THE
CONCISE
KNOWLEDGE
LIBRART
NATURAL HISTORY
THE CONCISE KNOWLEDGE LIBRARY
NATURAL HISTORY
BY
R. LYDEKKER,
B.A., F. R. S., V.P. G. S.
W. F. KIRBY,
F. L. S., F. E. S.
B. B. WOODWARD,
F. L. S., F. G. S.
R. KIRKPATRICK,
R. I. POCOCK,
R. BOWDLER SHARPE,
LL.D.
W. GARSTANG,
M.A., F. Z. S.
F. A. BATHER,
M.A., F.G. S.
H. M. BERNARD,
M. A., F. L. S.
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1897
HOLOGY LBBfcAB*
Authorized Edition.
(SIFT
BIOLOGV
PREFACE
THIS work aims to be a concise and popular Natural
History, at once accurate in statement, handy in form,
and ready of reference.
The several departments of Zoological science are
treated by specialists, all of whom are distinguished as
authorities and as original investigators ; and the text
is illustrated by upwards of five hundred original draw-
ings made and reproduced expressly for the work.
A concise systematic index precedes the work,
and a full alphabetical index which contains about ten
thousand references is given at the end. Great pains
have been taken to render these both accurate and
complete.
M710175
TABLE OF AUTHORS
MAMMALIA (Mammals)
AVES (Birds} -
REPTILIA (Reptiles] -
AMPHIBIA (Frogs, Toads, &*c.)
PISCES (Fishes)
CYCLOSTOMATA (Lampreys, &c.}
PROTOCHORDA (Lancelet, &*c.)
HEMICHORDA (Balanoglossus}
ARTHROPOD A (Insects, &*.) -
MoLLUacA (Snails, &c?)
BRACHIOPODA (Lamp Shells, &c.
ECHINODERMA (Star Fish, &c.)
BRYOZOA (Moss Animals}
VERMES (Worms)
COELENTERA (Corals,
PROTOZOA (Animalcules)
R. LYDEKKER, F.R.S., V.P.G.S., &c.
R. BOWDLER SHARPE, LL.D., &c.
R. LYDEKKER, F.R.S., V.P.G.S., &c.
R. LYDEKKER, F.R.S., V.P.G.S., &c.
R. LYDEKKER, F.R.S., V.P.G.S., &c.
R. LYDEKKER, F.R.S., V.P.G.S., &c.
W. GARSTANG, M.A., F.Z.S., &c.
W. GARSTANG, M.A., F.Z.S., &c.
W. F. KIRBY, F.L.S., F.E.S , &c.
B. B. WOODWARD, F.L.S., F.G.S., &c.
F. A. BATHER, M.A., F.G.S., &c.
F. A. BATHER, M.A., F.G.S., &c.
R. KlRKPATRlCK (British Museum).
R. I. POCOCK (British Museum).
H. M. BERNARD, M.A., F.L.S., &c.
H. M. BERNARD, M.A., F.L.S., &c.
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
SUB-KINGDOM L VERTEBRATA.
CLASS I. MAMMALIA.
CHARACTERISTICS of Vertebra* es
Distinctive Features of Mammals
Geographical Distribution
Order I. Primates.
Apes, Monkeys, and Lemurs ..
Ord.r II. Chiroptera.
^ The Bats
Order III. Insectivora.
Insect-eating Mammals .
Order IV. Carnivora.
Flesh-eating Mammals ...
Order V. Rodentia.
Mammals that Gnaw ...
MAMMALS.
Page
I
2
7
10
33
42
50
Page
118
Order VI. Ungulata.
'1 he Hoofed Mammals ...
Order VII. Sirenia.
The Manatis and Dugongs ... 165
Order VIII. Cetacea.
Whales Porpoises, and Dolphins 169
Order IX. Kdentata.
S!o hs, Ant-eaters, and Armadillos 181
Or :er X. Effodientia.
Aard-varks and Pangolins ... 188
Order XL Marsupialia.
Pouched Mammals 190
Order XII. Monotremata.
Egg-laying Mammals 214
CLASS II. AVES.
Bird Structure and Development
SUB-CLASS SAURUR^E.
Order Archseopteryges.
The Archseopteryx
SUB-CLASS RATIT^E.
Order Rheiformes.
The Rheas :
Order Struthioniformes.
The Ostriches
Order Casuariiformes.
The Emus and Cassowaries
Order Dinornithiformes, Lie.
The Extinct Moas
Order Apterygiformes.
The Apteryges ...
B1K
218
220
221
222
223
22 4
22 4
DS.
CARINATE BIRDS.
Order Tin ami formes.
The Tinamous
Order Gall i formes.
The Game-birds
Order Pterocletes.
The Sand-grouse
Order Columbiformes.
Pigeons . .
... 225
... 2-6
... 241
2A2
Sub-order Didi,
The Dodo, Etc,
Order Opisthocomiformes.
The Hoatzini
Order Ralliformes.
The Rails
Order Podicipedidiformes.
The Grebes
... 245
... 247
... 248
... 253
IX
SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
Page
Pa 3 e
B I KDS continued.
Order Colymbiformes.
Order Phoenicopteriformes.
The Divers
254
The F'amingoes ...
... 283
Order Sphenisciformes.
Sub-order Pa'amedeae.
The Penguins ...
255
The Screamers ...
... 290
Order Procellariiformes.
Order Anseriformes.
The Petrels
256
Geese, Etc.
... 290
Order Alciformes.
Sub-order Anseres.
The Auks
259
Ducks, Etc
... 292
Order Lariformes.
Order Pelecaniformes.
The Gulls
26l
The Pelicans, Etc.
... 298
Order Charadriiformes.
Sub-order Sulae.
The Plovers and Bustards
264
The Gannets
... 299
Sub-order Attagides.
Sub-order Phalacrocoraces.
The Seed-snipes ...
266
The Cormorants ...
... 299
Sub-order Charadrii.
Sub-order Pelecani.
The Plovers
266
The Pelicans
... 301
Sub-order Glareolse.
Sub-order Fregati.
The Pratincoles
272
The Frigate Birds
33
Sub-order Cursorii.
Order Cathartidiformes.
The Coursers
272
The Turkey Vultures ..
54
Sub-order OZdicnemi.
Order Accipitriformes.
The Stone- plovers
273
Birds of Prey
... 304
Sub-order Otides.
Sub-order Serpentarii.
The Bustards
273
The Secretary Birds
35
Order Grui formes.
Sub-order Accipitres.
The Cranes
274
The True Birds of Prey...
35
Sub-order Grues.
Sub-order Pandiones.
The True Cranes
274
The Ospreys
... 320
Sub-order Arami.
Sub-order Striges.
The Liinpkins
275
The Owls
... 320
Sub-order Rhinochetides.
Order Psittaciformes.
The Kagus
276
The Parrots
... 325
Sub-order Mesitides.
Order Coracii formes.
The Madagascar Kagus
276
r lhe Picarian Birds
332
Sub-order Eurypygse.
Sub-order Steatornithes.
The Sun-bitterns
276
The Oil-birds
332
Sub-order Psophise.
Sub-order Podargi.
The Trumpeters
277
The Frog-mouths
333
Sub-order Dicholophi.
Sub-order Leptosomati.
The Seriamas
277
The Kiroumbos ...
335
Order Stereornithes.
Sub- order Coraciae.
The Extinct Birds of Patagonia
2 7 8
The Rollers
335
Order Ardeiformes.
Sub-order Halcyones.
The Herons, Etc.
2 7 8
The King-fishers
... 336
Sub-order Ciconii.
Sub-order Bucerotes.
The Storks
2 7 8
The Hornbills ...
339
Sub-order Scopi.
Sub-order Upupge.
Hammer-headed Storks
28l
The Hoopoes
... 340
Sub-order Balaenicipitide-.
Sub -order Meropes.
Shoe-billed Storks
2?2
The Bee-eateis
... 340
Sub-order Herodiones.
Sub-order Momoti.
The Herons
282
The Motmots
- 341
Sub-order Platalese.
Sub-order Todi.
The Spoon-bills, Etc. ...
286
The Todies
... 342
MAMMALS.
xi
Page
Page
BIRD s con tin ued.
Sub-order Caprimulgi.
Sub order Rhamphastides.
The Nightjars
... 342
The Toucans
- 352
Sub-order Cypseli.
Sub-order Capitones.
The Swifts
345
The Barbels
352
Sub-order Trochili.
Sub-order Indicatores.
The Humming-birds
.. 347
The Honey-guides
... 353
Sub-order Colii.
Order Piciformes.
The Colics
... 348
Woodpecker-like Birds ...
- 353
Order Trogones.
Sub-order Pici.
The Trogons
349
The Woodpeckers
... 353
Order Coccyges.
Sub-order Buccones.
Cuckoo-like Birds
... 349
The Puff-birds
- 355
Sub-order Cuculi.
Order Eurylsemi.
The Cuckoos
349
The Broad-bills
... 356
Sub-order Musophagi.
Order Passeriformes.
The Touracoes ...
351
The Perching Birds
.- 357
Order Scansores.
The Climbing Birds
35 2
CLASS III. REPTILIA.
REPTILES.
Characteristics of Reptiles
Classification of Reptiles .. . ....
Order I. Crocodilia.
Crocodiles, Alligators, Garials ..,
Order II. Chelonia.
Tortoises and Turtles ... ...
Sub-order i. Cryptodira.
Land Tortoises, Etc. ...
Sub-order ii. Pleurodira.
Fresh- water Tortoises ...
Sub-order iii. Trionychoidea.
The Soft Tortoises
377
378.
378
383
385
392
394
Order III. Sqnamata.
Scaled Reptiles 395
Sub-order i. Lacertilia.
The Lizards ... ... ... 396
Sub-order ii. Rhiptoglossa.
The Chamseleons ... ... 411
Sub-order iii. Ophidia.
The Snakes ... ... ... 412
Order IV. Rhynchocephalia.
The Tuaiera 429
CLASS IV. AMPHIBIA.
AMPHIBIANS.
Characteristics of Amphibians ... 431
Order I. Ecaudata.
Frogs and Toads 435
Sub-order i. Finnisternia.
Typical Frogs, Etc 436
Sub-order ii. Arcifera.
The Toads, Etc 440
Sub-order iii. Aglossa. .
The Surinam Water-toad, Etc. 444
Order II. Caudata.
Newts and Salamanders ... 445
Order III. Apoda.
The Csecilians 453
xii
S YSTEMA TIC INDEX.
CLASS V. PISCES.
FISHES.
Page
456
458
Characteristics of Fishes ...
The Classification of Fishes
SUB-CLASS I. DIPNOI.
Lung-fishes 459
SUB-CLASS II. HOLOCEPHALI.
The Chimaeroids ... ... ... 461
SUB-CLASS III. TELEOSTOMI.
Bony Fishes and Ganoids 462
Order I. Actinopterygii.
The Fan-finned Teleostomes ... 463
Sub-order i. Acanthopterygii.
The Spiny-finned Fishes, Etc. ... 463
Section Perciformes.
The Common Perch, Etc. ... 463
Section Scorpseni formes.
The Micropus, Etc. ... ... 467
Section Berychiformes.
The Slime-heads 467
Section Curtiformes.
The Indian Curtis, Etc. ... 468
Section Polynemiformes.
The Poly nemus, Etc 468
Section Sciaeniformes.
The Meagre, Etc 468
Section Xiphiiformes.
The Sword-fish ... 469
Section Trichiuriformes.
The Scabbard Fish, Etc. ... 470
Section Cotto-Scombriformes.
The Surgeons, Etc. ... ... 470
Section Gobiiformes.
The Lump-suckers, Etc. ... 476
Section Blenniiformes.
Marine Band-fishes, Etc. ... 477
Section Mugiliformes.
The Barracuda-pikes, Etc. ... 478
Section Scombresociformes.
The Flying-fish, Etc. ... ... 479
Section Gastmsteiformes.
The Sticklebacks, Etc 480
Section Centrisciforme?.
The Bellows-fish, Etc. 482
Section Gobioesociformes.
The Sucker-fishes, Etc. ... ... 482
Section Channiformes.
The Serpent-heads, Etc. ... 482
Page
Section Labyrinthici.
The Climbing-perch, Etc. ... 483
Section Lophotiformes.
The Unicorn-fish ... ... 484
Section Tseniiformes.
The Riband- fishes 484
Section Notacanthiformes.
The Thorn-backs ... ... 485
Section Pharyngognathi.
The Coral-fishes, Etc 485
Sub-order ii. Lophobranchii.
The Pipe-fishes, Etc 487
Sub-order hi. Plectognathi.
The Spine-clad Globe-fishes ... 488
Sub-order iv. Anacanlhini.
The Common Cod, Etc. ... 490
Sub-order v. Physostomi. ... 493
Section A. Apodes.
The Eel-tribe 493
Section B. Nematognathi.
The Cat-fishes 496
Section C. Plectispondyli.
The Common Carp, Etc. ... 497
Section D. Haplopomi.
The Common Pike, Etc. ... 501
Section E. Scyphophori.
The Gymnarchus, Etc. ... ... 53
Section F. Isospondyli.
The Salmon, Etc. 503
Sub-order vi. ^Etheospondsli.
The Bony Pikes, Etc ... 509
Sub-order vii. Protosp ndyli.
The Bow-fin 510
Sub-order viii. Chondrostei.
The Sturgeons 510
Order II. Crossopterygii.
Fringe-finned Ganoids 512
SUB-CLASS IV. ELASMOBRANCHII.
Sharks and Rays ... 513
Order Selachii.
Sharks, Dog-fishes, Etc. ... 515
Sub-order i. Asterospondyli.
The Blue Shark, Etc 515
Sub-order ii. Tectospond\ li.
The Saw-fish ... .'.. ... 519
ARTHKOPODA,
xiii
CLASS VI. CYCLOSTOMA.
LAMPREYS AND HAG-FISHES.
Characteristics of Cyclostoma
Page I
523 I Lampreys and Hag-fishes ...
Page
5 2 4
CLASS VII. PROTOCHORDA.
SUB-CLASS I. CEPHALOCHORDA. SUB-CLASS II. UROCHORDA.
The Lancelet ... ... ... 526 J The Common Sea-squirt, Etc. ... 527
CLASS VIII. HEMICHORDA.
Hemichorda or Enteropneusta ... 528 | The Balanoglossus ...
SUB-KINGDOM II. ARTHROPODA.
CRUSTACEA, INSECT A,
CLASS I. CRUSTACEA.
Characteristics of Arthropoda ... 529
Edible Arthropoda, Etc. ... ... 530
SUB-CLASS I. ENTOMOSTRACA.
The Smaller Crustacea 531
Order I. Phyllopoda.
The Water-flea, Etc 531
Order II. Ostracoda.
The Ostracoda 532
Order III. Copepoda.
The Cyclops, Carp-lice, Etc. ... 532
Order IV. Cirripedia.
Barnacles, Etc. ... ... ... 533
SUB-CLASS II. MALACOSTRACA.
The Higher Crustacea 533
Order L Arthrostraca.
Sub-order i. Isopoda.
Wood-lice, Etc 534
Sub-order ii. Amphipoda.
The whale-louse, Etc 534
Order II. Thoracostraca.
Sub-order i. Cumacea.
Marine Parasites, Etc. ... .. 535
Sub-order ii. Stomatopoda.
Squilla Mantis, Etc. ... ... 535
Sub-order iii. Schizopoda.
Shrimp-like Crustacea 536
Order III. Decapoda.
Sub-order i. Macrura.
Shrimps, Lobsters, Crayfish, Etc. 536
Sub-order ii. Anomura.
Robber Crabs, Hermit Crabs, Etc. 537
Sub-order iii. Brachyura.
The Spicier Crab, Etc. ... ... 537
SUB-CLASS III. GIGANTOSTRACA.
Order Xiphosura.
The King-crabs 538
SUB-CLASS IV. PYCNOGONIDA.
Order Pycnogonida ... ... 539
CLASS II. ARACHNIDA.
SPIDERS, SCORPIONS, AND MITES.
Order I. Scorpionidea.
The Scorpions, Etc.
540
Order II. Solpugidea.
Galeodes Arabs, Etc.
541
SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
ARACHNIDA continued.
Order III. Pseudoscorpionidea.
Book-scorpions
Order IV. Pedipalpi.
False Scorpions ...
Order V. Phalangiida.
Harvest-men, Etc.
Order VI. Araneida.
Spiders ...
Page
541
54i
542
Order VII. Acarina.
Mites and Ticks ..
Order VIII. Tardigrada.
Moss Mites, Etc.
Order IX. Linguatulida.
Worm-like Parasites
CLASS III. MYRIOPODA.
CENTIPEDES AND MILLEPEDES.
Order Chilopoda.
Centipedes
548
Order Chilognatha.
Millepedes
CLASS IV. PROTRACIIEATA.
Order Pcripatidse 550 | Peripatus luliformis
Page
545
547
548
549
CLASS V.-
Classification of Insects 551
Order Coleoptera.
Beetles c c i
-INSECTA.
Order Lepidoptera.
Butterflies and Moths ... ...
Order Hemiptera.
Bugs and Frog-hoppers...
Sub-order Heteroptera.
Bugs, Etc.
Sub-order Homoptera.
Frog-hoppers, Plant-lice, Etc. ...
Order Anoplura.
The True Lice
Order Diptera.
The Flies...
Order Orthoptera.
Crickets, Locusts, Etc....
Order Neuroptera.
Lace-winged Insects
Order Trichoptera.
Caddis Flies, Etc.
Order Hymenoptera.
Bees, Wasps Ants, Etc.
... 562
... 568
... 572
573
581
594
595
598
602
602
SUB-KINGDOM III. MOLLUSCA.
WHELKS, OYSTERS, SNAILS, &c.
CLASS I. AMPHINEURA.
Characteristics of Mollusca ... 610
Classification of Mollusca ... 615
Order I. Polyplacophora.
Chitons, Etc 615
Order II. Aplacophora.
(Worm -like Mollusca) 616
Sub-order i. Neomeniina.
Neomenians ... ... ... 616
Sub-order ii. Choetodermatina.
MOLL USCABRACHIOPODA .
CLASS II. PELECV
Page
Characteristics of the Pelecypoda... 616
Order I. Protobranchiata.
Nutshells, Etc 620
Order II. Filibranchiata.
Sub-order i. Anomiaceae.
The Saddle Oyster, Etc. ... 621
Sub-order ii. Arcacea.
Noah's Ark Shells, Etc. ... 621
Sub-order iii-. Trigoniacea.
The Trigonia 621
Sub-order iv. Mytilacea.
The Marine Mussel, Etc. ... 621
Order III. Pseudolamellibranchiata.
The Oyster, Etc. 622
Sub-order i. Aviculacea.
Swallow Shells, Etc 622
Sub-order ii. Ostreacea.
Oysters ... ... ... ... 622
PODA (BIVALVES}.
Page
Sub-order iii. Pectinacea.
Scallops, Etc. ... ... ... 622
Order IV. Eulamellibranchiata.
Sub-order i. Submytilacea.
Fresh- water Mussels ... ... 623
Sub-order ii. Tellinacea.
Sunset Shells, Etc. ... ... 624
Sub-order iii. Veneracea.
The Venus Shells, Etc 625
Sub-order iv. Cardiacea.
The Cockles, Etc. ... ... 625
Sub-order v. Myacea.
The Mya or Gaper, Etc. ... 626
Sub-order vi. Pholadacea.
The Piddock and Ship-worm, Etc. 627
Sub-order vii. Anatinacea.
Pandora, Etc. ... ... ... 627
Order V. Septibranchiata.
Poromyidae, Etc. .., ... 628
CLASS III. SCAPHOPODA.
Scaphopoda or Solenoconcha ... 628 | The Elephant's-tooth Shells
628
CLASS IV. <
SUB-CLASS A. STREPTONEURA.
Order I. Scutibranchiata.
The Limpets, Etc.
Sub-order i. Docoglossa.
The Common Limpet, Etc.
Sub-order ii. Rhipidoglossa.
The Keyhole Limpet, Etc.
Order II. Pectinibranchia'.a.
(The Marine Gastropods)
Sub-order i. Gymnoglossa.
(Parasitic Mollusca)
Sub-order ii. Ptenoglossa.
The Purple Sea-snails, Etc.
Sub-order iii. Taenioglossa.
The Cowries, Etc.
Sub-order iv. Rachiglossa.
The Dog-periwinkle, Etc.
631
631
631
032
633
633
633
637
GASTROPODA.
Sub-order v. Toxoglossa.
The Cone Shells, Etc 638
SUB-CLASS B.- EUTHYNEURA.
Order I. Opisthobranchiata.
Sub-order i. Tectibranchiata.
Group A. Bulloidea.
The Bulla, Etc 640
Group B. Aplysioidea.
The Sea-hares, Etc. ... ... 640
Group C. Pleurobranchoidea.
Sub-or>!er ii. Nudibranchiata.
The Sei-slugs .. ... ... 640
Order II. Pulmonata.
Land Mollusca ... ... ... 641
Sub-order i. Basommatophora.
Pond-snails, Etc. ... ... 641
Sub-order ii. Stylommatophora.
Land-snails, Eic.
CLASS V. CEPHALOPODA.
Order I. Tetrabranchiata.
The Nautilus ,
Order II. Dibranchiata.
6 45
| Sub- order i. Dec i pod a.
The Cuttle-fish, Etc.
Sub-order ii. Octopoda.
The Argonaut, Etc.
SUB-KINGDOM IV. BRACHIOPODA.
LAMPSHELLS, &c.
Characteristics of Brachiopods ... 649 | Lampshells, Etc. ...
642
646
647
649
SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
SUB-KINGDOM V. ECHINODERMA.
STAR-FISH, SEA-URCHINS, &c.
Page Page
Characteristics of Echinoderma ... 6,3
Class Asteroidea.
Star-fish 656
Class Ophiuroidea.
Brittle-stars, lite. 658
Clas> Echinoidea.
Sea-.urchins
Class Holothuroidea.
Sea-cucumbers
Class (_ rinoidea.
Sea-lilies 662
659
660
SUB-KINGDOM
VI. BRYOZOA [POLYZOA].
MOSS ANIMALS.
SUB-CLASS I. INFUNDII;ULAT.\.
Order Chilostomata.
Lip-mouthed Bryozoa ... ... 665
Order Cyclostomata.
Circular-mouthed Bryozoa ... 668
SUB-KIN
Characteristics of Worms ...
Class Annelida.
The Ringed Worms, Etc.
Sub-class Chaetopoda.
Bristle-footed Worms
Order Polychseta.
Marine Worms
Sub-order Sedentaria.
Tube-making Worms
Sub-order Errantia.
The Predacious Sea-worms
Order Oligochaeta.
The Earth-worms, Etc. ...
Sub-class Hirudinea.
The Leeches
Order Ctenostomata.
Comb-mouthed Bryozoa
GDOM VII. VERMES.
THE WORMS.
... 670 Class Gephyrea.
The Gephyrein Worms.,
... 671 Class Nematohelminthes.
The Thread- worms
... 671 Class Rotifera.
The Wheel-animalcules .
... 671 Class Nemtrtmea.
Nemertine Wo ms
... 672 Class Platyhelminthes.
The Flat- worms ...
Etc. 672 Sub-class Turbellarin.
The Phnarian Worms .
674 Sub-class Cestocla.
The Tape-worms
... 675 Sub-class Tremaioda.
The Fluke-worms
SUB-KINGDOM VIII. COELENTERA.
SPONGES, CORALS, &c.
Characteristics of Coelentera ... 690 Section i. The Hydrozoa.
Group I. Porifera. The Zoophytes, Etc.
The Sponges ... ... ... 690 | Section ii. The Scyphozoa.
Group II. The Cnidaria. Sea-anemones and Corals
The Stinging Coelenterates ... 694 ; Section iii. Ctenophora.
The Comb-bearers
SUB-KINGDOM IX. PROTOZOA.
ANIMALCULE.
713 : Section iii. The Heliozoa
713 ! Section iv. The Radiolaria
7H
714
715
Characteristics of Protozoa
Group I. The Monera ...
Group II. The Rhizopoda
Section i. The Amoeba ...
Section ii. The Foraminiiera
Group III. The Flagellata
Group IV. The Grrgnrinae
Group V. The Infusoria
668
SUB-CLASS II. LOPHOPODA.
Fiesh- water Bryozoa, Etc. ... 668
... 677
... 678
... 682
... 683
... 685
... 685
... 686
, 688
694
700
711
716
716
718
720
720
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
SUB-KINGDOM I. VERTEBRATA.
CLASS I. MAMMALIA.
BY R. LYDEKKER, B A .. F R S . V P G.S , &c.
IT is a somewhat carious deficiency in the English language that it has no
word of its own that will include all the animals forming the class known to
zoologists as the Mammalia. It is true that the term Beasts properly belongs
to the great majority of the members of the class, but it has also acquired
another meaning, and expressly excludes man. Even more objectionable is
the term Quadrupeds, since not only does this exclude man and the higher
apes, but etymologically includes crocodiles, lizards, and turtles. Accord-
ingly, as neither of these two words are suitable to designate the class as a
whole, naturalists have long been in the habit of using an Anglicised version
of its scientific designation, and at the present day the term " Mammals " has
come so widely into use that no apology for its employment here is called for.
Mammals, then, are tho highest of the Vertebrata, and thus of all animals, and
take their name from the general presence of prominent udders, furnished
with teats, in the female, for the secretion of the milk, by which the young are
invariably fed during the earlier stages of their existence, such udders being
situated in the higher types on the breast, although in many of the lower
forms they are abdominal in position. In the very lowest members of the class
there are, however, no distinct teats, the milk-glands discharging by means
of a number of small apertures in the skin of the lower surface of the body.
It is thus the presence of these milk-glands, and the suckling of the more or
less helpless young, that are the prime essential features of the class.
Before glancing at certain others of their distinctive features, a few words
may be said in regard to the Vertebrata, which form a sub-kingdom, including
the five classes of Mammals (Mammalia), Birds (Aves), Rep-
tiles (Reptilia), Amphibians (Amphibia), and Fishes (Pisces). ^ f vertebrates 8
And here it may be noticed that certain low forms, such as
the lampreys and lancelet (Amphioxus), commonly classed among Fishes, are
now regarded as forming a portion of a lower group known as the Protochor-
data. Vertebrates take their name from the general presence of the struc-
ture termed the vertebral column, or backbone, although in some of the lower
forms this is represented merely by a cartilaginous rod. Whether this struo
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
ture be merely such a rod, or whether it be divided into the numerous bony
segments known as vertebrae, it is invariably situated on the dorsal aspect of
the body, or that from which the limbs are turned away. On that side of
the primitive backbone lying nearest to the back, there runs a tube or canal,
formed by arches of bone or cartilage arising from the bodies of the vertebrse,
and containing the great nervous cord commonly spoken of as the spinal
marrow or cord. This cord in the adult state of the higher forms being thus
included within what are called the arches of the vertebrse. On the side of
the primitive backbone opposite to that occupied by the spinal marrow is a
much larger chamber, containing the heart and digestive organs ; so that, in
cross-section, the body of a Vertebrate consists of a smaller nerve-tube lying
above the primitive backbone, and of a much larger tube, containing the
heart and digestive organs below the latter. Throughout the Vertebrates the
limbs never exceed two pairs, and are always turned away from that aspect
of the body containing the nerve-tube ; and the two jaws are upper and
lower, and work against one another in a vertical plane.
In addition to the presence of milk-glands, and the suckling by the young
of the fluid they secrete, the following structural features may be noticed as
distinctive of the Mammalian class. A highly important
* eafcure is the mode of articulation of the lower jaw to the
Mammals skull proper, or cranium ; this being effected by means of a
prominence, or condyle, at the higher portion of the hinder ex-
tremity of the lower jaw, articulating with a special cavity the glenoid cavity
in the cranium. On the other hand, in the lower Vertebrates this articulation is
effected by means of a special separate bone the quadrate articulating above
with the cranium, and below with the lower jaw ; this quadrate, as such,
being absent in the Mammalia. Another peculiarity connected with the
lower jaw is that it consists of a right and left branch connected at the chin
by a bony or cartilaginous union each of which is formed of but a single bone;
whereas in the inferior Vertebrates several distinct bones enter into the com-
position of the two branches. Externally, Mammals are further characterised
by the possession of hair on the skin, although this may be represented
merely by a few bristles in the neighbourhood of the mouth during the earlier
stages of existence. Internally, that portion of the great body-cavity con-
taining the heart and lungs is completely shut off from the chamber in which
are placed the digestive organs by means of a transverse partition, known as
the midriff or diaphragm. Existing Mammals, at any rate, have also a higher
type of brain than the inferior classes, an especial feature being the presence
of a transverse band of tissue on its lower surface, connecting together the
main lateral halves or hemispheres.
Such are some of the leading characters by which the Mammalia may be
distinguished from the whole of the other Vertebrates. From both Birds
and Reptiles the class differs by the circumstance that the skull is movably
articulated to the first vertebra of the neck by means of two knobs, or con-
dyles, situated one on each side of the lower part of the aperture, or foramen,
through which the spinal cord passes into the skull to join the brain, Two
condyles are, however, present in the Amphibians (frogs and salamanders),
which differ from Mammals in their cold blood. A second distinction from
Birds and Reptiles is to be found in the structure of the ankle joint ; the
movable joint in Mammals being situated above the ankle, whereas in the
other groups it is placed in the middle of the same. In common with Birds,
Mammals differ from the three lower classes of the Vertebrata in having
MAMMALIA.
warm blood, driven by a four- chambered heart through a double circalatory
system ; one portion of the blood being propelled through the lungs for the
purpose of re-oxygenation, while a second portion is sent through the body
by means of the general circulation. Whereas, however, in Mammals, the
aorta, or great vessel, by which the blood passes from the heart to the body,
crosses the left branch of the windpipe, in Birds it crosses the right. At no
stage of their existence do Mammals ever breathe by means of gills ; lungs,
even in the aquatic forms, being the sole respiratory agents. Neither do
they ever pass through any kind of metamorphosis, such as takes place in the
Amphibia. As a general rule, the young are born in a living, and frequently
in a more or less helpless condition ; but in the very lowest members of the
class the female lays eggs.
With but very few exceptions, Mammals have seven vertebrae in the neck,
and thereby present a remarkable contrast to Birds and Reptiles, in which
the number is exceedingly variable. In all the terrestrial forms the two
pairs of limbs are fully developed ; but in the marine Cetaceans and Sirenians
the front pair are modified into paddles, and all external traces of the hinder
ones completely lost, while the body has assumed a fish-like form. In the
Bats alone are the fore limbs structurally modified to subserve the purpose
of true flight, like that of Birds.
As in the following pages reference is often made to various bones of the
skeleton, this part of the subject cannot be passed over without brief mention.
The fully developed skeleton, as shown by the accompany-
ing diagram, comprises a skull (1), a jointed breast-bone, or
sternum (6), a still more numerously jointed backbone, the ribs (2), the limb-
bones, and the girdles by which they are suspended to the backbone and its
neighbourhood, and a pair of collar-bones, or clavicles (c). As already men-
tioned, the skull proper, or the skull without the lower jaw, is termed the
cranium ; this consisting of a number of (mostly paired) bones, articulated im-
movably together at their edges. The hinder portion of the cranium encloses
the brain ; while the front part, or facial region, contains the mouth and organs
of smell. Of especial importance are the bones forming the upper jaw, which
comprise in front a pair of premaxillse, containing the front or incisor teeth ;
behind which are the maxillae, containing the tusks and cheek-teeth. The lower
jaw has been already mentioned sufficiently. In the backbone the cervical,
or neck -vertebrae are recognised by having no ribs attached to them ; behind
these follow the dorsal vertebrae, each carrying a pair of movable ribs, of
which the more anterior are connected with the breast-bone ; and these in
turn are succeeded by the lumbar, or loin-vertebrae, to which no movable
ribs are articulated. Behind the lumbars comes the solid mass of several
united vertebrae, known as the sacrum, to which are firmly articulated the
haunch-bones, or ilia (), forming the upper part of the pelvis (3). Behind the
pelvis are the bones of the tail, or caudal vertebrae, which may be either very
few or very numerous. In the higher Mammals the shoulder-girdle proper
is formed only by the two blade-bones, or scapulas, which overlie the anterior
ribs without any attachment to the backbone, and have at their lower end a
shallow cavity for the reception of the head of the uppermost bone of the
arm or fore-lirnb. When fully developed, the collar-bones are articulated by
one extremity to the blade-bones, and by the other to the upper segment of
the breast-bone. Certain other bones entering into the composition of the
shoulder-girdle of the lowest representatives of the class, will be noticed
under that group. In the skeleton of the fore-limb, or arm, we have the upper
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
Fig, 1. HUMAN SKELETON.
arm-bone, or humerus (4), articu-
lating to the blade-bone. The foro-
arm (/) comprises two bones, the
radius (5) anteriorly, and ulna (6)
posteriorly, both articulating with
the lower end of the humerus, and
the upper end of the latter form-
ing the prominence of the elbow.
At the lower end of the radius and
ulna comes the wrist joint, or car-
pus (7), consisting of an upper and
lower row of small massive bones,
frequently having a central bone
between them. To the upper row
of bones, counting from the side
of the thumb to the little finger,
the names of scaphoid, lunar, and
cuneiform are applied. When these
three bones directly overlie the
bones of the lower row, the carpus
is said to be of the linear type ;
but when they overlap, it is said
to be an alternating carpus. The
wrist is followed by the metacarpal
bones (8), which never exceed five
in number, and' these again by the
phalanges, or bones of the digits ;
such digits (9) being likewise never
more than five in number. Where-
as in the first digit, or thumb, there
are but two phalanges, in the other
digits there are normally three.
The pelvic-girdle (3), or that by
which the hind-limb is sup-
ported, differs essentially from
the shoulder-girdle, in that it is
immovably fixed t;/ the backbone
at the sacrum. r j.'he pelvis, as the
whole structur3 is called, is di-
vided into a right and left inno-
minate bone. In the higher Mam-
mals, each innominate consists of
a single bone, although it primar-
ily consists of three distinct ele-
ments. The uppermost of these,
and the one by means of which
the attachment to the sacrum is
made, is called the haunch-bone,
or ilium (a), and corresponds to
the scapula in the fore-limb. In-
feriorly there are two elements,
of which the first is the pubis, and
MAMMALIA.
the second the ischium. Each innominate bone on its outer side contains a
cup-shaped cavity (into the composition of which enter alike the ilium, pubis,
and ischium) known as the acetabulum ; and with this articulates the femur, or
thigh-bone (10), representing the humerus of the fore-limb. Toward the middle
of the hinder surface of its shaft this bone frequently bears a bold projecting
crest termed the third trochanter. As the humerus articulates with the two
bones of the fore-arm, so the thigh-bone articulates with the two bones of the
lower leg, of which the larger is known as the tibia (12), and the smaller as tho
fibula (13). Following these comes the ankle-joint, or tarsus (14), which, like the
carpus, is formed of an upper and a lower row of small massive bones ; the two
uppermost bones being respectively known as the huckle-bone, or astragalus ;
and the heel-bone, or calcaneum. Inferiorly the tarsus is succeeded by the
metatarsal bones (15), corresponding to the metacarpals in the fore-limb,
these being followed by the phalanges of the toes (16), which are similar to
those of the front limb. To the first toe of the hind foot the name hallux
is often applied. It may be added that when (as in the ruminants) there
are only two metacarpals, or metatarsals, which are completely joined
together so as to form a single bone, or when (as in the horses) there is
originally but a single metacarpal or rnetatarsal, such bone, whether of dual
origin or primarily single, is called a eannon-bone. The knee-cap, or patella
(11), is a bone in the tendon of the great muscle of the thigh.
With regard to the teeth, it has been already stated that in the upper jaw
JPifif. 2. Side View of Upper and Lower Human Dentition, with the sides of the jaw removed to
show the rests of the teeth. The three lower teeth with branched roots are the molars ; in front of
these are the two premolars, then comes the canine, and, finally, the pair of incisors.
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
the teeth implanted in the premaxillary bones, which are always of a com-
paratively simple type, with single roots, are termed incisors. In the great
Fig. 3. UPPER JAW OF THE GORILLA.
majority of Mammals, there are
Fig. 5. PALATE OF THE GORILLA.
In the palate the three hindmo-t teeth
are the molars, in advance of which are
the two premolars ; the si::gle large tooth
on each side is the tusk, or canine, in front
of which are the two pairs of incisors.
Fig. 4. LOWER JAW OF THE GORILLA.
not more than three pairs of these teeth,
although there may be four or five pairs in
the Pouched Mammals. The first tooth
in the upper jaw, which is implanted in
the maxillary bone, and is very generally
long and tusk-like, is termed the canine ;
this tooth being also of simple type, and
generally with a single undivided root.
Behind this come a series of, at most, four
pairs of cheek-teeth, which have gener-
ally, except the first, two roots each, and,
in ordinary Placental Mammals, are pre-
ceded (as are the incisors and canine) by
milk-teeth in the young. To these teeth,
which may be reduced to a single pair, is
applied the term, premolars. Behind
these come the true molars, which have
generally broad complex crowns and
branching roots, and are not preceded by
milk-teeth. In Placental Mammals there
are but seldom more than three pairs of
molars, but in Marsupials the ordinary
number is four. In the lower jaw the
tooth biting in front of the upper canine
is the lower canine, in front of which are
the incisors. In. the Placental Mammals
these do not exceed three pairs, and are
MAMMALIA.
generally numerically the same as the upper incisors ; but in the Marsupials,
where there may be four pairs, they are generally less numerous than the
upper. Behind the lower canine come the premolars, which are followed by
the molars, the latter being distinguished from the last premolar by having
no deciduous predecessors.
A very important subject connected with the study of Mammals is their
geographical distribution on the surface of the globe, but to understand this
thoroughly, it is essential to have a knowledge of the extinct _
forms, and to be acquainted with the changes in the form of j^gf ^ t'
the continents and islands which have taken place during
earlier epochs of the earth's history. Every traveller is aware that the
Mammals of different regions of the globe differ more or less markedly, but
this difference is by no means co-extensive with the distance of the various
regions from one another. Thus, whereas the Mammals of Japan are very
similar to those of Europe, while there is a marked resemblance between the
former and those of North America, when we pass from the Malayan Islands
to Australia, there is a very sudden and remarkable change.
As a whole, Mammals are a comparatively modern group, which have only
attained their present great development during the Tertiary, or latest epoch ,
of the earth's history. It is true that they existed during the preceding
Secondary Epoch, or the one in which the chalk, oolites, lias, etc., were de-
posited ; but all the forms were then small, and occupied a subordinate posi-
tion in the fauna of the world, the continents being then peopled by various
strange, and frequently gigantic, kinds of Reptiles, while, in the oceans, the
place of the modern whales, porpoises, and Sirenians was taken by the
Reptilian Ichthyosaurs and Plesiosaurs, It is in consequence of this com-
paratively late development that the geographical distribution of Mammals
differs widely from that of Reptiles and Amphibians, although it coincides to
a certain degree with that of Birds, which are likewise a relatively modern
group.
From the evidence of Mammals alone, the globe may be divided into three
main zoo-geographical realms, two of which may be further sub-divided into
regions. These three primary divisions are respectively named the Notogaeic,
Neogaeic, and Arctogaeic realms, or Notogaea, Neogsea, and Arctogsea. The
first of these includes Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, and the islands
as far east as New Ireland and New Caledonia, together with Celebes,
Lombok, and the islands between these and Australia. From Borneo and
Java, Celebes and Lombok are separated by a deep channel, and whereas all
the islands to the west of this channel, which is known as Wallace's
line, have their Mammalian fauna of an Oriental or Indian type, and
are without any Marsupials, those on the west of the same show a
more or less marked Australian type, Marsupials making their first
appearance in Celebes, and becoming more numerous as we approach
Australia and Papua, where that group is the dominant one.
The Austro-Malayan islands, as Celebes and the adjacent islands may be
called, form, indeed, a transition, so far as Mammals are concerned, between
the regions to the west and Australia arid New Guinea, although it is on the
whole most convenient to include them in the Notogaeic realm. The typical
part of that realm, as represented by Australia, New Guinea, and the
adjacent islands, is characterised by the great preponderance of Pouched
Mammals, or Marsupials, while it is here only that the Egg-Laying Mammals,
or Monotremes, are met with. In Australia itself, in addition to Bats, which
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
here and elsewhere need not claim our attention, the only Mammals except
Marsupials and Monotremes are a certain number of Rodents belonging to
the family Muridce, and the Australian wild dog, or dingo. New Guinea, on
the other hand, possesses a pig, which may possibly, however, have been
introduced.
When Celebes and the other Austro-Malayan islands are reached, Mono-
tremes are absent, and Marsupials form only a small moiety in the fauna.
This realm is the sole home, not only of the Monotremes, but likewise of the
typical Diprotodont Marsupials, 1 while the only other part of the world where
Marsupials are now found is America, where they are represented among other
forms by the opossums, which are quite unknown in Australia. As Marsupials
of extinct types inhabited the Northern Hemisphere during earlier epochs, it
is evident that the Notogseic realm received its Marsupial and Monotremes
fauna at a date when such creatures were the dominant forms in South-Eastern
Asia, which was then populated by but few other types of Mammalian life.
When these ancestral Marsupials and Monotremes had effected an entrance
into Australia and New Guinea, with the adjacent islands, they became more
or less completely cut off from the rest of the world, and were enabled to
develop apart from the competition of the higher forms of life. It is note-
worthy that some of the Australian Rodents present a marked similarity to
these of the Philippines, showing that the immigration has been from the
northward. Notogsea may be divided into several regions. One of these is
the New Zealand region, characterised by the absence of all terrestrial
Mammals, and the abundance of flightless birds, nearly all of which are now
extinct. Under the title of the Australian region may be included Australia,
Tasmania, New Guinea, the Am Islands, New Caledonia, New Britain, etc. ;
this region being characterised by the preponderance of Marsupials and the
presence of Monotremes. The Austro-Malayan region, which includes the
islands mentioned above, has, on the other hand, only a small number of
Marsupials among a preponderance of Placentals, so that this region forms a
transition between Notogsea and Arctogsea.
Nearly as distinct from the rest of the world as the last, is the Neogaeic
realm, comprising South and Central America, together with the West
Indian Islands. Now, however, the distinction of this realm, as a primary
region, is much obscured by the union of South with North America, which
has allowed many essentially Northern types to migrate into South America,
while a certain number of Southern forms have penetrated into the Northern
half of the continent. There is evidence that during the Cretaceous Period,
or latest division of the Secondary Epoch, what is now Mexico was a sea, while
in the Middle, or Miocene division of the Tertiary Epoch, the same was the
case with Central America. It is thus evident that at two distinct periods,
North and South America were disconnected ; although it is quite possible
that during some other part of the Tertiary Period antecedent to the Miocene,
there may have been a temporary connection either by way of the Isthmus of
Darien, or by Florida and the West Indies. At the present day the Neogseic
realm is practically the sole home of the Edentates, 2 of the New World
monkeys (Cebidce) and marmosets (Hapcdidce), as well as of many peculiar
types of Hystricomorphous Rodents, such as the viscacha (Lagostomiis), coypu
(Myopotamus), carpincho (Hydroclicerus), cavies (C'avia), agutis (Daryprocta),
1 This and other terms are fully explained in the sequel.
* A few of these and other groups range into Texas.
MAMMALIA.
pacas (Ccdogenys), etc , etc., several of them belonging to families which are
confined to this realm. Here also the Marsupial opossums (Didelp^yida 1 )
attain their maximum development, only a couple of species ranging into
North America ; while the camel-like llamas (Lama) are restricted to this
realm. The peccaries (Dicotyles\ again, are mainly South and Central American
while among the Carnivora the coatis (Nasua) are exclusively so. In addi-
tion to the llamas and peccaries, the only other Ungulates are deer, mostly
belonging to the American genus Cariacus. True deer (Cervus) are totally
wanting, as are all Insectivora.
Here, it must be mentioned, that during the Pleistocene Period, or latest
division of the Tertiary Epoch, South America was populated by a much
more wonderful fauna. Among these were horses and mastodons (allies of
the elephants), together with a giant Ungulate (Toxodon) typifying a distinct
sub-order (Toxodontia) by itself, together with a second, known as the
Macrauchenia, which is likewise the type of a sub-order (Litopterna.) Here
also flourished the gigantic Glyptodonts, which are extinct allies of the
armadillos of the present day. Deer, llamas, peccaries, coatis, and various
cats were also present at the period in question. When, however, we go
back to a still earlier era the Lower Miocene horses, peccaries, deer, llamas,
coatis, and cats were entirely absent ; and the fauna consisted solely of
monkeys, marmosets, various peculiar extinct groups of Ungulates, arid
Hystricomorphous Rodents, together with certain peculiar extinct Mar-
supials, and some other groups which need not be mentioned. When
this fauna flourished, Neogsea must have been quite isolated from the rest
of the world. It is, however, clear that (although the Edentates may have
originated there) the Ungulates and Hystricomorphous Rodents must have en-
tered from other regions, although how they got there is at present a mystery,
seeing that none of the latter occur in the earlier Tertiary strata of North
America. At the close of the Miocene Period, South America became con-
nected with North America, from whence it received its extinct horses, to-
gether with its existing deer, llamas, peccaries, mice, coatis, cats, dogs, etc. ;
while, at the same time, a certain number of essentially Neogseic types obtained
a footing in North America.
Although fuller details would be necessary to make this very complicated
subject clear, it is thus evident that previous to its latest and existing union
with North America, Notogsea possessed a very peculiar and characteristic fauna
which entitles it to form a primary realm by itself ; but that this original
distinction has been greatly obscured by later emigrations and immigrations.
Of this primitive fauna the Edentates, monkeys, marmosets, Hystricomorphous
Rodents, and certain Marsupials, are now remnants ; while the coatis and
llamas, which are at the present day confined to the realm, do not properly
belong to it at all.
Arctogsea includes the whole of the rest of the world, and may be char-
acterised by the absence of Monotremes, Diprotodont Marsupials, and
Edentates, 1 and the presence of Insectivora ; Marsupials occurring only in
North America. This vast tract may be divided into a number of regions.
First and most distinct comes the Malagasy region, including Madagascar
and the Comoro Islands, which is specially characterised by the abundance of
its lemurs, civet-like Carnivores, and Insectivora, coupled with the absence of
1 The pangolins and aard-varks are here separated as a distinct order (Effodientia),
The few Edentates straggling into North America may be disregarded.
10 MAMMALIA ORDER /. PRIMATES.
all Ungulates except an African type of pig, and the paucity of Rodents, which
are represented only by the rat tribe (Muridce). Next in importance is the
Ethiopian region, comprising Africa south of the Tropic of Cancer and
Southern Arabia. Here one of the most distinctive features are the number
of large Ungulates, among which the zebras, a host of antelopes, hippopotami,
wart-hogs, and the giraffe are now peculiar ; while deer are absent, and sheep
and goa^s very scarce, and only represented in the northern portion of the
region. Gorillas and chimpanzees are now solely Ethiopian, as are practically
the dog-headed baboons (Papio\ while certain other genera of monkeys are
confined to the region. Elephants and rhinoceroses also occur, although these
are markedly distinct from their Oriental cousins. Aard-varks are now
solely Ethiopian ; while pangolins are common to this and the Oriental
regions. Bears are practically wanting.
Although in many ways nearly related to the Ethiopian, the Oriental region,
which comprises India, Southern China and the Malayan countries as far as
Wallace's line, is markedly distinct, having no hippopotami, giraffes, or
wart-hogs, while its antelopes are far less numerous, and also generically dis-
tinct from those of Africa south of the Tropic. Instead of chimpanzees and
gorillas, there are orangs and gibbons ; dog-faced baboons are wanting, and
there are several peculiar genera of monkeys, while the lemurs are quite
distinct from those of Africa. True pigs, as distinct from bush-pigs, are
abundant, as are also bears and deer, the latter mostly of a peculiar sub-
generic type. There are no aard-varks, although pangolins are common :
and the rhinoceroses and elephant are widely different from those of Africa.
The region may be sub-divided into several sub-regions, which need not be
mentioned here.
With the exception of Southern North America, the whole of the remainder
of the Arctogaeic realm may be included in the Holarctic region, which is
characterised by the absence of man-like apes, lemurs, elephants, and rhino-
ceroses, the paucity of monkeys, the abundance of goats and sheep, and the
presence of the two species of bison ; marmots and beavers being also char-
acteristic of this region, while pangolins are practically wanting. Finally,
we have the Sonoran region, including Southern North America, to about
as far north as latitude 45 deg., and especially characterised by being the
home of the prong-buck (Antilocapra) and the family of pocket-gophers
(Geomyidce.)
MAMMALIA.
ORDER I. PRIMATES.
APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS.
THE first ordinal group of Mammals is the one named by the great Swedish
naturalist Linnaeus, Primates, and includes not only apes, monkeys, baboons,
and marmosets, but likewise man himself, as well as the infinitely lower
creatures commonly designated lemurs, which differ from all the others in
APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS. II
their expressionless, fox-like faces. Were the latter animals (as they not
unfrequently are) separated as a distinct ordinal group, the Primates would
be much easier of definition than is the case when they are included ; but as
there is little doubt that the latter arrangement is the proper one, it is essen-
tial that it should be followed.
In the great majority of the members of the order, the hand, which is
always a grasping organ, is furnished with five fingers, generally provided
with more or less flattened nails, but in certain cases the thumb is wanting.
The thumb itself in the higher forms is completely opposable to the other
digits, but in certain of the lower representatives of the order its power of
opposition is bub very limited. In the five-toed hind-foot, except in man, the
great-toe is similarly opposable to the other digits. With the exception of the
second, or index finger of the lemurs, the terminal joints of the fingers and
toes are expanded to form a support for the broad and flattened nails. In
both the fore and hind-limbs all the component bones are separate from one
another ; and perfect collar-bones or cavicles are invariably present. All the
Primates are further characterised by the sockets, or orbits, of the eyes being
surrounded by a complete bony rim. As regards the teeth, the molars have
broad, flattened crowns, surmounted either by tubercles or a pair of transverse
ridges, and are thus admirably adapted for the mastication of the fruits,
leaves, or other vegetable substances on which the majority of these animals
subsist. In number, the molar teeth form three pairs in each jaw, save only
in the marmosets ; these teeth being always more complex and larger than the
premolars.
The latter are reduced to two pairs in each jaw in all the higher forms,
with the exception of one family of American monkeys ; and even among the
lemurs no existing species has more than three pairs of these teeth. More-
over, in all the apes and monkeys the incisor teeth, which in many other
animals form three pairs, are reduced to two pairs in both jaws ; but among
the lemurs the number of these teeth is subject to a considerable amount of
variation. Save in the aberrant lemur known as the aye-aye, there are at
least two teats on the breast of the females.
As a rule, the members of the order are forest-dwelling animals, inhabiting
tropical and sub-tropical countries, although a few range into regions where
in winter the boughs of tha trees are enveloped in snow; but it is only in the
hottest and dampest tropical forests that the largest members of the order are
met with. Although many apes and monkeys are able to assume the upright
position, ifc is very few that habitually use it ; and even when they do, the
aid of the arms is necessary to maintain the balance in walking.
The Primates may be divided into two great subordinal groups ; the first
(Anthropoidea) including man, apes, baboons, monkeys, and marmosets,
whilst the second (Lemuroidea) embraces only the lemurs.
The first and highest group of the Primates includes the so-called man-like
apes, such as the gorilla, chimpanzee, orang, and gibbons, collectively con-
stituting the family Slmiidcv. That these apes are our ft
nearest cousins is well known ; but the degree and extent Man-like
of this relationship, as well as the characters by which it is Apes. Family
displayed, are probably less familiar. In the first place, it imiidce.
will be noticed that we speak of this relationship as one of
cousinship, and not of ancestry ; and it is well that the reader snould free
himself from any idea that there is any vestige of direct ancestral kinship
between these, for the most part, hideous creatures and mmself. Such
12 MAMMALIA ORDER /. PRIMATES.
relationship as does exist is of a comparatively distant kind ; and the
common ancestor must have lived ages before the mammoth roamed over
England, since at that cfate man was as distinctly differentiated from the
apes as he is in the present century. Whether this " missing link " will ever
be found, or in what country it is most likely to have lived, are questions
impossible to answer ; but from the extreme rarity with which fossil remains
of man-like apes are found in countries where they are known to have existed
for long ages, and from the probability that the distributional area of the
aforesaid "link" was extremely limited, there is not much hope that the
researches of palaeontologists will ever be rewarded by such a discovery.
From their large bodily size, coupled with that hideous caricature of the
human face and form characterising the more typical representatives of the
man-like apes, no one would have any difficulty in distinguishing these crea-
tures from their lower relatives. There might, however, be some hesitation
with regard to the long-armed gibbons, and it is, therefore, essential to point
out how the members of the man-like group may be distinguished as a whole
from other monkeys.
Among the sub-order Anthropoidea there is an important distinction be-
tween the Old and New World forms. The whole of the Old World repre-
sentatives of this division of the order are characterised by having teeth
agreeing both in number and arrangement with those of man. Thus in all
cases in each jaw there are two pairs of incisors, a single pair of tusks, or
canines, and five pairs of cheek-teeth, of which the last, or " wisdom-tooth/'
is frequently very late in making its appearance (see fig. 5). Of these five cheek-
teeth the first two on each side are simpler than the three hinder ones, p.iid are
preceded in the infant by milk-teeth, whereas the latter have no such pre-
decessors. It is accordingly the custom to call the two simpler teeth
premolars or bicuspids, and the three more complex ones molars. If, now,
we examine an ordinary American monkey, we shall find six check teeth on
each side of both the upper and lower jaws, of which half are premolars and
half molars ; while in the marmosets, which constitute a second American
family, although the total number of cheek-teeth is the same as in the Old
World forms, yet the proportion is different, there being chree premolars
and two molars. It may, therefore, be stated that all American monkeys
differ from their Old World cousins in having three instead of two pairs of
premolar teeth, whence it may be inferred that they belong tc a lower and
more generalized type, there being a universal tendency throughout tho
higher Vertebrates to a diminution, or disappearance of the teeth with the
advance of specialisation. In the marmosets the loss of the last molar is
unique in the higher division of the order, and is, indeed, a somewhat re-
markable peculiarity to occur in a herbivorous Mammal, among which the
reduction is usually confined to the front and premolar teeth.
As the teeth serve most readily to differentiate the Old World monkeys
from their American allies, so the man-like apes are sharply distinguished
from their, relatives by the conformation of the same organs. Thus the
molar teeth of the man-like apes closely resemble those of man, having the
angles of their crowns rounded off, and carrying on their grinding-surfaces
four very blunt tubercles, placed alternately to one another, as well as a
somewhat smaller tubercle at the hinder end. On the other hand, in the
lower monkeys the molar teeth are oblong in form, and carry four very
prominent tubercles arranged in pairs at the two extremities of each tooth,
and each pair being connected so as to form a couple of more or less well-
APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS. 13
defined transverse ridges extending right across the crown. Vhen, again,
whereas in the man-like apes the last molar, or " wisdom-tooth," in the lower
jaw is similar in form to the two teeth in front of it, in the great majority of
tbe Old World monkeys this tooth has a large projecting heel at its hinder
end. These dental characters afford very important evidence of the close
kinship of the man-like apes to man himself, and undoubtedly outweigh the
difference in the form of the whole dental series now to be noticed, which is
largely due to adaptation. In both the upper and lower jaws of man the
teeth are arranged in a regular horse- shoe series, with scarcely any interrup-
tion to the continuity by the tusks, which are but little taller than the other
members of the series. On the other hand, in the adults (and especially the
males of the larger species) of the man-like apes the cheek-teeth are arranged
in a nearly straight line, and form a more or less angulated junction with the
line of the incisors ; the large canines, or tusks, occupying the angle between
the two series, and thus forming a marked break in continuity. Jn these
respects the man-like apes resemble their inferior kindred. If, however, a
young individual of the larger man-like apes, and especially the chimpanzee,
be examined, it will be found that the teeth, owing partly to the imperfect
protrusion of the tusks, form a less interrupted and more regularly curved
series. Indeed, with the exception that the whole jaw is longer and narrower,
and the partially-protruded tusks are proportionately larger, the characters
of such specimens make a marked approximation to the human type ; and
the jaw of a chimpanzee at this stage may be regarded as almost intermediate
in structure between that of man and that of an adult male gorilla. More-
over, in this juvenile state the bony union of the two branches of the lower
jaw partakes of the short and rounded form characterizing that of man ;
whereas in the adult it becomes longer and more deeply channelled, like that
of the lower monkeys. In many respects the teeth and jaws of the gibbons,
or smallest representatives of the present group, conform to the intermediate
type. Not only are the human characteristics most developed in the teeth
and jaws of the young of the larger man-like apes and the gibbons at all
ages, but the same is true with regard to the skull of the former. The skull
of the young gorilla, for instance, lacks the beetling crests over the eyes and
the prominent ridge down the middle of the crown, which give such a for-
bidding and repulsive aspect to the cranium of tho full-grown male. This
loss of human resemblances is due to specialisation taking two difficulty lines
in man on the one hand, and in the larger man-like apes on the other ; the
development in the one case tending to increased size of brain, coupled with
no marked increase in the size of the tusks, while in the other the brain
grows at a less rapid rate, and the skull and tusks (more especially in the
male) assume characters approximating them to those cf the inferior animals.
Both in men and apes the young condition may accordingly be regarded as
the most generalised.
Among the other features in which the man-like apes differ from the lower
monkeys and resemble man, are the absence of dilatable pouches in the
cheeks for the storage of food, and the total loss cf the tail, as well as the
flattened, instead of laterally compressed, form cf the breast-bone ; the
gibbons alone retaining the naked patches on the buttocks so characteristic
of the monkeys, but only in a much reduced condition. The gcriila and
chimpanzees further differ from the other members of the group, and thereby
resemble man alone, in the loss of the so-called central bone cf the wrist a
bone occupying a nearly central position between the upper and lower rows
I 4 MAMMALIA ORDER /. PRIMATES.
of small bones of which that joint is composed. What may be the object of
the disappearance of this bone, it is not easy to say ; but the fact that it is
wanting in the two genera of apes just mentioned is very significant of their
close structural affinity with man. In one respect the man-like apes stand
apart both from the human and the monkey type, namely, in the great
relative length of the arms as compared with the legs, the disproportion
being most strongly marked in the gibbons, which are actually able to
walk in the upright posture with their bent knuckles touching the ground.
So far, indeed, as their bodily structure is concerned, the man-like apes
seem undoubtedly more nearly related to man than they are to the lower
monkeys ; and they constitute a family (Simiida) by themselves, which may
be regarded as intermediate between the one (Cercopithecidw) including the
lower monkeys, and that represented by man himself.- While at present the
" missing link " between man and the apes is wanting, extinct forms tend to
connect the latter very closely with the monkeys. For instance, a fossil ape
(Dryopithecus) from the Miocene Tertiary strata of France has the bony
union between the two branches of the lower jaw much longer than in any
existing man-like ape, although it is approached in this respect by the gorilla;
while from the corresponding beds of Italy another extinct form (Oreopithecus)
appears to be in great part intermediate between the man-like apes and the
lower monkeys.
The present distribution of the anthropoid apes clearly points to the exist-
ing species being the last survivors of a group which was once widely spread
over the Old World, when warmer climatic conditions prevailed over what we
now call the temperate regions. The gorilla, for instance, is confined to
Western Equatorial Africa ; where it is accompanied by the two species of
chimpanzee, one of which ranges eastwards across the continent as far as
Uganda. The orangs, of which there are probably two species, on the other
hand, are confined to the great islands of Sumatra and Borneo ; while the
numerous species of gibbons have a wide range in South-Eastern Asia, attain-
ing their maximum development in the Malayan Archipelago and the adjacent
regions. This distribution is remarkably discontinuous, but the little known
of the past history of the group tends somewhat to consolidate the present
scattered distributional areas. For instance, a chimpanzee once inhabited
Northern India ; while it is most probable that an orang also was a contem-
poraneous dweller in the same country. This suggests that India may have
been the original home of the larger man-like apes, from whence the chim-
panzees and gorillas migrated south-westwards to Equatorial Africa, while the
orangs travelled in an easterly direction to find a last home in the tropical
islands to which they are now confined.
Of the four existing genera of the man-like apes, the chimpanzees (Anthro-
popithecus) are those which come nearest to man, this being especially shown
by the shortness of the bony union between the two branches
Chimpanzees of the lower jaw, the form and mode of arrangement of the teeth
(Anthropopitke,- (especially in the young), the relatively small development of
CMS). the tusks of the male, the absence of the enormous bony
crests on the skull so characteristic of the gorilla, and the
slight difference in the size of the two <exes. The chimpanzees and the
gorilla alone resemble man in having seventeen vertebrae between the neck
and the sacrum, and likewise in the absence of the central bone in the wrist,
although they differ in the comparatively unimportant feature of possessing
an additional pair of ribs. It will be unnecessary to give a full description of
APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS.
Fig. 6. COMMON CHIMPANZEE
(AnthropopWiecus troglodytes).
these animals, and it will suffice to say that the common species (A. troglo-
dytes), which ranges across Tropical Africa from the Gabun to Uganda, has
the face, ears, hands, and feet, dark reddish flesh-colour, or more rarely
blackish brown, while the general colour of the hair is wholly black, except
on the lips, where it is short and white, and
on the buttocks, where it has a dash of red-
dish brown. There has been some difference
of opinion as to whether the so-called bald
chimpanzee (A, calvus) of the West Coast of
Africa is entitled to rank as a distinct species,
but recent researches tend to show that it has
no such claim. In size chimpanzees are much
smaller animals than the gorilla. In walking,
the palm of the hand can be applied to the
ground, and the same is the case with the sole
of the foot ; but although chimpanzees can
stand or walk erect on the soles of their feet,
they much prefer to progress in a stooping
posture, supporting themselves on their bent
knuckles.
In some districts living to a great extent on
the ground, chimpanzees are more arboreal in
their general habits than the gorilla, although
much less so than the orang. They feed on
wild or even cultivated fruits, and generally
associate either in family parties or in small communities, although the
males and females pair for life. For the
protection of the female and young a kind
of nest or resting-place is built in some
tree, where they pass the night, the male
remaining on ground below. In the early
morning and evening, and less commonly
during the night, chimpanzees give vent
to a series of unearthly shrieks and howls ;
Dr. Pechuel-Losche observing that " since
they are really accomplished in the art of
bringing forth these unpleasant sounds,
which may be heard at a great distance,
and are reproduced by the echoes, it is im-
possible to estimate the number of indi-
viduals who take part in the dreary noise,
but often we seemed to hear more than a
hundred."
The hideous creature forming the sole
representative of the genus Gorilla differs
from the chimpanzees in
the great development of Gorilla,
the tusks of the male as
well as in the large size of the bony crests
on the skull above the eyes, and likewise
by the male being very much larger than the female. There are also certain
differences in the conformation of the cheek-teeth, and the brain has a more
Fig. 7 THE GORIT.I.A
(Gorilla stwagei).
i5
MAMMALIA ORDER I. PRIM A TE S.
oval contour, thereby approximating to the human type. In height the male
gorilla (G. savagei) may exceed six feet, although the female does not measure
more than four and a half feet. The general colour of the animal is black or
blackish, the whole skin of the face being glossy black, scattered over with a
few hairs. The geographical range of this gigantic ape is exceedingly limited,
being confined to that part of the West Coast of Equatorial Africa lying between
the Camerun mountains and the Congo River. Like chimpanzees, gorillas
live in family parties, although these do not combine to form communities ;
and they are likewise stated to construct arboreal resting-places for the femala
and young. They walk in a shuffling manner somewhat similar to that
adopted by chimpanzees, but as their arms are
longer they are not compelled to stoop so
much, and the open hand, in place of the bent
knuckle, is stated to be put on the ground
in this mode of progression. The yell of
the male gorilla is described as a terrific
sound ; and these animals appear to be not
only ferocious, but likewise extremely courag-
eous, always advancing boldly to meet a foe,
and never running away like a chimpanzee.
As in all the man-like apes, the female pro-
duces but a single young at a birth, which is
nurtured with tender solicitude, and defended
to the last extremity. When at rest, the
gorilla generally assumes a squatting posture,
with the arms folded across the breast ; and
in sleep lies stretched out at full length either
on the back or on one side, with an arm
under the head. Extremely delicate in con-
stitution when removed from its native
haunts, this ape rarely survives captivity long
even in Africa, while the climate of Europe soon puts an end to its existence.
The first skeleton of the gorilla which reached England was presented to
the Royal College of Surgeons by Captain Harris in 1851. This was followed
in 1858 by an entire gorilla preserved in spirits, which was sent from the
Gabun to the Bntish Museum. Of the few live specimens which have
reached Europe, none seem to have survived more than fifteen or eighteen
months. The earliest to reach England appears to have been one which, in
1860, was the property of an itinerant showman, who mistook it for a chimpan-
zee, and did not discover his mistake until after the animal's death. Fifteen
years later a young male gorilla was procured from the natives by the
German Loango Expedition, and taken to Berlin. This animal was fed on fruits
and goat's milk, and under kindly treatment became so tractable that he was
allowed to wander about the ship with little or no restraint. He showed some
cunning and a tendency to mischief, but no evil propensities. He would pay
surreptitious visits to the store-room on occasion, and slyly help himself to
the dainties he affected, making off with unmistakable signs of guilty con-
sciousness when disturbed or caught in the act. Arrived at Berlin, he was
placed in the Aquarium, where for fifteen months he was the object of much
attention. He died of consumption, as did his successor, who arrived at
Berlin in 1883, and died the following year. A young gorilla which reached
the Zoological Gardens, London, a few years a^o, lived but a few months.
Fig. 8. THE ORANG-UTAN
(Simia satyrus).
APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS. 17
The reduction of the number of vertebrae between the neck and the sacrum
to sixteen, together with the retention of the central bone in the wrist, the
great length of the arms, which in the upright posture
reach to the ankles, and the peculiar upward prolongation of Orang-Utan
the vertex of the skull, serve at once to show that the (Simia.)
orang (Simia) stands on a lower evolutionary platform
than either of the preceding representatives of the family. Externally it is
further distinguished by the rudimentary condition of the great- toe, the
peculiarly flattened form of the almost dish-like leaden-hued face of the
adult, and the red tinge of the long and shaggy hair, the latter being in
marked contrast to the black hue of the gorilla and chimpanzees. Although
in possessing only a dozen pairs of ribs the orang differs from both the latter
and resembles man, yet this resemblance is greatly outweighed by the differ-
ence in the number of the vertebrae.
It is now generally admitted that there is but a single species of orang-
utan (Simla satyrus), which is confined to the great islands of Sumatra and
Borneo, and is known to the Dyak inhabitants of the latter by the name of
Mias. A peculiar characteristic of the adult male is the presence of a large,
smooth, soft, tumour-like, flexible expansion of the skin of the sides of the
face, giving the remarkable breadth and flatness so characteristic of the whole
countenance. In size, orangs are subject to considerable variation, large
males reaching from four feet two inches to four feet six inches ; the females
being much smaller.
The orang is a much more truly arboreal animal than either of the other
large apes, and is likewise a solitary creature, the sexes only corning together
at the pairing season. Females are generally to be seen accompanied by
their young, sometimes only a single one, but in other instances with those
of two births. The young cling with remarkable tenacity to the body of the
mother as she climbs from tree to tree. Although most excellent climbers,,
orangs are exceedingly slow and deliberate in their movements, and are thus
quite unlike the gibbons.
Mr. Brooke of Sarawak says, " The orangs, so far as I have been able to
observe them, are as dull and as slothful as can well be conceived, and on no
occasion, when pursuing them, did they move so fast as to preclude my keep-
ing pace with them easily through a moderately clear forest ; and even when
obstructions below (such as wading up to the neck) allowed them to get away
some distance, they were sure to stop and allow us to come up. 1 never
observed the slightest attempt at defence ; and the wood, which sometimes
rattled about our ears, was broken by their weight, and not thrown, as some
persons represent. If pushed to extremity, however, the pappan could not
be otherwise than formidable ; and one unfortunate man, who with a party
was trying to catch one alive, lost two of his fingers, besides being severely
bitten on the face, whilst the animal finally beat off his pursuers and escaped.
When hunters wish to catch an adult, they cut down a circle of trees round
the one on which he is seated, and then fell that also, and close before he
can recover himself, and endeavour to bind him. The rude hut which they
are stated to build in the trees would be more properly called a seat, or nest,
for it has no roof or cover of any sort. The facility with which they form
this seat is curious ; and I had an opportunity of seeing a wounded female
weave the branches together, and seat herself in a minute. She afterwards
received our fire without moving, and expired in her lofty abode, whence it
cost us much trouble to dislodge her. The adult male 1 killed was seated
3
1 8 MAMMALIA ORDER I. PRIMATES.
lazily on a tree ; and when approached, only took the trouble to interpose the
trunk between us, peeping at me and dodging as I dodged. I hit him on
the wrist, and he was afterwards despatched."
The last members of the family are the gibbons (Hyloba.tes) which are
restricted to the warmer parts of South-Eastern Asia, and are especially
abundant in the Malay Peninsula and islands. They are
Gibbons (Hylo- the lowest and smallest representatives of the man-like apes,
bates). and although agreeing with those above described in the
absence of a tail and cheek-pouches, and by the circumstance
that their grinding-teeth are constructed on precisely the same plan as those
of ourselves, they approximate to the lower monkeys in possessing small
naked callosities on the buttocks. In habitually walking in the upright
position, frequently with the assistance of their enormously elongated arms,
they are peculiar in the ape world. This peculiarity, coupled with their
apparently human-like skulls, might lead the uninitiated to suppose that
these creatures were the most man-like of all apes. A moment's reflection
would, however, show that in such highly-organised animals, a small
species, in order to be able to carry on the functions necessary to its exis-
tence, must have a proportionately larger brain than its bigger relatives ;
and a large brain implies, of course, a large skull. Moreover, in small and
purely arboreal animals like the gibbons, there is no reason why the skull
should be strengthened by the enormous frontal ridges which give such a
repulsive aspect to the physiognomy of the male gorilla. Accordingly, we
see that the somewhat human-like form of the skulls of the gibbons does not
in any way indicate that they are more nearly related to ourselves than their
larger kindred ; while the callosities on their buttocks, and several features in
their anatomical structure, show that they are decidedly less so.
Although in the confined space of a cage in the "Zoo" the gibbons have
but little opportunity of displaying the marvellous activity by which they
are characterised in their native woods,
yet even there their engaging manners
cannot fail to attract attention ; and
many show the gentleness and docility
so distinctive of these apes in a most
marked manner. In the more congenial
climate of Calcutta, which admits of
gibbons being placed in the open air,
their movements are, however, far
more like those of the wild state ; and
one of these creatures in the local
"Zoo"showedits lightning-like activity
by actually catching birds while on the
wing. Not only is this bold activity
Fig 9, A GIBBOK (Hylobates), characteristic of the gibbons, but they
likewise exhibit a wonderful delicacy
of touch. For instance, many gibbons display a marked penchant for spiders,
which are captured with the long slender fingers ; but before devouring their
prizes these animals will not unf requently play with them for hours, allowing
them to descend by spinning a thread from one of their captor ; s fingers, and
then suddenly jerking them upwards into their hands. Not less noteworthy
than their active movements are the loud, unearthly cries of the gibbons, in
imitation of which the hulock (H. hulock) of Assam, Burma, etc., derives
APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS.
its name. These wailing cries, which are uttered hour after hour in the
morning, and again, although less continuously, in the evening, may be heard
for miles when a whole drove are shouting in concert ; and even those of a
solitary individual in the Calcutta Gardens made themselves audible at least
a mile off.
Out of a total of eight species of the genus, the siamang (H. syndactylus)
of Sumatra is the largest, measuring more than a yard in length ; and it
differs from all the rest by having the second and third toes of the hind foot
united by a web as far as their terminal joints. In colour, the siamang is
uniformly black throughout, and in this respect it agrees with the Hainan
gibbon (H. hainanus) \ whereas, in all the other species there is a white band
across the forehead. Among these latter, one of the best known is the
hulock (H. hulock) from Assam and the countries immediately to the east.
Writing of the cries of another species (H. leuciscus), Mr. H. O. Forbes
observes that it " makes its presence known to the traveller in Java, when
he reaches its upland forest-districts. In the evening just about sundown,
and more especially in the early morning, commencing before sunrise and
finally ceasing when the sun is above the tops of the trees, he will be surprised
by a sudden outbreak of what appears to be now the plaintive wailings of a
crowd of women, now the united howling of a band of castigated children."
The whole of the remaining monkeys and baboons of the Old World form a
second family, which, while agreeing with the man-like apes in the number
of their teeth, differ by the crowns of the molars
being surmounted by a pair of transverse
ridges, each formed by the
coalescence of two sub-conical
tubercles. All the members
of the family have naked cal-
losities on the buttocks, and
cheek-pouches are very gener-
ally present. The breast-bone differs from
that of the man-like apes in being laterally
compressed and narrow, instead of broad and
flattened from back to front. The tail, which
may be either- wanting, short, or very long, is
never endowed with the power of prehension ;
and the partition between the two nostrils is
narrow. Eight existing genera are included
in the family, some of which are Oriental,
while others are confined to Africa south of
the Sahara. None are known from Mada-
gascar, New Guinea, or Australia, the eastern
limits of the group being formed by Celebes
and the Philippine Islands,
The most ludicrous in appearance of all the tribe is the well-known
proboscis-monkey (Nasalis larvatus) of Borneo, easily distin-
guished from all its kin by the extraordinary length of its nose.
This monkey, together with the two following genera, con-
stitutes a sub-family characterised by the absence of cheek-
pouches for storing food, the complex and sacculated
structure of the stomach, the great length of the tail, and also by the front
limbs bein<* shorter than the hinder pair. _ All these monkeys feed largely or
Old World
Monkeys.
Family
Cercopithecidce.
Fig, 10. PROBOSCIS-MONKEY
(Nasalis larvatus).
Proboscis-
Monkey
(Nasalis).
20 MAMMALIA ORDER I. PRIMATES.
chiefly on young shoots or leaves ; and it is in adaptation to this diet that
their stomach is specially modified and cheek-pouches are wanting. The
constitution of all the tribe is very delicate, so that these monkeys are ill-
adapted to stand captivity.
The peculiar structure of the nose is sufficient to differentiate the proboscis-
monkey from all its allies ; but to this may be added the circumstance that
the tail is shorter than the head and body.
The numerous species of langurs, which are nearly thirty in number, are
confined to the Oriental countries, where one species ranges as far north as
Kashmir, while a second is peculiar to the highlands of
Langnrs Eastern Tibet. All these monkeys have thin and slender
(Semnopithecus). bodies, elongated limbs, and a very long and whip-like tail ;
the head being rounded, and the muzzle short and thick.
The thumb is rather short, but the great-toe well developed; and the cal-
losities on the buttocks are relatively small. The hair is abundant, and
generally long, soft, and frequently glossy ; while there is usually a fringe of
long, stiff hairs projecting over the eyes. Grey is the predominant hue in
the pellage ; but the face, hands, and feet are perfectly black.
The best known of all the group is the Hanuman, or sacred langur
(Ssmnopitheciis entellus) of India, which ranges from the Deccan northwards
to the south bank of the Ganges, and is held sacred by the Hindus. Of this
monkey a writer in the Graphic gives the following interesting account :
'Among the thousand or more temples and shrines with which the holy
Hindu city of Benares is endowed, visitors generally find the great temple
dedicated to the worship of the goddess Durga one of the most interesting.
It is known to Europeans as the monkey-temple, because in and around its
precincts many hundreds of sacred monkeys roam about without interference.
The temple was erected during the last century by the Rani Bhawani of
Natre in honour of Shiva's wife, the goddess who is supposed to delight hi
death and slaughter, and of whom the believers in the various attributes of
the deities, comprising the Hindu Pantheon, stand in the greatest dread.
The Durga Kund is conspicuous in this city of temples for the grace and
simplicity of its architecture. It adjoins a tank which is the finest in Benares,
and occupies the central portion of a quadrangle, the walls being stained red
with ochre. The sacred portion of the temple consists of twelve finely-carved
pillars standing on a marble platform, and supporting a heavy roof. This
platform is about 4 ft. from the ground, and is ascended by a flight of low
steps "*on each side of the square. The temple is well provided with the
necessary instruments for creating the frightful noises which emanate from
these abodes of idolatry all over India. Drums of huge dimensions, gongs,
bells, and tom-toms are all at the service of the priests in performing the
rites required of them. But the antics of the monkeys which make this
temple their home are, next to its architecture, the most attractive feature
of the place. The goat's blood with which the walls are sprinkled, and the
sacrifices that are known to take place here to appease the wrath of Shiva
and his terrifying spouse, are rather revolting to a Christian ; but the grotesque
play of the monkeys, their importunate begging, the pranks they enact
on one another, and the graceful agility they are constantly displaying, supply
a perpetual source of amusement which one is apt to think must prove rather
distracting to the devout Hindus who come here to worship. A few years
ago, as no one dared molest these animals, they not only increased rapidly in
numbers, but, growing to be extraordinarily bold, developed alarming thiev
APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS. zi
ing propensities. The annoyance they caused amounted to a public nuisance,
for no house in the place was safe from their depredations. At last the
trouble grew so serious that some reduction in the number of these adept
thieves became a necessity, although the prejudices of the people were against
any such steps being taken. In the end the Government was requested to
interfere, and, waving aside all other considerations but that of public polity,
the authorities had many hundreds report says thousands captured and
sent away. Nevertheless there are plenty of them left, and they certainly
constitute one of the sights of a city that is probably in many respects the
most interesting in the world."
In Africa south of the Sahara the place of the langurs is taken by the
guerezas, of which there are nine species, easily distinguished by the total
absence of the thumb. In the true guereza (Colobus guereza),
ranging from Somaliland to the Niam-Niam country and Guerezas
Mount Kilima-Njaro, the hair of the back is developed into a (Colobus}.
beautiful, long silky mantle hanging down on the sides of the
body, and likewise by the extremely bushy tail ; the mantle and tail, as well
as a ring round the face, being pure white, while the rest of the fur is jetty
black. The pellage of this species is extensively used by the natives of
Africa ; while that of all the long-haired kinds is largely imported into
Europe for manufacture into muffs and other articles of dress.
The guenons, or typical representatives of the family, which include con-
siderably over thirty species, are likewise exclusively confined to Africa
south of the Sahara desert. In common with the remaining
members of the family, they constitute a sub-family dis- Guenons
tinguished from the last by the presence of cheek -pouches (Cercopithecus).
and the simple structure of the stomach. Their food is
more varied than that of the langurs and their allies, and consequently these
monkeys are much better adapted for captivity than are the latter. The
guenons are specially characterised by. the relative slenderness of their build,
the more or less shortened muzzle, the moderate size of the callosities on the
buttocks, and the long tail, From the two following genera they may be
readily distinguished by the circumstance that the last molar tooth in the
lower jaw has no projecting heel at its hinder end, but consists simply of two
transverse ridges, like the teeth immediately in advance of it. Among the
better known species may be mentioned the green monkey ( Cercopithecus
callitrichus), the Diana monkey (C. diana), so named from the white fillet
above the eyes, and the mona monkey (C. mona) ; all these being from
West Africa.
Differing from the guenons solely in the presence of the aforesaid heel to
the last lower molar, the mangabeys, or white-eyelid monkeys, ]y[ an g a fc e y s
likewise form a genus confined to Africa, where they are /^ ercoce i jus \
represented by only half-a-dozen species. They form a group
intermediate between the preceding and the following one.
In the Oriental countries this group of monkeys is represented by the
macaques, of which there are rather less than a score of
species. The macaques resemble the mangabeys in the struc- Macaques
ture of the last molar tooth, but are readily distinguished (Macacus).
by the considerable production of the muzzle, in which the
nostrils are not terminal. While the cheek-pouches and the callosities
on the buttocks are always well developed, the tail may be either long, short,
or absent. Although these monkeys are mainly Oriental, one species, the
22 MAMMALIA ORDER I. PRIMATES.
Barbary ape ( Macacus inuus), is found in North Africa and on the rock of
Gibraltar ; and one of the Asiatic species ranges as far north as Eastern
Tibet, while a third is found in Japan. In the Barbary ape the tail is want-
ing, in the common Bengal monkey (M. rhesus) it is about half the length of
the head and body, and in the crab-eating macaque (M.-cynomolgus) it is con-
siderably longer. The well-known Indian lion-tailed monkey (M. silenus)
takes its name from the presence of a large terminal tuft to the tail ; the
head and neck being also furnished with a mane. Many of these monkeys
are of comparatively large size, and are very savage in disposition, biting
fiercely when annoyed.
The black ape (Cynopithecus niger) of the island of Celebes is the sole re-
presentative of a genus forming a connecting link between
Black Ape the preceding and the following, the muzzle being more pro-
(Cynopithecus). duced than in the macaques, and the fore part of the skull
bearing longitudinal ridges, as in some of the dog-faced
baboons. This monkey, which takes its name from the dark colour of the hair,
has the tail reduced to a mere fleshy tubercle concealed among the fur. It is
also found in the island of Batchian, in the Molucca group, where it has
probably been introduced by the Malays.
Two species of baboons, the one (Theropithecus gelada) from Southern
Abyssinia, and the other (T. okscunus) from North-Eastern
Gelada Baboons Africa constitute a genus differing from the next by having
(Theropithecus). the nostrils placed on the sides of the long muzzle, as in the
macaques, instead of being terminal and opening on its trun-
cated extremity. The true gelada is a most extraordinary-looking creature,
having a long crest of dark brown hair above the eyes, and a mantle-like
mane of the same descending from the neck and shoulders to the loins, and
also reaching on the arms as far as the elbows ; the chin, and a patch on the
throat, as well as another on the
chest, being bare, and, as are all
the other naked parts, black in
colour. In size this baboon mea-
sures 29 inches to the root of the
tail ; the latter appendage, inclu-
sive of the tuft at the tip, being
upwards of 32 inches.
The remaining members of the
family Cercopithecidfe are all in-
cluded in the genus
Dog-faced Papio, and are corn-
Baboons (Papio). monly known as
dog-faced baboons ^ _ A DOG . FACED BABOON
on account of the great elongation (Papio).
of the muzzle, in the truncated ter-
mination of which are pierced the nostrils in the same manner as in a dog.
The callosities on the buttocks are very large and frequently brilliantly
coloured; the muzzle is greatly swollen and often marked by longitudinal
flutings ; and the tail is more or less shortened. The dog-faced baboons,
of which there are eleven different species, include the largest and most
repulsive-looking members of the entire family ; and are now confined to
Africa south of the Sahara and Southern Arabia, although during the later
geological periods they were represented in India.
APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS. 23
The largest and most hideous of the tribe is the mandril (Papio maimon)
of the forests of Western Equatorial Africa, remarkable for its robust build,
stump-like tail, highly swollen and fluted muzzle, and the brilliant tints of
blue and scarlet with which the naked portions of the face and buttocks of
the adult males are decorated. In South Africa the genus is represented by
the chacma (P. porcarius), which is a more soberly-coloured species, with a
tail equal in length to half the body ; while the yellow baboon (P. babuin)
of West Africa may be taken as an example of species in which the tail is
still longer. Although found in the upland forests of Mount Kilima-Njaro,
the dog-faced baboons are more generally inhabitants of open, rocky districts,
where they go about in large parties, inflicting severe damage on the products
of the cultivated lands, and fiercely attacking all intruders on their domains.
In their diet they are well-nigh omnivorous, feeding not only upon fruits and
cereals, but likewise devouring large numbers of lizards and insects, in
search of which they turn over stones with their fingers. The late Sir R.
Burton wrote that in the jungles of Usukuma these baboons "are the terror
of the neighbouring districts ; women never dare to approach their haunts ;
they set the leopard at defiance, arid, when in a large body, they do not, it is
said, fear the lion."
As already stated on page 12, the monkeys of the New World differ from
their Old World cousins in having three in place of two
pairs of premolar teeth in each jaw ; the number of molars New World Mon-
being the same in both. In consequence of these and other keys. Family
differences, the New World monkeys, which do not range to Cebida.
the north of tropical America, are referred to a separate
family group, under the name of Cebidce. These monkeys are further charac-
terised by the absence both of cheek-pouches and of naked callosities on the
buttocks, while the tail, when long, is frequently, although by no means in-
variably, prehensile. The thumb is quite incapable of being opposed to the
other digits, but all the fingers and toes have flattened nails. In the nose
the partition between the two nostrils is very broad, so that the nostrils
themselves are widely separated, and frequently diverge to a great extent
from each other. The upper molar teeth have very short crowns, with the
four tubercles arranged obliquely, and the external surfaces of the outer pair
flattened and fluted, while the inner ones are distinctly crescent-shaped.
So different, indeed, are the American monkeys which attain their maxi-
mum development in the tropical forests of Brazil from the Old World forms,
that it is quite possible they may trace their origin to a totally independent
source. They may be divided into ten genera, some of which comprise a
very large number of specific representatives.
The half-dozen species commonly called, from their loud nocturnal cries,
howlers constitute a genus characterised by the massive, un-
wieldy body, the pyramidal head, long and somewhat dog-like The Howlers
muzzle, the massiveness of the angle, or hinder part of the (Alouatta).
lower jaw, and a remarkable thickening of the throat due to
the enlargement of the so-called hyoid bones into a thin bony capsule of
large size. It is owing to the development of this capsule that the howlers
are enabled to utter the discordant yells with which they make night hideous
to all travellers in the forests of Tropical America. All the species have a large
beard and whiskers, but the colour of the hair is subject to great specific
variation. In the red howler (A. seniculus), for instance, the head, neck,
limbs, and tail are dark chestnut-brown, and the back and_ sides of the
2 4
MAMMALIA ORDER L PR I MA TES.
body golden yellow ; whereas in the black howler (A. nigra) the whole of
the long hair is deep black.
All the howlers are surly in disposition, and feed chiefly on fruits and
leaves. When howling, two or three take up their position on the topmost
branches of the forest trees, and commence their chorus. Mr. O. iSalvin
writes that their wonderful cry is certainly most striking, "and I have some-
times endeavoured to ascertain how far this cry may be heard. It has taken
me an hour or more to thread the forest undergrowth from the time the
cry first struck my ear to when, guided by the cry alone, I stood under the
tree where the animals were. It would certainly not be over-estimating the
distance to say two miles. When the sound came over the Lake of Yzabal
unhindered by the trees, a league would be more like the distance at which
the cry may be heard."
Agreeing with the howlers (which form a sub-family by themselves) in hav-
ing the lower incisor teeth placed vertically, the capuchins,
Capuchins together with several allied genera, differ by the absence of
(Cebus). any inflation of the hyoid bone. In all the group the tail is
long and prehensile ; although in some species, when its tip
is haired, instead of bare and sensitive, the grasping power of this organ is
much less well marked than in the rest. The thumb may be either present
or wanting.
The capuchins, or typical representatives of the entire family, are some-
what stoutly-built monkeys, with the limbs of moderate length, the fur not
woolly, the thumb fully developed, and the lower surface of the extremity of
the tail covered with hair. Although the various species of capuchins are
extremely difficult to distinguish, about eighteen different kinds are now re-
cognised by naturalists ; their range extend-
ing from Mexico to Paraguay. In constitu-
tion these monkeys are exceedingly hardy,
and as they are easy to train, and gentle in
disposition, they are more commonly carried
about in England and other European coun-
tries by peripatetic organ-grinders than any
other of their kindred. From its completely
haired tip, the tail of the capuchins does not
act so thoroughly as a fifth hand as it does
in the spider-monkeys. The white-throated
capuchin (Cebus hypoleucus) is a well-known
representative of the genus.
Nearly allied to the capuchins, the two
species of woolly monkeys take their name
from the peculiar texture of
Wo u y their fur, which forms the
, Donkeys mogt c i iaract eristic feature of
(Lagothnx}. ^ genug to which they fee _
long. In addition to this character, these
monkeys are distinguished by the clumsy build of the body, the rounded
head, the much flattened muzzle in which the nostrils are circular, but not
approximated and by the naked lower surface of the tip of the tail. The
two species are both inhabitants of the forests of Amazonia, the best known
being Humboldt's woolly monkey (Lagothrix humboldti). The barrigudos, as
these monkeys are called by the Brazilians, live exclusively on fruits, and are
Fig. 12. A WOOLLY MONKEY
(Lagothrix).
APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS.
of larger size and less active habits than the capuchins. They suffer con-
siderably from the cold, and even at Bahia I have seen them on a wet day
fall into a torpid condition, when they were relentlessly thrown into the sea
by their captors. Mr. Wallace remarked that from their gentle disposition
they are " most frequently seen in confinement, and are great favourites from
their grave countenances, which resemble the human face more than those of
any other monkeys, their quiet manners, and the great affection and docility
they exhibit.
The woolly spider-monkey (Brachyteles arachnoides), which is now con-
sidered to be the sole representative of its genus, is in many respects inter-
mediate between the woolly monkeys and the true spider-
monkeys, having the dense woolly pellage of the former, Woolly Spider-
coupled with the long and slender limbs of the latter. The Monkey
thumb is rudimental, and the nails of the other digits are (Brachyteles).
compressed and pointed. These monkeys, which are con-
fined to the dense forests of South-Eastern Brazil, from Cape San Roque to
Rio Grande do Sul, appear to be very rare, and little is consequently known
of their habits. '
The last genus of this sub-family includes the half-score species of true
spider-monkeys, constituting a genus distinguished from
the preceding by the fur not being of a woolly nature, Spider-Monkeys
the complete absence of the thumb, and the slight com- (Ateles).
pression of the nails. Both the tail and limbs are greatly
elongated. These monkeys have a wide range, extending from Mexico to
Paraguay ; the variegated spider-monkey (Ateles variegcitus) being one of
the most familiar. In it the prehensile tail reaches its perfection. It is a
remarkably sensitive organ, answering the
purpose of a "fifth hand," being capable of
use " for any purpose to which the hand could
be applied," and for hooking out objects from
pi ices " where a hand could not be inserted."
They wrap their tails about them to protect
themselves from cold, to which they are very
sensitive, and hold on by them to the branches
of trees with such tenacity that they remain
suspended after death. The prehensile part
of the tail is naked and of extreme sensi-
bility. The tail is also used to preserve
balance when walking erect, for which pur-
pose it is thrown up and curled over. The
appearance of these monkeys, as they leap
from branch to branch in their native woods,
swinging by their tails, and often hanging
on to those of each other, until a living
bridge is formed from tree to tree, is ex-
ceedingly picturesque. Although they lack
the extreme agility of the Oriental gibbons,
the spider-monkeys are by far the most active members of the family
to which they belong. Mr. Belt writes that he has often seen two or three
together on the lower branches of the forest trees, "holding on to each
other, and to the branch with their fore-feet and long tail, whilst their hind-
feet hang down, all the time making threatening gestures and cries. Some-
Fiq. 13. A SPIDER-MONKEY
(Ateles).
26 MAMMALIA ORDER L PRIMATES.
times a female would be seen carrying a young one on its back, to which it
clung with legs and tail, the mother making its way among the branches,
and leaping from tree to tree, apparently but little encumbered by its
baby."
The beautiful little squirrel-monkeys are the first representatives of a third
sub-family of the Cebidce, which, while agreeing with the last in the vertical
position of the incisor teeth, and the normal conforma-
Squirrel- tion of the hyoid bone, are distinguished by the tail, which
Monkeys is long, having no power of prehension. In all the thumb
(Chrysothrix). is well developed. From the allied forms the squirrel-
monkeys, or sairniris, are specially distinguished by the
soft, close, and erect fur, and the backward production of the head ; the
face beingf relatively small, the eyes very large and set close together, the
partition between the nostrils very wide, and the rather long tail covered
with comparatively short hair. There are four species of the genus, of
which the common squirrel-monkey (Chrysothrix sciureus) is the type.
These monkeys are some of the commonest of their tribe in America, where
they range from Costa Rica to Brazil and Bolivia. In habits they are
diurnal, feeding chiefly upon insects, although they will also kill and eat
the smaller birds.
The eleven representatives of this genus form a group which is to a
considerable extent intermediate between the squirrel-monkeys and the
under-mentioned douroucoulis. From the former the small
Titis head is distinguished by not being produced backwards, and
(Catttthrix). the small size of the eyes ; but the nostrils are similar in the
width of the partition by which they are separated, and the
fur has the same close and soft texture. The tail is, however, bushy, and
the canine teeth are relatively small, while the angle, or hinder extremity,
of the lower jaw is expanded somewhat after the same fashion as in the
howlers, although to a smaller degree. The titis range from Panama to the
southern limits of the great forests ; a well-known species being the white-
collared titi (Callithrix torquatci). In habits, they are very similar to the
squirrel-monkeys ; insects, eggs, and small birds constituting their chief
nutriment.
From both the preceding genera the small monkeys commonly known as
douroucoulis are distinguished by their nocturnal habits and the great size of
the eyes, which are only separated from each other by a very
Douroucoulis narrow partition. The head is rounded, and the nostrils
(Nyctipithecus). are placed closer together than in either of the allied genera;
the moderately long tail being bushy, and the fur soft and
close. In colour the eyes are yellowish, and they have a peculiar stare, com-
municating, in conjunction with their large size, a somewhat owl-like expres-
sion to the whole face. There are five species of the genus, several of which,
like the three-striped douroucouli (Nyctipithecus trivirgatns\ have three more
or less distinctly defined longitudinal dark stripes running down the forehead.
The range of the douroucoulis extends from Nicaragua to the Amazoa and
Eastern Peru. During the daytime, these somewhat lemur-like monkeys
remain snugly coiled away in the holes or among the branches of trees, and
only issue forth at night in search of prey. When on the prowl, they give
vent to loud howls or cat-like cries ; and their food includes insects, birds, and
fruits. In constitution they are extremely delicate, only surviving capture
for a brief period.
APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS. 27
The last group of the family is formed by the uakari and saki monkeys,
which constitute a sub-family distinguished from all the foregoing by the
lower incisor teeth being inclined obliquely forward, some-
what after the manner of those of the lemurs, and separated Uakaris
by an interval from the canines. The tail, which may be (Uacaria).
either long or short, is never prehensile, and the thumb is well
developed. Usually the nostrils are widely separated, and the ears are large.
The uakaris, of which there are three species, each with a very small dis-
tributional area, are readily distinguished from all other American monkeys
by the extreme shortness of the tail. The bald uakari (Uacaria calva) from
the Rio Negro, and the red uakari (U. rubicunda] from the Upper Amazon,
have a brilliant scarlet face, contrasting strongly with the long silky white
hair of the body, whereas the black-faced species ( U. melanocephala) has a
dark countenance. All are timid, gentle creatures, of so delicate a constitu-
tion that it is almost impossible to keep them in confinement.
The sakis, of which there are five species, are readily distinguished from
the last by the long bushy tail and the thick beard adorn-
ing the chin. In the lower jaw the angle is expanded in a Sakis
manner approaching that of the howlers. A familiar type (Pithecia).
is the black saki (Pithecia satanus) of the Lower Amazon ;
and while in some species, like the hairy saki (P. monacJtus), long hair clothes
the he;id, body, and tail, in others this is confined to the region of the head.
In habits these monkeys appear to be very similar to the vakaris.
The beautiful and delicate little creatures from Tropical America, commonly
known as marmosets, form a family agreeing in many respects with the last,
but distinguished by having only two pairs of molar teeth in
each jaw, and also by the fingers and toes, with the excep- The Marmosets,
tion of the shortened great-toe, terminating in carved com- Family
pressed claws, instead of flattened nails. The long thumb Hapalidw.
lies parallel to the other digits, to which it is incapable of
being opposed, so that the fore-limb terminates in a paw rather than a hand.
The skin of the face is naked, the ears are large
and frequently surmounted by a fringe of long
hairs, and the long and bushy tail has no prehen-
sile power. The family, which is represented by
a large number of species, mostly inhabitants of
the forests of Equatorial South America, has been
divided into two genera according to the length
of the lower canine teeth. Those forms in which
these teeth are not longer than the incisors are
known as true marmosets (Hapale\ whereas those
in which the former considerably exceed the
latter have been termed tamarins (Midas). Mar-
mosets vary considerably in colour, some having
"the fur mottled with grey, brown, and black,
whereas in others it has a more or less uniformly
golden or silvery tint. Marmosets are essentially Fi 3- 14 ;~ A MARMOSET
forest animals, feeding chiefly on insects and
fruit, and are so delicate that it is difficult to keep them alive out of the
tropics. They are exceedingly gentle in disposition, and soon become
tame and affectionate. In. their organisation they are the lowest of the
monkey tribe.
28 MA MMA LI A ORDER I. PRIM A TES.
The typical lemurs, which attain their maximum development in the island
of Madagascar, and are now found elsewhere only in Africa and the Oriental
countries, are the first of three existing Old World families,
Tlie Typical collectively forming the second great division of the Prim-
Lemurs. ates, technically known as the Lemuroidea. From the first
Family subordinal division, or Anthropoidea, the Lemuroids are dis-
Lemuridce. tinguished by the following features. In the first place,
their faces, instead of being more or less mobile and rounded,
are long, fox-like, and quite devoid of expression ; but in this respect they
are not very different from the marmosets. More important are certain
differences in the structure of the skull and the soft internal organs, but as
these require a certain amount of anatomical knowledge on the part of the
reader for their proper comprehension, they may be passed without further
notice. A distinctive character of the group is to be found in the circum-
stance that the second toe in the hind-foot always terminates in a long
curved claw. The thumb and great-toe are invariably present, but the
second or index finger of the fore-paw may be wanting. With the exception
of the aberrant aye-aye and tarsiers, which respectively form a family by
themselves, the middle pair of upper front or incisor teeth are separated
from one another by an interval or gap, whereas in all the monkeys they are
in contact.
In appearance the various kinds of lemurs differ remarkably from one
another, some looking not unlike monkeys, while others are characterised by
their very long and slender limbs, enormous eyes, and somewhat ghostly form.
Whereas some are furnished with long tails, others are devoid of these append-
ages ; and the ring-tailed lemur of Madagascar differs from the rest in its tail
being ringed with black and white. This species is, moreover, an exception
in that it lives among rocks, whereas all the others are arboreal in their habits.
None of the living lemurs/ire of large size, the length of the head and body in
the largest being only about two feet, and many are not larger than a rat. All
are excellent climbers, and the majority spend the day in sleep, either in the
hole of a tree, in a nest, or rolled up in a ball and hanging to a bough. Their
food comprises leaves, fruits, birds and their eggs, reptiles and insects, and,
in one case, sugar-cane ; and the majority rarely descend to the ground.
Some of the larger Malagasy kinds are, however, an exception in this respect,
as well as in their diurnal habits, and they may at times be seen jumping
across the open spaces separating one wood from another in search of fresh
feeding-places. The structure of their brains shews that lemurs are creatures
of low organisation, and the existing forms are probably not very remotely
related to the ancestral stock which gave rise both to monkeys and lemurs.
Geologically the group is an ancient one ; and the living forms attain their
maximum development where they have been free from the competition of the
larger and more highly organised Mammals.
In the typical lemurs constituting the family under consideration there are
two pairs of upper incisor teeth separated from one another by a gap in the
middle line ; while there are three pairs of lower incisors inclined almost
horizontally forwards. There are three pairs of molars in each jaw, but the
premolars may be either two or three on each side, and in the lower jaw the
first of these teeth assumes a tusk-like form, and thus plays the part of a
canine. The family may be sub-divided into four sub-families, most of which
contain a considerable number of genera.
The first and highest sub-family, which is restricted to Madagascar and
APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS. 29
contains the largest existing representatives of the group, is characterised
by possessing thirty teeth in the adull, by the length of the
hind-limbs, the normal structure of the ankle-joint, the large Endrina
size of the opposable great-toe, and the union of the other (Indris).
toes by a web which extends as far as the end of their first
joints. In the female two teats are on the breast.
The endrina (Indris brevicaudata), which is the sole representative of its
genus, is the largest of the living lemurs, measuring about two feet in length,
It may be easily recognised by its rudirnental tail, large ears, and moderately
elongated muzzle ; its coloration being usually black with whitish spots and
patches, but in some cases almost or entirely white. Like the sifakas, this
lemur is diurnal in its habits.
Nearly allied to the last are the three species of sifakas, easily recognised
by the long tail, the rather short muzzle, and the partial con-
cealment of the ears by the fur. The species are extremely Sifakas
variable in coloration, and while some inhabit the dense (Propithecus).
forests on the eastern side of Madagascar, others frequent
the sparsely wooded, arid tracks on the west. Writing of the habits of the
sifakas, Mr. Foster observes that " they live in companies of six or eight,
and are very gentle and inoffensive animals, wearing always a most melan-
choly expression, and, as a rule, being morose, inactive, and more silent than
other lemurs. They rarely live long in captivity. In their native state they
are most alert in the morning and evening, as during the heat of the day
they conceal themselves amid the foliage of the trees. When asleep or in
repose, the head is dropped on the chest and buried beneath the arms, the
tail rolled up on itself and disposed between the hind-legs. The sifakas live
exclusively on vegetable substances leaves, fruits, and flowers their diet
not being varied, as in the other groups, by small birds, eggs, or insects.
Their life is almost entirely arboreal, for which the muscles of their hands
and feet, as well as the parachute-like fold of skin between their arms and
bodies,- and their peculiarly hook-like fingers are most fitted. The young
one is carried about by its mother on her back, its hands grasping
her arm-pits tightly. The sifakas are held in great veneration or fear
by the natives of Madagascar, and are never intentionally killed by
them."
The third and last generic representation of the sub-family is the woolly
avahi (Avahis laniyera), distinguished from the last by the
greater length of the tail, the short muzzle, and the total Avahi
concealment of the ears by the fur, which is of a soft, (Avahis).
woolly nature.
The second sub-family of the Lemur idee, which is likewise confined to
Madagascar and the Comoro Islands, is typically represented by the true
lemurs. It is distinguished from the last by the presence
ot 36 teeth in the adult, the shorter relative length of the True Lemurs
hind-limbs, and the free hind-toes ; all the former having long (Lemur).
tails. As a genus the true lemurs are characterised by the
elongated muzzle, the conspicuous, tufted ears, and the separation of the
upper incisor teeth both from one another and from the canines ; the
two teats of the female being situated on the breast. The genus
contains eight species, among which the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur cattci)
is peculiar on account of the character from which it takes its name, and
likewise from its dwelling among rocks instead of in trees. Strictly noc-
MAMMALIA ORDER I. PRIMATES.
Fig. 15. THE EING-TAILEB LEMUR
. (Lemur cutia.)
turnal in habits, these lemurs feed on a mixed diet; and the females
carry their offspring singly transversely across the lower part of their
bodies.
The two species of gentle lemurs are separated from the last on account of
their short, truncated muzzle, small and hairy ears, the small size of the
upper incisor teeth, which
Gentle Lemur are in contact with one
(Hapalemur). another, and with the can*
ine on each side, and like-
wise by the presence of four teats on the
breast of the female.
A third generic group, with several species,
is separated on account of the small size or
absence of the upper incisor
Sportive Lemur teeth, the bald ears, and the
(Lepidolemur). more elongated muzzle ; the
females having four teeth.
One species (Lepidolemur cauiceps) is by
some referred to a genus apart, under the
name of Mixocebm.
The galagos, which are confined to the
forests of the warmer parts of Africa, are
the typical representatives
Galagos of a third sub-family, readily
(Galago}. distinguished from the fore-
going by the great elongation of two of the bones of the
ankle-joint. The galagos themselves are characterised by the large naked
ears being capable of folding at the will of their owner; the long tail being
generally bushy, and the females having two teats on the breast and two on
the abdomen.
Galagos vary in size from that of a rat to that of a small cat. In habits
they are nocturnal and omnivorous ; and when they descend to the ground,
their progression is by hops, for which the structure of their hind-limbs is
specially adapted. The Senegal galago (Galago senegalensis), which goes
about the forest either singly or in pairs, makes a nest in the fork of a tree,
and in the daytime either retires to that resort, or reposes on a branch, with
its tail folded across its body and round its neck ; always being unwilling to
move, and staring with its great eyes at passing travellers.
The mouse-lemurs, which by many writers are divided into the genera
Chirogale, Microcebus, and Opolemur, although here all included under the
former name, are the Malagasy representatives of the
Mouse-Lemurs galagos, and include a large number of small-sized species.
(Chirogale). From the galagos they may be distinguished by the large
ears being hairy at the base, and incapable of folding. None
of these lemurs exceed a rat in size, and several of the species pass the dry
season in a state of torpor, which they are enabled to endure by previously
accumulating a large store of fat at the root of the tail. Such sleeps usually
take place in hollow trees, where the little animals carefully build a comfort-
able nest of grass and fallen leaves.
The remaining members of the Lemuridce form a fourth sub-family, agree-
ing with the typical one in the number of the teeth, but distinguished by
the second or index finger of the fore-paws being either very short or rudi-
APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS. 31
mental. While the fore and hind-limbs are of nearly equal length, the ankle-
joint is not specially elongated, the thumb and great-toe L 0r i s j
diverge widely from the other digits, and the tail is short or , y . ,
rudimental. In the female there are only two teats, which and .Z/o/v',$)
are situated on the breast. So great is the divergence of the
great-toe that it is commonly directed backwards. None of these lemurs are
found in Madagascar.
The lorisis, or slow lemurs, which are confined to the Oriental countries,
and have no external tail, but a perfect, although small, index finger, are
divided into the two genera Nycticebus and Loris ; the former being char-
acterised by the inner pair of upper incisor teeth being considerably larger
than the outer, and the comparative stoutness of the limbs ; whereas in the
latter both pairs of incisors are very small and of equal length, and ttoe
limbs are very long and slender. The slow lorises, as the members of the
first genus are called, range over the Malayan countries to Cochin-China,
while the slender loris is confined to Southern India and Ceylon. Both types
are small creatures, with very large eyes, slow in their movements, omnivor-
ous in their diet, and purely nocturnal.
In West Africa the lorisis are represented by two nearly allied animals
known as pottos, in which the index finger is reduced to a mere tubercle
without a nail ; the tail being sharp or rudimental. The
larger of these is the true potto (Perodicticus potto), the , p v 1 . ? .
awantibo (P. calabarensis) of Old Calabar being a rather (
smaller and more delicately made animal, with the index finger and tail more
rudimental than in the former. In their movements the pottos are even
slower than the lorises.
The second family of the Lemuroids is constituted by the two or three
species of tarsier, all of which are included in the single . _
genus Tarsius, and range from the Malayan countries to family
Celebes and the Philippines. Rather smaller than an Tarsiidcs
ordinary squirrel, the tarsiers may be recognised by their
enormous eyes and ears, long, thin, and
tufted tail, and long, slender limbs, in which
the ankle-joint is greatly lengthened. They
have 34 teeth ; and their dentition differs
from that of the typical lemurs in that the
first pair of upper incisor teeth are in con-
trast with one another in the middle line,
and that the anterior lower premolar is not
tusk-like. Tarsiers live on insects and
lizards, in search of which they may be
seen on moonlight nights hopping on the
boughs of trees in a curiously frog -like
manner. Fi Q- 16 -~ TARSIER (Tarsius spectrum)
The last of the existing lemurs is the remarkable aye-aye (Chiromys
madagascariensis ) of Madagascar, which likewise constitutes
a family by itself. It is about the size of a cat, and is dis- Aye-Aye. Family
tinguished from all the rest of its tribe by the structure of its Chiromyidce.
teeth, which are singularly like those of the Rodents ; each
jaw having a single pair of chisel-like incisors in front, followed after an
interval by the blunt cheek-teeth. The fore-paws are very large, with all the
fingers long and slender, but the middle, or third one, much more attenuated
MAMMALIA ORDER I.PRIMA TES.
than the rest ; and in the hind-foot all the digits except the great-toe have
curved claws. The ears and eyes are large, the tail is bushy, and the two
teats of the female are abdominal. The aye-aye feeds both upon sugar-cane
and large wood-boring caterpillars ; both its
teeth and the slender third finger being em-
ployed to extract the latter.
' At the present day, the lemurs of Madagascar
may be compared in point of size to small or
medium-sized monkeys, the largest of them the
short-tailed endrina not measuring much more
than two feet in length. The investigation re-
cently carried on by various explorers in the
island have, however, revealed the fact that up to
a very late period Madagascar was the home of a
lemur vastly exceeding in size any of the exist-
ing representatives of the group, and which in
this respect may be compared to the great West
African baboon known as the mandril. This
giant \Qm\iY{Me,galadapis, as it is called) is known
by the somewhat imperfect skull and lower
jaw, which are about three times the dimensions
of those of the endrina. The interest of this
animal is, however, by no means confined to its comparatively gigantic pro-
portions, since while its skull and teeth conform in their general structural
features to those of the existing members of the group, they are specially
modified in a manner altogether peculiar. The most strik-
ing peculiarity connected with the skull is the extreme
slenderness of the hinder portion containing the brain in
comparison with the great elongation of the face ; the latter
seeming out of all proportion to the former. In this respect,
indeed, the skull presents a curious resemblance to the dog-faced baboons of
Africa ; as it also does in the strongly-marked ridges it bears for the attachment
of powerful muscles. Such resemblances, however, it is almost needless to
observe, are merely superficial, and must by no means be taken as indicative
of any genetic relationship between the two groups ; and if a young skull
were forthcoming, it is probable that we should find this much less unlike
ordinary lemurs. Another peculiarity of the giant lemur is to be found in
the more lateral position and wider separation of the sockets of the eyes,
which are also relatively smaller than in existing forms, thus indicating that
the habits of the animal were less completely nocturnal than those of the
latter. The molar teeth of the upper jaw are characterised by the presence
of only three tubercles on the crown, owing to the fusion of the two inner
ones of the four-columned molars of ordinary lemurs ; a few of the smaller
existing species having, however, teeth of a nearly similar type. Although
in the type skull the front teeth are wanting, the form of their sockets shows
that they must have been very similar in general form to those of living
lemurs. In many respects the skull shows a marked resemblance to that of
the European Tertiary lemur known as Adapis, a feature of especial interest
in regard to the origin of the Malagasy fauna from that of the Eocene Period
in Europe.
The remains of the giant lemur were discovered in the great marsh of
Ambolisatra, and their slightly mineralised condition indicates their com-
Fi(f. 17. THE AYE-AYE
(Chiromys mactayascariensis).
Giant Extinct
Lemur
(Megaladapis).
THE BATS. 33
paratively recent age. Indeed, there is but little doubt that the creature
has been killed off within the human period, and in his history of Madagascar,
published in 1658, De Flacourt writes in the following terms of an animal
then inhabiting the island, which, if not actually the giant lemur, would
appear to have been a closely allied form. He writes that "the Tretretretre
or Tratratratra, is an animal of the size of a two-year-old calf, with a rounded
head and human-like face ; both fore and hind feet being like those of a
monkey. It has the hair wavy, the tail short, and ears like those of a
man. It resembled the Tanache described by Ambroise Pare*. It was seen
by the tank of Lipomani, in the neighbourhood of which was its abode. It
is a solitary creature, held in great terror by the natives, who flee when-
ever it comes in sight." With the exception of the rounded head and the size
(which is doubtless exaggerated), this description accords remarkably with
the giant lemur, and when the head was covered with fur, it is probable that
it would appear much less elongated than does the bare skull.
ORDER II. CHIROPTERA.
THE BATS.
THE second ordinal division of the Mammalia is that of the bats, or Chiroptera,
w r hich is the one most easily defined of all, seeing that in no other members
of the class are the limbs similarly modified for the purposes of flight, while
it is in these animals alone among the class that the power of true flight is
found. By true flight is meant the capacity of sustaining the body in the
air for an indefinite period by the shortness of the wings ; this being markedly
different from the spurious flight of such creatures as flying-foxes, whose pro-
gress through the air is due merely to a leap from a height aided by para-
chute-like expansions of the skin of the limbs and the sides of the body.
In the fore-limb or wing of a bat, the humerus or upper-arm bone is only
moderately elongated, but in the fore-arm the single bone corresponding to
the human radius has become greatly lengthened ; and this lengthening is
much more strongly marked in the case of the bones of the fingers, exclusive
of the thumb, all of which assume the form of very long and slender rods.
The thumb, which terminates in a hooked claw used for climbing and sus-
pension, remains free ; but the other four fingers are connected together by
the delicate, naked, leathery membrane of the wing, and mostly have neither
claws nor nails at the tip ; the longest of the whole five digits being the third
or middle finger. The membrane of the wing, or, as it is often called, pata-
gium, is continued up the arm and along the sides of the body to the hind-
legs, down which it extends ; while the two hind-legs are also connected by
another extension, which may embrace a considerable portion of the tail.
The membrane of the hind-legs is usually supported by a peculiar spur pro-
jecting from the foot ; but the toes, which are of normal proportions, remain
perfectly free from one another. Owing to the connection of the hind-limbs
with the membrane of the wings, the knee-joint is directed backwards instead
of forwards in the manner characteristic of all other terrestrial Mammals, and
this structure renders the movements of these animals on the ground so awk-
ward and shuffling. Bats always have very large and roomy chests, with
4
34 MAMMALIA ORDER ILCHIROPTERA.
well-developed collar-bones ; but the hind-quarters are feeble and weak. In
many bats the delicate sense of touch, by which they are enabled to avoid
coming into collision with objects when flying in the dark, appears to be
mainly situated in the wing-membranes and in the delicate skin of the fre-
quently large ears, the latter often having an inner earlet, or tragus.
In a large number of species there are, however, expansions of the skin in
the region of the nose ; these nose-leaves sometimes merely taking the form
of a triangular single or double plate standing up above the muzzle, whereas
in other cases they assume a marked appearance, covering a greater portion
of the face. These organs appear to be entirely sensory in function ; and it
is quite possible that bats may possess some special sense of which we have
no cognizance.
Ordinary bats have teeth very similar to those of the order Insectivora (the
next in the series), and there is no doubt that these animals are derived
from some early members of the latter group which have gradually become
adapted for true flight ; the transition having probably been effected by the
development of a parachute-like expansion of the skin of the sides of the
body and limbs. In habits all bats are nocturnal, and the majority are
insectivorous, although a few have taken to blood-sucking. There is, how-
ever, one important group the fruit-bats which are entirely frugivorous, and
in these the teeth have quite lost the cusped structure distinctive of ordinary
bats, and have assumed an altogether peculiar conformation. All the fruit-
bats are of comparatively large dimensions ; and in this group are included
the largest representatives of the entire order. A certain number of bats
have acquired the habit of licking out the honey from the corollse of flowers,
and for this purpose their tongues have become modified into elongated
protrusile organs, frequently terminating in a bush-like expansion of delicate
filaments.
Although one bat, at least, extends as far north as the Arctic circle, the
members of the order obtain their maximum development in tropical arid
subtropical countries ; and it is to such regions of the Old World that the
fruit-bats are confined, that group being entirely unknown in America.
The number of bats known to science is between four and five hundred,
which are arranged in rather more than eighty genera, distributed under six
family-groups. As bats are Mammals with which the ordinary student has
but little to do, this large assemblage will be treated much more briefly than
most of the other orders ; such genera as are mentioned not having separate
paragraphs to themselves.
Popularly known by the highly inappropriate title of flying-foxes, the
fruit-bats form not only a family by themselves, but likewise a subordinal
group differing from a second one, in which are contained all
Fruit-Bats. the members of the order. From other bats this group of
Family Ptero- Megachiroptera, as it is called, is chiefly distinguished by the
podidce. characters of the molar teeth, which have low, rounded
crowns, elongated in the antero-posterior direction, and
divided by a distinct longitudinal ridge ; such teeth being far better adapted
for fruit-eating than are the cusped molars of ordinary bats. From other
bats, fruit-bats are also distinguished by the structure of the wing, in which
there are three joints in the second or index finger, whereas in the other
members of the order the number of such joints is reduced to two, or even
one. Another peculiarity of the group is to be found in the complete circle
formed by the base of the conch of the ear ; while the tail, if present, is
THREATS. 35
short, and situated below the membrane between the hind-legs, with which it
may have no connection. In all cases the ears are small, and unprovided
with an inner tragus. Fruit-bats are confined to the warmer parts of the
Old World.
The common fruit-bats, or fox-bats (Pteropus\ forming the typical re-
presentatives of the family, are characterised by their
long and fox-like faces, the presence of 34 teeth, f ~~^-
ihe absence of a tail, and the thick coat of woolly
fur on the neck ; all being of large size. These bats
inhabit the Oriental countries, Madagascar, New
Guinea, and Australia, but are unknown in Africa.
The long lines in which they wend their way to
their feeding-grounds at evening are well known to
all resitlenters in tropical countries. From this genus
the tailed fruit-bats (Xantharpyia) may be distinguished
by the presence of a short tail, which is connected with
the membrane between the legs, as well as by their
smaller size, duller colours, and the absence of any
difference between the fur of the neck and that of the
body. These bats are common to the Oriental countries,
Syria, Africa, and Madagascar. In Africa south of the
Sahara the place of the common fruit-bats is taken by
the epauletted fruit-bats (Epomophorus), so called from
the tufts of long hair on the shoulders of the males. Their large and elon-
gated heads have a bluntly conical or truncated muzzle, large, flabby, and
extensive lips, and a tuft of white hair on the margin of each ear. While
some are tailless, others have a short tail, unconnected with the leg-membrane.
The tufts of hair on the shoulders of the males arise from long pouches oil the
sides of the neck. These bats are most abundant on the West Coast, where the
single species of the allied genus Scotonycteris is also found.
Another genus is formed by the short-nosed fruit-bats (Cynopterus),
ranging from India to the Philippine Islands, and distinguished by the short
and rounded muzzle, marked by a vertical groove, the reduction of the
teeth to 32 or 30, and their small size. Most of them have a short tail
connected with the membrane between the legs. Very curious are the two
species of tube -nosed fruit-bats (Harpyia), inhabiting the islands of
Celebes, New Guinea, North Australia, and New Ireland, and taking their
name from the production of the nostrils into a pair of tubes reaching a short
distance in advance of the blunt muzzle. Even more interesting is the cusp-
toothed fruit-bat (Pteralopex) of the Solomon Islands, since the cusps in its
molar teeth serve to indicate that all the fruit-bats have been derived from
insectivorous members of the order. Another group of the family, compris-
ing seven genera, among which Carponycteris may be selected as an example,
is distinguished by the great length of the extensile tongue, which terminates in
a number of papilla, and is probably employed for licking out the soft contents
of tropical fruits. Save that one species is found in West Africa, these bats
are confined to the Oriental and Australasian countries. They are all of com-
paratively small size, and have long and pointed faces, and the narrow molar
teeth scarcely projecting above the surface of the gums.
This exclusively Old World family is the first group of the ordinary bats, or
Microchiroptera, in which the molar teeth are usually surmounted by a number
of sharp cusps, and the food generally consists of insects. The other leading
36 MAMMALIA ORDER ILCHIROPTERA.
characteristics by which the sub-order is distinguished from the fruit-bats
have been already noticed under the heading of the latter. As a family, the
Khinolophidce ^are characterised by the presence of a weli-
Horse-shoe and developed nose-leaf surrounding the nostrils, which are
Leaf-nosed Bats, placed in a hollow on the muzzle, as well as by the large size
Family of the ears, in which an inner tragus is wanting, and which
Rhinolophidce. are generally quite separate from one another at the base.
The greater horse-shoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrum-equiuum) is
a familiar British representative of a very widely-spread genus, in which
there are 32 teeth, and the nose-leaf consists of two portions, namely a
horse-shoe-like moiety immediately over the nose, and a pointed one behind.
In the leaf-nosed bats (Hipposiderus), which
have, likewise, a wide range, and are repre-
sented by a large number of species, the
hinder portion of the nose-leaf is not
pointed, and there is no median portion
concealing the nostrils ; while the teeth
are reduced to 30 or 28 in number.
There are no European representatives of
the f e A bats which range over Africa, Asia,
and Australia. The most curious member
of the whole family is the flower-nosed bat (Anthops oriiatus) of the Solomon
Islands, in which the whole front of the face, save the eyes and lips, is
covered with a complex and ornate membrane, forming a complete mask to
the countenance.
The so-called false vampire bats (Megaderma) form one of two genera con-
stituting a family distinguished from the last by the presence of a large inner
tragus in the very long ears. In this genus, which is
False Vampire common to the Oriental countries and Africa, the muzzle is
Bats. Family surmounted by a rather tall nose-leaf ; whereas in the allied
NycteridcK. genus Nyctiris this appendage is almost wanting, and the
ears are not joined together to nearly such an extent as is
the case in the former, where their union extends nearly half their height.
With the exception of one Javan and Malayan species, and a second from
Egypt, all the members of the second genus are confined to Africa south of
the Sahara.
The typical bats form an extensive family, with a large number of genera
and species, ranging over botli the Eastern and Western Hemispheres; and it
is to this family that all the British bats, with the exception
Typical Bats. of the two species of the genus Rhinolophus, and likewise
Family Vesper- the majority of those inhabiting Europe generally, belong.
tilionidce. In this family the nose-leaf is wanting, so that the nostrils
form simple crescentic or circular apertures at the end of
the muzzle ; the comparatively long tail is included in the membrane join-
ing the hind-legs, and extends to its free edge, and the ear has a distinct
inner tragus. In the upper jaw the incisor teeth, of which there may be
either one or two pairs, are of small size, and separated by a gap in the
middle line ; but, with one exception, there are three pairs of the corre-
sponding lower teeth. Over one hundred and fifty species are known. The
long-eared bats (Plecotus), of which there is one species from the northern
portion of the Old World, and a second from North America, constitute a
genus characterised by the great length of the delicate ears, which are united
THE BATS. 37
for a short distance above the forehead, and the presence of grooves, re-
presenting an incipient nose-leaf on the muzzle just behind the nostrils.
When at rest, the long ears are folded
back, leaving the tragus alone standing
upright. In the allied genus (Synotus), of
which the barbastelle is the British repre-
sentative, .there are also only two species,
one of which is European and the other
Asiatic. They may be easily distinguished
from the long-eared bats by the shortness of
the ears, which are united for some distance
basally, and likewise by the reduction in the
number of the teeth from 36 to 34.
The pipistrelle, or common bat (Vesperugo pipistrellus), together with the
much larger noctule (F. noctula) and serotine (V. serotinciis), are British repre-
sentatives of a third genus, differing in several particulars from the two pre-
ceding. There are, for instance, no traces of grooves or foldings in the skin of
the nose, and the small ears are completely separate from each other. The
genus, which apparently contains a greater number of species than any other
in the order, has an almost cosmopolitan distribution, but is one somewhat
difficult to define, as some of its representatives approximate more or less to
other genera ; the number of teeth being either 30, 34, or 36. The more
typical kinds may be recognised by the relatively stout body, the broad, flat-
tened head and blunt muzzle, and the broad, short, and triangular ears, in
which the tragus is generally thickened and somewhat inclined outwards.
As a rule, the hind-legs are short, and the membrane connecting them with
the tail nearly always has an additional portion on the outer side of the spur on
the heel. Omitting notice of the genera Nycticejus and Chalinolobus, mention
must be made of the American genus Atalapha, of which the hoary bat (A.
cinerea) of the United States is a familiar representative. All members of
this genus have but a single pair of upper incisor teeth, and are further char-
acterised by the membrane between the hind-legs being more or less hairy.
Like other bats living in cold climates, the hoary bat hibernates during winter ;
this species selecting caves, to which it resorts in large numbers for the period
of torpor. Many European bats prefer, however, church-towers and roofs, or
outbuildings, while some select hollow trees, and it is a curious fact that in
the case of certain species the males and females associate in separate colonies.
An unusually warm day, even in mid-winter, will generally cause a certain
number of bats to awake from slumber and issue forth, after which they again
fall into the same torpor as before.
Among the numerous genera of this family, the tube-nosed bats (Harpyio-
cephalus), from hilly districts in the Oriental countries, Tibet and Japan,
deserve special mention, on account of the remarkable similarity be-
tween the structure of their nostrils and those of the tube-nosed fruit-
bats. In the present genus the tubes into which the nostrils are pro-
longed are, however, shorter and much more divergent than in the last-
named group.
Of the typical genus (Vespertilio}, which is only second in point of numbers,
there are four British representatives, among which Daubenton's bat (V. dan-
bentoni) is one of the best known. Those bats differ from the members of the
family already noticed in having upwards of 38 teeth, there being two pairs
of incisors in the upper jaw ; and they are specially distinguished by the circum-
38 MAMMALIA ORDER ILCHIROPTERA.
stance that these latter are so fixed in the jaw as to diverge from one another,
as well as by the cheek-teeth (that is to say premolars, and molars together)
forming three pairs in each jaw. A further distinctive feature is to be found
in the minute size of the second upper premolar tooth, while the ear has a
characteristic elongated oval form, and its inner tragtis is remarkably narrow.
The genus has a wide geographical distribution, being spread over the tem-
perate and tropical regions of both hemispheres. A bat belonging to this
genus (F. welivitschi) from West Africa, closely allied to the British Bechstein's
bat (F. bechsteini}, is remarkable for the circumstance that the wing-membranes
are coloured orange and black; the Indian F. hodyamii also having a very
similar type of coloration. Another Indian bat with black and orange wings
belongs to the genus Cerivoula, distinguished from Vespertilio by the upper
incisor teeth being vertical instead of divergent. A fourth peculiarly coloured
species is the West African Nycticejus albofuscus, belonging to a genus closely
allied to Vesperugo, and having the outer portions of the wing-membranes
dazzling white. In these abnormally coloured bats it appears that those in
which black and orange obtain are in the habit of reposing among the fruit
and leaves of various tropical trees, in which an orange ground is frequently
relieved by black spots.
Schreibers' bat (Miniopterus schreibersi), ranging from Germany to Japan
and Australia, is the only member of a genus differing from all those hitherto
noticed by the great elevation of the crown of the head above the face ; the
same feature also characterises the South American and West Indian
bats forming the genus Natalus. Two very curious bats belonging to this
family, and each forming a genus by itself, are remarkable for having
the feet furnished with adhesive discs, by which they are enabled to climb
smooth, polished surfaces. One of these is the tricolor bat (Thyroptera
tricolor) of Brazil, in which the suckers form circular discs on the lower
surface of the thumb and the sole of the hind-foot ; the second being the
golden bat (Myxopoda aurita) of Madagascar, in which the sucker on the
thumb is in the form of a horse-shoe, while those on the feet are of smaller
size. Both these bats are distinguished from all the other members of the
family by having three joints to the Miird or middle finger of the wing,
thereby resembling the undermentioned family Phyllostomatidce.
In the preceding families of the Microchiroptera the tail is enclosed in the
membrane connecting the two hind-legs, but in the two families of this group
still remaining for consideration, this appendage, when pre-
Free-tailed Bats, sent, generally either perforates the membrane in such a
Family manner that its free extremity appears on the upper extrem-
Emballonuridce. ity of the latter, or is produced considerably beyond the free
hinder margin of the same. Another feature is that- the
inner, and frequently the only, pair of upper incisor teeth, are of large size
and placed close together in the middle line ; and a third characteristic is to
be found in the circumstance that when the wing is at rest, the first joint of
the third finger is folded back upon the supporting metacarpal bone instead
of being extended forwards in the same line. In two species, each repre-
senting a genus by itself, the last-named characteristic is, however, wanting.
Only a single species cf these two families is met with in Europe, the second
family being exclusively American. In the members of the family Em-
ballonundce there are but two joints in the third finger of the wing, and
there is no distinct nose-leaf ; but, as a rule, the ear is furnished with a
small inner tragus, and there is but a single pair of upper incisor teeth,
THE BATS.
39
which are inclined towards one another. An oblique truncation of the
extremity of the snout causes the nostrils to project more or less in advance
of the extremity of the lower jaw. These bats are most abundant in the
zone lying thirty degrees on each side of the Equator ; and among them are
the only two indigenous Mammals found in New Zealand. Both in this
and the next family only a small proportion of the more interesting types
out of a very large number of genera will be noticed in this place.
The typical representatives of the family are the sheath-tailed bats
(Emballonura\ ranging from the Malayan countries to the Philippine Islands,
and also found from Madagascar to the Navigator group. They belong to a
group of several genera in which the free extremity of the slender tail
perforates the membrane between the legs, while the legs are relatively long,
and the upper incisor teeth are weak ; two pairs of these teeth being present
in this particular genus. Further distinctive characteristics of Emballonura,
are that there are 34 teeth, that the muzzle is more or less distinctly pro-
duced, the top of the head flat, the ears completely separate from each other,
and their tragus somewhat oblong and expanded above. Tropical America
is the home of the allied pouch-winged bats (Saccopteryx), all of which are
small-sized creatures, with only a single pair of upper incisor teeth, and a
peculiar glandular pouch on the under side of the wing in the neighbourhood
of the elbow- joint. These pouches, which are rudimental in the females,
appear to have a sexual function, and in one species a white frill of skin
protrudes from the aperture of each.
The tomb-bats (Taphozous) form another large genus, with representatives
in Africa, the Oriental countries, and Australia, and differ from other
members of the group in having only two pairs of lower incisor teeth, and
also in the shedding of the single upper pair in the adult condition. The
males, and in some cases also the females, of many species have glandular
pouches beneath the chin ; and some forms which hibernate for a long period
accumulate large deposits of fat about the root of the tail before retiring for
their torpor. The typical representative of the genus is found in large
numbers in the ancient tombs of Egypt.
The two species of white bats (Diclidurus) from Tropical America are worthy
of notice, on account of the yellowish or creamy-white colour of the tips of the
fur. Closely allied to the tomb-bats, they differ in having three pairs of lower
incisor teeth, while they are distinguished from all other bats by the presence
of a pouch on the under surface of the membrane between the hind-legs.
Two other bats from the same region, known as the hare-lipped bats (Noctilio),
take their name from the curious resemblance of their folded upper lips to
those of the Rodents, while one species is remarkable on account of its diet,
which consists mainly, if not exclusively, of small fish. Another peculiar
member of the same sub-family is the long-tailed bat (Rhinopoma microphyl-
lum\ ranging from North-Eastern Africa through India to Burma, and is
easily recognised by the very long, whip-like tail, which projects far beyond
the hinder margin of the extremely short membrane joining the hind-legs.
The mastiff-bats (Molossus), so named on account of their very broad and
wide-mouthed muzzles, are the first representatives of a second sub-family of
the JEmballonuridce characterised by the thickness of the tail, which, save in
one species, is produced a considerable distance beyond the free margin of the
membrane joining the legs. All have short, strong legs, very broad feet, and
callosities at the base of the thumbs, while there is only a single pair of incisor
teeth in the upper jaw. The hind-feet have no attachment to the wings, the
40 MAMMALIA ORDER ILCHIROPTERA*
membranes of which can be folded away between the arms and legs, while the
membrane joining the hind-legs can be drawn upwards along the tail ; and it
appears that all the members of the sub-family are better adapted for crawling
than are any other bats. The mastiff-bats are confined to Tropical and Sub-
Tropical America, and generally have 26 or 28 teeth, with two pairs of lower
incisors. The large ears, in which there is generally a small tragus, are
united at their bases ; the lips, in common with those of two allied genera,
are very large, and often thrown into pouches ; while the wings are remark-
ably long and narrow.
The large Malayan naked bat (Chiromeles torquata) takes its name from the
thick and puckered skin being almost entirely naked ; and is further peculiar
in that the large first hind-toe can be opposed to the other digits. But the most
curious feature about the animal is the presence of a large pouch on the under
surface of the body below the armpits, in which the young are carried during
the period of suckling. The object of this special development is sufficiently
apparent, since, owing to the absence of fur, the young would be quite unable
to cling to the body of the parent in the usual bat fashion. The muzzle of
this curious bat is remarkably long and pig-like ; and the rather large ears
are widely separated from one another. Although most abundant in Africa
south of the Sahara, the wrinkled - lipped bats, constituting the genus
Nyctinomus, are the most widely spread, and, at the same time, the most
numerously represented group of the present sub-family, being found in
India and Burma, China, Australia, New Guinea, Tropical America, and
Madagascar ; while a single species (N. cestoni) is found in Southern and
Central Europe, where it is the sole representative of the entire family.
Closely allied to the rnastiff-bats, the members of the present genus may be dis-
tinguished by the gap dividing the upper incisor teeth in the middle line, and.
likewise by the greater development of the wrinkles on the full, fleshy lips.
The last member of the family that will be mentioned is the New Zealand
bat (Mystacops tuberculatus), distinguished by having three joints to the
third finger of the wing, the first of which, when at rest, is folded back
beneath the metacarpal bone, instead of above it, as in the other members of
the family. Owing to a peculiarity in the structure of the wings, this species
is better suited for crawling than any other bat. The other species of bat
inhabiting New Zealand (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) belongs to a genus nearly
allied to Vesperugo, and is also found in Australia.
The great family of vampire-bats is exclusively confined to Tropical
America and the West Indies, and bears nearly the same relation to
the preceding family as is presented by the horse-shoe bats
Vampire-Bats. to the typical bats. In addition to the features common to
Jamily Phyllo- the Emballonuridce, all have three joints to the middle
stomatidce. or third finger of the wing, while there is either a well-
developed nose-leaf, or folds and warts are present on the
chin. A distinct tragus in the moderately-sized ears will always serve to
distinguish the numerous representatives of this family which have a nose-
leaf from the horse-shoe bats, without the necessity of counting the number
of joints in the middle finger of the wing. Vampire-bats are exceedingly
numerous, both as regards genera and species, so that only a few of the
former can be referred to here. All are strong flyers; but the various groups
present great differences in the nature of their food, some devouring insects
and fruits alike, while others are wholly frugivorous, and others again have
taken to a blood -sucking habit.
THE BA TS. 41
In two small genera of the family (Chilonycteris and Mormops) the nose-
leaf is wanting, and its place supplied by two or more lappets of skin hanging
from beneath the skin. One of these
chin-leafed bats (M. blainvillei) is remark-
able for its bright orange fur, and like-
wise for the extremely fragile structure
of the whole head and body. The harm-
less vampires (Vampirus) belong to a
group of genera in which the tail, when
present, perforates the membrane between
the legs, while the nose-leaf is spear-
shaped. The largest is the great vampire
(F. spectrum), from Brazil, in which the
expanse of wing is upwards of 28 inches ;
the tail being wanting. Apparently these
bats feed exclusively on fruits. Nearly Fig. 21. VAMPIRE-BAT (Desmodus rvfus).
allied are the three species of javelin-bats
(Phyllostoma), which may be distinguished from the harmless vampires by the
shorter and broader form of the muzzle, as well as by the reduction in the
number of the lower premolar teeth from three to two pairs. There is some
degree of doubt whether any of the javelin-bats are addicted to blood-sucking
propensities.
More remarkable than any of the family are the long-tongued vampires,
which are referred to several genera, such as Glossopkaga, Chceronycteris,
Phyllonycteris, etc., easily recognised by the narrow muzzle and the long,
slender, extensile tongue, tipped at the extremity with aensile papillse, and
capable of being protruded a long distance in advance of the tongue. Like
the javelin-bats, these vampires have a small spear-shaped jiose-leaf rising
vertically from the muzzle immediately between the nostrils. The tongue
appears to be used both to scoop out the soft interior of fruits, and likewise
to extract small insects from tubular flowers.
Another well-marked assemblage is formed by the short-nosed vampires,
of which there are no less than nine genera, and among which Artibeus and
Stenoderma may be mentioned by name. All these bats, which are for the
most part frugivorous in their diet, are distinguished by the extreme short-
ness of their muzzles, which are generally very wide, and are provided with a
short nose-leaf ; the fore-part of the latter being in the form of a horse-shoe,
and the hinder moiety spear-shaped. One of these species (Artibeus per-
spicillatus) is very common in the plantations of Jamaica, where it feeds on
mangoes, bread-fruit, etc.
The last representatives of this extensive family are the blood-sucking
vampires, of which one species alone constitutes the genus Desmodus,
while the latter represents another genus named Diphylla. Both these
bats are characterised by the short and conical form of the muzzle,
which carries a small nose-leaf, the shortness of the membrane be-
tween the hind-legs, the absence of a tail, and the small number and
peculiar structure of the teeth. In the first-named genus the total number
of teeth is 20, molars being wanting ; but in the second it is 22, owing
to the presence of a pair of rudimentary molars in the upper jaw. Both
have a single pair of broad chisel-like incisor teeth in the upper jaw,
which fill up the whole space between the tusks ; and the two pairs of
upper, and three pairs of lower premolars have sharp cutting edges. In
42 MAMMALIAORDER IILINSECTIVORA.
correlation with the nature of their diet, the stomach of these bats
is narrowed and elongated into a tube-like organ. The common vampire
(Desmodus rufus), ranging from Central America to the south of Brazil,
measures about three inches in length, and has reddish-brown fur on the
upper parts. The second species (Diphylla ecaudata) is rather smaller, and
confined to Brazil. These bats attack animals by shaving away the upper
layer of the skin from some bare part with their incisor teeth, and then suck
up the blood as it oozes from the capillary vessels.
ORDER III. INSECTIYORA.
INSECT- EATING MAMMALS.
THE third order of Mammals comprises a large number of mostly small-sized
insectivorous species, structurally nearly allied to the bats, but with the fore-
limbs of normal structure. With the exception of the tree-shrews and a few
aquatic species, they are all more or less completely nocturnal in their habits ;
but the group as a whole is one by no means easy of definition. As a rule,
they have five toes to each foot, all of which are furnished with claws, and
neither the thumb nor the great toe is capable of being opposed to the other
digits. In walking the whole sole of the foot is applied to the ground, in
what is termed the plantigrade manner. The crowns of their short upper
molar toeth are surmounted by a number of minute, sharp cusps, which may
be arranged either in the form of a W or a V ; and the incisor teeth, of which
there are not less than two pairs in the lower jaw, are never chisel-like, but
the first pair is often larger than the others. The canines, or tusks, are very
generally not distinctly larger than the other teeth ; and there is never a
pair of scissor-like cheek-teeth like those characterising the terrestrial
Garni vora. Except in one or two species, perfect collar-bones are developed ;
and the lobes of the brain are nearly smooth, thus indicating very low
mental powers. Externally, Insectivores very generally have long slender
and narrow snouts, with the muzzle projecting considerably beyond the ex-
tremity of the lower jaw ; and while many of them are coated with fur,
which may be harsh and rough, others have a covering of spines, or spines
mingled with fur.
As regards their geographical distribution, these Mammals present some
very curious features. In the first place, they are totally wanting in South
America, where their place is taken by the Marsupial opossums ; but they
are represented by a peculiar family, with one genus, in the West Indian
Islands. A more or less closely allied family occurs in Madagascar, where
there are also other peculiar types ; and the order is distributed over North
America and all the great continents of the Old World, although absent from
Australia and Papua. From geological evidence, coupled with its abundance
in Madagascar, the order is evidently an ancient one ; and its existing members
have probably been enabled to survive either by their small size and nocturnal
habits, their protective armour of spines, or from dwelling in countries
where the larger Carnivora are either absent or but few in number, or by having
taken to a subterranean mode of life. Whereas the majority of the Insectivora
are terrestrial, the flying-lemurs are arboreal, and able to take flying leaps
INSECT-EATING MAMMALS.
43
from tree to tree ; the tree-shrews are also arboreal ; the moles and some of
the shrews, on the other hand, are burrowers ; and the desmans, certain
shrews, and the African / otamogale are aquatic in their habits.
From all other members of the order the so-called flying-lemurs, or cobegos,
are at once distinguished by the presence of an expansion of the skin of the
sides of the body connecting the fore and hind -limbs, and _.
also by the toes of both feet being webbed right up to the Flvinff Lemurs
sharp and curved claws. The hind-legs are likewise con- Family
nected together in a similar manner ; the connecting skin Galecpithecidce .
involving the whole of the long tail. Another remarkable
feature is to be found in the conformation of the incisor teeth, which in both
jaws are flattened from back to front, the upper ones being cusped, while
the lower ones differ from those of all other
Mammals in being of a comb-like structure.
The cobegos, of which there are two species
belonging to the single genus Galeopithecus,
range from Tenasserim through the Malayan
Peninsula and Islands to the Philippines and
Siam. Unlike the ordinary members of the
order to which they are assigned, they subsist
mainly on leaves and fruits. During the day-
time they hang head-downwards in a bat-like
manner from the boughs or stems of trees ;
but at dusk and during the night pass from
tree to tree in long flying leaps, supported
by the parachute, such leaps being at times
as much as seventy yards in length. In size,
the common Malayan species may be com-
pared to an ordinary cat. Owing to their
great structural differences from the other
members of the order, the cobegos are regarded as forming a sub -order
by themselves, under the name of Dermoptera; all the other forms con-
stituting a second subordinal group known as the Insectivora Vera.
The tree-shrews, or tupaias, of the Oriental countries, are the first of a
group of five families characterised by having broad upper molar teeth, upon
the summits of which the numer- Tree _ S i lreWB _
ous small cusps are arranged more Family
or less in the shape of the letter TupaiidcB
W. In appearance the tree-
shrews, except as regards their long, pointed
muzzles, are so like small squirrels, that they
might easily be mistaken for those animals ;
and this resemblance, together with their arboreal
habits, is one of the features by which they
are most easily recognised. From the next
family they may be distinguished by the socket of
the eye being completely surrounded by bone in
the skull, and likewise by the metatarsus, or upper
portion of the hind-foot, being of normal propor-
tions. They are all animals of small size, with thick fur, short ears, and
the long tail either bushy throughout or with a pen-like expansion near the
end. Tree-shrews subsist on both insects and fruit, taking the latter in
Fig. 22. THE FLYING-LEMUR
( Galeopithecums volans).
Fig. 23. TREE-SHREW
(Tupaia tana).
44 MAMMALIA ORDER IILINSECTIVORA.
their fore-paws and sitting up to devour it in a squirrel-like manner.
Although chiefly arboreal, they at times seek their food on the ground.
The typical tree-shrews (Tupaia), which range from India to the Philippines,
and are represented by a large number of species, have the long tail bushy
throughout, although the longer hairs are arranged on the upper and lateral
surfaces, the under side being short-haired. Two species, of which one is
from Borneo and the other "from Siam, have been separated as Dendrogale,
although this scarcely seems necessary. Very distinct is, however, the beauti-
ful little pen-tailed shrew (PtUocercus lowi) of Borneo and some of the
adjacent islands, in which the exceeding long tail is evenly short-haired for
the greater portion of its length, although towards its extremity it bears a
double row of long hairs, arranged like the vanes of a feather. This little
creature measures between five and six inches to the root of the tail, which
is considerably longer than the head and body.
In Africa south of the Sahara the place of the tree-shrews is taken
by the terrestrial jumping-shrews, one species of the typical genus
ranging into Northern Africa. From the tree-shrews these
Jumping 1 - Shrews, animals differ not only by their terrestrial habits, but also
Family by the elongation of the rnetatarsal segment of the hind-foot,
Macroscdididce. which enables them to take the leaps from which they derive
their name ; and likewise by the bony rim of the socket of
the eye being incomplete behind. The tail also is not bushy. In the typical
genus the snout is elongated so as to form a short proboscis, on which
account the name of elephant-shrew is applied to these
creatures.
In the typical jumping-shrews (Macrosceddes) the
number of teeth is usually 42, and there are five toes
on the fore-foot and generally the same number on the
hind-foot ; while the ears are large, and the tail is naked
and rat-like. In one species (M. tetradactylus\ from the
Mozambique Coast, there are, however, but 40 teeth,
while the number of toes on the hind-foot is reduced to
four ; and on this account the animal is generically sepa-
rated by some as Petrodomus. A very distinct genus is
formed by the long nosed jumping-shrews (Rkynchocyon)
Fig. 24. A JUMPING- from the East Coast of Africa, in which there are only
SHREW (Macroscelides). 33 ^^ and bufc four toes fco b()th the _f ront and hind .
feet. The hind-legs are also relatively shorter. Unlike the tree-shrews, the
members of this family are nocturnal in their habits.
In the three remaining families of the group with the cusps on
the upper molars arranged in the form of the letter W, the brain-cavity is
relatively smaller than in the two preceding families, and
Hedgehog Tribe, the union of the front portion of the lower part of the
Family pelvis in the middle line of the body either shorter or
ErinaceidcB. altogether wanting, while not only has the socket
of the eye no complete bony ring, but even the post-
orbital process found in the jumping-shrews is totally absent. Although
the hedgehogs themselves are easily distinguished from the other members
of the group by their spiny covering, this is not the case with their more
rat-like allies the gymnuras ; and accordingly other characters have to be
sought in order to define the family Erinaceidce. In all save one species the
feet are five-toed and furnished with claws adapted for digging ; while the
INSECT-EATING MAMMALS. 45
first and second upper molar teeth have five distinct cusps, the central one of
which is minute. and connected with the two inner ones by oblique ridges.
The family is confined to the Old World.
The hedgehogs (Erinaceus) are sufficiently distinguished by the coat of
spines covering the upper surface and sides of the body, and their power of
rolling themselves up into a ball as a defence against attack, and are likewise
such familiar animals, that but little in the way of description is neces-
sary. The tail is extremely short ; and the total number of teeth is 36.
Hedgehogs are distributed over the greater part of Europe and portions of
Africa and Asia, although unknown in the countries lying east of the Bay of
Bengal, and likewise in Madagascar. The European species (E. europceus)
differs from all the others by the coarser nature of the fur between the spines,
and by the upper canine tooth being inserted by one instead of two roots.
In habits, all hedgehogs are nocturnal and omnivorous, their diet comprising
insects, molluscs, eggs, voles, fruits, and roots. In cold countries they hiber-
nate in a nest made of leaves and grass, and well concealed among bushes.
The shrew-hedgehogs, which may be compared to large, coarsely-haired
shrews, replace the hedgehogs in Burma and the Malay countries. They
differ from the latter by being covered with
coarse hair instead of spines, as well as in
having 44 teeth. There are two species,
of which Raffles' s shrew-hedgehog (Gymnura,
rafflesi) is by far the commoner, and con-
siderably the larger, measuring 12 or 14
inches to the root of the tail, which is long
and rat-like. The smaller shrew-hedgehog
(Hylomys suillus\ on the other hand, measures
less than 5 inches, with a tail of only an inch
in length, and has the third upper premolar .--
tooth much smaller than in the first species. (Gymnura rafflesi).
The range of both is nearly co-extensive.
The numerous representatives of this extensive family are mouse-like or
rat-like creatures, with soft, short fur, long and pointed snouts, rounded
ears, closely pressed to the sides of the head, and a very
peculiar type of dentition. From ordinary rats and mice The Shrews.
they may be distinguished by their typically insectivorous Family
snouts ; but it is remarkable that a peculiar rat recently dis- Soricidce.
covered in the Philippines is curiously like a shrew in this
respect, although it retains the characteristic rodent incisor teeth, which are,
however, reduced to an exceedingly small size. As regards their dentition,
shrews are specially characterised by the first pair of upper incisor teeth being
long and generally sickle-shaped, with a more or less distinct projecting basal
cusp on the hinder border, while those of the lower jaw are long, and projecting
forwards, in some cases with an upward curve at the tip. With the excep-
tion of one African species, there are only six pairs of lower teeth. A pecu-
liarity of the skull of the shrews is the absence of the bony zygomatic arch
running beneath the socket of the eye, although the same deficiency is found
in one species of hedgehog. The upper molars of the shrews lack the fifth
cusp found in the first two of these teeth in the hedgehogs.
The shrews are not only more numerous in genera and species than any
other family of the order to which they belong, but have likewise a much
wider geographical distribution, being found over the greater part of Europe.
46 MAMMALIA ORDER III.INSECTIVORA.
as well as in the temperate and tropical portions of Asia and North America,
and also in Africa, although they are represented in Madagascar only by a
single species, which is not improbably introduced. Although the majority
of the shrews are terrestrial and nocturnal in their habits, a few have taken
to an aquatic mode of life. They are all very shy and retiring, which is prob-
ably their chief protection ; and their food is entirely composed of insects,
worms, molluscs, and such like. Many shrews exhale a strong, musky odour ;
and at certain times of the year many of these animals are found lying dead
in the open, the cause of this mortality not being at present clearly ascer-
tained. Although it may seem a trivial character, the circumstance of the
teeth being stained reddish-brown, or simply white, serves to divide the
shrews into two groups.
The typical shrews, or those forming the genus Sorex, belong to the group
with reddish teeth, and are specially characterised by having 32 teeth, the ear
well-developed, and the long tail covered with hairs of equal or nearly equal
length. The range of the genus includes North America, Europe, and Asia
north of the Himalaya ; its British representatives being the common shrew
(S. arauens) and the lesser shrew (S. pygmceus). Although shrews hibernate,
specimens have been occasionally seen running over the snow in mid- winter.
The Oriental shrews (Soriculus), which are the only representatives of the
red-toothed group in that region, are nearly allied ; but they have generally
only 30 teeth, and the first upper incisor has an inner cusp. Nearly allied
are two Mexican species constituting the genus Notiosorex, and characterised
by having only 28 teeth and no inner cusp to the first upper incisor, the tail
being also shorter. A larger American genus is Blarina, which is mainly
confined to the northern part of that continent, although a few forms descend
into Central America. Here the number of teeth varies from 30 to 32, while
the ear is truncated above and the tail short, the other characters being the
same as in Soriculus. The water-shrews (Crossopus), which are the last repre-
sentatives of the red-toothed section, have 30 teeth, small, non-truncated ears,
the long tail fringed on its lower surface with elongated hairs, and the feet
also fringed. The single species (C. fodiens) is thoroughly aquatic, and ranges
from England to the Altai Mountains.
Certain shrews from Africa constituting the genus Myosorex are the first
representatives of the white-toothed section, and are specially characterised
by having well-developed ears, a long tail clothed with nearly or quite equal
hairs, and either 30 or 32 teeth, one minute species being unique in having
seven pairs of lower teeth. More numerous are the well-known musk-shrews
(Crocidura), differing from the last in having 28 or 30 teeth, and the long
tail covered with a mixture of long and short hairs. These shrews range from
South and Central Europe to Africa and Asia, reaching as far east as Amurland,
and being represented by one species in Madagascar. Out of some 80 species
one of the best known is the Indian musk-shrew (C. c<xrulea\ commonly
known as the musk-rat, of which the odour is so strong that every article of
food is rendered uneatable by the mere passage over it of the animal. The
Kirghiz shrew (Diplomesodon pulchellus) alone represents a genus differing
from the last by the shorter tail, the hairy soles of the feet, and the presence
of only 26 teeth. The two mole-shrews (Anurosorex), of which one is from
Assam and the other from Tibet and China, are peculiar in being of fossorial
habits, and may be distinguished by the absence of the external conch
of the ear, the short tail, the naked soles of the scale-covered feet, and the
velvety fur. The two remaining genera are aquatic, and thus occupy in this
INSECT-EATING MAMMALS. 47
section a position similar to that held by the water-shrew in the red-toothed
division of the family. Of these, the swimming shrews (Cfiimarroyale) are
represented by one species from the Himalaya, the hills north of Burma, and
the mountains of North Borneo, and by a second from Japan. They have
28 teeth, the long tail with a fringe of elongated hair beneath, small ears, and
the toes free. On the other hand, the web-footed shrew (Nectogale elegans)
of Tibet, while agreeing with the last in the number of its teeth, differs in the
absence of external ear-conches, its webbed toes, and in the development of the
pads on the soles of the hind- feet into adhesive suckers, the tail being longer
than the body. Probably this shrew is more completely aquatic than any
other member of the family. Its eyes are very minute, and the dark velvety
fur of the upper parts displays a beautiful iridescent lustre.
Although the common mole is sufficiently distinct from a shrew, other
forms so closely connect the Talpidce with the Soricidce that internal char-
acters have to be relied on to distinguish the two families. The
present family may, however, be differentiated from the last The Desmans and
by the presence of a bony zygomatic arch in the skull, and Moles. Family
likewise by the development of a distinct auditory bulla in Talpidce.
the same, as well as by the conformation of the teeth. The
eyes are always small, and may be covered by the skin ; the short ears are
buried in the dense fur ; the fore-limbs are generally modified either for dig-
ging or swimming ; there is no median union of the pubic portion of the
pelvis on the under surface of the body ; in the lower leg the tibia and
fibula are welded into a single bone ; and the first pair of incisor teeth in
each jaw are of simple structure, and the lower pair do not project forwards.
Thf- range of the family includes the temperate portions of Europe, Asia, and
North America, two moles only occurring south of the Himalaya. A few
species are cursorial, and the desmans are aquatic, but the majority of the
family are fossorial in their habits.
The two species of desman (Myogale) are the typical representatives of a
section of the family in which the collar-bones and humerus or upper arm
bone, are moderately elongated, and the front
paws have no additional sickle-shaped bone.
As a genus, the desmans are specially distin-
guished by the possession of 44 teeth, their
webbed feet, the long, trunk-like snout,
which projects far in advance of the upper lip,
and the long scaly tail. The Russian desman
(M. Moschata), which measures about 16
inches in length, has a compressed tail ;
whereas in the much smaller Pyrenean species
(M pyrenaica) the tail is cylindrical, and the
snout relatively longer Both inhabit the ^.-RUSSIAN DESMAN
banks of rivers and lakes, are excellent (Myogale moschata).
swimmers, and live on water-insects and snails.
The shrew-moles, of which there are two genera, form a connecting link
between the moles and shrews. In Urotrichus, of which there is one
Japanese and one North American species (the latter being separated by
some as Neurotrichus), there are 36 teeth, and the broad fore-paws are adapted
for digging ; whereas in the single Tibetan species of Uropsilus there are
34 teeth, the fore-paws are narrow, and the tail is naked and scaly.
The North American web-footed moles (Sccdops) belong to the second
48 MAMMALIA ORDER IILINSECTIVORA.
division of the family, in which the collar-bones and humerus are very short
and wide, and the fore-paws are furnished with an additional sickle-like bone
next the thumb. In this genus the tip of the snout is simple, the hind-foot
webbed, the tail short and nearly naked, and the first upper incisor tooth
longer than the second. Curiously enough, in spite of their webbed hind-
feet, these animals are not aquatic, but subterranean in their habits, burrow-
ing after the manner of the ordinary mole. The two North American hairy-
tailed moles (Scapanus) differ in having 44 teeth, and the tail hairy. Having
the same number of teeth as the last, the star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata)
of North America is sufficiently distinguished by the curious star-like ring of
appendages surrounding the extremity of the muzzle. The tail is nearly equal
in length to the body ; and the front-paws are less powerful than in the true
moles, and have no cleft in the bones of their terminal joints.
From all the American representations of the section the true moles
(Taipei) of the Old World may be at once distinguished by the first pair of
upper incisor teeth scarcely exceeding the second in size. As a rule,
there are 44 teeth, and the fore-paws are characterised by their extra-
ordinary width and power ; the tail being very short, and in a Nepalese
species (T. micrura) concealed by the fur. With the exception of the
common mole (T. enropwa), the eyes are covered by a membrane; and in all
they are functionally useless. The appearance and habits of the moles are
too well known to need description. The common species, although un-
known in Ireland, ranges from England to Japan, and a second European
species (T. cceca) is found to the south of the Alps. The other seven species
are exclusively Asiatic, two only occurring to the south of the Himalaya, one
of which inhabits Nepal and Assam. By some the Tibetan musk-mole
(T. moschata) is generically separated as Scaplochirus. The only other member
of the family is the yellow-tailed mole (Scaptonyx fuscicaudatus) of Eastern
Tibet, which differs from the true moles in having only two pairs of lower
incisor teeth, and also in the narrower fore-feet, thus approximating to the
shrew-moles.
Two very remarkable Insectivores, the one from Western Africa, and the
other from Madagascar, differ from all the preceding, and agree with the
following families in having narrow upper teeth, with their
Family Pota- cusps arranged in the form of the letter V ; this section
mogalidce. being apparently less specialised than the one in which they
form a W. In the skull the zygomatic arch is wanting, and
the auditory bulla is represented by a simple ring ; collar-bones are want-
ing; and the pubic portion of the pelvis is united inferiorly only by ligament.
The African Potamogale is a thoroughly
aquatic creature, measuring about two
feet in length, with 40 teeth, a long
cylindrical body, long and compressed
tail, short legs, unwebbed feet, and the
nostrils with protecting valves. In colour
it is dark brown above, with violet re-
flexions, and whitish below. Very differ-
ent is the small mouse-like Geogale of
Madagascar, which has oidy 34 teeth, and
Ftg.W.-Potamogalevelox. ^ differg in having fche l ower en ds of
the tibia and fibula in the leg separate, although it is not known whether
collar-bones are present.
INSECT-EATING MAMMALS. 49
Two curious Insectivores, one inhabiting Cuba and the other Hayti, form
the genus Solenodon, which alone represents a family agreeing in the general
characters of the teeth and skull with the last, but differing
in that there is a short bony union between the pubic por- Family Solen-
tion of the pelvis ; and also in that the teats are situated on odontidce.
the buttocks. These animals have a very long cylindrical
snout, with the nostrils opening on its sides, a long naked tail, feet adapted
for walking, and the fur long and coarse. They resemble Potamogale in
having the second pair of lower incisor teeth much larger than the first, but
are peculiar in that the crowns of the former are deeply excavated. These
animals probably feed on flesh as well as on insects.
The tenrecs of Madagascar and the Comoro Islands, of which there are
five genera and a considerable number of species, constitute another closely
allied family, mainly distinguished from the last by the teats
being situated on the breast and abdomen. The true tenrec The Tenrecs.
(Centetes ecaudatu&\ which is the largest member of the Family
order and the sole member of its genus, is characterised by Centetidce.
the absence of a tail, and the possession of 40 teeth, among
which there are four pairs of upper molars the latter feature being almost
unique among Mammals other than the Marsupials. The adult males differ
from most Insectivores in possessing large
tusks in both jaws ; and while the young have
long rows of white spines along the back,
these disappear in the adult. The total length
of a full-grown specimen varies from 12 to 16
inches. The number of young produced at a
birth is very great, upwards of twenty-one
having been recorded in one instance. Nearly _.
allied are the two species of streaked tenrecs ,** *-*> (Centetes ecaudate).
(Hemicentetes), distinguished by having three in place of two pairs of upper
incisor teeth, and probably only three of upper molars, as well as by the
smaller dimensions of the canines, which scarcely exceed the incisors in size.
In these animals, which may be compared in size to a mole, the rows of
spines on the back are permanently retained. The small animals known as
hedgehog-tenrecs (Ericulus) take their title from their resemblance to minia-
ture hedgehogs, although it is probable that they are incapable of rolling
themselves into such a complete ball-like form as are the latter. The whole
of the back and sides are protected by a coat of parti-coloured short spines ;
and these animals are further distinguished by the possession of a short tail.
While in one species (E. setosus) the number of teeth is 36, in the
second (E. telfairi) it is reduced to 34. By some the latter is made
the type of a distinct genus, under the name of Echinops. The two mouse-
like long-tailed tenrecs, forming the genus Microgale, differ from all tho
foregoing in the absence of spines in the fur at all ages, and likewise by the
extraordinary length of the tail, which in one of the two is double that of
the head and body. The number of teeth is 40. Lastly, the two mole-
like rice-tenrecs (Oryzorictes), while agreeing with the preceding genus in the
absence of spines among the fur, differ by the shortness of the tail and
their burrowing habits. Whereas in one species (0. hova) the fore-foot
has the usual five toes, in the other (0. tetradactylus) the number is
reduced to four, of which the three inner ones are armed with strong
digging claws. These animals do much harm to the rice crops in Mada-
5
50 MAMMALIA-ORDER IV. CARNIVORA.
gascar by burrowing beneath the roots of the plants in search of insects
and grubs.
The last family of the Insectivora is represented by the golden or Cape
moles (Chrysochioris)) which take their name from the iridescent golden,
green, and purple metallic tints adorning the fur; and all of
Golden Moles, which are restricted to South and East Africa. From the
Family preceding families of the present section of the order the
Chrysocliloridce. golden moles are distinguished by the possession of a bony
zygomatic arch and auditory bulla in the skull; and their
triangular molar teeth are remarkable for the height of their crowns. In
form, these animals are shorter and thicker than ordinary moles, with the
head deeper, and the muzzle much more blunt. The eyes are covered with
skin, and the ears completely buried in the
fur. The fore-feet are modified into special
digging instruments, and have but four
toes, of which the middle pair are provided
with large and powerful triangular claws.
Usually there are 40 teeth, although in
some species the number is reduced to
Fig. 29.-CAPE GOLDEN MOLB 86 > in 3, to **". loss * th ant erjor
(Chrysochloris). premolars in eacli jaw. I he golden moles
x burrow in much the same manner as the
European mole, but their runs are made so little below the surface that the
earth is raised as a continuous ridge, and no hillocks are thrown up, Like
the common mole, they feed almost exclusively on earth worms.
ORDER IV. CARNIYORA.
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS.
THIS great and important order of Mammals includes all the terrestrial beasts
of prey, together with the aquatic seals and walruses. Although their car-
nivorous propensities form one of the most distinctive features of the
majority of the members of the order, ifc must not be assumed that by any
means all the Garni vora are exclusively flesh-eaters, many of the bears feeding
largely on fruits and roots, while some of the smaller forms subsist largely
on insects. Whether the typical Carnivora are more highly organised animals
than the Primates, is a matter regarding which different views may be
entertained ; but it is certain that for their particular mode of life these
animals have attained the highest development of which the Mammalian type
is capable, and the beauty of form and coloration of the larger cats, as well
as their extreme agility, cannot but draw forth the admiration of all. A
striking feature of Carnivora in general is the wide geographical range of
families, genera and species, and the large number of specific types by which
the former are represented ; the order presenting in this respect a most
marked contrast to the Insectivora, in which, as shown above, most of the
families and genera have an exceedingly limited distribution, while the
number of species contained in a genus is usually very small. The reason
of this is obvious. Carnivora are enabled to obtain suitable prey in every
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 51
part of the globe, and there is, in consequence, practically no limit to tho
range over which a species may extend itself ; while being dominant forms,
the number of species in a genus has naturally multiplied to a great extent.
As might be expected in such a case, the different species of many large
genera display a marked tendency to variation, so that there is frequently
much difficulty in deciding as to what constitutes a species, and what a mere
variety ; this being remarkably exemplified among the great groups of the
cats and foxes.
Although certain extinct forms, of which no further mention will be made
in this volume, tend to connect them with the Insectivora, the modern Car-
nivora form a tolerably well-defined group, which would, however, be easier
of definition were the seals and walruses referred to a separate order.
Throughout the group the number of toes is very generally five, and never
falls below four on each foot ; and in all cases these toes are armed with
claws, which are usually curved and sharp, and bear no resemblance to nails.
Neither the equivalent of the thumb or the great toe of the Primates can be
in any way opposed to the other digits. Very frequently collar-bones are
wanting, and in no instance are they complete ; that is to say, they never
connect the blade-bone, or scapula, with the breast-bone, as they do in the
Primates and Insectivora (except the Potamogalidce). The teeth, which are
divisible into the ordinary four series, are generally well-developed ; the
number of incisors being usually three on each side of both jaws, and the
outer pair, especially in the upper jaw, is considerably longer than either of
the other two. The canines almost invariably form large tusks ; and the
more anterior, or the whole of the cheek-teeth have compressed and pointed
crowns, frequently consisting of one large central cone, supported by a
smaller cusp in front and behind. In the terrestrial Carnivora the last
premolar in the upper, and the first molar in the lower jaw, are
specially modified to bite against one another with a scissor-like action,
and are accordingly spoken of as the carnassial, or sectorial teeth.
These teeth attain their maximum specialisation and perfection among
the cats : whereas in the bears and some of the raccoon family their
sectorial character is much less marked, although it is still noticeable. On
the other hand, in the seals and walruses all the cheek-teeth are nearly alike,
and are generally cusped and sharp -pointed throughout the series, although
blunt in the latter family. The modification of the limbs into flippers affords,
however, an easy method of distinguishing the whole of the seal group from
other Mammals. As a rule, when the number of cheek-teeth is reduced below
the normal, the reduction takes place at the hinder, or molar end of the series,
whereas in most other Mammals it is the anterior premolars that tend to
disappear.
In the skull of all Carnivores the lower jaw is articulated by a transversely-
extended sub-cylindrical condyle, clasped in front and behind by two over-
lapping processes from the skull itself, which are sometimes so prominent as
(in the badger) to prevent the dislocation of the lower jaw without fracturing
the bone. Very generally, the socket of the eye is freely open behind, al-
though in certain cats and the mungooses it is surrounded by a complete bony
ring. The zygomatic arch, so frequently absent in the Insectivora, is almost
invariably well developed in the present order. A peculiarity in the wrist-
joint of all the Carnivora is that the two bones known as the scaphoid and
lunar, forming the inner and upper elements of the upper row of this part
of the skeleton in other Mammals, are here fused together to form but a
MAMMALIAORDER IV. CARNIVORA.
single bone. Moreover, the central bone of the wrist, which is present in all
the Primates, save man and some of the man-like apes in the Carnivora, is
invariably lacking. From the Insectivora the Carnivora are further distin-
guished by the numerous convolutions on the surface of the large hemispheres
of the brain.
In common with the three following families of the terrestrial Carnivora, the
cats are distinguished from the other members of the order by certain very im-
portant structural features connected with the hinder part of
The Cat Tribe. the base of the skulL In all these families that chamber of
Family Felidcu. the inner ear known as the auditory bulla forms a thin blad-
der-like expansion, divided (except in the hyaenas) into two
compartments by a vertical bony partition ; while the bony auditory meatus,
or tube, leading into this bulla, is remarkable for its shortness. From their
allies, existing cats are distinguished by the strong development of the canine
teeth, by the molar teeth never exceeding one pair in both the upper and
lower jaws, and also by the three pairs of incisors occupying the same trans-
verse line, instead of the middle pair being pushed up above the level of the
other two. The single upper molar is a flat functionless tooth, with its
crown considerably wider than long, and placed on the inner side of the
upper carnassial, which consists of three distinct lobes. The lower molar, or
carnassial, is a highly specialised tooth, usually consisting solely of a two-lobed
cutting blade, although in a few species a small ledge on its hinder surface
represents the large heel characterising the same tooth in most other members
of the order. There are three upper and two lower premolars ; the last in
the upper jaw being the carnassial, and the first small and functionless. The
skull, in conformity with the shape of the head, is characterised by the short-
ness of its facial portion and the great width of the zygomatic arches. The
general form of the cats is too well known to need description ; but it may
be mentioned that the fur is generally thick and close, and that its markings
usually take the form either of dark transverse stripes, spots, rosettes, or
dark-margined cloudings on a lighter ground. As a rule, the tail is long,
cylindrical, and tapering ; while it is very frequently marked with dark and
light rings. In the extreme elongation of the body, a few cats, like the
South American eyra, approximate to the civet-tribe ; but, in most cases, the
body is of moderate length, and the limbs by no means remarkably short. All
cats have five front and four hind toes, the first front toe being raised- above
the others. They walk on the tips of their toes, in the digitigrade manner ;
and in the great majority the claws are capable of complete retraction within
hollow horny sheaths, by specially arranged muscles, and are thus always kept
sharp and fit for use. In the hunting-leopard this, however, is not the case,
and thab animal is accordingly referred to a genus apart from the one con-
taining the whole of the other species. The tongue cf cats is remarkable
for the rough rasping papillae with which its upper surface is coated ; and in the
eye the pupil, when contracted, frequently assumes the form of a vertical slit.
With the exception of New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand, cats have
a world- wide distribution, and inhabit all climates and stations, save the ex-
treme north.
The typical cats (Ftlis\ which include about forty-six different species, and
have a distribution co-extensive with that of the family, are characterised by
the claws being capable of withdrawal into the aforesaid protecting sheaths,
and likewise by the presence of a distinct tubercle on the inner side of the
upper carnassial tooth. The largest and most powerful members of the genus
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 53
are the lion (F. Zeo), common to Africa, Persia, and India, although rapidly
disappearing from the latter country ; the tiger (F. tigris), ranging from
India to China and Siberia, although unknown in Ceylon ; the leopard or
panther (F. pardus\ also common to Asia and Africa ; the snow-leopard, or
ounce (F. undo) of Central Asia ; the jaguar (F. onca) of South and Central
America ; and the puma (F. concolor), which has the widest range in latitude
of any animal, extending from the south of Patagonia to the Great Slave
Lake. Of these, the lion and puma are uniformly tawny -coloured species,
although showing traces of spots in the young state and sometimes in certain
lights even in the adult ; the male lion being distinguished from all other
members of the genus by the large mane (which may be dark coloured),
covering the head, neck, and shoulders, and the tuft at the tip of the tail,
in which is a small horny claw of unknown function. The tiger has
double transverse black stripes on an orange or tawny ground ; while all
the other species named are marked by dark rosettes or rings on a light
ground. In both the leopard and jaguar the central portion of the rosette
is darker than the general ground colour of the fur ; but whereas in
the former the rosettes form simple rings, in the latter there is one or more
solid black spots in the centre. On the head and limbs the spots are solid,
and the tail is ornamented with rings. In the ounce the fur is much longer
than that of the ordinary leopard, and the Siberian variety of the tiger differs
in the same manner from Indian examples. Although the lion is a much
noisier animal than the tiger, in power, size, and habits, the two are very
similar. It would be out of place to enter into any detailed discussion as to the
dimensions of either lions or tigers, as this has been fully investigated in
other works. In regard to tigers, it may, however, be mentioned, that it is
now generally admitted that males do occasionally reach, or even slightly
exceed 12 feet in total length, measured along the curves of the body in what
is termed sportsman's style ;
one shot by Colonel Boileau
in 1861 being slightly over 12
feet, while General Sir C.
Reid's tiger, exhibited in
London stuffed in 1862, is
recorded to have measured
12 feet 2 inches as it lay
on the ground. Further in-
formation is required as to
the maximum weights at-
tained by male tigers. Sander-
son gives the weight of a
well-grown male shot by him-
self as 350 pounds; while Fi. 30. -THE LION.
Elliot has recorded examples
respectively weighing 362 and 380 pounds. The late Captain J. Forsyth has,
however, estimated the weights of tigers killed by himself at from 450 to
500 pounds, and these large weights have been confirmed of late years by
Mr. Hornaday, who, in his work, " Two Years in the Jungle," records a tiger
of 9 feet 11 inches in length, which weighed upwards of 495 pounds ; while
the Maharajah of Cuch Behar has given weights varying from 540 to 481
pounds, and a tiger killed by Mr. F. A. Shillingford, measuring 9 feet 10
inches, weighed 528 pounds, One killed by Sir Samuel Baker weighed 437
54
MAMMALIA-ORDER IV.-CARNIVCRA.
pounds after losing about a gallon of blood, so that its whole weight was
probably about 447 pounds. Of course, much depends upon how fat the
animal is at the time of its death. Sir S. Baker estimating that, while a very
fine tiger in average condition will weigh some 440 pounds, the same animal,
when unusually fat, will scale 500 pounds. If, however, a tiger just under
10 feet in length will weigh about 500 pounds, it may be safely assumed that
an 11 or 12 feet example in similar condition will considerably exceed this
weight, and it is, therefore, probable that the maximum weight attained by
the tiger has yet to be recorded. It is accordingly earnestly to be desired
that sportsmen will not only measure, but will likewise weigh any unusually
large tigers they may have the good fortune to kill.
Those who have the opportunity of seeing an attack by a tiger on large
animals like buffalo or gaur, which he is unable to overthrow, will do good
service if they can throw any light on the mode of attack in those instances
where the prey is hamstrung. Mr. Blanford considers that in this occasional
mode of attack the hamstringing is probably effected by a blow from the
claws, and states that he has known two instances where buffaloes were left
hamstrung by tigers. This mode of attack being apparently very rare, will
of course be seldom seen by European eyes, so that should it come under
notice a record will be of extreme value.
As a rule, however, it is believed that a tiger seizes large animals by the
fore -quarters, throwing one paw over the shoulder, and attacking the throat
with the jaws ; a sudden upward wrench, during which the destroyer often
springs to the opposite side of his victim, serving to dislocate the neck. On
the other hand, some writers are of opinion that the tiger first seizes the
animal by the back of the neck. Thus Sir S. Baker writes that " the attack
of a large tiger is terrific, and the effect may well be imagined of an animal of
such vast muscular proportions, weighing between 400 and 500 pounds, spring-
ing with great velocity and exerting its momentum at the instant that it
seizes a bullock by the neck. It is supposed by the natives that the tiger,
when well fastened upon the
crest, by fixing its teeth in the
back of the neck at the firsh
onset, continues its spring, s<?
as to pass over the animal
attacked. This wrenches the
neck suddenly round, and as
the animal struggles, the dis-
location is easily effected ; the
tiger then changes the hold
to underneath the throat, and
drags the body to some con-
venient retreat, where the meal
may be commenced in security.
With very few exceptions, the
tiger breaks the neck of every
animal it kills."
Another observer, Mr. Mervyn Smith, who had the good fortune to see two
buffaloes killed by a tiger, writes as follows : " The animals, when first seen
by me, were about a hundred yards off, and a little to my left front. There
was a distance of perhaps ten yards between them. I noticed the farthest
buffalo suddenly stumble and fall, as I thought, but it did net rise again ; its
Fig. 31. THE TIGER.
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 55
mate looked up and gazed in the direction of its companion, and then turned
its head as if to flee, but before it could do so a dark object rose out of the
ground, as it were, and seized it by the throat, and flung it on its side. My
horse had also caught sight of the dark object, and instinct told him at once
what it was, for he galloped like mad, and never stopped till he got to the
bungalow. It was fully an hour before I could assemble the villagers and
return to the spot, where we found both buffaloes stone dead. In both cases
the bite was on the under part o'f the throat, so as to close the windpipe and
prevent the animal making any cry. The necks also appeared to have been
broken by a sudden wrench of the head to one side, by the tremendously
powerful fore-arm of the tiger. There appeared to have been very little
struggle, and death must have been almost instantaneous. Now, what I
would particularly like to draw attention to, is the stealthy method of attack.
There was absolutely no noise no roar, scarcely a rustling of the bushes
when the second animal was struck down and very little of the tiger to be
seen. Had not my eyes been on the buffaloes at the time, I hardly think I
should have been disturbed at all. In fact, I should not have known that the
buffaloes had been killed by a tiger within a few yards of me. I scarcely saw
the tiger at all only his head, which appeared to rise up out of the ground and
seize the second buffalo by the throat." A tiger almost invariably commences
his meal on the hind-quarters ; and neither this animal nor the lion are by
any means averse to carrion. Both have a very similar roar, although that of
the tiger is but rarely uttered ; and both differ from the majority of cats in
their inability to climb trees. In common with cats in general, lions and tigers
go about either singly, in pairs, or in small family parties, and although a few
may, it is said, combine to drive their prey to one another, they never hunt in
packs after the manner of dogs. The stealthy manner in which cats stalk,
with their body elongated to its utmost extent and almost touching the ground,
and the rigid tail occasionally twisting nervously, is well known to all.
Among the smaller species of the genus, the clouded leopard (F. nebidosa)
and the marbled cat ( F. marmorata), of the Oriental countries, may be cited
as excellent examples of the clouded type of coloration. The Bornean Bay
cat (F. badia) is one of the few uniformly-coloured species ; a second being
the South American eyra (F. eyra\ which is more remarkable on account of
its elongated and weasel-like form. One of the most variable of all is the
Oriental leopard-cat (F.bengalensis). The African serval (F. served) is a long-
legged and short-tailed species, in which the dark spots are solid ; while the
caffer cat (F. caffra) of the same country is generally regarded as the ancestral
stock of the domestic cats of Europe, although there has probably been a
considerable amount of crossing with the wild cat (F. catus\ which has led
to the prevalence of the tabby type of coloration. In South America the
very variable ocelot (F. pardalis) exhibits a modification of the clouded type
of coloration, while the tiger-cat (F. tigrina) is more distinctly spotted ; the
pampas cat showing a striped pattern. The jungle-cat (F. chaus\ which is
common to India and Africa, together with certain allied Asiatic species,
forms a transition from the more typical cats to the lynxes, the latter being
characterised by the long pencils of hairs terminating the ears and the
moderately long or short tail. In the caracal (F. caracal), which is a uniformly-
coloured species common to India and Africa, and connecting the jungle-cat
with the true lynxes, the tail is of considerable length ; but in the latter
group, all the members of which are confined to the Northern Hemisphere,
it is very short, and the pellage is always spotted, at least during some
MAMMALIA ORDER IV. CARNIVORA.
portion of the year. Whether the Canadian lynx (F. canadensis) is distinct
from the common lynx (F. lynx) of Europe and Northern Asia is a moot
point ; but the Spanish lynx (F. pardina) is a well-marked form.
The slender-bodied and long-limbed cat, known as the hunting-leopard
(Cynwlurus jubatus), is referred to a genus apart from the other members of
the family on account of the claws be-
ing only partially retractile, although
their extremities are protected by
sheaths ; while a further point of dis-
tinction is to be found in the rudi-
mental condition of the tubercle on
the inner side of the upper carnassial
tooth. The hunting-leopard, which
is found both in India and Africa, has
the fur marked with solid black spots.
In habits it differs somewhat from the
true cats two individuals hunting
together, and making a simultaneous
sudden rush when their prey comes
within striking distance. These animals are kept for hunting in India.
The nearest allies of the cats are the great tribe of civets, palm-civets,
mungooses, etc., all of which differ from the Felidce in that the auditory
bulla of the skull is marked by a transverse external con-
striction, indicating the position of the internal bony
septum, while the middle pair of lower teeth are raised
above the level of the other two, as in all other land Carniv-
ora. From the living Felidce the Viverridce are further dis-
tinguished by the more numerous series of teeth, the number of premolars
varying from three to four on each side of the jaws ; while there are generally
two pairs of molars in each jaw, although occasionally these may be reduced
to a single pair in the upper, and very rarely also in the lower jaw. The
toes, which may be either digitigrade or plantigrade, are generally five in
number on each foot, although they may be reduced to four in either the
front or hind pair, or even in both. Considerable difference obtains in regard
to the retractibility of the claws, and likewise as to the extent to which the
sole of the hind-foot is clothed with hair. From ordinary cats civets differ
externally in the more elongated form of the body, the longer head and
sharper muzzle, and the shorter legs ; although in these respects they are
approached by the eyra. In coloration they are generally striped, spotted,
or blotched ; some of them having distinct longitudinal stripes, which are
never seen in the cats. The family is strictly confined to the Old World,
exclusive of Australia and Papua, and attains its maximum development in
Africa and the Oriental countries Europe having only a couple of species
in its southern districts. Madagascar is the home of several peculiar genera.
Upwards of twenty-three distinct generic types are now recognised.
The most aberrant of all is the fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) of Madagascar,
which in the number and structure of its teeth approaches the cats, and is
regarded by many authorities as entitled to constitute a
Fossa (Crypto- family by itself. In the form of the auditory bulla of the
procta). skull this animal is somewhat intermediate between the
civets and the mungooses ; and each foot has five toes, with
completely retractile claws. There are four pairs of premolar teeth, of
- 32. SPANISH LYNX (Fdls pardina).
Civet Tribe.
Family
Viverridce..
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 57
which the first is shed at an early period, and a single pair of molars,
which are cat-like in form, the lower one having only a small pos-
terior ledge, as in the lynxes, and
no inner cusp. The nose and upper
lip have a median groove ; and the
feet are sub-plantigrade, the tarsus
and metatarsus being naked. The fossa
measures about five feet in total length,
and is nearly uniform sandy brown in
colour.
Together with several allied genera,
the true civets (Fwerrtt) are character-
ised by the conical form of the auditory
bulla of the skull, in which the hinder
border is broad, truncated, and nob
everted, while in front it is narrow and Fi ^ I^7 FossA (C ryptoproctafvrox).
compressed, with the anterior chamber
small. Usually there are highly odoriferous glands in front of the scrotum ;
and the curved claws are generally more or less retractile. In . .
form and number the teeth come very close to those of the *
dogs, there being always four pairs of premolars in each jaw. The blade of
the upper carnassial tooth differs from that of the cats in consisting of only
two lobes, and there is a well-developed tubercle on the inner side of the
same tooth ; while the lower carnassial is composed of an anterior cutting
blade, and a long posterior tuberculated heel. In shape, the upper molars
are triangular ; the first of the two being placed behind the carnassial tooth,
and not on its inner side.
From the allied genera the true civets are distinguished by the folioing
characters. A vertical groove divides the middle of the upper lip : the rather
long tail is ringed dark and light ; the feefc are completely digitigrade, with
the tarsus and metatarsus fully haired ; and there are no tufts of hair on the
ears. The upper molar teeth are two in number on each side ; a black gorget
ornaments the throat ; an elongated crest of erectile hairs usually runs down
the back ; and the whole hair is loose and long. The rather short and blunt
claws can be only partially retracted ; and the pupil of the eye contracts to
a circular form. There are five species of civet, one of which (Viverra civetta)
is African, while the other four are Oriental. Four are of nearly equal size,
and may be compared in this respect to a large cat ; but the rasse (Viverra
malaccensis), which differs somewhat in the structure of the skull from the
four others, and is referred by many writers to a distinct genus, under the
name of Viverricula, is a much smaller animal. An inhabitant of India,
China, and the Malayan countries, it has been introduced into Madagascar.
All civets have comparatively short, stout, and rather compressed bodies,
with the limbs proportionately longer than in the allied genera. Their
coloration takes the form of black or blackish-brown streaks and blotches
on a greyish ground. Most of them are non-arboreal ; and all are strong-
smelling creatures, one of their secretions being used in perfumery. For the
purpose of collecting the perfume, tame civets are kept in cages by the
Malays, and their secretion periodically scraped from the pouch with a
wooden spoon. Daubenton's civet (Fossa daubentoni) of Madagascar closely
resembles the above-mentioned rasse in general characters, but differs from
all the species of Viverra in the presence of two small bare spots on the
58 MAMMALIAORDER 1V.CARN1VOKA.
under surface of the metatarsus and the scent-pouch is apparently wanting.
The limbs are slender ; and there is neither a dark line down the back, nor
a black gorget on the throat. Nearly allied to the civets are the six species
of genets (Genetta), five of which are exclusively African, while the ordinary
genet is common to Northern Africa, Southern Em ope, and Syria. From
both Viverra and Fossa they may be distinguished by the presence of a bare,
longitudinal strip along the lower surface of the metatarsus ; a hairy space
dividing this naked strip from the foot-pads. The absence of a scent-pouch
forms a further distinction from Viverra, while the presence of a dark stripe
down the back constitutes another difference from Fossa. All the genets
are comparatively small animals, which live chiefly on the ground, where
they prey upon small rodents, birds, and eggs. None have a black gorget
on the throat, although there may ba a short crest of erectile hairs down the
back.
The beautifully-coloured Oriental viverroids known as linsangs (Linsangs)
have the under surface of the tarsus and metatarsus as fully clothed with
hair as in the true civets, but differ in possessing only a single pair of upper
molar teeth. All the three sp.cies are very long-bodied and short-limbed
animals, with the claws of the five-toed feet almost as retractile as in the cats ;
and the fur remarkably short, close, and erect, resembling, in fact, velvet-
pile. There are no scent-glands corresponding to those which yield the per-
fume in the civets. Upon a white or greyish-white ground-colour the fur
is beautifully marked with black or dark brown patches, such patches form,
ing either a small number of large, dark areas extending transversely across
the body, or being broken up into smaller quadrangle spots. Dark longi-
tudinal streaks, some of which may break up into spots, traverse the neck
and shoulders, while there are smaller ones on the head ; and tho long
cylindrical is marked with alternate dark and light rings of considerable
length. When contracted, the pupil of the eye is circular. The skull and
teeth are very similar to those of the genets, but the heel of the lower
carnassial tooth is relatively smaller. In West Africa the linsangs are re-
presented by the closely allied Foiana poensis, distinguished by having a
naked strip on the under surface of the metatarsus, as in the genets. Lin-
sangs are good climbers, feeding chiefly on small birds. They produce two
litters in a year, giving birth to a pair of young at a time.
The two Malayan species of Hemigale differ from all the preceding mem-
bers of the group except Fossa in the absence of distinct rings on the tail,
except, at most, near the root ; while they are further distinguished by the
front of the auditory bulla of the skull being pointed instead of blunt. The
carnassials are also relatively smaller and of a less trenchant type, A dis-
tinctive feature of the genus is the concentration of the pads of the hind-foot
to form a naked space on the metatarsus, ending in a sharp point behind ;
the tarsus being fully haired. The hair on the back of the neck is peculiar
in being directed forwards ; and when there are any dark markings on tho
back they take the form of uninterrupted transverse bands. The claws on
the five-toed feet are strongly curved ; and the nose and upper lip, as in ail
the preceding genera, are grooved. Numerically, the teeth are the same as
in Viverra. Hardwicke's hemigale (H. hardwickei), from the Malay Peninsula,
Sumatra, and Borneo, measures about 15 inches to the root of the tail, and has
dark transverse bands on the back ; whereas H. hosei, from the mountains of
North Borneo, is uniformly dusky.
Tht palm QITGCS form three nearly allied genera, one of which is African,
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS.
59
Fig. 24. PALM-CIVET
(Paradoxurus).
while the other two are Oriental. The two species of African palm-civets
(Naudinia), one of which is from the west, and the other from the east side
of the continent, agree with Hemigale in the form of the naked area on the
metatarsus, but differ in the incomplete ossification of the auditory bulla of
the skull. Otherwise the genus is very similar to the true palm-civets, the
marking taking the form of spots, and the tail being ringed. The two species
of small-toothed palm-civets (Arctogale\ from Burma and the Malayan
countries, differ from the preceding genus in the uniformly-coloured tail ;
and are further distinguished by the relatively small size of the teeth, the
narrow palate, which is produced far behind the last rnolar, and the ossifica-
tion of the bulla of the skull. The dark markings take the form of longi-
tudinal rows of stripes or spots on the back. Represented by ten species, the
true palm-civets (Paradoxurus) range
throughout the Oriental countries from
India to the Philippines and Celebes,
and are distinguished from the last by
their larger teeth, the less prolonga-
tion of the palate backwards, and the
presence of a naked glandular area in
front of the scrotum of the males, and
in a similar position in the females.
Like Arctogale, they have the whole of
the metatarsus and a considerable por-
tion of the tarsus bare, tho hair ex-
tending in an evenly curved line across
the hinder part of the heel. The claws
of the five-toed feet are as curved and
retractile as in the genets ; the tail is long and generally not ringed ; the
markings are usually in the form of elongated streaks, although more rarely
spots, but some species are uniformly coloured ; and the pupil of the eye
contracts to a vertical slit. The teeth are numerically the same as in Viverra,
but the carnassials relatively shorter and less trenchant. In size these
animals may be compared to an ordinary cat. Palm-civets are essentially
nocturnal and arboreal creatures, feed-
ing upon small birds, mammals, eggs,
and lizards , and frequently taking up
their abode among the leaves of palm-
trees, From their habit of drinking
the palm- juice, or toddy, from the vessels
suspended from the trees for its recep-
tion, they are termed toddy-cats.
From all other members of the family,
the binturong (J.rcfo'c is binturong), rang-
ing from the Eastern Himalaya to the
Malayan countries and Siam, differs
by its prehensile tail and tufted ears,
as well as by the tarsus and meta-
tarsus of the plantigrade hind-feet being completely naked. The ears are
short, the short claws only partially retractile, the hair very long, coarse, and
loose, and the long tail very bushy ; the general colour being black. The
binturong, which may be compared in size to a cat, is a thoroughly nocturnal
and arboreal creature.
Fig. 35. THE BINTUKONG
(Arctictis binturong).
60 MAMMALIA ORDER 1V.CARN1VORA.
The last member of the sub-family is the peculiar Bennett's civet (Cynogale
bennetti) from the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo, which is a grizzled
grey animal, readily distinguished from all the foregoing by the absence of a
groove on the nose and upper lip, the short tail, the partially webbed feet,
and by the under surface of the metatarsus and tarsus being somewhat
less naked, In size it may be compared to the larger civets, the length of
the head and body being about 32 inches. Its habits are believed to be
partially aquatic.
With the exception of the fossa, which forms a sub-family by itself, the
whole of the foregoing members of the family constitute the sub-family
FttJcrritME, characterised by the features noticed above.
The Mungoose The mungooses, or ichneumons, are the first representatives
Group. of a second sub-family (Herpestince) presenting the following
distinctive characters. The auditory bulla of the skull is
pear-shaped, and its hinder margin distinctly everted, with the so-called
paroccipital process not projecting beyond, but spread over it, and in the
adiilt becoming merged in its hinder surface. The claws are long and non-
retractile ; and there are no glands in front of the scrotum. As a genus, the
mungooses may be distinguished from their allies by the presence of five
toes to each foot, a vertical groove on the nose, and usually four pairs of
premolar teeth ; the molars being, as usual, two in each jaw. The muzzle is
sharply pointed, the body long and weasel-like, the legs very short, the ears
short and rounded ; and the tail generally long and tapering, with loose,
elongated hair. The feet are plantigrade ; but there is much variation in
the extent of the bare portion of the soles of the hind ones ; in some species
this area extending back to the heel, while in others the lower surface of the
tarsus is hairy. The coarse and lofcse fur has a peculiar speckled appearance,
owing to the nresence of dark and light rings on the hairs, and the tail is
never ringed. The sharp cusps of the cheek-teeth are in marked contrast to
the bluntly-cusped ones of the palm-civets ; and the skull is remarkable for
a sharp constriction behind the sockets of the eyes, and likewise for the cir-
cumstance that the latter generally have a complete bony ring. Mungooses
range over Africa and the Oriental countries as far as the Philippines, the
Egyptian species (H. ichneumon) entering Southern Europe. All these
animals are terrestrial, and very active in their habits, generally living in
holes. They are deadly enemies to rats and other Rodents, as they are to
snakes. The most venomous serpents are attacked without hesitation, the
immunity of the mungoose from harm in such encounters being apparently
due to its extreme activity and watchfulness. From the majority of species
of Herpestes, the Africa'i small mungoose (Helogale parva) differs in
having only three pairs of premolar teeth in each jaw ; the first of these
being approximated to the canine, and thus distinguishing the genus
from the few species of Herpeses with a similar number of teeth, in all of
which there is a gap between the canine arid the first tooth of the premolar
series.
Africa is the home of several peculiar generic types of mungooses. First,
there are the three species of four-toed mungooses (Bdeoyale), distinguished
by having but four toes to each foot ; the soles of the hirid-f eet being hairy.
The South African pencilled mungoose (Cynictis penicillata) is the sole
member of another genus with five front and four hind toes ; but more easily
defined by the presence of a hole in the centre of the peculiarly-shaped
auditory bulla of the skull, the soles of the hind-feet being hairy. A third
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 6l
genus is represented by the large red Heller's mungoose (Rhynchogale
melleri)), easily distinguished from all the preceding members of the sub-
family by the absence of a vertical groove on the nose and upper lip. Each
foot is furnished with five toes, there are four pairs of premolar teeth in each
jaw, and the under surface of the tarsus and metatarsus is hairy. The fourth
African genus (Crossarchus) contains the five species of cusimanses, which
while resembling the last in the absence of a groove on the muzzle, differ by
having only three pairs of premolar teeth in each jaw, the flat bony palate of
the skull, and the naked soles of the hinder portion of the hind-feet.
Several of the species, such as C.
fasciatus, have a number of dark trans-
verse bands across the back. Lastly,
the pretty little meerkat (Suricata
tetradactyla) of South Africa differs
from all the other smooth-nosed mun-
gooses in having only four toes to each
foot, and is further characterised by
possessing three pairs of upper, and
four of lower premolars, as well as by
the naked under surface of the whole
of the tarsus and metatarsus. The
muzzle is sharp, the front claws are
very long, and the profile of the face is *-^ D > MOTOQM
convex. Ihe general colour of the fur (Crossarchus fasciatus).
is light grizzled grey, with black bands
across the hinder part of the back, and a black ring round each eye.
Meerkats measure from 14 to 15 inches to the root of the tail ; and are viva-
cious little animals, living in holes in colonies, and coming out to air them-
selves in the sun, when they survey passers-by with a peculiarly inquisi-
tive expression.
The Island of Madagascar is inhabited by four peculiar genera of mun-
gooses, three of which are more or less closely related to the Herpestitue,
while the fourth certainly forms a sub-family by itself. From
all other members of the Viverridce, the two species of Madagascar
striped mungoose are distinguished by the numerous con- Mungooses.
tinuous dark stripes running down the whole length of the
back and sides. They have but three pairs of premolar teeth in each jaw, the
first of which is placed close to the canine ; and the canines themselves are
of large size. The five-toed feet have longer claws than in the typical mun-
gooses ; the muzzle is grooved inferiorly; the tail is covered with elongated
hairs; and the under surface of the tarsus is bare. From the last, the elegant
mungoose (Galidia eleyans) may be distinguished by the smaller size of the
lower canine teeth, the presence of short sparse hairs oh the lower surface
of the tarsus and metatarsus, the uniform coloration of tlie body, and the
ringed tail. The two species of brown-tailed mungoose (Hemigalidia) differ
from the preceding by the presence of four pairs of premolars in each jaw,
the larger size of the second upper molar, the uniformly-coloured tail, the
more pointed form of the muzzle, and the smaller degree of curvature of the
claws.
Finally, there is the small-toothed mungoose (Eupleres goudoti), distin-
guished from all other mungooses by the non-eversion of the hinder border
of the auditory bulla of the skull, and from the rest of the family by its very
62
MAMMALIA ORDER IV.CARN1VORA.
The Aard-Wolf.
Family
Proteleidce.
remarkable dentition. The canines are minute, and like the first three
premolars, whicl are widely separated from one another, and the molars
are but little different from the premolars. Indeed, the whole dentition
is strikingly like that of an Insectivore, and there can be little doubt
that this highly modified mungoose subsists entirely or chiefly on
insects.
A peculiar hysena-like animal from Africa, known to the Dutch as the aard-
wolf, and scientifically as Proteles cristatus, is regarded as representing a
family by itself, distinguished by having the auditory bulla
of the skull divided by a septum into two chambers, and by
the small and degraded characters of the cheek-teeth, among
which there is but a single pair of molars in each jaw. In
the fore-feet there are five toes, but in the hinder pair the
number is redu?ed to four ; their claws being strong, blunt, and non-
retractile. In appearance, the aard-
wolf is curiously like a small striped
hysena, with a more pointed muzzle,
longer ears, and a thick mane of elon-
gated erectile hair along the neck and
back. Common in South Africa, this
animal has also been recorded from
Angola and Somaliland. It feeds on
carrion, grubs, and white ants.
From the two preceding families the
hyaenas, of which all the three existing
species may be included in the single
genus Hycena, differ by the absence of
any internal partition in the auditoiy bulla of the skull. In the living
species there is only one pair of molar teeth in each jaw,
the upper one being small, and placed on the inner side of the
carnassial. The latter tooth resembles the upper carnassial
of the cats in having three distinct lobes to the blade ; and
the lower carnassial has a bi-lobed blade and a very small
All the teeth are very strong and powerful ; the anterior
premolars being in the form of blunt cones ; and the skull, in which the
sockets of the eyes are freely open behind, is remarkable for the great height
of the crest on the middle of the upper part. The limbs are somewhat
elongated, especially the front pair ; the tail is relatively short ; and the fur
is loose and long.
In appearance, hysenas are the most ungainly of all Carnivora, and thereby
present a marked contrast to the cats. They are nocturnal, gregarious, and
cowardly, feeding chiefly on carrion and carcases ; and being generally
unable or indisposed to kill the larger animals for themselves, feast on the
remnants of carcases left by lions and tigers. For cracking the bones of such
derelicts their powerful teeth and strong jaw-muscles are most admirably
adapted.
.The striped hynana (H. striata) of India, South-West Asia, and North and
East Africa, is easily recognised by its transversely striped pellage, long fur,
which forms a mane on the shoulders and back, and large pointed ears. The
teeth are characterised by the relatively large size of the upper molar and
by the lower carnassial having a heel of considerable size, and a cusp on
the inner side of the blade. The brown hysena (H. brunnea) of South
Fig. 37. AARD-WOLF (Proves cristatus).
The Hyaenas.
Family
Hycenidce.
posterior heel.
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 63
Africa, although nearly allied, has some points of resemblance to the third
species. The largest and most powerful of all is the spotted hysena
(H. crocuta), now confined to South
Africa, and characterised by the spot-
ted coloration of the body, smaller
proportionate length of the fore-
limbs, large head, with moderate-
sized and rounded ears, the pre-
sence of a mane on the neck and
back, and the smoother and shorter
tail. The last upper molar tooth is
very small, or even wanting, and
the lower carnassial has no inner
cusp and a very small poste- *
rior heel, thus closely approach- F fo ^.-SPOTTED
ing the corresponding tooth of the (Hycena crocuta).
cats.
As regards the auditory bulla and adjacent regions of the skull, the Dog Tribe
are in many respects intermediate between the preceding group of families and
those which follow. The bulla itself is inflated and bladder-
like, but has no internal partition; and the paroccipital The Dog Tribe.
process, although in contact with the bulla, is prominent, Family Canidce.
and not applied to it, as it is in the cats and civets. Another
distinctive feature of the group is the presence of a long and coiled coecum,
or blind appendage, at the junction of the large and small intestine ; that
appendage being either very small or absent in the preceding families. The
crowns of the upper molar teeth are triangular in shape ; and these teeth,
which are nearly always two in number, are situated behind the carnassial.
The latter tooth, as in the civets, has two lobes to the blade ; and the lower
carnassial generally has a large tubercular heel behind the blade, and a well-
developed cusp on its inner side. In most cases there are three lower molars
(of which the carnassial is the first), whereas in the civets there are never
more than two of these teeth ; and there are always four pairs of premolar teeth
in each jaw. Dogs, under which title may be included wolves, jackals, and
foxes, have a cosmopolitan distribution, and differ markedly in their habits
from the cats. Although a few will run up the stems of sloping trees, none are
climbers ; and many consort in packs to hunt their prey by scent. Many form
burrows in the ground ; and while they are more or less carnivorous, some
will supplement a flesh diet with fruits, insects, or garbage. All walk on the
tips of their toes, and are thus digitigrade ; and the claws are short, blunt,
slightly curved, and non-retractile.
By far the great majority of the members of the family may be included in
the genus Cants, which has a geographical distribution equal in extent to that
of the former. It is characterised by the general presence of
42 teeth, and there are five front and four hind toes. The Typical Genus.
tail is of moderate length or long, and generally more or
less bushy ; and the pupil of the eye may contract either to a vertical
slit or a circle. The general form is too well known to require descrip-
tion. The genus may be divided, from the characters of the skull, into two
primary series, the first typified by the wolves, and the second by the foxes.
This series includes the wolves, jackals, and wild dogs, together with the
domesticated breeds, and is best characterised by the circumstance that
64 MAMMALIA ORDER IV.CARNIVORA.
the postorbital process of the frontal bone, that is to say the one forming
the hinder boundary of the socket of the eye, has its superior surface
smooth and convex, and its free extremity bent downwards.
Wolf-like Series. In this group the wolves are the largest wild representa-
tives ; the common wolf (G. lupus) ranging over the northern
portions of both the Old and New Worlds. There are no wolves either in
Africa or South America, although it is curious that the so-called Antarctic
wolf (C. antarcticus) of the Falkland Islands appears to belong to the group.
In Asia there are several wolves, although none are found in the countries to
the east and south-cast of the Bay of Bengal, and there is some difference of
opinion as to their relationship to the common wolf. With regard to the
wolf inhabitingthe plains of India,
most persons not specially versed
in the mysteries of zoology would
probably be unable to distinguish
it from its European cousin, un-
less specimens were placed side
by side, and even then would find
some difficulty. It appears, how-
ever, that there are certain differ-
ences in the habits of the two
animals, which suggest the pro-
bability of their specific distinct-
ness from one another. For in-
stance, the Indian wolf is re-
markable for its silence, only very
Fig. 39. -COMMON WOLF. rarely, if ever, uttering the well-
known howl of the common
species ; although it is stated that it will occasionally bark, after the manner
of a pariah dog. Then, again, Indian wolves, although sometimes found in
small family parties of half-a-dozen or so, are never known to collect in the
enormous packs which make the European species so dreaded in winter. It
is probable that these differences in habits would net by themselves alone be
regarded as sufficient to establish the right of the Indian wolf to rank as a
distinct species. When, however, it is found that there are in addition
certain points by which the two animals can be distinguished from one
another, these differences in habits become of importance in adding to
their distinctness. The Indian wolf is, indeed, a somewhat smaller and
slighter animal than the European species, the average difference in the
length of the two animals being about six inches. Then, also, the hair
is rather shorter, and there is little or no under-fur ; while the colour is
generally rather more inclined to brown than in the common wolf. The
absence of under-fur in the Indian wolf might, we think, be well explained
by the hotter climate in which it dwells ; but, in spite of this, naturalists
are probably right in regarding it as a distinct species, under the name of
Canis pallipes.
The Indian wolf does not range into the Himalaya, neither is it found to
the westward of the Indus, or in Ceylon. That island seems, indeed, to
enjoy a happy immunity from the presence of several of the larger Indian
Carnivora, as it has neither wolves, wild dogs, hyaenas nor tigers. In the case-
of the tiger it has been attempted to account for this absence by the sugges-
tion that this animal is but a comparatively recent immigrant into India from
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS.
Fig. 40. INDIAN WOLF (Cam's pallives).
the north, and had not reached that country at the time Ceylon was united
with the mainland. If this were so, it would seem, however, that the same
explanation ought to hold good for hyaenas and wolves ; but as both the
latter are known to have been well represented in India in the later
geological epochs, some other reason must apparently be sought, at least, in
their cases.
It is difficult to leave the Indian wolf without referring to the subject of
v.-olf-nurtured children. Many of the stories relating to these have been
brought together by Professor V.
Ball, in his "Jungle Life in India,"
where it is related that in all the
recorded instances the children
were boys, and that the greater
number of cases have occurred in
Oude. Many persons refuse to
attach any credence to such
stories, but Mr. Ball strongly
urges a suspension of judgment
until further evidence be attained.
If such stories be really based on
fact, we can only look to Euro-
peans who are stationed or travel-
ling in the wilder parts of India
to bring to light decisive evidence
in support of any new cases that
may occur.
It has been already mentioned that the Indian wolf does not extend west-
ward of the Indus ; and in Sind, Baluchistan, and Gilgit its place is taken by
the European wolf, which not improbably may also range into the northern part
of the Punjab. Large wolves, distinguished by their long soft hair and pale
colour, are common on the farther side of the snowy range in Ladak and
Tibet, where they are known to the natives by the name of Changu. These
Tibetan wolves have been generally regarded as a distinct species, described
as Canis laniger or chanco, and considered to be more nearly allied to the
Indian than to the European wolf. It seems, however, that this view is in-
correct, and that the Tibetan wolf is nothing more than a pale-coloured and
woolly-haired variety of the common wolf. Occasionally long-haired black
wolves are met with in Tibet, which have been regarded as indicating yet
another species (C. niger). There is, however, no doubt but that these are
merely varieties of the ordinary Tibetan wolf, similar to the dark variety of
the short-haired wolf of Europe. It is to a considerable extent for the pur-
poses of protecting their flocks against the ravages of wolves that Tibetan
villages and encampments are guarded by the huge mastiffs, which not un-
frequently make themselves so extremely unpleasant to the European visitor.
The following interesting account of the habits of wolves in Norway, where
these animals are still abundant, is given by a writer in the Asian newspaper
of August 19th, 1893 :
" The pairing-season occurs in February, and in nine weeks the female
brings forth her young. When the time of birth approaches, the mother
retires to the most remote and unfrequented parts of the forest, where in
some cleft or cave in the rocks, surrounded by close undergrowth, she con-
ceals her offspring. These remain blind for ten or eleven days, and for six
66 MAMMALIA ORDER 1V.CARN1VORA.
or eight weeks are nourished by the mother, but when only a month old they
leave the den for short distances, and play about with one another like
puppies. The she-wolf is a good mother, and as long as her young are small
she never goes any great distance from them, and they remain with her till
the pairing- season comes round again, when they themselves are capable of
procreation. At first they are dark coloured, the end of the tail being black,
but after they have got to be about a couple of feet in length they are of a
yellowish-grey, of a darker shape on the back, and have a black muzzle.
"During the summer months wolves are partial to extensive woodland
solitudes, especially those interspersed with mossy tarns and streams. In
winter, on the other hand, especially during severe cold and rough weather,
they tend towards the more inhabited and open districts. Wolves always
make their excursions at night, and between sunset and sunrise they
frequently cover great distances ; while during the day they rest in close
covert. When pressed by hunger, in extreme cold, when they leave or are
returning to their young, or when they have been deprived of these, they
send forth long-drawn and melancholy howls. In woods, arid generally speak-
ing, in narrow surroundings, wolves are cowardly and cunning ; while on ex-
tensive plains or tracts of ice, where they can see about them, they are much
more courageous, especially when in company ; but even under such circum-
stances they rarely assume the offensive towards man. In districts frequented
by these animals they have certain paths which they almost invariably follow,
and so closely do they keep in one another's tracks it is difficult to say that
more than one has passed. In going to and from the place where the young
are concealed they invariably follow the same route, and so a regular beaten
track is formed. Only when in droves will they attack the larger animals,
such as the elk; at first they steal as near their victim as possible, and
endeavour to seize it by making long bounds ; failing in this, they set
about running it down, two or three following the hunted beast closely, the
rest trying to cut it off, or by lying in wait and springing at its throat. If
captured when quite young, wolves remain comparatively tame for some time,
but their savage nature generally breaks out ere long, and they cannot be
depended on."
Of other species, the North American coyote (C. lairans] is a smaller form,
with very long hair, which appears to connect the true wolves with the
jackals. The latter animals are really nothing more than small wolves, and
usually have the bushy tail equal to about one-third the length of the head
and body. The common jackal (C. aureus) extends from Burma and India
through South -Western Asia to South-Eastern Europe and North Africa ;
but is replaced in Africa south of the Sahara by several allied forms, such as
the side-striped jackal (C. adustits) and the handsome black-backed jackal
(C. inesomelas). The dingo (C. dingo) of Australia is generally reckoned as a
domesticated species, but there is considerable evidence that it existed in
Australia previous to the advent of men.
Most sportsmen who have shot in India, whether in the plains or in the
hills, are probably more or less familiar with those animals commonly known
as wild dogs. Although they are not often seen actually hunting their prey,
yet they may not unfrequently be met with when shooting in or near forests ;
while in the hills the frightened and disturbed condition of ibex and other
large game will often indicate their presence in a district where it would
otherwise be unsuspected. Like many of the colloquial names applied to
animals, the term wild dogs by which these creatures are generally known is
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 67
an exceedingly inappropriate one, because it is just this particular group of
dog-like animals which differs more from ordinary dogs than do most others
of the larger Canidie. It would indeed be far better if wolves and jackals
were spoken of as "wild clogs," since it is those members of the family
which come closest to our domestic dogs, of some of which they are probably
the parent stock. In such cases, however, it is utterly hopeless for the
naturalist to attempt to fight against popular usage, and we must accordingly
be content to accept the ordinary names for the animals under consideration.
All who have ever seen an Indian wild dog, whether in the flesh or stuffed,
will not be likely to mistake it for any other member of the canine family.
In size it is somewhat larger than a jackal of average dimensions, and is
characterised by the generally ruddy colour of the hair, and especially by the
black tip of the moderately long and bushy tail. Moreover, the muzzle
and legs are relatively rather short in comparison with the size of the head
and body ; while the profile of the face differs from that of other canine
animals by being slightly convex instead of concave or straight.
The reader may ask whether such characteristics as the above offer any
justification for the objection to the term wild dog as applied to these ani-
mals; and if it were these alone on which naturalists rely, he would be
perfectly justified in so doing. To obtain, however, any true ideas as to the
relationships of an animal, we are compelled not only to study its colour and
proportions, but likewise to take into consideration its skeleton and other
parts of its organisation. Now, if we take the skull of a wild dog and com-
pare the number of teeth in the lower jaw with those of a wolf, jackal, or
fox, we shall find an important point of difference. In the lower jaws of all
the three animals last mentioned, and also in those of domestic dogs, we
shall find that there are 11 teeth on each side ; the eleventh being the
smallest of all those situated behind the tusk. If, on the other hand, we
examine the lower jaw of any wild dog, we shall find that the small eleventh
tooth is wanting, so that there are only 10 lower teeth. A wild dog has,
indeed, only 10 teeth on each side of both the upper and lower jaws, where-
as in dogs, wolves, jackals, and foxes there are 10 upper and 11 lower
teeth. We have here, therefore, an easily recognised point of distinction
between a wild dog and most other members of the family. There are, how-
ever, two African and one South American representatives of the family,
which, while differing from the ordinary type as regards the number of their
teeth,- have no intimate connection with the wild dogs. A difference of one
tooth more or less in the lower jaws of different members of the family may
not appear a very important one and to a certain extent it is not so. But
it at any rate serves to show that wild dogs cannot possibly be the parents of
any of our domestic breeds of dogs, since it is a well ascertained fact that
when once a tooth has been lost in any group of animals it never reappears
(unless it may be as an occasional abnormality) in their descendants. An-
other point of distinction between wild dogs and other members of the family
is that there are either 12 or 14 teats in place of the usual 10.
Relying on the two points of difference last noticed, many naturalists have
considered that wild dogs ought not to be included in the same genus as
wolves and jackals, and the former have accordingly been described under a
separate generic title, as Cuon, or more correctly Cyon, from the Greek name
for a dog. Such a distinction appears, however, unnecessary, and it is pre-
ferable to include wolves, jackals, foxes, and wild dogs under the common
title of Caw's.
63 MAMMALIA ORDER 1V.CARNIVORA.
As regards their distribution, wild dogs are found in India, Burma, Siam,
and the Malayan Peninsula and islands ; while in Central Asia they
extend as far northwards as the Altai Mountains, which divide Mongolia from
Siberia, and as far westwards as Amurland, and the Isle of Saghalien in the
Sea of Okhotsk. It is, however, somewhat curious that, so far as our informa-
tion goes, these animals are quite unknown both in Northern China and
Japan. Wild dogs are, therefore, at the present day exclusively confined to
Asia, where they do not appear to extend eastwards of the longitude of the
Ural Mountains. This distribution wijl, however, only hold good for the
present epoch, since there have been found in the caves of various parts of
Europe lower jaws of canine animals agreeing with those of living 'wild dogs
in having 10 instead of 11 teeth ; and we shall, therefore, "DC justified in
considering at or about the time when the mammoth flourished that wild dogs
hunted over Europe as they do at the present day in Asia. The circum-
stances of the occurrence at a former epoch in Europe of a group of animals,
now confined to Asia is by no means an isolated one, since there is evidence
that at stiil earlier periods of the earth's history deer, like the muntjac and
spotted deer of India, and long-snouted crocodiles akin to the garials of the
Ganges and Borneo, flourished in various parts of Europe. All these facts
in distribution seem, indeed, to point to the conclusion that Asia has served
as a kind of refuge for groups of animals which, for some reason or another,
were unaole to exist any longer in Europe.
Naturalists have long been exercised as to whether the wild dog of the
Himalaya was identical with that of the plains of India, and also whether one
or both of these could be distinguished from the wild dog of Burma and the
Malayan islands. In many works the wild dog of India and the Himalaya
will be found alluded to by the name of Cyon rutilans a name properly be-
longing to the Malayan form. These writers probably derived their informa-
tion from the late Dr. Jerdon, who in his " Indian Mammals" included the
Malayan, Indian, and Himalayan forms under this single name. Colonel
Sykes had, however, long before separated the Indian wild dog under the
name of C. dukhunensis, while for the Himalayan form Hodgson proposed the
name of C. primawis. Mr. Blanford, who states that he can find no difference
between the wild dog of the Himalaya and that of the plains of India, con-
siders that these are probably distinct from the kind found in Burma and
the Malayan region. The difference between the two is, however, very slight ;
but the Himalayan and Indian species (C. deccanensis) is a rather larger and
stouter animal, with longer hair, and a woolly under-fur, and the general
colour varying from a ferruginous red to tawny ; while the Burmese and
Malayan species (C. rutilans) is smaller and slighter, with shorter hair, no under-
fur, and a brighter colour. The Indian species extends to the north-west as
far as Gilgit and Hunza, from whence it ranges eastwards through Ladak into
Tibet. Curiously enough, it is found that this wild dog is quite distinct
from the species inhabiting the Altai (C. alpinus) which has much larger
upper molar teeth. This, as Mr. Blanford well observes, is a most remark-
able feature in distribution, for whereas most of the animals of the Himalaya,
like the ibex and the great Tibetan sheep, are either identical with or closely
related to those of the Altai and adjacent regions, here we have a case where
the Himalayan form is identical with one inhabiting the plains of India, and
perfectly distinct from the one found in the Altai. This may, however, be
explained by the greater facility with which the Carnivora can adapt them-
selves to different surroundings, owing to the circumstance that wherever
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 69
they go they are sure to meet with herbivorous animals, on which they can
prey. Herbivorous animals, on the other hand, are generally more or less
completely dependent on one or more particular kinds of plants for susten-
ance, and are consequently unable to exist in regions where such plants do
not grow.
In the same series with the wolves and jackals are included a number of
South American species, commonly spoken of as foxes, which they much
resemble in external aspect, although having wolf -like skulls. Among these
are Azara's dog (C. azarce) and the crab-eating dog (C. cancrivorus). A much
larger South American form is the so-called maned wolf (C. jubatus) a large
reddish-coloured animal. The so-called raccoon-dog (C. procyonides), which
has been generically separated as Nyctereutes, is distinguished by its long loose
fur, short ears, and abbreviated bushy tail, its general colour being dusky.
Probably every Englishman thinks he knows a fox when he sees it ; and it
is not unlikely that he would be disposed to resent the suggestion that he
could not distinguish between foxes and certain other
members of the canine family, or that there could be any Fox-like Series,
hesitation in deciding whether any foxes he might be shown
were or were not specifically identical with the common English kind.
Nevertheless, it is by no means easy to determine from external characters
alone whether a given canine animal is or is not a fox ; while the difficulty of
deciding whether many of the larger foxes of Asia and America should be re-
garded merely as varieties of the common fox, or as distinct species, has long
exercised the minds of naturalists. Indeed, the latter question has only
recently been decided by the leading zoologists of England in favour of the
former view ; and we are by no means sure that their opinions are accepted
by all American zoologists.
Probably most people would say that a fox is sufficiently characterised by
his slight build, elongated body, short limbs, long ears, sharp muzzle, and
long bushy tail, of which the length always considerably exceeds half that of
the head and body. So far, indeed,, as they go, these characteristics are ex-
cellent, and they will serve to distinguish a fox from a wolf or jackal. The
whole of them are, however, not applicable to all foxes, the Arctic fox having
comparatively short ears, while they will not serve to distinguish foxes from
the above-mentioned South American representatives of the family, such as
the so-called Azara's dog. The latter animals have, indeed, the general
build and appearance of foxes, their muzzles being sharp, their ears long, and
their tails of great length and thickly haired. The naturalist says emphati-
cally, however, that they are not true foxes, and it is, therefore, evident
that he has certain characteristics to rely on which are not included among
those just mentioned.
A more careful examination of a fox will show that the pupil of the eye
forms merely a narrow vertical ellipse when seen in a strong light, whereas
that of wolves, jackals, and dogs is circular. Unfortunately, however, even
this character will not serve to distinguish foxes from the above-mentioned
South American species. Of more importance is the circumstance that
vixen foxes have but 6 teats, whereas the females of wolves, jackals, and
dogs generally have 10, but occasionally only 8 teats, while in the
Indian wild dogs the number is increased to 12 or 14. As usual, how-
ever,' when he wants to find a feature which shall be absolutely
characteristic, the naturalist has recourse to the skull in order to definitely
separate foxes from all other members of the family. If, indeed, we examine
70 MAMMALIA ORDER IV.CARNIVORA.
the skull of any kind of domestic or wild dog, of a wolf, or a jackal, we shall
not fail to observe, as noticed above, that the triangular bony projection
from the middle of the skull which forms the hinder border of the upper
part of the socket of the eye hence known as the postorbital process is
highly convex, and curves from above downwards. On the other hand, in
the skull of any species of fox, the same process has a very distinct hollow on
its upper surface, and it does not curve downwards in the smallest degree.
A further examination will also show that in a dog, jackal, or wolf the
middle portion of the skull is considerably elevated above the level of the
extremities of these two processes ; whereas in a fox the whole surface of
this part of the skull lies nearly in a horizontal plane. If we were to make a
vertical section of the two skulls, we should find that in the skulls of the
dog, jackal, and wolf the bone forming the roof was honeycombed by a
number of cells, whereas in the fox it is solid ; and it is the presence,
or absence, of these cells which causes the great difference in the contour of
the skulls of a dog and a fox.
The above feature absolutely distinguishes the skulls of all species of
foxes from those of all other members of the family, and we are accordingly
now able to give a much more satisfactory definition of a fox, which will be
somewhat as follows, viz. : A long -bodied, short-limbed member of the
canine family, with a long and bushy tail exceeding half the length of the
head and body, generally long ears, a sharp muzzle, elliptical pupils to the
eyes, 6 teats, and the forehead of the skull not honeycombed by cells, and
with the postorbital processes hollowed above. From these important
differences some writers are inclined to separate the foxes from the genus
Canis under the name of Vulpes.
There has been much discussion as to whether foxes and dogs will breed
together. Thus, Mr. Bartlett, the superintendent of the Zoological Society's
Gardens, whose wide experience entitles him to rank as a high authority on
the point, writing in 1890, says that, " So far as my experience goes, I have
never met with a well-authenticated instance of a hybrid between a fox and
a dog, notwithstanding numerous specimens of supposed hybrids of this sort
which from time to time have been brought to my notice." Since that date,
several writers in Land and Water have, however, asserted the existence of
such hybrids, but further evidence is still desirable on the subject. And if
such a hybrid be proved to exist, it would be very desirable that the form
of the pupils of its eyes, and the number of its teats, should be care-
fully recorded during life, while after death an examination of its skull
by a qualified observer would be of the highest interest.
Turning to the numerous varieties of the common fox and their distribu-
tion, it is almost needless to observe that in England the fox is of a bright
reddish-brown colour on the upper-parts, with the under-parts and the tip of
the brush white, and the back of the ears and the lower portions of the limbs
black. There are, however, some local or individual variations even in this
country, which have given rise to the names of greyhound, mountain, and
bush foxes ; but all these are, at the most, of trivial import. Occasionally
English foxes are killed with the tip of the brush grey or black, and
there is one instance on record of a white English fox. Of far more im-
portance is the circumstance that ome time previous to 1864 an im-
mature fox was killed in Warwickshire with all the under-parts of a greyish
black hue. Now, as a general rule, the foxes of Northern and Central
Europe are similar in colour to the ordinary English form, but in Southern
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 71
Europe they are all paler above, with the under-parts dusky. There can,
however, be no question but that these are all of one species, and it is there-
fore very interesting to find one instance of the occurrence of the Southern
variety assuming that the Warwickshire specimen was not an imported
animal in this country.
Proceeding eastwards into Asia, we find two large foxes differing very
markedly from the ordinary English form. The first of these is the yellow
fox of Central Asia, formerly regarded as a distinct species under the name of
C. flavescens, and characterised by its general pale and yellowish colour, and
the large size of its magnificent brush. It has, however, still the dark ears
and white brush-tip of the English fox, arid there can be no doubt that
modern writers are right in regarding it merely as a pale variety of the
latter. This variety inhabits open country, and lives in burrows, or among
rocks or bushes.
The handsome animal known as the mountain-fox (the so-called C.
montanus) of the Himalaya, although nearly allied to the last, is frequently
so strikingly different, when in its winter dress, from the ordinary English
fox, that most sportsmen would regard it as a distinct species. The fur of the
back varies in colour from chestnut to iron-grey, and the shoulders are often
marked by a conspicuous dark transverse stripe, while the under-parts, and
especially the throat, are more or less dusky. The black outer surfaces of the
ears and the white tip to the brush proclaim, however, the affinity of this fox
to the southern variety of the European fox ; and it appears to be merely
another variety of the latter. This Himalayan fox differs from the Central
Asian variety in that it does not excavate burrows, but lives in thickets or on
cultivated land. When we add that the so-called Nile fox (C. niloticus) is but
another variety of the same species, it will be evident that if he can but obtain
a pack of hounds and suitable ground, the sportsman may hunt one and
the same species of fox, whether he be in England, in the South of Europe, on
the banks of the Nile, in the deserts of Central Asia, or in the vale of Kashmir.
This is, however, by no means all, for if the fox-hunter cares to cross the
Atlantic he may again hunt the common fox in Virginia and other parts of
North America. It is true, in-
deed, that these large North
American foxes have been con-
sidered distinct species, underthe
names of the red fox (C. fulvus)
and the cross-fox (C.pennsyhani-
cus). The cross-fox is, however,
obviously but a variety of the red
fox, distinguished by the presence
of a more or less distinct dark
stripe across the shoulders ; and
since both forms have the black Fig. 41. THE COMMON Fox.
ears and white tail-tip of the
European species, there can be little hesitation, in spite of their variation in
colour, in regarding them merely as local races of the same widely-spread form.
Again the so-called silver or black fox (C. argentatus) from California and
the Western United States, so valued on account of its beautiful fur, is only a
melanistic (dark) variety of the red fox, and is therefore merely another race
of Canis vulpes. The silver fox, we may observe in passing, is a comparatively
rare animal, of which perfectly black skins, with only the characteristic white
72 MAMMALIA ORDER IV.CARNIVORA.
tip of the tail, are so scarce that they fetch from 50 to 70 in the market.
It thus appears that an animal may vary in colour from foxy-red above, with
white under-parts and tail-tip and black limbs and ears, to one in which the
whole of the fur is black save the tip of the tail, and yet belong to one and
the same species.
No account of the distribution of the common fox would be complete with-
out some reference to the fact that it is one of the very oldest of our British
Mammals, its fossilised remains having been dug up in the topmost beds of the
so called red crag of the Suffolk coast. These deposits far ante-date the river
gravels and cavern-mud in which occur the remains of the mammoth and other
gigantic extinct Mammals ; and it will thus be evident that this extreme
antiquity of the British fox will readily account for its present unusually wide
geographical distribution.
Before taking leave of the common fox and its numerous varieties we may
refer to the circumstance that there has been much discussion as to whether
badgers are hurtful to young foxes. As the result of these it appears that the
charge against the badger has been effectually disproved, more than one
writer recounting instances where fox and badger-cubs have been brought up
in amity as inhabitants of the same earth. In spite, however, of this, it
appears that there is still, at least in some districts, war waged by sportsmen,
against the unfortunate badger.
With regard to North American foxes, it may be observed that in addition
to the red and cross-fox, the so-called grey fox or Virginian fox (C. mrginianus)
is largely hunted with hounds in some parts of the States. This fox is much
smaller than the European species, the length of its head and body being
only about 19 inches, in place of some 24 inches. It is further distin-
guished by its relatively shorter muzzle, and also by the presence of a ridge
of long stiff hairs running along the middle of the upper part of the tail.
The general colour of this fox, as its common name implies, is some shade of
grey ; but there is considerable individual variation in this respect, and some
specimens show a more or less marked reddish tinge. If an English hunts-
man were to see his quarry suddenly rush straight up the trunk of a tree in
the midst of a run, his astonishment would certainly be great, yet we are
assured by American writers that tree-climbing is a frequent habit of the grey
fox. Thus Dr. EHzey writes in Shields' "Big Game of North America," that
" whether the greys ever climb trees in pursuit of prey I am uncertain ; but
they take to a tree as readily as a cat, when hard run by hounds. I think it
nearly certain that they climb for persimmons, grapes, and berries. Red
foxes never climb trees under any circumstances ; when hard run they go to
earth." If the above explanation of this curious habit is the trus one, it
would seem that grapes are not sour to the grey fox. Grey foxes alFord but
a poor run in comparison with the common species, their course only holding
for a short distance, and that accompanied by many doublings ; while the run
usually terminates either by the capture of a fox within an hour, or by the
animal either climbing a tree or taking refuge in a hole of the same. On the
other hand, the American red fox runs as strongly as his European relative ;
his course, it is said, generally taking the form of a large parallelogram. The
cubs of the grey fox have been compared to small black puppies, and are thus
very different in appearance from those of our own species. A second North
American species is the kit-fox (C. velox), which is still smaller than the
grey, its brush being only about 11 inches in length, against 1G inches in
the latter. Above. thi fox is light grey, with an admixture of long white
FLESH-EA TING MAMMALS. 73
hairs, while the flanks are yellowish and the under-parts white, the brush
having no white tip. This species lives in burrows, and takes its name from
its extreme speed. Whether it is commonly hunted with hounds I am un-
aware. More distinct than either of the above is the long-eared fox ((/.
macrotis), of California, in which the ears are nearly as large as in the under-
mentioned fennecs. Its general colour above is grizzled grey. South
America has no true foxes.
In India the place of the common fox is taken by two small species the
Indian desert-fox (C. leucopns) and the Bengal fox (C. bengalensis). The
former, which is somewhat the larger of the two, agrees with the common
species in the white tip to the brush, and also in the dark brown or black out-
sides to the ears ; while the latter has a black tip to the brush and greyish
ears. The desert-fox, as its name implies, inhabits sandy wastes, and has a
considerable turn of speed ; Jerdon stating that it " gives a capital run
sometimes, even with English dogs."
The Bengal fox, which only measures about 20 inches from the tip of
the snout to the root of the tail, is found in more or less open country over
the greater part of India, and may not unfrequently be seen by residents in
Calcutta playing about the Maidan near Fort- William. Jerdon writes that
"this fox is much coursed with greyhounds in many parts of India, and with
Arab or country dogs, or half-bred English dogs it gives a most excellent
course, doubling in a most dexterous manner, and if it is within a short
distance of its earth, racing the dogs. Its numerous earths prevent in general
much sport being had in hunting it with foxhounds, and its scent is poor."
Another small Asiatic species, with a dark tip to the brush, is the Corsac fox
(C. corsac), whose habitat extends from the shores of the Caspian through the
Russian steppes to Mongolia. The skin of this species is an article of con-
siderable commercial importance, an average of about 50,000 coming annually
into the market. There are several other allied species of foxes inhabiting
Asia, such as the Japanese fox (C. japonicus) and the Tibetan fox (C. ferrilatus\
but as they are mostly but little known in Europe, it is unnecessary to make
further allusion to them on this occasion. Mention must, however, be made
of the Arctic fox (0. lagopus), characterised by its short ears, extremely
bushy brush, and the long hair clothing the soles of the feet. As a rule, this
fox is bluish-grey in summer (when it is known as the blue fox), but changes
to pure white in winter ; although in some cases, more especially in Iceland,
the dark tint is retained throughout the year. This species is practically
circumpolar, and on an average from 25,000 to 60,000 skins annually find
their way into the market. The Arctic fox, in order to provide a supply of
food for the long and dreary winter of its native habitat, is in the habit of
laying up stores of lemmings and other small animals concealed in holes and
fissures of the rocks.
South and Central Africa is the home of an entirely different group of
small foxes, known as fennecs (C. zerda, C. famelicus, and C. cania), and
characterised by the enormous length of their ears. These fennecs are more
or less sandy-coloured animals, with a dark tip to the tail, and differ from
the European fox in their social habits, dwelling together in small companies.
A skin of an apparently allied species has been obtained from Afghanistan.
The Cape hunting-dog (Lycaon picius) is the sole living representative of
a genus differing from Canis in having but four toes to each foot. Its skull
approximates to that of the wolves, but is somewhat shorter and broader, and
there is a slight difference in the form of the teeth. This animal is of large
74
MAMMALIA ORDER IV.CARNIVORA.
size, and marked with unsymmetrical blotches of white, yellow, and black,
the distribution of which shows considerable individual variation, lumbers
combine in packs to hunt their prey. A second well-marked
Other Genera, genus of the Canidce is formed by the bush-dog (Idioyon
venations) of British Guiana and Brazil, which is a dark-
coloured animal not larger than a fox, with a short, sparsely-haired tail,
short limbs, very small ears, close hair, and a very aberrant dentition. In
the first place, the number of molars is reduced to one pair in the upper and
two in the lower iaw, while the
lower carnassial has no cusp on the
inner side of the blade, and its
posterior heel is secant instead of
tubercular, so that practically the
entire tooth is reduced to a cutting
blade. The last member of the dog
family is Lalande's fennec (Otocyon
mcyalotis) of South Africa, which,
while agreeing in many respects
with the true fennecs, has very
much larger ears, but is specially
distinguished by having four pairs
' *%.42.-CAPE HUNTING-DOG of lower molar teeth, and either
(Lycaon pictus). three or four pairs of the same in
the upper jaw, the total number of
teeth thus being either 46 or 48. Its habits are like those of the fennecs.
In the three remaining families of the terrestrial Carnivora the auditory
bulla of the skull possesses a simple undivided septum, and its bony external
tube, or meatus, leading to the outer ear, has its lower
The Bear Tribe, margin considerably produced, while the triangular paroc-
Family cipital process stands quite apart from the bulla. In the in-
Ursidce. testine the blind appendage or coecum is entirely absent. The
bears themselves are specially characterised by the broad, flat,
tuberculated crowns of the molar teeth, of which there are two upper and three
lower pairs ; and likewise by the rudi-
mentary development of the first three
pairs of premolars in each jaw, which are
in many cases entirely lost. The upper
carnassial is very short and triangular,
and both this tooth and the lower car-
nassial have but little resemblance to the
true sectorial type, as shown in the cats
and dogs. In the skull the auditory bulla
is very flat, and scarcely at all inflated.
The large feet are furnished with five toes
each, and are completely plantigrade ; j^ 43._Busn-Doo
while their long and slightly compressed (Iciicyon venations).
claws are non-retractile. The body is
very stout, the tail short, the ears moderate, the hair generally long and
loose, and the gait clumsy and shambling. Bears go about either in
pairs or in small family-parties, and are all excellent climbers. Most
of them eat roots, fruits, and other vegetable substances, although they
will also consume the flesh of dead animals and carrion; and in cold
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 75
countries all hibernate during the inclement season, their hiding-places
being frequently caverns, the clefts of rocks, or hollow trees. The typical
genus UrsiiSj in which there are 42 teeth, and some of the premolars are de-
ciduous, includes all the existing members of the family except two. Of
these the polar bear (U. maritimus) of the Arctic regions stands apart from
the rest on account of its relatively smaller head, small and narrow molars,
more hairy soles, and creamy white colour. Its food consists mainly of flesh.
The brown bear (U. arctus) is a very widely-spread species, ranging all over
Europe and Northern Asia, and represented in Syria by one variety (U.
syriacus), in the Himalaya by the pale isabelline bear (U. isabellinus), and in
North America by the grizzly bear (U. horribitis) and the American black
bear (U. americanus), both of which are now considered merely as varieties of
the European species. The Himalayan black bear ( U. torqnatus), with shaggy
black fur and a white gorget, is a very distinct species ; as is also the small
Malayan bear(t7. malayanus), rang-
ing from North-Eastern India to
the Malayan countries, and dis-
tinguished by its long extensile
tongue and short black fur, with a
light gorget on the throat. Another
well-marked form is the spectacled
bear (U. ornatus) of the Chilian
Andes. With the exception of U.
crowther, of the Atlas range, which
may be only a variety of the common
species, Africa has no bear. The
Indian sloth bear (Mclnrsns iwsmiw) m 44b _p ARTIK!OMIUWa) BEAK
differs in having only two pairs of (^Elm-opus mdanoieucus').
upper incisor teeth, small molars,
large extensile lips, and a deeply hollowed palate ; the black fur being very
long, loose, and harsh, and the throat marked by the usual light gorget. It
feeds chiefly on ants, other insects, fruit, flowers and honey. More different
than all is the parti -coloured bear (JEluropu-s mdanoieucus) of Tibet, with a
total of 40 teeth, the premolars large and, except the first, two-rooted, arid
the first upper molar broader than long, instead of longer than broad, as in
other bears. In colour it is black and white, with black rings round the eyes.
Mainly American, the raccoon tribe includes small carnivores with two
pairs of molars in each jaw, which may be either many-cusped or tuber-
culated, a short and broad upper carnassial tooth, planti-
grade feet, and the tail ringed. The single Old World form Eaccoon Tribe,
is the panda or cat-bear (/Elurus fulgens) of the Eastern Family Pro-
Himalaya, which is a reddish-coloured animal, of the size of cyonidce.
a cat, with .a long, ringed tail. It has a total of 38 teeth,
very broad many-cusped upper molars, and a curiously rounded and vaulted
skull. The face is cat-like, the .ears are moderate and rounded, and the
limbs stout, with large partially retractile claws. The panda is a good
climber, and feeds chiefly upon vegetable substances. The American raccoons
(Procyon) have 40 teeth, broad and tuberculated molars, and three lobes to
the blade of the upper carnassial. The body is stout, the head broad, with
a sharp muzzle, the whole sole of the foot not applied to the ground in
walking, and the toes capable of being widely spread, with sharp non-retractile
claws. The tail is rather short and ringed, and the fur thick and soft.
7 6
MAMMALIA ORDER Il\ CARNIVORA.
F r g. 45. THE PANDA (^wru*- fulgens).
Raccoons are almost omnivorous animals, obtaining much of their food along
the banks of lakes and streams, and swimming well. Much of their time
is, however, spent in trees, in hollows of which the young are brought forth ;
and in North America they hibernate dur-
ing the cold season. The cacomistles
(Bassariscus), represented by one species
from the Southern United States and Mexico
and another from Central America, form
a closely allied genus, distinguished by the
more slender build, sharper nose, longer
tail, and less completely plantigrade feet.
Another genus is Bassaricyon, of Central
America, which has raccoon -like teeth, but
an external form very like that of the
kinkajou. The coatis (Nasua), which range
from Central America to Paraguay, are easily
recognised by the prolongation of the
muzzle into a long and somewhat upturned
mobile snout ; the long and tapering tail
being ringed. The dentition is similar to
that of the raccoons, with the exception that
the upper canines are longer and more pointed, and the molars smaller.
Coatis are arboreal animals, going about the forest in small parties, and
feeding chiefly on birds, eggs, insects, lizards, and fruits. Lastly, the
kinkajou (Cercoleptes caudivolwdus) differs from all the rest in its long and
taper tail being prehensile ; the number of teeth being 36. It is a pale
yellowish-brown animal, of the size of a cat, entirely nocturnal, and arboreal
in its habits.
The last family of the land Carnivora is the large and widely-spread one of
the weasels, which includes the otters, badgers, shunks, etc. Except in the
ratels (where there is
Weasel Tribe. but a single pair in each
Family Muste- jaw), the members of
lidce. this family may be dis-
tinguished from the two
preceding ones by having one pair of
upper, and two of lower molars, and
by the inner portion of the upper molars
being longer from back to front than
the outer blade. The auditory bulla
of the skull is but little inflated.
The otters (Lutra) form an aquatic
group characterised by the short and
rounded feet, the webb-
Otters. ed toes, tho small, curv-
ed, and blunt claws,
and the broad and flattened head. The jaws are short, with large, closely
packed teeth ; the upper molar being especially large, quadrangular in form,
and its inner tubercular portion much expanded from back to front ; and
all the cheek teeth sharply cusped. The body is very elongated, the ears
are short and rounded, the limbs short, the tail long, thick, and tapering
rapidly, and the fur very short and close. In certain species the claws
Fig. 46. CACOMISTLE (Bassariscus astutus).
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 77
may be rudimental or wanting. With the exception of Australia and New
Guinea, otters are cosmopolitan in their distribution, the largest species
being the Brazilian otter. They are expert divers and swimmers, feeding
entirely on fish, for the capture and
retention of which their powerful and
sharply-cusped teeth are admirably
suited. The total number of teeth is
30. Nearly allied to the otters is the
sea-otter (Latax lutris), distinguished by
having only 32 teeth, among which the
lower incisors are reduced to two pairs,
the blunt and rounded tubercles of the
molars, and the flipper-like hind-feet, in
which the toes are flattened, as in the
seals, and the fifth toe is the longest
and stoutest. The head is rounded, the
ears very small, the tail short and Fig. 47. CoA.ii(Nasuaritfa).
bushy, and the pellage with a beautiful
under-fur. The total length of the animal is about four feet. Natur-
alists have hitherto believed that the sea-otter when on land has the
hind-toes turned forwards, but Mr. Snow, of Yokohama, states that this is
incorrect, and that they are really doubled backwards, beneath the soles.
The southern range of the sea-otter extends as far as Southern California and
Mexico. On the Asiatic side, it occurs at the Komandorski Islands, Kam-
schatka, and the Kurile Islands. As a rule, only one is produced at birth, but
occasionally two. Mr. Snow has seen two smajj. pups with their mother, and
has taken two from the inside of an otter he killed. It is not absolutely
known at what age the otter arrives at maturity. Mr. Snow believes that it
does so in the third year. Crabs and sea-urchins are the usual contents of
the stomach, but occasionally small fish and spawn are also found. The
crabs are crushed by the strong molar teeth, it being impossible that the
crushing is produced by the striking of two shells together, as the form of
the fore-feet will not allow of anything being grasped. The otter dives for
its food, and returns to the surface with the prey held between its two fore-
paws, in which it continues to hold it while eating it. On many occasions
Mr. Snow has seen schools of from 10 to 50 or more otters together some 10
or 15 miles from any land, but not of late years. The mode of capture
adopted by Europeans is to "run" the sea-otter with three boats, each
manned by four or five men, a hunter being in the bow armed with a rifle.
When an otter is " raised " (as it is called), the boats proceed to surround it,
lying some 500 to 600 yards apart in the form of a triangle. The boats are so
manoeuvred that the otter is kept between them. Every time the animal
makes its appearance above the water, it is shot at, until it is secured. When
the sea-otter is netted, it becomes entangled in the meshes and drowned.
The long white hairs of the fur are its chief beauty. They are not removed
when it is prepared for use. A skin has sold for upwards of 225.
The skunks of America are the first representatives of a second sub-family
in which the feet are elongated, with straight toes, and non-retractile, slightly
curved, somewhat compressed, and blunt claws, which are of
very large size in the hind-foot ; the form of the upper Skunks,
molar being variable. The typical skunks (Mephitis), which
are confined to North and Central America, are easily recognised by their
78 MAMMALIA ORDER IV.CARNIVORA.
black fur, relieved on the back with broad longitudinal stripes of white, and
the busliy black and white tail, which is generally carried over the back. They
have 34 teeth, and are provided with
special glands for the secretion of the
noisome fluid to which they owe their
name. The little skunk (Spilogale puto-
rius) of the Southern United States and
Central America isamuchsmalleranimal,
and the only member of thegroup that can
climb. The South American skunk (Con-
cpatus mapurito), ranging from Texas to
Patagonia, differs in having only 32 teeth,
and also in its heavier build, and by the
nostrils opening do wnwardsand forwards,
instead of on the sides of the muzzle.
Mr. Aplin, writing of this species, ob-
serves that " the scent-gland cannot be
Fig. 48. -COMMON SKUNK (Mephitis P ened U ^ 6SS the taU is afc a right angle
mephitica). or something near it, with the line of
the body ; and that therefore when
held by the tail the weight of the skunk's body keeps the tail more
or less in a line with it, and the skunk is unable to discharge its vile
secretion. To perform this operation it is of course necessary to catch
the skunk asleep, or otherwise deeply occupied (digging roots, for instance),
and to run the risk of its waking up or turning round and seeing you. I be-
lieve I could have easily done it myself, as I have more than once seen a
skunk lying curled up asleep in the daytime. Indeed, while looking for a
parrot 1 had shot among some bushes, I very nearly stepped upon one
which was curled up on the ground ; and there it remained until I put a re-
volver bullet through its body. However, I never cared to risk the loss of
useful garments, it having been proved, I believe, that clothes once well
dosed at close quarters may as well be burnt. The skunk passes the day-
time in sleep, \\hen undisturbed. In Soriano I used to find them laid up in
holes and under clefts in the granite boulder rocks, in desertec? ant-nests,
among paja grass, or in the crown of a big hassock of this, and in one or two
cases on the ground among bushes. In the latter case it lies on its side
curled round. When roused in a hole by a dog, it presents a rather diaboli-
cal appearance as it pops its little vicious head out. Notwithstanding
demonstrations of this kind, I have only once seen a skunk use its teeth. In
this case one fastened on to Jim's flanks, and the old dog walked about with
it hanging on for half a minute, looking round at it in much astonishment at
this unusual and unseemly behaviour the fact being that he could not get
hold of his enemy, which turned with him. The skunk seems to be an om-
nivorous feeder. Its long strong claws are well adapted for digging, and
places where they have been scratching are to be seen all about the camp.
They probably feed on small mammals, reptiles, and insects, as well as
roots, and are always credited with robbing hen-roosts. With regard to the
distance at which you can smell a skunk, I cannot give an opinion ; but you
" often smell them when you cannot see them, and just about sunclown the
smell is a usual and familiar one about the camp ; at night, too, a strong
whiff of it as you sit or stroll in the patio is a very common occurrence. At
a hundred yards to leeward, with the slightest breeze the smell of a discharge
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 79
would be very pungent. The smell is said to be a good remedio for the
headache." Although skunks are essentially nocturnal animals, they may
occasionally be seen walking about on the open Argentine pampas in broad
daylight.
The next group of the sub-family includes the badgers, of which there are
likewise several genera, none of which are found in South America. Of
these the sand-badgers ( A rctonyx\ of the Oriental countries,
form a genus characterised by having 38 teeth, of which the Badgers,
lower incisors project forwards, the anterior premolars are
often rudimental or wanting, and the upper molar is much larger than the
carnassial, and longer than broad. The naked mobile snout is pig -like, the ears
are minute and rounded, the eyes small, the feet digitigrade when walking,
the tail moderately long and tapering, and the fur bristly, with a soft under-
f ur. The Indian species is rather larger than the ordinary badger. Nearly
allied is the Malayan badger (Mydaus meliceps), from Java, Sumatra, and
Borneo, which is a small burrowing animal, distinguished from the last by
the nostrils being inferior, instead of terminal in position, and by the
extreme shortness of the tail, which is clothed with rather long bushy hair.
In the true badgers (Meles) the number of the teeth is also 38, but the first
premolar in each jaw is minute, and often shed at an early age, while the
very large upper molar is quadrangular, as broad as long, and much surpass-
ing the carnassial in size. Moreover, the lower law is so firmly articulated
to the skull that it cannot be separated without fracture. The skull differs
from that of the sand-badgers, and thereby resembles the Malayan badger,
in that its bony palate is only produced a comparatively short distance
behind the last pair of teeth. The muzzle is pointed, the body stout and
broad, the ears and tail very short, and the limbs short and strong, with
partially plantigrade feet. The coloration of the common badger is too well
known to need description. The genus includes only a few species,
which are confined to Europe and Asia north of the Himalaya, one kind
inhabiting Persia and another Japan. Badgers are nocturnal, omnivorous,
and burrowing animals, producing three or four blind young at a birth. In
North America the group is represented by the American badgers ( Taxidea),
in which the first upper premolar appears to be always wanting, and the
upper carnassial is nearly as large as the molar, and the tubercular heel of
the lower carnassial relatively
smaller than in the Old World
badgers. The stout body is de-
pressed, and the tail very short.
Nearly allied to the badgers are
the ratels (Mellivora) of India and
Africa south of the Sahara, which
differ from all other members of
the family in having but a single
pair of lower molars, and are fur-
ther distinguished by the limbs
and under surface of the body Fig. 49. COMMON BADGER.
being black, while the upper-parts
are greyish. In this genus the upper carnassial is a large tooth, with its inner
tubercle at the front end, as in the remaining genera of the sub-family ; the
upper molar being short from back to front, with its inner portion much
expanded. In the lower carnassial the posterior heel is very minute. Ex-
So MAMMALIA ORDER ir. CARNIVORA
ternally, the ratels have a stout body, a flattened head, rather pointed nose,
rudiment*! ears, stout and short limbs, and a very short tail. They subsist
chiefly on honey-comb, which they dig out with their powerful claws. The
so-called ferret-badgers (Helictis), from the Oriental countries, some of which
are remarkable for their brilliant coloration, form a very distinct genus.
They have 38 teeth, a long head, with a sharp naked muzzle, obliquely
truncated at the tip, small ears, elongated body, short limbs, and a rather
short or moderate bushy tail. All are small animals, climbing well, and sub-
sisting on a mixed diet. The last genus of the sub-family is typified by the
Cape polecat (Ictonyx zorilla) ; another species occurring in Egypt, and, it is
said, Asia Minor. These animals have a dentition and bodily form very
similar to those of the true polecats, from which they may at once be
distinguished by their coloration, which is very similar to that of the
skunks.
The last sub-family of the Mustelidce comprises the true weasels and their
allies, and is characterised by the toes being short and partially webbed, the
claws also short, sharp, compressed, curved, and frequently
Weasels, etc. partially retractile ; while the upper molar is of moderate
size, and wide transversely. The first genus is Galictis, of
which there are two well-defined South American species, locally known as
the grison and the tayra. Both these have 34 teeth, among which the molars
are small but stout, while the upper carnassial has
its inner tubercle near the middle of its length,
and the lower carnassial has a minute posterior
heel, and either a very small or no inner cusp.
The head is broad and flattened, the body
elongate, the limbs short, with plantigrade feet,
in which the claws are non-retractile and the soles
naked, while the tail is long or moderate. Both
s P ecies are found as far south as the Argentine
WEASEL. pampas, and are noted for their savage disposition.
In the typical genus Mustela may be included not
only the martens, but likewise the smaller polecats and weasels. In the two
latter the dentition is numerically the same as in Galictis, but in the former
the number of teeth is increased to 38, owing to the presence of the first pair of
premolars in each jaw, on which account these animals are frequently referred
to a genus by themselves, under the name of Putorius. From Galidis they
are ail readily distinguished by the inner tubercle of the upper carnassial
tooth being situated close to its front edge, instead of in the middle. All
these animals have the characteristic long and slender weasel-body, short,
digitigrade limbs, rounded feet, short toes, with sharp, compressed, and parti-
ally retractile claws, and the long or moderate tail more or less bushy. The
larger forms, or martens, are restricted to the Northern Hemisphere, one
species occurring as far south as Sumatra. They are all mainly carnivorous
and arboreal, and generally produce from four to six young at a birth. The
best-known species are the pine-marten (Mustela martes), ranging from Britain
across Northern Europe and Asia ; the beech-marten ( M. foina), extending
from Central and Southern Europe to the Himalaya and Turkestan ; the
sable (M. zibellina) of Siberia and Kamschatka; the closely-allied North
American marten (M. americana) ; the very distinct Indian or yellow-
throated marten (M. flavigula), ranging from India to Sumatra, China, and
Amurland ; and the large Pennant's marten (M. pennanti) of North America.
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS.
Si
Of the forms with only three pairs of premolars and no inner cusp to the lower
carnassial tooth, the largest are the nertz (M. lutreola) of Eastern Europe,
and the nearly related North American mink (M. visori). Next come the five
species of polecat, as typified by the common European polecat (M. putorius);
while the smaller forms include the true weasels and stoats. Of these, the
stoat or ermine (M. erminea) and the weasel (M. mdgaris) are common to
Europe, North and Central Asia, and North America, while the assogue (M.
Mbernica), which is intermediate in size and coloration between the other two,
is restricted to Ireland, being the only Mammal peculiar to the British Islands.
The South African Poecilogale albinucha, which has a coloration similar to
that of the Cape polecat (Ictonyx), has been referred to a distinct genus, on
account of there being only two pairs of premolar teeth in each, and by the
lower molars being generally reduced to a single pair. The name Lyncodon
has been proposed for a Patagonian weasel, in which the dentition is numeri-
cally the same as in the preceding.
The last genus of the mustelines is represented solely by the wolverene or
glutton (Gulo luscus) of the northern districts of both hemispheres. In this
comparatively large animal, which is an inhabitant of forests, there are 38
teeth, all of which are very stout and strong*; the upper molar being much
smaller than the carnassial, the lower carnassial large, with no inner cusp, and
a small posterior tooth, and the third upper incisor so large as to resemble a
second tusk. The form is more like that of a bear than a weasel, the body
and limbs being stout, the latter long, with large, partially plantigrade feet,
the small ears almost buried in the loose, coarse fur, the eyes, the tail short,
thick, and bushy, and the soles of the feet covered with bristly hairs.
The dark fur has a light saddle-shaped mark on the back. The wolverene is
a good climber, and lives on large birds and mammals, killing animals even as
large as the reindeer. It has a curious habit of carrying off and collecting
articles for which it can have no possible use.
The fur-seals, or eared-seals, are the first of three families of the aquatic
Carnivora, all the members of which are modified for an aquatic life, and
collectively constitute the sub-order Pinnipedia. In all these
animals the upper-arm and fore-arm, and the corresponding Eared-Seals.
segments of the hind-limb, are abnormallytehortened, and to Family Otariidce.
a great extent enclosed in the skin of the body, whereas the
feet, and more especially the hinder pair, are elongated and expanded into
large flippers, with the toes
widely separated and completely
united by webs. Five toes are
present, of which the first and
fifth in the hind -limb are
stouter and usually longer than
the three middle ones. The
incisor teeth are always reduced
below the typical number of
three pairs in one or both jaws ;
and the cheek teeth, which
usually consist of four pairs of
premolars and a single pair of
molars, are nearly alike, and
lack the specially modified car-
nassiala characteristic of the land Carnivora. The body is of a tapering,
Fig. 51. SEA-LION.
32 MAMMALIA ORDER IV.CARNIVORA.
pyriform shape, admirably adapted for progression through, the water, pass-
ing 1 almost imperceptibly into the tail, which is always short. On land
seals are awkward animals, progressing with a series .of ungainly iumps, and
most of them spend the greater part of their time in the water, although all
come ashore for the purpose of breeding. The great majority are marine,
although a few inhabit inland seas and lakes. Most feed on fish, crustaceans,
and other marine animals.
'J he eared-seals, all of which may be included in the single genus Otatia,
are distinguished as a family by the circumstance that when on land the hind-
flippers are turned forwards beneath the body, and likewise by the presence
of small external ears ; the under surfaces of both flippers being naked.
They have either 36 or 34 teeth, according to the presence or absence of the
second pair of upper molars ; and there are three pairs of upper, and two of
lower incisors. The cheek teeth are sharp and compressed, consisting of one
large central cusp, flanked by two much smaller ones. The head is separated
from the body by a distinct neck, and the claws, especially those of the first
and fifth toes, are small or rudimental. Many species have a very dense
under-fur, constituting the "sealskin " of commerce, and these -are known as
fur-seals ; while others, in which there is no under-fur, are termed hair-seals.
Although absent from the shores of the North Atlantic, the eared-seals have
a wide geographical distribution. Among the better-known forms may be
mentioned the southern sea-lion (0, jubata) of the Falkland Islands and
Patagonia, which differs remarkably from all the rest in the structure of its
skull ; the large northern sea-lion (0. stelleri) of the North Pacific, which
may attain as much as 10 feet iu length ; Gillespie's sea-lion (0. gillespii)
from California and Japan ; the sea-bear (0. ursina) from the Pribyloff
Islands and other parts of the North Pacific ; 0. pusilla of South Africa ; and
O.fosteri from Australia and New Zealand. All the eared-seals are peculiar
for their habit of spending a long period on land during the breeding-season,
where they form the well-known "rookeries." Here the males arrive first,
and proceed to take up fixed stations, where they collect as many females as
they are able to capture ; and it is not a little remarkable that during their
whole sojourn on shore, which may extend to a period of three months, they
undergo a complete fast.
The following account of seals and sealing in Japanese waters is from the
consular report on the trade of Hakodate, as given in the Times of May,
1895. The writer states that in the island of Yezo the "conditions, as
regards space and time, are very similar on both sides of the ocean. The
Russian rookeries of the Commander Islands are the exact counterpart
(though smaller) of the American rookeries of the Pribyloff Islands ; the two
face each other, in about the same latitude, from the opposite sides of
Behring Sea. From these centres the seals, after their four or five months 1
summer sojourn, start southwards for their immense swims in the Pacific,
extending on the American side as far down as San Francisco, and on the
Asiatic side as far down as Sendai Bay, and even the entrance of Yedo Bay.
But there is one noteworthy difference between the two cases. While, on
the American side, owing to the long sweep and turns of the coast-line, the
range of the swim is quite 3,200 miles, on the Asiatic side it is a nearly straight
run of less than half that distance. Hence the seal-herd, though larger, is
more dispersed on the American side ; and it is probable that hunters
choosing the Asiatic side gain more through the concentration of the herd
than they lose through its inferiority in numbers. Indeed, the effective
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS. 83
hunting range at all events, for the first stage of the hunting season is not
much more than 800 miles long, extending from Sendai Bay to Nemuro, the
most easterly point of Yezo Island. On reaching Nemuro the seals suddenly
disappear about the end of June, and no sealing craft as yet has followed
them up, keeping them in sight, between this point and the rookeries on
Behring and Copper Islands, or the still smaller rookery of Robben Island in
the Okhotsk Sea. The explanation of this sudden acceleration of the seal's
pace may be, as the hunters think, merely the quickening of the natural
instincts, on the eve of the breeding-time. But it may also be due to a
falling off in the food supply along the line of the Kurile archipelago. The
fact, however, is undoubted that, beyond Nemuro, the schooners lose sight
of the seals about the end of June, and this check of their pursuit serves as
a mark to divide the hunting season into two distinct stages.
" The schooners, as a rule, leave Victoria or San Francisco at the end of
December or early in January, and, after a two months' voyage across the
Pacific, strike the Japanese coast about the latitude of Yokohama, where
some of them put in to victual and refit. They begin hunting about the
middle or end of March, first meeting large clusters of seals in about latitude
38 deg. N. off Sendai Bay, from about 30 to 250 miles off the shore. The
seals are then proceeding northwards at a leisurely pace, travelling during
the night and feeding and sleeping in the daytime, especially in bright,
sunshiny weather. * Sleepers,' as the hunters call them, are the easiest to
shoot ; ' travellers ' are more difficult. A schooner with six or seven boats
can take, on the average, close on 1,000 skins in the four months,
March to June. That closes the first stage of the season, and they then
either tranship their catches at sea into a collecting ship from Victoria and
San Francisco, or else put into Hakodate and prepare their skins for shipment
to London or America. This done, after a short stay and revictualling in
port, they start northwards for the second stage of the hunting on the western
side of Behring Sea and in the Okhotsk Sea. This part of the hunting
season, lasting from the end of July till the end of October, yields a very
much smaller catch than the first stage, arid, with a protective zone established
round the rookeries, the sealers will probably find it hardly worth while to
continue it. At the rate at which the pelagic sealing schooners are increasing,
and in the absence of more effective measures for the protection of the herd
on the rookeries, no less than at sea, the industry cannot last long. The
Canadian sealing fleet engaged in hunting on the western side of the Pacific
has increased even more rapidly than on the American side. In 1891 only
one schooner, in 1892 11 or 12, and in 1893 at least 30 hunted in Asiatic
waters. In the first place, the advantage, as compared with the American
side, of the shorter range and greater concentration of the herd, is now well
known to the sealers. Secondly, the close season, and the limits prescribed
by the award of the Behring Sea arbitrators, are sure to drive many to the
western side. And, lastly, the fact that there is a considerable saving in
freight and charges when the skins are packed in Japan and shipped via the
Suez Canal to London, as compared with the charges and freight from the
American side, will tell in the same direction."
Of the Alaskan seal-herd, Mr. H. W. Elliott writes, that " the fighting
between the old males for the cows is mostly or, rather, entirely done
with the mouth. The opponents seize one another with their teeth, and
then, clenching their jaws, nothing but the sheer strength of the one, and
the other tugging to escape, can shake them loose, and that effort invariably
MAMMALIA ORDER IV. -CARNIVORA.
leaves an ugly wound, the sharp canines tearing out deep gutters in the skin
and furrows in the blubber, or shredding the nippers into ribbon-strips. The
bulls generally approach each other with comically averted heads, just as
though they were ashamed of the rumpus which they are determined to
precipitate. "When they get near enough to reach one another, they enter
upon the repetition of many feints or passes before either the one or the
other takes the initiative by gripping. The heads are darted out and back
as quick as a flash ; their hoarse roaring and shrill piping whistle never ceases,
while their fat bodies writhe and swell with exertion and rage ; furious lights
gleam in their eyes ; their hair flies oft' into the air, and their blood streams
down. All this combined makes a picture so fierce and so strange that, from
its unexpected position and its novelty, this is one of the most extraordinary
brutal contests man can witness."
The walrus or morse (Trichechus rosmarus) of the polar seas, although
differing remarkably in its dentition from both, presents in many respects a
connecting link between the preceding and following families.
The Walrus. It agrees, for instance, with the Otariidce in having the hind-
Family flippers turned forwards beneath the body when on land,
Trichechidce. but resembles the Phocidce in having lost all external traces
of ears. As regards the dentition, the upper canines are
developed into enormous tusks, projecting far below the lower jaw, but the
whole of the other teeth are small, simple, and single-rooted, the molars
having rounded, flattened
crowns. The walrus is one of
the heaviest and most bulky
of all seals, old males not un-
frequently measuring from 10
to 11 feet in length, while
much larger examples are on
record. In form the head is
round, with rather small eyes,
and the short, broad muzzle
furnished with a tuft of stiff
bristles on each side. The hair
of the rest of the body is short
and closely pressed to the skin,
its general colour being yellow-
Fig. 52. WALIIUS (Trichechus rosmarus.)
ish. The tail is rudimental ; in the front-flippers the toes are nearly
equal in length, and furnished with small, flat nails, but in the hind-
pair the nails of the three middle digits are large, and those of the two mar-
ginal ones minute. There is some difference of opinion as to whether the
walruses of the Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans belong to the same or to
distinct species, but, in any case, the difference between them is extremely
slight. Walruses are social animals, collecting on the ice-fields in herds of
considerable size, and being often found on detached ice-floes. The females
produce one, or occasionally two calves in the spring or early summer, for
which they display the most marked affection. Their food consists almost
entirely of two species of bivalve molluscs, which are raked out of the mud
with the tusks, and easily crushed by the flat molar teeth. Whether the
tusks are also employed to drag the animals out of the water by being
hitched on to the ice, is a disputed point. The cry of the walrus is a loud
roar, which, when many are together, can be heard for a long distance.
FLESH-EATING MAMMALS.
The true or earless seals constitute the last family of the fin-footed Car-
nivora, and are those best adapted for a thoroughly aquatic life, the hind-
flippers being permanently directed backwards alongside of the tail, and ex-
ternal ears totally wanting. A further difference from the
eared-seals is to be found in the circumstance that the under True Seals.
surface of the feet is hairy ; and in no case is there any under- Family Phocufa.
fur, the ordinary fur being short and closely pressed to the
skin. All the species have five pairs of cheek teeth in each jaw, but the
number of incisors is variable. Oil land, most of the true seals advance by a
jumping movement, produced by the muscles of the body, assisted only by
the front-flippers.
The common grey seal (Halichoerus grypus), of the coasts of the whole
North Atlantic, is the type of the sub-family Phwidce, characterised by having
three pairs of upper, and two of lower incisor teeth, well- developed claws on
all the toes, and the hind-toes of
nearly equal length, with the webs
not reaching beyond their extremi-
ties. In the grey seal the cheek-
teeth, except the last one or two
in the upper, and the last in the
lower jaw, are single-rooted, and
consist generally of a single com-
pressed cusp, although additional
cusps may be present in the two
hinder pairs in the lower jaw.
The typical seals (Phoca), all of
which are confined to the Northern
Hemisphere, differ from the last in
that all the cheek teeth are of smaller size, and, with the exception of the first
pair in each jaw, are inserted by double roots, and have accessory cusps to
their crowns. As examples of this genus may be cited the bearded-seal
(P. barbata\ Greenland seal (P. grcenlandica), common seal (P. vitulina), the
Caspian seal (P. caspica) from the Caspian and Sea of Aral, and P. sibirica
of Lake Baikal. Like other members of their tribe, these seals resort to the
coast to bring forth their young, which may be either one or two in number ;
and not the least remarkable fact in their life-history is the circumstance
that the offspring have to be taught by their parents to enter the water.
They usually congregate in large herds, and are especially fond of lying bask-
ing in the sun like so many pigs. Seals are regularly hunted for the sake of
their hides and blubber, the latter yielding a valuable oil.
A second sub-family of the Phocidce. is typified by the monk-seal of the
Mediterranean and adjacent portions of the Atlantic, which, with the nearly
extinct West Indian seal, constitutes the genus Monachus. In this sub-family
there are but two pairs of incisor teeth in each jaw, the cheek teeth, with
the exception of the first pair, are inserted by two roots, and the first and
fifth toes of the hind-flippers much exceed the three middle ones in length,
and have their claws rudimental or wanting. The monk-seal is characterised
by the possession of 32 teeth, and by the crowns of the cheek teeth
being hollowed on the inner side where there is a strongly marked basal
ledge arid their front and back accessory cusps very small. The first cheek
tooth in both jaws, as well as the last in the upper, are considerably smaller
than the rest ; and all the claws are rudimental. The four other generic
Fig. 53. COMMON SEAL (Phoca vitulina).
86 MAMMALIA-ORDER IV.CARNIVORA.
representatives of the sub-family Monachince are restricted to the southern
seas ; each genus including only a single species. First among these comes
the beautifully spotted leopard-seal (Ogmorhinus leptonyx), in which all the
cheek teeth, have three large cusps; the central one being the largest,
with its apex curved backwards, while the tips of the others incline towards
the middle one. Writing of the seals of this and other species seen during a
voyage undertaken in 1892-93, Mr. W. S. Bruce observes that from December
to February they "are to be found on the pack-ice, where, during the day,
they bask in the sun, digesting the meal of the previous night. Their food
consists of fish or shrimp-like crustaceans, and sometimes of penguins.
Stones, which were probably first swallowed by the penguins, may also be
found in their stomachs. They become so lazy with sleep that a man may
dig them in the ribs with the muzzle of his gun, and wondering what it is
disturbing their slumbers, they raise their head, which quickly falls pierced
with a bullet. There may only be one seal on a piece of ice, which is usually
the case with the leopard-seals, but the smaller kinds lie in half-dozens and
tens, and as many as forty-seven were seen on one piece during the recent
cruise. On one occasion several seals were found upon a tilted berg ; so high
was the lowest edge above the surface of the water that the boat's crew with
difficulty clambered up and secured their prey. Yet the seals must have
made a leap from the water on to this their last resting-place. December
seems to be their mating-season : about that time they are in very poor con-
dition, and very much scarred. The females appear to be as freely scarred
as the males. It was also noted that the seals were most numerous where
the water was bluest and clearest this in all probability meaning that they
were more numerous on the outside of the pack, since the muddy olive-brown
colour of the water, due to diatoms, seen so frequently in the south polar
seas, seems to indicate proximity to the main pack. The males appear to be
as numerous as the females, and, in the case of the leopard-seal and Weddell's
seal at least, the males are perhaps rather smaller than the females. They
move swiftly through the water, and can throw themselves eight or nine feet
above the surface, covering distances of fully 20 feet. Their moaning in
the gloaming of a calm grey day comes as a weird sound through the haze,
and makes the icy solitude more lonely, adding awe to a scene already full of
fascination. They seem to wonder at man, and not recognising him as an
enemy they allow him to approach, only to be laid low with club or bullet.
It "is a matter of great regret that they should be so indiscriminately
massacred ; there is no regard for sex or age, and even females heavy with
young do not escape. If fleets of sealers continue to visit the south, there
should be some law of protection, otherwise there is no doubt that, like the
southern fur-seals at the beginning of the century, these Antarctic seals will
be exterminated."
The second genus is represented by the still more beautiful Antarctic white
seal (Lobodon carcinophaya}, distinguished from the last by the much com-
pressed and elongated cheek teeth having one chief recurved cusp, with one
anterior, and from one to three much smaller but distinct posterior cusps.
Of this lovely seal Mr. Bruce writes that " its coat is of a beautiful creamy
white, resembling that of the polar bear, but short-haired, the colour be-
coming somewhat more intense along the back. Looking at the animal face
to face, its coat appears silvery, and the dorsal stripe almost vanishes ; but
when looked at from behind it assumes a deeper cream colour, and the broad
stripe along the back becomes quite prominent. The full-grown animal may
FLESH-EA TING MAMMALS. 87
attain a length of about seven feet. The sea-leopard is a very striking animal,
and, with the exception of the elephant-seal, is the largest of true seals. In the
recent Antarctic expedition (1892-3) some were met with that measured over
13 feet in length. Their coat is a dark brown-grey and mottled, be-
coming paler grey below, and in some cases almost black on the back. A
rather striking and not altogether inappropriate name was given to these
seals by the sailors in the recent cruise ; they called them ' serpents,' and they
do really often look very serpent-like with their long necks and green eyes."
Less common is Weddell's seal (Leptonychotes weddelli), in which the cheek-
teeth are small, with simple, somewhat compressed, conical crowns, carrying
a broad basal ledge, but no distinct fore-and-aft cusps. These seals are nearly
as large as the leopard-seal, but of less graceful make, having a thicker coat
of blubber, and the fur more woolly, and dark brownish-grey in colour. The
last member of the sub-f imily is the rare Ross's seal (Ommatophoca rossi),
characterised by the small size of all the teeth , the small posterior, and still
smaller anterior cusps of those of the cheek series, and the very large size of
the sockets of the eyes, as well as by the small size of the claws on the front-,
flippers, and their absence in the hinder pair. It is described as a beautiful
animal, with large, affectionate-looking eyes, and resembling the white seal
in form and size, but with a mottled grey pellage, darker above than below.
The third and last sub- family is represented solely by the hooded or
bladder-seal (Cystophora crisiata} of the Arctic Seas, and the gigantic elephant-
seal (Macrorhiuus leoninus) of the Southern Ocean and the coast of California.
In this group the incisor teeth form two pairs in the upper, and one pair in
the lower jaw, the total number of teeth thus being 30, in place of the 32
characterising the preceding sub-family ; and as a rule the cheek-teeth are
implanted by single roots. In the males the nose is surmounted by an
appendage capable of being inflated at will ; and the first and fifth toes of the
hind-flippers are much longer than the others ; all these toes having the claws
rudimental or absent, and webs projecting beyond their tips. The hooded-seal
takes its name from the large loose sac of skin over the nostrils of the full-
grown males, which, when inflated with air, looks somewhat like a hood.
Rudimental nails are present on the hind-feet ; and the last molar in each
jaw is generally implanted by two roots. In the elephant-seal, on the other
hand, the old males have a kind of trunk-like prolongation of the nose, which,
although ordinarily limp, can be distended under the stimulus of excitement.
All the teeth are relatively small, those of the cheek series being all simple
and single-rooted, and nails are totally wanting on the hind-flippers. The
elephant-seal is the largest of all seals, the males attaining the enormous
length of 20 feet, and the females about one-third less. Mr. Bruce
writes that "the males are said to come ashore on the South Shetlands about
the end of August and beginning of September, and in the first part of
October are followed by the females. The males are very fat when they first
arrive, but get lean towards the end of December, when they leave the
islands. Another herd was said to visit the islands about the middle of
January when they renew their hair and still another in March ; by the
end of April all returning to the sea. They are very difficult to kill, but, like
the other species, allow themselves to be approached even with a club. This
seal used to be highly valued for its blubber ; in 1821 and 1822 alone as much
as 940 tons of sea-elephant oil was taken from the South Shetlands ; and it
may here be mentioned that during these same two years at least 320,000
fur-seals were also taken from these islands."
83 MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA.
ORDER V. RODENTIA.
MAMMALS THAT GNAW.
NEXT to the Bats, the order of Mammals most easily defined is the one
including the Rodents or Gnawing Mammals, all of which have a very similar
and peculiar type of dentition specially adapted for rasping and gnawing
hard vegetable substances. The order comprises a large number of families
and genera, many of which are exceedingly numerous in species, so that the
total number of its members is greater than that of any ordinal group in
the whole class. As common and well-known examples of the Rodent order
may be cited squirrels, dormice, marmots, beavers, rats, voles, porcupines,
and hares and rabbits, all of which are characterised by possessing a pair of
chisel-shaped teeth in the front of each jaw, which are worn by use into a
sharp, cutting, transverse edge, and grow continuously throughout the life of
their owners. It is with these chisel-like front or incisor teeth that the
Rodents perform that gnawing action (so markedly developed in the beavers
and porcupines) from which they derive their name ; and it is owing to the
circumstance that the front of each tooth is faced with a plate of hard
enamel, while the remainder consists of soft ivory, that these beautiful in-
struments maintain their cutting-edges. These two pairs of front teeth aro
absolutely characteristic of all Rodents; and in by far the greater majority
of the order there are no other teeth in this region of the jaw. As if, how-
ever, for the purpose of hinting how these animals were originally related to
Mammals provided with a fuller set of teeth, the hares and rabbits, together
with their near allies the picas or tailless hares, have a minute pair of some-
what similar teeth placed immediately behind the large pair in the upper
jaw. Being perfectly useless to their owners, this second pair of upper front
teeth evidently comes under the category of rudimental or vestigiary struc-
tures. Behind the front teeth of all Rodents comes a long gap in each jaw,
after which is the series of grinding or cheek teeth, which are never more
than six in number, and are frequently reduced to four, or even three. Con-
sequently, no member of the order ever has canine teeth. Were it not that
there are two groups of animals with a dentition of a similar type, these
peculiarities in the teeth would absolutely distinguish Rodents from all other
members of the Mammalian class. Of the groups in question, the one con-
tains the wombats of Australia, which are broadly distinguished by the
presence of a pouch for the young, while the second group is represented
solely by the curious aye -aye of Madagascar, which agrees in its internal
anatomy with the lemurs, and is accordingly assigned to that group. With
these exceptions the dentition is absolutely characteristic of the Rodent
order ; and as the student is not likely to confound with them either of the
creatures named, he may rely on the nature of the teeth in identifying the
members of the order. A curious feature in the anatomy of Rodents is that
the mouth is divided into two chambers communicating by a narrow orifice ;
the first containing the incisors, and the second the cheek teeth, and the
hair being continued inwards behind the former. The object of this arrange-
ment ia evidently to prevent the intrusion of foreign objects into the
MAMMALS THAT GNAW.
mouth. As a rule collar-bones are well developed, although they may
be wanting. There are generally five toes to the fore-feet, but in the
hind-feet the number may be reduced to four, or even three ; the claws
being usually sharp and curved. A single species of Spermophilus has a
ringed tail.
The order has a cosmopolitan distribution, being fairly well represented
even in Australia, New Guinea, and Madagascar ; but it is in South America
that it attains its maximum development, the number of family types peculiar
to that region being very large. In size, Rodents vary from that of a rather
small pig to that of the smallest shrew, the harvest-mouse being one of the
most minute of Mammals. The carpincho (Hydrochcerus capivara) of South
America is the largest of the Rodents. As regards habits, all feed almost ex-
clusively upon vegetable substances
(except perhaps one rat from the
Philippines, and a second from South
America), but in other respects they
present great diversity. The flying-
squirrels, for instance, are flying,
arboreal, and nocturnal, whereas
the ground-squirrels are terrestrial.
Others again, such as the marmots,
form large colonies, the members of
which live in burrows, and are to a
great extent diurnal ; while others,
like the beaver and coypu, have Fig 54 ._ TlIE CARPINCHO
taken to an aquatic life. In struc- (Hydrochosrus capivara).
ture, Rodents are so much alike that
somewhat obscure osteological characters have to be relied upon in order to
divide them into groups.
Agreeing with the great bulk of the order in the possession of only a single
pair of upper incisor teeth, the members of this and the three following
families constitute a group (Sciuromorplia) chiefly charac-
terised by certain peculiarities in the structure of the skull. African Flying-
In this portion of the skull the cheek or zygomatic arch Squirrels.
(that is to say the long slender bar of bone running along Family
the lower border of the socket of the eye) is chiefly formed Anomalurida;.
by the bone known as the jugal, which is not supported by
a backwardly-directed process from the upper jawbone, or maxilla ; postor-
bital processes arising from the frontals to define the hinder margin of the
sockets of the eyes may or may not be developed ; and in the lower jaw
the hinder, or angular portion arises from the socket of the lower incisor
tooth.
Although flying-squirrels are abundant in the Oriental countries, in Africa
south of the Sahara their place is taken by a separate family, comprising two
distinct genera. These African flying-squirrels differ from their Asiatic
cousins in that the parachute, by means of which they take their long flying
leaps, is supported in front by a rod of cartilage projecting from the elbow,
instead of from the wrist ; and an additional peculiarity is the presence of a
row of overlapping horny scales on the under surface of the tail, which are
believed to be of use in climbing. The typical representatives of the family
are the short-tailed flying-squirrels (Anomalurus), most of the species in-
habiting West Africa, although one is found in Equatoria, and a second near
90 MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA.
Zanzibar. The smallest is the equatorial flying-squirrel (^4. pusilliis), in
which the length of the head and body is 11 inches, arid that of the tail
just over five inches. The second genus (Idiurus) is represented only by a
single species from the Cameruns district, which is not larger than a small
house-mouse, the length of the head and body being only just over two and
a half inches, and that of the tail four inches. Agreeing with the ordinary
African flying-squirrels in the general form and mode of support of the para-
chute, as well as in the presence of rows of scales
on the under surface of the tail, this species
is at once distinguished by the short, knob-like
nose, and the thinly-haired tail ; the latter ter-
minating in a pencil of hairs, and being nearly
double the length of the head and body, instead
of shorter. In place of being uniformly and
thickly covered with fur, the tail is short-haired
on its upper surface, with three longitudinal rows
of elongated sparse hairs, while beneath it is
naked, with three rows of scales near the base.
An important difference is also to be found in
the structure of the fore-foot, in which the thumb
is reduced to a mere knob-like rudiment, while
in the hind-foot the first toe is much smaller
, - i i -i e i i
than the other four, which are of approximately
equal length. There are likewise structural
differences in the skull, into the consideration of which it will be un-
necessary to enter on this occasion. In colour, the fur of the back and
upper surface of the parachute is pale whitish-brown, the hairs being
blackish-grey at the base ; while on the under surface the general hue
is a mixture of yellowish and dark grey, with a tinge of silver-grey on
the parachute.
Writing of the habits of Pel's flying-squirrel (Anomalurus pell} of West
Africa, Mr. W. H. Adams observes that " these squirrels come out of their
holes in the trees some hours after sunset, returning long before daybreak.
They are only to be seen on bright moonlight nights, and, in fact, the natives
s:ty they do not come out at all in stormy weather or on very dark nights.
They live on berries and fruits, being specially fond of the palm oil-nut,
which they take to their nests to peel and eat. They pass from tree to tree
with great rapidity, usually choosing to jump from a higher branch to a lower
one, and then climbing up the tree to make a fresh start. The temperature
on the hills varies considerably. During the time I was there the rainy
season, from the middle of April to the middle of June it was never very
hot, one night the thermometer going down to 44 deg. on the ground. Of
course, in the dry season it is much hotter, but the natives say these animals
are much more plentiful in the rains, and that the rainier the season the
more they see. They litter twice a year, once about September, the young
remaining in the nest for about nine weeks, during which they are fed by
the old ones on such food as shoots and kernels ; they do not attempt to
jump till the end of that period, extending the length of their jumps with
their growth. I do not know the other time of breeding, or whether they
have a regular season. The hunters told me that two or three were usually
born at one birth, and never more than four."
This extensive family includes not only ordinary squirrels, but likewise
MAMMALS THAT GNAW. 91
the typical, or northern fly ing -squirrels, together with marmots, chipmunks,
etc. The family is distinguished from the last by the absence of scales on the
bushy tail, and the presence of postorbital processes defin-
ing the hinder border of the socket of the eye ; while if a Squirrel Tribe.
parachute is developed, it is supported by a cartilaginous Family
rod arising from the wrist. The palate is broad, and there Sciuridcu.
are usually two pairs of upper and one of lower premolar
teeth, although the first pair in the upper jaw, which are always small, may
be shed at an early age, or even wanting. The cheek teeth are rooted, and
in the young always bear tubercles on their crowns, although in the adult
these may be converted into deep plates separated by clefts extending par-
tially across the crown. With the exception of Madagascar and Australasia,
the family has a cosmopolitan range.
The first genus is represented only by the large groove-toothed squirrel
(Rhithrosciurus) of Borneo, easily recognised by the numerous vertical grooves
on the upper incisor teeth. Next come the Ethiopian spiny squirrels (Xerus\
typically characterised by the coarse spiny fur, the small size or absence of
external ears, and the comparatively straight and long claws ; while they are
further distinguished by certain features of the skull and teeth. This group
ranges all over Africa from Abyssinia southwards. The numerous species of true
squirrels (Sciurus) differ from the last by the shortness of the skull, in which
the postorbital processes are more elongated. The tail is very long and bushy ;
the ears are generally large, and in some instances tufted ; there are only
four functional toes to the fore-feet ; the claws are long, curved, and sharp ;
and the females have either four or six teats. The cheek teeth have low
tuberculated crowns. The genus has a very wide distribution, but attains its
maximum development in the Malayan countries. Whereas, with the excep-
tion of the muzzle and chest, the common squirrel ($. wdgaris) is nearly
uniform brownish-red, the little Indian palm-squirrel (8. palmarum) is marked
with longitudinal dark and light stripes on the back, and many species have
two or three conspicuous bright-coloured and white bands oil the flanks,
while one American form is peculiar among Mammals in assuming a special
brilliant breedir.g-dress. A.11 the squirrels are arboreal, but their habits are
too well known to need special mention. From the true squirrels the
ground-squirrels, or chipmunks (Tamias), of the northern portions of both
hemispheres, differ by having pouches inside the cheeks for the storage
of food ; and are also characterised by the presence of distinct white or
greyish-white longitudinal stripes bordered by black bands on the sides, or
sides and back. Chipmunks, which are among the most common of North
American Rodents, are terrestrial in their habits, and chiefly remarkable
for the accumulations of food which they collect for winter use ; such
supplies being carried to the place of storage in the capacious check
pouches.
The susliks, or gophers (Spermophihis *), which have a geographical distri-
bution nearly similar to that of the chipmunks, although most of them are
found in desert regions where the latter never go, are readily characterised
by their somewhat slender and squirrel-like form, the presence of cheek
pouches, and therudimental first toe of the fore-foot, which may, however, be
provided with a nail. In the skull the first upper premolar is larger than in
the true squirrels, and the two series of cheek teeth are nearly parallel.
The ears may be either minute, or relatively large and tufted ; and the tail
1 The earlier name Anisonyx is used by American authors.
92 MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA.
may be either of medium length, or reduced to a stump. The coloration,
which is never like that of the chipmunks, may be either uniform or striped.
In habits, the susliks are social and burrowing animals, selecting dry sandy
soil for their underground habitations ; and in the colder portion of their
range hibernating during the inclement months of the year. The common
American species is the striped gopher ($. tridecemlineatus). Susliks agree
with the two following genera in that the incisor teeth lack the compressed
form characterising those of the squirrels and their immediate allies, and also
in the simple structure of their molars. The prairie-marmots, or prairie-
dogs (Cynomys) of North America form in some respects a connecting link
between the susliks and the true marmots, being intermediate in size between
the two, and having stouter bodies than the former. Their ears are small, and
the tail is generally short, while their cheek pouches are less capacious than
those of the susliks, and the first toe of the fore-feet is well developed, and
carries a large claw. The massive skull has the large postorbital processes
directed nearly outwards, and the stout molar teeth, which form two series
converging behind, differ from those of both the susliks and marmots in
having three, in place of two grooves, on their crowns. In habits the prairie-
marmots very closely resemble the true marmots, but the mounds of
earth they throw up from their burrows have a very distinct crater-like
form.
From the prairie-marmots the true marmots (Arctomys) may be distin-
guished by their stouter form, the absence of cheek pouches, the rudimental
first toe of the fore-foot, which carries only a
small flat nail, and the above-mentioned
differences in the form and direction of the
upper molar teeth. Marmots are common to
the northern half of both the Old and New
World, ranging as far south as the Pyrenees,
Alps, and Himalaya. They are among the
larger members of the order, the common
Alpine marmot measuring more than 20
inches in length, exclusive of the tail. In
appearance they are stoutly built, with short
legs, powerful claws, a broad and short head,
small and rounded ears, and a bushy tail, usually
less than half the length of the body. Their
fur is moderately long, and somewhat stiff ;
while their colour exhibits various tints of
Fig. 56.-C OMM o N MARMOT g lden ? r reddish-brown, shading, more or
(Arctomys mannotta). less markedly into black along the back and
tail, the tip of the latter being always
blackish. As regards their habits, marmots live in extensive societies, their
large and deep burrows forming warrens, and communicating with one
another underground. All the regions they inhabit experience a very severe
winter climate, during which the marmots hibernate securely in the depths
of their burrows, only waking from their long sleep at the melting of the
snows. Those that dwell in the mountains of Europe and Asia generally
select open valleys or uplands, where the soil is more or less sandy, for the
construction of their burrows, the neighbourhood of water being essential.
In Russia and Siberia they inhabit the open and barren steppes. Extreme
wariness, especially where they dwell on frequented routes, is characteristic
MAMMALS THAT GNAW. 93
of all marmots. During the daytime they may be seen playing around their
burrows, at the mouths of which they sit upright when the least alarmed.
In this situation, the moment they catch sight of a suspicious object, they
throw themselves down their burrows, which are often situated at the root
of a rhubarb plant, with the well-known shrill scream, at the sound of which
any other animal that may be in the vicinity immediately takes alarm. It is
almost superfluous to observe that, in order to secure them when thus sitting,
it is necessary to shoot marmots dead ; for, even with the slightest kick left
in them, they will often manage to tumble into their holes before they can
be seized. When disturbed for the first time, they will usually reappear
after a short interval ; but after a second fright they generally sulk, and
seldom show again. Wishing to secure a number of skins for rugs, the
writer and his party, after much toil, once succeeded in turning a small
rivulet into a marmot warren on one of the plateaus of Little Tibet, but, to
their dismay, were unable to "bolt " a single marmot the whole colony pre-
ferring to perish miserably by drowning in their burrows rather than face
their foes in the open.
