THE ANIMAL CREATION. THE ANIMAL CREATION: oplsr Itttrflhicticrn to BY THOMAS EYMER JONES, F.E.S., PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY AND COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, IN KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. LONDON: SOCIETY FOE PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORIES: 77, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS; 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE ; 48, PICCADILLY ; AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 1865. LUNDOX PWKTE1> BV WILLIAM CLOWES AND 8OKS, STAMFORD b'liSHET AND CHARING CROSS TO PROFESSOR THOMAS BELL, F.R.S. ETC., ETC., ETC. THE FOLLOWING INTRODUCTION TO A SCIENCE SO ABLY ILLUSTRATED BY HIS WRITINGS, AS A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT AND ESTEEM BY His FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE, THE AUTHOK. R/i3676g5 A 2 INTEODUCTION. IN the present volume it has been the endeavour of the Author to give, with as much conciseness as is compatible with the subject, a general view of the principal families into which the Animal Creation has been grouped by modern Zoologists ; together with such notices of their characteristic habits and instincts as are to be gleaned from various writers in every department of Natural History. These, it is hoped, will be interesting to the general reader, and at the same time afford the student at least a bird's-eye view of the extensive field upon the investigation of which he is desirous of entering. Vll LIST OF PLATES. FIG. 1. Volvox PAGE 7 2. Microscopic occupants of a leaf of duck-weed 8 3. Vegetable forms of microscopic organisms . 11 4. Amceba ...... 13 5. Rhizopods ..... 14 6. Figure of noctiluca miliaris 16 7. Sponges 19 8. Framework of sponge 20 9. Flint crystals of sponge 10. Sponge in action .... 21 21 11. Halichondria oculata .... 23 12. Paramecium, &c. 24 13. Figure of swan-neck, and its divisions . 26 14. Figure of coleps and chilomonas . 27 15. Figure of vorticellaa .... 28 16. Figure of vaginicola .... 29 17. Long-armed hydra .... 31 18. Hydra vividis 32 19. Coryne . 34 20. Figure of tubularia indivisa 35 21. Figure of sertularia opereulata 36 22. Figure of laomedea .... 37 23. Sea-blubber . . 38 24. Figure of sarsia ..... i 39 25. Figure of thaumantias 40 26. Velella ( 41 27. Cydippe 42 28. Food of the whale .... 43 29. Physalis 45 30. Figure of turris and its young 46 31. Madrepores ..... 48 32. Alcyon 49 33. Figure of polypes of alcyon 50 34. Madrepore ..... 51 35. Orifice of madrepore .... 52 36. Red coral 54 37. Isis 55 38. Sea-fan and sea-pen .... 56 57 40. Figure of actinia . ' 58 Vlll LIST OF PLATES. FIG. PAGE 41. Animal flowers ........ 60 42. Fungia . . 62 43. Fossil lily-stones 64 44. Echinodermata 66 45. Brittle star 67 46. Figure of Bun-star solaster papposa .... 69 47. Green-pea urchin . . . . . .71 48. Figure of sucker of urchin 71 49. Figure of spine of echinus, segment of section . . 72 50. Holothurise 73 51. Hermit sipunculus ....... 74 52. Figure of cysticercus ....... 75 53. Leech 79 54. Divisions of a beetle 79 55. Scorpion and centipede . . . . .80 56. Common crab ........ 81 57. Nerves of leech and cockchafer ..... 82 58. Footofnais 84 59. Throat of leech laid open 86 60. Tooth of leech magnified 87 61. Cocoons of leech .87 62. Pushing-poles of serpula ...... 90 63. Sand- worm . .92 64. Sea-mouse . . . . . . .94 65. Serpula 95 66. Terebella medusa 96 67. Julus 98 68. Hind leg of bee 103 69. Wing of dragon-fly . . . '. . ... 104 70. Parts of the mouth of an insect 105 71. Mouth of a beetle 106 72. Various antennae 107 73. Eyes of bee 108 74. Compound eye of a dragon-fly ..... 109 75. Spiracles of insects 110 76. Air-pipe of fly 110 77. Metamorphoses of butterfly ... . .113 78. Larva of tiger-beetle . . . . . . .118 79. Water-beetle . 119 80. Larva of dyticus .... . . .120 81. Death-watch beetle 123 82. Cockchafer and larva . 125 83. Goliath-beetle and Hercules beetle . . . .126 84. Blister-beetle .... . 12S 85. Copper-coloured weevil ...... 129 86. Nut-weevil 129 87. The stag-horned, prionus, and diamond-beetle . . 130 88. Lady-bird in its stages . . . . . .132 89. Earwig on the wing ....... 134 90. Mantis 135 91. Locusts . .136 92. Mole-cricket 138 93. Dragon-fly 139 94. Pupa of dragon-fly 140 LIST OF PLATES. IX FIG. PAGE 95. May-flies in sunset-dance . . . . . . 140 96. Larva of ephemeron and section of its cell . . . 141 97. Circular ditch of ant-lion 142 98. Lace-winged fly, manner of depositing eggs . . . 142 99. Aphis-lion 143 100. Worker-termite 143 101. Soldier-termite, and jaws of the same, magnified . . 144 102. Section of nest of termes bellicosus .... 144 103. Male termite 145 104. Queen termite . 145 105. Pupa-case, larva, and fly of caddis-worm . . . ] 46 106. Saw of saw-fly 147 107. Gall-fly 149 108. Working-ant, and portion of ant-hill . . . .150 109. Festoon of wax-makers . . . . . .151 110. Proboscis of honey-bee . . . . . .152 111. Honeycomb, with male worker and royal cells . . 153 112. Grub in cell 153 113. Pupa 153 114. Humble-bees male, female, and worker . . .154 115. Stylops .155 116. Female, pupa, and male of stylops .... 155 117. Scales of butterfly's wing 158 118. Comma butterfly .159 119. White-hawthorn butterfly 159 120. Pnpa of vanessa 160 121. Unicorn hawk-moth 160 122. Death's-head hawk-moth 161 123. Silkworm on mulberry-leaf . . . . . .163 124. Female silkworm moth and eggs ..... 163 125. Cocoon of tusseh silkworm ...... 164 126. Leaf-rolling caterpillar . . . . . . 165 127. Suspended leaf-tents ....... 165 128. Larva of clothes-moth in its case 166 129. Field-bug . 167 130. Metamorphoses of water-boatman .... 168 129. Water-scorpion, different states of nepa . 169 1 30. Lime-tree aphis 170 131. Cochineal insect 171 132. Larva of gnat 173 133. Escape of gnat from its pupa-case .... 173 134. Metamorphoses of blood- worms ..... 174 135. Pupa and insect of chironomus ..... 175 136. Larva of stratyomys . . . . . . . 176 137. Wasp-flies 177 138. Gad-flies 178 139. Metamorphoses of flesh-fly . ...... 179 140. Domestic fly 179 141. Arctic spring-tail ....... 180 142. Louse 181 143. Metamorphoses of the flea 182 144. Spiders 184 145. Head of cheese mite . . . . . . . 186 146. Nerves in spider 187 X LIST OF PLATES. ?IG. PAGE 147. Fang of spider . .188 148. Garden spider 189 149. Spinning apparatus of the spider . . . . .190 150. Trap-door spider . . . ... .191. 151. Nest of trap-door spider . . . . . . 192 152. Trap-door opening by a lever . .... 192 153. Section of nest 192 154. The eyes of spider 155. Nest of house-spider ....... 195 156. Foot of spider 196 157. Crab covered with oysters ...... 204 158. Common lobster 205 159. Young of crab 209 160. First stage of shore-crab ...... 210 161. Second stage of shore-crab . . . . . .211 162. Third stage of shore-crab . . .. . . .212 163. Soldier-crab occupying an empty shell . . . .214 164. Soldier-crab removed from its shell .... 215 165. Mantis shrimp 217 166. Opossum shrimp . . . . . . 218 167. Talitrus the sand-hopper . . . . . .219 168. Caprella 220 169. Limnoria terebrans ....... 221 170. Water-fleas 223 171. Marine entomostraca 223 172. Fairy shrimp 225 173. King crab 226 174. Pycnogon . . . . . . . .228 175. Lernean . . . . . . . . .228 176. Skeleton wheel-bearer 230 177. Kotifera . . . ... . . .231 178. Brachionus . .232 179. Cirri of barnacle 235 180. Young of barnacle 236 181. Barnacles . 237 182. Acorn-shells on the shell of a whelk .... 238 183. Flustrafoliacea . . 243 184. Cells of flustra magnified 244 185. Bowerbankia . . . . . . . .245 186. Cellularia avicularia 247 187. Plumatella 188. External form of ascidia ...... 249 189. Diagram of structure of ascidian ..... 250 190. Salpa maxima . . . . . . . 251 191. Pyrosoma .... , 253 1 92. Compound ascidian starry botryllus .... 254 193. Scallop . . . . . . . . . 255 194. Venus chione . 256 195. Spined venus .257 196. Lima . .260 197. Great scallop . . . 261 198. Animal of mussel . . . . . . .262 199. Pinna 263 200. Mussels . . .264 LIST OF PLATES. XI FIG. PAGE 201. Clamshell .265 202. Tellina 266 203. The sandgaper .267 204. Animal of razor-shell 268 205. Saxicava 269' 206. Pholades 269 207. Ship -worm and its shell . . . . . . 270 208. Figure of brachiopod - . .2(71 209. Shelly framework of brachiopod ..... 272 210. Volute crawling 273 211. Snails and slugs 275 212. Garden snail 276 213. Limnseus auricularis ....... 277 214. Planorbis corneus ....... 277 215. The whelk, showing its operculum .... 278 216. The wentle-trap . . . . . ... 279 217. Tiger cowry, harp, and cloth of gold cone . . . 280 218. Youna: cowrie 280 219. Money cowrie, adult 280 220. Cassis tuberosa . .281 221. Thorny woodcock 282 222. Granulated trochus 283 223. Pelican's foot strombus 284 224. Vermetus * . . 285 225. Fissurella reticulata . 286 226. Sea-hare 287 227. Phyllidia . . .288 228. Limpet .288 229. Tufted triton . . 289 230. Crowned eolis 289 231. Horned doris .290 232. Tritonia hombergi . . . . - . . .290 233. Young of eolis 291 234. Carinaria 292 235. Cymbulia and Clio . . . . . . .294 236. Glass shells .295 237. Cuttle . . . . . . . - . .297 238. Structure of suckers of cuttle-fish . . . .298 239. Poulpe and squid . . 300 240. Cuttle- shell 304 241. Cuttle-fish and eggs 305 242. The paper nautilus 306 243. The pearly nautilus 307 244. Skeleton of haddock 315 245. Scales of fishes 317 246. The perch 320 247. The basse ' . . .320 248. Bed mullet 321 249. Oriental flying-gurnard 321 250. The shooting-fish 322 251. The mackerel 324 252. The tunny 325 253. Bonito 326 254. Sword-fish ... 326 Xll LIST OF PLATES. 255'. Pilot-fish 256. Coryphsena ..... 257. Scabbard-fish 258. Thick-lipped grey mullet . 259. The carp 260. The barbel 261. Tench . . 262. The pike 263. The gar-fish . . . 264. The flying-fish 265. The salmon 266. The common trout .... 267. The herring 268. Anchovy 269. Marbled angler 270. The angler 271. The cod . 272. Upper side of the sole 273. Under side of the sole 274. Lump-sucker ..... 275. The remora 276. Sharp-nosed eel 277. Conger eel 278. Mursense 279. Sea-horse ...... 280. Globe-fish 281. Sun-fish 282. File-fish 283. The sturgeon . . . . . 284. Northern chimsera .... 285. Hammer-shark and saw-fish 286. Shark's egg 287. White shark 288. Greenland shark .... 289. Thornback 290. Torpedo . 291. Lamprey ...... 292. River lamprey ..... 293. Myxine 294. Mud-fish 295. Two-lined csecilia .... 296. Two-toed amphiuma .... 297. Gigantic salamander .... 298. Axolotle 299. Proteus 300. Skeleton of siren .... 301. Tadpoles ...... 302. Skeleton of salamander 303. Smooth newt . . . 304. Metamorphoses of newt 305. Frog 306. Skeleton of frog .... 307. Tree-frog 308. Toad . ... LIST OF PLATES. Xlll FIG. 309. Pipa 310. Skeleton of serpent 311. Heads of poisonous snakes of different genera 312. Poison-fangs 313. Poison-gland 314. Rattlesnake 31 5. Cobra naja . . 316. Viper 317. Vent and hook of boa 318. Boa-constrictor watching for prey 319. Skull of python 320. Head of ringed snake .... 321. Belly and tail-shields .... 322. Common ringed-snake .... 323. Slow worm 324. Common lizard ...... 325. Draco volans ...... 326. Gallywasp 327. Feet of gecko's 328. Chameleon 329. Tooth of crocodile 330. Crocodile 331. Skeleton of turtle 332. Hawksbill turtle . . ... 333. Leather-backed turtle .... 334. Soft-tortoise 335. European marsh-tortoise .... 336. Galapagos tortoise . . . . . 337. Skeleton of vulture 338. Leg of a bird perching .... 339. Beak of falcon 340. Foot of eagle 341. Golden eagle 342. Peregrine falcon 343. Griffon vulture 344. Barn owl 345. Head of tyrannus ..... 346. Grey shrike 347. Head of nyctibius 348. Swallow . . . .... 349. Swift 350. Night jar 351. Skylark 352. Long-tailed tit and nest .... 353. Carrion-crow . 354. Birds of paradise ..... 355. Head of sun-bird ..... 356. Nuthatch 357. Tree-creeper ...... 358. Humming-birds . 359. Hoopoe 360. Bee-eater 361. King-fisher ...... 362. Foot of parrot and of woodpecker XIV LIST OF PLATES. FIG. 363. Great black woodpecker . . . , 364. Wryneck . . . . . . . 365. Cuckoo 366. Keel-beaked toucan . . 367. Head of mackaw . . . . 368. Peacock . 369. Hastings's trapogan, argus pheasant, and crowned pigeon 370. Crested curassow . . . . . 371. Capercailzie ........ 372. Wood-pigeon 373. African ostrich 374. Great bustard .... .... 375. Apteryx ... 376. Ringed plover ........ 377. Nest of the dunlin . .... 378. Crowned crane * 379. Heron . . . . 380. Claw of heron 381. Snipe 382. Ibis 383. Common curlew . , 384. Woodcock . . . 385. Land-rail 386'. Common coot 387. Foot of pelican 388. Northern diver . . . . . . 389. Puffin 390. Penguins 391. Stormy petrel . . . 392. Herring-gull . . ... . . 393. Common tern . . . . ... 394. Cormorant 395. The gannet . . . . . 396. Beak of duck 397. The wild duck , . 398. The duck-bill .... ... 399. Burrow of ornithorynchus 400. The porcupine ant-eater ...... 401. Common kangaroo . . > , . 402. Virginian opossum . . 403. Mouse opossum and young ..... 404. Dormouse phalanger 405. Gunn's bandicoot 406. Myrmecobius ........ 407. Wombat 408. Zebra-wolf . 409. Troop of dolphins, manatee in the distance . 410. Bones of the fin of a dolphin 411. Dolphin 412. Spearing the narwhal 413. Sperm-whale . . . . . . . , 414. Whale fishery . . . ..... 415. Whalebone-whale . . 416. Manatee . LIST OF PLATES. XV FIG. PAGE 417. Wart-hog, Indian rhinoceros, and river-horse . 490 418. Head of Indian elephant 491 419. African elephants 492 420. Wild-boar 494 421. Skull of rhinoceros . . 494 422. American tapir . . . , . . . . 495 423. Wild ass 496 424. Zebra 497 425. Quagga 498 426. Arabian camel . . . . . . . . 500 427. Water-cells of the camel 500 428. Llama 501 429. Kanchil . . .502 430. Stag's horn in successive vears ..... 503 431. Giraffe . . 506 432. Stag .507 433. Antelope 508 434. Goat 509 435. Head of argali or wild sheep ..... 509 436. Sheep of Palestine 510 437. Indian ox 511 438. American bison . . . . . . .511 439. Cape buffalo .512 440. Yak . 513 441. Musk ox 513 442. Skull of porcupine 515 443. Beaver 517 444. Water-rat 518 445. Dormice 519 446. Nest of harvest-mouse ...... 520 447. Squirrel 521 448. Rocky mountain flying- squirrel 521 449. African porcupine ....... 522 450. Guinea-pigs 523 451. Agouti 524 452. Jerboa 524 453. Three-toed sloth and giant armadillo .... 526 454. Weasel-headed armadillo . . . . 527 455. Great ant-bear .....*.. 528 456. Manis 529 457. Skull of tiger 531 458. Bear 532 459. Polar bear .533 460. Badger 534 461. Weasel 537 462. Otter 538 463. Wolf 539 464. Fox 540 465. Civet 541 466. Hysena 542 467. Toe of lion 543 468. Skeleton of lion . 544 469. Lion 545 470. Tiger 546 XVI LIST OF PLATES. FIG. PAGE 471. Jaguar 546 472. Leopard . . .547 473. Foot of the seal. Skeleton of the same . . . .548 474. Harp-seal and walrus 549 475. Shrew 550 476. Hedgehog 551 477. Mole , .552 478. Hand of mole . 552 479. Heads of rhinolophus ferrum equinum and megaderma irons ......... 555 480. Pipistrelle .... . 481. Skeleton of man and orang ..... 557 482. White-fronted lemur .559 483. Howling monkey 560 484. Orang-outang, mandrill, and spider-monkey . . . 561 485. Kahau 564 486. Gorilla 566 487. Bornean orang 567 488. Chimpanzee 568 THE ANIMAL CREATION ; A POPULAR INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. CHAPTER I. THE science of Zoology teaches us the forms and habits of the countless animals with which we are everywhere surrounded, their mutual dependencies upon each other, and their relative importance in the economy of Nature. Among the innumerable beings which crowd this world not one is idle ; all are actively employed each in its separate sphere of usefulness, and though they blindly do the work imposed upon them by their Great Creator, ignorant of other's ways, the grand result is perfect harmony. When we consider how innumerable are the species of animals distributed over the whole surface of the earth, and throughout the immeasurable realms of water, and are called upon to recognise them indi- vidually, and to identify all the members of such a multifarious host, the task might well be considered as hopeless as that of the unlettered savage who, unable to count beyond twenty, sets about the enu- meration of the stars, and tries to fix their places and assign their names. Yet even those stars have been reduced to order, the very skies have been mapped out, and the astronomer points with as much satis- faction to the buckle of Orion's belt or the tip of the nose of Bootes, as if these respectable gentlemen were up on high sitting for their portraits. B 2 CLASSIFICATION. A disbanded army presents to the observer nothing but a wild scene of inextricable confusion ; but when at trumpet-call, the soldiers hasten to their ranks, and the appropriate banner waves above each com- pany, these companies fall into regiments, and the living mass, directed by one chief, moves on with the utmost order and regularity. Systematic arrangement is, therefore, the very foundation of the science of zoology : it is only by the establishment of classes, and orders, and genera, and species, which constitute, so to speak, the colours of the different regiments, that such arrangement is, at all, to be accomplished, and to define the limits and the characters of these genera and species, the efforts of the scientific zoologist are principally di- rected. It must, consequently, be our first endeavour to explain what these words, species and genera, mean. By Species is understood a number of animals so closely resembling each other, that they all might be supposed to be the offspring of the same parents, and in turn to give birth to progeny, exactly resem- bling themselves. The domestic mouse, for example, is a species, the exact fac-simile both of its ancestors and its offspring. Species, however, may be slightly modified by the continued operation of external cir- cumstances, such as climate, abundance or deficiency of food, or other similar accidents ; there may, for example, be a white mouse, or a piebald mouse ; these are called Varieties of the species. A Genus is a group embracing a number of species which have a striking general resemblance to each other in certain important particulars, whereby they are distinguishable from all other animals. The domestic mouse (Mus musculus\ for instance, is at once recognisable from the squirrel, the beaver, or the hare, from the circumstance that it has a long tail tapering to a point and denuded of hair ; but there are many other animals which, though evidently not real mice, have this feature in common. There is the rat, Mus rattus ; the brown rat, Mus decumanus ; CLASSIFICATION. 3 the field mouse, Mus sylvaticus ; and the harvest mouse, Mus messorius, all of which are species more or less resembling the Mouse, but all distinguishable from each other by minor characters ; these, there- fore, constitute a genus. An Order is a far more extensive group, including several genera, allied to each other by some important feature in their economy. The rats and the mice, for example, are all remarkable for their chisel-like front teeth, but there are other animals that have their teeth of the same construction, although they have not the same long and tapering tail, e.g., the squirrel, the beaver, the hare, and the porcupine; these, therefore, form the order Rodentia, or animals distinguished by their chisel-like teeth. A Class embraces all the Orders related to each other by some grand and general character possessed by them all in common. Thus, the Rodentia suckle their young, but so do dogs, so do monkeys, hedge- hogs, cats, whales, elephants, cows, ant-eaters, and kangaroos ; a circumstance whereby they are dis- tinguished from birds, reptiles, or fishes. All animals that give suck are, therefore, associated to form one great class the Mammalia, Or we may take the converse of all this. Thus, in the animal kingdom there is a Class of creatures recog- nisable by the circumstance that they suckle their young ; among these is an Order, distinguished by having chisel-like teeth in the front of their mouths ; belonging to this Order is a Genus, remarkable for the possession of a long tapering tail, and the smallest Species belonging to this genus is the harvest mouse, Mus Messorius. An arrangement such as this en- ables us to find out the name of any animal, and is called a system, which, in fact is a dictionary with this difference, that here the properties enable us to find out the name, whereas in ordinary dictionaries, the, known name serves to acquaint us with the properties. Thus, the study of Zoology is one eminently calculated to accustom the mind to habits B 2 4 CLASSIFICATION. of order and precision, to a close and accurate com- parison of objects presented to our notice, and to a clear and neat perception of their distinctive cha- racters; it gives a facility of expression to our de- scriptions, and in this way its importance, as a branch of education, can scarcely be exaggerated. Perhaps nothing has contributed so much to the advancement of the science of Natural History as the happy expedient first adopted by Linnaeus, of giving to every object in Nature a double name, whereby its identity is, at once satisfactorily indicated. Thus, in the examples given above, we say Mus museulus, Mus rattus, Mus messorius. The first of the two names is that of the genus, and, therefore, common to all the species of that genus ; the second is the specific name that is, points out the species to which we refer, just in the same manner as in the names of persons. The family name Milton or Shakspeare may belong to anybody, but John Milton and William Shakspeare are individuals at once recognisable. The only dif- ference is that in this case the specific name is placed first, instead of after that of the genus. To under- stand the importance of this great step in Zoological Science, it is only necessary to read the descriptions of old authors who, after devoting half a page to the identification of an animal, leave you in doubt whether they are speaking of a cat, a rat, or a hippo- potamus. With regard to the classification of the immense series of living beings composing the animal creation, various systems have been at different times sketched out by the master minds of science, all of which have more or less fallen short of their great object. Of these, the most useful and most generally adopted is that of Cuvier, and as this will be more or less our guide throughout the following pages, a knowledge of its leading features becomes indispensable. According to the system of Cuvier, all living animals are divided into 1st. Those that have back-bones (vertebrse} ; CLASSIFICATION. 