-formed and coloured tentacles, fringing the surface, across which stretches the mouth, resembling a slit with white plaited lips, like the orifice of a cowrie-shell. CHAPTER VII. ECHINODERMS. ECHINODERMATA.* IT is beautiful to observe by what gentle steps the student of Nature is able to ascend from the contemplation of one form of animal life to another more elevated in the scale of creation. We have learned, in the preceding chapter, that many tribes of the Polypes secrete calcareous matter in large quantities, and thus construct for themselves a solid framework, which sustains the living mass. Let us for a moment suppose a Polype sup- ported upon a long stem, capable of strengthening its pedicle, its body, the tentacula around its mouth, and all the appendages belonging to the animal, with solid pieces of definite form, such pieces, being connected together by the soft parts and surrounded on all sides with living flesh, would thus form an internal skeleton, giving strength and support to the entire fabric, and at the same time allowing it to bend in every direction. A Polype so consti- tuted would, when dried, present an appearance resembling that depicted in the annexed figure (Fig. 44,7). The creature repre- sented, however, is not a Polype, but an * ex^os, echinos, a hedgehog ; , derma, skin. ENCRINITES. 49 Encrinite,* one of the lowest of the class of Star-fishes. In its habits of life an Encrinite, thus constructed, closely resembles the more highly-organized Anthozoa. Fixed by its jointed stem upon the surface of the rock, it curves ,, : ^,, , its pedicle from side to side in search of food, which with its flower-like arms it seizes and conveys into its mouth. These Encrinites are, in modern times, the scarcest productions of the ocean. A species similar to that in our en- graving exists in the West Indian seas; and not many years ago, the interest- ing discovery was made of another species upon our own coasts ; this, however, is of very small size, not ex- ceeding three-quarters of an inch in length : with these rare exceptions, the race of Encrinites appears to be extinct. Yet the time has been when the bottom of the sea must have been as thickly covered with creatures of this descrip- tion as a corn-field is with corn. Many large kinds are found in a fossil state * in our chalk and limestone rocks, and vast strata of marble, extending over large tracts of country in Northern Europe and in North America, are en- tirely made up of their petrified skele- tons. "Man applies it to construct his palace and adorn his sepulchre ; but there are few who know, and fewer still who appreciate, the surprising fact that much of this marble is composed of millions of the skeletons of organized beings, once endowed with life, and susceptible of enjoyment, which after per- forming the part that was for a while assigned to them in living Nature, have contributed their re- mains towards the composition of the mountain masses of the earth." DR. BUCKLAND. The numerous pieces of which their stems were formed are met with in abundance in the north of England, where they are popularly known as St. Cuthbert's beads, while -their Polype-like FIG. 43. FOSSIL. FIG. 43, a. LILY STONES. * 'ev, en, in ; Kplvov, krinon, a lily. 5 ECHINODERMS. heads have been regarded as petrified flowers, and designated " Lily Stones " (Fig. 43, a). The origin of these beautiful fossils, formerly so mysterious, is thus easily explained. The Feather-star (Comatula)* (Fig. 44, e), common upon our coast, is but an Encrinite without a stem, and thus enabled to move freely at the bottom of the sea. The central box which contains the stomach is furnished with a mouth, around which radiate the arms, fringed with a double row of jointed filaments ; by means of these the feather-star can creep upon the sand, or twining them around the stems of sea- weeds or corals, it can climb in search of food, or by the undulations of its feathery filaments, row itself from place to place through the water, with a graceful gliding motion. FlG. 44. ECHINODERMATA. The Sea-baskets (Gorgonocephalus}\ (Fig. 44, 5). In these elaborately constructed creatures, the shell of the living animal is entirely covered with a thick fleshy crust. From the circumference of the disk proceed fiv.e strong rays, which, subdividing again and again, always by binary division, soon become multiplied into living ropes, spread out all around the body; and being made up of an immense number of jointed pieces, they are as flexible as whip-cord, and as manageable as the legs of a spider. Each of these innumerable cords is, in the living animal, terminated by a minute yellowish fleshy ball, something resembling a little foot, so that the whole creature, as it walks along, appears like a conglomeration of serpents, strangely linked together, whence it has not inappropriately received its mythological name of Gorgonocephalus, or Medusa's Head. These star-fishes inhabit the deep parts * Comatus, having hair, f Topyuv , Gorgon, Medusa; /ce0a\??, kephale, the head. STAR-FISHES. of the sea, and seem particularly to frequent coral-beds and localities where marine plants are abundant, around which they wind their arms, and thus crawl about in search of sustenance. . The intertwined assemblage of their living tendrils forms a sort of net, in which small animals are entangled and dragged towards the mouth. " This elaborate piece of Nature/' says its first describer, " has its body resembling an Echinus, or Egg-fish, the main branches? a star, and the dividing of the branches, the plant misteltoe. It spreads itseK from a pentagonal root into five main limbs or branches, each of which, just at the issuing out from the body, divides itself into two, and each of the ten branches thus formed, does again divide into two parts, making twenty lesser branches, and each of these doth again divide, making in all forty. These again divide into eighty, and these into 160, and they again into 320. The division is again repeated, making 640, afterwards 1,280, 5,120, 10,240, 20,480, 40,960, and at the fourteenth division, beyond which the further expansion could not be distinctly traced, there were 81,920 small tendrils or threads, in which the branches of this star-fish terminate/'' \Vc next arrive at a group called FIG. 45. BRITTLE-STAR. FIG. 46. SUN-STAR (SOLASTER FAPPOSA). Snake-tailed Star-fishes (Ophinrida}* one of which is represented at Fig. 44, 4. The rays are no longer divided into branches, but are, nevertheless, curiously constructed, and being twisted about with great activity when the creature is disturbed, look not a little like the tails of serpents whence the name given to this family. A very interesting circumstance in the economy of these animals is their extreme brittleness, whence they have merited the name of " Brittle-stars: 1 On the least alarm or excitement, the creature throws off one or perhaps all its rays, and breaks them into fragments. This faculty renders the preservation of a perfect specimen very difficult. * i(}>is, ophis, a snake; ovpa, oura, the tail. 52 ECHINODERMS. These Snake-tails live almost exclusively on sandy shores, and hide them- selves in the sand or mud at the slightest appearance of danger. In our own seas they are very abundant, and are amongst the most curious and beautiful game sought after by the dredger. Some species are always found firmly grasping the stems of Gorgonise, amongst which they seem to live like spiders, catching any passing animals by means of their long flexible arms. The Star-fishes (Asterias)* (Fig. 44, 3). In these well-known animals it is evident that the power of locomotion, so far as depends upon the flexibility of the rays, must be entirely lost ; it there- fore becomes an interesting question how progression is now to be effected under such altered circumstances. On placing a living star-fish in some transparent pool left by the tide, and watching it there, the most incurious observer will find himself compelled to gaze in mute astonishment at what he sees. From the inferior surface of each ray, the creature, which before appeared so helpless and inanimate, slowly protrudes numbers of fleshy tubes, which move about in search of a firm holding-place, and soon are fixed, by means of little suckers at the end of each, to the smooth surface of a neigh- bouring stone, or, if the star-fish has been placed in a glass vessel filled with sea-water, to the inner surface of the glass, where every movement may be plainly seen. When these have laid fast hold, others appear in quick suc- cession, and likewise are attached to the smooth surface, till at last hundreds of little legs, for such these suckers seem, are actively employed, and by their aid the creature glides along with such a gentle motion that it seems to swim rather than crawl. But it is not merely as agents of locomotion that the suckers are used, for helpless as these creatures seem to be, they are in reality among the most voracious inhabitants of the deep. When seizing its food, the rays of the star- fish are bent so as to form a kind of cup, in the centre of which is the opening of the mouth. The cup thus formed will, to a certain extent, lay hold of a passing victim, but without other means of securing it, the grasp would scarcely be formidable to animals possessed of any strength ; armed, however, as the rays have been seen to be with hundreds of tenacious suckers, escape from such a grasp is hopeless, for prey once seized is secured by every part of its surface, and, in spite of its utmost efforts, is speedily dragged towards the mouth of the star-fish, and engulfed in its capacious maw. Small crabs and small shell-fish are swallowed entire, for the stomach is amazingly dilatable ; but shell-fish of large size are not the less the victims of the creature's voracity, although it cannot swallow them whole. The destruction which it commits among oysters was well known to the ancients, who believed that it obtained its supper by inserting one of its rays, after the manner of an oyster-knife, between the shells when the oyster happened to lie with them partially open, and that it then gradually forced itself in till the prey came in contact with its mouth. This procedure, although sufficiently ingenious, is not the mode pursued, at least by our modern star-fish, which has the singular faculty of turning its stomach inside out and pouring from it a poisonous secretion, which behig introduced between the shells of the oyster, deprives it of all power of closing its valves. The protruded stomach of the star-fish is then thrust in, and enveloping the poor oyster in its folds, literally eats it out of house and home. These animals abound on every coast, frequenting quiet bays, where * dorr/p, aster, a star. SEA-URCHINS. they are of important use. Their appetite and instinct lead them to devour whatever dead or tainted substance they may happen to encounter, and thus by their multitudes they prevent our shores from being encumbered by the offal that would otherwise accumulate on every beach. They are, moreover, highly prolific, pouring forth at certain seasons their innumerable eggs into the surrounding water, and thus materially contributing to the supply of food provided for the multitudinous inhabitants of the sea. In the Cake-Urchins (Scutelld}* (Fig. 44, 2), the rays are obliterated, and the circumference acquires a circular form; moreover, their body is encased completely in a hard calcareous shell, composed of numerous angular pieces, accurately fitted together and incapable of movement. The cake-urchins bury themselves in the sand, a situation in which suckers would be of little use, but for which they are admirably adapted by a contrivance not less cal- culated to excite the admiration of the observer. The exterior of the Scutella is entirely covered with minute appendages, resembling, when seen with the naked eye, delicate hairs; but, when examined with the microscope, they are found to be spines of most elaborate structure, all of which are moveably attached to the shell by ball-and-socket joints, and thus rendered susceptible of being moved in every direction, so that by their combined efforts the animal can speedily bury itself, either for the purpose of procuring food or of eluding observation. The Sea-Eggs or Sea-Urchins (Echinus) f (Fig. 44, i) in their form resemble an orange. The mouth is a simple orifice in the shell, placed at one FIG. 47. GREEN-PEA URCHIN. FIG. 48. SUCKER OF URCHIN. extremity of its axis, and through it, as represented in the figure, the points of five singular teeth project externally. The instruments of locomotion occupy the entire superficies of the shell, and present two distinct sets of organs adapted to different uses. The first consists of a multitude of sharp purple spines (Fig. 47), every one of which is connected by a ball-and-socket jint to a distinct prominence on which it moves. These numerous spines, therefore, are so many inflexible legs, upon which the Echinus rolls itself from place to place, or by their assistance it can bury itself in the sand with the greatest facility. But these wonderfully constructed animals are by no means confined Scutellum, a little shield, echmos, a hedgehog. 54 ECHINODERMS. to this mode of progression, for, impossible as it might seem from their out- ward appearance, they are able to climb rocks in search of food, and thus obtain the Corallines and substances upon which they principally feed. To enable them to effect this, their shell is perforated with ten rows of small orifices, extending from one pole to the other, like the lines of longitude upon a globe, through which long suckers issue similar in structure to those of the star-fish, but long enough to extend beyond the points of the spines ; so that, by their assistance, the sea-urchin not only scales the cliff, but creeps along pendent from the roofs of submarine caverns. The number of these suckers is very great : in a moderate-sized urchin Professor Forbes reckoned sixty-two rows of pores in each of the ten bands ; as there are three pairs of pores in each row, their number multiplied by six and again by ten would give three thousand seven hundred and twenty pores; but as each sucker occu- pies a pair of pores, the number of suckers would be half that amount, or one thousand eight hundred and sixty. Nor is the structure of these animals less complicated in other respects. The shell is made up of above three hundred pieces of one kind, and nearly as many of another, all dovetailing toge- ther with the greatest order and regularity, bear- ing on their surfaces above four thousand spines ; nay, if we cut any individual spine into slices and examine it with a microscope, it will be seen to pre- sent a pattern peculiar to the species, and far beyond the reach of art in its elaborate beauty (Fig. 49). Truly the skill of the Great Architect of Nature is not less displayed in the construction of a sea- urchin than in the creation of a world ! The eggs (or roe) of the Echinus are looked upon in some countries as affording a very excellent dish, FIG. 49. SPINE OF ECHINUS, and we find that among the Romans they were ac- Segment of section. counted delicacies. It is recorded that they formed the principal dish at the famous supper of Lentulus, when he was made Flamen Martialis, or Priest of Mars ; and sea-urchins are still caught in great numbers upon the shores of the Mediterranean for the sake of their roe. The Sea-Cucumbers (Holotkuria)* (Fig. 50). The fisherman's dredge occasionally brings up, on our own coasts, slimy creatures, bearing no slight resemblance to a disagreeable-looking cucumber, whence they are commonly known by the name of Sea- Gherkins or Sea-Cucumbers. It is in tropical seas, however, that these animals most abound, where they lie in the mud or the shallows, or crawl over the coral rocks. The surface of their bodies is com- posed of a dense, tough, leathery skin, capable of being dilated or contracted, lengthened or shortened, at the will of the animal. No stony shell is deposited upon their bodies ; nevertheless, their relationship to the urchins and star- fishes is manifestly shown by their apparatus of locomotive suckers, which are of precisely the same structure as those of the Echinus. As if, however, also to manifest an affinity with the Polype forms, there still exists in the Ho- lothuria a circle of branched tentacles, which surround the mouth. These t 6\o66vpioj>, holothourion, a name applied by Aristotle. SIPHON- WORMS. 55 FlG. 50. HOLOTHURI^E. are capable of being withdrawn into the body, but are commonly protruded in' expectation of prey, which is seized and dragged to the mouth by thesi* appendages. They greatly resemble in appearance the tentacles of some of the Actinia?, especially when the Holothuria has buried its whole body in the mud or sand, with the exception of these branched tentacles, which expand like the petals of a flower. A species named The Cotton-Spinner (Holothuria r), sometimes called the "Nigger," is very common in deep water off the coast of Cornwall : it is held by the fishermen in great detestation, on account of its slimy appearance, and from an idea that where the "Niggers" are numerous and get into the crab-pots, neither crabs nor lobsters are caught. These animals are frequently near a foot in length, and thick in proportion. They sometimes draw themselves up into a kind of ball, and, if touched or disturbed, throw out a bunch of white taper threads of great tenacity, that stick to everything they touch, and no doubt constitute a means of defence. The Siphon- Worms (Sipunculus}* (Fig. 51) have a lengthened and slender body, and all the aspect of worms, with the exception of the circle of tentacles around their mouths, by which they indi- cate their lingering affinity to the Echino- derms. They have no suckers or feet, and many species are marked by wrinkles en- circling their body, causing them to re- semble earth-worms in their appearance as well as in their habits. Most of them bore deep holes in the sand, wherein they lodge. Others conceal themselves in the crevices of rocks; and there is one species, FIG. SI-HERMIT SIPUHCULUS, Sipunculus Bernhardus, represented m our engraving (Fig. 51), which selects the shell of some periwinkle or whelk for its abode. Sipunculus, from ffi(f>ov, a tube. PARASITIC WORMS. : CHAPTER VIII. PARASITIC WORMS. ENTOZOA.* LAVISHLY as we have already found the world to be filled with the lower forms of animated beings, our astonishment will be by no means lessened when we learn that innumerable creatures have been ordained to lead a parasitic life, and to pro- cure their nourishment from the superabundant juices of other animals; neither is this race of parasites by -any means deficient in numerical importance, or constructed with less careful adapta- tion to the situation in which they are destined to reside. They present, however, little to invite our attention, and the details known concerning their general economy are, as yet, extremely few and unsat'sfactory One of the most common is The Hydatid (Cysticercus), which not unfrequently infests the flesh of pigs, causing that diseased condition which is known as measly pork. Its body consists of a globose transparent bag, with a slender neck, terminated by a remarkable prehensile apparatus con- sisting of a double row of recurved spines and four adhesive suckers represented upon an enlarged scale upon the right-hand side of the figure. These simply-constructed animals, for- merly regarded as a distinct species, have been proved by recent experi- ments to be but an incomplete con- dition of The Tape- Worm's (Tenicc\ many species of which are met with in the aliment- ary canal of various animals, where they have been known to attain the length of sixty, or even a hundred feet. The body of the tape-worm consists of a great number of segments, sometimes amounting to five hundred or more; these become very slender as they approach the so-called head (scolex], from which they are all successively produced. The Flukes (Distoma] constitute a very numerous race, of which the Liver Fluke (Distoma hepaticum}, but too well known as inhabiting the liver of the sheep, will serve as an example. It resembles in shape a little sole, FIG. 52. CYSTICERCUS. * eiros, entos, within ; faov, zoon, an animal. TURBELLARIANS. 