In Europe there occur two species of marmot namely, the Alpfna marmot
(A. marmotta) and the somewhat smaller bobac (A. bobac}. The former is an
exclusively European form, only found in the three disconnected mountain
chains of the Pyrenees, Alps, and Carpathians, at elevations varying be-
tween 5,000 and 1,000 feet, where it meets with a climate suitable to its exist-
ence. The second species, in which the head and body measure about
15 inches in length, has its western limit on the German frontier, and thence
ranges eastward through Galicia and Poland, right across the steppes of
Southern Russia, and thence to Amur, Kamschatka, and Siberia the climate
of these regions lacing sufficiently rigorous to admit of the existence of these
animals at ordinary elevations. It is noteworthy that marmots do not extend
to the north-westward either into Lapland or the Scandinavian peninsula,
where the country does not present the character of the Russian steppes,
which in summer are scorched by a burning heat, and in winter form a track-
less expanse of snow. The southern limits of the bobac do not appear to be
yet definitely known. When, however, we reach the mountains of Yarkand
and other parts of Turkestan, and thence proceed southwards to the northern
districts of Ladak in Western Tibet, we meet with a very similar, although
somewhat larger, short-tailed species known as the Himalayan marmot
(A. himalayanus}, the range of which appears to extend eastward into Tibet
proper, where this species has been described under other names. The
Himalayan marmot is another species which, at all events in the southern
portion of its range, can only find a suitable climate at great elevations, the
height at which it is usually found in Ladak and Turkestan varying between
12,000 feet and something over 17,000 feet. Another species is also met
with in the neighbourhood of Yarkand and the Pamir, at elevations of about
13,000 feet, known as the golden marmot (-4. aureiis), and is distinguished
from the last by its more golden colour, and shorter and thicker tail.
Examples of this species were also obtained in Turkestan during Przewalski's
expeditions. To the south-west the writer, when crossing the elevated
plateau of Deosai, or "Devil's Plains," situated between the town of Skardo
on the Indus in Western Tibet and the mountains north of Kashmir, the
elevation of which is between 12,500 feet and 13,000 feet, found marmots
exceedingly abundant, although he was unable to determine to which of the
two preceding species they belonged, or whether they were more nearly
94 MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA.
allied to the Cabul species to be immediately mentioned. The Deosai
plateau, it may be mentioned, is one of the most desolate and dreary regions
that can well be imagined, consisting of rolling hills and dunes of sand and
gravel, with a sparse coating of vegetation, where almost the only living
things to be seen are marmots and mosquitoes. The climate is most
rigorous ; the sun's rays beating down with terrific power through the dry
and rarified atmosphere during the day in the summer months, but the tem-
perature rapidly falling, and often sinking below the freezing point after
sunset. In winter this region is absolutely impassable ; so that its climate
may be regarded as an intensification of that of the steppes.
The Cabul marmot. ( A. dichrous), which is also met with in Turkestan, is a
smaller species than the golden marmot, from which it is further distinguished
by its duller coloration, and the absence of any black on the back. The
regions whence it is obtained have a climate of the general character men-
tioned above. The last species to be mentioned is known as the red or long-
tailed marmot (A. caudatus). This appears to be the largest of all those
found in the Old World, attaining a length of nearly two feet, exclusive of
the tail, which measures about one foot. It is readily recognised, not only
by its size and long, bushy tail, but also by the full rufous tinge of the hair,
and the large extent of black found on the back of many individuals, the
skins being handsomer than those of any of the other kinds.
The distribution of this Himalayan marmot is extremely interesting as
showing that these animals can only exist in an arid climate more or less
nearly approaching that of the steppes or of Tibet. To understand this, it
must be mentioned that the immense mountain-barrier lying to the north-
ward of the valley of Kashmir, the lowest gap in which has an elevation of
11,500 feet, cuts off almost completely the clouds coming up from the plains
of India from the more or less arid regions to the northward. Now, whereas
marmots are totally unknown on the great range of mountains south of the
Kashmir valley, where the rainfall is excessive, directly the traveller reaches
the summits of the passes of the northern range, and thence far down on the
northern side, the shrill cry of the red marmot strikes his ear. This is very
noticeable in travelling on the Central Asian high road up the Sind Valley,
when he crosses the Zogi Pass into the Tibetan area. This marmot may like-
wise be met with on crossing the passes leading to our distant frontier
station of Gilgit ; and it also appears to range into many parts of Ladak,
although its exact limits are not yet accurately defined. It is thus evident
that marmots now exist only at such elevations or in such regions as possess
an extreme continental climate that is to say, one where the summers are
hot and the winters excessively cold. It has been shown that in Europe the
Alpine marmot inhabits three distinct and isolated ranges, separated from
one another by low-lying areas possessing a climate entirely different from
the type above referred to ; and it is thus clear that it could not have crossed
these unsuitable low areas while the climate of Europe was the same as at
the present day. That there must have been at some time or other a direct
communication between these isolated marmot areas is, therefore, self-
evident.
The next section of the Sciuridce is formed by the true, or northern flying
squirrels, of which there are three well-marked generic groups. In all these
animals the parachute is supported by a rod of cartilage projecting like a
yard-arm from the outer side of the wrist, and there is another expansion of
skin connecting the fore-limbs with the neck, while there may be a third
MAMMALS THAT GNAW. 95
between the hind-legs and the root of the tail. The whole of these flying-
squirrels are characterised by the complex structure of their molar teeth ;
and as their skulls differ considerably from those of other members of the
family, they must be regarded as constituting a sub-family group by them-
selves.
Flying-squirrels of this group have existed since a comparatively early
epoch in the Tertiary period, and it is consequently impossible to affiliate
them with any of the genera of ordinary squirrels ; so that it is quite likely that
they have originated from a totally extinct genus or genera. Hence, it is
impossible to say whether the three genera into which they are divided have
all taken origin from one non-volant form, or whether the power of flight
has been separately evolved in each of the three generic groups. Of the
three genera, the one known as Sciuropterus includes the lesser flying-squir-
rels, all of which have the crowns of their molar teeth comparatively low,
and the parachute of moderate width, and not including any portion of the
tail. Having one representative in North America, and a second in North-
Eastern Europe and Siberia, the lesser flying-squirrels are mainly characteristic
of India and the Malayan countries. While some of the larger kinds measure
as much as 12 inches from the nose to the root of 'the tail, in the pigmy
flying-squirrel of Cochin-China and Arakan the length of the head and body
scarcely exceeds five inches. These squirrels collect in numbers in hollow
trees, where they remain in slumber during the daytime, to issue forth at
night for the purpose of feeding. Climbing to a coign of vantage on some
tree, they take their flying leaps to the bough or trunk of another at n
lower level, not unfrequently covering a distance of some 30 or 40 yards.
The length of the leap is, however, still greater among the members of the
next genus, reaching from 60 to nearly 80 yards. The larger flying-
squirrels (Pteromys) form an exclusively Asiatic group, represented by some
ten species, and extending from the Malayan countries as far north as Eastern
Tibet. In addition to their superior dimensions, these flying-squirrels are
distinguished from the preceding group by the greater width of the parachute
along the sides of the body, and the enclosure of the base of the tail in the
portion connecting the two hind -legs. The tail itself is, moreover, completely
cylindrical, instead of slightly compressed ; and the molar teeth have
rather taller and more complex crowns than in the lesser flying-squirrels.
In some of the larger species the head and body may measure as much
as 18 inches in length, while the tail may reach to 24 or 25 inches.
The last member of the sub-family is the woolly flying-squirrel (Eupetannts)
a large species from the neighbourhood of Gilgit, distinguished by the
very tall molar teeth, which have flat, instead of ridged, masticating
surfaces.
Finally, the five species of pigmy squirrels (Nannosciurus), of which
one is West African, a second from the Philippines, while the other
three are Bornean, constitute another sub-family, c aracterised by cer-
tain peculiarities in the skull and the complex structure of the molar
teeth.
An unimportant family is constituted by two North American Rodents
known as sewellela (Haplodon), which differ from the U 1
Sciuridce by the absence of postorbital processes in the Pam'lv S
skull and the rootless molars. According to Dr. Merriam, Haplodontid(K
they are aquatic in their habits.
The last family of the squirrel-like group of the order is represented only
MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA.
The Beavers.
Family
Castoridce.
Fig. 57. BEAVER (Castor fiber).
by the beavers (Castor), easily distinguished by the broad, flattened, and
scaly tail. The skull is massively made and devoid of postorbital processes,
with the angle of the lower jaw rounded ; the cheek teeth
do not develop roots, and have their crowns marked with
re-entering folds of enamel ; the premolars are limited to a
single pair in each jaw ; and the hind-feet are webbed.
Beavers, which are the largest Rodents in the Northern
Hemisphere, and are thoroughly aquatic in their habits, are confined to cer-
tain parts of that hemisphere, being found only in Europe, Northern Asia,
and North America. The actual extent of their range in the Old World
is not so clearly defined as could be wished. There is, however, ample
evidence that this range originally
extended from the British Islands
in the west, to France, and perhaps
Italy, Spain, and Greece, in the
south, thence eastward to Asia
Minor, and possibly Persia, and to
the north-eastward as far as the
Yenesei and Lena in Siberia, and
thence to Amur, Scandinavia, and
Hussia ; but there does not appear
to be any good evidence as to the
eastern limits of beavers in the
direction of Northern China, al-
though it may not be improbable
that in this region these animals
only inhabited the rivers flowing northwards into the Caspian Sea and the
Arctic Ocean. On the Continent, beavers were finally exterminated in Holland
in 1825. In France a number of names, such as Bievre, Beuvron, and Beu-
vray, or Beuvry, as well as the ancient Bibrax and Bibracte, point to the
originally wide distribution of beavers. Fossil remains of these animals occur
in many places, such as Abbeville, in the valley of the Somme, the neigh-
bourhoods of Paris and Clermont, and the cavern of Lunel-Viel, in Herault.
The Hhone and its tributaries, especially the Gardon and the Cese, appear to
have been the great stronghold of these creatures within the historic period.
Even, however, in the last century they had become exceedingly rare, owing
to the incessant persecution to which they had been subjected. Still, they
have been met with at intervals even up to the present day. Thus Gervais
records the capture of a specimen in 1846, close to the port of Avignon, and
mentions having seen two others near Aries. The floods of 1840 doubtless
led to the destruction of a considerable number, so that after this date they
were much more rare than formerly. The circumstance that the monks of a
monastery on the right bank of the Rhone at Villeneuve-les-Avignon in-
cluded beavers among their plats maigres, indicates that in earlier days they
were probably abundant. M. St. Hilaire, in the Bulletin de la Societe
d* Acclimatation for 1888, records the capture of three specimens during that
year in the Rhone, and a recent writer concludes that from 25 to 30 beavers
are still annually killed in that river and its tributaries. There does not
appear to be evidence that these animals linger in any other of the French
rivers.
It is mentioned in some of the old writers that beavers occur rarely in
Italy, Spain, and Greece, but ib is difficult to find on what evidence these
MAMMALS THA T GNA W 97
statements rest ; but since remains of the existing species are found in the
superficial beds in the neighbourhood of Rome, there is a considerable likelihood
that its alleged occurrence in Italy within the historic period may be based on
fact. The lake-cities or " phalbauten " of Switzerland afford evidence of the
abundance of beavers in that country during the pre-historic period, and in
the last century a few were still to be found in the Aar, Limmat, Reuss, and
other tributaries of the Rhine. That some lingered on into the present
century is proved by a specimen from the Rhine exhibited in the Jardin des
Plantes in 1829 ; and there is evidence of their presence in the early part of
this century both in the Rhine and the Rhone basins.
In Germany fossil remains of beavers are found in several of the great
caves, more especially in that of Gailenreuth in Franconia. As late as the
closing decades of the last and the early ones of the present century, colonies
of these animals were abundant on many of the German rivers, remnants of
which still exist here and there up to the present time. In North- Western
Germany the Moselle and the Maas were formerly noted habitats of these
animals, although we have no record of the date of their disappearance, even
if this has yet taken place. The Lippe, which, like the Moselle, is a tribu-
tary of the Rhine, was likewise a well-known haunt. Thus at Ketlinghausen,
and still higher up the river afc Padderbun, beavers were abundant, and
formed regular colonies, like their Canadian cousins, at the beginning of the
present century, and it is probable that some few still exist. Proceeding
northward to the basin of the Elbe, the account by Meyernick, published in
1829, of a colony on one of the tributaries of this river near Magdeburg, is
too well known to need repetition. Lower down the river at Wittenberg,
and also at Kahnert, they were also comparatively abundant in 1801 ; and at
the former locality there is evidence of their occurrence in 1848, and again
as late as 1878, when no less than eight individuals were observed in an old
river channel. Again in Bohemia, the valley of the Moldau, with its numer-
ous affluents, which forms the upper reaches of the extensive basin drained
by the Elbe, abounded in beavers up to the year 1848, since which date, in
spite of strict precaution, they have probably been greatly reduced in num-
bers. The basin of the Danube, in South-Eastern Germany, is, however,
probably the greatest stronghold of German beavers at the present time. In
1837 the small river Amper, a tributary of the Isar, situated some distance
to the north of Munich, was occupied by several colonies, which were pre-
served as a valuable commercial property. There is also good evidence of
the existence of the last-named colonies, as well as of others on the Isar,
Iller, and Salzach tributaries of the Danube up to 1846, since which date
I have been unable to come across any records of them.
There is a dearth of information with regard to the presence of beavers
lower down the Danube valley in Austria-Hungary and Turkey ; but it is
certain that they did, or do still, exist in the former regions ; and they have
also been recorded from the Lower Danube on well-authenticated evidence.
That beavers may have existed, or still exist, in other parts of European
Turkey, is suggested by the fact of their appearance in Asia Minor. They
have been recorded in the upper Euphrates valley by Heifer in a book
published in 1879 ; while Eichwald long since mentioned their occurrence in
the rivers of the Caucasus; and Smarda included them in his list of the
Mammals of Mesopotamia. Messrs. Danford and Alston observe that trust-
worthy authorities at Kaisariyeh (a town in Rumelia, on the Kizil river,
flowing into the Black Sea) stated " that in the marshes between that place
8
98 MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA.
and Sudjesu there existed an animal like an otter, but which had a broad,
hairless tail." And there can be no reasonable doubt that these authors are
right in identifying this creature with the beaver. The possible eastward
extension of the beaver into Persia is suggested by Mr. Blanford.
From the Caucasus the ranger of the beaver may be traced through Russia,
Poland, and Livonia, to Lapland, and thence to the Scandinavian Peninsula.
Immediately to the north of the Caucasus, Oken recorded their abundance
in the valley of the Tereck in 1842. In Central Russia there is no definite
evidence of their occurrence, but in the Baltic provinces of Livonia the
record is again ample. Many places in this district take, indeed, their
name from beavers, and about the middle of the last century these animals
appear to have had populous colonies on most of the streams of the country.
In 1724, so common were they, that their dams were a serious inconvenience
to the district, owing to the floods caused by them. It appears, however,
from the researches of Loewis, that beavers are now completely exterminated
from Livonia, the last specimen having been shot in 1841. In i 889 the exist-
ence of a few beavers in the river Svislotch, Government of Mink v and also
in the Dnieper, was recorded. In North Russia the rivers Dwina and
Petchora, flowing respectively into the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean,
were the resorts of beavers as late as 1842, but it is probable that they
are now completely extinct. Passing eastward into Silesia, there is evidence
of the former wide distribution of these animals, it being stated that they
extended as far as Amur. In the basin of the Obi, in Western Siberia, they
appear to be extinct in the valley of the Irtsh, where they "were formerly
abundant ; but at least up to 1876 they continued to be found in the small
affluent of the Obi known as the Pelyin. Beavers have long since completely
-disappeared from the Yenesei, in Eastern Siberia, but information is still
required with regard to the more easterly valley of the Lena. In Poland
and Lithuania beavers may still linger on ; but, as already observed, there is
a want of evidence as to the limits of their original range in the region lying
eastward of a line connecting the Baltic with the Black Sea. Reverting to
the neighbourhood of the White Sea, and pursuing a course towards the
north-east, it appears that Lapland lost its beavers early in the present
century. The skull of the last specimen known to have been killed in
these regions was obtained about 1830.
In Scandinavia, although beavers were widely distributed in the last and
early part of the present century, it appears that they have now totally dis-
appeared from Sweden but still exist in at least three remote spots in
Norway. The number of specimens living in the latter country in 1880 was
estimated at not more than 60 ; but Collett placed their number at about
100, and, as they were strictly preserved, he did nut consider that they were
decreasing. Completing this survey of the range of the European beaver
with Denmark, evidence of its former existence -is found in the shape
of skulls and bones from the mosses and turbaries, while it is also known
to have lived there within the historic period. As to the precise date of its
extermination, there appears no definite record.
With regard to the range of the American beaver, few words will suffice.
It may be observed, in the first place, that, although some writers are indis-
posed to regard this beaver as specifically distinct from the European one ;
yet, from the constant difference in the form of the bones of the nasal region
of the skull, it seems to be a valid species, the proper name of which is Castor
canadensis. The earliest epoch of its occurrence is in the Pleistocene
MAMMALS THAT GNAW. 99
deposits of South Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee, and other localities, as
well as in the cavern-deposits of Virginia and Pennsylvania. Within the
historic period its range extended from Alaska and the Hudson Bay terri-
tories in the north, along the Atlantic seaboard as far south as Georgia and
Northern Florida, and thence along the Gulf of Mexico as far as the Rio
Grande in Texas, and for some distance into Mexico itself, while on the
Pacific Coast it is known to have extended as far south as California and
Arizona. In the interior of the continent beavers were naturally confined to
the neighbourhood of the great lakes and river valleys. Writing in 1877 of
the American beaver, Dr. Allen observes that " its present range, however,
is much less extended, very few being found east of the Mississippi River
south of the great lakes, and it is everywhere less numerous than formerly.
Some still remain in Northern Maine and in the Adirondack region of New
York, and probably some still survive thence southward in the sparsely
settled districts to Alabama and Mississippi. A recent article states that
they are still abundant in portions of Virginia. Their existence in great
abundance throughout the Atlantic States, and thence westward to the
Pacific, is thoroughly attested. They having been less persistently hunted
during recent years than formerly, they are reported to be slowly on the
increase in most localities where they still remain."
The dormice are the first representatives of the second section of the
Rodents, or Myomorpha, which presents the following characteristics. In
the skull the zygomatic arch is slender, and usually has the
jugal bone extending but little forwards, being supported by The Dormouse
a long backwardly directed process of the upper jaw-bone, Tribe. Family
or maxilla. There are no postorbital processes defining the Myoxidw.
hinder border of the socket of the eye ; and, except in one
sub-family of the 8palacidce, the angle of the lower jaw takes origin from the
inferior surface of the sheath of the lower incisor. All the members of the
section differ from the Sciuromorpha in that the tibia and fibula, or bones
of the lower leg, are welded together.
Resembling the true squirrels in shape and habits, the dormice form an Old
World family of small arboreal Rodents characterised by their long hairy tail,
the large size of the ears and eyes, and the shortness of the fore-limbs.
There is but one pair of premolars in each jaw, and the molars are rooted
with transverse re-entering foldings of enamel on their crowns. The dormice
may be divided into two main groups, according to the structure of the
stomach. In Myoxus, as typified by M. glis of continental Europe, the
stomach is simple, but the different species, which have been arranged under
several generic heads, differ considerably in other respects. In the typical
species the bushy tail has the hairs arranged in a row on each side, while the
molars are large, with flat crowns and complex enamel-foldings. In a second
group (Eliomys), typified by the European M. nitella, and extending over
Europe, Asia, and Africa, the tail has the hairs arranged in two rows, but is
tufted at the end, while the molars are small, with concave crowns, and the
folds of enamel indistinct. The third group of the genus (Graphiurus) is
solely African, and is distinguished by the tail being short, cylindrical, and
tufted, while the enamel-foldings on the small molars are almost wanting. A
West African form (Claviglis) differs by the shorter and more distinctly tufted
tail. On the other hand, the common dormouse of England and the rest of
Europe (Muscardinus avellanarius') differs from all the foregoing in the
thickened glandular walls of the anterior portion of the stomach ; the
zoo MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA.
molars having flat crowns, with complicated foldings of enamel, and the
somewhat bushy tail being cylindrical. The more northern repre-
sentatives of the family take their name from the long winter torpor they
undergo.
From the Myoxidce, the very extensive and cosmopolitan family of the
Muridce, which includes rats, mice, and voles, may be distinguished by the
total absence of premolar teeth in both jaws. The group is,
The Mouse Tribe, however, better characterised by the structure of the skull,
Family Muri- in which the frontal bones are markedly constricted, while
dee. in the zygomatic arch the short and slender jugal bone is in
most cases reduced to a small splint connecting a back-
wardly-directed process from the upper jaw-bone, or maxilla, with a forward
projection from the Bquamosal bone at the hinder end of the skull. Still
more characteristic is the expansion of the lower part of the first-named pro-
cess into a large, flattened descending plate ; and in most cases the large
aperture in the skull for the passage of nerves situated beneath the anterior
root of the zygomatic arch is elevated, and much wider above than below.
The first toe of the fore-foot is rudimental, and in most cases naked and
scaly. This family, which includes more than a third of the members of the
entire order, is the only one among the Rodents represented either in
Madagascar or in Australia. Although a few species are aquatic, and some
arboreal, the great majority of the Muridce are terrestrial, a considerable
number of them living in burrows. Some fifty genera have been described.
The first sub-family is confined to Australia, New Guinea, and the island
of Luzon, in the Philippines, where it is represented by three genera. In
this group the molars, which are frequently reduced to two
The Australasian pairs in each jaw, develop roots, and have their crowns
Group. divided into alternating oblique lobes, partially splitting up
Sub-Family into tubercles. In the typical genus Hydromya, of Australia
HydromyincE* and New Guinea, the molars are J:wo in number, and the
external form is modified for the needs of an aquatic exist-
ence, the feet being webbed, the tip of the muzzle thickly clothed with hairs,
by means of which the nostrils can be clothed ; while the skull differs from
that of other members of the family in that the aperture beneath the socket
of the eye is nearly circular, instead of pear-shaped, and the descending
vertical plate at the front of the zygomatic arch is absent. In habits the two
species of this genus resemble water-voles. The genus Chrotomys, of which
there is one species from Luzon, differs from the other two in having three
pairs of molars ; its skull being intermediate between that of the first and
third genus, and its external form mouse-like, the toes being devoid of webs,
In JTeromi/s, which occurs typically in Australia, but is taken to include a rat
from Luzon, the molars resemble those of Hydromys in structure and number,
l;ut the skull and external form are nearly similar to those of an ordinary
mouse. _ In size this species is not larger than the common mouse, whereas
the other members of the group are much bigger.
The second sub-family is represented only by the beautiful little Malabar
spiny mouse (Platacanthomys lasiurus) of Southern India,
Malabar Spiny which is an arboreal form easily distinguished by the long
Mouse (Plata- bushy tail, which exceeds the head and body in length, and
canthomyince). also by the presence of flattened spines mingled with the
hairs. The rooted molars have their crowns divided into
complete transverse laminse.
MAMMALS THAT GNAW. 101
The beautiful little large-eyed marines, known as gerbils, typify a third
sub-family, characterised by the narrowness of the incisors, the sub-division
i>t the crowns of the molars into transverse laminee, the
generally large size of the auditory bulla of the skull, and The Gerbil
the elongation of the hind-limbs. From the other genera, Group
the gerbils (Gerbillus), which range over Southern Europe, (Gerbillince).
Asia, and Africa, are distinguished by the deeply grooved
upper incisors, and the circumstance that the first molar has one, the second
two, and the third three transverse laminae ; the long tail being tufted at the
tip Gerbils are inhabitants of desert districts, where they burrow in tho
sandy soil. Some writers separate certain species as Merioncs. The short
and club-like form of the fleshy tail, as well as the very large size of tho
auditory bulla of the skull, serve to distinguish the African genus Pachy-
uromys, in which the narrow incisors are faintly grooved. Three other small
genera from Africa, namely, Mystromys, Otomys, and Dasymys, differ from
the gerbils and from one another in the structure of the molars ; they are all
typically South African, but the second has also been recorded from East
Africa and the Congo. A fifth genus (Malacomys), represented by a single
species from the Gabun, connects the gerbils with the rats, having the teeth
and limbs of the former, but the long scaly tail of the latter.
Two genera of very large long-haired rats from the Philippine islands
represent a sub-family in which the incisors are very broad, the molars divided
into transverse laminre, and the claws large. In Phlceomys,
of which there is but a single well-defined species, the ears The Philippine
are small and hairy, the tail moderate and sparsely haired, Rats (Phlceo-
and the auditory bulla very small ; the first molar having myince).
three, and the others two laminae. The second genus
(Crateromys) includes one very large greyish species from Luzon, which may bo
compared in size to a small marmot, and has a totally different type of molars.
This group, which is confined to Africa south of the Sahara, is typified by
the two species of Dendromys, and is characterised by the convexity of the
incisors, the rooted and tuberculated molars, hairy ears, and
long claws. The members of the typical genus have tho The Tree-Mice
habits of dormice & slender build, grooved incisors, and a (Dtndromyince.)
long, scaly, thinly-haired tail. Steatomys also has grooved
incisors, but of stouter form, and a rather short, thickly-haired tail ; while
Lophuromys differs by its smooth incisors, and the fine flattened bristles
which replace the hair. ^The fourth genus is Limacomys.
The large, generalised, and almost cosmopolitan group of the cricetine
Muridcs is characterised by the rooted upper molars carrying two longitudinal
rows of tubercles. It is typified by the hamsters (Cricetus)
of the Old World, which are confined to Europe and Asia, Cricetine Group
arid are characterised by having six tubercles on the first (Cricetince}. '
upper molar, large cheek pouches, and a very short tail.
The true hamster (C. frumentarius) is a burrowing species, well known on the
Continent from the large amount of food it accumulates in its subterranean
dwelling. The white-footed mice (Sitomys) of the New World form a very
large, closely allied group, in which cheek pouches may be present or absent.
They are divided into a number of sub-genera, according to habits, bodily
form, dentition, etc., which have been named Rhipidomys, Oryzomys, Calomys,
Vesperimus, Onychomys, Scapteromys, Phyllotis, Acodon, and Oxymycterus.
S. hydrobates is peculiar oil account of its fringed feet and aquatic habits j
102 MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA.
while another species has spines mingled with the fur. The Brazilian genus
Holochilus, which includes the largest American rats, differs by the relatively
larger last upper molar and the stouter skull. Another allied type are the fish-
eating rats (Ichtkyomys) of South America, characterised by the webbed and
fringed hind-feet, and their aquatic and probably fish-eating habits, while
Nectomys is another allied Peruvian form. The rice-rat (Siymodon hispidus),
ranging from the United States to Ecuador, -differs markedly iromSitomys in
the pattern of the tubercles on the molar teeth. Writing of these rats,
Mr. G. Lincecum, in the American Naturalist for 1872, states that they
dwell together on the prairies of Texas in families in much the same manner
as the prairie-marmot. '* They prefer light sandy soil on the prairie, where
the shivered limy sandstone crops out ; but where the prairie is enclosed and
cultivated they take possession of the fencing, and burrowing under the
bottom rail, excavate sufficient cells, and construct their copious grassy beds
there. Out on the prairie, in the wild state, they make one principal burrow,
in front of which they pile up the earth that comes from all their subter-
ranean galleries. They rarely extend their main burrow more than eight or
nine inches in depth, while their underground passages are seldom more
than four or five inches below the surface. They also construct several
secret outlets, opening 10 or 12 inches from the main hole, which opening
they very ingeniously conceal by strewing a few grass blades over it ; and so,
when the rat-hunter attacks the citadel, the inmates escape through some of
the concealed passages. Eight or nine inches deep, and turned a little to one
side in the main hole, is a cavity, seven or eight inches in diameter, filled
with fine, soft grass blades, which must be quite warm and pleasant, serving
the family for winter-quarters. During the hot months they construct nice
grass beds in a basin-like cavity, which they dig out under the sides of tufts
of grass, or heaps of bush." From all the above the South American genus
Rhithrodon, with five rat-like species, and the North American Rhithrodont-
omysj containing three species of the size of large mice, differ in their
grooved upper incisors. Another well-marked type of the group is pre-
sented by the North American wood-rats (Neotoma), in which the molars
simulate the prismatic pattern characteristic of the voles. Certain species in
which the tail is very bushy have been separated generically as Teonoma ;
while N. alleni has been referred to a distinct genus under the name of
Hodomys. The next five genera of cricetines are confined to the island of
Madagascar, where they are the sole representatives of the Rodent order. Of
these, Hypogeomys is a large fawn-coloured rat, with large ears and feet and
a long tail ; Nesomys includes two long-haired rufous species ; Brachytarsomys
contains a single rat with velvety fawn-coloured fur, short feet, and a long tail ;
the single species of Hallomys differs from Nesomys by the much longer hind
feet ; while the two dormouse-like representatives of Miurus are easily recog-
nised by the short and nearly naked ears, and by the long tail being bushy,
except on its basal third, where it is scaly. The last representative of the sub-
family is the crested rat (Lophiomys imhausi) of North-Eastern Africa, so
named on account of the crest of long hair running along the back. This very
large rat, which is arboreal in its habits, differs from all other members of the
family in the first toe of the fore-foot being opposable, the rudimental collar-
bones, and by the bony roof covering the muscles of the hinder part of the
skull. All the hair is long, the long tail bushy, and the colour black and
white. The animal has quite unnecessarily been made the type of a distinct
family.
MAMMALS THAT GNAW. 103
Closely allied to the cricetines, of which they may be regarded as a
specialised branch, the large group of voles are distinguished by their gener-
ally rootless, or imperfectly rooted molars being composed
of two longitudinal rows of alternating triangular prisms. The Vole Group
Externally they differ in most cases from the typical rats (M'icrotinct').
and mice by their heavier and less elegant form, less active
movements, smaller eyes, blunter muzzle, smaller ears, and shorter limbs and
tail. They are restricted to Europe, Asia north of the Himalaya, and North
America. An annectant form between the cricetines and typical voles is the
North American genus Phenacomys, in which the molars develop roots. The
typical genus Microtus, which includes nearly half a hundred species ranging
over Europe, Northern Asia, and North America, is sufficiently characterised
by its rootless molars and the naked soles of the feet ; the British forms being
the water-vole (M. amphibius), the field-vole (M. agrestis), and the red, or
bank-vole (M, glareolus). Each of these is the representative of a distinct
sub-generic group, severally characterised by the number of prisms in the
molar teeth, and to which the names Pal-udicoia, Agricola, and Evotomys have
respectively been applied, The extraordinary hordes in which some species
of land voles make their appearance ab certain seasons, and the damage they
then inflict on agricultural produce, arc matters of common knowledge. The
round tailed musk-rat of Florida, which has been regarded as constituting a
genus (Neofiber) by itself, is considered by Dr. Merriam to be not more than
a sub-genus of Microtus. Nearly allied 13 the true musk-rat, or musquash
(Fiber zibethicus), of North America, which is the largest member of the
group, and measures nearly a foot in length to the root of the tail. Heavily
built, it is characterised by its broad head which joins the body without any
well-defined neck, short limbs, small eyes, ears nearly concealed in the thick,
beaver-like fur, and the ruclimental first toe of the fore- foot : the Jong tail
being laterally compressed, scaly, and sparsely haired, The general colour is
dark brown, tending to black on the back, arid grey on the under- parts.
Both sexes have a gland secreting the musky substance from which the animal
derives its name. Although its toes are nob webbed, the musk-rat is an
aquatic creature, feeding on a mixed vegetable and animal diet, Its fur is of
considerable value ; and the skull is very similar to that of Microtus. Another
distinct generic type is presented by the groove-toothed vole (Synapiomys) of
the United States, in which the upper incisors are grooved, while the external
form resembles that of the true voles, and the molars are like those of the
lemmings ; The latter Rodents (Myodes\ of which there is one Old World
and one North American species, differ from the voles by their heavier
build, the blunt convex head, very short tail and ears, the hairy soles of
the small feet, the bevelled upper incisors, and the pattern of the molar
teeth.
The common lemming (M. lemmus), which measures about five inches in
length, and has yellowish-brown fur with darker spots, is remarkable for the
periodical migrations undertaken by its countless swarms ; these hordes pass-
ing over every obstacle in their course till they finally reach the sea, in
which they perish. Nearly allied to the last genus, the circumpolar
banded lemming (Cuniculus torquatus) may be easily distinguished by the
absence of external ears, the shortness of the feet, which are thickly
haired beneath, the rudimental first toe of the fore-foot, and the great
length of the claws of the third and fourth toes of the same. The molars
approximate to those of the voles, but the first in the upper jaw difiers
104 MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA.
from that of all the other members of the sub-family in having seven
prisms.
Although frequently regarded as representing a sub-family by themselves,
the mole-voles, of which there are two genera, may be considered merely as
voles specially adapted for a subterranean existence ; the limbs and tail being
very short, and the body somewhat mole-like, while the eyes are small. In
the genus Mlobius, with one species from Russia, and a second from Afghan-
istan, the claws are short, whereas in Siphneus, of which there are several
representatives from Central and Northern Asia, those of the fore-feet are
enormously powerful.
In the typical rats and mice and their allies, forming the murine group of
the family, the molars are rooted and tuberculated, with three rows of
tubercles on at least the anterior ridge of the first one in the
Typical Group upper jaw. Indeed, with one exception, there are three longi-
(Murince). tudinal rows of tubercles on all the upper molars ; while, save
in one genus, there are two such rows in the corresponding
lower teeth. The whole group is restricted to the Old World, being re-
presented in Australia and New Guinea, but unknown in Madagascar. The
great majority of forms are very similar in external appearance, their build
being light, their eyes large and bright, their tails long and scaly, their
movements active, their coloration sombre, and their habits generally
burrowing and nocturnal.
The least specialised member of the family is a small mouse from the
Congo Valley, known as Deomys, which differs from all the others in that only
the first ridge of the anterior upper molar has three rows of tubercles, the
other two ridges of this tooth and all those of the other molars having but
two such rows, as in the cricetines. On the other hand, Berdmore's rat
(Hapalomys berdmorei\ from Burma, appears to be the most specialised of
all, the lower as well as the upper molars having three longitudinal rows of
tubercles. Another peculiar genus (Vandeleuria) is represented by a species
extending from India to Yunnan, and characterised by having flat nails on
the first and fifth digits of both feet, as well as by the great length of the tail.
North-Eastern India and some of the countries to the east of the Bay of
Bengal are the home of the pencil-tailed tree-mouse (Chiropodomys), dis-
tinguished by having flat nails on the first digit of both feet, whereas all
other members of the family, except one species of Mus, have a flat nail only
on the first to'e of the fore-foot. The next for notice are three genera re-
stricted to the mountains of Luzon, in the Philippine group, two being
represented only by a single species. By far the most remarkable of these
is the shrew-rat (Rhynchomys), distinguished by the shrew-like prolongation of
the muzzle, the short and feeble incisors, and the reduction of the molars,
which are very small, to two pairs in each jaw. Not improbably this species,
which is of the size of the black rat, and of a uniform olive-grey coloration,
subsists on insects or larvse, as the incisors appear too weak for gnawing.
The second genus, Carpomys, is represented by two somewhat dormouse-like
rats, with thick, woolly fur, and the long tail well haired ; while the single
species of Batomys differs by the hind-feet being wider and shorter, and the
fore-feet more elongated.
The true rats and mice constitute a genus (Mus) having a distribution co-
extensive with that of the sub-family, and including nearly 150 species. In
these Rodents the incisors are narrow and smooth, the molars of the typical
murine structure, the foramina at the anterior end of the bony palate
MAMMALS THAT GNAW. 105
elongated, both the eyes and ears large, the extremity of the muzzle naked,
the fur soft, occasionally mixed with spines, a flat nail on the first toe of the
fore-foot, the long and nearly naked tail covered with overlapping rings of
scales, and cheek pouches absent. The species found in Britain are the
common rat (M. decumanus), which appears to have been originally a native
of Western China, but has now been introduced into all parts of the habitable
globe ; the smaller and sharper-nosed black rat (M. rattus), which is likewise
an Eastern form ; the conxmon house -mouse (M. tnusculus), also hailing from
the East ; the wood-mouse (M. sylvaticus), together with a larger variety
known as M. flavicollis ; and the tiny harvest-mouse (M. minutus). The
latter, it is well known, builds small globular nests between several corn-
stalks, and is itself able to ascend a single one of such stalks, aided in
climbing by its partially prehensile tail. It will be unnecessary here to refer
to the habits of mice in general, but some reference may be made to the so-
called "singing" and "waltzing mice." Singing mice are ordinary house-
mice, which, owing to some disease of the vocal organs, are enabled to pro-
duce musical notes. Waltzing mice are a Japanese product, of which the
following account is given by Mr. E. R. Waite : "At first," he writes, " a
visitor probably regards the mice as mere colour varieties of the common
white race. A moment's observation reveals the peculiarities of the breed,
and attention is riveted by their strange performances. Early in life they
exhibit the tendency which has earned for them the name above employed.
When a nursling leaves the nest its gait consists of an evident attempt to
proceed in a straight line ; this is frustrated by a tremulous movement of the
head, which is nervously shaken from side to side. Shortly, a tendency is
exhibited to turn ; this develops into a rotatory motion, performed with
extraordinary rapidity, which constitutes the peculiarity of the waltzing
mouse. The ordinary routine of daily life is constantly interrupted by this
mad disposition to whirl, frequently indulged in for several minutes, and,
with an occasional stoppage of a few seconds, continued for hours. The floor
of one cage being somewhat rough, the mice actually reduced their feet to
stumps before it was noticed. Like ordinary mice, they sleep during the
day, 'but apparently waltz the whole night long. If, however, they are dis-
turbed during daylight, they leave their bed and work off some superfluous
energy. The rotation is so rapid that all individuality of head and tail is lost
to the eye, only a confused ball of black and white being recognised. Very
often they spin in couples, revolving head to tail at such a speed that an un-
broken ring only is perceived. . . . An individual generally spins in one
direction only, and the majority turn to the left." Although probably due
in the first instance to brain-disease, the peculiarity, like the " tumbling " of
tumbler-pigeons, is now hereditary in the breed.
The longitudinally-striped Barbary mouse (M. larbarus\ together with
certain other more or less variegated African species, are frequently separated
from Mus as a distinct genus, under the name of Arvicanthis. Nearly allied
are the numerous species of bandicoot-rats (Nesocia\ ranging in Southern Asia
from Palestine to Formosa, and from Ceylon to Kashmir, but also extending
into Turkestan and the Lob-nor district of Central Asia. They differ from
the typical genus by the wider incisors and molars ; the tubercles on the
latter being partially connected by transverse ridges so as to produce a semi-
laminated type of structure. The two species of groove-toothed mice
(Golunda), one of which is Indian and the other African, are easily dis-
tinguished by having a groove down each of the front incisors. In addition
ie6 MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODEXTIA.
to having a species of M us, Australasia is the home of four peculiar genera of
the sub-family. Of these, the mosaic-tailed mice (Uromys), ranging from the
Aru Islands to Queensland, may be distinguished from Mus by the scales on
the tail being united by their edges so as to form a mosaic-like pavement,
instead of overlapping. The prehensile-tailed mouse (Chiruromys), of which
there is but a single species inhabiting the mountains of New Guinea, is
characterised by the naked tip of the tail being endowed with prehensile
power ; the scales of the rest of the tail being arranged in diagonal rows.
The upper molars have their tubercles very numerous, and arranged in a
complex manner ; while there are several peculiarities connected with the
structure of the skull. The numerous Australian species of jerboa-rats
(Conilurus) are easily recognised by their elongated hind-limbs, and long ears
and tail. They are inhabitants of desert districts, where they hop after the
manner of jerboas. The fifth genus (Mastacomys) is known only by a single
Tasmanian species, and differs from Mus by the great width of the molars,
and the reduction of the number of teats to four ; the fur being noticeable
for its length and softness. Differing remarkably as regards the latter feature,
the spiny-mice (Acomys], of which there are about seven small-sized species,
take their name from the fur being almost entirely replaced by flattened
spines, The skull and dentition are very similar to those of the type genus, but
the ascending process of each branch of the lower jaw is much smaller.
These mice range from Syria through East Africa as far south as Mosambique,
generally frequenting deserts, where some, at least, feed on bulbs. The long-
nosed rat (Echinothrix) of Celebes takes its name from the elongation of the
face, and is further characterised by the faint grooving of the incisors, and
the thick admixture of spines among the fur. The small blind-mouse (Typh-
lomys) of China is sufficiently characterised by the minute size of the eyes t
which are almost concealed by the long lashes. Except that it has smaller
ears, it is otherwise very similar in appearance to a house-mouse. The
African pouched rats (Cricetnmys and Saccostomus) differ from all the other
members of the sub-family in being provided with cheek pouches, the single
West African species of the former having grooved upper incisors, while in
the two representatives of the latter these teeth are plain. The last member
of the family is a mouse from Sumatra and Java, described as Pithechirus, and
presenting a considerable external resemblance to Chiropodomys.
The mole-rats constitute a small family confined to the Old World and
characterised by their generally mole-like build, cylindrical bodies, short
limbs, furnished with large claws, small or rudimental eyes
The Mole-Kats. and ears, usually short or rudimentary tail, large incisors,
Family and rooted molars with re-entering enamel-folds on their
Spalacidce. orowns. Premolars, varying in number, are present in
some forms but wanting in others ; the palate is narrow ;
and the anterior part of the zygomatic arch of the skull lacks the descending
vertical plate so characteristic of the Muridcp,. The great mole-rat (Spalax
typhlus) of South-Eastern Europe, South- Western Asia, and North-Eastern
Africa, which is the sole member of its genus, is the type of a sub-family
characterised by the angular portion of the lower jaw arising from the lower
part of the sheath of the incisor in the manner characteristic of the
Myomorpha generally ; and also by the absence of premo^rs. It is a sub-
terranean animal, driving tunnels in the earth in search of the bulbs which
form its food, and has the eyes completely covered by skin, and rudimental
ears and tail. In the nearly allied bamboo-rats (Rhizomys), of which there
MAMMALS THAT GNAW. 107
are several species from the Oriental countries, Tibet, and Abyssinia, the
minute eyes are open ; there are small naked external ears, and the short
tail is partially covered with hair. The other
four genera, all of which are confined to
Africa south of the Sahara, differ from other
Myomorpha, and thereby resemble the under-
mentioned Hystricomorpha, in that the angle
of the lower jaw arises from the side of the
sheath of the incisor. Of these, the great
sand-mole (Bathyergus maritimus) of the
Cape, which attains a length of 10 inches, has
grooved upper incisors, a single pair of pre-
molar teeth in each jaw, no external ears,
and extremely powerful claws. In the allied Georychus and Myoscalops the
incisors are smooth; the members of the former genus usually have a single
pair of premolars, and the single species of the latter three pairs of these
teeth in both jaws, while the second toe of the hind-foot is the longest. In
both, the first pair of premolars may be absent. The curious little naked
sand-rats (Heterocephalus), of which the two species are confined to Somali-
land, are degraded forms, with no premolars, either two or three- pairs of
molars, an almost completely bare skin, small eyes, no external ears, a tail
of moderate proportions, and a pair of large pads on the powerful fore-
feet. These tiny little animals make shallow tunnels in the hot sand of
the desert, throwing up at intervals small heaps resembling miniature vol-
canic craters.
This comparatively small family is exclusively confined to North and
Central America, where it ranges from the plains of the Saskatchewan, in
Canada, southwards to Costa Rica, although attaining its
maximum development in the Western United States and The Pocket-
Mexico, and being unknown in the region east of the Gophers.
Mississippi, save the Gulf States. The essential characteris- Family
tic of these Rodents is the possession of large pouches open- Geomyidce.
ing externally on the cheeks at the sides of the mouth. In
addition to three pairs of molars, they have a single pair of premolar teeth in
each jaw; all the cheek teeth in the more typical forms being rootless, and con-
sisting of simple prisms, without any unfolding of the enamel. The pre-
molars consist of a double prism, but all the molars, with the exception of
the last pair in the upper jaw of some species, comprise but a single prism,
whose summit presents an oval disc of ivory bordered by a ring of enamel.
"All the members of the family," writes Dr. Merriam, " spend their entire
lives underground, and their whole organisation is modified in accordance
with the needs of a subterranean existence. The species, though numerous,
are very much alike externally They are short-legged, thick-set animals,
without any appreciable neck, without noticeable external ears, and with
very small eyes. The feet are largely developed for digging. The fore-paws
in particular are very strong, and armed with long curved claws, and the
sides of the toes are lined with rows of bristles that evidently serve in pre-
venting the dirt from passing between the fingers, thus completing a more
effective arrangement for keeping the tunnels clean, and for pushing the
earth out of the openings of the burrows. The tail, which is of moderate
length, is thick, fleshy, and usually devoid of hair, and is endowed with
tactile sensibility.
io8 ' MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA.
u The pocket-gophers in working their way through the earth in the
construction of their tunnels, use the powerful upper incisors as a pick to
loosen the ground. At the same time the fore-feet are kept in active opera-
tion, both in digging and in pressing the earth back under the body, and the
hind-feet are also used in moving it still further backwards. When a suffi-
cient quantity has accumulated behind the animal, he immediately turns in
the burrow, and by bringing the wrists together under the chin with the
palms of the hands held vertically, forces himself along by the hind-feet,
pushing the earth out in front. When an opening in the tunnel is reached,
the earth is discharged through it, forming a little hillock that resembles in
a general way the hills thrown up by moles. In many species there is a
naked callosity over the front half of the nose, which must be of great
assistance in the construction of the tunnels. When this callosity
is largely developed, the nasal bones underneath are highly arched or
inflated."
The same writer then goes on to objei ve that he was much surprised to
see a captive example of one of the species run as rapidly backwards as for-
wards. " This method of progression was particularly noticeable when the
animal was in his own quarters, where he could follow a runway or an accus-
tomed route. When carrying food to one of his store-houses he rarely turned
round, but usually ran backwards to the place of deposit, returning for more,
and repeating the operation again and again, the to-and-fro movement
suggesting a shuttle on its track."
The cheek pouches, which are clothed internally with fur, according to the
same author, * ' are used exclusively in carrying food, and not in carting dirt,
as often erroneously supposed. They reach back as far as the shoulder, and
are so attached that they cannot be completely averted without rupture of
their connections." Writing of a tame specimen, Dr. Merriam observes that
*' the manner of eating was peculiar and interesting, and showed an ability
to use the huge fore-feet and claws in a way previously unsuspected. After
satisfying the immediate demands of hunger, it was his practice to fill one or
both cheek pouches. His motions were so swift that it was exceedingly diffi-
cult to follow them with sufficient exactness to see just how the operation
was performed. If a potato was given him, or a piece too large to go into
the pouch, he invariably grasped it between the fore-paws, and proceeded to
pry off a small piece with the large lower incisors. He would then raise
himself slightly on his hind-legs and hold the fragment between his fore-
paws while eating, for he usually ate a certain quantity before putting any
into the pouches. If small pieces were given him he took them promptly,
and passed them quickly into the pouches. Some pieces were thus disposed
of at once ; others were just trimmed by biting off projecting angles. As a
rule, one pouch was filled at a time, though not always, and the hand of the
same side was used to push the food m. The usual course is as follows : A
piece of potato, root, or other food is seized between the incisor teeth, and
immediately transferred to the fore-paws, which are held in a horizontal
position, the tips of the claws curving toward one another. If the food
requires reduction in size, the trimming is done while held in this position.
The piece is then passed rapidly across the side of the face with a sort of
wiping motion which forces it into the open mouth of the pouch. Some-
times a single rapid stroke with one hand is sufficient ; at other times both
hands are used, particularly if the piece is large. In such cases the long
claws of one hand are used to draw down the lower side of the opening,
MAMMALS THAT GNAW. 109
while the food is poked in with the other. It is obviously impossible for
the animal to pass food from the mouth to the pouches without the aid of its
fore-claws. The most remarkable thing connected with the use of the
pouches is the way they are emptied. The fore-feet are brought back simul-
taneously along the sides of the head until they reach a point opposite the
hinder end of the pouches ; they are then pressed firmly against the head
and carried rapidly forward. In this way the contents of the pouches are
promptly deposited in front of the animal. Sometimes several strokes are
necessary, I am not prepared to say that the animal cannot empty the
pouches by means of the delicate investing muscles ; but I have never seen
them emptied in any other way than that here described."
According to American writers, the typical members of the family may be
divided into no less than nine genera ; but by English zoologists they have
hitherto been included in only two. Of
these, Geomys, as typified by the common
pocket-gopher (G. bursarius), is charac-
terised by having either one or two
grooves on the upper incisors. In the
typical species there are two of these
grooves, and the same is the case with
another form which has been separated
as Zygogeomys ; the latter being peculiar
in that the jugal, or cheekbone, does not
enter into the formation of the upper F[g 59._p OCKET _ G opHER
border of the zygomatic arch. In all the (Geomys bursar ius).
other forms, which have received the
names of Pappogeomys, Orthogeomys, Cratogeomys, Platygeomys, Heterogeomys,
and Macrogeomys, there is but a single groove on each incisor ; the groups
being distinguished by the conformation of the skull, and the extent
to which the cheek teeth are covered with enamel. From the above
the species of Thomom.ys are distinguished by the upper incisors being
either perfectly smooth, or marked only by a single fine streak on the
inner side.
The kangaroo-rats (Dipodomys), together with the two following genera,
are referred by American writers to a different family, and are distinguished
by their narrow incisors, moderate or large ears and eyes, and the elongated
hind-limbs and tail. In the kangaroo-rats the molar teeth are rootless ; the
typical forms having four toes, whereas others, which it has been proposed
to separate as Perodipiis, possess five. These small Rodents inhabit open
sandy districts, and have habits very similar to those of jerboas. From the
foregoing, the genera PerognatJws and Heteromys differ by their rooted
molars ; the latter being distinguished by the admixture of flattened spines
in the fur, and having species ranging into South America. All the forms are
small and mouse-like ; the common D. phillipsi being from South Mexico.
The jerboas and their allies form a small, widely-distributed family, by no
means easy of definition. Usually there is a pair of upper premolars, the
incisors are narrow, the molars are divided by transverse
folds of enamel into laminae, the vacuity in the skull below Jerboa Tribe,
the anterior root of the zygomatic arch is large and rounded, Family
and the hinder part of the auditory bulla is very large. The Dipodidce.
rat-like Rodents of the genus Sminthus, which range over
Eastern and Northern Europe, Central Asia, Kashmir, and Kansu, differ
MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENT1A.
Fig. 60. A JERBOA
(Dipus).
from the other members of the family in the equality of the length of the
fore and hind-limbs ; the upper jaw having a single pair of premolars, while
there are none in the lower. The North American jumping-mice (Zapus)
are distinguished by the elongation of the hind-limbs, and the presence of a
pair of premolars in both jaws ; the hind-feet being furnished with five toes,
and the metatarsal bones separate from one another. The common species
ranges from Hudson Bay to Colorado. Agreeing with the last in their elongated
hind-limbs, the next four genera differ in having only
three functional hind-toes, and by the union of the
metatarsal bones of the hind-foot. Of these four
genera Dlpus has only three hind- toes, while Eucho-
retes, Alactaga, and Platycercomys have five, of which
the first and fifth do not touch the ground. The first
three of these have a long, cylindrical and tufted tail ;
Dipus being distinguished from the other two by
its grooved incisors, and the frequent absence of
premolars. Euchoretes is represented only by the
Yarkand jerboa, characterised by its elongated muzzle
and large ears ; while Platycercomy^ of which there
are several species, ranging from Siberia to Nubia,
differs by its flattened and lancet-shaped tail, and the
invariable absence of premolars, the incisors being
smooth. The true jerboas (Dipus), of which there are
several species, extend from Algeria through Egypt and North Arabia to
Eastern Persia and Central Asia. Alactaga is
best known by the Kirghiz jerboa (A. decumana)
of the Kirghiz steppes. All the jerboas are
essentially desert-haunting animals, living in
the open, and progressing by long leaps. The
last and largest member of the family is the
so-called Cape jumping-hare (Pedetes caffer\
ranging from the Cape to Angola and Mozam-
bique, and differing from all the other genera
in having rootless molars. The hind-limbs
are elongated, the metatarsal bones separate,
and the hind-feet furnished with four toes ;
while the ears are long and narrow, and the
very long tail is clothed with elongated hair.
With the exception of the hares and picas,
which form a group by themselves, the whole of
the remaining members of the order are in-
cluded in a section known as the Hystrico-
morpha, which embraces six families. As a whole, this section is charac-
terised by the stoutness of the zygomatic arch of the skull, in which the
jugil bone forms the whole of the central portion without
any support from a process of the maxilla, while the angle
of the lower jaw arises from the outer side of the bony
sheath of the socket of the incisor. The collar-bones may
be either complete or imperfect ; in the lower part of
the hind-leg the fibula is distinct from the tibia ; and there is almost
always a single pair of premolar teeth in each jaw. The members of
this section are particularly characteristic of Central and South America
^_
Fig. 61, CAPE JUMPING-
HARE (Pedetes coffer).
Octodont Tribe.
Family Octo-
dontidce.
MAMMALS THA T GNA W. 1 1 1
(including the West Indies), the whole of the six families being represented
there, while four are confined to these countries, and one is met with else-
where only in Africa.
By far the largest of these families is that of the Octodontida, which has
some representatives in Africa, although the majority of the forms are con-
fined to South and Central America and the West Indies. All have complete
collar-bones ; the vacuities in the front of the bony palate of the skull are
greatly elongated ; the crowns of the molar teeth are marked by infoldings
of enamel on both sides ; there are generally five toes to each foot ; and
the teats, are placed high up on the sides of the body. In form, these
Rodents are usually more or less rat-like, arid most are terrestrial in their
habits.
The first group of the family is African, and is represented by two genera,
both easily distinguished by having the two inner toes of the hind-foot fur-
nished with a horny comb and bristles for the purpose of cleansing the fur.
Each genus has but a single species. The gundi, Ctenodadylus, is an inhabi-
tant of North Africa, near Tripoli, and is peculiar among the family in having
no premolars, the tail being reduced to a stump ; whereas in Pectinator, of
Somaliland, premolars are present, and the tail is moderately long and bushy.
Both are about the size of a water-vole.
1 he second group comprises six genera, five of which are South American,
and the other African. They have partially rooted or rootless molars, with
simple enamel-folds and soft fur. The typical form is the degu (Octodon) of
Chili and Peru, which is a rat-like animal, with a rather long brush-tipped
tail, medium-sized ears, and the upper and lower molars alike. Other species
of the same genus inhabit Bolivia, which is also the home of the two species
of Habrocoma, characterised by the lower molars being more complex than
the upper, the large ears, and the extreme softness of the fur. Nearly
related are the burrowing tuco-tucos (Ctenomys) of South America, deriving
their popular name from the bell-like cry uttered underground. They have
broad incisors, kidney-shaped crowns to the rootless molars, small eyes,
moderate ears, long claws, and bristles on the hind-feet. The one species of
the genus Aconczmys, from the Southern Andes, differs from the last by its
larger ears and shorter claws, and is further characterised by the enamel-
folds of the upper molars meeting in the middle.
From Ctenomys, the two Chilian species of Spalacopus differ by their rudi-
mental ears ; they are noticeable on account of their laying up a winter store
of food. The very similar African genus Petromys* may be distinguished
from the last by its harsher fur, the shortness of the first toe of the fore-
foot, and more thickly-haired tail.
The coypu, or nutria (Myopotamus), of South America, which is the only
member of its genus, is the typical representative of the last sub-family,
which has one African and ten American genera. In this group the molars,
which may be rootless or partially rooted, have deep and curved folds of
enamel, more or less harsh fur, which may be mingled with spines, and
the tail generally long. As a genus, the coypu, which attains a length
of about two feet, has very large red incisors, two inner and two outer
enamel-folds in the upper molars, and three inner and one outer in the lower
ones, moderate-sized ears, a rather long, scaly, and sparsely haired tail, and
webbed hind-feet. Mr. Aplin writes that in Uruguay " it inhabits the larger
permanent lagunas. I have heard it stated that if a laguna is inhabited by
1 Some writers place this genus in the first sub-family.
112
MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA.
nutrias it is a sign that it never dries up in a drought. But during the
drought which prevailed during the time I was in the country, some places
inhabited by nutrias did dry up, but it
was probably many years since they had
done so previously. In the steep banks
of the lagunas the nutrias make drives,
the mouths of the tunnels being half in
and half out of the water when it is at its
normal height. The nutria is not a very
shy animal. Some of them inhabited a
little water-course by the side of which
the sheep-dipping place was situated ;
they were probably attracted by tho
Fig. e2.-Covru(Myopotamv,coypu'). head of water kept up by a small dam.
The nutria swims with hardly a ripple,
and disappears noiselessly in the dive at the water-line. The body is dull
brown, muzzle greyish, and there is a little warm brown on the side of the
head. It swims with the nose, tho top of the head, and a narrow line of
the back out of water, all on a dead level, or almost so ; the nostrils being
very high up in the line of the skull, they are kept out of the water without
the nose being poked up towards the sky. A half -grown one brought to me
alive ate green maize readily."
In the West Indies the family is represented by the large arboreal Rodents
known as hutias, most of which are included in the genus Capromys, although,
on account of the more complex structure of its molars, one species from
Hayti and Jamaica is separated as Plagiodon.
They may be compared to gigantic rats, one of
them measuring 22 inches to the root of the
tail. Their incisors are narrower than those
of the coypu, the first genus having one inner
and two outer folds of enamel in the upper
molars. From both the above the two species of
cane-rat (Thrynomys) 1 from Southern Africa
are at once distinguished by the presence of
three deep grooves in each of the upper
incisors. The small American forms consti-
tuting the genera Echinomys and Loncheres are sufficiently characterised
by generally having flat, lance-shaped spines intermingled with the fur ;
most of the species being inhabitants of Brazil and Guiana, although one of
the second genus is found in Central America. The South American
Mesomys differs from Loncheres in having a short, curved claw on the first toe
of the fore-foot, as well as in the absence of spines. The single and rare
species of the Brazilian genus Dactylomys is characterised by its short ears,
long scaly tail, the rudimental first toe of the fore-foot, the very long third
and fourth toes of the same, which are furnished with short, convex nails,
the flat incisors, and the division of the molars into two complete lobes,
each of which has a single enamel-fold, forming a fork-shaped grinding
surface ; as well as by the two series of upper cheek teeth converging so
much as to meet in front. A smaller Brazilian form known as Canna-
bateomys differs by the union of the two lobes of the molars by means of a
bridge of enamel, and the slight convergence of the teeth. Another South
1 To replace the preoccupied name Aulacodus.
Fig. 63. HUTIA (Capromys).
MAMMALS THA T GNA W. 113
American genus is Carterodon, which includes small rat-like animals differing-
from all the other members of the family inhabiting the same country in its
broad and grooved upper incisors ; the upper molars having one inner and
two outer enamel-folds, and the lower ones the reverse of this arrangement.
Lastly, the South American Cercomys differs from the foregoing by its
pointed muzzle and smooth incisors.
The number of long, sharp spines with which the skin of .** the fretful
porcupine" and its allies are protected sufficiently distinguish the Hystricidce
from all other Rodents. These animals are of stout build
with the fore and hind-limbs of nearly equal length, the Porcupine Tribe,
front portion of the skull very short and broad, and the Family
molars, which may be either completely or partially rooted, Hystricidce.
with folds of enamel on both sides. The family may be
divided into two groups, one of which is confined to the New World, and the
other to the Old. In the American porcupines the molars are fully rooted,
the collar-bones complete, the upper-lip undivided, the soles of the hind-
f jet covered with rough tubercles, the first digit of the fore-foot wanting,
and numerous long hairs mixed with the spines; while the females have only
four teats. The numerous species of tree-porcupine (Synetheres) are con-
fined to the forest districts of tropical America, and are specially characterised
by their long, prehensile tails, short, many-coloured spines, light build, and
the presence of only four toes to the hind-feet ; these toes grasping against
a fleshy pad on the inner side of the foot. In habits these porcupines are
thoroughly arboreal, and also less nocturnal than their Old World allies. A
Brazilian species (Chwtomys) is generically distinguished on account of the
different conformation of its skull and more complex pattern of its molar
teeth. The Canadian porcupine (Erethizon) forms a kind of connecting link
between the New and Old World members of the family, the build being
heavy, and the tail stumpy and non-prehensile. The spines are almost
buried in the long hairs, and there are four toes in front and five behind.
In the three Old World genera of the family, the molars are only partially
rooted, the collar-bones incomplete, and the soles of the hind-feet smooth,
while there is a rudimental first toe to the fore-foot, and the female has six
teats. In no case is the tail prehensile. The true porcupines (Hystrix\
which are spread over the w r armer parts of Europe and Asia, as well as Africa,
are best characterised by their large size, highly inflated and convex skull,
and the short tail, terminating in a number of hollow quills, which produce a
rattling noise when the creatures move. These porcupines are burrowing
and nocturnal in their habits. The brush-tailed porcupines (Atherura), of
which one species is Malayan and the other two West African, differ by their
inferior size and long tails, the latter surmounted with a tuft of flattened
spines. A third genus (Trichys) is represented by a single Bornean species,
differing from the last in the structure of the skull ; the spines being also
shorter, and the bristles on the tail narrower and parallel-sided.
This and the following families of the group are exclusively confined to
South and Central America and the West Indies. In the present family the
hind-limbs are elongated, the tail is bushy, the fur extremely
short, the collar-bones complete, the bony palate of the skull Cb.incb.illa Tribe,
narrowed in front and deeply excavated behind, the incisors Family-
short, and the molars separated into isolated transverse Lagostomatidce.
laminae by continuous folds of enamel. This family is
typically represented by the beautiful little chinchillas (Eriomys) of the
9
114 MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENTIA.
Andes, so much esteemed on account of the marvellous softness of the pearly-
grey fur, and characterised by having five toes in front and four behind, as
well as by the bushy tail. The larger Cuvier's chinchilla (Lagidium), which
is likewise an inhabitant of the Andes, has only four toes both in front and
behind ; whereas in the viscacha (Lagostomus), of the Argentine pampas,
there are but three toes to the hind-feet; the fore-feet having the same
number as in the last genus.
As regards its external appearance, the viscacha may be not inaptly com-
pared in point of form and size to a marmot, although its hind-limbs are
proportionately longer, and the head is inordinately large. The tail, which
is bushy throughout, is about one-third the length of the head and body,
which varies from about 19 inches to 23 inches ; and the short ears are dis-
tinctly notched behind. Almost as soft as that of the chinchilla, the fur
(which is unfortunately useless for commercial purposes) is of a greyish hue
above, with some dusky mottlings and black markings on the upper-parts,
while beneath it is white, or white tinged with yellow, the tail being blackish-
brown. The head has some very characteristic markings, which render the
animal so conspicuous from a distance. Thus a blackish stripe extends
across each cheek from the muzzle, while above this is a broad white stripe,
ending in front of each eye, this being followed by a third band of a dark
colour across the lower part of the forehead. Essentially burrowing and
nocturnal in their habits, and seldom issuing from their hiding-places before
dusk, viscachas live in companies numbering from about 20 to 30 head. The
viscacheria forms a dome-shaped elevated mound on the pampas, perforated
here and there by the numerous apertures of the burrows. The burrows
themselves are excavated for a great depth in the soft black mould of the
pampas ; and as they frequently diverge near their extremities, or open out
into a large common chamber, it may be easily imagined that the task of
digging out a warren in ordinary circumstances is an almost impossible one.
Carefully cleared of all vegetation, the mound of the viscacheria is kept
scrupulously clean ; but the viscachas have the curious habit of collecting on
this spot not only the debris of their food, but likewise any objects they may
come across in their wanderings. Consequently the summit of the mound is
littered over with bones of cattle and ostriches, thistle-stalks, maize-cobs,
clods of earth, and masses of the hard calcareous rock, locally known as tosca.
Moreover, if a passer-by happen to lose any of his smaller belongings, such as
a knife or a watch, he will be pretty sure to come across it by searching all
the viscacherias in the neighbourhood. The object of this remarkable habit
it is almost impossible to conjecture, although it is probably analogous to that
of the Australian bower-birds. For some distance round the viscacheria the
grass of the camp, through continual nibbling, is much finer than that of the
pampas in its original condition ; and before the introduction of sheep, and
the consequent refining of the turf, the viscachas were undoubtedly in this
respect of service to the farmer. When about to issue from their holes, or
when driven in by the intrusion of a visitor after they have come forth, vis-
cachas make a most unearthly growling and snarling deep down in thnir
holes the sound, which may be best compared to the booming of a bear in
its lair, giving the impression to the uninitiated that the dwelling is tenanted
by animals of much larger size and fiercer disposition than is really the case.
In spite of the refining of the herbage already alluded to, viscachas are an
unmitigated pest to the farmer, not only on account of the large area covered
by their burrows, but likewise by the enormous quantity of fodder consumed
MA MMALS THA T GNA W. 115
by the animals themselves, which in former days absolutely swarmed on the
pampas. Consequently for years the estancieros have waged incessant war
against these Rodents, with the result that in the parts of Argentina which
have been longest under cultivation one may ride for miles without coming
across a warren.
The two genera of this South and Central American and West Indian family
include a small number of relatively large, terrestrial Rodents, characterised
by the fore and hind-limbs being of nearly equal length, and
having their toes furnished with hoof-like claws, by the Agutis and
short or rudimental tail, the very imperfect collar-bones, the Pacas. Family
broad palate, long incisors, and the partially rooted molars, Dasyproctidce.
in which the foldings of enamel form notches on the two
sides of the crowns. The agutis (Dasyprocta) are rather delicately built
animals, with long limbs and three hind-toes, ranging from the confines of
Mexico to Paraguay, and represented by
a single outlying species in the West
Indies. On the other hand, the pacas
(Ccdogenys), which are found from Ecua-
dor to Brazil and Paraguay, are larger
and more heavily-built animals, with five
toes to the hind-feet, arid further char-
acterised by the longitudinal rows of
light-coloured spots on the fur, arid the
enormous hollow, bony capsules formed
by the expanded bones of the cheeks.
Branick's paca (Dinomys), of which only Fifft 64,-AGUTi (Dasyprocta).
a single specimen from Peru has hitherto
been obtained, is distinguished from the Dasyproctidce by the cleft upper-lip,
somewhat long and bushy tail, the presence of four toes to each foot, and the
complete collar-bones ; and is accordingly regarded as the representative of a
separate family.
The next of these South American families is that of the cavies, and includes
large or small heavily-built Rodents, with four front and three hind-toes,
rudimental or short tails, and the cheek teeth divided by
transverse folds of enamel into a number of thin plates The Cavies.
lying parallel to one another. The typical representatives Family Caviidce.
of the family are the true cavies (CVivia), of which the
guinea-pig is a domesticated descendant, having assumed a coloration quite
different from the uniform olive-brown tint characteristic of its wild ancestors.
Quizes, as these animals are called in the Argentine, may be found not only
among aquatic plants in marshy districts, and skulking in the tufts of coarse
grass on the pampas, but also in the neighbourhood of human habitations,
where they will not unfrequently take up their residence under the floors of
outbuildings, whence they issue forth to feed at night. All the true cavies
are small arid short-legged creatures, with no tail, and short ears ; but the
Patagonian cavy, representing the genus Dolichotis, is a much larger and
taller animal, measuring nearly a yard in length, and standing over a foot at
the shoulder, with tall ears and a short tail. An inhabitant of the open dis-
tricts of Patagonia and Argentina, the mara, as it is called by the natives,
much resembles a hare in its movements. Unfortunately, the spread of
cultivation has well-nigh exterminated this handsome Rodent from most parts
of the Argentine. Largest, not only among South American Rodents, but
ii6 MAMMALIA ORDER V.RODENT1A.
in the order, is the aquatic carpincho or capivara (Hydrochcerus), figured on
p. 89, and attaining a length of four feet. The most remarkable peculiarity
of this animal is the large size and complex structure of the last molar tooth,
which in the upper jaw may have as many as twelve plates, and is comparable
in structure to the corresponding tooth of the Indian elephant. The carpincho
is an inhabitant of the more tropical districts, not extending southwards of
Uruguay. Writing of the habits of the carpincho, Mr. Aplin observes that
" a favourite locality is a broad laguna in the river, furnished with open
water, and also beds of 'camelotes,' a sloping, open, grassy bank on one side,
where the carpinchos can lie in the daytime in the cooler weather, sleeping
and basking in the sunshine ; on the other a low, shelving bank, clothed with
'sarandi' scrub growing out into the black, reeking mud and shallow water
beyond. The stems of the sarandi in the festering mud have a gloomy
appearance, sometimes brightened in spring by the large, pink flower of a
convolvulus climbing up the stems. In one or two places of this description, I
could almost always make sure of seeing some carpinchos sometimes a herd of
a dozen or fifteen together, for they are sociable. You might meet with them
at any part of the rivers where there was plenty of water, or in the monte on
the banks, and I have put one up in thick dry grass fifty yards or more from
a river. At night they are said to wander for some distance to visit maize-
fields. When alarmed, they snort violently, and rush impetuously into the
river with a great splash and noise. It is said that a frightened carpincho
making for the river will not turn out of its way for anything, and that if you
are between them and the river they will knock you over. The paces of the
carpincho are a walk and a hurried gallop, reminding one of that of a pig;
but most likely differing little in character from that of a guinea-pig, which
the carpincho resembles in shape and make. Probably their habit of rushing
impetuously into the rivers is the reason why some horses are so frightened
at these animals ; the horses may have been scared when they went down to
drink, or perhaps even charged by two or three lumbering brutes. Some-
times carpinchos are much more tame than at others. If they are on the
opposite side of a small river, they often take no notice at all ; and I have
watched them in the autumn sitting up on their haunches like dogs, sunning
themselves, or lying asleep on their bellies, with their fore-paws stretched
out in front of them, and their heads in some cases laid on their paws, a little
on one side. I have also on more than one occasion walked up within half a
dozen yards of them. Sometimes when you approach a little herd of them,
they sound their alarm and merely watch you, walking slowly down to the
water as you get nearer. At other times they rush impetuously into the
water at the first sign of danger. They are said to be much wilder on the
larger rivers, the Rio Negro for instance, probably because they are less
accustomed to seeing any people except those who hunt them. No doubt the
protection they were afforded in the Santa Elena camp contributed largely to
their tameness there, but I always noticed-they were less tame on the Arroyo
Grande than on its tributary the Saiice. When disturbed and rising to their
feet, carpinchos get upon their fore-legs first. The hair of the carpincho is
scanty, not much more plentiful than some pigs' bristles, which it greatly
resembles. Their colour varies from dull brown to bright chestnut, and this
irrespective of age, or size, or season either, for I have noticed all colours
from spring to late autumn ; smaller animals are, however, generally of the
dull brown colour, and vice versa. Their skins tan into splendidly thick, soft
leather, which is used for belts, slippers, saddle-covers, etc. Like other
MAMMALS THA T GNA W. 117
thick-skinned animals, they like to wallow in mud. They work out
hollows in the ground, in which they wallow ; these are known as carpincho-
baths. The carpincho does not go to ground, but lives on the banks of the
rivers in such cover as it can find. It is capable of remaining under water
and of proceeding for some distance under the surface ; but when a herd has
been disturbed at a laguna, the members probably lie low by putting just
their noses above water under the shelter of a bed of camelotes orother
water-plants. I am puzzled to say how many young they have at a birth.
On the 8th May I saw two females, each with a young one, about 18 inches
long, at her side. I have never seen more than one young one with a female,
but this I have often seen ; the young one keeps close to its mother's side,
and they plunge into the water together. I am aware that the supposition
that the carpincho has only one young one at a birth is contrary to what has
been written about this animal ; but I merely give my own observations for
what they are worth."
The two last families of the order, constituting the group Lagomorpha,
differ from the rest in having a small second pair of upper incisors behind
the large ones of the upper jaw ; the latter being also
peculiar in that the coating of enamel, instead of being con- Picas. Family
fined to the front surface, extends round to the back. Lagomyidce.
Young animals have three pairs of upper incisors. The
small Rodents known as picas, or tailless hares, all of which are included in
the single genus Lagomys, are characterised by the equality in the length of
the limbs, the absence of a tail, the
short ears, complete collar-bones, and
rootless molars, divided into transverse
laminae by complete folds of enamel.
The living species have two pairs of
premolar teeth in. each jaw, and the
skull has no postorbital processes. Re-
presented by about a dozen species,
the picas are chiefly inhabitants of the
Himalaya and the highlands of Central
and Northern Asia, although one out-
lying form inhabits South - Eastern Fig. 65. A PICA (Lagomys).
Europe, and a second the Rocky Moun-
tains. These little creatures dwell in the chinks and crevices of rocks, from
which they dart out with remarkable celerity, uttering at the same timo
their peculiarly shrill cry.
From the picas, the hares and rabbits (Lepus) are at once distinguished by
their elongated hind-limbs, long ears, short, upwardly-bent tail, arid imper-
fect collar-bones ; while the skull differs in possessing large
postorbital processes, and there are three pairs of premolar Hares and
teeth in the upper jaw and two in the lower. Whereas Rabbits.
there are five toes to the fore-limbs, the hind pair has but Family
four, and the soles of all four are as fully haired as the rest Lcporidce.
of the limbs ; the inside of the cheeks being also hairy.
There are rather more than a score of species belonging to the genus, which
has an almost cosmopolitan distribution, although more numerous in the
northern hemisphere than elsewhere, being absent from Madagascar and
Australasia, and represented only by a single species in South America. All
are very much alike in external appearance. Of the European species, the
ii8 MAMMALIA ORDER VL UNGULATA.
common hare (L. europcp.us), distinguished by the very long ears and hind-
legs, inhabits the whole of Europe with the exception of Northern Russia,
Scandinavia, and Ireland. In the latter countries its place is taken by the
mountain hare (L. timidus), which ranges eastwards to Japan, and is found
on several of the mountain ranges of Southern Europe, namely the Pyrenees,
Alps, and Caucasus. Smaller than the common hare, it has shorter ears and
hind-legs ; and in the colder portions of its habitat changes to pure white in
winter, with the exception of the black tips to its ears. The rabbit
(L. cuniculus) is a smaller and shorter-limbed form, with the black tips to
the ears much reduced in size, or absent ; it was originally a native of the
countries bordering the western half of the Mediterranean, but has been
introduced into Northern Europe and many other parts of the world. It
differs from the hares in its burrowing habits.
ORDER VI. UNGULATA.
THE HOOFED MAMMALS.
THIS extensive order, which includes hyraces, elephants, horses, rhinoceroses,
oxen, antelopes, pigs, etc., is one by no means easy of definition, although
its existing members are characterised by having the toes enclosed either in
hoofs, or furnished with broad, flattened nails. The number of toes varies
from five (in the elephants) to one (in the horses); in the fore-arm the radius
and ulna may be united ; in the wrist the scaphoid and lunar bones (united
in the Carnivora) are always separate ; collar-bones are wanting in all the
existing forms ; and the condyle, or knob, by which the lower jaw articulates
with the skull, is always more or less elongated transversely, and never from
before backwards in the manner characteristic of the Rodents. The cheek teeth
have broad and flattened crowns often interpenetrated by deep foldings of
the enamel from the summits and sides adapted for grinding ; and when
these teeth are reduced below the typical number of seven, the reduction
always takes place from the anterior portion of the series, or, in other words,
in the premolars, so that there are constantly three pairs of molars in each
jaw. The limbs are always adapted for terrestrial progression, so that there
is no power of supining the fore-foot ; and when the first toe is present it
has no power of opposition to the others.
Although a few are omnivorous, the great majority of the Ungulates sub-
sist entirely on a vegetable diet; and, with the exception of these sufficiently
protected by their great bodily size, most depend upon their swift-
ness of foot to escape their enemies. While a small number are not larger
than hares, the great majority of the members of the order are animals of
large size, and they include among them the most gigantic of all existing
terrestrial creatures. The living Ungulates may be divided into four well-
marked subordinal groups, while there are others which are now extinct.
The Proboscidea or first subordinal group of the Hoofed Mammals, is now
represented solely by the two existing species of elephants, both of which
are included in the genus Eleplias. In addition to their huge bodily size,
elephants differ externally from all other animals by the production of the
nose into a long, flexible proboscis, or trunk, and likewise by the large tusks
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 119
normally present in the males, and often in both sexes. Their huge and
massive limbs are less enveloped superiorly in the skin of the body than
is the case with the great majority of Ungulates; and their component long-
bones are remarkable in being placed almost vertically one
above the other, so as to form straight columns for the The Elephants.
support of the body. From all other living members of the Family
order elephants differ in having five perfect toes to each foot ; Elephantidce.
while they are further distinguished from all, except the little
hyraces, by the arrangement of the bones of the wrist-joint in the fore-foot.
In this joint the two horizontal series of quadrangular bones are placed
almost directly over one another, and likewise above the supporting meta-
carpal bones, in such a manner that the whole foot could be completely
cleft in twain between the third and fourth toes. The rounded feet are
supported on large, flat cushions, on the front edge of which the position
of the toes is indicated by large, broad nails. As regards the teeth, the
upper tusks correspond to one of the three pairs of incisors characterising
more typical Mammals ; but there are no other incisors, nor any traces of
canines. The tusks always remain open at the base, and grow continuously
throughout the life of their owners. The cheek teeth, of which there are
six pairs in each jaw, are peculiar in that they are not all in use at the same
time, the small anterior ones coming into use first, and being in turn shed
as they are worn out and replaced by the larger hinder ones, which make
their appearance in the jaws in an arc of a circle, so that very old individuals
are left with only a single huge molar on each side of each jaw. Equally
peculiar are these teeth in structure. They consist of a great number of tall,
parallel, thin, transverse plates growing from a common base, and consisting
of a core of comparatively soft ivory, covered with a thin layer of flint-like
enamel ; the interspaces, or valleys, left between the plates being filled up
with a still softer substance known as cement. When such a tooth is worn
by grinding against its fellow in the opposite jaw, the summits of the enamel-
covered plates are cut through so as to expose elongated ellipses of ivory ;
and the roughened, flat surface thus produced is made of vertical transverse
layers of three substances, arranged in the order of cement, enamel, ivory,
enamel, cement. Since each of these constituents differs in hardness, it will
be sufficiently apparent that the millstone-like apparatus formed by the teeth
is admirably adapted for triturating vegetable substances of all kinds to a
pulp.
Of the two existing species, the Indian elephant (E. indicus) is best dis-
tinguished by the structure of the molar teeth, in which the constituent plates
are very numerous and very thin, with their investing enamel, which is also
thin, thrown into a number of fine crimpings. Tusks are usually present in
the male sex only, and may even be wanting in that. The ears are relatively
small ; and the finger-like process on the upper margin of the tip of the
trunk is much more developed than the one on the lower edge. As a rule,
there aro four nails on the hind-foot, and five on the front. The Indian
elephant is an inhabitant not only of the country from which it takes its
name, but likewise of Ceylon, Burma, the Malay Peninsula, Cochin-China,
Sumatra, and Borneo, although it may have been introduced into the island
last named. Associating in herds of variable size, it is fond of cool, shady
forests in the neighbourhood of water, avoiding as much as possible the full
glare of the sun, and feeding chiefly upon leaves, fruits, and small branches.
So much has been written on the subject of the habits of this species that this
120
MAMMALIA ORDER VLUNGULATA.
may be passed over here ; but as much misapprehension obtains as to the
height attained by the animal, a somewhat full notice may be given.
With all his large experience of Indian elephants, the late Mr. Sanderson,
in his "Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India," stated that the
largest male he had at that time ever seen measured 9 feet 10 inches at the
shoulder ; while two others with which he was acquainted touched 9 feet 8
inches. He adds, " There is little doubt that there is not an elephant 10 feet
at the shoulder in India." Next comes Sir Samuel Baker, who, after men-
tioning in "Wild Beasts and their Ways" that the well-known African
elephant " Jumbo" measured 11 feet at the shoulder, and weighed 6 tons,
declared that no Indian ele-
phant approaches these dimen-
sions. It is further set down
in the same book that " 9 feet
at the highest portion of the
back is a good height for an
Indian male, and 8 feet for the
female, although occasionally
they are considerably larger.
There are hardly any elephants
that measure 10 feet in a direct
perpendicular." Later on Mr.
Sanderson was forced to admit
that his statement as to there
being no elephants of 10 feet
in height in India required
modification, for he himself
subsequently measured a male
standing 10 feet 7J inches. Those dimensions are, however, reported by
Colonel D. Hamilton to have been exceeded in a male killed in 1863
by the late Sir Victor Brooke, of which the height is given as 11 feet,
or the same as that of "Jumbo." Moriom Kelaart, whose observations
are generally most trustworthy, records having seen an elephant in Ceylon
of upwards of 12 feet in height. That such a stature may occasionally
be reached by a few giants of the tribe seems to be supported by an
enormous skeleton of a tusker mounted in the Indian Museum, Calcutta,
which, as now articulated, stands 11 feet 3 inches at the shoulder, thus
indicating a height of about 12 feet when in the flesh. This skeleton is
believed to have belonged to the tusker of a small herd that haunted the
district to the north of the Raniganj Coal Field from Soory and the southern
spurs of the Rajmehal Hills to Jamtara. In our opinion this skeleton is cor-
rectly mounted, so that its height would appear to be truly 12 feet, although
it has been stated that the thigh bone is not perceptibly larger than one be-
longing to an elephant known to have been less than 10 feet in height. The
elephant of 10 feet 7| inches measured by Mr. Sanderson is, however, still
the tallest actually known with absolute certainty ; although we by no means
venture to assert that Colonel Hamilton's estimate of the height of the one
shot by Sir Victor Brooke may not be perfectly accurate. Be this as it may,
it is certain that the Indian elephant is, on the average, a considerably smaller
animal than its African cousin ; and individuals attaining a height of even 10
feet are so rare that each case is deserving of record. That elephants vastly
exceeding 10 feet in height formerly lived in India is proved by the occurrence
ig, 66. INDIAN ELEPHANT.
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 12 1
in the gravels of the Narbada Yalley of limb bones beside which those of the
skeleton last mentioned appear almost puny, many of these fossil bones being
exhibited in the geological galleries of the. Calcutta Museum. These elephants
belonged, however, to an extinct species.
From the height of the Indian elephant we turn naturally to the largest
dimensions and weight of its tusks. Mr. Sanderson states that the largest
tusks he ever obtained measured 5 feet along the curve, with a circumference
of 16 inches at their junction with the gum ; while the weight of the pair was
74^ pounds. The single perfect tusk of the elephant shot by Sir V. Brooke,
to which allusion has been made, measured 8 feet, with a maximum girth of
16*9 inches, and weighed 90 pounds. Mr. Blanford mentions, however, that
a somewhat shorter tusk weighed upwards of 100 pounds; and two pairs
from the Garo Hills, mentioned in The Asian newspaper in October, 1888, are
stated to have been respectively of 155 and 157 pounds weight. The tusks of
the large skeleton in the Calcutta Museum have unfortunately been removed,
but the size of their sockets indicates that they must have been immense. All
these dimensions are, however, comparatively small when set against those of
unusually large African elephants ; Sir Samuel Baker referring to single
tusks of that species, which weighed respectively 149, 172, and 188 pounds ;
while Sir E. G. Loder has a tusk of 184 pounds in weight. Huge as are the
tusks indicated by such weights, they must, however, have been small by the
side of those of an extinct Indian elephant from the Siwalik hills, of which
the skull is preserved in the British Museum. The tusks of this monster
have a total length of about 12 feet 9 inches, with a girth of 26 inches near
the base ; and the weight of each in the living state may be safely estimated
at considerably over 200 pounds. While on the subject of elephants' tusks,
we may take the opportunity of mentioning that, as we learn from Mr.
Sanderson's book, there appears to be a widespread belief that elephants have
no milk or deciduous tusks. ^Nevertheless, such tusks are developed in all
young elephants, and may be seen in place in skulls of suitable age. They
may be at once distinguished from the permanent tusks by the circumstance
that their lower extremities are completely closed, whereas those of the latter
always remain open. These milk-tusks are, however, so small, and are shed
at such an early age, that their fall is not likely to be noticed by the mahouts,
even when they have under their charge animals sufficiently young for this
change to take place.
In India, elephants, as a rule, do not breed in captivity, but in Burma
they not unfrequently do so ; and a writer in The Asian newspaper of April,
1895, states that in the Chindwin division, there were kept a male and "five
female elephants ; four out of the five female elephants have calved since last
September, and these calves will go and suck any elephant they like without
the elephant objecting. I have seen two calves go and suck one elephant
at the same time, then go off to another and suck her. Elephants, without a
calf, will allow another's calf to suck them. This I noticed down in Pyin-
maria, where one of the elephants calved ; the calf used to go round and suck
three of the females. Again, with the elephants up here, one calved in Sep-
tember, another in October, a third in February, and the fourth in March.
The calf that was born in September used to regularly suck the elephant that
calved in October, and this before her calf was born ; in fact, it used to follow
the one that had not calved more than it did its own mother, and the female
seemed to be as fond of the calf as if it had been her own. When No. 2
calved in October it did not make any difference, both the calves sucked either
122 MAMMALIA-ORDER VL UNCULATA.
No. 1 or No. 2 just as they liked, and they invariably sucked the same
elephant at the same time ; then they used to go off and suck the other two
that had not calved then. These six elephants have now been in the Forest
Department for at least six years to my knowledge, and how long they were
in it before I don't know. It shows how absurd it is people in India saying
elephants will not breed in captivity ; here, in Burma, our elephants are
always fettered and turned out into the forest to graze, and elephants in
better condition it would be hard to find ; our elephants get no flour, paddy,
or any other kind of rations, and no tree-fodder. After the day's work is
done, they are hobbled and turned out to feed themselves ; when they are
not wanted, they remain out in the jungle, the mahout going and seeing them
once or twice a day. In this way they can eat just what they like." The
teats of the female elephant are placed between the hind legs ; and the young
calf sucks with its mouth, and not with its trunk.
There are many methods by which elephants are captured, among which
the following, as detailed in The Asian newspaper, may be selected for notice :
u Elephant-capturing operations by the pit-fall systems were set in work-
ing order in the locality of the forest station at Mount Stuart on the Anaimalai
Hills in the season of 1890. For the past five years, during each of the
working seasons which commence in June and end in December, elephant-
captures have been attempted. Places were selected in the known runs of
the elephants, and the pits were dug in groups of three. To commence with,
about 21 pits were dug in different parts, all, however, being within
a two-mile radius of the Mount Stuart forest station. Since 1890, some
20 pits more have been dug out. The dimensions of the original pits
were 12 feet by 9 feet, with a depth of 10 feet. These are too large, and a
pit 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet is amply big enough. The sides of the
pits were made vertical and not sloping downwards, as are the pits in Malabar;
and some 2 or 3 feet of brushwood was placed in the bottom of each to act
as bedding to break the fall of the animal. The pits were then covered by
means of bamboos placed across them, and on these were spread grass, leaves,
etc. The pits are visited every morning by a forest-guard or watcher deputed
for the purpose, and these report to their superior officers whenever a fall
takes place. During the first year, one animal, to which the name of Juno
was given, was captured. This subsequently died. In the second year, 1891,
four animals were captured, two of which subsequently died, and two of
which are now living. In the third year, 1892, two extraordinary falls took
place by which seven animals were captured in five pits. Out of these seven
animals, four are still living. During 1893 two animals were captured, and
during the present year, 1894, four animals have been caught, all of which
fire living. Out of a total of 17 captures, 12 are now living. It may be re-
marked, moreover, that the casualties took place amongst the first three
years' captures, when the attendants, who are local hillmen, called Mulcers,
were entirely inexperienced concerning elephants. During the last two years
the bed of brushwood has been increased considerably so as to reach to with-
in 4 feet of the top of the pit. The results speak for themselves : not a
single animal has since been injured in the fall, although two of the latest
captures are the largest animals caught since operations were commenced.
The removal of a capture to the kraals, which are within two or three miles
from the pits, is a very simple matter, provided everything is in readiness
beforehand. The size of the animal's neck is estimated, and a peg is put in
the rope so as to prevent the noose going smaller than the neck-size as
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 123
estimated. This noose is then thrown over the elephant's neck and pulled
tight to the peg, the end of the rope being bound round a neighbouring tree ;
next, one of the elephant's hind-legs is noosed, and the end of this rope, for
the time being, bound round a neighbouring tree. The neck-rope at the
peg then has to be tied with twine or fibre to prevent the noose being loosened
by the elephant. This operation is, taking it all round, the most risky one
connected with the capture. But if proper care is taken there is nothing to
fear. The pit is then filled up by means of billets of wood being thrown in,
and as the animal rises nearer the surface of the ground, the two ropes fasten-
ing him are pulled tighter around the trees. Eventually he gets out of the
pit somewhat fatigued ; the ropes which secure him are then fastened to two
tame elephants, and the animals are marched in single file (the captured one
being of course in the middle) to the kraal, and all the ropes are removed.
He is watered three times a day, and soon made tame by kindness, given
sugarcane, etc. Somewhat large animals are generally in the kraal three
months before they can be taken out ; the little ones of 4 feet or 5 feet
high are, however, removed within three weeks of capture. The work of
capturing elephants is an exceedingly interesting one, and only needs care
and constant supervision to render it successful ; and certainly the more one
has to do with these animals the more one is bound to recognise what in-
telligent, useful beasts they are."
The African elephant (E. africanus), which, as already stated, is a larger
animal than the Indian, has large tusks in both sexes, and is broadly dis-
tinguished by the structure of the molar teeth, in which the plates are fewer
and lower, with the ivory-spaces wider and more lozenge-shaped, and the enamel
thicker and only slightly crimped. The finger-like processes on the upper
and lower edges of the tip of the trunk are more nearly equal in size ; the
ears are enormous, forming large flaps extending over the shoulders, and
there are only three nails on the hind-foot. As in the Indian species, the
rugged, naked skin bears only a few sparse hairs, but there are a number of
stout bristles on the edges of the end of the tail. Until decimated or exter-
minated in many districts by human greed, this species ranged over the
whole of Africa south of the Sahara, and frequently occurred in enormous
herds. It is less impatient of the sun than its Indian cousin, and subsists
largely on the soft roots of trees, which are dug up by the tusks ; one tusk
being generally employed in this service, and thus more rapidly worn away
than its fellow.
The second sub-order of the Ungulates the Hyracoidea is formed by the
small Rodent-like animals known as hy races, all of which are confined to
Africa and Syria, and may be comprised in the single genus
Procavia. In the structure of the wrist-joint of the fore- The Hyraces
foot these animals resemble the elephants, from which they Family
differ in having only three toes on the hind-foot, and but Procaviidos.
four functional ones in the fore-foot, where the first is rudi-
mental, as well as in the characters of the dentition. As regards their front
teeth, the hyraces make a curious approximation to the Rodents, the upper
jaw having a single pair of curved incisors, which grow throughout life, and
are separated by a long gap, without the intervention of a canine, from the
cheek-teeth. In the lower jaw there are, however, two pairs of the former
teeth, in place of the single pair characterising the Rodents, while the upper
incisors differ from those of the latter in being sharp-pointed instead of
chisel-shaped, and also in their triangular section, two of their surfaces
124
MAMMALIA ORDER VI. UNGULA TA.
Fig. 67. A HYRAX (Procavia).
The Tapirs.
Family
Tapiridce.
being coated with enamel. The cheek teeth, which include four pairs of
premolars and four of molars in each jaw, are singularly like those of the
rhinoceroses, and thus quite different from those of the Rodents. With the
exception of the second toe of the hind-foot,
the toes are protected by short, broad nails ;
and the tail is remarkable for its extreme
shortness. In general appearance, hyraces
(which are the conies of Scripture) are very
like large cavies. While the majority live in
colonies among the cracks and crannies of
rocks, some of the African species are arboreal
in their habits, climbing the sterns arid larger
branches of trees, and sleeping in their holes ;
in this respect they are unique among the
Ungulate order.
The primitive and ancient group of animals commonly known as tapirs are
the first representatives of the third sub-ordinal section of the Ungulates,
technically termed the Perissodactyle section. The essential
feature of the members of this section is to be found in the
structure of the feet, in which the toe corresponding to the
third or middle digit of the human hand or foot is always
larger than the one on each side of it, and symmetrical in
itself ; the total number of toes on the hind-foot never exceeding three, and
on the front-foot four. It is in consequence of this special development of
the third toe that the group is spoken of as the Odd-toed or Perissodactyle
Ungulates. In addition to this essential feature, the Perissodactyla differ
from the two preceding sub-orders in the structure of the wrist-joint of the
fore-foot, in which the two horizontal rows of small bones not only interlock
with one another, but are likewise not disposed in vertical lines immediately
above the supporting metacarpals. Hence in these animals it would be im-
possible to cleave the foot between any two of the toes without cutting through
solid bone. A further difference from the elephants is to be found in the
circumstance that the huckle-bone,
or astragalus, of the ankle-joint of
the Perissodactyles is a vertically
elongated bone terminating above
in a deeply grooved, pulley-like
surface for articulation with the
larger bone of the leg, instead of
being shallow, with a flat upper
surface. All these animals walk
in the digitigrade fashion on the
summits of their toes, which are
more elongated than in the ele-
phants. At the present day the
Perissodactyla are represented by
only three families, each containing a comparatively small number of species ;
but in former epochs of the earth's history they were much more numer-
Fig. 68. MALAYAN TAPIR (Tapirus indicus).
From the other members of the sub-order, tapirs, which are some what pig-like
and antediluvian-looking animals, are readily distinguished by the production
of the muzzle into a short, mobile snout, and the presence of four toes on the
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 125
front-feet, the hind pair having three. They have low-crowned cheek-teeth ;
the upper molars having an outer wall formed by the union of two conical
tubercles, from the inner side of which a pair of transverse crests run obliquely
across the grinding surface of the crown. In the lower molars there is simply
a pair of transverse ridges to each ; the total number of teeth being 42. The
skin of all the tapirs is sparsely haired ; and in size these animals may be
compared to a large donkey.
The whole of the five living species of tapirs may be included in the single
genus Tapirus, to which special interest attaches on account of its remarkable
geographical distribution. Thus, whereas one of the five species is found in
the Malayan countries, the whole of the other four are restricted to the forest-
region of Tropical America, some of the latter ranging high into the Andes.
This, however, is by no means all, sinee the Malayan species is much more
nearly related to two of the American species than are the latter to their
compatriots. Had we the existing forms alone to deal with, this discontinuous
distribution would be very difficult to explain ; but we learn from geology
that these animals were formerly widely spread over the Northern Hemi-
sphere, whence they have migrated southwards to their present isolated
habitats.
The Malayan species (T. indicus), which is the largest of the five, differs
from all the others in having the middle of the body white ; the remainder
of the skin being uniformly black, as is the whole of that of the American
species. In all the five kinds the skin of the young is, however, striped and
spotted with white. As regards their mode of life, tapirs are essentially shy,
harmless, and nocturnal forest animals, always frequenting the neighbourhood
of water, in which they often swim.
The rhinoceroses, which include by far the largest representatives of the
Perissodactyle sub-order, may be best distinguished from the tapirs by the
form and number of their teeth. These are always numeri-
cally less than 42 in the living species ; and the upper molars The
differ from those of the tapirs in that their outer surface forms Rhinoceroses.
a continuous wall, undivided into lobes, while the grinding Family
surface, although consisting primarily of two oblique trans- Rhinocerotida.
verse ridges, presents a much more complicated pattern. In
the lower molars, the ridges, instead of being simply transverse, are curved
into crescents. Another point of distinction, so far as the existing kinds are
concerned, is the presence of only three toes on both the front and hind-feet.
Rhinoceroses derive their name from the presence of either one or two horns
arising from the middle line of the fore-part and middle of the head ; these
horns consisting entirely of an agglutinated mass of hair- like substances, having
no connection with the bones of the skull.
In appearance, rhinoceroses are huge, ungainly brutes, with an enormous
head, much elevated and expanded posteriorly, short, massive limbs, large,
tubular, upright ears, often fringed with hairs, a moderately long, tapering
tail, and very thick skin, which is generally but sparsely covered with hair,
and may be thrown into a number of massive folds. They have always
the full number of seven pairs of cheek teeth; but canines are wanting,
and the incisors, if present at all, are reduced below the typical number of
three pairs.
Rhinoceroses are restricted to the Oriental countries and Africa ; but there
is some difference of opinion whether they should be divided into several
genera, or all included under the single generic term Rhinoceros. Adopting
126 MAMMALIA ORDER VLUNGULATA.
the latter alternative, the five existing species may be arranged in two
divisions, of which one includes the three Oriental forms, and the other the
two African. The Oriental rhinoceroses are characterised by possessing
incisor teeth in both jaws,
one (or the only) pair in the
lower jaw forming sharp, tri-
angular, projecting tusks, cap-
able of inflicting terrific gashes
when their owners charge. By
far the largest of these is the
great Indian rhinoceros (R.
unicornis\ which is confined
to the great grass- jungles of
North-Eastern India, and is
characterised by its massive
Fig. 69. INDIAN RHINOCEROS (Rhinoceros unicornis). but short, single horn, the
large bosses on the deeply-
folded skin, the numerous pleats round the neck, and the complicated
structure of the upper molar teeth. The Javan rhinoceros (R. sondaicus),
which is a much smaller animal, ranging from Eastern Bengal and the
Sandarbans to Burma, the Malay Peninsula, and the islands of Sumatra,
Borneo, and Java, differs in the arrangement of the folds of the skin,
which lacks the great bosses of the larger species, and likewise by the lower
and simpler crowns of the upper molar teeth. The third representative
of the Oriental group of the genus is the Sumatran rhinoceros (R. suma-
trensis), which ranges from Assam, Chittagong, and Burma, to the Malay
Peninsula, Siam, Sumatra, and Borneo, and is the smallest of the three.
Having upper molar teeth of the same type as those of the Javan species, it
differs from both that and the Indian rhinoceros in having two horns on the
head, the foremost of which is often much larger than the single one of either
of the other Asiatic species.
The two species of African rhinoceroses differ in that the incisors of the
adults are rudimental or wanting in both jaws, and likewise in the absence of
foldings in the skin, which covers the body uniformly ; both having two
horns. The largest of these is the square-mouthed, or Burchell's rhinoceros
(R. simus), frequently inappropriately spoken of as the white rhinoceros.
This animal, which was formerly met with in enormous numbers to the north
of the Orange River, but is now well-nigh exterminated, if, indeed, it be not
actually extinct, takes its name from its square and truncated upper-lip. In
addition to this, it is characterised by the tall and complex crowns of the
upper molar teeth, which present a pattern very similar to that obtaining in
the Indian species, as well as by the great length of the front horn, which is
frequently found with its tip obliquely abraded, on account of having been
pushed along the ground as its owner walked. The general colour of the
skin is slaty-grey. On the other hand, the common African, or so-called
black rhinoceros (R. bicornis), has the prehensile lip characteristic of the
other members of the genus, while its front horn does not attain the enor-
mous length reached in R. simus, and the upper molars are of simpler struc-
ture. This rhinoceros ranges from Abyssinia to the Cape, and differs
considerably in habits from the other African species. Possibly a third
species may exist in North-Eastern Africa.
The third and last family of the Odd-toed Ungulates is that of the horses,
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 127
under which title are included not only horses proper, but also zebras and
asses, all of which may be comprised in the single genus
Equus. From all other living Mammals the members of The Horse Tribe.
this genus differ by the reduction of the number of toes to -Family
a single one in each foot ; but as there are certain extinct Equidce.
horses provided with three perfect toes on each foot, we
learn that this essential peculiarity of the existing forms is a feature of com-
paratively late acquisition. Indeed, evidence of this descent from a three-
toed ancestor is afforded by the so-called splint-bones which are found in the
horse, lying on each side of the upper half of each cannon-bone, and corre-
spond to the metacarpals and metatarsals of the second and fourth digits of
the typical five-toed foot, the cannon-bone representing the third or middle
one. In the case of such well-known animals as the horses, it would be
quite superfluous in a work of the present nature to describe them in any
detail, and it will accordingly suffice to point out a few of the features which
indicate that they form a family by themselves. More important than the
single digit of the feet is the peculiar structure of the molar and premolar
teeth, which form tall quadrangular prisms, in which the enamel is thrown
into a number of deep foldings and plications, the intervening depressions
and flutings being completely filled with cement. Although the resemblance
is at first not very easy to make out, a careful study of the pattern on the
crowns of the upper molar teeth of a horse will show that it is really essen-
tially the same as in the rhinoceroses, of which it may be regarded as a
specialised modification. The upper premolar teeth, which are generally
three in number, although occasionally a small anterior one is present, are as
complex as the molars, and are peculiar in being larger than the latter ;
similar features occurring in the lower jaw. There are thus normally six
pairs of cheek teeth in each jaw ; the total number of teeth in the adult male
being 40, although in the female it may be reduced to 36, as the canines, or
tusks, which are always rudimental in that sex, are in some cases altogether
wanting. The canines occupy the centre of a long gap between the pre-
molars and the incisors ; the three pairs of the latter forming a semi-circle
at the extremities of the jaws. The incisors of the horses are peculiar
in having the summits of their crowns deeply infolded, like the finger of
a glove with the tip pushed in ; and it is according as to how much of this
infold, or "mark," remains in the teeth of a horse that its age is approxi-
mately determined. The skull of a horse, which is of an exceedingly elon-
gated form, differs from that of either a tapir or a rhinoceros in having the
socket of the eye completely surrounded by a ring of bone ; and in the limbs
the bones known as the ulna in the front pair, and the fibula in the hind, are
incomplete, and respectively united with the radius and the tibia. A special
feature of the horses is the great elongation of the cannon-bone (metacarpal
and metatarsal) in each foot, which gives them their characteristic length and
slenderness of limb, and enables the upper parts of both the fore and hind-
legs to be enclosed in the skin of the body. It is almost superfluous to
observe that the so-called knee of a horse represents the human wrist, and
the hock the ankle ; the whole of the limbs situated below these joints corre-
sponding to the middle finger or toe of the human hand or foot, with the sup-
porting metacarpal or metatarsal bone. The toe of each foot is enveloped in
a solid hoof, which is broader in the front than in the hind-limb ; and the
inner sides of the fore-limb always has a naked wart-like callosity above the
wrist-joint, while there may be a similar pair of callosities on the hind-limb.
128 MAMMALIA ORDER VI.UNGULATA.
The ears are elongated ; the long and tapering tail may be either long-haired
throughout its length, or only at the tip ; and the neck is ornamented with
an upright or flowing mane. Horses are now restricted to the Old World,
although they formerly existed both in the northern and southern halves of
the New World.
The common or true horse (Equus caballus) is now best known in a domes-
ticated or half-wild condition, although it is probable that the wild horses,
or tarpans, of the Russian steppes, are the direct descendants of the original
primitive stock, and have never been domesticated. From the other species
of the genus the horse is distinguished by the tail being covered with abun-
dant long hair from root to tip, by the presence of a warty callosity on each
hind-leg, just below the inner side of the ankle-joint, the longer and pendant
mane, snorter ears, more elongated limbs, smaller head, and wider hoofs.
Some doubt exists whether the horse from Central Asia described as E.
prezevalskii is a valid species ; but if it be, it appears to be intermediate
between the horse and the asses, having callosities on both limbs, an erect
mane, no forelock, small ears, and the upper part of the tail short-haired.
The zebras of Africa south of the Sahara form a group closely allied to
the asses, but distinguished by th.eir more or less completely striped colora-
tion. Of these the true, or moun-
tain zebra (E. zebra) formerly in-
habited the mountains of the Cape
Colony in large herds, but is now
greatly reduced in numbers. It is
a rather small species, standing
about four feet at the withers, with
rather long ears, the lower part of
the tail somewhat thinly clothed
with long hairs, and a short mane ;
the ground colour being white, with
broad, black, transverse stripes, ex-
tending over the whole skin, except
that of the under-parts and the inner
surface of the thighs, and the lower
Fig. TO.-BURCHELL'S ZEBRA (Eqiius burchelli). part of the face chestnut brown.
On the hind-quarters short trans-
verse stripes extend from the longitudinal one running down the spine
towards or to the oblique ones of the haunches. Grevy's zebra (E. grevyi),
of the Galla country, differs by the much narrower and more numerous
stripes, especially those of the head, the spine-stripe being disconnected
from the others. More distinct is the larger BurchelPs zebra (E. burchelli),
from the open plains to the north of the Orange River, characterised by the
pale yellowish-brown ground-colour of the hair, and the broad brown or
black stripes ; a dark stripe, to which the lateral stripes may be united,
traversing the middle line of the under-surface of the body, and the spinal
stripe being isolated from the uppermost haunch-stripe parallel to it. Very
generally faint stripes occupy the middle of the broad intervals between the
dark stripes of the haunches ; and the limbs and tail may be either fully or
partially striped, or uniform. Upon such variations several nominal species
have been established, but it appears preferable to look upon all these in the
light of mere varieties of a single variable species. Many attempts have
been made, with more or less marked success, to break this zebra to harness.
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 129
According to a n3wspaper report, recent experiments in the Transvaal have
been "successful, in so far as the training is concerned, but the trials with these
animals have wofully disappointed those who fancied they might be advan-
tageously utilised for draught purposes. Most people in South Africa, in
districts where zebras abound, have hitherto regarded these animals as im-
pervious to that human control that would be necessary to render them
reliable between the shafts or in traces, and it is only lately that efforts
have been directed towards their domestication. Teams of them, compris-
ing ten or more, have been broken in and ' inspanned J to coaches and other
vehicles, by way of testing their amenability to the bit and the whip, and
their behaviour in harness has been in some respects most satisfactory and
promising, though their peculiarities sometimes rather out-mule the mule,
their shyness being particularly pronounced, and their disinclination to starb
gently another characteristic, resulting often in jumps out of harness, or
other antics, such as those practised by a jibbing or highly-nervous horse.
These faults, however, cure themselves in time, simply by the punitive
lessons they teach the zebras ; but the stamina of the animals is not of a
nature to stand the strain of either the lessons so acquired, or the burden of
the draught for any length of time, and looking at the conformation of the
zebra one is hardly surprised. Resembling the mule in many points, he yet
lacks that essential inherited by the latter from both his progenitors tough-
ness of bone and muscle, prescribed by generations of usage as a beast of
burden. It is admitted by all who have seen zebras in harness that, from a
spectacular point of view, they are worth the trouble spent upon their train-
ing, and as mounts for children they are certainly more respectable-looking
and dignified than the donkey, and in chaises, too, they would probably be
found equal to very light work. As draught animals, in the ordinary sense
of the term, however, they are not successes. Whether a breed could be
manufactured from the zebra, in the same way as the mule has been, and
whether with similar success, are questions that an intermingling of blood at
the present time might satisfactorily answer in the future."
The fourth species is the quagga (E. quagga) of South Africa, which forms
a connecting link between the others and the asses, having the head, neck,
shoulders, and the middle of the body striped, but the hind-quarters, tail,
and limbs uniformly coloured. This animal always had a very restricted dis-
tribution, and is now nearly, if not quite, exterminated.
The leading characters by which the uniformly-coloured asses differ from
the horse have been already pointed out. The Asiatic wild ass (E. hcmionus)
is a variable species, of an isabelline rufous tint, with a dark, longitudinal
stripe down the spine, but none across the withers, and comparatively small
ears. Its three leading varieties are the Syrian wild ass, the onager of Persia,
Baluchistan, the Punjab, Sind, and Kach, and the kiang of Mongolia and
the Tibetan highlands, which is the largest and most horselike of the three.
All these wild asses inhabit more or less completely desert districts, and are
exceedingly fleet of foot, passing over the roughest ground at a gallop. The
African wild ass (E. asinus), from Abyssinia, Nubia, and Somaliland, differs
from the preceding by its greyer coloration, much longer ears, and the general
presence of a dark stripe across the withers. It is evidently the ancestor of
the domestic breed, but its speed and endurance must not be judged by those
of the latter. The late Sir Samuel Baker wrote that "those who have seen
donkeys only in their civilised state can have no conception of the beauty of
the wild or original animal. It is the perfection of activity and courage. It
10
130 MAMMALIA ORDER VI.UNGULATA.
has a high-bred tone in his deportment, a high-actioned step when it trots
freely over the rocks and sand, with the speed of a horse when it gallops over
the boundless desert. The specimens now in the Zoological Gardens will
enable any one to perceive the character of the animal as it was before being
altered by generations of captivity." The bray of the Abyssinian is identical
with that of our common ass, and Darwin notes the marked aversion to walking
across a brook, which characterises the domestic donkey, as indicating its
derivation from a desert-haunting animal ; as also does its pleasure in
rolling in the dust. The Somali ass differs from the ordinary African
form in its more greyish colour, the absence of the cross-stripe over the
shoulders, the very slight indication of the spinal stripe, and more especially
in the numerous black markings on both front and hind-legs. Jt has, like-
wise, smaller ears and a longer mane. It may be a matter of doubt whether
these differences are of specific value, but they probably only indicate a
variety. Of this form Mr. Lort Phillips writes that "on March 22, 1884,
when about 20 miles to the west of Berbera, we fell in with a small herd of
wild asses. After a long and tedious stalk I succeeded in bagging one, which
turned out to be of quite a new species to me, having no mark whatever on
the body, which was of a beautiful French grey colour. On its legs, however,
it had black stripes running diagonally. I have, unfortunately, lost the book
in which I put its measurements, but it was a superb creature, and stood
quite 14 hands at the shoulder j our Berbera horses looked quite small in
comparison."
The two species of hippopotamus, both of which are now confined to Africa,
and may be referred to the genus Hippopotamus, bring us to the fourth and
last sub-ordinal division of the Hoofed Mammals, which far
The Hippopot- outnumbers the whole of the other three put together, both
ami. Family as regards families, genera, and species. From the fact that
Hippopotamidte the two toes corresponding to the third and fourth digits of
the human hand and foot are of equal size, and symmetrical
to a vertical line drawn between them, this group has been appropriately
named the Artiodactyla, or Even-toed Ungulates. Whereas, however, in
some species, such as the giraffe, only these two digits are present ; in others,
like the hippopotami, there are four functional digits ; while in yet others, as
the oxen, the middle *pair alone are functional, and the lateral ones much
reduced in size, and of no functional importance. In the peccaries the hind-
foot is unique among the sub-order in having only three toes. Although the
structure of the feet forms the prime distinction between the Artiodactyla
and Perissodactyla; there are many other points of difference between the
two groups, a few of which may be mentioned. As regards the teeth,
the premolars of the Artiodactyla are almost invariably of simpler structure
than the molars ; while the last lower molar is nearly always composed
of three transverse lobes, whereas in all the living representatives of the
Perissodactyla it is two-lobed. The femur or thigh-bone of the latter
group is always provided with a large projecting process in the upper
half of the shaft known as the third troehanter, which is invariably absent
in the one under consideration. Again, in the ankle-joint the huckle-bone,
or astralagus, of the Artiodactyla has its lower articular surface divided
into two nearly equal facets, whereas in the Perissodactyla such surface is
single. There are many other minor points of difference, but those given
are amply sufficient to distinguish between the two sub-orders.
The hippopotami are the most primitive and least specialised of the existing
THE HOOFED MAMMALS.
Fly. 71. COMMON HIPPOPOTAMUS
(Hippopotamus amphibius).
members of the Artiodactyla, and are characterised as a family by the follow-
ing features. Having a very bulky, clumsily-built body, and short limbs,
these animals possess a very broad and obtuse muzzle ; the feet are short
and broad, each having four toes of nearly equal size, invested in rounded
hoofs, and all applied to the
ground in walking ; the incisor
teeth, which grow throughout
life, are curved downwards in the
upper jaw, and project straight
forwards in the lower ; and the
canines, which also grow con-
tinuously, are very large and
curved, those of the upper jaw
being directed downwards. The
molar teeth are tuber culated, and
have four columns, the summits
of which show trefoil - shaped
surfaces of ivory, bordered by a
broad rim of enamel, when worn
by use. In the head, the great
elongation of the face causes the
small eyes and still more minute
ears to be situated very far back-
wards ; the legs are so short that the lower surface of the body is scarcely
raised above the ground in the standing posture ; and the round tail is likewise
extremely short. The thick skin is almost entirely naked. The common
hippopotamus (H. amphibius) is an animal too well-known, both as regards
form and habits, to require any detailed description ; its most distinctive
feature being the possession of two pairs of incisor teeth in each jaw. On
the West Coast of Africa there exists, however, in Liberia, a second species of
the genus, known as the pigmy hippopotamus (H. liberiensis), differing not
only in size, but likewise in habits, from the one with which all are
familiar. In place of attaining a total length of about 11 feet, mea-
sured in a straight line, and weighing probably some three or four
tons, the pigmy hippopotamus is not larger than a good-sized wild
boar, although it has the short and stout limbs of its gigantic cousin,
with which it also agrees to a certain extent in the relatively large
size of its head. As regards its mode of life, this species differs, how-
ever, in toto from the common one. Instead of passing at least as much of its
time in the water as on the land, and never living away from rivers or lakes,
the pigmy hippopotamus is an inhabitant of the dense tropical forests of that
part of Western Africa which is its home, where it apparently leads a life very
similar to that of wild pigs, wallowing in swamps after the manner of those
animals, but apparently not habitually frequenting rivers, though it is doubt-
less, like almost all Mammals, able to swim well when th necessity arises.
Moreover, in place of associating in large herds after the manner of the
common species, and never moving far from one particular locality, the
Liberian hippopotamus is a comparatively solitary creature, going about at
most only in pairs, and wandering long distances through the woods. It
differs essentially from the common species in usually having only a single
pair of lower incisors, on which account it has been generically separated by
some under the name of Chozropsis. Specimens are, however, occasionally
J32 MAMMALIA ORDER VI.UNGULATA.
met with having two pairs of these teeth on one side of the jaw. If fossil
species be taken into consideration, other variations will be found in the
number of these teeth ; but before proceeding farther, it is necessary to
remark that, since in ordinary Mammals the typical or full complement of
incisor teeth consists of three pairs, it is natural to suppose that one pair has
been lost in the common species. That such is the case is demonstrated by
the extinct Siwalik hippopotamus (H. sivalensis) of the Himalaya, in which,
between the two large tusks, there are three pairs of incisors, differing from
those of the common species in being all of nearly equal size ; and if we were
to examine the upper jaw, we should find the same number of teeth. In the
presence of these three pairs of incisors the Siwalik hippopotamus resembles
the pig, from which it departs less widely than does the common species, in
that these teeth are relatively smaller, and also of nearly equal size. The
Siwalik hippopotamus must accordingly be regarded as a less specialised
species than either of its living cousins ; and since, together with an allied
species from Burma (H. iravaticus), it is the oldest representative of the
genus, its generalised features are precisely what evolutionary considerations
would have led us to expect. There is, however, yet another point in con-
nection with these teeth demanding notice. From the evidence of the
common species, it is impossible to determine which of the three pairs of
lower incisors found in the Siwalik hippopotamus have dissappeared in the
former ; but in the gravels of the Narbada Valley in Central India, there are
found two extinct members of the genus, H. namadicu-s and H. pal&iiidicitg,
in the former of which the lower incisors are similar in size and number to
those of the Siwalik species ; but in the latter, while the inner and outer
pairs are very large, there occurs on each side between them a minute and
rudimentary tooth, squeezed out from the general line to the upper margin
of the jaw, and evidently about to disappear altogether. There is thus evi-
dence that the missing pair of lower incisor teeth in the common hippopota-
mus is the second ; and a complete transition can be traced, as regards the
number of these teeth, from the Siwalik species through the common one to
the Liberian hippopotamus. While it is quite possible that the African hip-
popotamus may have been derived from the Siwalik species, it is clear that
the pigmy hippopotamus is not the descendant of its giant existing cousin.
With regard to the geographical distribution of the genus, while there is
no evidence that the pigmy species ever ranged beyond its present habitat of
Liberia, the case is very ditFerent with regard to the range of the common
species. At the present day this animal is found from the Cape Colony
northwards to the cataracts of the Nile, and it extends westwards to Senegal;
but while for several centuries it has been very seldom met with on the
Nile below the entrance of the Atbara and Blue Nile, there is abundant evi-
dence that in the time of the Pharaohs it was common in Egypt, where in
the temple of Edfu, as well as several other buildings, there are frescoes re-
presenting the mode in which it was hunted and speared. That the hippo-
potamus is the animal indicated in the book of Job under the name of
behemoth is undoubted, but there is no evidence that the Jews were
acquainted with it otherwise than during their sojourn in Egypt. It is true
it has been suggested that its range may have extended eastwards as far as
Palestine, but this is conjecture, and, had the creature ever lived there, some
of its remains should have been found. In the superficial deposits of Southern
and Central Europe there occur, however, numerous remains of a hippo-
potamus which cannot be specifically distinguished from the existing African
THE HOOFED MAMMALS: 133
form, although it was generally of rather larger size. This difference in size
was once thought to indicate that the fossil form was a distinct species, but
the discovery of a half-fossilised jaw in the alluvium of the Nile near
Kalabshi, in Nubia, showed that in former times the African hippopotamus
attained dimensions as large as the European form. In England the hippo-
potamus ranged at least as far north as Leeds, and it is a remarkable
circumstance that in many places its remains have been found in association
with those of the reindeer. In Algeria, where the genus is now unrepre-
sented, a small species (H. hipponensis) flourished during the Pleistocene
period ; this being distinguished by having three pairs of lower incisor teeth,
which differed from those of other members of the genus in having their
enamel smooth and their extremities somewhat expanded, thus approximat-
ing to the corresponding teeth of the pigs. Equally noteworthy is the
occurrence of another species (H. lemerlei) in Madagascar, where its remains
are common in the great marsh of Ambulisatra. Somewhat intermediate
between the common and the Siwalik species, this rather small hippopotamus
had sometimes three and sometimes two pairs of incisors in the lower jaw.
One or two small species, which may have been partially terrestrial in their
habits, dwelt in. Italy, Malta, and some of the other Mediterranean islands
in past times.
From the hippopotami the members of the great pig tribe, all of which
are confined to the Old World, are at once distinguished, not only by their
lighter build and longer limbs, but likewise by the peculiar
form of the snout, which always terminates in an oval, fleshy The Pig Tribe.
disc, in which are perforated the nostrils. The feet, al Family Suidce.
though severally furnished with four toes, are also different
in that they are much narrower, and that the middle pair, which are alone
functional when the animals are walking on firm ground, are much larger
than the lateral ones, and have flat adjacent surfaces, so as to form a
so-called divided hoof. In the teeth, the incisors, which are somewhat vari-
able in number, are rooted, and thus only grow for a brief period, while the
canines are rootless, and distinguished by the upper pair being directed more
or less markedly outwards or upwards. The molar teeth, which are tuber-
culated, do not wear into the distinct trefoils characterising the correspond-
ing teeth of the hippopotami.
The true pigs (tins) differ from all the other members of the family in
having the typical number of 44 teeth, although in certain African represen-
tatives of the genus the anterior premolars are frequently shed in the adult.
The canines of the upper jaw are curved outwards and upwards, and in the
males are very large, and project far beyond the lips; they are worn on their
outer convex surfaces to a sharp edge by the attrition of the longer and more
slender lower tusks. In the upper incisors, which are directed downwards,
the first' is considerably larger than the second, which, in turn, succeeds the
third in size ; and the three pairs of lower incisors are directed almost
horizontally forwards. The skull is characterised by the great elevation of
its hinder or occipital portion. The external form of the pigs is too well
known to need anything in the way of description ; but it may be remarked
that whereas in many of the domesticated breeds the skin is nearly naked, in
the wild boar it is covered with a thick coat of bristly hair. Whereas the
adults of all the species are more or less uniformly coloured, the young of
the wild breeds are longitudinally striped and spotted with yellow or white.
The typical representative of the genus is the wild boar (S. scrofa) of Europe,
134
MAMMALIA ORDER VLUNGULA TA.
Fig. 72. BUSH-PIG (Sus africanus).
North Africa, Asia Minor, and Central Asia, replaced in India by the closely
allied S. cristatus. India is the home of the smallest species, the pigmy hog
(<S. salvanius) of the Bhutan terai, which scarcely exceeds a hare in size.
Numerous species inhabit the Malayan countries and islands as far east as
Celebes and the Philippines, while one, which may, however, have been in-
troduced, is found in New Guinea. Africa south of the Sahara has but one
of the more typical representatives of the genus, which inhabits the Senhaar
districts. Elsewhere in that con-
tinent, as well as in the adjacent
island of Madagascar, the place of
the typical swine is taken by the
bush-pigs, which are frequently re-
garded as representing a distinct
genus, under the name of Potamo-
chcerus. The bush-pigs have long,
pencilled ears, and tend to lose the
anterior premolar teeth in both jaws,
while their molars are of simpler
structure than those of the other
members of the genus. Of the two
African species, africanus, ranging from South to Central Africa, has grey
hair, whereas in the West African S. porcus the colour is red, and tho
pencilled ears are of great length.
The other two genera of swine differ from the foregoing in having uniformly
coloured young, both being remarkable for the extraordinary development of
the tusks of the males. This feature attains its maximum in the babirusa
(Babirusa alfurus) of the island of Celebes, in the males of which the upper
tusks pierce the skin of the face, and curve backwards over the eyes in a
manner recalling the horns of the chamois. The lower tusks, which are
equally long and slender, curve
backwards in a somewhat similar
manner, but do nob wear against
the upper pair. There are but
two pairs of upper incisors, and
only two pairs of premolars in
each jaw. In appearance, the
babirusa is a rather short-bodied
and long-limbed pig, with small
ears, a very wrinkled skin, and
the upper edge of the extremity
of the snout overhanging the
lower. By far the most hideous
and repulsive-looking members of
the family are the two African
species of wart-hogs (P/i-acoc/icer-
iis), characterised by large conical warty growths projecting from the sides
of the face. The whole head is much flattened and expanded, and the
muzzle very broad. The huge tusks, which are nearly as large in the
sows as in the boars, curve upwards, outwards, and forwards ; the upper
ones, which are tipped with enamel only at the apex, being of great thick-
ness, and abraded on their convex surfaces by the more slender lower
pair. In the adult there is but a single pair of upper incisor teeth,
Fig. 73. WART-HOG (Phacochoerus cethiopicus).
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 135
although, as in all the pigs, the normal three pairs of these teeth are
retained in the lower jaw. The premolars are reduced to three pairs
in the upper, and two in the lower jaw ; but in aged animals not only
all these teeth, but likewise the first two pairs of molars, are generally
shed, so that there is only the last pair of molars left in each jaw behind
the tusks. These last molars are of great size and very peculiar structure,
being composed of a number of narrow cylindrical columns arising from
a common base, and closely packed together, so as to form a long,
narrow, tall crown. Different as such a tooth looks at first sight from the
corresponding molar of an ordinary pig, a closer inspection will show that
it is nothing but a highly specialised modification of the same general
type.
All pigs are more or less nocturnal in their habits, associating in droves, or
" sounders," of variable size, and inflicting much damage on crops by their
habit of grovelling in the soil in search of roots with their snouts. In diet
they may be said to be omnivorous, scarcely anything edible coming amiss to
them. The females produce a large number of young at a birth, and thereby
differ very remarkably from the ruminants, in. which the number very
seldom exceeds two, and is more generally one. Boars attack with their
lower tusks, and the wounds inflicted by these formidable weapons are
terrific, a horse being not unfrequently ripped open by one sweep from the
tusk of a charging boar.
Although nearly allied to the pigs of the Old World, with which they
appear to be still more intimately connected by means of certain ex-
tinct types, the small American swine known as peccaries
(Dicotyles) are generally regarded as indicating a family Peccaries.
group by themselves. They are specially distinguished by Family
the circumstance that the canine teeth of the upper jaw Dicotylidce.
have their points directed downwards in the ordinary
manner, with their hinder edges sharpened to a cutting edge ; and likewise
by the toes on the hind-feet being reduced to three. In the skeleton the
third and fourth metacarpal and metatarsal bones are united at their
upper ends. Another peculiarity is to be found in the circumstance that the
last premolar in the upper jaw is as complex as the first molar, its crown
carrying four distinct tubercles. The stomach also is of a more complicated
construction than that of the true pigs ; and the back is provided with a
peculiar gland, from which these animals derive their scientific title. The
total number of teeth is 38, there being only two pairs of incisors in the
upper jaw, and three pairs of premolars in each. Peccaries, which range
from the Red River of Arkansas to the Rio Negro of Patagonia, much
resemble small blackish pigs in general appearance. They are forest-haunting
animals ; and although of small size individually, the large droves in which
they collect render them foes by no means to be despised by the lonely
traveller in the Brazilian or Paraguayan forests.
The three preceding families of the sub-order Artiodactyla constitute a
sectional group known as the Suina, and are collectively characterised by the
tuberculate molar teeth and the circumstance that the third
Camel Tribe.-- and fourth metacarpal and metatarsal bones of the feet (that
Family is to say those corresponding to the third arid fourth digits
Camelidce, of the human hand and foot) are never completely united
together, and are in most cases entirely separate. The re-
maining members of the sub-order are divided into three other sections, all
136 MAMMALIA ORDER VI.UNGULATA.
of which differ from the Suina, and agree with one another in that the
molar teeth, instead of being simply tubercular, have the columns on their
crowns bent into the form of crescents, of which there are four in those of
the upper jaw. Technically, this type of tooth is known as the selenodont; and
all the animals possessing it are characterised by their power of ruminating,
or chewing the cud. Moreover, in all cases the third and fourth metatarsal
bones of the hind-feet are completely fused together to form a cannon-bone,
terminating inferiorly in two pulley-like surfaces, or trochleae, which carry
the two middle toes ; the same condition also obtaining in the corresponding
metacarpal bones of the fore-foot, except in one species of chevrotain. All
these animals are thus more specialised than the Suina ; the tubercular type
of molar, and the separate metacarpal and metatarsal bones of the foot, being
evidently the more primitive type.
The first section of these selenodont Artiodactyles is known as the Tylopoda,
or cushion-footed group, and includes only the single family of the Camelidce,
now represented by the camels of the Old World and the llamas of South
America. Having selenodont molars and complete cannon-bones in both
feet, the camel tribe are specially distinguished by retaining incisor teeth in
the upper jaw, and by the lower canines being tusk-like and separated from
the incisors, which always form three pairs. The limbs are long, with the
thigh of the hinder pair less enclosed in the skin of the body than is the case
in the following families ; while the feet have but two toes, which are em-
bedded in a large pad-like cushion, and have only small nails on the upper
surface of their extremities. In the cannon-bones the two trochlese of
the lower extremity are widely divergent, and lack the median longitudinal
ridge found in all other members of the sub-order. The neck of these
animals is long and flexible, and its component vertebras present a peculi-
arity unknown in any other living Mammals. As regards their soft internal
parts, the camels have a less complex stomach than the true Ruminants ;
two of its chambers having special honeycomb-like cells for the retention of
water.
From their allies the llamas, the two species of camel (Camelus) are readily
distinguished not only by their much larger bodily size, but likewise by the
presence of one or two fatty humps on the back, which diminish or increase
in size according to the physical condition of the animal. The head is large,
with relatively short and rounded ears ; the broad feet have the toes very
slightly separated ; the moderately long tail terminates in a tuft ; and the
nearly straight hair is not woolly. Adult camels have a total of 34 teeth,
with but one pair of upper incisors, although in the young there are three
pairs of the latter. The camels are among the few animals of which there
are now no wild representatives ; the so-called wild Bactrian camels of
Turkestan being now pretty conclusively proved to be the descendants of a
domestic race which escaped long ago from captivity. Of the two species,
the Arabian camel (0. dromedarius), which is found in a domesticated state
from Africa to India, is characterised by the single hump ; while in the stouter-
built and more shaggily-haired Bactrian camel (C. bactrianus) there are two
of these excrescences. The latter species is kept as a beast of burden from
the Crimea to Turkestan and Pekin, From the large loads they are capable
of carrying, as well as their power of enduring deprivation from water
for a considerable period, camels are invaluable as a means of transport in
dry countries, where the roads are not too rocky. They are, however,
best suited for traversing sandy deserts; but where the ground is wet,
THE HOOFED MAMMALS.
137
Fig. 74. THE ARABIAN CAMEL.
especially on inclined roads, they are almost useless. The Bactrian camel,
which is doubtless a native of Asia, is much better suited for traversing high
mountains and enduring cold than the Arabian species. Regarding the two-
humped camels of the neighbourhood of Yarkand, it has long been a disputed
point whether these are
really wild, or whether
they are the descendants of
an originally domesticated
race. Something towards
clearing up this question
has been done by Major C.
S. Cumberland, who had
the good fortune to shoot
one of these animals. Its
skin and skull were sub-
mitted to Mr. Blanford,
who reports that they be-
longed to a two-humped
camel, in which the humps
were represented by large
tufts of hair. The skull
agreed fairly well with
that of a domestic Bactrian camel (C. badrianus), and differed from that of the
Whether, however, such
indicative of the exist-
ence of a distinct race, the materials at hand were insufficient to deter-
mine. In regard to these camels in their native home, Major Cumberland
writes as follows : " The Habitat of the wild camel is the Gobi steppe from
Khotan to Lob-Nor. Except when snow lies on the ground, these animals
may be met with here and there
along the old bed of the Yarkand
and Tarim Rivers, which they
frequent for the pools of brackish
water that are to be found here
and there. But as soon as the
snow falls they move off into the
desert, as if then independent
of the water-supply. They pre-
fer the snow, I imagine, as
being less salt than the water,
although it also is impregnated
to a certain extent soon after
it falls. The camel is very shy
single-humped Arabian camel (C. dromedarius).
differences, as presented by the former, were
Fig. 75. THE BACTKIAN CAMEL.
in its habits, and, so far as
could ascertain, has never been
caught or domesticated. The
natives told me that no horse in
the country could catch the camels in the deep sand of the region they
frequent. They appear to me to be distinct from the Bactrian camel ;
they are less stumpy in build, the hair is finer, closer, and shorter. They
vary in colour, like the domestic species, from dark brown to lightish
dun. Their origin has yet to be traced. I take it that they have sprung
133 MAMMALIA ORDER VLUNGULATA.
from camels wlien the district known as Takla Makan was "buried in a great
sandstorm some centuries ago. Tradition relates that no human beings
survived, but it is likely enough that some of the camels and horses did so,
and that this was the origin of the wild camels and ponies that are found in
this district."
Camels have "been successfully introduced into North America ; and for
some years, according to a writer in The Asian newspaper, have been largely
employed as a means of transport in South Australia and Queensland, while
recently the Swan River colonists have followed the example there set them;
a large number of superior Rajputana camels, which had been marched down
from Bikanir to Calcutta, having been shipped to Western Australia to be
used in carrying supplies from Perth to the newly discovered gold fields at
Coolgardie. The utility of the camel being thoroughly recognised in the
Antipodes, the fact that an agitation against the animal is being raised in
Queensland is rather a surprise. " Such, however, is the case, as a petition
was recently presented by the residents of the Charleville district to the
Governor of Queensland, praying that something should be done to prevent
the introduction of camels into the colony. In it the petitioners pointed
out the urgent need that some constitutional means should be adopted to
prevent an imminent and dangerous invasion of Western Queensland by
camels, as their employment would tend to deprive the present carriers of
their means of livelihood. It was stated that the rates of carriage were low,
the teams plentiful, and that the carriers were willing to travel on all roads,
while the low standard of living among the camel-drivers must result in loss
of trade to the district. It was further said that many of the Western
carriers were settlers on the land, and the colony would suffer if such a class
of men were forced to emigrate ; that the value of the Western lands would
be depreciated, and the welfare of the community injuriously affected. In
reply the Premier, to whom the petition was forwarded by the Governor,
expressed the opinion that the agitation against the camels was rather hasty.
The cause of their presence in the colony was the drought in the South-
Western districts. It was impossible for teams to travel at all times, and as
the Warrego Rabbit Board could not get their netting brought by the ordi-
nary methods, an officer was sent to South Australia, and the required
quantity of netting carried to its destination by camels. Then a squatter
in the district, whose wool could not be taken away by the carriers in con-
sequence of the want of water on the route to be travelled, had had it for-
warded by the camels to Charleville. The forty camels carried altogether
eighty bales of wool two bales to each animal or just about the quantity
that is sometimes taken by one team of bullocks."
Although the name llama properly belongs only to the domesticated forms, it
is commonly applied to all the South American representatives of the family,
which differ from the camels by their greatly inferior size and lighter build,
the want of any hump, the longer and more pointed ears, the short and bushy
tail, the narrower feet, with more distinctly separated toes, and the long and
woolly hair. They have two teeth less than the camels, owing to the upper
premolars in the adult being reduced from three to two pairs. Of the two
wild species, the vicuna (Lama vicuna) is the smaller and more lightly-built
animal of the two, and is restricted to the high Andes of Peru, Ecuador, and
part of Bolovia, where it associates in large herds in th3 coldest and most
inhospitable districts. On the other hand, the guanaco (L. guanacus) ranges
from the Peruvian Andes through the open pampas of Argentina to Pata-
THE HOOFED MAMMALS.
139
Fig. 76, GUANACO (Lama guanacus).
gonia and Tierra del Fuego ; although it has now been, exterminated from
most parts of the pampas. In size it may be compared to a red-deer ;
and its fur is of beautiful, light fawn-brown colour. The llama and alpaca
are domesticated varieties of the guanaco, kept by the inhabitants of the
Peruvian highlands; the former
and larger of the two being
employed as a beast of burden,
while the latter is bred for the
sake of its valuable wool. All
these animals have a peculiar
cry, with some resemblance to
the neigh of a horse ; and in
the domesticated state they are
disagreeable associates, on ac-
count of their unpleasant habit
of spitting, apparently as a
means of defence. Extinct
members of the family are
common in the Tertiary rocks
of North America, while fossil
camels occur in Northern India ;
and it is by these lost types
that we are enabled to account for the present anomalous geographical dis-
tribution of the group, which is evidently of northern origin.
Among the smallest of all Ungulates are the graceful little Oriental
animals commonly known as chevrotains, or mouse-deer, which in coloration,
form, and habits, more nearly resemble the Rodent agutis
than ordinary Hoofed Mammals. Together with a nearly- The Chevrotains.
allied African genus, these animals constitute a third section Family
of the selenodont Artiodactyles, known as the Tragulina. Tragulidce.
From the camel tribe they differ in the total absence of
incisor teeth in the upper jaw, and also by the circumstance that in the lower
jaw the canines are approximated to the incisors, which they resemble in
form, as well as in the structure of the feet. From the true Ruminants they
may be distinguished by the stomach having only three in place of four dis-
tinct compartments, as well as by the fibula, or outer and smaller bone of the
lower half of the hind-leg, being complete and quite distinct from the larger
bone, or tibia. Another point of distinction is to be found in the form of the
so-called odontoid process projecting from the lower part of the front surface
of the second vertebra of the neck, which in the present group is conical,
whereas it is spout-like in the true Ruminants. A resemblance to the latter
group, and at the same time a distinction from the camel tribe, is to be found
in that the two bones of the ankle-joint, respectively known as the cuboid
and the navicular, are welded together to form a single bone. As in the true
Ruminants, the toes are enclosed in solid hoofs ; four complete toes being
developed in each foot.
- The smallest representatives of the family are the true or Oriental
chevrotains (Tragulus), of which there are four or five species, ranging from
India and Ceylon through the Malayan countries, as far east as the island of
Palawan in the Philippine group. They have a total, of 34 teeth, arid aro
mostly uniform in coloration. The somewhat larger West African chevro-
tain (JJorcatherium) differs by the shorter and stouter feet, and the separation
140 MAMMALIA ORDER VLUNGULATA.
of the third and fourth inetacarpal bones ; the latter feature distinguishing ib
from all other selenodont Artiodactyles, In colour, it is deep brown, with
longitudinal white stripes on the flanks,
spots of the same on the back, and a white
chest and throat. Both in this animal and
the true chevrotains the upper canines of
the males form tusks projecting below the
lip. In appearance they are very like minute
deer, having moderate-sized ears and a short
ta ^' kut tne nea d nas no bony or horny ap-
pendages.
The deer tribe is the first of four families
Fig. 77. A CHEVROTAIN (Tragulus). constituting the true Ruminants, or Pecora.
andincluding the whole of the remaining mem-
bers of the order. They derive their name of Ruminants from their power of
chewing the cud a feature which they possess in common \vith the camel tribe
and chevrotains ; and they agree with the latter group in
The Deer Tribe, lacking upper incisors, and in having the lower canine ap-
Family proximated to and resembling the lower incisors as well as
CervidcK. in the union of the cuboid and navicular bones in the ankle-
joint, and in the covering of the toes taking the form of
horny hoofs. From the chevrotains they may be distinguished by the stomach
being divided into four distinct compartments, by the anterior, or odontoid
process of the second vertebra of the neck assuming the form of a spout, or
half-cylinder, and by the fibula of the hind-leg being reduced to a mere
nodule representing the lower extremity of the complete bone, and articu-
lated to the tibia. Another point of distinction is that the lateral metacarpal
and metatarsal bones of the feet are never complete, but are represented
only by their upper or lower ends. Very generally the skull is provided
with a pair of laterally placed appendages, which may be either unbranched,
covered with horn, and permanent, or branched, bony, and deciduous.
When such appendages are present, the upper canines are generally small or
wanting ; but when the former are absent, the latter are frequently large.
As a source of food, the true Ruminants are by far the most important of
all animals to the human race. Unknown in Australia and New Guinea,
World the only members of
As a family, the deer tribe are generally distinguished by the heads of the
males being ornamented with the branching deciduous appendages properly
known as antlers, although often wrongly termed horns ; these when fully
developed consisting simply of lifeless bone, and being nearly always shed
annually, to be reproduced in a somewhat more complex form the following
season. Both sexes usually have well- developed upper canines, which may
attain very large dimensions in the males, especially in the few instances
where antlers are wanting. The face is always provided with the so-called
larmiers, or tear-pits, below the eyes ; and the underlying region of the
skull always has a very large unossified vacuity. As a general rule, both
fore and hind-feet carry four toes ; and very often the lower ends of the
lateral metacarpal and metatarsal bones persist. With the single exception
of the musk-deer, the liver is provided with a gall-bladder.
It would require too much space to describe the mode in which antlers ara
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 141
formed and subsequently shed, but it may be mentioned that the annual
formation of such an enormous amount of bone as is contained in the antlers
of the wapiti, for instance, is one of the most extraordinary phenomena to be
met with in the whole animal kingdom. As regards their distribution, it is
remarkable that deer are totally absent from Africa south of the Sahara, as
they are from Madagascar. Although the more northern deer inhabiting the
New World are either generically or specifically identical with Old World
forms, the majority of the American forms, and all those inhabiting South
America, are perfectly distinct from those of other regions.
The most aberrant members of the family are the well-known musk-deer
(Moschus) of Asia, which constitute a sub-family by themselves, and are
represented by one species (M. moschi-
ferus) ranging from the Himalaya and
Cochin-China to Siberia, and by a
second (M. sifaniciis) from Kansu, in
North-Western China. One of the
peculiar features of these deer the
presence of a gall-bladder in the liver
has been already referred to ; a second,
although less peculiar character, is the
absence of antlers in both sexes. To
compensate for this deficiency, the
upper jaw of the male is provided with
a pair of long scimitar-like tusks, which
may project as much as three inches Fig. 73. MUSK-DEER (Moschus moschiferus).
below the margin of the lips. The
musk-deer has moderately long and somewhat pointed ears, a short tail, very
large lateral hoofs to the feet, and the fur of a peculiarly coarse and brittle
nature, its general colour being a speckled brownish-grey. The most peculiar
feature about the animal is, however, the presence on the abdomen of the
male of a large gland, discharging by a small orifice, and secreting the highly
odoriferous substance known as musk, which is much used in perfumery, and
commands a high price in the market. For the sake of obtaining this pre-
cious product, musk-deer are regularly hunted by the natives of the countries
they inhabit ; one plan being to drive them against nets. In the Himalaya
they are met with either singly or in pairs ; and during the early spring may
be seen traversing the snow-clad birch and pine forests.
Of the more typical deer, the first group is that of the Oriental muntjacs
(Cervulus), all of which are comparatively small species characterised by the
short antlers arising from long bony pedicles on the skull, which rapidly
converge as they descend the face. From this peculiarity these animals
are often called rib-faced deer. The males have large tusks ; and the
antlers consist of a beam, or shaft, with a small tine at the base. In the
lateral toes all traces of the bones have disappeared. There appear to be
three well-marked species of muntjacs, the range of the genus extending from
India to Eastern Tibet and China. In common with most of the deer of the
Old World , the muntjacs are characterised by the retention of the upper ex-
tremities of the lateral metacarpal and metatarsal bones of the feet. Nearly
allied to the muntjacs are two small deer from China and Eastern Tibet,
constituting the genus Elaphodus, and commonly known, from the presence
of a tuft of hair between the antlers, as tufted deer. They differ from the
muntiacs in that the pedicles of the antlers converge, instead of diverging, as
142 MAMMALIA ORDER VLUNGULATA.
they ascend on the face ; while the very small and simple antlers have no basal
knobs representing a brow-tine. The males have large upper canines, and the
hairs are coarse and almost quill-like.
By far the greater number of the deer of the Eastern Hemisphere belong
to the typical genus Cervus, of which the most familiar examples are the red-
deer and the fallow-deer. From the
muntjacs and their allies all these
deer are easily distinguished by the
absence of the bony ridges which form
the bases of the long pedicles of the
antlers of the former. As a rule, the
antlers, which, as in most members
of the family, are confined to the male
sex, are of large size, considerably
exceeding the whole skull in length,
and they do not branch in the re-
gular forked manner characteristic of
Fig. 79. MUNTJAC (Cervulus muntjac), the American deer. While, in the
majority of the species, the antlers
are rounded, or slightly flattened, in a few they are flattened, or palmated.
Unlike those of the muntjacs, the upper canine teeth are of comparatively small
size, and in the lateral digits of the feet the bones are present. Although
the genus is mainly confined to the Old World, it is represented in North
America by the magnificent wapiti. In the main, deer are forest-haunting
animals, the old bucks going about with several does during the breeding
season, which they have obtained by driving away younger competitors, or
by vanquishing rivals of their own age. Generally but a single offspring is
produced by the hinds at a birth, and these, as is the case with almost all
Ungulates, are able to run by the side of their dam in the course of a few
days. Whereas the adults may be either uniformly coloured, or spotted with
white for a portion or the whole of the year, the young are very generally
spotted, although those of the Indian sambar are usually an exception in
this respect. Many of the uniformly coloured species of the genus display
a conspicuous white blaze on the buttocks, and in all the muzzle is naked
and narrow, while the antlers of the males arise at a sharp angle to the
middle line of the face. The European species are very regular in their
times of feeding and repose ; and, like other members of the family, the
males during the breeding season utter a peculiar " belling " cry, which is
both a challenge to rivals of their own sex, and likewise a call to the female.
The genus may be divided into several more or less well defined groups
according to the form of the antlers, and other structural features.
Of these the first for consideration is the Rusine group, which is ex-
clusively confined to the Oriental countries, ranging as far eastwards as the
Philippine Islands. In this group the antlers are rounded and frequently
marked by strong vertical grooves, while they lack the so-called bez-tine (the
one arising immediately above the first, or brow-tine), and the upright and
slightly curved beam terminates in a simple fork, so that the number of points
to each antler is only three. The brow, or basal-tine, rises close to the
thickened rugose ring forming the base, and known as the burr, and makes
an acute angle with the beam, or main shaft. In the more typical forms, the
colour is uniformly brown, the tail is of medium length in all, and the neck
is generally maned. The largest and best known representative of this
THE HOOFED AlAMMALS. 143
group is the eambar (C. im&oZor), which stands nearly five feet in height, and,
with its numerous varieties, ranges from India and Burma., through the
Malay Peninsula, Borneo, and Samatra to China. As a rule, the young are
not spotted. Jn Formosa there is the nearly allied C. swinhoei, while C.
philippiwis and C. alfredi are smaller forms inhabiting the Philippine Islands,
the last being distinguished by its spotted coat. Still smaller is the Indian
hog-deer (6. porcinm), easily distinguished by the absence of a distinct mane
on the neck, and the comparatively simple antlers, the young being spotted
till they attain an age of about six months. A second Oriental assemblage is
the Rucervine group, typically represented by tho Indian swamp-deer
(C. du'vauceli\ and the closely allied C7. schomburgki of Siam. In these the
beam of the antlers is rather flattened and more curved than in the first
group, while the large brow-tine arises at an obtuse angle from the beam,
with an upward curvature. To the same group belongs the remarkable Eld's
deer, or tameng (C, eldi) of Burma, Cambodia, and the Island of Hainan, in
which the whole antler forms a continuous curve from its extreme summit to
the tip of the brow-tine. In all the three species the tail is sharp, and the
neck provided with a mane, the young being spotted. David's deer
(C. davidianus) of Northern China may be regarded as representing a third
group by itself, the antlers rising straight from the brow, and then giving off
a long back-tine. Each antler is forked at the summit, but the prongs of the
fork may again divide. The brilliantly coloured axis, or spotted deer
(C. axis) of India, in which the coat is permanently spotted with white, like-
wise forms a group by itself. It has antlers of the same general type as those
of the Rusine group, the brow-tine usually arising at an acute or right angle
from the beam, but it differs in the absence of a mane on the neck, and the
greater length of the tail. The molar teeth are characterised by the great
height of their crowns. The pretty little Japanese deer (C. st'ca), which has
been successfully introduced into several English parks, is the typical repre-
sentative of a small assemblage of species, chiefly from North-Eastern Asia,
which constitute the Pseudaxine group. When fully developed, the antlers
have a brow and trez-tine (the second, or bez-tine, being absent), and
terminate in a fork, of which the hinder-tine is the smaller, so that the total
number of points on each is four. In summer the coat is spotted, but it be-
comes uniformly coloured in winter ; the tail is of medium length, ,and the
neck slightly maned. .
The typical or elaphine group, which includes the red-deer (C. elaphus) of
Europe, and the North American wapiti (C. canadensis), is characterised by
the presence of a second, or bez-tine, to the antlers, when these attain their
maximum development ; the beam of each antler being rounded, and near its
summit splitting up into a larger or smaller number of points, which in some
species form a cup. The tail is short, and included within a large light-
coloured patch on the buttocks ; the remainder of the body being uniformly
brown. The red-deer, which ranges over Europe, Western Asia, and North
Africa, has the antlers, when fully developed, as in a " royal hart," forming a
distinct cup at the summits. The deer of Northern Asia, from the Caucasus
to Siberia, and thence to North China, has been separated as C. xatithopygus;
but its right to specific distinction seems rather doubtful. Other members of
this group are the Persian maral (C. tnaral); the Kashmir stag or hangul (C.
cashmirianus), represented by a variety in Yarkand; the shou (C. affinis) of
Tibet; Thorold's deer (C, thoroldi), which is also a Tibetan form, easily dis-
tinguished by its white muzzle ; the great Thian Shan stag (C. eustephanus);
144 MAMMALIA ORDER VI.UNGULATA.
and tha closely-allied wapiti (C. canadensu) of North America. In all these
species, which include the largest members of the genus, the antlers do riot
form a distinct cup at the summit. The Barbary variety of the red-deer does
not develop the bez-tine,
The common fallow-deer (C. dama), whose native home appears to be the
Mediterranean countries, and the Persian fallow-deer (C. mesopotamicits), are
the sole existing members of the last, or Damine, group of the genus, charac-
terised by the palmation of the antlers, and by the fur being generally
spotted, although there is a uniformly brown variety of the common species.
These deer have no upper canine teeth, and the tail is of moderate length.
To this group may be referred two very fine species, which have only become
extinct comparatively recently. Since the year 1697, when certain of its
remains were described by a Dr. Molyneux in the Philosophical Transactions
of the Royal Society of London, the gigantic extinct deer of the Irish peat-
bogs had been known to science ; while the magnificent proportions attained
by its antlers have given it a notoriety not shared by most other animals of a
past epoch. Although found more abundantly, and generally in a better
state of preservation, in the bogs of Ireland than elsewhere, the Irish deer is
by no means confined to the island from which it takes its name. On the
contrary, its remains have been obtained from many of the caverns and
superficial deposits of both England and the Continent, and its continental
range extended from Italy in the south to Russia in the north. In popular
language, this deer is generally spoken of as the Irish elk ; but, as is the
case with a number of popular terms, this is a misnomer, the animal really
being a true deer, referable to the genus Cervus. It is true, indeed, that its
broad, palmated antlers present a superficial resemblance to those of the elk;
but this no more indicates any close affinity with that animal than do the
somewhat similarly palmated antlers of the fallow-deer. Like many other
animals, both living and extinct, the Irish deer rejoices in a number of scien-
tific names ; but its proper title is Cervus giganteus. It is almost superfluous
to mention that the antlers of this magnificent deer are larger than those of
any other known species, having a span in some cases of over 11 feet from tip
to tip. In form, the antlers have a short and nearly cylindrical beam, given
off in a nearly horizontal plane at right angles to the axis of the skull. Near
their origin from the skull, there arises a descending brow-tine, which is flat-
tened, and generally forked. As soon as the beam expands, it gives off from
the front, or lower edge, a trez-tine, nearly opposite to which is a third, or
posterior tine on the hinder or upper margin, both these tines being seen
fully from the front. Beyond these tines, the antlers expand to their fullest
width, and usually terminate in five or six snags, of which the topmost are
directed nearly upwards. The second of the extinct species is Ruff's deer
(C. ruffi}, hitherto only found in Germany. In place of the outward hori-
zontal extension characteristic of the Irish deer, the antlers of Ruff's deer
are directed upwards and outwards, nearly after the fashion of a fallow-deer,
so that their innermost terminal snags are separated only by a comparatively
small interval-. That this deer is closely allied to the Irish deer, and has no
such close kinship with the fallow-deer, is, however, proved by the flattened
and expanded form of the brow-tine. A further difference from the ordinary
Irish deer is exhibited by the different position of the plane of the expanded
portion of the antlers. Thus, whereas in the former the whole of their inner
surface and the entire trez and posterior tines are visible from the front, in
Ruffs deer we see, instead of the inner surface, the front edge and a part of
THE HOOFED MAMMALS.
Fig. 80. REINDEER (Rangifa tarandus).
the outer surface, while only the tips of the posterior tines are visible, and
the trez-tine (which is much longer than in the normal form) is foreshortened.
The position of the plane of the expanded portion of the antlers is another
point in which Ruffs deer approximates to the fallow-deer.
The reindeer (Rangifer), together with all the remaining members of the
family, differ from the foregoing in that the lateral metacarpal bones of tho
fore-feet and the corresponding me-
tatarsals in the hind-limbs are re-
pre'-mted by their lower, instead of
their upper, extremities. From all
other deer, the reindeer are at once
distinguished by having antlers in
both sexes ; these being very large,
with the cylindrical beam suddenly
bent forwards near the middle of
its length, and having a brow-tine
which is generally branched and
pal mated on one side, and simple
on the other. Above the brow-tine
comes a large bez-tino. In form,
reindeer are heavily-built animals,
with short limbs, in which the main
hoofs are widely separable, and the lateral pair unusually large, the muzzle
being broad and hairy. The young, like their parents, are uniformly
coloured. The ordinary reindeer (R. tarandus} ranges from Norway and
Sweden over the northern regions of the Old World ; and it is probable that
the North American variety known as the caribou is not specifically distinct.
The uses to which reindeer are put by the Lapps and the inhabitants of other
northern countries are too well known to require mention.
The largest of all living deer is the elk or moose (Alces machlis), which
is the only living member of its genus, and has a circumpolar distribution,
ranging in the Old World as far south as
Prussia and the Caucasus. It is a long-
legged, ungainly-looking animal, with
the large, overhanging, broad muzzle
covered with short hairs, except a small,
naked triangular spot below the nostrils.
The tail is rudimental, and the hair of
the young uniformly coloured. In tho
males the enormous antlers arise from a
cylindrical beam directed at right angles
to the middle line of the skull, and then
expand into a huge basin-shaped mass,
consisting primarily of an upper and
lower moiety, and having the free edge
bordered by a number of irregular snags.
Elk feed chiefly upon the leaves and twigs
of trees ; and during the winter collect
in small parties, keeping open a small
patch of ground by continually trampling
down the snow. Frequently the hind
Fig. 81. -ELK (Alces machlis). gives birth to a pair of fawns. The ant-
11
146 MAMMALIAORDER VI.UNGULATA.
lers may weigh as much as sixty pounds. The two remaining genera of Old
World deer are represented by small forms. Of these, the roe-deer (Capre-
olus) have comparatively short cylindrical antlers with three tines each ; the
front tine rising from the front of the upper half of the beam and inclining
upwards. There are no upper canines, the naked portion of the muzzle is
small, and does not extend below the nostrils, the tail is very short, and the
fur of the young spotted. In addition to the common roe (G. caprea) of
Europe and Western Asia, a second species (C. pygargus) inhabits Turkestan
and the mountains dividing Russia from China, while a smaller variety is
found in Manchuria. Roe-deer usually inhabit more or less open country,
and go about in pairs. From all other members of the family except the
musk-deer, which it resembles in the long tusks of the males, the small
Chinese water-deer (Hydropotes inermis) differs in the absence of antlers from
both sexes. The muzzle has a rather large naked portion, and the young are
spotted. As in the roes, there are large glands in the hind-feet, and small ones
in the front pair. In form, these deer have long bodies and short limbs, and
they are remarkable for producing from three to six fawns at a birth.
Agreeing with the genera just described in the structure of the metacarpal
and metatarsal bones, the American deer, exclusive of the wapiti, reindeer,
and elk, are, with two exceptions, included in a genus (Cariacus) characterised
by the antlers, when fully developed, dividing in a more or less regularly
fork-like manner. Whereas, however, in some species the antlers are large
and branching, in certain of the smaller forms they form simple spikes. The
muzzle resembles that of Cervus, the tail is of variable length, and the fur of
the adults is uniformly coloured. The genus ranges over almost the whole
of the American Continent, but attains its maximum development in the
^south. The brockets, of which the red brocket (C. rufus) is a well-known
example, are a southern group, easily recognised by their unbranched, spike-
like antlers. They have a tail of moderate length, and the fawns are spotted.
The Costa Rica deer- (C. clavatus) of Central America differs from the
brockets in having the hair of the face directed upwards, instead of radiat-
ing from two points. The Andes is the home of two species (C. chilensis and
C. antisiensis) known as guemels, and characterised by their simply forked
antlers, of which the front prong is the longer. There are tusks in the upper
jaw, and the young are uniformly coloured. The pampas-deer (C. campestris)
is the typical representative of another South American group of the genus,
in which the antlers are regularly forked, with the hinder prong, and occa-
sionally also the front one, again forking. There are no upper canines, the
tail is very short, and the coloration of the fawns is uniform. The last
group of the genus is typified by the Virginian deer (C. virginianus), and
comprises not only the largest species, but likewise all those inhabiting
North America. In this group the antlers are very large and complex, and
distinguished by the presence of a larger or smaller basal snag near the base
of the front surface. Upper tusks are absent, arid the fawns are spotted.
Whereas in the Virginian deer the basal snag is very large, and directed up-
wards, in the large-eared mule-deer (C. macrotis) of North America it is much
smaller. Of the former Mr. Parker Gilmore writes, that "this splendid animal
has still a very wide habitat. Its boundaries, however, originally were from
the Atlantic Ocean to the Rockies, and from the Gulf of Mexico to about 47
N. latitude, and although eagerly sought by everyone deeming himself a
hunter, it can be found in greater or less numbers near the oldest settle-
ments. As an article of food the meat of this deer is unsurpassed, especi-
THE HOOFED MAMMALS.
The Giraffe.
Family
GiraffidcR.
ally when the animal has fattened upon Indian corn. For grace and contour
of outline they are incomparable. Their horns have a most peculiar and
graceful outline, receding at first backwards from the burr, then coming for-
ward with a bold sweep It is extremely timorous and wary, bub if wounded
and unable to escape it will fight gallantly for its life. In such encounters
its horns are not, in my experience, so much to be dreaded as its fore-feet."
Finally, the two pudu-deer (Pudua) of the Chilian Andes and Ecuador, al-
though nearly related to the brockets, differ sufficiently to form a genus by
themselves. In size they scarcely exceed a hare ; and they have a pair of
very minute simple antlers rising from the middle of the forehead, while they
exhibit certain peculiarities in the structure of the skull and ankle-joint.
The African giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis\ which is the sole existing re-
presentative of its g^nus and family, enjoys the proud distinction of being
the tallest of all Mammals, and is easily recognised by its
extremely elongated neck and limbs, as well as by its dappled
coloration. In many respects intermediate between the
deer and the hollow-horned Ruminants, although more nearly
allied to the former than to the latter, it is chiefly entitled
to form a family by itself on account of the peculiar structure of the append-
ages on the skull, which, properly speaking, come under the designation neither
of antlers nor horns. Between the large ears are a pair of short horns, as they
may be called, which are completely covered
with skin, and are formed of bones, which in
the young state can be easily detached from the
skull. Lower down on the forehead is a single
median dome-like bone, which is likewise de-
tachable in the young. In general conforma-
tion the skull of the giraffe is very like that
of the deer ; but the cheek teeth have very
short crowns, and a peculiarly rugose enamel.
There are no upper tusks ; the lateral hoofs
are totally wanting in both limbs ; the tail is
long and tufted at the end ; and there is
generally no gall-bladder to the liver. In
colour, the South African giraffe differs from
the North African variety by the darker tint
and larger size of the chestnut blotches, and
the narrower buff lines by which they are
divided. The giraffe, however, has attained
its towering stature without any important de-
parture from the general structure characteris-
ing its nearest allies, and thus preserves all the
essential features of an ordinary quadruped.
It owes its height mainly to the enormous
elongation of two of the bones of the legs,
coupled with a corresponding lengthening of
the vertebrae of the neck. As in all its kin-
dred, the lower segment of each leg of this
animal forms a cannon-bone, the nature of
which has been explained above, and in the fore-limb it is the bone
below the wrist (commonly termed the knee), and the radius above the
latter, which have undergone an elongation so extraordinary as to make
Fig. 82.- THK GIRAFFE.
J4S MAMMALIA ORDER VLUNGULATA.
them quite unlike, as regards proportion, the corresponding elements in the
skeleton of an ordinary Ruminant, although retaining precisely the same
structure. Similarly, in the hinder-limb, it is the cannon-bone below the
ankle-joint, or hock, and the tibia above, which have been thus elongated.
To one unacquainted with anatomy, it might appear that a giraffe and a hip-
popotamus would differ greatly in regard to the number of vertebrae in the
neck ; but, nevertheless, both conform in this respect to the ordinary
Mammalian type, possessing only seven of such segments.
Other noticeable features in the organisation of the giraffe are the large size
and prominence of the liquid eyes, and the great length of the extensile
tongue ; the former being designed to give the creature the greatest possible
range of vision, while the extensibility of the latter enhances the capability
of reaching the foliage of tall trees afforded by the lengthened limbs and
neck. In comparison with the slenderness of the neck, the head of the giraffe
appears of relatively large size ; but this bulk, which is probably necessary
to the proper working of the long tongue, is compensated by the extreme
lightness and porous structure of the bones of the skull. Somewhat stiff
and ungainly in its motions the small number of vertebrae not admitting of
the graceful arching of the neck the giraffe in all its organisation is admirably
adapted to a life on open plains dotted over with tall trees, upon which it
can browse without fear of competition by any other living creature. Its
wide range of vision affords it timely warning of the approach of foes ; from
the effect of sand-storms it is protected by the power of automatically closing
its nostrils ; while its capacity of existing for months at a time without
drinking renders it suited to inhabit waterless districts like the northern part
of the great Kalahari desert. Although capable of withstanding the want of
water for a long period during the summer, the giraffe, when opportunity
offers, will drink long and frequently ; but it is certain that for more than
half the year, in many parts of Southern Africa at least, it never takes water
at all. In certain districts, as in the Northern Kalahari, this abstinence is,
from the nature of the country, involuntary ; but according to Mr. Bryden,
the giraffes living in the neighbourhood of the Botletli River their only
source of water never drink therefrom throughout the spring and winter
months. When a giraffe does drink, unless it wades into the stream, it is
compelled to straddle its fore-legs far apart in order to bring down its lips to
the required level, and the same ungainly attitude is perforce assumed on the
rare occasions when it grazes.
Absent from the countries to the north of the Sahara, as well as in the great
forest regions of the west, which are unsuitable to its habits, the giraffe at
the present day ranges from the North Kalahari and Northern Bechuanaland
in the south, through such portions of Eastern and Central Africa as are
suited to its mode of life, to the Southern Sudan in the north. Unhappily,
however, it is almost daily diminishing in numbers throughout a large area
of Southern and Eastern Africa, and its distributional area as steadily
shrinking. Whether it was ever found to the south of the Orange River and
in the Cape Colony may be doubtful, although there are traditions that it
once occurred there. Apart from this, it is definitely known that about the
year 1813 these animals were met with only a little to the north of the last-
named river ; while as late as 1836 they were still common throughout the
Transvaal, and more especially near the junction of the Marico with the
Limpopo River. Now their last refuge in these districts is the extreme
eastern border of the Transvaal (where only a few remain), and the district
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 149
lying to the north of Bechuanaland and known as Khama's country, or
Bawangwato, together with the Northern Kalahari. Even here, however,
their existence is threatened, as there is a proposal to put down tube-wells in
the Kalahari, which, if successfully accomplished, will open up the one great
stronghold of the animal to the hunter. Unless, therefore, efficient and
prompt measures are taken for its protection, there is much reason to fear
that the giraffe will ere long be practically exterminated from this part of
Africa, although it will doubtless long survive in the remote districts of the
Sudan and Kordofan.
Although closely allied to the typical hollow-horned Ruminants, the prong-
buck, or prong-horned antelope (Antilocapra americana) is regarded as repre-
senting a distinct family, on account of the circumstance
that not only are the sheaths of the horns branched, but The Prongbuck.
that they are annually shed, and their place taken by new Family
sheaths, which have been growing up beneath the old ones. Antilocapridce.
In size, the prongbuck may be compared to a fallow-deer,
although its form is lighter and more elegant. It has no lateral hoofs ; the
horns are present usually only in the males; the ears are -rather long and
pointed ; and the tail is short. There is a thick mane of long hair on the neck,
and the general colour is chestnut ; but there is a white patch on the rump,
and white bars on the throat, while the lower portion of the flanks, to-
gether with the under-parts, are likewise white ; the compressed and
scimitar-like horns being black. Prongbucks are inhabitants of the open
plains of Eastern-Central North America, where they associate in herds,
which may frequently be of large size.
The last, and at the same time by far the largest family group cf the
Ungulates, is that of the hollow-horned Ruminants, or Eovidce; under which
title are comprised antelopes, goats, sheep, oxen, etc.
Almost the whole of the members of this great assemblage Hollow-horned
are inhabitants of the Old World, the only American forms Ruminants.
being the Rocky Mountain goat, the bighorn sheep, musk- Family llovidw.
ox, and American buffalo, and all these confined to the
northern half of that continent. Indeed, there is little doubt that the
ancestors of at least three of these were immigrants from the Eastern Hemi-
sphere ; and there is no evidence
that South America was ever the
home of any member of the
group. The essential feature
of the hollow-horned Ruminants
is the presence, in one sex at
least ot all the existing forms,
of a pair of unbranched horns on
the upper part of the head, com-
posed of an underlying core of
bone, covered with a hollow,
horny sheath, which is never
shed. None of these animals
ever have upper canine teeth ;
and the lateral metacarpal and fig, 33, PRONGBUCK (Antilocapra americana).
metatarsal bones of the feet are
invariably absent, although lateral hoofs are not un frequently present. In
many cases the tear-pits, or larmiers, so characteristic of the deer, are
150 MAMMALIAORDER VLUNGULATA.
absent from the face ; and in such cases the underlying region of the skull is
fully ossified, while, when those glands are developed, the unossified space
in the skull below each eye is generally of less extent than in the Cervidtv.
The first and least specialised
group of the family includes the
animals commonly known as
antelopes, which are arranged,
under a very large number of
genera, and pass imperceptibly
into the goats. Although no
definition can be given of an
antelope, as a rule these animals
have comparatively long necks,
and are of more or less light
and graceful build, while their
bony horn-cores are generally
solid throughout. By far the
great majority of antelopes in-
habit the open plains of Africa
Fig. 84 BUBALINE ANTELOPE (Bubalis) south of the Sahara, but there
are none in Madagascar, while
Burma and the Malayan countries only possess a few forms, which may be
regarded as intermediate between the true antelopes and the goats. The
well-known hartebeests (Bubalis), so remarkable on account of their long,
solemn-looking faces, are the typical representatives of a section comprising
two genera, all of which, with the exception of one species of hartebeest, which
is Syrian, are confined to Africa, and mostly to the regions lying south of
the Sahara desert. All are of comparatively large dimensions, and generally
have the withers considerably taller than the rump. Horns of moderate
length are present in both zones, and are either lyre-shaped or recurved,
with their bases more or less closely approximated ; the muzzle is naked;
there is a small, tufted gland below each eye; and the tail is comparatively long.
In the skull there are no large pits in the forehead, nor any unossified spaces
below the eye-sockets ; and the upper molar teeth have very tall and narrow
crowns. The typical hartebeests, of which there are several species, ranging
from Syria and Algeria to the Cape, are characterised by the great height of the
withers, the great length of the head, which has the horns placed on a kind
of crest at its summit, and the sudden backward flexure of the extremities
of the horns. The horns themselves are compressed and ringed at the base;
the muzzle is narrow, and the tail hairy. In certain other species the above-
mentioned features are less strongly developed ; and in the blesbok
(B. albifrons) and bontebok (J5. pygargus) the horns are lyrate, the crest on
the top of the head much less strongly marked, and the withers lower. In
consequence of these differences many writers separate the latter animals
under the name of Damaliscus. The strange-looking wildebeests, or gnus
(Connochcetes), differ from the hartebeests by their shorter head and broad and
bristly muzzle, as well as by the heavily-maned neck, and in the conforma-
tion of the horns. The latter, which are situated on the vertex of the skull
and approximated at their bases, are nearly smooth and cylindrical, and curve
outwards, or outwards and downwards, with their tips bent upwards. The
hoofs are remarkable for their extreme narrowness, and the elongated
sweeping tail is clothed with a mass of long hairs. Whereas the females of
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 151
the hartebeests resemble sheep in having but two teats, those of the wilde-
beests agree with cows in possessing four. The two species of wildebeests
are chiefly remarkable for the strange gambles and antics in which they
indulge, especially when the herd is approached by travellers. They are
frequently found in company with zebras.
The African duikerboks (Cephalophus), most of which are exceedingly
diminutive and graceful little creatures, although two species from the west
coast are of much larger dimensions, form the typical representatives of the
second section. In all these the horns are short and simple, without ridges,
and are developed only in the males. There is a more or less elongated
gland beneath each eye ; the muzzle is large and naked ; the tail is short ; and
the teats of the females are always four in number. The tipper molar teeth
have broad, square crowns ; and in the skull there are no pits on the fore-
head, and no fissure beneath the socket of the eye, although there is a deep
depression in the bones of this region. The duikerboks are characterised by
having a tuft of long hairs between the small horns, which are situated far
back on the forehead, the gland below the eye taking the form of a- narrow
slit or a row of pores, and the tail being very short. The nearly allied four-
horned antelope (Tetraceros quadricornis) of Peninsular India is sufficiently
distinguished by the males generally carrying two pairs of horns, of which
the front ones are very minute.
More numerously represented is the Cervicaprine group of antelopes,
which comprises several genera, with species of large or medium size, confined
to Africa south of the Sahara. In these the horns are confined to the males ;
the gland below the eye may be either large, rudimental, or wanting ; the
muzzle is either hairy or naked ; the tail is short ; and the upper molars are
narrow. There is usually a large unossified space in the skull below the eye,
and also distinct pits on the forehead.
According to the recent classification of Messrs. Sclater and Thomas, a
number of small African antelopes generally included in the Cermcaprince are
entitled to form a section by themselves (Nanotragince). Of these the six
species of the genus Madoqua among which the Abyssinian Salt's antelope
(M. saltiana) has been longest known are very small antelopes characterised
by the production of the hairy muzzle into a more or less marked proboscis,
and the presence of a tuft of hair on the crown of the head. In three of
the species, among which is the one named, the last lower molar has no
third lobe at its hinder end, and the proboscis is relatively short. Nearly
allied is the royal antelope (Nanotragus pygmceus) of Guinea, the smallest
member of the entire family, sufficiently distinguished by the smooth crown
of the head, the presence of a small naked area on the muzzle, and the
minute horns. Another genus, which includes the Zanzibar steinbok
(Nesotragus moschatux') and JV. livingstonianus, differs from the last by the
larger horns. The true steinbok (Raphiceros campestris) agrees with the two
last genera in the absence of lateral hoofs and of tuf fcs of hair on the knees,
but differs by other characters which are regarded as entitling it to form a
genus apart. More distinct is the South African oribi (Oribia scoparia),
which has both lateral hoofs and tufts of hair at the knees. From all these
the well-known klipspringer (Oreotragus saltator\ which ranges along the
east coast from the Cape to Abyssinia, and has the habits of a chamois, differs
in the form of the skull, the thick, brittle hair, resembling that of the musk-
deer, and the clumsy hoofs. In the skull of both genera there is a deep pit
below the eye. Among the typical Cervieaprines, the rehbok (Felea cdpreola)
152 MAMMALIA ORDER VL UNGULATA.
of South Africa is a larger uniformly-coloured animal, with small, compressed,
upright, and scarcely diverging horns placed over the eyes, a large bare part
to the muzzle, and no depression in the skull below the latter. It is an in-
habitant of open, sandy districts, and may be compared in size to a fallow-
deer. Still larger is the handsome water-buck and its allies, constituting
the genus Cobus, characterised by the long sub-lyrate horns of the males,
which are ringed nearly throughout their length, the large portion of the
muzzle that is devoid of hair, the deep hollow in the forehead of the
skull and the absence of a depression below the eye, the gland being
rudimental. The tail is long, ridged with hair above, and tufted at the end ;
and the colour of the fur uniform. In most species the hair is long and
coarse ; and all frequent the neighbourhood of water. The three representa-
tives of the allied genus Cervicapra may be distinguished by the short and
bushy tail ; and also by the circumstance that the premaxillary bones, which
from the extremity of the muzzle, do not extend upwards to join the nasals.
The best known of these is the South African reitbok (C. arundineum), which
stands nearly a yard at the withers, and is of grizzled ochre colour.
The typical, or Antilopine, section is also a large one, and includes the
gazelles and certain allied forms which are mostly inhabitants of sandy or
desert districts. The horns, w r hich are usually restricted to the males, are
generally either compressed and lyrate or recurved, or cylindrical and spiral,
with well-marked rings on their lower portion. The muzzle is covered with
short hairs ; the short or moderate tail is compressed arid hairy on its upper
surface ; and the upper molars are narrow, and resemble those of the sheep. In
the skull there are generally large pits in the forehead, and a depression below
the eye. Perhaps the handsomest member of the group is the Indian black-
buck (Antilope cervicapra), which is the sole representative of its genus, and
easily recognised by the deep blackish hue of the back and head of the adult
males, and the beautiful spirally-twisted and ringed horns ; the gland below
the eye being very large. The pala (dEpyccros) and its other African allies
have the horns compressed, widely divergent, and ringed only at the base ;
and differ from the black buck by the absence of a gland on the face, and of
lateral hoofs to the feet. A clumsily-built and somewhat sheep-like antelope
from the Asiatic steppes, known as the saiga (Saiga tatarica\ is one of two
genera characterised by the large and puffy muzzle, this feature being most
developed in the present form, in which the nostrils open downwards.
There is a small gland on the face, lateral hoofs are present, and the female
lias four teats. In the males the horns are short, lyrate, ringed, and yellow
in colour. The Tibetan chiru (Pantholops hodysoni) differs from the last in
the nostrils opening anteriorly, and in the form of the horns ; the latter
being very long, erect, compressed, sublyrate, and ringed in front for two-
thirds in length, while their colour is deep black. There is no gland on the
face, and the female has only two teats. These beautiful antelopes are found
in herds on some of the most elevated regions in the world. The largest
genus of the group (Gazella) is represented by the beautiful gazelles, which
are mainly confined to the desert regions of Africa and Asia, although the
aberrant springbok is found on the plains of the Cape Colony and adjacent
districts. All the gazelles are noticeable for their elegant build, and their
more or less sandy coloration, while the majority differ from the foregoing
members of the section in that horns are developed by both sexes. Nearly
all the species are characterised by having a white streak, bordered by a dark
line, running down the face from each horn to the nostril, so as to isolate a
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 153
dark central patch on the muzzle. The gland below the eye is small and
concealed by hair, and the knees generally carry tufts of long hair. The
springbok (Gr. evfhore), remarkable on account of its habit of taking leaps in
the air, and also from the enormous herds in which it was formerly found,
differs from all the rest of the gazelles in having an erectile crest of long,
stiff, white hair running down the back. Clarke's gazelle (Ammodorcas
clarkei), from Northern Somaliland, is distinguished by the regular upwards
and forwards curvature of the horns of the males, which are ringed in part at
the base ; the females being hornless. The skull is intermediate between that
of the preceding and following genus. Waller's gazelle (Lithocranius walleri),
which is an East African form ranging from the Kilimanjaro district to
Somaliland, represents another genus by itself. The females are hornless,
but in the males the horns are erect and curved forwards in a hook-like
manner ; while both are characterised by the extraordinary neck, which
gives to the animal almost the appearance of a small giraife. The genus is,
however, best characterised by the solid structure of the skull. The small
Somali Dorcatragus seems to be another aberrant gazelle.
The next group of antelopes, which are common to Africa and Arabia, are
best characterised by the upper molar teeth being structurally similar to
those of the oxen. In these teeth the crowns are very tall and broad,
so as to form an almost square section, while, on their inner side, they
have a narrow additional column superadded to the four large normal cres-
centic ones. All these antelopes are of very large size, and both sexes are
provided with long horns, which are placed immediately over or behind
the eyes, and are recurved, straight, or subspiral in form. The muzzle
is hairy, there is no gland below the eye, and the long, cylindrical
tail is tufted at the extremity. In the skull there are no distinct pits on the
forehead, there is no depression below the eye, and only a very small
unossified slit in the same region. The handsome recurved horns, rising
vertically from a crest above the eyes and sweeping backwards in a scimitar-
like sweep at an obtuse angle to the profile of the face, serve at a glance
to distinguish the sable-antelope (Hippotragus niger} of South Africa and
its near ally the roan antelope (H.
equinus). In both these large and
splendid animals, as well as in a
kindred species from the Sudan, the
horns are ringed nearly to their tips,
the sable-antelope being one of the
few members of the tribe which have
the whole upper-parts, save some white
streaks on the face, a deep, full black.
In all these antelopes the neck is
furnished with an erect or curving
mane, and the tip of the tail is strongly
tufted. The gemsbok of South Africa
is the type of an allied genus (Oryx\
ranging not only over the whole of .Ffy. 85. -SABLE-ANTELOPE
Africa south of the Sahara, but also (ffippotragus niger).
found in Syria and on the shores of the
Persian Gulf. Here the horns are long, slender, and ringed at the base, bub
may be either straight or somewhat curved backwards, although in all the
species they arise behind the eyes with their direction at first iu the plane of
154 MAMMALIA ORDER VI.UNGULATA.
the face. The mane on the neck is shorter and the tail longer and more
hairy than in the last genus. The general hue of the hair in the oryx is grey
or tawny, with black markings on the face and legs ; and, although somewhat
ungainly in build, they are all decidedly handsome animals, the typical
species standing about 4 ft. at the withers, and its horns often exceeding a
yard in length. Oryxes are inhabitants of open sandy plains, where they
associate in small herds. The third genus of the group is the addax (Addax
nasomaculatus) of the deserts of North Africa and Arabia, which differs from
the last by the horns being subspiral and lyrate, and also by the heavy mane
of long hair on the neck and throat, and the presence of a tuft of hair on the
throat, the general colour of the hair being whitish.
The last, or Tragelaphine, section of the true antelopes comprises several
genera of large-sized forms, all of which, save one, are inhabitants of Africa
south of the Sahara. The horns, which are usually confined to the male sex,
are not ringed, but have a ridge at least on the basal portion of the front
surface, and are generally twisted in a spiral, with the front ridge curving
outwards from the base. The muzzle is naked, and there is a small gland
below each eye. The skull has a small unossified fissure, but no depression
below the eye, arid there is very generally a pair of pits on the forehead.
The upper molar teeth are broad, but may have either tall or short crowns.
A very characteristic, although by no means universal, feature of the group
is the marking of the body by vertical white stripes. In India the group
is represented solely by the well-known nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus),
characterised by having the hind limbs much shorter than the front pair,
the short horns which are placed behind the eyes ridged and triangular at
the base, and nearly straight, the naked portion of the muzzle large, the
ears small, and the upper molars tall, with an additional column on their
inner sides ; the body being uniformly coloured. Nilgai, which may be
found either in jungle or open country, generally associate in small herds,
although the bulls are often found singly. In all the other members of the
group the fore and hind limbs are of approximately equal length ; the horns
are long, ridged throughout, and twisted into a spiral; while the naked
portion of the muzzle is of small extent, and the size of the ears large. The
molar teeth are short-crowned, and the body is generally striped. Perhaps the
handsomest of all are the two African species of kudu, constituting the genus
Strepsiceros, in which the horns of the males are situated behind the line of the
eyes, rising in the form of an open spiral, with their front ridge very strongly
marked, at an obtuse angle to the plane of the face. The neck is fringed with
a mane, the tail relatively short, the body marked with vertical white streaks
descending from a spinal stripe of the same colour, and the hoofs short. In the
skull there is a deep hollow, with pits, on the forehead, and a large unossified
space below each eye. Of the two species, the true kudu (S. kudu) ranges
from South Africa to Abyssinia, while the much smaller, lesser kudu (S.
imberbis) is confined to Somaliland and the Kilimanjaro district. Of the
former splendid animal, Mr. Bryddon, in the Asian newspaper of November,
1894, writes as follows : '* The kudu bull stands 5 ft. or a little more at the
withers. Its general colour varies from rufous grey to almost blue, and
especially in the older animals this bluish colouring will be found predominat-
ing. Along the spine runs a white streak, and from this thin white stripes
extend transversely across the body towards the belly. Just under the eye
on either side is a clear white band which meets on the front of the face ;
while upon the cheeks two or three circular white spots are to be found. The
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 155
head is neat, game-like, and altogether beautiful, and is surmounted by tall
spreading spiral horns of great weight and size, which diminish in corkscrew-
like formation to sharp points. The greatest recorded length of a kudu's
horns appear to be 3 ft. 9| in. in a straight line > over the curve 5 ft. f in.
The greatest length of the horns of a lesser kudu in a straight line is
2ft. Ijin. ; over the curve 2ft. 7in. There are often great and striking
differences in the spread of kudu horns. Fine specimens will sometimes
spread between the tips as much as nearly 3 ft. 9 in. Other and equally fin.o
horns will only spread a little over 2ft. But whether widespread or closer in
growth, the effect of these magnificent spiral horns is equally grand. The
eyes are large and very beautiful. The ears are of a light brown colour, and
very large and spreading. The hearing of this antelope is marvellously acute,
and the great, yet delicate, ears are manifestly exactly fitted for the arrest of
the slightest vibration of sound. The senses of smell and sight are also
excessively fine, and, united to its preternaturally sharp hearing and general
suspiciousness, render the kudu usually a very difficult animal to approach or
surprise. The neck of the male is strong, shapely, and well fitted to support
the weight of the immense horns. The chin is white. From the throat to
the dewlap extends a long and handsome fringe of white and blackish-brown
hair, which adds not a little to the handsome appearance of the antelope.
The neck also is slightly maned. The legs are strong yet slender, clean, and
beautifully formed, terminating in shapely feet, which give a dainty spoor t
shaped like the ace of hearts. The kudu spoor is, indeed, one of the most
perfect imprints of all African beasts of chase. In length this animal
extends some 9 ft. The withers, as in so many other examples of African
game, are high ; the body is stoutly formed, and in general contour not
unlike that of a Highland stag. The hair is, however, much closer and
finer than the red deer's. The tail is about 2 ft. long, terminating in a point.
The general port and demeanour of this antelope is exceedingly noble ; and
the magnificent carriage of the head, surmounted as it is by the great spiral
horns, is one of the finest things in nature. The female, lacking as she is in
horns, cuts a much poorer figure than her lord ; and her ears, unrelieved by
the fine spiral horns, appear far more prominent and remarkable. The
calves are beautiful little creatures, of a bright rufous colour, strongly lined
with white. The cows have only one calf at a time, usually between
September and November the favourite calving period with most South
African antelopes. The kudu feeds more upon the young leafage and
sprouting greenery of bushes, shrubs, and trees, than upon grass. Its
favourite browsing-ground is bush and woodland, the stony slopes of hills,
and well-bushed mountain-sides. In these haunts this antelope is difficult of
approach, and offers very excellent stalking. In countries not much shot
over, however, the kudu may be occasionally surprised at quite close
quarters. In woodland and bushy country the pace of the kudu, considering
the weight and size of its horns, and the difficulties and obstacles of covert,
is surprising. In hill country it is wonderfully active and will jump magnifi-
cently ; upon open ground, however, where it occasionally strays, it may be
ridden down without much trouble, and upon the flat its gait is laboured and
somewhat slow. This antelope is gregarious, and runs usually in parties of
from five to eight ; occasionally, however, larger troops, numbering as many
as twenty individuals, are encountered. In the dense forest south of the
Botletli river, while hunting giraffe, I startled a troop of fifteen upon one
occasion. The hide of the kudu is one of the most valuable of all South
156 MAMMALIAORDER VLUNGULATA.
African antelopes ; it commands a high price and is much sought after.
From it are manufactured velschoens (shoes), leather thongs, whip-lashes,
and even harness. The hide is thinnish, but excessively tough. I have
seen a complete set of Cape cart harness made of kudu hide, which was
smart-looking, serviceable, and of everlasting wear. The flesh is excellent
and well-tasted, and the marrow bones are esteemed a very great dainty by
hunters and natives in the interior. The kudu is widely distributed. Its
range extends beyond the Zambesi into Central Africa, and it is found as far
north as Somaliland and even Abyssinia. It has a variety of native names
even in South Africa. The Bechuanas call it tolo ; the Matabele, e-bala-
bala ; the Makalakas, e-zilarwa ; the Makobag, unzwa ; the Masarwa bush-
men, dwar ; the Mashunas, noro. In North-east Africa the Somali name is
godir ; while upon the Lower Zambesi it is goma."
Nearly allied to the kudus are the numerous African species of harnessed
antelopes ( Tragelaphus), most of which are distinguished by the smaller number
of spiral turns in the horns, although
one species comes so close in this
respect to the kudus, that it may be a
question whether all should not be
included in a single genus. The
harnessed-antelopes take their name
from the white stripes or rows of
spots with which the bodies of nearly
all are adorned, some of them being
remarkable for the extreme brilliancy
of their coloration. Whereas the
splendid T. euryceros of West Africa,
conspicuous for the brilliant chestnut
ground colour of its coat, is only
Fig. SC. HARNESSED- ANTELOPE second in size to the kudu, the guib
(Tragelaphus angasi). (T. scriptus) does not exceed a goat in
height. Two of the species, one of
which is the well-known sitatunga or nakong (T. spekei) of South Central
Africa, have their hoofs remarkably elongated, and spend their time in
marshy situations, where they will conceal themselves by submerging the
whole body except the tip of the muzzle. The largest of all antelopes are
the two African species of eland (Orms), which differ from the other members
of the present section by having horns in both sexes, while they are further
distinguished by the close, corkscrew-like spiral of these appendages.
Although in one variety of the common species they are fairly well marked,
as a rule the white stripes on the body are indistinct or absent. There are few
handsomer antelopes than a large eland bull, with its fine dewlap, full tuft
of dark brown hair on the forehead, slight mane, and generally pale tawny
hair.
The well-known chamois, gemze, or izard (Rupicapra tragus\ which in-
habits all the higher mountain ranges of Europe, and is locally known by the
above-mentioned names, is the typical representative of a section of the
hollow-horned ruminants, in many respects intermediate between the true
antelopes and the goats. Accordingly, they are often spoken of as the
caprine, or goat-like antelopes. As a rule, the horns, which are nearly equally
developed in both sexes, and rise behind the line of the eyes, are short arid
wrinkled at their bases, and conical or somewhat compressed in form, with a
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. i$7
more or less divided backward curvature. Although it may be much reduced
in size, there is generally a gland beneath each of the eyes ; the short and
tapering tail is well-haired above, the hoofs are relatively large, and the
whole build is heavy and clumsy. In form the molar teeth resemble those
of the goats ; and the skull generally has a depression, but no fissure, below
each eye. From its allies, the chamois is readily distinguished by the
peculiar hooked form of the horns, which rise close together almost vertically
from the forehead, and then curve suddenly back in the well-known hook.
The muzzle is hairy, and the gland beneath the eye small. In height, a
chamois does not stand more than a couple of feet at the withers. Chamois
are inhabitants of the high Alpine regions immediately below the snow-line ;
and although they were formerly met with in large herds, in most of their
habitats their numbers have been greatly reduced by constant persecution,
while from some districts they have completely disappeared. Their mar-
vellous powers of leaping are familiar to all. In the Himalaya, Malay
countries, parts of China, and Japan, the place of the chamois is taken by
the allied but larger and more clumsily-built animals known as serows
(Nemorhcedus), of which there are several species. From the former they
are readily distinguished by the finely-wrinkled and sharply-tapering black
horns having no distinct hook at the extremities. The ears are large, the fur
is coarse and long, and the gland below the eye small. The Himalayan
species is found in thick bush at moderate elevations, and is a marvellous
adept at getting over the roughest ground at a rapid pace. Nearly allied are
the smaller animals known as goral (Cemas\ of which the typical representa-
tive is met with in the outer ranges of the Himalaya, while other forms
occur in Eastern Tibet, Northern China, and Amurland. They differ from
the serows in lacking a gland beneath the eye, and also in the conformation
of the skull. One of the most remarkable members of the group is the
takin (Budorcas taxlcolor) of the Mishmi Hills in Assam, and Eastern
Tibet, which may be compared to a very large, rough-haired, and reddish-
coloured serow, with greatly developed smooth horns, whose size and curva-
ture strongly recalls those of the gnus. Scarcely anything is known of
these animals in a wild state, although they are probably sufficiently common
in their native haunts. Another nearly allied form is the so-called Rocky
Mountain goat (Haploceros montanus)
of North America, which is one of
the very few American representa-
tives of the hollow-horned ruminants.
Ifc is likewise one of the few animals
which are permanently white at all
seasons of the year, its coat being very
long and shaggy, and forming a mo^t
striking contrast to the jet-black horns
and hoofs. The horns, which are set
close together and curve somewhat
backwards, are distinctly compressed Fig. 87. .-ROCKY MOUNTAIN -GOAT
at their bases ; the ears are small, and (Uaploceros montanus).
there is no gland below the eyes. The
most remarkable structural peculiarity about the animal is, however, the
extreme shortness of the cannon-bones in both the fore and hind feet, which
in this respect are quite unlike those of any other ruminants.
The next group of the Bovidce is formed by the goats and sheep, wnich are
IS8 MAMMALIA ORDER VI. UNGULATA.
BO nearly allied that it is very difficult to distinguish between them. In this
Caprine section both sexes are provided with horns, but those of the females
are much inferior in size to those of the males. They are usually compressed,
triangular in cross section, and marked with bold, transverse ridges or
wrinkles, while they may either curve backwards or outwards, or may be
spirally twisted. The muzzle is usually completely covered with hair ; the
gland below the eye is either very small or totally absent ; the tail is
generally short and flattened ; and glands are often present between the
hoofs. With the exception of one species of goat, the females have but a
single pair of teats. The molar teeth are characterised by the great height
of their crowns, those of the upper jaw having only four crescentic columns.
In the skull a depression below each eye may or may not be developed.
In the true goats, constituting the genus Capra, the long horns are laterally
compressed, and either curve backwards in a bold sweep, with an outward
inclination at the tips, or are spirally twisted. There is neither a gland
beneath the eye nor a depression of the skull in the same region ; the chin
is more or less distinctly bearded ; the males emit a powerful and
characteristic odour ; and, if glands are developed between the hoofs, these
are confined to the fore feet. The true goats are mainly confined to the
mountains of Europe and Asia, although sparingly represented in Abyssinia,
Egypt, and Palestine. In Europe there are two species, viz., the ibex (G.
ibex) and the Spanish ibex (G. pyrenaica), of which the former was confined
to the Alps, but is now extinct in its pure form, although a half-breed
between this and the domestic goat exists in certain districts. The ibex is
easily recognised by the bold transverse ridges or knobs on the front of its
scimitar-like horns, whereas in the Spanish ibex these are much less
developed, and the curvature tends to become spiral. Mr. A. Chapman writes
that this goat survives in some of the secluded valleys on the Spanish side of
the Pyrenees, and finds a congenial home in the elevated Cordilleras of
Central Spain, especially in the Sierra de Gredos the apex of the long
range which forms the watershed between the Tagus and the Douro, and
continues to Portugal as the Sierra de Estrelha. In the south of Spain the
ibex occurs in the Sierra Morena, and especially in the Sierra Nevada, as
well as the Sierra Bermeja, which runs parallel with the Mediterranean ;
but examples from these localities differ somewhat from those of the northern
and central ranges, and Schimper distinguished the southern race as Capri
hispanica. In the Gredos and Nevada ranges the ibex leave the vicinity of
the snow, or, at least, the most rugged and inaccessible ground, after sunset
only, when they descend to feed ; and under no circumstances are they
found, even in winter, amongst forest or covert of any kind ; but in the
lower ranges of the Bermeja and Palmitera, which do not exceed 4800 feet
in height, and where the scrub and even pine trees attain the summit, they
are found comparatively low down, and may be hunted over ground that
looks far more suitable for roe-deer. But wherever found, the races have
one habit in common : they take refuge on the narrowest ledges,
where it seems hardly possible that their bodies can pass, and still
further avail themselves of crevices and recesses in the wall of rock.
In the Caucasus there are at least two species of goats, one known
as C. cylindricornis, in which the horns in curvature, smoothness, and
colour are so like those of certain wild sheep as to render it almost
impossible to draw any valid distinction between the two groups.
Of wild goats five well-defined species are recognised from India, four of
THE HOOFED MAMMALS.
159
which are not found southwards of the Himalaya. Three out of these are
included in the genus Capra ; while the other two have much shorter horns,
and are referred to a second genus. The pasang or Persian wild goat
(C. cegagrus) is a western form only extending into India on its western side,
where it is met with in Baluchistan and Sind. It is easily recognised by the
sharp edge of its scimitar-like horns ; and is considered to be the ancestral
stock from which the domesticated breeds of goat have been derived. The
Himalayan ibex is generally regarded as identical with the ibex of Siberia and
the Thian Shan (G. sibirica), although it has been thought that it may be dis-
tinct. It differs from the pasang by the front of the horns of the bucks being
flattened and marked by bold knots. Further information is required about
a dark-coloured ibex from Baltistan, which has been considered to be merely
the common species in its winter dress, but this is not yet ascertained with
certainty. There is also much uncertainty
about an ibex of which three specimens
have been obtained probably from the
upper Kishanganga Valley in Kashmir ter-
ritory characterised by the marked out-
ward curvature of the horns, and the ab-
sence of knobs except near their tips. The
markhor ((7. falconeri) is easily recognised
by its spirally twisted horns ; and zoologists
are now satisfied that, in spite of the great
difference in the form of the spiral of their
horns, all the varieties belong to a single
species. The two remaining Indian wild
goats are the Himalayan tahr (Hemitragus
jemlaicus) and the so-called Nilgiri ibex
(Hemitragus hylocrius). Both differ from
the true goats by their comparatively short
horns; and they are further distinguished
by having a small naked area at the end of
the muzzle. The Nilgiri wild goat differs
from the tahr by having the outer side of its
horns convex, and not passing into a sharp
ridge in front; while the latter is distinguished from all other goats and
sheep by the presence of four teats in the females. A third species of the
same genus inhabits the Muscat district of Southern Arabia. The sheep
( Ovis) are connected with the sheep-like goats, such as Capra cylindricornis of
the Caucasus, by means of the bharal of Tibet and the North African arui, or
Barbary sheep, both of which differ from the more typical representatives of
their genus by the absence of a gland below the eye. and their smooth, olive-
coloured horns; although they resemble other sheep in having glands between
the hoofs of both the fore and hind feet. As a group, sheep are character-
ised by the massive horns of the rams curving backwards and downwards in
a bold sweep, with the tips generally turned inwards, while they are usually
marked with more or less prominent transverse ridges. Except in the
two species named, their colour is brownish, and there is a small gland
on the face below the eye, with a corresponding shallow depression in the
skull. All the feet have glands between their hoofs ; the chin is devoid of
a beard, although there may be a ruff of long hair on the throat ; and the
rams have not the unpleasant odour characteristic of the males of the goats.
Fig. 87. THE MARKHOB
( Capra falconeri).
160 MAMMALIA ORDER VLUNGULATA.
Sheep are mainly inhabitants of Central and North-Eastern Asia, one
species just entering the Punjab. In Europe two or three kinds are found
in the Mediterranean regions, and there is one in the north of Africa, but
no other throughout the whole extent of that continent ; while a single
species inhabits North America. The largest and finest of the group are
the argalis of Central Asia, and
amongst these the most magnificent
is the Pamir-sheep (0. poll), whose
horns are characterised by their
double twist and outward direction.
In the true argali (0. ammon) of
the Altai, and the closely-allied O.
hodgsoni of Tibet, the horns, al-
though more massive, are shorter,
and form bub a single curve. In
these species the wrinkles on the
horns are strongly marked, but in
the bighorns, of which one species
(0. canadensis) inhabits the high-
lands of western North America,
Fig, 89 -PAMIR-SHEEP (Ovispoli). while the second (0. nivicola) is
found on the opposite side of
Behring Straits in the Kamschatkan Peninsula, these wrinkles are much
less developed, and the depression below the eye in the skull is less deep.
Another group, in which the horns, although well wrinkled, are smaller than
in the argalis, is represented by the sha (0. vignei) of the inner Himalaya,
Persia, and certain ranges of the Punjab (where it is known as the urial), as
well as by the Armenian sheep (0. gmelini) of Asia Minor and Persia, the
smaller but closely allied 0. ophion of the island of Cyprus, and the mouflon
(0. musimon) of Sardinia and Corsica, easily distinguished by the saddle-
shaped mark on the back ; the three last-named kinds being further
characterised by the absence of horns in the ewes. The two remaining
species, as already said, differ from all the foregoing in their comparatively
smooth and olive-coloured horns, and the absence of a gland below the eye
and a depression in the skull for its reception. Of these the bharal (O.
nahura) is a Tibetan form, with short, bluish-grey fur ornamented with black
markings ; while the arui (0. tragelaphus) of the mountains of Northern
Africa differs from all the others in possessing a fringe of long hair on the
fore-quarters, and likewise by the greater length of the tail. It is a
remarkable fact that nearly all the wild sheep are short-tailed animals, and
have fur instead of wool ; but, although it is difficult to explain the origin of
the long tail of the domesticated breeds, it is noteworthy that certain African
races have the fleece partaking more of the nature of fur than of wool. In
habits sheep much resemble goats, the young males and females associating
in large flocks, from which the old males often disassociate themselves,
except during the breeding-season. Both groups are exceedingly wary
animals, and both are inhabitants of mountain regions ; but whereas goats
always restrict themselves to rocky and more or less precipitous districts,
wild sheep may be often found on open, undulating, grassy ground like ~the
Pamirs.
Nearly allied to the sheep is the somewhat larger ruminant commonly
known as the musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus), which may be compared roughlv
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 161
in point of size to Highland cattle, although its coat is still more shaggy.
The musk-ox is now restricted to Arctic America and the north of Green-
land, although in a past epoch it ranged over northern Asia and Europe
as far south as Britain. With the
sheep this ruminant agrees in its
hairy muzzle and the general struc-
ture of the molar teeth ; but the
horns are quite peculiar, those of the
adult males being greatly flattened
and expanded at their bases, where
they almost meet in the middle line
of the forehead, after which they bend
downwards by the sides of the face,
and then curve sharply upwards.
While they are whitish and fibrous at Fig. 90- MUSK-OX (Ovibos moschatus\
the base, at the tips they are smooth
and black, with a nearly circular section. The small and pointed ears are almost
buried in the long hair ; the general colour is brown, and the short and sheep-
like tail is completely lost among the hair. In winter a woolly under-fur is
mingled with the long hair to form an efficient protection against the intense
cold of the regions inhabited by this animal. A peculiar feature of the feet
of the musk-ox is that the two hoofs of each are not symmetrical ; these being
partially covered with hair on the lower surface. In general habits musk-
oxen much resemble sheep, collecting in flocks of considerable size, among
which the proportion of old rams is comparatively small. The musky odour
from which the animal derives its name does not appear to be due to the
secretion of any special scent-gland.
The last, or bovine section of the family, is represented by the buffaloes,
bison, and oxen, all of which may be included in the single genus Bos. All
are animals of very massive build, with a short neck, and the head carried
nearly in the line of the back, the largest members of the whole family being
included among them. From the sheep, the oxen, as the group may be
collectively termed, are markedly distinguished by the conformation of the
tall crowns of the molar teeth. In the upper jaw these have a nearly square
cross section, with a well-defined additional fifth column on the inner side,
and the whole of the valleys and clefts completely filled up with cement.
r \ he horns, which are massive, arid nearly as large in. the females as in the
males, are placed on the summit of the skull with their bases far apart, and
may be cylindrical or triangular in section, their -direction being at first more
or less outwards, after which they turn upwards at and near the tips. They
always lack the transverse knobs of the goats and the wrinkles of those of
the sheep, so that the surface is comparatively smooth, the colour being
dark. Internally the bony cores of the horns, like those of the goats and
sheep, are much honeycombed. In all cases the broad muzzle, in which the
nostrils are placed wide apart, is more or less completely naked and moist ;
there is no gland beneath the eye, and consequently no depression in this
region of the skull ; the bulls usually have an ample dewlap beneath the
throat, the long and tapering tail is generally tipped with a large bunch of
long hair, and there are no glands between the hoofs of either foot. The
udders of the cows are provided with four teats. As in the sheep and g-oats,
small lateral hoofs are retained. The majority of the oxen are confined
to the continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, but one species of bison
12
162 MAMMALIA ORDER VLUNGULATA.
inhabits North America, and a small aberrant form is found in the Island of
Celebes.
The latter species, which is known as the anoa (B. depressicornis), is the
smallest and most antelope-like member of the whole group, having the
short angulated horns directed nearly upwards from the forehead, and the
colour black, with a few white spots on the hind quarters. Another small
but more buffalo-like form (B. mindorensis) inhabits the Philippine Islands,
where it is locally known as the tamarao, but it is not certain whether this
miy not prove to be a hybrid between the anoa and the Indian buffalo
The true buffaloes are characterised by their more or less angulated horns
and convex forehead. Of these, the Indian buffalo (B. bubalus) has its home
in the Oriental countries, but has been introduced as a domesticated animal
into Egypt and the South of Europe. Ib is a huge, ungainly brute, with the
long horns flattened and angulated throughout their length ; those of the
bulls being very thick and curving upwards in a crescentic form, while those of
the cows are slender and directed more immediately outwards. In their
habits these buffaloes are essentially marsh-haunting animals, loving to
wallow in the soft, warm mud of such situations. The skin of old animals is
almost devoid of hair. The Cape buffalo (B. caffer) is a very different-
looking animal, with a shorter
ekull and horns than the Indian
species ; the bases of the horns
growing together in a kind of
helmet-like mass on t
the fore-
head, where they nearly meet in
the middle line ; these append-
ages curving downwards at their
origin from the skull, and then
taking an inward direction, while
their tips are almost cylindrical.
The black skin is nearly naked,
but the ears are margined with a
fringe of elongated hairs. la
certain forms from Central
Fig. 90. CAPE BUFFALO (Bos ca/er Africa the hairs on the skin are
reddish in colour, and the horns
smaller and less expanded and approximative on the forehead. This form
grades almost imperceptibly into a smaller variety or species known as
B. pumilus, in which the small horns are very widely separated from one
another at their bases.
The bisons differ from the buffaloes by their cylindrical horns, which are
placed rather low down on the forehead ; the latter being very wide and
convex, and the whole skull comparatively short and wide. In the skeleton
the number of pairs of ribs may be either fourteen or fifteen. In place of
the nearly-naked or sparsely-haired hide of the buffaloes, the bisons have an
abundant coat of short, thick, crisp, curly brown hair over the greater part
of the body, while the head, neck, shoulders, and fore limbs are clothed
with a massive mane of longer and darker hair, almost hiding the ears, and
concealing the bases of the horns, as well as shading the eyes. The great
elevation of the withers, as compared with the hind quarters, gives the
appearance of a large hump behind the neck. Of the two species, the
European bison (B. bison) is now confined to the Caucasus, Lithuania, and
THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 163
some of the adjacent districts, running completely wild in the former area,
but artificially protected in the latter. It-appears to be essentially a forest-
haunting animal. The American bison (B. americanus), locally known as the
buffalo, is very closely allied, but is of rather smaller dimensions, with lower
and weaker hind-quarters, but a stronger and more massive sho'ulder, a
greater abundance of long hair on the fore-quarters, and a rather shorter
tail. The range of this splendid animal extended from a short distance
north of the Gulf of Mexico to beyond the Saskatchewan in Canada, and
probably reached almost from the Atlantic to the Pacific sea-board. For
seventy years, at least, the Mississippi may, however, be regarded as its
extreme eastern boundary. The countless millions in which bison formerly
roamed over the open prairies are known to all ; but incessant pursuit
and the opening up of the country by railroacjs, slowly, but too surely,
tended to its complete extermination from the open country. According,
however, to Mr. Theodore Rooseveldt, there are still, and always have been,
small numbers of bison inhabiting the Rocky Mountains northwards from
Colorado, and the depths of the great forests in the sub-Arctic regions beyond
the Saskatchewan River, and these, though locally called mountain-buffalo
or wood- bison, are only a variety of the bison of the plains. For some
years there have been reports of a small herd of bison inhabiting the remote
corner of Val Verde county, Texas, near the Rio Grande border ; and some
time ago a shepherd came upon the herd and counted it to comprise fifty
individuals. Commenting on this, a writer in the Asian newspaper of June
15th, 1895, observes that, "when we consider the enormous area of the
country and the sparse population in the more mountainous and wooded
districts, we find no difficulty in believing that the animal survives in small
numbers, as a denizen of the forest, varying, in accordance with his new con-
ditions of life, from the bison which roamed the prairies in tens of thousands
a quarter of a century ago. And when we consider the physical peculiarities
of the animal, there is reason to think that in the woods the species may hold
its own against man and other enemies with better success than it did on the
plains. His eyesight is not keen a defect gravely against hioi in the open, but
for obvious reasons of much less consequence in the forest. His acute hearing,
of little service on the plains, is invaluable in the woods; and his excellent nose
is equally serviceable in either case. It would seem as though the bison had
been primarily designed for a sylvan existence. Mr. Rocseveldt observes
that the so-called mountain-buffalo or wood-bison is rather heavier in
body and shorter of limb than his brother of the prairie ; but in regard to
this we have to remember what a recent writer has said of the prairie-bison
in his latter days. Living in a state of perpetual flight from mounted
hunters he became specialised with wonderful rapidity. His heavy body
became lighter, his legs developed in length, and his whole appearance
acquired a certain 'ranginess,' indicative of the effort of nature to adapt her-
self to changed conditions ; flight was the refuge of the bison in the last days
of his existence as a beast of the plains, and his formation in a few genera-
tions underwent the change compelled by the struggle for life. It is possible
that Mr. Rooseveldt, when comparing the bison of the Rockies with that of
the plains, may have had in mind this latterly specialised animal ; but,
nevertheless, we can well believe that forest existence, more sedentary than
prairie life even in its past peaceful days, is calculated to develop greater
weight of body and brevity of limb. There is no good reason for believing
that the bison ow dwelling in the Rockies, sub- Arctic regions, Texas, and,
MAMMALIA ORDER VI. UNGULA TA.
we venture to hope, elsewhere, in inaccessible corners of the continent,
varies very markedly from the prairie form. There always have been wood
land-dwelling members of the species. Bison were indigenous to the tract
of country known as the Yellowstone Park, when it was proclaimed a
national reserve. The park is admirably adapted for a sanctuary. Embracing
an area of some 3300 square miles, and forming, roughly speaking, an oblong
of about 70 miles by 50, not less than 84 per cent, of the whole is forest-clad
mountain, valley, and plateau. The central portion forms a plateau varying
from 7000 to 8500 feet in elevation, and averaging 8000 feet. Here the
indigenous bison finds comparative security, and is steadily increasing in
numbers. In 1884 the bison population of the Yellowstone Park was
estimated at 200 ; in the winter of 1891-92 a snow-shoe party, exploring for
the purpose, found various small herds, which by actual count gave nearly
300 animals, each herd containing a proportion of well-grown calves." '
Somewhat intermediate between the bison and the true oxen is the
Tibetan yak (B. grunniens), so invaluable to the inhabitants of the highlands
of the inner Himalaya as a means of transport across those arid and inhos-
pitable regions. While the horns are not unlike those of the bison in form
and position, and the general conformation of the skull is also similar in the
two groups, the yak has the long hair disposed as a fringe from the fore legs
along the flanks to the hind limbs, the tail being also invested with similar
elongated hairs from root to tip. The ribs are fourteen in number ; and
the colour of the wild race is uniformly blackish-brown, although many of
the hybrid domestic breeds are more or less variegated with white. The
male lacks the distinct dewlap characteristic of almost all the other oxen.
Another peculiarity of the yak is to be found in the strange grunting cry
from which its scientific name is taken.
Three species of oxen confined to the Oriental countries constitute what is
termed the Bibovine group. These are characterised, like the true oxen, by
possessing only thirteen pairs of ribs, but are peculiar in having a more or less
well-marked ridge running down the anterior half of the back, produced by
the unusual height of the spines of the vertebrae in that region. The horns,
which occupy the highest portion of the skull, are somewhat flattened, more
especially at the base, and after inclining outwards for some distance are
then directed upwards. The tail is relatively short, not reaching below the
hocks ; the lower portions of the legs are white, and the general colour of
the males is blackish, and those of the females either amber or blackish-
brown. The largest and handsomest of the three species is the well-known
gaur (B. gaums) the bison of Indian sportsmen which inhabits hilly
forests throughout India, and is also found in the Malay peninsula. The
most characteristic feature of this splendid animal, which attains a height of
fully six feet at the withers, is the large, convex, and forwardly-curving
crest between the bases of the horns, communicating a concave profile to
the forehead. The ridge on the back is very strongly developed, and stops
very sharply with a sudden step-like descent ; and the colour of the female
is nearly similar to that of the male. As in the other members of the group,
the thick coat of hair is short, fine, and remarkably sleek. From thio
species the gayal, or mithan (B. frontalis), differs by the straight line formed
by the ridge of the skull between the widely-sundered horns, and the conse-
quently straight profile of the forehead. The horns differ from those of tho
gaur in being shorter, rounder, and less curved, their tips having no distinct
inward curvature, while their colour is uniformly black, instead of being
THE MAN ATI S AND DUGONGS. 165
of a greenish tinge afc the base. In the males also the dewlap is more
developed, while in both sexes the limbs are relatively shorter and the
colour is blacker. Gayals are kept in a semi-domesticated state in Assam,
Chittagong, and other parts of north-eastern India, but occur wild in the
interior of the Tenasserim provinces of Burma. From both the above, the
smaller animal from Burma, Java, Balli, and Lombok known as the
banteng (B. banting), differs by the more rounded horns, the slight develop-
ment of the ridge on the back, the white patch on the rump of both sexes,
and the reddish-brown colour of the body of the cows.
Lastly, the true, or Taurine oxen are represented by the common ox
(B. taurus) and the Indian humped cattle (B. indicus), both of which are now
known only in the domesticated state, although ifc is possible that the half-
wild cattle of certain British parks may be the more or less modified direct
descendants of the old English aurochs, as the wild ox was originally called.
In this group the spinal ridge characterising the gaur and its allies is absent;
the horns are cylindrical, with their tips inclined backwards, and are placed
at the very extremity of the highest ridge of the skull ; while the forehead is
flat, and the whole skull much elongated. The tail also is larger, reaching
below the hocks ; and the hoofs are large and rounded, instead of being
narrow and pointed. Probably the original colour of the aurochs was
reddish.
ORDER YIL SIRENIA.
THE MANATIS AND DUGONGS.
THIS and the following order of mammals, differ from all those hitherto
described in that all their members are adapted for a permanently aquatic
life that is to say, they never voluntarily leave the water, as do the seals
during the breeding-season. Accordingly, their bodies have assumed a more
or less completely fish-like form, with little or no traces of a distinct neck ;
while the fore-limbs are modified into paddle-like flippers, the hind-limbs
are completely wanting externally, and the tail forms a flattened paddle lying
horizontally in the water. Structural evidences clearly show that both groups
are descended from terrestrial mammals ; and as these creatures have to
come to the surface periodically for the purpose of breathing, the horizontally-
expanded form of the tail-fin is sufficiently obvious ; such an organ being
admirably adapted, by means of a few powerful strokes, to bring its owner
rapidly to the surface. In fishes, on the other hand, which breathe the
atmospheric air contained in water by means of their gills, there is no
necessity for such periodical visits to the surface, and the tail-fin is accord-
ingly expanded in the vertical direction, thus forming a most efficient
propeller for progression in a horizontal plane.
The manatis and dugongs, forming the present order, constitute a very
small group of mammals, all of which may be included in the single family
Manatidce. Having the general fish-like bodily conformation alluded to above,
the sirenians, as members of the present group are collectively termed,
differ in many important respects from the whales and porpoises. One
marked point of distinction is to be found in the circumstance that the body,
166 MAMMALIA ORDER VILSIRENIA.
instead of being laterally compressed, is flattened from above downwards.
The head, again, is of an ordinary type, being relatively small in comparison
to the body, with the nostrils placed at the extremity of the muzzle, and the
summit rounded. To meet the exigencies of an aquatic life, external ears
are, however, wanting, and the nostrils are capable of being closed at will
by means of tightly- fitting valves, so as to prevent the ingress of water. In
no case is the back furnished with a fin ; and the fore flippers may retain
traces of nails, although the whole of their toes are enveloped in a common
skin, while the skeleton of these parts contains no more than the normal
complement of bones to the toes that is to say, each toe, except the first
(where there are but two), has three joints. The backbone, or spinal column,
differs from that of land mammals, in that none of the vertebrae in the
region of the haunches are welded together to form a sacrum, such a struc-
ture being unnecessary in an animal devoid of hind limbs, while its presence
would hinder the supple movements of the body so essential in purely aquatic
creatures. From those of whales and porpoises, the vertebrae of existing
sirenians differ by the absence of thin bony plates at the extremity of each
end of the body, or lower portion of the same ; although these were well
developed in certain extinct members of the order. The manati is remark-
able for the circumstance that the seven vertebrse of the neck, which are so
remarkably constant in the class, are reduced to six. Neither of the genera
have collar-bones, or clavicles, but in all the members of the group the bones
of the skeleton are remarkable for the extreme solidity and denseness of
their structure. Great variability is displayed in regard to the dentition ; the
recently extinct species from Behring Strait having no teeth at all ; whereas
in the manatis there is a very full series of masticating organs, which present
a certain resemblance to the molars of the hippopotamus. In no case do the
teeth resemble those of the toothed cetaceans ; and although in the recent
forms milk-teeth are not developed, rudiments of these have been detected,
and in certain extinct kinds such teeth were functional. Similarly, nasal
bones, or those roofing the cavity of the nose in ordinary mammals, have
disappeared in the existing representatives of the group, although they were
well developed in the earlier forms. From these peculiarities it is evident
that the existing sirenians are specialised creatures evidently derived from
land mammals of a more ordinary type. To fit them for long periods of sub-
mergence, both manatis and dugongs have the lungs much elongated, and
extending almost the whole length of the back ; while the blood-vessels are
expanded in certain parts of the body into net-like structures, known as
retia mirabilia, in which pure blood can be held back for a considerable time,
instead of immediately passing onwards to the heart.
As regards their mode of life, the sirenians are inhabitants of large rivers,
estuaries, sheltered bays, and shallow seas generally ; never ploughing
through the water of the open ocean in the manner so characteristic of the
whales and porpoises ; and seldom, indeed, wandering out of sight of shore.
Moreover, instead of having the carnivorous habits so characteristic of the
cetaceans, all the sirenians are exclusively vegetable feeders ; tearing up the
sea-weed and tangle when in the ocean, and other aquatic plants when they
frequent fresh- waters, and masticating them after the manner of a pig either
by means of their powerful molar teeth, or, when these are wanting, with
the aid of horny plates which then invest the surface of the mouth. Both
manatis and dugongs produce but a single offspring at a birth, which is
tended with great care and affection by the mother. When suckling, the
THE MANATIS AND DUGONGS. 167
young is held between the flippers of the female parent and pressed close to her
breast, upon which are situated the single pair of teats ; and as both parent
and offspring hold their rounded and somewhat human-shaped heads above
water, there is no reasonable doubt that it is these animals that have given
rise to the old legends of mermaids and mermen. The representatives of
both the existing genera are usually found associating in small herds, their
range including the coasts of the warmer portions of the Atlantic Ocean, the
Red Sea, Indian Ocean, parts of the Bay of Bengal, and the seas of Australia.
The northern sea-cow was, however, an inhabitant of colder regions, being
only found in Behring Strait.
The manatis (Manatus\ of which there appear to be three well-defined
species from the tropical coasts of the Atlantic, are chiefly fluviatile creatures,
seldom venturing into the ocean, but ascending long distances
up the larger rivers, and being especially abundant in the Manatis.
Amazon. They grow to a length of about twelve feet, and
are heavy, ungainly-looking creatures, with the thick and almost bark-like
skin traversed by a number of fine wrinkles. Although in old age the skin
may be nearly naked, in early life it is sparsely covered with soft hairs.
Externally these animals are specially distinguished by the position of the
nostrils at the extremity of the muzzle, the rounded form of the rudder-like
tail, -and the usual retention of three rudimental nails on each of the flippers.
In the front of the jaws no incisor teeth are visible, although in the young
state rudiments exist beneath th0 horny plates investing this region ; but
the cheek-teeth, of which eleven pairs are developed in each jaw, are fully
developed and approximate in structure to those of the hippopotamus. As
a rule, however, only six pairs of the latter teeth are in use at any one time,
the anterior ones falling out before those at the hinder end of the series have
cut the gums. In the skeleton the extremity of the skull and lower jaw are
comparatively short and bub slightly bent downwards, while, as already
mentioned, there are only six vertebrae in the neck.
The triangular muzzle of the manati is remarkable for the circumstance
that the extremities of the upper lip are developed into a pair of large fleshy
flaps, which can be either brought into apposition with one another or
widely separated, so that the animal can, when they are in the former
position, seize and retain a leaf between them. Commercially, manatis are
valued for their thick hides and the abundant supply of oil yielded by their
fat ; and they have in consequence of late years been greatly reduced in
numbers.
The dugong (Hallcore dugong), which ranges from the Red Sea along the
Indian and Malayan coasts to Australia, may be distinguished externally
from the manatis by the nostrils being situated on the
superior aspect of the muzzle, the concave hinder border Dugong.
of the tail, and the total disappearance of all traces of nails
from the flippers. In the skull the front extremity of both of the upper
and lower jaws are extremely massive and deep, with a very marked and
sudden downward flexure, while the dentition is of a totally different type
from that of the manatis. None of the teeth develop roots, and consequently
grow throughout the life of their owner ; the number in the adult condition
including a pair of upper incisors and five pairs of cheek-teeth in each jaw.
In the males the upper incisors take the form of large downwardly-directed
tusks, partially invested with enamel ; but in the female these teeth never
pierce the gums. The cheek-teeth, which are quite devoid of enamel, and
MAMMALIA ORDER VILSIRENIA.
Fig. 92. DUGONG (Haticore dugong).
equally developed in both sexes, form simple cylinders, increasing in size from
the first to the last, the latter being more complex than those in advance,
and consisting of two cylinders united by a narrow bridge. Although usually
measuring from 5 to 7 feet in
length, dugong grow to as much
as from 8 to 9 feet. In colour
they are generally bluish -grey
throughout, but in some examples
the under-parts are more or less
decidedly lighter. The essential
difference between the dugong
and manatis in tihe matter of
habits is that the former is essen-
tially a marine animal which
never attempts to ascend rivers,
and its food consequently con-
sists entirely of seaweed of
various kinds. In former days
dugong were met with in herds
comprising hundreds of individuals, which were remarkable for their extra-
ordinary tameness and fearlessness of man. Human greed has, however, done
the usual work, and now their haunts are tenanted only by solitary individuals
or pairs, which are shy and difficult of approach. Dugong oil is valued for
its extremely limpid character ; and in Timor-Laut these animals are hunted
by the natives for the sake of their tusks, from which ear-rings and other
ornaments are manufactured.
To their comparatively wide geographical distribution may be attributed
the escape of the manatis and dugong from complete extermination ; but the
rhytina, or northern sea-cow (Hhytina gigas\ which, at the
Northern time of its discovery in 1741, existed in numbers on the
Sea-Cow. shores of the Commander group of islands in Behring
Strait, soon fell a victim to the persecution of man. In-
deed, it appears that within less than thirty years from the date when its
haunts were first invaded by Behring's pirty, the rhytina had ceased to
exist ; and it is now known to us only by certain descriptions and a number
of more or less well-preserved skeletons which have been disinterred from
its former haunts. In size the northern sea-cow vastly exceeded all its
allies, being stated to attain a length of between 20 and 30 feet, with
a weight in some cases of upwards of eight thousand pounds. It was
evidently the most specialised member of the group, teeth being entirely
wanting, and their function discharged by horny plates on the surfaces of
the mouth, while the extremities of the flippers were blunted, and the bones
of the digits apparently wanting. The head was small in proportion to the
size of the body, and the tail was more deeply forked than in the dugong.
So rough and ragged was the thick epidermis of the naked skin, that it has
been compared to the bark of an oak tree, and could only be cut by an axe.
While one account states that the colour of the skin was generally uniform
brown, although occasionally flecked with white, a drawing taken from life
shows alternate dark and light transverse bandings.
WHALES, PORPOISES, AND DOLPHINS. 169
ORDER VIII. CETACEA.
WHALES, PORPOISES, AND DOLPHINS.
BEFORE the doctrine of the adaptation of animals to their natural surround-
ing had become understood, no creatures were a greater puzzle to naturalists
than the cetaceans, under which title are included whales, sperm-whales,
porpoises, and dolphins. Their fish-like form and marine habits seemed
indicative of their fish-like affinities ; whereas their internal structure,
breathing, and mode of reproduction proclaimed their mammalian kinship.
The latter features ought to have shown at once what their real position in the
zoological scale really was ; but, nevertheless, they long occupied a place
among the fishes. We read, for instance, in an abridged English edition of
Buffon's "Natural History," published in the year 1821, that all these
creatures "resemble quadrupeds in their infernal structure, and in some of
their appetites and affections. Like quadrupeds, they have lungs, a midriff,
a stomach, intestines, liver, spleen, bladder, and parts of generation ; their
heart also resembles that of quadrupeds, with its partitions closed up as in
them, and driving red arid warm blood in circulation through the body ; and
to keep these parts warm, the whole kind are also covered between the skin
and muscles with a thick coat of fat or blubber. As these animals breathe the
air, it is obvious that they cannot bear to be any long time under water.
They are constrained, therefore, every two or three minutes, to come up to
the surface to take breath, as well as to spout out through their nostril for
they have but one that water which they sucked in while gaping for their
prey. But it is in the circumstances in which they continue their kind
that these animals show an eminent superiority. Other fish deposit their
spawn, and leaye the success to accident ; these never produce above one
young, or two at the most, and this the female suckles entirely in the manner
of quadrupeds, her breasts being placed, as in the human kind, above the
navel. Their tails also are different from those of all other fish ; they are
placed so as to lie flat on the surface of the water ; while the other kinds have
them, as we every day see, upright or edgeways. This flat position of the tail
enables them to force themselves suddenly to the surface of the water to
breathe, which they are continually constrained to do."
With such a generally admirable account of the leading features of their
organisation, it is marvellous how naturalists could have failed to recognise
the true affinities of the cetaceans, and continued to class them among
fishes, instead of transferring them to mammals. Indeed, almost the only
error in the foregoing account is the portion relating to the " spouting " of
cetaceans ; this error being by no means extinct among non-zoological per-
sons even at the present day. Instead of the water thrown up in the air
when a whale "spouts" having been taken in at the mouth and expelled
through the nostrils, it is mainly the condensed vapour from the creature's
breath, although when a whale commences to spout or blow before it has
quite reached the surface, a certain quantity of the superincumbent water
is thrown up with the breath.
Cetaceans, then, are neither more nor less than highly specialised mammals
which have assumed a fish-like form in correlation with the needs of a purely
aquatic mode of existence. Although a few are found in large rivers, the
170 MAMMALIA ORDER VIILCETACEA.
majority are thoroughly pelagic in their habits, never coming to shore
even for the purpose of breeding, and, in consequence, their fish-like
characters are even more pronounced than is the case with the sirenians.
The tail, or "flukes," which is always more or less distinctly forked, is, how-
ever, as we have seen, expanded in a horizontal, instead of in a vertical,
plane, and in place of the two paired fins of most fishes, cetaceans have
only a single pair of flippers, corresponding to the fore limbs of ordinary
mammals. Although these flippers are completely invested in a continuous
skin without any nails or external traces of digits, internally they contain
the same skeletal elements albeit, highly modified as their terrestrial
kindred. There is, however, the important exception that the bones of the
digits are greatly more numerous than in other mammals, although the
number of digits themselves never exceeds the normal five ; this peculiarity
offering an important distinction between cetaceans and sirenians. Like
fishes, many members of the present order have a back-fin ; although
this differs from that of the former group in lacking an internal
skeleton. Unlike most fishes, cetaceans have, however, a perfectly naked
skin ; although the general presence of a few scattered bristles, especially in
the young state, around the mouth, proclaims their origin from fully haired
mammals. And here may be mentioned the very remarkable circumstance
that certain extinct members of the order were furnished with a bony
armour, somewhat comparable to that of crocodiles ; although this does not
permit of our saying that all cetaceans are descended from armoured
ancestors. In coloration, whales and porpoises resemble most fishes
inhabiting the surface of the sea, such as mackerel and herrings, in that the
upper surface of the body is dark, and the lower light this being obviously
a protective resemblance, as the dark upper surface, when viewed by
reflected light, harmonises with the dark waves ; while the light under
surface, when viewed from below by transmitted light, must be ,arcely
distinguishable from, the bright sky above. As in the sirenians, the external
conchs of the ears are totally wanting, and the aperture of the ear itself is
extremely minute. The e es also are relatively small, and placed far back
on the sides of the head, which is always large in proportion to the size of the
body. An important difference from the sirenians is to be found in the
position of the nostrils, which may open externally by either a double or a
single aperture ; these being invariably situated on the very summit of the
head, and thus enabling the creatures to commence breathing the very
moment they reach the surface, without altering their normal horizontal
position. To prevent the ingress of water while beneath the surface, the
nostrils can be completely closed by a valve or valves. Reference has already
been made to the essential difference between the skeleton of the flipper of a
cetacean and a sirenian ; and it may be added that the vertebree of the
former have the terminal plates, or epiphyses, which are practically or
entirely wanting in the existing members of the latter group, very strongly
developed. The coat of fat, or blubber, lying beneath the skin, so charac-
teristic of all cetaceans, has been already alluded to ; but it must be also
mentioned that these animals have net-works retia mirabilia of blood-
vessels for the retention of oxygenated blood during their descent, which
can be used gradually, and thus enable them to stay below for a longer
period than would otherwise be the case. The two teats of the female differ
from those of the sirenians in being placed far back on the abdomen.
Although none of the porpoises and dolphins attain very large dimensions,
WHALES, POXPOISES, AND DOLPHIN'S. 171
and some of them are comparatively small creatures, the cetacean order
includes not only the largest of all mammals, but likewise of all living
animals. That they trace their origin back to terrestrial mammals may be
considered beyond all doubt, although from what particular group they are
descended cannot at present be determined. As a rule, the various pelagic
representatives of the order enjoy a very wide geographical range, although
certain species, such as the Greenland- whale of the Arctic Ocean, and the
pigmy-whale of the Southern Seas, are confined to a relatively small area^
Almost all cetaceans are carnivorous.
Cetaceans are divisible into two great divisions, or sub-orders, known as
the whalebone-whales (Mystacoceti), and the toothed whales (Odontoceti) j the
former group comprising only the single family (Balcenida),
whereas the latter is divided into three families. As their Whalebone-
names imply, the most obvious distinction between these two Whales,
groups relates to the absence or presence of functional teeth ;
the absence of teeth in the first group being compensated by the develop-
ment of the peculiar substance known as whalebone, or baleen. In the
young of the whalebone-whales, rudiments of true teeth are, however,
developed beneath the roots of the incipient whalebone, although these sub-
sequently wither without having ever cut the gum. As the nature and struc-
ture of whalebone is a matter of some interest and importance, a small space
must be devoted to its consideration before entering upon the leading charac-
teristics of the Mystacoceti. Whalebone, then, is a horny substance attached
to the roof of the mouth, from which it hangs by a broad, transversely-arched
base, in the form of a series of parallel, narrow, elongated triangular plates,
placed transversely to the long axis of the mouth, with their external edo;e3
firm and straight, but the inner ones frayed out into a kind of fringe. The
longest plates of whalebone are situated near the middle of the jaw, from
which point the length gradually diminishes towards the two extremities,
where they become very short. Whereas, however, in the Greenland-whale
the length of the longest plates varies from some 10 to 12 ft., and the total
number of plates in the series is about 380, in the great rorquals or fin-whales,
the length is only a few inches, while the number of plates is considerably
less. To accommodate the enormous whalebone- plates of the Greenland-
whale, the bones of the upper jaw are greatly arched upwards, and the
slender lower jaw is bowed outwards, thus leaving a large space both in the
vertical and horizontal directions the transverse diameter of which is much
wider below than above. When the mouth is closed, the plates of whalebone
are folded obliquely backwards, with the front ones lying beneath those be-
hind them ; but directly the jaws are opened, the elastic nature of this
substance causes it to spring at once into a vertical position, and thus form a
sieve-like wall on both sides of the mouth, the thin enas of the plates being
prevented from pushing outwards by the stiff lower lip which overlaps them.
By elevating its enormous fleshy tongue within the cavity thus formed, the
whale causes the enclosed water to rush out between the plates, leaving such
small creatures as it contained lying dry on the surface of the tongue ready
for swallowing. In structure, whalebone, which, although black in the
Greenland- whale, is white in some of the other species, is of a horny nature,
and grows from transverse ridges on the mucous membrane of the roof of
the mouth ; being, in fact, nothing more than an extreme development of
the ridges on the palate of a cow, hardened and lengthened by an excessive
growth of a horny superficial or epithelial layer. The whole of this vast
172 MAMMALIA ORDER VIII.CETACEA.
horny growth takes place, however, after birth, young whalea having smooth
palates, with no trace of the horny plates.
Apart from the presence of the distinctive and characteristic whalebone,
the members of the present group have the following characteristic features
in common. In the first place, the nostrils open externally by two distinct
longitudinal slits, or " blow-holes;" while the internal region of the nose
retains traces of an organ of smell this, by the way, being another proof
that cetaceans are descended from terrestrial mammals. Distinct, although
small, nasal bones partially roof over the nose-cavity of the skull ; and the
whole region of this part of the skull retains the normal symmetry. In
order to accommodate the whalebone, the two branches of the lower jaw are
curved outwards in a bow-like form ; while at their front extremities they
are only loosely connected together by ligament. The breast-bone, or
sternum, consists of only a single piece, to which but one pair of ribs
articulate ; and all the ribs have but a slight connection with the vertebra),
articulating only with the horizontal transverse processes, and not touching
the bodies of the vertebrae. Although the whalebone- whales are represented
by a comparatively small number of species, all these are of large bodily
dimensions, the smallest of them the pigmy -whale attaining a length of
some 20 ft.
The most specialised representatives of the sub-order and family are the true,
or right-whales, constituting the genus Balcena, of which there appear to
be two well-defined species. Externally, the right-whales are easily recog-
nised by the enormous relative size of the head, the perfectly smooth throat,
the absence of a back-fin, and the moderate length of the flippers. Their
whalebone, which is black in colour, is proportionately longer and more
elastic than that of any other species, with the exception of the pigmy-whale ;
and for its accommodation the palate of the skull is much narrower and more
highly arched than in other whales, while the branches of the lower jaw are
more bowed outwards. The skeleton of the flippers contains five fully-
formed digits ; the vertebrre of the neck, which are reduced to the condi-
tion of thin plates, are completely welded together into a solid, immovable
mass, and the tympanic bone of the internal ear is squared. In conformity
with the arched form of the skull, the margin of the lower lip runs high up
on the sides of the head and is highly convex ; while the size of the opened
mouth is enormous. In spite, however, of the huge dimensions of this
cavity, the calibre of the throat is so small that it is a common saying among
sailors that a herring is sufficient to choke a whale. Of the two existing
species, the Greenland-whale (B. mysticetus) of the Arctic seas is the more
specialised, the head being larger and the whalebone longer than in its
southern cousin. The latter (B. australis) is commonly known as the
southern right-whale, and although formerly abundant in the Atlantic, is
nowadays a rare creature. From the right-whales the single species of
pigmy-whale (Neobalcena\ from the South American and Australasian seas,
differs in having a small, hooked back-fin, as it does in its white whalebone.
Whereas the Greenland species grows to a length of from 45 to 50 ft., the
pigmy- whale does not appear to exceed 20. A connecting link between the
right-whales and the under-mentioned rorquals is afforded by the great Pacific
grey-whale (Rhachianectes), in which the throat has a single fold, and the
back is devoid of a fin, while the whalebone is even shorter and more coarse
than in the rorquals, the palate showing but a slight degree of vaulting, and
the head being relatively small, and the body elongated. The vertebrae of
WHALES, PORPOISES, AND DOLPHINS.
173
the neck are thicker than in the right-whales, and mostly free from one
another. In length the female varies from 40 to 44ft., but the male is rather
smaller.
The other members of the family are the humpback (Megaptera) and the
rorquals or finners (Balcenoptera), in both of which the skin of the throat is
marked by a number of longitudinal flutings or grooves, while the back carries
a fin ; the whalebone being short and coarse, and usually of a yellowish colour.
The vertebrae of the neck are of considerable thickness, and totally separate
Fig. 93. A FIN WHALE (Balcenoptera)-
from one another ; and the tympanic bone of the internal ear is much more
rounded and globular than in the right- whales, its shape somewhat recalling
that of a large cowri shell. In the skeleton of the flippers the number of
digits is reduced to four ; and the head is comparatively small in proportion to
the body, with the palate bub slightly arched, and the branches of the lower
jaw little bowed outwards. Another character of the group, as compared with
the right- whales, is the smaller degree of expansion of the tail-fin or flukes.
From the finners, the single species of humpback (Megaptera boops) is dis-
tinguished by the relative shortness a.nd depth of the body, which rises above
the level of the back-fin behind the shoulders, and likewise by the extra-
ordinary length of the flippers, which is nearly one-fourth that of the entire
animal. In length the female is about the same as the Greenland-whale.
As a rule humpbacks have the flippers of a pure glistening white ; and when
one of these animals is gambolling, as they often do, it will frequently lie on its
side just below the surface of the water, so that the whole body is concealed.
In this position one white flipper will be seen sticking straight up some 9 or
10 ft. above the water, and when first viewed from the deck of a passing
vessel appears a most extraordinary object, which may well puzzle the
beholder.
The rorquals, or finners, on the other hand, are characterised by the
elongation and slenderness of the body and the comparative shortness of
tne flippers, which are pointed at their extremities. The largest member of
the group, as indeed it is of all whales, is the blue, or Sibbald's rorqual
(Baloenoptera sibbaldi), commonly known to the American whalers by the
174 MAMMALIA ORDER V12I.CETACEA,
name of " sulphur-bottom," which reaches the enormous length of from 80 to
84 ft. The common rorqual (B. musculus), frequently stranded on the British
coasts, is also a huge animal, frequently measuring from 65 to 70 ft. ; but the
other two species are of inferior dimensions, the smallest being the lesser fin-
whale (B. rostrata), of which the length does not exceed from 30 to 35 ft,
While some of the species feed largely on cod, others subsist chiefly on cuttle-
fish.
On account of the length and elasticity of the whalebone, and the abundance
of oil yielded by their blubber, from a commercial point of view, the right-
whales are of far greater value than the humpback and finners ; while their
inferior speed, as compared with the latter, renders them far more easy to
overtake, and capture. The southern right-whale was, however, long ago
practically exterminated from the Atlantic by the old Basque whalers ; and
incessant persecution has so diminished the numbers of the Greenland-whale
that comparatively few are now to be met with on the old whaling-grounds.
Consequently, whalers have been compelled to turn their attention to the
less valuable finners and humpback ; and the use of steam vessels and
explosive harpoons fired from guns has rendered their capture far less
difficult than in the days of rowing-boats and harpoons and lances thrown by
hand. Till recently the "fishing" has been mainly carried on in the
northern and sub-tropical seas, but a few years ago four ships were fitted out
for whaling in the Antarctic ; and the following account of what was observed
13 condensed from a newspaper report. It is there stated that the right-
whales always come north to the grounds eastward of New Zealand early in
October, and remain till near the end of December. Then they collect in
"schools," and stirt on a south-east course with a speed of about five knots an
hour night and day. Several ships have followed them in this course until
they met with the ice-drift in lat. 50 deg. south and long. 160 deg. west,
where the chase was abandoned. The whales always arrive on the ground
in schools of ten or fifteen, and then separate and pair off or at most one
bull and two cows. It is not thought that the whales, with the exception of
the humpbacks, come north to calve, as they are never seen with any young.
Of late years right-whales have been seen north of 35 deg. 30 min. south lat.
Finners and humpbacks are always to be found on the "ground," apparently
travelling in a south-easterly direction. The humpbacks come up from the
southward along both the east and west sides of Australia and New Zealand
about the end of May, and continue their course northerly to about lat. 18
deg. south, when they disperse. About the first week of October they begin
to work their way back south until lost amidst the ice. Experienced whaling-
masters are of the opinion that there must be some place to the southward, as
yet unknown, where the whales assemble in large numbers. A vessel fitted
with an auxiliary screw, it is stated, could follow the whales to their destina-
tion without danger of being blocked by the ice. The right-whale, according
to men who are engaged in the trade at the present time, must be very
numerous in the Antarctic Ocean, as the fishery has never been carried on
there with any constancy and vigour ; whereas in the Arctic Ocean the
whales are looked upon as almost extinct. The southern-whale is not so
large as the Greenland, only yielding from 800 Ibs. to 1200 Ibs. of bone
the length of which varies from 8 ft. to 15 ft. valued at 1600 to 1800 a
ton, while the oil, averaging from 8 to 14 tons, brings 28 per ton. The
humpbacks are very numerous off Norfolk Island of late. These whales
measure from 60 to 70 ft. in length and yield from 50 to 70 barrels of oil.
WHALES, PORPOISES, AND DOLPHINS. 175
The Australians interested in the success of the trade are confident that a
large industry in whale and seal-fishing could be developed in the Antarctic
seas by auxiliary screw- whalers, which could be fitted out at the comparatively
small cost of 6000 each.
The essential characteristic of the toothed-whales, or Odontoceti, is a
negative one, and consists in the entire absence of whalebone. Very generally,
indeed, teeth are developed, at least in the lower jaw, but
these may be reduced to a single pair, or even in the male Toothed Whales,
narwhal to a solitary tooth, while in the female of the latter
species there are none of any functional importance. Another very well-
marked point of distinction is the single external aperture of the nostrils,
which very frequently takes the form of a transverse crescentic slit, closed by
a flap-like valve. Then, again, the skull is always more or less unsymmetrical
in the region of the nostrils, and in the existing members of the sub-order the
nasal bones are reduced to mere rounded nodules, taking no share in roofing
the nasal cavity. In certain extinct forms, however, these bones are of more
normal character, and partially cover the chamber of the nose. No trace of
an organ of smell is retained by any of the toothed-whales. In the skeleton
the breast-bone, or sternum, is usually composed of several distinct portions,
to which the extremities of several of the ribs are articulated by the interven-
tion of cartilages ; and a certain number of the anterior ribs are articulated at
their upper ends to the bodies of the vertebrse, as well as to the transverse
processes of the same. The lower jaw of a toothed-whale may always be
distinguished from that of a whalebone-whale by the two branches being
nearly straight, of great depth at the hinder extremity, and in front uniting
with one another by a bony union of larger or smaller extent. In all the
members of the group the skeleton of the nippers exhibits five complete
digits. Throughout the sub-order the teeth are always of a simple structure,
having conical or compressed crowns and undivided roots ; and only a single
series is ever developed, the replacement of the anterior teeth, so common
among mammals, being wanting. In number the teeth of many species greatly
exceed the ordinary mammalian series. Observations on foetal cetaceans
have indeed shown that rudiments of a second series of teeth are developed
in the gums, which serve to show that the functional teeth correspond in the
main to the milk-series of ordinary mammals.
Although in the development of whalebone and the loose articulation of the
ribs to the backbone the whalebone-whales are clearly more specialised than
the toothed-whales, yet as regards the single nostril and the structure of the
nasal bones the latter group is decidedly more aberrant than the former.
Hence it may be inferred that neither of the two sub-orders is derived from
the other, but that both have grown up side by side quite independently.
Ib has generally been considered that they are divergent branches from a
common ancestral stock ; but it is possible that they have no sort of genetic
affinity with each other, and have respectively originated from two totally
distinct mammalian groups. More decisive evidence than any yet adduced
h, however, required before the latter view can be definitely accepted.
The largest of all the toothed-whales is the gigantic sperm-whale (Physeter
macrocephalus), the sole member of its genus, and the typical representative
of a family (Physeter idee) characterised by the absence of teeth in the upper
jaw of the adult, and the variability, both as regards size and number, of those
of the lower jaw. In all the members of the family the hinder portion of the
skull is much elevated, so as to form either a semi-circular wall, or a pair of
1 7 6
MAMMALIA ORDER VIII. CE TA CEA.
crests behind the nasal aperture. All these cetaceans are entirely pelagic in
their habits, and feed exclusively or chiefly on cuttles and squids. In the
sperm-whale the number of teeth in the lower jaw varies from twenty to
twenty-five pairs ; the teeth themselves being of large size, with pointed
and somewhat curved crowns, upon which there is no trace of enamel. The
head is of enormous dimensions, measuring about one-fourth the total length
Fig. 94. TUB SPERM-WHALE (Physeter macrocephalus).
of the animal, and characterised by the abrupt truncation of the enormous
muzzle, the S-like form of the blow-hole, which is situated somewhat to the
left of the middle line, and the long mouth opening below, and somewhat
behind, the extremity of the muzzle. The fik ull behind the nostrils has an
enormous cavity, bounded behind by a pemi-circular wall of bone of several
feet in height, and containing during life the oily substance which yields,
when refined, the valuable spermaceti. An even more precious product of
this cetacean ia ambergris, which, although generally found floating on the
surface of the ocean, is really a concretion formed in the intestines of the
sperm-whale. It is an amber-coloured substance, generally containing a
number of the horny beaks of the squids on which sperm-whales feed.
Although the female is a much smaller animal, the male cachalot, as the
sperm-whale is often called, grows to a length of between 50 and 60 ft. In
the sperm-whale the two branches of the lower jaw are united in front for
about half their length, but in the much smaller and somewhat porpoise like
animal known as the lesser sperm-whale (Cogia Ireviceps) the union between
the two branches of the lower jaw is less than half the total length of the
JHW, and the number of lower teeth is reduced to from nine to twelve pairs.
This whale attains a length of about 10 ft., and differs from the cachalot
in carrying a large back-fin. The flippers, moreover, which in the sperm-
whale are remarkably small in proportion to the si^ze of the body, are here
relatively longer. It is interesting to notice that fos&il sperm-whales
(Physodon) have been discovered possessing a full series of enamel-capped
teeth in both the upper and lower jaw.
Nearly allied to the preceding are the bottled-nosed and beaked-whales,
belonging to a group distinguished by the reduction of the lower functional
teeth to a single pair, the others being rudimentary and con-cealed in the
gum. None attain a large size, and all are pelagic, subsisting almost
WHALES, PORPOISES, AND DOLPHINS. 177
exclusively on squids and cuttle-fish. The bottle-noses, as typified by the
common Hyperoodon rostratus, so frequently stranded on the British coasts,
take thair name from the extreme convexity of the crown of the head in the
adult male, which rises abruptly above the base of the short beak. They have
but a single pair of teeth in front of the lower jaw, but even these are in-
visible in the living state ; and the back, like that of the beaked-whales,
bears a fin. Although the common bottle-nose, which has a very wide
geographical distribution, does not exceed about 30 ft. in length, ft is
valued not only on account of its oil, but likewise for the spermaceti con-
tained in the head. In addition to the large overhanging and unsymmetrical
crests above the nostrils, the skulls of old males have another pair of longi-
tudinal crests on the sides of the base of the beak, which come almost into
contact, and have their front surfaces broad, flat, and rugose. Cuvier's whale
(Choneziphius* cuvieri] differs from the bottle-nose in possessing a pair of large
forwardly and upwardly directed teeth at the .extremity of the lower jaw.
From both the preceding the beaked-whales (Mesoplodon) are readily dis-
tinguished by the production of the anterior portion of the skull into a long
cylindrical beak, composed of massive, ivory-like bone ; while they are further
characterised by the pair of lower teeth being generally situated near the
middle of the jaw. These teeth are generally of large size, and more or less
compressed latterly. In one species (M. layardi) they are enormously
developed, and of a strap-like form, curving over the beak to such an ex-
tent as in some cases actually to prevent the mouth from being fully opened.
The beaked-whales appear to be solitary creatures, avoiding the neighbour-
hood of the coasts, and thus but seldom stranded. During the Pliocene epoch
they must, however, have been abundant in the English seas, as their solid
fossilised beaks are of common occurrence in the so-called crag deposits of the
East Coast. Arnux's whale (Berardius arnuxi), from the seas of New Zealand,
which is the last member of the family, differs from the true beaked-whales
in possessing two pairs of lower teeth. Whereas the beaked whales usually
measure about 15 or 16 ft. in length, this species reaches as much as 30 ft.
A small family of the Odontoceti known as the Platanistidce is represented
solely by three small species, two of which are exclusively freshwater, while
the third is an estuarine form. While resembling the
members of the next family in the possession of a numerous Freshwater-
series of teeth in both the upper and lower jaw, they are Dolphins,
distinguished by the length of the bony union between the
two branches of the latter, and likewise by the mode of articulation of the
ribs with the backbone. None of the vertebrae of the neck are welded
together. The typical member of the group is the well-known susu, or
Gangetic dolphin (Platanista gangetica}, which may often be seen sporting in
the Ganges, Indus, or Bramaputra. This species usually attains a length
of 7 or 8 ft., and is characterised by the long and compressed beak, in
which are crowded a very numerous series of sharply-pointed teeth, the
rudimental back-fin, the fan-shaped flippers, the slit-like form of the blow-
hole, and the minute size of the eye, which is perfectly useless as an organ
of vision. The skull may be recognised by the enormous curving longitudinal
crests arising from the base of the beak, and almost meeting above it. The
food of the susu appears to consist almost exclusively of prawns and bottom-
* This name originally applied to an allied fossil form is used by Cope to replace
, on account of the pre-occupation of the latter.
13
I 7 8 MAMMALIA ORDER VIILCETACEA.
haunting fish, which are raked up from the mud by the long beak. The other
two existing members of the family are South American. One of these is
the inia or Amazonian dolphin (Inia geoffroyensis), inhabiting the upper
portions of the river-system from
which it derives its name, and being
more porpoise-like in form than the
last. The long cylindrical beak has
a number of sparse bristly hairs ;
and its numerous teeth have a
tubercle at the base. Unlike the
susu, the eye is fairly large, and the
flippers are not fan-shaped. Seven
feet is the maximum length of the
Fia, 95.-GANQETIC DOLPHIN male inia > and fche g eneral colour is
(Platanista gangetica). blackish above and reddish beneath.
From both the preceding the small
La Plata dolphin (Stenodelphis blainvillei), from the estuary of the Rio de La
Plata, may be at once distinguished by its uniformly buff coloration, which is
admirably suited to harmonize with the colour of the stained water of the Plate
river, and at once proclaims that the species is not of pelagic habits. In size,
this dolphin seldom, if ever, exceeds 5 ft., and is often considerably less.
Unlike both the other species, it has a well-developed back-fin, and the beak
is of great length, and furnished on each side with from fifty to sixty teeth ; the
number in the other genera being about thirty. Another distinctive feature
is to be found in the form of the blow -hole, which forms a transverse crescent,
instead of a longitudinal slit. At certain seasons of the year enormous
numbers of these elegant little cetaceans are captured in the Bay of Monte
Video by the fishermen, who detest them on account of the large quantities
of fish they consume.
The whole of the remaining members of the order are included in the
single family Delphmidce. The majority of the species are of comparatively
small size ; and while most are found in the neighbourhood
Porpoises, of coasts where they frequently ascend tidal rivers, a few are
Dolphins, etc, of exclusively fluviatile habits. Many of the genera are
very closely allied, and distinguished mainly by the structure
of the skull, so that in a popular work it is by no means easy to indicate their
distinctive peculiarities. While the majority resemble the Plitanistidce in
possessing a numerous series of teeth in each jaw, in two species this is not the
case. From that family they maybe distinguished by the shorter union between
the two branches of the lower jaw, and also by a difference in the mode of
articulation of the ribs to the backbone. In all cases the blow hole is in the
form of a transverse crescent, with the two horns pointing forwards ; and
very generally from two to four of the anterior vertebrae of the neck are
welded together into a solid mass. One of the most aberrant, and at the
same time one of the most beautiful, members of the family is the spotted-
narwhal, or sea-unicorn (Monodon monoceros), the males of which carry the
well-known spirally-twisted "horn," or tusk, from which several of the
names of the species are derived. Exclusively confined to the Arctic seas,
where it associates in small "schools," the narwhal belongs to a group of
dolphins characterised by the blunt and rounded form of the head and the
total absence of a beak. There is no back-fin ; the wide and rounded
flippers are short ; and the colour is dusky, with dark-grey mottlings. The
WHALES, PORPOISES, AND DOLPHINS. 179
single tusk of the males is always the left one, the right remaining, as a rule,
undeveloped in the gum ; but occasionally specimens are found with two
tusks. Besides these tusks there are no other functional teeth in the males,
and the females are toothless. The length of the head and body varies from
12 to 16 fb. and that of the tusk between 7 and 8ft. Allied to the narwhal is
the beautiful white-whale or beluga (Delphinapterus leucas\ which is likewise
a northern form, and also the sole representative of its genus. It may be
recognised by its pure glistening white skin, the absence of a tusk, and the
presence of numerous teeth in the front of the jaws. The beluga, which
congregates in troops of considerable s ; ze, is regularly hunted for the sake of
its hide, blubber, and flesh ; the latter being dried and eaten by the Green-
landers and Eskimos, as well as by the sledge-dogs of the latter.
In ordinary language the term porpoise is applied to many of the members
of the present family, but in a scientific sense it is confined to the members
of the small genus Phocoena, all of which are comparatively small-sized ceta-
ceans, characterised by possessing from sixteen to twenty-six pairs of small,
short, somewhat spade-shaped teeth. In the common porpoise (P. communis)
of the European seas the back is furnished with a well-developed fin ; but in
the Indian species (P. phocoenoides) this appendage is wanting. Porpoises
are the most common and familiar of all cetaceans, their rolling gambols
being well known not only to all those who have made a voyage, but likewise
to visitors to the sea-side. The allied genus Ceplialorliynchus is typified by
Heaviside's dolphin (C. heavisidei), and includes four species from the Southern
seas. They have a conical head, without any distinct beak, and from twenty-
five to thirty-one pairs of small and sharp teeth. The back-fin is triangular
or ovate ; and in three out of the four species the nippers have a characteristic
elliptical shape. Externally their most distinctive feature is the coloration,
the upper-parts being black, and the under surface of the body white, with
the white area terminating on the under side of the tail in a trident, the
lateral prongs of which run obliquely upwards on the flanks a little behind the
back-fin. The Irawadi dolphin (Orcella fluminalis), of which a variety, or
perhaps an allied species, occurs in the Bay of Bengal and some of the
neighbouring seas, represents a genus distinguished by the globose, beakless
head, and the small size and number of the teeth, the latter occupying nearly
the entire length of the jaws, and including from thirteen to seventeen pairs
in the upper, and from twelve to fifteen in the lower jaw. They are set close
together, and are conical arid pointed in shape, those in the front of the jaws
of the adult males being inclined outwards. The moderate-sized flippers are
broad at the base, and of a subovate contour ; while the back-fin is small and
hooked. From 7 to 7 ft. is the usual length of these dolphins, which are
either blackish or slaty in colour.
From all the preceding the large and strikingly-coloured cetaceans known
as killers, or grampuses (Orca), differ by the. large size of their powerful
conical teeth, which are crowded together, and usually form twelve pairs in
each jaw. And they are further characterised by the great vertical height of
the back-fin. As regards colour, the upper-parts and flippers are black and
the lower surface whitish ; the white area ending on the under side of the
tail in a trident, very nearly the same as in the above-mentioned genus
Cephalorhynchus. Above and behind the eye is a white streak, and there
is a purplish band across the back behind the fin. Killers, of which
there is but a single well-defined species, grow to a length of at least 20 ft.,
and enjoy an almost cosmopolitan distribution, They derive their popular
i8o
MAMMALIA ORDER VII L CE TA CEA.
Fig. 96.^KiLLER (Oreo, gladiator).
name from their rapacious habits, and are the only cetaceans which prey on
other members of their own order. One killer has been known to swallow
Several entire seals one after the other ; and not unfrequently several
individuals combine forces to
attack and kill one of the larger
whales, hunting with the per-
severance of a pack of hounds.
\\ hen swimming near the sur-
face of the water, killers may
be easily recognised by the great
size of the nearly vertical back-
fin. The lesser killer ( Pseudorca
crassidens), which is also cosmo-
politan, and attains a length of
about 14 ft., differs from its
larger relative by the smaller
size of the back-fin, the pointed
flippers, and the cylindrical
(instead of angulated) roots of
the teeth, as well as by the
uniformly black colour of the
skin. There are generally eight pairs of upper and ten of lower teeth.
Although the name of black-fish would apply equally well to the foregoing,
it is given to the cetacean known scientifically as Globiocephalus melas.
The black-fish is characterised by the extremely short and rounded head, the
almost uniformly black colour of the skin, and the presence of from eight to
twelve pairs of small conical teeth in the front portion of the jaws. The
back-fin is long, low, and thick, and the flippers are relatively long and
narrow. Generally there is a lance-shaped white patch on the throat. In
length, the black-fish, or, as it is often called, pilot-whale, grows to a length
of 20 ft. Whether there is more than one species is somewhat uncertain ;
but, at anyrate, a form inhabiting the Bay of Bengal is distinguishable by the
reduction in the number of the teeth. As regards habits, this cetacean is the
most sociable of its order, and since all the members of a herd always blindly
follow their leader, enormous numbers are frequently slaughtered at a time.
The last of the beakless group of the family is the rare Risso's dolphin
(Grampus griseus), which differs from all the other DelphinidcE, save the female
of the narwhal, by the absence of upper teeth, while the lower jaw carries
only from three to seven small teeth towards its anterior end. In general
appearance this species is very similar to the black-fish, although the head is
less decidedly globular, and the flippers are rather shorter. It is easily
recognised by the peculiar grey striping and mottling of the skin ; scarcely
any two individuals being quite alike in this respect. This species is almost
cosmopolitan, specimens being stranded from time to time on the British
coasts.
Intermediate, between the beakless and beaked members of the family, ia
a genus known as Lagenorhynchus, which includes the various species of
short-beaked dolphins. Noticeable on account of their strongly-contrasted
black and white coloration, the short-beaked dolphins are characterised as a
whole by the short, ill-defined and somewhat ploughshare-like beak of the
skull, the moderate size of the back-fin and flippers, and the distinct ridges
on the tail. The teeth vary considerably both in size and in number ; but,
SLOTHS, ANT-EATERS, AND ARMADILLOS. 181
as in the black-fish, the bony union between the two branches of the lower
jaw is short. The sides of the body are always marked by two light- coloured
areas, between which is a band, or a series of streaks of black.
The second group of the family includes the true dolphins and their allies,
in all of which there is a distinctly defined beak, generally exceeding the
brain-cavity in length, and marked off from the hinder portion of the head by
a V-shaped groove. By sailors dolphins are indifferently spoken of either as
porpoises or bottle-noses, which frequently leads to a confusion between them
and either true porpoises or the bottle-nosed whales. They are divided into
numerous genera, according to the number of the teeth, the relative length
of the beak, and the conformation of the bones of the palate. They are all
comparatively small animals, but few exceeding a length of about 10 ft.;
and while most of them are marine, some ascend the larger rivers temporarily,
and others are permanent inhabitants of fresh- waters. Fish of various kinds
constitute the usual prey of dolphins, but it is believed that one species of
the genus Sotalia from the Cameruns district subsists on sea-weed. In the
true dolphins (Delphinus), of which there are several species, the beak is of
considerable length ; the flippers and back-fin are long and slightly hooked ;
there are from about forty to sixty-five pairs of sharp teeth in each jaw,
which have an oval section at the base; and the union between the two
branches of the lower jaw is short. In the bottle-nosed dolphins (Tursiops)
the beak is shorter and more tapering, and the number of teeth less, there
being generally from twenty-two to twenty-six pairs. A third genus is
typified by the rough-toothed dolphin (Steno frontatas), from the Atlantic
and Indian Oceans. Here the beak is greatly elongated, and the bony union
between the two branches of the lower jaw very long ; the rather large teeth
varying from twenty to twenty-five pairs, and being often marked by rough
groovings. Nearly allied are the long-beaked river-dolphins forming the
genus Sotalia, which may be distinguished by their fluviatile or estuarine
habits, and the smaller number of vertebrae in the backbone : the teeth being
always smooth, and the base of the flippers very wide. Several of the
species inhabit the Amazon-system, while one is found in some of the Chinese
rivers, and another in the estuaries and rivers of the Cameruns district.
ORDER IX. EDENTATA.
SLOTHS, ANT-EATERS, AND ARMADILLOS.
THE three families of mammals named above, all of which are practically
confined to South and Central America, although one or two wander as far
north as Texas, are the representatives of an order in which all the existing
forms are devoid of front teeth, while the cheek-teeth have no external
coating of enamel, but consist solely of ivory, or of ivory with a layer of
cement. In consequence of this poor development of the teeth, the group is
known by the name of Edentata. To the same group have been commonly
referred the pangolins of the warmer parts of the Old World and the aard-
varks of Africa, but it is nearly certain that these cannot rightly be included
in the same order, and they are accordingly referred here to a group by
themselves. It is rather difficult to give many other characters in addition
1 82 MAMMALIA ORDER IX. EDENTATA*
to the absence of front teeth common to all members of the order, but fir may
be stated that the cheek-teeth grow throughout life and thus never develop
roots; while it is but very rarely that milk-teeth are present, and in only a
single instance do these cut the gum. With the exception of the sloths, in
which they have probably been lost, the hinder vertebra) of the trunk have
additional articular surfaces. In their whole organisation the edentates
display a low type, as is exemplified by the generally small size of their
brains, in which there are usually but few convolutions on the surface.
The sloths, or Bradypodidce, form a small family of edentates specially
characterised by their adaptation to an arboreal life, and differing from nearly
all other mammals by their habit of hanging back-downwards
Sloths. from the branches of the trees on which they dwell. They
are comparatively small, slenderly-built animals, with a
peculiarly rough, shaggy coat, a short, rounded, and almost sperical head,
and inordinately long and slender limbs especially the fronfc pair
terminating in huge, hook-like claws. The small ears are completely buried
among the long fur covering the head ; and the tail is rudimental. The
cheek-teeth, which comprise five pairs in the upper and four in the lower
jaw, form short cylinders, of which the external layer is harder than the
central core, so that by use their grinding surfaces become slightly cupped.
\Vhereas, however, in the three-toed sloths the whole of the teeth are of
this simple type, in the two-toed species the first pair in each jaw are taller
than the rest and assume a somewhat tusk-like form, with their summits
obliquely bevelled by mutual wear. In the limbs the narrow and curved
feet are reduced to the condition of little more than hooks ; the three-toed
forms having three claws on each foot, whereas in the other group
the number of claws in the fore feet is reduced to two. Although
admirably adapted for suspending the animal back downwards from a
branch, the feet of the sloth are but poor instruments for progression on the
ground, and when walking, a sloth advances awkwardly and slowly, with the
soles turned inwards. Externally the fur of the sloth is of a dull brownish
or ashy colour, the individual hairs having a fluted outer surface. The most
extraordinary feature about the fur is, however, the growth of a vegetable
substance on the surface of the hairs, thus increasing the resemblance of the
animal, when hanging at rest from a bough, to a rough lichen-clad knot.
Beneath the outer coat of long grey hairs is a finer under-fur marked by
longitudinal stripes of chocolate-brown and orange ; a patch of this under-fur
being frequently exposed in the middle of the back by the habit these
creatures have of rubbing or resting this part of their bodies against the
trees. In conformity with the shape of the skull, the soft tongue is very
short. The female has the single pair of teats situated on the breast.
Internally sloths are specially characterised by the complexity of their
stomachs, and a peculiar folding of the windpipe. Sloths are divided into
two distinct generic groups. Of these, the three-toed sloths (Bradypus) are
characterised by having three toes to each foot, and all the teeth short and
cupped, whereas in the two-toed sloths (Cholcepus), there are only two toes on
the fore feet, and the front pair of teeth in each jaw are taller than the
others and obliquely bevelled at the summits. Very exceptional among
mammals are the sloths in regard to the number of vertebrte in the neck.
Thus, whereas in one of the two-toed kinds there are the normal seven, in a
second the number is reduced to six ; while in the three-toed group there are
invariably nine of these segments.
SLOTHS, ANT-EATERS AND ARMADILLOS. 183
By the natives of the tropical forest-regions of South and Central America,
where sloths are alone found, the three-toed kinds are spoken of as ai', while
the name of unau is applied to the mem-
bers of the two-toed group. Mainly
nocturnal in their habits, sloths appear
to be sluggish creatures, passing the
daylight hours curled up with the head
safely tucked between the fore-limbs,
and at night wandering about slowly
in search of food, which consists solely
of leaves and other vegetable sub-
stances. Caution is a great character-
istic of their movements, a fresh branch
being firmly seized before hold is
relaxed of the one they are about to Fig. 97 THREE-TOED SLOTH
leave. They are usually found either (Dradypus tridactylus).
singly or in small family parties ; and
the females produce but. a single offspring at a birth, which is fully
developed, except in the matter of size, when it makes its appearance in the
world.
The second family of the edentates is formed by the South American or
true ant-eaters (Myrmecophagidce), of which there are three species, referable
to as many genera ; one of these being strictly terrestrial,
while the other two are more or less arboreal in their habits. Ant-Eaters,
So unlike are these creatures, both as regards external
character and the structure of their skeleton, to the sloths, that it is at first
sight difficult to believe that there is any very intimate relationship between
the two groups. And, indeed, were it not that in the superficial deposits of
South America there occur remains of certain extinct edentates known as
ground-sloths (of which the gigantic Megalotherium is a familiar example in
our museums), forming to a great extent a group intermediate between the
sloths and the ant-eaters, it would be difficult even for zoologists to fully
realise how intimate this relationship really is. Taking the existence of
these extinct connecting links for granted, it may be noticed that in place of
the short and rounded head of the sloths, the ant-eaters have the head and
skull more or less elongated and narrow, while the slender jaws are entirely
toothless, and the tongue is long, cylindrical, and capable of being protruded
far in advance of the lips. The degree of elongation of the skull is, however,
by no means the same in all the members of the group, the maximum
development in this respect being exhibited in the case of the great ant-
eater. Still more striking is the difference in the structure of the feet in the
two groups. In the great ant-eater, for instance, the fore-foot is furnished
with five complete toes, the middle one of which is much larger and more
powerful than the rest ; and all but the fifth, or outermost, are furnished
with strong claws. In this genus there are also five toes to the hind-feet ;
but in the third representative of the family there are only four claws to each
foot. When the great ant-eater is walking, only the extreme outer side and
part of the upper surface of the fore-foot is applied to the ground ; but
in the hind-foot, which has the fourth toe the largest, and claws to all
five, the whole of the short and wide sole touches the ground in
the ordinary manner. An important point of distinction from the sloths
is that the bones of the terminal joints of the fore-feet have a longi-
184
MAMMALIA ORDER IX.EDENTA TA.
tudinal slit in the middle of the upper surface ; and in all cases the
limbs are relatively short and stout. Unlike the sloths, the ant-eaters
have a very long and powerful tail, which in two of the species is endowed
with the power of prehension, as indeed is the case with so many of the
animals inhabiting the dense forest - regions of tropical America. In
correlation with their insectivorous habits, the stomach of the ant-eaters is
perfectly simple in structure, and the brain is more convoluted than in the
sloths. Two out of the three species have the fur of the body marked by
dark and light longitudinal bands or patches, and it is noteworthy that
this type of coloration approximates to that obtaining in the under-fur of
the sloths. In order to procure their insect-food, which mostly comprises
ants and termites, the long worm-like tongue, which can be protruded with
great rapidity from the tubular mouth, is provided with a viscid secretion.
The largest and most specialised member of the family is the great ant-
eater, or tamahoa (Myrmecophaga jubata), which is terrestrial in its habits,
and is easily recognised by the
exceedingly long and slender
head, passing almost imper-
ceptibly into the neck, the
minute ears, the fringe of long
hair clothing the fore-limbs and
flanks, and the huge mass of
still more elongated hairs cover-
ing the tail. This ant-eater,
which attains a length of about
4 ft. to the root of the tail, is
distributed over the whole of
the tropical districts of South
and Central America, fre-
quenting either damp swampy
forests or the margins of
rivers. Like the other species, it is strictly nocturnal in its habits, and but
a single offspring, which is carried for some time on the back of its parent,
is produced at a birth. Next in point of size is the lesser ant-eater, or
tamandua (Tamandua tetradactyla), which scarcely attains half the dimen-
sions of its larger cousin, and is distinguished by the uniformly short fur,
shorter head, the much longer ears, and the cylindrical prehensile tail,
which is naked both at the tip and along the whole of the lower aspect. In
the fore-feet the claw of the fifth digit is rudimental and concealed
beneath the skin, while that of the third is much larger than either
of the others, the hind-foot being generally similar to that of the
larger species. The tamandua has approximately the same geographi-
cal distribution as the latter, from which it differs in being mainly
arboreal in its habits. The most sloth-like, and at the same time the
most diminutive member of the group is the two-clawed ant-eater (Cydoturus
didactylus), which does not exceed a rat in size, and has the sloth-like habit
of hanging back downwards from the boughs of trees, to which it clings by
its long, hook-like claws. In the shortness of the head this species likewise
presents a decided approximation to the sloths. While the front paws have
four toes, only the first and second of these that is to say, those correspond-
ing to the index and middle fingers of the human hand are furnished with
claws ; but the four toes of the hind- foot are all clawed, and as they are
Fig. 98. GREAT ANT-EATER (Myrmecophaga
jubata).
SLOTHS, ANT-EATERS, AND ARMADILLOS. 185
placed close together and the claws are of nearly equal length, they
collectively form a hook-like organ not unlike the foot of a sloth. Prom the
other ant-eaters this species differs in the uniformly foxy-red hue of the short
silky fur. In its skeleton it differs from the other two members of the group
in possessing collar-bones, in which respect this species once again
approximates to the sloths. In other ant-eaters the ribs are unusually
broad, but in the present species this character is so exaggerated that they
almost come into contact with one another, and thus nearly enclose the
body in a solid bony casque. Thoroughly arboreal in its mode of life, and
furnished with a highly prehensile tail, the two-clawed ant-eater is restricted
to the hottest regions of America, ranging from Northern Brazil through
Peru and the Guianas to Central America.
The development of a bony shield composed of isolated plates welded
together by their edges, or overlapping like tiles on a roof over moro or less
of the upper surface of the body, serves to differentiate the
armadillos and their tiny relative the pichiago not only Armadillos,
from all other existing edentates, but likewise from other
mammals. All these animals collectively constitute the family Dasypodidce,
which is sufficiently distinguished by the aforesaid bony armour. In ordinary
armadillos the armour is divided into two solid shields, one of which pro.-
tects the shoulders, and the other the haunches, while between these are a
variable number of movable transverse bands, permitting the animal to bend
its back to a smaller or greater extent, and in one case even allowing the
assumption of a completely ball-like form. Both in the front and hind
shield the constituent plates are polygonal in form, and articulate with one
another immovably by their edges ; but in the movable bands they are tile-
like and overlapping. The fixed shields and movable bands collectively
constitute the carapace. The component plates are marked by a characteristic
sculpture, which varies much in the different genera, and may consist either
of raised pustules or minute punctures ; and each plate is overlaid by a thin
horny shield. More or less abundant hairs grow from the skin at the junction
of the plates of the carapace ; and occasionally these are so abundant and
luxuriant as practically to conceal the latter from view. A small shield
of polygonal bony plates, with their edges in apposition, serves to
protect the upper surface of the head ; while the tail is usually
defended by a similar type of armour, which may either take the form of
oblique rows of plates or tubercles, or of a series of rings of gradually
decreasing diameter, severally composed of the same plates. Irregular bony
plates likewise protect the short and powerful limbs, of which the front pair
are provided with strong claws adapted for digging. In the fore-limbs the
claws may vary in number from three to five, whereas the much smaller and
weaker ones of the hind-foot are always the latter number. Armadillos
have moderately long and more or less depressed heads, sharply pointed
in front, and armed with a rather small number of simple peg-like teeth.
They have long tails, fully developed collar-bones ; and the bones of the
arm and fore-arm are specially expanded and modified for the purpose
of digging. Their tongues, although relatively long, have not the extreme
elongation characterising the ant-eaters. Armadillos have a much more
extensive geographical range than either of the preceding families of edentates,
ranging from Patagonia to Central America, and one species at least reaching
as far northwards as Texas. Although different species or genera are confined
to different localities and situations, members of the group are to- be met with
i86 MAMMALIA-ORDER IX. EDENTATA.
alike on the grassy pampas of Buenos Aires, the sandy plains of Mendoza,
and the tropical forests of Brazil. While a few are diurnal, the majority are
nocturnal in their habits, and all are burrowers. In many districts the Argen-
tine pampas is perfectly honeycombed with the long burrows of various kinds
of armadillos. Armadillos live chiefly upon insects, worms, and molluscs, but
one species at least feeds largely upon carrion, although this is probably an
acquired habit, due to the large number of carcases of horses and cattle which
nowadays strew the pampas. In their movements they are extremely swift,
starting off with a tremendous rush when disturbed while feeding at night,
and requiring a good dog to keep pace with them. Whereas some species
run on the tips of their claws, with the body raised high above the ground,
others carry the carapace lower. The rapidity with which an armadillo will
bury itself in the soft ground of the Argentine pampas must be witnessed to
be credited. Most of the true armadillos have medium-sized or rather large
ears, placed far apart from one another ; the first and second claws of the
fore-foot are, if present at all, slender ; and the breast of the female bears a
single pair of teats.
The first genus (Dasypus) includes the typical armadillos, of which the six-
banded species (D. sexcinctus) of Brazil, and the Argentine peludo, or hairy
armadillo (D. mllosus), are well-known
examples. These animals have from
six to eight movable bands in the
carapace, which is more or less
depressed with strongly serrated
margins. The ears are small or
moderate, and the head is very broad
and much depressed, with the muzzle
comparatively blunt. The tail, which
Fig. *>,- .
viliosus). is plated with distinct rings near the
root. In the fore-foot the first toe is
the slenderest of all, and the second the longest. The teeth, which
are relatively large, are generally nine above and ten below, the first
upper pair being usually implanted in the premaxillary or anterior jaw-
bones. Some of the species are of considerable size, the head and body in
the typical one measuring as much as 16 inches. In the Argentine the peludo
is now mainly nocturnal, and feeds largely upon the carcases of cattle,
beneath which its burrows are frequently formed. The much smaller pichi
(D. minutus) of the same districts is, however, chiefly a diurnal animal. In
spite of having but two teats, the female produces from two to four
young, which are born blind, with the armour already developed, but in a
soft and flexible condition. The second genus, of which the broad armadillo
or tatouay (Lysiurus unicinctus) of Brazil, Paraguay, and Surinam is the
typical representative, differs from the last by the greater number of
movable bands in the carapace, which are either twelve or thirteen. The
teeth, of which there are either eight or nine pairs in each jaw, are relatively
smaller than in the first genus, and in the upper jaw do not extend so far
backwards on the sides of the palate. The tail, also, is almost devoid of
bony plates, of which it has only a few on the under side and near the tip.
The chief characteristic of the fore-foot is the great size of the curved claw
borne by the third toe ; the fourth and fifth toes having similar but smaller
claws, while those of the first and second are long and slender. In the hind-foot
SLOTHS, ANT-EATERS, AND ARMADILLOS. 187
the claws take the form of short and blunt nails. The plates of the carapace
are ornamented by an indistinct granular sculpture. In size the tatouay is
intermediate between the six-banded armadillo and the next species.
The great number of the teeth of which there are from twenty
to twenty-five pairs at once serves to distinguish the giant armadillo
(Priodon giyas) of Brazil and Surinam from all its relatives. It is
also the largest living member of the family, the head and body measuring
about 3 ft. in length. The number of movable bands in the carapace is
thirteen ; and in the anterior and posterior shields of the carapace the plates
are arranged in rows very similar to those of the movable bands which they
resemble in sculpture. Structurally the feet are very similar to those of
Lysiurus, but the claw of the third toe in the front foot is relatively larger,
while that of the fifth is very small. The tail, which is nearly equal in
length to the carapace, is, however, of a totally different type, being
completely invested with large plates arranged in spiral rows. Very
different are the three small species of three-banded armadillos (Tolypeutes),
in which the fore and aft shields of the carapace are very greatly developed
and the movable bands reduced to three. The plates on the carapace are
small and tuberculated, the shield on the head is very large and flat, and the
extremely short tail is covered with prominent tubercles. As the borders of
the carapace, which are smooth, are much produced on either side of the fore
and hind limbs, these animals are enabled to roll themselves up into a
complete although somewhat flattened ball ; the shield of the head, by one
side of which lies the tail, almost completely filling up the front and hinder
notches in the carapace. The head is long and narrow, with the rather large
ovate ears placed somewhat low down ; while the jaws carry eight or nine
pairs of upper and nine of lower teeth, which are of relatively small size and
reach backwards to the hinder end of the palate. In the fore-foot the third
claw is more developed than in any other species, the claws of the first and
fifth toes being either rudimental or absent. The common species grows
to a length of about fifteen inches, and is found in the pampas of Argentina,
where, however, it now seems extremely rare. Trusting to their impassive
power of defence, all the armadillos of this genus are diurnal and non-
burrowing animals, generally lurking in the large tussocks of pampas-grass.
When running they go on the extreme tips of their claws, and scuttle along
at a great pace. The last genus of the true armadillos is represented on the
Argentine pampas by the mulita (Tatusia hybrida), and there are other
species in different parts of the continent, one of which ranges into Texas,
while another from Peru is remarkable for the thick coat of fur which
entirely conceals the carapace. These pretty little armadillos differ from the
whole of the foregoing by the close approximation of the long mule-like ears
(whence the name of mulita for the Argentine species), as well as by the
presence of an additional pair of teats on the abdomen of the females, and
also by the development of a set of milk-teeth. The seven or eight pairs of
permanent teeth are very minute, and do not make their appearance till
comparatively late in life. The long and narrow head is produced into a
cylindrical and obliquely-truncated, somewhat pig-like snout. Extreme
elongation and compression is the leading characteristic of the carapace,
which has from seven to nine movable bands ; the plates of the latter being
marked by a V-shaped line of punctures, while the smaller ones of the solid
shields have an elevated oval central area surrounded by an incomplete ring
of small tubercles. The tail is surrounded by a series of bony rings,
1 88 MAMMALIA ORDER X.EFFODIENTIA.
decreasing in size from root to tip, and thus recalls a partially opened
telescope. In the fore-feet there are four long claws, of which the innermost
are the largest ; while in the five-clawed hind-feet the third is the longest
and the fourth and fifth the shortest. About 11 in. is the average
length of the head and body of the mulita, but another species is somewhat
larger. The mulita may be often found skulking among the tussocks of
pampas-grass during the daytime, when, with the aid of a dog, it can
generally be captured before it has time to make good its escape into its
burrow. Not unfrequently when a Gaucho captures a mulita he crops its
ears and turns it loose, such crop-eared specimens being at first rather a
puzzle to the naturalist. In spite of the circumstance that carrion forms a
considerable portion of the diet of these animals, roasted mulita is a favourite
dish in the Argentine.
Quite different from the true armadillos are the beautiful little pichiciagos,
or fairy pink armadillos, of which one species (Cklamydophorus truncatus) is
locally distributed over the sandy districts of Western Argentina, while the
second (G. retusa) is from the Bolivian highlands. From the armadillos
these tiny little creatures differ by having the upper surface of the head and
body covered by a continuous mantle, formed of quadrangular horny shields
underlain by thin bony plates, and gradually widening from the front of the
head to the hinder end of the body, where it is abruptly truncated. In the
Argentine species this mantle is attached to the body only along the line of
the backbone, its under surface being hairy ; but in the Bolivian form (which
is referred by some writers to a separate genus, under the. name of Bur-
meisteria) it is joined to the skin throughout its whole extent. The
truncated hinder end of the body is protected by a solid bony shield with
overlying horny scales ; the short tail protruding through a notch in its
lower border. The whole of the rest of the body is covered with long silky
hair, which in the Argentine species is pure glistening white, while the
mantle is pinkish. The minute ears are completely concealed "by this fur ;
and both fore and hind feet have five claws, the front toes being connected
to the J>ase of the latter, while those of the hinder pair are free. In length
the Argentine species measures only about 5 in., but the Bolivian form
is somewhat larger. Pichiciagos inhabit sandy districts, where they excavate
burrows with marvellous rapidity ; and it is believed that the hinder shield
is used as a rammer to close the burrow when tenanted, the creatures
apparently making their exit by digging a fresh passage.
ORDER X.EFFODIENTIA.
AARD-VAKKS AND PANGOLINS.
ALTHOUGH, as stated above, the animals known as aard-varks and pangolins
are generally included among the Edentata, they have little in common with the
typical representatives of that order. Hence they are assigned to a distinct
ordinal group termed the Effodientia. That group is typified by the aard-
varks, and is only provisionally regarded as comprising the pangolins,
which are perhaps entitled to constitute an order by themselves. The
Effodientia resemble the Edentata in never having front teeth ; but differ
AARD- VARKS AND PANGOLINS. 189
from all the latter in the absence of additional articular facets to the hindei
trunk-vertebrae. More definitely they may be distinguished from the
edentates as follows. When teeth are present these are of a totally different
type to those of the latter, and when teeth are absent the hinder trunk-
vertebrse lack the aforesaid additional articulations which are present in the
toothless edentates.
Theaard-varks, or ant-bears (Orycteropodidce), forming the typical members
of the order, are now represented by two closely allied species of the genus
Ory .teropus, both of which are confined to the Ethiopian
region. There is, however, evidence that during the Aard-Varks.
Tertiary period aard-varks existed in the south of Europe.
The existing forms are uncouth and strange-looking animals of large size,
with the skin nearly naked, or
sparsely covered with bristly hairs.
The long and narrow head is fur-
nished with greatly elongated,
slender, and pointed ears, and
terminates in a somewhat pig-like
Bnout, in which are perforated the
circular nostrils, while the mouth
is tubular. The neck is short, the
fore-quarters are comparatively
short, the back is much arched,
and the tail, which is nearly as
long as the body, is thick, cylin- . .^^_
drical, and tapering. In the short Jfy.ioo Aj&v-VinL(Orycteropuscapensis).
but powerful fore-limbs, he four
toes are furnished with medium-sized strong nails ; while the hind- feet have
five nearly equal toes, each bearing a nail. When walking, the entire soles
are applied to the ground. Adulb aard-varks usually have five pairs of
cheek-teeth in each jaw, although from eight to ten pairs of upper teeth, and
eisrht of lower ones are developed. Of these all but the last three have milk-
predecessors, which never cut the gum. These teeth have no enamel, and
are composed of a number of adherent polygonal denticules, traversed by a
series of radiating tubes ; such a structure being quite unparalleled in the
mammalian class. The tongue is cylindrical and extensile. In total length
these animals may measure as much as 5 ft. In habits, aard-varks are
nocturnal, burrowing, and insectivorous, feeding chiefly on ants and termites.
Their powers of digging are very great, and in South Africa their burrows
are generally constructed in the neighbourhood of termite hills.
Very different both in external appearance and internal structure are the
pangolins, or scaly ant-eaters, of the warmer parts of the Old World, constituting
the family Manidce, and all included in the single genus Manis.
The most peculiar and striking feature of the animals is the Pangolins,
investiture of the head, body, tail, and limbs in a complete
coab of overlapping horny scales, so that the general appearance is much
like the cone of a spruce-fir. Teeth are wanting ; and the skull is long,
conical, and devoid of a zygqmatic or cheek- arch, with a very slender lower
jaw. The eyes are minute, and the external conchs of the ears rudimental.
A few bristly hairs often occur between the scales, and the latter do not
extend on to the under surface of the body, or the inner sides of the limbs.
The long and worm-like tongue can be protruded a great distance in front
MAMMALIA ORDER XLMARSUPIALIA.
of the tubular mouth. Each of the limbs is furnished with five toes,
terminating in long powerful claws, of which the supporting bones are
longitudinally split at their extremities ; the front claws being much
larger than the hinder ones, and the third toe in each foot superior in size to
the rest. In walking, the front claws are bent beneath the soles, so that the
weight of the body is mainly borne on the upper and outer sides of the third
and fourth digits ; but in the hind-limbs
the whole sole of the foot is applied
to the ground in the ordinary manner.
The tail may be either long or medium.
Collar-bones are wanting in the skeleton.
Pangolins are confined to south-eastern
Asia, and Africa south of the Sahara ;
the largest species, which measures up-
wards of 6 ft. in total length, being an
._. _. ^ inhabitant of West Africa. They resemble
""** the aard-varks in feeding on ants and
Fig. 101. A. PANGOLIN- (Manis). termites, which are licked up by the
extensile tongue, after their hillocks have
been laid open by the powerful claws of these animals. They are likewise
nocturnal, and have the power of rolling themselves up into a ball, when
they are completely secure from most enemies. Some of the African forms
are more or less arboreal, but all the rest are purely terrestrial.
Apparently only a single young is produced at a birth, for the nourish-
ment of which the breast of the female carries a pair of teats.
ORDER XL MARSUPIALIA.
POUCHED MAMMALS.
THE whole of the ten mammalian orders treated of above are collectively
characterised by the circumstance that, during intra-uterine life, the blood-
vessels of the foetus are connected with those of the parent by means of a
vascular organ known as the placenta. And it is due to this communication
between the foetal and maternal circulations that the young are born in the
more or less highly- developed state characteristic of the whole assemblage.
Collectively, the whole ten orders form a sub-class, known indifferently as
the Eutheria or Placentalia. On the other hand, in the mammals forming
the subject of the present section, a placenta is never developed, and there
is consequently no direct connection between the circulatory systems of the
parent and offspring, so that the young are produced in an exceedingly
imperfect state of development. To this group, which forms a second sub-
class, the name of Metatheria, or Implacentalia, is applied, while it is
sometimes known as the Didelphia, on account of the completely double
uterus or womb, and thereby contrasts with the Eutheria, in which the
uterus is either single, or its two branches are united at their outlet.
Hence the name Monodelphia is not unfrequently given to the first of the
two sub-classes.
Whereas the Placentals, as already indicated, are split up into the ten
POUCHED MAMMALS. 191
orders described above, no such division seems practicable in the case of the
Implacentals. Consequently the whole of them may be included in the single
order Marsupialia, which may be popularly known either as Marsupials or
Pouched Mammals.
Both the technical and popular names of the group are derived from the
very general presence of a more or less fully-developed pouch on the
abdominal surface of the body of the female, into which the imperfectly-
developed young are transferred at birth, and where they remain until
sufficiently advanced to take care of themselves. This pouch is, however,
by no means universally present in the order, and cannot, therefore, be
taken as its distinctive character. The imperfect state of development of the
young at birth is, howevej, absolutely distinctive of all Marsupials ; and when
born the foetuses resemble helpless and nearly motionless sacs of flesh, which
are extremely small in proportion to the size of the parent, those of the large
kangaroos being no larger than a man's thumb. These helpless little abortions
are transferred by their parent immediately after birth to her teats, which
are always situated within the pouch whenever that appendage is developed.