5 2nd. Those that have not back -bones. Those animals that have back-bones are called Vertebrate, Those that are without back-bones are called Invertebrate. The Vertebrate division includes Fishes, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals, The Invertebrate division is much more numerous, and comprehends animals of very various construc- tion ; these are 1st. Mollusks, or soft-bodied animals, such as cuttle- fishes, snails, oysters, &c. ; 2nd. Articulated Animals, or animals enclosed in a jointed skin, such as insects, spiders, and lobsters; 3rd. Radiated Animals, under which head are in- cluded all the lowest, and least perfect members of the animal kingdom, many of them having few characteristics in common. The completeness of the above classification, so far as it relates to the more perfect animals, is generally admitted, and we shall, therefore, take it as our guide ; but among the lower tribes of creation such guidance fails us, and through this labyrinth we shall have to make our way by the aid of more recent in- vestigations. In the preceding paragraph, as the reader may have remarked, we have spoken of " the more perfect ani- mals" as contradistinguished from those of "the lower tribes," and as we shall again and again be obliged to have recourse to similar expressions, the terms require some explanation. Every animal is perfect in its kind, and to add to, or to take from, its attributes would deteriorate its usefulness in creation. By the perfect or imperfect structure of an animal we simply mean the degree in which it approximates to Man, the type and pattern of zoological perfection, just as in estimating the value of money, we take the highest coin of the realm as a standard of com- parison. Man, the paragon of animals, is the union of what is most perfect and beautiful in them all. D CLASSIFICATION. Hence, animals which have a resemblance to Man, are not without reason styled perfect in a degree proportioned to that resemblance. With these preliminary observations, we enter on our pleasurable task, and. proceed to trace the varied forms of animal existence frolrTthe first dawn of life to Man himself, who, standing supreme in his mental capacities, rises by his immortal destiny incomparably beyond them all. Turning our attention to the great scene before us, " Beast, bird, fish, insect, which no eye can see, no glass can reach," so strange and diversified are their shapes and attributes, that the student naturally inquires, What is an animal ? a question which he will soon find to be much more easily propounded than satisfactorily solved. At the first glance of the superficial observer, the distinctions between the animal and vegetable king- doms seem plain and obvious. We all know a cow from a cabbage, a horse from the grass upon which it feeds ; and yet, as we come more closely to scruti- nize forms of life less violently contrasted, doubts and hesitations soon begin to teach us that the dis- crimination is not always so easy, and that at length the differences between the animal and the vegetable creations become almost imperceptible. Light and darkness seem distinct enough, and no one possessed of eye-sight could be in danger of mistaking noon for night ; but he who gazes on the morning's dawn, and tries to mark the line that separates the parting darkness from the coming day, will find the task by no means an easy one, so gently do the lights and shades tincture and mingle with each other. The axiom of Linnaeus is well-known. " Stones grow, vegetables grow and live, animals grow, live, and/eeZ." The capability of feeling, therefore, was regarded by the great Swedish naturalist as the distinctive character of an animal ; but how can we define where feeling has been first bestowed. The sensitive plant which coyly shrinks upon the slightest CLASSIFICATION. 7 touch, does it not feel ? The flower that shuts its bells as evening comes, and seems to go to sleep, is it insensitive ? We cannot tell. To move from place to place, to have the power of locomotion, has been said to be an attribute of animals, whereby they are distinguishable. Yet although we see the Volvox* (Tig. 1), rolling through FIG. 1. VOLVOX. the drop that forms its space with slow majestic movement, wielding upon its surface countless living filaments, we are forced to believe the chemist who informs us that it is a vegetable.! If we take a drop of water from any stagnant pool and place it under a microscope, we shall soon per- ceive that it contains a great variety of living organisms, very diverse in their shape, and all equally * Volvo, I roll t The Volvox globator, of which a figure is given in the text, is acknowledged to be a vegetable production. In shape it seems a microscopic globe, rolling slowly on its axis. More accurately examined, we perceive the body to be formed of a transparent spherical membrane, studded with small green dots, and having all its surface covered over with vibrating filaments of infinite minute- ness, which produce currents in the surrounding water, and thus cause the revolution of the little sphere, as well as its progression. 8 CLASSIFICATION. remote in their structure and appearance from any with which we are elsewhere familiar. Let the reader cast his eye for a moment upon the annexed engraving (Fig. 2), which represents a piece of duck- weed gathered from a neighbouring pond, surrounded FlG. 2. MICROSCOPIC OCCUPANTS OF A LEAF OF DUCKWEED. Highly Magnified. 1. Vorticella convallaria. 2. Volvox globator. 3. Vaginicola crystallina. 4. Amphileptus fasciola. 5. Navicula hippocampus. 6. Amoeba diffluens. 1. Trachelocerca olor. 8. Polytoma uvella. 9. Stentor polymorphus. 10. Bursaria truncatella. 11. Pandorina morum. 12. Stylortychia mytilus. 13. Paramecium aurelia. 14. Euplotes truncatus. 15. Euplotes striatus. by the microscopic creatures that live in its vicinity. Some fixed upon the stem (Fig. 2, 9) like trumpets in their shape, spread out their gaping mouths, around which whirl the swarming atoms that they swallow ; others, like wine-glasses in miniature, stretch out the little bells that constitute their bodies, to the length of their transparent stems in search of food, or if alarmed, folding their stalks in spiral revolutions, shrink timidly from danger (Fig. 2, i). The Volvox (Fig. 2, 2) silently revolves, a little world within itself. Others (Fig. 2, e) of different shape, resemble films of ever-changing cloud. Others, CLASSIFICATION. 9 again, transparent globes of jelly (Fig. 2, n), shoot forth star-like rays in all directions. Some have the form of glass-like shuttles, coloured with bright green contents, creeping more slowly than the hour hand of a watch along the bottom. Some (Fig. 2, s) have the shape of rolling mulberries, that gently make their way through the surrounding water. Others (Fig. 2, ?), like swans in form, glide up and down with graceful elegance. The vaginicola * (Fig. 2, 3) lives in a crystal vase, from which it stretches itself forth in search of nourishment. The Paramecium^ (Fig. 2, is), like a meteor, shoots along, prowling in all directions ; some (Fig. 2, 14, is), clad in shells, and armed with leg-like booklets, creep much after the manner of insects : while others skip from point to point like living scin- tillations. Such are the creatures that we find in swarms in every stagnant ditch, as any one possessed of a very ordinary microscope may soon convince him- self. These wonderful organisms have little resem- blance to each other. It is difficult, indeed, with the exception of their miraculous minuteness, to fix upon any character that they possess in common. We are not surprised, therefore, that by the earlier observers with the microscope, they were all grouped together under the very extensive designation of Animalcules, a term simply significative of their small size, or of Infusorial Animalcules, in allusion to the circumstance that they are generally met with in infusions of animal or of vegetable substances, and are easily attainable by exposing such infusions to the atmosphere. Modern improvements in the microscope, and a close attention to the habits and organization of the creatures under consideration, have, however, revealed to us the startling fact that in the drop of water under contemplation, we have examples of no fewer than three distinct classes of organisms : one belong- ing to the vegetable, and two to the animal series of creation. By using a very simple test, namely, the * Vagina, a sheath, colo, I inhabit. f wapa^/on, paramekes, oblong. B 3 10 CLASSIFICATION. addition of a little iodine to the drop in which they swim, it is found that four specimens in the little group before us, namely, the Volvox (Fig. 2, 2), the Polytoma (Fig. 2, a), the Navicula (Fig. 2, 5), and the Pandorina (Fig. 2, 11), at once turn blue, indicative that they contain starch, a substance thought to be peculiar to the vegetable creation, and thus confess that they are vegetable productions. The slimy substance of the Amo&ba diffluens (Fig. 2, e), that we have stated to be continually changingrits shape, like the outline of a cloud, refuses to alter its colour under such a test ; and, moreover, as it flows or glides from place to place, is seen to devour and to digest the materials with which it is surrounded, thus claiming admission into the animal series, and soon making good that claim by exhibiting attributes and capabilities decidedly of an animal character. The remaining forms (Fig. 2, i, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, u, and 15), more active and energetic in their movements, and evidently of higher capabilities, are all distinguished by having their bodies either partially or entirely covered with a wondrous machinery of vibrating hair-like appendages, which, from their resemblance to our eye-lashes, have been named cilia.* By the assistance of these admirable organs, the little crea- tures possessing them are rowed rapidly about from place to place, or causing whirlpools in the surround- ing water, drag towards their mouths the tiny victims upon which they feed. The vegetable forms above mentioned are known to botanists under the names of Diatoms,^ Desmidice,\ Confervte, &c. The slime- like animals are called by zoologists Rhizopods, while the ciliated forms are distinguished by the appella- tion of Infusoria, These, then, are the usual occupants of a drop of water, the contemplation of which cannot but excite the curiosity of the spectator, and call forth his warmest admiration. Curiosity will, however, per- * Cilium, an eye-lash. t S/aro/uoy, diatomos, divided. % 8eo>ibs, desmos, a band. CLASSIFICATION. 11 haps assume a deeper interest, when he still more closely examines their history. There are in Sweden certain extensive tracts of country entirely composed of an exceedingly fine earth, which, from its whiteness and from an idea extensively prevalent, that it possesses nutritious properties, has long been distinguished by the name of Bergmehl, or " mountain meal." A little of this earth, for long ages trodden under foot, submitted to the modern microscope, has revealed itself to be FlG. 3. VEGETABLE FORMS OF MICROSCOPIC ORGANISMS. entirely resolvable into minute shells of exquisite beauty and delicacy of sculpture. These shells, being composed almost entirely of pure flint (silex), are almost indestructible, and to a practised eye are at once seen to have belonged to vegetable organisms 12 RHIZOPODA. resembling those represented in our engraving (Fig. 2, 5), which must have lived for ages in some quiet lake, whose waters covered the vast area where they are found, and as they perished, sinking to the bottom, left their shells records of their history. CHAPTER II. BHIZOPODA* (Root-footed animalcules). To return to our magnified drop of water. We have already described the Amoeba diffluens^ (Fig. 2, e), as resembling a film of ever-changing cloud, so soft in its consistence that it is but a little removed from fluidity. It is not firm enough even to be called jelly : it may almost be compared to a drop of gum- water or mucus, and yet it is endowed with very extraordinary capa- bilities. It evidently has a voluntary power of moving from place to place, and its mode of doing so is not inaptly expressed by the epithet " diffluens," flowing- away, by which it is distinguished. On first perceiving one of these creatures under the field of the micro- scope, it will be found perhaps contracted into a shapeless mass resembling a small patch of mucilage, and offering little to attract attention; while we watch it, however, it begins to move, spreads out into a shape something like that represented in our figure, and we are almost tempted to make a drawing of so strange a creature. Meanwhile, it flows into another outline, spreading like water spilled upon a greasy board, and so it glides from place to place, and form to form. This microscopic film is hungry too, and eats ; but having neither mouth nor stomach, it is not at first easy to conjecture how such a feat can be accomplished. Its body is generally seen to con- tain the shells of NaviculsB (Fig 4), and other similar * tfa, rhiza, a root ; irouy, TroSbs, pous, podos, a foot. ^, amoibe, change. 11HIZOPODA. 13 organisms ; it does not seem to swallow them, but overwhelms them with its semifluid substance, and FlG. 4. AMCEBA. as it passes over them, dissolves whatever is digestible, and then casts forth their empty shells. The sea-side visitor, who will be at the trouble of placing a little sea-weed, fresh gathered from the rocks, in a glass vessel filled with its native element, and allowing it to remain for a few hours undisturbed, will occasionally find, clinging to the sides of the glass, filmy patches, so small as to be inconspicuous, except with the assistance of a lens, which change their form and glide along with slow but equable movement. When magnified, their central body will be seen to throw out threads resembling filaments of melted glass, which spread like roots in all di- rections, and as these creatures seem to use their 14 KHIZOPODA. root-like filaments as feet, they are named Rhizopods that is, root-footed animals. They are, in truth, marine forms of the Amoeba we have just been de- scribing, from which, however, they differ in being FIG. 5. RHIZOPODS. able to construct for themselves shelly coverings, perforated by innumerable little orifices or foramina, through which their root-like filaments (Pseudo- podia)* are protruded ; from this circumstance, the shells and the creatures inhabiting them have been named Foraminifera.t Minute as these shells are, invisible for the most part to ordinary vision, the microscope reveals many of them to be structures of exquisite beauty, emulating in their shape the * False feet. xJ/evSfc, pseudea, false ; TTOVS, pous, a foot. t Foramen, an orifice ; fero, I carry. RUIZOPODA. 15 model forms of ancient vases, and presenting an elaborate sculpture surpassing that of Chinese carvings in their decoration. It is not, however, from their beauty, but from the numbers in which they exist, that these and similar organisms derive their chief importance. Few visitors at the sea-side can have failed to observe that often in the summer-time the waves are lumin- ous, and shine with phosphorescent splendour. The ripples as they totter towards the beach sparkle with scintillations, and the crested waves blaze with a pale but brilliant light. The fisherman, who from his boat surveys the lambent flames that play around him, seems to float in fire. The mariner can trace his path by the long wake of light that streams behind like the train of some vast sky-rocket, or looking from the prow, he sees his vessel as she breasts the waves, dash from her bows broad sheets of liquid splendour. As morning dawns the fairy vision vanishes, nor can the keenest eye perceive in the translucent element the tiny lamps that caused the grand illumination. Night comes again, again the sea, lit up, repeats the glorious lesson. Not a breeze sweeps over its tranquil surface but evokes a flash of splendour that extends for miles, and emulates the lightnings of the skies ; and so from day to day the gallant ship sails on, from week to week, from month to month, the mighty ocean, through its wide extent, renews each night the impressive spectacle. If we inquire into the cause of a phenomenon thus widely extended, it will be found in every part of the world to depend upon the presence of infinite myriads of living atoms resembling those we are discussing. On taking a glass of the sea- water thus made luminous, it will be found that every sparkle is a brilliant point of living substance such as forms the Ehizopods described above (Fig. 6). We have as yet spoken only of the simplest of these animals, but by far the greater portion of the 16 KHIZOPODA. Foraminifera are composite fabrics. The Rotalia * (Fig. 5), for example, might almost be taken for the FlG. 6. FIGURE OF NOCTILUCA MILIAF.IS. shell of a microscopic nautilus, nay, has been so mis- taken even by the most eminent zoologists. These exquisite structures consist of a series of compart- ments, in the interior of which the semifluid sub- stance of the animal is lodged. The walls of each of these compartments are perforated with innumer- able holes, through which the slender glass-like fila- ments protrude in all directions to a considerable distance, so that the shell in which the main body of the creature is encased, has somewhat the appearance of a spider sitting in the centre of its web. These semifluid filaments (Pseudo-podia) also con- stitute the prehensile organs of these simple beings. Any small objects serviceable for nutriment with which they come in contact are laid hold of apparently by the viscidity of their surface, and except they are animalcules of considerable size and power, they are unable to escape. When a filament has so seized its * Kota, a wheel. KHIZOPODA. 