EX; ir ii
 
 A HANDBOOK 
 
 TO THE STUDY OF 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 FOR THE USE OF BEGINNERS.
 
 JUST PUBLISHED. 
 Demy 8vo, paper cover, price is. 6d. 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICAL WORKING 
 OF THE NEW EDUCATION. 
 
 A FEW SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS. 
 By the LADY ISABEL MARGESSON.
 
 A HANDBOOK 
 
 TO THE STUDV OF 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 FOR THE USE OF BEGINNERS. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 SIR MOUNTSTUART E. GRANT DUFF, G.C.S.I., F.R.S. 
 
 EDITED BY THE LADY ISABEL MARGESSON. 
 
 LOiNDON : 
 
 GEORGE PHILIP & SON, 32, FLEET STREET ; 
 LIVERPOOL: 45 TO 51, SOUTH CASTLE STREET. 
 
 1894.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 EDITOR'S NOTE - 
 
 INTRODUCTION. By 6Vr M. E. Grant Duff, G.C.S.L, 
 
 F.R.S. - - ix-xx 
 
 ZOOLOGY. By J. Arthur Thomson, author of " Studies 
 
 in Animal Life." 1-20 
 
 BIRDS. By W. Warde Fowler, M.A., author of "A 
 
 Year with the Birds," and " Tales of the Birds." - 21-29 
 
 SHELLS. By E. R. Sykes, B.A., F.Z.S. - 31-46 
 
 THE STUDY OF FLOWERS. By Professor Patrick 
 
 Geddes, author of " Chapters in Modern Botany." 47-65 
 
 THE STUDY OF MOSSES. By Mrs. Tindall - - 67-80 
 
 FUNGI. By Miss Lorrain Smith - - - 81-92 
 
 SEAWEEDS. By E. M. Holmes, F.L.S. 93-105 
 
 MINERALS. By 0. T. Prior, M.A., F.G.S. 107-121 
 
 FOSSILS. By F. A. Bather, M.A., F.G.S.- 123-133 
 
 How TO OBSERVE WITHOUT DESTROYING. By 
 Miss Edith Carrington, author of "Workers 
 without Wage." - -' - - 135-150 
 
 THE MICROSCOPE, AND How TO MOUNT MICROSCOPIC 
 OBJECTS. By Theodore Wood, F.E.S., author of 
 " Our Insect Allies." 151-164 
 
 TEACHING NATURAL SCIENCE. By Miss M. L. 
 
 Hodgson - - - 165-186 
 
 A BAND OF MERCY. By Mrs. Suckling - - - 187-198 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 1. HOME MUSEUMS. By Mrs. Brightwen, author of 
 
 " Wild Nature Won by Kindness." - - 199-215 
 
 2. OBJECT LESSON CASES IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM. By 
 
 Mrs. Brightwen - - - 217-225 
 
 3. PORTION OF ALMANACK, &c. - 227-232 
 
 2090906
 
 EDITOR'S NOTE. 
 
 IN offering this Handbook to lovers of Nature, I 
 wish very heartily to thank all the Contributors who 
 have so kindly enabled me to carry out my idea of 
 putting before the Beginner a clue to the many paths 
 of the somewhat bewildering labyrinth called Natural 
 Science. 
 
 I hope the following Chapters may overcome some 
 of the difficulties felt by would-be learners, who are 
 often baffled at the beginning of their studies by their 
 ignorance of the right lines on which to work. 
 
 The Book is not intended to take the place of a 
 Primer; it aims, rather, at being indicative of the 
 possibilities and limitations of many branches of the 
 Science, the Author of each Chapter aspiring to play 
 the part of the " Naturalist friend " to the mere lover 
 of Nature, in persuading him to gain some certain 
 knowledge of her laws and secrets. Such a descrip- 
 tion is here set before the Reader, as will enable him 
 to choose for his studies that particular branch for 
 which he has the most inclination and aptitude. 
 
 I must especially offer my sincere thanks to 
 Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, for his kindness in 
 writing the Introduction to this Book. May I add 
 that Sir Mountstuart is the " Naturalist friend," who, 
 some years ago, persuaded me to take up the study of 
 Botany, for which I shall always owe him a debt of 
 gratitude. 
 
 ISABEL A. MARGESSON. 
 
 63, St. George's Road, S. IF., 
 May, 1894.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THIS book is an insidious attack upon that blissful 
 ignorance of the objects immediately surrounding them 
 which has for some time been the apanage, in all 
 countries, of many who imagine themselves to have 
 received ' a first-rate education.' Beyond the pale of 
 civilization it is not unusual to find people whose 
 observing faculties, abnormally cultivated by the neces- 
 sities of their life, have taught them a great deal about 
 their environment. I remember coming across a set of 
 all but naked barbarians, at Matheran, in the Bombay 
 hills, who knew the name of every tree or shrub in 
 their jungles ; and I also remember asking a subor- 
 dinate of the Forest Department, in another part of 
 India who would have been very much hurt, indeed, 
 if he had been considered beyond the pale of civiliza- 
 tion the name of a shrub we were passing, and being 
 rewarded by the novel information that it was ' a 
 shrub.' Lady Isabel Margesson has, by collecting and 
 editing these papers, practised against the peace of 
 that large class of persons who desire to know nothing 
 beyond the fact that a shrub is a shrub, and a bird 
 a bird a class admirably represented by a boy, 
 who, after listening with exemplary patience to some 
 botanical information which was being communicated 
 to him, said, ' Now, Uncle Charles, don't you think 
 we might stop and talk like gentlemen for a little ? ' 
 
 In carrying into effect her nefarious design, Lady 
 Isabel has been abetted by a number of associates who 
 have given many years to the study of various branches
 
 X. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of Natural History. Each of these is responsible for a 
 chapter, and all have entered into her idea, which was 
 to help people who had a desire to know something of 
 the Natural World, but no definite notion as to how 
 they were to begin. Her undertaking was the out- 
 come of an experiment to form a small society, amongst 
 some of her friends, for the purpose of studying Natural 
 History, which seemed likely to succumb, at the outset 
 of its career, to the very difficulty I have indicated 
 the difficulty of making a first step. 
 
 This book, placed in the hands of the members of 
 that association, or of any similar body, will effectually 
 prevent such a catastrophe, for the writers of all the 
 chapters have been most careful to show how students, 
 young or old, can most easily and profitably approach 
 the subjects dealt with in each ; how they should 
 observe, what books they should read, with what 
 instruments they should be furnished, and where they 
 can best procure those instruments. 
 
 The papers are far too numerous for me to remark 
 upon all separately in a brief prefatory notice ; but I 
 may say a word about one or two of them. 
 
 Mr. Arthur Thomson, the author of the ' Study of 
 Animal Life,' in Murray's University Extension Series, 
 treats of Zoology. He would have children begin by 
 watching the ebb and flow of the seasons, putting the 
 manuals, necessary to help them in so doing in the 
 hands of their parents. He would discourage in the 
 latter the habit of treating anything with carelessness 
 the habit of saying ' that's only a leaf,' or ' this is 
 nothing but a shell.' He would have early attention 
 given to the curious action and interaction of plants on 
 plants, animals on animals, and each class upon the 
 other. He would early make his pupils acquainted 
 with the works of the traveller-naturalists. He
 
 INTRODUCTION. XI. 
 
 would interest them in the every-day life of animals, 
 holding that ' hunger and love solve life's problems.' 
 These studies would lead on to the analysis of struc- 
 ture; this to the activities of the animal body, and 
 that to the history of animal life, and the study of 
 causes. Under every one of these heads he gives 
 copious lists of books, which will make the path he 
 invites those whom he addresses to tread, an easy and 
 a pleasant one. 
 
 Botany has been confided to Professor Geddes, who 
 is evidently in thorough sympathy with Mr. Arthur 
 Thomson's ideas, and writes mutatis 'mutandis just in 
 the same vein. 
 
 His view is put in a fanciful, but effective, way in 
 some sentences which I extract from his ' Chapters in 
 Modern Botany.' 
 
 ' To the dawning intelligence of the race, the forest is 
 vaguely astir with a life which man does not clearly 
 separate from his own a mystery of growth which has 
 left its mark deep in the history of all religions. A 
 later and more self-conscious mind moulds this omni- 
 present life into anthropomorphic shapes ; so a Dryad 
 hides in every tree, while Pan roams through the 
 glade. These anthropomorphic shapes are next for- 
 malised away from the living realities they symbolise ; 
 they become mere shadowy gods, then fairies and 
 
 fables.' 
 
 ***** 
 
 ' But as the ages of fetishism, of Hellenic anthropo- 
 morphism passed away, so now the formal and utilita- 
 rian and analytic spirit is passing also in its turn. 
 Science is entering a new and brighter Hellas ; the 
 Dryad, living and breathing, moving and sensitive, is 
 again within her tree ; nay better, the plant is herself 
 the living Dryad, her naked beauty radiant in the sun.'
 
 x ii. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The point of Professor Geddes's paper is that plants 
 should be studied as living organisms, 'as moving 
 feeling, breathing, struggling creatures.' Books are 
 absolutely necessary, and herbaria are no less necessary, 
 but the chief place of learning should be the fields. He 
 accompanies his readers through the seasons, and sug- 
 gests that each should make for himself a Naturalist's 
 Year -Book. He gives a full list of works calculated 
 to assist in this enterprise, but, lest his pupils should 
 fall into too easy ways, insists, most wisely, upon 
 accuracy and precision. By his method, with the 
 assistance of any good English Flora, such as Hooker's 
 or Bentham's, and a reasonable amount of locomotion, 
 the student will easily obtain a large and accurate 
 knowledge of British plants. 
 
 When this has been done, however, there are many 
 new regions to conquer ; the whole world's flora lies 
 before the enquirer. Such books as Humboldt's 
 ' Aspects of Nature,' and Darwin's ' Naturalist's 
 Voyage,' and Miss North's collection at Kew, which 
 will, doubtless, soon give birth to similar galleries in 
 other places, will enable even the home-keeping travel- 
 ler to form many correct ideas. 
 
 Hours in the fields, judiciously combined with hours 
 in the library, will lead to questionings about the web 
 of life, and the influence of plants and animals upon 
 each other ; to the works of Sir John Lubbock, and so 
 many more who have devoted themselves to this branch 
 of observation. Then will come physiological botany, 
 which has of late years been engrossing the attention 
 of an undue number of workers, but is none the less 
 indispensable to those who would understand the life 
 of the plant. 
 
 Time was when the followers of Linnaeus had it all 
 their own way, and Systematic botany ruled supreme*
 
 INTRODUCTION. Xlii. 
 
 Now a new generation has arisen, and it is even said 
 that people pass for great botanists who have not a 
 speaking acquaintance with many of the commonest 
 plants. From all that, however, there will be a 
 reaction ; Systematic and Physiological botany will be 
 seen to be sisters, not rivals. 
 
 ' We do not suppose,' says Professor Geddes, towards 
 the close of his paper, ' that the thorough student can 
 dispense with any of the disciplines above mentioned ; 
 he must still study in the schools of Linnaeus, of 
 Jussieu, and of all the great masters, but no longer as 
 a drudge, hoping some day to get to the fields, rather 
 as a field-naturalist, who takes to the laboratory and 
 the library to find the solution of the puzzles which his 
 day's observations have brought him to face/ 
 
 This is the true doctrine, and they who follow it will 
 advance far further and faster than those who begin 
 with school text-books, which are too often got up 
 merely for examination purposes, and, far from leading 
 their victims into the pleasant paths of botanical study, 
 teach them in after years to loathe its very name. 
 
 Mrs. Tindall, in a chapter on the Study of Mosses, 
 breaks ground by pointing out that the good time of 
 those who collect them begins just as the year is ending 
 for those who devote themselves to flowering plants ; 
 enumerates the necessary appliances, tells the student 
 how his specimens should be dried, gives a general 
 description of the tribe and an account of some of its 
 more important divisions, takes a rapid survey of the 
 nearly allied group of the Liver-worts, and indicates 
 alike the manuals that will be most useful to the 
 beginner, and those which will assist in the later stages 
 of study. One warning which she gives is highly 
 important : 
 
 ' A very small quantity of each Moss is sufli-
 
 XIV. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cient for preservation as a herbarium specimen or 
 for investigation ; therefore, let not the joy of the 
 collector, in finding a plant hitherto unknown to him, 
 lead him to gather all he sees. Through thoughtless- 
 ness in this respect rare plants may be exterminated ; 
 the goose is killed that lays the golden eggs.' 
 
 This hint is, at least, of as much moment to those 
 who gather flowering plants, and will become of more 
 and more importance as Natural History extends. In 
 Switzerland the havoc which has been wrought by 
 schools, and still more by persons tearing up plants 
 with a view to sell them, has led in some places to 
 legislation, and to the formation of a society, presided 
 over by Mr. H. Correvon, for the purpose of protecting 
 the rarer Alpine plants, which are menaced with destruc- 
 tion by thoughtless or thievish persons. This gentle- 
 man has an establishment at Geneva, where Alpine 
 plants, all grown from seed, may be bought, and where, 
 also, their seeds can be obtained. It only requires to 
 be known, I think, to be a great commercial success, 
 provided always the persons in charge of it take care 
 to send really good plants, and not poor specimens a 
 first condition of success in all such enterprises. 
 
 Although no plant in a herbarium is perfect without 
 its roots, the importance of preserving the wild vegeta- 
 tion in a thickly-peopled country is so great, that no 
 schools or ordinary botanical students should ever be 
 allowed to root up plants which are in the slightest 
 degree rare, and the mischievous practice of collecting 
 specimens for exchange should be as much discouraged 
 as possible. If this is not done, sooner or later the 
 owners of the land, on which the rarer plants of the 
 country grow, will become alive to their treasures, and 
 will make it very uncomfortable to carry on herborisa- 
 tion, thereby injuring students and preventing a great
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV. 
 
 deal of harmless pleasure, by enforcing restrictions, for 
 which, however, collectors will only have to thank 
 their own folly. 
 
 Fungi are treated by Miss Lorrain Smith, recom- 
 mended, like Mrs. Tindall, by Mr. Murray, the head of 
 the Cryptogamic Department in the Natural History 
 Section of the British Museum, who begins by setting 
 forth that there are in this country twice as many 
 fungi as there are flowering plants, and that a success- 
 ful collector may any day discover a new one. She 
 sketches a number of the groups into which they are 
 divided, tells, a little too briefly for clearness, the 
 curious story of the corn-mildew, which passes the 
 early part of its life on the barberry tree ; her object 
 being, I suppose, rather to show that there are very 
 strange and unexpected facts to be discovered in 
 connection with the organisms of which she treats, 
 than to give more definite information; hints the 
 necessity for care even in dealing with the so-called 
 edible fungi, and gives a short list of the works which 
 she recommends. 
 
 Shells, Fossils and Seaweeds have all fallen into 
 good hands, as has the Microscope. 
 
 A great many useful hints are to be gathered from 
 Miss Hodgson's paper on ' Teaching Natural Science,' 
 the fruit evidently of much experience, and from Miss 
 Carrington's ' How to observe without destroying.' 
 
 Even the inorganic world has received some notice 
 in this volume, for there is an excellent chapter upon 
 minerals. Its author recommends the student to begin 
 by familiarising his eye with the various characters of 
 the different rocks, in railway cuttings, among moun- 
 tains, or sea cliffs. Then he should collect a few 
 specimens of these rocks, and try by, closer examina- 
 tion, to determine the causes which make their appear-
 
 Xvi. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ances to vary. Next, Laving carefully noted what a 
 mere inspection of his specimens can teach him, he 
 should make such simple experiments upon them as 
 will enable him to determine their more obvious 
 characters hardness, cleavage, specific gravity, and the 
 like. The student in or near London has the immense 
 advantage of finding, in the Natural History Museum, 
 in Cromwell Road, the most elaborate series of speci- 
 mens and models illustrating the character of minerals. 
 There is hardly a single important term in. the science 
 which is not explained in that collection by the very 
 best specimens that can be obtained, and this with a 
 clearness which the united ability of all the mineralo- 
 gists who ever lived could not possibly attain through 
 written descriptions. This wonderful ladder to learning 
 is to be found under the windows along the left side of 
 the Mineralogical Gallery, looking from the entrance. 
 I should doubt if there is anywhere a more skilfully 
 planned introduction to any science. It is a master- 
 piece of good arrangement. When a fairly good know- 
 ledge of the appearance of the more important minerals 
 has been obtained, the student who wishes to push far 
 into the subject, will find several diverging roads 
 which will enable him to do so. There is the road of 
 chemistry, by which he will ascertain the composition 
 of his specimens; there is the investigation of the 
 phenomena connected with the transmission of light 
 through transparent minerals, and the use of the 
 instruments, gradually increasing in number, by which 
 a skilled operator can, in a few moments, readily dis- 
 tinguish between precious stones, whose likeness to 
 each other sometimes baffles the keenest and most 
 practised sight. 
 
 Only a limited number of those who are introduced 
 by this book to the subject of Mineralogy, will enter the
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV11. 
 
 exceedingly difficult path of Crystallography, but, even 
 without doing this, the student may advance far enough 
 to learn much that will give him the greatest possible 
 pleasure, and not unfrequently, if he chances to travel 
 in little known countries, enable him to find a road 
 to fortune for himself or others. I observe that 
 nothing is said in this paper about the help that may 
 be given to beginners by collections which are to be 
 had at a very moderate price ; but they are, undoubt- 
 edly, useful, for one of the greatest difficulties, at the 
 threshold of the study of any of the sciences of obser- 
 vation, is the multiplicity of objects upon which the 
 eye falls. All young botanists know that, even if they 
 have the very best books and access to a herbarium, it 
 is a great advantage to have some friend who can tell 
 them, in the fields, the names of a hundred or so of the 
 commonest plants in their neighbourhood. It is just 
 the same with the study of minerals, and a fragment, 
 however small, of quartz, or granite, or schorl, tells 
 much more to an ignorant eye than does a herbarium 
 specimen almost as much, indeed, as a human guide. 
 
 It is probable that only a small percentage of the 
 young people who read this book will ever take to any 
 branch of science as the principal interest of their 
 lives ; but, although it is necessary for the progress of 
 the world that the number of those who devote them- 
 selves to adding to the stores of Bcience should be 
 greatly multiplied, that must always be the work of 
 the comparatively few. It is, however, hardly less 
 important that the broad undisputed conclusions of 
 science should, in each generation, become part and 
 parcel of the minds of all persons who have a claim to 
 be called educated. It is infinitely desirable that 
 society should be full of men and women who know 
 something of the methods by which truth is won, and
 
 xv iii. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 whose own intellects have been trained to work accord- 
 ing to those methods. It is hardly less desirable that 
 the conversation of cultivated people should be en- 
 riched by its becoming as much saturated with obser- 
 vation as it is often now saturated with books. The 
 whole tendency of school education has been, and, I am 
 afraid, to a great extent still is, to divide all life be- 
 tween a very narrow circle of not very informing studies 
 and boyish games. As long as games are merely games, 
 they are all well enough ; but the tendency of the day 
 is to make them pursuits. Forty years ago they ceased 
 with adolescence ; now grave and learned persons, at 
 Oxford and elsewhere, are not ashamed to give every 
 encouragement to young men to fool away their time 
 in such things. Meanwhile the observing faculties, 
 those which are the first to develope, become hopelessly 
 atrophied. It is far from unlikely, however, that, 
 good coming out of evil, a considerable impulse may be 
 given to the training of the observing faculties by the 
 heavy loss which has been of late sustained by the 
 landed interest. Many squires will doubtless sell their 
 estates, and embrace other modes of life; but the 
 majority will remain on their ancestral acres, take per- 
 force to cultivating their own land, and to less expen- 
 sive forms of amusement than those to which their 
 fathers were accustomed. The more intelligent of them 
 will gradually find out that there is a vast deal of 
 pleasure to be got out of a country life without the 
 organization of massacre, and be able to say what the 
 late M. Van de Weyer did to an over-zealous host, who 
 after providing for a good deal of that kind of thing' 
 turned to him with the enquiry : ' And now, what can 
 I do for you ? ' ' Oh ! thank you very much/ was the 
 old diplomatist's reply, 'I don't want to kill anything 
 not even time.' The spread of democratic feeling, the
 
 INTRODUCTION. xix. 
 
 diminution of the direct political power of the land- 
 lord, and a variety of other changes which are going 
 on in the rural life of England, are all likely to act 
 more or less in the same way. 
 
 Literature has, probably, a great deal to gain from a 
 quickening of interest in the material world. Every- 
 one must be conscious of the curious effort in much 
 modern writing to supply the absence of fresh facts 
 and ideas, by saying old things in a new and much 
 more difficult way. For a moment the strange contor- 
 tions of the writer attract our attention ; but it is 
 presently found that his performance is a mere acro- 
 batic feat, proving nothing more than the presence of 
 a certain cleverness. The mind of the reader is neither 
 enriched nor soothed. There is but one remedy, and 
 that is greatly to increase the number of facts with 
 which literature deals ; but, however skilfully these 
 facts and thoughts may be presented, the mind of the 
 public must be educated to take them in, if those who 
 present them are to produce any immediate effect. 
 The next age will, I think, be of the opinion that ours 
 has piled up a vast amount of material, alike in poetry 
 and in prose fiction, which has little message for it, and 
 will, I trust, take to working up, for itself and pos- 
 terity, according to the old rules of literary form, a 
 great many thoughts which were wholly unknown to 
 the generation before our own, and have not produced 
 much effect upon those of our contemporaries who are 
 sufficiently skilled in the manipulation of language to 
 say new things effectively, if they had any new things 
 to say. 
 
 Literature will, in her turn, repay with interest 
 all she gains from a larger commerce with Nature. 
 How much, for example, has the singer of Thyrsis, 
 and the Scholar-Gipsy the most botanical of all
 
 XX. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 -our English poets done for not a few of our most 
 familiar plants ? The Colchicum Autumnale of the 
 Alpine pastures (even although he put it in a wrong 
 order, and called it a Crocus) has obtained a patent 
 of nobility from him, as has the Fritillary of the 
 Oxford meadows, and he has heightened the charms of 
 the Bluebell, the spotted Orchis, the White Anemone, 
 the field Convolvulus, and I know not how many more 
 of our oldest favourites. 
 
 M. E. GRANT-DUFF.
 
 BY J. ARTHUR THOMSON, 
 AUTHOR OF "THE STUDY OF ANIMAL LIFI:,"
 
 .oolagg. 
 
 A CENTURY hence, or less, advice as to the 
 best ways of beginning the study of 
 Zoology will, I believe, appear strangely old- 
 fashioned. For the extension of Kinder-Garten 
 and other rational methods of education leads 
 one to hope that in the future the child will pass 
 naturally and almost unconsciously through the 
 portals of the different sciences, and that in- 
 quisitive interest in life and things will be 
 allowed to spread in broadening circles, and not 
 restricted to lines or segments. Then for a 
 teacher to say " Let me tell you how to begin 
 the study of natural history " will seem as 
 quaint as it now does to hear a schoolgirl say 
 that she has " finished her education." 
 
 But it is not so yet, and that is excuse enough 
 for the following suggestions, of which the 
 most important is this : that one should begin 
 with whatever naturally attracts one, for the 
 letter of logical method is apt to kill the spirit 
 of organic interest which alone gives life to 
 learning. One mind is attracted by the flight 
 of a bird, another by its bleached bones on the 
 heath, a third by the tadpoles in the pond, a
 
 4 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 fourth by the fossils in the quarry. It is all 
 the same. To each his own way is best ; along 
 any meridian he can go round the world. But 
 of course he must make sure that he is going 
 round the world, and not merely going round 
 in a small circle like a traveller in the mist. 
 Hence the use of charts and compass such as 
 this book supplies.* 
 
 I. STUDY OF THE SEASONS. Could I begin 
 again as a little child, I should do what every 
 child in natural surroundings tends to do 
 watch the ebb and flow of the seasons. I 
 should begin on the first of April, though it may 
 not seem auspicious, and watch the life of the 
 opening month the opening of the musical 
 season among the birds, the opening of the 
 prison doors within which so many forms of 
 life have lain in bonds throughout the winter, 
 the opening of the eggs within the nest, the 
 opening of the hearts of many different 
 creatures in joy and love. And in this 
 Nature's Easter would the child share, for 
 Whitman was picturing the normal when he 
 wrote: "There was a child, who went forth 
 
 * In a little boot, The Study of Animal Life, I have said my say, 
 for the meantime, as to the ways in which wo may study animal life' 
 and as I have there given references to some of the " Best Books " I 
 have refrained in this article, which it has been a real pleasure to 
 write, from over-burdening the text with catalogues.
 
 ZOOLOGY. 5 
 
 every day, and everything that child saw 
 became part of him for a day, or part of a day, 
 for years, or for stretching cycles of years." 
 
 As spring grows into summer, the child will 
 watch the growing lambs, and chickens, and 
 ducklings, until they lose interest for him in 
 assuming the respectable stolidity of domes- 
 ticated life. The tadpoles are more inte- 
 resting, and the quaint young gnats. There 
 are new arrivals of birds from the South, and 
 those who have hungry nestlings to feed are 
 busy all the day. With the brightening flowers 
 too there appear the winged insects the birds 
 of the backboneless kingdom. 
 
 But I cannot even hint at all there is to see 
 in the great drama from the pageant of sum- 
 mer to the rest and silence of winter, from the 
 southward flight of the birds in autumn, to their 
 return again in spring, a succession of events 
 all beautiful in their time. The child will not 
 wish for books, but his parents will, and the 
 following may be mentioned as likely to be use- 
 ful Gilbert White's evergreen Natural History 
 of Selborne; Charles Roberts' Naturalist's 
 Diary; J. G. and Th. Wood's Meld Naturalist's 
 Handbook; Grant Allen's Colin Clout's Calendar; 
 Richard Jefferies' Gamekeeper at Home, etc. 
 There is also a welcome promise of a series of
 
 6 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 twelve little books on The Country Month by 
 Month,edited by Prof. Boulger and by Mrs. J. A. 
 Owen, who has made us acquainted with the 
 "Son of the Marshes." 
 
 II. COMMON OBJECTS. Through laziness, 
 disuse, over-pressure, and for other reasons 
 our senses become blunted to what is common. 
 It requires an elephant to wake us up to the 
 fact of animal life, though an ant is just as in- 
 teresting and marvellous. We have been 
 " educated " to ignore the commonplace, and 
 we have to work back painfully from the sea- 
 serpent to the earthworm. But to the child, 
 as to the wise, everything is equally wonderful. 
 This is the child's natural attitude, but it is 
 soon lost, when we tell him that " that's only a 
 leaf," and that " this is nothing but a shell," as 
 we infect him with our own carelessness. Rather, 
 as "Walt Whitman says, should we feel, "I 
 believe that everything is perfect, the grain of 
 sand and the egg of the wren." 
 
 Some books may help us to realise the inter- 
 est of the commonplace, such as J. G. Wood's 
 Common Objects of the Sea-shore, 1857, and 
 Common Objects of the Country ; the somewhat 
 unequal Young Collector's Series, by various 
 authors; Charles Kingsley's Glaucus ; P. H. 
 Gosse's Romance of Natural History and Teriby ;
 
 ZOOLOGY. 7 
 
 and, as a pattern, Darwin's book on Earth- 
 worms. 
 
 III. THE WEB or LIFE. As children, we 
 had, if I remember aright, a casual reflective 
 wonder at the aspect of things suggested by 
 The House that Jack built; as naturalists we 
 are ever repeating the same rhyme, with 
 altered words. Such is Darwin's " cats and 
 clover" story. 
 
 It is a view of life worth striving after, 
 which the phrase, " web of life," suggests. We 
 are familiar with the idea that the parts of our 
 body are knit together in co-operation, and 
 also related competitively; if one member suffer, 
 others suffer with it. We speak of this fact as 
 the correlation of organs. But we must also 
 make real to ourselves the fact of the correlation 
 of organisms. Gilbert White realised it, and the 
 poets have, as usual, been ahead of the men of 
 science in seeing that all things are inter-related. 
 Not a sparrow falls to the ground without 
 sending a throb through a wide circle. 
 
 Of all naturalists, Darwin has realised most 
 perfectly this conception of a "web of life," 
 and from his works, e.g. The Origin of Species, 
 we may seek help in finding illustrations. But 
 if this suggested reading be too hard, may I 
 refer you to the chapters on the "web of life,"
 
 8 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 in Prof. Geddes' Modern Botany, and my Study 
 of Animal Life, both in Murray's University 
 Extension Series. 
 
 IV. THE WORLD'S FAUNA. One of the most 
 fascinating introductions to the study of Zoo- 
 logy is that supplied by the works of the 
 travelling naturalists. To read them is a 
 delight, and, if we can combine their pictures 
 of life, we gain an intellectual treasure worth 
 having. Fancy a Zoo with all the animals in 
 their natural setting and without iron bars ; or 
 the National Museum arranged geographically 
 and vitalised. It is obvious that those who 
 have the opportunity of knowing these two 
 institutions can make the pictures of the 
 naturalist travellers very real indeed. But 
 even without these advantages it is possible 
 scratch the cat and you get a tiger and even 
 we provincials have Wombwell and Bostock's 
 menagerie ! 
 
 Among the classic works of the traveller- 
 naturalists are : Humbolt's Personal Narrative 
 of Travels in Equatorial America, Darwin's 
 Voyage of the Beagle, Bates' Naturalist on the 
 Amazons, Belt's Naturalist in Nicaragua, "Wal- 
 lace's Malay Archipelago, Tropical Nature, &c., 
 Wyville Thomson's Depths of the Sea, Narrative 
 of the Voyage of the Challenger, and Moseley's
 
 ZOOLOGY. 9 
 
 Naturalist on the Challenger. I can think of no 
 pleasanter introduction to Zoology than "W. H. 
 Hudson's Naturalist in La Plata ; if that book 
 awakens no interest in the science, it were 
 better perhaps for the reader to submit to the 
 inevitable. One of the best books of this kind 
 is Brehm's Vom Nordpol zum Equator, which 
 will shortly appear (1894) in translation. I 
 hope in editing this translation to be able to 
 insert references to the most important works 
 of the naturalist travellers, for of all the differ- 
 ent ways of approaching the study of Zoology, 
 this is perhaps the most human and interesting. 
 For the more precisely scientific discussion of 
 the geographical distribution of animals, Heil- 
 prin's excellent volume in the International 
 Scientific Series, and Wallace's Island Life, are 
 strongly to be recommended. 
 
 V. THE EVERYDAY LIFK OF ANIMALS. For 
 animals, as for ourselves, life is a continuous 
 endeavour after well-being, partly selfish, partly 
 altruistic, in great part both. One aspect of 
 this endeavour after well-being is the struggle 
 for existence, the other is the expression of 
 love and kinship. On the one hand, we are 
 told that " contention is the vital force," but 
 there is co-operation as well as competition, 
 mutual aid as well as rivalry. The world is
 
 10 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 the abode of the strong, but it is also the home 
 of the loving. Hunger and love solve 
 
 problems. 
 
 You will find it interesting to read the 
 chapters on the struggle for existence in 
 Darwin's Origin of Species or in Wallace's 
 Darwinism, and then, for the other side, such 
 books as Espinas' Les Societes Animates and 
 Girod's Les Societes cliez les Animaux. Or to 
 lighten the reading to two articles, contrast 
 Huxley on The Struggle for Existence (" Nine- 
 teenth Century," 1888) with that of Kropotkin 
 a year later in the same journal on Mutual Aid 
 among Animals. Then, with the two aspects 
 clearly before you, or better still, without any 
 preconceptions at all, will you not use what 
 opportunities you have of observing the ways 
 of living creatures, and that not listlessly, but 
 with the definite object of knowing how the 
 heart of nature beats 1 
 
 If you need books to help you, may I recom- 
 mend such as Gilbert White's Natural History 
 of Selborne; Richard Jefferies' Gamekeeper at 
 Home, Wild Life in a Southern County, The 
 Open Air, Nature near London, etc. ; John 
 Burroughs' Birds and Poets, Locusts and Wild 
 Honey, etc. ; Thoreau's Walden ; Charles 
 Kingsley's Water Babies; Hamerton's Chap-
 
 ZOOLOGY. 11 
 
 ters on Animals ; Lloyd Morgan's Animal 
 Sketches ; Knight's Idylls of the Field and 
 By Leafy Ways ; Butler's Insects of the House- 
 hold ; and Hudson's Birds of a Parish ; Charles 
 St. John's Wild Sports and Natural History of 
 the Highlands; Houssay's Industries of Animals; 
 J. Gr. Wood's Homes without Hands ; Fre- 
 dericq's La Lutte pour ^existence cliez les 
 Animaux Marins ; and one or two of the works 
 of "A Son of the Marshes," edited by Mrs. 
 J. A. Owen. Among large books of reference 
 not too technical to be mentioned here, three 
 may be mentioned Cassell's Natural History 
 (6 vols.) ; The Standard, or Riverside Natural 
 History (6 vols.); Brehm's Thierleben (10 vols.) 
 The Royal Natural History, just begun under 
 Mr. Lydekker's editorship, promises to be a 
 splendid work. 
 