57 about an inch in length, furnished with two suckers, each of which was at one time supposed to be a mouth whence the origin of their name. When sheep are pastured in low wet meadows, this animal often multiplies in them ex- cessively, producing dropsy or rot, and finally causing the death of the poor creatures so infested. The Guinea-"Worm (Filaria* Medinensis} is a most troublesome animal in hot climates, where it takes up its residence under the skin of our legs and feet, and some- times causes very serious annoyance. It is more especially met with on the Guinea coast of Africa, and thence derives its name. This plague of the human race, although not thicker than a knitting-needle, sometimes measures upwards of a yard in length : how it gets into its selected abode it is not easy to conjecture ; but when once located, it seems to make itself quite at home, causing painful tumours. On arriving at maturity it comes to the surface, when it is carefully extracted by the Arab or negro doctors. We have in this country a worm of very similar structure, called The Hair-"Wonn (Gordius)^, common in summer-time in ponds and ditches, so closely resembling in its appearance a hair from a horse's tail, that in former times it was the popular belief that they were really living horse-hairs. Their history is some- what curious. They pass the early part of their life in the interior of some insect generally a water-beetle where they grow to the length of ten or eleven inches. When full grown, they escape from the body of the poor insect in which they have been nourished, and seek some piece of water, or moist situation, where they deposit their eggs in long chains. TURBELLARIA,J Another large group of worms, although closely allied to the Entozoa, are not parasitic. Their body is flat, soft, and often very contractile ; but their chief distinguishing character is that they are entirely covered with cilia, by the movements of which they glide over any smooth surface. They are divisible into two families the Planarics and the Nemertes both of which merit description. The Planarias (Planaria] are to be found abundantly in almost every pond, where they have very much the appearance of little slugs. These animals are of a gelatinous consistence, and enjoy such a power of self-con- traction, that they can reduce their whole substance to the form of a speck of jelly, in which condition they occasionally force themselves rather disagree- ably upon the notice of incautious water-cress eaters. The Planariae inhabit both salt and fresh water, where they swim about rapidly, by an undulating movement of their body, somewhat after the manner of a leech, and creep with great ease upon aquatic plants. They are generally of small size, but exceedingly voracious. Like the Polypes, they appear capable of almost end- less increase by division. Sir J. Dalyell, speaking of the Black Planaria (P. nigra), says, " It is privileged to multiply its species in proportion to the violence offered. It may almost be called immortal under the edge of the knife. Innumerable sections of the body all become complete and perfect * Filum, a thread. f Gordius, a man u'ho tied a very hard knot. J Turbella, a commotion^ because the action of their cilia makes a stir ii^the sur- rounding water r-3 LONG SEA-WORMS. animals. If the head be cut off, a new head replaces it ; if the tail be severed, a new tail is acquired." The mouth of the Planariae is a very remarkable structure. Near the middle of the under surface there are two transverse slits, from the anterior of which a funnel-shaped organ, like a cup, can be protruded. This acts as a mouth ; it is soft, highly irritable, and when drawn within the body, is folded up like the bud of a plant. This singular mouth opens immediately into the stomach ; it can be protruded at pleasure, and applied to the surface of such larvae or little worms as may come within reach, so as to suck from them the juices that they contain, or if the prey be small, it is immediately swallowed. But the most wonderful creatures belonging to this group are The Long Sea- Worms (Nemertes)* occasionally to be met with by the sea-side explorer, coiled up under loose stones. The length of this extraor- dinary production of Nature is positively prodigious, and its whole history has more the appearance of fable than of sober truth. "When I took it up at the sea-side," says the Rev. Mr. Davis ("Linn. Trans. :/ ), "collecting such an immense creature into an oyster-shell, a very large one indeed, I thought it would have been almost impossible to unravel it ; but it is astonishing to think how easily it was disentangled, owing to the extraordinary smoothness of its surface. It is impossible to make even a guess at the length of it when alive on account of its always extending and contracting itself when touched, and that with such ease as almost to exceed belief; but I may well say that it is capable of extending itself with- out inconvenience to twenty-five or thirty times the length that it presents at another period. It being impossible while the animal was alive to make any reasonable con- jecture as to the length of it, I took it out of the bottle, and examined it when dead, when I found it to be two-and-twenty feet long, exclusive of the proboscis. Now I give it as my firm opinion, that I speak within bounds when I say the animal, when alive, might have been extended to four times the length it presented when dead. It is, therefore, by no means improbable that this most astonishing creature may have been susceptible of being drawn out to the length of twelve fathoms, or, according to the accounts of the fishermen, to thirty yards, or fifteen fathoms."' "The ignorant spectator, ''says Sir John Dalyell, "might almost suppose this animal to be only designed to be an inconvenience to itself. Who can affirm that he has ever seen the long sea- worm entire? that he had before him this giant of the race? or who can presume that those, apparently of the largest size, shall grow no more ? " Unwieldy and unmanageable as this creature seems, it attacks and devours other worms of all sorts. Portions of mussel are always acceptable, and are greedily swal- lowed by its capacious mouth. If the valves of a mussel be sundered, the animal fastens upon one of them, drags it away, and consumes the contents at leisure. When he desires to shift his quarters, he stretches out his body like an enormous snake; the eye sees no contraction of muscles, no apparent means of locomotion, but the micro- scope teaches us that the Nemertes glides along by the help of the minute vibratory cilia with which his whole body is covered ; he hesitates, he tries, and at last finds a stone to his taste, whereupon he slowly unrolls his length to convey himself to his new resting-place ; and while his entangled folds are unravelling themselves at one end, they are forming a new Gordian knot at the other." s, nemertes, no mistake about it. ARTICULATED ANIMALS. 59 CHAPTER IX. SECOND DIVISIQN OF INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS. ARTICULATED- ANIMALS. WE have now arrived at the second great division of the animal creation, which. includes a vast assemblage of crea- tures adapted to exist under a far greater diversity of circum- stances than those we have as yet had an opportunity of examining. The most obvious character by which they are distinguished is met with in their exterior conformation. They are composed of a succession of rings, formed by the skin or outward integument, which, from its hardness, constitutes a sort of external skeleton. In the lowest forms the body is extremely elongated, the segments proportionately soft and numerous, and, as a necessary conse- quence, limbs either do not exist, or are feeble and imperfect. Such is the structure met with in the Annelida or Worms, as, for example, in the Leech (Fig. 53). FIG. 53. LEECH. As we advance, we find the tegumentary rings become less numerous, and the skin of a denser and more firm texture, adapted to sustain the action of stronger and more powerful muscles ; the limbs likewise become more elaborately formed, their movements more free and energetic. Moreover, the instruments of sight and touch begin to assume considerable perfection of structure. This state of development we find in the Myriapoda or Centipedes (Fig. 55). In the Insects the perfection of the external skeleton is still more remarkable, and the integument acquires a hardness and solidity proportioned to the vigorous movements of which the limbs are now capable. The rings of the body, hitherto distinct, become more or less soldered together in those parts where the * Articulatus, jointed. 6o ARTICULATED ANIMALS. greatest strength and firm- ness are necessary ; and scarcely any traces are left to indicate their existence as separate pieces ; so that, in- stead of exhibiting that suc- cession of similar segments seen in the centipedes, the body becomes divided into three distinct portions; name- ly, the head, which contains the organs of the senses and the parts of the mouth, the thorax, supporting the limbs, . or instruments of progres- sion, and the abdomen, en- closing the viscera subservi- ent to nutrition and reproduction. (Fig. 54.) FIG. 54. DIVISIONS OF A BEETLE. FIG. 55. SCORPION AND CENTIPEDE. In the fourth division of articulated animals, namely, the Arachnida (scorpions, spiders, &c.), a still further consolidation ARTICULATED ANIMALS. 61 of the external skeleton is visible, for in these creatures even the separation between the head and the thorax becomes obliterated, and it is in the abdomen only that the segments of the body are recognizable. By contrasting the body of a centipede with that of a scorpion, as represented in the accompanying figure (Fig. 55), the progress of this coalescence of the tegumentary rings is strik- ingly exemplified. Lastly, in the Crustacea (crabs, lobsters, &c.) we find various modifications of the outward skeleton adapted to the habits of FIG. 56. COMMON CRAB. the different races. Among the lowest forms, the rings composing the external framework are perfectly distinct and separate, resem- bling those of the Myriapoda ; but in the stronger and more pre- dacious tribes the pieces of the head and thorax become solidly fixed together ; and in those forms most adapted to a terrestrial life, namely, the crabs, almost all trace of distinction between the thoracic segments is lost in the construction of the calcareous shield which covers and protects their whole body. (Fig. 56.) In the animals described in preceding chapters the nervous system, wherever it has been at all discernible, has existed only in the form of slender threads, without being accumulated into 62 ARTICULATED ANIMALS. masses, or centres of perception. In all creatures, however, be- longing to the articulate division of the animal kingdom, the nervous system is arranged upon a plan which is sufficiently con- spicuous throughout the entire series. A double chain of brains, or ganglia, runs down the central line of the body beneath the alimentary canal ; and it is from the symmetry conspicuous in the arrangement of these that the most unmistakable character whereby the Articulata are distinguished is furnished. The first pair of brains or ganglia is always situated in the head, and supplies nerves to the eyes, to the antennae, and to all the principal instruments of sensation; on the proportionate size and development of these ganglia the perfection of the senses possessed by any of these creatures depends, consequently they are generally spoken of as the brain. FIG. 57. NERVES OF LEECH AND COCKCHAFER. All the other ganglia are arranged in a double series along the floors of the different segments of the body, each supplying the muscles belonging to the rings in its neighbourhood. In propor- tion to the size and perfection of these ganglia, therefore, will be the energy of the creature's movements. In the annexed en- graving (Fig. 57), representing the nervous system of a leech and of a cockchafer, it will be seen that in the former the nervous centres are numerous and feeble, corresponding with the imper- fection of the organs of sense and the absence of limbs, whereas in the latter they are proportionately large and few in number, adapted to the possession of senses of a higher description, and limbs endowed with great strength and activity. The Articulata are divided into five principal classes, as repre- sented in the following table : ARTICULATED ANIMALS. Blood red or coloured / Breathe air Blood white No articulated limbs. Annelida, p. 63. Segments of the body' similar no distinc- tion into head, tho- rax, and abdomen legs twenty-four pairs or more in the adult breathe by tracheae have no wings .... Body divided into^ head, thorax, and 1 abdomen have/ Myriapoda, p. 72. provided with wings I respire by means of tracheae . S Head consolidateds with the thorax no wings have four pairs of legs breathe by tracheae or by pulmonary sacs Arachnida, p. 137. I fHave in general five) x Breathe waters or seven pairs of ? Crustacea, p. 149. ( jointed legs . J FIRST CLASS OF ARTICULATED ANIMALS WORMS. ANNELIDA. The body of the Annelidans is composed of a succession of numerous rings, all of which are merely repetitions of each other. The first segment, although it differs but little from the rest, is called the head. The skin is generally soft, and the rings never horny or stony. Many Annelidans are entirely destitute of legs, as, for example, the leech (Fig. 53); and when these organs exist they are never formed of pieces jointed together end to end, as they are in insects, lobsters, or spiders ; they are merely fleshy protuberances, that support bunches of stiff sctcu, or bristles, and are used as oars to row the animal through the water (Fig. 58). Most Annelidans at the anterior extremity of their body are 64 ANNELIDANS. furnished with black spots, which appear to be eyes of very simple structure. They often have on the head, or on the sides of the neck, fleshy filaments called tentacles, which are not only delicate instru- ments of touch, but sometimes perform other important functions, as we shall see hereafter. In general, these animals can crawl upon the ground by means of their setae ; many live buried in the earth, or are enclosed in tubes which they never leave. They mostly inhabit the sea, and are, with one or two exceptions, FIG. 58. FOOT OF NAIS. carnivorous. The Annelidans are divided by zoologists into three Orders, according to the nature and disposition of their respiratory apparatus. Some appear to breathe by the general surface of their bodies, and have no special respiratory organs visible externally; these, therefore, have been called Abranchia,* without gills. In a second division the breathing apparatus consists of a series of tufts (Fig. 63) or fringes, arranged along the middle or on each side of the back ; these are the Dorsibranchiata.f In the third Order, Tubicola, J the Annelids inhabit a tube, either-composed of shell or manufactured by the agglutination of various materials. These have their branchiae in the form of plumes or branching filaments attached to the head or neck (Fig. 65). FIRST ORDER ABRANCHIATE ANIMALS. This Order comprehends two families, which differ widely from each other. The Setig"era, which have locomotive appendages in the shape of delicate spines or bristles (Earthworm, Nais) ; and Suctoria, || which are destitute of such appendages, but are furnished instead with a prehensile sucker attached to each ex- tremity of the body (Leeches). The Earth,- Worms (Lnmbricus). The common well-known species (Lumbricus terrestris] attains nearly a foot in length ; its body is composed of 120 rings or more, and is completely destitute of eyes or tentacles. Though a humble and despised creature, the earth-worm is a most important item in the economy of Nature. Piercing the ground in every direction, the earth is lightened by the united labours of their countless legions, and thus they materially conduce to its fertility. It consumes upon the surface * A, not, and branchia, a gill. t Dorsum, the back ; branchia, a gill. \ Tubus, a tube ; colo, / inhabit. Seta, a bristle ; gero, I carry. || Suctorius, sucking. LEECHES. 65 of the ground, where they soon become injurious, the softer parts of decaying vegetable matter, and conveys beneath the soil the more woody fibres, where they moulder and form the nutriment of living vegetation. Thus eminently serviceable to the agriculturist, it likewise constitutes an indispensable article of food for innumerable creatures belonging to every order of creation ; and perhaps is a solitary instance of an individual race sub- jected to universal destruction. The very emmets seize it when disabled, and bear it away as a prize; it constitutes throughout the year the food of many birds; fishes de- vour it greedily ; the hedgehog eats it ; the mole pursues it unceasingly ; and, secured as it appears to be by its residence in the earth from creatures inhabiting a different ele- ment, many aquatic animals seem well acquainted with it, and prey on it as a natural food. Frogs eat it, and it is even seized occasionally by the great water-beetle (Dylicus marginalia] when used as a bait by the angler. Yet notwithstanding this prodigious destruction, its increase is fully commensurate with the consumption, as if it was or- dained to be the appointed food of all. The Naides (.\ "<'.>-)* The mud at the bottom of ponds and streams is frequently perforated by Annelidans closely allied to the earth-worms. Their body is slender, and the rings into which it is divided are few and but slightly marked. They commonly live in their burrows, merely protruding their head, which is furnished with a long pro- boscis, whereby they take their food, and for this purpose it is kept in constant motion. These water-worms have a power of multiplication which is of a very surprising cha- racter. One of the most common species in our brooks (A 7 ais proboscidea] consists, when full grown, of about fourteen segments. After a time, however, new segments begin to be formed a little in front of the tail ; these lengthen, and soon begin to separate from the parent animal under the form of a new Mais, provided with proboscis, eye- specks, and everything complete. Sometimes even before the newly-formed young has quite broken off its connection with its parent, another generation is in course of pro- duction near its own tail, and sometimes even this has begun to form a fourth before the separation of the first is complete. The Leeches (Hirudo) are common in our ponds. The Medicinal Leech (Hintdo medicinalis), however, is not indigenous in this country, but being easily obtainable, we shall select it as an example of the group (Fig. 53). At each extremity of its body is a fleshy disk, which in progression acts as a sucker; it can, moreover, swim with much elegance, but not with rapidity. Its mouth, FIG. 50. THROAT OF LEECH LAID OPE.V. Fiu. 60. TOOTH OF LEECH MAGNIFIED. situated in the middle of the front sucker, is furnished with three small semicircular teeth, each provided with a saw-like edge. These teeth are placed in a tri-radiate manner, so that when the action of the sucker has made the skin of its victim tense, their edges are pressed against it with a saw-like movement until three cuts -are made, extending * Xais, a water nymph. 66 ANNELIDANS. to some depth, and the blood thus liberated is largely sucked into the capacious sto- mach. The tribe of leeches is very numerous ; they all feed at the expense of other animals; they attach themselves to fishes and frogs; sometimes they devour mollusks, worms, or the larvae of insects. Few animal substances are rejected ; all kinds of fish, dead or alive, seem acceptable. Entering the larger fresh-water shells, the leech takes up its abode, an uninvited visitor, and remains until it has emptied them of their con- tents. They even devour other leeches. Sir J, Dalyell saw one half-swallowed by a horse-leech scarcely double its size, and still struggling for liberty ; but its ferocious enemy, adhering firmly by its sucker, and undulating its body in the water as if to aid deglutition, occupied three hours in finishing its meal. The use of the medicinal leeches is so general that they have become an important article of commerce, and are procured in great quantities from Spain and Russia. They may be preserved for a long time by placing them in moist earth or mud. On the approach of cold weather they bury them- selves at the bottom of ponds, and pass the winter in lethargy, but they regain their activity in spring. FIG. Ci. -LuLOONS OF LEF.CH. When kept in large reservoirs, with clay banks fringed with rushes and aquatic plants, the leech will propagate its kind. It lays about a dozen eggs, enclosed in a mucous cocoon of an oval form, about a quarter of an inch long. In the month of August holes may be observed in the mud or clay of the banks, each of which contains a cocoon. The eggs are hatched in about a week, but it is three weeks before the young leave their slimy cradle. During the interval the cocoon has become considerably distended, and the little animals are continually pushing its walls with their heads, as if trying to find a weak point and escape. When at last their increasing strength enables them to burst forth, they are about a quarter of an inch long, and no thicker than a thread. SECOND ORDER DORSIBRANCHIATE ANNELIDANS. In the Dorsibranchiate Armelidans the respiratory organs consist of fringes or arborescent tufts, distributed in pairs along the sides of the back. In some cases, every ring is thus furnished, but in others, only those rings which are near the middle. These worms are all free : they burrow in the mud or sand, or swim in the open sea ; they are therefore supplied with organs of loco- motion, which, for the most part, assume the form of moveable spines or packets of retractile bristles attached to each segment of the body. It is not, however, by mere prosy description that we can convey to our readers any adequate idea of the beauty of these splendid worms ; here we must let their great historian, M. de Quatrefages, EUNICE. 