17 prey, adjoining fibres aggregate about it and coalesce, a current of the viscous substance, so to speak, sets in towards the spot, and very soon envelopes the object in a thin film. The prey being thus secured, the glairy cords shorten themselves and draw it towards the chief mass or body of the animal, or else the object seized continues in the same place, and the whole organic substance moves towards it, the result being in either case that it is engulphed and dissolved. The size of the Khizopods is exceedingly minute. Ehrenberg describes Amoeboe, the dimensions of which range from ^^>-th to ^th of an inch. The largest fresh water forms only attain a diameter of ^nd part of an inch, whilst the largest marine species, which are just visible to the naked eye, do not measure more than from ^th to ^th of an inch. Notwithstanding their minuteness, however, the reader will now begin to perceive that these humble creatures, diffused in countless multitudes through every sea, and cased in shells of such exquisite work- manship, are by no means unimportant agents in the economy of Nature. Their numbers make up for the minuteness of their dimensions, and assiduously employed as they have been from age to age, we are not surprised to find that they, like the vegetable forms described in the last chapter, have been important agents in the construction even of extensive geological strata. The extraordinary abundance of foraminiferous shells in the sand of some sea-shores has been long observed ; Plancus, in 1739, counted, with the aid of a low magnifying power, 6,000 individuals in an ounce of sand gathered at Kimini, upon the shores of the Adriatic sea. D'Orbigny states that 3,840,000 exist in an ounce of sand from the Antilles ; and Schultze counted 500 shells in the ^th of a grain of sand collected from the mole of Gaeta on the shores of the Mediterranean. Ehrenberg describes finding chambered shells such as we have delineated both on the surface of the sea, and 18 KHIZOPODA. also on the bottom, even at a depth of 12,000 feet. From these great depths they are procured by soundings ; the sounding-lead, after being coated with grease, brings up attached to it the small particles with which it comes in contact. Numerous such soundings were taken by Sir James Ross in his Antarctic expedition, and have been practised by others in different regions. Dr. Barclay records the results of a series of deep sea-soundings made in the Atlantic, over a considerable geographical area, from latitude 42 4' to latitude 54 17' at depths varying from 1,080 to 2,000 fathoms. "None of the soundings contain a particle of gravel, sand, or other unorganized matter. They all agree in being made up entirely of the shells of IPoraminifera." There is, there- fore, little doubt that the bottom of the ocean is in many localities covered, perhaps to considerable depths, by a sedimentary deposit, consisting principally of shells of this description, and which, were they raised to the surface, would constitute thick beds of incalculable ex- tent. In a fossil condition, the shells of the Foraminifera enter largely into the composition of the crust of the earth in every part of the world. They form by far the most important constituent of chalk wherever that sub- stance is met with. Dr. Barclay speaks of them as im- portantly concerned in the formation of the tertiary rocks of South Carolina, and adds, " they are still at work in countless thaiisands on that coast, filling up harbours, forming shoals, and depositing their shells to record the present state of the sea-shore as their predecessors, now entombed beneath Charlestown, have done with regard to ancient oceans." In many parts of the world the accumulation of these shells has given origin to widely-extended strata, many hundreds of feet in thickness. Mountains of Nummulitic limestone, entirely composed of them, extend through the Alps and Northern Italy, and are met with in Greece, Syria, and Northern India The Mokkadam range, from which the stone used in building the Pyramids was obtained, are simply masses of foraminiferous shells. According to M. Deshayes, there is found in most of the stone from which Paris is built, as large a proportion of the shells of Foraminifera as of particles of sand, so that it may be said, almost without exaggeration, that even Paris owes RHIZOPODA. 19 the materials of which it is constructed to the persistent agency of these microscopic organisms. Thus we perceive a film of living slime for such essen- tially these creatures seem to be, moulded into a thousand beauteous forms, labouring incessantly has silently pro- duced results on which we can but gaze with awe. CHAPTER III. SPONGES.* THERE seems to be little relationship between the Foraminifera we have just been speaking of and the race of sponges in fact, few things could be pointed out more unlike each other. Infinitely .blti. 7. SPONGES. diversified in their shape, the sponges, as we all know, are distributed along the shores of every * Spougia, a sponge. 20 RHIZOPODA. climate; some overspread the surface of the rocks like living carpets, others expand in fan-like growths of softest texture; some are cylindrical in shape, while others emulate the forms of branching shrubs ; others, again, are moulded into cups and giant gob- lets, many festoon the walls of rocky caverns, or depend, like living stalactites, from wave-worn roofs. Examined with a microscope, however, a living sponge is found to differ but little from the organisms we have just been contemplating. No matter what its form, the living portion of a sponge consists of a soft slime that coats each fibre of its structure, and this soft slime, when highly magnified, resolves itself entirely into particles so like the Amoeba in their characters and attributes, that they are evidently of the same nature, the main distinction being that, whereas in the case of the Foraminifera, they secrete a calcareous shell, the sponges construct a common framework, over which the liv- ing film is spread. This frame- work varies in its composition in different kinds of sponge. Sometimes it is made up of tubes of horn, forming a net- FIG.S.-FRAMEWORK OF SPONGE. work i^^^d in all direc- tions ; such is the common sponge of commerce, which owes its resiliency and its capability of absorbing and retaining fluids, qualities which render it so useful in domestic economy, to the construction of its horny skeleton. Instead of tubes of horn, the sponges usually found upon our coasts deposit in their substance crystals of pure flint, which vary much in form in different kinds, while a third group strengthen their framework with calca- reous spicula of variable shape. Three different kinds of sponge may, therefore, grow close to each other, bathed alike with the same sea-water, yet they elaborate therefrom products so different as horn, and flint, and lime, wherewith to build a fabric that supports the whole community. On viewing a living RHIZOPODA. 21 sponge in sea-water with care and attention, it is found to exhibit a constant and energetic action, . FlG. 9. FLINT CRYSTALS OF SPONGE. which sufficiently shows its vitality. Dr. Grant's account of the discovery of this motion in a native species is very interesting. " I put a small branch of a spongia coalita with some sea- water into a watch-glass, under the micro- scope, and on reflecting the light of a candle through the fluid, I soon perceived that there was some intestine motion in the opaque particles floating through the water. On moving the watch-glass, so as to bring one of the apertures on the side of the sponge fully into view, I beheld, for the first time, the splendid spectacle of the living fountain vomiting forth from a circular cavity an impetuous torrent of i liquid matter, and hurling along, in rapid succession, 22 KHIZOPODA. opaque masses, which it strewed everywhere around. The beauty and novelty of such a scene in the animal kingdom long arrested my attention ; but after twenty-five minutes of constant observation, I was obliged to withdraw my eye from fatigue, without having seen the torrent for one instant change its direction, or diminish in the slightest degree the rapidity of its course. I continued to watch the same orifice at short intervals for five hours, some- times observing it for a quarter of an hour at a time ; but still the stream rolled on with a constant and equal velocity." The sponges perpetuate their race by a very curious mode of increase. At stated periods there project from the interior of the larger canals, that traverse their substance in all directions, minute oval masses of jelly, which grow, till at length they are detached and driven out by the issuing currents into the surrounding water. One would naturally expect that such apparently helpless atoms would fall at once to the bottom ; but in such a case how could the species be dispersed? Here we behold with wonder a beautiful instance of providential care. A power of locomotion is conferred upon the offspring, which is not possessed by the parent sponge ; for, whereas the latter is firmly rooted to the bottom, incapable of changing its place, the little germ is able to swim rapidly through the sea. This is effected by cilia, or minute hairs, with which one end of the pear-shaped gemmule is beset ; these con- stantly keep up a rapid vibration, and thus row the embryo sponge from place to place, until it reaches a distant and suitable spot, where it quietly settles down, and soon takes the form peculiar to its species. Were we ,to inform our young readers that flints have been sponges, and that every flint wherewith, in many parts of the country, the roads are paved, and which, before the invention of lucifer matches, con- stituted almost the only means of obtaining fire, had grown at the bottom of the sea, rooted upon rocks, KHIZOPODA. 23 and sucking in the surrounding water through innu- merable pores upon their surface, which conveyed through every part of their soft texture materials for their subsistence, we could scarcely expect the asser- tion to be credited, at least, without considerable hesitation ; and yet no fact in natural history is more easily demonstrated. Not only do the fragments of flints examined under the microscope reveal the fossilized texture of the sponge, but not unfrequently the shells of the animalcules upon which they lived are found in their substance, and even portions of the sponge itself, as yet unpetrified, are often con- tained in their interior. FlG. 11. HAI.ICHONDIUA OCULATA.* /\s, hals, the sea ; s, chondros, cartilage. 24 INFUSORIA. CHAPTER IV. INFUSORIA* (Ciliated animalcules). RETURNING once more to our examination of the drop of water which has already furnished us with lessons of such interest, we find it still offering to our notice animalcules widely different in their FlG. 12. PARAMECIUM, &C. structure from any that we have as yet encountered. They are all of them, however, distinguishable by one striking feature in their economy namely, that * Met with in stagnant water. INFUSORIA. 25 they are propelled through the water by means of vibratile cilia, which are sometimes distributed over the entire surface of their bodies, while in others these wonderful organs are restricted to certain parts, more especially to the vicinity of the mouth. The possession of a mouth, as the reader will at once per- ceive, is in itself an important character, whereby they are broadly separated from, the mouthless Rhizopods. And when we add to this, that they are active in their movements and definite in their shape, we have said enough to insure their not being confounded with any of the creatures we have as yet examined. The movements of the ciliated infusoria are exceedingly vivacious ; they swim about with great activity, avoid- ing each other as they pass in their rapid dance, and evidently directing their motions with precision and accuracy. Their instruments of locomotion are of various kinds : some are provided with stiff bristle- like appendages which are moveable, and perform in some measure the office of feet, and with little booklets serving for attachment to foreign bodies. But the most important locomotive agents are, as has been already stated, the cilia with which they are invariably furnished. Their movements never seem to tire. At whatever period of the night they may be examined, they are always found as actively at work as in the day-time ; they never sleep. The cilia are intrusted with another function equally important viz., the procuration of food : for those situated in the vicinity of the mouth, in which position they are always most evident, produce by their vibration, currents in the surrounding water, which bring to the mouth smaller animalcules, or particles of vegetable matter that may be floating in the neighbourhood, thus insuring an abundant supply of nutriment which, without such assistance, it would be impossible for these living atoms to obtain. The food thus procured is at once swallowed, and accu- mulates in little pellets in the interior of the semifluid substance of their bodies, giving rise to an appearance c 20 INFUSORIA. which misled Ehrenberg to suppose that these tiny organisms were possessed of numerous stomachs hence they were formerly named Polygastria* or many-stomached animalcules. FlG. 13 FIGURE OF SWAN-NECK AND ITS DIVISIONS. By no means the least remarkable part of the history of the Infusoria is their mode of propagation. This is usually accomplished by the spontaneous division of the adult animalcule into two or more portions, each of which in a short time becomes in every respect a complete individual. We remember in our boyish days hearing of some strange machine for grinding old people young again, and smiled at the idea, little thinking that the conversion of old animals into young ones was, in sober truth, one of the commonest operations of nature. The body of an animalcule about to propagate in this manner, becomes at first slightly elongated, and a line, more transparent than the rest, is seen to cross its middle portion ; a constriction next becomes apparent at each extremity of the line indicated, which, becoming more decided and growing gradually deeper, at length divides the animalcule into two halves, only 'connected with each other by a narrow isthmus, and as this grows thinner and thinner, a slight effort on the part of either of the now nearly distinct portions is sufficient to sever the frail bond of union and complete the separation. In some elongated species * TTO\VS, polus, many; yao-rep, yaffrpbs, gaster, gastros, the sto- mach. INFUSORIA. 27 this fissure is effected in a longitudinal direction, the separation gradually proceeding from the posterior to the anterior portion of the body. Examples of both these modes of increase are delineated in the appended engravings (Figs. 12 and ] 3). FlG. 14. FIGURE OF COLEPS AND CHILOMONAS. If the organization of these animalcules were as simple as it was supposed to be a few years ago, when they were thought to be mere specks of living jelly imbibing nourishment through all parts of the soft texture of their bodies, this kind of spontaneous division would be a very simple matter, and every step of the process easily understood : a little observa- tion, however, will show that there are circumstances attending this operation of a very inexplicable cha- racter. Some species, as for example, Prorodon teres* represented in our engraving (Fig. 12, b\ are furnished with a very curious mouth surrounded by a cylinder composed of horny teeth, through the agency of which their food is seized and swallowed. Should a deed of separation, therefore, have to be drawn up preparatory to the act of division, it might, be a puzzling question for the Infusorial lawyers to settle which half should have the mouth. Even this difficulty has, however, been provided for; and, ac- cordingly, a new mouth and a new dental cylinder is seen to sprout from the hinder half, before the * irpapa, prora, fore part ; oSbvs, b6v TOS, odous, odontos, a tooth. c 2 28 INFUSORIA. animal, originally one flesh, proceeds to divorce itself into two. FlG. 15. FIGURE OF VORTICELLJE. This mode of propagation, in which multiplication and division go hand in hand, is amazingly pro- ductive : and, indeed, far surpasses in fertility any other with which we are acquainted. Every school- boy is familiar with the celebrated problem about the nails in a horse's shoe, or the squares of a chess- board, where the results attainable by duplicative multiplication soon pass ordinary numerical ex- pressions. Let any of our readers try the same problem with one of these animalcules. An in- dividual, if well supplied with food, has been observed to divide at least once in twenty-four hours. So that in a fortnight, allowing the product of each division to multiply at the same rate, sixteen thousand three hundred and eighty-four would be produced from the same stock, and in four weeks two hundred and sixty-eight millions, four hundred and thirty-five thousand four hundred and fifty-six, would be the astounding progeny derived from a single animalcule. INFUSORIA. 29 We feel, therefore, but little surprise that with such powers of propagation, these minute creatures soon become diffused in countless myriads through the waters adapted to their habits. Nor is this all: the reproduction of these prolific animals is sometimes effected in various ways, and not unfrequently the same individual is found to propagate by two or three different modes thus, many species are multiplied by buds which sprout like those of plants from the surface of their bodies, and speedily attaining the shape of their parent, develop the cilia characteristic of their species. FlG. 16. FIGURE OF VAGIMCOLA. Neither is it difficult to understand the. necessity for such amazing fecundity. These moving atoms are the source from which innumerable animals derive their sustenance, which, in their turn, become the prey of creatures higher in the scale of life; they, therefore, form the basis of that mighty pyramid which bears upon its apex Man himself. They are the boundaries between life and death, the steady barrier of the organic world, and although until a few years ago, man was ignorant of their very existence, they have not the less been actively employed since first creation dawned. As individuals, they are weak enough ; but in their countless legions they become, perhaps, the most important agents in the grand economy of nature. A grain of sand is but a de- 30 HYDROZOA. spicable atom viewed alone, but when upon the beach these sands present themselves arrayed in their broad phalanx, where can we obtain a stronger bul- wark to oppose the raging storm ? CHAPTER V. HYDROZOA.* "!N the army of Xerxes there was a certain race called Sagartians. The mode of fighting practised by these men was this : When they engaged an enemy, they threw out a rope with a noose at the end ; whatever any one caught, either horse or man, he dragged towards himself, and those that were entangled in the coils he speedily put to death." HERODOTUS vii. 85. Never was there more truth than in the old saying, " there is nothing new under the sun." Who would have supposed, while reading of the strange feats performed by the Brazilian with his lasso, by the aid of which he literally takes the bull by the horns, or trips up the fleetest steed, that the same weapon was used ages ago to catch Greeks by the neck, instead of horses ; much less could we have imagined that an onslaught apparently so uncouth and barbarous was the mode of warfare of a very considerable proportion of the animal creation ; and yet, seriously speaking, this is the case, the only difference being that the lassos employed by mankind are clumsily made of twisted leather, whereas their prototypes present a delicacy and refinement of structure, which it requires the utmost penetration of the microscope to reveal. There is an animal easily obtainable in summer-time by simply scraping off the slimy surface from -the sticks or leaves that float on almost every pond, called * Hydra, the Hydra ; &ov, zoon, an animal. HYDKOZOA. The Hydra,* the history of which is so curious and important, as to demand our special notice. This little creature resembles a small portion of green transparent thread, fastened by one end to the stems of water-plants, while the other is fur- nished with several ra- diating filaments of ex- treme tenuity, which float freely in all directions ; should one of the nume- rous water-fleas, or any other minute animal, come in contact with these floating filaments, though it touch but the tip of one of them, it is at once arrested in its course, and in spite of all its struggles dragged to the central mouth, which opens to receive the helpless prey. The body of the Hydra consists simply of a little gelatinous bag, the mar- gins of which are fur- nished with filaments em- ployed as tentacles, whilst at the opposite end there is a little sucker where- by it fixes itself to foreign objects. The microscope reveals the substance of these creatures to be composed entirely of a transpa- rent glairy matter, in which granules of slightly greater opacity may be observed to float. Not- withstanding this simplicity of structure, however, * Hydra, a fabled monster that reproduced its heads as fast as they were cut off. FlG. 17. LONG-ARMED HYDRA. 32 HYDROZOA. they are able to move from place to place by fixing alternately the extremities of their body after the manner of a leech, and they are sensible to the presence of light, which they always approach. But their most wonderful attribute is that of being able indefinitely to reproduce any part of their body which may be cut off. If a Hydra be cut into pieces, each individual fragment, however small, will speedily become a perfect animal, in all respects like the original, the parts which were defective being pro- duced in their proper situation. If with fine scissors we slit one half-way down, the result will be a Hydra with two mouths, each surrounded by the usual number of tentacles ; if these be again and again and again divided, each division will become a new head, thus forming a realization of the fable of the Lernean FlG. 18. HTDRA VIVIDIS. Hydra. Every one of the tentacles of this newly- formed monster will capture food, and all the mouths will devour it. If two be cut across, and the fore- part of one be applied to the hind part of the other, HYDKOZOA. 