IRLF LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. BIOLOGY r//7cc LIBRARY LlasS G CHAPTERS ON THE N ATUR A L HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES BY R. W. SHUFELDT, M.D. CAPTAIN, MEDICAL DEPARTMENT, U. 8. ARMY (RETIRED). ASSOCIATE IN ZOOLOGY, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. Author of The Osteology of Arctic and Subarctic Water Birds," " The Myology of the Raven," "Lectures on Biology," "The Anatomy of Heloderma," Etc., Etc. STUDER BROTHERS, Publishers, 114 Fifth Avenue, New York. Issued under the auspices of THE NATURAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, NEW YORK, U. S. A. 1900 BIOLOGY LIBRARY G , COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY JACOB H. STUDER To MY LEARNED AND ESTEEMED FRIEND THEODORE NICHOLAS GILL I DEDICATE THIS BOOK, NOT ONLY As A SLIGHT TOKEN OF MY PERSONAL REGARD, BUT ALSO To EXPRESS MY PROFOUND APPRECIATION OF His genius, and for the power and influence his many works have had in advancing the best interests of General Biology. CONTENTS CONTENTS. CHAPTER. PAGE. I. Methods of Study of Natural History . . 23 II. Classification of Animals ..... 29 III. Some Interesting Insects, with Notes on the Class (Insecta] . 35 IV. Crayfish and Crabs (Crustacea) .... 54 V. Sawfish, Rays, Sharks, and Their Allies, with Notes on Deep- sea Fishes (Elasmobranchii, etc.) . . . .64 VI. Sea Horses and Eels (Hippocampidce : A nguillidce) . 82 VII. Frogs, Toads, Newts, and other Amphibians (Amphibia) . 91 VIII. Some Observations on Lizards (Lacertilia) . . . 108 IX. Protective Coloration in Snakes, with other Notes about Them (OpUdia) . .... . . .130 X. Turtles and Tortoises (Chelonia) . . 146 XI. Alligators and Crocodiles (Crocodilia) , . . 156 XII. Grebes, Loons, and Auks (Pygopodes : Alcce.) . . 164 XIII. Gulls and Their Allies (Longipennes) . . . 183 XIV. Pelicans and Their Relatives (Steganopodes) . . 195 XV. Meadow-larks and Partridges (genus Sturnella : Perdicinai) 204 XVI. American Vultures. (Superfamily Cathartoidea.) (Family Catharlidce.) ...... 221 XVII. Some of the Owls of the United States (Striges) . 232 XVIII. The Carolina Paroquet and other Notes . . . 250 XIX. The United States Cuckoos (Family Cuculidce) . . 260 XX. Woodpeckers: Photographically and Pterylographically con- sidered (Pici) , 270 8 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XXI. The Cedar Birds : with Notes on Where Birds Lay Their Eggs (Ampelida>: Turdus: Vireo: etc.] . . . 291 XXII. The American Warblers and Sparrows (Mniotittidce and Fringil- . . . . . .317 XXIII. The Yellow-breasted Chat; Cat-birds; and the Oven-bird (Icteria virens ; Galeoscoptes carolinensis ; and Siurus auricapillus) ...... 340 XXIV. The Common Opossum and Its Kin (DidelpJiys virginiana) 364 XXV. W hales and Manatees (Cetacea: Sirenia) . . . 374 XXVI. The Flying Squirrel and Its Relatives (Family Sciuridce) . 399 XXVII. The Deer Mouse, with Notes on other Rodents (Peromyscus leu- copus: Rodentia} . . . . . . 415 XXVIII. Bats and Their Habits (Chiroptera) . . .427 XXIX. Museums and Their Uses : with some Observations on Tax- idermy . . . 442 ILLUSTRATIONS LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS. PAGE Portrait of Author (1894) ..... Frontispiece Fig. 1. Spider Carrying Her Young in a Silken Ball (Dolomedcs tene- brosus, Hentz). From a photograph by the Author . 39 Fig. 2. The Whip-tailed Scorpion (Thelyphonus giganteus). Natural size. From life, by the Author . . .41 Fig. 3. A Typical Dragon-fly (Libellula trimaculata) : $ natural size. From a photograph of living specimen by the Author 45 Fig. 4. The Praying Mantis. Drawn from life by the Author . 50 Fig. 5. The Violet Land Crab. Drawn by the Author . . 61 Fig. 6. Sawfish (P. pectinatus). Side view . . . .65 Fig. 7. Sawfish (P. pectinatus). Ventral view ... 65 Fig. 8. Torpedo (Torpedo occidentalis) . . . .69 Fig. 9. Barndoor Skate (Raid Icevis) .... 69 Fig. 10. Sting Ray ( Trygon sabina) . . . . .69 Fig. 11. The White Shark (Carcharias) .... 71 Fig. 12. Hammerhead Shark (Zygcena malleus) . . . .73 Fig. 13. Chlamydoselachus anguineus .... 75 Fig. 14. The Torchfish (Linophryne lucifer] . . . .77 Fig. 15. Neolythites steatiticus ..... 79 Fig. 16. Odontostomas alratus . , . . .79 Fig. 17. Bathypercis platyrhynchus ..... 79 Fig. 18. Physiculus argyropastus . . . . .79 Fig. 19. The Sea-horse (Hippocampus heptagonus . . 83 Fig. 20. Phylopteryx eques . . . . . .84 Fig. 21. Fry of Sea-horse ..... 85 Fig. 22. The Common Eel (Anguilla vulgaris) . . . .88 Fig. 23. Life-size head of Murcenopsis tridaetylus ... 92 Fig. 24. The Tiger Salamander . . . . .97 Fig. 25. Common Bullfrog. From photograph by the Author . 101 Fig. 26. Tree-toads (Hyla versicolor) . . . . .103 Fig. 27. Anolis principal ...... Ill Fig. 28. Gila Monsters (Heloderma suspeclum) . . . .117 Fig. 29. Side view of the Head of a Heloderma . .119 Fig. 30. Superior view of a Heloderma .... 121 Fig. 31. Ventral view of a Heloderma .... 123 !_) LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGK 1 ; :;_'. The Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus collari*) 127 Fig. :i3. Sceloporus undulatnx Fig. 34. Summer Snake (Cydophis vernalis), in Smilax Vine . Fig. 35. Young of Water Snake (Natrix sipedori) . Fig. 36. The Blotched King Snake (Lampropeltis rhombomaculata) Fig. :*7. Floor of the Mouth of Bullsnake (P. s. bellona) Fig. 38. Left Intersil view of the head of Bullsnake Fig. 30. Young Box Tortoise (Citstudo Carolina) Fig. 40. Shell of Testudo pardalis. Upper or dorsal aspect Fig. 41. Shell of Testudo pardalis. Lower or ventral aspect Fig. 42. The Carapace of a Young Hawk's-bill Turtle (Caretta imbricata) 153 Fig. 43. Head of Crocodile 157 Fig. 44. TheGavial . .162 Fig. 45. The Horned Grebe 1G5 Fig. 46. Right lateral aspect of the Head of the Black-throated Diver (Urinator arcticus) . . l^l Fig. 47. Whiskered Anklet . .175 Fig. 48. The Great Auk (Plautus imjiennis) 179 Fig. 49. Ross's Gull (Rhodostethia rosea) 184 Fig. 50. Trudeau's Tern . 188 Fig. 51. The Long-tailed Jaeger 190 Fig. 52. The Black Skimmer .... 192 Fig. 53. The Brown Pelican . . . 196 Fig. 51. Xest of Meadow-lark containing Two Young (Sturnella magna) 207 Fig. 55. The Meadow-lark . . . . . .211 Fig. 56. The Massena Partridge ... 217 Fig. 57. Head of the Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) . . . 222 Fig. 58. Young Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) . . . 225 Fig. .V.. The American Long-eared Owl (Asio wilsonianus) . . 2,'*r> Fig. JO. The Long-eared Owl (A. wilsonianus). From a photograph by the Author ....... 2137 Fig. 61. Nestling of Barred Owl ..... 241 Fig. 62. Head of Young Barred Owl (Syrnium nebulosum) . . 244 Fig. 63. The Carolina Paroquet (Conurus carolinensis) . . 251 Fig. 64. The Yellow-billed Cuckoo (C. americanus) . . . 261 Fig. 65. Photograph of a Live Specimen of Downy Woodpecker (Dry abates pubescens) . . . . . 271 'I. Vertical Section of Tree, showing Nest of Golden-winged Woodpecker, containing Six Young . . . 275 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 13 PAGE Fig. 07. Nestling Golden-winged Woodpecker . . . 279 Fig. 68. Pterylosis of Harris's Woodpecker. Lateral view . . 278 Fig. 69. Pterylosis of Harris's Woodpecker. Dorsal and ventral views 283 Fig. 70. Pterylosis of Red-naped Woodpecker. Ventral view . 285 Fig. 71. Pterylosis of Red-naped Woodpecker. Dorsal view . 287 Fig. 72. Cedar Waxwing (Ampelis cedrorum}. Photograph from life . 293 Fig. 73. Cedar Bird (Ampelis cedrorum). Photograph from living specimen 295 Fig. 74. A Pair of Cedar Birds (Ampelis cedrorum. Adult $ and 9 299 Fig. 75. Nest of Wood Thrush (Turdus mustelinus) . . 303 Fig. 76. Young Wood Thrush (Turdus mustelinus) . . . 307 Fig. 77. Nest and Young of Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceous) . 311 Fig. 78. Nest and Young of the Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea) . 315 Fig. 79. Black-poll Warbler (Dendroica striata) $ . From life . 321 Fig. 80. Nest and Young of the Yellow Warbler (Dendroica cestiva). Taken, natural size, in situ, from nature by the Author . 325 Fig. 81. Nest and Three Young of the Prairie Warbler . . 327 Fig. 82. Young Chipping Sparrows (Spizella socialis) . . . 331 Fig. 83. A Pair of Crossbills ..... 337 Fig. 84. Nest and Young of Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens) . 343 Fig. 85. Nest and Young of Catbird (Galeoscoptes carolinensis) . 347 Fig. 86. A Pair of Young Catbirds . . . . .351 Fig. 87. The Oven-bird (Siurus auricapillus). Natural size . 355 Fig. 88. Nest of the Oven-bird (Siurus auricapillus) . . . 359 Fig. 89. Nest of Furnarius ..... 361 Fig. 90. Vertical Section of the Nest of Furnarius . . .361 Fig. 91. Young of American Opossum (D. virginiana) . . 365 Fig.' 92. Young of American Opossum (D. virginiana). Right lateral view 371 Fig. 93. Common Dolphin (D. delphis) .... 379 Fig. 94. Skunk Porpoise (Lagenorhynchus gubernator) . . . 381 Fig. 95. The Blackfish (Globiocephalus melas) . . . 381 Fig. 96. The Grampus (Grampus griseua) .... 383 Fig. 97. The Herring-hog (Phocfena communis) . . . 384 Fig. 98. The Sperm Whale . . . . . .385 Fig. 99. The Bowhead Whale * . . . . . 385 Fig. 100. The Narwhal . . . . 389 Fig. 101. The Sperm Whale ..... 389 Fig. 102. Skull of African Manatee (Manatus senegalensis) . 392 14 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Fig. 103. Front View of the Head of the American Manatee. Lips di- x arii-sited) ..... 392 Fig. 104. Front View of the Head of the American Manatee. Lips contracted . . . 392 Fig. lor,. South American Manatees. Attitudes of swimming . 395 Fig. 106. South American Manatees in Act of Feeding . 395 Fig. 107. The Flying Squirrel (Sciuroptems v. volueella) . 401 Fig. 108. The Gila Chipmunk . . 407 Fig. 109. Life-size Head of a Specimen of Abert's Squirrel . 412 Fig. 110. True's Pifion Mouse. Life size from nature . . 416 Fig. 111. The Deer Mouse (P. leucopus). From life . . 417 Fig. 112. The Jumping Mouse ..... 421 Fig. 113. Section of the Skull of a Beaver (Castor fiber) . . 424 Fig. 114. Side View of the Skull of a Beaver (after Huxley) . . 424 Fig. 115. Side View of Skull of Muskrat (Fiber zibethicus) . . 424 Fig. 116. Bats in an Old Tree-stump . . . . .429 Fig. 117. Serotine Bat .... 433 Fig. 118. Serotine Bat. Front view ..... 437 Fig 119. Ornithological Hall of the Smithsonian Institution . 447 Fig. 120. Model of Sunfish, ready to receive the skin . 451 Fig. 121. Anterior View of Mounted Sunfish 453 Fig. 122. Mounted Specimen of a Sunfish . . . 455 Fig. 123. Group of Jackals . . . 457 Fig. 124. Model of Jackal . . . . .456 Fig. 125. Model of Jackal . ... 459 Fig. 126. Mounted Specimen of Fox . . 460 Fig. 127. Model of Young Bear . . 465 Fig. 128. Mounted Specimen of Young Polar Bear . . . 467 Fig. 129. Mounted Specimen of the European Pine Marten . 470 Fig. 130. Rhea Americana . . 471 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION N ottering to my readers the Chapters on Nat- ural History found in the present voluuieritas not with the intention of placing before them anything having the form of a systematic treatise upon the subject, but rather a series of nature stories selected at random by their author. During the past ten or twelve years or more I have contributed to the various popular-science magazines of this country accounts and descriptions of many of our bet- ter-known mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and insects, and it is from these that the present chapters have been largely borrowed. In nearly every case, however, they have been extensively revised, augmented, and in a few instances new illustrations added to them. A few of these chapters appear now for the first time, never having been published elsewhere. Judging from what my many correspondents have kindly written me in years gone by, I feel safe in saying that my labors along these lines have been met with marked favor, and it is my earnest hope that there has been no falling off of this interest, and that gathered together in this their present shape these brief life-histories of many of our birds and animals will be received even with greater apprecia- tion. Technical descriptions have been largely disallowed place in these pages, as in this age of science the literature in such fields is very rich and ample, while but few really popular works upon natural history are being written. This further inclines me to believe that these chapters will be favorably regarded, especially by those who love to ramble in our fields and forests, ex- plore along the banks of our streams and shores, and delight in reading about the forms in nature that they meet with there every day. I trust, too, that these accounts will stimulate others, and better pens than mine, to add still more to our knowl- edge of the habits of our United States animals, particularly those usually considered to be abundant and well known. Often these are the very ones that have been neglected, and the inti- 18 INTRODUCTION mate habits of which we know the least about. Then many of the species in our fauna are now rapidly becoming extinct, and ih.-se especially need our attention at the present time. I will h, very j:hid :ind feel more than repaid for my labor should my young naturalist friends, boys and girls, like this book, and wish in ha vi- it in i heir libraries. They liave been largely in my mind while iis pa^vs were being written; and my own children, who have not only assisted me greatly in collecting some of the ma teria! therein described, but have heard them read ere they were sent to press. It will be observed that quite a large number of the illustra- tions are reproduced from photographs of living animals of va- rious species and kinds. These were all taken by myself from the living subjects, and nearly in every instance of natural size. Too much cannot be said in favor of the constant use of the photographic camera in zoology, and when by its means really tii st rate, life-like pictures of any of our living forms are secured in natural attitudes, and with nature's surroundings, they should surely be published, and be made to take the place of many of the highly incorrect figures of our animals, still to be found in popular works upon natural history. Taxidermists and artists will then, I am sure, appreciate this feature in my book, for if anything be useful and helpful to them in their work it is good pictures of this class, used, as they safely can be, as models. During the entire course of preparation of the volume, not a few of the works of other naturalists have been carefully con- sulted, and in many instances quoted from more or less exten- sively. Chief among these have been the writings of Professor Huxley; Darwin: from his "Voyage of a Naturalist;" Sir William II. Flower of the British Museum; the classical and voluminous writings of Alfred Newton; the very numerous and excellent con tributions of Doctors Philip Lutley Sclater and R. Bowlder Sharpe; of Alexander Wilson; the Parkers; E. D. Cope; Gill, and (1. Krown (Joode in fishes; Packard and others distinguished in eiiininology; the unrivaled works in American ornithology of Robert Kidgway and of Chas. E. Bendire; those of the veteran in the study of reptiles, Dr. Albert C. L. G. Giinther, F.K.S.; and ;i greal many others. In closing these introductory remarks, it gives me pleasure in sav that ij would have been practically impossible for me in have brought ollt t|,j s