 VI. -THE STUDY OF STRUCTURE. It is no 
 doubt pleas ^nter to watch the flight of a bird, 
 than to dissect its muscles, but in due season 
 there must be an analysis of structure. Nor 
 need one kill much in order to see ; the 
 Zoologist must do so, but for others nature 
 herself affords sufficient opportunities of 
 studying the dead. There is work for a week 
 on the sea-shore after a storm. 
 
 One naturally begins with the outside,
 
 12 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 relating the features of the animal the boat- 
 like build of a duck, the wedge-shape of a fish 
 to the conditions of its life. But one must take 
 the engine to pieces, to see the boilers and the 
 pistons, and the wheels within wheels. The mere 
 unravelling of the structure say of a snail 
 becomes as an exercise of dexterity, a pleasure, 
 apart from the intellectual satisfaction of the 
 analysis. Even the dry bones acquire a living 
 interest, as we follow, for instance, the various 
 transformations of the fore-limb in fish and 
 frog, bird and bat, whale and horse. And as 
 we begin to have a distinct picture and un- 
 derstanding of the larger parts, we naturally 
 penetrate more deeply, using the microscope to 
 discover the various strands or tissues, the 
 minute units or cells, and the living matter itself. 
 
 I know of no better general introduction 
 than Miss Arabella Buckley's Life and her 
 Children and Winners in Life's Race. For 
 comparative work an excellent guide is Prof. 
 Jeffrey Bell's Comparative Anatomy and Physi- 
 ology, and there are numerous good practical 
 books which will help the student if he do not 
 make crutches of them. 
 
 There is much to be said in favour of the 
 method which leads the student to work 
 patiently at one animal until he can see it
 
 ZOOLOGY. 13 
 
 through and through, until he has " a trans- 
 parent mind-model " of its structure. The 
 most successful book on this method is Prof. 
 Huxley's Crayfish, but there are many others, 
 such as the late Prof. Milnes Marshall's Frog, 
 Cheshire's See, Miall and Denny's Cockroach, 
 which deal with types pleasant enough to 
 handle. Sir W. H. Flower's Horse, Prof. St. 
 George Mivart's Cat, and the like are perhaps 
 more pleasant to read than to verify. 
 
 VII. THE ACTIVITIES OF THE ANIMAL BODY. 
 But it is not enough to take the engine to 
 pieces, we must know how it works, and this is 
 more difficult. We should begin, of course, 
 with observing the animal's life and habits, 
 studying it as an intact unity before we proceed 
 with our analysis. Sooner or later, however, if 
 we are to understand these habits, we must 
 pierce beneath the surface to the inner life of 
 the body. 
 
 We may begin for instance by watching the 
 flight of birds, an appropriate subject, if the 
 student of science be the modern augur. We 
 distinguish gliding, sailing, and ordinary flight, 
 the soaring of the lark, and the hovering of the 
 kestrel ; we try to catch the forward, downward, 
 backward, upward sweep of the wings on slowly 
 flying birds ; we seek help with our problem
 
 14 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 from such books as Marey's Vol des Oiseauv. 
 Having made sure of what we know and do 
 not know, we may work in two directions up- 
 wards, into " higher physiology," till we face 
 such problems as that of migration, or down- 
 wards, into individual physiology till we are 
 baffled by such problems as the contraction of 
 muscle (see Prof. McKendrick's Life in Motion). 
 
 This study of individual physiology leads us 
 to recognise that there are two master-activities 
 in the body those of muscular and of nervous 
 parts. The movements are immediately due tc 
 the contractions of muscles, but these are ruled 
 by nervous processes in which the bird becomes 
 aware of outside things and regulates its con- 
 duct in relation thereto. But the activities of 
 muscle and nerve imply loss of energy and 
 fatigue, and this leads us to consider how the 
 food is made soluble and diffusible, how it is 
 swept to the hungry tissues by the blood, how 
 oxygen also is carried by the blood to keep the 
 fire of life burning, how carbonic acid gas and 
 other waste products the ashes of the vital 
 combustion are swept away, and so on. In 
 such study there is no better guide than Hux- 
 ley's Elementary Lessons in Physiology. 
 
 Gradually we must pass from considering the 
 bird as an intact unity like one of ourselves to
 
 ZOOLOGY. 15 
 
 see it as a marvellous living engine, with many 
 parts or organs, as a great web of tissues, as a 
 vast city of cells competing and co-operating, 
 and finally as an ensouled whirlpool of living 
 matter, which, though ever changing as streams 
 of matter and energy pass in and out, yet retains 
 its integrity till death comes. 
 
 I say "ensouled," for after our deepest analy- 
 sis we have to remember that the animal acts 
 as a unity, that it is a creature with more or 
 less clear consciousness, with some sort of 
 " will," with varying degrees of intelligence and 
 instinct. This is, perhaps, at once the most 
 difficult and the most interesting side of zoo- 
 logy, that of thinking ourselves into the mental 
 or psychical life of animals. 
 
 Here one needs all the help that one can get 
 and more besides. Lloyd Morgan's Animal 
 Life and Intelligence, and his work on Com- 
 parative Psychology in the Contemporary 
 Science Series, may be placed in the first rank 
 along with Romanes' Animal Intelligence and 
 Mental Evolution in Animals. 
 
 VIII. THE HISTOKY OF ANIMAL LIFE. There 
 are three ways in which we can study the 
 history of animal life, (a) from the tombs (for 
 the fossil-containing rocks are indeed, 'the 
 strange graveyards of the buried past'), (6)
 
 10 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 from the cradle (for, in some measure, every 
 creature has " to climb up its own genealogical 
 tree "), and (c) from the structure and habits of 
 adult animals, for it is strangely true that the 
 past lives in the present. 
 
 As Mr. Bather has written an introduction 
 to the study of fossils, I refer you to his 
 chapter. I should be inclined to begin with 
 such books as Hutchinson's Extinct Monsters, 
 which is vivid alike in words and pictures, or 
 Lydekker's Phases of Animal Life, or Dawson's 
 Story of the Earth and Man (though it is a 
 little out of date). Carus Sterne's (Ernst 
 Krause's) Werden und Vergehen is a well-told 
 story of the gradual " Becoming and Disappear- 
 ing" of the races of animals, and Gaudry's 
 Les Ancetres de nos Animaux is another pleasant 
 introduction to larger works. 
 
 There is a lack of a simple introduction to 
 the study of the life-histories of animals, but it 
 is easy enough to make one for oneself. We 
 can watch the development of the gnats and 
 pond-snails, of the silk-moth and the frog, 
 seeking help from such books as Lubbock's 
 Origin and Transformation of Insects, St. George 
 Mivart's Frog, and the relevant parts of larger 
 books, some of which are noted in my Study of 
 Animal Life.
 
 ZOOLOGY. 17 
 
 As you come to know more about the 
 structure and habits of animals you will see 
 how impossible it is to understand the present 
 without the past. As with our own institutions 
 and customs, language and clothes, "everything 
 is an antiquity." The teeth of young whale- 
 bone whales, the little gill-clefts on the sides of 
 the neck in the embryos of reptile, bird, and 
 mammal and the like, are only intelligible as 
 vestiges of a distant past. Like the unsounded 
 letters in such words as ' leopard f and ' alms,' 
 they give us hints of history. Our own body is 
 a museum of relics. 
 
 IX. THE STUDY or CAUSES. Sooner or later 
 we find that none of the schools yet mentioned 
 of the anatomists, physiologists, or embryo- 
 logists can satisfy us. Analysis is not enough, 
 we would know how things have come to be as 
 they are. A merely descriptive history of 
 animal life leaves us unsatisfied we seek a 
 philosophy of history. 
 
 No one would dream of forcing such an en- 
 quiry on a young mind, for, though the germs 
 of theorising are, like those of 'wisdom teeth,' 
 of very early origin, they are usually long of 
 sprouting. And it is perhaps well, for the en- 
 quiry once begun is never ended. Even Darwin 
 telling of a holiday, speaks longingly of the
 
 18 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 child's mood, in which one watches and enjoys 
 the growth of flowers and the flight of birds 
 without vexing oneself with questionings as to 
 how things became thus or thus. 
 
 At the same time, I think that Professor 
 Geddes is surely right (see his article on the 
 Study of Flowers) in insisting that the student 
 who leaves the door of Darwin's school un- 
 knocked at, because he is constrained by 
 precept or example first to pass through the 
 hard discipline of the analytic schools, is 
 doing needless penance. It is the old mistake 
 of an education which advances along segments 
 instead of spreading in circles. With not one 
 of the disciplines can we safely dispense, but 
 it is in Darwin's school that we get the inspir- 
 ation and the enlightening which makes the 
 drudgery of analysis a discipline, which makes 
 all the difference between "Necrology," and 
 Biology. Moreover, the education of the citizen 
 is one thing, and that of the zoologist another. 
 
 No one now believes that animal life has 
 always been as we see it to-day. Before the 
 fauna of the geological present there was a 
 simpler fauna of the geological yesterday, and 
 before that a simpler fauna still, and so on, 
 back to the mist of life's beginning. We have 
 extended our conception of human history to
 
 ZOOLOGY. 19 
 
 the organic world, and believe that the present 
 is in all things the child of the past and the 
 parent of the future. This is " the doctrine of 
 descent," the general idea of evolution. 
 
 The evidences in support of this doctrine 
 have been often stated ; see, for instance, Dar- 
 wins Origin of Species, and Wallace's Darwinism, 
 or, for simpler statement, Clodd's Story of 
 Creation, and Grant Allen's Charles Darwin. 
 
 But we wish to know more. We may be 
 convinced that the present fauna has arisen 
 from simpler types, and that the potentiality of 
 all lay originally in very simple units of living 
 matter. The belief fills us with wonder, bub 
 with no mistrust, for we think no less of the 
 oak tree or of the eagle though we know that 
 the life of each began in a minute and ap- 
 parently simple egg-cell. If we believe with 
 Aristotle and the philosophers that there is 
 nothing in the end which was not also in the 
 beginning, we cannot think meanly of any of 
 our ancestors. The eagle might as well despise 
 the egg. 
 
 But how has this progress been effected ? 
 How do changes arise ; how are some buds on 
 the tree of life pruned off and others let to 
 blossom ? These, as you know, are the ques- 
 tions which are so eagerly debated in Darwin's
 
 20 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY". 
 
 school, at times so keenly that the inquirer is 
 apt to turn away disappointed with the hot 
 conflict of opinions and the lack of certainty. 
 The theory of evolution is still being evolved, 
 new variations are ever cropping up, and there 
 is the same process of elimination at work in 
 the school as in the course of Nature itself. 
 
 Such books as Wallace's Da/rwinism, Romanes' 
 Darwin and after Darwin, and Weismann's 
 Germ-Plasm will introduce the student to the 
 present aspect of the theory of evolution, while 
 the monthly journal, Natural Science, will help 
 him to keep in touch with the progress of 
 discussion. In rny Study of Animal Life 
 I have tried to present a balance-sheet of 
 opinion, and have given references to some of 
 the most important books on evolution. 
 
 One simple idea I may be allowed to state in 
 conclusion. In Water Babies the first book 
 about Natural History which a child should 
 read Charles Kingsley tells how the boy 
 called Tom got very close to Mother Carey or 
 Dame Nature, of whom he had many questions 
 to ask. He expected to find her very busy 
 making this and mending that, but he found an 
 old lady sitting with her hands folded. When 
 Tom wondered much at this, the Mother said, 
 "You see I make things make themselves."
 
 BY W. WARDE FOWLER, M.A., 
 AUTHOR OF "A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS."
 
 "pITOW am I to begin to learn to know the 
 birds?" This is a question often 
 asked, and not easily answered. Many boys 
 and girls answer it for themselves, by a kind of 
 instinct. All that I can do here is to give a 
 few hints for setting to work in a sensible way, 
 so that the beginner shall not only learn to 
 identify different species, but also learn how to 
 study their habits, their movements, their lan- 
 guage, their changes of plumage, and their nests 
 and eggs. It is the study of these habits that 
 makes ornithology so delightful a pursuit ; it 
 can be carried on at all times of the year, and 
 wherever we happen to be, and there is so 
 much still to learn, that no one need ever despair 
 of finding out something about birds that has 
 never been really discovered before. If you 
 only make a good beginning, you will soon be 
 drawn on, and insensibly learn more and more ; 
 and you will find that as long as you live you 
 will never exhaust the subject, even if you are 
 confined to one neighbourhood only.
 
 24 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTOilY. 
 
 There are three things that you should have 
 to start with : First, a good pair of eyes, or 
 failing these, a light field-glass; secondly, a 
 note-book, or roomy diary ; thirdly, a good 
 handbook of British birds. It is much better to 
 start at once with a really good book, even if it 
 has no coloured illustrations, for pictures are 
 very often misleading, and, as a rule, only give 
 you the male bird in full summer dress, so that 
 after all you are left in the dark as to the 
 females and the young. By far the best hand- 
 book is Mr. Howard Saunders' " Manual of 
 British Birds ; " or, if that be too expensive, I 
 wouli strongly recommend an old but excellent 
 book, " British Birds in their Haunts," by the 
 Rev. C. A. Johns. I will also mention Colonel 
 Irby's " Key List of British Birds," which only 
 costs half-a-cro\vn, and Mr. Harting's f< Our 
 Summer Migrants," which can be had quite 
 cheap. Of larger works, if they happen to be 
 within your reach, the best are the last edition 
 of Yarrell, and Mr. Seebohm's "British Birds." 
 
 Provided with these three things, let us sup- 
 pose that you are setting to work in the begin- 
 ning of the year. At that time, if you live in 
 the country, there will probably be birds coming 
 to the window for crumbs ; and if the weather 
 is hard, there will be one or two Thrushes and
 
 BIRDS. 25 
 
 Blackbirds among the greedy Sparrows. You 
 will probably know these birds already, and will 
 not need to identify them ; but look at them 
 carefully, and compare them closely. They 
 belong to the same group of birds, but are very 
 different in colour. What have they in com- 
 mon, that they should be classed together ? 
 This is a question that you should set yourself 
 to answer ; and another is, What near relations 
 have they in England ? In January you will 
 have all the common species of this great family 
 close around you in the country Blackbird, 
 Song-thrush, Missel-thrush, Fieldfare, and Red- 
 wing ; all these you must make quite clear 
 about, and, in order to fix what you learn in 
 your memory, you should set apart a page of 
 your note-book for each, and put down there all 
 that you learn about them from your own obser- 
 vation. Notice what they eat, how they fly, 
 what sounds they make, and, as far as you 
 can, try to discover what these sounds mean. 
 As the spring comes on, the Fieldfares and Red- 
 wings will begin to disappear, and you must 
 record the dates of their disappearance, taking 
 great care that you are not deceived about it. 
 Before these depart, learn something from your 
 books about the journey they are starting on, 
 and the countries they are going to, and also
 
 26 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 about their nests and eggs, even though you 
 may never have a chance of finding them. Now, 
 too, the other three species will have begun to 
 sing, to build nests, to lay eggs, and to bring up 
 young ; and here again will be plenty of use for 
 your eyes and ears, as well as your note-book. 
 You must listen to the songs carefully, even if 
 you think you know them quite well ; and when 
 the nests are built, you can observe their position, 
 the materials out of which they are made, the 
 colour and size of the eggs, and the appearance 
 of the young birds. Later on again, if you live 
 in a favourable place, you may make some 
 acquaintance with one more member of this 
 family, the Ring-ouzel. 
 
 I do not mean, of course, that you should all 
 this time be keeping to one group of birds, and 
 to that only. What I do mean is that it is 
 better to get to know what you can of one 
 group, or of two, or possibly three groups, 
 while you are about it, because in that way you 
 will learn better how to fix the characteristics 
 of different birds in your memory ; and when 
 you know one or two groups well you will be 
 able to go on to others more difficult ones, 
 perhaps with a surer footing. You might, for 
 example, take in the winter the Thrushes and 
 the Titmice (Turdidcs and Paridw), and in the
 
 BIRDS. 27 
 
 spring the Swallow kind (Hirundinidce) and 
 the Warblers (Sylviince); but when you come to 
 these last you will find them very hard to learn, 
 and you will feel the benefit of having had some 
 previous experience in trying to make out the 
 birds of other and simpler groups. 
 
 And, in fact, do what you will, you will get 
 puzzled often enough, and of course you will 
 make many blunders. But puzzles are pleasant 
 employment, and mistakes will do no harm if 
 they do but lead you steadily to more accurate 
 habits. In May and June the number of our 
 birds is so great, that you cannot expect to find 
 out what they all are in a single season, much 
 less to learn anything really about their ways. 
 From the middle of March to the middle of 
 May many different kinds of birds will be 
 arriving in England from the South ; and some 
 of these you must try to learn to know, in order 
 to be able to record the dates of their arrival 
 in future years. I may give you one or two 
 bits of advice that may be useful in this con- 
 fusing time ; they are based on my own 
 experience during the many years in which I 
 was trying, often without success, to identify 
 the many birds I met with, most of which I now 
 know to be quite common ones. 
 
 First : Get help from anyone who ' knows
 
 28 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 the birds better than you do yourself, but do 
 not rely on such help too much, nor on the 
 books you may have. Trust to yourself to 
 puzzle things out with patience and perse- 
 verance ; work slowly but surely. 
 
 Secondly : Stick to one bird until you have 
 made quite sure of him. If the leaves are out 
 on the trees you may have to wait a long time, 
 or even some days, before you can get a really 
 good look at him ; but, meanwhile, you must 
 mark his song carefully, and when at last he 
 lets you see him, even if you cannot yet be sure 
 of his name, you will by that time know a good 
 deal about the bird. You will come by his 
 name in time, and I must tell you that the bird 
 himself is more important than his name. 
 
 Thirdly : When you have succeeded in 
 identifying a new bird, always find out from 
 your book what other birds belong to the same 
 group, so that you may look out for them and 
 recognize them more easily when the chance 
 comes. For example, when you have made sure 
 of a Wagtail, read about the other species of 
 Wagtails, and learn something of their haunts 
 and habits. 
 
 Fourthly : When you find a nest without 
 seeing the bird to which it belongs, do not 
 touch it, but wait and watch. When you have
 
 BIRDS. 29 
 
 seen the bird, if you collect eggs, you will be 
 justified in taking an egg, but not before. This 
 will not only keep you from treating nests 
 carelessly, but will help you to acquire a habit 
 of observation. 
 
 And, lastly I may add that although, as I 
 said, a bird is more important than his name, 
 you will in due time find it both convenient and 
 necessary to know not only the English names 
 of the birds you find, but also their Latin or 
 scientific names. There is, unluckily, still much 
 confusion and variation in these names ; but if 
 you write at the top of every page of your note- 
 book which is set apart for a bird the Latin 
 name given in any one of the books I mentioned, 
 you will find your trouble will be repaid. The 
 first Latin name of any bird will help you to 
 remember the group to which it belongs, and 
 the second will suggest a particular species in 
 that group. But in this matter of names, and 
 in many others, too, you will soon learn how to 
 learn, if you can once make a good beginning.
 
 belle. 
 
 BY E. B. SYKES, B.A., F.Z.S.
 
 IV/TANY persons are hindered from the pursuit 
 of Natural History by the difficulty 
 they feel in discovering where to search for the 
 objects they desire, and how, intelligently, they 
 may set about the study of them when found. 
 It is with a view of rendering some assistance 
 in conquering these difficulties, so far as they 
 relate to the study of shells, or, to speak more 
 scientifically and accurately, the mollusca, that 
 this chapter is written. The shell of the 
 animal is but the bare skeleton, and bears in 
 many respects the same relation to the animal 
 as the human skeleton does to the man. Thus 
 it is of greater importance that we should be 
 acquainted with the animal which forms the 
 shell, rather than only with this skeleton. 
 Whole families, indeed, of the mollusca possess 
 no shell at all ; a very familiar instance of this 
 we may notice in some kinds of slugs. The 
 sea-slugs (Nudibranchiata) possess a very small 
 shell, of the shape of a snail-shell, when they 
 make their first entrance from the egg into the 
 world, but as they grow they cast this off, and
 
 34 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 when mature no sign of its ever having existed 
 can be discovered. One great and important 
 feature by which the mollusca (except the 
 bivalves, such as the mussels) may be generally 
 distinguished is in their possession of what 
 is technically called a radula\ this is a 
 long strap-like organ, furnished with many 
 parallel rows of teeth, sometimes numbering 
 several thousand teeth in a single specimen, 
 and it has furnished much assistance in the 
 subdivision of the families. 
 
 I shall first give a few suggestions as to 
 where to look for land, freshwater, and marine 
 mollusca, and shall then call attention to one 
 or two of the more striking species found in 
 Britain. 
 
 Land Shells, it must be remembered, are in 
 general fond of moist situations, and like shady 
 places where they can retire from the hot sun ; 
 many species also hibernate in winter, and may 
 be then found in large clusters, sometimes fifty 
 or sixty together, under stones. Search your 
 garden, and then go out and search in the 
 hedgerows ; examine carefully the weeds, and 
 especially the nettles, of which they are very 
 fond. Never pass a stone of any size lying in 
 the grass without turning it over, unless it is 
 very tightly embedded, and the same may
 
 SHELLS. 35 
 
 be said of branches of trees, old logs, etc. 
 Snails are also fond of getting under the bark 
 and into the ends of old tree-trunks, and in 
 the spring and autumn some species (especially 
 the Clausiliae, of which more anon) like 
 climbing trees, and may be seen several feet up 
 clinging to the bark. Some of the smaller 
 species are found under old and fallen leaves, 
 and anyone who will be troubled to take a bag- 
 ful of these home and dry them, often, after 
 shaking them, reaps a rich harvest. Remember 
 that a chalky soil is the best of all for finding 
 land-shells ; they do not like pine woods. 
 Almost any time of year will do to search in, 
 except when there is a frost, and in the summer, 
 when the ground is very dry, little may be 
 found, though a shower will bring them out in 
 such multitudes that country people often think 
 they have fallen from the skies. 
 
 Freshwater Shells are to be found in every 
 pond, stream, and river in the country. They 
 may even be found in the mud at the bottom of 
 a horse- trough. Lift out gently some of the 
 growing weed on to the bank and turn it over ; 
 there, adhering to it, you will see the shells. 
 Get .jj^small dredge on the end of a stick, like a 
 dwarfed butterfly-net, and scoop out some of 
 the mud from the bottom ; let the mud filter
 
 36 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 away, and you will find, mollusca; bivalve and 
 univalve, amongst the twigs, stones, etc. Do 
 not, plunge the dredger deeply into the mud, but 
 drag it over the surface, 90 that it is only buried 
 from a quarter to. half an inch. ^ 
 
 For Sea. Shells, which are' more attractive to 
 most people than others, from their greater 
 beauty of colouring, every portion of the shore, 
 from the tide-marks down to" the greatest depth 
 you can attain, should be searched. Always, 
 when collecting on the ' shore, go as low down 
 towards the tide as you can ; low water is, of 
 course, the best time. Turn over; the "stones 
 and examine them carefully, also search all 
 growing weed. Some species live in the hollows 
 of the rock, and are provided with the means 
 of excavating holes for .themselves. Even at 
 the present day> naturalists are not entirely 
 agreed how this is done', some suggesting that 
 it is by a rotatory scraping of the- shell, others 
 by the secretion of an acid, and others by the 
 rubbing of the foot of the animal. The writer 
 is a believer in the latter theory. It may be 
 found useful, when collecting small species, to 
 take a handful of weeds home and wash it in 
 water. If it is desired to kill the specimens, 
 fresh water will cause them to drop off instantly. 
 The shells along the tide-mark, though dead >
 
 SHELLS. i 37 
 
 should be gathered. The way above all others 
 of obtaining marine mollusca, however, is by the 
 dredge, worked from a rowing or sailing boat. 
 Remember always to work with and not against 
 the tide. The extraordinary fascination of this 
 work cannot be realised by anyone who has not 
 tried it. Down goes the dredge, attached to a 
 rope from two to three times as long as the 
 depth of water, and you wait and drift. At 
 last it comes up slowly through the water, and 
 all eyes watch it on its way ; the contents 
 are turned out into the bottom of the boat 
 and down you stop. -it may be that very 
 little will reward you, it jay be that you will 
 see such an assemblage of marine, life as never 
 falls to those.. who stay on shore. A special 
 ' Naturalist's Dredge \ i made by Hearder and 
 Son, Union Street, Plymouth:; the mesh of all 
 these nets is, however,. rather wide for -the very 
 minute species,, and.it is .advisable to line the 
 last six or. eight inches. of the bag with ' cheese 
 bag,' or some such fine -material. Do not get 
 too wide a mouthed dredge, or it will be too 
 cumbersome for a small boat ; about eighteen 
 inches is wide enough. Some species live buried 
 in the sand, and these should be sought for at 
 low tide ; a common spoon is often enough, but 
 a few will require a spade to obtain them.-
 
 38 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
 
 There is, indeed, hardly a spot on this globe 
 that will not yield something to the observant 
 naturalist. Remember, however, that a trained 
 and practised eye will discover much where a 
 beginner will find but little, and be not 
 discouraged if, after a day's hard work, you 
 have not a very large result to show. Patience 
 and perseverance must be your motto, in shell- 
 collecting as in nearly everything else. 
 
 The bare collecting, however, should not 
 be the end of your aspirations ; you should 
 endeavour to arrive not only at the possession 
 of the shell, but also at a knowledge of the 
 animal which forms it. Try and keep them 
 alive ; watch their habits and trace their history 
 from the embryo and egg-stage until full grown. 
 Land shells should be kept under a bell-glass, 
 or in some such form of vivarium, and provided 
 with a box of earth, which should be kept 
 damp ; nearly all of them feed very readily on 
 lettuce, and the English carnivorous ones are 
 small and unimportant. Freshwater shells will 
 live with any other freshwater animals, and, if 
 the water is properly aerated, will remain 
 healthy for years. Most marine mollusca can 
 be kept alive in an aquarium ; some, however, 
 such as the whelk, are highly carnivorous, and, 
 as they will do a great deal of damage in a
 
 SHELLS. 39 
 
 short time, should be kept separate. The 
 marine rnollusca are by far the most difficult to 
 keep alive, but, on the other hand, they repay 
 keeping better on account of their greater 
 diversity of structure. 
 
 Much information is wanted as to the habits 
 of shells. How is it that a newly dug pond 
 becomes, in a very short time, peopled with an 
 abundance of molluscan life ? Where do they 
 come from ? How do they get there ? Birds 
 and beetles have been captured with snails 
 attached to their feet and legs, and this ex- 
 planation is the more generally accepted at 
 present to account for their sudden appearance. 
 Whirlwinds, too, have been seen to suddenly 
 rain down shells in company with other animals. 
 Why should one species prefer sandy downs by 
 the sea-shore, while another loves chalky hills ? 
 What, again, is the instinct which leads some 
 species, when dredged from abysmal deaths of 
 the sea, to crawl to the surface of the water 
 when captured and placed in a jar ? Such a 
 habit can never have been formed where they 
 lived. These are only samples of the many 
 questions still awaiting solution, and towards 
 which everyone can lend a helping hand. 
 
 It must be remembered that, though here 
 attention is given to recent shells only, the
 
 40 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 fossil mollusca must be studied as well. The 
 recent are only the final fauna. left us, while the 
 fossil represent the multitudes which have lived 
 and died during the numberless ages in the 
 earth's history. The cuttle-fishes (Cephalopoda), 
 though to the uninitiated they would hardly 
 appear to be shells, are yet true mollusca. Some 
 select a hollow under a big stone, and there 
 they He, stretching out their arms, provided 
 with suckers, to drag in any stray piece of food 
 which may come within reach. Nothing is too 
 small for them, and their lurking places may 
 be known by the large piles of empty shells 
 whose inhabitants they have devoured. They 
 are especially abundant at Herm, in the Channel 
 Islands ; and many a collector has to thank 
 the Octopus for some of his finest specimens. 
 To this order belong the well-known Pearly 
 Nautilus, the fossil Ammonites, and others. 
 
 The gorgeously coloured sea-slugs (Nudi- 
 branchiata) derive their name from their 
 breathing apparatus being placed externally on 
 their backs. A few may be found on the sea- 
 shore, but most of them are only procurable by 
 dredging. Ordinary collectors have paid much 
 less attention to them than they deserve, owing 
 to the fact that they lose a great portion of 
 their colour and beauty in spirits. There is a
 
 . SHELLS. 41 
 
 small but beautiful set of glass models of them 
 iu the Natural History Museum. 
 
 A very curious order of marine mollusca is 
 that of the Chitons (Polyplacophora) ; the shell 
 of -these curious beings is formed of eight 
 overlapping plates. They may be found under 
 stones on the sea-shore, and were for a long 
 time classed with the limpets, owing to their 
 breathing apparatus being arranged in a some- 
 what similar manner. If jou take one and 
 separate these shell-plates, you will see that 
 they are notched (in most cases) where they 
 enter the animal. It is on the number and 
 arrangement of these notches that the present 
 classification of the group is based. The deep 
 water species are found, in general, to have 
 fewer notches, and smaller portions inserted into 
 the animal, than those which dwell on the shore ; 
 this is supposed to be due to the fact that those 
 on the shore are subject to far greater strains, 
 such as the beating of the surf, etc., and so 
 require more support. 
 
 At first sight one would hardly believe that 
 most slugs possessed a shell, yet it is ; aud 
 though some of them lack it, and in others it has 
 degenerated into a simple shelly plate, still it is 
 generally there. This shelly plate is so placed 
 under the mantle of the animal as to shield the
 
 42 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 vital organs. It is sometimes only represented by 
 a few chalky granules. Other slugs again (Testa- 
 cello) possess a small shell, which is placed upon 
 the tail, so a regular graduation may be noticed 
 from those which are absolutely without a 
 vestige of shell, up to the ordinary snails of our 
 gardens, whose shell is large enough to entirely 
 cover them. Some univalve mollusca possess a 
 shelly or horny plate (operculum), which is 
 attached to the foot of the animal, and with 
 which he is enabled to close the mouth of his 
 shell against his enemies. A protection of this 
 description is also afforded by the numerous 
 teeth or prominences which encircle the interior 
 surface of the mouth of Pupa and other genera. 
 The operculum has been used to distinguish 
 families, though it is of no service in dis- 
 criminating closely allied species ; it has been 
 thought by some to replace in the univalves 
 the second valve of the bivalves. It is found 
 both in land, freshwater, and marine shells. 
 In most species, where present, it is highly 
 developed, and is of sufficient size to entirely 
 close the mouth of the shell; but a gradual 
 series may be traced in which it degenerates in 
 size, until at last it is so small that one wonders 
 of what service it can be. 
 
 A structure of a similar nature, in so far as it
 
 SHELLS. 43 
 
 is a protection to the animal, is the small plate 
 or Clausilium (a little door), which is found in 
 almost all species of Clausilia. The Clausiliae 
 are brownish slender shells, which are found on 
 tree trunks, under logs and stones, and on old 
 walls. The most striking characteristic, at first 
 sight, of those found in this country, is the fact 
 that the twist of the shell is reversed ; that is, 
 if you hold the shell with the mouth facing you 
 it will be on the left-hand side, and not, as is 
 more common, on the right. The peculiarity of 
 the Clausilium lies in the fact that it is not 
 attached to the animal but to the shell, and in 
 this, it will be seen, it differs from an operculum. 
 The animal, when it protrudes its head from 
 the shell, pushes back this plate, and when it 
 retires the plate is drawn back by the horny 
 attachment joining it to the pillar of the shell, 
 and partially, or wholly, closes the aperture. 
 To see this plate, the mouth of the shell should 
 be broken back about half a turn, and then the 
 Clausilium will be seen lying between two of 
 the folds, which, in these species, run back from 
 the mouth sometimes as much as a whole turn 
 or whorl. 
 