Of course such ill-developed creatures can do nothing in the way of sucking
by themselves, and Nature has accordingly provided a special arrangement
by means of which their wants can be supplied. This arrangement takes the
form of special muscles surrounding the milk glands of the female, which by a
spontaneous contraction compress the glands, and thus force the nourishing
fluid down the throats of the immovable, naked young. In order to prevent
the helpless young from being choked as they hang to the teats of the mother,
the upper part of the larynx, or superior extremity of the windpipe, is so elon-
gated as to project through the fauces, or hinder apertures of the mouth, and
thus reach the internal nostrils. In consequence of this arrangement a closed
passage is formed from the nostrils to the lungs, so that the foetus can
breathe while the milk flows down its throat. The young Marsupials thus
nourished hang on to the nipples of the mother until their bodies and limbs
are sufficiently developed to enable them to move about by themselves ; but,
as in the case of the kangaroos, they frequently resort to the pouch as a haven
of refuge from danger for a long time after they have made their appearance
in the outer world, and it is by no means uncommon for the pouch to be
tenanted by helpless foetuses and half-grown young. Except in the thylacine,
where they are reduced to a rudimental condition, the pouch is supported by
a pair of marsupial or epipubic bones attached to the front edge of the lower
part of the pelvis ; these bones being also present in the male.
In all the Pouched Mammals the brain is characterised by its propor-
tionately small size, and the slight development of the convolutions on its
surface. As already mentioned, the womb or uterus is double throughout
its entire length ; and in most cases the lower border of the angle, or hinder
extremity of the inferior margin of each branch of the lower jaw is more or
less strongly bent inwards. Although there is great variation, both numeri-
cally and structurally, in the dentition, yet there is one feature in regard to
the teeth characteristic of the order generally. This relates to the mode of
succession and replacement of the teeth. Whereas in the great majority of
terrestrial Placentals the whole or the greater number of the teeth
in advance of the true molars (which in that group are typically three in
number on each side of each jaw) are preceded by milk or baby-teeth, in the
Pouched Mammals only one tooth on each side of the jaws has such deciduous
predecessor, and even this is not invariably developed. Regarding the
192 MAMMALIA ORDER XLMARSUPIALIA.
dental succession in the order, the writer may quote the following passage
from a^work he has devoted to the group : "The tooth thus replaced has
been hitherto generally regarded as corresponding to the last or fourth milk-
molar of the higher mammals, while the apparently replacing tooth has con-
sequently been identified with the last or fourth pre-molar of the same.
Recent researches have, however, tended to show that this is not a case of
true replacement at all, and that the tooth, which makes its appearance late
in life, is really a retarded pre-molar, which will consequently be the fourth
of the full series, while the apparently replaced tooth is really the fifth. Be
this as it may, the mode of succession is peculiar and unique ; and it may be
still convenient to speak of the replacing tooth as the fourth pre-molar, and
the one it replaces as the fourth milk-molar." It should be added that some
authorities consider the whole of the teeth of a Marsupial in advance of the
molars as corresponding to the milk-series of the Placentals ; and also that,
when the full series is developed, there are four pairs of molars in each jaw
in the present order.
That the Pouched Mammals are inferior in their organisation to the
Placentals, is admitted by all; and they are also, as shown by their history
in past times, among the oldest, if not actually the oldest, representatives
of the entire class. Tnere is, however, some difference of opinion among
zoologists as to whether this group includes the ancestors from which the
higher mammals have originated.
In regard to their geographical distribution, the Marsupials present some
very curious features. At this present day their head-quarters are the
Notogfeic realm, comprising Australia, Papua, Celebes, and the other islands
lying to the eastward of Wallace's line. And it is here that they attain their
maximum development. Whereas, however, they form the great bulk of the
mammalian population of Australia and Papua, in Celebes and the adjacent
islands they constitute only a small minority of the fauna. Elsewhere,
Pouched Mammals are found only in America, where they are represented by
the opossums and selvas ; and here they are chiefly restricted to South and
Central America, constituting the Neogreic realm, only a single species, which
is evidently an immigrant from the south, inhabiting the northern half of
the continent. During the Secondary epoch of geological history, Marsupials
of extinct generic types were abundant in the northern hemisphere, while in
the succeeding Tertiary epoch opossums flourished in Europe and North
America. It is thus evident that the ancestral Marsupials were driven from
the northern hemisphere by the incoming of the higher forms of mammalian
life to find a secure refuge in southern islands. And it further appears that
while in South America they have had to compete with numerous types of
Eutherians, in Australasia they have had the land pretty much to them-
selves, and have there been enabled to attain the wonderful development so
especially characteristic of that region.
The kangaroos and their immediate allies form a large family
(Macropodidce) belonging to the first of the two great subordinal divisions
of the Pouched Mammals, technically known as the
Kangaroo Diprotodontia. This division, which is mainly confined
Tribe. to the Notogseic realm, is specially characterised by the
number of the front or incisor teeth, of which there are
never more than three pairs ; the usual complement being three pairs in the
upper jaw and one in the lower. The innermost, which are in some cases
the only pair of incisors in both jaws, are always large, with sharp, cutting
POUCHED MAMMALS. 193
edges, while generally the upper canines, if present at all, are small, and
the lower ones are absent. Among the cheek-teeth, the four pairs of
molar-teeth have .broad, quadrangular crowns, generally surmounted either
by a pair of transverse ridges or by four blunt and rounded tubercles.
Such a type of dentition is adapted for a vegetable diet, which is charac-
teristic of the diprotodonts generally.
From the allied families the kangaroo tribe are specially distinguished by
possessing rooted teeth, among which are three pairs of upper and one of
lower incisors, the upper incisors being nearly vertical, while the large lower
pair project nearly horizontally forwards, and in some cases are capable of
working against one another like the blades of a pair of scissors. A small
upper canine may or may not be present. The five-toed fore-limbs are in
general much shorter and weaker than the hinder pair, while the latter are
generally four-toed, and have the digit corresponding to the fourth of the
typical series of five greatly developed at the expense of the other three,
and forming the sole axis of support for the limb. Of the smaller toes, the
second and third, or those on the inner side of the enlarged digit, are enclosed
in a common skin, from which feature the hind-foot of this family is termed
syndactylous. The great relative size and strength of the hind- limbs of the
more typical members of the family is correlated with the upright position of
the body, and the mode of progression is by enormous leaps. In repose the
body is swung on a kind of pivot supported by the thigh-bones, the feet
resting on the ground, and the large and thick tail serving to form the third
leg of a tripod. Among the smaller forms the tail may be prehensile ; and
there are a few arboreal types in which the disproportion between the fore
and hind limbs is very much less strongly marktd than is the case with the
typical kangaroos. All feed entirely on grass or leaves ; and the stomach, as
is so frequently the case with vegetable feeders, is of a somewhat complex
type. In the females the opening of the pouch is forwards, so that when it
contains young, these are in an upright, position. The members of the
family are confined to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea, with some of
the neighbouring islands, such as the Aru group ; the true kangaroos, which
generally associate in large herd, or "mobs," and frequent either open
grassy plains or timbered districts, being the largest existing members of the
order.
The true kangaroos and wallabies, constituting the genus Macropus, are
the typical representatives of a sub- family (Macropodince) characterised by
the sub-equality of the claws of the fore-feet, which are never very large,
and the generally elongated and pointed ears. In the dentition the last
upper pre-molar is placed either immediately in the line of the molars, or is
at most but slightly everted ; and the molars, which increase regularly in
size from the first to the fourth, are transversely ridged. As a rule, the
upper canine is either very small or wanting, and the central pair of upper
incisors are but slightly larger than the other two. From the other members
of the sub-family the numerous species contained in the genus Macropus
have the nose naked, the ears large, and the fur on the nape of the neck
nearly always directed downwards. The disproportion between the length
of the fore and hind limbs is very strongly marked ; and the large claw of
the hind-foot is always larger than the naked terminal pad on the sole of
the same. The tail is thick, tapering, and evenly haired throughout ;
and there are four teats in the pouch of the females. There are upwards of
twenty-three species included in the genus, which may be arranged under
14
194
MAMMALIA ORDER XI.MARSUP1ALIA.
the heading of kangaroos proper, and larger and lesser wallabies. While
the great grey kangaroo (M. giganteus) has the stature of a man, some of the
smaller wallabies are no bigger than a rabbit. The great majority of the
species are confined to Australia and Tas-
mania, but the agile wallaby (M. agilis) is
common to Australia and New Guinea,
while the Aru Island wallaby (M. brnnii) is
restricted to the Aru and Kei Islands, and
the sombre wallaby (M. browui) is common
to New Guinea and the New Britain group.
From the true kangaroos the larger wal-
labies differ by their more brilliant coloration,
and the presence of a longitudinal external
bridge connecting the anterior ledge of the
molars with the first of the two transverse
ridges, coupled with the absence of a median
longitudinal bridge between the same ledge
and ridge. The habits of kangaroos and
wallabies have been so often described as
to render a repetition unnecessary.
From the preceding genus the six species
of rock -wallabies (Petrogale) are distin-
guished by the shortness of the large claw
of the hind-foot, which only slightly exceeds
the naked pads on the sole in length, and
by the long cylindrical tail being thinner,
more thickly haired, and tufted at the tip.
These wallabies are restricted to the Australian mainland, and differ from the
true wallabies by inhabiting rocky districts instead of open plains. Their
climbing and leaping powers are highly developed ; but the tail is employed
solely as a balancing organ, and never as a support to the body. The
presence of a horny spur or nail of unknown function at the tip of the long,
tapering, and short-haired tail is a sufficiently distinctive feature of the three
nail-tailed wallabies constituting the genus OnychogaU. In addition to this,
these animals have the nose hairy (with the exception in some cases of the
base of the partition between the two nostrils) ; while the large claw of
the hind-foot is long, narrow, compressed, and sharply pointed. There is
also a difference in the form of the upper incisor teeth. Like the rock-
wallabies, the members of this genus are restricted to continental Australia.
The same is the case with the three species of hare-wallabies (Lagorchestes), in
which the nose is entirely or partially covered with hair, the large claw of the
hind-foot is long, stout, and not concealed by hair, while the rather short tail
is evenly haired throughout its length. In some respects forming a con-
necting link between the genus Macropus and the under- mentioned tree-
kangaroos, the three species of dorca kangaroos (Dorcopsis) are confined to
New Guinea, and present the following distinctive features. The excess in
the length of the hind over the fore-limbs is much less strongly marked than
in the true kangaroo and wallabies ; there is a large and broad portion
of the nose completely naked ; the head is long and narrow, with small ears ;
the fur on the nape of the neck is entirely or partially reversed, so as to
be directed forwards towards the head. In both jaws the fourth pre-molar
is a compressed cutting tooth, greatly elongated, from before backwards, and
Fig. 10 2. -BENNETT'S WALLABY
(Macropus ualabatus).
POUCHED MAMMALS.
195
having its surfaces marked by upright grooves, and a distinct ledge on the
base of the inner side. The direction of the two series of cheek-teeth is
nearly parallel. Although it is known that they are not arboreil, nothing
definite has been ascertained in regard to the habits of these rather small
kangaroos.
More remarkable than all are the tree-kangaroos (Dendrolagus\ of which
three species are known from New Guinea, and two from Queensland.
In general build these animals are of fairly
normal proportions, and quite unlike ordinary
kangaroos, the fore-limbs being strong, stout,
and nearly equal in length to the hinder pair.
The naked portion of the nose is broad and
covered with sparse hairs ; and the fur on the
nape of the neck is reversed, as is sometimes
also that of the back. In the broad hind-foot the
two united inner toes are not very markedly
smaller than the other two ; while the stoub
and strong claws of the latter are nearly as
curved as those of the fore foot. The elon-
gated tail is thickly and evenly haired. One
of the species measures 26 in. to the root
of the tail. Regarding the habits of one of
the Queensland species, Mr. E. R. Waite,
writing in the "Proceedings of the Linnsean
Society of New South Wales," observes that
"the native name is mapi, and the animals
are difficult to procure, as the blacks esteem
them as a delicacy, and only surrender their
captures when compelled. When a mapi is
discovered, a fence 5 or 6 ft. in height and several feet in diameter is
built of rattan and bushes round the tree. Some of the blacks enter the
enclosure, ascend the tree, and drive the animal down. It usually jumps to
the ground, often from a height of 20 ft. Should it elect to descend
ths trunk, it does so tail- foremost. On reaching the ground the animal
is eventually caught by the men surrounding the enclosure, generally
by the tail, which member is dragged through the fence, the unfortunate
mapi being despatched with blows from a nulla-nulla. The blacks will not
venture within the fence on account of the dread in which they hold the
powerful claws of the animal. The natives who hunted for Dr. Lumholtz
[the discoverer of the first example of this species made known to science]
called the animal bungary, and adopted a somewhat different method of
capture." Regarding the second Queensland species of the genus (Z>.
bennettianus), a correspondent wrote to Mr. Waite as follows : "The
native name of the climbing kangaroo is charibeena. The blacks hunt them
with dogs and are very fond of the flesh. I had often heard the blacks
talking about them, but though I have been here nearly ten years it was
only about three years ago that I succeeded in obtaining one. In the
daytime they are found among the top branches of the trees and come down
in the evening to feed upon creepers, ferns, and fruit. I have found several
down on the flat land, but as a rule they seem to be most numerous on or
near the top of the hill ridges here, which are about 1500 to 2500 ft. high.
When found in the daytime, the animals generally sleep with the heads
Fig. 103. -TREE KANGAROO
(Dendrolagus).
196 MAMMALIA ORDER XI.MARSUPIALIA.
hanging on the breasts between the fore-limbs, and the tail is used as a
balancing pole. At first I could not induce the blacks to catch any of the
charibeenas, as they said that a full-grown one would show fight, but when
I went with them and caught the first one myself with a lasso they saw how
easy it was, and have since always caught them in this manner, except when
o'ut of reach ; in this case they make the animal jump; as soon as it reaches
the ground one boy holds its head down with a forked stick while another
passes a bag over its hind-quarters and slips it over its head. The best time
to hunt them is early in the morning while the scent is fresh. A dingo, or
mongrel the former preferred is used, and follows the scent to the foot of
the tree which the kangaroo has climbed to camp for the day. If the
tree be a low one, it is tolerably easy to find the animal, but it often
happens that they go from one tree to another before they find a suitable
'camp,' and then it becomes necessary for a native to ascend a high tree in
the vicinity so as to be able to look down on the surrounding trees, as the
kangaroo sits right out in the sun and is more easily seen from above than
from below. If one approaches quietly, it is quite easy to catch the animal
by the tail and slip it into a bag while up the tree ; but the least noise rouses
them, and it is surprising how quickly they can travel, jumping sometimes
20 to 30 ft. from one tree to another, and I have seen one jump
fully 60 ft, from a high tree to the ground and not hurt itself at all.
When jumping it seems always to land on its fore-feet, and though I have
repeatedly shaken them down from great heights, I have never seen one
injured, as they always, like a cat, fall on their feet. The tail is never used
to hang by, only to balance with, though I have often seen one bend its tail
over a branch while it reached down below the branch upon which it was
sitting to secure some berries. These kangaroos can stiffen the tail so that it
stands straight out like a rod. When caught and kept in captivity they soon
become quiet and take readily to eating bread, sweet potatoes, apples,
oranges, mangoes, and the rinds of sweet potatoes and yams ; also the leaves
of several of the eucalypti, white cedar, and many other trees, the names of
which I do not know. In the scrub they seem to have a partiality for the
bird's-nest fern, the moustera, and a small climber like the pepper-plant, and
eat almost any of the wild fruits which are so plentiful here. The males are
very pugnacious, and if two of them be put into an enclosure together will
often fight until one is killed. They spar with the fore-paws in quite a
scientific manner, uttering grunts all the time, till one sees an opportunity of
closing with the other, when -he makes straight for the back of the neck, and
if he succeeds in getting a grip with his teeth, he shakes the other like a dog
does a rat. Some of the old males have quite a harem, and keep their wives
from straying apart, and do not let any other males go near them. I have
found several of these families numbering from three to five females and one
male. The young males, and also the very old ones, are generally found by
themselves, or two or three of them together without any females. I think
they breed twice a year, and have only one young one at birth. The
kangaroos are most plentiful among rocky hills, where the scrub is thick and
stunted, and though they feed both on the ground and in the trees and
among rocks, I fancy that they feed mostly in the two latter places." With
the single species of banded-wallaby (Lagostrophus fasciatus) from Western
Australia, we again come to a genus in which the general build is the same
as in Macropus; the nose being naked, the hind-feet covered with long
bristly hairs by which the claws are completely hidden, and the back marked
POUCHED MAMMALS. 197
by dark cross-bands. The banded-wallaby is a comparatively small species,
measuring only about 18 in. to the root of the tail.
Still smaller are the rat-kangaroos, of Australia and Tasmania, of which
there are several distinct generic types, collectively constituting the sub-
family Potoroince. Of this group the distinctive characteristics are as
follows : In size all the forms are small, and may be compared to hares or
rabbits, the ears being usually small and rounded. In the fore-feet the
claws are greatly elongated, those of the three middle toes being dispro-
portionately larger than those of the other two ; as in the MacropodincR,
there are only four toes to the hind-foot ; and the long tail is hairy. In the
dentition the upper canines are invariably present and generally well-
developed ; the central pair of upper incisors have taller crowns than either
of the other two ; the fourth pre-molar, which is a compressed and trenchant
tooth of great antero-posterior length, may either be set in the same line as
the molars, or somewhat bent outwards in front ; and the molars, which
decrease in size from the first to the fourth, have tuberculated crowns. The
three species of typical rat-kangaroos forming the genus Potorous vary
somewhat in size, and have the nose naked, the ears very short and rounded,
the front claws long and somewhat slender, the hind-limbs nob very much
larger than the front ones, the hind-feet very short, with naked and coarsely-
granulated soles, and the tapering hairy tail devoid of a crest. In the
dentition the fourth pre-molar has from two to four vertical grooves. These
rat-kangaroos, which generally inhabit scrub-jungle, have their leaping
powers much less strongly developed than in the allied genera. In running,
both fore and hind limbs are brought into action. Nearly allied in external
character is the South Australian plain rat- kangaroo (Caloprymnus campestris),
which is an animal of comparatively large size, with the nose and ears as in
the typical genus, the front claws long and strong, the hind-feet relatively
long, with coarsely-granular soles, and the tail thin, cylindrical, and covered
evenly with short hair. While the last pre-molar is similar to that of the
preceding genus, the skull is generally like that of the next. The four species
of prehensile-tailed rat-kangaroos (Bettongia) are sufficiently distinguished
by the feature from which they take their popular name. The hair on
the tail is long, and forms a more or less distinct crest ; the last pre-molar
is much elongated, with from seven to fifteen distinctly-marked, oblique
grooves on the sides ; and the squared molars, of which the fourth is much
the smallest, carry four tubercles. These little animals are completely
terrestrial and nocturnal, using their prehensile tails solely for the purpose
of carrying bundles of grass and twigs to their nest ; such bundles being held
by the tail being bent down over and round them. Three of the species are
Australian, and the fourth Tasmanian. The last member of the sub-family
is the rufous rat-kangaroo (dEpyprymnus rufescens) of New South Wales, in
which the nose is partially hairy, the ears are somewhat elongated, the hind-
feet long, with narrow, granulated soles, and the tail evenly-haired. The
long and narrow last pre-molar has from seven to eight vertical grooves, but
no inner ledge ; and the molars are oblong, with the tubercles less distinct
and tending more to form ridges than in the other genera, while the decrease
in size from the first to the last is less marked. Like the other members of
the group, this animal is nocturnal, but it is remarkable for its speed and
the great length of its leaps when disturbed.
Of especial interest is the tiny musk-kangaroo (Hypsiprymnodon moschatus)
of Northern Queensland, since it forms a connecting link between the
198 MAMMALIA ORDER XI.MARSUriALIA.
kangaroo tribe on the one hand, and the phalangers on the other. Indeed,
it is chiefly owing to the presence of a pocket like pit on the outer side of
the hinder part of the bone of the lower jaw that it is referred to the
present rather than to the following family. It is regarded as representing
a distinct sub-family (Hypsiprymnodontince) of the Macropodidce, characterised
by the small, weak, and nearly equal-sized claws, the presence of five toes in
the hind foot (the first of which can be opposed to the rest), the naked and
scaly tail, and the oblique position of the short last pre-molar tooth. In size
this creature is very small, with a rat- like bodily form, a completely bare nose,
large, thin, and naked ears, the hind and fore limbs of nearly equal length,
and adapted for walking, the first toe of the hind-foot elongated and without
a claw, the fourth toe of the same not abnormally large, and the tail cylin-
drical and tapering, with some hair at the root. The musk-kangaroo is a
partially arboreal animal, which is mainly diurnal, and frequents scrubs on
the banks of rivers and in the coast-range. Either one or two young are
produced at a birth ; and the characteristic musky odour is more pronounced
in the female than in her partner.
Owing to the intermediate characters presented by the musk-kangaroo,
the differentiation of the phalanger tribe (Phalangeridce) from the Macropodidce
is by no means so easy as would be the case were that
Phalanger creature non-existent. There are, however, two leading
Tribe. features which may be regarded as absolutely distinctive of
the former group. In the first place, each branch of the
lower jaw-bone lacks the deep pocket-like pit on the outer side of its hinder
extremity so characteristic of the kangaroo tribe ; and, secondly, the
aperture of the pouch of the female is directed backwards instead of forwards.
Among other more or less distinctive features, the following may be
enumerated : Five toes are present in both the hind and fore feet, those of
the latter being usually of nearly equal size ; while in those of the former the
second and third are syndactylous, the fourth is the largest, the fifth but
little smaller, and the first large, opposable to the rest, and terminating in a
broad, clawless pad. With the exception of the koala, the tail is long and
generally prehensile ; and the stomach is simple. The dentition is extremely
variable, owing to the frequent presence of a number of small functionless
teeth in the front portion of the jaws. It may be said, however, that, as a
general rule, there are three pairs of upper, and one of functional lower
incisors, and that the latter never have the scissor-like action characteristic
of the kangaroos. The last of the two or three pre-molars usually present is
generally furnished with a rather sharp-cutting edge, and is placed obliquely
to the line of t.he molars, with its front edge everted ; and the molars, of
which there are usually four pairs, have either blunt tubercles, or sharp-
cutting crests. The family includes not only the animals properly known as
cuscuses and phalangers (the mis-called opossums of the Australian colonists),
but likewise the flying-phalangers, the koala or native bear, and the long-
snouted pouched mouse. The geographical range of this extensive family
includes not only Australia, Tasmania, and Papua, but likewise Celebes, and
some of the other Austro-Malayan islands. The koala and long-snouted
pouched mouse are, however, exclusively Australian. All are essentially
arboreal and nocturnal in their mode of life, most using their prehensile tails
to assist in climbing, while a few are enabled to take (like the flying squirrels)
long flying leaps by the aid of parachute-like expansions of skin from the
sides of the body. The great majority of the phalanger tribe are vegetable
rOUC HE D MAMMALS.
199
feeders, subsisting mainly on fruits and leaves ; but a few consume insects,
which form either the whole or a portion of their diet, and some are
carnivorous.
The peculiar animal known as the koala (Phascolarctus cinereus), which
presents some external resemblance to a small bear, is the sole representative
of a sub- family (PhascolarctinoR) characterised
by the following distinctive features: The tail
is absent, the muzzle fhort and broad, the
tongue non-extensile, the cheeks furnished
with pouches for the storage of food, the
intestine provided with a ccecum, or blind
appendage, the teeth relatively large, and only
a single pair of pre-molars in the upper jaw.
In size the koala is a rather large animal,
measuring about 32 in. in length. Its build is
stout and clumsy, and the thick woolly fur is
generally greyish above and whitish below. The
large ears are thickly haired and ragged at the
edges ; the front toes are sub-equal in length,
the fourth being the longest and the first the
shortest, while both the first and second can be
opposed to the other two. The strong claws
are thick and sharp, and in both the fore and
hind limbs the soles of the feet are simply
granulated, and have no striated pads. The
female has a single pair of teats. In the
skeleton there are eleven pairs of ribs, and the
upper molar teeth have short, broad, and squared crowns, bearing curved
longitudinal crests, of which the convexity is directed outwards. The
koala, which is confined to Eastern Australia, is a dull, sluggish creature,
addicted to crawling on the stems and branches of gum-trees in a deliberate
lazy manner, and feeding mainly on leaves and flowers. During the day-
time it generally lies asleep in the hollow of some forest giant, but at night
prowls among the topmost branches in search of food, the females carrying
their offspring securely perched on their backs, where the woolly fur affords
them a secure foothold. Only a single young one is produced at a birth,
and the adults seem to be more or less completely solitary animals.
The second sub-family (Phalangerince), which includes all the other
members of the family save one, may be defined as follows: The tail,
which is always well-developed, is generally prehensile, the muzzle is short
and broad, the tongue is incapable of extension, there are no cheek-pouches,
the intestine has a csecum, the stomach is simple, and the teeth are compara-
tively large. The first and typical genus (Phalanger) is represented by the cus-
cuses, of which there are five species, ranging from Celebes and the Moluccas
to Australia and New Guinea. They are rather large, or medium-sized,
somewhat cat-like animals, of stout build, with thick and woolly fur, which
may be either coarse and wiry, or fine and silky, and moderate-sized or small
ears. In the fore-feet the toes are nearly equal in length, their relative
lengths being in the order 4, 3, 5, 2, 1. The long claws of all the feet are
stout and curved, and the naked soles are striated, with large and ill-defined
cushion-like pads. The prehensile tail is stout and strong, with its ter-
minal portion naked, and either smooth or granulated. Two pairs of
Fig. 104. KOALA (Phascolarctus
cinereus).
200
MAMMALIA ORDER XL MARSUriALIA.
teats are borne by the female. Cuscuses are slow and sleepy animals,
completely arboreal and mainly herbivorous in their habits, passing the
day curled up asleep among the densest foliage of forest trees, and only be-
coming active as the shades of evening
approach. A great amount of varia-
tion obtains in the coloration of the
different sexes and individuals of the
same species, while there is frequently
some difference in the teeth. \\ hereas
in the black cuscus of Celebes (P.
ursinus) both sexes are of a uniformly
dark blackish brown colour ; in the
widely distributed spotted cuscus (P.
maculatus) the sexes are generally
different, and the coloration takes the
Fig. 105. -SPOTTED Ccscus (Phalanger form of various combinations of white,
maculatua). rufous, and black, the females being
generally grey and black, while the
smaller males are usually spotted, although occasionally they resemble an
ordinary grey female, save for a few indistinct whitish spots on the flanks and
back. Nearly allied to the cuscuses are the true phalangers (Trichosurus)
the opossums of the colonists of which the two species are restricted to the
Australian mainland and Tasmania. These also are large, stoutly-built cat-
like animals, with thick, woolly fur, and short or medium ears. The front
toes may be -distinguished from those of the cuscuses in that relative lengths
follow the order 4, 3, 2, 5, 1 ; the claws being large and strong, and the soles
of the hind-feet densely haired beneath the heel, but elsewhere naked, and
furnished with low, rounded, ill-defined pads. In the powerful pre-
hensile tail the terminal third or half ia bare infcriorly, and the
extreme tip devoid of hair all round. A peculiar gland is situated
in the centre of the chest. Among the teeth, the molars have four
cusps, tending to unite into a pair of transverse ridges ; and the last
pre-molar, which closely approximates to the corresponding tooth of
Hypsiprymnodon, is large, placed obliquely, and marked by vertical groov-
ings. The common phalanger (T. vulpinus) takes up its habitation in the
branches of the tallest red and blue
gum-trees of the Australian and Tas-
manian forests, passing the day in
slumber, and wandering forth at night
to brouse on their leaves, bulbs, and
seeds. In climbing, they are much
aided by their highly prehensile tails ;
and on the rare occasions when they
descend to the ground, it is probably
for the purpose of drinking. In the
breeding season, and less commonly at
other times, phalangers utter a loud
cry ; and, as a rule, but one offspring
is produced at a birth, although there
may occasionally be a pair. More numerous, and at the same time more
widely distributed than the preceding, are the ring-tailed-phalangers
(Pseudochirus), of which there are eleven specific representatives, whose
Fig. 106. COMMON PHALANGER (Trichosurus
vul^inus).
POUCHED MAMMALS. 201
geographical range includes New Guinea, as well as Australia and Tasmania.
While some are as large as the true phalangers, others are considerably
smaller ; but all possess short and rather woolly fur, and stout and medium
sized ears, which are well haired on the hind aspect. The relative lengths of the
toes of the fore-foot hold the same order as in the cuscuses ; but the first and
second toes resemble those of the koala in being markedly opposable to the
other three. In both feet the claws are of moderate length, and the bare
soles are provided with large striated pads. The long and tapering tail has
the lower surface of the extremity devoid of hair for a variable distance,
and is highly prehensile. Four teats are present in the female. The upper
molars are large and oblong, with the tubercles modified into sharp cusps,
from which proceed crescentic ridges ; the corresponding lower teeth having
a nearly similar structure. In habits the common ring-tailed-phalanger
differs from the true phalangers in that it prefers the so-called tea-scrub to
the gum-trees ; and also in that it generally associates in small colonies.
These animals construct small nests, not unlike the drey of a squirrel ; and
whereas usually but a single young one is produced at a birth, occasionally as
many as three may be found in the pouch. Nearly allied in the structure of
its skull and teeth to the preceding genus is the taguan flying-phalanger
(Petauroides volans\ which is the first of three genera provided with a para-
chute for the purpose of taking flying leaps from tree to tree. This species
is of comparatively large size, measuring about 17 in. to the root of the tail,
while the latter is about 20 in. in length. The fur of the body is remarkable
for its long, soft, and silky character ; the unusually large ears are oval in
form, and bare internally, but hairy on the outside ; and the skin of the
flanks is expanded to form a parachute. The long claws are much curved
and sharply pointed ; and the tail is long, cylindrical, and evenly covered
with bushy hair, its extreme tip being prehensile and destitute of hair on
the lower surface. The habits of this and the other flying-phalangers are
very similar to those of the flying-squirrels ; and in Australia these animals
are commonly known by the latter name. The present species is confined to
Eastern Australia.
Two species of rather small phalangers, ranging from Northern Australia to
New Guinea and the Aru Islands, constitute a genus (Dactylopsila) distinguished
by the great elongation of the fourth digit of the front paws, and the conspicuous
black and white longitudinal striping of the fur of the body. In these striped-
phalangers, which are devoid of a parachute, the oval ears have nearly naked
tips. In the front paws the length of the digits follows the order 4, 3, 5, 2, 1,
the inequality in their lengths, as in the hind-feet where the fourth and fifth
a-re much elongated being very marked. A prominent soft pad is situated
on the wrist ; and the claws are long. The long and cylindrical tail is evenly
bushy throughout, except the under surface of the tip, which is bare. The
oblong molars bear four simple tubercles. Some degree of doubt exists as
to the reason for the elongation of the fourth digit of the fore-paws. The
suggestion has, indeed, been made that the elongation is for the purpose of
extracting insects and grubs from beneath the bark and from crevices in
trees, and consequently that these phalangers are largely, if not exclusively
insectivorous ; but other writers consider that they subsist on leaves. From
the striped-phalangers the little Leadbeater's-phalanger (Gymnobelideus lead-
beateri) of Victoria, which measures only 5 in. to the root of the long tail,
differs by the normal proportions of the toes ; the length of those of the
fore-feet following the order 4, 3, 5, 2, 1. The claws are rather short ; the
2O2
MAMMALIA ORDER AY. MARSUPIALIA.
Fig. 107. FliYINO-PHALANQBR
(Petaurus breoiceps).
large ears entirely naked and untufted ; and the tail, which exceeds the
head and body in length by about an inch, is cylindrical and bushy. With
the exception of the last, which is triangular, the upper molars are square,
with rounded corners, and carry four tubercles.
Several peculiarities cnaracte-rise the skull.
From their similarity in cranial and dental
characters to the last, it is believed that
the three species of flying - phalangers form-
ing the genus Petaurus have been evolved
either from an ancestral form of G ymnolelideus,
or some nearly allied type. Ihese animals,
which are of small or medium size, have a
soft and silky fur, rather large, oval, and almost
naked ears, and a broad parachute-like expansion
of the skin of the flanks. In the fore-foot the
toes gradually increase in length from the first,
the fifth attaining the maximum elongation in
the largest species, and the fourth in the two
smaller ones. The claws, which are longer than
in the preceding genus, are strong, sharp, and
highly curved ; and the long tail is evenly
bushy throughout. Both the chest and the
crown of the head bear a gland. The range of the genus includes New-
Guinea and part of Australia, extending from Victoria to the islands of the
Halmahera group. All the three species are inhabitants of Australia ; a
variety of one (P. breviceps) being peculiar to New Guinea, New Britain, the
Halmahera group, and certain other islands. Writing cf one of the species,
Bennett observes that " it retires either between the forked branches or in
the hollow cavities of the trees during the day to sleep, and at night passes
from one to another by flying leaps, aided by its parachute-like membrane,
descending to the ground only from unavoidable necessity, such as when the
trees are so far apart as to render it impossible to traverse the space by
leaping. "
With the pretty little dormouse-phalangers (Dromicia), of which there are
four species, ranging over New Guinea, Western Australia, and Australia, we
revert to a genus unprovided with a parachute. In addition to this feature
and their small dimensions, the dormouse-phalangers are characterised by
their large, thin, and almost naked ears ; the normal proportions of the toes,
which in the fore-limb follow the order 3, 4, 2, 5, 1, as regards relative
length ; and the short and rudimental fore-claws. The cylindrical tail is
well furred only near the root, being elsewhere scaly and sparsely covered
with short hairs, except at the extremity, where it is roughened and completely
naked beneath, and endowed with the power of prehension. With the ex-
ception of the last, which may be wanting, the molars have regularly rounded
crowns, carrying four tubercles each. These little animals, one of which is
rather smaller than the British dormouse, are purely nocturnal creatures,
living on fruits, honey, and insects, and hiding during the daytime in the
hollows, or beneath the dead strips of bark which han-g down from the stems
of gum-trees. One species undergoes a partial hibernation during the colder
months of the year. A curious resemblance is presented by the pretty little
pen-tailed-phalanger of New Guinea (Distcechurus pennatus) to the pen-tailed
tree-shrew (Ptilocercus) among the lasectivora described on page 44, in that
POUCHED MAMMALS. 203
both have the long hairs of the elongated tail arranged in two opposite
lateral rows like the vanes of a feather. Whereas, however, in the shrew
these vanes occupy only the terminal portion of the tail, in the phalanger
they extend uninterruptedly throughout its length. In addition to this very
important feature and the absence of a parachute, the pen-tniled-phalanger is
characterised by its rather short and thinly-haired ears, which have several
tufts near the base, the normal length of the toes, and the sharp and curved
claws. The molars, of which there are invariably but three pairs, are small
and rounded, with smooth, unridged cusps, and the last pre-molar is very
small in the upper jaw, and wanting in the lower. Only a single pair of teats
is present in the female. The third genus in which a parachute is developed
is Acrobates, comprising the two species of pigmy-flying-phalangers, one of
which is Australian and the other Papuan. And since these beautiful little
animals, although considerably smaller, resemble the pen-tailed-phalanger,
not only in the structure of their skulls and teeth, but likewise in their
vaned tails, it is pretty evident that they are derived from the same ancestral
stock. The pigmy-phalangers have moderate-sized ears, a narrow para-
chute-like expansion of skin along the flanks, and the toes which are of
normal proportions terminating in a broad striated pad. In the fore-foot
the length of the digits follows the general order of 4, 3, 5, 2, 1, and the
claws, although not very prominent, are sharp and well developed.
Additional differences from Distcechurus are to be found in the larger size of
the upper pre-molar, and the presence of the corresponding tooth in the
lower jaw, and likewise in the existence of two pairs of teats in the pouch
of the female. The Australian species, which measures 3 in. to the root of
the tail, is a far less brilliantly-coloured animal than its Papuan ally. It is
commonly known as the flying-mouse, and was formerly abundant about
Port- Jackson, but nothing very definite has been ascertained in regard to its
mode of life.
The last sub-family (Tarsipedinoe) of the tribe under consideration is repre-
sented only by the elegant little long-snouted -phalanger (Tarsipes rostratiis) of
Western Australia. The sub-family is characterised by the elongation of the
tail, the long and slender muzzle, the extensile tongue, the absence of a caecum,
or blind appendage to the intestine, and the minute size and rudimental
character of the cheek-teeth. As a genus, the animal, which measures about
3 in. to the root of the tail, may be characterised as follows : The size is
small and the form light and graceful ; while the long and narrow head is
furnished with ears of moderate size, which are but thinly covered with hair ;
and the soles of the feet are naked and granulated. With the exception of
those of the united second and third toes of the hind-foot, the claws are
rudimental ; and the tail, which exceeds the head and body in length by
about an inch, is thinly haired and prehensile. Four teats are present in the
pouch of the female. Although the upper canine and the lower incisor teeth
are fairly well developed, there are at most but three pairs of molars, and the
E re-molars are reduced to a single pair in the upper jaw. A remarkable
mature is the absence of any inflection of the angle of the very slender
lower jaw. The long-snouted-phalanger appears to be an exceedingly rare
animal, inhabiting flowering shrubs, from the blossoms of which it extracts
honey by the insertion of its highly extensile tongue.
The three species of wombat, all of which are confined to Tasmania
and Australia south of the tropics, and are included in the single genus
Phascolomysy are the sole representatives of the third and last family of
204 MAMMALIA ORDER XI.MARSUPIALIA.
Australian diprotodont marsupials (Phascolomyidce). They are clumsily-built
animals, differing from all the members of the group hitherto mentioned
by their burrowing habits ; and they may be regarded as
Wombats. occupying among the Australian fauna the position held in
other regions by the burrowing rodents. Curiously enough,
they also approximate to the latter order in the nature of their dentition,
the incisors being reduced to a single cutting pair in each jaw, behind which
comes a long gap, without any canines, till the cheek-teeth are reached.
Stout and clumsy in form, the wombats have a short and broad muzzle ;
thick, short, and strong limbs of nearly equal length in front and behind ;
the fore-feet with five nearly sub-equal and powerfully-clawed toes ; the first
hind-toe short and clawless, the remaining toes of the same foot having strong
and curved claws, and the second and third imperfectly united by a common
skin ; and the tail rudimental. Internally, the stomach is simple, and the
intestine is furnished with a caecum. The teeth are rootless throughout life ;
the large, curved, and chisel-like incisors having enamel only on the front
and sides ; and the five pairs of cheek-teeth are strongly curved, the molars
consisting of two lobes, but the pre- molars with only one. As regards their
habits, it will suffice to say that wombats are harmless, inoffensive animals,
burrowing deeply in the ground, and subsisting on the roots which they thus
disinter. They are entirely nocturnal, never issuing from their holes till
evening, and returning to them with the first rays of morning.
A distinct family (Epanorthidce) is now represented solely by two small rat-
like South American animals, which, from the estate where the second
example was obtained, may be known as the selvas. One was
Selvas. originally described and referred to the present order under
the name of Hyracodon fidiginosus, in the year 1863, upon
the evidence of a specimen obtained in Ecuador ; but the description was
so insufficient that naturalists had no clue to its affinities. In the autumn
of 1895 a second example was obtained from Colombia, which showed that it
indicated a type of marsupial hitherto known only from fossil forms occurring
in the Tertiary rocks of Patagonia, which have been described under the
names of Epanorthus, Abderites, etc. As the name Hyracodon had been
previously employed for an extinct genus of mammals, the selvas were at
the same time re-christened Ccenolcstes.
The selvas have an elongated skull somewhat like that of the Australian-
bandicoots, with four pairs of upper incisor teeth and a large pair of canines,
and thus resemble the Polyprotodont type. In the lower jaw there is,
however, a single pair of horizontally- projecting lower incisors, not unlike
those of the kangaroo, behind which are several pairs of small functionless
teeth representing the other incisors, canine, and earlier pre-molars. In
both jaws the four pairs of molars are oblong teeth, with four blunt cusps,
and thus totally unlike the corresponding teeth of the opossums and other
members of the Polyprotodont sub-order. The feet are of normal type, with
five toes each, of which the first appears to be opposable in a limited degree
to the others ; and the rat-like tail is partially prehensile towards the
extremity. Externally, the selvas look very like small, blackish rats, with
a sharp nose.
In all probability, these animals and their extinct allies are descendants from
a group of Polyprotodont Marsupials whose remains are found in the Tertiary
deposits of Patagonia, and whose ancestors reached South America by means
of a land connection perhaps by way of the Antarctic continent with
POUCHED MAMMALS. 205
Australia. Unlike the opossums, which are comparatively recent immigrants
from the North, the selvas, like the edentates, belong to the original primitive
fauna of South America, which was first developed when that country was
completely cut off from North America by a sea occupying the site of the
Isthmus of Panama and Mexico.
The bandicoots (Peramelidce) are the first representatives of the secotid
great subordinal division of the pouched mammals, technically known as the
Polyprotodontia. This name is assigned from the circum-
stance that these animals differ from the preceding group Bandicoot
by the larger number of incisor teeth, of which there are Tribe,
never less than three pairs in each jaw, while more generally
there are four or five pairs of these teeth in the upper, and three or four in the
lower jaw. These incisors are always relatively small and of subequal size,
and they are flanked by large, tusk-like canines, close behind which are the
anterior cheek-teeth. Nearly always the cusps of the molars are numerous
and sharp ; and the whole dentition is of a markedly carnivorous type. In
all their characters, the Polyprotodonts are a less specialised group than the
Diprotodonts ; and they have at the present day a wide geographical
distribution, being represented not only in the Notogseic realm, but likewise
in South America, and, more sparingly, in North America. They were also
living in various parts of the world during the Tertiary and Secondary epochs.
In Australasia, and to a certain extent in South America, the members of the
present group all of which are either flesh or insect eaters take the place
of the Carnivora and Insectivora of other parts of the world.
From the other three families included in the sub-order the bandicoots are
broadly distinguished by the circumstance that the second and third toes of
the hind-foot are reduced in size, and enclosed in a common skin in the same
manner as among the Diprotodonts. In addition to this very striking and
characteristic feature, the members of the present family have the hind-limbs
markedly longer than the front pair ; in the fore-limbs the three middle
toes, or occasionally only two, are long and furnished with claws, the others
being rudimental or wanting ; and the hind-foot has either four or five toes
of very unequal lengths, the first toe being rudimental or absent, the second
and third small and united, and the fourth, the stoutest. As in the
phalangers, the opening of the pouch of the female is directed backwards.
Internally, there is a caecum to the intestine ; and in the skeleton collar-
bones are lacking. In the upper jaw there may be either four or five pairs
of incisor teeth, whereas in the lower jaw there are invariably three. The
tail, which is always relatively long, is never prehensile. Bandicoots are
restricted to Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and certain of the adjacent
islands, such as the Aru, Kei, and Duke of York group. In habits they are
mainly fossorial and insectivorous, although a few are more or less completely
omnivorous. Among the more aberrant forms are the rabbit-bandicoots
(Peragale\ of which there appear to be two species, both restricted to the
A ustralian mainland. Their most distinctive feature, and the one from which
they derive their name, is the great length of the ears. In form these animals
are light and delicate, with a long and narrow muzzle. The three middle
toes of the fore-foot are long and furnished with stout, curved claws, and in
the hind-foot all trace of the first toe is wanting externally. The hind-limbs
greatly exceed the front ones in length ; the soles of the hind-feet are hairy ;
and there is a distinct crest of hair on the upper surface of the terminal half
of the tail. The upper jaw carries five pairs of incisor teeth; and the
206 MAMMALIA ORDER XI.MARSUP1ALIA.
molars have a quadrangular or rounded section. In size and habits, these
bandicoots, which are omnivorous, may be compared to a rabbit, which
they resemble in their habit of constructing burrows in places where the soil
is suitable. The true bandicoots (Perameles), of which
there are about a dozen different species, are com-
paratively small animals, ranging over Australia,
Tasmania, Papua, and some of the neighbouring
islands. While some are heavy and ungainly, and
others light and elegant in bodily form, all have long
and pig-like snouts, but the length of the ears is
variable. The three middle toes t>f the fore-foot are
nearly equal in length, and furnished with strong,
curved claws ; while in the hind-foot there is a
clawless first toe, the second and third digits having
flat twisted nails, the fourth exceeding all the rest in
length, and carrying a stout pointed claw, and the fifth
being similar but smaller. The tapering tail may be
either clothed with short hair or almost bare ; and
there are three pairs of teats in the pouch of the
Fig. 108. A BANDICOOT female. In the dentition there are usually five pairs
(Perameles). of upper incisors ; and the upper molars, which may be
either squared or triangular in form, carry sharp cusps.
They are exclusively terrestrial and nocturnal in their habits ; and apparently
feed chiefly on earth-worms, although they also consume insects, grubs, bulbs,
roots, and fallen berries and fruit. Bandicoots make sleeping-nests of dried
grass, leaves, and sticks ; and, in spite of ridding them of worms and insects,
do much harm to gardens and corn-fields. The third and last genus of the
family is represented only by the pig footed bandicoot (Chceropus castanotis)
of Australia, which, although allied to Gunn's bandicoot (Perameles gnnni),
is clearly distinguished by "the very peculiar structure of the feet. In the
fore- foot, the first and fifth toes are absent, the fourth is rudimental, while the
second and third are alone fully developed and furnished with long, slender
claws. Considerably different is the structure of the hind-foot, in which the
first toe is wanting, and the fifth rudimental, the fourth being very large.
Of a grizzled grey colour, and measuring about ten inches to the root of the
tail, the pig-footed bandicoot is an animal of light and slender build, with a
short and narrow muzzle, long and slender ears, and a short, cylindrical tail,
slightly crested on its upper surface. There are five pairs of upper incisors ;
and the pouch of the females contains eight teats. In its habits this animal
closely resembles the other members of the family, burrowing holes in the
ground, and being omnivorous in diet, although feeding chiefly upon insects.
In spite of the number of its teats, the female only produces two young ones
at a birth.
The second of the four families of the Polyprotodonts is characterised by
having a simpler type of foot-structure than obtains in the PeramelidcK, the
second and third digits of the hind-foot being completely
Dasyure Tribe, separate. Hence, it is probable that the Dasyuridce (as the
present family is termed) constitute the original stock from
which the Peramelidce have branched off. In addition to this primary
feature in the structure of the limbs, it may be noticed that there are five
toes to the fore-foot, and that in the hind-foot the first toe is either small or
wanting, while the other four are pretty equally developed. The long and
POUCHED MAMMALS.
207
Fig. 109 T ASM ANI AN- WOLF
(Thylacinus cynocefhalus).
hairy tail is never prehensile ; and the pouch, "when developed, opens
forwards and downwards. Internally, the stomach is simple, and the
intestine devoid of a blind appendage. There are four pairs of incisor teeth
in the upper jaw, and three in the lower ; the entire dentition being of an
essentially carnivorous type, the
upper molars having more or less
distinctly triangular crowns bear-
ing a number of sharp cusps.
Indeed, although a few of the
smaller kinds are more or less com-
pletely insectivorous, the present
family includes all the truly flesh-
eating Australian Marsupials, as
it does the largest members of the
entire sub-order. Geographically,
the range of the group embraces
Australia, Tasmania, and New
Guinea, together with many of
the adjacent islands, exclusive of
the Austro-Malayan group.
Its large size, generally wolf-like form, and striped body are sufficient
to distinguish at a glance the thylacine or Tasmanian-wolf (Thylacinus
cynocephalus) from all its kindred. This animal, which measures about
44 in. to the root of the tail, has a large wolf-like head, with moderate-sized
ears, a long and slender muzzle, and the elongated jaws armed with very
powerful teeth. The long tail is covered with close, short hair. All the
feet are markedly digitigrade, the five toes of the front pair being armed
with short, thick, conical claws, while the hind-feet have but four
toes each. The back is marked with transverse black bands on a
tawny ground. Only four teats are present in the pouch of the
female, and the marsupial bones are rudimental. The full marsupial
number of three pairs of pre-molar teeth are present. Although this
ferocious animal appears to be now restricted to Tasmania, the genus was
represented at a comparatively recent
epoch on the Australian mainland.
It is a nocturnal creature, inhabiting
caves and hollows among rocky fast-
nesses ; and, if seen abroad by day-
light, is dull and sluggish. It never
hunts in pack, and its sole cry appears
to be a dull guttural growl. At the
present day sheep are the chief prey
of the thylacine, as these are both
more numerous and easier to capture
than the diprotodont marsupials upon
which it formerly lived. Four is the
number of young produced in a litter.
Although but little more than half its
size, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus
ursinus) is an even more sanguinary and destructive creature, killing sheep
and fowls, apparently for the mere pleasure of slaughter, long after its
appetite is satiated. In form this animal is very stout and powerful, having
Fig. 110. TASMANIAN-DKVIL
(Sarcophilus ursinus).
208 MAMMALIA ORDER XLMARSUPIALIA.
a short and broad muzzle, wide and rounded ears, an evenly-haired tail of
medium length, and plantigrade feet, in the front pair of which the toes are
armed with strong, curved claws ; while in the hind pair the first digit is
absent, and the naked soles lack well-defined pads. In colour the body is
blackish, flecked with white. As regards the dentition, this differs from
that of the thylacine in that there are only two pairs of pre molars in each
jaw ; while the upper molars, with the exception of the fourth pair, are
strong, triangular, and much shorter and wider. The distribution of the
Tasmanian devil, both now and in the past, is precisely similar to that of its
cousin the thylacine.
Under the common title of native cats are included, in Australia, a number
of considerably smaller predaceous marsupials, usually showing a slender,
weasel-like form of body, although a
few are more stoutly built. These
constitute the genus Dasyurus of zoolo-
gists, of which the leading character-
istics are as follows : The ears are
elongated and narrow ; the bare nose
is marked by a deep, vertical groove
running down to the upper lip ; the
long tail is uniformly and thickly
haired throughout its length ; the feet
are plantigrade, with sharp, curved
Fig. Ill SPOTTED-DASTURB claws, the first toe in the hinder pair
(Dasyurus viverrinus). being either rudimental or absent, and
the partially or wholly naked soles of
the hind-feet are granulated. In all cases the body is marked with spots.
The pouch, which opens vertically downwards, contains either six or eight teats.
The teeth are numerically the same as in Sarcophilus, but much less strongly
developed. Dasyures are found alike in Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea,
and some of the neighbouring islands. They differ from the two preceding
genera, in that the majority are more or less completely arboreal in their
habits ; and they feed not only on flesh, but likewise on insects, being
especially destructive to birds and their eggs. The largest among the six
species is the spotted-tailed dasyure (D. maculatus), from east and south-east
Australia, and Tasmania, which may be compared roughly in size to a cat,
and differs from the rest by having the tail, as well as the body, spotted. It
is further characterised by having well-defined, transversely striated pads
on the soles of the feet, from which it may be inferred that its habits are
largely arboreal. The pouched-mice (Pkascologah), of which no less than
thirteen species are recognised, are smaller animals, differing from the
dasyures in the absence of spots on the fur, and the practical want of the
pouch in the female. In all, the form is slender and graceful ; the ears
are rounded ; the tail is long, but may be either bushy, crested, or
nearly bare, and the broad and short feet terminate in sub-equal
toes furnished with sharp, curved claws. In the hind-foot the first toe
is, however, short and clawless, and the soles of the feet are naked
and smooth, with five transversely striated pads, the first toe frequently
having its pad divided. Except in one species, where the first lower pair
are wanting, there are three pairs of pre-molars in each jaw. The pouched-
mice, which range over Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, the Aru Islands,
etc., are thoroughly arboreal animals, feeding exclusively on insects, and
POUCHED MAMMALS. 209
thus taking the place of the tree-shrews of the Oriental region. Whereas
the largest is not bigger than an ordinary rat, the others are considerably
smaller. In all the Australian species the fur of the back is uniformly
coloured, and the same is the case with a few of the forms inhabiting Papua,
although the majority from that area are longitudinally striped. Four
nearly allied animals, which may be known as the narrow-footed pouched-
mice, and constitute the genus Sminthopns^ are easily distinguished
from the foregoing by the narrow feet which are either partially haired
or naked, with the bare portion granulated, and with or without pads, the
latter, when present, being either smooth or but faintly striated. These
pouched-mice are restricted to Australia and Tasmania, and differ from
the members of the preceding genus in being strictly terrestrial, so that in
this respect they are comparable to ordinary shrews. More markedly
distinct is the long-legsred pouched-mouse (Antezhinomys laniger), from the
interior of New South Wales and southern Queensland, which is a mouse-
like, leaping animal specially characterised by the great elongation of the
hind-limbs and the loss of the first toe in the hind-foot. The fur is
uniformly coloured, the tail is long and tufted, and the ears are of large
size. These little creatures, which subsist exclusively on insects, inhabit
open sandy districts. As the members of the two preceding genera
respectively represent the tree-shrews and ordinary shrews, so the present
form may be likened to the African jumping-shrews.
One of the most remarkable of all the pouched mammals is the banded
ant-eater (Myrmecobius fasciatus) of south and west Australia, which presents
a curious approximation in the number
and structure of its teeth to some of the
extinct Secondary marsupials of Europe.
By many writers it is regarded as the
representative of a distinct family by
itself, and it certainly constitutes a sub-
family (Myrmecobiince) of the Dasyuridce,
which may be distinguished from the
whole of the foregoing genera (Dasy-
urince) by the following features : In
place of being of normal proportions, the _ BANDED ANT . EATER
tongue is long, cylindrical, and extensile ; , (Myrmecobius fasciatus).
the nose is naked and grooved below ;
the pointed lower lip projects in advance of the teeth; and there is a gland
on the chest opening on the exterior by means of several apertures. The
cheek-teeth are small and delicate, the molars forming more than four pairs,
and being separated from one another by intervals, while those of the lower
jaw have their inner cusps larger than the outer ones. In general appear-
ance the banded ant-eater is a graceful squirrel-like animal, with the hinder
part of the back marked by a series of narrow white stripes on a bright
lufous ground. The ears are rather long and narrow, and the tail is elon-
gated and bushy. All external trace of the first toe of the hind-foot is
wanting, and all the functional toes are armed with claws adapted for digging;
the soles of the fore-feet being partially naked, while those of the hinder
pair are completely so, their pads being small and granulated. The pouch is
obsolete, and the number of teats appears to be four. The cheek-teeth
usually comprise three pairs of pre-molars and five of molars in each jaw,
but occasionally there is a sixth pair of lower molara. As a rare abnormality,
15
210 MAMMALIA ORDER XI.MARSUPIALIA.
four pairs of lower incisors may be developed. The banded ant-eater feeds
mainly on ants, which are licked up by the tongue, but it will also consume
insects of other kinds. It proceeds in a series of hops, with the tail uplifted ;
and when pursued, or for sleeping, retires to a hollow log or tree. It is
stated to produce from seven to nine young at a birth, although it is
difficult to reconcile this with the alleged presence of only four teats. After
birth, the young are protected solely by the long hair on the abdomen of
the mother.
A separate family (Notoryctidce) of polyprotodont marsupials is repre-
sented solely by the curious marsupial mole (Notoryctes typhlops), from the
sandy deserts of central South Australia. Among the
Marsupial essential characteristics of the family the following are the
Mole. most important : There are only three pairs of incisor
teeth in each jaw, and there are neither ear-conchs or eyes
visible externally. The limbs, which are sub-equal in length, are stout, strong,
and each furnished with five toes ; the hind-foot having a clawed first toe,
not opposable to the other digits which are of unequal size. Collar-bones
are present ; and the under surface of the
skeleton of the tail carries the so-called
chevron- bones so commonly present in
reptiles. The upper molar teeth have
triangular crowns bearing three cusps only.
Externally, the marsupial mole is a some-
what peculiar-looking animal, of a pale
golden -red colour, and measuring about
J^~ fjjj&jj&$j\ . 5 in. to the root of the stumpy tail.
s "~ fc jVrZ / ^ h ar( ^ horny shield, divided into two
Fig. 113 MARSUPIAL HOLE parts by a transverse ridge, serves to protect
(Notoryctes typhlops). the upper surface of the blunt muzzle ; and
the apertures of the ears are well-nigh
hidden by the fur. In both feet the four inner toes are clawed, but the
fifth carries a short, broad nail ; the claws of the third and fourth front toes
are very large and powerful, while those of the corresponding hind toes
curve outwards and backwards, the toes of these feet decreasing in size from
the second to the fifth. In both pairs of limbs the soles of the feet are
naked and covered with a tough leathery skin. The short, stumpy tail
is also hard and leathery, decreasing rapidly in diameter from the base, and
terminating in a blunt, knob-like extremity. The pouch opens backwards,
and contains only two teats. The creature spends most of its time
burrowing in the sand of the Australian deserts in search of its insect-food,
occasionally making its appearance on the surface. Its enormously-powerful
front claws enable it to bury itself in the sand with extraordinary rapidity.
The last family of the marsupials is an American one, and is represented
solely by the opossums (Didelphyidce). In spite of the remoteness of their
habitat, these animals are very closely allied to the
Opossums. Dasyuridce, from which they may be distinguished by having
four (instead of three) pairs of lower incisors, and by the first
hind toe being opposable to the other digits. There is no claw to the first
hind toe ; and the number of pairs of upper incisor teeth is five, or the same
as in the Dasyuridce. As a rule, the tail is long, scaly, naked, and prehensile,
although rarely it may be short, and more or less covered with hair.
Internally, the stomach is simple, and the intestine has a blind appendage.
PO UCHED MAMMALS. 2 1 1
In most species the pouch is wanting, although it may be represented by two
lateral folds of skin, while more rarely it is complete. There are three pairs of
pre- molar teeth in each jaw. The females have from five to twenty-five teats.
Opossums, which vary in size from that of a cat to that of a mouse, include
more than a score of species, all but two of which are restricted to the
Neogseic realm, whence the northern forms are probably comparatively
recent wanderers. With the exception of the water-opossum, the members
of the family are mainly arboreal animals, although some of the smaller kinds
are more or less terrestrial. Arboreal species have, however, extended
their range to the open Argentine pampas. Whereas the larger kinds
are very destructive to poultry, the smaller species subsist exclusively on
insects. In those opossums in which the female has no pouch, the young
are borne on the back of their parent, generally curling their own tails round
that of the latter, which is purposely bent forwards over the back and head.
Nearly all the species may be included
in the typical genus Didelphys, which
may, however, be split up into several
sub-generic groups. The first of these
is represented solely by the common
opossum (D. marsupialis), with its
numerous varieties, which is four
to five times the dimensions of any
other kind, and may be compared,
in this respect, to a cat. Its range
extends* from the United States to
Chili, South Brazil, Uruguay, and
Argentina, and it is the only species
entering North America above Mexico.
As the representative of a sub-genus, p; g . 114 -COMMON OPOSSUM
it may be characterised as follows : (Dideiphys marsupial-is).
The very long tail is naked, scaly, and
highly prehensile ; elongated bristle-like hairs are mingled with the fur ; and
the fifth hind toe is much shorter than the fourth, which is of nearly the
same length as the first and second. The female has a well-developed pouch
for the reception of the young, which at birth are extremely minute. They
develop, however, very rapidly, and soon become as large as mice, when
they leave the pouch, although returning for the purpose of sucking, or in
order to escape from impending danger. Of the habits of this species Mr.
C. Lincecum, in the American Naturalist for 1872, writes as follows :
"They dwell in hollow logs, stumps, and in holes at the roots of the trees.
They do not burrow or prepare dens for themselves, but find such as are
ready-made. I have seen them carrying into their holes, at the approach tf
cold weather, considerable bundles of dry leaves rolled up in their tail ; they
understand the signs of the coming spells of bad weather, and they prepare
for it by making for themselves good comfortable beds. They do not
hibernate, but are found out hunting in frosty weather. They possess but
little caution. Hence they are often found in the poultry-houses, chicken-
coops, smoke-houses, and even in our dining-rooms, rustling about for
something to eat. I have often seen their tracks in the roads and
piths where they had travelled three or four miles to a farmyard, to
which they had no doubt been attracted by the crowing of the roosters.
They will catch a grown hen and carry her off squalling at the top
212 MAMMALIA ORDER Xl.MARSUriALIA.
of her voice, and will not abandon her till the dogs, which have been
aroused by the uproar, have overtaken them and commenced cracking their
bones. They will eat bacon, dry beef, can ion, any kind of fowl, rabbits, any
sort of small game, almost all the insects, and fruits of every variety. They
voraciously devour the musk-melon, and several species of mushrooms ;
in short, they are nearly omnivorous. The only case in which the opossum
manifests any respectable degree of cautiousness is when it is hunted at
night in the forest ; on hearing the din and noise of the hunters it with
some difficulty makes shift to climb a small tree or sapling, where, wrapping
the naked, rasp-like tail round some convenient limb, it quietly awaits the
approaching dogs and hunters. By many people the flesh is considered
delicious. Its flavour resembles that of the flesh of a young hog, but is
sweeter, less gross, and is, no doubt, a more healthy food for man. A dog
will starve sooner than eat the flesh of an opossum ; negroes and many other
persons are exceedingly fond of it. During their breeding season, the males
are very ram pant ^nd belligerent. Numbers will collect round a female and
fight like dogs. Twenty or thirty years ago I witnessed a fight myself in
the forests of Mississippi. The female was present ; there were three males ;
two of them were fighting, while the third one was sitting a little distance
off, looking as though he felt he had seen enough. They were fighting
hard, and had been, from the signs in the wallo wed-down grass, for three
or four days, kicking over the female, who immediately went into a spasm
when I examined the pouch. Opossums are exceedingly tenacious of life. I
have many times seen the dogs catch them and chew and crack, seemingly,
all the bones in their skin, leaving them to all appearance entirely lifeless ;
and, going out the next morning for the purpose of removing the dead
thing, would find that it had left its death-bed, and putting the dogs on its
track, trail him a mile or more before overtaking him. He would, to be
sure, be found in a bad fix, but at the same time he lacked two or three
more bone-crackings of being dead. They cannot, like the raccoon, be so far
domesticated as to form any attachment for persons or their houses, though
I have two or three times found them under the floors of dwelling-houses,
where they had been for some time, and had evidently taken up winter-
quarters, but they did not remain there long." Of the South American
variety known as Azara's opossum, Mr. Aplin, in the " Proceedings of the
Zoological Society for 1894," observes that in Uruguay, "where it is known
by the name of Comadreja, this opossum lives in a nearly treeless country,
the river monte in South Soriano being the only natural wood (composed of
low thorny trees and big willows), and the Comadreja preferring to live on
the higher camp, where it lies up in clefts and holes among the granite
boulder-rocks ; among these a few low thorny bushes are found ia some
cases. I have never seen a Comadreja in the monte or up any native tree,
but have no doubt they often climbed the trees at the estancias, which they
are all well able to do. Yet this animal has a very prehensile till, nakud
and scaly. Having hauled one out of a cleft by the tail, I found that it
twined the latter tightly round my fingers, the muscular power being
considerable. They run up the boulder-rocks with great agility. At bay,
whether in rocky holt or old ants'-nest, laid up in a soft bed of dead grass,
or drawn and facing a dog with arched back and grinning teeth, they make a
snarling, grunting growl and a hiss. It is necessary to kill those taking up
their quarters near houses, but they are often very difficult to kill. I have
hammered one with a stick and thrown its heavy body against a rock time
POUCHED MAMMALS. 213
after time, and then, after carrying it by the tail for some distance,
discovered that it was still alive. Much of the difficulty arises from their
habit of shamming. Once I smoked out a female and two one-third grown
young ones. A young one came first and was apparently laid out with a
blow from my stick ; I had to run round the rock after the next, and when
I came back (in less than half a minute) the first had come to life again and
departed. An old buck, worried by a dog and finished off with a shot in the
head from a collecting-gun and left for dead, was found an hour or so after
partly recovered. A fema^ was brought in with ten young, naked, pink,
and blind ; head and body 2 in., tail 1 in. long. Inside the mother's pouch
were nine teats only.''
As a representative of the second sub-genus (Metachirus) may be mentioned
the quica-opossum (D. opossum), ranging from Mexico to the Argentine.
The three representatives of this sub-genus are medium- sized species, with the
relative lengths of the hind-toes the same as in the common-opossum that
is to say, the three middle toes are sub-equal in this respect, and considerably
exceed the outermost. The fur is short and straight, without any admix-
ture of bristles ; and the pouch may be either well developed or rudimental.
Of the thick-tailed-opossum (D. crassicaudata) from Guiana, South Brazil,
Uruguay, and Argentina, which is another member of the same sub-genus,
Mr. Aplin writes as follows: "The Comadreja-colorada, as this species is
called, is rare in the part of Soriana where I was living, only one having been
killed there during my stay so far as I know. It is said by the residents to
be excessively savage for so small an animal. Responding to a suggestion, I
inquired whether the female had a pouch capable of carrying her young, and
one rather sharp and observant puesteru's boy declared that it had. Although
the adults are so savage, a lady of my acquaintance had a young one, taken
from the body of its dead mother in the camp south of the Rio Negro in
February, which was perfectly tame. It unfortunately shared the fate of so
many ladies' pets and was slain by a large cab belonging to a house at which
she was staying on her way to the coast, a day or two before I went over
there. The fur of this animal is very beautiful. It is of a warm, light chest-
nut, paler and yellower on the sides and lower parts. The upper-parts have
a flush on them of what can only be described as crimson." As a matter of
fact, this species has no pouch, which in a fully developed condition is
present only in the common and quica-opossums. The third sub-genus
(Philander) is represented by two South American species of medium size,
in which the fourth hind-toe is the longest, while the third and fifth
are about equal and next in size, and the second is somewhat the
shortest of the four. In both the pouch is rudimental, while externally
these species are characterised by their woolly fur arid the presence of a dark
longitudinal stripe down the middle of the face. A considerable number of
small-sized opossums from Central and South America constitute the sub-
genus Micoureus, in which the form is slender, the fur generally straight,
although occasionally slightly woolly, and there is no dark face-stripe. The
relative lengths of the hind-toes are generally the same as in the last group,
but in some cases the fifth digit is not longer than the second. A pouch is
always wanting, and the tail is generally longer than the body, and highly
prehensile. In the velvety-opossum (D. velutina) the tail is, however, much
shorter, and thereby serves to connect this group with the following one.
In the last group (Peramys), which is likewise confined to South and Central
America, and contains about eight very small species, the tail id generally
2i 4 MAMMALIA ORDER XILMONOTREMATA.
only about half the length of the head and body, and more or less covered
with short, fine hairs, while it has but little or no prehensile power. In the
hind-foot the fifth toe is considerably shorter than the second, and the third
and fourth digits are equal, and but little
longer than the latter. From the absence
of prehensile power in the tail, it has been
inferred that these tiny little opossums
are mainly terrestrial in their habits. A
small opossum recently described from
Chiloe Island, off the coast of Central
Chili, is regarded as representing a
separate genus under the name of
Dromiciops. A third genus contains only
the water-opossum, or yapock (Chironectes
minimus), ranging from Guatemala to the
south of Brazil, and distinguished by its
parti - coloured fur and aquatic habits.
Fig. 115. *-~YAFOCK (Chironectes minimus). Structurally it is characterised by the
presence of a projecting tubercle on the
inner side of the fore-foot, giving the appearance of a sixth digit ; and
likewise by the webbing of the hind-toes as far as their terminal pads,
whereby the first digit is much less opposable than in other opossums. In
size the yapock may be compared to the common-opossum.
ORDER XII. MONOTREMATA.
EGG-LAYING MAMMALS.
THE third and last sub- class of mammals variously known as the Proto-
theria, or Ornithodelphia, and containing only the single order Monotremata
differs much more widely from the other two than do the latter from one
another, and thereby approximates to the lower vertebrates. These strange
mammals, which are confined to the Notogseic >realm, are especially
characterised by laying eggs, after the manner of birds and reptiles ; although
the young subsequently developed from sucn eggs are nourished by milk from
the mammary glands of the female parent. Instead, however, of opening
into teats, these milk-glands discharge their secretion upon the porous skin
of the inside of a more or less developed temporary pouch by means of
numerous small apertures. After hatching, the head of the young, which
develops a special suctorial mouth, is thrust Into the pouch, and the milk
forced into its mouth by the contraction of special muscles. Structurally,
the milk-glands of the Monotremes correspond to the ordinary sweat glands
of other mammals, and not to their milk-glands. From the other two sub-
classes of mammals, Monotremes differ in that the hinder extremity of the
body possesses but a single orifice, from which are discharged both the
waste-products and the reproductive elements ; the two egg-passages, or
oviducts, opening into the extremity of this cloaca, as the single excretory
passage is termed. In these respects the egg-laying mammals resemble
biids and reptiles* Similar resemblances are presented by the portion of
EGG- LAYING MAMMALS. 215
the skeleton known as the shoulder-girdle, or that serving for the support and
articulation of the bones of the tore-limb. In all the higher mammals, with
the exception of some of the Edentates (where the coracoids may be distinct),
the shoulder-girdle comprises, at most, only a pair of collar-bones (clavicles) and
two shoulder-blades (scapulce), of which the latter bear a so-called coracoid
process at the lower extremity. On the other hand, in the egg-laying mammals,
as in lizards, an unpaired additional T-shaped bone known as the inter-
clavicle overlies the collar-bones and breast-bone (sternum)] while the coracoid
processes are represented by a pair of separate coracoid bones situated on the
lower surface of the chest, and connected with the blade-bones to form the
articular cavity for the head of the upper arm bone, or humerus. Behind
these, on the same aspect of the body, are a second pair of bones known as
the meta-coracoids, and representing the bones commonly called coracoids in
birds, which are articulated inferiorly to the breast-bone. The brain is also
of a lower and simpler type than in the higher mammals; the same being
also the case with the small bones of the internal ear. Another feature
(which at present appears to have been verified only in the first of the two
families) indicative of inferior organisation is the low temperature of the
blood as compared with that of other mammals,
In both the families of Monotremes the males are furnished on the
inner surface of the heel with a perforated horny spur, connected with a
gland behind the thigh ; and it is not improbable* that during the breeding
season this gland may secrete a poisonous fluid which flows into any
wound inflicted by the spur. As in the Pouched Mammals, the Monotremes
have a pair of marsupial bones affixed to the front edge of the lower part
of the pelvis. Both families have the skull produced into a beak, which
may be either cylindrical or flattened ; and in the adult state at least, teeth
are wanting. There are no traces of external ear-conchs ; the two pairs of
limbs, which are of nearly equal length, are modified for burrowing or
digging ; and the tail is either rudimental or short and wide. As in the case
of the Edentates, there is no clue to the origin of the Monotremes, but there,
can be no doubt that the existing forms are highly modified and specialised
descendants from some extremely ancient stock.
The strange Australian creature, known as the duck-bill or duck-mole
(Ornithorliynchus anatinus), is thesole representative of the firstfamily (Ornilho-
rhynchidce) of the Monotremes. As distinctive of the family,
the following features appear the most important : In the Duck-bill,
head the muzzle is produced and expanded to form a broad,
depressed bej,k, covered with a delicate sensitive skin, which, in the dried
state, assumes the appearance of horn. The tongue is of normal proportions,
and non-extensile. In the fur there is no mixture of spines ; the tail, although
short, is broad and flattened ; and the feet are large and wide, with the toes
webbed, and the soles bare and without pad*. In the young and adolescent
condition, each jaw bears three pairs of many-cusped molars, of which the
first is the smallest in the upper jaw, and the last in the lower ; but in the
adult these teeth are shed, and their functions discharged by horny plates
growing up around and beneath them. In the male the horny spur on the
hind-foot is very large ; while in the female the pouch is rudimental. The
brain has smooth hemispheres. The duck-bill has a somewhat elongated
and depressed body, covered with dark-coloured fur of two kinds. In both
limbs the five-toed feet have long claws to all the digits, although those on
the fore-feet are broad and blunt, while those behind are compressed and
216
MAMMALIA ORDER XII. MONO TRE MA TA.
Fig. 116 -DUCK-BILI.
( Orn ithorhynchus a natinus).
pointed. The beak is smooth, short, and evenly-rounded in front, with a
flap of skin marking its junction with the head ; and the cheeks have
pouches for the storage of food. In length the adult male measures about
18 in. to the root of the tail, which is one-
third the length of the head and body ; but the
female is considerably smaller. The duck-bill
is confined to the fresh- waters of Tasmania
and Australia, where it especially frequents
still and deep pools in rivers with banks
suitable for the construction of its long and
tortuous burrows ; these burrows generally
having two entrances, the one situated above,
and the other below the level of the surface of
the water. In length a burrow may be as
much as 20 ft., and at its extremity it expands
into a capacious chamber, which is lined at the
breeding season for the reception of the white
eggs usually two in number. Here in due
course they are hatched, the female sitting
upon them in the same manner as a bird, since
the pouch is not sufficiently large for their
reception. When first hatched, the young
are completely naked and helpless, and are fed
with milk in the manner indicated above. As soon as they are able to feed,
they are supplied with fresh-water snails and insects such as form the chief
nutriment of their parents. Duck-bills are mainly nocturnal animals,
passing the day rolled up asleep in their burrows.
Very different, both in appearance and their mode of life, to duck-bills are
the echidnas, or spiny ant-eaters, constituting the family Echidnidce. In
place of being aquatic, these Monotremes are terrestrial and
Echidnas. nocturnal in their habits, while the sexes lack that discrep-
ancy in size which forms such a marked feature in the
preceding group. In place of the duck-like beak of the Ornithorhyiichus,
the muzzle of the echidnas forms a long, slender beak, which is completely
devoid of teeth at all ages, and is suited to the long, extensile, worm-like
tongue characteristic of all ant-eating mammals. The fur is so thickly inter-
mingled with short and stout spines, not unlike those of the hedgehogs, that
sometimes little more than the latter are visible. The tail is quite rudi-
mental ; the short, sub-equal limbs have unwebbed toes, furnished with
broad, powerful, nail-like claws, and, although the soles of the feet are
provided with soft, fleshy cushions, there are no pads. A peculiar feature
connected with the mouth is the presence of spines on both the palate and the
tongue. During the breeding season the pouch of the female is much more de-
veloped than in the duck-bill ; and the hemispheres of the brain differ from
those of the latter in being well convoluted. The smooth surface and bird-like
form of the skull is very characteristic of the family, and the lower jaw is
remarkable for its extreme slenderness. These animals subsist exclusively
on ants, which are dug out by the powerful claws and licked up by the
extensile tongue. The large size of the pouch enables the female to carry
about with her the two eggs, which in due course are hatched by the heat of
her body. The echidnas have a wider geographical distribution than the
duck-bill, and are represented by two genera, one of which ranges from
EGG-LAYING MAMMALS. 217
south-eastern New Guinea to Australia and Tasmania, while the second is
exclusively Papuan. All the echidnas have stout and depressed bodies,
which when the creatures are in repose rest flat on the ground, although in
walking the legs raise the body some
distance above the surface. In the
typical genus of which there appears
to be only one very variable specific
representative (Echidna aculeata}, the
whole of the five digits of each foot are
furnished with claws, which in the
fore-feet are broad, slightly curved,
and directed forwards, while in the
hinder pair they are more slender, and
curved outwards, the second, or the
second and third, considerably exceed- Fig. 117. FIVE-TOED ECHIDNA
ing the fourth and fifth in length, (Echidna aculeata).
and that of the first toe being short,
blunt, and rounded. The beak, which is of about the same length as the
rest of the head, may be either straight or slightly curved upwards ; and the
tongue tapers at the tip, and has the spines confined to its basal portion.
Of this species there are three well-marked local races or varieties. The
ordinary or typical form, which is confined to the Australian mainland, is of
medium size, measuring about 17 in. to the root of the tail. Next comes the
variety from south-eastern New Guinea, measuring only about 14 in. in
length, and with the spines of the back shorter. The largest and most dis-
'tinct of all is the Tasmanian form, which grows to 20 in., and has the fur so
long as almost to conceal the spines, while the claw of the third toe of the
hind-foot is almost as much elongated as that of the second. In Australia
the common echidna is generally met with in sandy or rocky districts and is
especially abundant in the mountains. When on level ground, it proceeds
with an unsteady, shuffling gait, the short and broad front feet being turned
outwards, and the claws of the hind-feet bent outwards and backwards in
such a manner as to cause the inner border of the sole to rest on the ground.
These animals do not venture abroad till evening, but during the night they
are very active, burrowing with great activity in search of their favourite
ants. When suddenly attacked or surprised, echidnas roll themselves up into
a ball-like form, but if time be allowed, they invariably endeavour to make
their escape by burrowing.
The second genus of the family (ProecJiidna *) is distinguished by the feet
usually carrying only three claws each, although the first and fifth toes are
represented by two or more joints, and may occasionally be clawed. The
length of the claws of the hind-foot diminishes regularly from the second to
the fourth toe ; and the beak, which is markedly curved downwards, is much
longer than in the typical echidna, being nearly as long as twice the length of
the remainder of the head. In the Arfak mountains of north-western New
Guinea the genus is represented by Bruijn's echidna (P. bruijni), which meas-
ures about 19 to 20 in. in length, and has dense woolly fur, with but few
spines. In western New Guinea it is replaced by a larger form with stouter
limbs, shorter claws, and longer, more sparsely distributed, and more hairy
fur, but whether it is anything more than a local variety may be doubtful.
1 It has recently been proposed to substitute the name Zaglossus, which is stated to
be earlier.
SUB-KINGDOM I. VERTEBRATA.
CLASS ILAVES.
BY R. BOWDLER SHARPE, LL.D., F.L.S., &c.
STRUCTURALLY the skeleton of a bird differs very remarkably from that of an
ordinary mammal, although it is considerably less unlike that of the egg-laying
mammals. In all the features in which the bird's bony framework departs
from the mammalian type, it approximates to the reptilian conformation in
general features. Still, it must not be supposed that in this respect birds
are exactly like any living reptiles. Although in their general structural
plan their skeletons are similar, that of the bird has become modified and
specialised from the original type, which renders it markedly different from
that of either a crocodile or a lizard. O$e of the chief points in which the
skeleton of a bird resembles that of a lizard, and thereby departs from the
mammalian type, is the mode in which the skull is articulated to the first
joint of the backbone. Whereas in a mammal the articulation takes place by
means of a pair of knobs on the hinder part of the skull, which are received
into corresponding cups in the first joint of the backbone, in the bird and
reptile there is but a single knob, or condyle, fitting into a cup in the first
vertebra. Then, again, while in the mammal the lower jaw articulates
directly with the solid wall of the true skull, or cranium, in the bird and
reptile there is on each side an intervening separate bone, known as the
quadrate. A third feature in which the skulls of birds and reptiles re-
semble one another, and differ from those of mammals, is the complex
structure of each branch of the lower jaw each branch consisting in the
two former groups of several distinct bones, whereas in the latter it is
formed of a single bone.
In order to give strength to the back in flying, the vertebrae of the hinder
part of the backbone are fused together into a solid mass, forming the so-
called sacrum, which is much more extensive than in mammals. To either
side of this sacrum are firmly attached the bones of the pelvis, all of which
are very unlike the corresponding bones of mammals, and of which the upper
elements, or ilia, are by far the largest. In all living birds the bones of the
tail are aborted, and terminate in a triangular piece known as the "plough-
share bone." In ail birds the ribs are few in number, and in most cases these
differ from the mammalian type by the presence of an oblique process on the
hinder border. These uncinate processes, as they are called, are met with in
some reptiles.
Perhaps the most extraordinary feature in the skeleton of an ordinary
flying bird is the excessive development of the bones of the breast, which
in some cases cover almost the whole of the under surface of the body. By
far the largest of these elements is the breast-bone, or sternum, correspond-
ing with the element similarly named in mammals. Whereas in flying birds
this sternum is strongly keeled, in order to afford a firm basis of origin
for the pectoral muscles, in the ostrich and its kindred it is flattened. At the
sides the sternum is attached to the true ribs by the intervention of so-called
sternal ribs. Superiorly it bears a pair of bones commonly known as cora-
218
BIRD-STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT. 219
coids, but more properly termed metacoracoids. Superiorly these metacora-
coids join the scimitar-like scapulae, or shoulder-bones, and at their junction
form the cavity for the reception of the head of the upper wing-bone, or
humerus. Joining the upper ends of the metacoracoids, and extending
downwards towards the sternum, is the well-known merry-thought, or
furcula ; although in this modification peculiar to birds, the furcula really
represents the united collar-bones, or clavicles, of man. In ordinary
mammals there are no separate representatives of the metacoracoids ; but
such occur in the egg-laying mammals, although differing widely from those
of birds. Before leaving this region of a bird's skeleton, it is important
to mention that in the backbone at least in the neck the individual
joints, or vertebrae, are articulated together by saddle-shaped surfaces,
such a mode of articulation being unknown, in any other class of vertebrate
animals.
As regards the structure of the bones of the wing, very few words will
suffice. The two upper segments of this part of the skeleton are essentially
similar to the same part in mammals. The bones of the wrist, or carpus, are,
however, reduced to two in number; while those of the metacarpus and
fingers are flattened and otherwise modified, the number of digits never ex-
ceeding three. The three digits respectively represent the thumb, index, and
middle fingers of the human hand. Of these, the thumb has either one or
two joints, the index two, and the third digit one. The metacarpals of the
index and third fingers are united together by a thin plate of bone, which
may be perforated.
In a bird's leg the general plan of structure is a specialised modification of
that obtaining in reptiles. The grand distinction between the leg of a reptile
and that of a mammal, lies in the fact that, whereas in the latter the ankle-joint
occurs at the top of the two rows forming the ankle, or tarsus, in the former
the joint is situated between the two rows. A bird's leg is formed on the
latter plan, but has undergone the further modification that the two rows of
tarsal bones are respectively welded to the bones above and below them. We
have first of all the thigh-bone, or femur ; next comes the tibia (with the
aborted fibula at its upper end), to the lower extremity of which are attached
the upper row of tai-sal^ones, thus forming a tibio-tarsus. Below this comes
a compound bone, formed by the lower row of tarsal bones and the three
middle metatarsal bones of the typical five-toed foot, this compound bone
being termed the tarso-metatarsus. Usually this bone terminates below in
three pulley-like surfaces, to which are attached the bones of the toes ; but
in the ostrich there are only two of these pulleys, and likewise only two toes.
When the first toe, or halhex, is present, it is attached to the hinder surface
of the lower end of the tarso-metatarsus. No trace of the fifth toe ever re-
mains. Whereas in mammals each of the toes, save the thumb, has three
joints, in a bird (as also in a reptile) the number of these joints increase from
the second to the fourth toe.
The chief character which distinguishes the class Aves from the other
classes of vertebrate animals is the possession of feathers. The production of
the young from an egg is not confined to the birds, but is shared by some
mammals and reptiles ; nor is the power of flight a sole prerogative of the
birds, but their feathery covering is a really distinctive characteristic.
That birds existed on the earth in very remote times is undoubted, and
that they were very different in form and structure from those which we
have around us now, is equally certain. As the special character of the class
220 A VES.
Aves is the possession of feathers, the earliest creature which can be
determined to have possessed this special prerogative of the birds is the
Archceopteryx. The remains of this curious animal were first discovered
in the sand-stone formation of Solenhofen in Bavaria, whence comes the
bulk of the stone used for lithographic purposes in the present day. The
original slab containing these priceless remains is now in the British
Museum, and with it we commence the study of the class Aves. The head
is, unfortunately, missing in this specimen, but the imprint of the tail is
clear enough, and shows a structure quite different from that which is to
be seen in any bird of modern times. It is longer than the body of the bird
itself, and, instead of the feathers being placed side by side, and capable of
being spread like a fan, we find in the Archceopteryx the tail consisting of a
series of vertebrae, upon which the feathers were disposed laterally, while
there must evidently have been quills upon the wings. The digits of the
latter terminated in little claws or hooks, a condition which exists in some of
our present-day birds, though the exact structure is modified. A second
specimen of an ArcJiceopteryx was afterwards discovered in the same forma-
tion at Solenhofen, and has passed into the possession of the Berlin Museum.
In this individual the head has been preserved, and shows ua a reptilian-
looking skull with actual teeth. Thus we know that ArchcKopteryx possessed
teeth and feathers, but of a kind unlike those of any bird of modern times.
It introduces the first sub-class of birds, viz., the Saururce.
Among the numerous other members of the class Aves, which we shall
have to pass in review, will also occur several birds with teeth ; but these will
all be found to belong to a much earlier age than our own, so that we may
safely say that at the present day no really toothed bird exists.
At the same time, there are found on the earth to-day many types of birds
which must be considered to be the survivors of very ancient bird-life ; and if
these do not belong exclusively to one type, or to any single order or family
of existing birds, we shall yet have little difficulty in assigning to most of them
their proper position in the natural system. The idea that all toothed birds
must belong to one group is now held to be erroneous, and the notion that
the diving Hesperornis of the New World was allied to the Archceopteryx of
the Old World, simply because they both possessed teeth, is not admitted at
the present day.
Granting, however, that our Passerine birds are the highest development
of the Avian form at present existing, it naturally follows that we must look
to a totally different type if we desire to connect the bird-life of the present
day with that of the past ; and the flightless birds, the ostriches, and their
kin, are admitted by all ornithologists to be the modern survivors of ancient
forms. Like the huge mammals and reptiles, which were the fore-runners of
the modern representatives of these classes, the birds of the Struthioue order
of Madagascar (^Epyornis) and the Moas of New Zealand were enormous.
A singular interest attaches to the ancient Struthiones, which were immensely
larger than their descendants of our own epoch. Thus the moas of New
Zealand attained a huge size, and, as far as recent researches carry us, they
must have been alive on the earth not so very long ago. The moas live in
the traditional history of the Maories ; specimens have been unearthed with
the skin still attached to the bones ; moa-feathers have been found in some
number ; and much controversy has been excited as to whether they have
become extinct within the last hundred, or five hundred, years. That they
were living within historic times is certain. Of the <&pyemis of Madagascar
SUB- CLASS RATITE ORDER RHEIFORMES.
we know less, but though its bones are not so often discovered as those of
the moa, its eggs, unearthed from the tombs of buried chiefs, are not un-
frequently found
The Ratite Birds, as these great flightless creatures of the ostrich tribe are
usually called, derive their name from the fact that they have a ' ' ratite " or
" raft "-like breast-bone. On the latter there is no keel, to which a pectoral
muscle may be attached for the purposes of flight, and they have now no
mechanism by which they can propel their huge bodies through the air like
ordinary birds. That ostriches and their allies will ever fly is simply im-
possible, as their numbers are being annually decreased, and the necessary
ages requisite for them to develop the means of flight as an escape from their
enemies will never be allowed to them, as man, with his spreading civilisation
and his deadly rifle, gradually encircles the poor birds in their last havens of
rest. The probability is, judging from the well -developed wings of the early
Archceopteryx, that ancient birds could fly, and that the ostriches and moas
are the descendants of birds perfectly capable of flight, but which from the
lack of natural enemies in ancient times, have gradually lost their power of
flying, and ultimately developed into the flightless birds of the present day,
wherein safety is secured by their excellent power of running, or by their
nocturnal habits, where concealment and swiftness of foot play the most
important part in their preservation.
The Struthious or Ratite Birds (Sub-class Ratite} may, therefore, be divided
into six Orders, viz. the Rheas (Rheiformes), the Ostriches (Struthioniformes),
the Emus and Cas-
sowaries (Casuarii- Sub-class
formes), the extinct Jlatitce.
Moas (Dinornithi-
formes and ^Epyornithiformes), and
the Apteryges (Apterygiformes). Of
these the moas are extinct, but
members of the other orders still
survive.
The ostriches maybe distinguished
by having only two toes instead of
three. The moas had three toes,
and, therefore, they belonged to the
great group of three-toed Struthious
Birds, of which so many have per-
ished. Of those that survive, the
rheas (Rheiformes) are distinguished
by the following characters : the
absence of any keel to the breast-
bone, no hind-toe, and three toes in
front. They are to all intents and
' (Ihealme) purposes ostriches, and generally go
by the name of the "South American
Ostrich," as they are entirely confined to the South American Continent. Of
the rheas, four species are recognised. One of these may be considered an
unknown species as yet, as Rhea nana (Lydekker) has only been character-
ised from its egg, which is remarkably small, and on this evidence, which is
certainly self-evident, Mr. Lydekker has separated the small Patagonian species
as distinct. The common rhea,~(Rhea americana) is the best-known species,
222 AVES ORDER STRUTHIONIFORMESTHE OSTRICHES.
and the most widely distributed, being found from Southern Brazil and
Paraguay to the province of Matagrosso, westwards to Bolivia, south to the
Rio Negro in Patagonia, and even beyond. In the provinces of Bahia and
Pernambuco it is replaced by the great-billed rhea (R. macrorhyncha\ and
in Chili and Patagonia by Darwin's rhea (E. darwini), which is said to range
north of the Rio Negro, where it may be coterminous with the range of JR.
americana.
The nandu, as the rhea is called in Argentina, is, according to Mr. "W. H.
Hudson, doomed to speedy extinction, the republican governments of South
America apparently being too much occupied in other business to trouble
their heads about bird protection, which appears to be only an outcome of
extreme civilisation. Mr. Hudson, the recorder of so much that is interest-
ing in the habits of the birds of Argentina, has given the results of his
acquaintance with the rhea, and we regret that space forbids us
to quote more than a brief extract. It seems that the male takes upon him-
self the duties of incubation, and Mr. Hudson's story is as follows : " In the
month of 'July the love season begins, and it is then that the curious
ventriloquial bellowing, booming, and weird-like sounds are emitted by the
male. The young males in the flock are attacked and driven off by
the old cock-bird ; and when there are two old males, they fight for
hens. Their battles are conducted in a curious manner, the com-
batants twisting their long necks together like a couple of serpents,
and then viciously biting at each others' heads with their beaks ; mean-
while, they turn round and round in a circle, pounding the earth with
their feet, so that where the soil is wet or soft, they make a circular
trench where they tread. The females of a flock all lay together in a natural
depression of the ground, with nothing to shelter it from sight, each hen
laying a dozen, or more, eggs. It is common to find from thirty to sixty
eggs in a nest, but sometimes a larger number, and I have heard of a nest
being found containing one hundred and twenty eggs. If the females are
many, the cock usually becomes broody before they finish laying, and he
then drives them away with great fury, and begins to incubate. The hens
then drop their eggs about the plains ; and from the large number of wasted
eggs found, it seems probable that more are dropped out of, than in, the nest.
The egg when fresh is of a fine golden yellow, but this colour grows paler
from day to day, and finally fades to a parchment-white.
" After hatching, the young are assiduously tended and watched over by the
cock, and it is then dangerous to approach the rhea on horseback, as the bird,
with neck outstretched and outspread wings, charges suddenly, making so huge
and grotesque a figure that the tamest horse becomes ungovernable through
terror. Eagles and the large caracara are the enemies which the rhea most
fears when the young are still small ; and at the sight of one flying overhead,
he crouches down and utters a loud, snorting cry, whereupon the scattered
young birds run in the greatest terror to shelter themselves under his
wings."
Although at present only to be found in Africa and Arabia, there is no doubt
that in former times the range of the ostrich was much more extensive. It
is now practically extinct in Mesopotamia and in Syria, but,
The Ostrich. - according to Mr. Lydekker, fossil remains of an ostrich have
been found in North Western India, while an egg, supposed
to belong to one of these birds, has been described from Southern Russia.
Three species of ostrich are recognised in Africa, of which the common one,
ORDER CASUARIIFORMESTHE EMUSTHE CASSOWARIES. 223
Struthio camelus, and the South African form, S. australis, have flesh-coloured
thighs, whereas the Somali-land ostrich, S. molybdophanes, has black thighs.
It is not a little vexatious that no one has yet determined how many species
of ostrich really exist at the present day. Their plumes are classified by
dealers, and those of the Barbary form are supposed to be different from
those of the South African form, but at present no museum contains a series
which illustrates the life history, or the
number of species existing of these well-
known birds.
The ostriches have only two toes, the
first and second being absent. The quills
and tail-feathers are well-developed for
this class of bird, but no after-shaft is
present. The male is larger than the
female, and he undertakes the care of
bringing up the family after he has
hatched out the eggs. He especially looks
after the nest at night, and broods over
the eggs, though in many tropical countries
the latter are covered over with sand,
and left to the heat of the sun during
the day. The cock-bird has more than
one wife, generally three or four, who
make common cause in the laying of the
eggs, and deposit them in the same nest,
sometimes as many as twenty eggs being
found together.
These birds comprise the order Casuariiformes, with two sub-orders,
Dromeos (Emus) and Casuarii (Cassowaries). Both are inhabitants of the
Australian region, the cassowaries being confined to the
Papuan sub-region of the latter. Of the emus, three species The Emus,
are known, and it is quite possible that a fourth existed
within recent times, as the Tasmanian emu was apparently distinct from the
Australian form, but is now quite extinct. The small black emu of Kan-
garoo Island is known only from two specimens in the Paris Museum, and
is also extinct. Thus we have but the common emu (D. novce hollandice) and
the spotted emu (D. irroratus), the former inhabiting Eastern and the
latter Western Australia. The birds of this sub-order all have three toes,
and are further distinguished from the ostriches by their rudimentary wings
and apparent absence of a tail, while the body feathers have an after-shaft,
which is as long as the actual plume itself, so that the latter appears as if it
were a double feather.
The habits of the emu can now be studied in parks and public menageries
in this country, where they not unfrequently nest. The bird is said by
travellers to be good eating. As with the other Struthious Birds, constant
persecution is making it rarer year by year, and it has now entirely disap-
peared from haunts where it once was quite numerous. The female is smaller
than the male, and on the latter devolves the principal part of the duties of
incubation. It has a curious note, which Gould has described as follows :
" The note of the emu is a low booming or pumping noise, which we know to
be produced in the female by means of the expansion and contraction of a
large membranous bag, surrounding an oblong opening through the rings of
Fig. 2. THE OSTRICH
(Struthio camelus).
324 AVES ORDER APTERYG1FORMES THE KIWIS.
the trachea." The nestlings are beautifully striped little creatures. The egg
is of a rich dark green, but this colour fades in course of time, and gives
place to a dull black.
These are curious birds, which commence their life in a mottled
plumage, with no visible casque on the skull, and grow to an adult black
plumage with an elevated casque of varying shape and
The Cassowaries, generally some highly coloured wattles on the throat and
neck. Eleven species are known, all of them met with in
the Papuan group of islands, with the exception of one species, the
Australian cassowary, which occurs in the Cape York Peninsula and extends
as far south as Rockingham Bay. Most of our information regarding these
curious flightless members of the class Aves is derived from the study of
specimens sent alive to Europe, and many of us are familiar with the great
turkey-like heads and black bodies of the cassowaries, with their five
spiny quills in lieu of wings, their helmets and ornamental throat- wattles.
LikQ the emus, the long after-shaft to the body-feathers gives these the
appearance of being a double plume. Some of the New Guinea species
apparently inhabit the same districts of that great island, while others are
peculiar to Ceram, the Arn Islands, and New Britain respectively. The
colour of the eggs of the cassowaries is dark green, and the young are brown,
when full grown, and have no casque. As in the case of the other Struthious
Birds, the duties of incubation fall upon the male, who looks after the young
ones when they are hatched.
Extinct forms, allied to the emus and cassowaries, have been found in
Australia (Dromornis\ in India (Hypselornis) ; while the moas of New Zealand
(Dinornithidce) and Madagascar (^Epyornis) belong to the same group.
Although the kiwis are recognised as belonging to the Struthious Birds,
they are decidedly aberrant members of the sub-class, and are very like gigantic
rails in their ways, being ex-
The Kiwis. cellent runners and chiefly noc-
turnal in their habits. Like the
emus and their kindred, they are great hands
at kicking, and at a meeting of the British
Ornithologists' Club, when the Hon. Walter Roths-
child exhibited living specimens of every known
species of kiwi, the birds made known their
resentment by vigorous and lightning-like kicks
on the walls of their cages, some assaulting the
wires front- ways, and some kicking backwards.
These curious birds will, doubtless, become ex-
tinct within a short period. There are only five
species of kiwi now to be met with in New
Zealand, though there is no doubt that the genus
Apteryx was more widely distributed over the
southern lands in past times. The kiwis have four Fig 3. THE APTERYX
toes, but there is no visible wing, and the nostrils (Apteryx australis).
are placed near the tip of the long bill. There is
no tail visible, and the long after-shaft of the emus and cassowaries is absent.
In the kiwis the hind toe, or hallux, is present, so that all four toes are
represented. The egg is white, and may be considered enormous for the size
of the bird which lays it. There is no marked difference in the size of the
sexes, but the female appears to be slightly larger than the male. The
CARINATE BIRDS ORDER TINAMIFORMESTHE T1NAMOUS. 225
observations on the ways of the kiwis in a state of nature are singularly
deficient, and it is to be feared that the* members of the genus Apteryx
will disappear from the face of the globe without their life-history being
thoroughly recorded. The eggs, judging from those laid in captivity,
never appear to exceed two in number, and they are incubated in true
Struthious manner by the male. Those which have been kept in our
zoological gardens in this country have been seldom seen in daylight, as they
go to sleep all the day and conceal themselves in the straw of their dens.
When taken out, they run round in a dazed manner, and quickly return to
their concealment. It is even said that when poked with sticks they will
not rouse themselves, and quickly go to sleep again. An extinct form of
Apteryx has been discovered in New Zealand (Pseudapteryx, Lydekker).
All the rest of the birds belong to the order Carittatce, or birds
with a keeled sternum. Thus they ought to be all
capable of flight, but as a matter of fact there are many Carinate Birds.
exceptions, and there are not a few which have lost this
power. The vast majority, however, have a deep keel or ridge to the
breast-bone, which distinguishes them from the Ratitce, of which we have just
spoken. The nearest allies to the Apteryges, in a natural series, would be,
in our opinion, the rails (Rallidce\V>\it we are bound to take notice of the curious
partridges of South America, the tinamous, because they possess a remarkable
palate, the bones of which are very like those of the Struthious Birds, and
hence we commence our study of the Aves Carinatce with the order Tinami-
formes. In general appearance they resemble partridges, and
they have much the habits of the latter birds, excepting the The T^amous.
fact, that many of them are inhabitants of the forests, where- Tinamiformes
as the partridges are, essentially birds of the open country.
Sixty-five species of tinamous are enumerated by Count Salvadori in his recent
treatise on the order, and they are all inhabitants of the neo-tropical region,
i.e. Central America, south of Mexico, and South
America generally. Some of them are of large
size, as big as an ordinary hen, but with the
feathering much closer set, and with very little of
the tail visible. The most remarkable feature
of the tinamous is, perhaps, the colour of their
eggs, which varies from a purplish brown or red
to a bluish green, but whatever the colour may
be, the eggs are always remarkable for their gloss.
As Count Salvadori observes, they are " curiously
unlike those of other birds, and the shell looks
like highly burnished metal, or glazed porcelain,
presenting also various colours, which seem to
be constant in the particular species, varying
from pale primrose to sage green or light ^,. 4 _ THK G , EAT TmAMO
indigo, or from chocolate brown to pinkish (Rhynchotus rufescens).
orange."
The species of tinamou vary very much in size, some being no larger
than an ordinary quail, while others are as big as a good-sized fowl. The
plumage of many of them is mottled and barred, and none exhibit any
decorative ornament beyond the occasional presence of a chestnut breast.
While some of them inhabit the open pampas, others are strictly forest birds,
and the conclusion forced upon us is that tinamous are struthious partridges,
16
226 AVES ORDER GALLIFORMES.
Game-Birds of the partridge type, 'which have retained some of the osteo-
logical characters of their s truth ious ancestors. Of the great tinamou
(Rhyiichotus rufescens) of Argentina, Mr. W. H. Hudson writes :" This
species is solitary in its habits, conceals itself very closely in the grass, and
flies with the greatest reluctance. I doubfc if there is anywhere a bird with
such a sounding flight as a tinamou ; the whirr of its wings can only be com-
pared to the rattling of a vehicle driven at great speed over a stony road.
From the moment it rises until it alights again, there is no cessation in the
rapid vibration of the wings ; but, like a ball thrown from the hand, the
bird flies straight away with extraordinary violence until the impelling force
is spent, when it slopes gradually to the earth, the distance it is able to
accomplish at a flight being from 800 to 1,500 yards. This flight it can
repeat when driven up again, as many as three times, after which the bird
can rise no more."
, This is a very large order of birds, and may be divided into four big sub-
orders, viz. the Meyapodii, or mound-builders ; the Graces, or curassows ;
the Phasianiy consisting of the grouse, pheasants, partridges,
The Game-Birds. guinea-fowls, and turkeys ; and, lastly, the bustard-quails, or
Order Galli- hemipodes (Hemipodii). Everyone is familiar with the ap-
formes. pearance of an ordinary Game-Bird, such as the common fowl,
or the, turkey, the pheasant, the partridge, or the grouse.
The mound-builder, the curassow, and the bustard-quail are less known,
because in Great Britain we have no representative of these sub-orders,
though occasionally examples of each of them may be seen in captivity. The
palate in the Game-Birds is cleft, or, as it is usually called, " schizngnathous,"
and another peculiar character is the perforation of the episternal process of
the breast -bone, or sternum, so that the feet of the coracoid-bones meet
through the opening thus afforded.
These curious birds have a somewhat remarkable distribution, as they
extend from Australia throughout the Malayan Archipelago to the Island of
Labuan and the Philippine Archipelago. They are not
The found in Java or Sumatra, but have recently been discovered
Mound -Builders, in the Kangean group of islands; and a species is also known
Sub-Order from the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Thus it will
Megapodiv. be seen that the distribution of the megapodes is restricted
to the south-east of Asia and Australia.
Professor Huxley separated the megapodes of the Austro-Malayan sub-
region and the curassows of the neo-tropical region into a sub-order, Perlstero-
podes, in contrast to the Alectoropodes, or true Game-Birds, because they have
a smaller inner notch of the sternum, this inner notch being less than half
the length of the entire sternum, whereas in the ordinary Game-Birds the
inner notch of the sternum is more than half the length of the entire sternum.
Again, in the megapodes and curassows, the hallux, or hind-toe, is on the
same level as the other toes, whereas in the Alectoropodes the hallux is
raised above the level of the other toes. Of the mound-builders there
are seven genera, of which the most striking types are the true mound-
builders (Megapodius], the brush-turkeys (Talegallus), and the maleo-bird
(Meyacepha lum) .
The maleo is confined to the Island of Celebes, and is the only one of this
dull-coloured group of Game-Birds which shows any pretension to colour. Ib
has a breast of a delicate pink, and an ornamental bare knob on the crown,
but is otherwise of a dusky colour like the rest of the group. Dr. A. R.
THE MO UND-B UILDERS THE BR USH~ TURKE YS. 227
Wallace, during his celebrated expedition to the Malay Archipelago, found
the maleo practising all the usual nesting devices of the mound-builders.
The female lays eggs at intervals, and he says that the size of the latter
precludes the female bird from having more than one fully-developed egg at
the same time. The eggs are', therefore, laid at an intervening period of ten
or twelve days, and are deposited in a mound of loose, hot, black sand. "In
the months of August and Septem-
ber," he writes, "they come down in
pairs to the nesting-place, and scratch
holes three or four feet deep, just
above high-water mark, where the
female deposits a single large egg,
which she covers over with about a
foot of sand, and then returns to the
forest." Each female is supposed to
lay six or eight eggs during the
season, the male assisting her in
making the hole, coming down and _^_^
returning with her Many birds, Fig 5 _ THE MALEQ (Megacephalum
according to Dr. Wallace, lay in the maleo).
same hole, as a dozen eggs are often
found together.
Some of these birds gain their name of brush-" turkeys " from the wattle
which is seen on the base of the neck in the genera Catheturus and dEpypodius.
Though devoid of these fleshy wattles, which are turkey-like,
the remaining genus, Talegallus, is of large size, and, in a The
country which possesses no real Game-Bird of the kind, Brush-Turkeys,
might pass for a near approach to a turkey in size and
general appearance. Of the habits of the Australian brush-turkey (Catheturns
lathami), Gould gives the following account: "At the commencement of
spring, this species scratches together an immense heap of decaying vegetable
matter as a depository for its eggs, and trusts to the heat engendered by the
process of fermentation for the development of its young. The heap em-
ployed for this purpose is collected by the birds during several weeks previous
to the period of laying ; it varies in size from that of two to that of many
cart-loads, and in most instances is of a pyramidal form. The construction of
the mound is either the work of one pair of birds, or, as some suppose, the
united labours of several ; the same site appears to be resorted to for several
years in succession, the birds adding a fresh supply of materials each succeeding
season. The material composing these mounds is accumulated by the bird's
grasping a quantity of earth in its foot and throwing it backwards to one com-
mon centre, the surface of the ground being so completely scratched over, that
scarcely a leaf or a blade of grass is left. The mound being completed, arid
time allowed for a sufficient heat to be engendered, the eggs are deposited in
a circle at the distance of nine or twelve inches from each other, and buried
more than an arm's depth, with the large end upwards ; they are covered up
as they are laid, and allowed to remain until they are hatched. I have been
credibly informed, both by natives and by settlers living near their haunts,
that it is not an unusual event to obtain half a bushel of eggs at one time
from a single mound. Some of the natives state that the females are con-
stantly in the neighbourhood of the mound about the time when the young
ones are liable to be hatched, and that they frequently uncover and cover
228 AVES ORDER GALLIFORMES
them up again, apparently for the purpose of assisting those that may have
appeared ; while others have informed me that the eggs are merely deposited,
and the young allowed to force their way out unassisted. One point, how-
ever, has been clearly ascertained, viz. that the young, from the hour they
are hatched, are clothed with feathers, and have their wings sufficiently
developed to enable them to fly on to the branches of trees, should they need
to do so to escape from danger ; they are equally nimble on their legs. In
fact, as a moth emerges from its chrysalis, dries its wings, and flies away, so
the youthful brush-turkey, when it leaves the egg, is sufficiently perfect to be
able to act independently and procure its own food."
Of the habits of the Papuan and Moluccan genera, Taleyallus and
dEpypodius, little is known ; but the ways of the species of Lipoa and Meya-
podius have been more carefully studied. Ealipoa from the Moluccas has
but one species, E. wallacii, with a more rounded wing than in the ordinary
megapodes, and further remarkable for its brighter colours. Of the
ocellated megapode (Lipoa ocdlata} Sir George Grey sent to Mr. Gould a
most interesting account of the habits, from which it appears that the birds
tirst scratch a hole in the sand, fill it up with dead leaves and grass, and then
build a mound of dried grass, etc., over it. The hole is then opened and an
egg deposited in the sand, and as many as eight are placed at intervals, an
egg being deposited every day, or at least every few days; and the male bird
helps the female to uncover the hole. The eggs are p laced upright, and
several mounds are found within a short distance of each other, each being
the property of a single pair of birds. All the megapodes are very shy birds,
and escape to the trees when pursued, roosting in these during the heat of
the day, and being then apparently stupid birds they can be shot down
in succession without attempting to fly, so that the whole party is soon
cleared off.
The true megapodes (Meyapodius) are the most widely distributed of any
of the group, but are best known from the studies which have been made of
the habits of the Australian species, M. tumulus. Gilbert found many nests
of this bird in the Cobourg Peninsula, and dug out a young bird, which he
kept alive for a few days. It was, however, very wild and intractable, and
made its escape ; but it is interesting to learn that this little chick employed
its time in continually scratching up sand, for which purpose it only used
one foot. Eggs were taken by Gilbert from a depth of six feet in the mound,
but as the holes ran down obliquely from the centre, towards the outer slope
of the hillock, the eggs might be six feet deep from the summit but only two
or three feet from the side of the mound. One mound that Gilbert found in
Knocker's Bay in a thicket was fifty feet in height and sixty feet in circum-
ference ; and the late Mr. Davison met with a mound of the Nicobar mega-
pode (M. nicobariensis) which was eight feel) in height and quite sixty feet
in circumference. Mr. John Whitehead, in the course of his famous explora-
tions in the Malay Archipelago, visited the Island of Palawan, and there
made the acquaintance of Cuming's megapode (Meyapodius cuminyi), which
he found nesting from June to August. The note of this species is a most
doleful " mew," exactly like that of a cat in distress, and is heard many
times towards evening, adding to the melancholy of the forest. The nest
he describes as a most wonderful structure, and no doubt the result of the
labour of several pairs of birds. The eggs were placed so deep that it was
impossible to reach them, and he says that he dug out a young bird so far
grown that it looked like the adult of another species, and yet, although
THE CURASSOWTHE GROUSE.
229
fully feathered and able to fly well, he was convinced that it had never seen
daylight.
The curassows form the second sub-order of Professor Huxley's Peristero-
podes, and like the megapodes have the hind-toe not elevated, but on the same
level as the other toes. They have also a tufted oil-gland, and
their whole appearance is more like that of the pheasants and ^ e Curassows.
true Game-Birds, and quite different from that of the mega-
podes. The wind-pipe is long and convoluted. They like-
wise nest in trees and lay two white eggs, and the nestlings have a patterned
downy stage, like that of true Game-Birds. Mr. Ogilvie-Grant, who has
made a special study of all the Gallinaceous Birds,
recognises eleven genera of curassows, and he
divides them into two sections, the true curas-
sows with a very deep bill, and the guans with
Sub- Order
Oraces.
a more elongated and widened bill, the tipper
mandible being broader than it is high. Very
little has been recorded of the habits of the curas-
sows in their wild state, but they are often to be
seen in menageries, where they walk about like
great turkeys, or sit on the branches of the trees
provided for them.
Ono of the most curious of the curassows is
Lord Derby's guan (Oreophasis derHanns\ or the
Derbyan mountain-pheasant, as it is also called.
It has the top of the head almost bare, and an
elevated kind of cylindrical casque on the crown,
situated between the eyes. This remarkable bird
is found only in Guatemala, where it is apparently
restricted to the forests on the Volcan de Fuego. Fig. 6. THE CRESTED CURAS-
Here Mr. Osbert Salvin found it feeding on fruits in
the higher branches of the forest-trees in the early morning, and descending to
the underwood as day advances, remaining there all the day-time, basking or
scratching among the leaves. This, says Mr. Salvin, is pretty much what the
curassows and guans of the lowlands do. The Indian name for the mountain-
guan is " khannanay," and it is apparently very rare even on the mountain
which is its sole habitat.
All the rest of the Game-Birds, comprising by far the greater number of
known species, belong to the sub-order Alectoropod.es, and have the hind-toe
elevated, and raised above the level of the other toes. Mr. Ogilvie-Grant
recognises two large families, the Tetraonidce or grouse, and the Phasiandce. or
pheasants and partridges. In the grouse the nostrils are hidden by feathers.
The toes are mostly feathered, and there are never any spurs on the legs.
Eleven genera are recognised as constituting the family Tetraonidce,
and among them are the genera Lagopus, Lyrurus, and
Tetrao, which are represented in Great Britain by our red
grouse and ptarmigan, the black grouse, and the caper-
cailzie.
The willow-grouse or " Ripa " of Scandinavia (Lagopus lagopus) is the
most wide-spread of all the group, for it inhabits the northern regions of
both hemispheres, varying slightly in different localities, so that many races
are recognised by modern ornithologists. These forms, however, all belong
to one type, and they are characterised by a common character, the as-
Tlie Grouse.
Family
Telraonidce.
230
AVES ORDER GALLIFORMES.
sumption of three different styles of plumages, in summer, autumn, and
winter respectively, their plumage thus varying in accord with the colour of
the country which they inhabit. Thus, in summer, when
The True their surroundings are darkest, the plumage is of a dark
Grouse. colour ; in autumn, when the tint of the country is grey, they
become grey ; and, lastly, when the land becomes white from
its covering of snow, the willow-grouse again changes its plumage into snowy
white. In our red grouse (Lagopus scoticus), which is an insular form of the
"Ripa," the changes of plumage are quite different, and the bird always remains
dark-coloured throughout the year, the necessity for change on the ground of
protective resemblance to its surroundings having become removedin our island
climate. It is to be noticed as a curious fact that the willow-grouse, through-
out its changes, never loses its white wings. The nest of the red grouse is always
upon the ground, and the birds are subject to
the attacks of many enemies, of which the
carrion and hooded crows are perhaps the
most active. Unlike some of the other grouse,
our British species has but one mate, and is
monogamous, the nesting season being in
April and May, though sometimes lasting into
the early days of June, as grouse are much
affected by the mildness or inclemency of the
season, and when the latter is wet, the number
of eggs laid is much smaller than in favourable
summers. The red grouse is essentially a bird
of the rnoors, and its place on the higher moun-
tains is taken by the ptarmigan (Lagopus
midus), which also inhabits the higher moun-
tains of Scotland and Europe generally as far
east as the Urals.
The black grouse (Lyrurus) are represented
by two species only, one of which, L. tetrix l
is our British species, and extends in suitable
localities across Europe and Northern Asia to Eastern Siberia, being repre-
sented in the Caucasus by a second species, the Georgian black grouse
(Lyrurus mlokosiewiczi).
These woodland grouse are the largest representatives of the family, and
rank, indeed, among the largest of Game-Birds. They are peculiar to the
Old World, where they inhabit the pine-forests of Europe
The and Asia. Four species are known, our British capercailzie
Capercailzies. (Tetrao urogallus) inhabiting certain parts of Scotland and
extending its range through the pine-covered mountains of
Europe and Asia as far as Lake Baikal. In the Ural Mountains it is
replaced by T. uralensis, and again in Eastern Siberia by T. parvirostris,
which is represented in Kamtchatka by T. kamtchaticus. They are woodland
birds, and our own species feeds on the tender shoots of larch and spruce,
as well as on various ground-fruits, in pursuit of which it sometimes
quits its favourite fir- woods for the more open country. Like the black
grouse, the capercailzie has several wives, and desperate fights take place
amongst the males, who, at the commencement of the nesting season, are
often shot by the hunter, as they are engaged in "laking," as it is called.
The male resorts to some particular spot to utter his love-song, and becomes so
Fig. 7. THE BLACK GROUSE
(Lyrurus tetrix).
THE PARTRIDGES. 231
absorbed in his "spell" as to be utterly oblivious to anything going on
around him.
In America several peculiar forms of grouse are found, the dusky caper-
cailzies (Dendmgapus) having a naked air-sac on the sides of the neck, which
they are able to inflate at will. Mr. Gale describes the nesting habits of
D. obscurus in Colorado, and says that the male, during the nesting season,
performs some curious evolutions. " If," he says, "you are anywhere near
the haunts of a pair, you will surely hear the male, and most likely see him.
He may interview you on foot, strutting along before you, in short, hurried
tacks, alternating from right to left, with wide-spread tail tipped forward,
head drawn in and back, and wings dragging along the ground, much in the
style of a turkey -gobbler. At other times you may hear his mimic thunder
overhead again and again in his flight from tree to tree. As you walk along,
he leads, and this reconnoitring on his part, if you are not familiar with it,
may cause you to suppose that the trees are alive with grouse. He then
takes his stand upon a rock, stump, or log, and distends the lower part of his
neck, opens his frill of white, edged with the darker feather tips, showing in
the centre a pink narrow line, describing somewhat the centre of a circle ;
then with very little apparent motion he performs his growling or groaning, I
don't know" which to call it, which has the strange peculiarity of seeming
quite distant when quite near, and near when distant ; in fact, appearing to
come from every direction but the true one." The pinnated grouse (Tym-
panuchus) have an elongated tuft of feathers on each side of the neck, as well
as an air-sac. These and the ruffed grouse (Bonasa) are also North American,
being replaced in Europe and Northern Asia by the hazel-hens (Tetrastes),
which inhabit hilly and wooded districts.
In the family Phasianidce, which includes all the partridges, quails, and
pheasants, we meet with the most typical of the Game-Birds. Mr. Ogilvie-
Grant proposes to divide them into three sub-families
partridges (Perdicince\ pheasants (Phasianince}, and Odonto- The
phorinw, or American tooth-billed partridges. The latter Partridges,
may be at once distinguished by having the cutting edge of
the lower mandible serrated or toothed. The partridges may be recognised
by their short and stumpy tails, which never exceed the length of the wing,
and there are other minor differences, which the above-mentioned author has
pointed out. Unfortunately for the classification of the Game-Birds, many
forms are intermediate, while the characters assigned to the partridges hold
good only to a certain extent, the character which should separate par-
tridges from pheasants, viz. the proportion of the primaries and the
secondaries, breaks down, as Mr. Ogilvie-Grant has pointed out, in the
important genus Phasiaum, which has the wing of a partridge, but the long
tail of a pheasant. Thus the two groups, the partridges and the pheasants,
to outward appearance so different, appear to be inseparably connected, and
it is difficult to find any line of demarcation between them. Pheasant-like
partridges and partridge-like pheasants fill the gap between the true partridges
and the true pheasants.
The snow-partridges of the Himalayas are represented by the genus Lenva,
which has the upper half of the tarsus covered with feathers, indicating an
inhabitant of high elevations. Thus we find the genus
Lerwa only in the upper ranges of the Himalayan system, Part !. id ^ es
from Koteghur to Sikkim, and again in Moupin and the Genug
mountains of Szechuen in Western China, It is found near
232
A VES ORDER GALL/FORMES.
The
Snow- Cocks.
Genus
Tetraoyallus.
the snow-line in summer, and is somewhat local in its distribution, inhabiting
rocky situations, where its plumage blends with its surroundings, and makes
the bird difficult to identify. It nests in the Himalayas at an elevation of
from 12,000 to 15,000 feet, and is very tame, probably on account of its
habitat being only reached by a most adventurous sportsman, whose visits
are few and far between.
These large and handsome birds are readily distinguished by their large
size and by the number of their tail-feathers, which are 20 or 22 in
number. The snow-cocks, or snow-pheasants as they are
called (Tetraogallus), are the largest of the partridge-group,
and are only found in high ranges, from the mountains of
Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and Persia, to the Himalayas,
Turkestan, the Altai, and the higher hills of Moupin and
North- Western China. In the Himalayas, the snow-pheasant (T. himalayensis)
is an inhabitant of the snowy ranges, from which it only migrates to some-
what lower altitudes on the approach of the winter sno\V. These birds are
generally found in packs of from five to ten, but sometimes twenty or thirty
are in a single flock ; and even during the nesting-season a good many are
found in company. Snow-pheasants are birds of the open, rocky hill-country,
frequenting grass-lands, and never entering the forest or perching on trees.
They are, therefore, evidently gigantic partridges in their ways, and it is a
mistake to call them snow-" pheasants,'' as is so often done.
The red-legged partridges differ from the true partridges in having only
14 feathers in the tail. They are also easily recognisable by the beautiful
barring of red, grey, and black of the sides of the
body. The most familiar of all the group is the red-
legged partridge of England (Catcalls rufa), which is
confined to South-Western and Western Europe. In
North- West Africa, Sardinia, and Southern Spain
it has a near ally in the Barbary red-legged partridge
(C. petrosa), while the rock red-legged partridge (C.
saxatilis) takes its place in the mountains of Southern
Europe, from the Pyrenees to the Balkans. A paler
form, known as the Chukar or Greek partridge (C.
chukar), extends from Greece through Central Asia to
China, and is a well-known bird in the Himalayas.
In Tibet and Kokonoor a large species, Prjevalskfs
red-legged partridge (Caccabis mayna), is met with ;
but the largest of all is the black-headed red-legged
partridge (C. melanocephala\ which lives in Southern
Arabia, and is a very fine bird, approaching even
some members of the genus Tetraogallus in size. The
distribution of these species of Caccabis is most interesting, and there is no
doubt that climate exercises considerable influence on their plumage, those
which inhabit dry and sandy localities being paler than those of the more
cultivated country. This is especially true of the chukars ; but considerable
variation in tint is also seen in the common red-leg from different areas. The
Fig. 8 THE RED-
LGGED PARTKIDOJ
(Caccabis rufa).
chukars inhabit dry and stony situations, and never go into the forests, pre-
ferring in the Lower Himalayas the grassy hill-sides to the cultivated fields.
In summer they are met with in pairs, or in small parties ; but in winter
they assemble in loose, scattered flocks, sometimes to the number of forty or
fifty, or even a hundred.
THE FRANCOLINS. 233
In the bare portion of the countries between North- Western India, Persia,
and North-Eastern Africa, is the home of the see-see partridges (Ammoperdix),
of which two species, A. bonhami and A. heyi, are known ; and then we leave
the true partridges for the francolins, which are a very large group, princi-
pally African. They may be divided into two genera, Francolinus and
Pternistes. Both these genera have 14 tail-feathers ; but the former has a
feathered throat, while in Pternistes the throat is bare. More than forty
species of francolin are known, of which all but four are peculiar to Africa.
They inhabit all kinds of country : some the open grass-lands, some bare and
desert situations, while others are found in forest-lands.
This interesting species (F. francolinus) has now been practically exter-
minated in its former haunts in Sicily and other parts of Southern Europe,
but is still found in Cyprus, Palestine, and Asia Minor,
whence it extends eastwards to the Indian Peninsula, as far The Common
as Assam and Manipur. It is familiarly known as the black Francolin.
partridge, by Indian sportsmen, and is a favourite Game- Bird F. francolinus.
in the north-west provinces of India, though it is much less
common in many places than it was formerly. This is partly owing to the per-
secution it receives, while from the accounts published by Mr. Allan Hume
and his friends, the francolin is not a prolific breeder, and the young birds
suffer from the depredations of stoats, jackals, etc. It is, like most of its kind,
a ground bird, but Mr. Greig says that the cock will at times get on to a stump
or ant-hill, when calling, and he has even seen them high up in fir-trees.
The natives are very fond of keeping the francolin as a pet, and numbers are
netted by them. Some of the African species are quite small, scarcely larger
than a quail, whilst others are of large size and heavy build, and they are
sometimes so disinclined to fly, that after being flushed a second time, they
will allow themselves to be taken with the hand rather than rise again.
These birds have all the appearance of francolins, but differ from them in
having the throat naked. Nine species are known, and they are all peculiar
to the Ethiopian region. Pternistes swainsoni is one of the
best-known species, -and is the "pheasant" of Matabeleland. The Bare-
Mr. T. E. Buckley says that the coveys are extremely throated
difficult to flush, and they prefer to escape by running. In Francolins.
the day-time they come out into the open, and frequent the Genus Pternistes.
neighbourhood of small streams ; they pass the night in the
brushwood, and roost on trees. They feed on bulbs, seeds, berries, and
insects. The eggs of Swainson's bare-throated francolin are six or more in
number ; they are rounded in shape, of a pinkish cream-colour, finely speckled
with chalky-white.
In the Malayan Archipelago the francolins of Africa and India are re-
presented by the genus Rhizothera, distinguished by its long bill. The
typical species, the long-billed francolin (R. longirostris\ is an inhabitant
of .the southern portion of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and the lowlands
of Borneo. In the highlands of the latter island,- on Mount Dulit, at an
elevation of 4,000 feet, it is replaced by Hose's long- billed francolin
(Rhizothera dulitensis).
Of these birds our common partridge (P. perdix) is the type, and the best-
known species. In illustration of the curiosities of bird-life, especially in
species the most familiar to us, I may mention that Mr. Ogilvie-Grant,
who has made the game-birds his special study, has recently discovered
diflerences in the coloration of the sexes of the partridge hitherto unrecorded.
234 AVES ORDER GALLIFORMES.
The male, as might be believed, has a large horse-shoe shaped mark
of chestnut on the breast. This is either feebly developed or entirely
absent in the adult female, which can always be recog-
Tlie True nised by the barred Aving-coverts, of which the ground
Partridges. colour is black, with widely set buff cross-bars. Young
Genus Perdix. birds of both sexes can be told by the pointed, not
rounded, end to the first primary, while the yellowish horn-
colour of the feet is also a distinguishing character. Then comes the curious
fact that the young female has a horse-shoe mark on the breast, which is not
seen in the immature male. Many ornithologists recognise certain races of
the common partridge in Europe, and a small form, supposed to inhabit the
higher ground in summer and to descend to the lower ground in winter, is
known as Perdix damascena. A still more curious hill race from the
mountains of Lorraine, which crops up occasionally in certain parts of
England, is the mountain partridge (Perdix montana), a bird almost entirely
rufous, with a creamy buff head. It cannot be considered more than a
variety of the ordinary partridge, but at first sight would seem to be a
perfectly distinct species.
In Eastern Siberia our common partridge is represented by the bearded
partridge (P. daurica), which has tufts of feathers on the throat, forming a
kind of " beard. 3 ' In Tibet and Kansu two species of true partridge are
encountered, P. hodgsonice and P. sifanica, both of which have sixteen tail
feathers, instead of eighteen, as in our common species.
Passing by several small genera of bush quails (Margaroperdix of Mada-
gascar, Perdicula and Microperdix of India), we come to the tree partridges
(Arboricola) which inhabit the hill ranges of the Himalayas,
The Tree Assam, and the Burmese provinces, and those of Sumatra,
Partridges. Java, Borneo, Hainan, and Formosa. This distribution is in-
Genus teresting as snowing the Himalayan element in the mountain
Arboricola fauna of the last-named islands. In the lower hills of Burma,
Malacca, Sumatra, and Borneo occurs the allied genus
Tropicoperdix, which contains a couple of species very like those of Arboricola,
but distinguished by the absence of the supra-orbital chain of bones, which is
one of the features of Arboricola. Closely allied to these tree-partridges are
the genera Hcematortyx of Mount Kina Balu, in North-Western Borneo, re-
markable for its three-spurred leg and crimson head, and Caloperdix, the
latter genus containing three species, inhabiting respectively the mountains
of Tenasserim and the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Java, and North-Western
Borneo. The crested wood-partridges (Rollulus\ which have a tuft of long
hair-like bristles on the middle of the forehead, are represented by a single
species (jR. rouloul\ which is found in the Indo-Malayan sub-region from
Southern Tenasserim and the Malay Peninsula to the Sunda Islands. It is
accompanied in the greater part of its range by the black wood-partridge
(Melanoperdix nigra).
These little birds are only found in the Old World, the common or migra-
tory quail (Coturnix coturnix) being found in Europe and Northern Asia in
summer, and migrating in vast hosts. The numbers which
The Quails. appear in the winter quarters of the species, in Northern
Genus Coturnix. Africa, in Egypt, and, above all, in North-Western India,
are sometimes incredible. Colonel Tickell, in one of his
shooting experiences, speaks of them as like locusts in number. In South
Africa our European quail is replaced by the Cape quail (Coturnix capensis),
QUAILS PHEASANTS. 235
which extends northwards to the Azores, and the Canary Islands; and in Japan,
Mongolia, and China, G. japonica replaces C. cotumix. The female of C. japonica
is bearded, which is a curious fact, when one remembers that a bearded
partridge of Siberia replaces our own western partridge (P. perdix). In
India, Africa, and Australia are peculiar species of the genus Coturnix, and
New Zealand formerly possessed a species of its own (C. novae, zealandm).
The New Zealand quail is now extinct, and specimens are valued at nearly
100, and yet fifty years ago it was so common that twenty brace in a day's
shooting was not considered a large bag ! If the sportsmen of those days
had known of the impending extinction of the species, and had preserved
the skins of the birds they shot for the table, a small fortune might have
been their lot.
These small birds are peculiar to the Australian region, inhabiting
Australia, New Guinea, and the islands of Timor and Flores. They closely
resemble the true quails, and only differ in their short grey
axillaries. The eggs, however, are not so boldly marked as The Swamp and
in those of the quails, and are of a pale bluish white, with a Painted Quails,
number of light brown spots. The painted quails (Excal-
factorla) are birds of small size, but of many colours. They inhabit India,
the Indo-Chinese countries, and the entire Malayan Archipelago to Australia,
while one species, E. adansonij is found in Africa.
Under this sub-family are also included the turkeys and the guinea-fowls, and
it contains the most widely distributed and the most highly decorated of the
Game-Birds. The bamboo-pheasants and the spur-fowl of the
Indian region have rather the aspect of partridges than true The Pheasants.
pheasants. Another intermediate form between the two Sub-Family
sub- families is seen in the blood-pheasants (Ithagenes) of the Phasianince.
Himalayas and the allied chains of mountains in North-
Western China. They are forest birds, living at a great altitude near the
snows, affecting the clumps of mountain-bamboo, and feeding at some seasons
on the tops of pine and juniper, when their flesh is somewhat rank to eat,
and at others on seeds and small fruits, when their flesh is quite palatable.
These splendid birds, generally called " Argus " pheasants by Indian
sportsmen, on account of their white-spotted plumage, are found in the
Himalayas and the hills of Assam and South-Eastern China.
They are remarkable for the adornments of the males, which The Horned
have fleshy horns and a bare gular lappet of bright colours. Pheasants.
The latter is displayed during the breeding-season, but is Genus Trayopan.
scarcely distinguishable in the winter, when the birds aro
most easily observed, as they descend to the lower grounds and are often
snared by the natives. In summer they frequent the forests near the
snow-line.
The moonals or impeyan pheasants are some of the handsomest of all
known birds, their plumage being metallic, and of divers colours of green,
purple, and blue, and they carry a crest of light spade-shaped
plumes or curled feathers. They inhabit the higher ranges The Moonals.
of the Himalayas and the mountains of Assam and Western Genus
China, descending to lower elevations as the winter comes Lophophorus.
on. Mr. Hume, speaking of the common moonal, says :
" There are few sights more striking, where birds are concerned, than that
of a grand old cock shooting out horizontally from the hillside just below
one, glittering and flashing in the golden sunlight, a gigantic rainbow-
2 3 6
AVES ORDER GALLIFORMES.
Fig. 9. LOBED PHEASANT (Lobiophasis
bulweri).
tinted gem, and then dropping stone-like, with closed wings, into the abyss
below. "
The fire-backed pheasants (Acomus and Lophura) arc inhabitants of the
mountains of the Indo-Chinese provinces and the Malayan Peninsula and
Islands. On the high mountains of North- Western Borneo, on the La was River
and the region of Mount Dulit occurs one of the most remarkable of all game
birds, the lobed pheasant (Lobiopha-
sis), which has no less than thirty-
two feathers in the tail, which, as Mr.
Ogilvie-Grant says, is "by far the
largest number of tail-feathers in the
Phasianidce. One of the eared phea-
sants (Crossoptilum aiiritum) has
twenty-four, and the smallest num-
ber occurs in the painted quails
(Excalfactoria), which have only
eight ! " The female of the lobed
pheasant, however, has twenty-
eight feathers only. The horns and
wattles on the head show some sort
of likeness to the naked ornaments
found in the tragopans, but the style of plumage is in other respects entirely
different. Like the tragopans, the lobed pheasant inhabits the mountains,
but does not extend beyond 2,000 feet, and, according to Mr. C. Hose, it lives
in the forest, and has the ways of a jungle-fowl.
In these birds, which are remarkable for the long white tufts on the side of
the head, whence the name of "eared" pheasants, the sexes are alike in
colour. They are large birds, inhabiting the high mountains
of Tibet, Western China, and Manchuria. They live in the
woods at high elevations, and assemble in large flocks.
The best-known species of Gennteus is the silver pheas-
ant, so often seen in aviaries. The kalijes inhabit the
Himalayas and the hills of Assam and Burmah. Jn the
Himalayas they are found at different elevations, from 1,000 up to
9,COO feet. They are easily reared in captivity, and large numbers are snared
by the natives. The black-backed kalij is described by Mr.
The Kalij Gammie, a well-known Himalayan naturalist, as being very
Pheasants. tame when it is found away from its native forests, which it
Genus Gennceus. does not often quit. He says : " In fine weather, the male
often makes a sharp, drumming noise by beating his wings
against his sides, somewhat after the style of the wing-flapping of a domestic
cock, preparatory to crowing from some elevated place ; but instead of the
cock's few leisurely flaps, the kalij strikes oftener and smarter, producing a
sound more like drumming than flapping. This noise is heard at all seasons
of the year, but most frequently before the setting in of the rainy season ;
at other times just before a fall of rain. Hence the natives look on the
drumming of the kalij as a sure sign of approaching rain." The Himalayan
kalijes, even in a wild state, interbreed, while in the species from the
Burmese provinces, intermediate forms also occur, which render it difficult to
draw the line between the different species.
The koklass or pucras pheasants (Pucrasia) are found in the Himalayan
chain from Afghanistan eastwards to Tibet, and the mountain ranges of
The Eared
Pheasants.
Genus
Crossoptilum.
PHEASANTS.
237
The Common
Pheasant.
colchicus.
Southern China to Fokien and Manchuria. They are birds of the forests like
the kalijes, and of a somewhat retired and solitary disposition, according to
Mr. F. Wilson, who writes of P. macrotephct : "In the
remote forests of the interior of the Himalayas, on the report The Koklass
of a gun, all the koklass pheasants within half a mile or so will Pheasants.
often crow after such a report. They will also crow after a clap Genus Pucrasia.
of thunder or any loud or sudden noise, and this peculiarity
seems to be confined to those which live in the dark shady woods of the interior,
as I never noticed them acting thus in the lower hills. The food of the koklass
pheasants is varied, like that of the kalijes, and consists, according to Mr.
Wilson, of leaves and buds, roots, grubs, acorns, seeds, berries, moss, and
flowers. The nest of P. macrolopha is described as a hole scraped in the
ground, and sheltered by a tuft of grass, or a bush, or rock. The species is
found nesting at an elevation of from 5,000 to 11,000 feet in the Himalayas."
To the genus Phasianus belong the birds which we all know familiarly as
pheasants, and it is interesting as representing one of the few types peculiar
to the Palsearctic region. There are a great many species
of the genus Phasianus scattered through Europe, Central
Asia, and China, most of them being of the form and general
coloration of our common pheasant (P. colchicus), which is
supposed not to be a native of Western Europe, but to have
been imported from the Caucasus or from Asia Minor.
Recent discoveries of fossil remains, however, tend to prove that pheasants
of some kind were ancient inhabitants of the western Palsearctic region,
and it is quite possible that the pheasant of our own day is a descendant of
these old forms, and that the story of its introduction into England by the
Romans is a myth. At the present
time it is very difficult to find a pure-
bred pheasant in the British Islands,
as by far the greater number of
those birds killed in the autumn
have white rings round their necks,
owing to the introduction of the
Chinese ring-necked pheasants, with
which our native birds have freely
crossed. The genus Phasianus is
one of the few typical forms of birds
peculiar to the Palsearctic region,
for in the Himalayas it is repre-
sented by the cheer pheasant
(Catreus ivalliehii). Thus the true pheasants are found in temperate Europe,
where P. colchicus is the only representative species of the genus, to Central
Asia and China, where the species are many, though in these countries the
pheasants have either white rings on their necks or white patches on the
upper part of their wings. Of P. colchicus there are several representative
races, as for instance P. talischensis, from Talisch, on the south-western border
of the Caspian Sea ; P. persicus, from the south-eastern shores of the Caspian ;
and P. principally from North-Western Afghanistan. Thence in the Oxus
Valley, Zarafshan, and other localities in Central Asia, our common pheasant
is represented by various species and races, for a description of which
students must search the writings of Mr. Ogilvie-Grant and others. The
ring-necked pheasants are found from Turkestan to Kuldja, Eastern Siberia,
Fig, 10. THE COMMON PHEASANT
(Phasianus colchicus).
2 3 8 AVES-ORDER GALLIFORMES.
China, and the island of Formosa. In Japan a splendid species is resident,
P. versicolar, remarkable for its dark green breast, and in the same country are
found the copper pheasants (P. samimeringi and P. scintillaus), birds of a
different type altogether from our ordinary pheasant. The finest of all,
however, is Reeves' pheasant (Phasianus reevesi), which lives in China, and
is remarkable for its white crown and the length of its tail, which, in fully
adult birds, attains to the dimensions of five feet !
The barred-backed pheasants (Callophasis) are represented by two species
only, C. ellioti, from the mountains of South-Eastern China, and C. humice,
from the Shan States and the Lushai Hills and those of Manipur.
The best-known species of the genus Chrysolophus is the golden pheasant
(C. pictus), and the name is commonly used to designate the genus, and is
m perfectly appropriate to the golden pheasant, but is a mis-
Tne Ca P a nomer for the Lady Amhersts' pheasant, which has no
Genus' golden colour on its neck, but carries a "cape" of white,
Chrysolophus barred with steel-blue. The golden pheasant inhabits
Southern and Western China to Kokonoor, and C. amherstice
replaces it in the mountains of Western China and Eastern Tibet.
These birds have a special interest, as it is from them that all our breeds
of poultry have been derived, although it is difficult to believe that a cochin-
china, a dorking, or n Spanish fowl can have originated in
The Jungle- these spangled, many-coloured denizens of the forests of the
Fowl. Genus East. The nearest approach to the wild stock that domestic
Gallus. variation produces is found in the "Game" fowl, and a
very interesting group is to be seen in the Natural History
Museum of some birds shot wild in the Fiji Islands by Mr. E. L. Layard,
C.M.G. In the early voyages in the Pacific by Captain Cook and other
navigators, fowls were turned loose on some of the islands, to provide
food for any unfortunate sea-faring folk who might be shipwrecked on
them. At the present day these birds have taken to their original habits
as jungle-fowl, and have to be hunted and shot. They have, moreover,
reverted to the plumage of true jungle-fowl, and though the cocks still show
traces of a domestic strain, the hens, as well as some of the cock-birds, have
assumed once more the coloration of the wild stock from which they were
originally derived. The true jungle-fowl are found at the present day in
the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, the Indo-Malayan region to Cochin-China
and the island of Hainan, south to the Philippines, Java, Sumatra, Borneo,
Celebes, and other islands of the North Moluccas.
These are birds of grey coloration, but remarkable for the metallic green,
purple, or blue spots or "eyes' 1 which adorn their plumage. Five species
are known, inhabiting the Himalayan system of mountains
Ph + e from Sikkim to Tenasserim and Cochin-China, and thence
Genus 3 through the Malayan Peninsula to Sumatra, Borneo, and the
Polypectrum i s l an< i f Palawan in the south of the Philippine Archipelago.
They are found from the lowlands up to 6,000 feet in Tenas-
serim. They seem to affect forest country, feeding on fruit, insects, worms,
and small land-shells. The call of P. chinquis, the Himalayan species, is said
by Mr. Clark to be something like a laugh "ha ha ha ha." Mr. John
Whitehead says that in Palawan he found the species of the island, P.
nclpoleonis, very local, and his specimens were all collected in one district of
the forest. It is not known for certain whether the peacock pheasants are
polygamous, and Mr. Whitehead inclines to the idea that they are not ; but
ARGUS PHEASANTS PEA-FOWL., 239
Mr. Clark once came across a party of four, consisting of one male and three
female birds. In Palawan Mr. Whitehead found that Napoleon's peacock
pheasant had a "showing-off" ground, like that of the argus pheasants, a
bare space cleared in the forest, kept scrupulously clean, " with a small hump
of earth in the middle, where, no doubt, the male birds show off their splendid
plumage, and perhaps do battle. ' ; He adds that the fights, if they have any,
must be very short and decisive, as the double spurs of the cocks would be
sufficient to cut his adversary into bits. In the Himalayan species, P.
chinquis, which ranges into Cachar and Tenasserim, as many as four spurs
are sometimes found on the legs of the male.
Of these extraordinary pheasants, three species are known : the com-
mon argus (A. argus) of the Malay Peninsula, Gray's argus (A. grayi)
of Borneo, and A. bipunctatus, the habitat of which is at
present unknown. In Tonquin the crested argus (Rhein- The Argus
hardius ocellatus) occurs. The argus pheasants are remark- Pheasants.
able for "the hundred metallic eyes" on the wings, the Genus
feathers of which are prolonged in an extraordinary Aryusiamis.
manner, while the tail-feathers exceed in length the
dimensions of any of the Game-Birds. Like the giraffe, which most
people would think to be incapable of threading its way through jungle,
the apparently clumsy argus makes its escape by darting into the
thicket, and it is one of the most difficult of birds to force into flight.
So says the greatest of modern collectors of birds, the late Mr. W. R.
Davison, who spent years in the jungles of Tenasserim and the Malayan
Peninsula, engaged in forming that wonderful collection of Oriental birds
presented to the nation in 1885 by Mr. Allen Hume, C.B. In Tenasserim he paid
great attention to the habits of the argus, and is perhaps the only white man
who has seen the bird in its native haunts. He" found them extremely shy
and difficult of observation, never rising, but seeking safety in running away
through the thick jungle. The males themselves do not seem to engage in
combat, though they will answer each other's call. The note is " how-how,"
repeated ten or a dozen times, though the report of a gun in the neighbour-
hood, or the passing of a troop of monkeys, will set every male calling. The
cry of the female is different, " how-o-woo," repeated ten times or more.
The males clear an open space in the forest, which Mr. Davison believed to
be a " dancing-ground," though he never caught a bird inflagrante delicto. Not
a leaf is allowed to soil the hallowed spot, though occasionally a male of the
fire-back pheasant will intrude, and take a savage delight in driving the
argus from his carefully-prepared " arena."
Two kinds of pea-fowl are known, the common Paro cristatus of India
and Ceylon, and P. muticus of Indo-China and the Malayan Peninsula.
These birds do not ascend the mountains, as a rule, but are
plentiful in the plains of North- Western India, and in The Pea-Fowl.
Rajputana they are held sacred by the natives. Near Jey- Genus Paro.
pur, for instance, the number of pea-fowl is very large, and
they can be observed from the windows of the passing train, walking alout
in the grass near the sides of the line, or perching on the fences. They are
very well-known birds in confinement, and the "train" of eyed plumes,
formed by the elongated upper tail-coverts of the male bird, is one of the
most extraordinary developments of plumage in the Class Aves.
Two very aberrant forms of guinea-fowl, Phasidus and Agedastes, inhabit
West Africa, from Liberia to the Congo ; but the true guinea-fowls (Numida)
240
AVES- ORDER GALLIFORMES.
are found over nearly the whole of Africa, to which continent and Mada-
gascar they are peculiar. Seven species are recognised, each with a kind of
horn or helmet on the head, and they are all birds of the
The Guinea- open country, in contradistinction to the crested guinea-
Fowls. fowls, which are forest-haunting birds. The true guinea-
Genus fowls (Numida) go in flocks, and frequent the scrubby
Numida. bush on the borders of streams. They escape by running,
but when hotly pursued by a dog, they take to the
trees, and are so occupied with taking stock of their canine pursuer,
that they can be shot down, one after the other. That they can be
easily tamed is proved by the way in which they are domesticated in nearly
every country. In Damara Land, the late Mr. C. J. Anderssnn says that he
has seen a thousand together. When the birds assemble in search of water,
and when a pool is discovered, the first-comers act in a most civilised manner,
approaching and drinking their fill, and retiring in an opposite direction, that
the next in order may have room to file in and slake their thirst.
Of the crested guinea-fowls(6ritera) four species are known, all inhabitants
of the bush-country and forests. One of them is peculiar to West Africa
(G. cristata\ one to South-East Africa (G. edouardi), and one to East Africa
(G. pucherani). Like the ordinary guinea-fowls, when hunted with a dog,
they take to the trees, and are easily shot. One of the most beautiful of the
group is the vulturine guinea-fowl (Acryllium mdtnrinum), with a bare head
like a vulture, whence its name, and remarkable for the bright cobalt-blue
colour on the wings and flanks. The bare portions of the head and neck are
also" cobalt-blue. It is an inhabitant of Eastern Africa, from the Pangani
River to Somali Land.
The common turkey of our farmyards is descended from the Mexican turkey
(Meleagris gallopavo). Many races of wild turkeys are known in tho Southern
' United States
h
each of which
has a separate and definite
range ; but the most beautiful
species of all is the Honduras
turkey (M. ocellata). Though
they feed on different kinds of
seeds during the day, the tur-
keys betake themselves at night
to the trees to roost. They
even ascend the mountains to a
height of 8,000 to 10,000 feet,
descending to the lower valleys
in autumn, when they con-
gregate in great flocks. They
are polygamous, and the male
Fig. 11. THE TURKEY (Meleagris gallopavo).
leaves to the female the entire duty of rearing the young.
These are all birds of the New World, and are remarkable for having the
The T 6C ^ e ^ *k lower mandible serrated and toothed. They are
Partridges 6 - a somewuat large group, and include all the colins and
Sub-family tu ^ed and painted partridges. Two of the best known
Odontophorhinx. s P ec ^ es are the Californian quail (Lophortyx californiana)
and the Virginian quail (Ortyx viryinianus).
HEMIPODESSAND- GRO USE. 24 1
At the end of the series of Game-Birds are found some tiny birds, which
look like dwarf partridges. These are the bustard-quails or hemipodes,
which were formerly associated with the true quails (Cotur-
nix). The differences between the hemipodes and the The Hemipodes.
Game-Birds are chiefly osteological, and need not be detailed Genus Turnix.
here ; but the absence of the hind-toe distinguishes the
genus Turnix at a glance, though the Australian genus Pedionomus has four
toes like an ordinary Game- Bird. One of the most curious facts connected
with the hemipodes is the superior size and colour of the female. In some
cases she is nearly twice the size of her mate, and on the latter devolves the
duty of hatching the eggs out and taking care of the young. It is curious
that these little birds should have such an ostrich-like peculiarity, but there
is otherwise nothing struthious about them, for the hemipodes have the bones
of the palate more like those of Passerine-Birds than those of Game-Birds.
They frequent the open plains and grass-country, but are also found in
some places on the outskirts of cultivation. Hemipodes are entirely birds
of the Old World, and are distributed over Africa, Madagascar, India, and
China, and extend throughout the Malayan Archipelago to Australia.
The sand-grouse are peculiar birds, half Pigeons, half Game-Birds, of which
the English people are not ignorant. Although the sand-grouse are birds of the
desert, and are found throughout Africa, Central Asia, India, Th S d
and the Tibetan and Mongolian plateaux, there is one G ? ~
species, Pallas' sand-grouse (Syrrhoptes paradoxus), which Pterodetes
makes regular irruptions from its Eastern home in the
Kirghis deserts into Western Europe, and at times visits England in swarms.
Doubtless these immigrations have occurred for ages at regular intervals,
but in the Middle Ages our ancestors were too much occupied in fighting and
cutting each others' throats to notice a swift-flying bird like the sand-grouse,
which their weapons would have been powerless to capture. And thus
it happens that our first great record of the occurrence of Pallas' sand-grouse
in England took place in 1863,
and then again in 1888 another
great irruption took place, when
not only a large number were seen
in Western Europe, but they actu-
ally stayed and even nested in
Great Britain. In some places the
flocks were protected by intelligent
land-owners ; but they ultimately
disappeared, having apparently mi-
grated back to their Eastern home.
The sand-grouse are certainly
desert birds, their very plumage
being of a sandy colour, and assimilating to their surroundings. In many of
their osteological characters they resemble the pigeons, but in the digestive
organs they resemble Game-Birds, so that their natural position is as a dis-
tinct order between these two well-marked groups. They have feathered
legs, but never carry a spur like Game-Birds, and they have either three
toes, or, if the fourth toe is present, it is only rudimentary. The egg is,
however, peculiar, being neither white like that of the pigeons, nor uniform
like that of the pheasants and partridges, nor richly mottled like that of the
grouse, but double-spotted, with brown spots mostly in evidence, and under-
17
242 A VES ORDERS PTEROCLETES AND COLUMBIFORMES.
lying spots of pale purple. The eggs are, moreover, oval in shape, but
equally rounded at each end.
Although the sand-grouse are not often observed during the day-time, they
are to be obtained in the mornings and evenings, when they assemble at the
water-pools to drink. Of Pallas' sand-grouse the late General Prjevalski
writes : ' At the drinking-places, as well as at the feeding-places, these birds
never settle on the ground without first describing a circle, in order to assure
themselves that there is no danger. On alighting, they hastily drink and
rise again ; and, in cases where the flocks are large, the birds in front get up
before those at the back have time to alight. They know their drinking-
places very well, and very often go to them from distances of tens of miles,
especially in the mornings between nine and ten o'clock, but after twelve at
noon they seldom visit these spots." Sometimes the sand-grouse are driven
south by an unexpected fall of snow, and by clearing the snow from a patch
of ground, Swinhoe tells us that the natives sometimes manage to net an
entire flock of birds. It may be such a sudden snow-storm that forces the
sand-grouse of Central Asia to make the unexpected invasion into Western
Europe to which we have referred.
The Pigeons are a large order of birds, and are divisible into two sub-
orders, viz. the Columbce or True Pigeons, and the Dodos (Didi). Pigeons
have a swelling of the bill near the tip, similar to the bill of
The Pigeons. the plovers, which we shall discuss presently. At the base of
Order the bill is a soft bare skin, or cere, which is very prominent
Columbiformes, in some of the fruit-pigeons, and is generally of a bright colour.
The osteological and anatomical characters which separate
them from the Game-Birds (which some of the ground pigeons greatly
resemble) are numerous, the chief one, perhaps, being that the fore-part of
the sternum or breast-bone is never perforated to receive the feet of the
coracoids, as is the case in the Game-Birds. The nest which pigeons build
is one of the simplest structures known among birds, for it consists of a slight
cradle of sticks, and is generally placed in a tree. The eggs are white, and
two in number, though there are many species which lay but a single egg,
and in this order of birds we meet with the great exception to the rule in
the Class Aves, viz. that birds which lay white eggs usually nest in holes
or burrows, so that the eggs are concealed from view. Not only, however,
are the eggs of the pigeons white, but the frail platform on which they are
placed renders them easily visible from above, and often from below. The
young are hatched naked, but after a little while become clothed with hairy
down ; they remain helpless in the nest for a long time after they are
hatched, and are fed by the old birds.
The True Pigeons, of which our ring-dove or wood-pigeon, and the ordinary
dove-cote pigeons may be taken as representatives, constitute the order
Columbw, and they are divided by Count Salvador!, the latest monographer of
the order, into five families.
The first family of the pigeons consist of the fruit-pigeons (Trerontda) with
three sub-families, Treronince, or green fruit-pigeons, painted fruit-pigeons
(PtHopodin(K\ and true fruit-pigeons (Carpopliagince). The
The Fruit- green fruit- pigeons are found in Africa, India, and the Indo-
Pigeons. Family Chinese sub-region, through the Malayan sub-region to the
Treronidce. Molucca Islands. All the members of the sub- family
Treronince have the tarsus short, exceeded in length by the
middle toe, and the tail feathers vary from 12 in number to 16, while the
PAINTED PIGEONS FRUIT-PIGEONS. 24?
chief peculiarity is the broadening of the toes beneath, and having the skin
expanded on the soles, as Count Salvadori has pointed out. The green fruit-
pigeons are accustomed to assemble in flocks of comparatively large size,
and feed, as a rule, on small fruit.
The Ptilopodince include some of the most beautiful birds of the world
among their number. Although they are mostly birds of small size, the
exquisite blending of their bright coloration renders their
combination of plumage extremely beautiful, and there is no The Painted
more wonderful bird in the world than the golden fruit- Pigeons.
pigeon of the Fiji Islands (Chryscenas victor}. Sub-Family
The true painted pigeons (Ptilopus) are nearly all highly- Ptilopodince.
coloured birds, and have generally the first primary narrowed
to a slender point. They are among the smallest of all the pigeons, many of
them scarcely exceeding the bulk of a thrush, but they are ornamented, as a
rule, with a patch of bright colour on the fore part of the crown, which may
be rose-colour, pink, or even pale lavender. Very little has been written
about their habits, but of the allied genus, Megaloprepia, which has not the
attenuated ending to the first primary-quill, and has a somewhat longer and
more rounded tail than Ptilopus, we learn from Gould that the magnificent
fruit-pigeon (Megaloprepia magnified) is found in the bushes of the interior
of South-Eastern Australia, where it feeds on wild figs and the nut-like
fruit of the large palms. It is a shy bird, and is not easily discovered, unless
it betrays its presence by the hoarse, loud, and monotonous note, which is
frequently uttered by the male during the pairing season. The note is so
extraordinary, and so unlike that of any other bird, that it causes the utmost
surprise and wonderment as to what it can proceed from, in the minds of
persons who hear it for the first time. Five species of Megaloprepia are
known, ranging from the Northern Moluccas to New Guinea and to South-East
Australia ; whereas no less than 75 of the painted pigeons (Ptilopus) are
known. They are distributed over the Malayan Archipelago, from the
Malay Peninsula to Australia, and even to the Pacific Islands. In Mada-
gascar and the neighbouring islands they are represented by the species of
wattled fruit-pigeons (Alectrcenas), of which four kinds only are known, that
from Mauritius, A. nitidissima, being now extinct.
In this sub-family are found some of the largest of all the existing pigeons,
and many of them are beautifully ornamented with bright patches of colour.
Even where ornamental plumage does not obtain, the tones
of rufous and grey and bronzy-green render them very lovely The Large
birds. Some have a fleshy knob at the base of the bill, as in Fruit-Pigeons.
the genus Globicera ; others carry a conspicuous crest, as Sub-Family
in Lopholaimus. They are found from India and the Indo- CarpophayincK.
Chinese countries throughout the entire Malayan Archipelago
to Australia. One of these great fruit-pigeons, Carpophaga cenea, is a
very well-known-bird in certain parts of India and Burma. In the last-
named province Mr. Eugene Gates says that the imperial green fruit-pigeon,
as he calls C. ainea, is generally distributed throughout the forests and well-
wooded parts of the country, wherever, in fact, there are trees which yield
edible fruits. It is entirely arboreal, going about in parties, and occasionally
in couples, and feeding on fruits. It makes its nest in thickets and bamboo
bushes, and lays but one egg, though in India two young birds have been
found in a nest.
In the true pigeons, of which our wood-pigeon and rock-pigeon may be
244 AVES ORDER COLUMBIFORMES.
considered the types, the tail is always composed of twelve feathers. The
soles of the feet are not so broad as in the fruit -pigeons, and, according to
Count Salvadori, only the hind-toe has any expansion on the
The True sides. Only four genera of Columbidce are admitted by the
Pigeons. above-named author, viz. Gymnophaps, represented by a
Family single species from South-Eastern New Guinea, G. albertisi,
Columbidce. named after the famous Italian naturalist, D'Albertis, who
discovered it ; Columba, with fifty-eight species and a cosmo-
politan range ; Nescenas, from Mauritius, with its single species, JV. mayeri;
and Turturozna, peculiar to Africa, with five species.
It is not necessary to dilate on the characteristics of the ordinary pigeons,
In the woods, the wood-pigeon or ring-dove is, in many parts of its range, the
mildest and shyest of birds, but in confinement it makes the tamest of pets,
and can be fed by children in the gardens of Paris, and is now so civilised
that it is one of the features of St. James' Park in London. The stock-
dove (C. cenas) is a more retiring bird, and nests in holes of trees or of old
buildings, while the rock-dove (C. lima) frequents caves on the sea-coast.
From the latter are believed to have sprung all our numerous forms of do-
mestic pigeon. All the species of the African genus Turturcena are some-
what rare, and little is known of their habits.
All these are Eastern birds, with a very long tail, exceeding the wing in
length. Only four genera are known : Turacceiid, of Celebes and Timor ;
Mdcropygia, the dominant form, with about thirty species,
The Long-Tailed mostly of a rufous coloration, with many bands ; Rein-
Pigeons. wardtcenas, with its three species, inhabiting the Moluccas
Sub-family from Celebes, south to the Bismarck Archipelago ; and
MacropyyiincK. lastly, Coryphcenas of the Solomon Islands. Both the latter
genera have short and somewhat hooked bills.
The Macropygice are commonly called cuckoo-doves, on account of their
barred plumage. They are forest-birds, feeding on fruits, and building a
slight nest, in which two eggs are laid.
This sub-family is peculiar to North America, and only one species (E.
migratoria) is known. It has occasionally visited Great Britain. In its native
country it is remarkable for the enormous flocks which pass
The Passenger- on migration, and occupy a breeding area of great extent.
Pigeons. One observer states that he saw a flight of these pigeons five
Sub-family miles long and a mile in breadth, while their nests were found
Ectopistince. j n nearly every tree for a distance of twenty-eight miles. As
with the Carolina parrot, however, constant persecution is
rapidly diminishing the numbers of this interesting bird, and its nesting-area
is no longer so widely extended as in former times.
This family of pigeons has rather a longer leg than those we have been
previously discussing, the length of the tarsus. being equal to, or exceeding,
that of the middle toe. The tail-feathers vary in number
The Ground- from 12 to 20, according to the different genera. The
Pigeons. Zenaidince are exclusively American, the Peristerince are
Family American and African ; the Geopeliiiue are American, Aus-
Peristeridce. tralian, and Indo-Malayan; while the Phabince, GeotrygoninoR,
and Ccdcenadince are Malayan and Australian. There is no-
thing very peculiar about the habits of these ground-doves, but the remaining
sub-family Turturince, or turtle-doves, is one of the largest in the whole family
of pigeons, and contains about thirty species, of which our British turtle-dove,
CRO WNED P1GE ONS TO THED-PIGE ONSD OD OS.
245
(T. turtur\ and the cream-coloured turtle-dove (T. risorius) so often kept in
cages, are the best-known examples. The sub- family Calcenadince is repre-
sented by the single genus Catenas, the Nicobar pigeons, as they are called,
remarkable for their metallic plumage and the long hackles on the neck, like
those of a fowl. The crowned pigeons (Goura) which are only found in the
Papuan Islands, are remarkable for their beautiful crests of diffused plumes.
Six species are known, all of them inhabiting different areas of the great
island of New Guinea, or the islands immediately adjacent to it.
This interesting form of pigeon, repre-
sented by a single genus only, Didun-
culus, is an inhabitant
of Samoa or the Navi- The Tooth-
gator's Islands. It has Billed Pigeons.
a large hooked bill, Family
which has also some Didtmculidce.
notches or toothed ser-
rations near the tip of the lower man-
dible. It is remarkable for the similar-
ity of its form to that of the dodo,
though, of course, it is on a much
smaller scale. Hence the name Didun-
culus, or little dodo, of which the single
species, D. strigirostris, was, a short time
ago, threatened with the same extinc-
tion as that which has overtaken its larger
relative. The dodo, not having wings
capable of flight, was unable to save
itself when danger threatened ; but the
Didunculus, though a ground-bird, and
formerly nesting on the ground, so that
it was fast diminishing in numbers,
owing to the attacks of wild cats, appears suddenly to have resumed its
arboreal habits, and now both roosts and nests in trees, so that of late years
its numbers have greatly increased.
The sub-order, Didi, consists of two genera, Pezophaps and Didus, both
now extinct, but living on the earth less than three hundred years ago.
The solitaire (Pezophaps solitarius) inhabited the island of Rodriguez, and
was about the size of a turkey. The old traveller, Leguat, has given a
description of the bird as follows: "They never fly; their wings are too
little to support the weight of the bodies ; they serve only to beat themselves
and flutter when they call one another. They will whirl about for twenty or
thirty times together on the same side during the space of four or five
minutes. The motion of their wings makes a noise very like that of a
rattle, and one may hear it two hundred paces off. The bone of their wing
grows greater towards the extremity, and forms a little round mass under
the feathers as big as a musket ball. That and its beak are the chief defence
of this bird. Some of the males weigh forty-five pounds. The females are
wonderfully beautiful, some fair, some brown ; I call them fair, because they
are of the colour of fair hair. They have a sort of peak, like a widow's, upon
their breasts (lege beaks), which is of dun colour. No one feather is
straggling from the other all over their bodies, they being very careful to
adiust themselves, and make them all even with their beaks. The feathers
Fig. 13. THE CROWNED PIGEON (Goura
coronata).
246
AVES SUB-ORDER DIDI.
on their thighs are round like shells at the end, and being there very thick,
have an agreeable effect They have two risings on their craws, and the
feathers are whiter than the rest, which lively represents the fine neck of a
beautiful woman. They walk with so much stateliness and good grace, that
one eannot help admiring and loving them ; by which means their fine mien
often saves their lives. We find in the gizzards of both male and female a
brown stone, of the bigness of a hen's egg ; 'tis somewhat rough, flat on one
side, and round on the other, heavy and hard. We believe that this stone
was there when they were hatched, for let them never be so young, you
meet with it always. They have never but one of 'em, and besides, the
passage from the craw to the gizzard is so narrow, that a like mass of half
the bigness could not pass. It served to whet our knives better than any
other stone, whatsoever."
The dodo lived in Mauritius, and more is known of its appearance than of
the solitaire, as several drawings of it were made from life, and now exist in
various libraries. A foot
of the bird is in the British
Museum, and another is in
the Ashmolean Museum at
Oxford, along with a head,
these being the last relics
of an embalmed specimen
which was destroyed by
the authorities at Oxford
in 1855. Another head of
the dodo is in the Museum
at Copenhagen, but the
actual remains of the body
of this wonderful bird are
very few, and the species
is principally known from
the skeletons which have
been unearthed during the
last few years. The heavy
body of the dodo, with its
feathery tail, and wings
represented by a few
plumes only, have led some authorities to consider it as a kind of struthious
bird, from the similarity of its wings to those of an ostrich, but recent re-
searches have shown that the dodo was a gigantic pigeon.
We have now followed the Class Aves from the Ratitse, through the
Tinamous to the Game-Birds, and thence through the Sand- Grouse to the
Pigeons. We now come to a sudden stop in the continuity of the series of
orders of birds, and take up the thread of connection a little further back,
it being absolutely impossible to follow a direct linear arrangement in
a scheme of classification.
The hoatzin has the appearance of a Game-Bird, and especially of a guan.
Like the latter birds, it is an inhabitant of South America, where it is found
on the Amazon and the rivers of Guiana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru, and Bolivia. For all its guan-like appearance, the bird is more of a
rail than a Game-Bird, and its curious nest, suspended in the branches over-
hanging the water, is like that of a rail, while its eggs greatly resemble those
s - *
Fig. 14. THE DODO (Didus ineptus).
HOATZINS.
247
of the Rallidce. Many of its anatomical characters, its osteology, and the
peculiarities of the young birds, show that the genus Opisthocomus is an
isolated form, probably the survival of some ancient stock of birds, of which
it is the only survivor. Fossilized remains of a bird like the hoatzin have
been found in France, so that the type may have been far more widely
spread in ancient times, and have been distributed over certain portions of
the Old World.
One curious feature about the hoatzin is the size of its crop, which is situ-
ated in a deep cavity in the upper half of the pectoral muscles. It occupies
the upper part of the chest, and is so enormous
as to distort the f urcula and sternum. The nest-
ling is hatched naked, and has a well-developed
claw on the pollex and index fingers of the wings,
so that it is able to crawl about by their means.
Mr. J. J. Quelch, the Director of the Museum at
Georgetown in British Guiana, has written a
most interesting account of the hoatzin, from
which w r e have extracted the following notes :
' ' Soon after the hatching of the eggs, the nest-
lings begin to crawl about by means of their
wings and legs, the well-developed claws on the
pollex and index being constantly in use for hold-
ing and hooking on to the surrounding objects.
If the birds are drawn from their nest by means
of their legs, they hold on firmly to the twigs
both with bill and wings ; and if the nest be
upset by means of a rod pushed up from below,
they hold on to all objects with which they come
in contact by means of bill, feet, and wings, mak-
ing considerable use of the bill, not only to reach objects above them, but
also with the help of the clawed wings to raise themselves to a higher level.
One curious feature noticed with a nestling which had been upset in the
river, was its power of rapid swimming and diving when pursued. As soon
as the hand was placed close to it, it rapidly dived into the dark water, in
which it was impossible to see it, and would rise at distances of more than a
yard away. Owing to this power, the little creature managed to evade all my
attempts to seize it, taking refuge eventually under the bushy growth, where
it was impossible to pursue it. The prolonged immersion which a nestling
will thus instinctively and voluntarily undergo, or which an adult bird will
bear in an attempt to drown it, seems to me to be quite remarkable.
"The nestlings, when resting on the bare sticks of the nest, are observed
to rest the weight of the body, as in the adult birds, on the bare and
thickened integument of the carina sterni, the toes being spread out and the
wings generally drawn up to the side."
The food of the adult hoatzin consists of leaves or fruit, and the birds
after death have a very unpleasant odour, which prevents them being eaten
as food. They are incapable of sustained flight, and in this fact we see
another rail-like characteristic. Mr. Quelch observes : " Whether from the
fact of their occupying situations where they are but seldom disturbed, or
but little likely to be pursued, or from a natural weakness of wing, the birds
are but seldom seen in flight ; and when they take to the wing during dis-
turbance, they do so for but a very short distance a very exceptional flight
Fig. 15. THE HOATZIN
(Opisthocomus cristatus).
248 AVES ORDERS OPISTHOCOMIFORMES AND RALLIFORMES.
being once observed of a length of about 40 yards, with the wind, across a
creek, from a high growth on one bank to a lower level on the other.
Usually they rise almost with a jump from the branch, seldom in a straight
line, but with a marked convex curve to the point where they alight. The
flight of the birds, in spite of their great expanse of wings, in relation to the
weight of the body, is thus extremely awkward, and the body presents a
peculiarly humped appearance. During their longer courses, the wings are
rapidly and violently flapped. The apparent awkwardness in placing them-
selves when they alight, is chiefly due, I believe, to the smallness of the
branches on which they usually settle, and which they are unable firmly to
grasp with their long toes, balancing themselves meanwhile by the expanded
wings and tail ; but it is also attributable, I think, though to a much less
degree, to a certain weakness in their legs even though they are thick and
apparently strong-looking since when they alight on a thick limb, a certain
amount of instability is still manifest.
" This weakness of limbs seems to be still more evidenced by the method
of perching characteristic of the birds. At any time during the heat of the
day they will be found resting on the branches, two or more together, the
body directly applied to the wood, and supported on the bare, thickened,
and hardened patch of skin which covers the flattened and broadened surface
of the posterior determination of the carina sterni."
From the game-like rail, or rail-like Game-Bird Opisthocomus, we now pass
to the true rails. Only one family can be admitted, which bears the name
of Rallidce. At first sight it would seem more natural to
The Rails. divide the rails into three families true rails (Rallidcv),
Order water-hens (Gallinulidce), and coots (Fulicidce) ; but after a
Ralliformes. prolonged study of the family, we have come to the conclusion
that there is no separation to be drawn between these appar-
ently natural groups, and the most that can be done is to recognise two sub-
families, rails and water-hens (Rallince), and coots (Fulicincn\ the latter having
lobate webs on the toes like the grebes.
That the rails are birds of an ancient origin is undoubted. Their feeble
powers of flight are compensated for by their swiftness of foot and power of
concealment, and at the present day there are many flightless rails, de-
scendants of an ancient stock. At the same time there are species, like our
corn-crake (Crex crex\ which are capable of long migrations, as are also others
of the crakes ; but, as a rule, the rails are stay-at-home birds, and do not
care for long journeys across the seas. With the exception of the blue water-
hens (Porphyrio), they are birds of rather sombre coloration.
Numerous fossil species of rails have been described from the Miocene and
Eocene formations, and in America extinct forms (Tdmatornis) have been
found in the Cretaceous.
Fifty-three genera of rails have been admitted by me in the twenty-third
volume of the " Catalogue of Birds," and the following are the most remark-
able, and call for special notice. The Rallidce may be divided into three
great groups true rails (Rallincti), crakes (Crecwct), and coots (Fulicittce).
As before mentioned, on account of their lobed toes, the coots may be even
further separated from the rails and crakes.
In the rails the bill is long and slender, so as to exceed in length the
middle toe and claw. The crakes have a shorter and stouter bill. The
true rails may be divided into two groups, water-rails and wood-rails. Of
the former four genera are recognised, and our English water-rail is the
WA TER-RAILS WOOD-RAILS.
249
type of this section. The water-rail is certainly not a bird to be observed
every day. It is the impersonification of shyness and retiring habits. A
coot or a moor-hen is often seen in the open, and may
be observed from the windows of a railway train, swimming The Rails.
about on lakes or pools of water, the coot easily discernible Sub-Family
by its waxy-white shield on the forehead, the moor-hen by Rallince.
its red frontal shield and the bright red garter above the
hock, which is easily in evidence as it swims. The water-rail, on the con-
trary, is never seen, nor can its voice be heard, like that of the noisy corn-
crake. It is a bird of the reed-beds and the marshes, and is so disinclined
for flight, that even when pursued by a dog, it will double and turn and
twist, rather than fly, and is often caught by the dogs before it can bring
itself to use its wings. The eggs are numerous, from seven to eleven in
number, of a creamy white, double-spotted, with
reddish - brown overlying spots and ashy -grey
underlying ones. The nest is well concealed
among coarse herbage, of which it is composed,
and the young are covered with black down, and
can take care of themselves soon after they are
hatched, swimming and diving, and managing to
conceal themselves from danger in a marvellous
manner.
The water-rails are found all over the New
World, and also in the Old World, except in the
Irido-Malayan sub-region and the whole of the
Australian region, where their place is taken by
the barred rails (Hypotcenidia). In the tropical
regions of South America, Limnopardalus replaces
the genus Rattus, and in the islands of the Aus-
tralian region, the dusky rails (Cabalus) are one
of the most curious forms of bird-life. In the
Chatham Islands is, or rather was, found C.
dieffenbachii, now believed to be extinct, and in these islands also occurs C.
modestus, a dusky-brown species, which cannot fly, and is also on the verge of
extinction, while a third species, C. sylvestris, is peculiar to Lord Howe Island.
These are birds of the bush and forest, though showing considerable likeness
to the water-hens. They are found in both hemispheres, and one genus at
least, Megacrex, from Southern New Guinea, is incapable of
flight. The black wood-rail (Habroptila wallacii) was dis- The Wood-Rails,
covered by Dr. A. R. Wallace in the island of Halmahera
in the Moluccas, and when sent home by him, the species was described and
figured in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society," as an ordinary rail
standing in the water. Consequently, when the Dutch travellers received
instructions from Professor Schlegel to be sure and find Habroptila, they
searched for the bird in the marshes, but ultimately discovered it in the
bush. It is altogether a curious form, black like a water-hen, and having a
small frontal shield.
Perhaps one of the most interesting genera of this group of rails are the
wood-rails of the iieo-tropical region (Aramides), which have a somewhat
ornamental plumage of rufous and grey, with a bright yellow bill and red
legs. Of late years they have been seen in the aviaries and zoological
gardens of Europe, and have even been known to nest in captivity.
Fig. 16 WATER-RAIL
(Rallus aquaticus).
2 50 A VES RDER RALL I FORMES.
Of the ypecaha wood-rail of Argentina (Aramides ypecaha) Mr. Hudson,
the biographer of Argentine birds, has given many amusing details, and ho
credits the species with considerable intelligence, repudiating the idea that
this wood-rail is to be considered an ideal member of what has been
called a "stupid family" of birds. He writes : "On spying an intruder,
it immediately utters a powerful cry, in strength and intonation not unlike
that of the pea-fowl. This note. of alarm is answered by other birds ab a
distance as they hastily advance to the spot whence tho warning was
sounded. The cry is repeated at irregular intervals, first on one side, then
oil the other, as the birds change their position to dog the intruder's steps
and inspect him from the reeds. I have surprised parties of them in an open
space, and shot one or more ; but no sooner had the survivors gained their
refuge, than they turned about to watch and. follow me, sounding their power-
ful alarm the whole time. I have frequently been followed half a mile
through the rushes by them, and by lying close and mimicking their cries,
have always succeeded in drawing them about me. But the ypecaha's loudest
notes of alarm are weak compared with the cries he utters ab other timesj
when, untroubled with a strange presence, he pours out his soul in screams
and shrieks that amaze the listener with their unparalleled power. These
screams, in all their changes and modulations, have a resemblance to the
human voice, but of the human voice exerted to its utmost pitch, ar,d ex-
pressive of agony, frenzy, and despair. A long piercing shriek, astonishing
for its strength and vehemence, is succeeded by a lower note, as if in. the
first one the creature had well-nigh exhausted itself. The double scream ia
repeated several times ; then follow other sounds, resembling, as they rise
and fall, half-suppressed cries of pain and moans of anguish. Suddenly the
unearthly shrieks are renewed in ail their power. This is kept up for some
time, several birds screaming in concert ; it is renewed at intervals through-
out the day, and again at set of sun, when the woods and marshes resound
with the extravagant uproar. I have said that several birds unite in scream-
ing ; this is invariably the case. I have enjoyed the rare pleasure of
witnessing the birds at such times, and the screams then seem a fit accom-
paniment to their disordered gestures and motions. A dozen or twenty
birds have their place of reunion on a small area of smooth, clean ground
surrounded by reeds ; and by lying well concealed and exercising some
patience, one is enabled to watch their proceedings. First one lf>ird is heard
to utter a loud metallic-sounding note, three times repeated, and somewhat
like the call of the guinea-fowl. It issues from the reeds, and is a note of
invitation quickly responded to by other birds on every hand as they all
hurriedly repair to the customary spot. In a few moments, and almost
simultaneously, the birds appear, emerging from the reeds and running into
the open space, where they all immediately whirl about and begin the exhibi-
tion. Whilst screaming, they rush from side to side as if possessed with
frenzy, the wings spread and agitated, the beak wide open and raised
vertically. I never observed them fight or manifest anger towards each other
during these performances ; and, knowing the pugnacious spirit of the
ypecahas, and how ready they are to seek a quarrel with birds of other
species, this at first surprised me, for I was then under the mistaken im-
pression that these gatherings were in some way related to the sexual instinct.
Whilst watching them I also remarked another circumstance. When con-
cealing myself amongst the rushes I have been compelled to place myself so
diaadvantageously, owing to the wet ground, that any single bird straying
CRAKES. 251
accidentally into the open space would have discovered my presence im-
mediately ; yet the birds have entered and finished their performance with-
out seeing me, so carried away are they by the emotion that possesses them
during these moments. But no sooner has the wild chorus ended than,
aware of my presence, they have fled precipitately into the reeds. "
These are rails with a stout bill, the culmeii being shorter than the middle
toe and claw. They may be divided into two sections, distinguished by the
presence or absence of a bare frontal shield. Those which
possess the latter characters are the moor-hens. The Crakes.
Among the largest of the crakes are the weka rails of New Sub-Family
Zealand (Ocydromus), of which there are three species. These Crecince.
birds are remarkable for their pugnacious disposition, and
also for the tameness with which they will wander from their homes in the
bush, even entering camps and houses. They are heavy-bodied birds, with
feeble wings, which are insufficient to carry them through the air, and they
are consequently incapable of flight. Like their distant relative, the Apteryx,
they serve themselves by running only, and are also protected by their
crepuscular habits, being more lively at night than in the day, and calling
throughout the dark hours. These birds evince a curious antipathy to any-
thing of a red colour, and this is the more interesting as remains of extinct
forms of weka rails have been found in the Mascarene Islands, one of which
is known as Erythromachus, "the fighter of red." The former distribution
of forms of flightless rails in New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, almost,
if not absolutely, identical with each other, has given rise to some very in-
teresting speculations as to whether there was an ancient continuation af
land area between these two portions of the globe. Certainly the discovery
of the remains of an extinct genus, Aphawi-pteryx, in Mauritius and in the
Chatham Islands, is very remarkable.
Of these, the most typical form is our corn-crake or land- rail (Crex crex\
whose harsh voice is heard in the hay-fields during the summer, often far into
the night. Like all of its kind, the corn-crake loves seclu-
sion, and is seldom seen on the wing, except during the The SmaUer
shooting season, when the birds are driven up by the dogs. Crakes.
Even then they only take short flights, and drop into cover
again. Everything points to the wing-power of the corn-crake being of the
feeblest description and yet we know that it must be a bird capable of cover-
ing considerable distances, as it reaches South Africa on its winter migration.
The little crake (Zapornia parva), the spotted crake (Porzaua porzana), and
Baillon's crake (Porzana intermedia), are all species which visit England, and
the genus Porzana may be said to be cosmopolitan in its range. In the
Sandwich Islands were found two curious flightless crakes of small size,
Pennula ecaudata and P. sandivichensis, and" in the island of Kushai also lived
till recently a small black crake (Aphanolimnas monasd). All these interest-
ing little birds are now believed to be extinct, and as they could not fly, they
were doubtless exterminated by cats and rats. In the island of Laysan in
the Pacific, however, there still exists one of these curious little crakes,
Porzanula palmeri.
Numerous genera of small crakes are known, of which space does not per-
mit us to give a detailed description ; but the distribution of the white-
winged crakes (Ortygops) is deserving of special mention. There are four
species, each of 'which is peculiar fur having some white quills, which are
very conspicuous when the bird flies. The distribution of the four species is
252 A FES ORDER RALLIFORMES.
very interesting. One, 0. novcboracensis, is only found in North America ; a
second, 0. exquisita, in Eastern Siberia and China ; a third, 0. notata, in
Uruguay ; and a fourth, 0. ayresi, in South-Eastern Africa.
Passing from the crakes to the water-hens, we find many varied forms,
some of them flightless, as Pareudiastes ^acificus, the black water-hen of
Samoa, and the isolated water-hens of Tristan d'Acunha (Porphyriornis
nesiotis) and of Gough Island (P. comeri). All rails, isolated on any island,
appear to become rapidly incapable of flight. They seem to be birds which
are always averse to taking wing, and doubtless for this reason the power of
flight soon disappears ; but they are, as a rule, perfectly able to take care of
themselves by running, or by concealing themselves in the grass.
The water-hens are found all over the world, and are all very similar to our
own species, the " moor-hen," as it is frequently called (Galliuula chloropus).
They are birds of black plumage, and have a bare red shield
The Water-Hens, on the forehead. The most brilliant of all the rails are
Genus the blue water-hens (Porphyrio), which are found all over
Galliuula. the Old World, from the Mediterranean over Africa, and
from India and China to Australia, They are very hand-
some birds, with bright red bills and red legs, contrasting with their blue and
green plumage, and in many places they are kept in confinement as orna-
mental fowl ; they are, however, somewhat destructive and mischievous.
The largest of the blue water-hens is the famous Notornis of New Zealand,
which is a giant form, incapable of flight, and believed to have become ex-
tinct during recent years. A fossil form of rail, Aptomis, also from New
Zealand, was at first believed to be a small kind of moa, which will give some
idea of its large size.
These birds are remarkable for their stout bodies, bare frontal shield of
ivory-white or yellow, and, above all, for their curiously lobed toes. They
are found in nearly every
The Coo.ts. part of the globe, and several
Sub-family species are met with in South
Fulicina. America. One of the most
curious of the ancient forms
was the extinct Leguatia gigantea of Mauri-
tius.
These curious birds are intermediate be-
tween the rails and the grebes, and are chiefly Fig 17 _ THE FIN FOOT.
remarkable for their lobed (Heiiomis fulica).
The Finfeet. toes, which in the South
Family American finfoot (Heliornis fulica) are banded with black and
Hdiornithidce. yellow. Whereas all the rails, as well as the water-hens
and coots, have the nestlings clothed in black down, the young
finfoot is said to be hatched naked. At present very little is known about
these birds and their habits, and the above statement may turn out to be
incorrect. It certainly, seems to be very unlikely that birds so obviously
connected with the rails and grebes should have anything but downy young.
There are three genera of the Heliornithidce Podica from Africa, Heliopais
from Burma and Malacca, and Heliornis from South America. All the species
are very shy and difficult of observation. The Senegal finfoot (Podica sene-
galensis) was found by Mr. Biittikofer in Liberia, and his is apparently the
only record of the habits of the birds. They swim about in pairs, and do not
seek to escape by diving, like the rails or grebes, but simply by concealing
ORDER PODICIPEDIDIFORMES GREBES.
253
The Grebes.
Order
Podicipedidi-
formes.
themselves in the foliage on the banks. When flying, which they seldom do,
they go heavily, striking the water with their bill and feet.
These birds are familiarly known on account of the use made of their
beautiful white breasts for muffs or the trimming of dresses, but in a wild
state they are not easy to observe, as they are among the
shiest of birds. Although the species are not very numerous,
there is scarcely a portion of the globe which grebes do nob
inhabit. The feet are lobed, and there is never any visible
tail, the broad rectrices of other birds being represented
in the grebes by a tuft of downy plumes.
The Sclavonian Grebe is one of the most beautiful of the order, and is an in-
habitant of the northern portions of both hemispheres. It is not an unfrequent
visitor to Great Britain in winter. The great-crested grebe
(Podicipes cristatus) is almost cosmopolitan in its range, and is The Sclavonian
the largest of the British species. It is still to be found nesting Grebe (Podicipes
on some of the Norfolk broads and inland lakes of England, auritus).
building, like all grebes, a nest of the dampest description,
composed of weeds and rushes. The eggs are at first white, but become
stained in a very short time, as the bird generally
covers them up with weeds on leaving the nest.
All the grebes are splendid divers, and even the
little nestlings take to the water soon after they are
hatched, a.nd escape either by diving or by hiding
themselves in the weeds and rushes. The nestlings
are very pretty little creatures, covered with soft
down of a zebra-like pattern in streaks of white and
black or brown.
There are not many genera of the grebes, most of
the species belonging to the genus Podicipes, but in
America the thick-billed grebe belongs to a distinct
genus, Podilymbus, while on Lake Titicaca, in
Bolivia, is found a large form, Centropelma, which
has such small wings that it is apparently incapable
of flight.
The dabchick of our English waters (Tachybaptes
flumatilis) is one of the smallest grebes, and is dis-
tributed over the greater part of the Palsearctie region, but is replaced by an
allied species in Africa (T. capensis], and in India by 7'. albipennis.
In the summer the dabchick frequents rivers, lakes, and even ponds
and small sheets of water, where it builds a nest of weeds, which are
always in a moist condition, and the nest always resembles a small heap of
refuse more than anything else. A dabchick is a pretty object to watch, but
it is so shy a bird that a near approach is impossible, and it is only at a dis-
tance that they can be seen swimming about on the water. On the first sign
of danger, it disappears like magic, and comes to the surface again for a
second, only to dive again out of sight on the instant. If one of them be sur-
prised in the open, it will dive immediately, and if there be a bed of reeds or
other shelter, it makes for them under the water, and one never knows at what
distance its head will reappear. Twenty and thirty yards is by no means an
uncommon dive for a dabchick to make, and it uses its lobed feet as propellers
and steerers, not making much use of its wings, which are held close to the
body, the stumpy and soft tail being of no sort of use to it as a steering apparatus.
Fig, is. THE SCLAVONIAN
GREBE (Podicipes auritus).
254
A VES ORDER COL YMBIFORMES.
The downy nestlings are striped, and in the first plumage the dabchicks are
brown above. In the autumn they are to a certain extent migratory, and are
shot in our tidal harbours ; but in mild winters they do not desert their native
homes. In summer, both sexes don a nuptial plumage, with a yellow patch
on the bill and a black breast, against which the rufous colour of the face and
neck forms a striking contrast. In all the
grebes, the brighter colours and the ornamental
tippets and crests are dropped during the winter
season.
The divers are birds of the Northern Hemi-
sphere, few in number and arctic in habitat.
Four species are known, all of
The Divers. which are found in Great Bri-
Order tain, two of them nesting within
Colymbiformes. our limits. The red -throated
diver (Colymbus septentrional is)
is one of them, and the black-throated diver (C.
arcticus) is the second. The great northern
diver (C. glacialis) is a more or less frequent
visitor in winter, and the white-billed diver
(C. adamsi) has occurred a few times.
This is chiefly known as an inhabitant of
North America and Iceland, as the great north-
ern diver which breeds in the
Old World will probably be
found to be C. adamsi. The
habits of all the divers are much the same. On the water
they are at home, swimming about and diving with the great-
est of ease ; but on land they are very awkward, and the
backward position of their legs seems to make it impossible for the birds
ever to stand upright. In fact, they seem to shuffle along the ground with a
The Great
Northern Diver
(Colymbus
glacialis) .
Fig. 19. THE LITTLE GKEBE OR
DABCHICK
(Tachylaptes Jluviatilis).
snake-like motion, and never walk. They excel all the grebes in their power
of flight, though, as a rule, they trust
to their swimming and diving powers
to escape from danger, and are often
to be seen swimming in the sea far
away from land ; and they are also able
to submerge their bodies, so that only
the head and neck is exposed, and
they can remain under water for an
astonishing time, the great northern
diver having been known to remain
below the surface for eight minutes.
The nesting-place is on some inland loch
or secluded lake, and the nest is a
poorly constructed affair. The eggs are
two in number, of a russet-brown or olive-brown colour, with black spots and
fainter block underlying markings.
The divers differ from the grebes in having webbed feet and a well-developed
tail. The young birds are covered with down, and are able to dive and shift
for themselves shortly after they are hatched. The sexes are alike in plum-
age, and they have a distinct summer and winter dress, as with the grebes.
Fig. 20. THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER
(Colymbus glacialis).
PENGUINS.
255
The penguins are birds of the Southern Hemisphere, the most northerly
ranging species occurring in the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of South
America. They are chiefly remarkable for their close-set
plumage, unlike that of any other birds, and the flipper-like Tlie Penguins.
character of their wings. The feathers, which are harsh and Order
scaly, and generally devoid of barbs, are distributed over Sphenisciformes.
the whole body, so that there are no bare spaces between the
feather-tracts, as in most birds. Penguins are found in astonishing numbers
in the Southern Seas, especially at their breeding-
places, which are selected on rocky islands,
such as Kerguelen, Tristan d'Acunha, the islets
round New Zealand, and the Falklands. As they
cannot fly, great havoc is worked among them
on their island homes during the nesting
season, when thousands are killed for the sake
of their oil.
The penguins vary very much in size,
from the diminutive Eudypiila minor to the
gigantic emperor and king penguins (Apteno-
dytes patachonica) of the Antarctic Seas. They
always walk or hop in an erect position,
and they are assisted in the support of
their heavy bodies by the unusual strength
of their tarsi, the metatarsal bone being
very shorb and wide. The scapular bone
is also of unusual width for a bird. The
nestlings are covered with dense down, which
is retained for a considerable period, until, in
fact, the birds are nearly full-grown.
The habits of all the penguins are very similar, and the following account
of the "Johnnie" (Pygoscelis taniata), by the Rev. A. E. Eaton, who
observed the species on Kerguelen Island, during the <k Transit of Venus
Expedition," is very characteristic of the order, and we therefore give the
following extracts :
"It builds in communities, some of only a dozen, others from 70 to 150
families. A more populous colony was visited by six officers from the ships,
who estimated the number of nests in it to amount to 2,000 or more.
These larger communities are approached from the sea by regular paths,
conspicuous at a distance, like well-worn sheep tracks, which lead straight up
the hill from the water. Their formation is due to the penguins being very
particular about where they land and enter the sea. A small party of the
birds occupied a position upon the neck of a low promontory within an hour's
walk of Observatory Bay. Their nests were nearest to the farther side of
the isthmus ; bub when they were approached, the male birds used to run to
the water, not by the shortest route where it was deep close to the rocks, bub
by the longest to a place where the shore was shelving. It was amusing to
see them start off in a troop as fast as their legs could carry them, holding
out their wings and tumbling headlong over stones in their way, because as
they ran they would keep looking back instead of before them, and to hear
their outcries. Panic and consternation seemed to possess them all ; bub
the females (possibly because they could nob keep up with their mates)
seldom went far from their nests, and, if the intruder stood still, soon
Fig. 21. THE KING PENGUIN
(Aptenodytes longirostris).
256 AVES ORDER SPHENISCIFORMES.
returned and settled down again upon their eggs. Not many weeks had
passed before a change was effected in their conduct. The young were
hatched, and now the mothers anxiously endeavoured to persuade them to
follow the example of their fathers, and run away to sea. But the nestlings
preferred to stay in their nests ; they did not mind if the stranger did stroke
them, although their anxious mothers ran at him with open mouths whenever
he dared to do so. Only a few of the older chicks could be prevailed upon
to stir, and they, after waddling a few yards, became satisfied with their
performance, and turned to go home again. The mothers, who had straggled
to a greater distance, began to return too. It was now that the more tardy
youngsters began to experience the ills of life. Every penguin that had
reached its place before them aimed blows at them as they passed by towards
their own abodes. One of the little birds certainly did seem to deserve
correction. It saw its neighbour's nest empty, and sat down in it. The old
female Johnnie, the rightful occupier, presently returned in company with
her own chick, to whom, having put her head well into his mouth, she began
to administer refreshment after his run. Seeing them so pleasantly engaged,
the small vagrant, thoughtlessly presuming upon her generosity, went nearer
and presented himself to be fed also, as if he had a right to her attention
and care. She looked at him while he stood gaping before her with drooping
wings, unable for the moment to credit what she saw. But suddenly the
truth flashed upon her, and, provoked by his consummate audacity, she gave
vent to her indignation, pecked his tongue as hard as she could, chased him
out of the nest, darting blows at his back, and croaked ominously after him
as he fled precipitately beyond the range of her beak, leaving trophies of
down upon the scene of his unfortunate adventure. The whole of this
community of penguins was subsequently boiled down into 'hare soup 3 for
the officers of H.M.S. Volage, and very nice they found it. The nests were
composed of dried leaf-stalks and seed-stems of pringlea, together with such
other suitable material as happened to be at hand. There were two eggs in
every nest, and one of them was invariably larger than the other. Most
likely the birds hatched from the larger eggs are of the opposite sex to those
which are produced from the smaller. Whether the big or the little egg is
the first to be laid was not ascertained.
' ' As is the case with many other kinds of birds, Johnnies are very regular
in their habits. Every afternoon at nearly the same time they repair to the
shore when they have done fishing, landing in small parties at their
accustomed places at the heads of shallow inlets. On issuing from the
water they dispose themselves to rest, seldom proceeding beyond the verge
of the shore. Those which are inclined to sleep put their heads behind their
flippers ; the others stand amongst them with their neck shortened so as to
bring the head down close to the body, with the beak slanting upwards and
forwards, somewhat in the manner of a very young thrush during repose.
Their eyes present a rather tearful appearance, and resemble bits of dull
black glass set in their heads, perhaps the nictitating membrane may be
kept drawn over them. At frequent intervals a kind of watery fluid is
ejected from their mouth by a shake of the head."
The Petrels. The petrels are also often called the Tubinares, on account
Order Pro- of their tubular nostrils. They are generally associated with
cellariiformes. the gulls, but there is really little in common between the
two groups, beyond the fact that they are both marine orders
of birds. The petrels differ from the gulls in many important anatomical
PETRELS. 257
and osteological characters, but we need go no further here than to specialize
their peculiar nostril and bill, the covering of the latter consisting of several
horny pieces separated by deep grooves.
The albatroses are the largest of the petrels, and, indeed, possess a
wider spread of wing than any known bird. On the other hand, some
of the storm-petrels are hardly larger than a swallow. All of them have
a peculiar odour, a sort of musky smell, which clings to the person after
handling a number of these birds. The eggs, too, are impregnated with
this smell, which adheres to them for years after they have been in a
cabinet.
The petrels lay but one egg, and this is generally concealed under a rock
or boulder, the nest being of the flimsiest description, though the albatroses
make a rough nest in the open. The young are covered with down, and re-
main helpless for some time in the nest ; the down is generally of a sooty
colour, but is white in the case of some of the larger albatroses. Mr. Osbert
Salvin, in his recent work on the group, recognises four families Pro-
cellariidce or storm-petrels, PuffinicU'e or shearwaters, Pdecanoidce or diving-
petrels, and Diomedeidce or albatroses.
There are two sub-families of the Procellariidte, the short-legged petrels
(Procellariince), and the long-legged petrels (Oceanitince). In the former we
find the storm-petrel of the British coast (Procellaria pelagica), which is the
typical form of the group. Jt inhabits the North Atlantic Ocean as far south
as West Africa, and enters the Mediterranean Sea. At the nesting time it
visits the islands and western coasts of
Great Britain, but has not been found
breeding on the east coasts of England
or Scotland. Another well-known member
of the storm-petrels is the fork-tailed or
Leach's petrel, which is found throughout
the North Atlantic, and also occurs in the
Japanese Islands. It is a larger bird than
the storm-petrel, and is easily known by its
forked tail. It breeds on some of the
Outer Hebrides and also on the islands off
the coast of Kerry. A curious instance of
the way in which petrels are distributed over the ocean, and how very little
we really know of their range, has lately been noted in England, where in
December, 1895, a specimen of the Canarian fork-tailed petrel was obtained
for the first time, at Littlestone in Kent. It is only fourteen years ago that
this species was described by Mr. Ridgway from the Sandwich Islands in
the Pacific, to which it was believed to be confined. In 1895 Mr. Ogilvie-
Grant discovered it on the Salvage Islands in the Atlantic, and now the
British Museum contains specimens from Madeira and the Desertas group,
as well as from St. Helena. It has also been recently discovered as an in-
habitant of the Galapagos Islands off South America. Another remarkable
case occurred a few years ago, when a petrel from the Fiji Islands and the
New Hebrides, (Estrelata brevipes, one of the rarest of all petrels, turned up
unexpectedly in Wales. It had never been heard of before away from the
Pacific Ocean.
This family is numerously represented in all the great oceans of the world,
with the exception of the Indian Ocean, where there are not so many species.
The British Islands are visited by several species of PiiffmuSy and one, the
18
258 A VES ORDER PROCELLARIIFORMES.
manx shearwater, is resident and breeds on St. Kilda, as well as in other
places in the west of Europe. Like all other members of their family, the
shearwaters are birds of rapid flight, and may be seen in
The Shearwaters flocks far out at sea, apparently revelling in the rough
and Fulmars. weather.
Family The fulmar-petrels (sub-family Fidmarince) are also very
Puffinida!. widely distributed over all the oceans, and some of them
are as large as gulls, one species, Ossifraga yiyaulea,
from the Southern Seas, being as large as some of the albatroses. The
common fulmar - petrel (Fulmanis glacialis) is a well-known inhabitant
of the seas of Arctic Europe, and nests on St. Kilda and the Shetland
Islands.
The diving-petrels (Pelecnnoididie) are curious little birds from the Southern
Seas, which have much the appearance of the little auk (Mergulns alle) of
the Northern Hemisphere. Mr. Eaton says that, like that species, the diving-
petrels have a hurried flight, and dive into the sea without any interruption
of the action of their wings; both also emerge from beneath the surface fly-
ing, and they both swim with their tails rather deep in the water. This
resemblance, he says, does not extend to other particulars of their habits.
The little auk, when breeding, usually flies and fishes in small flocks of six or
a dozen birds, and nests in communities of considerable size, which are ex-
ceedingly noisy. Diving-petrels, on the other hand, are more domestic in
their mode of living, fishing and flying for the most part in pairs or alone,
and nest sporadically. Their burrows are about as small in diameter as the
holes of bank martins or kingfishers. They are made in dry banks and
slopes where the ground is easily penetrable, and terminate in an enlarged
chamber, on the floor of which the egg is deposited. There is no specially
constructed nest. Some of the burrows are branched, but the branches are
without terminal enlargements, and do not appear to be put to any use by
the birds.
The family of albatroses or Diomedeidce contains three genera, Diomedea
with nine species of true albatroses, Thalasso(jero)i,<>?cu\m'ina,ted albatroses, with
five species, and Pluebetria, or
sooty albatroses, with a single
species. Most of the members
of this family are birds of wide
range, whence the common
species gets its name of "wan-
dering." They are remarkable
for their wide extent of wing
and their graceful and sus-
tained flight. At certain periods
of the j'ear they resort to the
islands in the Southern oceans
to Dreec ^ an( l the gatherings
which take place are some-
times incredible. Thus on the
Fig. 23.-THK WANDERING ALBATROS island of Laysan, in the Pacific,
(Diomedea exulans). thousands upon thousands of
eggs of the white albatros
(Diomedea immutcibilis) are collected. Mr. Palmer, who visited this island
on behalf of the Hon. Walter Rothschild, says that the birds literally covered
ALB ATROSES AUKS. 259
the surface of Laysan, the young in some places being as thick as they could
stand. He writes : " It is very curious to watch the love-making antics of
the birds. First they stand face to face, then they begin nodding and bow-
ing vigorously, and then rub their bills together with a whistling cry ; after
this they begin shaking their heads and snapping their bills with marvellous
rapidity, occasionally lifting one wing, straightening themselves out, and
blowing out their breasts ; then they put their bill under their wings or toss
it in the air, with a groaning scream, and walk round each other, often for
fifteen minutes at a time. They are quite fearless, and do not move out of
the way. When Mr. Freeth was going to the guano-field on his tram-
way-line, he had to send a boy ahead to clear the tracks of the young
albatroses."
Mr. D. le Souef gives a very interesting account of a visit to Albatros
Island in Bass' Straits, Australia : " The nests of the cautious albatros
(Thalassogeron catitus) are situated at varying distances one from the other,
from a foot upwards, some on the ground, and others again on the uneven
side or top of a point of rock. Some of the birds had come on shore to rest
only, while a few of them had their heads turned back and partially under
their wings, and were asleep. When one wished to fly it had to walk to the
edge of the cliff, and go off with a downward sweep ; but when the wind was
blowing very strong the bird could then rise, facing it, from a point of rock.
One bird 1 found in a depression about 60 feet across and 30 feet deep, with
steep sides, and as it could neither climb or fly out I caught it and climbed
up the bank with the bird under rny arm, and took it back to the " rookery. '
On approaching very close to the birds, they would partly stand up on their
nest, leaning backwards and apparently resting the tail on the edge of the
nest, and then facing the intruder. When one was within two feet of them,
they would utter a loud cackling noise, shaking their heads up and down,
and opening and shutting their beaks rapidly. A considerable noise was
made by the mandibles coming together, and at the same time a strong-
smelling oily secretion was thrown up. In order to secure an egg, the beak
of the bird was caught hold of with one hand and the egg taken up with the
other, and on stepping back the beak was let go again. The bird would then
sit or stand on its nest for some time afterwards. The birds often had diffi-
culty in alighting on a particular spot, when the wind was blowing strongly
on to their breeding-ground from the sea, as they always flew against the
wind when desiring to alight, and I have watched them sometimes try
seven or eight times before they could successfully accomplish their object.
They came up with considerable force, holding their heads well back, and
stretching out their expanded feet at the same time, and the fact of
having their win^s half -closed gave them a very ungainly appearance when
alighting."
The auks are birds of the Northern Seas. They form a peculiar group, and
are usually associated with the gulls, from which birds, however, they differ
in many important characters, though in their osteology the
two orders have many points in common. Externally, how- The Auks.
ever, the differences are apparent at a glance. The gulls are Order Alcce.
splendid flyers, but are no great divers, while diving is one
of the chief features of an auk's economy. Again, the gulls make a nest of
some sort, the auks seldom or never, for the latter birds select a bare ledge
or cleft of a cliff, or the broken rocks, on which to lay their egg, the colour
and markings of which are entirely different from those of any gull or tern.
260
AVES ORDER ALCIFORMES.
Fig 24. THE GREAT AUK
(Pldutus impennis).
One of the most interesting of all the Alcce is the great auk, which was a
kind of gigantic razorbill, but possessing such diminutive wings that the
power of flight was denied to it. It has become extinct during the first half
of the present century, and specimens of the bird and the egg fetch large
prices whenever they come into the market. The great auk, as Professor
Newton has pointed out, owes its extinction entirely to the agency of man,
who hunted the bird to its destruction. It seems to have had a compara-
tively limited range, having been abundant in
Newfoundland and the adjacent shores of North
America and Iceland, ranging in smaller num-
bers to the Hebrides and the shores of
Northern Britain.
The razorbill ( Aha torda) and the guillemot
(Uria troile) are well-known British birds,
which breed in vast numbers on our coasts,
the best-known nesting colonies being on the
cliffs of Flam borough and on the Fame Islands,
Here large numbers of the eggs are taken every
year, those of the guillemot presenting an end-
less variety of colour and marking. The black
guillemot (Uria yrylle) nests in the Arctic
regions, and in the north of Scotland and Ire-
land, and the rotche or little auk (Mergidus
alle) is a winter visitor to Great Britain, being
often driven far inland by stress of weather.
The breeding-places of the little auk have
been described as tenanted by countless thou-
sands, Admiral Beechey having stated that he saw a column of these birds
on the wing at one time which he estimated at four millions !
Our English puftin, or sea-parrot, is a representative of the group of the
auks which are most numerous in the North Pacific Ocean, where several
crested species are found. They are re-
markable for the coloration of the bill,
which is grooved in a curious fashion,
and exhibits bright colours, while there
is also a blue excrescence above the eye.
These ornamental features of the bird's
bill are a sign of the breeding-season,
and are shed as by a moult in the winter,
to be resumed in the following spring.
The birds of the year have quite a small
bill, without any of the grooving or
coloured ornamentation which character-
ises the adults. Puffins differ from the
other auks in their nesting habits, the
egg, which is white, with occasionally a
few indistinct markings, being placed in a rabbit burrow, or in a hole
tunnelled by the birds themselves.
The gulls are divided into two families, the true gulls, or Laridce, and the
skuas, or Stercorariidce. The general appearance of gulls is too well known
to detain us long with the characters which define the order, which is admitted
to be closely related to the order Charadriiformes, the great group of plovers
Fig. 25. THE PUFFIN (Fratercula
arctica).
GULLS TERNS.
261
and snipes, with which the Gulls possess many anatomical characters in
common, though they differ from the plovers and their allies in having
webbed feet. The Laridce, or true gulls, differ from the
skuas in having no " cere ' J on the bill, which is a feature The Gulls
in the latter family. The cere is a wax-like bare space at Order
the base ot the bill, a common characteristic of Hawks and Lariformes.
Parrots, but rare in every other order of birds, and it is
decidedly interesting that it should reappear in a family of gulls, especially
as it is combined with a decidedly rapacious disposition in the skuas.
The family Laridce is divided by Mr. Howard Saunders into three sub-
families: the terns, or sea-swallows (Sternince) ; the skimners (Rhynchopince) ;
and the gulls (Larince).
The sea-swallows are found all over the world, from the high north to the
extreme south. They are mostly marine, but many of them are birds of the
marshes, especially during the nest-
ing season, while others frequent
rivers and inland lakes. It is,
however, on the sea that these
graceful birds are generally seen
to the greatest advantage, as they
hover over the water, or glide along
above its surface, occasionally drop-
ping down to capture some small
fish or other prey. They often
follow shoals of small fry, and we
remember seeing a flock of large
terns in the Red Sea, evidently
engaged in decimating a shoal of fig. 26. ARCTIC TERN (Sterna mqcrtfra).
fish on the surface of the water,
and keeping up such a cackling all the time that they could be heard at least
a mile off.
In the British Islands we have thirteen different kinds of terns, five of
which breed with us, the best known being the common tern (Sterna flumatilis),
the arctic tern (S. macrura), and the lesser tern (S. minuta). The sandwich
tern (S. cantiaca) now only nests in a few localities ; and a few pairs of the
beautiful roseate tern (S. dougalli) are believed to still breed in one or two
places off our coasts. Among the visitors to the British Islands are the
three species of marsh tern, belonging to the genus Hydrochelidon, which
have only moderately forked tails, the outer feather or " streamer " not
being prolonged, as in most of the terns. The black tern (H. nigra) is the
commonest of the three species which visit England, the white-winged black
tern and the whiskered tern bein** of very rare occurrence. These marsh
terns nest in swamps and marshes throughout temperate Europe, Asia, and
North America, and they are plentiful in the marismas of Southern Spain
and the Danube. The nests are made of weeds, and are placed on tussocks,
or on floating vegetation.
The largest of the terns is the Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia), a large
red-billed species, which measures nearly two feet in length, and is found
over the greater part of the globe. The common and Arctic terns are species
which breed in colonies on many parts of the British coasts, laying their
eggs on the shingle, and making scarcely any attempt at a nest. The eggs
have a great resemblance to those of some of the plovers, and, like the latter
262 A VES ORDER LARIFORMES.
are difficult to distinguish on the ground. This is especially the case with
the eggs of the lesser tern (Sterna minuta).
One of the rarest visitors to Britain is the sooty tern (Sterna fuliginosa).
This is the species which breeds in such enormous numbers on certain islands,
such as Laysan in the Pacific, and Ascension Island in the Atlantic. In the
latter the assemblage of these birds is known as " Wideawake Fair." On
Ascension, according to Mr. Howard Saunders, the sooty terns lay but one
egg, and this was also found to be the case by Mr. Palmer on Laysan, the
birds being perfectly fearless, and not moving off their nest, but pecking and
biting at anyone that approached them. As many as two hundred dozens of
eggs have been collected on Ascension Island in the course of a morning,
and this will give some idea of the numbers frequenting that spot.
In the tropical islands of the southern oceans is found a curious form of
tern, snowy-white in plumage, with a pointed black bill. This is the snowy
tern (Gyyis alba), which possesses a very wide range over the islands of the
Pacific and South Atlantic. It lays but a single egg, which is placed carelessly
among the rocks or scrub, but is also often found in a cavity of a branch or
on the fork of a tree.
These curious river terns are called scissor-bills, on account of the remark-
able disparity in the length of the two mandibles of the bill and their
extreme sharpness of the ridges, which is compressed like the
The Skimmers. blade of a pair of scissors. The name given to the American
Sub-family species by one of the old writers in 1731 is "cut-water,"
RhynchopinoR. a very good title for the bird, as these scissor-bills fly along
the top of the water, cutting the latter with their blade-like
under mandible, which is considerably longer than the upper one. The
skimmers frequent rivers in the tropical countries of the Old and New
Worlds, being found nesting as far north as Virginia in North America, and
Egypt in the Old World. The eggs, which resemble those of the true terns,
are laid on sand-banks in the rivers frequented by the birds. Five species
are known, each with a separate range, Hkyncliops niyra, being found in the
Southern United States to Central America, _R. intercedens in Brazil, and .B.
melanura in the northern part of South America. R. flai'irostris is an in-
habitant of Africa, and R. albicollis of India.
Their heavy build and square tails, as a rule, distinguish gulls from terns,
but it must be remembered that some of the gulls are small, and many are
not so big as the Caspian tern, for instance. The forked tail
The Gulls. of the terns is seen in one genus of gulls, Xema, which con-
Sub-family tains two species, Sabine's gull (X. sabinii), and the large
Larince. fork-tailed gull (X. furcata). The former is an inhabitant
of the Arctic Seas, but sometimes straggles as far as the coasts
of Britain, while X. furcata is only known from the Galapagos and the coasts
of Western America. Ross's gull (Wiodoxtcthia rosea) is another Arctic
species, which on rare occasions visits Europe, but is one of the rarest of all
the gulls, and is remarkable for its wedge-shaped tail and the beautiful rosy
blush on its white breast, which is like that seen in the roseate tern.
Of the true gulls (Larus), of which the common gull (L. camts) may be
considered the type, there are more than forty species known, and these are
distributed , like the terns, throughout the greater part of the globe, from the
Arctic regions in the north to the extreme south. The gulls may be divided
into two groups, those with a hood and those without. The hooded gulls
comprise such species as our black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus) and its
GULLS-SKUAS.
263
Fig. 27. THE COMMON GULL
(Larus canus).
allies, another British species being the little gull (L. miwitus). The other
gulls with which we are familiar in this country, such as the greater black-
backed gull (L. mariwis), the lesser black-backed gull (L. fuscus), the her-
ring gull (L. anie.ntatus\ have white heads and white tails. The habits of
gulls are much the same all the world over. They feed mostly on fish ; but
some of the larger kinds are not only
greab robbers, but will eat almost
anything, and will devour young birds
and even sickly mammals. The little
black-headed gull, on the other hand,
is a most useful bird, as it frequents
and breeds in inland districts, where it
often follows the plough, and devours
large numbers of grubs and insects.
The other gulls breed on the rocky
coasts, mostly in the north, sometimes
in* vast numbers together. This is
especially the case with the kittiwake
(Rissa tridactyla), which is separated
from the true gulls on account of the absence of a hind toe.
The skuas are often called the parasitic gulls, from their habit of robbing
the smaller gulls of their food, instead of catching it for themselves. They
differ from the true gulls in having a cere, or bare wax-like
base, to the bill. The latter is very strongly hooked at the
tip, and in the posterior portion of the sternum, or breast-
bone, there is only a single notch, instead of two, as in the
gulls.
Four species of the great skuas are known, of which one, M. catarrhactes,
is an inhabitant of the North Atlantic, where it breeds in a few scattered
localities, such
as Iceland, the The Great Skuas.
Faeroes, and Genus
Norway, and a Meycdestris.
few pairs still
nest in the Shetland Isles, where
great pains are now taken to
preserve them, as they had be-
come nearly extinct there. They
nob only feed 011 fish and car-
rion, bub rob other gulls of
their prey, and even kill and
eat some of the smaller species.
The eggs are two in number,
and the birds become very bold
in defence of their nests. A
second species of great skua
(M. chilet^is) inhabits both the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts of
South America, from Peru on the west, to Southern Brazil on the east.
From the New Zealand seas to Kerguelen, and thence to the Falkland islands,
occurs M. antarctica, while in Victoria Land and the frozen countries of the
Antarctic Continent is found a peculiar pale form of great skua, M.
The Skuas.
Family
Stercorariidce.
Fig. 28. BUFFON'S SKUA (S'crcorarius parasiticus)
264 AVES ORDER CHARADRIIFORMES.
cormicki. The long-tailed skuas (Stercorariiis) differ from the members of
the preceding genus in having more or less elongated central tail feathers,
these being developed in some of the species to a great length. The
members of the genus Btercorarius are three in number, all of them breeding
in the high north, and visiting more southern localities in winter. With the
exception of the Pacific coast of South America, where only the pomatorhine
skua (S. pomatorhinus) has been known to occur, the whole of the other
Southern oceans appear to be visited by these skuas. They all nest on the tundra
of the Arctic regions, and the pomatorhine skua and Buffon's skua are only
winter visitors to the British Islands, but Richardson's skua (S. crepidatns)
nests in the Orkneys and Shetland Isles, as well as in some of the Hebrides
and on the north-west of Scotland. Like their larger relatives, these smaller
skuas live principally by robbing the terns and smaller gulls of the fish they
capture. They will also devour young birds and eggs, as well as lemmings
and small rodents, Crustacea, etc., while the young of Buffon's skuas are said
to be fed on crowberries in the summer.
As has already been mentioned, there are many characters which the
Charadriiformes, or Limicoline birds, as they are often called, share with
the gulls, the principal one being the cleft, or schizognathous
The Plovers palate. The nostrils are almost entirely schizorhinal, or in
and Bustards. the form of a slit, though there are exceptions to this in the
Order Ghara- seed-snipes, the bustards, and the thick-knees. The eggs of
driiformes. most of the Charadriiformes are peculiar to the group, being
generally pear-shaped, four in number, and double spotted,
having the overlying markings black, arranged in lines, blotches, or spots,
and the underlying spots grey. The young are covered with down, and
can take care of themselves very shortly after their birth, running with
great swiftness, and being able to escape capture by their protective colora-
tion, which effectually conceals them in the midst of their natural sur-
roundings.
There is but a single species to represent this sub-order, and it is one of the
most peculiar of birds. While possessing anatomical characters which show that
it is an aberrant kind of plover (though many observers have
The Crab- considered it to be rather an aberrant kind of tern), it
Plovers. differs from all gulls and plovers in laying a pure white egg.
Sub-order Its nesting habits are in fact altogether peculiar. Not only
Dromades. does it lay a white egg, but only one, and that is placed in a
tunnel hollowed out in the sand, as described below. The
crab-plover is a handsome black and white bird, the mantle being black, and
having the plumes elongated, so as to form a swallow-tailed patch when the
bird is flying. It is long-legged, like a thick-knee or stone-plover, and
inhabits the coast-land of Eastern Africa and Arabia, the Persian Gulf, and
the eastern shores of the Indian Ocean, as far as Ceylon, reappearing in the
Andamans arid the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. It probably
breeds in most of the above localities, but the headquarters of the species
seem to be in the Persian Gulf, and the coasts of Arabia and Mekran. Mr.
Nash, who visited one of the islands off Bushire, found that the birds bur-
rowed into the sand-hills to the distance of about four feet, and in the shape
of a bow, the passage being about a foot below the surface of the ground, and
the entrance usually near or under tussocks of grass or low shrubs, the single
egg being laid on the bare soil at the end of the hole, without any sign of a
nest. The birds nest in colonies, and the young, which are covered with
SHEATHBILLS.
265
greyish down, remain in the holes during the day, like youno- petrels and
they are apparently night-feeders.
Like Dramas, the sheathbills are very aberrant members of the Limicoline
group, and are only found on the islands of the Atlantic, such as the
Crozettes, Kerguelen, Marion Island, and the Falklands.
The species of the latter islands is Chionis alba, the yellow- The Sheathbills
billed sheathbill, which is also found in Southern Patagonia, Sub-order
and extends to the island of South Georgia and the land of Chionides.
the Antarctic Continent. The species inhabiting Kerguelen
and Marion Islands is Chionarchus minor, which has a black bill, and does
not exhibit the wattles on the face found in Chionis alba. The form of the
sheath is also somewhat different, though
both show a tube-like opening on the
base of the bill, something like that of a
petrel. In the bird from the Crozettes
(Chionarchus crozettensis) this petrel-like
opening to the sheath is absent, and the
bird is smaller than G. minor, and has
darker legs.
The Rev. A. E. Eaton gives an amusing
account of the habits of the sheathbills in
Kerguelen Island during the visit of the
"Transit of Venus Expedition to that f . 29 _ THE YEIjLow . BILLED SHEATH .
place. I hey were common where the BILL (Chionis alba).
coast was rocky and sheltered, and were
seen in flocks of as many as thirty, but during the breeding season they were
met with only in pairs. They were very tame and inquisitive, and suffered
considerably in consequence during the stay of the expedition, as they could
often be knocked on the head with a stick. Mr. Eaton writes . "They
were also very assiduous in their attendance on the colonies of shags and
crested penguins, whose eggs they greedily devoured. The sitting birds
stretched out their necks and croaked at the sheathbills sauntering past their
nests ; but the marauders, keeping just out of reach of their bills, paid uttle
regard to them, and proceeded in a business-like manner to eat up the first
eggs they chanced to find unguarded. It occasionally happened that while
an old shag was gesticulating violently at a Chionis in front of her, his friend
pecked from behind at the eggs, which, in the excitement of the moment,
were not completely covered by her. When she found out what was taking
place she drove him away with a croak, and, true to her sex, affected to have
won her point in the affray. Reseating herself upon the nest with great
dignity of deportment, and gently replacing with her bill the broken eggs
under her feathers, she resigned herself to the task of trying to hatch them.
Some time after the sheathbills have gone away the broken eggs are in-
spected, and if there is only a small hole pecked in each of them they are
kept in the nest. Their appearance and manner of caressing one another
led the blue-jackets to call sheathbills * white pigeons.' In their gait and
flight they closely resemble ptarmigan; and like these they utter i heir cry
when starting on the wing, as well as during flight. After they have attained
a fair rate of speed, they sail along from time to time with outstretched
wings. On alighting at their destination they often greet one another with
a gentle chuckle, nodding their heads the while."
The eggs of the sheathbills are plentifully marked, and resemble those of
266 A VES ORDER CHARADRIIFORMES.
oyster-catchers .among the plovers. The nest is a rough affair, placed in a
hole behind or between rocks, sometimes an old burrow of a petrel being used
and enlarged by the sheath bill. Enough has been said to show that the
sheathbill is a very remarkable form of bird. Its inquisitiveness and tame-
ness reminds us of the weka rails, while its habit of devouring eggs is also
one of the bad propensities of the larger rails. In some other respects, as
Mr. Eaton remarks, it resembles a ptarmigan, and that it is a bird of con-
siderable power of flight is proved by a specimen in the British Museum,
which was shot whilst flying round a ship 200 miles from land.
These birds are only found on the Andes and in the southern portion of
South America, from Argentina to Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands
on the east, and from Chili to Ecuador on the west. There
The Seed Snipes, are but two genera, Attacjis and Thinocorus, the former birds
Sub-order being as large as grouse, the latter of the size of a quail.
Attaffidex, Despite their game-like plumage, they are allied to the
plovers, though they differ from these in having a palate
much like that of a passerine bird, while the nostrils are holorhinal, not
schizorhinal. The nest is a mere depression in the ground, sometimes lined
with a few blades of grass, and the eggs are pale stone-colour, very thickly
speckled with light and dark brown.
This is a very large group, and contains all the plovers, snipes, and
sandpipers. The palate throughout is cleft or schizognathous, the nostrils
split or schizorhinal, basipterygoid processes are present,
The Plovers. and the spinal feather tract is forked on the upper back.
Sub-order The eggs are nearly always pear-shaped, four in number,
Charadrii. and are deposited point to point. The plovers and snipes
form one large family, Charadriidce, but there are no less than
ten sub-families.
These are small Arctic birds, which exhibit certain grebe -like characters,
for they have the toes lobed, swim well, and have also a serrated edge to the
hinder margin of the planti tarsi) the hind portion of the
The exposed leg being exactly as in the grebes. The phalaropes are
Phalaropes. likewise remarkable for their bright coloration, in which the
Sub-family female excels the male, and is the handsomer bird of the
Phalaropincn. two ; she is also larger than the male, and does all the court-
ing. There are three genera of phalaropes, each containing
a single species Crymophil-us, with the grey phalarope (C. fulicarius) ;
Phalaropus, with the red-necked phalarope (P. hyperboreus) ; and Steyanopus,
with Wilson's phalarope (S. tricolor), as the representatives of the three
respective genera. The two former breed in the Arctic regions of both
hemispheres, but Wilson's phalarope inhabits temperate North America.
All of them migrate far south in winter, and are found off' the coasts of South
America as well as in the Indian and Australian seas.
Some of the details of the nesting habits of phalaropes, as observed by Mr.
E, W. Nelson in Alaska, are very amusing. Speaking of the red-necked
phalarope (P. hyperboreiis), he remarks : " As the season comes on, when the
flames of love mount high, the dull-coloured males move about the pool,
apparently heedless of the surrounding fair ones. Such stoical indifference
usually appears too much for the feelings of some of the latter to bear. A
female coyly glides close to him and bows her head in pretty submissive-
ness, but he turns away, picks at a bit of food, and moves off ; she follows,
and he quickens his speed, but in vain ; he is her choice, and she proudly
SNIPES-PAINTED SNIPES. 267
arches her neck, and, in mazy circles, passes and repasses close before the
harassed bachelor. He turns his breast first to one side, then to the other,
but there is his gentle wooer ever pressing her suit before him. Frequently
he takes flight to another part of the pool, all to no purpose. If, with
affected indifference, he tries to feed, she swims along side by side, almost
touching him, and at intervals rises on wing above him, and, poised a foot
or two above his body, makes a half-dozen quick, short wing-strokes, produc-
ing a series of sharp whistling noises in rapid succession. In the course of
time, it is said, water will wear away the hardest rock, but it is certain that
time and importunity have their full effect upon the male phalarope, and
soon all are comfortably married, while materfamilias no longer needs to use
her seductive ways and charming blandishments to draw his notice. About
the first of June the dry rounded side of a little knoll, near some small pond,
has four dark heavily-marked eggs, laid in a slight hollow or whatever lining
the spot affords, or, more rarely, upon a few dry straws and grass-blades,
brought and loosely laid together by the birds. Here the captive male is
introduced to new duties, and spends half his time on the eggs, while the
female keeps about the pool close by."
Snipes and sandpipers differ from plovers in having a long bill, with no
"dertrum." The latter name is applied to the swelling of the end of the
bill, which makes this portion higher than the middle or the
basal part. Similar swellings are seen in pigeons. The bill The Snipes.
in many of the snipes is widened at the tip and is pitted, but Sub-family
it is not deeper at the end than at any other part of its Scolopaeimx.
length. The nasal groove or depression in which the nostrils
are'placed is continued through nearly the whole line of the bill. The snipes
and sandpipers, moreover, differ from the 'Totanince or Tatters in having
their long toes cleft to the bases, without any connecting web between the
basal joints.
The sub-family Scolopaeinw may be divided into two main groups, the
snipes and woodcocks, which have the eye placed far back in the head,
almost on the ear-opening, while the sandpipers have the
eye placed as in other ordinary wading birds. One of the The Painted
most curious genera belonging to this sub-family is that of the Snipes.
painted snipes (Rostratnla), which contains three species, one, Genus
ti. semicollaris, being confined to South America, while R. Rostratula.
capensis is found in Africa and India as far north as Japan,
li. australis taking its place on the Australian continent. In these painted
snipes, which resemble ordinary snipes in their habits, we meet with the
same peculiarity as in the phalaropes, viz. that the female is handsomer in
plumage than the male. The latter is a grey bird, with rounded spots of
golden buff on the wing-coverts and quills, while the female is not only
larger, but has chestnut on the hind neck, and in the hen of R. capensis on
the throat also. The South American JR. semicollaris, however, does nofc
differ in the plumage of the sexes. In Chili and Peru occurs the curious
Phefjornis mitchelli, which has a chestnut neck like lihynchwa, but has no
hind toe.
The true woodcocks (Scolopax) are only two in number, our own well-known
species, and a dark form resident in the mountains of Java and New Guinea,
called S. saturata. In North America, however, there is a small form called
Philohela minor, which is distinguished by its attenuated outer primaries; and
in the island of Bourou, in the Malay Archipelago, occurs a peculiar woodcock
268 A VES ORDER CHARADRIIFORMES.
Neoscolopax rochusseni. All the woodcocks differ from the snipes in having
successive broad bars of black and buff on the hinder head and neck, whereas
the snipes always have a buff band down the centre of the crown. They are
likewise birds of the woods and forests rather than the
The Woodcocks, open marshes, which the snipes love to frequent. The
Genus jack snipe (Limnocryptes gallinula) differs from the true
Scolopax. snipes in having four notches in the hinder margin of the
sternum instead of two.
The true snipes (Gallinago), of which our common snipe (G. gallinago) is
the type, differ from the woodcocks in having much more pointed wings,
the long inner secondaries equalling the primaries in length, while the
markings on the head are longitudinal, not crosswise. They are lovers of
the marshes, as a rule, but some of them occur only on the high lands, and
appear to have the habits of woodcocks. Such are the wood-snipe (G.
nemoricola) of the Himalayas, and the imperial snipe (G. imperialis) of the
Andes of Colombia, and Jameson's snipe (G. jamesoni) from the Andes of
Ecuador in South America. In the Auckland and Chatham Islands are
found peculiar tawny -coloured species (G. aucklandica and G. pusilla), which
run like rails, and do not take to flight, unless very hard pressed. With the
exception of these few resident species,
snipes are migratory birds, nesting in
the temperate and sub- Arctic regions of
the north, and going to the far south in
winter. Thus Latham's snipe (G. aits-
trans') nests in Japan and winters in
Australia, and the North American
Wilson's snipe wanders south to British
Guiana and Brazil, and the great snipe
(G. major), which breeds in the north
of Europe, winters in South Africa.
Fig. 30.-THE COMMON SKIPE
(Gallinago gallinago). of the tail- feathers, our own snipe hav-
ing only 14, though sometimes it is
found with 16, but in the wire-tailed snipes, G. stenura and G. megcda, as
many as 26 and 20 are found. These two species nest in Eastern Siberia,
and visit India and China in great numbers on migration. The outer tail-
feathers in G. stenura are reduced to wire-like plumes, the eight feathers on
the outside measuring less than 0'2 inch in width. The largest of the snipes
are G. gigantea from Southern Brazil, and G. undulata of British Guiana,
which are from 15 to 20 inches in length.
A curious habit of the common snipe during the nesting season is known
a^ " drumming." "The male may then be seen," says Mr. Seebohm, " in broad
daylight, high in the air, wheeling round and round in enormous circles, arid
flying diagonally upwards with rapid beats of the wings, then swooping down
an imaginary inclined plane with half-expanded and visibly-vibrating wings,
but with outspread tail-feathers, uttering a sound which is technically called
'drumming.'" The sound is heard only when the bird is descending, but
some observers assert that they have heard it proceeding from a snipe on the
ground or perched on a dead branch. It has been likened to the bleating of a
goat, and bears some resemblance to the suppressed gobble sometimes heard
from a turkey. Many naturalists believe that the sound is produced by the vi-
bration of the wings or the action of the air on the outspread tail ; but others,
SANDPIPERS X UFFS.
269
Mr. Seebohm among the number, believe that it is effected, by the vocal
organs.
The sandpipers differ from the snipes in having the position of the eye
normal, and not reaching to the ear-opening, as in the snipes and woodcocks.
In this group of the sub-family Scolopaeinw we find some of the most in-
teresting of the waders, the purple sandpipers (Arquatella), the dunlins
(Pelidna), the knots (Trintja), the curlew sandpipers (Ancylochilus\ the
stints (Limonites), and the sanderlings (Calidris). They are mostly birds
which breed in the Arctic regions, and go to the southern continents of the
globe to pass the winter. Of the curlew sandpiper no egg has yet been
found; of the knot no really authentic egg is known; and of the sanderling
but very few. In this group of sandpipers occurs the spoon-billed sandpiper
Eurynorhynchiis pyynueus), a little stint with a spoon-shaped bill, which nests
in the arctic regions of Eastern Siberia, where Nordenskjold met with it
during the voyage of the Veya, and passes along the coasts of Japan and
China to winter on the shores of Burma.
These birds are very closely allied to the foregoing, but are distinguished
by having the outer toes connected with the middle one by a web at the
base. In the TotaniiuK are included all the curlews and
whimbrels (Numeniui^ the god wits (Limosa), the tatlers The Tatlers.
(Totanust\ the green sandpipers (Helodromas), the summer Sub-family
snipes (Tringoides\ the wood sandpipers (Rhyacophtius), and Totanince.
the ruffs (Pavoncella). They are mostly birds which build
in northern climes and in the temperate portions of the Palrearctic and
Nearctic regions. The nest is usually placed in a marsh, the eggs being pear-
shaped and four in number, laid with the pointed ends directed towards each
other; the green sandpiper (Helodromas ochropus), however, nests in trees,
utilising the old nest of a thrush or some other bird in which to deposit its
eggs. The tatlers frequent the sea-shores on their journey south, arid their
musical notes enliven the dreary expanse of mud-flats on many parts of the
British coasts during the autumn. In the breeding season many of the
stints have a musical trill or song, which they utter as they mount into the
air above their nests.
One of the most remarkable of the tatler group is the ruff, no two males
of which are alike in plumage. The female, called the reeve, is smaller
than the male, and of a plainer
brown plumage. In winter both
sexes don a plain-coloured dress,
much like that of any other tatler,
and the male can only be distin-
guished from the hen by his larger
size. On arriving at their breeding-
places in Europe and Siberia, the
males have a large ruff or shield on
the neck, and a tuft of occipital
plumes on each side of the head.
These ruffs are sometimes plain with-
out bars, and may be white, rufous,
or black, while every kind of varia-
tion is seen in the colour of the
ruffs and occipital ornaments. Some-
times they are white barred with black, or rufous with black bars ; in fact,
/- 31. THE RUFF (Pavoncella pugttux).
270 AVES ORDER CHARADR1IFORMES.
the variation is endless. They are pugnacious birds, and fight for the
females, before whom they dance and pirouette, always ending by placing the
bill on the ground, so as to display the beauty of the ruff to the chosen lady.
Close to the true curlews comes the pearl-grey curlew (Ibidorhynchus
struthersi), which is found on the inland streams of the mountains of China,
Central Asia, and the Himalayas. It is the sole representation of the sub-
family IbLdorhynchwice, and has a curlew-like bill, but differs in having the
metatarsus reticulated both in front and behind. In outward appearance it
much resembles the small ibises, but an examination of the skull shows that
it is really an aberrant Limicoline bird.
These birds are remarkable for their long legs and for the shape of their
bills. In the stilts (Himantopiis) the bill is slender and straight, arid the
legs are extremely long, and when the birds are flying these
The Stilts and are carried out behind them, "and from their bright red
Avocets. colour are very conspicuous. The stilts are mostly black
Sub-family and white birds, distributed through the marshes of the
Himantopodince. temperate and tropical portions of both hemispheres,
while a completely black species (H. melas) is found
only in New Zealand.
The avocets have the bill upturned, and the lower edge of the under
mandible is broad and flattened, the bird using it to scoop aside the sand in
search of food. The range of the avocets is very similar to that of the stilts,
and though they pass southwards in winter, they nest in Africa and India in
places suitable to their marsh-loving habits. One species, Ilecurmrostra an-
diua, is only known from the Andes of Chili, and in Australia the chestnut-
breasted avocet is found (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus), a bird with webbed
toes and devoid of a hind toe like the avocets, but with a very slightly up-
curved bill, and with longer and more stilt-like legs.
The sub-family PeUohyatince is represented by a single genus, Peltohyas,
which again has but one species, P. austrcdis. This bird has usually been
considered to be a kind of dotterel, and it has a dertral swelling towards the
end of the bill, as in these birds, Lut the tarsus has transverse scutes both in
front and behind, and the species is more like a courser in appearance. I
fully expect that an examination of its osteology and general anatomy will
prove that it is allied rather to the latter birds than to the plovers.
In this sub-family we find the majority of the plovers, which are dis-
tinguished by having both aspects of the tarsus covered with hexagonal scales.
They may be divided into two groups, the lapwings and the
The True dotterels, the former with broad and rounded wings, mostly
Plovers. resident in the countries they inhabit ; the latter with sharp
Sub-family and pointed wings, with the secondaries nearly as long as
GharadriincK. the primaries, and accustomed to long migrations. Some of
them are known, like the American golden plover (Chara-
driiis dominicus), to be capable of immense flights, such as from Labrador to
the Bermudas, without touching land.
Two genera have longer bills than any of the rest, TJiivornis and
Anarhynchns of New Zealand. The latter is known as the wry-billed plover,
and has its bill twisted to the right. Then comes the long array of dotterels,
such as JEyialitis, of which our common ring-dotterel is the type. The
members of the genus jEgialitis are found nearly over the whole world, and
perform long migrations to the South in the winter. Their four pear-shaped
eggs are laid in a little depression in the sand or shingle, and the nestlings
WATTLED PLOVERS OYSTER-CATCHERS.
271
are difficult to capture, on account of their resemblance to the surroundings
iu which they are hatched ; the same may be said of the eggs, which closely
resemble the adjacent shingle. Some of the other dotterels, such as the
members of the genus fohthodromitB, are handsome birds, with a chestnut
collar across the chest. The true dotterels (Eudromias) are mountain-breeding
birds, and our English species, E. morinellus, is the only one of the group
with any black on the belly. This, however, is not assumed as a breeding-
dress, as is the case with the grey and golden plovers.
The latter birds have a spangled plumage, and don a black breast in
summer, passing into a white-breasted livery in winter. The grey plover
(Squatarola helvetica} differs from the golden plover (Charadrms pluvialis)
in having a hind toe. It nests on the tundra or barren grounds in the
Palrearctic and Nearctic regions beyond the limit of forest growth, and
until recently its eggs were amongst the rarest in collections. Mr. See-
bohm and Mr. Harvie Brown, however, have obtained them on the Lower
Petchora River, and Mr. Trevor-Battye and Mr. H. J. Pearson on Kolguev
Island. *
Another group of the broad- winged lapwings is represented by our common
pewit (Vauelbis vaiie-llus), which has no wattle on the face or spur on the
wing, like many of the other genera of
the Charadriin&j such as the spur-winged
plovers of Africa (Hoploptcriis), which have
a formidable spur on the bend of the wing,
with which they fight. II. splnosus is said
to be the species which attends on the cro-
codile, find enters its mouth to clean the
teeth of the monster. Some of the other
genera of this group of plovers have a
facial wattle, but no spur on the wing,
while in the genus Xipliidioptcrus we
have two species, one Javan, and the other
West African, which have a large wing-
spur and a conspicuous facial lappet as
well.
All the wattled plovers (sub-family Lolnvanellince) have the metatarsus trans-
versely scaled in front, but reticulated behind. They are nearly all broad-
winged birds like the pewits or lapwings, and most of them have spurs on
the wings, and wattles or lappets on the face.
We now come to a group of the Charadriinte, where there is no swelling
at the end of the bill, and in this section of the plovers are the oyster-
catchers (Hiematopodinw) and the turnstones (Arenariince).
All the oyster-catchers have the metatarsus reticulated both in front and
behind, and the angle of the lower mandible is placed very far back, the end
of the bill being compressed, and having a somewhat sharp
ridge. Twelve species of oyster-catchers are known, most of
them being black or black and white in plumage. They are found
Fig. 32. THE COMMON LAPWING
( Vandlus va nellus).
in all parts of the globe, but do not extend very far north.
They breed on the
The Oyster-
catchers.
Sub-family
ffcemctiopodince.
shores and on the sandy beds of rivers,
and the nest is a little depression in the sand or moss. The
eggs are not unlike those of the stone-plovers or thick-knees, being of a clay-
brown with blackish spots or scribblings.
Only one genus, Arenaria, represents this sub-family of plovers, which is a
272
A VES ORDER CPIA RA DRI1FORMES.
Fig. 33 THE COMMON TURN-STONE (Arenaria
interpres).
very distinct one. There is no dertral swelling to (he end of the bill, and the
metatarsus is transversely sealed in front, but reticulated
Tlie Turn-stones, behind, while there is no connecting web between the toes,
Sub-family as in the oyster-catchers. Two species of turn-stone are
ArenariincK. known.
The common turn-stone (A. interpres) is one of the most
cosmopolitan of birds, nesting in the Arctic regions of both hemispheres, and
ranging south almost as far as land extends. The male is a very handsome
bird in the nesting plumage, though
the females and young birds are
not so brightly coloured. It gains
its name of w turn-stone" from its
habit of turning over stones, often
of considerable size, in order to
reach the insects underneath. A
second species is found in Western
North America, the black turn-stone
(A. melanocephcda).
These are curious birds, peculiar
to the Old World, where they are
found from South-
The Pratincoles, era Europe and
Sub-order Central Asia to
Glareolce. China, south to
India and Aus-
tralia. They have all long wings and a swallow-like flight, and they nest in
companies, laying eggs which are unlike those of plovers or snipes, being so
thickly scribbled over that the ground-colour is almost invisible. One of
them, the common pratincole (Glareola pratincola), has occurred in England
on a few occasions. The pratincoles have the claw of the middle toe pectinated,
as in the coursers, from which they are distinguished by their long wings.
Although allied to the plovers and pratincoles, and, like these birds, pos-
sessing slit or schizorhinal nostrils, the coursers differ from them in having no
basipterygoid pro-
The Coursers. cesses, and they may
Sub-order be differentiated from
Cursorii. the former by their pec-
tinated middle claw.
They have both aspects of the meta-
tarsus transversely scaled. Of true cour-
sers (Cursorius) there are five species,
the best-known of which is the cream-
coloured courser (0. gatticus), which
has occasionally wandered to England,
though its natural habitat is the desert
country to the south of the Mediterranean, where it is found from the
Azores and the Canary Islands eastwards to North-Western India. On
the island of Fuerteventura it breeds in large numbers, and the eggs, till
lately very rare, are now in the collection of every oologist. Two eggs only
are laid, on the bare ground, without any attempt at a nest ; they are stone-
coloured, with numerous dots and scribblings of brown, and are scarcely
distinguishable from the surrounding soil. Three species are found in
Fig. 34. THE CREAM-COLOURED COJRSEB.
(Cursorius gallicus).
STONE- CURLE WSB USTA RDS.
The Stone -
Plovers.
Sub -order
(Edicnemi.
Africa, and one, the coromandel courser (0. coromandelicus), is plentiful in
the Indian Peninsula. Of the allied genus Rhinoptilus, eight species are
known, all Ethiopian, excepting one, K. bitorqiiat'us, which is a bush-
frequenting species in a restricted area of Central India.
These birds, with their great yellow eyes and stout legs, form the connect-
ing group between the plovers and the bustards. They have holorhinal
nostrils like the latter, and in many anatomical characters
are more like the latter sub-order than the Charadrii. They
are found throughout the temperate and tropical portions of
the Old World, and re-occur in Central and South America.
The common stone-curlew, thick-knee, or Norfolk plover,
is found on barren wolds and shingly portions of the coast
in many parts of England. It occurs in similar situations throughout Central
and Southern Europe, as far east as India. It
is a particularly shy bird, and on the approach
of danger, it sinks its body on the ground, and
lies quite flat, with its neck stretched out. The
little nestlings, which are clothed with greyish-
buff down, also endeavour to conceal themselves
in like manner. The eggs, two in number, are
laid on the bare ground, without any attempt at
a nest, and are stone-coloured, with brown
and grey markings, and so closely resemble
stones that they are very difficult to find. Of
the seven other species of stone-curlew known,
four are African and three American. In
Australia the long-legged thick-knee (Burhiuus
grallarius\ and in India and the Malay Archi-
pelago two gigantic species, Esacus recurvirostris,
and Orthorhamphus maginrostris, occur.
Like the stone- curlew, the bustards have holorhinal nostrils, as well as a
split or schizognathous palate. The breast-bone has two notches on its
posterior margin, there is no oil-gland, and the feathers
have a distinct after-shaft. In the males of some of the The Bustards.
species there is a gular pouch, and the throat is capable of Sub-order Otides.
being inflated to an enormous extent.
The bustards differ very much in size, some of them being scarcely larger
than stone-curlews, though they are always heavier in build. The male of
the great bustard measures more than three feet and a half in length, and
the great kori bustard of Africa is over four feet in length, while some of the
small forms, such as the crested bustards of Africa (Lophotis), only measure a
foot and a half in length.
They are all birds of the deserts and open wolds, and are strictly confined
to the Old World, the larger number being found in Africa, which is the
home of six genera out of the twelve which are known. India has two genera
of florikins, Houbaropsis and Sypheotis, while the genus Otis, of which the
great bustard is the type, and Tetrax, containing the lesser bustard (T.
tttrax), are found only in Europe and Northern Asia.
The great bustard (Otis tar da} is now extinct as a British species, but was
one of our indigenous birds in the early part of the present century, inhabiting
Salisbury Plain and other open wolds in England from the borders of Scotland
to Dorset. It now occurs only as a rare visitor, and it is not known
19
Fig. 35. THE STONE-CURLEW
((Edicnemus udicnemus).
274 AVES ORDER GRUIFORMES.
whether the native British bustards occurred in former times as migrants or
were resident in this country. The former supposition is probably correct,
as the species is known to be migratory to most of the European countries in
which it still breeds. In the nesting season it retires to the fields of tall
grass and corn, where it is able to conceal its great bulk, and it is said that
at this season of the year the birds moult their quills, and are unable to fly.
The male of the great bustard is much larger than the female, and has,
besides his brighter coloration, more conspicuous whiskers. His method of
showing off, when courting the female, is one of the most curious sights in
the whole of nature. He commences by shivering his wings and lowering
his quills, and his next action is to turn up his tail and lay it flat on his back,
so that the snow-white under tail-coverts form a sort of frill. Across the
flattened tail he disposes his primary quills so that the ends of these cross
each other, and keep the tail out of sight, the whole proceeding being hidden
by ruffling up the scapular feathers till nothing can be seen of the tail or the
primary quills. The act of crossing the latter across the back naturally
brings the fore-part of the wing into an extended position, and the inner
secondaries, which are pure white, are thrown up as a frill on each side of
the back, while all the wing-coverts are more or less inverted, as if the bird
were trying to turn himself inside out, the long parapteral wing-coverts being
thrown back, so as to secure an uninterrupted view of the white frill caused
by the elevation of the inner secondaries and the halo of the under tail-coverts.
The bird then lays its head deep down between the shoulders, so that the
whiskers stand up on each side, and then proceeds to inflate his throat and
chest, which become distended to an enormous degree. He then shows
himself to his lady-love, and paces slowly in front of her, now and then
springing round to exhibit the white under tail-coverts. This curious per-
formance was witnessed in the Zoological Gardens by Mr. Pickhardt, who
has mounted the group of bustards for the gallery in the Natural History
Museum.
The eggs of the bustards are two or three in number, of an olive-brown
colour, spotted or blotched with brown, the underlying spots being grey, the
eggs being never very strongly marked. No nest is made.
In this assemblage we have birds of very varied form and the Cranes
were considered in former times to be allied to the herons. The differ-
ence in the structure of the palate, however, shows that
The Cranes. they are not really related, as the herons have a bridged
Order or desmogriathous palate, whereas in the cranes and their
Gruiformes. allies the maxillo-palatine bones do not coalesce with each
other or with the vomer. The young, likewise, are hatched
covered with down, and can take care of themselves soon after leaving the
egg, while the nestlings of herons have to remain for a long time helpless,
and are fed by the parent birds in the nest. There are also many other
anatomical and osteological characters which separate the cranes.
They are stately birds, with long legs and generally some bright orna-
mental colour on the head, while the inner secondaries are developed into
handsome drooping plumes. With the exception of South
The True Cranes. America, cranes are found in every part of the world, and
Sub-order Africa possesses three out of the nine known genera. The
Grues. sarus cranes (Antigone) are found in India and Burma, and
one species, the well-known "native companion" (A.
austmlasiana), in Australia. This is a peculiar and interesting distribution,
CRANES LIMPKINS.
275
as there is a large Indian bustard (Eupodotis edwardsi), which has its nearest
ally (E. australis) in Australia. As a rule, however, the cranes are Northern
birds, five species nesting in the Palrearctic region. In many of them the
trachea is convoluted, and enters a cavity in the fore-part of the sternum.
The common crane (Grus grus) is now only an occasional visitor to Great
Britain, but there is no doubt that it formerly bred in England, before the
drainage of the meres deprived it of its favourite
breeding haunts, and the discovery of fossil re-
mains in Ireland shows that it was once still more
widely distributed in the British Islands. The
nesting-home of the crane is at present in the
forest morasses of North and Central Europe,
and in the marshes of Southern Spain. It is
a summer visitor to Europe, and sometimes
large numbers of cranes are observed on migra-
tion, flying in a V or Y formation, and trumpet-
ing loudly. Colonel Irby records that he must
on one occasion have seen, at least, four thousand
pass overhead near Gibraltar. The food of the
crane consists of corn and seeds of all kinds, as
well as lizards and frogs, and in India the cranes,
which arrive from the North to winter, do great
damage to the water-melons. The eggs are two
in number, brown, with a few spots or smudges of
darker brown and underlying spots of grey. The
nest is often a large structure, as much as five
feet across, and is built among sedge and rushes,
sufficiently short to enable the bird when standing up to catch sight of any
intruder.
The limpkins are long-billed birds, having the appearance of large rails, of
a brown colour, spotted with white. In osteological characters, however, they
most resemble the cranes, and, like the latter birds, they
have no notches in the hinder margin of the sternum. The The Limpkins.
wings are rounded, and the secondaries are as long as the Sub-order
primaries, the first of the latter quills being sickle-shaped, Arami.
narrowed and incised for the basal two-thirds, with the tip
spatulate. Two species of the genus Aramus are known, the Florida limpkin
(A. picbus) extending from Southern Florida to Central America and the
West Indian Islands, while the South American limpkin (A, scolopaceiis) is
found from Paraguay to Guiana and Venezuela. Mr. W. H. Hudson, the
chronicler of bird-life in Argentina, says that the limpkins, or caraus, as
they are called in that country, are more nocturnal than the rails, and take
wing more readily, as they have greater powers of flight. In their gestures
and motions on the ground they resemble rails, but differ strikingly from all
Ilalline birds in their habit of flying, when disturbed, to some open place,
where they walk about conspicuously, watching the intruder. "By day,"
writes Mr. Hudson, " the carau is a dull bird, concealing itself in dense reed-
beds in streams and marshes. When driven up he rises laboriously, the legs
dangling down, and mounts vertically to a considerable height. He flies
high, the wings curved upwards and violently flapped at irregular intervals ;
descending, he drops suddenly to the earth, the wings motionless, pointed
up, and the body swaying from side to side, so that the 'bird presents the
Fig. 36. THE COMMON CRANE
(Grus grus).
AVES ORDER GRUIFORMES.
appearance of a falling parachute. On smooth ground he walks faster than
a man, striking out his feet in a stately manner, and jerking the tail, and
runs rapidly for ten or twelve yards before rising. At the approach of night
he becomes active, uttering long, clear, piercing cries, many times repeated,
and heard distinctly two miles away. These cries are most melancholy, and
together with its mourning plumage and recluse habits, have won for the
courlans several pretty vernacular names. It is called the "lamenting
bird" and the " crazy widow," but is more familiarly known as the carau.
As the breeding season draws near they become exceedingly clamorous, mak-
ing the marshes resound day and night with their long wailing cries. The
nest is built among the rushes, and contains ten or twelve eggs as large as
turkeys', slightly elliptical, sparsely marked with blotches of pale brown and
purple on a dull white ground, the whole egg having a powdery or floury
appearance."
In New Caledonia is found the singular bird known as the kagu (Rhino-
chetus jiibatus), the only representative of the sub-order Rhinoclietides. It is
an elegantly coloured grey bird, with a large crest, and is
The Kagus. nocturnal in its habits. In 'internal structure, it has much
Sub- order that is crane-like ; but it differs from the latter group of
Rhinochetides birds by possessing powder-down patches on each side of the
rump. When in captivity, the kagu exhibits considerable
dancing powers, in which feature he also resembles the cranes.
This sub-order is represented by a single species, Mesites varieyata, a bird
peculiar to the eastern slope of the mountain-chain which traverses the
island of Madagascar. Its plumage is of a reddish-brown,
The Madagascar an d it looks like an aberrant kind of rail. Like the kagu, it
Kagus. possesses powder-down patches, but instead of two, there are
Sub-order five : two on the side of the back, one on the sides of the
Mesitides. body, and two on the belly. It is said to build its nest on
the ground, but little is known of its habits.
These remarkable birds are confined to South and Central America. They
are also very rail-like in appearance, and resemble the kagus in having
powder-down patches. Two species
The are known, the South American
Sun-Bitterns. sun-bittern (Eurypyga lidias\ in-
Sub-order habiting Amazonia, Brazil, and
Eurypyyce. Guiana, and the large sun-bittern
(E. major) being found in Central
America and Colombia.
The plumage of the sun-bittern is curiously
variegated ; the wings are beautifully spotted, and
the bird is fond of sitting with its wings outspread,
as if sunning itself. The nest is placed in a tree,
and the bird has another heron-like character in
having to feed the young birds in the nest for some
time, though the nestlings are covered with down,
as in true cranes. The eggs are said to resemble
those of a woodcock.
( The members of this sub-order are five in num-
ber, all confined to South America. They possess many crane-like features,
,but^ differ from all the aberrant gruiformes which we have been consider-
ing* in their domesticity, as they are often tamed by the natives of Brazil.
Fig. 37. THE SUN-BITTERX
(Eurypyrja helias).
TR UMPE TERSSERIAMAS.
277
Tlie Trumpeters.
Sub-order
Phosphide.
Fig. 38. THE COMMON TRUMPETER
(Psophia, rejpitans).
The Seriamas.
Sub-order
Dicholophi.
The nest is on the ground, the eggs being white, a peculiar colour for a
Crane-like bird, and the nestling is covered with down, and is able to provide
for itself soon after it is hatched. The birds gain their
name * 'Trumpeter" from their peculiar trumpet-like
note, and no doubt
the modification of
the trachea has some-
thing to do with this, as the windpipe
is enormously long, and is continued
under the skin of the abdomen nearly
to the anus. The Trumpeters differ
from the Cranes in having oval or
holorhinal nostrils, and their plumage,
instead of being firm and harsh, is
particularly soft. They are residents
in the parts of South America they
inhabit, and have not any great powers
of flight. They live at large in the
forests, and often assemble in flocks of considerable size.
In associating the Seriamas with the Cranes, we are following the
most recent conclusions of anatomists; but it must be conceded that
they are very aberrant members of the Gruiformes.
In some respects they resemble the bustards, and, like
them, have holorhinal nostrils, but in the possession
of four toes, and in other characters, they differ so
much from those birds that in our opinion there is
really no real affinity between them. Like the Cranes and the other
allied forms we have just been considering, the Seriamas have a cleft or
schizognathous palate, and their mode of life
presents some features in common with the
Secretary- Bird (Serpentarius secretarius) of
Africa. Recognising this fact, some ornitho-
logists, myself among the number, have
considered the Seriama to be an aberrant
accipitrine bird. The common Seriama is an
inhabitant of South-Eastern Brazil ; and in
Argentina another species occurs, Burmeister's
Seriama (Chunga burmeisteri). These two
represent the only known species of the sub-
order. The resemblance in appearance to the
secretary-bird is remarkable, and in its mode
of walk, its crested head, and its long legs,
there is much that reminds us of the latter
bird, which has a curious method of pounding
its food. If the latter be a rat, it springs
into the air, and brings down both feet with
all its force, till it has reduced its prey to a
pulp. This is also done by the Seriama. Mr.
Hudson says that these birds live on the
ground among the high grasses of the Campos, where the traveller frequently
hears their loud screaming cry as he rides along the tracks. Their food
consists principally of insects and caterpillars, but they also devour berries
Fig. 39. THK SBRIAPIA
(Cariama cristata).
2 7 8
A VES ORDER ARDEIFORMES.
and reptiles. They nest in low bushes, the eggs being two In number,
rounded and spotted, resembling those of Cranes and Rails.
Somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Seriamas and the Cranes and
Kails must apparently be placed some extraordinary forms of bird-life which
have been discovered in the Miocene deposits of Patagonia,
The Extinct Birds and described by Dr. Ameghino under the order
of Patagonia Stereornithes. These peculiar creatures are only known
(Stereormthes). from their fossil remains> and they were at first supposed
to be Struthious Birds, and akin to the Rheas. Further
information is required concerning them, but at the present time, my
colleague, Mr. Andrews, considers that they are totally different from any
ostrich-like birds, and were probably gigantic fore-runners of the Seriama
and the Crane-like birds of modern times.
All the members of this order have a bridged or desmognathous palate, and
the nestlings are hatched helpless, and are fed in the
The Heron, nest by the parent birds for a considerable period. Thus
Order they differ from the Cranes, with which they were
Ardeiformes. associated in the older classifications. The Heron-like
birds may be divided into three great groups, viz., the
Storks (Ciconiidce), the Spoonbills and Ibises, and the Herons.
Although in outward appearance Storks and Herons look very much alike,
there are several characters which render them easily separable. For
instance, no Stork has the claw of the third or middle
The Storks. toe pectinated ; that is, furnished with a comb-like
Family Ciconiida. process, as is the case with all Herons. Again, the hind
toe is not on a level with the other toes, but is elevated
above it; and the f.urcula, or "merry-thought," bone shows no median
projection in the angle, as is seen in the true Herons. There are other
anatomical and osteological characters which
can be adduced for the separation of the
Storks from the Herons which it is not
necessary to enumerate in detail.
In this Order are included the true Storks
(Ciconiidce), the Marabous, or Adjutants
(Leptoptilus\ the Open -bills (Anastomus),
and the Wood- Storks or Wood-Ibises (Tan-
talus), the latter being
The Storks. generally admitted as a
Sub-order distinct sub-family, Tan-
Ciconii. talince. All these birds
have no "powder-down"
patches on the sides of the rump, thus differ-
ing from the true Herons and the Hammer-
heads (Scopi) and the Shoe-billed Storks
(Balcenicipitidoe).
The best-known representative of the
Ciconii is the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)
of Europe, a bird which occasionally visits
England, but is to be more easily studied on
the opposite shores of the Continent. It is always interesting to take a
country walk in Holland in the spring and see the Storks' ne^ts, which are
plentifully distributed in the Dutch gardens, where the birds are encouraged
Fig. 40. THE WHITS STORK
(Ciconia ciconia).
STORKS. 279
to nest by the erection of cradles or other accommodation (often an old cart
wheel) erected for their benefit. In most places frequented by tho Storks it
is considered lucky to have a nest on the premises, and the latter increases
in bulk year by year as the birds return to their nesting-places, which
are often on the tops of houses. They have a curious habit of sitting
motionless for hours together, often on one leg, as if absorbed in contempla-
tion, uttering occasionally their single exclamation, which is produced by the
snapping of the mandibles, for they apparently have no true note or call.
Before migrating to spend the winter months in Afriea the Storks often
assemble in large flocks, returning toEurope in January and February,and their
first halting-place to nest seema to be in the Mediterranean countries, especially
in Morocco, where they are strictly protected. Colonel Irby states that he
was told by a Frenchman that "in the City of Morocco, as well as at Ftz
and some other large towns in the Moorish Empire, there are regular Storks'
hospitals, and that should one be injured, or fall from the nest, it is sent to
this institution, or rather enclosure, which is kept up by subscription from
wealthy Moors, who consider the Stork a sacred bird." The late M. Favier,
who lived for some years in Morocco, writes the following note, which gives a
very good idea of the migrations of the Stork and its habits in this favoured
country. He says: "The Stork is seen on migration in vast numbers
around Tangier passing to Europe during January and February, some of the
birds terminating their journey by remaining to breed in Morocco. These are
the first to depart south, returning again year after year to the same places,
and apparently by the same route as that taken in their gradual departure.
"Some large flights pass on without stopping; those which migrate in
August rest awhile on their way south; so during the autumnal migration
(which lasts, like the spring, for about a month the latter half of August
and the first part of September) this species is extremely numerous, and
is seen round the environs of Tangier in all directions ; they are very
tame, and often follow close behind the plough.
"The superstition which shelters this bird from molestation by the natives
is the belief that the Storks were inspired by Allah to protect the harvest
and the country from noxious insects and reptiles, and that the birds
themselves (knowing the benefits they confer on man) ask in return
protection for their offspring by building their nests on the walls of towns
and houses, and that, therefore, anyone who kills them must be a Kaffir, i.e.,
not a true believer of the Prophet, especially as the birds would only be
killed for mischief, and not for food. It may be added that some of the
Arabs believe that the Storks originate from a wicked Kadi and his family,
who, as a punishment for their great cruelty, were all changed into these
birds, and that these miserables humble themselves to appease Allah, and in the
hope of some day regaining their human form, pray without ceasing day and
night, and, whenever they rest, prostrate themselves and clean their bills."
The White Stork of Europe has a red bill, and is represented in Eastern
Siberia and Japan by the Black-billed White Stork (Ciconia boyciana), and
in America by the Maguari Stork (Euxenura maguari), which has a greenish
bill. The Black Stork (Ciconia nigra] is another European bird which has
occasionally visited England. It winters in Africa and in the Indian
Peninsula, and, like its white relative, only visits Europe in the summer,
when it is also found over Northern Asia. It differs from the White
Stork in being a forest bird, but in habits and food ib resembles that
species. Indeed, in these respects all Storks are very similar.
280 A VES ORDER ARDEIFORMES.
In India and Africa a curious species occurs, viz., the White-necked Stork
(Dissura episcopus), which, on examination, would seem to have a double tail,
whence its Latin name. The white under tail-coverts are longer than the
black tail-feathers, and are stiffened so as to appear like rectrices rather than
coverts. The same curious formation occurs in one of the American Storks
(Euxenura maguari).
The Jabirus are the largest of the Storks, standing higher on their legs
than even the Adjutants. There are two species of Jabiru besides the
American one mentioned above, viz., Mycteria senegalensis of Africa and
M. australis of Australia. They have a very peculiar bill, which is slightly
upturned at the end, and of a black and red colour.
Of a more ungainly form, and with a bare and scabious head, are the
Adjutants (Leptoptilus). They are very large birds, and as fossil remains
have been found in the Miocene deposits in France, we may conclude that
they were at one time much more widely distributed than they are now. At
present one species of Leptoptilus is African, another Indian, and a third
Javan. They all possess the beautiful soft under tail-coverts known as
44 Marabou " feathers, and on the neck they have a bare pendulous pouch
which they are able to innate ; and from the way in which this is done by
the birds in confinement, it would appear as if it was considered an ornamental
appendage, though from its livid colour the protrusion of this naked bag is
anything but ornamental. In India the Adjutants are protected on account
of their usefulness as scavengers, as they will devour almost anything, and
they may often be seen in the streets of the towns. In aviaries they often
stand on one leg for hours motionless, or, with their legs stretched forward
under them, they will go to sleep with their heavy heads resting on their
crops. Mr. Eugene Gates says that he noticed enormous numbers of
Adjutants in Pegu. <4 Along with the Pelicans," he says, "breeding in the
same trees, were innumerable Adjutants. One can hardly realise the number
of these birds that visit Pegu in October, unless, as I have done, one has seen
the vast armies which settle on the plains on their first arrival. I have
stood on a bund where I could see for about two miles around me, and the
whole area was literally covered with them. Some fifty birds stand huddled
together, then there is a bare spare of about 100 ft., and then another
group of birds. Their numbers are incredible. They all arrive suddenly in
the Pegu plain on the same day, and after resting for about two days, they
betake themselves to the forest, where I had the pleasure of visiting them.
Certainly almost all the Indian Adjutants must come to Pegu to breed.
These birds utter only one sound, and it resembles the lowing of a cow when
separated from her calf. It was the only sound heard in these gloomy
forests." Colonel Bingham found the nests of the Indian Adjutant on the
Nedong Hills in Tenasserim, and only succeeded in reaching the rocks on
which they were built after a stiff and difficult climb.
These birds are generally known as the "Shell-Ibises,"' though they have
no connection with the true Ibises, but are Storks of a peculiar type ; Mr.
Leydecker calls them "Shell-Storks," which is a much
The Open-billed more appropriate name for them, as their food consists
Storks. Genus principally of molluscs, for the breaking of which the
jinastomus. bird's " nut-cracker "-like bill is distinctly well adapted.
The peculiar gap in the bill is not seen in the young birds,
but seems to develop as the birds get older.
These birds have also generally been called "Wood Ibises," and they seem
WOOD-STORKSHAMMER-HEAD.
281
to be a kind of connecting link between the Storks and the Ibises, though in
structure they resemble the former. Three species are
known the American Wood-Stork (Tantalus loculator), The Wood-
the African Pseudotantalus ibis, and the Indian species, Storks. Family
P. leucocephalus. Of the nesting of the latter bird Lieut. Tantahda.
Burgess has given the following account : "In a village
about ten miles from the Godavery river, where there are a great number of
large banian trees both outside and inside the walls, I found a community of
these birds, which had built their nests on them, probably to the number
of fifty. The trees inside the walls were as thickly covered with nests as
those outside, and the birds, which appeared docile and tame, did not mind
the noise of the people passing beneath them. When I visited the village,
the young birds were all well fledged and most of them able to fly. The
villagers informed me that the old birds move off" to the river in the very
early dawn, and having caught a sufficient supply for their young, return at
about eight or nine o'clock ; a second expedition is made in the afternoon.
Some idea of the quantity of fish caught by these birds may be gathered from
what the people told me, that numbers of fine fish were dropped by the old
birds when feeding their young and were eaten by them. A young bird of
this species, which I shot in Sind, disgorged a large quantity of small eels.
The nest is composed of small sticks, and is placed at the top of the trees, and
if there are many on the same tree, they are placed pretty close together."
In many of its characters the African genus Scopus, which represents this
sub-order, is intermediate between the Storks and the Herons. In the
form of the furcula, without any median projection, it
resembles the former, and it also wants the pectinated
claw of the Herons, while the absence of powder-down
patches likewise allies it to the Storks. In some points
of its anatomy Scopus is Heron-like, but in external
appearance it is unlike any member of the above-mentioned sub-orders,
colour of the plumage is a sombre brown, but the
bird has a fine crest and a curiously-compressed
bill, with a strong dertral hook at the end.
Both the inner and the outer toe are connected
together by a distinct basal web.
But it is in its nesting habits that the Hammer-
head is so peculiar. The nest is the work of a pair
of birds, and is placed either on rocks or trees,
sometimes six or eight being found within a short
distance of each other. Sir John Kirk found one
on the Zambesi, 6 ft. in diameter, with small
openings on one side. The nest is a mass of
sticks, and the bird has been said to make
three distinct chambers ; but in South Africa the
nests are described as being for the most part a
solid mass of sticks, sometimes to the extent of a
cart load, the nest being often decorated with
bones, bits of crockery, or other rubbish, or any
bright thing which the bird can collect, after the
manner of a Bower Bird (Ptilonorhynchus).
These extraordinary birds are represented, as in the preceding instance,
by a single genus Balceniceps, which, like Scopus, is confined to the Ethiopian
The Hammer-
headed Storks.
Sub-order Scopi.
The
Fig, 41. THE HAMMER-HEAD
(Scopus u.mbrttta).
282
A VES ORDER ARDEIFORMES.
Fig. 42. THR SHOE-BILLED STORK
(Balceniceps rex).
region, but instead of being widely distributed like the Hammer-head,
the Shoe-bill is confined to the districts of the Upper Nile. The shape of
the bill, with its dertral hook,
The Shoe-billed is sufficient to distinguish
Storks. -Sub order Balceniceps at a glance. The
Batenitipiiide*. genus further possesses two
powder-down patches like the
Herons, but differs from the latter birds in the
absence of any pectination on the middle claw,
and in its Stork-like furcula. Taking all points
of its anatomy into consideration, the balance of
evidence seems to be in favour of the alliance of
Balceniccps with the Storks.
Von Heuglin considered the " Abu-mask up "
or Shoe-bill to be a kind of Marabou, and an
inhabitant of the Upper Nile regions, such
as the Saraf River, the Lower Kir district,
and the Gazelle River, and the countries lying
between. It is everywhere a shy bird and
decidedly scarce, its habits being Stork-like,
standing on one leg and feeding on fish. Its
only note seems to be a snapping of the bill
like that of a Stork.
One of the chief differences between the Herons and the Storks is the
pectinated claw on the third or middle toe, and another difference is the posi-
tion of the hind toe, which, in
The Herons. tne Storks, is elevated above
Sub-order the level of the other toes,
Herudiones. and in the Herons is on the
same level as the latter.
The median process on the furcula has been
already alluded to. The Herodiones may be
divided roughly into the Herons and the
Bitterns. The former have twelve tail-feathers,
and the latter ten.
The true Herons comprise a large number
of genera, all more of less closely connected
together, but differing in certain constant
peculiarities, which warrant their being separated
as genera, or, at least, as sub-genera. Thus the
Purple Heron of Europe is remarkable for its
long middle toe, which is as long as the tarsus,
and hence it is known as Phoyx purpurea.
The genus Ardea, on the other hand, has the
proportions of the toes different, the middle toe
being shorter, and the tarsus longer than the
middle toe and claw. Besides the pectinate or
comb-like claw on the middle toe, our Common Heron (A. cinerea) has the
tip of the bill serrated or furnished with saw-like notches along the cutting
edge at the end of the upper mandible.
The Common Heron is now to be found nesting in England only in
certain heronries where the bird ia protected. The havoc which the bird
Fig. 43. THE COMMON HBRON
(Ardea cinerea).
NIGHT-HERONSBOAT-BILLS. 283
plays among tho fish in preserved waters is sufficient excuse for its
slaughter, and many are killed on account of the damage they do. Never-
theless, the Heron is an extremely handsome ornament to our waters, and
it is always a beautiful sight to see one of these birds standing motionless by
a pool of water, or flying with its heavy wings and outstretched legs high
above us in the air. The nests of the Common Heron are bulky structures,
and, as a rule, are built on trees, though occasionally, where trees are absent,
they will be built on bushes or even on the ground. The eggs are of a
beautiful greenish-blue colour.
When in full nesting plumage, our own Ardea cinerea dons some long crest
feathers arid some elongated feathers on the back, but in these features it is
entirely eclipsed by some of the Egrets, such as the species of Herodias
and Garzetta, which have beautiful ornamental plumes on the breast and
lower back during the breeding season. The long dorsal train of the Little
Egrets (Garzetta garzetta) forms the material with which the English ladies of
the present day decorate their bonnets and hats. Every one of these
plumes, sold as " osprey " feathers by the dealers, has been taken from the
body of a bird killed while bringing food to its nestlings, which are in con-
sequence left to starve. It is scarcely possible that, in the present day,
when so much publicity has been given t the fact that the wearers of these
plumes are responsible for the slaughter of numberless beautiful Egrets,
and the de ith of the young ones by starvation, any Englishwoman can plead
immunity from complicity in the crime of consenting to the murder of these
pretty birds; and one is forced reluctantly, seeing that the plumes are
obtained solely for the English market, to believe that our people love to
have it so, and that they would rather that thousands of Egrets were killed
than that their bonnets should be without an "osprey " plume.
Passing from the true Herons and the Egrets to the Night-Herons, we find
several intermediate forms, such as the lovely A garni Heron of Guiana
(Ayamia agami), and the Reef-Herons (Demiegretta).
In the latter birds we meet with a curious fact, viz., that The Night-Herons,
they have two forms, a white and a grey one, and, as far QenusNyctieoraz
as one can say at present, the white form goes through all
the changes of the grey one, assuming the ornamental plumes of the breed-
ing season ; and yet, when the two forms cross, as they often seem to do,
the result is seen in any amount of pied birds. The same phenomenon is
exhibited in an American Heron (Dichromanassa rufa), where one form of
the species is white arid the other rufous. The two forms breed together,
and some of the uestlings will be white and others rufous.
The Night-Herons are found nearly everywhere on the globe, and the
European species, Nyctieorax nyctieorax, occurs in the temperate and tropical
portions of the Old and the New Worlds. These birds breed in colonies,
and build a nest of a framework of sticks, in which the eggs lie in a sort of
cradle. One may travel for miles through a marsh without suspecting the
presence of the Night-Herons, and suddenly come upon the breeding
place, when the air becomes full of the noisy cries of the birds, as they
hover over their nests, and evince the greatest concern at the invasion of
their retreat.
One of the most curious of the Night-Herons is the American Boat-bill
(Canchroma). At first sight the remarkably wide and shoe-shaped bill would
suggest an affinity with the Shoe-billed Stork (Balceniceps rex), but the
characters of the bird are absolutely Heron-like, and there is no doubt that
2 8 4
A VES- ORDER ARDEIFORMES.
Fig, 44. THE BOAT BILLED HERON
(Canchroma cochlearia).
the bird is an exaggerated form of Night-Heron, its plumage also suggesting
the propriety of this alliance. The genus stands, in fact, between the true
Night -Herons (Nyctieorax) and the
Mottled Night-Herons (Gorsachius) of
the Indian Region.
Two species of Boat-billed Herons are
known the South American species
C. cochlearia, which is found from
Brazil to Guiana, Colombia, and
Ecuador, and the Central American
species, C. zeledoni, which takes its
place from Panama to Mexico, and has
a tawny-coloured breast instead of a
white one. They are nocturnal birds,
and Mr. Richmond says that in Costa
Rica he found C. zeledoni in colonies,
and the note of the species was a
"squawk," something like that of the
Night-Heron.
The Bitterns have ten, "tail-feathers
?nd the end of the bill serrated. In
this group are contained the Little
Bitterns (Ardetta), the Dwarf Tiger
Bitterns of South America (Zebrilus),
and the Asiatic Bitterns (Ardeirallus and
Dupetor), as well as the True Bitterns
(Botaurus). Of the Little Bitterns ten species are known, and the distribution
of the genus is almost cosmopolitan. The
most tyoical species is the Little Bittern
of Eurooe (Ardetta minuta), a bird which
still occasionally finds its way to England,
and doubtless formerly bred in the British
Islands. One of the most remarkable of
the Little Bitterns is, however, the
Argentine species (Ardetta involucris),
concerning which Mr. W. H. Hudson
tells a remarkable story, one of the most
interesting of all histories of bird-life.
Most of the Bitterns have the curious
faculty of concealing themselves from
observation by their faculty of "reed-
simulating," and many of our readers
must have noticed some of these birds in
the Zoological Gardens standing stock-
still, and evidently imagining that by so
doing they were invisible to the intruder.
The Common Bittern (Botaurus stellaris)
will not only do this, but will gradually
and slowly turn his breast to any observer
if the latter only walks slowly away from
him, under the evident impression that by so doing he renders himself
invisible, as, indeed, the bird would be if he were in his native reed-bed ;
Fig. 45 THR LITTLK BITTERN
(Ardetta minuta).
LITTLE BITTERNS. 285
but, as he has a background of green bushes or wood-work, his efforts at
concealment are vain.
The notion of concealment in relation to natural surroundings is, however,
thoroughly explained by Mr. Hudson's experiences. He writes : " One day
in November, 1870, when out shooting, I noticed a Variegated Bittern stealing
off quickly through a bed of rushes thirty or forty yards from me. He was
a foot or so above the ground, and went so rapidly that he appeared to glide
through the rushes without touching them. I fired, but afterwards ascer-
tained that in my hurry I missed my aim. The bird, however, disappeared
at the report, and, thinking I had killed him, I went to the spot.
"It was a small isolated bed of rushes I had seen him in ; the mud below,
and for some distance round, was quite bare and hard, so that it would have
been impossible for the bird to escape without being perceived ; and yet, dead
or alive, he was not to be found. After vainly searching and re-searching
through the rushes for a quarter of an hour, I gave over the quest in great
disgust and bewilderment, and, after reloading, was just turning to go, when,
behold ! there stood my Heron on a reed, no more than eight inches from,
and on a level with, my knees. He was perched, the body erect, and the
point of the tail touching the reed grasped by its feet, the long, slender,
tapering neck was held stiff, straight, and vertically ; and the head and beak,
instead of being carried obliquely, were also pointing up. There was not,
from his feet to the tip of his beak, a perceptible curve or inequality, but
the whole was the figure (the exact counterpart) of a straight, tapering rush ;
the loose plumage arranged to fill inequalities, and the wings pressed into
the hollow sides, made it impossible to see where the body ended and the
neck began, or to distinguish hea-d from neck or beak from head. This was,
of course, a front view ; and the entire under-surface of the bird was thus
displayed all of a uniform dull yellow, like that of a faded rush. I regarded
the bird wonderingly for some time, but not the least motion did it make. I
thought it was wounded or paralysed with fear, and, placing my hand on the
point of its beak, forced the head down till it touched the back ; when I
withdrew my hand, up flew the head, like a steel spring, to its first position.
I repeated the experiment many times with the same result, the very eyes of
the bird appearing all the time rigid and unwinking, like those of a creature
in a fit. What wonder that it is so difficult almost impossible to discover the
bird in such an attitude. But how happened it that, while repeatedly walking
round the bird through the rushes, I had not caught sight of the striped back
and the broad, dark-coloured sides? I asked myself this question, and stepped
round to get a side view, when, mirdbile didu, I could still see nothing but the
rush-like front of the bird. His motions on the perch as he turned slowly
or quickly round, still keeping the edge of the blade-like body before me,
corresponded so exactly with my own that I almost doubted that I had
moved at all. No sooner had I seen the finishing part of this marvellous
instinct of self-preservation (this last act -making the whole complete), than
such a degree of delight and admiration possessed me as I have never before
experienced during my researches, much as I have conversed with wild
animals in the wilderness, and many and perfect as are the instances of
adaptation I have witnessed. I could not finish admiring, and thought that
never had anything so beautiful fallen in my way before, for even the sublime
cloud-seeking instinct of the White Egret and the typical Herons seemed
less admirable than this, and for some time I continued experimenting,
pressing down the bird's head and trying to bend him by main force into
286 A VES ORDER ARDEIFORMES.
some other position ; but the strange rigidity remained unrelaxed, the fixed
attitude unchanged. I also found, as I walked round him, that as soon as I
got to the opposite side, and he could no longer twist himself on his perch,
he whirled his body with great rapidity the other way, instantly presenting
the same front as before.
" Finally I plucked him forcibly from the rush and perched him on my
hand, upon which he flew away ; but he flew only fifty or sixty yards off, and
dropped into the dry grass. Here he again put in practice the same instinct
so ably, that I groped about for ten or twelve minutes before refinding him,
and was astonished that a creature, to all appearance so weak and frail,
should have strength and endurance sufficient to keep its body rigid and in
one attitude for so long a time."
This habit of concealing themselves among surroundings to which their
plumage assimilates in colour seems to be a characteristic of all the Bitterns,
as I have seen our Common Bittern ( Botaitriis stellftris) attempting to perform
this feat in an aviary, and the Tiger Bitterns (Tigrisoma) also remain in a
rigid position for hours together.
It should be mentioned that nearly all the Herons lay eggs of a beautiful
greenish-blue colour, while those of many of the Bitterns are white, and
that of the Common Bittern is yellowish brown.
Although agreeing with the Storks in the form of the furcula, the members
of this sub-order differ from them and from the Herons in several important
osteological characters, the principal one being the
The Spoon-bills schizorhinal or "split" nostril. The Spoon-bills are such
and Ibises. Sub- extraordinary looking birds, that there is no possibility of
order Platalece. their being mistaken for any of the other long-legged
Herons or Storks, from all of which they are distinguished
by their flattened and spoon-shaped bill. They are found in nearly every
part of the globe, but do not extend very far north, and six species are
known, viz., four species of Platalece, one of
Platibis, confined to Australia, and one of
Ajaja, viz., the Rosy Spoon-bill of the New
World (Ajaja ojaja).
The Common Spoon-bill used to breed in the
marshes of our eastern counties, but has not
been known to do so for the last three hundred
years. Now the species is only an accidental
visitor, but it still nests on the Horster Meer
in Holland, where its breeding places are strictly
protected. The nests are made of dead reeds
lined with dry grass, and are placed on the
tussocks of grass with a few sticks as a founda-
tion ; a few nests being built low down in the
alder trees. On the Danube the Spoon-bills
nest in company with Egrets and other Herons,
Fig. 46.-THR COMMON SPOON-BILI, and the followin g interesting account of a visit
(Platalece kucerodea), to one of these breeding-places is given in Mr.
Barkley's work, "Bulgaria Before the War."
He found a colony on an island a few miles below Rustchuk, and he describes
the scene as follows : " Pushing our small boat into a narrow creek, we took
off our shoes and stockings, and, turning up our trousers, picked our way
through the tangled boughs in the direction of the sound, which evidently
SPOON-BILLSIBISES. 287
proceeded from the centre of the island, and I shall not easily forget the
sight we beheld when we reached it.
" There, on the pressed-down boughs of the willows, only a few feet above
the water, were hundreds of great flat nests of the various kinds of Herons,
Spoon-bills, Egrets, Bitterns, etc., all huddled together in one confused
mass, and the entire colony reeking with the most indescribably filthy
smell.
"It was rather late for eggs, as most of them were hatched off; but was
just the time to observe the doings of the children of these sedate, quiet,
peaceful-looking birds, and I must say that I never yet beheld such a collec-
tion of little fiends, nor a more hideous set.
' k Their bodies were of the smallest proportions, while every other part of
them their wings, legs, necks, and beaks were of the longest. Most of
them had no feathers, and all seemed possessed with one idea, and that was
either to limb a sraall brother or swallow him whole, and all kept up either
a shriek of fear or pain or a yell of rage. Floating on the top of the putrid
water were masses of dead birds, some with legs torn off, others without
heads or wings. Most of them were dead, but others were dragging their
maimed carcases about in a ghastly manner. So intent were they on their
fiendish pastime that they took little notice of us, and dragged and clawed
themselves about after their weaker brethren at our very feet, whilst the old
parent bird sat looking on from the topmost twigs as if fratricide were the
proper moral pastime of the young. A big Spoon-bill would chase a small
Egret from bough to bough till at last he tired it out, and then seizing it
with one claw, would take hold of its leg or wing and tear it from the poor
victim, or else, getting its head in its m<~'uth, would try to swallow it whole,
and gulp and gulp till so much of the little one was down its throat that it
was itself choked, and would turn over on its back, kicking and struggling,
to be in turn seized by a brother and torn limb from limb.
"All uttered up some hideous scream, and all kept clambering and
dragging themselves about from bough to bough, either hunting or being
hunted, and from what we saw I am sure that nine-tenths of all hatched in
that colony came to an untimely end before they could fly. We did not stay
long to watch them, but quickly securing some eggs from the few nests that
were not hatched off we beat a retreat, with our opinions of the beautiful,
gentle-looking birds greatly changed."
The Ibises are easily distinguished from the Spoon-bills by the shape of
their bills, which are long and curved, and have the nasal groove extending
nearly the whole length of the bill, which is soft, except-
ing at the extreme tip. The bill in some of the Ibises The Ibises.
is indeed very like that of a Curlew (Numenius), and one Family Ibidida.
genus of the Charadrii formes, Ibidorliynchus, is so like an
Ibis, that externally its characters would ally it to the latter group of birds
rather than to the Waders, to which, as its internal Etructure shows, it
actually belongs.
The most interesting of all the Ibises is undoubtedly the Sacred Ibis of the
Egyptians. As the ancient paintings show, the bird was a great feature in
Egyptian life, and the mummies of these birds which are found in the
temples show that it was regarded with great veneration by the ancient
Egyptians. The species still inhabits the Upper Nile regions, and many
writers state that it is never found in Egypt at the present day. This,
however, is not the case, as the British Museum has several specimens
288
A VES ORDER PHCENICOPTERIFORMES.
Fiij. 47. THK SACRBD IEIS
(Ibis cethiopica).
procured in Egypt, one of them having been shot near Damietta about
twelve years ago. We know ako that the species extends to the Persian
Gulf, its winter home being in Eastern and
Southern Africa.
There are no less than twenty different genera
of Ibises, and many of them are remarkable for
highly developed crests and ornamental plumes,
while in the Sacred Ibis and its allies the head
and neck are bare. The Glossy Ibises (Plegadis)
are among the commonest and best known of the
whole family, as one of them, P. falcinellus, has
visited England on many occasions. This species
breeds in numbers on the marshes of the lower
Danube, as well as in similar places in Africa
and India, and the egg is one of the most
beautiful of any of the Heron-like birds, being
of a deep greenish-blue, darker and richer in
tint than the eggs of any species of Herons.
We now approach the great group of swimming
birds, such as the Ducks, the Pelicans, and their
allies ; but, before arriving at the consideration
of these well-marked orders, there intervenes a remarkable
The Flamingoes. form of bird > the Flamingo. In its long legs and long
Order neck it might well be taken for a kind of Heron or Stork ;
Phcenicopteri- and, indeed, until recent years, the position of the
formes. Flamingoes was considered to be in close proximity to
the last-named birds. They are, however, more nearly
allied to the Ducks and Geese, having a desmognathous or "bridged"
palate ; while the young are hatched covered with down, and are able to run
about in a few hours and obtain food for them-
selves. These features they possess in common
with the Ducks and Geese and the Screamers,
and these three groups were united by Huxley
into one natural order, Chenomorphce.
The Flamingoes resemble the Ducks and
Geese in having the sides of the bill laminated,
an arrangement which enables them to sift their
food in the way which every one of our readers
must have seen tame Ducks do in a farmyard or
on a lake. Besides many osteological characters,
the Flamingoes present an external appearance
unique among birds. The legs are abnormally
long, the metatarsus being three times as
long as the femur, and the anterior toes fully
webbed. The neck is also extremely long, the
cervical vertebrae being eighteen or nineteen in
number. The bill is decurved in a remarkable
manner ; but in the nestling, which is covered
with greyish-white down, the bill is straight,
as in any other Duck-like bird.
The most curious feature in the economy of the Flamingo is its nest, which
is built of mud. For a long time it was supposed that the birds sat upon
Fig. 48. TriF! COMMON FLAMINGO
(Phoenieopterus roseuti).
FLAMINGOES. 289
their single egg, with the legs straddled on each side of them. This idea
was, however, dissipated by Mr. Abel Chapman in 1883, when he visited the
Marismas of the Guadalquivir, in Spain, and found out the nesting habits of
the Flamingo. He writes : "One cannot go far into the Marisma without
seeing that extraordinary fowl the Flamingo, certainly the most characteristic
bird of the wilderness. In herds of 300 to 500, several of which are often
in sight at once, they stand feeding in the open water, all their heads under,
greedily tearing up the grasses and water-plants from the bottom. On
approaching them, which can only be done by extreme caution, their silence
is first broken by the sentries, who commence walking away with low croaks,
then the whole five hundred necks rise at once to the full extent, every bird
gaggling his loudest as they walk obliquely away, looking back over their
shoulders as though to take stock of the extent of the danger. Pushing <a
few yards forward, up they all rise, and a more beautiful sight cannot be
imagined than the simultaneous spreading of their thousand crimson wings,
flashing against the sky like a gleam of rosy light. Then one descends to
the practical, and a volley of slugs cuts a lane through their phalanx.
"In many respects these birds bear a strong resemblance to Geese. Like
them Flamingoes feed by day, and great quantities of grass, etc., are
always floating about the muddy water where a herd has been feeding.
Their cry is almost indistinguishable from the gaggling of "Geese, and they
fly in the same catenanan formations. In size Flamingoes vary greatly.
The largest I have measured was fully 6 ft. 5 in., whilst others (old red birds)
barely reached 5 ft." He thus describes the finding of the nests: "On
reaching the spot we found a perfect mass of nests ; the low mud plateau
was crowded with them as thickly as the space permitted. These nests had
little or no height ; some were raised 2 or 3 in. , a few might be 5 or 6 in. ;
but the majority were merely circular bulwarks of mud, with the impression
of the bird's legs distinctly marked on it. The general aspect of the plateau
was not unlike a large table covered with plates. In the centre was a deep
hole full of muddy water, which, from the 'gouged' appearance of its sides,
appeared to be used as a reservoir for nest-making materials. Scattered all
round this main colony were numerous single nests rising out of the water,
and evidently built up from the bottom. Here and there two or three or
more of these were joined together 'semi-detached,' so to speak. These
separate nests rose 6 or 8 in. above the water level, and were about 15 in.
across. The water was about 12 or 15 in. deep. None of these nests
as yet contained eggs, and though I returned to the ' pajarera ' on the latest
day I was in its neighbourhood (llth May), they still remained empty. On
both occasions many hundreds of Flamingoes were sitting on the nests, and on
the llth we had a good view of them at close quarters. Linked arm in arm
with Felipe, and crouching low in the water, to look as little human as
possible, we approached within some 70 yds. before their sentries showed
signs of alarm, and, at that distance, we observed the sitting birds as distinctly
as one need wish. Their long red legs doubled under their bodies, the knees
projecting as far as, or beyond, the tail, and their graceful necks neatly
curled away among their back feathers, like a sitting swan, with their heads
resting on their breasts all these points were unmistakable. Indeed, it is
hardly necessary to point out that in the great majority of cases (the nest
being hardly raised above the level of the flat mud) no other position was
possible."