volume at the present time had i! not been INTRODUCTION 19 i'or the invaluable and substantial aid rendered ine by niy very good friend, A. C. Gould, Esqr., the esteemed editor of Shooting and Fishing, of New York City, N. Y. Mr. Gould not only greatly encouraged me to write this work, but, prompted by a generosity rarely equaled, presented me with the forty or more half-tone blocks upon which are engraved the reproductions of altoiLtliose animals photographed by me from life. For this very timely and friendly assistance I here extend him niy most sincere thanks. All of my articles kindly published for me by Mr. Gould, from time to time in his admirable journal have been incorpo- rated into the present chapters, and in many cases without any alteration whatever. I feel the deepest obligations, too, to Mr. Benjamin Lillard, the able editor of Popular Science News, of New York City, who, upon application, promptly loaned me many electrotypes of figures that during the past few years illustrated articles of mine in his excellent paper. I refer especially to the figures of the Violet Land Crab; the Sea Horse; P. eques; the Common Eel; head of Crocodile; the Gavial; the Horned Grebe; Black-throated Diver; Whiskered Auklet; Trudeau's Tern; Peli- can; the Crossbills; and others. The text-matter which these figures illustrated in Popular Science News has also been largely reproduced in the following pages, and I am sure will add ma- terially to the usefulness of the book. CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES CHAPTER I. METHODS OF STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. HAT has been written of the poet can with equal truth be applied to the naturalist, for " ? T is long disputed, whether poets claim From art or nature their best right to fame; But art, if not enrich'd by nature's vein, And a rude genius of uncultur'd strain, Are useless both; but when in friendship join'd, A mutual succour in each other find." And, as in the case of the poet, "naturalists are born and not made." A true naturalist has the spirit of genius born within him, and no amount of discouragement, or of misfortune, or of opposition will deter him in the fulfillment of his destiny. To such a one the methods of research in the fields he loves so well will be sought out and come to him, as it were, by second nature. \\>re I asked what I considered to be the best qualifications for a naturalist to be possessed of, I should, without hesitation, answer, that, above all else, he must be a good observer; then, of equal importance is it that he should be endowed with a keen power of reasoning, in order to logically utilize what he ob- serves. To these qualities of correct observation, and just ap- preciation of what he sees, must be added an unfailing store of patience, and a capability for work of any desired amount. True naturalists are true men in every sense of the word, and of them it may be said that no class possesses a higher regard for all the characteristics of the nobler side of human nature, as those of truth, candor, and unselfishness. The majority of our best nat- uralists, and especially those who come to be our best descrip- tive biologists, are born with the gift of drawing and painting, an art which in them rapidly develops. This is particularly true of those who lay any claim to being proficient in special depart- ments, as those of ornithology, ichthyology, herpetology, and like sciences. Of course, this in no way applies to those philosophic minds, who may be the expounders, the generalizes, or the authors of 24 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY rompendiums of any of these .branches. But what I do distinctly mean is, that for one to be great in ornithology, for example, he must sit least be capable of drawing and painting birds cor- rectly, whHln-r In- exercises the art nature may have given him or not. .Many "closet-naturalists" there have been who, in their life's work, have demonstrated their extreme usefulness in advancing the biological sciences, while upon the other hand a great deal of the labor performed under such conditions has come to be the most serious stumbling-block in the way of sound progress. Consequently, whenever it becomes possible, animals and plants should be invariably studied alive, both in nature, and under all other conditions that opportunity may offer. It is only by such means that we can ever obtain a correct idea of form, color, habits, uses, and actions of certain organs or appendages, and much else besides. Of the living specimens, too, that we study, we should always make good photographic pictures, as well as correct colored drawings. When dissections and other preparations are made, and no working naturalist can dispense with these, they, too, must be copied upon paper, and according to a prescribed scale, either by the means of pen, pencil, brush, and pigment; by the camera; or by the camera lucida; or by any other skillful con- trivance in use for the purpose. In coloring dissections on papers, conventional tints should always be used, as red for the arteries and blue for the veins, and so on. If naturalists invari- ably employed the same colors for the same structures in pro- ductions of Ihis class, a great point of vantage would be gained. And of still greater importance is it that a universal nomen- clature of colors come into use, and our coming young natural- ists of the present can do much tow r ard the promotion and adoption of such ends. When making notes upon animals, or indeed biological obser- vations of any nature whatever, or drawings from life or dissec- lions, they must be made as nearly coincident with the time of the observation as possible. In other words, leave nothing to mem- ory, but make record only in the presence of the subject you pur- pose to describe. Field naturalists and explorers should be par- ticularly exacting in this, their work being reduced to writing every t \von1y-fonr hours. By such methods alone can accuracy be insured, and progress be made certain, OF THE UNITED STATES 25 In a naturalist's armamentarium there are two sets of things which are co-equal in importance to him, and both essential to his success. These are his implements upon the one hand, and his books upon the other. His microscope and its appurte- nances; his guns and their belongings; his camera and its outfit; his drawing and coloring utensils; his other and many various instruments of precision may be considered to be the active agents in his researches, while his library is the passive one. By the means of the first he obtains, studies, dissects, and makes descriptive record of material, while by the use of the second he compares the observations of others in every possible way; de- tects errors; ascertains the limitation of knowledge upon any particular point or subject; and finally, establishes in his mind the relative value of his observations, and exactly, in the event of their being published, to what extent they may be considered a contribution to the particular line of biological research along which they have been made. Both books and implements should be of the very best obtain- able: the first in the matter of recognized authority, and the second with regard to manufacture. The best test for the acqui- sition of either is the appreciation of the feeling for its need. Purchase only as the demand presses, and as the widening of your field requires it. Excess of either tools or volumes can but create lumber in the laboratory; demand care without the ade- quate increase in efficiency; and levy a pecuniary tax, which might have been used with greater power in some other direction. In the matter of books, again, the naturalist will of course be greatly influenced by circumstances. If he has access to very extensive scientific public libraries, he needs at hand, of his own, only such works of reference as his researches require. These may be limited in some cases to text-books, practical works upon the use of instruments and dissections; compen- diums, keys, manuals, lexicons, and the like, with perhaps some fifty volumes upon the general literature of his science. A dozen or more good journals and magazines should likewise find their way to his study table. Eight times out of ten, I find no difficulty in entering my li- brary and work-room in the dark, and finding the volume I need, or placing my hand upon any implement required. Precision, extreme neatness and order, economy in time carried to the maximum, and the minimum use of appliances compatible with 26 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY the best possible results, will carry a capable naturalist through almost any undertaking in which he may engage, and stamp his uailv surroundings with the unmistakable mark of success. When we come to the material which it is our intention to ex- amine, study, and describe, there is altogether another question involved. The more generous the supply of material the broader, clearer, and more comprehensive will be the results of our researches. If possible, the amount of material examined in the study of any zoological or botanical subject should be sufficiently Ample as to insure beyond all perad venture a thorough elucidation of every detail of structure, and the widest opportunity for the data of comparison. Say, for example, that it is a specimen of a tortoise that com- mands tlic naturalist's attention. Having obtained all the pos- sible light upon its habits in nature, and its geographical distri- bution, and every fact and fiction that has appeared in regard to it in literature, then seize upon all the material obtainable, enough in any event in order to fully exhibit the extremes of variation in size; the sexual characters; the eggs, embryos, and young at all stages; the fossil forms, if any are known; and finally, an abundance of similar material representing all the ap- parent allies of the particular form, either near or remote. With this before one, compare and inter-compare all of its ex- ternal characters, be they of whatever nature they may. Ke- study its habits in confinement, and its physiological functions as far as they may be observed. Make of the specimen measure- ments, drawings, and photographs to an extent to illustrate all of these particulars. Next kill a series of specimens with chloroform, and make full comparative dissections upon these fresh cadavers, and especially with the view of ascertaining the appearance, relative positions, and morphology of all the parts and organs, unaffected by any preserving fiuid. Colored draw- ings of all of these should be made, and then a similar series of specimens be consigned to a preserving fluid, and their mor- phology be re-examined, and several specimens injected (after the most approved methods employed by microscopists), hardened and stained, and then ;ill the tissues examined by means of a lower power lens, as well as mounted sections of the same being made for a complete microscopical examination, with the view of making a full series of micrographs and colored drawings. Having accomplished all this, we are prepared to use our labora- OF THE UNITED STATES 27 tory notes in writing out an account of the species; naming it, if the form be unknown to science; and suggesting a place for it in the system. This is simply a brief outline of the ideal path along which a biologist works, and hints as to the methods he adopts in his researches. Below this, his studies may be carried to any stage of completeness he desires, and I have known- of youthful naturalists who have accomplished truly remarkable results by means of the most rudimentary appliances, and scarcely any assistance beyond the aid of a text-book or two in elementary zoology. Fortunately in these days when a parent discovers that a child has taken to capturing snakes, shooting and skinning birds, drawing and painting butterflies and beetles, and pos- sesses similar traits that become only more pronounced through opposition, the road is very clear as to what is to be done, for biology, elementary and otherwise, is completely woven into the very tissue and substance of our public-school system, and the best advice to be given in the premises is to suggest to the principal of the school to allow that particular pupil to add the elementary course in biology to his list of studies. Time will very soon demonstrate whether or no an embryo in biology is incubating. Should it happen that one is, then open every ave- nue to his or her requirements, for, indeed, good naturalists come not to us every day, and biological science rejoices in the acquisition of capable recruits to its ranks. Moreover in these days there is abundant room and occupation for them, and the world is wiser and better for their coming. Throw the books and the "paint-box" and the dissecting set in their way, and, to tell the truth, I know of no better mental training for any career in practical life than the one offered by a course in biology. A large share of success in life depends upon good powers of ob- servation, the appreciation of the experience of others, and the logical application of these two combined. If a boy contem- plates a course in medicine, for example, fortunate for him in- deed is it has he the patience and understanding to obtain a score of crayfishes, and, with Huxley's book on the subject, sit down and master what is contained in those common-sense, philosophic pages, for should he do so, I will stake my life upon it, he will have acquired a kind of knowledge and a training that will stand him in good stead at every stage of his career,and give him a preparation that will easily enable him to outstrip his fel- 28 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY lows in tlu school of medicine not similarly prepared, to say nothing of the benetit that will accrue to him in after life. Things were very different thirty-five or more years ago, in my boyhood time, when a youth who gave evidence of any such tastes was commonly considered to be some sort of a juvenile crank, with a dash of insanity in his composition, and his father was advised to force him into one of the prescribed "professions," and make every effort to eliminate i lie eminently unpractical streak in his organization. The mi- croscope was taken away from him; the collection of plants or- dered destroyed; the living specimens under examination made to be let go, and the "rubbish" of birds' nests, eggs, skins, and what not destroyed, and the boy with the "bent" bent sure enough into channels for which he had no taste or capacity. Thanks to the present-day methods in biology, such procedures are fast becoming ones of greater and greater rarity. CHAPTER II. THE CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS. (Taxonomy.) HEN we come to regard this earth as a whole, with everything upon it, it can be stated that it is made up of two kinds of matter. By far the lesser portion of this material is living matter, while the balance is not living matter, and for the distinct gap separating these tw r o, the biologist knows of no link. Whatever life may be, when it ceases in the protozoan, in the animal, or in the plant, what remains is at once claimed by the world of lifeless matter, and is thereafter subject only to the chemical changes of either disintegration or of decomposition. Later on it may be taken up again into living material. Now, the