 One of our minute snails (Caecilianella 
 acicula) is noteworthy from being both carni- 
 vorous and a dweller in a subterranean habitat.
 
 44 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 They are very rarely seen above ground in a 
 living state. A curious fact is that they are 
 entirely eyeless, and resemble in this respect 
 a family which inhabit the subterranean caves 
 of Adelsberg, in Carniola. 
 
 I have Said nothing., of the Lamp-shells 
 (Terebraiula, etc.), since: they have now been 
 found not to be true mollusca, though they are 
 still frequently included in the text books. 
 Though very abundant in a fossil state, they are 
 still uncommon in a living condition. 
 
 Whole chapters might be written on the 
 anatomy of the inollusca. This should be care- 
 fully studied, and not as is too frequent the 
 shell alone. In this work, a day's practical 
 labour will impart more knowledge than can 
 be learnt from text-books in a year. No really 
 thorough knowledge of the mollusca and their 
 classification, can be arrived at without an 
 acquaintance with the animal ; remember that 
 it is the inhabitant which forms the shell, and 
 not the shell which forms the inhabitant. 
 
 Avoid oiling or varnishing your shells ; such 
 practices are all very well for ornamental work, 
 but for your collection you need the shells as 
 they lived. Dirt and weed growing on the 
 shell should, of course, be removed. It is often 
 advisable, in delicate and fragile sea-shells, to
 
 SHELLS. 45 
 
 soak them for a few hours in fresh water, other- 
 wise the salt left on may set up chemical action, 
 and spoil their appearance. The operculum 
 should be carefully preserved, gummed on a bit 
 of cotton- wool, and placed in the mouth of the 
 shell in the position it occupied when the animal 
 was alive. The very small shells are best kept 
 in glass tubes, and the larger ones in cardboard 
 trays. Always label your shells at once with 
 the locality from which they came ; the names 
 can be added afterwards. If labelling is post- 
 poned, confusion will often arise, and some 
 very unsatisfactory guessing will take place. 
 All species should be carefully kept separate, 
 and never allowed to become mixed. Do not 
 be in too great a hurry to get a cabinet ; some 
 shallow travs with match boxes in them will 
 
 v 
 
 do very well at first. You need but little 
 preparation to start out collecting ; a few wide- 
 mouthed bottles and pill-boxes will be amply 
 sufficient. 
 
 The British marine mollusca number about 
 550, and the land and freshwater about 120 ; 
 a fairly good collection should contain about 80 
 per cent, of the former, and 90 per cent, of the 
 latter. 
 
 When you have acquired some familiarity 
 with the British shells, you might find it useful
 
 46 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 to join the Malacological Society of London 
 which devotes its energies solely to the study 
 of mollusca. Any further information regarding 
 this, or other matters not dealt with in the 
 above brief chapter, the writer will be pleased 
 to endeavour to supply. He may be addressed 
 at 13, Doughty Street, London, W.C. 
 
 The following very short selection of books, 
 contains those which the writer has personally 
 found most serviceable ; there are, of course, 
 numerous others of the same class. 
 
 BOOKS RECOMMENDED. 
 
 Wooc, Rev. J. G. " Common Shells of the Sea-shore," price Is. 
 Plain plates and elementary. 
 
 TAI^, R. "Land and Freshwater Mollusks of Britain," 1866, 
 price 6s. Eleven plates, coloured ; deals also with 
 anatomy. 
 
 ADAMS, Lionel E. " Manual of British Laud and Freshwater 
 Shells," 1884, price 7s. 6d. 
 
 JEFFREYS, J. G. "British Conchology," 1862-9. In five volumes, 
 with many plates ; a standard work ; price about 4 4s. 
 
 SOWERBY, G. B. " Illustrated Index of British Shells," 1892, 
 price 30s. net. Contains coloured figures of all species 
 but no text ; the names are also somewhat out of date. 
 
 FISCUER, Dr. P. " Manuel de Couchyliologie," price 35 francs. 
 This, though of little use to the beginner, is indis- 
 pensable to the more advanced student.
 
 Stilts of jflowere. 
 
 BY PROFESSOR PATRICK GEDDES, 
 AUTHOR OF "CHAPTERS IN MODERN BOTANY," &c.
 
 THLOWERING plants touch human life at 
 many points. They satisfy many of our 
 material wants, they educate and delight our 
 senses, they are rich in symbolic meanings, 
 some of which take us back to the days when 
 all the world was young. But what we have 
 to do with here is that in the study of flowering 
 plants we find at once the easiest and the 
 pleasantest path towards an understanding of 
 what life means. The " flower in the crannied 
 wall " holds the secret of what Grod and man is. 
 Yet all depends on how we study. If we 
 begin with books instead of with the flowers, 
 we shall be repelled and discouraged by the 
 technicalities of traditional pedantry, and we 
 shall forego all the profit not to speak of the 
 pleasure of discovering the facts for ourselves. 
 The devotee of the text-book is often the 
 dullard of the fields. Nor will it serve merely 
 to pull countless flowers to pieces, if we gain 
 no vivid picture of the plant as a living or- 
 ganism a moving, feeling, feeding, breathing, 
 struggling creature if our Biology be really
 
 50 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 only a Necrology. Nor will gathering a huge 
 herbarium serve us, if it be but a carefully 
 interleaved haystack, if it be not the record of 
 our attempts to unravel the complicated pedi- 
 grees of plants and to understand their position 
 in the web of life. 
 
 Let me suggest certain lines of study which 
 appear to me to be natural, and likely to lead 
 to an understanding a realisation of the 
 nature of flowers. 
 
 I. THE SEASONS. Every year, in field and 
 garden, wood and hedgerow, nature's drama is 
 played before us all too dull spectators. First 
 let it be ours to enjoy it, to share in the hope- 
 fulness of spring, the gladness of summer, the 
 sober joy of autumn, the repose of winter. That 
 this emotional sympathy with nature is often 
 killed by false methods of scientific education 
 is too true, and has led to that contempt of 
 science which poet and artist often express. 
 But it need not be so. If our acquaintance 
 with nature be allowed to grow naturally, suf- 
 fering no violence, our emotional sympathy 
 must be proportionally deepened. 
 
 If this is to be so we must watch the drama 
 with active interest, allowing no book of the 
 play to divert our attention from the play 
 itself, forming our opinions from what we see
 
 THE STUDY OF FLOWERS. 51 
 
 and not from what some commentary tells us, 
 appreciating the general dramatic movement 
 b afore we become involved in the detailed 
 analysis of any one character. Surely nature's 
 drama deserves to be treated as fairly as 
 rationally as any creation of the dramatist. 
 
 Thus, as it seems to us, the study of Botany 
 is begun at once most naturally and most 
 profitably by a study of the seasonal progress. 
 Let us then begin when the naturalist's year 
 begins in Spring; let us study the seeds 
 awakening from their winter sleep, the seed- 
 lings raising their heads from the moist ground, 
 the ascent of sap in every herb and tree, the 
 unpacking of the buds, the opening of the early 
 flowers. Observe, think, observe again, and 
 when you are thoroughly puzzled, consult your 
 books. This will take a long time, you say; 
 were it not better to take Botany en bloc from 
 a book, and verify afterwards 1 ? The choice is 
 between education and mis -education, between 
 intellectual manliness and book bondage. Will 
 you keep to the dictionary and grammar of the 
 science, or will you " see the tide of life set in 
 with a flood in spring, filling every corner of 
 the earth with sprouting seeds and shooting 
 stems, and crowding, spreading, rippling leaves; 
 how as the russet underwood warms to the
 
 52 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 fuller sun through trees still bare, it glows 
 with bright golden patches of lesser celandine; 
 how its dead leaves silently sink under a rest- 
 less foam-tipped sea of green anemone; how 
 every mossy bank is set with primroses in 
 crowded constellation; and how the deep sum- 
 mer sky shows first in sheets of hyacinth." 
 
 Soon the summer comes, and with it new 
 scenes, new problems. The full tide of foliage 
 sets in and the colours of the flowers deepen. 
 Whence this colour and what is its meaning ? 
 Are the pigments the waste of the plant's 
 vigorous life, the ashes of these flaming fires 
 which we call flowers ? Are the bright petals 
 flags which attract the bees and other insects 
 to the feasts of honey ? Select some flowers 
 for careful watching, be a child again and fol- 
 low the bee from blossom to blossom, realise 
 the marvellous interactions between the plants 
 and their visitors. Try to think out the every- 
 day life of the plant, how the roots suck up 
 water and salts from the soil, how the leaves 
 absorb air, how the sunlight shines in upon the 
 living matter of the leaf through a screen of 
 green pigment, how light and life in the leaf's 
 laboratory unite their powers to mingle air and 
 water and salts in subtle secret ways so that 
 the dead becomes part and parcel of the living.
 
 THE STUDY OF FLOWERS. 53 
 
 Already the tide has turned, and the flowers 
 are withering and fading. The third act has 
 begun. The insects and the breezes have filled 
 their role in carrying the fertilising golden dust 
 from flower to flower. In the heart of each, 
 new lives are born. The seeds are being made. 
 Whence came they, how are they nurtured ? 
 The feasts of honey are over, the marriage- 
 robes, of which Ruskin speaks in his beautiful 
 description of the flower (see Fors Clavigera) 
 are laid aside, it is the time of bearing fruit. 
 That many of these are sweet we all know, but 
 have we noticed that the nectaries, by which 
 the surplus sugars a short time ago overflowed, 
 are now closed, and that this helps to account 
 for the sweet sap being drafted to swell the 
 succulent fruit. Have we watched the part the 
 birds now play in the drama, devouring the 
 sweet fruits and sowing the undigested seeds, 
 rifling the pods and capsules and losing half 
 the spoil in their eagerness ? Do we know who 
 scatters the acorns 1 
 
 Next year's buds have been formed, the seeds 
 have been scattered in a hundred different ways, 
 the leaves are surrendering the last results of 
 their industry to the parent trees, and the birds 
 are gathering for their southward flight before 
 the cold breath of approaching winter. It is
 
 64 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 now the fourth and last act. "Winter's spell 
 begins to be felt; life ebbs out of sight. 
 "Proserpina is in Hades; sky and mother 
 earth must mourn till her release." 
 
 Your studies will gain in precision if you 
 make for yourselves a naturalist's year book, 
 noting the events of each week a " Colin Clout's 
 Calender " in fact (see Grant Allen's book with 
 this title). If you need it seek help from the 
 Naturalist's Diary, by Roberts, and the Field 
 Naturalist's Handbook, by J. G. and Th, 'Wood. 
 Try to find an excellent little shilling book, 
 possibly out of print now, called Wild Flowers 
 of the Year, and utilise popular books such as 
 Johns' Flowers of the Field. Enrich and 
 vivify your pictures, as you need, by reading 
 tke works of men like Richard Jefferies and 
 John Burroughs; and it is hardly necessary to 
 say that Gilbert White's Natural History of 
 Selborne is the field naturalist's classic. Seek 
 also to realise what flowers have been to men 
 in by-gone centuries what they may still be to 
 you emblems and heiroglyphs. Thiselton 
 Dyer's Folk Lore of Plants, and Euskin's 
 Proserpina will help you to this, and the poets 
 even more. 
 
 Perhaps you think that this is merely " play- 
 ing at Botany" (which by the way, is the
 
 THE STUDY OF FLOWERS. 55 
 
 suggestive title of one of the numerous in- 
 troductions to the study of flowers), but 
 education would be surely better if it had more 
 of the naturalness of play. I believe, indeed, 
 that the child playing in the garden or the 
 meadow may readily know more of the flowers 
 than the medical student a slave to his text 
 book. But the path which I have sketched is 
 not so easy as it looks ; whatever accuracy and 
 precision characterises other methods is needed 
 here also ; no blurred impressions or casual 
 glances may be tolerated if you would know 
 the " flower in the crannied wall." 
 
 Do not suppose that this study of the seasonal 
 changes "Phenology" the learned call it 
 means a dilletantism in science. At every 
 point, whether you are studying buds or flowers, 
 fruits or seeds, you must avail yourselves of all 
 the precise analytic methods of the schools ; 
 dissecting and sectioning, drawing and experi- 
 menting ; and you must, of course, make use of 
 all the knowledge you can gather. But you 
 will do all this with good grace, as you personally 
 discover the need of it, in order to arrive at the 
 solution of each month's problem. 
 
 Thus you should have a " Flora," such as 
 Hooker's or Hayward's, and learn to use it; 
 you should make some simple physiological ex-
 
 56 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 periments, such for instance as growing seeds 
 of maize in different solutions of salts ; and you 
 must have a sharp penknife and learn to dissect 
 with perfect neatness. Yet again, to pull a 
 plant up by the roots, instead of sitting down 
 beside it, to tear it to pieces to count its stamens, 
 when a breath would have disclosed them is an 
 artless pursuit of science, and worse. 
 
 As a guide to the practical study of flowering 
 plants if you must have a guide Bettany's 
 First Lessons in Practical Botany, may be 
 mentioned; in detailed microscopic analysis, 
 the practical manuals by Professor Bower and 
 Professor Strasburger (trans, by Prof. Hill- 
 house) may be used and, unfortunately, also 
 abused. 
 
 II. THE WOELD'S FLORA. The student 
 should not rest satisfied with observing the 
 march of the seasons in his own country, 
 indeed he cannot fully understand this without 
 a broader survey, without some pictures of 
 countries which know no winter in their year, 
 or of others whose summers seem to come and 
 go in a few weeks. Let him search out in the 
 nearest library, a famous, yet too much for- 
 gotten book, Humboldt's Cosmos, or at any rate 
 run through his Aspects of Nature, with its 
 passages of imperishable description; let him
 
 THE STUDY OF FLOWERS. 57 
 
 read Darwin's Naturalist's Voyage, "Wallace's 
 Malay Archipelago , Tropical Nature, etc., Bates' 
 Naturalist on the Amazons, and so on, down 
 to Miss North's Recollections of a Happy Life 
 (1892) ; in short, let him skim through the 
 works of the naturalist travellers, until he has 
 formed for himself a series of pictures of the 
 World's flora. Brehm's From North Pole to 
 Equator, which will be published this year in 
 translation, is also most useful, though more 
 zoological than botanical. 
 
 Nor need this study end in merely mental 
 pictures, for in Miss North's collection at Kew, 
 and in the collections begun in the Botanical 
 department of University College, Dundee, and 
 in connection with the Edinburgh Summer 
 Meeting, there is more than the suggestion of 
 a gallery of landscapes and vegetation, by 
 which we may vividly realise what the world 
 is like. 
 
 Someone has said that a true naturalist sees 
 a tropical forest in a square yard of meadow 
 and it is at least true, that even without leaving 
 our shores, the student may realise the flora of 
 the Steppes, of the Tundra, of the Alps; or, 
 with the help of the greenhouse, even of the 
 tropical forest. 
 
 ITT. THE WEB OF LIFE. Perhaps the
 
 58 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 greatest debt that naturalists owe to Darwin 
 is suggested in this phrase, "the web of life," 
 for it was he, above all others, who led us to 
 an appreciation of the dramatic complexity of 
 nature. " Nature is no longer a mere confused 
 multitude of specimens to be collected and 
 analysed, but each organism is linked with 
 others as consecutively as in the ' House that 
 Jack built ' ; nay, with indefinite cross relations 
 as well ; what seemed a unit is a link ; what 
 seemed a chain is but a thread within the 
 labyrinthine web of nature." 
 
 Starting, for instance, from Darwin's familiar 
 illustration of the links connecting cats and 
 clover, we may follow this fascinating study of 
 inter-relations into infinite detail, until the 
 image of the web becomes vividly real to us. 
 Thus there are the relations between flowers 
 and insects to be observed and pondered over, 
 with help for instance from Hermann Miiller's 
 Fertilisation of Flowers (trans, by Prof. D'Arcy 
 Thompson, London, 1883), Kerner's Flowers 
 and their Unbidden Guests (London, 1878), Sir 
 John Lubbock's British Wild Flowers considered 
 in Relation to Insects (London, 1875), and 
 Henslow's Making of Flowers (London, 1891). 
 The relations, both friendly and hostile, between 
 plants and ants; the work of the prolific
 
 THE STUDY OP FLOWERS. 59 
 
 aphides in making honey-dew' and the man- 
 ner in which these pests are exploited in turn 
 by the ants ; the ravages of injurious insects 
 (see Miss Ormerod's excellent Manual, 2nd 
 edition, London, 1891); these and many other 
 sets of facts will lead the student to understand 
 what is meant by the web of life. See also the 
 author's Chapters in Modern Botany (London, 
 1893), and Mr. J. Arthur Thomson's Study of 
 Animal Life (London, 1892). 
 
 Just as animals struggle with one another, 
 and help one another, so it is with plants, 
 though we cannot suppose them to be aware of 
 their inter-relations, as most animals are. Make 
 a study of a hedge row; realise the struggle for 
 room, for air, for light ; see how a climber like 
 Jack-Eun-the-Hedge scrambles on the shoulders 
 of his competitors, or how others are saved by 
 their finely cut leaves, which expose a large 
 surface to the air. Consult in this connection 
 Sir John Lubbock's Flowers, Fruits and Leaves, 
 and Grant Allen's bright papers in The 
 Evolutionist at large, Vignettes from Nature, 
 Pedigree of Flowers, etc. Look up Nature, 
 September, 1889, for an abstract of a lecture 
 by Mr. Walter Gardiner, on "How plants 
 maintain themselves in the struggle for 
 existence"; or find in back numbers of Natural
 
 <JO HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 Science, several articles by Mr. James Rodway, 
 on " Struggle and death in the tropical forest"; 
 or, failing these, turn up Darwin's Origin of 
 Species, and read the story of 357 seedlings, of 
 which no less than 295 were destroyed. 
 
 Look at those Orchids and other " Epiphytes" 
 in the greenhouse, which are able to live 
 altogether independent of the soil, and try to 
 find out the secret of their life. Read up, in 
 the Encyclopaedia Britannica for instance, the 
 story of such parasites as mistletoe and dodder, 
 toothwort and broom-rape. Or if that be too 
 formidable, read Miss Graye's charming book, 
 The Great World's Farm, and the author's 
 little book,* already cited. 
 
 IV. THE VITALITY OF PLANTS. In our botani- 
 cal studies we have above all things to realise 
 that the plant is a living creature. Watch a 
 tendril of the vine or the stem of the hop, and 
 satisfy yourself that it moves. Multiply your 
 observations, and you will find that this power 
 of movement is shared, in some degree, by all 
 flowering plants, though, in many, it is confined 
 to their youth. See how the leaves of the 
 wood-sorrel go to sleep, or how daisies close 
 their eyes. You will find it interesting to read 
 
 * From this book one of Murray's University Extension Series 
 the sentences included in inverted commas in this article have 
 been quoted.
 
 THE STUDY OF FLOWERS. 61 
 
 about the " Floral Clock," but you bad better 
 test its truth before you keep appointments on 
 the strength of it. Touch the stamens of the 
 rock-rose and watch them curve inwards, as 
 they do when jostled by an insect's legs ; see 
 the stigma of the musk close on a slip of paper, 
 as it does when a pollen grain is borne to it; 
 watch the sundew's tentacles catch a small fly ; 
 set the mechanism of Yenus' fly-trap at work; 
 put the sensitive plant to sleep with a touch ; or 
 lay a silk thread across a tendril of the pea, 
 and you will not doubt that plants feel. And 
 what is true of the two master activities moving 
 and feeling is true also of breathing and digest- 
 ing, they are exhibited as really by plants as by 
 animals, though the latter are, of course, the 
 more wide-awake organisms. In this con- 
 nection you will do well to read the classic work, 
 Claude Bernard's Phenomenes communs a la vie 
 des A.nimaux et des Plantes, and Darwin's Climb- 
 ing Plants, Movements of Plants, and Insecti- 
 vorous Plants. 
 
 Y. ANALYSIS. The history of Botany is in 
 great part that of a gradually deepening 
 analysis. The work of Linna3us was mainly 
 that of describing external form, which he did 
 with unsurpassed precision; Jussieu and others 
 penetrated deeper to a study of the individual
 
 62 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 parts or organs ; the invention of the microscope 
 led to a recognition of the tissues and the cells, 
 and ultimately to the study of the protoplasm or 
 living matter itself. Similarly, when function, 
 not form is considered, the physiological botan- 
 ists have passed from a study of the life of the 
 plant as a whole, to the discovery of the sepa- 
 rate activities of root and stem, leaf and 
 flower; deeper still to a discernment of the 
 various tissues in the plant nutritive and 
 skeletal, conductive and glandular, and so on, 
 and finally to an investigation of the life of the 
 individual units or cells, and of the chemical 
 changes in the living matter. We call the 
 study of form and structure, morphology, the 
 study of habit and function, physiology, and it 
 is evident that anyone who would understand 
 flowering plants must know both. He must 
 understand, for instance, how Goethe's insight 
 saw in the flower but four whorls of modified 
 leaves the protective leaves or sepals, the 
 attractive leaves or petals, the pollen -making 
 leaves or stamens, and the ovule-bearing leaves 
 or carpels. Nor will his studies then be 
 finished, for he must trace the tree to the 
 seedling, the seedling to the embryo, the 
 embryo to the egg-cell; and he must also 
 follow the steps of those who seek to decipher
 
 THE STUDY OF FLOWEBS. C3 
 
 from the rocks the history of bye-gone floras, 
 which led up to ours. In other words, the 
 student must learn of the embryoJogy and 
 palaeontology of plants, and having learned 
 much, he is expected finally to face the most 
 difficult problem of all, to enquire into the 
 causes of what he sees, how the oak tree grows 
 out of the egg-cell, how the flora of to-day has 
 grown out of that of the Carboniferous ages 
 (see the author's articles, BIOLOGY and BOTANY, 
 in the new edition of Chambers' Encyclopaedia, 
 and an article on THE RISE AND AIMS OF 
 MODERN BOTANY in the Parents' Review, 1893). 
 
 According to established programmes, the 
 student is an anatomist first, dissecting a dead 
 * type,' a physiologist afterwards making its 
 parts work, possibly, if time permit, a casual in- 
 quirer into development and past history ; and 
 last of all, an evolutionist by getting up Darwin's 
 theory as an external body of dogma. Accord- 
 ing to our view the right course of study is 
 precisely the opposite : Darwin's habit of 
 observation and interpretation first, physio- 
 logical details afterwards, and such anatomical 
 and historical studies as are needed at each 
 step. 
 
 We do not suppose that the thorough student 
 can dispense with any of the disciplines above-
 
 64 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 mentioned ; he must still study in the schools 
 of Linnaeus, of Jussieu, and of all the great 
 masters, but no longer as a drudge hoping some 
 day to get to the fields, rather as a field- 
 naturalist who takes to the laboratory and the 
 library to find the solution of the puzzles which 
 his day's observations have brought him to face. 
 Like other sciences, Botany has its classic 
 books, but a knowledge of these wi'll come in 
 good time. Nor do we suppose that it is within 
 the scope of this volume to take account of the 
 text books of the schools. They have their 
 place and use, but they are not for beginners. 
 Therefore, of large books we shall mention only 
 one Kerner's Pflanzenleben (2 vols. Leipzig), 
 which is in some ways the best of all. We 
 believe that it is now being translated. 
 
 But there are many small books which a 
 beginner will find useful if he will only use 
 them temperately. It will be enough to give 
 the names of five : 
 
 Miss Aitken Year of Botany, 
 Masters Botany for Beginners, 
 Oliver Elementary Lessons in Botany, 
 Marshall Ward The Oak Tree. 
 Lindley School Botany. 
 " But, as teacher and student usually end as 
 they began, let them begin as they would end ;
 
 THE STUDY OF FLOWKRS. G5 
 
 neither with conning an inventory of plant 
 mummies, nor with the tissue unwrapping of 
 samples of these; but with childlike watching, 
 scene after scene, of the actual drama of nature, 
 in which life inter-acts with life, and fate with 
 all."
 
 Stubp of flDosses. 
 
 BY ELLA M. TINDALL
 
 the (Stuim of 
 
 v ' Cf 
 
 the field botanist who devotes himself 
 exclusively to the study of flowering 
 plants, Winter must of necessity be a blank 
 time. He looks with sorrow on the falling leaves 
 of October, knowing that till March, or even 
 April, his work is over ; but, should he turn 
 his attention to the more inconspicuous, but 
 not therefore less interesting group of plants, 
 that clothes our walls and carpets our woods, 
 he will find that Autumn and Winter are no 
 longer devoid of interest, and a fresh field will 
 be opened to his research. Nature assumes a 
 new aspect, and places heretofore avoided are 
 now sought after ; a bog becomes a joy, a 
 swamp a happy hunting ground, and a damp 
 ravine, especially if it boast a waterfall, 
 Paradise. 
 
 No elaborate appliances are needed for 
 collecting mosses ; a vasculum, a good pocket 
 lens, and sheets of paper in which each specimen 
 may be folded as it is gathered, will suffice for 
 the outdoor work. If the collector be a lady, 
 thick boots, short skirts, and a cloak that
 
 70 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 will enable the wearer to collect in rain, or 
 under dripping rocks with impunity, are desir- 
 able ; she must not mind wet feet or mud- 
 besprinkled garments, long walks or scrambles 
 among rocks and briars ; for love of work she 
 must rise superior to all difficulties, and the 
 pleasure of finding a rare species will be a full 
 reward. 
 
 The study of mosses has one great advantage, 
 that it can be carried on in all parts of 
 Britain, though the rarer kinds must be looked 
 for in the limestone districts, among the 
 mountains of Scotland and the English lakes, 
 on the West Coast of Ireland, and on the clay 
 of the Sussex Weald. 
 
 Once gathered, mosses should not be kept in 
 their damp state, but should be carefully 
 washed in water till all the earth is removed, 
 and then laid out on paper to dry. When dry 
 they can be put aside in envelopes made of 
 cartridge paper, till the collector has time to 
 examine and name them. A portion of the 
 plant should then be placed in a watch- 
 glass, and when all the air has been expelled by 
 immersion, and the plant has absorbed sufficient 
 water to enable it to resume its normal form, it 
 is ready for identification. 
 
 In beginning the study of mosses, the student
 
 THE STUDY OF MOSSES. 71 
 
 should first learn to distinguish the several 
 parts of his specimen, and then make himself 
 master of the technical terms applied to them, 
 and the meaning of those terms ; since tech- 
 nical terms have no value unless their meaning 
 and correct use be known. In Botany, most of 
 the terms in use are limited to that science, and 
 have Greek or Latin derivations ; consequently, 
 they will be often new to a beginner, and a 
 conversation between Botanists on their own 
 subject is almost unintelligible to ordinary 
 mortals. 
 
 What is commonly called the Moss Plant is 
 often of considerable size, and can be seen with 
 the naked eye to consist of a stern, which may 
 be either branched or simple ; this bears 
 numerous leaves, which frequently cover the 
 stem, so that its surface cannot be seen. Its base 
 is fixed in the soil or other substratum by 
 numerous fine filaments, hardly visible to the 
 naked eye ; some of these may be above ground 
 and green these are the proton ema ; others 
 are brown and ramify in the soil these are 
 the rhizoids. The fruit, to which the term 
 sporogonium is applied, consists of a capsule 
 containing spores, placed either at the end of 
 a stalk, the seta, or else sessile among the 
 leaves of the moss plant. The spores are small,
 
 72 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 dust-like bodies, from each of which a new 
 individual may grow. A short account of the 
 life history of mosses, illustrated with figures, 
 is given in one of the London Science Class 
 Books, " Outlines of Classification of Plants," 
 by Dr. McNab. 
 
 The student will spare himself many anxious 
 hours, and frequent mistakes, if, instead of 
 attempting to identify mosses by their leaves 
 alone, he will be content at first to work out 
 those only which he finds in fruit. The prelimi- 
 nary classification of mosses into Acrocarpous, 
 Pleurocarpous, Cladocarpous, Cleistocarpous and 
 Anomalous groups depends on the position and 
 form of the fruit. In the Acrocarpous mosses 
 the fruit is terminal, i.e., placed at the apex of 
 the stem ; in the Pleurocarpous mosses it is 
 lateral, i.e., placed at the side of the stem ; 
 in the Cladocarpous mosses it is placed at 
 the end of a short branch ; in the Cleistocarpous 
 mosses, the capsule has no distinct lid, but 
 bursts irregularly when the spores are ripe. In 
 the case of the two Anomalous mosses, Andrcea 
 and Sphagnum, Andrcea is distinguished by 
 the capsule opening by four slits at the side ; 
 Sphagnum can be unfailingly recognised by the 
 leaves alone, the cells of which are traversed by 
 spiral fibres.
 
 THE STUDY OF MOSSES. 73 
 
 When, by the study of mosses in fruit, he has 
 become familiar with a certain number of species, 
 the student may be able to recognise a further 
 number by the leaves alone. He will know the 
 upright stems of the Polytricha, the heath- 
 mosses, looking like tiny fir trees ; the feathery 
 fronds of the Hypnacece, the Pleurocarpous 
 mosses, common in our woods; the closely packed 
 tufts of the Tortulce, and the silvery patches of 
 Bryum argentewn, beautifying many an old 
 wall and garden path ; and the vivid green of 
 the Spfinagnacece, the bog mosses, sure sign to 
 the wary traveller of dangerous ground. 
 
 For indoor work, a good microscope with an 
 inch lens for ordinary use, and a half-inch 
 lens for examining the areolation (form of 
 the cells) of each leaf, is almost indispensable. 
 The Star Microscope, manufactured by Messrs. 
 R. and J. Beck, of 68, Cornhill, is well adapted 
 for this purpose ; the price is from three to four 
 guineas. A dissecting stand, which can be made 
 at home, a pair of forceps, a small scalpel, a 
 glove maker's needle, a soft paint brush, some 
 watch-glasses, slides, and cover slips, com- 
 plete the list of apparatus. If the student 
 wishes to mount his specimens permanently, 
 glycerine jelly is the best medium for their 
 preservation, and Canada Balsam dissolved in
 
 74 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 benzole can be used for hermetically sealing or 
 "ringing" the cover slips. An excellent hand- 
 book, the " Illustrated Guide to Mosses," by the 
 Rev. H. G. Jameson, has lately been published. 
 Each species is carefully illustrated, and the 
 letterpress takes the form of a key, a system 
 which is of the greatest assistance to the 
 beginner, who does not at once know in which 
 genus to place his moss. Many books more 
 elaborate and expensive have been written, but 
 this one meets the beginner's requirements, and 
 will be found thoroughly satisfactory for prac- 
 tical use. 
 
 Having decided, by the position or form of 
 the fruit, in which division the moss to be 
 examined should be placed, the student should 
 carefully remove the hood or calyptra, and lid of 
 the capsule, noticing their shape ; he will be 
 able to see with a pocket lens whether the 
 mouth of the capsule is bare, or whether it is 
 protected by a delicate fringe, the peristome. 
 It is by the shape and number of the divisions 
 or teeth of the peristome, when present, that the 
 further classification of mosses is determined. 
 In order to see the peristome well, the capsule 
 should be cut open lengthways, and the spores 
 washed out, or brushed away with a soft paint 
 brush. The capsule should then be mounted in
 
 THE STUDY OF MOSSES. 75 
 
 water on a slide with a cover slip over it, and 
 placed under the microscope ; it will then be 
 easy to determine whether the peristome is 
 single or double. A double peristome consists 
 of an outer row of entire teeth, usually brightly 
 coloured, and an inner transparent membranous 
 fringe, more or less regularly divided into teeth. 
 A single peristome consists of only one row of 
 teeth, either entire or cloven to the centre 
 or base. 
 
 The number and form of the teeth of the 
 peristome having been ascertained, the leaves 
 should next be examined. Three or four should 
 be carefully removed from the stem and 
 mounted in water in the same way as the 
 capsule. The points to be determined are 
 whether the leaf is thickened throughout by 
 vertical plates of cells, or transparent, and, if 
 transparent, whether the cells are similar 
 throughout, or traversed by one or two veins or 
 nerves ; whether the edge is entire or toothed, 
 or bordered. The shape and inclination 
 of the leaf, and the form and arrangement of 
 the individual cells, are important factors in 
 determining the species to which the plant 
 belongs. 
 