33 the two parts will unite and form a perfect Polype without leaving a scar. They may even be turned inside out like a glove without injury, and in this state will remain, that which was the external surface now being the stomach. The ordinary mode of increase is by the young animals budding from the side of the adult, but previously to their separation, the offsets themselves often send out side-buds, so that several generations may sometimes be seen branching from one parent ; nineteen young of various ages have been seen thus connected, their numerous long tentacles twining about in inextricable confusion. To the earlier observers of the habits of the Hydrae, nothing could be more mysterious than their power of seizing and retaining active prey ; but this is now readily explained. The whole surface of their ten- tacula is densely provided with a set of organs that appear, under high powers of the microscope, to be minute oval vesicles, something like little soda-water bottles, in each of which is coiled up a long and delicate filament, not unaptly compared to the lasso used by Brazilian horsemen. The neck of each vesicle is furnished with three sharp spines, which, when the arms are prepared to seize the prey, become erect and prominent. The mode of action of these weapons is as simple as the result is efficacious. The " lasso-threads," with their viscid extremities, speedily involve the seized victim in their tenacious folds, and closely bind it against the spines with which the skin of the Hydra is studded ; these, probably, in their turn, become prehensile in- struments ; and, moreover, apparently form an appa- ratus of poison fangs of a very deadly character, for it is observable that an animal once seized by the Hydra, even should it escape from its clutches, almost immediately perishes. We have dwelt at some length upon the history of the Hydra, partly on account of the interest which attaches to an animal so simple in its apparent c 3 34 HYDROZOA. structure and yet so formidably armed, but more especially because it is the type of a large class of beautiful creatures, to which we must now beg the attention of the young naturalist. The Hydne, as we have seen, are capable of loco- motion, and wander about from place to place, but a vast majority of the animals most nearly allied to it in organization in their adult condition are fixed to some foreign object upon which they grow. The Club Hydrse (Coryne)* for example (Fig. 19), are always found growing upon the surface of some shell or stone, to which they seem rooted by the extremity of a FIG. 19. CORYNE: a &, magnified; c, natural size. horny tube in which they live. In these creatures the upper part of the body is dilated into a kind of club- shaped head, armed with tentacula, which, instead of being arranged in a single circle around the mouth, are distributed irregularly over the exterior in such a manner that, at first sight they seem as though they could be of * icopwr], korune, a club. HYDEOZOA. 35 little use in procuring food. On watching a living specimen, however, their efficiency is soon rendered manifest. No sooner does a passing animal impinge against one of these filaments than it is seized upon by the lasso-threads, with which they are armed, and held with mortal grasp. The mouth of the Coryne is not a simple orifice, but a protrusible and flexible proboscis, the extremity of which can be directed towards any tentacle whereunto the prey happens to be adherent, and thus the creature feeds itself exactly in the same manner as the hydra described above. The Tube Hydra (Tubularia)* constructed very much after the same plan as the preceding, resides in a slender horny tube re- sembling a straw full of mucilaginous pith, rooted on a solid substance be- low, and crowned by a living head, resembling a fine scarlet blossom with a double row of tentacula, and often with pendent clusters like grapes. Though perfect as a single stem, it is seldom found solitary, from ten to one hundred and fifty stalks are generally crowded together, and con- stitute a brilliant group, too gorgeously coloured to be effectively portrayed by art. The tallest specimens rise thirteen inches high, and are gene- rally found on dead shells. The heads, or Hydrce, are not retractile into the tube ; but, strange to say, are FIG. 2o.-ric.uRE OF TUBU- continually falling off, and are re- placed. Six have been seen to be thus reproduced, one after the other, in six months. Dwelling among the ravenous inhabitants of the deep, the delicate organs of these defenceless beings are thus subject to continual de- struction ; but what if they are mutilated, torn asunder, or divided? They again rise unhurt. Wounds or lacera- tions do not impair the vital principle, and thus abundance is secured the widow's cruse is constantly replenished. The Sea-wreaths (Sertularice)^ are known to every sea- side visitor. In these elegant productions the stem is * Tubulus, a little tube. t Sertula, a little ivreath. 36 HYDEOZOA. generally branched into innumerable arborescent forms, so plant-like in their aspect, that when gathered on the beach, they are not unfrequently confounded by our lady- friends, with sundry vegetable growths of kindred appear- ance, under the name of "sea- weeds;" and sometimes spread by fairy fingers, and laid out in tasteful groups, they seem themselves pathetically to join in the petition so often appended to them by their fair collectors, " O call us not weeds, but flowers of the sea !" Beautiful, however, as these " sea- weeds " are when thus embalmed, we, for our part, prefer to see them living in their native element, where they present a spectacle of matchless interest, viewed even with an ordinary micro- scope. When thus examined, they are found to be made up of branching tubes, along the sides of which are ranged in close array little cells or cups sometimes many thousands in number. Each cell contains a hungry hydra, with its arms spread out in search of food, ready to seize and drag into its mouth whatever offers in the way of aliment. These Polype-cells are variously disposed FlG. 21. FIGURE OF SERTULARIA OPERCULATA. in different species, but they all agree in being sessile, that is, closely sitting on the branchlet where they grow. Dispersed among these cells, at certain periods of the year, others are seen of different shape ; these are the seed-cups, one of which is represented in our figure. In HYDROZOA. 37 these elegant vases are formed the germs of their in- numerable progeny, which, when mature, swim forth like little bands of jelly (planulce} covered externally with countless \ cilia, enabling them to roam at large in the sur- jcniincfeg water, till they meet with a fit resting-place whereon to settle down, and found another colony as wonderful as that from which they sprung. Closely resembling the sea-wreaths so much so, indeed, that they might be easily be mistaken the one for the other are The Bell Corallines (Campanularia)* a specimen of which is represented in the appended figure (Fig. 22). There are, however, important dif- ferences between the two fami- lies, which it will be necessary to explain. In the Sertularians, as we pointed out, the Polype- cells are sessile, closely sitting on the stem. In the Campa- nularians every Polype-cup is raised on a small stalk or pedicle, so as to resemble very closely a little wine-glass, the horny stem being ringed at in- tervals, thus giving a certain flexibility to all the branchlets. The little vases, where the young are formed, are always found to sprout just from the angle where the Polype-cells join to the central stem, and are much larger and of different shape. The most important difference, however, is, that in this family the young, instead of being ciliated germs (pla- nulce), are active organisms, so unlike their parents, as to be quite unrecognisable as belonging to the same stock ; insomuch, indeed, that before describing them, it will be necessary to make the student acquainted with another series of beautiful creatures that await our notice. Acalephse.t The ocean in every climate swarms * Campanula, a little bell. f d/caA^rj, akalephe, a nettle. FlG. 22. FIGURE OF LAOMEDEA. 38 HYDROZOA. with infinite multitudes of animals, which, from their minuteness and transparency, are almost as imper- ceptible as the infusoria themselves. All, however, are not equally minute, some grow to a large size, and various forms of these are familiar to the inhabit- ants of every beach, upon which, when cast up by the waves, they lie, like masses of jelly, melting, as it were, in the sun, exhibiting but few traces of that elaborate structure, which more careful examination discovers them to possess. Their uncouth appear- ance has gained for them various appellations by which they are generally known, as Sea-jelly, Sea- UuHber, or Jelly-fishes; whilst, from disagreeable FlG. 23. SEA-BLUBBEB. sensations produced by handling most of them, they have been called Sea-nettles, Stingers, or Stangers. Their faculty of stinging is, indeed, the most promi- nent feature they exhibit, so that their names in almost all languages are derived from this circum- stance. They were known to the older naturalists by the title of Urticte Marinte, and the scientific appellation, whereby they are generally designated, is of similar import. The forms of these gelatinous creatures cannot well be distinguished when thus cast up by the waves ; but if we look over the side of a ship at anchor, or take an excursion in a boat, we shall see many floating freely in their own ele- ment, and displaying all the elegance and beauty of HYDROZOA. 39 their structure. The species most commonly met with assume the form of a mushroom, or umbrella- shaped disk, composed of transparent jelly. They move by alternately expanding and contracting their bodies, and swim with their upper surface directed forwards, while their fringes and tentacles follow behind, " like streamers long and gay." The Long-tailed Stinger (Cyanea* capillatd] of our seas is a most formidable creature, and the terror of tender-skinned bathers. With its broad, tawny, festooned and scalloped disk, often a full foot or even more across, it flaps its way through the yielding waters, and drags after it a long train of riband-like arms, and seemingly inter- minable tails, marking its course, when the body is far away from us. Once tangled m its trailing "hair/' the unfortunate, who has reck- lessly ventured across the monster's path, soon writhes in prickly torture. Every struggle but binds the poisonous threads more firmly round his body, and then there is no escape, for when the winder of the fatal net finds his course impeded by the terrified human wrestling in his coils, seeking no combat with the mightier biped, he casts loose his envenomed arms, and swims away. The amputated weapons, severed from their parent body, vent vengeance on the cause of their destruction, and sting as fiercely as if their original proprietor gave the word of attack. PROF. FORBES. The Tube-mouthed Sarsia (Sarsia\ tubulosa) ^Fig. 24), is a species of smaller dimensions, which, as it floats gracefully along, might be supposed, sylph-like, to live on light, and quaff the et.her, but is in reality by no means addicted to such scanty diet. A few of them being kept by Professor Forbes in a jar of salt water, in which were some small shrimps, de- voured these animals, so much more highly organized than themselves, vora- ciously, apparently enjoying the de- struction of the upper classes with a truly democratic relish. One of them even attacked, and commenced swal- lowing, a medusa, quite as good as itself. An animal that can pout out its mouth to twice the length of its body, and stretch its stomach to pro- portionate dimensions, must, indeed, be a triton among the minnows, * Kwbcos, kuaneos, dark. f Sars, a proper name. I j FlG. 24. FIGURE OF SARSIA. 40 HYDROZOA. and a very terrific one too. Yet is this ferocious creature one of the most delicate inhabitants of the ocean, and a very model of ten- derness and elegance. PROF. FOKBES. In many species, as in that represented in Fig. 25. the margin of the transparent disk is fringed with short and slender tentacles, each of which springs from a fleshy bulb, wherein is set a speck of deep purple colour, thought to be an eye, giving an ap- pearance as though the body was surrounded with a circlet of gems. On taking it into a dark room and striking the glass, every purple eye becomes lighted into a phosphoric flame, and again and again the crown of light may be made to flash forth, but less brilliantly than at first, until at length each tiny lamp, after sparkling for a moment, wanes, and all is dark again ; and at last it refuses to shine any more. These bell-shaped Acalephs are ex- ceedingly prolific. Their usual mode of increase, as will be explained further on, is by means of eggs, or cili- ated gemmules ; nevertheless, there are some of them which, like the Hydra, are propagated by offshoots FIG. 25. FIGURE OF that spring as buds from various parts of the body, with which they remain connected like branches issuing from a plant. " Fancy," says Pro- fessor Forbes, " an elephant with a number of little elephants sprouting from his shoulders, bunches of tusked monsters hanging, epaulette-fashion, from his flanks, in every stage of advancement. On his right shoulder, a youthful chuny, with head, trunk, toes, no legs, and a shapeless body ; on the left, an infant elephant, better grown, and struggling to get away, but as yet fast by the tail, and incapable of liberty and free action. The comparison may seem grotesque and absurd, but it really expresses what continually occurs among these Medusae.* It is true that the * The Acalephs are frequently called " Medusse," their stinging appendages being compared to the snakes on Medusa's head. HYDROZOA. 41 latter are minute ; but wonders are not the less wonderful for being packed in a small compass. A whale is not above a minnow for his mere bigness." It was, doubtless, a brave attempt of the adventurer who first dared to trust himself in a boat upon the sur- face of the ocean, neither is it difficult to imagine the trembling confidence with which he framed his rude bark, and hoisted the rough sail of mat or canvas to the favouring breeze, following the course of some great river, the Euphrates or the Tigris, till he reached the sea, vaunting himself upon his ingenuity ; and yet, to his astonishment, he must have found, dancing before him f on the sun-lit wave, a boat, far more beautiful than that he had contrived, with mast, and sail, and ballast, all complete. The Sallee-man (Veletta* scaphoidea\ as it is prettily named in Latin, consists of a transparent disk of purest jelly, supported by a delicate plate of firmer texture, lodged in its interior; upon its upper surface there is raised a mast, a thin, broad film of cartilage, 011 which is spread a sail, worthy to waft along a fairy queen ; while Fl*. 26 VELELLA. from beneath hang polype-like appendages that fish for food. To perfect so beautiful a contrivance, in Rataria, a kindred species, the crest, is found to contain fibrous threads, apparently of a muscular nature, by the contractions of which the sail can be lowered or elevated at the pleasure of the little mariner. Perhaps there are few animals more beautiful than The Globe Beroe (Cy dipped P ileus) (Fig. 27) ; if placed in a glass of clear sea- water, it looks like a sphere of the purest ice, from which can be protruded two long tentacles, each of which is furnished along one side with a series of spirally-twisting filaments. Stretching from * Velella, a little sail ; scaphoidea, like a boat. t Cydippe, the name of a goddess. 42 HYDEOZOA. pole to pole of this translucent little orb, like lines of longitude upon a globe, and placed at equal distances, are eight broad bands of more consistence than the other portion of the body. On each of these FIG . 27. CYDIPPE. bands are placed thirty or forty paddles, exactly comparable in their shape to the floats upon the paddle-wheels of a steamboat ; and in like manner by means of these the little creature rows itself along. Man to move his wheels must have much cumbersome machinery the furnace, and the boiler, and the herculean arm, that makes the enginery revolve. Nature wants none of these encumbrances ; her paddles are themselves alive, and move at will with such degree of force as may be needed, either at once or singly, or in groups, work- ing with mutual consent in any way required. Thus do they all row equally ; the little Beroe shoots meteor-like along, or if a few relax their energy, wheels round in broad gyrations, or revolves upon its axis with inimitable ease and grace. Neither are nature's steamboats left without the means of anchoring. Whoever has been on board one of our sea- going leviathans must have been sur- prised to see the massive anchors and the tons of rope or iron cable coiled up in the hold, the labouring capstan and the mighty gear required to run them out or heave them up. With all this cumbrous load nature dispenses. The Beroe, when it chooses, can put forth from one end of its body what appear like filaments of molten glass, which, as we watch them, lengthen, as it were by magic, and from their sides unfold transparent tendrils, like the tendrils of a HYDROZOA. 43 vine, which twining round some foreign object, hold the little bark secure. When no longer wanted, shrinking back into itself, this apparatus vanishes from view, leaving no trace of its existence. Minuter forms of these Beroes throng the icy seas in cpuntless myriads, and their abundance and ex- ceeding beauty have attracted the attention of all northern voyagers. Great shoals of them are there met with, discolouring the water for a vast extent. Scoresby observed, that the colour of the Green- land sea varies from ultramarine blue to olive green, and from the purest transparency to striking opacity, appearances, which are not transitory but permanent. The green semi-opaque water mainly owes its singu- lar aspect to minute Beroes and Infusorial animal- cules. It is calculated to form one-fourth part of the Greenland seas, between the parallels 74 and 80. It is liable to alterations in its position, from the action of currents, but it is always renewed near certain situations from year to year. The whales FlG. 28. -FOOD OF THK WHALE: , Limacina helicina ; 2, 3, 4, Medusa-, 5, Clio 'b&realis. throng in this opaque water, for to them it is a good wholesome soup, nourishing enough, as may be judged from the following curious calculation : " The number of Medusae," writes Mr. Scoresby, " in the olive green water was found to be immense. They were about one-fourth of an inch asunder. In this proportion a cubic inch of water must contain 64 ; 44 HYDROZOA. a cubic foot, 110,592 ; a cubic fathom, 23,887,872, and a cubical mile about 23,888,000,000,000,000! From soundings made in the situation where these animals were found, it is probable that the sea is upwards of a mile in depth ; but whether these substances occupy the whole depth is uncertain. Provided, however, the depth to which they extend be but two hundred and fifty fathoms, the above immense number of one species may occur in a space two miles square. It may give a better conception of the amount of Medusae in this extent, if we calcu- late the length of time that would be requisite with a certain number of persons for counting this num- ber. Allowing that one person could count a million in seven days, which is barely possible, it would have required that eighty thousand persons should have started at the creation of the world to complete the enumeration at the present time." The Medusas in question were Beroes, called " Fountain-fishes " by the earlier voyagers to Spitz- bergen, who, mistaking the cause of the eight bands of iridescence gleaming along the sides of their bodies, fancied they were so many rivulets of lustrous water. In a third form of these beautiful creatures, hence denominated Hydrostatic Acalephse, the animal is supported in the water by a very peculiar organ, or set of organs, consist- ing of one or more bladders filled with air, which are appended to the body in various positions, so as to act as floats of sufficient buoyancy to sustain the creature upon the surface of the sea. ' The Physalia* (Fig. 29), known to sailors by the name of the Portuguese man-of-war, has this swimming apparatus single and of great proportionate size, so that when full of air it is exceedingly buoyant, and floats conspicuously upon the waves. It closely re- sembles, when seen from the deck of a vessel, a child's mimic ship with its sails set; and excites the wonder of those who behold it, to see so delicate and frail a bark breasting the billows, as it seems that the first breaking sea must inevitably overwhelm and dash it to pieces. Yet there it floats, and dances now on the curling s, phusalis, a bladder. HYDEOZOA. 