Of Flamingoes six species are known, and they are found in the temperate
20
290
A VES ORDER ANSERIFORMES.
and tropical portions of both the Old and New Worlds. Three species belong
to the genus Phcenicopterus Phceniconaias has one species, P. minor, found in
Africa and North- Western India ; and Phcenicoparrus inhabits the Andes of
Chili and Peru and has two species, P. andinus and P. jamesi.
In Miocene times several forms of birds allied to the Flamingoes existed
in Europe, and have been classed by Mr. Lydekker under the extinct genus
Palceolodus. He states that they were smaller than the Flamingoes of the
present day, and had shorter and stouter legs, while it is probable also that
their bill was not deflected.
Although agreeing in many characters with the Ducks and the Geese, the
Screamers have one peculiarity which separates them from all chenomorphine
birds, in that they have no uncinate processes to the ribs,
The Screamers. and no laminae on. the sides of the bill. The toes are long
Sub-order and almost devoid of web, and the general appearance of
Palamedea. the birds is gallinaceous. Two genera are known,
Palamedea and Chauna. The genus Palamedea is recog-
nised by the long horn which it carries on its forehead. Beyond this it has
no crest on the head, and has fourteen tail-feathers. Only one species.
P. cornnta, is known, and this is an
inhabitant of Guiana, Amazonia, Vene-
zuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. The general
plumage is black, with a white belly,
and the wing carries two spurs, the
anterior one of which is much the
longer. Very little has been recorded
of the habits of the Horned Screamer,
but Mr. Edward Bartlett noticed the
species about the lakes in the Upper
Amazons, and the habits are probably
very similar to those of the next species.
The genus Chauna differs from Pala-
medea in having a crested head, naked
lores, no horn on the forehead, and in
possessing twelve tail-feathers instead of fourteen. Two
The Crested species of Chauna are known the Crested Screamer
Screamer (C. cristata) and the Derbian Screamer (C. chavaria).
(Chauna cristate). The latter is found in Venezuela and Colombia, while
the Crested Screamer inhabits Argentina and the neigh-
bouring provinces of Southern Brazil. In Mr. Hudson's well-known work
on Argentine ornithology we find the following notes on the species :
"The Crested Screamer, like most of the larger Birds and Mammals in
every part of the globe to which European emigration is attracted, is
probably doomed to rapid extermination. My observations of the bird in
that portion of the Pampas where it is most abundant date back some years,
to a time when the inhabitants were few and mainly of Spanish race never
the destroyers of bird-life. The conditions had become extremely favourable
to this species. It is partially aquatic in its habits, and in desert places is
usually found in marshes, wading in the shallow water, and occasionally
swimming to feed on the seeds and succulent leaves of water-loving plants.
After the old giant grasses of the Pampas had been eaten up by the cattle,
and the sweet grasses of Europe had taken their place, the Screamers took
kindly to that new food, preferring the clovers, and seemed as terrestrial in
Fig. 49. TUB HORNKB SCREAMER
(Palamedea co/nuta).
SCREAMERS. 291
their feeding habits as Upland Geese. Their food was abundant, and they
were never persecuted: by the natives. Their flesh is very dark, coarse-
grained, but good to eat, with a flavour resembling that of the Wild Duck ;
and there is a great deal of meat on a bird with a body larger than that of a
Swan. Yet no person ever thought of killing or eating the Chaja, and the birds
were permitted to increase to a marvellous extent. It was a common thing
a few years ago in the dry season to see them congregated in thousands, and
so little afraid of man were they, that I have often ridden through large
scattered flocks without making the birds take wing. A curious thing about
the Screamer is that it pairs for life, and yet is one of the most social of birds.
But if a large flock is closely looked at, the birds are invariably seen
methodically ranged in pairs. Another curious thing is that, notwithstanding
the formidable weapons they possess each wing armed with two large spurs
they are extremely pacific in temper. I have never been able to detect
even the slightest approach to a quarrel among them ; yet it is hard to
believe that they do not fight sometimes, since weapons of offence are
usually found correlated with the disposition to use them. Captive birds,
however, can be made to fight ; and I have known Guachos take them for the
pleasure of witnessing their battles. They are very easily tamed, and in that
state seem to show greater docility and intelligence than any of our domestic
birds, and become so attached to their home that it is quite safe to allow
them to fly about at will. They associate, but do not quarrel, with the
poultry. They are quick to distinguish strangers from the people of the
house, showing considerable suspicion of them, and sometimes raising a loud
alarm at a stranger's approach. Towards dogs and cats they are often
unfriendly ; and when breeding it is dangerous for a strange person to
approach the nest, as they will sometimes attack him with the greatest fury.
" The Screamer is a very heavy bird, and rises from the ground laboriously,
the wings, as in the case of the Swan, making a loud noise. Nevertheless,
it loves soaring, and will rise in an immense spiral circle until it wholly
disappears from sight in the zenith, even in the brightest weather ; and
considering its great bulk and dark colour, the height it ultimately attains
must be very great. On sunny windless days, especially in winter and
spring, they often spend hours at a time in these sublime aerial exercises,
slowly floating round and round in vast circles, and singing at intervals.
How so heavy and comparatively short-winged a bird can sustain itself for
such long periods in the thin upper air to which it rises has not yet been
explained. The voice is very powerful. When disturbed, or when the nest
is approached, both birds utter at intervals a loud alarm-cry, resembling in
sound the anger-cry of the Peacock, but twice as loud. At other times its
voice is exercised in a kind of singing performance, in which male and female
join, and which produces the effect of harmony. The male begins, the
female takes up her part, and then with marvellous strength and spirit they
pour forth a torrent of strangely-contrasted sounds some bassoon-like in
their depth and volume, some like drum-beats, and others long, clear, and
ringing. It is the loudest animal sound of the Pampas, and its jubilant
martial character strongly affects the mind in that silent, melancholy
wilderness. The Screamer sings all the year round at all hours, both on the
ground and when soaring; when in pairs, the two birds invariably sing
together, and when in flocks they sing in concert. At night they are heard
about nine o'clock in the evening, and again just before dawn. It is not
unusual, however, to hear them singing at other hours. The nest is a large
292 A VES ORDER ANSERIFORMES.
fabric placed among the low rushes and water-lilies, and is sometimes seen
floating on the water, away from its moorings. The eggs are five, pointed at
one end, pure white, and in size like the eggs of the domestic Goose. The
young are clothed in yellow down like Goslings, and follow the parents about
from the date of hatching."
Mr. Lydekker, when in Argentina, found the Screamer nesting on a
lagoon, and saw the parent birds swimming about amongst the Ducks.
On his approach they fled to the banks, but soon returned to the water.
They had evidently young birds on the lagoon. This aquatic feature in the
Screamers is of the highest interest, as confirming the anserine affinities
which their anatomy demonstrates.
These well-known birds are easily recognised by their external characters,
their semi-flattened bills, shortish legs, and fully-webbed
The Geese and feet distinguishing them from the Screamers and
Ducks. Sub- Flamingoes, while, like the latter birds, they have
order Anseres. uncinated processes to the ribs. Count Salvador!, who
has recently monographed the sub-order Anseres in the
" Catalogue" of the Birds in the British Museum, divides it into no less than
eleven sub-families belonging to the single family Anatidce. To these we
can only refer in passing.
The Swans a.re such well-known birds that very little description of them
is necessary. Among the Duck tribe they are easily recognisable by their
abnormally developed neck, which equals, or even exceeds,
The Swans. the body of the bird in length. There is no lobe to the
Sub-family hind toe, a feature which allies the Swans to the Geese,
Cygnince. b u t separates them from the majority of the Ducks.
There are three genera of Swans, viz., Cygnus, containing
the Swans with which we are most familiar ; Chenopis, the Black Swan of
Australia, with ornamental scapulars a"nd inner secondaries ; and Coscoroba,
the Chilian Swan, which has feathered lobes, and is as much a Goose in
appearance as it is a Swan in reality.
The Mute Swan is the familiar species which swims about on our rivers
and lakes. In most parts of the British Islands the Swan may be regarded
as a semi domesticated bird,
but in many places on the
Continent it is an absolutely
wild species. It is to this
Swan that the Polish Swan
(Cygnus immutabilis), with its
white cygnets, must be re-
ferred, as Count Salvador!,
and all the best of recent
observers, consider ifc to be
only a domestic variety of
the Mute Swan. Othor well-
known species of Cygnus are
the Whooper (C. musicus)
Fig. 50.-THK MUTB SWAN (Cygnus olor). and Bewick's Swan (C.
bewicki), the latter bird
nesting in Arctic Europe, where it makes a large nest composed entirely of
moss. It visits us in some numbers during the winter months. These
British species of Swans are distinguished by the size and the colour of their
SWANS-SPUR-WINGED GEESE. 293
bills. Australia has one species, the Black Swan (Chenopis atrata), and
finally we have the Coscoroba Swan (Coscoroba Candida) which is found from
Chili and Patagonia to Argentina and Uruguay. Of this species Mr. W. H.
Hudson writes : "In their habits, language, and flight they differ much from
the Black-necked Swan, and the country people call them Ganso (Goose),
probably on account of their Goose-like habit of sometimes feeding away
from the water, or because their flesh has the flavour of Wild Goose. As a
rule, they go in small parties of five or six individuals, but sometimes flocks
numbering two or three hundred are seen in the cold season. Their
migrations are very irregular, and sometimes they are exceedingly abundant
in a certain district one year and absent from it the next. When disturbed
they utter a loud, musical, trumpeting cry in three notes, the last with a
falling inflection ; and, their wings being much longer proportionately than
in the black-necked species, they rise with greater ease, and have a much
freer and an almost soundless flight."
The Semipalmated Goose (Anseranas semipalmata) is the sole representative
of a distinct sub-family Anseranatinw, with the toes only half- webbed, and
the hind toe very long, and on a level with the other toes. It is an inhabitant
of Australia and Tasmania, and is still plentiful in some districts, though it
has disappeared from many places where it once was numerous. Gould says
that, in Northern Australia "it occurs in such countless multitudes that it
forms one of the chief articles of food of the aborigines, and was of the
utmost value to Leichardt and his party during their adventurous
journey from Moreton Bay to Port Essington, as shown in numerous parts
of his interesting account of the expedition. So dense are the flocks that
occur in the northern parts of the country, that the natives are able to
procure numbers of them by spearing," and, says Leichardt, "it seemed
that they only spear them when flying, and always crouch down when they
see a flight of them approaching ; the Geese, however, know their enemies so
well that they immediately turn when they see a native rise and put his spear
into his throwing-stick ; some of my companions-asserted that they had seen
them hit their object at the almost incredible distance of 200 yds." an
assertion which Gould says he could readily believe, from what he has
himself witnessed. This Goose has a very remarkable trachea, nearly 5 in.
in length, and mostly lying outside the pectoral muscle under the skin.
The next sub-family of the Geese consists of the Spur- winged Geese (sub-
family Plectropterince), and several allied forms. They have fully webbed
feet, a very long hind toe, and long tail-feathers. The true Spur-winged
Geese (Plectropterus) have the lores naked and caruncles on the forehead and
base of the bill, while on the wing they carry a formidable spur, from which
feature they derive their popular name. There are four species of Spur-
winged Geese, all confined to Africa, admitted by Count Salvadori, the best
authority on the Anseres, but even he is obliged to allow that there may
really exist but a single species after all.
Only one other genus with bare lores and caruncles on the face is known,
and this is the genus Cairina, with the single species G. moschata, the
Muscovy Duck of Tropical America. Another prominent form of the
Plectropterince is the Knobbed Goose (Sarcidiornis), of which there are two
species, S. melanonota of. India and Africa, and $. carunculata of Southern
Brazil and Argentina.
We remember seeing the "Comb Duck," as Indian naturalists call the
Indian Sarcidiornis, on one occasion during our journey through the
294 A VES ORDER ANSERIFORMES.
North-West Provinces, and that was at Futtehpur Sikri, near Agra, where a
male was perched on the lofty entrance gateway. The testimony of Mr.. A.
O. Hume and other Indian naturalists is to the effect that the "Co-mb
Duck " breeds principally in trees, and the la*te Mr. A. Anderson states that
the eggs are generally to be found in holes of old desiduous trees, but he has
also found the birds frequenting old ruined forts. He says: "I was
present at the capture of a female Nukta on her nest, which yielded the
extraordinary number of forty eggs. Of course it is just possible,
though highly improbable, that this may have been the joint produce of two
birds ; but the emaciated condition of the one captured, coupled with the
fact that one egg was an abnormally small one, and evidently her last effort,
does not favour the supposition. The tree selected was an ancient banyan
(Ficus indicus), which overlooked a large sheet of water several miles round.
The nest-hole was at an elevation of some 20 ft., 3 ft. deep and 2 in
circumference." One of the genera of the Plectropterince is a very interesting
form, viz., the Pink-headed Duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea). The appear-
ance of a delicate pink head in such a family as the Anatidce. is one of the
most curious phenomena in the whole class of birds. Its range is confined to
Behar and Bengal, to the north of the Ganges and west of the Brahmapootra,
whence it ranges north to Nepal, east to Burma, and south to Madras.
Some of the most interesting of the present sub-family are the Dwarf
Geese (Nettopus) or "Cotton-Teal," as they are generally called. They are
little Geese of about the size of a Bantam fowl, only found in the tropics of
the Old World, in Africa, India, and China, and thence south to Australia.
The Indian species, N. coromandelianus, nests generally in holes of trees, but
sometimes it is said to make "a semi-floating nest on the water, among the
rushes or lotus-leaves, of weeds, grass, etc , all together, filled up several
inches above the water-line." The late Mr. A. Anderson observes : "I once
had the opportunity of watching a pair in the act of selecting their habitation.
They invariably flew into the tree together ; and while the female used to
enter the hole, to reconnoitre as it were, the male sat on a bough watching
for her exit. No sooner did she make her appearance than they both flew
away together, giving utterance to a peculiar cackling sound, which has been
pronounced to be like the words 'Fix bayonets.' Their visits used to be
repeated at intervals of every fifteen or twenty minutes. The Drake never
went into the hole ; and I am therefore inclined to believe that he does not
lend his aid in the performance of the duties of incubation." One nest
taken by Mr. iSpry at Bredaon in August contained twelve eggs. It was
in a hole at no great height, but it was 3^ ft. deep, and only large enough to
admit of ingress and egress ; the contents had to be removed by means of an
iron spoon, something like a soup-ladle with an extra long handle.
The Summer Duck (^Ex sponsa) of North America, and the beautiful
Mandarin Duck (j*Ex galericulata) of China compose the g^enus JEx, which is
the last of the Plectropterince.
The genus Cereopsis is the sole representative of this sub-family, and is
distinguished by its shorter hind toe and shorter tail-feathers. The bill is
high at the base, and there is no metallic wing-speculum.
The C^eopsis The chief peculiarity of the Cereopsis Goose is the posses-
Geese. Sub- sion of a cere at the base of the bill, which character
family Cereopsinee. separates it from the true Geese. It is an inhabitant of
Australia, and is often seen in captivity ; and it has been
known to breed in our Zoological Gardens. As Mr. Gould says, however, it
GEESE. 295
is by no means a desirable addition to the farmyard, for it is so pugnacious
that it not only drives all other birds before it, but readily attacks pigs, dogs,
or any other animal that may approach it, and often inflicts severe wounds
with its hard and sharp bill.
Remains of an extinct Goose (Cnemiornis calcitrans) have been discovered
in New Zealand, and Count Salvadori has placed it in the vicinity of Cereopsis.
It was a larger bird than the latter, and was apparently flightless, as there is
no keel to the sternum.
The characters of this sub-family are almost exactly the same as those
given for the sub-family Cereopsince, excepting that there is no cere.
There are at least six well-marked genera, of which the
most beautiful are perhaps the Snow- Geese (Chen), though The True Geese.
some of the Brent Geese are also handsome birds. The Sub-family '
true Geese (Anser) are found in all the northern parts of Anserine.
the Old and New Worlds, breeding in the high north, and
migrating south in winter, often in vast numbers. The Grey Geese (Anser)
are nearly all of them British, the best-known being the Grey Lag-Goose
(A. anser\ the White-fronted Goose (A, albifrons), the Bean Goose (A.
f'tbalis), and the Pink-footed Goose (A. brachyrhynchus). All the true Gsese
have the serrations or saw-like edges of the upper mandible visible from the
outside, and the cutting edge of the mandible is sinuated, whereas in the
Brent Geese (Branta) the cutting edge is straight, and the serrations are not
visible from the outside.
These are, like the True Geese, also birds of the Arctic portions of the
Old and New Worlds, where they breed in large numbers ; and, as they
moult their quills before com-
ing south, they are trapped The Brent Geese.
by the natives in numbers. Qwcaaranfa.
Mr. Trevor- Battye describes
the capture of more than three thousand Brent
Geese on the island of Kolguev, the birds being
driven by the Samoyeds in boats towards the
shore, where a large circle of net is prepared for
them, and the birds are thus trapped and killed.
One of the handsomest of the Geese, and,
indeed, of all water-fowl, is the Red-breasted
Goose (Branta ruficollis), which breeds in Siberia,
winters in great numbers on the Caspian Sea,
and has occasionally come over to England. It
is remarkable for having been drawn on their
monuments by the ancient Egyptians, and even
Fig 51.-THERED-BREASTED Goes* at the present epoch it seems to be met with
(Branta ruficollis). sometimes in Egypt.
Count Salvadori's next sub-family is the
Chenonettince, containing the Magellanic Geese and their allies, the Blue-
winged Geese (Cyanochen) and the Maned Goose (Chenonetta).
In this group of Geese the hind toe is narrowly lobed
and the bill is rather short and Goose-like, as opposed to The Upland Geese,
the somewhat flat and broad bill of the Ducks which form Sub-family
the next , sub-family ^ina^mce. The Upland Geese (Cloephaga) Chenonettincs.
are all inhabitants of South America, where they range
from Peru, Bolivia, and Southern Brazil to Chili, Patagonia, and the Falkland
296 A VES-ORDER ANSERIFORMES.
Islands. Mr. Hudson describes C. inornata, the Barred Upland Goose, as
migrating northwards along the eastern coast of Argentina in April and May.
* Their great camping-grounds," he writes, "are the valleys of the rivers
Negro and Colorado, where they are often so numerous as to denude the low-
grounds of the tender winter clovers and grasses, and to cause serious loss
to the sheep-breeders. They also visit the cultivated fields to devour the
young wheat, and are intelligent enough to distinguish between a real human
enemy and the ragged men of straw, miscalled scarecrows, set up by the
farmers to frighten them. While committing their depredations they are
exceedingly wary and difficult to shoot ; but at night, when they congregate
by the waterside, they give the sportsman a better chance. They are social
birds, always going in large fiocks, and are very loquacious, the female
having a deep, hanking note, while the male responds with a clear whistling,
like that of the Sanderling etherialised."
No less than nineteen genera are admitted by Count Salvador! as belonging
to this sub-family. Among them are the Tree-Ducks (Dendrocygna), the
Sheld-ducks (Tadorna and Casarca), the Wild Ducks
The True Ducks. (Anas), the Wigeons (Mareca), the Teal (Nettion and
Sub-family Querquedida), the Pin-tails (Dafila) and the Shovelers
Anatina. (Spatula), besides many less-known forms of Duck.
The ways of the Ducks are all very similar, and there is
not much to say in detail about their habits, beyond the fact that some are
frequenters of inland waters, while others are more maritime in their
haunts.
The Sheld-ducks are very handsome birds, of varied plumage, and with a
metallic patch or speculum in the wings. This is a character which is found
in most of the Ducks, and many species are determined by the colour of the
wing-speculum. Another curious feature of the Ducks is that, after the
young are hatched, the males put off their bright plumage and assume a
dull-coloured brown dress like that of the hen birds. This plumage is very
difficult to determine, as the male birds during the moult are practically
helpless, and have no quills to fly with, so that they retire into privacy, and
very few specimens are procured at this stage of a Duck's existence. I am
unable to say from direct observation whether this hen-like summer plumage,
which only lasts a few weeks, is assumed
by all Ducks ; but I have reason to sus-
pect that there are few species which do
not possess such a stage.
The beautiful Sheld-duck is a bur-
rower, sometimes having its nest as far
as 5 ft. from the mouth of the hole,
while it has been known to penetrate
as far as 12 ft. into the earth. These
holes are often burrowed by the birds
themselves, but quite as frequently a
rabbit-burrow is made use of. The
Fig. 52. THK COMMON SHELD-DUCK Sheld-duck often builds upon cliffs at
(Tadorna tadorna). suc h a height that it is evident the
parent bird must carry the young ones
down to the water, as must be the case also with the Common Mallard
when it builds its nest in a tree, as it often does.
Of these Ducks there are four sub - families, all with the hind toe
SCO TERSDI VING-D UCKS.
297
broadly lobed. The Scoters (Fuligulince) have the bill more or less
depressed and the tail-feathers not stiffened. A large number of genera
is represented in this sub-family, which includes such
forms as the Pochards (Nyroca), the Scaups (Fidiqula), ,_, _. .
the Steamer Ducks (Tachyeres), the Golden -Eyes The Diving Ducks,
(Clangula), the Long-tailed Ducks (Harelda), the Harle-
quins (Cosmonetta), the Scoters (CfcWemia), and the Eiders (Somateria),
and their allies. They are mostly sea-ducks, and some of them, like the
Harlequin Duck and Steller's Eider (Heniconetta stelleri) are very handsome
birds. The stiff-tailed Diving Ducks (sub-family Erismaturince) differ from
the Fuligulince in their narrow tail-feathers, which are much stiffened. Only
four genera are admitted, Thalassiornis, Nomonyx, Erismatura, and
Biziura. The latter is a curious Australian form, with a pendant lobe on
the chin, and twenty-four tail-feathers.
In these birds the tail is long and stiffened, and the general look of the
birds is very much like that of the Mergansers, but they
have no serrations on the edges of the mandibles. They The Torrent-
are found only in the Andes from Ecuador to Chili, fre- Ducks-Sub-family
quenting the torrents of the high mountains, and being Merganettina.
very difficult of observation.
la this last sub-family we find only the Smew (Mergus 'albellus) and the
Mergansers (Lophodytes and Merganser). In the latter birds the tooth-like
serrations are very different from those of any other of
the Ducks, being strongly inclined backwards at the tips. The Mergansers.
These are not, however, real teeth, though they have the Sub-family
appearance of so being, but are merely serrations along Mergina.
the edge of the mandible, so that in the skeleton there is
no appearance of any indentation on the bone of the bill. Thus they are
very different birds from the
extinct Hesperornis, which had
real teeth, though they are inter-
esting as being the nearest ap-
proach which we can show at the
present day to the toothed birds
of ancient times.
Seven species of the genus
Merganser are known, and they
are found in the Pakearctic and
Nearctic regions, but are absent
in the Ethiopian and the greater
part of the Indian Region. One
species is isolated in the Auckland
Islands, viz , M. australis, and
another in South -Eastern Brazil,
M. brasiliamis. The Red-breasted
Fig. 53. THE RED BREASTED MKRGAKSER
(Merganser serrator).
Merganser is smaller than the Goosander (M. merganser) , and nests in Scotland
and Ireland. Like the other Mergansers it is an expert diver, and it feeds
principally on fish. On this account they are somewhat persecuted.
These birds, often called the Steganopodes, have the hind toe or hallux
united to the second toe by a web, so that all four toes are webbed. All
the Pelecanoid birds have the palate bridged or "desmognathous," and there
are no basipterygoid processes in the palate. There are five sub-orders, viz.,
298
A VES - ORDER PELECANIFORMES.
Fig. 54. THE YELLOW-BILLED
TROPIC-BIRD (Phaeton flavirostris).
the Tropic-Birds (Phaethontes), the Gannets (Sulce), the Cormorants and
Darters (Phalacrocoraces), the Pelecans (Pelecani), and the Frigate-Birds
(Fregati}. As their name implies, the Tropic-Birds are
The Pelicans and inhabitants of the tropics. They are often an interest-
their Allies. ing feature of a sea-voyage,
Order as they fly, high in the air,
Pelecaniformes. round and round the steamer,
with a beating flight, as if
everything depended on the haste they made.
The osteological and anatomical characters which
distinguish them from the other Pelican-like
birds are many, but their external form suffici-
ently distinguishes them, their lengthened tail
being especially remarkable. The bill is nearly
straight, and not hooked as in the allied forms,
neither is there any perceptible pouch. One of
the best accounts of the habits of the Tropic-
Birds is that given by Mr. W. E. D. Scott on P.
flavirostris, as observed by him in Jamaica.
He writes: "Of fifteen specimens procured
on the 27th of February five were shot,
eight were taken in a cave which opened by
a small mouth from the cliff, and two were
secured in holes in the cliff. The cave where the birds were found had
a very small entrance, about large enough for a man to crawl into, in the
face of the cliff. This was approachable only in the calmest weather, in
a boat. The entrance led at once into a spacious chamber of irregular shape.
Going directly back from the mouth the cavern was some 60 ft. deep.
It was at its widest point some 70 or 80 ft., and oval in shape as a
whole. The bottom was covered with coarse sand and gravel, and boulders
of varying size, evidently having fallen from above, were scattered thickly
over this floor, except at the extreme back of the cavern furthest from the
sea. The height of the roof or ceiling, which was of an uneven, rough
surface, was about 25 ft., and many bats were hanging wherever the
projections or inequalities afforded them opportunity. Toward the back
of this chamber five birds were secured, each one sitting on a single egg.
The place chosen for the nesting site for this is all it can be termed was in
all these cases where two boulders on the gravelly floor lay close together,
just leaving room on the ground for the birds to crawl between them. Two
birds were obtained in like situations that had not laid, and may have been
simply resting. The females were, in every case, the birds that were sitting
on the eggs, and it was quite evident, upon dissection, that the single egg
forms the complement in these cases. The birds taken from the holes in the
cliff, and also those taken in this cave, were very tame, and were captured
readily without attempting to escape. Later on the same day a bird was
found, with a single egg laid at the bottom of one of the holes in the face of
the cliff.
' * In breeding the birds seem eminently gregarious, and the colonies at
different points often reach an aggregate of at least fifty pairs. At sea, far
out of sight of land, the birds are much more solitary in their habits, single
birds being frequently met with, and it has been rare in my experience to
meet with more than four individuals together in such locations."
GANNETS-CORMORANTS. 299
The Gannets are distributed over the seas of the greater part of the world,
and are easily recognisable both from their internal and external characters.
Like the Tropic-Birds, they have a nearly
straight bill without any hook in it, and there
is a small and scarcely perceptible pouch,
though much of the face and throat is bare.
During the breeding season the Gannets
leave their fishing grounds to a great extent,
and our own species resorts to certain rocky
places on our coast, of which Ailsa Craig and
the Bass Rock are the best
known, and there builds a The Gannets.
rough nest of sticks and Sub-order Sulce.
seaweed, and lays a single
chalky- white egg. This chalky egg is a
peculiarity of nearly every member of the
Pelican-like birds, and in the Gannets and
Cormorants it is a distinct feature. On
scrubbing the egg, however, with a brush, the
Fig. 55. THM COMMON GANNET chalky surface can be removed, and the egg
(Dysporus bassanus). appears of a delicate blue, like that of a
Heron. The flight of a Gannet is very fine,
and the birds are capable of covering great distances in a very short space
of time, while it is certain that during the nesting season the parent birds
have to go far afield to their fishing grounds to procure food for the young.
Only one egg is laid, and the young birds are at first naked, and of a slaty-
black colour. They then become covered with a thick coating of white down,
and afterwards attain their first full plumage, which is greyish-brown with
white spots, but it is believed that five moults are required before the birds
attain their full white plumage.
Although agreeing in osteological characters with the preceding groups,
the Cormorants and Darters have certain evident peculi-
arities which separate them from the Gannets and Tropic- The Cormorants.
Birds. The bill is more raptorial, and is furnished with Sub-order
a hook at the end, and the tail-feathers are more stiffened Phalacrocoraces.
than in these birds. This is especially the case with the
Darters. There is, however, no perceptible pouch externally.
In the British Islands we have two representatives of the sub-order, the
Common Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) and the Shag (P. graculus). The
former is the larger bird of the two, and has fourteen tail-feathers ; while
the Shag is smaller and greener, and has only twelve tail-feathers. In this
way the young birds of the two species, which are brown, can always be
distinguished. Cormorants are found nearly everywhere on the face of the
globe, and are particularly numerous in New Zealand and the adjacent
islands.
Cormorants are great fish- eaters, and they are consequently excellent
swimmers and divers. They often nest on trees in inland places, but as
a rule their nest is placed on the rocks adjoining the sea. The young are
hatched perfectly naked, and are ugly little black morsels, like the nestlings
of the Gannet ; but they are afterwards covered with dense down of a sooty-
brown colour, and their first full plumage is brown, with a white under-
surface. In the breeding plumage the old birds generally don a crest, and
300 A VES ORDER PELECANIFORMES.
our Common Cormorant has white filamentous plumes distributed over the
head and neck, as well as an ornamental white patch just above the thighs.
The way in which Cormorants and Shags feed
their young is very curious, and is well described
by Sir Walter Buller. Writing of the Pied Shag
of New Zealand (P. varius), he says :
" We found the Shags in great force, and it
was most interesting to watch the operations of
both old and young birds. There were 80 or
100 nests, many of which were vacant owing to
the lateness of our visit, the breeding having
commenced in October. The nests are large,
round structures, composed, as already men-
tioned, of dry sticks aud twigs and other loose
materials, bound together by means of a peculiar
kind of Kelp, for which the Shags may be
observed diving in the sea, sometimes in four
fathoms of water. They have a somewhat com-
.- P^ appearance, and are usually placed in a
(Phalacrocorax carbu). thick fork among the branches or between
two limbs of a tree lying close together. In
each of those still tenanted there were two fully-fledged young birds, and
these youthful Shags kept up a constant * squirling ' noise, accompanied by a
perpetual swaying of the head from side to side in an impatient sort of way.
The old bird comes up from the sea with her gullet full of small fish, and
takes up her station on a branch adjoining to or overlooking the nest. The
young birds, after craning their necks almost to dislocation, quit their nest
and mount up alongside the parent, when the peculiar feeding operation
commences. The mother bends down her head in a loving way, opens wide
her mandibles, and the young Shag, with an impatient guttural note, thrusts
his head right down the parental throat and draws forth from the pouch,
after much fumbling about, the first instalment of his dinner. No sooner
has he swallowed this than he begins to coax for more, caressing the mother's
throat and neck with his bill in a very amusing fashion. The old bird waits
till she has recovered the discomfort of the last feed, then opens her mouth
again, and the action is repeated, first by one young Shag^ then by the other.
When the pouch is emptied, the mother spreads her ample wings and goes
off for a fresh supply of auas, whilst her offspring shuffle themselves back
again into their nests to await her return. But this feeding process and the
squirling cries which hera.ld it are going on at the same time all over the
camp, and as a consequence there is a perfect din of voices. In the midst
of these may be heard deep guttural cries; but these are probably the
occasional scoldings of the old birds to repress the inconsiderate eagerness of
their young ones, for during the operation of feeding there is a good deal
of apparent squabbling among the young fraternity for the first attention,
accompanied by a vigorous fluttering and flapping of the wings. In one of
the nests, where the young birds were not sufficiently advanced to leave it,
I observed that the occupants, during the intervals when their parents were
absent, kept up an incessant flapping of their wings and swaying of their
long necks, first to one side, then to the other, with a never-ceasing cry as if
in great bodily distress. "
Although at first sight bearing considerable resemblance to the Cormorants,
DAR TERS PELICANS.
301
the Darters present many striking differences. They are often called
" Snake-Birds," as they are able to submerge their bodies
and swim along with only their snake-like heads and The Darters.
necks protruding above the water. Cormorants, it may Family Plotidce,
be remarked, are said to be able to do the same. Then
the Darters have a "kink" in the neck, which the Cormorants have not;
and this " kink " is arranged in a sort of set spring-like manner, so that when
the bird spears a fish, its neck goes off with a jerk, and the fish is transfixed
by its bill in a second. We were much interested in
watching a Darter and a Cormorant in the "Fish-
House " at the Zoological Gardens, and it was
curious to see the way in which these -two birds
differed in their mode of catching fish. The Darter,
when let out of his cage, plunged into the water and
swam about for a little time, then he sank his body
below the surface, keeping his head and neck above
it, but, perceiving some fish swimming at the bottom
of the tank, it simply sank below the water and then
went for them with a few rapid strokes. No fish
had a chance. The Darter simply let the spring on
his neck go, and unerringly speared his victim as
with a lance. It was curious to notice that, whereas
the Cormorant often swallowed his fish under water,
the Darter invariably brought them to the surface,
shook them off his bill, and then swallowed them.
The Darters are tropical birds, being found in
America, Africa, India, and Australia, and one
species penetrates the Palsearctic region; for the
African Darter (Plotus levaillanti} breeds on the Lake of Antioch, where
Canon Tristram found the nests. The bird, he says, merely seems to tread
down a tuft of coarse grass or rushes, or press down the centre of a little
bush. A curious habit of the Darter, and likewise of the Cormorants, is to
sit motionless in the sun with extended wings, as if the bird were "hang-
ing itself out to dry." A captured Heron or Bittern is an awkward
customer to carry home, if not dead, for the bird will reserve all its
strength for a final effort to lance its bill at the eye of its captor, as I once
had occasion to experience when carrying home a young Heron, which did
its best to make a deadly thrust at my face. So with the Darter and its
formidable bill, for Mr. Thomas Ayrea writes that a wounded African Darter
(P. levaillanti) made a sudden dart at his eye, and it was only by the merest
instinct of self-preservation that he put up his hand to receive the thrust.
The upper mandible pierced with great force the bone of his thumb, and the
bill, being serrated, stuck among the muscles, and he had a hard job to pull
it out.
It is not necessary to enumerate the characters, osteological and other-
wise, which distinguish Pelicans, because their external appearance is so
peculiar that they are easily recognisable birds. The
bulky body, the long bill, hooked at the end and hav- The Pelicans.
ing a-n enormous gular pouch, are sufficient external Sub-orderflefewwi.
characters to distinguish the Pelicans, so that we need
not waste many words on them. In ancient times they were even more
widely distributed, and lived in England, like the Flamingoes to which we
Fig. 57. THE DARTER
(Plotus anhinga).
302
AVES -ORDER PELECANIFORMES.
Fig. 58. THK ROSEATE PELICAN
(PeUcanm onocrotalus).
have alluded above (p. 288). They are birds which are found in the temperate
and tropical portions of both hemispheres, and in America the Knob- billed
Pelican (P. erythrorhynchus) has a remarkable bony excrescence on the
upper mandible, which is put on during the breeding season, and afterwards
falls off. Nearly every species assumes a
patch of yellow or brown colour on the
chest during the nesting season, at which
time, too, a crest is generally donned.
On the habits of the Roseate Pelican in
the delta of the Danube the following note
has been published by Messrs. Slntenis :
"The islands where they breed are
more or less composed of reed-fragments,
often without any fresh vegetation, often
also bordered by green rushes and other
high plants. The aspect of the large white
eggs shining through the green aft round
is very charming when seen from the
middle of the lake ; but when closely
inspected, the places look very dirty and
slovenly. The smell was bearable, the
process of fermentation and putrefaction
being generally over a sign that the birds
had not laid since the 7th instant. Gener-
ally there were two eggs in a nest ; but
there were also plenty of single ones.
Nearly half as many eggs as were lying on the islands were floating on the
surrounding water. The latter keeps sending up air-bubbles, by which it is
kept in constant commotion, no doubt caused by the substances putrefying
at the bottom. The eggs were in all stages of hatching ; but in most of
them the young birds were fully developed, so that we had a trouble to find
a number which could yet be blown. The eggs which our chasseur had taken
on the 7th were, on the average, far less advanced ; and it does not seem to
us at all improbable that the heat of the sun may have had some influence
upon the abandoned eggs, at least to a certain extent."
Of the breeding of the spotted-billed Pelican in Burma (P. manillensis), Mr.
Eugene Oates gives a very interesting account : "The whole forest consisted
of very large trees, but a portion about one in twenty was made up of
wood-oil trees, gigantic fellows 150 ft. high and more, and with a smooth,
branchless trunk of 80 to 100 ft. These are the trees selected by the
Pelicans. I was out one day till 3 P.M., continually moving, and must have
walked at least twenty miles in various directions, but never from first to
last was I out of sight of either a Pelican's or Adjutant's nest. From what
I saw, and from what the Burmans told me, I compute the breeding- place
of these birds to extend over an area about twenty miles long and five
broad.
" With regard to the Pelicans, I noticed that no tree contained Ies3 than
three nests, and seldom more than fifteen. Some birds select the upper
branches, placing their nests on the nearly horizontal branches of the tree,
not far from the trunk. In all cases the nests on one branch touch each
other, and when these nests are on a horizontal branch they looked like an
enormous string of beads.
FRIG A TE- BIRDS. 303
"Judging from the size of the bird, 1 should say the nest is about
2 ft. in diameter, and, -when in a fork, to be 18 in. deep. Others on flat
branches are shallower. They are composed entirely of twiga and small
branches, and I could detect no lining in those nests which were thrown
down to me.
"The eggs are invariably three in number, and on the llth November all
I took were either fresh or only slightly incubated. The female bird sits
very closely, and frequently I found that the bird would not fly off her eggs
till I fired a gun. It was a most ludicrous sight to see the sitting birds
stretch neck and head out of the nest to have a look at us, as often happened.
"Notwithstanding the millions of birds which breed in this forest, a most
wonderful silence prevails. The Pelican seems to be perfectly mute, and the
Adjutants only bellow at intervals. The only sound which is consequently
heard and after a time even this sound passes unnoticed is a sort of ^^Eolian
harp caused by the movement of the wings of innumerable birds high in air."
In certain particulars the Frigate-Birds, of which there are only two,
are closely allied to the Pelicans. Like the latter birds, they have the
clavicle anchylosed to the sternum, and other osteological
characters in common, while they also have a large gular The Frigate-
pouch. Besides this, they are remarkable for their Birds. Sub-order
hooked and almost raptorial bill, and their habits Fregati.
partake of those of the Birds of Prey to a great extent.
The flight of the Frigate-Birds is wonderful, and can be sustained for an
extraordinary length of time ; while the birds have a complete arrangement
of air-cells beneath the skin which they are able to inflate at will. Mr.
Palmer, who collected birds for the Hon. Walter Rothschild in Laysan and
the adjacent islets, has given
some interesting notes on the
habits of the Frigate-Birds. In
his diary of 20th June he writes :
"While walking in Laysan I
turned some of the Frigate-Birds
which had young off their nests.
Scarcely had I pushed one off
when another Frigate-Bird would
rush up, seize the young one, fly
off, and eat it. Sometimes the
parent bird would give chase, Fig. 59. THE GREAT FRIGATE-BIRDS (Fregata aquila).
but it always ended in one or the
other eating the young bird. I could scarcely believe my own eyes, so I
tried several ; but they would even take young birds out of the nest which
were almost fully feathered." Again from Liasinsky Island he writes:
"The Frigate-Birds have their nests on the scrub round the lake. It is
very interesting to watch them getting their food. In the daytime they soar
about all over the island, and every now and then one of them picks up a
young Tern. Then a number of others chase him, and keep taking the prey
one from the other till at last it is eaten or drops to the ground. But they
generally make for the sea with their prey, as it is easier for them to pick up
on the sea than on land. When soaring they hardly seem to move a
wing, and sometimes I have seen them cleaning and picking their feathers
as they floated along in the air. In the evening, just before sunset, they
hover close round the island, waiting for the Petrels and other birds to come
304 AVES ORDER CATHARTIDIFORMES.
home with food, when they give chase, and do not leave the unfortunate
bird until it has disgorged some, if not all, of its food. I have seen a Petrel
when thus chased drop on the water from sheer exhaustion ; but even then
the Frigate-Bird would not leave it till it had disgorged."
These very aberrant kinds of Birds of Prey are strictly American, being
represented in both North and South America by the Turkey Vultures, and
in. the Andes by the Condors. They differ so much from
The Turkey ordinary Accipitrine birds in their anatomy and osteology
Vultures. Order that they are now by common consent kept separate from
Cathartidifunnes. the latter, and some ornithologists have even gone so far
as to suggest that they are more nearly allied to the Storks,
and even to the Hornbills. Although not true Birds of Prey, I think that
there can be no doubt that they find their nearest allies in the Vultures of
the Old World, which they much resemble in their habits. They have,
however, a very peculiar nostril, the septum of which is perforated, so that it
can be seen through. The hind toe is small, but is raised above the level
of the other toes, and it is connected with the flexor perforans diyitorum
tendon.
The great Condor of the Andes is the largest and most striking of the
Turkey Vultures, but the best-known are the smaller kinds such as the
Cathartes aura of North America. In Captain Bendire's work on the Life-
histories of North American Birds, we find the following notes on the habits
of the species from Dr. \V. L. Ralph : "In Florida they are abundant and
appear to decrease but little in numbers. When not molested they become
very tame, and in many of the Southern cities and villages they can be seen
walking around the streets or roosting on the house-tops with as little
concern as domestic animals.
"Although they eat carrion, these birds prefer fresh meat, and the reason of
their eating it when decayed is that they cannot kill game themselves and
their bills are not strong enough to tear the tough skin of many animals
until it becomes soft from decomposition. I have often had Ducks and other
game, which I had hung in trees to keep from carnivorous animals, eaten by
them. When they find a dead animal they will not leave it until all but
the bones and other hard parts have been consumed, and if it be a large one,
or if it have a tough skin, they will often remain near it for days, roosting by
night in the trees near by. After they have eaten and sometimes they will
gorge themselves until the food will run off their mouths when they move
they will, if they are not too full to fly, roost in the nearest trees until their
meal is partly digested, and then commence eating again. Many times I
have seen these birds in company with the Black Vulture floating down a
stream on a dead alligator, cow, or other large animal, crowded so closely
together that they could hardly keep their balance, and followed by a number
on the wing. I have never seen them fight very much when feeding, but
they will scold and peck at one another, and sometimes two birds will get
hold of the same piece' of meat and pull against each other until it breaks, or
until the weaker one has to give it up."
In this order are included the Secretary Birds, the
The Birds of Vultures, Hawks, and Ospreys. The characters of the
p rey> Order Secretary Birds are detailed below, and their peculiarities
Jiccipitriformcs. emphasised, but the Ospreys (Pandiones) form a well-
characterised intermediate group between the Vultures
and Hawks (Accipitres), and the Owls (Striges), possessing certain features
SEC RET A R Y BIRDS BIRDS OF PRE K
305
Th e Secretary
Birds. Sub-order
Serpentarii.
which are characteristic of the latter, especially in the proportions of the
skeleton.
That these are Birds of Prey there can be little doubt, but they are
decidedly aberrant, and were separated from the rest of the Accipitres by
Professor Huxley. They have abnormally long legs, and
an equally abnormal tail, with the centre feathers much
elongated, while from behind the head rises the crest of
pointed feathers, from which the bird gets its name of
"Secretary," on account of some fancied resemblance to
a secretary, who is supposed to carry quill pens behind his ear. There are
other peculiar anatomical and osteological features which separate the
Secretary from the other Raptorial birds.
Several ornithologists, amongst them myself,
have perceived certain characteristics in the
Seriama (antea, p. 277) which suggest an affinity
with the Secretary ; and, if the Seriama is
admitted to be a kind of Crane, it is also
certain that it possesses certain Accipitrine
characters which are difficult to account for.
The external appearance of the two birds is not
unlike, and there is one very curious habit
which they possess in common, viz., the way in
which they attack their prey, by striking it with
rapid beats of their long legs, both of which are
brought down with terrific force, until the object
is beaten to a pulp. Another character which
those birds possess in common, is the fact that
both the outer and inner toe are connected by
a web, which is one of the features of the
Caracaraa, to which, in my opinion, the Secretary
is distantly related.
Serpentarius is an African genus, and the single species is therefore strictly
Ethiopian, but in ancient times the Secretary lived in Central Europe, aa
its remains, like those of the African Touracous, have been found in France.
The Secretary is a pugnacious bird, so that frequently serious fights take
place between two males for the possession of a female, and the bony knob
which they carry on the carpal joint of the wing is doubtless an offensive
weapon. When attacking a Cobra, the Secretary defends itself by holding
its wing in front of it as a shield, and strikes the snake down by vigorous
blows of its feet. On account of its usefulness in destroying venomous
snakes it is protected in all parts of Africa, and as many as three large
snakes have been tiken from the stomach of one of these birds, besides
lizards and tortoises, and a quantity of grasshoppers and other insects ;
while it will frequently kill a large snake by carrying it high in the air and
dropping it to the ground. The eggs are two, rarely three, in number, and
white.
These are the true Haptorial or Accipitrine Birds of
authors. They may be divided into two great families,
the Vultures (Vulturidce) and the Hawks (Falconidce) .
The Vultures are mostly carrion-eaters, and are found
in the tropical portions of the Old World, the so-called
"Vultures" of the New World having been already separated off aa the
Fig. 60. THE SECRETARY BIRD
(Serpentarius secretrius).
The Birds of
Prey. Sub-order
306
A VES- ORDER A CCIPITRIFORMES
Cathartidiformes (ante'a, p. 304). Although so different from their American
allies, the habits of the Old World Vultures are very similar. They have a
bare head and neck, scantily clothed with down or plumes ; but these parts
are never fully clothed with feathers as in the true Birds of Prey.
The genera of the Tulturidce are six in number, viz. , the Black Vultures
(Vultur), the Griffons (Gyps and Pseudogyps), the Eared Vultures (Otogyps),
the White-headed Vultures (Lopkogyps), and the Scavenger Vultures
(Neophron).
The Black Vulture is the only representative of the genus Vultur. It ia
found in the Mediterranean countries, whence it ranges through Central
Asia to the Himalayas, and even to China. It
is a large bird, nearly 4 ft. in length, and is
entirely black or dark brown, with a pad of
thick, velvety down on the crown and a ruff of
brown down on the neck. It is more solitary
in its habits than the Griffons ; and in Spain,
according to Colonel Irby, the species breeds in
trees, and not in colonies, laying only one egg
about the beginning of April. It acts the part
of a King Vulture towards the Griffons, and
drives the latter away from any carcase which
they may be feeding upon.
Four, or perhaps five, species of Griffons are
known, the most familiar being the Gypsfulvus
of Southern Europe. Colonel
The Griffon Irby gives an interesting
Vultures. Genus account of the species in
Gyps. Spain. It is very plentiful
near Gibraltar, and nests in
colonies, not exceeding thirty-five pairs, in
holes, or rather in caves in the perpendicular
crags or "lajas" which are found in many of
the Sierras. The eggs, according to Captain
Willoughby Verner, are white when fresh laid, but soon become stained and
often covered with mud and blood. He says: "Anyone who has seen a
party of Griffons on damp soil, churning up the ground with their feet
around a carcase, can easily understand the eggs becoming soiled." Colonel
Irby observes : "How the numbers which inhabit Audalucia get sufficient
to eat is a puzzle to me. They must be able to fast for some days, or else
travel immense distances for their food, as in the winter and spring it is
unusual to see dead animals about ; but in the hot parching months vast
quantities of cattle die of thirst and want of pasture. A bull fight is a sort
of harvest to Vultures, which flock in great numbers to revel on the carcases
of the unfortunate horses that have been so cruelly killed."
Of the Scavenger Vultures there are four species, the best-known being the
Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus). The members of this genus are
smaller than the generality of Vultures, and have a long
The Scavenger curved bill with a longitudinal nostril. The Egyptian
Vultures. Vulture is an inhabitant of the Mediterranean countries
Genus Neophron. an d Africa. In India it is replaced by a nearly allied
form with a yellow bill, known as N. ginginianus. In
Africa two brown species, N. pileatus and N. monachus, occur.
Fig. 61. TUB BLACK VULTURE
( Vultur monachuis).
SCAVENGER VULTURES CAR AC AR AS.
307
The Egyptian Scavenger Vulture is a more than ordinarily foul feeder,
even for one of its kind, and frequents human habitations, where it devours
all kinds of offal and excrement, but it will at other times devour lizards,
snakes, and small rodents, as well as worms, insects, and even fruit.
According to the late C. J. Andersson, it is said to devour ostrich eggs, by
carrying a stone up into the air and dropping it upon them. The nest is
generally placed on cliffs, but sometimes on trees.
Of the True Hawks there are five sub-families, the Caracaras (Polybormce\
the Long-legged Hawks (Accipitrince), the Buzzards (Buteonince), the Eagles
(Aquilince\ and the Falcons (Falconince).
Of the Caracaras there are but two genera, Polyborus and Ibycter. They
are distinguished from the other Hawks by having the outer and inner toe
connected to the middle one by a mem-
brane or web. In all the other sub-
families there is a web only between
the base of the outer and middle toes.
Polyborus has but two species, P. tharus,
of South America, which is found from
the Straits of Magellan to Amazonia, and
P. cheriway, which occurs from Ecuador
and Guiana, through Central America,
into the Southern United States.
Mr. W. H. Hudson has given a long
and interesting account of the habits of
the "Carancho," as the Polyborus is
called in Argentina. It is too long to be
given in its entirety, but we cannot refrain
from making a few extracts: "The
Caranchos pair for life, and may there-
fore be called social birds. They also
often live and hunt in families of the
parents and young birds until the following
spring, and at all times several individuals
will readily combine to attack their prey, but they never live or move about
in flocks. Each couple has its own home or resting-place, which they will
continue to use for an indefinite time, roosting on the same branch and
occupying the same nest year after year ; while at all times the two birds are
seen constantly together, and seem very much attached. Azara relates that
he once saw a male pounce down on a frog, and, carrying it to a tree, call
his mate to him and make her a present of it. It was not a very magnificent
present, but the action seems to show that the bird possesses some commend-
able qualities which are seldom seen in the Raptorial family. Without doubt
it is a carrion-eater, but only, I believe, when it cannot get fresh provisions;
for, when famished, it will eat anything rather than study its dignity and
suffer hunger like the nobler Eagle. I have frequently seen one or two or
three of them together on the ground, under a column of winged ants,
eagerly feasting on the falling insects. To eat putrid meat it must be very
hungry indeed. It is, however, amazingly fond of freshly-killed flesh ; and,
when a cow ia slaughtered at an estancia-house, the Carancho quickly
appears on the scene to claim his share, and, catching up the first thing he
can lift, he carries it off before the dogs can deprive him of it. When he
has risen to a height of five or six yards in the air he drops the meat from
Fig. 62 THE BRAZILIAN CARACARA
(Polyborus iharus).
308 A VES - ORDER A CCIPITRIFORMES.
his beak, and dexterously catches it in his claws without pausing or
swerving in his flight. It is singular that the bird seems quite incapable of
lifting anything from the ground with the claws, the beak being invariably
used, even when the prey is an animal which it might seem dangerous to
lift in this way. I once saw one of these birds swoop down on a rat
from a distance* of about 40 ft., and rise with its struggling and squealing
prey to a height of 20 ft., then drop it from its beak and gracefully catch it
in its talons. Yet, when it pursues and overtakes a bird in the air, it
invariably uses the claws in the same way as other Hawks. This I have
frequently observed, and I give the two following anecdotes to show that
even birds, which one would inngine to be quite safe from the Carancho, are
on some occasions attacked by it. In the first case, the bird attacked was
the Spur-winged Lapwing, the irreconcilable enemy of the Carancho and its
bold and persistent persecutor. The very sight of this Hawk rouses the
Lapwings to a frenzy of excitement, and springing aloft, they hasten to meet
it in mid-air, screaming loudly and continuing to harry it until it leaves their
ground, after which they return, and, ranged in triplets, perform their
triumphal dances, accompanied with loud drumming notes. But if their
hated foe alights on the ground, or on some elevation near them, they hover
about him, and first one, then another, rushes down with the greatest violence,
and gliding near him, turns the bend of its wing so that the spur appears
almost to graze his head. While one bird is descending, others are rising
upwards to renew their charges ; and this persecution continues until they
have driven him away, or become exhausted with their fruitless efforts. The
Carancho, however, takes little notice of his tormentors ; only when the
Plover comes very close, evidently bent on piercing his skull with its sharp
weapon, he quickly dodges his head, after which he resumes his indifferent
demeanour until the rush of the succeeding bird takes place.
" While out riding one day a Carancho flew past me attended by about
thirty Lapwings, combined to hunt him from their ground, for it was near
the breeding season, when their jealous irascible temper is most excited.
All at once, just as a Lapwing swept close by and then passed on before it,
the Hawk quickened its flight in the most wonderful manner and was seen
in hot pursuit of its tormentor. The angry hectoring cries of the Lapwings
instantly changed to piercing screams of terror, which, in a very short time,
brought a crowd numbering between two and three hundred birds to the
rescue. Now, I thought, the hunted bird will escape, for it twisted and
turned rapidly about, trying to lose itself amongst its fellows, all hovering
in a compact cloud about it and screaming their loudest. But the Carancho
was not to be shaken off; he was never more than a yard behind his quarry,
and I was near enough to distinguish the piteous screams of the chased Lap-
wing amidst all the tumult, as of a bird already captive. At the end of about
a minute it was seized in the Carancho's talons, and, still violently scfeamrng,
borne away. The cloud of Lapwings followed for some distance, but
presently they all returned to the fatal spot where the contest had taken
place ; and for an hour afterwards they continued soaring about in separate
bodies, screaming all the time with an unusual note in
The Long-legged tneir voices as of fear or grief, and holding excited con-
Hawks. Sub- claves on the ground, to all appearance as greatly dis-
txm&jAccipitrina. turbed in their minds as an equal number of highly
emotional human beings would be in the event of a
similar disaster overtaking them."
GYMNOGENES HARRIERS. 309
Only the outer and middle toes are united by a membrane in this sub-
family, but the legs are very long, the thigh (tibio-tarsus) and the leg
(tarso-metatarsus) being nearly as long as one another. The birds included in
this group are the Gymnogenes, Harriers, Gos-Hawks, and Sparrow-Hawks.
These curious crested Hawks are Ethiopian, one species being found in
tropical Africa and another in Madagascar. They are grey birds with
a well - developed crest, and a bare face of a light yellow colour.
The structure of the leg is peculiar, for the tibio-tarsal
joint is flexible, and the bird has the power of putting its The Gymnogenes.
leg out of joint, as it were, and placing the tarsus at a Genus Poly-
backward angle, instead of forwards, as in ordinary Birds boroides.
of Prey. The Neotropical genus Geranospizias is also
said to possess the same faculty. In the Gymnogene this power of twisting
its leg about, as on a pivot, is said by observers to be of use to the bird in
drawing out frogs from the marsh holes. Its food appears to consist chiefly
of lizards and frogs, and also of insects ; and Mr. Ayres says that in Natal
it frequents lands on which the grass has been recently burnt, stalking over
the ground like a Bustard.
The Harriers are long-legged birds, differing from the Sparrow-Hawks and
Gos-Hawks in having the hinder aspect of the tarsus reticulate and in
having an oval nostril. They have also a ruff round the
face similar to that of the Owls, and on this account they The Harriers.
have often been considered to be a connecting link be- Genus Circus.
tween the Hawks and the Owls. This character, however,
is of secondary importance compared with the development of their long legs,
which, in our opinion, allies them to the Sparrow-Hawks. Some sixteen
species of the Harriers are known, and they inhabit the temperate and
tropical portions of both hemispheres. They do not range into the arctic
regions, and those which breed in northern localities migrate south in
winter, often in large numbers. The habits of all the Harriers are very much
the same in different countries. The nest is built on the ground, and the
eggs are white, with occasionally a few brown markings ; they appear bluish
inside when held up to the light. They are not birds of bold and rapid
flight like the Sparrow-Hawks or Eagles, but are great robbers of other
birds' eggs and young, feeding also on small mammals, reptiles, fish, and
insects. Mr. Seebohm speaks of the Marsh Harrier (Circus ceruginosus) as
being "usually seen passing slowly over its swampy haunts a few feet from the
earth, quartering the ground much as a well-trained dog searching for game.
Its'flight is somewhat slow and laboured, performed with measured beats of
the wings, varied by gliding motions as it surveys the ground below. It will
beat over its hunting-ground, returning backwards and forwards, as if
diligently searching every spot likely to contain its prey. Now and then it
is seen to drop somewhat slowly to the earth to secure a frog or a mole,
which it will either eat at once or convey to some distance."
Of Montagu's Harrier (Circus pygargus) Colonel Irby records the finding
of a regular colony near Lixus, in Morocco. With his telescope he could see
the sitting hen birds dotted about the marsh. The North American Hen-
Harrier (Circus hudsonius) has similar habits to those of the European
species, but is not such an egg- destroy ing bird, and is looked upon as a
beneficial Hawk, as it devours great quantities of meadow-mice and ground
squirrels, as well as noxious insects, such as locusts and destructive ground-
crickets. The flight of this Harrier is described as graceful, and at certain
310 A VES ORDER A CCIPITRIFORMES.
times the males perform aerial evolutions. The male never assists the
female in the duties of incubation, but diligently supplies his mate with food.
Mr. John Clark informed Captain Bendire that he has seen the female rise
from the nest to welcome the male with shrill cries when he came in
sight, and then take the prey from his talons and fly back with it to the
nest.
Intermediate between the Harriers and the Go<-Hawks comes the genus
Micrastur, containing the Harrier- Hawks of Tropical America. These are
birds which have the stout build of a Gos-Hawk combined with the facial
ruflf of the Harriers, and, as in the last-named genus of birds, the tarsus is
reticulated behind. Then follow several genera of Gos-Hawks, such as
Geranospizias of Tropical America, Urotriorchis of Africa, and Erythrocnema,
again a New World form, so closely allied to the Chanting Gos-Hawks of
Africa (Melierax) that the two genera are scarcely distinguishable.
Two species of this genus are known, one, E. unicinda, inhabiting South
America from Brazil to Chili, and the other, E. harrisi, being found in
Central America, north to the Southern United States.
The Red-thighed Little has been recorded of the habits of the Red-thighed
Gos-HawkSi Gos-Hawks, but Captain Bendire says that they appear
Genus to be lazy and sluggish birds, with a slow and not graceful
Erythrocnema. flight. They build in low trees, and the nest is a poorly
constructed affair, so that on one occasion Captain Bendire
declares that he could see the eggs through the bottom of the nest.
These birds are confined to the ^Ethiopian Region, and they are called
"Chanting" Gos-Hawks on account of their supposed
The Chanting utterance of a song. Le Vaillant is the principal
Gos-Hawks. authority for this statement, but like many other records
Genus Meherax. o f this traveller's, it is open to doubt ; and Mr. Layard
says that he never heard anything of the sort in
South Africa.
The preceding genera possess a bony tubercle in their nostrils, but
the true Gos-Hawks (Astur) have not this peculiarity. On the contrary,
they have an oval nostril with no tubercle. They are remarkable for their
stout and heavy bill, accompanied by stout legs and short toes. They are of
all sizes, some of them being as big as a Buzzard, while others are scarcely
larger than a Thrush.
The Common Gos-Hawk is a bird of the woods and forests, where it builds a
nest of great size, which it lines with roots and moss, but does not use green
leaves as many birds of prey do. The great size of the
The Common nest is probably due to the additions made by the birds
Gos-Hawk. from year to year. The eggs are pale greenish white, and
Astur palumbarius. are on iy very rare ly marked with faint brown spots. The
Gos-Hawk is a most useful bird to the falconer, as it is an
adept at taking rabbits, but it belongs to the group of short- winged Hawks and
cannot fly down its prey like an Eagle or a Falcon. Seebohm observes : *' In
spite of his comparatively short wings, he is a bird of very powerful flight.
and of undaunted courage. He disdains to eat carrion, and will scarcely
stoop to catch a sitting bird. He hunts on the wing, and nothing is safe
from his attacks, from a sparrow to a grouse, or from a mouse to a young
roe. In summer he confines himself principally to the woods and the open
places in their immediate neighbourhood ; but late in autumn and winter he
extends the range of his hunting-grounds, pursuing partridges and hares, and
COS- HA WKSSPARROW-HA WKS.
The Sparrow-
Hawks. Genus
Accipiter.
making raids on the pigeons belonging to the farmers, and sometimes
snatching the game from under the very nose of the sportsman."
The Gos-Hawks are about forty in number, and many of them, though
small, are of beautiful plumage, such as the Fijian Astur torquatus and its
allies, which are pale grey birds with a rufous collar round their necks and
vinous coloured breasts. This group inhabits the Australian region, more
especially the Moluccas, and the Papaan Islands. Another group is that of
the Indian Shikra (Astur badius), which has allied species in Burma, Africa,
and South-Eastern Europe. They are all small birds with prettily barred
breasts. One of the most interesting, however, is the White Gos-Hawk of
Australia, a pure white species, which looks like an albino. Astur novae,
hollandice, as it is called, is confined to the Australian continent, with a-
representative species, A. leucosomus, in New Guinea.
This is also a numerously represented genus of Hawks ; the difference
between the Sparrow-Hawks and the Gos-Hawks consisting principally in
the smaller bills and longer toes of the former birds.
Like the Gos-Hawks, the members of the genus Accipiter
are found over the greater part of the world, and both
small and large species are met with. They are generally
of slight build, but use their short wings with great
dexterity, doubling in their flight in the most rapid manner, and snatching
their prey with a sudden plunge, seldom attempting to seize it in the open.
In our English Sparrow-Hawk the female is a much larger bird than the
male, and is much the more powerful bird of the two, though nothing can
well exceed the spirit and dash of
the little male Sparrow-Hawk. The
chief food of the species consists of
small birds, but it takes Blackbirds,
Partridges, and, according to Mr.
Seebohm, even Wood-Pigeons. It
is a very determined marauder on
the Pheasant coops, and catches a
number of young birds of all sorts,
feeding its own young on these.
The nest is somewhat large, and,
unlike that of most of the smaller
Birds of Prey, which generally ap-
propriate the nest of some other
bird, the Sparrow-Hawk builds its
own nest. The eggs of the species
of Accipiter are invariably more
handsome than those of the Gos-Hawks, and some of the eggs of our own
species are beautifully marbled with reddish brown.
The largest of the Sparrow-Hawks is the Pied Sparrow-Hawk of Africa,
which is nearly 2 ft. in length.
With this sub-family we commence the description of the shorter legged
Hawks, wherein the tibio-tarsus is always longer than
the tarso-metatarsus. The first of the three sub-families
is that of the Buteonince. or Buzzards. And here we find
a character which runs through them all, and is very
constant, viz., that the hinder aspect of the tarsus is
scaled, and not reticulated. This we believe to be the principal character-
Fig. 3. THE FEMALE SPARROW-HAWK
(Accipiter nisus).
The Buzzards.
Sub-family
Buteonince.
312 A VES- ORDER A CCIPITRIFORMES.
istic of the Buzzards, which on the one hand are allied to the Gos-Hawks,
and on the other to the Eagles, the difference between the latter and the
Buzzards being by no means strongly marked.
At the head of the Buteoninw we find the genus Erythrotriorchis, or
Rufous Buzzard-Hawks, of which there are two species, one, E. radiatus,
found in Australia, and the other, E. dorian, inhabiting New Guinea. They
are very rare birds, and but little has been recorded concerning their habits.
Of the succeeding genera, Buteogallus and Tachytriorchis, also very little is
known. They are Neotropical forms ; but T. abbreviatus and T. albicaudatus
occur in the Southern United States, and some good accounts of their nesting
have been published by Captain Bendire in his excellent work on the '* Life-
Histories of North American Birds." The latter species visits Southern
Texas during the summer, and migrates south in winter, visiting South
America as far 'as Argentina in companies. In the winter Mr. W. H.
Hudson has known them to become so reduced in flesh that, after every cold
rain or severe frost, numbers would be found dead under the trees where
they roosted, and in that way most of them perished before the return of
spring. Captain B. F. Goss found the species breeding abundantly near
Corpus Christi, in Texas, in the spring of 1882. His note to Captain Bendire
is as follows: "I found the favourite breeding-places of the White-tailed
Hawk to be a strip of open bushy land, lying between the thick line of
timber and chaparral along the coast and the open prairie. Any bush rising a
little above the surrounding level seemed a suitable nesting site, and no
attempt was made to conceal the nest. In most places it was very prominent,
and could be seen for a long distance. I examined fifteen, and they were all
placed in low bushes, generally not higher than 6 ft. In a few cases I hid to
stand upon the waggon to reach them. They were composed of sticks, dry
weeds, and grasses, a coarse, dry grass entering largely into the composition
of most of them. They were poorly constructed, but moderately hollowed,
and usually lined with a few green twigs or leaves. Taken as a whole,
the nests looked ragged in outline and slovenly in finish. About one nest in
four contained three eggs ; the rest but two. These Hawks are wary, and
difficult of approach at all times. They would leave their nests as soon as we
came in sight, sometimes when still half a mile away, and generally they kept
entirely out of sight. An occasional pair sailed high over our heads, uttering
a faint cry while we were at their nest. Only a single one came within
reach of our guns." Both of the genera Heterospizias and Tachytriorchis
differ from the typical Buzzards in their shorter tails, the wings reaching
beyond the tip of the latter.
The genus Buteo contains about twenty species, of which our European
Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) is the type. They are almost identical in
their mode of life one with another, and mostly resemble
The True Buzzards, small Eagles in their habits. They are, as a rule, useful
Genus Buteo. birds, as they feed upon rats and mice, insects, and small
reptiles, which they pounce upon from a sitting position ;
hence they do not often capture birds, as they do not take their prey on the
wing. The nest of the Common Buzzard is a somewhat large structure, built in
a tree, and is flat at the top and lined with fresh green leaves. The eggs
are three or four in number, white, or bluish white in colour, the markings
being blotches or streaks of a rich brown colour, which are often absent.
Of the utility of the Buzzards to the farmer and agriculturist very good
proof is given in Dr. A. K. Fisher's work on the "Hawks and Owls of the
HARPIES-EAGLES. 313
United States in relation to Agriculture," where tables of the food found in
the stomachs of the Buzzards are given, from which it appears that large
numbers of small mammals and insects, especially locusts, are devoured by
these Birds of Prey, and that very few small birds are captured by them,
though the larger kinds of Buzzards will occasionally take a Duck or a
Partridge.
In the Buteonince are also contained some other forms of Buzzards, such as
the genera Asturina and Urubitinga, the habits of which call for little special
notice here, though some of the latter are very handsome birds of nearly
pure white plumage. They are neotropical in habitat, as are also the
Harpies, with which the Buzzards conclude. It is generally the fashion to
speak of the Harpies as Eagles, instead of Buzzards, but the way in which
the hinder aspect of the tarsus is plated, instead of being reticulated, is
sufficient to show that these great birds are really members of the sub-family
Buteonince.
There are three genera of Harpies Harpyhaliaetus, with one
species, H. coronatus, a grey bird found in South America ; Morphnus,
also with a single species, M. guianensis, found in
Amazonia and Guiana as far west as Panama ; and The Harpy
Thrasaetus, with the true Harpy, T. harpyia, as its type, (Tkrascetus
a species found over the greater part of Southern and harpyia).
Central America as far north as Mexico. The Harpy is
one of the most splendid, as it is the most powerful, of all the Birds of
Prey. Like the other Harpies it possesses a very long crest, which it usually
keeps raised, adding to its fierce appearance. It is said to kill calves and
animals of far greater bulk than itself, and Dr. Felix Oswald says that " in
the Oaxaca district in Mexico, the ' Lobo volante,' or ' Winged Wolf,' attacks
and kills heavy old turkey-cocks, young fawns, sloths, full-grown foxes and
badgers, middle-sized pigs, and even the black Sapajou monkey (Ateles
paniscus). The nest is built in the highest forest-trees, especially the
Adansonia and the Pinus balsamifera. The more inaccessible rocks of the
foot-hills are also commonly chosen for a breeding place, and it is not easy to
distinguish the compactly-built eyrie on the highest branches of a wild fig
tree from the dark-coloured clusters of the Mexican mistletoe ( Piscum rubrum)
which are seen in the same tree-tops. The process of incubation is generally
finished by the middle of March, if not sooner, and from that time to the end
of June the rapacity of the old birds is the terror of the tropical fauna, for
their hunting expeditions, which later in the year are restricted to the early
morning hours, now occupy them the larger part of the day."
In this sub-family the tibio-tarsus is much longer than the tarso-
metatarsus, as it was in the Buteonince, but in all the Eagles the hinder aspect
of the tarsus is reticulated, not plated. The bill is
festooned but not toothed, as it is in the Falcons, which The Eagles.
follow later. There are two genera with wedge-shaped Sub-family
tails, Gypaetus and Uroaetus. In the former genus is Aquilince.
found the species generally called the Bearded " Vulture, "
on account of the tuft of bristly feathers which is grown on its chin.
The Bearded Eagle (Gypaetus barbatus) extends from Southern Europe
throughout Central Asia to the Himalayas, but has become very rare,
if, indeed, not wholly extinct, in Switzerland, where it was once a
well-known bird. The Lcemmergeier, as it is also called, is still found in
some of the other mountain ranges of Southern Europe, and in the
A VES- ORDER A CCIPITRIFORMES.
Himalayas it is by no means uncommon. I have myself more than once
seen one of these magnificent birds flying over within 30 yds. of my head,
and turning his head down from side to side, taking stock of everything
below him. His pale yellow eye, which is surrounded by a red ring, and
his bearded chin were plainly seen. The flight of a Lsemmergeier is
grand in the extreme. The bird, however, has many of the habits of a
Scavenger Vulture, and resembles Neophron in some of its ways, though it
does not seem to be such a foul feeder. The species has been known to follow
camps, and it is not infrequently to be met with in the neighbourhood of
villages in the north-western Himalayas and Tibet. Not only in the
Mediterranean countries, but in the Himalayas also, the bird is known as
the "bone-breaker," and it undoubtedly has the curious habit of devouring
bones. Von Tschudi says that five bullock's ribs 2 in. thick and from 6 to 9
in. long, a lump of hair, and the leg of a young goat, from the knee to the
foot, were found in the stomach of one of these Bearded Eagles, while in
another the large hip-bone of a cow, the skin and fore-quarters of a chamois,
many smaller bones, etc., were discovered. It is also said to drive the
chamois and goats over the precipices, and devour the bodies when they
have fallen below. The weak feet and claws of the Lsemmergeier are
vulturine, and not like those of True Eagles, and it is certain that the bird
could not capture any large prey with its talons. Its method of breaking
the bones which it delights in, is to take them up in the air to a great
height and then let them drop on a rock, and it was doubtless in this way
that ^Eschylus was killed more than 2000 years ago, an "Eagle," te., a
Lsemmergeier, having dropped a Tortoise on his bald head, mistaking the
latter for a rock. " Marrow bones," says Mr. Hudleston, "are the dainties the
Lsemmergeier loves the best ; and when the other Vultures have picked the
flesh off any animal, he comes in at the end of the feast and swallows the
bones, or breaks them and swallows the pieces, if he cannot get the marrow
out otherwise. I once saw a mature bird of this species which had evidently
swallowed a bone, or something ^uncommonly indigestible, close to the
abattoir at Athens. He was in a very uncomfortable attitude, and appeared
to be leaning on his long tail for support." A second species of Lsemmergeier
(Gypaetus ossifragus) is found in the mountains of North-Eastern Africa.
We now come to the true Eagles (Aquila) of which our Golden Eagle is the
type, while the Bearded Eagles are connected with the typical Eagles by means
of the Wedge-tailed Eagle of Australia ( Uroaetus audax), a bird which has
the aspect of a true Eagle, but has at the same time the wedge-shaped tail
of a Lsemmergeier.
In this genus occur some of the best-known Birds of Prey, such as the
Golden Eagle (AqiiUa chrysaetus), the Imperial Eagle (A. heliaca), the
Tawny Eagle (A. rapax], and the Spotted Eagle (A.
The True Eagles. maculata). When on the wing it cannot be denied that the
Genus Aquila. Eagles are birds of magnificent appearance, and I have
seen nothing grander in my experience of bird-life than
a pair of Eagles circling above the Himalayas and screaming in protest
against an approaching storm, as it made its way up the valley. On
the other hand, in many ways Eagles are little more than large Buzzards,
and a great deal of unnecessary romance has been shed around them. Of
the Imperial Eagle, Mr. A. O. Hume writes that he considers it no better
than a great hulking Kite. In India, he says, it is an ignoble feeder, and he
has generally found the birds gorged with carrion. After a good meal, they
CRESTED EAGLES-SERPENT-EAGLES. 315
will sit stupidly on a tree, or any little mud pillar, and permit you to
walk within thirty yards of them, but, before feeding, they are somewhat
wary, and can by no means always be secured, even when seen sitting. On
more than one occasion he found desert rats (Gerbillus erythrurus) in their
crops, and he once shot one of a pair, which were busy on the line of rails at
Etawah, devouring a Bandicoot rat (Mus bandicota\ which some passing
train had cut in two. Occasionally, but rarely, they had eaten snails and
other birds. Once he shot a male, which was dancing about on the ground
in such an astounding fashion that he killed it to see what the matter was.
The bird proved to have been choking, and it had swallowed a whole dry
shin-bone and foot of an antelope. The bone, apparently, could not be got
down altogether, and in trying to void it, the sharp points of the hoof had
stuck into the back of the palate.
There are many other kinds of Eagles, such as the Buzzard-Eagles
(Arckibuteo), and the members of the genus jEutolmaetus, of which Bonelli's
Eagle (E. fasciatus) is the type, and the Booted Eagle of Southern Europe
(E. pennatus) is another well-known member of the genus. Lophotriorchis
is another remarkable form, with a well-developed crest. It has one species,
L. kieneri, found in India and the Malay Archipelago, while the only other
species occurs in the mountains of Colombia in South America, a very
interesting fact in geographical distribution. One of the most curious of
Eagles is the Birds'-nesting Eagle (Neopus malaiensis) of India and the
Malayan countries and islands. Ic is a black bird, with powerful talons which
are nearly straight. It spends its time hunting for eggs and nestlings, and is
continually on the wing, like a Kite. "It subsists," says Colonel Legge,
"as far as can be observed, entirely by birds'-nesting, and is not content
with the eggs and young birds, which its keen sight espies among the
branches of the forest trees, but even seizes the nest in its talons, decamps
with it, and often examines the contents as it sails lazily along." Part of
a bird's nest has been found in this Eagle's stomach.
The Crested Eagles (Spizaetus) of the Indian Region and the Black Eagle
of Africa (Lophoaetus occipitalis) complete the list of feathered-legged Eagles.
All the rest belong to the bare-legged section which have the tibio-tarsus
unfeathered. To this section belong the Sea-Eagles and their allies, the
Serpent-Eigles. Of the latter there are many species in Africa and in the
Indian Region, the best-known being the members of the genus Circaetus and
Spilornis. Of the former we have one species in Southern Europe, Circaetus
gallicus, but the true Serpent-Eagles (Spilornis) are inhabitants of India.
The amount of good which they do may be calculated by the statement of
Mr. A. O. Hume, who has shot numbers of these birds, that he found fifty
little serpents in the stomach of one individual, and on another occasion he
knew of a Cobra, 2^ ft. in length, being taken out of a Serpent-Eagle's
stomach. Butastur is another oriental genus, and the Bateleur-Eagles
(Helotarsus) are confined to Africa. The true Sea-Eagles (Haliaetus) are
nearly world-wide in distribution, but they are absent in South America.
In Europe and North America we have the White-tailed Eagle (Haliaetus
albicilla) and the Bald Eagle (H. leucoc,ephalus\ the latter remarkable for its
pure white head. The Ethiopian region contains a beautiful species,
H. vocifer, and one of the most widely distributed Birds of Prey in Australia
and the East is H. leiicogaster, the white-bellied Sea-Eagle.
From the Sea-Eagles we pass to the Kites, which are also members of the
sub-family Aquilince. At first sight they would seem to have no connection
3 1 6 A VES ORDER A CCIPITRIFORMES.
with Eagles, but they are connected with the latter birds through the
Brahminy Kites (Haliastur). These birds inhabit India and Burma, and
extend through the Malay Archipelago to Australia. The Brahminy Kite of
India (Haliastur Indus) makes a nest in a tree very much like that of a Kite,
and lays a white egg, mottled with dots and hieroglyphics of reddish-brown.
From the genus Haliastur is an easy transition through the African
Swallow- tailed Kite (Nauclerus riqcouri) and the American IS wallow-tailed
Kite (Elanoides furcatus) to the typical Kites (Milvus). The Swallow-tailed
Kite of America is a lovely and most graceful bird, ihe back and tail being
black, and the head and underparts pure white. It nests in the Southern
United States, and winters in Brazil. Florida is one of its breeding grounds,
and the following account of its habits is given by Dr. William L. Ralph in
Captain Bendire's "Life-History of North American Birds." He writes :
"Excepting, perhaps, the Turkey Vulture, I think that this bird is the most
graceful of any when on the wing. It has the same easy floating motion,
but at times it flies very rapidly and turns very quickly, which is something
I have never seen the former bird do. Their motions are very ' Swallow '-
like, and this, with their forked' tail, makes them look like gigantic Barn-
Swallows; and like the Chimney-Swifts they have a habit of travelling
together in small companies, usually consisting of three individuals,
especially when they first return from the South. During the breeding
season flocks, consisting of from two to three to ten or twelve birds, but
oftener of three, may be seen following one another around, frequently
uttering their calls and circling in and out among the tree-tops so fast as to
make one dizzy to look at them. Except during this season one seldom sees
one of these birds unless it is flying, and I have often wondered if they did
not at times sleep while on the wing. At least I know that they usually, if
not always, eat while flying, for I have many times seen one sailing leisurely
along, occasionally bending its head to tear a piece from a small snake that
it held in its talons, and I have never seen one alight to eat its food, like
other Birds of Prey."
There are m<my other forms of Kite, such as the Hooked-billed Kites
(Rosthramufi), the Black-shouldered Kites (Elanus), and other smill genera,
but the best known are, of course, the true Kites of the genus Milvus. In
the towns and villages of tropical countries of the Old World these birds are
nearly always in evidence, flying about with a continuous squeaking cry.
The Common Kite is nearly extinct in England, but there are many places
on the Continent where it is still plentiful ; and Mr. Seebohm gives the
following account of its habits : " In the manner of taking its prey the Kite
very much resembles the Buzzards, and even the Harriers. It is by no
means a bold and powerful bird, for a clucking hen ^has been known to
put it to flight, and the fiery little Sparrow-Hawk mobs it with impunity.
The Kite takes its food upon the ground, and usually catches young or
weakly birds or mammals, and also does not even refuse to make a meal on
carrion. Like all rapacious birds, the Kite appears to have some favourite
spot which serves as a dining-table or larder, where the food brought to feed
its hungry young is also plucked and otherwise prepared for them. The nest
in the breeding season is also a well-stocked larder, far more food being con-
veyed thither than is really consumed. In these places may be seen the
remains of Grouse, Plovers, and young Curlews and Wild Ducks. In
addition to this food the Kite also takes young hares and rabbits, mice and
rats, frogs, lizards, more rarely snakes, and the larger coleopterous insects
KITES -HONE Y- KITES. 3 1 7
creatures that are taken without much exertion or power. In former
days, when the Kite was more abundant in these islands than it is now,
it was said to be a great enemy to the poultry, young chickens forming
a favourite object of its pursuit. At the present day, however, the
Kite need cause the poultry-keeper no alarm. Its haunt now, where but
a remnant of its former numbers find a last retreat, is in the wildest
districts of Scotland, or Wales, where the Red Grouse is probably its
favourite fare. How the Kite manages to take so large and strong a bird as
a cock Red Grouse is surprising ; and it is most probably only the young and
weakly ones that fall victims to its swoop. Mr. Booth also suggests that the
Peregrine ofttimes unwittingly finds the Kite a meal, and puts a bird in its
way that would never be secured unless weakly or wounded. As is well
known, that bold, rapacious Falcon often strikes a bird for mere sport, and
will leave it where it lies ; and there, no doubt, it is sometimes found by the
less active Kite and conveyed away. The note of the Kite may be compared
to a wild plaintive scream or 'mew, 5 and is but rarely heard, save in the
breeding season. Unmusical as its cry may be, still it appears to be full of
wild harmony with the rugged scenery of its haunts, imbues them with life,
and, when heard as the bird is flying far overhead, lends a charm to districts
where other bird life is wanting."
The Kites which most approach the Falcons are the Perns or Honey-
Kites. These have a peculiarly soft plumage, unmistakable to the touch of a
practised ornithologist ; and this is shared by many of the Falcons, showing that
it is practically impossible to draw distinctive characters between the sub-
families of Accipitrine birds. Thus the Buzzards merge into the Eagles, and
thence through the Sea-Eagles and the Brahminy Kites we reach the true Kites,
and from them the Perns, which are half Falcons, and thence the transition
is easy to the true Falcons. So it may be affirmed that there is scarcely any
order of birds in which the natural connection of the families, sub-families,
and genera are better maintained and exemplified than in the Accipitriformes.
Some of the most curious of the Perns, and, one may say, of all Birds of
Prey, are the Black Perns (Maeho&rhamphus). They are nocturnal birds,
coming forth in the twilight to feed on bats and small swifts. One species,
M. anderssoni, is Ethiopian, being found in Tropical Africa and Madagascar ;
while the second species, M. cdcinus, inhabits Southern Burma, the Malayan
Peninsula, Borneo, and extends to New Guinea.
These birds are generally called Honey-'* Buzzards," but it is certainly
wrong to think of them as Buzzards. Their habits, their
outward form, and, above all, their curious softplumage, The Honey-
all point to their affinities with the Kites. There are Kites. Genus
three species of Honey-Kite, Pernis apivorus of Europe, Pernis.
P. ptilonorhynchus of Tropical Asia, and P. celebensis of
Celebes.
The Falcons differ from the Kites, which immediately precede them, and
from the other Birds of Prey in having a toothed or notched bill. In some
of the genera there is a distinct double tooth, as in the
Cuckoo-Falcons (Baza). These are very interesting The True
Hawks on account of their geographical distribution. Falcons. Sub-
They are all birds of the forest districts, one species being family JFalcomncs.
found in West Africa, another in Natal, a third in
Madagascar, and thence eastwards the species are distributed through the
Indian Region and the Moluccas to the Bismarck Archipelago and North-
3 1 8 A VES ORDER A CCIP1TRIFORMES.
Eastern Australia. These birds get their name of Cuckoo-Falcons from
their large Cuckoo-like yellow eyes and the barred plumage of the lower
surface of the body, which is like that of a Cuckoo.
In Central and South America the Cuckoo-Falcons are represented by the
Double-toothed Falcons (Harpagus), and in the same parts of the Neotropical
region occur the Grey Kite-Falcons (Ictinia), one of which, J. mississipiensis,
ranges into the Southern United States. All these genera which we have
recently mentioned belong to the borderland between the Kites and the
Falcons. They have the characteristics of the latter birds, united to Kite-
like plumage and habits, and they further differ from the true Falcons in
having an oval nostril, with no central tubercle, whereas the latter birds
have a rounded nostril with a central tubercle. The habits of the Mississippi
Kite-Falcon have been well described in the works of Captain Bendire and
Dr. A. K. Fisher. The latter writes : " The food of this species, like that
of the Swallow- tailed Kite, consists of insects, such as the larger beetles,
grasshoppers, and locusts, lizards, small snakes, and frogs. It never has been
known to molest birds or mammals, except to drive the larger species away
from the vicinity of its nest. Three specimens which Wilson examined at
Natchez, Miss., contained the remains of beetles ; and he saw them flying
about the trees feeding on cicadas. Dr. Coues mentions one shot at Bluff-
ton, S.C., whose stomach was crammed with the same insects, together with
a few Katydids. It is wonderful at what a distance its keen eyes can detect a
comparatively small insect. Mr. E. W. Nelson says : ' I saw them repeatedly
dart with unerring aim upon some luckless grasshoppers from an elevation of
at least 100 yards.' (Bull. Essex Inst., Vol. IX., 1877, p. 58.) As regards
the economic value of this Kite much the same statement may be made as of
the previous species. It does little or no damage, but much good. Soon
after arriving in its summer home it begins to remodel its old nest or the
deserted nest of some other bird, and more rarely, when these are not avail-
able, it builds a new one. The remodelling consists in patching up the sides
with a few sticks and adding a sparse lining of Spanish moss or green leaves.
The nest is usuilly situated in the tops of the tallest trees, among the smaller
branches, where it is well concealed by the foliage. The full complement of
eggs, usually two or three in number, is deposited by the middle of May,
though in some cases it must be much earlier, for the writer once secured a
young bird in southern Louisiana at the end of May which had already
acquired nearly the adult plumage. This Kite is not at all shy, and may
be secured easily as it sits on some tall stub ; in fact, Col. N. S. Goss
tells of shooting a pair from the same tree, as the second one did not
move at the report of the gun, but looked down with surprise on its
fallen companion. It is said to be morose and irritable in captivity,
and very difficult to tame. A specimen which the writer once wounded
was the very picture of rage, as with flashing eyes and erect crest it
threw itself on its back and prepared to repel the aggressor with its
talons. This species is fully as gregarious as any of the other Kites,
and oftentimes may be seen in flocks of twenty or more circling over a
favourite hunting ground. It is observed most frequently around the border
of woods in the vicinity of water, and is particularly fond of half-cleared
ground where dead trees still stand, these being used for perches. Its flight
is as varied and graceful as that of the Swallow-tailed Kite, is long protracted,
and the birds often ascend to so great a height as to be barely visible. While
soaring high in the air its flight simulates that of the turkey-buzzard very
FAL CONETSJER-FALCONS.
319
closely, and as the two birds are often seen together the Kite looks like a
miniature of the other."
A curious little genus of true Falcons is Microhierax, the members of which
are little larger than sparrows. They inhabit the Indian region, especially
the Indo-Malayan islands. An allied genus, Poliohierax,
is found in the Burmese Provinces and in the desert The Falconets.
regions of Africa, and the two species known present this Genus Microhierax.
unique peculiarity among the true Falcons, that the sexes
differ remarkably in colour, the males being grey, while the females have a
maroon-coloured beak. One of the chief characteristics of the Falcons is
that the males and females are alike in colour, but the latter differ markedly
in their superior size.
The true Falcons (Falco) are typified in our Peregrine Falcon (F. peregrinus),
and various races of this type are distributed over the Old and New Worlds,
whilst the Lanner (F, feldeggii), and the Juggur Falcon are well-known
representatives of the same type.
These birds are really gigantic Kestrels, the form and habit of the birds
being those of the true Falcons, while the formation of the foot is that of a
Kestrel, the outer and inner toe being about equal in
length, whereas in the genus Falco the outer toe is much The Noble Falcons,
longer than the inner one. Hence the latter birds with Genus H ierofako.
their powerful foot are the Falcons par excellence. It is
the Peregrine and its allies which are the chosen bird of the falconer, while
the noble Falcons are not thought much of by them.
As I have said before, the members of the genus Hierofalco ought to be
considered as gigantic Kestrels. They have the same proportions of the
toes, but they are very much larger than any
Kestrel. They are principally inhabitants of the
Arctic regions, the Greenland Jer-Falcon being,-
like the Snowy Owl and other inhabitants of the
snow-clad regions of the high north, almost
entirely white, like their snowy surroundings.
Thus the Greenland Jer-Falcon is an inhabitant
of Labrador and Greenland, occasional stragglers,
mostly young birds, finding their way to Great
Britain and various countries of Europe. The
Iceland Jer-Falcon (Hierofalco islandus) inhabits
Iceland, and also occasionally wanders to parts
of the European Continent, while in Southern
Greenland its place is taken by Holboell's Jer-
Falcon (H. holboelli). In Scandinavia, and
thence across Siberia to North America, occurs
the Norwegian Jer-Falcon (H. gyrfalco). Two
other species complete the genus one the Saker
Jer-Falcon (H. saker} inhabiting South-Eastern
Europe and Central Asia to North-Western India,
while Henderson's Jer-Falcon (H. hendersoni) is
found in Thibet. The plumage of these last two
species is rufous, rather than grey or white, and they look like largo
Kestrels.
Besides the Peregrine Falcon, we find in the genus Falco a large
assemblage of smaller Falcons, such as the Hobby (F. subbuteo) and its
Fig. 64. TBK GREENLAND JER-
FALCON
(Hierofalco candicans).
320
AVES ORDER ACCIPITRIFORMES.
allies, the Merlin (F. cesalon) and kindred species, the Lanner (F. feldeggii)
and several other Falcons peculiar to the tropical portions of the Old and
New Worlds.
The Kestrels differ from the true Falcons in having the outer toe short,
and about equal to the inner toe in length. They are birds of small size,
and are chiefly insectivorous, many of them catching
The Kestrels. their prey on the wing, and devouring it as they fly. They
Genus Cerchneis. catch a large number of field mice, and are everywhere
a real friend to the agriculturist. In Dr. Fisher's report
on the American Kestrel and its food, it is interesting to observe that in the
stomachs of a large series (320) examined, few remains of birds were found,
but a considerable number of mice. The chief food of the species was,
however, grasshoppers, locusts, and caterpillars.
The Ospreys, or Fishing Hawks, as they are often called, hold an
intermediate position between the Hawks and the Owls. The skeleton
very closely approaches that of the latter birds, and the
The Ospreys. Ospreys have another character in common with the
Sub-order Owls, viz., that the outer toe is reversible, and can be
Pandwnes. turned backwards or forwards at will. The soles of
the feet are likewise furnished with spicules, thus
enabling the bird, with its toes distributed nearly at right angles and its
spiked soles, to seize and drag from the water the large fish on which
it preys.
The Osprey is now a very rare bird in Great Britain, and is only found
in certain parts of Scotland, where it is protected, though a few stragglers,
mostly young birds, are shot in other parts of
the United Kingdom from time to time. The
Osprey is a cosmopolitan species, and is found
nearly over the whole of the world, the birds
from the Australian region being slightly smaller
than those from Europe or North America. The
nest of the Osprey is an enormous structure, and
is placed on a tree, or on a ruined building.
The eggs are among the handsomest of those of
Birds of Prey.
In addition to the reversible toe alluded to
above, a character which they share with the
Ospreys, the Owls are further
The Owls. distinguished by their soft
Sub-order Striges. plumage, and by the absence
of a cere or waxlike skin at
the base of the bill, which is seen in almost all
the true Accepitres. Owls have also a facial fig. 65. TUB OBPRKTS
disk, which is surrounded by a ring of short, (Pandionhaiicetus).
crisp feathers reaching from below the chin, and x
extending above the eye to the base of the bill. The nostrils are also
generally hidden by bristles, and the eyes are directed
The Horned and forwards instead of sideways.
Wood-Owls. The sub-order Striges contains but two families
family Bubonida. BubonidcR, comprising the Owls generally, and the Barn-
Owls (Strigidce). In these birds the hind margin of the
sternum or breast- bone has two distinct clefts, and the furcula or "merry-
FISHING-GWLS HORNED-OWLS. 321
thought v> bone is free, and not united to the keel of the sternum. There is
also no serration or pectination of the claw on the middle toe, such as is seen
in the Barn-Owls.
In the Bubonidce there are two sub-families the Horned-Owls (Bubonina)
and the Wood-Owls (Syrniince') . In the former the facial disk is not so dis-
tinct, and fails in intensity above the eye, whereas in the Syrniince, or Wood-
Owls this disk is fully developed, and extends as far above the eye as it does
below it. In the Horned-Owls, again, the ear-conch, always a striking
feature in the sub-order, is smaller than the diameter of the eye itself, and
is not shut in by an opercular fold. In the Wood-Owls the ear-conch is very
large, exceeding the diameter of the eye, and is shut in by a very distinct
opercular fold.
It is interesting to notice that we find in the Owls a group of fishing
species, which remind us of the Ospreys. Like the latter birds, these Owls
have spicules on their feet, and they have likewise bare
tarsi, which is doubtless a convenience to the birds in The Fishing-Owls,
lieu of their plunging their soft downy plumaged legs into Genus Ketupa.
the water ; though it must not be forgotten that some of
the feathered-legged species, such as the Tawny-Owl (Syrnium aluco), and
the Barn- Owl (Strix flammea) , do not hesitate to catch fish on occasion. The
members of the genus Ketupa are found in India, China, and the Malayan
Peninsula and Islands. They have feathered tufts or horns on their head,
and are represented in Africa by the genus Scotopelia, which has three
species very similar to those of Ketupa, but without the feathered tufts on the
head. Mr. Hume says that the Brown Fish-Owl of India (K. ceylonensis)
feeds on birds and small Mammals, and it is also known to eat Crustacea.
They build a large nest on the cleft of a rock, or on a broad shelf of a cliff,
or in the hole of a tree, while sometimes they repair a nest of Pallas's Sea
Eagle (Haliaetus leucoryphus), and appropriate it.
Pel's Fishing-Owl is a very handsome bird, discovered by Governor Ptl
on the Dutch Gold Coast in West Africa. He saw it sitting on a bough
overhanging the Rio Boutry which he was traversing in
his boat. Afterwards it was re-discovered in the Gambia, Pel's Fishing-Owl
and an amusing account of this " fetish " bird is given by (Scotopelia peli).
Colonel O'Connor, who had one alive : " During seven
years' exploration of Western Africa, I only met with one specimen of
the Owl 'Nero.' He was brought a3 a chicken, full of pen-feathers,
or rather down, of a delicate straw-colour, and very thick, from a
lagoon in the Bawa country. No native would admit ' Nero * as a
visitor ; and when the bird was installed in Government House, the
servants and the head people came in a body to remonstrate, asserting
'he was a " Gumbi Owl," a " Fettish " ! ! ! and would destroy and kill
whatever object he looked on.' The chief groom (an old soldier, who had
charge of the poultry) insisted that every cock and hen would go dead.
Strangely enough, an epidemic broke out, and carried off fifty to sixty head
of fowls ; and each day the groom placed the defunct birds on the steps of
Government House to meet the eye of Mrs. O'Connor, seeming to exult in
the mortality amongst the feathered tribe. 'You see wid your own eye,
Missus, dat debil jumbi bird, he go kill all de fowls : Governor tink he hab
long head, but he no takey owl : suppose you put him in de stable, he see
Nelly' (Mrs. O'Connor's favourite mare), 'de horse he go tumble down dead.'
Death at last ceased to reign amongst the poultry population, and Nero
22
322 AVES SUB-ORDER S TRICES.
became my principal pet. He ranged over the Piazza, perching on the
branch of a tree ; he was fed regularly by the orderly on roasted fish, but
he often came to the dinner-table and flew down for scraps of meat or bread-
and-butter, which he took gently from myself or Mrs. O'Connor, permitting
us to rub his head, crest, neck, and back, seemingly enjoying the caressing.
But he would snatch meat or bones from the cat or dog, and when the
eagle was introduced into his company, he beat him in a most unmerciful
manner away from his peculiar and original portion of the Piazza the eagle
being one of the fiercest and most pugnacious of African birds, brought from
the upper parts of the Sabia River near ' Wallie,' and, when in vigour, able
to carry away a kid or small lamb. Nero luxuriated in a tub of water,
frequently washing himself and perching himself on the rim until dry. He
was wont to go out to the garden or fields, where instantly an immense
commotion arose among all the birds ; the larger ones flew round the owl,
keeping a very civil distance the smaller birds flew away ; but Nero treated
both alike with sovereign contempt ; he would return of his own accord to
the roosting-place in the Piazza, and when put out and confined for some
days, rejected all food, and pined until restored to his perch. With me he
was as tame as any canary, and after an absence of two months recognised my
voice when I went to his cage, at Oatlands (Devon), appearing much pleased
by my taking him out for a walk on the grass. Many natives from the
interior told me they had not seen such a bird before ; but they
considered him unlucky."
These are some of the largest of all the Owls, and they are found in nearly
every part of the globe except Australia. The Eagle-Owl of Europe (Bubo
bubo) is a magnificent species, with very large ear-tufts,
The Eagle-Owls. and is such a powerful bird that it even kills fawns, as
Genus Bubo. well as rabbits and hares, and is very destructive to game.
It is an inhabitant of the forests of Europe, nesting in a
tree, though in some places it has been known to nest on the ledge of a cliff.
The eggs, like those of all Owls, are pure white.
The Eagle-Owl of North America (Bubo virginianus), according to Dr.
A. K. Fisher, devours a good quantity of poultry, but feeds chiefly on rats,
mice, and other rodents, with an occasional beetle or other insect.
These are little birds, seldom exceeding the size of a Thrush, and having
the appearnce of diminutive Eagle-Owls. Like the latter they have a
strongly mottled plumage and conspicuous ear-tuft3.
The Tufted-Owls. They are found in nearly every part of the world,
Genus Scops. excepting in the extreme south of America and in
Australia and the Pacific Islands. The species of Europe
(Scops scops) is distributed over the greater part of the continent below the
line of the Baltic, and is a migratory bird : it occasionally visits Great
Britain.
This large Owl is of the size of the Eagle-Owls, and like them it has ear-
tufts, though these are very small, and are often difficult to trace. It is
distinguished by its snowy-white plumage, and is an
The Snowy-Owl. inhabitant of the Arctic regions, both in the Old and New
Nyctea nyctea. Worlds, keeping above the limit of forest-growth and
never nesting in the latter districts. It is a day-flying
Owl, and feeds principally on mice and lemmings, but in winter, when this
food fails it, the Snowy-Owl will catch grouse, hares, ducks, and it has even
been known to capture fish. It makes its nest on the ground on the tundra
HA WK-OWLS BURRO WING-OWLS. 323
or on a ledge of a bank, and it lays six or eight white eggs. Sometimes as
many as ten are found in a nest, and they are generally laid at intervals,
so that young of all sizes are to be met with, and there can be no doubt that
the warmth of the downy young, which are first hatched, contributes to the
hatching of the eggs laid later on.
From its long tail and short wings, as well as from its barred under-
surface, this Owl bears considerable resemblance to a Hawk, whence its
popular name. The soft plumage and the noiseless flight,
however, distinguish it as an Owl at once. It is a diurnal The Hawk-Owl
bird in its habits, like the Snowy-Owl, and is often seen (/Surma ulula).
sitting on the top of a tree on the lookout for its prey.
It is also a very courageous bird, and will often attack anyone who attempts
to rob its nest. The latter is placed in a tree, either in a cavity or in old
nests among the branches. The eggs are white, and vary in number from
four to eight. As with the Snowy-Owl, they are laid at intervals, and are
found in various stages of incubation.
In the Old World are found the group of Little Owls (Carine) and the
Brown Hawk-Owls (Ninox), and these are replaced in America by the
curious Burrowing-Owls. These little birds associate
with the prairie-dogs, and their eggs have been found at The Burrowing-
a distance of 10 ft. from the mouth of the burrow, Owls. Genus
which is seldom made 'by the birds themselves. It has Speotyto.
often been recounted how the Owls and the prairie-dogs
live in harmony together, and, as Professor Elliot Coues says, " the case is
further complicated by the introduction of the rattlesnakes." And no little
pure bosh is in type respecting the harmonious and confidential relations
imagined to subsist between the trio, which, like the " happy family" of
Barnum, lead Utopian existences. He disposes of the myth as follows :
" First, as to the reptiles, it may be observed that they are, like other rattle-
snakes, dangerous, venomous creatures. They have no business in the
burrows, and are after no good when they do enter. They wriggle into the
holes partly because there is no other place for them to crawl into on the
bare, flat plain, and partly in search of Owl's eggs, owlets, and puppies to
eat. Next, the Owls are simply attracted to the villages of the prairie-dogs
as the most convenient places for shelter and nidification, where they find
eligible, ready-made burrows, and are spared the trouble of digging for
themselves. Community of interest makes them gregarious to an extent
unusual among rapacious birds, while the exigencies of life in the plains casts
their lot with the rodents. That the Owls live at ease in the settlements
and on familiar terms with their four-footed neighbours is an undoubted
fact, but that they inhabit the same burrows, or have any intimate domestic
relations, is quite another thing. It is no proof that the quadrupeds and the
birds live together that they are so often seen to scuttle at each other's heels
into the same hole when alarmed, for in such case the two simply seek the
nearest shelter independently of each other. The probability is that young
prairie-dogs often furnish a meal to the Owls, and that, in return, the latter
are often robbed of their eggs ; while certainly the young of both and the
Owl's eggs are eaten by the snakes." The principal food of the Burrowing-
Owl consists of insects, and they devour large numbers of locusts and grass-
hoppers, though the birds also eat a great many rodents ; and at times a
great quantity of food has been found stored up in their burrows.
These little Owls are scarcely bigger than Sparrows, and none of them
324 A VESS UB- ORDER STRIGES,
exceeds a Thrush in size. They are widely distributed in both the eastern
and western hemispheres, but are absent in Australia and
The Owlets. the Austro-Malayan and Pacific Islands. They have a
Genus Glaucidium. very rounded wing, and a swollen cere like the Little
Owls (Carine) and the other members of the Bubonince we
have just been considering. Their food consists mostly of insects, and the
flight of Glaucidium brodiei of the Himalayas, which is the only species I have
seen alive, was very swift, and the bird appeared to be perfectly at home in
daylight. The European species is the Pigmy Owlet (Glaucidium pygmceum),
and in North America, where more than one form occurs, we learn that one
of the species, G. gnoma, an inhabitant of the Western States as far south as
the highlands of Mexico, is not only an insect-feeder, but also devours small
birds and rodents, as well as lizards. It is diurnal in its habits like the little
ries which I saw in the Himalayas, and, like others of its kind, breeds in
Woodpecker's holes.
We have already alluded to the characters of the ear-conch and the
operculum which separate the members of the sub-family Syrniince from
those of the Bubonince. Three genera are recognised in
The Eared- and the Syrniince, viz., the Horned-Owls (Asio\ the Wood-
Wood-OwlsSub- Owls (Syrnium), and the Downy-Owls (Nyctala).
family Syrniinat. The Horned, or Eared, Owls, as they are generally
called, are found nearly all over the world, and our Short-
eared Owl (Asio accipitrinus) is one of the most cosmopolitan of all birds,
nesting in the north and migrating south in winter. It is one of the most
useful of all the Owls, and on the occasions when Voles
The Horned-Owls, have proved such a plague to agriculturists, the Short-
Genus Asio. eared Owls have appeared in the stricken districts, and
have devoured numbers of the mischievous rodents. It
also follows the hordes of lemmings and preys upon them. It is a day-
flying bird, and nests on the ground, often in small colonies. The Long-
eared Owl (Asio oius), on the contrary, is a forest-loving bird, and comes out
chiefly in the gloaming and at night, when it catches large numbers of mice
and other small rodents. Several pairs are often found in the same neigh-
bourhood, and in America the species has been recorded as nesting in
company, the nest being generally the deserted one of a hawk or crow of
some sort, with a slight lining added. It very rarely nest?, like so many of
the other Owls, in hollow trees.
The Wood-Owls differ from the Horned-Owls in having no ear-tufts of
feathers on the head, and in having much less of a cere than the last-named
birds. The typical species is the Wood-Owl or Tawny-
The Wood-Owls. Owl of Europe (Syrnium alueco), which is entirely a wood-
Genus Syrnium. land bird, nesting in holes of trees, in which it also passes
the greater part of the day. At night it is more lively,
and its hooting note is often heard throughout the night. Although generally
nesting in the hollow of a tree, this Owl has been known to annex a Wood-
Pigeon's nest or a squirrel's "drey," or the deserted nests of a Crow or
Magpie, while a rabbit's burrow has also been known to be occupied
by the Tawny-Owl. The eggs are three or four in number and are
white.
Of the Downy-Owls (Nyctala), the best known species is Tengmalm's Owl
(N. tengmalmi), an inhabitant of Northern Europe and North America, and
in the latter country a second species, N. acadica, occurs.
WHITE OWLS PARROTS.
325
These birds differ from the Bubonidce in having a pectinated claw to the
middle toe. The hinder margin of the sternum or breast-
Tie White Owls, bone is without notches, and the furcula or " merry -
Family Stngidos. thought" bone is joined to the keel of the sternum.
There is but one genus in the family, viz., Strix, of
which our own Barn-Owl or White Owl is the type.
The present species is nearly world-wide in its distribution, but does not occur
very far to the north. The Barn-Owl appears to follow man and his civilisa-
tion, doubtless from the fact that where farms are
settled, rats and mice will follow. The number
of mice which a Barn-Owl will consume is really
wonderful, shrews and voles being also taken in
great numbers ; and Waterton tells us that a mouse
is brought to the nest every twelve or fifteen
minutes, while we ourselves have found more than
forty field-mice, freshly caught, in the nest of one
of these Owls. They will also catch bats in small
numbers, and occasionally birds form part of their
diet, but the principal food of the Owl consists of
small rodents ; and it may confidently be said that
the Barn-Owl is one of the farmer's best friends.
Dr. A. K. Fisher, in his report on the "Hawks and
Owls of the United States in relation to Agricul-
ture," says that he scarcely found anything but
mice in the stomachs of thirty-nine Barn-Owls he
examined. Four birds had been captured, as well
as locusts and other insects, but the staple food
was mice and rats. Besides the Barn-Owls, which have a mottled plumage,
there are a couple of brown-backed species, known as Grass Owls. One
inhabits Africa, and bears the name of Strix capensis, while in India and the
Malay countries to Australia and the Pacific Islands, a second species (S.
Candida) occurs. Both these birds have longer legs than the Barn-Owl, and
live in the open grassy country.
We are shortly coming to the Picarian birds the Trogons, the King-fishers,
and such-like forms. Between them and the birds which we have hitherto
passed in review there would seem to be but little
connection, and at first sight none but the Parrots
afford a connecting link. They have been placed
in all sorts of different positions in the schemes which
have been propounded for the classification of birds, and
they have been recently pushed to the end of the series by a well-known
anatomist, because he did not know where else to place them. There was
reason in making them the head of all the birds, as was done by Blyth and
Bonaparte, on account of their superior intelligence, for the same reason
that the monkeys were placed at the head of the Mammalia, and there was
also sense in associating them with the climbing birds on account of their
zygodactyle foot, with two toes directed forwards and two backwards. They
have, however, certain characteristics which isolate them from the majority
of birds, and it requires a little consideration to determine their position in
the natural system. Nowhere does their place appear better in a linear
arrangement of birds than after the Accipitres and Striges, leading on to the
Picarice. Like the latter birds they nest in holes, and lay white eggs, but so
Fig. 68. THE BARN-OWL
(Strix flammea).
The Parrots.
Order
Psittaciforntes.
326 AVES ORDER PSITTACIFORMES.
do most of the Owls. The Parrots have a cere which is distinctly an
Accipitrine character, and the Owls have semi-zygodactyle foot, not very
different in outward appearance from that of the Parrots. Indeed, it was
one of the most curious of my experiences to see a Little Owl (Carirw noctua)
catch a black beetle and eat it. It held the beetle between its toes, exactly
like a Parrot takes its food, and munched it up, holding its foot like a hand
to take the insect to its mouth.
In the Parrots the palate is bridged or " desmognathous," arid the upper
mandible is movable and loosely articulated to the skull, while the plantar
tendons are like those of the Game-JBirds. The nestlings of Parrots are
decidedly curious, and differ from those of Owls, and also of Picarian birds.
They are covered with a dense coating of down of a dusky colour, but appear
to be completely naked when first hatched. The feathers are encased in
sheaths, like those of Picarian birds, and these sheaths last for a considerable
time, being thrown off only when the feather itself is nearly perfect, so that
the young bird, from being covered with bristly spines, becomes all at once
fully feathered.
Count Salvador!, who has monographed the Parrots in the twentieth
volume of the British Museum "Catalogue of Birds," divides them
into six families, the Kaka Parrots (Nestoridce), the Lories (Loriidce), the
Lorikeets (Cydopsittacidce), the Cockatoos (Cacatuidce), the true Parrots
(Psittacidce), and the Owl-Parrots (Stringopidce).
In this family the tongue is fringed, and the culmen of the bill is grooved
along the middle. Ttie species are now confined to New Zealand ; but
Nestor productus and N. norfolcensis, from Philip Island
The Kaka and Norfolk Island respectively, though now extinct, show
Parrots. Family that the genus extended, in former times at least, as far as
Nestoridoe. the above-mentioned localities. The Nestors are forest-
loving birds, and the following are Sir W. Buller's notes on
the habits of the Kaka : "This is one of our highly characteristic forms, and
is met with, more or less, in every part of the country. Far away in the
depths of the forest, where the trees are clad with rich mosses, cryptograms,
and lycopods to their very tops, where, as if to hide the mouldering decay of
Nature, huge masses of green vines and creeping plants cover the aged trunks
and bind the bush together where the sunlight, struggling through leafy
tops, discloses here and there a feathery tassel of Asplenium flaccidum hang-
ing from the branches or a clump of the scarlet-flowered mistletoe there the
Kaka is at home, and may be seen twisting and turning among the sprays,
hopping Cockatoo-fashion along a branch, then climbing higher with grace-
ful agility ; resting for a moment to whistle for his mate and, when he has
joined him, expressing his pleasure in a sharp chuckling note, like the
striking together of two quartz pebbles ; then, as if suspecting some
treachery below, he suddenly takes wing with loud cries of * Kaka,'
and glides smoothly through the leafy maze, closely followed by his
spouse. On a rear view the brilliant plumage under the wings is very
conspicuous when the bird is flying ; but when the bird is climbing or
hopping, in the manner habitual to it, the wings are kept closed. Then on
the outskirts of the forest you meet with him again more generally in the
early morning hunting diligently for his insect food, or regaling himself
on ripe berries of various kinds in the thick underwood ; and towards
evening three or more of them may be seen in company, flying high above
the forest level ; then alighting on the withered, naked top of some lofty
KAKA PARROTS LORIES. 327
kahikata or kauri tree always perching on the highest points resting a few
moments, and taking wing again till they are fairly out of sight. In the
early watches of the night, too, especially during the breeding season, and
just before the break of dawn, its peculiar cry betrays its wakeful rest-
lessness."
The same author writes of the Kea Parrot (Nestor notabilis) : "When
hunting for food in its wild mountain home, it may be seen perched for
a few moments on a jutting rock ; then, descending to the ground to hunt for
grubs and insects, or to gather the ripening seeds from certain Alpine plants,
it disappears for a time and then mounts to the summit of another rock,
just as I have seen the Common Raven doing in the higher parts of
the Bernese Alps. On the level ground their mode of locomotion is
similar to that of the Kaka, consisting of a hopping rather than a walking
movement. Like that bird also, they are semi-nocturnal, exhibiting much
activity after dusk and in the early dawn. The cry of the Kea, as generally
heard in the early morning, has been aptly compared to the mewing of a cat ;
but it likewise utters a whistle, a chuckle, and a suppressed scream, scarcely
distinguishable from the notes of it noisy congener. But the most interest-
ing feature in the history of this bird is the extraordinary mariner in which,
under the changed conditions of the country, it has developed a
carnivorous habit manifesting it, in the first instance, by a fondness
for fresh sheep-skins and other station offal, and then, as its education
progressed, attacking the living sheep for the purpose of tearing and
devouring the kidney-fat, and inflicting injuries that generally prove
fatal. This habit, confined at first to only a few of the more enterprising
birds, soon became general, and it is a common thing now for whole parties
of them to combine in this novel hunt after live mutton ! So destructive,
indeed, have they become on some of the sheep-runs, that the aid of
Parliament has been invoked to abate the nuisance by offering a subsidy to
Kea-hunters. Before the full development of the raptorial habit described
above, the penchant for raw flesh exhibited by this Parrot in its wild state
was very remarkable. Those that frequented the sheep stations soon
manifested a distaste for all other food and lived almost exclusively on flesh.
They took possession of sheep's heads that were thrown out from the
slaughter-shed, and picked them perfectly clean, leaving nothing but the bones.
An eye-witness thus described this operation: "Perching itself on the
sheep's head, or other offal, the bird proceeds to tear off the skin and flesh,
devouring it piecemeal, after the manner of a Hawk, or at other times holding
the object down with one foot, and with the other grasping the portion it
was eating, after the ordinary fashion of Parrots."
In these Parrots the tongue is furnished with a kind of brush, and the
culmen is smooth and not grooved along the middle. The Lories are birds
of brilliant plumage, and since Count Salvadori's review
of the family in the "Catalogue of Birds," Professor St. TheLories,-
George Mivart has published a monograph of the Family Loriida.
Loriidce,, beautifully illustrated by Keulemans. Following
Salvadori's arrangement, Professor Mivart recognises fourteen genera of
Lories, which are strongly represented in the Moluccan sub- region, and
extend west to Celebes, and eastwards to the Australian and Pacific sub-
regions. Although many of the Lories are well known as cage-birds, and
the species are well represented in most museums, it is extraordinary that
so little information is forthcoming as to their habits, Of several genera,
328 AVES ORDER PSITTACIFORMES.
such as Chalcopsittacus, Eos, and others, scarcely anything is known, and we
have only been able to gather the following scanty notes from Professor
Mivart's "Monograph" to give us some idea of the habits of the LoriidoR.
Of Eos rubiyinosa, from the Caroline Islands, Dr. Otto Finsch observes :
" This Parrakeet makes itself known by its con f inued noise, uttered both on
the wing and when resting in the foliage of high trees. It is not at all a
shy bird, approaching fearlessly the neighbourhood of houses and plundering
the fruit trees, notwithstanding all the means taken to destroy them. They
keep mostly in pairs, or in small companies of from three to five ; and often,
when I had shot one of a flock, the remainder would come down to their
dying comrade and share the same fate."
Of the Green-tailed Lory of the Solomon Islands (Lorius chlorocercus), an
account is given, by Mr. James Marler, of a pair of young birds : "For a
long time we apprehended that they would starve rather than go to the
ground for their food ; so I hit on the device of hanging it to the wire
swinging loose in the cage. To this they instantly resorted, holding it steady
with one foot, and tearing it with their bills. They hang and feed in any
position, holding sometimes by one foot and twisting round in every direction.
Often in their play, or battles, they would simultaneously grasp claws and
struggle to upset each other." In the Pacific we find the genus Vinia con-
fined to the Navigator's Islands and the Friendly and Fanning groups. Dr.
Streets gives an account of the way in which Kuhl's Lory ( Vinia kuhli) is taken
on Washington Island : " When the islander wishes to take the Lories alive,
he provides himself with two pieces of bamboo, each about a yard long. On
the end of one he perches a tame bird, and from the extremity of the other
suspends a short running noose made of cocoa-nut fibres. The decoy bird,
as it is carried about among the cocoa-nut trees, utters a harsh, rasping
sound, and the wild birds fly down from the trees and alight alongside it on
the bamboo-stick, when, by means of the other stick, they are skilfully
noosed. When caged aboard ship, they exhibited as pretty a picture of love
as one can imagine. They sat billing and smoothing each other's feathers
for hours, and as night came on, two would get together, and sleep with their
heads turned towards each other. They lived in" confinement but a very
short time, and bore it badly. At times, even while we stood watching their
lively antics, one would tumble off its perch and die, apparently in con-
vulsions.'* The most numerously represented genus of the Loriidce is
Trichoglossus, which is distributed over the greater part of the Australian
Region, and the Papuan sub-region also presents us with a group of small
pointed-tailed Lories, such as Hypocharmosyna and Oreopsittacus, some of
which are not much larger than a sparrow.
Count Sdlvadori's next family, the Cyclopsittacidce., contains only two genera,
Neopisttacus and Cyclopsittacus, from Papuasia and the Molucca Islands, as
well as Australia. The bill is deeper than in the other two families noticed
above, and the size of the birds is small.
In this family the under mandible has a series of ridges producing a file-like
surface. They embrace at once the largest and the smallest of the Parrots,
among the former being the Cockatoos, of which the Great
The Cockatoos. Black Cockatoo (Microylossus aterrimus) is an immensely
Family Caeatuida. powerful bird, while the members of the genus Nasiterna
do not possess the bulk of a sparrow. The White
Cockatoos are generally seen in this country in a state of captivity, but they
form an interesting feature of wild Australian bird-life, as may be seen from
COCKATOOS PIGMY PARROTS. 329
the following note given by Gould: "The crops and stomachs of those
killed were very muscular, and contained seeds, grain, native bread (a species
of fungus), small tuberous and bulbous roots, and in most instances large
stones. As may be readily imagined, this bird is not regarded with favour by
the agriculturist, in whose fields of newly -sown grain and ripening maize
it commits the greatest devastation ; it is consequently hunted and shot down
wherever it is found, a circumstance which tends much to lessen its numbers.
It evinces a decided preference for the open plains and cleared lands, rather
than for the dense brushes near the coast ; and, except when feeding or
reposing on the trees after a repast, the presence of a flock, which sometimes
amounts to thousands, is certain to be indicated by their screaming notes,
the discordance of which may be easily conceived by those who have heard
the peculiarly loud, piercing, grating scream of the bird in captivity, always
remembering the immense increase of din occasioned by the large number of
birds emitting their harsh notes at the same moment ; still, I considered this
annoyance amply compensated for by their sprightly actions and the life their
snowy forms imparted to the dense and never- varying green of the Australian
forest a feeling participated in by Sir Thomas Mitchell, who says, * amidst
the umbrageous foliage, forming dense masses of shade, the White Cockatoos
sported like spirits of light.' The situations chosen for the purpose of
nidification vary with the nature of the locality the bird inhabits ; the eggs
are usually deposited in the holes of trees, but they are also placed in fissures
in rocks wherever they may present a convenient site ; the crevices of the
white cliffs bordering the Murray in South Australia, are annually resorted
to for this purpose by thousands of this bird, and are said to be completely
honeycombed by them. The eggs are two in number, of a pure white and
rather pointed at the smaller end."
This family comprises the majority of the species of the order Psittaci-
formes. They differ principally from the Cacatuidce in having the orbital
ring generally incomplete, while the head is not crested
as in the Cockatoos and their allies. These are small The True
distinctions, and, as Count Salvadori has pointed out, the Parrots. Family
two families above named can scarcely be separated. In Psittacida,
the family Psittacidce are comprised all the Macaws (Ara),
the Conures (Conurus), the Amazons (Chrysotis), the Long-tailed Parrakeets
(Palceornis, Platycercus, etc.), as well as the true Parrots (Psittacus).
Numerous other genera, including the Love-Birds (Psittacula, Agapornis,
etc.), likewise belong to this section, and one of the most curious of all is the
genus Nasiterna. It consists of some little birds, less than a sparrow in size,
inhabiting New Guinea and the neighbouring groups of islands. Their small
size renders them difficult of observation, and little has been recorded of
their habits. Baron von Rosenberg found the Pigmy Parrot of Mafoor
Island in Geelvink Bay (N. maforensis) nesting in holes of trees, the eggs
being white, and not larger than those of the Bottle-Tit of Europe. Of the
Pigmy Parrot of New Guinea (N. pygmo&a) Dr. Meyer writes : "I got this
bird only near the foot of the Arfak Mountains, in New Guinea, where, at
Andai, I procured specimens in the middle of the day. There this lovely
little Parrot was sleeping on the lower branches of the trees, and could be
whipped off with a stick. This is also the case with other Parrots which are
allied to the Cacatua group. I may mention Cydopsitta lunulata, from the
Philippine Islands, the individuals of which species sleep in the middle of
the hot tropical day in rows under the shade of the foliage, when one after
33
AVES ORDER PSITTACIFORMES.
another can be shot down without the survivors attempting to fly away. It
may be imagined how soundly they sleep when the noise of the shot does not
disturb them ; and it is the same with Nasiterna. At other times of the day
it is difficult to procure, as it lives in the high trees, where its small size and
green plumage form a sufficient protection. 5 '
Space does not permit of a full discussion of the habits and ways of all the
Parrots, which are, after all, very similar ; but, as the Grey Parrot is a typical
representative of the family Psittacidce, I
give a few extracts from the account
published by Mr. J. G. Keulemans, who
studied the habits of the species in Prince's
Island, in the Bight of Benin. In this
West African island the Grey Parrot is
very common, and does a great deal of
mischief to the maize fields. The birds
resort in great numbers to certain parts
of the forest to roost. Although he
ultimately discovered the nesting-place of
the Parrots, it was not easy to find the
actual nests, though the cries of the birds
convinced him that hundreds were con-
cealed in the dense foliage around him.
His servant at last found a nest, but as
darkness was coming on fast, the tree
was marked for operations on the following
morning. "While thus occupied/' says
Mr. Keulemans, "troops of Parrots
approached from different sides and settled
among the trees. As for ourselves, we found capital shelter under a clump
of bushes, where we concealed ourselves, and thence we observed the doings
of the Parrots around us. Some were climbing and hanging on branches,
others flying and scampering through the foliage. We saw them perching
close to each other, and afterwards five or six settled just above our shelter.
Numbers came from all sides, and the chattering which we had previously
heard at the distance was by this time close to us. There was a noise of
whistling, screaming, quarrelling, and the breaking of dead branches. We
saw them pass before us and settle on the trees. At this time we must have
been surrounded by hundreds of Parrots. Being now almost dark, and having
to pass the night in the open air, it was time to take steps to make our
sojourn in the forest as comfortable as possible. A fire being the first
necessity, we left our shelter in order to gather some of the dead palm-leaves
that lay about. As we emerged from our covert the Parrots perceived us,
and in a moment the whole place was ringing with their deafening screams.
The fire was soon made, and, burning up quickly, it cast a cheerful light and
warmth around the spot, rendering our bivouac more agreeable ; and the
Parrots, attracted by the unusual sight, kept flying over and around the place
thus illuminated. An hour afterwards, quiet being restored, we proceeded
to get our supper, consisting of roasted bananas. This being finished,
we dried some moss to serve for a bed, and retired ; but the night was so
cold, and the mosquitos kept stinging my face so pertinaciously, that it was
impossible to sleep, so I got up and roasted some more bananas, smoked a
pipe, and then felt quite ready to go in pursuit of the birds. As it wanted
Fig. 67. THIS GRBY PARROT
(Puittacus erithacus).
GRE Y PARROTS GRO UND PARROTS. 33 1
some three hours to daylight, I occupied myself in preparing lime sticks and
making snares. On the appearance of the first streak of dawn, we proceeded
to the tree where a nest was suspected to be. My black man, being a capital
climber, went up to the hole, and looking in found two young Parrots, which
he carefully tied up in a pocket handkerchief and lowered down to me ; the
little things seemed to be about a fortnight old, and readily took some banana
I offered them. The old birds were absent, probably seeking food ; at least,
we did not see them. The two young ones we fastened with string to the
trunk of the tree, and placed some lime sticks round about them. In this
way we caught one of the parent birds, the securing of which was a matter of
some difficulty, owing to the resistance it made. We put the freshly caught
old bird in a linen bag, and fastened it beside the young ones. In a few
minutes our captive began to turn round and round, at the same time
screaming vociferously ; this quickly attracted the attention of the Parrots
in the neighbourhood, which came near, gazing with astonishment at the
bag which contained their mysteriously hidden comrade. One, more bold
than the rest, flew down and settled on a limed stick, but its struggles were
so violent that it succeeded in getting away. I then took my gun and shot
two individuals, the others immediately taking flight."
The last genera of the Psittacidce are the Ground Parrots (Pezoporus and
Geopsittacus) of Australia, and these lead us to the remarkable Kakapo or
Owl-Parrot of New Zealand. This is a large bird, of
The Owl-Parrot. green, moss-like plumage, which is remarkable for having
Stringops fully developed wings, but which, like other New
habroptllus. Zealand birds, is incapable of flight. This is shown by
the sternum of the bird, which has become so reduced
that a keel no longer exists, and the bird can no longer fly. Of the habits
of this curious Parrot, Sir Walter Buller, the historian of New Zealand
birds, writes as follows: " During the day it remains hid in holes under the
roots of trees or rocks, or, very rarely, perched on the boughs of trees with
a very dense, thick foliage. At these times it appears stupid from its profound
sleep, and if disturbed or taken from its hole, immediately runs and tries to
hide itself again, delighting, if practicable, to cover itself in a heap of soft,
dry grass. About sunset it becomes lively and animated, and playfully issues
forth from its retreat, and feeds on grass, weeds, vegetables, fruits, seeds,
and roots. When eating grass it rather grazes than feeds, nibbling the
grass in the manner of a rabbit or wombat. It sometimes climbs trees, but
generally remains upon the ground, and only uses its short wings for the
purpose of aiding its progress when running, balancing itself when on
a tree, or in making a short descent, half jump, half flight, from a higher
to a lower bough. When feeding, if pleased with its food, it makes a con-
tinued grunting noise. It is a greedy bird, and choice in its food, showing
an evident relish for anything of which it is fond. It cries repeatedly during
the night, with a noise not very unlike that of the Kaka (Nestor meridionalis) ,
but not so loud. The Kakapo is a very clever and intelligent bird ; in fact,
singularly so ; it contracts a strong affection for those who are kind to it, shows
its affection by climbing about and rubbing itself against its friend, and is
eminently a social and playful bird. Indeed, were it not for its dirty habits
it would make a far better pet than other bird with which I am acquainted,
for its manner of showing its attachment by playfulness and fondling is more
like that of a dog than a bird. It builds in holes under trees and rocks, and
lays two or three white eggs, about the size of a pullet's, in the month of
332
AVES ORDER CORACIIFORMES.
The Picarian
Birds. Order
Coraciijormcs.
February, and the young birds are found in March. At present (1884) the
bird is known only to exist in the Middle Island of New Zealand, on the
West Coast, between Chalky Harbour and Jackson's Bay, and in the Northern
Island, about the sources of the Waganui, and in part of the Taupo countries.
It was, within the recollection of the old people, abundant in every part of
New Zealand ; and they say it has been exterminated by the cats introduced
by the Europeans, which are now found wild and in great numbers in every
part of the country. They say also that the large rat introduced from
Europe has done its part in the work of destruction. The natives assert
that, when the breeding season is over, the Kakapo lives in societies of five
or six in the same hole, that it is a provident bird, and lays up in the fine
season a store of fern roots for the bad weather."
This large order contains a number of sub-orders, which will be treated of
below in detail. They are very different in outward form from each other
as well as in habits and in structure, but they have one
striking character in common, which separates them from
the Perching birds or Passeriformes, and that is the
arrangement of the deep plantar tendons of the foot. In
the Picarian birds the hallux or hind toe is connected
with the flexor perforans digitorum and not with the flexor longu& hallucis.
In all other birds an exactly opposite arrangement takes place.
These curious birds cannot be reckoned to be Nightjars,. although they have
the outward appearance of being members of the latter group. Their habits
are crepuscular like those of the Caprimidgidce, but there
are many characters which show that they are not true
Nightjars, but constitute a sub-order apart. They lay
white eggs, which no Nightjar ever does, the sternum
has two notches on its hinder margin, and there are other
osteological features which distinguish the Oil-Bird.
The colour of this singular species is reddish brown inclining to chestnut,
with small triangular white spots on the head and neck, and cross-barrings of
blackish on most of the upper parts, and white spots on the median wing-
coverts ; the under surface is pale chestnut, suffused with greyish.
The Oil-Bird (Steatornis gariepensis), or Guacharo, as it is usually called,
is an inhabitant of South America, from Guiana to Venezuela and Co ombia,
and thence south to Ecuador and
Peru. The best account of the habits of
this curious bird is that given by Mr.
Jean Stolzmann, the celebrated explorer
of Northern Peru. He states that
the Guacharo passes "the whole day in
the caves, hiding itself in the inaccessible
ledges, and if startled by a cry or by a
shot they make for the roof of the
cave, uttering piercing cries. A pro-
miscuous discharge among the flying
birds is usually attended with no result,
as it is impossible to take aim in the
darkness, and out of sixty shots which he
fired in the Ninabamba grotto, the result was only eleven birds. After they
become tired they return to their holes, one by one, and it is afterwards im-
possible to make them budge by any noise whatever. Scarcely has twilight
The Oil-Birds.
Sub-order
Steatornithes.
Fig. 68. THR OIU-BIHD
(Steatornis cariepensis).
OIL-BIRDSFROG-MO UTHS*
333
set in, and while still the west is lit up by the setting sun, the Guacharos come
out of their caves and fly over the forests at a considerable height, their move-
ments being very much like those of Nightjars, but they never utter any
note. They feed later on in the darkness on the fruits of Nectandra
trees, and those fruits they seize while in full flight." The stones of
the fruit are afterwards rejected, and Dr. Bevan Rake found large
quantities of such stones on the floor of the caves in Trinidad, which ho
visited in order to procure some nests and young birds. The eggs are two
in number, as a rule, but three and even four have been found ; as
before recorded, they are white. The nest is a round pile, about a
foot in height, and a little more in diameter, looking like a mass of
grey clay in the form of a cheese, and when the young are about a
fortnight old, they become very fat, so much so that the birds appear
as if entirely hidden under a thick layer of yellow grease. It is from
this peculiar development of its young that the Guacharo gets its
name of "Oil-Bird." The Indians are in the habit of visiting the
caves at the time when the young are sufficiently grown, and of killing
the latter by hundreds, melting down the fat into earthern jars, and
this fat is known by the name of guacharo-butter. Stolzmann says
that the note of the Guacharo is very disagreeable, being a loud
cri-cri-coori ?
These thick-headed birds, with their soft owl-like plumage, might well
pass for relations of the Striges, and, like the latter birds, they are strictly
nocturnal in their habits. They are oriental in habitat,
being found only in the Indian and Australian regions.
The palate is desmognathous or bridged, and the absence
of any pectination or comb-like process on the claw of the
middle toe, shows that they are not very closely allied to
the Nightjars, notwithstanding their external resemblance. The Podargi
contain but one family, with two sub-families, Podargince and ^Egothelina.
In the first-named powder-down patches are present,
and the nostrils are linear and hidden by bristles,
while in the ^Egothelince there are no powder-downs,
and the nostrils are open and exposed.
The sub-family Podargince contains but two genera,
Podargus and Batrachostomus.
The Frog-mouths are birds of mottled plumage,
the genus Podargus being confined to Australia and
the Papuan Islands. Of the habits of the Tawny-
shouldered Frog-mouth (Podargus strigoides), Gould
gives the following account : ** Like the rest of the
genus, this species is strictly nocturnal, sleeping
throughout the day on the dead branch of a tree, in
an upright position across, and never parallel to, the
branch, which it so nearly resembles as scarcely
to be distinguishable from it. I have occasionally
seen ifc beneath the thick foliage of the Casuarince,
and I have been informed that it sometimes shelters
itself in the hollow trunks of the Eucalypti, but I
never could detect one in such a situation. I mostly found them in pairs,
perched near each other on the branches of the gums, in situations not at
all sheltered from the beams of the mid-day sun. So lethargic are its
The Frog-Mouths.
Sub-order
Podargi.
Fig. 69. THE TAWNY-
SHOULDERED FROG-MOUTH
(Podargus strigoides).
334 AVES-SUB-ORDER PCDARGL
slumbers that it ia almost impossible to arouse it, and I have frequently
shot one without disturbing its mate sitting close by ; it may also be
knocked off by sticks or stones, and sometimes is even taken with
the hand. When aroused, it flies lazily off with heavy flapping wings
to a neighbouring tree, and again resumes its slumbers until the
approach of evening, when it becomes as animated and active as it
had been previously dull and stupid. The stomach of one I dissected
induced me to believe that it does not usually capture its prey while on the
wing, or subsist upon nocturnal insects alone, but that it is in the habit of
creeping among the branches in search of such as are in a state of repose.
The power it possesses of shifting the position of the outer toe backwards,
as circumstances require, is a very singular* feature, and may also tend to
assist it in its progress among the branches. A bird I shot at Yarrundi,
in the middle of the night, had the stomach filled with fresh-captured mantis
and locusts (Phasmidw and Cicadas), which seldom move at night, and the
latter of which are generally resting against upright holes of the trees. In
other specimens I found the remains of small coleoptera, intermingled with
the fibres of the roots of what appeared to be a parasitic plant, such as would
be found in decayed ana hollow trees. The whole contour of the bird shows
that it is not formed for extensive flight or for performing those rapid
evolutions that are necessary for the capture of its prey in the air, the wing
being short and concave in comparison with those of the true aerial Night-
jars, and particularly with the Australian form to which I have given the
name Eurostopodus. Of its mode of nidification I can speak with confidence,
having seen many pairs breeding during my rambles in the woods. It makes
a slightly-constructed flat nest of sticks carelessly interwoven together, and
placed at the fork of a horizontal branch of sufficient size to ensure its
safety ; the trees most frequently are the Eucalypti, but I have occasionally
seen the nest on an apple-tree (Angophora) or a swamp-oak (Casuarina). In
every instance one of the birds was sitting on the eggs and the other perched
on a neighbouring bough, both invariably asleep ; that the male participates in
the duty of incubation I ascertained by having shot a bird on the nest, which,
on dissection, proved to be a male. The eggs are generally two in number,
of a beautiful immaculate white. The night-call of this species is a loud
hoarse noise, consisting of two distinct sounds which cannot be correctly
described."
The Frog-mouths of the genus Batrachostomus are smaller birds, as a rule,
than the Podargi, and inhabit the Indo- Malay an region. Some, like the
Eared Frog-mouth of the Malay Peninsula, have long ear tufts, and many of
them have the mouth beset with long bristly hairs. The Owlet-Nightjars
(dEgotheles) are the sole representatives of the sub-family ^Egothelince. They
inhabit Australia and the Papuan Islands and the Moluccas. Gould describes
the Australian species as being somewhat Owl-like in their carriage and in
the way in which they turn their head round. They live in the holes of
trees, and come out at night in pursuit of insects, flying in a straight line,
and not turning and twisting about like Nightjars. They differ from the
latter birds, also, in their method of sitting across, and not lengthwise, on a
branch.
These curious birds form a kind of connecting link between the Rollers
and the Frog-mouths, but they really constitute one of those peculiar forms
in which Madagascar abounds. The bill is something like that of a Roller,
but the base is hidden by recurved plumes, while the nostril is linear, and
KIRO UMBOS ROLLERS. 335
is placed in the middle of the upper mandible, a quite peculiar position for
that of a Picarian bird. The fourth toe is partly reversible,
a character peculiar to the Climbing Birds. The affinity The Kiroumbos.
with the Frog-mouths is remote, but is shown by the Sub-Order
possession of powder-down patches. The sexes differ in Leptosomati.
plumage, the male being glossy green above and grey
below, while the female is rufous above, with a black head, and bars on the
sides of the head and back of the neck, the under-surface being fawn colour.
Like the Rollers, the Kiroumbo has a habit of playing in the air, ascending
to a great height, and then descending in a curve nearly to the tops of the
trees by almost closing its wings, at the same time uttering a whistle so like
that of an eagle, that Sir Edward Newton says he was some time before he
could satisfy himself that the note was that of the Kiroumbo.
In these beautiful birds we find a single family, only known from the Old
World, but there almost universally distributed. The palate is " desmog-
nathous," or bridged, and the soles of the feet are flat,
the toes being united together for nearly their entire The Rollers.
length. In Madagascar three forms of Ground-Rollers Sub-order Coracia.
occur, constituting the sub- family Brackypteraciince, and
remarkable for their long legs. Little is known of their habits ; but the
Pitta- like Ground-Roller (Atelornis pittoides) is known to frequent the
ground, and only to perch on the lowest branches of the trees. They have
a direct and straight flight, and jerk their tails in a curious way whenever
they alight on a branch.
The true Rollers, of which the Common Roller (Coracias garrulus) is the
type, consist of two genera, Coracias and Eurystomus, forming the sub-
family Coraciince. These are birds of
bright colours, and are more arboreal in
habit than the Mascarene Rollers of the
sub-family Brachypteraciince. Not being
ground-runners, we find the metatarsus
much shorter in Coracias than in the last- \.
mentioned birds. The Rollers build in
holes of trees, laying white eggs, but not
making much nest, the latter consisting
of a few roots, straws, or feathers. Both
sexes incubate, and during the breeding-
season the male ascends to a considerable
height in the air, and then descends Fig , 70. THB COMMON-ROLLER
to where the nest is situated by a series (Coracias garraius).
of somersaults and jerks, uttering a harsh
note, which Naumann describes as "rah-rahah-rrah-rra," etc., changing to
"rock " as the bird throws a somersault.
The genus Coracias has a longish bill, not unlike that of a crow, and
nearly all the species have bright greenish-blue on the wings and tail,
which colour is very conspicuous when the birds are flying. They are
found in Europe, thence to Central Asia, throughout Africa, India, and the
Burmese provinces, reappearing in Celebes, where one species, C. temmincki,
occurs.
The Broad-billed Rollers (Eurystomus) occur in Africa, India, Australia,
and one species, E. calonyx, actually goes to Eastern Siberia during the
nesting season.
336 A VESS UB- ORDER HALC YONES.
The Kingfishers agree with the Rollers in most of their anatomical
characters, having a desmognathous, or "bridged," palate, and the
hallux connected with the flexor perforans digitorum
The Kingfishers, tendon ; but they differ from them in having the spinal
Sub-order feather-tract not forked on the back, and in other
Halcyones. characters. The eggs are white, and are always con-
cealed in the hole of a tree or bank, no nest being made.
Kingfishers may be divided into two sub-families, Alcedinince and
Dacelonince. The former contain the "fishers," and the latter the
omnivorous feeders, whose food consists of Crustacea, insects, reptiles, etc.
In these birds the bill is long and slender, muoh compressed, and with an
evident keel along the culmen. There are five genera comprised in this sub-
family, of which the genus Alcedo, which contains our
The Fish-Eating Common Kingfisher, is the type. There are, however,
Kingfishers. Sub- two long- tailed genera of fish-eating species, the Pied and
family Alcediniwa. Green Kingfishers (Ceryle) and the Stork-billed King-
fishers (Pelargopsis), which have the tail longer than the
wing. The three other genera, Alcedo, Corythornis, and Alcyone, have short
tails, in no case as long as the winga.
The Stork-billed Kingfishers (Pelargopsis) are large birds with long red or
black bills, and they are inhabitants of the Indian and Indo-Malayan sub-
regions. They are mainly piscivorous, but Mr. Stuart Baker records that
in Cachar he has known the species of the country (P. burmanica), to devour
lizards and other small reptiles, while he once saw one attack a nest of young
Mynas in a hole of a tree, and drag one of them out and swallow it.
The genus Ceryle is remarkable among the Kingfishers for the difference in
the markings of the sexes, the male in some species having a double pectoral
band, whilst in others the contrary is the case, and the
The Pied King- males or the females have a band, while the opposite sex
fishers has none at all. The Pied Kingfishers are inhabitants of
Genus Ceryle. Africa, India, China, and Japan, and the best-known
species is Ceryle rudis of Africa, over the whole of which
continent it is distributed, while it ranges east as far as the Persian Gulf.
The colour above is black, varied with white, and the under-surface is white,
with two black bands across the chest in the male, and a single band in the
female. It is a familiar bird to travellers in the Nile Valley, as it hovers
above the water like a Kestrel, and falls on its prey with a stoop like that of
the latter bird. In India and China it is replaced by the Indian Pied King-
fisher (Ceryle varia), which has no black spots on the white base of the tail.
In the Himalayas and the mountains of China, as far as those of the southern
island of Japan, the Pied Kingfishers are represented by Ceryle lugubris, a
large species with the hovering habits of C. rudis, and equally a fish-eater.
In Africa there are also some large species of Ceryle, with grey backs, and
in America a similar section of the genus is met with, of which the Ringed
Kingfisher (Ceryle torquata), and the Belted Kingfisher (C. alcyon), are well-
known representatives. The latter species has a pectoral band of grey in the
male, while the female has an additional band of rufous. In the rest of the
South American species of Ceryle the back is green, and in this section
occurs one of the smallest of all Kingfishers, C. superciliosa, which is only
5 inches in length.
The genus Alcedo is found over the greater part of the Old World, and
eleven species are known, of which Africa claims three, Europe and
KINGFISHERS.
337
Northern Asia one, and the remaining seven are Indian and Malayan.
Our Common Kingfisher (A. ispida), is the brightest of our indigenous
biids, and forms the most beautiful ornament of our
risers and lakes. It is 7f inches in length, with a chest-
nut under-surface and a brilliant cobalt-blue back,
which shows vividly when the bird flies. It nests
in holes, mostly in banks of sandy soil, where the
tunnel is hollowed by the birds themselves, or in
holes of trees, sometimes at a considerable distance
from water.
In Africa and Madagascar occur the Crested King-
fishers (Corythornis), small birds with a long drooping
crest, and in Australia and the Moluccas, the three-toed
Kingfishers (Alcyone), which have the shape and fish-
catching habits of our own A . ispida, but are of
a dull purple colour, and have only three toes
instead of four, the hind-toe being absent.
In this sub-family the bill is shorter and wider, the tail generally long,
and the food of the species consists less of fish than of insects, small
Crustacea, reptiles, and even small rodents.
The first genus is Ceyx, a small form of Kingfisher which frequents
forests rather than streams. The members of this genus have a wider
and less compressed bill than those of Alcyone, but
like the latter genus they have only three toes. They are The Insectivorous
found in India and the Malayan sub-region, being very
Fig. 71 THB COMMON
KINGFISHER
(Alcedo iapida).
Kingfishers.
Sub-family
-Dacelonince.
abundant in the Philippines and extendingto the Moluccas.
They are mostly bright-coloured birds, some being of a
beautiful red all over, whilst others have a blue back
and resemble species of the genus Alcedo. In Africa they are represented by
a genus of tiny Kingfishers (Ispidina) which are also insect-eaters, as are
also the allied genera Ceycopsis of Celebes and Myioceyx of Western Africa.
From these small forms we pass to the Reptili-
vorous Kingfishers, the Crested Kingfishers
of Malacca and Borneo (Carcineutes), the Hook-
billed Kingfisher (Melidora), and Shoe-billed
Kingfisher (Clijtoceyx) of New Guiana, and the
Laughing Jackasses of Australia (L'acelo). Of
the common Laughing Kingfisher, the ** Jack-
ass " of the Australian colonists, we have the
following account of Mr. Gould's: "In its
disposition it is by no means shy, and when
any objects are presented to its notice, such
as a party traversing the bush or pitching their
tent in the vicinity of its retreat, it becomes
very prying and inquisitive, often perching on
the dead branch of some neighbouring tree,
and watching with curiosity the kindling of
the fire and the preparation of the meal ; its
presence, however, is seldom detected until
it emits its extraordinary gurgling, laughing
note, which generally calls forth some exclama-
tion according with the temper of the hearer, such as ' There is our old
23
Fig. 72. THR LAUGHING KING-
FISHER
(Daceto gigas).
338 AVES SUB-ORDER HALCYONES.
friend the Laughing Jackass,' or an epithet of a less friendly char-
acter. So remarkable are the sounds emitted by the bird that they have
been noted by nearly every writer on New South Wales and its productions.
Mr. Caley states that its ' loud noise, somewhat like laughing, may be
heard at a considerable distance, fr >m which circumstance, and its
uncouth appearance, it probably received the extraordinary appellation
given to it by the settlers on their first arrival in the colony.' Captain
Sturt says, * Its cry, which resembles a chorus of wild spirits, is apt
to startle the traveller who may be in jeopardy, as if laughing and mocking
at his misfortune;' and Mr. Bennett, in his 'Wanderings,' says, 'Its
peculiar gurgling laugh, commencing in a low, and gradually rising to
a high and loud tone, is often heard in all parts of the colony, the
deafening noise being poured forth while the bird remains perched upon
a neighbouring tree ; it rises with the dawn, when the woods re-echo with
its gurgling laugh ; at sunset it is again heard ; and as that glorious
orb sinks in the west, a last "good-night" is given in its peculiar tones
to all within hearing.' It frequents every variety of situation the
luxuriant brushes along the coast, the more thinly-timbered forest, the
belts of trees studding the parched plains, and the brushes of the
higher ranges being alike favoured with its presence ; over all these
localities it is rather thinly dispersed, being nowhere very numerous.
Its food, which is of a mixed character, consists exclusively of animal
substances ; reptiles, insects, and crabs, however, appear to be its favourite
diet ; it devours lizards with avidity, and it is not an unfrequent sight to
see it bearing off a snake in its bill to be eaten at leisure ; it also preys
upon small mammalia. I recollect shooting a Great Brown Kingfisher in
South Australia in order to secure a fine rat I saw hanging from its bill, and
which proved to be a rare species. The Dacelo gigas breeds during the
months of August and September, generally selects a hole in a large gum-
tree for the purpose, and deposits its beautiful pearl-white eggs, which are
one inch and nine lines long by one inch and five lines broad, on the
decomposed wood at the bottom. When the young are hatched, it defends
its breeding- place with great courage and daring, darting down upon any
intruder who may attempt to ascend the tree."
The large genus Halcyon contains more than fifty species, which are found
over Africa, India, and China, to Japan, and thence south to Australia, and
over the greater number of the Pacific Islands. They are mostly insect-
eaters, and are often found far away from water. The last genus of the
Kingfishers is Tanysiptera, which includes some elegant birds with only ten
tail-feathers, the middle ones being produced beyond the others, and
generally ending in a spatula or racket. These are birds of the Moluccas
and the Papuan Islands, one species, T. sylvia, being found in the Cape
York Peninsula of North-Eastern Australia. On the habits of this species a
short notice has been published by the late John Macgillivray, the original
discoverer of the species: "This pretty Tanysiptera is rather plentiful in
the neighbourhood of Cape York, where it frequents the dense brushes, and
is especially fond of resorting to the small sunny openings in the woods,
attracted probably by the greater abundance of insect food found in such
places than elsewhere. I never saw it on the ground, and usually was first
made aware of its presence by the glancing of its bright colours as it darted
p-ist with a rapid, arrow- like flight, and disappeared in an instant among the
dense foliage. Its cry, which may be represented by whee-whee whee and
KINGFISHERS HORNBILLS.
339
The Hornbills.
Sub-order
Bucerotes.
ivheet-wheet-wheet, is usually uttered while the bird is perched on a bare,
transverse branch or woody, rope-like climber, which it uses as a look-out
station, and whence it makes short dashes at any passing insect or small
lizard, generally returning to the same spot. It is a shy, suspicious bird,
and one well calculated to try the patience of the shooter, who may follow it
in a small brush for an hour without getting a shot, unless he has as keen an
eye as the native to whom I was indebted for first pointing it out to me.
According to the natives, who know it by the name of 4 Quatawur,' it lays
three white eggs in a hole dug by itself in one of the large ant-hills of red
clay which form so remarkable a feature in the neighbourhood, some of
them being as much as 10 ft. in height, with numerous buttresses and
} innacles. I believe that the bird also inhabits New Guinea ; for at Redscar
Bay, on the south-east side of that great island, in Long. 146 50' E., a heid,
strung upon a necklace, was procured from the natives." We now know
that the New Guinea bird is distinct, and is T. salvadoriana.
The Hornbills are remarkable birds, not only on account of their form, but
from the singular habit which every one of the species affects, so far as we
know, of imprisoning the female while she is engaged in
incubating. The Hornbills vary immensely in size, from
the great Rhinoceros Hornbill (Bucerus rhinoceros), which
is nearly 4 ft. long, to the tiny Lophocerus hartlaubi which
is only just over a foot in length. The Ground-Hornbills
(Bucorax) are natives of Africa, where they are generally distributed in the
Ethiopian region. They are thoroughly terrestrial birds, of black plumage,
with a little red or blue decoration on the bill, or the bare portion of the
throat. Walking about on the ground, they have the appearance of black
Turkeys, and are considered "omen "-birds among the Kaffirs. They will
devour almost any food, and eat numbers of beetles, worms, small rodents,
etc., and they also kill large snakes, against which
they generally advance in company, holding their
wings before them like a shield.
The Great Hornbill (Dichocerusbicornis) is a native
of the Western Ghauts of India and the Himalayas,
and thence through the Burmese Provinces to the
Malayan Peninsula to the mountains of Sumatra.
The Pied Hornbills (Anthracocerus) are found in
India and the Burmese Provinces to Cochin
China, and south to the Malayan Peninsula to
the Sunda Islands. These birds are generally
found in family parties, consisting of five or six
individuals. They inhabit well-wooded countries
and forests, especially near rivers, where they have
been known to feed on fish. Their chief food,
however, consists of fruits and berries.
The habits of the Hornbills seem to be alike in
their method of nidification, but in some species the
act of enclosing the female is performed by the male,
whereas in some instances the female assists in her
own imprisonment. Some explanation for this Flg - 73 '~Ho A LL ABAR PlED
curious custom may be found in the circumstance (Anthracocerus coronatus).
that when the female has laid her egg in the hollow
tree, she commences to moult, and would therefore be entirely defenceless
340 AVES SUB-ORDER UPUP^E.
and at the mercy of her enemies, if she were not fenced in, and in the
closing of the fortress she herself assists. A narrow opening is left, through
which the male is able to supply her with food.
At first sight there would appear to be little connection between the
Hornbills and the Hoopoes, but in our brief account of the Bncerotes we
were unable to illustrate all the smaller genera such as
The Hoopoes. Lophocerus, Ocycerus, etc., which are much more like the
Sub-order Ujmpts. Crested Hoopoes than the larger forms of Hornbills.
Like the latter birds, the Hoopoes have the fore-part of
the sternum perforated, so as to receive the feet of the metacoracoids.
There are two families of Upupce, the true Hoopoes (Upupidce), and the
Wood-Hoopoes (Irrisoridce). The former are sandy-coloured birds, with a
large crest and a square tail. The latter are black with a metallic blue or
bronze gloss, and a long graduated tail.
The Hoopoe is an inhabitant of temperate Europe and Asia, being
represented in certain portions of the Indian Peninsula and the Burmese
provinces by the Indian Hoopoe (U.
indica). Two other species are found
in Africa only, and one is peculiar to
Madagascar. The Hoopoe nests in a
hole, generally in a tree, and the female
and young birds are fed by the male.
The nest is often made of very filthy
materials, but the young do not seem
to suffer,, and have the same delicate,
soft plumage as the adults, which they
resemble even to the possession of the
Fig. 74.-TH* COMMON HOOPOB c f e **' In North- Western India I saw-
(Upupa epops). the Hoopoes in small flocks in the open
fields, and in such places they are great
devourers of grubs and insects. They usually keep their crests depressed,
but raise them when alarmed or excited. The note resembles the syllable
hoop, uttered two or three times ; and the late Consul Swinhoe states that
from his observations in China, the bird produces its note by puffing out the
sides of the neck and hammering on the ground at the production of each
note, thus exhausting the air at the end of the series of three notes, which
make up its song. The eggs, four to seven in number, when fresh laid, are
pale greenish-blue, but fade to a dull olive or yellowish-brown.
The Bee -eaters are birds of bright plumage, and, as a rule, of slender
form, with long tails. They resemble the Kingfishers and Hornbills in the
form of the feet, the toes being joined together, the fourth
The Bee-Eaters. toe being united to the third toe as far as the last joint,
"Sub-order and the second toe being united to the middle one for the
Mesopes. basal joint only. The palate is "bridged" or desmog-
nathous, and the breast-bone has four notches in its
hind margin, while the episternal process is perforated to receive the feet of
the metacoracoids. The Bee-eaters are found in the temperate and tropical
portions of the Old World.
In Africa we find the Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters (Dicrocercus), and the
Square-tailed Bee-eaters (Melittophagus), while Merops, which has the
central tail-feathers elongated, has seventeen species, which are found in
Africa, India, China, the Malayan Archipelago, and Australia, one species,
BEE-EA TERSMO TMO TS.
341
Fig. 75. THE COMMON BEE-EATER
(Mesops apiaster).
M. apiaster, visiting Southern Europe every summer, extending even to Cen-
tral Asia and Kashmir. The bird generally tunnels a hole into the bank of
some river, and the white eggs are deposited in a
chamber at some distance, sometimes of several
feet from the opening. Occasionally the birds
have been known to bore downwards through
the sandy soil, and Mr. E. L. Layard records
one instance which came under his own
observation in Cape Colony, where the ground
was "perforated with numberless holes, into
which the birds were diving and scrambling
like so many rats." He found the species
breeding on the Berg river in September and
October, so that the bee-eater may be con-
sidered one of the few species which are known
with certainty to nest in their winter quarters.
In certain parts of Spain the bee-eater com-
mits great havoc among the bees as they fly
out of the hives, and the bird is, in consequence, detested by the peasants.
In the Indian and Malayan sub-regions occur the bearded bee-eaters, re-
markable for an ornamental tuft of plumes on the chest. One species,
Meropogon forsteni, with the central tail-feathers produced, is confined to the
island of Celebes ; while the genus Nyctiornis, which has a square tail, is
represented by two species, JV. athertoni, of the Himalayas, with a blue throat,
and JV. amicta, of the Malayan Peninsula, with a scarlet throat. These
birds are of stouter build than the rest of the bee-eaters, and are believed to
nest in holes of trees.
The motmots are exclusively neo-tropical in habitat, and contain but a
single family, the Momotidce. They represent to a great extent the Mero-
pidce of the Old World. The pal-
ate is desmognathous or "bridged,"
the sternum has four posterior
notches, and the hind-toe or hal-
lux is always present, and is con-
nected with the flexor perforans digitorum tendon.
Seven genera are recognised, Urospatha, Prioni-
rhynchus, Eumomota, Momotus, Barypkthengus, As-
patha, and Hylomanes, the last being dwarf motmots,
and akin to the todies (Todi).
One of the chief features of the motmots is the
long tail, Hylomanes being the only genus with a
short tail. In most of the true motmots the
central tail-feathers are elongated, and generally
end in a racket, which is preceded by a bare shaft.
This racket is produced Dy the bird itself, as it
nibbles off the web of the feather with its bill,
which has a serrated or saw-like edge to the man-
dibles. Instances have been recorded of motmots,
probably young and inexperienced birds, imbued with the instinct that they
have to trim certain of their tail-feathers, but, as the latter grow at first all
of the same length, not knowing on which rectrices to commence action.
Consequently they begin to nibble feathers to right and left, until the
The Motmots.
Sub-order
Momoti.
Fig. 76. LESSON'S MOTMOT
(Momotus lessoni).
342 AVES- SUB-ORDER TODI.
development of the two central tail-feathers beyond the rest teaches the
birds that these are the two specially designed by nature to carry the
"racket" !
The motmots are green birds, generally with a black patch on the crown,
which is surrounded by blue ; the under-side is paler, and generally of a
fawn-coloured shade. They nest in holes, often tunnelling to a distance
of six feet, and the eggs are laid in a rounded chamber at the end of the
tunnel, as is the case with the kingfishers and bee-eaters of the Old World.
With the kingfishers, however, there is no nest beyond the remains of
the fish-bones which are cast up by the parent birds, whereas in the nest-hole
of the motmots a few dry twigs are sometimes present. The nesting-place,
according to Mr. Zeledon, is a foul-smelling habitation, in which the young
remain till they are able to fly pretty well. It should be noted that
young birds have the edges of the mandibles quite smooth, and without
any serrations.
The todies are also represented by a single neo- tropical family, the Todidce,
which is peculiar to the West Indian sub-region. Only four species are
known, and these are from the islands
The Todies. of Jamaica, Cuba, San Domingo, and
Sub-order Porto Rico. The long, flattened bill,
Todi. with its evident rictal bristles, suggests
that of an exaggerated flycatcher, and
in many of its habits a tody resembles a flycatcher,
though it will at times search for its food like a warbler.
The todies have a desmognathous palate, showing their Fi 77' THE JAMAICA
true affinity to the motmots and kingfishers, and they TODY' (Todus viridis).
nest in holes in banks excavated by the little birds
themselves, though they appear likewise to avail themselves of holes and
depressions already made. The eggs, like those of other picarian birds, are
glossy white, and are laid on a bed of earth in a chamber at the end of the
tunnel.
This is a very interesting group of birds, of which we have one representa-
tive in England, the common nightjar, or "goatsucker," as it is often
foolishly called, Caprimulgus europceus. In the Caprimulgi
The Nightjars. we meet with both segithogiiathous forms, such as Capri-
Sub-order mulgns and the allied genera, and schizognathous forms,
Caprimulyi. such as Chordeiles of the New World. The presence of tAvo
types of palatine characters in one family raises grave doubts
as to the value of this formation of the palate, which has been so much in-
sisted upon by osteologists. There are eighteen genera of the sub-family
Caprimulgince, and they all have the middle toe furnished with a kind of comb.
They possess no powder-down patches.
Our common nightjar (Caprimulgus europmus) is crepuscular in its habits,
a bird of the twilight. During the day it rests, and only flies when suddenly
disturbed ; but, as dusk comes on, it comes forth in pursuit of insects, and is
often to be seen flying by the light of the moon, soaring above with a sailing
flight, and occasionally producing a " clacking " noise by flapping its wings
together above its head. The singular jarring noise which the creature
makes seems to be its love-song, and in a heathy country, which is the usual
habitat of the goatsucker, this " churring " utterance is heard as twilight
commences, and even far into the night.
From their mottled and soft plumage, the goatsuckers have been generally
NIGHTJARS.
343
The Leona
Nightjar
associated with the owls, but there is no real affinity between these moth-
catching birds and the rapacious birds of the night. Their nocturnal habits
are really the only character which they have in common. The young goat-
suckers differ from those of other picarian birds in the fact that they are not
hatched naked, but are covered with down, though they are not able to pro-
vide for themselves like most of the downy nestlings of other birds. The
eggs, also, are not white, but are double-spotted, an unusual feature in picarian
birds. No caprimulgine bird makes a nest, the eggs being laid upon the
bare ground.
Africa possesses two curious genera of nightjars, which, in the breeding-
season at least, carry ornamental plumes. These are Macrodipteryx longi-
pennis of West Africa, and Cosmetornis vexillarius of South-
eastern Africa. In the former genus, the ninth primary-
quill is enormously elongated, and ends in a "racket." In
Cosmetornis, the seventh and eight primaries are elongated, (Macrodipteryx
the ninth enormously, so as to produce a train when the longipennis).
bird is flying. Round Lake Nyassa and on the Zambesi,
this bird is a well-known object as it flies over the water in the evening. I
have received the following note from Miss Alice Werner, who was con-
nected with the Blantyre Mission. Having read some notes of mine on
Cosmetornis published elsewhere,
she comments on them as fol-
lows :
"I have frequently seen the bird
at Blantyre, in Angoniland (i.e.
on the Ntumbi plain, about thirty
miles west of the Upper Shire),
and in the neighbourhood of Mount
Milanje. The Manganja call it
'lumbe,' the Angoni 'gumbe.'
I see that Sir John Kirk says
that it was only from October to
January that the singular pro-
longation of the wing feathers was
Fig. 78. LEONA GOATSUCKER (Macrodipteryx
longipennis).
observed.
" By a note in my diary, I find that I saw one at Blantyre on September
25th. I had seen another previously to this perhaps a fortnight before, but,
unluckily, I did not make a note of it, and cannot remember the date
certainly it was before the 25th of September, and I distinctly remember the
long wing feathers on both occasions. Seeing the bird outlined in black
against the sky (just after sunset, when the light was not quite gone) I took
it for a huge and grotesquely-shaped bat with an exaggerated, claw-like, pro-
longation at the end of the wing. I have never seen them in flocks only
singly, or, at most, one rising shortly after the other, so that they might have
been a pair. While I was at Mr. John Moir's plantation of Lauderdale (at
Mount Milanje) last November, one of the natives brought up to the house
three young ' Lumbi ' which had been found (I think) in a hollow tree. They
were about the size of newly-hatched chickens, and nearly fledged they
could not fly. but raised their wings (which were of immense length in pro-
portion to their bodies) straight above their heads, and ran along the floor
very quickly. We tried to feed them on chopped egg, soaked bread and
flies, but could not keep them alive more than a day or two.
344 AVES- SUB-ORDER CAPRIMULGL
"I see you give no description of the feathers, but your figure gives the
impression that the long wing-feathers are white, or, at least, distinctly light-
coloured. I would not be positive, but am almost sure, that in a specimen
shot by Mr. E. Laidlaw Thomson at Lauderdale (which was the only one I
ever had the opportunity of examining closely), these feathers were mottled
black and brown like the rest of the plumage. I remember seeing two, if
not three, in the bush near the Chinunka River, along the road to Fort
Anderson.
" The first time I ever came across them was in Angoniland, passing through
the bush in the dark. I could not see them distinctly, and at first from their
noiseless flight took them to be bats, and was rather puzzled when assured
that they were not bats (melemi) but birds. As far as I can remember, they
always flew out of trees or bushes, and never from the ground."
In these South- American nightjars there is no pectination of the middle
claw, but powder-down patches are present on the sides of the body and on
the breast. In this character they show an affinity to the
The Mottled p o dargi, and like the latter birds they lay their egg on
Sub f&rml an ex P ose d branch or stump of a tree, as is proved by the
Nyciibtina? interesting notes of Dr. Goeldi on Nyctibius jamaicensis.
He observed the nesting habits of this species in the pro-
vince of Rio de Janeiro, and writes as follows :
"During certain months the smaller N. jama icensis, called * Uratao ' by
the natives, like all the species of the group, is heard at Colonia Alpina almost
every night. Its 'pu-hu-hu ' slowly pronounced, but with much energy, is a
constant nocturnal sound, quite enough to frighten a timid wanderer in the
solitary forest-patches. On the other hand, I was often astonished at the
resemblance of the voice of the large greyish N. graitdis to the mewing of
a cat. In November, 1895, during moonlight nights, I had occasion to hear
it at Amapd regularly. The bird called continuously in the adjacent ' sirinbal '
(the inundated and impassable avicenna-forests) which borders in a most
characteristic manner the lower course of the coast-rivers of Guiana. At
Colonia Alpina (Rio de Janeiro) we got so well acquainted with N. jamaicensis
that the cry of the bird in the neighbourhood on moonlight nights was the
regular signal for us to take up our guns and go forth on our nocturnal hunt-
ing-trips. The bird is easily deceived by imitating its voice. Supposing the
call to be that of a rival, it leaves some inaccessible and invisible standpoint
in the interior of the forest, and is drawn nearer to a post 011 some isolated
dry gigantic tree, which, being in better light, offers more chance of a suc-
cessful shot. Even here, however, its wonderful protective colour, its singular
manner of perching in the direction of the axis of the branch and appearing
like a mere protuberance of it, while it retains a motionless position for a
quarter of an hour or more, render it very difficult to discern, except to very
practised eyes. My cousin, Andreas Goeldi, after long experience, is a perfect
Nyctibius hunter. Notwithstanding our familiarity with the habits of the
species of Nyctibius, for three years we were never lucky enough to discover
its breeding-place, though we made all possible efforts. Before I left Colonia
Alpina I strongly recommended the continuation of these efforts to my
cousin, and likewise as regards Hydropsalis. At length, some months after
my arrival on the Amazons, I received the agreeable news, the discovery of
an authentic nest of N. jamaicensis. My cousin's letter was accompanied by
detailed notes and photographs, and when, in August, 1895, I made a journey
back to Rio de Janeiro, I had, on a short visit to Colonia Alpina, the oppor-
MOTTLED NIGHTJARS SWIFTS. 345
tunity of seeing the localities and studying the facts, which were as follows :
On the 24th November, 1894, the son of one of our neighbours and colonists
brought to us a dead male Nyctibius jamaicensis and a fresh egg, telling us
that he had shot the ' Uratao ' standing upright on the top of a stump.
After having killed the bird he climbed up the stump and found, as he had
supposed, that the bird had its breeding-place there. In a slight depression
on the top he found the egg, which he carefully brought to my cousin, to-
gether with the bird itself. My cousin immediately went to the spot pointed
out by the boy, and inquired minutely into every detail.
" The locality is on a sloping hill on the left side of a brook, tributary of
the Rio Alpina, which runs through a valley parallel to that of the centre of
the colony. In 1891 and 1892 one of our colonists, now dead, had a maize
plantation there, but since that time the ground has become what in Brazil
is called 'capocira,' i.e. a hill covered with shrubs and small trees of about
2 inches in height. Along the declivity of the right side of the brook, at a
distance of about 30 metres from the latter, is a path of communication be-
tween -the different colonial lots of the valley and the forest-slopes on
both sides. The stump in question is about 20 metres distant from
the brook, surrounded by shrubs and easily visible from the path on the
other side, and was evidently put there three years ago by the former
colonist. The nearest human residences are distant from five to six minutes
only.
" The stump, still partly covered with its original bark, has a height of 1/8
metres above the level of the ground. Its diameter at top is 9'5 centimetres.
The top has in the centre a small depression, caused by decomposition, and
scarcely presents sufficient room for a rather large egg. There was no trace
of a softer substratum or nest material.
"The egg measures 41 '5 millimetres in the longitudinal axis, and 30'5
millimetres in the transverse axis. Its general colour is white. On the
blunt pole, however, are some very delicate pale violet spots, and regularly
distributed over the whole surface, are some large ones of brownish-rufous
colour resembling drops of dried blood. Neither the former nor the latter
markings can be effaced by washing with spirit ; they belong properly to the
egg, which is of a very elegant shape."
The swifts are some of the most rapid in flight of all the birds in the world.
"Greased lightning" is a term often applied by naturalists in the East to
the flight of some of the species, notably the spine-tailed
swifts of the genus Chcvtura. Like some of the goatsuckers The Swifts.
alluded to above, the palate of the swifts is aegithognathous, Sub-order
but here the resemblance between the swifts and the Passeri- Cypseli.
formes ends. Of course, the most swift-like of the perching
birds are the swallows, and until recent years these birds were classified
together, because they were long-winged, of swift flight, and had the same
habit of hawking insects on the wing. In reality, however, the swallows are
highly modified flycatchers, and have little in common with the Cypscli,
which are more nearly related to the humming-birds of America (Trochili).
Like most picarian birds, the swifts have ten tail-feathers, while the swallows
have twelve. The latter have two notches in the posterior end of the
sternum, while there are no notches in that of the swifts, which further have a
very high keel, indicating that they are birds of extremely developed powers of
flight. The proportions of the wing-bones are likewise very different in the
two groups, being directly opposite to each other, for, whereas in the swifts
346
AVES SUB-ORDER CYPSELI.
the humerus is very short, the forearm longer, and the manus extremely long,
in the swallows the relative proportions are exactly the contrary.
Mr. Ernst Hartert, the latest exponent of the Cypseli, divides the single
family which the sub-order contains, the Cypselidce, into three sub-farnilies,
Cypselince or true swifts, Chceturince or spine-tailed swifts, and crested swifts
(Macropterycjince). From the recent researches of Mr. F. A. Lucas, it seems
that the last-named birds are very distinct from the true swifts, and prob-
ably constitute a distinct family, their singular mode of nidification, viz.
the placing of their egg in a diminutive nest on a branch or a stump, being
very similar to that observed in the frogmouths (Podargi) and the Nyctibiince
(antea, p. 344). Mr. Hartert characterises the sub-family Cypselince, which
contains the true swifts, by the form of their toes, the outer and middle
toes having only three phalanges, while the metatarsus is distinctly feathered.
In one species, the pied swift of Central America (Aeronautes melanoleucus),
the toes are also covered with plumes. The genus Micropus, of which our
common swift (M. apus) is the type, has all the toes directed forward, but
in the palm swifts (Tachornis and Claudia) the toes are arranged in
pairs.
The common swift is migratory, like most of the family, arriving in Europe
early in May, and being one of the first of our summer birds to disappear to
its winter quarters in Africa. The mode of flight in a swift is more like that
of a bat than that of a bird, especially in the gloaming,
when the swifts chase each other at an incredible
speed, uttering shrill screams. The rapidity of their
flight far exceeds that of any swallow. About sixteen
species of the genus Micropus are known.
The sub-family Chceturince consists of the spine-
tailed swifts and the edible swiftlets. In these birds
the toes are normal, and the metatarsus is not
feathered. The spine-tailed swifts (Chcetura) are
found in both hemispheres, and have the shafts of
the tail-feathers produced into a point or spine. Some
of them are birds of considerable size, the needle-
tailed swift (Chastura caudacuta\ which has occasion-
ally been seen in England, measuring nearly a foot
in length to the end of its long wings, which in
this group of swifts always protrude beyond the tail.
It nests in Siberia, and migrates to Australia in the winter.
The swifts of the genus Collocalia are tiny birds, which inhabit the Indian
and Australian regions. Some fourteen species are known. The birds build
in caves, affixing, to the walls of the limestone, cup-shaped
nests, which are formed principally of the bird's own saliva,
though in some species there is some moss mixed up in the
nests, while others are almost entirely made of moss. These
'* moss " nests, however, are of no commercial value, while
the pure white nests are sold for making soup to the Chinese.
The tree-swifts are beautiful birds, often ornamented with a large crest or
with long white whiskers. They have the metatarsus bare, and it is shorter
than the middle toe, whereas in the Chceturince the tarsus is as long as the
middle toe, or even longer, and there are two foramina in the hinder margin
of the sternum, whereas in the other sub-families of swifts there are no
such notches. There is but a single genus, Macropteryx, with five species,
Fig. 79. THE COMMON
SWIFT (Micropus apus).
Tne Edible
Swiftlets.
Genus
Collocalia.
HUMMING-BIRDS. 347
and the most singular feature about the tree-swifts is their mode of nesting.
Nearly twenty years ago, Sir Hugh Low's native collector brought to him in
Labuan a tree-swift's nest, which he said he had found lying
under the bird's body when he shot it. The nest was of about The Tree Swifts,
the size of half-a-crown, and contained one white egg, which Sub-family
had been broken in the fall. From what we know now of Macroptery-
the nesting of the genus Macropteryx, it is evident that in gince.
the above instance the shot must have carried away the top
of the stump on which the nest had been placed, as Mr. Hume has presented
to the British Museum a similar nest obtained by Mr. K. Thompson, who found
one in India. Mr. Hume says : "The stem to which the nest was attached is
about 0'8 inch in diameter ; against the side of this the nest is glued, so that
the upper margin of the nest is on a level with the upper surface of the
branch. The nest itself is half of a rather deep saucer, 175 inches in dia-
meter, and about 0'6 inch in depth internally. The nest is entirely composed
of thin flakes of bark, cemented together by the bird's saliva, and is about an
eighth of an inch in thickness." Only one white egg seems to be laid.
The humming-birds are exclusively a New World group. The species de-
scribed up to the present time are nearly 500 in number, and among them
are found some of the tiniest birds in the world, some of
them not being larger than a bumble-bee. The bulk of the The Humming.
species are from South and Central America, a few only Birds.
reaching to the southern United States, and only a small Sub-order
number migrating north in summer to Canada, and even as Trochili.
far as Alaska.
The plumage of the humming birds is usually of a brilliantly metallic
nature, and they are admitted to be some of the most beautiful and interesting
of all birds. Their classification is extremely difficult, for the characters
blend from one genus into another, until it is almost impossible to say where
the series should begin and where it should end. So much so is this the
case, that Mr. Osbert Salvin, when he wrote the sixteenth volume of the
British Museum " Catalogue of Birds," was forced, for want of more definite
characters, to divide the humming-birds into three sections, those with a well-
defined saw-like edge near the margin of the tip of the upper mandible, those
with this serration faintly marked, and those without any serration at all.
It is impossible in the space at our disposal to pass in review all the genera
and species of humming-birds, for they are of every size, shape, and variety
of metallic plumage. The largest of all is the giant humming-bird (Patagona
giyas), from the Andes of Ecuador to Chili. This bird measures about 8^
inches in length, whereas some of the smallest species, such as Calypte helence
of Cuba, and Chcetocercus bombus of Ecuador, only measure 2^ inches.
The tongue in this order of birds is very peculiar, and its structure is only
equalled by that of the woodpeckers (Pici) and sun-birds (NectariniidcK).
The structure is thus described by Sir William Flower in the "Bird-Gallery" of
the British Museum : " The tongue is slender, and very long and extensile.
As in the woodpeckers, the two branches of the hyoid bone which support its
base, curve, when the tongue is drawn within the bill, upwards around the
back of the skull, and then forward over the top of the head. Instead of
the tongue being, as in the woodpeckers, solid and ending in a barbed horny
point, it is hollow, and divided at the free end into two slender branches,
each of which bears a thin membranous fringe on its outer margin."
The wings of the humming-birds are strong, and the primaries are ten in
348
AVES SUB-ORDER CO LI I.
Fig. 80. -A
HUMMING -BIRD.
number, while the secondaries are only six. The first primary-quill is some-
times attenuated (Atthis, Aylceactis, etc.), while in some genera, such as
Campylopterus, the shafts of the primaries are broad and stiffened. The tail
is of various shapes, sometimes square, sometimes rounded,
or, as in the genus Phwthornis, graduated, with the two
central rectrices elongated and pointed. Many genera have
forked tails, with the outer tail-feather elongated, especi-
ally in the male. The racket-tailed humming-birds have a
forked tail, with the outer rectrjx ending in a spatule or
racket. In some genera, like the shear-tails (Thaumastura)
or the stars (Clwztocercus), all the tail-feathers are pointed
and spine-like, and in the king humming-birds (Topaza\ the
central feathers are elongated and curved, crossing each
other at the same time. The most remarkable, however,
of all the humming-birds, as regards its tail, is Loddigesia
mirabilis from the Upper Amazons. In the female and
young male, ten rectrices are present as usual, but in
the adult male there are only four, a very small pair in the middle, arid an
elongated pair on the outside, which cross each other and end in a " boss "
or "racket." Some of the upper tail-coverts are so lengthened that they
appear to be part of the tail. The flight of humming-birds is more like
that of a hawk -moth than that of an actual bird, for the little creatures
hover in front of a flower, suspended, as it were, in the air, with their
wings vibrating so rapidly as to appear simply like a film. Their food
consists of the tiniest insects, and in the case of the sword-bill hummer
(Docimastes ensiferus) the bill is elongated to an enormous proportion, so that
the bird is able to probe long tubular flowers for its'food. The nest of the
humming-birds is always beautiful, and is generally composed of the down of
plants, felted, and covered with spiders' webs or soft lichens. It is generally
round, but is occasionally purse-shaped, and is placed on a branch or at the
end of a leaf. The eggs are white, and two in number.
The colies form a separate sub-order, which contains but a single genus,
ColiiiSy with nine species, all peculiar to Africa. 1 here are only ten tail-
feathers, and the hind- toe is
The Colies. connected with the flexor per-
Sub-order Colii. foransdigitor'um tendon. The
bill is something like that of
a finch, and the birds have a slight crest.
The palate is bridged or desmognathous, and
the sternum has four notches on the posterior
margin. The position of the colies in the class
Aves has been much debated, and it seems to
us that their place in the natural system must
always be open to some comment, but they
must be placed somewhere near the trogons
and the touracoes.
The colies have curious feet, all the four
toes being directed forward, the first one
being perhaps reversible ; the birds use their
feet for climbing, and they hang in peculiar positions. They make an open
nest, of grass and twigs, lined internally with soft grass, placed in a fork of
a tree, and the eggs are white.
Fig. 81. THE CAPE COLY (Colin*
colius).
TKOGONS.
349
The trogons are all birds of bright plumage, even the hens having brilliant
colours in many of the species. They are often called Heterodactyli on
account of their peculiar feet, which constitute the chief
structural feature of the order. The palate is schizognathous The Trogons.
or slit, and the second toe is turned backwards. The front Order Trogones.
plantar tendon (flexor perforans digitorum) is split into two,
and leads to the two front toes, while the hind plantar (flexorlongos hallucis)
is again split, and leads to the two hind toes. The plumage of the trogons
is of the softest description, and the skin is so thin that we have often heard
travellers say that it has no more substance than tissue-paper, and every one
admits that trogons are the most difficult birds in the world to prepare.
At the present day the order is distributed over Africa, a great part of
India and the Malayan sub-region, but they are most numerous in Central and
Southern America. In ancient times they occurred in France, as fossil remains
have been found there along with those of touracoes and secretary-birds.
One of the most splendid of birds is the long-trained trogon or quezal,
which has been adopted by the republic of Guatemala as its national em-
blem, and figures on the postage stamps of that country. It has a tail of
eight inches in length, but the upper tail-coverts are enormously developed,
the central ones extending into a train four times as long as the actual tail
itself. The quezal is found in Guatemala and Costa Rica, but is not so
plentiful as formerly ; it -is entirely a bird of the forests, and has a rapid
flight. Mr. Stolzmann noticed the Peruvian quezal clinging to the trunks of
trees like a woodpecker.
The American trogons (Trogon) are chiefly fruit-eaters, like the African
species of Hapaloderma. They are entirely forest birds, and are said to be
rather stupid, not even flying away at the
report of a gun, so that a whole party may be
shot down one after the other. They are gene-
rally seen in pairs, but occasionally assemble in
small flocks. The note is variously described as
being harsh, or clucking, as well as soft and
low. Of the Peruvian species, Trogon caligatus,
Mr. Stolzmann gives the note as " cou-cou-cou-
cou-co-co-co-co," the second half being uttered in
a lower tone than the first. The Indian tro-
gons (Harpactes) are more insect-feeders than
their American allies. The eggs of trogons
are white or pale-buff (that of the quezal being
said to be greenish-blue), three or four in
number, and deposited on the dry wood in the
hole of a tree.
Two sub-orders are represented in this order,
viz. the cuckoos (Cucidi) and the touracoes
(Musophagi), the former being a cosmopolitan group, and the latter being con-
fined to Africa, though there is evidence that in ancient times
touracoes inhabited Europe, as fossil remains of these birds
have been found in France. The cuckoos and the touracoes
have the following characters in common, which differentiate
the Coccyges from all other orders of birds. The first and
fourth toe are turned backwards, and the second and
third forwards, the hallux being always developed, arid served by the flexor
Fig. 82. THE LARGE-TAILED
TKOGON (Trogon macrurus).
The Cuckoo-
like Birds.
Order
Coccyges.
350 AVES- SUB-ORDER CUCULI.
longus hallucis tendon, and not by the flexor perforans digitorum. The
palate is " bridged " or desmognathous. In the cuckoos the oil-gland is
nude, and the feet thoroughly zygodactyle, with two toes directed forwards
and two backwards, whereas in the Musophagida? or touracoes the fourth toe
is not so completely turned backwards as in the Cuculidce, and the foot is
therefore termed semi-zygodactyle.
The Cuculidce are divided by Captain Shelley into six sub-families, of which
the first contains the true cuckoos or Cuculince. In these birds the tail is
composed of ten feathers, the upper tail-coverts are not unduly prolonged,
the wing is long and pointed, showing that most of the species are migrants,
therein differing from the wing in the bush-cuckoos, which has a rounded
and concave wing, indicating that they are not birds of strong flight.
In this sub-family are found the crested cuckoos (Coccystes), the typical
cuckoos (Cuculus), the hawk-cuckoos (Hierococcyx), the golden cuckoos
(Chrysoeoccyx), the American cuckoos (Coccyzus), the koels (Eudynamis), the
channel-bills (Scythrops), and several other genera. In the genus Coccystes
we find the first instance of the curious parasitic nature of the cuckoos, but
in the case of the great spotted cuckoo (Coccystes glandarius) there is not the
same remarkable variation in the colour of the egg that we find in the common
cuckoo (Cuculus cdnorus). On the contrary, the egg of C. glandarius is very
crow-like, and it is deposited in the nests of crows and magpies. The Indian
crested cuckoo (0. jacobinus) lays blue eggs, and places them in the nests of
birds which also lay blue eggs, such as babbling-thrushes, etc.
Ten species of true cuckoo are known, and the type of the genus Cuculus
is our common cuckoo (Cuculus cdnorus). The genus is distributed over
the whole of the Old World, excepting in the Pacific
The True Islands.
Cuckoos. In a concise work like the present there is not space to
Genus Cuculus. give in detail the habits of a bird like the cuckoo, whose
life-history would require a volume to itself. It will be,
however, known to most of my readers that the female cuckoo makes no nest
of its own, but deposits its egg in the nest of some other bird, and leaves to
the latter the task of hatching the eggs and bringing up the young cuckoo.
The latter, while still blind and naked, ejects the other little occupants of the
nest, and receives thereafter the undivided attention of the foster-parents.
The latter are of many kinds, ftycatchers, war-
blers, finches, etc., preference, however, being
given to the warblers and pipits and other
insectivorous birds. In the Western Palsearctic
region alone the egg of C. fanorus has been
found in nests of 120 different species, and an-
other curious fact in connection with the eco-
nomy of the species is that the cuckoo's egg
is remarkably small for the size of the bird,
and is, in many cases, almost an exact
copy of the egg of the foster-parent. Each
female cuckoo is believed to lay the same type
of egg during its life, so that a bird which lays
blue eggs, to be inserted in the nest of a blue-
egged species like the redstart or pied flycatcher,
*.-T HE COMMO* CUCKOO alwa ^ la ^ Ml i e ^S. Th ! CUck ran f S ^
(Cuculus canorus). over Europe and Northern Asia, and winters in
Africa, India, and Australia.
CUCKOOS TO URA COES. 35 1
Many genera of the Guculince have a good deal of metallic colour about
them, and the golden cuckoos of Africa and India, with their emerald-green
and purple plumage, are among the most beautiful of all birds. In America,
the black-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus erythrophthalmus) and the yellow-billed
cuckoo (G. americanus) build their own nests, and are most affectionate
parents.
In the Centropodince, the hind-claw is straight, and like that of a lark.
There is but one genus, Centropus, which is distributed over the Ethiopian,
Indian, and Australian regions, and no less than thirty-two
species are known. They have a hooting note, like "whoot- The Lark-heeled
w/ioo," and on the Gold Coast the species is known as Cuckoos.
the "Scotchman." In India, Mr. Hume says that 0. sinensis Sub-family
follows up the hooting note by " kurook-kurook-kurook- Centropodince.
kurook," after an interval of a few seconds. It makes a
nest in thick thorny bushes or trees, about six inches in height and twelve
inches across, composed of grass or twigs, and in the form of an oblate
spheroid ; it is too small for the size of the bird, so that the tail of the latter
is generally seen sticking out.
The bush cuckoos have a rounded and concave wing like the lark-heels, but
want the spur-like claw of the latter birds. In this sub-family are found
the rain - cuckoos (Saurothera, Hyetornis, Piaya, etc.) of
America, the steel-blue cuckoos (Ceuthmochares) of The Bush
Africa, the bush-cuckoos (Phcenicophaes, Rhinocbccyx, etc.) Cuckoos.
of the Indian region, and the couas of Madagascar. The Sub-family
members of this sub-family build their own nests and lay Phcenicophceince.
white eggs. They are mostly bush-haunting birds and
thread their way through the jungle and the trees with great facility.
The most round-winged of the bush-cuckoos are the members of the genus
Neomorphus, which represents the sub-family Neomorphince. Only three
other genera are contained in the latter, Carpococeyx, with the pheasant-
cuckoo of Borneo (G. radiatus), and the road-runners (Geococeyx and Moro-
coceyx} of the New World. The species of Neomorphus are all neo-tropical,
being found in the southern countries of Central America and the tropical
portions of South America. Five species are known, all of which are very
rare, and nothing has been recorded of their habits.
The Diplopterince, which constitute the fifth sub-family of cuckoos, are
entirely American and are remarkable for the extreme length of their upper
tail-coverts, and the sixth sub-family, the Grotophagince, is also American.
In the latter there are only eight tail-feathers, instead of ten, and some of
the Savana cuckoos (Grotophaga) have very curious habits, several females
apparently laying in the same nest, so that sometimes as many as twenty eggs
have been found in one nest. The egg, too, is very peculiar in the Croto-
phagince, as it appears at first sight to be blue covered with white scratchings
and marblings, but the true colour of the egg is white, and the blue is only
an overlying colour, which gets rubbed and scratched off through contact with
the lining of the nest.
In appearance these birds are very different from cuckoos, and their semi-
zygodactyle foot has already been alluded to (p. 350). They
are forest-birds, confined to Africa, where nearly thirty The Touracoes.
species have been described. In ancient times they appear Family
to have inhabited France, as fossil remains have been dis- Musophagidce.
covered in that country. Some of the species are crested
352
AVES ORDER SCANSORES.
dull
are
coloration, but
generally called
the majority are brilliantly plumaged
"Lowries" by the colonists of South
The Climbing
Birds. Order
Scansores.
Fig. 84. LADY Ross
TOURACOE
(M usophaga rosscr).
and of a
birds, and
Africa.
In the true touracoes (Turacus) the nostrils are hidden by bristles; in all
the other genera they are exposed. In the genus Musophaga, of which M.
rossce, from Angola and the Congo basin, is an ex-
ample, there is not only an ornamental frontal shield
of red, but the primary quills are of a deep crimson,
as they are in all the members of the genus Turacus.
From the wing-feathers of these birds has been ex-
tracted a kind of copper called turacine. The nest
of the touracoes is an open one, made of sticks, and
the egg is white.
In all the Scansores the foot is typically zygo-
dactyle, the first and fourth toes being turned
backwards, the second and third
forwards, and the arrangement of
the plantar tendons is as curious.
The flexor perforans digitorum ten-
don leads to the third digit only,
while the flexor longus hallucis first sends a tendon
to the other plantar tendon, and a second to the
fourth digit, after which (if the hallux be present)
it splits into two tendons, one leading to the hallux,
the other to the second digit.
Of the three sub-orders of the Scansores the toucans are exclusively neo-
tropical. They are very plentifully represented in Central and South
America, and are remarkable for their long, generally parti-
coloured bill, and for their curious feathery tongue. The
palate is desmognathous or "bridged," and the vomer
truncated.
The toucans are about sixty in number, and are contained
in five genera, Wiampliastos, Andigena, Pteroglossus, Selenidera, and Aula-
corhamphus. The long bill, which at first sight appears so clumsy and awk-
ward, is really a very light structure, full of empty
cellules, and the colours of the bill are usually those
of the adjoining bare skin of the face. The birds
inhabit the forests and feed on fruit, and are often
found in company. Though they have a scansorial
foot, they do not climb like woodpeckers, but pro-
ceed by great hops, like the hornbills, from branch
to branch.
The barbets are small birds with zygodactyle feet,
which are found in the neo-tropical, Ethiopian and
Indian regions, but do not extend
into the Australian region, nor are
they found in the temperate regions
of the Northern Zone of either
hemisphere. Some have a bridged
palate, but others have the palate aegithognathous or
passerine. The vomer is bifid, the oil-gland tufted,
and there are other internal characters which separate them from the rest of
The Toucans.
Sub-order
Rhamphastides.
The Barbets.
Sub-order
Capitones.
Fig. 8^. THE Toco TOUCAN
(Ramphastos toco).
BARBETS-HONE Y-GUIDES.
353
the climbing birds,
vorous, and their
Fig. 86. THE GOLDEN-GREEN
BARBET (Capita aurovirens).
They feed chiefly on fruit, but many species are insecti-
curious monotonous notes have gained for them the
names of " Tinker or Coppersmith," the little
Indian species (Xantholcema hcemacephala) nod-
ding its head sideways as it utters its metallic
call. Like woodpeckers they bore a hole in
a tree, and lay their eggs, which are white, on
the chips of wood. Of the Peruvian species
of Capita, Stolzmann says that he has found
them in small parties on high trees, feeding on
fruits in company with toucans, chatterers, and
other birds.
The honey-guides have an interesting distribu-
tion over the earth's surface. They are mostly
confined to Africa, but one species
occurs in the Himalayas, and an- The Honey-
other in the mountains of Malacca Guides.
and Borneo. The palate is aegithognathous, and the bill is Sub-order
not unlike that of a finch. The colouring of the birds is Indicators.
generally sombre, though some African species have white
lower backs and the Indian honey-guide (/. xanihonotus) has a yellow back.
The name of ' * honey-guide " is derived from the fact that several of the
African species will lead men to a bee's nest, sitting on the trees and utter-
ing a piping note. If followed, they will fly on
in advance a little way, and, as a rule, the bird is
rewarded with a little piece of the comb, from
which it extracts the grubs. The food of all
the species, as far as is known, consists of
hymenoptera.
The Piciformes resemble the Scansores in hav-
ing the plantar tendons peculiar in their arrange-
ment as already described by
Seebohm. The flexor per/or- TheWoodpecker-
ans digitorum leads to the third like Birds.
digit only. The flexor longus Order
hallucis first sends a tendon to Piciformes.
the other planter, then a
second to the fourth digit, after which (if the
hallux be present) it splits into two tendons,
one leading to the hallux, the other to the
second digit.
In the woodpeckers the palate is peculiar,
and has been termed " saurognathous " by the
late Professor W. Kitchen Parker, the vomer being slender,
pointed, and split, the lateral halves separate. The bill is The
formed for the hammering of trees, which these birds are Woodpeckers.
famous for, and is, in the majority of woodpeckers, strong and Sub-order Pici.
chisel-shaped, though weaker and more curved in the ground-
feeding species. The tongue is very peculiar, for here we meet with a-similar
arrangement to that noticed in the humming-birds (antea, p. 347). The
tongue is long and worm-like, and is capable of being protruded to an enormous
length by means of the hyoid bones, the cornua of which extend backwards
24
Fig. 87. THE GREAT HONEY-
GUIDE (2)ulicator).
354 A VES ORDER PICIFORMES.
over the skull. The tongue is furnished with a pointed, horny, barbed tip.
This arrangement, so far as is known, obtains in all woodpeckers excepting
Sphyropicus and Xenopicus.
The late Mr. Edward Hargitt divided the family Picidce, at which he
laboured unceasingly for fourteen years, into three sub-families, woodpeckers
(Picince), piculets (Picumniiice), and wrynecks (lynginat). The latter birds
have a soft and mottled plumage like that of a nightjar. They have a long
tail, the feathers of which are soft and not pointed like those of the wood-
peckers. Three species are resident in Africa, but our common wryneck
(I. torquilla) is a migrant to Europe and Northern Asia, wintering in Africa,
India, and Southern China.
The piculets are tiny little birds without the stiffened tail of the wood-
pecker, but otherwise resembling them in the form of the bill and the bristles
around the nostrils. In the iieo-tropical region the piculets
The Piculets. . are represented by the genus Picumnus with thirty-five
Sub-family species, and Nesoctites with a single species, their place being
Picumninw. taken in Africa by the genus Verreauxia with one species, V.
africana, and in the Himalayas and throughout the Indo-
Malayan region by the genus Sasia, which has only three toes. Both the
last-named genera have a bare orbital patch round the eye.
Of the habits of the species of Picumnus very little has been recorded, but
Stolzmann says that in Peru he has seen them on the borders of the rivers,
tapping the small branches of the trees, and running along the horizontal
limbs, sometimes above the branch, sometimes below.
All the true woodpeckers have the tail spiny, with the shafts of the tail-
feathers stiffened. They may be divided into two groups, the feathered-
necked section and the narrow-necked section. In the first
The True Wood- section are found the ground woodpeckers (Geocolaptes\ the
peckers. yellow-winged woodpeckers (Colaptes), and all such forms as
Sub-family the green woodpeckers (Gecinus) and their allies, the pied
Picince. woodpeckers (Dendrocopus), the three-toed woodpeckers
(Picoides), and, in fact, the bulk of the sub-family. The
narrow-necked woodpeckers are principally tropical, but they inhabit both
the Old and the New Worlds, being, however, much more plentiful in the
former, and jbhey are represented in Europe by the great black woodpecker
(Picus martins).
The distribution of the woodpeckers is interesting from the following fact,
that they are universally distributed over North and South America, the
whole of Africa, Europe and Asia, until we approach " Wallace's Line" in
the Moluccas, and there we find that a few species extend beyond the limits
of the Indo-Malayan sub-region, into Flores and Celebes. In fact, the
woodpeckers coincide in distribution with the monkeys, and do not extend
beyond the last-named island.
In habits they are singularly alike, excavating holes in trees, which they
drill with the utmost precision and with such accuracy that the hole appears
as if it had been made by the most skilled of carpenters. No
Woodpeckers, nest is made, and the white eggs are deposited on the chips
of wood at the end of the hole, which is often of considerable
depth. The note of our green woodpecker, or yaffle, is a resounding laugh,
while the pied woodpeckers call to each other by a series of taps on the
slender boughs of the tallest trees, their ordinary note being harsh and
unmusical.
WOODPE CKERS - PUFF-BIRDS.
355
An interesting genus of the section of narrow-necked woodpeckers is seen
In Thripoviax, which is found in the Indian region, and extends through the
Indo-Malayan sub-region and the Burmese pro-
vinces to the Philippines on the one hand, and to
South India and the Andaman islands on the other.
Then the genus, of which Hargitt's woodpecker is
one of the most typical species (fig. 88), reappears
in Corea and the Japanese islands of Tsu-shima,
thus proving that in the Eastern Hemisphere the
same introduction of tropical forms unexpectedly
occurs in the palsearctic area as it does in the
Western Hemisphere.
The puff-birds are neotropical, and are only found
in Central and South America. They differ from
the woodpeckers in having a nude
oil-gland and in the possession of The Puff-Birds,
caeca, and their pterylography is Sub-order
different. The palate is bridged Buccones.
PECKER Tn.r^on^xl^mj or desmognathous, and a vomer is
perforans digitorum tendon leads to the third digit only, the other plantar
tendon serving the three other toes, as in the woodpeckers. The bill is
stout and curved, and in the genus Bucco is hooked at the end, the base being
well furnished with rictal bristles. The plumage of the puff-birds is mostly
of a sombre character.
Forty-three species of puff-bird are known, divided by Dr. Sclater into
seven genera, Bucco with twenty species, Malacoptila with seven, Micromon-
acha with one, Nonnula with five, Malacoptila with
one, Monacha with seven, and Chelidoptera with two.
The accounts of the habits of these birds represent
them to be sluggish and apathetic ; they inhabit the
forests and feed on insects, after which they fly fiyom
their perch, apparently in a manner similar to that of
a bee-eater or a flycatcher. Very few notes have
been published on their habits or nesting, but the
eggs are believed to be white, and deposited in the
holes of hollow trees.
The jacamars are a small family of neo- tropical
birds, mostly of metallic plumage, resembling the
puff-birds in much of their internal
structure and. their zygodactyle feet.
The bill, however, is not heavy, as in
the latter birds, but is long, slender and pointed, and they
usually have a long and pointed tail.
The jacamars feed on insects, which they dart after from a perch, like a
flycatcher. Jacamerops aurea is said to be casually met with as solitary in-
dividuals or in pairs, preferring trees on the banks of streams to more open
places in the forest. Here they watch for passing insects, which they catch
on the wing, and return to their position. They often remain almost motion-
less for hours without stirring a feather. The jacamars are said to tunnel
a small hole in a bank and to lay white and nearly round eggs. Of the black-
cheeked jacamar (Galbula melanogenia) more has been published about the
Fig. 89. THE GREATER
PIED PUFF-BIRD
(Bucco macrorhynchus).
The Jacamars.
Family
Gcdbulidce.
356
A VES ORDER EUR YL&MI.
Fig. 90. THE WHITE-
BELLIED JACAMAR
(Galbula leucogastra.)
The Broad -Bills.
Order
Eurylcemi.
habits, and we learn from Messrs. Salvin and Godnian in their "Biologia"
that it is a solitary bird, frequenting deep ravines
overhung with trees ; it has a quick, darting flight,
utters 110 cry, and feeds on insects. Mr. Richmond
says that, on the Escondido River in Nicaragua, he
noticed the bird jerking its tail like a kingfisher,
and he describes the cry as piercing, and resembling
the syllables "kee-u," with the first syllable very
shrill and strongly accentuated.
Before commencing the account of the true perch-
ing birds or Passeriformes, there remain two orders
which have generally been placed with the latter,
but which, in our opinion, should be kept distinct.
These are the broad-bills (Eurylcemi) and the lyre-
birds (Menurce).
The broad-bills are only found in the Himalayan
region in India, whence they extend through the Bur-
mese provinces to the Malayan peninsula and islands to Borneo and the Philip-
pines. They have a passerine or segithognathous palate, but
the structure of the deep plantar tendons is strikingly different
from those of the typical passerine foot, as the flexor longus hal-
Incis tendon sends out a strong band or "vinculum" to join the
tendon of the flexor profuudus digitorum. The trachea is also
peculiar, and the sternum has no forked manubrial process. In the first sub-
family of the Eurylunmidce Dr. Sclater places but one genus, Calyptomena, which
is distinguished by the frontal plumes covering the nostrils. It contains but
three species, which are, however, the finest of the broad-bills. Their princi-
pal colour is emerald-green, varied with velvety black, and C. whiteheadi from
Kina Balu Mountain in Northern Borneo, is the largest of the family, mea-
suring nearly a foot in length. It builds a good-sized nest, according to Mr.
John Whitehead, who discovered this splendid species, which it "suspends
from the end of a slender bough about fifty feet from the ground. The
outside is composed of fresh green moss bound over the bough, and worked
into the sides, ending in a long streamer, which assists in assimilating the
nest to the long dripping streamers of mess and
lichens which hang from every bough in this continual
rainy season. The inside of the nest is very solid,
lined with dry bamboo-leaves above and below, form-
ing a well -sheltered pocket. The eggs are glossy
creamy- white." A second species of Calyptomena, G.
hosii, a green bird with a blue breast, has been dis-
covered in the mountains of Savawak by Mr. Charles
Hose, while the small species, 0. viridis, is found every-
where in the low country throughout the Malayan
peninsula and islands.
Of the Eurylaiminv, which have bare nostrils, there
are six genera, Psarisomus with one species, Serilophus
with two, Sarcophartops with two, Eurylcemus with
two, Gorydon with one, and Cymborhynchus with two.
Psarisomus dalhounce of the Eastern Himalayas and
the hills of Assam and Burma is a very handsome bird, being green, with a
black head and a blue patch on the crown. Another fine species is Hors-
Fig. 91. HORSFIELD'S
BROADBILL
(Eurylwmusjavanicus).
L YRE-BIRDS.
357
field's broadbill (E. javanicus), which is found in Java and the Malayan
islands and peninsula as far north as Tenasserim. The food of the broad-
bills appears to consist of insects, but occasionally of small reptiles. They
are inhabitants of the forests, and are said to be sluggish and somewhat stupid
birds. The nests are suspended from the boughs of trees, and are of a purse^
like shape, being composed of fibre and grass. Unlike the eggs of Calypto-
mena, those of the true broadbills are spotted with black or brownish-red on
a cream-coloured ground.
The lyre-birds have always been considered aberrant passerine birds, but
they cannot in any way, according to our ideas, be associated with the
Passer i formes, on account of their curious nesting-habits and
downy nestling. In addition to this, the lyre-birds have The Lyre-Birds.
other anatomical features, which separate them from the Order
true perching birds, and we believe that our separation of Menurce.
the Menurai as a distinct order will be followed by future
systematists, as the young lyre-bird looks more like the nestling of a petrel
than that of any other bird, and such a nestling plumage is unknown in any
species of passerine bird, the young of which are mostly hatched naked.
The adult lyre-bird is a very remarkable creature.
It has legs like those of a megapode, and altogether
looks more like a Game-Bird than anything else, but
it must be looked upon, we think, as a kind of
gigantic wren, though in effect it is, like so many of
the Australasian birds, a form by itself. We have
heard it suggested that the lyre-birds are allied to
the birds of paradise, but the only warranty for
such a proposition is that the plumage of the tail in
Menura is fantastic, as is the decorative plumage of
the birds of paradise. Three species of Menura are
known, all peculiar to the continent of Australia.
They are very shy birds, inhabiting the brush country,
and living solitary or in pairs. The food consists of
insects, chiefly beetles and centipedes, occasionally
varied with snails. Their strong feet give them
the power of making enormous leaps, and Gould
states that they will jump from the ground to a
bough ten feet above it. The nest of the lyre-bird
is domed like that of a wren ; it is of large size,
formed of sticks, and lined with feathers, and it has
a kind of outer rough covering, composed of sticks, moss, and leaves. Only
one egg is laid, of a purplish-grey colour, spotted and blotched with purplish
brown.
The principal character which distinguishes the Passeres or perching-birds
is the form of the palate, which is segithognathous or passerine, with the
vomer truncated in front. The hind toe is always present,
and is connected with the flexor longus hallucis tendon and The Perching 1 -
not with the flexor perforans digitorum. The bulk of the Birds. Order
Passeriformes belong to the division Acromyodi, in which the Passeriformes,
intrinsic muscles of the syrinx are fixed to the ends of the
bronchial semi-rings. Much discussion has taken place between ornithologists
as to which is the highest form of bird, and many are inclined to think that
preference should be given to the thrushes and warblers, on account of
Fig. 92. THE LYRE-BIRD
(Menura superba).
358
AVES- ORDER PASSERIFORMES.
their powers of song, just as the monkeys are placed at the head of the
Mammalia on account of their man-like aspect ; but in our opinion, the
crows (Corvidce) are at the head of the Passeriformes, being, with the
exception of their want of song, the most perfectly developed of birds.
The wing of a crow exhibits in its fullest perfection the power of flight,
every wing-covert and quill being shown in the most complete develop-
ment. The same is seen in the feet of a crow, where all the scales on
the tarsi and toes are more strongly indicated than in any other passerine
bird.
The colour of the crows is black or decidedly sombre, as a rule, only
relieved by brighter plumage in the case of the magpies (Pica), jays
(Garrulus), and the beautiful blue jays of America (Cyatio-
Tlie Crows. corax, Xanthura), etc. All these forms belong to the true
Family Corvidce. crows (Oorwmce), of which our iook(Trypa'iicoraxfrugilegus\
carrion crow (Corotie corone), magpie (Pica pica), and jay
(Garrulus glandarius) are typical examples. They all have the nostrils placed
high in the mandible, whereas the choughs (sub-family Fregilince) have the
nostril placed low in the mandible, nearer to its lower margin than to its
upper one. In the Fregilince we find four genera : Graculus, with our own
red-billed chough (G. graculus), Pyrrhocorax, with its single species, P.
pyrrhocorax, the Alpine chough, and Corcorax, with a single Australian species,
the white-winged chough (G. mtf.wiorhamphus}. The most interesting of this
group of birds, however, are
the desert-choughs (Podoces).
Of these there are four species,
all confined to the desert re-
gions of Central Asia from
Buchara to Turkestan and
Thibet. They are sandy-col-
oured birds, like most desert-
haunting creatures, but with
brighter heads and wings : P.
panderi from Buchara was the
first species of the genus to
be described, but nothing has
been recorded of its habits.
P. hendersoni from Yarkand
Fig. 93. PANDER'S DESERT-CHOUGH (Podoces panderi). i s better known, and Dr.
Henderson says that they al-
ways kept in pairs, and moved about from one sand-hill to another, seem-
ingly searching for insects in the sand. The stomachs, however, were
filled with grain, picked out of the horse-dung in the road. The eggs of
P. panderi are like those of crows, but one species, P. humilis, lays white
eggs.
The crows are all ambulatores or walkers, but there is no proof that the
birds of paradise progress by walking steps, when on the ground. On the
contrary, the Paradiseidce are entirely forest birds. They
differ from the true crows in the structure of the feet, the
outer toe being longer than the inner one but shorter than
the middle one. Their fantastic plumage is their chief char-
acteristic, but the nest and eggs are corvine, and the
paradise birds are really nothing but gaudy-coloured crows.
The Birds of
Paradise.
Family
Paradiseidce.
BIRDS OF PARADISE BOWER-BIRDS. 359
They include the rifle-birds (Ptilorhis), and other sickle-billed forms like the
twelve-wired birds of paradise (Seleucides) and the superb birds of paradise
(Epimachus). In all the sickle-billed
species, composing the sub-family Epi-
machince, the bill is long and curved,
and exceeds the tarsus in length. Jn
Ptilorhis the plumage is velvety black,
with a metallic head and a metallic
green shield on the breast. The nest
of Queen Victoria's rifle-bird (P. vie-
torice) is described as a loosely con-
structed structure of dead leaves and
green branchlets, the eggs being of a
flesh-colour , with streaks and spots of w _ THE KED . PLTTMI!!D BlRD OF
reddish-brown. The rifle-birds are PARADISE (Paradisea raggiana).
found in Australia and New Guinea.
The Papuan Islands and the Moluccas are also the home of the true birds of
paradise, which compose the sub- family Paradiseince, which have a stouter
bill, with the culmen not so long as the tarsus. Some eighteen genera are
to be found in this sub-family, including not only the true paradise-birds,
but many others of varied form and decorated plumage. They inhabit the
forest country at different altitudes, and in some localities, such as the
Arn Islands, they are very abundant, the insensate fashion of decorating
ladies' hats with the plumes of these lovely birds having, wonderful to
relate, not yet succeeded in exterminating them. They feed chiefly on
fruit.
The bower birds are undoubtedly closely allied to the birds of paradise,
and it is difficult to say where one family ends arid the other begins. Such
forms as the golden bird of paradise (Xanthomelus aureus)
have been placed with the Paradiseidce, but this genus and The Bower Birds,
its allies are probably bower-builders, and it is certain that Family
some of the allied forms, like Prionodura newtoniana Ptilororpyn-
and Amblyornis inornata, undoubtedly construct large chidce.
bowers.
The satin bower-bird of Australia (Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus) builds
an arched bower of sticks, decorated with snail-shells, bleached bones
of small mammals, and the bright feathers of parakeets. But one of
the most extraordinary of all these fantastic bowers is that erected by the
gardener bird of North- Western New Guinea. Dr. Beccari, who dis-
covered the bower of this species in the Arfak Mountains, describes it as
follows: "The Amblyornis selects a flat even place round the trunk of a
small tree, which is as thick and as high as a walking-stick of middle size.
It begins by constructing at the base of the tree a kind of cone, chiefly of
moss, of the size of a man's hand. The trunk of the tree becomes the central
pillar, and the whole building is supported by it. On the top of the central
pillar twigs are then methodically placed in a radiating manner, resting on
the ground, leaving an aperture for the entrance. Thus is obtained a conical
and very regular hut. When the work is completed, many other branches
are placed transversely in various ways, to make the whole quite firm and
impermeable. A circular gallery is left between the walls and the central
cone. The whole is nearly three feet in diameter. All the stems used by
the Amblyornis are the thin stems of an orchid (Dendrobmm) t an epiphyte
360 A VES ORDER PASSERIFORMES.
forming large tufts on the mossy branches of great trees, easily bent like
straw, and generally about twenty inches long. The stalks had the leaves,
which are small and straight, still fresh and living on them which leads me
to conclude that this plant was selected by the bird to prevent rotting and
mould in the building, since it keeps alive for a long time, as is so often the
case with epiphytical orchids. Before the cottage there is a meadow of
moss. This is brought to the spot and kept free from grass, stones, or
anything which would offend the eye. On this green turf, flowers and
fruit of a pretty colour are placed so as to form an elegant little garden.
The greater part of the decoration is collected round the entrance to
the nest ; and it would appear that the husband offers there his daily
gifts to his wife. The objects are very various, but always of a vivid
colour."
The starlings are a widely distributed group, peculiar to the Old World.
Our common starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is an exceedingly plentiful bird in
England, where it stays all the. year, receiving an additional
The Starlings, host of migrants in the autumn and winter. Like the
Family crows, the starlings are walking, not hopping, birds like
Sturnidce. sparrows and finches. They differ from the crows, however,
in having a streaked nestling, and they have no rictal
bristles. Besides the members of the genus Sturnus, which contains the
true starlings of Europe and Asia, and of which our own starling is the repre-
sentative, the family embraces many allied
genera, chiefly Asiatic, such as the field-starlings
and mynas (Sturnia and Temenuchus), and the
rose-coloured pastor (Pastor roseus). The latter
is an extraordinary bird, on account of its nidi-
Kcation. It appears in certain districts of South-
Eastern Europe in vast swarms, hurriedly rears
its young, and departs again with such rapidity
that its absence has hardly been noticed from its
winter quarters. The starlings have the first
primary very short, and have on that account
been associated with the swallows and wagtails,
but with these families they have nothing to do.
Fig. 95.-Tri E COMMON STAR- Their e gg s a alwa y s W 8 * 1 * white, and the
LINO (Sturnus vulgaris). nest is a rough structure, placed in a hole of a
tree or wall. The starlings are principally in-
sect-feeders, and they do an immense amount of good to the agriculturist,
though it must be admitted that at certain times they commit some depre-
dation among the fruit.
This family is for the most part Indian and Moluccan, but there are
several African and Australian forms. It contains the wattled grakles
(Eulabes) of the Indian region, the glossy starlings of
The Tree Star- Africa (Lamprocolius), and the genus Calomis of the Indian
lings. Family and Australian regions. These birds are arboreal in
EidabetidcK. their habits, and differ from the true starlings in having
distinct rictal bristles, and in laying spotted eggs. In
Madagascar the Eulabetidce are represented by the genus Euryceros, a
chestnut bird with a huge bill of a blue colour. Only one species, E.
prevosti, is known.
The Dicruridai are black crow-like flycatchers, inhabiting Africa, India,
DRONGOS ORIOLES.
361
They
The Drongos.
Family
Dicruridce.
and China, south throughout the Malayan Archipelago to Australia,
sit on exposed branches of trees,
whence they fly out and capture
insects. Their nest is a cradle
suspended between the fork of a
branch, and the eggs are whitish,
with red markings. In nearly all the species the
tail is very plainly forked, especially in Buchauga,
and in some genera, such as the Himalayan
Chibia, the outer feathers are curved upwards.
Some of the drongos, such as Dissemurus and
Bhringa, have the outer tail-feathers greatly
prolonged, and ending in a racket.
The orioles are an Old World family of birds,
the plumage being of a bright yellow or orange
colour, though some of the Moluccan and Aus-
Fig. 96. -THE BLACK DBONGO tralian forms, such as Mimeta,
(Buchanga atrce).
are dingy enough in colour, and
The Orioles.
Family
Oriolidce.
resemble honey-suckers (Meliphagidce). The orioles build
a nest like the drongos, a cup-shaped cradle between the
fork of a branch.
The golden oriole winters in Africa, and comes to Southern and
Central Europe in the spring. It not only visits the British Islands
pretty frequently, but has certainly bred there.
The note of all the orioles is very rich and flute-
like, and their habits are arboreal, their food con-
sisting of insects and fruit. The young birds are
streaked below, showing an affinity to the starlings ;
and the eggs are white, with black spots.
These birds are usually called orioles by American
naturalists, chiefly on account of their black and
yellow colour, which recalls the
plumage of the orioles of the Old The Hang-Nests.
World. They are, however, struc- Family
turally distinct, and differ in their Icteridce.
habits. The family contains many
well-known genera, such as the bobolink (Delichonyx
oryzivora) and the cow - birds (Molothrus), those
curious parasitic creatures of which Mr. W. H. Hudson gives such an inter-
esting account in the "Argentine Ornithology." He gives details of the way
in which the Argentine cow-bird (M. bonariensis) victimises many other small
birds by placing its eggs in their nests ; and he also tells us that when the
young cow-bird is hatched, the other occupants of the nest soon disappear,
though whether this massacre is the result of interference on the part of the
old birds, or is the work of the nestling cow-bird itself, as with our common
cuckoo, has not yet been proved.
Another well-known member of the family is the red- winged hang-
nest (Agelceus phcRiiiceus), popularly known amongst us as the red-
winged starling, and the meadow starlings (Sturnella) also belong to the
family.
The true hang-nests or troupials of the genus Icterus are widely spread
over the New World. The chief element in their coloration is a bright yellow
Fig. 97. THE GOLDEN ORIOLE
(Oriolus galbula).
362
A VES ORDER PASSERIFORMES.
The Weaver-
Birds. Family
Ploceidce.
Fig. 98. THE BLACK-HEADED HANG
NEST (Icterus melanocephalus).
or orange, but they differ from the orioles of the Old World, with which they
are often confused, by having only nine
primaries. Nearly 140 species of Icteridce
are known, and some species of the genus
Cassidix appear, from the recent observa-
tions of Mr. A. Schulz, to be parasitic on
each other, for Dr. Kuschel of Breslau in-
forms us that Cassidix oryzivorus deposits
its eggs in the nest of C. persicus. The
meadow-larks (Sturnella) are ground birds,
as their name implies.
Intermediate between the hang-nests and
the finches come the weaver-birds. Al-
though they resemble the
finches in their food and in
many of their habits, they
mostly build domed and
hanging nests like the Ic-
teridce.
Weavers are found in all parts of Tropical
Africa and Madagascar, as well as in India
and Burma, as far south as the Malayan Peninsula. The weaver-finches,
which are an integral portion of the family Ploceidce, consist of the wax-bills,
such as Estrilda, Lagonosticta, Poephila, etc., are found in the Australian
region, as well as all over Tropical Africa and through-
out the Indian region. The weaver-birds build a sub-
stantial nest, purse-like in shape, often with a long
stocking-like entrance. As the nests are generally
suspended from the ends of palm-branches, or from
trees which overhang the water, it is supposed that
this stocking-like appendage is added to the nest to
prevent the attacks of monkeys or snakes, both of
which are enemies of the young weaver-birds. The
weavers have no pretensions to singing powers, and
can only keep up an incessant chattering, which does
duty for a song. When kept in captivity, and supplied
with dried grass for weaving, a baya weaver (Ploceus
baya) will make a nest in a cage, and the industry of
the birds is simply remarkable. The eggs of weaver-
birds vary to a great extent, being pure white, or bluish
or greenish, with deeper markings of the same colours.
These are brilliantly-coloured birds of the New World, resembling finches
_. _ in appearance, but distinguished by having a notch in the
Family ^ " u PP er mandible. They are very numerous in the neo-
Tanagridce. tropical region, and several species visit North America in
summer.
These curious little birds are allied to the Tanagridce, but have nevertheless
the habits of the creepers, and their creeper-like eggs, white
with red spots, point to an alliance with the tree-creepers
(Gerthiidce). The principal genera of the family are Gerthiola
and Ccereba, the latter containing the well-known blue-
creeper (Ccereba cyaned).
Fig. 99. THE BLACK-
HEADED WEAVER-BIRD
(Hyphantornis melano-
cephalus).
The American
Creepers.
Family
Cwrebidce.
FINCHES B UNTINGS.
363
From these families which lie on the borderland of the finches, we pass to
the family Fringillidce. The latter family is one of the largest
in the whole series of the Passeriformes. It is almost universal The Finches.
in its distribution, and comprises three sub-families : the gros- Family
beaks (Coccothraustince), the true finches (Fringillince), and Fringillidce.
the buntings (Emberizince).
In these birds, of which our common hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes)
is the type, the bill is large and swollen, and the nasal bones are produced
backwards beyond the front lino of the bony orbit. There
are no less than twenty-three genera of grosbeaks, and they The Grosbeaks,
are represented in nearly every quarter of the globe. The Sub-family
northern forms are Coccothraustes in the Old World, and Coccothraustince.
Ligurinus, of which our common greenfinch (Ligurinus
clitoris) is the type. In North America Hedymeles is the prevailing form,
while in the Himalayas we have Mycerobas and Pycnorhamphus. The smaller
grosbeaks are principally neo-tropical, and are represented by the genera
Spermophila, and in the Galapagos Islands by Geospiza and Camarhynchus.
The cardinal grosbeaks (Cardinalis) are inhabitants of the Southern United
States as far as British Honduras in Central America, and species of the
genus are also found in Venezuela and Trinidad.
This family embraces all the best known of the finches. The type may be
said to be our common chaffinch (Fringilla ccdebs), but all the linnets, siskins,
goldfinches, and other familiar birds are part and parcel of
this sub-family. The bill is less massive than in the gros- The Finches.
beaks, and the upper mandible is not produced backwards Sub-family
beyond the front line of the orbit ; Fringillince.
otherwise the angle of the genys is
much the same as in the grosbeaks.
The finches constitute a very numerous sub-family,
and many beautiful birds are embraced within its
limits. Besides our own European forms mentioned
above, there are many interesting tropical genera, such
as the rose-finches (Carpodacus), which are found in
North America, as well as in Northern Europe and
Asia, being especially abundant in the Himalayas.
The sparrows all belong to this group of finches, as
well as the canaries, which are principally African,
Fig. loo. -THE CHAP- an( j the saffron-finches (Sycalis) of South America,
^ the bullfinches (Pyrrhula) and the crossbills (Loxia).
In the buntings there is generally a gap between the two mandibles, and
the angle of the lower mandible is much more acute than in the finches and
grosbeaks. The buntings are grain and insect-eating birds,
often of bright colours, and distributed over the greater The Buntings.
part of the globe, excepting the Australian and Polynesian Sub-family
regions. In most of the buntings, as with the finches, there Emberizince.
is a complete winter plumage, and the summer dress is
gained, not by a thorough moult, but by a shedding of the edges of the winter
feathers, so that the underlying pattern comes into prominence. One of the
best examples of this phenomenon is the snow-bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis\
which arrives in England in the winter in a rufescent dress. The summer
plumage is gradually assumed by the shedding of the pale edges to the
feathers ; the black tips to the primary coverts disappear by abrasion, and the
364
A VES ORDER PASSERIFORMES.
Fig. 101. THE SNOW-BUNTING
(Plectrophenax nivalis).
The Larks.
Family
Alaudidce.
white bases of the primaries extend by degrees, as the rufous colour of
the upper parts is gradually shed,
allowing the underlying black and
white plumage to predominate, so that
the summer dress of the snow-bunting
is pure black and white.
Besides the genus JSmbertea, which
contains our yellow-hammer (E. citrin-
clla), cirl-bunting (E. cirlus\ and or-
tolan (E. hortulana), the buntings like-
wise embrace the corn -bunting (Mili-
aria miliaria), the Lapland bunting
(Calcarius lappoiiicus), and a large
number of American genera (Zouo-
trichia, Poospiza, Junco, Spizella, Am-
modronus, Melospiza, Hcemophila, Pip-
ilo, Spiza, Pseudochloris, Phryyilus,
Paroaria, etc.).
Larks are chiefly denizens of the Old World, though North America claims
a number of species of horned-larks (Otocorys), which represent a circumpolar
genus, of which the European horned-lark (0. alpestris) occurs
in Northern Europe and Northern Asia, as well as in North
America. In America the horned larks are more numerous,
and even extend into Colombia
in South America. The Alau-
didce are distinguished from all other passerine
birds by the scutellatioris on the hinder side of
the tarsi (planta tarsi). They are especially
numerous in Africa, and also in the plains of
India, the dominant genus Mirafra extending to
the Malayan Islands and even to Australia. The
sky-larks, of which our own familiar species,
Alauda arvensis, is the best known representa-
tive, are chiefly palsearctic, though similar
species occur in the Indian region. The larl.s
are, without exception, ground-builders, and the
eggs are generally dark brown, or whitish, with
brown mottlings and speckles. Some twenty
genera are known, among which are the desert
larks (Certhilauda), remarkable for their long
curved bill, the calandra larks (Melanocorypha),
the short- toed larks (Calandrella), the crested
larks (Galerita), the wood-larks (Lullula), and the finch-larks (Pyr-
rhulauda).
Like the larks, the wagtails and pipits are " ambulatores," or walking
birds. They do not hop like sparrows and finches. They resemble the
larks in one peculiarity, viz. the extreme elongation of the
inner secondaries, which are as long as the primary quills.
The Motacillidce have not the planta tarsi scutellated as in
the larks, and they have only nine primaries, the first one
being absent. In many of the larks, however, the bastard-
primary is present, but is so tiny as almost to defy detection.
Fig. 102. THE SKYLARK
(Alunda arvensis).
The Wagtails
and Pipits.
Family
Motacillidce.
WA GTAILS CREEPERS.
365
Fig. 103. THE PIED WAGTAIL (Motacilla
lugubris).
The pipits are generally birds of sombre brown coloration, more like that
of the larks. They build their nests on the ground, generally under some
sheltered portion of a bank. The true
pipits (Anthus) are thirty-five in number,
and are found in almost every part of
the world. The common meadow pipit
(Anthus pratensis) is one well-known
species, and the tree-pipit (A. trivialis)
is another. The eggs of these two pipits
are much more richly coloured than
those of wagtails, and are often of a
pinkish-red or purplish colour, with
darker spots and blotches. The brightest
of the pipits are the members of the
African genera Macronyx and Tmetothy-
lacus, the species of Macronyx having
yellow breasts, while one species, M. amelice, has a beautiful pink
breast.
The wagtails arc divisible into two sections, the "water" wagtails and
the " field " wagtails, the latter being less frequenters of the river banks than
of the inland pastures. The most thoroughly river-haunting -species in our
own islands is the grey wagtail (Motacilla melanope\ while the pied wagtail
(M. lugubris) is a typical ' ' water "-wagtail, just as Ray's wagtail (M. campestris)
is a typical ** field "-wagtail. All these little birds, as well as the pipits, feed
on insects, which they catch on the wing or on the ground, and they all have
a graceful mode of running and walking, keeping up the whole time a con-
stant up-and-down waving of the tail.
The Mniotiltidce embrace a number of small warblers, entirely confined
to the American region, where they fulfil the same functions as our own
warblers (SylviicUe) of the Eastern Hemisphere, feeding on
insects. They differ, however, from the Sylviidce in having
nine primaries, nor is there any proof that the Mniotiltidce
have a double moult, in autumn and again in spring, like the
warblers of the Old World. The principal genera of the
Mniotiltidce are Dendrceca and Parula, both of which are
also denizens of South America. Some genera, like
Mniotilta, appear to have an affinity with the
creepers, while the genera Basileuterus, Setophaga,
Myiodioctes, etc., have well- developed rictal bristles,
and are like flycatchers in their external appear-
The American
Warblers.
Family
Mniotiltidce.
A typical creeper is easily distinguished from the
other passerine birds by its stiffened tail-feathers,
which resemble those of a woodpecker,
and are of the same use to the birds The Creepers.
in supporting themselves during their Family
climb up an upright trunk. Unlike Certhiidce.
the woodpeckers, which only ascend
the trunk, the tree-creepers often move along a
bough horizontally. They have a long and curved
bill, different from the conical bill of the tits, which
they resemble in nesting habits and in the colour of the eggs, which
Fig. 104. THE TREE-
CREEPER
(Certhia familiaris).
366
A VES ORDER PASSERIFORMES.
are white, with rufous or reddish-brown spots. The genus Certhia
contains about ten species, of which our tree-creeper (Certhia famili-
aris) is the typical one, but members of the genus are found through-
out Europe and Northern Asia, as well as in the Himalayan mountains.
They occur also throughout North America and extend into Central
America.
Just as in the climbing birds like woodpeckers, there are stiff-
tailed species and soft-tailed species, so we find in the creepers the spiny-
tailed Certhice, and some soft-tailed genera like Salpornis of India
and Africa, Climacteris of Australia and New Guinea, and the crimson-
winged creeper (Tichodroma muraria), a species which
inhabits the mountainous regions from China to the
Himalayas, and from Turkestan to the Alps and
the Pyrenees. It is a beautiful little bird of a
delicate grey colour ; in this it resembles a nut-
hatch, but the bill is curved like that of a creeper.
Like a nut-hatch, it has white spots on the outer
tail-feathers, but has the wing-coverts crimson.
The honey-suckers are one of those curious Aus-
tralasian families which stand apart by themselves,
and for which it is difficult to esti-
Tlie mate the correct relationship. Gould
Honey-Suckers, wrote in 1865 a very excellent note
Family on these birds, the habits of which
Meliphagidce. he had studied himself in nature :
" The honey-eaters are unquestion-
ably the most peculiar and striking feature in Aus-
tralian ornithology. They are, in fact, to the farmer
what the Eucalypti, Bauksice, and Melalencce are to the flora of Australia.
The economy of these birds is so strictly adapted to those trees that the one
appears essential to the other ; for what can be more plain than that the
brush-like tongue is especially formed for gathering the honey from the flower-
cups of the Eucalypti, or that their diminutive stomachs are especially formed
for this kind of food, and the peculiar insects which form a portion of it."
The brush-tongue is the chief character of the honey-suckers, which are very
numerous in Australia and New Guinea, and extends into the Moluccas and
Polynesia.
The sun-birds are very similar in outward aspect to the neo-tropical
humming-birds (Trochili, antea, p. 347). They are richly decorated in
metallic colours, but instead of hovering in front of
The Sun- Birds, flowers, suspended in the air with a vibrating flight,
Family they are more like* tits in their ways ; at least, so we
Nectariniidce. gathered from watching a little troup of Cinnyris asiatica in
a garden at Delhi, where they crept about through the
bushes, uttering a little tit-like chirp, and picking off small insects from
the leaves.
The Malachite sun-bird ( Nectarinia famosa) is one of the largest of the
Nectariniidce, and is found in Southern Africa. Most of the species of sun-
birds have square tails, but N. famosa and a few other African species
have the central tail-feathers elongated. The sun-birds have an ex-
tensile tongue similar to that of the humming-birds and woodpeckers,
Fig. 105. THE CRIMSON-
WINGED CREEPER
(Tichodroma muraria).
SUN-BIRDS TITS WHITE- E YES. 367
and Mr. Eugene Gates has shown that the bill is serrated for the terminal
third of both mandibles. They build pensile-like nests, made of fine
grass or rootlets, and generally with a kind of hood,
made of fine grass, above the entrance. The nest
is usually attached to the end of a branch, but is
sometimes found on the under-side of a broad leaf,
such as that of a plantain.
The flower-peckers are small birds, allied to the
sun-birds, but differing in their shorter bills, both
mandibles being serrated along
their cutting- edges. Their plum- The
age is mostly brilliant, and they are Flower-peckers,
found in the Indian and Malayan Family
regions and throughout the Moluc- Diceidce.
cas, New Guinea and Australia.
Their food consists of insects and small berries, and
Fig. 106. THE MALACHITE they are remarkable for the beauty of their nests,
,, T , Su . N : B D , which are purse-like, made of the cotton from
(Nectannia famosa). , r I .111 1
plants, fine grass and vegetable-down, the nests
being suspended from the end of a twig, often at a great height from the
ground. The two principal genera of the flower-peckers are Dicceum and
Prionochilus.
The white-eyes are found in Africa, the Mascarene islands, throughout
India and Ceylon, to the Burmese provinces, China and Japan, and again
throughout the whole of the Malayan region to Australia
and Polynesia. They are nearly all birds of the same The White-eyes,
pattern of coloration, green or yellowish - green above, Family
mostly with a yellow forehead, sometimes with a black one, Zosteropidce.
while the majority of species are yellow below, or white with
yellow throats. The name of "white-eye" is given to the Zosteropidce, on
account of a white ring of feathers which encircles the eye, and not because
the eye itself is white. They feed upon small insects, which they seek for
among the trees ; and Mr. Gates says that the Indian species are generally
seen in flocks, and utter a constant twitter as they search for food. The
nest is cup-shaped, very neatly and delicately made of vegetable fibres
or fine grass, moss or wool. The eggs are blue, and two or three in
number
The tits are a numerous family, most strongly represented in the northern
parts of the Old and New Worlds, reaching in the latter to Central America,
and in the former occurring throughout Europe, Africa, and
Asia, but being absent from the Australian region. They The Tits.
have stout and conical bills, and have the nostrils covered Family
with bristles, and strongly scutellated tarsi, which have Paridce.
suggested to some ornithologists their affinity to the crows
(Corvidce). There is, however, in our opinion, no relationship between these
families, for the nesting habits of the two are entirely different, and the
character of the eggs suggests no possible connection. The tits are all small
birds, assembling in flocks and family parties in winter, when they associate
with creepers, nut-hatches, and other small birds, in traversing the woods in
search of insect food. The genera of tits are not many, and they are mostly
represented in the avi-fauna of Europe. Thus Pants contains our great tit
(P. major) and blue tit (P. cceruleus), Pcecile, the marsh tit (P. palustris) and
A VES ORDER PASSERIFORMES.
Fig. 107. THE BEARDED
REEDLING.
(Calamophilus biarmicus).
its allies, Lophophanes, our crested tit (L. cristaius), and ^ffigilhalus, our long-
tailed tit (JE. vagans). Nearly all of these build
rough nests in holes of walls or of trees, and lay
white eggs spotted with rufous, from five to ten in
number. The long-tailed or bottle tit, on the other
hand, lays white eggs, seldom with any spots, in an
oval nest composed of moss, covered with lichens
and lined with feathers. It is one of the most
beautiful of all known nests, and is suspended in a
tree or bush, generally at no great height from the
ground.
The bearded reedling (Panurus biarmicus) is often
called the bearded tit, but it is not a true tit, being
a marsh-haunting bird, building a cup-shaped nest
at the base of a bunch of reeds. The eggs are white,
with reddish dots and streaks. It occurs still in the
Norfolk broads in England, and extends throughout
Europe to Central Asia in suitable localities. There
is more difference in the colour of the sexes in the
genus Panurus than there is in the tits. The males and females are alike in
colour in the latter birds, whereas in the reedling the male is a handsome
bird, with a grey head and a black moustache, while the female is quite a
plain coloured bird.
The nut-hatches are principally palsearctic and nearctic in their range. No
species is found in South America, Africa (south of the Sahara), or in the
Australian region. They are mostly grey-coloured birds,
The Nut-Hatches, with conspicuous white spots near the end of the tail-feathers.
Family In those parts of the world where true nut-hatches do not
Sittid'je. occur, their places are taken by birds of similar appearance
and habits, though of brighter coloration. Thus, in the
Himalayas south to the Burmese provinces and the Malayan sub-region
occurs the genus Dendrositta, represented far away
in Madagascar by Hypositta, and in Australia and
New Guinea by Sitella.
The true nut-hatches (Sitta), of which our common
nut-hatch is the type, are birds with the appearance
of a small woodpecker, and they climb up trees
with the same facility, using their wedge-shaped
bill to prize off pieces of bark to feed on the insects
which their prowess discovers. They have, however,
soft-pi umaged tails, not spiny tails like the wood-
peckers and creepers, but they run along boughs
exactly as these birds do, with the exception that
nut-hatches often run down a trunk, which the other
birds above-mentioned do not do.
The gold-crests form a little family of northern
birds, intermediate between the tits and warblers,
catching tiny insects like both of
these, but differing from them in
their structure and mode of nidification. They are very
tiny creatures, our common gold-crest (Regulus regulus)
being the smallest of our native birds. Gold-crests are
Fig. 108. THE COMMON
NUT-HATCH (Sitta ccesia).
The Gold-Crests.
Family
ReguUdce.
GOLD- CRESTS WAX- WINGS.
3 6 9
found only in the northern parts of the Old and New Worlds, our own jR.
regulus and the fire-crest (R. iynicapillus) being palsearctic, with a smaller
race in the Himalayas (R. hitnalayensis), and distinct forms in Madeira (R.
maderensis), the Canaries (R. teneriffce), and the Azores (R. azorensis), while
North America has the ruby-crest (.R. calendula).
Although such a small bird, the common gold-crest is a regular migrant to
England across the North Sea, and sometimes migrations have taken place
which have lasted from eighty to ninety days. The nest which the bird
builds is slung like a hammock under the branch of a yew-tree or a fir : it is
made of moss, and is generally well concealed, and lined with feathers, the
eggs being from five to eight in number, of a creamy white colour, with a
darker ring round the largei end.
The shrikes are one of the most cosmopolitan families of birds, for, with
the exception of South America, where they are absent, they are everywhere
distributed. The true shrikes (Laiiius\ of which the great
grey shrike (L. excubitor) is the type, are chiefly northern The Shrikes or
birds, but are distributed also over Africa, India, and the Butcher-Birds.
Indo-Chinese sub-region, but in the Malayan, Australian, Family Laniidce.
and Oceanic sub-regions they are represented chiefly by the
genus Pachycephala. The red-backed shrike (Lanius collyrio} and the wood-
chat (L. senator) are two of the commonest of the European species, and the
former visits Great Britain in the summer. The members of this family
have gained their name of " butcher birds " from their habit of impaling
their food on sharp thorns in the hedges near their nests, mice, frogs,
grasshoppers, beetles, and other insects being often found in the "larders "
of these birds.
The swallow-shrikes or wood-swallows constitute a small assemblage of birds,
containing the genus Artamus, of the Indian and Australian regions, with
seventeen species, and Pse,udochelidon of West Africa, with
one species, P. eurystomina. The swallow-shrikes are grey
or brown birds, with a pointed blue bill and very long wings,
and Gould says that no one who has seen them in life can
fail to notice how closely they resemble the swallows in the
actions and general mode of life. The nest of A. sordidus
is placed in the fork of a branch, or on the side of a
tree, and is made of fine twigs neatly lined with
fibrous roots. The eggs are white, spotted with umber
brown.
The wax wings are a nine-pi imaried family, chiefly
northern in their habitat, and possessing tropical
genera only in North and Central
America, where the crested chatterers
(Phainopepla and Pliloyonys) occur.
The waxwing (Ampelis garrulus) is
found in North Am erica and in Northern
Europe and Asia, and occasionally visits Great Britain,
occurring at irregular intervals in some numbers. It
gains its name from the wax-like tips which are de-
veloped on the secondary quills in the adult bird.
These are also found in the American cedar-bird (Ampelis
cedroruw), but in the Japanese waxwing (A. japonicus)
the secondaries and tail are tipped with crimson. The nest of A. garrulus
25
The Swallow-
Shrikes.
Family
Artamidce.
The Chatterers.
Family
Ampelidce.
Fig. 109. THE WAX-
WINQ
(Ampelis garrulus).
370
AVES-ORDER PASSERIFQRMES.
is a large and compact structure, made of twigs and moss, and lined with
feathers, the eggs being stone-grey, spotted with black or blackish-brown.
The Vireonidce constitute a small family of about sixty birds, peculiar
to the New World. They are. mostly of a green colour, and in many
respects resemble warblers, especially in the fact that the
young birds scarcely differ from the adults, whereas in the The Greenlets.
shrikes, to which the greenlets are undoubtedly also allied, Family
the young are cross-barred. The species of the genus Vireo Vireonidce.
build a pendent nest covered with lichens and mosses, and
they lay white eggs, speckled with red.
The warblers were, until recent years, considered to be a part of the family
of thrushes ; but in 1881, they were separated by the late Henry Seebohm
on characters which have been admitted to be of deep-seated
The Warblers. importance, viz., that the warblers had a double moult, one
Family i n spring and one in autumn, and the young were plain-
Sylviidce. coloured and resembled the adults, whereas the thrushes
have only an autumnal moult, and have spotted young,
differing from the plumage of the adult.
The warblers are denizens of the Old World, and are everywhere distri-
buted. Unfortunately we have not space to describe the many forms of
Syh'iidcR, which include some of the finest songsters in the world, such as the
nightingale (Daulias luscinia], the blackcap (Sylvia atricapilld), and other
familiar summer migrants, such as the willow
warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus), the chiffchaff (P.
minor), etc. In the Sylviidce are also placed reed
warblers, like our own species (Acroeephalus
streperus), and sedge warblers (A. phragmitis) ; as
well as all the grass- warblers ( Cisticola, Prinia, and
Sutoria). Some of the latter group build very in-
teresting nests, as they take a couple of leaves and
sew the edges together, so as to form a purse, in
which they build their riest, which is made of fine
grass, cotton down, and hair. The eggs are three
or four in number, white or bluish-green, boldly
marked with brownish-red. The warblers are
insectivorous birds, though most of -them, at certain
times, feed on small fruits and berries. In autumn
many of them migrate for very long distances.
As explained above, the thrushes have only one
moult in the year, and that in the autumn, and
they have the young birds thickly
The Thrushes. spotted and different from the
Family adults. Thus in the family Tur-
Turdidce. didcv are placed the robin (Erythacus rubecula) and its
..'" allies the blue-throats (Cyanecula) and redstarts (Ruticilla),
as well as the chats (Saxicola), and numbers of tropical genera, such as the
chat-thrushes (Cossyphd) of Africa, the shamas (Cittocincla), and the dhayal
birds (Gopsychus) of India.
The thrushes may be roughly divided into three groups : the ground-
thrushes (Oreocida and G-eocichla), the true thrushes (Turdus), and the
blackbirds (Merula).
One of the largest and handsomest of the ground-thrushes is White's thrush
Fig. 110. THE INDIAN TAILOK
BIRD (Satoria satoria).
THR USHES DIPPERS.
Fig. 111. WHITE'S
THRUSH (Oreocincla varia).
(Oreocicla varia), a species which comes from its home in Siberia to visit
Western Europe and the British Islands occasionally.
All the thrushes are insectivorous birds, but feed
also on worms and small molluscs, while in the
autumn and winter their food consists principally of
berries. Most of the northern species are migratory,
such as the fieldfare (Turdus pilaris), and the redwing
(T. iliacus), which come to us from Scandinavia in the
winter, while even our song-thrush (T. musicus) is to
a great extent a migrant.
In the blackbirds (Menda), the sexes are different
in colour, the female being always of a duller plumage
than in the male, as is evidenced by our common
blackbird (M. merula). The ground-thrushes are dis-
tinguished by a patch of white under the wing.
There is scarcely any part of the world from which
thrushes are absent.
The dippers, or water ouzels, are aquatic wrens.
They are generally associated with the thrushes, but they have the front
of the tarsus without any scutellse, and only covered with a ^ Dippers
plain tarsal envelope. Like the wrens, they have no rictal FamUy
bristles, and they build a round nest of moss under the Cindidce.
shelter of a stone or the root of a tree, and lay white eggs.
The name of dipper is not attached to this bird because it dips under the
water, but on account of the curious bobbing motion which the bird con-
tinually keeps up. Every time that it bobs
its head, it flirts its wings and slightly erects
its tail. The bird is ranked as " vermin " by
ignorant people, who suppose that it devours
the ova of trout, but it is generally allowed
that the evidence of this crime on the part
of the bird is open to doubt, and its food
consists of caddis-worms, water-beetles, and
small molluscs. The flight of the dipper is
extremely rapid, and resembles that of a
kingfisher. It flies with rapid beats of the
wings above the surface of the water, and
will disappear suddenly beneath the stieam,
but more often it settles on a rock and
deliberately walks into the water, searching for its food among the stones at
the bottom of the river.
Of the dippers about a dozen species are known, inhabitants of the moun-
tain-streams of the northern parts of both hemispheres, extending to the
Himalayas and China ; while in the New World the genus is found in the
highlands of Central America, and throughout the Andes of Colombia
Ecuador, and Peru.
The Troglodytidce embrace a number of small birds such as our common
wren (Anorthura troglodytes), which are spread over the
greater part of the globe, being very abundant in the New
World, but absent in the Australian and Ethiopian regions.
They have no rictal bristles, and build domed nests. Many
of them have a remarkable power of song.
Fig. 112. -THE COMMON DIVPER
(Cinclus aquaticus).
The Wrens.
Family
Troglodytidce.
372
A VES ORDER PASSERIFOKMES.
me
Mocking- Birds.
Family
Mimidce.
Fig. 113. THE MOCKING-BIRD
(Mimus polyyloUus).
The mocking-birds &re an American family, of which Mimus polyyloUus
and the cat-bird (Galeoscoptes
carolinensis) are prominent ex-
amples. The Mimidto are found
throughout temperate North
America, Central America, the
West Indian islands, and the
greater part of South America, even to Chili,
Patagonia, and the Galapagos Islands. Their
powers of song and mimicry are proverbial.
The Timeliidce are short- winged, non -migra-
tory birds, with the habits of thrushes and the
rictal bristles of flycatchers.
The Babblers. They are mostly ground birds,
Family many of them, like Grateropus,
Timeliidce. proceeding through the bushes
in flocks, while others, like Ptilo-
cichla are clothed in dense plumage, resembling
the Formicariidee of South America. The characters and limits of this large
Old World family are still imperfectly understood.
The bulbuls are another family peculiar to the Old World, thrush-like in
character, but differing from the thrushes in their short tarsi, and stronger
rictal bristles. They are birds of quiet habits, but possess a
sweet song. The Pycnonotidie are found all over Africa,
and one species is an inhabitant of Algeria and Morocco.
They are strongly represented throughout the Indian region,
and. extend into the entire Malayan region.
The chief character which distinguishes this Old World family of birds
The is the spiny character of the rump-feathers. They are
Cuckoo-Shrikes, found throughout the Ethiopian, Indian, and Australian re-
Family gions, and constitute a link between the flycatchers and the
Campophagidve. shrikes.
The flycatchers are mostly broad -billed, insect- catching birds, with abun-
dant rictal bristles, entirely confined to the Old World, over the whole
of which they are distributed. They
TheFlycatchers vhave spofcfced young like the thrushes,
nr * m ?/ an( l N this account it is often very
******* difficult to determine whether some of
the genera should be referred to the Turdidce or the
Muscicapidce.
Our common flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola) is a
late summer migrant to England, and arrives from
Africa in May. The last-named continent is also
the home of a number of resident species of the genus
Muscicapa, which is also well represented in the Indian
and Chinese regions by species similar to M. grisola.
The nest of the latter species is often placed in a crevice
of bark on a tree and decorated with lichens and spiders'
webs, which help to conceal it. The eggs are greenish-
white or stone-colour, with reddish-brown spots. The
pied flycatcher (Ficedula atricapilla) represents another section of the Musci-
capidw, and lays blue eggs, the nest being in the hole of a tree. The fau-
The Bulbuls. _
Family
Pycnonotidce.
Fig. 11 4. T 11 E COM MON
FLYCATCHER
(Muscicapa grisola).
SWALLO WS TYRANT-BIRDS.
373
Fig. 115, THE
COMMON SWALLOW
(Hiru
tailed flycatchers (Rhipidura) of India and Australia build a cup-shaped nest
on a bough ; and besides these few forms there are many others which we
have not space to enumerate, such as the paradise flycatchers (Terpsiphone)
of Africa and India, remarkable for their long tails, which form a kind of
streamer.
The swallows, so often associated with the swifts, because of their similar
manner of flight and mode of living, are now recognised by all ornithologists
as being true Passeres. They have, how-
ever, a different arrangement of the The Swallows.
feather-tracts to the rest of the perch- Family
ing birds, in having the spinal tract HirunJinidcE.
forked on the back. Swallows are found
all over the world, and in summer penetrate very far
north, our common swallow (Hirundo rustica) having
been seen near Spitsbergen, and wintering as far south
as the Cape Colony and the Indian Peninsula. In
America the cliff"- swallow ( Petroche lidon pyrrhono to) and
the purple martin (Progne purpurea) also perform migra-
tions almost equal in extent to those of the American barri-
swallow (Hirundo erythrogaster), which is the counterpart
of our H. rustica. Many of the swallows build in barns
and outhouses or in holes of trees, and make rough nests
of mud and straw, lined with feathers, but some, like the
house-martins (Chelidon) build their mud nests under the
eaves of houses, and lay white eggs. The nest of our
house-martin (Chelidon urbica) is an instance of this method, and in this
genus the eggs are white, not spotted as in the case of the true swallows.
The bank-martins (Gotile) also lay white eggs, which are deposited at the end
of a tunnel excavated by the birds themselves.
All the birds contained in this section of the passeriformes have the in-
trinsic muscles of the syrinx fixed to the middle of the bronchial semi-rings.
The first sub-division of the Mesomyodi have the lower end
of the trachea not modified, the syrinx as in the oscines, but Section
with a lesser number of singing-muscles. This sub-division Mesomyodi.
is called the Acromyodce. There are eight acromyodian
families, of which mention is made below, and they are distinguished by the
different scutellation of the tarsi. In the first division occur the Tyrannidce,
Oxyrhamphidce, and Pipridce ; in these the tarsus is what is called "exas-
pidean." In the second division, where the tarsus is " pycnaspidean," are
the Cotingidce and Phytotomidw. In the third is the family PhilepittidcK,
with a " taxaspidean " tarsus; and lastly, the fourth division, with an
4 * ochreate " tarsus, containing the Pittidw and Xeniscidce. The last three
families inhabit the Old World, but all the others belong to the New
World.
In the tyrants the " exaspidean " form of tarsus prevails, i.e., the scutella-
tion of the fore part of the tarsus is continued over the whole outer side of
it, and includes also the hinder aspect or the planta tarsi.
The family is divided by Dr. P. L. Sclater into four sub-
families, the Tceniopteritue, Platyrhynchince, Elceniince, and
TyrannincK. The tyrants number more than 400 species, a
certain portion of which are migratory, breeding in North
America, and wandering to Central and South America in winter.
The Tyrants
Family
Tyrannidie.
By far
374
AVES ORDER PASSERIFORMES.
the greater majority of species are neotropical in habitat. They are insect-
feeders, and resemble our flycatchers in habits, so much so that they are
commonly known as " flycatchers " in America.
In the Tyrannidce and Oxyrhamphidce the toes are nearly free, according
to Dr. Sclater, as in the Oscines or ordinary passerine birds. They differ
from the members of the foregoing family in having a straight
The Sharp-Bills, and pointed bill, instead of the flattened and hooked bill of
Family the Tyrannidw. As Mr. Salvin well observes, the position
Oxyrhamphidw. of the genus Oxyrhamphus is obscure, and it may turn out,
when its anatomy is known, that it is not allied to the
tyrants at all. In the male bird, according to Mr. Salvin, " the barbs of the
central portion of the outer web of the outermost primary have their ex-
tremities destitute of barbules, and these bare points turned rather abruptly
backwards and slightly inwards, the margin of the wing thus forming a
strongly serrate edge. In the female the outer web of this feather is normal."
Nothing has been recorded of the habits of the species of Oxyrhamphus,
which are three in number.
The Pipridce differ from the two foregoing families in having the toes
united at the base. They are mostly brightly-coloured birds, about seventy
in number, strictly neotropical in habitat, and dwelling in
The Manakins. the forests. A curious habit of one of the manakins, Chiroxi-
Family phialinearis, of Central America, is recorded by Mr. Nutting.
PipridcK. Instead of fighting for the female, as is the case with most
birds, this manakin dances himself into her favour. Mr.
Nutting once saw two males dancing upon a bare twig about four feet from
the ground. The two birds were about a foot and a half apart, and were
alternately jumping about two feet into the air, and alighting exactly upon
the spot whence they jumped. They kept time as regularly as clock-work,
one bird jumping up the instant that the other bird alighted, each bird
accompanying himself to the tune of toledo, tole'do, toledo, sounding the
syllable " to " as he crouched to spring, " le " while in the air, and " do " as
he alighted.
In the Cotingidce the tarsus is " pycnaspidean," with the scales of the
hinder aspect of the tarsus (planta tarsi) separate, small in size, and generally
arranged without any order. The
The American bill is elongated, compressed, and
Chatterers. not serrated. Six sub-families are
Family recognised by Dr. Sclater, and all
Cotingidce. the species are neotropical. They
comprise very varied forms, buti
the most striking are the cocks-of-the-rock (Rupi-
cola) arid the bell-birds (Chasmorhynchus).
The plant-cutters are only four in number, and
are found in Western South America from Peru
to Chili, thence to the Argentine
The Plant- Republic and Northern Patagonia.
Cutters. Family There is only one genus, Phytotoma,
Phytotomidce. which agrees with the Cotingidw,
as regards the scaling of the tarsus,
but is distinguished by its short, conical, and ser-
rated bill.
In the following small family the tarsus is "taxaspidean," with the spaces on
Fig. 116. THE BELL-BIRD
(Lhasmorhynchus niveus).
PETLAS WOOD- HE WERS.
375
The Wattled
Ant-Thrushes.
Family
Philepittidce.
Fig. 117. THE PURPLE
PITTA
natina).
the soles of the tarsus close together, rectangular, and arranged in regular
series. The Philepittidce are ground birds, found only in
Madagascar. Two species are known, one black, the other
olive above, yellow below, but both having a bluish fleshy
carbuncle above the eye.
ThePittidce differ from all the families we have been recently
considering in having the tarsus "ocreate," or covered with an entire scale. With
the exception of one species, Pitta an-
golensis, which inhabits West Africa, The Pittas.
the whole of the family are denizens of Family Pitiidce.
the tropical regions of the Indian and
Australian regions. The pittas are birds of bright
coloration, inhabitants of the forests, and in many
cases migratory. The Burmese genus Anthocinda
has long superciliary tufts, which are absent in the
other genera.
The Xeniscidce agree with the Pittidce in the scaling
of the tarsus, but have only ten tail-feathers, whereas
the pittas have twelve. Three genera are known of
these tiny wren-like birds, viz. Acanthidositta, Tra-
versia, and Xenicus, all from the New Zealand sub-
region.
The arrangement of the voice- organs in the Tracheo-
phonce is exactly opposite to that of the Oscines or
ordinary passeres, and the lower end
of the trachea is specially modified in order to form an organ Section
of voice, and the bronchi are not involved in the arrange- Tracheophonce.
menb at all.
The four families composing the Tracheophonce are all neotropical, the
Dendrocolaptidce and Formicariidce having only one pair of notches in the
hinder margin of the sternum, while
the Conopophagidce and Pteroptoc-
hidce have two pairs of posterior
notches.
The wood-hewers are about three
hundred in number, and are con-
tained in six sub-families, three of which, the Fur-
nariince (oven-birds), Synallaxince, and Philydonnce
have soft-plumaged tails, while the other four, con-
sisting of the true wood-hewers and their allies, have
spiny tails. The species we have figured comes from
North and West Argentina, is somewhat gregarious,
and Mr. Barrows says that its habits are somewhat
like those of a woodpecker, but it spends much of its
time on the. ground searching for insects.
These are forest birds, inhabiting Central and
South ' America, and numbering about 300 species.
Mr. Osbert Salvin divides the family
into two groups, those which' fre- The Ant-Birds.
quent the trees and bushes and have short tarsi, and those Family
whose habits are terrestrial, and feed on insects on the Formicariidce.
ground. The habits of the Formicariidce are not very well
The
Wood-Hewers.
Family Den-
drocolaptidce.
Fig. 118. BRIDGES' WOOD-
HEWER (Drymornis
bridgesi).
376 A VES ORDER PASSERIFORMES.
known, but they appear to make their nests in trees and bushes, some of
them being pensile, and suspended in a forked branch near the extremity of
a bough. The eggs, according to Mr. Saivin, vary greatly, from rich dark-
greenish blue to a mottled mahogany colour, and many are pure white, or are
white with few or many spots. Although commonly known as " ant "-birds,
whence also their scientific name, it is now believed that the Formicariidce
do not eat ants, but only feed on the insects driven up by the swarms of
foraging-ants (Ecliiton).
The Conopophayidce consist of a couple of genera, with eleven species,
found in South America, from Colombia to South-Eastern Brazil and Bolivia.
They bear a general resemblance to the Formicariida:, but have four posterior
notches in the sternum.
The tapacolas, or Pteroptochidce, are a family of small wren-like birds,
occurring in the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia, but more plentifully re-
presented in Chili arid Patagonia.
In the AtrichiidcK the sternum is single-notched, and they have a rudi-
mentary f urcula or " merry-thought." The wings are so small that the power
of flight must be very limited, and the planta tarsi is scaled
Tfce Scrub-Birds, like that of a lark. Only two species are known, both from
Family Australia. Of the noisy scrub-bird (Atrichia clamosa), whom
Atrichiidce. Gilbert discovered in Western Australia, Gould says that
it is a very difficult bird to find among the tangled beds of
dwarf-ferns and dense thickets, and is only detected by its peculiar and
noisy note.
SUB-KINGDOM I. VERTEBRATA.
CLASS III.REPTILIA.
BY R. LYDEKKER, B.A., F.R,S., V.P.G.S., &c.
FROM both mammals and birds, reptiles are broadly distinguished by the
coldness of their blood, which has a temperature but little, if at all, raised
above that of the surrounding air. Probably to the popular mind this is the
most obvious distinction of reptiles ; and, in the ordinary acceptation of the
term, it does serve to differentiate the group from all other vertebrates
except fishes with which these creatures are not likely to be confounded.
But it must be remembered that the popular and scientific conceptions of
what constitutes a reptile are totally distinct. Under that title the ordinary
observer includes frogs, salamanders, and newts ; and, in fact, all terrestrial,
cold-blooded vertebrates. From certain structural peculiarities the natural-
ist, on the other hand, separates the creatures just named from reptiles, and in-
cludes under that title only crocodiles, tortoises, turtles, lizards and snakes, with
a number of extinct forms with which we are not concerned in this volume.
Although some reptiles, such as lizards, agree very closely with the egg-
laying mammals (Monotremata) in the structure of the bones forming the
shoulder-girdle, while this resemblance is still more markedly displayed by
certain extinct members of the reptilian class, yet the relationships of
modern reptiles are decidedly closer with birds. Both groups, for instance,
agree in that the young are not nourished with milk ; while as regards
structure there are several points in which they are identical, and at the
same time differ from mammals. Notably, each branch of the lower jaw in
birds and reptiles is composed of several distinct bones ; and the whole jaw
is jointed on each side to the skull by means of a separate ossification known
as the quadrate -bone. In both groups the ankle-joint is situated between
the two horizontal rows of bones constituting the tarsus ; although in birds,
as well as in some extinct reptiles, these bones are welded respectively with
the long bones of the leg and of the metatarsus, A further distinction
is the articulation of the skull to the first vertebra by means of a single
knob-like condyle, instead of by the two condyles characterising mammals.
Such are some of the features common to birds and reptiles, as distinct
from mammals. From birds, reptiles are broadly distinguished by the ab-
sence of feathers, the protective structures developed in the outer layer of
the skin taking the form either of overlapping horny scales, or of large
shield-like plates united by their edges. As already said, reptiles are further
distinguished by their cold blood ; but this is obviously a feature of much
less importance, for even among mammals the Monotremata have the tem-
perature of the blood perceptibly lower than is the case with the higher
members of the class. An important difference is, however, found in the
great blood-vessel, or aorta, by which the blood passes from the heart to the
body ; since, whereas in birds this is single and bends over the left branch of
377
373 REPTILIA ORDER I. CROCODILIA.
the windpipe, in reptiles it is double, and passes over both branches of the
latter. Then, again, no reptiles are known in which the number of digits
in the fore-limb is reduced to three ; while in no case are the two collar-
bones fused together to form the forcula, or merrythought, which consti-
tutes such a striking feature in the skeleton of a bird. Other minor differences
might be pointed out, but the foregoing are amply sufficient to distinguish
a bird from a reptile. In common with the egg-laying mammals, both groups
produce their young from eggs ; but in certain reptiles the young are retained
so long within the body of the parent that they are born alive into the world.
From the lower vertebrates, that is to say frogs, salamanders, newts, and
fishes, reptiles differ in that they are never provided with gills at any period
of life, and when first hatched are similar in general form and structure to
the adult, or, in other words, do not undergo a metamorphosis.
Whereas birds are remarkably alike in general appearance and internal
structure, reptiles present great diversity in these respects, and the distinc-
tion between the various orders of the latter are much more strongly marked
than is the case with those of the former. If extinct types be taken into
account, these diversities are still more strongly accentuated, and there are
certain fossil forms which walked on their hind legs alone, while others were
capable of flying in the same manner as a bird. For this reason the presence
or absence of the power of flight is not given as one of the distinctions
between birds and reptiles.
Geologically, reptiles are much older than either mammals or birds, and
consequently a large number of their orders are extinct, while one is repre-
sented only by a solitary survivor. The existing orders are as follows :
I. CROCODILIA (Crocodiles, Alligators, and Garials).
II. CHELONIA (Tortoises and Turtles).
III. SQUAMATA (Lizards, Chamseleons, and Snakes).
IV. RHYNCHOCEPHALIA (New Zealand Tuatera.)
In consequence of their greater antiquity, and the numerous migrations
which they have undergone during early periods of the earth's history,
reptiles do not agree with mammals in respect to their geographical distribu-
tion ; so that the realms and regions into which the earth is divided from the
evidence of the present and past distribution of mammals do not hold good
for reptiles. Some of the leading features in the distribution of the orders
and sub-orders of the present class are mentioned in the sequel.
ORDER I. CROCODILIA.
CROCODILES, ALLIGATORS, AND GARIALS.
NOBODY can mistake a crocodile or alligator, or even their long-snouted
allies, the garials, for any other reptile ; and consequently, although they are
nearly allied to certain extinct forms, there is no necessity here for giving an
elaborate and detailed definition of the order. Great lumbering brutes,
lying like logs in the water, but waking into sudden and unexpected activity
directly living prey comes within their reach, crocodiles and alligators are
specially characterised by the rows of large shield-like homy plates covering
the back and parts of the neck, and in some cases also the under surface of
CROCODILES, ALLIGATORS, AND GARIALS. 379
the body. These shields, which do not overlap, but join one another by
their edges, are often marked on the back by more or less distinctly developed
longitudinal ridges, and, at least on the back, are underlain in the deep layer
of the skin by solid bony plates. In the case of the ridged shields, the
underlying plates are similarly ridged ; and in every instance the plates are
marked by a peculiar honey-comb-like sculpture. A somewhat similar
sculpture, although taking more the form of irregular branching ridges and
grooves, is likewise developed on the outer surface of the bones of the head ;
and in this respect the skull of every living member of the order differs from
that of any other existing reptile. All crocodilians as the members of the
order may be collectively designated are huge ungainly reptiles, with large
flat heads, depressed and lizard-like bodies, short limbs, and long, compressed,
and powerful tails, bearing on the upper surface a crest of horny lobes, which
is double in the basal half of that appendage. The toes, which are five in
number in the fore-limbs, but are reduced to four in the hinder pair, are
more or less completely united by webs to form efficient paddles for swim-
ming ; and on each foot the three toes on the inner side are furnished with
strong and sharp claws. In the huge, ugly head, the apertures of the ears
can be closed by means of movable lids, so as to prevent the ingress of water ;
and the nostrils open at the very tip of the muzzle whether this be short or
broad, as in the alligators, or long and narrow, as in the garials, The vast
and cavern-like mouth is armed with a formidable series of sharp, conical teeth,
some of which are enlarged into tusks, while all are implanted in separate
sockets, and form a single row on the summit of each jaw. To keep this
terrible armament in repair, the teeth are being consequently shed and re-
newed, the new ones coming up beneath the hollow bases of the old ones
and gradually pushing them out, Sometimes three or four teeth may be seen,
one beneath the other, packed together like a nest of thimbles.
If the dried skull of one of these reptiles be examined, it will be found
that the whole of the palate is formed by a solid roof of bone, and also that
the quadrate-bone is firmly and immovably wedged in between the adjacent
elements of the skull. Later on, we shall see that this type of structure
differs very markedly from that which obtains among the lizards, and thus
forms a most essential feature in the definition of the order. A more de-
tailed examination of the skulls of all existing crocodiles will also show that
the posterior, or internal, nostrils open on the palate right at the hinder end
of the skull, close to where it joins the backbone, And it is by means of this
arrangement that these reptiles are enabled to hold and drown their prey in
their open mouths beneath the surface of the water without any danger of
being suffocated themselves. This is effected by means of the production of
the upper extremity of the windpipe well into the mouth, where it enters the
internal nostrils, and thus forms a closed tube from the external nostrils to
the lungs.
Another peculiarity in the structure of a crocodile which has much effect
on its movements, is to be found in the vertebrae of the short neck. From
the development of long processes on the sides of this portion of the back-
bone, a crocodile is totally unable to turn its head. Consequently, if a man
be attacked on land by one of these monsters, he has but to await: its rush,
and then leap suddenly aside, when his aggressor will continue its course
until able to turn its whole body,
Members of the order are found in all the warmer regions of the globe,
but are happily absent from European rivers. -They frequent alike rivers,
REPTILIAORDER I.CROCODILIA.
marshes, and ponds ; and, although never found far removed from water,
will at times travel long distances on land. In periods of drought, some of
them, at least, bury themselves deep in the mud, where they remain in a
semi-torpid condition until awakened by returning moisture. They are the
most thoroughly carnivorous of all reptiles ; and their huge size and powerful
teeth render them capable of seizing and killing almost all kinds of living
prey. Animals coming to drink are seized by the nose, and pulled under
water, to be ruthlessly drowned in the manner already indicated.
All crocodilians lay eggs, which are furnished with a hard white shell,
and comparable in size to those of a goose. In number they usually vary
from one to three score. They are buried by the female parent in the warm
sand, where in due course they hatch. It appears, however, that in some
instances, at least, the female opens the pit when the young are ready to
burst their prison, being attracted by the cries uttered by the little crocodiles
while still within the shell. The young ones arc introduced to the water by
the mother.
Although all living crocodilians are included in the single family Crocodilidce,
they are divided into several genera, some of which have a more or less
limited geographical distribution, while others have a very
Caimans extensive range. Of those with a restricted range, the first
(Caiman). we have to notice are the caimans (Caiman) of Tropical
America. Caimans are broad and short-snouted crocodilians,
with a bony armour developed on. the under, as well as the upper, surface of
the body. In the skull, the nasal bones only extend as far forwards as the
hinder aperture of the external nostrils ; and, as a rule, both the first and
fourth lower teeth, which are enlarged and tusk-like, are received into pits
in the upper jaw, so as to be concealed when the mouth is closed. The
upper teeth bite on the outer side of the lower ones ; and the two branches
of the lower jaw have but a very short union in the middle line at their front
extremity. A peculiarity of the genus is to be found in the circumstance
that the bony plates on the back are articulated together. There are several
species of caiman, one of which ranges as far south as the La Plata River.
Their true home is, however, the tropics, and in the Orinoco and Amazon
they occur in thousands. In Brazil they are known as jacares, and one
species from that country measures from eighteen to twenty feet in length.
In capturing these ferocious and bloodthirsty monsters, the native Brazilians
display great daring.
The alligators are so closely allied to the caimans that they can only be
distinguished by anatomical features. The most easily detected distinction
is to be found in the skull, in which the nasal bones extend
Alligators right across the aperture of the external nostrils, instead of
(Alligator). stopping short at their hinder border. The bony plates on
the back differ by the absence of any articulation between
them ; while those on the lower surface are either very thin or wanting. Of
the two well-known species, the Chinese alligator (A. sinensis) is a compara-
tively small form, approximating to the caimans in the retention of
thin bony plates on the under surface, and having the front toes free. In
the gigantic North American alligator (A. mississippiensis), on the other hand,
there are no plates beneath the body, and the front toes are webbed ; while
there are also differences in the number of plates on the neck and back, as
well as in the number of teeth, which aid in distinguishing between the two
kinds. The habits of alligators are very similar to those of other members of
CROCODILES, ALLIGATORS, AND GARIALS.
the order ; but the female buries her eggs which may reach a hundred in
number among leaves and other decaying vegetable matter, in order to
hasten the process of hatching ; and during the pairing -season the males
spend much of their time on land. The Chinese species feeds largely upon
fish.
The typical or true crocodiles are readily distinguished from both the fore-
going genera by the circumstance that the upper teeth interlock with the
lower ones, and likewise by the fourth lower tooth generally
biting into a notch in the upper jaw. In the skull the nasal True Crocodiles
bones extend only as far forwards as the hinder margin of (Crocodiliis).
the nostrils ; and whereas there are from seventeen to nine-
teen upper teeth, in the lower jaw the number is constantly fifteen. In all,
the under surface of the body is devoid of bony plates. Crocodiles are repre-
sented by about eleven species, which are distributed over the south of Asia,
Africa, Madagascar, the north of Australia, and Tropical America, and it is
not a little remarkable that one of these (Crocodilus porosfus) extends from
India to Queensland, being also found in some of the islands of Polynesia,
such as the Solomons and Fiji. This wide distribution is, however, readily
explained by this species be-
ing largely estuarine in its
habits, and taking readily to
salt water, whereas all the
others are fresh-water rep-
tiles. Great difference ob-
tains in the form of the skull
in the various representatives
of the genus, the Oriental
magar (G. palustris) having a
short and broad alligator-like
snout, whereas in the sharp-
nosed crocodile (G, ameri-
canus) of Central America,
the muzzle is comparatively
long, narrow, and pointed.
Even in this species, how-
ever, the short front union between the two branches of the lower jaw is
retained. In its still more elongated snout, the West African long-nosed
crocodile (C. cataphractus) forms a connecting link between the more typical
species and the under-mentioned garials. The species longest known is the
Egyptian crocodile (G, niloticus), which is one of those with a snout of medium
proportions.
As a rule, the favourite haunts of crocodiles are sandbanks in rivers, where
they lie basking for hours in the full sun, frequently with their ponderous
jaws widely gaping. They appear to live for a great number of years dur-
ing the whole of which they continue to grow and often frequent the same
spot for long periods of time. Their ferocity is too well known to need men-
tion ; and many incautious bathers have lost their lives through these hideous
reptiles. On the Hugli it is stated that women coming down to the river's
edge to draw water have occasionally been seized and dragged under while
stooping down on the marge. Although specimens are now seldom recorded
of more than twelve or thirteen feet in length, there is good evidence that
formerly the Indian magar grew to at least eighteen feet.
Fig. 1. NORTH AMERICAN ALLIGATOR (A. mississip-
piensis).
382
REPTILIA ORDER LCROCODILIA.
Stumpy
Crocodile
(Osteolcemus).
Garials
( Rhynchosuchus
and Garialis).
A small short-snouted species (Osteolcemus tetraspis) from Sierra Leone has
been referred to a genus by itself, on account of the nasal bones extending
right across the aperture of the nostrils. Although agreeing
in this respect with the alligators, in all other features this
species is a true crocodile.
Two members of the order differ from all the foregoing in
having the edges of the very long and slender muzzle nearly
straight, instead of more or less distinctly festooned, and likewise by the
circumstance that the nasal bones stop considerably short of the hinder
border of the external nostrils. A further marked differ-
ence is to be found in the great length of the bony union be-
tween the two branches of the lower jaw, which extends at
least as far back as the fifteenth tooth. The teeth themselves
are also much more slender than in the preceding genera, the
fish-eating habits of the garials rendering a more powerful type of dentition
unnecessary. Of these two species, Schlegel's garial (Rhynchosuchus schlegeli)
inhabits the Malay peninsula and Borneo, and has the snout of medium
elongation and slenderness. Its claim to generic distinction is due to the
circumstance that the nasal bones extend forwards on the upper surface of
the snout to reach the premaxillre or anterior jawbones. It has twenty or
twenty-one upper, and eighteen or nineteen lower, teeth ; and its length
varies from twelve to fourteen feet.
On the other hand, the true garial (Garialis gangetica), which inhabits the
Ganges, Bramaputra, Indus, and Mahanadi, together with a river in Arakan,
is distinguished by the much
greater length and slenderness of
the snout, in which the nasal
bones stop short of the pre-
maxillse, so that the maxillae, or
hinder upper jawbones come into
contact with one another on the
upper surface of the snout be-
tween the other two pairs of bones.
The almost uniformly sized teeth
are very numerous, varying from
27 to 29 in the upper, and from
25 to 26 in the lower jaw. None
of the lower ones bite into pits in
the upper jaw, whereas some of
the former are so received in the
other species. All the toes are
fully webbed. In the adult the
Fig 2. TRUE GARIAL (Garialis gangetica).
general colour is dark olive on the head and back. The male garial may be
distinguished by the development of the expanded extremity of the muzzle
into a kind of hump, in the centre of which are situated the nostrils. The
garial grows to a length of about twenty feet, and feeds entirely on fish.
For the capture of its finny prey, the numerous slender, sharply pointed,
and somewhat curved teeth are admirably suited; and the highly developed
swimming powers of this species are also correlated with the nature of its
food. The female deposits her eggs in the sand of the river- banks, these
being generally laid in two distinct layers, one above the other. When the
young first make their appearance in the world, they have the snout propor-
TORTOISES AND TURTLES. 383
tionately much longer than in the adult; but, owing to the more rapid
growth of the body, this becomes gradually shorter. Young garials have the
body and tail ornamented with a number of oblique dark bands on a lighter
ground. Although the garial is commonly looked upon with suspicion, it
does not appear that it ever attacks man or the larger mammals.
ORDER II. CHELONIA.
TORTOISES AND TURTLES.
THE presence of a bony shell, in a more or less fully developed state some-
times enclosing the whole body in a solid case, and in other cases reduced to
a kind of dish-cover on the back is the grand distinguishing feature of the
tortoises and turtles, which collectively constitute the second great order of
reptiles. Indeed, so far as their bony framework is concerned, these strange
creatures may almost be described as reptiles turned inside out. For the
ribs, which are generally united with bony plates in the skin to form the
upper shell, or carapace, are actually placed outside both the blade-bones and
the haunch-bones ; while, when a shell is developed on the under surface of
the body, its front portion is formed by the equivalents of the collar-bones.
The presence, in some form or other, of such a shell serves at once to
distinguish the Chelonians from all other living reptiles. In ordinary
tortoises and turtles the upper shell is firmly welded to the backbone ; but
the under shell, or plastron, which may or may not be joined by its edges to
the sides of the carapace, is generally free from the internal skeleton. Ex-
ternally the shell is covered by a number of longitudinal rows of horny
shields, which can bo stripped off without much trouble, and then reveal the
underlying bony plates. Unfortunately for the ordinary student of natural
history, the form and mode of arrangement of these hidden bony plates are
of the utmost importance in the classification of many of these reptiles.
And as they are not shown in figures taken from specimens in the ordinary
condition, he must either refer to special works on the subject, or must visit
a good museum, Both the superficial horny shields and the underlying bony
plates have received special names ; and as some acquaintance with their
general mode of arrangement is absolutely essential to the study of these
reptiles, a brief reference to the subject must be made in this place.
Taking any ordinary Chelonian, such as the common Greek tortoise of our
gardens, we find the following general arrangement obtaining in the horny
shields. Along the middle of the upper shell runs a single series of five
large symmetrical shields known as the vertebrals. On each side these are
flanked by a series of still larger shields, usually also five in number, termed
the costals. The edges of the upper shell are formed by a numerous series
of much smaller marginal shields, which in those forms with a complete shell
overlap the middle of the sides, and thus come on to the plastron. At the
middle of the front edge of the carapace there is very generally a small un-
paired shield known as the nuchal ; while the term caudal is applied to the
corresponding single or double shield at the opposite end of the shell. ^ On
the under surface, or plastron, we find six pairs of large shields, respectively
named, from front to back, the gular, humeral, pectoral, abdominal, femoral.
334 REPTILIA ORDER II.CHELONIA.
and anal shields ; while in some cases an unpaired intergular is interposed
between the two gulars. Certain small shields on the borders of the slits for
the fore and hind limbs need not be further referred to.
If we now strip off the horny shields, we shall find that the underlying
bony plates conform to a great extent with the arrangement of the former,
although presenting certain well-marked differences. In the middle line of
the upper shell runs a single series of small many-angled plates termed the
neurals, all attached below to the back-bone. A larger unattached nuchal
plate in front, and one or two similarly detached pygals behind, complete this
median unpaired series. The sides of the carapace are formed by the eight
pairs of costal plates, which are firmly welded to the underlying ribs ; while
its borders are composed of the marginal plates, which resemble the corre-
sponding horny shields in being angulated, and some of which join the
plastron, when the latter is fully developed. Exclusive of these marginals,
the lower shell or plastron generally consists of one unpaired and four paired
elements. The front pair, corresponding to the collar-bones of other verte-
brates, are the epiplastrals, behind or between which is the single ento-
plastral. Then follow the hyoplastrals, hypoplastrals, and xiphiplastrals ;
the latter forming the hinder extremity of the lower shell, and being fre-
quently more or less deeply notched in the middle line. In addition to
these elements, a few tortoises have a pair of mesoplastral bones intercalated
between the hyo- and hypoplastrals, thus bringing up the total number of
bones in the lower shell to eleven.
Scarcely less peculiar than their shells are the jaws of the Chelonia, which
are invariably cased in horny sheaths, with sharp cutting edges, like the
beaks of birds, and show no vestiges of teeth at any period of life, Gener-
ally the head is relatively short and wide ; but there is a considerable amount
of diversity in this respect, as there is in regard to the structure of the skull.
In all cases, however, the quadrate-bone is firmly fixed between the adjacent
bones of the skull, to which its relations are somewhat different from those
obtaining in the Crocodilia. There are many other peculiarities connected
with the bony framework of these reptiles ; but those mentioned are amply
sufficient to distinguish them from all other groups.
The order is divided into three sub-orders, respectively known as the
Cryptodira, Pleurodira, and Trionychoidea ; and these divisions are important,
not only on account of indicating structural differences, but also on distribu-
tional grounds. r J hus, whereas the first group attains its maximum develop-
ment in the countries to the north of the Equator, the second group is now
entirely restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, and is the only one repre-
sented in Australia. No members of the order are found in New Zealand ;
and the third group is unknown in both Australia and South America, as
indeed it is in Europe, although this is probably due to temperature.
Great differences are observable in the mode of life of the different
members of the order, the typical tortoises being almost or quite exclusively
terrestrial, the soft tortoises fresh-water, and the turtles marine. All are,
however, fond of water, and even the most exclusively terrestrial species are
fond of an occasional bath. Many of the so-called terrapins may be regarded
as amphibious creatures, spending much of their time in the water, but often
dwelling for a considerable period on dry land. Between the land tortoises
and the ordinary fresh-water terrapins there is not much difference in the
structure of the feet ; but in the turtles these are modified into paddles,
adapted solely for swimming, and forming poor organs of progression on
TORTOISES AND TURTLES.
land. Even these purely marine forms are, however, in the habit of coming
on shore for the purpose of depositing their eggs. It is important to re-
member that in ordinary language the term turtle is often applied to many
of the fresh-water forms, although it is preferable to restrict it to the marine
species. Whereas all the other members of the order lay hard -shelled
eggs, those of the turtles are soft-shelled. In the matter of diet, Chelonians
present as much diversity as in their other habits, some kinds being ex-
clusively carnivorous, while others feed on vegetable substances.
Sub-Order J. Cryptodira.
The members of this group are primarily characterised by their power of
withdrawing the head within the margins of the shell by an S-like bending of
the neck in a vertical plane ; but as the same feature is to be found in I ho
third group of the order, supplemental characteristics are necessary to define
the present sub-order. With the exception of the abnormal leathery turtle,
the shell of all the forms no matter what be its degree of development is
furnished with a complete set of marginal bones, some of which are articu-
lated to the extremities of the ribs. Accordingly, the Cryptodira may be de-
lined as Chelonians which retract the head by means of a vertical S-like flexure
of the neck, and either possess a complete set of marginal bones attached to
the ribs, or have the limbs converted into nippers. These are, however, by no
means the sole distinctive features of the group. An important structural
peculiarity is to be found in the circumstance that none of the bones of the pel-
vic girdle have any attachment to the lower shell or plastron. Then, again, as a
general rule, the latter bears only six pairs of horny shields, an intergular shield
being but very rarely developed, If the dried skull be examined, it will be found
that the ring of bone surrounding the aperture of the ear technically termed
the tympanic ring is interrupted by a distinct notch in its hinder border ;
while the quadrate-bone articulates with the hinder end of the lower jaw by
means of a convex knob or condyle, received into a pit in the latter.
With the exception of the soft tortoises, this group includes all the land
and fresh-water Chelonians of the Northern Hemisphere, as well as the
marine turtles and the leathery turtle. It is, however, by no means wanting
in the Southern Hemisphere, as there are numerous forms both of terres-
trial and fresh- water habits in Africa and South America, although none
are known from Australasia. There are such a large number of genera to
say nothing of species included in this group, that limitations of space
permit of reference only to some of the more important types.
This extensive family group is probably best known in the shape of the
common Grecian tortoise and European pond-tortoise, both of which are com-
monly exhibited for sale in London shops, although neither
are native denizens of the British Islands, In this family Land-Tortoises
are also included the giant tortoises of the Mascarene and and Terrapins.
Galapagos Islands. There are no marine forms; but while Family
some are terrestrial, others are more or less amphibious, Testudinidce.
spending a largo portion of their lives in fresh water. With-
out going into abstruse and wearisome anatomical details, it is by no means
easy to give a concise definition of the family. It may be observed, however,
that while the head is capable of complete retraction within the margin oi
26
386 REPTILIA ORDER TLCHELONIA.
the shell, the limbs arc never converted into paddles, and the shell itself is
nrver heart-shaped. Both the upper and lower halves of the shell are well
developed ; and they may be connected together at the sides either by flat-
tened surfaces, or they may give off minute interlocking processes, so as to
be united by what are termed sutures. In no instance is there an intergular
shield on the front of the plastron. Certain features connected with the
bones of the carapace and internal skeleton by which this family is distin-
guished from those that follow may be best mentioned under the heading of
the latter. Geographically the Testudinidce like the typical genus Tcstudo
have a range equivalent to that of the sub-order, of which they form by
far the largest family. As regards diet, they are as diverse ns in other habits,
soins feeding exclusively on vegetable substances, while others are carnivor-
ous. It is not an uncommon belief that the Greek tortoise which is mainly
a vegetarian will live upon black beetles; and I have known an instance
where one of these reptiles was installed in a kitchen vice a hedgehog
deceased to prey upon these troublesome insects, with results sadly to the
disappointment of the purchaser.
The typical representatives of the family are the land -tortoises of the genus
Testudo, most of which, like the common Grecian species, are comparatively
small creatures, although some of those from the Mascarene and Galapagos
Islands have a shell measuring considerably over a yard in length, and are cap-
able of trotting off gaily with a load of three full-grown men on their capacious
backs. In a work like the present the reader must not expect to find all the
characters by which the tortoises of this genus are distinguished from their
kin. In all cases the stout club-like limbs are adapted for walking on land,
and are covered with horny scales or tubercles, while the unwebbed toes
terminate in strong claw-like nails. The tail is always short. In a shell
from which the superficial shields have been stripped, it will be seen that the
neural bones are wide and short, with a quadrangular one generally alternat-
ing with an octagonal, although sometimes most are hexagonal. Of the
costal bones, one is wide above and narrow below, and the next the reverse of
this. As already said, these tortoises have a distribution practically co-
extensive with that of the family to which they belong ; and all are her-
bivorous. In South and South-Eastern Europe the genus is represented by
the well-known Grecian tortoise (T. grce.ca), and also by the nearly-allied
margined tortoise (T. marginata), which appears to be confined to Greece,
and is distinguished by the absence of
an enlarged tubercle on the thigh. Cer-
tain Indian and South African species,
such as jT. elcgans and T. geometrica, are
distinguished by the extreme convexity
of the shell, which is beautifully painted
either with narrow yellow lines radiating
on adark ground from the centre of eachof
the shields, or with similar black lines on
a light ground. Giant tortoises formerly
existed in Aldabra Island, to the north-
Fig. 3. GRECIAN TORTOISE we st of Madagascar ; the Mascarenes
(Reunion, Rodriquez, and Mauritius);
and the Galapagos group, off the Pacific coast of South America. From the
second group they have, however, been exterminated, and have been greatly
reduced in numbers in the others, where they formerly lived in thousands.
TORTOISES AND TURTLES. 3&7
and" formed a valuable food supply for the crews of ships. Some of these
tortoises are remarkable for the extreme tenuity and relatively small size of
the shell, which is but little stouter than leather, and can be easily pierced
with a knife. This is very notably the case with T. ephippium of the
Galapagos Islands, fine examples of which are now preserved in the British
Museum. Some of these monsters measure over four feet along the curve of
the shell, and have been known to yield close upon four hundred pounds weight
of excellent meat. In the Galapagos Islands these tortoises make regular
tracks to their drinking-places in the hills, and feed chiefly upon the
succulent stems of the cacti, so common there. During the breeding season,
the males, according to Darwin's well-known account, utter a loud roar,
audible at a great distance. The ordinary tortoises of South Europe, Algeria,
and Egypt, frequent dry sandy localities, where they have full opportunity
of basking in the rays of the sun. In Europe, at least, they hibernate during
the cold season, by burying themselves deep in the earth, reappearing with
the returning warmth of spring. In addition to their normal vegetable food,
these tortoises are not averse to an occasional snail or insect. Fonr peculiar
tortoises from South Africa are referred to the distinct genus Homopus, on
account of the fore part of the palate lacking the distinct median ridge,
characteristic of all the species of Testudo. Moreover, the neural bones of
the carapace are never alternately quadrangular and octagonal, but always
irregularly hexagonal, with the shorter of the two lateral surfaces at the hind
end. The typical H. areolatus has but four toes 011 the front foot, whereas
in another species there are five.
The three species of hinged tortoises from Tropical Africa, forming the
genus Cinixys, are easily and broadly distinguished by the presence of a,
ligamentous hinge across the hinder third of the carapace, by means of which
the posterior opening of the shell can be completely closed. These tortoises
are small reptiles, not exceeding some nine inches in length ; and in habits
the majority are amphibious, thus connecting the land tortoises with the
terrapins. Madagascar is the sole habitat of a single peculiar tortoise (Pyxis
arcwhnoides), distinguished by having the front part of the plastron articulated
to the remainder by a transverse hinge. In this species, therefore, the front
aperture of the shell is capable of being closed at the will of its owner.
Coming to the terrapins, we find that these are distinguished from the fore-
going by the toes being either webbed, or having rudiments of such webbing,
as well as by the presence of three (instead of two) joints in the middle too
of both the front and hind-foot. In the fore-foot the nietacarpal bones are
also much longer and more slender than in the preceding group. Foremost
among these come three small Oriental genera, respectively known as
Geoemyda, Nicoria, and Cyclemys, all of which differ from those which follow
by having the shorter lateral surface of the hexagonal neural bones of the
carapace placed at the hinder end a feature in which they agree with
Homopus. Of these forms it will suffice to mention that the species of
Cyclemys differ from the others in having the hinder half of the plastron
movably articulated by means of a transverse bony hinge, in consequence of
which they are commonly spoken of as hinged terrapins.
In all the other members of the family, the hexagonal neural bones of the
carapace have the shorter of the two lateral surfaces on each side situated in
front. It is unfortunate that this important characteristic is hidden from
view by the superficial bony shields unless in the rare instances where they
are sufficiently transparent to allow of the underlying bones being seen
388
REPTTLIA ORDER II.CHEL017IA.
through them but so it is, and the student must make the best of it. If we
were making animals ourselves, \ve should doubtless give the members of eacli
genus a characteristic mark by which they could be recognised at a glance.