 Apart from the interest of collecting and 
 identifying the different species of mosses, the
 
 76 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 careful observer will notice that the forms 
 which the peristome takes are full of beauty, 
 and of special interest in the various ways in 
 which the teeth are instrumental in scattering 
 the spores. In the Bryacece and Hypnacece, the 
 peristome, when moistened by rain after a dry 
 day, unfolds by a series of jerks; the spores, 
 being caught by the projections on the teeth, 
 are thrown a considerable distance as the teeth 
 spring into an erect position. This process may 
 be observed under the microscope, by placing a 
 ripe capsule without its lid on a warm slide 
 and breathing gently on it. In the Polytrichacea, 
 the short teeth of the peristome are attached to 
 a flat membrane, the epiphragm, which covers 
 the mouth of the capsule ; the teeth are slightly 
 arched and placed at a short distance from each 
 other, so as to leave a row of small holes round 
 the edge of the epiphragm. This peristome is 
 not hygroscopic (affected by moisture), but as 
 the spores ripen, the capsule, at first erect, 
 gradually bends over, the mouth becomes inverted 
 and, at the slightest touch, the spcres fall out 
 in a cloud of fine dust. 
 
 There is another small group of green plants, 
 the Hepaticce or Liverworts, which the student 
 cannot fail to encounter in his search for mosses, 
 especially in and by streams and in damp
 
 THE STUDY OF MOSSES. 77 
 
 woods ; some of the smaller species are epiphytic 
 on mosses, and grow so mixed up with them, 
 that they are frequently mistaken for each other. 
 Four families of Hepaticce are represented in 
 Britain: The Anthocerotece, Ricciaczce, Mar- 
 chantiacece and Jungermanniacece. The first 
 three genera are Frondose, with no differentiation 
 into stem and leaf, but the last, the Jungerunan- 
 niacese, contains both Frondose and Foliose 
 species. The Marchantiaceso abound in most 
 districts, on wet rocks, walls, or the sides of 
 ditches; the plant consists of a green 
 thallus or frond, with a midrib, growing flat on 
 the ground, and attached to it by numerous 
 rootlets on the underside. The surface is 
 divided into rhomboidal areas ; in the centre of 
 each is a round orifice, the stoma or breathing 
 
 7 O 
 
 pore, giving the plant a dotted appearance. 
 The Sporogonia (fruits) are placed on the under- 
 side of umbrella-shaped branches, which rise 
 erect from the surface of the frond, except in 
 the rare species, Targio?iia, where the sporo- 
 gonium is placed on the underside of the frond 
 The sporogonium consists of a round, dark 
 coloured, thin-walled capsule, filled with spores 
 and threads containing spiral bauds, the elaters, 
 which, when the capsule bursts, assist in scatter- 
 ing the spores.
 
 78 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 The Ricciacece and Anthoccrotcce are com- 
 paratively rare. The Ricciaceae are small 
 plants, dichotomously branched, without pores 
 on the surface of the frond. The sporogonia 
 are sunk in the thallus, and contain spores but 
 no elaters. The Anthoceroteae are distinguished 
 by a slender, erect, pod-like fructification, which 
 splits into two valves when ripe ; it contains 
 spores and elaters, but the latter have no spiral 
 bands ; there is only one grain of chlorophyll 
 in each cell, the fronds are translucent, nerve- 
 less, and proliferous at the edges. 
 
 The Foliose Jungerruanniaceae are frequently 
 mistaken for mosses, but may be known from 
 them by the distichous (in two rows) arrange- 
 ment of the leaves on the stem, the absence of 
 veins in the leaves, which are never more than 
 one cell in thickness, by the pellucid character 
 of the whole plant, and by the fruit. The sporo- 
 gonium consists in the Jungermanniaceae of a 
 dark-coloured, thin-walled capsule, filled with 
 spores and elaters, splitting into four valves when 
 ripe, and is placed on a delicate hyaline stalk, 
 surrounded at the base by a leafy envelope, 
 the Perianth. The plant consists of a stem 
 frequently creeping, with two rows of leaves on 
 its upper face ; in many species a third row of 
 smaller leaves (usually differing in form from
 
 THE STUDY OF MOSSES. 79 
 
 the surface leaves), the stipules or amphigastria, 
 are present among the rootlets on the under 
 side of the stem. 
 
 Some of our commonest bog plants are 
 included in the Frondose Jungermanniacese, 
 e.g., the Pellice and Aneurce. These differ from 
 the Marchantm in the translucent fronds, the 
 absence of pores on the upper surface, and the 
 position of the fruit. The fruit is similar to 
 that of the Foliose Jungermanniaceae, and rises, 
 surrounded by an involucre, direct, in Pellia 
 from the upper, in Aneura from the under 
 surface of the frond. 
 
 Liverworts are more difficult to preserve than 
 mosses, as they are so soft and full of sap, that 
 when dry they shrivel up, and many species are 
 then quite unrecognisable till carefully soaked 
 out. 
 
 No complete book on the British Hepaticae 
 has yet been published ; Sir William Hooker 
 described about eighty species in the second 
 volume of the British Flora, published in 1832 ; 
 but since then more than a hundred species 
 have been added to the list. Dr. Spruce's 
 monograph on Cephalozia is invaluable to the 
 advanced student, but treats only of that genus. 
 It is, therefore, impossible to suggest a sys- 
 tematic work to the beginner, unless his
 
 80 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 knowledge of Latin or German be sufficient to 
 enable him to work easily in those languages. * 
 One word in conclusion. A very small 
 quantity of each Moss or Hepatic is sufficient 
 for preservation as a herbarium specimen, or for 
 investigation ; therefore, let not the joy of the 
 collector, in finding a plant hitherto unknown to 
 him, lead him to gather all he sees. Through 
 thoughtlessness in this respect rare plants may 
 be exterminated ; the goose is killed that lays the 
 golden eggs. With this warning, the study of 
 mosses may be commended to all lovers of nature; 
 it sharpens the powers of observation, it quickens 
 the sense of sight, it provides an object for a 
 country walk, even in the gloomy months of 
 winter ; the proverbial weariness of a rainy day 
 will be dispelled by the interest it affords in 
 classifying and mounting the gatherings of 
 brighter hours ; and it may even settle that oft- 
 debated and much vexed question : " Where 
 shall I spend my holiday next year ? " 
 
 LIST OF BOOKS ON MOSSES AND HEPATICS. 
 
 " Illustrated Guide to British Mosses," by the Rev. H. G. 
 Jameson ; price 7s. 6d. To be obtained from the 
 Author, 6, College Road, Ea&tbourne. 
 
 " British Moss Flora." R. Braithwaite (illustrated), 
 
 " Synopsis of the British Mosses " (not illustrated). Hobkirk. 
 Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 " Classification of Plants," by W". E. McNab ; price Is. fd. 
 
 " Synopsis Hepaticarum " (not illustrated). Gottsche, Linden- 
 berg & N. ab Esenbeck. 12s. 
 
 " Die Lebermoose " (illustrated). G. Pabst. 
 
 * Since this chapter was written a " Handbook of Britis-h Hepatic " has 
 been published by Dr. M. C. Cooke.
 
 ftutgi* 
 
 By Miss LORRAIN SMITH.
 
 Jrnngi. 
 
 Fungi form such a natural, well- 
 defined group of plants, that all of us, 
 more or less, know a fungus when we see it ; 
 few, however, have any conception of the im- 
 mense number and variety of this class of 
 plants. In our own country there are double 
 the number of species of fungi that there are of 
 flowering plants, and altogether there are known 
 to science 40,000 species. Our moist climate 
 favours their growth, and thus our fungus-flora 
 is exceptionally rich. A successful collector 
 may any day discover a new plant, or prove 
 that those marked "rare" are only rare because 
 there is no one to look for them. 
 
 The degenerate habit of life of the fun<n is 
 
 C5 O 
 
 largely due to their want of chlorophyll, the 
 green colouring substance by which all other 
 plants, a few parasites excepted, convert atmo- 
 spheric carbon into food material. The fungi 
 cannot do this, so they seek their food among 
 substances that have been prepared by green 
 plants as their own food, and thus are in much 
 the same position as animals in regard to their
 
 <S4 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 mode of getting a living. When they live on 
 dead organic matter, like the moulds on cheese. 
 
 o 
 
 bread and jam, dead leaves and wood, they are 
 called Saprophytes, and when they prey on 
 living plants and animals, they are called Para- 
 sites. The economic interest for us may be 
 indicated by citing the dry-rot in the timbers 
 of our dwellings as an example of a saprophyte, 
 and the potato-disease fungus as an example of 
 a parasite. 
 
 The mushrooms are among the best known 
 members of the whole plant kingdom ; they are 
 placed in a large sub-division of the fungi called 
 the Basidiomycetes. When the mushroom, 
 which is the fruit of the plant, emerges from 
 the soil, it looks like a little round ball, but 
 gradually the stalk elongates, and an umbrella- 
 like head, called the pilaus or cap, is formed, 
 the outer part of which is often brilliantly 
 coloured. In some species there is a vulva or 
 veil covering over the fungus at an early stage, 
 but this bursts as the mushroom expands. If 
 we examine the under part of the pileus, we 
 find radiating rows of gills, very crowded, but 
 all distinct from each other. These mils are the 
 
 O 
 
 spore-bearing portion of the plant ; their surface 
 is covered with little branches termed basidia, 
 on the ends of which are borne the ripening
 
 FUNGI. 85 
 
 spores. This under part of the pileus is nearly 
 always less brightly coloured than the upper 
 part, but the spores are of various hues, white, 
 pink, brown, purple or black. If the cap be 
 removed from the stalk and placed on a sheet 
 of white paper, a delicately-tinted deposit of 
 spores is formed, the colour of which helps 
 greatly in the determination of species. In 
 other genera, the gills are replaced by spines 
 projecting downwards (Hydnece), or by pores 
 (Poly ponce). Those with pores on the under 
 surface are very common in our woods, growing 
 on the ground or on trees. 
 
 In the Clavarice, or club-fungi, the spore- 
 bearing layer surrounds a short upright stalk, 
 with blunt ends, and very often branched. They 
 vary in colour from pure waxy white to a 
 beautiful deep orange yellow, and are often 
 found in damp fields, or among moss. 
 
 The puff-balls (Lycoperdacece) contain, when 
 mature, a powdery mass of brown or black spores, 
 which are scattered everywhere when the outer 
 skin is broken. At an early stage the interior 
 is divided up into chambers lined with the spore- 
 bearing basidia, but as the spores ripen the rest 
 of the tissue decays and disappears. Phallus 
 impudicus is another very well-known Basidio- 
 mycete ; it has a hollow stalk, the top of which
 
 86 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 is surrounded by a series of closed chambers, 
 In this case the outer wall decays, and the 
 chambers with the spores are laid bare. It is a 
 very objectionable fungus ; the smell of the 
 healthy normal plant is so offensive that it is 
 almost impossible to examine it. 
 
 These larger fungi are very easily broken or 
 bruised ; this arises from the delicacy of the 
 tissue. Tt is entirely built up, as in all fungi, of 
 simple filaments of cells termed hyphae, which 
 may be simple or compacted together to a solid 
 structure. It exists underground, as a white 
 felt or spawn the mycelium of the plant or 
 it is hidden away among the tissues of the 
 host-plant. When any fungus becomes visible 
 to us, we may know that it has reached the 
 highest stage of its existence, the production of 
 spores, and will repay examination. The spores 
 are borne on the hyphae, and on this method of 
 their growth is based the system of classi- 
 fication. 
 
 A large series of fungi, the Uredineae, have 
 been classed along with the Basidiomycetes 
 from the position of certain spores at the apex 
 of special hyphae. They are all very minute 
 parasites, forming rusts on living plants, and 
 have a remarkable life-history. The corn- 
 mildew (Puccinia graminis), one of the best
 
 87 
 
 known of the Uredineae, passes the early part 
 of its life on the leaves of the Barberry bush 
 The mycelium forms a little round fruit, called 
 a cluster-cup, which bursts the epidermis of the 
 leaf, and from the base of the cluster-cup thus 
 formed rise the fertile hyphae, which bud off 
 orange-coloured spores. These germinate only 
 on corn ; the spore lights on the young corn- 
 plant, and grows out into a little filament, which 
 penetrates the tissue of the new host. The 
 fungus now produces tiny orange-coloured glo- 
 bules, called uredospores, in immense numbers, 
 which are scattered by the wind, and serve to 
 disseminate the disease. As winter approaches, 
 brown resting spores, called teleutospores, are 
 produced. They are generally larger, and have 
 a thick coating, which enables them to persist 
 through the cold weather. When spring re- 
 turns, they germinate on the Barberry, and the 
 life-cycle begins afresh. 
 
 The Uredineae include many beautiful forms, 
 the manner of fruiting being very varied. Some 
 of the species confine themselves to one host, 
 producing in turn the different spores ; others 
 have become still less enterprising, and have 
 only one kind of spore. They form little warts 
 and patches on the stalk and leaves of many 
 flowering plants and ferns. In spring, a yellow
 
 88 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 spot on the leaves of the Lesser Celandine 
 betrays the presence of Aecidium Ficariae, one 
 of the earliest to make its appearance ; in 
 autumn teleutospores are to be found as dark 
 coloured dots and streaks on the leaves of 
 grasses and other plants. 
 
 Another large group of fungi, called Ascomy- 
 cetes, form their spores in tubular cells called 
 asci. The homely familiar yeast-plant is one 
 of the simplest and most useful members of the 
 group. Owing to its rapid growth, it induces 
 great changes in the food-material provided for 
 it, a process which has been utilized in the 
 service of man. The truffle is also a much 
 esteemed member of this order which develops 
 underground in beech or oak woods. Among 
 the most lovely of all are the cup-fungi (Peziza), 
 which grow mostly on dead wood and stumps. 
 The hollow cup forming the fruit is filled with 
 spore-containing asci, and in some species is of 
 the most beautiful colours, red, yellow, etc. 
 There are many other genera of equal interest, 
 such as Nectria, which forms little reddish 
 swellings, with flask shaped fruits, onthebranches 
 of our currant bushes, and the Erysipheae, which 
 occur as a white felt or mildew on the leaves of 
 various plants. The asci of Erysiphe and 
 allied genera, are enclosed in a beautiful case
 
 FUNGI. 89 
 
 which looks like a little black dot, and is often 
 provided with appendages and hooks by which 
 it attaches itself to its host. 
 
 There is one remarkable family, of composite 
 character, the Lichens, consisting of fungi, 
 which, instead of robbing their neighbours of 
 food supply, have entered into partnership with 
 minute Algae, and give and take in the most 
 friendly manner. The fungus and alga grow 
 and increase together with mutual benefit. In 
 nearly all cases the spores are formed in asci 
 which are to be found at the tips of the plant or 
 in little cups. Lichens are very widely dis- 
 tributed plants, reaching the utmost limits of 
 vegetation, and clothing the rocks of the 
 highest hills. Some hang in waving tufts from 
 the pine trees, others hold aloft their fairy 
 trumpets from the tops of stone walls ; the 
 grey, yellow or brown stains on stones are 
 caused by minute lichens, which grow where 
 nothing else could. In deference to their green 
 alga comrades, they rather seek the sunlight, 
 and avoid the cellars and shady nooks that form 
 the favourite haunts of fungi. 
 
 Among the more simple forms of fungi are 
 Bunt and Smut that attack the corn grains, 
 converting the ear of corn into a mere mass of 
 
 O 
 
 brown or black spores, and the Phycumycetes,
 
 90 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 which include among others Salmon disease and 
 Potato disease. The latter caused the almost 
 total destruction of the potato crop in 1845, and 
 reappears in our fields every autumn, when the 
 weather is moist and warm. The mycelium in 
 the tissue of the potato-plant sends out hyphae 
 through the breathing pores of the leaves and 
 stem, delicate fairy-like branches that bud off 
 pear-shaped spores. These are wafted by the 
 wind to other plants, and when they alight 
 they germinate in a remarkable way ; moving 
 bodies issue from the spore, swim about in the 
 drops of moisture such as dew on the leaves, 
 then finally settle and grow out into a filament 
 which penetrates the leaf. The fungus extends 
 through the stalk down to the tuber, and 
 quickly renders the potatoes quite worthless. 
 Most of the members of this class are trouble- 
 some little pests, but they can easily be grown 
 and watched under the microscope, and this 
 alone would render them favourite objects of 
 study. 
 
 While the other members of the vegetable 
 kingdom, from the Algae onwards, have a more 
 and more perfected method of seed-bearing, the 
 fungi have distinctly degenerated. Some of the 
 simp'e alga-like forms possess, like the Algae, 
 the double method of reproduction by fertiliza-
 
 FUN<;I. 91 
 
 tion and by vegetative spores (that is, by certain 
 cells which are budded off and are capable of 
 growing into a new individual), but in the more 
 complicated fungi, such as the mushrooms, the 
 latter method of reproduction alone prevails. 
 They have acquired a marvellous power of 
 adaptation, and of changing their forms, and 
 they scatter their minute spores in such count- 
 less numbers that some mould or mushroom is 
 sure to grow wherever a suitable soil and 
 temperature is provided. 
 
 Among the Basidiomycetes are found most 
 of our edible fungi Mushrooms, Chantarelles, 
 Boleti, etc., and many, we are told, ought to be 
 used as food which are now allowed to go to 
 waste. They are exceedingly rich in nitrogenous 
 substances, and might form a delicious and 
 
 ' O 
 
 valuable article of diet. On the other hand, 
 some are virulently poisonous, and even the 
 safe varieties are hurtful if not gathered when 
 they are fresh. Much, also, depends on the 
 cooking ; enthusiastic fungologists usually add 
 cooking recipes to the description of edible 
 fungi. 
 
 A most interesting scientific account of fungi, 
 their method of growth and life-histories, is 
 included in "A Handbook of Cryptogamic 
 Botany," by Bennett and Murray (Longmans,
 
 02 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 Green & Co.) A list of books is appended that 
 will be found helpful to collectors. 
 
 "Guide to Sowerby's Models of British Fungi," with 93 figures, 
 price 4d. Published by the Trustees of the Britisli 
 Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, S.W. 
 
 "British Edible Fuugi," by M. C. Cooke (Kegan, Paul and Co.) 
 
 " Diseases of Field and Garden Crops," by Worthiugton G. 
 Smith (Macmillan & Co.)
 
 Seaweefcs, 
 
 BY E. M. HOLMES, F.L.S.
 
 featoeelte. 
 
 " TTTTHAT are you looking for ? " is a question 
 not unfrequently asked by young folks 
 when they see an algologist wading in the 
 pools on the shore ; and on several occasions a 
 peep through a lens at the objects of search has 
 been known to give considerable pleasure to the 
 questioner. Many seaweeds are so beautiful in 
 colour and so exquisite in form, are so easily 
 mounted on paper, and preserve their colour for 
 so many years, that it is strange so few take 
 an interest in them. 
 
 There is also quite a healthy excitement 
 aroused by hunting for new varieties along the 
 beach, and great pleasure to be derived from 
 them when found, both in examining them and 
 in exercising manipulative skill in mounting 
 them as naturally and artistically as possible. 
 
 A habit of minute and careful observation is 
 engendered in collecting specimens of different 
 kinds, and in comparing them under the micro- 
 scope, and patience is unconsciously acquired in 
 mounting them. An onlooker watching the 
 process frequently observes, " I could never
 
 96 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 have the patience to do that," but the manipu- 
 lator becomes so absorbed in spreading out every 
 little branch perfectly, that the work becomes a 
 pleasure, rather than a toil. In wet weather, a 
 handful of seaweed, gathered in a few minutes 
 on the beach, will supply material for amuse- 
 ment for a whole day, if examined under a 
 microscope.* 
 
 By selecting pieces of good colour, and by 
 the exercise of a little artistic skill, very pretty 
 birthday or Christmas cards may be made with 
 seaweeds, appropriate mottoes being printed on 
 them by hand in gold or coloured inks. 
 
 The chief difficulties that confront the young 
 algologist are (L) how to get specimens of 
 good colour, (2) how to find out their names, 
 (3) and how to mount them. 
 
 A few hints as to the best methods of over- 
 coming these difficulties may therefore prove 
 useful. The finest and best specimens are 
 always found growing, and can only be got at by 
 wading in the pools or by examining buoys and 
 wooden piles, etc., from a boat. To wade with 
 comfort, waterproof leggings or boots are a prime 
 necessity. Those sold under the name of fishing 
 stockings, and reaching considerably above the 
 knees, answer the purpose admirably. These, 
 
 * A portable microscope, for seaside use, may be obtained for about 3.
 
 SEAWEEDS. !>7 
 
 together with a pair of sand-shoes, may be 
 carried in a bag, and a pair of light elastic-side 
 boots used for walking to the shore. On arrival 
 there, the boots are exchanged for the fishing- 
 stockings, and the sand-shoes are worn over 
 the latter so as to prevent their being cut by 
 the rocks. 
 
 Accoutred thus, comparatively large pools 
 may be searched, and all kinds of treasures 
 discovered in their recesses. On leavino- the 
 
 o 
 
 shore, the boots are resumed, and the seaweed- 
 hunter walks home as dry and as comfortable as 
 if he had never been in the water. For ladies, 
 waterproof boots reaching to the knees can be 
 used, and can be put on before starting from 
 home. For carrying home the specimens, three 
 small American-leather bags, or sponge-bags, 
 with a small pickle-bottle, and a few pieces of 
 old washed muslin, are all that is required. 
 But a knife, for cutting specimens off woodwork, 
 and a magnifying-glass, such as is used by 
 jewellers, for examining the more delicate 
 species, will be found useful. 
 
 The best time to visit the shore is on the two 
 days preceding and following the new and full 
 moon, when the lowest of spring tides uncover 
 rock-pools not visible during ordinary tides. The 
 hunt should begin about an hour before the tide
 
 .98 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 turns, and be continued until a film of scum 
 raised by the incoming tide in the pools indicates 
 that care must be taken not to let the tide cut 
 off the retreat round projecting headlands or 
 ridges of rock. In some places, as at Filey and 
 at Sid mouth, it is particularly necessary to 
 watch the incoming tide. 
 
 The finest coloured red-weeds will be found 
 growing almost in the dark, under overhanging 
 ledges of rock, whilst the green and brown 
 species grow in the sunnier parts of the pools. 
 It should be borne in mind that different species 
 grow under different conditions. 
 
 Thus, some grow on the shores of the open 
 sea, where the water dashes roughly against the 
 rocks, and are not found in sheltered bays, 
 where other and quite different species grow. 
 Other species grow in estuaries where the salt 
 water is diluted by river water. Many of the 
 glutinous, or slippery species, grow on the sea- 
 grass (Zostera), which is found on muddy or 
 sandy shores. Others again occur on large 
 boulders, under cover of the larger and more 
 leathery species, and some in the pools of salt 
 marshes overflowed by the sea. Wherever the 
 conditions vary, different species may be looked 
 for. Some species grow only in deep water, 
 where the rocks are never uncovered, and these
 
 SEAWEEDS. 99 
 
 are rarely met with except after a storm, when 
 they may often be found attached to the rough- 
 stemmed oar weed (Laminiria) or to the sea- 
 laces (Chorda) thrown up on the shore. 
 
 When there is a sudden fall in the barometer 
 indicating a gale, a visit to the shore is always 
 advisable, for the weeds are often torn up by 
 storms at a distance, and thrown up on the 
 beach before the storm actually arrives ; when 
 it does come, it soon tears the cast up weed into 
 shreds, or buries it in sand. 
 
 In collecting specimens, the brown, green, and 
 reddish species should be kept apart in separate 
 bags. Some species, such as Desmarestia, 
 Halyseris and Wranr/elia lose their colour on 
 exposure to the air, and must be carried home 
 in sea water. A little experience will, however, 
 soon teach the observer the peculiarities of the 
 different species. 
 
 It is advisable, before leaving the shore, to find 
 a quiet, clear pool, and to carefully wash the 
 specimens clean, taking the opportunity of 
 reserving only the most perfect specimens. 
 
 On arriving at home the specimens are placed 
 in bowls of clean sea water (fresh water often 
 bursts the cells and discharges the colouring 
 matter on the paper), and a specimen selected 
 and placed on a white dish (a plaque, such as
 
 100 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
 
 are used for painting on, answers well.) Any 
 branches that stand up or prevent the clear 
 display of the branching of the plant may be 
 pruned off with a knife, or if small, with the 
 sharp edge or point of a porcupine quill. 
 
 The specimen is then placed on a second 
 plaque with clean sea water in it, and a piece of 
 stout white drawing paper or demy paper 
 slipped under it. A finger of the left hand is 
 used to keep the specimen in the middle of the 
 paper, and a porcupine quill is used to spread 
 out the branches distinctly, beginning at the 
 bottom with the larger branches, and gradually 
 drawing the paper out of the water until the 
 whole is spread out neatly. This requires a 
 little practice to do well. If the branches run 
 together at the tips, the circumference of the 
 specimen may be dipped under the edge of the 
 water and the tips floated out again naturally, 
 withdrawing the specimen very gently from the 
 plaque or dish. In the more delicate species, in 
 which the individual branchlets are not easily 
 distinguished by the naked eye, the branches 
 may be brushed out in the water with a camel's 
 hair pencil, moving the brush from the centre 
 towards the circumference of the plants. The 
 paper, with the seaweed upon it, is then laid 
 on a sheet of stout blotting paper, and a piece
 
 SEA.WEEDS. 101 
 
 of old muslin laid upon it. New or unwashed 
 muslin will not do, since the size or " dressing " 
 on it causes L to adhere to the seaweed. By the 
 time that the sheet is covered with specimens, 
 the excess of moisture will have been absorbed. 
 The specimens are then placed on a sheet of 
 blotting paper on a board, and two other sheets 
 of blotting paper placed over them. When a 
 pile of sheets has been made, another board is 
 placed on the top, and gradual pressure applied 
 by means of weights. For this purpose bricks 
 wrapped in newspaper answer very well, or the 
 upper board may be replaced by a flat box, if 
 obtainable, such as Wellington knife polish or 
 mustard are packed in, as the bricks are easily 
 held in it. The blotting paper should be 
 changed in two hours, and again in twelve, by 
 which time the specimens are usually dry enough 
 to remove the muslin. Gelatinous, or slippery 
 algae, may be spread out on paper and left until 
 nearly dry, when the under surface of the paper 
 may be moistened before pressing them, i arge, 
 coarse, leathery species may be hung up to dry, 
 and, when dried, should be immersed for about 
 five minutes in fresh water to remove the salt 
 they retain, before pressing them. When 
 pressed, they may be made to adhere to paper 
 by means of thick gum ; this is spread thinly
 
 102 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 on a narrow slip of card, which is inserted by 
 the right hand under the main stems and 
 branches, the left hand being used to press the 
 specimens down as the card is withdrawn. If 
 required for seaweed baskets, the weeds should 
 be placed between two pieces of old muslin 
 before being pressed. For these baskets, 
 zoophytes are often largely used. These may 
 be distinguished from seaweeds by their pale 
 brown or dirty white colour and horny con- 
 sistence, their open-mouthed cells, by not 
 shrinking when dry, and by the absence of 
 vegetable cellular structure when examined 
 under the microscope. 
 
 The most beautiful and brightest coloured 
 specimens of seaweed are usually found in May 
 and June, but very fine specimens are thrown 
 up by storms in August and September. The 
 common oarweed (Laminaria stenophylla) is 
 found in fruit in June, but the other kinds of 
 oarweed are best collected in February, when 
 the fructification is present on the top of the 
 frond, and the curious growth of the new frond 
 below the old one can be seen. 
 
 During the winter months few species possess 
 much beauty, but from November to April many 
 of the commoner species are in fructification, 
 and are exceedingly instructive when examined 
 under the microscope.
 
 SEAWEEDS. 103 
 
 Some of the best shores for seaweeds that I 
 have visited are those of Jersey, Weymouth, 
 Plymouth, Sidmouth, Falmouth, Torquay, Pad- 
 stow, Bognor, Ilfracombe, Berwick-on-Tweed, 
 Cumbrae, and at very low tides, Shoreham and 
 Brighton, Worthing and Hastings. But there 
 is little doubt that there are many other 
 excellent localities as yet unexplored in Ireland, 
 West of Scotland, the Shetland Isles, Wales, 
 and Cornwall, etc. 
 
 In most large towns there is generally a 
 collection of seaweeds accessible for reference in 
 the local scientific institute or museum. A 
 comparison with such a collection is the best 
 way for a beginner to identify specimens. 
 When he has formed some idea of the commoner 
 species, he may look carefully for fructification, 
 and collect only specimens bearing it. 
 
 Delicate species, with slender filaments only 
 one cell thick, are easily recognised under the 
 microscope, but species having a complex 
 structure must be cut transversely with a very 
 sharp knife, so as to display their internal 
 structure. This is best done by placing the 
 weed, or a portion of it, on a piece of card, 
 pressing it down with the forefinger of the left 
 hand and using a penknife in the right hand, 
 so as to cut a thin transverse slice, the thinness
 
 104 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 beino- regulated by a slight movement of the 
 
 o o * 
 
 nail of the hand holding the weed. The cut 
 should be made by a sliding or saw-like move- 
 ment. If sufficiently thin, the structure is 
 easily seen when placed in a drop of water on a 
 glass slide with a thin cover glass over it, and 
 examined under the microscope. 
 
 There is no better way than this of dis- 
 tinguishing the different species of Marine 
 Algae. When the fructification is met with, it 
 affords confirmatory and decisive evidence. 
 
 There is no work giving illustrations of all 
 the British Marine Algae, but a revised list, 
 reprinted from the Annals of Botany, of all the 
 species known up to two years ago, is obtainable 
 from the " Clarendon Press " Office, Amen 
 Corner, Paternoster Row (2s. 6d.) 
 
 The best book with which to compare 
 specimens is Harvey s Phycoloyia Britannica, 
 but it is too expensive for ordinary purposes. 
 Two excellent little books The Marine 
 Botanist, I. Gifford (Longmans), and British 
 Marine Algae, by W. H. Grattann (Bazaar 
 Office), are now out of print, but are sometimes 
 obtainable at second-hand booksellers. There 
 are, however, three books still obtainable : 
 Landsborough, D., "A Popular History of 
 British Seaweeds" (Lovell Reeve) ; Gray, S. O.,
 
 SKA WEEDS. 105 
 
 " British Seaweeds " (Lovell Reeve) ; Clarke, 
 Mrs. L. Lane, " The Common Seaweeds of the 
 British Islands " (Warne & Co.)
 
 fllMnerals. 
 
 BY G. T. PRIOR, M.A., F.G.S.
 
 Jtlinerals. 
 
 best preparation for the beginner who 
 is thinking of taking up the study of 
 minerals, will be to learn to look out upon the 
 inanimate world around him with eyes more 
 careful to observe its beauty and diversity of 
 structure, than hitherto. 
 
 Just as, amongst plants and animals, he has 
 long since learned to recognize a wonderful 
 variety of types, so he will find that inorganic 
 Nature is by no means so monotonous in 
 appearance as he may, perhaps, have been in 
 the habit of thinking. A glance at the railway 
 cuttings during a journey, or at rugged moun- 
 tain scenery, where the rock features are not 
 wholly concealed by vegetation, or, better still, 
 an examination of the bare exposed cliffs round 
 our coasts, will soon convince him that the 
 masses of inorganic material which make up the 
 earth's solid crust, vary considerably in colour 
 and structure. His geological friends will tell 
 him that these different kinds of rock which he 
 has observed may be grouped into two great
 
 110 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 divisions, according to their mode of origin 
 viz. : (l) Igneous rocks, or those which have 
 been erupted from volcanoes or have con- 
 solidated from a molten state beneath the 
 surface ; and (2) Sedimentary rocks, or those 
 which have been formed by the accumulation, 
 at the bottom of former lakes and seas, of 
 fragmentary material derived from pre-existing 
 rocks, by the wear and tear of wind and rain, 
 and other natural forces. 
 