45 crest, now in the deep hollow, in spite of wind and wave. Often while passing just under the lee of the vessel, the sudden lull made by the interposition of so great a body between it and the wind, will cause it for a moment to lie flat on the water ; but it instantly resumes its upright position. When examined closely, the animal is seen to con- sist of an oblong transparent bladder, surmounted by a kind of crumpled crest of a delicate pink colour. From one end of the bottom of this bladder proceeds a large bunch of appendages of various shapes, which trail in the surrounding water. These hanging tentacles are of a very beautiful colour, and possess the power of stinging in a formidable degree. MB. GOSSE. The long cables, or tentacula, can be thrown out to a great dis- tance, to twelve or even eighteen feet, and by the aid of these the Physalise are able to capture any small fishes that may come in their reach ; and which, by the wonder- ful retractile power of these appen- dages, are speedily conveyed to the short suckers or mouths, whereby the prey is devoured. On placing FIG. 29.-PHTSALIS. the physalia ^ a tub of watef wit g some little fishes, they were immediately entangled in its grasp, and the tubes were soon seen to be filled with portions of the fish sucked into their interior It is a very interesting sight to watch one of these animals thus placed in a large tub of water, sometimes coiling up its tentacles to within half an inch of their bladder-like support, and then darting them out with surprising velocity to the distance of several feet, entwining and benumbing their prey, and then dragging it towards their polype-like mouths. DK. BENNETT. And now, reverting to the animals described in the few last pages, so diverse in their forms, and in their attributes, the reader perhaps begins to wonder what relationship exists among them that they should thus be classified as members of the same great family ; and this we must next proceed to explain. Any one who will examine, with a little industry, the surface of the stones, or shells, or rocks, upon the shore, just at the lowest point of the ebb-tide, will probably observe, clinging to their surface, numerous 46 HYDROZOA MEDUSIPAKOUS BEPKODUCTION. delicate white tufts or tassels, every one of which, examined closely, is found to be a hydra, scarcely different in its form or habits from that we have de- scribed in a preceding page. This marine hydra has received the name of Hydra tuba : it quite equals in voracity its fresh- water namesake, is equally formidable in its arma- ture of lasso-threads, and is ordinarily multiplied in the same manner by buds or gemma3 that sprout from its surface : at certain seasons, however, the body of the Hydra tuba becomes considerably elongated, and divided by constrictions into numerous seg- ments, resembling a pile of saucers placed one within the other. Shortly, from the margin of each saucer, tentacles are seen to sprout, not resembling those of the hydra, but those of the medusae, and FlG. 30. FIGURE OP TURKIS AND ITS YOUNG. after a little while these saucers, detaching them- selves successively from the top of the pile, swim away completely formed and active AcalephaB (Fig. 30). The Campulanarian Zoophytes (Fig. 22), as we have explained, produce their young in elegant transparent vases, which sprout from the bases of their Polype-bearing branchlets, yet when these vases open they send forth, not ciliated embryos, as is the case with the Sertularian Polypes (Fig. 21), but ANTHOZOA ZOOPHYTES. 47 Acalephs, that swim about like little parachutes, cast out by thousands into the surrounding water. On the other hand, the young of the medusae are found, in the first stage of their existence, exactly to resemble hydriforrn Polypes, proving at least the existence of a relationship among them, although its extent is as yet very imperfectly understood. CHAPTER VI. ANTHOZOA* (Corals). IF earth can boast its gardens and parterres, so can the bottom of the sea ; nor do the flowers of ocean yield one jot either in the elegance of their forms, or the brilliancy of their colouring, to the blossoms that adorn the realms of Flora. The corallines that we have hitherto considered, constitute, as it were, but the mosses and the lichens of the coral landscape : we must now turn our attention to the larger plants and shrubs. The Zoophytes,! that next present themselves to our consideration, imitate nearly every variety of terrestrial vegetation. Trees of coral exist, which, though they do not equal in size the oaks of our forests, are gracefully branched, and their whole surface blooms with coral-polypes in the place of leaves and flowers. Our shrubs, our rose- trees, beds of pinks and feathery ferns are all re- flected, as it were, in mimic beauty. Some species spread themselves into broad leaves, studded with Polype flowers. The gorgeous blossoms of the cactus, the full-blown sun-flower, and the wreathing vine, have each their living representatives. Besides these forms, imitating vegetation, the shapes of graceful * &/0os, anthos, a flower ; fwoj/, zoon, an animal, so called from their resemblance to flowers. f &ov, zoon, an animal ; tyvrdv, phutpn, a plant /thus named by the older naturalists from their plant-like appearance. 48 ANTHOZOA. vases rear themselves amid the fairy scene, festooned with coral branchlets, and there are solid hemispheres resembling domes bedecked with Polype stars of purple and of emerald green, huge fans expand on every side, and Madrepores are crowded round in turfy clumps to variegate the prospect. Words, FlQ. 31. MADREPOBES. however extravagant they may appear, can convey no exaggerated impression of such a scene, for fancy's work could never be more strangely beautiful. It is not, however, in their luxuriance of growth that we must introduce the Anthozoa to the contemplation of the student ; we must select a few among the mul- titude for special study. The Alcyons (Alcyonium). Every stroller upon the beach must frequently have found, cast up by tlie retiring waves, rude shapeless lumps of leathery consistence, known by the vulgar as Cow's paps or Dead man's fingers, names which, however characteristic, are by no means calculated to invite attention, Nevertheless, on placing one of these misshapen masses in a jar of clear sea-water, it will soon present a spectacle that must command our ANTHOZOA. 49 admiration. Slowly the unsightly fabric swells, as though by imbibing the water in which it is immersed, and as it dilates to a larger and still larger size, assumes a transparency that it did not possess before. When fully expanded, little pits or cells appear upon its surface, and from each of these there issues forth a living flower, for FlG. 32. ALCYON. such it seems, which gradually expanding till it has at- tained its full development, begins to fish for prey in the surrounding water by means of the petal-like tentacles placed around its mouth. The food thus obtained, having been conveyed into the stomach of the Polype that caught it, and digested there, is absorbed into the 50 ANTHOZOA. general mass of the Alcyon, which in this way derives its nourishment from the numerous sources of supply dis- tributed over its surface. FlG. 33. FIGURE OF POLYPES OF ALCYOX. The Polypes that are thus protruded will be found, on examination, to differ very materially in their structure from the Hydras described in the preceding chapter. In the Anthozoa the Polypes, when expanded, are found to have eight hollow tentacles, the margins of which are fringed by a triple row of minute fleshy papillae. These tentacles surround a central orifice, which is the mouth. Internally, we may perceive that each Polype is furnished with a distinct stomach, suspended in the centre of its body, not simply excavated in the gelatinous substance. The space between this stomach and the walls of the Polype is divided into compartments by membranous partitions, whereby the stomach is sus- pended and retained in its position. These differences of structure, which are sufficiently evident, at once enable us to distinguish the Hydrozoa from the Anthozoic Zoophytes. Madrepores. It is evident that the Alcyons de- scribed above must necessarily be of very limited dimensions, else from the general softness of their bodies, they would be overwhelmed by their own weight. If, therefore, animals of similar organization ANTHOZOA. 51 are required constructed upon a larger scale, it be- comes needful that the whole fabric should be sup- ported upon some internal framework or scaffolding, of a nature sufficiently firm and unyielding to sus- tain the general body, and thus allow full room for the expansion of the flower-like Polypes. In a vast majority of instances, therefore, the common sub- stance of these creatures has the power of depositing earthy particles derived from the surrounding water, wherewith it builds a massive skeleton, presenting upon its surface innumerable little pits or cells wherein the Polypes lodge. Such are The Madrepores, whose skeletons form the ornaments of our cabinets, and of which a small fragment is deline- ated in the accompanying engraving (Fig. 34). FlG. 34. MADREPOBE. Many of these stony masses form branching clusters of exceeding elegance, nor is our admiration at all abated when we institute a closer examination of their structure. Take any one of all the million cells which crowd its surface, each tiny orifice in which each individual Polype of the countless host resides is in itself a microscopic gem, matchless for the regularity and beauty of its ar- rangement, and the mathematical precision with which it D 2 52 ANTHOZOA. is built (Fig. 35). During the life of the Madrepore, every one of these minute cells gave issue or concealment FlG. 35. ORIFICE OF MADREPORE. to a radiant Polype, which, like a living flower, protruded its eight arms in search of food. In the hot climates where these stone-making corals abound, they frequent shallow bays and sheltered spots, where they can enjoy the full influences of light and are unexposed to the agitation of the ocean : in such situa- tions the submarine rocks become gradually incrusted with their calcareous skeletons, and if left undisturbed, in the lapse of years successive generations deposit such large quantities of calcareous matter as to form beds of considerable thickness. In the formation of their massive skeletons, it must be remembered that life and death constantly keep pace with each other. The living mass, whilst growing at the top, is with concurrent progress perishing beneath, leaving the imperishable stone a still accumulating mound. With such a mode of increase, there is no necessary limit to the growth of these zoophytes. The rising mass may expand upwards, until it nears the surface of the sea, when death ensues simply from exposure, and not from any failure in its powers of life ; still growing round the margin of the rock itself has formed, it spreads on every " side. Old ocean raves to see a whole domain thus res- cued from his grasp, and piles upon the nascent island mud and weeds, which soon produce a vegetable soil; seeds brought by birds, and cocoa-palms take root upon the new-born surface, soon thick groves appear, inviting human occupation, and man comes at last to take posses- sion of a territory reared by the unaided efforts of these humble creatures. ANTHOZOA. 53 Could we raise one of these islands from the sea, we should find the coral reefs surrounding it like magnificent piles of artificial masonry resembling ramparts, perhaps, a hundred miles or more in circuit. Mr. Darwin has estimated the reefs of the Gambier group at their outer limits to be two thousand feet in thickness. Some of the coral beds in the Pacific Ocean have a length of twelve hundred and a breadth of three hundred and fifty or four hundred miles, while another on the Australian coast is at least twelve hundred miles long. Thus, therefore, at the bottom of the sea we find materials plentiful enough wherewith to build, not islands only, but whole continents, which only want upheaving to the sur- face to become the abode of Man ; and there is an agency at hand whereby they can be raised. He who has climbed Vesuvius, or scaled the lofty sides of thundering Etna, has had proof enough that there is fire beneath the ground he treads upon ; and that this fire is widely spread, a single glance at any map will testify. Through Europe, Asia, and the mighty chain, '* Where Andes, giant of the western star, With meteor standard to the winds unfurl'd, Looks from his throne of clouds o'er half the world," each mountain tells us of volcanic power imprisoned deep beneath its basis. Suppose, for a moment, that through some wide rent the ocean found its way into this fiery gulph, and the imprisoned steam, pro- duced by such a dread catastrophe, putting its Titan shoulders to the roof, heaved up the bottom of the sea, with all its coral load ; mountains huge would raise " Their broad, bare backs into the sky," from which new rivers would descend to fertilize another region of the globe. The Corals (Corallium)* properly so-called (Fig. 36), have their central axis, which supports the external living flesh, solid, without cells for the lodgment of the Polypes, * Corallum, coral. ANTHOZOA. and variously branched. As a well-known example of this tribe of zoophytes, we may select for description the common red coral (Comllium rubrum), a branch of which is represented in our figure. The red coral is principally FlG. 36. RED CORAL. obtained from the Mediterranean: when growing at the bottom of the sea, it consists of short branched stems in- crusted with the living flesh, whereby the central axis is produced, and which at intervals is studded with the flower-like mouths that give it nourishment. The central stem or " polypary," as the stony axis is called, is of extreme hardness, and susceptible of a high polish, to which circumstance, together with its brilliant crimson hue, the estimation in which it is held is principally owing. The fishery for coral is carried on in boat 3, Each boat contains at least three men, who are provided with a massive wooden cross, to whose equal arms are attached strong hempen nets. A large stone placed upon the centre of the apparatus sinks it to the bottom, fre- quently to the depth of two hundred or three hundred feet. While one of the fishermen is employed in alter- nately raising and letting fall the machine, bumping the ground to break the coral stems, the others row the boat, so as to sweep over a certain space. After a time the ANTHOZOA, 55 whole is drawn up, and the fragments of coral which have been retained by the meshes of the net, are carefully removed. The Mare' s-tail Coral (Isis* Hippuris). The short and stunted trunks of the red coral, which in their shape resemble little oaks, although composed of brittle substances, are strong enough to resist the violence of the tempest ; but in the taller and more slender forms, such brittleness would render them quite unfit to occupy the situations in which they grow, and they would be continually liable to be broken by the agitation of the sea, if, by a beautiful modifica- tion in the construction of their central stem, they had not been adapted to the circumstances of their position. In the Isis Hippuris, therefore (Fig. 37), the central axis is constructed with alternate FIG. 37. isis. joints of stony and of ^orny substance ; so that, being thus made flexible, they bend before the passing waves, and thus remain secure from otherwise inevitable destruction. The Bark-bearing Corals (Gorgoniae)^ in their length and slender form resemble osiers, or, as in the case of the Gorgonia flabdlum (Fig. 38, i), are spread out into large flat expansions that are called sea-fans. These zoophytes * Isis, a goddess ; ITTTTOS, hippos, a horse ; ovpa, oura, a tail (Mare's- tail, a plant). t Gorgon, a mythological name. 56 ANTHOZOA. have their framework entirely composed of Horny sub- stance, which is black, and coated with flesh of a bright yellow colour, or sometimes purple. From the ramifi- cations being very numerous and uniting with each other at short intervals, this species is a very beautiful one ; and when bespangled with its living flowers, presents a charming spectacle. The Sea-pens (Pennatulce)* (Fig. 38, 2) constitute a very remarkable family, specimens of which are frequently brought up in the nets of fishermen upon our own coasts, The species represented in our engraving (Pennatula phosphorea) very closely resembles a broad feather from two to four inches in length, and of a purplish colour, the lower part, which represents the barrel of the quill, is tipped with orange. Above this the stem is fringed on each side with flat appendages that represent the plume, along the upper edge of which are placed the cells wherein the Polypes lodge. Some authors have affirmed that the Sea-pen swims freely in the sea; but modern observation tends to throw discredit on this statement, FlG. 38. 1. SEA-FAN. 2. SEA-PEN. It is usually found with its stem inserted into the mud ai the bottom, and those that have been kept for observation * Pennatula, a little feather. ANTHOZOA. 57 have never exhibited any capability of locomotion. Some species, when disturbed, become highly luminous, inso- much, that the statement of Linnaeus, that the "phos- phorescent Sea-pens cover the bottom of the sea, and there cast so strong a light that it is easy to count the fishes and worms sporting among them," is by no means devoid of foundation. Hitherto we have seen the solid part either stony or horny, called the skeleton or polypidom, deposited within the living flesh, but there are some species of Anthozoa in which it forms a protecting sheath to the bodies of the Polypes which are lodged in its interior. The elegant aggregation of tubes called The Organ-pipe Coral (TuMpora* Musica) is an example of such a structure (Fig. 39). It consists of small cylindrical tubes of a rich crimson hue, placed nearly parallel, but at a short distance apart, and united at regular distances by successive stages of hori- zontal plates, that divide the series into ranges, or stories, like the FIG. 39. OUGAN-PIPE CORAL. different floors of a house supported by many pillars. From the inouth of each tube, in the living state, protrude the eight tentacles of a starry Polype of a brilliant green colour, forming a striking contrast with the crimson polypidom. Actiniae.")' In the succeeding group of Polypes, while the general form and structure of the Anthozoa are pre- served, we find an organization much more complex than * Tubus, a tube ; porus, a pore. f aKrlv, aktin, a ray. D 3 58 ANTHOZOA. we have yet encountered. In the Actinice the tentacles are very numerous, and ranged in several circles round the mouth. When expanded, being often of gay colours, they so much resemble composite flowers, such as the daisy, the marigold, and others, as to have obtained their names for different species, and the term " animal flowers " for the entire group. When expanded and viewed in profile, the form of an Actinia is that of a short, broad, cylinder, with the tentacles radiating from the upper margin (Fig. 40), the base being somewhat dilated. But when the absence of light or water, or any other cause, induces them to repose, the tentacles contract, and the upper part of the body, by a partial inversion, closes over them, leaving no trace of the place where they disappeared except a wrinkled depression in the centre. In this con- dition their shape is, more or less, that of a bell, as may be seen in the next figure (Fig. 40). When still more firmly closed, the creature looks like nothing but a rounded lump of fleshy substance, plastered on the rock (Fig. 41, 2) ; but as the animal again expands, the central opening at the top gradually widens, the margin slowly rolls back, and the tentacles it concealed begin to show their tips. As the expansion goes on, the FIG. 40. FIGUBE OF ACTINIA. tentacles continue to enlarge, and the margin to spread outwards, until, finally, the disk with the mouth in the centre is fully displayed, and the tentacles, like petals, fringe it round. In the species delineated in the next figure, Actinia gemmacea, there is an instinct displayed of a very admirable character. Such ANTHOZOA. 