QH 
 
 M4-; 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 OK 
 
 Received JjLCHlF* *.i9.Q. 
 Accession No. O I J ^- . Class No. 
 
ECLECTIC SCHOOL READINGS 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
 
 A READING BOOK OF 
 NATURE STUDY 
 
 BY 
 JAMES G. NEEDHAM 
 
 NEW YORK : CINCINNATI : CHICAGO 
 
 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 
 

 Copyright, 1898, by 
 JAMES G. NEEDHAM. 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 w. P. 3 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE years that intervene between the primary and the high school, 
 for all of which nature study is now prescribed, cover a very wide 
 period of mental development. For the earlier years of that period 
 there is now no lack of books, offering object lessons, guides to random 
 observations, stories of common things interweaving facts with inter- 
 esting fancies to the edifying of imaginative childhood. This little 
 book is intended to supply for the later years of that period a few les- 
 sons of greater continuity, calling for more persistence of observation, 
 and introducing a few of the simpler of our modern conceptions of 
 nature at large. These lessons presuppose some years of experience 
 of life and some previous training in observation. They are not given 
 as stories, nor for the sake of language lessons primarily, but for the 
 sake of the interest and educative value of the facts and phenomena 
 of nature which they set forth. 
 
 In writing them I have had in mind the boys and girls more than 
 the teachers. I have written of things I would have the pupils see 
 and do and think about, and I trust no teacher will undertake to do 
 all the seeing and doing and thinking for them. I hope the sugges- 
 tions for field study will be found so simple and explicit that pupils 
 may follow them individually and at home whenever desirable. Not 
 the least of my objects has been to pave the way for more intelligent 
 and profitable text-book work in the high school, and I am well as- 
 sured that that work will be better done for the insight gained from 
 studies such as these. 
 
 Wherever a plant or animal is discussed in the following pages a 
 number is inserted in the text, referring to a corresponding number in 
 a list of scientific names, which has been relegated to the end of the 
 book lest the big names frighten any one. These names will at least 
 
 3 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 help teachers to use the indexes of whatever scientific literature may 
 be available for reference. 
 
 To Mr. A. D. MacGillivray I am indebted for determining the 
 names of a number of insects. Mrs. J. H. Comstock and Miss Anna 
 A. Schryver have helped me with valuable suggestions as to the sub- 
 ject matter. I have, as ever, to acknowledge the assistance of my wife, 
 Anna Taylor Needham, in the preparation of the drawings. A num- 
 ber of insects are figured for the first time and all the cuts are new. 
 
 This little book, simple and elementary as it is, represents an 
 amount of labor that is only justified by my faith in the future of na- 
 ture studies and in the educating and refining influence they are yet 
 to exert both in school and out. 
 
 JAMES G. NEEDHAM. 
 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. BUTTER AND EGGS AND BUMBLEBEES 7 
 
 1 . Association 7 
 
 2. The Meaning of It 10 
 
 CHAPTER II. CHIPMUNKS 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. HOUSES THAT GROW 18 
 
 1. Galls 18 
 
 2. Some Willow Galls 23 
 
 3. How to Rear Gall Makers 26 
 
 CHAPTER IV. GOLDENROD: ITS VISITORS AND ITS TENANTS. 29 
 
 1 . Goldenrods 29 
 
 2. Goldenrod Visitors 33 
 
 3. Tenants that Live in the Plant 37 
 
 4. Tenants that Live on the Plant 43 
 
 CHAPTER V. NOT so BLACK AS HE is PAINTED 47 
 
 1. Crow Character 47 
 
 2. Crow Wit 50 
 
 CHAPTER VI. DRAGON FLIES 54 
 
 1. The Skimmers 54 
 
 2. Damsel Flies and Darners 61 
 
 3. How Dragon Flies Grow up 64 
 
 4. How to Rear Dragon Flies 69 
 
 CHAPTER VII. BOGUS EYES 73 
 
 1 . Eye Pictures 73 
 
 2. Larval Eye-spots 77 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. ANT-LIONS 81 
 
 SCIENTIFIC NAMFS 87 
 
 INDEX 89 
 
B A R y 
 
 BUTTER AND EGGS AND BUMBLEBEES. 
 
 I. ASSOCIATION. 
 
 OT far from my door probably 
 not very far from yours grows 
 the familiar roadside weed com- 
 monly known as butter and eggs. 1 
 Little clumps of it appear here and 
 there in dry, exposed places along 
 the street, and in a piece of waste 
 ground farther away a patch of it 
 in full bloom looks like a great 
 yellow blotch on the hillside. 
 
 Last spring, when it expanded 
 its delicate leaves, hardly wider 
 than those of the grass, and of a paler green, one who 
 did not know would not have thought this slender thing 
 a hardy native of dry and sterile soil, and would not have 
 expected such abundance of blossoms as have been pro- 
 duced all summer long. Flowers first appeared in May, 
 and are abundant still, though frosts are near at hand. 
 
 What curious things these flowers (Fig. i) are, perched 
 close together alongside the top of the stem, each with its 
 pouting yellow mouth turned outward, and its long hollow 
 spur pointing down the stem ! Why is its mouth so tightly 
 shut? Why that swollen palate, as it is called, atop of the 
 
 7 
 
8 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 lower lip, and why its bright orange color? Why are the 
 margins of the lips turned backward ? What is the use of 
 that long spur? One must go to nature for the answer to 
 such questions as these. 
 
 Pluck a single flower, and, holding 
 it up toward the light, you will see that 
 the hollow spur is partly filled with a 
 clear fluid, the upper surface of which 
 appears as a faint line across the spur. 
 This fluid is nectar, the sugary sap with 
 which many flowers attract insects. At 
 first it would seem strange that, if in- 
 tended for insects, it should be pro- 
 duced in the bottom of so deep a tube, 
 a tube the entranceway to which is 
 shut. Observe that the way is both 
 shut and guarded ; for the swollen pal- 
 ate upon the lower lip, which presses 
 against the upper lip, closingthe mouth, 
 is covered with minute spikelike points, 
 all directed outward, as if against intru- 
 ders. Yet here are other things at- 
 tractive to insects. Here are bright 
 colors, placed at the top of the plant where easiest seen, 
 and intensified by the bunching of the flowers together; 
 and in each pale yellow flower, though the way to its nec- 
 tar is closed, the point of entrance is marked by the orange 
 blotch. Here, too, is a faint fragrance, noticeable of a still 
 morning beside a clump of newly opened blossoms, faint 
 to us, with our dull noses, but doubtless plainly perceived 
 at a distance by some insects. 
 
 In order to discover the meaning of all these things, 
 
 FIG. 1. Butter and eggs. 
 
BUTTER AND EGGS AND BUMBLEBEES. 9 
 
 * 
 
 let us go out some sunshiny morning, to the largest clump 
 of these flowers we can find freshly blooming, and see what 
 is going on. We will take our place quietly among the 
 flowers, and see what insects, if 
 any, are visiting them. Butterflies 
 are on the wing, but these pay ab- 
 solutely no attention to butter and 
 eggs. Nectar-loving flies and bee- 
 tles are buzzing about, visitingother 
 flowers, butpassingtheseby. Bum- 
 blebees, 2 however, are here, and are 
 visiting these, and, save for an occa- 
 sional honeybee, seem to have the 
 exclusive privilege. Now bumble- 
 bees are very peacefully disposed 
 so long as they are not mistreated ; 
 so we sit down close to the flowers 
 to see how the bumblebees get into 
 them. A flower hangs on its stem, 
 its mouth tightly closed, as at A 
 (Fig. 2). A bumblebee comes driv- 
 ing along, and, guided by the orange 
 blotch, alights squarely upon the 
 lower lip. Under its weight the lip descends, and the 
 mouth is opened, as at B. The spikelike points which 
 bar out lighter insects serve this one for a foothold. It 
 clutches them with its claws, and draws itself into the 
 opened way toward the nectary, as at C. Pushing its 
 long proboscis ahead, it draws itself down into the flower 
 until its head is entirely hidden from view. Its front feet 
 are inside, too, beneath its head. The claws of its middle 
 feet are caught in a groove on the upper side of the flower, 
 
 FIG. 2. The bumblebee work- 
 ing his passage. 
 
10 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 or under the reflexed border of the upper lip ; those of the 
 hind feet, under the edge of the palate, or under the bor- 
 der of the lower lip ; and the bee is drinking its fill of the 
 sweet nectar. Here, then, is the answer to our questions. 
 This flower is expressly adapted to the bumblebee. To 
 learn the use of its peculiar structures, we need but see 
 them used. 
 
 2. THE MEANING OF IT. 
 
 In Fig. 3, at A, we have a flower as seen from the front, 
 its lower lip drawn downward so as to expose the throat. 
 In the midst of the orange-colored palate we see exposed 
 
 a narrow lane, which is bordered 
 on either side by a hedge of yellow 
 prickles. Down this lane the 
 proboscis of the bee is pushed, a 
 straight road to the nectar. At 
 B we have the head of the bum- 
 blebee seen from the front, its 
 proboscis extended. Imagine 
 this head turned to face the flow- 
 er and pushed down into it ; see 
 how well adapted it is for reach- 
 ing the nectar. 
 
 Everything about the flower is 
 just right for the bumblebee. Col- 
 ors guide it to the right spot ; the 
 mouth opens under its weight, 
 exposing the way to the nectar ; 
 
 FIG. 3. A, the flower with its J 
 
 lower lip drawn downward, show- the grooves and margins are 
 
 ing the way to the nectar ; also, ex- 
 posing stamens and pistil against placed conveniently for catching 
 
 the erect upper lip. B, the head of 
 the bumblebee with its proboscis 
 extended. 
 
 its feet to support its weight. 
 
BUTTER AND EGGS AND BUMBLEBEES. I I 
 
 A honeybee 3 alights on a flower. It is not heavy enough 
 to " tip the beam ; " the mouth is opened but slightly, if 
 at all. It thrusts its slender proboscis into the smooth 
 way down the palate. This is an entering wedge, and by 
 dint of hard and continued pushing it at length forces 
 admittance, and, once inside, readily obtains the nectar. 
 But this flower is not made for such a light weight. The 
 honeybee has to work too hard for the nectar it gets here ; 
 and when flowers and nectar are plenty, it visits others 
 better adapted to its size. 
 
 Other nectar-loving insects are too light weight to open 
 the flowers, or too weak to force an entrance against the 
 spines of, the palate, or lack a proboscis long enough to 
 reach the nectar. This is why the bumblebee has a 
 monopoly. 
 
 But this perfect adaptation is not all for the benefit of 
 the bumblebee. The bumblebee has a work to do for the 
 flowers which hardly any other insect can do so well. 
 
 The purpose of the flower is to produce seed. The 
 parts of the flower directly concerned in the production 
 of seed may be seen by drawing down the lower lip, as in 
 Fig. 3, and looking under the overarching portion of the 
 upper lip. The central piece, with moist, whitish, expanded 
 tip, is the pistil. In its base the seeds develop. The 
 four others, in pairs, above and below the pistil, are sta- 
 mens. In their expanded tips is a yellow, sticky sub- 
 stance, called pollen. In order that seeds may be pro- 
 duced, it is necessary that pollen taken from the tops of 
 the stamens be placed on the top of the pistil, and it is 
 better if the pollen be brought from the stamens of an- 
 other flower. 
 
 The bumblebee brings the pollen. 
 
12 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 If we capture with a net and kill in a cyanide bottle a 
 bumblebee (or a honeybee) that has been visiting flowers 
 of butter and eggs, we find the stiff, bristly hairs of the 
 top of its body matted together in a waxy mass of pollen 
 
 gathered from many stamens 
 (see Fig. 4, pm). Referring to 
 Fig. 3, A t and Fig. 2, B and C, 
 we see that the tops of the sta- 
 mens and pistil are placed ex- 
 actly at the point where this part 
 of the insect will be crowded 
 against them when it has fully 
 entered the flower. What could 
 be better adapted for extracting 
 the sticky pollen, or for deposit- 
 
 FIG. 4. Bumblebee; pm, the pol- 
 len mass that is rubbed against the i n pr some of it On the pistil, than 
 pistil of the flower; pb, pollen basket. & 
 
 this brush of stiff bristles ? 
 
 On the outside of the hind leg of the bumblebee is a 
 hollowed space, bordered by a fringe of stiff, erect hairs, 
 commonly called the pollen basket (see Fig. 4, pb). In 
 this we will very often find another mass of pollen, which 
 the bumblebee has placed here to carry home for food 
 for the babies of her household. 
 
 This is going on not far from my door and yours. Have 
 you seen it? If not, visit a clump of butter and eggs 
 some sunshiny morning, watch carefully and patiently to 
 see what is going on, and learn a lesson which may only 
 be well learned out of doors. 
 
CHIPMUNKS. 
 
 OWN among the beech trees, 
 on the north slope of a rocky 
 hill, there is a shaded path 
 which I follow when I want to 
 
 * ,- see my old friends the chip- 
 
 / -J3S&** ^ \ pC \ 
 
 / / fcj^BflT s J mun ^ s at h me - I might find 
 
 I .^^mK^=^ them elsewhere, to be sure. 
 
 Everywhere in the woods where shadows are heavy and 
 banks are steep, especially where old stumps and logs 
 occur, they are likely to be seen by one looking for them. 
 But this particular slope, with its dense shadow of beech, 
 chestnut oak, and pine, with its patched carpet of leaf mold, 
 torn upon jutting stones, and overspread here and there 
 with mats of moss, lichen, and fern, is a very congenial 
 home for them. 
 
 Every creature has some sort of place in which it thrives 
 best; and chipmunks could no more flourish on the open 
 uplands than could the jack-in-the-pulpits and ferns of 
 their own shady slopes. 
 
 Chipmunks 4 are our smallest representatives of the squir- 
 rel family. They are sometimes called ground squirrels; 
 but that name is better applied to the larger burrowing 
 squirrels of the fields. They are always something less 
 
 13 
 
OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 than a foot long (including the shaggy tail), of a rusty, 
 red-brown color above, white below, and are readily dis- 
 tinguished from other small animals by the presence of 
 five black and two white stripes upon the 
 back. The form is slender and graceful ; 
 the fur is short and glossy. The tail, 
 though rather long for a burrower, is not 
 
 Fl %f 5 theM W m n u*k teeth ver 7 Dusn y; a magnificent brush like that 
 of a fox squirrel would be a very incon- 
 venient appendage for a chipmunk to have to trail in wet 
 weather down the damp way to the door of his lowly 
 dwelling. The teeth, that is, the front ones (shown in 
 Fig. 5), are slender, curved chisels, very sharp, and strong 
 enough to cut easily through the hard shells of acorns and 
 nuts and the bark of underground stems. 
 