 The beginner should collect a few specimens of 
 some of these different rocks, and, by closer ex- 
 amination, seek to determine the cause of the 
 different appearances they present. He will find 
 that, whereas some appear quite homogeneous and 
 uniform, others are coarse-grained and manifestly 
 made up of a number of distinct substances. 
 A fragment of the igneous rock known as 
 granite, will be clearly seen to consist mainly 
 of an intimate mixture of three substances, 
 which differ so markedly in appearance, that, if 
 the rock be coarsely powdered, the particles of 
 each kind may be readily separated by hand 
 for closer examination. 
 
 These ultimate products, then, which con- 
 stitute, either singly or in intimate association, 
 the rock masses forming the earth's solid crust ; 
 or which occur, in forms of wonderful beauty,
 
 MINERALS. HI 
 
 filling cavities or lining veins and crevices in 
 these rock masses, are called mineral species. 
 
 The study of their properties, morphological, 
 physical, and chemical, as well as of their 
 mutual association and modes of occurrence and 
 origin, constitutes the science of mineralogy. 
 
 The importance of- such a study it is almost 
 impossible to exaggerate, and in a country like 
 England, which owes so much to its mineral 
 resources, its comparative neglect is to be 
 regretted. 
 
 The student beginning the study of minerals, 
 will be inclined to complain of the difficulty he 
 will experience in collecting specimens. Whereas 
 the botanist or entomologist may return from 
 a casual walk in the country laden with spoils 
 collected from the multitudinous forms of plant 
 and animal life around him, the seeker after 
 minerals may only succeed in obtaining a few 
 rough specimens of such minerals as quartz, 
 calcite, or iron pyrites, presenting little of that 
 perfection of crystal development and brilliancy 
 of lustre which have dazzled his eyes in the 
 specimens he may have seen in some large col- 
 lection. Well crystallised specimens occur, 
 generally, only in mineral veins, or lining 
 cavities in rocks, so that operations on a large 
 scale are, as a rule, required to reveal them.
 
 112 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 In a mining region, such as Cornwall, the col- 
 lector may meet with better fortune, and may 
 obtain, from the miners, specimens, more or less 
 perfect, of the ores of tin, lead, copper, etc. 
 
 But before he may have the opportunity of 
 visitino- such localities, he must not allow 
 himself to be discouraged, but should set to 
 work upon the specimens of the more common 
 minerals he has already collected, arid make his 
 first observations upon them. 
 
 In the first place lie will, naturally, make 
 careful note of their more obvious external 
 characters, such as colour, transparency and 
 lustre. This last property will not, at first, 
 appeal very strongly to the beginner, but, as his 
 eye becomes better trained, he will often find it 
 of service in discriminating between species. It 
 will mark a red letter day for him, when, like 
 the expert jeweller, he can clearly note the 
 difference between the light reflected from a 
 glass surface and that from the face of a 
 diamond. 
 
 The most important of the external characters 
 of minerals is, of course, the outward form 
 which they assume. One of the first observa- 
 tions made by the collector of minerals will be 
 that they seldom exhibit the graceful curved 
 surfaces so characteristic of plant and animal
 
 MINERALS. 113 
 
 life, but generally occur in crystals, i.e., in 
 forms presenting a number of flat surfaces, 
 inclined to each other at various angles. 
 
 The study of these beautiful geometrical 
 shapes assumed by minerals, constitutes the 
 science of crystallography. The beginner will 
 do well, however, to postpone the consideration 
 of this subject until he has succeeded in col- 
 lecting a number of well -crystallised specimens. 
 
 Meanwhile, after having carefully noted 
 everything which the mere inspection of his 
 specimens can teach him, he may proceed to 
 make such simple experiments upon them as 
 will enable him to determine such characters as 
 hardness and cleavage. The student who may 
 be in despair on the subject of lustre, will take 
 comfort when he finds that a scratch with his 
 knife-blade will enable him at once to dis- 
 tinguish between precious stones, such as 
 diamond, topaz and sapphire, and artificial 
 imitations of glass, or between the hard quartz 
 and comparatively soft calcite. In the cleavage, 
 also, or tendency to split along certain planes 
 which many minerals exhibit, he will find a 
 valuable means of distinguishing bet ween species. 
 A broken surface of quartz he will always find 
 to be rough and irregular, whereas the tendency 
 of calcite, when struck, to split along three
 
 114 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 distinct planes, will be a characteristic of that 
 mineral which cannot long fail to attract his 
 notice. 
 
 We will now suppose that he has become 
 possessed of a number of fairly well crystallised 
 specimens, and is anxious to gain some insight 
 into the mysteries of crystallography. He will 
 find that the subject is not an easy one, and 
 that, for its complete investigation, a certain 
 knowledge of plane and solid geometry and 
 trigonometry is required. So once more we 
 must ask him not to be discouraged, but to 
 accept the assurance that a very elementary 
 acquaintance with mathematics indeed, will 
 suffice, at least, to enable him to take an in- 
 telligent interest in the wonderful variety of 
 forms assumed, not only by different minerals, 
 but by the same mineral itself. Thus, he will 
 soon learn to understand how all these various 
 crystals, according to the degree of symmetry 
 which they exhibit, may be referred to one or 
 other of six great groups or systems, from the 
 most symmetrical cubic crystal, which can be cut 
 through by nine different planes, on each side of 
 which the crystal is symmetrical, to the least 
 symmetrical triclinic crystal, in which there are 
 no planes of symmetry at all. 
 
 The student will find that a collection of
 
 MINERALS. 115 
 
 wooden models of minerals belonging to the 
 six crystallographic systems will be of infinite 
 service to him in gaining even a rudimentary 
 knowledge of crystallography. Time spent in 
 marking the different faces of these models, and 
 comparing them with the real crystals he has 
 collected, will be well spent. In this way he 
 will soon learn the characteristic forms in which 
 different minerals occur, and will be able to 
 recognise them again when he comes across other 
 specimens. A word of caution is perhaps 
 necessary in the use of models. Crystals found 
 in nature seldom exhibit the perfect regularity 
 of form seen in the models. Owing to un- 
 equal rate of growth of the different faces, 
 the resulting crystals are often distorted ; al- 
 though, according to the great law which forms 
 the basis of crystallography, the angle of in- 
 clination of two corresponding faces remains the 
 same for all crystals of the same mineral, how- 
 ever much the faces may vary in size. The 
 measurement of such angles, therefore, becomes 
 of great importance for the determination of 
 species, and for this purpose very delicate in- 
 struments are used. The beginner, however, 
 may exercise his ingenuity in devising simpler 
 means for roughly measuring the angles of 
 his crystals. For example, by means of two
 
 116 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 strips of wood or cardboard, jointed together so 
 that they may be inclined at any angle, he may 
 succeed in convincing himself that the angle 
 between two faces of the six-sided columns, in 
 which the mineral quartz generally occurs, is 
 the same for all the specimens of that mineral 
 which he possesses. 
 
 So far the mineralogist will have concerned 
 himsslf only with the external characters of his 
 specimens, and, in fact, by observation of these 
 alone, it is possible for him to gain, in time, a 
 marvellously expert knowledge of minerals, 
 which will enable him to identify a large 
 number of them almost at a glance. The more 
 ambitious student, however, who possesses some 
 knowledge of chemistry and physics, will en- 
 deavour to proceed farther, and to penetrate 
 some of the mysteries of their internal structure 
 and composition. 
 
 On the physical side, a wide field then lies 
 open before him. By the examination of trans- 
 parent minerals under the microscope, the 
 marvellous phenomena connected with the 
 transmission of light through them, will teach 
 him to recognize the intimate relations existing 
 between the internal structure of minerals, and 
 their external crystalline form. 
 
 On the chemical side, also, he will not be
 
 MINERALS. 117 
 
 content with the mere blow-pipe examination 
 of specimens for determinative purposes, but, by 
 exact quantitative determinations of the ele- 
 mentary constituents of minerals, will endeavour 
 to trace out the close connection between crystal 
 form and chemical composition. 
 
 Even the beginner is advised not to wholly 
 neglect the chemical side of the subject. If he 
 has not access to a laboratory, a set of blow-pipe 
 apparatus, and a few simple reagents, are not hard 
 to obtain, and a good deal may be done with 
 these in determining the ultimate chemical 
 composition of his specimens^ As an example 
 of the use of chemical methods, take the case of 
 the mineral cinnabar. However finely we may 
 crush a fragment of this mineral, each minute 
 speck still remains cinnabar, retaining its 
 beautiful crimson colour, and all the other 
 physical properties of the large fragment of 
 which it formed a part. A simple chemical 
 experiment, however, will enable us to go a step 
 farther, and resolve this mineral into its con- 
 stituent elements. By heating it in an open 
 tube over the flame of a spirit lamp, we succeed 
 in decomposing it into liquid metallic mercury 
 or quicksilver, which collects in ajbrilliant ring 
 on the surface of the tube, and sulphur, which 
 at once combines with the oxygen of the air,
 
 118 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 to give the characteristic smell of burning 
 sulphur. 
 
 A property of great importance in separating 
 and determining minerals, is the density or 
 specific gravity, i.e., the weight of a mineral as 
 compared with the weight of an equal bulk of 
 water. The mineral blende, one of the most 
 important ores of zinc, and cassiterite, or tin- 
 stone, which is the source from which the metal 
 tin is obtained, are often somewhat similar in 
 colour and appearance, and might very well be 
 mistaken for each other in imperfectly crys- 
 tallised specimens ; but by simply weighing in 
 the hand fragments of about the same size, it 
 is possible to distinguish between them at once, 
 since the tin-stone is almost twice as heavy as 
 the blende. 
 
 It seems almost unnecessary to point out to the 
 student who is beginning the study of minerals, 
 the great assistance he will gain by a visit to 
 some of the large collections in museums. To 
 render such assistance is one of the most im- 
 portant functions of these institutions. But we 
 should advise him to first use his utmost en- 
 deavours to determine his specimens for himself, 
 before taking them to the museum to compare 
 them with those in the collection. He must 
 not be discouraged, also, if the poorness of his
 
 MINERALS. H<) 
 
 own specimens, as contrasted with the beautiful 
 examples of crystal development which he finds 
 there, strikes him only too forcibly ; rather let 
 this stimulate him to further efforts in makino- 
 
 o 
 
 his own collection more perfect. The student 
 who has the opportunity of visiting the Mineral 
 Gallery of the Natural History Museum at 
 South Kensington, will find there a most in- 
 structive introductory series of specimens and 
 models illustrating the characters of minerals. 
 A careful study of this series will be of greater 
 assistance to him in mastering the rudiments of 
 the subject than any number of text-books. 
 
 The difficulty in collecting specimens is natur- 
 ally the greatest drawback which the beginner 
 feels to the study of minerals. The pleasure 
 derived from the tramps abroad, in search of 
 specimens, in company with fellow-enthusiasts, 
 adds a zest to the study of any branch of natural 
 science. 
 
 For this reason we should strongly advise the 
 student to combine with his study of minerals 
 some knowledge of the rocks from which they 
 are derived. This will be equivalent to a 
 natural widening of the subject of minerals, to 
 the consideration of their modes of occurrence 
 and origin, the effect of which will be to double 
 his interest in it.
 
 120 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 The collecting difficulty then disappears ; his 
 study ceases to be a purely laboratory one. 
 Armed with hammer and chisel, and provided 
 with collecting bag, he may sally forth on 
 geological excursions ; and, while increasing his 
 knowledge of the past history of the earth, by 
 observation of the sequence of the sedimentary 
 rocks, and by the collection of the fossils in them, 
 will, at the same time, take careful note of any 
 igneous rocks which he may find have been 
 erupted through them. Unweathered speci- 
 mens of these igneous rocks should be broken 
 off, packed in paper and carefully labelled with 
 the exact locality whence obtained. 
 
 Occasionally, in breaking off specimens, the 
 collector may find treasure trove in the shape of 
 cavities lined with brilliant crystals of minerals, 
 such as zeolites, which have been formed in 
 these hollows as the result of the partial decom- 
 position of the surrounding rock. 
 
 Such excursions as these, besides being a 
 source of great pleasure, will supply the student 
 with a store of material to be worked out at 
 leisure on his return. The examination of the 
 various rock-specimens which he has collected, 
 the determination of their structure, and the 
 various minerals contained in them, will afford 
 him congenial employment for his leisure hours
 
 MINERALS. 121 
 
 until the opportunity for another expedition 
 occurs. 
 
 The foregoing pages will give the reader, we 
 trust, some idea of the possibilities and scope 
 of the science of mineralogy. He will see that 
 the subject is a somewhat wide one, and 
 requires, for its thorough investigation, a con- 
 siderable knowledge of mathematics, physics, 
 and chemistry. But we shall have failed in our 
 object if we have not made it clear that, in 
 spite of this, it is not necessary to be either a 
 great mathematician, physicist, or chemist, in 
 order to be able to take an intelligent interest 
 in minerals, and to learn to appreciate the 
 wonderful beauty and variety of structure of 
 these flowers of inorganic Nature. 
 
 Appended is a list of books recommended to 
 the beginner. 
 
 L. FLETCHER. "An Introduction to the Study of Minerals." 
 (Published by the Trustees of the British Museum.) 
 
 F. H. Hatch. " Mineralogy " (Whittaker & Co., London). 
 
 H. P. GURNET. " Crystallography " (Society for Promoting 
 Christian Knowledge, London). 
 
 A. H. CHURCH. " Precious Stones " (Chapman & Hall, London). 
 A. GEIKIE. " Geology." Science Primer (Macmillau & Co., 
 
 London). 
 F. H. HATCH. " Text-Book of Petrology " (Swan, Sonnenschein 
 
 & Co., London). 
 GRENVILLE A. J. COLE. " Aids in Practical Geology'' (Griffin 
 
 & Co., London). 
 F. EUTLEY. " The Study of Rocks " (Longmans, Green & Co., 
 
 London).
 
 fossils. 
 
 BY F. A. BATHER, M.A., F.G.S. 
 
 [NoTE. As so many friends write and ask me how 
 they should begin the siudy of Fossils, I have 
 cast this chapter into the form of an answer 
 to such an one, thus venturing to treat the 
 readers of this book as my friends.]
 
 T AM very glad to hear that you intend to 
 take up the study of fossils. It is one that 
 you will be able to carry on at very little 
 expense to yourself; in making your collection 
 you will be taken into the open air, in all parts 
 of the country ; and you will always have the 
 satisfaction of knowing that, while learning 
 about forms of life, you are not in any way 
 taking it. There is a good deal of excitement 
 in shooting birds, or in catching butterflies ; 
 but, after all, there is often quite as much in 
 discovering rare fossils in a quarry, or in ex- 
 tracting some beautiful though fragile specimen 
 from the hard rock. Great fun we used to have 
 in our school-days in those old chalk pits near 
 Winchester, hammering out the shells and the 
 sea-urchins, and seeing who could make the 
 biggest bag. Then, too, there is always a sense 
 of mystery about a fossil. It is wonderful to 
 clear away the clay or the mail from some coiled 
 Ammonite, and to think of the myriads of years 
 that it has lain there, and what changes have 
 taken place since the day when it swam about
 
 126 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 in some strange sea, where now are hills, and 
 woods, and houses. And yours are the first 
 human eyes that have ever beheld it, and you 
 have the privilege of bringing it again to the 
 light of day, and of learning the story that it 
 
 has to tell. 
 
 Very strange indeed are some of the stories 
 that are taught us by the fossils. Here, for 
 instance, is a rough diagrammatic sketch of the 
 rocks shown in a certain quarry. At the base 
 is a bed of hard limestone 
 
 n 
 
 (a), with shells, corals, and 
 such animals as now in- 
 habit the depths of the sea. h 
 Above it come seams of 
 clay (6, d) and more rubbly 
 and sandy limestone (c, e), 
 with some sea-urchins and c 
 shells of a sort that live 
 nearer the shore. The up- 
 per surface of these beds 
 is uneven, and is filled with 
 black earthy matter (/), containing the remains 
 of plants and roots of trees, evidence of an old land 
 surface. Then come sand and marl (g, i), with 
 an occasional band of earthy matter (h), and con- 
 taining freshwater shells, insects, and, perhaps, 
 very rarely the jaw of some small mammal,
 
 FOSSILS. 127 
 
 showing that a river had begun to flow over the 
 former forest. This is followed by a limestone (j) 
 with shells of a more saltwater habit, which 
 seem to prove that this region must have once 
 more sunk beneath the sea, before being raised 
 up to make the land on which we now walk. 
 
 But, as you have already determined to go in 
 for fossils, there is no need to dwell on the 
 delights of the study. 1 may, however, point 
 out that your specimens will give you plenty to 
 do in the winter days, when it is no longer so 
 easy to go out collecting. Then you will have 
 to clear them out from the bits of rock still 
 attached to them ; and then, with the help of 
 books and public collections, you must try and 
 find out what their names are, and not that 
 alone, but what kind of animals they were when 
 alive, and the relation they bear to those now 
 living in our seas and on our shores. 
 
 For you must never forget that fossils are not 
 mere figured bits of stone, but that they really 
 are the remains of living things, only to be 
 properly understood by a comparison with the 
 animals and plants that now exist. Very 
 different in outward appearance they often are, 
 it is true ; but you will find, on close examination, 
 that they can generally be referred without 
 much difficulty to some of the now-living classes
 
 128 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 of the Animal or Vegetable Kingdoms. I 
 should, therefore, recommend you, when you 
 have got some fossil that you wish to under- 
 stand, to get hold of some living animal like it, 
 and to examine that carefully, dissecting it and 
 drawing it. When you have learnt the names 
 of the parts of the recent animal you will then 
 better understand the meaning of your fossil 
 and the descriptions of it that are given in 
 books. Of course, the fossils that you will be 
 most likely to find are those of the smaller sea- 
 animals, such as cockles, oysters, cuttle-iish, 
 lamp-shells or Brachiopods, sea-urchins, corals, 
 and crabs. Take advantage, then, of your next 
 visit to the sea-side to catch some of these, and, 
 if possible, to observe their habits. 
 
 You will soon find that the different quarries 
 you go to, in different parts of the country, 
 furnish different sorts of fossils, and this will 
 lead you on to the study of geology. You will 
 see that the rocks are very different, and that 
 different rocks contain different fossils. And, 
 if you have good opportunities and good eyes, 
 you will easily observe that the order in which 
 these rocks and fossils are placed one above the 
 other is always the same. For instance, there 
 are two large beds of clay in England, the 
 Oxford clay and the Kimeridge clay, which are
 
 FOSSILS. 
 
 very much alike in outward appearance. But 
 they contain different species of fossil animals, 
 and between them are found beds of a rough 
 limestone, full of corals and sea-urchins, and 
 known as Corallian. Now the Oxford Clay, 
 with its particular fossils, is always found to lie 
 beneath the Corallian, while the Kimeridge 
 Clay, with its particular fossils, always lies 
 above it. This order is invariable, so that, 
 alike as the clays are, there need never be any 
 danger of confusing them. It is in this way 
 that, by the fossils, we are able to trace the 
 same bed of rock over large tracts of country. 
 Therefore, it is very important that you should 
 always label each of your specimens very 
 carefully, not only with the exact locality, but 
 with the exact bed of rock in the quarry in 
 which you found it. It is a good plan to make 
 a drawing or section of the rocks in the quarry 
 in your note-book, like the one given on 
 page 126, and to number or letter the various 
 beds of clay, limestone, etc. Then, though you 
 may not know the name of the bed in which 
 your fossil was found, you can at least denote 
 it quite accurately on your label. At the same 
 time add a reference to the date, and to the 
 page of your note-book, thus: 
 
 " Chilmark Quarry, E. side, bed 6, p. 33, 
 August 9th, 1893."
 
 130 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 At any future time you can find out the 
 name of the fossil ; but if the information as 
 to locality and horizon is once lost or forgotten, 
 it can never, with certainty, be recovered again. 
 In such a case, the best thing to do with your 
 fossil would be to smash it up with the hammer. 
 
 You ask me about tools. A hammer and 
 cold chisel are almost always necessary. The 
 exact shape and size of the hammer varies with 
 the hardness of the rock. It is also useful to 
 carry a small pocket hammer for roughly 
 trimming specimens in the field. For clays and 
 sand a large strong knife is as good as anything. 
 Always carry a measuring tape, so as to make 
 your sections and sketches accurate. It is 
 useful to have inches marked on the handle of 
 the hammer. Plenty of paper, and a few old 
 match-boxes, with a little cotton wool, should 
 be taken. Grass, soil, sand, or a dab of clay, will 
 often serve to protect a delicate specimen. It is 
 best to write your labels on separate slips of white 
 paper, and to wrap them up with the fossil. The 
 best way of carrying fossils is in stout canvas 
 bags, each with two rings, slung on a broad 
 leather strap. You should also take samples 
 of clays and marls in a tin box, so as to wash 
 them for the smaller forms of life. 
 
 The method to bs adopted in cleaning fossils
 
 FOSSILS. 131 
 
 varies very much with the kind of rock in 
 which they occur. Some can be easily cleaned 
 by soaking- in water and brushing with a hard 
 brush. Others would fall to pieces under such 
 treatment, while others would be in no way 
 affected by it. For both the latter kinds the best 
 instrument to use is a needle fixed in a handle. 
 Fossils should never be scraped, or scratched, or 
 'cleaned with acid ; but the rock should be 
 flaked away gradually by simple pressure with 
 the needle. Brushing with a dry brush is 
 sometimes useful. 
 
 When your fossils are cleaned and labelled 
 neatly, you must try to find out their names. 
 First of all determine in what class of the 
 Animal Kingdom they should be placed, then 
 try to find out from some good text-book of 
 zoology to what Order and Family they belong. 
 Such bits of knowledge are far more useful 
 than the mere Latin name, and at the same 
 time they will help you more easily to find out 
 the latter. This you will best do by going 
 either to your local museum, or to one of the 
 large museums, such as the Natural History 
 Branch of the British Museum, in Cromwell 
 Road, or the Museum of Practical Geology, in 
 Jermyn Street, and comparing it with the 
 exhibited specimens. Try to find out things
 
 132 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 for yourself; it is of no use getting a string 
 of names from other people. Draw your 
 specimens carefully; this will make you note 
 points that might otherwise escape you, and 
 will also help you to understand the drawings 
 in books. 
 
 As to books : You can learn something about 
 Geology from the " Primer of Geology," by Sir 
 A. Geikie (Macinillan, Is.); and may then go 
 on to the " Classbook," by the same Author. 
 Geikie's " Field Geology " is also very good, 
 but perhaps you will find the one by Penning and 
 Jukes Browne (Bailliere, Tindal & Cox) more 
 useful, as it will tell you more about fossils 
 and how to collect them. " Aids in Practical 
 Geology," by Grenville Cole (Griffin, 2nd edit, 
 1893, 8s. Cd.), is another useful book of a similar 
 nature. Get the Geological Survey map of 
 your district from any mapseller, and try to 
 understand it, with the help of one of the above- 
 mentioned books, and of the Memoir sold to 
 accompany the map. 
 
 There are very few good books that will tell 
 you about living, as well as fossil animals. 
 " Our Common British Fossils, and Where to 
 Find Them," by J. E. Taylor (Chatto & Windus, 
 7s. 6d.), is useful for beginners. Mantell's 
 "Medals of Creation," which can easily be
 
 FOSSILS. 
 
 picked up, second-hand, is a charming book, 
 though a little old-fashioned. To help you in 
 dissecting animals, begin with Huxley and 
 Martin's " Elementary Biology," enlarged by 
 Howes and Scott (Macrniilan, 10s. 6d ). 
 
 Animals for examination may be got from 
 Sinel & Hornell, Biological Laborator} r , Jersey ; 
 or from the Marine Biological Laboratory, 
 Citadel Hill, Plymouth. 
 
 Hammers, chisels, and such necessary articles, 
 may be bought of F. H. Butler, 158, Brompton 
 Hoad, S.W., of J. R Gregory, 88, Charlotte 
 Street, Fitzroy Square, and of the Publishers 
 of this Handbook. 
 
 If you live in or near London, you might 
 find it useful to join the Geologists' Association, 
 of which a prospectus may be obtained from 
 the Secretary of the Association, University 
 College, Gower Street. 
 
 o
 
 1bow to bserve without Destroying. 
 
 BY EDITH CARRINGTON. 
 
 AUTHOR OF "WORKERS WITHOUT WAGE."
 
 fcto to bscrbe SBithout 
 
 " He, out of nothing, made sky, earth and sea. 
 And all i hat in them is man. beast, bird, tidh, 
 Duwu to tnis insect on the parapet. 
 Louk how the marvel of a minim crawls !" 
 
 (Robert Browning.) 
 
 rpHEBJE is a venerable proverb, familiar to 
 us from our nursery reminiscences " If 
 you cannot make it, you ought not to break it." 
 Like many old sayings of the kind, it contains 
 a valuable truth, namely, that we should 
 hesitate to destroy that which no power of ours 
 can replace, especially in the case of life, which 
 is the gift of the great Creator. 
 
 There is a risk in the present age, when so 
 strong and rightful a thirst is felt for cultivation 
 of the intellect, that we should gratify the 
 longing for brain development at the expense 
 of hardening the heart and injuring the moral 
 sense. Herein lies a real danger for the young 
 naturalist. 
 
 Every act of wanton tyranny over a de- 
 fenceless living creature, every deed of heedless
 
 138 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 destruction, however trifling, leaves the doer of 
 it less good and noble than he was before, and 
 more prone to mercilessness. 
 
 In the few remarks on studying Nature which 
 I am about to make, I shall therefore be very 
 careful to suggest that the best mode of 
 observation consists in watching wild creatures 
 in a living state, and in their own homes, 
 and that such imprisonment as absolutely must 
 be inflicted for purposes of study artistic or 
 otherwise should be as brief as possible in 
 duration, and as much alleviated as circum- 
 stances will permit ; remembering always that 
 captivity is a punishment. 
 
 The true lover of Nature ought to walk amid 
 the fields and woods as if he were passing 
 through a sacred temple, in which he is a 
 worshipper at the same shrine before which 
 every living creature is all day lon^ offering! its 
 incense of praise, by sweet warblings, and a 
 thousand incoherent voices, none without sig- 
 nificance to the Divine ear, but which he alone 
 can join with articulate words moulding into 
 speech what they fain would say. 
 
 " Man is the world's high priest ; he rloth present 
 
 The sacrifice for all, while they below 
 Unto the service mutter au assent, 
 
 Such as spriugs use that fall and winds that blow." 
 
 (Herbert.)
 
 HOW TO OBSERVE WITHOUT DESTROYING. 139 
 
 He ought not to go forth as a destroyer, but 
 as a reverent observer, and then he will find 
 that his forbearance will win a way for him into 
 the very heart of Nature. 
 
 There is a certain way of approaching wild 
 creatures and their haunts a peculiar mixture 
 of familiarity with gentleness, a manner without 
 hurry or nervousness which they seem to 
 understand and appreciate. The step must be 
 soft, but firm ; yet with nothing stealthy about 
 it. Once disarm the wild bird, the squirrel, 
 the field-mouse, or the hedgehog of the idea that 
 you mean to chase or hunt it, and it will allow 
 you to come within the circle of familiar friend- 
 ship so long as you do not press that friendship 
 too far at first ; and the fascinating charm of 
 being able to draw near enough to watch these 
 free denizens of the open country, without 
 treachery on your own part or terror on theirs, 
 is perfectly entrancing worth any quantity of 
 the enforced tameness wrung from them by 
 
 caging. 
 
 Even the wasp that much maligned insect . 
 will allow a near inspection of her domestic 
 economy, provided that no interruption to 
 business be offered. This summer I watched a 
 nest, putting my face close to the hole at which 
 a stream of wasps were passing in and out ; my
 
 140 HAN'DBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 head was in their way, but they flew round it, 
 and not one, of the many thousands, offered me 
 any injury. I was able to admire the marvellous 
 manner in which the two processions of wasps 
 one going down the hole and the other coming 
 up contrived to time their exits and their 
 entrances, without ever jostling each other, 
 or quarrelling, although the entrance was so 
 narrow as to admit only one at a time. I was 
 also able to observe of what the food consisted 
 which they brought for the young below : 
 Pieces of caterpillars, halves of flies, and many 
 other like morsels. So beguiling was the scene 
 that, oblivious of time, I came home shamefully 
 late for dinner ! I recommend the study, which 
 I was obliged to break oif, to anyone who wishes 
 to spend an hour profitably, with the assurance 
 that nothing need be feared. Much hitherto 
 
 o 
 
 unknown history of bees and wasps might thus 
 be tabulated. 
 
 One point struck me above all others : Two 
 wasps never met in the passage. How was this 
 arranged ? Is it possible that they timed them- 
 selves or how could the up-coming wasp tell 
 when to start, so as not to encounter a down- 
 coming friend ? I throw out these points as 
 questions for solution. 
 
 I once cultivated the acquaintance of a water-
 
 HOW TO OBSERVE WITHOUT DESTROYING. 141 
 
 rat, which grew to know me perfectly well. 
 I sat on a flat stone which jutted out over the 
 brink of a stream, and waited, while reading ray 
 book, till I heard him stirring among the reeds 
 almost beneath my feet, and crunching the 
 greenest with his sharp teeth ; I then threw a 
 bit of apple, or some trifle of that sort, into the 
 water, which he would come out and fetch. 
 Generally he took it into his hole to eat, or he 
 would hide in the reeds arid nibble the treat. 
 I secured an opportunity now and then of 
 prying into his ways. He washed his face like 
 a cat, and a water-lily leaf sufficed him as 
 an island. 
 
 In the same manner, I once had a field-mouse 
 as a " chum " for my lonely hours. This little 
 creature had made a sort of tunnel, or " run," in 
 the grass on a down, which led to its hole, and I 
 used to scatter grains of wheat, or even a whole 
 ear, in this pathway. He would steal out 
 timidly to fetch the food, and became so bold at 
 last as not to mind my being close by. I even 
 fancied once or twice, when my mousie came 
 home from a ramble and found nothing there, 
 that his bright beady eyes peeped from the grass 
 stems with a waiting and reproachful glance. 
 
 Birds may easily be tamed out of doors by 
 the same method, by teaching them to become
 
 142 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 accustomed to the human presence by degrees, 
 and to associate it with small acts of kindness in 
 the way of treats. Birds are, many of them, 
 really fond of one's company, and will often 
 accompany a traveller for long distances, flying 
 along the hedge and singing, as if to enliven the 
 way. If this overture on the part of a bird be 
 met, and the little winged friend not frightened, 
 it will become yet more bold. Really precious 
 facts may be ascertained in these ways ; little 
 scenes in the drama of animal life, such as 
 human eyes never rested on before, may be 
 recorded. The note-book should be a constant 
 companion, and a diary kept, in which every 
 such fact should daily be noted down. 
 
 Every naturalist should carry a small pocket 
 lens, a good field-glass, and, if possible, a 
 portable telescope. With the latter, if it be 
 steadied against a wall or tree, or on a forked 
 stick driven into the ground, the shyest birds 
 may be watched from afar their kinds, colours 
 and mode of feeding ascertained, and every 
 detail of their domestic economy laid bare. For 
 those who can manage it, photography affords 
 a rapid method of carrying home an image of 
 what is seen during a stroll. Collections of 
 birds' nests may be made without cruelty, by 
 taking the deserted abode when the brood is
 
 HOW TO OBSERVE WITHOUT DESTROYING. 143 
 
 reared. Every nest found should be revisited 
 from time to time, care being taken not. to go 
 too often, not to alarm the parent birds by too 
 long a stay, and not to expose their secret to 
 the gaze of others. A great ornithologist (Mr. 
 Hudson) has lately made public a valuable hint 
 as to the practice of robbing birds' nests for the 
 purpose of egg collecting. He strongly con- 
 demns the habit, and suggests that instead, 
 artificial eggs should be made. This, he says, 
 will give all the excitement of nest-finding, 
 without cruel destruction will leave the in- 
 nocent pleasure free from blame. 
 
 He leaves the process of egg-making for 
 someone else to elaborate, and, after some 
 attention bestowed on the subject, I venture to 
 give a system which will, I think, be found a 
 good one, though in my turn I place it for 
 improvement in the hands of anyone who can 
 perfect it. 
 