67 speak for himself : his pen can best portray what his patient industry has so admirably displayed. " Upon the Isle de Chaussy," says that distinguished anatomist, "the wandering Annelids occupied my special attention. Hitherto I had only known this numerous family of sea-worms through engravings ; and although I had formed a tolerably exact notion of their structure, I had not the slightest idea how many points of interest attached to them. When I had once surprised within their secure retreats the Polynoc with its lucid scales, the PJiyl- lodoce with its hundred bright green rings, the Eunice with its purple crest, the Tcrebella surrounded by a crowd of innumerable living cables which serve it in the place of arms, when I had seen displayed before my eyes the rich fan of the Sabella, and the enamelled collar of the Serpula> I no longer smiled, as I had done before, at the thought of the naturalist having conferred upon them the most charming names he could think of. These despised creatures seemed to me no less worthy of a naturalist's homage than the most brilliant insect or the fairest flower. Let no one prate to me any more about the violet as a pattern of modesty ! The coquette ! See how she shows from far her fresh tuft of green leaves, and scatters abroad the perfume that invites you to approach. More skilful than her rivals, she knows that mystery is the greatest of all attractions, and that the rose herself loses by displaying her charms in broad daylight ; therefore it is that she seeks the obscurity of the woods and the shelter of the hedge-side. But look at the Annelids ! what do they lack when compared with the most splendid inhabitants of earth or air ? Yet they shun the light, they withdraw themselves from our view, but with no design to attract ; and the naturalist alone knows where to seek the strange wonders which are hidden within the recesses of the rock and beneath the sandy beds of the ocean. You may smile at my enthusiasm, but come and judge for yourself. All is prepared ! Our lamp gives a light almost equal to a jet of gas, while a large lens, mounted upon a moveable foot, receives the rays of light, and concentrates them upon our field of view. We have just placed upon the stage a little trough filled with sea-water, in which an Eunice is disporting itself. See how indignant it is at its captivity ; how its numerous rings contract, elongate, twist into a spiral coil, and at every movement emit flashes of splendour in which all the tints of the prism are blended in the brightest me- tallic reflections. It is impossible, in the midst of this tumultuous agitation, to distinguish anything definitely. But it is more quiet 5 2 68 ANNELIDANS. now ; lose no time in examining it. See how it crawls along the bottom of the vessel, with its thousand feet moving rapidly for- wards. See what beautiful plumes adorn the sides of the body: these are the branchiae, or organs of respiration, which become vermilion as they are swelled by the blood, the course of which you may trace all along the back. Look at that head enamelled with the brightest colours : here are the few tentacles, delicate organs of touch, and here, in the midst of them, is the mouth, which at first sight seems merely like an irregularly puckered slit. But watch it for a few moments ; see how it opens and protrudes a large proboscis, furnished with three pairs of jaws, and possess- ing a diameter which equals that of the body within which it is enclosed, as in a living sheath. Well I is it not wonderful ? Is there any animal that can surpass it in decoration ? The corslet of the brightest beetle, the sparkling throat of the humming-bird, would all look pale when compared with the play of light over the rings of its body, glowing in its golden threads, and sparkling over its amber and coral fringes. Now let us take a lens of higher power, and move the lamp in such a manner as to let its rays fall on the reflector of our microscope, and examine a few of the hairs taken from the sides of the Annelid we have been describing. To the outer edge of every foot are appended two FIG. 62. PUSHING-POLES OF SERPULA. bundles of hairs (setce} ; these are far stiffer than ordinary hairs, and appear to be placed on either side of the animal to defend it from its enemies. A moment's consideration will suffice to con- firm this view, for there is perhaps scarcely a weapon invented by the murderous genius of man whose counterpart could not be found amongst this class of animals. Here are curved blades, whose edges present a prolonged cutting surface, sometimes on the concave edge, as in the yatagan of the Arab, sometimes on the convex border, as in the Oriental scimitar. Next we meet with weapons which remind us of the broadsword of the cuirassier, the sabre, and the bayonet ; here are harpoons, fish-hooks, and cutting blades of every form, loosely attached to a sharp handle : MARINE WORMS. 69 these moveable pieces are intended to remain in the body of the enemy, while the handle which supported them becomes a long spike, as sharp as it was before. Here we have straight or curved poniards, cutting-bills, arrows with the barbs turned backwards, but carefully provided with a sheath to protect the fine indentations from being blunted by friction or broken by any unforeseen acci- dent. Finally, if the enemy should disregard his first wounds, there darts from every foot a shorter but stronger spear, which is brought into play by a special set of muscles, so soon as the com- batants are sufficiently near to grapple in close fight/' It is not without reason that Nature has endowed these amazons with more finely polished and sharper pointed weapons than any wielded by the Paladins of old : destined to live by rapine, and exposed to the attacks of a thousand enemies, they need them both as means of attack and defence. Almost all feed upon living prey. Some wait in ambush for the passing by of small Crus- taceans, Planariae, or other minute animals, and seize their victims with their proboscis or entwine them in the folds of their numerous arms. Others again, more active than the rest, pursue their game over the sand or through thick tufts of Corallines and other marine plants. Some attach themselves to shells, and having perforated them, devour their inhabitants. The Hcrmclla thus commits great havoc among the oyster-beds, destroying numerous colonies of this much-cherished mollusk. These Annelids are, in their turn, pursued by a multitude of carnivorous animals. Fishes wage a rude war against them, and if one, more imprudent than the rest, should abandon its retreat, or be exposed to view by the waves, it rarely escapes the murderous jaws of some whiting, sole, plaice, or eel. It is asserted that the latter kind of fish are well ac- quainted with the mode of drawing them out of the sand, as do the whelks. But crabs, lobsters, and a host of other Crustaceans, constitute their most formidable enemies, and are protected by their armour from the formidable weapons of the Annelida. FIG. 63. SAND-WORM. The Sand- Worm (Arenicola}* is exceedingly abundant on sandy shores, and is much sought for and used by fishermen as a bait. Its usual name on * Arena, the sand ; colo, I inhabit. 70 ANNELIDANS. the coast is the " Lug," or " Lug-Worm." It is of a greenish red colour, and the gill-tufts, which form two rows upon the middle portion of its body (Fig. 63), are of a beautiful crimson, from the blood which circulates in them abundantly. This worm bores rapidly in the sand by means of its conical head ; and as it moves on, the unstable sides of the passage are prevented from closing up by a secretion from the body of the animal, which cements the particles together into a kind of wall. This, as the creature advances, is left behind, imitating, in miniature, the brickwork of a tunnel. The Nereids (Nereis)* have branchial tufts and locomotive oars appended to every segment; they are carnivorous, and their mouth exhibits a very singular structure. The commencement of the alimentary canal is capable of being turned inside out, like the finger of a glove. When thus everted, it appears like a thick proboscis, armed with a formidable array of sharp teeth, curved fangs, keen knives, and horny plates resembling rasps or files, the shape of which varies in different species, but always calculated to seize and retain passing prey. No sooner is some small animal seized by this won- derful apparatus, than the whole protruded proboscis is quickly inverted, carrying the hapless victim into the living cavern, from which there is no escape. Among the Nereids may be noted The Eunice! glgantea, the largest Annelidan known. We have at this moment a specimen before us, which measures upwards of four feet in length, and consists of 448 segments, all provided with their complement of oars. It is a beautiful sight to see a man-of-war's barge, fully manned with sturdy rowers, gliding along over the level sur- face of the sea, the oars all keeping time with such precision that they seem to move as by one impulse. It is a grand spectacle to behold the meteor-like progress of a steam-ship as it cleaves its onward path ; but far more beautiful, far more magnificent to the admirer of the works of Nature to observe the movements of these splendid worms. Let any one imagine this gorgeous animal free in its native seas, blazing as it does with iridescent tints, that answer back again the glowing brilliancy of a tropical sun, while it rows along its "oary state" by means of upwards of 1,700 distinct laminae, all wielded with such energy that the eye can scarcely follow their movements and he will perhaps form some faint idea of the efficiency of a locomotive apparatus such as is provided for the Dorsibranchiate Annelidans. "With our notions of a worm," says Dr. Hartwich, "we gene- rally connect the idea of incompleteness ; we are apt to consider them as beings equally uninteresting and ugly, and disdain to in- quire into the wonders of their organization ; but a cursory exami- nation of the Eunice would alone suffice to give us a very different opinion of these despised but far from despicable animals. Three hundred brains, from which about three thousand nerves proceed, regulate its movements. Two hundred and fifty stomachs digest its food ; five hundred and fifty branchiae refresh its blood ; six hundred hearts distribute this vital fluid through its body ; and thirty thousand muscles obey the will of the worm, and execute its snake-like movements. Surely there is here but little occa- sion to commiserate v/ant or scoff at poverty ! " The Sea-Mouse (Halithea% aculeata] (Fig. 64) is common on our coasts, and is * A nymph. f A nymph. J a\s, als, the sea ; 6ea, thea, a goddess. TUBE-WORMS, frequeni.lv dredged up from muddy ground. The Annelid is four or five inches in length of a greyish hue, and clothed on the back with a fine silky down, under which are concealed fifteen pairs of scaly plates, one pair on each ring. The under surface is smooth, but marked by transverse divisions, indicating that it is formed of about forty rings or segments. On the sides project bunches of hairs resembling the finest silk, and bedizened with iridescent colours ; they yield, indeed, in no respect to the most gorgeous tints of tropical birds, or the brilliant decorations of insects : green, yellow, and orange, blue, purple, and scarlet, all the hues of the rainbow play upon them with the chang- ing light, and shine with a metallic effulgence only comparable to that which adorns the breast of the humming-bird. But it is not only for their dazzling beauty that these worms are remarkable : many of them are armed with spines, that con- stitute important weapons of defence ; each of these spines is seen, under the microscope, to be a perfect harpoon, its point being provided with a double series of strong barbs, so that when the crea- ture erects its bristles, much more for- midable than the spines of a hedge- hog, the most determined enemy. would scarcely venture to attack it. The^e spines are all retractile, and can be drawn into the body by the muscular tube from which they spring. It would be superfluous to point out the danger that would accrue to the animal itself by the pre- sence of such instruments embedded in its body, as by every movement they would be forced into its own flesh. The contrivance to obviate such an accident is as beautiful as it is simple : every barbed spine is furnished with a smooth, horny sheath, composed of two blades, between which it is lodged (Fig. 64), and these, closing upon the barbs when they are drawn inwards, effectually protect the neighbouring soft parts from laceration. FIG. 64. SEA-MOUSE. FIG. 65. SEKPI.-LA. THIRD ORDER TUEICOLOUS AXXELIDAXS. The Tubicolous Annelidans, as their name imports, reside in tubes, which are either composed of a dense shelly substance, or constructed by gluing together fragments of sand, small stones, and other similar materials. To the former section belong MYRIAPODA. The Serpulss (Serpnlce}^ (Fig. 65), found on every coast, encrusting stones or shells, or any substance that has lain for any length of time at the bottom of the sea. The animal inhabiting these shells is a worm entirely destitute of limbs, but its front part, or head, daring life presents a very beautiful spectacle, for from each side there spreads an elegant plume, composed of branched filaments of a rich scarlet or crimson hue, which float loosely in the water, and constitute the gills or bran- chiae. Besides these splendid branchial fringes, the head has one of its tentacles expanded into a broad trumpet-shaped extremity, which accurately fits the mouth of the tube, so that when the creature is alarmed, it quietly draws in this singular trap-door, and remains securely shut up within its shelly abode. The Terebellsef inhabit factitious shells, composed of grains of sand, frag- ments of shell, or even whole shells, small stones, and similar substances, which they glue together, and thus con- struct a beautiful tube, represented in the engraving (Fig. 66). This is effected by means of the tentacula that surround its head, which are extended in every direction in search of appropriate ma- terials for the construction of their residence. The SabellaJ Alveolaris often covers wide surfaces of rock, near low- water-mark, with its aggregated tubes. When the flood recedes, nothing is seen but the closed orifices ; but when covered with the rising waters, the sandy surface transforms itself into a beautiful picture. From each aperture stretches forth a neck ornamented with concentric rings of golden hair, termi- nating in a head embellished with a tiara of delicately-tinted tentacula ; so that the whole looks like a garden bed, enamelled with gay flowers of elegant forms and variegated colours. FIG. 66. TEREBELLA MEDUSA. T CHAPTER X. SECOND CLASS OF ARTICULATED ANIMALS. CENTIPEDES. MYRIAPODA. HE Annelidans examined in the last chapter, with the singular exception of the earth-worm, are only adapted to * Serpo, to tivist about like a serpent. f Terebellum, a little auger or piercer. \ A proper name. /j.vpids, murias, innumerable; TTOVS, pous, afoot. MYRIAPODA. 73 an aquatic life. The soft integument which forms their outer framework, and the feeble organs appended to the numerous segments of their lengthy bodies, are far too weak to support their weight in a less dense and buoyant element, so that, when removed from their native waters, they are utterly helpless and impotent. Supposing, as a matter of mere speculation, it was inquired, by what means animals so constructed could be ren- dered capable of assuming a terrestrial existence, so as to seek and obtain their food upon the surface of the earth, and thus re- present upon land the Annelidans of the ocean ; a little reflection would at once indicate the grosser changes required for the attain- ment of such an object. To convert the water-breathing organs of the aquatic worms into an apparatus adapted to breathe the air would be the first requisite. The second would be to give greater firmness to the tegumentary skeleton, to allow of more powerful and accurately applied muscular force, by diminishing the number of the segments, and by converting the lateral oars into jointed limbs sufficiently strong to sustain the whole weight of the body, to provide instruments of locomotion fitted for pro- gression upon the ground. Yet all these changes would be inefficient without corresponding modifications in the nervous system. The lengthened chain of minute ganglia, met with in the leech (Fig. 57), would be quite inadequate to wield muscles of strength adapted to such altered circumstances ; the small brain would be incompetent to correspond with more exalted senses ; so that, as a necessary consequence of superior organization, the nervous centres must all be increased in their proportionate development, to adapt them to higher functions. The changes which our supposition infers would be requisite for the conver- sion of an aquatic Annelid into a Myriapod are precisely those which we encounter. The air-breathing animals which we have now to describe form the transition from the red-blooded worms to the class of insects, and are intermediate between these two great classes in every part of their structure. The body of a Myriapod consists of a consecutive series of segments of equal dimensions, but, unlike those of the Annelidans, composed of a dense, semi-calcareous, or else of a firm, horny substance, and to every segment is appended one or two pairs of articulated legs, generally terminated by simple points. The anterior segment, or head, besides the organs belonging to the mouth, contains the instruments of sense, consisting of simple or compound eyes, and of two long and jointed organs, called 74 MYRIAPODA. antenna, generally regarded as ministering to the sense of touch, but which are probably connected with other perceptions unin- telligible to us. The air required for respiration is taken into the body through a series of minute pores, or spiracles, placed on each side along the entire length of the animal, and is distributed by innumer- able ramifying tubes or tracheae to all parts of the system. The number of segments, and consequently of feet, increases progres- sively with age a circumstance which remarkably distinguishes the Myriapoda from insects properly so called. There are two families belonging to this class the Millepedes, or Julidse, which feed on vegetable substances, and the Scolopendridae, or Centi- pedes, which are carnivorous and rapacious. The Millepedes* (Julus) are distinguished by their nearly cylindrical form (Fig. 67), their slow gliding motion produced by the alternate action of their very numerous little feet, sometimes more than a hundred in number, and their habit of rolling themselves into a close spiral when touched. They resort to damp and dark places, lurk under stones and moss, and are still more commonly found beneath the bark and in the wood of decaying trees. They are perfectly harmless, and feed entirely on decomposing vegetable FIG. 7. Jri.rs. materials. For this purpose their mouth is furnished with a pair of stout horny jaws, which move horizontally, and are provided at their cutting edges with sharp denticulations, so as to render them effective instruments in dividing the fibres of rotting wood, or the roots and leaves of decaying plants. Most of them emit a very rank disagreeable odour. The female Millepede deposits her eggs, which are very minute, in the earth, or in the earthy powder of decayed wood. The young, when first hatched, are quite destitute of limbs, and have much the appearance of microscopic kidney beans. In the course of a few days, however, they throw off their first skin, and make their appear- ance, divided into about eight segments, of which the three that immediately follow the head have each a pair of legs. In a few days more, a second moult takes place ; the body is enlarged, the number of segments increased, and the number of limbs augmented to seven pairs on the segments succeeding the head. At the end of a month, or thereabouts, after another change of clothes, the young Millepede appears with twenty-six pairs of feet, and so the process of exuviation is again and again repeated, until the creature arrives at its mature condition. The Centipedes f (Scolopendra) (Fig. 55) are much more formidable creatures than the Millepedes : they have a broad flattened body, composed of about four-and-twenty segments, to each of which is appended a pair of * Mille, a thousand ; pcs, a foot. f Centum, a hundred ; pes, a foot. INSECTS. 75 stout jointed limbs, well adapted, by the energy and activity of their move- ments, to the pursuit of active prey. The mouth of the Scolopendra is a terrible instrument of destruction, being not only provided with horny jaws, resembling those of Julus, but armed with a tremendous pair of massive and curved fangs, ending in sharp points, and perforated near their termination by a minute orifice, through which a poisonous fluid is instilled into the wounds they inflict. Several small species are common in our gardens ; but in hot climates they grow to a great size, and their bite, though rarely fatal, is more dangerous than the sting of the scorpion. The Giant Centipede (Scolopendra gigas], common in South America, measures upwards of a foot in length, and an inch and a quarter across its body. Other species, scarcely less formidable, inhabit India and the adjacent islands, and abound in the hottest parts of Africa. They creep into houses, lurk under articles of furniture and. behind wainscots, hide themselves in drawers and cupboards, and sometimes are found even in beds, much to the disgust and apprehension of all who are not familiarized with their presence. The largest species met with in this country is The Forked Centipede (Lit/whins fcrjicatits}.* It is found in the earth and under stones in our gardens, and is quick and active in its movements. It does not measure more than an inch and a quarter in length, and is of a tawny red colour, with fifteen feet on each side. The Electric Scolopendra (Scolofcndra elcdrica), likewise a British species, is occasionally luminous in the dark. CHAPTER XL THIRD CLASS OF ARTICULATED ANIMALS. IXSECTS.f HAVE patience with us, gentle reader our task is no light one. -To mete out the sands upon the sea-shore with a quart pot, to drain the ocean with a thimble, to count the stars, are ordinary expressions for impossibilities ; but to condense the history of the insect world into a few short pages, would be a miracle beyond them all. The number of species of insects, as we are told by entomologists, amounts to upwards of a hundred thousands ; so various in their habits and their manners; their instincts and their appetites, that every species would itself furnish a large volume of interesting information, could we only penetrate the mysteries of their lives ; and yet how little has been done in gaining anything like an intimate acquaintance with their daily duties, by a careful and watchful perusal of their economy ! The secresy of Creation, however, is not to be rudely broken. Nature * \i'0os, lithos, a stone ; j3iju, bioo, I live because it lives under stones, f Insectum, divided into segments. 