 Chipmunks are most likely to be seen about old logs and 
 stumps that are red with decay and crumbling, though an 
 old rail fence or a stone 
 wall is often their resort. 
 It is no accident that we 
 find them oftenest about 
 old stumps ; the rusty 
 red of their fur matches 
 the color of the rotten 
 wood, and they escape 
 the notice of their many 
 powerful enemies. Even 
 the conspicuous stripes 
 
 of black and white fall into place as lights and shadows, 
 and tell no tales of their presence. 
 
 If any other word is needed to tell one who has not seen 
 these pretty creatures how to find them, it may be said 
 
 FIG. 6. Playtime. 
 
CHIPMUNKS. 
 
 that it is necessary to walk quietly and to watch carefully 
 to see them scampering over the leaves among the under- 
 brush on the ground, or over fallen trees or stones. They 
 are likely to stop in exposed places, depending upon their 
 color for protection. They stop stock-still, and remain so, 
 and if not first seen in motion will not be seen at all. 
 Opera glasses, though 
 not necessary, will be 
 of delightful assistance 
 here, as in field study 
 of birds. 
 
 Many a time I have 
 thrown a stone to dis- 
 cover whether a seem- 
 ing brown snag on an 
 old log were really 
 alive. More than once 
 I have seen a chipmunk 
 sitting on the top of 
 a tall stump, where, 
 
 against a background of green leaves, it was readily seen, 
 and have approached so closely I thought it must be 
 asleep ; but, on taking a step nearer, it proved to me how 
 very wide awake it had been all the time. 
 
 Where are the homes of these little fellows? Down on 
 the hillside, not hard to find, holes here and there, under 
 a stone or tussock of moss or root of a tree, these are the 
 vestibules of their houses (Fig. 7). We walk hastily through 
 the woods. A brown shadow scurries across the dead 
 leaves, and stops instantly, bolt upright, in so stiff a position 
 we should not now recognize it had not our eyes been con- 
 stantly upon it. We approach very near, and, like a flash, 
 
 FIG. 7. At the foot of the beech tree. 
 
1 6 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 the shadow disappears in the earth. And there, under a 
 broad, loose stone, we see the mouth of its burrow. It 
 stopped in its flight where, if pursued farther, a single 
 bound would carry it safe into its retreat. We pick up a 
 stick and overturn the stone, unroofing its shelter. Away 
 darts the shadow again, and into another and safer retreat. 
 What sort of a house have we found ? A narrow, crooked 
 passage a foot or two long, and an enlarged chamber at 
 the inner end, which the chipmunk hollowed out with the 
 labor of his tiny hands. On the floor of the chamber is a 
 bed of dry leaves ; scattered about are the gnawed remains 
 of a few nuts and acorns. This is his house, or one of his 
 houses, for he has several. At the foot of the beech tree 
 is another, in which he is now safely lodged. Its front 
 door opens between two great roots beside a little tuft of 
 ferns, and beneath an arch of lichens. But these artistic 
 touches nature has added for him, and if we could unroof 
 this house we should find it furnished only, as the other, 
 with a simple bed of dry leaves. 
 
 Down my woodland path these autumn days beechnuts 5 
 are dropping with their burry coats split in four gaping 
 pieces, and the rain of acorns from the chestnutoak 6 still 
 falls, and the chipmunks are living sumptuously. Par- 
 tridge berries 7 shine with waxy redness upon their turfy 
 terrace at the base of the pine trees ; the dark-blue fruit 
 of Solomon's seal 8 hangs in a graceful curve suspended 
 under the overarching stem ; and the great red clusters of 
 spikenard berries 9 are almost black with ripeness. Food 
 is abundant and easy to get now for bird and beast alike. 
 On dark days the chipmunks remain much indoors, it re- 
 quires so little time to pick up enough to meet their needs. 
 But sunshiny mornings they are out in force, and it is 
 
CHIPMUNKS. 17 
 
 worth any one's while to spend an hour in the woods, 
 studying their activities, finding out the place they occupy 
 in the world. To see their constant alertness, the winsome 
 gracefulness of their every movement and posture, the 
 utility of their color and instinctive habits, is to love nature 
 better and to know the life of the world more perfectly. 
 
HOUSES THAT GROW. 
 
 I. GALLS. 
 
 TRANCE little dwellings are built 
 on the twigs and on the leaves of 
 many familiar trees. They do not 
 look like houses ; they are of all 
 conceivable shapes ; naturalists 
 call them galls. 
 
 Everybody has seen " oak ap- 
 ples," and should have known that 
 these are the homes of little in- 
 sects. 
 
 Stranger than the form of these 
 houses is the manner in which they 
 are built. Sometime, when the 
 twig is young and rapidly grow- 
 ing, an insect slips in and deposits 
 an egg in it. Thus the site is 
 selected ; after that the house 
 grows, and its shape and size and style and finish will de- 
 pend upon the plant and the insect concerned. 
 
 When the egg hatches, a pale little wormlike larva slips 
 out of its shell and begins feeding. The plant is thus 
 irritated, and produces, in response, a rapid and unusual 
 growth about the larva, builds walls around it, as it were, 
 
 18 
 
HOUSES THAT GROW. 
 
 and shuts it in. There it remains until grown up, sheltered 
 and protected, and surrounded on all sides by the food it 
 likes best. If hungry it need but nibble a bit from the 
 inner wall of its house. 
 
 There is a pretty little trailing plant, common on wild 
 blue-grass sod every where, called cinquefoil^ Q\ five-finger. 
 It is often mistaken for wild strawberry, which it much 
 
 FIG. 8. Cinquefoil with galls at the nodes. 
 
 resembles; but its flowers are yellow, and its fruit is a 
 bunch of dry little seeds. There is often found at each 
 joint of the trailing stems a berrylike growth which might 
 be mistaken for its fruit (Fig. 8). This is about the size 
 and shape of a gooseberry, but 
 less smooth, and often with a 
 blush of red color on one side. 
 
 This is a gall; and from this 
 one we may learn something of 
 the life of a gallfly. We are not 
 likely to see the egg placed on 
 the young stems in the spring, 
 
 nor to discover the gall itself until it has grown large 
 enough entirely to inclose its tenant. But in early sum- 
 mer we can find, if we look, fuzzy little greenish swellings 
 
 FIG. 9. The cinquefoil gall and 
 its tenant. 
 
20 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 at the joints of some of the trailing stems. Inside one of 
 these (Fig. 9), if we cut it open, we find a little white hapless 
 creature, wrinkled, wormlike, without head or feet. This 
 is the larva that hatched from the egg. A helpless thing 
 it is when its house is broken open. It is fitted for doing 
 but one thing, that the only thing necessary, feeding. 
 It eats and grows all the summer through ; and if we ex- 
 amine one in June and another in August, we see but little 
 difference, except in size. 
 
 The gall itself grows most rapidly in early summer; 
 later its walls get hard and firm ; and in autumn, after the 
 plant has died, it is of a somber brown. Thus it is never 
 very conspicuous ; but it is easiest to find in early winter and 
 in spring, when the leaves have fallen and when the swell- 
 ings stand out rather prominently upon the dry stems. In 
 early winter, if a gall be cut open, it will 
 
 be found that the larva 
 
 has suddenly turned into 
 
 something very different. 
 
 A pupa we call it now 
 
 (Fig. 10). It has a head 
 
 with large eyes, and a pair 
 FIG. 10. -Pupa of lon g ^elers, or anten- 
 
 of the cinquefoil 
 gallfly (enlarged). 
 
 front, long legs folded up 
 against the body, and short wings laid close against its 
 sides. But it is now more inert than ever, and little like 
 the active fly it will be in the future. 
 
 Eating is the business of the larvae ; pupae require no 
 food. They lie as if dead within the brown walls. But 
 this period of inactivity is making over the fat little grub 
 into an agile creature with flashing wings 11 (Fig. n). 
 
 nee, extending down its FIG. ii.-Anaduit gaii- 
 
 fly (enlarged). 
 
HOUSES THAT GROW. 
 
 21 
 
 In spring, when the tender leaves of the new growth of 
 cinquefoil are pushing up through the dead stems of last 
 year, we may see that some of the dead galls have round 
 holes in one side. If now we cut such a one open, we find 
 it empty. The pupa turned into an active gallfly (Fig. 1 1), 
 which gnawed the hole, crawled out of it, and flew away. 
 We may never see the adult fly in the field, for it is both 
 agile and shy ; but we can easily rear it at home, as ex- 
 plained farther on. 
 
 Most galls have a similar history ; and most gall-inhab- 
 iting insects pass through these same stages before coming 
 to maturity. 
 
 Some gallflies deposit their eggs so thickly upon the 
 shoot that the galls, in growing, crowd upon one another, 
 or even grow together, forming a compound 
 cluster. Such a cluster is the tufted gall 12 
 (Fig. 12), which grows upon wild blackberry 
 canes. Around the edge of the cluster are 
 to be seen a few which have escaped the 
 crowd, so to speak, and are entirely free from 
 their fellows, as shown in the figure. A 
 single gall is shown enlarged in Fig. 13. 
 
 The mossy gall, 13 so common in the 
 crotches of sweet-brier, is a similar cluster, 
 but more closely compacted together. In 
 the pithy gall, 14 which appears as a thick 
 swelling on blackberry canes, but contains 
 numerous tenants, each in a room of its own, 
 we have this consolidation carried to such an extreme that 
 the boundaries of the individual galls composing it have 
 been obscured. 
 
 One of the interesting things about these houses is their 
 
 FIG. 12. The 
 tufted gall of the 
 blackberry. 
 
22 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 FIG. 13. A single gall from the cluster 
 shown in Fig. 12 (enlarged). 
 
 wonderful diversity. They differ from one another far more 
 widely than do the insects which make them, though these 
 
 insects may belong to sev- 
 eral very different groups. 
 They differ greatly in size, 
 also. The initial cut of this 
 chapter represents a leaf 
 of hackberry 15 with sev- 
 eral kinds of galls upon it. 
 Similar ones may be found 
 on the leaves of linden 16 
 and hickory. 17 
 
 In early autumn, when 
 the cottonwood 18 leaves, 
 that, swaying on their pli- 
 ant stems, have rustled in 
 
 all the summer breezes, making that soft chattering leaf 
 music so familiar and so grateful to country-bred ears, 
 come tumbling down about our path in flakes of yellow 
 and green, the poorest 
 of them are worth look- 
 ing at, shapes so odd, 
 margins so curiously 
 scalloped, and leaf 
 stalks so slender and 
 flexible, fashioned as if 
 for rocking " upon the 
 treetop." It is easy to 
 find among the fallen 
 leaves, at the junction 
 
 of the stalk with the blade, real little cradles, like the one 
 shown in Fig. 14, in which a family of aphids 19 has been 
 
 FIG. 14. Aphid gall on cottonwood-leaf stalk; 
 also a winged aphid (enlarged). 
 
HOUSES THAT GROW. 23 
 
 rocked all the summer through. The cradles are galls, of 
 course. Through the early part of the season they are 
 closed, and the little family is securely shut in. In autumn 
 they crack open, and their tenants, some of which, like the 
 one shown enlarged in the figure, are winged, escape. 
 
 2. SOME WILLOW GALLS. 
 
 One need not look farther than his own neighborhood 
 to find many kinds of galls upon willows alone. There are 
 willows for all sorts of situations except the driest, and 
 for each sort of willow there are several sorts of galls. 
 And, curiously enough, willow galls are not made by the 
 true gallflies 20 (which have four wings, with few veins, and 
 short bodies), but by the gall gnats 21 (which have but two 
 wings), or by sawflies 22 (which have four veiny wings and 
 long bodies). A sawfly 23 makes one 
 of the prettiest, the apple gall of our 
 common low-ground willows. 24 This 
 is a leaf gall, and must be looked for 
 in summer or autumn, before the 
 leaves have fallen. It is about the 
 size of a cherry or of a very small 
 crab apple, and the likeness of its 
 skin in both color and texture to 
 that of an apple doubtless suggested 
 its name. It hangs on the under 
 side of a leaf, and is shown in Fig. 1 5 ,* 
 as it appears in autumn. 
 
 r^, , ~ , . FIG. 15. The apple gall. 
 
 1 he lower figure shows the irreg- 
 ular cavity in one cut open, and the larva, which is far from 
 filling it. This insect differs from the others mentioned 
 
OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 in this chapter, in that the larva leaves the gall and be- 
 comes a pupa in another place, a fact to be borne in mind 
 in any attempt to rear the insect. When the 
 leaves fall in autumn, it tunnels out and crawls 
 away to find a place (preferably) in some pithy 
 substance in which to complete its life history. 
 In spring, when the willow shoots are tender, 
 the adult sawfly 23 appears (Fig. 16). 
 
 One of the most conspicuous of galls, espe- 
 FIG. 16. The cially in winter, is the cone gall 25 of pussy wil- 
 
 sawfly that de- J J 
 
 veiops in the lows 26 (Fig. I ?). We often see the smaller trees 
 
 apple gall. 
 
 overhanging brooks fairly covered with it. 
 Beautifully cone-shaped, and composed of closely overlap- 
 ping scales, it is a curious and interesting development. 
 Eachgall represents what 
 mighthavebeen abranch. 
 But when the larva began 
 feeding in the terminal 
 bud, growth in length 
 ceased, and the leaves, 
 which would have been 
 arranged at intervals 
 along the branch, have 
 come to be crowded 
 closely together. 
 
 Several of the inner- 
 most and smallest are 
 closely united around a 
 central chamber, which FIG. 17. -The cone gaii. 
 
 contains the proprietor 
 
 (Fig. 1 8, A). He is a little fellow with a very big house, 
 having many spare rooms under the outer scales, each 
 
HOUSES THAT GROW. 
 
 with an outside entrance. And these outer apartments 
 (Fig. 1 8, B) are often found occupied by smaller gall gnats, 
 which, because they lodge in the house of 
 another, are called " guest " gall gnats. 27 
 Oddly enough, the larva of thesawfly, 23 
 which gets its growth in the apple gall, 
 sometimes crawls into the pine-cone gall 
 to undergo its transformation. 
 
 The proprietor of the cone gall is a 
 little fat lump with 
 a flat cleft piece, 
 called the " breast- 
 bone," projecting 
 
 FIG. 18. The cone 
 gall cut open. A, its 
 proprietor; B three 
 guests. 
 
 FIG. 19. The anterior end 
 forward toward itS of the gall gnat larva, enlarged 
 to show the breastbone. 
 
 mouth (Fig. 19).* 
 It fashions a delicate arched ceiling across its own central 
 
 apartment, and remains in- 
 side in closest retirement, 
 leaving the guests in the 
 outer chambers to their own 
 devices. In spring it under- 
 
 goes its transformation > and 
 
 comes forth a delicate two- 
 winged gnat, similar in ap- 
 pearance to the one shown in 
 
 Fig- 43- 
 
 Another gall 28 of very dif- 
 ferent appearance, which is 
 FIG. 20. The pineapple gaii. found on the narrow-leaved 
 
 * The presence of this peculiar structure is sufficient for the recognition of 
 gall-gnat larvae {Cecidomyiidce} in general. It is small, and on the smaller 
 species can hardly be seen without a lens. 
 