 I propose then, for a material, ordinary 
 modelling wax, which can be procured at any 
 artist's shop say Rowney's, in Bathbone 
 Place. This material is made in a variety of 
 colours, but white wax, to be coloured after- 
 wards, would in most cases be best. The wax 
 needs only to be placed in warm water till it is 
 soft, and it can then be cleanly and evenly
 
 ]44 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 worked into any shape. A little pulverised chalk 
 amalgamated before the wax hardens, will give 
 a surface very like that of a real egg, only not 
 polished, and will fit it to receive the colour. 
 For this, oil paint, such as artists use, would do 
 for those who are at all skilful in handling a 
 brush ; but, with powder colours, or even 
 coloured crayons, rubbed in with the finger or 
 with a "stump," a child could produce a smooth 
 and uniformly covered surface as a ground tint. 
 The spots, specks, and streaks should be painted 
 with a fine sable brush, or might with care be 
 managed with a crow-quill. The whole, when 
 dry, should receive a coating of some diluted 
 varnish say copal, or " white spirit varnish ; " 
 if this be thought too bright, it must be thinned 
 to suit requirements, with turpentine. It may 
 
 be needful, in the case of some e^^s, to varnish 
 
 oo ' 
 
 and dry the ground tint before laying 011 the 
 markings. 
 
 The egg-maker may compare his finished 
 work with a real egg in any of the nests which 
 he has found, or at a museum. He must prepare 
 beforehand, a rough drawing (if possible, a 
 coloured sketch) of the egg from nature, as a 
 guide for size, shape, &c. Perfection so great 
 may be arrived at after a few trials, that the 
 model may deceive the eye, when the false egg
 
 HOW TO O^ERVE WITHOUT DESTROYING. 145 
 
 is placed for a moment in a nest beside the true 
 one its pattern. The student's collection will 
 thus be a work representing art and industry 
 on his part, instead of pitiless thievery from the 
 tiny feathered parents, who take such pride in 
 their home. The preparation of the eggs will 
 give in-door occupation, always a great want 
 during a large part of the year. 
 
 If it be desired to steady the waxen egg for 
 painting, an ordinary hat-pin with a large head 
 may easily be fixed in a hole bored for the 
 purpose in a small block of wood. The point 
 may then be forced far enough into the egg to 
 hold it secure, and the pin-prick can be ob- 
 literated when all is done. No collection of eggs 
 is so pretty as that in which each kind is shown 
 in the appropriate nest, and by taking the nests 
 when done with, this arrangement may be made; 
 but nest-making might, by adroit fingers, follow 
 egg-making, and nothing could teach the secrets 
 of bird architecture better than an attempt in 
 that direction. 
 
 With regard to butterflies and moths, they 
 afford exquisite artistic studies, and may be 
 drawn and painted while alive, if bred from the 
 egg or taken in the chrysalis state and allowed 
 to issue. A quiescent condition usually follows 
 the emergence of the insect from its birth-sleep,
 
 146 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 which is of peculiar value to the designer. 
 Drawings of these creatures, while they are thus 
 strengthening themselves for flight, are easily 
 procured, and the beautiful beings can then be 
 let go to adorn the world. 
 
 A good book on the subject will give all 
 details as to the various species, their times of 
 appearance, life history, &c. There is none 
 better than Edward Newman's Illustrated 
 Natural History of British Moths and Butterflies 
 (published by Hardwicke). 
 
 The ordinary breeding cages can be obtained 
 at Cook's, in Museum Street, Bloomsbury, at 
 prices varying from ninepence to five shillings, 
 according to size ; but any ingenious person can 
 construct one. The top and sides are of glass, 
 all but one, which forms the door, and is made 
 of perforated zinc for purposes of ventilation. 
 A deep bottom holds earth or sawdust, in which 
 the caterpillar may choose to bury itself, and 
 takes the little pots of water for the plants on 
 which it feeds, which must be kept as fresh as 
 possible, and are, invariably, those on or near 
 which it is found. Drawings should be made 
 of the caterpillar, as well as of the chrysalis and 
 perfect insect. 
 
 Water creatures, when brought home for a 
 time, in order that any special habit may be
 
 HOW TO OBSERVE WITHOUT DESTROYING. 147 
 
 watched, or a drawing made, should be kept 
 out of doors. 
 
 Most of the failures in the form of aquaria are 
 due to the fact that water cannot be kept for 
 long in a condition suitable to healthy life 
 within an ordinary living room, however care- 
 fully it is managed. There is nothing better by 
 way of vessel than a few small bell-glasses, 
 turned upside down in pots of earth, and 
 arranged in a row on a common window-ledge, 
 after the mode of a window-box. Being of 
 manageable size, these may easily be lifted into 
 the room when wanted ; hence the superiority of 
 many small glasses over one large aquarium 
 besides the necessity of dividing creatures hostile 
 to each other. A rim of perforated zinc should be 
 fixed around the top of each glass, by means of 
 putty, wire, or string, rising half-an-inch or so 
 above the edge, so that any overflow from rain 
 would run away without letting the creatures 
 be washed out. The side next to the light 
 should be protected by a board, to prevent 
 excessive illumination of the water which the 
 lidless eyes of these dwellers in the liquid 
 element are not framed to endure. Water- 
 crowfoot should be supplied, and some aquatic 
 snails put in, as well as sand-stones or shells to 
 form a refuge. Almost any water creatures,
 
 Jj-8 ilAXDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 except fish, may be retained, without a trace of 
 cruelty, for a short time in this way ; but food 
 must be supplied to the voracious, such as the 
 caddis, and all water-beetles. This is best done 
 by sweeping a net through pond water once or 
 twice, and bringing home every day a supply of 
 the small larvae, multitudes of which are 
 furnished, it would seem, by Nature, to be the 
 natural sustenance of other tribes, so prolific is 
 she in bringing them forth. 
 
 The eggs of the common newt, which the 
 mother wraps carefully up in the branches of 
 some water- weed with her little hands, are 
 exquisite objects to watch through their de- 
 velopment. These eggs should in no case be 
 removed from the bits of weed to which they 
 are found adhering (generally crowfoot), but the 
 weed should be cut off, moored to a stone, and 
 sunk in the bell-glass. The baby newts emerge 
 in a few days, delicate and translucent as 
 rainbow-glass, and most interesting. The young 
 newt, with its irridescent colours, slim form 
 and gem-like eyes, ranks among the loveliest 
 children of the waters, whether in its early fish- 
 seeming state, or later, while it is transforming 
 into a creature with limbs frail and fragile 
 enough to belong to fairyland. It is a purely 
 vegetable feeder at first, but requires animal
 
 HOW TO OBSERVE WITHOUT DESTROYING. 149 
 
 food before long, and then it is best to return it 
 at once to the pond, before it pines. Duckweed 
 contains vast quantities of minute living 
 organisms, on which both newt, toad and frog 
 tadpoles live. (The toad tadpole is covered 
 with a sprinkling of minute gold specks ; the 
 frog tadpole is altogether dark.) The eggs of 
 the latter are found floating on the the top of the 
 water, and may be treated exactly as the former 
 to begin with ; but as they grow into their latter 
 stages they require a larger diet, and to find it 
 for themselves. They also begin to desire 
 another life, and it becomes unmerciful to coerce 
 them. If it be really needful, however, to retain 
 larger tadpoles for a while longer, they should 
 be given a landing-stage, and fed every day on 
 worms or meat. A good-sized thickly-cut raw 
 bacon rind, tied to a string, so that it may be 
 easily withdrawn, and not sully the water, will 
 afford a luxurious feast for a long time, but any 
 raw meat will do. An inexhaustible store of 
 objects for the microscope Animalcules of 
 many kinds will be afforded by the bell-glasses, 
 after they have been exposed for a day or two 
 to the sun's rays. 
 
 But, after we have ascertained our facts, made 
 our picture, or learnt our lesson, the least that 
 we can do is to set at liberty the little captives
 
 150 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 who have afforded us, at the cost of some 
 discomfort to themselves, so much pleasant 
 instruction. Our science will do us twice the 
 good if we have not stained its lore by " sorrow 
 of the meanest thing that feels." 
 
 Tennyson understood how great was the 
 temptation to learn at any cost, and how great 
 was the danger of callousness towards the lower 
 creatures involved, when he wrote his beautiful 
 verse : 
 
 " Let knowledge grow from more to more, 
 But more of reverence in us dwell; 
 That mind and soul, according well, 
 May make one ruu.sic as before."
 
 Gbe flIMcroscope, anb 1bow to flDoimt 
 flIMcroscopic Objects. 
 
 BY THE REV. THEODORE WOOD, F.E.S.
 
 to 
 
 J^ICKOSCOPES, it need hardly be said, 
 are of all sorts and sizes. They vary in 
 price from the costly instrument upon which 
 a hundred guineas, or even more, may he 
 expended, to that which may be obtained for a 
 few shillings. The former is within the reach 
 of but few, and, practically speaking, is of use 
 only to specialists. But almost every lover of 
 Nature can afford to purchase the latter, and 
 much really good work can be done by its aid. 
 In the following remarks, therefore, I shall 
 leave the higher priced instruments out of the 
 question, and shall assume that my readers 
 have provided themselves with a microscope 
 costing not more than one guinea at the most. 
 
 Roughly speaking ) such a microscope consists 
 of six principal parts. There is (l) the Eye-piece, 
 which magnifies, not the object itself, but its 
 image. This slides up and down in (2) the 
 Barrel, which can be raised or lowered by 
 means of a wheel, in order that the proper focus
 
 154f HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 may be obtained. Next comes (3) the Object- 
 glass or Objective, by which the object itself is 
 magnified. This, in the cheaper microscopes, 
 usually consists of either two or three lenses, 
 screwing upon one another, which can be used 
 together or separately, If a high magnifying 
 power is required, all three are employed ; but 
 for ordinary work it is best to use one only, and 
 that the least powerful of the three. The 
 object to be examined is placed upon (4) the 
 Stage. This is a small platform of metal, 
 perforated in the centre by a hole sufficiently 
 large to permit of the transmission of light 
 from below. The Condenser (5), is a lens, so 
 fastened to the stage, or to the frame of the 
 instrument, as to permit of motion in any 
 direction, by means of which light from above 
 can be concentrated upon opaque objects ; while 
 (6) the Mirror, which is also movable, throws 
 light from below through the object when it 
 happens to be transparent. 
 
 Let us now suppose that an opaque object, 
 such as the surface of a leaf, or a butterfly's 
 wing, is to be examined. 
 
 Place it upon the stage first laying it, if 
 necessary, upon a slip of glass and then 
 arrange the condenser in such a position that a 
 strong light is thrown upon that part of the
 
 THE MICROSCOPE. 155 
 
 object which lies just beneath the object-glass. 
 Then, applying the eye to the eye-piece, slowly 
 turn the wheel until the right focus is obtained. 
 If only one objective is in use, this operation is 
 a very simple one ; but with a higher power it 
 is not very easy to get a small object just in the 
 field of vision. After a careful examination, 
 alter the position of the condenser in such a 
 way that the light comes, not from above, but 
 from the side. This plan will often bring out 
 points of structure which would otherwise be 
 overlooked. Finally, if the object be a very 
 minute one, add one or both of the additional 
 object-glasses, and examine it again ; remember- 
 ing, of course, that the focus must be altered in 
 accordance with the increased magnifying power. 
 
 With a transparent object, such as the wing 
 of a bee or wasp, or a delicate section of 
 vegetable fibres, all that is necessary is so 
 to arrange the mirror that light is thrown 
 upwards through the hole in the stage into the 
 barrel of the instrument. 
 
 The eyes should be used alternately. It is a 
 great temptation always to use the same eye, 
 which after a short time gains both strength 
 and discriminating capability. But to do so is 
 certain, sooner or later, to result in strain, and 
 perhaps even in serious injury.
 
 156 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 The eye not in use should not be closed. 
 Just at first it will not be found very easy to 
 keep it open, or, when this difficulty has been 
 overcome, to concentrate the attention upon the 
 objects seen by the other eye alone. This, 
 however, is merely a matter of practice, and 
 ought not to trouble the beginner for more than 
 a very few days. 
 
 Light is a very important consideration. 
 This must not be too brilliant, or it will only 
 dazzle and tire the eye. Direct sunlight should, 
 of course, be avoided ; but, on the other hand, 
 the light afforded by a clear blue sky will be 
 insufficient, and a cloudy day is better than a 
 brilliantly fine one. On a very bright, sunny 
 morning it is a good plan to cover the window 
 with a sheet of white paper. When artificial 
 light is employed, let it be that of an oil lamp, 
 or else of an argand gas burner, which can be 
 brought quite close to the instrument. Candle- 
 light is quite useless, and indeed injurious, as it 
 cannot be prevented from flickering, and every 
 flicker is magnified by the microscope in quite a 
 distressing degree. A good moderator lamp is, 
 perhaps, the best; and a dark shade should 
 be provided, in order to prevent its direct rays 
 from reaching the eyes. 
 
 The lenses of the instrument must always be
 
 THE MICROSCOPE. 157 
 
 kept perfectly clean, and free from dust. From 
 time to time they should be wiped, not with a 
 pocket-handkerchief, but with a small piece of 
 wash-leather, kept specially for that purpose 
 and none other. The operation must be very 
 carefully performed, or the glass will be 
 scratched. If dust should collect round the 
 edges of a lens, as generally happens sooner or 
 latter, it can easily be removed by means of a 
 camel's hair brush. Moisture, too, is apt to 
 condense upon the lenses if the instrument is 
 brought from a cold room into a warm one, and 
 it is, therefore, advisable to bring the microscope 
 into the room in which it is to be used some 
 little time before it is actually employed. For 
 the same reason, the lenses should never be 
 touched with the bare fingers, the exhalations 
 from the skin being quite sufficient to dim their 
 brightness. 
 
 Now as to the objects to be examined. 
 These, of course, are legion, and can be obtained 
 almost everywhere in bewildering profusion. 
 Petals of flowers, leaves of trees, sections of 
 bark or of the stems of plants, the hairs of 
 different animals, the various parts of the bodies 
 of insects and other small creatures, pollen, 
 seeds, spores, minute fungi, the crystals of 
 various chemical substances there is no limit
 
 158 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 to the material at the command of the ardent 
 microscopist. It is not a bad plan to work at a 
 single subject at a time, and thoroughly to 
 exhaust it before proceeding to another. A 
 butterfly, for example, will provide the following 
 objects, all of which are well deserving of care- 
 ful study: Scales from upper and lower surfaces 
 of wings (these are often very different) ; wing 
 membrane ; section of wing nervures ; hook 
 uniting upper and lower wings during flight ; 
 antennae, or horns ; compound eyes ; simple 
 eyes ; feelers ; section of trunk ; hairs of thorax 
 and body ; joints of feet to say nothing of the 
 various details of internal structure, which can be 
 dissected out without very much difficulty (stout 
 needles ground down upon a hone make capital 
 instruments for this purpose). The breathing 
 holes and breathing tubes are best seen in a 
 smooth-skinned caterpillar, which will, also, 
 furnish objects of great interest in the jaws 
 (two pairs), the true legs, and the " false feet," 
 or claspers, which are also used for locomotion. 
 These different parts of the bodily structure, 
 too, vary to an almost infinite degree in different 
 insects ; so that even one small group of this 
 one class of animals will provide an enthusiast 
 with ample occupation for the leisure hours of a 
 long life-time.
 
 THE MICROSCOPE. 159 
 
 Even living creatures can be obtained and 
 examined. The enquirer can make acquaintance, 
 for example, with the inhabitants of a drop of 
 water. All that he need do is to moisten a 
 glass slide with water taken from a stagnant 
 pool, and bring one of the higher object-glasses 
 to bear upon it. He will then discover that it 
 is literally swarming with minute organisms, 
 both animal and vegetable ; many of them of 
 most singular structure, some of grotesque 
 appearance, but all affording much of absorbing 
 interest, much to wonder at, and not a little to 
 admire. Whatever branch of microscopy the 
 student may take up, indeed, will amply repay 
 him for the time and trouble expended upon it: 
 and more and more will he find cause to marvel 
 at the wonders of creation, and the infinite 
 variety and complexity of Nature's work. 
 
 Before he has been working with his instru- 
 ment for very long, the student of microscopy 
 will feel the desirability of mounting, for 
 permanent preservation, some of the more 
 interesting objects which he examines. In its 
 simpler forms this is not a very difficult process, 
 and after a little practice one ought easily to be 
 able to mount twenty objects or more in the 
 course of a morning's work. 
 
 For ordinary mounting, the necessary para-
 
 160 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 phernalia will cost about five shillings, consisting 
 of (1) a small spirit-lamp ; (2) a supply of glass 
 strips (technically called "slides"), measuring 
 3 in. x 1 in., and with the edges carefully roun- 
 ded ; (3) a number of small squares of very thin 
 glass, for covering the objects ; (4) a small bottle 
 of Canada balsam; (5) a sheet or two of orna- 
 mental paper ; (6) a flat plate of brass or copper, 
 about 6 in. x 3 in. ; and (7) a pair of delicate 
 forceps. Besides these you will want a needle 
 or two, forced into the ends of the handles of 
 camel's hair pencils for about half their length ; 
 a fine pair of scissors ; a solution of soda and 
 another of caustic potash ; and a few small leaden 
 weights small bullets cut in half will do ad- 
 mirably. 
 
 There are three principal methods of mount- 
 ing, namely, "dry," "balsam," and "cell." Let 
 me say a few words about each in turn. 
 
 I. Dry mounting. This is by far the simplest, 
 and can be used for all objects which it is not 
 necessary to keep from contact with the air. 
 For this the spirit-lamp will not be necessary. 
 Take a slide, and rinse it first in the solution of 
 soda, so as to get rid of all suspicion of grease, 
 and then in hot water, taking care not to touch 
 it with the hand. When quite dry, mark the 
 exact centre by means of a small dot of ink upon
 
 THE MICROSCOPE. Id 
 
 the lower surface, and then lay your object, very 
 carefully, upon the upper surface, just over the 
 dot. Having arranged it in position by means 
 of a needle, lay one of the thin glass squares 
 upon it. Then take a piece of ornamental 
 paper, two inches long by seven-eighths of an 
 inch wide, cut out a circular hole in the centre 
 (by means of a punch, if possible), cover its 
 lower surface evenly and not too thickly with 
 paste, and then lay it upon the slide in such a 
 manner that the object appears just in the centre 
 of the circular hole. Press the paper down 
 gently, and leave it to dry, looking at it once or 
 twice to see that it is not starting up from the 
 glass. Finally, fasten a small gummed label (a 
 chemist will supply you with hundreds for a 
 few pence) to one end of the slide, and write the 
 name of the object and the date of preparation 
 upon it. 
 
 If economy is desirable, two objects can be 
 mounted upon one slide, one at either end, with 
 the label in the middle. 
 
 II. Mounting in balsam requires more care, but 
 is necessary for such objects as will not lie quite 
 flat and evenly upon the slide. Light the spirit- 
 lamp, place a pile of books of suitable height on 
 either side, and lay the brass plate across between 
 them, so that it can be moderately heated by the
 
 1G2 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 flame. Wash the slides as for dry mounting, 
 and place two or three of them on the brass 
 plate. Then melt the balsam. When thoroughly 
 melted, take a small drop by means of a glass 
 rod, and lay it on the exact centre of the topmost 
 slide. Work it about with a needle until it is 
 quite liquid, taking care that no air-bubbles 
 remain in it, and then lay your object just in the 
 middle. Let it lie for a few moments, and then 
 cover it with a still smaller drop of balsam, re- 
 moving air-bubbles as before. Now take a glass 
 
 o o 
 
 square (which must be perfectly clean and dry), 
 and press it down very carefully and evenly upon 
 the balsam. If it is held ever so little to one 
 side, the objetc will slip out of position. Finally, 
 remove the slide to a cool place, lay one of your 
 leaden weights upon the glass square, and leave 
 it for a week to harden, taking care that no dust 
 shall fall upon it. 
 
 When perfectly dry, remove the balsam which 
 has oozed out beyond the edges of the square, 
 by means of the heated blade of an old knife. 
 This must be done very quickly and carefully, 
 or the balsam beneath the square will melt. 
 Finally, cover with ornamental paper, and label 
 as in the case of a dry mount, and your slide is 
 complete. 
 
 Many objects, before they can be treated in
 
 THE MICROSCOPE. 163 
 
 this way, must be steeped for twelve hours at 
 least in the solution of caustic potash, so as to 
 remove all traces of fat. This will be necessary, 
 for instance, with all the internal parts of insect 
 structure, and even with the membrane of the 
 wings. 
 
 III. Cell -mounting is difficult, and unsatisfac- 
 tory unless very well executed. It is chiefly useful 
 for dissections, showing organs, &c., in sitti. It 
 is best to buy the cells ready made : but they 
 can be manufactured by painting a circle in the 
 centre of the slide with cement or varnish, and 
 adding layer to layer until it is sufficiently deep. 
 When the cell is finished, and quite dry, partly 
 fill it with spirit, introduce the preparation, re- 
 move any air-bubbles, and then fill up almost to 
 overflowing. Then lay a circular glass cover of 
 suitable size upon the top, and leave the slide 
 for two or three days, until the object has quite 
 settled into place. 
 
 In order to finish off, lift the cover, paint the 
 top of the cell with thin cement, fill up once 
 more with spirit, to replace any loss by evapora- 
 tion, and lay on the cover once more, this time 
 pressing it down upon the cement, and keeping 
 it in place by a leaden weight. Remove any of 
 the spirit which has oozed out round the edges 
 by means of a piece of blotting-paper, and, when
 
 164 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 the cement is quite dry, render the cell air-tight 
 by painting the edges two or three times with 
 asphalte varnish. Label as before. 
 
 If preferred, distilled water in which a very 
 little corrosive sublimate has been dissolved, 
 glycerine, or Deane's gelatine may be used in- 
 stead of spirit; and all three have the advantage 
 of being far less liable to evaporation. 
 
 Microscopic slides should never be laid flat, 
 and are best kept in boxes, fitted w r ith a number 
 of grooves which hold the ends securely.
 
 (Teaching Ittatural Science. 
 
 By MARY LUCY HODGSON, 
 HOUSE OF EDUCATION, AMBLESIDE.
 
 teaching Batumi (Science. 
 
 LjlIRST of all it may, perhaps, be as well 
 for me to remind parents and teachers 
 of the wonderful faculty children possess for 
 imitating their elders ; what their elders do, 
 it is certain the children will try to do ; and, in 
 teaching Natural History, it will be well to 
 let this fact be a guiding principle. Enthusiasm 
 on your part will result in, at least, interest on 
 theirs ; your own dislikes and pet aversions 
 must be battled with, and frogs, toads, newts, 
 spiders, beetles, snails, or whatever it may be, 
 must be made welcome, and thought worthy of 
 your attention and kindness. Children are not, 
 as a rule, afraid of any of these things, and are 
 only too ready to seize upon them and make them 
 wretched, by attempting to keep them as pets. 
 It is this innate love for live creatures that 
 should make teaching Natural History a pleasure 
 to everybody. Children quickly get enthusi- 
 astic, and just as easily lose their interest and 
 pleasure, especially where their elders do like- 
 wise; but where there is real, unflagging interest
 
 168 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 and enthusiasm on the part of the teacher, 
 wonderful work can be done. When the children 
 once feel in earnest over the subject, the teacher 
 has plenty to do, for a perfect plague of every 
 kind of creature seems to set in, and the 
 difficulty then is, how to dispose of them without 
 hurting anyone's feelings. Unlimited spiders 
 and innumerable small frogs, are apt to become 
 a nuisance, especially as it is most inadvisable to 
 encourage the universal rage for indiscriminate 
 collecting. It is not at all necessary to "collect" 
 in order to learn Natural History. Children 
 should be allowed to bring home objects to 
 examine or to paint, under the supervision of 
 their teachers, but in these days of cheap text- 
 books, by our best scientists, subjects can be 
 studied without the cruel habit of " killing " at 
 
 o 
 
 every available opportunity. 
 
 collicUugfor ' lhe l )lan I strongly advise all teachers to 
 examination adopt is, that instead of killing: the creature, 
 
 .it home. 
 
 it should be imprisoned for a short time, and as 
 carefully as possible drawn or painted ; this may 
 be easily done without injuring it. In fact, 
 children should be encouraged to bring things 
 home, on the understanding that no creature 
 should suffer in consequence. A short imprison- 
 ment is all that is necessary, in order to examine 
 or draw any object found by the children. They
 
 TEACHING NATURAL SCIENCE. 1GO 
 
 should not be allowed to carry things home in 
 their hot little hands, it is perfect misery to the 
 specimen to be so roughly treated, but children 
 do riot think of this ; you must, therefore, make 
 a very strict rule that everything is to be 
 brought home in boxes. Small tin boxes, 
 ventilated, are the best to use for carrying 
 purposes ; the cool tin, and a few small dock 
 leaves or blades of grass, will make a good 
 temporary home for most creatures. It will also 
 be found necessary to limit the children as to 
 the number they may bring home. Keep to one 
 creature at a time as much as possible, and don't 
 admit other ' beasties " till this one is exhausted. 
 If you are studying snails, you will find plenty of 
 work for a good many days, and the same with 
 other things, so do not hurry ov^r them, nor allow 
 the children to do so either. When at home, 
 place the object to be examined under a clear thin 
 tumbler, and let the children each make their 
 own notes and remarks, until all is carefully 
 described ; then examine the text-book, and 
 compare notes and illustrations, after which the 
 object should be set free. Let each child try to 
 draw or paint it, and do not despair if, for some 
 time, the pictures seern very badly done; in 
 the end you will succeed, and the children will 
 learn far more about the newt or beetle, by
 
 170 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 trying to take its portrait, than by saying " Oh, 
 it's only a newt," or " only a beetle," and letting 
 it go with merely a passing glance. 
 
 The children should be early taught to take 
 careful observation of the trees as each season 
 comes round. Teach them to notice the buds, 
 twigs, and contour during the winter months ; 
 then, as the spring advances, they should note 
 each change as it takes place, from the bursting 
 buds, to the trees in full leaf and beauty. The 
 twigs may easily be mastered in the following 
 way : Procure the twigs, and catkins, if possible, 
 of all the common trees around you ; carefully 
 tack them on to small sheets of \\ hite cardboard, 
 size 6j inches by 12^ inches. Write the name 
 of the tree clearly underneath, and hang the 
 cards up, with a coloured ribbon, on the school- 
 room wall ; they are most interesting. If elastic 
 loops are used, fresh twigs may be inserted as 
 ofttn as necessary. The winter may be fol- 
 lowed by the spring buds, and, afterwards, 
 by the sprays of leaves. This plan has been 
 tried with great success on a class of ten 
 children (House of Education Practising 
 School); they are now the keenest observers 
 of trees, and can tell them quite readily at 
 a glance. Of their own accord they all name 
 and mount small twigs and catkins, writing the
 
 TEACHING NATURAL SCIENCE. 171 
 
 names in very large letters underneath ; they 
 are also doing the seed-vessels of various plants. 
 Once a week they go for a walk with their 
 teachers, to search for specimens, and they 
 bring their treasures home with the greatest 
 pride and delight. 
 
 A small aquarium will afford much pleasure 
 if well managed. Nothing need suffer if you 
 keep the things for a short time only, and then 
 return them to their native pond. In this way 
 you could make acquaintance with specimens of 
 all the denizens of the ponds about you. 
 
 Every child, or what is perhaps better, every 
 family, should keep a Nature Note book, if you 
 wish for really good work. You will find that 
 the children will take the most unflagging 
 interest in it ; they will carefully search in 
 all directions, and discover many kinds of 
 things that they will wish to enter. The 
 book should be written up most carefully each 
 evening ; notes should be made on anything the 
 children have specially remarked during the 
 day. The elder children will like to do this for 
 themselves, in note-books of their own. Let 
 them each have a strongly-bound exercise book 
 of about 1 50 pages ; but where there are many 
 little children, a book for the whole family is 
 by far the best plan. One book, well and care-
 
 172 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 fully kept, will be a great pleasure. Where the 
 father has time to help, the note-book should 
 be his special province ; a short time every 
 evening would suffice for the actual writing. 
 If the father can draw it will be delightful, and 
 this would afford the opportunity of getting and 
 keeping in touch with the children's work, 
 which many fathers desire. In order to make 
 the note-book a complete success, it should be 
 illustrated by pictures drawn from nature. I 
 have already mentioned that this should be done, 
 no matter how badly at first, in order to learn to 
 observe what each creature is really like. But, 
 at the same time, it should be done with the 
 definite object of providing illustrations to 
 accompany the notes in the note-book. Twigs 
 are capital things to start with, and are quite 
 easy to do ; pin them on to a piece of white 
 paper, and stand them up in front of you, then 
 carefully copy them in water colour, and you 
 will soon make a fairly accurate drawing. For 
 the encouragement of those who think that 
 they cannot draw, and so could not possibly 
 keep a " Nature Note-book," may I say that, 
 after much experience, I have found that many 
 who said, at first, that they " never could, and 
 never should be able to draw," after trying for 
 a comparatively short time to draw twigs,
 
 TEACHING NATURAL SCIENCE. 173 
 
 began to copy them beautifully, and are now 
 doing nice work for their books, though they 
 utterly failed in ordinary freehand drawing 
 from the flat copy. The note-book should 
 contain short accounts, dictated by the children 
 to the father or mother, of the definite Natural 
 History lessons that they have received from 
 their teacher ; also a dated Naturalist Calen- 
 dar,* and short notes on the weather This 
 will give plenty of work, but not too much if 
 done in an orderly and systematic manner. A 
 separate book should be kept for each year. 
 
 SPECIMEN PAGE OF A NATURE NOTE-BOOK FOR 1893. 
 Daily Notes. 
 
 Oct. 16. We noticed to-day that a very handsome 
 spider had begun to make its nest on the bark of 
 an oak tree. It had already covered its ^ggs with 
 a quantity of web when we first found it, and 
 on looking carefully we saw the way it did this. 
 Keeping its head towards the centre, it worked 
 round and round a perfect circle ; as it alternately 
 raised and lowered its body, it pressed out a little 
 silk, and with its last pair of legs took hold of it, 
 and pressed the silk down in a number of tiny 
 soft loops. It was working hard all the time we 
 were there. We came back through the wood, 
 and on the way back examined some viviparous 
 
 Si.e White, of Selborne.
 
 174 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTOHY. 
 
 grass, i.e., grass with its seed sprouting while still 
 on the plant. Also we saw that the wild cherry 
 trees were beginning to lose their crimson leaves. 
 They are the first leaves we have seen fall this 
 year. The larches are turning yellow. We found 
 a wild rose in flower. 
 
 Oct. 17. Went again to see how the spider was getting 
 on. The eggs are all covered with a thick mass 
 of yellow silk, and the spider is spread out on the 
 top. Came home by the waterfall, and found the 
 Filmy-fern. 
 
 Oct. 18. Went again to see the spider, and found that 
 eggs, silk, spider, all had gone. We looked care- 
 fully in great dismay, and found no trace of any- 
 thing, when all at once, to our great delight, we 
 saw the reason why. The spider had most 
 beautifully and carefully covered up the whole 
 nest with tiny scraps of lichen, which completely 
 disguised it, and it looked just like a little knob 
 on the bark. The spider herself had gone. 
 
 SPECIMEN LIST FROM A NATURE NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 Flouvr List for October, 1893. 
 
 1. Welsh Poppy. 
 
 2. Lady's Mantle. 
 
 ' 3. Balsam. Nov. 15. 
 
 4. 'Ragwort. 
 
 5. Blackberry. 
 
 0. Foxglove. Nov. 18. 
 
 7. Self-heal. 
 
 8. Common avens.
 
 TEACHING NATURAL SCIENCE. 175 
 
 Buttercup. 
 Potentilla. 
 Meadow sweet. 
 Red campion. 
 Wood betony. 
 9. Grass of Parnassus. Nov. 10. 
 
 10. Golden-rod. 
 
 11. Wild strawberry. 
 
 12. Barren strawberry. 
 
 13. Rue- leaved saxifrage. 
 
 14. Ivy. 
 
 Place the date when they cease flowering on the 
 right-hand side. 
 