7 r> INSECTS. is a very coy mistress ; watchful nights, anxious days, slender meals, and endless labours must be the lot of all those who pursue her through her labyrinths and meanders ; nor will she ever con- fess to violence what she is ready freely to disclose to patient and attentive solicitation. See the amateur entomologist, fur- nished with his nets and boxes, and all the adjuncts invented by art for the purpose of waging war against the insect race, beating up the whole country, toiling over hill and dale with indefatigable perseverance, and so eager in his pursuit that he hardly allows himself time to stick his murderous pins through the unfortunate victims caught in his nets and never wearying of his sport until his collecting-box is converted into a little charnel-house, filled with their closely-packed and writhing bodies. He returns home, delighted with his success ; but in spite of all his labour, he has not added a single item to our knowledge, or a single fact to the unknown history of any one species of his numerous specimens. This was not the way in which Reaumur or De Geer devoted them- selves to the interrogation of Nature : their efforts were directed not to the destruction, but to the preservation, of the objects of their study. They wielded not the scissors of the Fates, where- with to cut the frail thread of insect life ; their method was to use it as a clue to guide them through the hidden labyrinths of the domestic history and habits of their favourites ; they chose some fitting spot in the vicinity of the abodes of their proteges, and watched and chronicled their every action, until, by patient wooing, they at length succeeded in persuading them to confess the hidden mysteries of their avocations. They dealt with living Nature, not with corpses, and their rich pages testify to the interesting result of their researches. It is certainly instructive on a winter evening to examine with the miscroscope the various parts of a butterfly, and investigate their curious structure ; but it is in the early morning, when the sun shines on the laughing earth, the flowers have opened, and all Nature smiles, that the butterfly is to be seen in perfection, fan- ning the perfumed air with wings as white and pure as are the blossoms of the lily over which he plays, coquetting, as it were, to wake the jealousy of neighbouring roses. Is it coquetry, or is it that he knows not where to choose the .sweetest nectar or the prettiest flower ? See ! how he now advances, now retreats ; returns and flutters off again, and then pounces down on a fresh violet, coyly peeping from beneath its leaves. And now the little rover takes his station, with a touch so light as not to discompose i:\SECTS. 77 the perfumed velvet on which he treads his wings are motion- less, and raised against each other. Now he uncurls his wonderful proboscis, and begins to sip the nectar offered so complacently, till, satisfied, away he flies, and Zephyr's self returning, finds no fold, or crease, or damage done to indicate the robbery com- mitted. Such casual glimpses of Creation's charms are worth whole cabinets of cork and pins. But to our subject. Let us first inquire, What is an insect ? In a German vocabulary that happens by accident to be open before us, under the general name of " Insects " we find grouped together the following ill-assorted selection, " Flies, Spiders, Ants, Scorpions, Frogs, Toads, and Lizards." It is, therefore, evi- dent that the word " insect " is made use of in ordinary language in a very vague and indeterminate manner, and applied indis- criminately to very various animals. Linnaeus, it is true, em- ployed it to designate all animals provided with an external skeleton, divided into segments (insccta), in which sense it nearly corresponded to the Cuvierian expression articulata, jointed, and thus included lobsters and crabs, spiders and scorpions, under the same designation. In the restricted sense in which it is now em- ployed, however, it includes only such articulated animals as in their perfect or matured state are recognizable by the following characters, whereby they are distinguished from all other crea- tures. The body of an insect is divided into three principal portions, called respectively, the head, the tJiorax, and the abdomen. The head contains the apparatus of the mouth, and instruments of the senses, including the antennae or feelers, which are invariably two in number. The thorax, formed by the union of three segments of the ske- leton, supports six jointed legs, and generally four, sometimes tn'o li'ings. These last, however, are frequently wanting. The abdomen is destitute of legs, and contains the viscera, con- nected with nutrition and reproduction. The legs of insects, as above stated, are invariably six in number, one pair being attached to each of the segments of the thorax. Considered separately, each of these legs is made up of several pieces, which well deserve our notice. The first division of the leg, or that in immediate connection with the thorax, is called the hip (coxa), and upon this, as upon a centre, the move- ments of the limbs are performed. To the extremity of the coxa a small moveable piece is attached, called the trochantcr, to which INSECTS. succeeds the thigh (femur), which is the thickest and most robust of all the divisions of the limb. The next piece, called the shank (tibia), is occasionally of considerable length, and is connected with the last by a hinge. To its extremity is appended the foot FIG. 63. KIND LEG OF BEE. (tarsus), composed of a consecutive series of small segments, vary- ing in number from five to one, the last of which is armed with claws, or other appendages, adapted to different kinds of pro- gression. With these divisions of the leg it is necessary that the student should be thoroughly acquainted, as we shall again and again have to refer to them hereafter. FIG. 69. WING OF DRAGON-FLY. The wings of insects, when present, are invariably attached to the two posterior segments of the thorax, Avhich are strengthened in every possible manner, so as to afford a support of sufficient density and firmness to sustain the violent exertions of the muscles employed in flight. Few things are met with in Nature more admirable than these structures. They present, indeed, a combination of strength and lightness absolutely beyond any- thing of human invention, and as instruments of flight they much surpass the wings of birds, both in the power and precision of their movements. In the dragon-flies, by far the most powerful fliers in the insect world, all four wings are of equal size, and consist of a thin mem- INSECTS. 79 branous expansion of great delicacy and of glassy appearance, supported at all points by a horny network (Fig. 69). These in- sects can fly in all directions, backwards, and to the right or left, as well as forwards, with equal facility. The substances employed as food by insects are various in proportion to the extensive distribution of the class. Some de- vour the leaves of vegetables, or feed upon grasses or succulent plants ; others destroy timber and the bark or roots of trees ; while some, more delicately organized, are content to extract the juices of the expanding buds, or sip up the honied fluids from the flowers. Many tribes are carnivorous in their habits, armed with various weapons of destruction, and carry on a perpetual warfare with their own or other species; and again, there are countless swarms appointed in their various spheres to attack all dead or putrefying materials, and thus aid in the removal of substances which by their accumulation might prove a constant source of annoyance and mischief. Such differences in their nature demand, of course, corresponding diversity in the construction of the in- struments employed for procuring nourishment ; and accordingly we find in the structure of the mouths of these little beings in- numerable modifications, adapting them to different offices jaws armed with strong and penetrating hooks for seizing and securing struggling prey ; sharp and powerful shears for clipping and di- viding the softer parts of vegetables ; saws, files, and augers for excavating and boring the harder parts of plants ; lancets for piercing the skin of living animals ; siphons and sucking-tubes for imbibing fluid nutriment all these, in a thousand forms, are met with in the insect world, and thus provide them with the means of obtaining food adapted to their habits, and even of construct- ing for themselves edifices of inimitable workmanship. FIG. 70. PARTS OF THE MOUTH OF AN INSECT. The mouths of insects may be divided into two great classes, those which are adapted for biting, forming what is called & per- fect or vicuidibulatc mouth, and those which are so constructed as only to be employed in sucking, constituting the suctorial or haustettate mouth. It is in the former of these that all the parts are most completely developed. The perfect mouth of an insect 8o INSECTS. consists of an upper and an under lip, and four horny jaws. The upper lip (labruiti) (Figs. 70, 71,0) is a convex horny plate, placed transversely across the upper margin of the cavity in which the jaws are lodged, so that when the mouth is shut, it folds down to meet the under lip (labium) g\ and these two pieces more or less conceal the proper jaws, which are lodged between them. The upper pair of jaws (mandibula}, b, are hard and powerful shears, placed immediately beneath the upper lip, and so jointed to the cheeks that they move horizontally, opening and shutting like a pair of scissors. Their concave edge is* armed with strong denticulations of various kinds, sometimes furnished with cutting edges, that, like sharp shears, will clip and divide the hardest- FIG. 71. MOUTH OF A BEETLE. FIG. 72. VARIOUS ANTENNAE. animal and vegetable substances ; sometimes they form sharp and pointed fangs, adapted to seize and pierce their victims ; and not unfrequently they constitute a series of grinding surfaces, dis- posed like the molar teeth of quadrupeds, to triturate and bruise the materials used as food. The variety of uses to which these mandibles can be turned is indeed amazing. In the carnivorous beetles their hooked points, more formidable than the teeth of the tiger, penetrate with ease the mailed covering of their stoutest congeners, and in the dragon-fly they are scarcely less formidable weapons of destruction. In the locust tribes these organs are equally efficient agents in cutting and masticating leaves and vegetable matters adapted to their appetites, while in the wasps INSECTS. 8 1 and bees they form the instruments with which these insects build their admirable edifices, and, to use the words of a popular author, supply the place of trowels, spades, pickaxes, saws, scissors, and knives, as the necessity of the case may require. Beneath the mandibles is situated another pair of jaws, c, of similar construc- tion, but generally smaller, and less powerful : these are called the maxilla. The lower lip, or labium, which closes the mouth inferiorly, consists of two distinct portions, usually described as separate organs : the chin, mcntiim, that really forms the inferior border of the mouth, and a membranaceous or somewhat fleshy organ, reposing upon the chin internally, and called the tongue (lingua). All these parts enter into the composition of the per- fect mouth of an insect, and from the numerous varieties that occur in their shape and proportions, they become important guides to the entomologist in the determination and distribution of species. The organs of sense in insects are distinct and well developed, though we cannot in all cases precisely determine the sensations of which they are the channels. Thus, the two jointed members called antenna:, that project from the head, are believed by some to be organs of touch, by others to convey delicate perceptions unknown to us, and by the generality of entomologists are con- sidered to be in some way sensible to sound. They are composed of a varying number of rings, sometimes as many as thirty, set in succession ; the whole constituting a tube, and enclosing nerves, muscles, and air-pipes. Their form is exceedingly varied ; and in many instances they are ornamented with feather-like beards, or curiously sculptured, so that they afford useful characters for the identification of the multitudinous genera comprised in this Class. The eyes of insects present some interesting peculiarities of structure, indicative, no doubt, of corresponding diversities in the sense of vision, of which we must ever remain ignorant. Two distinct kinds of eyes are possessed by these animals, both kinds being present in the majority of species. If we examine the head of a bee, for example, we find a large convexity on each side, which a magnifying glass discovers to be composed of an immense number of facets, and on the summit of the head, between these, we see three shining points, resembling minute gems, set in a triangular form. The former are termed compound, the latter simple eyes. The simple eyes consist of a glassy lens, behind which a nervous thread is spread out, forming a retina, or net- C 82 INSECTS, work, as in the higher animals, to receive impressions of sight. The structure of these eyes is sufficiently intelligible, but our admiration is greatly excited when we come to consider the large convex organs of compound vision, and find that each of these contains many thousands of eyes, all capable of distinct percep- tion. The microscope reveals to us that the compound eye of an ant contains fifty lenses, that of a fly four thousand, that of a dragon-fly twelve thousand, that of a butterfly seventeen thou- sand, and that of a species of mordella (a kind of beetle) the FIG. 73. EVES OF BEE. FIG. 74. COMPOUND EYE OK A DRAGON-FLY. amazing number of twenty-five thousand. Every one of these regular, polished, and many-sided lenses is the external surface of a distinct eye, furnished with its own iris and pupil and a per- fect nervous apparatus, as may be seen in the appended figure representing the eye of a dragon-fly cut perpendicularly through the middle. As the eyes of insects are immoveably fixed in the head, it is probable that this great number of lenses and visual tubes is needful to see different objects, some or other of the component eyes being turned towards every point. The respiratory system of insects appears to be constructed with a view to insure a perpetual renewal of the vitality of the blood, combined with the utmost lightness, so needful for animals of which the great majority are denizens of the air. Hence we find neither lungs nor gills, but a series of tubes pervading every part of the body, by which the vital oxygen is carried to the blood. If we examine a beetle, a grasshopper, or a caterpillar, we shall observe a row of oval openings on each side, capable of being closed by thickened lips (Fig. 75). These are the spiracles or breathing apertures, for no insect breathes through the mouth : they admit the air into main trunks which run along each side of the body ; INSECTS. these are connected by smaller branch pipes, which run across the rings of the abdomen, and distribute an infinite number of smaller tubes to every part of the interior. In insects of great powers of flight, there are likewise reservoirs of air : these are particularly large in the bee. One circumstance connected with the arrangements of the air-tubes specially deserves our admi- ration. It is evident that the sides of canals so slender and deli- cate would inevitably collapse and fall together, so as to obstruct the passage of the air they are destined to convey, were not some plan adopted to obviate such an occurrence ; and the only mode FIG. 75. SPIRACLES. OF INSECTS. FIG. 76. -AIR-PIPE OF FLY. of providing against this would appear to be to make their walls stiff and inflexible. Inflexibility and stiffness would, however, never do in this case, where the tubes in question have to be distributed in countless ramifications through so many soft and distensible organs, and the problem, therefore, is how to maintain them permanently open in spite of external pressure, aud still preserve the perfect pliancy and softness of their walls. The mode in which this is effected is as follows : Between the two thin layers of which each air-tube consists, an elastic thread is interposed, coiled in close spirals, of sufficient strength and firm- ness to maintain the channel always pervious, but not at all in- terfering with its flexibility ; and this fibre, delicate as it is, may be traced with the microscope even through the utmost ramifica- tions of the air-tubes. Wonderful are the results obtained by the adoption of this new arrangement. Not only is the body of the insect lightened to the uttermost, but the little creature, thus breathing in every part, has its vitality so intensified that it is, G 2 84 INSECTS. in proportion to its bulk, the strongest of created things a living railway engine, or compared with which a railway engine is a baby's toy. Insects are proverbially of small dimensions. Their presence around us is only remarked as conferring additional life and gaiety on the landscape, and except when by some inordinate increase in their numbers they make up by their multitude for their diminutive size, the ravages committed by them are trifling and insignificant. Far otherwise would it be if they attained to larger growth, and still possessed the extraordinary strength with which they are now so conspicuously gifted : they would then indeed become truly the tyrants of creation monsters such " as fables never feigned nor fear conceived," fully adequate to exter- minate from the surface of the earth all that it contains of vege- table or of animal existence. A common flea or grasshopper will spring two hundred ^times the length of its own body, which is as though a man should at a single bound leap over the ball and cross of St. Paul's cathedral. The dragon-fly possesses such indomi- table strength of wing that, for a day together, it will sustain itself in the air and fly with equal facility and swiftness backwards or forwards, to the right or to the left, without turning. The beetles are encased in a dense and hard integument impervious to ordi- nary violence ; and we may add that the wasp and the termite ant will penetrate the hardest wood with their jaws. Neither is the velocity of the movements of insects inferior to their prodigious muscular power. It has been calculated that in its ordinary flight the common house-fly makes with its wings about six hundred strokes in a second of time, which will carry it a distance of five feet, but if alarmed .its velocity can be increased six or seven times, or to thirty or thirty-five feet in a second. In this space of time the swiftest race-horse that ever trod the turf could clear only ninety feet, which is at the rate of more than a mile in a minute. Compare the infinite difference in the size of the two animals (ten millions of the fly would hardly counterpoise one racer), and how wonderful will the velocity of the little insect appear ! Did the fly equal the race-horse in size, and retain its present powers in the ratio of its magnitude, it would traverse the globe with the rapidity of lightning. Let the reader, therefore, imagine that great law of Nature, which restricts the dimensions of an insect within certain bounds, dispensed with even in a single species. Suppose the wasp or the stag-beetle dilated to the bulk of a tiger or of an elephant, cased in impenetrable armour furnished with jaws that would crush INSECTS. 