consideration of all living matter, with the phenom- ena it manifests, falls to the science or sciences of biology, while the dealing with dead matter belongs to another distinct cate- gory known as the abiological sciences. The science of zoology is an example of the first, and geology of the last. Again, we have animal-life and plant-life; organic forms and non-organic forms; and so, once more considered in its entirety, structures of all kinds exhibiting the phenomena of life are divisible into two great kingdoms the animal and the vegetable. As we pass to the forms of the greatest simpleness in either of these, no zoolo- gist or botanist can with a steady hand draw the hard and fast dividing line between them. Still, this has been attempted, and Dyer has truthfully said that the " fundamental difference which separates the vegetable king- dom from the animal kingdom is to be found in the modes of nu- trition which obtain in each. If we compare a plant and animal reduced to their simplest terms, and consisting, therefore, in cadi case of a single cell, i. e., of a minute mass of protoplasm in- vested with a cell-well, while the unicellular plant draws its nu- triment by simple imbibition through the cell-wall from the sur- rounding medium a process which implies that all its nutriment passes into it in a liquid form the unicellular animal is able to take in solid nutriment by means of interruptions in the con- tinuity of the cell-wall, and is also able afterward to reduce this 30 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY solid food, if of a suitable composition, to the liquid state. And not merely is tin-re a difference of this kind in the mode, there is also ono no less important, although less general, in the mate- rials of nutrition. While under present terrestrial conditions those substances, or chemical combinations, which are required for the nutrition of animal organisms are, as far as we know, nowhere spontaneously produced that is to say, nowhere apart from the influence of living organisms materials derived wholly from the inorganic world are sufficient to sustain directly nearly the whole of vegetable life, and, therefore, indirectly, of all other life as well." As thus differentiated, then, we leave the dealing with vegetable life and plant-forms of every description to the consideration of the vegetable physiologist and the vegetable morphologist to the botanist in the widest sense and briefly lake here into consideration only scientific classificatory methods as applied in the animal kingdom, though it may be said the same principles obtain in both. In biology, the term taxonomy is now frequently employed for the word classification. Each signifies the same thing, however to fi.r objects or material in some defi- nite order; to (irruni/c them, or it, according to some defined plan adopted for the purpose. In all classifications we base our arrangements upon the re- semblances (limnologies) or non-resemblances of the things clas- sified. Biological classification follows the same course, and, in it, it is the Ktrm-tHir of the forms under consideration that is taken info account. The structure of animals constitutes the science 1 of morphology. "But morphology means nothing more than what we formerly comprehended by the term anntouu/. Anatomically, the structure of organic forms is considered along two more or less distinct lines; the one being " gross anatomy," or all that pertains to the consideration of organs and parts in their en- tirety; the other being "minute anatomy," or nistoloyy, wherein the use of the microscope is essential to its prosecution, and the province of its department being the examination and compari- son of the ultimate structural detail of organs and other parts. . Topographical anatomy treats of the crtcnnrt form and parts of animals, and may be studied upon the living specimens; that branch of anatomy dealing with the internal parts usually being undertaken only upon the dead bodies of animals. OF THE UNITED STATES 31 Again, living animals are unceasingly undergoing a change of structure, or, in other words, they have a development; and this development may be anatomically considered at any stage, and for any fraction of time. This constitutes developmental anatomy; and in a similar way we have the province of developmental his- tology. The two combine in a special branch, or that of embry- ology, or the early stages of the development of the individual. Fossil anatomy takes account of the structure of the remains of extinct animals, and incidentally of their history in time. This is the science of palaeontology. The facts brought to light by the study of embryology and palaeontology largely assist in the cor- roboration of a natural taxonomy. The path followed in a natural classification of animals is that one which first takes into consideration the very simplest forms known, and passes to those of gradually increasing complexity. In this course, structural resemblances constitute, when taken as a whole, the main guide and basis, checked, as ever must be the case, by what embryology and palaeontology have to offer. In writing upon taxonomy, Huxley has truly said that it " is conceivable that all the forms of life should have presented about the same differentiation of structure, and should have differed from one another by superficial characters, each form passing by insensible gradations into those most like it. In this case tax- onomy, or the classification of morphological facts, would have had to confine itself to the formation of a serial arrangement representing the serial gradation of these forms in nature. " It is conceivable, again, that living beings should have dif- fered as widely in structure as they actually do, but that the in- terval between any two forms should have been filled up by an unbroken series of gradations; in which case, again, classification could only effect the formation of series the strict definition of groups would be as impossible as in the former case. As a matter of fact, living beings differ enormously, not only in differ- entiation of structure, but in the modes in which that differentia- tion is brought about; and the intervals between extreme forms are not filled up in the existing world by complete series of gra- dations. Hence it arises that living beings are, to a great extent, susceptible of classification into groups, the members of each group resembling one another, and differing from all the rest, by certain definite peculiarities. " No two living beings are exactly alike, but it is a matter of 32 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY observation that, among the endless diversities of living things, some constantly resemble one another so closely that it is im- possible to draw any line of demarcation between them, while they differ only in such characters as are associated with sex. Such as thus closely resemble one another constitute a, morpho- logical species; while different morphological species are defined by constant characters which are not merely sexual. " The comparison of these lowest groups, or morphological species, with one another, shows that more or fewer of them possess some character or characters in common some feature in which they resemble one another and differ from all other species and the group or higher order thus, formed is a genus. The generic groups thus constituted are susceptible of being ar- ranged in a similar manner into groups of successively higher or- der, which are known as families, orders, classes, and the like." And, added to this, it may be said that, according to quite similar principles, we create the intermediate groups in nature, or those intended to contain the subspecies, the subgenus, the subfamily, the suborder, the subclass, and also such others as the superfamily and the superorder, and so on. So much for true or natural classification ; but we have another kind, differing from it, however, only in degree, and I refer to all forms of artificial classification. The artificial classification of living forms in nature depends upon the selection of easily ob- served* features, most frequently external ones, as bases of divi- sions by means of resemblances or dissemblances. It is likenesses in both instances, but in the natural one the morphological re- semblances are taken in their totality ; while in the artificial one, external characters, often only appearances, are given weight. To arrange living forms, in other words, in a natural classifica- tion requires a far-reaching knowledge of morphology on the part of the taxonomer; while an artificial one, although often convenient in some few particulars, may be conceived by almost any observer with common powers for comparison of objects. All birds, for example, might, in an artificial classification, be easily placed in one group or class; lines might then be drawn upon the fact that some birds were " land birds " and others " water birds " ignoring the matter of structure entirely and by similar reasoning make minor groups of " diving birds," " scratching birds," " climbing birds," " perching birds," and so on. All this can de done as a matter of observation of habit OF THE UNITED STATES 33 rather than of structure. To make the minor groups, however, structural resemblances of an easily accessible nature would next have to be resorted to, as shape of bills and feet; number of feathers in tail and wings ; form, color, and even size, might also be pressed into service. In such classifications affinity becomes guesswork, and true relationships are thrown to the wiridsr- The simplest and most lowly organized of all known animal forms are those designated by biologists as the Protozoa. For the most part they are composed of single cells of living matter, and are elementary in all particulars. Multi-celled animals, or, as they have been called, the Metazoa, is a division created to contain all other animals. Spanning these two primary groups, we have certain protozoans in which simple cells are massed to- gether in globular form. The next most general morphological fact to be observed, and which can be practically utilized in a taxonomic way, is that the Metazoa are susceptible of division into two primary groups, on the basis -that in one set we find the animals possessed of a cen- tral axis or cord, composed of either jointed osseous segments or vertebrae; of cartilage, or simply of the notochord; while in the remaining set nothing of the kind exists. In other words, we have the Invertebrata and the Vertebrata. But the latter possess also a spinal chord and brain, hence they may likewise be desig- nated as the Chordata; the invertebrate group, wherein the nerve-cords are either ventral or lateral, are known as the Non- chordata. Other good distinctions also exist. Here again, however, when w r e get down toward the simplest types, we meet with forms that approach with remarkable near- ness the lowest ones of the alternate series. That is, in these cases certain invertebrates approach the Vertebrata in certain features, and, vice versa, we meet at the very starting point of the vertebrate series with most puzzling animals, as, for example, the Tunicata; the worm-like Balanoglossus and Cephalodiscus, and the famous Lancelet (AmpMoxus). The Protozoa have been well classified into their main groups and subdivisions by biologists; so, too, the invertebrate Meta- zoa have been similarly dealt with, and we meet therein with more or less natural divisions created to contain the Sponges (For if era) ; the jelly-fish, hydroids, and their allies (Coslenterata) ; the Worms (Yermes) ; the starfish, etc. (EcMnodermata) ; the shelled animals (Mollusca), and other groups for crustaceans, 34 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY myriopods, insects, spiders, and the various allies of these, living and extinct. Passing to the Vertebrata, we meet at the very threshold of this phylum, as stated above, forms in regard to the taxonomy of which biologists by no means hold a unanimous opinion. I am inclined to think, however, that waiving such little violence as may be done, in any particular instance, the gain for conven- ience and classificatory simplicity will so far outweigh it that, in the light of future research, not only will AmpMoxus, the Tuni- ruta, and Balanoglossus be admitted, with Cuvier's Vertebrata, in the phylum Vertebrata, but both Gephalodiscus, as well as Rhab- dopleura, will be placed there, associating them with Balanoglos- sus. Granting the admission of these three groups as the Geph- alochorda (Ampliioxus), the Urochorda (Tunicata), and the Hemi- rtiorda (Balanoglossus), Vertebrata, as the Graniata, will stand as a fourth one, the whole constituting the great phylum of the VERTEBRATA. The GRANIATA may be primarily divided into two main divi- sions, the first, the Gyclostomata, including the hagfishes (Myx- inc) and the lampreys (Petromyzon). They are limbless, scale- less, round-mouthed, almost jawless forms that lead up to the fishes. The second division of the Craniata the Gnathostomata in- cludes the main vertebrate groups of Fishes, Amphibians, Rep- tiles, Birds, and Mammals. In a brief chapter, such as the one 1 am now writing, it becomes out of the question to discuss the minor divisions of these great groups, much less the morphologi- cal considerations upon which they are based. I must not neg- lect to point out, however, that Birds are linked to Reptiles (Sauropsida), as are Fishes linked to Amphibians (Ichthyopsida). many extinct forms corroborating the two alliances. CHAPTER III. SOME INTERESTING INSECTS, WITH NOTES ON THE CLASS. (Insecta.) NE of the great kingdoms in organic nature are the Invertebrata, invertebrates being animals without a vertebral column, and in this at least are distin- guished from the Vertebrata, or vertebrated animals possessing a vertebral column or spine, it constituting in them the median part of an osseous or cartilaginous skeleton. Ar- rayed as one of the divisions of the Invertebrata, we find the Arthropoda, joint-footed forms, including the Class Insecta (In- sects), the largest one of all, as well as the Classes Arachnida, Crustacea, and Myriopoda. As distinguished from a crustacean (crabs, lobsters, etc.), from an arachnid (spiders, etc.), and from a myriopod (centipedes, etc.), a true insect never has more than six legs; two antenna; distinct head, thorax, and abdomen, with commonly two pairs of wings, and certain peculiarities in the organs and function of respiration. There are at least a million different species of in- sects in the world, and they occur in every known part of it. Not more than a quarter of a million of the earth's existing insect fauna has as yet been described, however, and thousands of vol- umes still remain to be written upon their biology. Fossil in- sects occur as early as the Devonian, and from this they lead up to the present era, becoming more and more like the groups now in existence. Many species have been preserved in amber, which is a fossil resin, as well as in gum copal; the former being usually extinct types, while the latter agree as a rule with the species still in existence. Some insects, such as certain ants and bees, may have a duration of life extending over seven or eight years; such species as the May-flies, on the other hand, have a duration of life not exceeding twenty-four hours. The period of existence