 Much the same plan should be pursued in 
 teaching children of all ages, namely, that of 
 letting them teach themselves by cultivating 
 their powers of observation. The lesson given 
 below, to a class of children from 5 to years of 
 age, will illustrate what I mean. Natural History 
 lessons should always be given on specimens 
 that the children can look at and examine for 
 themselves. Pictures, unless specially good 
 ones, seem to convey little or no idea of size to 
 childish minds. I have a book on birds before 
 me, and in the illustrations I see that the Quail 
 is about the same size as the Pheasant, and the 
 Tom-tit appears to be exactly the same size 
 as the Blackbird, while the Cuckoo appears 
 smaller than the Thrush. I also observe the
 
 176 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 same fault in books on animals. I have thus 
 corne to the conclusion that it is better 
 thoroughly to teach the children the life story 
 of the animals around them, and which they see 
 daily, than to give lessons on the Natural 
 History of other countries, unless the neigh- 
 bourhood of a museum, or the presence of a 
 wild beast show, should afford opportunities 
 that ought not to be neglected. You will find, 
 in teaching Home Natural History, that the 
 animals of other countries come in, as it were, 
 by way of illustration ; and when you see your 
 way to making the children understand clearly 
 something about foreign creatures or foreign 
 plants, do not hesitate to make use of them. 
 Though pictures, as a rule, fail to convey 
 accurate ideas of size, there are exceptions. 
 When you do come across an accurate picture, 
 preserve it most carefully. A lesson once had 
 to be given on a Wagtail. No Wagtail was at 
 hand, but in an odd number of a science paper 
 there was an exquisite life-sized picture of a 
 pied Wagtail running. This was shewn to the 
 children, who immediately said, " Why it looks 
 as if it were going to run off the book ; " and 
 another said, " Doesn't it look as if it could wag 
 its tail?" This is the sort of picture you 
 should keep in sight. It conveyed true ideas
 
 TEACHING NATURAL SCIENCE. 177 
 
 to the children, and when once a picture like 
 this is found, it should not be lost. Keep it 
 handy in either a pocket at the end of the 
 Nature Note-book, or provide a small portfolio 
 for the purpose. 
 
 You will soon see for yourself that a Natural 
 History lesson should be well illustrated, and 
 if, in addition to the object, the teacher has the 
 power of reproducing things from life, with 
 ease and facility, on blackboard or paper, the 
 lesson will prove a complete success. There is 
 nothing children appreciate so much as lively 
 drawings of things they know. 
 
 All Natural History work, both in and out 
 of doors, should be regularly done. Nothing 
 must be taken up by fits and starts, done 
 one day and left undone the next. You will 
 never succeed, and the children will not get on ; 
 for if they see that it is a subject that may 
 occasionally be put on one side, they will 
 naturally feel that it is of no very great 
 importance. Appoint a special time to be 
 devoted to Natural History, and then keep to 
 it. Definite lessons should be arranged, and 
 given every week. The teacher should care- 
 fully prepare the lesson beforehand, getting all 
 the illustrations together, and reading up the 
 subject, so as to be quite prepared for any
 
 178 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 questions the children may ask. Keep a little 
 note-book, and enter anything that occurs to 
 you as being a good subject for a lesson ; 
 but, at the same time, it is as well to be ready 
 for, and to take advantage of, odd chances that 
 may arise. If you should find a dead bat, or a 
 mole, that you can use, give a lesson on it ; 
 and, in the same way, utilize anything else. 
 
 Another thing for you to bear in mind is 
 that all your lessons must be arranged on Avell 
 denned lines, and these must depend on season, 
 situation, and opportunity. You will not find 
 it advisable to start lessons on flowers in 
 December, nor on twigs of trees in June. 
 
 TYPICAL LESSON ON THE COMMON SNAIL, 
 Given on December 2nd, 1893. 
 
 Children's ages : Lucy, 9 ; Grace, 9 ; Connie, 8 ; 
 Norman, 5. Teacher enters provided with snails 
 (modelled in paste*), boxes of snail shells, a micro- 
 scope, slides to show teeth and tongue, and several 
 good pictures of slugs and snails. 
 
 Teacher : " Norman, have you ever seen a snail ? " 
 
 N. nods head emphatically. 
 
 Teacher : " Have you all seen a snail ? " 
 
 Children : " Yes, and slugs too." 
 
 Teacher : " Very well ; you shall all tell me what you 
 know about snails, and then I will tell you what I 
 know." 
 
 This had to be done, as live snails are very scarce, and hard to find in the win- 
 
 tor months.
 
 TEACHING NATURAL SCIENCE. 179 
 
 The children then tell of various " finds," and des- 
 cribe from memory all they know about snails. 
 
 Teacher produces a snail, and says, " What is this ? " 
 The children all laugh at the model, and seem much 
 imused. 
 
 L. : " It is not like the shell I found ; mine was 
 yellow, with blue stripes." 
 
 Teacher produces the garden snail (Helix hortensis). 
 L. : " That is like mine." 
 
 The teacher proceeds to explain, with diagrams on 
 the blackboard, the way in which the snail retracts its 
 horns. She borrows a glove to show how the horns 
 are pulled in. Discovers that they do not know where 
 the eyes are. They talk of these, and of what use it 
 is to the snail to have his eyes on the end of a long 
 horn. 
 
 N. : " He could look over a wall, and see how far it 
 was, so that he couldn't tumble." 
 
 The children all agree that it would be better not to 
 touch the horns, for fear of hurting the eyes. 
 
 Teacher : " Norman, shew me where the snail's eyes 
 are." 
 
 N. gently puts a very small finger on the tip of a 
 horn, and seems to expect to see it go in. 
 
 The teacher proceeds to discuss the mouth, and shows 
 the teeth through the microscope. The children are 
 all amazed and delighted at the vast number, and the 
 talk goes on about the way a snail breathes, moves 
 &c. The teacher draws from the children the way in 
 which the snail differs from vertebrate animals, birds 
 and insects. The children, of their own accord, tell
 
 180 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 that it has no bones and no blood. After the common 
 snail (Helix aspersa) has been discussed, and slugs 
 have had a passing glance, the teacher produces six 
 common snails, the hedge snail (Helix nemoralis), the 
 orchard snail (Helix arbustorum), &c. 
 
 The children examine the boxes of shells amid many 
 exclamations of pleasure. 
 
 The teacher produces a large Ceylon snail, which 
 Norman seizes promptly, insists on knowing the name 
 of it, and the names of all the others. The children 
 suggest names for some of the shells: "Pinnacle 
 shell " for Clausilia bidens, " Balloon shell " for 
 Cyclostema elegans. The teacher asks " Why ? " and 
 the children explain. The lid of the circle shell, and 
 the trap-door of Clausilia bidens, are next inspected ; 
 the teacher then sums up the lesson by a little talk 
 about the use of the snail. The children seem much 
 impressed with a few remarks about the disguise the 
 Clausilia bidens has adopted, and, of their own accord, 
 say, " Teacher, it's just like a beech-bud," and that 
 a snail's work must have " something to do with his. 
 teeth." 
 
 Much fun and pleasure were exhibited by all the 
 children, the small boy being quite equal to the older 
 girls in grasping the main things to be observed, and 
 afterwards took the chalk and tried to copy the dia- 
 gram. 
 
 Connie, putting on her hat: "I am going home 
 to tell my mother about that snail." 
 
 During the lesson the shells and modelled snails 
 were freely handled by the children, many questions.
 
 TEACHING NATURAL SCIENCE. 181 
 
 were asked, and books and pictures consulted for the 
 purpose of seeing if they were like the real things. 
 But the shells picked up during winter afternoon 
 walks, and the modelled snails, were the most effective 
 things in the lesson. The teacher has since been 
 asked several times by the children to corroborate the 
 statements they make to the elder brothers and sisters 
 about the snail. 
 
 The twigs of trees are best studied in the 
 winter, and, if arranged on the plan I suggested, 
 will give plenty of work indoors ; while out-of- 
 doors the trees themselves may be looked for 
 and talked about. Let the children find out 
 for you how many oaks, ashes, beeches, etc., 
 there are to be found in your neighbourhood. 
 Snail-shells give good work for the winter, as 
 you may find them by dozens under the hedge- 
 rows if you will only look for them. It is 
 quite possible to pursue these studies in both 
 town and country ; there are many trees to be 
 found in towns, and most people have friends 
 in the country who would send them snail-shells 
 if they thought they were wanted. In towns 
 it is not easy to make our boys and girls into 
 naturalists, but there are possibilities even 
 there. A garden in a large town in Yorkshire 
 provided over twenty different caterpillars, 
 many beetles, several kinds of bees, ichneumon- 
 flies and lady-birds, larvae, moles, and a vast
 
 182 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 array of other small creatures. Museums are 
 generally at hand, and other opportunities for 
 learning which are not generally found in 
 Natural country places. 
 
 ^Natfonal J nave been cnie % speaking of Natural 
 Schools. History work in schoolrooms at home, where 
 the father and mother both have it in their 
 power to help forward the work by their 
 interest and sympathy. In ordinary schools, 
 where the teachers are hard pressed to get 
 through the work of preparing for the visit of 
 the inspectors, it is not possible for them to 
 undertake to teach Natural History in the way 
 I have described. A great deal, however, can 
 be done by means of well prepared object 
 lessons, occasional walks with their teacher, 
 and having the children a few at a time to tea ; 
 and also by setting them to work to search for 
 things for themselves. Where there are persons 
 at liberty to help in the Natural History in the 
 school, a great deal may be done to supplement 
 the teacher's work by forming a village club. 
 
 I can thoroughly recommend " Object Les- 
 sons from Nature," by Professor Miall, to 
 school-teachers who wish to give Natural 
 History lessons on scientific lines to large 
 classes. Good object lessons are most in- 
 teresting to children, and Natural History
 
 TEACHING NATURAL SCIENCE. 183 
 
 taught in this way is always successful, if the 
 teacher prepares the lessons, with plenty of 
 illustrations and objects, beforehand It is 
 more difficult to rouse a lively interest in 
 nature in a school, than it is in the home circle. 
 At first the children seem slow to understand, 
 but, after a few good lessons, and an eager 
 desire on the part of the teacher for " live 
 things," the class begins to wake up, and to see 
 what is wanted. Give lessons on common 
 things ; shew the children wasps and flies, 
 beetles and butterflies, pointing out the wonder- 
 ful part they play in the economy of nature. 
 Give lessons on rooks and starlings, sparrows 
 and owls, anything and everything that is 
 familiar. Shew the wonderful disguises and 
 mimicry around us. There will be no lack of 
 objects as soon as the children find out what 
 you want, for they will all be on the hunt for 
 things for you to tell about ; only do not 
 allow anything to be brought to you " dead," 
 and teach the children to be tender in handling 
 and careful in carrying. Be on your guard 
 against cruelty, especially with boys, and do 
 not allow them to make any collections, unless 
 done under the supervision of some responsible 
 person ; and then only when there are proper 
 and convenient places provided for the purpose.
 
 184 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 Village Village clubs are capital when they can be 
 Club8 ' managed. They should be started with as few 
 members as possible. When these are trained 
 iby holiday afternoons of field work, by many 
 wise lessons and by careful instruction, then 
 new members may be admitted. If too many 
 members are admitted at first they get out of 
 hand, .and it is very difficult to keep watch 
 over their doings ; whereas, when they are 
 trained they may be safely trusted to help to 
 teach others. A clergyman started a small 
 club in a village amongst the ploughboys. 
 Once a week, during a long winter, they met 
 in a cottage, and they become engrossed in the 
 subject of " spiders." The success of a club 
 will depend chiefly on the leader's own interest 
 and enthusiasm. It is impossible to give rules 
 that would suit every case, and the person who 
 takes up the work will soon see what it is 
 necessary to enforce. The chief points to be 
 observed are the same in every case ; the 
 lessons must be regular, definite, and well illus- 
 trated. The out-door work must be systematic ; 
 field days regularly organized, and " finds " 
 carefully looked at and explained. Club Note- 
 books should be kept. Most of the methods I 
 have already explained will be found to work 
 well in either schoolroom or club. With a
 
 TEACHING NATURAL SCIENCE. 185 
 
 "little at a time," and that little well done, you 
 will soon make headway. The minor details 
 must be settled by each club for itself. 
 
 Instruction may be given to the children by 
 means of a magic lantern; essays may be 
 written, and suitable books offered as prizes. 
 
 I strongly advise all who wish to start Village 
 Clubs to apply to the Secretary of the " Band 
 of Mercy," 105, Jermyn Street, London, where 
 the necessary information for forming and 
 working Naturalist classes can be obtained."* 
 
 To enforce the study of Natural History, 
 without the beautiful lessons that it teaches us 
 (to which all our teaching on this subject should 
 tend, and to which our thoughts are naturally 
 drawn as we learn more and more of the 
 wonderful world in which we live), would be a 
 serious and fatal error. It is so easy to point 
 out the way in which each creature is so 
 beautifully adapted for the life it is destined to 
 lead ; to point out all the wonderful means of 
 defence, mimicry and disguises they possess to 
 help them to preserve the precious gift of Life ; 
 from the tall giraffe which, we are told, so 
 exactly reproduces the light and shade, colour
 
 186 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 and markings, of its surroundings, that, from a 
 distance, when it is feeding on the mimosa 
 trees, even a Bushman can hardly distinguish 
 it to the quaint defensive attitudes, colour, 
 and markings, adopted by some of our common 
 caterpillars. All this affords us beautiful op- 
 portunities for teaching both spiritual and 
 moral lessons, without objectionable preaching, 
 which go home to the hearts of the children 
 in such a way that the lesson once learned is 
 never forgotten. For we must remember that 
 children easily get hard and callous when 
 left to themselves, taking all they see as 
 a matter of course, and never wondering at 
 anything. This is often the case when they 
 are allowed to torment and murder the creatures 
 about them for no other purpose than to add 
 new specimens to their terrible collections. 
 
 LIST OF BOOKS USEFUL FOB STUDY & KEFERENCE. 
 
 ' The Forest Trees of Great Britaiu." By C. A. Johns - 5 
 ' Nature and Her Servants." By Theodore "Wood - - 5 
 'Our Insect Allies." By Theodore Wood - - - -26 
 1 Natural History of Selborue." By Gilbert Wliite - - 2 6 
 ' The Outdoor World." By W. Furueau, F.RG.S. - - 7 (5 
 ' Workers without Wage," 2 vols. By Edith Carrington 2/6 each 
 ' Ponds and Ditches." By M. 0. Cooke - - - - 2 6 
 'Object Lessons from Nature," 2 vols. By Prof. Miall 1/6 each 
 1 Familiar History of British Fishes." By Frank Bucklaud 5
 
 a Banfc of 
 
 BY FLORENCE SUCKLING.
 
 of 
 
 " Ye, therefore, that love Mercy, 
 Teach your sons to love it too." 
 
 CoTVPER. 
 
 " /^\NE of the most important duties of a 
 Mother," observes a well-known Ameri- 
 can writer (Olive Thorne Miller), "is to teach 
 her son kindness to animals. A boy is a bundle 
 of curiosity, and his attention is easily aroused. 
 It is well, if the mother can spare the time, to 
 instruct herself, and be informed of the wonderful 
 facts of Natural History. The world is brimming 
 with wonders, and the child is fairly hungering 
 for information." 
 
 There are few mothers who are not acquainted, 
 only too well, with this " child-hunger " after the 
 hidden truths of nature, which has, from age to 
 age, been found exceedingly difficult to satisfy. 
 Still, the problem which is offered for solution 
 to the matron of to-day, is as nothing compared 
 with the perplexing one offered in the last 
 century, when books were few, knowledge 
 scanty, and children quite as enquiring.
 
 190 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 Within the last twenty or thirty years a 
 great change has come over the world of books, 
 as well as over public opinion, with regard to 
 matters concerning the animal kingdom ; and 
 this better state of things owes its origin, in a 
 great measure, to what is popularly known as 
 the "Band of Mercy Movement." Society it 
 can hardly be called, so many and so varied are 
 its ramifications ; but its raison d'etre is a desire 
 to imbue the rising generation of all classes with 
 a tender, reverent, and intelligent love of the 
 Creator's visible works, by means of easy lessons 
 on Natural Science. 
 
 Nothing in Nature can possibly be " ugly," 
 or "horrid," or "nasty," or "useless." We 
 may say so of men's handiwork, but not of the 
 perfect Work of God. All being deemed "good" 
 by the Creator, neither pain, nor fear, nor 
 death, should be meted out to them save in 
 matters of vital import to the human race. 
 
 The pledge taken by members of a Band is 
 "We agree to be kind to all animals, and to 
 protect them from cruelty and illusage." This 
 pledge, it will be seen, is based upon the belief 
 stated before that all belong to God, and are 
 worthy of our care. 
 
 The word "cruelty," in this case, is inter- 
 preted as "the giving of needless pain."
 
 A BAND OF MERCY. 191 
 
 This little pledge, or agreement, is set forth 
 on gaily painted cards, which, together with all 
 the rules and regulations of the Society, with 
 much of its literature, can be obtained at 105, 
 Jermyn Street, London, where, also, can be had 
 gratis a small booklet, containing all information 
 necessary to the formation of a " Band of 
 Mercy," and a long list of gift and lesson books 
 published by the trade, and found suitable by 
 competent judges. 
 
 In taking a retrospect of what is now so vast 
 a machinery, it is difficult to point to any time 
 or individual as its originator. Rather it would 
 appear as if a fire were kindled simultaneously 
 in the hearts of many people throughout divers 
 lands about thirty years ago, all alike inspired 
 with the desire to lead youthful minds to a 
 better and kinder knowledge of the dumb crea- 
 tion. Like stars among the names of lesser 
 note, were those of Hans Christian Andersen, 
 in Sweden, and La Martine, in France ; while 
 in England Mrs. Gatty with her lovely " Par- 
 ables of Nature," Anna Sewell and her " Black 
 Beauty," and Mrs. Trimmer with her "Robins/' 
 amid a host of other charming writers, sowed 
 the seeds in the hearts of those who were in 
 those days '* little folk," which is bearing in our 
 own day such abundant fruit.
 
 192 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 Such men as Darwin, Wood, and Kingsley 
 did much in their day to eradicate the antipa- 
 thies (tending to engender cruelty) felt towards 
 certain animals born of ancient superstitions 
 by encouraging their own children in "good- 
 fellowship with all sorts and conditions of 
 beasties." This new departure aptly illustrated 
 itself when Charles Kingsley's little daughter 
 ran to meet him (a large toad reposing com- 
 fortably in her outstretched hand) with the 
 exclamation, " Oh, Father ! do look at this dear, 
 delightful toad ! " 
 
 Henceforth certain lovers of Nature began to 
 devote their lives to her service, in convincing 
 the child- world that many creatures, hitherto 
 feared and despised, could be " dear, delightful " 
 members of out-door society. 
 
 Foremost among these unselfish pioneers was 
 the already aged Mrs. Catherine Smithies, who, 
 convinced of the dire need there was that some- 
 one should be up and doing, sallied forth on a 
 wet and dreary winter's night some eighteen 
 years ago, to gather together the children in the 
 village schoolroom, and lay the foundation of 
 the first " Band of Mercy," strictly so called, in 
 the kingdom. The scheme succeeded beyond 
 the wildest hopes of its promoters ; children 
 throughout the country flocked to the meetings,
 
 A BAND OF MERCY. 103 
 
 and crowded cities followed the lead with equal 
 alacrity. Teachers and helpers of all grades 
 came forward, and set about instructing them- 
 selves, so as to teach others. Authors produced 
 suitable books for prizes, and Mrs. Charles Bray 
 gave to the movement an impetus by her 
 inimitable " Duty to Animals," while Mr. 
 Smithies, already Editor of the Band of Hope, 
 Review, started the beautifully illustrated 
 Band of Mercy Magazine, the organ of the 
 Society, with its useful monthly song, and well 
 chosen stories, etc. 
 
 The fame of the work brought over Mr. G- T. 
 Angell, the zealous humanitarian, of America, 
 who saw, applauded, and returned to Boston 
 ready to inaugurate what has since become the 
 American Humane Education Society, including 
 a total of twelve thousand eight hundred "Bands 
 of Mercy," numbering, in Massachusetts alone, 
 close upon one million members. - It would be 
 impossible to estimate the numbers throughout 
 the whole of America ; suffice it to say that some 
 six or eight monthly journals, dealing exclu- 
 sively with Natural History subjects, after the 
 style of our own Animal World, are in existence ; 
 and, with the same object, Mr. Angell has, within 
 the last year, issued one million copies of " Black 
 Beauty " under the auspices of his Society.
 
 194 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 ' Bands of Mercy " are nowadays (as one of 
 the children's " character songs " sets forth) 
 "marching round the world ; " for they flourish 
 alike in Canada and Japan, in Australia and her 
 sister colonies, to say nothing of Germany. 
 Switzerland, and even France. 
 
 A new and very successful method of teaching 
 the classes has of late years been adopted, and 
 it is one which entirely does away with any 
 excuse for object lessons which need be illus- 
 trated by living creatures under the title of 
 "specimens" an undesirable practice, involving 
 too often cruelty in a greater or less degree. 
 This mode of instruction, combined with amuse- 
 ment, is carried on by means of a magic lantern. 
 The slides, mostly home made, photographs 
 from the life or from good prints, having been 
 sent to a " reasonable " professional colourer, 
 are returned for amateur covering, binding and 
 arranging as " lectures " in grooved boxes. The 
 rest of the " plant " consists of a four- wick 
 paraffin lantern (anything more ambitious is not 
 only dangerous, but cumbersome for carrying), 
 a camera stand, and a ten-foot sheet, with two 
 rings at the top corners. 
 
 Armed with these, the teacher (usually a 
 lady) sallies forth to the appointed rendezvous, 
 and is joined by some other helper, who keeps
 
 A. BAND OF MERCY. 195 
 
 order, takes names, and, perhaps, works the 
 lantern, or an intelligent artizan will, at a small 
 cost, supply this need. 
 
 The quietude of the sometimes large audiences 
 (few Bands number less than sixty members, 
 and many possess two hundred), and the admir- 
 able essays which they send in afterwards, 
 would surprise strangers who note the poverty 
 of their appearance. 
 
 The Natural History Lantern penetrates 
 into Mission Halls and into pretty drawing- 
 rooms with equal impartiality, the slides being 
 frequently lent by w r orker to worker, through 
 the post. In this way, one town on the 
 southern coast receives the box and type-written 
 notes every month, from October to March, and 
 shows them to ten Bands of Mercy within its 
 borough in succession. Of these, one is located 
 in the workhouse, another in a large and im- 
 portant ladies' school, the other eight being 
 divided among all the church and chapel schools 
 in the place, with the exception of one. Each 
 secretary reads to his or her own Band, and 
 the same artizan manipulates the lantern, till, 
 the season being over, the slides return as they 
 came. Essays written on these lessons obtain 
 annual prizes, distributed at a great function at 
 the Town Hall ; they consist of books, carefully 
 selected to bear on the subject.
 
 I9f) HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 It would be well for growing boys if they could 
 pass under such tutorship as that of the Kev. J. 
 E. C. Welldon, head master of Harrow, an ardent 
 advocate of our cause, who is wont thus to 
 expound its tenets to his boys. " It is for love 
 of these dumb creatures that I plead with you. 
 We know little of them, but we know that they 
 are strangely like ourselves, that they have 
 bones, and nerves, and sinews, even as we have ; 
 that they are keenly sensitive of pain, and 
 capable of affection. Physiology, in its indisput- 
 able teaching, is ever narrowing the gulf (ex- 
 cept, indeed, spiritually) which parts, or was 
 deemed to part, the animal world from ours. 
 Can you doubt that, by however mysterious 
 means, God is accomplishing a purpose in their 
 lives as in ours ? Think of the providential 
 power shown in making one of any of them. 
 There may be some of you who recall how the 
 historian Gibbon, in closing his narrative of the 
 building of the Church of St. Sophia, at Con- 
 stantinople, adds, ' Yet how dull is the edifice, 
 how insignificant is the labour, if it be compared 
 with the formation of the vilest insect which 
 crawls over the surface of the Temple.' These 
 are the creatures so mysterious, so full of marvel, 
 of which, as I have said, you are the masters. 
 Do not be ignorant or careless of the duty
 
 A HAND 01-' MERCY. 197 
 
 you owe them. Remember, even in your daily 
 life, what you may become to them, they to you. 
 The world is full of mysteries, and every mystery 
 is a great possibility. But if I would have you 
 learn the lesson of God's care for animals, and 
 all that flows from it, it is that you may not 
 think of them merely to be killed and conquered, 
 but as mysterious beings for which you are 
 responsible to Him. For I think that Paradise 
 was lost on the day when beasts became afraid 
 of human presences. And I fondly hope that 
 it will be won on the day when, if I may use of 
 each of us the prophetic language of nn ancient 
 writer, 'Thou shalt be in league with the stones 
 of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be 
 at peace with thee.' ' 
 
 " Train yourselves," says Canon Farrar to all 
 friends of humanity, "train your little children, 
 train your young boys in acts of mercy and 
 kindness to animals, for mercy and kindness are 
 diffusive, and the child who has learnt tender- 
 ness to the brute creation is far more likely to 
 learn the lesson, ' Be ye kind one to another.' " 
 
 " Every leader of thought," says the talented 
 author of ' Workers without Wage ' " and who 
 is not one, more or less ? should remember 
 that he becomes in a measure responsible for 
 the remote results of his precept and example.
 
 198 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 So it is with a trifling act or thought or word, 
 especially where the young are concerned. It 
 is to the innocent prattlers of to-day the 
 parents of the future that we must trust for 
 the dawn of a better era, and these may now be 
 moulded as wax." 
 
 Longfellow says to those who are parents : 
 
 " How shall I teach your children gentleness, 
 
 And mercy to the weak, and reverence? 
 For life, which in its weakness or excess, 
 
 Is still a gleam of God's omnipotence ; 
 Or death, which, seeming darkness, is no less 
 
 The self-same light, although averted hence, 
 When by your laws, your actions and your speech, 
 You contradict the very things I teach ?" 
 
 The literature of to-day teems with beautiful 
 lessons of the animal world ; we have nothing 
 to do but to invite the little ones to turn to 
 Nature for their happiest inspirations. 
 
 " And Nature, the old Nurse, took 
 
 The child upon her knee, 
 Saying, ' Here is a story book 
 Thy Father has written for thee.'" 
 
 "Come wander with me," she said, 
 
 "Into regions yet untrod, 
 And read what is yet unread 
 Of the manuscripts of God."
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE Editor has obtained permission to insert the 
 three following chapters, as she believes that the 
 practical suggestions they contain will prove of great 
 value in helping lovers of nature to be systematic 
 in their own studies and in the lessons they may 
 give to children in Natural History. 
 
 I. 
 
 fbome flbuseums* 
 
 Reprinted, by permission of Mr. T. Fisher Uwwin, 
 from "More About Wild Nature," by Mrs. Brightwen
 
 /CJ_ENUINE students and lovers of nature 
 ^* indeed, any of us who find it a duty as 
 well as a pleasure to learn as much as possible 
 of its mystery and beauty will never be 
 satisfied with mere book knowledge of the 
 wonderful world in which we have been placed. 
 The dweller in the country lives all day in a 
 vast storehouse, which we roughly divide into 
 animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, each 
 in its natural relation to the others, each helping 
 in the formation and support of the others. There 
 is never any possibility that a dried and stuffed 
 and ticketed collection, no matter how exten- 
 sive, can give us teaching like this. 
 
 For those who cannot study nature " at 
 home " in the country, there are now extensive 
 and well- arranged collections accessible to all. 
 The grand Natural History Museum at South 
 Kensington, the splendid Museums of Botany 
 at Kew, and the great collection of minerals in 
 the School of Mines in Jermyn Street these, 
 or any of these, will give opportunities for 
 months of study, with increased pleasure and 
 knowledge every day. But, however much we 
 may use our opportunities of study, either in 
 the fields, woods, or iri the great national col- 
 lections, most nature students will like to have 
 some private collection of their own, to which 
 they may turn in leisure moments, or which
 
 202 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 they may re-arrange on a rainy afternoon. 
 Almost every article in such a collection will 
 have for them some private association the 
 mode in which they acquired it, the locality in. 
 which it was found, the friends, perhaps no 
 longer here, who shared their delight in securing 
 the prize. 
 
 I can speak from practical experience of the 
 great pleasure of possessing a home museum, 
 and, believing that others may welcome a little 
 information on the subject, I will try and give 
 some simple suggestions which will enable those 
 who are anxious to do so, to make collections of 
 their own ; it is an easier and more inexpensive 
 matter than might be supposed, and I can truly 
 say it affords a life-long source of interest. 
 
 My little museum had, like many other 
 things, a very small beginning. As there was 
 plenty of space on the walls of the billiard-room, 
 I had a case made to contain specimens of nuts 
 and seeds which had been stored up in various 
 cupboards and boxes about the house. These 
 objects, neatly arranged and named, were hung- 
 up in a wall case, and formed the nucleus of the 
 future collection. 
 
 As I have taken an interest from my earliest 
 years in all kinds of foreign seeds, such as those 
 of palm-trees, tropical plants, fruits, &c., friends 
 were often kind enough to give me any they 
 had obtained in their travels abroad. !Some I 
 met with in various shops ; and thus in time I 
 had sufficient to fill one side of a wall-case, 
 measuring four feet by two feet, with a glass 
 front. In the opposite side of the case I thought 
 it would be interesting to arrange specimens of
 
 APPENDIX. 203 
 
 many kinds of drugs used in making ordinary 
 medicines. I, therefore, obtained from chemists 
 such articles as castor-oil seeds, a piece of 
 Turkey rhubarb, specimens of different barks 
 from which quinine and other tonics are made, 
 colocynth gourd, aloes, manna, and a great 
 number of gums and other substances which are 
 required in the healing art, not forgetting a few 
 blister beetles and cochineal insects. 
 
 The case wns lined with white paper, and 
 divided into columns by thin strips of beading, 
 nailed down with small brads. These columns 
 were again divided horizontally by beading, 
 thus leaving little spaces three inches by two, 
 in each of \\hich a specimen was placed, with 
 its name and special use affixed. H was a 
 great interest to me to read about all these 
 medical drugs, to learn where they were ob- 
 tained, and how prepared and used, and many 
 a happy hour has been spent in explaining 
 about them to the hundreds of poor people who 
 come from dreary homes in London to spend 
 long summer days in my place. My own 
 visitors, too, often plead for a chat in the 
 museum when kept indoors by wet weather. 
 
 I may create a smile when I speak of my 
 " scullery " as being the next object of interest 
 we come to in the museum ; but what else can 
 I call a collection of more than a hundred 
 skulls ? They are mostly those of birds, 
 ranging from the eagle to the wren, and from 
 the swan to the stormy petrel. 
 
 When one speaks of the study of anatomy, 
 the word see MIS to suggest something that can 
 only belong to medical student life something
 
 204 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 quite beyond the reach of young people, and 
 possibly not desirable even if it could be 
 attained. I think there is, however, a word 
 to be said for the intelligent study of bone 
 structure, which, from my early childhood, has 
 always possessed a singular fascination for me. 
 The skull of a bird neatly prepared, white as 
 ivory, perfect and beautiful in its adaptation to 
 the conditions of the bird's life ; a portion of the 
 spine of a fish, cleaned and dried before the fire, 
 showing the many joints which make it flexible, 
 the hollow for the spinal marrow, and the bones 
 to protect it from injury ; the foot of a mole, 
 with its intricate structure ; these and endless 
 other quite simple preparations would afford 
 young people hours of delightful study. The 
 bones, once prepared, can be labelled with 
 English and Latin names, and. kept in the 
 home museum ready to be shewn to young 
 friends, or made the foundation of elementary 
 lectures to country lads and parties of poor 
 people. It has sometimes been my pleasant 
 occupation, during long winter evenings, to meet 
 about twenty or thirty boys at our village-room, 
 and, taking my collection of prepared animal 
 and bird skulls, I try to explain, in very simple 
 language, the various interesting things that 
 can be learnt from them. The boys give very 
 close attention, and look with such eagerness at 
 each little bone as I hold it up and talk about 
 it, that I long to give them each a specimen to 
 take home, as a reward for their goodness in 
 sitting quietly as long as I am able to stay to 
 talk to them. 
 