85 the solid trunk of an oak winged and capable of flight so rapid as to render escape hopeless ; what could resist such destroyers, or how could the world support their ravages ? Insects may, therefore, be regarded in the light of engines, so perfectly adapted to the work intrusted to them, that to increase or diminish their size would be to unfit them for the duties for which they are specially constructed, and, as a necessary conse- quence, no insect iti its ringed condition can be permitted to grow ; its growth must be effected under other circumstances, and gene- rally under a form quite different from that which it presents in FIG. 77. METAMORPHOSES OF BUTTERFLY. its perfect state. Hence arises the necessity for the Metamor- phosis of Insects. Most insects in the course of their lives are subject to very great changes of form, attended by equally remarkable alterations in their habits and propensities. These transformations or mctamor- pJioses, as they are called, quite as strange as any we read of in Ovid, might cause the same insect, at different ages, to be mis- taken for three different animals. For example, a caterpillar, after feeding upon leaves till it is fully grown, retires into some place of concealment, throws off its caterpillar skin, and presents itself in an entirely different shape, wherein it has no power of moving about nor of taking food. In this, its second or chrysalis 86 INSECTS. state, it seems to be lifeless, having neither a distinct head nor moveable limbs, after a lapse of time the chrysalis skin bursts open, and from the rent issues a butterfly, whose wings, soft and crumpled at first, soon extend and harden, and become fitted to bear away the insect in search of the honied juices of flowers. Hence there are three distinct periods in the life of an insect, more or less distinctly marked. In the first, or period of infancy, an insect is technically called a larva, a word signifying a mask, be- cause therein its future form is more or less masked or concealed. This name is equally applied to grubs, caterpillars, and maggots, and to all young insects before their wings .begin to appear. Con- sequently, in this first period, which is much the longest portion of their lives, insects are always wingless, pass most of their time in eating, grow rapidly, and, to allow of their growth, repeatedly cast off their skins. During the second period some insects retain their activity and their appetite for food, continue to grow and acquire the rudi- ments of wings ; while others, at this age, entirely lose their larva form, take no food, and remain at rest in a death-like sleep. This is called the pupa * state of the insect, because in this condition they resemble an infant wrapped in swaddling-bands. The pupae from caterpillars are more commonly called chrysalids, because some of them, as the name implies, are gilt or adorned with golden spots, whereas pupae that retain their legs and capability of loco- motion are often named nymphs, the reason for which is not very obvious. At the end of the second period insects again shed their skin, and come forth fully grown, and (with few exceptions) provided with wings. They thus enter upon their last or adult state, wherein they no longer increase in size, and during which they provide for their progeny. This period only lasts a short time, for most insects die immediately after they have laid their eggs. Bees, wasps, and ants, however, which live in society, and labour to- gether for the common good, .continue much longer in the adult state. The innumerable races of insects may be classified in accord- dance with the following table : * Pupa, a baby. Those who have seen infants in many parts of the Continent tied tight to a board, will appreciate the appropriateness of the expression. INSECTS, & !r-, ON "~* 1-Ti CO A -^T CJ cf < s S eg" * CD +3 d, ex = Homopt Strepsip Diptora, .& i & St Parasita, Thysano 88 COLEOPTERA. SHIELD-WINGED INSECTS. ORDER COLEOPTERA. The Coleopterous insects are characterized by having four wings, of which the anterior pair, always hard or leathery in their texture, form two strong shields, beneath which the hinder pair are lodged and protected. The front wings, or elytra* when in repose, are always united by a straight edge extending along their whole length. The hinder wings, which alone are adapted for flight, are much larger than the elytra, and when not in use, are folded transversely ; in a few species they are wanting, and then the elytra are, as it were, soldered together. The tegumentary envelope of these insects is always remarkably hard, and forms a very substantial suit of armour. Their mouth is constructed for the mastication of food, and is provided with a pair of strong mandibles, a pair of maxillae bearing palpi, and a labium or lower lip also bearing palpi. The abdomen is sessile, that is, is broadest at the place where it joins the thorax. The metamorphosis which the Coleoptera undergo is complete. The larva resembles a worm ; its body is soft, with the exception of the head and the first segments of the body, which are of a horny consistence ; it is generally furnished with three pairs of horny legs, attached to the three first rings, but sometimes these are replaced by fleshy tubercles ; there is, however, never a greater number than six of these appendages. The pupa is motionless and takes no food, its limbs being swathed together by the external integument ; it is generally enclosed in a shell or cocoon, composed of different substances joined together by a viscid silky material ; sometimes it is naked. This is by far the most numerous of all the insect orders : the number of species already known is probably not much less than fifty thousand. In order, therefore, more readily to arrange such a multitude, they are divided into four sections, according to the number of joints or articulations entering into the composition of their feet (tarsi]. The sections so formed are as follows : 1. The Pentamerans,t in which the tarsi of all the legs arc composed of five joints. 2. The Heteromerans, J in which the tarsi have five joints on the tivo anterior pairs of legs, and only four on the hindmost pair. * L\vrpGv, elytron, a case. f Tr^re, pente,y?z^; /ufyos, meros, a joint. Jc'repoj, eteros, various ; //.<^>os, meros, a joint. TIGER BEETLES. 89 3. The Tetramerans, * in which the tarsi of all the legs have four articulations. 4. The Trimerans, t in which all the tarsi have only three ioints. SECTION OF PEXTAMEKAXS. The first division of Coleoptera, having five joints in all their tarsi, are the most active and highly gifted of the race, and may be considered as the lions and tigers of the insect world : they constitute the family of Carnivora, 1 and are distinguished by having two palpi on each maxilla. These beetles in their perfect state pursue and devour other in- sects; their larvae also have similar habits. Among them we find The Tiger Beetles (Cicindda}\. which are excellent representatives of the quadruped whose name they bear ; conspicuously the most rapacious and bloodthirsty of the race ; equally remarkable for the beauty of their colours, their extreme activity, and savage propensities. They run with considerable swiftness, and take wing the moment they are approached ; but they alight again at a short distance. They are commonly met with in the heat of sum- mer upon heaths and in other dry, sunny situations. Their larva.' excavate cylindrical burrows in the ground', which are, many of them, upwards of a foot in depth: in the construction of these dens they exhibit extraordinary ingenuity loosening the earth by means of their powerful jaws, and carrying it to the surface upon their broad heads. They have hooks upon their backs, which assist them in climbing to the top of their excavation, much in the FIG. 7 8. same way as a chimney-sweep climbs a chimney. Their LARVA OF TIGEK BEETLE. hole being completed, they station themselves just within its entrance, where they lie in wait for any poor passing insect traveller, which is instantly seized and dragged to the bottom of the cave, there to bo devoured. The Ground Beetles (Carabus}\\ are scarcely less active than the fore- going, or less carnivorous in their habits : many of them are constantly em- ployed in prowling about upon the surface of the ground in search of insect prey, lurking in the day-time under stones and other similar places of con- cealment, and carrying on an unrelenting warfare against innumerable noxious insects, the destructiveness of which they materially assist in diminishing. Among these marauding beetles, the most remarkable are The Bombardiers (Brachintis\ as they are not inappositely named, several species being provided with a means of defence unparalleled among the lower animals. Of all the inventions which mankind seems fairly entitled to claim as being exclusively of human contrivance, perhaps that of guns and gunpowder might be deemed the most original; yet even in this, strange to say, he has been forestalled. The little bombardier beetles possessed an artillery of their own long before the fields of Crecy first trembled at * rerpa?, tetras, four ; /j-epos. meros, a joint. f rpetj, treis, three; /ifyos, meros, a joint. + Caro, carnis, flesh ; voro, I eat. Cicindela, a shining insect. || Ka.pa.fios, carabos, a beetle. 9 o COLEOPTERA. the unaccustomed roar of slaughtering cannon, as any one \vill allow who may inadver- tently lay hold of one of these living batteries. It is quite true that neither powder nor ball is needed by the insect cannoneer ; but th^re is the flash, the smoke, and the report, and although be wanting, its place is most efficiently supplied by a burning drop, so caustic in its nature as to be only comparable to nitric acid. Sternly and unremittingly is the work of destruction intrusted to these carnivorous beetles carried on by night and by day, with- out remorse or respite ; and were we to reflect for a moment, we should soon perceive how indispensable is their murderous zeal to the order and wellbeing of surrounding Nature. The active operations of these destroyers are not, however, re- stricted to the land. Many species are inhabitants of the water, and in that element have their assigned tasks to perform. Neither are their bloodthirsty propensities only manifested during their mature or winged state ; from their earliest birth they are tutored to the work of destruction, and their very infancy is devoted to carnage. The Water-Beetles (Dyticus}* . exhibit, in a very striking manner, the facility with which, by a slight modification in their form and arrangements, the limbs of an insect become convertible to the most opposite uses. The body of the Dyticus, oval in its shape, and slightly flattened above and below, is converted into a boat, so smooth and polished in every part, that it glides through the water with scarcely the slightest resistance, while the two hinder pairs of legs are changed into oars of a most effective and elegant construction. Thus limbed, the Dy- ticus is fully equipped for its piratical mode of life, and becomes an object of no little interest in the water over which it tyrannizes. Some- times lurking beneath the weeds, it may be seen creeping stealthily about in search of some victim to seize by surprise ; sometimes launching its skiff upon predatory excursions, the little corsair sweeps along by means of its oars with wonder- ful rapidity coming every now and then to the surface of the water to breathe, and diving again into the depths below carrying with it a supply of air beneath its wing-covers to serve for respira- tion during its immersion. The young of these water-beetles are as active and ferocious as the adult insects, although widely differing in point of form. These larvae, not inappro- priately distinguished by the name of " water-tigers," have some resemblance to a Scolopendra, being composed of a succession of scaly rings, and they are, FIG. 79. WATER-BEETLE. js, dyticos, dirin-. U'A TER-BEETLES. FIG. Co. LAKVA OF DYTICI'S. moreover, furnished with six strong and well-jointed legs, by means of which they run about with considerable rapidity. The head, which is attached to the body by a flexible neck, is broad, and composed of strong horny plates, adapted to support the formidable jaws, which are powerful hooked fangs, moving laterally, and so sharp that woe betide the unfortunate creature upon which they lay hold. Thus armed, these butchers Jive upon other aquatic animals, upon which they rush with all the vivacity of a shark or pike, not sparing even individuals of their own species. After having several times cast their skin, these larva? prepare to assume their pupa state ; for that pur- pose they creep out of the water, and bury themselves in the moist earth in the vicinity of their native pond each scooping out for itself an oval cavity wherein to pass the assigned time of helplessness and inactivity. (Fig. 80, b.) Some naturalists are pleased to find in the rapacious race of beetles, the representatives of the eagles and the falcons among the feathered tribes : both are equally organized to combat and to kill both strike at living game, and consequently must stand pre-eminent in strength and courage. But, as amongst the flesh- devouring birds, species exist possessing more ignoble attributes, not formed for open battle, but content to appease their ravenous appetites with carrion and such offal, so among the insects nume- rous tribes exist, whose prey is garbage, and whose whole employ- ment seems to be to search for and remove the dead remains of other animals. Everywhere these scavengers are busy : some frequent the muddy margins of our pools and ditches, eagerly in 92 COLEOPTERA. quest of rotten prey ; others prefer the land, where they seek out with unremitting diligence whatever from decay begins to taint the air ; while some, the very sextons of creation, bury whole the carcases they meet with, and thus vigorously assist in carrying out the sanitary laws of Nature. To these scavengers belong The Brachelytrous* Pentamerans. These have only one pal- pus on each maxilla ; their wing-cases are much shorter than their bodies, which are generally narrow and elongated. They include The Rova Beetles (Staphilinus), well known to every schoolboy by their turned-up tails and threatening jaws, with which they menace their assailants. They generally take up their abode in the earth, in the vicinity of dunghills, or of rotten trees, or anywhere in the neighbourhood of rottenness and decay ; they are all exceedingly voracious, run very quickly, and take flight upon the least alarm. Their bodies are generally jet black, and they diffuse an intoler- able odour. The larvae have the same habits as the perfect insects, from which, except from the circumstance that they have no wings, they are scarcely dis- tinguishable. The third tribe of Coleopterous Pentamerans are named Serri- COrnes.t They are distinguished by the shape of their antennae, which are very long and generally toothed like a saw. Among these are The Gold Beaters (Bttprcstis) J, conspicuous from their size and the magni- ficence of their colours, which sometimes resemble polished gold upon a field of emerald, or blaze with every tint of blue and green, purple and scarlet, mixed with metallic gleams of gorgeous brilliance. These beetles are all vegetable feeders ; they walk slowly, but their flight is rapid, especially in hot and dry weather. When any one attempts to seize them, they fall to the earth. A few small species may be met with on flowers, but they generally frequent forests and the vicinity of trees. The females lay their eggs in dead dry wood, in which the larvae excavate long winding passages, wherein they undergo their metamorphoses. The Spring Beetles (Elater} are remarkable from their faculty of spring- ing into the air when laid upon their backs, in which position, owing to the shortness of their legs, they would otherwise be completely unable to rise. The most celebrated among them is The CuCUJO (Elater noctilitcns}, which has upon each side of the back of its thorax a smooth convex round spot, from which at night there issues a light so brilliant that by its assistance it is easy to read the smallest print, more especially if several of these insects are put together in a glass vessel. By the light thus afforded, the Brazilian iadies are able to embroider ; and not unfrequently they twine these living lamps among their hair to light them in their evening promenade. The Indians fasten them to their mocassins, and thus illuminate their path. A merchant ship once accidentally brought one to Paris in some wood, wherein it had passed its larva state, and astonished the inhabitants of the Faubourg St. Antoine by a display of its brilliant light an exhibition for which they were but little prepared. Nearly allied to these are Bpaxfa, brachus, short; 2\vrpov, elutron, win^-coi'cr. f Serra, a saw; cornu, a horn; i.e., antenna. % 8ofarp-r), uclor, water; 0iXos, philos, loving, t Lamella, a leaf; cornu, a horn or antenna. SCAVENGER BEETLES. 95 FIG 82. COCKCHAFER AND LARVA. nymph condition bu- ried in the earth, from which they slowly crawl when their me- tamorphosis is com- pleted. We select one or two familiar ex- amples as illustrative of the habits of this immense group. The Scavenger Beetles (Geotrupcs] are among the most useful insects met with in tropical cMmates : no sooner is the presence of filth announced by its scent, than the scavengers are heard coming booming up the wind, and roll it away at once in large pieces as big as billiard-balls, and when they reach a place proper by its softness for the deposit of their eggs and the safety of their young, they dig the soil out from beneath the ball, till they have quite let it down and covered it. They then lay their eggs within the mass. While the larvae are growing, they devour the inside of the ball before coming aboveground. These beetles, with their gigantic balls, look like Atlas . with the world on his back, only they go backwards and with their heads down, push with their hind legs, as if a boy should roll a snow-ball with his legs while standing on his head. DR. LIVINGSTONE. FIG. 83. THE GOLIATH BEETLE AND HERCITLES BEETLE. The Lamellicorn beetles embiace some of the largest of the insect race, equally remarkable for their size and prodigious 96 COLEOPTERA. strength, hence such names as Goliath, Hercules, Samson, &c., are pretty freely conferred upon them. SECTION OF HETEROMERANS. \Vc now arrive at the second great section of the Coleoptera namely, the Heteromerans distinguished by having five joints on the tarsi of each of the two front pairs of legs, but only four on the two hind ones. They are all, without exception, vegetable feeders ; and it may be said that every plant has appropriate inhabitants selected from their numerous hosts First of this extensive series we must notice the Melasomes,* remarkable as a group from the circumstance of their bodies being almost invariably black, and thus adapted to the nocturnal habits of the generality of the species. Many of them are wingless. Others, provided with wings, are frequently met with, especially towards night, in unfrequented parts of our houses ; they abound in bakers' shops, corn-mills, and wherever farinaceous food is ob- tainable ; they are likewise frequently to be met with in old walls, and in other out-of-the-way situations. As a sample of the group we may mention The Meal-grinders (Tencbrio molitor}, whose larvae, under the name of meal-worms, are found abundantly in bran and flour, which they devour in great quantities, and wherein they undergo their metamorphosis. These grubs, being easily obtainable, are given as food to nightingales and other small birds. A second numerous family is that of the Taxicornes, t so called from the regularly beaded structure of their antennae. These are generally found upon decaying fungi, such as grow upon old trees, or else they lurk beneath the bark, while others live upon the ground or under stones. The StenelytraJ form the next division. Many of these in- habit trees, creeping beneath the bark, where, too, their progeny is reared, while some are only found on flowers, or are appropriate to different kinds of fungi or of mushrooms. The Trachelides, distinguished by the length and size of their necks, are likewise found on plants, of which they eat the leaves or suck the nectar from their flower-bells ; many of them are remarkable for shamming death as soon as they are seized or * fj.^\as, melas, black ; rhynchos, a snout; 06/ooj, plioros, carrying, f Having crooked snouts. LADYBIRDS. 99 the mimosa-trees are sometimes so crowded with these splendid insects that the branches bend beneath their glittering burden. Even some of our native species, such as the Rose curculio, when seen under a microscope, are found to be most brilliantly decorated. A second tribe of Coleopterous Tetramerans comprehends The Wood-eaters or Xylophagi,* a race of insects specially appointed to devour timber. They mostly live upon wood, in which their larvae excavate galleries in all directions ; so that when they become numerous, whole forests of pine and firs are de- stroyed by their ravages. Some cause immense damage amongst olive-trees, whilst others, the feeblest of the race, content them- selves with devouring various kinds of fungi. As an example of these timber-borers, we give a figure of The Long-horned Beetle (Prionus), one of the largest of the tribe, con- spicuous alike from the beauty of its colours and the strength of its jaws. (Fig. 87.) SECTION OF TRIMERANS. In the last section of the Coleoptera, the Trimerans, the number of tarsal joints in all the six legs is reduced to three; of these the best-known examples arc The Ladybirds (Coccinelld), universal favourites, and as useful as they are pretty. These insects are readily recognized by their semi-globular shape, and by the peculiar pattern of their colouring, generally black spots upon a red or yellow ground, or red and yellow spots upon a black ground. They feed exclusively upon the plant-lice, or Aphides, that infest the choicest flowers of our greenhouses, and are still more hurtful in the hop plantation and the garden. To the destruction of these insect pests the whole energies of the ladybird are devoted. Its eggs, resembling groups of ninepins set upright, are laid in little patches on the leaves of plants: when these are hatched they give birth to a larva furnished with a small head and a thick but tapering body, which creeps actively about the leaf by means of six short legs attached to its ante- rior segments (Fig. 88). Its colour is usually a dark bluish grey, having black spots inter- spersed with a few orange spots of larger size. It riots among the Aphides like a lion FlG - SS.