Foremost in this group are the true box-tortoises (Cistudo) of North America,
which agree with Cyclemys in having a transverse hinge across the plastron,
the posterior moiety of which consequently forms a movable flap, capable of
closing the hinder aperture of the shell. As special features of the genus, may
be noted the hooked beak, the smooth skin covering the top of the head, the
imperfect webbing of the toes, and the
extreme shortness of the tail. These
tortoises have a vaulted carapace, and, as
is usual in such cases, are mainly terres-
trial in their habits. From this genus
the depressed form of the shell serves at
once to distinguish the European pond-
tortoise (Emys orfr ten/arts), which, with
an allied North American species, alone
represents the genus. There is no hook to
the beak; the upper and lower shells arc
ligament, ai
Fig 4, POND-TORTOISE
(Emys orbiiularis),
united only by ligament, and the hinder
part of the plastron is movably articu-
lated by a transverse hinge. The Euro-
pean species not only inhabits South and
South-Eastern. Europe, but ranges into
Persia and Algeria. Its shell, which grows to a little over seven inches
in length, is prettily speckled on the upper surface with golden flecks on a
blackish ground. The pond-tortoise is a carnivorous species, living upon
small fish, worms, and insects, and inhabiting both running and stagnant
waters, in which it swims and dives with great facility, It is an interesting
and easily-kept denizen of an aquarium.
Of the remaining genera of the Testudinidce, a very brief mention must
suffice. The terrapins of the genus Clcmmys form a somewhat important
group, ranging over South Europe, North-Western Africa, and North
America. In common with the four following genera, Clemmys is characterised
by the absence of a median ridge on the front portion of the palate of the
skull ; and all the species are carnivorous in their nabits. As in all the
remaining genera of the family, the upper and lower shells arc firmly united
by suture, and there is no bony hinge in the plastron. The two species of
the Oriental genus Bellia may be distinguished by the stronger vertical
buttresses connecting the plastron with the carapace, and the small horny
shields covering the hinder part of the head ; the toes being completely
\vebbed. The more or less decided balloon-shape of the anterior vertebral
shields of the carapace is likewise a noteworthy feature of these small terra-
pins. Another allied Oriental genus is typified by Damotria hamiltoni, the
shell of which is conspicuous for its yellow markings on a black ground, and
the three longitudinal ridges traversing the carapace. The North American
terrapins of the genus Malacodernmys are also nearly allied, and have the
whole head covered with a smooth skin. One species frequents brackish
water ; and it is members of this genus that afford the dish so well known
to epicures in the United States under the name of terrapin.
The other members of the family are mainly vegetarian in their diet, and
differ from the foregoing by the front portion of the broad palate bearing one
TORTOISES AND TURTLES. 389
or two longitudinal ridges. To this group belong the exclusively American
terrapins of the genus Chrysemys, some of which range as far south as Brazil
and Uruguay. Burma and Bengal are the respective habitats of two allied
terrapins constituting the genus Morenia, distinguished by certain features
in the conformation of the skull ; while the single representative of Ocadia
is Chinese. The four other genera, all the members of which are known as
batagurs, are confined to the Oriental countries, and include the largest
fresh-water members of the whole family, the shell of one of them measuring
as much as twenty inches in length. The batagurs, which are divided into
the genera Cachuga, Callagur, Batagur, and HardeUa, are specially char-
acterised by the excessive development of the vertical bony buttresses con-
necting the carapace with the plastron, which project as walls into the
interior of the shell in such a manner as to divide it into three imperfect com-
partments. The different genera are chiefly distinguished by the contour
of the vertebral horny shields of the carapace ; the fourth shield in one
genus narrowing anteriorly almost to a point in a manner quite unknown in
any other members of the order. The batagurs have shells of extraordinary
strength and solidity; and the larger species are almost exclusively aquatic,
and very numerous in the rivers of India and Burma. In spite of their
herbivorous habits, they are said to be dangerous to bathers ; and it is
certain that a snap from their powerful jaws would cause a very serious wound.
A strange-looking aquatic tortoise (Platysternum megalocephaluni) from
the countries lying between Burma and the south of China demands specia 1
notice as being the sole representative of a family. Ex-
ternally, its most conspicuous features are the enormous Family
size of the head ; the hooked beak ; the extreme flatness of Platystemidce.
the shell, which looks as if it had no room to contain the
internal organs of the creature ; the great length of the scaly tapering tail ;
and the rather long and powerfully -clawed legs. The skull differs from that
of the Testudinidce in having the whole of its hinder portion covered over by
a bony roof ; and most of the vertebrae of the long tail articulate with one
another by means of a cup behind and a ball in front, instead of in the
reverse manner. These afford ample grounds for referring this tortoise to a
family apart. The whole length of the shell is only about six inches. Of
the habits of this remarkable reptile naturalists are ignorant.
The mud-terrapins (Cinosternum), of which there are eleven species, all
inhabitants of America to the north of the Equator, alone represent a third
family, easily distinguished from all other Chelonia by the
absence of the unpaired entoplastral bone of the plastron, Mud-Terrapins,
thus reducing the number of elements in the lower shell Family Cino-
from nine to eight. The shell is depressed, with its two sternidce.
portions firmly united ; and the plastron has its two ex-
tremities movable, and its gular shields either united or absent. The tail is
very short ; and the webbed toes, save the fifth hind one, terminate in strong
claws. In habits, these terrapins resemble ordinary fresh- water species.
Three small genera of terrapins from Central America, respectively named
Dermatemys, Staurotypus, and Claudius, form the fourth family. Together
with the Cinosternidce, these differ from the Testudinidce in
that each of the two lateral angles of the nuchal bone of Family Der-
the carapace gives off a long bony stay projecting backwards matemydida.
to underlie the marginal bones. The skull is of ordinary
form ; the plastron has the usual nine bones, and the tail is short. As in
390
REPTIL1A ORDER II.CHELONIA.
the Cinosternidce and Ckelydriace, an additional series of small horny shields
is interposed between the marginal shields and those of the plastron.
Whereas in the single representative of the genus first mentioned, the plastron
is fully developed, in the other two genera it is cruciform, and connected
on each side with the upper shell only by a very narrow bridge.
Far better known than the members of the last family are the large
Chelonians commonly termed snappers and alligator-terrapins, all of which
are now confined to the northern portion of America, one
Snappers and species ranging as far south as Guatemala and Ecuador. In
Alligator- their relatively large head and long scaly tails, these terra-
Terrapins. pins resemble the Platysternidve. They ditfer, however, in
Family the presence of long, rib-like processes, running backwards
ChdydridcK. from the nuchal bone of the carapace to underlie the mar-
ginals, and likewise by the imperfect bony roof to the lateral
regions of the hinder part of the skull. The vertebrae of the tail have, on
the other hand, the same structure, the articular cup being on the hinder
surface in the majority. The small, cross-shaped plastron is but very loosely
attached to the upper shell ; and it is not till a late period of life that tho
shell becomes fully ossified, large spaces long remaining in both the uppi r
and lower halves. The long tail bears on its upper surface a crest, and all
the toes, except the fifth hind one, are clawed. The front border of tho
carapace is notched in order to
receive the ponderous head,
which cannot be withdrawn into
the shell. The largest member
of the family is Temminck's
snapper {Macroclemmys tem-
mtftdbi), which is generally to
be seen in the reptile-house at
the "Zoo," and ranges from
Missouri to Florida. The very
large head has the eyes lateral ;
and the tail is not so long as in
the members of the second
genus. In some specimens the shell measures twenty-four inches in length.
The two species of alligator- terrapins, or snapping turtles (Chelydra), have the
eyes directed upwards, and the tail exceeding the shell in length. The mem-
bers of both genera are common denizens of the fresh-waters of the United
States, where they are found in rivers, swamps, and ponds. In habits they
are very active, rushing on their prey with extraordinary speed, and feeding
entirely on animal food. The extraordinary power of their jaws (of which
the upper one is hooked) renders their bites very severe ; and bathers should
always keep a good look-out to see that none of these reptiles are in their
vicinity before venturing on a plunge. In captivity they are dull and sluggish
creatures. Several females lay their eggs in the same spot.
Ttie excellence of the flesh of one species, and the commercial value of the
tortoise-shell yielded by a second, render the turtles a family of special
importance and interest. From all the families yet men-
The Turtles. tioned the turtles are easily distinguished by the modification
Family of their limbs into oar-like flippers, adapted solely for swim-
Chelonidce. ming, and also by the heart-shaped form of the shell. There
are never more than two claws on each limb, the head cannot
Fig 5. TEMMINCK'S SNAPPER (Macroclemmys
tern inincki).
TORTOISES AND TURTLES. 391
be completely retracted within the shell, and the tail is very short. The
whole of the hinder region of the skull is covered by a bony roof. There is
no bony union between the upper and lower shells ; and in the carapace
numerous unossified spaces remain for a long time, if not permanently.
Except during the breeding season, when the females resort to shelving
sandy shores for the purpose of laying their eggs, turtles are inhabitants of
the open sea, where in calm weather they may at times be seen floating
placidly on the surface, When on shore, they shuffle along in an awkward
manner ; and if turned on their backs are utterly helpless. Their eggs,
unlike those of other Chelonians, have soft shells. Like most denizens of the
open sea, the three common species of turtles have an almost world-wide
distribution. Of these, the green turtle (Chelone my das) is the one whose
flesh is used for culinary purposes. Nearly allied is the hawksbill (G. imbricata),
distinguished at all ages by the strongly hooked beak, and also by the cir-
cumstance that, for a considerable portion of life the horny shields of the
shell overlap one another like the slates in a roof, instead of meeting at the
edges. It is this species alone that yields the tortoise-shell of commerce.
More distinct is the logger-
head (Thalassochelys caretta),
in which the head is of pro-
portionately greater size, and
there are five, instead of four,
pairs of horny costal shields
on the carapace. The logger-
head is the largest of the three FJG 6 ._ LoGGERHEAD ToRTOJSE
1 1 is somewhat remarkable that ( i 'halassochelys caretta).
whereas the green turtle is an
herbivorous animal, feeding chiefly upon sea-weeds, both the hawksbill and
the loggerhead are carnivorous ; the food of the latter consisting largely of
cuttle-fish.
During the egging'- season turtles come ashore in immense numbers, the
Seychelles and Bahamas being two of their favourite resorts. While the
females are busily engaged in the occupation of laying, and of covering up
their eggs in the sand, the males generally pass the time by quarrelling among
themselves. Moonlight nights are those usually chosen for resorting to the
coast ; and these, of course, are most favourable to the turtle-catchers, whose
object is to intercept their victims before they can scuttle back to the sea.
Not only are the eggs largely used as an article of food, but they also yield
an excellent oil. Tortoise-shell, when heated, has the peculiar property of
welding like iron, so that plates of almost any size can be obtained by uniting
a number of shields. It can also be pressed into moulds, and beautiful
amber-like necklaces and other ornamental articles are manufactured from
the scraps and fragments.
Although the huge leathery turtle (Dermcchelys coriacea) the giant of tho
tribe is a marine species with flippers for limbs, yet it differs so markedly
from the other turtles in the structure of its shell and tho
conformation of its skull, that it unquestionably represents Leathery Turtle,
a separate family by itself. Indeed, as regards its shell, not Family-
only does the luth (as this species is sometimes called) differ Dermochelyida.
from other turtles, but likewise from all other living Chelonia.
In place of the carapace being formed by a series of large regularly-shaped
bones, some of which are firmly attached to the backbone and ribs, and all
392 REPTILIA ORDER 2L CHELONIA.
invested with separate horny shields, in the leathery turtle it is composed of
a vast number of minute irregular ossifications, fitting together like mosaic,
and having no sort of connection with the internal skeleton, while its investi-
ture takes the form of a continuous leathery skin. Seven bold longitudinal
ridges traverse the upper shell
from end to end, and there are
five similar ridges on the under
shell, which is less fully developed,
Claws are totally wanting on the
flippers, of which the front pair
greatly exceed the hinder in
length. Although the structural
peculiarities of the skull are of the
highest importance in determin-
ing the systematic position of the creature, they need not be further
alluded to in this place. In length this turtle frequently exceeds six
feet. The leathery turtle, which is now rapidly diminishing in numbers, is
an inhabitant of the wanner oceans, one of its favourite haunts being the
Tortugas Islands off the Florida coast. It is known to be carnivorous, and
its habits are probably very similar to those of the true turtles. Com-
mercially this species is of no value, its flesh having a strong and highly un-
pleasant taste of musk.
Sub-Order II Pleurodira.
The members of the second sub-ordinal group of the Chelonia are best dis-
tinguished externally by the mode in which they withdraw the head and neck
into the shell. In place of the S-like movement characterising the preceding
group, these tortoises always bend the neck to one side in a horizontal plane,
so that instead of occupying the middle of the front aperture of the shell, the
head when retracted lies more or less on one or the other side, according to
the relative length of the neck. This very obvious characteristic is, however,
by no means the sole claim of the group to distinction. If the dried skull be
examined, it will be found that the bony ring surrounding the aperture of
the ear is entire instead of being notched behind, and also that the lower
surface of the quadrate-bone is hollowed in order to receive a knob on the
articulating portion of the lower jaw. In all cases the upper and lower shells
are fully ossified and closely joined ; and both have a firm union with the
bones of the pelvis. When horny shields are present at all, there is invari-
ably an intergular between or behind the two gulars. The Pleurodira are
now restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, and are the only tortoises in-
habiting Australia and Papua*-
The first family of the sub-order is represented by eight generic types, all
of which are restricted to South America and Australasia. As distinctive
features of the family, may be mentioned the presence of
Family only nine bones in the lower shell, the incapacity of com-
Chelyidce. pletely retracting the neck within the margin of the carapace,
and the absence of the so-called temporal bony arch on the
sides of the skull. The typical member of the family is the grotesque mata-
mata (Chelys Jimbriata) of the Guianas and North Brazil, a species easily
recognised by its flattened triangular head, the peculiar tuft-like fifaments on
the sides of the broad and long neck, and the great bosses formed by the
TORTOISES AND TURTLES.
393
Fig. S, MATAMATA (.Chelys fimbriata).
shields of the carapace, which is serrated on its margins, In length the
shell of the matamata reaches fifteen inches. In habits this tortoise is a
fresh- water and chiefly carnivorous animal ; and it is probable that the
tufts on the neck are for the purpose of attracting its prey within easy reach
of its jaws. In addition to its
other characteristics, the matamata
has a proboscis to the snout, but
this is wanting in the other South
American long-necked members of
the family, which form the genus
Hydromedusa. These tortoises also
differ in the comparative smooth-
ness of the shell, and in having
only four claws to each foot. The
remaining three South American
genera, namely Hydraspis, lihinemys, and Platemys, have the neck propor-
tionately shorter. Three generic types of the family are met with in
Australia and Papua, one of which (Ckelodina) has the neck very long, while
in the other two (Elseya and J^mydura) it is relatively shorter.
The largest member of the whole sub-order is the great fresh- water tortoise
of the Amazons (Podocnemis expansa), whose shell often measures two-and-a-
half feet in length. Together with its allies, this species
belongs to the second family of the sub-order, characterised Family
by the presence of a pair of mesoplastrals between the hyo- Pclomedusidce.
and hypoplastral bones, the total number of elements in the
lower shell thus being brought up to eleven. The neck can be fully with-
drawn into the shell, and the skull has a lateral bony arch. The genus
Podocnemis affords a remarkable example of discontinuous geographical dis-
tribution, six of the species being inhabitants of South America, whereas the
seventh is found in the distant island of Madagascar. In this genus the
hinder part of the skull is completely roofed over by bone ; but this is not
the case in the other two genera
of the family. Of these, Pelo-
medusa, which has only a single
species, inhabiting both Madagas-
car and Africa, resembles Podo-
cnemis in that the two mesoplas-
tral bones only show themselves on
the sides of the lower shell, and
are thus widely separate in the
middle line. On the other hand,
in Sternotkcerus the same two
bones are as fully developed as
the other elements of the plastron,
in the median line of which they
come into contact with one another.
The whole of the species of this
genus are African, but one ex-
tends its range into Madagascar.
The great Amazonian species of Podocnemis is of considerable value to the
natives of some parts of tropical America, on account of its eggs, which are
collected in vast quantities, mainly for the sake of the oil they yield.
Fig. 9. AMAZONIAN FRESH-WATER TOB.TOISE
(Podocnemis expansa),
394 REPTILIA ORDER ILCHELONIA.
A fresh-water turtle from one of the Papuan rivers described under the
name of Carettochelys, resembles the true marine turtles in having the limbs
modified into flippers, although displaying all the other char-
Family acteristics of the present sub-order. Only two claws occur
Carettochdyidce. on each flipper ; and the shell is remarkable for having a
continuous leathery skin in place of the usual horny shields.
There are certain other structural features in this little-known and rare
Cheloriian by which it differs from its allies.
Sub-Order III. Trionychidce.
The third and last sub-order of the Chelonia includes only the soft tortoises,
represented by six genera, all of which are comprised in the single family
Trionychidce. All these tortoises have very long necks, which can be com-
pletely withdrawn within the margins of the shell by an S-like flexure in the
same manner as in the Cryptodira. The jaws are hidden by the fleshy lips,
and the muzzle is prolonged into a short proboscis. The feet are fully
webbed, and only the three outermost toes are furnished with claws a
peculiarity from which the scientific name of the group is derived. None of
these features are, however, of sufficient importance to justify the separation
of the group as a distinct sub-order; but the shell is very peculiar. In place
of the usual horny shields, both the upper and lower shells are invested with
a thin, continuous leathery skin, through which can be seen and felt the
raised sculpture ornamenting the surface of the underlying bones. Marginal
bones, if developed at all, are restricted to the hinder border of the upper
shell, and elsewhere the margins of this shell are continued into a wide, soft
expansion of skin, so that the shell itself only occupies the region of the back.
There is no attachment between the upper and lower shells, and the latter is
only very imperfectly ossified. A greenish olive ground-colour, upon which
are yellow or orange spots, is the general type of coloration, the spots being
replaced by streaks on the under surface of the head. At the present day
the soft tortoises are restricted to the fresh waters of the warmer regions of
North America, Asia, and Africa. In habits, these very peculiar Chelonians are
purely aquatic, and although the majority are confined to fresh waters, some fre-
quent estuaries. They are all carnivorous ; and, being extremely bold and fierce,
are highly dangerous to bathers. All are mainly nocturnal, and when basking
on a mud-bank, or on shore, for the purpose of laying their eggs, extend their
long necks after any sudden surprise in a peculiarly cautious and stealthy man-
ner. The spherical eggs are buried in the mud by the female as soon as laid.
The typical, and at the same time the widest spread, genus is Trionyx, which
has a geographical distribution as extensive as that of the family, and is the
only one found in America, fifteen distinct species being known. In this
genus, the sculpture on the surface of the shell usually takes the form of
irregular wavy ridges; while in the lower shell the hyoplastral and hypo-
plastral bones of each side are separate. A distinctive feature is the want of
a fold of skin on the hinder part of the plastron, which in some of the allied
forms conceals the hind-leg. The head is relatively short and broad, with
the eyes situated far back. The shell and leathery disc of some of the members
of this genus not unf requently measure as much as a couple of feet in length,
and the species are arranged in groups according to the number of bones
entering into the composition of the upper shell, and the absence or presence
SCALED REPTILES. 395
of a longitudinal ridge on the palatal surface of the fore part of the lower
jaw. Nearly allied to Trionyx are the general Pelochelys and Chitra, each
represented by a single species from the Oriental countries. In the former
which extends from India to the Malayan Islands the eyes have a more for-
ward position than in the type genus, this feature being still more marked in
the gigantic Indian Cfiitra, where they are situated close up to the snout, the
whole skull being very long
and narrow. The foregoing
genera constitute a sub-family
by themselves ; and a second
group of equivalent value is
formed by the other three
genera. The two essential
characteristics of the second
group are to be found in the
presence of a skinny flap be-
neath the under shell behind
which the hind-foot can be Fig. 10. A SOFT TOUTOISE.
withdrawn and the complete
union of the hyoplastral and hypoplastral elements of the lower shell. Exter-
nally the shell is distinguished by the pustular form of the sculpture. Of the
three types of the sub-family, the Indian Emyda is specially distinguished by
possessing a series of marginal bones round the hinder portion of the
carapace. There are but three species, and in the largest of these the shell
does not grow to more than about ten inches in length. Of the two African
genera, the one known as Cycloderma has a complete scries of neural bones
running down the middle of the carapace ; whereas, in the nearly related
Cyclanorbis the series is incomplete, so that some of the costal bones of
opposite sides come into contact with one another in the middle line.
It may be added that in the absence of any connection between the bones
of the pelvis and the lower shell, as well as in the mode of articulation
between the upper and lower jaws, and the notch in the ring round the
aperture of the ear, the soft-tortoises resemble the Cryptodira. In certain
forms an'd certain structural features of the skull they are, however, more like
the Pleurodira.
ORDER III. SQUAMATA.
SCALED REPTILES.
By far the largest of all the four orders of existing reptiles is the one including
the lizards, chameleons, and snakes ; each of those groups forming a sub-order
by itself. And here it may be remarked how unimportant is the external
form of reptiles in regard to their zoological affinities. The New Zealand
tuatera, for instance, which externally is like a lizard, has nothing whatever
to do with the Squamata, but forms an order by itself ; whereas ordinary
lizards and serpents are comprised in one and the same order. Moreover, the
blindworms, which in external appearance are like snakes, form a portion of
the sub-order typified by the lizards. A general, but by no means invariable,
feature of the Squamata is the covering of overlapping horny scales on the
396 REPTILIA- ORDER II L SQ UAMA TA.
head, body, and limbs ; but more important and constant structural peculi-
arities are to be found in the internal skeleton. Of the highest import is
the fact that in all the members of the present order the quadrate-bone is
movably jointed to the other elements of the skull, from which its lower
extremity projects. Secondly, there is no bony rod running forwards from
the outer side of the lower extremity of this bone to join the upper jaw ; such
a rod being always developed in the Crocodilia. The palate, again, has a
much more open structure than in either the Crocodilia or the Chelonia ;
not that there is any difficulty in distinguishing between a lizard or a snake
and a tortoise or turtle. If we turn to the backbone, equally well-marked
points of difference present themselves between the Squamata on the one
hand and the Crocodilia on the other. In the former group the ribs of the
chest have single upper extremities, or heads, which are articulated to
facets, on the sides of what are termed the bodies of the vertebrae that is
to say, the solid cylindrical part underlying the arch through which passes
the nerve-cord. On the other hand, in the Crocodilia the majority of the
ribs have two heads ; and those in the region of the back are articulated to a
long horizontal transverse projection arising from the sides of the arch of
each vertebrae. In the majority of the order the bodies of the vertebrae are
movably united by means of ball-and-socket joints : the ball being situated
behind and the socket in front. Neither in lizards or in serpents are the
teeth ever implanted in the jaws by means of distinct sockets. In all cases
the teeth are firmly welded to the substance of the jaw itself ; but whereas
in some forms they are affixed to the summits of the jaws, in others they are
attached to the sides of the same. To the former mode of attachment, the
name acrodbtd is applied, whereas the latter is termed pleurodont. Although
the foregoing features are amply sufficient to distinguish the Sqniamata from
the Crocodilia, it may be added that when the shoulder-girdle is fully de-
veloped, there is a breast-bone, a pair of collar-bones, and an unpaired median
element, with the form of the letter T, known as the interclavide.
Sub-Order I. LacertHia.
LIZARDS.
Since it has been already mentioned that the blind- worm belongs to the
present sub-order, it will be obvious that the presence of limbs will not suffice
to distinguish between the lizards and the serpents, although the majority of
the former are four- limbed creatures, and none of the latter have four fully
developed and functional legs. In the limbless snake-like lizards the tongue
cannot, however, be withdrawn into a basal sheath, as it is in serpents ; and
whereas the former are generally furnished with eyelids or external openings
to the ears, both these are invariably wanting in the latter. The examination
of the skeleton will also show that whereas in all lizards the two branches of
the lower jaw are joined by bone where they meet at the chin, in the serpents
such union is ligamentous ; and it should further be observed that the limb-
less lizards always retain vestiges of the shoulder- girdle. As important
points of distinction between the lizards and the chamaeleons, it must be
mentioned that such of the former as retain limbs have well-developed collar-
bones, and that the tongue is flattened and not dilatable.
At the present day somewhere about seventeen hundred different species
of lizards are known ; these forming no less than twenty distinct families,
SCALED REPTILES-LIZARDS. 397
mostly including a large number of genera. Hence it will be obvious that
only some of the leading types ca)i be even alluded to in this volume.
Although lizards are found everywhere save the polar regions, the group
attains its maximum development both as regards bodily size and the
number of forms in the tropical and sub-tropic .-if zones. They inhabit both
dry and moist situations, although the majority prefer the former. Most are
terrestrial, but many are arboreal, while a few are aquatic, one species at
least venturing into the open sea. The so-called flying lizard can take long
leaps in the air by the aid of a parachute-like expansion of skin supported by
the elongated ribs ; and an Australian species is stated to walk on its hind-
limbs like a bird. Sucker-like pads enable the geckos to climb vertical panes
of glass like flies ; and some of the arboreal species resemble the American
monkeys in having the tail endowed with prehensile power. Whereas the
majority lay eggs, a few bring forth their young into the world alive. In
spite of the popular dread attaching to the blind-worm, no lizards, with the
exception of the few species belonging to the American family Helodermatidce,
are poisonous. A few members of the order are vegetable-feeders, but the
great majority live on animal food, especially insects and other invertebrates.
The facility with which many lizards part with a considerable portion of the
tail when handled is a familiar fact ; but it is perhaps less well-known that
the missing fragment can be speedily reproduced. As regards geographical
distribution, the Lacertilia are widely different from the Chelonia. Thus,
whereas Australasian lizards are unlike those of South America, between the
lizards of Australia and those of India there is a most marked resemblance,
while the Indian forms differ decidedly from those of Africa.
The peculiar cry of some of its Asiatic members has given rise to the name
by which the first family of the Lacertilia is both familiarly and scientifically
known. From nearly all other members of the sub-order
geckos are distinguished by the fact that the bodies of their Geckos. Family
vertebrae are cupped at both ends, instead of articulating by Gcckonidce.
a ball and socket, while most of them have sucking discs on
the extremities of the five-toed feet. In form they are depressed, and in
coloration dull, and whereas the head is covered with bony granules or small
scales, the body is generally invested with granules above and with over-
lapping scales beneath. In no case are the scales underlain by plates of bone.
There are no movable eyelids, and the opening of the ear, and. generally also
the pupil of the eye, is in the form of a vertical slit. The tongue, which is
short and devoid of a sheath at the base, may be either smooth or covered
with shaggy prominences. The small teeth are attached to the jaws in the
pleurodont manner, and in many cases the tail is more or less distinctly
prehensile, although in some instances it is rudimental. Most numerous in
the Oriental and Australasian countries, the geckos range over all the warmer
parts of the world, and present a considerable number of generic modifica-
tions. Among these the genus Ptyodactylns is familiar to travellers in
Palestine in the form of the little lobe-footed gecko. In common with its
immediate kindred, this species has the toes expanded into circular lobes,
upon the under surface of which are two rows of plates. llemidactylus, as
represented by the little Turkish gecko, is an allied genus, ranging over all
the warmer parts of the world except Australasia, with dilated toes terminating
in compressed claws, of which the tips are free. Very aberrant is the single
and considerably larger species of the Oriental genus Ptychozoum, in which
the skin of the flanks forms a large expansion, while there is also a fringe of
398 REPTILIA ORDER IILSQUAMATA.
lobes running along the two sides of the tail, and likewise on the hinder
borders of the legs. The toes also are completely connected by web-like dila-
tions, the first in each limb being clawless. A peculiarly marked type of
coloration further aids in the recognition of this species. The countries
bordering the Mediterranean are the chief habitat of another genus known as
Tarentola, of which the common wall-gecko is the most familiar representa-
tive, all the species having the toes moderately dilated, but only the third
and fourth clawed. The genus ranges as far south as the west coast of Africa,
and is likewise represented by a species from the West Indian Islands.
Whereas a large number of geckos frequent trees, walls, or buildings, some
are found in open sandy districts, and
these latter naturally have feet of ordinary
type, as adhesive discs would be useless.
In countries where these lizards abound,
almost every house is tenanted by at least
a pair. When undisturbed, such denizens
will scamper over the walls with the
greatest speed in search of flies, uttering
Fig. 11. FRINGED GECKO (Ptychozoum). now and then their shrill cries. It is,
doubtless, owing to these vocal powers
that geckos are so dreaded by the uneducated in all parts of the world an
analagous instance of the inspiration of a similar dread bejng afforded by the
death-watch insects.
A second family of geckos (Eublepharida), of which there are only three
genera, differ from the foregoing in being furnished with eyelids, and also in
having cup-and-ball joints to the backbone.
The third family of the sub-order includes the three species of the Mala-
gasy genus Uroplates, and is termed the Uroplatidce. While resembling the true
geckos in the doubly-cupped vertebrae, as well as in many
Scale-footed other structural features, these lizards agree with the follow-
Lizards. ing nine families in that the inner ends of the collar-bones
Family lack the loop-shaped expansion characteristic of the geckos.
PyrjopodidcE. The next family is that of the scale-footed lizards, or Pygopo-
did<z, which are confined to Australia, and appear to present
a considerable resemblance to the Geckonidce, with which they agree in the
general conformation of the skull. All these lizards have assumed a snake-
like form of body, with the complete loss of all external vestiges of the front
limbs, although the hinder pair are represented by two large, flap-like scaly
expansions, without any sign of division into toes externally. The commonest
species grows to a length of about twenty inches, and is coppery-grey in
colour, sometimes having three or five rows of blackish spots or streaks.
A very large proportion of the lizards of the eastern and southern countries
of the Eastern Hemisphere pertain to the very extensive and important family
of the Agamidce, a family which includes at least a couple
Family of hundred species ranged under thirty distinct generic
Agamidce. groups. These lizards have a tongue of the same type as
that of the geckos, no dilation of the inner extremities of
the collar-bones, and no bony plates beneath the overlapping scales with
which the head and body are invested ; but they differ from all the foregoing
groups in their acrodont dentition. The eyes, which are relatively smaller
than in the geckos, are furnished with movable eyelids, and have circular
pupils. Small scales cover the crown of the head, and the scales on the lower
SCALED REPTILES LIZARDS. 399
aspect of the body are likewise not enlarged. Many of the species develop
large ornamental crests or pouches, either in both sexes or in the male alone.
These lizards generally have a long tail, which is not brittle ; and they always
possess well-developed fore-limbs, which, with one exception, are five-toed.
As a rule, the teeth are unequal in size, those at the corners of the jaws being
developed into tusks. As in other lizards, the arboreal species have com-
pressed bodies, while in those that
dwell on the ground the trunk is
more or less depressed. Although, as
already said, agamoids are widely spread
in the Old World, they attain their
maximum development in the Oriental
countries, only three generic groups
inhabiting Africa. Perhaps the most
remarkable members of the family are
the flying lizards (Draco) of the Oriental
countries, in which the hinder ribs are
expanded to support a kind of para-
chute-like expansion of the skin of the
flanks. These folds can be closed in a Fig - i2.-Fi.YiNG LIZARD (Draco volans)
fan-like manner, and there are other
expansions on the throat. The entire body is much depressed, and the
tail is very long and tapering. The coloration of the upper surface of
the body is metallic, with dark spots and bands, the parachute of the
common species being bright orange with black markings. These lizards
live high up on the trees, and pass from bough to bough by taking
flying leaps with the support of the parachute. At times the expansions
of skin on the throat are erected. The Oriental region is likewise the
home of the beautiful tree-lizards of the genus Calotes, which are also
thoroughly' arboreal, although unable to take flying leaps. They have the
drum of the ear visible externally, a crest running down the neck and back,
the large keeled scales on the back of equal size, a long, whip-like tail, and
no distinct fold of skin on the throat. Many of them have the power of
rapidly changing their brilliant colours, and some measure as much as
sixteen inches in length. More curious are the arboreal horned lizards
(Ceratophora) of Ceylon, easily recognised by the presence of a horn on the
nose of the males, and sometimes also in the females. There is_ no crest on
the neck, and the drum of the ear is concealed. Next on our list are the
numerous species of the typical genus Agama, which range from South-
Eastern Europe over South-Eastern Asia, although absent from the greater
part of India and Ceylon. These lizards are terrestrial in their habits, and
accordingly differ from all the foregoing, with the exception of the flying-
lizard, in having the body markedly depressed. They have the drum of the
ear exposed, large thickened scales in front of the vent in the males, a fold of
skin across the throat, and a pit on each side of the same part, while if the
back is furnished with a crest, this is of small size. Jn parts of Asia these
lizards are some of the most common representatives of their tribe, and may
be seen in hundreds basking in the sun.
Many of the genera of lizards are far from easy to distinguish from one
another, but there is no difficulty in recognising the extraordinary Australian
frilled lizard (Chlamydosaurus kingi), which has the throat surrounded by a
large frill-like expansion of skin extending on to the sides of the neck.
400
REPTILIA ORDER III. SQUAMA TA.
This long-tailed lizard, which grows to a length of over thirty inches, is an
inhabitant of open sandy deserts, and is peculiar in that it habitually walks
on its hind-legs alone. It does not, however, hop, but walks with a bold,
swinging gait. Probably the frill is given to the creature for the purpose
of terrifying its enemies, as when alarmed this lizard sits up on its hind-
limbs, expands the frill to its fullest extent, and shows its teeth ; its appear-
ance is then distinctly alarming,
although the creature is per-
fectly harmless to large ani-
mals. From the preceding
forms this lizard and a number
of allied genera differ by hav-
ing pores on the under surface
of the body near the vent, or
on the thighs, or in "both of
these situations. A closely re-
lated species is the sail-toiled
Fig. 13, FRILLED LIZARD (Chlamydosaurus kingi). lizard (Lophurus amboynensis)
of the Malayan and Philippine
Islands, in which the upper surface of the basal portion of the tail carries a
huge vertical crest, while the nape and back are ornamented with a ridge of
enlarged scales. This lizard, which has a compressed body, and an olive-
green ground-colour with irregular black markings, is an inhabitant of
wooded districts near water, and if frightened, immediately plunges into the
latter element. It is a vegetable feeder, and its flesh is stated to be tender
and well-flavoured.
The tail is an important part in distinguishing many of the lizards of this
family, and its characters form an easy means of recognising the thorny-
tailed lizards of Northern Africa and South- Western Asia, which constitute
the genus Uromastix. Whereas the body is smoothly scaled, the whole of
the rather short tail is invested with a series of rings of large scales each
armed with a thorn-like spine. They have very short and rounded heads;
the drum of the ear is visible, and there are
pores in front of the vent as well as on the
thighs. A feature in which these lizards differ
f i-om all those noticed above is the large size
of the front teeth, which in the adult are
separated from those on each side of the jaws
by a gap. Thorny lizards are abundant in the
sandy plains of Arabia, Persia, and the Pun-
jab, where they live in burrows. Probably tho
thorny tail is a means of defence, as if one of
these lizards can but get its head and body well
within its retreat, it seems to be pretty safe
from attack . The writer once tried to drag one
from its hole by seizing hold of the projecting
tail, but the appendage gave way, leaving
the creature secure from further harm. Their food is entirely of a vegetable
nature; and the Arabs by whom these lizards are frequently kept in cap-
tivity are very partial to their flesh. The last member of the family that
can be noticed is the moloch lizard (Moloch horrid\^} of South and West
Australia, a creature which looks more like some monster in a pantomime
Fig. 14. THORNT TAILED LIZAIID
(Urojuastix).
SCALED REPTILES LIZARDS. 401
than a living animal. Measuring about eight inches in length, and having
a depressed toad -like body and rather short tail, the moloch is covered all
over above with large conical spines, which attain their greatest develop-
ment immediately over the eyes and on the forepart of the back. It
frequents sandy districts, is slow in its movements, and may be frequently
seen abroad in the full sunlight. That its spiny armour renders it perfectly
safe from all ordinary attacks, may be considered perfectly certain ; and
it is clear that the creature's motto is defence and not defiance, as it is
perfectly harmless. It has the power of slowly changing its colour to a cer-
tain extent in accordance with its surroundings ; and its chief nutriment is
formed by ants, although it will also eat vegetable substances. Thorny devil
or spiny lizard is the name given to this reptile by the colonists.
The name iguana is one of those terms constantly misapplied in popular
zoology, and it is very frequently given to the monitors of India and
Australia. As a matter of fact, most of the members of the
great iguana tribe are confined to the New World, where The Iguana
they take the place of the Old World Agamidce, which are Tribe. Family
wanting. There are, however, a few outlying iguanas in the Iguanidce.
Old World, two genera being found in Madagascar, while a
third occurs in the Friendly Islands and Fiji. In many points of their organisa-
tion the Iguanidce are closely related to the A gamidce ; but a ready means of
distinction between the two groups is afforded by the dentition. Whereas
the latter have the dentition of the acrodont type, in the former ifc is pleuro-
dont ; and a further difference is to be found in the nearly uniform size and
form of all the teeth in the iguanas. Very frequently the teeth have lancet-
shaped crowns, with serrated edges ; but in some rare instances they are
divided into three distinct cusps. Iguanas of which there are fifty different
generic modifications present a curious parallelism to the Agamidce in their
structure and habits, doubtless due to the fact that they have to fill all the
situations in the New World occupied by the different members of the latter
in the Eastern Hemisphere. Whereas, however, there is no flying iguana,
this group contains a marine type, which has no representative among the
allied family. Nearly all the American forms are inhabitants of the warmer
regions of the New World ; most are insect-eaters, a few are vegetarians.
The beautiful iguanas of the American genus Anolis may be regarded as
the western analogues of the Oriental tree-lizards. These are long-tailed
arboreal species, with a pyramidal head, moderately long neck, a slender
body of variable form, elongated hind-limbs, and large feet with toes of
unequal length, in which the middle joints are expanded, and the claws
long and elevated. The throat is ornamented with an appendage, which is
generally brightly coloured in the males ; but there is no crest on the back
and neck. The teeth are_ distinctly three-lobed. More than a hundred
different kinds of these lizards are known to science, many of which take up
their residence in human dwellings, where they hunt for their insect prey,
quite undisturbed by the proximity of tha owners. Like their Oriental re-
presentatives in the Agamidce) they have the power of changing the colour of
their skin even more rapidly and decisively than the chamaeleons. As the
species of Anolis represent Calotes in the Old World family, so the basilisks
(Basiliscus) simulate the sail-tailed lizard of the Malayan Islands. Tho
American forms have, however, gone one better than their Old World proto-
type, for whereas in the latter the sail-like membranous expansion is confined
to the upper surface of the tail, in the males of the former a similar vertical
27
402
REPTILIA- ORDER HLSQUAMATA.
expansion of skin runs from the nape of the neck to the loins, where it ia
separated by a short interval from the one on the tail. Tn the back the
crest is supported by the elongation of the spines of the back-bone; and in some
cases the expansion on the tail is strengthened in a similar manner. The
males have in addition a helmet-like elevation on the hinder part of the head.
Basilisks are tree-dwelling reptiles, nearly always found in the neighbour-
hood of water. They generally repose on a bough overhanging some pool or
river ; and when frightened, immediately throw themselves into the water, in
which the males swim with facility by the aid of the crested tail, which acts
as a rudder. How the female manages to get along without the crest is not
stated.
From a group so extensive as that of the iguanas it is difficult to select the
forms best deserving of special notice. There is, however, no doubt that
two curious lizards from the Galapagos Islands demand recognition here. Each
of these is the sole representative of a genus by itself ; but whereas one
(Amblyrhynchus cristatus) lives to a great extent in the sea and feeds on sea-
weed, the other (Conolophus subcristatus) is a terrestrial creature subsisting
on a more ordinary vegetable diet. Having pores on the thighs, and the
fourth toe of the hind-foot longer
than the third, these lizards are
specially distinguished by the cir-
cumstance that both the front and
lateral teeth are three cusped. The
marine species, which measures over
fifty inches in length, and is con-
siderably the larger of the two,
takes its scientific name from the
extreme shortness and bluntness of
the head ; both the body and tail
being markedly compressed, and
the toes furnished with incipient
webs. The upper surface of the
head is ornamented with a number
of conical bosses ; and a strong ser-
rated crest runs from the nape of
the neck to the tip of the tail. The habits of these remarkable lizards have
been well described by Darwin. He states that these reptiles are seldom found
farther inland than a few yards distance from the shore ; and that when in
the water they swim strongly and easily with a serpentine movement by the
aid of the powerful tail alone. On the volcanic rocks forming the coasts of
their native islands these lizards are met with in large droves, which from
time to time proceed to sea in search of food. In spite, however, of this
fondness for the sea, they never take to the water when attacked as a means
of escape. The smaller terrestrial species is easily distinguished by the
cylindrical form of the tail and the absence of any trace of webbing on the
toes. The head, too, is somewhat longer, and the dorsal crest fully developed
only in the region of the neck. In weight, they scale from ten to fifteen
pounds. On the central islands of the Galapagos group these lizards are, or
were, found in such numbers that there is sometimes a difficulty in discover-
ing a space of any size free from them. They live in burrows, and in the
daytime love to lie basking in the sun for hours at a stretch in a dull, listless
manner. Even when disturbed, they are slow to get out ot the way ; arid in
Fly. 15. GALAPAGOS SBA-LTZARD.
(Ainblyrhynchus cristatus).
SCALED REPTILESLIZARDS. 403
all their movements they are very unlike ordinary lizards. Nearly allied to
the Galapagos forms are the two species of the typical genus lyuana, which
are restricted to Tropical America and the West Indies. From the former
they are distinguished by the simple, conical front teeth ; the lateral teeth
being serrated. They have the body long and compressed, the quadrangular
and large head covered above with enlarged shields, and the long tail invested
with uniform and keeled scales. The neck, back, and upper surface of the
tail are ornamented with a continuous spiny crest, and there is an appendage
on the throat which is incapable of dilation. These iguanas are essentially
arboreal lizards, living in forests in the neighbourhood of water, and fre-
quently descending at night to the ground to feed. They readily take to water,
in which they swim with facility ; and although their diet is mainly of a
vegetable nature, they will freely eat insects and other invertebrates. The
common species measures as much as four and a half feet in length. By the
natives of the countries they frequent, iguanas are highly esteemed, and
they are regularly hunted in some districts for food. Their eggs are also
much sought after for the same purpose. Nearly allied is the ring-tailed
iguana (Cydura carinata) of the West Indies, in which the crowns of the
lateral teeth are tricuspid, and the throat is furnished with a pouch, the back
and tail being strongly crested.
As the Agamidce possess a spine-clad type in the form of the moloch lizard,
so a similar type occurs in the present family. These creatures are generally
called horned lizards, although in the States they are known by the title of
Californian toad. The genus to which they belong (Phryiiosoma) includes
about a dozen species, which have a geographical range extending over the
United States and Mexico. From all other members of the family they are
at once distinguished by the numerous spines studding the skin of the body,
head, and tail ; while they are further characterised by their short, rounded
head, general toad-like form of body, and abbreviated tail. About five inches
is the ordinary length of these lizards. As regards habits, these lizards are
inhabitants of sandy districts, where they prey upon beetles and such other
insects as they are able to capture. Some of them are among the few members
of the Iguanidcn which give birth to their young in a living condition. This
peculiarity, coupled with their remarkable external appearance, would be
sufficient to give these lizards a claim to distinction above their fellows. But
they have another peculiarity. They spit blood ; and this not from their
mouth, but from, their eyes. Incredible as this statement may appear, it is
attested by several trustworthy observers. When handled, they have been
known to squirt a jet of blood to a distance of more than a foot from one eye,
and soon after to emit a similar stream from the other. And this not only
once, but several times. Doubtless this most remarkable action is for defen-
sive purposes ; and American observers would do good service if they would
describe in detail the mode in which the operation is performed.
A peculiar lizard from Mexico is the representative not only of the genus
Xenosaumis, but likewise of the family Xehosauridw. Passing this by as
being worthy only of the attention of specialists, we come
to the girdled lizards, of which there are four genera from ^ 6 p .^ s>
Africa south of the Sahara, and the island of Madagascar. ZonuridL
To a great extent the group is intermediate between the
preceding family of the lyuanidce and the following one of the Anguidce.
From the former it is distinguished by the hinder lateral regions of the skull
being roofed over by (dermal) ossifications in the skin, and likewise by the
404
REPTILIA ORDER HLSQ UAMA TA.
interclavicle being cruciform instead of T-shaped ; while, from the latter, it
is differentiated by the conformation of the tongue which, as in the
IgiianidcK, is not divisible into an interior and posterior portion as well as
by the hollow bases of the teeth, and by the structure of the bony plates,
which in one genus underlie the scales. All have a fold of skin covered with
small scales along the sides of the body, by which the upper surface is denned
from the lower* The head is invested with large and regular shields ; but
the back may be covered either with shield-like scales, which are frequently
provided with keels, and are arranged in regular transverse zones, or with
granules. As in the Jgpuant&Bj the teeth are pleurodont, and the ba,ses of
those in use are hollowed out by the tips of their successors, which rise verti-
cally from beneath. In the three genera Zonurus, Pseiidocordylus, and
Platysaurus, both pairs of limbs, are well developed, but in Chamcesaura, the
general form is snake-like, the fore-limbs being absent, and the hind ones
rudimentary, while the tail is remarkable for its excessive relative length.
The only Malagasy form is a species of the genus first named.
Although in several groups of the sub-order the limbs have more or less
completely disappeared, in no case is the assumption of a serpent-like form
more strongly marked than in the family typically represented
Snake-like by the common British blind-worm. It is to this family,
/Lizards. accordingly, that the name of snake-like lizards is most
Family applicable. While all these lizards resemble the members
AnguidcK. of the preceding family in having the hinder lateral regions
of the skull roofed by bony plates developed in the deep
layer of the skin, they differ in the structure of the teeth, It is true that
the teeth are often attached in the pleurodont manner, but instead of having
the base hollow, this is solid, the new teeth coming up between two of the
old ones, instead of beneath the crown of the one immediately above.- Whereas
in most of the genera the teeth are either tubercular or in the form of short
cones firmly attached to the sides of the jaws, in the blind- worms they are
long, slender, highly curved, and
very loosely fastened to the bone.
In these respects the blind-worms
come very close to the snakes, and
also to the poisonous lizards of the
family Helodermatidce. And it is
not a little remarkable that traces of
a groove have been detected along
the front surfaces of the teeth of
the blind-worms which appear to
correspond to the poison-grooves of
those of the family in question. It
seems, therefore, as if the popular
dread of the blind-worm was in-
stinctive, and that the creature is either descended from poisonous ancestors,
or would be poisonous if it could. All the members of the family have bony
plates developed in the deep layer of the skin beneath the scales, these plates,
when viewed under the microscope, displaying a system of canals. Very
peculiar is the tongue, which is divided into a large thick hinder portion,
thickly covered with shaggy papillre, and a small thin emarginate front moiety,
of which the covering takes the form of small, scale-like papillae. This front
portion is extensile, and also capable of more or less full retraction into a
Fig. 16. BLIND-WORM (Anguis fragilis).
SCALED REPTILES LIZARDS. 405
sheath formed by a transverse fold at the front of the hinder portion. A
further resemblance to snakes is to be found in the circumstance that these
lizards cast their skins in a single piece. As regards the limbs, great variety
is presented by the seven genera included in the family, some having the
feet fully developed, and terminating in five toes, whereas in others all
external traces of limbs have disappeared. It is noteworthy that all the
limbed forms are American, and that Central America and the West Indian
Islands are the head-quarters of the group. Beyond the New World, two
species are found in Europe and North Africa, while a third inhabits Burma
and the Himalaya. Of the seven genera, GerrhonotAis&ud. Ophisaurus are
peculiar in having a lateral fold on the body ; the former, which is exclusively
American, having two pairs of five-toed limbs, while the latter has, at most,
external representatives of the hinder pair. This genus includes the well-
known scheltopusik (0. apus) of South and Eastern Europe, as well as. one
Oriental, and other American types. Of those without folds, the genera
Diploglossus, Sauresia, and Panoplus are American and four-limbed, differing
from one another in the number of the toes, which vary from one or two to
five on each foot. Ophiodes is likewise American, but has only external
rudiments of the hind-limbs. Lastly we have Anguis, represented solely by
the familiar blind- worm of Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa, which
lacks all vestiges of limbs externally, and has the lateral teeth large and fang-
like. This species is also peculiar in giving birth to living young, all the
other members of the family laying eggs in. the ordinary manner. All the
Anguidce, live on animal food, the
larger kinds killing and eating small
mammals, birds, and reptiles, whereas
the smaller species confine themselves
to worms, insects, slugs, and such
like. As a rule they are strictly ter-
restrial, although some species of
Gerrhotwtus will climb up low bushes.
The family AnniellidtE, as con-
taining only a single Calif ornian genus
with two species, may
be passed over with- Poisonous
out notice, and we Lizards. Family
accordingly proceed Helodermatidce.
to the family Helo-
dermatidce, which also comprises only
two species, and ranges from Central
Ftg. 17-PoisoNous LIZARD (Heloderma). Amer f ca to New Mex b ico and Arizona ,
In common with many of the poison-
ous snakes, these lizards are distinguished by their brilliant coloration, one
kind having an orange or yellow ground-colour, with an irregular net-work of
dark markings on. the head and body, and dark rings round the tail. These
lizards possess a tongue and teeth of the same general type as in the blind-
worm, but have the upper surface covered with transverse rows of small
granular tubercles, the under-parts being invested with squared scales.
From those of the blind- worm the teeth differ by having grooves on the front
and back surfaces for the transmission of the poisonous fluid, and there are
certain structural differences in the skull. Both species are included in the
genus Heloderma, and the one from Arizona is rather the larger of the two, its
4 o6
REPTTLIAORDER III.SQ.UAMATA.
Monitors.-
Family
Varanidce.
total length being about twenty inches. Both have the head broad and de-
pressed, the body rounded and thick, the tail moderately long and cylindrical,
and the limbs relatively small, with the third and fourth toes the longest.
The poisonous lizards are sluggish and nocturnal, inhabiting sandy districts,
with the soil of which their coloration is in admirable harmony. They are
most commonly seen abroad in the rainy season, and are carnivorous in their
diet. Small mammals are speedily killed by their bite, which is stated
occasionally to have fatal effects on human beings.
A third family of the sub-order with only a single genus, is that of
the monitors; the -range of the numerous species extending from the
Caspian through Southern Asia to Australasia, and likewise
embracing all Africa, as well as the Pacific Islands. They are
all of large size, one measuring between six and seven feet
in length. As compared with the preceding families, their
essential characteristic is to be found in the snake-like struc-
ture of the tongue, which is long, deeply forked at the tip, extensile, and
capable of being withdrawn into a sheath at the base. They all have well-
developed, five-toed limbs, a long and often compressed tail, small scales on
the head, and the drum of the ear exposed. Owing to the presence of mar-
ginal rows of granules, the scales on the back do not overlap, and in no case
is there a median longitudinal crest in this region. The different species of
Varanus may be arranged in four groups, the distinctive features of which need
not be noticed here. They are generally found in the neighbourhood of water,
and one Indian species frequents
the coast, and will at times enter
the sea. In habits, they are purely
carnivorous ; and, with the possible
exception of the Papuan species,
they are also terrestrial. They are
among the most active of the lizard
tribe, and although generally harm-
less and avoiding attack, it would ap-
pear from the folio wing account that,
when driven to bay, they will turn
on their aggressors. Of the Nile
monitor (V. niloticus\ Dr. Abel
Smith writes that " it is usually met
with in rocky precipices, or in low
stony hills, and, when surprised,
Fig. 18 A MONITOR (Varanus).
seeks concealment in the chinks of the former or in the irregular cavities of
the latter, and when any projections exist upon the surface of the rocks or
stones, it clasps them so firmly with its toes, that it becomes a task of no
small difficulty to dislodge it, even though it can be easily reached. Under
such circumstances, the strength of no one man is able to withdraw a full-
grown individual, and I have seen two persons required to pull a specimen out
of a position it had attained, even with the assistance of a rope fixed in front
of its hind-legs. The moment it was dislodged it flew with fury at its
enemies, who by flight only saved themselves from being bitten. After it
was killed it was discovered that the points of all the nails had been broken
previously, or at the moment it lost its hold. It feeds upon frogs, crabs, and
small quadrupeds ; and, from its partiality to the two former, it is often
found among rocks near to springs or running streams, which fact having
SCALED REPTILES LIZARDS. 40?
been observed by the natives, has led them to regard it as sacred, and not to
be injured without danger of drought." All lay eggs, and many, if not all
the species, feed largely upon the eggs of birds.
A much larger assemblage is that of the greaved lizards of the New World,
which there occupy the position held in the Old World by the allied family of
the LacertidcB. From all the preceding forms, the Teiidce and
following families are broadly distinguished by the circum- Greaved Liz-
stance that their cleft and often spear-like tongues are covered ards. Family
either with overlapping scale-like papillae, or are marked by Teiidce.
oblique folds. Then, again, in place of the small scales of
the Varanidce, the head is invested with large symmetrically arranged shields;
and in the skeleton the inner extremities of the collar-bones are expanded,
and not unfrequently assume a looped form. The Teiidce, of which there
are five-and-thirty genera, and more than a hundred species have the head-
shields free from the bones of the skull, no bony plates underlying the scales,
and no bony roof to the hinder lateral regions of the skull, while the scales
are arranged in transverse rows. The teeth are very variable in form and
structure, but are always solid at the base, owing to the circumstance that
their successors come up alongside, The teeth in the front of the jaws are
always conical ; but both these and the lateral series may be attached either
on the acrodont or pleurodont plan. Distinct eyelids are generally present ;
the drum of the ear is always visible externally >, and the tongue is in most
cases covered with overlapping scales, and may be capable of retraction
within a basal sheath. Although most of these lizards have five-toed limbs,
in certain cases each foot has but four toes, while in other instances the limbs
are represented only by stumps, and even all external traces of the hinder
pair may disappear. The numerous representatives of this important family
have their headquarters in equatorial America, although some forms may be
met with throughout the warmer portions of that continent. Like the
monitors, they are active in their habits, and feed upon animal substances ;
but they may be found in all sorts of situations, some living in holes in dry
sandy districts, while others prefer the dense herbage of moist localities.
The number of genera is far too great to admit of even mention in this place.
It will accordingly suffice to take as our representative of the family the large
and handsome species commonly known as the tegu (Tupinambis tequexin\
which is a common and widely-spread
species, ranging from the Guianas in the
North to Uruguay in the South. Measur-
ing about three feet in length, this lizard
has a bold and striking bearing, owing to
the elevation of the fore-quarters. Its
general colour is some shade of olive
above, ornamented with blotches and bars
of black, and indistinct longitudinal rows
of light spots. It is met with in great
numbers among the virgin forests of _
Amazonia, where, with its forked tongue ^ _ THE TEQU
in rapid motion, it may be seen either tequexin).
sitting quietly upon a branch, or running
rapidly over the ground. As is the case with some of the other members of
the family, its flesh is esteemed as food by the natives.
As already mentioned, certain members of the preceding family have lost
408 REPTILTA ORDER III.SQUAMATA.
""all external traces of the hinder pair of limbs, and as such species possess
burrowing habits, they may be regarded as forming a con-
Family necting link between the Teiidce and the degraded Amphis-
Amphisbcvnidce. bcenidce. The latter, which take their name from the fact
that most of them are able to advance with equal ease in
either a forward or a backward direction, may, indeed, in all probability, be
considered as derivatives from the ancestral stock of the former, which have
little by little accustomed themselves to a subterranean mode of life, till the
majority have acquired an almost completely worm-like form and habit. One
American species, alone representing the genus Chirotes, still, however, retains
minute though well-developed fore-limbs, which are placed close up to the head,
and followed by the long worm-like body. And to the zoologist this form is of
the highest importance, as indicating that all the other members of the family
trace their origin to fully-limbed ancestors. With the exception of this soli-
tary species, the amphisbaenas are all limbless, worm-like creatures, in which
even the bones of the pelvis and shoulder-girdle are reduced to the condition
of rudiments. In all, the ears are wanting, the f unctionless eyes are buried
deep down in the skin, and the minute mouth is often situated on the lower
aspect of the head. The tail is always short; and the few and large teeth, as
in the preceding family, may be either acrodont or pleurodont. Indeed, it is
chiefly by certain degraded features of the skull that the Amphisbcenidce are
distinguished from the Teiidce; and as such differences are obviously produced
by adaptation to their environment, the amphisbsenas are but little removed
from their nearest allies. Not the least interesting feature in connection with
these strange creatures is their peculiar geographical distribution a distribu-
tion which can only be understood by taking extinct forms into consideration.
Of the existing types, the true home is Tropical America, although two
species one representing Chirotes are found above the northern tropic ;
but a considerable number of species are inhabitants of Africa, and a few
occur in the Mediterranean countries. Most remarkable is the circumstance
that the extensive and typical genus Amphisbcena has representatives both
in Tropical America and Africa south of the Sahara. This, however, is but
one out of many instances showing a community between the faunas of
South Africa and South America. The family is divided into two groups,
according to the mode of attachment of the teeth. In the first group, or
Prosphyodontes, which includes Chirotes, Amphisbcena, and six other genera,
the teeth are welded to the inner edges of the jaws ; whereas in the second
group, or EmphyodonteS) which is represented by Trogonophis, Pachycalmus,
and Agamodon, they are affixed to the edges of the same. Regarding the
mode of life of the amphisbsenas, Mr. G. A. Boulenger writes as follows :
* ' All the members of this family are burrowers, and many live in ants' nests.
They bore narrow galleries in the earth, in which they are able to progress
backwards as well as forwards. On the ground they progress in a straight
line, by slight vertical undulations, not by lateral movements, as in other
limbless reptiles. The tail of many species appears to be more or less pre-
Jhensile. The food of these lizards consists of small insects and worms. Little
has been published on their habits, and all that is known about their mode of
propagation is that Anops kingi is oviparous, and deposits its eggs in the
nests of ants." It may be added that the Amphisbcenidcz are peculiar among
vertebrates in having the right lung rudimental or absent, whereas the left is
elongated. In other snake-like lizards, and in snakes, it is the right lung
that is functional.
SCALED REPTILES LIZARDS. 409
The typical family of the sub-order is exclusively an Old World one, and is
spread over the three great continents, although unknown in the island of
Madagascar and likewise in the Australasian countries.
From their New World cousins the Teiidce, these lizards Family
may be readily distinguished by the circumstance that a com- Lacertida'.
plete roof of bones developed in the deep layer of the skin
covers the hinder lateral regions of the skull, and also by the fact that the
shields of the head are attached to the bones of the skull. They further
differ and thereby resemble the Amphisbtenidce in having the two anterior
upper jaw-bones, or premaxillse, immovably united in front. In none are the
limbs aborted ; and in all cases the feet terminate in five complete toes. The
general form is too well known to require mention ; and it is in these lizards
that the long tail breaks off so readily at or near the middle. The teeth have
hollowed bases, and are attached to the jaws in the pleurodont manner ; and
the tongue has the form of an arrow-head. Distinct eyelids, which can gener-
ally be closed, are developed ; and the drum of the ear is visible from the
outside. In none of these lizards are bony plates developed in the skin beneath
the scales ; and while the scales of the back may either overlap one another
or have their edges in contact, those on the under surface of the body are
arranged in transverse and longitudinal series, and are usually superior in size
to those above. The family, which includes seventeen generic types and some-
where about a hundred species, attains its maximum development in Africa,
being but poorly represented in the Oriental countries. While several species
are met witli in the south of Europe, two only are found in Britain, where,
with the blind-worm, they are the sole representatives of the sub-order
Lacertilia. All are fond of sunny localities, where their brisk movements and
beautiful metallic tints render them attractive to all who do not possess an
instinctive dislike to everything in the shape of a reptile. Flies, beetles, and
slugs form their chief food ; and as in the colder parts of Europe and Asia,
these are not to be seen abroad in winter, lizards are perforce compelled to
follow suit and pass the dull winter months in a state of torpor, either buried
beneath the ground, or safely ensconced in clefts and crannies. Although
one species produces its young alive, the rest lay eggs.
Both the British species belong to the typical genus Lacerta ; and of these
the smaller is the viviparous lizard (L. vivipara), which grows to a length of
seven inches, and takes its name from the aforesaid peculiarity in its domestic
arrangements. The second is the sand-lizard (L. agilis), which may measure
between eight and ten inches in length, and ranges as far north as Sweden
and Norway. More beautiful and considerably larger than either of the
foregoing is the green lizard (L. mridis\ ranging from Southern Europe
through the Mediterranean countries to Persia. The northern limits are
Germany, where this lizard never reaches the dimensions it attains in more
favoured climes. Yet another South European species is the pearly lizard
{L. ocellata), easily recognised by the presence of a row of large blue spots
on each side of the body, the general colour of the upper-parts being in some
cases green, with dots or a network of black, but in others dark olive with
yellowish markings. This species is larger than any of the foregoing, some*
times measuring as much as twenty-three inches in length. It would be im-
possible in the space available to give the names and characteristics of all the
seventeen genera included in the family. It may, however, be mentioned
that in Southern Europe there occur three lizards belonging to a closely allied
genus known as Algiroides, differing from Lacerta by the larger size of the
410 REPTILIA ORDER III. SQUAMA TA.
scales on the back. Another South European genus, also extending into the
north of Africa, is Psammodromus, the members of which differ from both
the genera above-mentioned by the slight development or complete absence
of a collar or gorget round the throat.
A small neatly-made lizard, commonly known as the skink (Scincus offici-
nalis), which inhabits the Sahara desert and the countries bordering the Red
Sea, is the type of the last large and important family of tho
Slunk Tribe. Lacertilia. It should, however, be mentioned that the
Family small African family of the Gerrhosauridce includes iive
Scincidce. genera, which, to a certain extent, serve to connect the
Lacertidce with the Scincidte. They have, for instance, the
scales of the body underlain by bony plates of peculiar internal structure, as
is the case with the latter family, whereas in the union of the two premaxil-
lary bones and the presence of pores on the thighs, they are like the former.
The presence of such bony plates beneath the scales, the distinctness of the
two prernaxilUe, and the invariable absence of pores on tho limbs, are
characters amply sufficient to differentiate the IScincidce from the Lacertida\
There are twenty-five genera included in the family under- consideration, in
one of which (Lygosoma) no less than one hundred and fifty-nine distinct species
are recognised by zoologists. With such a number of different forms, it is not
surprising to find that the family is cosmopolitan. Its head-quarters are,
however, the Australasian and Oriental countries, together with the islands
of the Pacific and Africa. Skinks are essentially terrestrial lizards, all loving
dry sandy deserts, where many burrow in the soil ; and it is probably largely
due to such habits that the lower eyelid is furnished with a transparent
window in the centre, so that the eye can be used when protected by its
covering. A peculiar feature of the family is to be found in the circumstance
that the young are almost invariably born in a living condition. Whereas,
in all cases the limbs are relatively short, in certain instances one, and in
others both pairs are wanting. Many of the above-mentioned features clearly
indicate that they are a highly specialised group. Since the number of young
produced at a birth may be as low as two, and does not seem to exceed half
a score, the rate of increase of these lizards is comparatively slow.
The common skink (Scincus officinalis) which isasrnooth-scaled, parti-coloured
lizard of about eight inches in length, owes its scientificname to the circumstance
that its flesh was formerly employed in
European medicine, as it still is in the
East. It is a creature common enough
in Syria and Palestine, where it burrows
in the sandy soil. Its flesh is stated by
European travellers to be by no means
unpalatable if properly cooked. The
most extraordinary-looking member of
the entire family is the Australian stump-
tailed lizard (Trachysaurus rugosus),
which is covered with large rough
browny scales, underlain by thick bony
Fig. 20. COMMON SKINK plates, in such a manner as to give it the
(Scincus offidnalis). appearance of an extremely elongated pine-
cone. The short and broad head is triangular in form ; the limbs are very short,
the front and hind pair being widely separated from each other ; and the tail is
reduced to a very short, wide, rounded stump. In its habits the lizard is slow
SCALED REPTILES CHAMELEONS, 41 1
and lethargic, as if existence were somewhat of a bore, and although its chief
food is of an animal nature, it is stated also to consume vegetable substances.
Certain worm-like burrowing skinks from the tropical and sub-tropical
regions of the globe are degraded types, regarded as constituting two families
by themselves. In both these families the Anelytropidce and the Dibamidce
the degradation shows itself not only in the loss of limbs, but likewise in
the simplification of the skull, which has lost all its lateral arches ; while the
eyes are buried beneath the skin, and the ears have no external opening. In
the first family which contains the Mexican genus Anelytrojms and the
African Feylinia and Typhlosaums the bony plates beneath the H skin are
retained, but the two premaxillae have coalesced into a single bone. On the
other hand, in the Dibamidce the premaxillse remain distinct, but the bony
plates in the skin have disappeared. This second family is represented only
by the genus Dilxvmus, of which one species ranges from the Moluccas through
Celebes to New Guinea, while the second is restricted to the Nicobar Islands.
Sub-Order II. Rhiptoglossa.
CHAMELEONS.
In their slow and deliberate movements, as well as by their peculiar revolv-
ing eyes and generally grotesque appearance; chatmeleons suggest the idea
that they do not properly belong to the present order of things, but are sur-
vivors from some ancient epoch in the earth's history, when strange and
uncouth monsters were to the fore. Nevertheless, we have no evidence that
such is really the case, since such fossil chamseleons as are known belong to a
comparatively late era, and the extreme specialisation of these strange crea-
tures is, perhaps, rather in favour of their modern origin. Although in
popular language chamoeleons come under the designation of lizards, they are
structurally so different from the Lacertilia that there can be no hesitation in
regarding them as the representatives of a distinct sub-order. Apart from
the peculiarities of their external appearance, they are broadly distinguished
from lizards by the conformation of the tongue. Anyone who has seen a
tamie charneeleon harpoon a fly at a distance of half a dozen inches from its
lips, will not readily forget the appearance of the long extensile, worm-like
organ which is shot out from the mouth with the speed of an arrow, to be
withdrawn immediately after with the hapless victim adhering to its viscid
and club-shaped tip. The feet, too, are as unique in their way as is the
tongue, some of the toes turning in one direction and the remainder in the
other, so as to form a grasping organ of unrivalled power. Whereas in the
front feet three toes go to form the inner half of the grasping organ, and two
to the outer, in the hind-limbs this arrangement is reversed. The large re-
volving and prominent eye is in the form of an egg, with most of the exposed
portion invested by a thick continuous lid of a granular texture, in the centre
of which is the minute perforation for the pupil. Each eye can be moved
independently of its fellow ; and these movements serve to heighten the
general grotesqueness of the creature's appearance. Owing to the frequent
development of three tall backwardly-projecting ridges on the hinder part of
the skull, the head often assumes a casque-like form ; arid the small triangu-
lar and compressed teeth are affixed to the jaws in the acrodont manner. In
all the species the body is so much compressed as to be much deeper than
4 i2 REPTILIA ORDER HI.SQUAMATA.
wide, while, owing to the great relative length of the lanky limbs, it is raised
high above the ground. The long tapering tail is as good a grasping organ as
that of an American monkey. Externally, the whole surface is covered with
granules, or small tubercles, so that, properly speaking, chamseleons do not come
under the title of Squamata. In their skeleton, chameleons differ from all
lizards with fully-developed limbs by the complete loss of their collar-bones.
Chamseleons are all so closely related to one another that a single family
the Ghamceleontidce suffices for the group. Moreover, with the exception of
three Malagasy species forming the genus Brookesia,
and two others from Africa, which are separated
as Rampholeon, all the forms may be included in the
typical genus Chamcdeon, of which forty -four specific
representatives are recognised. As regards their
geographical distribution, chamreleons are chiefly
characteristic of Africa south of the Sahara and Mada-
gascar ; but the common Chamceleon vulgaris is an
inhabitant of many of the Eastern Mediterranean
countries, and is also found in Andalusia and Algeria.
India and Ceylon likewise possess a representative of
the same genus, while South Arabia is the home of a
third, and Socotra of a fourth. Great difference
exists in the bodily size of the various members of the
family ; the smallest being a species of Brookesia
measuring less than three inches in length, while
Fig. 21. A CHAMELEON. many of the larger kinds grow to considerably more
than a foot.
Chamseleons are essentially arboreal animals, mostly living in trees or
bushes abundantly clothed with leaves, and in localities where moisture is
plentiful. Although these reptiles have long been celebrated for their power
of changing the colour of their skins, yet it appears that the phenomenon is
by no means so strongly marked in this group as it is among certain lizards.
Still there is considerable change ; and whereas most chameeleons are gener-
ally of an apple-green colour in daylight, it is stated that during the night the
tint of the skin fades to a greyish-white. If during the daytime a chamseleon
passes from a leaf to a bough, its skin soon assimilates to the sombre hue
of the latter ; and if seized in the hand the change is even more rapid. In spite
of the partiality of nearly all the species for dense tropical or sub- tropical vegeta-
tion, a few have betaken themselves to spots in desert districts where they find
herbage enough for their needs. All are insectivorous, their favourite food
being flies ; and the rapidity with which one of these insects is seized by the
tongue forms a strange contrast to the otherwise sluggish and deliberate move-
ments of these reptiles.
Sub-Order IILOphidia.
SNAKES/
The leading structural features by which snakes are distinguished from the
limbless lizards having been already given under the heading of the sub-order
Lacertilia, these need not be recapitulated, and attention may accordingly be
directed to some of the other characteristics of the former group. Everybody
is aware that snakes are scaly reptiles, crawling on the ground without the
SCALED REPTILES SNAKES. 413
aid of limbs ; but it is probably less widely known that certain members of
the group retain vestiges of the hind-legs in the shape of two spur-like pro-
jections from the body in the neighbourhood of the vent. And in such
forms, if the skeleton be examined, it will be found that there are remnants
of the bony framework of the pelvis and upper part of the hind-limbs. All
these facts clearly show that snakes trace their descent from reptiles endowed
with four complete limbs. Under the heading of the Lacertilia it has been
mentioned that the two branches of the lower jaw of a snake are united at the!
chin by a ligament, so as to be capable of wide separation from one another;
and in many members of the group the capacity of the mouth can be further
augmented by a similar arrangement in the upper jaw, the bones of both the
jaws themselves, and likewise those of the palate, being movably joined to-,
gether. This arrangement permits these reptiles to devour a prey of con-
siderably larger size than the normal calibre of their mouth and throat. In
place of movable eyelids, snakes have a continuous transparent skin stretched
over the eyes, which is periodically cast with the slough ; and in ho case is
there any external opening to the ears. A peculiar feature in a serpent is
the enormous number of vertebrae contained in the backbone, not less re-
markable being the number of pairs of ribs. In fact, from the- head to a long
way down the tail, each joint of the backbone carries a pair of these append-
ages, which increase gradually in length from the head to the fore-part of the
trunk, and thence as gradually diminish to the tail. There being no vestiges
of collar-bones or breast-bone, each rib terminates below in a free point.
In order to give extra flexibility, and at the same time strength, to this
exceedingly elongated backbone, the vertebrae of serpents are provided
with extra articulations, a wedge-like projection from one fitting in to a
corresponding hollow in the next. Such additional articulations are, however,
by no means confined to snakes , but also occur in some lizards, notably the
monitors. In ordinary land vertebrates the ribs are largely connected with
the function of breathing ; but in snakes in addition to supporting the walls
of the trunk, and thus keeping open the cavity of the chest their chief
function is in progression, so that these reptiles may really be described as
rib- walkers. On the under surface of the body the majority of snakes have
a series of large transverse horny shields, which are much wider than long,
and in the trunk-region extend right across the lower surface ; these shields,
it may be remarked, being absent in the limbless lizards. In the tail the
enlarged shields not unfrequeritly form a double longitudinal series. Each
of the complete transverse shields corresponds to the termination of a pair of
ribs. By holding on to the inequalities of the surface they are traversing by
the free edges of the shields which project backwards and then by drawing
closer together the ribs of one side of the body, and afterwards those of the
other, a snake produces the well-known lateral undulations of its body. By.
straightening out the front part of the body when a firm hold is obtained,
and then drawing after it the hinder portion, progression is effected. On a
smooth surface movement is impossible, and no snake ever produces vertical
undulations of its body. All snakes have a prehensile forked tongue, capable
of retraction within a basal sheath, and during their waking hours kept hi:
constant movement. Usually the head of a snake, both above and below, is
invested with a number of large and symmetrically-arranged polished horny;
shields, to each of which a distinctive name is given. Internally, snakes are-
remarkable for the great elongation of the lungs, or rather lung, since, as a.
rule, only the one on the right side is functional.
4M KEPTILIA-ORDER HL-SQUAMATA.
As regards their biting organs, harmless snakes generally have two rows of
teeth in the upper, and a single row in the lower jaw, such teeth being
slender, sharp, and comparatively short. In some, however, either one or
two pairs of teeth of the outer upper series may be larger than the rest, and
provided with a groove, or completely tubular, such a type probably always
indicating more or less developed noxious properties. In some of the most
deadly members of the sub-order, the arrangements for the injection of the
poison are of a more complicated nature. Here the short maxillary bones are
capable of being moved so as to become at right angles to the bones of the
rest of the palate, while each carries a large channelled tusk, which, at the
moment of biting, assumes an erect position. Through this pair of tusks, or
fangs, the poison is conveyed from the secreting glands, which are placed
below and behind the eyes. In some kinds these glands are short, those of the
cobra being of the size of an almond ; but in others they extend far down the
body. Regarding the mode of operation, an Australian writer observes that
"the curious structure of the fang makes it almost certain that the poison
shall be injected under the skin. The opening of the groove is not at the
very tip, where it would be liable to get plugged up with skin or flesh, and so
prevent the passage of the poison, but a little way up from and in front of
this, so that the sharp point goes in first, and makes a little hole into which
the poison flows. In fact the poison fang is the model of the medical inject-
ing syringe, and is exactly adapted to its purpose. The secretion of the
gland varies in different snakes in quantity and in quality. It is a clear
viscid fluid, which can retain its deadly properties for long, and does not even
lose them when dissolved in water or alcohol. Sir J. Fayrer, the great
authority on Indian snakes, found that the blood of an animal killed by snake
poison was itself poisonous, and he transmitted the venom through a series of
three animals with fatal results."
It was long supposed that harmless and noxious serpents were broadly dis-
tinguished from one another by definite external characters, but this is now
known to be incorrect ; and it is only by an examination of the teeth that ifc
can be determined whether or no any particular serpent is hurtful. The
destruction of human life by snake-bite in India is something appalling, as
may be gleaned by a recent return of the Indian Government. It is there
stated that, whereas in 1892 the deaths caused by snake-bite in the lower
provinces of Bengal were 9,510, in 1893 the number rose to 10,797. Though
the deaths in Bengal, as might be supposed from its larger area, exceeded
those in the other provinces, there was apparently nothing permanent in the
rise, as the number fell to 9,856 in 1894. The decrease of mortality during
1894 is ascribed in Bengal and Assam to the low flood-levels, the snakes not
having been dislodged from their usual haunts, as happens when the water is
high. In Assam the mortality is the lowest recorded in the last ten years.
The loss of life from snake-bite was highest, in proportion to the population,
in Bengal, Ajmir, the North- Western Provinces, and Oudh and the Central
Provinces. If all the provinces be taken together, one person was killed in
this manner among every 10,267 of the population in 1894, as compared with
one in every 10,424 in 1893. The apparent increase in Assam is ascribed to
more accurate reporting. In the Central Provinces the same explanation has
been offered for a continuous increase ; but the statistics in general are viewed
with distrust. The number of venomous snakes reported to have been
destroyed, and the rewards granted oil this account shown in the return, fell
respectively from 117,120 to 102,210, and from Rs. 12,607 to Rs.10,150.
SCALED REPTILES SNAKES. 415
Anything that can check this frightful mortality must be welcomed ; and,
after the trial of many so-called remedies, it appears that a real antidote is the
blood-serum of animals which have been previously immunised to snake-
poison or in that of venomous serpents themselves. Regarding the former
method, Dr. J. G. M'Pherson writes that its discoverer Professor Fraser of
Edinburgh first proved that there is a certain amount of toleration for
snake-poison in animals. " Having ascertained the minimum dose required
to cause the death of an animal, he started below that amount and gradually
increased the dose after intervals of ten days. By this process of gradual .n-
creases in the dose of the snake-poison, he found the animal receiving is
much at one time as fifty times the amount of the minimum lethal dose with-
out it causing any perceptible bad effects. In fact, its general health
seemed to improve, as he had the animals weighed once and sometimes twice
every day ; and all the time he was administering the venom there was a
steady increase in weight. In the meantime Professor Fraser has not carried
his experiments of quantity further than fifty times the minimum lethal dose
at one time ; but still, when he had got to that point, the animal was receiv-
ing in a single dose, without being affected, enough to kill fifty animals of the
same size and weight. One of the animals which he had treated by this
gradually increasing quantity had, in two months, received enough poison to
kill three hundred and seventy fresh animals of equal size and weight, sup-
posing that each just got the minimum lethal dose. He then described a
second series of experiments in which he used the blood-serum of these
animals which had been immunised as an antidote for the venom. He mixed
an equal part of this blood -serum and venom together, and injected the mix,
ture into a fresh animal. This produced no effect, the serum counteracting
the action of the poison. Next he injected some of the immunised blood-
serum, which he has named antivenine, into a fresh animal, and then some
venom afterwards, but the serum hindered any action of the venom. Then
he took another fresh animal and injected the venom, waiting till symptoms
of poisoning were manifest ; at once he injected his antivenitie, and put a stop
to any further progress of the poisoning. The same results took place after
many experiments. All this points to the conclusion that this antivenine, or
blood-serum, in an animal that has been able to stand with impunity fifty
lethal doses at a time by the increasing dose process is really an antidote to
the poison of snakes." Subsequent experiments have shown, as was not
unanticipated, that the blood-serum of venomous snakes is likewise an anti-
dote to their own poison.
Nearly all snakes feed upon the bodies of animals that they have killed
themselves, the few exceptions to this rule subsisting on eggs. Owing to the
extensile structure of the mouth and jaws, already mentioned, as well as to
the separation of the lower ejvls of the ribs, and the power of extension exist-
ing in the stomach, snakes c,in devour animals of larger circumference than
the ordinary girth of their own bodies. Both absolutely and proportionately
the largest animals are swallowed by the pythons and boas ; and as these
snakes kill their prey by encircling it in the folds of their bodies, and thus
crushing it to death, the carcase is rendered soft and plastic, and thus more
easily swallowed than would otherwise be the case. Occasionally these ser-
pents will swallow members of their own species, as happened not long ago
in the menagerie of the Zoological Society of London. In this instance, two
large boas occupied the same compartment in the reptile-house, the one
measuring nine and the other eight feet in length. One night the two were
4 i6 REPTILIA ORDER III. SQUAMA TA.
seen all safe at closing time, but when the house was opened next morning,
" only one boa was found in the cage ; the other had disappeared. Though
the survivor was only a foot longer than the other snake, there was no reason
to doubt that it had completely swallowed its companion. It was so dis-
tended that the scales were almost separated, and it was unable either to coil
itself or to move. There is every reason to believe that in accomplishing this
almost incredible feat the snake acted by mistake, and that it devoured its
companion by what deserves to be called an accident. The larger boa was fed
with a pigeon before the house was closed for the night. It swallowed the
bird, and the other boa was then given a pigeon, which it had begun to
swallow when the snakes were left for the night. It is believed that the
larger snake then caught hold of the part of the pigeon which projected from
the other's mouth, and gradually enveloped not only the bird, but the head
of the other snake. Once begun, the swallowing process would go on almost
mechanically. As the swallowed snake was only one foot less in length than
the swallower, and of nearly equal bulk, weighing about fifty pounds, the
gastric juices must have dissolved the portion which first entered the snake's
stomach before the remainder was drawn into the jaws. Though still rather
lethargic, the surviving boa is not injured by its meal. It coils itself up with-
out difficulty, and its scales have the beautiful iridescent bloom peculiar to
the skin of snakes when in perfect health." Within about a fortnight the
cannibal had completely recovered its usual condition. The majority of
snakes swallow their prey while still living, as may be often witnessed when
a common English water-snake seizes an unfortunate frog. Vipers and
cobras, on the other hand, first kill their prey by the injection of venom.
But few meals suffice for a snake, in spite of the circumstance that these rep-
tiles digest their food with great rapidity.
In their general mode of life serpents show much variation, some living in
sandy deserts, others haunting swampy localities, while yet others spend a
large portion of their time in fresh water. Some, again, are mainly arboreal,
and the members of one group are marine, and may be met with swimming
in the open sea far away from land. The aquatic snakes both fresh-water
and marine as well as vipers, give birth to living young ; whereas the others
lay soft-shelled eggs. Generally these are left to hatch by themselves, aided
sometimes by such heat as may be produced by the decomposition of the
heaps of leaves and other vegetable substances in which they are not infre-
quently deposited ; but pythons actually brood their eggs. It might be
thought that incubation by a cold-blooded creature would not aid develop-
ment ; but it is a remarkable fact that at such seasons the temperature of the
blood of these snakes is raised slightly above the normal.
Serpents attain their maximum development, both as regards numbers and
size, in the steamy tropical and sub-tropical zones ; and it is here also that
the most venomous forms are met with. Even in such localities there is,
however, great variation in the relative proportions of noxious and innocuous
kinds ; and in the large proportion of the former the Oriental countries bear
an evil reputation, as they also do in respect to the abundance of snakes in
general. Next to these countries comes Tropical America in point of numbers ;
whereas Africa has only about half as many snakes as inhabit the Indian and
Malayan countries. The African serpents are, as a whole, unlike those of
Madagascar ; while the latter show a considerable resemblance to South
American types. The Australian snake-fauna is allied to that of India and
the Malayan countries, as is well exemplified by the occurrence in both of
SCALED REPTILES SNAKES. 417
pythons. In temperate regions snakes become gradually less common as we
proceed north in the one hemisphere and south in the other ; but, with the ex-
ception of New Zealand and the polar regions, the group may be considered
to enjoy practically a world-wide range. Nine families of snakes are recognised
by zoologists ; and these include a very large number of genera, and probably
more than fifteen hundred distinct species. With such a vast assemblage, it is
of course impracticable in our limited space to do more than notice the leading
and most important types. And even treating the group in this manner,
there is considerable difficulty in giving the student a proper idea of the
subject, on account of the close structural similarity between many of the
families. To understand snakes thoroughly requires an intimate acquaintance
with a mass of structural details, and the acquisition of a host of technical
terms ; and these can only be acquired by a patient practical study of the
group.
At the head of the sub-order are now placed the two comparatively unim-
portant families of blind-snakes, which differ from all the rest in lacking
teeth in either the upper or the lower jaw. In form, these
snakes are cylindrical and worm-like, with relatively short Blind-Snakes.
heads and tails ; while in habits they likewise resemble Families
worms, passing most of their lives in tunnels driven by Typhlopidce and
themselves beneath the surface of the ground. Here they Glanconiidce.
subsist by feeding upon such insects or their larvse as they
happen to encounter, ants being apparently a very favourite dish. Dull,
rainy weather will occasionally tempt them above ground. Living in such
subterranean haunts, the large inferior transverse shields of ordinary serpents
would be useless, and we accordingly find the bodies of the blind-snakes
covered all round with scales of equal size, although there are some large
shields on the fore part of the head, beneath a pair of which are buried the
rudimental and useless eyes. Unlike most of their kindred, these snakes
cannot expand their jaws ; and the small aperture of the mouth is placed on
the under side of the head. That these snakes are nearly related to limbed
reptiles is proved by the retention in the skeleton of more or less distinct
vestiges of the pelvis. An important feature in the structure of the bony
palate, which need not be considered in detail here, suffices to distinguish
them from all the other members of the sub-order, to which it seems likely
that they have no close relationship. Indeed it is quite probable that whereas
the blind-snakes are descended from one group of lizard-like reptiles, all
other ophidians may trace their origin to a second. In the first of the two
families into which the blind-snakes are divided, it is the lower jaw which has
lost its teeth, and the pelvis is represented by a single pair of bones. The
family, which includes three distinct genera, with about a hundred species,
ranges over all the warmer countries ; one species of the large typical genus
Typhlops occurring in Southern and Eastern Europe. On the other hand,
in the Glauconiidce it is the upper jaw that has no teeth, while two pairs of
bones remain to represent the pelvis. The family includes only the genus
Glaucouia, of which there are nearly thirty species ranging over Africa, the
south-west of Asia, and America.
Of far more importance than the last is the great family of boas and
pythons, which include the largest of all living snakes, and are characterised
by their habit of killing their prey by crushing it in the folds of their bodies.
Like the blind-snakes, these huge serpents retain external vestiges of the
hind-limbs, and likewise internal traces of the pelvis ; but as they differ con-
28
4 i8 REPTIL1A ORDER II1.SQUAMATA.
siderably from the former in the conformation of the bony palate of the skull,
it is most probable that they have a totally distinct origin. Since they
agree in this respect with the other seven more specialised
Boa Tribe. families included in the sub-order, it is not improbable that
Family Boida&. these snakes are the survivors of the ancestral stock from
which all the latter have originated. The jaws, too, are un-
like those of the blind-snakes in that both are armed with a complete series of
teeth. The vestiges of the hind-limbs usually take the form of a pair of
spurs in the neighbourhood of the vent. The other distinctive features of
the family are mainly connected with the structure of the skull ; and as the
only other snakes with vestiges of limbs are the small Ilysiidce, which are not
likely to be confounded with the members of the present family, it will be
superfluous to allude further to these peculiarities. The family, which ranges
over all the warmer regions of both hemispheres, is divided into the two sub-
families of the pythons or rock-snakes (Pythonince), and the boa-constrictors
and sand-snakes (Boince). All the species included in the former are re-
stricted to the Old World ; but whereas the typical boas are solely American
and Malagasy, some other members of the second group are widely distributed
in the Eastern Hemisphere. The first sub-family is particularly characterised
by the presence of an additional pair of bones the supraorbitals in the
roof of the skull, which enter into the composition of the margins of the eye-
sockets. The members of the genus Python are all large serpents, having
teeth in the premaxillary or front upper jaw-bones, and a double series of
shields on the lower surface of the tail, the latter being distinctly prehensile.
Still more important is the presence of 'pits in two of the shields on each
side of the fore part of the head ; while other distinctive features are to be
found in the characters of the teeth, as well as in the vertical slit formed by the
pupil of the eye. There are nine different species of pythons recognised by
zoologists ; and these range over Africa and the Oriental countries, together
with Australia and New Guinea. Fifteen and even twenty feet is by no
means an uncommon length for the larger kinds, such as the Indian P.
molurus ; and occasionally specimens grow to between twenty and thirty feet.
A python, after having suffocated its victim by enveloping it in the coils
of its body, proceeds to swallow it by seizing it by the head and gradually
drawing it> down. Greatly exaggerated notions are prevalent as to the
size of the animals which can be swallowed by pythons and boas ; and the
stories of whole buffaloes and large deer are obviously unworthy of credence.
Indeed, it seems probable that even a full-grown sheep is too large for the
capacity of the leave of even the biggest of the tribe ; and a sheep of half
the full size would seem to be about the limit. In habits, pythons are chiefly
nocturnal, and they are partial to damp forest districts where water is easy
of access. In such situations they not unfrequeritly take up their residence
in the roofs of houses when made of straw or other vegetable substances; and
a well-known account of the discovery of such an unwelcome intruder into
his temporary abode is narrated by Mr. Wallace. Perhaps the most
peculiar circumstance in the life-history of these serpents is the incuba-
tion of the eggs. These, which comprise a large number, are arranged
in a pyramidal heap, round which the parent coils her body ; this posture
being in some instances maintained for nearly two months. Regarding
the appetite of a python (miscalled a boa) formerly in his possession,
Captain Hey land writes as follows : "The animal was brought to me early
in January, and did not taste food from that time until the July follow.
SCALED REPTILES SNAKES. 419
ing. During this period he generally drank a quart of water daily, The
man who brought him stated that he had been seen to eat a hog-deer the
dciy before he was taken. One evening early in July, hearing a noise, I
went out, and discovered that the snake had left his harbour under the
boards of a stable where he generally lay, and having entered a small shed
in which some fowls were roosting, had swept eleven from the perch, and
destroyed them by pressing them between his folds. Then taking them one by
one head foremost into his mouth, swallowed the whole down in twenty minutes.
The largest animal that he ate while in my possession was a calf, which he
killed and gorged in two hours and twenty minutes. He never attacked
dogs, cats, or pigs. Of these last, indeed, he seemed to be in dread, for
whenever one was presented to him, he retired to a corner and coiled himself
up with his head undermost. If fed with animals not larger than a duck, he
ate readily every day, but after the meal of a goat refused food for a month."
In Australia the genus is represented by P. apilotis, of which one variety is
commonly termed the diamond -snake, the other the carpet-snake.
An Australian writer observes that " of our two pythons or rock-snakes,
one, the diamond-snake, does not occur farther south than New South
Wales, whilst the carpet-snake has a wider range, extending from Queens-
land to even as far as Southern > Victoria. These pythons may reach the
length of sixteen feet, but a more usual length is eight feet to ten feet.
The diamond-snake has a yellow spot in the centre of each of its black
scales, whilst the carpet-snake has a series of lighter patches with dark
centres along each side, producing a fancied resemblance to the pattern of a
carpet. They are really nocturnal animals, feeding on birds and small
mammals, whilst in turn the blacks will eat their flesh with avidity." Krefft
thus describes the way in which they secure their prey: "Coiled on the
branch of a tree, the reptile moves only the head and part of the body,
advancing and retreating, in fact measuring its distance, with its head and
neck bent into the form of a horizontal S. When pretty sure of its aim, the
snake darts forward with open jaws, fastens upon its victim, and in an
instant brings it within a loop formed by a portion of the body, which
gradually tightens till the prey is suffocated. In this position the snake will
remain for twenty minutes or half an hour, holding the body of the animal
tightly. It then gradually uncoils, and, if inclined to feed, begins the pro-
cess of swallowing with the head. 7 ' In Africa the best known representative
of the genus is Python selm, commonly termed the Natal rock-snake in the
southern parts of that continent. Nearly allied to the pythons are the genera
Laxocemus, Nardoa, and Liasis; the first including a single small species
from Mexico, the second one inhabiting New Ireland, while the third has
several representatives ranging from Timor to New Guinea and Northern
Australia. All these resemble the true pythons in having the premaxillre
toothed, but in the Papuan Chrondropython, as well as in the North Australian
Aspidites and the West African Calabaria, those bones carry no teeth.
The absence of prernaxillary teeth is likewise characteristic of the members
of the sub-family Boince, which are, however, specially distinguished by the
want of the aforesaid supraoccipital bone in the skull. All have teeth on the
palate, and likewise most of the shields on the lower surface of the tail
arranged in a single series ; but in these respects they resemble some of the
three genera last mentioned. Most of the boa tribe have the head well
marked off from the neck, and the tail with a certain amount of prehensile
power. Foremost among these are the tree-boas of the genus Epicrates, in all
420 REPTILTA ORDER IH.SQUAMATA.
of which the teeth in the fore part of the jaws are superior in size to those be-
hind, while the head is covered with shields, the scales on the body are smooth,
and there are, at most, but shallow pits in the so-called labial shields of the
muzzle. All the members of the genus are inhabitants of Tropical America,
the largest not exceeding seven feet in length. The presence of deep pits in
the labial shields serves to distinguish the species of the nearly allied genus
Corcdlus, of which four are from Tropical America, while the fifth is found in
Madagascar. Four other snakes from the Moluccas, New Guinea, and
Oceania, constitute the genus Enygrus, which differs from both the preceding
in having ridges on the scales of the body. These boas do not appear to
molest human beings, but the case is different with the anaconda (Eunectes
murinus) of Tropical America, which grows to thirty feet or more in length.
In common with three other genera from the same countries, two of
which are respectively represented by a single species, while the third in-
cludes several, the anaconda differs from all the foregoing in that the front
teeth are not greatly enlarged, the whole series gradually diminishing in
height from before backwards. Among the distinctive generic characters of
the anaconda may be noticed the small size of the scales. Its general colour
is olive or greyish-brown on the upper surface, upon which are one or two
rows of large, dark, transversely- elongated blotches, and one or two of eye-
like spots on the sides. The anaconda is essentially a water-snake, and in
those parts of its habitat which are subject to a long period of drought, it
buries itself in the dried river mud till the return of moister conditions. In
the anaconda one of the pairs of shields on the head, technically known as
nasals, come into contact with one another in the middle line behind the
muzzle, but in the nearly-allied snakes forming the genus Boa a median line
of small scales separates all the nasal shields. Of the seven species of true
boas, five are from the warmer parts of Central and South America, whereas
the other two are met with in far distant Madagascar. The common boa-con-
strictor (Boa constrictor) has
a wide geographical range,
being found from Venezuela
to the inland districts of the
Upper Argentine. Although
marvellous stories are current
as to the rapacity of this
species whose maximum
length is about a dozen feet
it appears that its usual
Fig. 22. -BOA CONSTRICTOR. f OO( j con sists of the smaller
mammals, while even eggs are
sometimes swallowed. It will, however, occasionally attack and kill deer or
peccaries. All its victims are destroyed by the crushing effect of the com-
pression of the encircling folds of the body. A snake from a small island
near Mauritius, forming the genus Cdsarea, differs from the true boas in having
distinct keels on its scales, as well as in the greater relative length of the tail.
The only other members of the family that can be noticed are the sand-
snakes (Erifx) of South-Eastern Europe, Asia, and North and East Africa,
which differ from the boas in the want of any distinct line of demarcation
between the head and neck. These snakes derive their name from frequent-
ing open sandy districts, where they frequently enter the burrows of small
mammals and lizards for the purpose of preying on their rightful occupants.
SCALED REPTILES SNAKES. 421
Two small and comparatively unimportant families of the sub-order claim a
few lines. The first of these, which includes but three genera, with a total
of five species, is that of the llysiidce, all the members of
which resemble the pythons and boas in the retention of Cylinder-Snakes
external vestiges of the hind pair of limbs, but differ in the and Shield-Tails,
conformation of the skull. The typical form is the coral Families
cylinder-snake (Ilysia scytale), a small species from the upper Ilysiidce and
part of the valley of the Amazon and the Guianas, the others Uropdtidw.
being the various species of Oylindrophis from South-Eastern
Asia, and the one representative of the nearly-allied Aiiomalochilus, which is
Sumatran. The Uropeltidce, which, in common with all the remaining snakes,
have lost all external traces of limbs, form an allied ,-family agreeing with both
the preceding in the structure of the lower jaw, and taking their name from
the peculiar conformation of the tail. Although in one genus it has a
coating of keeled scales, in all the rest this appendage terminates in a bare
roughened disc, and is thus quite unlike that of all other snakes. In all
cases the tail is very short, the body is cylindrical, and there is no distinct
neck, while botli the mouth and the eyes are relatively small. These snakes,
which are all of small size, and frequently brightly and handsomely coloured,
are found only in the mountains of India proper and Ceylon, where they
generally spend their time in tunnels channelled at a considerable depth
below the surface, although in rainy weather they frequently skulk beneath
stones and wood, and sometimes even venture out among grass and other
herbage. In addition to the typical Uropeltis, they include six generic types,
the total number of species recognised in 1893 being forty-one, of which only
one pertains to the type genus. It may be added that a snake from South-
Eastern Asia known as Xenopeltis uiticolor is regarded as representing by
itself the family of the Xenopdtidw, the reason for this reference being that
in the structure of the skull it exhibits distinct indications of relationship
with the Boidce, although agreeing with the next family in the number of
bones entering into the composition of the lower jaw.
Together with the aforesaid Xenopeltis, the snakes included in the two great
and important families of the Colubridcv and Viperidca are broadly differentiated
from the BoidcE and their allies by having one bone less in
each lateral branch of the lower jaw, the missing bone being Colubrine Tribe,
termed the coronoid. It is unfortunate that this important Family
distinctive feature is not visible in the living animal ; but so Colubridw.
it is, and the student must make the best of it. As already
said, none of these snakes retain external vestiges of limbs. The colubrine
tribe is an extremely large group, embracing as it does many more snakes
than any of the other families into which the sub-order is divided. All are
characterised by the circumstance that the maxilke of the upper jaw are
horizontal, and incapable of movement. Whereas, however, some, such as
the common water-snakes, are perfectly harmless except to the small crea-
tures upon which they prey others, like the sea-snakes and cobras, are
among the most deadly of all serpents. In such a vast assemblage it is im-
possible to do more than notice some of the leading types.
As an example of the first of the three great sections into which it has been
found advisable to divide the family, we may take the water-snakes of the genus
Tropidonotus, of which the common British ringed-snake ( T. natrix) is the most
familiar representative. From the fact that all the teeth are completely solid
throughout, showing no traces of either an external groove or a deeper
422 REPTIL1A ORDER IILSQUAMATA.
channel, the section to which this genus belongs is technically known as the
Aglypha. And this fact alone is sufficient to indicate that all the members of
the section are innocuous. It will be superfluous to point out all the
characteristics by which the water-snakes differ from their immediate allies
more especially as many of these are deep-seated, and require a considerable
amount of anatomical knowledge for their proper apprehension. It may be
mentioned, however, that teeth are present throughout both the upper add
lower jaws, and that those in the hinder part of the upper series exceed in
size those near the muzzle, while all those in the lower jaw have approxim-
ately the same dimensions. The relatively large eye has a circular pupil,
the scales are arranged in regular series running lengthwise, and between
the openings of the nostrils are placed a pair of internasal shields.
Of water-snakes there are forty or fifty species ; and the range of the
genus embraces the greater portion of the globe, with the exception of
South America and Australia south of the tropic. The species are, however,
less numerous in Africa than in the other countries of the Old World. All
are fond of water, in which they swim well, and their favourite haunts are
damp situations where access to a river or pond is easy. They live on frogs
and other small animals, which are seized in the mouth and swallowed as
rapidJy as possible, without being killed by crushing in the folds of the body. In
addition to the ringed snake, several other species of the genus inhabit Europe.
Another familiar European species is the smooth snake (Coronella hevis),
which belongs to a rather large genus. The so-called fierce snakes (Zamenis)
are also well represented on the Continent, among such being the dark green
snake (Z. yemouensis) and the horseshoe-snake (Z. hippocrcpis). To the same
genus belongs the well-known Indian rat-snake (Z. mucosns). Although
many or all of the foregoing will at times ascend trees in search of their prey,
the section includes others which are truly arboreal, and in coloration re-
semble the foliage among which they dwell. Such are the American wood-
snakes of the genus Herpctodryas, and their Old World cousins included in
the genera Dendrophis and Dendrelaphiy. In all these, the eyes are pro-
portionally much larger than in the water-snakes, and the body is more
or less strongly compressed. Some are remarkable for being able to change
the colour of their skin to harmonise with their surroundings after the manner
of the chamseleons and certain lizards. Far more interesting than any other
member of the family is the small South African egg-eating snake (Dasypeltis
scabra). It may well be asked how a snake, with its long pointed teeth,
manages to seize and swallow the eggs of birds without losing their savoury
contents. And if the egg-eating snake had the ordinary dental armature, it
would doubtless find this a very difficult task, But special arrangements
have been made to suit its particular diet. Whereas teeth are wanting in the
fore part of the jaws, the upper surface of the throat is provided with a long
series of tooth-like organs formed by the elongation of the lower spines of the
joints of the backbone, which project through the membranes into the
throat. Taking an egg into the nearly toothless mouth, the snake gradually
passes it downwards into the throat, where it is split by the pressure of the
mill-like teeth, and its contents safely swallowed. Although this snake is a
very small creature, it will at a pinch cram a hen's egg into its mouth, when
it looks somewhat like a football with a tail to it. How it manages to force
such a huge object into its throat, and still more, how it cracks it when once
there, we are not told.
The second section into which the family Colubridce is divided takes its
SCALED REPTILES SNAKES. 423
name of Opisthoglypha from the circumstance that either one or several pairs
of teeth in the hinder part of the upper jaw are traversed by a longitudinal
groove for the purpose of conveying poison from the secreting gland.
Whereas all are more or less noxious, many are deadly. In habits and form
many of these curiously simulate the members of the first section of the family.
The ^roup is but poorly represented in Europe, but among the Continental
species is the so-called cat-snake (Tarbophis vivax), forming a genus by itself.
This snake belongs to a sub-family of the section the Dipsadomorphince, in
which the nostrils are always situated on the sides of the muzzle. It frequently
grows to a yard or so in length, and is grey or brownish-yellow in general
colour, with various dark spots and blotches, and a chestnut patch on the
head-shields. It is fond of warm sunny spots among rocks, where it feeds
chiefly on lizards, which it kills by the injection of poison. The typical repre-
seiitalivesof the sub-family are the arboreal snakes of the genus Dipsadomorphus
which are widely spread through the warmer regions of the Old World, where
they have precisely the same mode of life as the arboreal forms included in
the section Aglypha. In colour they incline to black and brown, while in
length they may exceed a couple of yards. Many of them, at least, are
purely nocturnal snakes, and whereas some feed on birds, others prey almost
or quite exclusively on the smaller kinds of mammals. Occasionally they
descend from their leafy haunts to wander on the ground. Of similar habits
arc the Indian whip-snakes (Dryophis), in which the somewhat compressed
body and tall are remarkable for their extreme length and slenderness. This
ha bit of body enables these snakes to curl their tail tightly round a bough,
whence they strike to a long distance at any passing prey. Here, too,
belongs the Tropical American and West Indian genus Philodryas, which in-
cludes a considerable number of arboreal species, characterised by the green
tone of their coloration. This genus is also represented in Madagascar. The
number and arrangement of the teeth
form important features in the distinc-
tion of these genera of tree-snakes. In
the present section the place of the
water-snakes among the section Agly-
pha is taken by the fresh-water snakes
of the genera Homalopsis and Cantoria,
which range from India to New Guinea
and the North of Australia. These
snakes, few of which grow to more than
a yard in length, are far more aquatic
in their habits than the species of
Tropidonotus, and but seldom leave
the water at all ; and some of them
even descend rivers to enter the sea. Fig> 2 ^T THE CORAL-SNAKE
Their food consists of fish and other (Elaps corallinus).
aquatic creatures ; and they give birth
to living young while in the water. A considerable number lie in wait for
their prey by anchoring themselves to roots or sunken branches by means of
the prehensile tail.
In snakes, beauty and venom frequently go together, and an excellent
instance of this association is afforded by the coral-snake (Elaps corallinus} of
South America and the West Indies. Together with the remaining members
pf the colubrine family here noticed, the coral-snake belongs to the section
4 2 4 REPT1LIA ORDER TILSQUAMATA.
Proteroglypha. The essential feature of that section is to be found in the
circumstance that it is the front, instead of the hinder, upper maxillary teeth
that are grooved for the transmission of the poisonous secretion. Needless
to say, all are venomous some highly so. The genus in which the
coral-snake is included comprises many other species, of which the majority
inhabit the warmer parts of America, although a few are found in
Southern Africa. They typify a sub-family (Elapince) in which the tail
has a cylindrical form, and all the members of which live either on
the ground or in trees. The coral-snake, which grows to rather more
than a couple of feet in length, is easily recognised by its brilliant colora-
tion, the whole body and tail being divided into a number of segments
of cinnabar-red, separated by shorter segments of black, with indistinct
borders of greenish - white. The coral - snake, which frequents wooded
districts, is a strictly terrestrial species, feeding upon other reptiles and
insects. Nearly allied are the resplendent adders (Callophis) of the warmer
parts of Asia, distinguished by the presence of a groove traversing the whole
front surface of the upper fangs, and likewise by the scales forming thirteen
rows. These slender snakes are generally found in rocky districts.
The dreaded crait (Bungarns ccervleus), and its relative the banded adder,
or raj-samp (B. fasciatus), are well-known Indian representatives of a genus
whose geographical range extends from India and Ceylon to the south of
China. From Callophis, in which all the teeth behind the fangs are chan-
nelled, this genus differs in that from one to three of the same teeth are solid
throughout ; a connecting link being formed by the genus Hemibnnyarus, in
which there is one unperforated tooth in the hinder portion of each side of
the upper jaw. Although the banded adder is larger than the crait, it does
not appear to be so fatal to human life in India as the
latter, owing to the circumstance that it mainly keeps to
the open country. The crait, on the other hand, is one of
the snakes most commonly met with in human dwellings,
where it is fond of hiding in all kinds of unsuspected
places. In colour, the crait is very dark brown above,
marked with narrow rings, bars, or streaks of white.
Whereas the crait and its immediate allies have the head
passing imperceptibly into the neck, and lack the power
of inflating the latter, the cobras (Naia) possess a dis-
tinctly defined neck, the lower part of which can be dilated
at will ; while they further differ by the equality in the
size of the scales of the back with those of other parts.
Cobras are represented by half a score of species, some of
which are Oriental, while the others are African ; the best
o known being the Egyptian asp (N. haie) and the common
*CoBRM^E^ N Indian cobra (N. tripndians). The latter is familiar as
tripudians), being the species commonly exhibited by Indian snake-
charmers, and as it has been described in so many popular
works, while newspapers are always giving accounts of its ravages, nothing
in the way of description need be given in this place. Ordinarily this species
does not exceed six feet in length ; but Capt. F. Hawkins writes in the Asian
newspaper of August 5th, 1892, that in Sangor a specimen was killed measuring
seven feet three inches. The giant cobra (N. bungarus) of the Oriental
countries is, however, a considerably larger species. Mr. P. A. Bulkley,
writing from Burma, observes that "it may interest your readers to know
SCALED REPTILES SNAKES.
425
that about ten years ago, while shooting in the jungle, I came upon a fine
specimen of the snake in question over 12^ feet long, and, after an exciting
chase, succeeded in capturing it alive and uninjured. I kept it in captivity
for some months at Castle Rock in a large case, giving an occasional exercise
in the spare room of my bungalow, and eventually took it to England for the
reptile-house at the Zoological Gardens. At Brindisi I had to leave the snake
to complete its journey by steamer to London, and upon opening its case on
arrival at the Zoo, it was, unfortunately, found to be dead. The body, how-
ever, was in good preservation, and may be seen in a large case of alcohol in
the reptile-room of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington."
Although there are no cobras in Australia, that country is the home of an
equally deadly serpent known as the death-adder (Pscudcchis porphyriacd).
In this snake the cylindrical body is extremely long and slender, the head is
but imperfectly denned from the neck, and the scales are smooth. The
species, which grows to as much as seven feet in length, is commonly knqwn
in its native country as the black snake.
The last group of the present section of the Colubriche is that of the sea-
snakes, which form the sub -family HydrophiiiKK. They differ from the
Elapinw by the compressed and oar-like form of the tail, and also by the
scales on the under surface being either nearly similar to those on the upper
parts, or if enlarged into
shields, by their being much 4
smaller than in ordinary ter-
restrial snakes. As their
name implies, the sea-snakes
are peculiar in the sub-order
for their marine habits. Most
of them, indeed, pass the
whole of their time in the
open sea, where they produce
their young alive without the
intervention of eggs ; but
there are certain species which
are partly terrestrial, and
serve to connect the more
typical representatives of the
sub-family with the crait and
its allies. Sea-snakes are
most abundant in the tropical
portions of the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean, although a few enjoy
a much more extensive range. They are all highly venomous, and most are
handsomely and brilliantly tinted, the coloration being always variegated.
They feed on fish and other marine creatures, and frequently associate in
companies of considerable size. When cast on shor,e by the waves, the
majority are utterly helpless, lying where they are thrown until they die.
Unlike other members of the sub-order, sea-snakes change their skins piece-
meal instead of entire ; the renovation taking place very frequently. They
also differ from ordinary snakes in the shortness of the tongue ; and while
at sea only the extreme tips of this organ are thrust out through a couple of
small notches from the closed mouth. The three species constituting the genus
Platurus are those which serve to connect the rest with the crait group, and
are distinguished by having the under surface of the body and tail covered
Fig. 25. BANDED SEA-SNAKE (Pla turns laticaudatus).
426 REPTTLIA-ORDER ULSQUAMATA.
with transversely elongated shields, while the upper surface is invested with
smooth overlapping scales. One of the most common kinds, which grows to
a length of about three feet, is met with from the Bay of Bengal to Oceania.
These snakes can crawl with ease on land, and specimens have been from
time to time met with at considerable distances inland. In addition to certain
features connected with the nostrils, the more typical members of the sub-
family which are arranged under several separate genera differ from the
preceding in having the under surface scaled like the back, although in some
forms more or less distinct vestiges exist of the enlarged shields. These
genera are to a great extent distinguished from one another by the characters
of the teeth, the most important among them being Hydrus, Hydrophis, and
Distira. Emerson Tennent writes that> "sea-snakes are found on all the
coasts of Ceylon. I have sailed through large shoals of them in the Gulf of
Manaar, close to the pearl-banks of Aripo. The fishermen of Calpentyn, on
the west, live in perpetual fear of them, and believe their bite to be fatal.
In the course of an attempt which was made to place a lighthouse on the
great rocks of the south-east coast, known by seamen as the Basses or Baxos,
the workmen who first landed found the portion of the surface liable to be
covered by the tides honeycombed and hollowed into deep holes filled with
water, in which were abundance of fishes and some molluscs. Some of these
cavities also contained sea-snakes from four to five feet long, which were
described as having the head hooded like the cobra, do capello, and of a light
grey colour slightly speckled. They coiled themselves like serpents on land,
and darted at poles thrust in among them. The Singhalese who accompanied
the party said that they not only bit venomously, but crushed the limbs of
any intruder in their coils."
A small group of snakes, the members of which are externally very similar to
those of the sub-family Dipsadomorphinte in the Colubridtt:, are considered to
form a family by themselves. From the Dipsadomorphince they
Blunt-Heads. are distinguished externally by the absence of a groove on the
Family chin. They resemble the Colubridne in having the maxilhe fixed
Amblyce2)ha- in a horizontal position, but differ both from that family and
lidos. from the Viperida by the shortness of those bones in the hinder
part of the palate known as the pterygoids, which do not
extend sufficiently far back to reach either the hinder ends of the lower jaw
or the quadrate bone. Both jaws are provided with teeth, all of which are
solid, so that these snakes are non-venomous. The slight expansibility of
the mouth indicates that they prey upon small animals, while the relatively
large dimensions of the eye, in which the pupil is vertical, proclaim nocturnal
habits. Five genera of these snakes are known, two, namely, AmblycepJialus
and Haplopeltura, being confined to the Oriental countries, whereas Dipsas,
Pseudopareus, and Leptognathiis are from Tropical America.
The last family of snakes is a large one, and includes the vipers, pit-vipers,
puff-adders, and rattle-snakes ; all being highly venomous. The essential
distinctive feature of the Vvperidw is to be found in the fact
The Viper Tribe, that the short maxillae of the upper jaw are armed with a
Family pair of large perforated fangs, and can be erected so as to
Viperidat. become situated at right angles to the plane of the hinder
portion of the palate. Obviously, this gives to the fangs
the most favourable position for inflicting severe wounds. In the viperine
snakes the head is always more or less flattened, and is frequently triangular
in shape ; while the body is plump and thick, and the tail abbreviated. In
SCALED REPTILES SNAKES. 427
accordance with their chiefly nocturnal habits, the eye has its pupil in the
form of a vertical slit. Only a few vipers climb, and none are aquatic ; while,
so far as present information goes, all give birth to their young in a fully
developed state without laying eggs. In almost all countries popular report
declares that the females of many species receive their young into their
mouth when alarmed, whence they apparently pass down the throat ; and
although many attempts have been made to discredit such statements, it is
difficult to believe that they have not some foundation of truth.
Of the two sub-families into which these snakes are divided by zoologists,
the typical vipers, or Viperince, are confined to the Eastern Hemisphere, and
are characterised by the absence of pits or depressions in the pair of head-
shields known as the loreals. The common British viper (Vipera berus) is
the most familiar representative of the typical genus, all the members of
which have two longitudinal series of shields on the under surface of the tail,
while the scales on the body are keeled and arranged in from nineteen to
thirty-one straight longitudinal rows, and the upper surface of the head is
invested either with relatively small shields or with scales. There are about
twenty different kinds of true vipers, and these are distributed over the greater
part of the Old World, although there are none in Australasia or Madagascar,
and only one in India. The common viper enjoys a very wide geographical
distribution, extending from the Arctic Circle to Spain and Portugal, and
from the latter country eastwards to Siberia. It not unfrequently grows to
ten inches in length, and, like its kindred, is partial to warm sandy heaths.
The sand-viper (V. ammodytes) of Southern and Eastern Europe is remark-
able for having a flexible horn-like and scaly appendage surmounting the tip
of the muzzle, the use of which has not yet been explained. To the genus
Bitis belongs the dreaded African puff-adder (B. arietans), in which the
head is broader and more distinctly
triangular than in any of its kindred.
As this noxious serpent has a habit
of lying with only its head exposed,
it is frequently not noticed by men
and animals until too late ; and
it is consequently responsible for
many deaths. Even large mam-
mals are said to succumb very
speedily to the bite of this loath-
some monster. The name of puff-
adder is derived from the habit
possessed by this snake of blowing
itself out with air when excited. Fig. 26. PUFF-ADDER (Bitis arietans).
Nearly allied to the true vipers are
the horned vipers of the genus Cerastes, so named from the presence of a pair
of scaly horns situated above the eyes of the males, and in some species in
the females also. The scales, too, are arranged in oblique instead of straight
series. Both species of the genus are inhabitants of those parts of Northern
Africa lying to the eastward of Morocco, but one is also found in Arabia.
They grow to about a couple of feet in length, and assimilate remarkably in
coloration to the sandy deserts they frequent. They may be often seen so
deeply buried in the sand that only the head and a portion of the neck pro-
ject above the surface. Another nearly allied genus is that of the saw- vipers,
or JEchis ; these snakes being distinguished from the last by the absence of
428 REPTILIA ORDER IILSQUAMATA.
horns on the head, and by the shields on the lower surface of the tail forming
a single instead of a double series. This genus is likewise represented by
two desert-haunting species, but one of these has a much wider geographical
range than either of the horned vipers, extending from Northern Africa to
India, whereas the second is restricted to Palestine and Arabia. Whereas
the puff-adder produces a prolonged hissing sound by the expulsion of the
air which has been drawn in to blow out the body, the Indian saw- viper
gives rise to a somewhat similar sound in a totally different manner. In this
species the keels on the scales of the sides of the body are distinctly
serrated ; and by rubbing the folds of the body together the contact of these
saw-like keels gives rise to a kind of grating, or even hissing noise. This
snake is a very fierce species, often attacking without provocation ; and a
large percentage of the deaths from snake-bite in India may be attributed to
this species and to the equally deadly Russell's viper (Vipera russelli).
The second sub-family, or OrotdHtUEj the members of which may be col-
lectively termed pit-vipers, are typified by the well-known rattle-snakes of
the New World, although several other genera belonging to the same sub-
family are found in various parts of Asia. There are, however, no representa-
tives of this group in Africa, where, on the other hand, the typical vipers, or
Viperivwe, attain their maximum degree of development. The distinctive
feature of the pit- vipers, and the one from which they take their name, is the
presence of a pair of deep pits in the fore front of the head, situated between
the eyes and the nostrils in the so-called loreal shields. Doubtless these
pits have some special function in the economy of these reptiles, but what this
may be naturalists do not seem to have hitherto discovered. The peculiar
jointed horny appendage to the tail known as the rattle gives to the snakes
of the typical genus Crotalus their
distinctive name, and at the same
time serves to distinguish them
at a glance from all the other
members of the sub-order. This
rattle increases in size by the inter-
calation of new joints between its
terminal button and the scaly por-
tion of the tail, young specimens
having only the button. The longer
a rattle-snake lives, the more joints
it has to its rattle ; and formerly
Fig. 27. -A BATTLE-SNAKE (Crotalus). specimens with as many as twenty
rings were by no means uncommon,
although at the present day, owing to the war of extermination waged against
these noxious reptiles, such are very rare. Very diverse views have been
entertained as to the precise use of the rattle to its owner, and since the
question is by no means even yet decided, it need not be discussed in this
place. All rattle-snakes are characterised by the unusually large size of their
venom-glands, and they are consequently among the most deadly of serpents.
Most of the eleven representatives of the genus are North American,
although one species extends to South America. In their general habits
they are very similar to vipers, frequenting dry sandy districts ; but in parts
of North America rattle-snakes frequently take up their abode in the warrens
of the prairie-marrnot, where they prey on the young of the rightful owners.
In the colder parts of their habitat, these snakes become torpid during the
SCALED REPTILES THE RATTLE-SNAKES. 429
winter months ; and in certain rocky districts they were formerly wont to
assemble in enormous numbers, passing the winter huddled up together 111
caves where they kept one another warm. At the approach of the cold
season, thousands of these snakes might be seen travelling from all points of
the compass to their own special cave ; and marvellous stories have been
told of attacks made upon these haunts when the hapless reptiles were sleep-
ing in fancied security. It is somewhat curious that rattle-snakes lack the
power of hissing ; and it is highly probable that this disability has some
connection with the presence of the rattle. Nearly allied to the rattle-snakes
is the equally deadly bushmaster (Lachesis mutus) of tropical South America,
which has a spine in place of a rattle at the tip of the tail, while the lower
surface of the latter bears a number of spiny scales. There is often a well-
marked keel running down the middle of the back, of which there is no trace
in the typical genus. This snake is one of the few serpents which do not flee
at the presence of man, always standing its ground and endeavouring to in-
flict a blow. Since it frequently grows to ten feet and over, and its bite i s
rapidly fatal even to large mammals, it is one of the mO st dangerous of jt s
tribe, and were it more common than it actually is, fatalities would be very
numerous. By Mr. Boulenger the serpents formerly designated Trigono-
ce2)halus and Trimeresanrns are now included in Lachesis. These differ from
the typical forms in having the whole of the top of the head covered with
small scales, instead of large scales. Some species are arboreal, and have
the tail prehensile ; some of these inhabiting Tropical America, and others
South-Eastern Asia. Whereas the species from the latter area have two
rows of shields beneath the tail, those from the former have only a single
row. Among the American forms with a non-prehensile tail, one of the most
formidable is the jararaca (L. lanceolatus).
The so-called halys vipers, forming the genus Ancistrodon, have represen-
tatives alike in the northern half of the American Continent and Asia, while
one kind is found in the Ural Mountains. Although none have a rattle, in
some kinds there is a small spine at the tip of the tail, which appears to be
a vestige of that organ. Of the Transatlantic species one of the most
dreaded, and at the same time one of the handsomest, is the so-called
copper-head (A. contortrix). It takes its name from the metallic coppery
hue of the upper surface of the body ; this ground-colour being ornamented
with a number of brown bands with darker edges. The copper-head, which
frequents damp situations, has a wide geographical distribution. It is one
of the species furnished with a spine-like horny appendage to the tail ; and
differs from some of its kindred in having a single instead of a double series
of shields on the under surface of the tail.
ORDER IV. RHYNCHOCEPHALIA.
IF we were to trust solely to external features a lizard-like reptile inhabiting
certain small islands to the north-eastward of New Zealand, and locally
known as the tuatera, would almost certainly be included in the order Squa-
mata. When, however, the internal structure of this creature is examined,
differences so important are observable that there can be no question of its
430 REPTILIA ORDER IV.RHYNCHOCEPHALIA.
total distinctness from that order. Accordingly, the tuatera, which is tech-
nically known as Sphenodon pundatus, not only represents by itself the
family Sphenodontidee, but also a distinct order. This, however, is only true
at the present day, for in past epochs of the earth's history there flourished
a number of reptiles evidently belonging to the same ordinal group, several
of which lived in Britain. The tuatera, which grows to a length of about
twenty inches, is characterised by the presence of a ridge of spines extend-
ing from the back of the head to the base of the tail, and represented on the
latter by a less distinct crest.
Superiorly, the body is covered
with a mixture of small tubercles
and granular scales ; but the lower
aspect is invested with somewhat
quadrangular large scales forming
regular transverse bands. The
toes, which are five in number on
each foot, are partially webbed, and
Fig. 28. TUATERA (Sphenodon pundatus). terminate in claws. In the eye
the pupil takes the form of a ver-
tical slit, and there is no external opening to the ear. None of these fea-
tures are, however, sufficient to distinguish the tuatera from the lizards ; and
to understand the distinction the skull must be examined. In the descrip-
tion of the Squamata it was stated that in all the members of that order the
quadrate-bone is loosely connected with the other bonefl of the palate, and
there is no bony arch connecting the former with the maxilla. On the
other hand, in the tuatera the quadrate is firmly and immovably wedged in
between the other bones, and is connected with the upper jaw by the afore-
said arch. There are likewise important differences in the structure of the
bony palate, which is of a more primitive type than that of the lizards.
Indeed, in many respects the skull is more like that of a crocodile, or even a
tortoise, than that of a lizard. The teeth, too, are very peculiar. In the
front of the jaws are a pair of chisel-like teeth, giving the form of a beak to
this part of the skull : while the sides of the upper jaw and palate bear a
double row of closely approximated teeth separated by a groove, and in that
.groove are received the single row of lower teeth, which aro attached to the
jaw in the acrodont manner. Although there are many peculiar features in
this strange reptile, it will suffice to mention that within the skin of the
hinder part of the under surface of the body are a number of abdominal ribs,
forming a structure which corresponds anatomically with the plastron of a
tortoise.
Although now becoming scarce, tuateras were formerly abundant in their
native islands, where they might be seen in parties basking in the sun
within easy reach of the sea. In captivity, where they flourish well, tuateras
eat freely of meal-worms and other insects, but it is probable that vegetable
substances form a part of their diet. Perhaps the most remarkable feature
about this reptile is the vestige of an unpaired median eye situated deep
down among the tissues of the head, and now totally functionless. Doubt-
less, however, in its ancestors this eye was functional, so that the original
form may have been a veritable cyclops.
SUB-KINGDOM L VERTEBRATA.
CLASS IV. AMPHIBIA.
BY R. LYDEKKER, B.A., F.R.S., V.P.G.S., &c.
IN popular natural history nearly every cold-blooded verebrate that breathes
atmospheric air by means of lungs is commonly spoken of as a reptile, whether
it crawls or creeps on the ground like a lizard, a frog, or a snake, or swims
in the water like a newt ; and if we take their adult condition alone into
consideration, there is a good deal to be said in favour of regarding frogs
and salamanders as reptiles, since they agree in many of their essential
characters with the creatures to which the naturalist restricts that term.
The case is, however, very materially altered when the developmental history
of frogs and salamanders is taken into consideration. As every one knows,
these creatures with a few exceptions commence their active existence
after leaving the egg in the form of a tadpole. And as a tadpole is an aquatic
creature, breathing the air dissolved in water by means of gills, and being
provided with a fish-like tail, it is obvious that we have here a very important
distinction from reptiles, which, at the commencement of life, are mere
miniatures of the adult. It may be said, indeed, that frogs and salamanders
commence life as fishes, but turn into reptiles when they become adult,
and the existence of this remarkable change or metamorphosis serves to
differentiate these creatures from reptiles as a distinct class, for which the
name Amphibia is now usually adopted, although the alternative term
Batrachia is also extant. It is true that in certain cases no such metamor-
phosis exists, the egg developing at once into a perfect air-breathing frog,
while in some other instances the gills of the larval state are retained through-
out life. In the former of these instances it is, however, evident that the
larval stage has been suppressed owing to the exigencies of abnormal condi-
tions in the life-history of the particular species. In the latter case, either
the creature has now ceased to develop into the air-breathing adult form, or
it has never advanced beyond the larval stage at any period of its history.
Amphibians, then, may be defined as cold-blooded vertebrates usually
furnished with external gills at the commencement of life, but before becom-
ing adult passing through a metamorphosis during which the gills are ex-
changed for lungs ; and such of them as possess limbs having these struc-
turally similar to those of reptiles. This change from a fish-like to a reptile-like
animal is one of the most marvellous phenomena to be met with among
vertebrates, and it is not a little remarkable that while everybody has the
opportunity of witnessing this transformation each year of their lives, so many
still refuse to believe in the evolution of animal life in general.
The metamorphosis is, however, by no means the sole feature by which
amphibians are distinguished from reptiles. There are many structural
peculiarities by which the adults of the former differ from the latter, although
these are, unfortunately, deep-seated, and not externally apparent. Com-
431
432 AMPHIBIA.
paring the skull of a reptile with that of an amphibian, it will be found that
whereas the former has a single knob -like prominence, or condyle, by means
of which it is movably articulated to the first joint of the backbone, in the
latter there are two such condyles. The embryo, too, of amphibians has a
less complex type of enveloping structures, lacking the membranes respec-
tively termed the allantois and the anmiou.
Bearing in mind these important points of distinction, the student will
readily see the propriety of separating the Amphibia as a class apart from the
Reptilia. In the adult condition, the members of the present class show
great differences of external form. The frogs and toads, for instance, are
tailless, four-limbed creatures, in which the hind-legs exceed the front pair
more or less markedly in length. On the other hand, the salamanders and
newts, although likewise furnished with two pairs of limbs, have a long tail,
and thus present a lizard-like form. In the newts, the tail, and sometimes
also the back, is furnished with a longitudinal vertical fin, somewhat like that
of a fish, although differing from the latter in the absence of any bony sup-
ports. Other forms have the body eel-like, and the limbs of which the
hinder pair may be wanting small and rudimental ; while in some of these,
like the olm, the external tuft-like gills are permanently retained. In yet
another group, the whole form is worm-like, without any external vestiges of
limbs.
In spite, however, of this great variation in external form, all the ex-
isting members ef the class present the common feature of having the- head,
body, limbs, and tail covered with a soft skin, although in a few scales are
buried beneath its surface. The outer skin, or epidermis, which is from
time to time cast in a single piece, is always transparent, and the colour is
consequently situated in the deeper layer. Various shades of black, brown,
red, and yellow, are the predominant colours of amphibians, and these are
very generally arranged in large irregular blotches, or in streaks ; but more
rarely blues and greens are present. Peculiar glands, which may be either
distributed over the whole surface, or confined to the region of the neck,
secrete a milky fluid of a poisonous nature, which is poured out under the in-
fluence of rage or excitement. And that this "secretion serves as a means of
defence, will be evident to all who have watched a dog seize a toad. When
this secretion reaches its highest development, the apertures of the glands
open in the form of warty protuberances on the skin, as is the case in all
toads and many salamanders. There are many peculiarities connected with
the anatomy of the skeleton and soft internal parts of the Amphibia, but it
will suffice to mention two. Unlike that of all the higher vertebrates, the
tongue, when present, is attached to the front extremity of the lower jaw, so
that it is protruded by being turned right over as if on a hinge ; and when in
repose its tip is directed down the throat. It is always of a thick and fleshy
nature, and thus quite unlike the same organ in snakes and lizards. The
second peculiarity is connected with the skeleton, in which the ribs are either
completely wanting, or represented merely by small rudiments aflixed to the
extremities of the long horizontal transverse processes of the joints of the
backbone. This lack of functional ribs prevents amphibians from breathing
in the same manner as the higher vertebrates, in which the cavity of the
chest is alternately expanded and contracted by the movements of the ribs ;
arid they are, in consequence, compelled to take in air in large gulps by a
swallowing action. In the presence of a large, thin, flattened bone, lying on
the under surface of the hinder part of the skull, and known as the para-
AMPHIBIA. 433
sphenoid, amphibians differ from the existing forms of the higher vertebrates,
and thereby approximate to lishes. In certain extinct reptiles, this bone
appears, however, to be well developed, so that its importance in classification
is less than has been supposed.
To describe in detail the developmental history of amphibians would re-
quire nearly as much space as is allotted in this volume to the entire class ;
and it is possible to give only the merest outline. Premising that all the
members of the class lay eggs, and that in certain special cases some of the
stages of development are abbreviated, the ordinary life-history of an amphi-
bian is as follows. The eggs are generally deposited by the female in fresh
water and are usually of small size and enveloped in a large jelly-like mass,
among which the yolks are conspicuous as dark balls. When these eggs are
ripe for hatching, the larvae burst their investing membranes to make their
appearance in the world as free-swimming fish-like creatures, provided with
a long laterally compressed tail, but devoid of limbs or external gills. They
still retain a portion of the yolk, which serves for a short time as nourish-
ment. Soon a couple of pairs of feather-like gills make their appearance on
the sides of the neck, and give the creature somewhat the look of bearing
two pairs of fins. Although in those forms which permanently retain the
tail these external gills persist for a considerable period, or even throughout
life, in those of which the adults are tailless they soon disappear, and are
replaced by internal gills comparable to those of fishes. These external gills
are enclosed in a special gill-chamber, from which the water that has been
taken in through the mouth is discharged through a single tube or a pair of
tubes ; the aperture of the latter being generally single, and situated either
on the left side of the body or on its lower surface. With the sprouting of
the external gills, the tail rapidly increases in relative size, and soon forms
the greater portion of the creature. About this time small bud-like processes
indicate the appearance of the limbs, the hinder pair first showing in the
frogs and toads, but the front pair being the earlier in the tailed forms. In
the earlier stages the jaws are furnished with horny teeth, but later with a
kind of beak composed of the same substance. At this time the tadpole
subsists on vegetable substances, and, consequently, has a long and much
convoluted intestine. It, of course, breathes the air dissolved in the water
in which it lives in the same manner as a fish, and has a two-chambered
fish-like heart. In the tadpole stage the large tail has no backbone ; and in
the frogs and toads this appendage, after the limbs are well developed, is
gradually absorbed, and finally disappears entirely. In the permanently
tailed forms, on the other hand, this appendage develops vertebrae in its
internal axis, when it becomes similar to the tail of a land reptile. About
this time the jaws' lose their horny beak, and develop teeth, and the intes-
tine becomes shortened. Equally remarkable changes are at the same time
taking place in the respiratory and circulatory organs. From the oesophagus
a bag-like projection grows out, which, subsequently, divides into two, and
eventually forms lungs, which little by little come into use, until the crea-
ture is able to breathe both in air and in water. Finally, the gills wither,
and the adult frog or salamander appears as an air-breathing, insectivorous
or carnivorous reptile-like creature, which has been developed from the fish-
like tadpole. During the development of the lungs the heart has changed
from a two-chambered to a three-chambered organ ; so that even in this
respect the adult amphibian is indistinguishable from a reptile. In most
cases, when all these changes have been completed, the animal emerges from
29
434 AMPHIBIA.
the water to pass a considerable portion of its time on land, although nearly
always returning to its original element for the purpose of breeding. It has
been said that the external gills usually form two pairs, but it should be
added that, in some instances, these are increased to three, while in one case
they are reduced to a solitary pair.
As regards their mode of life, amphibians are especially characterised by
their partiality for moisture, some passing the whole of their time in the
water, while none are found in absolutely desert districts. To their soft
sensitive skins moisture is, indeed, an absolute necessity ; and it seems that
they imbibe such moisture as they require through the skin. Jn countries
where one season of the year is especially dry, terrestrial amphibians are
consequently compelled to undergo a period of more or less complete torpor.
To a certain extent this is the case even in Britain, where a sudden shower
after a dry spell brings out numerous frogs and toads at the commencement
of evening in gardens where not one had been visible previously. In some
parts of Argentina the effect of a shower after a drought is much more
startling. There a garden may appear for weeks or months absolutely devoid
of amphibian life, but after a single shower it will appear literally alive with
huge frogs and toads of various kinds. Probably all the terrestrial amphibians
are essentially nocturnal creatures, and, indeed, their skins soon become
parched and withered by exposure to sunlight. Few objects are more pitiable
than a belated frog or toad attempting to cross a dusty high-road in the full
glare of the summer sun. Cloudy or wet days will, however, generally tempt
these creatures from their hiding-places. Although the tailed forms are
entirely or mainly silent creatures, frogs and toads during the breeding season
utter their well-known croaking cries, and in moist tropical and subtropical
countries life is rendered at times almost unbearable by their nocturnal
choruses. In the breeding season frogs and toads become exceedingly bold,
and they may be seen sitting within a few feet of the spectator, alternately
dilating and contracting their capacious throats, as they give vent to their
discordant cries. In order to make their sounds more intense, the males of
many kinds are furnished with large sacs projecting on either side of the
throat, which can be dilated till they resemble miniature balloons. Most
members of the class subsist chiefly or entirely, on insects and other small
invertebrates, but some of the aquatic kinds consume fish, and some of the
larger toads and frogs will readily attack not only other reptiles, but even the
smaller birds and mammals. Thus a newspaper correspondent, writing from
Nagpur, in India, observes that in the garden adjoining his house was a small
pond, which was the home of a huge kind of frog. One afternoon he heard
a myna making a great noise, and screaming as though it had been caught by
some creature, so he went down the garden to ascertain what was the matter,
and was just in time to see the bird disappearing down a big frog's throat.
There were only a few feathers left, and the bird had been swallowed feathers
and all. Now the common myna is quite as large as our English starling, and
the frog certainly looked as though he had dined, so he was left in peace to
enjoy his meal. On another occasion a big rat appeared in the house, and
was being chased by himself and servants from room to room, when it dashed
through a disused b ithroom. A large frog which happened to be there made
a most determined rush, but missed the rat, which disappeared down the
waste water-pipe.
In conformity with their fondness for warmth and moisture, amphibians
are most abundant in the tropical and sub-tropical portions of the globe,
FROGS AND TOADS. 435
gradually diminishing, both in size and numbers, in the temperate zones, and
being unknown in the polar regions, as indeed they are in deserts. Although
members of the class are found in all regions except those named, the orders
are by no means evenly distributed. In the Northern Hemisphere, for in-
stance, salamanders and newts are abundant, and the burrowing forms, known
as csecilians, are wanting ; whereas in the Southern Hemisphere csecilians
occur, but salamanders and newts are totally unknown. Among the frogs
and toads certain families are confined to particular areas, but it is remark-
able that there are indications of distinct relationship between certain groups
respectively restricted to South America and Africa south of the Sahara.
ORDER I. ECAUDATA.
FROGS AND TOADS.
THE frogs and toads constitute one Order, all the members of which are
easily recognised when adult by the short and often plump form of the body,
the total absence of a tail, and the presence of four fully-developed limbs, the
hind pair being generally much longer than the front ones. Even more strik-
ing features are displayed by the skeleton. Instead of continuing to the end
of the body, the backbone proper stops short about the middle of the back,
and never comprises more than eight vertebra). Beyond this it is continued
as a long, tapering, un jointed rod. To the extremities of the horizontal
transverse processes of the last, or sacral vertebra, are articulated the anterior
ends of the greatly elongated ilia of the pelvis, these bones running as far
backwards as the hinder end of the aforesaid rod, where they bear the sockets
for the articulation of the uppermost bone of the hind-legs. By this very
peculiar, and indeed unique arrangement, the setting-on of the hind-limbs is
carried far behind the sacrum. The radius and ulna in the fore-limb, and the
tibia and fibula in the hind-limb, are respectively united to form a single
bone, and the elongation of the hind-legs is produced by the lengthening "of
those bones in the ankle-joint known as the astragalus and calcaneum, so as
to form a pair of parallel long bones. Like all other living members of the
class in which both limbs are fully developed, frogs and toads have four front
and live hind-toes. In the tadpole stage which is occasionally suppressed
the hind-limbs bud before any trace of the front pair is visible. Usually
this stage of existence is passed entirely in the water, but there are some very
peculiar forms in which the young are produced in the moist foliage of leaves.
On land the adults of the tailless batrachians progress either by taking long
leaps from the hind-legs or by dragging forwards first one and then the other
of these, and thus pushing the body along. In swimming, the hind-legs are
alone employed for propulsion, the front pair being pressed close to the chest.
The total number of species of the tailless amphibians probably does not fall
far short of a thousand, and representatives of the group are found in all
countries suitable to the existence of amphibian life- Curiously enough, the
largest forms are found in some of the islands of the Pacific. Whereas the
majority are terrestrial, a considerable number have adopted an arboreal life.
The group is divided into twelve families, of which the two last differ from all the
rest in the absence of the tongue. Unfortunately, the characters by which the
436 AMPHIBIA ORDER L-ECAUDATA.
first ten of these families are divided into two larger groups are taken from the
skeleton, and are consequently some what difficult to explain to readers not speci-
ally versed in anatomy.
Sub-Order J. Firmisternia.
The five families constituting this subordinal group are characterised as
follows : The tongue is present, and the large plate-like bones on the chest
termed the metacoracoids are united together by a large median cartilage,
attached to their free inner margins.
in the family typified by the common British frog teeth are developed in
the upper jaw, and the horizontal transverse processes of the sacral vertebra
have, at most, only a slight terminal expansion, and are fre-
Typical Frogs. quently cylindrical throughout. The frogs of this family
Family Ranidce. display remarkable diversity in the form of the tips of the
terminal bones of the toes, which may be either rounded,
pointed, forked, T-shaped, or, more rarely, claw-like. The family which
includes a large number of genera and a host of species has a wide geo-
graphical distribution. With the
exception of a species of the typical
genus from the extreme north of
Australia, and another belonging to
the genus Cornifer from New
Guinea, there are no members of
the family in Australasia. South
America, too, is poorly off, having,
in addition to certain species be-
longing to the typical genus .Roma,
only live genera, and about a dozen
species. Moreover, since none of
these latter range farther south than
Ecuador and Colombia, while Rana
.-COMMON FROG (Rana temporaria). does nofc apparent i y extend south-
ward of Amazonia, the more southern
parts of that continent aro characterised by the total absence of the present
family. In a group so extensive, it is difficult to select genera for special
notice, although the typical Ratia must of course be mentioned. In the
numerous irogs of this genus the tongue is free and more or less deeply
notched at the tip, the pupil of the eye forms a horizontal slit, and the toes
of the fore-feet are free, whereas those of the hind-feet are more or less fully
webbed. By putting the finger into the mouth of any frog of this genus, it
will be readily felt that teeth are present on the vomers, occupying the
middle region of the palate. Whereas in some forms the tips of the toes are
simple, in others they are dilated. The genus has a distribution nearly
coextensive with that of the family, one species being found in the extreme
north of Australia, although there is none from Papua. There are several
species of the genus inhabiting Europe, such at> the common frog (R. tetn-
poraria), the edible frog (R. esculenta\ the agile frog (R. agilis), the Spanish
frog (R. iberica), and Lataste's frog (R. Icttastei). Of these, the only one
indigenous to Britain is the common frog, in which the hind feet are incom-
pletely webbed, and the males are unprovided with the dilatable throat -sacs
characterising those of the edible species. Although the latter of which
FROGS AND TOADS.
there are two varieties, differing from one another in colour is properly a
native of the Continent, it has been introduced into the fens of Cambridge
and Norfolk, where it seems to flourish. It has a very extensive geographical
range, being found as far south as North- Western Africa, and as far east as
Japan. Although the species is the only one eaten in Europe, other
members of the sub-order are sent to table in distant lands, and the writer
has partakon of- a dish of frogs in Argentina which belonged to a
totally different family. The great relative length of the hind-legs and
generally slender form of the body serves to distinguish the agile frog ;
while the fourth and fifth of the species mentioned above differ from the rest
by their spotted bellies. All these frogs are comparatively small creatures,
which are greatly exceeded in size by species from more distant lands.
Among these, the bull-frog (J?. catesbyana) of Eastern North America
occupies an intermediate position in this respect ; the largest member of the
whole genus being the Solomon Island frog (H. (fiippyi), which grows to nine
inches in length, exclusive of the limbs. The habits of the common frog are
too familiar to need description ; and it is probable that like this species, all
the members of the genus take to the water at the time of breeding. Some
are, however, more aquatic than others ; and there are also certain frogs of
this genus which are partially arboreal in their habits, while others have
taken to burrowing in the ground. The climbing species have the tips of the
toes expanded into discs, but smaller
expansions may be present in the
aquatic kinds. An Indian species
(A breviceps) makes burrows in the
ground to a depth of about eighteen
inches. Omitting mention of most of
the other numerous genera of this
extensive family, attention must be
concentrated on the curious flying-
frogs constituting the genus Rhaco-
phorus. These frogs of which there
are more than forty species from the
Oriental countries and the island of
Madagascar have the tips of both
pairs of feet expanded into large discs,
and very generally the front pair are
as fully webbed as the hinder, although
in some kinds the webs of the former F^.-FLYING FRocT(Rhacophorus).
are less fully developed. The eyes
are remarkable for their fulness and brilliancy ; and the general hue of the
skin is bright green. Some species, are, however, stated to have the power
of changing their hue to harmonise with their surroundings. In the skeleton
of many of the species the tips of the terminal joints of the toes are in the
form of the letter Y. Except during the breeding season, when they doubt-
less take to the water, these frogs are arboreal in their habits. They derive
their name of flying frogs from a statement to the effect that one species at
least has been observed to take a long flying leap from a tree, apparently
supported by the large webs between the toes. Although it does not appear
that such a feat has ever been witnessed by a European observer, it is almost
incredible that the sole use of these huge webs is for swimming, more especi-
ally since these frogs pass but a. comparatively small portion of their existence
438 AMPHIBIAORDER LECAUDATA.
in water. One member of a Tropical American genus of this family namely
Phyllobates trinitatis, of Trinidad and Venezuela is remarkable 011 account of
its curious nursing habits. The tadpoles are provided with sucking-discs on
the mouth, by means of which they attach themselves to the back of their
female parent, and are thus carried about in safety. As many as from twelve
to eighteen tadpoles may sometimes be found thus clinging to one frog. A
similar mode of attachment occurs in one species of the under-mentioned
genus Deiidrobates y but in this case this mode of locomotion seems to be
resorted to only when the ponds in which the individuals have bred dry up.
In addition to the members of the genus Rhacophorus, there are many
other frogs which have taken to an arboreal life, and so much do these
resemble one another in external appearance that it is pro-
Family bable any non-scientific observer would regard all of them
Dendrobatidce. as being very closely allied. Not so that dreadful personage
the anatomist, who tells us that while the members of one
family conform in the structure of the bones of the chest to the sub-order
now under consideration, all those .of another family to be mentioned
later have a totally different conformation of this region. Accepting this
distinction, we must regard the Tropical American tree-frogs of the genus
Dendrobates, and those belonging to the nearly allied Malagasy genus Mantella,
as forming a family by themselves. From the frogs of the family Ranidce
the Dendrobatidce are distinguished by the absence of teeth both in the upper
jaw and on the bones of the palate. In both genera the toes are unwebbed,
and terminate in small adhesive discs, but whereas in Mantella the tongue is
notched at the tip, in Dendrobates it is entire. One species of the latter
genus (D. tinctorius) is remarkable for the brilliancy and variability of its
coloration; while it is further noticeable as being less arboreal than its con-
geners, generally frequenting low herbage or ground strewn with dead leaves.
As already mentioned, another species carries its tadpoles clinging to its back
from pool to pool in seasons of drought.
Another nearly allied family of frogs is distinguished from the last by the
expansion of the extremities of the horizontal transverse processes of the
sacral vertebra ; both
Family groups agreeing in the
Engystomatidce. absence of teeth in
the upper jaw. These
frogs present great variation in the
structure of the bones and cartilages
forming the chest ; the typical genus
Engystoma, together with Cacopus and
several others, showing the absence
of the bones known as precoracoicls
a feature rare in the sub-order. This
family may be regarded as essentially
a southern one, its geographical range
embracing Africa, Madagascar, the Fig. 3. Cacopus systema.
Malayan Peninsula and Islands, India,
the south of China, New Guinea, and South and Central America. Two
species of the typical genus extend, however, into North America as far as
Mexico and Carolina. Nearly a score of genera are included in the family.
Among these, a considerable number are characterised by the extremely
small relative width of the opening of the mouth ; and it is probable
FKOGS AND TOADS. 439
that all these subsist more or less exclusively on ants and termites. A
large proportion of these frogs are nocturnal in their habits, and these may
be recognised by the vertical pupil of the eye. Although many have discs at
the tips of the toes, none of these are tree-haunting species. A consider-
able number of members of the family are, however, burrowers ; and in these
the hind-limbs are unusually powerful, and are also specially protected by
horny sheathings. Others, again, pass a large portion of their time in the
water. It would be profitless to give in this place the distinctive character-
istics of all th? genera included in this extensive family ; and attention may
accordingly be confined to a few which are noteworthy on account of some
peculiarity in the habits of their representatives. Foremost among these is
the Chilian Darwin's frog (Mhinoderma darwini), in which the female has
transferred the task of carrying and tending the eggs and young to her
partner. Whereas there is nothing
remarkable about the structure of
the female of this frog, the male
has a capacious pouch underlying
the whole of the lower surface of
the body, which communicates with
the exterior by means of a pair of
apertures opening into the mouth
on each side of the tongue. As
soon as his partner has deposited Fig. 4. DARWIN'S FROG (Rhinodenma darwini)
her eggs, the male frog takes
them in his front paws and transfers them to his mouth, whence they pass
into the great nursing pouch, where they remain in perfect security till
hatched into young frogs, which make their way into the world by the same
passages. The tadpoles never develop gills, and this frog is the sole member of
its genus. Equally noteworthy are the African frogs constituting the genus
Breviceps. These species, which take their name from the small size and short-
ness of the head, would almost seem to have given rise to the fable of the ox and
the frog, since they hav e the singular habit of puffing out the body till the head
and limbs are nearly bu ried, and the creature looks almost like a ball. What
may be the object of this curious habit does not appear to have been ascertained.
This family of frogs includes eight genera, all of which are confined to the
island of Madagascar, with the single exception of the one species constitut-
ing the genus Calluella, which inhabits Burma and Tenas-
serim. The essential distinctive features of the frogs of this Family-
family are the presence of teeth in the upper jaw, coupled Dyscophidce.
with the expansion of the extremities of the transverse pro-
cesses of the sacral vertebra, the latter feature serving to distinguish them
from the members of the family Ranidce, in which there is no such expansion.
These frogs are very closely allied indeed to those of the preceding family,
and as their chief interest lies in their peculiar geographical distribution,
they need no further notice on this occasion.
A large frog from the Solomon Islands technically known as Ceratobatra-
chus guentheri, and easily recognised by the extremely sharp point formed
by the tip of the nose, is regarded as forming a family
by itself. From all the members of the sub-order under Family
consideration, this frog differs by having both the upper Ceratobrachidce.
and the lower jaw armed with a full series of teeth ;
and it is further characterised by the absence of expansion of the extremi-
440 AMPHIBIA ORDER LECAUDATA.
ties of the transverse processes of the sacral vertebra. It is an ugly-
looking creature at best, the large triangular head bearing ridges, and
the pointed nose being surmounted with a loose flap of skin, and similar
flaps covering the eyes. The mouth, too, is of enormous capacity, and thus
adds to the generally repulsive appearance of this frog. The sharp-nosed
frog is evidently a highly specialised species, since it lays very large eggs,
from which young frogs emerge in a highly developed condition, the tadpole
stage being compressed and passed in the eggs. Mr. Guppy writes that
" during the descent from one of the peaks of Faroe island, i stopped at a
stream some 400 feet above the sea, where my native boys collected from the
moist crevices of the rocks close to the water a number of transparent,
gelatinous balls, rather smaller than a marble. Each of these balls contained
a young frog about a third of an inch in length. On my rupturing the ball,
the tiny frog took a marvellous leap into existence, and disappeared before I
could catch it."
Sub-Order II. Arcifera.
The remaining families of the order in which the tongue is present con-
stitute a second subordinal group, differing from the tirst by the conforma-
tion of the bones and cartilages of the chest. Instead of the two metacora-
coid bones being connected together in the middle line by a single cartilage
attached to their free inner edges, each of the metacoracoids is expanded on
the same side into a plate of cartilage, one of which overlaps the other.
Having the above-mentioned type of chest-structure, the large and important
family of the Leptodactylidce the CystignatTiidcn of many authors are spread
over Central and South America and Australia. In all of
Family them only the upper jaw is furnished with teeth, and the
Leptodactylidce. extremities of the horizontal transverse processes of the
sacral vertebra are either cylindrical, or only slightly ex-
panded. In both these respects these frogs resemble the Ranidce, so that they
may be regarded as holding the same relative position in the present sub-order
as is occupied by the latter in the Firmisternia. More than a score of genera
and a very large number of species are included in the family, and it may be
noted that whereas in the majority of the Australian genera the pupil of the
eye is vertical, this is but seldom the case in the American forms. The family
may be divided into three groups, in the first of which the breast-bone ter-
minates below in a rod-like process. To this group belongs the typical genus
Leptodcictylus, of which all the numerous species are American. These frogs,
in which the pupil is horizontal, are much like the Ranidce in external
appearance, but the hind-toes are not webbed. They are peculiar in that
during the breeding season the fore-limb becomes much swollen, and in
the skeleton the humerus bears a conspicuous bony ridge. All these frogs
possess a very powerful voice, and in parts of the Argentine their croaking is
a dreadful nuisance. Many of them burrow holes in the ground for their
eggs. As an example of the second group, in which there is no bony rod to
the breast-bone, and the hind-toes are nearly or completely free, we may take
a West Indian species (Hylodes martinicensis) belonging to a large American
genus, all the species of which are arboreal. This particular kind has the
peculiar habit of laying its large eggs singly in the axils of leaves, where a few
drops of water may from time to time collect after a shower. From these
eggs the young frogs emerge with only a small remnant of the tail, which ia
FROGS AND TOADS.
44i
soon absorbed ; and it appears that during development no gills are produced,
but that the tail, which is richly supplied with blood-vessels, acts as a breathing
organ. A third American genus is Oeratophrys, which includes the well-known
horned-frogs of Brazil and Argentina, and belongs to a group in which there
is no bony rod to the breast-bone, and the hind-toes are more or less fully
webbed. The Brazilian G. boiei is a huge creature, growing to as much as eight
inches in length, and furnished with a pair
of large horn-like outgrowths on the upper
eyelids. In the Argentine esquerzo (C. or-
nata) these processes are less developed,
and the whole size is less. Like its kindred,
furnished with an enormous mouth, this
species is beautifully mottled with green,
olive, and gold, and in this respect is really
a handsome creature, although its shape is
hideous. All the larger kinds are very fierce
in disposition, and carnivorous in their
habits, killing and eating small mammals,
birds, reptiles, and other members of their
own order. They are much dreaded by
the natives of the districts they inhabit,
who tell wonderful stories as to their fly-
ing at men, and even at the noses of horses
and cattle. Their bite is stated to produce
very extensive swellings. When attacking
a large animal, they utter a cry more like
a bark than anything else ; but their ordin-
ary note is bell-like. I once brought several
of these frogs in a box to Buenos Aires by rail, and during the journey the guard
and some of the passengers were considerably alarmed by the noises proceed-
ing from the cage, many of them wondering what kind of noisome beasts were
therein enclosed.
Nearly allied to the preceding are the two South American genera Dendro-
phryniscus and Batrachophrynus, forming a small family differing from the
Leptodactylidce merely by the absence of teeth in the upper
jaw, and thus serving to connect them with the next group. Family Dendro-
Of far more importance is the almost cosmopolitan and large phryniscidce.
toad family, in which teeth are absent in both jaws, while the
extremities of the transverse processes of the sacral vertebra are expanded.
That the family is closely allied to the Leptodactylidce is indi-
cated by the approximation of two of its genera to two of the T3ie Toads.
latter. Thus the Australian Pseudophryne resembles Crinia Family
of the same country, while Enyystomops is like Paludicola, Bufonidce.
both these latter being South American. Again two other
genera exhibit resemblances to the Engystomatidce. Most of the members of
the family are crawling creatures, but the Javan Nectes is completely aquatic
in its habits, and the members of the Oriental and African genus Necto-
phryne appear to be arboreal. The members of Ehinophrynus which is
one* of the two genera approximating to the Engystomatidce feed on ants.
Whereas in some forms the extremities of the terminal bones of the toes are
simple, in others, such as Nectophryne, they are shaped like the letter T.
Our remarks must be restricted to the typical genus Bufo, of which there are
Fig. 5. HORNED FROO
(Ceratophrys ornata).
442
AMPHIBIA ORDER I.ECAUDATA.
a very large number of species distributed over the greater part of the world
with the exception of Oceania, Australasia, and Madagascar. In this genus
tile-pupil of the eye forms a horizontal slit, the tip of the tongue is not
notched, the toes of the fore-feet are free, but the hinder ones are partially
webbed. Occasionally the ends of the toes are expanded into small discs
the head may bear bony ridges, and in many cases the skin is covered with
warts, which under excitement secrete a miiky acrid fluid. Two species are
met with in Britain, namely the
common toad (B. mdgaris), and the
natterjack (B. calamila) ; the latter
being very local in our islands,
and easily recognised by the
whitish or yellow streak on the
middle of the back. Although
not found in Britain, a third
European species is the handsome
green toad (B. viridis), which also
ranges into the north of Africa
and Asia. The males differ from
those of the common species in
Fig. 6. NATTERJACK TOAD (Bufo catomita)
possessing a vocal sac beneath the
throat.
Although many of the tree-frogs belonging to this family are very similar
externally to the Dendrobatidce, they agree with the toads in the conforma-
tion of the skeleton of the chest. From the Bufonidce they
Family ffylidce. may be readily distinguished by the possession of upper
teeth ; while a still more distinctive peculiarity is to be
found in the claw-shaped terminal joints of the toes. The frogs of this
family, which are mostly arboreal in their habits, and are ranged under a
considerable number of generic divisions, attain their maximum development
in America (especially its tropical regions) and Australasia, but also occur in
Europe and Northern Asia, while a single representative of the typical genus
Hyla is found in India. The genus
just named includes more than a
hundred and fifty species, and has
a distribution coextensive with
that of the family. Whereas the
European If. arborea is a tiny little
creature, some of the Brazilian
species measure as much as three
inches in length. These frogs have
the tips of the toes expanded into
discs, and the hind-feet more or
less fully webbed. In the eye the
pupil is horizontal ; and the hinder
end of the tongue may be either
adherent or partially free. The
males of the European species, and
likewise those of some other kinds,
have a huge vocal sac on the throat.
In order to assimilate them to their surroundings, tree-frogs are of a brilliant
green colour. Except during the breeding season when they descend tem-
Fig. 7. EUROPEAN TBEE-FROG (Hyla arborea).
FROGS AND TOADS.
443
Fig. 8. POUCHED FROG (Nototreina.)
porarily bo the wateT they pass their whole time in trees or shrubs,
and are enabled to absorb the moisture from leaves by means of special
glands on the skin of the under surface of
the body. Some of the species inhabiting
the hottest parts of Brazil construct basin-
shaped nests of mud in ponds for the
protection of the eggs, this task falling en-
tirely to the share of the female. As an
example of a non-arboreal species, the
North American grasshopper-frog (Acris
gryllus) may be mentioned. This species,
which is the sole member of its genus, and
is very closely allied to Hyla, spends its
time among * herbage in moist situations.
More remarkable are the pouched frogs
(Notokrema), with several species from
Central and Western Tropical America, and
one from Pernambuco. These frogs are
also closely allied to Hyla, but the females
have a large pouch in the skin of the back,
with its aperture near the hinder end of the
body. In this pouch the eggs to the
number of about fifteen are deposited by
the male, and there they develop into tad-
poles. The gills of the tadpoles are protected by a special bell-like organ :
and the young do not leave the chamber until they have assumed the
adult form.
A small number of genera constitute a family distinguished from the
Hylidce by the much greater expansion of the extremities of the horizontal
transverse processes
of the sacral verte-
bra, and also by the
simple terminations
of the end joint of the toes. The
genera have a small geographical
range, but the family occurs in North
America, Europe, the Oriental coun-
tries and Papua. In the country first
named it is represented by several
species of Scaphiopus, nearly allied to
which are the two Central and South
European species of Pelobates. The
members of both these groups are
burrowing frogs, with the hind-toes
largely webbed, and in their move-
Fig. 9. MIDWIFE FROG (Alytes). ments they are somewhat inter-
mediate between the true frogs and
the toads. The eggs of the European forms are laid in long strings, which
are twined by the males round the stems of aquatic plants. Another
European species (Pelodytes putictatiis), together with the other genera of
the family, differs from the foregoing in the mode by which the rod forming
the hinder termination of the back-bone is articulated with the last vertebra.
Family
Pdobatidce.
444
AMPHIBIA ORDER I. - EGA UDA TA.
The sixth family of the present sub-order includes four genera, with a very
small number of species, and is confined to the northern half of the
Eastern Hemisphere and New Zealand. These frogs, which
Family have teeth in the upper jaw, and the extremities of the trans-
Discoglossidce. verse processes of the sacral vertebra expanded, are specially
distinguished by the retention of rudimental ribs. To this
family belong the painted frog (Discoglossus pictus) from the south of Europe
and Algeria, and the fire -bellied frog (Bombinator igneus) of Europe and
Asia, the latter having a triangular pupil to the eye, an adherent tongue,
and no drum to the ear. The under-parts are mottled with orange or yellow,
and the croak is very loud. The two European species of mid wife -frogs
(Alytes) are so named from the circumstance that the male takes the chains
of eggs laid by the female and winds them round his hind-legs. After
remaining concealed in a hole till the eggs are mature, he enters the water,
when the tadpoles burst their shells.
These two small Tropical American families differ from all the other mem-
Families Hemi- hers f ^ ne sub-order in possessing teeth in both jaws, the
phractidce and nrsfc of the two having the extremities of the horizontal
Amphignatho- transverse processes of the sacral vertebra cylindrical,
dontidce. whereas in the second they are expanded.
Sub-Order III. Aglossa.
The two genera and families by which alone this sub-order is represented
differ from both the other subordinal groups in the complete absence of the
tongue.
The three African species of spur-toed frogs (Xenopus) are sufficiently dis-
tinguished by possessing teeth in the upper jaw and the presence of spur-
like nails on three
Family of the toes of the
Xenopodidce. hind - feet, which
are fully webbed.
Their tadpoles, which are born of
large size, and without external
gills, are furnished with a pair of
barbels to the upper jaw.
The well-known Surinam water-
toad, or pipa (Pipa americana), of
the Guianas and
Family Brazil, is the only
Pipidce. member of this
family, which is
characterised by both jaws being
toothless. Externally, the pipa may
be recognised by its short and tri-
angular head, which is furnished
with a large flap of skin at each corner of the mouth, and has very minute eyes.
The four front toes are quite free, and terminate in expanded star-like tips,
but a large web unites all the five toes of the hind-foot. In any state the
creature is ugly, but when the female is carrying her nursery about with her
she is repulsive. Soon after they are laid, the eggs are taken up by the male
Fig. 10. SURINAM WATER-TOAD
(Pipa americana).
NEWTS AND SALAMANDERS. 445
and pressed, one by one, into the cells in the thickened skin of his partner's
back, where they grow till they fit closely to the hexagonal form of their cells,
each of which is closed above by a kind of trap-door. After some eighty-
two days the eggs reach their full development and produce, not tadpoles,
but perfect little toads. The reason of this is that tadpoles, which require to
breathe the air dissolved in water by means of their external gills, could not
exist in the cells, and, consequently, this stage of the development is passed
through very rapidly within the egg. When ready to come forth, the young
toads, which are usually from sixty to seventy in number, although there may
sometimes be more than a hundred, burst open the lids of their cells, and,
after stretching forth their head or a limb, make their appearance. When
free from her charge, the mother rubs off what remains of the cells against
any convenient stone or plant-stem, and comes out in a new skin. After
breeding, these toads become much flattened, and pass the whole of their
time in water.
ORDER IT. GAUD ATA.
NEWTS AND SALAMANDERS.
THE ordinary British newts and the black-and -yellow salamander of the
Continent are familiar representatives of an order of amphibians broadly
distinguished from the frogs and toads by the permanent retention of the tail.
In the skeleton they differ by the more normal structure of the bones of the
limbs, in which there is no elongation of any of those in the ankle joint,
while the ulna and fibula are respectively distinct from the radius and tibia.
The more typical representatives of the order are lizard-like in external form,
having a comparatively short body and two pairs of well-developed limbs.
There are, however, certain aberrant types in which the body becomes more
or less elongated in form, with a diminution in the size of the limbs, and in
some instances the disappearance of the hinder pair. From the permanent
retention of the tail, it is obvious that even in the more typical forms the
metamorphosis is a much less marked feature among these amphibians than
it is in the frogs and toads. And in certain instances there is no metamor-
phosis at all the external gills persisting throughout life. In another case
we have the peculiar condition that whereas certain individuals may retain
their gills permanently, and breed while in this condition, other individuals
of the same species lose their gills, and develop into the proper adult ter-
restrial form before breeding. It is thus evident that these amphibians are
in a state of unstable equilibrium as regards their transformation ; and it
may be a question whether those kinds with permanent gills are not really
larvae, which for some reason have ceased to develop into the proper adult
form.
Numerically, the tailed amphibians form a small group, containing pro-
bably less than one hundred and fifty species, arranged under four families.
They are chiefly confined to the Northern Hemisphere where they attain
their maximum development in North America and are unrepresented in
Australasia, the intra-tropical districts of South America and Africa south of
the Sahara. The true newts are, however, chiefly an Old World group. The
Oriental region is very poorly furnished with these amphibians, having only
446
AMPHIBIA ORDER ILCAUDATA.
three species altogether. Of these, one is an axolotl from Siam, belonging
to the American genus Amblystoma, while the other two constitute the genus
Tylotriton, one inhabiting the Liu Kiu Islands, and the other the eastern
part of the Himalaya and Yunnan. All the tailed amphibians are nocturnal
creatures, the great majority of which pass some portion of their time in
water, while others are permanently aquatic. Such as develop lungs and
lose their gills have to rise periodically to the surface of the water in order
to breathe. Their tenacity of life forms a striking feature in the physiology
of these creatures ; species inhabiting tropical regions, subject to periodical
droughts, becoming torpid at such seasons, while those from colder regions
hibernate. Even envelopment in ice is not always sufficient to destroy life.
The same low organisation is indicated by their power of reproducing the
tail and limbs. \Vhereas the majority of species have large and well-developed
eyes, a few which inhabit underground waters have lost the power of
sight,, and have the rudimental eyes deeply buried .beneath the skin. The
aquatic species swim chiefly or entirely by means of a tail, and thus differ
markedly from the frogs, in which the hind-limbs alone are employed. Most
of the terrestrial forms are slow-moving creatures, although a few dart about
with the rapidity of lizards. Certain members of the order are peculiar in
producing living young, the tadpoles being in some cases retained within the
body of the female until considerably developed.
The greater number of the members of the order are included in the
family typified by the common yellow and black salamander, although the
genera may be arranged in four rub-families. As a family,
Family the Salamandridce are distinguished by undergoing a full
Salamaiidridce. metamorphosis, with the consequent loss of the gills in
the adult condition, as well as by the presence of teeth in
both jaws, of eyelids, and of maxillary tones. In the typical sub-family
SalamandrincR, the teeth on the palate are arranged in the form cf a pair of
posteriorly diverging rows, such rows Tbeing situated on the inner margins of
two long processes running backwards from the palatine bones. Ko teeth
are developed on the bone forming the hinder pnrt of the inner surface of the
skifll, and known as the parasphenoid ;
and in the backbone the bodies of the
vertebras have a cup at the hinder end,
and a ball in front. The common black
and yellow salamander (Salamandria,
macul'osa) is the best-known representa-
tive of the typical genus of the sub-
family, which includes two other species,
and is confined to Central and Southern
Europe, Algeria, and Syria. From the
newts, the typical salanfanders may be
distinguished by the following features.
In form the tail is cylindrical and taper-
ing ; there are five toes to each of the
hind-feet ; the two rows of the teeth on
the palate are curved ; and the tongue, which is of rather large size, and
nearly oval in form, is free at the sides, and to a certain extent behind. The
black ground-colour, marked with a double row of longitudinal yellow
blotches on the head and back, and similar markings on the upper surface of
the tail and limbs, sufficiently distinguish the salamander from the other
Fig. 11. COMMON SALAMAKDER (Sala-
mandra, maculosa).
NEWTS AND SALAMANDERS. 447
members of the same genus. This species is a somewhat solitary and slug-
gish creature, spending most of the year on land, but resorting to the water
during the spring, when breeding takes place. Usually the young are born
alive, but occasionally eggs are laid, when they almost immediately hatch.
A large number of tadpoles come into the world at once, and these, in
the ordinary mode of development, have already lost their gills. Formerly,
highly poisonous properties were attributed to this salamander as they,
doubtless, still are among the uneducated peasantry of various parts of
Europe, and the creature was believed to be capable of being cast into a
furnace without suffering harm. Beyond secreting an acrid fluid, it is, how-
ever, perfectly harmless. The range of this species includes a considerable
part of Europe, as well as Syria and Algeria. Nearly allied is the somewhat
smaller black salamander (S, atra) of the Alps. Although many eggs may be
found in the body of the female, it appears that only a pair of tadpoles are
produced, these being nourished by the eggs which never develop. While
within the body of the parent, these tadpoles have very long external gills,
which are shed previous to birth. Many years ago some tadpoles in the
gilled condition were taken from the parent and placed in water. Almost
immediately the large gills were cast off, and their place taken by much
smaller ones, which remained for a long period. As remarked by Professor
Mivart, "the curious and noteworthy point in this experiment is the fact
that, after the original gills (which were unadapted for free external life (have
perished, new and suitable gills become developed, and this not in a struggle
for existence against rivals, but directly and spontaneously from the innate
nature of the animal." The third and last species is S. caucasica, from the
Caucasus, which differs from the other two in that the tail is shorter than the
head and body. Its colour is black, with rows of roundish yellow spots on
the back. It may be remarked here that in both the spotted species the
young are uniformly dark-coloured, the yellow markings being only gradually
acquired. Hence the ornamentation may be regarded as a lately acquired
feature. On the other hand, where as in the lion and deer skin-markings
occur only on the young, such ornamentation is very ancient, and tending to
disappear. The Spanish salamander (Ckioglossa lusitanica) differs by the
tongue being fixed on a protrusile pedicle.
From the true salamanders, the newts (Molge) are distinguished by the
laterally compressed form of the powerful tail, as well as by their perman-
ently aquatic mode of life. Many of
the species, too, are furnished with an
upright longitudinal fin on the back,
such fin generally attaining a special
development during the breeding season
in the males. Newts range over the
three great continents of the Northern
Hemisphere, although they are unknown
to the south of the Himalaya, and are
much more abundant in the Old World
than in the New. They are the only Fig . 12< _. CRES TED NEWT (Moloe^Hstata).
members of the order inhabiting Britain,
where the common species in many districts is to be met with in every pond.
The handsomest and largest of the British species is the crested newt (M.
cristata), which belongs to a group characterised by the presence of a fin-like
crest on the back of the males, and in some cases of the females also, where,
443 AMPHIBIA ORDER ILCAUDATA.
however, it is always considerably lower. In the males of the crested newt
the crest is scalloped; and in both sexes the under surface of the body is
orange with black marblings. When in full breeding-dress, a male of this
species is indeed a beautifully-coloured creature. In size it grows to five
inches or rather more. From Sweden southwards, this newt is spread over
the greater part of Europe, with the exception of Italy. It is distinguished
from all other members of the genus by a peculiarity in the structure of the
skull. Far more abundant in this country is the much smaller common
newt (M. vulgaris\ in which the crest of the male is likewise festooned, while
the hind-toes of the same sex are lobed during the breeding-season, the under
surface of the body being yellowish, with large black spots in the male, and
small dots in the female. In the latter, the back carries either a simple crest
or a mere ridge. It is only in the breeding season that the crest of the male
assumes its full development ; and at this time the tail-fin is also festooned.
With the exception of Western Europe, this species is widely distributed on
the Continent, and also ranges into Asia. The last and smallest of the
British representatives of the genus is the webbed newt (M. palmatci), which,
in addition to a peculiarity in the structure of the skull, is distinguished by
the hind-toes of the male being fully webbed during the breeding season.
The crest of the male is straight ; and that of the female either very smaD, or
represented by a ridge. The lower surface of the body is more or less nearly uni-
formly coloured, although there is a narrow streak of orange in the middle line.
Several species found in the south of Europe have no crest in either
sex. The habits of newts are so familiar to all who have lived in the country,
that but little need be said on the subject. During the breeding-season, all
are inhabitants of the water ; but later on many of them forsake that element
for a longer or shorter period, and become terrestrial. While some hiber-
nate in holes or beneath stones, others retire to the mud at the bottom of
ponds. The eggs are generally deposited on the stems of aquatic plants ; and
when the tadpoles first make their appearance, they have small, simple gills,
behind which are a pair of small projections, representing the future fore-
limbs. In the course of time the gills become branched, the fore-limbs show
their four toes, and the hind-legs make their appearance. Soon after, the
gills begin to shrink, and finally disappear, while lungs are developed, and
the limbs acquire their full adult proportions, when the creature ceases to be
a tndpole, and becomes a newt. It has been already mentioned that the tad-
poles of the frogs and toads differ from those of the newts and salamanders
in that the hind-limbs make their appearance before the front pair. The
reason for this remarkable difference is doubtless to be found in the circum-
stance that in the former group the hind-limbs are proportionately much
larger than in the latter, and consequently require a longer period for growth.
From both the foregoing genera the Italian spectacled salamander (S<daman-
drina perspicillata) is at once distinguished by having only four toes to each
of the hind-feet, the number of toes being consequently the same in both
pairs of limbs. It is a small species, varying between three and four inches
in length, with a slightly compressed and keeled tail, and a rough warty skin.
The under surface of the tail and of the hinder end of the body is of a
brilliant carmine red. This salamander inhabits moist, rocky districts, where
its rapid movements render it liable to be mistaken for a lizard. True to its
amphibian nature, it resorts, however, to the water in spring for breeding
Sirposes. The warty salamander, Tyloiriton verruco&us, of the Eastern
imalaya and Siam, together with the allied T. andersoni of the Liu-Kin
NEWTS AND SALAMANDERS.
449
Islands, constitute a genus confined to the Oriental region, and differing from
all those mentioned above in the conformation of the skull, in which the
pterygoid bones extend forwards to touch the maxillae, instead of being
separated from them by an interval. These salamanders have five hind-toes,
and the tail strongly compressed. They are inhabitants of mountain dis-
tricts. Nearly allied is the single species of Pachijtriton, from South Kiansi,
China, in which the tail is cylindrical at the root, although compressed near
the tip.
In the second sub-family Ambhjstomatince of the Salamandridce the
teeth on the palate form either a transverse or posteriorly converging series,
and are attached to the hinder margin of the posterior portion of the
vomers, instead, of to processes of the palatine bones. The vertebrae, too,
differ from those of the first group in that both terminal faces of their bodies
are slightly cupped ; this being a lower type of structure than the ball-and-
socket articulation. The type of this group is the creature known in Mexico
as the axolotl, which is the permanent larval form of a salamander from the
United States described as Amblystvma tigrinum. It was long thought that
these two forms were totally distinct
animals ; but the identity of the two
was conclusively proved by some
Mexican axolotls kept many years
ago in Paris. One of these layed
eggs, which in due course developed
into axolotls, but these latter ulti-
mately assumed the form of the
adult salamander. The most curious
fact about the matter was that where-
as the axolotls bred freely, none of
the adult salamanders could be in-
duced to propagate their kind. There
are several species of the genus in-
habiting North America, and a single
outlying form in the mountains of
Siam. With the single exception of
the Mexican race of Ambiystoma
tigrinum, all these appear to pass from the tadpole to the salamander stage
in the usual manner. The reason of the Mexican race retaining the larval
stage appears to be that the country is very arid, and unfit for amphibian
life. Consequently the axolotls remain permanently in the large lake by
which the city of Mexico is surrounded. In this larval condition they have
a long compressed tail, with a crest above and below, which is continued as
a ridge on the back ; and on the sides of the neck are abundant bushy
external gills. The limbs are rather small, and the general hue of the skin
is mottled olive. On the other hand, the adult which is normally developed
in the United States is an ordinary-looking salamander, with a relatively
large head, good-sized limbs, and a sub-cylindrical tail ; the colour of the
skin being blackish or brown, with numerous yellow spots. As special
characteristics of the genus Ambiystoma, it may be mentioned that the teeth
on the palatines are arranged either in nearly a straight line or in an angle
without any wide gap in the middle, and that the tongue bears a series of
radiating pleats. Very closely allied is the genus ~Lingucelapsus. A specimen
of L. annulatus has been taken in Arkansas from a hot spring.' Of the other
30
Fig. 13. ADULT AXOLOTL
(Ambiystoma tigrinum).
450 AMPHIBIA ORDER ILCAUDATA.
genera included in the sub-family now under consideration, Ranidens from
the north-eastern provinces of China and the east of Siberia, JSatrachyperus
from Tibet, and Dicamptodon from California, constitute a group character-
ised by the teeth on the palate forming a pair of arches, separated from one
another in the middle line, and with the convexity forwards. The second of
these genera differs from the other two in that the hind-feet are four-toed.
A third group is formed by the Japanese Onychodactylus, in which the palatal
teeth form a double arch, without any medium gap, while the claws are black.
In the last group, represented by the Japanese and Chinese Hynobius, and
Salamandrella of Eastern Siberia and Kamschatka, the palatal teeth converge
backwards in a somewhat V-shaped figure ; the first genus having five hind-
toes, and the second only four.
The other two sub-families are small. In the first, or Plethodontince, the
parasphenoid bone differs from that of the two preceding sub-families in
bearing teeth ; the vertebrae being of the same type as in the Amblystotnatince.
Of the genera included, Autodax (Anaides), Plethodon, and Batrachoseps form
a North American group characterised by the tongue being attached along
the medium line as far as its front margin ; the first genus having very few
teeth in the jaws, while in the second the hind- toes are five in number, and
in the third only four. The second group, which is likewise North American,
although its first genus ranges into Central America and the West Indies,
includes Spelerpes and Manculus, and differs from the last in that the tongue
is attached only by a pedicle from the middle of the lower surface, so that
all its edges are free.
The fourth and last sub-family, Desmognathince, is also North American,
and while agreeing with the third in having teeth on the parasphenoid, differs
in that the bodies of the vertebrae are cupped behind and convex in front.
In the typical genus Desmognathus the tongue is attached all along the middle
line, whereas in Ttiorius it has a central pedicle, and is thus mushroom-like.
Haptoglossa, from Costa Rica, is nearly allied to the latter, but differs in that
the tongue is adherent in front. Of more interest is the single species of
Typhlotriton, which inhabits a cave in Missouri, and is totally blind, the
rudimental eyes being buried beneath the continuous skin of the head.
Although very small, the second family of the tailed amphibians is note-
worthy on account of containing the largest members of the entire order.
Most of the few species are North American, but the giant
Family salamander is an inhabitant of Japan and China. In their
Amphiumidue. general structural characters the members of this family
agree with the Salamandridce, from which they are sharply
differentiated by the absence of eyelids. All of them have the bodies of the
vertebrae cupped at both ends, and in all the body is much elongated, and the
relatively small front and hind-limbs widely sundered from one another.
These features are clearly indicative of a closer relationship with fishes than
obtains in the case of the true salamanders and newts. The same affinities
are indicated by the aquatic habits of these creatures, and likewise by the
permanent retention of internal gills ; and, owing to the presence of the latter,
respiration can be effected without the necessity of coming to the surface, at any
rate for a considerable time. It is interesting to note that remains of a fossil
species belonging to the same genus as the giant salamander occur in the Ter-
tiary rocks of the Continent, from which it may be inferred that the family
has migrated westward. The giant salamander (Megalobatrachus maximus)
is a huge sluggish creature, frequently growing to as much as a yard in length.
NEWTS AND SALAMANDERS. 451
and occasionally considerably more. With its flat, oval head, depressed body,
warty skin, short, splay-toed limbs, and highly compressed tail, its appearance
is by no means prepossessing, and when lying almost motionless in a tank of
slimy green water in the reptile-house in the London Zoological Gardens, the
attention it attracts from the general public is probably but slight. Never-
theless it is one of the most interesting of living animals, and our notions of
zoological affinities would be much less clear than they are had this salamander
arid its allies become extinct. Externally this salamander is distinguished
by having four toes in front and three behind, and likewise by the absence of
gill-openings on the sides of the neck. Internally it will be found that there
are two arches for the support of the gills on each side. If the mouth be
opened, it will be seen that its floor is completely covered by the closely
adherent tongue, and also that the teeth on the palate form a series running
parallel to those on the edge of the upper jaw, these teeth being situated on
the vomers. These salamanders, which, as already said, are common to Japan
and China, inhabit clear mountain streams, where they feed on such aquatic
creatures as they are able to
capture ; in captivity, at least,
they are known to be cannibals,
but this depraved taste was pro-
bably developed owing to lack
of a sufficiency of other food.
In autumn the female lays a
number of small eggs ; but the
early stages of development are
unknown, although it is pro-
bable that at first the young Fig 14 ._ GlANT SALAMANDER
tadpoles are provided with ex- (Megalabatrachus maximus).
ternal gills. The much smaller
Mississippi salamander, or hell-bender (Cryptolranchus lateralis), is dis-
tinguished by the retention of a gill-opening on one or both sides of the
neck, and the free front edge of the tongue, as well as by the presence of
four pairs of arches for the support of the internal gills. Less than twenty
inches seems to be the maximum size of this salamander. Geographically
the range of the species extends from the Mississippi basin and the streams
of the Louisianian district to North Carolina.
Very different in appearance and structure from "both the preceding is the
species representing the genus Ampkiuma, which has a somewhat more ex-
tended range than the hell-bender, since it is found in South Carolina. It is
an exceedingly elongated eel -like creature, with very minute limbs, of which
the front pair are situated close to the head, while the hinder ones are placed
very far back at the commencement of the tail, which is much shorter than
the body. It is a rather curious circumstance that whereas in some examples
each foot is furnished with three toes, in others the number is reduced to
two ; but in organs which are either about to disappear, or are in the course
of development, similar variations are by no means of unfrequent occurrence.
In the nature of its food this creature is very similar to the Mississippi
salamander ; but whereas the latter occasionally leaves the water for a stroll
on the bank, it does not appear that the former ever quits its native
element. The female Amphmma deposits a string of eggs resembling a
rosary, round which she" subsequently coils herself, after arranging the string
in a mass.
452 AMPHIBIA ORDER II. C A UDA TA.
According to the system of classification now favoured by zoologists, the
tailed amphibians constitute a series regularly descending in their grade of
organisation ; and with the present family we reach a group
Family in which the external gills of the young are permanently
Proteidce. retained, while there are two pairs of rudimental limbs. An
additional peculiarity is to be found in the absence of the
maxilla in the scull. As in the preceding family, the bodies of the vertebrae
.have cupped terminal faces, and eyelids are wanting. The typical member
of the family is the famous olm (Proteus) from the subterranean waters
of Carniola, Carinthia, and Dalmatia. No better description of this creature
is extant than one by Sir Humphry Davy, which runs as follows: "At
first sight you might suppose this
creature to be a lizard, but it has the
motions of a fish. Its head and the
lower part of its body and its tail
bear a strong resemblance to those
of an eel ; but it has no fins ; and its
curious bronchial organs are not like
the gills of fishes ; they form a
singular vascular structure, almost
like a crest round the throat, which
may be removed without occasioning
Fig. 15. OLM (Proteus anguineus). the death of the animal, which is like-
wise furnished with lungs. With
this double apparatus for supplying air to the blood, it can live either below
or above the surface of the water. Its fore-feet resemble hands, but they
have only three claws or fingers, and are too feeble to be of use in grasping
or supporting the weight of the animal. The hinder feet have only two
claws or toes, and in the larger specimens are found so imperfect as to be
almost obliterated. It has small points in place of eyes, as if to preserve the
analogy of nature. It is of a fleshy whiteness and transparency in its natural
state, but when exposed to light, its skin gradually becomes darker, and at
last gains an olive tint. Its nasal organs appear large ; and it is abundantly
furnished with teeth, from which it may be concluded that it is an animal of
prey ; yet in its confined state it has never been known to eat, and it has
been kept alive for many years by occasionally changing the water in which
it was kept." From the olm the North American genus Necturus is at
once distinguished by the possession of well-developed eyes, and likewise by
the presence of four toes to each foot. In form, too, it is more lizard-like,
the body lacking the eel-like elongation characteristic of the olm, while the
limbs are less rudimental. There are two species of the genus, one of which
is not uncommon in the rice-fields of the Southern United States. Although
both breathe almost entirely by means of their plume-like external gills, it
is stated that they will occasionally venture on land, when the lungs of
course become the respiratory organs. In sinking a well recently in Texas, a
third generic representative of the family was discovered at a depth of 180
feet in a subterranean stream. This form is related both to Proteus and
Necturus, and has been named Typhlomolge rathbuni. It is characterised by
the great length and slenderness of its limbs, and the broad, flattened, and
squared muzzle.
The last family of the tailed amphibians is confined to North America,
where it is represented by Siren lacertina of the South-Eastern United
C&CILIANS.
453
States and Pseudobranchus striatus of Georgia. Both these lowly creatures
have long eel-like bodies, external gills, and a small pair of front legs. The
hind - legs are,
however, total-
ly wanting, and
Fig. 16. TWO-LEGGED SALAMANDER (Siren lacertina).
Family
Sirenidce.
there are no
teeth in the margins of the jaws.
In the species first named-
which may measure nearly
twenty inches in length there
are three pairs of gill-openings
on the sides of the neck, and
each of the fore-feet is fur-
nished with four toes. From
this genus Pseudobranchus is dis-
tinguished by the presence of
only a single pair of gill-aper-
tures, and the reduction of the
front toes to three. These sala-
manders frequent damp situa-
tions and pools, and occasionally ascend the aerial roots or stems of trees.
They are carnivorous in their habits, and are able to breathe either by their
gills or their lungs. During the colder months of the year they hibernate.
ORDER III. APODA.
dECILIANS.
THE third and last order of Amphibia is represented by the blind, burrow-
ing creatures commonly known as caecilians. In appearance they are so
worm-like that by the non-scientific observer they might readily be mistaken
for Invertebrates. In the adult state they show no trace of limbs ; but bud-
like remnants of hind-legs have been detected in the embryos of Ichthyophis
ylutinosus. This clearly shows that they are a degraded form, but whether
they are descended as has been considered the case from the tailed
amphibians may, perhaps, be doubtful, seeing that they differ from that
group in an important feature connected with their reproduction. They
have either a rudimental tail or none at all, and they are further character-
ised by certain structural peculiarities in the osteology of the skull. The
eyes are generally deeply buried beneath the skin, or placed beneath the
bones of the skull, and in certain members of the group overlapping scales
are concealed deep down in the skin. The head is provided with a tentacle,
which may be capable of protrusion and retraction. Csecilians present a very
remarkable geographical distribution, being restricted to South and Central
America (with the West Indies), Africa south of the Sahara, the Seychelles,
and the Oriental countries. Their absence from Madagascar, coupled with
their existence in the Seychelles, is a very noteworthy circumstance, and
seems to indicate a connection between those islands and either Africa or
India after Madagascar was insulated. The adults burrow in moist earth,
454
AMPHIBIA ORDER III. APOD A.
like worms, where they lay large eggs, from which, in due course, are de-
veloped tadpoles furnished, at least before birth, with gills. Soon after
hatching, the tadpoles take to the water, where they appear to remain until
they assume the adult condition.
All the members of the order are so similar in structure that they are
included in a single family group. The first genus, IchthyopkiSj includes two
species, ranging from India to the Malayan Islands ; but
Family whereas one (I. ghitinosus) is also found in Ceylon, the
CcecihidcK. second (I. mottochrous) is unknown there. In these species
overlapping fish-like scales are embedded in the skin, the
eyes are distinguishable, the lower jaw is furnished with a double series of
teeth, and the tentacle, which is capable of protrusion, is situated near the
upper lip between the eye and the nostril. The first-named species grows to a
length of about fifteen inches, but has a diameter of only half an inch. Writing
of this species in Ceylon, the late
Sir J. Emerson Tennent wrote as
follows: "The rocky jungle,
bordering the higher cotfee estates,
provides a safe retreat for a very
singular animal, first introduced
to the notice of European natural-
ists by Linnaeus, who gave it the
name Ccecilia glutinosa, to indi-
cate two peculiarities manifest to
the ordinary observer, an appar-
ent defect of vision, from the eyes
being so small, and embedded as
to be scarcely distinguishable, and
the power of secreting from
minute pores in the skin a viscous
fluid, resembling that of snails,
eels, and some salamanders. Specimens are rare in Europe, owing to the
readiness with which it decomposes, breaking down into a flaky mass in the
spirits in which it is attempted to preserve it. The creature is about the
length and thickness of an ordinary round desk-ruler, a little flattened before
and rounded behind. It is brownish, with a pale stripe along either side.
The skin is furrowed into 350 circular folds, in which are embedded minute
scales. The head is tolerably distinct, with a double row of fine curved teeth
for seizing the insects and worms on which it is supposed to feed.'' More
recent observations especially those of Dr. Sarasin have largely increased
our knowledge of the mode of life of these strange and interesting creatures,
which are generally found in soft mud. As already mentioned, rudiments of
hind-limbs have been detected in the embryos. The large globular eggs are
laid in a burrow near water, and are brooded by the female, who coils her
body round the mass. The tadpoles are not hatched until after the loss of their
external gills, and when they take to the water they breathe through a pair
of gill-openings on the sides of the neck. These tadpoles have a very fish-
like head, in which the eyes are much more distinct than in the adult, while
they have also a well-defined and highly- com pressed tail, furnished below and
above with a fin, after the manner of a frog's tadpole. A nearly-allied Ori-
ental genus is Epicrimops, with a single species. From Ichthyophis the
genus Urceotyphlus is readily distinguished by the tentacle being situated
Fig. 17. A C^CILIAN BROODING ITS EGGS
(Ichthyophis glutinosus).
C^CILIANS. 455
below the nostril. The genus is represented by two species from Southern
India, a West African form which has been referred to it having been shown to
belong to Geotrypetes. In the foregoing genera the tentacle has a conical
form, but in the typical genus Ccecilia, which is confined to Tropical South
America, it becomes flap-like, with a horse-shoe shaped groove at the base, its
situation being below the nostril. On the other hand, in the nearly-allied
Hypogeophis, the same organ is placed below the nostril. This genus is
specially interesting on account of its geographical distribution, having two
species from Africa, and two from the Seychelles. A West African species
formerly included in the same genus is now distinguished as Geotrypetes
petersi. Still more remarkable is the distribution of the genus Dermophis,
which has several species from Tropical America, one from West Africa, and
another from the eastern side of the latter continent. From the preceding
kinds this genus is distinguished by the globular form of the tentacle, which
is surrounded by :* circular groove, and situated below and in front of the
eye.
In addition to the presence of scales in the skin, all the preceding genera
are characterised by the eyes being either distinct or buried only in the skin.
From these, Gymnopis and Herpele differ in that the same organs have sunk
so deep as to be actually beneath the bones of the skull. In the former
genus, which is confined to Tropical America, the globular tentacle is sur-
rounded by a circular groove, and placed close to the muzzle, whereas in the
latter which is West African it is nearer the nostril.
In the remaining genera of the family, the skin is devoid of scales. Of
these, GegenopJiis, as represented by a single Indian species, is remarkable
on account of its extremely restricted range, being apparently recorded only
from the Peria peak, in the Wynad district, at an elevation of about five
thousand feet. Even there it is stated to be of rare occurrence. Unlike most
of its kind, it lives under stones. As a genus, this csecilian is characterised
by the eyes being beneath the bones of the skull, and by the tentacle being
globular, and surrounded by a circular groove. From this genus, Siphonops,
with three species inhabiting Tropical South America, differs by the distinct
eyes, and the flap-like tentacle, which has a horse-shoe shaped groove at the
base, and is placed much nearer to the eye than to the nostril. The allied
genus Typhlonectes, from the same regions, may be distinguished by the ten-
tacle, which is of similar shape, being nearer to the nostril than to the eye, as
also by the compression of the hinder end of the body. Lastly, we have the
South American Chthonerpetum, which differs from all the other scaleless
forms in the arrangement of some of the bones of the skull. It has a flap-
like tentacle, situated mid- way between the eye and the nostril. One species
of this genus is found in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres, and is thus
more southern than any other American member of the family.
SUB-KINGDOM I. VERTEBRATA.
CLASS V. PISCES.
BY R. LYDEKKER, B.A., F.R.S., Y.P.G.S., &c.
IN the preceding section it has been shown that the tadpoles of the Amphibia
make a very close approximation in structure and to a certain extent also in
form to fishes. The resemblance, however, stops suddenly short in regard
to the structure of the limbs. In all amphibians the limbs resemble those
of the higher vertebrates in being composed of a definite number of segments,
and terminating in distinct digits, which are normally five in number. On
the other hand, although in fishes there are distinct segments in the upper
portion of the limbs, these do not correspond exactly with those of the higher
animals, and there are 110 structures corresponding with fingers and toes.
The limbs are, in fact, fins, and terminate either in a fringe of rays, or, more
rarely, in a jointed cartilaginous rod, bordered on one or both sides with a
smaller number of somewhat similar rays. In some fishes, it is true, limbs
are wanting ; but then this is also the case among the higher vertebrates,
and does not impair the classificatory value of these appendages. Another
important distinction from amphibians is to be found in the circumstance that
the median fins' of fishes which are always present in some form or other have
rays similar to those of the paired fins. Accordingly, in a popular way, fishes
may be defined as aquatic, cold-blooded, back-boned animals, breathing the
air in water by gills (sometimes supplemented by lungs), and furnished with
paired nostrils, paired and median fins, the former of which (when present)
differ essentially from the limbs of higher animals. This definition will
suffice to distinguish the class Pisces from all the preceding classes, but as it
fails to differentiate the group from the lampreys (now regarded as a class
apart), it must be added that all Pisces have a functional lower jaw.
Whether the earliest ancestors of fishes were as purely aquatic in their
habits as their descendants is a question somewhat difficult to answer, although
the reply should probably be in the affirmative. Anyway, it is certain that
we have at present no indications of a direct transition between fishes and
the classes immediately above and immediately below them, so that they
stand out as one of the best defined of all groups ; and there is very consider-
able uncertainty whether the paired fins of fishes can be regarded as the
ancestral type from which the limbs of higher animals were evolved. In
spite of certain minor variations as exemplified by the difference in shape
between an eel and a flat fish all the members of the class are characterised
by the adaptation of their bodily form to an aquatic life, a feature in which
they resemble whales and porpoises among mammals. As is well observed
by Dr. Bashford Dean, this adaptation to aquatic existence " has stamped
them in a common mould, and has prescribed the laws which direct and limit
45 6
PISCES. 457
their evolution ; it has compressed their head, trunk, and tail into a spindle-
like form ; it has given them an easy and rapid motion, enabling them to
cleave the water like a rounded wedge. It has made their mode of movement
one of undulation, causing the sides of the fish to contract rhythmically,
thrusting the animal forward." Very beautiful indeed are the lines of a
typical swift-swimming fish, such as the common mackerel ; and in a front
view the sectional outline will be found to form a perfect ellipse, from which
project the fins as thin vertical or oblique ridges.
Interesting and important as is the structure of fishes in general, our
remarks onthis subject must be the briefest. Here it is important to
mention that the ordinary bony fish of the present day, such as a mackerel
or a roach, are very specialised forms, and afford but little idea of the general
or primitive structural type of the class, a shark or a lung-fish being far pre-
ferable in this respect. Among the special organs of many, although by no
means all fishes, is the air-bladder, which has the power of altering the
specific gravity of the body to accord with that of the surrounding water.
Frequently this bladder is connected by means of a duct with the ossophagus,
and in the lung-fishes it assumes the characters of a lung. Of the external
coverings of fishes, the most characteristic are the scales, although these are
wanting in some groups and in certain members of others. The ordinary
over-lapping scales are classified as cycloid or ctenoid, according as to whether
the free margin is entire or pectinate. When they are coated with a highly
polished enamel-like structure, and at the same time are more or less
icctangular in form, they are termed ganoid. The lateral line found on the
sides of many fishes is formed of scales, modified partly for the purpose of
supplying mucus. The terminal portions of the fins namely, the fin-rays
are likewise structures formed in the skin ; and these rays are articulated
below with the interspinal bones in the bony fishes, and with the radial
cartilages in the sharks and rays. The paired fins comprise the pectoral and
pelvic ; and the median or unpaired, the dorsal, caudal, and anal. When
the pelvic pair are situated in advance of the pectorals, they are said to be
jugular in position ; when in the same line, thoracic ; and when far back,
abdominal. Of the internal structure of the paired fins, such observations as
are necessary may be deferred till the different groups are treated of ; but it
may be mentioned that when the rays of the caudal fin surround the hinder
extremity of the back-bone symmetrically, the tail-fin is said to be diphycercal.
When, on the other hand, the upper lobe is greatly developed at the expense
of the lower, while the rays are unsymmetrically, as in the sharks, it is termed
heterocercal. More specialised than either of the foregoing is the so-called
homocercal or completely forked tail, in which, although the back-bone
terminates in an abbreviated unsymmetrical manner, the arrangement of the
rays is symmetrical. Whereas in some fishes the notochord persists in its
original form, in others it is partially surrounded by rudimental vertebral
arches, and in the higher forms is completely replaced by bony vertebrae.
Much the same may be said with regard to the primitive cartilaginous skull,
which is retained in its original form in the sharks, but is completely bony in
the higher fishes, in which, in addition to bones developed from cartilage, a
number of investing so-called dermal bones likewise arise. Dermal bones,
too, are developed in the pectoral girdle of the latter group. Very important
in the skull of the bony fishes is the gill-cover or operculum, which when
fully developed comprises the bones respectively known as the pre-, sub-,
and interopercular, and the opercular proper. The gill-membrane aids the
458 PISCES.
operculum in closing the gill-cavity in the higher fishes, and in this may be
developed the so-called branchiostegal rays. In the membrane joining the
two branches of the lower jaw may be certain large jugular plates. The
teeth of fishes need not engage our attention further than to notice that they
may be developed not only in the jaws and on the bones of the palate, but
likewise also on the tongue and the pharyngeal bones of the throat. The soft
internal parts must likewise be passed over almost without notice, although
it may be mentioned that whereas the heart generally comprises only two
chambers, in the lung- fishes it is furnished with three. The false gills, or
remnants of a former gill situated in front of the permanent pair, and re-
presented in the adult by a plexus of blood-vessels, are likewise too important
not to be named. Then, again, there are the spiracles of the sharks, which
are situated on the head, and are the openings of canals leading into the
pharynx, and representing the first visceral clefts of the embryo. It is like-
wise important to notice that certain fishes, such as the bichir of the Nile
and some of the lung-fishes, develop during the earlier stages of their existence
pectinate external gills, and thus serve to connect the class with the larval
forms of the Amphibia. As regards reproduction, it must suffice to say that
whereas most fishes lay eggs it may be of very small size, when they are
collectively known as roe, or comparatively large in certain kinds these
are retained within the body of the parent till hatched. The interesting
subject of distribution both in depth and in horizontal extent must be
passed over without mention.
Excluding lampreys and lancelets, which are here assigned to distinct
classes, very different views have been entertained even by modern systematists
as to the proper classification of fishes. By Dr. Giinther the following scheme
for the existing forms was followed: even as late as 1880, viz. :
Sub-class I. PAL^ICHTHYES.
Order i. CHONDROPTERYGII.
Section 1. Plagiostomata. Sharks and Rays.
,, 2. Holocephala. Chimseroids.
Order ii. GANOIDEI.
Section 1. Dipnoi. Lung-fishes.
,, 2. Chondrostei. -Sturgeons.
,, 3. Polypteroidei. Bichir.
,, 4. Lepidosteoidei. Bony Pike,
5. Amioidei. Bow-fin,
Sub-class II. TELEOSTEI. Bony Fishes.
Order i. ACANTHOPTERYGII.
ii. ACANTHOPTERYGII PHARYNGOGNATHI.
,, iii. ANACANTHINI.
,, iv. PHYSOSTOMI.
,, V. LOPHOBRANCHII.
,, vi. PLECTOGNATHI.
The defects in this classification, are the wide separation of the Ganoidei
from the Teleostei, which, through the intervention of extinct forms, pass
completely into one another, and the association of the Chimseroids with the
Sharks and Rays to form a single subordinal group.
A far better scheme is the one just published by Dr. Bashford Dean, which
is as follows :
LUNG-FISHES. 459
Sub-class I, ELASMOBRANCHII. Sharks and Rays.
,, II. HOLOCEPHALI. Chimseroids.
,, III. DIPNOI. Lung-fishes.
IV. TELEOSTOMI. Ganoids and Bony Fishes.
Order i. CROSSOPTERYGII. Fringe-filmed Group.
,, ii. ACTINOPTERYGII. Fan-fiimed Group.
Section 1. Chondrostei. Ganoids.
2. Teleocephali. Bony Fishes.
Even this system has, however, certain disadvantages, and the following
arrangement appears preferable. This is as follows, viz. :
Sub-class I. DIPNOI. Lung-fishes.
,, II. HOLOCEPHALI. Chimseroids.
,, III. TELEOSTOMI. Bony Fishes and Ganoids.
Order i. ACTINOPTERYGII. Fan-finned Group.
ii. CROSSOPTERYGII. Fringe-finned Group.
Sub- class IV. EXASMOBRANCHII. Sharks and Rays.
With these preliminary remarks, we may proceed to a brief systematic
review of the various groups of the class. It must, however, be remembered
that the number of existing fishes is so vast that it is quite impossible to
notice even all the family types, while of the genera only a small percentage
are selected for mention. It must also be born in mind that the true relation-
ships of the sub-classes cannot be properly grasped unless the fossil forms
are also studied.
SUB-CLASS I. DIPNOI.
LUNG-FISHES.
LIKE the next, the present group is now represented by a very small
number of species, and as it was abundant in earlier epochs, it is evidently
one that is on the wane. Whereas in many respects the lung-fishes approxi-
mate to the amphibians, in others they show affinity to the earlier sharks ;
and it has been suggested that they ought to form a class intermediate
between Amphibia and Pisces. Regarding them, however, merely as a sub-
class of the latter, they agree with the Chimseroids in the essential feature
that there is no movable separate suspending arrangement for the lower jaw ;
and from this peculiarity the name of Autostylica has been suggested for the
two sub-classes in question. In the existing members of the group, which
form the order Sirenoidei, the body is thick and spindle-shaped, its covering
consisting of large overlapping horn-like scales, and the tail forming a diphy-
cercal fin. In form, the head approximates to that of amphibians, as it does in
its slimy integument. The paired fins are of the fringed type, their skeleton
consisting typically of a jointed cartilaginous rod, fringed on both sides with
divergent rays. In the skull the original cartilaginous cranium is roofed ove'r
with dermal membrane-bones, and the nostrils have posterior apertures
opening into the back of the mouth to form true posterior nostrils, the latter
4 6o
PISCES SUB-CLASS I. DIPNOI.
Fig. 1. AUSTRALIAN LUNG-FISH.
feature distinguishing these fishes from all other members of the class. v The
small and compressed gills open externally by a single aperture which is pro-
tected by an operculum, from beneath which may protrude stunted and
rudimental external gills. The
nerves supplying the eyes, where
they cross one another, have an
interlacing of their fibres, and the
short digestive tract exhibits the
shark-like feature of a spiral valve
in the membrane of the intestine.
Not only is the elongated and
sacculated air-bladder provided with
a duct, but it acts in all respects as
a lung, with which indeed it is in
every sense comparable. The
backbone is mainly notochordal,
true vertebrae being developed only
in the caudal region. The denti-
tion is of a very peculiar type, and consists of a few very large and
strongly-ridged plates, most of which are paired, ajid divided by a distinct
median line.
Lung-fishes are now represented only by three species, belonging to as
many distinct gsnera, but all included in the single family Lfpidosiretddce.
Of these, the least specialised is the Australian lung-fish (Oerafowtttl which in
the form of its paired fins retains more of the primitive type than does either
of the other two. The scales are very large, and the paired fins are broad
and lobate, consisting of a central scaled portion bordered by a fringe. Mar-
ginal teeth are wanting in the jaws ; but the palate contains a pair of large
dental plates behind, and a couple of smaller chisel-like teeth in front, the
lower jaw having a single pair of large plates. Long before it was known to
science, the Australian lung-fish was familiar to the settlers on the banks of
the two great rivers of Queensland, on account of the excellent quality of its
salmon-coloured flesh ; whence the name of Burnett salmon commonly
applied to it. The fish, which grows to a couple of yards in length, lives
among mud and leaves, and rises at
times to the surface to breathe. _
Its food consists of both vegetable
and animal substances ; and the
large eggs are deposited singly. In
the two remaining forms one of
which (Lepidosiren) inhabits the
rivers of Tropical South America,
and the other (Protopterus) those
of Africa the body is more eel-
like, the limbs are reduced to whip-
like filaments, and the anterior teeth
are situated in bhe margins of the
jaws. In many parts of the country
the African lung-fish during the
dry season envelops itself in a kind
of shell or cocoon of mud, and in this state it can be dug up and exported,
reviving when placed in warm water. Dr. Dean observes that " lung-fishes
Fig. 2. AFIUCAN LUNG-FISH.
CHIM^ROIDS. 461
have unquestionably many structures which may have been derived from the
more generalised conditions of the sharks ; and as a group they may not un-
reasonably be looked upon as descended from the primitive elasmobranchian
stem."
SUB-CLASS II. HOLOCEPHALI.
CHIIVLEROIDS.
THE group typically represented by the spook-fish or chimsera is, as already
mentioned, now a small and waning one, which agrees with the last in the
structure of the skull. In spite of their many marked resemblances to the
sharks, the writer last, quoted is of opinion that they cannot be closely associ-
ated with that group. This external resemblance to the Elasmobranchii,
coupled with the total absence of membrane-bones from the cartilaginous
skull, at once serves to differentiate the chimaeras from the lung-fishes ; from
which they also differ by the absence of true posterior nostrils, although there
are nasal passages. Further differences are to be found in the form and
'structure of the paired fins, and the absence of an air-bladder. The optic
nerves and intestine are similar to those of the lung-fishes and sharks ; and
the accessory reproductive organs of the males, known as claspers, are found
elsewhere only in the latter group. Unlike the lung-fishes, the skin is gener-
ally naked, and when (as in the young) hard structures are developed therein,
these agree with teeth, whereas such plates as are found in the lung-fishes
are bony. Although the paired fins are not very unlike those of modern
sharks, consisting of an abbreviated base and numerous rays arranged in a
fan -like manner, their dermal margins are very large, and terminate in a
sharp point. A large spine
protects the front of the first
dorsal fin, which is capable
of being folded so as to lie
in a groove in the back.
The gill-arches aro closely
packed, and open by one
aperture on each side, which
is slit-like, and protected
with a dermal fold contain-
ing an operculum of carti-
lage. The teeth are in the
form of large plates closely Fig. 3. COMMON CHIMERA.
affixed to the jaws, and are
thickly studded with roughened grinding facets termed tritors. In the car-
tilaginous skeleton the axis of the back-bone remains notochordal, its sheath
lacking distinct vertebrae, but being strengthened in the fore-part of the
column by rings of cartilage. A lateral line is present on the sides of the
body, and the tail gradually tapers away, to terminate in a diphycercal fin.
Like sharks, chimseroids deposit large eggs, which are completely separate
from one another.
Existing chimseroids are classed under three genera, all included in the
family Chimaridce. The first of these is Harriott^ which comprises two deep
462 PISCES SUB, CLASS IILTELEOSTOMI.
sea forms, one from the Atlantic and the other from Japanese waters. It
appears to be the most shark-like type, and is characterised by the long
slender beak, and the absence of an. appendage on the forehead of the males.
From the small size of the claspers in the same sex, it has been inferred that
the eggs are fertilised after extrusion. ; The second genus, Callorhynchus,
is represented by the bottle-nosed chimsera of the Southern Seas, and, to-
gether with the next, has an erectile spine on the forehead of the males. In
form it is very shark-like, with the tail inclined upwards and_vwithout a fin on
its upper surface ; the muzzle being of moderate length, with a cartilaginous
prominence terminating in a flap of skin. Chimcera, of which there are three
species, is less shark-like than the other two, with the extremely abbreviate
muzzle devoid of any appendage, arid the whip-like tail "forming a continua-
tion of the longitudinal axis of the body, and finned, for some distance both
above and below. These fishes appear to be rare and local, and are gener-
ally taken in fairly deep water. Little is known of their life-history, but
immature examples have been captured at great depths. Although some
writers have considered the chimseroids as degenerate types allied to the
Dipnoi, Dr. Bashford Dean is of opinion that they .are more nearly related to
the primitive sharks. If this should prove to be well founded, the autostylic
type of skull must have been independently acquired in the Dipnoi and
Holocephali, and cannot, consequently, be of much classificatory value.
SUB-CLASS IILTELEOSTOMI.
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS.
THE passage between the modern bony fishes and the ancient ganoids having
been discovered to be complete, there is no possibility of assigning these
two nominal groups to distinct sub-classes, or even orders, and, accordingly,
all the fishes which come under the designation either of Dipnoi, Holo-
cephali, or Elasmobranchii, are now classed as Teleostomi. Indeed, the
terms bony fishes and ganoids, as Dr. Bashford Dean well remarks, can only
be used, jn a popular and convenient sense the latter to denote the old-
fashioned, type, with its rectangular ganoid scales and cartilaginous internal
skeleton,- and the former to designate the modern type, with its rounded
horny scales and fully calcified skeleton. The group is a very vast one,
including by far the great majority of existing forms, and a host of extinct
ones ; and the range of variation is so great that a concise definition is by no
means easy. All the members of the sub-class are, however^ broadly distin-
guished both from Dipnoi and Holocephali by the existence in the skull of a
movable apparatus for the suspension of the lower jaw, this type of skull
structure being known as the hyostylic. In the internal skeleton, calcification
exists to a greater or lesser degree, and membrane-bones are always present on
the jaws. Moreover, the membrane-bones of the pectoral girdle, like the
scapula and the various clavicular bones, form a chain connected with the
posterior region of the skull. Very important is the close crowding of the
gill-arches, and their complete protection by a fully-developed operculum.
The external skeleton, when present, consists either of rounded horn-like
scales, or of quadrangular bony plates. All the living forms deposit a vast
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 463
number of minute eggs, crowded together into a mass. Whereas in the
higher types the optic nerves simply cross one another, and there is no spiral
valve to the intestine, in the ganoids the latter is present, and the fibres of
the optic nerves interlace where they meet, to form what is known as a
chiasma by the complete fusion of the two nerves. Very generally an air-
bladder is present, and the less specialised bony fishes and all the ganoids
are provided with a duct to the gullet. In the higher types the rays of the
fins are entirely of dermal origin, their cartilaginous supports being abbre-
viated and enclosed within the body. In addition to the features already
noticed, the ganoids have a larger number of gill-arches, a spiracle, an
arterial cone furnished with many valves to the heart, a cellular air-bladder,
and several shark-like features in other organs.
ORDER I. ACTINOPTERYGII.
SUB-ORDER I. ACANTHOPTERYGII.
The first great order of the sub-class includes what may be termed the
Fan-finned Teleostomes, in which the fins are entirely supported by dermal
rays, the primitive cartilaginous supports being greatly reduced and enclosed
in the body-wall. A single paired series of transversely elongated rays to
which an unpaired anterior element .may be added are developed in the
branchiostegal membrane between the two branches of the lower jaw. The
caudal fin is variable. The spiny-finned fishes, forming the sub-order Acan-
thopterygii, together with the six following sub-orders, 1 are collectively dis-
tinguished by the supporting bony elements of the dorsal and anal fins being
equal in number to the dermal rays, and by the tail being generally of the
homocercal or abbreviate-heterocercal type although occasionally diphy-
cercal. In the Acanthopterygii and four following sub-orders the skeleton is
fully ossified, the optic nerves simply cross, and there is no spiral valve to
the intestine. In common with the three following sub-orders, they have
generally no duct to the air-bladder, the two parietal bones of the skull
separated by the supra-occipital, and the pelvic fins usually jugular or
thoracic. The chief distinction of the Actinopterygii themselves is that usu-
ally some of the rays of the dorsal and anal fins are not articulated, and form
spines.
In this section the lower pharyngeal bones are generally distinct, and the
scales ctenoid ; while the preopercular bone is not connected by a bony stay
with the orbit, the spinous dorsal is large, and the pelvic fins
are thoracic, and usually furnished with five branched rays, Section 1. Perci-
although sometimes with only four. Certain other features formes. Family
connected with the skeleton are too complex to be noticed Centrarchidf.
here. The Centrarchidce form a comparatively small family,
containing ten genera, and typified by the single species of Centrarchus, from
the fresh waters of the United States ; one of their distinctive characters
being the presence of three or more spines in the anal fin. In habits these
fishes are carnivorous ; and many of them resemble the stickle-backs in
building nests.
lr The following are the sub-orders of the Actinopterygii -viz., (1) Acanthopterygii, (2) Lopho-
branchii, (3) Plectognathi, (4) Anacanthini, (5) Physostomi, (6) Jitheospoudyli. (7) Protospcndyli,
(8) Chondrostei.
464 PISCES SUB-CLASS III.TELEOSTOMI.
Of far more general interest are the twelve genera constituting the family
Percidce, in all of which there are never more than two spines in the anal
tin, while there are two pairs of external nostrils. Like their
Family nearest allies, the perches generally have a complete lateral
Percidce. line, no scales on the median fins or barbels to the mouth,
and the teeth conical. Six to eight pairs of branchiostegal
rays are present, as well as four pairs of gills, the last of which is followed by
a slit ; and the rayed portion of the dorsal fin does not much exceed the anal
in length. Although Lucioperca (Stizo-
stedion) and Percarina enter salt water,
the family is essentially a fresh-water
type, its members being spread over
North America, Western Asia, and
Europe. Among the generic types of
the family are the true perches (Perca),
with a distribution equivalent to that
of the family ; the aforesaid Lucio-
perca, or pike-perches, with a similar
Fig. 4. COMMON PERCH. range ; the three small species of the
Danubian genus Aspro ; Percarina, with
two species from the neighbourhood of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea ;
and the ruffes (Acerina), of which the three representatives are restricted to
Europe and Asia.
Nearly allied to the last is the family of Serranida, or sea-perches, dis-
tinguished by the development of an internal lamina from the second sub-
orbital bone supporting the globe of the eye, the number of
Family spines in the anal fin being variable. In this extensive
Serranidce. family the genus Centrogenys is noteworthy, on account of
the union of the lower pharyngeal bones. It would be
tedious to mention the distinctive characters of even the commoner and best
known genera, and only a few will be referred to at all. As an example of
the group of the sub-family Serraninw, with two dorsal fins, we may take the
South American Percichthys, which is one of the few fresh-water types. In
this and four other allied genera the tongue is smooth, but in the bass,
Morone, which have likewise two dorsals, that organ is covered with patches
of teeth. Whereas some bass are marine, others are fresh- water in habitat.
They all have nine dorsal and (like the other members of the sub-family)
three anal spines. Among the group with a single dorsal fin, especial interest
attaches to the widely-spread sea-perches of the genus Serramts, on account
of the vast number of species and the large bodily size to which some of them
attain. Although the tongue is edentulous, teeth are developed on the
palate, and large tusks occur at intervals among the small teeth in the
margins of the jaws. Centropristes is an allied genus. In another group of
the same sub-family Mr. Boulenger includes the genera Plesiops and
Trachinops, which were formerly referred to the Nandidce. In these the
lateral line is double, consisting of an upper portion, which disappears pos-
teriorly, and a lower running along the middle of the side of the tail.
Whereas the first genus is from the coral-reefs of the Indo-Pacific, the second
is Australian, both being marine. To another sub-family Centropominai
distinguished by the extension of the lateral line on to the caudal fin,
belong the two species of Lutes, one of which is Nilotic, while the other
is Oriental and Australian. The Oriental species grows to a length of
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 465
five feet, and is probably as dangerous to bathers as are the larger kinds
of Serranus.
Among the most gorgeously coloured of all the class, are the tropical
chsetodonts or scaly-finned fishes, readily distinguished from the foregoing
families by the extension of the scaling on to the median
fins. All are deep-bodied fishes, with cycloid or ctenoid Family
scales, on which a continuous lateral line runs nearly to the Chcetodontidce. 1
caudal fin. Their mouth, which may be tubular, is armed
with bands of minute teeth. Of the fins, the pelvic are thoracic, with a
single spine and five rays ; three or five spines are found in the anal ; and
the spinous portion of the dorsal is shorter than the rayed part. Stripes or
spots are distinguishing features in the coloration of these fishes, which are
mostly inhabitants of coral-reefs, where they feed on such animals as they
can capture, although some ascend large tidal rivers. In the typical Chcetodon
the palate is devoid of teeth, the
dorsal fin is not deeply notched, and
has spines of nearly uniform length,
while the muzzle is short or moder-
ately produced. Some kinds have
the body ornamented by fine lines,
while others have on each side a large
eye-like spot. Chelmon merits notice,
on account of the elongation of the
muzzle into a tube, from which the
fish ejects a drop of water with such
force and accuracy of aim as to dis-
able any insect that may be resting
on the foliage near the shore, and
thus secure it for food. Both the species of shooting fish are Oriental, and
are found both in rivers and near the coast. Other well-known genera are
Heniochus and Holacanthus, the latter best known by the gorgeously coloured
emperor-fish of the African and Oriental seas. In this fish the body is
coloured a brilliant blue, ornamented with about thirty narrow gold stripes.
Even more resplendent is the Oriental zebra-fish, in which the ground-colour
of the body is yellow, marked with numerous vertical bands of blue margined
with brown.
That epicurean delicacy, the red mullet (Mullus barbatus), typifies a small
family distinguished from other Perciformes by the possession of a pair of
barbels on the lower jaw. In this family the number of
pairs of branchiostegal rays is only four ; and the somewhat Family
low body has large, thin, finely serrated scales, with a con- Mullidce.
tinuous lateral line. The dentition is weak. As regards the
fins, there are two dorsals, in the first of which the spines are thin, while
the second is placed above, and is similar to the anal, the pectorals being short,
and the pelvics being furnished with five rays and a single spine. Mullets
are comparatively small fish, of which the adults are marine. What appears
to be the male of the common red mullet is uniformly carmine-red above,
although the presumed female is marked by a few longitudinal yellow stripes.
Tropical forms have been assigned to distinct genera. To preserve the
brilliant red coloration, the fish should be scaled immediately after death.
1 Although the chaetodonts are included by Dr. Giinther in the Perciformes, it is not improbable
that they may be separated by Mr. Boulenger, when his Catalogue of Fishes is completed. For
the present they may remain here.
31
466 PISCES SUB-CLASS III. TELEOSTOML
The numerous representatives of the sea- breams are perhaps Lest char-
acterised by the dentition, which takes the form either of cutting teeth in
the fore-part of the jaws, or of grinding teeth on the sides
Family Sparidce. of the same, the palate being in most cases edentulous. The
dorsal fin is single, with its spinous and rayed portions of
nearly equal longitudinal extent, and there are always three spines to the
anal. The pelvics, which are thoracic in position, include five rays and a
single spine, and although simple in one genus, in the other the rays of the
pectorals are branched. The scales may be either very slightly serrated or
simple, and the mouth is situated at the tip of the snout, with its cleft
lateral. In form, these fishes may be described as normal, while in colora-
tion they are dull. Although none grow to large dimensions, nearly all are
eaten. The coasts of the temperate and tropical zones are their favourite
resorts, but some kinds are found in brackish waters, while a few enter
rivers. They may be divided into several sub-families, of which the
Cantharmce are typified by the British species of Cantharus, locally known by
the name of old wife, but more generally as the black sea-bream. In this
sub -family, to which also pertain the Mediterranean Scatharus, and the
Oriental Tropterodon and Crenidens, there are no teeth on the vomers, but
the front of the jaws carries trenchant incisors, which in some cases are
lobed. On the other hand, in the Haplodactylince, there are teeth on the
vomers, and flat, generally tricuspidate teeth in the jaws, the single genus
Haplodactylus being the one with simple lower pectoral rays. Sargus, of
which there are about a score of
species from the Atlantic, Mediter-
ranean, and Oriental seas, repre-
sents by itself a third sub-family
(Sargince), characterised by the
presence of a single series of
incisors in the front of the jaws,
and of several rows of grinding
teeth, adapted for crushing, on the
sides. Whereas Haplodaclylus sub-
sists on a vegetable diet, the sargi
Fig. 6. COMMON SA.BQUS. lives by grinding up molluscs and
crustaceans. Another sub-family
(Pagrince) of shell -crushers is well known in the form of the gilt-heads
(Chrysophrys), which take their name from the gold spots on the forehead.
In this sub-family there are also grinding teeth in the sides of the jaws, but
the front teeth are conical. Other genera of this group are Lethrinus,
Sphcerodon, Pagellus, and Pagrus.
Still continuing the almost endless series of the Perciformes, we now come
to a small and unimportant family including only the genus Hoplognathus,
species of which have been discovered on the coasts of Japan,
Family Australia, and Peru. The most essential feature of the
HoplognathidcK. group is the sharp cutting edges of the jaws, to which
such teeth as are present are closely adherent, and
thereby render the margin slightly serrated. The first dorsal fin, al-
though low, has strong spines, and is separated only by a very short
interval from the taller soft dorsal, the latter being very similar to the
anal, above which it is situated. The three spines of the anal are very low.
More important are the genera constituting the family Cirrhitidce, these
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 467
being best recognised by the thickened an.d undivided lower rays of the
pectoral fins, which in soine cases appear to be modified into
organs of touch, and in others assist in locomotion. These Family
fishes have deep, compressed bodies, cycloidal scales, and Cirrhitidcu.
very generally six branchoistegal rays. The dorsal is single,
and divided into a spinous and rayed half ; and the pel vies, which are
separated by an interval from the pectorals, are thoracic, and provided with a
single spine and five rays, the anal being three-spined. The typical group
includes several genera of small and frequently spotted fishes from the Indo-
Pacific and Australasian seas, such as Cirrhitichthys, Cirrhites, and Chor-
inemus, in all of which there are teeth on the vomerine bones of the palate.
In the second group, on the other hand, there are no teeth on the vomers; and
among the genera are Latris, represented by two New Zealand and Tasmanian
species, one of which (the trumpeter-fish) is of large size, and affords excellent
food, and the more widely-spread Chilodactylus. The latter, which may be
easily recognised by the great elongation of one of the rays of the pectoral fins,
is likewise valuable as a food-supply, both in South Africa and at the Antipodes.
Although the Scorpcenidce are included in Dr. Giinther's classification
among the Perciformes, they differ from the foregoing families by the
presence of a bony stay connecting the preoperculum with
the ring of bones beneath the orbit. If the absence of such Section Scorpseni-
stay be taken as it is here as a distinctive feature of the formes. Family
Perciformes, the present family must typify a section by Scorpcenidce.
itself. There are many genera included in the family, which
ranges over nearly all oceans and seas. All the species are carnivorous, but
whereas some approximate in external form and their mode of life to the
Serranidce, others are deep-sea types, with the skin expanded into appendages
resembling sea- weeds. In some genera, such as Scorpcena and Sebastes, well-
developed scales are present ; this being also the case with the species of
Pterois from the warmer parts of the Indo-Pacific, all of which are charac-
terised by the height of the pectoral and dorsal fins. On the other hand,
there are other types, such as Choridactylus and Pelor of the* Indian seas, and
the so-called Micropus of the Pacific, in which the scales are rudimental or
wanting ; Choridactylus being one of those with leaf-like expansions to the
skin, while Micropus is notable on account of containing the smallest of all
the Acanthopterygians, certain kinds being considerably less than a couple of
inches in length.
Passing over without mention a few small and unimportant families, we
come to the group known technically as Benjchidce, and popularly as slime-
heads, which constitute not only a family, but likewise a
sectional group by themselves. The essential feature of Section Berychi-
these fishes is the presence in the head of slime-bearing, or formes. Family
muciferous cavities, which are protected by a skin of great Berychidce.
thickness. The body is compressed, and oblong or deep in
shape ; and the pelvic fins are thoracic, and almost always supported by five
rays and a single spine. Generally the body is covered with ctenoid scales,
although rarely there may be a naked skin; but there are never scales on the
head. Nearly all these fish have large goggle eyes ; and the obliquely cleft
mouth is armed with minute teeth, while the palate is nearly always toothed,
and the opercular bones are likewise armed. Except rarely, the number of
rays in the branch iostegal membrane is eight. All the Berychidce, are marine,
and nearly all live at considerable depths, although there are a couple of
468 PISCES SUB-CLASS IILTELEOSTOML
genera namely Myripristis and Holocentrum most or all of whose members
are found near the surface. Like other deep-sea forms, these fish have a wide
distribution in species. Among the numerous genera, the single small
Japanese species of Monocentris is remarkable on account of the large size of
the vertically elongated scales, which form a kind of protective cuirass to the
body ; the opercular bones being unarmed. Anoplogaster of the Atlantic may be
cited as a genus with a naked skin; whereas in the allied Trachichthys there are
minute scales, from which the lateral line stands out in great prominence, both
having the eye very large. In this genus, too, as well as in the typical Beryx,
the dorsal fin is single, but in Holocentrum and certain other genera it is double.
The small family of the Curtidce likewise represents a section by itself, dis-
tinguished by the possession of only a single dorsal fin, which is much inferior
in length to the many-rayed and elongated anal, and like-
Section Curti- wise by the absence of the structure known as the supra-
formes. Family branchial organ. This family includes the Indian Curtis and
Curtidce. the Oriental and Tropical Pacific Pemperis. In both these
fishes the body is oblong, narrowing rapidly towards the tail;
and, if present at all, the spines of the dorsal fin are very few. The body is
covered with small or medium-sized scales ; and minute teeth are developed
both in the jaws and on the bones of the palate.
This section, also, includes only a single family, of which the three generic
representatives Polynemus Pentanemus and Gale.oides are easily recognised
by the presence of a number of long filaments arising from
Section below the pectoral fins. There are two somewhat short
Polynemiformes. dorsal fins, separated from one another by a considerable
Family interval ; and mucus-producing canals are well developed in
Polynemidce. the head. These fishes are well represented on tropical
coasts, and also enter estuaries and even fresh waters. They
generally prefer muddy water, where their exceedingly elongated pectoral
filaments doubtless act as efficient feelers.
The Mediterranean umbrine (Umbrina), the meagre (ScicziKi), and the
drum (Pogonias) of North America are three fairly well-known fishes, repre-
senting as many genera of the Scicenidce. As a section, the
Section Sciseni- group is distinguished by the great length of the soft dorsal
formes. Family fin, which exceeds to a greater or less extent both the spin-
ScicKnidce. ous dorsal and the anal in this respect. Whereas these
fishes resemble those of the last family in the development
of mucus canals in the head, they differ by the absence of elongated pectoral
filaments. In the skull there is no bony connection between the preoper-
cular bone and the orbit ; and
the pelvic fins are situated thor-
acically, and furnished with one
spine and five soft rays. Inform,
the body is somewhat elongate
and compressed, and the scales
are of the ctenoid type, with the
lateral line continuous, and often
extending on to the tail-fin. The
mouth is terminal, and armed
Fig. 7. THE MEAGRE. with bands of small teeth, among
which enlarged tusks may be in-
terspersed, but there are no teeth on the palate. The medium-sized eyes
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 469
are lateral in position. The members of the family are in the main fre-
quenters of the coasts of the Indian Ocean and the warmer parts of the
Atlantic, many of them resorting to the mouths of the larger rivers, and some
having taken to a completely fresh-water existence. The largest form is the
common meagre, which sometimes reaches a couple of yards in length.
Nearly all the species are fit for food; and the air-bladders of many are em-
ployed as a source of isinglass. The drum derives its name from the loud
sound the fish is capable of producing ; this sound being apparently due
to the striking together of the upper and lower pharyngeal bones, which
are heavily armed with flattened teeth.
Although there appears occasionally to be some confusion between sword-
fishes and the very different saw-fishes, there ought to be no difficulty in
distinguishing the former at a glance from any other fish
that swims. This distinctive feature is the production of the Section
upper jaw into the well-known " sword," which is wedge- XipMiformes.
shaped in form, and may exceed half the length of the rest Family
of the head and body. Spear would, perhaps, have been a Xiphiidee.
more suitable title for this formidable weapon, with which
its owner can transfix an unfortunate cod or tunny, or drive it home in the
side of a whale as easily as we can thrust a table-fork into a cheese. Not
only so, but sword-fishes have
often been known to drive -_
their weapon deep into the
planking of a ship's bottom,
probably from having mis-
taken the vessel for a whale.
Bathers, too, are by no
means safe from the on-
slaughts of these ruthless Fig. 8. -COMMON SWORD-FISH.
monsters, which occasionally
grow to over a dozen feet in length. The kinds of sword-fishes are numer-
ous ; and they are divided into the two generic groups of Histiophorus and
XiphiaSj according to whether long and narrow pelvic fins are present or
absent. The dorsal fin, which may be either single or divided, has no dis-
tinct spinous portion ; it is always of considerable height, and in some cases
is so elevated as to project high above the water when the fish is swimming
near the surface, and there are stories current that it is occasionally used as
a sail. The skin of a sword-fish is either completely naked, or furnished with
minute rudimental scales. These fishes are chiefly surface-swimmers, and
are fond of lying in the sun to bask. According to Scoresby, the sword of
one of these fishes, found embedded in the hull of a ship at Liverpool, had
penetrated a sheet of copper, an oak plank two and a half inches in thickness,
a solid oak timber of seven and a half inches, and another plank of a couple
of inches. " The position of the bone was at the distance of four feet hori-
zontally from the stern, and two feet below the surface of the water when
the vessel was afloat. Hence it appeared that when the ship had been in
rapid progress through the water, she had been met and struck by a sword-
fish advancing in the opposite direction, by the shock of which, or by the
action of the water forced past the body of the animal by the vessel's progress,
the snout had been broken off and detached. The blow, though it must have
been singularly forcible, was not observed by any person in the ship." As a
further example of the power of the impact of these fish, it may be mentioned
470 PISCES SUB- CLASS III. TELEOSTOMI.
that, according to Mr. Wood, a sword-fish, in striking a whaling vessel, drove
its weapon " through the copper sheathing, an inch-board sheathing, a three-
inch plank of hard wood, the solid white oak timber of the ship twelve
inches thick, through another two-and-a-half-inch hard oak ceiling plank, and
lastly, perforated the head of an oil-cask, where it remained immovably
fixed, so that not a drop of oil escaped."
The so-called scabbard-fish (Lepidopus) and the hair-tails (Trichiurus),
together with the barracudas (Thyrsitis), may be cited as well-known
examples of a family and section presenting the following
Section Trichi- leading characteristics. All have very long and compressed
uriformes. bodies, which sometimes assume a band-like form ; and the
Family skin is either naked or with rudimental scales. Both the
Trichiuridce dorsal and anal fins are elongated, with their spinous and
soft portions of nearly equal extent ; and when the pel vies
and caudal are present, the former are thoracic in position, and the latter is
distinctly forked. In some forms a portion of the median fins is split up into
finlets. The mouth is wide, and there are some large and powerful teeth
either in the jaws or on the palate. In all the forms there is an air-bladder.
These fishes are carnivorous and predatory in their habits. They have a wide
range in space ; but whereas some are surface-dwellers, others are found at
considerable depths. None afford a very high-class food, although the flesh
of several is eaten. In the scabbard-fish, which grows to a couple of yards
in length, the body is riband-like, the pelvic fins are wanting, as are scales ;
but there is a small caudal fin. The flesh is largely consumed in New
Zealand, where the species is known as the frost-fish. On the other hand,
the hair-tails take their name from the circumstance that the tail terminates
in a tapering whip-like extremity, without trace of a caudal fin, the pelvics
being wanting, or reduced to a pair of scales, and the anal rudimental, with
its spinous portion represented by a number of very short isolated spines.
From three to four feet is a common length for these fishes. Barracudas
also locally known as " snoek " are still larger, and are extensively caught
for food in New Zealand and at the Cape. They are characterised by the
presence of minute scales in the skin, and of from two to six finlets behind
the dorsal and anal, while the palatine bones are toothed. Although essenti-
ally coast-fishes, they are occasionally found far out at sea.
For some time we have been dealing with sectional groups represented
only by a single family each ; but we now come to one including several
families. In the present group the dorsal fin is either single,
Section Cotto- or, if divided, has its two portions closely approximated.
Scombriformes. When normal, the spinous portion is short ; but it may be
Family modified either into separate spines, tentacles, or a sucker.
Acanthuridce. The anal resembles the soft dorsal, the hinder part of both
these fins being sometimes split up into finlets. When
present, the pelvics may be either jugular or thoracic in position, and the
region of the vent is never furnished with papillae. Most of the members of
the section are marine fishes. The popular name of surgeons is given to the
representatives of the family Acanthuridce x on account of the circumstance
that in the typical genus Acanthurus each side of the tail of the adult is
furnished with a spine somewhat resembling a surgeon's lancet, and capable
of inflicting a severe wound. In other kinds the spines may be two or three
1 The family is commonly known as Acronuridce, but Acronurus is now ascertained to be a
synonym of the type genus.
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 471
in number, or replaced by keeled plates, and in all the dorsal fin is single,
with but few spines. In form, the compressed body is deep or oblong, the
scales with which it is invested being minute, while the eyes are lateral and
of moderate size. The mouth is small, and armed with compressed incisor-
like teeth, which may be either serrated or pointed, bub teeth are never
developed on the palate. The pelvic fins are situated thoracically. Inter-
nally, a peculiarity is to be found in the forked hinder extremity of the air-
bladder. These fishes, which also include the genera Naseus and Prionurus,
are inhabitants of tropical seas, and specially frequent coral-reefs. - Here
they feed partly on the growing coral and partly on vegetable substances.
The second family of the section under consideration includes among
other forms the horse-mackerels (Caranx), the pilot-fish (Naucrates^ and
the so-called sea-bats (Platax). In all of these the body is
more or less compressed in form, while the teeth, when Family
developed, are conical, and there is no bony connection Carwigidce.
between the preopercular bone and the orbit. The skin
may be either naked or covered with small scales, and the eyes are placed on
the sides of the head. The spinous dorsal fin is shorter than the anal or soft
dorsal, from the latter of which it is sometimes separated, while in other
cases the two are continuous. In some cases the spinous portion is rudi-
mental, and the hinder part of both the soft dorsal and anal may form finlets,
while the pelvics, if developed at all, are thoracic. It is important to notice
that the back-bone comprises ten vertebrae in the region of the trunk, and
fourteen in that of the tail, although in one case the number of the latter is
sixteen. Frequently shield-like plates distinguish the lateral line. An air-
bladder is invariably developed. The horse-mackerels as typified by the
common scad are too well known to require description, while the pelagic
pilot-fish may always be recognised by the dark vertical stripes with which
the body is ornamented. This fish derives its name from its habit of accom-
panying sharks or ships. In the preceding genera there are two anal spines
remote from the soft portion of the fin ; but in the sea-bats the anal spines
are continuous with the soft part, when present. These fish have the body
very deep, and rhomboidal in form, and the great development of the median
fins, which are often nearly similar above and below. In common with the
great majority of the family, the three genera mentioned have the soft dorsal
and anal fins of nearly equal extent, but in Curtus and Pempheris there is only
a single dorsal, which is much shorter than the anal.
The ugly but excellently flavoured John-dory (Zeus faber] is the best known
representative of a small family distinguished from the other members of the
section by the deep and highly compressed body, the double
dorsal fin, and the presence in the backbone of more than Family
ten trunk and more than fourteen caudal vertebrae. In tho Cyttidce.
fishes of the genus named one series of bony plates runs
along the base of the dorsal and anal fins, and another on the abdomen, but
in the species of Cyttus which inhabit the seas of New Zealand, South
Australia, and Madeira these plates are wanting, and the body is scaled.
The small family of the Stromateidce resembles the last in the absence of a
bony stay between the preopercular and the eye, and likewise in the large
number of thoracic and caudal vertebrae. They have the
body compressed, more or less oblong, and covered with Family
minute scales, the eyes lateral, the dentition very slightly Stromateidce.
developed, and a number of horny barbed processes in the
472 PISCES SUB-CLASS IILTELEOSTOMI.
gullet, while the long and single dorsal fin has no distinct spinous portion.
The two genera are Stromateus arid Centrolophus ; one species of the latter
occasionally reaching the southern shores of Britain, where it is known as the
black-fish. Of more importance is the family CforyfhcenidcK,
Family which differs from the last by the absence of spines in the
Coryphcenidce. gullet ; the teeth, when present, being small and conical.
The typical members of the family are the pelagic cory-
phaenas (Coryphcena), commonly but incorrectly known as dolphins. These
are large brightly-coloured fishes, with the body rather elongated and some-
what compressed, the dorsal fin occupying nearly the whole length of the
back, the caudal very deeply forked, and the moderately long anal without
any distinct spinous portion. In the adults the head is ornamented with a
kind of crest. In the coryphsenas beauty is even less than skin-deep, the
exquisitely lovely colours being fugitive and transitory immediately the fishes
are removed from their native elements. The coryphsenas are highly preda-
ceous fishes, and in the Mediterranean and other warm seas may often be
seen in large companies pursuing the shoals of flying-fish. The only other
genus that can be mentioned here is Lampris, represented by a single very
beautiful fish from the Mediterranean and North Atlantic. Unfortunately,
this fish is commonly known as the sun-fish, a title also applied to the mem-
bers of the genus Orthagoriscus, mentioned in the sequel. Another instance
of such synonomy occurs in the use of the name barracuda, which is applied
indifferently to the species of the genera Thyrsites and Sphyrcena. In the
sun-fish, the whole body is very much compressed, short, and deep, the
scales being minute and deciduous, the mouth narrow and toothless, the
fore-part of the dorsal fin elevated to a point, and the pelvic fins including a
number of rays. In colour, the body has a bluish ground, upon which are a
number of silvery spots, while the fins are scarlet. In size, this splendid fish
grows to about four feet.
From the allied families the small group of the Nomceidce is distinguished
by the differentiation of a distinct spinous portion, separated by a short
interval from the soft portion of the dorsal ; the caudal fin
Family being forked, while finlets are sometimes developed, and the
NomcKid. scales are cycloid and of moderate size. Four genera are
included in the family, of which the typical Nomceus has
representatives in the Indian and tropical portions of the Atlantic Ocean,
while Gastrochisma has one species from the New Zealand seas.
Nearly allied to the last is the valuable family of the mackerels, in which
there are likewise two dorsal fins and generally finlets ; the body being either
scaled or naked. The best distinctive features of the family
Family are to be found in the conformation of the tins ; some forms
Scomberidce. having the spinous dorsal modified either into separate spines
or into a large sucker ; while when the former is normal the
soft dorsal and anal are split up into finlets. In form, the body is either
spindle-shaped or oblong ; and, internally, the air-bladder may be present or
absent. The mackerels are among the most highly organised of all fish, the
loss of the air-bladder in some forms being probably due to the exact corre-
spondence between the specific gravity of their bodies and that of the water,
which renders any adjustment unnecessary. They are mostly pelagic forms,
and their coloration is exactly in harmony with their environment, the
mottled greens and blacks of the back rendering them invisible from above
as they swim in the rippled waters, while their glistening silvery under-
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS.
473
surface is equally inconspicuous when viewed from beneath against the clear
sky above. Their blood has a temperature several degrees above that of the
surrounding water, and their flesh receives a larger supply of this fluid than
is ordinarily the case, and thus as-
sumes a more or less distinctly red
colour. So thoroughly are these fishes
pelagic in their mode of life, that they
even spawn in the open sea. In diet
they are carnivorous ; and at the time
of year when the various members of
the herring-tribe seek the shore for the Fig. 9. COMMON MACKEREL.
purpose of depositing their ova, they
are pursued by the different kinds of mackerel, which prey either upon the
fry or upon the adult. The typical mackerels, or those constituting the
genus Scomber, have a continuous first dorsal fin, furnished with weak spines,
five or six finlets behind both the dorsal and anal fins, and the scales small
and evenly distributed all over the body, the teeth being small, and each
side of the caudal fin bearing two short ridges. There are several kinds of
mackerel some with and some without an air-bladder and the distribution
of the genus includes nearly all seas, although none are found on the
Atlantic coast of the temperate portions of South America. Of larger size
are the various fishes known under the names of tunny, albicore, and
bonito, which collectively constitute the genus Thynnus, and differ from
Scomber by the number of finlets reaching to from six to nine, the presence
of one ridge on each side of the caudal fin, and the concentration of the
scales on the fore-part of the body, where they form a kind of corselet. By
far the most remarkable and interest-
ing members of the family are, how-
ever, the sucking-fishes (Echeneis),
characterised by the presence of a
large, plate-like, adhesive disc, occupy-
ing the whole upper surface of the
head. This sucker is formed by a
structural modification of the first
dorsal fin, and in the allied Elacate of
the tropical Atlantic, which has no sucker, the fin in question is still repre-
sented by a few short isolated spines. Sucking-fishes have minute teeth,
both on the jaws and on the palate, and in some cases also on the tongue ;
but they all lack an air-bladder. As they generally pass much of their time
attached to the under-surface of the body of a shark or a turtle, or the hull
of a ship, the back is less exposed to the light than the under-surface, and
consequently becomes less darkly coloured than the latter. The smaller
sucking-fishes grow to a length of about eight inches, whereas the larger
kinds may measure as much as three feet.
The eighth family of the Cotto-Scombriformes includes the star-gazers
(Uranoscopus, Leptoscopus, etc.), the weavers (Trachinus), the Atlantic tile-
fish (Lopholatilus), and a host of other types too numerous
Family to mention. All these fishes have a more or less elongated
Trachinidos. and narrow body, which has sometimes a naked skin, but in
other cases is clothed with scales. There are one or two
dorsal fins, of which the spinous portion is much less developed than the soft
part, which is like the anal. Finlets are always wanting ; and the pelvic fins
Fig. 10. SUCKIKG-FISH.
474 PISCES SUB- CLASS IILTELEOSTOML
comprise five soft rays and a single spine. The mouth is armed with small
conical teeth. In regard to the number of vertebrae and the preopercular
bone, the family agrees generally with those that immediately precede, but
Pseudochromis is stated to possess a stay connecting the bone mentioned
with the orbit. Most of the members of the family are small fishes living
near the bottom of shallow seas; and all are carnivorous. The group is
divided into several sub-families, the first of which is typified by the afore-
said star-gazers, which are ugly-looking fishes, easily recognised by the small
mobile eyes being situated on the front of the head arid looking upwards,
the cleft of the mouth having likewise an upward direction ; the lateral line
being uninterrupted, and the caudal fin more or less rounded. On the other
hand, in the weavers (Trachinus) of which the common English species is
known to fishermen by the name of sting-bull the eyes retain to a greater
or less extent the normal lateral position ; the dorsal fin being either single
or divided. The members of this genus are found in European waters, and
on the Pacific coast of South America, although not on the Atlantic side.
Wounds inflicted by the spines of the dorsal fin are dangerous on account of
being injected with the secretion from a neighbouring poison-gland. Mention
must be made of the large and handsomely-coloured tile-fish (Lopholatilus) of
the American North Atlantic, not only on account of its being an exception
among the family from its size and deep-water habitat, but likewise from the
fact of having been met with in great profusion a few years ago, and then
suddenly disappearing. It is remarkable for possessing a small, pointed
fatty fin in front of the long single dorsal.
Since the first of the two families now to be considered contains only the
tropical genus Malacanthus, it may be dismissed with the bare mention that
it is characterised by the possession of not more than ten
Families thoracic and fourteen caudal vertebrae, and the great length
Malacanthida of the single dorsal and anal fins. Almost equally brief must
and Batrachidce. be our reference to the frog- fishes (Balrachidw], which in-
clude two genera in addition to the typical Balrachns, and
are for the most part small fishes of carnivorous habits frequenting tropical
coasts. They have the head broad and thick, with the eyes more or less in-
clined upwards; the long body compressed posteriorly; and either a coating
of small scales or a bare skin. They have small or medium-sized conical
teeth ; and there is no connection between the orbit and the preopercular.
There are only two or three spines in the first dorsal, but the soft dorsal and
anal are elongated arid similar; while the pelvic fins are jugular in position
and furnished with a pair of soft rays, and the pectorals are not produced.
Many of the species are poisonous, having a gland situated at. the base of the
pectoral fin, from which a noxious fluid is poured forth ; the genus Tliallas-
sophryne, of the Pacific coast of Central America, being stated to rival many
of the poisonous snakes in its venom.
The familiar but hideous angler-fish (Lophius piscatorius) of the British
coasts typifies a somewhat extensive family belonging to the section Cotto-
Scombriformes, and possessing the following distinctive
Family features. In these fishes the head and fore-part of the body
Lophiidce. are enlarged and covered with a naked skin, and the spinous
dorsal fin is placed very far forwards, and consists of either a
fewmore or less isolated spines, or is modified into tentacles, while in some cases
it is altogether wanting. The pelvic fins which may be wanting comprise
four or five rays, and are jugular in position, and the pectoral fins are sup-
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS.
475
Fig. 11. ANGLER FISH (Lophius
piscator.ius).
ported by a prolongation of some of the bones of the internal skeleton. The
teeth are rasp-like or villous, and there is no connection between the preo-
percular and the orbit. The apertures of the gills are very minute, and
situated near the root of the pelvic fins, the gills varying from two-and-a-
half to three-and-a-half in number,
and false gills being usually absent.
The family has an almost cosmopolitan
distribution, and all its members are
but poor swimmers, those which are
of pelagic habits drifting about attached
to floating bodies, while the littoral
forms cling to submarine bodies by
means of their pectoral fins, which
serve the function of arms. The great
size of the wide, flat, and rounded head,
which carries the small eyes near the
middle of the upper surface, the capa-
cious mouth, and the modification of
the first three dorsal spines into tentacles, serve to distinguish the species of
the typical genus Lophius, which are not numerous. Rarely the common
British species, which is often known as the fishing-frog, grows to five feet,
although its ordinary length does not exceed three. The first tentacle bears
a filamentous appendage, which by its movement serves to attract prey
within reach of the capacious jaws. Another interesting member of the
family is the pelagic tentacle-fish Antennarias often found in the gulf-
weed, and remarkable for building a silken nest attached to the weed for the
reception of the eggs, which are suspended within jtheir receptacle in a
cluster, like a bunch of grapes. Even more curious are the two Atlantic
species of Melanocetus, which are small fishes, looking as if they consisted
mainly of jaws and stomach.
The Cottidce, of which the best known representatives are the mostly fresh-
water bull-heads (Coitus) of the Northern Hemisphere and the marine-
gurnards ( Trigla), are well characterised by the presence of
a bony stay connecting the preopercular with the suborbital Family Cottidce.
ring of bones ; a feature found among the preceding families
of the section only in Pseudochromis and some allied genera. These
fishes have the body lengthened, and more or less nearly cylindrical ; the
mouth being transverse, and bearing feeble teeth generally arranged in bands.
Whereas in some forms the skin is
naked, in others it is scaled, and the
armature may consist of a single row
of plate-like scales. Generally the
dorsal fin is divided, when the soft
portion which fs elongated like the
anal exceeds the spinous in extent.
The number of rays in the theoracically-
placed pelvics never exceeds five ; and
in some cases the pectorals have fila-
Fig. 12. COMMON GURNARD (Trigla).
mentous prolongations. The bull-heads, which comprise a very large number
of species, a few of which are marine, are noted for their habit of lying
sluggishly in the beds of rivers, with their heads concealed beneath the
pebbles. The elongated and finger-like three anterior pectoral rays serve to
476 PISCES SUB-CLASS IILTELEOSTOMI.
distinguish the gurnards ; which are further characterised by their great
ugly, bony heads, and the brilliant hues of scarlet or blue with which
many of them are adorned. They inhabit all temperate and tropical seas,
and are predacious fish, living chiefly on crustaceans. Their habitat is the
sea-bottom, on which they crawl by means of the elongated pectoral rays ;
those appendages apparently also acting the part of feelers. When seen
crawling on the bed of a glass tank in an aquarium a gurnard presents a
peculiarly ghost- like appearance, reminding the beholder of some monster in
a pantomime.
Nearly allied to the last is the family typified by the flying-gurnards
(Dactylopterus), which rival the true flying-fish in their power of skimming
over the surface of the waves by means of their greatly ex-
Family panded pectoral fins. All are easily recognised by the in-
Dactylopteridce. vestiture of the body in a complete cuirass of keeled bony
plates or scales. In Britain the group is represented by the
so-called armed bull-head, which belongs to the genus Agonus ; and the
family also includes the beaked-gurnards, distinguished by the prolongation
of some of the bones of the skull in the form of a flattened process on each
side of the snout. The flying-gurnards themselves inhabit the Mediterranean
and tropical seas. Here, too, may be placed the curious little dragon-fishes
(Pegasus), which inhabit the seas of Australia, China, and India, and have a
long beak and the body protected by very large plates ; the coloration taking
the form of small dark spots.
Very different in appearance to the last are the clumsy-looking fishes
known as lump-suckers (Cydopterus), which are the typical members of a
family belonging to another sectional group. In this section
Section Gobii- the dorsal fin may be single or double, but its spinous
formes. Family division or portion is always short, and may consist of
CydopteridcK. flexible spines ; the soft dorsal being equal in extent to the
anal. There is no bony connection between the preopercular
and the suborbital ring ; but there is a prominent papilla in the region of
the vent. When pelvic fins are retained, they usually comprise a spine and
five rays, although exceptionally the number of the latter may be reduced to
four. In addition to their clumsy build, the lump-suckers are distinguished
as a family by the presence of a sucker on the lower surface of the body sup-
ported by the rudiments of the pelvic fins. By means of their sucker these
fishes affix themselves firmly to rocks or stones, and are thus safe from the
buffeting of the waves. There are two generic modifications of the family,
namely Cydopterus and Liparis, in the former of which the skin is tuber-
culated and viscous, whereas in the latter it is entirely bare. All the
members of the family are confined to the colder northern seas, some of
them even entering the Arctic Ocean.
From the lump-suckers, the gobies (Gobius) and their allies the mud-
skippers (Periopthalmus) are sufficiently distinguished by the presence of
well-developed rays to the pelvic fins, which may, however,
Family be united together in the middle line of the body. The group
GobiidcB. is a very extensive one, both in respect to genera, species,
and individuals ; and it is represented on the temperate and
tropical coasts of all parts of the globe. It is, of course, impossible to char-
acterise the various genera ; and, as regards the gobies, it must suffic3 to say
that they are small fishes with a geographical range as extensive as is that
of the family, and that, in many cases, the males build a cleverly constructed
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 477
nest for the reception of the eggs. Of greater interest are the mud-skippers,
or hopping-fish, on account of their strange habits, and the long time they
can remain out of water. They are found on the coasts and estuaries of West
Africa, and the countries bordering the Indo-Pacific Ocean. Owing to their
remarkably prominent eyes, they look very much like tadpoles ; the common
species having its dorsal fins spotted with brilliant blue. The pectoral fins
are very strongly developed, and are used, when the fish is out of water, for
walking or climbing on the roots of mangrove trees. Dr. H. O. Forbes writes
that ' ' if the observer remain quite still, the Periophthalmus will sit motion-
less, staring at him with his great eyes, except that every now and then it
will wink apparently, sometimes with one eye, and sometimes with both to-
gether. What seems to be winking, however, is the inversion of the eye into
a depression immediately under it, for the purpose of lubricating the organ
when it begins to become dry. The habit that most impresses the naturalist
encountering these fishes for the first time is the long period which they can
remain out of the water. The writer has timed individuals, both in their
native state and in the aquarium, to sit for more than half an hour without a
bath. They would then walk slowly into the water, immerse themselves over
the head for a second, emerge and remain resting for a short time, with the
head and shoulders above, and the mouth under the surface, and walk slowly
out again on to the margin. This fish rarely if ever, goes beyond its depth,
find only for a few seconds does it at any time completely submerge itself.
Their usual habit is to sit propped up on their stiff ventral and strong pectoral
fins, with the fore-part of the body elevated, and their quick mobile eyes con-
spicuous and inquiring ; either, as already remarked, entirely away from the
water, or with only the extremity of the tail dipping in. When out of the
water and sitting still, the mouth is kept closed, and no motion can be de-
tected in the gills or gill-covers. Every now and then the eyes are moistened
as described above, and the fish flaps its pectoral fins across the gill-covers
and the hind-part of the head. When the tide has just receded and the small
marine animals are beginning to follow it, they are very busy darting here
and there in pursuit, and gobbling them up voraciously. They will even
attack and eat smaller members of their own species. When moving forward,
they oar themselves on their strongly muscular pectorals, which they use
simultaneously when hopping, or alternately in their more deliberate ' walk-
ing,' which leaves a curious triple track on the soft mud which they have tra-
versed. When in the water the Periophthalmus sits on the bottom in the
same attitude as on shore, with its upper-lip submerged, but with the rest of
the head and upper part of the back exposed, the water being driven over its
gills very slowly and deliberately as compared with the common trout in an
adjoining tank. Its eyes are better adapted for sight out of than under water,
and are capable of seeing all round."
The curiously-shaped marine band-fishes form the first representatives of a
section which includes five other families. In this section the body is low,
elongate, and either subcylindrical or compressed ; the dor-
sal fin being very long, with its spinous portion when dis- Section Blennii-
tinct equal to, or exceeding the soft part in extent. Indeed, formes. Family
in some cases the whole dorsal is composed of spines. The Cepolidce.
anal is more or less elongated ; the caudal when present at
all is rounded or somewhat truncate ; and when the pelvic fins are developed,
they may be either jugular or thoracic in position. The band-fishes (Cepola)
all of which are of small size take their name from the long compressed
478 PISCES SUB-CLASS III.TELEOSTOML
body, which is covered with small scales ; the laterally-placed eyes being rela-
tively large.
Omitting all mention of the unimportant families Trichonotidce and CVimefoe,
except the statement that some members of the former, like the New
Zealand Hemerocoetes, have a continuous rayed and spineless
Family dorsal fin running nearly the whole length of the back, with
Blenniidce. a very similar anal beneath, we come to the widely-spread
and numerous family of the blennies. In these the body is
more or less cylindrical in form, with its skin either naked or covered with
scales, which are generally small. There may be from one to three dorsal
fins, which occupy nearly the whole length of the back, but vary much in the
relative proportion of spines, which in some cases constitute the entire
structure. The anal is long, with few or no spines, and the pelvic pair, when
developed, are jugular, and comprise less than five soft rays. Usually the
head is furnished with false gills, and this character helps to distinguish the
blennies from the cod tribe, which they resemble in the structure of the
pelvic fins. Although a few attain large dimensions, the great majority of
the blennies are small fish, and they include some of the most diminutive of
their class. While some are estuarine or fluviatile in their habits, many
more are marine and littoral, ranging over all the temperate and tropical
coasts of the globe. The true blennies (Blennius), which have a naked skin,
enjoy a wide geographical range, some being found far out in the open ocean
among masses of floating weed, while others inhabit rivers, or even lakes.
Whereas these blennies produce spawn in the ordinary way, the two species
of the allied genus Zoarces one of which is British give birth to living
young. In these fishes rudimental scales are developed in the skin, and the
dorsal fin is only separated by a notch from the caudal, with which the anal
is continuous. A remarkable contrast in point of size to the ordinary
blennies is afforded by the various species of wolf -fish (Anarrhichas), which
inhabit all the northern seas, and some of which grow to as much as a couple
of yards in length. They have their mouths crammed with a number of very
powerful tuberculated teeth, admirably adapted for grinding the hard shells
of the shell-fish, crabs, and lobsters, on which these voracious fish subsist.
No mention at all can be made of the fifth family (Acanthodinidce) of the
blenniform section, and but a very brief one of the sixth, which includes the
so-called spiny eels (Mastacembelus and Rhynchobdella) of
Family West Africa and the Oriental countries. These are in-
Rhynchobdd- habitants of both brackish and fresh waters, and are chiefly
lidce. remarkable for their resemblance in general appearance to
the true eels (Murcenidw), from which they may, however, be
at once distinguished by the presence of low spines in the fore-part of the elon-
gated dorsal fin. Here, too, may be mentioned the curious oil -fish (Comephorus)
of Lake Baikal, in regard to whose systematic position naturalists appear to be
still in some degree of doubt, although it probably forms a family by itself.
The large fishes forming the family Sphynenidce are commonly known as
barracudas, but since that name is applied to the members of a family already
noticed, it is better to term them barracuda-pikes. They are
Section Mugili- the first representatives of a sectional group in which the
formes. Family back bears two fins, the first of these being composed either
SphyrcBtudtK, of feeble spines, or short, like the second, while the pelvic
fins are abdominal in position, and comprise five rays and a
single spine. The barracuda-pikes, which sometimes grow to as much as
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 479
eight feet in length, and weigh forty pounds, are all included in the one
genus Sphyrcuna. As a family, they are characterised by the long and some-
what eel-like form of the body, the small cycloid scales, continuous lateral
line, the wide cleft of the mouth, which is armed with formidable teeth, and
the moderate-sized and laterally-situated eyes. They are fierce and voracious
fishes, inhabiting tropical and sub- tropical coasts. Although extensively
used as food, their flesh is at times apt to develop poisonous properties.
Passing by the small family of the Atherinidce, of which the most familiar
representatives are the so-called sand-smelts (Atherina) of the Mediterranean,
with the bare mention that the lateral line is feebly and in-
distinctly developed, we come to the more important group Family
of the grey mullets, most of which are included in the genus Mugilidce.
Mugil, and all of which lack the structure last mentioned.
They have the same number (24) of joints in the backbone as the Sphyrcenidce,
whereas in the Atherinidce these are considerably more numerous. Grey
mullets have a narrow cleft to the
mouth, none or feeble teeth, and a
very sharp, but rather tall first dorsal
fin, which is composed of four stiff
spines only. The members of the
genus are numerous, and common on
temperate and tropical coasts, where,
according to Dr. Gunther, "they
frequent brackish waters, in which _ : ._- _ ~~
they find an abundance of food, which p . 13 _ GREY MULLET.
consists chiefly of the organic sub-
stances mixed with mud or sand. In order to prevent larger bodies from pass-
ing into the stomach, or substances from passing through the gill-openings, these
fishes have the organs of the pharynx modified into a filtering apparatus.
They take in a quantity of sand or mud, and, after having worked it for
some time between the pharyngeal bones, they reject the roughest and in-
digestible portion." Most of the species grow to about four pounds weight,
although some reach as much as ten.
The garpike (Belone\ the sauries (Scombresox), and the flying-fish (Exoccdu\
collectively constitute a section and family characterised by the feeble
development of the spines of the fins. They have the pelvic
fins abdominal in situation, and are especially distinguished Section Scorn-
by the union of the pharyngeal bones, the absence of a spiny bresociformes.
dorsal fin, and the forked tail-fin ; the rayed dorsal being Family Scombre-
placed in the caudal region immediately over the anal. Al- socidw.
though false gills are present, these are concealed and
glandular. As a rule, the air-bladder is retained. A peculiar feature of the
family is the simple structure of the stomach, which forms a mere expansion
of the intestinal tract. Members of the family are to be met with in all
temperate and tropical seas, some of them, like the flying-fish, being truly
pelagic in their habits. Fresh-water forms, although few, are, however, by
no means wanting ; and it is somewhat remarkable that most of these un-
like their marine relatives give birth to living young, instead of depositing
spawn. The garpike, of which one species is commonly met with in the
British seas, are specially characterised by the elongation of the jaws to form
a long tubular beak, and the connection of all the rays of the anal and dorsal
fins (which are precisely similar) by membrane. Young garpike are, how-
4 8o
PISCES SUB-CLASS lILTELEOSTOMI.
ever, much more ordinary-looking fishes than their parents, as the beak is
not developed till late in life. During the growth of the beak the lower jaw-
is considerably longer than the upper one, although in the fully adult con-
dition the two are equal in length. So much has been written about the
habits of flying-fish (Exocc&tus), and their form is so familiar, especially to those
who have made a voyage in the warmer seas, that we may be well excused
from saying much about either point in this place. The only other inhabi-
tants of the deep which indulge in similar flights are the flying-gurnards, with
which the true flying-fish are not likely to be confounded. To support them
in the air, the pectoral fins of the flying-fishes are greatly elongated. In
shape they are less elegant than many fishes, the head being blunt and
almost truncated in front. There are numerous species of the genus, some
of which appear to range over all seas suited to their existence, while others
have a curiously circumsuited habit. A foot is about the usual maximum
length, although specimens of eighteen inches are from time to time met
with.
Flying-fish associate in shoals, and when disturbed by a vessel, which they
not improbably mistake for a whale, rise one after another from the waves
like a flock of swallows driven from
their shelter. Although it is highly
probable that their pectoral fins may
vibrate for a few seconds after leav-
ing the water, the flight of these
fishes is due entirely to the initial
velocity of the leap with which they
leave the water ; and how great this
velocity is, may be inferred from the
circumstance that sometimes the flight
may cover a distance of at least three
hundred yards. Probably attracted by
the lights, flying-fish not unfrequently
leap on board the deck of small vessels, while they occasionally make their
entrance on to those of larger tonnage by way of the open port-holes.
On one occasion during a voyage home from South America, such an unbidden
visitor entered in this manner the cabin of a passenger, who at the time
was shaving, and received a severe blow in the face from the newcomer.
The next section of the Acanthopterygii is typified by the stickle-backs of
our streams and ditches ; and common and familiar as these little fishes are,
they are nevertheless highly interesting to the naturalist,
both on account of their structure and their habits. Unfor-
tunately, in our limited space, little can be here said on
either. As a sectional group, the Gastrosteiformes are
characterised by the circumstance that when a spiny dorsal
fin is present at all, this takes the form of a variable number
of isolated spines. Although in some forms the pelvic fins are thoracic, in
others they assume an abdominal position, owing to the prolongation of the
bones of the pelvic girdle, which are attached to the pectoral arch. The
snout is generally more or less produced, with the small mouth at its ex-
tremity. It will be unnecessary to characterise the stickle-backs (Gastrosteus)
in full, and it will therefore suffice to say that their somewhat compressed
and elongate bodies are either naked, or protected by large plates on the
sides, and that the number of spines on the back may vary from as few as
Fig. 14. FLYING-FISH.
Section Gastros-
teiformes.
Family
Gastrosteida.
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 481
three to as many as fifteen. All are comparatively small fishes, and whereas
the majority are inhabitants of fresh waters, a few are marine. What they
lack in size, they make up for in fierceness, stickle-backs being perfect
demons for fighting among themselves, while they are terribly destructive to
the spawn and fry of larger and better fishes. They have, however, the redeem-
ing quality of taking most excellent care of their own eggs and young, for the
reception of which the male builds a nest, which he guards with vigilance,
and, if necessary, with his life. Not only is this nest-building habit found in
the fresh- water spscies, but it is likewise common to the sea stickle-back of
the British coasts, which selects for its site of operations shallow brackish
water, where sea-weeds are abundant. Among many anecdotes relating to
the voracity and pugnacity of stickle-backs, we select one from the pen of
Mr. J. Stark. On one occasion this gentleman placed in the water inhabited
by a stickle-back a number of leeches. Thereupon the fish " darted round
the tumbler with lively motions till it found a leech detached and in a proper
situation for being seized. When the leech was very small, say about half
an inch in length, it was often swallowed at once, before it reached the
bottom of the vessel ; but when a larger one, about an inch or an inch and a
half in length in its expanded state, was put in, and had fastened itself by its
mouth to the glass, the efforts of the stickle-back to seize and tear it from its
hold were incessant, and never failed to succeed. It darted at the loose ex-
tremity, or, when both ends were fastened, at the curve in its middle, seized
it in its mouth, rose to near the surface, and after a hearty shake (such as a
dog would give a rat), let it drop. The leech, which evidently wished to avoid
its enemy upon its release, again fastened itself by its mouth to the glass ;
but again and again the attack was repeated, till the poor leech became ex-
hausted, and ceased to attempt to hold itself by its disc. The stickle-back
then seized it by the head in a proper position for swallowing, and after a few
gulps the leech disappeared. The flattened leech being of an oval form, and
having a hard skin, was not attacked, unless when very young and small ;
and leeches of the other species, when pretty well grown, or larger than him-
self when expanded, were killed in the manner above mentioned, but not
swallowed. In one of his attempts to seize a leech, the stickle-back having
got it by the tail, the animal curled back, and fixed his disc upon, his
snout. The efforts of the stickle-back to rid himself of this encumbrance
were amusing. He let go his hold of the leech, which then hung over his
mouth, and darting at the sides and bottom of the glass with all his strength,
endeavoured to rub off this tantalising morsel. This lasted for nearly a
minute, when at last he got rid of the leech by rubbing his back upon the
bottom of the vessel. The leech, perfectly aware of the company he was in,
no sooner loosed his hold than he attempted to wriggle away from his de-
vourer ; but before he had reached mid-way up the tumbler, the stickle-back
had turned, and finished the contest by swallowing him up."
The second family of the section, which comprises the flute-mouths
(Aulostoma, Auliscojis, and Fistularia\ is readily characterised by the pro-
duction of the muzzle into a long flute-like tube, at the
extremity of which is situated the small mouth ; and, like- Family
wise, by the pelvic fins, which may be either thoracic or Aidostomatidce.
abdominal, comprising six (rarely five) soft rays and no spine.
When they are abdominal they have no connection with the pelvis, which is
always attached to the pectoral girdle. Whereas in some forms the body
which is always much elongated is completely naked, in others minute scales
32
482 PISCES SUB-CLASS I1I.TELEOSTOML
are developed. The first dorsal-fin may either be wanting or composed
of a few feeble isolated spines. The backbone contains a very large number
of joints, and presents the peculiarity that many of those at the front end
are united together to form a solid tube. The flute-mouths are confined to
the warmer temperate and tropical seas. In spite of their large dimensions
their length being frequently as much as from four to six feet they can
only be regarded as highly developed stickle-backs.
We now come to the first of three sectional groups, each of which is repre-
sented only by one family. The first section is characterised by the presence
of two dorsal fins, of which the spinous is very short, whereas
Section Centris- the soft one like tlie anal is of moderate length. Of more
ciformes. importance is the fact that the pelvic fins are truly ab-
Family dominal, arid have no sort of connection with the pectoral
CentriscidcB. girdle. These fish constitute the two genera Centriscus and
Amphisile; one species of the former being popularly known
as the bellows-fish or trumpeter-fish. They are small, short-bodied fishes, with
a tubular mouth similar to that of the Aulostomatidce ; and as their powers of
swimming are of the very feeblest, they are often carried by currents far out
to sea, although their proper haunts are the shallows.
Although the members of this section and family are likewise of small size,
they differ from the last in the more normal conformation of their mouths
and bodies. Having no spiny dorsal-fin, these fishes are
Section Gobioe- easily recognised by the possession of a sucker on the lower
sociformes. surface of the body, placed between the pelvic fins, which
Family are nearly jugular in position. Both the soft dorsal and
Gobioesocidce. anal fins are situated on the caudal region of the body, and
are of small or medium extent. There are numerous genera
of sucker-fishes, such as the West Indian and South American Gobioesox, the
European Lepadogaster, and the New Zealand Diplocrepis ; the latter being
distinguished by the presence of incisor-like teeth in the front of the jaws.
The group attains its maximum development in the temperate seas ; all its
representatives being marine and littoral.
The so-called serpent-heads (Channa and Ophiocephalus) are inhabitants of
the fresh waters of Africa and the Oriental countries, although more abun-
dant in the latter than in the former area. They are long-
Section Channi- bodied, flat-headed fishes, fond of grovelling in the mud,
formes. Family and often leaving their native element to travel some distance
Ophiocephalidce. on land, where they progress by the aid of their pectoral fins.
In these fish the head and body are covered with scales of
moderate size, and the fins
are without spines, the single
dorsal, which is similar to
the anal, being low and elon-
gated, and the pelvic pair,
if present, thoracic in posi-
tion, and comprising six soft
rays. The most character-
^ feature in the gtructure
of the serpent-heads is,
however, the presence of a supplemental cavity on each side of the head
above the gill-chamber ; and it is probable that this aids in keeping the
gills moist while the fish are on land. One yard is no uncommon length
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 483
for fishes of this group. During seasons of drought the serpent-heads bury
themselves in mud ; and when living in muddy waters they are in the
habit of coming from time to time to the surface to gulp down a mouth-
ful of air.
The famous climbing-perch (Anabas scandens) of the Oriental region,
which has given rise to so many stories, true and false, is the type of a small
section characterised by the possession of an accessory
breathing-organ situated in a cavity on each si^e of the Section Labyrin-
head above the gill-chamber. In both families of the thici. Family
section the body is compressed, and oblong or deep in form, Anabantidce.
with the investing scales of moderate size. In the first of
the two families spines are present in the dorsal and anal fins, although their
number is variable ; while the lateral line is either interrupted or altogether
absent, and the aperture of the gills is small. Like those of the next family,
these fishes are inhabitants of fresh or brackish waters, and are able to exist
for a considerable time out of water, where they breathe by means of the
special organ. There are several genera, such as Anabas (climbing-perch),
PolyacanthuSy Osphromenus (gurami), and Betta, all of which are confined to
the Oriental region and Tropical and South Africa. The Malayan gurami is
a deep-bodied fish marked with vertical stripes, and with one of the rays of
the pelvic fins greatly elongated. On account of the excellent quality of its
flesh, it has been introduced into several districts in India, where it thrives
well. The climbing-perch is a less deep and more uniformly coloured fish,
with no elongation of the pelvic rays, and a taller dorsal fin. During dry
seasons it will bury itself in the mud, but more frequently appears to
migrate to ponds which are capable of withstanding the drought. On land
it travels by using its pectoral fins as legs, fixing these on the further side of
such objects as are capable of affording a sufficient fulcrum. One instance at
least is on record of these fishes having been taken high up on a palm tree.
The reader may well wonder as to the object of such an ascent, but it
appears the fish make for the moisture often to be found in the hollows of
such trees. The Oriental genus Polyacanthus is best known by the domesti-
cated and beautifully coloured Chinese paradise-fish, which, from long culti-
vation has altered considerably from the original parent form. Another
member of the family which has long been domesticated is the Siamese
fighting-fish (Betta pugnax). In common with the Malays, the Siamese are
inveterate gamblers, and in this instance they stake their money on the
fighting endurance of their favourite fish. The fish themselves are by no
means loth to afford their masters as much sport as possible, and whereas
when alone their colours are dull, directly an opponent is seen, the whole
body assumes a brilliant metallic lustre. Even a mirror is stated to be suffi-
cient to arouse the pugnacious propensities of these fish, which will then dart
forwards against their own image.
The second family of the section is represented by the small fresh- water
Malayan fish known as the pike-head (Luciocephalus pulcher), and sufficiently
distinguished from the preceding family by the presence of
a complete lateral line, the protruded jaws, and the general Family Lucio-
pike-like form of the head and body. The tail is rounded, cephalidce.
the dorsal fin is single, and, like the anal, devoid of
spines; the pelvic fins comprise one spine and five rays, and the eyes are
large.
The fishes of this and the next section are amply characterised by their
4 8 4
PISCES SUB- CLASS III;TELEOSTOML
elongated and riband-like bodily form. This conformation gives them much
the appearance of sea-snalces ; and although they are ordin-
Section Lophoti- arily inhabitants of deep water, they are sometimes driven
formes. Family to the surface. On such occasions it is highly probablo that
Lophotidce. they are responsible for some of the alleged appearances of
the " sea-serpent.' 3 Moreover, when cast on shore, they
are extremely likely to be mistaken, by persons unacquainted with zoology,
for that mysterious monster ; and not many years ago a telegram in the
papers announced the discovery in Australia of a dead sea-serpeni, which
subsequently turned out to be a gigantic stranded riband fish. Here it may
be well to remark that the writer by no means refuses to believe in the possi-
bility of the existence of " sea-serpents," but at present contents himself with
considering that the evidence is not yet sufficiently convincing. To return
to the Lophotiformes, this section, in addition to the riband-like body, is
characterised by the vent being situated near the hinder extremity of the
latter, and closely followed by the anal fin ; the dorsal fin running along al-
most the entire length of the body, and commencing in an enormous back-
wardly-curved spine, which arises from an elevated crest on the summit of
the short head. To the pre-
sence of this spine, or horn,
the one representative of
the section and family (Lo-
photes cepedianus) owes its
popular name of unicorn-
fish. Rhinoceros-fish would,
however, be a better title.
The unicorn-fish grows to a
length of between five and
six feet, and has been taken
at considerable depths in
widely distant parts of the
ocean. That it is indeed a
fairly deep-sea monster is
apparent from its large eyes ;
but this feature indicates
that it is not an inhabitant
of the deepest abysses,
where ordinary visual or-
gans would be of no use.
Although we can never hope to acquire such knowledge, it would be matter
of extreme interest to discover the use of the enormous horn of this strange
fish.
The riband-fishes differ from the Lophotidm by two characters connected
with the fins. In the first place, the anal is absent ; and in the second, the
caudal fin is either rudimental, or is so placed as not to form
Section Tsenii- a direct continuation of the longitudinal axis of the body,
formes. Family being then directed upwards in a fan-like manner. Very
Trachypteridce. generally, however, this caudal appendage is lost in full-
grown specimens. Young riband-fishes are so totally un-
like their parents that no one would dream they belonged to the same group.
Dr. Giinther observes that such young fish, of from two to four inches in
length, "are not rarely met with near the surface. They possess the most
Fig. 16. UNICORN FISH.
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 485
extraordinary development of fin-rays observed in the whole class of fishes,
some of them being several times longer than the body, and provided with
lappet-like dilatations. There is no doubt that fishes with such delicate ap-
pendages are bred and live in depths where the water is absolutely quiet, as a
sojourn in the disturbed water of the surface would deprive them at once of
organs which must be of some utility for their own preservation." Riband-
fishes are classed under three genera, respectively known by the names of
Begalecus, Stylophorus, and Trachypterus. Of these, the first includes the
largest known species ; Banks' riband-fish (R. banksi), which is occasionally
cast 011 the shores of England, where it is known most inappropriately as
the " king of the herrings," exceeding a score of feet in length. In place of
the horn of the unicorn-fish, this riband-fish has a crest of curving spines on
the crown of the head, which recalls the feathery crest of a cockatoo. In
this genus the pelvic fins, which are placed almost immediately behind the
extremely short pectoral pair, are reduced to long tapering filaments, withr .
out rays ; the caudal fin being rudimental or absent. On the other hand, in
the rare Stylophorus, the pelvic fins are totally absent, and the caudal forms
a very long appendage like a whip-lash. In the typical Trachypterus, how-
ever, the pelvic pair of fins still retain their rays. The best known member
of this genus is the northern one commonly known as the deal-fish, which is
not unfrequently cast ashore after gales on the mainland and islands of the
north of Britain.
An aberrant group of the sub-order is formed by the long-bodied deep-sea
fishes, commonly known as thorn-backs, all of which may be included in the
single genus Notacanthus. In these fishes the dorsal fin
has no soft portion, and is composed of a great number of Section Nota-
low tooth-like spines, separated from one another by com- canthiformes.
paratively long intervals, and extending over nearly the whole Family Nota-
length of the back, the long anal being of somewhat similar canthidce.
structure. The muzzle is produced some distance in advance
of the snout. The pectoral and pelvic fins are widely separated from one
another, so that the latter are truly abdominal in position ; but in sp}te of
this the caudal region extends a long distance behind the pelvics, the tail
terminating in a sharp point, without a distinct fin.
The members of the last sectional group of the great sub-order Acantho-
pterygii are distinguished from nearly all the forms hitherto mentioned by the
coalescence in the median line of the lower pharyngeal bones.
On this account the group has been regarded as of subordinal Section Pharyn-
value, although it seems preferable that it should rank only gognathi.
as a section. That it is a specialised group is indicated, not Family
only by the union of the pharyngeals, but also by the loss of Pomacentridce.
the air-bladder. The group includes four families, of which
the first is represented by the coral-fishes, forming the genera Dascyllus, Heli-
astes, Pomacentrus, etc. Most of these are inhabitants of the tropical seas,
where, as their name implies, they frequent coral reefs. In form and colora-
tion, as well as in habits, they are very similar to the Chcetodontidce (p. 465),
many of them having alternate dark and light bands on the body. The
absence of scales on the fins in the present family serves, however, to dis-
tinguish them at a glance from the members of the other group. In these
fishes the body is deep and compressed ; the scales are of the ctenoid or
comb-like type ; the lateral line is either interrupted, or stops short of the
caudal fin ; and false gills are developed in the head. The number of species
486 PISCES SUB-CLASS IILTELEOSTOML
is very large. In habits these fish are carnivorous, some of them being pro-
vided with powerful incisor teeth, for the purpose of feeding on coral.
More familiar than the last is the extensive and important family of the
wrasses, or thick-lipped fishes, in which the scales have smooth margins
(cycloid), and the pouting lips are often greatly thickened.
Family Labridce. As in the preceding family, the dorsal fin is single, with the
spiny portion at least as well developed as the rayed, which
is similar to the anal ; and the pelvic pair are thoracic in position, and com-
prise five rays and a single spine. Whereas in some of the wrasses the body
is deep, in others it is of a more
elongated shape. Wrasses are coast
fishes, mostly of carnivorous habits,
which attain their maximum de-
velopment in the tropical and
temperate seas. Although their
palates are unarmed, their jaws are
Fig. 17. STRIPED WRASSE. provided with a number of powerful
teeth admirably suited for crushing
the shell-fish on which these fishes chiefly subsist. Sea-anemones or corals
afford, however, a preferable diet to some of the species, while a few are
strict vegetarians. Wrasses are divided into a number of genera, which may
be arranged in larger groups in correspondence with the conformation of the
front teeth. In the typical Labrax, of which the headquarters is the Medi-
terranean, the jaw-teeth are conical and arranged in a single series. The two
British forms are the ballan (L. maculatus) and the striped wrasse (L.
mixtus), of which the latter exhibits great sexual differences in coloration.
The gold sinny represents in Britain a genus (Crenilabrus) differing from the
true wrasses in having the edge of the preopercular bone serrated at all ages,
instead of only in the young.
Passing by many other types, brief reference must be made to the parrot-
wrasses (Scarus), deriving their name from the confluence of the anterior
teeth to form a cutting beak. One species is common in the
Family Mediterranean, where it was well known to the ancients.
Diatrematidce. The viviparous wrasses (Ditrema and Heterocarpus) are note-
worthy on account of their peculiar reproduction, and are
accordingly referred to as a family by themselves. These fishes, which do not
attain to a large size, are very characteristic of the temperate portions of the
North Pacific, where the majority of the species are confined to the American
side, although a few occur on the Asiatic.
The last group of the Acanthopterygii is the somewhat important family
of the chromids, which have a very remarkable geographical distribu-
. tion. From the other members of the group with the lower
Family pharyngal bones united, they are distinguished by being
Chromididce. exclusively fresh-water in their habitat. Although none of
the genera inhabiting the Eastern Hemisphere are common
to the Western, these fish inhabit the rivers of Tropical Africa, Madagascar,
Syria, Palestine, and Tropical America, while a single genus is found in
India. From the other members of the present group, the chromids may be
distinguished by the absence of false gills. In appearance they are not very
unlike wrasses, having a single dorsal fin, of which the anterior portion is
spiny, the scales generally ctenoid, and the lateral line more or less markedly
interrupted. In regard to diet, they display considerable variation, some
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 487
forms being entirely carnivorous, whereas others are as distinctly vegetable
feeders. Most are relatively small fishes, although the balti of the Nile,
which belongs to Chromis, grows to twenty inches. Of the genera, Mroplus
is Indian, Ghromis and Hemichromis are African and Syrian, and Paretroplus
Malagasy.
SUB-ORDER II. LOPHOBRANCHII.
This and the following sub-order include a small number of peculiar fishes
which may probably be regarded as highly specialised offshoots from the
primitive stock of the Acanthopterygii, neither of them having a duct to the
air-bladder. The Lophobranchii take their name from the form of the gills,
which consist of small rounded tufts arising from the gill-arches ; the gill-
apertures being small, and the operculum or gill-cover comprising only a
single plate-like bone. All these fishes have the body enclosed in a many-
jointed shield of bone, and the mouth is produced into a toothless tube.
Another peculiarity is to be found in the exceedingly feeble development of
the muscles.
The first family of the sub-order is formed solely by the members of the
genus Solenostoma, which are few in number and small in size, and inhabit
the Indian Ocean. These fishes have the fins well de-
veloped, no soft rays to the first dorsal, wide gill-apertures, Family Soleno-
and the muzzle greatly elongated. The body is much com- stomatidce.
pressed and the tail very short ; the soft dorsal and anal fins
arising opposite one another from elevations of the hinder part of the body,
while the pelvic pair, which are seven-rayed, are situated below the first
dorsal, and in the female are united to the chest by their outer edges to form
a receptacle for the eggs. None of these fishes have an air-bladder.
The second family of the group is represented by the pipe-fishes (Syngtia-
thus, Siplioiwstoma, etc.), and the still more bizarre sea-horses (Hippocampus
and Phyllopteryx), the latter differing from the former in hav-
ing the tail prehensile, and employing it as an anchor. These Family
fishes are distinguished from the first family by the aperture Syngnathidce.
of the gill-chamber being reduced to a very minute opening
at the hinder upper angle of the operculum, and by the loss of the first
dorsal and pelvic fins. In certain cases some of the other fins are likewise
aborted. The pipe-fishes have the body exceedingly elongated, whereas in
the sea-horses it is shorter and deeper, while spiny leaf -like processes arise
from the ridges on the head and back. Many of these fish have special
structural modifications for the purpose of protecting the eggs, as is also the
case with some of the Solenostomatidce. Thus, the females of Solenostoma
are provided on the lower surface of
the body with a roomy pouch, formed
by the adherence of the pelvic fins to
the skin of the abdomen. The inner
walls of this pouch are furnished with
long filaments, which aid in keeping
the egg in position ; and it is probable
that after the fry are hatched they are
retained for some time by attachment Fig. 18. PIPE-FISH.
to the walls of the chamber. In the
typical pipe-fishes (Syngnathus) the care of the family falls to the share of the
males, which are provided with a long pouch on the under surface of the tail,
PISCES S UB- CLASS III. TELE OS TO MI.
formed by a fold of skin arising on each side, and the two meeting in the
middle line. The manner in which the eggs are conveyed into this pouch
appears to be unknown, but when once there they are completely enclosed by
the junction of the edges of the two folds of skin, and thus remain till they
are hatched into minute eel-like pipe-fish, which soon make their way into
the water by bursting open the folds of the pouch. In the sea-horses the
development is carried one stage further, the nursing-pouch being closed
along the middle line, so as to communicate with the exterior only by means
of a small aperture at the anterior end, through which the eggs are by some
means or other introduced, and by which in due course the young make their
escape. Certain pipe-fishes (Doryichthys) differ from the ordinary forms in
that the males have the pouch placed beneath the abdomen instead of under
the tail ; and it is remarkable that in some allied genera (Nerophis) the eggs
are simply attached to the lower surface of the abdomen of the male without
the development of any pouch.
Both the Solenostomatidce and Syngnathidce are feeble swimmers ; they
generally frequent coasts well protected by sea-weed, to which the species
provided with prehensile tails attach themselves by means of that useful
appendage. In swimming, they generally maintain themselves In a more or
less nearly vertical position. Writing of the sea-horse, Dr. Bashford Dean
says that, "in spite of its many structural oddities, its genetic kinship with
the stickle-backs cannot be doubted. Yet to have attained its present form,
its evolution must have carried it along a widely divergent path. It may, in
the first place, have fused the lines of its metameral scales, dividing off the
surface of its elongate body in sharp-edged rectangles, whose corners have
become produced into spines. At this state of evolution its appearance
might well be represented by that of the kindred pipe-fish. To secure more
perfect anchorage in its algous feeding-ground, its body-terminal must now
have discarded its fin-membranes and become prehensile, probably the most
remarkable adaptation in the entire class of fishes', since it causes metameral
organs to change the plane in which they function from a horizontal to a
vertical one."
SUB-ORDER III. PLECTOGNATHI.
The spine-clad globe-fishes, of which dried specimens are so frequently
exhibited in old curiosity shops, may be taken as a familiar example of this
small sub-order, which, like the last, includes highly modified and specialised
forms. All these fishes have a narrow mouth, and some of the bones of the
upper jaw fused together, while in some of them the jaws are produced into
a beak-like form. They have but few segments in the back-bone, and
whereas the bones of the head are fully hardened, those of the rest of the
skeleton are comparatively soft. In form, the gills are pectinate ; the gill-
apertures being very small, and placed in advance of the pectoral pair of fins.
If the pelvic fins persist they are reduced to mere spines ; the spinous dorsal,
too, is more or less rudimental, although the soft dorsal is generally well
developed and situated far back, immediately over the anal. Very various
is the covering of the body, the skin in some forms being naked, while in
others it is dotted over with long spines ; in others the whole head and body
is invested in a complete cuirass of true bone, while in others there are
roughened scales. All, however, agree in the absence of a duct to the
air-bladder.
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS.
489
Fig. 19. COFFEE-FISH.
The first family of the Plectogathi is represented by the file-fishes
(Batistes, etc.) and the strange coffer-fishes (Ostracium). In these fishes there
are a few separate teeth in the jaws, and traces of the spinous
dorsal and pelvic fins usually persist. In form, the body Family
may be either compressed or angulated, and the muzzle is Balistidce.
rather elongated ; the skin being either spiny or rough, or
replaced by a bony armour. Their chief habitat is the tropical oceans, al-
though some range into cooler seas. The Oriental genus Triacanthus belongs
to a sub-family characterised by the
presence of roughened scale-like plates
on the skin, and the retention of from
four to six spines in the first dorsal
fin. On the other hand, Batistes is
included in a sub-family in which
there are never more than three spines
in the fin last mentioned ; while the pelvic fins are absent, or indicated only
by a swelling on the lower surface of the body ; the compressed body being
clothed with scale-like plates capable of being moved, or with a roughened
skin. There are several genera in this group, and the flesh of certain kinds
is poisonous. Batistes itself, which is furnished with powerful cutting teeth
in the front of the jaws, browses upon living coral, or eats through the shells
of molluscs in order to get at the animal within. The angulated bony cara-
pace composed of hexagonal plates joined together like mosaic sufficiently
distinguishes the coffer-fishes (Ostracium), which constitute a sub-family by
themselves.