59 individuals as have taken up their residence on the half-submerged rocks, where the daily recess of the tide exposes them to observa- tion, are covered with rough warts, and blotched with dusky brown, and dull orange ; and still further to insure their concealment, cover themselves with fragments of shells, seaweed, and gravel, which adhere to their skin so strongly as not to be washed oif ; and being thus veiled, the animals are quite concealed from observation. On the other hand, those species which inhabit deep water, as if aware that the necessity for concealment no longer existed, use. no such precaution : their skins are smooth and naked, and adorned with the vivid tints which make the species so beautiful. These Actinise are easily procured, and may be kept alive in sea water for a long time without difficulty : in a glass vessel their beauty is displayed to advantage. They are capable of very long fasts, although suffi- ciently voracious when food is to be obtained. Although the Actiniae are usually fixed to the bottom by their broadly-expanded bases, many of them can detach themselves, and float through the water to a new resting-place ; or they will slide along slowly over the rocks, by the action of their base or foot, and some are said to turn themselves over and walk upon the extremities of their tentacles. There is, indeed, a small group of Actiniae (Actineta) fitted expressly for an ocean life, by means of an air-cavity in the base containing a vesicular or spongy disk made up of air-cells, which serves as a float. Thus provided, the animal lies on the water with its base uppermost and its mouth and tentacles below the surface, and in this position it is carried about by winds and currents. The tentacles of the Actiniae are not always simple tubes: in the A. aleyonoides, represented on the left hand of our engraving (Fig. 41, i), they are of a very complex character, and are provided near their tips and at their sides with minute suckers, with which they are enabled to grasp their pr.ey. In common with the Hydrozoa the Actiniae are furnished with an armature of oblong, transparent vesicles, which have the power of shooting out a long thread-like lasso of excessive tenuity. These abound on the tentacles ; but there are also certain special organs upon which they are crowded to an extra- ordinary degree, and which seem to be simply 60 ANTHOZOA. magazines of these weapons. Certain species of Actinia have the faculty of shooting forth from orifices scattered over the surface of the body, slender white filaments in great profusion, coiled up so as to resemble tangles of sewing cotton. The slightest touch is sometimes sufficient to make these filaments shoot forth from various points with great force and rapidity. They have a strongly-adhesive power, which is dependent upon a very wonderful me- chanism. On being examined with a microscope, FIG. 41. AKIUAL FLOWERS j l. Actinia Alcyoncides; 2, A. Gemmacea. the entire surface of the tentacula and the cotton- like threads are seen to be densely crowded with transparent oval vesicles, in each of which is coiled up a delicate filament, often thirty or forty times longer than the capsule which contains it, and more- over this lasso-thread is variously armed with sharp barbed spines of inconceivable minuteness, but formid- ably effective for their purpose. On the slightest irri- tation, the spiral-thread bursts forth and entwines the victim in its spiny folds, which seem to be armed ANTHOZOA. 61 with some potent venom, as a small animal once seized by them dies, even should it escape from their tenacious grasp. The Actiniae, like the Hydra, seem to defy the effects of mutilation ; they may be cut in two perpen- dicularly or across, and each cutting will soon fur- nish forth the wanting parts, and present itself in all respects well and hearty. Mr. GOSSE. In some species, when a large individual has been a good while adherent to one spot, and at length chooses to change its quarters, it does so by causing its base to move slowly along the surface on which it rests. Put it frequently happens that small irregular fragments of the edge of the base are left behind, as if their adhesion had been so strong that the animal found it easier to tear its own tissues apart than to overcome it. The fragments so left soon contract, become smooth and spherical, or oval in outline ; and in the course of a week or a fortnight, may be seen each furnished with a margin of ten- tacles, and a disk, transformed in fact into perfect though small Actiniae. Occasionally a separated piece, more irregularly jagged than usual, will, in contracting, form two smaller fragments, each of which becomes a separate animal. Dr. T. Strethill Wright cut off a minute piece of the base of a Sea Anemone; the part immediately receded from the parent, and in three weeks became a perfect Actinia ; he then cut pieces from these with the same result, and ultimately got fourteen from the orginal one. The ordinary mode of reproduction in these zoophytes is by minute germs or ova, which are to be found suspended in dense clusters in the interior of the animal ; these escape into the creature's stomach, and are discharged into the sea through the mouth. Some of the Actiniae are exceedingly prolific, pro- ducing from 150 to 300 young in a single day. The characteristic form and markings of the parent are distinctly recognisable in the newly-born progeny, the principal distinction, besides the difference of 62 ANTHOZOA. size, being the fewness of the tentacles, which at first are only about twelve in number. The Mushroom Corals (Fungice)* are so called on ac- count of a striking resemblance between the arrangement of the stony laminae upon the upper surface of their frame- work and the gills of a mushroom (Fig. 42). This, however, is but the skeleton, and though it is a very pretty object, those who are acquainted with it alone can form from it but a very poor idea of the living animal. When removed from its native element, the violence at first causes the soft living flesh to contract so forcibly that scarcely any difference is perceptible between it and the dry skeleton, nor is any alteration at once manifest on putting it into salt water. But let it recover its confidence, its equanimity, then a pellucid gelatinous flesh will be seen emerging from between the plates, from which arise exquisitely formed and coloured tentacles fringing the surface, across which stretches the mouth, resembling a slit with white plaited lips, like the orifice of a cowrie shell. FlG. 42. FUNGIAo * Fungus, a mushroom. 63 CHAPTER VII. ECHINODEEMATA.* IT is beautiful to observe by what gentle steps the student of Nature is able to ascend, from the con- templation of one form of animal life to another more elevated in the scale of creation. We have learned, in the preceding chapter, that many tribes of the Polypes secrete calcareous matter in large quan- tities, and thus construct for themselves a solid framework, which sustains the living mass. Let us, for a moment, suppose a Polype supported upon a long stem, capable of strengthening its pedicle, its body, the tentacula around its mouth, and all the appendages belonging to the animal, with solid pieces of definite form, such pieces being connected together by the soft parts and surrounded on all sides with living flesh, would thus form an internal skeleton, giving strength and support to the entire fabric, and at the same time allowing it to bend in every direc- tion. A Polype so constituted would, when dried, present an appearance resembling that depicted in the annexed figure (Fig. 44, 7). The creature repre- sented, however, is not a Polype, but an Encrinite,f one of the lowest of the class of Star- fishes. In its habits of life an Encrinite, thus con- structed, closely resembles the more highly-organized Anthozoa. Fixed by its jointed stem upon the sur- face of the rock, it curves its pedicle from side to side in search of food, which with its flower-like arms, it seizes and conveys into its mouth. These Encrinites are, in modern times, the scarcest pro- ductions of the ocean. A species similar to that in our engraving exists in the West Indian seas ; and * ^XLVOS, echinos, a hedgehog ; Sep^a, derma, skin. f V, en, in ; Kpivov, krinon, a lily. ECHINODEKMATA. not many years ago, the interesting discovery was made of another species upon our own coasts; this, however, is of very small size, not exceeding three- quarters of an inch in length with these rare ex- FlG. 43. FOSSIL. LILY STONES. ceptions, the race of Encrinites appears to be ex- tinct. Yet the time has been when the bottom of the sea must have been as thickly covered with ECHINODERMATA. 65 creatures of this description as a corn-field is with corn. Many large kinds are found in a fossil state in our chalk and limestone rocks, and vast strata of marble, extending over large tracts of country in Northern Europe and in North America, are entirely made up of their petrified skeletons. u Man applies it to construct his palace and adorn his sepulchre; but there are few who know, and fewer still who appreciate, the surprising fact that much of this marble is composed of millions of the skeletons of organized beings, once endowed with life, and susceptible of enjoyment, which after performing the part that was for a while assigned to them in living Nature, have contributed their remains towards the composition of the mountain masses of the earth." DR. BUCKLAND. The numerous pieces of which their stems were formed are met with in abundance in the north of England, where they are popularly known as St. Cuthbert's beads, while their polype-like heads have been regarded as petrified flowers, and designated " Lily stones " (Fig. 43). The origin of these beau- tiful fossils, formerly so mysterious, is thus easily explained. The Feather-star (Comatula)* (Fig. 44, e), common upon our coast, is but an Encrinite without a stem, and thus enabled to move freely at the bottom of the sea. The central box which contains the stomach is furnished with a mouth, around which radiate the arms, fringed with a double row of jointed filaments ; by means of these the Feather-star can creep upon the sand, or twining them around the stems of sea-weeds or corals, it can climb in search of food, or by the undulations of its feathery filaments, row itself from place to place through the water, with a graceful gliding motion. The Sea-baskets (GorgonocepJialus)^ (Fig. 44, 5). In these elaborately- constructed creatures, the shell of the living animal is entirely covered with a thick fleshy crust. From the circumference of the disk proceed five strong rays, * Comatus, having hair. t ropyw, Gorgon, Medusa ; /cedxxA^, kephale, the head. 66 ECHINODEKMATA. which subdividing again and again, always by binary divi- sion, soon become multiplied into living ropes, spread out all around the body ; and being made up of an immense number of jointed pieces, they are as flexible as whip-cord, and as manageable as the legs of a spider. Each of these innumerable cords is, in the living animal, terminated by a FlG. 44. -ECHINODERMATA. minute yellowish fleshy ball, something resembling a little foot, so that the whole creature, as it walks along, appears like a conglomeration of serpents, strangely linked together, whence it has, not inappropriately received its mytholo- gical name of Gorgonocephalus, or Medusa's Head. These Star-fishes inhabit the deep parts of the sea, and seem principally to frequent coral-beds and localities where marine plants are abundant, around which they wind their arms, and thus crawl about in search of sustenance. The intertwined assemblage of their living tendrils forms a sort of net, in which small animals are entangled and dragged towards the mouth. "This elaborate piece of Nature," says its first describer, "has its body resembling an Echinus, or Egg-fish, the main branches a star, and the dividing of the branches, the plant misseltoe. It spreads itself from a pentagonal root into five main limbs or ECHIKODEKMATA. 67 branches, each of which, just at the issuing out from the body, divides itself into two, and each of the ten branches thus formed, does again divide into two parts, making twenty lesser branches, and each of these doth again divide, making in all forty. These again divide into eighty, and these into 160, and they again into 320. The division is again repeated, making 640, afterwards 1,280, 5,120, 10,240, 20,480, 40,960, and at the fourteenth division^ beyond which the farther expansion could not be distinctly traced, there were 81,920 small tendrils or threads in which the branches of this Star-fish terminate." We next arrive at a group called Snake-tailed Star-fishes (Of&itiridae),* one of which is represented at Fig. 44, 4. The rays are no longer divided into branches, but are, nevertheless, curiously constructed, and being twisted about with great activity when the creature is disturbed, look not a little like the tails of serpents whence the name given to this family. A very interesting circumstance in the economy of these animals is their extreme brittleness, whence they have merited the name of "Brittle-Stars" On the least FlG. 45. BRITTLE STAR. alarm or excitement, the creature throws off one or per- haps all its rays, and breaks them into fragments. This * oy Aristotle. ECHIXODERMATA. 7 nevertheless, their relationship to the Urchins and Sta fishes is manifestly shown, by their apparatus of locom tive suckers, which are of precisely the same structure i those of the Echinus. As if, however, also to manife an affinity with the Polype forms, there still exists in tl Holothuria a circle of branched tentacles, which surrour Fro. 50. HOLOTHURIA:. the mouth. These are capable of being withdrawn im the body, but are commonly protruded in expectation < prey, which is seized and dragged to the mouth by thei appendages. They greatly resemble in appearance tl tentacles of some of the Acfinia\ especially when tl Holothuria has buried its whole body in the mud or sam with the exception of these branched tentacles, whic expand like the petals of a flower. A species named The Cotton-Spinner (HoloUwria Xigra\ sometimes called tl "Nigger," is very common in deep water, off the coast of Cornwal it is held by the fishermen in great detestation, on account of i Biimy appearance, and from an idea that where the "Niggers" a numerous, and get into the Crab-pots, neither crabs nor lobsters a caught. These animals are frequently near a foot in length, ai thick in proportion. They sometimes draw themselves up into kind of ball and if touched or disturbed, throw out a bunch white taper thivads of givat tenacity, that stick to everything th( touch, and no doubt constitute a means of defence. The Siphon-worms (SipuHculu*)* (Fig. 51) have alengtl ened and slender body, and all the aspect of worms, wit * Sipunculus, from an^ov, a tube. 74 ENTOZOA. the exception of the circle of tentacles around their mouths, by which they indicate their lingering affinity to the Echinoderms. They have no suckers or feet, and many species are marked by wrinkles encircling their body, causing them to resemble earth-worms in their appearance as well as in their habits. Most of them bore deep holes in the sand, wherein they lodge. Others conceal themselves in the crevices of rocks ; and there is one species, Sipunculus Bernhardus, represented in our engraving (Fig. 51), which selects the shell of some periwinkle or whelk for its abode. FlG. 51. HERMIT SIPUNCULUS. CHAPTER VIII. ENTOZOA* (Parasitic Worms). LAVISHLY as we have already found the world to be filled with the lower forms of animated beings, our astonishment will be by no means lessened, when we learn that innumerable creatures have been ordained to lead a parasitic life, and to procure their nourish- ment from the superabundant juices of other animals; neither is this race of parasites by any means deficient in numerical importance, or con- structed with less careful adaptation to the situation in which they are destined to reside ; they present, however, little to invite our attention, and the details * vr6s, entos, within ; (MOV, zoon, an animal. ENTOZOA. 75 known concerning their general economy are, as yet, extremely few and unsatisfactory. One of the most common is The Hydatid (Cysticercus), which not unfrequently infests the flesh of pigs, causing that diseased condition which is known as measly pork. Its body consists of a globose transparent bag, with a slender neck, terminated by a remarkable prehensile apparatus consisting of a double row of recurved spines and four adhesive suckers represented upon an enlarged scale upon the right-hand FlG. 52. FIGUEE OF CTSTICEKEN. side of the figure. These simply-constructed animals, formerly re- garded as a distinct species, have been proved by recent experiments to be but an incomplete condition of The Tape-worms (Tenix], many species of which are met with in the alimentary canal of various animals, where they have been known to attain the length of sixty, or even a hundred feet. The body of the tape-worm consists of a great number of segments, some- times amounting to five hundred or more ; these become very slender as they approach the so-called head (scolex), from which they are all successively produced. The Flukes (Distomd) constitute a very numerous race, of which the Liver Fluke, Distoma hepaticum, but too well known as inhabit- ing the liver of the sheep, will serve as an example. It resembles in shape a little sole, about an inch in length, furnished with two suckers, each of which was at one time supposed to be a mouth whence the origin of their name. When sheep are pastured in low wet meadows, this animal often multiplies in them excessively, producing dropsy or rot, and finally causing the death of the poor creatures so intested. rc 9 76 TUBBELLARIA. The Guinea-worm (Filaria* Medinensis) is a most troublesome animal in hot climates, where it takes up its residence under the skin of our legs and feet, and sometimes causes very serious annoy- ance. It is more especially met with on the Guinea coast of Africa, and thence derives its name. This plague of the human race, although not thicker than a knitting needle, sometimes measures upwards of a yard in length : how it gets into its selected abode it is not easy to conjecture; but when once located it seems to make itself quite at home, causing painful tumours : on arriving at maturity it comes to the surface, when it is carefully extracted by the Arab or negro doctors. We have in this country a worm of very similar structure, called The Hair-worm (Gordius}^ common in summer time in ponds and ditches, so closely resembling in its appearance a hair from a horse's tail, that in former times it was the popular belief that they were really living horse-hairs; their history is somewhat curious. They pass the early part of their life in the interior of some insect, generally a water-beetle, where they grow to the length of ten or eleven inches. When full grown, they escape from the body of the poor insect in which they have been nourished, and seek some piece of water, or moist situation, where they deposit their eggs in long chains. TURBELLABIA.J Another large group of worms, although closely allied to the Entozoa, are not parasitic. Their body is flat, soft, and often very contractile, but their chief distinguishing character is that they are entirely covered with cilia, by the movements of which they glide over any smooth surface. They are divisible into two families, the Planarise and the N emeries both of which merit description. The Planarias (Planaria) are to be found abundantly in almost every pond, where they have very much the appearance of little slugs. These animals are of a gela- tinous consistence, and enjoy such a power of self-con- traction, that they can reduce their whole substance to the form of a speck of jelly, in which condition they occasion- ally force themselves rather disagreeably upon the notice of incautious water-cress eaters. The Planarise inhabit * Filum, a thread. t Gordius, a man who tied a very hard knot. j Turbella, a commotion, because the action of their cilia makes a stir in the surrounding water. TURBELLARIA. 