-LADYBIRD AND ITS STAGES. among a flock of sheep, devouring them one , xylon, wood ; , pleco, 1 plait ; irrtpov, pteron, a wing. LEAF INSECTS. TCI FIG. 89. EARWIG ON THE WING. is given to them on account of the beautiful manner in which their hinder wings are folded up when at rest under their elytra. The ap- pearance of these elegant wings, when ex- panded, is represented in the annexed figure (Fig. 89); when closed, they are curiously packed into a sixth part of their ample breadth. These insects do much injury in our gardens, by devouring the fruit and destroying the pe- tals of our favourite flowers. They manifest great care and attention towards their young, guarding them with parental instinct, and de- fending them by means of the powerful for- ceps appended to the hinder part of their body. The Cockroaches (Blatta), supposed to have been originally imported from Asia, now swarm in this country, especially in the underground kitchens of London and other large cities. They devour all kinds of provisions, and even gnaw flannels, shoes, and other animal substances. They are nocturnal in their habits, coming out of their holes after all has become dark and quiet, and sometimes in such numbers that, if a candle be suddenly brought into a room, the floor will appear quite black with these annoying intru- ders, yet in a few mo- ments all of them dis- appear. The eggs of these insects are en- closed in an egg-case of very curious struc- ture, which is frequent- ly to be met with in the crevices of walls, be- hind shutters, and in similar places of con- cealment ; this box the iemale carries about with her for some time, attached to her body; but at length she fixes it to the selected spot by means of a sort of gummy cement. The Leaf Insects (Mantis] are the most i emarkable of the Cur- sorial Orthoptera. No Parisian manufacturer of artificial flowers could more success- FIG 90. MANTIS. fully imitate the productions of Flora than these insects are made to coun- terfeit the branches and the foliage of the shrubs they frequent, so that while in their natural haunts it is next to impossible for the most practised eye to 102 ORTHOPTERA. distinguish them. The appearance of the leaf insects whilst waiting for their prey is very singular. They remain for hours together stationary in the attitude represented in the annexed figure, with their fore legs held up together like a pair of arms, prepared to seize any insect that may come within their reach. Hence they have obtained a sort of sacred character amongst the credulous inhabitants of the countries in which they are found, who, from a superstitious notion that while in that attitude they are engaged in prayer, have given them such names as Prega Diou, Prie Dieu, &c. These creatures are very voracious. No sooner does an insect come near them than, like a cat approaching a mouse, the mantis moves imperceptibly along, and steals towards its victim, fearful of putting it to flight. When sufficiently close, the fore leg is extended to its full length, and the fly is seized and crushed by the numerous spines with which its edges are armed. The Leaping Orthoptera (Saltatorid) are at once recogniz- able by the great size and strength of their hind legs, a structure whereby they are enabled to perform prodigious leaps. Of their general form we have a familiar example in the House-Cricket, everywhere to be met with. The House-Cricket (Gryllus domesticus) frequents the same situations, is active at the same season, feeds on the same substances, and has, in many respects, the same habits as the cockroach. Its ringing " crink" proceeding from the fireplace is considered a cheerful sound, and probably, from its asso- ciation with genial warmth and plenty, is often enumerated among the amenities of the fireside. The shrill sound above alluded to is produced only by the male rubbing its wings, which are peculiarly constructed, one against the other. The Grasshoppers (Gryllus campcstris) make use of their hind legs in producing their " crink." The thigh is furnished with a number of transverse, overlapping, angular plates, and the shank carries a series of short horny points upon each side. The insect, when it crinks, brings the shank up to the thigh, and rubs both to and fro against the wing-sheaths, doing this by turns with the right and left legs, which causes the regular break in the sound. The Locusts (Gryllus locusta) belong to the same family as the cricket and grasshopper, and, considered individually, are quite as harmless; but coming, as they frequently do in Eastern countries, in hosts, which darken the air and cover the surface of the earth, are amongst the most dreadful scourges of the human race. Dr. Shaw, who has given us an account of the swarms which he saw in Barbary, tells us that they first appeared about the end of March, and in- creased into vast numbers in April, but returned into the extensive plains in May to deposit their eggs. The larvag derived from these eggs made their ap- pearance in June, and were formed into compact bodies, each covering about a square furlong of ground : they marched onward in phalanx, surmount- ing every obstacle in their way, entering houses and chambers, and desolating the gardens, undeterred by the slaughter made amongst the foremost. In this manner horde succeeded horde for days together. In the course of about ~a month they arrived at their full growth, cast their pupa or nymph-skin, and as soon as their wings were dry and expanded, mounted into the air. Locusts are eaten in many places. They are mentioned as among the clean meats in Lev. xi. 22. In the plain of Bushire they are collected, dried, LOCUSTS. 103 and salted, and sold to the peasantry : when boiled, the yellow ones turn red, and eat like stale shrimps. The Arabs grind them into powder, which they make into small round cakes, that serve for food when bread is scarce. In the Mah- ratta country the peo- ple salt and eat them. They are eaten by the Hottentots, and formed in ancient times part of the diet of the Ethi- opians and Parthians. The Mole-Cricket (Gryllotalpd) is a bur- rower not inferior to the mole, after which it is named, in the singu- lar adaptation of its structure to the habits assigned to it. Like that animal, it has the fore limbs shortened, flattened, and enormously strengthened, while their extremities are formed into broad rakes turned obliquely outwards, and armed with stout tooth-like FIG. 91. LOCUSTS. FIG. 92. MOLE-CKICKET. 104 NEUROPTERA. projections. By the assistance of this most efficient apparatus, the mole- cricket makes its way beneath the soil with the utmost facility, and at the proper season digs for itself in the earth, a little chamber with smoothly po- lished walls, in which it deposits from a hundred to three hundred eggs, in their shape much like little sugar-plums. Intricate winding passages lead from this retreat to the surface of the bank, at the mouth of one of which the old cricket sits and chirps cheerfully all the day long. LACE-WINGED INSECTS. ORDER NEUROPTERA.* The insects belonging to the Neuropterous Order possess four transparent wings, for the most part of equal size. The nervures are numerous and connected, so as to form a network pattern more or less close. The mouth is armed with jaws, but the body is not furnished with a sting. The larvae are active, and always provided with six jointed legs, each terminated by a pair of hooks. The Dragon-Flies (Libelluld). The brilliant dragon-flies that career on flashing wing through the lanes and over the ponds in the warmest weather of summer give us the highest idea of insect power, combined with elegance of form. Their large round lustrous eyes, both furnished with twelve thousand po- lished lenses, that command each point on the broad span of sky or earth ; their bur- nished armour, gemmed with green and gold and black; their gorgeous wings, like films of living glass stretch- ed over network (to compare with which the finest lace is but a sorry piece of workmanship), pro- claim them tyrants of the air and mo- narchs of the insect world; yet in the ear- liest stages of their FIG. 93. DRAGON-FLY. existence, the splen- did creatures, array- ed in humbler guise, inhabited some neighbouring pool or ditch. The larva is * vfvpov, neuron, nervure ; irTtpov, pteron, a wing. MA Y-FLIES. 105 an uncouth, broad, flat, olive-coloured animal, having six sprawling legs, with which it crawls, spider-like, about the mud at the bottom of ponds, or glides by a singular mechanism through the water. The hinder extremity of the body is furnished with several leaf-like appendages, capable of being brought close together or opened at pleasure. These close the orifice of a cavity whose sides are very muscular. When the insect wishes to move rapidly it opens this cavity, which thus becomes filled with water, and then by a con- traction of its walls the water is forcibly ejected in a stream, as from a syringe, and thus the larva is propelled like a rocket, with its legs closely packed against its sides. The pupa only differs from the larva by hav- ing the rudiments of wings attached to its thorax; both are active and voracious, the tyrants of the pool, devouring with ferocity other insects, tadpoles, small newts, and even fishes. These predatory habits are continued in the perfect insect, whose sanguinary pro- pensities are no less correctly expressed by our term Dragon-Fly than its elegance and grace by the French appellation Demoiselle. It pursues gnats and flies in the air, eating them on the wing. It has been seen to catch butterflies, and Mr. Gosse, to whose elegant pen we are indebted for much of the above graphic account of their history, believes that they sometimes pounce upon the fry of fishes when swimming at the surface. The May-Flies (Ephemera}* These insects have received their name from the shortness of their existence in their perfect state, which is, indeed, so FIG. 94. PUPA OF DRAGON-FLY. FIG. 95. LARVA OF EPHEMERON, AND SECTION OF ITS CELL. brief that the same evening sun which sees their birth generally witnesses their destruction. Their life, however, in the earlier stages of their growth is of much longer duration. In their larva state they live in the water, lurk- ing under stones, or residing in little holes that they excavate in the banks of , ephemeros, living but a day. io6 NEUROPTERA. FIG. 96. -MAY- FLIES IN SUNSET DANCE. the stream. When about to undergo their last transformation, they leave the water and cast off their pupa covering ; but, by a remarkable exception to other insects, they are still covered by a thin pellicle, which gives them a dull appearance. In this condition they are known to the angler as "duns'" in a short time, however, they cast off this temporary deshabille, leaving it upon trees or walls, or even the clothes of the passer-by, and present themselves in the full livery^of the perfect insect, in which garb they constitute the "Drake" of the fly-fisher. The Scorpion Flies (Panorpa) are remarkable from the extraordinary structure of the tail, which in the male is terminated by a pair of forceps, giving them the appearance of winged scorpions. The Ant-Lions (Mynneleo) * much resemble the dragon-flies, but their habits in the earlier stages of their existence are very different. The larva lives principally upon ants, which it catches by a singular contrivance. Not being able, from the structure of its body, to catch such active prey by any ordinary proceeding, it constructs a trap, by walking backwards, round and round and round, until a deep conical excavation is formed in the loose sand, at the bottom of which the creature buries itself, and there remains quietly concealed, with the exception of its long scissor-like fangs, which are kept half open and ready for action. Thus ensconced, woe betide any imprudent insect that unhappily passes too near the treacherous margin of this pitfall. No sooner does it approach the fatal brink than, the loose sides giving way , murmex, the ant ; \lwv, Icon, the lion. ANT-LIONS. 107 beneath its feet, it is precipitated to the bottom, and falls at once into the power of its destroyer. The ant-lion, or, as Bonnet calls him, on account of his FIG. 97. CIRCULAR DITCH OF ANT-LION. cunning, the " ant-fox," has no mouth, but instead, two horny fangs, resem- bling jaws, which are toothed upon the inner margin, and terminate in sharp points. These jaw-like appendages are hollow, and serve not only for seizing, but for sucking the juices of any insect that may come within reach. The Lace- winged Flies (He tne robins} * are not very dissimilar from the ant-lions, although they dig no pitfalls. These insects, frequently seen in our gardens, with their bright green bodies, golden eyes, and iridescent wings, are in their perfect state most elegant creatures. The female lays her eggs upon the leaves of plants, to which they are attached in a very curious manner. The insect first fixes to the leaf a small quantity of a tenacious gum-like fluid, sufficiently viscid to be drawn out into a long thread- like filament, upon the farthest end of FIG. 98. LACE-WINGED FLY. MANNER OF DEPOSITING EGGS. FIG. 99. APHIS-LION. which the egg is attached, so that when the filaments are hardened by exposure to the air, each egg is suspended at the extremity of a slender footstalk. The larvse hatched from these eggs have been named "Aphis-lions," for no sooner do they get on to the plants, than they attack the Aphides with insatiable voracity, and are thus of incalculable benefit to the gardener. Some of them emera, day ; fiiou, bioo, to io8 NEUROPTERA. cover their bodies with the skins of their victims, so as to render themselves almost invisible. When full fed, they spin themselves cocoons, and thus await their final change. The Stone-Flies (Semblis) are among the favourite lures of the fly-fisher. These insects lay their eggs upon the rushes by the river-side, placing them perpendicularly on end, like ninepins glued together. The larva inhabits the water, where it breathes by means of gill-like filaments attached to the side of its body. The White Ants (Termes). These destructive insects have no relation- ship whatever with the ants properly so called. They abound in all tropical countries, where, whilst in their larva condition, they commit terrible ravages. Their larvae, called also workers or labourers, very much resemble the perfect insects, but their bodies are softer, they have no wings, and their head, which FIG. 100. WORKER TERMITE. FIG. TOT. SOLDIER TERMITE. JAWS OF THE ABOVE MAGNIFIED. FIG. io2. SECTION OF NEST OF TERMES BELLICOSUS. seems proportionately of larger size, is not furnished with eyes, or if these exist at all, they are extremely minute. These insects congregate in societies so numerous as to defy ordinary calculation. They live together, either con- cealed underground, or they take up their abode in anything that is made of wood, no matter what, trees, planks, and beams ; even articles of furniture are made available for their habitations. In these they excavate galleries in every direction, never, however, injuring the surface, so that although objects CADDIS-FLIES. 109 so attacked continue to look substantial externally, they fall to pieces at the slightest touch. If compelled to leave their domicile, they construct tubes or covered ways as they proceed, so that they always work concealed from FIG. 103. MALE TERMITE. observation. Sometimes they raise edifices above the ground in the shape of pyramids or towers, occasionally surmounted by a solid roof: these habita- tions, both from their dimensions and their numbers, might easily be mistaken for villages. Together with the labourers, each community contains a number ut individuals called neuters, or soldiers, to whom the defence of the colony is FIG. 104. QUEEN TERMITE (NATURAL SIZE). intrusted : these are at once distinguishable from the large size of their heads and ponderous jaws. Besides the above, there are winged males, and a queen or fertile female, whose fecundity surpasses anything elsewhere known in the animal creation. Arrived at their perfect state, they all become possessed of wings, and issuing forth in countless numbers by night, cover the country as with a living deluge. The rising sun however, dries their wings, and they become a prey to numerous enemies, to whom they serve as food. The Caddis-Flies (Phryganea\ * which, like' the May-flies are among the best friends of the fly -fisher are usually placed among the Neuropterous insects, although the nervures of their wings can scarcely be said to form a network.f Their economy in the early stages of their growth is very curious. The larva, which is peculiarly constructed, forms for its residence a tubular case, made of minute shells, stones, seeds, bits of stick or bark, fragments of the stems of water-plants, and similar matters, which it arranges around its body, fixing them by means of a glutinous silk, which also lines the tube. Numbers of these cases may often be seen at the bottom of pebbly streams, with the head and feet of the larva protuding from one end as it crawls about * fpiywoy, phryganon, a dry stick. f Some authors constitute a distinct Order for them, under the name of Trichoptera, or Hairy- winged Insects. no HYMENOPTERA. with a straggling irregular motion. When full grown, the little creature creeps up the stem of some aquatic plant till the mouth of its case just reaches the surface of the water ; it then spins a net of silk across the entrance to its abode, and goes into the pupa state. At the appointed time the pupa tears its way easily throi'g'i the silken grate, crawls a few inches out of the water, throws off its pupa sKin, and becomes a winged caddis-fly. FIG. 105. PITA-CASE, LARVA, AND FLY OF CADDIS-WOKM. MEMBRANE-WINGED INSECTS. ORDER HYMENOPTERA.* The Hymenopterous insects, like the Neuroptera, are furnished with four transparent wings, but the nervures, instead of forming; a very close network, are much more sparingly distributed. An- other difference is that in the Hymenoptera the hind pair of wings seem as if cut out of the front pair, with which, during flight, they interlock by means of small hooks, so that the two wings almost resemble one. The abdomen is, moreover, terminated by an apparatus which in some species serves for the deposition of the eggs, but in others is connected with a poison-bag, and forms a venomous sting. To this Order belong The Saw-Flies (Tcnthredo). They derive their name from a curiously- constructed instrument called an ovipositor, with which the female is pro- vided. This consists of a saw composed of two blades that work alternately, by means of which she makes incisions in the branches of plants, wherein she deposits her eggs. The wounds thus made by the teeth of the saw frequently cause the wounded part to swell into a fleshy mass resembling a fruit, in the interior of which the larvae find the materials for their subsistence. The larvae very much resemble caterpillars, from which, however, they are easily dis- tinguished by the number of their feet : before changing into nymphs, the false caterpillars enclose themselves in a cocoon, in which they remain many months in their caterpillar condition, only becoming changed into nymphs a few days before their final conversion into saw-flies. In the spring-time of the year, when the bright leaves of our gooseberry- bushes first make their appearance, they are often devoured in a remarkable manner, even before they have completely concealed the straggling spiny * i>ld)v, umen, a membrane ; irrtpov, pteron, a wing. SAW-FLIES. in branches. If the injury stopped here, with the despoliation of his gooseberry- bushes, the gardener might perhaps put up with it without much grumbling ; but unfortunately the production of leaves and fruit are intimately connected, and unless the branches are well clothed with the former, the crop of the latter will be very small. If we search for the cause of this wholesale de- struction, we shall find that it is occasioned by a multitude of small caterpillar- like larvae, furnished with twenty feet, of a pale greenish colour, covered with numerous rows of little black tubercles, each of which bears a small hair at its summit : sometimes a thousand or more will inhabit a single bush^which is of course soon stripped of every green leaf; in about ten days these voracious larvae have attained their full growth, they then descend into the ground beneath the scene of their ravages, enclose themselves in a small cocoon, and undergo their transformation into a pupa. In this condition they remain for a fortnight, when they emerge in the perfect state. The fly thus produced is a little saw-fly (Nematus grossularice), which in its turn becomes the parent of another host of destructive gooseberry grubs. It deposits its eggs along the course of the principal veins on the lower surface of the leaf, where they are placed like rows of minute beads. The pupae proceeding from this second brood pass the winter in the earth, and the perfect insects do not emerge from them before the month of March in the following year. The Cuckoo-Flies (Ichneumon} are so called because they lay their eggs in the interior of other insects, at whose expense their progeny are nourished. For this purpose the females are provided with a boring apparatus, somewhat resembling a long tail, called their ovipositor, by means of which they implant their eggs in the backs of their victims, just as a gardener would set potatoes in the ground. The female, when about to lay her eggs, may be seen flying about with restless industry in search of the larvae or pupae of other insects, or even spiders, to which she is about to intrust the support of her family. No matter where they are hidden, under the bark of trees, or in cracks and crevices, she is sure to find them out, and soon succeeds by means of her long ovipositor in piercing their flesh, and depositing an egg in the interior of their bodies, occasionally she repeats the operation several times. In a very short time the eggs are hatched, and the larvae of the Ichneumon find abundant food in their strange domicile. By this proceeding the hungry but sterile caterpillars are prevented from changing into the prolific butterfly, and thus the world is defended against their insatiable voracity. ii2 HYMENOPTERA. The Gall-Flies (Cynifs). These insects, too, are furnished with a borer, or ovipositor, but of a different character : by its assistance the little Cynips bores the leaves or tender shoots of trees, in which she lays her eggs ; the wounded part, strangely responsive to such a stimulus, swells