26 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 willows 29 bordering larger streams, is really very similar 
 (Fig. 20). It represents a shortened branch, and if its 
 leaves were closely appressed it would be somewhat cone- 
 shaped. It represents in an interesting manner a halfway 
 stage in the reduction of leaves to the form of broad scales. 
 
 There is another 
 large gall (not to 
 mention several 
 
 smaller ones) com- 
 mon on pussy will- 
 ows (Fig. 21). We 
 will call it the woody 
 .gall, 30 on account of 
 the large amount of 
 
 Fig. 21. The woody gall of the pussywillow. hard WOOdy tissue 
 
 composing its walls. 
 
 It is nearly round, downy, and crowned with a beak which 
 represents the scales at the apex of the shoot. Inside 
 this beak is the chamber of the larva to whose presence is 
 due this remarkable growth. The adult gnat emerges from 
 this gall also in the spring. 
 
 3. HOW TO REAR THE GALL MAKERS. 
 
 It is delightful recreation to find these curious houses, 
 and a very easy matter to obtain their pretty little tenants. 
 It is only necessary to watch the development of the 
 insect (by cutting open a gall, from time to time, to see 
 what stage it is in), to collect the galls when the insect is 
 found in the pupal stage, and to place them at once in a 
 bottle, stopping its mouth with a piece of cotton. Without 
 any further attention, the insects will emerge in due time. 
 
HOUSES THAT GROW. 
 
 Suppose, for illustration, we follow the history of the spiny 
 rose gall 31 (shown in Fig. 22 as it appears in late winter). It 
 occurs on one or more of the dwarf species of wild rose 
 common on dry uplands, by road- 
 sides, and elsewhere. In summer 
 we may find scattered along the 
 short lateral branches little fuzzy 
 greenish swellings. A little later 
 these will be rather conspicuous, 
 of larger size, of red or yellowish 
 color, with long, soft spines. If 
 now we cut one open, we find in a 
 hollow cavity in the middle a little 
 white larva (a). In autumn the 
 galls have turned brown, and their 
 walls are solid. They are as large 
 as gooseberries, and have a defen- 
 sive armor of slender, straight, and 
 very rigid spines. A larger cavity 
 in the interior is occupied, but not 
 filled, by a full-grown larva, per- 
 haps one sixth of an inch long. 
 
 The gall is now dead, but within it are yet to take place 
 the transformations of the insect. Sometime during autumn 
 or early winter for the time varies greatly the little 
 footless, wormlike larva in the gall becomes a pupa of the 
 form shown enlarged at b, in the figure, with evident head 
 and wings and legs. 
 
 Now, if we want to get the adult gallflies, we collect some 
 of the galls when we find they have pupae in them. We 
 select a wide-mouthed bottle and put them in it, stopping 
 its mouth with cotton (Fig. 23). This confines the winged 
 
 FIG. 22. The spiny rose gall. 
 
28 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 flies, allows circulation of air, and prevents the ruinous 
 growth of molds which might take place if we used a cork. 
 We place the bottle on our table and let 
 it alone. In due time the pupae become 
 flies (Fig. 24), and step out into a new 
 life of activity. Then, if we wish to pre- 
 serve them for specimens, we can kill 
 thembypouringa little 
 gasoline or chloroform 
 upon the cotton, push- 
 ing it down inside, and 
 corking the bottle. 
 
 When several differ- 
 ent species of insects 
 emerge from one spe- 
 cies Of galls, SOme Of FlG - 2 , 4 - Anadult gall- 
 fly (enlarged). 
 
 them are parasites 
 which have lived at the expense of the gall makers. The 
 rightful tenants are usually recognizable by characters 
 already given (p. 23). 
 
 In winter, when the leaves have fallen, stem galls become 
 conspicuous ; and, since many of them will then be found 
 to contain pupae, early and late winter are the best times 
 to get mature galls for rearing their occupants. 
 
 FIG. 23. A bottle fixed 
 for rearing gallflies. 
 
GOLDENROD: ITS VISITORS AND ITS 
 TENANTS. 
 
 I. GOLDENRODS. 
 
 fr 
 
 a furlong 
 
 of country road- 
 side or neglected 
 
 fence row but has its clump of golden- 
 rod. Not a few who admire it in au- 
 tumn do not know it in summer before 
 its flowers appear. It is then only a weed, and 
 as a weed many a tidy farmer cuts it down. 
 But when summer is over its green changes to gold. 
 Its weedy coarseness is crowned with ample clusters at 
 once showy and delicate, and so exquisitely graceful that 
 from one end of our continent to the other it is sought 
 for diligently. It decks the altar in many a church; it 
 brightens many a schoolroom ; it adorns many a private 
 table. It is beautiful enough for the rich to desire it; it 
 is common enough for the poor to have it; and, best of 
 all, it grows and blooms so near at hand that we all can 
 find it, enjoy its beauty, and inform our minds with the 
 lessons of its interesting life. 
 
 In spring it spreads its clustered deep green leaves out 
 over the sod ; then it takes life very moderately, spending 
 the whole summer drinking in the rain and 
 
 29 
 
30 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 getting its growth. The straight stem crowded with rough 
 green leaves is not all it has to show for its time. Down 
 underground it has been extending its roots and getting 
 a firmer hold upon the soil. Fires may sweep over it, and 
 scythes may cut it down; but so long as the sod to which 
 it clings remains unturned it will spring up again. Just 
 beneath the surface it has produced several horizontal, 
 scaly branches, from the tips of which new stems will 
 
 arise when spring comes 
 again. While other plants 
 all the season through have 
 been producing flowers and 
 seeds, this one has been get- 
 ting ready to do the same 
 thing, but has also found a 
 
 FIG 25. Underground stems and r ,. 
 
 roots of the Canada goldenrod. st, the Surer Way of Starting new 
 base of a flowering stem; o, the under- . 
 
 ground scaly branch from which it plants than DV Seeds (riff. 
 sprang; n, new branches from whose 
 
 roots 68 wil1 adse ther stems; r% r ' 2 S)- These scaly branches 
 
 will be all ready to put forth 
 
 a vigorous growth in the spring, being fed by paternal 
 roots while developing roots of their own. 
 
 When, in autumn, the flower clusters stretch up into 
 view, they are greenish in color and appear like clustered 
 buds. Each bud soon opens and shows itself a head of 
 yellow flowers. Here in Fig. 26, at A, is a head of 
 flowers crowded together and closely surrounded by a 
 number of greenish scales. At B is a single flower taken 
 out from the cluster. The lowermost part of it becomes 
 the seed. At the top of this part arise a circle of bristles 
 and the yellow tubular corolla. From out the tube of the 
 corolla stamens and pistil project together. At C is an- 
 other flower, with its corolla torn apart to show the pistil 
 
GOLDENROD: ITS VISITORS AND ITS TENANTS. 3! 
 
 running up through the middle, and the five slender 
 separated stalks of the stamens. The anthers are united 
 together in a tube surrounding the pistil, which is pushing 
 up through the tube. One flower in the head at A shows 
 the forked summit of the pistil not quite fully extended. 
 The anthers open internally, and the pistil, crowding 
 through, acts like a ramrod, pushing the pollen out at the 
 upper end of the tube. The top of the pistil then opens, 
 
 FIG. 26. A, a head of goldenrod flowers; B, a single flower; C, a flower torn apart 
 to show the droplets of nectar at w, . 
 
 exposing in the fork the surface (stigma) upon which pollen 
 must fall in order to produce seed, and to which the pollen 
 must now be brought from another flower. We have 
 already been told that it is better for any plant if the pol- 
 len which falls upon the stigma of one flower come from 
 the stamens of another. We now see how each of these 
 flowers, by shedding all its pollen before exposing its 
 stigma, insures that desirable end. 
 
 In the season of early frosts the seeds mature rapidly, 
 and the great clusters of yellow are speedily changed to 
 clusters of white. The yellow corollas have withered and 
 fallen, pistil and stamens with them. The scales that en- 
 circled the head have separated widely, exposing the seeds, 
 
OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 FIG. 27. The scattering seeds. 
 
 each with its crown of bristles, now hoary white with age 
 (Fig. 27). And the wintry winds, catching this crown, 
 
 will wrench them from 
 their seat and hurl them 
 headlong, one by one, 
 until ere the winter is 
 gone the whiteness too 
 will have disappeared. 
 
 But the goldenrod of 
 which we have been 
 speaking is the common Canada goldenrod, 32 or some very 
 similar species, with its upturned heads of flowers densely 
 clusteredalonggracefully 
 recurved branches. We 
 have other goldenrods, of 
 very different appear- 
 ance. Flower and fruit 
 are very much alike in 
 all, but flower clusters 
 and leaves vary greatly. 
 At the foot of rocky- 
 shaded slopes grow the 
 scattered, zigzag stems of 
 the broad-leaved golden- 
 rod 33 shown in Fig. 28. 
 Overhanging the border 
 of woodland paths we find 
 the slender blue-stem 
 goldenrod 55 (shown in the 
 
 FIG. 28- Broad-leaved goldenrod. 
 
 initial cut of this chapter). 
 
 These and a few kindred species have the flowers in little 
 
 clusters arranged alongside of the main stem. 
 
GOLDENROD: ITS VISITORS AND ITS TENANTS. 33 
 
 Out on the* dry prairies grows the rigid goldenrod, 34 with 
 its broad, rough leaves (see Fig. 39) and its flat-topped 
 clusters of large and very showy flowers. By marshy 
 brooksides and in wet waste meadows grow the narrow- 
 leaved goldenrods, 35 with their small flowers well-nigh lost 
 in a multitude of branches and slender leaves. And there 
 are many others, for wet places and for dry, for shade 
 and for sun, for mountain and for plain. While each is 
 interesting in its own way, we are likely to know best the 
 hardy, turf-loving species which grow beside our path. 
 
 2. GOLDENROD VISITORS. 
 
 A large clump of goldenrod is a miniature forest. It 
 has a population of its own. The young naturalist stoop- 
 ing to peer in among the stems, straight as pines, sees 
 flitting about many little insects for which he has no names. 
 Among these cool shadows and sheltered retreats some of 
 them dwell ; others come and go. Crickets wander about 
 below, and grasshoppers alight upon the leaves and eat 
 parts of them when choicer food is scarce. A pretty 
 yellow warbler 36 may often be seen balancing itself grace- 
 fully upon the swaying summit of the tallest 
 stem. A big leopard frog 37 will be found 
 sometimes in the midst of a clump near the 
 brook, filling his maw with the unwary little 
 insects which come within reach of his treach- 
 erous sticky tongue. 
 
 An exposed stem will sometimes be FIG. 29. Tree- 
 cricket eggs. 
 
 marked with a row of minute holes like that 
 
 shown in Fig. 29. Here is a nest of eggs. If we split 
 
 open the stem we shall find that a long yellow-capped egg 
 
34 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 has been pushed down into each hole and left there to 
 hatch. These are the eggs of the snowy tree cricket. 38 
 They are more commonly found in blackberry canes. 
 
 The stream of insect visitors sets in strongly when the 
 golden blossoms appear. Though singly the flowers are 
 small, they are so bunched together that when they open 
 the whole clump appears to burst 
 into a yellow glow, and, exhaling a 
 delicate fragrance, proclaims abroad 
 to distant roving insects : " Come, 
 all ye that love toothsome pollen 
 or sweet nectar ; come, for the feast 
 is spread." And they come. 
 
 Among those that come earliest 
 and stay latest are the black blister 
 beetles 39 (Fig. 30). While young 
 these beetles lived in the ground 
 and ate grasshopper eggs; but, 
 having grown up and gotten wings, 
 they have taken to the air and to 
 eating pollen. Over the tops of the 
 yellow flowers they clamber, greedy 
 as pigs in a trough, their black faces 
 smeared with the yellow stuff. 
 Locust borers 40 of banded black 
 
 and yellow also revel in pollen. These beetles, when larvae, 
 spend their days boring holes in the solid trunks of locust 
 trees; but, attaining maturity, wings, and a beautifully 
 ornamented coat of mail, they no longer seek seclusion. 
 Soldier beetles 41 are here, too, plain brown fellows with a 
 long black blotch above either wing. All these may often 
 be found on a single flower cluster. They lose no time 
 
 FIG. 30. Beetles on golden- 
 rod flowers. A locust borer 
 (center), two soldier beetles 
 (to right), and three black blis- 
 ter beetles. 
 
GOLDENROD I ITS VISITORS AND ITS TENANTS. 35 
 
 going and coming for meals, but lodge overnight among 
 
 the inner branches of the cluster. Thus they spend their 
 
 days " in the golden lap of luxury " till early frosts nip 
 
 beetles and flowers together. 
 
 Then there are gorgeous lit- 
 tle flies of rainbow tints, and 
 
 other larger ones of black and 
 
 yellow, which sit alertly atop 
 
 of the blossom, sipping the 
 
 nectar from its shallow 
 
 depths (Fig. 31). And bees, 
 
 clumsy big bumblebees 
 
 and honeybees, and nimble 
 
 little bees, more shy and also 
 
 more beautiful. And wasps, 
 
 too, of banded black and yel- 
 low, always in a hurry, and 
 
 doing more prancing about 
 
 than anything else. 
 
 At night, when these visitors are all asleep, others are 
 
 coming and busily partaking of the feast of sweets. Of 
 these nocturnal visitors, moths are per- 
 haps most abundant. 
 
 In such a throng of feasting insects it 
 would be strange if there were not some 
 disturbers of the peace of society. Such 
 are the crab spiders and ambush bugs, 
 which hide among- the flowers and lie in 
 
 FIG. 32. A goldenrod 
 
 tragedy: ambush bug de- wa it for prey. Crab spiders 42 are gaily 
 
 vouringafly. * & J 
 
 colored, have four long legs and four 
 short ones, and run sidewise. We seldom pick a bouquet 
 in which there is not one hiding somewhere among the 
 
 FIG. 31. Fly, wasp, and beetle on 
 goldenrod flowers. 
 
OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 flowers. Ambush bugs 43 are common enough, too; they 
 are marked with yellow and brown, and have stout, grasp- 
 ing fore legs. They lie hidden in the ambush of their 
 color, which matches that of their surroundings, until an 
 unsuspecting fly or moth comes within their reach. At 
 the goldenrod feasting, tragedies such as the one shown 
 in Fig. 32 often occur. 
 