77 both salt and fresh water, where they swim about rapidly, by an undulating movement of their body, somewhat after the manner of a leech, and creep with great ease upon aquatic plants. They are generally of small size, but exceedingly voracious. Like the Polypes, they appear capable of almost endless increase by division. Sir J. Dalyell, speaking of the Black Planaria (P. nigra) says, " it is privileged to multiply its species, in proportion to the violence offered. It may almost be called immortal under the edge of the knife. Innumerable sections of the body, all become complete and perfect animals. If the head be cut off, a new head replaces it ; if the tail be severed, a new tail is acquired." The mouth of the Planarise is a very remarkable struc- ture. Near the middle of the under-surface there are two transverse slits, from the anterior of which a funnel-shaped organ, like a cup, can be protruded. This acts as a.mouth ; it is soft, highly irritable, and when drawn within the body is folded up, like the bud of a plant. This singular mouth opens immediately into the stomach ; it can be protruded at pleasure, and applied to the surface of such larvae or little worms as may come within reach, so as to suck from them the juices that they contain, or if the prey be small, it is immediately swallowed. But the most wonderful creatures belonging to this group are The Long Sea-wornis (Nemertes),* occasionally to be met with by the sea-side explorer, coiled up under loose stones. The length of this extraordinary production of Nature is positively prodigious; and its whole history has more the appearance of fable than of sober truth. " When I took it up at the sea-side," says the Rev. Mr. Davis (Linn. Trans.), "collecting such an immense creature into an oyster-shell, a very large one indeed, I thought it would have been almost impos- sible to unravel it ; but it is astonishing to think how easily it was disentangled, owing to the extraordinary smoothness of its surface. It is impossible to make even a guess at the length of it when alive, on account of its always extending and contracting itself when touched, and that with such ease, as almost to exceed belief; but I may well say that it is capable of extending itself without incon- venience to twenty-five or thirty times the length that it presents at another period. It being impossible while the animal was alive to make any reasonable conjecture as to the length of it, I took it out of the bottle, and examined it when dead, when I found it to be two- and- twenty feet long, exclusive of the proboscis. Now I give it , nemertes, no mistake about it. 78 ARTICULATED ANIMALS. as my firm opinion, that I speak within bounds when I say the animal, when alive, might have been extended to four times the length it presented when dead. It is, therefore, by no means improbable that this most astonishing creature may have been susceptible of being drawn out to the length of twelve fathoms, or, according to the accounts of the fishermen, to thirty yards, or fifteen fathoms.'* " The ignorant spectator," says Sir John Dalyell, " might almost suppose this animal to be only designed to be an inconvenience to itself. Who can affirm that he has ever seen the long sea-worm entire ? that he had before him this giant of the race, or who can presume that those, apparently of the largest size, shall grow no more? " Unwieldy and unmanageable as this creature seems, it attacks and devours other worms of all sorts. Portions of mussel are always acceptable, and are greedily swallowed by its capacious mouth. If the valves of a mussel be sundered, the animal fastens upon one of them, drags it away, and consumes the contents at leisure. When he desires to shift his quarters, he stretches out his body like an enormous snake ; the eye sees no contraction of muscles, no apparent means of locomotion, but the microscope teaches us that the Nemertes glides along by the help of the minute vibratory cilia, with which his whole body is covered ; he hesitates, he tries, and at last finds a stone to his taste, whereupon he slowly unrolls his length to convey himself to his new resting-place ; and while his entangled folds are unravelling themselves at one end, they are forming a new Gordian knot at the other." CHAPTER IX. SECOND GRAND DIVISION OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. ARTICULATED* ANIMALS. WE have now arrived at the second great division of the animal creation, which includes a vast assemblage of creatures adapted to exist under a far greater diversity of circumstances than those we have as yet had an opportunity of examining. The most obvious character by which they are distinguished is met with in their exterior conformation. They are com- posed of a succession of rings, formed by the skin or outward integument, which, from its hardness, con- * Articulatus, jointed. ARTICULATED ANIMALS. 79 stitutes a sort of external skeleton. In the lowest forms the body is extremely elongated, the segments proportionately soft and numerous, and, as a neces- sary consequence, limbs either do not exist, or are feeble and imperfect. Such is the srtucture met with in the Annelida, or Worms, as for example, in the leech (Fig. 53). As we advance, we find the tegumen- tary rings become less numerous, and the skin of a denser and more firm tex- ture, adapted to sustain the action of stronger and more powerful muscles; the limbs likewise become more elabo- rately formed, their movements more free and energetic. Moreover, the in- struments of sight and touch begin to assume considerable perfection of struc- ture. This state of development we find in the Myriapoda or Centipedes (Fig. 55). In the Insects the perfection of the Fro. 53. LEECH. FlG. 54. DIVISION'S OF A BEETLE. external skeleton is still more remarkable, and the integument acquires a hardness and solidity pro- 80 AETICULATED ANIMALS. portioned to the vigorous movements of which the limbs are now capable. The rings of the body, hitherto distinct, become more or less soldered to- gether in those parts where the greatest strength and firmness are necessary ; and scarcely any traces are left to indicate their existence as separate pieces ; so that, instead of exhibiting that succession of similar segments seen in the centipedes, the body becomes divided into three distinct portions ; namely, the head 9 which contains the organs of the senses and the parts of the mouth, the thorax, supporting the limbs, or instruments of progression, and the abdomen, enclosing the viscera subservient to nutrition and reproduction. (Fig. 54.) In the fourth division of articulated animals, namely, the Arachnida (scorpions, spiders, $c.) 9 a FlG. 55. SCORPION AND CENTIPEDE. still further consolidation of the external skeleton is visible, for in these creatures even the separation between the head and the thorax becomes obliterated, ARTICULATED ANIMALS. 81 and it is in the abdomen only that the segments of the body are recognizable. By contrasting the body of a centipede with that of a scorpion, as represented in the accompanying figure (Fig. 55), the progress of this coalescence of the tegumentary rings is strikingly exemplified. Lastly, in the Crustacea (crabs, lobsters, $c.) we find various modifications of the outward skeleton adapted to the habits of the different races. Among the lowest forms, the rings composing the external framework are perfectly distinct and separate, resem- bling those of the myriapoda ; but in the stronger and more predacious tribes the pieces of the head and thorax become solidly fixed together ; and in those forms most adapted to a terrestrial life, namely, the crabs, almost all traces of distinction between the FlG. 56. COMMON CRAB. thoracic segments is lost in the construction of the calcareous shield, which covers and protects their whole body. (Fig. 56.) In the animals described in preceding chapters the E 3 82 AKTICULATED ANIMALS. nervous system, wherever it has been at all dis- cernible, has existed only in the form of slender threads, without being accumulated into masses, or centres of perception. In all creatures, however, belonging to the articulate division of the animal kingdom the nervous system is arranged upon a plan which is sufficiently conspicuous throughout the entire series. A double chain of brains, or ganglia, runs down the central line of the body beneath the alimentary canal ; and it is from the symmetry con- spicuous in the arrangement of these that the most unmistakable character whereby the articulata are distinguished is furnished. The first pair of brains or ganglia is always situated in the head, and supplies nerves to the eyes, to the antennae, and to all the principal instruments of sensation ; and on the pro- portionate size and develop- ment of these ganglia the perfection of the senses pos- sessed by any of these crea- tures depends, consequently they are generally spoken of as the brain. All the other ganglia are arranged in a double series along the floors of the dif- ferent segments of the body, each supplying the muscles belonging to the rings in its neighbourhood. In propor- tion to the size and per- fection of these ganglia, therefore, will be the en- ergy of the creature's movements. In the an- nexed engraving (Fig. 57), representing the nervous system of a leech and of a FlG. 57. NERVES OF LEECH AND COCKCHAFER. ARTICULATED ANIMALS. 83 that in the former the nervous centres are nume- rous and feeble, corresponding with the imperfection of the organs of sense and the absence of limbs, whereas in the latter they are proportionately large and few in number, adapted to the possession of senses of a higher description, and limbs endowed with great strength and activity. The Articulata are divided into five principal classes, as represented in the following table : 3 g g ^__l _i_ j[ ifiTF J~pir 1*2" ti' &' K?'S, 5 I Sfll ? - 'M 11 ' !t ^, j^ i i _c ^5 *lm it!*; r= c* : <^ "5 02 ' ""5 o> T3 ^ bo * C-2 X! .

gr^tj3-^ sg p * ^^."l^S ^s 131 ^ "^ p i_i D V d ^i O OQ (H >>^ 'I 3 2 -^ S "S ?3 '5 I S S & PQ W 2 2 w pa -v -2 PQ PQ 84 ANNELIDA. FIRST CLASS OF ARTICULATED ANIMALS. ANNEL IDA WORMS. THE body of the Annelidans is composed of a succes- sion of numerous rings, all of which are merely repetitions of each other. The first segment, although it differs but little from the rest, is called the head. The skin is generally soft, and the rings never horny or stony. Many Annelidans are entirely destitute of legs, as, for example, the leech (Fig. 53) ; and when these organs exist they are never formed of pieces jointed together end to end, as they are in insects, lob- sters, or spiders ; they are merely FIG. 58. FOOT OF NAIS. n 1 ^1 %l V nesny protuberances that support bunches of stiff setas, or bristles, and are used as oars to row the animal through the water. (Fig. 58.) Most Annelidans at the anterior extremity of their body are furnished with black spots, which appear to be eyes of very simple structure : they often have on the head, or on the sides of the neck, fleshy filaments called tentacles, which are not only delicate instruments of touch, but sometimes perform other important functions, as we shall see hereafter. In general these animals can crawl upon the ground by means of their setae ; many live buried in the earth, or are enclosed in tubes which they never leave ; they mostly inhabit the sea, and are, with one or two exceptions, carnivorous. The Annelidans are divided by zoologists into three orders, according to the nature and disposition of their respiratory apparatus. Some appear to ANNELIDA. 85 breathe by the general surface of their bodies, and have no special respiratory organs visible externally ; these, therefore, have been called Abranchia,* with- out gills. In a second division, the breathing apparatus con- sists of a series of tufts (Fig. 63) or fringes arranged along the middle or on each side of the back : these are the Dorsibranchiata.f In the third order, Tubicola,^ the Annelids inhabit a tube either composed of shell or manufactured by the agglutination of various materials. These have their branchiae in the form of plumes or branching filaments attached to the head or neck (Fig. 65). FIRST ORDER ABRANCHIATE ANNELIDANS. This order comprehends two families, which differ widely from each other. The Setigera, which have loco- motive appendages in the shape of delicate spines or bristles (Earthworm, Nais) ; and the Suctoria,|| which are destitute of such appendages, but are furnished instead with a prehensile sucker, attached to each extremity of the body (Leeches). The Earth-worms (Lumbricus]. The common well-known species (Lunibricus terrestrls) attains nearly a foot in length, its body is composed of 120 rings or more, and is completely destitute of eyes or tentacles. Though a humble and despised creature, the earth- worm is a most important item in the economy of nature. Piercing the ground in every direction, the earth is lightened by the united labours of their countless legions, and thus they materially conduce to its fertility. It consumes upon the surface of the ground, where they soon become injurious, the softer parts of decaying vegetable matter, and conveys beneath the soil the more woody fibres, where they moulder and form the nutriment of living vegetation. Thus eminently serviceable to the agriculturist, it likewise constitutes an indispensable article of food for innumerable creatures belonging to every order of creation ; and perhaps is a solitary instance of an individual race subjected to universal destruction. The very emmets seize it when disabled, and bear it away as a prize : it constitutes * A " not," and bronchia, a gill. ( Dorsum, the back ; branchia, a gill. J Tubus, a tube ; colo, I inhabit. Seta, a bristle ; gero, I carry. II Suctorius, sucking. 86 ANNELIDA. throughout the year the food of many birds ; fishes devour it greedily; the hedgehog eats it ; the mole pursues it unceasingly ; and secured, as it appears to be by its residence in the earth from creatures inha- biting a different element, many aquatic animals seem well ac- quainted with it, and prey on it as a natural food. Frogs eat it, and it is even seized occasionally by the great water-beetle (Dyticus marginalis\ when used as a bait by the angler. Yet notwith- standing this prodigious destruction, its increase is fully commen- surate with the consumption, as if it was ordained to be the appointed food of all. The Naides (Nais*). The mud f at the bottom of ponds and streams is frequently perforated by annelidans closely allied to the earth-worms. Their body is slender, and the rings into which it is divided are few, and but slightly marked. They commonly live in their burrows, merely protruding their head, which is furnished with a long proboscis, whereby they take their food, and for this purpose it is kept in constant motion. These water worms have a power of multiplication which is of a very surprising character. One of the most common species in our brooks (Nais proboscidea) consists, when full grown j of about fourteen segments. After a time, however, new segments begin to be formed a little in front of the tail ; these lengthen, and soon begin to separate from the parent animal under the form of a new Nais provided with proboscis, eye-specks, and everything complete. Sometimes even before the newly-formed young has quite broken oft* its connection with its parent, another generation is in course of production near its own tail, and sometimes even this has begun to form a fourth before the separation of the first is complete. The Leeches (Hirudo) are common in our ponds. The Medicinal Leech (Hirudo medicinalis], however, is not indigenous in this country, but being easily obtainable we shall select it as an example of the group (Fig. 53). At each extremity of its body is a fleshy disc, which in progression acts as a sucker : it can, moreover, swim with much elegance but not with rapidity. Its mouth, situ- ated in the middle of the front sucker, is furnished with three small semicircular teeth, each provided with a saw-like edge. These teeth are placed in a tri- radiate manner, so that when the action of the sucker has made the skin of its victim FIG. 59. THROAT (.F LEECH LAID OPEN, tense, their edges are pressed against it with a saw-like move- ment, until three cuts are made extending to some depth, and the blood thus liberated is largely sucked into the capacious stomach. * Nais, a water-nymph. ANNELIDA. The tribe of leeches is very numerous ; they all feed at the expense of other animals ; they attach themselves to fishes and frogs ; some- times they devour molluscs, worms, or the larvae of insects. Few animal substances are rejected ; all kinds of fish, dead or alive, seem acceptable. Entering the larger fresh-water shells, the leech takes up its abode, an uninvited visitor, and remains until it has emptied them of their contents. They even devour other leeches. Sir J. Dalyell saw one half swallowed by a horse-leech scarcely double its size, and still struggling for liberty; but its ferocious enemy, adhering firmly by its sucker, and undulating its body in the water as if to aid deglutition, occupied three hours in finishing its meal. The use of the medicinal leeches is so general that they have become an important article of commerce, and are procured in great quan- tities from Spain and Eussia. They may be preserved for a long time by placing them in moist earth or mud. On the approach of cold weather they bury themselves at the 60 ^ TOOTH OF LEECH MAGXIFIED . bottom of ponds, and pass the winter in lethargy, but they regain their activity in spring. When kept in large reservoirs with clay-banks fringed with rushes and aquatic plants, the leech will propagate its kind. It lays about a dozen eggs, enclosed in a mucous cocoon of an oval form, about a quarter of an inch long. In the month of August holes may be observed in the mud or clay of the banks, each of FlG. 61. COCOOXS OF LEECH. which contains a cocoon. The eggs are hatched in about a week, but it is three weeks before the young leave their slimy cradle ; during the interval the cocoon has become considerably distended, and the little animals are continually pushing its walls with their heads as if trying to find a weak point and escape. When at last their increasing strength enables them to burst forth, they are about a quarter of an inch long, and no thicker than a thread. 88 ANNELIDA. SECOND OKDER DOKSIBKANCIIIATE ANNELIDANS. In the DorsibrancMate Annelidans the respiratory organs consist of fringes or arborescent tufts, dis- tributed in pairs along the sides of the back. In some cases, every ring is thus furnished, but in others, only those rings which are near the middle. These worms are all free : they burrow in the mud or sand, or swim in the open sea ; they are therefore supplied with organs of locomotion, which, for the most part, assume the form of moveable spines or packets of retractile bristles attached to each seg- ment of the body. It is not, however, by mere prosy description that we can convey to our readers any adequate idea of the beauty of these splendid worms ; here we must let their great historian, M. de Quatrefages, speak for himself: his pen can best portray what his patient industry has so admirably displayed. "Upon the Isle de Chaussy," says that' distin- guished anatomist, "the wandering Annelids occu- pied my special attention. Hitherto, I had only known this numerous family of sea- worms through engravings ; and although I had formed a tolerably exact notion of their structure, I had not the slightest idea how many points of interest attached to them. When I had once surprised within their secure retreats the Polynoe with its lucid scales, the Phyl- lodoce with its hundred bright-green rings, the Eunice with its purple crest, the Terebella surrounded by a cloud of innumerable living cables which serve it in the place of arms,; when I had seen displayed before my eyes the rich fan of the Sabella, and the enamelled collar of the Serpula, I no longer smiled, as I had done before, at the thought of the naturalist having conferred upon them the most charming names he could think of. These despised creatures seemed to me no less worthy of a naturalist's ho- mage than the most brilliant insect or the fairest ANNELIDA. 