in numerous species is greatly affected by the temperature; cold increasing the duration and heat diminishing it. Many insects are of vast economic importance to man; while in the economy of nature, especially in the matter of the fertilization of plants, they play no less an important role. M'Lachlan remarks that among "the varied relations of insects 36 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY to other classes of the animal kingdom and their mutual rela- tions, no subject is more interesting than is that of parasitism. It occurs in almost all the orders, but in very different degrees. Whole groups are naturally epizoic, others entozoic, while a few (such as fleas and bed-bugs) can scarcely be arranged in either of these divisions, inasmuch as, although in one sense epizoic, it ap- pears probable that they may occasionally be able to go through the whole of their life cycle without contact with the animals to which they otherwise appear especially attached." This is avery large and far-reaching subject, really a special department of en- tomology, and one, in some of its aspects, of great economic im- portance, and purely scientific in others. Xot a few insects are endowed with luminous powers, such as the fire-flies, cucullos, and some of the larval forms. The study of this extraordinary property is likewise deserving of the closest attention of the student. A variety of insects puncture all the various parts of trees and plants, giving rise to peculiar growths known as galls', but why these growths take place there has as yet been no satisfactory explanation. The anatomy, classification, and geographical distribution of the insects found even within the boundaries of this country are, each and all, altogether too extensive subjects to be touched upon in a brief popular chapter about them, so the remainder of my space I will devote to short accounts of some special forms. Spiders and their allies, for example, constitute a very large group of insects; indeed, naturalists have created an entire sub- class to contain them. They are designated as the Arachnida, and, as thus assembled, not only all the hosts of spiders in the world are included in it, but also their near kin, the scorpions, mites, daddy-long-legs, and the like. Much is already known about them; about their habits and geographical distribution; about their physiology and structure, and a great deal else. Scientists have written many treatises about them, and a great many have been beautifully drawn, colored, and given to the world on handsome plates. Yet, notwithstanding all this, it may be said that we have barely gained an insight of what we really ought to know about them and, in the ages to come, no doubt will. An entire history of this great sub-class of insects would m:ik<* a large library of itself, and men have lived who have de- voted their wlio]<- lives to the study of only certain families of spiders. Many vears ago, the writer had a good friend who was OF THE UNITED STATES 37 an astronomer, and who had a private observatory near his resi- dence. This gentleman once placed a species of spider in the distant end of the tube or barrel of his telescope, and for several days he unceasingly studied the insect as it created its beautiful web. It was one of those rayed webs made in one plane, and my friend was curious to know if there were either certain^ figures or angles used in its construction in fact, was the spider's net built upon a definite geometrical plan and he came to the con- clusion it was not. His study well repaid him, however, for he acquired a very considerable knowledge of how the spider fas- tened its web together, and the plan it was apparently built upon. Any intelligent observer, by the aid of a lens, can gain a good deal of information about how spiders form their beautiful webs. By holding the insect properly the thread may be drawn out, and, in the common garden spider, for example, it will be seen to issue from a set of very remarkable organs at the under side of the dis- tal extremity of the abdomen. These are called the spinnerets. There may be as many as a half a dozen of these, while at the apex of each there are to be seen upward of a thousand tubulets from which the separate filaments issue. So that the delicate silken thread as it is spun consists of several thousand strands, and it is manufactured in a set of special glands at he base of the spinnerets. At first it is in a fluid form, viscid and tenacious; but when exposed to the air it quickly hardens to form the thread. This last, the spider, by the aid of his hinder pair of feet, fastens to some object, which is easily effected by its adhesive qualities. Then, as he moves away, the thread is formed and drawn out. The manufacture of this material is of the greatest use and importance to these wonderful insects. Some use it to make their webs; some to enshroud their victims captured for food; others to construct trap-doors to various kinds of subter- ranean passages. By means of this thread spiders are allowed to lower themselves down from heights; others float in the air by it; some swing by it across small streams or ditches; and they put it to a variety of other uses. While out in my garden last summer I captured a great, big, dark-brown, hairy spider, that with ease made good headw r ay over the ground, water, lily-pads, and anything on the surface. She carried with her a round ball, double the size of a buck-shot, which, when opened, was found to be filled with hundreds of young spiders. Originally, these were eggs and the mother spun over them this round, silken case. In 38 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY this they had hatched, as iny examination showed. Bringing out iny camera, I obtained a fine photograph of this specimen as it ran over a little rocky ledge, and a copy of this is offered here to show the reader exactly how she looked. This species belongs to the family Lycosidw, and is common in Maryland and other localities of Eastern United States. In certain parts of the trop- ics there are spiders of great size, and these species spin a web of no little strength; strong enough, indeed, to entangle small birds that have unwittingly flown against its meshes. We are all familiar, of course, with the peculiar cloth-like web built usually in corners and elsewhere, by the common house-spider, and how he runs out from the funnel-shaped angle of it, to capture insects that may alight upon its urface. All sorts of "cobwebs'' consti- tute other weavings of these tireless spinners, and there is an- other family of these insects that are divers by nature. They weave remarkable little dome-shaped domiciles under water, and into these they dive with their captured victims. All spiders are aerial respirers, so that these forms have a way of filling their subaqueous structures with air, by carrying down globules of it entangled in the longest hairs of their highly pubescent bodies. Dr. Glaus, of Vienna, tells us that all spiders " are predacious, and suck the juices of other insects; nevertheless, the manner in which they get possession of their prey varies much, and often indicates the possession of highly developed instincts. The so- called vagrant spiders do not, as a rule, form nets to catch their prey, but use the secretion of the spinning glands only to line their hiding-places, and to make their ovisacs. They catch their prey either by running after it, or by springing on it. Most spiders rest in the daytime, and go out for prey in the dusk or in the night-time. Many vagrant spiders, however, hunt in the day- time, even when the sun is shining." There is another very re- markable thing about the Dolomedes shown in my illustration, and it is that the females are larger than the males, and more powerful. Other species may occupy their webs near each other in peace, or even temporarily a web in common, but this is by no means always the case, for at other times the female will lie in ambush for her partner and kill and devour him with quite as much relish as she does other insects. Not only this, but she will accomplish th< same fiendish purpose while he is in the very act of fulfilling his duties toward her as her mate, or immedi- ately thereafter. The male is well aware of this dangerous trait OF THE UNITED STATES 41 on the part of his spouse, and consequently only undertakes to enter upon his amours with a due amount of caution. The bite of some spiders is dangerous and extremely poison- FIG. 2. THE WHIP-TAILED SCORPION. (Thelyphonus giganteus.) Natural size, from life, by the author. ous; when inflicted in the case of small animals it often causes almost immediate death. This is a bite, however, and not a sting, as in the case of their near cousins, the scorpions. The latter are connected with the spiders by a very remarkable in- 42 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY sect, found in certain parts of Southwestern United States and in Mexico. This scorpion-like looking spider (see figure) is called the "Whip-tailed Scorpion," or the "Vinigaroon," and is greatly dreaded by the people living in the countries where it occurs. When in New Mexico I obtained several specimens of this insect, and of one of them I made an accurate drawing, which is shown here in the illustration. The bite of this insect is poisonous, but I have never heard of a case where it has proved fatal in the case of man. Its tail is but a feeble lash, and structurally very differ- ent from the tail of a true scorpion. It is one of the largest in- sects we have in this country, yet contributions to its life-history are very much needed by entomologists. We must not believe that spiders are altogether lacking in anything to recommend them, for most all of them possess a very great attachment for their young, while the two sexes in son?./, species often live together in great harmony, even peacefully oc- cupying the same web. Many spiders will go for a long time, even months, without food, but when this is plenty, their great voracious propensities are quickly exhibited. Spiders are often very curiously formed, while some of the so-called " jumping spiders" are most brilliantly colored. In the case of nearly all of them, they are both crafty and skillful in attacking and cap- turing their prey, and many of them possess an intelligence quite equal to that exhibited on the part of some ants. Speaking of ants reminds me of those interesting cases of "protective mim- icry" in spiders, for in Brazil, in certain localities, there are species of ants and species of spiders so much alike that the ordi- nary observer can by no means tell them apart. Some species again closely resemble beetles, or even certain small mollusks, and there is one species so much like a little crab that most peo- ple would declare it was a crab. Certain insectivorous birds often feed upon spiders, but other spiders are so protected by spiny outgrowths, or are incased in dense horny armor, that the feathered denizens of the air let them severely alone. Many reptiles and small mammals feed upon these insects, while spiders kill and devour each other, and other insects also kill them. When collecting, years ago, in Louisiana, I found that one of the best places to look for spiders was in the newly formed nests of the so-called "mud-daubers," a kind of wasp. These in- sects stung spiders, paralyzed them, and then sealed them up in their nests as a food-supply for their young. Spiders are great OF THE UNITED STATES 43 drinkers of water, and feel the loss of that fluid very severely; this can be easily tested by depriving one of it, and then placing some within its reach. The insect will plump up imediately after it has had a good draught. In concluding this brief account I must tell you that a great many fossil spiders have been found, even as far back as the coal formation. Some of the very best of these have been preserved in amber, which, as has been stated, is but a fossilized resinous germ of the ancestors of our coniferous trees. Even now,' this process can be easily studied in any pine forest, for spiders still continue, as of old, to run up and down such trees, and when they become entangled in the clear exuding gum, they often be- come completely embalmed in time by the same material flooding over them. Time and fossilation does the rest. Let us now consider some other group of this division of inver- tebrate forms, and it may be remarked that books and papers to the extent of a small library have been published upon those truly remarkable insects known as Dragon-flies, or, as they are familiarly called in this country, Devil's Darning-needles, and Horse-stingers by our young naturalist friends in England. Hun- dreds of beautiful lithographs in colors, drawings, cuts, plates, and engravings throughout entomological literature have also appeared, showing the vast variety and extraordinary forms com- prising this group of the order Neuroptera, a group termed the Odonata by Kirby and others, who divide it into the two families, Libellulidce and Agrionidw. A great deal has also been written and printed upon the mar- velous structure of these insects; their strange metamorphoses, their habits and geographical distribution, much of which, owing to its technical nature, cannot be touched upon in the present connection. Moreover, in a popular work this will hardly be necessary, as probably all the readers of this chapter are familiar with the general appearance and parts of any of our typical American dragon-flies. There is, for example, in the Eastern United States, the big species that our boys and girls call the Snake Doctor, firmly believing, when they see it hawking about for its prey, that a snake lies concealed somewhere in the neigh- borhood. Older folk call this insect the Mosquito Hawk, a name more in keeping with its habits. Science recognizes two species of it, designating them as ^schua heros and M. grandis. As I have said, it is a large form, and frequently gets into our houses 44 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY in the summer time, greatly frightening the children, and even (a rryiug dismay among the grown people. The posterior part of its body is of a brilliant green color, elegantly marked with blue bands and spots, while its great eyes are truly objects of wonder- ful beauty. Then there are our pretty little species that are ever to be seen in spring and summer, flitting among the plants that grow in swampy places and sluggish streams. One of these is especially striking the species with the slender, emerald-colored body, and the ample wings of jetty black; while another is of a gay, bright blue, with wings like gauze. Another, and one that has always been a favorite with the writer, is the species de- scribed by Count De Geer as Libellula, trimaculata, it having a chalky white body, transparent wings, marked in the male by each having a dark patch near the body, and a more extensive area of the same, covering the outer part all to the tip. Three such deeply clouded patches ornament any one of the four wings in the female of this insect. A figure of this species is presented herewith (Fig. 3). Among the high pine lands, in the month of June, we also find another species of this genus, Libellula quadrimaculata, having four spots upon each of its gauzy wings; and then there is that yellowish red fellow, so frequently seen hawking over the