 One might wonder why such nectar-loving insects as 
 butterflies are so seldom seen on goldenrod flowers. The 
 smaller Blues 44 and Coppers 45 and a few others visit them 
 
 sometimes, but they find 
 the nectar less conven- 
 iently situated for them- 
 selves than for insects with 
 shorter " tongues." It is 
 too near the top. (See 
 Fig. 26, C.) If it were in 
 the bottom of the corolla 
 tube they could get it bet- 
 ter. Here is a figure of 
 the little bronze copper 46 
 feeding (Fig. 33). See the 
 length of its sucking pro- 
 boscis ; five sixths of it is 
 not needed, and the tip of 
 
 it is so remote it has some difficulty finding the five little 
 drops of nectar of each corolla, even when they have not- 
 been eaten by some other insect. That proboscis is adapted 
 to feeding from flowers like those of clover and phlox. 
 It is as much out of place here as would be a very long 
 pole for fishing in a little brook. 
 
 FIG. 33. A " long-tongued " insect feed- 
 Specialization 
 
GOLDENROD: ITS VISITORS AND ITS TENANTS. 37 
 
 3. TENANTS THAT LIVE IN THE PLANT. 
 
 In the midst of a clump of the Canada goldenrod we 
 often find a stem with its top brown and withered and 
 bent downward as shown in Fig. 34. We suspect a 
 tenant causes this, and that he lives inside the stem, and 
 we look beside it for the chips he lets fall. They look like 
 siftings of white meal, especially where they fall upon 
 spiders' webs, as usually happens. Then we seize the 
 brown top, and it breaks off, expos- 
 ing a large hole running down the 
 stem where there should be solid 
 white pith. The tenant 47 is a carpen- 
 ter, who has. been chiseling out this 
 cavity as a place for himself to live 
 in. He has a queer habit : he begins 
 at the top, bores a hole into the pith, 
 and cuts his way downward. He 
 bites loose the pith, bit by bit, car- 
 ries it up to the hole, and pushes it 
 out. This is the story of the siftings. 
 When he reaches a depth of a few 
 inches, so that he is wasting labor by 
 climbing so far to throw out his chips, 
 
 he bores another hole to the outside and has a new door. 
 Then out of the old door he makes a window by spread- 
 ing over it a transparent film which admits some light, but 
 keeps out intruders. Thus he descends to the root, mak- 
 ing the cavity larger as he increases in size. He makes a 
 door first to one quarter, then to another, and converts 
 each one into a window when it no longer is needed open. 
 
 FIG. 34. The work of a 
 stem-borer. 
 
OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 A curious house he has when he gets to the bottom ! It 
 is a tall tower, with a door below, and windows all the way 
 up, whose stairway is a narrow tube. But he climbs or 
 descends this stairway with surprising swiftness. If we try 
 to find him by splitting it open, he slips along faster than 
 we can open the stern till he comes to the end of his house. 
 
 Several other ten- 
 ants of the stem live 
 in galls. Of these 
 the one perhaps best 
 known is the round 
 gall 48 shown in Fig. 
 35, A At B is shown 
 a gall cut in two, the 
 larva which is its ten- 
 ant occupying the 
 small central 'cham- 
 ber. At C is shown 
 the pupa case (mag- 
 nified) which one finds 
 in the gall in win- 
 
 . A f n ; c 
 
 W " l ** IS 
 
 ^ ^^ fly 
 
 emerges in spring. This gall grows high up on the stem, 
 and even when the leaves are on is readily seen. In winter 
 the spherical swellings on the bare stems are very con- 
 spicuous. 
 
 The elliptical gall 46 is often found on neighboring 
 stems. It is longer, entirely hollow within, and usually 
 grows at a lower level. A moth is the tenant of this gall. 
 If cut open in midsummer, a larva will be found within. 
 There is then no opening to the outside. But the pupa 
 
 FIG. 35. The round gall of goldenrod stems; the 
 same cut open showing its tenant, and (at the left, 
 enlarged) the pupa case and the adult fly. 
 
GOLDENROD: ITS VISITORS AND ITS TENANTS. 39 
 
 will be inactive, and the adult moth will have no jaws capa- 
 ble of gnawing a way out ; so it devolves upon the larva 
 to make the hole, else in later life it would be a helpless 
 prisoner. This is almost the last act of its larval life, and 
 it is performed with great skill. The larva bores a hole 
 obliquely upward to the exterior, widens it a little at the 
 outer end, and fashions a cork-shaped plug (Fig. 36, /) to 
 fit into it. This cannot be pushed in by an intruder, but 
 when the moth is ready to go abroad it pushes out easily. 
 So we can tell by looking at the outside of one of these 
 galls in early autumn what to expect to find within. If 
 no hole has been made to the sur- 
 face a larva is inside. If a hole has 
 been made, and is 
 stopped with a plug 
 (as at / in the figure), 
 a pupa is within. If 
 the hole is empty the 
 moth has emerged, and 
 we should find inside 
 only the empty pupa 
 skin. 
 
 The moth 49 is about 
 three fourths of an inch long, of dark mottled grayish 
 brown, with very narrow wings held closely against its 
 body and oddly upcurved behind. It can be easily ob- 
 tained by putting the plugged gall in a big vial, stopping 
 the mouth with cotton, and leaving it a week or two until 
 the moth emerges. 
 
 There is another stem gall, very common, and often found 
 associated with the two foregoing. It is the scarred gall 50 
 (Fig. 37). It is less conspicuous than the other two, being 
 
 FIG. 36. The elliptical gall. 
 At the right it is shown cut 
 open, disclosing a pupa. Atp 
 is the cork-shaped plug made 
 by the larva. The arrow indi- 
 cates the path of the emerging 
 moth. 
 
 FIG. 37. The 
 scarred gall of 
 goldenrod stems. 
 
OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 less swollen. It is marked with scarred brownish furrows 
 on the outside. Its cavity is large, and extends a little 
 way both above and below the gall into the pith of the 
 
 stem. Another moth is the 
 tenant of this gall. 
 
 FIG. 38. A leaf roll. 
 
 FIG. 39. Bunch galls at the base of the 
 flower cluster. 
 
 Sometimes we find stems topped out oddly with compact 
 bunches of leaves, fastened together with threads of silk, 
 or formed into more or less perfect leaf rolls. Fig. 38 
 
 represents a very perfect leaf 
 roll terminating a stem of the 
 rigid goldenrod. 34 Such rolls 
 are made by the larvae of sev- 
 eral different moths. The larva 
 hatches from an egg laid in the 
 bud, and fastens the unex- 
 panded leaves together with its 
 silken threads, and lives within 
 the roll. The lowermost of the entangled leaves are soon 
 full grown, and draw the still lengthening apex of the stem 
 
 FIG. 40. The downy flower gall : 
 at A natural size ; at a, a single gall 
 with its twin brother, a head of flow- 
 ers ; at b a gall cut open, disclosing 
 a pupa. 
 
GOLDENROD: ITS VISITORS AND ITS TENANTS. 41 
 
 FIG. 41. The beaked 
 flower gall. 
 
 over on one side. Sometimes the stem pushes its way out at 
 the side of the roll and rears its flower cluster above ; some- 
 times, as in the figure, the growth of the plant is arrested. 
 At the summit of the goldenrod stems are also galls akin 
 to those already described from willows, and, like them, ten- 
 anted by gall gnats. The galls 51 shown 
 in the figure occur bunched very closely 
 together at the base of the flower clus- 
 ter. Their tenants move out in August, 
 and usually leave their empty pupa skins 
 sticking out at the front door. 
 
 Two little galls are sometimes very abundant in the flower 
 cluster. These are the downy galls 52 and the beaked galls 53 
 (shown in Figs. 39 and 40). The former is conical and is cov- 
 ered with minute hairs, and the opening in its blunt apex is 
 stopped with stiff hairs directed outward. The latter is glob- 
 ular and smooth, 
 with a beaklike 
 point at its sum- 
 mit (Fig. 41), and 
 is opened by a 
 hole cut in its side. 
 Both are made by 
 little gall gnats, 
 which emerge 
 about the first 
 of September. 
 
 A gall that is made upon two leaves at once, binding 
 them together, is shown in Fig. 42. It appears as a single 
 roundish swelling, a little more prominent on the upper 
 side. When cut open, as at A in the figure, the leaves 
 are seen to be completely grown together. Doubtless this 
 
 FIG. 42. A gall uniting two leaves. 
 
42 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 is begun when the leaves are closely pressed together in 
 the bud. 
 
 This is one of the earlier galls, the adult emerging in 
 June, leaving its empty pupa skin sticking in the hole (as 
 in the figure) through which it escaped. Fig. 43 shows 
 the adult gall gnat 54 as seen through a lens. 
 
 Here is a leaf of blue-stem goldenrod 55 
 with galls of two sorts upon it (Fig. 44). 
 
 FIG. 43. The gall 
 hat develop 
 all shown 
 
 gnat that develops in 
 the gall shown in 
 Fig. 42. FIG. 44. Minute leaf galls and a leaf mine. 
 
 Both are minute ; the larger appears as a black blotch in the 
 midst of the leaf, the smaller as a black dot with a yellow 
 circle around it. When the occupants have emerged there 
 is to be found a little hole above or below. When they 
 are still in the galls they may be found by carefully lifting 
 the thin covering of their shelter on the point of a needle. 
 That long, crooked trail across the leaf is not a gall. It 
 is a white line marking the course of a little larva that is 
 tunneling through the tissues of the leaf. See how it has 
 widened as the larva has grown. At its end the larva will 
 excavate a place in which to become a pupa, and later 
 there will escape from it a minute moth with narrow wings 
 bearing a wide fringe of hairs. We shall find, if we look, 
 that there are many common plants whose leaves are 
 marked with these curiously shaped mines. 
 
 "There's never a leaf nor a blade too mean 
 To be some tiny creature's palace." 
 
GOLDENROD : ITS VISITORS AND ITS TENANTS. 43 
 
 4. TENANTS THAT LIVE ON THE PLANT. 
 
 There are inhabitants of the upper branches which only 
 the sharpest eyes will discover. These are stick caterpillars, 56 
 so called because of their close resemblance to twigs, a 
 weakling race preyed upon by a host of enemies, whose 
 only escape lies in being inconspicuous. How wonderful 
 are the ways in which concealment is effected will only be 
 appreciated by one who has seen them. Here 
 (in Fig. 45) is a stick caterpillar found among 
 the flowering branches of the Canada golden- 
 rod. It feeds at night, when most of its ene- 
 mies are asleep, and through the day remains 
 stiff and motionless as a stick. The colors of 
 a twig are in its coat, and even the knots are 
 imitated by tubercles upon its body. By and 
 by, when done feeding, it will travel down the 
 stem (with that peculiar looping gait which has 
 caused the stick caterpillars also to be known 
 as measuring worms), it will enter the earth, 
 and become a pupa. It is the larva of a small 
 moth. 
 
 Another curious larva, 57 smaller and brown 
 in color, found among the eroldenrod flowers. FIG. 45. A stick 
 
 caterpillar. 
 
 has a double row of spines down its back. It 
 feeds upon the bases of the flowers ; but instead of throw- 
 ing away the tops, it fastens them with a thread of silk to 
 the spines, and, thus covered, none but the sharpest eyes 
 would see anything but a tuft of disarranged flowers. 
 
 Black ants are often seen running up the stem and over 
 the leaves of goldenrod, and it will repay one well to look 
 
44 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 carefully to see what these shrewd fellows are doing. Not 
 uncommonly they will be seen attending a little herd of 
 honey bugs, 58 which are feeding quietly, like a grazing flock, 
 upon the leaves or stem of the plant (Fig. 46). Queer 
 little fellows these honey bugs are, with their broad, blunt 
 heads held down in bovine posture, high keels behind them, 
 and a double row of branching spines down their backs. 
 Odd behavior it seems to see an ant walking about among 
 them, stroking and patting them gently with its feelers. 
 What is the ant doing? Taking care of his cattle; treat- 
 ing them kindly, like a good herdsman, 
 because it pays. They are not very 
 handsome cattle. They do not give 
 milk, but they yield a fluid the ant 
 likes better. Each 
 little honey bug is a 
 little sirup refinery. 
 Down there underits 
 black head is a little 
 beak thrust into the 
 tissues of the leaf, 
 through which the sap is vigorously sucked ; and in the body 
 of the bug this sap is " refined," to be exuded through an 
 opening near the end of the body as the sweet fluid known 
 as honeydew. Now watch a honey bug when an ant 
 strokes it, and see it lift a large drop of this honeydew up 
 convenient to the ant's mouth, and see the ant (see Fig. 47) 
 promptly drink it down! 
 
 All this appears to be for the ant's benefit; but the ant 
 is a good herdsman, and by defending his cattle from all 
 their enemies he earns his right to their products. Do you 
 wish to see whether he will really defend them ? Disturb 
 
 FIG. 46. Young honey 
 bugs. 
 
 FIG. 47. Reward of 
 merit. 
 
GOLDENROD : ITS VISITORS AND ITS TENANTS. 45 
 
 the leaf on which some of the honey bugs are feeding, with 
 an ant beside them, and the ant will very likely rush at 
 your hand, and, like the courageous shepherd that he is, 
 without waiting to consider the disparity in size between 
 you and himself, will give your skin the most vigorous nip 
 of which his little jaws are capable (Fig. 48). 
 
 Many times I have tried stroking the bugs gently with a 
 hair, imitating the attentions of the ants, to see if they would 
 respond by yielding a drop of honeydew, but always with- 
 out avail. They are not so dull as they 
 look (Fig. 49). They seem to know 
 their friends. But I have noticed that 
 when they are kept away from ants for 
 a time, at intervals they will discharge 
 the honeydew secreted, with a sudden 
 explosive popgunlike effort, and the 
 drop falls, at a distance often, on the 
 ground. May not this 
 be a means of inform- 
 ing ants, which run 
 about on the ground, 
 of their whereabouts ? Fia 49 ^* d s uli h " ey 
 
 FIG. 48. Hands off! 
 
 There is a slight 
 
 little wasp 59 which builds her nest of mud, and fashions it of 
 a form as exquisite as any product of the potter's wheel ; 
 it is like some antique vase in miniature ; and the wasp 
 sometimes fastens it to an upright stem of goldenrod 
 (Fig. 50). Were the wasp canvassing for a favorable 
 location, what could be better than this? Here on this 
 stem covered with rough hairs to which the mud will 
 adhere, in the midst of an excellent foraging ground, at an 
 elevation overlooking an expanse of meadow, and in the 
 
4 6 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 shadow of overarching leaves, what place could be better 
 suited to her needs? So might we think of it. at least; 
 and so may we think, since we may not know what the 
 wasp thinks. We at least know that here we have found 
 this pretty vase-shaped nest- with its precious contents; 
 
 and we have seen, on 
 a sunny afternoon, 
 the mother wasp, re- 
 turning home and 
 about to enter, stand 
 alert on a neighbor- 
 ing leaf, eying us sus- 
 1 piciously, and then 
 suddenly dart away 
 and disappear, to re- 
 
 FIG. 50. The vase-maker's nest. o. the same turn tO OUT view no 
 from one side. 
 
 more. 
 