out into an ex- crescence that is called a gall. The form and the solidity of these vegetable FIG. 107. -GALL-FLY. productions vary according to the part of the plant which produces them. The leaves, the buds, the petioles, the bark, the roots, all form their different kinds, some of which are useful in the arts. The gall-nut of the oak, for instance, yields a deep black dye, and is employed in making ink. The larvae hatched within these galls find there both board and lodging, till the time arrives for their last change. In the second section of the Hymenopterous insects, the fe- males, instead of an ovipositor, are furnished with a sting. This section embraces The Ants (Formica), so celebrated for their foresight and their industry. These insects live in societies that are often very numerous, and consist of individuals of three different denominations the males, the females, and the neuters, which last are only females imperfectly developed ; and it is upon them that the work of the colony and the care of the young entirely devolve. The nature and form of the abode of these insects vary in accordance with the instincts of the species : some establish themselves underground, others build edifices of considerable height, surmounted by dome-shaped roofs, others again reside in aged trees, the interior of which they pierce in all directions with their galleries, which., however irregular they may seem, always lead to the nurseries of the establishment. The labours of the industrious neuters BEES, 113 are very multifanous; some go in search of provisions, in the transport of which they mutually assist each other; some feed the young, take them out on fine days to enjoy the sunshine, and watch over them with the tenderest care, exhibiting in their defence a degree of courage well calculated to excite 108. WORKING AM AND PORTION OF ANT-HILL. admiration. When their habitations are by any means injured or destroyed, no time is lost in useless despair, one spirit animates each individual, simul- taneously they set to work to repair their misfortune ; they labour unceasingly, nothing damps their ardour or abates their industry until, as if by magic, their habitation rises to its former height and beauty, and all traces of ruin have disappeared. The Wasps ( Vespd) likewise live in society. Only the females found new colonies. In the spring they lay their eggs, from which are derived individuals called workers, who assist their common mother. To construct their nest or vespiary, these insects, by the aid of their mandibles, detach pieces of bark or old wood, which they reduce to a sort of paper-like paste. Of this they form the combs : these are generally horizontal, suspended by pedicles, and com- posed of hexagonal cells, serving for the lodgment of the larvae and pupae. The combs are ranged in stages parallel to each other at regular distances, and are joined together at intervals by little columns that support them. The whole is built sometimes in the open air, sometimes in the hollow of a tree, and some are enclosed in a common envelope, according to the species. It is only in the beginning of autumn that male wasps are found in the vespiary; the young females make their appearance at the same time. About the month of N ovember, the young wasps that have not completed their last metamor- phosis are put to death, and thrown out of the cells by the neuters, who, as well as the males, perish when cold weather arrives ; so that the preserva- tion of the species is confided exclusively to the few females who resist the inclemency of the winter and survive till spring. The Bees (Apis}. A society of bees consists of individuals of three dif- ferent kinds ; namely, the " workers," or " labourers," the drones, and one soli- tary fertile female called the queen-bee. The workers are very numerous : in a well-populated hive their average number is from fifteen to twenty thousand, 8 1 1 4 HVMENOPTERA. They are of smaller size than the drones ; from which they are moreover dis- tinguishable by their spoon-shaped mandibles, and by the structure of their hind legs, which are furnished with excavations upon their outer surface, sur- rounded by hairs, called " baskets," in which they convey the pollen of flowers collected in the garden. The males or drones, when at their full complement, number from six to eight hundred in a hive of ordinary size : they are slightly . larger than the working bees, are not furnished with a sting, and have a shorter proboscis. The reason of their being so numerous would appear to be simply to allow the queen-bee to select her own mate out of her numerous suitors, for after she has made her selection, they are simultaneously butchered by the working bees, and cast forth from the hive as useless encumbrances. The queen- bee alone, amidst this numerous assemblage, is capable of laying eggs, a cir- cumstance easily accounted for when we reflect upon her extraordinary fertility. The working bees, according to Huber, are divided into two classes, the wax- workers^ to whom is intrusted the charge of procuring food and furnishing the materials for building the comb, and the nurses, which are of smaller size, FIG. 109. FESTOON OF WAX-MAKERS. FIG. no. PROBOSCIS OF HONEY-BEE. occupy themselves entirely with domestic duties, and to whom is intrusted the nursing of the young brood. As the honey-bee is not capacitated by its instinct to construct a nest protected by any general covering, as is the case with the wasps and termites, it is obliged to select some cavity in which to build : this is sometimes a hollow tree, but more generally the hive artificially prepared for its reception. In this retreat the workers construct their combs, made up of an immense assemblage of hexagonal cells, in which they educate their young brood, and store away provisions for the use of the community. The combs are always suspended perpendicularly and parallel to each other> leav- ing sufficient space between them to afford passage to the insects. The cells are thus placed horizontally. Skilful geometricians have demonstrated that the shape of the individual cells is precisely that which is most economical as relates to the expenditure of wax used in their construction, as well as that calculated to insure the greatest possible space. The bees, however, are able to modify their form according to circumstances. With the exception of such as are destined for the reception of the royal brood, these cells are all nearly BEES. 115 of the same size ; some are used as cradles wherein the young are lodged, while others are filled with honey and the pollen of flowers. Some of the honey-cells are left open, others, used as a reserve, are carefully closed with a lid of wax. The royal cells, varying from two to forty in each hive, are much larger than the rest, and are suspended, like stalactites, from the margins of the combs. The cells provided for the males are intermediate in their dimensions be- tween these and those constructed for the reception of the young labourers. As the bees invariably build them from above downwards, those at the bottom are always the last constructed. The queen-bee begins to lay her eggs in early summer, and continues to do so at intervals till the close of autumn. Reaumur has estimated that she will sometimes lay twelve thousand eggs in the course of twenty days. Guided by an unerring instinct, she never makes a mistake in choosing the cells proper to receive her different kinds of eggs. Those laid in early spring always give FIG. 113. PI/PA. FIG. in. HONEYCOMB, WITH MALE, WORKER, AND ROYAL CELLS. birth to working bees ; they are hatched in the course of four or five days, and the young larva? are at once taken care of by the nursing bees, and provided with food adapted to their condition. Six or seven days after their birth they dispose themselves to undergo their metamorphosis. Shut up in their cells by their nurses, who close the opening with a lid of wax, they line the walls of their narrow dwelling with a tapestry of silk, in which they spin a cocoon, become nymphs, and after about twelve days of seclusion, issue forth as work- ing bees, already taught by their Divine instructor how at once to set about their various avocations. The eggs from which the males are produced are not laid till two months later, and shortly afterwards those which give birth to females are deposited. The Humble Bees (Bombus) are well known to every schoolboy. Many of them dwell underground, or in moss-covered nests, where they live together in colonies, varying from sixty to two hundred or three hundred in number. Hugh Miller thus shortly describes the principal species of humble bees : "When a boy at Cromarty," says that elegant writer, "the wild honey-bees in their several species had peculiar charms for us. There were the buff- coloured carders^ that erected over their honey-jars domes of moss ; the lapidary, red- tipped bees, that built amidst the recesses of ancient cairns, and in old dry 8 2 i6 STREPSIPTERA. stone walls, and were so invincibly brave in defending their homesteads that they never gave up the quarrel till they died ; and above all, the yellow-zoned humble bees, that lodged deep in the ground, along the dry sides of the grassy bank, and were usually wealthier in honey than their congeners, and existed in large communities. But the herd-boy of the parish, and the foxes of its woods and brakes, shared in my interest in the wild honey-bees, and, in the pursuit of other things than knowledge, were ruthless robbers of their nests." J. 114. -HUMBLE BEES; MALE, FEMALE, AND WORKER. BEE PARASITES ORDER STREPSIPTERA.* The Rev. Mr. Kirby had more than once observed upon several species of bees something that he took to be a kind of mite, with which insects are very commonly infested, and determined not to lose the opportunity of taking one off for examination. On at- tempting, however, to disengage it with a pin, much to his aston- ishment, he drew forth from the body of the bee what he imagined to be a white fleshy larva, a quar- ter of an inch long, the head of which he had mistaken for a mite. It had neither mouth nor pro- boscis, nor any apparent means of obtaining food. " After I had examined one specimen," says Mr. Kirby, " I attempted to ex- tract a second, and the reader may imagine how greatly my as- tonishment was increased when, after I had drawn it out but a little way, I saw its skin burst, and a head as black as ink, with large staring eyes, and antennae, consisting of two branches, break forth and move itself briskly FIG. 115. STYLOPS. u, strepsis, twisting; irrtpov, pteron, a wing. BEE PARASITES. 117 from side to side. It looked like a little imp of darkness just emerging from the infernal regions." The above description will serve to give the reader a pretty good idea of the mode in which these insects are to be found, for they are all parasitic upon different species of bees and wasps ; but the venerable and distinguished discoverer of these strange insects was in error in describing the soft, grub-like creature which he first pulled out of the body of the bee as the larva, it being in reality the female, and the little " imp of darkness," whose emergence is so graphically described, is the male Stylops. J \^i FIG. 116. a, b, FEMALE; d, PITA; e, MALE OF STYLOPS. The true larva, a soft, maggot-like creature, resides in the inte- rior of the grub of the bee, and in the interior of the bee itself, until it has attained its full size, when it undergoes a certain amount of change : the anterior portion of its body acquires a horny consistency, and is pushed out between the segments of the bee's abdomen, forming those little flattened bodies that first arreste 1 Mr. Kirby's attention, and which may frequently be found upon the surface of our early bees (Andrana). This is the only change to which the females are subject, but the males become converted into true pupse within the skin of the larva, and thus lie sheltered within the body of their victim, and separated from the outer world by the small horny plate with which their old integument is surmounted. But the time soon arrives when the delicate male insect is to seek his mate ; the horny cap gives way, and he emerges into light and air. A curious little fellow he is, but not without considerable pretensions to elegance in his appearance. The female, to whom this elegant, volatile, and active creature is incessant in his devo- tions, is as different in appearance from her mate as can well be imagined. As already stated, she resembles a soft fleshy maggot, without the least trace of wings or limbs, and furnished anteriorly n8 LEPIDOPTERA. with a sort of horny head, much flatter than the rest of the body, which can be protruded with facility between the segments of the bee's abdomen. In their earliest form, just after quitting the egg, the larvae are remarkably rapid in their movements, furnished with six legs, by means of which they are enabled to run about freely upon the abdomen of the bee, in which their mother is para- sitic ; and so numerous are they in general that, according to Mr. Smith, this portion of the infested animal often appears as if it were dusted over with a whitish powder, from the crowds of these minute larvae upon its surface. Thus carried about from flower to flower amongst the hairs of the bee, some of them are left be- hind on every blossom she visits, where their activity renders it an easy matter for them to attach themselves to the body of the next comer. By this they are unconsciously conveyed to its nest, where they bury themselves in the bee larvae, and remain feeding upon the substance of their unfortunate hosts, until they have attained their full development. Nevertheless, the stylopizcd bees, as they are called, fly about with the same activity as those which are free from such unwelcome guests, and thus tend still further to diffuse the race of parasites by which they are infested. LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECTS. ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.* Insects belonging to the Lepidopterous Order are at once recog- nizable from the structure of their four ample wings, which are generally thickly clothed on both surfaces with minute feather-like scales, that overlap each other, and being of different colours arranged in patterns, often form a kind of mosaic work of exqui- site delicacy and beauty. Their mouth is adapted to pump up the nectareous juices from the cups of flowers, and is necessarily of FIG. 117. SCALES OF BUTTERFLY'S WING. Considerable length, ill Order to enable the insect to reach the re- cesses in which the honied stores are lodged. When unfolded, the extraordinary apparatus resembles a long double whip-lash, and if examined under a microscope, is found to be made of in- numerable rings connected together, and moved by a double layer * ACTTI'S, lepis, a scale ; -Trr^pov, pteron, a wing. B UTTERFLIES. 1 1 9 of spiral muscles, that wind in opposite directions. When not in use, this singular proboscis is coiled up into a very small space, and lodged beneath the head. The larvae are commonly known by the name of caterpillars : they have a soft cylindrical body, three pairs of horny legs, and from four to ten pairs of false feet, or " clingers," attached to the hinder segments, each composed of a circle of horny hooklets supported on a fleshy protuberance. The pupa, called a chrysalis, is motionless, and its limbs are folded down and covered with a transparent varnish. Their position, however, can be generally distinctly traced. The Lepidoptera are classed by entomologists under three great sections. The Diurnal, that only fly by day ; the Crepuscular, only seen during the morning or evening twilight; and the Noc- turnal, whose period of activity is during the night : each of these will require separate notice. The Diurnal Lepidoptera are z .'- FIG. 118. COMMA BUTTERFLY. FIG. IIQ. WHITE HA\VTHOKN BUTTERFLY. The Butterflies (Paptiionida). These beautiful insects, true children of the sun, are arrayed in the most gorgeous hues, their four ample and broadly- expanded wings being painted with every variety of brilliant tints, arranged in most diverse patterns, sometimes resplendent with metallic glosses, often flushed with rainbow hues, that play over the surface with the changing light, and often presenting that peculiar charm that results from the association of colours that are complemental to each other. These various hues, so charac- teristic of the Order, depend on the presence of the minute feather-like scales with which the wings are thickly clothed. To the naked eye they appeal- merely as a fine dust, easily rubbed off by the finger ; but under the microscope they are seen to be thin transparent films, each attached by a short stalk to the surface of the wing, set side by side in close array, and overlapping each other like the scales of a fish. The true butterflies are distinguished by the shape of their antennae, which are long and thread-like, and generally termi- nated by a club-shaped dilatation ; sometimes, however, they are of equal thickness throughout, or even thinnest at the end, where they terminate in a hooked point. Most of them when reposing have their wings raised perpen- dicularly, so that their backs touch each other, and nothing is seen of them but their under surface. Butterflies generally rjass their pupa state without any 120 LEPIDOPTERA. external protection, their chrysalis being in most cases either suspended loosely by the tail, hanging in a perpendicular position from a little button of silk (Fig. 120), or having, in addi- tion to this support, a girdle of silk passing round the body and fastened on each side, by which the chrysalis is supported horizontally or obliquely. These chrysalids are generally ornamented with gold-coloured spots, from which they receive their name ; moreover, they frequently present externally spines and angular points, giving them a very remarkable appearance. In the second section of Lepidopterous in- sects, Crepuscularia, are placed PUPA OF' VANESSA. The Hawk-Moths (Sphinx], These are furnished with a stiff scaly spine upon the outer border of their lower wings, which is received into a kind of hook, situated beneath the upper pair, and keeps them, when in repose, in an inclined or horizontal position ; FIG. 121. UNICORN HAWK-MOTH. their antennae are for the most part prismatic or angular in their shape, or sometimes they are toothed like a comb. Their caterpillars have always six- teen feet, and their chrysalids are destitute of the angular projections which frequently exist in those of the Diurnal species. They are, moreover, gene- rally enclosed in a cocoon, and sometimes buried in the earth. These insects are only seen on the wing in the grey dawn of morning, or in the evening twi- light. The type of the family is the genus Sphinx, so called because the usual attitude assumed by their caterpillars resembles that attributed to the Sphinx of ancient fable. These insects in their perfect state fly with great HA WK-MOTHS. 1 2 1 rapidity hence is derived their name of " Hawk-Moth ;" they may frequently be seen poising themselves on the wing before the bells of tubular flowers, from which they extract the nectar by means of their long and flexible pro- boscis. The largest of our native species is The Death's-head Hawk-Moth (Sphinx atropos), so called from a singular mark resembling a skull and cross bones, which it bears at the back of its thorax. Probably on account of its carrying these lugubrious insignia, this fine insect is gene- rally looked on by the ignorant with superstitious dread, and its occasional twilight FIG. 122. DEATH'S-HEAD HAWK-MOTH. intrusion into a house is an event commonly regarded with horror. Yet it is a harmless creature, except that it will sometimes make its way into a bee-hive, and regale itself with honey ; the bees, in some way not understood, tolerating its visits, although they might easily sting it to death. The caterpillar is very large, attaining a length of five or six inches ; its colour is yellow, ornamented with blue stripes on the sides ; it feeds on the leaves of the potato, the vine, and the jasmine, and, in the month of August, burrows into the earth to undergo its pupa change. The perfect insect makes its appearance in the month of September. The Nocturnal Lepidoptera always keep their wings when at rest in a horizontal or inclined position ; in this respect they re- semble the Crepuscular species, from which, however, they are easily distinguished by the shape of their antennas, which diminish in size from the base to the point, or, in other words, are setace- ous. These Lepidoptera, which are sometimes called Phalenae, ordinarily fly only at night, or in the evening after sunset. In some species, the females are without wings, or have them very small. Their chrysalids are almost always round or lodged in a cocoon. This family is very numerous, and is divided into several tribes ; the most interesting is that of the Bombyces (Bombyx)* to which belongs * /3 V3i>, bombyx, a silkworm. 