quiet pools and ponds during the same time of the year (Diplax ruM- cundula), with its ally, D. Berenice. But we can refer to no others here, and science has already described some 2,000 of these insects, occurring as they do in nearly all parts of the world. The method of reproduction among dragon-flies varies some- what with the species, and we have yet much to learn in regard to it. One thing is sure, however, and that is, the gravid female in some of the forms either lays her eggs singly or in masses, accomplishing the act by hovering over the water, and suddenly dipping the apex of her abdomen into that element, thus ejects the eggs, which slowly sink to the bottom. Others alight upon the stalks of certain aquatic plants, and backing down upon these till the abdomen is well beneath the water, there perform the act of oviposition. Still others deposit beneath the water, in in- cisions they make in the stems and leaves of plants, a single egg in each, effecting the necessary cut by means of a special appa- ratus that is a part of the economy of the insect. Sometimes the male descends with the female, and sometimes two of the latter sex insert their eggs into the stalklet of the same aquatic plant. FIG. 3. A TYPICAL DRAGON-FLY (Libellula trimaculatd). Natural size. From a Photograph of the living specimen, taken by the Author. OF THE UNITED STATES 47 Uhler, a very close observer and competent entomologist, has noticed that Libellula "alights upon water plants, and, pushing the end of her body below the surface of the water, glues a bunch of eggs to the submerged stem or leaf." These eggs are usually small and of a yellow color, while in some of the Agrions they are of a bright pea green, and^>ur Eng- lish students observe that in this group the females have been known to go down several inches beneath the surface of the water, to deposit their eggs upon the stems of the plants. When summer is well advanced the eggs soon hatch, and then the larva of various species of Dragon-flies are easily to-be ob- tained with an ordinary dip-net in any of our ponds or ditches. They are very active aquatic insects with six legs, big eyes, large head, and powerful jaws concealed by a facial mask. Constantly feeding upon the larvae of mosquitoes and other noxious insects, they perform a service of untold good, a career the matured flies carry on in the air ever afterward until the day of their death. In fact, of all the insects known to me, none can in any way compare, in the matter of the amount of good done through the constant destruction of harmful insects, with dragon-flies of every species and kind. So far as man is concerned, the entire life of any one of these insects is one of beneficence of the mor pronounced character. In speaking of the larvae, Packard, our distinguished entomolo- gist, has said : "Not only does the immature Dragon-fly walk over the bottom of the pool or stream it inhabits, but it can also leap for a considerable distance, and by a most curious contrivance. By a syringe-like apparatus lodged in the end of the body, it dis- charges a. stream of water for a distance of two or three inches behind it, thus propelling the insect forward. This apparatus combines the functions of locomotion and respiration. There are, as usual, two breathing pores (stigmata) on each side of tht; thorax. But the process of breathing seems to be mostly carried on in the tail." Perhaps the best way of all to study these insects, from this time on, is to place a lot of them in a good-sized aquarium, in which some small reed-like grasses and lilies have been made to grow. This I have done many times as a boy, and what I then saw has never been forgotten, nor the lesson lost. Here we may observe how the larva of the Dragon-fly passes into the pupa stage, the latter differing but very little from the former in ap- 48 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY peurance, aiid with habits but little changed. Simply it has the four rudimentary wing-cases somewhat larger, and it bears a more general resemblance to the matured insect, while there is scarcely any diminution in its activity or in its ravenous appetite for all kinds of aquatic insects and their Iarva3. At this time, by an interesting operation, the too-small larval skin is molted, and the soft, delicate pupa emerges therefrom, soon to attain a larger size, and then to have its body walls, or external skeleton, harden. Still later on, or along some time in July, these brown, often hairy, immature creatures are seen to climb up the stalks of the water plants, and cling thereto by means of their three pairs of legs, just beneath the surface of the water, or in some species above it. Then follows the most re- markable of all metamorphoses. Down the middle of the back there suddenly occurs a gaping rent, and from out of this, tediously, the tender imago of the Dragon-fly emerges. Flabby and soft, it slowly moves higher up the plant stalk upon which the pupa had climbed. Here it listlessly clings for an hour or more, during which time one may almost see the insect pass to the perfected stage. Its wings and body walls harden, the beau- tiful tints of the latter gradually become evident, and complete maturity soon follows. The warm sun quickly dries its harden- ing form, intensifying as it does so the gorgeous colors as they appear, and the insect is soon seen to rustle its elegant wings, be- stir itself, test the powers of the functions of some of its various structures, and then in flight launch into the air. As a rule the duration of life of dragon-flies is not long, and is made up of their incessant consumption of the many insects upon which they prey; of their extraordinary methods of mating; of their egg-laying, shortly after which they perish. M'Lachlan has remarked that these insects are "pre-eminently lovers of the hottest sunshine (a few are somewhat crepuscular), and the most powerful and daring on the wing in fine weather become inert and comparatively lifeless when at rest in dull weather, allowing themselves to be captured by the fingers without making any effort to escape. Many of the larger species (JEschua-, etc.) have a habit of affecting a particular twig or other resting place, like a Flycatcher among birds, darting off after prey and making long excursions, but returning by the chosen spot." In various quarters of the globe superb specimens of fossil dragon-flies have been discovered, and doubtless manv more of OF THE UNITED STATES 49 these will be found from time to time. ILL closing this very brief account barely a word as compared with what has been written about these insects I would say science still remains in total ig- norance of a great deal that pertains to them, and the writer knows of no chapter in the entire range of entomology that would better repay the careful study and observation of the entonio- phile, nor, indeed, a group from which, by patient research, more information could be derived, which, if carefully recorded, would form a more solid contribution to knowledge. Another very interesting group of insects to consider is the one represented by our common Eear Horse (Stagmomantis Caro- lina). These insects, known under a variety of other names to be hereinafter mentioned, are predaceous, and, therefore, of bene- fit to the agriculturist. They have a remarkable history, and a great many drawings of them have been published. The egg cases, similar to those now before us, have been figured in the fourth volume of "Insect Life," on page 244, while on the preced- ing page of the same work there is described a curious insect parasite of these eggs, which may, with interest, be read in con- nection with the former account. Our species of "Kear Horse" are known far and wide in those parts of the country where they occur, and many who read this chapter will at once recognize the insect from the drawing I have made of one especially to illustrate it. Two egg cases are also shown in it attached by the insect on the frame to the left. They have been called "Bear Horses" from the manner in which they hold themselves, and the position of the anterior pair of legs, giving a fancied resemblance to a horse in the act of rear- ing. Another name by which they are even better known is that of Mantis. Mantis is from the Greek word meaning "a diviner," and it has been applied to a genus of these insects, of which Mantis religiosa is the common form. Hence, also, another name, or the "Praying Mantis," that it likewise gets from the devout attitude in which it continually holds itself, and its solemn as- pect withal. We shall soon see, however, that these insects, as a distinguished entomologist once remarked, " are not the saints but the tigers of the insect world." In one country or another they are also called "soothsayers," and "nuns" or "preachers," " saints," and similar appellations, which are simply so many more titles they by no means deserve. It was endowed with supernatural powers by the ancient Greeks, and the Arabs as 50 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY well as the Turks contend that a Mantis is constantly engaged in prayer with its face turned town ids Mecca. In some parts of Europe, it is said that the children will ask a Mantis to show them the way, and that it will, with one of its forelegs, indicate FIG. 4. THE PRAYING MANTIS. Drawn from Life by the Author. it to them with almost invariable exactness. They have the greatest faith in its powers to do this. But there are curious species of this family of insects found in many parts of the world, so. there is no end to the legends and superstitions concerning them. A form found in Nubia is held in high veneration by the OF THE UNITED STATES 51 people of that country, while the Hottentots about worship a lo- cal species found in the land inhabited by that race, and they look for no better omen of good fortune than to have a Mantis alight upon them. It indicates a token of saintliness. Even the priesthood have not been above the promulgation of similar myths, for they say of St. Francis Xavier that a Mantis once lighting upon his hand, he commanded it to sing the praises of God, whereupon the dutiful insect loudly intoned a very beauti- ful canticle. An old writer at my hand says, "The warlike disposition of the Mantis is put to a curious use in China, these insects being kept in bamboo cages for prize fights, like fighting cocks. At these exhibitions two of them are placed face to face; they raise their wings, their bodies tremble, and with the utmost fury they rush upon each other. They use their long forelegs like sabers, giving blow upon blow ; sometimes the fight lasts several minutes. The victor then devours his enemy, which, all things considered, is a much more rational termination of a duel than is common among men. Were it introduced into the human code of honor, and the victor required to eat his victim, it would greatly tend to do away with one of our fashionable barbarisms." On a number of occasions the present writer has tried this ex- periment with our United States species, and they will fight in exactly the same manner, the victor generally biting off the head of the slain one, and devouring a portion of the softer parts of his body. If the reader will look at my drawing, he will see that, of the usual three pairs of legs possessed by the Mantis, in common with such a large proportion of the Class Insects, the two hinder pairs present us with nothing very unusual. The anterior pair, however, are very much modified, and in such a manner as to constitute a very cruel pair of weapons. The second joint is so fashioned that it can close into the third, after the manner of the blade of a penknife into the handle. The margins of the receiv- ing groove of the third joint are armed with strong, movable spines. The tibial or blade joint also has a sharp serrated edge, being adapted to both cut and grasp with. A Mantis can extend and strike with one of these limbs as quick as a flash of lightning, and woe betide the unfortunate creature that comes within his murderous clutch, for his fate is sealed beyond all peradventure of a doubt. 52 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY It is a remarkable sight to watch one of these voracious, sanc- timonious-looking fiends out for a hunt for food. A number of years ago I kept a large one twenty-four hours in a box without anything to eat. The next afternoon I let him walk out of his prison onto a window-sill, where the window-sash was down, and a dozen or more large iiies had congregated. He came forth with marked deliberation, and with a dignified mien, as though he was about to burst with rage at the gross insult to which he had been subjected. I even thought I could detect the hate in his eye as he glanced obliquely at me, as his curious, quick- moving little head turned from side to side on the anterior end of his elongated, semi-erect prothorax. For all the world he looked as though he said, "Were I big enough I'd saber you, you scoundrel; but I'm not; and, however, I'm too hungry, and must get after some of those flies I see over there." Then, with an ap- parent effort, he bottled his rage, and assuming an exceedingly devout air, with his murderous, half-opened forelimbs held in their characteristic devotional attitude in front of him, he, with markedly slow and mincing steps, betook his way silently down the sill close to the sash. Ever and anon he would stand motion- less as I patiently watched him. He would then cock his head from side to side in a vicious, knowing manner, as much as to say, " I know what I'm up to, but those flies don't." Just then a big blue one lit directly in front of him zip, flew out one of the fellow's forelegs, and his victim was seized in a twinkling between its joints, as merciless as though he had fallen between the sharpened, miniature blades of two saws, closing together with flashlike rapidity. The other leg at once came into play in steadying his capture in front of his mouth, and the fly was soon devoured. Then that Mantis cautiously stalked about that win- dow-sill until every fly upon it had fallen a prey to his voracious appetite. In nature they will also catch and devour caterpillars, grass- hoppers and other insects, while a large South American form will even take lizards and frogs, or some of the smaller species of birds. Some of the foreign species have their wings beautifully modi- fied so as to present the appearance of withered leaves, and this mimicry greatly aids them in deceiving their prey. Bates, the naturalist, found an Amazonian Mantis exactly mimicking the white ants upon which it lived, and the distinguished Wallace, of OF THE UNITED STATES 53 East Indian fame, describes a species he saw in Java, that closely resembled a pink orchid flower, and "is said to feed largely on butterflies so that it is really a living trap, and forms its own bait!" Our young " preying beetles," when they are hatched, are like the parents except that they are wingless. These insects all be- long to the MantldcB of the order Orthoptera. They do not all deposit their eggs in a manner similar to the specimen shown in the above drawing. I have a good figure of an African Mantis at my hand that makes a very curious egg-mass (Monteiro's An- gola), and there is an Australian form that has a very peculiar ar- rangement for depositing its eggs, which has been described by