 So if we study goldenrod as a living thing, filling a place 
 in the world of life, and study the small beings, a few of 
 which have been spoken of here, whose lives are so closely 
 intertwined with its own, we shall find our reward in that 
 intimate association with nature which yields us pleasures 
 that are ever new and that are farthest removed from all 
 that is sordid in our own lives. 
 
NOT SO BLACK AS HE IS PAINTED. - 
 
 I. CROW CHARACTER. 
 
 EADEN gray skies 
 dotted with mov- 
 ing flakes of black, 
 
 ( ****?- ^^ - 
 
 "^""^ lone trees in the 
 
 midst of the field 
 with inky spots 
 on their topmost 
 
 boughs, distant clamorous cawing in 
 the woods, these are crows to the un- 
 observing. Imps of blackness, garru- 
 lous, remonstrative, familiar, yet always distant, so are 
 they known ; and few birds are known at sight by so 
 many people. But to know crows at sight merely is 
 scarcely to know them at all. 
 
 To know them one must study them, must see them 
 at home and abroad, at work and at play, hungry and 
 well fed, alone and in society. For crow society, though 
 somewhat exclusive, has very important functions; and 
 they are not such shallow fellows but that their intimate 
 acquaintance will well repay the trouble of making it. 
 The most indifferent observer, passing a sleek black crow 
 
 47 
 
4 8 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 upon a roadside tree, must have felt that a pair of sharp, 
 sagacious eyes were watching his every movement ; hearing 
 a little clannish group discussing politics from the top of 
 adjoining haystacks, must have realized that there is much 
 more to this bird 60 (Fig. 51) than a black color and a harsh 
 voice. 
 
 Black indeed he is ; not blue black, nor brown black, 
 but the shiny blackness of jet. And his reputation also 
 
 is black. He is charged 
 with many crimes 
 against life and prop- 
 erty, among which the 
 one for which he is most 
 often condemned (al- 
 ways without a hear- 
 ing) is thieving. 
 
 He does take things, 
 if that be stealing, at 
 worst it is petty lar- 
 ceny, an egg here, a 
 roasting ear yonder ; 
 not that wholesale rob- 
 bery which inspires 
 wonderment and delays penalty, but the picking up of 
 a bit of bread for immediate use, such as in crows and 
 other people seems to invite swift and severe retribution. 
 Although, if we own the roasting ear, we shall certainly 
 call it stealing, we must remember that human ethics does 
 not hold for crows. We own our little plot of ground, and 
 get from it our living ; but the crow owns, by right of birth, 
 a share in the whole world. He recognizes no surveys, 
 consults no maps, but accepts food for his family and for 
 
 FIG. 51. Guilty or not guilty? 
 
NOT SO BLACK AS HE IS PAINTED. 49 
 
 himself wherever bountiful nature offers it. He eats a 
 strawberry in our garden, and a wild brambleberry just 
 over the fence, and is doubtless as guileless in one case as 
 in the other. The reputation the crow bears among us is 
 not our estimate of his cJiaracter at all, but of the way he 
 affects our interests. He may eat a peck of corn that spills 
 from the farmer's wagon along the road, and no one cares ; 
 but if he pulls up a few grains the farmer has planted, he 
 is forthwith condemned to death. He may perch, as 
 sometimes he will, on a post near the poultry yard, and 
 rail at the big rooster till that dignified fowl is filled with 
 rage and the peace of the poultry yard is broken. The 
 owner of the yard smiles at this, but prepares vengeance 
 if the crow tastes a single egg. The only thing that enters 
 into our account is the thing that both we and the crow 
 desire. We sometimes have to reckon with animals which 
 would take from us that we have labored to procure. Does 
 he help or hinder us in our efforts to get a living? That 
 is the question. 
 
 To one who has watched the crow long, nothing is more 
 certain than that he is neither unmixed good nor evil. 
 Our account with him is not easily reckoned. There are 
 many items to be entered upon both sides of it, and the 
 valuation to be set opposite some of them is uncertain. 
 The evil he does is much more apparent than the good. 
 That is doubtless the reason he is so often hastily con- 
 demned. He may spend weeks in the field eating noxious 
 grubs and cutworms ; we do not see what he eats, nor 
 how much, and may not even know whether he is doing 
 us any service in removing such things ; but let him eat 
 our roasting ear, and we see and appreciate our loss. As 
 we find him one day robbing us, and the next day working 
 
50 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 for us, how shall we estimate his value ? A difficult matter 
 indeed, and the difficulty lies in striking a balance. We 
 may learn, from special studies that have been made upon 
 the crow's food,* that the service he renders the tiller of 
 
 the soil is worth much more than 
 the things he "steals." To be 
 sure, he does take eggs (Fig. 52) 
 sometimes, and berries, but not 
 to any great extent ; and he does 
 pull up sprouting corn, and he 
 does eat corn when " in the 
 milk," but only fora short time, 
 
 FIG. 52. He likes eggs. , r , 
 
 a week or two out of each sea- 
 son ; but a greater part of his living consists of harmful 
 little animals, insects, field mice, etc., and that throughout 
 the whole year, and these would destroy far more of our 
 crops than he will eat. So his services are better retained, 
 even though he may need watching at certain seasons and 
 places. His economic complexion is not bad, after all. 
 
 2. CROW WIT. 
 
 The crow is a very smart bird. So much even his 
 worst enemies will freely admit. When captured young, 
 and tamed, he may be taught many tricks ; but the tricks 
 he will learn for himself, if left at large, are quite as in- 
 teresting as any of human teaching. 
 
 He quickly learns to know a gun, a thing his ancestors 
 of a few generations back could not have known. They 
 
 * See Bulletin No. 6, United States Department of Agriculture, Division 
 of Mammalogy and Ornithology (The Common Crow in the United States), 
 by W. B. Barrows and E. A. Schwarz. 
 
NOT SO BLACK AS HE IS PAINTED. 51 
 
 may have known bow and arrows, though it is very 
 doubtful if American savages were half so savage and 
 wanton destroyers of bird life as are most modern Nimrods. 
 
 Where is the huntsman who will not kill a crow? Test 
 of marksmanship, indeed, and marksmanship is the glory 
 of sportsmen, who kill, not, as a tiger kills, for food, but 
 for the sake of killing skillfully.* 
 
 He knows what is a safe distance. A man on horseback 
 may be allowed to come nearer than a man afoot, and a 
 footman carrying a gun must not be allowed within rifle 
 range. He sits on a fence while a party of picnickers drives 
 by, but flies away to the woods when a pedestrian ap- 
 pears half a mile down the lane. He is fearless of the 
 thundering locomotive, but very suspicious of a string 
 stretched across a garden. He will follow a busy plow- 
 man in his furrow, but let the plowman begin watching 
 him, and he moves farther away. Eternal vigilance is in - 
 deed the price of his safety. 
 
 He knows the use of sentinels. When feeding in places 
 where he cannot see all about, he has a companion or two 
 stationed aloft to watch while he feeds. Should danger 
 appear, the alarm is promptly given by the watchman. 
 The poultry yard or the garden or the field of new corn 
 is not entered until a survey has been made and outposts 
 stationed. 
 
 Thus he has been able to maintain his place, getting his 
 food mainly from the cultivated field, and that in spite of 
 all that misguided human ingenuity has been able to devise 
 for his destruction. Traps and snares are set for him ; guns 
 
 * Read, in connection with this, two short poems by Burns, that are still 
 far in advance of our times : On Scaring Some Waterfowl in Loch Turit, and 
 On Seeing a Wounded Hare Limp by Me. 
 
OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 FIG. 53. The effect of scarecrows. 
 
 are leveled at him ; scarecrows perch in the field to keep 
 him from his food (Fig. 53). But somehow he evades his 
 danger, and gets his food, and lives on ; and we have but 
 to lift our eyes to the fields to see his sable form, or turn 
 
 our ear to the woods 
 when the air is still to 
 catch his unmusical 
 voice. 
 
 He is not less skillful 
 in getting that part of his 
 food which he takes from 
 other animals. He eats 
 *- " ** the eggs of robins some- 
 times, and, of course, does 
 not get them without a 
 protest. The parent birds 
 usually make a vigorous fight, and often the crow is able to 
 get eggs only by strategy. One crow approaches the nest, 
 while another waits near by. The first is pounced upon by 
 the robins and their friends, and when driven well away, the 
 second rushes in and robs the unprotected nest, and is away 
 with his spoil before the robins 61 can return. Crows are very 
 fond of mice. The meadow mice, 62 whose nest consists of 
 a bunch of matted grass hidden at the surface of the ground, 
 form an important part of their food. And they hunt these 
 with all the skill and knowledge of habit which should 
 characterize a good collector of specimens. They know 
 that every shock of corn that stands over winter in the 
 field is likely to contain one or more families of these mice. 
 So when the farmer goes out in late winter or spring to 
 haul in the corn, they go along. They perch at a good 
 distance while the corn is being loaded, and as soon as it 
 
NOT SO BLACK AS HE IS PAINTED. 53 
 
 is driven away they approach and hunt for the scattered, 
 homeless mice, now hiding under temporary shelter. 
 
 In meadows these mouse nests are placed here and there 
 in the sod, and are only found by considerable searching ; 
 but when the snow is melting in spring, the crow knows 
 how to find them more easily. The heat from the tenanted 
 nest melts the snow above it more rapidly than elsewhere, 
 making a hole. By these holes the crow locates the nests, 
 and pounces upon them, tearing them apart, and seizing 
 their occupants before they have time to escape through 
 their runways under the snow. 
 
 As the crow is ever ready to reap where others have 
 sown, so he will profit by the labor of others at every 
 opportunity. A hog is quietly rooting in an orchard ; a 
 crow sees that the hog is eating the beetles and grubs that 
 live in upturned turf, and he wants a share of them. From 
 the ground he cannot see well enough, and from the fence 
 he could not get to the beetles before they are eaten, so 
 he deliberately perches upon the fat porker's neck. The 
 rooting is continued, with perhaps a grunt of remonstrance ; 
 and then, when a nice fat grub is thrown upon the soil, 
 the crow drops down and seizes it quickly, and resumes 
 his perch. And he is often able to continue this imposi- 
 tion for some time. 
 
 So he takes advantage of circumstances, availing himself 
 of all sorts of aids. He lives largely by his wit ; he adapts 
 himself quickly to circumstances. He is a close observer, 
 and can turn what he sees to practical account. 
 
DRAGON FLIES. 
 
 I. THE SKIMMERS. 
 
 HEN it is high noon on 
 the mill pond, when 
 leaves droop, and the 
 sun glares upon the wa- 
 ter, and the air is hot and 
 still, when other crea- 
 tures seek theshade, and 
 even the swallows that 
 skim the air morning 
 and evening are resting, 
 then thoseotherswal- 
 lows of the insect world, 
 the dragon flies, are all abroad. 
 Is the eye pleased with gay 
 colors, with light and airy mo- 
 tion? Then let it turn to 
 these. Swift as the swallows, 
 
 and adorned with colors of rainbow brilliance, these will 
 fill the pause and enliven the landscape at the summer 
 noonday hour. At such times one is content to lie in the 
 shade, using only his eyes ; arid there is hardly a pond in 
 the land where one's eye may not follow the charmed flight 
 of these beautiful insects. 
 
 54 
 
DRAGON FLIES. 
 
 55 
 
 Dragon flies (Fig. 54) 63 are creatures of sunshine and of 
 summer. On cloudy and windy days they keep to shelter. 
 In moderate weather the passage of a cloud across the sun 
 will send some of them to the bushes. But when the air 
 is still, and the sun is blazing, its beams call them forth to 
 a wonderful activity. One may stand by the side of a 
 
 FIG. 54. A creature of sunshine. 
 
 small pond, and follow for hours with his eye the evolu- 
 tions of one of the large dragon flies, skimming over the 
 surface in zigzag lines or sweeping curves, stopping still 
 in midair, and starting again, seeming never to rest, nor 
 ever to tire. Poised in the air, with the sunlight dancing 
 on its trembling wings, it is indeed a beautiful sight. 
 
 " Dragon flies? Folks call 'em ' devil's darnin' needles ' 
 in our parts, and say they will sew up your ears." Yes; 
 and in some localities they are called " snake doctors," and 
 are said to bring dead snakes to life ; and other meaning- 
 less names are given them, such as ic snake feeders," 
 
56 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 "horse stingers," "mule killers," etc.; but in spite of all 
 these bad names and the silly superstitions they represent, 
 dragon flies are entirely harmless to man, are, indeed, to 
 be counted as friends, for they destroy vast numbers of 
 mosquitoes and gnats and pestiferous little flies. To such 
 creatures they must seem real dragons of the air. While 
 one is standing by the pond, let him follow awhile the ac- 
 tions of a dragon fly that is making short dashes in different 
 directions close to the bank. Let him fix his eye on a little 
 
 FIG. 55. The ten-spot (natural size). 
 
 fly hovering in the air, and note that after the dragon fly has 
 made a dart toward it, it is gone. Let him repeat the ob- 
 servation as the dragon fly goes darting hither and thither. 
 It will be hard to see the flies captured, so quickly it is done, 
 but one can see that the place that once knew them knows 
 them no more. And the usefulness of the dragon fly in 
 taking off such water-haunting pests will be appreciated. 
 In any locality there are many different kinds of dragon 
 flies. Those of which we have been speaking are called 
 the skimmers.^ One of the commonest and prettiest of 
 
DRAGON FLIES. 
 
 CALiH 
 
 these is the ten-spot, 65 shown in Fig. 55. The ten chalky 
 white spots of the wings which give the name are present 
 only in the male ; but the wings of the female differ only in 
 lacking these spots. This is a pond-loving species. 
 
 FIG. 56. The whitetail (slightly enlarged). 
 
 The whitetail, 66 shown in Fig. 56, is often associated with 
 the latter, though this one is more widely distributed, 
 and sometimes shows a preference for slow-flowing brooks 
 and open ditches of water. It flies less continuously than 
 the ten-spot, and when it rests has a habit of setting its 
 wings aslant downward and forward with a succession of 
 
58 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 jerks. The attitude shown in the figure is a common and 
 characteristic one. The males may be seen perched thus 
 upon reeds or stumps, or even upon the bare earth. Here, 
 again, the common name is only descriptive of the old 
 males. These, however, are the ones oftenest seen. Fe- 
 males and young males have the body brown, marked 
 with yellow. The powdery whiteness of the body appears 
 not to be without its disadvantages to the males, for it 
 
 FIG. 57. The water prince. 
 
 renders them more easily seen by their feathered enemies. 
 We shall find, in studying this dragon fly afield, that the 
 whitest ones avoid resting places over a dark background, 
 and settle oftenest on white sticks, on bleached stumps, 
 and on the earth where it is of light color. Very frequently 
 one will alight on a white insect net when it is laid down, 
 or even when held still in the hand. 
 