122 LEPIDOPTERA. The Silkworm (Bombyx Mori}. Its caterpillar has a smooth body, and at its birth is scarcely aline in length, but attains to even more than three inches. In this form the silkworm lives about thirty-four days, and during that period changes its skin four times. It feeds on the leaves of the mulberry ; at the time of moulting it does not eat, but after changing its skin its appetite is doubled. When it is ready to change into a chrysalis, it becomes flaccid and soft, and seeks a proper place where to construct a cocoon, in which it encloses itself : the first day is occupied in attaching, in an irregular manner, threads of silk to neighbouring objects to support it ; on the second day it begins to multiply these threads, so as to en- velope itself, and on the third day it is completely enclosed in its cocoon. This FIG. 123. SILKWORM ox MULBERRY-LEAF. nest is formed of a single filament of silk wrapped around the animal, and its turns are glued together by a kind of gum. It is estimated that the length of the filament in an ordinary cocoon is nine hundred feet. The form of the cocoon is oval, and its colour either yellow or white. The Bombyx remains in the chrysalis state in the interior of its cocoon about twenty days, and when it has finished its metamorphosis, disgorges upon its walls a peculiar liquid, which softens it, and enables the animal to make a round hole through which to escape. To obtain the silk produced by these animals, it is, therefore, necessary to kill them before they pierce the cocoon, and then wind or reel off the thread or filament of which it is composed. To unglue it, the cocoons are soaked in warm water, then the filaments of three or four are united into one thread. That part of the cocoon which cannot be reeled off in this way is carded, and constitutes floss silk. The mulberry bombyx is not the only moth that yields silk that can be usefully employed. The inhabitants of Madagascar make use of a species, the caterpillars of which live in numerous bands, SILKWORMS. 123 and form a common nest, sometimes three feet high, containing about five hundred cocoons. The thread of the tusseh silkworm is likewise valuable. FIG. 1:4 i MOTH AND EGGS. bcoo.v OF TCSSEH SILKWORM. The smaller moths are extremely numerous ; nearly two thou- sand species of them are enumerated as British. Many of these are very beautiful, and many more are highly interesting from the habits of their larvae. Among them we may select The Leaf-rollers (Tortriccs)* so named from their habit of rolling up the edges of leaves in various forms, and so fastening them with silk as to make compact tubular cases in which the larvre live (Fig. 1 26). Others, having made FIG. 126. LEAF-ROLLING CATERPILLAR. a little tent, set it upright on the leaf from which it has been cut. These are everywhere to be found upon our trees and hedges. Others, again, make a domicile by uniting the opposite edges of a leaf, or fastening two leaves to- * Tortrix, pi. Tortrices. fern, of Tortor, one li'ho tiuists. I2 4 HEMIPTERA. gather by means of silk, and suspend the hammock 30 formed at the end of a silken thread from a twig, and thus the little caterpillar lodges securely, rocked by the winds. The Moths (Tmetz),* whose caterpillars frequently feed on cloths and peltry, are also nocturnal Lepidoptera. The clothes-moth, fur-moth, grease- moth, green-moth, and various other destructive moths, are mostly very small insects the largest of them not measuring, with their wings expanded, more than eight-tenths of an inch across. FIG. 127. SUSPENDED LEAF TENTS. FIG. 128. LARVA OF CLOTHES-J\!OTH IN ITS CASE. ( Mag nified. ) The Pack-moth ( Tinea sarcitclla] is but too well known. Its caterpillar lives on cloth and other woollen stuffs, weaving with their detached particles, mixed with silk, a portable tube, which it lengthens at each end in proportion as it grows, and slits when too small, to increase the diameter by inserting another piece. From this circumstance it obtains the specific name of sarcitella.^ The Feather Moths (Fissipennaft likewise belong to the Nocturnal Lepi- doptera. This tribe is distinguished by the singular structure of the wings, which, in a state of repose, are straight and elongated. The four wings, or two of them at least, are slit through their whole length into branches, which are barbed on the sides, bearing some resemblance to an outspread feather fan. HEMIPTEROUS INSECTS. ORDER HEMIPTERA. In insects belonging to this Order, the elytra, or wing-covers, present two distinct portions of very different texture, their front part being stiff and leathery, while their hinder margins are mem- * Tinea, Lat. A moth or worm in clothes or books : "dirum Tinese genus." Virgil, Georg. iv. 246. f Sarcio, I patch. % Lat. Fissus, cleft ; penna, a wing. rj/u g e > the earth ; /f6pts, coris, a bug. f SSup, udor, -water ; if6pis, cons, a bug. + vdwp, udor, -water ; /ier/sew, metreo, / measure. 126 HEMIPTERA. FIG. 130. METAMORPHOSES OF WATER-BOATMAN. The Water-boatmen (Notonectd)* are eagerly engaged in sharing such an abundant supply of nutriment. These Notonectae swim upon their backs, FIG. 170. WATER-SCORPION. DIFFERENT STATES OF NEPA. * v WTOS, notos, the back ; i^/cr^s, nectes, a swimmer. PLANT-SUCKING INSECTS. 127 using their long hind legs as oars, and thus they dart on any drowning fly that happens to attract their notice. The Water-Scorpion (Nepa), an inhabitant of every pool, procures its food upon the stems of submerged plants, or creeps in search of it about the bottom of the pond. This insect is able to inflict a very painful wound if seized incautiously, by means of its strong well-armed beak. PLANT-SUCKING INSECTS. ORDER HOMOPTERA.* As the Hemiptera were obviously designed to obtain their food by imbibing the juices of dead or of living animals, it can be no matter of surprise to find races of insects much more numerous and important, appointed to feed upon the sap of plants, and that by means of a mouth of a very similar construction. The Homopterous Insects, or Plant-suckers, as they have been named, are furnished with four large wings, all of which are transparent and but loosely veined. By means of these they fly from plant to plant, the juices of which seem to be specially appropriated to their use. Such are The Tree-hoppers (Cicada], some of them celebrated for their noisy music. The Cicadas pass their lives upon trees or shrubs, upon the sap of which they live. The Plant-Lice (Aphides) are small Homopterous insects. They abound in every garden, living on trees and plants in countless multitudes ; indeed, the fecundity of these creatures seems absolutely boundless. It has been cal- culated that if a male Aphis were to live to see his progeny of the fifth gene- ration gathered around him, he would find himself the great -great -grand- father of nine billions nine hundred and four millions of Aphides ; or, in other words, of a family about fifty times more numerous than all the human in- habitants of this globe. With such a fact before us, we leave our readers to judge what might be the result of their undisturbed multiplication. In the course of a few months, even these apparently despicable plant-lice would FIG. 131. LIME-TREE APHIS. become a plague as terrible as any with ( The lines Wlder **fe sh tlie ******* which the world has been visited. For- tunately, even here, the balance between increase and destruction is held with an unwavering hand, so that when we notice the innumerable enemies by * ofj.bs, homos, simitar ; Trrtyov, pteron, a iving. 128 HOMOPTERA. which their legions are unremittingly attacked, we are almost led to wonder how any of them escape from such hosts of hungry and relentless foes. Let us not imagine, however, that these insects have been created in such numbers merely for the purpose of destroying vegetation and of affording food to voracious persecutors. Man, as we shall soon perceive, has by no means been forgotten in their distribution. The Coccidse, so called from the valuable Grecian dye, R-O/CKO?, more than counterbalance, by the richness of their productions, all the devastation caused by the Aphides we have been describing, and various European and Asiatic species are sources of considerable wealth to the countries where they are found ; but the discovery of The Cochineal Insect (Coccus Cacti], which lives in immense numbers on the Cactus Cochinilifer, from the brilliancy of the colour it affords (cochineal), has thrown the dyes derived from other species into the shade, and has proved one of the most productive sources of wealth to the countries where it is cultivated. Another important species, the Coccus lacca, furnishes the valuable Indian product called lac, an article of so much importance in the manufacture of varnishes, sealing-wax, &c. Another Ufper surface. Under surface. FIG. 131.* COCHINEAL INSECT (Magnified). species of Coccus is found upon the Tamarix mannifera, a large tree which grows in Syria. The female insects, puncturing the young shoots, cause them to discharge a vast quantity of a peculiar secretion (manna), which quickly hardens, and drops from the tree, where it is collected by the natives. Other species produce in abundance a substance almost identical with wax. The Chinese collect it at the approach of autumn by scraping the boughs on which it is found. It is then melted and strained into cold water, when it hardens, and is made into cakes exactly resembling white wax, and is used for similar purposes. Various other important results of their industry might be enumerated ; but we have said enough to show that these despised vegetable parasites are by no means unprofitable members of the animal creation. Equally well known, and unfortunately almost as abundant as the Aphides, are The Blight Insects (Psylla\ the pests of our orchards and the destruc- tive causes of what is called the " blight " upon our fruit-trees. It would seem, indeed, that every tree and shrub supports a special race of these creatures, which are distinguished by entomologists by the names of the plants upon which they are found. In the preparatory stages of their growth these insects are generally covered with a white cottony substance, matted together with a sweet and gummy secretion. GNATS. 129 The Lantern Flies (Fulgora) are distinguished by the extraordinary conformation of their heads, which are expanded into an enormous muzzle, nearly equalling in size all the rest of the body. They have long had the reputation of emitting a brilliant phosphorescent light ; but whether they possess such a faculty or not is extremely doubtful. T \YO-WINGED INSECTS. ORDER DIPTERA.* The insects belonging to this Order possess but a single pair of wings, which are always transparent, veined, and without folds. The place of the hind wrings is occupied by a pair of slender fila- ments called poisers ; their mouth is adapted for suction, and in many species is supplied with piercing instruments of very for- midable character. To this Order belong The Gnats (Culex), known in foreign countries as Mosquitoes, and univer- sally dreaded on account of the sharpness of their envenomed bite. They are are the most insolent, the most insatiable, of blood-suckers. Their terrible proboscis is a chef-d'ceuvre of mechanism. From a long grooved and flexile sheath there issue forth long slender darts, so sharp and subtle that they slip with ease through our poor skins : vainly we try, warned by the shrill small trumpet of the little pest, to ward off such a despicable foe ; too soon our legs and hands and face, pierced to the blood, covered with lumps and painful swellings, proclaim the efficiency of the dreadful weapon. Neither heat nor cold seems to affect these tormentors of the human race. In Lapland they swarm to such an extent during certain periods of the year, that there is neither rest nor sleep for the inhabitants indoors or out, unless in the suffocation of thick smoke, or under the defence of a thick unguent composed of grease, tar, and oil. The transformations of the Common Gnat (Citlex pipiens] are well worthy of our attention, and may be observed in any water-butt. The female gnat, descending from her aerial dance among the slanting beams of sunset, alights cautiously on the surface of the water, where the lightness of her body and the expanse covered by her slender feet prevent her not only from sinking, but even from becoming wetted. She then crosses her hind legs, thus making a sort of frame on which her eggs are deposited, in the shape of a little boat, so buoyant and so repellent to the water that it is impossible to sink it. In the course of a couple of days the eggs, thus left to float, are hatched, and the larvae escape; they may then be seen wriggling about with considerable agility, now descending, now ascending slowly to the surface, where they hang suspended from a little tube affixed to their tail, through which they breathe the air. In about a fortnight they change into pupse, equally active, but very different in their shape, for instead of the respiratory tube near the tail pos- sessed by the larva, the pupa breathes by means of two trumpet-shaped pipes affixed to the back of the thorax. The time at length arrives when the aquatic pupa has to give birth to an insect whose filmy wings would be spoiled by the * St's, dis, twice, double; irrtpov, pteron, awing. 130 DIPTERA. slightest wetting. The process by which this is accomplished affords a very interesting spectacle. The pupa having risen to the surface, elevates its thorax above the water, the skin soon splits down the back and exposes the FIG, 132. LARVA OF GNAT. FIG. 133. ESCAPE OF GNAT FROM ITS PUPA-C fore-parts of the gnat, which are quickly protruded, and the gnat, floating on its old skin as in a boat, extricates its wings from their cases and its legs from their boots. The wings unfold themselves, and the little creature flies away to enjoy its new existence in another element. FIG. 134. METAMORPHOSES OF PLUMED GNAT. The Crane-Plies (Tipula) constitute a very numerous race, some of which are nearly related to the gnats, and pass the first period' of their exist- ence in the water. In their larva state they resemble little red worms, having DADD Y-LONG-LEGS. their tails furnished with long curling filaments, somewhat resembling the arms of a hydra, hence they have been called " Polype worms :" these are often found in ponds in great numbers. Their nymphs, which inhabit the snme element, resemble those of the gnats above described, and the escape of the perfect insect is managed precisely in the same manner. Other Tipulae, as for example, The Daddy- long-legs (77- fnla oleracea], so commonly met with amongst the grass in our meadows, are derived from larvos that live in the ground, or are found in old bark or rotten trees. Their nymphs are naked, breathe by means of two re- spiratory tubes situated near the FIG. i35.-P.PA AND INSECT OF CHIRONOMVS. g^ ^ haye the rf of thdr abdomen covered with little spines. The Whame Flies (Tabanus), terrible from their bloodthirstiness, have -appended to their proboscis six lancets so strong as to penetrate the skin of the horse. These insects, which generally make their appearance towards the close of spring, are common in woods and pastures. They fly with a buzz- ing sound, and pursue even man himself in order to suck his blood. The un- fortunate cattle, having no means of resisting their attacks, are sometimes covered with blood owing to the bites of these insects; and Bruce, the Abys- sinian traveller, speaks of one species before which even the lion quails. Their larvae are long cylindrical maggots, tapering towards the head, which is pro- vided with a pair of hooks instead ot jaws. Their pupa is naked, nearly cylindrical, with hairs around the edges of its segments, and provided with six spines at its hinder extremity: it comes to the surface of the ground when about to be transformed into the perfect fly, showing its body half out of the earth. The TsetsB, described by Dr. Livingstone, is perhaps the most formidable of the entire class. It is not much larger than the common house-fly, and is nearly of the same brown colour as the honey-bee. The bite of this poisonous insect is certain death to the ox, horse, and dog; but is perfectly harmless to man, wild animals, and even calves as long as they continue to suck. Its poison is inserted by the middle prong of three portions into which the pro- boscis divides, which it plunges deeply into the skin exactly in the bame manner as a gnat, and then sucks the blood until it is filled. A slight itching irritation follows, but not more than that produced by the bite of a mosquito. In the ox this same bite produces no more immediate effects than in man ; but in a few days the poor bitten creature sickens and dies. This terrible insect is, fortunately, confined to certain parts of Africa. The Chameleon Flies (Stratyomys), so called from the variety of their colours, are a very harmless race, remarkable on account of the phenomena attending their metamorphosis. Their larvae are to be found in ditches abounding with filth , their bodies are long, flattened, and tapering towards each extremity; their skin is of a horny or leathery texture, and their tail is surrounded by long plume-like hairs, that encircle the orifice through which 92 132 DIPTERA. FIG. 136. LARVA OF STRATVO.MYS. they breathe. The skin of the larva is not cast off, but becomes the cocoon of the pupa, simply growing stiff and angular. In this condition it may be found floating on the water. When the perfect insect is complete, it escapes through a fissure in the second segment, and after cruising about for a little time, supported by its old integument so as to allow its wings to dry, it takes flight. FIG. 137. WASP-FLIES. The Wasp Plies (Eristalts\ everywhere to be seen on a hot day, hover- ing before the flowers in our gardens, and darting here and there with sudden FLESH-FLIES. 133 jerking movements, commence their lives under a very different aspect. Their larvae are provided with a breathing apparatus, which resembles the tail of a rat, and which they are able to elongate or shorten, so as always to keep its tubular extremity above the surface of the filthy stuff in which these creatures live. They are often found in great numbers in old tubs that contain stink- ing rain-water The Gad-Flies (Oestrus] have much the appearance of humble-bees, and the hairs that densely clothe their bodies are in like manner bounded with yellow-coloured zones. They are fortunately not very common, the time of their appearance and the districts they inhabit being limited. There are several species of these dreaded flies, each of which passes its larva condition as a parasite, living at the expense of some particular quadruped. The horse, the ox, the ass, the reindeer, the stag, the antelope, the camel, the sheep, and FIG. 138. GAD-FLIES. the hare are, however, the cn'v animals certainly known to be subject to their attacks, and these all seem to be inspired with a special dread of their tor- mentors. Of these lame, some are deposited under the skin of the backs of cows by means of a peculiarly constructed ovipositor with which the females are provided. The eggs of others are simply glued to the skin in the vicinity of the nose of sheep and deer, whence the maggots creep into the nostrils of the poor animal, where they reside. The larvae of a third kind are only to be met with in the stomach of the horse, where alone they find a suitable resi- dence : in this situation they are called bots. The manner in which they are introduced into such a strange locality is very ingenious. The fly, when lay- ing her eggs, may be seen balancing herself in the air and glueing them to such parts as the horse is in the habit of licking with his tongue, and thus he is made unconsciously to introduce them into their proper nursery. These larvae are footless, of an oval shape, and banded with circles of hooks, where- by they attach themselves. When mature they are expelled, and, falling to the ground, bury themselves in the earth, where their last change is accom- plished. The Flesh-Flies (Mused) are too welt known to need description. These creatures deposit their progeny in tainted or in putrefying flesh, and notwith- standing the petty injury they inflict in our larders, they must be looked upon as being among the most important agents employed in the police of Nature. Death is everywhere abroad, but the earth is not permitted to be long defaced by the presence of decay. No sooner does the carcase fall than these, "The swiftest of His winged messengers," are set to work, and speedily remove the offensive carrion. Linnaeus asserted that three flesh-flies could devour a dead horse in less time than it would take 134 THYSANOURA. a lion to effect the same object ; and a little consideration will show that the expression is not exaggerated. The hungry lion can but make a meal, and then must wait for his returning appetite. The flesh-fly brings her twenty FIG. 139. METAMORPHOSES OF FLESH-FLY. thousand young ones, ready for the work. Each of these for five days is con- stantly employed ; and when we consider that these voracious maggots, in that space of time, increase in weight two hundredfold, and that they are further capable of giving birth in a short time to other insect legions, we per- ceive at once their adaptation to the important duty thus intrusted to them. FIG. 140. - DOMESTIC FLY {Magnified). The Spider Flies (Hippobosca)* are parasitic, and, strange to say, their females give birth to pupae instead of eggs or larva:, hence they have been designated Pupipara.^ These pupae are of considerable size, and at first very soft, but their skin soon hardens into a pupa-case. These insects are re- markable from having no wings. Some of them inhabit the nest of birds, and live by sucking the blood of the little nestlings, whose warmth contributes to their development. The Forest Fly (Hippobosca equina) is notorious for its incessant attacks upon horses ; and in some districts appears in great numbers. Another species conceals itself in the wool of sheep, from which animals it derives its food ; and there are some not furnished with wings, that are exclusively resident in the hair of bats. TUFT-TAILED INSECTS. ORDER THYSANOURA.J These insects are without wings, and undergo no metamor- phosis. They are distinguished by the possession of peculiar j, hippos, a horse ; /36cr/cw, bosco, to feed on. fPupa, a fupa; pario, I bring forth. I dv