The second family includes the globe-fishes and their near allies the sun-
fishes, in both of which the bones of the jaws are welded together so as to
form a cutting parrot-like beak of great power. The teeth
are modified into large dental plates tightly adherent to the Family
jaws, and consisting structurally of a number of very thin J)iodontidce.
parallel laminae, arranged like the leaves in a book. These
fishes are mostly inhabitants of the hotter seas, although a few have taken to a
fresh -water existence. The one Oriental species of Tfiodon alone represents
the first sub-family, and has the skin of the lower surface dilated into a large,
inflatable sac ; the dental plate of the upper-jaw being divided in the middle,
while that of the lower is single.
Spiny bony plates, which do not over-
lap, clothe the body, and the tail-fin is
forked. The globe-fishes (Diodon,
Tetrodon, etc.) form the second sub- .
family, and have the more or less
shortened and rounded body covered
with spines, while there is a distinct
tail and caudal fin, and the distensible
throat can be inflated with air. The
different genera are chiefly distin-
guished from one another by the con-
formation of the dental plates, and the size and distribution of the spines.
Dr. Giinther writes, that " these fishes have the power of inflating their body
by filling their distensible oesophagus with air, and thus assume a more or
less globular form. The skin is then stretched to its utmost extent, and the
spines protrude and form a more or less formidable defensive armour, as in a
Fig. 20. GLOBE-FISH.
490
PISCES SUB-CLASS III.TELEOSTOML
hedgehog ; therefore they are frequently called sea-hedgehogs. However, it
is probable that the spines
are a protection not only
when the fish is on the sur-
face and able to take in air,
but also when it is under
water." The third sub-family
of the Diodontidce includes
only the two species of sun-
fish, Orthagoriscus, specimens
of which at times grow to as
much as seven feet in length.
Having the body excessively
compressed and deep, with a
very tall dorsal and anal fin
placed one above the other
at the hinder end, the sun-
fishes are especially charac-
terised by the short, deep,
and truncated tail, of which
fig. 21. COMMON SUN-FISH. the fin is confluent above with
the base of the dorsal, and
below with that of the anal. There is no dilatable sac beneath the skin,
which may be either rough or smoothly tesselated ; and externally the
pelvic fins and internally the air-bladder are absent. Sun-fish are pelagic
forms, generally swimming in a vertical position near the surface of the
water. Both kinds seem to feed chiefly on shell-fish.
SUB-ORDER IV. AXACANTHINI.
The members of this comparatively small, although highly important
sub-order are distinguished from the Acanthopterygii by the pelvic and
median fins being, as a general rule, devoid of spines and composed of soft
jointed rays. When present at all, the pelvic fins are invariably either thor-
acic or jugular in position ; and in those forms furnished with an air bladder,
this has no communication with the oesophagus.
The first four families of the sub-order form a section known as the Ga-
doidei, and are characterised by the normal and symmetrical form of the head
and body. The family of the Lycodidce includes several
Family genera of blenny-like fish characterised by the union of all
Lycodidce. the median fins, and by the pelvics, when present, being
small, jugular, and articulated to the pectoral arch. Most of
these fishes are inhabitants of the seas in the neighbourhood of the two poles.
Passing by the family with the bare mention that Lycodes and Gymnelis are
two of the best-known genera, we turn to the much more important cod
family. In these the caudal fin is generally distinct from the others, but
when it is united therewith, the first dorsal is divided, so
Family Gadidce. that three dorsals are produced. Generally the pelvic fins
which are jugular are well developed, but in those in-
stances where they are filamentary, the first dorsal is double. There may
be either a single or a double anal. As regards their internal anatomy, it
will suffice to say that the cods generally have an air-bladder ; while as their
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 491
external form is so familiar, it will not be necessary to say more than that the
scales are small and the lateral line distinct. Cod are for the most part in-
habitants of comparatively shallow seas of the cooler portions of the Northern
Hemisphere, although there are some widely distributed deep-sea forms, and
a very few live in fresh water. All the members of the family are edible ; and
as they are particularly suitable for salting, their value as a food-supply is
very great, although the taste and quality of their flesh is far inferior to that
of many other fish. In the typical genus Gadus are included the greater
number of the larger and more
valuable species, such as the com-
mon cod (G. morrhud), the haddock
(G. ceglefiiiits), the whiting (G. mer-
langus), the pollack (G. pollachius),
and the coal-fish (G. virens). In all
of these there are three dorsal and
two anal fins ; and whereas teeth
are developed on the vomerine bones
of the palate, the palatines are
toothless. Most, although not all, *% 22. COMMON COD.
have a barbel on the chin. In the
allied group of the hakes (Merluccius) this barbel is wanting, while the num-
ber of dorsal fins is reduced to two, and there is but a single anal ; the pelvic
fins being strong, and broad at the base, and teeth being present alike in the
jaws and on the vomer. The large fresh- water cod known as the burbot (Lota
vulgaris) is found both in Europe and in North America, and has the same
number of fins as the hakes, but the body is longer, the head flatter, and the
chin bears a barbel. Nearly allied are the marine lings (Molva\ distinguished
by having several large teeth on the vomer and in the lower jaw. In the
rocklings (Motella) the first dorsal fin merely forms a fringe, partly concealed
in a groove ; and there are barbels varying in number with the species to
both jaws. Some members of this genus are remarkable on account of their
southern habitat, being found in the seas of New Zealand and the Cape.
Although most familiarly known by the sand-eels, the chief interest in the
family Ophidiidce centres round the blind cave-fish from the caves of Cuba.
In none of the tribe are the pelvic fins fi>lly developed, and
in eome they are wanting ; while there is no distinct first Family
dorsal or first anal, and the caudal fin is in most cases nob Ophidiidce.
distinct from the other median fins. The two small fresh-
water fishes constituting the genus Lucifuga are sufficiently distinguished by
the absence of eyes ; but they have a near ally in the marine Brotula, which
possesses fully developed visual organs. There are, however, blind deep-sea
types, such as Typhlonus. All these retain pelvic fins, which are jugular in
position ; but in the typical Ophidium these are replaced by long filaments.
Very interesting are the somewhat eel-like small parasitic fishes constituting
the genera JSncheliophis and Fierasfer, which frequent the breathing-chambers
of sea-cucumbers, the interior of bivalve molluscs, and other safe positions in
living animals. They have no pelvic fins, and the vent is situated quite close
up to the throat. On the other hand, in the sand-launces, or sand-eels
(Ammodytes), while pelvic fins are absent, the position of the vent is normal.
These fish which love to bury themselves in the sand have elongated bodies,
on which the low dorsal fin extends from a little distance behind the head to
the tail, while the anal occupies almost all the hinder half of the lower surface.
492 PISCES SUB-CLASS JILTELEOSTOML
Of comparatively little importance is the small marine family typified by
the genus Macrurus. Their chief character is that the body terminates
behind in an elongated, tapering, compressed tail, without
Family an expanded caudal fin, and is coated with scales, which may
Macruridce. be either striated, keeled, or spined. Some of the numerous
species measure as much as a yard in length.
The last family of the sub-order is that of the flat-fishes, which forms a
section to itself, known as the Pleuronectoidei, and characterised by the un-
symmetrical conformation of the head and anterior portion
Family of the body in the adult. This strange modification renders
Pleuronectoidce. the flat-fishes quite distinct from all other members of the
class, and by bringing the two eyes to one side of the body
it may be the right or it may be the left enables them to rest with the other
side on the bottom of the sea. Generally, too, they swim in this position,
although it is believed that some of the less modified types swira> at least at
times, in the normal manner. In this type of fish we have, as Dr. Bashford
Dean remarks, " a singular instance of environmental evolution, the flattened
body adapting itself both in shape and colour to its bottom-living. Its entire
side not the ventral region, as in the rays is flattened to the bottom. The
unpaired fins now become of especial value ; they increase in size, and their
undulatory movements enable the fish to swim rapidly yet retain its one-
sided position ; ventral fins become useless and degenerate. The further
adaptations of the flat-fish include its pigmentation only on the upper or
light -exposed side, in this giving one of the most remarkable cases of adapta-
tion known among vertebrates.' 5 Among the rather numerous genera consti-
tuting this family, the one in which the adaptation is least developed is
Psettodes, represented by a species whose distribution extends from China to
the west coast of Africa. In this fish the dorsal fin, which in the other types
commences at, or in front of the eye, begins on the neck ; the eyes being
either on the left or the right side. The two species of halibut (Hippoglossus)
mark one step in advance, the dorsal fin starting above the eye, although the
jaws are still of nearly equal development on both sides. More specialised
is the genus Rhombus, which includes the turbot, brill, and mary-sole. Here
the dorsal fin commences on the snout, and the eyes are situated on the left
side of the body; the scales being either minute or wanting. All these fishes
have teeth on the vomerine bones
of the palate, but since the so-
called top-knot of the Mediter-
ranean and the Channel has an
edentulous vomer, it is referred to
a genus apart, under the name of
Phrynorhombus. Omitting men-
tion of a number of other less
familiar genera, brief reference
must be made to Pleuronectes, so
well known in the shape of the
flounder and the plaice. In these
Fig. 23. THE FLOUNDER. fish the dorsal fin starts above the
eye, and the narrow mouth is very
unsymmetrical, having its teeth much more developed on the blind than on
the coloured side. There are no teeth in the palate, and the eyes are gener-
ally on the right side, scales being small or wanting. Lastly, the soles (Solea)
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 493
are right-eyed fishes, with the upper eye somewhat in front of the lower one,
and the narrow mouth twisted round to the left side ; the dorsal fin, which is
distinct from the caudal, starting on the snout.
SUB-ORDER V. PHYSOSTOMI.
Section A. Apodes.
The bony fishes formhig the present group are broadly distinguished from
all the foregoing by the possession of a duct to the air-bladder when present;
such duct opening either into the oesophagus or the stomach. To this leading
and all-important internal feature of the group it may b? added, that exter-
nally all these fishes have the pelvic fins situated far behind the pectoral pair,
whence they are described as abdominal in position. If the skull be ex-
amined, it will be found that, as a general rule, the parietal bones meet in the
middle line. The rays supporting the fins are mostly soft, although the first
in the pectoral pair and dorsal are spiny. Most of these features are primi-
tive a duct to the air-bladder being found in the succeeding sub-orders of
the Teleostomi, which are clearly low types and it may accordingly be
inferred that the Physostomi are inferior in their organisation to the groups
in which the air-bladder is unprovided with a duct. The section named
above includes three families of eel-like fishes, but as the features by which
this section differs from those that follow are deep-seated and would require
a considerable amount of technical language for their adequate explanation,
they cannot be described on this occasion.
The Murwnidm are all characterised by their snake-like bodily form, but as
this form is common to the other two families included in the section, other
features have to be relied on for the definition of the group.
Unfortunately, many of these features can only be observed The Eel-Tribe.
by an examination of the skeleton or internal soft parts. Family Murcen-
Externally eels are characterised by the absence of the pelvic idee.
pair of fins, and in some forms the pectorals are likewise
wanting. If the dorsal and anal fins are developed, these either form with
the tail a continuous fringe, or are merely separated by the projecting ex-
tremity of the latter. The skin is either bare, or contains minute rudimental
scales. The backward position of the vent is likewise a characteristic feature
of the family. More important is the structure of the upper jaw, of which
the front portion of the margin is formed by the premaxillse, while the sides
are constituted by the maxillae, which are well provided with teeth. Equally
important is the circumstance that posteriorly the skull has no connection with
the pectoral arch, which is attached solely to the vertebrae of the neck. Of
the soft parts, it will suffice to state that there are no ducts to the reproduc-
tive organs. Whereas some members of the family are exclusively marine,
others pass a considerable portion of their existence in fresh waters. Among
the former are the brightly-coloured and frequently gigantic species constit-
uting the genus Murcena, some of which grow to fully eight feet in length.
They have no paired fins, although the median ones are well developed ; and
save for the presence of the latter, are exceedingly like large snakes. In all
the skin is naked, and in many the teeth are very large and powerful. A
peculiar feature is the presence of two pairs of external nostrils, of which the
foremost are tubular, while the hinder pair are also of a similar type in certain
494 PISCES SUB-CLASS III.TELEOSTOML
species. There are many representatives of the genus from tropical and tem-
perate seas, some of which ascend tidal rivers. All are highly predaceous.
The so-called glass-eels (Leptocephalus) are larval forms of the members of
the present family. Although occasionally brought by currents to the surface,
they live at great depths in the sea. Before turning into the adult form they
undergo a distinct metamorphosis. Nearly allied are the five representatives
of the genus Gymnomurcena, which inhabit the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and
have the median fins represented by mere rudiments near the extremity of
the tail. From both these genera the true eels (Anguilla) may be easily
distinguished by the retention of the pectoral fins, which are placed close to the
head, and have the narrow gill-openings just behind their roots. The two
jaws are approximately equal in length; the skin contains a number of rudi-
mental scales ; and the teeth are small and arranged in the form of bands. Eels
are so familiar to all that they need no further description. Before com-
panies were so careful in filtering their water as at present, eels would, not
unfrequently, enter the service-pipes, where they would remain until the pas-
sage became completely choked, owing to their increase in size. Eels occur
in the fresh waters of all parts of the world where the temperature is not per-
manently below the freezing point. Reams of paper have been spoilt in dis-
cussing their breeding-habits, which long remained a mystery. It is, how-
ever, now ascertained that eels breed only in the sea, and that the repro-
ductive process seems to be fatal to their existence ; such individuals as are
confined to fresh waters being sterile. In autumn such adults as are enabled
to find a passage make their way to the ocean, whence they never return ;
while in spring the elvers, or young eels, ascend the rivers, frequently in enor-
mous numbers. On such migrations scarcely any obstacles will stay their ad-
vance, and they have even been
known to circumvent a barrier by
leaving the water and making a
detour over moist rocks or marshy
ground. Thus St. John writes that
in a Scotch river when the elvers
" came to a fall that they could not
possibly ascend, they wriggled out
of the water, and gliding along the
rock, close to the edge where the
stone was constantly wet from the
Fig. 24. SERPENT-EEL. splashing and spray of the fall, they
made their way up till they got above
the difficulty, and then again slipping into the water, continued their course."
Writing of eel-migrations in the Thames, Jesse observes that this takes place
in May. " The young eels are about two inches in length, and they make
their approach in one regular and undeviating column of about five inches in
breadth, and as thick together as it is possible for them to be. As the pro-
cession generally lasts two or three days, and as they appear to move at the
rate of nearly two miles and a half an hour, some idea may be formed of their
enormous number.'' The largest eels occur in Oceania, where examples
measuring as much as ten feet in length have been recorded. From the true
eels the marine species included in the genus Conger differ by the total want
of scales, as well as by the larger mouth, the presence of an outer series of
cutting teeth in the jaws, and the more forward extension of the dorsal fin.
At least four species of conger are known, among which C. vulgaris is almost
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 495
cosmopolitan in distribution. Congers are found at moderate depths on rocky
bottoms, and are extremely voracious, taking at night almost any kind of bait.
Eight feet is not an uncommon length for one of these eels. There are also
deep-sea congers, such as Synaphobranchus and Saccopharynx, living at depths
down to two thousand fathoms ; the former being characterised by the union
of the gill-openings to form a median slit on the under surface of the fore-part
of the body, and the latter by the soft and spongy texture of the flesh of the
body. An allied group is formed by the numerous tropical species of
Ophichthys, in which the nostrils are situated in the lips, and the extremity of
the tail is free and finless.
There are many other generic representatives of the Murcenidce, but we
pass on to briefly notice the small family of the Symbranchidce, which takes its
name from the gill-openings forming a transverse slit on the
lower surface. In these eels the median fins are wanting, Family
and the paired fins rudimental, while the margin of the Symbranchidce.
upper jaw is formed solely by the premaxillse. The air-
bladder, too, is wanting ; but ducts are present to the reproductive organs.
Most of the members of the family are fresh-water forms from Tropical
America and Asia, but the Tasmanian and Australian genus Chilobranchiis
is marine. The Indian Amphipnous in which the gills are much re-
duced is remarkable for the possession of an additional breathing-organ
in the form of a lung-like sac on each side of the body close behind
the head.
The third and last family of the section is represented by certain fresh-
water eels from Tropical America, which are arranged in five genera. From
the Murcenidce these eels may be distinguished by the
absence or rudimental condition of the dorsal fin, the great Family
elongation of the anal, and the general absence of the caudal, Gymnotidce.
fin, the tail terminating in a point, and being as fragile as
that of the blind-worm. The vent is placed close to the throat, the repro-
ductive organs have ducts, and the pectoral girdle is connected with the skull.
The chief interest of this family is concentrated on the electric eel (Gymnotus
electricus), from the fresh-waters of the Guianas and Brazil, which attains a
length of six feet, and is provided
with electric organs very similar
in structure to those of the electric
ray described in the sequel, and
capable of inflicting equally power-
ful shocks. Most books on natural
history copy from Humboldt a
wonderful account of the capture
of these eels by means of horses
driven into the waters they fre-
quent, but there is only too much
reason to believe that the whole Fig. 25. ELECTRIC EEL.
story is a pure fiction, although not
an intentional one, on the part of the illustrious traveller. It is high
time that it should be forgotten.
496 PISCES SUB-CLASS III.TELEOSTOMI.
Section B. Nematagnathi.
The second section of the Physostomi includes only the cat-fishes or sheath-
fishes, typified by the huge wels (Siluriis glaitis) of the larger rivers of
Eastern Europe, which is the sole European representative
Cat-fishes. of this immense family. Apart from the structural features
Family distinctive of the section, the cat-fishes are characterised by
SiluridcB. the skin of the body being either naked, or protected by
bony plates of variable size, scales being invariably wanting.
In all, the mouth is provided with barbels, or feelers, frequently of great
length, and it is from the presence of these highly sensitive organs that the
name of cat-fish is due. Many of them have the bones of the hinder region
of the skull ornamented with a rough tubercular sculpture, and there is fre-
quently a large shield, similarly sculptured, covering the upper surface of the
neck and shoulders. Often, too, the front of the dorsal fin is armed with a
long, powerful, and sometimes poisonous, spine, which in some forms can be
raised or depressed by the aid of a kind of trigger-like arrangement connected
with the spines of the vertebrae of the neck. Very often there is a fatty
dorsal fin, and there is also a rayed dorsal. In the skull the margin of the
upper jaw is mainly formed by the premaxillse ; but a more important char-
acter is to be found in the absence from the gill-cover of the bone technically
known as the subopercular. The air-bladder, which may be bony, is very
generally present, and is then connected with the internal ear by means of
minute bones. Cat-fishes are ugly creatures, with large ungainly heads,
small eyes, and the aforesaid long barbels. Some, like the Oriental Bayarius
yarelli, grow to a length of a couple of yards, and have huge ugly mouths,
opening nearly the full width of the head. In habits they are sluggish, and
dwell for the most part on the bottom of muddy rivers, lakes, or ponds,
where their barbels probably play a large part in enabling them to find their
way about. They are remarkably tenacious of life, and the writer once found
it absolutely impossible to kill some of these fish, caught while he was
quarantined on board ship in the Rio de la Plata. All these fishes should be
handled with extreme caution, as the spines of many of them are capable of
inflicting extremely dangerous wounds. Their flesh, although eatable, is of
poor quality. In the rivers and lakes of India and other Oriental countries,
cat-fish are extremely abundant, as they also are in those of South America,
where the shores of every little pond is strewn with their skulls. They
appear to inhabit ponds or lakes liable to be dried up in seasons of unusual
drought, and at such times they doubtless are enabled to survive by burying
themselves deep down in the mud. Although the majority are fresh-water
fishes, some will enter salt water temporarily, while others are permanent
residents there. For the most part they keep near the coasts, but from the
circumstance that one species is common to the rivers of India and some of
the Malayan countries, it would seem that certain kinds occasionally traverse
a considerable extent of sea. In certain forms, like the members of the
genus Arius, the males are in the habit of taking charge of the nursery
arrangements, by carrying the eggs about with them in their mouths. Since
the family comprises considerably more than a hundred distinct genera, it is
obviously impossible to give any adequate account in a work of the present
nature. It is sub-divided into several sections, in the first of which the
dorsal and anal fins occupy the greater part of the length of the body, the
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 497
African and Asiatic genus Clarias being an example of this section. To the
second section belongs the typical SHuTUS, of which there are five species, from
the temperate regions of Asia and Eastern Europe. Here the rayed portion
of the dorsal fin is much reduced in length,
and, if present at all, confined to the
hinder region of the back, while the fatty
dorsal is also small or wanting. On the
other hand, the anal is long, occupying
nearly the whole of the caudal region.
The third group is small, and of little
importance ; but the fourth is a very
large one, and includes the Nilotic
Bagriis (represented by the bagad), the Fig. 26. THE WELS.
South American Pimelodus, the widely
spread Arius, the gigantic Asiatic Bagarius, and a host of others. In
this group the short-rayed dorsal does not include more than a dozen rays,
and is placed far back on the body ; the fatty dorsal is present, although
often small ; and the anal is much shorter than the caudal portion of the
backbone. If barbels are present on the nose, they belong to the hinder
of the two pairs of nostrils. Passing over the fifth group, and likewise
omitting mention of the seventh and eighth, attention may be directed to the
sixth, 011 account of its including a number of South and Central American
forms in which the body is invested in a more or less complete armour,
formed of large plates of bone. As examples, may be mentioned the short
and deep-bodied Callichthys, and the long and slender Loricaria and Hypo-
ptopoma, all three of which are abundantly represented in the Amazons.
Section C. Plectispondyli.
The third section of the Physostomi is an important one, as containing the
large family of the carps, together with two other family groups. In both
the Nematognathi and Plectispondyli the first four vertebrae in the neck are
specially modified and united into a single mass ; but the subopercular bone,
which, as already mentioned, is wanting in the gill-cover of the former sec-
tion, is present in that of the latter.
Although the numerous members of the large fresh-water family of the
carps come under the designation of " coarse-fish," yet, owing to its cheap-
ness, their flesh affords an important article of food among
certain races and classes, while many of the species afford Family
sport to those anglers who do not aspire to the highest grade CyprinidcK.
of their pastime. All the carps have naked heads and tooth-
less sucking mouths ; such teeth as they may possess being confined to the
pharyngeal bones of the throat. Usually the body is covered with scales,
but if these are wanting the skin is naked. Some kinds are provided with
false gills of a glandular type ; and the air-bladder, when present, is large,
and may be divided either longitudinally or transversely into two portions.
When longitudinally divided, it has a bony capsule. In no carps is there a
fatty dorsal fin ; but the mouth often bears short barbels. Carp are un-
known both in Central and South America and Australasia, but are elsewhere
almost universally distributed. Their distribution is thus coextensive with
the Arctogseic realm, as defined in the introductory part of the section on
33
X
498 PISCES SUB-CLASS IILTELEOSTOMI.
mammals. Unlike the cat-fish, the carps prefer clear water ; and while the
majority subsist on a mixed diet, some prefer animal substances ; some others
confine themselves more or less exclusively to food of a vegetable nature.
Although the family approaches the Siluridw in point of numbers, the .im-
portance of its members claim for it a somewhat fuller notice.
The typical sub-family Cypridince is characterised by the air-bladder being
divided by a transverse constriction into two chambers, and not invested in
a bony capsule. With the exception of the Oriental genus Homalopterus
in which they are increased to three, and the air-bladder is wanting the
number of pairs of barbels does not exceed two, but one or both of these
may be absent. Of the various genera of this sub-family, the typical
Cyprinus includes a small number of species from the fresh waters of tem-
perate Asia and Europe, the common Cyprinus carpio having been originally
introduced to the latter continent from
the former. In common with certain
other genera, Cyprinus generally has
the short anal fin provided with five or
six branching rays ; but it is specially
characterised by the lateral line oc-
cupying the middle of each side of the
tail, and by the dorsal fin having its
Fig. 27. COMMON CARP. front edge placed immediately above
the pelvic pair, and including one
serrated bony, and more than nine branching rays. The blunted muzzle
carries two pairs of barbels ; and the teeth form a complete triple series, the
outermost of which are adapted for crushing. From this genus, Carassius,
which includes the crucian carp of Europe and the gold-fish of China and
Japan, differs by the absence of barbels. Nearly allied is the very large Old
World genus Barbus, typified by the common European barbel, but also well
known in the person of the huge mahasir (B. tor\ which affords such excel-
lent sport with rod-and-line from Kashmir to Ceylon. The members of this
genus have the mouth arched, and are provided with false gills ; the barbels
may be either four, two, or none, and the scales are very variable in size,
while the form of the body is often less deep than in Cyprinus. Of the
mahasir, or mahseer, General Macintyre writes, that * ' on the back its hue is
a dark olive-green, shaded off on the sides of a well -conditioned fish into
a golden orange, which merges into pale pink and silvery- white below, it
has rather large toothless jaws, lined with a very tough membrane, so it
requires to be struck pretty hard to be properly hooked. When I say struck,
I mean that after the fish has hooked itself, as it will do by its own weight,
a good pull without a jerk is necessary to drive home the barb into its
leathern jaws. Owing to this toughness of mouth, a mahasir when fixed is
seldom lost unless it breaks the tackle. This a big fish will often do in its
first plunge, when it sometimes has a way of lashing its tail over the line.
That crisis being safely over, if your tackle is trustworthy, landing your fish
is usually only a matter of time and patience. Its strong teeth are set far
back in its gullet, and the stoutest tackle has a poor chance if it gorges your
lure beyond them. It cannot be easily clipped, as its large round scales are
so hard that the sharpest gaff will glance off them. When running a mahasir
after it has been finely hooked, I have never known it leap from the water,
and I think it rarely does so, but its long and rapid rushes quite equal, if
they do not surpass, those of any salmon of a similar size, As regards its
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 499
weight, I am well within the mark when I state that the mahasir reaches
nearly, if not quite, 100 Ibs. The largest mahasir I ever heard of as having
been taken with a trolling bait was 93 Ibs. ; and with fly, and that turned the
scale at 62 Ibs. But such monsters as these are very seldom landed with
the rod."
Nearly allied are the two species of gudgeons, constituting the genus Gobio,
which differ from the carps in that the pharyngeal, or throat-teeth, are
arranged in one or two series instead of forming three rows. In these
familiar fish the whole of the body is invested with scales of moderate size,
and the mouth, which is inferior in position, has the bones on its upper
margin protrusile, and there are two barbels. Gudgeon are found on the
pebbly beds of clear streams, where they feed on minute aquatic animals.
The numerous kinds of so-called white fish, such as the dace, roach, and
chub, belong to the genus Leuciscus, and, in common with certain other
genera, differ from the foregoing types in the conformation of the anal fin,
which is either of moderate length or short, includes from eight to eleven
branching rays, and does not extend so far forwards as the line of the hinder
edge of the dorsal. In the preceding forms the same tin usually has only five or
six branched rays. The white fish have no barbels, neither is there a cutting
edge to their jaws ; while the throat-teeth are arranged in one or two rows,
and the dorsal fin is short, and without a bony ray. White fish are found
throughout the fresh waters of the cooler portions of the Northern Hemi-
sphere, but their species are more numerous in Europe and Asia than in
America. Their form and habits are sufficiently familiar to all. Nearly
allied to the white fish is the golden-coloured tench, which represents a
genus (Tinea) distinguished by the presence of a pair of barbels to the mouth,
the slight extent to which the tail is notched, and the minute size of the
scales. In this fish the lateral line is complete, and runs nearly in the middle
of each side of the tail, as it does in such of the white fish as have it fully
developed. Certain allied fishes from the Old World, constituting the genus
Chondrostoma, may be recognised by the sharp cutting edge of the lower jaw,
which is sheathed in horn. None of these fishes are British, as is also the
case with the so-called bitterlings (fihodeus), of which there are four species.
The breams (Abramis) bring us, however, to another genus with an English
representative. In this and certain other genera of the carp tribe, the anal
fin is considerably elongated, and some portion at least of the lower border
of the abdomen is compressed to such an extent as to form a sharp keel-like
edge. In the bream the short and spineless dorsal fin is situated over the
space between the pelvics and anal, the scales are of moderate size, and the
lateral line runs somewhat below the middle line of the tail. As in the white
fish, the bones of the upper jaw are capable of protrusion, and some members
of the genus present the remarkable peculiarity of being "underhung," that
is to say, they have the lower jaw somewhat longer than the upper. Passing
over several allied species, mention must be made of the beautiful pearly little
fish known as bleak (Alburnus\ of which there are a considerable number of
species inhabiting the fresh waters of Europe and Western Asia. In addition
to the silvery lustre from which they take their name, these little fishes are
specially characterised by the slender form of their gill-rakers, which are
placed close together ; the body being rather slender, the lateral line running
somewhat below the middle of the tail, and the lower jaw somewhat exceed-
ing the upper in length. Formerly the scales of the bleak were employed
for making artificial pearls, the pearly matter being washed off, and after-
500 PISCES SUB-CLASS IILTELEOSTOML
wards deposited in the inner side of thin glass balls, of which the small
aperture was finally closed with wax. An account of this manufacture will
be found in a small work on British fishes by Frank Buckland. On account
of the almost vertical position of the cleft of its up-turned mouth, mention
must be made of the sichel of Eastern Europe, which forms a genus (Pelecus)
sufficiently distinguished by this one characteristic.
The rare and local British fish known as the spiny loach (Cobitis tcenia) is
the typical member of the second sub-family (Cobitiiwe) of the carp tribe ; a
group which includes several other genera of loaches, all confined to the
fresh waters of Europe and Asia. In all the members of this sub-family the
air-bladder is enclosed, either completely or partly, in a bony capsule, and
none possess false gills. The body, too, never has the deep form character-
istic of the carps, and in some groups is much elongated. Barbels, varying
in number from six to twelve, are always present, and the mouth is inferior
in position, with fleshy lips. Whereas the pelvic pair may be Van ting, the
median fins are devoid of spines, the number of rays in the dorsal being
variable, but those of the anal always few. The tail-fin is rounded, and the
scales, if present, are small, and buried in the mucus of the skin. One genus
from the Oriental countries is peculiar in possessing scales on the top and
sides of the head. The spiny loaches, of which there are at least three
species, take their name from the presence of a pair of forked spines below
the eyes ; such spines being capable of erection at the will of their owners.
In the large genus Nemachilus, which includes the common loach (N. barba-
tulus) of every English stream, the spines below the eyes are wanting, and
the upper jaw alone is furnished with barbels, of which there are three pairs.
The third European genus, Misyurnus, includes the giant loach of Europe,
and three other species ; its distributional area including Europe and Asia
north of the Himalaya. In this genus there are either five or six pairs of
barbels, two of which arise from the lower jaw. Many other genera are
found in the Oriental countries, and it is noteworthy that whereas the
European forms are inhabitants of clear running waters, these latter dwell
in tanks, where they bury themselves in the mud at the bottom. All, how-
ever, agree in that their food is composed exclusively of animal substances.
In the fresh waters of Tropical Africa the place of the loaches is taken by
the two species of the genus Kneria, which form a family by themselves,
distinguished from the Cyprinidce by the absence of throat,
Family or pharyngeal teeth, the simple, undivided form of the air-
Kneriidce. bladder, and the absence of barbels.
Of far more importance than the last is the very exten-
sive family of fresh-water fishes commonly known as characinoid fishes, but
which might perhaps be termed the southern carps. Their distribution is
indeed largely complementary to that of the Cyprinidce, since
Family they are confined to Central and South America, and Africa
Erythrinidce. south of the Sahara ; carps being absent from the former
countries, although present in the latter. This peculiar
geographical distribution is one among many instances of the close affinity
existing between the faunas of these two areas. The explanation of
the absence of the Cyprinidce from South America may possibly be that
the characinoids entered Africa at the time when that country was in
communication with South America, whereas the carps did not come in till
that communication was severed. If that be so, the Cyprinidce must have
come into Africa at the same time as many of the large mammals, such as
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 501
hippopotami, giraffes, rhinoceroses, elephants, and antelopes. From the
Cyprinidce the present family is broadly distinguished by certain peculiarities
in the structure of the skull, and by the number of upper pharyngeal bones being
one or four, in place of two. The margin of the upper jaw is also different, in
that it is formed in front by the premaxillse, and by the maxillae at the sides,
instead of entirely by the former bones. Barbels, too, are wanting ; but
whereas the head is as devoid of scales as in the Cyprinidcz, the jaws may be
either smooth or furnished with powerful teeth. In such an extensive family,
it is but little use referring to genera by name, when their distinctive
features cannot be described. It may be mentioned, however, that the
African and the American genera are distinct from one another, and that the
typical Erythrinus is from America. Two genera of which Hydrocyon is
African, and Cynodon Tropical America are, however, noteworthy on account
of the large size and predaceous habits of some of their representatives.
Two species of the former genus are abundant in the Nile, where they grow
to about four feet in length, and are respectively known by the Egyptians by
the names of Kelb-el-bahr and Kelb-el-moyeh.
Section D. Haplopomi.
In this fourth section of the Physostomi the first four vertebrae of the
backbone are distinct from one another, and unmodified ; the supraoccipital
bone of the skull extends forwards to separate the two
parietals, and the full number of bones is developed in the Family
gill-covers, or operculum. The pharyngeal bones, too, are Cyprinodontidce.
separate, and in the upper jaw are three or four in number,
and directed forwards. The first family of the section is that of the
Cyprinodontidce, which includes a considerable number of genera of small
fishes ranging over America, Africa, Asia, and the south of Europe, and
inhabiting alike salt, brackish, and fresh water. With a mouth devoid of
barbels, these fish are easily recognised by the scales extending on to the
head, as well as by the absence of a fatty dorsal fin, and the backward
position of the rayed dorsal. As in the carps, the margin of the upper jaw is
formed entirely by the premaxillary bones. The third upper pharyngeal
bone is enlarged, and teeth are present, not only on the pharyngeals, but
likewise in the margins of the jaws. Whereas some cyprinodonts feed on
living animals, others seek their food in mud. The males, which are much
inferior in size to their partners, include some of the smallest of all living
fishes ; and most species produce their young in a living condition. In a
family so extensive, it is difficult to select genera for special mention. The
typical Cyprinodon has a very wide distribution, and is represented by seven
species from the countries bordering the Mediterranean. Some of its
members are remarkable for inhabiting springs or pools almost saturated with
salt, while others are found in springs of very high temperature. Perhaps
the most noteworthy forms are the species of the genus Anableps from
Tropical America, in which the eyes are divided by a horizontal line into an
upper and a lower half. The convexity of the lens differs in these two halves,
the upper half being suited to vision in air, and the lower in water. This
enables the fish to see perfectly in both media when swimming near the
surface of the water, with one half of the eye below, and the other above, the
surface. A good account of the habits of these curious fishes has been
502 PISCES SUB-CLASS IILTELEOSTOMI.
recently published in the Field newspaper. It may be mentioned that,
according to an American writer, the name of the family should be changed
from Cyprinodontidce to Pceciliidce.
Nearly allied to the last are two genera of small North American fishes, in
one of which (Amblyopsis) the eyes are wanting, while in the second (Cholo-
gaster) they are very minute. The one is represented by the
Family well-known blind fish from caves and other subterranean
Amblyopsidce. waters, while the single species of the latter is found in the
rice-fields of the Southern States, although very rare.
Chologaster has no pelvic fins, but these may or may not be present in
Amblyopsis. as is also the case with Cyprinodon. The blind fish, which grows
to a length of about five inches, is quite colourless, and when the dark waters
of their habitat are artificially illuminated these fishes have a weird and
ghostly appearance.
Of the other two families of the section, the first is an unimportant one,
represented by one species of the single genus Umbra from Austria and
Hungary, and a second from the United States. Small in
Families size, these fish are very similar to the Cyprinodontidce, from
UmbridiK and which they may be distinguished by the lateral margin of
Esocidce. the upper jaw being formed by the maxillae. Although like-
wise represented only by a single genus (Esox), the pikes are
a much more important and better-known family, the common European
species (E. lucius) being well known to all. Pike are inhabitants of the fresh
waters of North America, Tem-
perate Asia, and Europe, but are
more numerously represented in
the Western than in the Eastern
Hemisphere, six species being ex-
clusively American, whereas the
common pike ranges over all three
continents. In these fishes the
Fig. 28. COMMON PIKE. margin of the upper jaw is formed
in the same manner as that of the
Umbrers ; but the absence of scales on the head serves to distinguish them
from all other members of the section. Their elongated, "pike "-like form,
their large size, and their voracious habits, are familiar features of the family ;
but it may be added that there are no barbels to the mouth, while there is no
fatty fin, and the dorsal occupies the position of the fatty fin of the Salmonidce.
Summarising some of the accounts which have been given of the voracity and
fierceness of the pike, the editor of this volume writes as follows : "It has
been known to attack a man when its retreat has been cut off, to bite the legs
of bathers, and to snap at the fingers of persons cooling their hands in the
water ; and when pressed with hunger, to fight an otter for the possession of a
carp. Its strength and endurance have often been demonstrated in the
destruction of strong tackle, and in its power to survive without apparent
inconvenience with hooks and wires mingling with its anatomy. Captain
Brown gives an instance of a pike being caught which had a strong piece of
twisted wire projecting from its side. It was in excellent condition, and on
being opened, discovered in its stomach a double eel-hook, much corroded,
and attached to the protruding wire. Another pike, when caught in the
River Ouse, was found in possession of a watch with a black ribbon and seals
attached property which, it was afterwards discovered, had belonged to a
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 503
gentleman's servant who had been drowned. The pike has often been caught
with portions of tackle broken from the line in former engagements hanging
from its mouth. Its rapacity is extraordinary. Eight hundred gudgeon are
said to have been consumed in three weeks by eight pike of not more than
five pounds weight each. "
Section E. Scyphophori.
The next family of the Physostomi comprises a few fishes from Tropical
Africa which appear to have no very near relations, and are consequently re-
garded as forming a sectional group by themselves. The
chief characters of the section are derived from the bones of Family
the skull, in which the parietals are separate alike from one Mormyridce.
another, and from the supraoccipital ; while the pterotic
bones, which are situated on the outer sides of the parietals, are large, funnel-
shaped, and contain a cavity closed by a lid. The full series of bones are
developed in the gill-cover, and in the back-bone the four first joints are
separate and unmodified. As a family, the Mormyridce are characterised by
the naked head, the want of barbels, the slit-like opening of the gills, the
simple air-bladder, and the absence of a fatty fin on the back. The front
portion of the margin of the upper jaw is constituted" by the premaxillse,
which are united together ; but the sides are formed by the maxillse. All
these fishes are dwellers in fresh water. The typical genus is Mormyrus,
from which some writers distinguish certain species under the name of
Mormyrops, other members of the family being included in Gymnarchus,
which is characterised by the complete disappearance of the pelvic, anal, and
caudal fins, the tail terminating in a point. Many of the species of Mormyrus,
have the muzzle more or less elongated and beak-like, but M. petersi has the
extremity of the lower jaw produced into a large, conical, fleshy appendage
of great relative length. Gymnarchus of which there is only one species is,
on the other hand, a large eel-like fish, growing to a length of a couple of
yards.
Section F. Isospondyli.
The sixth and last section of the Physostomi is the largest and most im-
portant of all, including in addition to many other groups the families of
the herrings and salmon, whose numerous representatives are so highly
valued as food.
These fishes are the most generalised of all the Physostomi, and conse-
quently make the nearest approach to the under -mentioned ganoids. In all
of them the two parietal bones are separate, and the so-called
symplectic bone, which is wanting in the preceding family, is Family
here present. As in the latter, the anterior segments of the Notopteridce.
vertebral column are of the simple, unmodified type ; but
both the upper and the lower pharyngeal bones are separate. The first
representative of the section is the genus Notopterus, which constitutes a
family by itself, and includes several species from the Oriental countries and
West Africa. None of these fishes have a fatty dorsal fin or barbels, but
many of them possess a short and tall dorsal fin, situated far back on the body,
504 PISCES SUB-CLASS IILTELEOSTOMI.
and standing up in such a conspicuous manner as to give rise to the name of
'* feather-back.'' A better character is, however, to be found in the backward
continuation of the anal fin to form a fringe surrounding the tail. There are
many other structural peculiarities in these fresh-water fishes, but it will
suffice to mention that the air-bladder is divided into a number of compart-
ments, and furnished at each end with a pair of prolongations, so that it pre-
sents some resemblance to a shark's egg in form. More important, on account
of their peculiar geographical distribution, are the small
Family fresh-water fishes from the Southern Hemisphere, forming
Galaxiidce. the genus Galaxias, and typifying a family by themselves.
They have the base of the skull single, the pterotic bones
solid, and the tail forked or rounded, while there are neither scales, barbels,
or a fatty fin, the dorsal being situated directly over the anal fin. The eggs
of the female are discharged into the cavity of the abdomen, as in the last
family, from which these fishes differ by the simple structure of the air-
bladder. The typical Galaxias has long been known from the extremity of
South America, Australia, and New Zealand (where, from their spotted
coloration, they were formerly known as trout), but it is only recently that
a species has been recorded from the Cape. The New Zealand Neochanna
of which the known specimens have been found buried in mud far away from
water differs by the lack of the pelvic fins.
This family is noteworthy on account of its containing the largest fresh-
water bony fish, the huge Arapaima gigds of the Guianas and Brazil, which
attains a length of fully fifteen feet, and a weight of four
Family hundred pounds. As a family, the arapaimas are distin-
Osteoglossidce. guished from the Galaxiidce, by generally possessing three,
instead of two, upper pharyngeal bones. The body of these
fishes is invested with unusually large scales, marked with a kind of mosaic-
like sculpture, but the head is devoid of scales, and protected by large rough-
ened, ossified plates. Wide
openings of the mucus canal
constitute the lateral line, and
the long dorsal fin is placed
immediately over the anal
to which it is almost similar
very far back on the body.
Fig. 29. ARAPAIMA. Indeed, so far back are these
fins, that they sometimes co-
alesce with the caudal. The openings of the gills are wide, and both the
premaxillse and maxillae enter into the formation of the margin of the upper
jaw ; but there are no false gills. Whereas some forms have the air-bladder
simple, in others it is composed of cells. Allusion having been already made
to Arapaima, we pass on to the typical Osteoylossum, of which there is one
species from South America, and a second from Borneo and Sumatra, while
the other two are inhabitants of Australia. A pair of barbels to the lower
jaw, and the obliquity of the cleft of the mouth, are sufficient to distinguish
these large fishes from Arapaima. The flesh is of excellent quality. The
last genus, Heterotis, is African, and differs from the other two in having
only two upper pharyngeal bones thereby resembling the Galaxiidce and
its air-bladder is cellular. The one species is common to the Nile and the
rivers of West Africa.
A fresh-water fish from North America known as the moon-eye (Hyvdon
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 505
tergissus), and a small fish (Pantodon bucholzi) remarkably like a cyprinodont,
from West Africa, severally represent two families. From
the foregoing families of the section, these two groups are Families
distinguished by the under-mentioned characters. The Hyodontidce and
pterotic bones are of normal conformation ; there are four Pantodonlidce.
separate upper pharyngeal bones, of which the third and
largest is directed forwards ; and the base of the skull is double. All these
features are common to the remaining families of the section. In the Hyo-
dontidce the two parietal bones are united together, and the bony structure
supporting the tail-fin is preceded by two true caudal vertebrae. Whereas in
the moon-eye the tail is deeply forked, in Pantodon it terminates in a point.
A long slender fish from the seas of Australia, Japan, and
South Africa, known as the beaked salmon (Gonorhynchus Family
greyi\ likewise constitutes a separate family, distinguished Gonorhynchidce.
from the last two by the presence of barbels to the mouth, and
the absence of true caudal vertebrae. The beaked salmon varies from a foot to a
foot and a half in length, and is often found in sandy bays. Its flesh is eaten.
The three families now to be mentioned include marine fishes, of which the
majority are deep-sea or pelagic in their habitat, while many are remarkable
for the development of special phosphorescent organs, by the
aid of which they find their way in the dark ocean abysses. Families
From the preceding family, the Scopelidce are distinguished Scopelidce,
by the absence of barbels, and of spines on the scales (when Sternoptychidce,
the latter are developed), and the presence of a small and Stomiatidce.
fatty fin posterior to the dorsal. Whereas some forms are
scaled, others are naked ; but all are characterised by the wide gill-opening,
the possession of false gills, the absence of an air-bladder, and the formation
of the margin of the upper jaw by the premaxillse alone. A peculiarity of
these fishes is the extreme shortness of the intestine. The typical genus
Scopelus includes fishes of normal form, with rows of phosphorescent spots on
the lower side of the body ; but in Ipnops the whole body is exceedingly long
and slender, and the upper surface of the flattened head occupied by a large
luminous organ. Other genera are Saurus, Paralepis, Plagyodus (in which
the body is naked, and the jaws are armed with large tusks), and Gymno-
scopelus, in which scales are likewise wanting. Of the other two families it
will be unnecessary to give all the characters, but it may be mentioned that
in the Sternoptychidce the fatty fin is either very small or rudimental, while
there are no barbels, and the body may be either naked or covered with thin
deciduous scales, while the maxillse enter into the margin of the upper jaw.
On the lower parts, light-organs are developed. One of the best-known
forms is the somewhat elongated Photichthys, from which the allied CJiauliodus
differs by the large size of its teeth. On the other hand, the typical Ster-
noptyx has the body deep and compressed, and the tail short. The Stomiatidce
differ by the presence of a long barbel attached to the hyoid bone, which
depends from the lower jaw, the fatty fin being often totally wanting.
Astronesthes, which is one of the genera with a small fatty fin, has a large
head, and jaws armed with powerful teeth. Stomias and Echibstoma both
lack the fatty fin, but whereas the former has the body covered with minute
scales, in the latter the skin is naked, and the small pectoral fins have some
of their rays prolonged into thread-like filaments. At times the deep-sea
fishes of the present group are met with floating in a helpless inert condition
on the surface of the ocean ; but they are generally only obtained by
506 PISCES SUB-CLASS I1I.TELEOSTOMI.
dredging. When brought to the surface, owing to the sudden diminution of
pressure, their eyes start out of the sockets, the scales stand erect, and the
flesh is loose and fragile, so that the preservation of specimens is frequently
a matter of considerable difficulty.
These two unimportant families, severally represented by a single type,
may be distinguished from the preceding members of the Isospondyli by the
circumstance that the supraoccipital bone of the skull ex-
Families Chiro- tends forwards so as to separate the two parietals from one
centridce and another. And in this feature they agree with the members
Bathythrissidm. of the following families of the section, except for a few
aberrant types of two. The first family is represented by
the dorab (Chiroceidrus dorab), of the Malayan and Red Seas, and is dis-
tinguished by the possession of but one caudal vertebra. The dorab is a large
elongated fish, with a deeply-forked tail, no fatty fin, an up-turned muzzle,
powerful teeth, and a sharply-keeled and serrated under surface. In length
it is stated to grow to as much as twelve feet. Very different is the deep-sea
Bathythrissa dorsalis of Japan, in which the body is deep and oblong, with
the under surface rounded, the head naked and without barbels, and the
dorsal fin so much elongated as to occupy nearly the whole length of the
back, a fatty fin being wanting. This fish forms an exception to the gener-
ality of the members of the sub-order in lacking an air-bladder.
The familiar "red-herring," in its natural condition, is the type of a family
of mostly marine and littoral fishes whose importance as a food-supply can
scarcely be overrated. Limits of space, unfortunately,
Herrings. allow of only a very inadequate notice of the group. Dr.
~, * y Giinther writes " that the family of herrings is probably un-
upei ce. surpassed by any other in the number of individuals, al-
though others comprise a much greater variety of species. The herrings are
principally coast fishes, or at least do not go far from the shore ; none belong
to the deep-sea fauna, scarcely any have pelagic habits, but many enter or
live in fresh-waters communicating with the sea. They are spread over all
the temperate and tropical zones. " With the exception of one genus, agree-
ing with the Cfliirocentidce in the structure of the skull and presence of a
single caudal vertebra, the Clupeidce are specially characterised by the want
of a fatty fin, and the general presence of small plates of bone on the lower
surface of the body, which is usually sharp and often serrated. The head
is devoid of barbels, and usually also of scales, but the body is always fully
scaled, although the lateral line is generally wanting. The margin of the
upper jaw is formed in part by the premaxillse, and in part by the maxillre ;
each of the latter bones consisting of three distinct elements. Usually the
gill-openings are complete, and the
operculum comprises the full number of
elements. The rays of the short dorsal
fin are few and weak, although those of
the anal may be numerous. The air-
bladder is comparatively single, and
most members of the family are fur-
fig. 30, THE HERRING. nished with false gills. In the typical
genus Clupea the two jaws are sub-equal
in length, the eyes have fatty lids, and the body is compressed, with the
abdomen serrated inferiorly as far forwards as the chest. The cleft of the
mouth is of moderate width, and if teeth are present at all, they are rudi-
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 507
mental and deciduous. The anal fin is of moderate length, with less than
thirty rays, the dorsal fin is placed above the pelvic pair, and the caudal is
deeply forked. Among over half a hundred species, we may name the common
herring (C. harengus), the spratt (C. sprattus), the alliceshad (C. alosa}, the
shad (C. finta), the American mossbanker (C. menhaden}, and the pilchard or
sardine (C. pilchardus). Herrings, as is well known, are gregarious and car-
nivorous fishes, going about in huge shoals, the presence of which is often
indicated not only by the appearance of the surface of the water, but by the
flocks of sea-birds which hover overhead in search of prey. The shoals
appear to approach the coasts solely for the purpose of spawning, after which
they retire to deeper water. Australia is the home of certain fresh-water
herrings forming the genus Diplomystus, and characterised by having plates of
bone behind the head similar in character to those on the under surface.
Another and larger genus (Engraulis) is typified by the Mediterranean
anchovy, and is characterised by the prolongation of the nearly conical snout
beyond the tip of the lower jaw, and by the eyes being covered with a con-
tinuous skin. The Mediterranean species, either preserved whole, or made
into a paste, affords the piquant anchovy of commerce. The only other type
that can be mentioned here is Elops, which is peculiar in that the parietal bones of
the skull are in contact, and also for the possession of two caudal vertebrae.
There are two species from the warmer seas, in both of which the space
between the two branches of the lower jaw is protected by a thin plate of
bone, while the lower surface of the body is rounded and smooth.
Very brief notice must suffice for two small and unimportant families now
generally placed between the closely allied groups of the herrings and salmon.
The Alepocephalidce, resemble Elops, and thus the Salmonidce,
in having two caudal vertebrae, but differ from the former, Families Alepo-
and thereby agree with most of the latter, in that the two cephalidce and
parietal bones of the skull are separated by the supra- Haplochitonidce.
occipital. They lack, however, the fatty fin of the latter, and
barbels are wanting to the head, which is likewise devoid of scales, as is
sometimes also the body. Both pairs of jaw-bones enter into the formation
of the margin of the upper jaw, and the stomach lacks the blind appendage,
or caecum, characterising that of the herrings. In the typical genus Alepo-
cephalus the body is covered with thin scales, but in Xenodermichthys these
are replaced by fine nodules. Two other genera are known. The trout-like
fish from the rivers of Chili and the southern extremity of South America
and the Falklands known as Haplochiton, together with the allied Austra-
lian genus Prototroctes, represent the second of the two families now under
consideration ; the first of these resembling a scaleless trout, whereas in the
second the body is scaled and the jaws are armed with minute teeth. These
fish differ from the families last noticed in possessing a small fatty fin. In
this respect they resemble the Salmonidce, from which they may be dis-
tinguished by the fact that the maxillae do not enter into the formation of the
margin of the upper jaw.
From the other allied families the Salmonidce may be distinguished by the
possession of a small fatty fin between the dorsal and the tail, coupled with
the circumstance that the margin of the upper jaw is formed
in front by the premaxillae and at the sides by the maxillae. Salmon Tribe.
The inferior aspect of the body is rounded ; and whereas the Family
skin of the head is invariably naked, the body is generally Salmonidce,
clothed with scales. The Salmonidce are in the main re-
508 PISCES SUB- CLASS III. TELEOSTOML
stricted to the cooler portions of the Northern Hemisphere, although one
genus is found in the fresh waters of New Zealand. Whereas some kinds
spend the whole of their time in fresh water lakes or rivers, others descend
periodically to the sea or, as it is perhaps more correct to say, ascend rivers
from the sea for the purpose of spawning. Certain kinds are, however, per-
manently marine, most of these being deep-water fishes, although the mem-
bers of two genera are pelagic. On account of the large size of many of the
species, coupled with the superlatively excellent quality of their flesh, the
Salmonidm are commercially one of the most valuable families of fishes. It
appears that the "salmon-colour" characterising the flesh of some of the
species is due to the pigment derived from the crustaceans on which they
feed ; the action of the gastric juice turning such pigment red in the same
manner as boiling. Volumes have been written on the life-history of the
Salmonidce, and the question as to the number of species of fresh-water trout
and charr ; and many pages of this work would be necessary to give even a
full outline of the subject. As it is, little more than a bare mention of the
leading genera and species can be attempted. It should, however, be men-
tioned that whereas the adults are usually silvery, or spotted with black and
red, the immature fish pass through a stage the "parr" when they are
marked by dark transverse bars. In certain fresh-water kinds these imma-
ture markings may, however, be retained individually during the whole of
life. There are also sexual or seasonal differences in the adult fish ; as
exemplified by the hooked lower
jaw of the male salmon in the
spawning season. The genus
Salmo, which includes the com-
mon salmon (S. salmo), and the
various species or varieties of trout
and charr, has the dorsal fin
Fig. 31. THE SALMON. situated nearly or immediately
above the pelvic pair, the scales
small, and well-developed teeth in the jaws, and likewise on the vomerine
and palatine bones and tongue ; while the anal fin never includes more than
fourteen rays, and the intestine is furnished with a large number of small
blind appendages or caeca. Moreover, the mouth is so deeply cleft, that its
opening extends at least as far back as the eye. Southwards, the range of
this large genus does not extend beyond the Atlas and Hindu Kush in the
Eastern Hemisphere, or the rivers flowing into the head of the Gulf of
California in the Western. In the various kinds of true salmon and trout the
whole length of the bone known as the vomer carries teeth during some
period of life. On the other hand, in the mostly smaller and more brilliantly-
coloured charr the vomerine teeth are restricted to the head of that bone.
The largest member of the charr group is the Danubian hucho (8. hucho),
which rivals the salmon in size. The migratory species, which periodically
ascend the rivers of North America and Asia flowing into the Pacific in in-
credible numbers, form the genus Onchorhynchus, distinguished by the
possession of more than fourteen rays in the anal fin. A third genus
(Osmerus) contains the three species of smelt, and is to some extent inter-
mediate between Salmo and Onchorhynchus on the one hand, and Coregomts
on the other. They are, however, peculiar, on account of the small size and
number of the csecal appendages to the intestine, while their eggs are rela-
tively small. As examples of the large and mostly fresh-water genus Core-
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 509
may be mentioned the vendace (C. vandesius), the pollan (C. pottaii),
and the powan (C. dupeoides), all of which are British. Like smelts, these fish
have small eggs ; but then they have a great number of blind appendages to
the intestine, and if any teeth remain in the adult, they are usually restricted
to the tongue, while even in the young state these organs are minute. The
cleft of the mouth is always much less deep than in the Salmo, while the
forking of the tail is more strongly marked. In common with the grayling,
these fishes differ from the other members of the family in that the two
parietal bones meet together for a short distance in the middle line in ad-
vance of the supraoccipital. The genus extends over a considerable portion
of Northern Europe, Asia, and America ; and its very numerous members
are for the most part permanent inhabitants of fresh water. The grayling
(Thymallus), which have a geographical distribution very similar to that of
Coregonus, differ from that genus by the taller and longer dorsal fin, in which
the number of rays varies from thirteen to twenty-three. The mouth, too,
has a smaller cleft ; while the blind appendages of the intestine are much
less numerous, and teeth are present in the jaws, and on the palatines and
the head of the vomer, although wanting from the tongue. Although rang-
ing from Lapland to Venice, and from England to Russia, the grayling is a
very local fish, which is unknown in Ireland ; and it appears that only under
certain conditions will it thrive and multiply in a river. A writer in Land
and Water for 1868 remarks, that "there is one singular peculiarity about
the grayling that distinguishes it from all other .species of Salmonidce, and
that is its remarkable odour. It resembles more than anything else the smell
of a freshly-cut cucumber ; by this criterion it may be immediately detected.
Some authorities assert that the smell of this fish resembles thyme, but I
cannot endorse this, or perceive the slightest affinity."
A small family is represented by the North American fresh-water Percopsis
gnttata and the allied Columbia transmontana, which, although possessing the
structural features of the Salmonidce, assimilate in the nature
of the scales and the bones of the mouth to the perch Percopsidse.
tribe.
SUB-ORDER VI. ^THEOSPONDYLI.
This and the next subordinal group of the Actinopterygii are now respec-
tively represented only by a single North American genus, although both
were abundant during earlier epochs of
the earth's history. To understand
fully their relationship to other fishes
it is essential to take the extinct forms
into consideration, but as this is im-
possible here, their general structural
features can be only very slightly touched j^ 32. BOXY PIKE.
upon. The present sub-order is now
represented only by the three species of bony pike (Lepidosteus) from
the fresh waters of North America, which typify the family Lepidosteidm.
These fishes, some of which measure fully six feet in length, have the
head covered with bony plates, and the whole body invested with a
coat of hard, shining, quadrangular scales, which articulate together by means
of a peg and socket. The long head is depressed, with the jaws well-armed
with teeth ; and the body is elongated, with the anal and dorsal fins which
have no spines placed near the tail, and the latter of the so-called abbreviate
510 PISCES SUB-CLASS IILTELEOSTOMI.
heterocercal type. In the skeleton, the vertebrae are unique among living
fishes in that the articular surfaces of their bodies form a cup behind and a
ball in front. The air-bladder has a duct, and the nerves supplying the eyes
where they meet one another in the middle line give off interlacing fibres, and
there are remnants of a spiral valve in the lining membrane of the intestine.
Bony pike, which are abundant in many of the North American rivers, are
very analogous in their habits to true pike, feeding upon other fishes.
SUB-ORDER VII. PROTOSPONDYLI.
The single existing family (Amiidce) of this once abundant subordinal
group is now represented by the bow-fin (Amia-calva) of the fresh waters of
the United States. This fish, while agreeing with the bony pike in the con-
formation of the optic nerves supplying the eyes, differs in the fuller develop-
ment of the spiral valve in the intestine, and in the simpler form of the
bodies of the vertebrae, which are disc-like. Although the scales are coated
with ganoin, they differ from those of the bony pike in being thin, rounded,
and deeply over-lapping. A peculiar
feature of the bow-fin, and the one
from which it takes its vernacular
name, is the great length of the
dorsal fin, which occupies more than
half the entire length of the back,
and posteriorly is separated only by
a notch from the tail-fin ; the latter
Fig. 33. BOW-FIN. being of the abbreviate heterocercal
type. The bow-fin grows to a length
of about a couple of feet, and is a carnivorous fish, exceedingly abundant in
some of the North American lakes. It feeds not only on other fishes, but
likewise on various invertebrate animals, and can exist for a considerable
time out of water. Its favourite haunts are the dense masses of floating
vegetation fringing the North American lakes, among which it lays during
the month of May a host of minute eggs.
SUB-ORDER VIII. CHONDROSTEI STUEGEONS.
The title of royal fish bestowed on the common sturgeon would seem to in-
dicate that it has some special claim to superiority over the other members
of the finny tribe. This, however, is not the case, the title being due to the
circumstance that all such fish, according to an act of Edward II. which
appears to be still in force, belong of right to the crown. The enactment
runs that " the king shall have wreck of the sea throughout the realm, whales,
and great sturgeons, taken in the sea or elsewhere in the realm, except in
certain places privileged by the king." From all the other subordinal groups
of the Teleostomi, the sturgeons and their extinct allies are broadly distin-
guished by the greater relative number of the dermal rays in the dorsal and
anal tins, which exceed the bony or cartilaginous elements pertaining to the
true skeleton by which they are supported, instead of these two elements
being numerically equal. As regards the optic nerves and the lining mem-
brane of the intestine, the sturgeons resemble the preceding sub-order. All
the members of the sub-order have a persistent notochord and a cartilaginous
skeleton, but the tail may be of either the heterocercal or the diphycerca,
BONY FISHES AND GANOIDS. 5 1 1
type. It might be thought that the bony shields investing the head, and the
longitudinal rows of prominent bony tubercles or plates frequently present
on the otherwise entirely naked skin, would form a distinctive feature of the
group. As a matter of fact this is not so, seeing that a number of extinct
tishes now classed with the sturgeons have a complete coat of ganoid scales.
Still, however, as distinctive of the existing forms with which alone we are
concerned here the presence of these shields or plates, or both, coupled with
the absence of scales (save in one family on part of the tail) are very dis-
tinctive. Existing sturgeons may be classified in two families, in both of
which the tail is heterocercal.
The first of these is represented only by two genera, each with a single
speeies, and its distinctive features are to be found in the presence of minute
teeth in the jaws throughout life, as well as of a median series
of unpaired bony shields in the armour of the head, and Family
likewise by the skin save for a few minute stellate ossifica- Polyodontidce.
tions being naked all over the body, although there may be
a few scales on the upper lobe of the tail. The typical Polyodon falius, from
the Mississippi basin, is a comparatively small fish, apparently not exceeding
about six feet in length, characterised by the upper jaw terminating in an
enormous shovel-like beak, furnished with soft thin margins, and equal to
fully one quarter the entire length of the fish. Vastly larger is Psephurus
gladius from some of the great Chinese rivers, which grows to something
approaching twenty feet, and has a much more slender beak. Both these
fishes have minute eyes, and appear to grovel in the mud in the river bottom
hi search of their food. The occurrence of two such closely allied forms in
the rivers of North America and China is paralleled by the instance of the
American and Chinese alligators, and likewise the two kinds of giant
salamander (Megalobatrachus and Cryptobranchus), all these examples indicat-
ing the close affinity between the fauna of North America and that of North-
Eastern Asia.
The members of the second family of the group differ from the Polyodon-
tidce by the disappearance of the teeth in the adult, and likewise by the bare
skin of the body being traversed by five longitudinal rows of
large elevated bony plates. The median series of shields is Family
also wanting on the head, and the under surface of the Acipenseridce.
muzzle is provided with two pairs of flexible barbels, of
which there is no trace in the first family. All the members of the family
are restricted to the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, and all
are largely fresh water in their habits, some being exclusively so, although
others ascend the larger rivers
only for the purpose of spawn-
ing, after which they return to
the ocean. Whereas the typical
members of the family belong
to the genus Acipenser, certain
fresh- water kinds from the basin
of the Mississippi and Central Fig. 34. COMMON STURGEON.
Asia form a genus apart, under
the name of Scaphirhynchus, one of their distinctive features being the pro-
duction of the muzzle into a shovel-like beak very similar to that of Psephurus.
Of the typical genus, the largest species is the huso (Acipenser huso) of the
Russian rivers and inland seas, which occasionally attains the enormous
512 PISCES-SUBCLASS IIL-TELEOSTOML
length of four-and-twenty feet. The smallest is the sterlet (A. ruthvenus),
whose length is only about three feet, while the common species (A. sturio)
is intermediate between the other two. The sterlet claims pre-eminence on
account of the excellent quality of its flesh, while the roe of all the larger
species affords caviare, and the air-bladder isinglass. Frank Buckland writes
that " sturgeons seek their food chiefly among the mud at the bottom of rivers,
and their head is admirably adapted for the purpose. The elongated
snout, protected by broad plates, ploughs up the mud as a hog does the
ground ; and it is probably from this habit they got the name of sturgeons,
from the German, storen (which means to rake up, poke, or stir). A little
way behind the point of the snout, and on the under side, is placed a series of
worm-like tentacles, or feelers, the office of .which is to examine the objects
turned up by the snout ; and in rear of these comes the sucker-like mouth,
ready to receive what is thus provided." In reference to the last sentence,
it may be suggested that the use of the tentacles may be to attract other fishes
within range of the mouth.
ORDER II. CROSSOPTERYGII.
FRINGE-FINNED GANOIDS.
Africa is a country where several ancient types of animal life that have dis-
appeared from other regions of the globe still linger on, and a remarkable
instance of this survival is afforded by two fishes from the fresh waters of that
continent. One of these is the bichir (Polypterus bichir) of the Nile and its
tributaries, as well as the rivers of the west coast, and the other the reed-fish
(Calamoichthys calabaricus) of the fresh waters of Old Calabar on the west
coast. In the structure of their fins, and likewise in the hard quadrangular
ganoid scales with which the body is covered, these strange fishes resemble
a host of ancient types which were widely spread over the fresh waters of the
globe during the Palaeozoic epoch. Their essential difference from all other
living representatives of the sub-class Teleostomi is, however, to be found in
the structure of the fins, seeing that scales of a similar nature are met with
in the bony pike already described. In all these fishes the pectoral and
pelvic fins consist internally of a jointed longitudinal axis, from which pro-
ceed a larger or smaller number of divergent rays belonging to the dermal
system. On the under surface of the lower jaw there is at least one pair of
jugular plates occupying the space left between its two branches. The nerves
supplying the eyes when meeting one another in the middle line give off inter-
lacing fibres, and another primitive feature is the presence of a spiral valve in
the lining membrane of the intestine. The air-bladder is provided with a
duct, this being probably likewise a primitive character. Both the living
members of the order are included in the family Polypteridce, which is
characterised by the replacement of the
primitive notochord by bony vertebrae,
as well as by certain features of the
skeleton which need not be noticed
here. The tail is very short, and
terminates in a diphycercal fin ; and
the dorsal fin is peculiar in being split
Fig. 35. THE BICHIR. up into a number of finlets, severally
supported by a spine in front, such
finlets varying in the type genus from eight to eighteen in number.
SHARKS AND RAYS. 513
The anal fins are situated very far back on the elongated body, so as
to be separated by only a short distance from the caudal. It is
only in the pectoral fins that the lobate structure is visible externally,
each of these consisting of a central scaled portion, surrounded on the
free margins by a fringe of rays. The bichir, which grows to a length of
four feet, is characterised by the moderate elongation of the body, and the
presence of well-developed pelvic fins. These last are wanting in the much
smaller reed-fish, which takes its name from the excessive attenuation of
the body. Information is much wanting as to the life-history of these fishes,
although it is known that they lay small eggs. If we may judge from the
analogy of the Australian lung-fish, which has a similar type of fins, it is,
however, probable that they are comparatively slow and sluggish in their
movements, and live on, if not in, the mud at the river bottoms. In the late
larval state, Polypterus, at any rate, develops a large external gill on each
side, projecting backwards from the gill-opening. In addition to the fringing
dorsal fin, the tubular nasal openings may be noticed as peculiar characters
of the existing forms. It may be added that some authorities like Dr.
Steindachner recognise more than a single species of bichir, one of them
being named Polypterus lapradei.
SUB-CLASS IV. ELASMOBRANCHII.
SHARKS AND RAYS.
THE dreaded sharks are the types of a fairly large sub-class of 6shes, which
also includes the smaller but very similar dog-fishes, as well as the more
aberrant saw-fishes, and the skates and rays. The latter are, indeed, so
unlike sharks in general appearance, that it is probable their affinities to the
latter are not generally recognised. Nevertheless, the two groups agree in
all essential structural features, and are evidently very nearly allied. Per-
haps the most characteristic feature of the sub-class, and the one from which
it derives its title of Elasmobranchii, is the conformation of the gills and their
apertures. Everybody knows the five vertical slits on each side of the neck
of a dog-fish. These are the apertures leading into the gill-chambers; and
in the latter the gills themselves are attached by their margins to the skin.
It will not fail to be noticed that in this type of structure there is nothing
comparable to the gill-cover or operculum of the bony fishes and their allies.
Still there is a very important point of connection between the Elasmo-
branchii and the Teleostomi ; this being a feature whereby these two sub-
classes are broadly distinguished from the Dipnoi and Holocephali. To
explain this peculiarity in detail requires the use of a number of technical
terms; and it must suffice to state that it is connected with the manner in
which the suspending apparatus of the lower jaw is attached to the skull ;
the attachment in this case being movable, whereas in the other two sub-
classes it is immovably fixed. It has been said above that the number of
gill-slits in a dog-fish is five, and this number is very characteristic of the
order generally. Still, however, there are a few exceptions, and the number
of slits may be increased to six or even seven on each side of the neck.
34
5H PISCES SUB-CLASS IV.ELASMOBRANCHTL
Although the structure of the breathing apparatus alone is sufficient to dis-
tinguish the Elasmobranchii from all other fishes, it is advisable to glance at
some of the other leading structural features of their organisation. And
here it may be mentioned that we allude only to the living forms, and that
some extinct groups do not agree in all respects with the characteristics of
the sub-class as defined from the former alone. From the typical bony
fishes, the Elasmobranchii are distinguished internally by the cartilaginous
nature of the skeleton ; such hardening as takes place in this framework
being due to the deposition of calcareous matter in the cartilage, and not to
the replacement of the latter by bone. In consequence of this want of
development of bony structures, the primitive cartilaginous skull persists
throughout life ; and the functional jaws are bars of cartilage, which do not
correspond with the bony jaws of higher creatures. Teeth of the ordinary
structure are developed on these spurious jaws; and such hard structures as
exist in the skin likewise partake of the nature of teeth, and are, therefore,
very distinct from bone. Of this kind are the fine granules found in the
skin of sharks, and the larger pustules, cones, knobs, or spines occurring on
that of many kinds of rays, where they are often arranged in a number of
isolated prominent ridges on different parts of the back. From this remark-
able absence of bone in the group, the name of boneless fishes would not be
an inappropriate name for the sharks and rays. Owing to the number of
minute tooth-like structures embedded in its surface, shark-skin forms an
admirable polisher; and as it also affords a firm hand-hold, it is likewise used
for covering sword-hilts.
In their internal structure the Elasmobranchii show a decidedly primitive
type, in that where the two nerves supplying the eyes meet, there the fibres
interlace to form a chiasma. The formation of a spiral valve by the lining
membrane of the intestine also seems to be a primitive feature. In no mem-
ber of the group is an air-bladder ever developed. Unlike ordinary tishes,
sharks lay a small number of eggs, each of which is of large size, and is
entirely separate from the other. Generally these eggs are invested in a
hard, horny envelope, which is of an oblong shape, and furnished at each
angle with a curling tendril, by means of which they become moored to the
stems of sea-weeds or other submarine objects, where they remain till the
young come forth. The empty envelopes are frequently to be found thrown
up on the beach, and are commonly known as sea- purses. In certain species
the eggs are, however, retained within the body of the female parent until
hatched, so that the young are born alive. While within the shell, young
sharks and rays are provided with external gills, and thus resemble tadpoles,
but these gills are always lost before birth. The upper surface of the head
in many members of the group is furnished with the organs known as
spiracles.
As regards the internal skeleton of the fins of the Elasmobranchii, it will
suffice for our present purpose to state that the supporting cartilages are
arranged somewhat in the form of a fan made up of flattened divergent rays, at
the base of which are certain other short cartilages. To the homologies of
these latter it is unnecessary to refer in this work. In a few living sharks
powerful spines whose structure is also comparable to that of teeth form
the front portion of the dorsal fins, such spines being loosely inserted in the
flesh, without any basal connection with the vertebrae. The pelvic fins are
situated a long distance behind the pectoral pair; and in the males the sup-
porting axis of each of the former is developed, as in the Chimseroids, into a
SHARKS AND RAYS. 515
long conical clasper. The tail-fin is of the heterocercal type, with its upper
lobe which is traversed by the extremity of the back-bone greatly de-
veloped at the expense of the lower one. As all are aware who have ever
seen a shark turn over on its back to seize its prey, in most members of the
class the mouth is situated on the lower aspect of the head, some considerable
distance behind the tip of the muzzle. And a cruel mouth it is in the case
of ordinary sharks, where it is lined with row after row of sharp triangular
teeth, of which the outermost stand upright in readiness for immediate use,
whereas those of the innermost rows are recumbent, and not destined to see
active service until those near the margins have been worn out and shed. Some
sharks, like the Port Jackson species, have, however, the mouth placed in
the ordinary position at the extremity of the muzzle, while the teeth except
a few at the front of the jaws have low flattened, crowns, and form a mill-
like pavement adapted to grinding the shells of molluscs and crabs. Rays,
too, have pavement-like teeth of a still more markedly crushing type,
although in the males of certain kinds the individual denticules are
cusped.
Sharks include the most predaceous and most dreaded of all fishes, and
many of the rays are likewise formidable monsters, which have the power of
inflicting terrible wounds by means of the poisonous spines arming the whip-
like tail. Bodily size is, however, by no means a criterion of offensive power
among the members of the sub-class, since the largest of all sharks, namely,
the basking-sharks, are harmless species, whose terminal mouths are armed
only with feeble teeth, and whose food consists chiefly of various invertebrate
animals. Skates and rays, which are bottom-haunting creatures, likewise
feed on invertebrates, their grinding teeth being specially adapted for crush-
ing shells. Although many kinds ascend tidal rivers for considerable dis-
tances, while a few have become adapted probably owing to physical
alterations on the earth's surface to a fresh-water mode of life, the Elasmo-
branchii in general are marine fishes. Although, as already stated, the rays
are found on the sea-bottom, while some sharks are met with at great depths,
the majority of the latter group are essentially pelagic creatures, pursuing
their prey at or near the surface of the open sea. The abundance of food to
be met with in the neighbourhood of frequented harbours renders these fishes
generally more numerous in such localities than elsewhere.
ORDER I. SELACHIL
SUB-ORDER I. ASTEROSPONDYLI.
As all the existing members of the sub-class are placed in a single
ordinal group, it will be unnecessary to enter into the consideration of the
features by which that order is distinguished from the extinct groups now
included among the Elasmobranchii. It will accordingly suffice to point out
the distinctive features of the sub-order Asterospondyli, which includes the
greater number of the sharks. The group takes its name from the structure
of the bodies of the vertebrae, which in section show a star-like arrangement
of the calcareous plates forming their internal support, such radiating plates
being considerably more numerous than the circular ones running parallel to
the outer surface. The members of this sub-order are characterised exter-
5i6 PISCES SUB-CLASS IV.ELASMOBRANCHIL
nally by the long and nearly cylindrical body, the powerful rudder-like tail,
the presence of an anal tin, the moderate dimensions of the pectorals, and
the small size or absence of the spiracle. In consequence of the divergence
of the two branches of the jaws, the teeth form oblique rows, and at
least the teeth in the front of the jaws are sharp-pointed, their general
form being a much flattened cone, with or without lateral cusps at the
base.
In the family typified by the formidable blue shark there are no spines to
the fins ; the first dorsal fin is placed immediately over the space separating
the pelvics from the pectorals, the teeth have hollow crowns,
Family and are generally sharp-pointed, the mouth is inferior, the
Carchariidce. skin is of the shagreen type, and the eyes are furnished with
a nictitating membrane, which fulfils the function of an eye-
lid. The limits of our space forbid giving the distinctive features of the
various genera included in this family. The blue shark (Carcharias glaucus)
is the most familiar
representative of the
type genus, while the
strange-looking ham-
mer-headed sharks
form another genus
(Sphyrna), distin-
guished from all
other fish by the
Fig. 36. BLUE SHARK, peculiar flattening
and lateral expan-
sion of the muzzle into a pair of projecting lobes, each bearing an eye at its
apex. These sharks grow to a length of about fifteen feet, and are fairly
abundant in the warmer seas. The genus Galeus, in which the head is of
normal form, includes small sharks, represented in British waters by the
tope (G. canis). Other small British sharks known as hounds (Mustelus)
differ externally by the more blunted form of the muzzle. Unlike the species
of Carcharias, these sharks haunt the bottom of shallow seas, where they
feed on shell-fish, crabs, etc. They produce living young. Stories of the
ferocity of the various kinds of large carnivorous sharks are so numerous that
it is difficult to make a selection. The following anecdote by the well-known
writer, Mrs. Bowdich, is, however, of special interest, as illustrating the
indifference to the near presence of these terrible monsters which seems to
become habitual to the natives of many of the warmer coasts. " Sharks
abounded at Cape Coast," writes this lady, "and one day, as I stood at a
window commanding a view of the sea, I saw some of the inhabitants of the
town bathing, and the sharks hastening to seize upon them they being
visible from always swimming with part of their dorsal fin out of water. I
sent to warn the men of their danger, and all came ashore except one, who
laughed at the caution of his companions. A huge shark was rapidly ap-
proaching, and I sent my servant again, and this time armed with half a
bottle of rum to bribe the man to save himself. It was too late. The mur-
derous creature had seized him, and the water. around was dyed with his
blood. A canoe was despatched to bring him ashore, but a wave threw him
on to the beach, and it was found that the shark had taken the thigh-bone
completely out of the socket. The man, of course, expired in a few minutes.
Accidents were often happening, and always fatal, and yet the negroes, who
SHARKS AND RA YS. 517
seldom think beyond the present moment, could not be dissuaded from bath-
ing. A man walking in the sea up to his knees was dragged away by one
almost before my eyes."
From the Carchariidce the members of the allied family Lamnidce differ by
the solid crowns of the fully developed teeth as well as by the absence of a
nictitating membrane to protect the eye. The typical re-
presentative of the family is the well-known porbeagle Family
(Lamna cornubica), a species widely spread in the seas of Lamnidce.
the Northern Hemisphere, where it feeds on fishes, which are
bolted whole. It seldom grows to more than about ten feet in length, and is
believed to produce its young alive. Far larger is the gigantic Carcharodon
rondelctii, which may attain the enormous length of forty feet, and is in
truth the giant of the carnivorous sharks. It has huge, flattened, triangular
teeth of great depth ; but as teeth of similar type, although of much larger
dimensions, are met with in various superficial deposits, as they are also in
some of the ocean abysses, it is evident that the living species is only an un-
worthy representative of its ancestors. It is, however, quite large enough,
and we may be thankful that its still more gigantic predecessors have dis-
appeared from the scene. Much smaller, and with a different type of teeth,
are the two species of the allied genus Odontaspis. Next comes the thresher
or fox-shark (Alopecias vulpcs), a species growing to a length of about fifteen
feet, and easily recognised by the excessive development of the upper lobe of
the tail, which forms more than half the total length of the creature. It has
feeble teeth, and feeds on mackerel and other fish, which it drives together
by striking the surface of the water with its tail, whence the name of
thresher. Sailors state that threshers also harass whales by jumping up in
the air, and dealing them sounding "whacks" with their tails in their
descent. But this naturalists, who are for the most part an incredulous race,
stoutly refuse to believe. However, we think that, as in the case of adders
swallowing their young, popular observation is more likely to be in the right
than conclusions drawn from the study of museum specimens. To the same
family belongs the gigantic basking-shark (Cetorhinus maximus) of the North
Atlantic, commonly met with off the west coast of Ireland, and attaining a
length of fully thirty feet. This shark, which has very minute teeth, is
characterised, among other features, by the small size of the anal and second
dorsal fins, and the large dimensions of its gill-slits. It is a somewhat sociable
species, floating motionless on the surface of the sea in calm sunny weather.
On account of the large quantity of excellent oil yielded by its liver, it is a
regular object of pursuit.
Another species (Rhinodon typicus), commonly known by the same ver-
nacular name as the last, forms a family by itself, being distinguished from all
the foregoing members of the order by the terminal position
of the mouth, which is of huge size, and somewhat reminds Family Rhino-
us of an open square-topped bag. The eyes are extremely dontidce.
minute, the teeth feeble, and the whole body much de-
pressed, with the first dorsal fin relatively small, and placed behind the
highest point of the back, nearly above the pelvic pair. Still smaller is the
second dorsal, which is situated near the tail, just over the anal. In spite of
its huge dimensions, fifty feet or more, this shark is a perfectly harmless
creature. It probably feeds on small fishes and various invertebrate animals.
It appears to be confined to the Indo-Pacific seas, where it is common in the
neighbourhood of the Seychelles.
5i8 PISCES SUB-CLASS IV.ELASMOBRANCHIT.
The dog-fishes and allied members of this family differ from the foregoing
sharks with the mouth terminal by the backward position of the second
dorsal fin which occupies a position immediately over, or
Family Scyl- behind the line of the pelvic pair. The teeth, of which
liidce. several series are generally in use, are of small size, the eye
lacks the nictitating membrane, and spiracles are present on
the head. The dog-Hshes, of which there are two species from British
waters, form the genus Scyllium ; most of the species having their skins
elegantly spotted. Much larger is the Indian zebra-shark (Steyostoma),
growing to some fifteen feet in length, and taking its name from its zebra or
tiger-like coloration. Mention must also be made of the sharks of the genus
Crossorhinus, from 'Japan and Australia, not only on account of the circum-
stance that they are deep-water forms, but likewise from the presence of
leaf-like outgrowths of the skin of the sides of the head ; such appendages
being probably for the purpose of attracting prey within reach of the
jaws.
The Port Jackson shark, together with three allied species, form the genus
Cestracion (or more properly, Cestracium x ), which now alone constitutes a
family easily recognised by the peculiar character of the
Family dentition, and likewise by the presence of a spine in the
Cestraciid'jK. front portion of each dorsal fin. Whereas in the forepart of
both jaws the numerous rows of teeth are sharp and cusped,
on the sides and hinder region they form a pavement-like structure, arranged
in oblique rows ; the teeth in some of these rows being much larger than
in the others. The
mouth is situated at
the extremity of the
muzzle, and the eye
is unprovided with a
nictitating membrane.
These sharks, which do
not grow to more than
about five feet in
length, are widely dis-
tributed in the warmer
seas. Although we
7. 37. PORT JACKSON SHARK. are still very ignorant
as to their life-his-
tory, it is known that their food is principally composed of shell-6sh,
and also that their eggs are unlike those of other members of the
order, their enveloping membranes being twisted into the form of a
screw.
The two genera of sharks constituting this small sub-family stand apart
from the other members of the sub-order in regard to the manner in which
the jaws are articulated to the cranium, while externally
Family they are readily distinguished by the number of gill-clefts
Notidanidw. being increased from the normal five to either six or seven,
and also by the single dorsal fin. There is no spine to the
latter, and the teeth are cusped, and form several series. The typical genus
Notidanus includes four species, characterised by the simple gill-slits and
the complicated structure of the teeth, which consist of an elongated base
1 The name of the family is commonly given as Cestraciontidce, but it should be as written here.
SHARKS AND RAYS. 519
carrying a large number of cusps, these latter gradually diminishing in height
from one end of the tooth to the other. The notochord remains in its
original condition throughout the greater part of the backbone. These
sharks, which may grow to about fifteen feet in length, are to be found in
most of the warmer seas. In the second genus, Chlamydoselache, which is
represented only by a single species from the Japanese seas, the six gill-slits
have frill-like expansions of skin on their margins, the teeth are of simpler
structure, and the body is so long and slender as to be almost eel-like.
SUB-ORDER II. TECTOSPONDYLI.
In this sub-order which includes the spiny dog-fishes, saw-fishes, and the
rays the vertebrae, when fully developed, have their calcareous plates so
arranged that in cross-section the circular ones predominate over those that
radiate from the centre to the circumference. None of the members have an
anal fin, but the spiracles are large. In the rays the body is characterised by
its extreme depression, and the pectoral tins are developed into huge flaps
bordering its sides.
While agreeing with the other members of the sub-order in the structure
of the vertebrae, the species forming the family tfpinacidce are externally like
sharks. The gill-clefts are small and lateral in position, the
spiracles are situated behind the eyes, and there are two Family
dorsal fins, which may be furnished in front with spines. In Spinacidce.
addition to the typical genus Spinax, the family includes the
spiny dog-fishes (Acanthia&), taking their name from the presence o* spines to
the dorsal fins, and likewise the Greenland shark (Lcemargus), Whereas the
spiny dog-fishes do not exceed about four feet in length, the latter species
grows to as much as fifteen, and has no spines to the tins of the back. It has
a peculiarly tuberculated skin ; and whereas the upper teeth are small, those
of the lower jaw are taller, and have their tips bent to one side. Nearly
allied is the spiny shark (Echinorhinus) of the Atlantic and Mediterranean, in.
which the upper and lower teeth are alike.
The monk- or angel-* sh (Squatina vulgaris) is the sole member of a family
which serves to connect the last with the true rays. This ugly fish has a
depressed skate-like body, but a nearly terminal mouth, and
the pectoral tins not connected at their bases with the head. Family
The conical teeth are sharply pointed, the gill-slits are lateral, Squatinidce.
the skin is tuberculated, and the dorsal tins, which have no
spines, are placed on the tail. The monk-nsh reaches a length of fully five
feet, and is found in nearly all seas.
The production of the extremity of the upper jaw into a long, flattened
bony process, armed on each side with sharp quadrangular teeth set in
sockets, serves at once to distinguish the saw-tishes from all
their kindred. They form two genera Pristiophorus and Families
Pristis each of which is regarded as representing a family Pristiophoridce
by itself, although such a division certainly seems somewhat and Pristidce.
superfluous. The members of the first genus are relatively
small fishes from the seas of Australia and Japan, characterised, among other
features, by the lateral situation of the gill-slits, and the possession of a pair
of tentacles arising from the middle of the jaw, and projecting far beyond the
520 PISCES SUB-CLASS IV.ELASMOBRANCHII.
teeth. In the second genus, of which various members range through all
the warmer seas, the gill-slits are placed on the inferior aspect, and there
are no tentacles to the saw. Saw-fishes of this genus grow to twenty feet
or more in length, when their offensive weapon may measure as much as
a couple of yards. They are some of the most terrible and cruel members
of the whole order, using their formidable saw for the purpose of ripping
open the bodies of their victims
by a lateral stroke, and then
feeding greedily on the in-
testines and torn flesh. Even
bathers in fresh waters are by
=^-~l__^_ -_ _ ^ no means exempt from their
attacks, as these fishes fre-
Ftg. 38.- SAW-FISH. quently ascend large rivers to
a considerable distance.
The genera of beaked rays constituting this family differ from all the pre-
ceding groups by the much greater development of their pectoral fins, which
extend forwards to join the head, the portion of the head
Family and body thus surrounded by fins being technically termed
RhinobatidcK. the disc. In these and the other rays referred to below, the
dorsal fins are shifted backwards to the more or less whip-
like tail, and the gill-slits are placed inferiorly, as is generally the mouth.
The RhinobatidcR are specially distinguished from their kindred by the
moderate development of the pectoral fins, of which the portion furnished
with cartilaginous rays does not extend forwards to the beak ; and the long
tail, which is marked on the sides by a fold of skin, carries two large dorsal
fins. In addition to the typical genus Rhinobatis, which includes a consider-
able number of species from all the warmer oceans, the present family com-
prises the Australian Trigonorhina and the two species of Rhynchobatis, from
the hottest regions of the Indian Ocean. The last-named is remarkable for
the beautiful structure of its teeth, which form a compact pavement, with a
prominent ridge in the middle line of one jaw fitting into a corresponding
depression in that of the other, and also having undulations at the sides.
From six to eight feet is a common length for these rays. Like the skates
and rays of the following families, the members of these genera are some-
what sluggish fishes, living near the bottom in water of moderate depth, and
flapping lazily along when in movement by the aid of their huge pectoral fins,
the tail acting merely as a rudder. When at rest, the colour of the upper
surface of a ray's back is so like the sand or mud on which the creature rests
that it often requires a practised eye to detect its presence. The ridges of
tubercles found on the backs of some species probably increase the resem-
blance by simulating lines of small stones on the sand. The food of rays
consists of shell-fish and various crustaceans, whose hard shells are instan-
taneously ground up by the powerful mill-like jaws. In seizing their prey,
these fish throw themselves right above it, so as to be able readily to convey
it to the mouth, which is situated on the lower surface of the head some
considerable distance behind the muzzle.
The second family of rays includes the genera Raia, Psammobatis, and
Platyrhina, in all of which the disc is very broad, with its rayed portion ex-
tending as far forwards as the muzzle, while the tail is
Family Raiidce. marked on each side by a fold. Yery generally the skin is
roughened by tubercles, which may terminate in spines. To
SHARKS AND RA VS.
521
the typical genus belongs the common thornback skate of the British seas,
in which the two sexes are distin-
guished by the structure of the teeth,
those of the female forming a com-
paratively smooth pavement, whereas
those of
arranged
LTHORNBACK SKATE.
the male although still
in the same manner are
cusped. In other species of the
same genus sexual differences dis-
play themselves in other parts of
the body. Skates of this genus
are more abundant in northern than
in tropical seas, and some of them
.range considerably farther north than
any other members of the group.
The flesh of all is largely used as
food.
The presence of an electric organ,
composed of vertical prisms, between the head and the pectoral fins, serves
to differentiate the numerous kinds of electric rays from the
other representatives of the group. The body of these fishes Family
forms a broad, smooth disc, covered with a naked skin ; the Torpedinidce.
tail has a longitudinal fold on each side and a caudal fin, and
there is generally a rayed dorsal fin. The vertical prisms of the electric
organ are divided by a number of horizontal partitions into separate cells,
each filled with a translucent substance somewhat resembling jelly in ap-
pearance. The currents produced by this singular structure are precisely
similar to those from a galvanic battery ; and in fishes of moderate dimensions
are sufficiently powerful to disable even human beings. The typical genus
Torpedo includes half a dozen species from the Indian and Atlantic Oceans,
some of which are also abundant in the Mediterranean, while one occasionally
wanders to the southern shores of Britain. From the warmer seas there are
also several other genera belonging to this family, such as Astrape, Discopyqe,
Uypnus, Narcine, and Temera, severally distinguished by the conformation
and position of the fins.
The largest and most hideous of all the skates are the so-called eagle-rays,
several of which are popularly known as devil-fish. In the five genera in-
cluded in this family the pectoral fins obtain an enormous
development, in consequence of which the disc becomes Family
greatly widened. Along the sides of the head the pectoral fins JSfyliobatidcB.
are, however, interrupted ; their anterior extremities form-
ing small finlets on the muzzle, known as cephalic fins. In some of the
genera these cephalic fins are modified to form a pair of horn-like structures
projecting forwards on each side of the muzzle, the function of which is to
assist in capturing and conveying to the mouth the prey. In all, the tail
forms a long, tapering, whip-like organ. When the mouth is armed with
teeth, these take the form of a pavement, which in the typical genus Mylio-
batis is perfectly smooth, and composed of a number of oblong and hexagonal
plates, fitted closely together at their edges, and with their grinding surface
like polished ivory. Several widely-spread species are included in the
typical genus, two of which are visitors to the British coasts. Most of them
have a barbed spine to the tail, and with this, when caught, they lash out
522 PISCES SUB-CLASS IV.ELASMOR.RANCHII.
violently, and thus inflict severe wounds. In comparison with the electric
rays in which the width of the disc seldom exceeds from two to three feet
these fishes are giants, their length being at times as much as fifteen feet.
The tropical devil-fishes forming the genera Dicerobatis and Cephaloptera are,
however, still more gigantic, some examples measuring nearly twenty feet
across the disc, and weighing considerably more than a thousand pounds. In
Dicerobatis the truncated muzzle is armed with a formidable pair of horns,
the mouth is inferior, and has both its jaws furnished with teeth. On the
other hand, in Cephaloptera, the position of the mouth is terminal, and there
are teeth only in the lower jaw. Of these ungainly monsters, Mr. S. Ward,
in a letter quoted by Dr. Percival Wright, describes his experiences in the
Seychelles as follows : " Coming home, we passed close to an enormous
diable-de-mer floating quietly about. We changed from the pirogue to the
whale-boat, which I had scientifically fitted up for the grosses poissous, and
went alongside of him, driving a regular whale-harpoon right through his
body. The way he towed the whaler was beautiful, but we would not give
him an inch of line, and he had to succumb to a rather protracted lancing.
His size will give you an idea of his strength in the water forty-two feet in
circumference. We got him awash on the beach, but the united strength of
ten men could not get him an inch farther, so we were obliged to leave him
there. By this time the sharks will not have left much of him ; they have
not had such a meal for a long time. The fishermen say that, when alive,
the sharks do not molest the diable-de-mer, whose offensive weapons consist
of their enormous flexible sides (one can hardly call them fins) with which
they can beat almost any shark to death. Asa rule, when harpooned, they
endeavour, like other rays, to bury themselves in the sand, and if they
succeed in doing this, no line can ever haul them out of it their flat bodies
act on the principle of an enormous sucker. Another curious fact about
them is that when harpooned, they swim sideways, edge-on, in order to avoid
exposing too broad a surface to the enemy. They never do this unless
harpooned." Other genera are Aetobatis and Ehinoptera, both distinguished
by the dentition and the position and form of the fins. Whereas the former
of these has but a single species, the latter possesses several.
The last existing representatives of the Elasmobranchii are the formidable
and dreaded sting-rays, which are typified by the genus Trygon, but also
include Pteroplatea, Urogymnus, and Urolophus. In species
Family the typical genus is very numerous, some of these having a
Trygonidce. very wide geographical range. They are mostly tropical,
and attain their maximum development in the Atlantic Ocean
and the Indian seas. It is remarkable that certain species inhabiting the
eastern districts of Tropical America have become accustomed to a fresh-
water existence, and are now restricted to certain inland lakes. All these
fishes are distinguished by the excessive development of the fore-part of the
pectoral fins, which are so extended as to encircle the muzzle, and thus com-
plete the disc. The whip-like tail is distinctly marked off from the body,
and generally bears a poisonous serrated spine ; and in many kinds the
median fins which are never large are replaced by similar spines. These
armed rays are some of the most dangerous of all fishes.
SUB-KINGDOM I. VERTEBRATA.
CLASS VLCYCLOSTOMATA.
BY R LYDEKKER, B.A., F.R.S., V.P.G.S., &c.
LAMPREYS AND HAG-FISHES.
As indicated by the name hag-fishes, which is popularly applied to the mem-
bers of one of the two families, the animals now to be considered are
commonly regarded as fishes. Popular natural history and scientific zoology
take, however, very different estimates of the mutual relationships of or-
ganised beings ; and zoologists are now pretty well agreed that, although
they were formerly admitted within its limits, lampreys and hag-fishes have
no real claim to be included in the class Pisces. Consequently, they are now
regarded as forming a class by themselves the Cyclostomata. This class
includes the last group of animals now termed true Vertebrata; the lancelets,
which were likewise formerly regarded as fishes, being now considered as the
highest of the Protochordata or semi- Vertebrates. The essential features by
which the members of the lamprey group are broadly distinguished from the
higher classes of the Vertebrates are the complete absence of jaws, the single
instead of double aperture of the nostrils, and the rasping tongue.
Round-mouths the English equivalent of Cyclostomata is a name which
well expresses the first of these three distinctive features ; but, in allusion
to the second characteristic, the alternative name of Monorhina has likewise
been proposed for the class. Whichever name may be selected, there can be
no doubt as to the right of the lamprey group to constitute a class by itself.
Had we these living forms alone to deal with, there would be no need to
sub-divide the class into groups of higher rank than families. It happens,
however, that there are certain extinct, somewhat fish-like creatures, which
there is considerable reason for regarding as more or less distantly related
to the modern lampreys. Consequently, it is necessary to make the latter
into a sub-class by themselves ; and for this sub-class the name of Marsipo-
branchii has been selected. This name refers to the circumstance that in
the lampreys and hag-fishes the gills form a series of pouches on the sides of
the neck, on which they usually open by round apertures coincident in
number with the- pouches. Either six or seven is the number of pairs of
gill-pouches, in which there are no supporting gill-arches. The sucking-
mouth, which occupies the extremity of the muzzle, is of circular form, with
its more or less lip-like margin sustained by a system of internal cartilages.
The skin of the body is soft, and unprovided with scales ; but the upper and
lower surfaces of its hinder half bear well-developed fins in the middle line,
which are supported by vertical rays of cartilage. Paired fins correspond-
ing to those of fishes and representing the limbs of the higher Vertebrates
are, however, conspicuous by their absence ; this lack of limbs forming, in-
deed, a characteristic of the class rather than a feature of the sub-class.
Internally, a lamprey lacks all traces of ribs, and the vertebral column is
either represented by the primitive notochord alone, or by that structure
surrounded by a series of calcareous rings. In reality, therefore, a lamprey
5 2 3
524 CYCLOSTOMATA.
has only the very remotest claim to be called a vertebrate animal ; but since
some of the sharks are in a very similar predicament as regards the differ-
entiation of their backbones, this deficiency can scarcely be regarded as a bar
to the title. The heart of a lamprey is decidedly of a lower type than that
of a fish, since it lacks the chamber at the front end technically designated
the bulbus arteriosus. The digestive tract is peculiar in being quite simple
and straight; and the organs of reproduction discharge their products directly
into the general cavity of the body. The function of teeth is discharged by
a variable number of horny plates or cusps.
As a family, the lampreys are distinguished from the hag-fishes by under-
going a metamorphosis, and by the nostril terminating behind as a blind sac
without perforating the palate. In the adult form rasping
Lampreys. horny teeth cover the tongue, and teeth of similar structure
Family are present above and below the mouth, as well as in the
Petromyzidw. surrounding adhesive disc, while the aperture of the nostril
is situated near the middle of the head, and there are well-
developed eyes. The gill-pouches are seven in number, and each opens by a
separate aperture on the side of the neck ; but internally those of each side
have only a single opening into the pharynx, their ducts uniting to form one
tube. On the other hand, the larvte, which were long regarded as distinct
creatures, under the name of Ammoccetes, have an undivided median fin, and
toothless mouth. All the members of this family lay very small eggs, and
the lining membrane of the intestine forms a spiral valve. The true
lampreys, or those included in the genus Petromywnn, appear to be four in
number, and have a wide range in the Northern Hemisphere, one extending
as far south as the west coast of Africa. In this genus the hinder of the two
fins on the back is continuous with the tail-fin ; the rasp-like teeth on the
tongue are serrated ; and on the upper side of the mouth there is either a
transverse horny ridge bearing one two-cusped, or two separate teeth situated
close together. The largest form is the sea lamprey (P. marinuni), which is
not unfrequently as much as three feet in length, whereas the common river
lamprey (P. fluviatile) does not reach a couple of feet. Lampreys live
chiefly or entirely on the flesh of fishes, to whose bodies they attach them-
selves by their adhesive discs, and then rasp off the flesh with their horny
dental organs. All ascend rivers for the purpose of breeding, and the larvae
of some kinds remain in fresh water until they develop into the adult form.
At the breeding season some lampreys ascend the rivers of the Northern
Hemisphere in vast shoals. They deposit their eggs in furrows excavated in
the river bottom. Another genus (Mordcicia) is represented by a species
found in localities as remote from one another as the coasts of Tasmania and
Chili, and differs in that the teeth above the mouth are arranged in two
three-cusped groups. In the allied genus Geotria, of which one species is
found in South Australia, and the second in Chili, the hinder fin on the back
is distinct from the tail-fin. The last genus is the little-known Exomegas,
from the Argentine coast.
In this family the nostril is extended backwards to perforate the palate,
and its front aperture is placed close to the muzzle. Two pairs of barbels
decorate the sides of the muzzle, the mouth has no lip-like
Hag-Fishes. structure, a single tooth occupies the middle of the palate,
Family and the teeth on the tongue are arranged in a double comb-
Myxinida. like series. Each gill-pouch opens by a duct of its own into
the pharynx, and the external apertures of the pouches are
LAMPRE YS AND HA G- FISHES. 525
situated a considerable distance behind the head, instead of close to it.
The eggs differ from those of the lampreys by their relatively large size, as
well as by having a horny coating furnished with tendrils for the purpose of
attachment to submerged objects. The young are hatched in a fully-
developed state, and undergo no metamorphosis. In the members of the
typical genus Myxine there is only one gill-aperture on each side of the body,
but this gives rise to six ducts leading to the gill-pouches. On the other
hand, in the genus Bdellostoma each of the six or more gill-pouches com-
municates directly with the exterior by a separate aperture. Whereas the
members of the first genus have a wide geographical range, the two repre-
sentatives of the second appear to be confined to the coasts of the South
Pacific. All are exclusively marine, and they have been taken at great
depths. They are blind, and to a large extent parasitic, so that they may be
regarded as degraded types ; and they have the habit of secreting a vast
quantity of stiff slime. Like the lampreys, they feed on the flesh of fishes,
the various members of the cod tribe being their especial favourites. They
do not, however, content themselves by hanging on to the surface of the body,
for which the structure of the mouth is less suited, but actually bore their
way into the flesh of their unwilling hosts.
SUB-KINGDOM L VERTEBRATA.
CLASS VILPROTOCHORDA.
BY W. GARSTANG, M.A., F.Z.S.
SUB-CLASS I.-CEPHALOCHORDA.
THE group Cephalochorda contains a number of small marine animals which
resemble tishes in many respects, but are much more lowly organised than
even the simplest of the finny tribe. They breathe like fishes by taking
water into their mouths and passing it out through a series of slit-like holes
in the sides of their throats (gill-slits). The number of these gill-slits is much
greater than in fishes, frequently amounting to more than a hundred. A
supporting rod, the notochord, the forerunner of the backbone of higher
forms, extends along the back of the animal from head to tail, and the tubu-
lar nervous system lies above it. There are no true side-fins, but a pair of
ridges along the under side of the body of the young animal possibly re-
presents them. In the very young animal the gill-slits open directly to the
outside, but at an early period the fin -like ridges, which have just been
mentioned, close over the slits and unite with one another on the under side
of the body, leaving merely a small hole or water-pore for the outflow of the
water. These little animals are capable of extremely rapid movements,
wriggling their lancet-shaped bodies from side to side after the manner of an
eel. They have no jaws, and depend for their food upon the microscopic
plants and other organisms contained in the stream of water constantly
passing through their mouths. This current of water is set up by the action
of innumerable fine whip-like lashes which beset the sides of the gill-slits, and
by their united action drive the water outwards into the surrounding water-
cavity, and so to the exterior through the water-pore. New water is con-
stantly streaming into the mouth to take the place of the water driven out,
and the food-particles it contains are incessantly extracted from it by means
of the slimy coating of the walls of the throat, to which they adhere. Another
set of microscopic lashes then drives the entangled food-particles down the
proper channel to the animal's stomach, where they are digested in the
ordinary way.
The lancelet (Ampliioxus lanceolatus) is the only representative of the
group in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic seas. It is a semi-transpar-
ent little creature, from one to two
inches in length, compressed from side
to side, pointed at both ends, provided
with a circle of small stiff tentacles round
the mouth, and with a distinct tail-fin
behind. It lives in shallow water, in
Fig. I. THE LANCELET (Amvhioxus lanceo- , , ., , . , , i , i
latus). beds of loose sand, into which it burrows
with lightning-like rapidity. It lies
obliquely on its back in its sandy bed, its head and mouth alone protruding
526
UROCHORDA OR TUN 1C AT A.
527
above the surface. These habits clearly provide the reason why the delicate
gill-slit region of the body should be protected from injury and enclosed
within a special chamber, formed by the union of a pair of fin-like ridges.
Other representatives of the group, closely resembling the European
lancelet, are found in shallow seas all over the world. A peculiar type
(Asymmetron lucayanum\ which possesses a slender backward prolongation
of its tail, is found in the Bahamas, where it may be taken swimming freely
at the surface of the sea at night, or in the day-time buried in the coral sand.
SUB-CLASS II. UROCHORDA OR TUNICATA.
THIS group of exclusively marine animals is closely related to the Cephalo-
chorda, although its various representatives are very unlike Amphioxus in
their final shape and appearance. They agree with Amphioxus, however, in
having similar organs for breathing and feeding, and in having a similar
tubular nervous system and supporting rod along the back of the body. Un-
like Amphioxus, however, the primitive backbone or notochord of Tunicata
is confined to the hinder part of the body, which is in the form of a well-
marked tail like that of a tadpole. The body also possesses the power of
producing a gelatinous envelope or tunic called the test, which clothes the
animal either loosely as in Appendicularians, or closely as in all others. The
group consists of two principal sections, which may be called the Tailed and
Tailless Tunicata.
The members of the first section (Appendicularians) are free-swimming,
and retain their tails with the nerve-cord and notochord during their whole
career. They are very small and inconspicuous creatures,
the body being about the size of a small pin's head, and the
tail less than a quarter of an inch in length, and the whole
animal is of glass-like transparency. The tunic is thin, and
forms a delicate " house J ' in which the Appendiculariaij
swims about, and from which it can escape when attacked by
its enemies. These creatures can often be caught at the sur-
face of the sea round our coasts by the use of a fine muslin
net.
The members of the second sec-
tion, the Tailless Tunicata, are
tailed only in their early stages.
After a brief free-swimming career
they lose their tails, like the tad-
poles of the common frog, and grow
up into soft back-boneless animals
of a quite different appearance. Some of these
tailless forms retain, or regain, their free-swimming
habits, and usually acquire a barrel-like shape and
Fig. 2. AN AP-
PENDICULARIAN
(Oikopleura), In
its house.
Fig. 3. DOLIOLUM TRITONIS.
a number of hoop-like muscle bands, by the contractions of which they drive
themselves through the water (Salps), or they may form definite colonies and
float idly about at the mercy of the waves (Pyrosoma). The majority of the
Tailless Tunicata, however, become permanently attached to rocks, stones,
and sea-weeda on the sea-bottom, and are especially abundant between tide-
528
HERMICHORDA OR ENTEROPNEUSTA.
marks round our shores. They are known as Ascidians or sea-squirts, and
they may be either solitary or colonial. The solitary forms are sac-shaped,
leathery creatures fastened at the base, and possessing a mouth at the opposite
Fig. 4. FYROSOMA.
Fig. 5. COMMON SEA
SQUIRT (Ascidlella,
aspersa).
Fig. 6. BOTRYLLUS.
end. There is also another opening by which the water from the gill-
slits is passed out of the body. The colonial forms are smaller in size, and
are united together into irregular or star-shaped clusters usually brightly
coloured.
CLASS VIII. HERMICHORDA or ENTEROPNEUSTA.
THE commonest representative of this group is the remarkable Balanoglossus,
an animal which combines the creeping mud-burrowing habits of a worm with
some of *he organs especially characteristic of ver-
tebrata. The body is divided into three parts, a flexible
tongue-like proboscis in front of the mouth, a raised
collar behind it, and a long cylindrical hind-region, the
sides of which are perforated by numerous inconspicuous
gill -slits. In the back of the collar of
Balanoglossus a short tubular nerve-cord
is found like that of vertebrata. In its
young condition Balanoglossus is a small
transparent creature, about one-tenth of
an inch in length, remarkably similar to
the free-swimming larval form of star-
fishes and sea-cucumbers.
Balanoglossus has only once been taken
on the coast of the British Isles, but is Fig. 8. TORNARIA.
not uncommon on the shores of the Channel Islands and
other parts of the world. Balanoglossus sarniensis, found in the Channel
Islands, varies from one to three feet in length, and is difficult to obtain in a
perfect condition, owing to its softness and fragility. The young form,
Tornaria, may be found in the autumn months free-swimming at the surface
of the sea off the southern shores of Great Britain.
Fig. 7. BALANO-
GLOSSUS SARNIENSIS.
SUB-KINGDOM II. ARTHROPODA.
CRUSTACEA, INSECTA, &c.
BY W. F. KTRBY, F.L.S., F.E.S., &c.
THE Arthropoda (otherwise called Articulata or Annulosa) include an enor-
mous number of animals with an external skeleton, or, at least, a thickened
integument to which the muscles are attached ; and a body divided into
segments, and furnished with jointed organs for locomotion, etc. Many of
them undergo a metamorphosis, passing through several dissimilar stages
before reaching the perfect state in which they become sexually mature, and
capable of reproducing their kind. The sexes are generally distinct. They
breathe by tracheae, or by gills, and the nervous system consists of a series
of ganglia, of which the largest, situated in the head, are considered to
correspond to the brain. The blood is usually white.
The following classes may be grouped under this heading :
I. CRUSTACEA (Crabs, Lobsters, Shrimps, etc.).
II. ARACHNID A (Spiders, Scorpions and Mites). Classes of
III. MYRIOPODA (Centipedes and Millepedes). Arthropoda.
IV. PROTRACHEATA.
V. INSECTA (Insects).
The characters of these classes are noticed in their places, and to enumer-
ate them here would be repetition. It must not be forgotten that all organic
beings show complicated affinities all round, and that no linear arrangement
can possibly be natural, and, therefore, we can only follow what appears to
be a fairly natural sequence, always remembering that by laying stress on
some characters we are necessarily ignoring others of perhaps equal or
greater importance ; and sometimes widely separating creatures which, when
looked at from a slightly different point of view, are seen to be closely
allied.
Space at disposal necessarily limits this article to a brief sketch of a vast
subject ; but care has been taken to preserve a certain proportion in allotting
the space to the different sections of which, it is composed, and the informa-
tion given, though far from exhaustive, will be found to be useful and in-
structive. The selection made is that of the most important and interesting
groups into which these animals have been divided. These are dealt with in
the order given above, and are illustrated by numerous original drawings
reproduced in most cases life size.
35 529
530 CRUSTACEA ORDER PHYLLOPODA.
CLASS I. CRUSTACEA.
THE Crustacea may be considered as the marine representatives of the Insects;
for although a few insects are marine, and some Crustacea are found on land
or in fresh water, yet an overwhelming preponderance of the Crustacea are
exclusively marine. In the perfect state they are covered with a hard jointed
shell. Sometimes the head is united with the thorax, as in the class Arach-
tiida, but it is more often separated. Being water animals,
Larval Forms of or living with few exceptions in damp places on land, they
Crustacea. breathe with gills. They have generally two eyes, two pairs
of antennae, three pairs of jaws, three pairs of foot-jaws,
the two outer pairs of which often serve the purpose of legs, and five
pairs of legs. Most of the species undergo a peculiar metamorphosis, like
that of the Barnacles, which has led to the latter
being now classed as retrograde Crustacea. These
larval forms are generally called Nauplius, or Zoea,
these names having been given to them when they
were first discovered, and were supposed to be perfect
organisms. They have large eyes, and curious bifid
appendages terminating in long bristles, and utilised
as swimming feet. The Nauplius-iorm (compare Fig.
5) shown by many Crustacea on emerging from the
egg, is oval, with a single eye, and it gradually acquires
three pairs of limbs. In the Copepoda and Ostracoda
it passes gradually into the perfect state by successive
moults; but in the Siphonostoma it undergoes a re-
trograde metamorphosis, losing the eyes, and limbs,
as locomotive organs. This form of larva is seldom met
with among the Decapoda. The Zoea-form of larva
Fig. l. ZOEA.-LARVA OP ^g sev en pairs of iointed appendages, of which the
OPIi)ER-l^RA.B (JVICilCt, f . . *f CP 1 /c >,
Squinado). Magnified. foot-jaws are very large ; and two large eyes. (See
Fig. 1.) When the Zoea was first discovered, it
was thought to be a creature of the greatest rarity and interest, and it is
amusing to read in the old books of the capture of single specimens of a
Zoea at intervals of years, in distant parts of the globe. Now they are
known to be simply the larval forms of many of our commonest Crustacea.
Similar unexpected discoveries perhaps still exist, in the case of other,
as yet unsuspected, inhabitants of our globe.
Crustacea are carnivorous or omnivorous, and some of the smaller kinds
are parasitic. Some Crustacea are of very small size, while others are the
largest of known Arthropoda. Their average size is considerably above that
of insects. There are probably no species which can be considered actually
injurious to man ; but many are of considerable economic importance.
Crabs, shrimps, lobsters, prawns, and crayfish are the only Arthropoda which
form staple articles of diet among civilised nations at the present day, though
there is no reason why locusts and large wood-feeding grubs
Edible and caterpillars should not be eaten. Locusts have always
Arthropoda. been relished in the East ; and the Cossus, which was pro-
bably the larva of some large beetle, was considered a dainty
by the Romans. However, with the exception of cheese-maggots and cheese-
mites, both of which are probably less wholesome than the insects just
WATER-FLEAS.
531
mentioned, Europeans turn from insects, etc., with disgust, "while eating
crabs and shrimps without hesitation. Food is more a matter of fashion
than of anything else, after all.
A most ingenious theory has lately been propounded by Mr. H. M.
Bernard, in his work on the Apodidce. He considers the Crustacea to have
originated from the Annelida, and that the earliest Crustacea were simply
Annelida with the head bent down under the body ; but this is a matter on
which only specialists are entitled to express an opinion. Nevertheless, we
may begin the Crustacea with the Entomostraca, as the group nearest ap-
proaching to the Annelida. We may add that the Pycnogonida, which we
have included with the Arachnida, have been placed by some authors in the
Crustacea, while others have regarded them as forming a distinct class of
Arthropods by themselves.
SUB-CLASS I. ENTOMOSTRACA.
THIS large section is only retained as a matter of convenience to include the
smaller Crustacea, many of which exhibit forms which have little resemblance
to the more typical Crustacea. It includes most of the parasitic species. The
Cirripedia are sometimes treated as an additional order of Entomostraca.
ORDER I. PHYLLOPODA.
The Phyllopoda have received their name from their leaf -like swimming
legs, of which there are four pairs, or more. Sometimes more or less of the
animal is covered by a bivalve shell, somewhat as in the Ostracoda, or by a
Fig. 2. WATER-FLEA
(Daphnia pulex).
Magnified.
Fig. S.Apus cancri-
furmis. Nat. size.
Fig. 4. BRTNE
SHRIMP
(Artemia salina).
Magnified.
solid carapace ; in other cases this is wanting. Some are marine, while others
inhabit fresh water. They have usually two eyes, which, however, are some-
times contiguous. Three families of this order may be briefly noticed. The
532 CRUSTACEA ORDERS COPE POD A AND CIRRTPEDIA.
Daphniidce, or water-fleas are small Crustacea which abound in fresh water.
They are of a compressed oval form, and are partly covered by a thin, trans-
parent bivalve shell. The first pair of antennae is small, but the second very
large, bifid at the extremity, and set with long hairs, which serve as the
principal organs of locomotion. The eyes are fused into one large one, near
which is often another small one. They have from four to six pairs of
swimming legs. They are very favourite objects with microscopists, being
abundant, and admitting of easy observation. In the Apod id fe the body is
covered with a shield-shaped carapace, and there are two contiguous eyes,
and from 30 to 40 pairs of gill-feet. Apus caiicriformis, Schiiff., is a brownish
yellow species, about two inches long, which is found in ponds. The large,
oval carapace covers all but the last few segments of the body, which ends in
a flat double tail, on each side of which a long bristly appendage is visible.
This family is of interest as having formed the subject of Mr. Bernard's
memoir, already alluded to, in which he connects the Annelida with the
Trilobites through the Apodidw. The Branchipodidw have no shell, but a
strongly-segmented body, stalked eyes, and a long tapering tail, ending in a
flat pair of flattened appendages set with bristles. The most interesting
species of this family is the brine shrimp, Artemia salina (Linn.), which is of
a pink colour, and about half an inch long. It is more shrimp-like in appear-
ance than any other species of Entomostraca which we have mentioned, and
is only found in brine pits, appearing to prefer the most concentrated brine.
ORDER II. OSTRACODA.
In the Ostracoda the body is not segmented, and is entirely covered by a
bean-shaped bivalve shell. There are four antennae set with bristles, and
one or both pairs are used for swimming and grasping. There are five pairs
of other appendages, of which the first, second, often the third, and some-
times even the fourth, serve the purpose of jaws, and only the last pair or
pairs perform the office of legs.
ORDER III. COPEPODA.
In this order there are ten swimming-legs at most, generally bifid, and set
with hairs and bristles. One or two sessile eyes
are present, and the mouth is furnished with leaf-
like gills. The large eye possessed by some of
the species led to their being placed in a genus
Cyclops by Miiller. They commence life in the
Nauplius-foTm, to which the full-grown animal
still exhibits a strong resemblance. Some species are
free, and others parasitic ; as, for instance, those
belonging to the family Notodelphyidce, which live
within the branchial cavity of Ascidia. A few
species like these are marine, but the majority
of the Cydopidce live in fresh water, one species,
Fig. 5.- CYCLOPS QUABRI- Canthocamptvs alpestris (Vogt) being found in
CORNIS. Magnified. the glacier waters of the Aar in Switzerland, at an
elevation of 8,500 feet. The family Argulidce in-
cludes some species which are parasitic on the carp, and which are known as
"carp lice."
BARNACLES.
533
Fig. 6. ACORN BARNACLE
(Balanus balanoides).
Nat. size.
ORDER IY. CIRRIPEDIA.
By recent authors the Cirripedla have been treated as a section of the Crustacea,
from which, however, they differ so much when adult, that they were formerly
regarded as a separate class. In their perfect state they are fixed immov-
ably by their heads to a rock, or some other object submerged in the sea, and
are without antennae, eyes, or any means of loco-
motion. Their bodies are enclosed more or less
completely in a calcareous shell, formed of several
parts, which led to the earlier naturalists regarding
them as Mollusca, and their shells were called Mul-
tivalves by collectors, in opposition to Univalves and
Bivalves. In the larval stages they are provided
with antennae, eyes, and swimming-feet, the last of
which become modified into short, jointed, cirrhated
appendages, of which there are usually six pairs,
and which are used to capture prey. They are
generally hermophrodite. All the species are marine. A peculiar interest
attaches to these animals, owing to their having formed a special object
of study with Charles Darwin, who published an elaborate
monograph upon them in 1851 and 1854. There are several
sub-divisions of the Cirripedia, many of which live para-
sitically on various Crustacea, Mottusca, or on other Cirripedia.
The only two families which we shall notice here are the
Balanidce and the Lepadidce.
The Balanidce or acorn barnacles attach themselves to
the rocks, often between tide-marks, after the manner of a
limpet ; but they can always be distin-
guished from true Mollusca by their multi- Acorn Barnacles
valve shells. The Lepadidce, on the other (Balanidce).
hand, fix themselves by a fleshy stalk to any
suitable object, from which they hang. Some of the larger
marine animals are often chosen by them ; and they fre-
quently attach themselves in great numbers
to the bottoms of wooden ships, which re- Goose Barnacles
quire to be periodically freed from such (Lepadidce).
appendages. There was a curious belief in
the Middle Ages that the bird known as the barnacle
goose was born from hanging barnacles, and a common
/era)TjPNatTsize. barnacle was named Lepas anatifera by Linnaeus on this
account. Old traditions of this description, when investi-
gated without prejudice, almost always prove to contain some germ of
truth ; but it is difficult to imagine in what curious error the story of the
barnacle goose could have originated.
Fig. 7. GOOSE
BARNACLE
(Lepas anati-
SUB-CLASS II. MALACOSTRACA.
THE Malacostraca, which include all the higher Crustacea, are normally
composed of 20 segments; 13 segments, each bearing a pair of jointed ap-
534 CRUSTACEA ORDERS ARTHROSTRACA AND THORACOSTRACA.
pendages, composing the head and thorax ; 6 abdominal segments, also
frequently bearing jointed appendages ; and a tail-piece. They have two
antennae, and two or four eyes. They differ very much in shape and
appearance, but include nearly all the Cn^tacea which fall under ordinary
observation.
ORDER I. ARTHROSTRACA.
The ArtJirostraca are small or moderate-sized Crustacea, with two compound
eyes, which are not stalked. There are two pairs of antennae, three pairs of
jaws, and one pair of foot-jaws attached to the head. The thorax usually
consists of seven segments (rarely less), each bearing a pair of legs. The
abdomen likewise generally consists of six segments bearing legs, and a
terminal segment, but is sometimes much modified and aborted.
The Arthrostraca are divided into two sub-orders, and these again into
numerous families.
Sub-Order I. Isopoda.
In the Isopoda the head is distinctly separated from the thorax. The body
is broad, and somewhat arched, and there are usually 7 thoracic segments
bearing legs ; but the abdomen is short and often imperfectly developed,
bearing lamellated gill-feet. In some fami-
lies, such as the Bopyridce, and Cymothoidce,
which are parasitic on other Crustacea, or oil
fishes, the legs are armed with claws. But
the most familiar family of the Isopoda is the
Oniscidce, which includes the creatures known
as "wood-lice," "sows" or "sow-bugs." They
are short, broad, brown scaly creatures, with
conspicuous antennae, and a body arched
above, and flattish below. Some are able
to roll themselves up into a ball. They are
about half an inch or less in length, and
are found in damp, dark places among moss,
under the loose bark of trees, or in cellars.
Onelarge species, overan inch in length, Lygia
oceanica (Linn.), is marine, and is met with
running over rocks between tide marks. As
I have already mentioned elsewhere, a speci-
men which was found running along a tow-
rope in Dublin Harbour during the Colorado
Beetle scare some years ago, was secured and
announced in the papers as the dreaded Colorado Beetle just landing from
America !
Sub-Order II. Amphipoda.
In the Amphipoda, the head and the first thoracic segment are fused to-
gether, and the body is laterally compressed, and strongly arched. There are
Fig. 8. LYGIA OCEANICA.
Nat. sue.
WOOD-LICE AND WHALE-LICE.
535
always seven pairs of legs, and the abdomen and its appendages are
also well developed in some families, the hinder segments bearing long
legs adapted for leaping. This description applies
best to the Gammaridce, one or two of which, that
live in fresh water, grow to the length of half an
inch. The greater part of the Amphipoda, however,
are marine, and differ considerably in size, shape, and
habits. Some swim freely in the water, and others burrow
into woodwork. Many are in the habit of attaching them-
selves to various marine animals ; and one family, Lcemodi-
podidce, in which the abdomen is rudimentary, is truly
parasitic. One curious genus, Cyamus (Lamarck), which is
parasitic on whales, has strong hooked appendages at
both ends of the body; and the species are known as Whale-
Lice. We have figured C. ovalis (Roussel).
Fig. 9.
WHALE-LOUSE
(Cyamus ovalis).
Nat. size.
ORDER II. THORACOSTRACA,
The present order agrees with the last in the number of segments, but is
distinguished from it by having more or fewer of the thoracic segments
united with the head by a common shell, or carapace, and there are usually
two compound stalked eyes. We find no true parasites in this group, though
some of them seek the society of other animals for the sake of food and
shelter, as in the case of the small crab which takes up its residence in the
shell of the Pinna.
Sub-Order 1. Cumacea.
Includes small marine species, with sessile eyes, and a long, slender
abdomen.
Sub -Order II. Stomatopoda.
This order is now restricted to the single family Syuillidce, which are marine
Crustacea resembling large prawns, three inches or more in length, with the
cephalothorax slender, a
large tail-fin, and the
second pair of foot- jaws
developed into an enor-
mous claw, which has
led to one of the com-
mon species being called
Squilla mantis (Rondel),
on account of the shape
and attitude of its legs
very closely resembling
the predaceous legs of
the Mantidw among the
Orthoptera. This species
Fig. 10. -SQUILLA MAKTIS. swims strongly, and is
eaten in Italy, where it
attains a length of six inches ; in the British seas it does not exceed 4
inches in length.
536 CRUSTACEA ORDER DEC APOD A.
Sub-Order III. Schizopoda.
These are slender shrimp-like Crustacea, with a large soft shield covering
the cephalothorax, and even part of the abdomen. The legs and gill-feet are
bifid, and similarly formed. They swim in large shoals in the open sea, and
are among the numerous surface-animals which form the food of whales.
ORDER III. DECAPOD A.
This extensive order is the most important among the Crustacea. The
species which it includes have a hard calcareous shield, which generally covers
the head and thoracic segments, as well as more or less of the abdomen.
Under this shield lie the gills. There are two faceted stalked eyes, between
which frequently projects a strong spine. They have usually three pairs of
jaws, three pairs of thoracic gill-feet, and five pairs of walking legs, from
which they derive their name. They may be divided into three sub-orders
the Macrura, or lobsters, prawns, and shrimps ; the Anomura, or hermit
crabs ; and the Brachyura, or crabs.
Sub-Order I. Macrura.
In the Macrura the abdomen is largely developed, and the first five (or
more rarely, four) segments bear walking legs. There is a large flattened
triple fin at the extremity of the abdomen, formed by the terminal segment,
and a leaf-like appendage attached on each side to the one preceding.
The Crangonidce are moderate- sized Crustacea with semi-transparent bodies,
a thin horny carapace, the outer antennae with a large moveable scale at the
base, and sometimes a very strong ridged spine between the eyes. The first
three pairs of legs are generally chelate (pincer-like). The
Shrimps and species generally live in shoals in shallow water, near the
Prawns. shore, where they are captured by waders in specially-con-
structed nets. Most of the species are marine, such as the
shrimps and prawns ; some are found in fresh water lakes and rivers ; and
one or two blind species in caves. Some species, in which the skeleton is
universally soft, inhabit the large shells of the Pinna.
The Astacidce are large hard-shelled species, with a small scale at the base
of the outer antenme. The first pair of legs is developed into great claws.
The gills are numerous ; sometimes there are as many as 20 pairs. They
inhabit the sea, where they live in clefts among the rocks ; and other species
are found in lakes and rivers, where they live in holes in the banks. The
two representative species of this family are the lobster and
Lobsters. the river crayfish. Some years ago a detailed monograph on
the crayfish was published by the late Prof. Huxley, to which
those who wish to study the anatomy of a Crustacean can easily refer.
The crayfish forms a very important article of diet in Eastern Europe, and is
recorded in the Esthonian ballads to have formed the principal article of food
of their mythical hero, the Kalevi poeg, when he retired to a
Crayfish. hermitage on the banks of a river, after a disastrous war.
He used a tall fir-tree torn up by the roots, as an angle, and
baited it with the body of a dead mare. (See my " Hero of Esthonia," i., p.
LOBSTERS, HERMIT CRABS, AND CRABS. 537
In the Pdlinuridce, or Spiny Lobsters, the outer pair of antennae are much
thickened at the base, but are destitute of a scale. The legs are short and
all end in simple claws ; the abdomen is broad. These
animals resemble lobsters in size and appearance, but the Spiny Lobsters,
shell is very hard and spiny. They are numerous in the
Mediterranean, but are not common in the colder seas of Northern Europe.
Sub-Order II. Anomura.
This section is often included with the Macrura, but may conveniently be
treated separately. The abdomen is more or less reduced ; it is soft, and its ap-
pendages are rudimentary ; the hinder legs are also frequently much reduced.
The front pair of legs is armed with strong pincers, and the outer antennae
are long. The animals generally burrow in the sand, or live in the shells of
molluscs. They are more abundant in warm countries than in cold.
The following are the two most interesting families :
In the Birgidce the abdomen is hard above, and pouch-shaped at the ex-
tremity. The cephalothorax is broad, and angulated in front. The type of
this family, Birgus latro (Herbst), is a very large Crustacean,
measuring over two feet in length ; it is of a blue colour. It Bobber Crabs.
is common in the Eastern Archipelago. It is amphibious,
and is said to climb trees in search of cocoa-nuts, which it is strong enough
to denude of the husk, when it contrives to force in the eye-hole, and to
extract the contents with its pincers.
The Paguridce, or Hermit Crabs, have a very soft abdomen, and take up
their abode in empty univalve shells. Several common species inhabit our
shores, and may often be seen ensconced in whelk-shells, etc.,
into which they retreat as far as possible on the least appear- Hermit Crabs.
ance of danger. In Tropical countries they grow to a much
larger size ; and some of them are land -animals, and inhabit land-shells, such
as Helix and Bulimus.
Sub-Order III. Brachyura.
This section includes the Crabs proper, in which the cephalothorax is short
and broad ; and the short abdomen, which has usually no tail-fin, and ia
narrow in the male and broad in
the female, is curved under the
cephalothorax. In the males th ere
are one or two pairs of abdominal
feet, and in the females five.
The Porcellanidce are repre-
sented in England by one or two
species, the commonest of which
is the Porcelain Crab, Porcellana
platycheles (Tennant), a polished
flattened crab, of a reddish brown Fig. 11. SPIDER CRAB (Maia Squinado).
colour, with very large broad
claws. It is nearly round, and about two inches in length ; and is common
under stones near low-water mark.
538
CRUSTACEA.
The Spider Crab, Maia Squinado (Linn. ), is the representative of another
family. (See Fig. 11.) It is a large oval crab sometimes measuring 8 inches
in length and 6 inches in breadth. It is covered and margined with strong
sharp spines, two of which project in. front. -It is an active sea- scavenger,
and most of our readers will remember the amusing account in ' ' Glaucus " of
" Maia Squinado, Esq.,' J sitting at the bottom of the boat, twiddling his feelers.
It creeps, but does not swim. The young form of the larva is represented on an
earlier page (Fig. 1.) There are a great many other crabs, both British and
foreign, differing very much in size, shape, and habits. Some are smooth, others
rough, spiny, or hairy. Some are round, others oval. Many small crabs and
some larger ones are common running over the sand, or among seaweed, or
in rock-pools between tide-marks ; others, like the large Edible Crab, Gainer
pagurus (Linn.), are inhabitants of deep water, and some are good swimmers.
Among foreign crabs we may mention the genus Pinnotheres (Latr.), which
lives in pairs, in large shells, such as Pinna, from which they derive their name.
The land-crabs of tropical coun-
tries are large crabs which live
almost entirely on land. They
burrow in the ground, and are
able to run with extraordin-
ary swiftness. One genus, with
very large claws, has been called
Gelasimus (laughable) from the
ridiculous appearance which it
presents when chasing along
brandishing its great claws, only
one of which is fully developed,
over its body.
One of the largest known
Crustacea in expanse is Macro-
cheira Kampferi (De Haan), a
Japanese crab, not very re-
motely allied to the Spider
Crabs, which has a compact, slightly oval body rather less than a foot long,
but with enormously long, though comparatively slender legs, four or five
feet in length. Two fine specimens may be seen in the public Insect Room
at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, where Crustacea are
exhibited as well as Insects.
Fig 12. GREAT JAPANESE CRAB.
(Macrocheira Kampferi).
SUB-CLASS III. GIGANTOSTRACA.
ORDER XIPHOSURA. KING-CRABS.
IN the king-crabs, Limulus (Miiller), the upper part of the body is covered by
two great horny shields, the first covering the cephalothorax and curved
backwards at a sharp angle oh each side, and the second smaller, covering
the abdomen, and set with several strong, sharp projections on the sides,
SPIDER-CRABS AND KING-CRABS.
539
pointing obliquely backwards. Beyond this is a sharp horny spine not
jointed, and at least
as long as the rest
of the body. The
antennae, jaws, and
gill-feet all resemble
legs, and all termin-
ate in pincers except
the last pair. Two
compound and two
simple eyes are pre- Figt IS.-RING-CRAB (Limulus moluccanus). Reduced,
sent. The legs are
short, and are entirely covered by the shields. The few living species known
are found in the East and West Indies, and on the East coast of North America,
living in shallow water, or running over and burrowing in the sand. The species
figured, Limidus moluccanus (Clusius), has larger spines than the others. The
Limulia sometimes attain a length of two or three feet. They are the last
survivors of a great group of Crustaceans, now only imperfectly known
by their fossil remains. Three other orders, now wholly extinct, are referred
to the Gigantostraca: the Merostomata, the Hemiaspida and the Trilobita.
Some authors have recently proposed to regard Limulus as more nearly
allied to the Arachnida than to the Crustacea ; but its external resemblance
to the latter is certainly far more obvious.
SUB-CLASS IV. PYCNOGONIDA.
THESE are sluggish animals, found among sea-
weeds on the sea-shore, and somewhat intermediate
between Arachnida and Crustacea. The front of
the body consists of four well-marked segments,
the first of which is formed of three fused together,
each bearing a pair of long, jointed legs, and
the abdomen is very small. They are provided
with a long suctorial proboscis. In their young
state, they are parasitic on Hydractinice, and are pro-
vided with three additional pairs of limbs, which was
short or wanting in the adults.
Fig. 14. Pycnogonum
morale, Muller. Nat. size.
CLASS 2L ARACHNIDA (SPIDERS, SCORPIONS,
AND MITES}.
THIS rather extensive group of animals is generally recognisable by a few
salient characters. The head and thorax, instead of being separated, as in
insects, are usually fused together into a single mass, called the cephalo-
thorax ; there are two pairs of jaws, one pair of which are sometimes
regarded as modified antennae ; from two to twelve simple eyes, variously
arranged in different species ; and usually eight pairs of legs, all situated on
540 ARACHNIDA ORDER SCORPIONIDEA,
the cephalothorax. The abdomen is without limbs, and is most frequently
separated from the cephalothorax. The sexes are distinct, except in the
Tardigrada. Most of the animals comprising this class are carnivorous ; but
among the mites, many feed on vegetable, as well as on animal substances ;
and some species are parasitic, and often subcutaneous, giving rise to,
or accompanying various diseases, such as itch, mange, Plica Polonica,
dysentery, etc., in man and beast. The Arachnida may be classed in
three main divisions.
ORDER I. SCORPIONIDEA (SCORPIONS).
The scorpions are well known by their curved foot-jaws, cleft at the
end like the claws of a crab, which they much resemble ; and their long
jointed tail ending in a sharp and venomous sting. They are generally
of a black or yellow colour, and differ very much in shape and size,
some being small and slender, and not more than a couple of inches in
Fig. 15. GALEODES ABABS, Koch. J Nat. size.
length ; and others being much shorter and thicker in proportion, and
attaining to a length of 8 or 9 inches. They are not British, though
several small species are met with in the South of Europe. They are found
under stones, under the bark of trees, in holes in walls, etc., and are only
active at night. The effects of the sting differ very much in different species,
irrespective of size, as it appears. That of many species is probably not very
much more severe than the sting of the wasp ; but that of others is liable to
cause great pain and suffering, and sometimes death. Scorpions are vivipar-
ous, and the young are carried about by the mother on her back for some
time after birth. There is an old story, which has been recently revived,
that when a scorpion is surrounded by a ring of fire, it will sting itself to
death ; and the same result is said to ensue if a drop of irritating fluid, such
as whisky, is allowed to fall on its back.
SCORPIONS AND HARVEST-MEN. 541
ORDER II. SOLPUGID^E.
These are large animals, resembling spiders, but with the head and thorax
separated, and the abdomen segmented ; the legs are very hairy. They are not
numerous in species, and are chiefly found in warm countries. They inhabit
sandy places, and although frequently called Solifugce, the majority of the species
are most active by day. One species is Galeodes araneoides (Pallas), which is
common on the Lower Volga ; it is about two inches long, and is much
dreaded on account of its very painful bite. They hide themselves in the
sand and among plants, from whence they rush upon their prey. They will
sometimes kill lizards and birds, but their commonest food appears to be
grasshoppers. They are sometimes very troublesome to camels by their bite.
The North African species, which we have figured, G. arabs (Koch) (Fig. 15)
is one of the largest known ; it is of a yellowish colour.
ORDER III. PSEUDOSCORPIONIDEA (BOOK-SCORPIONS)
These are small, but not microscopic, animals, with the abdomen united to
the cephalothorax, but distinctly jointed, and with
very long curving foot-jaws, cleft at the end. They
resemble very small tail-less scorpions, and are fre-
quently found among old books and papers, where
they feed on mites and other small creatures. They
are often seen clinging to the legs of flies, but rather,
perhaps, as a convenient means of transport from
place to place, than with the intention of preying on j^. 16. BOOK-SCORPION
the flies themselves. The number of species is not (Chiridium musceorum,
very large j the typical genus is Chelifer (Late.). Leach) ' Ma g nifle(l '
ORDER I V. PEDIPULPI (FALSE SCORPIONS).
These are large tropical creatures, an inch or more in length, resembling
spiders, but with a jointed abdomen, large pincers like a scorpion, long hairy
legs, of which the first pair are much longer and slenderer than the others,
and no tail, or else a short one, not terminating in a sting. They are much
dreaded by the natives of the countries in which they are found, but whether
their claws are venomous does not seem to have been positively ascertained.
The typical genus is Phrynus (Latr.).
ORDER V. PHALANGIIDA (HARVEST-MEN).
These are small spider-like animals, with enormously long slender legs.
The abdomen is segmented, there are no spinning glands, and the maxillary
palpi end in a single claw, while the mandibles are jointed. They breathe by
trachese. They feed on Aphides and other small insects by night. (See Fig.
542 ARACHNIDA ORDER A R ANEW A.
ORDER VI. ARANEIDA (SPIDERS).
THE Araneicla, or Spiders, are a very extensive group, with the usually un-
jointed abdomen well separated from the cephalothorax ; strong mandibles ;
spinning glands ; and breathing with lungs and tracheae or with tracheae,
alone. There is a variable number of eyes. They have been divided into
many families differing much in habits. They are very ferocious, and will
often kill and eat each other, but are much exposed to the attacks of birds
and carnivorous insects, many sand-wasps provisioning their nests chiefly
Fig 17. HARVEST MAN (Liobunum religiosum Simon). Nat. size.
with spiders. As they cannot be domesticated, owing to their cannibalistic
propensities, their silk cannot be collected in sufficient quantities for com-
mercial purposes ; but spider's web has been recommended as a useful
application to stop bleeding. There are many kinds of spiders in various
countries the bite of which is said to be dangerous to man.
FAMILY I. THERAPHOSID^E.
This family is distinguished from all the remaining spiders by the possession
of four lungs and only four spinnerets (except in Atypus, etc., which have
six) ; the remaining spiders having only two lungs (or two lungs and some-
times two tracheae also) and six spinnerets. These characters are sometimes
used to separate the spiders into two main sections, the Tetrapneumones,
including only the Theraphosidce (formerly called Mygalidce), and the
Dipneumones , including the remaining spiders.
The Theraphosidce, are further remarkable for their large size, very hairy
legs and bodies, and hard polished poison-fangs. Some of the larger species
attain a length of from two to four inches, and spin a dense white web, in
which birds as large as finches are sometimes entangled. This was first
recorded by Madame Merian two centuries ago. It was
Bird-catching doubted, but has since been confirmed by Bates in his
Spiders. " Naturalist on the Amazons," i. pp. 160-162 ; and by other
observers. Bates further adds that the hairs of these large
spiders are excessively irritating to the skin ; and lastly, " Some Mygales are
of immense size. One day I saw the children belonging to an Indian family
who collected for me, with one of these monsters secured by a cord round
SPIDERS. 543
its waist, by which they were leading it about the house as they would a dog."
The amount of valuable scientific and general information collected by
Bates during his eleven years of travel on the Amazons was very ex-
tensive, and it is much to be regretted that though part was published in his
book, and in various essays shortly after his return to England, a great deal
must have died with him.
The Theraphosidce also includ-e smaller spiders, which construct nests in
the ground provided with a round trap-door, which fits down over it in such a
manner as to completely close and conceal it. Trap-
door spiders are plentiful in many parts of the
world, including South France ; but our only British
representative of the family, Atypus sulzeri (Latr.),
constructs a tubular gallery in the ground, about
half an inch in diameter, in which the female de-
posits her eggs, but which is not closed with a trap-
door. The spider itself is about half an inch in
length.
Turning now to the remaining spiders, it will,
perhaps, be sufficient to illustrate them by noticing a
few of the more interesting and representative groups
and species.
Fig is -Utupus 'sulzeri ) The Salticid( *, or hunting-spiders do not construct
' Twice nat. size. a we ^ except as a resting-place at night or when
moulting their skins, and as an egg-
sac, but capture their prey by leaping on it, connecting Hunting-
themselves, however, with the spot they have quitted by Spiders,
drawing out a thread behind them as they leap. The
cephalothorax is arched, and they have eight eyes. Their legs are
rather short and stout. Several species, both British and foreign, re-
semble ants, a resemblance which is probably protective to them-
selves rather than designed to mask their approach from their prey.
The Lycosidce, or wolf-spiders are similar in some of their habits to the last
family, but generally pursue their prey by running, not by leaping.
Their cephalothorax is arched, but narrowed in front. They have eight eyes
arranged in three or four transverse rows, and their legs are long and hairy.
The egg-pouch of the female is carried about with her attached to the end of
her body till the young hatch, when they climb on her back. Some species
carry their egg-sac in their mandibles.
To this family belongs the famous spider Lycosa tarentula (Linnaeus), the
bite of which was supposed in Italy to produce a fit of melancholia, that
could only be cured by the tune known as the Tarentella.
The nests of some of these spiders are hardly less curious Tarantula,
than those of the trap-door spiders; that of a North American
species, Lycosa arenicola (Scudder), figured in Comstock's " Manual for the
Study of Insects," p. 41, makes a structure resembling a high bird's-nest, or
small turret, over the entrance to the tube. Some of the Lycosidce fre-
quent water, and are able to pursue their prey on or in it ; and Dolomedes
fimbriatus (Clerck) actually constructs a small raft on which it sails about.
The Thomisidae., or crab-spiders, have small eyes arranged in two rows,
and long sprawling legs, like those of a crab. Their colours are usually pro-
tective, being grey or brown in the case of tree -frequenting species, and
green or yellow in the case of those which conceal themselves in flowers.
544 ARACHNIDA ORDERS ARANEIDA AND ACARINA.
The Uloboridce&re an unimportant family in England; but Comstock quotes
from Dr. Wilder the following curious account of the use of the triangular
web of Hyptiotes cavatus (Hentz), a common species in the United States: "Its
web is most often found stretched between the twigs of a dead branch of pine
or spruce. At first sight this web appears like the fragment of an orb web,
but a little study will show that it is complete. ... It consists of four plain
lines corresponding to the radiating lines of an orb web, and a series of
double cross lines. . . . From the points where the radiating lines meet, a
strong line extends to one of the supporting twigs. Near this twig the spicier
rests, pulling the web tight so that there is some loose line between its legs.
When an insect becomes entangled in one of the cross lines, the spider sud-
denly lets go the loose line, so that the whole web springs forward, and the
insect is entangled in other threads. The spider then draws the web tight,
and snaps it again. This may be repeated several times before the spider
goes out upon the web after its prey."
The Epevrid&f or garden-spiders, are large and handsome spiders, with a
rounded abdomen, and moderately long hairy legs, the first pair longest.
They have eight eyes irregularly arranged in two rows.
Garden-Spiders. They spin circular webs, and await their prey either near the
centre of their web, or in a place of concealment close by.
The commonest species, Epeira diadema (Clerck), is nearly an inch long, and
has a green abdomen marked with white or yellow spots in the form of a
cross. One North American species, Argiope riparia (Walckenaer), is re-
corded to make a large egg-sac, in which the young pass the winter ; only
those emerging from it in spring which have not been devoured by their
fellows in the interval. Other species have the same curious cannibal
habit.
The Gastracanthidce are a very curious family of exotic spiders, with hard,
horny, angular bodies, and sometimes with a long curved spine projecting on
each side at the extremity of the abdomen. They are
often of very varied colours. Many writers include
them in the Epeiridce. The species figured is Gastra-
cantha fornicata (Fabr.). It is reddish (probably
yellow when alive), with the head, thorax, and some
round spots on the abdomen, blackish ; and it inhabits
Ceylon, Java, and Australia.
Fig. i9.-(Gastracantha To the Agelenida, a large family in which the eyes
fornicata.) Nat. size. are arranged in two curved transverse rows, belong our
common house-spiders, which are too well-known to
need description, and which spin their cobwebs wherever they are left for a
day or two undisturbed. Another very interesting species is the water-
spider, Argyroneta aqtiatica (Linn.), which dives beneath fresh water, enclosed
in a shining bubble of air entangled in the hairs of its body, and constructs
a silken subaqueous dome, which it fills with air like a diving-bell, in which it
waits for prey, hibernates, and deposits its egg-cocoons.
To the allied family Theridiidce, belong several large and handsomely-
coloured spiders found in Southern -Europe, New Zealand, and elsewhere,
which are much dreaded on account of their poisonous bite.
SPIDERS, MITES, AND TICK'S. 545
ORDER VII. ACARINA (MITES AND TICKS).
This large order includes a great variety of creatures. Most of them
are very minute, and many are almost microscopic. The cephaloihorax
and abdomen are fused together, the body forming a compact, rounded, or
oval mass ; the sexes are separate, and sometimes very different in appear-
ance ; the mouth is formed for biting or sucking, and there are nearly always
eight legs in the perfect state, but often six only in the earlier stages. The
Phytopti have usually only four. Many of the species are more or less bristly.
Some feed on plants, and others on decaying animal and vegetable sub-
stances. A considerable number are parasitic.
The Bdellidce are mites of a bright red colour, with a long snout, and long
palpi, which are generally elbowed, and have the appearance of antennas.
Some are found among moss, and others on the sea-shore; while others, again,
are parasitic on various insects. The number of eyes varies, and in some
cave-frequenting species, the eyes are obsolete.
The Gamasidce are a family of mites, many of which are parasitic on insects,
and others on warm-blooded animals. They are without eyes, the mandibles
are pincer-like, and the legs are hairy, and furnished with
two claws. The first or second pair of legs are frequently Insect-Mites
much thicker than the others ; and the immature mites have (Gamasidce).
only six legs. The species of Gamasus (Latr. ) infest different
kinds of insects, especially the black dung-beetles belonging to the genus
Geotrupes (Fabr. ), and its allies ; and they are also numerous on humble-bees.
They may often be found running over these insects ; but there are other
mites infesting beetles which are attached to their host by a thread ; these be-
long to the genus Uropoda (Latr.). Other mites of this family attack warm-
blooded animals, and are very numerous among poultry and caged birds, and
sometimes become troublesome to man by transference.
The Halacaridce are a small family of mites, living habitually under the
sea, having either a stiff, or a more or less rigid, cuirassed skin, and with
their legs springing from the inner margin of the body.
They are found among sea- weeds in rock-pools, or are brought Marine Mites
up, sometimes in large numbers, by the dredge. The body (Halacaridce).
is oval, the snout more or less produced, and the palpi rather
long.
The next family we have to consider is that of the Hydrachnidce, or fresh-
water mites. These are round, or, more rarely, oval, and are generally
smooth and velvety, and of a red, black and red, or purple
colour. Most of them have only six legs when immature. Fresh- Water
They have a hook at the extremity of the palpi, and are Mites
in the habit of attaching themselves to various water- (Hydrachnidce).
animals.
The Ixodidce, or ticks, are among the largest and most troublesome of the
whole group. They are usually of an oval form, and have a tough skin, and
a mouth fitted for sucking. Some are provided with eyes,
and others are blind. They live on grass and herbage, and Ticks
the usual habit of the female is to attach herself to any (Ixodidce).
warm-blooded animal, pierce the skin, and suck the blood
till she is gorged, when she falls off. They are sometimes very troublesome in
summer and autumn, even in England ; but in hot countries they are often
a terrible pest, especially in the Southern States of America, and in some
parts of South America, where they are particularly troublesome to cattle.
546 ARACHNIDA ORDERS ACARINA AND TARDTGRADA.
In Brazil they are said to have been introduced. This has been doubted ;
but it is not unlikely that a particularly troublesome species may be carried
from one country to another, or introduced into districts in which it was pre-
viously unknown. For a tropical country, Jamaica is remarkably free from
noxious creatures ; and it is only of late years that ticks have multiplied in
the island to such an extent as to make it highly unpleasant to venture
among the herbage at all. This is attributed to the introduction of the
mongoose, which was imported to destroy rats, and which is said to have
carried the ticks over the whole island. The largest known ticks, which
sometimes attain a length of nearly an inch, are those which are found occa-
sionally upon the tortoise. Argas persicus (Fisch.) was said by travellers to
produce fatal injuries by its attacks, and to abound so much in some parts of
Persia as to lead to the abandonment of whole villages ; but these reports
are now believed to have been much exaggerated.
The Oribatidce are dark-coloured, hard, shiny mites, found among moss
and vegetable refuse ; but when they are older, they feed on various small
insects. The front of the body is often produced into a broad, triangular
shape, and, as in many other mites, the palpi are frequently so largely
developed as to resemble antennae in appearance.
The Phytoptidce, or gall mites, are an extremely large group, concerning
which much has been written of late years. They are very long, microscopic
mites, usually with only four legs visible at the anterior end
Gall-Mites of the body. They produce small galls on the leaves of
(Phytoptidce). various plants, sometimes conical, as on the lime trees, and
sometimes rounded, as on the vine. These galls may be
distinguished from insect-galls by having a small opening at the base.
The Sarcoptidcv, or itch-mites, are a family of parasites which, not content
with sucking blood, burrow under the skin of warm-blooded animals, causing,
by their irritation, diseases known as the itch or mange.
Itch-Mites Various species have also been observed on patients suffering
(Sarcoptidce). from Polish Plait (Plica polonica), and whether they actually
cause this disease or not, they doubtless aggravate it. The
itch-mites are round, with short, bristly legs, and most mammals seem to be
more or less subject to their attacks. In birds, they frequently attack the
feet. They are most active at night, and the
troublesome itching they cause is consequently
worst then. There are two principal forms of
the disease in man, one common in most parts of
the world, caused by Sarcoptes scabiei (Latr.), while
the other, S. scabiei-crustosce (Murray), which is far
worse, is almost confined to Northern Europe. The
itch has often been a great pest during the hard-
ships of a campaign, and the survivors of Sir John
Moore's force, in the Peninsular War, were greatly
affected by it. Before the cause was discovered, it
was regarded as a most formidable disease, and Dr.
Russell informs us that in the last century it was more
dreaded at Aleppo than the plague itself. But in
Fig 20. TTCH-MITE recent years, the use of sulphur baths has proved
\Sarcoptes scabiei). Under- , , -, 2 J.T j * -. -i
surface of male. Magnified. to be an easv and emcacious method of getting rid
of at least the milder forms of this complaint.
Two other families of parasitic mites may be briefly mentioned. These
MITES. 547
are Myobiidce, small, oval mites, not unlike lice in shape, which infest mice
and other small mammals, and birds ; and Demodicidce, the few species of
which are long, tapering, microscopic mites, infesting the hair-follicles of
man and other animals. In man, the common Demodex follicidorum (Simon)
often occurs on the face, where its presence is indicated externally by a black
speck ; but as it is a parasite of very small size and stationary habits, its
presence does not cause anything like the same annoyance as that of
Sarcoptes scabiei.
The Trombidiidce are a family of brown, or bright scarlet mites, which are
in the habit of attaching themselves to insects, to which they cling so tightly
that they may often be seen in numbers attached to Museum specimens.
They attack flies, sawflies, and other insects, but are most conspicuous
when attached to the wings of dragonflies in more or less symmetrical
rows. Some very large species, measuring nearly half an inch in length, are
often found pinned in miscellaneous collections of insects, etc., from
Africa and the East Indies. '
The Tetranychidce are allied to the last family, but are plant-feeders. The
two best known species are that great pest in hothouses, the " Red Spider"
(Tetranychus telarius, Linn.), which, however, is not a
spider, but a mite ; and the harvest bug (T. autumnalis, "Red Spiders"
Shaw), which burrows into the skin, causing great incon- (Tetranychus).
venience ; while in the case of allied tropical species, sup-
puration and ulceration may result in extreme cases. However, most of the
species of this family are harmless, living on plants, or under stones, and
not attacking animals.
The last family we have to notice, the Tyroglyphidce, includes several of
the most typical mites, such as the cheese-mites and the sugar-mite. Tyro-
ylyphus siro (Linn.), the commonest of the former, abounds
in cheese, causing a kind of dry rot ; and the dust from such Cheese-Mites,etc.
a cheese, when placed under the microscope, generally proves (Tyroglyphidw).
to be full of mites. They are harmless when swallowed, nor
do they attack the skin. Other mites, belonging to the genus Cheyletus (Latr.),
with large claw-like palpi, feed on cheese-mites, etc. Yery small mites,
belonging to the genus Tyroglyphus, are among the most destructive pests in
collections of insects. The sugar-mite (T. sacchari, Cameron), abounds in
unrefined sugar, and is sometimes the cause of a complaint known as "grocer's
itch." Now, however, almost all sugar brought into the market is more or
less refined, and no longer liable to the attacks of mites. Most of the
Tyroglyphidce are harmless, some feeding on dried vegetable or animal sub-
stances, while others are carnivorous, feeding on insects ; and others, again,
are, or may accidentally become, parasitic. Cases of dysentery have some-
times been attributed to the presence in the intestines of mites belonging
to this family, which had been accidentally swallowed.
ORDER VIII. TARDIGRADA.
These are small mites found among moss and seaweed. The cephalothorax
and abdomen are fused together ; the body is broad, with four indistinct
rings on the body. The sexes are not separate. The position of this group
is still doubtful.
548 MYRIOPODA.
ORDER IX. LINGUATULIDA.
These are worm-like parasites, with jointed bodies and separate sexes.
They are curiously intermediate between parasitic worms and Arthropoda,
but they are now referred to the Arachnids as an aberrant group. In their
embryo state, they have two pairs of short, two-jointed legs, with two strong
claws, and two hooks at the mouth. In their sexually mature condition, they
have four hooks at the mouth, but no legs. They are met with in the encysted
larval conditions in the lungs and liver of the horse, dog, wolf, hare, and
rabbit, as well as in snakes, crocodiles, and fish ; and occasionally in man. In
their mature form, they inhabit the frontal sinuses of the hare, rabbit, and
horse.
CLASS III. MYRIOPODA (CENTIPEDES AND
MILLEPEDES).
THIS is the most worm-like class of the sub-kingdom Annulosa in the perfect
state of the animals included under it. The head is well differentiated from
the rest of the body, and is provided with one pair of
antennae, and three (more rarely, two) pairs of jaws. The
thorax and abdomen are not differentiated, except into
segments. They undergo a reversed and very imperfect
metamorphosis compared to that of insects, for whereas
insects begin with a worm-like body, sometimes provided
with as many as twenty-two legs, and end with only six, the
Myriopoda sometimes begin with only six legs, and continue
to increase both in number of joints and number of legs,
till they have reached their full growth, in which they are
generally long and worm-like. Hence they are called Myria-
poda or Myriopoda (either form of the word being equally
correct) ; and they are sub-divided into two principal orders,
tlie Chttopoda which are generally called centipedes or
at. size. hundred-feet ; and the Chilognatha, which are generally
called millepedes or thousand-feet.
ORDER CHILOPODA (CENTIPEDES).
The centipedes are carnivorous, and are provided with perforated foot-
jaws, connected with a poison-gland. The body and jaws are generally
rather flattened, and there is never more than a single pair of legs on each
segment. The head is divided into two regions, provided with two pairs of
maxillae, behind which spring the great foot- jaws.
The tfcutigeridte are distinguished from the other families of CJiilopoda by
having the two pairs of mandibles united, and by the long antennae,
legs, and abdominal appendages, which has led to the common South European
species being called Scutiyera araneoides (Pall.), from its fancied resemblance
to a spider. It is about an inch long, the antennas being at least as long as
the body, and the last pair of legs twice as long ; the other legs are compara-
CENTIPEDES AND MILLEPEDES.
549
tively short in front, but increase rapidly in length till they are nearly as
long as the body. The proportions of the limbs, etc., however, vary con-
siderably in different species ; the legs are very brittle. These centipedes
feed on insects, and are very active. Most of them are inhabitants of warm
climates (the family is unrepresented in England), and the colour is usually
greenish when alive, but is liable to change rapidly after death. They have
only sixteen joints, and are provided with compound eyes instead of ocelli.
The Lithobiidce are represented in Britain by Lithobius forficatus (Linn.),
which has two clusters of ocelli, fifteen pairs of legs, increasing iri length
hindwards, and long antennae, with more than forty joints.
It is a repulsive-looking, reddish-brown creature about an
inch long, with a comparatively broad body. It is very
active in its movements, and feeds chiefly on worms ; and
is often unearthed by digging in garden-mould or in a
dung-heap. (Fig. 21.)
The Scolopendridce generally have four simple eyes on both
sides, antennae with about twenty joints, and usually twenty-
one pairs of legs. The body is often very broad and flat-
tened. The family is represented in South Europe,
and the species are often of considerable size, sometimes
measuring more than a foot in length. Their bite is as pain-
ful and dangerous as that of a scorpion, though they are
sometimes used as an article of food by the natives of the
countries where they are numerous. They are generally of a
brown or reddish colour, or banded with green and yellow.
In Britain we have only one small blind yellowish species of the
family, Cryptops hortensis (Leach), which is harmless.
The Geophilidce. are very long slender centipedes, with (Linotcenia eras-
fourteen-jointed antennae, neither compound eyes nor ocelli, s j^fied ^
and from thirty-one to one hundred and seventy-three leg-
bearing segments, each provided with a pair of rather short legs. They are
nocturnal creatures, of a whitish or yellowish colour, and are remarkable
for emitting a pale phosphorescence which has led to their being called
electric centipedes. They are found in Britain as well as in warmer
countries.
Fig. 22. ELEC-
TKIC CENTIPEDE
ORDER CHILOGNATHA (MILLEPEDES).
The millepedes are distinguished from the centipedes by their feeding chiefly
on vegetable matters ; and, consequently, they have imperf orate foot-jaws, and
are not venomous. Their bodies are generally convex above, and more or less
flattened beneath ; and while the first three segments behind the head, cor-
responding to the thorax in insects, bear only one pair of legs each, the remain-
ing segments bear two pairs. The head of the millepede is composed of a
single segment only. They vary much in size ; and dead specimens become
extremely brittle, the segments separating at the least touch.
The Polyzoniidce are semi-cylindrical creatures, with small heads, and from
30 to 100 or more joints, and capable of rolling themselves up spirally. The
mouth-parts are modified into a sucking proboscis. The best known species,
Polyzonium germanicum, (Brandt), is about two-fifths of an inch long.
550 PROTRACHEATA AND INSECT A.
The most familiar representatives of the millepedes in European countries
are perhaps the Julidw. They have a large head, and a long, cylindrical body
composed of upwards of 30 segments, which can be
rolled up spirally. They are either eyeless, or
furnished with aggregations of ocelli. They are
called snake-millepedes, and are very injurious
in fields and gardens, feeding on roots and
tubers, like wireworms. Our species are of
small size, measuring from half an inch to
nearly two inches in length, and are mostly of
a dull bluish-black or lead colour. In tropical
countries, some species grow to the length of a
foot or more ; and they are described as creep-
Fig. 23. MILLEPEBE (Spirostrep- ing about the branches of the trees in the damp
tuspyroceph a lus,Koch.). African forests. Unlike the centipedes, the
millepedes are very sluggish creatures, and
move very slowly, notwithstanding their numerous legs. The species figured,
Spirostreptus pyrocephalus (Koch), inhabits South Africa. It is black, with
a bright red head, and is about four inches long.
The Polydesmidw much resemble the Jididce in habits, but are more
flattened, and the three single pairs of legs are placed on the second, fourth,
and fifth segments, instead of on the second, third, and fourth. They are
very hard, but very brittle. The British species are small ; but some of the
foreign ones attain to a considerable size. They are composed of about 20
segments. Some species belonging to this family have been met with
in tlie great caves of Moravia and Carint*hia. All are blind.
The Polyxenidw are very small, whitish millepedes, not exceeding one-third
of an inch in length in the largest species, and composed of only 9 or 10 seg-
ments. The head is well-marked, and they are provided with two clusters of
ocelli. They are found under fallen leaves.
The Glomeridce are composed of from 10 to 13 segments above, but
each segment composed of four divisions below, an arrangement which
enables the animal to roll itself up like a ball. They are short and broad,
and much resemble wood-lice in shape, size, and appearance.
CLASS IV.PEOTRACHEATA.
THIS class includes the single family Peripatidce, the typical genus being Peri-
patus (Guilding). The few known species resemble caterpillars in appearance ;
but have two rather long antennae, and soft, cylindrical bodies, indistinctly
divided into from 13 to 40 segments, each bearing a pair of imperfectly-
jointed feet, armed with two small claws. They are viviparous, and are
found under leaves and among rotten wood. The body is capable of great
extension and retraction. When first discovered, they were supposed to be
Mollusca, but were afterwards found to have more resemblance to the
Myriopoda. There is a well-developed tracheal system, opening by incon-
spicuous stigmata placed irregularly over the body. The known species are
MILLEPEDES AND INSECTS.
551
found in South Africa, and in various parts of the West Indies and South
America, as well as in Australia and New Zealand. Peripatus iuliformis
(Guilding), from the Island of St. Vincent, is about two inches long. (See
Fig. 24).
Fig. 24. Peripatus iuliformis (Guild.).
CLASS V.INSEGTA.
INSECTS are by far the most numerous class of animals which inhabit the
globe at the present time. The actual number of species on our lists cannot
be much less than 300,000 ; and many thousands of new species are described
every year. In this country alone we have between 12,000 and 13,000
species, although our fauna is exceedingly poor, not only as compared with that
of tropical countries, but even in comparison to that of Con-
tinental Europe. Only a few families and orders of insects Number of
are at all adequately known at present, and those only as Species
existing in the best -explored countries. The late Professor of Insects.
Riley estimated the probable number of existing species of
insects at possibly ten millions ; and such estimates are generally far below
the mark. The alternative estimate of two millions, which is put forward
by some entomologists, seems to me to be ridiculously low, when we consider
that the world has been so 'badly explored that we are not yet acquainted
with a dozen species of Phasmidce, or stick-insects, from Madagascar, an
island which has been visited by many collectors, while the Phasmidce are
not a group of small and obscure insects, but one which includes many
very handsome and conspicuous species, and to which belong the largest
of all known insects.
To take another illustration, Mr. E. Ernest Green is now working at a
monograph of the Coccidce, or scale-insects, of Ceylon. Very few species
were previously known from that island, and he will probably be easily able
to multiply them at least by ten.
Nevertheless, insects, like the plants on which they feed, are becoming
552 INSECTA ORDER COLEOPTERA.
rapidly exterminated in nearly all parts of the world by cultivation, clearing
of forests, drainage, etc.; and there is good reason to he-
Extermination of lieve that a large proportion of the insects now existing will
Species. become extinct before they ever find a place in our museums
at all. The extermination of small animals proceeds pari
passu with that of larger ones ; but is rarely noticed, as their existence is, for
the most part, unknown and unsuspected.
Insects generally pass through four stages, called egg, larva, pupa, and
imago. In some orders, the pupa is inactive, and the insect is then said to
have a perfect metamorphosis. In other orders, the pupa
Metamorphoses only differs from the larva by possessing wing-cases, and
of Insects. continues to feed as before. Then the metamorphoses are
said to be incomplete. The egg is laid by the parent insect
on or near the appropriate food of its progeny, which, in insects with perfect
metamorphoses, is nearly always very different from that of the perfect
insect. The larva is frequently called a grub, maggot, or caterpillar, and is
generally more or less worm-like. It may be legless, or may possess several
pairs of legs, as well as the six pairs analogous to those of the perfect insect.
In insects with imperfect metamorphoses, the larva and pupa much resemble
the perfect insect ; and their food is frequently nearly similar. When
insects reach their final stage, they generally acquire wings, and become
capable of perpetuating their species. There are, however, numerous insects
which never acquire wings ; and in other cases the wings are undeveloped in
one sex, generally the female.
In the perfect state, an insect consists of a number of rings, called seg-
ments, or somites, agglutinated into three masses, called the head, thorax,
and abdomen, which can generally be well distinguished.
Head of Imago. The head is considered to consist of a number of somites,
jusfc as the skull of vertebrate animals is thought to con-
sist of a number of modified vertebrae. The head contains several of the
most important organs of the senses, such as the compound facetted eyes on
each side of the head ; the antennae, two long jointed organs, often feathered,
or knobbed at the extremity, which are generally inserted in front between
the eyes ; the ocelli, stemmata, or simple eyes, of which there may be one,
two, or three, on the crown of the head ; and the mouth, which is either fur-
nished with mandibles for biting, or a proboscis for sucking. There are also
two pairs of jointed organs projecting in front of the mouth, called labial and
maxillary palpi ; but one or other pair is frequently wanting.
The three segments behind the head are called the thorax. Each of these
bears one pair of legs beneath, and the second and third pairs bear the wings
at the sides ; for most insects have four wings and six legs
Thorax. in the perfect state. The legs are composed of several parts,
called the coxse, or hips ; the trochanters, or hinge-joints ;
the femora, or thighs ; the tibise, or shanks ; and the tarsi, or feet. The
tarsus is composed of five or fewer joints, known as the joints of the tarsi.
The abdomen is composed normally of nine segments, exclusive of some
smaller ones at the extremity in connection with the appendages of the
generative system ; but there are often fewer visible. Insects breathe by
tracheae, tubes which open by spiracles on the sides of the body. Many in-
sects are furnished with stridulating organs in the abdomen, while others
stridulate by means of various structures on their legs and wings ; and in
some insects the organs of hearing are situated on the legs.
BEETLES. 553
The wings of insects are furnished with a ramifying system of tubes, called
nervures. When the insect emerges from the pupa its wings are small and
limp ; but first fluid and then air is pumped through these
tubes, and the wing quickly grows to its proper size and Wings,
dries. These nervures differ much in arrangement in differ-
ent insects, and are very useful in classification. The front of the wing is
called the costa, the part nearest to the body the base, the part opposite to
the body the hind margin or outer margin, and the part opposite the costa
the inner margin. The extremity of the costa is called the tip, and that of
the inner margin the hinder, or in the hind- wings the anal, angle. But these
divisions shade imperceptibly into each other in insects with rounded wings.
Between the bases of the fore- wings we sometimes find a triangular plate called
the scutellum. The hind- wings are often smaller, rounder, and of a different
consistency to the fore-wings, but when the fore-wings play the part of wing-
cases, under which the hind-wings are folded, the latter are often much
larger. Many insects possess the power of leaping, in which case the hind
legs are often very long, or the coxae and femora are much thickened.
Insects are divided into several large orders, of which the following are
the principal ones :
I. COLEOPTERA (Beetles). Insects with mandibles ; fore- wings (called
elytra) horny or leathery; wings membranous, folded and doubled
beneath them.
II. ORTHOPTERA (Grasshoppers, etc.). Insects with Orders of
mandibles ; fore- wings (called tegmina) leathery; Insects,
hind- wings folded fan-like beneath them.
III. NEUROPTERA (Dragonflies, etc.). Insects with mandibles (some-
times very imperfectly developed ; wings with many nervures ;
membranous and naked, or clothed with hairs.
IV. HYMEN OPTERA (Bees, Wasps, Ants, etc.). Insects with mandibles,
and often a proboscis ; wings membranous, rather small, with
few nervures ; the fore and hind-wings often connected together
by a series of little hooks.
V. LEPIDOPTERA (Butterflies and Moths). Insects with a sucking pro-
boscis, and membranous wings clothed with scales.
VI. HEMIPTERA (Bugs and Froghoppers). Insects with a sucking pro-
boscis, fore- wings leathery or membranous (or membranous only
at the tips) ; hindwings membranous.
VII. DIPTERA (Flies). Insects with a sucking proboscis, and only one
pair of membranous wings.
The first four orders are sometimes called Insecta Mandibulata, and the
three last Insecta Haustellata.
Fuller characters for these orders will be given in their places. There are
also some groups of insects (chiefly apterous) which will not fit very well
into any of these orders, and which will be noticed separately.
ORDER COLEOPTERA (BEETLES).
The Coleoptera are physically among the most highly organised insects,
although they cannot compare with the ffymenoptera in intellectual devel-
opment. They are distinguished by having four wings, the first pair of
554 INSECT A ORDER COLEOPTERA.
which, called elytra, are of a horny or leathery consistency, and when closed,
form covers for the true wings, which are membranous, and are folded beneath
them like a fan, but with the end doubled back. They undergo a perfect
metamorphosis, the pupa being what is called necromorphous, or corpse-like,
because, although inactive, it is not enclosed in a single tight-fitting integu-
ment, like that of a butterfly or moth, but is furnished with separate
though immovable sheaths for the antennae, legs, etc. The mouth of
the perfect insect is mandibulate, or furnished with strong jaws or
mandibles.
Beetles are very numerous. We are probably at present acquainted with
at least 150,000 species ; and although they have been more carefully collected
than most other orders of insects, there are, doubtless,
Number of enormous numbers which yet remain to be discovered. In
Species. Britain we have in round numbers about 3,000 species.
They feed on all kinds of animal and vegetable substances
on land, in the water, and on the seashore ; but very few are parasitic on
other insects. They vary in size from an almost invisible speck to six inches
in length, or with expanded legs and antennae much more. Many of the
plant-feeding beetles, as the wire-worms, the chafers, the Colorado potato-
beetle, the turnip-fly, etc., are extremely destructive to our crops ; but the
carnivorous beetles, such as the ground-beetles, the tortoise-beetles, the
lady-birds, etc. , are very useful in destroying other injurious insects; and
the grubs of some of the large wood-feeding beetles are esteemed a great
delicacy in some countries ; indeed, it is far more probable that the Cossus of
the Romans was the larva of some large Lamellicorn or Longicorn beetle
than that it was the repulsive foul-smelling larva of the goat-moth, although
Linne* applied the name to the latter insect.
In the classification of beetles, the structure of the antennae, wing-cases
and legs is of primary importance. The neuration of the wings, which is
important in some orders of insects, is not much used in
Classification. Coleoptera. It should, perhaps, be noted that the wings
are sometimes wanting, when the elytra are sometimes free,
and sometimes soldered together at the middle line where they meet, which
is called the suture. Sometimes both wings and elytra are absent, either in
both sexes, or in the female only, as in that of the glow-worm. In some
beetles there is a triangular space, let in, as it were, between the bases of the
elytra ; this is called the scutellum. In some families the anal appendages
are useful in classification, while in others the structure of these parts is so
uniform that it is not worth noting in this connection. Ridges on the body
or elytra are called carinse, and circular pits (very conspicuous and numerous
in some species) are called punctures.
The first large group of the beetles is that of the Geodephaya, or carnivorous
ground -beetles, which are divided into two main families, the Cicindelidce, or
tiger-beetles, and the Carabidce, or ground-beetles proper. They are hard-
shelled oval beetles, with long slender legs and antennae, and five-jointed
tarsi on all the legs.
The tiger-beetles have a small moveable hook at the end of the maxillae,
large heads, with very prominent eyes and strong jaws, and very long and
slender legs and antennae. The front tibiae are not notched
Tiger-Beetles, on the inner side. We have but one British genus, of which
the green tiger-beetle, Oicindela campestris (Linn.), is the
commonest species. It is found in sandy places, where its larva constructs a
GROUND-BEETLES AND WATER-BEETLES.
555
Fig. 25. TIGER-
BEETLE (Cicindela,
Chinensis, Linn.).
pitfall for other insects, very much resembling that formed by an ant-lion.
The perfect insect is bright green, with white mark-
ings, and coppery legs and under-surface. It feeds on
other insects, and runs and flies in the sun with great
activity. Some of the foreign species are very handsome.
Some genera frequent trees. We have figured a large
green Chinese species, C. C7miensis(Linn.), with black and
white markings.
In the Carabidce the legs and antennse are less slender,
the front tibise being sometimes flattened, and often fur-
nished with a conspicuous notch on each side, and the
head is smaller and eyes less prominent ; the maxillse
have no moveable hook at the tip. They are much more
nocturnal in their habits than the tiger-beetles, though
many species may be met with by day. The species of the
typical genus Carabus (Linn.) are rather large beetles,
many of them measuring an inch or more in length. The
elytra are well developed, and moveable, but the wings
are absent. They are long beetles, of a black or bronzy
colour, and some species are beautifully metallic. One of the most con-
spicuous of these is the golden-green Carabus auratus (Linn.), a common
garden insect abroad, but rare in England, though it is not
unfrequently imported with vegetables. Some of the Ground-Beetles.
smaller species of this group genus Bembidium, (Latr.), etc.
are found in marshy places, though they are not quite aquatic in their habits.
We have figured Zabrus gibbus, a blackish insect half an inch long, with red legs
and antennse ; which, contrary to the usual habit of the family,
is destructive to growing corn, attacking the ears at night. The
Bombardier beetles, belonging to the genus Brachinus (Weber),
are reddish beetles, about one-third of an inch long, with blue-
black elytra, much broader than the thorax. They lurk under
stones, and when alarmed, discharge an acid fluid which
volatilises into smoke with a slight explosion.
Among the foreign Carabidce the most remarkable is the
fiddler beetle Mormolyce phyllodes (Hagenbach), a reddish-brown
beetle, about two inches in length, with very broad elytra. The
5US - shape of the beetle is really something like that of a fiddle. It
is a native of Java.
The npxt group, the Hydradephaga, or water-beetles, have the two front
pairs of legs near together, and the hinder pair more widely separated, and
widened, flattened, and fringed with hair, so as to form a
pair of oars. They are divided into two main families, the Carnivorous
Dytiscidce. and the Gyrinidce. The species of Dytiscus Water-Beetles.
(Linn.) are large smooth or furrowed olive-brown beetles,
an inch in length, and nearly half as broad. Their larvse are long white
grubs, with very strong jaws, and both the larvse and the beetles are very
voracious, destroying great numbers of water-animals, and are even very
destructive to fish fry. The beetles quit the water at night and fly about,
returning to the water for the day. Sometimes they will dash themselves
against a pane of glass, mistaking it for water. There are numerous smaller
species of this family, more variegated, in their colours ; but the Gyrinidce^
of which there are only a few species in England, are more likely to attract
Fig. 26.
556 INSECTA ORDER COLEOPTERA.
attention by their habit of spinning round in circles on the surface of the
water, which has given them the name of whirligig beetles. They are blue-
black beetles, about one-third of an inch long, with reddish legs and antennae.
They have four eyes (each eye being divided in two, an upper and a lower
one), and it has been suggested that the upper eyes are intended for use in
the air, and the lower ones for use below the surface of the water. The front
legs are long and slender, but the two hinder pairs, as well as the antenna,
are very short and stout.
The Brachelytrcu are a very extensive family of beetles, distinguished by
the very short square-cut elytra, which do not nearly reach to the extremity
of the abdomen, but which cover the ample wings, which are folded beneath
them. They are often called "Rove-Beetles," owing to
Rove-Beetles. some of the larger species, such as Ocypns olens (Linn.)
being found running about in search of dung or carrion.
The beetle to which we have referred is a black, foul- smelling beetle with
strong jaws, which lifts up its head and tail when molested, and is known in
many parts of the country by the name of the " Devil's Couch-Horse," In
Fig. tf.-D&l**
margmalis. ccesdreiis. Necrophorus vespillo.
Ireland it is regarded as a diabolical creature, which it is a meritorious action
to kill. We have figured Staphylinus ccesareus (Cederh.), a black species with
red legs and tegmina, and the thorax and segments of the abdomen partly
bordered with silky yellow or golden pubescence. Most of the species of
Brachelytra are much smaller than either of those just mentioned. Their
habits are very varied. Many species may be found among moss or flowers,
and others again live in ants' nests.
The next group, the Necrophaga or Clavicornia, is tolerably numerous in
species, though less so than the last, and is chiefly distinguished by the con-
spicuous knobs at the end of the antennae. Most of the species feed on
decaying animal or vegetable substances (carrion, fungi, etc.), and some of those
belonging to the genera Dermestes (Linn.), Anthrenus (Geoffr.), and their allies,
are very destructive to hams, dried skins, etc. Dermestes lardarius (Linn. )
the "Bacon Beetle") is black, banded with grey, and spotted with black ;
it is about -a third of an inch long. The beetle and its hairy larva are too
familiar objects to many housekeepers.
The burying beetles, which belong to this section, are larger insects, half
ROVE-BEETLES AND CHAFERS. 557
an inch or more in length, and are black, with orange-red bands on the
elytra. They are remarkable for their habit of interring the bodies of small
animals, such as mice or birds, which they may find lying
about, by scooping out the earth underneath, dragging and Burying-Beetles.
stamping them down, and covering them up. The females
are buried with the carcase, on which they deposit their eggs, and then make
their way back to the surface. We have figured Necrophorus vespillo (Linn.),
one of the commonest species.
There is a group of beetles allied to, and sometimes included in, the Necro-
phaga, called, from their aquatic habits, the Philhydrida. The largest
species, Hydrous piceus (Linn.), is a shining black beetle,
longer, narrower, and more convex than the species of WatoMBteetie
Dytiscus, from which its short-clubbed antennae and much
longer hind legs will at once distinguish it. It is sometimes called the
great water-beetle.
The Lamellicornes or chafers form a very interesting and important group of
beetles, but are not very numerous in Europe. They are distinguished by
the structure of their antennae, which are short, and
furnished at the extremity with a series of flat plates, which Chafers,
spread out like a fan. They feed on plants or dung, and
Borne species are very destructive. They are stout, round, or oblong beetles
of considerable size. Many of the species are black, but others exhibit
much variety of colour. There are many large species among them, and
they are frequently furnished with great horns, largest in the males,
and often assuming very strange shapes, on different parts of the head and
thorax.
The dung-beetles or Scarabceidw (a name sometimes applied to all the
Lamellicornes) are generally black and shining, though sometimes inclin-
ing to greenish or purple, especially beneath. They have
strongly toothed and flattened legs for digging. Some Dung-Beetles.
species, like the Egyptian sacred beetle, form pellets
of dung which they roll to a suitable place,
and in this deposit their eggs. This insect,
Scarabceus sacer(Linn.), is common throughout the
Mediterranean region, and is black, with a broad
flat head, with a vertical spine in the middle, and
strongly dentated on the front curve. There are a
number of species of more or less similar appear-
ance and habits, several of which are represented
on Egyptian monuments.
Our common black dung-beetles belong to the
genus Geotrupes (Fabr)., and have a much smaller
head than the sacred beetles. They fly in a
straight line in the evening, as in the time of
Shakespeare, who speaks of the "shardhorn beetle
with his drowsy hum." They are frequently much
il 1 lfested Wit , h 7 mifces - / The smaller dung-beetles of
sacer t Linn.). " e genus Aphodius (Illiger) are more numerous in
species, and more various in colour. They re-
semble very small cock-chafers in appearance, and rnay often be seen flying
about dung in the sunshine.
The Melolonthidce include the true cock-chafers, Our species, Melolontha
558 INSECTA ORDER COLEOPTERA.
vulgaris and hippocastani (Fabr.) are about an inch long, and are reddish'
brown above, and black beneath, more or less clothed with
Cock -Chafers, whitish pubescence ; the abdomen ends in a blunt projec-
tion. They are vety destructive insects. The larva, which
is called the white grub, lives in the ground for three years, feeding on the
roots of plants ; and the beetle feeds on the leaves of trees. A similar but
smaller species, Rhizotrogus solstitialis (Linn.), is common in many places,
flying round trees in the evening.
The Dynastidce include the largest and most strangely-shaped of the
Lamellicornes, but they are not British, though one or two species are found
in the south of Europe. The larvae feed, like those of the stag-beetles, in
the wood of trees. The largest species are found in South America, the males
of the Her-
cules beetle,
T)ynastes her-
cules (Linn.),
and one or two
other species,
having a huge
horn, nearly
as long as the
Fig. 31. HERCULES BEETLE (Dynastes hercules). rest of the
body, project-
ing from the front of the thorax, and curving downwards to meet a similar
horn which projects from the front of the head, and curves upwards. It is
black, with greenish-grey elytra, and is represented of half the natural size
in the accompanying illustration.
To the Cetoniidce belong the great Goliath beetles of Africa, probably the
bulkiest, but not the largest of all beetles. They are black, brown, or
reddish, with longitudinal white bands on the thorax. Our
Rose-Chafers, most familiar representative of this family is the rose-chafer,
Cetonia aurata (Linn.), the beautiful, round, green, white-
spotted beetle which we so often find nestling in roses and other flowers.
The stag-beetle, Lucanus cervus (Linn.), is the typical representative of the
important family of the Lucanidce. It is black, with reddish-brown elytra,
and the large males are often two inches long, having very
Stag-Beetles. large branching mandibles ; in the females the mandibles
are comparatively small. The mandibles of the male of this
and other species of Lucanidce vary very much in size and in development,
but conform to certain recognised patterns, commencing with small males in
which the mandibles are scarcely more developed than in the female, and
proceeding to the largest males, in which the mandibles are very large and
branched. However, our common stag-beetle never attains the great de-
velopment of mandibles which is noticed in some allied East Indian species.
As already mentioned, the larvae feed in the wood of trees.
The Serricornes are another group of plant-feeding beetles, comprising
(besides others) the two important families of Buprestidce. and Elatcridw.
These are long and narrow beetles with hard integuments, and generally with
more or less pectinated antennae. The BupresticUe have no power of leaping,
but many of the foreign species are remarkable for their brilliant golden-
green colour ; and as they often measure nearly two inches in length they
form very conspicuous objects in collections of foreign insects. The British
STAG-BEETLES, FIRE-FLIES, AND GLOW-WORMS.
559
Fig. 32. THE FIRE -FLY
(Pyrophorus noctilucus, Linn).
species are not remarkable, but the larvae of the next family,
the Materidce, or click- beetles, are too well known to all Click-Beetles and
agriculturists as wire-worms. The beetles are often found Wire-Worms,
in corn, flowers, etc. ; they are about half an inch long, and
of various subdued colours. The hinder angles of the thorax are rather
pointed, and on the under-surface there is a strong spine pointing backwards
and fixed in a groove. If the insect is placed on
its back it bends its body, and uses this apparatus
to enable it to leap up with a clicking sound.
Some of the larger foreign species of ElateridcB
rival the Bupresiidce in size ; but though some^
times green, rarely exhibit the
same brilliant metallic colouring. Fire-Flies.
However, some of the larger
species are luminous, the species of Pyrophorus,
(111.), being the well-known tire-flies of Mexico
and the West Indies. Some of these emit two
different-coloured lights from different parts of
their body. Their body-colours are not con-
spicuous ; the species figured, Pyrophorus noctilu-
cus (Linn. ), is brown.
The Malacodermi are another group, in which
the form is generally long and narrow, the integu-
ments unusually soft, the elytra being leathery
rather than horny, and the thorax often rounded
above. They are active insects, and of carnivorous habits. The most in-
teresting beetles of this section are the glow-worms, in which
the females are apterous. In our common yellowish green Glow- Worms,
glow-worm, Lampyris noctiluca (Linn.), both sexes of which
are here figured, the female, which is apterous, is most luminous ; and is
frequently noticed shining like a spark on a grassy bank
or under a hedge. An allied species is common on the
Continent, and may be seen flying about in the evening
like little sparks ; but the Italian fire-fly, which is also
a Lampyris, and which is not found north of the Alps,
is far more brilliant.
In almost all the beetles, which we have hitherto been
considering, the tarsi are five- jointed on all the legs;
but we now come to the large group of ffeteromera, in
which the two front pairs of legs have five- jointed tarsi,
but there are only five joints to the hind tarsi. An-
other peculiarity of this group is that the antennae are generally moniliform ;
that is, consisting of a series of rounded joints looking like a string of beads.
They are generally of a black colour, and many of the species have much
resemblance to the Carabidw, from which either of the characters mentioned
will at once distinguish them.
The Heteromera, though rather numerous, need not detain us very long,
but we may mention three or four of the more interesting species. The
cellar-beetles, which belong to the genus Blaps, are hard,
wingless beetles nearly an inch long, with the body ending Cellar-Beetles,
in a point, and of the colour of an unpolished boot. Black
as they are, they are not the * ' black-beetles " of our housekeepers, this
Fig. 33. Fig. 34.
GLOW-WORMS
(Lampi/ris noctiluca,
Linn.).
560 INSECTA ORDER COLEOPTERA.
scientific term being reserved for the reddish-brown cockroaches, which do
not agree with either the adjective or the noun.
Another beetle common in houses is Tenebrio molitor (Linn.), a narrow, dark
brown beetle about half an inch in length, which is better known in its larval
state as the meal-worm. Out of doors the oil-beetles, of the
Meal Worms and genus Meloe (Linn.), are familiar objects, and can hardly be
Oil-Beetles. mistaken for anything else. They are large, soft, sluggish,
blue-black beetles, with short, soft, and perfectly useless
elytra, and are found clinging to blades of grass. Their transformations are
extremely remarkable, for they pass their early stages in bees' nests, and
undergo two or three transformations into larvae and pupae before assuming
the perfect state, which even then is sufficiently incomplete, as they never
develop wings, except in the rudimentary form above described.
The blister-beetle, Cantharis vesicatoria (Linn.), is too well-known to need
description. It is found in the south of England, but is too rare with us to
be of any commercial value ; the chief supply comes from
Blister-Beetles. Southern Europe. An ash tree loaded with these beautiful
metallic green beetles is a splendid sight in the sunshine.
Mylabris (Fabr.) is a rather large genus of Heteromera, the species of which
are used for blistering purposes in some countries, but it is not represented
in Britain. They are black beetles, with yellow or tawny spots and bands.
The Rhynchophvra, or weevils, are a very large group of beetles, which
may easily be distinguished by the apparently four- jointed tarsi on all
the legs ; by their very hard integuments, and by the struc-
WeevUs. ture of their head and antennae. The head is produced
into a long snout, towards the end of which
the short, angulated, and generally clubbed antennas project
on each side. Most of our British species are of small \
size ; but among the foreign beetles we find the large and
' beautiful metallic green diamond-beetles, and
Diamond- the palm-weevil of the West Indies, a large
Beetles. reddish-brown beetle an inch and a half
long, the wood-feeding grub of which is con-
sidered a great delicacy. The nut-weevil, Balaninus nucum
(Linn.), is a small brown beetle, with the elytra varied with
grey. It is about of an inch in length, and is represented
somewhat above natural size in the accompanying wood-cut.
It exhibits the peculiar structure of the rostrum and antennas nucum, Linn.),
very typically. The Scolytidce have the head less prolonged
than usual among the weevils, and are extremely destructive to trees, eating
galleries through the wood in all directions.
The Longicornes, or long-horned beetles, are an extensive group, with ap-
parently four- jointed tarsi, long slender antennas, often as long and sometimes
many times longer than the body ; not clubbed at the ex-
Long-Horned tremity, but with along and thick basal joint. The eyes are
Beetles. generally more or less constricted in the middle, at least 011
one side, and are sometimes completely divided, as in the
Gyrinidce. They are generally insects of large size with long bodies, and
their larvas feed in the wood of trees. They are very numerous in warm
climates; but most of our British species are either of small size, or are scarce.
Others, which are not considered indigenous, are frequently imported into
England with timber. One of the commonest and most beautiful of our
LONG-HORNED AND PLANT-FEEDING BEETLES.
561
larger species is the musk-beetle Aromia moschata (Linn.), which is common
in most parts of the country, and is often found resting on the trunks of
willows, in which the larvse feed, in the daytime. It exhales a strong but
agreeable odour, contrary to the habit of most other beetles, many of which
discharge an extremely offensive liquid when touched. It is of a bright
green colour, and often exceeds an inch in length.
This species belongs to the Cerambycidce, the typical family of the Longi-
cornes ; but the largest and bulkiest species belong to the Prionidce, which
are brown or reddish-brown beetles fre-
quently three inches long. Our single
native species, Prionus coriarius (Linn.), is
rather scarce. It is about the length of the
musk-beetle, but much stouter, and of a
brown colour. We have figured both sexes
of Acanthocinus cedilis (Linn.), which has
longer antennae in the .male than any other
British species. It is rather scarce with us,
being found chiefly at Rannoch, in Scotland,
in the pine forests. It is reddish-brown with
grey pubescence, and four yellowish spots on
the thorax. It belongs to the family of the
Lamiidw, which is distinguished by the large
head, and almost vertical face.
The last group of the beetles with appar-
ently four joints to the tarsi is that of the
Phytophaga, or plant-feed-
ing beetles par excellence. Plant-Feeding
They are round or oval Beetles,
beetles, of small or moder-
ate size, and of various colours, many being
of a brilliant green. The antennae are gen-
erally rather short, and not elbowed, or set
on a rostrum, and this alone will generally
distinguish them from the beetles of the two preceding groups.
This group includes several very injurious species, among others the
Colorado potato-beetle, and the turnip-beetles. The Colorado Potato-
beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), is a native of the
Western States of America. It is about half an inch long, Colorado
and of a yellowish colour, with eighteen black spots on the Potato-Beetle.
thorax, and ten black stripes on the wing-cases ; the larva is
red, spotted with black. Our figure is somewhat above natural size. Some
years ago this beetle began to spread eastwards from its
haunts in the Rocky Mountains, where it used to feed on
a wild species of potato ; and to attack the cultivated
plant. It soon spread over the whole of the United States,
and there is no efficient way of arresting its ravages but
by the free use of ' ' Paris Green, " a dangerous compound
of arsenic. Great fears were expressed lest it should
spread to Europe, and special measures were taken by all
the principal Governments to guard against its invasion.
Nevertheless, in addition to a few isolated instances of its
occurrence in various countries, a whole colony was dis-
37
Figs. 36, 37. Acanthocinus cedilis,
Linn.
Fifj. 38. COLORADO
B E ETL ^(Leptinotarsa,
decemlineata, Say).
562 INSECT A ORDERS COLEOPTERA AND ORTHOPTERA.
covered many miles from the sea-coast in some potato fields at Miilheim-on-
Rhine, nearly opposite Cologne. The fields were at once ploughed up, drenched
with petroleum and burned over; and the pest was fortunately stamped out.
The scare has now subsided, but it is all the more necessary for us to be pre-
pared to take equally prompt and energetic measures if the Colorado beetle
should happen to make its appearance among us, as is always possible
enough, perhaps at some out-of-the-way place where it is least expected.
Among the largest and most conspicuous of the foreign species of this
group are the species of the genus Sagra (Fabr.), which are found in the East
Indies and Africa. They are long, smooth
Turnip-Beetles, beetles, of a brilliant green colour, sometimes
varied with coppery red, or purple, and the
hind femora are of very large size, being constructed for
leaping. These beetles are an inch long, but the destruc-
tive turnip-beetles, belonging. to the genus Phyllotreta (Latr.^,
have also thickened hind femora, and skip about like fleas.
They are oval, and less than a quarter of an inch in length.
The elytra are bronzy black, and marked with a yellow stripe. y j' J : >.Phyi
They are often called "Turnip Flies," but turnip flea-
beetles would be a more appropriate term. Our figure
of Phyllotreta nemorum (Linn.) is somewhat above natural size.
The last of the great group of beetles are the Pseudotrimera, which are
small species, distinguished by having only three visible joints to the tarsi.
The best known of these are the lady-birds (Coccinellidcz).
Lady-Birds. of which there are a considerable number
in England. They are small round beetles,
and the elytra are mostly red with black spots, or black
with red or yellow spots. The head and thorax are black
with white markings. They are very useful insects, for
they are carnivorous, and destroy large numbers of Aphides,
or plant-lice.
We have figured the typical form of one of the commonest
species, Coccinella bipunctata (Linn.), slightly magnified. It
is very variable, and the elytra are sometimes almost black, ~ ^bipunctata).
instead of being red, with a black spot on each, as in our figure.
Other families of this group are the Trichopterygidce, the smallest of all
beetles, and if we except some of the egg-parasites among the Hymenoptera,
almost the smallest insects known. They are little black beetles, with
long, slender, clubbed antennae, and are found among decaying vegetable
refuse.
Other species belonging to the Pseudotrimera are found in fungi, and
others, again, inhabit ants' nests, where, it has been suggested, they may be
preserved as pets.
ORDER ORTHOPTERA (CRICKETS, LOCUSTS, ETC.).
The Order Orkhoptera, or straight- winged insects, includes the earwigs, cock-
roaches, crickets, grasshoppers, locusts, etc. These are all insects with
strong jaws, instead of a proboscis, and differ from the other mandibulate
orders by the fore-wings (which are called in Orthoptera not elytra, but
tegmina) being generally of a different consistency to the others throughout,
TURNIP-BEETLES, LADYBIRDS, AND EARWIGS. 563
and leathery, rather than horny, as in the Coleoptera. They also differ from
the Coleoptera in the hind-wings being folded lengthwise, and not doubled
back at the tips, except in the earwigs and cockroaches, which some authors
consider to form two separate orders, distinct from the Orthoptera.
In the Orthoptera the metamorphosis is incomplete, there being no inactive
pupa-state. The larva resembles the perfect insect, except in size, and in
the absence of wings. During the period which elapses be-
tween the last two moults, the insect possesses short wing Metamorphoses,
cases which enclose the undeveloped wings, and this stage is
considered to correspond to the pupa-state of insects with complete metamor-
phoses. The insect is, however, as active and voracious as in the larva state,
and is frequently termed a " nymph " by those who restrict the term " pupa "
to insects with complete metamorphoses. In the perfect insect the antennae
are usually slender, with well-marked joints, and are sometimes of great
length.
The bulk of the Orthoptera are plant-feeding insects, but the Mantidfe, or
praying insects, are carnivorous, and the earwigs and cockroaches will eat
decaying animal as well as vegetable substances. This
order contains no parasitic insects, and scarcely any which Habits,
are directly harmful to man, but the economic injury oc-
casionally caused by locusts in many countries probably far exceeds that
due to the ravages of all other insects put together. These insects are
generally voracious in all their stages after leaving the egg.
The Orthoptera are one of the least numerous orders of insects in species,
though most abundant in individuals, and are very poorly represented
in cold countries. In England we have only about sixty species, including
casual visitors, and introduced species.
The Forficididce, or earwigs, much resembe the Staphylinidce among the
Coleoptera, and were actually included in the Coleoptera by Linnaeus. Their
tegmina are very short, and the large transparent wings
are folded beneath them, so as to be quite invisible when Earwigs
closed, except the projecting tips of the opaque part of the (ForficulidcK).
costa, which are of about the same colour and consistency as
the tegmina. At the end of the body there is always a peculiar appendage
like a forceps, which is more developed in the male than in the female, and
which is said to be used for folding and unfolding the wings. Many species,
however, are apterous, and others, though provided with ample wings, are
never seen to fly, though they may possibly use them only in
the darkness of night ; others, however (chiefly small
species) fly about by day. They are fond of concealing
themselves in any sort of crevice, and some -flowers, such
as dahlias and sunflowers, are greatly infested by them.
They have sometimes been known to creep into the human
ear, and there is no doubt that their popular name has
originated in this manner. They are generally dull reddish -
brown, unattractive-looking insects, though one or two East
Indian species are of a rich purple. They measure from half
an inch to rather over an inch in length ; the antennae are (Anisoiabi
generally of moderate length, and the legs are short. We maritima).
have figured a brown, apterous species, which has been in-
troduced into most parts of the world, and is occasionally found in England.
The Blattidoe, or cockroaches, are another very isolated group. These are
5 6 4
INSECT A ORDER ORTHOPTERA.
oval insects, generally more or less flat, with a round or oval thorax, under
which the small head is often quite hidden. The antennae
Cockroaches are slender, and moderately long, and the legs are
(Blattidai). very spiny. Many species are apterous, at least in the
females ; but the majority are winged, the wing-cases being
of a parchment-like consistency, and generally more or less overlapping ;
the wings are transparent. They are nocturnal insects, feeding chiefly on
decaying vegetable matter ; but many are carnivorous, our domestic species
being particularly fond of bed-bugs. The eggs are deposited in a capsule,
and the female may often be seen running about with the capsule pro-
jecting from her body. They are nearly always of dull colours, such as
grey, reddish-brown, or black. Three species commonly infest our houses,
all of which appear to have been imported insects, like most of our house-
hold pests. The first and smallest of these is Phyllodromia germanica
(Linn.), a pale brown, winged insect, about half an inch long. It is sometimes
found in bakeries. The female is said to open the egg-case to allow of the
escape of the young. In America, where it is much commoner than with us,
it is called the croton bug, and is said to frequent the neighbourhood of
water-pipes. Our common cockroach, Blatta orientalis (Linn.), a reddish-
brown insect, with fully developed wings in the male, but only rudimentary
wings in the female, is generally called "the black beetle," though it is
neither black nor a beetle. An-
other species, Periplaneta ameri-
cana (Fabr.), which is winged in
both sexes, is redder ; the thorax
is yellowish-grey, with a large black
mark in the centre ; it expands
nearly two inches across the wings,
and is not uncommon in ware-
houses. Cockroaches of various
species abound on board ship ; and
apart from one or two small in-
digenous species (found not in
houses, but in woods and fields),
many others, besides those which
we have mentioned, may be met
with in the docks, and elsewhere,
some of which may perhaps succeed
in establishing themselves in this
country. Even specimens belong-
ing to the genus Blaberus (Serville),
which includes the great broad-
winged species called "drummers"
in the West Indies, have been
met with occasionally. These are
yellowish -grey, with a large black
mark on the middle of the thorax,
and measure at least three inches
across the win^s : but the largest
Fig. 42. DRUMMER COCKROACH (Blaberus f ., , u v, i *v,<*
giganteus, Linn.). of all the cockroaches belong to the
genus Megaloblatta (Dohrn), found
in Mexico and South America. They have longer and narrower wings in
CO CKROA CUES AND PR A YING. INSECTS. 565
proportion than Blaberus, measuring fully six inches in expanse, and are
of a dark reddish-brown colour.
The late Mr. H. N. Moseley, in his "Notes of a Naturalist on the
Challenger '' (pp. 592, 593), gives the following amusing account of the cock-
roaches on board ship : '* The first cockroaches apparently
came on board at St. Vincent, Cape Verdes, for a large one Cockroaches on
of these insects was caught by one of the lieutenants on his the Challenger.
bed soon after we left that port. Cockroaches soon became
plentiful on board, and showed themselves whenever the ship was in a warm
climate. A special haunt of a swarm of them was behind the books in the
chemical laboratory, from which Mr. Buchanan in vain attempted to evict
them. At one period of the voyage, a number of these insects established
themselves in my cabin, and devoured parts of my boots, nibbling off all the
margins of leather projecting beyond the seams on the upper leather. One
huge winged cockroach baffled me in my attempts to get rid of him for a long
tpne. I could not discover his retreat. At night he came out and rested on
my book-shelf at the foot of my bed, swaying his antennae to and fro, and
watching me closely. If I reached out my hand from bed to get a stick, or
raised my book to throw it at him, he dropped at once on the deck, and was
forthwith out of harm's way. He bothered me much, because, when my
light was out,' he had a familiar
habit of coming to sip the moisture
from my face and lips, which was
decidedly unpleasant, and awoke
me often from a doze. I believe
it was with this object that he
watched me before I went to sleep.
I often had a shot at him with a
book or other missile as he sat on
the book-shelf ; but he always
dodged and escaped. His quick-
ness and agility astonished me.
At last I triumphed, by adopting ** ^.-Mantis religiosa.
the advice of Captain Maclean, and
shooting him with a pellet of paper from my air-gun, a mode of attack for
which he was evidently unprepared ; but I was taken to task for discharging
the air-gun in my cabin, because it made a noise just like the sharp crack
of a spar when broken by the force of the breeze, and created some excite-
ment on the upper deck, where the sound was plainly heard."
Turning now to the more typical Orthoptera, we commence with the Mantidce.
or praying insects, which are not British, though one or two species are
common in Southern Europe. They are generally green,
yellow, or brown (very rarely blue), with ample wings, which Praying Insects
are generally transparent; the tegmina are likewise broad, (Mantidce).
and are opaque, at least along the costa. They are usually
insects with long slender bodies and slender legs ; the front pair of legs,
however, is large and strong, and the lower surface of the tibia is furnished
with a row of very strong curved spines, which close against the femora,
which are also sometimes denticulated or knobbed. They are carnivorous
and very predatory insects, and usually sit with the forepart of the body and
the fore-legs raised on the watch for prey. This position has caused them
to be looked upon with superstitious reverence ; and it was said that if
5 66
INSECTA ORDER ORTHOPTERA.
(Phasmidw).
children had lost their way they had only to ask a Mantis, which would im-
mediately extend one of its front legs in the desired direction. Some idea
of their real propensities, however, may be gathered from the following anec-
dote : A male and female Mantis were once observed courting, when the
female suddenly chopped off the head of her mate and devoured it. This
incident was followed by their union, after which the female devoured the
body of her unfortunate partner. But it should be mentioned that in most
insects (subject, however, to exceptions) the female is much larger and, as a
rule, less brightly coloured than the male. We have figured a green
European species of Mantis. (Fig. 43.)
The Phasmidce are another group of Orthoptera, which are wholly unre-
presented in England, though a few small species belonging to the typical
genus Pheuma (Illiger) are found on the northern shores of
Stick Insects the Mediterranean. These are apterous insects, about two
or three inches long, and with short antennae, though the
generic name is frequently misapplied to a South American
genus with long antennae, and large, brightly-coloured wings. The PhasmicUe,
or stick insects, have long slender legs and bodies, and are exclusively vege-
table feeders. Although the legs are spiny in many species, they are not
raptorial, as in the Mautidw. A great number of species are apterous, and
of a brown or yellowish colour, perfectly resembling
pieces of dead stick in appearance. The largest
insect known is a species from Borneo, Phrygan-
istria, serratipes (Gray), the female of which mea-
sures more than a foot in length. Other apterous
species, about nine inches long, and half an inch
broad, are flattened rather than rounded, and are
of a green colour, perfectly resembling shoots of
bamboo. In the winged Phasmidce the tegmina
are always very short, and frequently scale-like;
but the wings are often very ample, and are
thickened along the costal area, which really
answers the purpose of tegmina in protecting the
delicate fan-like wings. Many of the Australian
Phasmidce measure six or seven inches in ex-
panse, and are most beautiful insects, with large
pink, blue, or green wings. There is a smaller
green species in the Pacific Islands, Lopaphus
cocophages(N&wp.\ about five inches long, which
is extremely destructive to the cocoanut trees.
It has odd little rudimentary red wings not more
than an inch long ; and shares with other species
of Phasmidke the habit of ejecting a disagreeable
fluid when alarmed. This particular insect is said
to be able to shoot it a distance of five feet, and
the fluid is so acrid that it is liable to cause blindness if it reaches the eyes.
The next family, the Gryllidce, or crickets, agrees with the remaining
groups in having the hind femora much thickened, and adapted for leaping.
The antennae are long and slender, the tegmina rest flat on
Crickets the back, and are frequently curved downwards at the sides,
(Cryllidai). but are never roof -like, and the head is large and vertical,
with prominent eyes. The legs are generally strongly spined,
Fig. 44. STICK INSECT
Lopaphus cocophayes). ^ Nat.
size.
STICK-INSECTS, CRICKETS, AND GRASSHOPPERS. 567
and the ovipositor of the female is short and straight. In the male the
tegmina are differently formed from the female, exhibiting a bare space
covered by strong veins, which are roughened beneath like a file, so as to
produce a chirping sound when the tegmina are rubbed over one another.
The females are mute, as in most other Orthopterous insects.
We have tlwee conspicuous kinds of crickets in this country, of which the
best known is the pale brown house-cricket, Gryllus domesticus (Linn. ). It
is very similar in its habits to the cockroach, but is a much less disgusting
insect, both in appearance, and because it does not possess the foul odour of
the cockroach. It is, however, a destructive insect, and is very fond of mois-
ture; and this is the reason why it sometimes eats holes in wet clothes
left hanging at the fire to dry during the night;
though 1 have sometimes heard that " it was out of
spite against the maid, who was in the habit of killing
them." Many persons have a superstitious dislike
to injure crickets ; and I lately heard of an attack of
toothache being attributed to the murder of a cricket.
The field-cricket, Acheta campestris (Linn.), is rather
larger and stouter than the house-cricket, and is of
a nearly black colour, except the tegmina, which are
brown. It is a very destructive insect, feeding on
the roots of plants; but has become exterminated by
cultivation, and is now very rare in England, though
it and several other closely-allied species are abundant
in most parts of the world. The mole-cricket, Ctirtilla
gryllotalpa (Linn.), is a brown insect two inches long,
which represents a small section of crickets in which
the front legs are very broad and flat, resembling Fi ^ FIELD-CRICKET
those of a mole, and are used for burrowing in a (Acheta campestris).
similar manner. It does much mischief by destroy-
ing the roots of plants, and is a common insect, though seldom seen above
ground.
The Phasgonuridce, or long - horned grasshoppers, are a large group
divided into numerous sub-families, which resemble the crickets in many
respects, having large heads which frequently slope inwards
and downwards, and long or very long antennae. The Long-Horned
tegmina, however, are generally roof -like, and the colour is Grasshoppers
most frequently green, though sometimes brown. The ovi- (Phasgonuridce.)
positor of the female is long, compressed, and curved up-
wards at the end. The legs are generally less strongly spined than in the
crickets. The typical species of this family is known as the Great Green
Grasshopper, arid is not uncommon in the south of England, where it can
easily be recognised by its large size (three inches or more in expanse of
wing), bright green colour, very long antennae, and in the female its long
ovipositor. Some of the North American species of this family are called
"Katydids." their chirping having been read into the words, "Katy did,
Katy did, Katy didn't, she did, she didn't," and sojon.
Some insects belonging to foreign sub-families of this group are of very
large size, measuring six or eight inches in expanse ; and some are remarkable
for their broad flattened thorax, or for their disproportionately long hind
legs. Others, which are found in the deserts of Africa, are bulky apterous
insects, on the large fore - legs of which the curious auditory organs
568 INSECT A ORDERS ORTHOPTERA AND NEUROPTERA.
Locusts and
Grasshoppers
(Locustidce).
which many Orthopterous insects possess in this odd situation are very
conspicuous, opening either in a large oval depression, or in a mere slit.
The last family of the Orthoptera, the Locustidce, which comprises the true
locusts and grasshoppers, may be distinguished at once by the short antennae.
The ovipositor is inconspicuous, and the hind legs are long
and slender, the hind tibiae being generally fucnished with a
double row of spines above. Our common grasshoppers leap
rather than fly, but the locusts, some of which visit us occa-
sionally, though they probably never breed here, are very
strong on the wing. The body and tegmina are generally brown, but the wings
are often red, blue or green. The most destructive species in Asia and Africa
are about five or six inches in expanse ; but the largest South American
locusts measure nearly a foot across
the tegmina. In some of the earlier
sub-families, the antennae are very
broad and flattened, but in the more
typical species they are cylindrical.
These chiefly inhabit the warmer parts
of Asia and Africa. Destructive lo-
custs are not always large ; for in-
stance, those which ravage Cyprus and
the United States are small species,
not expanding "more than a couple of
inches across the wings. Species of
about the same size, with blue and
red wings, are common on the Conti-
nent, in pine forests, and vineyards,
etc. ; and the blue-winged grasshopper,
(Edlpoda ccerulescens (Linn.), is said to be sometimes found in England.
Locusts are equally destructive in all their stages after quitting the egg, for
the young locusts can leap, though not fly, and they advance across the country
in vast hordes in this manner, before they acquire their wings, and they have no
quiescent pupa stage. No one can form any conception of the meaning of an
invasion of locusts who has not actually seen one ; and at present, schemes
are in progress for checking their ravages in Natal by the use of specially
constructed guns and mortars, in addition to other means. In America and
Australia the term "locust" is frequently but improperly applied to the Cka-
didce, which belong to quite a different order of insects.
Fig. 46. BLUE-WINGED GRASSHOPPER
(CEdipoda ccerulescens).
ORDER NEUROPTERA (LACE-WINGED INSECTS).
Linnaeus applied the term Neuroplera, or Nerve-wings, to an Order in-
cluding a number of conspicuous insects of rather large size. They have strong
jaws, four wings, similar in texture, and generally covered with a network
of very numerous nervures ; incomplete metamorphoses, and carnivorous
habits.
Several very discordant groups are included under the term Neuroptera ;
and although we have treated of the Trichoptera, Mallophaga, Thysanura^
GRASSHOPPERS, LOCUSTS, AND DRAGONFLIES.
569
and Collembola separately, many groups besides these are regarded by some
authors as forming distinct orders.
Although the size and importance of the dragonflies indicate them as the
true types of the Linnean Neuroptera, yet they have sometimes been united
with the Orthoptera under the absurd term Pseudo-ncurop-
tera. But the dissimilarity of their wings is quite sufficient Dragonflies
to preclude their being classed in the same order as the (Odonata).
Orthoptera ; while if they were, the name Orthoptera would
have to be abolished, being of post-Linnean date, and its contents transferred
to the Neuroptera. The dragonflies are frequently called Odonata.
They are generally slender-bodied insects, with long, moderately broad
wings, and a large head, the greater part of which, however, is occupied by
the two large compound eyes. Their wings are generally
colourless, but in some species are very brightly coloured, in Metamorphoses,
whole, or in part, with iridescent purple, blue, green, or
scarlet. The commonest pattern, where any exists, and which reappears in
several distinct families, is a broad purplish- brown band across the middle of
both pairs of wings. They are predaceous insects in all their stages. The
larva and pupa are brown, and live in fresh water ; the pupae can be. dis-
tinguished by their conspicuous wing-cases. When the pupa is matured, it
leaves the water, climbing up a reed, or some other convenient support, and
then splits down the back, to allow of the emergence of the perfect
insect.
The neuration in some of these insects is often very complicated, the net-
work forming many thousands of cells in each wing in some species, while
others exhibit comparatively few nervures. They are divided
into several families and sub-families, of which we will notice Family
two or three. In the Libellulidce, the triangular (or more Libellulidce.
rarely, quadrilateral) space near the base of the/wing, from .
which several of the principal longitudinal nervures of the wings start, is
differently shaped in the fore and hind wings, and the eyes are contiguous,
but rarely united by
a long suture. This
family takes in the
greater part of the
moderate-sized dra-
gonflies with rather
stout bodies, the com-
monest of which,
Libellula depressa
(Linn.), which may
often be seen flying
over water, has trans-
parent wings three
inches in expanse, and
a flattened and rather
short and broad body,
which is blue in the
Fig. 47. DRAGONFLY (Trithemis umbratd). Nat. size/ male, and yellow in
the female. We have
figured a common South American species of this family, Triihemis umbrata,
(Linn.). The Gomphidcv resembles the Libellulidce, but the eyes are distinctly
570 INSECT A ORDER NEUROPTERA.
separated. The ^Eschnidce, which perhaps attract more notice than any other
dragonflies, measure three or four inches in length, and also
Family across the wings, and have a long narrow triangle, crossed
jEschnidai. by several nervures, on each wing, shaped nearly alike on all
the wings, and very large eyes, which are contiguous, being only
separated by a small suture on the top of the head. The wings are transpar-
ent, tinged with brown in one species ; and the bodies are elegantly marked
with blue, green, and yellow, on a brown or black ground ; but these colours
generally fade in a short time after death.
The Agrionidce have slender bodies, small and inconspicuous triangles on
the wings, and wide heads, with the eyes far apart; in fact their heads are
something like those of the hammer-headed shark on a small
Family scale. Some of the larger European species, measuring up-
Agrionidce. wards of two inches across, have beautifully coloured wings,
and frequently blue or green bodies. Two species are com-
mon in England, one with purplish wings, and the other with a purplish
band, resembling our figure 47,but with a longer and more slender body Some
of the foreign species are far more brilliantly coloured, the common Indian
Neurobasis chinensis (Linn. ) having bright green or blue hind wings Several
of the American species of Hetcerina (De Selys), and allied genera, are trans-
parent, with a bright scarlet patch at the base of the wings, which are other-
wise transparent. Our two British species of Agrion, already mentioned,
are fond of flying over ponds or slowly-flowing streams. These coloured
species belong to the family Agrioninm, and have more cross-nervures on the
costa before the middle of the wing than the other sub-family Cwnagrioniiuv,
in which there are only two. The latter sub-family includes a considerable
variety of species, all slender, but among them are the largest and the smallest
dragonflies known. The largest are South American species, six or seven
inches in length and expanse, with long transparent wings, tipped with black
or yellow ; the smallest are the little slender-bodied, transparent- winged
dragonflies which are so abundant among reeds and rushes. The type of this,
sub-family is Ccenagrion puella (Linn.), which has a long body prettily marked
with blue and black. It measures rather more than an inch in length, and in
the expanse of its transparent wings.
In all the true dragonflies the antennae are very short, filiform, and in-
conspicuous, and are generally only
three-jointed ; but in the Planipennia,
we meet with insects
Ant-Lions in which the antennae
(Myrmeleonidce). are of ten of consider-
able length, and fre-
quently cl ubbed . Th e an t-lions , wh ich
belong to the family Myrmeleonidce,
much resemble dragonflies by their
long, narrow, and generally transpar-
ent wings, but their bodies are much
shorter, the neuration of the wings
is dissimilar, and the antennae are
short and clubbed. The ant-lions are
not British, though several species are ^ ^^scalaphus Kolyvanensis, Laxm.
found in Southern Europe ; their
larvae have strong jaws, and hide themselves at the bottom of pitfalls,
DRAGONFLIES, MAYFLIES,
571
which they dig in sandy soil, to entrap the ants and other insects on
which they feed. The Ascalaphidce are another family not represented
in Britain, but which has also several representatives in
Southern Europe. It is distinguished by its very long, Family-
clubbed antennae. In the typical genus Asccdaphus (Fabr.), Ascalaphidce.
the wings are black and yellow, and broader and shorter
than in the Myrmeleonidce ; but in many of the allied tropical genera,
the wings are longer, narrower, and mostly transparent. A third allied
family, the Nemopteridce, not British, and not extending so far south as the
others, being confined in Europe to the shores of the
Mediterranean, has rather short and slender antennae, broad, Family
oval, black and yellow fore-wings, and very long and narrow Nemopteridce.
hind-wings, looking, when the insect is held head upwards,
almost like a pair of stilts. The fore-wings measure about an inch and a half
in expanse, but the curious narrow hind- wings are nearly two inches long.
The most interesting British species of Planipennia belong
to the Chrysopidce, or lace-winged flies, which have bright Lace-winged
green bodies, long slender antennae, golden eyes, and trans- Flies
parent, delicately reticulated wings, rarely exceeding an (Chrysopidcn).
inch in expanse. Their larvae are very useful in gardens by
destroying the Aphides, or plant-lice.
The Ephemeridce, which are generally called May-flies, or Day-flies, fly over
streams in summer. They have long, slender antennae, slender bodies,
ending in two or three long fila-
ments, broad fore-wings, about May-Flies
an inch and a half in expanse, (Ephemeridcb).
and very small, or undeveloped
hind-wings. Their larvae are aquatic, and take
several months to arrive at maturity ; but the
perfect insects live a very short time. They are
insects of dull colours, brown, greenish, dull
grey, or whitish ; and on the Continent there are
several white species which emerge from the
water after sunset, and perish before sunrise.
In the evening they swarm in at the open windows
of waterside houses to the lights in great numbers.
In the morning the ground near the rivers
where they breed is covered with their dead
bodies, lying in heaps.
The Perlidce is another family of brown
Neuroptera, with well-developed hind-wings,
large heads, and two long fila-
ments at the end of the body. Stone Flies
Their larvae likewise are aquatic. (Ptrlidce).
The TermitidcK, or white ants,
are fortunately not British, and it is to be
hoped that they will never succeed in getting
a footing in this country. The males and
females have long and rather narrow wings, and short, stout
bodies ; the workers are wingless, and have very large White Ants
heads, and powerful jnws. They are very similar to ants in (Termetidce).
their habits, and shun the light, always living either in
Fig. 49. MAY FLY (Ephemera
vulgata, Linn.).
572
IN SECT A- ORDERS NEUROPTERA, ETC.
large nests, or forming galleries in wood, which they eat away from the
inside.
Some of the remaining families of Neuroptera contain very small species.
Among the Psocidce, some are winged, and others are apterous. The species
most often seen is Atropos pulsatoria, a small white apterous
Family Psocidce. insect, which is frequently met with in neglected collections
of insects, and is often called a mite. It is active, and
sufficiently large to be seen running about. It has been stated on good au-
thority to produce a ticking sound, but this appears
almost impossible in the case of so small and soft a
creature.
The Thripidce are very small insects, which are
sometimes placed in a distinct order, under the name
of Thysanoptera. They have rather
Family long narro\v* wings, with very long
Thripidce. fringes, and sometimes cause much fig. so.Thrips cerealium?
injury to plants, especially in green- Magnified,
houses, where the most troublesome species have re-
ceived the name of the "black fly." Tobacco smoke is recommended for
their destruction. The species figured, Thrips cerealium (Hal.), infests the
ears of wheat.
ORDER TRICHOPTERA.
The Trichoptera, or hairy-winged insects, include the Caddis Flies, which
were formerly placed with the Neuroptera, from which they differ in many
important particulars. The insects have four wings, similar
Caddis Flies in texture. The mouth parts are imperfectly developed, the
(Trichoptera). antennae and legs are long and slender, and the latter spined,
and the metamorphoses are complete, and aquatic. The Trich-
optera, especially some of the smaller species, have much resemblance to some
of thePyralidce, and Tineidce among the Lepidoptera, in shape, neuration, and in
the structure of their legs and
antennae, but the wings are
clothed with hair instead of
scales. The pupse are necro-
morphous, as in the Coleoptera
and Hymenoptera.
The Caddis Flies are very
dull-coloured insects, of small
or moderate size. They are
nearly always of a brown, grey
or buff colour, and very few,
even among the foreign species,
are varied with white, purplish,
oryellow. The largest British
species, Phrygane a grandis,
(Linn.) measures about an inch
and a half across the wings.
Some of the smaller species have very long antennas, several times as long as
the body. These insects are chiefly remarkable for the habits of the larvse.
Fig. 51 CADDIS FLY (Phryganea grandis). Nat. size.
CADDIS FLIES AND SPRING-TAILS. 573
The caddis worms, as they are called, live in ponds and ditches, and make
themselves cases of stick, or small stones and shells, bound together, and
lined with silk, and in these they, live, and undergo their metamorphoses.
Wingless Insects, allied to Neuroptera.
There are three groups of wingless insects, which are sometimes classed
with the Neuroptera, and are sometimes treated separately. They are as
follows :
The Mallophaga are placed by some authors with the Anoplura, or true lice,
as an aberrant family of Hemiptera, but others place them with the Neur-
optera, and others again treat them as a distinct order.
They much resemble the lice, but differ from them in pos- Bird Lice (Mal-
sessing well-developed mandibles. They have large flat- iophaga).
tened bodies, large heads, and rather short legs. They
infest different species of birds, feeding on the soft part of the feathers near
the quills. Most of them are of rather small size ; the largest, which are
nearly half an inch in length, infest the eagles, vultures, and albatrosses.
The Thysanura and Collembola are two small orders or sub-orders of
wingless insects, which have long, jointed antennae, and six legs, but under-
go no metamorphoses. The Thysanura have an apparatus
Spring Tails for leaping at the end of the body, and are frequently called
( Thysanura). spring tails. The best known, however, is
the silver fish, Lepisma saceharina (Linn.), a Silver Fish,
silvery-grey insect, about half an inch long, often found in
crevices in dark corners in houses, where it darts about with great activity
when disturbed.
ORDER HYMENOPTERA (BEES, WASPS, ANTS, ETC.).
In this Order we find insects with four wings, which are generally long and
narrow, and frequently clothed with short hairs, only visible under the
microscope. The fore and hind wings are often linked to-
gether by a row of small links, which has suggested the Structure and
name of the order. The veins of the wings are never very Metamorphoses,
numerous, nor is the neuration complicated. In many
families, however, the females and sometimes both sexes are wingless, and
in others there is a race of imperfectly developed females, called neuters
or workers, which are frequently wingless. The ovipositor of the female is
modified either into a sting, or into a boring apparatus, which, in the latter
case, is sometimes of great length. There are usually three ocelli, or simple
eyes on the vertex in addition to the two large lateral compound eyes. The
metamorphoses are complete, and the pupa is inactive, and necromorphous,
as in Coleoptera, the limbs being encased in separate immovable sheaths.
The pupa is usually enclosed in a cocoon.
The Hymenoptera include a large number of insects, which, though very
diversified in form and habits, have still such a strong family likeness that
they cannot easily be mistaken for insects of any other order. Some are
vegetable-feeders, like the saw-flies, the larvae of which so much resemble
caterpillars that they have been not inaptly termed " false caterpillars " ; the
larvae of the wood-wasps burrow in the wood of trees ; the gall-flies form
574 INSECTA ORDER HYMENOPTERA.
excrescences called galls on various plants, especially on the oak and rose,
though many of the smaller species are parasitic ; the groups
Habits. generally classed together roughly as ichneumons, though
they really include several very distinct families, are parasitic
on other insects ; the burrowing and solitary wasps are carnivorous, the
social wasps and the ants are omnivorous, and the bees feed on the pollen
and honey of flowers.
The ants, bees, and wasps, and the termites, or white ants, which greatly
resemble them, but which belong to the order Neuroptera, far surpass all
other animals in intelligence, and are the only creatures known to scientific
men which have developed any phases of social life and civilisation at all
resembling our own, and this is especially true of the ants.
The Hymenoptera are probably the most numerous of all insects in number
of species, for although only 36,000 species have yet been described, a much
smaller number than either the Coleoptera or Lepidoptera, yet
Number of we have considerably more than 3,000 species in England, a
Species. greater number than is known of any other order, and fully
half of these belong to the parasitic groups, which only one
or two entomologists have taken the trouble to study at all, and many of
which are of very small size, some, indeed, being the most minute of all
known insects, and there is no reason to doubt their being proportionately
as numerous in other countries as in our own.
The Hymenoptera are divided into two principal sections : the Terebrantia,
or Boring Hymenoptera, in which the ovipositor is modified into a boring
apparatus; and the Aculeata, or Stinging Hymenoptera, in
Boring Hymen- which ifc ig mo difi e d into a sting. In the Terebrantia the
(rr P ter * trochanter, or small hinge-joint which separates the coxa, or
/ia) ' hip, from the femur, or thigh, is generally double, while in
the Aculeata it is generally single ; but this is not an invariable character.
The first division of the Terebrantia consists of the Serrifera, including
the families Tenthredinidcv and Siricidce, or saw-flies and wood- wasps.
The Tenthredinidce are divided into several sub -families, in some of which
the antennae are short, and strongly clubbed at the end, like those of a
butterfly. The commonest of these species in England is
Saw-Flies Trichiosoma lucorum (Linn.), which is a blackish hairy
(Ttnthredinidce). insect, measuring rather more than an inch in expanse,
with transparent wings bordered with brown. The twenty-
two-legged larva feeds on hawthorn, and constructs a very solid brown
egg-shaped cocoon. It belongs to the sub-family Cimbicinw. Another very
interesting sub-family is that of the Pergince,
which are found in Australia, and have
short, club-shaped antennae ; the species
are mostly black and yellow, and smaller
than Trichiosoma, though some of them are
greenish, and about the same size. Their
black larvae have only six true legs, no
prolegs being developed, and they feed
gregariously on gum-trees
Habits of Perga. (Eucalyptus). In some
species, the female is said
to tend the young larva, after they are
hatched, an unusual habit, except in the
case of social insects. The number of joints of the antennae varies in the
SA W-FLIES AND WOOD- WASPS.
575
Saw-Flies
injurious to
fruit trees.
Tenthredinidce, but is most frequently nine, especially in the more typical
sub-families, in which the joints are long, cylindrical, and
well-marked. In one sub-family, however, the short, thick Antenna of Saw
antennae are composed of only three well-separated joints ; Flies.
the scape, a short joint, and a long terminal one composed of
several fused together. Sometimes this third joint is bifid, each antenna
being thus double nearly to the base.
Our fruit-trees often suffer severely from the attacks of the larvae of various
saw-flies. Those best known to ordinary observers are probably the small
greenish or yellowish black-dotted larvae which frequently
strip our gooseberry and currant bushes of all their leaves,
and which develop into small black and yellow four-winged
flies about half-an-inch in expanse, belonging to various species
of the great genus Nematu (Panzer. ). But these bushes are li-
able to the attacks of the larvae of saw-flies belonging to other sub-families than
the Nematince, and also by the larvae of various Lepidoptera and other insects.
The Siricidce, or wood-wasps, burrow in the larva state in timber, with which
they are frequently imported into this country. The commonest and most
conspicuous species is
Sirex gigas (Linn.), a very Wood-Wasps
formidable - looking in- (Siricidce).
sect, the large females of
which sometimes measure nearly two
inches across the wings, though many
specimens are much smaller ; for wood-
feeding insects, as a rule, vary very
much, both in size, and in the length of
time which they require to reach matu-
rity. It is black and yellow, and the
Fig. 53.-Sirex gigas. Male. Nat. size. emale j has a stout ovipositor projecting
behind the body for about one-third of
its length. The abdomen of the male, on the other hand, terminates in a
rectangle. These insects
will sometimes emerge from
planks of deal or pine,
which have been built into
the floors or fittings of a
house, and make a loud
buzzing, which has some-
times led to their beingmis-
taken for hornets, but they
are really quite harmless.
The (jrollicolce,, or gall-
flies, are far better known
by the galls which grow
upon the leaf or stalk in
which they have deposited
their eggs than by the flies
themselves, which are gen-
erally small shining black
or reddish insects, with
long antennae and trans-
parent wings, with the very Fig. 54. Sires gigas. Female. Nat. sh
576
INSECTA ORDER HYMENOPTERA.
Fig. 55. GALL-FLY
(Cynips kollari, Hart.).
Slightly magnified.
few nervures visible on the fore-wings forming one large cell near the centre.
The abdomen is short, slightly compressed, and much elevated. A common
British species is figured. It is hardly necessary to remind
Gall-Flies our readers that the principal ingredient in ink is obtained
(GallicolcK). from the galls of a Levantine species of Cynips. Some of our
own galls are not unlike a cherry, or
other fruit ; and there are foreign galls which are much
larger and more tempting in appearance ; some of these
are called " Apples of Sodom."
Many of the gall-flies appear at different seasons of
the year in two different forms, one in which the sexes
are separate, while the other consists exclusively of
females, or rather of individuals capable of self-repro-
duction. Sometimes one form is winged, and the
other apterous and subterranean. It is needless to
say that until their habits were discovered, the two
broods were regarded as belonging not only to different
species, but to distinct genera. Another noteworthy circumstance relative
to galls is their extreme liability to attacks of parasites. You may collect a
very large quantity of some kinds of galls, and breed hun-
Gall- Parasites, dreds of specimens of different species of insects from them,
and yet never obtain a specimen of the original gall-maker ; all
will be parasites, and not a few will be a small parasitic species of Cynipidce.
The Entomophaga, or truly parasitic groups of Hymenoptera, include the
families Chalcididce, Proctotrypidce, Braconidce, Ichneumonidce and Evaniidce.
The female usually pierces the body of the caterpillars, or
Parasitic other victims which she attacks, with her ovipositor, and
HymeAoptera lodges an egg in each wound. In other cases, the eggs are
(Entomophaga). deposited on the eggs or larvae of their victims. Eggs thus
attacked never hatch ; but ichneumoned larvae generally
attain their full growth, and then die, when the larvae of the parasite, which
have been feeding on it all the time, often emerge from it, and form
their own cocoons round the dead body of the caterpillar. In other cases,
the larva assumes the pupa-state, and the parasites pupate within it, emerg-
ing from the pupa-skin instead of the butterfly.
The Chalcididce are a very extensive family, divided into many sub-families.
The antennae are generally 13-jointed, consisting of a long basal joint and a
series of short ones. The females
Family are generally provided with a long
Chcdcididce. or short ovipositor, which, in the
genus Leucospis (Fabr.), is curved
over the back. These are among the largest
species of the family, and though not British,
several species are found in Southern Europe.
They are black, with yellow markings, and re-
semble small wasps, but may at once be distin-
guished from them by the very rudimentary and
incomplete neuration of the wings. Leucospis and
several other genera among the larger Chalcididce
have very thick hind femora, toothed on the under-surface.
The genus Callimome (Spin.), to which many species which are parasitic in
galls, belong, are considerably smaller, rarely measuring more than about
Fig. 56. Leucospis
grandis. Nat. size.
ICHNEUMONS,
577
Fig. 57. FAIRY FLY
(Mymar pulchellus, Curt.).
Magnified.
half an inch across the wings. They are, however, by no means inconspicu-
ous insects, being of a bright metallic green, or cupreous ; and the female
has a long straight ovipositor.
The pupae of the Chalcididce are naked, but those of the next family, the
Proctotrypidce, are enclosed in cocoons. The body, which is usually stout in
the Chalcididce, is slender in the
Proctotrypidce, and the wings Family
are almost destitute of any Proctotrypidce .
trace of neuration. Most of
them are egg-parasites, and some are among the
smallest of known insects, being barely visible
even to the most practised eye, except as a
mere speck on a window-pane. The smallest
of all belong to the sub-family Mymarince, and
Mr. F. Enock, who has paid special attention
to them, calls them "fairy flies." They have
very narrow oval or battledore-shaped wings,
fringed round with long hairs ; and one or two
of them are aquatic in their habits, probably attacking the eggs of some
water-insect.
The Braconidce and Ichneumonidce include the greater part of the remain-
ing parasitic rfymenoptera. The neuration, though still not very compli-
cated, extends over the greater part of the forewings ; and
the antennas are generally long and slender. In the Bra- Family
conidce there is one small joint beyond the scape of the Braconida.
antennae, but in the Ichneumonidce there are always two.
In the Ichneumonidce we often find an open space towards the middle of the
forewings, in which the principal nervures of the wing centre ; this is called
the areolet. In some genera of these two
families, the ovipositor is concealed ; Family
but in. some of the larger Ichneumonidce Ichneumonidce.
belonging to the sub-family Pimplince,
the ovipositor, which is usually composed of three sepa-
rate filaments, is of great length, being intended to reach
the larvae of wood-boring insects. Rhyssa persuasoria
(Linn.), which attacks the larva of Sirex gigas in its wooden
galleries, is black with yellow markings, and is one of
the largest of the British Ichneumonidce, measuring
nearly two inches across the wings, and nearly three
inches from the head to the extremity of the ovipositor,
which is nearly twice as long as the rest of the body. But
in some of the allied foreign species, the ovipositor is much
longer, not measuring less than six or eight inches in
length.
The Evaniinw are a small family of parasitic insects, re-
-markable for their peculiar forms. The abdomen is
attached to the upper part of the metathorax, which
gives the whole insect a very peculiar appearance. The species of the genus
Evania (Fabr.) are parasitic on the egg-capsules of cock-
roaches, and are found all over the world, though for some Family
reason or other they are extremely rare in England. They Evaniidce.
are small black insects, measuring about three-quarters of
38
Fig. 58. ICHNEUMON
FLY (Rhyssa persua-
soria). % Nat. size.
578
INSECT A ORDER HYMENOPTERA.
Fig. 5Q.Pelccinus
politurator, Linn.
Reduced.
an inch across the expanded transparent wings, with a very small petiolated
abdomen, so small that it hardly appears to belong to the insect ; and long
sprawling legs, with very long black or red hind femora, much longer and
thicker than the abdomen of the insect. Another genus of this family,
Pdecinus (Latr.), is of a very different size and shape, but is
not less remarkable. The species are black and shining,
and measure an inch and a half across the rather long
wings. The whole insect, however, is tfiree inches in
length, on account of the great length of the joints of the
abdomen, which looks like a telescope, except that the
joints are of equal thickness. Such is the female. The
male, which is very rarely seen, is much smaller, and has
the abdomen very differently formed ; it is slender at the
base, and gradually thickened into an oval club at the end.
Here we see that instead of the ovipositor being lengthened
in the female, the whole abdomen has been inordinately
lengthened instead. This genus is not British, but is
common in North America, and other parts of the world.
We now come to the important section of the Hymenop-
tera Aculeata, which are not only more familiar
insects than the Terebrantia, but have been much more
Stinging Hymen- s fc u <iied by entomologists, though not to anything like the
optera same extent as the two favourite orders of Coleoptera and
(Aculeata). Lepidoptera.
The first section, the Tubidifera, includes only one family, the Chrysididce,
or ruby-tailed wasps, which hold an intermediate place between the two great
sections of the Hymenoptera, being armed with a rudi-
Ruby-Tails mentary sting. They are small insects, generally expanding
(Chrysididce). less than an inch across the transparent wings. Their bodies
are very hard, and very strongly punctured, and when
alarmed, they double their bodies together, and sometimes roll themselves
up into a ball. Most of the species are of a brilliant
metallic green (more rarely blue), with the abdomen,
which is more or less smooth, at least towards the
tip, often purple or fiery-red towards the end. The
abdomen is usually composed of only three or four
segments visible above, and is more or less retractile
under the first, which is usually very much longer
than the others ; the last dorsal segment terminates
in a row of strong teeth, varying in size, form, and
number according to the species. The larvae are
parasitic in the nests of other Hymenoptera. We
have figured Stilbum amethystinum (Fabr.), a large species found in Asia and
Africa, which is sometimes blue and sometimes green.
The first section of the true Hymenoptera Aculeata is that of the Heter-
ogyna, or ants. They are social insects, and consist of limited numbers of
winged males and females, and of numerous wingless and imper-
fectly developed females, called workers, or neuters. In
all Hymenoptera the female is the predominant sex, but
this is pre-eminently the case in the social species. When
the ants swarm, the males and females fly away and pair,
after which the great bulk of them perish. The females shed their wings,
Fig. 60. RUBY-TAIL
(Stilbum amethystinum).
Nat. size.
Ants
(Heterogyna).
ANTS AND SAND WASPS. 579
and those which are sufficiently fortunate to return to a nest of their own
species, become the future mothers of the community, and devote all their
energies to egg-laying. The wings of ants are rather long and large, and the
two principal nervures generally cross obliquely about the middle of the fore-
wings, and beyond this, a large, closed cell is formed in some genera. Ants
are divided into three principal families. The Formicidce bite, but do not
sting, and have only one node on the petiole of the abdomen. In the
Poneridce, the node is formed by the first segment of the abdomen, which is
frequently nearly as large as the others, but is completely detached from
them ; and in the Myrmicidce there are two small nodes forming the petiole
of the abdomen. Both these last families sting as well as bite. The most
familiar examples of the first and last families are the wood ant, Formica
rufa (Linn.), a large, smooth, reddish ant, which forms large mound-nests in
woods ; the much smaller red ants of the genus Myrmica (Latr.), which
infest our gardens ; and the minute yellow house-
ant, which is so troublesome and difficult to get rid
of wherever it effects a lodgment. Our British
representatives of the Poneridw, or "wicked ones,''
are small and insignificant ; but to this family be-
long some of the largest known ants, such as the
great black Dinoponera grandis (Guer.) of Brazil,
which measures upwards of an inch in length. In
some of the larger species of Myrmicidce, belonging
to the genera Odontomachus (Latr. ),Mi/rmecm(Fabr.),
etc., the jaws are very long, and armed with
formidable teeth. We have figured a large red Fig 6 ;._
and black Australian ant, Myrmecia forjicata forjicata). Nat. size.
(Fabr.).
We have no space here to discuss the habits of ants, but those of our
readers who are interested in their wars, slave-raids, agriculture, cattle and
pets, will find ample information in the works of Huber, Kirby and Spence,
Moggridge, Lubbock, M'Cook, and others.
The Fossores, or sand wasps, are a large group of insects consisting of
winged males, and winged or apterous females, which are solitary in their
habits, and generally dig holes in the ground, which they fill
with insects or spiders which they have paralysed but not Sand Wasps
killed with their sting, and which remain as a store of fresh (Fossores).
provision for the larvse of the wasps. The wings of the
burrowing wasps are not folded longitudinally when at rest ; the abdomen is
often petiolated ; the legs are usually very spiny or hairy, and the pro-
thorax is transverse, the sides not being arched backwards to the base of
the wings, as in the true wasps. We notice here some of the principal
families only.
The Mutillidce have winged males, and very hairy apterous females, and
are sometimes improperly called " solitary ants." They are very numerous
in the warmer parts of the world, and we have two or three
species in Britain, though they are not very common. The Families of
Thynnidce are another family with apterous, but nearly Fossores.
naked females ; they are almost confined to Australia and
South America. In both the above families the legs are very hairy. The
Pompilidce have long spiny legs, and the abdomen is shortly petiolated.
Among them we find the largest Hymenopterous insects known, some of
58o INSECTA ORDERS HYMENOPTERA AND LEP1DOPTERA.
which measure upwards of three inches across the wings. Some of the
species of Myynimia (Smith) are conspicuous by
their beautiful green or purple iridescent wings.
The last family we can notice is the Sphegidw,
which are remarkable for the long petiolated
abdomen, and for the brilliant metallic green of
some of the Indian and African species of Chl&rion
(Latr.), etc. In these, however, the wings are
generally transparent, or are at most only
bordered with brown. Pelopceus spirifex (Linn.)
is a black and yellow species, common in the
warmer parts of the Old World.
The Diploptera, or true wasps, may be distin-
*<* b / . the 'ow-wing. bei"g longitadin-
ally folded in repose, and by the prothorax
being arched backwards to the base of the wings. The species are soli-
tary or social ; and the former generally construct small
Wasps nests or cells, which they provision with insects. The social
(Diploptera). wasps, belonging to the typical genus Vespa, are too well
known to need description ; they construct large nests in the
ground or in trees, but their habits are less interesting than those of the ants
and bees. The nest is, however, always commenced by one queen, which
has survived the winter ; and its
extension is afterwards carried on
by her progeny. The bulk of
the inhabitants consist of neuters,
though males and females are also
produced ; the latter assist the
mother in carrying on the work
of the nest, for, unlike bees, more
than one perfect female is allowed
to live in a wasp's nest at the same
time. At the end of the season,
the whole community dies off, ex-
cept a few queens, which perpetuate
the brood next year ; and hence
every wasp destroyed in spring
means the destruction of a possible
nest. We have six species of Vespa
in England, all very similar, except
the hornet, which is twice as large as the others, but lives in smaller com-
munities. It is much scarcer, too, and rarely stings except under provoca-
tion. The largest known species of Vespa are found in India, China, and
Japan.
The last family of the Hymenoptera is that of the Anthophila, or bees.
They are generally short, hairy insects, though some genera are almost
naked, such as the curious wasp -like parasitic bees of the
Bees genus Nomada (Fabr.), which are mostly black and red, in
(Anthophila). various proportions, with yellow markings.
Many of the solitary bees of the large genus Andrena (Fabr.)
appear in spring, sometimes as early as January or February, and make
nests in the ground. Some are very peculiar in their habits, such as
. Fig. 63. HORNET (Vespa crdbro). Nat. size.
WASPS, BEES, AND BUTTERFLIES. 581
the leaf -cutter bees, Megachile (Latr.), and the carpenter bees, Xylocopa (Latr. ),
which are common abroad, but are not known in England, and have deep
violet-coloured wings ; while there are other bees which form their nests in
old walls. The humble-bees, Bombus (Fabr.) ; make their nests in the ground,
Fig. 65. HIVE-BEE
Fig. 64. CAKPENTER BEE (Xylocopa violzcea, Linn.). (Apis mellifica).
Nat. size. Nat. size.
and live in small communities, consisting, like the hive bee, of males, females
and workers, all winged.
Apis mellifica (Linn.), the hive-bee, closes our list of the Hymenoptera.
The genus Apis occupies a rather isolated position among the bees, and may
be recognised at once by the very long narrow costal cell, which extends
almost to the tip of the fore-wings. The species of Apis are not numerous ;
but apart from the common hive-bee, ten or twelve others are met with in
different parts of the world.
ORDER LEPIDOPTERA (BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS).
The Lepidoptera, or scale-winged insects, have four wings, clothed with
scales, which look like fine powder, and easily rub off, but which exhibit a great
variety of form under the microscope. The colour of the
insects is due partly to pigment, and partly to refraction General
from the edges of the scales, which sometimes produces the Characteristics,
most brilliant iridescent changes, as in some of the blue Mor-
phos of Tropical America, and in the widely-dispersed genus Apatura (Fabr.),
to which our own Purple Emperor belongs. The antennae are long and many-
jointed, and one pair of palpi, at least, is more or less conspicuous. There
is also a long proboscis for imbibing the nectar of flowers, or moisture from
trees or the ground. In some of the hawk moths this is of immense length,
nearly reaching a foot in the largest South American species ; but in some
groups of moths, as in many of those classed under the heading of Bombyces,
it is often so slightly developed as to be practically obsolete.
In Lepidoptera the metamorphoses are complete, the insects passing through
four stages. The female lays her eggs on a plant suitable for the nourish-
ment of her brood. These are laid singly or in clusters, and
are frequently covered with a kind of cement, or else with Eggs,
down from the body of the mother. They are of various
shapes and sizes, and are often ribbed or fluted.
From the eggs emerge the larvae, or caterpillars, which are usually provided
582 INSECTA ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.
with sixteen legs : six horny legs, corresponding to the true legs of the perfect
insect ; eight ileshy legs, called prolegs ; and a terminal
pair, called claspers. In the larvae of the Geometridw, and
Larva,or J R t | ie ear jy stages of those of many other moths, the first
a erp ar. three pairs of prolegs are obsolete, and the larvae arch the
back at every movement, and are then called "loopers."
Caterpillars are very voracious, and generally moult, not only their skins,
but the lining of part of the internal respiratory and digestive apparatus as
well, more than once before arriving at their full growth.
The next stage is that of the pupa or chrysalis, which is almost motionless,
being encased in a tight-fitting integument, 011 the upper half of which the
outlines of the perfect insect may be observed. These are
Pupa, or not, however, enclosed in separate sheaths, except in the
Chrysalis. case of some hawk- moths, which have the proboscis enclosed
in a sheath which is detached from the main body of the
pupa. The pupa takes no nourishment, and it is either attached by threads
to a leaf, 1 etc, as in the case of most butterflies, or enclosed in a cocoon,
formed of silk in those species in which it is constructed on or above the
ground, and of agglutinated earth in most instances in which it is subterranean.
In due time the perfect butterfly or moth quits the pupa-case ; its wings,
which are at first soft and limp, soon expand to their full size ; the limbs of
the insect dry in the sun and air, and it flies away to join its comrades, and
to reproduce its kind. Most species, on emerging from the chrysalis, dis-
charge a fluid, which in former times, when they happened to be particularly
numerous, and when everything unusual was attributed to miraculous causes,
sometimes gave rise to the notion that a rain of blood had fallen.
Entomologists in England have generally agreed to call the first few
families of Lepidoptera butterflies, and the remainder moths ; but there is
110 such distinction on the Continent, where they are
Rhopalocera, or generally called by words corresponding to day-butterflies
Butterflies. and night-butterflies. Butterflies are broad-winged insects,
often adorned with bright colours, and with comparatively
slender bodies. The antennae are almost invariably thickened into a knob at
the extremity, a peculiarity which is not very common in other insects,
though we meet with it in some saw-flies, flies, the ant-lions, and other allied
families of Neuroptera, and in many beetles, etc. Hence the butterflies are
often called Rhopalocera, or club-horns. They fly by day, and seldom, unless
disturbed, at dusk or at nighfc, though some Tropical genera are twilight-fliers,
or frequent the deep gloom of thick forests. Moths, on the other hand, have
the antennae of various shapes, sometimes thickened in the middle, or before
the end, but almost never clubbed at the extremity, and generally thread-
like or comb-like. Most moths fly at night, or, at least, not before dusk,
though a few are day-fliers, and may be seen frequenting flowers, among
butterflies. Many of them have stout bodies, and are of dull or subdued
colours. Butterflies often rest with the wings raised over the back, an attitude
rarely assumed by moths. The latter, however, more frequently rest with
all their wings spread out flat, while in the stout-bodied moths the fore-wings
often more or less cover the hind- wings when at rest, and are sometimes
1 In the Nymphalidce the pupa is suspended freely by the tail ; in the other families
' butterflies (except in the " 7 ^ " - - --"-* - *- *~ ~~i ^-~
girth round the body as well.
of butterflies (except in the Hcsperiidce) it is generally attached by the tail, and by a
jody
BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 5 8 3
sloped roof -like, the hind- wings frequently folding together like a fan, which
is never the case in butterflies.
Moths are much more numerous in proportion than butterflies, especially
in temperate climates. Tropical America produces more than half of all the
known butterflies ; in the tropics of the Old World they are
much less numerous. England is poor in butterflies, pro- Moths,
ducing only 60 or 70 species out of the 300 European species,
as against 2,000 British moths. The richest countries in Europe for butter-
flies are those lying round the central ranges from the Pyrenees to the
Balkans ; but the numbers rapidly dimmish, both north and south. Sweden
produces about twice as many species of butterflies as Britain ; but Andalusia
is not richer than Sweden, and North Africa is much poorer. Nevertheless,
both butterflies and moths are to be met with (though, of course, their
number is but few), not only in Lapland, but everywhere in Greenland
where any vegetation will grow. Iceland, though producing many moths, is
the only important country in which it is believed that no butterflies are to
be met with.
In the wings of butterflies, the front edge is called the costa, the outer
edge the hind margin, the hinder edge (which, in the hind- wings, is parallel
to the abdomen) the inner margin, and the side nearest to the body of the
insect the base. The nervures of the wings are useful in classification. The
principal nervures which run from the base are the costal, subcostal, median,
subrnedian, and internal nervures. The nervures which do not starD from the
base are called uervules. A wide space, which extends from the base towards the
middle of the wing, between the subcostal and median nervures, is called the
discoidal cell. The subcostal nervure divides into two branches on the hind-
wings, and generally into from three to five on the fore-wings ; and the
median nervure always divides into three. These branches are either called
branches of the subcostal and median respectively, or subcostal and median
nervules. The discoidal cell is closed at the extremity by short nervules,
called discocellular nervules ; and from the end of the cell one or two
nervules (called discoidal nervules) run to the extremity of the wing. In
some butterflies one of the discocellular nervules is absent or imperfectly
formed, leaving the wing open from the base to the hind margin. In such a
case the discoidal cell is said to be open ; but otherwise it is called closed.
The internal nervure is absent in some families of butterflies.
The first family of butterflies, the NymphaUdcB, includes about half the
entire number of species, and may be known by the first pair of legs being
always more or less imperfect, especially in the males. The
pupa, when attached to anything (for in exceptional cases Family
among the Satyrince it is placed on the ground), is suspended Nymphalidce.
freely by the tail. The larvae are cylindrical, and are generally
furnished with bristles, spines, or long filaments, or are naked, Avith a bifid
tail. Sometimes they have horny projections on the head.
The Nymphalidce, are divided into several sub-families The Danaince are
chiefly an Old World group, and the best-known species is Limnas chrysippus
(Linn.), a tawny butterfly, about three or four inches across
the wings, with an oblique white bar across the tip of the fore- Sub-Family
wings, and a curved row of small black spots on the middle Danaince.
of the hind-wings. It is common throughout Africa and
Southern Asia, and extends into South-Eastern Europe. Another section of
this family is represented by the East Indian genus Euplwa (Fabr.), and
INSECTA ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.
its allies. Many of these are butterflies of a rich velvety black or brown,
with bluish-white spots towards the extremity of the long, broad, rounded
wings, and also in the middle. They are often flushed with rich purple.
The Danaince are butterflies with very tough integuments, and exhale an
odour which is supposed to render them distasteful to birds.
Many other butterflies and moths resemble them externall} 7 , and are be-
lieved to share in their immunity from persecution. This phenomenon
is called "mimicry," and is exhibited in the greatest per-
Mimicry in feetion by Limnas chrysippus, the pattern and colours of
Butterflies. which are more or less accurately reproduced in at least a
dozen butterflies and moths, belonging to different families;
but in several instances in the female only, the male exhibiting the normally
and frequently very different colouring of its proper genus. The larvre of the
DatiaincB are usually provided with several pairs of long fleshy filaments, and
feed on Aristolochice.
Of the remaining sub-families, several are entirely exotic, and two, the Itho-
and Heliconince, are American butterflies with long rounded wings and
slender bodies, which have sometimes been com pared to dragon-
flies. They are butterflies generally measuring from two to
four inches across the wings, which are often black, with red or
yellow markings, or yellow with black markings. The typical
species of the Ithomiince, however, often have transparent
wings, with only brown borders, and a brown band at the end of the discoidal
cell.
The AcrceituK are another long-winged sub-family of butterflies, chiefly
found in Africa and America. The African and the few Eastern species are
generally red or tawny, with black spots, and sometimes
Sub-Family partly transparent ; but the American group usually has
Acrceince. black markings on a tawny
ground, or radiated tawny
markings on a dark ground, especially on
the hind-wings.
Two more sub-families of large butterflies
are chiefly South American. These are the
Morphince and Brassolinw.
Sub-Families The typical species of Mor-
Morphince, and pho (Fabr.) measure from
Brassolince. three to eight inches across
the wings, and many of them
Sub-Families
Ithomiince and
Heliconince.
black, with a broad blue band. through the
wings ; while others, including some of the
largest and longest-winged species, are brown
or orange. These are all American ; but
there is a greater variety of genera, though
much smaller, and more varied in colour, in
the East Indies. On the under-surface they
are always marked with large eye-spots, as
in the Satyrvncz. The Brassolince are large
brown or tawny butterflies (rarely dull blue),
which are entirely confined to Tropical America. They have generally one
large eye-spot on the under-side of the wings, and traces of one or two more ;
GaUgo teucer.
Reduced.
BUTTERFLIES.
585
and, like some of the Tropical Satyrince, they are twilight-fliers, although
true butterflies. The accompanying figure represents the under-surface of
the wings of Caligo teucer (Linn.), a common South American species belong-
ing to the sub-family Brassolince. The expanded wings of this butterfly
measure five or six inches from tip to tip.
The two remaining sub-families, the Satyrince and the Nymphalince,
contain many of our commonest and most familiar British butterflies.
The Satyrince are brown or tawny butterflies, such as the meadow
brown, of moderate or rather small size, and are nearly always adorned
with eye-spots, at least on the under-surface of the wings. The
wings are rounded, and there is usually at least
one eye-spot towards the tip of the fore-wings, Sub-Family
arid two or three towards the borders of the hind- Satyrin<x.
wings.
The typical Nymphalince may be known from the foregoing sub-families,
except the Morphince, by the open wing-cells, and often by the more or less
dentated wings. This is a very large group of large or
moderate -sized butterflies, and includes the tortoise-shells, Sub-Family
peacock, red admiral, fritillaries, purple emperor, and white Nymphalinw.
admiral, among our British butterflies, which are described
in full in every book on the subject,
We have figured Kallima inachis (Boisduval), a butterfly found in North
India, which is remarkable for its resemblance to a dead leaf. It measures
three inches across the wings, which are dull blue above, with a broad orange
band with a transparent spot
in the middle, on the fore-
wings. The under-surface is
brown, with a dark line run-
ning from the tip of the fore-
wings to the end of the lobe on
the hind-wings. This line re-
presents the midrib of the leaf,
and the butterfly is shaped and
lined and mottled in such a
manner as to increase the de-
ception. There is a case of
such butterflies mounted, with
leaves, in the hall of the
Natural History Museum at
South Kensington ; and the
butterflies and leaves can hardly
be distinguished from one
another. Our figure shows a
butterfly on one side of a twig,
and a leaf on the other.
The Lemoniidce are a large
family of small, brightly-col-
oured butter-
flies, which are Family
most numer- Lemoniidce.
ous in South America, and least so in Europe and Africa.
The females have perfect legs, but the fore-legs of the male are imperfectly
Fig. 67. DEAD-LEAF BUTTERFLY (Kallima inachis).
Reduced.
5 86
INSECTA ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.
Family
LibytheidcR.
Family
Lyccenidce.
Fig. 6B.Libythea celtis.
Nat. size.
developed. The only European species is Nemeobius luciua (Linn.), the Duke
of Burgundy Fritillary, a brown butterfly about an inch in expanse, with rows
of tawny spots on the wings.
The LibytheidcK, which some entomologists consider to be a sub-family of
the LemoiiiidcK, are distinguished by their very long palpi (much longer than
in any other butter-
flies, except one or
two Nymphalince),
and by their brown,
dentated, tawny-spotted wings, winch
gives them a superficial resemblance
to some small species allied to
Vanessa. The only European species
is here figured.
The Lyccenidce are a large family
of small or moderate-sized butterflies,
differing little struc-
turally from the Le-
moniidce. They are,
however, more of an Old World group, although many are
found in America, too. Our species are known as hairstreaks, blues, and
coppers. The hairstreaks are brown or blue butterflies, with white lines on
the under-side of the wings, and a short tail. The green hairstreak, however,
Callophrys rubi (Linn.), is tailless, and the under-side of the wings is green.
There are a large number of brown or blue species
allied to the hairstreaks in Tropical America, some
measuring as much as two inches across the wings.
The blues, which belong to the genus Polyommahis
and its allies, are small butterflies, usually without
tails, and generally with rows of ocellated spots
on the under-side of the wings. Towards the hind-
margins we often find a row of red spots above or
below. The females of the blues are often brown,
and in some species of the group both sexes are
brown. They generally measure a little more than
an inch in expanse. One species, Lampides bwticus
(Linn.), has a short tail and a
streaked under-side; but in England it is only occasion-
ally met with on the south coast. The coppers are a very
handsome group of butterflies, distinguished by the
brilliant coppery red of many of the species, several
of which formerly inhabited England ; bat they are
all now believed to be extinct with us except the small
copper, an insect with the coppery wings bordered
and spotted with black. Some of the other species
are shot with purple.
The Pieridce are a large group of middle-sized
butterflies, most of which are white or yellow. All
the legs are fully developed in both
Family sexes ; and they can most readily be
Pieridce. distinguished from the next family by
possessing an internal nervure to the
Fig. 69. GBEEN HAIRSTREAK
(Callophrys rubi). Nat. size.
Fig. 70. ORANGE TIP
(Euchloe cardamines).
Nat. size.
BUTTERFLIES.
587
hind-wings. To the Pieridw belong our garden whites, clouded yellows,
orange tip, and brimstone butterflies, etc. The largest butterflies of this
family are the great East Indian orange tips of the genus Hebomoia, Hiibner.
They measure live or six inches across the wings, which are much shorter and
broader in proportion than in our common orange tip, Euchloe cardamines
(Linn.), which is one of the prettiest and most admired of our vernal insects.
The Equitidw, or swallow-tails, are a family of very handsome butterflies,
many of which possess the long tails to the hind-wings from whence they
derive their English name. Our only British species is the well-known swallow-
tail butterfly Eques ma-
c/iaon(Linn. ),at present
almost confined, with
us, to the fen districts
of Norfolk, though
formerly much more
abundant. It is black
and yellow, with a large
red spot on the lower
part of the hind- wings,
and measures about
four inches in expanse.
The green caterpillar,
with black spots and
bands, and a retractile
fork on the neck, feeds
on fennel, carrot, and
other umbelliferous
plants. We have fig-
ured an allied species,
Equesalexanor(EspQr.\
distinguished by the
continuous black band near the base of the wings, which is found in the
mountains of South Europe. To this family belong the great bird- winged
butterflies, Ornithoptera (Boisd.), of the East Indies and the Eastern Archi-
pelago. They share, with the Morphiuce, the distinction of being among the
largest butterflies in the world, measuring from three to nine or ten inches
in expanse ; but usually about six or seven. They are long-winged butter-
flies, with black fore-wings and yellow hind- wings ; or with large green, blue,
or orange longitudinal bands on the dark fore-wings, and the hind-wings
mostly of the colour of the bands. The larvae are covered with rather long
and thick fleshy spines, but have always the retractile fork on the neck, which
is one of the most characteristic marks of the Equitidce. Another interest-
ing genus is Parnassius (Latr.). These are satiny- white butterflies, slightly
transparent towards the edges, with black spots, and generally also round
red spots, more or less centred with white, on the hind-wings, at least. They
are mountain butterflies, and are most numerous in Central Asia ; though
three species inhabit the Swiss Alps, the commonest being Parnassius apollo
(Linn.), which must be well known to everyone who has ever collected butter-
flies in Switzerland. These might easily be mistaken for Pieridcz, but that the
inner margin of the hind-wings is not gutter-shaped, as it generally is in the
Pieridre, and the internal nervure, which is very conspicuous in the Pieridce,
is wholly absent in all the Equitidce.
Fig. 71. SWALLOW-TAIL (Eques alexanor). Nat. size.
588
INSECTA-^ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.
The last family of butterflies, the Hesperiidce, has six perfect legs in
both sexes, but differs very much from any of the preceding groups. The
head is broad, the antennae are set widely apart, and are
Family generally hooked at the tips, the body is rather stout, and
Hesperiidce the flight is short and jerky. Our species have somewhat
(Skippers). triangular fore-wings, and rounded hind-wings, and are
brown and tawny ; black, tesselated with square white spots;
or brown, with dull greyish and rather indistinct spots.
The Hesperiidce, are very numerous in South America,
but less so in the Old World. They are mostly of
small size, the largest being a dull blue West African
species, Ehopalocampta ipliis (Dru.), which measures
about four inches across the wings. They form a
transition to the moths ; many species sit with the
wings expanded, instead of raising them over their Fig 72 ._ GRIZZLED SKIPPEB
backs ; and they often make a rough sort of cocoon in (Hesperia malvce). Nat. size.
a leaf. The Grizzled Skipper, Hesperia malvce (Linn. ),
here figured is a small black and white butterfly not uncommon in England.
The Heterocera, or moths, are divided into a great number of families,
which are loosely classed together under various headings ; but the classifica-
tion of moths is still in an unsatisfactory state, and though
Heterocera, or many groups of families, large and small, are perfectly
Moths. natural, others are ill-defined and unsatisfactory. The old
group Sphinges is now quite given up, including, as it did,
three totally distinct sections, the hawk-moths, clear-wings, and burnets.
The Bombyces include a number of very discordant families, for which no
definite collective characters can be found, such as the tigers, footmen, eggars,
emperor moths, swifts, etc. Tho Noctuce, or night-flying moths proper, are
more compact, though even here there is a difficulty in determining whether
many genera belong to this group, or to the Bombyces. The Geometrce are a
compact group, and so to some extent are the remaining groups. We will
now consider the moths more in detail.
Of the families classed under Sphinges arid Bombyces, most of the species
have short, stout, and often tufted bodies, large wings, and pectinated, or
sometimes fusiform antennae. The larvae have sixteen legs, and generally spin
cocoons, though some pupate in the ground. Many beautiful day-flying
moths belong here, some of which were formerly classed as butter-
flies. Among these are the bright green black-striped Uraniidce of South
America, three inches in expanse, with
long tails on the hind-wings like swallow-
tail butterflies. More familiar to us
are the burnets (Zygcnnida'\ moths with
long fore- wings about an inch and a half
across, with long pubescent bodies, and
blackish bronzy fore- wings, with five or
six crimson spots, and red hind-wings.
They are found in meadows, flying heavily
from flower to flower in the daytime. The
ti^er moths (Arctiidce) are larger, and very
brightly coloured moths, and more nocturnal
in their habits as a rule. The commonest,
Hypercompa, caia (Linn)., has brown fore-
Fig. 73. CINNA.BA.B MOTH
(Hiposritajacobcea). Nat. size.
SKIPPERS AND MOTHS. 589
wings, with interlacing white markings, and red hindwings with large
bluish black spots. Its caterpillar, which is often called the woolly bear,
is common in gardens, and is covered with long reddish-brown hair, partly
tipped with white. It feeds on all sorts of low plants, and when disturbed,
rolls itself up into a ball, and drops among the herbage. Bred specimens
of the moth are paculiarly liable to vary, some of the specimens being quite
black ; but those reared in a state of nature are much less variable.
The Liparidce are {mother family of stout-bodied Bombyces. Many of the
species are white, like the gold-tail and brown-tail moths, which are common
on hedges, and receive their names from the tuft of wool at the end of the
body, which the female uses to cover her eggs. They measure rather more
than an inch across the wings, and the larvae are gregarious, and are often
very destructive.
Some of the families of moths classed as Bombyces have slender bodies
and long wings. The Lithosiidce are a group well represented in Europe.
They generally have oblong greyish fore-wings, with a yellowish streak on
the costa, and slate-coloured hind- wings : they measure about an inch and a
half in expanse, and their larvae feed on lichens. The cinnabar moth,
Hipocrita jacobcece (Linn.), is more brightly coloured, being black and red,
like the burnet moths, though the antennae and the pattern of the wings
are quite different. It is not rare in Britain. The South American family
Dioptidce includes larger moths, with more rounded wings, and more varied in
their colours. Some of them are partially transparent ; and many, except
in their simple or slightly pectinated antennae, resemble butterflies of the
sub-family Ithomiince.
The Cyllopodidce are another South American family of rather small moths,
rarely measuring more than an inch and a half across the wings, which are
remarkable for their strongly contrasted black and yellow colour.
The Psychidce are a family of small grey or, more frequently, smoky-black
moths, remarkable for their thick, hairy bodies, and strongly-pectinated
antennae. They rarely reach an inch in expanse, and
are found flying among long grass in the daytime. The
larvae construct a case of bits of vegetable matter, in
the same way as the larvae of the caddis-flies, and the
females are wingless, and in some instances, legless also,
in which latter cas3 they never quit the dwelling which p.
they have inhabited as larvae and pupae. The species furva. 'Nat. size,
figured, Chalia furva (Borkhausen), is rather scarce in
England.
Among the largest moths are the Saturniidce, to which our emperor moth,
Saturnia pavonia-minor (Linn.), belongs. The emperor moth measures two
and a half to three inches across the wings, which are light brown, varied
with orange in the male, and of a soft grey in the female ; in the middle of
each wing is a large round eye-spot. The green, red-spotted larva feeds on
heath, and makes a flask-like cocoon.
All the moths of this family have stout and often short bodies, pectinated
antennae, and ample wings, with a more or less developed eye-spot or trans-
parent mark in the middle of each. Some are green or brown, with long
tails on the hind-wings ; but the largest of all, the Indian Atlas Moth, which
sometimes measures a foot in expanse, has tawny brown fore-wings, with
festooned black and white lines, between which is a large talc-like spot on
each wing, of very irregular shape.
590
INSECTA ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.
Most of the silk-producing moths of any commercial value belong either to
the SaturniidcK or the Bombycidce. The common mulberry silk-worm moth,
Bombyx mori (Linn.), the type of the Bombyces, is too well known to need
description here.
The Lasiocampidce are stout-bodied moths with strongly pectinated an-
tennae, and hairy caterpillars. They are generally of a brown or yellowish
colour, and the wings are sometimes
dentated, but never tailed. It includes
the oak-eggar, drinker moth, lappet,
lackey moth, and other familiar British
species. The lackey moth, Clisiocampa
ncit.stria (Linn.), is remarkable for the
habit of the female in laying her eggs
in a ring round a slender twig. All the
larvae of this family are very hairy.
Three families of Bombyces are remark-
able for their larvae feeding in the trunks
of trees, or on the roots of grasses ; as well as for the abnormal neuration of
the perfect insects. The goat-moth, Trypanns cossus (Linn.), belonging to
the family Zeuzeridce, is a broad-winged greyish-brown coarsely-scaled moth,
in which the discoidal cell of the wings is divided by additional nervures,
which are obsolete in most Lepidoptera. Its dark red, foul-smelling, naked
larva is very destructive to old willows, and takes three years to arrive at
maturity.
The Castniidce are a South American group of stout-bodied moths, with
rather short and broad wings, measuring from two to six or seven inches in
Fig. 75. LACKEY MOTH (Clisiocampa
neustriu). Nat. size.
Fig. 76. Castnia syphax.
expanse. The antennas are very thick, and rather tapering at the ends
They are brightly-coloured insects, and fly by day. They somewhat resemble
large Hesperiidce, and were classed as butterflies by all the older writers.
The cells of their wings are sub-divided, as in the Zeuzeridw, and hence we
notice them now, though their natural position is near the beginning of the
moths. The species figured, Castnia syphax (Fabr.), is black, with white
markings on the fore-wings and a red border to the hind-wings.
MOTHS.
Fig. 77. GHOST MOTH (female) (Hepialus humuli).
Nat. size.
Our swiffc moths (Hepialidcz) have rather long wings and very short
antennae. They exhibit many remarkable peculiarities ; the wings are separ-
ated at the base, the connecting link between them being not by a bristle,
as in many moths, but by a long lobe. The fore and hind-wings have
similar neuration, and the hind-legs of the males are more or less aborted in
some of the species. The
ghost moth, Hepicdus hu-
muli (Linn. ), is common in
every meadow, where^ the
male, which is white on the
upper - side of the wings,
and brown below, flies at
dusk with a peculiar hover-
ing motion. The female
has yellow fore - wings
blotched with red, and the
hind - wings and under-
surface are brown. The
European swifts feed on the roots of plants, but there are some splendid
green Australian species, measuring four or five inches across the wings, the
larvae of which feed on the wood of trees. Owing to the unusual neuration
and mode of connection of the wings in the Hepialidce, Professor Comstock
has recently proposed to associate this family with the Micropterygidce, a
family which used to be placed among the Tinece, and to treat them as form-
ing a primary division (in fact, a sub-order) of the order Lepidoptera. In
this innovation he has since been followed by other authors.
The Noctuce, are a large group of stout-bodied moths. To it belong many
of the moths which we see flying over flowers, or about a candle in the even-
ing. Most of our species measure from one to two inches in expanse, and
many are of dull colours. Some have
metallic spots, or letter-like markings,
like the burnished brass moth, Plusia
chrysitis (Linn.), which has large bronzy-
green markings on its brown fore-wings ;
or the violet-grey gamma moth, Plusia
gfmma(Linn.), a very common day-flying
species, with a white mark resembling the
Greek letter y on each of its fore-wings.
Others are brown, with black streaks and
dashes on the wings, like the heart-and-
dart moth, Agrotis exclamationis (Linn.).
The larvae of the dart moths are often very destructive, as they live just below
the surface of the ground, where they eat through the roots of plants.
There are many closely-allied species, and the Americans call them * ' cut-
worms."
If we toss about a heap of hay, or disturb the leaves of a strawberry-bed,
we are very likely to start a specimen of one of the common yellow under-
wing moths, Triphcena (Hiibn.), which, after a short headlong flight, will
settle again, and soon disappear. In these moths the fore-wings are brown,
and comparatively long and narrow, and the hind-wings are very broad, and
of a bright yellow, with a black border. In tropical countries other yellow
underwinged butterflies are found, Ophideres (Boisd.), measuring three inches
Fig. 78. BURNISHED BRASS Morn
(Plusia chrysitis). Nat. size.
592
INSECTA ORDER LEPIDOPTERA.
across the wings. They are remarkable for having the proboscis modified
into a kind of boring instrument, with which they pierce the skin of oranges,
and suck out the contents.
We now come to the Geometrce, or land-measurers, which may always be
distinguished (if the transformations are known) by the larvae only possessing
ten legs, the first three pairs of prolegs being obsolete.
Geometrsa. When they walk they fix themselves by the last pair of pro-
legs and the claspers, stretch out their bodies, fix themselves
firmly by their true legs, and then draw up the four hinder legs, and repeat
the process. Thus, the body of the caterpillar is archeH into a loop at every
step, and these caterpillars are often called " loopers" on that account. This
performance, though it takes a long time to describe, is nevertheless com-
paratively rapid, and the larvae are able to make as good progress as other
caterpillars with the full complement of legs. These curious larvae often fix
themselves, as described, by the claspers and hind pair of prolegs, and stretch
their bodies straight out, when they look for all the world like little bits of
green or dried twigs.
Most of these moths have slender bodies and broad wings. They are
frequently adorned with bright colours, and the fore and hind-wings are,
more or less similar in markings ; some species, however, have short, thick,
hairy bodies, and resemble Bombyces, except in their larvae. In several
brown species, which appear during tho
winter, the females have only rudi-
mentary wings. One of the commonest
of the Geometrce is the magpie moth,
Abraxas grossulariata (Linn.), which
is found among gooseberry and currant
bushes, on the leaves of which tho
larvae feed. It measures an inch and a
half across the wings, which are white,
with black and yellowish spots.
The next group of moths, the Pyrales,
have long slender legs and antennae,
slender bodies, and large wings, the
fore-wings being generally triangular, and the hind-wings rounded. They
are of rather small size, rarely much exceeding an inch in expanse, and are
often white, grey or yellow. Two of the best
known species, the small magpie, Botys urticata
(Linn.), which is white, marked with large black
spots ; and the mother-of-pearl, B. verticalis
(Linn.), are common among nettles. Some of
the smaller white and brown species are found
among reeds, the larvae feeding on water plants ;
other small species of this family, which fre-
quent hill-sides and mountains, are black, with
or without white lines or spots ; or are beauti-
fully marked with purple and gold.
The foregoing butterflies and moths mostly include species of comparatively
large size, and are therefore often called Macro-Lepidoptera. The succeeding
families mostly include small moths. The first group of these is the Crambi,
which were frequently included in the Pyrales by the older entomologists.
They are small moths, generally not much exceeding an inch in expanse,
Fig. 79. MAGPIE MOTH (Abraxas
grossulariata). Nat. size.
Fig. 80. SMALL MAGPIE MOTH
(Botys urticata). Nat. size.
MOTHS.
593
Fig. 81. GRASS MOTH
(Crambusericellus). Nat. size.
Fir,. 82.-
GREEN OAK TORTRIX
(Tortrix viridana).
Nat. size.
with long narrow fore- wings, and broad hind- wings. The best known repre-
sentatives of this group are the grass moths, belong-
ing to the genus Crambus (Fabr.), which have long
palpi, like a snout, yellowish white-streaked fore-
wings, and broad brown hind-wings. In some
species, as in G. ericellus (Hiibner), this white streak
is very conspicuous. In walking through long grass,
we often disturb these moths, which fly a short
distance and then settle again on a stalk, head
downwards, with their wings folded round, them
in almost a tubular form.
The Tortrices, or bell moths, generally have broad, short fore-wings, cut off
straight at the ends, and rounded hind-wings. They sit with their fore-wings
flat, meeting over their backs, and covering the hind-wings, and in this
position somewhat resemble a bell in shape, whence their popular name.
There are about 300 British species of this group, some of which are very
destructive. One of the best known and most easily
recognised is the green oak tortrix, Tortrix viridana
(Linn.), which has green fore-wings with a yellow costa,
and brown hind-wings. If an oak-branch is struck or
shaken, we may often see a whole shower of these
conspicuous little green moths come fluttering down.
They measure rather less than an inch in expanse.
The larvae are also green, with a brown head ; they live
between rolled-up leaves of the oak, and if alarmed,
drop themselves a little way down by a thread, and climb back as soon as
the danger appears to be over.
Other Tortrices feed, in the larva state, in flower-heads, and others, again,
in fruits. Different species of the genus Carpocapsa (Treitschke) feed in
acorns, beech-nuts, plums, etc. ; but perhaps the most injurious of all is
the codling moth, G. pomonella (Linn.), the pink larva of which feeds in
apples and pears. The moth is grey, with darker lines, and some coppery
markings towards the tip. It measures about three-quarters of an inch in
expanse. It has been introduced into all parts of the world, and is every-
where as destructive as in England.
The Tinece are a very large group of small moths, numbering in Britain
alone upwards of 600 species. Very few exceed an inch in expanse, and the
greater number are much smaller. They are divided into a great number of
families, which differ very much in structure and habits, but they may
generally be easily recognised by their small size and long narrow wings,
with very long fringes. Some of them feed in cases or galleries, like many
species of Tinece (Linn.), to which genus the true clothes-moths, the corn-inoth,
and other highly destructive insects belong. Others feed on
fungi, like Tinea fulvimitrella (Sodoffsky), a purplish-brown
moth with white spots, which is a woodland insect, and
not found in houses. Some have very long antennae, like the
beautiful delicate bronzy moths of the genus Adela (Latr.),
which we find flying about bushes in spring. The small
ermine moths of the genus Hyponomeuta (Latr.) are white
or lead-coloured moths, with rows of black spots on the
fore- wings ; and their larvae web over and devour our
hedges and apple-trees, for they are gregarious, and often very destructive.
39
Fig. 83. Tinea
fulvimitt'ella.
Nat. size.
594 INSECTA ORDERS LEPIDOPTERA AND HEMIPTERA.
Many entomologists regard the Pyponomcutidce, as more closely allied to
the Bombyces than to the Tinem. Many Tinew mine the leaves of grasses, and
this habit is characteristic of the Elachistidce. Others, like the Nepticulidce,
a family which includes the smallest moths known, make long galleries or
mines, as they are called, between the membranes of a leaf. These may often
be found on leaves of bramble, nut, etc. ; but such mines are not always due
to the larvae of Tineas, ; for this habit is shared by other insects. Thus there
is a very common mine on holly leaves which is produced by the larva of a
two-winged fly. Some larvae which feed in a similar manner produce a blotch
on the leaf, and not a mine. One of the commonest of these blotches is that
formed by the larva of the beautiful delicate little Gracilaria syringella
(Linn.) on the leaves of the lilac.
The Pterophoridce, or plume moths, are now considered by most authors
to be allied to the Pyrales. They are very delicate insects, with long,
slender bodies and legs, and long wings, measuring an
inch or less in expanse, and cleft almost to the base
into separate feathers, two on the fore-wings, and
three on the hind-wings. The largest, commonest, and
most conspicuous among them is the white plume
moth, Pterophorus pentadactylus (Linn.). Its larva
feeds on Convolvulus, and it may often be seen floating
about weedy places, strawberry beds, etc., looking like
a snow-flake. Strawberry beds are a favourite resort
of many insects, probably for purposes of conceal-
ment.
The last family of moths, the Alucitidce, which forms an isolated group, is
represented in England by the twenty -plume moth, Alucita hexadactyla
(Linn.). Its larva feeds in the buds of the honey-
suckle. The moth is grey, with broad wings about two-
thirds of an inch in expanse, and it is often noticed
on windows, walls, etc., sitting with its wings spread
out flat, and looking like one of the smaller Geo-
metrse. But on a closer inspection we find that
each wing is split up into six separate feathers, which
distinguishes it at once from any other moth found
in this country.
Fig. 84. WHITE PLUME
MOTH (Pterophorus penta-
dactylus).
Fig. 85.-
TWENTY- PLUME MOTH
(Alucita hexadactyla).
V Nat, size, '
ORDER HEMIPTERA (BUGS AND FROG-HOPPERS).
This is a somewhat extensive order of insects, with four wings, of which
the front pair, or tegmina, are usually of a stouter consistency than the hind-
wings. They are divided into two main sections. In the first, the Hemip-
tera Heteroptera, or true bugs, the tips of the tegmina are usually trans-
parent, and veined ; but in the Hemiptera the fore-wings are nearly of the
same consistency throughout. In many large groups of Hemiptera, however,
the fore-wings are transparent and veined, like the hind-wings ; but all the
insects belonging to both sections of the order may be known by their strong
sucking proboscis, and the absence of mandibles. The metamorphoses are
incomplete.
MOTHS AND BUGS. 595
Sub-Order Heteroptera.
BUGS.
The word bug is derived from the Arabic, and has nothing etymologically to
do with bogy, with which it is popularly associated. It suggests an ugly, foul-
smelling, wingless insect, which sucks blood, hides itself in
crevices, and shuns the light. In America, however, the Sub-Order
word has come to be extended to insects in general. Ento- Heteroptera
mologically it is applied to the insects belonging to the sub- (Bugs).
order Heteroptera, only some of which suck blood, the
greater number feeding on the juices of plants ; and these are as beautiful
and varied in form and colour as the beetles ; or more so, in proportion to
their numbers, and they are mostly diurnal insects. These insects may easily
be recognised, not only by the characters mentioned above, but by the
peculiar structure of the antennae, which, though generally of considerable
length, are composed of a very few long and* well-separated joints generally
four or five.
The Scutellridoe, or shield-bugs, are those which most resemble beetles, and
would be easily mistaken for them at first sight. But the hard convex wing-
covering is not formed by wing-cases meeting on their
inner edges, as in beetles, but consists of an inordinate
development of the appendage to the thorax called the
scutellum, under which not only the wings, but the
tegmina also, which in such cases differ little in con-
sistency from the wings, are completely hidden. These
bugs are not numerous in Europe, but in tropical coun-
tries they are often as large as a cockchafer, and of
brilliant colours. Callidea perplexa (Hope), here figured, is
a common East Tndian species, of a brilliant green or
purple, with black spots.
In the family Pentatomidce, the body is still short, broad,
and bulky in many of the species, but the scutellum, jfat. size,
though still of considerable ske, is a long structure, differ-
ing in shape, separating more or less of the basal portion of the tegmina,
when the wings are closed. Beyond its extremity, the membranous portion
of the over-lapping tegmina is generally visible. Several
brown or grass-green species belonging to this family are not
uncommon in England In many species, especially foreign
ones, the front of the thorax expands into a kind of spine or
horn on each side, often of considerable length.
Some species of Pentatomidce are carnivorous as well as
herbivorous, and will attack caterpillars and other soft insects,
and suck out their juices. Acanthosoma griseum (Linn.), which .
is common in England on birch, is an oval insect, about a Linn. Nat. size,
third of an inch long. The thorax is angulated in front,
and the colour is reddish-ochreous or greenish, finely punctured with black ;
at the base of the scutellum is a black patch. Like some of the earwigs and
Australian sawflies, the female of this species has been observed to watch
over her newly-hatched young like a hen, and it is said that, as in the case of
the crocodiles, and some other animals, her vigilance' is chiefly required to
guard them against the attacks of the male.
59<5 INSECTA ORDER HEMIPTERA.
The species of this family are more numerous in America than in England,
and they are called "stink bugs" in the former country, on account of the
offensive odour which many of them emit.
There are a great variety of other flower-frequenting bugs belonging to
various families, but the European species are mostly of small size, though
often prettily coloured. The scutellum is generally much
Plant-Bugs. smaller than in the Pentatomidcc, and the body is more oval ;
the legs and antennae are often long and slender, remarkably
so in some species ; and occasionally the antennae are clubbed. In some of
the large foreign species belonging to the family Harpactoridce, the thorax is
often curved forwards on each side, and toothed in front, while the antennae
and tibiae are often lobate, and the hind-femora much thickened and dentated.
Among the carnivorous land-bugs, two families are specially notable. One
of these is the Cimicidce, the type of which, and, indeed, of the whole sub-
order Heteroptera, is the common bed-bug, to which we have
Tlie Bed-Bug 1 , already alluded. It is of a reddish-brown colour, broad,
flattened, with very slight rudiments of wings (which are
said occasionally to become fully developed in hot climates), and measures
less than a quarter of an inch in length when full grown ; but the larval
forms, which are, of course, much smaller, are equally fond of blood, though
they must be capable of subsisting on other food, as they have been known to
multiply in empty houses. Very similar species are found attacking pigeons,
fowls, and bats. This insect has always been common throughout Africa and
Southern Europe, but was scarcely known in England till it was introduced
in numbers with foreign timber after the Fire of London. (See my ' * Text-
Book of Entomology," p. 204.) It has many enemies, including the cock-
roach and the wheel-bug ; and I have been informed that in the poor parts
of London, fleas and bugs do not generally exist in equal numbers in the
same house, and that, as a rule, it is the cleaner houses which are most in-
fested by bugs. Can it be that fleas will attack bugs ? I am not aware that
this has been previously observed or surmised ; but, as fleas are known to
attack caterpillars, it does not seem by any means impossible.
The lleduviidce, or wheel-bugs, are a family of rather large bugs, with a
large head, contracted behind into a neck, prominent eyes, two ocelli, rather
short antennae, and a' curved proboscis or rostrum. The type of the family
is the masked-bug, Reduvius personatus (Linn.), the larva
and pupa of which cover themselves with particles of dust,
apparently in order to creep upon their insect prey un-
noticed. This species is not uncommon in outhouses, and
is a blackish or dark brown insect, two-thirds of an inch
long, and very hairy, especially on the head, antennae, and
legs. There is a whitish line on the membrane- suture of
the tegmina. This species is rarely found in houses ; but,
as already mentioned, it preys on the bed-bug, as well as
on flies, etc. Its own bite is said to be as painful as the
sting of the bee, which may well be the case, considering
'BUG (faduvius**' iks comparatively large size ; but it does not appear to attack
personate). man or the higher animals habitually. There are, however,
Nat. size. other and much larger species of the same family that are
great pests to both man and beast in the Southern States
of America, Chili, and other parts of the world.
Many bugs, including several of this family, are usually apterous, but
BUGS. 597
acquire wings occasionally ; while in some species, two forms are habitually
met with, in one of which the wings are more or less rudimentary, while in
the other they are fully developed.
Hitherto we have been discussing land-bugs, but several families of the
Heteroptera are aquatic, and among them we find the largest
species of the sub-order. Water-Bugs.
The first family includes the Hydrometridce, the water-
measurers, which are long, narrow, black insects, often with fine silvery
pubescence. They have yery long middle and hind-legs, and the front-legs are
directed forward. Here, too, we meet with both winged and apterous adult
individuals of the same species. They measure from one to three-quarters of
an inch in length, and are found running rapidly on the surface of the water,
and feeding on small insects. They can also dive when alarmed. One genus
of this family, Halobates (Esch.), is found running on the surface of the open
ocean in various regions of the tropics.
The Nepidce, or water-scorpioos, have an oval and rather flattened body,
terminating in a breathing tube of nearly half its length, and the front pair
of legs have thickened femora, and project forwards in such
a manner as to suggest the pincers of a scorpion. Our British Water-Scorpion,
species, Nepacinerea (Linn.) is a brown insect, nearly an inch
long exclusive of the spiracular tube, and is found in muddy, stagnant pools.
Eanatra linearis (Linn.) is an insect allied to the last, and belonging to the
family Eanatridce. It is, however, very long and narrow, and of a lighter
yellowish-brown colour. The middle and hind-legs are very long and slender,
and the front pair are much longer and less thickened than in Nepa. It
measures nearly three inches in length, of which the abdominal breathing-
tube occupies nearly half. It is not a very common insect in England, and
creeps about at the bottom of stagnant water.
The largest Heteroptera belong to the family Belostomatidce, which is not
British, though common in most of the warmer parts of the world. They are
oval insects, with the legs flattened, especially the front femora. The insects
sometimes measure four and a half inches in length, and six inches or more
in expanse of wing. They are of a yellowish-brown colour. In the evening
they leave the water, and fly about. This is a common habit with many
water-insects, which enables them to migrate from one place to another, if
the ponds in which they live dry up. In America, where one or two
species are common, they are sometimes attracted in large numbers by the
electric light. They feed on small fish, frogs, etc., as well as on water-insects.
The water boatmen (Notonectidce) are represented in England by one or two
yellowish species, about half an inch long, with flattened hind-legs fringed
with hairs, and which stand out from the body in the position
of oars. They are used in a similar manner, for the insects Water-Boatmen,
float on their backs, and row themselves about with them.
Zaitlia aurantiaca (Leidy) is a light brown North American species.
Among the remaining water-bugs are the Corixidce, which are not unlike the
Notonectidce, but are smaller, much broader in proportion, especially the
head, and more obtuse behind. They are brown or black, glossy, with
yellowish striae above.