 Another common skimmer common enough, indeed, 
 
DRAGON FLIES. 59 
 
 but very hard to capture is the water prince 67 (Fig. 57). 
 It is a most persistent flier. It is abroad early in the morn- 
 ing, and flies until dark, disregarding even the clouds, cours- 
 ing the banks of ponds and lakes, seeming never to wander 
 far from their mirroring surface, and never satiated with 
 the indulgence of its superb aerial powers. 
 
 Of similar strength of wing, and often found associated 
 with the water prince, is the upland skimmer, 68 shown in 
 the initial cut of this chapter. This dragon fly, however, 
 often leaves the water to forage over upland fields and 
 orchards, where, on windy days in summer, it may some- 
 times be seen in the lee of fruit trees, poised in air, watch- 
 ing for insects dislodged from the foliage by the wind. 
 
 FIG. 58. The amberwing (male). FIG. 59. The amberwing (female). 
 
 Weaklings, as compared with these, are the little amber- 
 wings, 69 found about the same ponds, but keeping nearer to 
 the shore and to the surface of the water. The wings of 
 this species are of a clear amber tint, in the male unmarked, 
 in the female richly spotted with dark brown, as shown in 
 Figs. 58 and 59. These move about the shores with a slow, 
 hovering flight, and rest often on the tips of erect reeds, 
 with wings held perfectly horizontal. A sun cloud or a 
 quick breeze will send them to the weeds, and on a cool 
 or a blustery day they will scarcely show themselves ; but 
 
6o 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 when the sun shines warm and the air is still, they dance 
 along the shores, seemingly feeling as fully as their stronger 
 relatives the happiness of being alive. 
 
 One may conclude much too quickly that one knows 
 the habits of dragon flies. What has been said above will 
 not apply to the beautiful wind sprite 70 shown in Fig. 60, in 
 one respect at least. This is a breeze-loving species. On 
 windy days in June it is flying, and seemingly quite as 
 
 FIG. 60. The wind sprite (enlarged). 
 
 well pleased that the weather is not calm. This is a 
 beautiful orange or yellow species marked with dark 
 brown. It frequents ponds, does not " skim " over them 
 with the regularity of the others, but rises and falls with 
 an irregular butterflylike flight, or perches uneasily on the 
 tops of tall reeds high up on the bank. It is a slender and 
 delicate species such as one would think least able to stand 
 the tossing of the wind, yet it is often seen in its dancing 
 flight out over white-capped waves. 
 
DRAGON FLIES. 
 
 61 
 
 2. DAMSEL FLIES AND DARNERS. 
 
 Here is one of the slender damsel flies (Fig. 61). 
 These, though less in evidence, are usually more 
 abundant throughout the whole season. These hold 
 their wings erect when resting, and cling to the stems 
 and leaves of plants. On walking through the mea- 
 dows beside brooks or ponds, one 
 will see them arising before one's 
 feet and flitting like tinted shadows 
 across the grass. These fly low over I 
 the water, and rest often upon the 
 leaves that float upon the surface. 
 Their colors are of unusual variety 
 and brilliancy. 
 
 One will not need to watch them 
 long, as they fly about open water, to 
 see that they do not venture up into 
 the altitude of the stronger species. 
 Dragon flies eat one another the 
 strong destroy the weak; and all but 
 the strongest species are more or less 
 restricted in their range, especially in 
 their common field above the surface 
 of still water. We who are accustomed 
 to roam the earth at will sometimes find 
 it hard to realize how close are the limitations that bound 
 and hem in the lives of some of earth's lesser people. 
 Why do damsel flies keep so close to water? The reason 
 is not far to seek. If to venture up into the altitude of 
 the larger species means to run the risk of being eaten, we 
 
 FIG. 61. A damsel fly. 
 
62 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 can readily see why they should stay down below. The 
 hawk may roam the air at will, but sparrows must keep 
 to the bushes. 
 
 FIG. 62. Another damsel fly. 72 
 
 So, in fact, we find the smaller damsel flies flying over 
 water in a straight course an inch or less above the surface, 
 and rarely venturing higher ; the larger damsel flies a very 
 
 little higher; the amberwings 69 at 
 an average of about six inches ; 
 the larger skimmers a foot or 
 more from the surface, and up- 
 land skimmers 67 and darners still 
 higher. One has only to stand 
 a little while by some small area 
 of water where all these are fly- 
 ing to see that each keeps rather 
 closely to its proper altitude. 
 
 Ponds are the centers of drag- 
 on-fly life. There are, however, 
 other dragon flies that do not 
 compete for a place over open 
 water, but seek the seclusion of 
 reedy marshes and the close veg- 
 etation of reed-choked streams ; 
 such are the marsh nuns 73 (Fig. 
 FIG. 63. -A marsh nun 63). These are seldom seen, 
 
DRAGON FLIES. 
 
 except when flushed from their resting places by intruding 
 feet. They fly weakly, and soon settle on upright stems, 
 and are so inconspicuous that, were they not seen first 
 flying, they would hardly be seen at all. 
 
 Then there are others which have taken to dwelling by 
 the rapids of rushing streams. The blackwing 74 (Fig. 64) 
 is a good example of these. This striking and beautiful 
 insect, with its body of metallic green and its wings of 
 smoky black, is sure to attract attention wherever it occurs. 
 It frequents all our clear and rapid 
 streams, and is to be found on the 
 wing during the whole summer. 
 
 The darners 75 are the largest 
 of our dragon flies. They fly 
 everywhere, and. are out early 
 and late. They are often seen at 
 evening, slowly coursing over our 
 lawns on invisible wings. They 
 exhibit no small degree of curi- 
 osity. They will fly out in the 
 stream to look at a passing boat. 
 They will poise before recently 
 felled trees, or fly round and 
 
 round a bank from which earth has been dislodged, and 
 will return to it again and again. They will examine an 
 insect net, fishing tackle, a summer parasol anything 
 unusual appearing in places with which they are familiar. 
 One will occasionally fly in at an open window. On ac- 
 count of their great strength of wing, they are exceedingly 
 difficult to capture. The commonest, perhaps, and the one 
 most generally distributed throughout this country, is the 
 common green darner 76 shown in Fig. 65. 
 
 FIG. 64. Blackwings. 
 
6 4 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 3. HOW DRAGON FLIES GROW UP. 
 
 When watching dragon flies at a pond in summer, one is 
 likely to see some of them depositing their eggs ; the skim- 
 mers descending to strike the surface of the water with 
 the tip of the abdomen repeatedly, each time liberating 
 eggs, which will fall to the bottom and be quickly hidden ; 
 the damsel flies industriously puncturing the stems of 
 
 FIG. 65. The common green darner. 
 
 aquatic plants just below the surface, and placing their 
 eggs in the punctures. This has often been pointed out as 
 a wonderful example of instinct, that the aerial mother 
 dragon fly should put her eggs back into the water, where 
 her young will find a suitable home. 
 
 The young, which now we call nymphs, live in the 
 water, and differ among themselves as to haunts and habits 
 
DRAGON FLIES. 
 
 FIG. 66.-Thenymph 
 of the whitetail. 
 
 as much as do the adults. Here is a fig- 
 ure of the full-grown nymph of the 
 
 whitetail 66 (Fig. 66). It, like other 
 
 nymphs of skimmers, lies sprawling 
 
 upon the bottoms of ponds, amid fallen 
 
 trash. It leads an unpromising youth. 
 
 Its dull colors are quite hidden by the 
 
 trash that adheres to the rough hairs of 
 
 its skin ; its gait is slow and awkward ; 
 
 and, in fact, it rarely moves from its 
 
 place, preferring to lie hidden until some 
 
 unsuspecting insect wanders within its 
 
 grasp. So it spends almost a year, eating 
 
 much and growing rapidly, shedding its 
 
 old skin whenever it gets too small, and growing a new 
 
 one, but retaining, all the while, much the same appearance 
 
 it had at hatching. Then summer comes, when it is 
 
 grown, and the warm sun, beaming down into its pool, 
 
 starts new impulses in its 
 groveling breast. It quits 
 the water by climbing up a 
 convenient reed or stump, 
 again sheds its old skin, 
 and comes out of it an 
 adult dragon fly. Fig. 67 
 shows three stages in the 
 act of emergence from the 
 old nymph skin. When 
 it first gets out it is limp 
 and pale, and looks about 
 
 ** UCh "ke an adult 
 emergenceoftheimagofromitsold nymph dragQn fly ag a fag do] , 
 
66 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 looks like a real baby. But it clutches the support with its 
 feet, its body lengthens and shapes itself, its wings expand 
 and dry, and its bright colors appear; and in half an hour 
 the change is completed, and our dragon fly is ready to 
 show its prowess in the air. 
 
 Fig. 68 represents a full-face view of another nymph, 77 
 as seen through a lens. The immense lower lip covers the 
 face nearly up to the eyes. The two broad flaps hinged 
 to its fore corners cover the mouth, and, when opened, these 
 show inside a formidable armament of teeth, hooks, and 
 spines well adapted for holding its prey. In a side view 
 
 FIG. 69. A skimmer nymph seen from the side, show- 
 ing the position of the immense lower lip when folded be- 
 FIG. 68. A portrait. neath the head. 
 
 of the same nymph (Fig. 69) we can see how this organ is 
 doubled upon itself like a hinge, and extended backward, 
 when at rest, between the bases of the fore legs. It can 
 be thrust forward with lightning speed to grasp the unwary 
 " wriggler " that has come too near. Fig. 70 represents 
 the same nymph viewed from above. 
 
 The nymph of the common green darner 76 is much 
 more active. It does not lie in the dirt, but clambers 
 about among the submerged green vegetation, or even 
 swims from place to place. It differs from other common 
 species in having several distinct changes of colors in its 
 early life. 
 
DRAGON FLIES. 
 
 \ 
 
 When hatched it appears as at A in Fig. 71, and is brown- 
 ish, with a white cross upon its head. When one fourth grown 
 
 it is alternately banded 
 
 with black and white, 
 
 as shown at B. When 
 
 half grown it appears as at 
 
 C y bright green, variously 
 
 mottled with brown. This 
 
 coloration it retains until 
 
 it leaves the water. It is 
 
 a fitting garb for a nymph 
 
 that clings to green plant 
 
 stems, concealing it well 
 
 while it steals upon its 
 
 prey. 
 
 The nymphs of damsel 
 
 flies also cling to aquatic vegetation, often in vast numbers. 
 
 One 72 of them is shown in 
 Fig. 72. All damsel flies have 
 three platelike gills (A) at the 
 end of the body, and can 
 swim, when necessary, by 
 
 FIG. 70. Dorsal view of the nymph 
 shown in Fig. 69. 
 
 FIG. 71 . The nymph of the common 
 green darner. A A, .lew-hatched . at B, 
 one fourth grown ; at C. one half grown. 
 
 FIG. 72. A nymph of the damsel fly 
 shown in Fig. 62. At A are the gills, seen 
 from the fide, a little enlarged. 
 
68 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 sculling with these gills. The smaller ones are protected 
 by being of the same color as their surroundings. 
 
 The nymphs of the marsh nuns 73 (Fig. 73), gracefully 
 ill-balanced creatures living among closer vegetation in 
 
 FIG. 73. Nymph of a marsh nun shown in Fig. 63. A, the gills enlarged. 
 
 which are many dead stems, are green and brown, the 
 amount of either color varying to suit their surroundings. 
 Their broad gills (A) are beautifully banded with brown. 
 
 None are more protectively colored than the nymphs of the 
 blackwings 74 (Fig. 74), which live in the streams about which 
 later they will fly. These cling to stems that are swayed 
 by the rushing current. They are stiff, awkward creatures. 
 
 brownish, with a 
 pale band ex- 
 tending back- 
 ward from the 
 head, indistin- 
 guishable from 
 the sticks about 
 them when in 
 their natural sur- 
 roundings. 
 
 FIG. 74. Nymph of the blackwings shown in Fig. 64. However van- 
 
DRAGON FLIES. 
 
 6 9 
 
 ous may be the form of dragon-fly nymphs, they are all at 
 once recognizable and distinguishable from all other aquatic 
 animals by their immense hinged, grasping lower lip. 
 
 4. HOW TO REAR DRAGON FLIES. 
 
 Live dragon flies must be studied out of doors and in 
 summer ; but the nymphs can be found any time, and when 
 alive are well adapted to indoor study. They are easily col- 
 lected and easily kept, and one 
 will find much of interest in 
 seeing how they walk and swim 
 and breathe and hide and cap- 
 ture their prey. If one wishes 
 to collect the nymphs which lie 
 sprawling amid fallen trash, a 
 garden rake with which to draw 
 the trash ashore, fingers not 
 too dainty to pick them up 
 when they make themselves 
 conspicuous by their active 
 efforts to get back into the 
 water, and a pail of water in 
 "which to carry them home, are 
 all the apparatus required. 
 
 A rake will bring ashore 
 those other nymphs 78 which 
 burrow shallowly under the 
 sediment that lies on the bot- 
 tom, and also a few of those that cling to vegetation near 
 the surface ; but for getting these latter a net is better. 
 Fig. 75 shows the construction of a good water net that 
 
 FIG. 75. A home-made water net. a, 
 the handle, grooved on opposite sides 
 at the end; b, a loop of very heavy wire 
 or of iron rod, whose crossed and par- 
 allel ends are bent at right angles to 
 the plane of the loop. These ends are 
 placed in the grooves of the handle and 
 wrapped with fine wire. , the com- 
 pleted net with brace and bag added; 
 N, the net, from above; d, a brace of 
 fine wire whose ends are wrapped 
 about grooves filed in the large loop; 
 e, a strip of muslin sewed to the loop; 
 /, a shallow bag of grass cloth or hair 
 net, sewed to the muslin. 
 
7O OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 can be made at home out of a piece of grass cloth, two 
 sizes of wire, and a stick. 
 
 The best places to search for dragon-fly nymphs in 
 general are the reedy borders of ponds and the places 
 where trash falls in the eddies of creeks. The smaller the 
 body of water, if permanent, the more likely it is to yield 
 good collecting. The nymphs may be kept in any reason- 
 ably clean vessel that will hold water. Some clean sand 
 should be placed in the bottom, especially for burrowers, 
 and water plants for damsel-fly nymphs to rest on. They 
 may be fed occasionally upon such small insects (smaller 
 than themselves) as a water net or a sieve will catch in 
 any pond. Their habits can be studied at leisure in a dish 
 of water on one's desk or table. 
 