Mr. Webster. Although these insects are so well known, it should not deter us from making still further investigation into their biology whenever good opportunity presents itself, and thus obtain a better knowledge of their habits. CHAPTER IV. CRAYFISH AND CRABS. (Crustacea.) RAY FISH and Crabs belong to that very interesting Class of the Animal Kingdom known as the Crustacea, being arrayed in the Subkingdom Annulosa, created to contain the more or less nearly allied groups of the insects (Insecta), the myriapods (Myriapoda), and the spiders with their kin (Arachnida). In a more restricted sense they form the division Arthropoda, or the Articulata of some naturalists. In this country a great many kinds of them occur in its fauna, as all the various species and subspecies of crabs, lobsters, cray- fish, king-crabs (Limuhts), water-fleas, besides a perfect legion of others, to which no common names have been given, and a host of fossil forms, such as the trilobites and their allies. There is a very voluminous and helpful literature extant upon the biology of the Crustacea, the published labors of many able minds. One of the most useful books known to me on the subject is Huxley's " Crayfish," and it will give the student a very clear idea of the anatomy and natural history of one of the best known members of this group. Fully examined in a comparative way in connection with the typical allied forms, the lobsters and crabs, the crayfish will lead to a general knowledge of the Class, and a good understanding of the habits and characters of the widely varying forms repre- senting the many different orders of the Annulosa, apart from the insects, spiders, and myriapods. Our United States crayfish belong to two well-marked genera, Cambarus and Astacus, the first being divided into five groups, and the latter genus all being contained in a single group. The most able and thorough work upon them known to me is " A Re- vision of the Astacidfe," of which Mr. Walter Faxon, of Harvard College, is the author. This fine quarto memoir gives a very com- plete account of all the crayfish of this country known to science up to the time of its appearance (August, 1885). Another Ameri- can naturalist, Professor A. S. Packard, of Brown University, has also powerfully advanced our knowledge of these forms by his numerous contributions to the subject, not to mention Ihosc of OF THE UNITED STATES 55 the late Professor Cope, and of Dr. C. C. Abbott, F. W. Putnam, H. A. Hagen, S. I. Smith, W. F. Bundy, S. A. Forbes, Ralph S. Tarr, and W. P. Hay. There are upward of a hundred different kinds of crayfish in the United States, and new forms of them are constantly coming to our knowledge. In the U. S. National Museum, the crayfish and crabs are being best studied by Mr. James E. Benedict, Mr. Eichard Rathbun, and Miss^Mary Rath- bun, and there is a large store of material illustrating this group in the collections of that institution. The general form and appearance of a crayfish is so well known that no special description of one is here necessary, while in a brief chapter it is not possible to enter upon the highly instruct- ive subject of the anatomy of these animals. One should turn to Professor Huxley's book for that, where it is given in great detail. Of our common forms, the ones best known to me are Cambarus diogenes and C. bartonii robusta. The first-named I had many opportunities to study in Louisiana, while collecting in that State many years ago, while Barton's crayfish I found in the country districts about the City of Washington, D. C. Both of these species are builders of the so-called "chimneys," struc- tures that have given rise to no little amount of speculation as to their object and use. Many of these chimneys, constructed by C. diogenes, I found in the low, flat meadows, south of the city of New Orleans. Here they were usually built up vertically, even where they stood on the sloping banks of the ditches, and in many instances the taller ones were seen to have the apertures at their tops sealed over, and this condition obtained still more commonly among those of lesser stature. The sub-cylindrical passage used by the owner of one of these " chimneys " traversed its entire length, and down into the ground a varying distance below the level of the latter. When very low, one of these affairs reminded me more of a mound of mud, particularly when it was sealed over at its entrance, but after being carried up to a greater height, and especially when they were open at the top, perhaps they did appear as much like little earthen chimneys of cylindri- cal form as anything else. Where the ground was dry the method of construction could easily be observed, for they were evidently built up of small pellets of mud laid on in a single course, while at the bottom, by the pellets rolling down, a mound-like base was formed, around the outer boundary of which numerous loose pellets were scattered about. Where the ground was very wet 56 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY the pellets, to a great extent, fused together, and the outer sur- face of the chimney or mound had simply a nodulated appear- ance, and the structure was much longer in drying out. Various different phases were to be seen between these two extremes. I tried to dig to the bottom of one of these passages, but owing to the nature of things in these wet lowlands of Louisiana, this was not feasible, for abundance of water was soon reached, and to follow the course of the passage was not possible by any ordinary means. Often I have seen the crayfish in these abodes, and have cap- tured them there, and I once caught one in the act of sealing in the top of its chimney, but I have never seen them at work dur- ing the actual building process. Mr. Balph Tarr, who has writ- ten upon this subject (Nature, vol. xxx., p. 27), believes that the chimneys result from the excavation of the burrow, without im- plying design on the part of the crayfish. This is also the opin- ion entertained by myself, while Dr. C. C. Abbott holds the con- verse view, as does also his nephew, Mr. Jos. De B. Abbott, who has, by the aid of the light of a candle at night, seen the crays engaged in building their chimneys. A few years ago, in Southern Maryland, I found the chimney of a Barton's crayfish. It was nine and a half inches in height, very smooth inside, and with the pellets distinctly individual- ized outside. Many of these were piled up about the base, and forty-two of them had rolled out beyond the latter. It was erected on level ground with a firm turf, and about ten feet from a small stream. In attempting to follow down the burrow, water was met with at fifteen inches, but the bur- row 7 was still followed for twenty-seven inches more, when it passed between two large rocks, too large to move, and so rendered further progress out of the question. In a few nights the cray abandoned this site, and burrowed again close at hand. In the same vicinity, right on the bank of the streamlet, I opened another; it only passed down eleven inches, when it terminated in a chamber about as big as my two fists, and placed at the side. It was below the water level, and contained a fine living specimen of C. diogenes. Beyond this was a low mound in wetter soil. Unlike the other two, the top of this one was sealed over, and the pellets nearly all run together. Upon tak- ing this one up in my hand (it is before me now 7 as I write), I found the sealing-in was very thorough, and the top as thick as OF THE UNITED STATES 57 the side walls. Inside, the cylindrical passage was as smooth as usual, and terminated in a smooth, concave, hemispherical end. As to the manner of building, Mr. J. De B. Abbott gives a good account as cited by Faxon. The crayfish is seen to emerge par- tially from its burrow, bearing "on the back of its right claw a ball of clay mud, which, by a dexterous tilt of the Tlaw, was placed on the rim of the chimney. Then the crayfish remained perfectly quiet for a few seconds, when it suddenly doubled up and dropped to the bottom of its burrow. There elapsed some three or four minutes between each appearance; but every time it came, it brought a ball of clay and deposited it in the manner I have described. About two-fifths of the balls were not placed with sufficient care, and rolled down outside of the chimney." Professor Faxon remarks further that "Dr. Abbott believes that the closing of the orifice of a chimney is merely the result of accidental falling in of pellets from the rim, loosened perhaps by atmospheric moisture. In some localities where the burrowing crayfish abounds, there is a weather proverb to the effect that, when the crayfish closes the opening of his chimney in dry weather, there will be a rainfall within twenty-four hours." So far as I am aware, it is not known yet how the crayfish seals up the orifice of his tower. Possibly it may do it by backing up the burrow, and by turning around and about, manipulate the moistened clay or mud into place by the use of its lateral tail-fins and telson. That it is not due to the in-tumbling of the loose pellets on top, there can be no doubt, for in the specimen at hand the top of the sealed-up part is as thick as the sides (fully an inch), and exactly resembles them, while the closed apex of the passage inside is very smooth and carefully polished off. Why it closes in its tower is hard to tell. It may be that finding the orifice contracting too much, the cray seals up in order to pre- vent the upper rim of the tower falling back into the burrow ; it may be in order to shut out rain or rising water; it may be to prevent attacks of enemies ; or it may be done while the parent is laying her eggs at the bottom of the burrow. This all requires further observations on the part of naturalists. It is surely far easier for a crayfish to build a tower, even if two-fifths of the pellets do roll down outside, than it would be for the animal to carry all the pellets away from the mouth of its burrow, and submit itself to capture by an enemy every time it passed out with one. In short, it is the most convenient and 58 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY most safe way to get rid of the pellets, besides being the least troublesome, and the method by which they are the least likely to roll back into the burrow. Why crayfish build at all, I think, is due to the fact that they must have a safe place to lay and hatch their eggs, and also a place to escape at times from their enemies. That it does not always effect this latter will be seen from Audubon's account of the towers of C. diogenes which he figured in the plate with the White ibis (Vol. vi., p. 57). He says: "The crayfish often bur- rows to the depth of three or four feet in dry weather, for before it can be comfortable it must reach the water. This is generally the case during the prolonged heats of summer, at which time the White Ibis is most pushed for food. The bird, to procure the crayfish, walks with remarkable care toward the mounds of mud which the latter throws up while forming its hole, and breaks up the upper part of the fabric, dropping the fragments into the deep cavity that has been made by the animal. Then the Ibis retires a single step, and patiently waits the result. The crayfish, incommoded by the load of earth, instantly sets to work anew, and at last reaches the entrance of its burrow ; but the moment it comes in sight, the Ibis seizes it with its bill." It would ap- pear from this that Audubon did not believe that the crayfish towers were structures erected upon some architectural design ; and his observations further go to prove that even the burrow does not always protect the unfortunate crustacean from its enemies. I do not place much credit in this story of Audubon's, however, for to fill a burrow having a " depth of three or four feet " with little bits of mud, from a mound rarely higher than ten inches, would take an ibis the best part of two hours; then it is not at all likely that all the pellets would go the bottom and fill the chamber there existing, even were the burrows per- fectly straight and vertical, which they very rarely or never are. To say the least of it, Audubon, as a naturalist, was very imagi- native sometimes, and I am strongly inclined to think that this ibis story is simply another example of it. In this locality (Washington, D. C.) the burrowing crayfishes remain under ground during the winter, at points safe from freezing. This they do in a torpid condition, coming out early in the spring, after the cold weather is well by ; and it is soon after this that we begin to notice the appearance of their towers in their accustomed places. They feed, as Huxley says, upon OF THE UNITED STATES 59 "larvae of insects, water-snails, tadpoles, or frogs, which corne within reach " of its claws as the animal stands at the entrance of its burrow. Even ik the water-rat is liable to the same fate. Passing too near the fatal den, possibly in search of a stray cray- fish, whose flavor he highly appreciates, the vole is himself seized and held till he is suffocated, when his captor easily re- verses the conditions of the anticipated meal." " In fact, few things in the way of food are amiss to the cray fish ; living or dead, fresh or carrion, animal or vegetable, it is all one." But I cannot in this short chapter say more in re- gard to these wonderful little animals; my space will not admit of it, and the subject is a very large one. It reads like a good novel in Huxley's celebrated treatise upon the group. Crabs differ from the crays in having a much reduced and shortened abdomen, that would easily escape the notice of an ordinary observer, and is not used as a swimming organ, as is that part of the economy of a crayfish, from which latter they present many wide differences both in the matter of structure and habits, though " attentive examination shows that the plan of construction of the crab is, in all fundamental respects, the same as that of the crayfish." (Huxley). I have availed myself of the opportunities to study many kinds of crabs, in not a few countries, and a great many parts of this country. One afternoon, when walking up over the steep hills in the rear of the town of Cape Haytien, Hayti, my attention w r as called to the numerous burrows in the clayey soil upon either side of the roadway. Further along in the forests these became still more numerous. These excavations were made by a species of burrowing land crabs, belonging to a genus well represented in the West Indian islands. In Jamaica, for example, there are thousands of them, and from their coloration they are called the Violet land crabs. I have made a drawing of one of these, and it is given here as an illustration of land crabs in general. They frequently live in the mangrove swamps and subsist upon fruits, though they will eat almost anything. About the graves in the cemeteries of Jamaica hundreds of these burrows are to be seen, and the land crabs that inhabit them are know r n to go down and feed upon the corpses. West Indians, nevertheless, eat quantities.of them, but they are very careful to capture only those that live a long way from the burying grounds. The natives catch them in ordinary box-traps, 60 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY baited with a fruit of which this land crab is very fond. Often they are kept alive and fattened for the market. Once