 The only articles required for preparing
 
 APPENDIX. 205 
 
 skeletons are these : a small saucepan, a pen- 
 knife, a carpet-pin, and a nail brush. Suppose 
 we ask for the head of a duck from the larder, 
 either with feathers on or without will not 
 matter We place it in the saucepan filled 
 with hot water, and let it boil gently about 
 twenty minutes. By that time it should be 
 possible to take off all the flesh, and, by rinsing 
 the head arid carefully using the brush, at 
 length we obtain a clean skull, which will only 
 need to be dried before the fire or in the sun 
 until whitened, and then it will be ready for 
 the museum shelves. The brain is easily got 
 rid of by inserting the head of the pin through 
 the orifice at the back of the skull, and working- 
 it about, until, by constant rinsing, the head is 
 emptied. The lower half of the beak should be 
 cleaned separately, and, when dry, a small 
 indiarubber band will keep it in its place. A 
 label with English and Latin name should be 
 attached at once, else after a time one may not 
 be able to tell the exact species when numerous 
 skulls are arranged side by side. 
 
 The length of time a head must be boiled 
 must vary much, according to the size of the 
 specimen, and this can only be learned by 
 experience. A robin or a mouse's head only 
 needs about ten minutes, and if overdone will 
 fall to pieces. Some animal skulls are extremely 
 difficult to prepare ; the mole, for instance, 
 requires very delicate handling, else the fragile 
 cranium comes to pieces ; yet it is well worth 
 taking the trouble to obtain a perfect specimen, 
 for the jaws are furnished with such formidable 
 rows of teeth that they suggest those of a
 
 206 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 miniature crocodile, and one can well under- 
 stand from them the mole's power of crunching 
 worms and fighting with its own species. It is 
 very instructive to place on the same card the 
 upper and lower jaws of a shrew and a house 
 mouse. One can then see how they differ, the 
 former being- insectivorous and flesh-eating, and 
 the latter, belonging to the rodentia, able, with 
 its powerful front teeth, to gnaw through 
 wooden planks and find its way into store- 
 closets, as the housekeeper often finds to her 
 cost. 
 
 Another interesting preparation is a bullock's 
 foot. We should order from the butcher what 
 is called an ox-heel, and ask the cook to boil it 
 as she would to make a shape of calf's-foot 
 jelly. When this is done the heel will be still 
 intact, and we can begin to take it to pieces ; 
 and as each bone is cleaned it must be placed 
 on a large sheet of paper, and one after another 
 each one must be replaced next to its fellow, 
 and never moved again until dry and white. 
 Then, having a piece of cardboard large enough 
 to take in the whole foot when placed length- 
 wise, we may begin with a needle and stout 
 thread to tack down each bone in its place, till 
 the whole is completed. When I am showing 
 my museum to a group of poor people, I always 
 draw their attention to the bullock's foot, and 
 enjoy their amazement at the way in which the 
 bones fit in, the velvet softness of the joint 
 surfaces, and the sculptured beauty of the 
 shank bone. 
 
 Subjects for anatomy are very easily obtained; 
 the turkey at Christmas, the goose at Michael-
 
 APPENDIX. 207 
 
 mas, the game birds in constant use, the rabbit 
 and hare, all afford interesting skulls, and their 
 feet are also worth retaining, since, if nailed to 
 a board and dried before the fire, they will, when 
 named and arranged, add interesting items to 
 the museum walls. 
 
 In the heads of cod, haddock, whiting (and 
 possibly many other fishes), two small snowy- 
 white bones are to be found, one in either half 
 of the skull. They are supposed to assist the 
 power of hearing, and are called otoliths or 
 ear-bones. The skull must be broken carefully 
 to pieces to find them ; they lie in the two 
 cavities in the back part of the head, and 
 resemble very small white almonds. 
 
 Ihese bones are well worth preserving for 
 several reasons. Those of each individual 
 species, neatly mounted on a card, form an 
 interesting museum specimen, as they vary in 
 shape and size in different fishes, and are unlike 
 any other bones I am acquainted with. 
 
 Then they also have an artistic use. I col- 
 lected these otoliths for several years till I had 
 a sufficient quantity, and then they helped to 
 make a very original banner-screen. If five of 
 them are placed starwise they form a perfect 
 jasmine flower, and sprays of green beetle's 
 wings on a ground of rich dark coloured satin 
 or velvet, with these jasmine flowers intro- 
 duced, have a charming effect. Each otolith 
 and beetle-wing must first be neatly tacked in 
 its place with fine white and green silk, and 
 then gold braid sewn round each so as to hold 
 them firmly in place, the braid thus forming 
 the stems of the sprays. A few delicately
 
 208 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 embroidered butterflies, studied from nature, 
 will add colour enough to make a very agreeable 
 work of art. 
 
 Beautiful white bones are to be found in the 
 brown outside skin of a large turbot, and these 
 also would be worth preserving to be used in 
 needlework. They are like tiny morsels of hoar- 
 frost, white and delicate ; they only need to 1)3 
 soaked in hot water to get rid of the gelatinous 
 skin in which they have been embedded, and 
 this is easily cleaned away with a nail brush. 
 Two stitches with fine white silk will affix 
 them to any textile material, and, in combina- 
 tion with embroidery and gold thread, very 
 pretty effects may be obtained. 
 
 I once picked up a dead swallow, and, with 
 great care, it was at last prepared whole, and 
 fastened to a card. A. truly wonderful little 
 skeleton it proved to be, so fragile and delicate 
 that a careless touch would crush it in a 
 moment, and yet, when alive, the possessor of 
 that tiny frame could wing its way, mile after 
 mile, across the sea, seeking, by unerring 
 instinct, some warmer land in which to pass the 
 winter. 
 
 Thus gaining insight into the formation of 
 the wonderful creature we call a bird, which, in 
 all its parts, is a miracle of contrivance and 
 adaptation to special ends, must surely increase 
 our love and reverence, not only for birds, but, 
 indeed, for all living things, since, in whatever 
 direction we may pursue our studies, we are met 
 with such evidences of divine wisdom and skill 
 that a thoughtful mind is filled with wonder 
 and praise. I must always maintain, that
 
 APPENDIX. 209 
 
 leading the young to investigate these things 
 for themselves in a reverent spirit, cannot fail to 
 minister greatly to their present pleasure and 
 eventual mental profit. 
 
 The facial line in birds is most interesting. 
 I am not learned on the subject, but, following 
 Camper's ideas, I find that it is usually those 
 birds with an upright skull that possess the 
 most intelligence. A line drawn from the tip 
 of the beak of a blue-tit to the apex of the 
 skull will shew a far higher angle than the 
 same test applied to the head of a willow wren 
 or tree creeper, and, charming as the two latter 
 birds are, they have not a quarter of the " nous " 
 of the clever little tit. The possession of a 
 collection of skulls opens the way to many an 
 interesting line of study in connection with the 
 living birds and their ways as seen in our 
 gardens and fields. 
 
 The study of bone structure tends to cultivate 
 many useful qualities. Neat handedness is very 
 essential, for one clumsy touch may simply mar 
 an hour's careful work. 
 
 Patience will also be developed, as I can 
 testify ; I once placed some small skulls in a 
 pan of water in the garden, in order that 
 they might skeletonise by soaking. They were 
 nearly ready to be washed and cleaned, when a 
 family of enterprising ducks found out the pan, 
 and reduced my skulls to a delicate mince. 
 Occasionally I have over-boiled some rare head, 
 and then I knew that, having spoiled this one, 
 I might have to wait for months or years before 
 I could obtain another. 
 
 All these disappointments are teachings, and
 
 210 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 a true naturalist is never discouraged. " Every- 
 thing comes to him who knows how to wait " is 
 an extremely true saying. I know hardly any 
 better corrective for the impatience of youth 
 than the steady plodding work involved in 
 carrying out any of the branches of the study I 
 am endeavouring to bring to the notice of my 
 readers. 
 
 Before speaking of the cases of minerals 
 in my museum, I will try to explain how 
 easily such objects may be kept and shewn 
 without having expensive cabinets to contain 
 them, which is often a difficulty in the path of 
 young mineralogists. Supposing there is but 
 limited space, small shelves, three inches wide, 
 and three or four inches apart, can be made of 
 plain deal, stained brown, and fixed against 
 the wall, with glass doors to keep out dust. 
 Any carpenter can carry out this plan at very 
 little cost. An immense number of specimens 
 can thus be arranged, and are much more 
 readily seen in this way than in the drawers 
 of a cabinet. 
 
 There is, to my thinking, an unfailing interest 
 about stones of all sorts and kinds. They 
 reveal so much about the history of our country, 
 and tell us in a mute sort of way that they are 
 the remains of long past ages, and have sur- 
 vived all kinds of upheavals, glacial periods, 
 and changes of temperature. Wherever one 
 may happen to be, something can be picked up 
 in the way of minerals for the shelves of the 
 home museum, and those fossils or stones which 
 we have ourselves discovered will always be 
 reckoned far more valuable than any bought
 
 APPENDIX. 211 
 
 specimens. On this north side of London, 
 where we live on very high ground, which was 
 once covered by the sea, the pebbles are all 
 rounded by attrition, and many are brittle and 
 full of cracks from their great age ; some polish 
 well, and show beautiful colours and veinings ; 
 others contain impressions of fossil shells and 
 sponges. The ventriculites, it is true, are 
 generally broken in the middle ; indeed, it is 
 rare to find any perfect fossils, but even the 
 pieces are worth preserving, as they can be 
 compared with the perfect forms figured in 
 geological books. The flints, with cavities filled 
 with quartz crystals, are of many forms, and 
 sparkle brightly. Chalcedony and jasper can 
 be picked up in our roads. Large masses of 
 pudding stone occur in the fields, and when 
 cut in half they take a high polish. A large 
 artificial cave in the grounds here is mainly 
 formed of blocks of this stone. Now, our 
 neighbourhood is not, by any means, rich in 
 minerals, but I instance the foregoing to prove 
 that, even here, stores for the home museum 
 may be found and utilized. No doubt in other 
 places a far greater variety could be obtained. 
 
 Most people have several " outings " in the 
 course of the year, when, usually, there would 
 be opportunities for collecting many kinds of 
 specimens fossils from the chalk 01- the lias, 
 granites from Cornwall or Scotland, ores from 
 any of the mining districts, pebbles from the 
 sea-coast; all these and many more can be 
 obtained in our own country, and, ^ of course, a 
 foreign trip would afford a much wider range of 
 possibilities for acquiring geological specimens.
 
 212 HANDBOOK OF NATUKAL HISTORY. 
 
 The classifying and arranging the minerals 
 thus obtained in various ways, forms a delight- 
 ful occupation for intelligent young people 
 when kept indoors during the holidays by wet 
 weather, and it is pleasant to watch the keen 
 interest with which fresh specimens are welcomed 
 and talked over, each one having, perhaps, its 
 own personal history. This is the case with 
 my own mineral possessions ; one stone was 
 picked up in the bed of an Alpine stream, and 
 always recalls to me the beauties of scenery, 
 the purity of air, and the sweet scents I 
 enjoyed during that mountain ramble. The 
 limestone fossils speak to me of picturesque 
 Derbyshire, with its wonderful caverns, stalac- 
 tites, and crystals. Jaspers of every shade 
 made up the beach at Aberystwith, and a 
 glance at the polished specimens I brought 
 home with me from that shore never fails to 
 bring back to my memory the soft blue distances 
 of the Welsh hills and the grand masses of the 
 old Silurian rocks. My knowledge of geology 
 being but very elementary, I had often found it 
 difficult to ascertain the names of my specimens, 
 even with the aid of books. I was, therefore, 
 glad to discover that any professional mineralo- 
 gist will correctly name one's treasures for the 
 small sum of one penny each. When this is 
 done, the classifying becomes comparatively 
 easy. If one watches for opportunities, small 
 pieces of minerals, never likely to be found by 
 oneself, are easily obtained by enquiring for a 
 working lapidary's shop. It will probably be 
 found in a back street, kept, often, by a poor 
 working man, who will be glad enough to-
 
 APPENDIX. 213 
 
 *" '* 
 
 obtain and cut small specimens of whatever we 
 are seeking. As a rule, it is best to avoid the 
 showy lapidary shops at the seaside, as they are 
 apt, as a rule, to be high-priced and unsatis- 
 factory. 
 
 I find the inner tray of ordinary matchboxes 
 a very convenient receptacle in which to place 
 small stones or crystals. The trays being all of 
 one size and shape, they fit in rows and take up 
 little space ; when re-papered, with some white 
 cotton wool at the bottom, they look neatand 
 keep the minerals from getting mixed. 
 
 Models of foreign fruits occupy the next wall 
 case, and with them are some huge pods of 
 tropical plants, such as the Entada, or sword 
 bean of the East and West Indies. This is 
 said to attain a length of from six to eight 
 feet, and its seeds are converted by the natives 
 into snuff-boxes, scent-bottles, spoons, &c. I 
 have a coco de mer, or double cocoa-nut, the 
 fruit of a tree which is only found growing on 
 two islands of the Seychelles group, and in 
 which the late General Gordon took a special 
 interest. He greatly lamented that this magni- 
 ficent palm is gradually being eradicated by the 
 constant felling of the trees to obtain the nuts, 
 and urged that steps should be taken, before it 
 is too late, to hinder the thoughtless destruction 
 of such a rare and noble tree. The palm itself 
 takes a century to come to maturity, and the 
 nut, although it attains its full size in four 
 years, requires ten years to be fully perfected, 
 when it weighs about forty pounds. 
 
 The other specimens in the case are a dried 
 baobab fruit ; a pod twenty-six inches in length,
 
 214 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 containing the seeds of some unknown plant ; 
 models of the banana and breadfruit ; a piece of 
 the stem of some ivy, grown here, which 
 measures eighteen inches in circumference ; and 
 a portion of ancient papyrus on cardboard. I 
 may here mention that anyone who happens to 
 have papyrus growing in a greenhouse tank, 
 can very easily make p;.iper from it if so disposed. 
 I have succeeded in making some which exactly 
 resembles that used by the Egyptians. If the 
 stem is cut into six-inch lengths, the green bark 
 sliced off, and the rest cut with a sharp razor 
 into thin layers and placed on clean white paper, 
 a row of the slices touching each other, con- 
 tinued to whatever length is desired, then 
 another row placed over these transversely, 
 leaving no gaps, and the whole pressed quickly 
 between sheets of white glazed paper, it becomes 
 a mass of thin pulp. The glutinous juice of the 
 plant makes the separate pieces adhere, and, if 
 carefully lifted to fresh paper and well-ironed 
 until dry, the manufacture will be a success. If 
 the pulp, covered by the paper above and below, 
 is placed between two sheets of millboard, one 
 can then stand upon it, and ensure its being 
 well-pressed. It can be written upon with an 
 ordinary pen, without sizing or any further 
 preparation. 
 
 With regard to fruits, I may mention that 
 many curious specimens may be obtained by 
 asking a fruiterer, when purchasing at some 
 of the importers' warehouses, to reserve such 
 things as the Brazil-nut as it is gathered, i.e., 
 a large woody fruit, containing from eighteen to- 
 twenty-four of the triangular nuts. Most
 
 APPENDIX. 215 
 
 people express surprise when told that the nuts 
 grow in this kind of wooden box, as they are 
 seldom sold in the outer case. The cocoa bean 
 grows in a similar manner, in a long, hard- 
 shelled pod. It is possible in this way, also, to 
 obtain from the importers of foreign fruit, a 
 cocoa-nut with its outer case on, beginning to 
 grow, and sending out a green shoot. If the 
 nut is planted in a large pot, and kept in heat, 
 one may see the very interesting growth of a 
 baby cocoa-palm, so beautifully described by 
 Kingsley in his book, "At last." Among the 
 things sold by Whiteley are long stems of 
 sugar-canes newly imported. These are worth 
 possessing, as showing the structure of grass on 
 a large scale, but I would add a word of caution 
 about handling the leaves. They are covered 
 with minute spicules, which, entering the pores 
 of the skin, are apt to cause great pain and 
 discomfort. 
 
 I think I have said enough to show how, in 
 various ways, one may keep enriching one's col- 
 lection. A visit to a new place always suggests, 
 to my mind, fresh chances of meeting with curios, 
 and thus the possession of a home museum gives 
 a pleasant interest to our walks, whether they 
 are in town or country.
 
 II. 
 bjcct Wesson Cases for tbe Scboolroom. 
 
 Reprinted by Permission of the Society for the Pro- 
 motion of Christian Knowledge, from "Home 
 Work for Willing Hearts" by Mrs. Brightiven.
 
 bject I>s0on Casts? for the 
 Schoolroom. 
 
 rPHESE cases are greatly desired by the 
 -*- masters and mistresses of schools where 
 object lessons are given. 
 
 Imagine an object lesson upon leather and its 
 uses, without a specimen to show ; a large class 
 of boys in all degrees of weariness and fidget ; 
 the master vainly endeavouring to keep their 
 attention wl^ile he speaks of skins being tanned 
 find prepared, and the various kinds of leather 
 made from different animals. He may do his 
 best, but, after all, he can but give a certain 
 number of facts, which only the more intelligent 
 boys will be able to grasp, and the rest will 
 have but vague ideas of the subject, because the 
 eye has not been called into the service of 
 memory to deepen the impression. Now, if the 
 master held in his hand a piece of sheep's skin, 
 with the wool on, and spoke of the processes 
 needed to clear off the wool, and followed the 
 course adopted by the tanner to turn the skin 
 into leather, and could then showpieces of horse- 
 hide, used to make harness ass and goat hide, 
 made into vellum fine kid skin used for gloves, 
 and so on, through all the various adaptations 
 of skins, the children's attention would be 
 gained ; they would remember what they had 
 seen, and the object lesson would be one of the 
 most enjoyable times in their weekly course.
 
 220 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 I have taken great interest in the formation 
 of these cases, having made one for each of our 
 national schools, and set a great many friends 
 to work to make others for their own village 
 schools. The case may be made of any size, but 
 the following dimensions are usually found 
 suitable : 
 
 Length, 43 inches ; height, 32 inches ; inside 
 width, 4-g- inches ; outside width, 6^ inches. 
 Two glass doors with lock and key ; panes of 
 glass, 28^ inches by 18^ inches. The wood may 
 be f inch deal, stained brown.* The inside 
 should be neatly lined w r ith white or tinted paper, 
 and as the objects are prepared, small tacks may 
 be placed on which they can be hung. As the 
 objects vary much in size and shape, it does not 
 answer to put the hooks or tacks in beforehand, 
 as room would probably be lost by things not 
 fitting into regular spaces. 
 
 A list of some of the various things required 
 to fill the case is given at the end of this chapter, 
 and of course it may be varied according to the 
 possibilities of obtaining suitable specimens. In 
 the country, it is quite an added pleasure to 
 one's daily walks to bear in mind that a fir-cone, 
 a piece of flint, a few pieces of wood, or bark, of 
 different kinds, a fragment of slate, glass, or 
 china, all are needed, and tend to complete the 
 collection. 
 
 Where there are young boys in a family, home 
 for the holidays, full of life, and longing for some- 
 thing to do, the idea of collecting for the school 
 
 The cost of such a case is about 1 10s. It will contain about one hundred 
 a d fifty specimens.
 
 APPENDIX. 221 
 
 case is hailed with delight as a new source of 
 interest. On first glancing at the list of things 
 required, it may seem difficult to attempt to 
 procure them ; but I will show how, at a very 
 small expense, the greater part of them may be 
 obtained. The metals need only be small pieces 
 24 inches long, and one inch wide; and any 
 tinman would cut them out of waste pieces, and 
 be glad to sell them for a penny each. 
 
 The stones can generally be picked up ; if not 
 at home, they would be found at the seaside, or 
 wherever we may go on a visit. Where a new 
 house is building, several kinds of stone may be 
 generally found, and the builder will almost 
 always give a few specimens to young people if 
 told of the purpose for which they are wanted. 
 
 Hearthstone and Bath brick are in use in most 
 kitchens, also charcoal, possibly anthracite and 
 coke. At a chemist's one can get a poppy-head 
 for a penny, a piece of roll brimstone, the different 
 gums, the blister beetles or cantharides, and 
 possibly many other useful specimens. 
 
 On the sea-beach at Brighton, I have often 
 found a basketful of small objects suitable for the 
 school case. Cabbage-stalks become skeletonized 
 and bleached white by the action of the sea, and 
 show the woody fibre of which they are com- 
 posed, and from which a teacher can explain 
 the growth of trees, and the arrangement of 
 leaves upon their branches. Pieces of rope, too, 
 are to be found with their ends unravelled into 
 the hemp threads of which the rope is composed, 
 and such a specimen, compared with a new rope, 
 would shew the children how the plant-stem at 
 last becomes a cable. Dried star-fish, various
 
 222 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 kinds of shells, the egg-purses of skate and 
 doer-fish, sponges of different species, corallines, 
 &c., are simple homely things, it is true, but 
 entirely out of the reach of hundreds of school- 
 teachers, and, therefore, to them of great value. 
 At other places iron pyrites, cuttle-fish bone 
 and fossils may be found on the shore, and when 
 travelling anywhere an observant eye will be 
 quick to observe by the roadside much that 
 may be turned to good account. 
 
 Each specimen needs to be hung up in the 
 case, and some ingenuity is required to contrive 
 that each shall have a loop of some kind to 
 hang it by. The metals, woods, and many 
 other things will allow a small hole being 
 drilled at one end, through which a piece of 
 wire can be put and then twisted into a loop. 
 Stones, nuts, etc., must have the wire placed 
 firmly round them. Card suspenders are useful 
 in some cases, and are easily attached. Copper 
 or brass wire can be bought in hanks at the 
 ironmonger's, a pair of pliers for about one 
 shilling, and an Archimedean drill at one shilling 
 and sixpence, will be all that is required to 
 prepare the specimens for arrangement in the 
 school case. 
 
 List of desirable Articles for School Cases. 
 METALS. 
 
 Iron Wrought and Cast. 
 
 Copper Copper Wire. 
 
 Brass Brass Wire. 
 
 Lead. 
 
 Tin Bar Tin. 
 
 Solder. 
 Iron Pyrites. 
 Zinc. 
 
 Any Metallic Ores.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 223 
 
 STONES. 
 
 Granite. 
 
 Flint. 
 
 Chalk. 
 
 Bath and Portland Stone. 
 
 Slate. 
 
 Bath Brick. 
 
 Sand Stone. 
 
 Pumice Stone. 
 
 Asbestos. 
 
 Mica. 
 
 Rounded Pebble. 
 
 Tile. 
 
 Limestone. 
 
 Brick. 
 
 Quartz Glass. 
 
 Jasper. 
 
 FOSSILS. 
 
 GUMS. 
 
 Tragacanth, Arabic, and any others that can be 
 obtained. 
 
 EGGS. 
 
 Hen. 
 Turkey. 
 
 Duck. 
 Goose. 
 
 To be carefully blown, and hung up by a wire run 
 through the egg. 
 
 NUTS. 
 
 Cocoa-Nut of small size. 
 The inside removed by 
 a hole cut at one end. 
 
 Pea-Nuts. 
 
 Brazil Nuts in their case, 
 
 if obtainable. 
 
 Nutmeg with Mace round it. 
 Butter-Nut. 
 
 A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF LEATHER 
 TIED TOGETHER. 
 
 Horse-hide. 
 
 Ox-hide. 
 
 Sheepskin with wool on. 
 
 tanned. 
 Basil Leather. 
 
 Russia Leather. 
 
 Roan. 
 
 Kid. 
 
 Ass-skin and Vellum. 
 
 Pigskin.
 
 224 
 
 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 WOODS. 
 
 Deal. 
 Oak. 
 Beech. 
 Mahogany. 
 
 Ebony. 
 Cedar. 
 Boxwood. 
 Cane. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Sealing Wax. 
 
 Piece of Brimstone. 
 
 Sponge. 
 
 Coral. 
 
 Cork. 
 
 Poppy Head. 
 
 Glue. Rosin. 
 
 Gutta-percha. 
 
 India-rubber. 
 
 Cotton Pod and Yarn. 
 
 Flax Fibre. 
 
 Carob Pod. 
 
 Horsehair. 
 
 Bristles. 
 
 Teazel Head. 
 
 Honeycomb fixed in small 
 
 box. 
 
 Charcoal. 
 Anthracite Coal. 
 Tobacco Leaves, and some 
 
 in rolled pieces. 
 Oil Cake. 
 Cotton Cake. 
 Outside of Pomegranate 
 
 dried. 
 
 Cedar Cone. 
 Spruce Fir Cone. 
 Carpet of different kinds. 
 Cabbage Stalk skeletonized 
 
 to show woody fibre. 
 
 A Piece of New Rope. 
 
 Horse's Hoof. 
 
 Bullock's Hoof 
 
 Goose Foot dried. 
 
 A Case with Drawing of 
 
 Silkworm, the eggs, 
 
 moth, cocoon and silk 
 
 wound. 
 
 Cuttle-fish Bone. 
 Ivory. 
 Bone. 
 Skeletons of Heads of 
 
 Fowl, Pheasant, Cat, 
 
 Rat, Stoat, and any 
 
 others obtainable. 
 Star-fish dried. 
 Mussel Shell. 
 Oyster. 
 Whelk. 
 Limpet. 
 Different kinds of Corn in 
 
 the ear. 
 Piece of China. 
 
 Earthenware. 
 Tile. 
 
 Coke. 
 Cantharides gummed on 
 
 to a card. 
 Egg-purse of Skate. 
 
 Dog-fish.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 225 
 
 SPECIMENS OF GRAIN. 
 
 Barley. 
 
 Wheat. 
 
 Oats. 
 
 Rye. 
 
 Hemp Seed. 
 
 Indian Corn. 
 
 Flax. 
 
 Lentils. 
 
 Beans Broad. 
 
 Beans Horse. 
 
 Haricot. 
 Peas Whole and Split. 
 Coffee Unroasted. 
 Tea. 
 Millet. 
 
 Canary Seed. 
 Sunflower Seeds. 
 Tares. 
 
 The grains mentioned above should be placed 
 in little brown holland bags, three inches long 
 by two inches wide, with a curtain ring placed 
 round the top, in the hem, to keep the bag 
 open, and a small ring sewn on one side to hang 
 it up by. These bags can be placed on small 
 hooks down each side of the case. The 4^ inches 
 width will allow about 28 of them to hang on 
 each side.
 
 III. 
 portions of an Hlmanacfe, 
 
 Compiled by a girl of 15 from personal observation. 
 
 [NoTE. Tfte Almanack from which the following 
 extracts are taken was awarded the prize offered 
 by the Publishers of the " Child Life Almanack " 
 for the most complete set of phenological notes, pre- 
 pared from actual observation, confirming or siip- 
 plementing those given in the Almanack.']
 
 s of an JLlmanark, 
 
 Compiled by a girl of 15 from personal observation, 
 
 [The following abbreviations have been made use of : fl. for 
 flowers ; ap. for appears.] 
 
 MARCH. 
 
 1 Currants and Gooseberries in leaf. 
 
 2 Bluebell buds above ground. Daffodil buds unfold. 
 
 3 Oloryless fl. Dog's Mercury fl. 
 4 
 
 5 Coltsfoot fl. 
 
 6 Shepherd's Purse, wild Anemone, Kingcup and 
 
 Cuckoo Flower fl. Capsules of Cushion or 
 Screw Moss ripen. 
 
 7 Daffodil fl. 
 
 8 Palm anthers burst. White Butterfly ap. Peach 
 
 blossom nearly out. 
 9 
 
 10 March dust flying watercart in use. Elm fl. 
 
 Bullfinches pair. 
 
 11 Forget-me-not fl. 
 
 12 Wild white Violets fl. Larch, Box, Butter-burr 
 
 fl. Larch leaf. Saw frog's spawn in stagnant 
 pond and running water. Sulphur Butterfly 
 ap. Bumble Bees ap. Song Thrushes build. 
 
 13 Purple Alison fl. 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 Pear fl. 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 19 Ants ap. Red Currant, Hyacinth, Blue Plum fl. 
 
 Spindlewood in leaf. 
 
 20 Ribes fl.
 
 230 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 21 Tulips, Gooseberry, Dog-toothed Violets, Chymon- 
 
 doxa, Primular Rosa, common Dog Violets fl. 
 Cottonwood leaf. 
 
 22 Saw Gerris. 
 
 23 Bat ap. Mare's Tail leaf. 
 
 24 Hazel leaf. Raspberry leaf. 
 
 25 Cherry, Ash, Pirus Japonica, Blackthorn, Stitch- 
 
 wort, Ground Ivy fl. 
 
 26 Mare's Tails, Cow Parsley, Greengage, Cowslip fl. 
 
 Peach and Apricot leaf. Hornbeam catkins 
 out. Lilac flower buds ap. 
 
 27 Raspberry leaf. 
 
 28 Golden Saxifrage fl. Saw Snake lying out. 
 
 29 Plum leaf. Wood-sorrel fl. Asparagus above 
 
 ground. 
 
 30 Black Currant fl. 
 
 31 Barberry fl. Apple fl. 
 
 JULY. 
 
 1 Ragwort fl. Musk Mallow fl. Wood Sage fl. 
 
 2 Garden Mint fl. 
 3 
 
 4 Burdock fl. 
 
 5 Rest Harrow fl. in meadow. 
 
 6 Wasps have nests. 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 Yarrow fl. 
 10 
 
 11 Oats are cut. Wild Forget-me-nots fl. 
 
 12 Succory fl. 
 
 1 3 Mountain Ash berries are ripe. 
 
 14 Great Willow herb, Corn Sow thistle, Fleabane, 
 
 Great Purple Loose-strife, Hemp Agrimony fl. 
 Wood briony berries ripen. Hop fl. 
 
 15 Saw flock of Long- tailed Tits. Apples are ripe. 
 10 Song Thrushes still sing.
 
 APPENDIX. 231 
 
 17 Heard Robin sing, Pink Persicaria fl. Wild 
 
 Canterbury fl. 
 
 18 Saw White Plume moth. 
 19 
 
 20 Cuckoo-pint berries are ripe. Cottonwood berrieH 
 
 are ripe. Spear Plume Thistle fl 
 
 21 Wild Harebell fl. 
 
 22 Found nest of Whitethroats, fledged. 
 
 23 Fairy Mint fl. Barley is cut. 
 
 24 Teasel fl. Peppermint fl. 
 
 25 Great napweed fl. Anemone Japonica fl. 
 
 26 Plums are ripe. Thrushes have ceased to sing. 
 
 27 Wheat is cut. Pears ripen. 
 28 
 
 29 
 
 30 Hawthorn berries are ripe. 
 
 31 
 
 DECEMBER. 
 
 1 Starlings resort to buildings this month. 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 !) Laurestinus fl. 
 10 
 11 
 12 
 
 13 Christmas Roses are out. 
 14 
 15 
 
 17 Saw a great many young lambs, about 2 weeks 
 
 old. Oaks bare. 
 18
 
 232 HANDBOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 19 
 
 20 Larks flock. Wood-cutting has commenced. 
 
 21 Found Red Cup moss. Anthers of hazel catkins 
 
 burst. Gnats dance. 
 
 22 Ivy berries ripen. 
 
 23 Elder leaf. 
 
 24 Honeysuckle in leaf. 
 25 
 
 26 Went for walk and found the following : Speed- 
 
 well, Shepherd's Purse, Chickweed, Palm 
 (anthers burst), Primrose, Dandelion, Ground- 
 sel, Red dead Nettle, Daisy, Buttercup, Gorse. 
 
 27 Heard Robin, Song-thrush, and Hedge Accentor 
 
 sing. 
 
 28 Heard Wren sing. Chaffinches flock. Went for 
 
 walk and saw: 1, Sparrow; 2, Hedge Ac- 
 centor; 3, Fieldfare; 4, Pigeon; o, Goldcvest : 
 G, Wren ; 7, Thrush ; 8, Robin ; 9, Chaffinch : 
 10, Pheasant; 11, Rook; 12, Blackbird: 
 13, Jay; 14, Water Rail ; 15, Coal Tit: 16, 
 Great Tit; 17, Wild Duck; 18, Snipe: 19, 
 Heron; 20, Starling; 21, Jackdaw; 22, 
 Moorhen ; 23, Yellow hammer ; 24, Bullfinch : 
 25, Wagtail; 26, Partridge. Chaffinches 
 flock. White dead Nettle fl. 
 
 22 Lesser Celandine fl. Found a Scabio blossom. 
 
 30 
 
 31 Saw small flock of Goldfinches. Thrushes collect 
 in flocks.
 
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