 The best season for collecting them is spring and early 
 summer. April and May are the best months of the year, 
 because at this time most nymphs are nearly grown, and, 
 if taken then, will need to be kept but 
 a short time before transforming into 
 adults. And this transformation every 
 one should see ; it will be worth a 
 week's work at the desk ; and as it can 
 be appreciated only by being seen, 
 ' fV !m ifriSg some simple directions are here given 
 for bringing the nymphs to maturity. 
 
 Place them in a wooden pail or tub (Fig. 76). If the sides 
 are so smooth that they cannot crawl up to transform, put 
 some sticks in the water for them to crawl out on. Tie 
 mosquito netting tightly over the top, or, better, make a 
 screen cover; leave three or four inches of air between the 
 water and the netting ; feed at least once a week ; set 
 them where the sun will reach them ; and after the advent 
 
DRAGON FLIES. 7 I 
 
 of warm spring weather look in on them early every morn- 
 ing to see what is going on. 
 
 A most delightful and instructive outing for a summer 
 morning would be a trip to a pond to see the skimmers 
 leaving the water, transforming, and taking flight. The 
 time for it, however, must be wisely chosen to avoid dis- 
 appointment. Skimmers 64 emerge very early in the morn- 
 ing, generally between daybreak and sunrise, though a few 
 stragglers will be later. They appear most abundantly 
 in June, or earlier, of course, in the South. 
 
 If one can be out at the pond by six o'clock some clear 
 morning, when the adults of some dragon fly that is known 
 tobecommonare 
 just beginning to 
 appear, he may 
 be sure of finding 
 them transform- 
 ing. There will 
 be some nymphs 
 crawling up the 
 banks, images 
 pulling them- 
 selvesoutoftheir 
 
 FIG. 77. The cast-off skin of the water prince (Fig. 57). 
 
 old nymph skins, 
 
 others drying their wings, others ready to fly, and all within 
 
 a few feet of the margin of the water. 
 
 They are by no means easy to see at first. It would be 
 such an error as nature seldom commits if at the time of 
 their complete helplessness they were as conspicuous as 
 they become later. But close to the place whence one 
 arises to take its first flight, others are likely to be found 
 in transformation. 
 
72 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 At noon one would find only dry and empty nymph 
 skins clinging to the sedges. And there, unless beaten 
 down by wind or rain, each empty husk (Fig. 77) still 
 clings, useless now, or sometimes furnishing a night's shel- 
 ter to some mendicant plant bug, until the festive, sportive, 
 aerial life of its former occupant has run its swift course. 
 
BOGUS EYES. 
 
 I. EYE PICTURES. 
 
 IS easy to be alarmed. Real dan- 
 ger is not at all necessary. Thun- 
 der never hurts any one, yet it 
 frightens a good many. Who has 
 not felt the fear of the dark, when 
 darkness held only the creatures 
 of one's own imagining? A horse 
 that shies at a flying paper is not 
 more timorous than we human folk 
 when dealing with things we do not understand. 
 This timidity is doubtless the safeguard of igno- 
 rance, but it is better to learn and to act intelligently. 
 
 The eye is a wonderful instrument of communication. 
 It tells its owner the contents of the world ; it tells the 
 world the intents of its owner. It is a precious thing. 
 Animals know that their enemies are powerless without 
 its aid, so they try to destroy it. Birds and snakes strike 
 at it in fighting, and bees and wasps try to sting it to put 
 it out. It is a thing of terror in proportion to the advan- 
 tage it gives its possessor. Hunters tell us there is no 
 horror so blood-curdling as the gleam of a suspected eye 
 in the darkness of the jungle. 
 
 73 
 
74 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 " Eat not thou the bread of him that hath an evil eye/' 
 said Solomon. That is the policy of the animal world, to 
 have nothing to do with any creature possessing the eye 
 of a foe. If there be one thing more than another of which 
 
 animals are suspicious, it is a 
 strange-looking eye. Nature has 
 taken advantage of this fact in pro- 
 tecting some of the most innocent 
 little creatures by developing upon 
 them spots that look like sinister 
 eyes. 
 
 The two 'owl beetles 79 shown in 
 Fig. 78 are good examples. These 
 two were found lying in just this 
 position on an old log under a piece 
 of bark. They are not uncommon 
 in early summer about woods and 
 orchards, and being large, conspic- 
 uously marked, and widely distrib- 
 uted, they are fairly well known. 
 Their color is black, sprinkled 
 
 with gray. The eyes are at the sides of the head, which 
 is partly concealed at the extreme front of our figure. 
 Those big, staring, eyelike spots are spots merely, not eyes 
 at all, not even on the head. 
 
 These are click beetles, 80 and when placed on their backs 
 can spring high into the air and alight right side up again ; 
 but, unlike others of the family, these, upon alighting, do 
 not seek to run and hide, but lie as shown in the figure, 
 with their legs drawn up out of view, motionless, staring, 
 trusting that their frightful aspect will cause their enemies 
 to let them alone. 
 
 FIG. 78. Owl beetles. 
 
BOGUS EYES. 
 
 75 
 
 Doubtless this trust is well founded. That these eye- 
 spots are terrifying is shown by the way some ignorant 
 people are frightened by them. More than once, when 
 showing these beetles to some one who had never seen 
 them, they have called forth at first sight the exclamation, 
 " Oh, how horrid! " But after explaining that these were 
 only spots, and showing the eyes on the head, the next 
 remark has been, "Why, how interesting! " Having 
 called attention to the rich velvety blackness of the spots, 
 and the whiteness of the rings around them, and having 
 shown that the whole is but a color effect, an eye picture, 
 then the remark has been, " How beautiful! " 
 
 Such are the results of education ! 
 
 There are several little flower beetles, one of which 81 is 
 shown in Fig. 79, very common in midsummer on the flower 
 clusters of sumach 82 and New Jersey tea. 83 Their wing 
 
 FIG. 79. A flower beetle. 
 
 FIG. 80. The eye-spot in use. 
 
 covers do not reach the hinder end of the body, but are 
 cut across squarely like a sack coat, and behind these the 
 body slopes abruptly downward. On their sloping hinder 
 end is a large black spot, more or less completely sur- 
 
7 6 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 rounded with a ring of pale yellow. This is an eye-spot, 
 though one would hardly think so unless he had seen it 
 serving its purpose. But any one can easily see it in its 
 proper setting by visiting sumach flowers when they are in 
 full bloom. Some of the beetles present will be found to 
 have crawled head first among the flowers, with only the 
 end bearing the eye-spot exposed, this strongly suggesting 
 the eye of a large lizard (Fig. 80). 
 
 Here is a common wood-nymph butterfly 84 (Fig. 81), 
 sometimes called the dim-eyed grayling. It is often seen in 
 summer about the borders of woods, fluttering along, and 
 alighting suddenly upon some dead stick. Resting in such 
 
 FIG. 81. The dim-eyed grayling. 
 
 a place, with wings folded above its back, it would be well- 
 nigh indistinguishable but for the two big eye-spots of its 
 fore wings, which stand out boldly. Imagine the feelings 
 of an enemy pursuing this butterfly, when suddenly it 
 alights, and, instead of the grayling, its foe sees only two 
 glaring eyes, large enough to belong to some powerful 
 
BOGUS EYES. 77 
 
 marauder These spots are more than dots of blue en- 
 circled with black and yellow ; they look deep and danger- 
 ous. The pale scales of the center are scattered over one 
 side to imitate che effect of light falling upon a spherical 
 surface. The butterfly sits still, almost allowing itself to 
 be stepped upon, holding its danger signal rigidly aloft as 
 if conscious that this is its best defense. 
 
 2. LARVAL EYE-SPOTS. 
 
 The preceding examples of eye-spots are all taken from 
 adult insects. Larvae profit, oftentimes, by wearing similar 
 warning colors. 
 
 The black swallowtail 85 is the familiar butterfly shown in 
 the initial cut of this chapter. Its larvae feed upon wild 
 parsnip 86 and caraway, 87 and are certainly common enough 
 to be well known. The larva at first is 
 the little spiny fellow shown in Fig. 82, 
 brownish, with paler band around the 
 middle of its body. It is at this stage 
 small and inconspicuous, and has not yet 
 developed eye-spots. When it has grown 
 larger, lost its spines, donned a showy 
 coat of green and black and yellow, and 
 is more in need of defense, these are de- 
 veloped. Fig. 83 is Of a full-grown FIG 82. -Young larva of 
 , r ,. T . . . . , the black swallowtail. 
 
 larva feeding. In this position the 
 spots are not well shown, being partly hidden in a fold 
 behind the head ; but the larva has only to be disturbed 
 to bring them into view. It draws itself up in a somewhat 
 threatening attitude, and there the spots appear, not on 
 the head at all, but on the next succeeding ring of the 
 
7 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 body (Fig. 84, A). Does any one object that these do not 
 look much like eyes that they could hardly frighten? 
 Let him cover these spots in the figure with two bits of 
 paper, and note how much more peaceable the larva ap- 
 pears, even to him who knows what the spots are. And 
 then let him remember that they are not likely to be ex- 
 
 FIG. 83. A grown larva of the black swallowtail. 
 
 amined long or critically by bird or beast. People do not 
 always act coolly when they scent danger. Very deliber- 
 ate persons have been known to get out of tall grass with 
 undignified haste simply because they thought they heard 
 a hissing in it. 
 
 These larval eye-spots are but poor imitations, to be 
 sure ; but they are so placed that they give the impression of 
 eyes, of large eyes, too, and that answers the purpose. 
 The stick that turns under one's foot in the meadow does 
 not closely resemble a rattlesnake, yet one startles at it 
 sometimes, and even feels safer upon reaching the bare 
 roadway. Fortunately, we have our own experiences to 
 help us understand how it is that some animals are fright- 
 
BOGUS EYES. 
 
 79 
 
 ened by such simple make-believes. The animal that 
 reads its terrors in the eye of a crafty foe shuns the like- 
 ness of an eye as a burned child shuns the fire. 
 
 Eye-spots are not the sole defense of this larva. Poke 
 it with a straw, or otherwise tease it further, and it will 
 thrust out from above the eye-spots a great, frightful, 
 forked horn (Fig. 84, B). This is not much 
 of a weapon for active warfare, being in 
 fact soft and membranous, but its defen- 
 sive value lies in its looks and in the sick- 
 ening odor it gives off. 
 
 When the larva transforms into a pupa 
 
 FIG. 84. A, the black swallowtail larva 
 when disturbed and viewed from the 
 front; B, with its "horns" protruded. 
 
 FIG. 85. Pupa of the 
 black swallowtail. 
 
 (Fig. 85), it becomes again of very inconspicuous color, and 
 the eye- spots and horns have entirely disappeared. 
 
 Aquatic animals also carry eye-spots sometimes. The 
 young dogfish 88 carries one in his tail, which in fleeing 
 through the water shows to a pursuer a great red eye, 
 flashing now to right and now to left, as the tail fin flaps 
 back and forth in the water. 
 
 In all our brooks there are crane-fly larvae, living in the 
 midst of the trash that is swept against the banks. Fig. 
 86, A, shows a large one 89 that is common in such places, 
 and is often taken when collecting other aquatic insects. 
 At the posterior end of the body are the apertures of a 
 
8o 
 
 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 pair of breathing tubes. These are ringed with black and 
 form small eye-spots, whose value as eye-spots is greatly 
 enhanced by the modification of surrounding parts to form 
 a rather frightful face. Withdrawn from the water, this 
 
 face does not show well ; 
 but if the animal be 
 placed alive in a dish of 
 very shallow water, it 
 will spread out this face 
 upon the surface in its 
 accustomed position for 
 breathing. At^isshown 
 this part of the same spe- 
 cies, seen through a lens. 
 At C is shown this part 
 of another crane-fly 
 larva. 90 
 
 These are but a few 
 examples of eye-spots 
 where many might be 
 found. But the reader 
 may find the many about 
 
 Fie. 86. A, a crane-fly larva; P, the posterior 
 
 end of the same more enlarged; C (after Hart), the hlS Own home, and each 
 same part of another species. 
 
 new one will be an added 
 
 source of gratification and surprise, for each is developed 
 in its own way and place. 
 
 One will soon observe that the most perfect of warning 
 eye-spots belong to the most helpless and harmless little 
 creatures ; and if one be actually frightened by a " bogus " 
 eye, let him console himself by reflecting that it is nature's 
 contrivance to outwit ignorance, and is gratifyingly suc- 
 cessful. 
 
ANT-LIONS. 
 
 IERCENESS is not a matter of 
 size. Some of the smallest an- 
 imals are among the most fero- 
 cious. In popular speech a 
 few little insects have come to 
 be called "lions" and "tigers," 
 and their names are at least 
 suggestive of their bloodthirst- 
 iness. Among these are ant-lions, 91 little sand dwellers, 
 harmless enough to ourselves, but fearful foes of ants and 
 other small ground insects. 
 
 Now, lions live in the desert, and ant-lions live in the 
 miniature deserts of our fields and woods, in little stretches 
 of sand, in the dust that lies untrodden in the lee of a 
 sheltering rock, in the powdered remains of an old log 
 wherein as yet no plant is growing; and both lions and 
 ant-lions wait in hiding to capture by stealth stragglers 
 running across these exposed places to the friendly shelter 
 of their homes. The king of beasts and the ant-lion have 
 little more than this in common. 
 
 The ant-lion knows a trick that doubtless the great lion 
 never thought of. He digs a pitfall in the sand, hides 
 himself at the bottom of it, and waits for some unwary 
 
 6 8l 
 
82 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 traveler to fall into it. The sides of his pit are so steep 
 that at a touch the sand rolls down, and he holds his great 
 jaws in readiness at the bottom. If a bustling ant steps 
 over the pit, the loose sand gives way and down it slides. 
 The harder it scrambles to get out, the faster it goes to 
 the bottom, where it is promptly disposed of by the ter- 
 rible jaws. 
 
 The way to find ant-lions is to go a-hunting their pits. 
 These are little conical depressions such as shown in our 
 initial cut, usually in fine, loose sand, two inches, more 
 or less, across, and less than an inch deep, with very 
 smooth sides, as steep as the sand will lie. They occur 
 sometimes upon an exposed bar so thickly as almost to cover 
 it. Under the trees that fringe the banks of our larger 
 streams, near the high-water line, there are long stretches 
 of undisturbed sand, in which pitfalls are usually abundant. 
 A few may often be found in the red and powdered 
 remains of an old log in the woods, or in the dust upon 
 a ledge under an overhanging rock. In such places 
 one may expect to find them almost any day in summer 
 when the ground is dry. 
 