a year these Violet land crabs form in immense processions, a mile or more in length sometimes and over 100 feet in width. In this order they march down to the sea, and deposit their eggs. At other times they are nocturnal in habit, and come out of their burrows only to feed at night. Late in the evening I have seen them sitting at the entrances of their subterranean abodes, waiting for the deeper shades of night. They have large, power- ful claws, which they use with great effect. After taking a hold with their big, merciless pincer, the limb suddenly becomes de- tached, and while you are doing your best to free yourself of the instrument of torture, the crab, minus its claw, makes off to its burrow. Another very interesting crab is the famous Hermit or Soldier crab, of the Atlantic coast. In these the abdominal portion of the body is soft, and to protect this the animal runs it, tail first, as it were, into any dead and empty shell of suitable size and spiral form. In this the Hermit lives, with only his fore parts protruding, until he outgrows his house, when he quits it, to scramble into another of more convenient proportions. The structure and habits of these crabs are both interesting and in- structive, and a great deal has been written about them. Spider crabs have a peculiar growth of a hairy appearance on their backs. Their legs are long, and their locomotion on land ex- tremely awkward. Most of their time they spend in moderately deep water, and I have often taken them on the oyster beds of Long Island Sound, and the fishermen have told me that they play fearful havoc with the oysters, devouring great quantities of them. Fiddler crabs, of which thousands upon thousands lived in the short sea-grass that skirted the salt water, are very interesting. Such places were literally riddled with their bur- rows, and one had no trouble in capturing a pailful of these fellows. They make capital bait for the fishing of Black fish. Fiddlers are small crabs, with a pair of very unequal pincer claws. This has given them their name, for the larger claw has been likened to a fiddle, and the smaller claw to the bow. Females of this species have very small pincers of equal size. Several species of " fiddlers "are found upon our coast. Speak- ing of the naming of crabs, I would state here that the name " crab " itself is derived from Carabua, it being the Latin of the OF THE UNITED STATES 61 common edible species, and the one best known in ancient times to the Romans. The list of crabs now known to science is a long one indeed, 'and they are found in suitable localities in nearly every part of the world. Most of us are familiar with the little " oyster crab " found in those bivalves. The adult females of this diminutive species live within the gill cavities of oysters, while the males usually swim about at large. They have often been described by naturalists as different species, and there has been excuse for this, as the sexes are so essentially different in appearance. Mussels harbor another variety of these tiny crustaceans. The question as to how these little creatures orig- FIG. 5. THE VIOLET LAND CRAB. Drawn by the Author. inally came to take up their abode within the shells of living bivalves has not been settled. Englishmen call these oyster-crabs " pea-crabs," and they stand among the smallest representatives of the group, the big- gest form known being the crab-giants of Japan, which are considered a delicacy by the Japanese. A specimen of one of these has pincers each five feet long. Like our marine spider- crabs, its triangular body is not large in proportion. In the islands of the Indian Ocean they have the " robber crabs" species that approach the lobsters in their structure. But instead of living in the water, they burrow at the feet of the 62 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY cocoauut trees, and live upon that fruit. In old times it was believed they used to climb the trees for these, but such a theory has become obsolete. Vhey feed, doubtless, only upon the fallen nuts, and two opinions seem to be in vogue as to how they get the meat out of these. Some say they peel off the cocoa-fiber, then insert the piiicer into the soft "' eye " of the fruit, and by turning about work out the substance lining the interior. Others contend that, when it gets its claw into the eye-hole, the crab pounds the nut on a stone until it is broken open. Kobber-crabs line their burrows with the cocoa-fiber they tear from the nuts, and the natives in turn rob them of it to make their mats. These crabs also yield an excellent oil, derived from a mass of fat beneath the tail. " Calling crabs " are remarkable fellows ; there is a species of them in Ceylon that has one very small claw, while the otlfer is bigger than its owner's body. When approached, this specie? brandishes its ponderous pincer at you in the most threatening manner possible. Less timid people than those awed by this behavior say that the crab is simply beckoning to you to advance, and hence the name that has been bestowed upon them. Ceylon also has a " racer crab " that the inhabitants have long voted to be a great nuisance. Its numerous and deep burrows made in the sandy roads of the island have to be continually looked after and filled up, by parties employed for that purpose. Where this is not done, accidents have occurred to horses and vehicles. We have some beautiful species of crabs on our Pacific Coast, as the "Yellow shore crab" and the "Purple shore crab.'' Chinamen are fond of these, and cook them by stringing them on wires and hanging them over the fire. Both of these species are very numerous, though of small size. Several years ago I w r as fishing off the coast of Connecticut, and was greatly annoyed by dogfish taking my hooks and bait. Finally I captured one of these troublesome fellows, and opened him to find my missing hooks. In his stomach were some four or five handsome little crabs, with very hard shells and thick claws. They were specimens of what every one there called "rock crabs/' they being very common at the rocky reefs off shore, when the tide was out. In Long Island Sound we also meet with the "mud crabs," the "Jonah crabs," and the "stone crabs," and other forms. Many interesting books have appeared on the dovolopement of OF THE UNITED STATES 63 crabs, and the student should procure and read these, with a few species of crabs at hand, represented by young of both sexes. CHAPTER V. SAWFISH, RAYS, SHARKS, AND THEIR ALLIES, WITH NOTES ON DEEP-SEA FISHES. (ElasmobranchU, etc.) GOOD many years ago there used to be in the town of Key West, Florida, a remarkable old curiosity-shop, that had a great fascination for me as a boy. The man that kept it was a sort of a taxidermist in his way, and in his musty old establishment there was a varied collection of odds and ends of marine relics that greatly inter- ested me. And, although that was over thirty years ago, my in- stincts as a naturalist had been developing for several years prior to the time mentioned, and I can very well remember how I enjoyed being permitted to examine the various objects he had stored aw r ay on his shelves, or heaped up about the place. There were jaws of great sharks; quantities of shells and corals; sea weeds, big starfishes, and dried crabs; the shells of turtles and of spiny sea-urchins, and what not else. Among all this bric-a-brac from the depths of the sea there were to be noticed a score or more long, flat, oblong bones of an earthy color, with sharp, outward-projecting teeth all along the sides at near and somewhat irregular intervals. Some of these double-sawlike looking affairs were over four feet long, while others ranged all the way down until they came to be only a foot or more in length. It was the source of no little wonderment to me, then, as to what kind of an animal such an extraordinary weapon could possibly belong, and I am quite sure now that were this remarkable tooth- armed blade known only from a fossil one, and the remainder of the animal not known, it would by no means be every one who would suspect its having belonged to a fish. My Key West friend seemed quite familiar with the subject, however, and soon told me that it was the " saw " of the sawfish that excited my curios- ity, and before I left Florida and Florida waters, doubtless I would see a number of these fish alive. His prediction was in part fulfilled, for upon one or two occasions, at least, I have had the opportunity to study the sawfish in nature. They are not uncommon upon the coasts of the peninsula, while in the inland everglades they are said to be very numerous. One that I read i OF THE UNITED STATES 67 about, one of those rare northward-ranging stragglers, was cap- tured at Cape May in 1878. This specimen was four feet wide, and over sixteen feet long, and possessed a forty-nine-toothed saw, measuring over four feet in length. Sometimes they grow very much bigger than this, even. Their mode of locomotion in their native element is a kind of a swimming waddle, swinging the head and saw from side to side. This action is powerfully in- creased when they are captured in seines, which is by no means an infrequent occurrence, and then the piscine Hercules soon cuts his way out. Fishermen cannot endure the sawfish, as their nets are thus so often ripped up. Many marvelous stories are told about the feats of the sawfish, of which probably only a small percentage are true. To illustrate the present contribution, I have made two drawings of this fish, and they are reproduced in Figs. 6 and 7. It will be observed how flat he is when view r ed upon direct lateral aspect; this is quite in keeping with a habit he has of spending not a little of his time on the bottom. When looked at upon his under side (Fig. 7), most of his interesting characters come in sight. We then gain the best idea of the shape of his saw, the fins and the mouth, and other parts. Ichthyologists have created the genus Pristis to contain the sawfishes, and our Florida species is known as P. pectinatus. They are most nearly related to the Bays, other very remarkable fishes that I shall have something to say about a little further on. Rays, Sawfishes, and Sharks all belong to the cartilaginous group of fish-forms, because they have skeletons composed only of cartilage. The Rays and Sharks taken together form the sub- order Plagiostomata, and they are divided into a number of families, to the first of which the Sawfishes are relegated. There are only about half a dozen species of sawfishes known to science, and they are all confined pretty generally to the warmer seas of the world. According to Dr. Guuther, who says, although " the sawfishes possess all the essential characteristics of the rays proper, they retain the elongated form of the body of sharks, the tail being excessively muscular, and the sole organ of locomotion. The " saw " is a flat and enormously developed pro- longation of the snout, with an endo-skeleton, which consists of from three to five cartilaginous tubes ; these are, in fact, merely the rostral processes of the cranial cartilage, and are found in all rays, though they are commonly much shorter. The integument of the saw is hard, covered with shagreen ; and a series of 68 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY si i-on teeth, sharp in front and flat behind, are imbedded in it, in alveolar sockets, on each side. The saw is a most formidable weapon of offense, by means of which the fish tears pieces of flesh off the body of its victim, or rips open its abdomen to feed on the protruding intestines. The teeth proper, with which the mouth is armed, are extremely small and obtuse, and unsuitable for inflicting wounds or seizing animals." In the world's ichthyfauna there are certainly five families of Rays and Skates ; of these we have in our own waters some very interesting representatives. For example, there is the fa- mous Torpedo (Torpedo occidentalis) found quite abundantly along our Atlantic coasts, probably as far south as Virginia. I have made a drawing of this large Ray, and it is shown in Fig. 8 of this chapter. Physiologists have always taken great interest in this remarkable fish, from the fact that it possesses a peculiar organ upon either side of his body, between the pectoral fin and the, head and gills. This organ is endowed with the power of generating electricity, and is under the control of the animal. An electric shock can be given voluntarily by the Torpedo, and it uses this with great effectiveness, either as a means of defense, or else to stun or kill the creatures on which it feeds. It is of no economic importance whatever, and fishermen, when they get them in their pound-nets, are very careful to let them alone, as the electric shock, even from an average-sized Torpedo, may knock a strong man down or completely paralyze his arms for some little time. These Electric Rays (Torpedinidce) are also very generally known as " Crampfish," as the oil extracted from them is said to be a good remedy for rheumatism and cramps. The oil is obtained from the livers, and it is said, also, to make an admirable lamp oil. Large Torpedoes will yield as much as three gallons of oil, but the average is about a gallon and a half. They are captured with the harpoon. For one to receive a shock from the Electric Ray, the contact must be at two points, as the battery has all the characters of a manufactured one, and the electricity all the known properties of that fluid elsewhere. It will emit the spark; deflect the magnetic needle and decompose chemical compounds. On the upper side of the organ the electricity is positive, while upon the under side it is found to be negative. Many other forms of Electric Rays are found in different parts of the world, usually in tropical or sub- tropical seas; some of the big species attain to a weight of 100 OF THE UNITED STATES 69 pounds, and in these, as in all other varities or kinds of electric fishes, the body is without scales and smooth. Upward of thirty species of Rays and Skates are found upon our United States coasts, but man has no special use for any of them. The fleshy flaps of the big Barndoor Skate, however, have been used for food; the fishermen salting them down at Portsmouth, New FIG. 8. Fig. S. Torpedo(7\ occidentalis). FIG. 9. RAYS AND SKATES. Fig. 9. Barndoor Skate (Raia Icevis). FIG. 10. Fig. 10. Sting Ray (Trygon xttbina).. Hampshire, and the fashionable restaurants in New York City serving them upon their tables. (Fig. 9). The enormous Devil- fishes are Rays that may measure over thirty feet from tip to tip of their lateral pectoral fins; and in another place I have de- scribed the conflict I once witnessed in Key West harbor between one of these great Rays and a U. S. gunboat. The latter had to slip her anchor and call her crew to quarters in order to protect herself against the fury of the fish's onslaught, and being carried out to sea. Skates and Rays spend most of their time upon the bottom, and when disturbed they swim off for a short distance, over the sand or mud, in an undulatory manner, by using the pectoral fins. Voracious in the extreme, they consume quantities of Crustacea and mollusks of various kinds. By their powerful jaws and pecu- liar dentition, a big Ray can crush a hard-shelled crab in short 70 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY order, and apparently with little effort. True Rays