89 flower. Let no one prate to me any more about the violet as a pattern of modesty ! The coquette ! See how she shows from far her fresh tuft of green leaves, and scatters abroad the perfume that invites you to approach. More skilful than her rivals, she knows that mystery is the greatest of all attractions, and that the rose herself loses by displaying her charms in broad daylight ; therefore it is that she seeks the obscurity of the woods and the shelter of the hedge- side. But look at the Annelids ! what do they lack when compared with the most splendid inhabitants of earth or air ? Yet they shun the light, they with- draw themselves from our view, but with no design to attract ; and the naturalist alone knows where to seek the strange wonders which are hidden within the recesses of the rock, and beneath the sandy beds of the ocean. You may smile at my enthusiasm, but come and judge for yourself. All is prepared ! Our lamp gives a light almost equal to a jet of gas, while a large lens, mounted upon a moveable foot, receives the rays of light, and concentrates them upon our field of view. We have just placed upon the stage a little trough filled with sea-water, in which an Eunice is disporting itself. See how in- dignant it is at its captivity ; how its numerous rings contract, elongate, twist into a spiral coil, and at every movement emit flashes of splendour in which all the tints of the prism are blended in the brightest metallic reflections. It is impossible, in the midst of this tumultuous agitation, to distinguish anything definitely. But it is more quiet now ; lose no time in examining it. See how it crawls along the bottom of the vessel, with its thousand feet moving rapidly forwards. See what beautiful plumes adorn the sides of the body ; these are the branchiae, or organs of respiration, which become vermilion as they are swelled by the blood, the course of which you may trace all along the back. Look at that head ena- melled with the brightest colours ; here are the few tentacles, delicate organs of touch, and here, in the 90 ANNELIDA. midst of them, is the mouth, which, at first sight, seems merely like an irregularly puckered slit. But watch it for a few moments ; see how it opens and protrudes a large proboscis, furnished with three pairs of jaws, and possessing a diameter which equals that of the body within which it is enclosed, as in a living sheath. Well ! is it not wonderful ? Is there any animal that can surpass it in decoration ? The corslet of the brightest beetle, the sparkling throat of the humming-bird, would all look pale when com- pared with the play of light over the rings of its body, glowing in its golden threads, and sparkling over its amber and coral fringes. Now, let us take a lens of higher power, and move the lamp in such a manner as to let its rays fall on the reflector of our microscope, and examine a few of the hairs taken from the sides of the Annelid we have been describing. To the outer edge of every foot are ap- pended two bundles of hairs (sette); these are far stiffer than ordinary hairs, and appear to be placed on either side of the animal to defend it from its enemies. A moment's consideration will suffice to confirm this view, for there is perhaps scarcely a weapon invented by the murderous genius of man whose counterpart could not be found amongst this class of animals. Here are curved blades, whose edges present a prolonged cutting surface, sometimes on the concave edge, as in the yatagan of the Arab, sometimes on the convex border, as in the oriental scimitar. Next we meet with weapons which remind us of the broad-sword of the cuirassier, the sabre, and the bayonet ; here are harpoons, fish-hooks, and cutting blades of every form, loosely attached to a sharp FfG. 62. PUSHING POLES OF SEHPULA. ANNELIDA. 91 handle : these moveable pieces are intended to remain in the body of the enemy, while the handle which supported them becomes a long spike, as sharp as it was before. Here we have straight or curved poniards, cutting-bills, arrows with the barbs turned backwards, but carefully provided with a sheath to protect the fine indentations from being blunted by friction, or broken by any unforeseen accident. Finally, if the enemy should disregard his first wounds, there darts from every foot a shorter but stronger spear, which is brought into play by a special set of muscles, so soon as the combatants are sufficiently near to grapple in close fight." It is not without reason that nature has endowed these amazons with more finely-polished and sharper- pointed weapons than any wielded by the paladins of old : destined to live by rapine, ana exposed to the attacks of a thousand enemies, they need them both as means of attack and defence. Almost all feed upon living prey. Some wait in ambush for the passing by of small Crustaceans, Planariae, or other minute animals, and seize their victims with their proboscis, or entwine them in the folds of their numerous arms. Others, again, more active than the rest, pursue their game over the sand or through thick tufts of corallines and other marine plants. Some attach themselves to shells, and having per- forated them, devour their inhabitants. The Her- metta thus commits great havoc among the oyster- beds, destroying numerous colonies of this much- cherished mollusc. These Annelids are, in their turn, pursued by a multitude of carnivorous animals. Fishes wage a rude war against them, and if one, more imprudent than the rest, should abandon its retreat, or be exposed to view by the waves, it rarely escapes the murderous jaws of some whiting, sole, plaice, or eel. It is asserted that the latter kind of fish are well acquainted with the mode of drawing them out of the sand, as do the whelks. But crabs, lobsters, and a host of other crustaceans, constitute their most 92 ANNELIDA. formidable enemies, and are protected by their armour from the formidable weapons of the An- nelida. The Sand-worm (Arenicola*) is exceedingly abundant on sandy shores, and is much sought for and used by fishermen as a bait. Its usual name on the coast is the " Lug," or " Lug-worm." It is of a greenish-red colour, and the gill-tufts, which form two rows upon the middle portion of its body (Fig. 63), are of a beautiful crimson, from the blood which circulates in them abun- dantly. This worm bores rapidly in the sand by means of its conical head ; and as it moves on, the sides of the treacherous passage are prevented from closing up by a secretion from the body of the animal, which cements the particles together into a kind of wall. This, as the creature advances, is left behind, imitating, in miniature, the brickwork of a tunnel. The Nereids (Nereis\) have branchial tufts and locomotive oars appended to every seg- ment ; they are carnivorous, and their mouth exhibits a very singular structure. The com- mencement of the alimentary canal is capable of being turned inside out, like the finger of a glove. When thus everted, it appears like a thick proboscis, armed with a formidable array of sharp teeth, curved fangs, keen knives, and horny plates resembling rasps or files, Fro. es the shape of which varies in different species, SAND- WORM. j^j. a i wa y S calculated to seize and retain pass- ing prey. No sooner is some small animal seized by this wonderful apparatus, than the whole protruded proboscis is quickly inverted, carrying the hapless victim into the living cavern, from which there is no escape. Among the Nereids may be noted The Eunice % Gigantea, the largest Annelidan known ; we have at this moment a specimen before us, which measures upwards of four feet in length, and consists of 448 segments, all provided * Arena, the sand ; colo, I inhabit. f A nymph. j A nymph. AXNELIDA. 93 with their complement of oars. It is a beautiful sight to see a man- of-war's barge full manned with sturdy rowers, gliding along over the level surface of the sea, the oars all keeping time with such precision that they seem to move as by one impulse. It is a grand spectacle to behold the meteor-like progress of a steam-ship as it cleaves its onward path ; but far more beautiful, far more magnificent to the admirer of the works of Nature, to observe the movements of these splendid worms. Let any one imagine this gorgeous animal free in its native seas, blazing as it does with iridescent tints, that answer back again the glowing brilliancy of a tropical sun while it rows along its "oary state" by means of upwards of 1700 distinct laminee, all wielded with such energy, that the eye can scarcely follow their movements and he will perhaps form some faint idea of the efficiency of a locomotive apparatus, such as is provided for the Dorsibranchiate Annelidans. "With our notions of a worm," says Dr. Hart- wich, " we generally connect the idea of incomplete- ness ; we are apt to consider them as beings equally uninteresting and ugly, and disdain to inquire into the wonders of their organization ; but a cursory examination of the Eunice would alone suffice to give us a very different opinion of these despised but far from despicable animals. Three hundred brains, from which about three thousand nerves proceed, regulate its movements. Two hundred and fifty stomachs digest its food ; five hundred and fifty branchiaB refresh its blood; six hundred hearts dis- tribute this vital fluid through its body ; and thirty thousand muscles obey the will of the worm, and execute its snake-like movements. Surely there is here but little occasion to commiserate want, or scoff at poverty !" The Sea-mouse (Halithea* aculeatd) (Fig. 64) is com- mon on our coasts, and is frequently dredged up from muddy ground. This Annelid is four or five inches in length, of a greyish hue, and clothed on the back with a fine silky down, under which are concealed fifteen pairs of scaly plates, one pair on each ring. The under surface is smooth, but marked by transverse divisions, indicating that it is formed of about forty rings or segments. On the sides project bunches of hairs resembling the finest silk, and bedizened with iridescent colours; they yield, indeed, in no respect to the most gorgeous tints of tropical * &\s, als, the sea ; 0ea, thea, a goddess. 94 ANNELIDA. birds, or the brilliant decorations of insects: green, yellow and orange, blue, purple and scarlet, all the hues of the rainbow play upon them with the changing light, and shine with a metallic effulgence only com- parable to that which adorns the breast of the humming- bird. But it is not only for their dazzling beauty that these worms are remarkable ; many of them are armed with spines, that constitute important weapons of defence ; each of these spines is seen, under the miscroscope, to be a perfect harpoon, its point being provided with a double series of strong barbs, so that when the creature erects its bristles, much more formidable than the spines of a hedgehog, the most determined enemy would scarcely venture to attack it. These spines are all retractile, and can be drawn into the body by the muscular tube from FIG. 64. SEA-MOUSE. which they spring. It would be superfluous to point out the danger that would accrue to the animal itself by the presence of such instruments embedded in its body, as by every movement they would be forced into its own flesh. The contrivance to obviate such an accident is as beauti- ful as it is simple : every barbed spine is furnished with a smooth, horny sheath, composed of two blades, between which it is lodged (Fig. 64), and these, closing upon the barbs, when they are drawn inwards, effectually protect the neighbouring soft parts from laceration. ANNELIDA. 95 TRIED ORDEK TUBICOLOUS ANNELIDANS. The Tubicolous Annelidans, as their name imports, reside in tubes, which are either composed of a dense shelly substance, or constructed by gluing together fragments of sand, small stones, and other similar materials. To the former section belong The Serpulse* (Serpulce) (Fig. 65), found on every coast, encrusting stones or shells, or any substance that has lain for any length of time at the bottom of the sea. The animal inhabiting these shells is a worm entirely destitute of limbs, but its front part, or head, during life presents a very beautiful spectacle, for from each side FlG. 65. SERPULA. there spreads an elegant plume, composed of branched filaments of a rich scarlet or crimson hue, which float loosely in the water, and constitute the gills, or branchiae. Besides these splendid branchial fringes, the head has one of its tentacles expanded into a broad, trumpet -shaped extremity, which accurately fits the mouth of the tube, so that when the creature is alarmed, it quietly draws in this singular trap-door, and remains securely shut up within its shelly abode. The Terebellaef inhabit factitious shells, composed * Serpo, to twist about like a serpent. t Terebellum, a little auger or piercer. 96 MYRIAPODA. of grains of sand, fragments of shell, or even whole shells, small stones, and similar sub- stances, which they glue to- gether, and thus construct a beautiful tube, represented in the engraving (Fig. 66). This is effected by means of the ten- tacula that surround its head, which are extended in every di- rection in search of appropriate materials for the construction of their residence. The Sabella * Alveolaris often covers wide surfaces of rock near low water-mark, with its aggregated tubes. When the flood recedes, nothing is seen but the closed orifices, but when covered with the rising waters the sandy surface transforms itself into a beauti- ful picture. From each aper- ture stretches forth a neck ornamented with concentric rings of golden hair, terminating in a head embellished with a tiara of delicately- tinted tentacula, so that the whole looks like a garden-bed, enamelled with gay flowers of elegant forms and variegated colours. FlG. 66. TE RE BELLA MEDUSA. CHAPTER X. MYRTAPODA.t THE Annelidans examined in the last chapter, with the singular exception of the earth-worm, are only adapted to an aquatic life. The soft integument which forms their outer framework, and the feeble organs appended to the numerous segments of their lengthy bodies, are far too weak to support their * A proper name. f fjLvpids, murias, innumerable ; ir6vs, pous, a foot. MYKIAPODA. 97 weight in a less dense and buoyant element, so that, when removed from their native waters, they are utterly helpless and impotent. Supposing, as a matter of mere speculation, it was inquired, by what means animals so constructed could be rendered capable of assuming a terrestrial existence, so as to seek and obtain their food upon the surface of the earth, and thus represent upon land the Annelidans of the ocean ; a little reflection would at once indi- cate the grosser changes required for the attainment of such an object. To convert the water-breathing organs of the aquatic worms into an apparatus adapted to breathe the air would be the first requi- site. The second would be to give greater firmness to the tegumentary skeleton, to allow of more powerful and accurately applied muscular force, by diminishing the number of the segments, and by converting the lateral oars into jointed limbs, suffi- ciently strong to sustain the whole weight of the body, to provide instruments of locomotion fitted for progression upon the ground. Yet all these changes would be inefficient without corresponding modifica- tions in the nervous system. The lengthened chain of minute ganglia, met with in the leech (Fig. 57), would be quite inadequate to wield muscles of strength adapted to such altered circumstances; the small brain would be incompetent to correspond with more exalted senses ; so that, as a necessary consequence of superior organization, the nervous centres must all be increased in their proportionate development, to adapt them to higher functions. The changes which our supposition infers would be requisite for the con- version of an aquatic Annelid into a Myriapod, are precisely those which we encounter. The air- breathing animals which we have now to describe form the transition from the red-blooded worms to the class of insects, and are intermediate between these two great classes in every part of their struc- ture. The body of a myriapod consists of a consecu- tive series of segments of equal dimensions, but un- 98 MYKIAPODA. like those of the Annelidans, composed of a dense, semi-calcareous, or else of a firm, horny substance, and to every segment is appended one or two pairs of articulated legs, generally terminated by simple points. The anterior segment, or head, besides the organs belonging to the mouth, contains the instruments of sense, consisting of simple or compound eyes, and of two long and jointed organs, called antennae, gene- rally regarded as ministering to the sense of touch, but which are probably connected with other per- ceptions unintelligible to us. The air required for respiration is taken into the body through a series of minute pores, or spiracles, placed on each side along the entire length of the animal, and is distributed by innumerable ramifying tubes or tracheae, to all parts of the system. The number of segments, and consequently of feet, in- creases progressively with age ; a circumstance which remarkably distinguishes the myriapoda from insects properly so called. There are two families belong- ing to this class the millepedes or Julidae, which feed on vegetable substances, and the Scolopendridae,' or centipedes, which are carnivorous and rapacious. The Millepedes* (Julus\ are distinguished by their nearly cylindrical form (Fig. 67), their slow gliding motion produced by the alternate action of their very numerous little feet, sometimes more than a hundred in number, and their habit of rolling themselves into a close spiral, when touched. They resort to damp and dark places, lurk under stones and moss, and are still more commonly found beneath the bark and in the wood of decaying trees. They are perfectly harmless, and feed entirely on decomposing vegetable materials. For this purpose their mouth is furnished with a pair of stout horny jaws, which move horizontally, and are provided at their cutting edges with sharp denticulations, so as to * Mille, a thousand ; pes, a foot. MYRIAPODA. 99 render them effective instruments in dividing the fibres of rotting wood, or the roots and leaves of decaying plants. Most of them emit a very rank disagreeable odour. The female Millepede deposits her eggs, which are very minute, in the earth, or in the earthy powder of decayed wood. The young, when first hatched, are quite destitute of limbs, and have much the appearance of microscopic kidney beans. In the course of a few days, however, they throw off their first skin, and make their appear- ance, divided into about eight segments, of which the three that immediately follow the head, have each a pair of legs. In a few days more, a second moult takes place ; the body is enlarged, the number of segments in- creased, and the number of limbs augmented to seven pairs on the segments succeeding the head. At the end of a month, or thereabouts, after another change of clothes, the young millepede appears with twenty-six pairs of feet, and so the process of exuviation is again and again repeated, until the creature arrives at its mature con- dition. The Centipedes* (Scolopendra) (Fig. 55) are much more formidable creatures than the millepedes ; they have a broad flattened body, composed of about four-and-twenty seg- ments, to each of which is appended a pair of stout jointed limbs, well adapted, by the energy and activity of their movements, to the pursuit of active prey. The mouth of the Scolopendra is a terrible instrument of de- struction, being not only provided with horny jaws, re- sembling those of Julus, but armed with a tremendous pair of massive and curved fangs, ending in sharp points, and perforated near their terminations by a minute orifice, through which a poisonous fluid is instilled into the wounds they inflict. Several small species are common in our gardens ; but in hot climates they grow to a great size, and their bite, though rarely fatal, is more dangerous than the sting of the scorpion. The Giant Scolopendra (Scolopendra gigas), common in South America, measures upwards of a foot in length, and an inch and a quarter across its body. Other species, scarcely less formidable, in- habit India and the adjacent islands, and abound in the hottest parts of Africa. They creep into houses, lurk under articles of fur- niture and behind wainscots, hide themselves in drawers and cup- boards, and sometimes are found even in beds, much to the disgust * Centum, a hundred ; pes, a foot. F 2 100 INSECTS. and apprehension of all who are not familiarised with their presence. The largest species met with in this country is The Forked Centipede (Lithobius forficatus) ;* it is found in the earth and under stones in our gardens, and is quick and active in its movements. It does not measure more than an inch and a quar- ter in length, and is of a tawny red colour, with fifteen feet on each side. The Electric Scolopendra (Scolopendra electrica), likewise a British species, is occasionally luminous in the dark. CHAPTER XL INSECTS (Insecta f). HAVE patience with us, gentle reader -our task is no light one. To mete out the sands upon the sea- shore with a quart pot, to drain the ocean with a thimble, to count the stars, are ordinary expressions for impossibilities; but to condense the history of the Insect world into a few short pages, would be a miracle beyond them all. The number of species of insects, as we are told by entomologists, amounts to upwards of a hundred thousand ; so various in their habits and their manners, their instincts and their appetites, that every species would itself furnish a large volume of interesting information, could we only penetrate the mysteries of their lives; and yet how little has been done in gaining anything like an intimate acquaintance with their daily duties, by a careful and watchful perusal of their economy. The secrecy of creation, however, is not to be rudely broken. Nature is a very coy mistress; watchful nights, anxious days, slender meals, and endless labours must be the lot of all those who pursue her through her labyrinths and meanders ; nor will she ever confess to violence, what she is ready freely to disclose to patient and attentive solicitation. See the amateur entomologist, furnished with his nets and boxes, and all the adjuncts invented by art for * Aiflos, lithos, a stone ; fti6