 Having found a pit, it is easy enough to get its owner. 
 A dip with a big spoon or with the hand down into the 
 sand at one side of the pit, and a toss of the whole estab- 
 lishment into the air, and we will see lying somewhere 
 amid the scattered sand an elongated brownish lump, con- 
 sisting apparently of sand grains stuck together. This is 
 the ant-lion. His stiff hairs hold a complete layer of sand 
 grains close to his body, and, thus concealed, he " plays 
 possum " for a few minutes ; then, if not disturbed further, 
 he suddenly gets upon his feet, and, with a few backward 
 jerks, disappears downward. 
 
ANT-LIONS. 83 
 
 The ant-lion (Fig. 87) is an ungainly, squat, hump- 
 backed, hairy creature, accomplished in only two arts, 
 the making of these beautiful pits, and the disposal of the 
 insects that fall into them. He is a very cleanly fellow, 
 easily accommodated at 
 home, and well worth feed- 
 ing, watching, and rearing 
 for the entertainment and 
 instruction of his curious 
 and interesting habits. He 
 may be kept comfortably FIQ g? _ An ant _ Hon (larya) 
 
 in a box of sand on one's 
 
 table. When placed in it he will quickly descend from 
 view ; but the following morning one will find that a pit 
 has been made, and in its bottom there may perhaps be 
 seen the tips of a pair of widely opened jaws and the tops 
 of a pair of eyes. To make the purpose of his position 
 perfectly clear, one will need but to place an ant where it 
 will run over the edge of the pit. 
 
 He will, of course, have to be fed, but there are usually 
 about a place plenty of insects that can be spared for such 
 purposes, ants, flies, caterpillars, etc. Though he prefers 
 ants, he will eat and thrive on almost any other insects of 
 small size. 
 
 It will be interesting: 
 
 (1) To surprise him in the act of making a pit in order 
 to see how it is done. 
 
 (2) To drop in the pit a big and active ant, in order to 
 see how the ant-lion shovels sand from under it to bring 
 it within reach, also sometimes throws sand into the air in 
 such a way that it will fall upon the ant, knocking it down 
 toward the bottom. 
 
84 OUTDOOR STUDIES. 
 
 (3) To drop into the pit an insect more powerful than 
 the ant-lion, and see what will happen. 
 
 (4) To drop into the pit a very hard-shelled snout 
 beetle, 92 and note the outcome. 
 
 (5) To watch the conclusion of a meal to see what the 
 ant-lion does with the remains of his victim. 
 
 (6) To cover the box with netting when the ant-lion is 
 grown and no longer eats nor makes pits, so that after he 
 becomes a winged insect he cannot escape. 
 
 When several ant-lions are kept together in one box, at 
 least four square inches of surface should be allowed for 
 each, so that there will be room for the formation of per- 
 fect pitfalls. 
 
 There are times after full feeding when the ant-lion will 
 not make a pit; having all his wants satisfied, he is con- 
 tent to lie still in the unruffled sand. Doubtless there are 
 
 FIG. 88. The adult ant-lion. 
 
 other times when, his lot being cast upon a bank where 
 ants and other ground insects suitable for food are few, 
 he waits and waits and waits, motionless, at the bottom, 
 finding it a very long time between meals. 
 
 But whether he feeds frequently or seldom, there comes 
 
ANT-LIONS. 
 
 85 
 
 a time in his life when he loses his appetite entirely, and 
 ceases forever from shaping treacherous slopes. Then he 
 descends a little deeper, spins about himself a thin cocoon 
 of silk to which the sand adheres on the outside, and trans- 
 forms within it into a pupa. Here he remains a month or 
 more inactive, and at last emerges the beautiful insect 93 
 shown in Fig. 88, so changed in every feature as hardly 
 to be recognized unless one knows his history. On hot 
 days in summer one may see him flying about low ridges 
 by banks of streams and elsewhere, slowly flapping his 
 long, elegant, gauzy wings. 
 
THE SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF THE PLANTS AND ANIMALS 
 DISCUSSED IN THE PRECEDING PAGES. 
 
 [The numbers are those given consecutively in the text.] 
 
 I. 
 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 5. 
 
 6. 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 9. 
 IO. 
 II. 
 12. 
 13. 
 14. 
 15. 
 16. 
 17. 
 1 8. 
 19. 
 2O. 
 21. 
 22. 
 23. 
 24. 
 25. 
 26. 
 27. 
 28. 
 29. 
 30. 
 31. 
 32. 
 33. 
 34. 
 35. 
 
 Linaria vulgaris, Miller. 
 BotnbttSy sp. ? 
 Apis mellljica, Linn. 
 Tamias striatus, Linn. 
 Fagus ferricginea, Ait. 
 Qitercus Prinus, Linn. 
 Mitchella repens, Linn. 
 Polygonatum giganteum, Dietr. 
 Aralia racemosa, Linn. 
 Potentilla Canadensis, Linn. 
 Diastrophus potentillcCy Bass. 
 DiastrophuS) sp. ? 
 Rhodites roses t Linn. 
 Diastrophus nebulosus, O. S. 
 Celtis occidentalis, Linn. 
 Tilia Americana, Linn. 
 Carya, sp. ? 
 
 Populus monilifera, Ait. 
 Pemphigius populicaulis, Fitch. 
 CynipidfB. 
 Cecidomyiidtz. 
 Tenthredinidce. 
 Pontania pomum, Walsh. 
 Salix fragilis, Linn. 
 Cecidomyia strobiloides , Walsh. 
 Salix discolor, Muhl. 
 Cecidomyia albovittata, Walsh. 
 Cecidomyia, sp. ? 
 Salix longifolia, Muhl. 
 Cecidomyia, sp. ? 
 Rhodites bicolor, Harr. 
 Solidago Canadensis, Linn. 
 Solidago latifolia, Linn. 
 Solidago rigida, Linn. 
 Solidago lanceolata, Linn., or S. 
 tenuifolia, Pursh. 
 
 36. Dendroica cestiva, Gmelin. 
 
 37. Rana virescetis, Kalm. 
 
 38. (Ecanthus niveus, Serv. 
 
 39. Epicauta Pennsylvania, De G. 
 
 40. Cyllene robinice, Foist. 
 
 41. Cauliognathus Pennsylvanicus, 
 
 De G. 
 
 42. Thomisidce. 
 
 43. Phymata wolffii, Stal. 
 
 44. Species of Lyc&na Cyaniris, etc. 
 
 45. Species of Chrysophanns, Heodes, 
 
 etc. 
 
 46. Chrysophanus thce, Gray. 
 
 47. Not described (?). 
 
 48. 7'rypeta solidaginis, Fitch. 
 
 49. Gelechia galltz-solidaginis, Riley. 
 
 50. Pcedisca Scudderiana, Clemens.' 
 
 51. Not described (?). 
 
 52. Cecidomyia anthrophila, O. S. 
 
 53. Cecidomyia racemicola, O. S. 
 
 54. I find no description of this gall. 
 
 55. Solidago casia, Linn. 
 
 56. Geometridce. 
 
 57. Synchlora rubivoraria, Riley. 
 
 58. Entilia conca-va, Say. 
 
 59. Eumenesfraternus, Say. 
 
 60. Corvns Americanus, Aud. 
 
 61. Merula migratoria, Linn. 
 
 62. Arvicola Pennsylvanicus, Ord. 
 
 63. Libellula semifasciata, Burm. 
 
 64. Ltbellulidne. 
 
 65. Libellula pulchella, Drury. 
 
 66. Libellula trimaculata, De G. 
 
 67. Epicordulia princeps, Hagen. 
 
 68. Tramea onusta, Hagen. 
 
 69. Perithemis domitia, Drury. 
 
88 
 
 SCIENTIFIC NAMES. 
 
 70. Celithemis eponina, Drury. 
 
 71. Ischnura verticalis, Say. 
 
 72. Enallagma canmculatum, 
 
 Morse. 
 
 73. Species of Lestes. 
 
 74. Calopteryx maculata, Beauv. 
 
 75. sEschnince. 
 
 76. Anax junius, Drury. 
 
 77. Sympetrum (Diplax) illotum, 
 
 Hagen. 
 
 78. GomphincB. 
 
 79. Alaus oculatus, Linn. 
 
 80. Elaterida-. 
 
 81. Trichius affinis, Horn. 
 
 82. Rhus glabra, Linn. 
 
 83. Ceanothus Americamts, Linn. 
 
 84. Cercyonis nephele, Kirb. 
 
 85. Papilio polyxenes, Fabr. P. aste- 
 
 rias, Cramer. 
 
 86. Pastinaca sativa, Linn. 
 
 87. Carum Carui, Linn. 
 
 88. Amia calva. Linn. 
 
 89. Tipula ?, sp. ? 
 
 90. Limnophila luteipennis, O. S. 
 
 91. Mynneleonida. 
 
 92. Suborder Rhynchophora of Cf/^- 
 
 optera. 
 
 93. Dendroleon obsoletus, Say. 
 
 DIGEST OF THE PRECEDING LIST. 
 
 Numbers I, 5-10, 15-18, 24, 26, 29, 32-35, 55, 82, 83, 86, and 87 are flower- 
 ing plants ; the others are animals. 
 Numbers 4 and 62 are mammals. 
 Numbers 36, 60, and 61 are birds. 
 Number 37 is a batrachian. 
 Number 88 is a fish. 
 The remaining numbers are insects. 
 
 Numbers 2, 3, 11-14, 20, 22, 23, 31, and 59 are Hymenoptera. 
 Numbers 21, 25, 27, 28, 30, 48, 51-54, 89, and 90 are Diptera. 
 Numbers 44-47, 49, 50, 56, 57, 84, and 85 are Lepidoptera. 
 Numbers 39-41, 79-81, and 92 are Coleoptera. 
 Numbers 63-78 are Odonata (Neuroptera). 
 Numbers 19, 43, and 58 are Hemiptera. 
 Numbers 91 and 93 are Neuroptera. 
 Number 38, Orthoptera. 
 Number 42, Arachnida. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Amberwing, 59. 
 ambush bug, 35, 36. 
 ant, 43, 82, 83. 
 anther, 31. 
 ant-lion, 81. 
 apple gall, 23. 
 
 Beaked flower gall, 41. 
 bee, II, 35. 
 beech nuts, 16. 
 beetle, 9, 34, 74, 75, 84. 
 blackberry, 21. 
 black blister beetle, 34. 
 black swallowtail, 77. 
 black wing, 63. 
 
 nymph, 68. 
 
 blister beetle, 34. 
 
 blues, 36. 
 
 breastbone, 25. 
 
 breeding cages, 27, 28, 70, 84. 
 
 bronze copper, 36. 
 
 bumblebee, 9, 35. 
 
 bunch galls, 40. 
 
 butter and eggs, 7. 
 
 butterflies, 9, 36, 77. 
 
 Caraway, 77. 
 chipmunk, 13. 
 cinquefoil, 19. 
 click beetle, 74. 
 collecting, 28, 52, 69, 82. 
 cone gall, 24. 
 copper, 36. 
 cottonwood, 22. 
 crab spider, 35. 
 crane-fly larva, 80. 
 cricket, 33. 
 crow, 47. 
 cyanide bottle, 12. 
 
 89 
 
 Damsel fly, 61. 
 
 nymph, 67. 
 
 darner, 61. 
 
 dim-eyed grayling, 76. 
 
 dogfish, 79. 
 
 downy flower gall, 41. 
 
 dragon fly, 54-71. 
 
 Eggs of tree cricket, 33. 
 elliptical gall, 38. 
 eye-spots, 74, 77. 
 
 Flower beetle, 75. 
 frog, 33. 
 
 Gall gnats, 25, 41, 42. 
 
 guests of, 25. 
 
 galls, 18-28, 38-42. 
 goldenrod, 28-46. 
 
 blue-stem, 32. 
 
 broad-leaved, 32. 
 
 Canada, 32. 
 
 flowers of, 30, 31. 
 
 narrow-leaved, 33. 
 
 rigid, 33. 
 
 underground shoots of, 30. 
 
 grasshopper, 33. 
 green darner, 64. 
 
 nymph, 67. 
 
 ground squirrel, 12. 
 guest gall gnats, 25. 
 
 Hackberry, 22. 
 hickory, 22. 
 honey bugs, 44. 
 honeydew, 44. 
 
 Killing insects for specimens, 12, 28. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Larva, 18, 20, 23, 27, 39, 40, 42, 77, 
 78, 79, 80, 83. 
 
 defined, 18. 
 
 leaf galls, 22, 42. 
 leaf mine, 42. 
 leaf roll, 40. 
 linden, 22. 
 locust beetle, 34. 
 
 Marsh nun, 62. 
 
 nymph, 68. 
 
 meadow mouse, 52. 
 measuring worm, 43. 
 moth, 35, 38, 40, 43. 
 
 Nectar, 8, 10, 34. 
 New Jersey tea, 75. 
 nymph, 64-71. 
 defined, 64. 
 
 Owl beetle, 74. 
 
 Palate, 7. 
 
 parasite, 28. 
 
 parsnip, 77. 
 
 partridge-berry, 16. 
 
 pineapple gall, 25. 
 
 pistil of butter and eggs, 1 1. 
 
 of goldenrod, 31. 
 
 pitfalls, 81-84. 
 pollen, II, 34. 
 pollen basket, 12. 
 pollination, 12, 31. 
 proboscis of bumblebee, 10. 
 
 of butterfly, 36. 
 
 protective coloration, 14. 
 
 pupa, 20, 23, 26, 27, 28, 38, 39, 42, 
 
 79 
 defined, 20. 
 
 Robin, 52. 
 
 round gall of goldenrod, 37. 
 
 Scarecrows, 52. 
 scarred gall, 39. 
 .scent organ, 79. 
 seed distribution, 32. 
 skimmers, 54-60. 
 snowy tree cricket, 33. 
 soldier beetle, 34. 
 Solomon's seal, 16. 
 spikenard, 16. 
 spiny rose gall, 27. 
 sportsmanship, 51- 
 stamens, II, 12, 30, 31. 
 stem borer, 37. 
 stick caterpillar, 43. 
 stigma, 11, 31. 
 sumach, 75. 
 swallowtail, 77. 
 sweetbrier, 21. 
 
 Ten-spot, 57. 
 
 transformation of skimmers, 65, 71, 
 
 tree cricket, 33, 34. 
 
 Vase-maker wasp, 45. 
 
 Warning coloration, 73 80. 
 wasp, 35, 45. 
 water net, 69. 
 water prince, 58. 
 whitetail, 57. 
 
 nymph, 65. 
 
 willow, 23. 
 wind sprite, 60. 
 wood nymph, 76. 
 woody gall, 26. 
 
 Yellow warbler, 33. 
 
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