A friend once showed me an absurd error with respect to the term water-
boatmen, which is frequently applied to different species of water-bugs.
It occurred in connection with the habits of some South American birds,
in an ornithological work, the name of which I have forgotten, and ran
598 INSECT A SUB-ORDER HOMOPTERA.
something like this : " They feed on the eggs which the fishermen lay on the
banks of the streams, in clusters of six lines long
ky three broad." If I remember right, the pass-
age was translated from the French, and I
have little doubt that in the original some ex-
pression was used equivalent to " water-boat-
rnen." It reminds me of another story which I
read in the translation of a Russian book of
travels, in which an elephant was described as
seizing an object with his tail, instead of his
Fig. 89. -WATER-BUG (Zaitha, trunk. I have also heard of a translation of a
aurantiaca), WITH EGOS. German book, in which a naturalist on ship-
Nat, size, board, who wanted to shoot a bird, was de-
scribed as taking down the back-shutters,
instead of the breech-loader.
SUB-ORDER HOMOPTERA (FROG-HOPPERS, PLANT-LICE, ETC.).
A great number of insects are classed under this sub-order, which we have
already briefly defined. They do not emit any foul odour like the Heterop-
tera ; their antennae are generally very short ; and they are
Sub-Order exclusively plant-feeders. Some of them supply us with
Homoptera. useful products, such as shell-lac and cochineal, while others
are among the most injurious insects which infest our
gardens and greenhouses.
The Homoptera are divided into several very distinct families, of which the
first is the Cicadidce. They are large, wedge-shaped insects, with a broad
head, large eyes, a pointed body, with a short ovipositor in
Family the female, and broad wings, which are generally, but not
Cicadidce. always, transparent. When at rest, the wings are folded
roof-like over the body, and generally extend considerably
beyond the abdomen. They are difficult insects to classify, as the most
tangible characters available for the purpose are to be found in the drums of
the males. These organs are found on each side of the abdomen, and are
visible above in some genera, while in others they are covered by a flap. On
the under-surface they are always covered by two flaps, called the opercula,
which are sometimes very short, small, and rounded, and in others are very
large, and extend nearly to the end of the abdomen. In the Australian genus
Thopha, amongst the opercula are extended over the sides of the abdomen, as
well as beneath. In Tibicina (Latr.), there are no covers at all on the upper
surface of the abdomen ; and in Zammara (Amyot), the rims of the openings are
slightly raised, giving them something of a pitcher shape. It_has been pro-
posed to divide the Gicadidce into two sub-families, according to whether the
drums are open or closed above ; but I find, not only that the upper abdominal
covers differ very much in completeness or absence, but that many genera,
otherwise closely allied, run in pairs, one with closed, and one with open tympana.
The sounds made by these insects have always made them celebrated, and
they are among the noisiest denizens of the tropical forests. They are, how-
ever, difficult to capture, as they are not easily seen, and their flight, when
disturbed, is very sudden and rapid. This is chiefly a tropical family, and
the largest known species, Pomponia imperatoria (Westwood), which inhabits
LANTERN FLIES.
599
the Malay Islands, measures nearly eight inches in expanse. Several species
are found in Southern Europe, and their song was greatly admired by the
Greeks. In Northern Europe they are scarce, and we have but one small
species in England, which is very far from common, and is almost confined
to the New Forest, though it has once been met with near Haslemere. This
species is Melampsalta montana
(Scop.), and measures rather less
than two inches in expanse. It is
brown, with reddish markings on
the thorax ; and the principal
wing nervures towards the base,
and the incisions of the abdomen
are of the same colour. It belongs
to a very extensive genus of rather
small species, in which the basal
cell of the tegmina is long and fig. W.Melampsdlta montana Nat. size,
narrow, arid emits one bifurcating
longitudinal nervure from its extremity, instead of two separate ones. This
genus is represented by numerous, but usually comparatively small, species, in
most parts of the world, and is especially numerous in Australia ; and it is at
present the only genus of Cicadidce which is known to occur in New Zealand.
The Cicadidce vary from the general character of the Homoptera in the
tegmina and wings being of uniform consistency, though the tegmina are
always larger, and have a more elaborate neuration. They are insects with
imperfect metamorphoses, and in countries where they are common, the
empty pupa-skin may often be seen attached to trees by its strong claws,
with a large hole in the back, through which the insect has emerged.
The Fulgoridce are an extensive and varied family, differing from the
Cicadidce in many particulars. There are only two ocelli, instead of three ;
the tegmina and wings are opaque, and generally differ con-
siderably in consistency ; the antennae are inserted oil the Family
sides of the head and below the eyes ; and the larvae, and in Fulgoridce.
many cases the perfect insects, are frequently covered with Lantern Flies.
a white waxy exudation, which we seldom observe in the
Cicadidce, and then only to a trifling extent. This family is divided into
several sub-families, of which we will mention some of the most interesting.
The Fidgorince t or true lantern and candle-flies, are exotic insects of rather
large size, and are remarkable for having the front of the head produced into a
long horn or excrescence, differing considerably in size and shape. The largest
species is the lantern-fly of South America, Fulgora laternaria (Linn.), which
often measures more than four inches in expanse. It is of a greenish-yellow
colour, with & large eyelike spot on the hind-wings ; the head is produced
into a great hollowappendage,
slightly bent downwards, and
then continued forward. The
candle-flies of the East Indies,
Hotinus candelarius (Linn.,
etc.), are also large insects,
measuring two or three inches
in expanse. In the species w e
have mentioned, the tegmina
are black and green, spotted
Fig. 91. CANDLE-FLY (Hotinus candelarius). Nat. size.
6oo
INSECTA SUB-ORDER HOMOPTERA.
Fig. Q2.Flata circulatd. Nat. size.
with yellow, and the hind-wings are yellow, bordered with brown. There is a
long and somewhat recurved horn on the head. Other species of this family
are varied with blue or red, and the horns are of different colours and shapes ;
yellow or green, and pointed ; dentated ; white, with a red knob at the ex-
tremity ; rather short, and trifid at the end, etc. Most of the species are
East Indian or South American ; a few are African.
The Lystrince, are also tropical species of considerable size and bright
colours, but the excrescence on the head is absent. They are chiefly, but not
exclusively, South American.
The Flatince are another extensive tropical group, in which the tegmina
are bordered more or less broadly with a row of oblique or transverse nervures.
They generally measure from one to two inches in expanse. The tegmina
are frequently green, some-
times prettily spotted with
red, and are oval or angula-
ted at the tips, and not m uch
longer than the wings, which
are generally light brown,
grey, or white, and sub-hya-
line. The species figured,
Flata circulata (Guerin), is
pale grey, with black mark-
ings. It is a native of Java.
Most of the European Fnl-
goridce are small insects. The
Delphacince, which measure
about one-sixth of an inch in length, have comparatively long antennae, with
the joints much thickened, and the last ending in a bristle. The hind-legs
are very long, and strongly spined at the end of the tibiae ; they are generally
of a yellow colour. The head is broad, and the face more or less keeled.
They are generally found on grass in damp places, and many species are
dimorphic, exhibiting both winged and subapterous forms.
The Derbince are a small exotic sub-family, with very short, oval bodies,
comparatively long antennas, unarmed legs, and long narrow wings, an inch
in expanse, and shaped more like those of a Tipula or a Pterophorus than
those of other homopterous insects.
In the Cercopidce, the antennse are placed between the eyes, just under the
vertex ; the scutellum is rather small, and the hind tibiae are usually armed
with from one to three spines, and a crown of stronger ones at their extremity.
This family includes the true frog-hoppers, the most conspicuous species
of which is Triecphora vulnerata (Illiger), which is not unlike a small beetle
in appearance. It is black, and measures about three-quarters of an
inch across the long, oval, horny tegmina, which are
black, with bright red markings ; the wings are sub-
hyaline. It is not uncommon in England. Aphrophora
alni (Fall.) is about the same size, but is dull yellow,
with brown markings on the elytra, which are broader
than in Triecphora vulnerata, and more pointed at. the
tips ; the hind- wings are also broader and more rounded
than in the latter insect. Its soft yellow larva is very
commo.n on grass, etc., and is always surrounded by a
mass of froth, called popularly "cuckoo-spit."
Fig. 93 Triecphora
vulnerata. Nat. size.
FROG-HOPPERS AND PLANT-LICE. 601
The Jassidce differ from the Cercopidoe, in the hind tibiae having a row of
spines below. They are small yellowish insects, most of
which are placed by Mr. G. B. Buckton, in his " Monograph Family Jassidce.
of the British Cicadce," under the genus Deltocephalus (Burin.).
The Membracidce are remarkable for the thorax being produced into a long
horn or spine, which is frequently recurved over the abdomen. The genus
Centrotus (Fabr.), represented in England by C. cornutus
(Linn.), is very numerous in species, which are generally of a Family
black or brown colour, with paler wings and tegmina, the Membracidce.
sides of the thorax projecting to a more or less sharp point,
and a long spine, broad at the base, and narrowing behind, projecting from
the thorax over the back. They are insects of small size, rarely reaching a
quarter of an inch in length. Among the foreign species, the forms of the
horn in this family are frequently very remarkable. In
one genus, Umbonia (Burm.), the species are yellow,
streaked with red, and the whole insect is shaped exactly
like the thorn of a rose tree. These are found in Tropical
America. Respecting the North American species, Prof.
Comstock remarks, "In some cases the prothorax is elevated
above the head, so that it looks like a peaked nightcap ; in
others it is shaped like a Tam-o'-Shanter ; and sometimes F .
it has horns, one on each side, which have given one species l9 ' comutus
the name of the buffalo tree-hopper." In others, again, Nat. size!
the horn of the prothorax is nearly vertical, larger than
the whole of the rest of the insect, and recurved and bifid at the extremity,
and in some species from tropical America, belonging to the genus Bocydium
(Latr.), the horn separates into a number of little balls, each of which again
throws off a small spine.
The remaining families of Homoptera which we have to notice are all
plant-feeding insects of small size, in which the proboscis appears to issue
from between the front-legs, if present at all. The antennae, when present,
are usually long and slender, and the tarsi are one or two- jointed.
The Psyllidce are short, broad insects, which have been compared to
minute Cicadas. The hind legs are thickened, and the antennae terminate in
two bristles. They leap about on plants, and many of the
species produce galls. They resemble the Aphidw in dis- Family
charging a sweet fluid, which attracts ants, and their larvae Psyllidce.
are covered with a white cottony exudation. They are pro-
vided with three ocelli. The wings are transparent.
The Aphididce, which are often called plant-lice, smother-flies, or blight,
have slender legs, not fitted for leaping ; the antennae are long and slender,
not terminating in a double bristle ; the ocelli are absent,
and the wings are transparent. There is a most curious Family
alternation of broods in these insects, some forms being Aphididce.
winged, and with separate sexes, and others winged or Plant-Lice,
apterous, and capable of producing their kind for an indefinite
number of generations before a sexual brood is again developed. Some pro-
duce galls, but the greater part feed on the leaves of trees. Sometimes one
generation will live on one tree, and the next migrate to another, a future
generation returning to the original food-plant. In fact, the anomalies of
these insects are endless, and it would require volumes to epitomise even the
comparatively little which has already been discovered with reference to their
602 INSECT A ORDERS ANOPLURA AND DIPTERA.
habits and transformations. They are small insects, but some are capable,
like the Phylloxera of the vine, of ruining or crippling a vast industry over a
considerable portion of the world. They exude a sweet liquid known as
honey-dew, of which ants are extremely fond ; and to ants they bear the re-
lation of milch-kine, and are frequently protected and tended by them
accordingly. In some cases the ants are even said to superintend the breeding
of the various broods.
The Aleyrodidce are a small family, of which the perfect insects resemble
very small moths, covered with a whitish powder. One or two species are
very destructive to cabbages and tomatoes.
The Coccidce, or scale-insects, differ much from all other insects. The male
has no rostrum, and only two wings, but possesses anal setae, and the wingless,
short-legged female settles herself
Family permanently down on a leaf or twig,
Coccidce. and forms a scale-like covering for
Scale-Insects, her own eggs. Some of these furnish
useful products, such as cochineal,
but others are highly injurious. One species, Icerya
purchasi (Maskell), caused great damage in California;
but by the advice of the late Prof. C. V. Riley, Fig.95.Aleyrodesproletdla,
an Australian lady-bird, Novius cardinalis (Muls.), Linn - Magnified,
was introduced into the country, and has since been
effectual in keeping the ravages of the Icerya within bounds. Many of the
Coccidce, especially the larval forms, are covered either with a white cottony
substance or with large plates of white wax, which in some cases has a com-
mercial value.
ORDER ANOPLURA.
The true lice, which are wingless insects, parasitic on mammals, and
furnished with a sucking proboscis, are sometimes regarded as a sub-order of
Hemiptera. Three species at least infest man in European countries, and,
besides the discomfort and annoyance which they occasion, are either the
cause of, or accompany various diseases. They multiply very rapidly, but
can usually be destroyed or kept away by ordinary attention to cleanliness.
In warm countries, or, indeed, in any community where cleanliness is neglected,
they are universally prevalent. There has been much controversy as to
whether the lice infesting different races of mankind are to be regarded as
distinct species, or only as slight varieties. Even the two species of lice
which infest the head and clothes respectively, Pediculus capitis (Linn.), and
P. vestimeuti (Nitsch), although certainly distinct, are so much alike that they
can hardly be distinguished from each other. The third species, the crab
louse, Pthirius inguinalis (Leech), belongs to a distinct genus, and is much
smaller, broader, and shorter than the others.
ORDER DIPTERA (FLIES).
The Diptera, or Flies, differ from other insects in possessing only two wings
LICE AND FLIES.
603
throughout the whole of the Order, the hind-wings being represented only by
two knobbed appendages like drumsticks, which are known as
halteres or poisers. They are furnished with a proboscis, General
with which they imbibe their food, which consists, in the Characteristics,
perfect state, of liquid substances only. They undergo a
complete metamorphosis, their larvae being footless maggots, which pass the
pupa state in a barrel-shaped integument formed of the dried skin of the
larva. In the larval state, many species live in water, some in the ground,
others on plants, sometimes forming galls, while others feed on carrion,
dung, etc.; and others, again, are parasitic on various animals, neither
vertebrate nor invertebrate animals being secure from their attacks. They
probably form one of the largest orders of insects, but have been so little
studied that only 28,000 species were described up to 1892, of which between
2,000 and 3, 000 'inhabit the British Islands. The Flies are divided into two
principal sections, and the Aphaniptera, or fleas, are now usually regarded as
forming a third main section of Diptera rather than a separate order.
The body is not generally very hairy, and the wings are usually destitute
of hair or scales, generally transparent, and with very few nervures, most of
which are longitudinal. The Aphaniptera have the barest rudiments of wings,
while some genera of Diptera are provided with small additional lobes at the
base of the wings, which are usually called alulae.
DIPTERA NEMOCERA (GNATS AND CRANE-FLIES).
The insects belonging to this group are generally slender-bodied flies, with
the antennae long, or of moderate length, and composed of six joints and
upwards. The palpi have from three to six joints. They frequently undergo
their metamorphoses in the water or in the ground ; and none of the species
of this section are parasitic, or even carnivorous, in the larval stage, though
the females of certain families will suck blood in their perfect state.
The Cecidomyiidce, or gall-gnats, with which we will commence our notice
of the Nemocera, are very small, gnat-like insects, with long moniliform
or cylindrical antennae, often set
with whorls of hairs, and compara- - Family
tively broad, iridescent wings, with CecidomyiidcK.
from two to five longitudinal ner- Gall-Gnats,
vures only, and these frequently
not all clearly defined. Their bodies are clothed
with long hairs. The larvae are very various in
their habits, many of them causing galls, on various
trees and plants, especially willows, while others
live in bulbs, fungi, rotten wood, under bark, or in
fir-cones. One or two species are at times very
destructive to wheat, especially the wheat-midge
and the Hessian-fly, Diplosis tritici (Kirb.), arid
Cecidomyia destructor (Say.). The latter has
only lately been recognised as a British species.
It attacks the stems of the wheat, which crack and
bend over, and this appearance furnishes the easiest
and most reliable evidence of the presence of the
pest among the wheat. Its ravages are, however, much checked by the attacks
of various small parasites belonging to the Hymenopterous family Ghalcididce.
Fig. 96. HESSIAN-FLY
(Cecidomyia destructor).
Magnified.
604
INSECTA ORDER DIPTERA.
Besides the true gnats or mosquitoes (Culicidce), some of the species be-
longing to several other families of this section of Diptera are extremely
troublesome, the females sucking the blood of men and
Gnats and animals. These are the sand-flies (Simuliidiv), and also the
Sand-Flies. Chironomidce and Psychodidce. The larvae of all these
families, except the Psychodidce, live in water. The Culi-
cidce and Ghironomidce have more or less plumose antennae in the males,
which may often be seen on our windows. The transformations of the
common gnat are very curious, and have often been described. The female
gnat lays her eggs in a compact, boat-shaped mass, which floats on the surface
of the water. The larva swims head downwards, having a respiratory tube
at the hinder extremity of the body, through which it breathes. The
pupa is of a different form, and swims head upwards, the upper end of the
body, which is much thickened, being now provided with respiratory organs.
When it has arrived at maturity, the skin of the upper end of the pupa splits,
and the gnat gradually disengages itself, steps out on the surface of the water,
and flies away. The Simuliidce have short, broad wings, comparatively short
and stout antennae, a*id spotted legs, in which the first joint of the tarsi is as
long as the remaining joints. The larvae and pupae live in water, where they
form small cases, which they attach to grass-stems, weeds, stones, etc. Our
British species are harmless, or nearly so ; but in many countries, as in the
Banat of Hungary, for example, they form a terrible pest. The Psychodidw,
the last of this group of blood-sucking families which we shall notice, resemble
small moths, and sit on the underside of leaves, or run actively over them. The
principal blood-sucking species in this family is Phleboto mus papatom(Scopoli),
whichinhabitsthesouth-east of Europe. It is asmall, hairy, yellowish-brown fly.
Next to the gnats and gnat-like flies, the most familiar insects belonging
to the Nemocera are the Tipulidce, which are generally called crane-flies, or
daddy longlegs. These are flies
Family with long, narrow, transparent
Tipulidce. or mottled wings, expanding
Crane-Flies. from one to two inches ; a long
pointed snout, on each side of
which are moderately long antennae ; and a long
slender body, generally greyish-brown, but
sometimes banded with yellow, and terminating,
in the female, in a short horny point. They
have very long slender legs, which break ofl' at
the least touch. They are easily disturbed
when we are walking through the meadows,
when they flit a few feet, and settle again with
their wings extended. They frequently fly into
rooms at night, being easily attracted by a light.
Their grubs live in the ground, and feed on the
roots of grass, frequently causing whole fields
to wither and turn brown, as if parched up with
drought. The smaller insects of this rather ex-
tensive family resemble gnats in size and general f . 9 7._c RA NE-FLY
appearance, and some of them appear during the (Pachyrhina'crocata). Nat. size,
winter months. The species figured, Packyrhina
crocaa(Linn.), is a rather handsome black and yellow insect, and is found in
woods.
FLIES.
605
DIPTERA BRACHYCERA (FLIES).
The flies of this section are generally stouter than those of the last, and
may be distinguished from them by their very short antennae, which generally
consist only of three joints (never more than six), and often terminate in a
long bristle ; the palpi, too, consist of one or two joints only.
The Stratiomyidce are a family of small or moderate-sized flies of sluggish
habits, which are often to be met with on flowers. Some
are rather pretty black or black and yellow flies, often with Family
spines on the scutellum. Many of their larvse live in water Stratiomyidce.
or mud.
The Tabanidce, or gad-flies, are large flies with stout bodies and a very
strong proboscis. They vary in length from an inch downwards, and
are frequently very
troublesome in the Family
woods and fields, by Tabanidce.
sucking the blood of Gad-Flies,
men and animals.
Some are of a plain brown colour,
but others are rather pretty, being
clothed with golden hair, while others
are banded or marked with reddish-
yellow. The larvse are harmless,
living in damp situations, among
fallen leaves, etc.; and, as usual, it is
only the female flies which suck blood.
We have been speaking here chiefly
of the genus Tabanus (Linn.), the largest British species of which, T. bomnus
(Linn.), is here figured ; but there are several other equally troublesome genera
of this family, such as Chrysops, with its variegated wings and beautiful large
golden-green eyes ; and Hwmatopoda (Meigen), which
contains dull-coloured species, with longer and slenderer
bodies than Tabanus and its allies. The species of Hce-
matopota are particularly troublesome in the neighbour-
hood of woods, especially in rainy weather, one of the
Linnean species being actually named plumalis (rainy).
The next family of interest is that of the Asilidaz,
which are large flies, often measuring an inch or more in
length, which feed, in the perfect state,
on other insects. They have long and Family
narrow wings, and long bodies, but tHeir comparatively short AxilidcE.
and thick legs render it impossible for the most careless Kobber-Flies.
observer to mistake them for Tipulidce. A handsome black
and yellow species, Asilus crabroniformis (Linn.), is not rare. So far as is
known, the larvse feed on vegetable substances, either under the surface of
the ground, or in the wood of trees ; but the transformations of most of
the species of this family still remain to be discovered. Most flies
which are either carnivorous or blood-suckers in their perfect state are
vegetable-feeders in their early stages ; but some of the exotic family
Midaidce, the perfect insects of which are carnivorous, also feed on insects
in the larva state, while the larvse of others live in rotten wood. In the
Fig. 98. GAD-FLY (Tabanus bovinus).
.Nat. size.
Fig. 99. Hcematopota
pluvialis. Nat. size.
6o6
INSECTA ORDER DIPTERA.
latter case, however, it is possible that they feed on other insects which
live in the wood, and not on the wood
itself.
The species of the family Empidce much re-
semble the Asilidce in habits, but are smaller,
and frequent woods rather than open places.
They will, however, feed on vegetable as well as
animal substances, and their larvae live in loose
earth.
The BombyliidcE, or bee-like flies, are another
interesting family. They are moderate-sized
hairy flies, much resembling bees, but with a
long straight proboscis, with which they suck
the honey of flowers. The larvae are parasitic
on the earlier stages of other insects.
The Syrphidce are a large family of hand-
somely - coloured flies of moderate size, which
curious hovering and darting flight. Many
Fig. IQO.Asilus crabroniformis.
Nat. size.
Fig. lOl.Eristalis tenax.
Nat. size.
are remarkable for their
of the species resemble wasps and bees ; and
their larvae live on decaying animal or vege-
table substances, and frequently in foul water.
The most interesting species of this family is
Erisbalis tenax (Linn.), a blackish fly, more or less
clothed with tawny hair, and rather more than
half an inch long. Its larva is often found in foul
water, and is called the rat-tailed grub, from a
long respiratory appendage at the end of the body.
This species appears to have given rise to the wide-
spread belief that bees might be reared from dead
carcases, as we find recorded in the story of Sampson ; in the ' ' Georgics " of
Virgil, and in many other old writings. Wasp-like flies of similar habits
have also given rise to the idea that wasps or hornets were, or might be,
bred from the carcases of horses.
The (Estridce, or bot-flies, are chiefly remarkable for being parasitic in
mammalia. Recent statistics have shown that the amount of damage caused
by the following species to cattle in England alone is quite
Family CEstrjdce. astounding. Hypoderma bovis (Linn.) is a black hairy fly,
Bot-Flies. varied with whitish and yellowish, which attacks oxen ; it
is about half an inch in length. The flies themselves are very
rarely seen, unless when reared. Other species of this family live in the nasal
fossae of sheep and deer ; in the stomach of the horse ; and in various other
situations. They have sometimes been known to attack man, especially in
warm countries ; but whether any species of this family habitually attacks
man is doubtful. Hypodermic dipterous parasites which infest man belong,
as a rule, to some section of the immense family Muscidce, which we have
now to consider.
The Muscidfx include nearly half the known Diptera. and have nearly all
more or less resemblance to the common house-fly, which is the type of the
whole order. The antennae are always three-jointed, with
Family the third joint compressed, and bearing a bristle on the
Muscidce. back, which is often plumose. The proboscis is always pre-
sent, and is usually membranous, rarely horny; the palpi
FLIES. 607
are unjointed, and the abdomen has from four to seven joints, and is generally
soft. The larvae are footless maggots, and are either parasitic, or live on
decaying animal and vegetable substances. The MuscidcK are divided into
two main sections : the Muscidce Calypterce, in which the appendages called
alulae, or winglets, are present ; and the Muscidce Acalypterce, in which they
are absent or rudimentary. (The alulae must not be confounded with the
halteres, or poisers, which are drumstick or battledore-shaped organs, which
are considered to correspond to the hind pair of wings in four- winged insects.)
Each of these two sections is divided into several large sub-families, the
more interesting of which we will now proceed to consider.
The Tachinince, are a sub-family remarkable for the very bristly
abdomen of most of the species. The larvae are parasitic on various species
of Lepidoptera, and the flies, which are rather numer-
ous in genera and species, are frequently found on
the flowers of wild carrot, and other Umbelliferce. A
species of this sub-family has been reared from a nest
of the gregarious larvae of a West African moth of
the genus Anaphe, and is here figured.
The typical sub-family of the Muscince includes a
. large number of our most familiar flies ; and among
Twic7na a t s\ze.' ** them ^he true house-fly, Musca domestica (Linn.),
which is blackish, more or less varied with grey, and
with the base of the abdomen reddish ; it is about one-third
of an inch long. The various organs of this insect : the House-Flies,
compound facetted eyes, the proboscis, and the peculiarly
complicated foot, all form interesting microscopic objects, and have often
been described and figured in books on natural history. It is now believed
fhat the pads of the foot do not support the insects when walking on a ceiling
or window-pane by performing the office of suckers, but that they exude a
viscid fluid which enables the insects to adhere to a smooth surface. The
larvae of Musca domestica live in dung, or in any sort of animal or vegetable
refuse ; and owing to the much greater cleanliness of our houses and en-
closures, to what was the case formerly, flies are not nearly so numerous and
troublesome as was the case even thirty or forty years ago. They do not
bite or sting, but there is a greyer fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (Linn.), which comes
into houses in wet weather, and bites sharply. Its pupae have been found in
horse-dung, in which the larva very probably feeds. But any flies can convey
the infection of diseases which can be communicated in this manner, even
those which do not bite ; and ophthalmia is frequently thus communi-
cated in Egypt ; and the bite of flies that have been feeding on putrid
substances is still more dangerous. The mosquitoes in the East Indies are
even said to convey the germs of a small blood-parasite from one person to
another in this manner. At the best, therefore, flies are undesirable visitors
in our houses ; but they are not allowed to increase indefinitely, but are liable
to various natural checks. They are frequently seen in autumn plastered to
the windows by a white fungus, which has spread over and round them till
it has killed them. They are also frequently seen with the curious little
creatures called false scorpions (belonging to the Arachnide family Cheliferidce)
clinging to their legs. These resemble microscopic scorpions without the
tail, but it is doubtful if they are really injurious to the flies, which, it has
been suggested, they may use as winged steeds to carry them to fresh fields
and pastures new.
608 INSECTA ORDER DIPTERA.
The house-fly is most common in summer and autumn, but there are other
flies very similar to it in size and colour, belonging to the sub-family Antho-
myince, which are common in houses earlier in the year, and are commonly
called house-flies. It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that although many
genera and species of flies are common in houses, either habitually or casually,
none of them ever grow after assuming the perfect state ; and it would, con-
sequently, be an absurd error to suppose that the small flies are the young
of the large ones, even though individuals of the same species may vary a
little in size within narrow limits.
Other larger flies are common in our houses, with brown bodies and blue
or purple abdomens. They are generally called blue-bottle flies, and their
grubs feed on meat, or carrion. A smaller and prettier species, the green-
bottle, Lucilia ccesar (Linn.), is more frequently observed out of doors.
Linnaeus is reported to have said that the progeny of three blow-flies could
devour the carcass of an ox as quickly as a lion could. The Tse-tse fly,
Glossina morsitans (Westwood), which destroys horses and cattle in South
Africa, is another species of this sub-family ; it is about the size of a bee.
MUSCID.E ACALYPTER.E.
This is another large section, divided into several sub-families, mostly of
small size. Some of them feed on dung, like the conspicuous yellow fly,
Scatophaga stercoraria (Linn.); others, as the sub-families, Ortalince, Trypetince,
and Agromyzince, feed on plants ; some in the heads of floweTs, and others
mining the leaves of trees, like the Tinece among the moths. Most of the flies
of this section are small and slender, and many have very prettily variegated
wings. The best known species is perhaps Piophila casei (Linn.), a rather
slender, black, hairy fly, the larvae of which feed on cheese or bacon. It
belongs to the sub-family Piophilince.
Fig. 103. SWALLOW FLY Fig. 104. SHEEP TICK
(Ornithomyia avicularia, (Mallophagus ovinus,
Linn.). Nat. size. Linn.). Nat. size.
DIPTERA HOMALOPTERA.
This section contains only two families, the Hippoboscidce and Nycteribiidw,
which include a few species with a rather horny integument, and very hairy,
sprawling legs. They are parasitic on various mammals and birds ; and
some of the species, such as the sheep tick, Melophagus ovinus (Linn. ), are
apterous.
FLIES AND FLEAS. 609
DIPTERA APHANIPTERA.
This section includes the fleas, which are too well known to need descrip-
tion. The species are not well-defined, and it is *hot clear how far those
which are found on different animals are really distinct.
They are all remarkable for their great powers of leaping ; Fleas.
and they possess the merest rudiments of wings. They
sometimes form colonies on the ground, especially in warm countries, and
have been observed to attack caterpillars, so that their food is not confined
to the blood of mammals or birds. They are probably quite as ready to
attack any soft-bodied animal which comes in their way. I have already
suggested (antea, p. 596) that it is possible that they may even attack the
common bed-bug, and exterminate it in houses where they are sufficiently
numerous. In America it is said that the common house-flea is the dog-
flea, the human flea being much less common.
40
SUB-KINGDOM III. MOLLUSCA.
SNAILS, ETC.
BY B. B. WOODWARD, F.L.S., F.G.S., ETC.
THE sub-kingdom Mollusca includes such well-known creatures as the whelk,
the oyster, the garden snail, and the octopus. It may be roughly character-
ised as comprising soft-bodied animals that are usually possessed of a hard
shell into which they can withdraw for protection. The forms of its different
members are as varied as the different conditions of life to which they have
become adapted ; for some live in the open sea, others hide in its depths ;
some live in rivers or swift-flowing streams and even torrents, or abide in
still lakes and ponds ; others, again, are adapted for life on dry land, and,
though mostly lovers of moist, shady spots, will some of them rejoice in
sun-baked rocks, or live in arid spots where vegetation is scanty. Indeed,
save for the frozen polar regions and snow-capped mountain summits, or
desert wastes such as the Sahara there is no spot on the surface of the
globe, nor, unless it be certain of the extreme depths, any point on the sea
bottom, without its representative mollusc. But it is in the tropical regions
and oceans that they most abound. Their mode of life is as varied as their
habitat : some are strong swimmers, others only float in the water ; some
crawl on land or under water, others burrow in the mud or sand, or even
into hard rocks, whilst a few live in the tissues of other animals ; others,
again, attach themselves to different objects more or less permanently ; this
is especially the case with the shore dwellers, who have to withstand the
action of currents, the sweep to and fro of the tides, or the violence of
storm-tossed waters. Their food, too, differs, some being carnivorous and
even cannibals, others strict vegetarians, whilst many prefer a mixed diet.
Those that burrow, or are attached, generally feed on microscopic organisms,
which they obtain from the mud or the water ; whilst the parasites, as all
the world over, dine at the expense of their hosts.
Owing to the great variations in form, and even in structure, which
conformity to these widely different requirements of life has brought
about, it is impossible to draw up any satisfactory definition of a mollusc
which shall be fairly applicable to even the majority of the larger groups.
Nevertheless, certain characters they do possess more or less in common.
The shell, though not universally present, is on the whole, perhaps, the
most conspicuous feature, although not the most important part of
the animal. They have also a well- developed muscular system, of which
that portion pertaining to the foot, or organ of locomotion, is the most
prominent. There is a distinct nervous system ; a heart and circulatory
system with its associated organs of respiration ; an alimentary system, or
610
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF MOLLUSCS. 611
set of organs for preparing and digesting the food ; an excretory system ; and
reproductive organs.
The shell in the majority of Mollusca consists of a single more or less
coiled tube (a.s in the whelk and snail), and hence they are termed univalves ;
in the oyster and other bivalves the shell is in two pieces ; whilst in the
coat-of-mail shells, chitons, there are eight little overlapping shelly plates.
The shell is composed mainly of carbonate of lime, with the admixture
of an organic substance known as conchiolin, which is very similar to chitin,
the horny material forming the hard parts of insects. It is generally
divisible into layers exhibiting differences of structure. The outermost,
called the periostracum, largely and often entirely consists of conchiolin ; it
varies greatly in appearance, being sometimes smooth and shiny, at others
rough and coarse, frequently it is fibrous. In many forms it readily rubs
off, in others it is firmly united to the true shell beneath. The term
epidermis, which has been misapplied to this layer, should be reserved
exclusively for the outermost layer of the skin of the animal itself. Of the
shell proper the main layer is usually either porcellaneous or crystalline in
structure, and in certain cases, such as Pinna, it is prismatic. The inner-
most layer is frequently pearly (nacreous), and in some, like the fresh-water
mussels or the pearl oyster, it is the thickest of all. The iridescent play of
colours, for which mother-of-pearl is noted, results not so much from any fine
microscopic sculpturing of the surface as from the breaking up and refraction
of the light that falls on them by the extremely thin films of which the
pearly layer is built up. Yet another quality of shelly matter is that which is
deposited when a damage in the shell has to be made good, or an unoccupied
space requires to be filled up. Very similar, too, is the calcareous material of
which the trap-door (operculum) closing the mouth of some shells is formed.
These different layers of shelly matter are secreted by a series of special
cells near the margin (collar) of the tough muscular skin (mantle) that
envelops the greater portion of the animal's body, the outermost layer
by the cells nearest the margin, the next one by those further in,
and so on. The shell, therefore, increases in size by the addition of
fresh material to its free edges, the whole being subsequently thickened
and strengthened by further deposits on the inner surface. The successive
additions along the growing edge generally leave ridges or marks parallel
with it, that are known as lines of growth. The deposition of shell does
not go on continuously ; every now and again there comes a period of
rest, and these rest-periods are frequently indicated by the occurrence of
a stronger ridge or mark. The different details of sculpturing on the
surfaces of the shell, striae, ribs, spines, etc., are all the products of corre-
sponding irregularities on the margin of the mantle, and were, when first
formed, situated on the growing edge. Pearls result from the coating over
with nacre of any irritating object that may have got between the mantle of
a pearl-producing mollusc and its shell a fact taken advantage of by the
ingenious Chinese who introduce small metal images. More often, perhaps
and certainly it is the case with the finer examples they result from a
diseased condition of the cells that secrete the nacre.
The muscular foot, which is generally an organ of locomotion, takes various
forms in the different groups of Mollusca: the univalves (snails and whelks)
creep along by its means ; the bivalves employ it to burrow with ; in the
cuttle-fish it is drawn out into the arms ; in other Mollusca it is transformed
into fins to swim with ; whilst in some, like the oyster, it has ceased to be
612 MOLLUSC A GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
employed, and has degenerated into a mere rudiment. Most of the muscles
of the body are concerned with the extension or retraction of the different
organs of the body, and do not here need special enumeration.
The nervous system of Mollusca acquires peculiar importance in that it is
the last feature to be influenced by the modifications of the organism, and
henoe is of extreme value in tracing relationships of the parts. Its principal
elements comprise a series of paired nerve centres or ganglia ; of these one
pair, the cerebral ganglia, lying above the oesophagus, sends off nerves to
(innervates) the head, eyes, and the special organs of sense; another pair,
the pedal ganglia, situated below the oesophagus, innervates the foot ; whilst
the pleural ganglia, lying one on each side just above the pedal ganglia, form
the third pair. These several ganglia are united by nerve cords, so that the
whole usually forms a ring or collar round the throat. A nerve cord runs,
also, from each pleural ganglion back into the visceral mass, innervating the
viscera and various organs : these two ultimately joining form what is known
as the visceral commissure. Sometimes these two cords cross over each to the
opposite side of the body before uniting, and the loop becomes a figure of 8.
Various sense organs are present in the Mollusca. Many of these are situated
on the integument, and are probably, like the tentacles, organs of touch.
Eyes are found in most forms, sometimes very perfect organs, as in the
cuttle-fish ; in snails generally they are less well-developed, and placed near
the base of the horns, or on the summit of a special pair: the bivalves being
headless, have usually no eyes ; when visual organs are present they occur in
some part of the margin of. the mantle and are numerous. In the case of
one or two molluscs, eyes are developed over the back. From their dis-
crimination of certain food, some Mollusca appear to be capable of tasting,
and they certainly can smell. The seat of the olfactory sense is believed to
vary, and sometimes to reside in a tentacle, at others to be traced to a special
organ called an osphradium, which in marine snails is situated close to the
gills and resembles them somewhat in appearance. That molluscs can hear
is inferred, rather than known, from the presence of otocysts, small cavities
filled with fluid in which grains of shelly material float. These otocysts are
situated close to the pedal ganglia and supplied by nerves from the cephalic
ganglia.
The most important feature in connection with the digestive system of
Mollusca is the armature of the mouth, and consists of a horny jaw or jaws,
and the radula, as it is called. Both, however, are wanting in the bivalves
and in a few other isolated forms.
The cuttle-fish have a pair of jaws, upper and under ; the common snails and
limpets, a single upper jaw ; but the majority of the univalve Mollusca have
a pair of jaws, right and left. The radula is characteristic of the Mollusca.
It consists first of a ribbon-like horny, or chitinous, transparent, yellowish
membrane lying on the floor of the mouth, and passing over two cartilages,
to which it is attached by special muscles. On the surface of this membrane
are set a series of minute, recurved teeth, also formed of very dense, hard
chitine. In a few instances there is but a single row of teeth, one behind
the other ; usually there are several, sometimes a greafc many, side by side,
and row upon row, each tooth repeating the form of the corresponding one
in the row immediately in front of it. Only those teeth near the front are
in use, the muscles attached to the basal membrane pulling that portion of
the radula backwards and forwards over the cartilages, so that the teeth act
very much after the manner of a chain-saw, and rasp off portions of the food.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF MOLLUSCS.
613
The cartilages, too, which are attached by one end to the floor of the mouth,
can be worked backwards and forwards by special muscles, and so bring the
teeth into play. The action of the tongue thus formed can be well seen in a
common pond snail, as it slowly crawls up the glass-side of an aquarium,
clearing off the microscopic plant-growths as it goes. Of course the teeth in
front soon wear away and drop off, so that further and further portions of
the radula have to be brought into use as required. The portion of the
radula held in reserve for this purpose is stowed away in a kind of pocket
(the radula sac), situated at the back of the mouth and immediately under
the oasophagus. At the extreme end of this radula sac a special set of cells,
in the substance of its wall, are engaged in forming fresh teeth, so that a
constant supply is being manufactured ready to be moved forward in place
of the worn-out ones. When the reserve supply needed is very great the
radula is of great length, and the radula sac, correspondingly long, has to be
stowed away amongst the other organs of the body. This is especially the
case in the limpet and the periwinkle, which last has proportionately
the longest known radula of any mollusc. As a rule, in each transverse
row of teeth there is a symmetrical central one called the median or
rachidian tooth ; on either side of this the teeth are unsymmetrical,
and their shape changes as they are traced outwards from the centre,
but each one pairs exactly with the corresponding tooth on the opposite side
of the median one. Generally the first few near the median more or less
resemble each other, and are succeeded rather abruptly by smaller ones, so
that the whole radula appears divided into three longitudinal tracts. The
middle tract is then termed the rachis and the teeth on it the median and
admedian, whilst the outer tracts are styled pleurae, and their teeth uncini.
Sometimes between the admedian and the uncini there is a conspicuous tooth
differing from either, which may be termed the lateral or capituliform tooth.
The shapes and patterns
of these teeth (Fig. 1)
and their arrangement
are so characteristic in
the different genera as to
form valuable aids to
classification, though,
since they are apt to vary
in the young and adult
state of the same in-
dividual, they do not
furnish an unerring
clue to the identity
of species. A formula
has been invented for
expressing the number
of teeth in each trans-
verse row thus :
I'l'l signifies that
there is a- median, with
a single lateral on either
side ; 2'11-1'2 has in
addition 2 uncini on either side. When the uncini are very numerous
the sign oo (= infinity), or, better still, x is employed, thus oo 'l'4'l'4*l*oo,
Fig. 1.
A, Docoglossa (Patella vulgata).
B, Rhipidoglossa(7Voc/ittS cinerarius).
C, Tamiojrlossa (Cyprcea Europcea).
D, Rhachiglossa (Buccinum undatum) Whelk.
E, Achatina fulica.
614 MOLLUSCA GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
or x l^'l'i'l* 5c, is the formula for certain kinds. Further allusion
to these will be made when treating of the different groups.
All the Mollusca have a circulatory system, with a heart as the central
organ, which propels the blood through the body. The heart lies in a cavity,
known as the pericardium, and receives from auricles, usually two in number
and lying one on each side of it, the blood that has been aerated in the gills.
This blood is driven by the heart through a series of arteries, whence it
passes in most Mollusca through a series of cavities amongst and between
the various organs and muscles of the body ; hence it finds its way back, for
the most part through veins, to the gills, but some passes direct to the heart
without aeration and thence circulates again. The blood is often colourless,
or is slightly bluish, from the presence of an albuminoid (hwmocyanin) con-
taining copper ; sometimes it is red, and contains the same colouring matter
(hcemoylobin) as the blood of vertebrates.
The gills have been so largely employed in classifying Mollusca
that it is impossible to omit a brief description of their main
features. The simple or primitive form of gill has been aptly
compared to a plume, in that, like an ostrich feather, it con-
sists of a main axis or shaft, from which, at short intervals, filaments are
given off in pairs. The axis of the gill contains, on
opposite sides, the vessels that convey the blood
to the smaller passages in the filaments and carry
it off again to the heart after it has been aerated
in them. Increase in the surface of aeration is
obtained either by the lengthening of the fila-
ments, or by the union and flattening out of each
pair into a small leaf-like expansion. The former
is the Filibranchiate,orPectintinibranchiate (comb-
Fig. 2 DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING gilled), the latter the Scutibranchiate, or Aspido-
THB Two TYPES OF GILL branchiate (both meaning shield - gilled), or
S Tp T e U ctinibra D chiate. Foliobranchiate (leaf-gilled) condition (Fig 2).
B, Foliobranchiate. Further modifications take place in the gills of
bivalves, but these will be treated of later on.
In the Foliobranchiate, and in the more complicated forms of gill, the
vessels conveying the blood to and from the gill have their positions with
relation to the axis considerably modified.
A pair of organs called nephridia, which play the part of kidneys and free
the blood from impurities on its way to the gills, lie in the region of the
heart ; they open into the pericardium on the one hand, and communicate on
the other with the exterior.
In the majority of Mollusca the sexes are distinct, but in the land snails,
the sea slugs, and their allies, the sexes are united in each individual. Most
Mollusca are oviparous ; that is to say, lay eggs. In a few instances the young
are brought forth alive, the eggs being hatched within the body of the
parent ; whilst in numerous other cases, notably the bivalves, the eggs are
retained within the parent shell till hatched. The land snails lay beparate
eggs, which have each a tough outer layer or case, or even a regular shell
like a bird's egg. There is one West African snail whose egg is as large as
that of a pigeon, and has nearly as thick a shell. The fresh water and
marine snails deposit their eggs generally in clusters, adhering together
either in a mass, or spread out in a ribbon. Sometimes each egg is enclosed
in a tough albuminous capsule, as in the case of the whelk and the cuttle-fish.
COAT-OF-MAIL SHELLS. 615
The early stages in the development of the young Mollusca are the same as
in all other animals. The original single cell splits up into many cells, till it
looks like a mulberry. These cells next arrange themselves in a single layer,
so as to form a hollow ball ; one side then becomes folded in, so that a
double layer of cells results, enclosing a cavity which ultimately becomes the
digestive tube ; other cells arise between the two layers, that subsequently
form the various organs and the muscles of the young animal. Meantime
there arises a swimming organ, which is peculiar to the young mollusc ; this
is called the velum. It begins as a ridge, fringed with fine hairs (cilia),
encircling that part of the head of the embryo which lies in front of the
mouth, and it finally expands into a sort of disc, which is drawn out into
lobes or into fingers. This is known as the veliger stage, and is further
marked by the formation of the young shell and the first appearance of the
foot. The young shell is always a simple coil, even in those forms which,
when adult, have a straight shell, or discard their shell altogether. As the
young snail grows up the velum disappears.
The molluscan sub-kingdom is divided into five classes :
I. AMPHINEURA.
II. PELECYPODA, Or LAMELLIBRANCHIATA,
III. SCAPHOPODA.
IV. GASTROPODA.
V. CEPHALOPODA.
Formerly the sea-butterflies PTEROPODA were considered to form a class by
themselves : they are now, however, known to be only very greatly modified
forms of Gastropoda.
CLASS I. AMPHINEURA.
The Amphineura are in many respects the most primitive of all the Mollusca.
They are literally symmetrical ; that is to say, if the body were divided down
the middle from head to tail, structures found on one side of the body would
be seen to be repeated on the other.
The elementary canal is not bent, the hinder end opening at the opposite
extremity of the elongate body to the mouth.
The nervous system consists of two lateral and
two ventral nerve trunks, which start from
the cerebral ganglia and are connected together
at intervals by numerous transverse nerve cords.
The class is divided into two orders : POLYPLA-
COPHORA and APLACOPHORA.
K
ORDER I. POLYPLACOPHORA.
The Coat-of-Mail Shells, or Chitons (Fig. 2), are
readily distinguished by being alone amongst the
Mollusca in possessing a shelly covering of many
pieces called the lorica. There are eight plates
or valves in all on the back of the animal, fitting
one over the other like the tiles on a roof.
Generally the lorica is surrounded by a leathery
girdle, so called, which helps to unite the several
plates, and which, though sometimes naked, is Fig. B.
usually studded with scales or beset with spines. A CHITON*
616 MOLLUSCAAPLACOPHORA.
In some forms the animal is very long in the body and the shelly plates
are placed at intervals. The animals, which are vegetable feeders, may be
found clinging, like limpets, to the under surfaces of rocks and stones at low
tide, and when detached will coil up much after the fashion of the well-known
wood-louse. The muscular foot extends the whole length of the under
surface of the body ; the end of the snout is just visible ; there are rio
tentacles. A row of small gills is seen along each sido of the body under the
edge of the mantle. A remarkable feature in the shell of many chitons calls
for special mention. The outer chitinous layer of the valves is perforated
for the passage of sense organs, which, in the family Chitonidae, are in
part converted into eyes.
The Polyplacophora are divided into families as follows, according to
details of sculpturing, etc., of the valves: LEPIDOPLEURIDJE, ISCHNO-
CHITONID^E, MOPALIID^E, ACANTHOCIHTID-iE, CRYPTOPLACI.UJE,
ORDER II. APLACOPHORA, OR SOLENOGASTRA.
The Aplacophora, which are carnivorous, are so modified that they scarcely
resemble molluscs at all. The body is worm-like and there is no trace of
shell, but the much thickened outer skin contains
shelly spicules, which probably represent the spines
and scales of the Polyplacophora. The foot is
extremely reduced, or altogether wanting. The
gills are in a chamber at the latter end of the
body, into which chamber also the excretory
orifices open. Their blood is red. Two sub-
orders are distinguished :
Sub-order 1. NEOMENIINA, in which the foot is
reduced to a ridge sunk in a groove along the ventral
, 4 - side of the body.
&f CH^MRMA. The radula is of the usual many-toothed order, or
wanting. There are four families : NEOMEN^ID^E,
PRONEOMENIID^, DONDERSIID^E, and PARAMENIID.E.
Sub-order 2. CH^TODERMATINA, represented by a single genus Chceto-
derma, in which the body is extremely long and cylindrical ; the foot is
wanting, its position being merely indicated by a groove ; whilst the radula is
represented by a single tooth.
CLASS II. PELECYPODA, OR LAMELLIBRANCHIATA.
The principal characteristic of this class is the division of the shell into
two halves, the valves, which lie on either side, right and left, of the animal :
hence the class at one time received the name of Bivalvia. These valves are
usually connected by an elastic, chitinous ligament, and are further kept in
place, when the shell is closed, by a series of interlocking teeth that project
from their margins. The shell is closed by powerful adductor muscles, but
opens spontaneously, when the muscles relax, by the action of the ligament.
Each valve is a hollow, irregular cone, the apex of which, termed the beak
or umbo, is the point at which growth began, and is in fact formed by the
valve of the young shell. In very good specimens, when the umbones are
not worn or eroded, the two valves that were formed by the animal ere it
BIVALVE SHELLS-GENERAL STRUCTURE.
617
issued from the egg can be seen crowning the umbones ; they generally differ
in shape and marking from the portion subsequently formed and are called
the prodissoconch.
The umbo is generally curved more or less to one side, and usually points
towards the head, or anterior end, when the shell is said to be prosogyre, in
contradistinction to those in which the umbones are straight, orthogyre, or
are directed backwards, opisthogyre. More often than not the two valves
are of equal size and shape, and the shell is equivalve, as in the cockle ;
sometimes, however, as in the oyster, one valve is smaller than the other,
and the shell is inequivalve. The bivalves are all more or less inequilateral;
that is to say, if a line be drawn from the umbo to the ventral margin of the
valve the portion on one side of that line, usually the front one, will be
found to be smaller than that on the other. When the shell is shut it is
said to be close, if the valves fit accurately ; and to gape, if openings be left.
The ligament is made up of two elements : an external horny, non-elastic
layer, or ligament proper, and an inner, fibrous layer, the resilium, which
imparts elasticity to the whole. The latter is sometimes separated from the
outer layer and situated in a pit, resilifer, in the margin of the shell, or
even borne on a process projecting into the interior. This resilium was
formerly known under the misleading name of cartilage. The margin
of the shell, on which the ligament and the teeth that lie close to it
are situated, is termed the hinge line: it is sometimes expanded inwards
and forms a sort of platform, the hinge plate, on which the teeth are
placed. The central teeth, under the umbo, are termed cardinal, those
on each side lateral teeth : frequently some one or other of these, and
sometimes all, are wanting. The mode of origin of these teeth is a matter of
extreme interest and importance, but is too special a subject to be followed
out here. On the interior of the shell in each valve are impressed markings
or scars, which indicate the points of attachment of the muscles. Firstly,
Fig. 5. TOPOGRAPHY OP A BIVALVE SHELL.
I,, Exterior of right valve. II. Dorsal view of both valves.
III. Interior of right valve.
A, Anterior or front. P, Posterior or hinder end. D, Dorsal area or back, V, Ventral area or
under margin, c, Cardinal teeth, al, Anterior lateral teeth, pi, Posterior lateral teeth.
aa, Scar of anterior adductor muscle, pa, Scar of posterior adductor muscle, p, Pallial line,
ps, Pallial einua.
there are in the majority of shells e.g., the fresh water mussel two large
impressions in each valve, one near the front, the other near the hinder,
margin ; these are the scars of the adductor muscles that close the shell. In
6i8 MOLLUSCA CLASS ILPELECYPODA.
some forms, like the oyster, only one such, the hinder one, remains.
Bivalves with two adductor scars in each valve are termed Dimyaria, the
others Monomyaria. The reduction and disappearance of the anterior
adductor may be accounted for by the more rapid growth of the latter half
of the body, which thus tends to bring the two muscles and the hinge into
line, when the anterior adductor, being less and less required, is propor-
tionately reduced and ultimately disappears. In Pinna the hinge is reduced
to the lowest limit instead. Running from one adductor scar to the other
in the Dirnyaria, and at a short distance from the ventral margin of the shell,
is a shallow groove, the pallial line, which marks the attachment of the
muscular mantle. In a large group of the bivalves this line, instead of
running in a continuous curve, makes, shortly before it reaches the hinder
scar, a sharp bend back towards the centre of the valve, forming a bay or
sinus called the pallial simis. Its presence indicates that the animal had
retractile breathing tubes or siphons, and to these further allusion will be
made later on. Other small scars of lesser importance are generally present.
The terms employed in designating the different parts will best be gathered
from the accompanying diagrams (Fig. 5).
No bivalve mollusc possesses a head, and hence the term Acephala, or its
equivalent Lipocephala, has sometimes been applied to the class. The animal
is enclosed between the two lobes of the thin mantle, one lying on either
side of it immediately under the shell. These lobes are attached along the
back and reach out to the margin of the valves. In the more primitive
forms the mantle margins are quite simple, and open from the front round
the ventral edge to the back ; but many different modifications take place in
the higher forms. Instead of the margins being simple, there may be folds,
Fig. 6. DIAGRAM TO ILLUSTRATE THR DIFFERENT FORMS OF MANTLB OPENING AND TTTB
FORMATION OF TUB SIPHON.
A, Mantle open all round.
B, Mantle margins appl.ed to each other except at e (exhalent aperture) and t (iahalent aperture)
and where /(the foot) protrudes.
C, Mantle margins grown together at 1.
D, Mantle margins grown together at 1 and 2.
E, Mantle margins prolonged into siphons, e and t (as before), united at 1 and 2.
F v Siphons united, alao mantle margins at 2 and 3.
thickenings, protuberances, tentacles, various glands, and even eyes. Nor are
the margins always free ; indeed, in extreme cases, they are united nearly the
whole way round. There are various stages (Fig. 6) : counting the open one
as the first, in the second the currents of water, instead of being drawn in all
the way round, the edges of the mantle are kept close together except where
the foot protrudes and at two points at the hinder end, one of which (i) serves
to admit the fresh water to the gills and food to the mouth, and is called the
BIVALVE SHELLS-GENERAL STRUCTURE.
619
inhalent aperture, whilst the other (e) allows the fouled water to escape and is
termed the exhalent aperture. In the next stage the edges of the mantle are
united permanently at the point between these two openings, and in the
fourth at a second point below the inhalent aperture. In the fifth stage the
margins of these apertures have grown out into tubes (siphons), and the
remaining portions of the mantle margins have united all round, except
where the foot is protruded. Finally, the two siphons become united exter-
nally. In these cases there is frequently a fourth small aperture left in the
ventral margin. The siphons, the ends of which are frequently fringed, can
be wholly or partly withdrawn ; and it is to make room for them within the
shell that the pallial attachment is set further back at that point, giving rise
to the pallial sinus already spoken of. The proportionate length of the
siphons forms a rough index to the burrowing habits of the animal, since the
longer the siphons and the more complete the union of the mantle margins,
the deeper the mollusc can burrow into the mud or silt and still inhale clear
water from above.
The gills lie underneath the mantle, one on either side, in the space
between the latter and the body of the animal. In structure these organs
vary progressively from a very simple to an extremely complicated form, and
since their features have been made the basis whereby this difficult group is
classified, it is necessary briefly to describe them. In the more primitive
bivalves the gill is of the foliobranch type (see ante, p. 614); but in the higher
Pelecypods they are filibranch, only the filiments of each of the two rows,
instead of running separate, have an arrangement whereby they interlock and
form a continuous membrane, like the web of a feather. The mechanism by
which this is brought about is extremely simple. At regular intervals on either
side of each filiment are little patches of stiff hairs which interlock with the
corresponding ones on the two neighbouring filiments, just as two brushes
can be made to do ; these are known as the ciliated junctions (Fig. 7 E).
Moreover, the two membranes lamellce thus arising do not simply depend
from the axis, but their edges are folded upwards that of the outer one
outwards, that of the inner, inwards, making a W in section as shown at
B, Fig. 7.
Fig, 7. DIAGRAM ILI/CTBTRATING STTCCKSSIVB DEVELOPMENT OF PELECYPOD GILUJ.
A, Protobranch (or Foliobranch). B, Filibranch.
Oj Eulamellibranch. D, Septibranch. E, Diagram of Ciliated Junctions.
A further complication of structure ensues when junctions, called inter-
lamellar junctions, are formed between the dependent part of each filament
and its reflected portion. In a more advanced stage still both the ciliated
620 MOLLUSCA CLASS IL PELECYPODA,
and the interlamellar junctions become solid connections, so that the whole
structure presents a spongy appearance, whilst the reflected ends of the
filaments, uniting with the walls of the mantle and foot, subdivide the pallial
chamber (C, Fig. 7). One further development remains to be mentioned, in
which the gills have become converted into a sort of party wall. The follow-
ing diagrammatic drawings will make these various stages more clear (Fig. 7).
The muscular foot is a prominent feature in most bivalves, lying in the
middle line towards the front of the body. It is actuated by special muscles,
and is principally of service in forcing a way for the creature into the sand
or mud ; in a few it is a creeping organ ; whilst the cockles, by its means,
take extraordinary leaps. In some forms it is greatly reduced, or altogether
wanting. Towards the back of the foot is situated the apparatus for
spinning the horny threads by which many bivalves anchor themselves
to stones, seaweed, etc. The common mussel is a familiar example,
and the bunch of threads is known as the byssus. The animal generally
has the power of rejecting its byssus at any time and spinning a fresh
one.
The mouth is situated a little behind and beneath the front adductor
muscle; it is unarmed, neither jaw nor radula being present. It is flanked
on either side by a pair of twin, triangular lobes, the labial palps, which are
in a line with, and in front of, the gills. Their function apparently is to
collect, and possibly to taste, the food before it passes into the mouth. A
short oesophagus leads to the stomach at the base of the foot, whence the
intestine, more or less coiled, leads off, and, after passing through the peri-
cardium, terminates beneath the hinder adductor muscle, at the base of the
exhalent siphon.
The heart, in addition to the ventricle, which frequently encircles the
alimentary canal, has usually two auricles. The nervous system is sym-
metrical, and consists typically of three pairs of ganglia : The cerebro-
pleural, resulting from the fusion of the cerebral and pleural ganglia, lying
above the oesophagus ; the pedal ganglia, which are situated in the foot, near
its base \ and the visceral ganglia, placed close to the posterior adductor
muscle. These ganglia are connected by nerve cords, and supply nerve
fibres to the various organs. The remaining anatomical features call for no
comment here.
The classification of the Pelecypoda is a most difficult and vexed question ;
but that founded on the structure of the gills, as explained above, will be
employed here. The five orders thus created are ;
I. PROTOBRANCHIATA.
II. FILIBRANCHIATA.
III. PSEUDOLAMELLIBRANCHIATA.
IV. EULAMELLIBRANCHIATA.
V. SEPTIBRANCHIATA.
ORDER I. PROTOBRANCHIATA
Contains the most primitive forms of Pelecypoda, The gills are folio-
branchiate in type, and the mantle margins generally open. The foot has a
creeping disc on its ventral surface.
Two families are included in this order the NUCULIDJE and the SOLENO-
MYID.E. To the former belong the little nutshells (Nucula), small triangular
shells of a plain brown exterior and pearly interior, provided with a series
of fine transverse teeth in the hinge, calling to mind a comb, with the re-
BIVALVES-ARKS, NUT-SHELLS, ETC, 621
silium borne in a small triangular pit in the middle. The umbones are
directed backwards. Their close allies, Leda and Yddia, are elongate, and
have fewer and more prominent teeth, and a more prominent ligament pit.
The family is one of the oldest known, dating back to the earliest geological
times, and its modern representatives are found in all seas.
The SOLENOMYID.E comprise a single genus Solenomya, and are remarkable
for being without teeth in the hinge, and in having the periostracum greatly
prolonged beyond the margin of the valves. The typical species, S. togata,
is found in the Mediterranean. The genus also occurs on the east coast of
North America, the Antilles, Patagonia, New Zealand, and Australia.
ORDER II. FILIBRANCHIATA.
In this order the gill filaments are dependent and reflexed with ciliar, but
no interlamellar junctions. The animal generally spins a strong byssus.
Four sub-orders are distinguished :
Sub-order 1. ANOMIACE^R, whose typical genus Anomia is well-known by
the common A. ephippium, found on our shores. The shell is very variable
in shape, but the right valve is generally the flatter of the two, since it is
moulded to the surface of the object the animal is attached to. The strong
byssus, by which it holds on consists of a shelly "plug," instead of a bundle
of threads, and passes through a notch in the right valve near the umbo.
When quite young the notch is in the ventral margin of the valves, as in the
next group, but the shell subsequently grows round it. There are no teeth
in the hinge ; only a single adductor muscle, the posterior one, is present in
the adult; and the heart projecting into the pallial cavity lies almost with-
out the body. The Saddle oyster, f lacuna sella, also belongs to this group.
Sub-order 2. ARCACEA, of which the Noah's Ark-
shells are the type (Fig. 8), have hinge-teeth like Nucula;
but the ligament is external, extends for ward in advance
of the umbones, and spreads over the wide space be-
tween the two beaks, frequently obtaining additional
hold by grooves in the shell. In Area there is often
a strong and sometimes shelly byssus, which passes
through an opening in the ventral margin of the shell.
The two adductors are nearly equal in size. The
mantle margins are entirely open. The genera Pec-
tunculus and Limopsis have much rounder shells ; the A ARCA
teeth are far fewer, and less comb-like than in Area. ' A
All three genera are represented on our coasts, and have a wide distribu-
tion ; whilst Area dates back to almost the earliest geological times.
Sub-order 3. TRIGONIACEA, represented by a single family, TRIGONIID.E,
having one genus Trigonia. This genus, now confined to the Australian
seas, was in geological times very widely distributed. The living species are
beautiful pearly shells, roughly triangular in shape and externally ribbed,
after the manner of a cockle-shell. The right valve bears two cardinal teeth ?
the left four. These teeth are transversely grooved. There is no byssus.
Sub-order 4. MYTILACEA is so well known through its representatives the
common marine mussel, Mytllus edulis, and the Horse- mussel, Modiola
622 MOLLUSCA-CLASS IL-PELECYPODA.
modiolus, as to need no further description. The genus Mytilus is world-
wide in its distribution : Modiola is chiefly tropical.
The genus Crenella is interesting on account of its hinge margin, which is
crenulated behind the ligament. Lithodomus, the Date- shell, so called from
its resemblance in external shape to a date-stone, is an interesting example
of adaptation to habitat. It perforates corals and the hardest rocks, forming
for itself a long, narrow burrow into which it exactly fits.
The fresh-water genus Dreissensia, introduced into this country from the
Baltic on timber, may be placed here rather than with the fresh- water mussels,
despite certain of its anatomical features, till its true affinities shall have been
determined.
ORDER III. PSEUDOLAMELLIBRANCHIATA.
In this division, to which the oyster belongs, the mantle is entirely
open ; the foot is but little developed, and the gill filaments are reflected
and joined by interlamellar connections. The order is further subdivided
into AVICULACIA, OSTREACEA, PECTINACEA.
Sub-order 1. Th e A VICULACE A, or swallow shells,
are so called from the fancied resemblance pre-
sented by representative forms, when the two
valves are spread open, to a flying bird (Fig. 9).
They are extremely pearly shells, indeed the
Fig. a-AvrouiAHntuNDo. P ear | ^ ter of Commerce is a conspicuous ex-
ample, the nacreous layer being the thickest ;
the middle layer of the shell is prismatic and
consequently brittle ; the periostracum is very thin. In shape they are
inequivalve ; the hinge is long and straight, with few and obscure teeth,
or none at all, and the hinge line is usually produced on either side of the
umbones, forming expansions, technically known as ears.
The ligament is external, and placed in a groove or grooves. The posterior
adductor is very large ; the anterior, situated close to the umbo, is small, or
sometimes wanting ; the pallial line is represented by a chain of small
isolated scars. They spin a strong byssus, which issues through a notch in
the right valve beneath the front ear. They dwell in temperate or tropical
seas, and in point of geological time are found right back to almost the earliest
fossiliferous rocks. The principal genera are Avicida, Meleagrina (the
pearl oyster), Malleus (the hammer-headed oyster), Perna, in which the
ligament is crumpled into numerous folds, occupying transverse grooves in the
thick hinge, and the common Pinna.
Sub-order2. TheOsTREACEA,of which theoyster(0srea)is the type, present
some points of great interest other than gastronomic. The mantle margin is
double and finely fringed, forming the so-called "beard." The foot is reduced
to a rudiment, and there is no byssus. The anterior adductor in the adult
is entirely wanting ; but in the embryo, that, as in all bivalves, is the first
of the two adductors to be formed, the posterior developing later and per-
sisting, whilst the former disappears. The stage in which both are present
has not yet been seen in the European oyster. Traces of teeth are some-
times to be observed. Oysters are world- wide in their distribution, if Arctic
seas be omitted.
Sub-order 3. The PECTINACEA are best known by the scallop (Pecten), of
BIVALVES OYSTERS, MUSSELS, ETC. 623
which there are numerous species, many of them most beautifully coloured and
marked. As in the oyster, the mantle margins are double and fringed, but
in addition, there is a row of conspicuous round black eyes. Most of the
pectens spin a byssus when young, and some do habitually; whilst many not
only remain free but move about, progressing through the water by rapidly
opening and closing their valves. With few exceptions the Pecten shells are
ornamented with radiating ribs. The genus Lima resembles pecten, but is
more elongate and not so equilateral.
The thorny oyster (Spondylus) is ornamented, as its popular name suggests,
with spines and other shelly prominences. The Spondyli attach themselves to
various objects, sometimes slightly by a few spines, sometimes by the whole
surface of a valve. Two curved teeth in each valve so interlock with corre-
sponding sockets in the other that it is impossible to separate them without
damage. The big Water Spondylus in its growth leaves cavities in the shell
substance which retain sea water.
ORDER IV. EULAMELLIBRANCHIATA.
In this order is included the great majority of the bivalves. The gills have
complete interfilamentary and interlamellar junctions. Both adductors, with
few exceptions, are present. The hinge teeth are few and strong.
The following seven sub-orders may conveniently be distinguished: SUB-
MYTILACEA, TfiLLINACEA, VENERACEA, CARDIACEA, MYACEA, PHOLADACEA,
ANATINACEA.
Sub-order 1. SUBMYTILACEA. The Submytilacea are generally devoid of
siphons, and hence the pallial impression is simple. They are more nearly
related to the Mytilacea than to the Pseudolamellibranchiata just described ;
indeed the Dreiasensiidse and the fossil Modiolopsidre are by some included
in the Mytilacea, and the Unionidse and ^Etheriid?9 placed close to them.
The UNIONISE include, amongst others, the fresh-water mussels familiar
to all. The young, as soon as they leave the parent shell, attach themselves
to passing fish, and, becoming buried in the skin, pass a short period of
their lives as parasites. This stage of the young mussel, till its true nature
was ascertained, was called Glochidium.
The ^.ETHERIID.E include sEtheria,, the fresh- water oyster of the Nile,
that has a remarkable cellular shell, the layers on the inside looking like
blisters. The corresponding South American form, Mnlleria, has only a
singrle (posterior) adductor, and looks yet more like an oyster.
The CYRENID^, another fresh-water family, are represented in the British
Isles by the genera Cydas and Pisidium. Formerly there was a third
genus, Corbicula, which spread all over Europe and Siberia, but is now
confined to warmer climes.
The Cyrenidoe have equivalve, subtriangular shells with brown periostra-
cum. The hinge has two or three cardinals, and laterial teeth are present,
which in Corbicula are striated ; the ligament is external. The siphons
are short.
Amongst the marine forms belonging to this group are the CARDITID^:,
stout, equivalved, heart-shaped shells, generally with radiating ribs like the
Cockles, and having a strong hinge with one or two oblique cardinal teeth
and one or two laterals ; the ligament is external. One member of the family,
Cardita concamerata, is remarkable for the curious egg-pouch, formed by an
infold of the ventral margin of the mantle and shell. The Carditidse are
624 MOLLUSCA CLASS ILPELECYPODA.
principally inhabitants of southern waters, but are represented in the
Mediterranean.
The ASTARTID^E, on the other hand, are northern forms. Their shells are
rather flattened, subtriangular, or ovoid in outline, marked with concentric
ribs, and covered with a thick brown periostracum. There is a strong hinge
with two or three cardinal teeth in each valve ; the ligament is external.
The CRASSATELLID^E, another family of southern range, have a much longer
shell, generally subtriangular and concentrically ribbed ; there is a distinct
lunule ; the hinge is furnished with two or three cardinals in each valve ; the
resilium is lodged in a pit between the teeth.
The ARCTICID^E are best known by the Arctica [ = Cyprina] Islandica of our
own northern shores. It has a strong, fairly globose shell, with prominent
umbones, covered with a rough brown periostracum ; there is no lunule.
The ligament is external ; the hinge teeth well developed, and, like those of
the Veneracea, there are two cardinal teeth, two posterial laterals, and two
feeble anterior laterals in each valve. Another genus, Libitina, is found in
the Red Sea and Indian Ocean ; it is an oblong shell with very long, straight,
posterior teeth. Another member of the group is Coralliophaga^ which, in
external form, closely resembles LithodomuSj already alluded to under
Mytilacea.
The ISOCARDIID^E, or heart-cockles, which were formerly associated with
the preceding, have very globose shells, and very prominent, widely separated,
spiral umbones. The ligament which follows the umbones in their growth
is split in front and curved out on either side.
A contrast to the foregoing is offered by most of the LUCINID^J, which
have very round, but rather depressed, and generally white shells, with
small umbones. The teeth, when well developed, comprise two cardinal and
one lateral in each valve ; the ligament is internal and very large. There is
generally, in addition to the usual muscular scars on the interior, the mark
of a muscular attachment running obliquely right across the valves. The
foot is long and cylindrical. The UNGULINID^E, with a single genus Ungulina,
are closely allied.
The three remaining families, KELLYELLID.E, ERYCINID/E, and GALEOM-
MID.E are small shells, which have the common characteristic of a foot
adapted for creeping ; many of them when thus crawling spread the valves
wide open. The mantle is generally more or less reflected over the shell,
and in Ephippodonta and Clamydoconcha it completely and permanently
envelopes the valves.
Sub-order 2. TELLINACEA. These have very long siphons, which are not
united ; the pallial sinus is correspondingly deep ; the foot is large and
flattened.
In the type family TELLINID^:, or sunset shells, the shell is generally very
elongate, sometimes smooth and polished, sometimes marked with concentric
ribs, and oblique and gaping behind. There are two cardinal and two lateral
teeth, one anterior and one posterior, in each valve ; the ligament is external.
The Tellinidae are world-wide in their distribution, but the finer specimens
come from tropical seas.
The SCROBICULARIID^ are Tellinse in which the ligament is internal ; they
love the mud of estuaries to dwell in, and obtain their food from it.
The PSAMMOBIID.E resemble the Tellinidae both in shell and animal. ^The
former, however, is more equivalve, less twisted, and gapes more widely
BIVALVES VENUS SHELLS, COCKLES, ETC. 625
behind. The hinge plate is broader and there are no lateral teeth. As their
name indicates, they are sand dwellers. A few occur on the British coasts,
but the finer examples come from the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
The DONACID^E, or wedge shells, are very inequilateral, the front portion
being much longer than the truncated hinder part. The exterior is usually
smooth, the umbones are directed backwards, and the margins of the valves'
are usually very finely crenulated, whilst the pallial sinus is deep. There
are two or three cardinals and two laterals, one anterior and one posterior,
in each valve.
The TANCREDIID^E have very similar shells to the Donacidse.
The MACTRID^E are a large and widely- distributed family dwelling in sand.
The shell is equivalve and somewhat triangular ; commonly smooth and white,
with a trace of periostracum. The hinge is usually marked by the conspicu-
ous internal resilium lodged in a deep pit ; but in some forms the whole
ligament is external. The hinge-plate is well developed; the teeth vary
somewhat, typically there is a A-shaped cardinal tooth in each valve in front
of the resilifer, and single anterior and posterior lateral teeth in the right
valve fitting into double ones in the right one.
The CARDILIID^: are very similar in their shell to the preceding, and are
probably closely allied to them, bub their anatomy is still unknown.
The MESODESMATIDJK resemble the Mactridae in their anatomy, but the
siphons are not united, the shell usually is more like that of Donax with
umbones directed backwards.
Sub-order 3 VENERACEA. These have usually short siphons, and there-
fore a moderate pallial sinus. The shells of
the principal family, VENERID^E, are remarkable
for the elegance of their forms and colours.
Their texture is very hard and procellaneous,
the exterior is frequently smooth and highly
polished, sometimes ornamented with V-shaped
lines of colour,sometimes with concentric grooves,
\vh : lst a few have projecting plates or spines
(Fig. 10). The margins are closed, and often
crenulate. The siphons are more or less united.
The ligament is external, and there is a well- Fig. 10. CYTHERKA DICNK.
marked lunule ; the hinge is strong, and con-
sists of three well-developed cardinal teeth in each valve, two out of the
three appearing double ; the laterals are variable.
The PETRICOLID^E, which occupy burrows in limestone, are very elongate ;
in their shape and external markings they closely resemble the well-known
rock-borer Pholas, though they are readily distinguished by the possession
of three cardinal teeth in each valve.
The GLAUCOMYID^E, which are fresh, or brackish-water forms, have very
long siphons, and live buried in the mud of estuaries in India, China, and
the Eastern Archipelago. The shell is shaped like Mya.
Sub-order 4. CARDIACEA comprises the cockles and their allies. The shell
is heart-shaped, with an internal ligament, and there are She or two cardinals
in each valve ; whilst the right valve usually carries two anterior and two
posterior laterals, which receive the corresponding single teeth of the
41
626 MOLL USC A - CLASS IT. -PELECYPODA.
left valve. The siphons are short and deeply fringed ; the foot very long
and slender.
The cockles, CARDIID.*:, live buried in sand or sandy mud, and in some
species with a prickly shell the size and number of the spines is dependent
on the nature of the sea bottom, the spines being fewest in those which
bury in the firmest silt. The shells of the genus Hemicardium are the most
peculiar in shape of almost any bivalve, for they are much shorter than wide
or thick.
The "giant clam" (Tridaena), and the bear's-paw (Hippopus), so commonly
used to make shell-baskets, form the family TRIDACNID.E. In these no
anterior adductor is present in the adult, nor are there any siphons. The
shell is ornamented with radiating ribs, and the margins are deeply
indented. The hinge has a single cardinal in each valve, and two posterior
laterals in the right, one in the left valve. Tridaena is the largest bivalve
known, either recent or fossil, T. gigas attaining 2 ft. in length. It lives
in coral reefs moored by its huge byssus, which issues through the large
notch in the valves in front of the umbones. The animal is most gaudily
coloured, rivalling the corals amongst which it dwells. Large dull pearls are
sometimes found in it. Hippopus, on the other hand, has a close-fitting
shell, through it spins a small byssus. It, too, is a reef-dweller.
The CHAMID^E, which resemble oysters in external appearance, and in
being attached, are inequivalve, with sub-spiral umbonea and external
ligament. The shell is rough, and generally ornamented with frills, or flat
shelly projections. Sometimes one valve is attached, sometimes the other ;
the hinge teeth consist of two cardinals in the attached, and one in the free
valve, with traces of laterals. They inhabit tropical seas.
Sub-order 5. MTACEA. The shells of this group gape more or less widely,
and never completely enclose the animal. The mantle margins are united,
except where passage is given for the foot, and at the siphons, which are long
and more or less united. The hinge is degenerate. The typical family,
Myida, includes the common Mya or "gaper" of our coasts. The animal
is difficult to obtain owing to its habit of burrowing a foot down in the mud.
Its siphons are encased in an extension of the horny periostracum, and are
never completely withdrawn into the shell. The hinge is peculiar : from the
left valve at the umbo a spoon-shaped process projects that carries the
resilium, the corresponding attachment in the right valve being underneath
the umbo, the hinge plate being folded quite back. Traces of the cardinal
teeth are sometimes visible.
In the SOLENID^E, or razor-shells, the shell is usually very elongate and
open at either end. The ligament is external, the hinge teeth are small,
usually two or three in each valve. The foot is long and cylindrical; the siphons
short, and mostly united. The family is world-wide in its distribution. The
common Solen of the English shores is known to all. The razor-fish live
deeply bedded in sand or mud, into which they force themselves by means
of their powerful foot. By some the Solenidse are placed as a separate
group nearer the Tellinidre. ,
The SAXICAVID.E resemble the Myidse, but the gills extend into the cavity
of the inhalent siphon. The genus Glycimeris also resembles Mya in its
habitat ; but the members of the typical genus Saxicava bore into hard
stone, and are generally found in colonies, honeycombing the rocks with
burrows sometimes 6 in. in depth, nor do they scruple to drill through
BIVALVES PI D DOCKS, SHIP-WORMS, ETC. 627
their neighbours should they lie in their path. They are anchored in their
crypts by a byssus. The shell is elongate and when young has two teeth in
each valve ; these disappear in the adult. It is one of the most widely
distributed of all bivalves, and varies a great deal in shape.
The GASTROCH^NID^ have wedge-shaped shells that gape widely in front ;
the anterior adductor scar is smaller than the posterior ; the pallial sinus is
deep ; the gills are as in Saxicava; the siphons naked and united. The
ligament is external ; sometimes a single cardinal tooth is present. Some
members of the family line their burrows with a shelly tube, to which,
however, they are in no way attached.
Sub-order 6. PHOLADACEA. In this are included the Pholas, or piddock,
known to every sea-side visitant, the ship-worm, and their allies. The
PholadidsB have white, brittle shell's, roughened like a file on the outside ;
they are generally elongate and gape at both ends widely ; but in one genus,
Jouanettia, the two valves form an almost spherical shell, with one small
aperture. There is no hinge properly speaking, or ligament, the hinge plate
being bent back over the umbo and the anterior adductor muscle carried with
it so that it lies without the shell. It is by the action of this muscle that
the valves are opened, the posterior adductor serving to close them. The
little curved, shelly process that arises from beneath the umbo in each valve
and projects into the interior serves the purpose of muscular attachment.
The animals, which are phosphorescent, have long, united siphons ; the
mantle margins are united, except in front, where the large foot, that fills up
the opening in the shell, protrudes. The adult animal has additional shelly
plates on the back on either side of the umbones. The common Pholas of
our shores bores into rocks, the burrows lying parallel to one another ; but
some species bore into floating wood across the grain.
The TEREDINID^E, or ship- worms, have two very small valves widely
gaping at both ends, that are borne at the extreme anterior end of the long
cylindrical animal. The greater portion of the creatures' length (ordinarily
they are a foot long, and sometimes two and a half feet) is taken up by the
gills and the fleshy siphons. These last are united to within a short distance
of their extremities. At the point where they separate two little shelly
pallets, or styles, are found. The true ship-worms bore into timber with the
grain, and become so abundant where they once settle that they soon honey-
comb and destroy the stoutest balks. Their burrows are lined with shell
and sometimes show cross partitioning. One species bores into cocoa-nuts
and other woody fruits floating in tropical seas. The tube of the giant
Teredo is often a yard long and two in diameter ; it burrows in sand and in
the roots of mangroves.
Sub-order 7. ANATINACEA. In the gills of this group the outer lamella
on each side is directed upwards instead of downwards, and its free edge is
not reflected. The margins of the mantle are largely united. The shell is
usually thin, and pearly within, frequently strengthened at the umbo by a
buttress. The hinge rarely has any teeth ; the ligament is generally internal,
and more or less divided by a shelly portion or ossicle. The principal
families are : PANDORID^E, CHAMOSTREID^, VERTICORDIID^, LYOKSIID^E,
ANATINID^E, PHOLADOMYIDJE, and CLAVIGELLIDJE. The Pandoridse are
represented in British seas by Pandora, in which the right valve is flat,
628 MOLLUSCA -CLASS III.SCAPHOPODA.
whilst the left is convex ; the shell is also very inequilateral. There are
two diverging resilium grooves at the hinge. It lives buried in sand.
The single species Chamostrea albida, found off the coast of New South
Wales, constitutes the family CHAMOSTR^EIDVE. It has a thick, pearly shell ;
the right valve, by which it is attached, is deep and strongly keeled ; the left
valve is flat, with a conical tooth in front of the resilifer; the ossicle is
extremely large.
The VERTICORDIID^E and LYONSIID^E are deep-water forms not often met
with.
The ANATINID^E have extremely thin shells, sometimes granular on the
surface, and gaping behind. The genus Thracia is British.
The PHOLADOMYIP^E, represented to-day by a single species, Pholadomya
Candida, in the West Indies, was formerly an abundant group. The shell is
oblong and equivalve, gapes behind, and is ornamented with obscure radiat-
ing ribs. The ligament is internal, and there is one tooth in each valve.
The CLAVIGELLID^E are in some respects the most interesting members of
the group. One genus, Clavigella, bores into rocks, the left valve becomes
attached to the wall of the burrow, the right remaining free ; the passage to
the exterior, occupied by the siphons, has a shelly lining, which projects
freely on the exterior and terminates in two or more frills.
The other principal genus Brechites [ = Aspergittum], known as the
watering-pot shell, burrows in sand, lining the burrow with a shelly tube,
into the wall of which the valves of the young shell are built. The free end
of the tube is also frilled. The adductor muscles not being required are
aborted. When the animal is full grown the bottom of the tube is closed
with the familiar perforated plate, secreted by the fringed foot. It occurs
only in the tropical seas.
ORDER V. SEPTIBRANCIIIATA
Contains two families POROMYID^ and CUSPIDARIID^E principally inter-
esting on account of the modification of the gills to form a transverse septem
as already described (ante, p. 620). The POROMYID^S are rounded shells with
a single tooth in each valve. The siphons are fringed. The CUSPIDARIID^E
are represented in British waters. The shell is beaked behind, and the
valves are closed except at the end of the beak through which the fringed
siphons protrude. There are no teeth in the hinge.
CLASS III.-SCAPHOPODA, OR SOLENOCONCHA.
The Elephant's-tooth shells belong to a small but very distinct class of
low organisation. The shell is long, slightly curved, and tapers almost to a
point, resembling in external appearance a miniature elephant's tusk. It is,
of course, quite hollow, and there is an opening at each end ; the one at the
small end is generally notched on the ventral, i.e., the convex side. Some-
times the shell is finely striated lengthwise. The animal is symmetrical.
The margins of the mantle are united beneath, forming a long tube open at
either end ; a barrel-shaped prominence or snout represents the head, and
the mouth at its extremity is surrounded by leaf like tentacles.
The formula of the radula is I'l'l'l'l. The alimentary canal is
doubled on itself, and terminates about the middle of the ventral side,
opening into the mantle cavity, which latter has its efferent opening at the
apex of the shell. There are no gills properly so called, but their function
ELEPHANT 'S- TOOTH SHELLS, ETC.
629
is probably taken by a double row of retractile filaments, each terminating
in a knob-like thickening, that encircle the base of the snout. The heart is
quite rudimentary. The foot lies under the snout, and is a long, cylindrical
body directed forwards and terminating in three lobes. The nervous system
1 S CG
Fig* 11. DENTALIUM SHELL AND DIAGRAM OF ANATOMY.
AC. Alimentary canal. F t Foot. M', Mantle. S'. Shell.
CG, Cephalic ganglia. L, Liver. PQ, Pedal ganglia. TT, Tentacles.
EA, Efferent aperture,, M, Mouth. S, Snout VG, Visceral ganglia.
is simple and resembles in general arrangement that of the Pelecypoda
already described (p. 620), except that the cerebral and pleural ganglia are
not fused. The Scaphopoda live in mud, and feed on the small organisms
they find in it.
CLASS IV. GASTROPODA.
In this class are included mollusca like the snail, whelk, etc., that have a
distinct head, and, along the underside of the body, a muscular foot on which
they creep ; whilst the visceral mass situated above is sometimes naked, but
more often covered with a shell, composed of a single piece.
The organs of the body are asymmetrical, i.e., those on one side of the
body are not matched by corresponding ones on the other.
The shell is essentially a longer or shorter hollow cone. In some, such as
the limpet, it is a simple cone, but in by far the greater number it is an
elongated cone, coiled round and round spirally, each coil forming a whorl,
the last being the body-whorl. Nearly all spiral shells are dcxtral; that is to
say, when placed with the mouth uppermost, and the apex directed away
from the observer, the mouth lies to the right hand of the axis of the shell.
Some are wound in the opposite direction, and are sinistral. Reversed
varieties of shells normally dextral, or sinistral, are met with.
The axis or columella of the shell is sometimes hollow or umbllicated
(the hollow itself being called the umbilicus), sometimes the whorls are
closely coiled, and solid pillar of shell results. The apex or extreme top of
the shell generally differs in markings and other features from the rest, and
offers important characters. This nudeus or protoconch is the portion
formed in the egg, hence it is also known as the embryonic shell.
630
MOLLUSC A CLASS IV. GASTROPODA.
The spiral
the suture.
---APEX
COLUMELLA
UMBILICUS
-ANTIOa CANAl
Fig. 12. TOPOGRAPHY OF A GASTRO-
POD
channel formed by the junction of the whorls is termed
A spiral line traced along the whorls midway between
the sutures would mark the periphery.
The mouth or aperture has sometimes
quite a circular margin (peristome) when it
is said to be continuous ; more often it is
interrupted, the side next the columella
being bounded by the inner wall of the
body- whorl only, when the exterior portion
is known as the outir lip or labrum, and the
other side as the -inner, columella lip or
labium. There is frequently a notch in the
margin of the aperture near the junction
of the outer lip with the body-whorl, and
another where it joins the anterior end
of the columella: these are respectively
termed the posterior and anterior canal,
and give passage to the siphons of the
animal (Fig. 12).
The labrum is thin and sharp in most
immature shells, and in some adult forms;
but more frequently it is either thickened, or curved outwards (reflected),
or curled inwards (inflected), or expanded, or fringed with spines. When
these thickenings or expansions occur periodically during the growth of the
shell they form conspicuous transverse markings on the whorl termed varices.
The exterior of the shell is also more frequently than not ornamented
with either spiral lines or ridges running in the direction of growth, or with
transverse markings coinciding with the "lines of growth," or with both.
Many Gastropods, like the periwinkle, close the aperture of the shell when
they retire with a horny, or shelly trap-door, the operculum. It is developed
in the embryo within the egg, and to its inner surface are attached strong
muscles that hold it firmly in place. The following figures (Fig. 13) give some
idea of the principal forms.
The head of the animal
bears either a single pair or
two pairs of tentacles, be-
neath which, quite in front,
the mouth is situated. Of
the armature of the mouth
mention has already been
made (ante, p. 612-14).
The visceral mass is ex-
ternally covered by the
mantle, which is in one
piece. Towards the front,
and a little to the right side,
there is, under the edge of
the mantle, a cavity in
which are placed the gills
or gill, whilst into it also
the excretory duct and the
The mantle margin is sometimes
Fig 13 PRINCIPAL FOBMS OF OPKRCULA.
A, Unguiculate or claw-shaped. B, Concentric.
C, MultispiraJ. D, Pancispiral. E, Articulate.
terminal end of the digestive tract open.
LIMPETS AND KEYHOLE LIMPETS. 631
prolonged in front of this cavity into a respiratory siphon : a posterior exha-
lent siphon is likewise present in certain forms.
Originally, in all probability, the animal, like the Amphineura, had a
straight alimentary canal, terminating behind with a gill on either side of the
opening ; but, through the operation of causes which need not here be dis-
cussed, the alimentary canal first became arched, then its hinder portion was
tucked- under, so to speak, whilst subsequently the visceral mass became
twisted, the hinder portion, with the gills, being forced round by the right
side to the front, so that in its final stage what had been the left gill is, in
the typical gastropod of to-day, now on the right side, whilst the right one
has passed over the neck to the left side. This last, however, is wanting in
the majority of Gastropoda.
In the process of this torsion the visceral nerve-loop became twisted into a
figure of 8, and, though in one great group the body is again untwisted,
traces of its former contortion can still be traced in the nerve-loop.
The Gastropoda are divided first into two sub-classes : A, Streptoneura, in
which the visceral nerve-loop forms a figure of 8 ; and B, Euthyneura, in which
the loop is not thus twisted.
SUB-CLASS A. STREPTONEURA.
To this section the name Prosobranchiata has also been applied, since the
gills are in advance of the heart. There is only a single pair of tentacles,
the eyes being situated on prominences near their bases. The sexes are
usually distinct.
They are further sub-divided, according to the structure of their gills, into
Scutibranchiata and Pectinibranchiata.
ORDER I. SCUTIBRANCHIATA
(Sometimes called Diotocardia because the heart has two auricles) comprises
the Limpets, Keyhole Limpets, Ormers, and Top-Shells.
For convenience they are further sub-divided, according to the arrangement
of the teeth on the radula, into Docoglossa and Rhipidoglossa.
Sub-order 1. The DOCOGLOSSA, or limpets, are characterised by their simple
conical shell without any operculum. The animals adhere by the sucker-
like foot to rocks between tide-marks. There are three families : The
ACM^:ID^E in which there is but one true gill. The genus Scurria has in
addition a series of leaflets arising from the mantle in a circle between it and
the foot, that also serve for the purpose of respiration, and are known as
pallial gills. The PATELLID.E, to which the common limpet belongs, have a
circlet of pallial gills, but nearly all trace of the ordinary gill has disappeared.
The LEPETID^E, going a step further, have neither ordinary nor pallial gills,
nor have they any eyes.
Sub-order 2. RHIPIDOGLOSSA. The radula of this group is very distinctive.
The teeth are numerous and weak, the large number of uncini being
especially remarkable.
The FISSURELLID.E, called keyhole limpets on account of the aperture in
the shell that communicates with the pallial chamber, where the two gills
are. In Emargimda, the "keyhole" takes the form of a notch in the edge
of the shell.
632 MOLLUSCA-CLASS IV. GASTROPODA.
The PLEUROTOMIDJS, or slit-shells, have conical, spiral shells with a notch
in the outer lip at the periphery. The typical genus Pleurotoma is one
of the rarest of living sea-shells (only a few
specimens have ever been dredged), but they
include one very fine example measuring over 6 in.
in height (Fig. 14). There are two gills and the
mantle is slit in front. The shell is pearly within,
and there is an operculum.
The H AUCTION, or ormers, have an ear-shaped,
flat, spiral, pearly shell, with a row of perforations,
a very wide aperture, and no operculum. The
animal has two gills, of which the right one (left
in position) is the smaller.
In the families next succeeding the mantle is
entire ' there ia no slifc . or Perforation in the shell,
and only one gill remains, the (originally) left one.
The TROCHID^E have spiral shells of conical form, and very largely com-
posed of nacre ; they are frequently used for necklaces after the non-pearly
outer coat has been removed. Some of the smaller examples are common
on our coasts, but the finer and more handsomely coloured ones all come
from tropical seas. The operculum is circular, horny, arid spiral.
The STOMATID^ are for the most part pearly shells with a minute spire
and large aperture ; the operculum is like that of the Trochidte.
The DELPHINULID^E are flat-topped, spiral shells, having few whorls ; the
umbilicus is wide and the angles of the whorls rough or spiny ; the interior is
pearly. They occur in tropical seas.
The CYCLOSTREMATID^E are small, sometimes minute, nearly discoidal shells,
with cross-ribbing on the whorls. They are not pearly within.
The TURBINID^E include large and very pearly shells, much used as orna-
ments. They have a moderate number of rounded whorls, sometimes very
richly coloured. The operculum is calcareous, and sometimes very thick
and heavy, with the outer surface frequently beautifully sculptured or
coloured : one kind, called cat's-eyes, has been used for necklaces. The
Turbinidse are tropical forms.
The NERITOPSID^E have solid shells much resembling Natica in shape.
There is only one living species known.
The NERITID.E have solid and rather globular shells of not many whorls
and very short spire, or none at all; the columellar lip is crenulate or
toothed, and the shelly operculum is articulated. The genus Neritina
occurs both in the sea and in fresh water.
The TITISCANIID.E are shell-less : one species only is known, which cornea
from the Pacific.
The PROSPERPINID^, HELICINID^J, and HYDROCENID.E are terrestrial
members of the sub-order, in which the gill is absent and the gill cavity
transformed into a pulmonary chamber, as in the snail. The shell is more
or less globular, and mostly of a yellow tint. All three are tropical families,
and occur, the first two in the New World, the laat in the Old.
ORDER II. PECTINIBRANCHIATA
(Sometimes termed Monotocardia, the heart having only one auricle).
In this order, which includes the majority of the marine Gastropods,
only one gill remains, the (originally) left one. The greater number,
PURPLE-SNAILS, WENTLE-TRAPS, ETC. 633
moreover, are monopectinate ; that is to say, the gill has only one row of
filaments.
The Pectinibranchiata are further divided into sub-orders according to the
characters of the radula.
Sub-order 1. GYMNOGLOSSA. Under this are grouped some more or less
parasitic Mollusca which have no radula. The arrangement is artificial but
convenient. Two families are distinguished, both of universal distribu-
tion : EULIMID.E and PYRAMIDELLID/E. The former are mostly high-spired,
very glossy ; small white shells, with slightly bent axis ; at times furnished
with an operculum. S >me species are found crawling in the stomachs of
sea-cucumbers (Hulothuria), others affix themselves to the exterior of the
same creatures by means of the long proboscis, which is thrust through the
skin of the host. The genus Stylifer has a glassy, globular shell, and lives
amongst the spines of Echinoderms or buried in the skin of star-fish. The
Pyramidellidse form the preceding family by the occurrence of plaits or folds
on the columellar, and by the fact that the protoconch is sinistral, whilst the
rest of the shell is dextral and the axis of the former inclined at a consider-
able angle to that of the latter.
Sub-order 2. PTENOGLOSSA. Two families are associated, probably pro-
visionally, under this sub-order, having but one feature in common, viz., the
radula contains a great number of similar teeth in each row, the largest
being at the outer edges.
The IANTHINID/E, or purple sea-snails, float about in mid-ocean. Their
violet shells are thin and translucent ; the animal has a distinct snout ; the
eyes are generally wanting. Two plume-like gills are present. At certain
seasons a membranous float or raft, full of air cells, is secreted by the
animals, the egg-sacs are attached beneath, and when the whole is complete
it is cast adrift. They seem to be gregarious, and stray parties brought by
the Gulf Stream are frequently stranded on our western shores.
The SCALARIID^E, or wentle-traps, are high-spired shells, with the whorls
often only united by the prominent varices that occur at regular intervals
and impart to the shell its most characteristic feature. The aperture is
circular, the operculum horny and spiral. The animal has a retractile
snout. The Scalariidse are carnivorous snails and widely distributed. Four
species are British.
Sub-order 3. T^ENIO^LOSSA. To this the greater part of the Pectini-
branchiata belongs. The radula usually has the formula 2'1*1'1'2. The
various families may be conveniently taken in the following order, bub the
position in the group of the first two ia still undecided.
The SOLARIID/E, called "stair-case shells," from the appearance of the
whorls as seen within the open umbilicus of Solarium, comprise forms having,
for the most part, depressed shells with wide and deep umbilicus. The
opercula vary in the different genera.
The HOMALOGYRIDJE include one genus Homaloyyra which has a very
small, flat, coiled shell with circular operculum. The animal has no tentacles,
and the eyes are not on stilks ; the front of the foot is lobed and covered
with fine hairs.
The NATICID^ have, for the most part, very stout, globular shells in which
the umbilicus is sometimes open, sometimes more or less completely filled
634 MOLLUSC A CLASS IV. GASTROPODA,
up with a shelly deposit termed the callus. The operculum is either horny
or shelly. The animal of Natica is blind and has an extension of the fore-
part of the foot that projects over its head when the animal is crawling ;
extensions of the side of the foot also partially envelop the shell. The
Naticas prey on bivalves, boring a small hole right through the shell.
Several species are British.
The LAMELLARIID.E have a delicate shell over which the mantle is reflected
to a greater or less degree. The aperture is very large and rounded, and
there is no operculum.
The TRICHOTROPID.E have a conical shell ; the whorls are keeled, and
the periostracum, where it covers these, is fringed with hairs. They are
northern forms and come from moderately deep water. The operculum is
short and claw-shaped.
The NARICIDJE have shells shaped like Nalica, but covered with a velvety
periostracum, whilst the shell itself is marked with spiral and transverse ridges,
forming a kind of network sculpturing. The operculum is thin and horny.
The majority of the XENOPHORID^ may be recognised at once by their
curious habit of building into their own shells
those or parts of others, stones, corals, or what-
ever may happen to be lying on the sea-bottom
where they dwell (Fig. 15).
The shell in the CAPULID^E is limpet-like.
In CapuLus, the cap-of -liberty shells, it has a
little curly apex ; whilst in the cup-and-saucer
limpets (Crucibulum, etc.) there is an internal
shelly projection which serves for muscular
attachments.
The HIPPONICID.E have also limpet -like
Fig. 15. XENOPHORA. shells, but the mouth is closed by an accu-
rately-fitting shelly plate attached to some fixed
object. This plate is secreted by a kind of second mantle that envelopes
the under surface of the animal and represents the foot, of which there is
none properly so-called. A great horse-shoe-shaped muscle holds the shell
to its base.
The four next families are all dwellers on the land, and in place of the
gill, which is not developed, the pallial cavity is converted into a lung, as
in the common snail. The animals have a distinct snout.
The TRUNCATELLIDJE and ARICULID^ are diminutive forms with cylin-
drical, many-whorled shells having a blunt apex, and closed with a spiral
operculum.
The CYCLOSTOMATID.E have spiral shells, sometimes top-shaped, sometimes
globose, closed by a spiral operculum. One species of Cyclostoma is found
on our chalk downs.
The CYCLOPHORID^E vary much in the shape of their shells, some having
high spires, whilst others have none at all. The mouth is always circular,
and closed with a tightly-fitting operculum, in which the nucleus is generally
central. To enable the creature to breathe, when fast shut in its shell, there
is often either a notch in the peristome or an aperture a short distance from
the margin, that is occasionally prolonged into a tube. A few examples
occur in Southern Europe, but the majority are found in the tropical regions
of the Old World.
The succeeding five families are all fresh or brackish-water forms.
BANDED WATER-SNAILS, PERIWINKLES, ETC. 635
The ASSIMINIDJB are small, high-spired shells that live in brackish waters,
near the mouths of large rivers through Europe, Asia, and in the Antilles.
One species is still to be found in ditches beside the mouth of the Thames,
but is rapidly becoming extinct.
The AMPULLARIID^ dwell in tropical lakes and rivers. They have globular
shells, with greenish periostracum, and closed with a horny or shelly con-
centric operculum. In some species the shell is sinistral. The animal of
Ampullaria has a double respiratory chamber one portion for breathing air,
the other for respiring water.
The VALVATID^C, in which there is but a single genus Vatvata, are
restricted apparently to the northern hemisphere. Two species occur in
Britain. The shell is flat, or moderately spired, and furnished with a many-
whorled operculum fitting the circular mouth.
The VIVIPARIDJS have two common British representatives, known as the
banded water-snails. The shell is high-spired with rounded whorls, the
mouth is oval, and the operculum horny.
The right tentacle of the males is shorter than the left, and has a
deformed look. The eggs are usually hatched within the parent. The
family is confined to the northern hemisphere, except in Africa, where it
extends to the head- waters of the Nile.
The PALUDESTRINID ,E are miniature editions, so to speak, of the preceding;
but the tentacles are not modified. The operculum is calcareous in Bythinia.
They are world-wide in their distribution, and there are several British
representatives.
The RlSSOZlDJS are minute marine shells, very similar to the preceding ;
they are abundant everywhere. The LITIOPLD^E and JEFFREYSIID^E are
closely allied to the Rissoiidse.
The LITTORINID^E, or Periwinkles, both the common one with its round,
banded shell arid short, sharp spire, and the yellow one without any spire,
are too well known to need description. Some of the species have spiral
ridges on the shell. Pagodus has a conical shell with tubercles or spines.
The operculum in this family is horny and spiral.
The FOSSARID^Q are closely allied and very similar to the LittorinidsB.
The MELANIID^E and PLEUROCERID^E have as a rule very high-spired shells
covered with a brown periostracum ; the mouth is simple, and the spiral
operculum oval. The whorls are sometimes smooth, sometimes ornamented
with spiral ridges and lines of tubercles, or a row of spines near the suture.
They are exclusively fresh- water forms.
The C^ECID^E, sole genus Ccecum, are strange little curved shells without any
markings. The young shell is coiled, but the creature, as it grows, breaks
off successive portions and blocks up the end with a shelly plate, so that the
whole shell is never found in the adult. It has a horny, spiral, circular
operculum. Two species occur in Britain.
The TURRITELLID.E, or screw-shells, have long, slender, pointed shells of a
great many whorls, more or less keeled, or ornamented with spiral ridges ;
the aperture is small, the lip simple, and the operculum horny, many-
whorled, and covered with short hairs. The family has a world- wide
distribution. One species of Turritdla is British.
The VERMETID.E, when young, often have a neatly- wound spiral shell like
Turritella, but in the more mature and the adult state this straggles off into
an irregular circular tube much resembling those of certain marine worms.
The shells are attached to each other in masses or to other objects. The foot
636 MOLLUSC A CLASS IV. GASTROPODA.
of the animal is plug-like and quite useless for crawling. In the genus
Tenagodes the tubular shell is fissured for almost its whole length.
The CERITHIID.E have long shells like the Turritellidse, but the mouth is
not so round and is interrupted by the anterior and posterior canals, the
former of which is usually bent to the left. The operculum is horny. The
whorls are generally sculptured, or ornamented with ribs, tubercles, or
spines. They occur in all parts of the world and dwell in the shallow waters
of coasts and estuaries, some even advancing up the rivers into fresh waters.
There are three British species.
The wing-shells, STROMBID.E, APORRHAID^E, and STRUTHIOLARIIDJS, are
noted for their strong shells, with very short spire and widely expanded outer
lip, which is often drawn out into curved spines. The fountain-shell,
Strombus giyas, of the West Indies, the scorpion-shells, Pterocera, and the
pelican's-foot shell, Aporrhais, are familiar examples. The operculum,
which is rudimentary in all, is horny and claw-shaped : in the Strombida? its
outer edge is serrate.
In the CYPRJSID/E, or cowries, the outer lip of the adult shell is curled
inwards, blocking still further the already narrow aperture, which is,
moreover, edged with numerous fine teeth, whilst the short spire is almost,
if not quite, concealed. The young shell, on the other hand, has a distinct
spire and thin, sharp lip. The mantle when the animal is crawling is greatly
extended, enveloping the shell, which thus acquires that beautiful polished
surface for which the cowries are noted.
The DOLIIDM are, for the most part, large, thin, and rather globose shells,
the fragile whorls of which are strengthened by their walls being corrugated.
In Pirula the shell is stouter, and furnished with a long anterior canal.
There is no operculum. They are denizens of tropical seas.
The CASSIDIDJS, or helmet-shells, resemble the preceding, to which they
are closely allied, and with which they are found. Their shells, however,
have the margin of the outer lip inflected, or thickened and crenulated, and
they furthermore possess a fan-shaped, horny operculum. The under-layers
of the shell in Strombus, Cyprcea, and Cassis being of a different colour to the
upper ones, these shells lend themselves especially to the art of the cameo
engraver : the best results are generally those obtained from the Cassis rufa
of West Africa.
The LOTORIIDJS are best typified by the great triton-shell (Fig. 12), which
the sea-gods in mythical pictures are represented blowing. It is a fine large
shell, with slender pointed spire and numerous varices, resulting from the
formation of periodic mouths. The aperture is large and oval, whilst both
inner and outer lip are denticulate. The periostracum in this family is
usually stout and fibrous : the operculum is horny and claw-shaped.
The most highly specialised of all the Tsenioglossa are certain pelagic
forms formerly placed in a separ-
ate group, and called Heteropoda
or Nucleobranchiata. The
y-^ , ^wBin -f T-V* -^- animals are remarkable for their
4^~*~X*3Hft^ ;X*dtf9C*. transparency, all the various
organs being perfectly visible
even through the shell. They
swim upside down in the water,
fig. 16.-CARIKARIA. the flafcfcened f 00t aCfcin g a - fin -
VENUS' -CO MB SHELLS, WHELKS, ETC. 637
The ATLANTID.E have convolute shells, which in Atlanta is flat, and
furnished with a single remarkably deep keel at the periphery, and in
Oxygyrus is globose, and provided with many small keels.
The PTEROTRACH^ID.E, as a rule, have neither mantle, shell, nor tentacles;
in Carinaria (Fig. 16), however, there is a cap-shaped, transparent, glassy
shell covering the small visceral mass. The animals are carnivorous.
To the Tsenioglossa, also, in all probability, belong the families CIIORISTID^E,
ADEORBID.E, SEGUENZIID/E, and OOCOIIYTHID^:.
Sub-order 4. RACHIGLOSSA, Mollusca with long retrac-
tile proboscis. The formula for the radula is I'l'l;
the laterals, however, are often wanting.
The MURICII^E are a numerous family, chiefly familiar
by the many examples of the spiny species of Murea
that adorn some people's houses. Their shells have
moderate spires and generally a large body-whorl ; the
mouth is furnished with both anterior and posterior
canals, the former often being of great length, and a
horny operculum. They are usually more or less
spirally ribbed, whilst Murex has numerous strong
varices frequently ornamented with spines of great
length, which, in the Venus* Comb (Fig. 17), extend the Fi(j 17
whole length of the anterior canal. The dog-periwinkle, MDRBX TENUI-SPINA.
Purpura lapiUus, so common on our coasts, belongs to
this family.
The CORALLIOPHILTDJE live amongst masses of coral ; Magilus, indeed,
becomes buried in them, and forms a tubular shell to keep pace with the
coral as it grows. The young Magilus, before it becomes fixed, and the
other members of the family resemble Purpura, both in shell and animal, but
have no radula.
The COLUMBELLIDJE are small fusiform shells resembling Strombus in shape ;
but the lip, instead of being expanded, is thickened and dentate within ; the
aperture is narrow and the anterior canal short.
The NASSIDJS, or dog-whelks, have a shell like the common whelk, only
smaller ; the outer lip is thickened and dentate ; the columella lip is
thickened with a callus ; the operculum is horny ; the wide, thin foot
of the animal is divided behind into two tails. Nassa reticidata is very
common on our coasts.
To the BUCCINID.E belong the common whelk and its allies. The siphon
is rather long and allows the animal to burrow in the mud in search of the
bivalves on which it feeds, boring a neat little hole in their shells and rasp-
ing out its victim with the radula in its long, retractile proboscis. The foot
is large and thin ; the operculum horny and oval ; a scanty, rough
periostracum is found on fresh specimens, but soon rubs off.
The TURBINELLID.E have generally pear-shaped, solid shells, usually with
shelly plaits or folds on the columella ; the anterior canal is fairly long.
They are for the most part tropical forms. To this family belongs the
largest known Gastropod, Semifusus proboscidiferus, which attains 2 ft. in
length. It comes from Australia.
The FASCIOLARIIDJE have elongate fusiform shells ; the spire is generally
high and pointed and the anterior canal long. The columella bears several
shelly plaits or folds ; the lip is simple, and the horny operculum bluntly
claw- shaped. The whorls are frequently ornamented with tubercles arranged
638 MOLLUSC A CLASS IV. GASTROPODA.
spirally, and with spiral stride. The members of this family, also, chiefly
inhabit southern seas.
The MITKID^E are more cylindrical shells than the preceding, with more
or less acute spire and narrow aperture, without operculum ; the columella
bears several folds, of which the hindermost, i.e., the one furthest from the
well-marked anterior canal, is the largest. The Mitridse are tropical shells,
the best-known examples being, perhaps, Mitra episcopcdis, which is white,
with squarish, red spots arranged in rows.
The VOLUTID^J include some of the finest of the tropical shejls. The
animal has a long foot and a wide, flat head ; the shell varies, being spindle-
shaped in some, and greatly swollen in others ; in all, however, the aperture
is large, the outer lip slightly turned out, the margin simple, notched for the
siphon at the anterior end next the columella, which ends in a point, and
bears several folds. The protoconch is set obliquely.
The MARGINELLID^E have oval, or sub-conoidal, shells that are shining and
polished, without operculum.
The HARPID.E include but a single genus, Harpa, to the shell of which the
periodic mouths impart its characteristic lirate appearance. The spire is
short, the aperture wide, lip simple, with anterior siphonal notch ; there are
no folds on the columella, nor is there any operculum. The Harps are found
in tropical seas, and so, too, are olives, which come next.
The OLIVID;E, or olives and rice - shells, in point of polished surface
and in colour-markings, are equal to the cowries. They are more or less
cylindrical, with a short spire and long, narrow mouth; the columella is
callous, and bears several plaits towards the anterior extremity an oper-
culum is sometimes present.
Sub-order 5. TOXOGLOSSA. The radula normally has the formula 1/0 1,
and the teeth are large.
The CANCELLARIID^E include but one genus, Cancellaria, so named from
the cancellate, or cross-marked sculpturing of the shell, which is oval, or
turreted, with anterior siphonal notch ; the columella is strongly plicate ; the
operculum is wanting.
The PLEUROTOMIDJE include a great number of spindle-shaped shells, most
of which bear a characteristic notch in the outer lip, and a marked anterior
canal ; the columella is smooth ; the operculum is not always developed.
The CONID.E are too universally known to require description, their
conical shells, with long, narrow apertures, are only approached in form in
one or two exceptional instances by members of other families. The
operculum, when present, is very small, and almost rudimentary. Perhaps
the most remarkable feature about the animal lies in its radula, the teeth
of which are proportionately large, are barbed, and perforated by a duct
leading to a poison gland. This character has not been observed in any
other group. The cones are essentially tropical inhabitants. The varied
markings of their shells are completely concealed during the lifetime of the
occupant by the tough periostracum in which they are enveloped.
The TEREBRID^?, or auger shells, are extremely long and slender, with
many whorls, which are sometimes smooth but often ribbed ; the mouth is
oblique, with simple, thin lips and large anterior notch ; the columella is
without folds. The horny operculum is bluntly claw-shaped. The sole
genus, Terelra, is entirely confined to tropical seas.
BULL AS AND SEA-BUTTERFLIES.
639
SUB-CLASS B. EUTHYNEURA.
Gastropoda, in which the visceral nerve-loop, with one exception, is not
twisted into a figure of 8, and in which the nerve ganglia are brought closer
together around the oesophagus. The twist in the visceral mass is not so
great as in the preceding sub-class, and the pallial cavity with its accompany-
ing organs lies on the right side of the body. The head generally bears two
pairs of tentacles ; the radula is usually composed of rows of uniform teeth
on either side of a central one ; and the sexes are united in each individual.
The Euthyneura are divisible into two orders Opisthobranchiata and
Pulmonata.
ORDER I. OPISTHOBRANCHIATA.
In this group the heart is placed in front of the gills. The order is sub-
divided into Tectibranchiata and Nudibranchiata.
Sub-order 1. TECTIBRANCHIATA. The animal possesses a shell usually
more or less completely concealed by the folds of the mantle and skin. For
convenience this sub-order is further divided into three groups Bulloidea,
Aplysioidea, and Pleurobranchoidea.
A. BULLOIDEA.
The Bulloidea have a well-developed shell, external or internal (Fig. 18
A-C); the head is generally devoid of tentacles, and the skin of the upper
part is produced into a broad disc. In many the stomach is armed with
shelly plates for crushing the shells of their prey.
Fig. 18. TKOTIBRANCHS.
A, Actaeon.
B, Bulla.
C, Philine.
D, Dolabella.
Fig. 19 PTKROPODS.
A, Spiralia. 0, Cleodora.
B, Eurjbia, D, Limacina
The genus ActcE^n is distinctly streptoneurous and thus forms a con-
necting link between the Streptoneura and Euthyneura. It has an
ovate, spired shell, with pointed apex and a narrow aperture that widens
out in front. The horny operculuru is elliptical in shape.
640 MOLLUSC A CLASS IF. GASTROPODA.
In the genus Tornatina the shell is cylindrical, the apex of the short spire
being sinistral ; in Volvulella the spire is no longer raised, the shell being
convolute, i.e., wound on itself like a measuring tape ; in Bulla and
JBullinella [ = Cylichna] it is involute, i.e., the spire is sunk, leaving an
aperture, whilst the columella is less pronounced ; in Scaphander the latter
has disappeared and the shell is without any central axis, the whole interior
being visible from the front ; in Philine this is carried still further, the
shell, which is internal, being widely open unrolled, as it were.
To the Bulloidea is now referred that section of the old class Pfceropoda,
or sea-butterflies, in which the animal retains its shell in the adult state.
The chief peculiarity of the Pteropoda lies in the conversion of the foot
into a pair of wing-like fins. Their shells vary greatly in shape, whilst their
general appearance will best be understood from the foregoing figures (Fig. 19).
The following families are referred to the Bulloidea : Actseonidfe, Torna-
tinidse, Scaphandridre, Bullidaj, Aplustridpe, Ringiculidre, Gastropteridre,
PhilinidfB, Doridiidse, Runcinidre, Oxynoidse, Limacinidte, Cymbulidre,
Cavolinidse.
B. APLYSIOIDEA.
Tn the Aplysioidea the shell is either very greatly reduced or wanting
altogether ; the head carries two pairs of tentacles.
The APLYSIIDVE, or sea-hares, have large bodies of greenish or oiive-greeii
hue, with a pair of lappet-like extensions of the foot folded over the back ;
the shell, concealed beneath the mantle-folds, is thin, covered with a horny
periostracum, triangular in shape, and flexible when first removed from
the animal (Fig. 18 D).
The shell-less sea-butterflies are now placed with this group, which
includes the following families : Aplysiidse, Pneumonodermatidso, Clionop-
sidse, Clionidse, Notobranchseidae, and Eurybiidse.
C. PLEUROBRANCHOIDEA.
The Pleurobranchoidea have two pairs of tentacles, no lappet-like
extensions of the foot, and no gill cavity, the gill occupying a narrow
space between the mantle and the foot.
In the PLEUROBRANCHID^E, the thin flexible shell which is covered by the
mantle is large, oblong, and nearly flat, with the nucleus at the hinder
margin. In Umbrella, the sole genus in the family UMBRELLIDJS, the
external shell is a flat, circular disc, with the nucleus nearly in the centre.
Sub-order 2. NUDIBRANCHIATA. The sea-
slugs are shell-less in the adult state, but possess
when still in the egg both shell and operculum.
There are no true gills ; their place is taken by
certain tentacle-like organs that sometimes are
placed in a cluster near the end of the body
(Fig. 20 A), and sometimes ranged in rows
down the back (Fig. 20 B). These "branchial
leaflets," "dorsal appendages," or "cerata,"
as they are variously styled, frequently bear
Fig. 20. NUDIBRANCHS. & sfcr iking resemblance both in form and
A, Doris. B, Dendronotus. colour to some other marine object, such as a
cluster of zoophytes or small sea-weeds, etc.
The radula is very variable, sometimes there are many teeth in each
A IR-BREA THING SNA ILS. 64 1
transverse row, sometimes the whole radula consists of a row of single
teeth, one behind the other. In one group, the Elysioidea, the worn-
out teeth as they drop off are saved up in a little pouch in front of the
mouth.
The Nudibranchiata are divided into Elysioidea, Tritonioidea, Moli-
dioidea and Doridoidea.
Though they occur on every sea-coast they are not forms often met with
by the ordinary student, and hence will not be discussed in further detail.
ORDER II. PULMONATA.
In this order are included the vast majority of the land Mollusca (both
snails and slugs) and of the fresh-water snails, besides three genera, repre-
senting a like number of families, of marine Gastropods. In all, the gills
have entirely disappeared, and the pallial cavity has been converted into a
breathing organ. The free edge of the mantle has been united to the skin
of the neck and back, leaving only a small contractile aperture, whilst on
the roof of the chamber thus formed respiration is effected by means of a
branching net-work of blood-vessels that surround and lead to the heart,
which lies with its auricle to the front. In the marine forms sea water
is admitted into this cavity, in the others air is drawn in and then expelled.
With one exception no operculum is present in the adult.
The Pulmonata are divided into BASOMMATOPHORA, or those in which
the eyes are placed at the base of the tentacles, and STYLOMMATOPHORA, in
which the eyes are borne on the ends of tentacles.
Sub-order 1. BASOMMATOPHORA. These have one pair of tentacles, which
are not retractile, and the eyes are placed at their bases. All have an
external shell, and, in the egg, an operculum, which is subsequently lost,
except in Amphibola.
The AURICULID^: greatly resemble the Actreonidse from which in all
probability they have descended in the shape of their shells as well as in
certain points in their anatomy. The shell is oval in outline, with a
prominent spire and large body-whorl, whilst the aperture is long, narrow
behind, and widening out in front. There are two or three strong folds on
the columella ; the margin of the outer lip is thickened and often more or
less toothed on its inner side. They especially frequent salt marshes and
damp spots within reach of the waves. The smallest British land-shell,
Carychium minimum, is, however, found inland everywhere in damp spots
at the roots of grass.
The OTINIC^J are closely related ; their shells are auriform. They occur
between tide-marks, and one species is British.
The AMPHIBOLID^E are represented by a single genus, Amphibola, which
has a globular, spiral shell, with an uneven surface, looking as if it had
shrivelled. The operculum is horny and sub-spiral. They live by the
margins of the sea in the Indian Ocean, Australia, New Zealand, and the
Pacific Islands.
The SIPHONARIID^E have limpet-like shells, only distinguishable from
those of the true Patellidse by the slight, channel-like depression on the
interior that marks the position of the opening into the respiratory chamber.
Like the limpets they are found clinging to rocks at low water, but do not
occur in the colder seas.
The CHILINID^E are fresh-water forms that occur in South America. The
42
642 MOLLUSC A CLASS J 'V. GASTROPODA.
single genus Cliilinia has a globose shell with wide aperture, a thickened
columella with one or two strong folds ; the exterior is ornamented with zig-
zag lines and spots of colour.
The LIMNJEID.E include our commonest pond-snails, Limncea and
Planorbis, as well as the little fresh- water limpet, Ancylus, with a few
other allied genera. A characteristic feature of their shells is that their
surface looks as if it had been beaten with a hammer.
The LimnseidsB are amongst the most widely distributed of Mollusca,
being found from arctic to tropical climes, whilst Limncea can even live in
hot springs where the water attains a temperature of 104 F. The shells
of Limncea vary from very high to very short spired forms, but all have a
very large body-whorl. The genus Planorbis, or the flat-coil shells, are
really sinistral forms. Ancylus is found clinging to stones in swift-flowing
streams.
The PHYSIOS are sinistral forms, and have very thin, globular, horn-
coloured, and glossy little shells.
Sub-order 2. STYLOMMATOPHORA. The Stylommatophora have, as a rule,
two pairs of tentacles, which can be withdrawn into the body by a process
of inversion, and carry their eyes on the summits of the upper pair. They
are all terrestrial forms and have an external spiral shell, except the slugs,
in which it is reduced to an internal shelly plate, or is wanting altogether.
The slugs do not constitute a group by themselves, but belong to different
families.
The land-snails occur in all climes and at all altitudes where life is
possible, and include innumerable forms which have been variously
divided into a great number of families and sections ; the following, how-
ever, may be taken as constituting the principal groups :
The ONCHIDIID^E are slug-like animals, entirely devoid of any shell, that
live close down to the margin of the sea. Only one pair of retractile
tentacles, bearing the eyes, is present. Certain species are also furnished
with eyes on the back. There is a British representative found locally on
the coasts of Cornwall and Devon.
The VAGINULID^E are shell-less slugs, unrepresented in Europe. Only
one genus, Vaginida, is distinguished.
The ATHOKACOPHORID^, with a single genus, Athoracophorus, have a small,
flat, internal, shelly plate. The lower pair of tentacles is wanting. They are
found in New Zealand, New Caledonia, and the New Hebrides.
The SUCCINEID^J include snails, in some of which the shell is external,
whilst in others it is internal. The lower pair of tentacles is either little
developed or wanting. The type genus Succinea, or the amber-snails, are
world-wide in their distribution, and have pretty little delicate, amber-
coloured, glossy, spiral shells. Two or three species are British. Hyalimax
is one of the slug-like members of the family found in the Mascareigne
and Nicobar Islands.
The ACHATINELLUXE occur in the Sandwich Islands. They are prettily
marked, and very variable little high-spired shells, that are sometimes
dextral and sometimes sinistral.
The ACHATINID^I include at the same time some of the largest and of the
smallest land-snails. The type genus Ackatina is confined to Africa and
its islands, although one species has been introduced into the Botanical
Gardens in India. It has a high-spired shell, usually with a large body-
SNAILS AND SLUGS.
643
Fig. 21.
CLAUSILIA,
showing
clausium(c)in
position.
whorl. The largest species attains 7 in. in length, and lays an egg as large
as a pigeon's, with a calcareous shell. Stenogyra has a very long and narrow,
many-whorled, glossy shell ; some species are nearly an inch in length.
Cfficillianella is very small and lives underground. It is, as its name implies,
blind. One species occurs in England.
The PUPID^ have many-whorled (more or less cylindrical) spiral shells,
often strongly striated and frequently sinistral.
The genus Pupa, the chrysalis-shells, is represented in
Britain, as also is Clausilia, in which the shell is very long
and sinistral. The latter is remarkable for possessing a
curious little valve, the clausium, which is attached within
the shell by a spiral elastic stalk to the columella, and closes
automatically behind the animal when it retires (Fig. 21).
The CYLINDRELLHLE, which are confined to America and
the West Indies, have exceedingly long, many-whorled shells,
with circular aperture : the last whorl often stands out from
the rest.
The BULIMULID.E occur in America, Southern Asia, and
Polynesia. With the exception of the slug-like genus
Peitella, they have external high-spired shells.
The ORTITALICID.E are an American family, whose single
genus Orthalicus has a shell in external shape resembling that
of Bidimulus.
The HELICID.E comprise an enormous number of forms : High-spired
shells as in the genus Bulimus, which is confined to South America and the
West Indies; or as in the gaudily-painted shells of the Philippine genus
Helicostyla and our own Cochlvella ; shells with short spire or no spire at
all, as in the big genus Helix, of which the garden snail is an example.
The family THYROPHORELLID^E has
been created to receive one small species,
Thyrophorella Thomensis (Fig. 22), from
the Island of St. Thomas, Gulf of Guinea.
The unique feature about the shell,
which is a flat, spiral one, consists in the
prolongation of the upper half of the
peristome beyond the aperture and the A
formation of a hinge allowing this pro-
jection to close over the mouth and thus
act like an operculum when the animal
retires.
The ARIONID^E are slugs whose shell
is represented by a few calcareous grains
beneath the mantle. The big black slug
Avion ater is a type.
The PHILOMYCID^E are shell-less slugs found in North and Central America,
Eastern Asia, and Java.
The ENDODONTID^E have flatly-coiled shells, generally ribbed and marked
with little red patches. The common little Pyramidula rotundata is a
British example.
The LIMACID^ are slugs with small, internal, shelly plate. The majority
of the British slugs belong to this group.
The ZONITID^E have external shells, often very thin and shining. The
B
Fig. 22. THYROPHORKLLA.
A, The animal crawling 1 . B, The shell seen
edgewise. C, Do. seen from beneath.
644 MOLLUSCA-CLASS V. CEPHALOPODA.
peristome is sharp. The cellar-snail, Vitrea cellaria, is one of several British
examples.
The TESTACELLHLE and SELENITIDJE are the most highly specialised of the
Stylommatophora and are almost all voracious carnivores. Testacella looks
like a slug with a tiny shell at the end of its tail. It is a worm-eater and
follows its prey in their burrows, hence it is seldom seen though fairly
abundant in England. Other members of the group have shells of varying
sizes and shapes.
CLASS V.-CEPHALOPODA.
THE Cephalopoda include not only the most highly organised Mollusca, but
also the largest of them all, some forms, it is calculated, exceeding 50 ft. in
total length. The pearly nautilus has an external shell, the cuttle-fish and
its near allies have internal ehells, whilst the octopus has none at all.
The Cephalopoda are symmetrical animals, the two halves of the body
corresponding in structure. The visceral mass is large and often elongated.
The head, on either side of which there is a large and well-developed eye,
is more or less distinct, and is surrounded by the foot, which has in fact
grown around the head and has developed, or been drawn out into, eight or
ten long processes called arms.
In the majority of living forms these arms are furnished with rows of
suckers or hooks. The upper part of the back of the foot has grown out into
two fleshy lobes, the free, outer edges of which can be applied to each other
so as to form a tube, known as the funnel, or siphon, that con municates with
the mantle-cavity. Sometimes the edges of these lobes have grown together
and form a complete tube. The bell-shaped mantle which envelopes the
body is extremely tough and muscular.
The mantle-cavity is on the under side towards the back of the body, and
the water for respiration is taken in at its open end and then discharged
through the siphon. By the forcible expulsion of water in this way these
animals can dart backwards through the water with great rapidity.
The mouth is placed in the centre of the arms; it is furnished with two
jaws which resemble a parrot's beak and which are moved by powerful muscles.
The radula is small in proportion to the animal, and has lut few teeth in
each row; the alimentary canal runs in an almost straight line from the
mouth to the stomach near the further erd of the bcdy, thence the intestine
leads forwards and downwards and terminates in the mantle-cavity. Just
at the same point the ink-bag also opens into the mantle-cavity. By dis-
charging the ink or sepia-pigment contained in this gland, and thus clouding
the water, the animal is enabled to cover its retreat frcm an enemy. On
either side of the median line, within the pallial-cavity also, are the gills,
either two or four in number and foliobranchiate in type. The heart has a
corresponding number of auricles ard a ventricle, -whilst the blood is largely
confined to veins and arteries, so that nearly the whole of the blood return-
ing from the body passes through the gills. The nervous system is highly
concentrated, whilst the ganglia around the ossophagus are fused together
into a ring of nervous tissue. This nerve-collar in Nautilus is partly, and in
the other Cephalopoda completely, enclosed by a cartilage called the cfphalic
cartilage. There are other cartilages present, except in Nautilus, in different
parts of the body, that serve as points of attachment for the larger muscles.
The faculty which Cephalopods possess of changing their colour is one of
NAUTILUS, CUTTLE-FISH, ETC.
645
considerable interest. Scattered over the surface of the body, and just
beneath the outer layer of the skin, are a number of pigment cells called
chromatophores, and it is by the contraction and expansion of these, which
are partly under the control of the animal, that the changes of colour are
effected.
The class is divided into two orders, according to the number of gills
present, viz.: Tetrabranchiata and Dibranchiata.
ORDER I. TETRABRA.NCHIATA
Is represented at the present day by a single genus Nautilus; but in past
times there were many other very strange forms whose shells were either
uncoiled or curved or quite straight.
The shell of Nautilus is entirely external and coiled forwards over the
animal's back ; the aperture of the shell of the male is proportionately wider
than that of the females.
Its outer layer is porcella-
neous, the inner nacreoua,
Inside, when neatly cut in
half, it is seen to be divided
off by a number of shelly
partitions into a series of
chambers (Fig. 23). The
reason for these lies in the
fact that the animal does not
occupy the hinder part, which
it shuts off each time that
growth compels it to con-
struct a wider and more
commodious portion in front.
The first chamber of all, or
protoconch, being horny, is
never preserved in the Nau-
tiloidea. Running right
through these chambers to
the last one is a small tube,
the walls of which are pervious and lined with a black horny layer. It is
occupied by a backward extension of the mantle called the siphunde. What
the function of this siphuncle may be is still unknown, nor is it yet
ascertained for certain whether the untenanttd chambers are filled wkh gas
or water, though the latter appears more probable.
The animal of Nautilus is rare, and differs conspicuously from other
Cephalopods in that it has no long arms furnished with suckers; the mouth
is, instead, surrounded by numerous suckerless tentacles which can be
retracted into special sheaths. The margins of the lobes which form the
funnel are not united. There is no ink-bag. The gills are four in number.
The eye is remarkable for being of the simplest description : it consists of
a cup-shaped depression lined by the retina and covered with an outer layer
of the skin, save for one small aperture in the centre. The sea-water fills the
cavity when the animal is alive, and the whole apparatus must work on the
principle of a pin-hole camera.
Four species of Nautilus are known from the Gulf of Persia, the Indian
Ocean, the China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean.
Fig. 23. NAUTILUS.
646
MOLL USC A CLASS V. CEPHALOPODA.
To the Tetrabranchiata probably also belongs the fossil group Ammonea,
in which the shell was external and of various shapes, but retained the
protoconch.
ORDER II. DIBRANCHIATA
Characterised by the possession of a single pair of gills. The funnel is
complete. The eye is highly developed, having both lens and cornea. The
shell, when present, is internal.
Sub-order 1. DECAPODA. The members of this sub-order have ten arms.
Eight of these, often shorter than the body, are tapering and armed with
rows of suckers. Each sucker, or a^cetabulum^ is on a short stalk or pedicle,
and strengthened by a horny rim which is frequently toothed. The horny
rim is sometimes replaced by a hook which is retractile like the claw of a cat.
The other two arms, called the "prehensile tentacles " or ''tentacular arms,"
placed one on either side, are longer than the rest and cylindrical in form,
with expanded ends armed with suckers, or with hooks. Just beneath the
expanded tips there is sometimes an arrangement of suckers enabling the
two to lock together and act in concert. These arms are retractile, and in
the cuttle-fish can be withdrawn into special pouches.
The shell is concealed beneath the mantle on the side of the body opposite
to the pallial cavity. It is generally more or less rudimentary, but is most
developed in the cuttle-fish (Sepia) in which the "cuttle-bone" or "sepion"
occupies the whole length and nearly the width of the body. In another
form, Loliyo, the shell is reduced to a horny "pen" or "gladius." Spirilla
(Fig. 24), however, has a spirally- coiled chambered shell in
which the whorls are widely separated. This shell lies in the
hinder extremity of the body, and, in the few specimens of the
animal that have been obtained, is not completely concealed by
the mantle, though whether this is the natural state or due to
injury is not yet clearly ascertained. It is thus strikingly different
from the shells of other living Decapoda ; the gap between them
is, however, supplied in fossil forms. In some of these, the
Belemnites, the apex of the shell is enclosed in a calcareous
sheath called the guard, or by quarrymen "thunderbolts.'' The
shell of Spirula is common enough and frequently cast up on
our shores, but the animal is an inhabitant of deep water and
rarely obtained. The other members of the group frequent the
open sea, and often have lateral expansions of the mantle that
act as fins.
Fig. 24. The Decapoda are divided into two sections : OIGOPSIDA, in
SPIRULA. which the sea-water has access to the space between the cornea
of the^heli an( * lens of the eye, and MYOPSIDA, in which the cornea is
is indicated entire and water is not admitted.
through ^^ e Bowing ar e the principal families: A, OIGOPSIDA
the skin. Families Thysanoteuthidae, Ommastrephidae, Onychoteuthidae,
Gonatidae, Chiroteuthidae, Cranchiadae, Spirulidae, and the fossil
Decapods with "guarded" shells. B, MYOPSIDA Families Sepiolidse,
Sepiadariidae, Idiosepiidae, Sepiidee, and Loliginidse.
Sub-order 2. OCTOPODA. The members of this sub-order have short bag-
like bodies without tentacular arms, only the eight tapering ones, which are
CUTTLE-FISH AND PAPER-NAUTILUS.
647
always longer than the body, and the suckers of which have no horny rings.
In many the arms are connected by a web, the umbrella, which may exist
only at their base or extend almost to their tips, as in Cirroteuthis ; it is
probably of assistance in swimming.
There is no shell except in the famous " Paper-Nautilus " (Argonauta), and
then it is not a true shell but a secondary one. This is carried by the
females only, and is formed after the
animal is hatched. It consists of a
thin, white, perfectly open shell, which
is slightly coiled towards the back ; its
corrugated walls are formed of three
layers the outer ones prismatic, the
inner fibrous. The animal nestles in
the boat-like shell, which is in nowise
attached to the body, and holds it in
place with the two front arms. The
ends of these arms are curved round
and sustain thin membranes, vela,
which cover the exterior of the shell
on either side (Fig. 25). Whether the mantle takes part in the secretion of
this shell, or whether it is wholly formed by the "vela," is not yet quite
clear ; its function, however, is probably less to protect the animal than to
serve as a receptacle for the eggs.
The following families are included in the Octopoda : Cirroteuthidse,
Amphitretidoe, Argonautidte, Tremoctopodidse, Allopsidoe, and Octopodidse.
Fig. 26. -ARGONAUT.
SUB-KINGDOM IV. BRACHIOPODA.
LAMPSHELLS, ETC.
BY F. A. BATHER, M.A., F.G.S., ETC.
THE Brachiopoda are marine animals which, like some Mollusca, form ex-
ternal shells ; but they
differ from the Mollusca
in many points.
The shell consists of
two valves, which lie on
the back and front of the
animal, not on its sides
as in bivalve Mollusca.
Each valve is symmetri-
cal in itself, which is very
rarely the case in Mol-
lusca ; but one valve is
nearly always larger
than the other. By this
larger valve the adult
animal is usually at-
tached to rocks or other
objects, either by the
direct growth of the
valve to the rock (e.</., Crania, Fig. 1), or, as is more usual, by means of a
Fig. I. A SESSILE BRACHIOPOD (Crania) ; attached to a
piece of oyster-shell ; d.v., dorsal valve; v.v., ventral
valve ; e.d., exterior of dorsal valve ; i,v., interior of
ventral valve. Twice natural size.
Fig. 2. A PEDUNCULATE BRACHIO-
POD (Lingtda) The animal lives
in the mud (m.) in a tube, the
bottom of which is lined with
cemented sand-grains (.). The
shell (s.) is attached to this by a
peduncle (p.), which can con-
tract, a. and b., the peduncle
outstretched; c., the peduncle
contracted ; rf., the opening of
the tube from above. Greatly
reduced.
HIIIIIIIIIII
iiiiiiitiiiin
iiiiciiiiiiiniij
Fig. 3. Shell structure of, A, a calcareous
shelled Brachiopod; B, a horny shelled;
TO., mantle, which sends processes (p.m.)
through the prisms of carbonate of lime
that make up most of the shell; p., outer
imperforate layer ; I., line of growth ; h.,
horny layers ; c., calcareous layers with
vertical canals. Greatly magnified.
648
649
long muscular stalk, called the peduncle (Tig. 2). This larger valve is there-
fore often called the *' peduncle valve " ; by English writers it is called the
" ventral valve," although in the natural position of stalked forms it is always
the uppermost. The smaller valve is called the "brachial" or "dorsal"
valve. In microscopic structure, also, the shell differs from that of the
Mollusca (Fig. 3). The two valves may be united by a hinge at the hinder,
or umbonal end (ARTICULATA, Fig. 4), or they may not (INA&TICULATA,
Fig. 5).
The shell-valves are lined by two mantle-folds, or extensions of the body-
walls, which contain prolongations of the body-cavity ; and in them the
generative products are formed. The free margins of the mantle-folds are
beset with bristles (setae, shown at 6. in Fig. 2). Muscles pass across the body
of the animal from one valve to the other; they serve to open and to close
the valves, and to move them sideways. The imprints of these muscles
on the shell are important in the study of fossil brachiopods (Fig, 5).
fig, *. A HINOED BRACHIOPOD (Ra^nesquina alternatd).
~ The upper figure shows the hinge from outside; the
lower figures show the inside of the valves, p.v.,
peduncular or ventral valve; ~b.v., brachial or dorsal
valve ; h., hinge-line ; d., deltidium ; /., foramen ; a.,
area; i.a. ando.a., its inner and outer portions; t.,
tooth; d.s., socket in which tooth works; c.p., car-
dinal process ; m.c., muscle scars. Two-thirds natural
size.
The viscera (Fig. 6) lie near the hinder umbonal part of the shell, and the
mouth is directed towards the fore-part or opening of the shell. Around
the mouth is a somewhat horseshoe-shaped disc, bearing ciliated tentacles,
and called the lophophore (tuft-bearer). It is often produced into two
processes or "arms," which fill the fore-part and sides of the shell-cavity,
and are often spirally coiled. From these "arms" is derived the name
'* Brachiopoda " (fyaxiu*, an arm, and *6vs, a foot) ; they are often sup-
ported by a calcareous skeleton, the shape of which is of great import-
ance in classifying fossil forms. The movement of the cilia of the lopho-
phore serves to drive to the mouth currents of water containing food-
particles. A lophophore is also found in the Bryozoa, and in a few other
sessile marine animals (Phoronis, Bhaldopleura, Cephalodiscus). The mouth
650
BRACHIOPODA.
leads to a slightly-coiled intestine, which may have an anus (TJLIETESTERATA),
or may not (CLISTEKTEIIATA).
D
7. 5; A NON-HINGED BRACHIOPOD (Lingula anatina). In-
terior of ventral (F.) and dorsal (D.) valves, showing muscle
gears, named as follows : u., umbonal; p.s., parietal; <.?,.,
transmedian ; e.-L, externo-lateral ; m.-l., medio-lateral ; c.,
centra? ; a.-Z., antero-lateral. Natural size.
The Brachiopoda possess a system of blood-vessels, with a contractile heart,
a distinct nervous system, and a pair of excretory organs (nephridia), which
serve also for the transmission of the
generative products. The sexes are
usually separate, But Lingula is
hermap hrodite.
The Brachiopoda are found in
seas all over the world, and usually
at depths of less than 100 fathoms,
but they have been dredged at a
depth of 2,900 fathoms. A few
(e.{/., Livujula, Fig. 2) bury them-
selves in mud ; but most attach
themselves to rocks. They occur in
great numbers wherever found.
Their shells, which are easily pre-
served, abound in strata of all ages,
so that a knowledge of them is of
great assistance to the geologist.
The simplest form of Brachiopod
known occurs in the Lower Cambrian
rocks of America, and is called
Pater ina (Fig. 7). Its valves are
oval in outline, with 'one side truncated by a straight hinge-lino. Concentric
Fig. 6. Internal organs of a Brachiopod
(Rhynchonclla psittacea). p., peduncle;
D. V. , dorsal valve, and V. V. , ventral valve,
of the shell, which are broken away on one
side, exposing L.,lophophore; M,, median
partition ; Oe., oesophagus, leading from a
mouth between the coils of the lophophpre
to the stomach, S.; C., the coecum, or blind
end of the gut, which has no anus.
LAMPSHELLS, ETC.
651
Fig. T.-THE AN-
CKSTOK OF THE
BRA.CHIOPOIM.
(Paterina). En-
larged.
lines of growth run parallel to the curved margin of the shell, and up to the
hinge-line, whence we see that at all stages of its growth the
shell was of the same shape. A very large number of the
genera of the Brachiopods pass through a stage in early
youth in which both valves, or, more generally, the dorsal
valve alone, are of the same shape as the adult Paterina.
But during growth, changes in the shape of the valves
take place, chiefly produced by the enclosure of the
peduncle in the walls of the ventral valve, and by the
formation of a definite hinge. In the simple types of
Brachiopoda, such as Paterina and Lingula (Fig. 5), the
peduncle passes out freely between both of the valves ; such forms are known
as ATREMATA.
Next, the peduncle-opening is restricted to the ventral valve, where it lies
in a slit, which may become transformed into a round opening by growth of shell
substance, a stage that is still seen in the modern Discing and Discinisca (Fig.
8). Such forms are known as NEOTREMATA. The two orders, Atremata and
Neotremata, are equivalent to the old order, Inarticulate or Tretenterata.
In the next order, the PROTREMATA, the peduncle lies at the apex of a trian-
gular fissure (delthyrium). This is partially closed in early life by a single
shelly plate (pseudo-deltidium), as in Clitambonites (Fig. 9). This plate is
secreted by the peduncle and posterior part of the body itself, and lies
towards the apex of the delthyrium. In the adult, the pseudo- delthyrium
becomes fused to the ventral valve, and often decreases in size.
The last order is the TELOTREMATA, in which the delthyrium becomes closed
by tho development of a pair of shelly plates (deltidial plates). These are
Fig 9. Clitambonites ddscan-
dens - ' dr * or
Fifj. S.-Disciniscd. D. , dorsal, and
^^atSS''^^ 0016
sht. Natiualsize. dium of dorgal
(chilidium) ; V.A. and
D. A . , areas of ven tral an d
dorsal valves. Natural
size.
secreted by tho edges of the mantle, and may fuse, either in the adult or
from their earliest appearance, to form a single plate (deltidium). (See Fig. 10.)
Some of the earliest forms of this order are the EhynchonettidcR, which occur
early in palceozoic times. Subsequently, we find two main branches of the order,
in which the lophophore is borne either by simple loops of shelly substance
(e.{/., Tcrebratula and Magdlania\ or by coiled spires (e.g., Spirifer and
Atrypa) respectively (Fig. ll). The two orders Prolremata and Telotremata
together correspond to the old order, Articulata or Clistcntcrata.
612
BRACHIOPODA.
The Brachiopoda, which were formerly very numerous, both in genera,
species, and individuals, are now represented by a little over a hundred
species, distributed among some fifteen or sixteen genera.
Fig. lO.Spirifer sulcatus. A specimen, natural
size, atid an enlargement of the middle part
of the hinge-area (A.) of the ventral valve,
showing the delthyrium almost closed by
two deltidial plates (.)> so that only a small
foramen (F.) remains.
r. 11 Lophophore supports in Mayel-
lania(m.)&nd Atrypa(a.). m.s., median
septum; c., crura; c.p., crural processes;
j.p., jugal processes; d.l., descending
'lamella a.l. ascending lamella ; p.l.,
primary lamella ; s.c., spiral coils.
The Brachiopoda have often been grouped together with the other forms
that have a lophophore (Bryozoa, etc.) under the name Molluscoidea (mol-
lusc-like). But, while they certainly are not related to the Mollusca, it is
very doubtful how far they are allied to these other forms. It is therefore
safer to keep them as a separate group of the animal kingdom.
SUB-KINGDOM V. ECHINODERMA.
STAX-FISH, ETC.
BY F. A. BATHER, M.A., F.G.S., ETC.
THIS is one of the main groups of the animal kingdom, and the animals
contained in it, such as the star-fish (Figs. 1, 2), brittle-stars (Figs. 5, 6),
sea-urchins (Figs. 7, 8), feather-stars (Figs. 13, 15), and sea-cucumbers (Figs.
9-12), are well marked off from all other animals by certain well-defined
characters. The first is the feature that has suggested the name of 'the
group, namely,
the deposition in
the lower layers
of the integu-
ment of a crystal-
line deposit of
carbonate of
lime. This may
be in the form of
minute spicules
(Fig. 11, s), of
separate plates,
or of larger
plates and
ossicles closely
joined together
into a more or
less rigid test
(Figs. 7 and 13).
In all cases it is
characterised by
its trellis - work
structure, and by
the ease with
which it may be
split in certain definite directions. Such deposition of carbonate of lime
may also take place among the internal organs of the animal.
The second feature is the radiate structure so obvious in the ordinary
star-fish (Fig. 1). The number of rays is generally five, and the external
and internal organs of the animal are variously affected in the various classes
of echinoderms by this five-rayed symmetry. The Echinoderma resemble the
Mollusca, the Arthropoda, the Vertebrata, and many other groups, in
possessing a separate gut, shut off from the rest 'of the body-cavity, as well
653
Fig, 1. A STAR-FISH (Asterias rubens) FROM UPPER SURFACE.
Two thirds natural size.
654 ECHINODERMA.
as a system of branched tubes which convey blood through the body ; and in
these respects they differ from the jelly-fish, with which their radiate
symmetry has often caused them to be allied.
A system of tubes conveying water from the exterior throughout the
body, and serving as a hydraulic system, is characteristic of the echinoderms.
On the under side of the rays in a living star-fish may be seen a number of
small cylindrical processes which wave about gently like trees in a wind
(Fig. 1, P). They lie in each ray along two rows with a clear space
between, as trees on either side of an avenue; hence the whole band of them
in each ray is called an ambulacrum (garden-walk). In the sea-urchin
similar rows of the tube-like processes are seen passing from the
summit down to the base, dividing the test into five equal portions.
In the star-fish and sea-urchin these processes end in sucker-like discs.
The tubular process can be extended to a considerable length and
its disc attached to some neighbouring object. The contraction of the
process then draws the animal along ; hence in these animals the processes
are called tube-feet. Similar processes occurring in the brittle-stars and
crinoids have no suckers at the end, and serve only for purposes of respira-
tion and not for locomotion. The processes in general may therefore be
called podia. Their movements are caused by the squeezing of water into
them from the internal water-vessels ; for each podium is like an indiarubber
tube, closed at one end, passing through the test to join with one main tube
which runs along under the ambulacrum in a radial direction (Fig. 3, W),
and before it joins this radial canal, each podium gives off a small swelling
likewise filled with fluid, so that when this swelling, or ampulla (Fig. 3, Amp.),
is contracted, all the fluid is squeezed up into the podium, and pushes it out
like the finger of a glove when one blows into it. All the radial canals
meet in a ring-canal surrounding the mouth, and this is connected with the
outside water by a canal that passes right across, the body-cavity to the
other side of the animal, where it opens to the exterior through a sieve-like
plate called the madreporite (Fig. 1, M). The walls of this canal are often
hardened by limy deposits, whence it is known as the stone-canal. Some
such system of water-canals occurs in all echinoderms, but in the sea-
cucumbers the madreporite that should connect it with the exterior is sunk
inward, and hangs in the fluid of the general body-cavity. Direct com-
munication with the exterior is perhaps not so necessary with these animals
since their flexible muscular walls enable them to drive the fluid of the body-
cavity in any desired direction.
There are three main systems of nerves found in echinoderms, one supply-
ing the skin, the podia, and the gut, and consisting of a nerve-ring round
the mouth, with radial nerves passing from it beneath the ambulacra ; the
second, with a similar arrangement, but placed deeper, and supplying the
internal muscles of the body wall ; the third, which is best seen in crinoids,
starts from the other side of the body, opposite to the mouth, and supplies
the muscles that work the arms and stems.
In the star-fish the generative glands are orange- coloured tubes somewhat
branched and knotty, which pass down the sides of the rays and communi-
cate with the exterior at the angles between the rays (Fig. 2, G) ; they have
a similar position in the sea-urchins; in crinoids they extend right down the
arms, at the extremities of which the generative products are produced, In
the sea-cucumber, however, there is but a single much-branched generative
gland.
STAR- FISH, SEA-URCHINS, ETC.
655
The echinoderms now living are divided into five classes Asteroidea, star-
fish ; Ophiuroidea, brittle-stars ; Echinoidea, sea-urchins ; Crinoidoa, sea-
lilies, feather-stars ; and Holothuroidea, sea-cucumbers. There are two
extinct classes first, the Cystidea, which are closely allied to the ancestors of
all echinoderms ; and second, the Blastoidea, which are perhaps nothing
more than an offshoot from the crinoids. In the star-fish and brittle-star
the mouth (see Fig. 6) is in the centre of the under side of the body, directed
towards the sea-floor ; while the anus (Fig. 2, As), when it exists, is on the
other side and directed upwards. In a regular sea-urchin (Fig. 7) the mouth
and anus are in a similar position, but in the irregular sea-urchins (Fig. 8)
the body has become somewhat elliptical in shape and the mouth has moved
a little forward ; while the anus has moved down from the top of the body
to its lower surface, so that both mouth aud anus lie on the under surface at
either end of the long axis. In a holothurian (Fig. 9) the body is cucumber-
shaped, with the mouth at one end and the anus at the other, and the animal
usually crawls along on one side of its body. In the crinoids both mouth
and anus are on the upper surface of the body, the mouth usually in the
centre (Fig. 15, M) and the anus (Fig. 15, As) a little on one side, and both
are directed upwards ; while the opposite or under side of the body is pro-
longed into a stem
(Figs. 13, 14) by which
the animal is generally
attached to the sea- floor
or some other object.
Echinoderms cannot
live on land, since they
require water to work
their hydraulic appar-
atus, neither can they
live in fresh water,
where they would net
find enough lime-salts
from which to build
their skeletons: in the
sea, however, they have
a universal distribution.
Hence their calcareous
remains have often
been preserved as
fossils, and are found
in the rocks from the
earliest period in which
animals are known to
have existed. Echino-
derms move little from
place to place during
adult life ; many of
them, however, have
rather larger powers of
locomotion in the lar-
val stage, and the free-swimming larvae are occasionally carried to consider-
able distances by ocean- currents.
Fig. 2. DISSECTION or COMMON CRCS-FISH (Asterias rubens
Two-thirds natural size.
656
ECHINODERMA CLASS ASTEROIDEA.
ASTEROIDEA (Star-fish).
The common cross-fish, Asterias rubens, is perhaps the commonest ex-
ample of an echinoderm, known to all visitors to the sea-side. Fig. 1 shows
it from the upper surface, one of the arms being slightly turned over so
as to show the ambulacral grooves with the tube-feet (P) on either side.
Towards the middle of the body, at the junction of two of the rays, is seen
the madreporite (M). These two rays are known as the bivium, while the
other three rays form the trivium. A line drawn between the two rays
of the bivium, through the madreporite and down the central ray of the
trivium, would divide the star-fish into two equal and symmetrical portions.
In Fig. 2 the same animal is shown, also from the upper surface, but partly
dissected. In the ray marked IV. the rough spiny skin has been left
on, while it has been removed over the middle of the body from
portions of rays II. and ILL, and from the whole of the upper surface
of the ray marked I. In the middle is seen the stomach (S), which
sends into the rays the pouch-like extensions (D). At F part of the
roof of the stomach has been removed to show the folded arrangement of
its walls. Near the centre is the anus (As). From the stomach there pass
down in the rays blind, much-branched outgrowths (C), known as pyloric
caeca, which have been dissected out in the ray marked I. Underneath
these, on either side of each ray, are the generative glands (G), which are
seen in ray II. In rays I. and II. the central line of plates (Ao) separating
the ray is exposed. On either side of these there are shown in ray I. the
little swellings or ampullae (P) at the inner ends of the tube-feet.
Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the arm of a star-fish in section. Here the
same organs may" be seen, namely, the pyloric caeca (PC), the blind processes
from the stomach, the generative glands (G), which open to the exterior
Fig 3. I>T AORAMATIC IROSS SPCTION OF
STAR-KISII ARM. Natural size.
Pig. 4. DUGRAMATIC CPOSS SKCTION OF OPIIIUHID
ARM. Much enlarged.
through a pore (GP) which is situated near the junction of two adjacent
rays, and the ampullae (Amp), from which the tube-feet (P) pass through the
ambulacral ossicles (AO). In the groove (A) on the under side of the arm,
formed by the ambulacral ossicles and lying between the tube-feet, there are
shown the following structures : close to the surface, the radial nerve (N) ;
below this, the radial blood-vessel (B) ; and below this again, the radial water-
vessel (W). All of these give off side branches, those from the latter going
to the ampullae. The arm is encased in an external skeleton of irregular
limestone plates (SK) ; some of these support spines (S), and others support
STAR- FISH. 657
curious kinds of spines with branched heads, known as paxillae (Px).
Between the plates there pass out thin-walled processes (Rsp), which serve
for respiration by bringing the fluid of the body-cavity into the proximity of
the outer water. Besides the paxillae, there occur on the outer surface of a
star-fish, as well as on that of a sea-urchin, small pincer-like organs called
pedicellariae. These resemble little pincers supported at the end of a
movable stalk, and they have probably been evolved from the smaller spines
that cover the test of these animals. They move with extreme rapidity, and
catch hold of any minute object that is brought into contact with their inner
surfaces. They are variously supposed to hold small particles of food, to
clean the test of dirt, and to catch hold of fronds of sea- weed for the steady-
ing of the animal ; while the fact that in the sea-urchin they are sometimes
provided with poison-glands seems to show that they serve also as weapons
of offence. At the extremity of each arm is a single tube-foot, with no
Fig. 5. A BRITTLE-STAR (Ophiopholis aculeata). Two-thirds natural size.
sucker at the end : this is always stretched straight out, and is known as the
unpaired tentacle. Immediately above it is a small eye coloured with red
pigment, and protected by small tentacles.
Star-fish are sluggish animals, rarely moving of themselves, and staying for
days in the same position. They can, however, travel at a fair pace when
disturbed. When turned over on their backs, they are able to right them-
selves, but some of them, which have very stiff skeletons, take much longer
over the process than those that are able to twist their arms about in
acrobat fashion. They are, like most echinoderms, a sociable class, living
usually in swarms. Some species of shallow-water forms have been observed
to pair during the breeding season. They are voracious animals, eating all
kinds of food, and taking plenty at a time. The stomach can, in most cases,
be extruded through the mouth, and can enfold such articles of food as an
oyster ; star-fish are, in fact, dangerous enemies to oysters, and also attack
658 ECHINODERMA-CLASS OPHIUROIDEA.
the bait of fishermen, whence they are regarded by that class with a holy
horror, and the cross-fish sometimes is called by them "Devil's fingers."
To their credit it must be said that they serve as the scavengers of the sea,
and that they make excellent manure.
OPHIUROIDEA (Brittle-stars).
The brittle-stars and sand-stars, which may often be found hiding under the
rocks, or in the sea-weed, or in pools at low tide, resemble the ordinary star-
fish in having five distinct arms. These, however, as shown in Fig.
5, are long and serpent-like, and are attached to a relatively small body
or disc (D, in Fig. 5). There are other differences, as may be seen
by a comparison of the section shown in Fig. 4 with that of the star-
fish in Fig. 3. Here it is seen that the digestive and generative systems
do not extend to the arms but are confined to the body. The arms
are cylindrical and have no groove on the under side, such as exists
in star-fish, but they have little openings through which the tube-feet
P pass. In this class, however, it is the arms that are used for locomotion
and not the tube-feet, so that the latter have no terminal suckers. The
greater part of each arm is formed by a central axis of successive calcareous
ossicles not unlike the vertebrae of a backbone. Each arm-ossicle (AO) is
composed of two parts one on either side and united in the middle line.
The successive ossicles are connected by pairs of straight, muscular bundles,
and articulate with one another by tenon-and-mortise joints, according to
whose degree of development the arms vary in their power of coiling. The
arm-ossicles are encased in the tough outer skin of the arm, in which are
developed plates (U, upper, and S, side arm-plates in Fig. 4). Spines (Sp)
are borne by these plates, and these are clearly shown in Fig. 5 (S) ; they
aid the animal in locomotion. The integument of
the disc, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, also bears
small plates which are often covered with minute
spines. Returning to the section of the arm, we
see on its under side between the tube-feet, the
nerve, blood-vessel, and water-vessel, which give
off branches just as in the star-fish, the difference
being that they are here enclosed by the integu-
ment of the arm. The mouth is shown in Fig. 6
on the under surface of the disc. Around the
mouth are a number of short, flat processes, the
mouth papillae, which serve as strainers. Inside
the mouth are seen the five tooth-plates.
Fig. G.-UNDKR SURFACE OF OpHi- . Ophiuroids are found in all seas, usually occur-
URID Eom (Ophiopkolis acu- ring in quantities. They are most abundant in
leata). Natural size. the roc k-pools of the tropics. They gather their
food to them by sweeping their arms over the
sea-bottom, and thus conveying any suitable substances to the mouth.
Figs. 5 and 6 represent a daisy brittle-star, Ophiopholis aculeata, which
occurs all round the British coast. The colloquial name is due to the
resemblance to a daisy caused by the intermingling of spines and plates on
the surface of the disc. The popular name, brittle-star, applied to the
ophiuroids is due to their fragile nature and their habit, so distressing to
the collector, of breaking themselves into small portions when touched.
SEA-URCHINS.
659
Fig. 7. A REGULAR
SHA - URCHIN (Cidaris
papillata). One-half
natural size.
ECHINOIDEA (Sea-urchins).
The sea-urchins are the best known and most numerous of echinoderms.
They are divided into two groups regular and irregular sea-urchins. Fig. 7
shows the test of a regular sea-urchin, Cidaris papillata,
which is called the Piper from the supposed resemblance
of its spines to the drones of a bagpipe. In the figure
most of the larger spines have been removed, but three
or four have been left on (S). Several of the plates of
the test are seen to bear a rounded tubercle (T), and it
is to these that the large spines are attached by a ball-
and-socket joint, which is surrounded by muscles that
can move the spines in any direction. The bases of the
large spines are protected by smaller spines (s 1 ) see figure
which are similarly attached to smaller tubercles. The
spine-bearing tubercles do not cover the whole test, but
are disposed chiefly in five broad zones, interambulacra
(I A), which extend from one pole to the other. Alter-
nating with these are the narrower ambulacra (A). In
these can be seen the holes through which the tube-feet
pass. At the summit of the test, where these zones
converge, is a star-shaped space covered with mem-
brane, and in the middle of this is the anus. Regularly
placed round this, at the summit of the interambulacral
zones, are five conspicuous plates, each pierced by a
hole (G), which is the duct of the underlying generative gland. One of the
plates (M) is also pierced by a number of small water-pores, and is the
madreporite. Outside these five plates, end alternating with them, are five
other plates, each at the top of an ambulacrum, and each pierced by the
unpaired tentacles which terminate the water-canals, and represent the
unpaired tentacles near the eye at the end of the star-fish arms. These
plates, marked O, are therefore called oculars ; in a few cases they do actu-
ally bear eyes. The mouth is at the other pole of the body, and is therefore
not shown in the figure. It is surrounded by an elaborate arrangement of
teeth, found in all regular urchins, and com-
pared by Aristotle to a lantern. The gut,
which passes from the mouth, coils round
inside the test. Such a sea-urchin as Cidaris,
or the common egg-urchin, Echinus, shows
most clearly the five-rayed symmetry that
has been impressed upon the echinoderms.
In the irregular sea - urchins, however,
one of which, Echinocardium cordatum,
is shown in Fig. 8, the animal has become
elongated along one of the axes so as to have
a superficial two-sided symmetry. This is
connected with constant movement in one
direction, and such modification is found
among those urchins that live on muddy
bottoms, and especially in those from con-
siderable depths. Not only is the test elon-
gated, but the mouth moves forward to the
AI
Fig. 8. IRREGULAR SEA - URCHIN
(Echinocardium cordatum). Two-
thirds natural size.
66o
ECHINODERMA CLASS ECHINOIDEA.
front margin, while the anus moves downwards to the hinder margin, and
eventually comes to lie on the under side of the test. These heart-urchins,
as they move along through the sand and mud, scoop it up into their mouths,
and pass it through the gut, extracting from it on its passage such nutriment
as the minute organisms in it can afford. Urchins of this type have short
delicate spines, as shown on the left side of Fig. 8. They move almost
entirely by stretching out their long tube-feet. It is, perhaps, the hair-like
spines that have caused the urchin here figured to be popularly known as
Mermaid's head, Child's head urchin, and Hair sea-egg.
The sea-urchins, like the star-fish, have pedicellarioe. In the regular
urchin locomotion is chiefly effected by means of the spines, which are used
like crutches; they can also be used like chop-sticks for prehension. The
spines also serve as organs of protection, but their efficacy varies much in
different forms. In Diadema setosum the spines reach a length of 10 in.,
and are so fine that one is pricked by them before one can see them. A
few urchins, such as Asthenosoma urens, have poison-glands attached to their
spines. On the other hand, the large spines of the Piper appear to be very
small protection against its natural enemies, fish and star-fish ; it is only the
small spines that have any defensive value, and they are placed for this purpose
near the main openings and organs of the body. Some sea-urchins cover
themselves with dead shells, sea-weed, and similar objects, which they hold
on by their tube-feet and so move about unobserved. Other sea-urchins do
not move about but live in holes in the rocks, which in some cases they can
be proved to have bored for themselves. The sea-urchins here figured have
a rigid test; but there are others in which the plates are not so closely joined
together, and the test is flexible. Fossil examples of such leathery urchins
have long been known from the Chalk, but were
not found in the living state before the dredging
expedition of the Porcupine. The regular sea-
urchins breathe by ten thin-walled extensions of
the body-cavity which are protruded around the
mouth. In the irregular urchins some of the
tube-feet are modified for respiration.
Sea-urchins live on both animal and vegetable
food, and even on one another. They them-
selves are often eaten by fish, and some are
thought delicacies by man. The ovaries, when
in the spring they are full of eggs, are said to
equal the best fish-roe.
HOLOTHUROIPEA (Sea-cucumbers).
A typical example of the sea-cucumber,
Cucumaria planci, is represented in Fig. 9.
The body, as already said, is elongated, with
a mouth (M) at one end, and an anus (A)
at the other. Around the mouth is a fringe
of branched tentacles connected with the
Fig. 9.-A SEA-CTTCUMBER water- vascular ring. ^ Two of these tentacles,
(Cucumaria planci). Natural size- those in the direction of the letter M, are
shorter than the others. Five rows of tube-
feet pass from the mouth to the anus, and under them lie radially-disposed
nerves and muscles. In no holothurian, however, does the radial arrange-
HOLOTHURIANS OR SEA-CUCUMBERS.
661
Fig. 10. PlMTKD HOLOTRURIAN (Ps<.lll8
diomediae). 3-2 natural size.
rnent affect any portion of the digestive or generative systems. In most
other echinoderms, it will be remembered, a canal passes from the water-
vascular ring, and opens to the exterior by a madreporite. In a few
holothurians of primitive structure this is
similarly the case, but in Cucumaria, as in
most, the connection with the exterior is
lost, and the canal with its madreporite
hangs down into the body-cavity. The
skin is leathery, and contains a compara-
tively small amount of calcareous matter.
What there is occurs usually in small
spicules, which assume very definite shapes,
such as anchors in Synapta, or wheels in
Chiridota. Such spicules are represented
in Fig. 11 (S 1 and J> 2 ). In such forms as
10), the spicules increase in size so as to form
there may also often be a ring of calcareous
plates round the gullet and round the anus (M and
As in Fig. 10). The tentacles of Cucumaria and
some other forms are used like a net to intercept
floating organisms in the surrounding water. Many
holothurians take a good deal of sand into the gut
and the intestines ; those that live near coral reefs
generally contain fragments of coral. They usually
attach themselves by their tube-feet to rocks or sea
weed, and wave the tentacles around. The food-
Inden tentacles are thrust one after the other into
the circular mouth. Some curious modifications of
form have taken place among the Holothuroidea.
In Psolus the animal has become flattened, and the
tube-feet restricted to three out of the five ambulacra,
and by these three the animal creeps about or holds
itself fixed to the rock. The species shown in Fig.
10 is one of
Psolus, however (Fig.
plated integument ;
those that
were dredged
by the U.S.
steamer Al-
batross, and
occurs near
the Cocos
Islands at a
depth of G6
fathoms, ad-
hering to the
rocks like a limpet. It represents a
highly specialised form of the genus.
The tube-feet (P) are seen on its under side, forming a somewhat irregular
ring. The curious form, Psychropotes raripes, shown in Fig. 11, is one of
the deep-sea forms known as Elasipoda. It also was dredged by the
Albatross, and cornea from a depth of 1,573 fathoms, south of Cape San
Francisco. The left-hand figure shows the under side of it, with the mouth
Fig. 11. DBUP-SEA HOLO-
THURIAN (Psychropotes
raripes). Two - ninths
natural size.
Fig. 12. A FREK-SWIMMING HoLOTHriUAN (Pela-
gothuria natatrix). O^e-hal( natural size.
662
ECHINODERMA CLASS HOLOTHUROIDEA,
(M) at the anterior end, and the anus (As) at the posterior. The row of
tube-feet passes down the middle of the under surface, between the mouth
and anus. On either side of these tube-feet, and well seen in the side-view,
is a row of podgy stumps, by which the animal moves as a centipede moves
by its legs. Behind the anus a part of the body is prolonged into a flat tail.
These animals live on the ooze of the abyssal ocean, gorging themselves
therewith. Some of the holothurians that live in the sand of the deep sea,
by constantly keeping both mouth and anus above the surface of the mud,
have had their bodies curved in U-fashion, and in one genus the two openings
have come to lie close together at the top of a thick stalk, so that one may
compare the animal to a conjuror's bottle with a divided mouth. A yet
stranger modification of the holothurian type is the beautiful Pelagothuria,
represented in Fig. 12 ; this lives in the East Pacific on the surface of the
ocean. It has no calcareous spicules, and the longitudinal muscles are mostly
changed into a jelly tissue. Around the mouth is a circlet of short tentacles
(T) ; and from these radiate thirteen to sixteen long feelers (R), the bases
of which are united by a web forming a disc, by which the animal swims in
much the same way as a floating jellyfish. The rest of the body, with the
anus (As) at the end of it, hangs vertically
downwards. In life the semi-transparent
body is tinged a purplish red.
Holothurians are of interest to men,
especially Chinamen, as furnishing a food
known as Trepang, which ranks with edible
birds' nests among the delicacies of the celes-
tial table. The fishing for this takes place in
the East Indies and along the Barrier Reef
of Australia. Only those species that have
few calcareous spicules are of value for this
purpose, while others are rejected because,
when caught, they get rid of all their insides.
CEINOIDEA (Sea-lilies).
The echinoderms that we have hitherto
discussed have all availed themselves, to a
greater or less extent, of their power of free
locomotion. The crinoids, on the other hand,
together with the extinct blastoids and some
of the cystids, are for the most part attached,
either during youth or for the whole of their
existence, to the sea-floor by means of a jointed
stem (Fig. 13). The body of the crinoid, which
is relatively small, is placed on the top of
this stem, and from it there extend long arms
which are usually branched and often provided
CRINOID FROM THE WENLOCK LIMB- with yet smaller branches regularly arranged
along them, and called pinnules. Each of
the pinnules, or each of the finer divisions of
the arms, is provided on the upper side with a sroove, carpeted by the
minute rapidly waving processes known as cilia. These constantly drive a
stream of water down the groove towards the main arm, which is provided
with a similar groove. The water itself passes down the arms towards
the body, and is then carried down five similar grooves, one leading from
Fig, 13. RESTORATION OF A FOSSIL
CRINOIDS OR SEA-LILIES. 663
each arm to the mouth, which is placed at or near the centre of the upper
surface of the body. The stream of water, containing numerous animalculae
and food particles, passes through the mouth into the gut, which is coiled round
the inside of the body, and passes out again at the anal opening. This latter
is often raised on a small eminence or papilla (Fig. 15, As). In some forms,
especially in some extinct genera, this papilla was extended into a long tube,
so that the excrement was carried far away from the food-grooves of the arms
(Fig. 13). Ranged along the sides of the food-grooves are the tube-feet, which,
however, are not provided with suckers, but probably serve as respiratory
processes. The small size of the body is perhaps to be accounted for by the
fact that the generative glands do not develop within the body, but extend
along the arms underneath the food-groove into the pinnules. Here the
generative products become ripe and swell up the pinnules, from which they
ultimately burst. The calcareous case that encloses the organs of the body is
known as the calyx; it may be regarded as composed of a cup supported like
a wine-glass on a stem, from the edges of which cup the arms originate ;
while it is covered by a lid in which are the openings for the mouth and
anus. The lid is pierced by pores which put the water-vascular system in
connection with the exterior. These may either be dispersed over the
surface of the lid, or, as in other echinoderms, collected in one plate the
madreporite. This plate, when it exists, lies between the mouth -and the
anus. In the crinoids now living the cup is composed of only two or three
circlets of plates, with no more plates than five in each circlet, and in many
cases the two lower circlets are hardly to be distinguished. In some ancient
crinoids, however, the organs of the body take up much more room,
and to accommodate them the cup had an increase in size. This was
effected, not by the plates becoming larger, but by the lid being, as
it were, raised up the arms, so that the lower plates of the arms were
included in the walls of the cup. At the same time, further plates were
intercalated between the arms and their branches, binding them all into
a plated integument, which looked like a tesselated pavement.
The stem is perhaps the most interesting part of the crinoid anatomy. All
echinoderms, and many other animals, including, oddly enough, some which
are generally reckoned by zoologists among the ancestors of the Vertebrata,
have in their youngest stages a small process or lobe extending in front
of the mouth, by which lobe they are accustomed to attach themselves as
though by a sucker. In many cases the attachment
lasts but a short period ; but in the crinoids, at all
events, it persists for some time, and the lobe
becomes extended, while rings of calcareous sub-
stances are deposited in its integument. The
increase of these rings in number and in size
gradually produces a stem or column formed of
superposed ossicles, perforated by a canal which is
an extension of the original body-cavity. In the
crinoids this canal contains extensions of blood-
vessels and also of a sheath of nervous substance
surrounding the blood-vessels. These extensions
pass from a central five-chambered organ placed
at the bottom of the cup, just at its junction
with the stem. From this strands of the same nervous substance also
pass in criss-cross fashion through all the plates of the cup, and finally join
66 4
ECHINOD.ERMA CLASS CRINOIDEA.
together and pass up the ossicles of the arms. These are motor nerves, and
the central organ controls the movements of the arms, the stem, and all
appendages of the crinoid.
Although crinoids are typically fixed by this stem, and although the
ancestors, at least, of all crinoids have been fixed by such a stem, still
there are some, both living and extinct, in which the stem has entirely
or almost entirely disappeared, leaving the crinoid with powers of free
locomotion. There are some four or five living genera in which this
has taken place ; the most familiar instance is the rosy feather- star
of our own seas, shown in Fig. 15. In its younger stages, however (see Fig.
14), the animal is provided with a stem. From this it ultimately breaks off,
retaining but a few of the ossicles. These ossicles become fused together,
and form a thick knob at the base of the cup. From this knob, which is
called the centrodorsal, there pass small branches called cirri (C, Fig.
15) ; by these cirri the animal can hold on to stones or other objects at
the bottom of the sea, so that, although able to move at will, it can save
itself from being swept away by storms or currents. Fig. 15 shows one
of these creatures in the act of crawling away frc m the stone to
which it WiS attached. The arm towards the spectator is stretched out and
slightly curved back, the pinnules at its extremity being bent right back like
the barjbs of a fish-hook. By these it will hook on to the rough surface of
the sea-floor, and the arms will then bend and the animal be dragged along.
At the same time
the opposite arms
are bent down-
wards and their
pinnules are
pushed in the op-
posite direction.
This shortening
of the stem and
power of locomo-
tion has been a
gradual develop-
ment. The Pen-
tacrini, which are
among the com-
monest of living
stalked crinoids,
have their stem
beset at intervals
with whorls of
cirri. The joints
of the stem just
below each whorl
are not muscular,
but brittle, so
that the crinoid
Fig. 15. A FEATHER-STAR CRAWLING (Antedon rosacea). Natural size.
can easily break its stem at those joints, and after moving away a short
space, can again affix itself by the whorl of cirri remaining at the broken
end. In this way Pentacrini have been found attached to telegraph cables
but a short time after they had been laid down,
SUB-KINGDOM VI. BRYOZOA
[OR POLYZOA].
MOSS ANIMALS.
BY R. KlEKPATRICK.
IF the sea-weeds and shells cast up on the sea-shore be carefully examined,
some of these objects will probably be found overgrown by encrustations and
patches, which, viewed through a lens, resemble fine lacework or tracery of
varying pattern. Probably, also, some of the supposed sea- weeds themselves
will, on closer inspection, prove to be wholly different from plants, and to
be, in fact, Bryozoa. One of the commonest of
these plant-like animals is the Sea Mat or Broad-
leaved Hornwrack (Flustra foliacea), (Fig. 1),
found all round the shores of Great Britain,
growing in shallow water,
attached to shells and rocks.
It is often found in atun-
dance amongst the sea-
weeds cast up on shore,
especially after a gale.
The Sea Mat forms thin
brown strap-shaped or fan-
shaped fronds, expanding
upwards from a flat, narrow
stem to a height of four to
six inches, and branching
A very fine reticuhte pattern is visible
Under a low magnifying power this
appearance (Fig. 2) is seen to be due to the raised
margins of oblong boxes arranged in longitudinal rows ;
two spines rise from the margin on each side of the
rounded and expanded upper end, and frequently
a fifth spine between and above the lateral pairs.
The front of each box is covered with a roof of mem-
brane. On examining a fresh leaflet in sea-water,
crowns of very slender tentacles will be seen to be
extruded through the upper ends of the front of the
boxes, a thin, horny, semi-circular lid being pushed up
during the process ; on the slightest alarm the ten-
tacles are rapidly withdrawn. It is also possible to see a bent tube beneath
the membranous roof. Each box or cell (Fig. 2) is the home of a polypide,
which has formed the cell. The tentacles of the polypide arise in a circle
from a platform, in the centre of which is an orifice, the mouth.
665
Fig. 1. FLUBTRA FOLIACEA.
in one plane,
on both surfaces.
Fig. 2. FLUSTRA (magni-
fied), showing polypiuea.
a, Horny lid.
b, Avicularium.
c, Egg capsule.
666 BR YOZOA INFUNDIB ULA TA.
The circle of tentacles surmounts a conical proboscis, which, together with
the tentacles, can be completely withdrawn into a sheath cavity, over which
there falls a horny lid. The proboscis is merely a part of the cell wall, which
always remains flexible and capable of being rolled in or out. The horny lid
is a specialised fold of the wall, and is characteristic of the order of Bryozoa
(Chilostomata, lip-mouthed) to which Flustra belongs. A glove-finger, with
a hole in the top, surrounded by a crown of bristles to represent the mouth
and tentacles, will convey an idea of the arrangement of the tentacular sheath ;
when the top is rolled in, a fold or lid must be supposed to fall over the cavity
thus formed. The tentacles are hollow, and each is provided with a double
row of cilia, by whose motion currents are set up, which converge to the
mouth. This opening leads into a pharynx and gullet
(Fig. 3), and the latter opens into the stomach, which
forms the bend of the bent tube; the stomach is continued
into the intestine, which opens to the exterior outside the
circle of tentacles. The U-shaped intestinal tract is sus-
pended in the cavity of the cell, and is separated from the
walls by a space filled with fluid and continued up into the
interior of the tentacles ; the latter organs thus have a
respiratory function, since the peri-visceral fluid is brought
into close proximity to the sea-water. Further, the ten-
tacles are sensory organs capable of perceiving tactile and,
i FLUSTRA perhaps, other sensations. A nerve ganglion is situated
Poljpide remold' afc tne upper end of the cell between the pharynx and
from cell. intestine. In the walls of each cell are round sieve-like
B'GuHet DX ' areas, through which the inner linings of adjacent cells
C, stomach. become continuous, so that an organic and, perhaps,
D, intestines nervous continuity exists between all the cells of a
j VClit. i
colony.
Passing down from the stomach to the base of the cell is a cord, in which
the eggs and male cells are formed. The fertilised eggs pass up to a hemi-
spherical brood-chamber, which forms a hood over the top of some of the
cells, and there develop into embryos, which swim away from the parent.
The embryos are minute, nearly spherical, bodks, flattered at each pole, and
with a broad zone of cilia round the equator. At one pole is the mouth and
intestine, and at the other a flattened disk, wherewith the embryo, after a
short free life, fixes itself, and gives lise to the first polypide; the latter
produces buds which develop, and in their turn produce other buds, with
the result that a colony is formed.
Scattered over the surface of the frond, and interpolated among the ordi-
nary cells, are small oval shallow cells -with large thick lids ; here the polypide
has degenerated, and a muscular apparatus for opening and shutting the lid
alone remains. The purpose served by these modified cells is the retention
of prey, and probably the motion of the lid also serves to frighten away un-
desirable intruders. In some species of Bryozoa these metamorphosed cells
have an extraordinary resemblance to birds' beaks, and hence were named
"avicularia" (avicula, a bird's beak), this name being applied to all such
cases of metamorphosis, whatever the shape of the modified cell may be.
In all Bryozoa we find an approximately U-shaped intestinal tract contained
in a sack or box. The mouth is either surrounded by a circular or horse-
shoe shaped crown of tentacles, or the area surrounding the mouth is drawn
out into processes provided with tentacles, and the vent opening is on about
FLUSTRA, BUGULA, LEPRALIA,
667
Fig. 4. BUGULA TUR-
BINATA.
the same level as the mouth opening. Further, all Bryozoa (excepting the
doubtful Phoronis) produce buds, which (excepting in Loxosoma) remain con-
nected so as to form colonies. The colonies vary greatly in their composi-
tion, texture, and outward appearance. They may be stony, horny, and
flexible ; gelatinous, fleshy, or like leather or paper. They may form crusts
and patches, hard or flexible leaves, bushy or shrubby growths, stony
nodules, branches or plates, shapeless fleshy masses, etc. In all, we have as
the unit the polypide in its cell. Often the same species occurs as a crust, or
in plates of single or double lamellae, the identity being revealed by the
characters of the individual cells composing the colony. A few typical and
interesting species will now be briefly referred to.
The Birds' Head Coralline (Bugula turbinata, Figs. 4, 5) forms
brownish horny tufts about two inches in height ; the branches, which are
arranged spirally round the stem, are very slender. The
cells are boat-shaped, and expand at the upper end.
The upper three-fourths of the front surface is mem-
branous, the rest of the cell being composed of hard,
horny material. At the upper part of
the membranous area is the lid, which
is pushed up when the tentacles are
extruded. The animal owes its popular
name to the remarkable avicularia
which arise from the edges of the cells ;
these organs consist of a short stalk,
a curved head and beak, and a horny mandible. The
"head" is filled with powerful muscles, which keep the
mandible continually snapping, the whole presenting a
ludicrous resemblance to a bird's beak (Fig. 5).
In the Creeping Coralline (Scrupocellaria reptans) a
further modification of the cell is seen. Ab the back of
each ordinary cell is a very minute tubular cell known as a
vibraculum (bristle cell), with a cleft at the top in which
a long fine bristle is hinged. Sometimes the bristles are
all kept moving together like oars, or, again, individual
bristles may sweep round the front of the cells to clear
away debris or frighten trespassers. The cell and its
contained polypide are here reduced to a tubular cell
and muscular apparatus, while the lid of the ordinary cell
has become lengthened out and changed into a bristle.
Bryozoa are perhaps most commonly met with in the form of crusts and
patches on stones, shells, and sea-weeds. The Lepralia of Pallas (Lepralia
pallasiana (Figs. 6, 7) forms circular reddish-white
or vitreous patches on shells, etc. The cells are
arranged in radiating lines, each cell being a stony box
with a punctured pattern on the front surface. At
the outer end of the front surface is a square aperture,
surrounded by an elevated rim and closed by a horny
lid. One of the cells in the figure shows a lid partly
pushed up by the tentacles of the polypide in the
interior.
Fig. 6.-LBPRALIA PAL- A11 the spec i es hitherto referred to belongto theorder
Fig. 5. BUQULA
(magnified).
A, Avicularia.
LASIAMA (encrueting a
shell).
Chilostomata (lip-mouthed), which is characterised by
668
BR YOZOALOPHOPODA.
Fig 7. LEPRALI\ PAL-
LASIANA (magnified).
the presence of the horny lid covering the tentacle sheath. A second order,
the Cyclostomata (circular-mouthed), commonly form white circular or fan
shaped stony crusts, plates, or branches, the component cells being tubular,
and without horny lids. The tubes are frequently
arranged in single or double rows. In a third
order, the Ctenostomata (comb - mouthed), the
colonies are horny or fleshy, never stony. When
the tentacles are extruded, a comb-like circle
of fine bristles is seen arising from the pro-
boscis near the base of the tentacles ; when the
tentacles are retracted the bristles form a kind of
operculum. The gelatinous Alcyonidium, so called
from its resemblance to the zoophyte Alcyonium
("dead men's fingers"), forms fleshy masses or long
cylindrical branches. The polyps, which are em-
b ddtd near the surface, extrude their tentacles
when undisturbed. The Nit Coralline (Amathia
lendigera) forms little dark brown bushy tufts, the
ce'ls being arranged on the branches in double rows of small horny cylinders
like Pan's-pipes.
The three orders above mentioned are included in one group, the
Infundibulata (infundibidum, a funnel), in which the
tentacles form a funnel-like circle round the mouth.
The rest of the Bryozoa are included under the group
Lophopoda (crest foot), in which the tentacles are
arranged in a horse-shoe shaped zone round the mouth.
Nearly all the fresh- water Bryozoa belong to this group.
LopJwpus crystallinus (Figs. 8, 9) is found in the form of
little jelly-like blobs on the stems of Duck-weed (Fig. 8).
The polypides can be seen as yellowish red streaks in the
interior of a blob ; when the horse-shoe plumes of
tantacles are expanded the
animal presents a beautiful
appearance. Lophoptis and
other fresh-water Bryozoa
commonly propagate them-
selves by means of peculiar
internal buds, termed " stato-
blasts " (Fig. 10), which arise
in the cord passing from the
stomach to the base of the cell.
In Lophopus each statoblast is a flat, elliptical,
seed-like body about T \> in. in diameter, pointed at
each end, and with a dark-brown oval centre sur-
rounded by a broad band with a reticulate pattern .
In the autumn the central part opens like a
watch, and a young polypide half emerges and
forms the nucleus of a colony. The remarkable
Cristatetta miicedo forms pale-green worm-like
colonies averaging about an inch in length
and one-sixth of an inch in breadth ; the animal
creeps about on the stems of water weeds. The polypides are arranged in
Fig. 8.-LOPHOPTJ8
CRYSTALLINUS ON
DUCK-WEKD.
Fig. 9. Loruorus (magnified)
LOPHOPUS, A^LC YON ELLA. 669
three concentric series on the upper convex surface, the lower flat surface, on
which the colony moves along, being devoid of polyps. The statoblasts are
provided with a double circle of long slender spines, ending in recurved hooks.
Alcyoneila fungosa is a species commonly found in streams and ponds in the
form of brown clumps and nodules on floating timber, stems, sticks, etc.
In the Pedicellinidre, which are mostly marine, the polypides are stalked,
the stalks arising from a creeping stolon; the tentacles, which form an
almost complete circle round the mouth, are not capable of being retracted
into a sheath. In the aberrant genus, Rhabdopleura, the platform round the
mouth is drawn out into two long tentacle-bearing arms. In Cephalodiscus,
dredged up in the Straits of Magellan by the Challenger, the
oral platform is drawn out into twelve processes six on each
side, armed with plumes of tentacles ; the colony, which re-
sembles a branching, spiny, gelatinous sea- weed, is permeated
by canals along which the polypides can wander freely. In
most of the Lophopoda a lobe projects over the mouth; the
presence or absence of this character was made use of by
Allman for the purpose of classifying Bryozoa into two groups
Phylactolsemata (guarded throat) and Gymnolsemata (un-
protected throat).
The Bryozoa are found in the Palaeozoic rocks, and occur
in great abundance in the Chalk, the Cyclostomatous group (magnified),
prevailing in the earlier formations. A classification is here
appended for reference :
Sub-class I. Infundibulata with a circle of tentacles, a, Chilostomata
with a horny lid shutting down over the tentacle sheath (Flustra,
Bugula, Lepralia, etc.). b, Cyclostomata all calcareous; without a
horny lid ; without avicularia (Crisia, Tubulipora). c, Ctenostomata
with a circle of bristles forming a kind of operculum ; never calcareous
(Amathia, Alcyonidium, etc.).
Sub-class II. Lophopoda with horse-shoe shaped plume of tentacles or
arm-like processes bearing tentacles (Alcyoneila, Pedicellina, etc.).
[Note. The name Polyzoa is often used by English zoologists in place
of Bryozoa, but the latter term, definitely employed as a class name by
Ehrenberg in 1834, apparently has greater claims to acceptance. Biblio-
graphy Johnston's "British Zoophytes;" Hincks* " British Marine
Polyzoa;" Allman ! s " Fresh- water Polyzoa j " "Encyclopaedia Britannica,"
Polyzoa (Lank ester).
SUB-KINGDOM VII. VERMES.
THE WORMS.
BY R. I. POCOCK.
To give a concise diagnosis of the Vermes is a matter of no small difficulty,
for the different classes that are discussed in this chapter are merely grouped
together for the sake of convenience, since they present few features in com-
mon to justify their association, apart, that is, from the negative fact that
they do not possess the characters by which the rest of the sub-kingdoms
may be recognised. From the Echinoderms (star-fish, sea-urchins, etc.) and
Coelenterates (corals, jelly-fish), for example, they may be distinguished by
beng bi-laterally and not radially symmetrical; bi-laterally symmetrical
anmals being those in which the right and left halves of the body are alike.
From the Arthropoda (insects, spiders, etc.) they may be recognised by the
abisence of jointed limbs and of limbs modified to act as jaws ; from the
Chordata (Vertebrates and Ascidians) by the absence of the cartilaginous
doirsal chord (notochord) and of slits in the walls of the gullet ; and from the
Mollusca (snails, cuttle-fish, mussels) by the absence of the gland for pro-
ducing the shell, and of the muscular foot, which subserves locomotion. In
addition, however, to these negative features, it may be said that the body is
soft, usually long, and often jointed ; the alimentary canal, when present,
usually traverses it from end to end ; but in the lowest forms it has no pos-
terior outlet, and in some of the parasitic species has entirely disappeared.
In the simpler types the nervous system consists of two chords, one running
along each side of the body, and uniting in the head to form the brain, which
is placed just above the gullet. But in the higher groups these chords are
united throughout their length, and form a double chain, traversing the body
from end to end beneath the alimentary canal. In the higher forms, again,
there is a highly developed circulatory system, consisting of longitudinal and
transverse vessels, but no such organs have been observed in the less higTily
organised types. Very characteristic, too, of all the classes are the excretory
vessels, consisting of tubes that open to the exterior, and at their inner
end communicate with the body cavity.
A bond of union, however, between some of the classes, which in the adult
stages are very dissimilar, may perhaps be sought in the similarity that is
observable in their larval forms. For example, in the groups known as
Polychreta, Gephyrea, Nemertinea, and Turbellaria, in addition to some
others of less importance and extent, the young is an active larva furnished
with cilia, or vibratile hairs, arranged in one or more definite belts around
the body, by the movement of which it is enabled to swim freely through the
water. These groups would thus seem to have at least a common starting-
point in development, from which they have diverged in different directions.
670
ANNELIDS BRISTLE-FOOTED WORMS. 671
But too much stress must not be laid upon this circumstance, seeing that other
marine groups of invertebrated animals, like the Mollusca and Hemichordata,
may also be developed from ciliated larvae not very different in structure from
those that are met with in the Vermes.
The Vermes may be divided into the following six classes : 1. Annelida
(earthworms, leeches, etc.); 2. Gephyrea ; 3. Nematohelminthes (thread-
worms) ; 4. Rotifera (wheel-animalcules) ; 5. Nemertinea ; 6. Platyhelminthes
(flat-worms).
THE RINGED WORMS.
CLASS ANNELIDA.
To this class belong those highly specialised worms whose organisation has
been briefly referred to above. The body consists of a series of rings or
segments, each of which is substantially similar to the one behind and the
one in front of it. The alimentary canal traverses the body from end to end,
and beneath it lies the nerve-chord, consisting of a double thread united in
each segment to form a ganglion or swelling, and connected in front with the
brain, one of the threads passing on each side of the oesophagus. Each seg-
ment, too, typically contains a pair of excretory tubes or nephridia, and the
circulatory system consists of longitudinal vessels, connected by transverse
branches. The most highly organised members of this class, namely, the
Chretopoda, are structurally not very far removed from the Arthropoda
(crustaceans, insects, centipedes, etc.). The chief distinctions between the
two groups are, however, three in number. In all the Arthropods, except
Peripaius, the legs are jointed, and at least one pair of them has become
modified to act as jaws. But in the Chsetopoda, although there may be
distinct leg-like processes, these are never jointed, and the jaws, when
present, are merely horny teeth developed in the mouth. Again, in the
Arthropods the walls of the heart, or dorsal blood-vessel, are perforated by
slits, by means of which the blood makes its way back to that organ,
whereas no such slits are present in the corresponding blood-vessels in the
Annelids. The Annelida are divisible into the CHJETOPODA and HIRUDINEA .
THE BRISTLE-FOOTED WORMS SUB-CLASS CH^TOPODA. At the head
of the Vermes stand the species known as the Bristle-Footed Worms
or Chsetopoda, which in many details of their organisation approach the
Arthropoda. For example, in the typical members of the class the body
consists of a series of approximately similar segments, each of which is
furnished at the sides with two rows of bristles, and very often with limb-
like prominences, known as a parapodia. There is a distinct head, bearing
above the mouth, a prostomium or kind of enlarged upper lip, and often
furnished in addition with one or more pairs of tentacles. The alimentary
canal traverses the body from end to end ; and beneath it lies the double
nerve chord, which is in front connected with the brain, placed in the head
above the mouth.
Leaving aside for the moment some of the less important types, the
Chsetopoda may be said to fall into two orders, known as the POLYCH^ETA
and the OLIGOCH^TA.
The Polychseta have a conspicuous head, usually bearing feelers and
gills, and the segments of the body are furnished at the sides with
limb -like processes, usually supplied with a rich armature of bristles.
6 7 2
VERMES CLASS ANNELIDA.
Nearly all the species are marine, and many of them are of considerable
size and great beauty. According to structuie and mode of life, they are
divided into two sub-orders (1) the SEDENTARIA or TUBICOLA and (2) the
ERRAJSTIA.
The typical members of the Sedentaria live
in tubes of sand, mud, or pieces of shell glued
together by the slimy secretion of their skins,
or composed of a dense, shelly, chalk-like
substance. The worm known as Terebella
constructs a dwelling-place of the former
kind, gathering together the particles by
means of long flexible tentacles placed on
its head ; while tubes of cement are built by
such forms as Serpula and Spirorbis. The
latter is the maker of those tubes so much
resembling a snail-shell, which are common
on our coasts ; while Serpula makes the long,
sinuous, serpent-like tubes which may be
often found in interlacing clusters encrusting
stones and shells of various kinds. When
undisturbed these worms may be seen pro-
truding from their tubes and waving in the
water their gills and tentacles, which are
affixed to the head, but upon the slightest
alarm they shoot back like a flash out of
harm's way, and remain
securely concealed within
their homes until the danger
is overpast. To render it-
self still safer within its retreat, the worm called Serpula
has one of its tentacles transformed into a veritable
stopper, which exactly fits the mouth of the tube and
completely closes it up when the worm has withdrawn
itself.
Although differing from the Serpula and Terebella, and
approaching the Errant Polychseta in many characters, the
common Sand-worm or Lug-worm (Arenicola marina), so
much sought for on our coasts as bait, also belongs to the
group of Ssdentaria. In this species the gills are repre-
sented by plumes situated on the middle segments of the
body. At low water on the sandy shores of northern Europe
the Lug- worm may be found at times in great quantities,
the position of its burrows being easily detected by the
little heaps of sand that accumulate at the entrance. For,
like the Earth-worm, the Lug-worm swallows large
quantities of sand, in order to extract for its nourishment
any organic matter it may contain ; and it ccmes to the
surface to unburden its body of the sand that has passed
through it.
To the section Errantia belong the most highly-organised species of the
class. They lead a free predatory life, wandering hither and thither in
search of food, which consists almost exclusively of animals more defenceless
Fig. 1. TUBE-MAKING ANNKLID
(Serpula contortuplicaia).
a> Gr protrudiD tUbeS Wlth
b, Worm removed from tube.
Fig. 2. LUG-WORM
(Arenicola marina).
PREDATORY ANNELIDS.
673
than themselves. For this purpose they are fitted with organs of locomotion
in the form of prominent limb-like, bristle-bearing, processes (parapodia);
the conspicuous head is supplied with tentacles of various kinds, and
generally with eyes, while the gullet, which
is protrusible, is armed with horny teeth.
Many of these worms are of large size and
are composed of a long series of segments,
a species, for example, named Eunice
(jigantea, is said to have over 400 of them,
and to be upwards of four feet in length.
But one of the commonest forms upon our
coast, known as the Sea-mouse (Aphrodite
acuteatct), is a very different looking
animal, with a short, broad, more or less
oval body, convex above and flat below,
like that of a Slug. Its sides are orna-
mented with the most beautifully iridescent
hairs, and with barbed retractile spines,
which serve as a protection against carnivo-
rous fish or other enemies.
An interesting feature connected with
some of these Bristle-worms, is that their
method of development takes place by
means of what is called an alternation of
generations. In Autolytus, one of the
Syllidse, for example, the worm that is
hatched from the egg and grows to maturity
is a neuter, and is consequently quite in-
capable of reproducing its kind in the
ordinary way. But the difficulty is over-
come by the formation of a new worm, the hinder end of the old one
breaking off and turning either into a male or a female. In some cases
more than one individual is produced at a time by this process of division,
so that before they sever themselves from the parent stock a regular chain
of worms is formed. In another member of this family, namely, the
Branched Syllis (Syllis ramosa), which lives in certain sponges, new individuals
are produced as lateral branches, as well as one behind the other. Very
exceptionally in the Polychseta the young are born alive. In the majority of
cases the eggs give rise to a free swimming larva , the Trochophore or Trochosphere,
characterised by the presence of one or more belts of long vibratile cilia
encircling the body. According to the number and disposition of these belts
the larvse have been named ; those that possess several of them being known,
for example, as Polytrochous. Sometimes there is but one belt, which may
be in the middle of the body {Mesotrochous), or in front of the mouth
(Monotrochous), while not infrequently the Monoirochous larva has a second
belt surrounding its posterior end, when it is known as Telotrochous. Some-
times, again, there is no definite belt (Atrochous), the larva being uniformly
covered with short cilia, bearing, in addition, a special tuft of them at the
front end of the body. Somewhat similar larvae are found in other groups
of Vermes, and are of special interest, as showing possible relationship
between them and the Annelida.
The second order of Bristle- footed worms is named Oligochseta, on account
44
Fig, 3. THE PEARLT NEREIS
(Nereis margaritacea).
a, Entire worm.
b, Head with jaws, feelers, and eyes.
6 74
VERMES CLASS ANNELIDA.
of the relatively poor development of the armature of bristles as compared
with the Polychseta. In other respects they are less highly organised, as is
shown by the absence of tentacles and gills and teeth, and by the fact that
the sexes are united in one individual. The best-known members of this
order are the familiar earth-worms, belonging to the families Lumbricidce,
etc. Most people are probably of opinion that but one species of this animal
occurs in Great Britain; but, as a matter of fact, there are about twenty
belonging to three distinct genera. Another popular belief connected with
them is, that if a couple of specimens be cut in two, and the head end
of one be applied to the tail end of the other, the two parts will grow
together and form a complete individual. In fact, the curious swelling
which may be observed in the fore part of the body of a full-grown worm is
often regarded as the point of union of two such separate pieces. As a
matter of fact, this swelling, called the clitellum or cingidum, is an organ
used in the formation of the cocoons in which the eggs are laid.
Although occasionally seen on the surface of the ground during the day-
time, Earth-worms are for the most part strictly nocturnal and subterranean,
burrowing into the soil in all directions, and devouring any animal or
vegetable refuse it may contain. In connection with food they swallow
large quantities of earth, and when this has passed through their bodies, it
is voided at the surface of the ground, forming the so-called vegetable mould.
During spells of dry weather they bury themselves deep in the earth in
search of moisture, without which life is an impossibility ; and in the
winter months they descend to the lower layers of the soil so as to be out
of reach of the frost. These animals are subjected to ruthless persecution
at the hands of farmers and gardeners on account of their propensity for
pulling shoots of young corn and blades of grass beneath
f the surface. But it is doubtful if the harm done in
this respect is not more than counteracted by the
benefit that plants derive from the ceaseless tunnelling
of the soil, the loosening of its particles, and the
porterage of the lower layers to the surface, to be
deposited as castings. In fact, so extensively is this
work carried on by earth worms, that Mr. Darwin has
compared their action to that of a plough, and adds
that it is doubtful whether many other animals have
played so important a part in the history of the world.
Earth-worms are found in all parts of the world in
spots suitable for their existence, and in some countries
they reach an enormous length as compared with the
common species with which we are familiar. In South
Africa, for instance, there is a species called Microchceta
Rappi, which attains a length of about five feet. It is,
however, by no means frequently seen, rarely appear-
* n ^ n sur f a ce> and then only after heavy rains.
Other worms, however, besides the earth-worms,
belong to the Oligochseta. Many representatives of
this group live in fresh water streams and ditches,
as well as in the sea. For example, the common Tubifex
rivulorum, a long, slender, reddish worm, may be found
in quantities in the muddy bottom of ponds, where it
constructs long tubular burrows. When undisturbed it has the peculiar
Fig. 4. SNOUTED NAIS
(Nais proboscidea).
PREDA TOR Y ANNELIDS- LEE CHES. 67 5
habit of projecting the hinder part of its body from its burrow and waving it
incessantly in the water. But one of the best known of these aquatic worms
is the species called Nais proboscidea, which has long hair-like bristles jutting
out from the sides of its body, and a proboscis-like feeler projecting from
the forepart of its head. This worm may be regarded as more highly
organised than the earth-worm, as is indicated by the presence of a couple
of eyes upon its head. Like some of the Polychaata, too, it possesses the
power of reproducing by fission. Between two of the segments in the
posterior half of the body a mass of tissue appears, and from the front part
of this a new tail is formed for the original piece bearing the head, while
from its hinder part a new head develops for the part that was primarily
the tail-end of the parent form. It not infrequently happens that several
new worms start almost contemporaneously in this way one behind the
other, and before the severance between them is effected, they appear as
a chain of individuals, exactly as described above in the case of Autdytus,
one of the Polychceta.
In addition to the Polychaeta and Oligochseta a third group, called Archi-
annelida, is now referred to the Chaetopoda, in spite of the fact that the
integument bears no bristles, and the only external signs of segmentation
are shallow grooves in the skin and serially arranged rows of cilia (fine hairs).
The head is furnished with tentacles, but there are no parapodia. This
group, lying in some respects midway between the Chaetopoda and the Flat-
worms of the sub-class Turbellaria, contains several marine forms, of which
the best known are Protodrilus and Polygordius. The young of the Archi-
annelida are developed from Trochophore larvae of the type known as
Telotrochous (see p. 673).
Usually now regarded as aberrant members of the class Chaetopoda are
the remarkable species belonging to the genus Myzostoma, of the family
Myzostomidse. These degraded creatures live parasitically upon the Sea-
lilies (Crinoidea), their presence giving rise to tumours or various irregularities
of growth. The body is oval and flattened and unsegmented, and its margins
are produced into a number of short, prehensile filaments ; while on the
lower surface near the edge are four pairs of suckers, and on the inner side
of these five pairs of conical, foot-like processes, each of which is provided
with a pair of retractile bristles. But in spite of the anomalous structure
of the adult, these parasites are developed from free-swimming larvae
furnished with ciliated bands, and calling to mind the Trcchophore of the
Annelida.
THE LEECHES SUB-CLASS HIRUDINEA. The Leeches, or Hirudinea (Latin,
hirudo, a leech), sometimes called the Discophora (disc-bearers), on account
of the suckers with which they are furnished, are not unlike earth-worms in
general appearance, and also in many points of structure. The integument
is divided by shallow transverse grooves into a multitude of rings, a varying
number of which (five to three) correspond to each true segment of the body.
There are no bristles nor organs of locomotion in the form of parapodia,
movement from one spot to another being effected by means of swimming
or by crawling, with the aid of the suckers, after the manner of the " looper ''
caterpillars. There is always a large sucker situated at the hinder end of
the body, and usually a second at the opposite extremity, with the mouth
placed in its centre.
The Leeches are divisible into two families the Gnathobdellidce., or jaw-
676
I T ERMES ANNELIDA.
bearing: species, and the Rhynchobddlidce, or proboscis-bearing species. Of the
Gnathobdellidse, the medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis) is a well-known
example. This animal is usually of a blackish colour, and ornamented witli
longitudinal bands of yellow spots. It is somewhat scarce in England,
and in the days when blood-letting was extensively practised by doctnis
the demand for it was met by the importation of large quantities
from he Continent, where it is not only more abundant than with
us, but was artificially cultivated on a large scale in especially-constructed
tanks. The power of these animals to pierce the skin and draw blood, upon
which their value as blood-letters depends, is due to the presence in the
mouth of three semi-circular jaws, each of whk-h
is studded with a series of minute horny teeth. By
means of a set of powerful muscles these j iws are
capable of being worked backwards and forwards
after the manner of a saw, while by aid of the
sucker, the mouth is kept closely applied to the
wounded spot and the blood is drawn into the
worm's stomach. This is a capacious sac, consisting
of no fewer than eleven pairs of pouches, capable of
considerable distention, and occupying the greater
part of the space between the walls of the body.
When the leech has pumped itself full of blood, but
not before, it relaxes its hold ; and it has been
affirmed that the amount thus imbibed will be
sufficient for a whole year.
In a natural state these leeches are found in
ponds, marshes, or sluggish brooks with a bottom
of mud or clay. Out of water they cannot live for
any length of time, since they speedily succumb to
the drying effects of the atmosphere. During the
day, especially if the weather be warm and bright,
they may be seen swimming about with liveliness,
but in cold or dark days and at night-time they lose their activity, and remain
curled up with head and tail closely applied. In the autumn they bury them-
selves deep in the mud. Their food consists of the blood of fishes or aquatic
amphibians, or of terrestrial vertebrates, that visit their haunts to bathe or
drink. Like earth-worms, leeches are hermaphrodite, and after pairing in the
spring they creep up the banks of the pond or ditch above the surface of the water
and dig burrows in the soft damp soil, and in these, like the earth-worms again,
they construct for the reception of their eggs elliptical cocor ns, formed of a
secretion from certain skin-glands, which afterwards hardens. Externally,
the cocoons are covered with a layer of spongy material, while the inside is
filled with aibumen, in which the small eggs, usuallv about twenty in number,
are embedded. When the eggs are hatched, the young float in the albumen,
and obtain their nourishment from it. Upon quitting the cocoon after
several weeks' residence therein, the young leeches resemble their parents in
form, though they are not dark -coloured. Growth, however, is a slow pro-
cess, maturity not being reached until five years have passed, and life endur-
ing, under favourable conditions, for about twenty years.
A far commoner species in England than the medicinal leech is the so-called
Horse-leech (Aulostomiim, gitlo), which may be distinguished from the former
by the absence of the bands of yellow spots, the skin being of a uniform
Fig. 5. MEDICINAL LEECH
(Hirudo medicinalis).
LEECHES. 677
greenish-black, and by the fact that its jaws are furnished with fewer and
blunter teeth. This difference of dentition is evidently correlated with the
difference in the feeding habits of the two animals, the food of the Horse-
leech, in spite of its name, consisting of such soft-bodied creatures as earth-
worms and snails.
It must not be supposed, however, that all leeches are inhabitants of fresh
water. In many countries, indeed, especially in the tropics, land leeches are
abundant, as many a traveller knows to his cost. They inhabit jungle and
forest land, where the vegetation in the wet season is saturated with moisture;
but in the dry season they entirely disappear, presumably burying themselves
deep in the earth. According to the accounts of those who have had practical
experience of them, these animals are a terrible plague. Gifted with the
power of perceiving the presence of prey at some distance, they hasten
towards it in crowds from all quarters, or collect in the herbage bordering
the forest paths, with head extended, ready to seize hold of any passing man or
beast. To protect themselves from their attacks, Europeans are compelled
to wear leather or closely-woven cloth gaiters, tied tightly round the knee,
while the natives rub their bare legs with oil or lemon juice.
The leeches of the second family (the Rhynchobdellidoe) differ from those
belonging to the Gnathobdellidre, that have been hitherto discussed, in
having the front of the body furnished with a protrusible proboscis at the end
of which the mouth is situated. To this family belongs the fresh water leech
Clepsine. This animal is yellow, grey, or whitish in colour, occurs on the
leaves of plants or on the lower side of stones, and feeds apparently upon
water-snails and the young of fresh water mussels. The eggs, in number
about 200, are not embedded in albumen as is the case in the medicinal
leech, but are of larger size and contain their own food-yolk. They are laid
in flattish cocoons which are attached to some stone or water-plant, and the
leech curls itself round the
^^ ___ cocoon to protect it. More-
over, when the young are
hatched, the mother still con-
tinues to look after them, carry-
ing them about/with her attached
to the lower surface of the body.
Also belonging to this family
is the Warty Sea-leech (Pontob-
deUa muricata) which is common
on our coasts, and may be readily
Fig. 6. WARTY SKATE-LEECH recognised by its greenish grey
(Pontobdella muricata). colour, cylindrical body, and
tough knobby integument. It
is found mostly on fishes of the skate tribe, and hence is sometimes called
the skate-sucker.
THE GEPHYREAN WORMS.
CLASS GEPHYREA..
The worms of this class are all marine, and although more or less cylindrical
in shape, show scarcely any traces of segmentation. The front of the
body is furnished with a large proboscis, and the integument is covered
with warts.
6;8
VERMES CLASS GEPHYREA.
The species fall into two well-marked orders known as the Chsetifera and
the Achseta. The Chsetifera, or bristle-bearing Gephyrea, show strong indica-
tions of affinity with the Chsetopoda, and are by some authors considered to
belong to that class. In the young the body is partially segmented, and
in the adult is furnished below with a pair of hooked bristles. The alimen-
tary canal terminates at the hinder end of the body, and the proboscis, which
is ciliated and often of enormous length as compared with the size of the
animal, appears to be nothing but an enlargement of the prostomium or region
in front of the mouth, the latter being situated at its base. The best-known
members of the group are Bonellia, Echiurus, and Thalassema. They are to
be found at the bottom of the sea or beneath
stones in pools, and appear to be gifted with
but little activity.
The Achoeta have no bristles, as their name
indicates ; there is no sign of segmentation
at any period of life ; the alimentary canal is
twisted upon itself, and terminates in the
front half of the body ; and the proboscis
carries the mouth at its tip, and can be re-
tracted inside the body by muscles specially
set apart for the purpose. In some of these
worms in those, for example, known as
Sipunculus, Phascolosoma, and Phymosoma
the tip of the proboscis is furnished with a
circlet of tentacles surrounding the mouth.
These animals live on the sea-bottom in de-
serted univalve shells, closing up the mouth
of the shell with sand grains cemented to-
gether with slime, but leaving an aperture
just large enough to allow the extensible
proboscis to be thrust in and out with ease.
A British representative of this group is
Sipunculus bernhardus. A still more curious
form is Priapidus, found in deep water in the
North Atlantic. This worm burrows in the
sand, and is furnished with a stout probocis
armed with horny teeth, but without the
circlet of tentacles observable in Sipunculus.
In both groups of the Gephyrea occur ciliated larval forms which present
a close resemblance to the Trochophore of the Polychseta.
Fig. 7. GKPHYREAN WORMS.
A, Bonellia viridis (with proboscis
distended).
B, Priapulus caudatus,
C, Echiurus.
THE THREAD-WORMS.
CLASS NEMATOHELMINTHES.
As implied by their name, the worms of this class are mostly long, slender,
and more or less thread-like. The body is usually pointed at both ends, and
it presents at most but slight external indications of segmentation, and none
of that serial repetition of internal organs which is so characteristic of the
highly organised Annelida. The skin, moreover, instead of being furnished
with bristles or the delicate hairs known as cilia, is protected by a smooth
and relatively tough cuticle. In all the typical members there is a distinct
THREAD-WORMS. 679
alimentary canal traversing the body nearly from end to end, and there is
an excretory system, consisting of tubes lying lengthwise, which com-
municate with each other in the fore part of the body and open upon its
lower surface by a single pore. The sexes are generally distinct.
Although a large majority of the species of this class are parasitic, spending
the whole or part of their lives within the bodies of other animals, a few,
nevertheless, are to be found on plants, on fresh water or damp earth, or even
in the sea. But amongst the parasitic forms we meet with species that are
free during a part of their existence ; that is to say, either during the
immature stages of life or after maturity is attained . Such species as these
thus show an interesting gradation in habit between those kinds that are
wholly independent and those that live permanently in other organisms.
One of the best known of the free living species is the Vinegar or Paste-
eel (Anguillula aceti), which feeds upon the minute fungi found growing in
these substances. Allied forms, known as Leptodera and Pelodera, occur in
water or damp earth ; but, unless supplied with plenty of nitrogenous food
in the form of decaying animal or vegetable matter, they remain in the
larval stage, a supply of food of this nature being necessary for the attainment
of maturity.
Before passing to the most interesting members of this class, namely, those
that are parasitic in animals, and especially in mankind, brief reference may
be made to a couple of species which infest plants and are of considerable
economic importance on account of the damage done by their agency to corn
crops and vegetables of the turnip kind. Adult examples of the Wheat-eel
(Tylenchus tritici) attack developing ears of wheat, converting them into a
kind of gall. Here the young are hatched, ultimately reaching the ground
by the falling of the grain. They are then set free in the moist earth, and
wander hither and thither in search of the young shoots of growing corn. If
successful in their quest they ascend the stalks, and, finally reaching the
summit, take up their abode in the blossom of the wheat ; and, nourishing
themselves upon it, arrive at maturity and then produce new generations.
The second vegetable pest to be noticed is the Turnip Thread-worm
(Heterodera schachti), which gives rise to swellings on the roots of the sweet
turnip or sugar-beet. These swellings are caused by the expansion of the
female worm into a spherical body owing to the quantity of nourishment
she absorbs. Here the eggs are laid, and after being retained for a time in
a special brood-pouch, pass to the outer world, and undergo the first stages
of their development. Subsequently the females bore their way into the
turnip roots by means of a special instrument with which the throat is fitted
fur the purpose.
Passing now to the species that live parasitically in other animals, we find
the simplest life-history in such kinds as Ascaris lumbricoides and Oxyuris
vermicularis, known to medical men respectively as the " round- worm '' and
the ** thread- worm," and occurring not infrequently in the human intestine,
especially during childhood. The eggs of these worms are discharged from
the alimentary canal of their host, and make their way back again through
the mouth in connection with food or impure water. In addition to man-
kind, species of thread- worms allied to those just mentioned infest the
intestines of horses, pigs, dogs, cats, and a variety of other animals.
In addition, however, to the alimentary canal, other organs of man are
liable to the attacks of various Thread- worms. The Guinea or Medina-worm
(Dracunculus medinensis), for example, reaches maturity in the subcutaneous
68o
VERMES CLASS NEMA TOHELMINTHES.
tissue of man in the tropical countries of the Old World, measuring, when
adult, many inches in length. It is usually extracted by being carefully
wound round a small roller, an operation which often occupies several days,
owing to the precautions that are taken not to fracture the animal. But if
allowed to remain beneath the skin, the worm effects its escape to the outer
world through the abscess to which its presence gives rise. Then the young
with which the females are laden make their way into fresh water streams or
lakes, and falling in with minute water-fleas of the family Cyclopidye, bore
their way into the interior of these crustaceans, which are swallowed by
mankind in connection with drinking-water ; and so, by means of an inter-
mediate host, the young Guinea-worms are introduced into their final place of
abode. A similar transference of parasitic worms from one host to another is
of common occurrence in this, as in other, groups of entozoic vermes, and we
meet with it again in another thread-worm ( FUaria sanguinis-hominis) which,
in various parts of the Old World, infests the blood system of man, giving
rise, by the stoppage of the circulation in the small vessels, to the disease
known as elephantiasis. In this case the embryos are sucked from the
vascular system by mosquitoes or other suctorial diptera, and so become
scattered abroad, making their way in all probability back again into the
human body along with drinking water.
To the genera Gordius and Mermis belong the horse- hair worms, so named
on account of their length, slenderness, and colour, which recall the form of
a long hair from a horse's mane or tail. In Gordius, which is found in fresh
water streams and ponds, the alimentary canal is functionless and the mouth
closed. The eggs, deposited in clusters
and glued together by an adhesive sub-
stance, sink to the bottom of the water,
and there remain until the hatching of
the young. These are armed in front with
a sharp proboscis and circles of hooks, by
means of which they bore their way into
the bodies of aquatic insect larvee, such
as gnats and mayflies, and there remain
encysted until the host is devoured by a
fish or carnivorous insect. Thus intro-
duced into the alimentary canal of a
fresh host, the young Gordius subse-
quently penetrate into the body-cavity,
and undergo the semi-final stages of their
development, acquire the form charac-
teristic of the adult, and then making
their escape into the water become fully
adult (see Fig. 8, 6). The other hair-worm
known as Mermis lives in damp earth.
Here the eggs are laid, and the young
penetrate the skin and take up their
abode in the bodies of caterpillars or other insects, whence, after a prolonged
residence, they escape again to the ground, become mature, and lay their
eggs.
The descriptions that have hitherto been given of the life-histories of the
parasitic thread-worms deal with species which lead a free existence, at all
events during a part of life. But the last of the species that we have
Fig. 8. THREAD-WORMS.
a, Trichinosis-worm (Trichina spiralis)
encysted in muscle.
b, Horse-hair worm (Gordius) escaping
from an insect (Mantis).
THREAD- WORMS.
681
space to notice is of special interest, not only on account of its being one of
the most dangerous of parasitic worms to mankind, but also because it
spends the whole of its existence within the bodies of two hosts, carrying
the parasitic habit to a greater extreme than is met with elsewhere in the
group. This is the worm called Trichina spiralis, which gives rise to the
dreaded disease trichinosis. In the adult or sexually mature stage this
worm lives in the intestine of various carnivorous mammals, man being
amongst the number. But the minute young, which are born alive, instead
of making their way to the outer world in connection with excrementitious
matter, bore through the wall of their host's alimentary canal and entering
the blood-stream are carried by the circulation to various parts of the body,
ultimately coming to a standstill in the muscles. Here the little creatures
begin to grow and form, for themselves a protective capsule or cyst between
the fibres of the muscular tissue. Meat infested with these encysted worms
is said to be " trichinised " (Fig. 8, ). In this state the Trichinae remain
without attaining maturity until the meat in which they have taken up their
abode is eaten by another animal, whereupon the action of the digestive
juices of the new host, dissolving away the muscular fibres and the capsule,
set free the worms, which in their new surroundings quickly become adult,
and each female gives birth to thousands of new individuals. Man as a rule
contracts "trichinosis " through eating " trichinised " pork in an underdone
state. But, happily, since the discovery of the source of infection some fifty
years ago, and the introduction of stringent laws against the sale of unhealthy
pork, the disease has become far less common than in former times.
Usually classified with the thread-worms, though differing from them in
the absence of mouth and alimentary canal, and in
other anatomical details, are the parasitic-worms,
known as Ecliinorhynchus, belonging to the group
Acanthocephali. These two names the former mean-
ing "spiny-beaked " and the latter "thorny-headed "
refer to the presence on the worm's head of a retrac-
tile proboscis, armed with rows of backwardly directed
hooks. The various species of Echinorhynchus are
internal parasites, the mature stages being found
in vertebrata of different kinds, and the immature
stages in certain invertebrated animals. For ex-
ample, a species known as Echinorhynchus gigas, which
infests the alimentary canal of the pig, passes the
earlier part of its life in the intestine of the larvse of
various kinds of chafers, such as the cock-chafer
(Melolontha vulgaris) or the rose-chafer (Cetonia
aurata). The migration from the one host to the
other is effected in the following manner : The
embryos of the worm, invested in a protective membrane,
after passing out of the pig's alimentary canal in con-
nection with excrementitious matter, are devoured by
the beetle-larvse along with their food. In the stomach
of the new host the investing membrane becomes
dissolved, and the worm, thereby set free, bores into
the intestinal walls of the larvae. These in turn are
rooted up and swallowed by the pigs, and the young a, Echinorhynchus gigas.
Echinorhynchi thus become transferred again into the b, Sagitta Mpunctata.
Fig. 9.
682 ' VERMES CLASS ROTIFER A.
alimentary canal of the animal from which they set out. The migrations
of other species is substantially similar to that of E. gigas. For instance,
E. polymorphiis lives as a mature animal in the intestine of ducks or other
water-fowl, while in the immature stage it occurs in the little fresh-water
crustacean (Gammarus pulex). This amphipod (G. pulex) is also, in conjunc-
tion with the fresh-water wood-louse (Asellus aquaticus), the intermediate
host of two other species, E. anyustatus and E. proteus, which, when
mature, infest the alimentary canal of fresh-water fish. Instances of the
occurrence of worms of this group in mankind have been recorded, but,
happily, such cases are rare.
Although, probably, more nearly related to the Thread-worms than to any
other group in the animal kingdom, the Arrow-worm (Sagitta) presents so
many peculiarities of organisation that its true systematic position is still a
matter of doubt, and it forms the sole type of an order known as Chsetognatha.
This name, meaning "bristle- jawed," is given to it in allusion to the fact
that the head is armed with a number of strong, movable, horny spikes which
act as jaws. The body is long, slender, and unsegmented, with a rounded,
blunt head, bearing eyes, and a narrow-pointed tail ; but the tip of the tail
and the sides of the body in its hinder half are furnished with horizontally-
projecting fins (Fig. 9, b).
The Arrow-worms, so called from their arrow-like shape, are not parasitic
like the Thread-worms, but are to be found swimming in numbers on the
surface of the ocean in all parts of the world.
THE WHEEL-ANIMALCULES.
CLASS ROTIFERA.
The Rotifera, or " Wheel-animalcules," as they were formerly called, on
account of the appearance in the water of a rapidly rotating wheel, to which
the movement of the circlet of hairs on their heads gives rise, are all
small, aquatic animals, varying in length from \ to 5^ of an inch, and found
universally in marine and fresh water, but most abundantly in stagnant
pools.
The front end of the body is usually broader than the opposite extremity,
and is shaped like a disc, the trochal disc, which is
fringed with long vibratile hairs or cilia. By means
of the currents of water set up by the movement of
these cilia, particles of food are swept into the mouth,
a wide aperture placed in the middle or at the
sides of the trochal disc. The mouth passes into
the stomach, which is supplied with a complicated
armature of teeth, and by means of these the food is
crushed and divided. In the females the alimentary
canal passes right through the body, but in the males,
Fig. 13. WHEEL-ANIMAL- strange to say, it has ceased to be functional, and is
CULES. reduced to a solid chord-like organ. Apart from the
a, floscularia coronetta. cilia of fche trocna l disc, the integument of the body
6, Pedalion mirum. ig g^^h, an d the only signs of segmentation that it
C> ^Stefnudsonf ^ Presents are a few weak wrinkles. The tail-end,
or the foot, as it is called, varies considerably
in structure according to the habits of the species. In some forms that are
NEMERTINE WORMS. 683
fixed (Floscularia), it ends in an adhesive disc or cup, and is not wrinkled nor
retractile ; imt in most of the free-living species the foot is retractile within
the body and terminates in a couple of nippers which serve to anchor the
body in place. In other forms (Pedalion and Hexarthra), the body is pro-
vided with pairs of limb-like processes, ending in a fan-shaped tuft of cilia.
These two are free-living forms, skipping through the water by means of
their limbs and swimming by means of the ciliary wreath.
The habitat of the " Wheel-animalcules " is tolerably varied. They may be
found in ditches, gutters, ponds, and streams ; sometimes attached to stems
and leaves of plants ; sometimes creeping upon them ; sometimes roving
through the water. Some species, again, are parasitic. A species, for
instance, named Drilophaga bucephala, holds by means of its jaws to a water-
worm, Lumbriculus, and sucks the animal it clings to. Again, Callidina
parasitica is always found adhering to the limbs of the fresh-water shrimp
(Gammarus pulex), and merely creeps about the body of its host. And
lastly, the genus named Albertia furnishes an instance of internal parasitism,
its species, vermiculus, being found living in earth- worms .and slugs.
The true position of the Wheel-animalcules amongst the Vermes is one
of some doubt. But it is important to notice the resemblances that exist
between them with their wreath of cilia and the Trochophore larvae of the
Polychsetous Annelids.
NEMERTINE WORMS.
CLASS NEMERTINEA.
Although the members of this division are but little known to the ordinary
public, many of them, so far as length is concerned, are the most striking
of all Vermes. There is, however, a most astonishing difference in size
between various species, for while some of those belonging to the genus
Linens may attain a length of several yards, the species of other genera are
comparatively of quite insignificant dimensions. In other respects, however,
there is a close similarity between the various members of the class, the
structural characteristics of which may be briefly summarised as follows :
The body is not segmented, and its integument is covered externally with
cilia. At the front end a head-region may be distinguished by the presence
of eyes and of a pair of ciliated pits, which are probably sense organs of some
kind. On the lower side of the head opens the mouth, and this leads into
a spacious alimentary canal which traverses the body from end to end. But
in addition to the mouth, the head is also furnished with a second aperture,
from which a retractile proboscis can be shot forth. This proboscis is one of
the most characteristic features of the Nemertiries. When retracted it rests
in a special sheath lying along the back, above the alimentary canal, and
reaching sometimes to the hinder end of the body. In this state the
proboscis has been compared to the finger of a glove that has been turned
outside in within the part that covers the hand, the latter representing the
sheath ; but when proti uded, the organ is comparable to the finger of the
glove in its normal situation. This type of proboscis is of not uncommon
occurrence in the Vermes, and from its method of protrusion and retraction
is often called an "introvert." The nervous system consists of a pair of
chords, one running along each side of the body and uniting at its fore end
with the brain, which lies above the alimentary canal and beneath the
684
VERMES CLASS NEMERTINEA.
proboscis-sheath or rather round the proboscis-sheath like a ring, for the
right and left halves of the brain are joined together by a transverse band
which passes above this sheath. The only other organs that need be noticed
are the paired nephridia or excretory organs situated in the front part of the
body and the thin blood-vessels, sometimes containing red blood, which lie
just above and at the sides of the alimentary canal and unite at the anterior
and posterior ends of the body.
In most Nemertines the sexes are distinct, and, as a rule, the young are
produced from eggs that are deposited by the mother either singly or in
gelatinous clusters ; some forms, however, such as Monopora livijara, retain
the eggs until the development is far advanced and the young aie born alive.
In many species again, as in Linens t
the young goes through a striking meta-
morphosis, the egg giving rise to a free-
swimming ciliated larva known as the
pilidium and consisting of an upper
bell-shaped part, from the lower rim of
which spring a pair of lobes. Within this
larva the young Nemertine is gradually
formed, and when sufficiently advanced
to lead an independent life it breaks free
from its pilidium-case and deserts it. In
other cases the development is less com-
plicated, conditions in different species
having been observed, which lead from the
complete metamorphosis by means of the
pilidium to the direct development of such
species as TetrasUmma and Malacobddla.
The class is usually divided into two
orders, the Enopla and the Anopla, the
difference between the two consisting in
the presence of stylets on the proboscis in
the former and their absence in the latter.
To the Anopla belong such genera as Polia
and Linens, and to the Enopla or Hoplonemertinea, Malacobdella, Tetra-
stemma, and Geonemertes.
All Nemertines appear to be carnivorous, feeding upon annelids or other
soft-bodied living organisms. The great majority of the species are marine,
occurring for the most part amongst sea-weeds and coral rocks, in shallow
water ; a genus, however, called Pelagoncmertes is found in the open sea.
Of the marine forms Malazobddla, which was originally regarded as nearly
allied to the Leeches, lives parasitically upon bivalved Mollusca of the genera
.Mt/a, Venus, and Cypridina. The genus Tetrastemma is interesting for the
reason that some of its species are marine, some fresh water, and some
terrestrial, one fresh-water species having been found in England, another
(T. aquarum-dulcium) in North America ; the two known land species being
from Rodriguez (T. rodericanum) and the Bermudas (T. agricola). The rest
of the land species are furnished by the genus Geonemertes, which has a
representative (G. australiensis) in Australia, another in New Zealand (G.
novce-zelandice), a third in the Pelew Islands (G. palaensis), and a fifth, which
has probably been introduced, in Germany ; all these land species are found
in damp spots beneath logs, stones, etc.
Fig. 11.
a, NBMKRTINH WORM. Lineus marinus
(with proboscis protruded).
b, Land Planarian (Bipalium
kewense).
FLAT- WO RMS. 685
FLAT- WORMS.
CLASS PLATYHELMINTHES.
Many of the worms of this division have been greatly modified by a parasitic
life, have lost all trace of the mouth and alimentary canal, and in the case of
the Tape-worms have acquired a rich segmentation of the body, which, as
will be explained, is subservient to the process of reproduction ; but the
forms that lead a free existence, and may be looked upon as the primitive
members of the class, approach the Nemertines in many points of structure,
though, on the whole, they are much less highly organised, there being no
distinct vascular system, no dorsal proboscis and sheath, and the alimentary
canal, when present, has no posterior outlet.
THE PLANARIAN WORMS SUB-CLASS TURBELLARTA. To this sub-class
belong the free- living flat- worms alluded to above. The flattish unseg-
mented body is either short and broad or long and slender, and, as in
the Nemertines, its integument is covered with cilia. The mouth, which
varies much in position, being sometimes placed at the front end of
the body aud sometimes in the middle of its lower surface, leads into a
muscular pharynx, and this usually passes into a spacious digestive tract,
upon the structure of which the classification of the group is based. In the
first section, named RHABDOCXELA, for example, the alimentary canal consists
of a single undivided pouch. In the DENDROCGELA, on the other hand, the
stomach is branched, being divided into three (Tricladida), or a very large
number of branches (Polycladida), while in the section known as AC(ELA
there is no true intestine, the alimentary canal being merely represented by
the mouth and the muscular pharynx or gullet which immediately follows
it. In some cases, as represented in our figure of Bipalium kewense, one of
the land Planarians, the pharynx is capable of protrusion through the
aperture of the mouth, and of acting as a sucker. The nervous system is
well developed, and consists of a bilobed mass or ganglion placed in the
head, and from this a pair of widely-separated chords pass backwards to the
hinder end of the body, and others go to supply the head and eyes, of
which there are sometimes many, though more usually only one or two
pairs. Sometimes, too, ears of a simple kind are found.
The habitat of Planarian worms is tolerably varied, some species being
found in the sea, others in fresh water, and others, again, on the land.
Most of them are free living. A few, however, have taken to a parasitic
life, two of the Rhabdocoela, named Graffila and Anoplodi'\im^ occurring
respectively upon Mollusca of the snail-kind and upon Sea-cucumbers,
while Bdellura, a Triclad Dendrocosl, lives on the king-crab. All the mem-
bers of the Polyclad Dendrocoels are marine, and in this group we meet
with a metamorphosis in the development, the young Planarian, known
as Midler's larva, being furnished with eight ciliated processes arranged
round the middle of its body. Thus equipped it leads a free life, circling
about in the water. In other members of the class the development takes
place without the intervention of active larval forms. Usually the method
of reproduction offers nothing worthy of special comment ; but one of the
Rhabdocoels, known as Microstoma, presents an alternation of generation such
as has been described in the case of some Annelids (e.g., Nereis). The hinder
portion of the body becomes divided by a partition from the front portion ;
686 VERMES CLASS PLATYHELMINTHES.
each part then again divides into two, the process being repeated until there
may be as many as eight, sixteen, or thirty-two divisions. Each division
acquires a mouth, and when each is sexually mature, the chain breaks up
into a number of separate individuals, which lay eggs, these ultimately giving
rise to sexless individuals, which can only reproduce by fission.
Many Planarians are elegantly coloured, presenting either a tolerably
uniform vivid tint, or considerable diversity of pattern. Two species,
namely, Vortex mridis and Convoluta tckuUeu, the former belonging to the
RHABDOCCELA and the latter to the ACOSLA, are noteworthy in this connection
as being coloured with chlorophyll, the material which imparts to plants
their characteristic green tint, and which enables them under the influence
of sunlight to break up carbonic acid gas into its constituent chemical
elements, oxygen and carbon. Both of these Planarians are of small size,
measuring less than half an inch in length. Many other kinds are, however,
much larger than this, one of the terrestrial species, Geoplaua australis, from
New Zealand, being upwards of a foot long.
The acquatic forms swim by means of the undulatory movement of the
body, aided by the sweeping action of the multitude of cilia which clothe the
integument. The terrestrial forms progress in the same manner, preserving
their moisture by the copious secretion of slime. Avoiding the lighband living
under stones and logs of wood during the daytime, they venture forth at night
from their dark humid haunts, and crawl about with the sensitive head
raised and gently swayed from side to side to feel the way. Their food
consists of earth-worms and defenceless insects, the soft parts of which are
imbibed by means of the gullet, the prey being securely held the while by
the slimy coils of the Planarian. The figure of the Planarian (Bipalium
Jcewense) on page 684, represents one of these terrestrial leech-like species,
which is recognisable by the peculiar shape of its head. It was first
obtained in Kew Gardens, and has been introduced into many parts of the
world in connection with imported exotic plants.
THE TAPE-WORMS SUB-CLASS CESTODA. Almost all the members of this
class live, when mature, as parasites in the alimentary canal of carnivorous
vertebrated animals ; but during the younger stages they occur in different
parts of the body of animals of many kinds, including ticks, fresh- water
shrimps, molluscs, and water-worms, as well as fish, rabbits, pigs, etc.
Unless, in fact, the worm is able to change its host it is quite unable to
reach the adult state. The truth of this is well illustrated in the case of one
of the commonest of mankind's Tape-worms, known as Tcenia solium, which
may be selected as a convenient type to illustrate the life-history and the
structure of the other members of the class.
Upwards of three yards in length, this worm floats in the intestinal juices,
maintaining a firm hold of the inner wall of the gut by means of its minute
pin-sized head, which is furnished for the purpose with a circlet of five hooks
and four strong suckers. Immediately behind the head comes a narrow part,
called the neck, which is unjointed and only about half an inch long. This
is continuous with the rest of the body, which gradually expands into the
characteristic tape-like form, and becomes divided into a vast number of
segments. At first imperfectly defined, these segments become longer and
longer and more and more distinct as they pass from the neck to the posterior
end, the last ones alone being what is called "ripe" and ready to break off
from the parent stock. The worm is furnished with a well-developed muscular
TAPE- WORMS.
687
Fig. 12. TAPE-WORMS.
a, Head of Tcenia sagiiiata.
b, Head of Tcenia soliurn.
c, Head of Bothriocephalus
lalus.
system, consisting of fibres that run lengthwise throughout the body, and
of others that pass from wall to wall of the segments. It also possesses a
nervous and excretory system, the former repre-
sented by a ganglion in the head, whence a pair
of nerves run backwards along each side of the
segments to the end of the body. The excretory
organs consist of a circular canal lodged in the
head, from which spring four branches, one cor-
responding to each sucker ; two of these traverse
the sides of the body, and, becoming united in
the last segment, open by a common aperture on
its hinder edge. They are also put into com-
munication with each other in each segment by
means of a transverse canal, which runs along its
posterior border. Of mouth and alimentary canal
there is no vestige, the animal gaining its nutri-
ment by absorbing the fluids in which it floats.
A Tape-worm is unable to propagate its kind
within the host in which it is lodged. But
each segment contains a complete set of organs
necessary for the purpose, and when it is ripe
and breaks off in the manner mentioned above,
it is found to be charged with eggs. Such a
segment, called a proghttis, makes its way to the
exterior, and, bursting, sets free the eggs, which
are thus disseminated. Sooner or later some of
them, in connection with food or water, are
swallowed by a pig. Each egg is then hatched and
gives rise to the young known as the proscolex,
a minute organism provided with three pairs of hooks (Fig. 12, e). By
means of its armature, the proscolex bores it way through the coats of
the pig's alimentary canal and enters its blood-vessels. It is then
carried by the blood stream to some such organ as the brain, lung,
muscles, etc., where it ultimately becomes lodged. Then growth sets in in
earnest, the proscolex loses its hooks, and, enlarging, becomes converted into
a bladder. Pork thus infested is technically called measly (Fig. 12, /).
At one point of the bladder a deep depression arises, and at the bottom of
this the hooks and suckers of the tape-worm head are developed ; the
depression is then pushed outwards until it becomes a process, carrying at
the tip the head which is thus formed outside in. But beyond this stage,
known as the Cysticercus or Bladder-worm, the parasite cannot pass without
again changing its host. This is effected when the meat of an infested pig
is eaten in an uncooked state by a human being, whereby the Cysticercus
is introduced into the alimentary canal, the bladder is digested, and the head
or Scolex, attaching itself to the wall of the intestine, starts growing in
length, until it assumes the adult form and breaks up into proglottides.
Another tape-worm, common in man, and presenting the same cycle of
development as Tcenia soliurn, with the exception that oxen are the inter-
mediate hosts, is Tcenia saginata, which is larger than the one just described,
arid may be at once recognised from it by the absence of the circlet of hooks
on the head (Fig. 12, a).
A third species that infests mankind, but is of more frequent occurrence
e, Hooked Embryo of Tcenia
solium.
f, Measly Pork infested with
Cysticercus.
688
VERMES CLASS PL A TYHELMINTHES.
in Central Europe than in England, is the cleft-headed or Broad Tape- worm
(Bothriocephalus latus), which is said to attain a length of 30 ft. The
head has neither hooks nor protuberant suckers, but is furnished on each
side with a deep groove (Fig. 12, c). The intermediate hoats of these worms
and of their allies, which live in water-birds, are fresh-water fish of various
kinds, and an interesting fact connected with their development is the ability
of the larvae to live for a while an independent life, swimming about in water
by means of a set of vibratile hairs or cilia with which they are furnished.
It must not, however, be supposed that man is only infested with these
parasites in their sexual stage. There is a kind, called Tania echinococcus,
found in dogs, which scatter the eggs broadcast with their dung ; and these,
if swallowed by man in connection with water or unwashed salad, are con-
verted into embryos, which ultimately, making their way to the liver, give
rise to cysts of large size, and often cause the death of the patient.
FLUKE - WORMS SUB - CLASS TREMATOPA. The Flat - worms belonging
to this section are characterised by having smooth (not ciliated),
more or less leaf-like, shortish, unsegmented bodies, provided with
two or more suckers, by means of which they adhere parasitically to
the hosts they infest. According to the number of the suckers, these
worms are divided into two sections, the Polystomece and the Distomece.
The Polystomere have two suckers in the fore part of the body, and one
large one or several smaller ones at the hinder end ; not infrequently,
too, they are armed with hooks for clinging. This rich equipment
of organs for adhesion is explained by the fact that these creatures live
mostly as external parasites upon various kinds of fish, and are thus
constantly exposed to the danger of being washed from their moorings
by the water. Their development also takes place directly and without
any such curious metamorphoses as obtain in many of the entoparasitic
worms. The following species
may be cited as examples of
this order : Cydatella anneli-
dicola found upon annelidan
worms ; Trochopus tubiporus
on the Gurnet; and Aspido-
gaster conchicola, which lives
in the pericardial cavity of
the fresh-water mussel. Per-
haps the most remarkable
form of all is the one known
as Diplozoon parddoxum, the
double-worm, which frequents
the gills of minnow, gudgeon,
etc. The young of this worm
is ciliated and leads a free
swimming life. It is fur-
nished with two eye-spots and with a small ventral sucker and a dorsal
papilla. In this stage it is known as the Diporpa. After a time the Diporpce
settle down upon the gills of their host, and two of them approaching each
other unite, the one seizing the papilla of the other with its sucker, then
with a dexterous twist the second similarly gets hold of the papilla of the
first, and, growing together, the two become inseparably united (Fig. 13,/).
Fig. 13.
a-e, LIFR HISTORY OF THE LIVER FLUKB.
Free swimming larva ; 6, cercaria larva ; c, redia
larva ; d, young fluke ; e t adult fluke ; / Diplozoon
paradoxum.
FL UKE- WORMS. 689
The Distomeae, as their name, meaning two-mouthed, implies, are pro-
vided with only two suckers, and have no clinging hooks ; for, being internal
parasites, they have no such special need of instruments for maintaining a
secure hold as the more highly organised species of the previous group.
Their development, too, is often complicated by the most extraordinary
metamorphoses, and is accompanied by migrations from one host to another.
A well-known example of this section is the Liver fluke (Distoma hepa-
ticum), which lives parasitically in the liver of herbivorous mammalia such
as sheep. The worm is less than an inch long, and is broad and flat, wider
in front than behind, and bearing on its front end a conical projection sup-
porting the mouth, which is lodged in the centre of a sucker. The second
sucker is situated on the ventral surface a short distance behind the first.
The eggs of the Fluke enter the intestines of the sheep through the bile
ducts, and are thence discharged with the droppings. Thereupon they hatch;
but the embryo perishes, unless by chance it is carried or washed into some
fresh-water pond or stream. If favoured by fortune in this particular, it
swims actively about by means of its long cilia in search of the particular
host in which it is forced for awhile to sojourn. This host is the water-snail
known as Limnceus truncatulus. Into the soft tissues of this mollusc the young
Fluke bores its way, and after losing its cilia becomes converted into an oval
sac known as the Fporocyst. Within this fresh individuals, known as Redice,
are developed, the Redice, being short cylindrical little worms, furnished, like
the parent form, with mouth, gullet, and stomach. After making their way
to the snails' liver, the Redice in turn take up the process of development,
and give rise to individuals as different from themselves as they are from the
ciliated embryo. These new forms, known as Cercarice, somewhat resemble
a tadpole in shape, consisting of a flattish, heart-shaped body, furnished with
two suckers, a mouth, a forked alimentary canal, and produced behind
into a long vibratile tail. These make their escape from the body of the
snail, and, after swimming about for a time, settle upon some plant, and
envelop themselves in a coating or cyst. In times of flood this takes place
upon the grass blades of some overflowed meadow, and in this case there is
a chance that the organism will be devoured by a grazing sheep, and will
become lodged in the bile ducts of its new host, where the development into
the adult Fluke will be completed (see Fig. 13, a-e).
To be regarded in all probability as degenerate Flat-worms are the
minute organisms belonging to the Dicyemidce and Orihonedidce, which live
as parasites, the former in the branchial veins of cuttle-fish and the latter
upon Planarian and Nemertine worms and on sand-stars. They are ciliated
vermiform creatures, without trace of body cavity or alimentary canal, the
chief peculiarity of their organisation consisting in the fact that the solid
body consists of a central mass, composed in the Dicyemidse of one large
nucleated cell, and in the Orthonectidse of a cluster of cells, surrounded
externally by a single layer of ectoderm cells.
45
SUB-KINGDOM VIII.
THE COELENTERATA.
SPONGES, CORALS, ETC.
BY HENRY M. BERNARD, M.A., F.L.S., ETC., AND MATILDA BERNARD.
THE Coelenterata are to be distinguished from all the animals hitherto
described by the fact that the alimentary canal no longer runs through the
body as a free tube suspended to its walls and surrounded by the body cavity.
Animals in which such a closed alimentary canal is found are known as the
Coelomata, on account of the spaces between the canal and the body wall.
In contradistinction, the Coelenterata or hollow-bodied animals are called
the Acoelomata, because the digestive sac fills up the whole body without
leaving any spaces between the digestive layer and the body wall. The body
is, in fact, a more or less simple sac into which the mouth opens.
The Coelenterata, while thus distinguished from all animals higher than
themselves, are nevertheless associated with them owing to the multicellular
c imposition of the body. As Metazoa, or many-celled animals, they differ
from all lower animals or Protozoa, whose bodies are unicellular.
The Coelenterata may be divided into two groups (1) the Sponges, and (2)
the Cnidaria.
I. THE SPONGES.
The Sponges, which ara also known as the Porifera, on account of the
pores that perforate their walls, are usually considered to be Coelenterates of
a very simple kind, although many naturalists place them in a group by
themselves.
The Sponges have been the subject of frequent discussion among naturalists
from the time of Aristotle down to the present day. Aristotle was of opinion
that they were animals, because they appeared to shrink when torn from the
rocks, and thus seemed to show signs of sensation, but their real nature was
altogether misunderstood by most of the earlier naturalists, some considering
them to be plants, others congealed foam of the sea. Lamarck, even,
imagined the apertures on the surface of a Sponge to be the mouths of cells
occupied by small polyps something like the Coral polyps, which, however,
could never be discovered in their homes. Peysonnel, on the other hand,
considered a large worm which often lives in Sponges to be their "sole
fabricant, the rest being mere nidus or excretion." About one hundred and
fifty years ago the secret of Sponge life was revealed when the fact that
water is drawn into the Sponge and expelled by it was established, but the
various ways in which the currents of water pass through the body, and their
relation to the life of the Sponge, were not accurately investigated until about
seventy years ago, and are, indeed, still to a certain extent problematical.
690
SPONGES. 691
In the Sponge we have the very simplest type of Metazoan or multiccllular
animal. The component cells of the body, which, in the higher Metazoa,
lose much of their individuality, functioning in masses (as tissues or organs)
for the good of the whole complex organism rather than as individuals for
their own benefit, are comparatively little modified in the body of the
Sponge, still acting individually almost more than collectively.
The body wall of a Sponge consists of two layers. The outer layer is of a
gelatinous nature, and contains (1) cells which, like some of the unicellular
animals such as the Amoeba (Fig.l,p.714),can change their
shape, throwing out processes in various directions; and Constitution of the
(2) needle-like bodies, called spicules, which are formed Sponge Body,
by cells and give firmness to the wall and support the
apertures on its surface. The inner layer primarily consists of cells closely
resembling another form of unicellular organisms, the collared FJagellata
(Fig. 6, C, p. 738). Each of the collar cells in this layer is provided with the
whip-like appendage which characterises the Flagellata, so that the whole inner
surface of the wall of the simplest Sponge is lined with fine, waving whips.
The presence of these "whip cells" at one time led naturalists to consider
the Sponges as mere aggregates of unicellular animals.
The very simplest type of Sponge, such as the one depicted in Fig. 1, is a
simple sac, generally more or less cylindrical, and attached by its narrowed
base to a rock or some other surface. This sac, which opens above by a
wide, circular orifice, the oscule, consists of an outer and an inner layer such
as have just been described.
The water necessary to the life of the Sponge does not enter in at the
oscule, which must not be considered as a mouth, but through multitudes of
much smaller apertures or pores that perforate the wall.
Within the cavity of the sac the collar cells of the lining laytr
draw in from the water, which enters at the pores and streams
out at the oscule, small particles of nourishment, and for this
reason this space has been called the " gastral cavity." All
indigestible matter, together with the water containing it, is
ejected through the oscule. The whips with which the collar
cells are provided keep the water in constant motion, and help
to draw it in through the pores and to eject it through the
oscule.
Other Sponges are less simple in structure, complexity
being brought about by the thickening of the walls of the sac
and by new arrangements of the whip cells.
In a rather more complicated type of Sponge, the wall is
bulged out in the form of numbers of small radiating tubes.
The wall of each of these tubes is perforated by pores through
which the water is drawn by the action of the whip cells, and
is passed on into the central cavity with which all the tubes (Ascetta).
communicate. It is finally ejected through the oscule, which
has here the same position as in the simpler type of Sponge. In this second
type of Sponge the collar cells line the tubes only, the central cavity being
lined with flat cells.
In still more complicated types of Sponges with very thick walls an
elaborate canal system arises, leading the water through the thick walls to
the central cavity. The collar cells here no longer line either the central
cavity or the canals, but form the lining of a great number of round
692 COELENTERATAI. PORIFERA.
chambers which may be called "whip chambers." The water, entering
through the pores on the outer surface, passes through canals into these
spherical chambers, the whips of the lining cells keeping it in movement
and sending it on through
The Canal System, other canals, which unite
with those from other
whip chambers to form large channels that
finally open into the central cavity. When
such a sponge is cut across and highly
magnified we see, as in the diagram Fig. 2,
an elaborate and repeatedly branched system
of canals. The whip chambers unite the
ramifications, which come from the outer
surface (the incurrent canals), with those
that lead to large trunks opening into the
gastral cavity (the excurrent canals). F{ ^_- DlknM OP TIIE CAKAL
Ihe above descriptions apply only to what SYSTEM OF A SPONGE.
maybe regarded as single sponge individuals ;
but, by repeated budding, individual sponges may, in some cases, form colonies
in which the individuals are no longer separately recognisable. This bud-
ding process giving rise to colonies is, however, not the
Development of a only method of reproduction. In a Sponge whose life-
Sponge, history has been fully worked out, the process is as
follows : Eggs are produced at certain parts of the body-
wall which, when fertilised, divide up and give rise to small oval embryos
covered with cilia. These are either solid or are provided with a small
central cavity. They escape from the parent through the oscule, and swim
about for a short time, varying from a few hours to a day or two. During
this time they change their shape, and spicules develop in their walls.
When such an embryo attaches itself and becomes a sponge, the whip cells
which clothed the outer surface and rowed the tiny creature about, come, in
various ways, to line the interior and set up currents of water which bring
in the necessary food.
Although the canal system is so essential to the life of the Sponges, and is
so typically developed in the different kinds, its various modifications are
apparently of little use in classification. Those who have
Classification of made Sponges a special study prefer to group them accord-
Sponges, ing to the structure of the hard parts which support the
outer layer of the body. These hard parts are either
spicules or fibres, and are very rarely absent.
In the Calcareous Sponges, the skeleton consists of separate spicules of
carbonate of lime. In the Siliceous Sponges, flinty spicules are found, which
either remain separate or become united together to form networks or other
supporting structures. There are, further, Sponges with skeletons composed
of horny fibres, and besides the spicules or fibres secreted by the Sponge
itself, foreign objects are sometimes appropriated to assist in the formation
of the skeleton.
The spicules found in Sponges assume a vast variety of shapes, a few of
which are given in Fig. 3. Some are like fine needles pointed at both ends,
others have several rays, the number of these determining the classification
of the Siliceous Sponges into those with six or four-rayed or uniaxial spicules.
Other spicules, again, terminate either at one end or both in anchor-like
SPONGES.
693
Fig, 3 SPONGE SPICULES.
projections, or else resemble thorny sticks ; others end in lobes instead
of points. The spicules either lie embedded separately in the Sponge
tissue, giving it firmness, or unite in many dif-
ferent ways, forming rosette-like or plate-like
structures or else delicate supporting frame-
works. Several kinds of spicules may be found
in the same Sponge. Besides strengthening the
body, they also protect it, as is evident from
their position. Spicules of the anchor type are
frequently found projecting from the outer sur-
face, especially round the oacules and pores, and,
in some Sponges, spicules stand out like thorns
all over the surface of the gastral cavity.
The exceedingly fine and brittle nature of
Sponge spicules causes them to penetrate any soft
object that comes in contact with them. If some
Sponges are handled carelessly, a burning irrita-
tion is set up by the fine points, which pierce and
break off in the skin. One Sponge has on this
account received the significant name of Agefas
noli tangere. This peculiarity no doubt efficiently protects Sponges from
many enemies which might prey upon them.
In size, Sponges vary greatly ; some are minute objects only to be distinctly
seen under the microscope, others form enormous masses several feet high.
By far the greater number of Sponges live in the sea ; a few species of
fresh-water Sponges, however, occur in our own rivers, lakes, and ponds, and
many others are found in various parts of the globe.
A considerable number of marine Sponges are to be found in our own
coasts, but these are less attractive in appearance than some of the tropical
Sponges, especially those with elegant framework,
produced by combinations of six-rayed spicules.
The skeletons of the Venus's Flower Basket (Fig.
4, A), the Lacework Sponge, and Bird's-Nest
Sponge are familiar objects in museums. Below
the beautiful framework of the Sponge itself, a
tangle of very fine threads resembling spun glass
is to be seen. These are modified spicules, and
by their means the Sponges anchor themselves in
the mud. The Glass-Rope Sponge (Fig. 4, B)
derives its name from the rope-like appearance of
the anchoring threads, which are slightly twisted.
Among the more massive Sponges is the
Neptune's Cup, which may stand several feet
high.
The most familiar of all Sponges, the Bath
Sponge, has a skeleton of horny fibres. In a
living condition, it forms large
d k * f ten *] m * *>lack ma * ses ' The Bath S P n e
the surface of which is raised up (Euspon
into numberless conical promin- nahs).
F;g. 4.-S.X-RATKD SPONGES
(Tlexactinel Udce).
A, Venues Flower Basket
B,
(Hyalonema).
, .
large oscules ; each oscule is surrounded by an
694
COELENTERATAL PORIFERAIL CNIDARIA.
iris-like membrane ; fine pores are to be found opening on the surface
between the conical prominences. Canal systems with whip chambers run
through the entire mass, all the cavities and canals being lined with flat cells,
while the collar cells are restricted to the whip chambers. The tissue
through which the canal systems run receives firmness from the presence
of the horny fibres, which are specially plentiful along the chief canals and
round the oscules.
The Bath Sponge, like most of the other massive Sponges, may be regarded
as a colony, each individual of which consists of a cavity opening through an
oscule and of the canal system which finally leads into that cavity. Such
colonies arise by budding ; the reproduction of the colony is, however,
effected by means of eggs which grow into free-swimming larvse.
The Bath Sponge flourishes on the coasts of the eastern half of the
Mediterranean, in the West Indies, the Bahamas, and Florida. The
sponges are fished for either with harpoons or nets, or are obtained by means
of divers, and are carefully prepared for the market. Large Sponges are also
artificially produced from small pieces which, under favourable conditions,
grow to a marketable size in the space of about seven years.
II. THE CNIDARIA.
The Cnidaria, which form the other great division of the Coelenterata
derive their name from the peculiar stinging cells with which they are
provided. They have been divided into : (1) The Hydrozoa, or water
animals, to which all the Zoophytes or plant-like animals, and some of the
Jelly-fish belong. (2) The Scyphozoa, which include most of the larger
Jelly - fish, the Sea - anemones, and the
Corals. (3) The Ctenophora or Comb-
bearers.
A short account of one of the simplest
and most easily accessible of the Hydrozoa
will serve to give some idea of the essential
features of the Cnidarian body. The Hydra
is a small fresh-water Hydrozoan very
common in ponds and
The Hydrozoa. aquaria. As it is from
to \ an inch in length, it
can easily be seen with the naked eye hang-
ing from the under surface of some water
plant or other submerged object, to which
it has attached itself by a very simple kind
of sucker at the lower end of the body.
The free end terminates in a mouth at the
tip of a prominence which is surrounded
by a ring of long tentacles. Both the body
and the tentacles are exceedingly contrac-
tile, so that while the whole animal, when
retracted, appears like a gelatinous ball
crowned with bud-like knobs, when fully
extended its body is slender and the
tentacles thread-like.
The walls of the simple tube-like body
of the Hydra consist of two layers of cells an outer layer in contact with the
Fig. 5.
THE FRESH-WATKR POLYP ( Hydra).
Stinging Cells (Nematocysts), much
magnified.
A, The veaicle with thread discharged.
B, The vesicle containing coiled thread.
THE FRESH-WATER POLYP. 695
surrounding medium, and an inner layer lining the tube- like interior or
stomach cavity. Separating these cell layers there is a very thin intermediate
or supporting (non-cellular) layer. This supporting layer by itself might be
thought of as a kind of framework exactly corresponding with the shape of the
body, for it penetrates even to the tips of the tentacles, which arise as
outpushings of .the body wall, and are therefore themselves tube-like. In
this intermediate layer are found all the processes of the cellular layers
which function as nerves and muscles. At the mouth, the outer and inner
cell layers pass into one another ; this is an important point, because, as we
shall presently see, the arrangement of the layers at the mouth forms one of
the chief distinctions between the Hydrozoa and the Scyphozoa.
The cells of the outer layer of the Hydra body are chiefly remarkable for
their stinging apparatus. The stinging cells contain minute vesicles (Fig. 5),
many of them measuring not more than T -^^ of an inch, in which are coiled
up stinging threads, which are very valuable weapons of attack and defence.
Each of these stinging cells is provided with a minute projection, the cnidocil,
and it appears that, when this is touched, the vesicle shoots out its long,
coiled, barbed thread so rapidly that, delicate as it is, it is able to penetrate
the body of any creature rash enough to approach too near. The poisonous
effect of these weapons is shown by the fact that any small animal thus
attacked appears to be paralysed; the victim speedily ceases struggling to
escape, and is drawn in by the tentacles to the mouth. It is said that each
tentacle of a Hydra is provided with many thousands of such weapons,
which are being constantly produced afresh, new cells taking the place of
those which have been discharged.
The cells constituting the inner lining of the body are provided with fine
hairs or whips, and are capable of changing their shape, and of sending out
processes into the cavity of the body ; they are therefore called amoeboid
cells. The simple crustacean or other prey which, caught and paralysed by
the stinging tentacles, has been pushed through the mouth into the cavity of
the body, is digested by the cells of this lining layer. Whatever cannot be
assimilated is thrown out again at the mouth, the muscles of the body wall
and the current of water kept up by the whips in the cavity assisting in this
process.
The Hydra often reproduces itself by means of buds which grow out from
the parent body, and when fully equipped for independent life, break off and
attach themselves near the parent. But, at certain seasons, a large globular
body forms at some part of the surface of the fully-grown Hydra. This
represents an egg, and, when fertilised, separates from the parent and
develops into a new Hydra.
The Hydra and its allies have a wonderful power of repairing injuries
which the body may suffer. Almost any part of the body, if cut off, is able
to reproduce the rest. Some naturalists have amused themselves by produc-
ing monstrous growths possessed of a large number of heads, and others have
tried the experiment of turning the sac-like body inside out, and have even
asserted that the Hydra is able to carry on its life activities in such a condi-
tion. It has, however, been proved that, under such circumstances, the
Hydra either manages to regain its normal state or else dies.
In this account of the Hydra, which is also known as the Fresh- water polyp,
in contradistinction to other marine polyps, such as the Sea-anemones, the
Corals, and the Zoophytes, we have noticed some of the essential points in
the structure of the Cnidarian body. Among these are the sac-like nature
6 9 6
COELENTERATAIL CNIDARIA.
of the body, the digestion of food by the walls of the body cavity, the capture
of prey, and defence against enemies, by means of the formidable stinging
threads.
The Hydra we have described is not an entirely stationary animal ; it can
detach its disc and creep along by using alternately its tentacles and its disc, and
sometimes even casts its body loose, using the expanded
Hydroid Colonies disc as a float and the tentacles for swimming. Most other
Zoophytes, Hydroids, however, unite to form stationary colonies, the
young, which bud from each successive generation, re-
maining attached like branches, orby means of
rootlets, to the original parent animal. Such
colonies are often found encrusting empty
shells, which they sometimes entirely cover
with branched growths. One of them is re-
presented in Fig. 6. Some of the members
of this colony (A, A) bear a great re-
semblance to the Hydra, having the same
tube-like body, surrounded at the free end
by a crown of tentacles. But a large colony
of such highly contractile creatures as the
Hydra clustered together would be un-
manageable, so, in these cases, their trunks
are generally enveloped in a more or less
stiff covering, which protects and supports
the colony. The free ends of the individuals,
with the mouths and tentacles, however,
protruding from the open ends of the en-
velopes, contract and expand freely.
In the branched Hydroid figured, two
important points are to be noticed. First,
the gastral cavities of all the members of the
colony are in communication with each other,
so that, when one of them captures food, the superfluous nutritive fluid
produced can be passed on to the other members through the communicating
canals that run along the trunk and stems. Secondly, while most of the
members of a colony are Hydra -like, and help to feed the whole, others
(Fig. 6, B) are quite unlike the Hydra, differing both in the shape of the
body and in the character of the tentacles. These, which are called Medusoid
individuals on account of their resemblance to Medusae or Jelly-fish, are the
members in which the reproductive elements are produced. In some cases
the inedusoid buds remain attached to the colony, and send forth ciliated
larvae, which swim away and settle later to start fresh colonies ; but, in the
colony depicted, the medusoid individuals break loose, swim about freely,
often greatly increasing in size, and after a time give rise to young forms
which attach themselves as Hydroids.
Here, then, we have a most interesting phenomenon. These colonies of
Hydroids are stationary like trees or bushes, and, as in the case of trees or
bushes, it would be a disadvantage to them if their young grew up too close
around them; they would crowd each other to death. In the vegetable kingdom
there are many beautiful arrangements for securing the scattering of the
seed, but surely none more beautiful than the method adopted by some of
the Hyroids. The individuals selected to bear the young change their:
Fig. 6. A HYDROID COLONY (Bougain-
villea ramosa).
A, Hjdra like individuals.
B, Medusoid individuals.
HYDROID COLONIES.
697
shapes, break off and swim away as minute Jelly-fish (Fig. 6, B), dispersing
their young as they go.
Before giving any further account of these reproductive individuals, we
must describe the Hydroid colonies a little more closely. They frequently
resemble delicately branching trees or bushes, fine moss, or feathers, or
sometimes form crusts over stones hence the name of Zoophytes or animal-
plants. Such growths are very common on our coasts, and are still popu-
larly considered, on account of their plant-like appearance, to be sea-weeds ;
this deceptive appearance being heightened by the fact that the very minute
polyps forming the colony are, in many cases, when contracted, entirely
hidden within the protective framework. This common protective covering
is sometimes of a horny nature and transparent, sometimes hard and chalky,
and, round the be dies of the individuals of the colony, may take the form of
cups into which the soft polyps can withdraw. The Campanularians received
their name from their bell-shaped, protective cups. In the Sea-firs or Sertu-
laria, the cups project from each side of the stalk; in the Plumularians, from
only one side. In other forms, again, there are no protective cups. The
Oaten straw coralline (Tubularia) resembles a number of closely-packed straws,
from the ends of which the beautiful little crimson-tentacled polyps project.
Besides these colonies which invest themselves with hard, tubular cover-
ings, there are others in which the chalky parts become so greatly developed
as to form massive skeletons so like those of Corals that
they were long classed as such. These Hydrocorallia are The
often found in coral reefs, and would be taken, by the Hydrocorallia.
uninitiated, for true coral. In one family, the skeleton
of which exactly resembles that of a branched, pink coral, the similarity is
even carried out in the structure of the polyp. This family has received
the name of the Stylasteridse, because of the central style or column which
seems to imitate the columella of the true coral.
Another family of the Hydrocorallia, the Millepora, affords an interesting
example of the division of the life-work of a colony among its different
members. We have already described
colonies in which the feeding was
undertaken by some of the members
and the reproduction by others, but
here we have a more remarkable dis-
tinction between the different members.
If we examine a mass of skeleton of
a Millepore, the minute apertures on
its surface are often seen to be arranged
in groups, one larger, central aperture
being surrounded by a number of smaller
ones. When the surface of such a
skeleton is alive with polyps, the central
tube is inhabited by a polyp shorter and
thicker than its neighbours, with a mouth
and a few knob-like tentacles (Fig. 7,
A). From the smaller tubes, long slen-
der polyps project, not provided with
mouths, but only with tentacles (Fig. 7,
B). The outer slender polyps keep up
a constant waving motion, bending from time to time over the central polyp.
Fig. 7. MILLEPORA.
A, Gastric individual
B, Teutaculate individual.
698 COELENTERATAIL CN ID ARIA.
With their tentacles, no doubt amply provided with stinging threads,
they catch the food which, being themselves unable to eat, they pass
on to the mouth of the central polyp. Within the body of this central
polyp the food is digested, but not for itself alone, as the products of
digestion, flowing along the many canals of the colony, feed all its
members. There are no free swimming Medusae connected with these
Hydrocorallia.
We return now to the reproductive individuals, which, in many Hydroid
colonies, carry and distribute the eggs (Fig. 6, B). These, when seen
swimming about independently, are so like the larger Jelly-
Hydromedusae. fish belonging to the Scyphozoa that they were long mistaken
for them. The general plan of the body, indeed, is very
similar and is worth describing, especially in order to show what changes are
necessary in the ordinary Hydra-like body to produce a swimming bell.
In all Medusae the general shape of the body is due to the great thickening
of the middle supporting layer in the body wall, which we described in con-
nection with the Hydra. Instead of a long body like that of the Hydra,
running like a tube from the mouth to the bottom of the gastric sac, we have
one flattened out like an umbrella, the upper part of the umbrella corre-
sponding with the former closed end of the tube, while the mouth is at the
tip of a short stalk or handle to the umbrella. The transformation of the
Hydra into the Medusoid can be imagined by supposing the mouth pro-
minence between the tentacles to be pushed down into the body, which
expands laterally, till the whole forms a bowl with the oral prominence
rising up in its base; the tentacles take up positions on the rim of the bowl.
The stomach lies partly in the mouth stalk or manubrium (handle) and partly
in the body of the umbrella. Here it sometimes forms a cavity, and a number
of canals run from it radially out, like spokes, to the edge of the umbrella,
there to meet a canal which runs round the margin. When food is taken
into the stomach the nutritive fluid derived from it passes through the radial
canals to the circumferential canal and nourishes the whole body. The
number of these radial canals in the Hydromedusse is usually small (two,
four, or eight), and these are little if at all branched. The margin of the
body is fringed with tentacles, and carries the so-called "marginal bodies,"
some of which are minute bags (lithocysts) containing bodies called otoliths,
whose function is usually said to be auditory, but is more probably that of
regulating the position of the animal in the water. Other brilliantly coloured
bodies, a<.ain, have been named "eye-spots." The Hydromedusae were
formerly distinguished from the Jelly-fish proper as "naked-eyed " Medusae,
because in them these "eyes" are exposed, whereas in the other Jelly-fish,
or "covered-eyed" Medusae, they are protected by a hood-like lappet of
gelatinous tissue. Simple tactile organs are also found along the margin of
the Hydromedusae, round which a double nerve ring runs.
Another characteristic of the Hydromedusae is the velum (veil), a thin,
muscular membrane which hangs down from the margin of the umbrella,
slanting inward toward the manubrium.
The swimming movements of these animals also deserve notice. The
lower concave surface of the " umbrella" is supplied with a very thin layer of
contractile tissue or muscle, by the contraction of which the umbrella is
partially closed. This action, performed suddenly, drives the water out from
under the umbrella and propels the Medusa along.
The eggs, in the Hydromedusae, form along the radial canals, or on the
HYDROID COLONIES PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR.
699
inner walls of the manubrium, and give rise to ciliated larvae which pass
through the cavity of the umbrella into the open water, become attached, and,
by budding, produce new Hydroid colonies. Such colonies again produce
Medusoids, and so on. This process is a simple case of what is called
alternation of generations. The Hydroid form has been called in German
the "nursing" generation, as it does not itself produce the young, but
brings to perfection the individuals which, when free, become the reproduc-
tive generation.
Although most Hydromedusse are the products of a Hydroid colony, and
their eggs develop again into such colonies, there are others which develop
direct from forma in every respect like themselves, i.e., the young ones no
longer pass through any attached Hydroid stage. On the other hand, there
are Hydroid colonies which never develop free medusoid forms to secure the
dispersal of their progeny.
Leaving the fixed Hydroid colonies and their free swimming members, we
come to the one remaining group of the Hydrozoa, the Siphonophora, which
consists of large Hydroid colonies, no longer attached, but
floating freely about. These are very complicated The Siphonophora.
creatures in which the Hydroid and Medusoid type of
body is so curiously changed as to be scarcely recognisable, and in which
also division of labour has reached an extreme point.
The Siphonophora are exceedingly striking and beautiful objects, only to
be seen in tropical seas, where they delight the traveller by their exquisite
shapes and brilliant colouring.
The colonies are not branched, but the many members are arranged round
a central stalk. The cavities of all the members communicate as in the
Zoophytes. The uppermost individual is turned into a kind of air-bladder for
floating the colony, and then come a number of individuals turned into
swimming-bells which drive the whole colony through the water. Beneath
these locomotory individuals come nutritive individuals, which are often
little more than stomach-tubes, reproductive individu-
als, frequently in clusters, and protective individuals,
arranged in such a way as to overlap the nutritive and
reproductive members of the colony. There are,
further, tentacular individuals which are usually long
filaments (sometimes called fishing lines). These are
richly provided with stinging batteries, their function
being to capture food for the colony and to defend
it from, its enemies.
In the simpler forms of Siphonophora the stalk is
long, and the members of the colony project from it
at intervals. Sometimes several pairs of swimming
bells follow each other for a short way down the stalk,
in other cases a single pair heads the colony. In
other forms the stalk is much shortened, and a central
air-bladder is surrounded by medusa-like swimming
bells, the other members of the colony being crowded
together beneath these. One of the best - known
Siphonophora is the Portuguese Man-of-War, illus-
trated in Fig. 8. This is one of the most specialised
forms. The large, crested, and exquisitely coloured air - bladder alone
appears above the waves. This air-bladder secretes its own gas, and has
Fig. 8 THE PORTTTGUKSB
MAN-OF-WAR (Physalia).
700 COELENTERATA-II. CNIDARIA.
an aperture through which some of its contents can be forced out. The feed-
ing, reproductive, and other members cluster beneath the float, and several
immensely long filaments, supplied with multitudes of stinging batteries,
trail down into the water. The stinging powers of this Cnidarian are so
great that adventurous people who have tried to capture a large tpecimen
have narrowly escaped with their lives.
Turning now to the second great division of the Cnidaria, the Scyphozoa,
we find that an important change has taken place in the simple sac or tube-
like body. A tube has grown inward from the mouth
The Scyphozoa. into the body, forming a passage to the stomach (a simple
kind of oesophagus) ; this, being an ingrowth from
outside, is always lined with the outer layer of the body wall. All the
Scyphozoa i.e., the Jelly-fish proper, the Anemones, and the Corals are
distinguished by the presence of this oesophagus from the Hydrozoa above
described.
In the Hydrozoa we had single stationary polyps, stationary colonies,
medusoid individuals which have broken loose from stationary colonies, and
medusse which no longer belong to any stationary form. In the Scyphozoa,
also, we have single stationary polyps, colonies of polyps, and free-swimming
medusse. Taking the last of these forms, the Scypho-
The medusse, first, we find not only that they are far larger
Scyphomedusae. and more important than are the Hydromedusse, but that
the thickening of the middle gelatinous layer of their body
is even greater than in the Hydromedusse. The gelatinous tissue is a mere
network of connective tissue, the interstices of which are filled with water,
which far exceeds in volume all the delicate body tissues of the animal. This
is well illustrated by the fact that a Jelly-fish weighing 34 Ibs., and measur-
ing 7 ft. in diameter without its tentacles, when left to dry in the sun, in a
few d*ys lost j 9 ^ of its original weight. It has also been stated that, when
a large Jelly-fish is placed in the sun on blotting paper, nothing but the out-
line of its form has been found after a few hours have passed.
These Scyphomedusse differ from the Hydromedusse in several ways.
The margin of the umbrella is generally lobed, and there is no true velum ;
the mouth at the tip of the manubrium is often square.
An English Jelly- The cavity of the body is more complicated than in the
Fish (Aurelta Hydromedusse, being divided up in various ways, and
aurita). the radial canals are often richly branched. To the
Scyphomedusse belong, not only many lovely tropical
forms, but those commonly seen floating in our own waters. In the
commonest of these last (Aurelia aurita) the margin forms eight slightly
marked off lobes and is fringed with very fine tentacles. The square mouth
is edged with four long arms, which hang down into the water and catch
prey. At the eight notches between the lobes are small sensory bodies
which are protected in the way characteristic of the "covered eyed"
Medusse (as the Scyphozoa were formerly called). Four large coloured
patches, which are very marked on the upper surface of the umbrella,
represent the reproductive masses, beneath which the under surface of
the umbrella is hollowed out into four pits. The water needed for
aerating the tissues is thus brought into closer proximity to the reproductive
elements.
A curious modification of the ordinary form is found in the Rhizostomse
or Root-footed Jelly-fish. The corners of the square mouth at the tip of the
JELL Y- FISH SEA -ANEMONES. 70 1
manubrium are prolonged into long oral arms. The edges of each of these
fold together so as to form tubes. The mouth then closes and suckers are
developed along the inner surfaces of the tubes, through which alone
nourishment reaches the stomach. Very large prey, such as fLh, is often
captured by these Jelly-fish, and held fast by the oral arms while the
nourishment is sucked out of it.
In many of these Jelly-fish, reproduction takes place by means of eggs
which develop in the reproductive chambers. These eggs usually develop
into Medusae, but, in the large family of the
Discophorse, to which our own Jelly-fish
belong, the larva which results from the egg
is a small spherical body covered with cilia,
and never grows into a Medusa direct. It
attaches itself to a rock or sea-weed (Fig. 9, 1),
develops tentacles, and lengthens out. Con-
strictions then begin to appear round its body :
the first just below the tentacles, and others
successively further down. The edges formed
by the constrictions become lobed, and the i, Larva. S, Strobila.
little creature, usually not more than an inch
long, soon has the appearance of a series of saucers with lobed margins piled
one upon another, but increasing in size upward (Fig. 9, S). After a time
the whole structure breaks up, each detached disc developing later into a
Medusa, often of gigantic size. This curious process of a sexual multiplication
is known as strobilation, each series of developing young being a strobila,
which is the Greek for fir-cone.
There is only one permanently attached form among these Medusae. This
is the Lucernaria, a very beautiful flower-like animal often found adhering
to sea- weed.
The Anthozoa or flower-like animals, which form the next group of the
Scyphozoa, include the stationary Sea-anemones and the Corals, the living
bodies of both of which are built on essentially the same
plan. The body of the Sea-anemone, however, always re- The Anthozoa.
mains soft, while that of the Coral proper develops a hard
skeleton. For this reason the Sea-anemones have been called the Fleshy
Corals, while one large division of the Corals is cilled the Stony Corals, on
account of their stony skeletons. The Sea-anemones always remain single,
while the Corals comprise both single and colonial forms.
The Sea-anemone is a familiar object to most of us, as it is very plentiful
on our rocky shores. Small, coloured, jelly-like masses are often to be seen
adhering to the rocks at low tide, which, as soon as they
are again covered by water on the return of the tide, The Sea-anemones
expand in beautiful and brilliantly-coloured flower-like (Actinia).
animals. Looking down upon an Anemone, the central
mouth can generally be made out fringed with its tentacles. If the body
were cut across a little below the level of these, we should find that it con-
sisted of two tubes, one within the other. The inner tube is the stomach
tube or oesophagus, lined with the outer skin, which, as above described,
characterises all the Scyphozoa. It is united to the wall of the outer tube,
which is the body wall of the Anemone, by a number of fleshy partitions,
which, running right through the length of the body, divide it up into many
compartments. The uppermost portion of each of these compartments runs
702
COELENTERATA-II. CNIDARIA.
up into a tentacle. These fleshy "septa" are infoldings of the inner layer
of the wall of the sac-like body. They do not all arise at the same time,
nor do they all project equally far into the body cavity. Only some of them
run out far enough to connect the two tubes in the upper part of the body.
This dividing up of the body into compartments is one of the chief dis-
tinctions between the Sea-anemone polyp and the Hydra polyp. In many
other respects the Sea-anemone closely resembles the Hydra. It has the
same power of retracting its tentacles and reducing its whole body to a bud-
like shape. It captures food with its tentacles, and digests it within its
body cavity, throwing out at the mouth all that it cannot assimilate. It has
also a limited power of motion, not, however, like the Hydra, using its
tentacles for this purpose, but gliding along on its base.
The Anemone is still richer than the Hydra in stinging cells. It has been
calculated that some Anemones possess as many as 43,000,000 of stinging
cells in one tentacle, and in the whole body something like 6,450,000,000.
The stinging cells in Anemones measure from 3!^ to ^oVo ^ an i ncn ^ ne
thread being often twenty times as long as the cell, and more richly supplied
with barbs than are those of the Hydra. These cells, too, in the Anemone,
are not merely found in the outer skin, but form in great quantities in the
gastric cavity.
The outer skin of the Anemone is not always smooth and jelly-like ; it is
often covered with wart-like protuberances, which sometimes secrete a sticky
fluid. Some Anemones have, further, a circle of " eyes " placed like a
necklace round the body. Each of these has a lens and simple optic nerve,
but the latter is not connected with any other nerves. From time to time,
as the Anemone grows, it is able to cast off its outer skin, after having
formed a new one beneath it ; the old skin can often be seen in a wrinkled,
dead-looking condition encircling the base of the animal.
Although none of the Sea-anemones found on our own shores attain the
size of some of the tropical specimens, they are very beautiful and well
worthy of study. A few only can here be briefly described.
The Plumose Anemone (Fig. 10) and the Daisy Anemone are two of the
English varieties of the Sagartiadse, so-called after a tribe in the army of
Xerxes, known for their practice of en-
tangling their enemies by means of noosed
ropes. All these Anemones possess, attached
to the septa of the gastric cavity, tangled
masses of stinging threads resembling
tangles of white cotton. These they can at
Fig. 10. THE PLUMOSK ANKMONB
(Actinoloba dianthus).
Fig. 11. EDWARDBIA.
will shoot out of the mouth, and, in some cases, through apertures at the
sides of the body, for the purpose of paralysing their enemies. In large
SEA-ANEMONES. 703
specimens these " acontia " may, when extended straight through the mouth,
measure as much as six inches.
In the Plumose Anemone, which is flesh-coloured, pale orange, or clear
white, the pillar-like body is surmounted by a widely-expanded, frilled disc
edged with numberless fringe-like tentacles. When these Anemones move
along on the disc small pieces are sometimes torn off and left behind. These
pieces can develop into young Anemones ; at other times young forms bud
out from the parent.
In the Daisy Anemone the upper part of the body wall is studded with
suckers, to which fragments of shell or gravel may become attached. In
colour this Anemone varies greatly, almost all shades,
from a delicate flesh colour to a deep chocolate or olive The Daisy
green, being seen in various specimens. The small Anemone
tentacles are arranged in many rows, and may amount to (Sagartiabellis).
500. The Daisy Anemone is exceedingly prolific. Its
young, which arise from fertilised eggs, are usually matured within the body
cavity and thrown out at the mouth as minute but perfect Anemones. From
160 to 300 of such young are said to have been produced by a Daisy
Anemone in a single day.
The Cloak Anemone is noted for being constantly found in company with
the Hermit Crab, on the lip of whose borrowed shell it attaches itself. Two
wing-like lobes grow out from the base of the Anemone,
gradually surround the lip of the shell, meeting finally on Th e Cloak
the other side and forming the so-called "cloak." The Anemone
Anemone no doubt profits by its chosen position, as it can (Adamsia palhata).
feed on particles of the prey caught and torn up by the
claws of the crab, and is borne along by him in his wanderings, sometimes
thus travelling a mile or two out to sea, and enjoying constant change of
water. If the shell chosen by this strange couple is too small for the
Anemone, or gets broken, it can fabricate a shelly substance which makes
good all defects.
The Opelet, so called because its disc is habitually expanded, has long,
emerald-green tentacles, which can coil round its prey.
Large sea - weeds are often found studded with these The Opelet
beautiful flower-like creatures, which, in some parts of (Anthea cercus).
France, are appreciated as an article of food.
The Beadlet is distinguished by brilliantly coloured beadlike vesicles set
near the edge of the disc. These may be stinging batteries, for these
Anemones are not provided, like the Sagartiadse, with
internal stinging threads. The Beadlet, which is also The Beadlet
called the Strawberry Anemone, is the commonest of the {Actinia inesembry-
red Anemones found on English rocks. It is very hardy, anthemum).
and has been known to live as long as thirty years in
captivity, during that time giving rise to three hundred and thirty-four
young Anemones.
The Dahlia Wartlet has the surface of its body covered with small
grey warts to which fragments of stone or shell adhere.
This Anemone is scarcely less abundant on our shores Wartlet *
than the Beadlet, and is very handsome, one variety (Tealia
having white tentacles, vividly contrasting with the crassicornis\
crimson disc. It is particularly voracious, devouring
shore crabs, limpets, and other molluscs, and even sea-urchins and fish.
704 COELENTERATAIL CNIDARIA.
The Cave-dwelling Anemone, though plentiful on our coasts, is very
difficult to find, its colouring being wonderfully adapted
The Cave-dwelling to the sand or mud of the pools it inhabits. The black,
Anemone white, and grey of the disc are arranged in delicate
(SagarUa patterns, which have been compared with those on the
troglodytes}. feathers of a snipe. The purpose of concealment is
further aided by fragments of shells, etc., attached to the
suckers on its column.
In the Edwardsias (Fig. 11, p. 702) the body is much elongated, and
the lower part is usually buried in the sand or mud.
The Crimson One of the best-known of these Anemones is the Crim-
Pufflet son Pufflet, which often inhabits the old burrows of
(Edwardsia carnca). Molluscs in limestone rocks on the coast of South
Devon, the beautiful crimson tentacles protruding from
the mouth of the burrow.
On tropical shores there are many brilliantly beautiful varieties of Sea-
anemones, some of which attain a very large size. Actinia paumotensis,
found on the islands of the Paumotu Archipelago, is
Tropical described by Dana as one of the most beautiful of all
Anemones. Anemones. It has a disc often 14 in. in diameter,
* ' densely covered with large tentacles tipped with bright
lake, the margin undulating so as to form numerous lobes, each of which
has the appearance of being a separate Actinian, ard the whole resembling
a beautiful bouquet. " Other tropical forms have been said to resemble
brilliantly-coloured carpets covering the rocks. Some of these large, tropical
Anemones are used as homes by ether animals, which live within the stomach
cavity. A fish some 3 in. long and very vividly coloured in striking con-
trast to its host, and a biightly-coloured prawn are almost always found thus
associated with certain large Anemones on the great Barrier Reef of Australia,
as recently described by Mr. Saville Kent. These curious lodgers emerge
from their refuge from time to time to swim about in the sea, but dart back
again into the mouths of their hosts when pursued by enemies. It has been
supposed that this association may be of advantage to the Anemone as well
as to the fish and the prawn. Animals are attracted to pursue these brilliant
decoys and fall victims to tie voracious Anemone, while the fish and the
prawn live on the crumbs which fall from the feasts of their magnificent
friends and protectors.
In the Corals proper, the polyps are essentially like the Sea-anemones, but
are able to form a hard, protective framework for their bodies.
The soft, fleshy body first gives off upon the rock below
The Corals. it a quantity of chalky matter from its base, and thus
forms a kind of pedestal for itself, which is called the
foot-plate. From this, six hard ridges rise up into the body, given off by
the fleshy parts of the base ; six, at least, is the number first produced,
other ridges arising later in the intervals between these. From the outer
edges of these plates, phlanges may grow out till they meet one another,
and make a hard ring supporting the ridges. Sometimes, too, a hard
column arises from the centre of the foot-plate; this is called the columella.
All over these hard ridges, rings, and columns, the basal skin of the soft
body of the animal fits closely. This arrangement is doubtless pro-
tective, for, on being disturbed, the whole animal, which was perhaps seen a
moment before as a beautiful Anemone, with expanded tentacles, collapses
CORALS.
705
12. THE OTTP CORAL
( Caryopn yllia).
between the projections, and nothing is seen over them but a thin shiny
skin.
Fig. 12 shows us the skeletons of two solitary corals which have
thus built up their pedestals to a considerable
height. The greater number of coral polyps,
however, do not remain solitary, but are
continually producing daughter polyps, whole
families together forming great colonies, each
member of which as it grows adds its own pedes-
tal to the mass. All the stony corals seen in
our museums are but the complicated skeletons,
i.e., the combined pedestals of polyps whose soft,
jelly-like bodies have perished. In the living
state these hard masses were covered by the flesh
of the animal colony, as a thin layer of slimy
matter. The individual Sea-anemone-like animals
lurked in the cavities, rising and expanding their
tentacles when in search of food, but drawing them back under shelter
whenever threatened or disturbed.
Corals are usually grouped according to the number of divisions, compart-
ments, or "rays'" in their bodies, each compartment, as in the Anemone,
running up into the hollow axis of a tentacle.
Six-rayed polyps have six tentacles or (approximately) some multiple of
six, eighteen, twenty-four, forty-eight, and even more.
Eight-rayed polyps have eight tentacles or some multiple of eight.
Most of the six-rayed polyps live in great colonies, their skeletons produc-
ing the chalky masses with which we are much more familiar than we are
with the living animals. One important family of the
six-rayed polyps, however, the Fungidse, or Mushroom
corals, consists of single individuals. The median slit seen Corals (Hexaciinia).
along the surface of the Mushroom coral (Fig. 13) indicates
the position of the mouth,
while the many jagged ridges
that radiate out from it and
give the whole the appearance
of an inverted mushroom are
the hard, stony ridges and
partitions over which the body
of the polyp fits. When the
polyp is expanded, all this
skeleton is hidden from view
The Six-rayed
by the beautifully coloured Fiy> 18. A MUSHROOM CORAL (Fungia).
soft body, the whole surface
being one mass of tentacles, often of a vivid green, tipped with white.
With these tentacles, each richly provided with stinging cells, the huge
polyp paralyses and masters its prey, using them also as weapons of defence
against enemies. When disturbed, the whole animal sinks down among the
toothed ridges, which project through without actually piercing the thin
skin, and may well defy any enemy to touch him. These Mushroom corals,
when young, are cup-like or cylindrical like other corals, and provided with
a stalk ; as they grow, the sides of the cup get flatter and flatter until the
whole becomes quite flat, or the bottom of the original cup rises even higher
46
7 o6
COELENTERA TA II. CNIDARIA .
than the rim. The young, as a rule, bud from the under surface of the
parent, then drop off, and lie loosely on the rock or sea-bottom. A branched
form is known in which young Fungia drop from the tips of branches.
This branching condition, which is exceptional in the Mushroom corals,
is the rule in nearly all other corals. By division or budding of various
kinds an endless variety of colonies are produced. Sometimes, as among
the Zoophytes, the polyps build up
branched frameworks, from which
at intervals they protrude, like
flowers from a branched stalk.
The form of such colonies depends
upon the intervals separating the
polyps, and the angle at which
they branch out from the parent
individuals. In Fig. 14, in the
coral on the left, the polyps are far
apart, in that on the right the
budding is frequent and the polyps
crowded. In this latter case the
skeleton is penetrated in all direc-
tions with canals which, for a cer-
tain distance below the surface,
carry food juice from polyp to
polyp. The Madrepores, of which
the coral to the right of Fig. 14 is
an example, are amongst the most
important builders of coral reefs
and islands. Other coral colonies form waving plates, often beautifully
frilled at the edges, the polyps usually projecting from the upper surface of
the plate. The variety in form and structure of coral colonies is, indeed,
almost endless.
Entirely different coral forms are produced by polyps which, instead of
budding, simply divide into two or more new individuals. In Fig. 15 we
have a hemispherical mass, the surface
of which is thickly set with star-like
polyps ; some are seen expanded, with
the slit-like mouths in the centre of the
disc, others are in a retracted condition.
The star-like shape of the polyps in
this kind of coral has obtained for it the
name of star-coral. On such a mass a
larger polyp is often found which has
two mouths instead of one ; a row of
tentacles forms between the two
mouths, this row then breaks up
into two, and two polyps are seen on
the surface where only one was before.