are egg- layers, but the Torpedoes or Electric Kays are viviparous. Rays' eggs are quite characteristic, resembling closely those of certain Sharks and Dogfish. They are parchment-like affairs, with tough, oblong, flat shells, which latter are drawn out into string- like, twisted horns. These serve as means of attachment to ma- rine plants and other objects, to keep the egg-case at rest during the development of its contents. Female Rays are larger than the males, and their breeding habits are remarkable, as well as interesting. It will be seen from my figures that their tails are often drawn out into whiplike appendages, and the fins of the back are often modified. Sting-rays have these latter replaced by a strong spine, with serrated edges. I have collected these, and some of them have been as much as five or six inches long (Fig. 10). Painful wounds are inflicted by this dangerous weapon, for by violently lashing its whip-like tail, a sting-ray can easily lacerate most unmercifully its intended victim, and then if the mucus of the fish happens to enter the wounds, a poisonous ef- fect ensues, thus aggravating matters still more. In some spe- cies there are two of these spines, while in other Rays the entire tail is bedecked with thorns, and this kind of ray is very gener- ally eaten in Europe, in common with other species. Sting-rays often grow 7 to be as big as the Skates, and specimens weighing 500 pounds are sometimes secured. Volumes have been written about the Rays (Batoidei) and much of it is very entertaining and instructive, but let us next pass to a brief consideration of their nearest allies, or to the Sharks. Now, although the majority of species of Sharks are very dif- ferent appearing fishes from the Rays, they have, nevertheless, many important characteristics in common with them. Then, too, even in the matter of appearance, the Sawfish, although most nearly related to the rays, has a form approaching some Sharks, while the Angel-fish (Squatina), among the latter, is a very ray-like looking Shark. The group contains a number of families, including such well-known forms as the Dogfish or Hounds. Smooth or Blue Dogfish are very common in Long Island Sound, where, many years ago, I used to catch numbers of them off the reefs. In the same waters, I have also frequently taken the Spiny Dogfish, or " Bonefish," as the fishermen call it, off the coast of Connecticut. These little sharks are very abun- dant there, and in former years were of great economical impor- OF THE UNITED STATES 71 tance, as barrels of oil were made from their livers, and the skins are of no little value, for, owing to the fine and peculiar nature of its scaling, it is used with great advantage, when dried, in pol- ishing metals of various kinds, and for similar purposes. The female of this fish is considerably larger than the male, and I have understood that as many as 20,000 have been taken in a seine at one time. We might say a great deal more ahojit dog- fishes, but I prefer to pass to the consideration of some of the big man-eating sharks. The common " White Shark " occurs at rare intervals upon our Atlantic coast, and of it a great many accounts have been given. It is a perfect pest in the Mediter- ranean Sea, and as I write these lines, I have at hand the jaw of an enormous specimen of this species, that was collected on the coast of Italy, near the harbor of Naples. The fish was found FIG. 11. THE WHITE SHARK (Carckarias). Drawn by the Author and very much reduced. dead upon the beach, and it had swallowed the entire body of a Neapolitan soldier, dow r n as far as the man's knees. The victim was taken out, and it was found that he had on his uniform and part of his accoutrements. This jaw I have had for many years, and it is armed with hideous rows upon rows of jagged teeth. Only the front row of these is fully functional, and when any of them are lost they are soon replaced by the tooth from the row next behind. With the greatest ease, it can be slid over a large man. In the British Museum there is the jaw of a shark, prob- ably of this species or genus, that belongs to an individual up- ward of forty feet in length. Such a shark, however, is but a pigmy to the specimens that existed in former ages of the world's 72 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY history. In the phosphate beds of South Carolina, for example, are found fossil teeth of sharks that must have belonged to speci- mens having length ranging as high as eighty or more feet. Sharks of this size would have no trouble in swallowing a horse entire, and probably his rider along w r ith it. In 1864 I was bath- ing upon Egmont Cay, Florida, when I nearly lost my life from the voracious attack of a huge shark, that was attracted to the place by the barking of a little dog that belonged to a compan- ion, who was in the water with him at the same time. While sailing in the Gulf of Mexico I have seen these great sharks about the ship for days, and when the sailors would occasion- ally catch one, the contents of the stomach of the creature were often most extraordinary. I have an account before me wherein it says, " in one case the contents of a lady's work-basket, even including the scissors, were found," and in another an entire bull's hide. Upon the latter a sailor remarked that the fish had swallowed a bull, but could not digest the hide. Another writer says, " I was holding the heavy hook and wire rope over the side, when I felt that I had caught a big fish, and pulling it cautiously, a shark came to the surface. I called out for help. He struggled so violently, lashing the water with his tail and trying to bite the hook asunder, that we were obliged to keep dipping his head under water and then haul him up two or three feet to let it run down his throat. At last he was nearly drowned, when, sending a running bow-line down the rope by which he was caught, and making it taut under his back fin, we clapped the line around the windlass and turned. Some then hauled his tail up, while all available hands dragged at the other line, which held his head. As soon as we got him on board, he broke off about three feet of the .ship's bulwarks by a single lash of his tremendous tail. This was then cut off by the boatswain with a hatchet, while a dozen of us with bowie-knives finished him.. We found in his stomach six large snakes, two empty quart bottles, two dozen lobsters, a sheepskin and horns, and the shank-bones, which the cook had thrown overboard two days before. The liver filled two large washdeck tubs, and when tried out gave us ten gallons of oil." The Tiger Shark, and also the great Blue Shark (Carcliarias ijlnu- cus), are also very voracious and particularly dangerous species. I shall never forget something I once saw from the deck of a man-of-war lying in Key West harbor, Florida. The water was very blue, and one could see down into it only a little way. All OF THE UNITED STATES 73 at once, upon peering into its depths, I became convinced that an enormous brown fish was coming gradually to the surface. As the villain neared it, he became more active, but what fixed my attention most of all, was the curious form of its head. On either side it was produced lateral-wise, the extremity being occupied by the eye. These were large and were rolled about in their sock- ets in the most horrid manner. It was a specimen of the dreaded Hammerhead shark (Zygcena malleus), and must have been at least between eight and nine feet long, or even longer. This is a very dangerous species, no less so, indeed, than the white and the blue sharks. It is found all along the coast from Cape Cod to Cape Sable, and to the southward. They are also of the man- eating variety, and specimens have been captured in the stom- achs of which portions of human bodies and plenty of clothing and other objects have been found. There are between twenty FIG. 12. HAMMERHEAD SHAKK (Zygcena malleus). and thirty species of sharks and dogfishes found upon the Pacific coast, and many of these have been described by Jordan in his very useful works upon American fishes. The Thrasher and the Mackerel sharks occur upon both of our coasts, and each is a very distinguished species. Oil in considerable quantities is pro- cured from the livers of the latter, while of the former Doctor Goode says that it is known " in Europe as the Fox shark, and to our fishermen most usually as the Swingle-tail. It is one of the most grotesque of sea animals, the upper lobe of the tail being exceedingly long, curving upw r ard and resembling in form the blade of a scythe." Thrashers grow to become fifteen feet or more in length, and weigh several hundred pounds. Stories about their attacking whales, however, have no foundation in fact. Fishermen say they kill fish by blows of their powerful 74 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY tail, a questionable statement, though it is kiiowii that these sharks feed upon fish. Most of the sharks are viviparous, but the dogfishes produce eggs closely resembling those brought forth by the rays. When a boy, I frequently found them at low water on Long Island Hound, tangled up in the salt water grass. Some sharks are bottom-loving species, while a few species may almost be reck- oned among the so-called deep-sea fishes. Two small species of dogfishes have been taken at depths varing between 400 and 500 fathoms, or nearly 3,000 feet below the surface. Gunther says these sharks were from three to four feet long, and " on being rapidly withdrawn from the great pressure under which they lived, they were killed, like other deep-sea fishes, under similar circumstances." Some naturalists claim that the oldest existing type of verte- brate is a shark. It comes from Japan, and only two specimens of the species have thus far fallen into the hands of science. One of these is in the Museum of Harvard College, and the other is in the British Museum. Our distinguished countryman, Mr. Samuel Garman, of Harvard, was the first man to describe this remarkable shark, and he gave it the scientific name of Glila- mydoselaclius anguineus. A few years ago I received from him a copy of his memoir on the subject, and I have copied his figure to show the appearance of the fish here. (Fig. 13.) As I have just said above, some of our sharks may almost be classed among those oceanic forms of fishes, that living so far be- neath the depths of the seas are now universally termed by nat- uralists the deep-sea fishes, and by the aid of our modern oceanic dredging machines we are coming to know something of these remarkable forms. Many invertebrates are also thus taken, but after all it is the extraordinary types of fishes that from time to time have come to light whk-h have possessed the keenest interest for the ichthyologist and marine naturalist. Many of these have long been known, but a few years ago the splendid researches of the British Challenger expedition greatly increased our knowledge of them. Ingenious nets and trawls have brought up, from depths varing from 200 to 2,400 fathoms, many genera and species of these curious fish, repre- senting, as they do, some dozen or more families. As a fathom is six feet, this means from 1,200 to 14,400 feet, a fact in itself sufficient to excite our wonder. Most all the great oceans and FIG. 13. Chlamydoselachus anguineus. (The oldest type of existing vertebrates.) Drawn by the Author after Carman. OF THE UNITED STATES 77 seas have thus been examined, and in all such life is found to be present. These fishes normally never come to the surface, and when forcibly brought up in a trawl, they are visibly affected in a number of ways. Some become greatly inflated by the expansion of the gases within them, and where they possess scales of any size, these are elevated all over the fish's body. Some of these deep-sea forms are found to be blind; a number are semi-trans- parent; others have peculiar phosphorescent organs on the head; while nearly every one is extremely peculiar in form, great vari- ance is seen to obtain with them (but this has no relation to either latitude or temperature) ; and in the case of not a few their geographical ranges are very wide the same species occurring in many parts of the world. Notwithstanding that this is true, some of these deep-sea fishes are very rare. I have in mind at least one instance at the present writing where but a single in- FIG. 14. THE TORCHFISH (Linophryne lucifer). Drawn by the Author. dividual of a certain species has fallen into the hands of science. This was taken years ago by my friend, the distinguished Cuban naturalist, Don Felipe Poey (1872), and sixteen years afterward I published an illustrated account of it giving a figure of the fish and a description of its skeleton. During all that time no other specimen had been obtained, and so far as I am at present aware, none have been secured since the appearance of my memoir. The " Torchfish," of which I give a figure above, is one of the most remarkable types that has thus far been captured. From its nose there stands erect upon a stem a small organ, elliptical in form and phosphorescent in function, which the fish has the power of making very luminous or the reverse, at its pleasure. The Torchfish also has an elongated and slender filament swing- ' 78 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY ing from beneath its lower jaw. Its free end is tufted. Now, small fish are both attracted by. this freely moving little bait, as well as by the beautiful light emitted by the " torch," and dart- ing after the former by the aid of the latter they very freqently land in the capacious mouth of their allurer, who quickly devours them. The physiology of this phosphorescent organ is, as yet, not fully understood. Very large eyes sometimes characterize certain species of these curious beings, and, as I have said above, sometimes the eyes are absent, or so small as to be detected only after careful search with the microscopic lens. This is the case with the little deep- sea fish form known as the " Blind Angler " (Mancalias shufeldti), described in 1883 by the eminent ichthyologist, Dr. Theo. Gill, of the Smithsonian Institution, and obtained at 2,400 fathoms by the United States Fish Commission Steamer Albatross. In re- marking upon the species, Dr. Gill has said, " they have a real fishing rod, and three of the types have a notable one. The rod is represented by the first spine of ordinary fishes, which is situ- ated on the back part of the head; it is long and borne aloft, and in the typical species rod and line are developed. The rod is represented by the basil joint, and the line by the distal one; the rod is stiffened, but the line quite flexible, and at its end there is a bait in the form of a bulb, whch is generally more or less pyri- form in outline. The fish doubtless lies on the ground, carrying the rod curved over its head, and other fishes are attracted by the bulb, which may be moved to and fro; when the incautious in- quirer approaches near enough the angler rises upward and en- gulfs him in his capacious maw. The mouth, be it observed, opens upward, and even to a slight extent backward, and is thus eminently adapted for its angling life." This genus of fishes belongs to the Ceratiids, and are related to another group also known as " Anglers," of which the very well- known and large-sized u Goose Fish " belongs (Lopliius piwu- Inr'uiK (Lopliiids). M