In this case we have complete division of the individuals, for, while these
outer changes have been going on, corresponding changes have been taking
place below the surface, resulting in a more or less complete division
of the original animal into two. In these colonies, the whole hemispherical
mass, which may grow to an enormous size, is built up layer after layer, the
Fiff. 14.-CORAL COLONS.
Dendrosoma. Madrepora.
Fig. 15. THE STAR CORAI/ (Astrcea).
CORALS. 707
living flesh of the colony never forming more than a thin layer over the
surface.
The skeleton of the Brain Coral (Fig. 16), -which is distinguished by the
systems of ridges and furrows winding over its surface, is builfc up in
successive layers like that of the Star Coral,
bub the polyps multiply in a different
manner. Each long furrow denotes the
former home of a large polyp, which formed
a whole row of new mouths without dividing
up into new individuals. Here, therefore,
we have incomplete division of the
individuals. This furrow was fringed by
tentacles which rose above the ridges. After
a certain stage of elongation of the polyp was Fig, 16. BRAIN CORAL (Maeandrina).
reached, the body completed itself, as it
were, with a new row of tentacles between two of the mouths, and so a new
individual was started.
While budding and division play such a large part in increasing the
number of polyps forming a colony, each new colony itself is started by
another method of reproduction. Eggs, which form on
the internal partitions or septa of the polyp, give rise to Development of
minute larvae that swim about, first within the body of Corals,
the parent, and then in the open water, sometimes for as
long as two months. Then they attach themselves by one end to a rock or
some other surface, and begin to assume the polyp shape, tentacles and
mouth developing at the free end of the body, and the hard parts form as in
the parent animal. Such polyps, by budding and division, found new
colonies.
All the skeletons we have as yet mentioned are more or less massive or
stony, as is usually the case with the skeletons of the six-rayed polyps (hence
the name stony corals), but some colonies of this division
secrete horny instead of chalky skeletons. The skeletons The Black Corals
of the Black Corals or Antipatharia form branching tufts (Antipatharia).
or trees of horny substance. The surface of the branches
appears smooth and polished, and, in some of the larger species, resembles
ebony. These corals grow to a great height as single trunks, or as tree-
like growths ; sometimes the separate branches fuse to produce networks.
In such coral skeletons there are none of the traces of the former presence
of polyps such as we see on the surface of the stony corals, because the
branched stem is merely the central axis of the living colony that produced
it and once covered it with a soft crust. Out of this crust the individual
polyps protruded at intervals. The hard, rod-like skeletons of the Black
Corals are used by natives in various parts of the world for dagger handles,
necklaces, or mouthpieces for pipes, on account of their toughness and
susceptibility to polish.
The eight-rayed polyps differ in several ways, too technical for us to enter
upon, from the six-rayed polyps. The eight tentacles of the individual
polyps are toothed or feathered, and form a more
imposing crown than do the simple cylindrical tentacles The Eight-rayed
of the six-rayed order. The hard parts produced by Corals (Octactinia}.
them, in the majority of cases, take the form of a central
axis like that found in the Black Corals, but here of chalk or horn, or of
7 o8
COELENTERA TAIL CNIDARIA.
Fig. 17. ORGAN-PIPE COHAL
(Tubipora musica).
chalk and horn alternately. The fleshy crust which covers the axis, and out
of which the individual polyps protrude, is
supported by chalky spicules or plates
scattered through its substance (see Fig.
18). There are, however, massive forms
produced by the eight-rayed polyps which
have no central skeletal axis, such as the
Blue Coral (Heliopora) and the Organ Pipe
Coral (Fig. 17). In the latter, the polyps
grow up side by side in separate tubes
which result from the fusion of coloured
chalky spicules. Those tubes, from which
the coral takes its name, are, at regular intervals, joined together by
platforms. It is from these platforms, where the interval between two
tubes is considerable, that new buds arise to grow up alongside of the older
polyps. Both the skeleton and the soft parts of this colony are of a deep
crimson, the tentacles of the polyps being of an emerald green.
The coral we probably know best in its skeletal condition, the Red Coral
of commerce, is also the product of one of the eight-rayed corals. Some
idea of the structure of this coral in its living
condition may be gained from the diagram-
atic section of it given in Fig. 18. The
central hard (chalky) axis answers to the
smooth red branch with which we are
familiar. This is covered by a layer of soft
tubes, some of which, in the illustration, are
thrown back in order to reveal the hard axis,
the grooved markings on which show where
the canals ran. These tubes convey the
nourishing fluid through the whole colony,
receiving it from the polyps and giving it off
through branches connecting them with the
soft crust that lies over them. Throughout
this crust star or plate-like spicules are
scattered, which give it . some degree of
firmness. Three polyps are seen in the
illustration : the one to the right has its
fringed tentacles extended in search of prey,
the middle one is in a retracted condition, and that to the left is cut across
to show the partitions in the body. The soft bodies of these polyps are pure
white, and the effect of their feathered tentacles, projecting here and there
from the bright red crust, is very beautiful.
These corals form tree-like growths often several feet high, and are very
plentiful in the Mediterranean. Coral fisheries on an extensive scale are
carried on, chiefly by Italians, off the coasts of Italy, Algiers, and Spain, the
corals being dredged for with nets. The soft living crust is easily removed,
and the axis, which takes a high polish, is used for ornamental purposes.
Though the two corals last described, the Organ Pipe Coral and the Red
Coral of commerce, as well as a few other of the Octactinia, are rigid
growths, in the majority of the eight-rayed corals, which have horny axial
skeletons, the branches are not hard and stiff like those of the stony corals,
but can wave about with the motion of the water, the brightly-coloured
Fig. 18. THE RED CORAL OF COM-
MBRCB (Corattum rubrum).
CORALS CORAL REEFS.
709
Fig. 19. SKA-PBN
(Pennatula).
living jelly that covers them often glistening with metallic lustre. Some-
times the delicate branches unite to "form networks, as in the Sea-fans
(Gorgonia). In other cases fine branches stand out from a central shaft, and
the whole colony resembles a feather with its barbs.
Fig. 19 represents one of the Sea-pens belonging to
this group. The lower end of the colony does not
carry any polyps, but is buried in sand or mud. This
is a peculiarly beautiful object when alive, especially
in the dark, as waves of phosphorescent light sweep
over the surface of the colony and make it glow with
indescribable beauty. It is these graceful and vividly-
coloured corals which form the chief adornments of
the coral reefs, the solid rocks of which are derived
from the harder and more massive skeletons produced
by the six-rayed corals.
The marvellous beauty of the banks covered with
living corals in the Red Sea and elsewhere, where
shallow water enables the traveller to feast his eyes
on these exquisite growths, has often roused the
enthusiasm of naturalists. They have been compared
with fields or gardens of the choicest and most
brilliantly-coloured flowers growing in the richest
profusion, all the intervals between the larger growths
being filled up with bright moss, which is itself com-
posed of minute corals. Among the elegant flowering
shrubs and bushes of this garden brilliantly-coloured fishes, glittering with
metallic lustre, dart to and fro ; Star-fishes, Sea-urchins, and Snails climb
about among the branches, while transparent Crustaceans and Jelly-fish
swarm in the crystal water around.
Before quitting the Corals we must briefly recall the important part they
have played in Nature in helping to build up the continents which we now
inhabit, a process which can still be seen going on in the
great coral reefs and islands of tropical seas. With the Coral Reefs and
exception of a few unimportant forms, Corals are now Islands,
restricted to regions within 30 on either side of the
equator, the more important reef-building forms being able to carry on their
life activities only in water above a certain temperature. Even within these
latitudes corals are not found everywhere. They flourish best in the Indian
Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Carribean Sea, where the reef-builders are
at work over thousands of square miles.
A coral reef is a bank of coral rock built upon the shallow sea-bottom
immediately surrounding the shores of tropical lands. Where the land is
edged by a reef, as in the island of Mauritius, the ordinary
beach passes into a flat irregular bank terminating at a The Fringing
varying distance from land, in a ridge over which the Reef,
sea continually breaks. This bank, which is called a
" fringing reef," is almost entirely made up of the skeletons of colonies of
corals, with which, however, are mixed the calcareous remains of myriads of
molluscs, sea-urchins and crabs, and the tubes of the tube-dwelling worms
which haunt every cranny and crevice of coral growths. At low tide broad
expanses of the coral rock are to be seen just above water level, strongly
contrasting with the usually steep shore of the land to which the reef forms
;io COELENTERATAIL CNIDARIA.
a margin. At high tide, except when a retreating wave reveals a small
portion of rock, the only sign of the presence of the reef is the line of
breakers along its outer edge, where the shallow water suddenly passes into
deep water, the outer side of the reef sloping steeply down to a great depth.
Between this outer edge and the land a shallow basin or channel arises, and
here the water is usually very clear, and brilliantly-coloured corals are seen
covering the rocky bottom.
From such a " fringing reef " there arises, in process of time, a " barrier
reef." The channel between the edge of the reef and the shore tends to
widen, the corals along its bottom not flourishing so well
The Barrier Eeef. as those along the outer edge. The water, too, in which
they are condemned to live receives its chief additions from
rivers or streams of fresh water washing down mud and Band from the land.
The corals here, indeed, cannot grow fast enough to repair the continual
disintegration which is going on. The coral colonies at the edge of the reef,
on the contrary, grow luxuriantly, continually raising the level of the reef
and carrying it out to sea. It seems at first sight strange that corals exposed
to the full fury of the breakers should thus flourish ; this is no doubt due to
the constant supply of food in the shape of minute organisms which swarm
in the open sea. Even the storms which often break up the coral colonies
into fragments help on the work they are doing, as the broken pieces are
thrown up on the reef and fill up all interstices left in it, rendering it thus
only the more solid and complete. Even the fragments broken off can give
rise to new colonies if only the living polyps retracted within their stony
cells have escaped undamaged, and provided also that their new position is
favourable in the matter of food.
Barrier reefs are found rising up like ramparts against the waves even as
much as one hundred miles from the shores where they must have originated.
They thus cover vast areas of the sea-bottom. The Great Barrier Reef off
the N.E. coast of Australia is 1100 miles long, the distance from land of its
outer edge being usually from 20 to 30 miles, and in places over 100 miles.
Saville Kent computes the total area of this reef, built up by coral polyps, as
at least 80,000 square geographical miles ! Over the whole of this enormous
area of coral rock, the water remains comparatively shallow, while the outer
edge dips down almost suddenly into as much as 1000 fathoms. The whole
surface of such a reef is covered, wherever the circumstances are favourable,
with living masses of coral, while, in the large areas where the corals cannot
flourish, the reef is a vast conglomerate, the sand and fine mud, swept about
by the tides, filling up the interstices between the skeletons of original coral
colonies.
When reefs form round small islands, the edge of the reef rising a little
above the water, a coral island is produced, enclosing a lake or lagoon out of
which rises the original island. Such circular reefs are
Coral Islands and also found surrounding a clear lake of still water without
Atolls. any island in the middle ; these latter are known as
*' atolls." These wonderful products of the coral polyps
are a very marked feature of tropical seas, to the beauty of which they
greatly add. The reef encircling an island or smooth lagoon becomes raised
above the level of the surrounding sea by the debris washed up upon it ; as
a rule, however, it does not rise more than a few feet above the surface, the
sea often dashing, at the narrower parts, over into the enclosed lagoon. In
other cases, it may rise 10 or 12 ft. above high tide and may be covered
CORAL REEFS SEA GOOSEBERRY.
711
with the rich verdure of the tropics, the wind and birds having supplied it
with seeds as soon as it rose above the waves. The enclosed lake is often
fringed with graceful palms, and the whole island, the product of minute
coral polyps, becomes a fruitful habitation for man.
These different kinds of reef formations were all traced back by Darwin
to fringing reefs, and accounted for by the subsidence of the land round
which these reefs originally formed. A fringing reef would gradually become
a barrier reef as the land on which it stood sank, and in the same way, a reef
surrounding an island would be transformed, after subsidence of the island,
into a circle of coral rock enclosing a lake. As long as the highest points of
the land remained above water, the lagoon would contain islands, but, when
the original land had entirely sunk beneath the waves, an atoll would result.
In the case of a very large island, surrounded, as New Caledonia now is, by
a barrier reef, the gradual sinking of the land would lead to the formation of
a complicated archipelago of islands, like that of the Maladives to the west
of Ceylon, where 12,000 small islands appear to represent a huge reef which
must once have surrounded a vast island long since sunk beneath the waves.
Darwin's theory of subsidence has, however, recently been disputed, and
cannot be considered as fully established.
The Ctenophora, which constitute the last division of the Cnidaria, are
beautiful, almost transparent, marine creatures, either more or less round in
form, or else flattened out in the shape of ribbons.
Their relationship to the other groups is still a matter of The Ctenophora,
uncertainty; they are often placed near the Hydrozoa.
The animals belonging to this group move through the water, mouth
downward, by means of swimming plates or "combs," from which they take
the name of Ctenophora or Comb-bearers. Eight
rows of these swimming plates run from pole to pole
of the body, each plate consisting of a row of fine
hairs or cilia connected at their bases, but capable
of independent movement. The animal can, at will,
move the plates either separately or collectively, and
thus bring about slow locomotion in the direction
opposite to the mouth, and, by the help of tentacles
and other appendages, twisting and swaying move-
ments can also take place. In the ribbon-like forms
muscular contractions bring about serpentine move-
ments.
The mouth leads into a stomach, which, again,
opens into a funnel that sends off eight vessels, which
run, in meridians, down the sides of the body, just
below the eight rows of swimming plates. The animal
is usually provided with tentacles and with long
"capturing filaments" (Fig. 20). These are not
armed, like the tentacles of other Cnidaria, with
stinging cells, but with small knobs on coiled stalks,
which are called ** adhesive" cells. These are not
poisonous, but simply sticky, and when shot out at
prey entangle it and prevent its escape. They differ from stinging cells also
in the fact that they are not finally discharged from the body, but, when
the prey is mastered, can be drawn in again, and are capable of functioning
any number of times.
Fig. 20. THH SKA Gooac-
BKRRY (Cydippe).
712 COELENTERATAIL CNIDARIA.
Another peculiarity of the Ctenophora is a sensory organ always found at
the end of the body opposite to the mouth. This somewhat resembles a
small weight borne on springs, and, as it i3 sensitive to the slightest oscilla-
tions of the body, seems to enable the animal to regulate its position in the
water.
The Sea Gooseberry, depicted in Fig. 20, is a good example of a round
Ctenophoran, the swimming plates and long capturing filaments being well
developed. The best known of the ribbon-like forms is Venus's Girdle
(Cestus veneris). The mouth lies at the centre of the long, transparent
ribbon, which has no swimming plates, but is fringed with cilia. When
alarmed, this Ctenophoran can roll up either or both ends of its body
spirally, but, when undisturbed, passes through the water with a graceful,
undulating motion. Its iridescent colouring makes it a peculiarly lovely
object. Other Ctenophorans are barrel-shaped, or resemble Phrygian caps,
and many are beautifully phosphorescent at night.
Most of the Ctenophora feed on small Crustaceans. Some, e.g., the
Beroidse, are very voracious, devouring creatures of their own kind, and often
larger than themselves, as the mouth is very wide, and the body distensible.
They have even been known to swallow and digest fish.
All the Ctenophora multiply by means of fertilised eggs and ciliated larvae,
which only very gradually attain the adult form.
SUB-KINGDOM IX. THE PROTOZOA.
ANIMALCULE.
BY HENRY M. BERNARD, M.A., F.L.S., ETC., AND MATILDA BERNARD.
THE Protozoa, or first animals, are distinguished from all others by the fact
that they are unicellular organisms, i.e., the body of a Protozoan consists of
a single cell, whereas the bodies of all other animals, or Metazoa, are built up
of many cells. The one-celled Protozoan is capable of all the vital functions
of feeding, moving, breathing, and reproducing itself. In the Metazoa, the
greater number of the living cells of which the body is composed are
stationary in relation to one another, and the vital activities of the whole
have to be considered apart from the lives of the individual cells building it
up. We accordingly find these cells arranged into organs and tissues, each
specialised for some function necessary to the life of the whole.
The Protozoan, then, is a free-living cell essentially like the cells which,
organised into great masses, build up the bodies of all other animals.
All the Protozoa are of microscopic size, and are therefore removed from
ordinary observation. This is the more to be regretted since they compare
favourably with other classes of animals in variety and beauty of form, and
probably surpass all others in actual number of existing individuals. At
least five thousand species of these minute creatures are known, swarming,
at the present day, in salt and fresh water or in other animal organisms.
There are, in addition, several thousand fossil forms, the latter representing,
of course, only those Protozoa of past ages which were provided with a shell
or skeleton capable of preservation. Countless millions of such shells form
the chief constituent of vast areas of limestone rocks all over the world's
surface, and, in some more or less transformed condition, enter into the com-
position of a large part of the earth's crust. Vast numbers, again, are daily
being deposited on the sea-bottom to form the rocks of future ages. Nine-
tenths of the ooze over the greater part of the North Atlantic consists of
the shells of Protozoans, and one ounce of sand from the Naples shore yields
no fewer than one and a half million of their shells or parts of such shells.
The very lowest of the Protozoa, that is, the very simplest of all animals,
called the Monera, are mere microscopic particles of living jelly or protoplasm,
in which, so far, no definite structure has been discovered.
The Monera. In all other Protozoa, however, some differentiation of
the protoplasmic body has been found. Among many
minute granular particles scattered about in the jelly, there is always one
body (sometimes more than one) somewhat larger than the granules, and
different in character from the rest. This usually rounded body is known as
the nucleus.
713
714
PROTOZOA.
The lowest of the nucleated Protozoa are the Rhizopoda or root-footed
animals, a name given to them on account of their manner of moving by
means of root-like prolongations of the body. The
The Rhizopoda. simplest of these Rhizopoda is the Amoeba, which has
been called the Proteus animalcule because of its constant
changes of shape. These animalcules are to be found in most rain-water
puddles and in ponds, and when seen under the microscope might escape
observation as mere specks of clear jelly-like matter, yet the careful observer
will find that each such speck is capable of moving about and feeding, and,
indeed, can be proved to be living, carrying on all those functions which,
taken together, we designate as life.
If a Proteus animalcule is magnified about three or four hundred times the
following important points can be noted : (1) It is naked, i.e., it has no
cuticle or shell. (2) The surface layer of protoplasm,
The Amoeba. though not forming a skin, is clear and glassy, and com-
pletely envelops the more fluid and granular inner portion
of the Amoeba. (3) Among these granules can be seen the nucleus and
foreign particles, taken in as food, the remains of such particles, and
other bodies not understood. (4) Lastly, if the
Amoeba is carefully watched, a round space, like
a bubble, appears, increases in size, and then
instantaneously disappears, forming again at
another spot. This is the contractile vesicle
which is thought to collect the waste products
of the body and to eject them when it con-
tracts.
The Amoeba is seen to change its shape
slowly by protruding at certain points finger-
like or knob-like processes which are called
pseudopodia or make-believe feet. Its exceed-
ingly slow movements over the surface of plants
or other submerged objects, or through the
water, are all made by the extension of pseudo-
podia in one direction and corresponding with-
drawal on another side, the whole body seeming
to flow on along its pseudopodia. If, in its course,
it meets with minute plant cells suitable for
food, it admits them into its body at any point, retains them within it for a
time, while it evidently assimilates some nourishment from them, and then
flows on, the indigestible remains of its meal being left behind. The
manner in which the Amoeba breathes cannot be seen, but the fact that it
breathes is indisputable, for if the water in which Amoebae are kept is
deprived of its free oxygen, the assimilation of which is what is meant by
breathing, the animals become rigid and lifeless.
When, in consequence of the nourishment derived from the assimilated
particles, an Amoeba has grown to a certain limit, its shape becomes that of
a dumb-bell (Fig. 1, B), the nucleus divides into two, each end of the dumb-
bell containing one of the new nuclei, the connecting part narrows more and
more, and finally the two ends separate completely (Fig. 1, C), and each
half (or '* daughter ") repeats the simple life activities of the original whole
(or "mother* "). These terms mother and daughter at first sight appear
hardly justifiable, yet we now know that all reproductive processes, even in
Fig. 1. A, B, C.
A PROTEUS ANIMALCULB (Amoeba}
in three stages.
ANIMALCULES.
715
the highest animals, are but specialisations of this simple dividing up of
living cells.
The Amoeba has been described somewhat fully, as a simple type of the
Root-footed animals. Many different kinds of Amcebse have been distin-
guished, varying in the characters of the pseudopodia and in other respects,
but they all agree in being single cells of granulated protojlasm, containing
a nucleus, and moving and feeding by means of pseudopodia.
In the group next above the Amoebae, the Foraminifera, the protoplasm
of the central body is no longer naked. The animal assimilates from the
water in which it lives the necessary material for
surrounding itself with a chitinous or shelly covering, or The Foraminifera.
perhaps it utilises its own waste products for this purpose.
This shell, in some of the Foraminifera, is merely a delicate case within
which the soft body lives. In others, grains of sand, or sponge spicules are
obtained from without and embodied in the shell.
For the purposes of movement, the animal sends out pseudopodia into the
surrounding water through the openings in its shell. The Foraminifera have
been divided into the Perforate and the
Imperforate, according as the pseudopodia
protrude through small openings scattered
all over the surface of the shell, or through
only one or two large openings. The shells
depicted in Fig. 3 are those of Perforate
Foraminifera, while in Fig. 2 we have an
Imperforate form, the egg-shaped Gromia.
In this latter, the protoplasm streams out
at one aperture, breaks up into numberless
fine threads which, here and there, run
together, forming thicker patches. The
whole surface of the simple shell has also
become covered with a thin layer of
protoplasm. If any small plant cell or
other particle suitable for food touches one
of the pseudopodia, other threads flow
together round it, and it is slowly drawn in
towards the aperture and passed into the
body. Such particles of food can often be
seen, as in the illustration, within the body
of a Gromia.
The shells of the Perforate Foraminifera
are very varied in form. Sometimes they
consist of many chambers, for the proto-
plasm, as it grows, has not room in the
one little chamber with which it at first surrounds itself, and adds another
from time to time, each chamber, however, remaining in communication with
the last by means of one or more minute apertures through which a thread
or threads of protoplasm pass. The inner protoplasm can also stream out
in all directions through the perforations in the sides of the shell.
A few of the many forms assumed by the shells of such Foraminifera
are given in Fig. 3. Some are more or less flattened, like coins, and have
therefore been called Nummilites(Fig.3, A) ; others are flask-shaped (C); others
again closely resemble the shells of the Ammonite or the Nautilus (B) ; in fact,
Fig. 2. -GROMIA OVIFORMIS.
7i6
PROTOZOA.
Fig. 3. SIIBLLS OF FORAMINIFERA.
A, Nummulites.
B, Nonionina.
C, Lagena.
D, Globigerina.
E, Milliola.
such forms were long considered to be minute Molluscs. The shells of the
Globigerina, or globe- bearers (D), help largely to build up Chalk. They are said
to constitute almost one-third of the ooze
covering vast areas of the sea-bottom in
the North Atlantic. Milliolite shells (E)
are the chief constituent of the stone of
which the houses of Paris are built.
Nummilitic limestones cover an enormous
area of Central and Southern Europe,
North Africa, West Asia, and India. All
limestones indeed abound in the shells of
Foraminifera, some species being found
in the Coal formations also.
The Foraminifera nearly all live in the
sea, creeping along its bottom ; but some
float about. Young ones are produced by
the breaking up of the protoplasm into
small portions, which secrete their charac-
teristic shelly covering before leaving the
body of the parent. Some young Fora-
minifera have very simple single^ shells, but others are provided from the first
with a three-chambered shell.
Passing from those Protozoa whose protoplasmic processes are mere
protrusions of the soft body showing no definite shape, but constantly
varying, we come to others in which these body processes are highly
specialised, and here again we have naked and shelled forms.
The Heliozoa, or Sun animalcules (Fig. 4), have straight, ray-like
pseudopodia, which, however, are not rigid, but when brought in contact
with particles of food,
The Heliozoa, can contract or bend so .. ,
as to draw them in to- \ \ : , / . / /
wards the body. Sometimes a minute
animalcule, touching one of the rays, appears
to become paralysed and to glide down the
pseudopodium to its root, where a protruding
part of the protoplasm can draw in it. In
most of the Heliozoa the body is naked, and
the contractile vesicle is very conspicuous,
often growing to a very large size at the
edge of the body, and bursting with such
violence as to shake the whole animal.
Some idea of the size of these animalcules
Can be gained from the fact that four hundred
of them set closely side .by side would
measure an inch. In spite of the formidable rays by which the Sun
animalcule is surrounded, it often falls a prey to a simple Amoeba, which
either envelops the whole animalcule or tears out portions of its soft body.
Next in order above the Sun animalcules, and far more complicated in
appearance on account of their elaborate skeletons, are
The Kadiolaria. the Ray animalcules or Radiolaria. In these the soft
body is not, as in the Foraminifera, enclosed in an almost
continuous outer shell, but the hard matter, usually of a flinty nature,
-' /'/i.V'rv
Fig. 4. THE SUN ANIMALCULE
(Actinophrys sol).
ANIMALCULES. 717
derived from the surrounding water, takes the form of rods or spikes which
pierce the soft body, and also often form some kind of protective framework
around it. Another peculiarity of the Radiolaria is that the soft body is
divided into an inner portion, containing the nucleus and enclosed in a
gelatinous membrane called a capsule, and ari outer portion which surrounds
the other and is itself enclosed in a gelatinous envelope. The inner capsule
is perforated so that the inner protoplasm can pass outward, while the outer
protoplasm sends out radiating threads in all directions through the number-
less fine perforations of its envelope.
A vast number of exquisite forms assumed by the skeletons of the Radio-
laria were found in the dredgings made by the Challenger expedition. Some
of these skeletons consist only of spines radiating from the centre which,
however, are often beautifully sculptured or branched ; in one form the
number of the spines is always twenty, and these are arranged with absolute
regularity at definite angles to each other. The whole animal often has the
appearance of a spiny ball (Fig. 5, A). In other cases the hard rods, which
Fig. 5. SKELETONS OF RADIOLARIA.
C, Actinomma. B, Lithomelissa. A, Acanthometra.
form the constituent elements of all these skeletons, may be arranged so as
to form a framework or network outside the protoplasm with hexagonal
apertures. Such a framework may be more or less round for a time, and
then a second framework may be added below the first with a wide opening
at its base the whole having the appearance of a helmet ornamented at
definite points with a few of the characteristic spines that pierce the inner
protoplasm (B). Sometimes a whole series of fenestrated balls is produced,
one outside the other (C), recalling the elaborate carved ivory spheres of the
Chinese. In the illustration, some of the outer spheres have been broken
through to show the inner structure. Such successive spheres are firmly
united together by means of cross rods or of the characteristic spines.
The Radiolaria are all found in salt water, but, unlike the Foraminifera,
float near the surface. Their skeletons form an important element in the
rocks of Sicily and Greece; and the "Barbadoes earth," which is used for
polishing, is mainly composed of the flinty skeletons of Radiolarians. Although
7 i8
PROTOZOA.
there is little doubt that Radiolaria abounded in the seas where the great
Chalk beds were deposited, they are not found in chalk; their siliceous
skeletons probably having been dissolved and re-deposited as flint.
In the next division of the Protozoa, we find animals in which the proto-
plasmic processes of the body are still further specialised. They no longer
send out indefinite pseudopodia for creeping slowly along
The Flagellata. on the surface of the ground, nor do they float free in the
water, the protoplasm streaming out on all sides in fine
rays. We now have only one or two processes adapted for locomotion through
the water, and these are long and whip-like. These whips or "flagella,' 1 at
the anterior end of the body, by their constant movement, drag it along
rapidly through the water.
Some of the simplest of these Flagellata are so very like vegetable cells,
that they were long excluded from the animal kingdom. It is, indeed,
impossible to draw any very hard and fast line between the lowest plant and
animal cells, and, as authorities are still more or less divided in opinion,
such simple Flagellates may be regarded as belonging to a border land.
One point in which many of the Flagellata resemble vegetable cells
is colour. The Protozoa of other divisions are usually colourless and
transparent, whereas many Flagellates are of a bright red, yellow, brown,
or green. Some of the simplest of these animalcules (Fig. 6, A) as they
dart across the microscopic field by the help of their whips, which, on
account of the rapidity of their movements are for the time invisible,
sparkle like minute emeralds. Some of
the red Flagellata, when swarming in
great numbers, produce large red
patches on the sea. Other forms shine
with phosphorescent light, and cause
the beautiful glow often seen among the
breakers on a shore at night. Thirty
thousand animalcules are said to be
contained in one cubic inch of such
phosphorescent water.
Some of theFlagellata are distinguished
by a collar-shaped projection round the
depression from which the whip-like
appendage rises (Fig. 6, D), others by
taking in food at one spot only of the
body, i.e., at the base of the chief whip
(C). A shelly covering is present in
some forms, in which it may resemble a cuirass or may be prolonged into
several sharp, horn-like processes (E). These horny cases are often found in
Chalk rocks.
The Flagellata do not always, like the creatures -we have hitherto described,
lead independent lives, each individual feeding, moving, etc., on its own
account. They are often found grouped together in
Flagellate colonies, the various individuals composing the colony
Colonies. being united by a common mass of protoplasm. The
manner in which such colonies arise is interesting and
important, inasmuch as, from this primitive grouping of single cells to form
simple colonies, complex and highly organised colonies arose, culminating in
the bodies of the higher animals, which are in reality gigantic colonies of
Fig. 6. FLAGELLATA.
A , Euglena.
J5, Chilomonas.
C, Noctiluca.
D, Monosig'a.
E, Ceratium.
COLONIES OF ANIMALCULES.
719
countless living cells arranged into organs, each with its own special function
to perform for the life of the whole. Single cells multiply in several ways,
the simplest being that of the Amoeba, which, creeping along the ground,
parts into two daughter Amcebre , each of which creeps on its separate way.
In the case of free- swimming cells, like the Flagellata, separation into two
might not be so easy, especially if the mechanism of locomotion is not very
powerful as compared with the size of the body. In such creatures the cells,
though actually dividing, need not finally separate, but may swim about in
contact with one another j and, if successive generations of cells thus remain
together, simple colonies arise. Several balls made up of flagellate cells
are known, in which all the whips of the component cells are turned
outward, and, by their movement, send the whole colony rolling along
through the water. The best known of these is Volvox globator, which, on
account of the bright green colour in its cells, is often claimed as a plant/
It is clear again that colonies may also arise by the dividing up of cells
which are stationary. The daughter cells in this case may either grow up
simply alongside of the parent, or may
branch out from it. We are, however,
fairly safe in assuming that all the higher
animals arose from free-swimming, and
not from stationary colonies, a stationary
manner of life being but little conducive
to progress. In Fig. 7, A, we see
stationary colonies of Flagellata which,
but for the stalk of attachment, some-
what resemble Volvox above mentioned.
Another stationary colony is seen in the
same figure (B), and is formed by the
contiguous tubular sheaths of a number
of flagellate cells, each provided with
two whips. This colony forms folded,
fan-like growths, the height of the
whole structure being often not more
than T \ of an inch. Collared Flagel-
lates also form colonies, sometimes
being grouped together in flower-like
bunches on stalks, as in Fig. 7, C, or
floating about freely with the collars and whips projecting from a mass of
common protoplasm. A colony of this latter sort has been named Protos-
pongia, as it seems to foreshadow the arrangement of somewhat similar
collared cells found in the Sponges.
Returning, however, to the Flagellata which remain single, i.e., do not
form colonies, reproduction takes place among them in several different
ways. Some Flagellata simply break up into parts, like the Amoeba, others
detach only small pieces of their bodies, each piece developing into a new
animal, a process which is called budding or gemmation ; others, again,
reproduce themselves by a kind of internal budding called spore-formation.
The whole inside of the animal divides into a great number of minute
"spores," each of which, after resting a while, grows into an animal like
the parent. The Noctiluca (Fig. 6, C), for instance, which causes the
marine phosphorescence already alluded to, may pass through a resting stage
when it loses its whip and looks like a mere gelatinous ball (it is then said
Fig, 7. FLAGELLATE COLONIES.
A, Anthro^hysa.
B, Rhipidodendron.
C, Codosig*.
720 PROTOZOA.
to be encysted). The protoplasm seems to collect in one part of the cyst
and to break up into minute nodules. These nodules, which are called
spores, raise up the outer surface into prominences, and finally, when
mature, pass through the wall of the cyst, develop whips of their own, and
swim about freely as young individuals known as ** swarm spores."
Leaving now for a moment those Protozoa, which are rising higher and
higher in the scale of organic life, we must notice a group which shows
curious degeneration, the Gregarinse. These creatures
The Gregarinae. possess neither pseudopodia nor flagella : they can only
move very slowly by a kind of contraction of the proto-
plasm just below the outer surface, which, being somewhat different from
the rest of the body, we may call the "skin." These animalcules are all
parasites, hence their degradation. They have managed to get into the
bodies of animals higher than themselves, and are able to draw in as
food, through the whole surface of the body, the juices of their "host"
without any exertion on their own part, They are very common in the
bodies of all classes of animals from the worms upward, each kind of
Gregarina having its own special feeding ground in some part of a
higher animal. One species, for instance, is only found in the gills
of a small Crustacean, another in the liver of the Rabbit, and so on.
The only kind of outward appendages ever found in these creatures
are hooks which enable them the better to attach themselves to their
victims. The chief life activity in these, as in most other parasites,
is reproduction, which takes place by spore-formation. Two or more of
the worm-shaped Gregarinse fuse together, become encysted, and, after a
time, produce spores, which are released by the bursting of the cyst. Each
spindle-shaped spore develops into an independent individual, being sup-
plied by its immediate surroundings with appropriate nourishment.
We pass on from these degenerate creatures to the highest of the Pro-
tozoa, the Infusoria, so-called on account of being found in infusions i.e.,
in water in which decaying animal or vegetable matter
The Infusoria. has been soaked, and in which it was at one time thought
that they bred spontaneously.
In the Infusorians the protoplasm of the body shows more variety than
in any other Protozoans. Not only is the outer surface of the body dis-
tinctly unlike the inner protoplasm, but it is more or less covered with very
fine hairs or cilia (literally eyelashes), which promote its motion. It is
sometimes provided with hooks or bristles as well, by means of which it can
creep or hang on to other objects. At one definite spot there is a simple
mouth, from which a depression often leads into the interior of the body.
The mouth is usually encircled by cilia, which, by their rapid vibrations,
keep up a kind of whirlpool, and bring particles of food within reach. As
the food, which passes on into the body along the tube, is absorbed, definite
streamings in certain directions can be made out in the granulated proto-
plasm. The indigestible portions of the food are, in some forms, ejected at
a definite part of the body. The nucleus is not always round it may be
horse-shoe-shaped, or ribbon-like, or it may even resemble a string of beads.
There are often several contractile vesicles.
The Infusoria are very plentiful in fresh water : they prey upon each
other, and sometimes upon higher animals, such as Rotifers. Some are
parasites.
There are Ciliated Infusorians and Tentacled Infusorians.
ANIMALCULES.
721
The Ciliated Infusorians are classed according to the arrangement of their
cilia. These sometimes cover the whole surface of the body, as in the
Slipper animalcule (Fig. 8, A),
which is very common in pond
water or in infusions of hay, and
measures from
inch in length,
the distinction
A 3
Fig. 8. CILIATED INFUSORIA.
A, Paramoecium.
JS, Stentor.
g to ih of an
In this Protozoan,
between the outer
part of the body and the inner
granulated part is very clear, and
the mouth and tube leading from it
are very evident. In the outer
"skin" a number of small oval
bodies can be seen pointing out-
wards. These, which are known as
trichocysts, are minute bags contain-
ing threads which can be shot out
of them and are probably used as a
defence against enemies. These
structures recall the stinging threads
of the Coelenterates, but are still
more wonderful as the products of a
single cell.
In the next division of the
Ciliated Infusorians, very fine cilia
cover the surface of the body, while
longer ones encircle the mouth. The Trumpet animalcules (Fig. 8, B),
usually about $ of an inch in length, are found moving about freely in
the water or attached, either singly or in groups, to some submerged
object by the narrowed end of the body. The
lower part of the body is sometimes protected
by a kind of sheath or case. The wide opening
at the free end which surrounds the mouth is
fringed with long and strong cilia. In order to
multiply, these Trumpet animalcules divide into
two, a new mouth and oral fringe forming on the
parent animal before division.
The Infusorians of the next division have smooth
bodies, the cilia being usually confined to the
region round the mouth ; in some cases, how-
ever, a second band of cilia surrounds some other
part of the body. Some of the attached Infusorians
of this kind surround themselves with a slipper-
shaped case of protoplasm, which helps to protect
the soft part of the body, and can, when necessary, almost entirely cover it.
As a rule, however, the mouth end, with its circle of cilia, protrudes from
the aperture of the case in search of food. Other forms attach themselves
by stalks which are contractile, and can, by coiling up spirally, quickly with-
draw the animal from any threatening danger.
The Bell animalcules, when watched under the microscope, afford a very
interesting example of the complexity of life and movement which may be
attained by the single cell. When the water in which they are is. for any
47
Fiff,9. GROUP OP BFMJ
ANIMALCULES (V orticellidae).
722
PROTOZOA.
reason, in a state of disturbance, the minute gelatinous balls lie hidden close
to the surface of some water weed at the ends of their tightly coiled stalks,
and thus easily elude observation. But if the water is at rest, the observer,
through the microscope, will see them gradually emerge from their place of
refuge, one individual after another rising into view on its slowly uncoiling
stalk, the ball lengthening and assuming the shape of a bell about ^\^ of an
inch in length. Long cilia, fringing a spiral membrane which can be pro-
truded beyond the aperture of the bell, wave about in the water, and bring
within reach particles of food that are swept down a groove leading to the
inner protoplasm. As such a group of Bell animalcules is watched, one
individual or another suddenly vanishes, being drawn down instantaneous^
by the contraction of its stalk, while others more gradually come into sight.
These animalcules multiply by dividing lengthwise ; the young form, when
provided with its circle of cilia, breaks loose from the parent and swims
about freely for a time before attaching itself by a stalk. Young are some-
times also produced within the parent as spores.
These beautiful creatures are often found in colonies of various shapes,
some of the most delicate (Fig. 10, A) resembling the frond of a maidenhair
fern. The stem is, in such cases, formed
of protoplasm, produced by the various
individuals of the colony, which are not
always all alike. In the form illustrated
spherical individuals without stalks are to
be seen attached at the bases of the
branchlets which carry the other in-
dividuals.
In the fourth division of the Ciliated
Infusorians the cilia are confined to the
lower surface of the body, and are some-
times changed into bristles or hooks ; these
forms are much less attractive in appear-
ance than those we have just described.
We come, in the last place, to the
Tentacled Infusorians which are often to
be found attached to pond weeds by long,
straight stalks. The soft body is usually
contained in a cup-like sheath, sometimes
triangular in form, and terminates at the
free end in one or more projecting knobs,
ornamented with groups of stiff, hollow
tentacles. The animal has no mouth, but
feeds by means of these tentacles, the minute discs in which they end
arresting and piercing the bodies of any small animalcules that come
within reach. The soft parts of the victim are sucked up through the
hollow tentacles and drawn into the body within the. sheath. These
stationary bodies give rise, by means of budding, to free young forms with
cilia which swim about for a time, then attach themselves, lose their cilia,
and develop tentacles like those of the parent form.
These Tentacled Infusorians sometimes form very complicated colonies
consisting of creeping roots, from which rise trunks and branches (Fig. 10, B).
Each branch and branchlet terminates in an individual with its radiating
tentacles, bub besides these tentacled members of the colony there are other
Fig. 10 TNFUSORIAV COLONIES.
A, Zoothamnium.
B, Dendrosoma.
ANIMALCULES. . 723
spherical members, sometimes clustered together like bunches of berries,
and within the protoplasm of the trunks there are capsules in which the
young are produced and matured. So complicated are these beautiful
colonies, in which a distinct division of labour takes place, that it is difficult
to realise that they are nothing more than communities of Protozoans.
INDEX
A,
AARD-VARKS, 188
Aard-wolf, 62
Abbreviates, Tachytriorchis,3l2
Abderites, 204
Abramis, 499
Abraxas grossulariata, 592
Abu-maskup, 282
Acadica, Nyctala, 324
Acalypterae, Muscidae, 607
Acanthias, 519
Acanthidositta, 375
Acanthocephali, 681
Acanthoehitidie, 616
Acanthocinus sedilis, 561
Acanthoclinidae, 478
Acanthometra, 717
Acanthopterygiij 463
Acanthosoma gnseum, 595
Acanthuridae, 470
Acarina, 545
Accipiter, 311
Accipitres, 304
Accipitriformes, 304
Accipitrinae, 307
Accipitrinus, Asio, 324
Acephala, 618
Acerina. 464
Aceti, Anguillula, 679
Aohatinellidae, 642
Achatina, 642
Achatinidae, 642
Acheta campestris, 567
Acipenser, 511
Acipenser huso, 511
Acipenser ruthvenus, 512
Acipenser sturio, 512
Acipenseridae, 511
Acmaeidae, 631
Acodon, 101
Accela, 685
Acoelomata, 690
Acomus, 236
Acomys, 106
Aconaemys, 111
Acorn, Barnacle, 533
AcrseinaB, 584
Acris gryllus, 443
Acrobates, 203
Acrocephalus phragmitis, 370
Acrocephalus streperus, 370
Acromyodae, 373
Acromyodi, 357
Acronuridae, 470
Acronurus, 470
Acryllium vulturinum, 240
Actaeon, 639
Actteonid*, 640
Actinia, 701
Actinia mesembry antheinunu,
703
Actinia paumotensis, 704
Actinoloba dianthus, 702
Actinomma, 717
Actinophrys sol, 716
Actinopterygii, 463
Aculeata, 574-578
Aculeata, Aphrodite, 673
Aculeata, Echidna, 217
Aculeata, Ophiopholis, 657
Adamsi, Colymbus, 254
Adamsia palliata, 703
Adansoni, Excalfactoria, 235
Adansoniana, Pleurotomaria,
632
Adapis, 32
Addax, 154
Addax nasomaculatus, 154
Adders, The, 424
Adder, Banded, 424
Adder, Death, 425
Adder, Puff, 427
Adder, Resplendent, 424
Adela, 593
Adeorbidse, 637
Adjutants, 278
Adscendens, Clitambonites, 651
Adustus, Canis, 66
yEdilis, Acanthocinus, 561
^Egagrus, Capra, 159
^Egialitis, 270
./Egithalus, 368
^Egithalus vagans, 368
^Eglefinus, Gadus, 491
^Egotheles, 334
^gothelinse, 333
^Egyprymnus rufescens, 197
-iEluropus melanoleucus, 75
^Elurus fulgens, 75-76
^Enea, Carpophaga, 243
^olidioidea, 641
^Epyceros, 152
^Epyornis, 220
JSpyornithiformes, 221
/Epypodius, 227
^Eronautes melanoleucus, 346
^Eruginosus, Circus, 309
^Esalon, Falco, 320
JEschnidae, 570
^Etheospondyli, 463, 509
^theria, 623
^theriidae, 623
vEthiopica, Ibis. 288
Aethiopicus, PhiacochaBrus, 134
/Etobatis, 522
JEx. galericulata, 294
MX. sponsa, 294
Affinis, Cervus, 143
African darter, 301
African elephant, 123
African flying squirrel, 89
African giraffe, 147
African lung-fish, 460
725
African swallow-tailed kite, 316
African wild ass, 129
Africana, Verreauxia, 354
Africanus, Elephas, 123
Africanus, Sus, 134
Agami heron, 283
Agamia agami, 283
Agamidae, 398
Agampdon, 408
Agapornis, 329
Agedastes, 239
Agelaeus phcenicens, 361
Agelas noli tangere, 693
Agelenidae, 544
Agile frog, 436
Agile wallaby, 194
Agilis, Lacerta, 409
Agilis, Ma<;ropus, 194
Agilis, Rana, 436
Aglseactis, 348
Aglossa, 444
Aglypha, 422
Agonus, 476
Agrestis, Microtus, 103
Agricola, 103
Agricola, Tetrastemma, 684
Agrion, 570
Agrionidaa, 570
Agromyzinae, 608
Agrotis exclamationis, 591
Agutis. 8
Agutis family, The, 115
Ajaja, 286
Ajaja, Ajaja, 286
Alactaga, 110
Alactaga decumana, 110
Alauda arvensis, 364
Alaudidae, 364
Alba, Chionis, 265
Alba, Gygis, 26Q
Albatros, The, 257
Albatros, Cautious, 259
Albatros, Culminated, 258
Albatros, True, 258
Albatros, Wandering, 258
Albellus, Mergus, 297
Albertia, 683
Albertisi, Gymnophaps, 244
Albicaudatus, Tachytriorchis,
312
Albicilla, Haliaetus, 315
Albicollis, Rhynchops, 262
Albicore, 473
Albida, Chamostra, 628
Albifrons, Anser, 295
Albifrons, Bubalis, 150
Albinucha, Pcecilogale, 81
Albipennis, Tachybaptes, 253
Albofuscus, Nycticejus, 38
Alburnus, 499
Alca torda, 260
Alcedininse, 336
726
INDEX.
Alcedo, 336
American boat-bill, 283
Anatifera, Lepas, 533
Alcedo ispida, 337
American cedar-bird, 369
Anatina, Lingula, 650
Alces machlis, 145
American chatterers, 374
Anatinacea, 623-627
Alchata, Pteroclesrus, 241
American creepers, The, 362
Anatinidse, 628
Aloinus, Maehcerhamphus, 317
American cuckoo, 350
Anatinus, Ornithorhynchus, 215
Alcoe, 259
American deer, 146
Ancestor of Brachiopoda, 651
Alcyon, Ceryle, 336
American golden plover, 270
Ancistrodon, 429
Alcyone, 336
American racoons, 75
Ancistrodon contortrix, 429
Alcyonella fungosa, 669
American swallow-tailed kite,
Ancylochilus, 269
Alcyonidium, 668
316
Ancylus, 642
Alector, Crox, 229
American trogons, 349
Andersoni, Tylotriton, 448
Alectoropodes, 226
American warblers, The, 365
Anderssoni, Maehcerhamphus,
Alectranas, 243
American wood-snakes, 422
317
Alectraenas nitidissima, 243
American wood-stork, 281
Andigena, 352
Alepocepbalidae, 507
Americana, Antilocapra, 149
Andina, Recurvi rostra, 270
Alexanor, Eques, 587
Americana, Mustela, 80
Andinus, Phaenicoparrus, 290
Aleyrodes proletella, 602
Americana, Periplaneta, 564
Andrena, 580
Aleyrodidse, 602
Americana, Pipa, 444
Anelytropidae, 411
Alfred!, Cervus, 143
Americana, Rhea, 221
Anemones, 700
Alfurus, Babirusa, 134
Algiroides, 409
Americanus, Bos, 163
Americanus, Coccyzus, 351
Anemone, Cave-dwelling, 704
Anemone, Cloak, 703
Alle, Mergulus, 260
Americanus, Crocodilus, 381
Anemone, Daisy, 702
Alleni, Neotoma, 102
Americanus, Ursus, 75
Anemone, Plumose, 702
Alliceshad, The, 507
Amethystinum, Stilbum, 578
Anemone, Strawberry, 703
Alligators, 380
Amherstiae, Chrysolophus, 238
Anemones, Sea, 701
Alligator, Chinese, 380
Amia-calva, 510
Anemones, Tropical, 704
Alligator mississippiensis, 380
Amicta nyctiornis, 341
Angasi, Tragelaphus, 156
Alligator, North American,
Amiidse, 510
Angel fish, 519
380
Ammocaetes, 524
Angler fish, 474
Alligator sinensis, 380
Ammodorcas clarkei, 153
Angolensis, Pitta, 375
Alligator-terrapins, 390
Ammodronus, 364
Anguid*, 404
Allopsidae, 647
Ammodytes, 491
Anguilla, 494
Alni, Aphrophora, 600
Ammodytes, Vipera, 427
Anguillula aceti, 679
Alopecias vulpes, 517
Ammon, Ovis, 160
Anguineus, Proteus, 452
Alosa, Clupea, 507
Ammonea, 646
Anguis, 405
Alouatta, 23
Ammoperdix, 233
Anguis fragilis, 404
Alouatta nigra, 24
Ammoperdix bonhami, 233
Angustatus, Echinorhynchus,
Alouatta seniculus, 23
Ammoperdix heyi, 233
682
Alpestris, Canthocamptus, 532
Amoeba, 691, 714
Anhinga, Plotus, 301
Alpestris, Otocorvs, 304
Ampelidse, 369
Animal plants, 697
Alpine chough, 358
Ampelis cedrorum, 369
Animalculse, 713
Alpine marmot, 93
Alpinus, Canis, 68
Ampelis garrulus, 369
Ampelis japonicus, 369
Animalcule, Bell, 722
Animalcule, Slipper, 721
Alternate, Rafinesquina 649
Amphibia, 431
Animalcule, Trumpet, 721
Alucita hexadactyla, 594
Alucitidaj, 594
Amphibius, Hippopotamus, 131
Amphibius, Microtus, 103
Animalcules, Sun, 716
Anisolabis maritima. 563
Aluco, Syrnium, 321
Amphibola, 641
Anisonyx, 91
Alueco, Syrnium, 324
Alytes, 443
Amphibolidae, 641
Amphignathodontidse, 444
Annelid, Tube-making, 672
Annelida, 531, 671
Amathia lendigera, 668
Amphineura, 615
Annelidicola, Cyclatella, 688
Amazonian dolphin, 178
Amphioxus, 526
Anniellidae, 405
Amazonian fresh-water tortoise,
Amphioxus lanceolatus, 526
Annulatus, Linguaelapsus, 449
393
Amphipnous, 495
Annulosa, 529, 548
Amazons, 329
Amphipoda, 534
Anoa, 162
Amber-snails, 642
Amphisbaenidae, 408
Anolis, 401
Amblycephalidse, 426
Amblycephalus, 426
Amphisile, 482
Amphitretidse, 647
Anomalochilus, 421
Anomaluridae, 89
Amblyopsidae, 502
Amblyopsis, 502
Amphiuma, 451
Amphiumidae, 450
Anomalurus, 89
Anomalurus peli, 90
Amblyornis inorna'a, 359
Ampullariidaj, 635
Anomalurus pusillus, 90
Amblyrhynchus cristatus, 402
Amblystoma, 446
Amblystoma tigrinum, 449
Amblystomatinse, 449
Anabantidae, 483
Anabas scan dens, 483
Anableps, 501
Anacanthini, 490
Anomia, 621
Anomia ephippium, 621
Anomiacese, 621
Anomura, 537
Amboynensis, Lophurus, 400
Anaconda, 420
Anoplodium, 685
Amelias, Macronyx, 305
Anaides, 450
Anoplogaster, 468
American badgers, 79
Anaphe, 607
Anoplura, 602
American barn swallow, 373
Anarhynchus. 270
Anops kingi, 408
American beaver, 98
Anarrhichas, 478
Anorthura troglodytes, 371
American bison, 163
Anas, 296
Anser albifrons, 295
American black bear, 75
Anastomus, 280
Anser anser, 295
American bluejays, 358
Anatidse, 292
Anser brachyrhynchus, 295
INDEX.
727
Anser fabalis, 295
Aphodius, 557
Arcticus, Colymbus, 254
Anseranas seinipalmata, 293
Aphrodite aculeata, 673
Arctiidse, 588
Anseranatinse, 293
Aphrophora alni, 600
Arctogale, 59
Anseres, 292
A piaster, Merops, 341
Arctomys, 92
Anserinse, 295
Apis mellifica, 581
Arctomys aureus, 93
Ants, 578
Apivorus, Pernis, 317
Arctomys bobac, 93
Ant, Australian, 579
Aplacophora, 615-610
Arctomys caudatus, 94
Ant, House, 579
Aplustridse, 640
Arctomys dichrous, 94
Ant, Red, 579
Aplysiidae, 640
Arctomys himalayanus, 93
Ant, Wood, 579
Aplysioidea, 640
Arctomys marmotta, 92
Ant-bears, 189
Apoda, 453
Arctonyx, 79
Ant-birds, The, 375
Apodes, 493
Arctus, Ursus, 75
Ant-eaters, 181
Apodidse, 532
Ardea cinerea, 282
Ant-eater, Great, 184
Apollo, Parnassius, 587
Ardeiformes, 278
Ant-eater, Lesser, 184
Aporrhaidae, 636
Ardeirallus, 284
Ant-eater, Two-clawed, 184
Aporrhais, 636
Ardetta, 284
Ant-eaters, True, 183
Appendicularians, 5?7
Ardetta involucris, 284
Ant-lions, 570
Apples of Sodom, 576
Ardetta minuta, 284
Ant-thrushes, 375
Aptenodytes longirostris, 255
Arenaria, 271
Antarctic white seal, 86
Aptendytes patachonica, 255
Arenaria interpres, 272
Antarctic wolf, 64
Apteryges, 221
Arenaria melanocephala, 272
Antarctica, Megalestris, 263
Apterygiiformes, 221
Arenariinae, 272
Antarcticus, Canis, 64
Apteryx, The, 224
Arenicola, Lycosa, 543
Antechinomys laniger, 209
Apteryx australis, 224
Arenicola marina, 672
Antedon rosacea, 663
Aptornis, 252
Areolatus, Homopus, 387
Antelopes, The, 149
Apus cancriformis, 531
Argali, True, 160
Antelope, Bubaline, 150
Apus, Micropus, 346
Argas persicus, 546
Antelope, Equine, 153
Apus, Ophisaurus, 405
Argentatus, Canis, 71
Antelope, Four-horned, 151
Aquarum-dulcium, Tetrastem-
Argentatus, Larus, 263
Antelopes, Harnessed, 156
ma, 684
Argentine cow-bird, 361
Antelope, Prong-horned, 149
Aquatic carpincho, 116
Argentine peludo, 186
Antelope, Royal, 151
Aquatica, Argyroneta, 544
Argiope riparia, 544
Antelope, Sable, 153
Aquaticus, Cinclus, 371
Argonaut, 647
Antelope, Salts', 151
Aquaticus Rallus, 249
Argonautidae, 647
Antennarias, 475
Aquila chrysaetus, 314
Argulidfe, 532
Anthea cereus, 703
Aquila, Fregata, 303
Argus, Argusianus, 239
Anthocincla, 375
Aquila heliaca, 314
Argus, Common, 239
Anthomyinae, 608
Aquila maculata, 314
Argus, Crested, 239
Anthophila, 580
Aquila rapax, 314
Argus, Gray's, 239
Anthops ornatus, 36
Aquilinse, 307, 313
Argus pheasant, 235-239
Anthozoa, 701
Ara, 329
Argusianus argus, 239
Anthracocerus, 339
Arabian camel, 136
Argusianus bipunctatus, 239
Anthracocerus coronatus, 339
Arabs, Galeodes, 540
Argusianus grayi, 239
Anthrenus, 556
Arachnida, 539
Argyroneta aquatica, 544
Anthrophysa, 719
Arachnoides, Brachyteles, 25
Ariculidae, 634
Anthropoidea, 11
Arachnoides, Pyxis, 387
Arietans, Bitis, 427
Anthropopithecus, 14
Arami, 275
Arion ater, 643
Anthropopithecus calvus, 15
Aramides, 249
Arionidae, 643
Anthropopithecus troglodytes,
Aramides ypecaha, 250
Armadillos, 181, 185
15
Aramus pictus, 275
Armadillo, Broad, 186
Anthus, 365
Aramus scolopaceus, 275
Armadillo, Fairy pink, 188
Anthus pratensis, 365
Araneida, 542
Armadillo, Giant, 187
Anthus trivialis, 365
Araneoides, Galeodes, 541
Armadillo, Hairy, 186
Antigone, 274
Araneoides, Scutigera, 548
Armadillo, Six-banded, 186
Antigone australasiana, 274
Araneus, Sorex, 46
Armadillos, Three-banded, 187
Antilocapra, 10
Arapaima, 504
Armenian sheep, 160
Antilocapra americana, 149
Arapaima gigas, 504
Arnuxi, Berardius, 177
Antilocapridae, 149
Arborea, Hyla, 442
Arnux's whale, 177
Antilope cervicapra, 152
Arboricola, 234
Aromia moschata, 561
Antilopine, 152
Area Nose, 621
Arquatela, 269
Antipatharia, 707
Area Zebra, 621
Arrow worm, 682
Antisiensis, Cervus, 146
Arcacea, 621
Artamidse, 369
Anurosorex, 46
Aichaeopteryx, 220
Artamus, 369
Apatura, 581
Archiannelida, 675
Artamus sorditus, 369
Ape, Barbary, 22
Archibuteo, 315
Artemia salina, 531
Ape, Black, 22
Arcifera, 440
Arthropoda, 529
Apes, Man-like, 11
Arctic fox, 73
Arthropoda, Edible, 530
Aphanapteryx, 251
Arctic tern, 261
Arthrostraca, 534
Aphaniptera, 603
Arctica, Fratercula, 260
Artibeus, 41
Aphaniptera, Diptera, 609
Arctica Islandica, 624
Artibeus perspicillatus, 41
Aphanolimnas monasa, 251
Aphididse, 601
Arcticidse, 624
Arctictis binturong, 59
Articulata, 529, 651
Am Island wallaby, 194
728
INDEX.
Arui, 160
Atricapilla, Sylvia, 370
Aye-aye, The, 31
Arundineum, Cobus, 152
Atrichia clamosa, 370
Azara, Canis, 89
Arvensis, Alunda, 364
Atrichiidae, 376
Azara's dog, 6'J
Arvicanthis, 105
Atrochous, 673
Azorensis, Kegulus, 369
Ascalaphidae, 571
Ascalaphus, 571
Atropos pulsatoria, 572
Atrypa, 651
B.
Ascalaphus kolyvanensis, 570
Attagides, 266
Ascaris lumbricoides, 679
Attagis, 266
Babblers, The, 372
Ascetta, 691
Atthis, 348
Babirusa, 134
Ascidians, 532
Atypus, 542
Babirusa alfurus, 134
Ascidiella aspersa, 528
Atypus sulzeri, 543
Babiun, Papio, 23
Asellus aquaticus, 682
Aucklandica, Gallinago, 268
Baboon, Dog-faced, 22
Asiatic bittern, 284
Audax, Urosetus, 314
Baboon, Gelada, 22
Asiatic wild ass, 129
Auks, The, 259
Baboon, Yellow, 23
Asiatica, Cinnyris, 366
Auk, Great, 260
Bacon beetle, 556
Asilidae, 605
Auk, Little, 260
Bactrian camel, 136
Asilus crabroniformis, 605
Aulacodus, 112
Bactrianus, Camelus, 136
A sinus, Equus, 129
Aulacorhamphus, 352
Badgers, 79
Asio, 324
Auliscops, 481
Badgers, American, 79
Asio accipitrinus, 324
Aulostoma, 481
Badger, Common, 79
Asio otus, 324
Aulostomatidae, 481
Badgers, Ferret-, 80
Asp, Egyptian, 424
Aulostomum gulo, 676
Badgers, Malayan, 79
Aspatha, 341
Aura, Cathartes, 304
Badgers, Sand-, 79
Aspergillum, 628
Aurantiaca.Zaitha, 597
Badia, Felis, 55
Aspersa, Ascidiella, 528
Aurata, Cetonia, 558
Badius, Astur, 311
Aspidites, 419
Auratus, Carabus, 555
Badius, Rhizomys, 107
Aspidobranchiate, 614
Aspidogaster conchicola, 688
Aurea, Jacamerops, 355
Aurelia aurita, 700
Basticus, Lampides, 586
Bagad, 497
Aspro, 464
Aureus, Arctomys, 93
Bagarius yarelli, 496
Ass, African wild, 129
Aureus, Canis, 66
Baillon's crake, 251
Ass, Asiatic wild, 129
Aureus, Xanthomelus, 359
Bahena australis, 172
Assiminidae, 635
Auriculidae, 641
Balaena mysticetus, 172
Assogue, 81
Aurita, Aurelia, 700
Balaeniceps, 282
Astacidae, 536
Auritum, Crossoptilum, 236
Balaeniceps rex, 282
Astartidae, 624
Auritus, Plecotus, 39
Bahenicipitides, 282
Asterias rubens, 653, 656
Auritus, Podiceps, 253
Balamicipitidce, 278
Asteroidea, 656
Australasiana, Antigone, 274
Balaenidse, 171
Asterospondyli, 515
Australian ant, 579
Balaenoptera, 173
Asthenosoma urens, 660
Australian brush-turkey, 227
Balaenoptera musculus, 174
Astrsea, 706
Australian lady-bird, 602
Balamoptera rostrata, 174
Astrape, 521
Australian lung-fish, 460
Balsenoptera sibbaldi, 173
Astronesthes, 505
Astur, 310
Australian megapode, 228
Australiensis, Geonemertes, 684
Balanidae, 533
Balaninus nucum, 560
Astur baduis, 311
Australis, Apteryx, 224
Balano, 528
Astur novte hollandine, 311
Australis, Balaena, 172
Balanoglossus, 528
Astur leucosomus, 311
Australis, Eupodotis. 275
Balanoglossus sarniensis, 528
Astur palumbarius, 310
Australis, Gallinago, 268
Balanoides, Balanus, 533
Astur torquatus, 311
Australis, Geoplana, 686
Balanus balanoides, 533
Asturina, 313
Australis, Merganser, 297
Bald chimpanzee, 15
Astutus, Bassariscus, 76
Australis, Mycteria, 280
Bald eagle, 315
Asymmetron lucayanum, 527
Australis, Peltohyas, 270
Bald uakari, 27
Atalapha, 37
Australis, Rostratula, 267
Balistes, 489
Atalapha cinerea, 37
Australis, Struthio, 223
Balistidse, 489
A teles, 25
Autodax, 450
Ballan, 4b6
Ateles variegatus, 25
Autolytas, 673
Balti, The, 487
Atelornis pittoides, 335
Autumnalis, Tetranychus, 547
Bamboo-rats, 106
Ater, Arion, 643
Avahi, Woolly, 29
Band-fishes, 477
Aterrimus, Microglossus, 328
Avahis, 29
Banded adder, 425
Atherina, 479
Atherinidae, 479
Avahis lanigera, 29
Avellanarius, Muscardinus, 99
Banded ant-eater, 209
Banded lemming, 103
Athertoni, Nyctiornis, 341
Aves, 218
Banded mungoose, 61
Atherura, 113
Avicula, 622
Banded sea-snake, 425
Athoracophoridae, 642
Avicula hirundo, 622
Banded wallaby, 196
Athoracophorus, 642
Aviculacia, 622
Banded water-snails, 635
Atlanta, 637
Avicularia, Ornithormyia, 608
Bandicoot tribe, 205
Atlantidse, 637
Avocet, Chestnut-breasted, 270
Bandicoot, Gunn's, 206
Atolls, 710
Avocets, 270
Bandicoot, Pig-footed, 206
Atra, Salamandra, 447
Awantibo, 31
Bandicoot-rats, 105
Atrae, Buchanga, 361
Axis, Cervus, 143
Bank martin, 373
Atrata, Chenopis, 293
Atremata, 651
Axis, or spotted deer, 143
Axolotl, 446
Bank-vole, 103
Bank's ribband-fish, 485
Atricapilla, Ficedula, 372
Axolotl, Adult, 449
Banksi, Regalecus, 485
INDEX.
729
Banteng, 165
Banting, Bos, 165
Batagurs, 389
Bateleur Eagle, 315
Beetles, Dung, 557
Beetle, Egyptian sacred, 557
Barbarus, Mus, 105
Bath sponge, 693
Beetle, Fiddler, 555
Barbary ape, 22
Bathyergus maritimus, 107
Beetle, Golden-green, 555
Barbary mouse, 105
Bathythrissa dorsalis, 506
Beetles, Ground, 555
Barbary red-legged partridge,
Bathythrissidae, 506
Beetle, Hercules, 558
232
Batomys, 104
Beetles, Long-horned, 560
Barbastelle, 37
Batrachidse, 474
Beetle, Musk, 561
Barbata, Phoca, 85
Batrachophrynus, 441
Beetles, Oil, 560
Barbatulus, Nemachilus, f.OO
Batrachoseps, 450
Beetles, Plant-feeding, 561
Barbatus, Gypautus, 313
Batrachostomus, 334
Beetle, Rove, 556
Barbatus, Mullus, 4U5
Batrachus, 474
Beetles, Stag, 558
Barbel, 498
Batrachyperus, 450
Beetles, Tiger, 554
Barbets, The, 352
Baya, Ploceus, 362
Beetles, -Turnip, 561
Barbus, 498
Baya weaver, 362
Beetles (water), Carnivorous, 555
Barbus tor, 498
Baza, 317
Beetle (water), Great, 557
Bare-throated francolins, The,
Bdellidse, 545
Beetles, Whirligig, 556
233
Bdellostoma, 525
Bell animalcule, 721
Barn owl. 321, 325
Bdellura, 685
Bell-birds, 374
Birnacle, Acorn, 533
Bdeogale, 60
Bell-moths, 593
Barnacle, Goose, 533
Beadlet, The, 703
Bellia, 3S8
Barracuda-pikes, 478
Beaked gurnard, 476
Bellis sagartia, 703
Barracudas, 478
Beaked salmon, 605
Bellows-fish, 482
Barracudas, The, 470
Beaked whales, 177
Belone, 479
Barred-back pheasants, 238
Bean goose, 295
Belostomatidae, 597
Barred rail, 249
Bear Tribe, The, 74
Belted kingfisher, 336
Barrier reef, The, 710
Bear, American black, 75
Beluga, 179
Baryphthengus, 341
Bear, Brown, 75
Bembidium, 555
Basileuteruss 365
Bear, Cat, 75
Bengal fox, 73
Basilisks, 401
Bear, Grizzly, 75
Bengal monkey, 22
Basiliscus, 401
Bear, Himalayan black, 75
Bengalensis, Canis, 73
Basking shark, 517
Bear, Indian sloth, 75
Bengalensis, Felis, 55
Basommatophora, 641
Bear, Isabelline, 75
Bennetti, Cynogale, 60
Bass, 464
Bear, Malayan, 75
Bennettianus, Dendrolagus, 195
Bassanus, Dysporus, 299
Bear, Parti-coloured, 75
Bennett's civet, 60
Bassaricyon, 76
Bear, Polar, 75
Bennett's wallaby, 194
Bassariscus, 76
Bear, Sea, 82
Berardius arnuxi, 177
Bassariscus astutus, 76
Bear, Spectacled, 75
Berdmorei, Hapalomy's, 104
Bats, The, 33
Bear, Syrian, 75
Berdmore's rat, 104
Bat, Bechstein's, 38
Bearded bee-eater, 143
Bernhardus sipuiiculus, 678
Bat, Chin-leaf, 41
Bearded eagle, 313
Beroidae, 712
Bat, Common, 37
Bat, Cusp-toothed fruit-, 35
Bearded partridge, 234
Bearded reedling, 368
Berus, Vipera, 427
Berychidi-e, 467
Bat, Daubenton's, 37
Bearded seal, 85
Berychiformes, 467
Bat, Epauletted fruit-, 35
Bearded tit, 368
Beryx, 468
Bat, False vampire, 36
Bearded vulture, 313
Betta, 483
Bat, Flower-nosed, 36
Bear's paw, 626
Betta pugnax, 483
Bat, Fox, 35
Beavers, The, 96
Bettongia, 197
Bat, Free-tailed, 38
Beaver, American, 98
Bewicki, Cygnus, 292
Bat, Fruit, 34
Bechsteini, Vespertilio, 38
Bewick's swan, 292
Bat, Golden, 38
Bechstein's bat, 38
Bharal, 160
Bat, Greater horse-shoe, 36
Bed bug, 596
Bhringa, 361
Bat, Hare-lipped, 39
Beech-marten, 80
Bichir, 512
Bat, Hoary, 37
Bat, Horse-shoe, 36
Bee-eaters, 340
Bee-eater. Bearded. 341
Bichir polypterus, 512
Bicornis, Dichocerus, 339
Bat, Javelin, 41
Bee-eater, Common, 341
Bicornis, Rhinoceros, 126
Bat, Leaf-nosed, 36
Bee-eater, Square-tailed, 340
Binturong, 59
Bat, Long-eared, 36
Bee-eater, Swallow-tailed, 340
Binturong, Arctictis, 59
Bat, Long-tailed, 39
Bee, Hive, 581
Bipalium kewense, 684
Bat, Mastiff, 39
Bees, 553, 573, 580
Bipunctata, Coccinella, 562
Bat, Naked, 40
Bees, Carpenter, 581
Bipunctata, Sagitta, 681
Bat, Pouch-winged, 39
Bees, Humble, 581
Bipunctatus, Argusianus, 239
Bat, Schreiber's, 38
Bees, Leaf -cutter, 581
Birds, 218
Bat, Sheath-tailed, 39
Beetles, 553
Bird-catching spiders, 542
Bat, Short-nosed fruit-, 357
Beetle, Bacon, 556
Bird lice, 573
Bat, Tailed fruit-, 35
Beetle, Blister, 560
Bird's head coralline, 667
Bat, Tomb, 39
Beetle, Bombardier, 555
Bird's nest sponge, 693
Bat, Tricolor, 38
Beetle, Burying, 557
Birds'-nesting eagle, 315
Bat, Tube-nosed, 37
Beetles, Cellar, 559
Birds of Prey, The, 304
Bat, Typical, 36
Beetles, Click, 559
Birds of Paradise, 358
Bat, Vampire, 40
Beetle, Colorado, 561
Birgidse, 537
Bat, White, 39
Beetles, Diamond, 560
Birgus latro, 537
730
INDEX.
Bison, American, 163
Blight, 601
Botryllus, 528
Bison, Bos, 162
Blind-mouse, 106
Bottle-nosed chimaera, 462
Bison, European, 162
Blind-snakes, 417
Bottle tit. 368
Bitis, 427
Blind- worm, 404
Botys uricata, 532
Bitorquatus, Rhinoptilus, 273
Blister-beetle, 560
Botys verticalis, 592
Bitterlings, 499
Blood-pheasants, 235
Bougainvillea rarnosa, 696
Bitterns, The, 276
Blue-bottle flies, 608
Bovidae, 149
Bittern, Asiatic, 284
Blue coral, 708
Bovinus, Tobanus, 605
Bittern, Dwarf tiger, 284
Blue creeper, 362
Bovis, Hypoderma, 606
Bittern, Little, 284
Blue jays of America, 358
Bow-fin, 510
Bittern, Sun, The, 276
Blue rorquals, 173 | Bower-birds, The, 359
Bittern, True, 284
Blue shark, 516
Bower-bird, Satin, 359
Bivalve shell, Topography of,
Blue-throats, 370
Box-tortoises, 388
617
Blue tit, 367
Bovciana, Ciconia, 279
Bizarre sea-horses, 487
Blue water-hen, 248
Brachelytra, 556
Biziura, 297
Blue-winged geese, 295
Brachinus, 555
Blaberus, 564
Blue-winged grasshopper, 68
Brachiopod internal organs, 650
Blaberus giganteus, 564
Blues, The, 586
Brachiopod, Hinged, 649
Black ape, 22
Blunt-heads, 426
Brachiopod, Non-hinged, 650
Black-backed jackal, 66
Boa-constrictors, 418
Brachiopod, Pedunculate, 648
Black beetle, 564
Boa constrictor, Common, 420
Brachiopod, Sessile, 648
Black-billed cuckoo, 351
Boa tribe, The, 418
Brachiopoda, 648
Black-billed white stork, 279
Boar, Wild, 133
Brachiopoda, Ancestor of, 651
Black corals, 707
Boat-billed heron, 284
Brachypteraciinre, 335
Black cuscus, 200
Bobac, 93
Brachyrhynchus, Anser, 295
Black drongo, The, 361
Black eagle, 315
Bobac, Arctomys, 93
Bobolink, 361
Brachytarsomys, 102
Brachyteles arachnoides, 25
Black-faced uacaria, 27
Bocydium, 601
Brachyura, 537
Black fox, 71
Boidje, 418
Braconidae, 577
Black grouse, 230
Boiei, Ceratophrys, 441
Bradypodidae, 182
Black guillemot, 260
Boinae, 418
Bradypus, 182
Black-headed gull, 262
Black-headed, red-legged part-
Bombardier beetles, 555
Bombinator igneus, 444
Bradypus tridactylus, 183
Brahminy kites, 316
ridge, 232
Bombus, 581
Brain Coral, 707
Black-headed hangnest, 362
Bombus, Chsetocercas, 347
Branched Syllis, 673
Black-headed weaver bird, 362
Black howler, 24
Bombyces, 688
Bombyliidse, 606
Branchipodidae, 532
Branick's paca, 115
Black perns, 317
Bombyx mori, 590
Branta, 295
Black rat, 105
Bonariensis, Molothrus, 361
Branta ruficollis, 295
Black rhinoceros, 126
Bonasa, 231
Brasilianus, Merganser, 297
Black saki, 27
Bonellia, 678
Brassolinw, 584
Black salamander, 447
Bonellia veridis, 678
Brazilian caracara, 307
Black sea-bream, 466
Bonelli's eagle, 315
Breams, 499
Black-shouldered kites, 316
Bonhami, Ammoperdix, 233
Brechites, 628
Black slug, 643
Bonito, 473
Brent geese, 295
Black stork, 279
Bontebok, 150
Brevicaudata. Indris, 29
Black swan, 292
Bony fishes, 462
Breviceps, 439
Black tern, 261
Black-throated diver, 254
Bony pike, 509
Book scorpions, 541
Breviceps, Cogia, 176
Breviceps, Petaurus, 202
Black turn-stone, 272
Boops, Megaptera, 173
Breviceps, Rana, 437
Black vultures, 306
Booted eagle, 315
Brevipes, CKstrelata, 257
Black water-hen. 252
Bopyridie, 534
Bridges' wood-hewer, 3/5
Black wood-partridge, 234
Boring hymenoptera, 574
Bridges!, Drymornis, 375
Black wood-rail, 249
Bornean Bay cat, 55
Brill, 492
Blackbirds, 370
Bos, 161
Brine shrimp, 531
Blackbird, Common, 371
Bos americanus, 163
Bristle-footed worms, 671
Blackcap, 370
Bos banting, 165
British capercailzie, 230
Bladder seal, 87
Bos bison, 162
British ringed-snake, 421
Bladder worm, 687
Bos bubalis, 162
British turtle-dove, 244
Blainvillei, Mormops, 41
Bos caffer, 162
British viper, 427
Blainvillei, Steuodelphis, 178
Bos depressicornis, 162
Brittle-star, 657
Blaps 559
Bos frontalis, 164
Broad armadillo, 186
Blarina, 46
Bos gaurus, 164
Broadbills, 356
Blastoidea, 655
Bos grunniens, 164
Broadbill, Horsefield's, 356
Blatta orientalis, 564
Bos indicus, 165
Broad-leaved hornwrack, 665
B attidae, 563
Bos mindorensis, 162
Brocket, Red, 146
Bleak, 499
Bos pumilus, 162
Brodiei, Glaucidium, 324
Blennies, The, 478
Bos taurus, 165
Brookesia, 412
Blenniidse, 478
Boselaphus tragocamelus, 154
Brotula, 491
Blenniiformes, 477
Bot flies, 606
Brown bear, 75
Blennius, 478
Botaurus stellaris, 284
Brown fish-owl, 321
Blesbok, 150
Bothriocephalus latus, 687
Brown hawk-owls, 323
INDEX.
73i
Brown hyaena, 62 | Burmanica, Pelargopsis, 336
Brown-tailed mungoose, 61 j Burmeisteri, Chunga, 277
Caffra, Felis, 55
Caia, Hypercompa, 588
Browni, Macropus, 194
Burmeisteria, 188
Caimans, 380
Bruijni, Proechidna. 217
Burineister's seriama, 277
Cairina, 293
Bruijn's echidna, 217
Buriiets, 588
Cairina moschata, 293
Brunii macropus, 194
Burnett salmon, 460
Calabarensis, Pottos, 31
Brunnea, Hyaena, 62
Burnished brass moth, 591
Calabaria, 419
Brush-tailed porcupines, 113
Brush-turkeys, 226, 227
Burrowing owls, The, 323
Bursarius, Geomys, 109
Calabaricus, Calamoichthys, 512
Calaenadinae, 244
Bryozoa, 665
Burying beetles, 557
Calaenas, 245
Bubaline antelope, 150
Bush cuckoos, 351
Calamita, Bufo, 442
Bubalis, 150
Bubalis albifrons, 150
Bush-dog, 74
Bush-pig, 134
Calamoichthys calabaricus 512
Calamophilus biarmicus, 368
Bubalis, Bos, 162
Bushmaster, 429
Calandra larks, 364
Bubalis pygargus, 150
Bustards, The, 264, 273
Calandrella, 364
Bubo, 322
Bustard, Crested, 273
Calcareous sponges, 692
Bubo bubo, 322
Bustard, Great, 273
Calcarius, lapponicus, 364
Bubo virgin ianus 322
Bustard, Kori, 273
Calcitrans, Cnemiornis, 295
Bubonidae, 321
Bustard, Lesser, 273
Calcitrans, Stomoxys, 607
Buboninas, 321
Bustard-quail, 241
Calendula, Regulus, 369
Buccinida3, 637
Butastur, 315
Calidris, 269
Bucco, 355
Butcher-birds, 3C9
Californian quail, 240
Buccones, 355
Buteo 312
Californian toad, 403
Bucephala, Drilophaga, 683
Buteo buteo, 312
Californiana, Lophortyx, 240
Bucerotes, 339
Buteogallus, 312
Caligatus, Trogon, 349
Bucerus rhinoceros, 339
Buteoninse, 307, 311
Caligo teucer, 584
Buchanga atrae, 361
Butterflies, 553, 581
Callagur, 389
Bucholzi, Pantodon, 505
Butterfly, Dead leaf, 585
Callichthys, 497
Buck, Indian black, 452
Butterfly, Swallow-tail, 587
Callidea perplexa, 595
Buck, Prong-, 149
Buzzards, The, 307, 312
Callidina parasitica, 683
Bucorax, 339
Buzzard, Common. 312
Callimome, 576
Budorcas taxicolor, 157
Buzzard, Honey, 317
Callithrix, 26
Buffalo, Cape, 162
Buzzard-eagles, 315
Callithrix torquata, 26
Buffalo, Indian, 162
Buzzard-hawk, Rufous, 312
Callophasis, 238
Buffon's skua, 263
Bythinia, 635
Callophasis ellioti, 238
Bufo, 441
Callophasis humiae, 238
Bufo calamita, 442
Callophis, 424
Bufo viridis, 442
C.
Callophrys rubi, 586
Bufo vulgaris, 442
Callorhynchus, 462
Bufonidae, 441
Caballus, Equus, 128
Calluella, 439
Bugs, 553, 594
Cabalus, 249
Calomys, 101
Bug, Bed, 596
Cabalus dieffenbachii, 249
Calonyx, Eurystomus, 335
Bug, Masked, 596
Cabalus modestus, 249
Caloperdix, 234
Bug, Plant, 596
Cabalus sylvestris, 249
Caloprymnus campestris, 197
Bug, Shield, 595
Cabul, Marmot, 94
Calornis, 360
Bug, Water, 597
Cacatuidce, 328
Calotes, 399
Bug, Wheel, 596
Caccabis chukar, 232
Calva, Uacaria, 27
Bugula turbinata, 667
Caccabis magna, 232
Calvus, Anthropopithecus, 15
Bulbuls, The, 372
Caccabis inelanocephala 232
Calypte helenae, 347
Bulimulidae, 643
Caccabis petrosa, 232
Calypterse, Muscidae, 607
Bulimus, 643
Caccabis rufa, 232
Calyptomena, 356
Bull frog, 437
Caccabis saxatilis, 232
Calyptomena hosii, 356
Bull-heads, 475 .
Cachuga, 389
Calyptomena viridis, 356
Bullfinches, 303
Cacomistle, 76
Calyptomena whiteheadi, 356
Bullidaa, 640
Cacopus, 438
Cama, Canis, 73
Bullinella, 640
Cacopus systema, 438
Camarhynchus, 363
Bulloidea, 639
Caddis flies, 572
Camel Tribe, The, 135
Bulweri, Lobiophasis.238
Caddis worms, 573
Camel, Arabian, 1-37
Bungarus caeruleus. 424
Caeca, Talpa, 48
Camel, Bactrian, 137
Bungarus fasciatus, 424
Csecidae, 635
Camelidae, 135
Bungarus, Naia, 424
Caecilians, 453
Camelopardilis, Giraffe, 147
Buntings, 363
Bunting, Cirl, 364
Caecilian brooding its eggs, 454
Caeciliidae, 454
Camelus, 136
Camelus bactrianus, 136
Bunting, Corn, 364
Caecum, 635
Camelus dromedarius, 136
Bunting, Lapland, 364
Bunting, Snow, 363-364
Caenagrioninae, 570
Caenolestes, 204
Camelus, Struthio, 223
Campanularians, 697
Buprestid:e, 558
Caesar, Lucilia, 608
Campestris acheta, 567
Burbot, The, 491
Caesareus, Staphylinus, 556
Campestris, Caloprymnus, 197
Burchelli, Equus, 128
Cwsia, Sitta, 368
Campestris, Cervus, 146
Burchell's rhinoceros, 126
Burchell's zebra, 128
Burhinus grallarius, 273
Caffer, Bos, 162
Caffer cat, 55
Caffer, Pedetes, 110
Campestris, Cicindela, 554
Campestris, Motacilla, 365
Campestris raphiceros, 151
732
INDEX.
Campophagidae, 372
Canthocamptus alpestris, 532
Carettochelyida;, 394
Canadensis, Castor, 98
Cantiaca, Sterna, 261
Cariacus, 146
Canadensis, Cervus, 143
Cantoria, 423
Cariama cristata, 277
Canadensis, Felis, 56
Canus, Larus, 262
Carinaria, 636
Canadensii ">vis, 160
Cap-of-liberty shells, 634
Carinata, Cyclura, 403
Canadian lynx, 56
Cape buffalo, 162
Carinat*, 225
Canadian porcupine, 113
Cape coly, The, 348
Carinate avis, 225
Canarian fork-tailed petrel, 257
Cape golden mole, 50
Carinate birds, 225
Canaries, 363
Cape hunting-dog, 74
Carine, 323
Cancellaria, 638
Cape jumping-hare, 110
Carnea, Edwardsia, 704
Cancellariidae, 638
Cape moles, 50
Carnivora, 50
Cancer pagurus, 538
Cape polecat. 80
Carnivorous water-beetles, 555
Canchroma, 283
Cape quail, 234
Carolinensis, Galeoscoptes, 372
Canchroma cochlearia, 284
Caped pheasants, The, 238
Carp, Common, 498
Canchroma zeledoni, 284
Capensis, Coturnix, 234
Carp, Crucian, 498
Cancriformis, Apus, 531
Cancrivorus, Canis, 69
Capensis, Orycteropus, 189
Capensis, Rostratula, 267
Carp lice, 532
Carpenter bees, 581
Candelarius, Hotinus, 599
Capensis, Strix, 3-25
Carpet-snake, 419
Candicans, Hierofalco, 319
Capensis, Tachybaptes, 2f)3
Carpincho, 89
Candida, Coscoroba, 293
Capercailzies, The, 230
Carpincho, Aquatic, 116
Candida, Pholadoiuya, 628
Capercailzie, British, 230
Carpio, Cyprinus, 498
Candida, Strix, 325
Capercailzie, Dusky, 231
Carpocapsa. 593
Candle fly, 599
Capitis, Pediculus, 602
Carpocapsa pomonella, 593
Cane-rat, 112
Capito, 353
Carpococeyx, 351
Caniceps, Lepidolemur, 30
Capitones, 352
Carpococeyx radiatus, 351
Canidae, 63
Capivara, 116
Carpodacus, 363
Canis, 63
Capivara, Hydrochcerus, 89
Carpomys, 104
Canis adustus, 66
Capra, 158
Carponycteris, 35
Canis alpinus, 68
Capra segagrus, 159
Carpophaga zenea 243
Canis antarcticus, 64
Capra, Cervus, 146
Carpophaginae, 242
Canis argentatus, 71
Capra cylindricornis, 158
Carrion crow, 358
Canis aureus, 66
Capra falconeri, 159
Carterodon, 113
Canis azarae, 69
Capra hispanica, 158
Carunculata, Sarcidiornis, 293
Canis bengalensis, 73
Capra ibex, 158
Carychium minimum, 641
Canis cama, 73
Capra pyrenaica, 158
Caryophyllacea, Rhodonessa,
Oanis cancrivorus, 69
Capra sibirica, 159
294
Canis corsac, 73
Capreola, Pelea, 151
Gary ophy ilia, 705
Canis deccanensis, 68
Capreolus, 146
Casarca, 296
Canis dingo, 66
Caprimulgi, 342
Casei, Piophila, 608
Canis dukhunensis, 68
Caprimulgus europaeus ; 342
Cashmirianus, Cervus, 143
Canis famelicus, 73
Canis ferrilatus, 73
Captine, 158
Capromys, 112
Caspia, Hydroprogue, 261
Caspian seal, 85
Canis flavescens, 71
Capuchins, 24
Caspian tern, 261
Canisjulvus, 71
Capuchin, White-throated, 24
Caspica, Phoca, 85
Canis, Galeus, 516
Capulidae, 634
Cassididfe, 636
Canis japonicus. 73
Capulus, 634
Cassidix, 362
Canis jubatus, 69
Carabidae, 554
Cassidix oryzivorus. 362
Canis lagopus, 73
Carabus, 555
Cassidix persicus, 362
Canis laniger, 65
Carabus auratus, 555
Cassis rufa, 636
Canis latrans, 66
Caracal, 55
Cassowaries, The, ?24
Canis leucopus, 73
Caracal, Felis, 55
Castanotis, Chceropus, 206
Canis lupus, 64
Caracaras, 307
Castnia syphax, 590
Canis macrotis, 73
Caracara, Brazilian, 307
Castniidae, 590
Tan is rnesomelas, 66
Carancho, 307
Castor, 96
Canis montanus, 71
Carangidae, 471
Castor canadensis, 98
Canis niger, 65
Caranx, 471
Castor fiber, 96
Canis niloticus, 71
Carassius, 498
Castoridw, 96
Canis pallipes, 64
Carbo, Phalacrocorax, 299
Casuarii, 223
Canis pennsylvanicus, 71
Carchariidae, 516 .
Casuariiformes, 221, 223
Canis primsevus, 68
Carcharodon rondeletii, 517
Cat-bear, 75
Canis procyonides, 69
Carcineutes, 337
Cat-bird, 372
Canis pulex (dog flea), 609
Carcinophaga, Lobodon, 86
Cat-fishes, 496
Canis rutilans, 68
Cardamines, Euchioe, 586
Cat-snake, 423
Canis velox, 72
Cardiacea, 623-625
Cats, The, 52
Canis Virginian us, 72
Cardiidae, 626
Cat, Bornean Bay, 55
Canis vulpes, 71
Cardiliidse, 625
Cat, Gaffer, 55
Canis zerda, 73
Cardinal grosbeaks, 363
Cat, Domestic, 55
Cannabateomys, 112
Cardinalis, 363
Cat, Jungle, 55
Canorus, Cuculus, 350
Cardinalis, Novius, 602
Cat, Leopard Oriental, 55
Cantharinae, 466
Cardita concamerata, 623
Cat, Marbled, 55
Cantharis vesicatoria, 560
Carditidae, 623
Cat, Tiger, 55
Cautharus, 466 |
Caretta, Thalassochelys, 391
Cat tribe, 52
INDEX.
733
Cat, Wild, 55 j
Ceratobrachidae, 439
Ceryle torquata, 336
Cataphractus, Crocodilus, 381
Ceratobrachus guentheri, 439
Ceryle varia, 336
Catarrhactes, Megalestris, 263
Ceratodus, 460
Cestoda, 686
Catesbyana, Ran a, 437
2eratophora, 399
Cestoni, Nyctinomus, 40
( athartes aura, 304
^eratophrys, 441
Cestraciidae, 518
Cathartidiformes, 304
ZJeratophrys boiei, 441
Cestracion, 518
Catheturus, 227
Ceratophrys ornata, 441
Cestraciontidae, 518
Catheturus lathami, 227
Cercariae, (i89
Itestracium, 518
Catreus wallichii, 237
Cerchneis, 320
Destus veneris, 712
CatU, Lemur, 29
^ercocebus, 21
^etacea, 169
Cattle, Indian humped, 165
Cercoleptes caudivolvulus, 76
Cetonia aurata, 558
Catus, Felis, 55
Jercomys, 113
Cetoniidse, 558
Caucasica, Salamandra, 447
Cercopithecidae, 19
^etorhinus maximus, 517
Caudacuta, Chaetura, 34G
Cercopithecus, 21
Ceycopsis, 337
Caudata, 445
Cercopithecus callitrichus, 21
Ceylonens'is, Ketupa, 321
Caudatus, Arctomys, 94
Cercopithecus diana, 21
Ceyx, 337
Caudatus, Priapulus, 678
Cercopithecus mona, 21
Chacma, 23
Caudivolvulus, Cercoleptes, 76
Cercopsinae, 294
Chaeronycteris, 41
Cautious albatros, 259
Cerealium, Thrips, 572
Chaeropsis, 13 L
Cautus, Thalassogeron, 259
Cereopsis geese, The, 294
Chaeropus castanotis, 206
Cavatus, Hyptiotes, 544
Cereus, Anthea, 703
Chaetoceraus, 348
Cave-dwelling anemone, 704
Cerithiidse, 636
Chaetocercus bombus, 347
Cave-fish, 491
Cerivoula, 38
Chretoderma, 616
Cavia, 115
Certhia familiaris, 365
Chsetodermatina, 316
Cavies family, The, 115
Certhiidaj, 362
Chaetodon, 465
Caviidse, 115
Certhilauda, 364
Chaetodontidse, 465
Cavolinidae, 640
Certhiola, 362
Chaetognatha, 682
Cebidae, 23
Cervicapra, 152
Chaetomys, 113
Cebus, 24
Cervicapra antilope, 152
Chaetopoda, 671
Cebus hypoleucus, 24
Cervicaprinae, 151
Chaetura, 345
Cecidomyia destructor, 603
Cervidae, 140
Chaetura caudacuta, 346
Cecidomyiidse, 603
Cervulus, 141
Chaeturinse, 346
Cedar-bird, American, 369
Cervulus muntjac, 142
Chafers, 557
Cedrorum, Ampelis, 369
Cervus, 142
Chaffinch, Common, 363
Celebensis, Pernis, 317
Cervus affinis, 143
Chajd, 291
Cellar-beetles, 559
Cervus alfredi, 143
Chalcididae, 576
Cellar- snail, 644
Cervus antisiensis, 146
Chalcopsittacus, 328
Cellaria, Vitrea, 644
Cervus axis, 143
Chalia furva, 589
Celtis, Libythsa, 586
Cervus campestris, 146
Chalinolobus, 37
Cemas, 157
Cervus canadensis, 143
Chalinolobus tuberculatus, 40
Centetes ecaudatus, 49
Cervus caprea, 146
Chamaeleons, 411
Centetidae, 49
Cervus cashmirianus, 143
Chamaeleon vulgaris, 412
Centipedes, 548
Cervus chilensis, 146
Chamaeleontidae, 412
Centipede, Electric, 549
Cervus clavatus, 146
Chamaesaura, 404
Centrarchidae, 463
Cervus dama, 144
Chamidas, 626
Centrachus, 463
Cervus davidianus, 143
Chamois, 156
Centriscidse, 482
Cervus duvauceli, 143
Chamostrea albida, 628
Centrisciformes, 482
Cervus elaphus, 143
Chamostreidae, 627
Centriscus, 482
Cervus eldi, 143
Changu, 65
Centrogenys, 464
Cervus eustephanus, 143
Channa, 482
Centrolophus, 472
Cervus giganteus, 144
Channel-bills, 35<X
Centropelma, 253
Cervus, Lucanus, 558
Channiformes, 482
Centropodinse, 351
Cervus macrotis, 146
Chanting gos-hawks, 310
Centropominae, 464
Cervus maral, 143
Charadrii, 266
Centropristes, 464
Cervus mesopotamicus, 144
Charadriidae, 266
Centropus, 351
Centropus sinensis, 351
Cervus philippinus, 1 43
Cervus porcinus, 143
Charadriiformes, 260
Charadriinse, 270
Centrotus, 601
Cervus pygargus, 146
Charadrius dominicus, 270
Centrotus cornutus, 601
Cervus ruffi, 144
Charadrius pluvialis, 271
Cepedianus, Laphotes, 484
Cervus rufus, 146
Charcharias glaucus, 516
Cephalochorda, 526
Cervus schomburgki, 143
Chasmorhynchus, 374
Cephalodiscus, 649
Cervus sica, 143
Chat-thrushes, 370
Cephalophus, 151
Cervus swinhoei, 143
Chats, 370
Cephalopoda, 644
Cervus thoroldi, 143
Chatterers, The, 369
Cephaloptera, 52'2
Cervus unicolor, 143
Chatterer, American, 374
Cephalorhynchus, 179
Cervus virginianus, 146
Chatterer, Crested, 369
Cephalorhynchus heavisidei, 179
Cervus xanthopygus, 143
Chauliodus, 505
Cephalus, Harpyio, 37
Ceryle, 336
Chauna, 290
Cepolidse, 477
Ceryle ale von, 336
Chauna chavaria, 290
Cerambycidae, 561
Ceryle lugubris, 336
Chauna cristata, 290
Cerastes, 427
Ceryle rudis, 336
Chaus, Felis, 55
Ceratium, 718
Ceryle superciliosa, 336
Chavaria, Chauna, 290
734
INDEX.
Cheer pheasant, 237
Chironomidae, 604
Cinerea, Atalapha, 37
Cheese-mites, 547
Chiropodomys, 104
Cinerea, Nepa, 597
Chelidon, 373
Chiroptera, 33
Cinereus, Phascolarctus, 199
Chelidon urbica, 373
Chirotes, 408
Cinixys, 387
Chelidoptera, 356
Chiroteuthidae, 646
Cinnabar moth, 588
Chelifer, 541
Chiroxiphia linearis, 374
Cinnyris asiatica, 366
Chelmon, 465
Chiru, Tibetan, 152
Cinosternidaj, 389
Chelodina, 393
Chiruromys, 106
Circaetus, 315
Chelone imbricata, 391
Chiton, 615
Circaetus gallicus, 315
Chelone mydas, 391
Chitonidae, 616
Circulate, Flata, 600
Chelonia, 383
Chitra, 395
Circus aeruginosus, 309
Chelonidse, 390
Chlamydophorus retusa, 188
Circus hudsonius, 309
Chelydridae, 390
Chlamydophorus truncatus, 188
Circus pvgargus, 309
Chelyidae, 392
Chlamydosaurus kingi, 399
Cirl-bunting, 364
Chelys fimbriata, 392
Chloris, Ligurinus, 363
Cirlus, Emberiza, 364
Chen, 295
Chenomorphae, 288
Chlorocercus, Lorius, 328
Chloron, 580
Cirrhites, 467
Cirrhitichthys, 467
Chenonetta, 295
Chloropus, Gallinula, 252
Cirrhitida>, 466
Chenonettinse, 295
Cholaepus, 182
Cirripedia, 533
Chenopis, 292
Chologaster, 502
Cirroteuthidai, 647
Chenopis atrata, 293
Chondrostei, 510
Cirroteuthis, 647
Cheriway, Polyborus, 307
Chondrostoma, 499
Cisticola Prinia, 370
Chestnut-breasted avocet, 270
Choneziphius cuvieri, 177
Cistudo, 388
Chevrotain family, The, 19
Chordeiles, 342
Citrinella, Emberiza, 364
Chevrotains, Oriental, 139
Choridactylus, 467
Cittocincla, 370
Chevrotain, West African, 139
Chorinemus, 467
Civet tribe, 56
Cheyletus, 547
Choristida;, 637
Civet, Bennett's, 60
Chibia, 361
Chough, 358
Civet, Daubenton's, 57
Chiffchaff, 370
Chough, Alpine, 358
Civet, Palm-, Small-toothed,
Child's head urchin, 660
Chough, Desert, 358
59
Chilensis, Cervus, 146
Chough, Red-billed, 358
Civet, Palm-, True, 59
Chilensis, Megalestris, 263
Chough, White-winged, 358
Civet, True, 57
Chilian swan, 292
Chromatophores, 645
Civetta, Viverra, 57
Chilinia, 642
Chromididae, 486
Cladorhynchus leucocephalus,
Chilinidse, 641
Chromids, 486
270
Chilobranchus, 495
Chromis, 487
Clamosa, Atrichia, 376
Chilodactylus, 467
Chilognatha, 549
Chrondropython, 419
Chrotomys, 100
Clamvdoconcha, 624
Clangula, 297
Chilomonas, 718
Chrysaenas victor, 243
Clarias, 497
Chilonycteris, 41
Chrysaetus, Aquila, 314
Clarkei, Ammordorcas, 153
Chilopoda, 548
Chrysalis-shells, 643
Clarke's gazelle, 153
Chilostomata, 666
Chrysididae, 578
Claudia, 346
Chimaera, Bottle-noserl, 462
Chrysippus, Limnas, 583
Claudius, 389
Chimaera, Common, 461
Chimaeroids, 461
Chrysitis, Plusia, 591
Chrysochloridse, 50
Clausilia, 643
Clavatus, Cervus, 146
Chimpanzees, 14
Chrysochloris, 50
Clavicornia, 556
Chimpanzee, Bald, 15
Chimpanzee, Common, 15
Chrysceoccyx, 350
Chrysolophus, 238
Clavigella, 628
Clavigellidaa, 627
Chimarrogale, 47
Chrysolophus amherstiae, 238
Claviglis, 99
Chin-leaf bats, 41
Chrysolophus pictus, 238
Clepsine, 677
Chinchilla tribe, The, 113
Chrysophrys, 466
Click beetles, 559
Chinchilla, Cuvier's, 114
Chrysopid*, 571
Cliff-swallow, 373
Chinensis neurobasis, 570
Chrysops, 605
Climbing birds, The, 352
Chinese alligator, 380
Chrysothrix, 26
Climbing-perch, 483
Chinese water-deer, 146
Chrysotis, 329
Clionidae, 640
Chinquis, Polypectrum, 238
Chioglossa lusitanica, 447
Chthonerpetum, 455
Chukar, Caccabis, 232
Clionopsidae, 640
Clisiocampa neustria, 590
Chionarchus minor, 265
Chukar partridge, 232
Clistenterata, 650
Chionarchus crozettensis, 265
Chionides, 265
Chunga burmeisteri, 277
Cicadidae, 598
Clitambonites, 651
Clitambonites adscendens, 651
Chionis alba, 265
Cicindela campestris, 554
Cloak anemone, 703
Chipmunks, 91
Cicindelidas, 554
Cloephaga, 295
Chiridaj, 478
Ciconia boyciana, 279
Clcephaga inornata, 296
Chiridium musaeorum, 541
Ciconia, Ciconia, 278
Clothes moths, 593
Chiridota, 661
Ciconia nigra, 279
Clouded leopard, 55
Chirocentridae, 506
Chirocentrus dorab, 506
Ciconiidse, 278
Cidaris papillata, 6f9
Clupea alosa, 507
Clupea finta, 5( 7
Chirogale, 30
Ciliated Infusorians, 720
Clupea harengus, 507
Chiromeles torquata, 40
Chiromyidae, 31
Cimbicinae, 574
Cimicidae, 596
Clupea menhaden, 507
Clupea pilchardus, 507
Chiromys madagascariensis, 31
Chironectes minimus, 214
Cinclus aquaticus, 371
Cinerea, Ardea, 282
Clupea sprattus, 507
Clupeida;, 506
INDEX.
735
Clupeoides, Coregonus, 509
Columba livia, 244
Common pike, 502
Clytoceyx, 337
Columb83, 242
Common porpoise, 179
Cnemiornis calcitrans, 295
Columbia transmontana, 509
Common pratincole, 272 ,
Cnidaria, 694
Columbidae, 244
Common quail, 234
Coal-fish, 491
Columbiformes, 242
Common rat, 105
Coati, 77
Columbillidse, 637
Common rhea, 221
Coatis, 76
Coly, Cape, 348
Common roe, 146
Cobitinse, 500
Dolymbiformes, 254
Common roller, 335
Cobitis trenia, 500
Colymbus adamsi, ^54
Common rorqual, 174
Cobras, The, 424
Colymbus arcticus, 254
Common salamander, 446
Cobra, Giant, 424
Colymbus glacialis, 254
Dommon sargus, 466
Cobra, Indian, 424
Cobus, 152
Colymbus septentrionalis, 254
Comadre'ja, 212
Common sea-squirt, 528
Common seal, b5
Cobus arundineum, 152
Comadreja-colorada, 213
Common seriama, 277
Coccidae, 602
Comb-bearers, 711
Common sheld-duck, 296
Coccinella bipunctata, 562
Comb-duck, 293
Common shrew, 46
Coccinellida?, 562
Comephorus, 478
Common skink, 410
Coccothraustes coccothraustes,
Comeri, Porphyriornis, 252
Common skunk, 78
363
Common argus, 239
Common snipe, 268
Coccothraustinae, 363
Common badger, 79
Common spoon-bill, 286
Coccyges, 349
Common bat, 37
Common squirrel, 91
Coccystes, 350
Common bee-eater, The, 341
Common starling, 360
Coccystes glandarius, 350
Common blackbird, 371
Common sturgeon, 511
Coccyzus, 350
Common boa-constrictor, 420
Common swallow, The, 373
Coccyzus americanus, 351
Common buzzard, 312
Common swift, 346
Coccyzus erythrophthalmus, 351
Common carp, 498
Common sword-fish, 469
Cochlearia, Canchroma, 284
Common chaffinch, 363
Common tern, 261
Cochlicella, 643
Common chimsera, 461
Common toad, 442
Cock-chafers, 558
Common chimpanzee, 15
Common trumpeter, 277
Cockatoos, The, 328
Common cockroach, 564
Common turn- stone, 272
Cockatoo, Great black, 328
Common cormorant, 299
Common vampire, 42
Cockles, The, 626
Common crane, 275
Common weasel, The, 80
Cockroaches, 564
Common cuckoo, 350
Common wolf, 64
Cockroach, Common, 564
Common dipper, 371
Common wren, 371
Cockroach, Drummer, 564
Common emu, 223
Common wryneck, 354
Cocks-of-the-rock, 374
Common flycatcher, 372
Communis, Phocoena, 179
Cocophagez, Lopaphus, 566
Common francolin, 2b3
Concamerata, Cardita, 623
Cocorax, 358
Common frog, 436
Conchicola, Aspidogaster, 688
Cocorax melanorhamphus, 358
Common fulmar petrel, 258
Concolor, Felis, 53
Cod, The, 491
Common gannet, 299
Condor, The, 304
Codling moth, 593
Common gold-crest, 368
Condylura cristata, 48
Codosiga, 719
Common gos-hawk, 310
Conepatus mapurito, 78
Coecillianella, 643
Common greenfinch, 363
Conger, 494
Coelebs, Fringilla, 363
Common grey seals, 85
Conger vulgaris, 494
Ccelenterata, 690
Common gull, 262
Conidse, 638
Ccelogenys, 9, 115
Common gurnard, 475
Conies, 124
Coelomata, 690
Common hare, 118
Conilurus, 106
Coenagrion puella, 570
Ccereba, 362
Common hawfinch, 363
Common heron, 282
Connochretes, 150
Conolophus subcristatus, 402
Coereba cyanea, 362
Common herring, 507
Conopophagid*, 375
Coerebidae, 362
Common hippopotamus, 131
Constrictor, Boa, 420
Coerulea, Crossopus, 46
Ccerulescens, (Edipoda, 568
Cceruleus, Bungarus, 424
Common hoopoe, 340
Common horse, 128
Common jackal, 66
Contortrix, Ancistrodon, 429
Contortuplicata, serpula, 672
Conurus, 329
Coffer- fishes, 489
Common kingfisher, 337
Convoluta schultzii, C86
Cogia breviceps, 176
Common kite, 316
Coots, 252
Colaptes, 354
Common lapwing, 271
Copepoda, 533
Colchicus, Phasianus, 237
Common lemming, 103
Copper-head, 429
Coleoptera, 553
Common loach, 500
Copper pheasant, 238
Colies, The, 348
Common lynx, 56
Coppers, The, 586
Colii, 348
Common mackerel, 473
Coppersmith, 353
Colius, 348
Common marmot, 92
Copsychus, 370
Colius colius, 348
Common mole, 48
Coraciae, 335
Collembola, 573
Common newt, 448
Coracias, 335
Collocalia, 346
Common nut hatch, 368
Coracias garrulus, 335
Collyrio, Lanius, 369
Common opossum, 211
Coracias temmincki, 335
Colobus, 21
Common ox, 165
Coraciinse, 335
Colorado beetle, 561
Common partridge, 233
Coraciiformes, 332
Colubridse, 421
Common perch, 464
Coralline, Bird's head, 667
Colubrine tribe, The, 421
Common pewit, 271
Coralline, Creeping, 667
Columba, 244
Common phalanger, 200
Coralline, Nit, 668
Columba aenas, 244
Common pheasant, The, 237
Coralline, Oaten-straw, 697
736
INDEX.
Corallinus, Elaps, 423
Cottidae, 475
Crested curassow, 229
Coralliophaga. 624
Cotto-scombriformes, 470
Crested eagles, 315
Coralliophilidae, 637
Cotton-teal, 294
Crested guinea fowls, 240
Corallum rubrum, 708
Cottus, 475
Crested kingfisher, 337
Corallus, 420
Coturnix, 234
Crested larks, 364
Corals, The, 690, 704
Coturnix capensis, 234
Crested newt, 447
Coral, Black, 707
Coturnix coturnix, 234
Crested-rat, 102
Coral, Blue, 708
Coturnix japonica, 235
Crested screamer, 290
Coral, Brain, 707
Coturnix novae zealandiae, 235
Crested swift, 346
Coral colonies, 706
Coursers, The, 273
Crested tit, 368
Coral, Cup, 705
Courser, Coromandel, 273
Crested wood-partridges, 234
Coral, Development of, 707
Courser, Cream-coloured, 273
Crex crex, 248
Coral, Eight-rayed, 70?
Courser, True, 272
Cricetinae, 101
Coral, Fleshy. 701
Coral Islands, 709
Coral, Mushroom, 705
Cow-bird, Argentine, 361
Cowries, 636
Coyote, North American, 66
Cricetine Group, The, 101
Cricetomys, 106
Cricetus frumentarius, 101
Coral, Organ-Pipe, 70S
Coypu, 8, 111
Cricetus, 101
Coral, Red, 708
Coypu myopotamus, 112
Crickets, The, 566
Coral reefs, 709
Crabs, The, 537
Cricket, Field, 567
Coral, Six-rayed, 705
Crab, Edible, 538
Cricket, House, 567
Coral, Star, 706
Crab, Great Japanese, 538
Cricket, Mole, 567
Coral, Stony, 701
Coral cylinder-snake, 421
Coral-fishes, 485
Crab, Hermit, 537
Crabs, King, 538
Crab, Porcelain, 537
Crimson pufflet, 704
Crimson-winged creeper, 366
Crinia, 441
Coral snake, 423
Crab, Robber, 537
Crinoidea, 662
Corbicula, 623
Crab, Spider, 537
Cristata, Cariama, 277
Cordatum, Echinocardium, 659
Crab-eating dog, 69
Cristata, Chauna, 290
Coregonus, 508
Crab-eating macaque, 22
Cristata, Condylura, 48
Coregonus clupeoides, 509
Coregonus pollan, 509
Crab plovers, The, 264
Crabro, Vespa, 580
Cristata, Cystophora, 87
Cristata, Guttera, 240
Coregonus vandesius, 509
Crabroniformis, Asilus, 605
Cristata, Molge, 447
Coriacea, Dermochelys, 391
Graces, 226
Cristatella mucedo, 668
Coriarius, Prionus, 561
Crait, 424
Cristatus, Amblyrhynchus, 402
Corixidae, 597
Crakes, The, 251
Cristatus, Lophophanes, 368
Cormorants, The, 299
Crake, Baillon's, 251
Cristatus, Opisthocomus, 247
Cormorant, Common, 299
Crake, Corn, 251
Cristatus paro, 239
Corn-bunting, 364
Crake, Little, 251
Cristatus, Podicipes, 253
CoVn-crake, 251
Crake, Spotted, 251
Cristatus, Proteles, 62
Corn moth, 593
Crake, White-winged, 251
Cristatus, Sus, 134
Cornifer, 436
Crambi, 592
Crocata, Pachyrhina, 604
Cornubica, Lamna, 517
Crambus ericellus, 593
Crocidura, 46
Cornuta, Palamedea, 290
Cranchiadse, 646
Crocodiles, The, 378
Cornutus, Centrotus, 601
Cranes, The, 274
Crocodile, Egyptian, 381
Coromandel courser, 273
Crane, Common, 275
Crocodile, Long-nosed, 381
Coromandelianus, Nettopus,
Crane flies, 604
Crocodile, Stumpy, 382
294
Crane, Sarus, 274
Crocodilia, 378
Coromandelicus, Cursorius, 273
Crangonidati, 536
Crocodilidre, 380
Coronata, Goura, 245
Crania, 648
Crocodilus, 381
Coronatus, Anthracoeerus, 339
Crassatellidse, 624
Crocodilus americanus, 381
Coronatus, Harpyhaliaetus, 313
Crassicaudata, Didelphys, 213
Crocodilus cataphractus, 381
Corone corone, 358
Crassicornis, Tealia, 703
Crocodilus niloticus, 381
Coronella laevis, 422
Crassidens, Pseudorca, 180
Crocodilus palustris, 381
Coronetta, Floscularia, 682
Crassipes, Linotaenia, 549
Crocodilus porosus, 381
Corsac, Can is, 73
Crateromys, 101
Crocuta, Hyaena, 63
Corsac fox, 73
Crateropus, 372
Cross-fox, 71
Corvidae, 338
Cratogeomys, 109
Crossarchus, 61
Corvinse, 358
Crax alector, 229
Crossarchus fasciatus, 61
Corydon, 356 .
Cray-fish, 536
Crossbills, 363
Coryphaena, 472
Cream-coloured courser, 272
Crossopterygii, 512
Coryphsenas, 244
Cream-coloured turtle-dove, 245
Crossoptilum auritum, 236
Coryphasnidae, 472
Crecinas, 248
Crossopus, 46
Corythornis, 336
Creepers, The, 365
Crossopus coerulea, 46
Coscoroba, 292
Creeper, Crimson-winged, 366
Crossopus fodiens, 46
Coscoroba Candida, 293
Creeper, Tree, 365
Crossorhinus, 518
Coscoroba swan, 293
Cosmetornis, 343
Creeping coralline, 667
Crenidens, 466
Crotalinae, 428
Croton bug, 564
Cosmonetta, 297
Crenilabrus, 486
Crotophaga, 351
Cossus, Trypanns, 590
Cossypha, 370
Crepidatus, Stercorarius, 264
Crepitans, Psophia, 277
Crotophaginae, 351
Crows, The, 358
Costa Kica deer, 146
Crested argus, 239
Crow, Carrion, 358
Cotile, 373
Cotingidse, 373
Crested chatterer, 369
Crested cuckoo, 350
Crowned pigeon, 245
Crowther, Ursus, 75
INDEX.
737
Crozettensis, Chionarchus, 265
Cuscus, Spotted, 200
Cysticercus, 687
Crucian carp, 498
Cusimanses, 61
Cystidea, 655
Crucibulum, 634
Cusp-toothed fruit-bat, 35
Cystignathidae, 440
Crustacea, 530
Crustacea, Larval forms of,
Cuspidariidae, 628
Cuttle-fish, 646
Cystophora cristata, 87
Cytherea dione, 625
530
Cut-water, 262
Cyttidge, 471
Crymophilus, 266
Cut worms, 591
Cyttus, 471
Crymophilus fulicarius. 266
Cuvieri, Choneziphitis, 177
Cryptobranchus lateralis, 451
Cuvier's chinchilla, 114
Cryptodira, 385
Cuvier's whale, 177
D.
Cryptoplacidae, 616
Cyamus ovalis, 535
Cryptoprocta ferox, 56
Cyanea, Caereba, 362
Dabchick, 253
Cryptops hortensis, 549
Cyanecula, 370
Dace, 499
Crystallinus, Laphopus, 668
Cyanochen, 295
Dacelo gigas, 337
Ctenodactylus, 111
Cyanocorax, 358
Daceloninse, 336
Ctenomys, 111
Cyclanorbis, 395
Dactylomys, 112
Ctenophora, 694, 711
Cyclas, 623
Dactylopsila, 201
Ctenostomata, 668
Cyclatella annelidicola, 688
Dactylopteridae, 476
Cuckoos, The, 350
Cyclemys, 387
Dactylopterus, 476
Cuckoo, American, 350
Cycloderma, 395
Dahlia wartlet, The, 703
Cuckoo, Black-billed, 351
Cyclophoridae, 634
Daisy anemone, 702
Cuckoo, Bush, 351
Cyclops, 532
Dalhousiae, Psarisomus, 356
Cuckoo, Common, 350
Cyclops quadricornis, 532
Dama, Cervus, 144
Cuckoo, Crested, 350
Cyclopsitta lunulata, 328
Darnaliscus, 150
Cuckoo, Golden, 350
Cyclopsittacidae, 328
Damascena, Perdix, 234
Cuckoo, Great-spotted, 350
Cyclopsittacus, 328
Damon ia hamiltoni, 388
Cuckoo, Hawk, 350
Cyclopteridae, 476
Danainae, 583
Cuckoo, Indian crested, 350
Cyclopterus, 476
Daphnia pulex, 531
Cuckoo, Lark-heeled, 351
Cyclostoma, 634
Dark green snake, 422
Cuckoo-like birds, The, 349
Cyclostomata, 523, 669
Darters, The, 298, 301
Cuckoo, Pheasant, 351
Cyclostomatidse, 634
Darter, African, 301
Cuckoo, Eain, 351 -.
Cyclostrematidse, 632
Darwini, Rhea, 222
Cuckoo, Spotted, 350
Cuckoo, Sarana, 351
Cycloturus didactylus, 184
Cyclura carinata, 403
Darwini, Ehinoderma, 439
Darwin's frog, 439
Cuckoo, Steel-blue, 351
Cydippe, 711
Darwin's rhea, 222
Cuckoo, True, 350
Cygminae, 292
Daryprocta, 8
Cuckoo, Typical, 350
Cygnus, 292
Dascyllus, 485
Cuckoo, Yellow-billed, 351
Cygnus bewicki, 292
Dasypus, 186
Cuckoo-doves, 244
Cygnus immutabilis, 292
Dasypus minutua, 186
Cuckoo-falcon, 317
Cygnus musicus, 292
Dasypus sexcinctus, 186
Cuckoo shrikes, The, 372
Cygnus olor, 292
Dasypus villosus, 186
Cuculi, 349
Cylichna, 640
Dasymys, 101
Cuculidse, 350
Cylinder snakes, 421
Dasypeltis scabra, 422
Cuculinse, 350
Cylindrellidje, 643
Dasypodidae, 185
Cuculus, 350
Cuculus canorus, 350
Cylindricornis, Capra, 158
Cylindrophis, 421
Dasyprocta, 115
Dasyproctidae, 115
Cuculus jacobinus, 350
Cyllopodidse, 589
Dasyure, Spotted, 208
Cucumaria planci, 660
Cymborhynchus, 356
Dasyure, Spotted-tailed, 203
Culicidse, 604
Cymbulidse, 640
Dasyure tribe, 206
Culminated albatros, 258
Cymothoidse, 534
Dasyuridse, 206
Cumacea, 535
Dynaelurus jubatua, 56
Dasyurus, 208
Cumingi, Megapodius, 228
Cumming's megapode, 228
Cynictis penicillata, 60
Cynipidse, 576
Dasyurus maculatus, 208
Dasyurus viverrinus, 208
Cuniculus, Lepus, 118
Cynips, 576
Daubentoni, Fossa, 57
Cuniculus torquatus, 103
Cynips, Kollari, 576
Oaubentoni, Vespertilio, 37
Cup-and-Saucer limpets, 634
Cynocephalus, Thylacinus, 207
Daubenton's bat, 37
Cup coral, The, 705
Cynodon, 501
Oaubenton's civit, 57
Curassows, The, 229
Dynogale bennetti, 60
Daulias luscinia, 370
Curassow, Crested, 229
^ynomolgus, Macacus, 22
Daurica, Perdix, 234
Curlew, Pearl-grey, 270
Jynomys, 92
Davidianus, Cervus, 143
Curlew, Sandpiper, 269
Dynopithecus niger, 22
David's deer, 143
Curlew, Stone, 273
Cynopterus, 35
Dead leaf butterfly, 585
Cursorii, 272
Cyon, 67
Death-adder, 425
Cursorius, 272
Cypraeidae, 636
Decapoda, 536
Cursorius coromandelicus, 273
Cyprina, 624
Decapodo, 646
Cursorius gallicus, 272
Cyprinidae, 497
Deccanensis, Canis, 68
Curtidae, 468
Jyprinodontidae, 501
Decemlineata, Leptinotarsa, 561
Curtiformes, 468
Cyprinus, 498
Decumana, Alactaga, 110
Curtilla gryllotalpa, 567
Cyprinus carpio, 498
Decumanus, Mus, 105
Curtis, 468
Cypseli, 345
Deer, Axis, 143
Curtus, 471
Cypselinee, 346
Deer, Chinese water, 146
Cuscus, Black, 200
Cyrenidae, 623
Deer, Costa Rica, 146
48
738
INDEX.
Deer, David's, 143
Desmodus, 41
Dipnoi, 459
Deer, Eld's, 143
Desmodus rufus, 41
Dipodidse, 109
Deer, Fallow, 144
Desmognathinae, 450
Dipodomys, 109
Deer, Hog, 143
Desmognathus, 450
Dipodomys phillipsi, 109
Deer, Irish, 144
Destructor, Cecidomyia, 603
Diporpa, 688
Deer, Japanese. 143
Development of corals, 707
Dippers, The, 371
Deer, Large-eared mule, 146
Devil-fish, 521
Dipper, Common, 371
Deer, Musk, 141
Devil, Tasmanian, 207
Diprera homaloptera, 608
Deer, Pampas, 146
Devil's coach-horse, 556
Dipsadomorphinae, 423
Deer, Persian fallow, 144
Deer, Pudu, 147
Dhaval birds, 370
Diadema, Epeira, 544
Dipsadomorphus, 423
Dipsas, 426
Deer, Red, 143
Diadema setosum, 660
Diptera, 553, 602
Deer, Roe, 146
Diamond beetles, 560
Diptera aphaniptera, 609
Deer, Ruff's, 144
Diamond snake, 419
Diptera brachycera, 605
Deer, Spotted, 143
Diana monkey, 21
Diptera homaloptera, 608
Deer, Swamp, 143
Dianthus, Actinoloba, 702
Diptera nemocera, 603
Deer, Thorold's, 143
Diatrematid*, 486
Dipus, 110
Deer tribe, The, 140
Dibamidae, 411
Discina, 651
Deer, Virginian, 146
Dibamus, 411
Discinisca, 651
Deep-sea holothurian, 661
Dibranchiata, 643
Discoglossidae, 444
Degu, 111
Delichonyx oryzivora, 361
Dictum, 367
Dicamptodon, 450
Discoglossus pictus, 444
Discophora, 675
Delphacinre, 600
Diceidse, 367
Discopyge, 521
Delphinapterus leucas, 179
Dicerobatis, 522
Dissemurus, 361
Delphinidse, 180
Dichocerus bicornis, 339
Dissura episcopus, 280
Delphinidse, 178
Dicholophi, 277
Distira, 426
Delphinulidse, 632
Dichromanassa rufa, 283
Distoechurus pennatus, 202
Delphinus, 181
Dichrous, Arctomys, 94
Distoma hepaticum, 689
Deltocephalus, 601
Diclidurus, 39
Distomeae, 688
Demiegretta, 283
Dicotyles, 9, 135
Ditrema, 486
Demodex folliculorum, 547
Dicotylidae, 135
Divers, The, 254
Demodicidae, 517
Dicrocercus, 340
Diver, Black-throated, 254
Dendraeca, 365
Dicruridae, 361
Diver, Great northern, 254
Dendragapus, 231
Dicyemidae, 689
Diver, Red-throated, 254
Dandragapus obscurus, 231
Didactylus, Cycloturus, 184
Diver, White-billed, 254
Dendrelaphis, 422
Didelphyidae, 9, 210
Diving-ducks, The, 297
Dendrobates, 438
Didelphys, 211
Diving-duck, Stiff-tailed, 297
Dendrobates tinctorius, 438
Didelphys crassicaudata, 213
Diving petrel, 257
Dendrobatidse, 438
Didelphys marsupialis, 211
Docimastes ensiferas, 348
Dendroccela, 685
Didelphys opossum, 213
Docoglossa, 631
Dendrocolaptidse, 375
Didelphys velutina, 213
Dodo, The, 246
Dendrocopus, 354
Didi, 242
Dogs, The, 63
Dendrocygna, 296
Didunculus, 245
Dog, Azara's, 69
Dendrogale, 44
Didunculus strigirostris, 245
Dog, Bush, 74
Dendrolagus, 195
Didus, 245
Dog, Crab-eating, 69
Dendrolagus bennettianus, 195
Didus ineptus, 246
Dog, Hunting-, Cape, 73
Dendromys, 101
Dieffenlachii, Cabalus, 249
Dog, Prairie-, 92
Dendromyinae, 101
Dimyaria, 618
Dog, Racoon, 69
Dendrophis, 422
Dendrophryniscidae, 441
Dingo, 66
Dingo, Canis, 66
Dog tribe, The, 63
Dog-faced baboons, 22
Dendrophryniscus, 441
Dinomys, 115
Dog-fish, 518
Dendrositta, 368
Dinoponera grandis, 579
Dog-fishes, Spiny, 519
Dendrosoma, 722
Dentalium shell, 629
Dinornithidaa, 224
Dinornithiformes, 221
Dog-flea, 609
Dog-periwinkle, 637
Deomys, 104
Diodontidse, 489
Dog-whelks, 637
Depressa, Libellula, 569
Diomedea, 258
Dolichotis, 115
Depressicornis, Bos, 162
Diomedea exulans, 258
Doliidae, 636
Derbian screamer, 290
Diomedeidae, 257
Doliolum tritonis, 527
Derbianus, Oreophasis, 229
Diomediae, Psolus, 661
Dolomedes fimbriatus, 543
Derbinse, 600
Dione, Cytherea, 625
Dolphins, 169
Derby's guan, 229
Diotocardia, 631
Dolphin, Amazonian, 178
Dermatemys, 389
Diphylla, 41
Dolphins, Fresh water, 177
Dermestes, 556
Diphylla ecaudata, 42
Dolphin, Gangetic, 177
Dermestes lardarius, 556
Diplocrepis, 482
Dolphin, Heaviside's, 179
Dermochelyidae, 391
Diploglossus, 405
Dolphin, Irawadi, 179
Dermochelys coriacea, 391
Diplomesodon pulchellus, 46
Dolphin, La Plata, 178
Desert-chough, 358
Diplomystus, 507
Dolphin, Risso's, 180
Desert fox, 73
Diploptera, 580
Dolphin, Rough-toothed, 181
Desert larks, 364
Diplopterinaa, 351
Dolphins, True, 181
Desmans, The, 47
Diplosis tritici, 603
Domestica, Musca, 07
Desman, Pyrenean, 47
Diplozoon paradoxum, 688
Domesticus, Gryllus, 567
Desman Russian 47
Dipueumoues, 542
Dominicus, Charadrius, 270
INDEX.
739
Donacidse, 625
Duke of Burgundy Fritillary,
Echiurus, 678
Donax, 625
586
Ectopistinae migratoria, 244
Dondersiidse, 616
Dulitensis rhizothera, 233
Edentata, 181
Dorab, 506
Dung beetles, 557
Edible arthropoda, 530
Dorab, Chirocentrus, F;06
Dupetor, 284
Edible crab, 538
Dorca kangaroos, 194
Dusky capercailzies, 231
Edible frog, 436
Dorcatherium, 139
Dusky rail, 249
Edible swiftlets, The, 346
Dorcatragus, 153
Duvauceli, Cervus, 143
Edouardi, Guttera, 240
Dorcopsis, 194
Dwarf geese, 294
Edulis, Mytilus, 621
Dorite, Ervthrotriorchis, 312
Dwarf tiger bittern, 284
Edwardsia, 702
Doridiidfe, 640
Dynastes hercules, 558
Edwardsia carnea, 704
Doridoidea, 641
Dyscophidse, 439
Edwardsi, Eupodotis, 275
Dormouse-phalanger, 202
Dysporus bassanus, 299
Eels, The, 493
Dormouse tribe, The, 99
Dytiscidse, 555
Eel, Electric, 495
Dorsalis, Bathythrissa, 506
Dytiscus, 555
Eel, Glass, 494
Doryichthys, 488
Dytiscus marginalis, 556
Eel, Serpent, 494
Dotterel, 270
Eel, Spiny, 478
Dotterel, True, 271
Eel tribe, The, 493
Double-toothed falcon, 318
E.
Eel, True, 478
Dougalli, Sterna, 261
Eel, Paste, 679
Douroucoulis, 26
Eagles, The, 313
Eel, Vinegar, 79
Douroucouli, Three striped,
Eagle, Bald, 315
Eel, Wheat, 679
26
Eagle, Bateleur, 315
Effodientia, 188
Doves, The, 244
Eagle, Bearded, 313
Egg-eating snake, 422
Dove, Cuckoo-. 244
Eagle, Birds'-nesting, 315
Egg-laying mammals, 214
Dove, Rock-, 244
Eagle, Black, 315
Egg-urchin, 659
Dove, Ring-, 244
Eagle, Bonelli's, 315
Egret, Little, 283
Dove, Stock-, 244
Dove, Turtle-, 244
Eagle, Booted, 315
Eagle, Crested, 315
Egyptian asp, 424
Egyptian crocodile, 381
Dove, Turtle-, British, 244
Eagle, Golden, 314
Egyptian sacred beetle, 557
Dove, Turtle-, Cream-coloured,
Eagle, Imperial, 314
Egyptian vulture, 306
245
Eagle, Sea, 315
Eiders, The, 297
Downy owl, 324
Eagle, Serpent, 315
Eider, Steller's, 297
Draco volans, 399
Eagle, Spotted, 314
Eighkrayed corals, 707
Dracunculus medinensis, 679
Dragon-fishes, 476
Eagle, Tawny, 314
Eagle, White-bellied Sea, 315
Elacate, 473
Elachistidse, 594
Dragonflies, 553, 569
Eagle, White-tailed, 315
Elseniinse, 373
Dreissensiidse, 623
Eagle-owls, The, 322
Eland bull, 156
Drilophaga bucephala, 683
Eagle-rays, 521
Elanoides furcatus, 316
Drinker moth, 590
Eared owls, 324
Elanus, 316
Dromades, 264
Eared pheasants, The, 236
Elapinse, 424
Dromedarius, Camelus, 136
Dromece, 223
Eared seals, 81
Eared vultures, The, 306
Elaphodus, 141
Elaps corallinus, 423
Dromeoa irroratus, 223
Earth-worms, 674
Elasmobranchii, 513
Dromece novae-hollandioe, 223
Earwigs, 563
Elateridse, 558
Dromicia, 202
Ecaudata, 435
Eldi, Cervus, 143
Dromiciops, 214
Ecaudata, Diphylla, 42
Eld's deer, 143
Dromornis, 224
Ecaudata, Pennula, 251
Electric centipede, 519
Drongos, The, 361
Ecaudatus, Centetes, 49
Electric eel, 495
Drongo, Black, 361
Echeneis, 473
Electricus, Gymnotus, 495
Drum, The, 468
Echidna aculeata, 217
Elegans, Galidia, 61
Drummer cockroach, 564
Echidna, Bruijn's, 217
Elegans, Nectogale, 47
Dryophis, 423
Echidna, Five-toed, 217
Elegans, Testudo, 386
Dryopithecus, 14
Echidnas, 216
Elegant mungoose, 61
Drymornis bridges!, 375
Duck-bill, 215
Echidnidse, 216
Echinocardium cordatum, 6J9
Elephant, African, 123
Elephant family, The, 119
Duck-mole, 215
Eclrinococcus, Taenai, 688
Elephant, Indian, 119
Ducks, The, 293
Echinoderma, 653
Elephant seal, 87
Duck, Comb, 293
Echinoidea, 659
Elephantidse, 119
Duck, Ulving, 297
Echinomys, 112
Elephant's-tooth shells, 628
Duck, Long-tailed, 297
Echinops, 49
Elephas, 118
Duck, Mandarin, 294
Duck, Pink-headed, 294
Echinorhinus, 519
Echinorhynchus, 681
Elephas africanus, 123
Elephas indicus, 119
Duck, Sheld, 296
Echinorhynchus angustatus, 682
Elephus, Cervus, 143
Duck, Steamer, 297
Echinorhynchus gigas, 681
Eliomys, 99
Duck, Summer, 294
Echinorhynchus polymorphus,
Eliurus, 102
Duck, Tree, 296
682
Elk, 145
Duck, True, The, 296
Echinorhynchus proteus, 682
Ellioti, Callophasis, 238
Duck, Wild, 296
Echinothrix, 106
Ellobius, 104
Dugongs, 165
Echinus, 659
Elops, 507
Dugong halicore, 167
Echiostoma, 505
Elseya, 393
Duikerboks, 151
Echis, 427
Elvers, 494
740
INDEX.
Elysioidea, 641
Erinaceus, 45
Eurypygse, 276
Emarginula, 631
Erinaceus europaeus, 45
Eurypyga helias, 276
Emballonura, 39
Hriomys, 113
Eurypyga major, 276
Emballonuridae, 38
Erismatura, 297
Eurystomina, Pseudochelidon,
Emberiza cirlus, 364
Erismaturinae, 297
369
Emberiza citrinella, 364
Eristalis tenax, 606
Eurystomus, 335
Emberiza hortulana, 364
Erithecus, Psittacus, 330
Eurystomus calonyx, 335
Emberizinae, 363
Ermine, 81
Eusiferus, Docimastes, ;-,48
Emperor fish, 465
Ermine moths, 593
Euspongia officinalis, 693
Emperor moth, 589
Erminea, Mustela, 81
Eustephanus, Cervus, 143
Emperor penguin, 255
Errantia, 672
Euthyneura, 6H9
Emphyodontes, 408
Erycinidae, 624
Eutolmaetus, 315
Empidae, 606
Erythacus rubeculi, 370
Eutolmaetus fasciatns. 315
Emu, The, 223
Erythrinidae, 500
Entolrnaetus pennatus, 315
Emu, Common, 223
Erythrinus, 501
Euxenura maguari, 280
Emu, Spotted, 223
Erythrocnema, 310
Evania, 577
Emyda, 395
Erythrocnema unicincta, 310
Evaniidse, 576
Emydura, 393
Erythrogaster, Hirundo, 373
Evotomys, 103
Emys orbicularis, 388
Erythromachus, 251
Excalfactoria, 235
Encheliophis, 491
Erythrophthalmus, Coccyzus,
Excalfactoria adansoni, 235
Endodontidse, 643
351
Exclamationis, Agrotis, 591
Endrina, 29
Erythrorhynchus, Pelecanus,
Excubitor, Lanius, 3(J9
Endynamis, 350
302
Exoccetus, 479
English puffin, 260
Erythrotriorchis, 312
Exomegas, 524
Engraulis, 507
Erythrotriorchis doria?, 312
Expansa, Podocnemis, 393
Engystomatidse, 438
Erythrotriorchis radiatus, 312
Exquisita, Ortygops, 252
Engystomops, 441
Eryx, 420
Extinct birds of Patagonia, 278
Entellus, Semnopithecus, 20
Esacus recurvfrostris, 273
Exulans, Diomedea, 258
Enteropneusta, 528
Esculenta, Rana, 436
Eyra, South American, 55
Entomophaga, 576
Esocidae, 502
Eyra felis, 55
Entomostraca, 531
Esox, 502
Enygrus, 420
Esox lucius, 502
Eos, 328
Estrilda, 362
F.
Eos rubiginosa, 328
Etroplus, 487
Epanorthidae, 204
Eublepharidae, 398
Fabalia, Anser, 295
Epanorthus, 204
Euchloe cardamines, 586
Faber, Zeus, 471
Epauletted fruit-bats, 35
Euchore, Gazella, 153
Fairy fly, 577
Epeira diadema, 544
Euchoretes, 110
Fairy pink armadillos. 1S8
Epeiridae, 544
Eudromias, *71
Faicinellus, Plegadis, 288
Ephemeridae, 571
Eudromias morinellus, 271
Falco, 319
Ephemera vulgata, 571
Eudyptila minor, 255
Falco sesalon. 320
Ephippium, Anomia, 621
Euglena, 718
Falco feldeggii, 319
Ephippium, Testudo, 387
Eulabes, 360
Falco peregrinus, 319
Ephippodonta, 624
Eulabetidae, 360
Falco subbuteo, 319
Epicrates, 419
Eulamellibranchiata, 623
Falcon, Cuckoo, 317
Epicriniops, 454
Eulimidse, 633
Falcon, Double-toothed, 318
Epimachinae, 359
Eulipoa, 228
Falcon, Juggur, 319
Epimachus, 359
Eulipoa wallacii, 228
Falcon, Peregrine, 319
Episcopalis, Mitra, 638
Eumomota, 341
Falcon, True, 317
Episcopus, Dissura, 280
Eunectes murinus. 420
Falcon-kite, Grey, 318
Epomophorus, 35
Eunice gigantea, 673
Falcon eri, Capra, 159
Epops, Upupa, 340
Eupetaurus, 95
Falconets, The. 319
Equatorial flying-squirrel, 90
Euplectella, 693
Falconidse, 305
Eques alexanor, 587
Eupleres goudoti, 61
Falconinse, 307, 317
Eques machaon, 587
Euplcea, 583
Fallow deer, 144
Equidae, 127
Eupodotis australis, 275
False vampire bats, 36
Equinus, Hippotragus, 153
Eupodotis edwardsi, 275
Famelicus, Canis, 73
Equitidae, 587
Equus, 127
Europaea, Talpa, 48
Europaeus, Caprimulgus, 342
Familiaris, Certhia, 366
Famosa, Nectarinia, 366
Equus asinus, 129
Europaeus, Erinaceus. 45
Fan-tailed flycatchers, 373
Equus burchelli, 128
Europaeus, Lepus, 118
Fasciatus, Bungarus, 424
Equus caballus, 128
European bison, 162
Fasciatus, Crossarchus, 61
Equus grevyi, 1-28
European horned-lark, 3G4
Fasciatus, Eutolmaatus, 315
Equus hemionus, 129
European tree-frog, 442
Fasciatus, Lagostrophus, 196
Equus prezevalskii, 128
Eurostopodus, 334
Fasciatus, Myrmecobius, 209
Equus quagga, 129
Eurybiidse, 640
Fasciolariidifi, 637
Equus zebra, 128
Euryceros, 360
Feather-Star, Crawling, 6C4
Erethizon, 113
Euryceros prevosti, "60
Feldeggii, Falco, 319
Ericulus, 49
Eurylsemi, 356
Felidae, 5*
Ericulus setosus, 49
Eurylaemus, 356
Felis. 52
Ericulus telfairi, 49
Eurylajmus javanicus, 356
Felis badia, 55
Erinaceidaa, 44
Eurynorhynchus pygmseus, 269
Felis bengalensis, 55
INDEX.
741
Felis caff ra, 55
Flammea, Strix, 321
Fornicata, Gastracantha, 544
Felis canadensis, 56
Flat-fishes, 492
Forsteni, Meropogon, 341
Felis caracal, 55
Flat worms, 685
Fossa, 56
Felis catus, 55
Flata circulata, 600
Fossa daubentoni, 57
Felis chaus, 55
Flatinse, 600
Fossaridae, 635
Felis concolor, 53
Flavescens, Canis, 71
Fossores, 579
Felis eyra, 55
Flavicollis, Mus, 105
Fosteri, Ortaria, 82
Felis leo, 53
Flavigula, Mustela, 80
Fountain shell, 636
Felis lynx, 56
Flavirostris, Phreton. 298
Four-horned antelope, 151
Felis marmorata, 55
Flavirostris, Rhynchops, 262
Four-toed mungooses, 60
Felis nebulosa, 55
Flea, Water, 534
Fox-like animals, 69
Felis onca, 53
Fleas, 609
Fox, Arctic, 73
Felis pardalis, 55
Flesh-eating mammals, 50
Fox, Common, 71
Felis pardina, 56
Fleshy corals, 701
Fox, Bengal, 73
Felis pardus, 53
Flies, 553, 602
Fox, Black, 71
Felis serval, 55
Flies, Blue-bottle, COS
Fox, Corsac, 73
Felis tigrina. 55
Flies, Bot, 606
Fox, Cross, 71
Felis tigris, 53
Flies. Caddis, 572
Fox, Desert, 73
Felis uncia, 53
Flies, Crane, 604
Fox, Japanese, 73
Fennecs, 73
Flies, Gad, 605
Fox, Kit-, 72
Fennec, Lalande's, 74
Flies, Gall, 576
Fox, Long-eared, 73
Ferox, Cryptoprocta, 56
Flies. House, 607
Fox, Mountain, 71
Ferret-badgers, 80
Flies, Lace-winged, 571
Fox, Nile, 71
Ferrilatus, Canis, 73
Flies, Lantern, 599
Fox, Red, 71
Feylinia, 411
Flies, May, 571
Fox, Tibetan, 73
Fiber, Castor, 96
Flies, Rohber, 605
Fox, Virginian, 72
Fiber ziberthicus, 103
Flies, Sand, 604
Fox, Yellow, 71
Ficedula atricapilla, 372
Flies, Saw, 574
Fox-bats, 35
Fiddler beetle, 555
Flies, Smother, 601
Fox-shark, 517
Field cricket, 567
Flies, Stone, 571
Fragilis anguis, 404
Fieldfare, 371
Florida limpkin, 275
Francolin, Bare-throated, 233
Field -starling, 360
Floscularia coronetta, 682
Francolin, Common, 233
Field -vole, 103
Flounder, The, 492
Francolin, Hose's long-billed,
Field wagtail, 365
Flower-nosed bat, 36
233
Fierasfer, 491
Flower- peckers, The, 367
Francolin, Long-billed, 233
Fierce snakes, 4?2
Fluke-worms, 688
Francolinus francolinus, 233
Fighting fish, Siamese, 483
Kluminalis, Orcella, 179
Fratercula artica, 260
Filaria sanguinis-hominis, 680
Flustra foliacea, 665
Free-swimming holothurian,
File-fishes, 489
Flute-mouths, 481
661
Filibranchiata, 621
Fluviatibis, Tachybaptes, 253
Free-tailed bats, 38
Fimbriata, Chelys, 392
Fimbriatus, Dolomedes, 543
Fluviatile, Petromyzum, 524
Fluviatilis, Sterna, 261
Fregata aquila, 303
Fregati, 298
Finch-larks, 364
Fly, Candle, 599
Fregilinae, 358
Finches, The, 363
Fly, Fairy, 577
Fresh- water leech, 677
Finfeet, The, 252
Fly, Ichneumon, 577
Fresh-water mites, 545
Finfoot, Senegal, 252
Fly, Swallow, 608
Fresh -water polyp, 694
Finfoot, South Ameiican, 252
Fly, Tse-tse, 608
Frigate-birds, The, 303
Finners, 173
Flycatchers, The, 372
Frigate-birds, Great, 303
Finta, Clupea, 507
Flycatcher, Common, 372
Frilled lizard, 399
Fin-whale, 173
Flycatcher, Fan-tailed, 373
Fringe-tinned ganoids, 512
Fin-whale, Lesser. 174
Flycatcher, Paradise, 373
Fringed gecko, 398
Fire backed pheasant, 236
Flycatcher, Pied, 372
Fringilla cselebs, 363
Fire-bellied frog, 444
Flying-fish, 480
FringillidiB, 363
Fire crest, 369
Flying frog, 437
Fringillinae, 363
Fire-flies, 559
Flying gurnard, 476
Fringing reef, The, 709
Fire fly, Italian, 559
Firmisternia, 436
Flying-lemur, 43
Flying lizard, 399
Fritillaries, 585
Fritillary, Duke of Burgundy.
Fish-eating kingfisher, 336
Flying-phalanger, 202
586
Fish-eating rats, 102
Fodiens, Crossopus, 46
Frogs and toads, 435
Fish-owl, Brown, 321
Foina, Mustela, 80
Frog, Agile, 436
Fish, Pilot, 471
Foliacea, Flustra, 665
Frog, Bull, 437
Fish, Scabbard, 470
Folius, Polyodon, 511
Frog, Common, 436
Fishing frog, 475
Folliculorum, Demodex, 547
Frog, Darwin's, 439
Fishing hawks, 320
Foraminifera, The, 7J5
Frog, Edible, 436
Fishing owl, Pel's, 321
Forficata, Myrmecia, 579
Frog, Fire-bellied, 444
Fishing owls, 321
Forficatus, Lithobius, 548
Frog, Flying, 437
Fissurellidse, 631
ForSculidaj, 563
Frog, Grasshopper, 443
Fistularia, 481
Fork-tailed gull, 262
Frog, Horned, 441
Five-toed echidna, 217
Fork-tailed petrel, 257
Frog, Lataste's, 436
Flagellata, The, 718
Formica rufa, 579
Frog, Midwife, 443
Flagellate Colonies, 718
Flamingoes, The, 288
Formicariidse, 372
Foruiicidse, 579
Frog, Painted, 444
Frog, Pouched, 443
742
INDEX.
Frog, Solomon Island, 437
Galidia elegans, 61
Gazelle, Clarke's, 153
Frog, Spanish, 436
Gall-flies, 576
Gazelle, Waller's, 153
Frogs, Spur-toed, 444
Gall-gnats, 603
Gecinus, 354
Frog, Tree-, 442
Gall-mites, 546
Geckos, 397
Frogs, Typical, 436
Gall-parasites, 573
Gecko, Fringed, 393
Frog-fishes, 474
Gallicolse, 575
Gecko, Turkish, 397
Frog-hoppers, 594, 598
Gallicus, Circaetus. 315
Gecko, Wall, 398
Frog-mouths, The, 333
Gallicus, Cursorius, 272
Geckonidae, 397
Frontalis, Bos, 164
Galliformes, 226
Geese, The, 292
Frontatus, Steno, 181
Gallinago, 268
Geese, Blue-winged, 295
Frugilegus, Trypancorax, 358
Gallinago aucklandica, 268
Geese, Brent, 295
Fruit bats, 34
Gallinago australis, 268
Geese, Grey, 295
Fruit pigeons, The, 242
Gallinago gallinago, 268
Geese, Magellanic, 295
Frumentarius, Cricetus, 101
Gallinago gigantea, 268
Geese, Snow, 295
Fulgens, yElurus, 75
Gallinago imperialis, 268
Geese, Spur-winged, 293
Fulgora laternaria, 599
Gallinago jamesoni, 268
Geese, The true, 295
Fulgoridae, 599
Gallinago major, 268
Gegenophis, 455
Fulica, Heliornis, 252
Gallinago megala, 268
Gelada baboons, 22
Fulicarius, Crymophilus, 266
Gallinago nemoricola, 268
Gelada, Theropithecus, 22
Fulicidae, 248
Gallinago pusilla, 268
Gelasimus, 538
Fuligula, 297
Gallinago stenura, 268
Gemonensis, Zamenis, 422
Fuligulinae, 297
Gallinago undulata, 268
Gemsbok, 153
Fuliginosa, Sterna, 262
Gallinula chloropus, 252
Gemze, 156
Fuliginosus, Hyracodon, 204
Gallinula, Limnocryptes, 268
Genets, 58
Fulmars, The, 258
Gallinulidse, 248
Genetta, 58
Fulmar, Petrel, 258
Gallopavo, Meleagris, 240
Gennaeus, 236
Fulmarinae, 258
Gallus, 238
Gentle lemur, 30
Fulmaris glacialis, 258
Gamasidae, 545
Geocichla, 370
Fulvimitrella tinea, 593
Gamasus, 545
Geococeyx, 351
Fulvus, Canis, 71
Game-birds, The, 226
Geocolaptes, 354
Fungia, 705
Gamma moth, 591
Geodephaga, 554
Fungosa, Aleyonella, 669
Gamma, Plusia, 591
Geoemyda, 387
Furcata, Xema, 262
Gammaridae, 535
Geoffroyensis, Inia, 178
Furcatus, Elanoides, 316
Gammarus pulex, 682
Geogale, 48
Furnariinae, 375
Gangetic dolphin, 177
Geometrae, 592
Furva, Chalia, 589
Gangetica, Garialis, 382
Geometrica, Testudo, 380
Fuscicaudatus, Scaptonyx, 48
Gangetica, Platanista, 177
Geometridae, 582
Fuscus, Larus, 263
Gannets, The, 299
Geomyidae, 107
Ganoids, 462
Geomys bursarius, 109
Ganso, 293
Geonemertes, 684
G.
Gaper, 626
Geonemertes australiensis, 684
Garden snail (Helix), 643
Geonemertes novae-zelandiae,
Gad-flies, 605
Garden spiders, 544
684
Gadidae, 490
Garials, 382
Geonemertes palaensis, 684
Gad us seglefinus, 491
Garial, Schlegel's, 382
Geopeliinae, 244
Gadus merlangus, 491
Gadus morrhua, 491
Garial, True, 382
Garialis, 382
Geophilidae, 549
Geoplana australis, 686
Gadus pollachius, 491
Garialis gangetica, 382
Geopsittacus, 331
Gadus virens, 491
Gariepensis, Steatornis, 332
Georgian black grouse, 230
Galago, 30
Garpike, 479
Georychus, 107
Galago, Senegal, 30
Garrulus, 358
Geospiza, 363
Galago senegalensis, 30
Garrulus ampelis, 369
Geotria, 524
Galagos, 30
Garrulus, Coracias, 335
Geotrupes, 545
Galapagos sea-lizard, 402
Garrulus glandarius, 358
Geotrygoninae, 244
Galaxias, 504
Garzetta, 283
Geotrypetes, 455
Galaxiidse, 504
Garzetta garzetta, 283
Geotrypetes petersi, 455
Galbula melanogenaia, 355
Galbula, Oriolus, 361
Gastracantha fornicata, 544
Gastracanthidee, 544
Gephyrea, 677
Gephyrean worms, 677
Galbulidae, 355
Gastrochisina, 472
Geranospizias, 309
Galeodes arabs, 540
Gastrochaenidae, 627
Gerbil group, The, 101
Galeodes araneoides, 541
Gastropod Shell, Topography
Gerbillinfe, 101
Galeoides, 468
of, 630
Germanica, Phyllodromia, 564
Galeommidae, 624
Galeopithecidse, 43
Gastropoda, 629
Gastropteridae, 640
Germanicum, Polyzonium, 549
Gerrhonotus, 405
Galeopithecums volans, 43
Gastrosteidae, 480
Gerrhosauridse, 410
Galeopithecus, 43
Gastrosteiformes, 480
Ghost moth, 591
Galeoscoptes carolinensis, 372
Gastrosteus, 480
Giant armadillo, 187
Galericulata, M\, 294
Gaur, 164
Giant clam, 626
Galerita, 364
Gaurus, Bos, 164
Giant cobra, 424
Galeus, 516
Gayal, 164
Giant extinct lemur, 32
Galeus canis, 516
Gazella, 152
Giant humming-birds, 347
Galictis, 80
Gazella euchore, 153
Giant salamander, 450
INDEX.
743
Gibbons, 18
Goat, Rocky Mountain, 157
Graphiurus, 99
Gibbon, Hainan, 19
Goatsucker, 342
Grass moth, 593
Gibbus, Zabrus, 555
Gobies, The, 476
Grass owls, 325
Gigantea, Eunice, 673
Gobiidse, 476
Grass warblers, 370
Gigantea, Gallinago, 268
Gobiiformes, 476
Grasshoppers, 568
Gigantea, Leguatia, 252
Gigantea, Ossifraga, 258
Gobio, 499
Gobioesocidse, 482
Grasshopper, Blue-winged, 568
Grasshopper, Long-horned, 567
Giganteus, Blaberus, 564
Gobioesociformes, 482
Grasshopper frog, 443
Giganteus, Cervus, 144
Gobioesox, 482
Grayi, Argusianus, 239
Giganteus, Macropus, 194
Gobius, 476
Grayling, 509
Gigantostraca, 538
Godwit, 269
Gray's argus, 239
Gigas, Arapaiina, 504
Gold-crests, The, 308
Great ant-eater, 184
Gigas, Dacelo, 337
Gold-crest, Common, 368
Great auk, The, 260
Gigas, Echinorhynchus, 681
Gold-fish, 498
Great-billed Rhea, 222
Gigas, Patagona, 347
Gold sinny, 486
Great black cockatoo, 328
Gigas, Priodon, 187
Golden bat, 38
Great black woodpecker, 354
Gigas, Rhytina, 168
Golden bird of Paradise, 359
Great bustard, 273
Gigas, Sirex, 575
Golden cuckoo, 350
Great-crested grebe, 253
Gigas, Strombus, 636
Golden eagle, 314
Great frigate-bird, 303
Gigas, Tridacna, 626
Golden eyes, The, 297
Great grey shrike, 369
Gillespie's sea-lion, 82
Golden fruit-pigeon, 243
Great honey-guide, 353
Gillespii, Otaria, 82
Golden-green beetle, 555
Great hornbill, 339
Gilt heads, 466
Golden marmot, 93
Great Japanese crab, 538
Ginginianus, Neophron, 306
Golden-moles, 50
Great mole-rat, 106
Giraffidfe, 147
Golden oriole, The, 361
Great northern diver, 254
Giraffa camelopardalis, 147
Golden plover, 271
Great sand-mole, 107
Giraffe family, The, 147
Golunda, 105
Great skuas, The, 263
Girdled lizards, 403
Gomphidse, 569
Great snipe, 268
Glacialis, Colymbus, 254
Gonatidse, 646
Great spotted cuckoo, 350
Glacialis, Fulmaris, 258
Gonorhynchidse, 505
Great tinamou, 226
Gladiator, Orca, 180
Gonorhynchus greyi, 505
Great tit, 367
Gladius, Psephurus, 511
Goosander, 297
Great vampire, 41
Glandarius, Coccystes, 350
Goose barnacles, 533
Great water-beetle, 557
Glandarius, Garrulus, 358
Goose, The, 294
Greater black-backed gull, 263
Glanis, Silurus, 496
Goose, Bean, 295
Greater horse shoe bat, 36
Glareolse, 272
Goose, Cereopsis, 294
Greaved lizards, 407
Glareola pratincola, 272
Goose, Dwarf, 294
Grebes, The, 253
Glareolus, Microtus, 103
Goose, Knobbed, 293
Grebe, Great-crested, 253
Glass eels, 494
Goose, Maned, 295
Grebe, Little, The, 254
Glass rope sponge, 693
Goose, Pink-footed, 295
Grebe, Sclavonian, 253
Glaucidium, 324
Goose, Red-breasted, 295
Grecian tortoise, 386
Glaucidium brodiei, 324
Goose, Semipalmated, 293
Greek partridge, 232
Glaucidium gnoma, 324
Goose, White-fronted, 295
Green-bottle, 608
Glaucidium pygmaeum, S24
Gophers, 91
Green fruit-pigeon, 242
Glaucomyidse, 625
Gopher, Striped, 92
Green hairstreak, 586
Glauconia, 417
Goral, 157
Green kingfisher, 336
Glauconiidae, 417
Gordius, 680
Green lizard, 409
Glaucus, Carcharias, 516
Gorilla, 15
Green monkey, 21
Glis, Myoxus, 99
Gorilla, Dentition of, 6
Green oak tortrix, 593
Globator, Volvox, 719
Gorilla savagei, 15
Green sandpiper, 269
Globe-bearers, 716
Gorsachius, 284
Green-tailed lory, 328
Globicera, 243
Gos-hawk, Chanting, 310
Green tiger-beetle, 554
Globigerina, 716
Gos hawk, Common, 310
Green toad, 442
Globiocephalns melas, 180
Gos-hawk, Red-thighed, 310
Green turtle, 391
Glochidium, 623
Gos-hawk, White, 311
Green woodpecker, 354
Glomeridae, 550
Goudoti, Eupleres, 61
Greenfinch, Common, 363
Glossina moristans, 608
Goura, 245
Greenland jer-falcon, The, 319
Glossophaga, 41
Goura coronata, 245
Greenland-whale, 172
Glossy ibis, 288
Gracilaria syringella, 594
Greenland seal, 85
Glossy starling, 360
Graculus, 358
Greenland shark, 519
Glow-worms, 559
Glutinosus, Ichthyophis, 453
Graculus graculus, 358
Graculus, Phalacrocorax, 299
Greenlets, The, 370
Gregarinae, The, 720
Glutton, 81
Graeca, Testudo, 386
Grevyi, Equus, 128
Glycimeris, 626
Graffila, 685
Grevy's zebra, 128
Glyptodonts, 9
Grakles, Wattled, 360
Grey geese, 295
Gmelini, Ovis. 160
Grallarius, Burhinus, 273
Grey kangaroo, Great, 194
Gnathobdellidse, 675
Grampus griseus, 180
Grey kite-falcon, 318
Gnats, 603
Grampuses, 179
Grey lag-goose, 295
Gnoma, Glaucidium, 324
Grandis, Dinoponera, 579
Grey mullet, 479
Gnus, 150
Grandis, Leucospis, 576
Grey parrot, 330
Goat moth, 590
Grandis, Nyctibius, 344
Grey phalarope, 260
Goat, Persian wild, 159
Grandis, Phryganea, 572
Grey plover, 271
744
INDEX.
Grey wagtail, 365
Gull, Little, 263
Haliaetus leucogaster, 315
Grey-whale, 172
Gull, Ross's, 262
Haliaetus leucoryphus, 32
Greyi, Gonorhynchus, 505
Gull, Sabine's, 262
Haliaetus, Pandion, 320
Griffon, The, 306
Gull, True, 262
Haliaetus vocifer, 315
Griseum, Acanthosoma, 595
Gulo, Aulostomum, 676
Haliastur, 316
Griseus, Grampus, 180
Gulo luscus, 81
Haliastur indus, 316
Grisola, Muscicapa, 372
Gumbi owl, 321
Halibut, 492
Grizzled skipper, 588
Gundi, 111
Halichaerus grypus, 85
Grizzly bear, 75
Gunni, Perameles, 206
Halicore dugong, 167
Groenlandica, Phoca, 85
Gunn's bandicoot, 206
Halicoridae, 165
Gromia oviformis, 715
Guppyi, Rana, 437
Haliotidae, 632
Groove-toothed mice, 105
Gurami, 483
Hallomys, 102
Groove-toothed squirrel, 91
Gurnard, Beaked, 476
Halobates, 597
Groove-toothed vole, 103
Gurnard, Common, 475
Halys vipers, 429
Grosbeaks, 363
Gurnard, Flying, 476
Hamiltoni, Damonia, 388
Grosbeaks, Cardinal, 363
Guttata, Percopsis, 509
Hammer-head stork, 281
Grossulariata, Abraxas, 592
Guttera, 240
Hammer-headed oyster, 622
Ground-beetles, 555
Guttera cristata, 240
Hamsters, 101
Ground hornbills, 339
Guttera edouardi, 240
Hamster, True, 101
Ground parrot, 331
Guttera pucherani, 240
Hang-nests, The, 361
Ground pigeons, The, 244
Gygis alba, 262t
Hang-nest, Red-winged, 361
Ground-rollers, 335
Gymnarchus, 503
Hangul, 143
Ground sloths, 183
Gymnelis, 490
Hapalemur, 30
Ground-squirrels, 91
Gymno scopelus, 505
Hapalidse, 27
Ground-thrushes, 370
Gymnobelideus leadbeateri, 201
Hapaloderma, 349
Ground woodpeckers, 354
Gymnogenes, The, 309
Hapalomys berdmorei, 104
Grouse family, The, 229
Gymnoglossa, 633
Haplocerus montanus, 157
Grouse, Black, 230
Gymnomuraena, 494
Haplochiton, 507
Grouse, Georgian black, 230
Gymnophaps, 244
Haplochitonidae, 507
Grouse, Pinnated, 231
Gymnophaps albertisi, 244
Haplodactylinae, 466
Grouse, Red, 230
Gymnopis, 455
Haplodactylus, 466
Grouse, Ruffed, 231
Gymnotidae, 495
Haplognathidae, 466
Grouse, Sand-, 241
Gymnotus electricus," 495
Haplopeltura, 426
Grouse, Sand-, Pallas', 241
Gymnura rafflesi, 45
Haplopomi, 501
Grouse, Sand-, Pin-tailed, 241
Gypaetus, 313
Hapolodontidae, 95
Grouse, Willow-, 229
Grues, 274
Gypaetus barbatus, 313
Gypaetus ossifragus, 314
Haptoglossa, 450
Hardella, 389
Gruiformes, 274
Gyps, 306
Hardwickei, Hemigale, 58
Grunniens, Bos, 164
Gyrfalco, Hierofalco, 319
Hardwicke's hernigale, 58
Grus, Grus, 275
Gyrinidae, 555
Hares and rabbits, 117
Grylle, Uria, 260
Hare, Common, 118
Gryllidse, 566
Hare, Cape jumping, 110
Gryllotalpa, Curtilla, 567
H.
Hare, Mountain, 118
Gryllus, Acris, 443
Hare-lipped bats, 39
Gryllus domesticus, 567
Habroptila wallacii, 249
Hare-wallabies, 194
Grypus, Halichcerus, 85
Habroptilus, Stringops, 331
Harelda, 297
Guacharo, 332
Haddock, The, 491
Harengus, Clupea, 507
Guan, Derby's, 229
Hadomys, 102.
Hargitti, Thriponax, 355
Guanaco, 138
Haemacephala, Xantholaema,
Hargitt's woodpecker, 355
Guanacus, Lama, 138
353
Harlequins, The, 297
Guemels, 146
Haematopoda, 605
Harmless vampires, 41
Guenons, 21
Haematopodinae, 271
Harnessed antelopes, 156
Guentheri, Ceratobrachus, 439
Hsematopota pluvialis, 605
Harpa, 638
Guerezas, 21
Hsematortyx, 234
Harpactes, 349
Gugeons, 499
Haemophila, 364
Harpactoridae, 596
Guianensis, Morphnus, 313
Hag-fishes, 523
Harpagus, 318
Guib, 156
Haie, Naia, 424
Harpidfe, 638
Guillemot, 260
Guillemot, Black, 260
Hainan gibbon, 19
Hainan us, Hylobates, 1
Harpy, The, 313
Harpyhaliaetus, 313
Guinea-fowls, The, 240
Hair sea-egg, 660
Harpyhaliaetus coronatus, 313
Guinea fowl, Crested, 240
Hair-tails, The, 470
Harpyia, 35
Guinea-fowl, Vulturine, 240
Hairstreak, Green, 58
Harpyia, Thrasaetus, 313
Guinea-pig, 115
Hairy armadillo, 186
Harpyio-cephalus, 37
Guinea-worm, 679
Hairy saki, 27
Harriers, The, 309
Gulls, The, 261
Hairy-tailed moles,
Harrier, Marsh, 309
Gull, Black-headed, 262
Hakes, 491
Harrier, Montagu's, 309
Gull, Common, 262
Halacaridse, 545
Harriotta, 461
Gull, Fork-tailed, 262
Halcyon, 338
Hartebeests, 150
Gull, Greater black-backed, 263
Haley ones, 336
Hartlaubi, Lophocerus, 339
Gull, Herring, 263
Haliaetus, 315
Harvest bug, 547
Gull, Hooded-, 262
Halisetus albicilla, 315
Harvest-men, 541
Gull, Lesser black-backed, 263
Haliaetus leucocephalus, 315
Harvest-mouse. 105
INDEX.
745
Hawfinch, Common, 363
Heniochus, 465
Hippopotamus, The, 133
Hawk-cuckoos, 350
Hepalicum, Distoma, 689
Hippopotami family, The, 130
Hawks, 304, 307
Hepialidae, 591
Hippopotamidse, 130
Hawks, Long-legged, 308
Hepialus humuli, 591
Hippopotamus amphibius, 131
Hawk, White-tailed, 312
Hercules beetle, 568
Hippopotamus, Common, 131
Hawk-owl, 323
Hercules, Dynastes, 558
Hippopotamus hipponensis, 133
Hawk-owl, Brown, 323
Hermit crabs, 537
Hippopotamus iravaticus, 132
Hawksbill, 391
Herodias, 283
Hippopotamus lemerlei, 133
Hazel-hens, 231
Herodiones, 282
Hippopotamus liberiensis, 131
Heart-and-dart moth, 591
Herons, The, 282
Hippopotamus namadicus, 132
Heart-cockles, 624
Heron, Agami, 283
Hippopotamus palaeindicus, 132
Heavisidei, Cephalorhynchus,
Heron, American, 9 ,83
Hippopotamus, Pigmy, 131
179
Heron, Common, 282
Hippopotamus sivalensis, 132
Heaviside's dolphin, 179
Heron, Night, 283
Hippopotamus, Siwalik, 132
Hebomoia, 587
Heron, Purple, 282
Hippopus, 626
Hedgehog tribe, 44
Heron, Reef, 283
Hipposiderus, 36
Hedgehog, Shrew-, Raffle's, 45
Herpele, 455
Hippotragus equinus, 153
Hedgehog, Shrew-, Smaller, 45
Herpestes ichneumon, 60
Hippotragus niger, 153
Hedgehog-tenrecs, 49
Herpestinae, 60
Hirudinea, 675
Hedymeles, 363
Herpetodryas, 422
Hirudo medicinalis, 676
Helenae, Calypte, 347
Heliaca, Aquila, 314
Herrings, The, 506
Herring, Common, 507
Hirundinidae, 373
Hirundo, Avicula, 622
Helias, Eurypygae, 276
Herring gull, 263
Hirundo erythrogoaster, 373
Heliastes, 485
Hesperia malvae, 588
Hirundo rustica, 373
Helicidse, 643
Hesperiidae, 588
Hispanica, Capra, 158
Helicinidae, 632
Hessian fly, 603
Hispidus sigmodon, 102
Heliconinse, 584
Hetaerina, 570
Histiophorus, 469
Helicostyla, 643
Heterocarpus, 486
Hive-bee, 581
Helictis, 80
Heterocephalus, 107
Hoary-bat, 37
Heliopais, 252
Heterocera, 588
Hoatzin, 246
Heliopora, 708
Heterodactyli, 349
Hobby, The, 319
Heliornis, 252
Heterodera schachti, 679
Hodgsoni, Ovis, 160
Heliornis fulica, 252
Heterogeomys, 109
Hodgsoni, Pantholops, 152
Heliornithidse, 252
Heterogyna, 578
Hodgsoni, Vespertilio, 38
Heliozoa, The, 716
Heteromera, 559
Hodgsonise, Perdix, 234
Helix, 643
Heteromys, 109.
Hodomys, 102
Hell-bender, 451
Heteropoda, 636
Hog-deer, 143
Helmet-shells, 636
Heteroptera, 595
Hog, Pigmy, 134
Heloderma, 405
Heterotis, 504
Hog, Wart-, 134
Helodermatidae, 397, 405
Hexactinel lidae, 693
Holacanthus, 465
Helodromas, 269
Hexactinia, 705
Holboelli, Hierofalco, 319
Helodromas ochropus, 269
Hexadactyla, Alucita, 594
Holboell's jer-falcon, 319
Helogale parva, 60
Hexarthra polyptera, 682
Holocentrum, 468
Helotarsus, 315
Heyi, Anmoperdix, 233
Holocephali, 461
Helvetica, Squatarola, 271
Hibernica, Mustela, 81
Holochilus, 102
Hemiaspida, 539
Hierococcyx, 350
Holosericeus, Ptilonorhynchus,
Hemibungarus, 424
Hierofalco, 319
359
Hemicardium, 626
Hierofalco candicans, 319
Holothurian, Deep-sea, 661
Hemicentetes, 49
Hierofalco gyrfalco, 319
Holothurian, Free-swimming,
Hemichorda, 528
Hierofalco hendersoni, 319
661
Hemichromis, 487
Hierofalco holboelli, 319
Holothurian, Plated, 661
Hemidactylus, 397
Hierofalco islandus, 319
Holothuroidea, 660
Hemigale, 58
Hierofalco saker, 319
Hollow-horned ruminants, 149
Hemigale hardwickei, 58
Himalayan black bear, 75
Homalogyra, 633
Hemigale, Hardwicke's, 58
Himalayan ibex, 159
Homalogyridae, 633
Hemigale hosei, 58
Himalayan marmot, 93
Homalopsis, 423
Hemigalidia, 61
Himalayan tahr, 159
Homaloptera, Diprera, 608
Hemionus, Equus, 129
Himalayanus, Arctomys, 93
Homalopterus, 498
Hemiphractidae, 444
Himalayensis, Regulus, 369
Homoptera, 598
Hemipodes, The, 241
Himalayensis, Tetraogallus, 232
Homopus, 387
Hemipodii, 226
Himantopodinae, 270
Homopus arcolatus, 387
Hemiptera, 553, 594
Hemitragus hylocrius, 159
Himantopus melas, 270
Hinged brachiopod, 649
Honduras turkey, 240
Honey buzzards, 317
Hemitragus jemlaicus, 159
Hiposrita jacobaea, 588
Honey guides, The, 353
Hen, Black water, 252
Hippoboscidse, 608
Honey-guide, Great, 353
Hen, Blue water, 248
Hippocampus, 487
Honey-guide, Indian, 353
Hen, North American harrier,
Hippocastani, 558
Honey-kites, 317
309
Hippocrepis, Zamensis, 422
Honey-suckers, The, 366
Henderson!, Hierofalco, 319
Hippoglossus, 492
Hooded gulls, 262
Hender&oni, Podoces, 358
Hipponensis, Hippopotamus,
Hooded seal, 87
Henderson's jer-falcon, 319
133
Hoofed mammals, The, 118
Heniconetta stelleri, 297
Hipponicidse, 634
Hook-billed kingfisher, 337
74<3
INDEX.
Hook-billed kites, 316
Huso, Acipenser, 511
Hypsiprymnodontinfe, 198
Hoopoes, The, 340
Hutia, 112
Hyptiotes cavatus, 544
Hoopoe, Common, 340
Hyaenas, 62
Hyraces family, The, 123
Hoopoe, Indian, 340
Hyaena, Brown, 62
Hyracodon, 204
Hoopoes, Wood, 340
Hyaena brunnea, 62
Hyracodon fuliginosus, 204
Hoplognathidse, 466
Hyaena crocuta, 63
Hyracoidea, 123
Hoplopterus, 271
Hyaena, Spotted, 63
Hyrax, 124
Hopolgnathus, 466
Hyaena striata, 62
Hystricidse, 113
Hopping-ftsh, 477
Hyaena, Striped, 62
Hystrix, 113
Hornbills, The, 339
Hysenidse, 62
Hornbill, Great, 339
Hyalimax, 642
Hornbill, Ground, 339
Hyalonema, 693
I.
Hornbill, Malabar pied, 339
Hybrida, Tatusia, 187
Hornbills, Pied, 339
Hydra, 694
lanthinicte, 633
Hornbill, Rhinoceros, 339
Hydrachnidae, 545
Iberica, Rana, 436
Horned frog, 441
Hydradephaga, 555
Ibex, 158
Horned-larks, 364
Hydraspis, 393
Ibex, Capra, 158
Horned lark, European, 364
Hydrobates, Sitornys, 101
Ibex, Himalayan, 159
Horned lizards, 399
Hydrocenidae, 632
Ibex, Nilgiri, 159
Horned-owls, 321
Hydrochaerus, 116
Ibex, Spanish, 158
Horned pheasants, The, 235
Hydrochserus capivara, 89
Ibididae, 287
Horned screamer, 290
Hydrochelidon, 261
Ibidorhynchinae, 270
Horned vipers, 427
Hydrochelidon nigra, 261
Ibidorhynchus struthersi, 270
Hornet, 580
Hydrocorallia, 697
Ibises, 287
Horribilis, Ursus, 75
Hydrocyon, 501
Ibis aethiopica, 288
Horridus, Moloch, 400
Hydroid colonies, 66
Ibis, Glossy, 288
Horse tribe, The, 127
Hydromedusae, 698
Ibis, Pseudotantalus, 281
Horse, Common, 128
Hydrometridse, 597
Ibis, Sacred, 288
Horse-hair worm, 680
Hydromyinse, 100
Ibycter, 307
Horse leech, 676
Hydrophiinae, 425
Iceland jer-falcon, 319
Horse mackerel, 471
Hydrophis, 426
Icerya purchasi, 602
Horse mussel, 621
Hydropotes inermis, 146
Ichneumon fly, 577
Horse-shoe bats, 36
Hydroprogne caspia, 261
Ichneumons, 60
Horsefleld's broadbill, 356
Hydrous piceus, 557
Ichneumon, Herpestinae, 60
Horseshoe snake, 422
Hydrozoa, 694
Ichneumonidse, 577
Hortensis, Cryptops, 549
Hydrus, 426
Ichthyomys, 102
Hortulana, Emberiza, 364
Hyla arborea, 442
Ichthyophis glutinosus, 453
Hosei, Hemigale, 58
Hyetornis, 351
Ichthyophis monochrous, 454
Hose's long-billed francolin, 233
Hylidse, 442
Icteridae, 361
Hosii, Calyptomena, 356
Hylobates, 18
Icterus, 361
Hotinus candelarius, 599
Hylobates hainanus, 19
Icticyon venaticus, 74
Hounds (Shark), 516
Hylobates hulock, 18
Ictinia, 318
Houbaropsis, 273
Hylobates leuciscus, 19
Ictinia mississippiensis, 318
House-ant, 579
House cricket, 567
Hylobates syndactylus, 19
Hylocrius, Hemitragus, 159
Ictonyx, 81
Ictonyx zorilla, 80
House flies, 607
Hvlodes martinicensis, 440
Idiosepiidae, 646
House martin, 373
Hylomanes, 341
Idiurus, 90
House-mouse, 105
Hylomys suillus, 45
Ignicapillus, Regulus, 369
Hova, Oryzorictes, 49
Hymenoptera, 553, 573
Igneus, Bombinator, 444
Howlers, 23
Hymenoptera, Aculcata, 578
Iguana tribe, The, 401
Howler, Black, 24
Hymenoptera, Boring, 574
Iguana, Ring-tailed, 403
Howler, Red, 23
Hymenoptera, Stinging, 578
Iguanidse, 401
Hucho, The Danubian, 508
Hynobius, 450
Iliacus, Turdus, 371
Hucho, Salmo, 508
Hyodon tergissus, 504
Ilysia scytale, 421
Hudsonius, Circus, 309
Hyodontidae, 505
Ilysiidse, 421
Hulock, 18
Hyperboreus, Phalaropus, 266
Imberbis, Strepsiceros, 154
Hulock, Hylobates, 18
Hypercompa caia, 588
Imbricata, Chelone, 391
Human skeleton, 3-4
Hyperoodon rostratus, 177
Imhausi, Trilophomys, 102
Humble bees, 581
Hypnus, 521
Immutabilis, Cygnus, 292
Humboldti Lagothrix, 24
Hypocharmosyna, 328
Impennis, Plautus, 260
Humboldt's woolly monkey, 24
Hypoderma bbvis, 606
Imperatoria, Pomponia, 598
Humise, Callophasis, 238
Hypogeomys, 102
Imperial Eagle, 314
Humilis, Podoces, 358
Humming-birds, The, 347
Hypogeophis, 455
Hypoleucus, Cebus, 24
Imperial snipe, 268
Imperialis, Gallinago, 268
Humming-bird, Giant, 347
Humming-bird, King, 348
Hyponomeuta, 593
Hyponomeutidse, 594
Impeyan pheasants, 235
Inachis, Kallima, 585
Humming-bird, Sword bill, 848
Hypoptopoma, 497
Inarticulata, 651
Humpback whale, 173
Hypositta, 368
Indian atlas-moth, 589
Humuli, Hepialus, 591
Hypotfenidia, 249
Indian black-buck, 152
Hunting-dog, Cape, 73
Hunting-leopard, 56
Hypselornis, 224
Hypsiprymnodon moschatus,
Indian buffalo, 162
Indian cobra, 424
Hunting spiders, 543
197
Indian crested cuckoo, 350
INDEX.
747
Indian glephant, 119
Ithomiinse, 584
Kakapo, 331
Indian honey-guide, 353
luliformis, Peripatus, 551
Kalij pheasants, The, 236
Indian hoopoe, 340
Ixodidae, 545
Kallama inachis, 585
Indian humped cattle, 165.
lynginae, 354
Kampferi macrocheira, 533
Indian musk-shrew, 46
lynginae torquilla, 354
Kamtchaticus, Tetrao, 230
Indian pied kingfisher, 336
Izard, 156
Kangaroo tribe, 192
Indian porpoise, 179
Kangaroos, Dorca, 194
Indian rat-snake, 422
Kangaroo, Grey, 194
Indian rhinoceros, 126
J.
Kangaroo, Musk, 197
Indian shikra, 311
Kangaroo, Plain rat, 197
Indian sloth bear, 75
Jacamars, The, 355
Kangaroos, Prehensile- tailed
Indian tailor bird, 370
Jacamerops aurea, 355
Rat, 197
Indian wolf, 65
Jacares, 380
Kangaroos, Rat, 197
Indica, Upupa, 340
Jack snipe, 268
Kangaroo, Rufous rat, 197
Indicator xanthonotus, 353
Jackal, Black-backed, 66
Kangaroos, Tree, 195
Indicatores, 353
Jackal, Common, 66
Kangaroo-rats, 109
Jndicus, Bos, 165
Jackal, Side-striped, 66
Kashmir stag, 143
Indicus, Elephas, 119
Jacobaea, Hiposrita, 588
Katydids, 567
Indris, 29
Jacobinus, Cuculus, 350
Kea parrot, 327
Indris brevicaudata, 29
Jaguar, 53
Kelb-el-bahr, 501
Indus, Haliastur, 316
Jamaica tody, The, 342
Kelb-el-moyeh, 501
Ineptus, Didus, 246
Jamaicensis, Nyctibus, 344
Kellyellidaa, 624
Inermis, Hydropotes, 146
Jamesi, Phaenicoparrus, 290
Kestrels, The, 320
Infundibulata, 668
Jamesoni, Gallinago, 268
Ketupa, 321
Infusoria, The, 720
Jameson's snipe. 268
Ketupa ceylonensis, 321
Infusorian colonies, 722
Japanese deer, 143
Kewense, Bipalium, 684
Infusorians, Ciliated, 720
Japanese fox, 73
Keyhole limpets, 631
Infusorians, Tentacled, 720, 722
Japanese waxwing, 369
Khannanay, 229
Inguinalis, Pthirius, 602
Japonica, Coturnix, 235
Kieneri, Lophotriorchis, 315
Inia geoffroyensis, 178
Japonicus, Ampelis, 369
Killer, 179
Inornata, Amblyornis, 859
Japonicus, Canis, 73
Killer, Lesser, 180
Inornata, Ckephaga, 296
Jararaca, 429
King crabs, 538
Insect-eating mammals, 42
Jassidae, 601
Kingfishers, The, 336
Insect-mites, 545
Javan rhinoceros, 126
Kingfisher, Belted, 336
Insecta, 551
Javanicus, Eurylaemus, 356
Kingfisher, Common, 337
Insecta haustellata, 553
Javelin-bats, 41
Kingfisher, Crested,- 337
Insecta mandibulata, 553
Jays, 358
Kingfisher, Fish-eating, 336
Insectivora, 42
Jeffreysiidae, 635
Kingfisher, Green, 336
Insectivorous kingfishers, The,
Jelly-fish, 700
Kingfisher, Hook-billed, 337
337
Jelly-fish, Root-footed, 700
Kingfisher, Indian-pied, 336
Insects, Lace-winged, 568
Jemlaicus, Hemitragus, 159
Kingfisher, Insectivorous, 337
Insects, Praying, 565
Jerboa-rats, 106
Kingfisher, Laughing, 337
Insects, Stick, 566
Insects, Wingless (Neuroptera),
573
Jerboa tribe, The, 109
Jerboa, Kirghiz, 110
Jer-falcon, Greenland, 319
Kingfisher, Pied, 336
Kingfisher, Ringed, 336
Kingfisher, Shoe-billed, 337
Intercedens, Rhynchops, 262
Jer-falcon, Henderson's, 319
Kingfisher, Stork-billed, 336
Intermedia, Porzana, 251
Jer-falcon, Holboell's, 319
Kingfisher, Three-toed, 337
Interpres, Arenaria, 272
Jer-falcon, Iceland, 319
King humming-birds, 348
Inuus macacus, 22
Jer-falcon, Norwegian, 319
Kingi, Anops, 408
Involucris, Ardetta, 284
Jer falcon, Saker, 319
Kingi, Chlamydosaurus, 399
Iphis, Rhopalocampta, 588
John-dory, 471
King-of-the-herrings, 485
Ipnops, 505
Johnnie, 255
King penguin, 255
Iravaticus, Hippopotamus, 132
Jouanettia, 627
Kinkajou, 76
Irawadi dolphin, 179
Jubata, Myrmecophaga, 184
Kirghiz jerboa, 110
Irish elk, 144
Jubata, Otaria, 82
Kirghiz shrew, 46
Irregular sea-urchin, 659
Irrisoridae, 340
Jubatus, Canis, 69
Jubatus, Cynaelurus, 56
Kiroumbos, The, 335
Kites, The, 316
Irritans, Pulex (Flea), 609
Jubatus, Rhinochetus, 276
Kite, African swallow- tailed,
Irroratus, Dromece, 223
Juggar falcon, 319
316
Isabelline bear, 75
Julidae, 550
Kite, American swallow-tailed
Isabellinus, Ursus, 75
Jumping- mice, 110
316
Ischnochitonidae, 616
Jumping-shrews, 44
Kite, Black-shouldered, 316
Islandica Arctica, 624
Junco, 364
Kite, Brahminy, 316
Islandus, Hierofalco, 319
Jungle-cat, 55
Kite, Common, 316
Isocardiidae, 624
Jungle fowl, The, 238
Kites, Honey, The, 317
Isopoda, 534
Kite, Hooked-billed, 316
Isospondyli, 503
Kite-falcon, Mississippi, 319
Ispida, Aicedo, 337
K.
Kit-fox, 72
Ispidina, 337
Kittiwake, 263
Italian fire-fly, 559
Kagus, The, 276
Kiwis, The, 224
Itch-mites, 546
Kagu, Madagascar, 276
Klipspringer, 151
Ithagenes, 235
Kaka parrots, 326
Kneria, 500
748
INDEX.
Kneriidae, 500
lampreys, 523
Jaughing kingfisher, 337
Knobbed goose, 293
jamprey, River, 524
^axocemus, 419
Knob-billed pelican, 302
^amprey, Sea, 524
L.ayardi, Mesoplodon, 177
Knot, The, 269
L,ampris, 472
Leach's petrel, 257
Koala, 199
Lamprocolius, 360
Leadbeateri, Gymnobelideus,
Koels, The, 350
Lampshells, 648
201
Koklass pheasant, The, 237
Lampyris noctiluca, 559
Leadbeater's phalanger, 201
Kollari, Cynips, 576
Lancelet, The, 526
Leaf-cutter bees, 581
Kolyvanensis ascalaphus, 570
Lanceolatus, Amphioxus, 526
Leaf -nosed bats, 36
Kudu, Lesser, 154
Lanceolatus, Lachesis, 429
Leathery turtle, 3ll
Kudu, Strepsiceros, 154
Land planarian, 684
Leda, 621
Kudu, True, 154
Land-tortoises, 385
Leeches, The, 675
Kuhli, Vinia, 328
Langurs, 20
Leech, Fresh water, 677
Kuhl's Lory, 328
Langur, Sacred, 20
Leech, H orse, 676
Laniger, Antechinomys, 209
Leech, Medicinal, 676
L.
Laniger, Canis, 65
Lanigera, Avahis, 29
Leguatia gigantea, 252
Lemerlei, Hippopotamus, 133
Laniidae, 369
Lemming, Banded, 103
Labrax, 486
Lanius, 369
Lemming, Common, 103
Labrax maculatus, 486
Lanius collyrio, 369
Lemcniidae, 585
Labfax mixtus, 486
Lanius exciibitor, 369
Lemmus, Myodes, 103
Labridae, 486
Lanius senator, 369
Lemurs, The, 29
Labyrinthici, 483
Lanner, 319
Lemur catta, 29
Lacerta, 409
Lantern flies, 599
Lemur, Flying, 43
Lacerta agilis, 409
Lapaphus cocophage*, 566
Lemur, Gentle, 30
Lacerta ocellata, 409
Lapillus, Purpura, 637
Lemur, Giant extinct, 32
Lacerta, Viridis, 409
La Plata dolphin, 178
Lemur, Mouse, 30
Lacerta vivipara, 409
Lapland bunting, 364
Lemur, Ring- tailed, 29
Lacertidae, 409
Lappet, 590
Lemur, Sportive, 30
Lacertilia, 396
Lapponicus, Calcarius, 364
Lemurs, True, 29
Lacertina, Siren, 452
Lapradei, Polypterus, 513
Lemurs, Typical, 28
Lace-winged flies, 571
Lapwing, Common, 271
Lemuridae, 28
Lace winged insects, 568
Lardarius, Dermestes, 556
Lemuroidea, 11
Lace-work sponge, 693
Large-eared mule-deer, 146
Lencorrhoa, Oceanodroma, 257
Lachesis lanceolatus, 429
Large fruit-pigeons, The, 243
Lendigera, Amathia, 668
Lachesis mutus, 429
Large sun-bittern, 276
Leo, Felis, 53
Lackey moth, 590
Large-trained trogon, 349
Leona, Nightjar, 343
Lady-birds, 562
Laridae, 260
Leoninus, Macrorhinus, 87
Lady-bird, Australian, 602
Lariformes, 261
Leopards, 53
Lady Ross Touracoe, 352
Larks, The, 364
Leopard, Clouded, 55
Laemargus, 519
Lark, Calandra, 364
Leopard, Hunting, 56
Laemmergeier, 313
Lark, Crested, 364
Leopard, Seal, 86
Laemodipodidae, 535
Lark, Desert, 364
Leopard, Snow, 53
Lsevis, Coronella, 422
Lark, Finch, 364
Lepadidae, 533
Lagenorhynchus, 180
Lark, Horned, 364
Lepadogaster, 482
Lag-goose, Grey, 295
Lark, Short-toed, 364
Lepas anatifera, 533
Lagidium, 114
Lark, Skv, 364
Lepetidae, 631
Lagomyidae, 117
Lark, Wood, 364
Lepidolemur, 30
Lagomys, 117
Lark-heeled cuckoos, The, 351
Lepidolemur caniceps, 30
Lagonosticta, 362
Larus, 262
Lepidopleuridae, 616
Lagopus, 229
Larus argentatus, 263
Lepidoptera, 553, 581
Lagopus, Canis, 73
Larus canus, 262
Lepidopus, 470
Lagopus lagopus, 229
Larus fuscus, 263
Lepidosirenidae, 460
Lagopus mutus, 230
Larus marinus, 263
Lepidosteidae, 509
Lagopus scoticus, 230
Larus, minutus, 263
Lepidosteus, 509
Lagorchestes, 194
Larus, ridibundus, 262
Lepisma saceharina, 573
Lagostomatidae, 113
Larval Forms of Crustacea, 530
Leporidae, 117
Lagostomus, 114
Larvatus, Nasalis, 19
Lepralia of Pallas, 667
Lagostrophus fasciatus, 196
Lasiocampidae, 590
Lepralia, Pallasiana, 667
Lagothrix, 24
Latastei, Rana, 436
Leptinotarsa decemlineata, 5C1
Lagothrix, humboldti, 24
Laisurus, Platacanthomys, 100
Lataste's frog, 436
Latax lutris, 77
Leptodactylidge, 440
Leptodactylus, 440
Lalande's fen nee, 74
Lateralis, Cryptobranchus, 451
Leptodera, 679
Lama guanacus, 138
Laternaria, Fulgora, 599
Leptognathus, 426
Lama vicuna, 138
Lates, 464
Leptonychotes weddelli, 87
Lamellariidae, 634
Lathami, Catheturus, 227
Leptonyx, Ogmorhinus, 86
Lamellibranchiata, 616
Latham's snipe, 268
Leptoptilus, 278
Lamellicorns, 557
Laticaudatus, Platurus, 425
Leptoscopus, 473
Lamiidae, 561
Latrans, Canis, 66
Leptosomati, 3J5
Lamna cornubica, 517
Lamnidae, 517
Latro, Birgus, 537
Latus, Botliriocephalus, 687
Lepus, 117
Lepus cuniculus, 118
Lainpides bseticus, 586
Laughing jackass, 337
Lepus europaeus, 118
INDEX.
749
Lepus timidus, 118
Liparis, 476
Long-legged pouched-mouse,209
Lerwa, 231
Lipoa, 228
Long-legged thick-knee, 273
Lesser ant-eater, 184
Lipoa ocellata, 228
Long-nosed crocodile, 381
Lesser black-backed gull, 263
Lipocephala, 618
Long-nosed j urn ping-shrews, 44
Lesser bustard, 273
Lithobiidse, 549
Long-nosed rat, 106
Lesser fin-whale, 174
Lithobius forficatus, 549
Long-snouted phalanger, 203
Lesser killer, 180
Lithocranias walleri, 153
Long-tailed African flying-
Lesser kudu, 154
Lithomelissa, 717
squirrel, 90
Lessoni, Momotus, 341
Lithosiidse, 589
Long-tailed bat, 39
Lesson's Motniot, 341
Litiopidae, 635
Long-tailed ducks, The, 297
Lesser shrew, 46
Litopterna, 9
Long-tailed marmot, 94
Lesser sperm-whale, 176
Litorale, Pycnogonum, 539
Long-tailed parrakeet, 329
Lesser tern, 261
Little auk, 260
Long-tailed pigeons, 244
Lethrinus, 466
Little bittern, 284
Long-tailed skuas, 264
Leucas, Delphinapterus, 179
Little crake, 251
Long tailed tit, 368
Leucerodea, Platalese, 286
Little egret, 283
Loopers, 592
Leuciscus, 499
Little gull, 263
Lophiidse, 474
Leuciscus, Hylobates, 19
Little owls, 323
Lophiomys, 102
Leucocephalus, Cladorhynchus,
Little skunk, 78
Lophius piscatorius, 474
270
Littorinidse, 635
Lophoaetus occipitalis, 315
Leucocephalus, Haliaetus, 315
Liver-fluke, 689
Lophobranchii, 487
Leucopus, Canis, 73
Livia, Columba, 244
Lophocerus, 340
Leucoryphus, Haliaetus, 321
Livingstonianus nanotragus,
Lophocerus hartlaubi, 339
Leucosomus, Astur, 311
151
Lophodytes, 297
Leucospis, 576
Lizards, 896 .
Lophogyps, 303
Leucospis grandis, 576
Levaillanti, Plotus, 301
Lizard, Flying, 399
Lizard, Frilled, 399, 400
Lopholaimus, 243
Lopholatilus, 473
Liasis, 419
Lizard, Girdled, 403
Lophophanes cristatus, 368
Libellula depres?a, 569
Lizard, Greaved, 407
Lophophanes, 368
Libellulidse, 569
Lizard, Green, 409
Lophophorus, 235
Liberiensis, Hippopotamus, 131
Lizard, Horned, 399
Lophopoda, 668, 669
Libitina, 624
Lizard, Moloch, 400
Lophopus, 668
Libythea celtis, 586
Lizard, Pearly, 409
Lophortyx californiana, 240
Libytheidse, 586
Lizards, Poisonous, 405
Lophotes cepedianus, 484
Lidse, Hexactinel, 693
Lizard, Sail-tailed, 400
Lophotidse, 484
Ligurinus, 363
Lizard, Sand, 409
Lophotiformes, 484
Ligurinus chloris, 363
Lizard, Snake-like, 404
Lophotis, 273
Lima, 623
Lizard, Spiny, 401
Lophotriorchis, 315
Limacidse, 643
Lizard, Stump-tailed, 410
Lophotriorchis Kieneri, 315
Limacinidae, 640
Lizard, Thorny-tailed, 400
Lophura, 236
Limacomys, 101
Lizard, Tree, 399
Lophuromys, 101
Limnaea, 642
Lizard, Viviparous, 409
Lophurus amboynensis, 400
Limnaeidse, 642
Llamas, 138
Loricaria, 497
Limnas chrysippus, 5^3
Loach, Common, 500
Lories, The, 327
Limnocryptes gallinula, 268
Loach, Spiny, 500
Loriidse, 327
Limnopardalus, 219
Lobed pheasant, 236
Loris, 31
Limonites, 269
Lobiophasis bulweri, 236
Lorisis, 31
Limopsis, 621
LobivanellinsB, 271
Lorius chlorocercus, 328
Limosa, 269
Lobodon carcinophaga, 86
Lory, Green-tailed, 328
Limpets, 631
Lobsters, 536
Lory, Kuhl's, 328
Limpets, Cup-and-saucer, 634
Lobster, Spiny, 537
Lota vulgaris, 491
Limpets, Keyhole, 631
Loculator, Tantalus, 281
Lotoriidae, 63d
Limpkins, The, 275
Locustidse, 568
Louse, Whale, 535
Limpkin, Florida, 275
Locusts, 568
Love-birds, 329
Limpkin, South American, 275
Loddigesia mirabilis, 348
Lowi, Ptilocercus, 44
Limulus, 538
Loggerhead tortoise, 391
Lowries, 352
Limulus moluccarms, 539
Loliginidae, 646
Loxia, 363
Linearis, Chiroxiphia, 374
Loligo, 646
Loxosoma, 667
Linearis, Ranatra, 597
Loncheres, 112
Lucanus cervus, 558
Lineus marinus, 684
Long-billed francolin, 233
Lucayanum, Asyminetron, 527
Linguselapsus, 449
Long-eared bats, 36
Lucifuga, 491
Linguaelapsus annulatus, 449
Long-eared fox, 73
Lucilia caesar, 608
Linguatulida, 548
Lingula, 648
Long-eared owl, 324
Long-horned beetles, 560
Lucina, Nemoebius, 586
Lucinidae, 624
Lingula anatina, 650
Long-horned grasshoppers, 567
Luciocephalidae, 483
Linotsenia crassipes, 549
Longicornes,-560
Luciocephalus pulcher, 483
Linsanga, 58
Longipermis, Macrodipteryx,
Lucioperca, 464
Linsangs, 58
343
Lucius, Esox, 502
Liobunum religiosum, 542
Longirostris, Aptenodytes, 255
Lucorum Trichiosoma, 574
Lion, 53
Longirostris, Rhizothera, 233
Lug worm, 672
Lion -tailed monkey, 22
Long-legged hawks, 307
Lugubris, Ceryle, 336
Liparidae, 589
Long-legged petrel, 257
Lugubris, Motacilla, 365
INDEX.
Lullula, 364
Macropus giganteus, 194
Malvse, Hesperia, 588
Lumbricidae, 674
Macropus walabatus, 194
Mammalia, 1
Lumbricoides, Ascaria, 679
Macropygia, 244
Mammalia, Dentition of, 5
Lump-suckers, 476
Macrorhinus leoninua, 87
Mammalia, Human Skeleton,
Lung-fishes, 459
Macrorhyncha, Rhea, 222
3-4
Lung-fish, Australian, 469
Macroscelides, 44
Mammals, Distinctive features
Lunulata, Cyclopsitta, 329
Macroscelides tetradactylus, 44
of, 2
Lupus, Canis, 64
Macroscelididae, 44
Mammals, Egg-laying, 214
Luscinia, Daulias, 370
Macrotis, Canis, 73
Mammals, Flesh-eating, 50
Luscus, Gulo, 81
Macrotis, Cervus, 146
Mammals, Geographical distri-
Lusitanica, Chioglossa, 447
Macrura, 536
bution of, 7
Luth, 391
Macrura, Sterna, 261
Mammals, Insect eating, 42
Lutra, 76
Macruridse, 492
Mammals, Pouched, 190
Lutreola, Mustela, 81
Macrurus, 492
Mammals that gnaw, 88
Lutris Latax, 77
Mactridae, 625
Manakins, The, 374
Lycaenidae, 586
Maculata, Aquila, 314
Manatis, 165
Lycaon pictus, 73
Maculatus, Dasyurus, 208
Manatus, 167
Lycodes, 490
Maculatus, Labrax, 486
Manculus, 450
Lycodidae, 490
Maculatus, Phalanger, 200
Mandarin duck, 294
Lycosidae, 543
Maculosa, Salamandra, 446
Mandril, 32
Lycosa arenicola, 543
Madagascar kagu, 276
Maned goose, 295
Lycosa tarentula, 543
Lygia oceanica, 534
Madagascar mungoose, 61
Madagascariensis, Chiromys, 31
Mangabeys, 21
Manidae, 189
Lygosoma, 410
Maderensis, Regulus, 369
Manillensis, Pelecanus, 302
Lyncodon, 81
Madoqua, 151
Manis, 190
Lynx, Canadian, 56
Madreporo, 706
Man-like apes, 11
Lynx, Common, 56
Maeandrina, 707
Mantella, 438
Lynx, Felis, 56
Maehoerhamphus, 317
Mantidse, 563
Lynx, Spanish, 56
Maehoerhamphus alcinus, 317
Mantis religiosa, 565
Lyonsiidse, 628
Maehoerhamphus anderssoni,
Mantis, Squilla, 535
Lyre-birds, 357
317
Manx shearwater, 258
Lyrurus, 229
Maforensis, Nasiterna, 329
Mapi, 195
Lyrurus mlokosiewiczi, 230
Magar, Oriental, 381
Marabous, 278
Lyrurus tetrix, 230
Magellania, 651
Maral, Cervus, 143
Lysiurus unicinctus, 186
Magellanic geese, 295
Maral, Persian, 143
Lystrinae, 600
Magilus, 637
Marbled cat, 55
Maginrostris, Orthorhamphus,
Mareca, 296
273
Margaritacea, Nereis, 673
M.
Magna, Caccibis, 232
Margaroperdix, 234
Magnifica, Megaloprepia, 243
Marginalis, Dytiscus, 556
Macacus, 21
Magnificent fruit-pigeon, 243
Marginata, Testudo, 386
Macacus cynomolgus, 22
Magpies, 358
Margined tortoise, 386
Macacus inuus, 22
Magpie moth, 592
Marginellidse, 638
Macacus rhesus, 22
Maguari, Euxenura, 280
Marina, Arenicola, 672
Macacus silenus, 22
Maguari stork, 279
Marine gurnards, 475
Macaques, 21
Mahasir, 498
Marine lings, 491
Macaque, Crab-eating, 22
Maia squinado, 530
Marine mites, 545
Macaws, 329
Maimon, Papio, 23
Marine mussel, 621
Maccormicki, Megalestris, 263
Machaon, Eques, 587
Major, Eurypyga, 276
Major, Gallinago. 268
.Marinum, Petromyzum, 524
Marinus, Larus, 263
Machlis, Alces, 145
Major, Parus, 367
Marinus, Lineus, 684
Mackerels, The, 472
Malabar pied hornbill, 339
Maritima, Anisolabis, 563
Mackerel, Common, 473
Malabar spiny mouse, 100
Maritimus, Bathyergus, 107
Mackerels, Horse, 471
Malacanthidae, 474
Maritimus, Ursus, 75
Macrauchenia, 9
Malacanthus, 474
Markhor, 159
Macro, Lepidoptera-, 592
Malaccensis, Viverra, 57
Marmorata, Felis, 55
Macrocephalus, Physeter, 175
Malachite sun-bird, 366
Marmosets, The, 27
Macrocheira Kampferi, 538
Malacobdella, 684
Marmot, Alpine, 93
Macroclemmys temmincki, 390
Malacoclemmys, 388
Marmot, Cabul, 94
Macrodipteryx longipennis, 343
Malacodermi, 559
Marmot, Common, 92
Macrogeomys, 109
Malacomys, 101
Marmot, Golden, 93
Macrolopha, Pucrasia, 237
Malacoptila, 355
Marmot, Himalayan, 93
Macronyx, 365
Malacostraca, 533
Marmot, Long-tailed, 94
Macronyx ameliae, 365
Malaiensis, Neopus, 315
Marmots, Prairie, 92
Macropodidae, 192
Malayan badger, 79
Marmot, Red, 94
Macropodinae, 193
Malayan bear, 75
Marmots, True, 92
Macropteryginae, 346
Malayan tapir, 124
Marmotta, Arctomys, 92
Macropteryx, 346
Malayanus ursus, 75
Marpurito, Conepatus, 78
Macropus, 193
Maleo-bird, 226
Marsh harrier, 309
Macropus agilis, 194
Malleus, 622
Marsh tern, 261
Macropus browni, 194
Mallophaga, 573
Marsh tit, 367
Macropus brunii, 194
Mallophagus ovinus, 608
Marsipobranchii, 523
INDEX.
751
Marsupial mole, 210
Marsupialia, 190
Melanocephala, Caccabis, 232
Melanocephala, Uacaria, 27
Mexican turkey, 240
Mice, Groove-toothed, 105
Marsupialis, Didelphys, 211
Melanocetus, 475
Mice, Jumping, 110
Marten, Beech-, 80
Melanocorypha, 364
Mice, Mosaic-tailed, 106
Marten, North American, 80
Melanogenia, Galbula, 355
Mice, Narrow-footed pouched,
Marten, Pennant's, 80
Melanoleucus, Aeronautes, 346
209
Marten, Pine, 80
Melanoleucus, JSluropus, 75
Mice, Pouched, 208
Marten, Sable, 80
Melanonota, Sarcidiornis, 293
Mice, Singing, 105
Marten, Yellow-throated, 80
Melanope, Motacilla, 365
Mice, Spiny, 106
Martes, Mustela, 80
Melanoperdix nigra, 234
Mice, Waltzing, 105
Martin, Bank, 373
Melanorhamphus, Cocorax, 358
Mice, White-footed, 101
Martin, House, 373
Melanura, Rhynchops, 262
Micoureus, 213
Martin, Purple, 373
Melas, Himantopus, 270
Micrastur, 310
Martinicensis, Hylodes, 440
Melas, Globiocephalus, 180
Microcebus, 30
Martius, Picus, 354
Meleagrina, 622
Microchaeta rappi, 674
Mary-sole, 492
Meleagris gallopavo, 240
Microgale, 49
Masked bug, 596
Meleagris ocellata, 240
Microglossus aterrimus, 328
Mastacembelus, 478
Meles, 79
Microhierax, 319
Mastacomys, 106
Meliceps, Mydaus, 79
Micromonacha, 355
Masterdons, 9
Melidora, 337
Microperdix, 234
Mastiff-bats, 39
Melierax, 310
Microphyllum, Rhinopoma, 39
Matamata, 392
Meliphagidse, 366
Micropterygidse, 591
Maximus, Cetorhinus, 517
Melittophagus, 340
Micropus, 467
Maximus, Megalobatrachus,
Melleri, Ehynchogale, 61
Micropus apus, 346
450
Meller's mungoose, 61
Microstoma, 685
May flies, 571
Mellifica, Apis, 581
Microtinse, 103
Mayeri, Nesaenas, 244
Mellivora, 79
Microtus, 103
Meadow brown, 585
Melee, 560
Microtus agrestis, 103
Meadow pipit, 365
Melolontha vulgaris, 557
Microtus amphibius, 103
Meadow-starling, 361
Melolouthidse, 557
Microtus glareolus, 103
Meagre, The, 468
Melophagus ovinus, 608
Micrura, Talpa, 48
Meal-worms, 560
Melospiza, 364
Midaidse, 605
Medicinal leech, 676
Melursus ursinus, 75
Midas, 27
Medicinalis, Hirudo, 676
Membracidse, 601
Midwife frog, 443
Medina worm, 679
Menhaden, Clupea, 507
Migratoria, Ectopistinae, 244
Medinensis, Dracunculus, 679
Menura superba, 357
Migratory quail, 234
Medusoid, 696
Menurse, 356
Miliaria miliaria, 364
Meerkat, 61
Mephitis, 77
Millepedes, 548
Megacephalum, 226
Mephitis, Mephitica, 78
Millepora, 697
Megachile, 581
Merganettinae, 297
Milliolite shells, 716
Megacrex, 249
Mergansers, The, 297
Milvus, 316
Megaderma, 36
Merganser australis, 297
Mimeta, 361
Megala, Gallinago. 268
Merganser brasilianus, 297
Mirnidae, 372
Megaladapis, 32
Merganser merganser, 297
Mimus polyglottus, 372
Megalestris, 263
Merganser, Red-breasted, 297
Mindorensis, Bos, 162
Megalestris antarctica, 263
Merginse, 297
Minimum, Carychium, 641
Megalestris catarrhactes, 263
Mergulus alle, 258
Minimus, Chironectes, 214
Megalestris chilensis, 263
Mergus albellus, 297
Miniopterus schreibersi, 38
Megalestris maccormicki, 263
Meriones, 101
Mink, North American, 81
Megalobatrachus maximus, 451
Merlangus, Gadus, 491
Minor, Chionarchus, 265
Megaloblatta, 564
Merlin, The, 320
Minor, Endyptila, 255
Megalocephalum, Platyster-
Merluccius, 491
Minor, Phaeniconaias, 290
num, 389
Mermaid's head, 660
Minor, Philohela, 267
Megaloprepia, 243
Mermis, 680
Minor, Phylloscopus, 370
Megaloprepia magnifica, 243
Meropogon forsteni, 341
Minuta, Ardetta, 284
Megalotherium, 183
Merops, 340
Minuta, Sterna, 261
Megalotis, Otocyon, 74
Meropes, 340
Minutus, Dasypus, 186
Megapode, Australian, 228
Merostomata, 539
Minutus, Larus, 263
Megapode, Cumming's, 228
Merula, 370
Minutus, Mus, 105
Megapode, Nicobar, 228
Merula merula, 371
Mirabilis, Loddigesia, 348
Megapode, Ocellated, 228
Mesembry-anthemum, Actinia.
Mirafra, 364
Megapodes, True, 228
703
Mirum, Pedalion, 682
Megapodii, 226
Mesites variegata, 276
Misgurnus, 500
Megapodius, 228
Mesodesmatidse, 625
Mississippi kite-falcon, 318
Megapodius cumingi, 228
Mesomelas canis, 66
Mississippi salamander, 451
Megapodius nicobariensis, 228
Megapodius tumulus, 228
Mesomyodi, 373
Mesomys, 112
Mississippiensis, Alligator, 380
Mississippiensis, Ictinia, 318
Megaptera, 173
Mesoplodon, 177
Mitchelli, Phegornis, 267
Megaptera boops, 173
Melampsalta montana, 599
Mesoplodott layardi, 177
Mesopotamicus, Cervus, 144
Mites, 539, 545
Mites, Cheese, 547
Melaniidae, 635
Mesotrochous, 673
Mites, Fresh-water, 545
Melanocephala, Arenaria, 272
Metachirus, 213
Mites, Gall, 546
INDEX.
Mites, Itch, 546
Monkeys, New World, 23
Moth, Drinker 590
Mites, Marine, 545
Monkeys, Old World, 19
Moth, Emperor, 589
Mite, Sugar, 547
Monkeys, Spider, 25
Moth, Ermine, 593
Mithan, 164
Monkeys, Woolly, 24
Moth, Hart-and dart, 5D1
Mitra episcopal is, 638
Monocentris, 468
Moth, Gamma, 591
Mitridse, 638
Monochrous, Ichthyophis, 454
Moth, Ghost, 591
Mixocebus, 30
Monodon monoceros, 178
Moth, Goat, 590
Mixtus, Labrax, 486
Monomyaria, 618
Moth, Grass, 593
Mlokosiewiczi, Lyrurus, 230
Monopora vivipara, 684
Moth, Lackey, 590
Mniotiltidae, 365
Monorhina, 523
Moth, Magpie, 592
Moas, The, 220
Monosiga, 718
Moth, Mother-of-pearl, 592
Mocking-birds, The, 372
Monotocardia, 632
Moth, Silk-worm, 590
Modestus, Cabalus, 249
Monotremata, 214
Moth, Small magpie, 592
Modiola, 622
Monotrochous, 673
Moth, Tiger, 588
Modiola modiolus, 621
Montagu's Harrier, 309
Moth, Twenty-plume, 594
Modiolopsidae, 623
Montana, Melampsalta, 599
Moth, White plume, 594
Modiolus, Modiola, 621
Montana, Perdix, 234
Moth, Yellow underwing, 591
Modoqua saltiana, 151
Montanus, Canis, 71
Moths, Bell, 593
Moles, The, 47
Montanus, Haploceros, 157
Moths, Plume, 594
Mole, Cape golden, 50
Moon eye, 504
Moths, Swift, 591
Mole, Common, 48
Moonals, The, 235
Motmots, The, 341
Mole, Duck-, 215
Moor-hen, 252
Motmot, Lesson's, 341
Moles, Golden, 50
Moose, 145
Mottled night-heron, 284
Moles, Hairy-tailed, 48
Mopaliidaj, 616
Mottled nightjars, 344
Mole, Marsupial, 210
Mordacia, 524
Mouflon, 160
Mole, Musk-, 48
Morenia, 389
Mound-builders, The, 226
Mole, Sand-, Great, 107
Mori, Bombyx, 590
Mountain fox, 71
Mole, Star-nosed, 48
Morinellius eudromias, 271
Mountain hare, 118
Moles, True, 48
Moristans, Glossina, 608
Mountain partridge, 234
Moles, Web-footed, 47
Mormolyce phylloes, 555
Mountain zebra, 128
Mole, Yellow-tailed, 48
Mormops, 41
Mouse tribe, The, 100
Mole-cricket, 567
Mormops blainvillei, 41
Mouse, Barbary, 105
Mole-rats, The, 106
Mormyridae, 503
Mouse, Blind, 106
Mole-shrews, 46
Mormyrops, 503
Mouse, Harvest, 105
Molge, 447
Mormyrus, 503
Mouse, House, 105
Molge cristata, 447
Mormyrus petersi, 503
Mouse, Long-legged pouched,
Molge palmata, 448
Morococeyx, 351
209
Molge vulgaris, 448
Morone, 464
Mouse, Malabar spiny, 100
Molitor, Tenebrio, 560
VJorphinae, 584
Mouse, Prehensile-tailed, 106
Mollusca, 610
Morphnus, 313
Mouse, Tree-. Pencil-tailed.
Moloch horridus, 400
Morphnus guianensis, 313
104
Moloch lizard, 400
Morpho, 584
Mouse, Wood, 105
Molossus, 39
Morrhua, Gadus, 491
Mouse-lemurs, 30
Molothrus, 361
Morse, 84
Mucedo, Cristatella, 6C8
Molothrus bonariensis, 361
Mosaic-tailed mice, 106
Mud-skippers, 477
Moluccanus, Limulus, 539
Moschata, Aromia, 561
Mud-terrapins, 389
Molurus, Python, 418
Moschata, Cairina, 293
Mugil, 479
Molybdophanes, Struthio, 223
Momotidae, 341
Moschata, Myogale, 47
Moschata, Talpa, 48
Mugilidse, 479
Mugiliformes, 478
Momotus, 341
Moschatus, Hypsiprymnodon,
Mulita, 187
Momotus lessoni, 341
197
Mulleria, 623
Mona, Cercopithecus, 21
Moschatus, Nesotragus, 151
Mullet, Grey, 479
Mona monkey, 21
Moschatus, Ovibos, 160
Mullidae, 465
Monacha, 355
Moschiferus moschus, 141
Mullus barbatus, 465
Monachus, 85
Moschus, 141
Mungoose, The, 60
Monachus, Neophron, 306
Moschus moschiferus, 141
Mungoose, Banded, 61
Monachus, Pithecia, 27
Moschus sifanicus, 141
Mungoose, Brown-tailed, 61
Monachus, Vultur, 306
Monasa, Aphanolimnas, 251
Mosquitoes, 604
Moss animals, 665
Mungoose, Egyptian, 60
Mungoose, Elegant, 61
Moneceros, Monodon, 178
Mossbanker, The, 507
Mungoose, Four-toed, 60
Monera, The, 713
Motacilla campestris, 365
Mungoose, Madagascar, 61
Monitors, The, 406
Motacilla lugubris, 365
Mungoose, Meller's, 61
Monitor, Nile, 406
Motacilla melanope, 365
Mungoose, Pencilled, 60
Monk fish, 519
Motacillidse, 364
Mungoose, Small African, 60
Monkeys, The, 10
Motella, 491
Mungoose, Small- toothed, 61
Monkey, Bengal, 22
Moths, 581
Muntjacs, 141
Monkey, Diana, 21
Moth, Atlas, 589
Muntjac, Cervulus, 142
Monkey, Green, 21
Moth, Burnished brass, 591
Muraena, 493
Monkey, Lion-tailed, 22
Moth, Cinnabar, 588
Muranidse, 478, 493
Monkey, Mona, 21
Moth, Clothes, 593
Muraria, Tichodroma, 366
Monkey, Proboscis, 19
Moth, Codling, 593
Murea, 637
Monkey, Squirrel, 26
Moth, Corn, 593
Murex, 637
INDEX.
753
Murex tenui-spina, 637
Myioceyx, 337
Narrow-footed pouched-mice,
Muricata, Pontobdella, 677
Myiodioctes, 365
209
Muricidse, 637
Mylabris, 560
Narrow-necked woodpecker
Muridae, 100
Myliobatidae, 521
354
Murinae, 104
Myliobatis, 521
Narwhal-spotted, 178
Murinus, Eunectes, 420
Mymar pulchellus, 577
Nasalis larvatus, 19
Mus, 104
Mynas, 360
Naseus, 471
Mus barbarus, 105
Myobiidfe, 547
Nasiterna, 329
Mus decumanus, 105
Myodes, 103
Nasiterna maforensis, 329
Mus flavicollis, 105
Mus minutus, 105
Myodes lemmus, 103
Myogale, 47
Nasiterna pygmoea, 329
Nasomaculatus, Addax, 154
Mus musculus, 105
Myogale moschata, 47
Nassa reticulata, 637
Mus rattus, 105
Myogale pyrenaica, 47
Nassidse, 637
Mus sylvaticus, 105
Myopotamus, 111
Nasua, 9, 76
Musaeorum, Chiridium, 541
Myopotamus, Coypu, 112
Natal rock-snake, 419
Musca domestica, 607
Myopsida, 646
Natalus, 38
Muscardinus avellanarius, 99
Myoscalops, 107
Natatrix, Pelagothuria, 66
Muscicapa grisola, 372
Myosorex, 46
Naticidae, 633
Muscicapidae, 372
Myoxidae, 99
Natrix, Tropidonotus, 421
Muscidae, 606
Myoxus, 99
Natterjack toad, 442
Muscidaa acalypterae, 607-608
Myoxus glis, 99
Nauclerus riqcouri, 316
Muscidae calypterae, 607
Myoxus nitella, 99
Naucrates, 471
Musculus, Balsenoptera, 174
Myriopoda, 548
Nauplius, 530
Musculus, Mus, 105
Myripristis, 468
Nautilus, 645
Mushroom, Coral, 705
Mynnecia, 579
Nebulosa, Felis, 55
Musica, Tubipora, 708
Myrmecia forficata, 579
Necrophago, 556
Musicus, Cygnus, 292
Myrmecobiinae, 209
Necrophorus vespillo, 556
Musicus, Turdus, 371
Myrmecobius fasciatus, 209
Nectarinia famosa, 66
Musimon, Ovis, 160
Myrmecophaga jubata, 184
Nectariniidae, 366
Musk-beetle, 561
Myrmecophagidae, 183
Nectes, 441
Musk-deer, 141
Myrmeleonidse, 570
Nectogale elegans, 47
Musk-kangaroo, 197
Myrmica, 579
Nectophryne, 441
Musk-mole, 48
Myrmicidse, 579
Necturus, 452
Musk-ox, 160
Mystacoceti, 171
Needle-tailed swift, 34
Musk-rat, Round-tailed, 103
Mystacops tuberculatus, 40
Nemachilus, 500
Musk-rat, True, 103
Mystromys, 101
Nemachilus barbatulus, 500
Musk-shrews, 46
Mytilacea, 621
Nematagnathi, 496
Musophaga rossae, 352
Mytilus, 622
Nematohelminthes, 678
Musophagidse, 351
Mytilus edulis, 621
Nematu, 575
Musquash, 103
Myxine, 525
Nemeobius lucina, 586
Mussel, Horse, 621
Myxinidae, 524
Nemertine worms, 683
Mussel, Marine, 621
Myxopoda urita, 38
Nemertinea, 683
Mustela, 80
Myzostoma, 675
Nemopteridae, 571
Mustela americana, 80
MyzostornidEe, 675
Nemorhaedus, 157
Mustela erminea, 81
Nemoricola, Gallinago, 268
Mustela flavigula, 80
Mustela foina, 80
Nemorum, Phyllotreta, 562
Neobalsena, 172
Mustela hibernica, 81
N.
Neochanna, 504
Mustela lutreola, 81
Neofiber, 103
Mustela martes, 80
Nahura, Ovis, 160
Neomeniidae, 616
Mustela pennanti, 80
Naia, 424
Neomeniina, 616
Mustela putorius, 81
Naia bungarus, 424
Neomorphinaj, 351
Mustela vison, 81
Naia haie, 424
Neomorphus, 351
Mustela vulgaris, 81
Naia tripudians, 424
Neophron, 306
Mustela zibellina, 80
Nais proboscidea, 674
Neophron ginginianus, 306
Mustelidse, 76
Nais, Snouted, 674
Neophron monachus, 306
Mustelus, 516
Naked bat. 40
Neophron percnopterus, 306
Mute swan, 292
Nakong, 156
Neophron pileatus, 306
Muticus, Paro, 239
Namadicus, Hippopotamus, 132
Neopsittacus, 328
Mutillidae, 579
Nana, Rhea, 221
Neopus malaiensia, 315
Mutus, Lachesis, 429
Nandidse, 464
Neoscolopax rochusseni, 267
Mutus, Lagopus, 230
Nandinia, 59
Neotoma, 102
Mya, 626
Nandu, 222
Neotoma alleni, 102
Myacea, 623, 626
Nannosciurus, 95
Neotramata, 651
Mvcerobas, 363
Nanotraginae, 151
Nepa cinerea, 597
Mycteria australis, 280
Mycteria senegalensis, 280
Nanotragus livingstonianus, 151
Nanotragus moschatus, 151
Nepidae, 597
Neptune's cup, 693
Mydas, Chelone, 391
Mydaus meliceps, 79
Nanotragus pygmaeus, 151
Napoleonis, Polypectrum, 238
Nereis margaritacea, 673
Neritidae. 632
Mygalidae, 542
Narcine, 521
Neritina, 32
Mygnimia, 580
Nardoa, 419
Neritopsidae, 632
Myidae, 626
Naricidse, 634
Nerophis, 488
49
754
INDEX.
Nertz, 81
North American alligator, 380
Nesaenas, 244
North American hen harrier,
Nessenas mayeri, 244
309
Oak eggar, 590
Nesiotis, Porphyriornis, 252
North American marten, 80
Oaten straw coralline, 697
Nesocia, 105
North American wapiti, 143
Obscurus, Dendragapus, 231
Nesoctites, 354
Northern sea-cow, 168
Obscurus, Theropithecus, 22
Nesomys, 102
Northern sea-lion, 82
Ocadia, 389
Nestor norfolcensis, 326
Norwegian jer-falcon, 319
Occipitalis, Lophoaetus, 315
Nestor notabilis, 327
Notabilis, Nestor, 327
Oceanica, Lvgia, 534
Nestor productus, 326
Notacanthidse, 485
Oceanitinae, 257
Nestoridae, 326
Notacanthiformes, 485
Oceanodroma leucorrhoa, 257
Nettion, 296
Notacanthus, 485
Ocellata, Lacerta, 409
Nettopus, 294
Notidanidae, 518
Ocellata, Lipoa, 228
Nettopus coromandelianns, 294
Notiosorex, 46
Ocellata, Meleagris, 240
Neurobasis chinensis, 570
Notobranchaeidae, 640
Ocellated megapode, 228
Neuroptera, 568
Neuroptera, Pseudo, 569
Notodelphyidse, 532
Notonectidae, 597
Ocellatus, Rheinhaidms, 239
Ocelot, 55
Neurotrichus, 47
Notopteridse, 503
Ochropus, Helodroraas, 209
Neustria, Clisiocampa, 590
New world monkeys, 8, 23
Notopterus, 503
Notornis, 252
Ochthodromus,, 271
Octactinia, 707
Newts and salamanders, 445
Notoryctes typhlops, 210
Octodon, 111
Newt, Common, 448
Notoryctidae, 210
Octodont tribe, The 110
Newt, Crested, 447
Nototrema, 443
Octodontidae, 110
Newt, Webbed, 448
Novae-hollandiae, Astur, 311
Octopoda, 646
Newtoniana, Prionodura, 359
Novae-hollandiae, Dromeae, 223
Octopodidae, 647
Nicobar megapode, 228
Novae-zealandiae, Coturnix, 235
Ocycerus, 340
Nicobar pigeon, '245
Novae-zealandiae. Geonemertes,
Ocydromus, 251
Nicobariensis, Megapodius, 228
684
Odonata, 569
Nicoria, 387
Noveboracensis, Ortygops, 252
Odontaspis, 517
Niger, Canis, 65
Novius cardinalis, 602
Odontoceti, 171
Niger, Cynopitheeus, 22
Nucleobranchiata, 636
Odontomachus, 579
Niger, Hippotragus, 153
Nucula, 620
Odontophorinae, 231
Nigra, Alouatta, 24
Nuculidse, 620
(Edemia, 297
Nigra, Ciconia, 279
Nucum, Balaninus, 560
ffidicnemi, 273
Nigra, Hydrochelidon, 261
Nudibranchiata, 640
ffidicnemus oedicnemus, 273
Nigra, Melanoperdix, 234
Nudibranchis, 640
OZdipoda caerulescens, 568
Nigra, Rhynchops, 262
Numenius, 269
OZstrelata brevipes, 257
Night-heron, Mottled, 284
Numida, 239
CEstridae, 606
Nightingale, 370
Nummilites, 715
Officinalis euspongia, 693
Nightjars, The, 342
Nut hatches, The, 368
Officinalis, Scincus, 410
Nightjar, Leona, 343
Nut hatch, Common, 368
Ogmorhinus leptonyx, 86
Nightjar, Mottled, 344
Nut-weevil, 560
Oigopsida, 646
Nile fox, 71
Nutria, 111
Oikopleura, 527
Nile monitor, 406
Nyctala, 324
Oil beetles, 560
Nilgai, 154
Nilgiri ibex, 159
Nyctalea acadica, 324
Nyctalea tengmalmi, 324
Oil birds, The, 332
Oil fish, 478
Niloticus, Canus, 71
Nyctea nyctea, 322
Old world monkeys, 19
Niloticus, Crocodilus, 381
Nyctereutes, 69
Olens, Ocypus, 556
Niloticus, Varanus, 406
Nycteribiidge, 608
Oligochaeta, 673
Ninox, 323
Nycteridse, 36
Olividae, 638
Nit, Coralline, 668
Nycteris, 36
Olm, 452
Nitella, Myoxus, 99
Nyctibiinae, 344
Olor, Cygnus, 292
Nitidissima, Alectraenas, 243
Nyctibus grandis, 344
Ommastrephidae, 646
Nivalis, Plectrophenax, 363
Nyctibus jamarcensis, 344
Ommatophoca rossi, 87
Nivicola, Ovis, 160
Nycticebus, 31
Onca, Felis, 53
Noble falcons, The, 319
Nycticejus, 37
Onchidiidae, 642
Noctilio, 39
Nycticejus albofuscus, 38
Onchorhynchus, 508
Noctiluca, 718
Nyctieorax, 283
Oniscidae, 534
Noctiluca, Lampyris, 559
Nyctieorax nyctieorax, 283
Onocrotalus, Pelecr.nus, 302
Noctilucus, Pyrophorus, 559
Nyctinomus, 40
Onychodactylus, 450
Noctuae, 588
Nyctinomus cestoni, 40
Onychogale, 194
Noctula, Vesperugo, 37
Nyctiornis, 341
Onychomys, 101
Noctule, 37
Nyctiornis amicta, 341
Onychoteuthidae, 646
Noisy scrub-bird, 376
Nyctiornis athertoni, 341
Oocorythidae, 637
Nomada, 580
Nyctipithecus, 26
Opelet, The, 703
Nomaeidae, 472
Nyctipithecus trivirgatus, 26
Open-billed storks, ?80
Nomaeus, 472
Nymphalidse, 582
Open -bills, 278
Nomonyx, 297
Nyroca, 297
Opercula, Principal forms of,630
Non -hinged brachiopod, 650
Operculum, 630
Nonnula, 355
Ophichthys, 494, 495
Norfolcensis, Nestor, 326
Ophideres, 591
Norfolk plover, 273
Ophidia, 412
INDEX.
755
Ophidiidaa, 491
Oryzivorus, Cassidix, 362
Owl, Tengmalm's, 324
Ophidium, 491
Oryzomys, 101
Owl, Wood, 320, 324
Ophiocephalidae, 482
Oryzodctes, 49
Owls, Eared, 324
Ophiocephalus, 482
Oryzorictes nova, 49
Owls, Fishing, 321
Ophiodes, 405
Oryzorictes tetradactylus, 49
Owls, Tufted, 322
Ophion, Ovis, 160
Osmerus, 508
Owl-parrot, 331
Ophisaurus, 405
Osphromenus, 483
Owlets, The, 324
Ophisaurus apus, 405
Ospreys, 320
Owlet, Pigmy, 324
Ophispholis aculeata, 657
Ossifraga gigantea, 258
Owlet-nightjar, 334
Ophiuroidea, 658
Ossifragus, Gypaetus, 314
Ox, Common, 165
Opisthobranchiata, 639
Osteoglossidae, 504
Ox, Musk, 161
Opisthocomus cristatus, 247
Osteolaemus, 382
Oxygyrus, 637
Opolemur, 30
Osteolaemus tetraspis, 382
Oxymycterus, 101
Opossums, 211
Ostracium, 489
Oxynoidae, 640
Opossum, Common, 211
Ostracoda, 532
Oxyrhamphidae, 373
Opossum, Didelphys, 213
Ostrea, 622
Oxyrhamphus, 37*
Opossum quica, 213
Ostreacea, 622
Oxyuris vermicularis, 679
Opossum, Thick-tailed, 213
Ostrich, The, 222
Oyster-catchers, 271
Opossum, Velvety, 213
Ostrich, Somali-land, 223
Oyster, Hammer-headed, 622
Opossum, Water, 211
Ostrich, South African, 223
Oyster, Pearl, 622
Orang-utan, 16
Otaria, 82
Oyster, Saddle, 621
Orange tip, 586
Otaria fosteri, 82
Oyster, Thorny, 623
Orbicularis, Emys, 388
Otaria pusilla, 82
Orca, 179
Otaria gillespii, 82
Orca gladiator, 180
Otaria jubata, 82
P.
Orcella fluminalis, 179
Otaria stelleri, 82
Oreocicla, 370
Otaria ursina, 82
Pacas, 115
Oreocicla varia, 371
Otariidae, 81
Paca, Branick's, 115
Oreophasis derbianus, 229
Otides, 273
Pacas family, The, 115
Oreopithecus, 14
Otinidse, 641
Pachycalmus, 408
Oreopsittacus, 328
Otis, 273
Pachycephala, 369
Oreotragus saltator, 151
Otis tarda, 273
Pachyrhina crocata, 604
Orias, 156
Otocorys, 364
Pachytriton, 449
Oribi, South African, 151
Otocorys alpestis, 364
Pachyuromys, 101
Oribia, Scoparia, 151
Otocyon megalotis, 74
Pacificus, Pareudiastes, 252
Oriental chevrotains, 139
Otogyps, 306
Pagellus, 466
Oriental leopard cat, 55
Otomys, 101
Pagodus, 635
Oriental magar, 381
Otters, The, 76
Pagrinae, 466
Oriental shrews, 46
Otter, Sea, 77
Pagrus, 466
Orientalis, Blatta, 564
Otus, Asio, 324
Paguridse, 537
Orioles, The, 361
Ounce, 53
Pagurus, Cancer, 538
Oriole, Golden, 361
Ovalis, Cyamus, 535
Painted frog, 444
Oriolidae, 361
Oven-birds, 375
Painted fruit-pigeon, 242
Oriolus galbula, 361
Ovibos moschatus, 160
Painted pigeons, The, 243
Organ-pipe coral, 708
Oviformis, Gromia, 715
Painted quails, 235
Ormers, The, 632
Ovinus, Melophagus, 608
Painted snipes, The, 267
Ornata, Ceratophrys, 441
Ovis, 159
Pala, 152
Ornatus, Anthops, 36
Ovis ammon, 160
Palseindicus, Hippopotamus,
Ornatus, Ursus, 75
Ovis canadensis, 160
132
Ornithomyia avicularia, 608
Ovis gmelini, 160
Palaensis, Geonemertes, 684
Ornithoptera, 587
Ovis hodgsoni, 160
Palseolodus, 290
Ornithorhynchidfe, 215
Ovis musimon, 160
Palamedea, 290
Ornithorhynchus anatinus,
Ovis nahura, 160
Palamedea cornuta, 290
215
Ovis nivicola, 160
Palinuridse, 537
Ortalinse, 608
Ovis ophion, 160
Pallasiana, Lepralia, 667
Orthagoriscus, 472
Ovis poli, 160
Pallas' sand-grouse, 241
Orthalicidse, 643
Ovis tragelaphus, 160
Pallas' sea-eagle, 321
Orthalicus, 643
Ovis vignei, 160
Palliata, Adamsia, 703
Orthogeomys, 109
Owls, The, 320
Pallipes, Canis, 64
Orthonectidse, 689
Owl, Barn, 325
Palm-civit, 59
Orthoptera, 562
Owl, Brown Hawk, 323
Palm squirrel, Indian, 91
Orthorhamphus maginrostris,
Owl, Burrowing, 323
Palm swifts, 346
273
Owl, Downy, 324
Palm weevil, 560
Ortolan, 364
Owl, Eagle, 322
Palmarum, Sciurus, 91
Ortygops, 251
Owl, Grass, 325
Palmata, Molge, 448
Ortygops exquisita, 252
Owl, Horned, 321
Palmeri, Porzanula, 251
Ortygops noveboracensis, 252
Owl, Little, 323
Palseornis, 329
Ortyx virginianus, 240
Owl, Long-eared, 324
Paludestrinidae, 635
Orycteropodidae, 189
Owl, Pel's Fishing, 3?.l
Paludicola, 103, 441
Orycteropus capensis, 189
Owl, Short-eared, 324
Palumbarius, Astur, 310
Oryx, 153
Owl, Snowy, 322
Palustris, Parus, 367
Oryzivora, Delichonyx, 361
Owl, Tawny, 321
Pamir sheep, 160
756
INDEX.
Pampas-deer, 146
Partridge, The true, 234
Pelicans and allies, 298
Panda, The, 75, 76
Partridges, Snow, 231
Pelicans, The, 301
Panderi, Podoces, 358
Partridges, Tooth-billed, 231
Pelican, Knob-billed, 302
Pandiones, 304, 320
Parula, 365
Pelican, Roseate, 302
Pandion haliaetus, 320
Parus, 367
Pelican, Spotted-billed, 302
Pandora, 627
Parus caeruleus, 367
Pelican's foot shell, 636
Pandoridse, 627
Parus major, 367
Pelidna, 269
Pangolins, 188
Parus palustris, 367
Pelobatidae, 443
Panoplus, 405
Parva, Helogale, 60
Pelochelys, 395
Panther, 53
Parva, Zapornia, 251
Pelodera, 679
Pantholops, Hodgsoni, 152
Parvirostris, Tetrao, 230
Pelodytes punctatus, 443
Pantodon bucholzi, 505
Pasang, 159
Pelomedusidje, 393
Pantodontidse, 505
Passenger pigeons, The, 244
Pelopaeus spirifex, 580
Papatasii, Phlebotomus, 604
Passeriformes, 357
Pelor, 467
Paper nautilus, 647
Paste, Eel, 679
Pel's fishing-owl, 321
Papillata, Cidaris, 659
Pastor, Rose-coloured, 360
Pel's flying-squirrel, 90
Papio, 10, 22
Pastor roseus, 360
Peltella, 643
Papio babuin, 23
Patachonica, Aptendytes, 255
Peltohyas, 270
Papio maimon, 23
Patagona gigas, 347
Peltohyas australis, 270
Papio porcarius, 23
Patellidse, 631
Peltohyatinae, '270
Pappogeomys, 109
Paterina, 650
Peludo argentine, 186
Paradise-fish, Chinese, 483
Paumotensis, Actinia, 704
Pemperis, 468
Paradise flycatchers, 373
Pavoncella, 269
Pempheris, 471
Paradiseidae, 358
Pavoncella pugnax, 269
Pencillata, Cynictis, 60
Paradiseinae, 359
Pavonia-minor, Saturnia, 589
Pencilled mungoose, 60
Paradoxuna, Diplozoon, 688
Pea-fowl, The, 239
Pencil-tailed tree-mouse, 10i
Paradoxurus, 59
Peacock butterfly, 585
Pendadactylus, Pterophorus,
Paradoxus, Syrrhoptes, 241
Peacock pheasants, The, 238
594
Paralepis, 505
Pearl-grey curlew, 270
Penguins, The, 255
Parameniidse, 616
Pearl oyster, 622
Penguin, Emperor, 255
Parasitic Hymenoptera, 576
Pearly lizard, 409
Penguin, King, 255
Parasitica, Callidina, 683
Pearly nereis, 673
Pennanti, Mustela, 80
Parasiticus, Stercorarius, 263
Peccaries, 9
Pennant's marten, 80
Pardalis, Felis, 55
Peccaries family, The, 135
Pennatula, 709
Pardina, Felis, 56
Pecora, 140
Pennatus, Distaechurus, 202
Pardus, Felis, 53
Pecten, 622
Pennatus, Eutolmsetus, 315
Paretroplus, 487
Pectinacea, 622
Pennula ecaudata, 251
Pareudiastes pacifieus, 252
Pectinator, 111
Pentacrini, 664
Paridse, 367
Pectinibranchiata, 632
Pen-tailed phalanger, 202
Parnassius, 587
Pectintinibranchiate, 614
Pen-tailed shrew, 44
Parnassius Apollo, 587
Pectunculus, 621
Pen-tailed tree-shrew, 202
Paro, 239 .
Pedalion mirum, 682
Pentanemus, 468
Paro cristatus, 239
Pedetes caffer, 110
Pentatomidse, 595
Paro muticus, 239
Pediculus capitis, 602
Peragale, 205
Paroaria, 364
Pediculus vestimeuti, 602
Perameles, 206
Parrakeet, Long-tailed, 329
Pedionomus, 241
Perameles gunni, 206
Parrots, The, 325
Pedipalpi, 541
Peramelidse, 205
Parrot, Grey, 330
Pedunculate Brachiopod, 648
Peramys, 213
Parrot, Ground, 331
Pegasus, 476
Perca, 464
Parrot, Kea, 327
Pelagica, Procellaria, 257
Percarina, 464
Parrot, Owl, 331
Pelagonemertes, 684
Perch, Common, 464
Parrot, Sea-, 260
Pelagothuria, 662
Perching birds, The, 357
Parrots, Kaka, 326
Pelagothuria natatrix, 661
Percichthys, 464
Parrots, True, 329
Pelargopsis, 336
Percidae, 464
Parrot-wrasses, 486
Pelargopsis burmanica, 336
Perciformes, 463
Parti -coloured bear, 75
Pelea capreola, 151
Percnopterus, Neophron, 306
Partridges, The, 231
Pelecaniformes, 298
Percopsidae, 509
Partridge, Barbary red-legged,
Pelecani, 298
Percopsis guttata, 509
232
Pelecanoididse, 258
Perdicinae, 231
Partridge, "Bearded, 234
Pelecanus erythrorhynchus,
Perdicula, 234
Partridge, Black-headed red-
302
Perdix, 234
legged, 232
Pelecanus manillensis, 302
Perdix damascena, 234
Partridge, Chukar, 232
Pelecanus onocrotalus, 302
Perdix daurica, 234
Partridge, Common, 233
Pelecinus, 578
Perdix hodgsoniae, 234
Partridge, Greek, 232
Pelecinus soliturator, 578
Perdix montana, 234
Partridge, Mountain, 234
Pelecnanoidae, 257
Perdix perdix, 235
Partridge, Prjevalsky's red-
Pelecus, 500
Perdix sifanica, 234
legged, 232
Pelecypod gills, Development
Peregrine falcon, 319
Partridge, Rock red-legged,
232
of, 619
Pelecypoda, 616
Peregrinus, Falco, 319
Perforate formanifera, 715
Partridge, See-see, 233
Peli, Anomalurus, 90
Perginae, 574
Partridge, Toothed, 240
Peli, Scotopelia, 321
Periopthalmus, 476
INDEX.
757
Peripatidae, 550
Phalanger, Flying, Taguan, 20
PhilydorinjB, 375
Peripatus, 671
Phalanger, Leadbeater's, 201
Phlaeomyinae, 101
Peripatus iuliformis, 551
Periplaneta americana, 564
Phalanger, Long-snouted, 203
Phalanger maculatus, 200
Phlebotomus papatosi, 604
Phoca, 85
Perissodactyla, 124
Phalanger, Pen-tailed, 202
Phoca barbata, 85
Peristeridae, 244
Phalanger, Ring-tailed, 200
Phoca caspica, 85
Peristerinaj, 244
Phalanger Tribe, 198
Phoca grcenlandica, 85
Peristeropodes, 226
Phalanger ursinus, 200
Phoca sibirica, 85
Periwinkles, 635
Phalangeridse, 198
Phoca vitulina, 85
Perlidae, 571
Phalangerinse, 199
Phocidae, 84, 85
Pern, Black, 317
Phalangiida, 541
Phoccena, 179
Perna, 622
Pernis, 317
Phalaropes, The, 266
Phalarope, Grey, 66
Phocoena communis, 179
Phocoena phocoenoides, 179
Pernis apivorus, 317
Phalarope, Red-necked, 266
Phoccenoides, Phocoena, 179
Pernis celebensis, 317
Phalarope, Wilson's, 266
Phoebetria, 258
Pernis ptilonorhynchus, 317
Phalaropinae, 266
Phoenicens, Agelaeus, 361
Perodicticus, 31
Phalaropus, 366
Phoeniconaias, 290
Perodicticus potto, 31
Phalaropus hyperboreus, 266
Phoeniconaias minor, 290
Perodipus, 109
Pharyngognathi, 485
Phoenicoparrus, 290
Perognathus, 109
Phascolarctinae, 199
Phoenicoparrus andinus, 290
Perplexa, Callidea, 595
Phascolarctus cincreus, 199
Phoenicoparrus jamesi, 290
Persian fallow-deer, 144
Phascologale, 208
Phoenicophaeinse, 351
Persian wild goat, 159
Persian maral, 143
Phascolomyidse, 204
Phascolomys, 203
Phoenicophaes, 351
Phcenicopteriformes, 288
Persicus, Argas, 546
Persicus, Cassidix, 262
Phascolosoma, 678
Phasgonuridae, 567
Phoenicopterus, 290
Phoethornis, 348
Persicus, Phasianus, 237
Personatus, Reduvius, 596
Phasiani, 226
Phasiandae, 229
Pholadacea, 623
Pholadidae, 627
Perspicillata, Salamandrina, 448
Phasianinfe, 235
Pholadomya caudida, 628
Perspicillatus, Artibeus, 41
Phasianus colchicus, 237
Pholadomyidae, 628
Persuasoria, Rhyssa, 577
Petauroides volans, 201
Phasianus persicus, 237
Phasianus principalis, 237
Pholas, 625
Phoronis, 649
Petaurus, 202
Phasianus reevesi, 238
Photichthys, 505
Petaurus breviceps, 202
Phasianus scemmeringi, 238
Phoyx purpurea, 282
Petersi, Geotrypetes, 455
Phasianus scintillans, 238
Phragmitis, Acrocephalus, 370
Petersi, Mormyrus, 503
3 hasianus talischensis, 237
Phryganea grandis, 572
Petrels, The, 256
i'hasianus veisicolor, z'3S
Phryganistria serratipes, 566
Petrel, Canarian fork-tailed, 257
Phasidus, 239
Phrygilus, 364
Petrel, Common fulmar, 258
Phasmidae, 551
3 hrynorhombus, 492
Petrel, Diving, 257
'heasants, The, 235
5 hrynosoma, 403
Petrel, Fork-tailed, 257
Pheasant, Argus, 235
Phrynus, 541
Petrel, Fulmar, 258
Pheasant, Barred-backed, 238
Phylactolaemata, 669
Petrel, Leach's, 257
Pheasant, Caped, 238
Phyllobates trinitatis, 438
Petrel, Long-legged, 257
J heasant, Cheer, 237
Phyllodes, Mormolyce, 555
Petrel, Short-legged, 257
Peasant, Common, 237
Phyllodromia germanica, 564
Petrel, Storm, 257
Petricolidse, 625
Pheasant, Copper, 238
Pheasant, Cuckoo, 351
Phyllonycteris, 41
Phyllopoda, 531
Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, 373
Pheasant, Fire-backed, 236
PhyUopteryx, 487
Petrodomus, 44
Pheasant, Horned, 235
^hylloscopus minor, 370
Petrogale, 194
> heasant, Impeyan, 235
'hylloscopus trochilus, 370
Petromys, 111
Pheasant, Kalij, 236
'hyllostoma, 41
Petromyzidae, 524
Pheasant, Koklass, 237
Phyllostomatidae, 40
Petromyzum, 524
Pheasant, Lobed, 236
Phyllotreta, 562
Petromyzum fluviatile, 524
Pheasant, Pucras, 236
'hyllotreta nemorum, 562
Petromyzum mar in 11111, 524
Pheasant, Reeves, 238
'hymosoma, 678
Petrosa, Caccabis, 232
Pheasant, Silver, 236
Physalia, 699
Pewit, Common, 271
Pheasants, Blood, 235
'hyseter macrocephalus, 175
Pezophaps, 245
Pheasants, Eared, 236
Physeteridae, 175
Pezophaps solitarius, 245
'heasants, Ring-necked, 237
Physidae, 642
Pezoporus, 331
'hegornis mitchelli, 267
'hysodon, 176
Phabinae, 244
'henacomys, 103
'hysostomi, 493
Phacochaerus aethiopicus, 134
Phaeton flavirostris, 298
Philander, 213
Philepittidae, 373
Phytophaga, 561
Phytopti, 545
Phainopepla, 369
Philhydrida, 557
Phytoptidae, 546
Phalacrocoraces, 299
Philinidae, 640
Phytotomidae, 373
Phalacrocorax carbo, 299
Philippine rats, 101
Piaya, 351
Phalacrocorax graculus, 299
Philippinus, Cervus, 143
Pica, 357
Phalacrocorax varius, 300
Phillipsi, Dipodomys, 109
Pica pica, 358
Phalangers, The, 200
Phillotis, 101
Picarian birds, The, 33?
Phalanger, Common, 200
Philodryas, 423
Picas family, The, 117
Phalanger, Dormouse, 202
Philohela minor, 267
Piceus, Hydrous, 557
Phalanger, Flying, 202
Philomycidae, 643
Pichi, 186
758
INDEX.
Pichiago, 185
Pipit, Tree, 365
Pleurotomidae, 632
Pichiciagos, 188
Pipridae, 373
Ploceidae, 362
Pici, 353
Pirula, 636
Ploceus baya, 362
Piciformes, 353
Piscatorius, Lophius, 474
Plotidae, 301
Picinae, 354
Pisces, 456
Plotus anhin-ra, 301
Picoides, 354
Pisidium, 623
Plotus levaillanti, 301
Pictus, Aramus, 275
Pit vipers, 428
Plovers, The, 264
Pictus, Discoglossus, 444
Pithechirus, 106
Plover, American golden, 270
Pictus, Lycaon, 73
Pithecia, 27
Plover, Crab, 264
Piculets, 354
Pithecia monachus, 27
Plover, Golden, 271
Picumninae, 354
Pithecia satanus, 27
Plover, Grey, 271
Picumnus, 354
Pittas, The, 375
Plover, Norfolk, 273
Picus martius, 3=>4
Pitta angolensis, 375
Plover, Spur-winged, 271
Piddocks, The, 627
Pitta, The Purple, 375
Plover, Stone, 273
Pied flycatcher, 372
Pittidae, 373
Plover, True, 270
Pied hornbill, 339
Pittoides, Atelornis, 335
Plover, Wattled, 271
Pied kingfisher, 336
Placuna sella, 621
Plover, Wry-billed, 270
Pied shag, 300
Plagiodon, 112
Plume moths, 594
Pied sparrow-hawk, 311
Plagyodus, 505
Plumose anemone, 702
Pied swift, 346^
Plain rat-kangaroo, 197
Plumularians, 697
Pied wagtail, The, 365
Planarian, Land, 684
Plusia chrysitis, 591
Pied woodpecker, 354
Pieridae, 586
Planarian worms, 685
Planci, Cucumaria, 660
Plusia gamma, 591
Pluvialis, Charadrius, 271
Pig tribe, The, 133
Planipennia, 570
Pluvialis, Haematopota, 605
Pig, Bush, 134
Planorbis, 642
Pneumonodermatidae, 640
Pigs, True, 133
Plant bugs, 596
Pochards, The, 297
Pig-footed bandicoot, 206
Pigeons, The, 242
Plant cutters, The, 374
Plant-feeding beetles, 561
Pocket-gophers, The, 107
Podargi, 333
Pigeon, Crowned, 245
Plant-lice, 598, 601
Podarginae, 333
Pigeon, Fruit, 242
Platacan thorny s lasiurus, 100
Podargus, 333
Pigeon, Ground, 244
Plataleae, 286
Podargus strigoides, 333
Pigeon, Long-tailed, 244
Plataleae leucerodea, 286
Podica, 252
Pigeon, Nicobar, 245
Platanista gangetica, 177
Podica senegalensis, 252
Pigeon, Painted, 243
Platanistidae, 177
Podicipes auritus, 253
Pigeon, Passenger, 244
Platax, 471
Podicipes cristatus, 253
Pigeon, Tooth-billed, 245
Plated holothurian, 661
Podicipedidiformes, 253
Pigeon, Wood, 244
Pigmy hippopotamus, 131
Platemys, 393
Platibis, 286
Podilymbus, 253
Podoces, 358
Pigmy hog, 134
Platurus, 425
Podoces hendersoni, 358
Pigmy owlet, 324
Platurus laticaudatus, 425
Podoces humilis, 358
Pigmy squirrels, 95
Platycercomys, 110
Podoces panderi, 358
Pigmy whale, 172
Platycercus, 329
Podocnemis expansa, 393
Pike, Bony, 509
Platycheles, Porcellana, 537
Pcecile, 367
Pike, Common, 502
Platygeomys, 109
Pceciliidae, 502
Pike head, 483
Platyhelminthes, 685
Poecilogale albinucha, 81
Pike-perches, 464
Pilaris, Turdus, 371
Platyrhina, 520
Platyrhynchinae, 373
Poensis, Poiana, 58
Poephila, 362
Pilchard, 507
Platysaurus, 404
Pogonias, 468
Pilchardus, Clupea, 507
Pileatus, Neophron, 306
Platysternidae, 389
Platysternum megalocephalum,
Poiana poensis, 58
Poiphila casei, 608
Pilidium, 684
389
Poisonous lizards, 405
Pilot-fish, 471
Plautus impennis, 260
Polar bear, 75
Pimelodus, 497
Plecotus, 36
Polecat, 81
Pimplinse, 577
Plecotus auritus, 37
Polecat, Cape, 81
Pine-marten, 80
Pink-footed goose, 295
Plectispondyli, 497
Plectognathi, 488
Poll ovis, 160
Poliohierax, 319
Pink-headed duck, 294
Plectrophenax nivalis, 363
Polish swan, 292
Pinna, 622
Plectropterinae, 293
Politurator, Pelecinus, 578
Pinnated grouse, 231
Plectropterus, 293
Pollack, The, 491
Pinnotheres, 538
Plegadis, 288
Pollan, 509
Pin-tailed sand grouse, 241
Pin-tails, 296
Plegadis falcinellus, 288
Plesiops, 464
Pollan, Coregonus, 509
Polyacanthus, 483
Piophilinse, 608
Plethodon, 450
Polyborinae, 307
Pipa americana, 444
Plethodontinae, 450
Polyboroides, 309
Pipe fishes, 487
Pleurobranchoidea, 640
Polyborus, 307
Piper, The, 659
Pleuroceridae, 635
I'olyborus cheriway, 307
Pipidae, 444
Pleurodira, 392
Polyborus tharus, 307
Pipilo, 364
Pleuronectes, 492
Polychaeta, 671
Pipistrelle, 37
Pleuronectidse, 492
Polydesmidae, 550
Pipistrellus, Vesperugo, 37
Pipits, 364
Pipit, Meadow, 365
Pleuronectoidei, 492
Pleurotoma, 632
Pleurotomariaadansoniana, 632
Polyglottus, Mimus, 372
Polygordius, 675 [682
Polymorphus, Echinorhynchus,
INDEX.
759
Polynemidae, 468
Pouched rats, 106
Protospondyli, 510
Polynemiformes, 468
Pouched-winged bats, 39
Prototroctes, 507
Polynemus, 468
Powan, 509
Protozoa, The, 713
Polyodon folius, 511
Prairie-dogs, 92
Protracheata, 550
Polyodontidae, 511
Prairie-marmots, 92
Protremata, 651
Polyommatus, 586
Poly pectr urn, 238
Pratensis, Anthus, 365
Pratincola, Glareola, 272
Psauimobatis, 520
Psammobiidae, 624
Polypectrum chinquis, 238
Polypectrum napoleonis, 238
Pratincoles, The, 272
Pratincole, Common, 272
Psammodromus, 410
Psarisomus, 356
Polyplacophora, 615
Prawns, 536
Psarisomus dalhousiae, 356
Polyptera, Hexarthr, 682
Praying insects, 565
Psephurus gladius, 511
Polypteridae, 512
Prehensile-tailed mouse, 106
Psettodes, 492
Polypterus, 513
Prehensile-tailed rat-kangaroos,
Pseudechis porphyriaca, 425
Polypterus bichir, 512
197
Pseudo neuroptera, 569
Polypterus lapradei, 513
Prevosti, Euryceros, 360
Pseudobranchus striatus, 453
Polystomeae, 688
Prezevalskii, Equus, 128
Pseudochelidon, 369
Polytrochous, 673
Priapulus, 678
Pseudochelidon eurystomina,
Polyxenidae, 550
Priapulus caudatus, 678
369
Polyzoa, 665
Primates, 10
Pseudochirus, 200
Polyzoniidae, 549
Principalis, Phasianus, 237
Pseudochloris, 364
Polyzonium germanicum, 549
Priodon gigas, 187
Pseudochromis, 474
Pomacentridse, 485
Prionidse, 561
Pseudocordylus, 404
Pomacentrus, 485
Prionirhynchus, 341
Pseudogyps, 306
Poipatorhine skua, 264
Prionochilus, 367
Pseudolamellibranchiata, 622
Pomatorhinus, Stercorarius, 264
Prionodura newloniana, 359
Pseudopareus, 426
Pomonella, Carpocapsa, 593
Prionurus, 471
Pseudophryne, 441
Pompilidse, 579
Pomponia imperatoria, 598
Prionus coriarius, 561
Pristidae, 519
Pseudorca crassidens, 180
Pseudoscorpionidea, 541
Pond-tortoise, 388
Pristiophoridse, 519
Pseudotantalus ibis, 281
Poneridae, 579
Pristiophorus, 519
Pseudotantalus leucocephalus,
Pontobdella muricata, 677
Pristis, 519
281
Poospiza, 364
Prjevalski's red-legged par-
Pseudotrimera, 562
Porbeagle, 517
tridge, 232
Psittacea, Khynchonella, 650
Porcarius, Papio, 93
Proboscidea, Nais, 674
Psittacidae, 329
Porcelain crab, 537
Proboscidiferus, Semifuses, 637
Psittaciformes, 325
Porcellana platycheles, 537
Proboscis-monkey, 19
Psittacula, 329
Porcellanidae, 537
Procavia, 124
Psittacus erithecus, 330
Porcinus, Cervus, 143
Procaviidae, 123
Psocidse, 572
Porcupine, Canadian, 113
Procellaria pelagka, 257
Psolus diomedise, 661
Porcupine tribe, The, 113
Procellariidae, 257
Psophia repitans, 277
Porcupine, True, 113
Procellariiformes, 256
Psvchidae, 589
Porcupines, Brush tailed, 113
Proctotrypidse, 576
Psychodidas, 604
Porcus, Sus, 134
Procyon, 75
Psychropotes raripes, 661
Porifera, 690
Procyonidae, 75
Psyllidse, 601
Poromyidae, 628
Frocyonides, Canis, 69
Ptarmigan, 230
Porosus, Crocodilus, 381
Prodissoconch, 617
Ptenoglossa, 633
Porphyriaca, Pseud echis, 425
Productus, Nestor, 326
Pternistes, 233
Por,phyrio, 248
Proechedna, 217
Pternistes swainsoni, 233
Porphyriovnis comeri, 25?
Proechidna, Bruijn's, 217
Pterocera, 636
Porphyriovnis nesiotis, 252
Proglottis, 687
Pteroclurus alchata, 241
Porpoises, 169
Porpoise, Common, 179
Progne purpurea, 373
Proletella, Aleyrodes, 602
Pteroglossus, 352
Pterois, 467
Porpoise, Indian, 179
Proneomeniidae, 616
Pteromys, 95
Port Jackson shark, 518
Prong-buck, 149
Pterophoridae, 594
Portuguese man-of-war, 699
Porzana intermedia, 251
Prongbuck family, The, 149
Prong-horned antelope, 149
Pterophorus pendadactylus, 594
Pteroplatea, 524
Porzana porzana, 251
Propithecus, 29
Pteropoda, 640
Porzana sandwichensis, 251
Proscolex, 687
Pteropodidae, 34
Porzanula palmeri, 251
Prosobranchiata, 631
Pteroptochidae, 375
Potamochaerus, 134
Prosogyre, 617
Pteropus, 35
Potamogale, 43
Prosperpinidae, 632
Pterotrachaeidae, 637
Potamogale velox, 48
Prosphyodontes, 408
Pthirius inguinalis, 602
Potamogalidae, 48
Proteidse, 452
Ptilocercus, 202
Potoroinae, 197
Proteleidse, 62
Ptilocereus lowi, 44
Patorus, 197
Proteles cristatus, 62
Ptilocichla, 372
Pottos, 31
Potto, Perodicticus, 31
Proteus anguineus, 452
Proteus animalcule, 714
Ptilogonys, 369
Ptilonorhynchidse, 359
Potto, True, 31
Proteus, Echenorhynchus, 682
Ptilonorhynchus holosericeus,
Pottos calabarensis, 31
Protobranchiata, 620
359
Pouched frog, 443
Protochorda, 526
Ptilonorhynchus, Pernis, 317
Pouched mammals, 190
Protodrilus, 675
Ptilopodinae, 242
Pouched-mice, 203
Protopterus, 460
Ptilorhis, 359
7 6o
INDEX.
Ptilorhis victorise, 359
yrrhononta, Petrochelidon, 373
lanatra linearis, 597
Ptychozoum, 397
'yrrhula, 363
lanatridse, 597
Ptyodactylus, 397
'yrrbulauda, 364
^angifer, 145
Pucherani, Guttera, 240
ython, 418
iangifer tarandus, 145
Pucras pheasant, 236
'ython molurus, 418
lanidae, 436
Pucrasia, 237
} ython sebas, 419
lanidens, 450
Pucrasia macrolopha, 237
Python spilotis, 419
tapax, Aquila, 314
Pudu-deer, 147
'ythoninse, 418
taphiceros campestris, 151
Pudua, 147
Pyxis arachnoides, 387
lappi, Microchaeta, 674
Puella, Csenagrion, 570
laripes, Psychropotes, 661
Puff adder, 427
Rasse, 57
Puff birds, The, 355
Q.
lats, The, 101
Puffin, English, 260
Rat, Bamboo-, 106
Puffiniidfe, 257
(uadricornis, Cyclops, 532
Rat, Bandicoot-, 105
Puffinus, 257
uadricornis, Tetraceros, 151
Rat, Berdmore's, 104
Pugnax, Betta, 483
Quagga, 129
Rat, Black, 105
Pugnax, Pavoncella, 269
Quagga, Equus, 129
Rat, Cane-, 112
Pulchellus, Diplomesodon, 46
Quails, The, 234
lat, Common, 105
Pulchellus, Mymar, 577
Quail, Bustard," 241
Rat, Crested-, 102
Pulcher, Luciocephalus, 483
Quail, Californian, 240
Rat, Fish-eating, 102
Pulex canis (dog flea,), 609
Quail, Cape, 234
lat, Jerboa-, 106
Pulex, Daphnia, 531
Quail, Common, 234
rlat, Kangaroo, 109
Pulex, Gammarus, 63
Quail, Migratory, 234
Rat, Long-nosed, 106
Pulex irritans (flea), 609
Quail, Painted, 235
Rat, Mole, Great, 106
Pulraonata, 641
Quail, Swamp, 235
Rat, Musk-, 103
Pulsatoria, Atropos, 572
Quail, Virginian, 240
Rat, Philippine, 101
Puma, 53
Queen Victoria's rifle-birds, 359
Rat, Pouched, 106
Pumilus, Bos, 162
Querquedula, 296
Rat, Rice, 102
Punctatus, Pelodytes, 44 1 ?
Quezal, 349
Rat, Sand, 107
Punctatus, Sphenodon, 430
Quica-opossum, 213
Rat, Shrew-, 104
Pupa, 643
Quizes, 115
Rat-snake, Indian, 422
Pupidse, 643
Ratels, 79
Purchasi, Icerya, 602
Rathbuni, Typhlomolge, 452
Purple emperor, 585
R.
Ratitae, 221
Purple heron, 282
Rattle snake, 428
Purple martin, 373
Rabbit, 118
Rattus, Mus, 105
Purple sandpiper, 269
Rabbit-bandicoots, 205
Ray's wagtail, 365
Purple sea-snails, 633
Rachiglossa, 637
Razor-shells, 626
Purpura lapillus, 637
Purpurea, Phoyx, 282
Racoon -dog, 69
Racoon tribe, The, 75
Razorbill, 260
Recurvirostra andina, 270
Purpurea, Progne, 373
Racoons, American, 75
Recurvirostris, Esacus, 273
Pusilla, Gallinago, 268
Radiatus, Carpococeyx, 351
Red admiral, 585
Pusilla, Ortaria, 82
Pusillus, Anomalurus, 90
Radiatus, Erythrotriorchis, 312
Radiolaria, 716
Red ant, 579
Red-backed shrike, 369
Putorius, 80
Raffle's shrew-hedgehog, 45
Red-billed chough, 358
Putorius, Mustela, 81
Raffles!, Gymnura, 45
Red-breasted goose, 295
Putorius, Spilogale, 78
Raflnesquina alternate, 649
Red brocket, 146 .
Pycnogonida, 539
Ragosus, Trachysaurus, 410
Red coral, 708
Pycnogonum litorale, 539
Raia, 520
Ked-deer, 143
Pycnonotidae, 372
Raiidse, 520
Red fox, 71
Pycnorhamphus, 363
Pygargus, Bubalis, 150
Rails, The, 248
Rail, Barred, 249
Red-grouse, 230
Ked herring, 506
Pygargus, Cervus, 146
Rail, Water, 249
Red howler, 23
Pygargus, Circus, 309
Rail, Wood, 249
Red-legged partridge, 232
Pygamsea, Nasiterna, 329
Rails, Weka, 251
Red marmot, 94
Pygmseum, Glaucidium, 324
Rain cuckoo, 351
Red mullet, 465
Pygmseus, Eurynorhynchus, 26
Raj -samp, 424
Red-necked phalarope, 266
Pygmseus, Nanotragus, 151
Rallidse, 225
Red spider, 547
Pygmaeus, Sorex, 46
Pygopodidse, 398
Ralliformes, 248
Rallus aquaticus, 249
Red-thighed gos-hawks, 310
Red-throated diver, 254
Pygoscelis taeniata, 255
Ramosa, syllis, 673
Red uakari, 27
Pyrales, 592
Ramosa, Bougainvillea, 696
Red vole, 103
Pyralidae, 572
Rampholeon, 412
Red-winged hang-nest, 361
Pyramidellidse, 633
Rana, 436
Red-winged starling, 361
Pyramid ula rotundata, 643
Rana agilis, 436
Rediae, 689
Pyrenaica, Capra, 158
Rana breviceps, 437
Redstarts, 370
Pyrenean desman, 47
Rana catesbyana, 437
Reduviidse, 596
Pyrocephalus, Spirostreptus,55
Rana esculenta, 436
Reduvius personatus, 596
Pyrophorus noctilucus, 559
Pyrosoma, 528
Rana guppyi, 437
Rana iberica, 436
Redwing, 371
Reed-fish, 512
Pyrrhocorax, 358
Rana latastei, 436
Reed-warbler, 370
Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, 358
Rana temporaria, 436
Reedling, Bearded, 368
INDEX.
761
Reef-herons, 283
Rhinoptilus, 273
River tern, 262
Reeve, 209
Rhinoptilus bitorquatus, 273
Rivulorum, Tubifex, 674
Reeve's pheasant, 238
Rhipidodendron, 719
Roach, 499
Reevesi, Phasianus, 238
Rhipidoglossa, 631
Road-runners, 351
Regalecus, 485
Rhipidoinys, 101
Robber crabs, 537 .
Regalecus banksi, 485
Rhioidura, 373
Robber flies, 605
Regulidfe, 368
Rhiptoglossa, 411
Robin, 370
Regulus azorensis, 369
Rhithrodon, 102
Rochusseni, Neoscolopax, 268
Regulus calendula, 369
Regulus himalayensis, 369
RegulusMgnicapillus, 369
Rhithrodontomys, 102
Rhithrosciurus, 91
Rhizomys, 106
Rock-dove, 244
Rock red-legged partridge, 232
Rock-snakes, 418
Regulus maderensis, 369
Rhizomys badius, 107
Rock-snake, Natal, 419
Regulus regulus, 368
Rhizopoda, 714
Rock-wallabies, 194
Regulus teneriffse, 369
Rhizostomse, 700
Rocklings, The, 491
Rehbok, 151
Rhizothera, 233
Rocky Mountain goat, 157
Reindeer, 145
Reinwardtsenas, 244
Rhizothera dulitensis, 233
Rhizothera longirostris, 233
Rodeletii, Carcharodon, 517
Rodentia, 88
Reitbok, South African, 152
Rhizotrogus solstitialis, 558
Rodericanum, Tetrastemma,
Religiosa, Mantis, 565
Rhodeus, 499
684
Religiosum, Liobunum, 542
Reptans, Scrupocellaria, 667
Rhodonesoa caryophyllacea, 294
Rhodostethia rosea, 262
Roe, Common, 146
Roe-deer, 146
Reptilia, 377
Rhombus, 492
Rollers, The, 335
Resplendent adder, 424
Rhopalocera, 582
Roller, Common, 335
Reticulata, Nassa, 6d7
Rhopalocompta iphis, 588
Roller, Ground, 335
Retusa, Chlamydophorus, 188
Rhyacophilus, 269
Rollulus, 234
Rex, Baheniceps, '282
Rhynchobatis, 520
Rollulus rouloul, 234
Rhabdocaela, 685
Rhabdopleura, 649
Rhynchobdella, 478
RhynchobdellidjB, 478, 676
Rook, 358
Root-footed jelly-fish, 700
Rhachianectes, 172
Rhynchocephalia, 429
Rorqual, Common, 174
Rhacophorous, 437
Rhynchocyon, 44
Rorqual, Sibbald's, 173
Rhamphastides, 352
Rhynchogale melleri, 61
Rorquals, Blue, 173
Rhamphastos, 352
Rhynchomys, 104
Rosacea, Antedon, 663
Rhea americana, 221
Rhynchonella psittacea, 650
Rose-chafer, 558
Rhea, Common, 221
Rhynchonellidse, 651
Rose-coloured pastor, 360
Rhea darwini, 222
Rhynchophora, 560
Rose-finches, 363
Rhea, Darwin's, 222
Rhynchopinae, 261
Rosea, Rhodostethia, 262
, Rhea, Great-billed, 222
Rhynchops albicollis, 262
Roseate pelican, 302
Rhea macrorhyncha, 222
Rhynchops flavirostris, 262
Roseate tern, 261
Rhea nana, 221
Rhynchops intercedens, 262
Roseus, Pastor, 360
Rheiformes, 221
Rhynchops melanura, 262
Rosmarus, Trichechus, 84
Rheinhardius ocellatus, 239
Rhynchops nigra, 262
Rossae, Musophaga, 352
Rhesus macacus, 22
Rhynchosuchus, 382
Rossi, Ommatophoca, 87
Rhinemys, 393
Rhynchosuchus schlegeli, 382
Ross's gull, 262
Rhinobatidse, 520
Rhynchotus rufescens, 226
Ross's seal, 87
Rhinobatis, 520
Rhyssa persuasoria, 577
Rosthramus, 316
Rhinoceroses, The, 125
Rhytina, 168
Rostrata, Balsenoptera, 174
Rhinoceros bicornis, 126
Rhytina gigas, 168
Rostratula, -267
Rhinoceros, Black r 126
Ribband-fishes, 484
Rostratula australis, 267
Rhinoceros, Bucerus, 339
Ribband-fish, Banks', 485
Rostratula capensis, 267
Rhinoceros, Burchell's, 126
Rice-rat, 102
Rostratula semicollaris, 267
Rhinoceros, Indian, 126
Rice-tenrecs, 49
Rostratus, Hyperoodon, 177
Rhinoceros, Javan, 126
Richardson's skua, 264
Rostratus, Tarsipes, 203
Rhinoceros simus, 126
Ridibundus, Larus, 262
Rosy feather-star, 664
Rhinoceros sondaicus, 126
Rifle-birds, 359
Rosy spoon-bill, 286
Rhinoceros, Sumatran, 126
Rifle-bird, Queen Victoria's, 359
Rotche, 260
Rhinoceros sumatrensis, 126
Right-whales, 172
Rotifera, 682
Rhinoceros unicornis, 126
Ring-necked pheasants, 237
Rotundata, Pyramidula, 643
Khinocerotidse, 125
Ring-tailed iguana, 403
Rough-toothed dolphin, 181
Rhinoceros-hornbill, 339
Ring-tailed lemur, 29
Rouloul, Rollulus, 234
Rhinochetides, 276
Ring tailed phalanger, 200
Round worm, 679
Rhinochetus jubatus, 276
Ringed kingfisher, 336
Rove-beetles, 556
Rhinococcyx, 351
Ringed snake, British, 421
Royal antelope, 151
Rhinoderma darwini, 439
Ringed worms, 671
Rubecula, Erythaeus, 370
Rhinodon typicus, 517
Ringiculidse, 640
Rubens, Asterias, 653
Rhinodontidse, 517
Ripa, 229
Rubi, Callophrys, 586
Rhinolophidae, 36
Riparia, Argiope, 544
Rubicunda, Uacaria, 27
Rhinolophus, 36
Riqcouri, Nauclerus, 316
Rubiginosa, Eos, 328
Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum,
Risorius, Turturinae, 245
Rubrum, Corallum, 708
36
Rhinophrynus, 441
Rhinopoma microphyllum, 39
Rissa tridactyla, 263
Rissoiidse, 635
Risso's dolphin, 180
Ruby-crest, 369
Ruby-tailed wasps, 578
Rudis, Ceryle, 336
Rhinoptera, 522
River lamprey, 524
Rufa, Caccabis, 232
762
INDEX.
Rufa, Cassis, 636
Salmo hucho, 508
Scabiei, Sarcoptes, 546
Kufa, Dichromanassa, 283
Salmo salmo, 508
Scabra, Dasypeltis, 422
liufa, Formica, 579
Salmon, Beaked, 505
Scalariidae, 633
Rufescens, ^Egyprymnus, 197
Salmon tribe, The, 507
Scale-footed lizards, 393
Rufescens, Rhynchotus, 226
Salmonidae, 507
Scale insects, 602
Ruff, 269
Saltator, Oreotragus, 151
Scaled reptiles, 395
Ruffed grouse, 231
Saltiana, Modoqua, 151
Scallop, The, 622
Ruffes, 464
Salticidae, 543
Scalops, 47
Ruffi, Cervus, 144
Salt's antelope, 151
Scaly-finned fishes, 465
Ruff's deer, 144
Salvador] ana, Tanysiptera, 339
Scandens, Anabas, 483
Ruficollis, Branta, 295
Salvanius sus, 134
Scansores, 352
Rufous buzzard-hawks, 312
Sambar, 143
Scapanus, 48
Rufous rat-kangaroo, 197
Sand-badgers, 79
Scaphandridae, 640
Rufus. Cervus, 146
Sand-eels, 491
Scaphiopus, 443
Rufus, Desmodus, 41
Sand-flies, 604
Scaphirhynchus, 511
Runcinidse, 640
Sand grouse, The, 241
Scaphopoda, 628
Rupicapra tragus, 156
Sand-launces, 491
Scapteromys, 101
Russelli, Vipera, 428
Sand-lizard, 409
Scaptochirus, 48
Russell's viper, 428
Sand-rats, 107
Scaptonyx fuscicaudatus, 48
Russian desman, 47
Sand-smelts, 479
Scarabaeidae, 557
Rustica, Hirundo, 373
Sand-snakes, 418
Scarabaeus sacer, 557
Ruthvenus, Acipenser, 512
Sand viper, 427
Scarus, 486
Ruticilla, 370
Sand wasps, 579
Scatharus, 466
Rutilans, Canis, 68
Sand worm, 672
Scatophaga Ktercoraria, 608
Sanderling, 269
Scaups, The, 297
S.
Sandpipers, The, 269
Scavenger vultures. The, 300
Sandpiper, Curlew, 269
Schachti, Heterodera, 679
Sabine's gull, 262
Sandpiper, Green, -269
Schizopoda, 536
Sabinii, Xema, 262
Sandpiper, Purple, 269
Scheltopusik, 405
Sable antelope, 153
Sandpiper, Spoon-billed, 269
Schlegeli, Rhynchosuchus, 382
Sable marten, 80
Sandpiper, Wood, 269
Schlegel's garial, 382
Sacchari, Tyroglyphus, 547
Sandwich tern, 261
Schomburgki, Cervus, 143
Saccopharynx, 495
Sandwichensis, Porzana, 251
Schreiber's bat, 38
Saccopteryx, 39
Sanguinis-hominis, Fiiaria, 680
Schreibersi, Miniopterus, 38
Saccostomus, 106
Sarcidiornis, 293
Schultzii, Convoluta, 686
Saccopharynx, 495
Sarcidiornis carunculata, 293
Sciaena, 468
Saceharina, Lepisma, 573
Sarcidiornis melanonota, 293
Scisenidse, 468
Sacer, Scarabaeus, 557
Sarcophanops, 356
Sciaeniformes, 468
Sacred Ibis, The, 288
Sarcophilus ursinus, 207
Scincus oflicinalis, 410
Sacred langur, 20
Sarcoptes scabiei, 546
Scintillans, Phasianus, 233
Saddle oyster, 621
Saemmeringi, Phasianus, 238
Sarcoptes scabiei-crustosae, 546
Sarcoptidae, 546
Scissor-bills, 262
Sciuropterus, 95
Saffron finches, 363
Sardine, 507
Sciurus, 91
Sagartia bellis, 703
Sarginae, 466
Sciurus palmanim, 91
Sagartia troglodytes, 704
Sargus, Common, 466
Sciurus vulgaris, 91
Sagartiadae, 702
Sarus crane, 274
Sclavonian grebe, 253
Saginata, Taenia, 687
Sasia, 354
Scolopaceus, Aramus, 275
Sagitta, 682
Satanus, Pithecia, 27
Scolopaeinae, 267
Sagitta bipunctata, 681
Satin bower-bird, 359
Scolopax, 267
Sagra, 562
Satoria, 370
Scolopax saturata, 267
Saiga, 152
Satoria satoria, 370
Scolopendridae, 549
Saiga tartarica, 152
Saturata, Scolopax, 267
Scolytidae, 560
Sail-tailed lizard, 400
Saturnia pavonia-minor, 589
Scomber, 473
Saker, Hierofalco, 819
Saturniidae, 589
Scomberidae, 472
Saker jer-falcon, 319
Satyrinse, 585
Scombresocidae, 479
Sakis, 27
Satyrus, Limia, 16
Scombresociformes, 479
Saki, Black, 27
Sauresia, 405
Scombresox, 479
Saki, Hairy, 27
Sauries, 479
Scoparia, Oribia, 151
Salamanders, The, 446
Saurothera, 351
Scopelidse, 505
Salamander, Common, 446
Saururae, 220
Scopelus, 505
Salamander, Giant, 450
Saurus, 505
Scopi, 278
Salamander, Mississippi, 451
Savagei, Gorilla, 15
Scops, 322
Salamander, Spanish, 447
Savana cuckoos, 351
Scops scops, 322
Salamander, Spectacled, 448
Saw fish, 520
Scopus umbretta, 281
Salamander, Two-legged, 453
Saw flies, 574
Scorpaena, 467
Salamander, Warty, 448
Saw viper, 427
Scorpaenidae, 467
Salamandra atra, 447
Saxatilis, Caccabis, 232
Scorpaeniformes, 467
Salamandra caucasica, 447
Saxicava, 626
Scorpions, 539, 540
Salamandra maculosa, 446
Saxicavidae, 626
Scorpion, Book, 541
Salamandrella, 450
Saxicola, 370
Scorpion, False, 541
Salamandridae, 446
Scabbard fish, 470
Scorpion shells, 636
Salamandrina perspicillata, 448
Scabiei-crustosae, Sarcputes, 546
Scorpionidea, 540
INDEX.
Scotchman, The, 351
Seal, Common grey, 85
Sexcinctus, Dasypus, 186
Scoters, The, 297
Seal, Elephant, 87
Sha, 160
Scoticus, Lagopus, 230
Seal, Greenland, 85
Shad, The, 507
Scotonvcteris, 35
Seal, Hooded, 87
Shag, The, 299
Scotopelia, 321
Seal, Leopard, 86
Shag, Pied, 300
Scotopelia peli, 321
Seal, Ross's, 87
Shamas, 370
Screamers, The, 290
Seals, True, 85
Sharks and rays, 513
Screamer, Crested, 290
Seals, The typical, 85
Shark, Basking, 517
Screamer, Derbian, 290
Seal, Weddel's, 87
Shark, Blue, 516
Screamer, Horned, 290
Sebae, Python, 419
Shark, Fox, 517
Screw-shells, 635
Sebastes, 467
Shark, Greenland, 519
Scriptus, Tragelaphus, 156
Secretary birds, The, 305
Shark, Port Jackson, 518
Scrobicu'ariidse, 624
Secretrius, Serpentarius, 305
Shark, Spiny, 519
Scrofa, Sus, 133
Sedentaria, 672
Shark, Zebra, 518
Scrub-birds, The, 376
Sedge warbler, 370
Sharp-bills, The, 374
Scrub-bird, Noisy, 376
Seed snipes, The, 66
Shear-tails, 348
Scrupocellaria reptans, 667
See-see partridge, 233
Shearwaters, 258
Snuiridse, 91
Seguenziidae, 637
Sheathbills, The, 265
Scurria, 631
Selachii, 515
Sheathbill, Yellow-billed, 265
Scutellridse, 595
Selenidera, 352
Sheath tailed bats, 39
Scutibranchiata, 631
Selenitidse, 644
Sheep, 159
Scutigera araneoides, 548
Seleucides, 359
Sheep, Armenian, 160
Scutigeridae, 548
Scylliidse, 518
Sella, Placuna, 621
Selvas, 204
Sheep, Pamir, 160
Sheep tick, 608
Scyllium, 518
Semicollaris, Rostratula, 267
Sheld-ducks, 296
Scyphophori, 503
Scyphomedusae, The, 700
Semifusus proboscidiferus, 637
Semipalmata, Anseranas, 293
Sheld-duck, Common, 296
Shell ibises, 280
Scyphozoa, 700
Semipalmated goose, 293
Shell-less slugs, 642
Scytale, Ilysia, 421
Semnopithecus, 20
Shell storks, 280
Scythrops, 350
Semnopithecus entellus, 20
Shield bug, 595
Sea-anemones, 701
Senator, Lanius, 369
Shield-tails, 421
Sea-bats, 471
Senegal finfoot, 252
Shikra, Indian, 311
Sea-bear, 82
Senegal galago, 30
Ship worm, 627
Sea-breams, 466
Senegalensis, Galago, 30
Shoe-billed kingfisher, 337
Sea-butterflies, 640
Senegalensis, Mycteria, 280
Shoe-billed storks, 278
Sea-cow,' Northern, 168
Senegalensis, Podica, 252
Short-eared owl, 324
Sea-cucumbers, 660
Seniculus, Alouatta, 23
Short-legged petrel, 257
Sea-eagle, 315
Sepia, 646
Short-nosed fruit-bats, 35
Sea-eagle, Pallas, 321
Sepiadariidae, 646
Short-toed larks, 364
Sea-gooseberry, The, 711
Sepiidfe, 646
Shou, 143
Sea-hares, 640
Sepiolidae, 646
Shovellers, 296
Sea-hedgehogs, 490
Septentrionalis, Colymbus, 254
Shrews, The, 45
Sea-horse, 488
Septibranchiata, 628
Shrew, Common, 46
Sea-lamprey, 524
Seriamas, The, 277
Shrew, Jumping, 44
Sea-leech, Warty, 677
Seriama, Burmeister's, 277
Shrew, Kirghiz, 46
Sea-lilies, 662
Seriama, Common, 277
Shrew, Lesser, 46
Sea-lion, 81
Serilophus, 356
Shrew, Mole, 46
Sea-lion, Gillespie's, 82
Serotine, 37
Shrew, Musk, 46
Sea-lion, Northern, 82
Serotinus, Vesperugo, 37
Shrew, Oriental, 46
Sea-lion, Southern, 82
Serows, 157
Shrew, Pen-tailed, 44
Sea-lizard, Galapagos, 402
Serpens, Ophichthys, 495
Shrew, Swimming, 47
Sea-mat, 665
Serpent eagle, 315
Shrew, Tree, 43
Sea-mouse, 673
Serpent eel, 494
Shrew, Water, 46
Sea-otter, 76
Serpent-heads, 482
Shrew, Web-footed, 47
Sea-parrot, 260
Serpentarii, 305
Shrew-rat, 104
Sea-pen, 709
Serpentarius secretarius, 277,
Shrikes, The, 369
Sea-perches, 464
305
Shrike, Great grey, 369
Sea-serpent, 484
Serpula, 672
Shrike, Red-backed, 369
Sea-slugs, 640
Serpula contortuplicata, 672
Shrike, Swallow, 369
Sea-snakes, 425
Serranidae, 464
Shrimps, 536
Sea-snake, Banded, 425
Serraninae, 464
Shrimp, Brine, 531
Sea-squirt, Common, 528
Serranus, 464
Siamang, 19
Sea-swallow, 261
Serricornes, 558
Sibbaldi, Balaenoptera, 173
Sea-unicorn, 178
Sea-urchin, Irregular, 659
Serrifera, 574
Serval, 55
Sibbald's rorqual, 173
Sibirica, Capra, 159
Sea-urchins, 659
Serval, Felis, 55
Sibirica, Phoca, 85
Seals, The, 85
Seal, Antarctic white, 86
Sessile brachiopod, 648
Setophaga, 365
Sica, Cervus, 143
Side-striped jackal, 66
Seal, Bearded, 85
Setosum, Diadema, 660
Sifakas, 29
Seal, Bladder, 87
Setosus, Ericulus, 49
Sifanica, Perdix, 234
Seal, Caspian, 85
Sewellels, 95
Sifanicus, Moschus, 141
Seal, Common, 85
Sewellels family, The, 95
Sigmodon hispidus, 102
764
INDEX.
Silenus, Macacus, 22
Sminthopsis, 209
Solstitialis, Rhizotrogus, 558
Siliceous sponges, 692
Sminthus, 109
Somali-land ostrich, 223
Silk-worm moth, 590
Smooth snake, 422
Somateria, 297
Siluridse, 496
Smother flies, 601
Sombre wallaby, 194
Silurus, 497
Snails, 610
Sondaicus, Rhinoceros, 120
Silurus glanis, 496
Snake-birds, 301
Song thrush, 371
Silver fish, 573
Snakes, The, 412
Sooty albatros, 258
Silver pheasant, 236
Snake, Blind, 417
Sooty tern, 262
Simla satyrus, 16
Snake, Carpet, 419
Sordidus, Artamus, 369
Simiidae, 11
Snake, Cat, 423
Sorex, 46
Simuliidae, 604
Snake, Coral, 423
Sorex araneus, 46
Simus rhinoceros, 126
Snake, Cylinder, 421
Sorex pygmaeus, 46
Sinensis, Alligator, 380
Snake, Dark green, 422
Soricidae, 45
Sinensis, Centropus, 351
Snake, Diamond, 419
Soriculus, 46
Singing-mice, 105
Snake, Egg-eating, 422
Sotalia, 181
Siphneus, 104
Snake, Horseshoe, 422
South African oribi, 151
Siphonariidae, 611
Snake, Rat, 422
South African ostrich, 223
Siphonophora, 699
Snake, Rattle, 428
South African reitbok, 152
Siphonops, 455
Snake, Sand, 420
South American finfoot, 252
Siphonostoma, 487
Snake, Sea, 425
South American limpkin, 275
Siphuncle, 645
Snake, Smooth, 422
South American ostrich, 221
Sipunculus, 678
Snake, Whip, 423
South American skunk, 78
Sipunculus bernhardus, 678
Snake, Wood, 422
South American sun-bittern.
Siren lacertina, 452
Snakes, Water, 421
276
Sirenia, 165
Snappers, 390
Southern sea-lion, 82
Sirenidae, 453
Snapper, Temminck's, 3
Sow bugs, 534
Sirex gigas, 575
Snapping turtles, 390
Spalacidae, 106
Siro, Tyroglyphus, 547
Snipes, The, 267
Spalacopus, 111
Sitatunga, 156
Snipe, Common, 268
Spalax typhlus, 106
Sitella, 368
Snipe, Great, 268
Spanish frog, 436
Sitomys, 101
Snipe, Imperial, 268
Spanish ibex, 158
Sitomys hydrobates, 101
Snipe, Jack, 268
Spanish lynx, 56
Sitta, 368
Snipe, Jameson's, 268
Spanish salamander, 447
Sitta, Csesia, 368
Snipe, Latham's, 268
Sparidae, 466
Sittidae, 368
Snipe, Painted, 267
Sparrow-hawk, 311
Sivalensis, Hippopotamus, 132
Siwalik hippoptamus, 132
Snipe, Seed, 266
Snipe, Summer, 269
Sparrow-hawk, Pied, 311
Sparrows, The, 363
Six-banded armadillo, 186
Snipe, True, 268
Spatula, 296
Six-rayed corals, 705
Snipe, Wire-tailed, 268
Spectacled bear, 75
Skate, Thornback, 521
Snipe, Wood, 268
spectacled salamander, 448
Skeleton of Mammals, 3
Snoek, The, 470
spectrum, Tarsius, 31
Skimmers, The, 261, 262
Snouted nais, 674
Spectrum, Vampirus, 41
Skink tribe, The, 410
Snow bunting, 363
Spekei, Tragelaphus, 156
Skink, Common, 410
Snow cocks, The, 232
Spelerpes, 450
Skippers, 588
Snow geese, 295
Sperm-whale, 175
Skipper, Grizzled, 588
Snow-leopard, 53
spermophila, 363
Skuas, The, 263
Snow partridges, The, 231
Spermophilus, 89
Skua, 260
Snow pheasants, 232
Spermophilus tridecemlineatus,
Skua, Buffon's, 263
Snowy owl, 322
92
Skua, Great, 263
Snowy tern, 262
Sphaerodon, 466
Skua, Long-tailed, 264
Soft tortoises, 394
Sphegidse, 580
Skua, Pomatorhine, 264
Sol, Actinophrys, 713
Sphenisciformes, 255
Skua, Richardson's, 2G4
Solariidae, 633
Sphenodon punctatus, 430
Skunks, 77
Solea, 492
Sphenodontidae, 4oO
Skunk, Common, 78
Solen, 62tf
Sphinges, 588
Skunk, Little, 78
Solenidse, 626
Sphyraena, 479
Skunk, South American, 78
Solenoconcha, 628
Sphyraenidae, 478
Skylark, The, 364
Solenodon, 49
Sphyrna, 516
Slipper animalcule, 721
Solenodontidae, 49
Sphyropicus, 354
Slit-shells, 632
Sloths, 181
Solenogastra, 616
Solenomya, 621
Spiders, 539
Spider, Bird-catching, 542
Sloths, Ground, 183
Solenomya togata, 621
Spider, Garden, 544
Sloths, Three-toed, 182
Solenomyidae, 620
Spider, Hunting, 543
Sloths, Two-toed, 182
Solenostoma, 487
Spider, Trap-door, 543
Slugs, 641
Solenostomatidae, 487
Spider, Water, 544
Small magpie moth, 592
Soles, The, 492
Spider, Wolf, 543
Small mungoose, 60
Solifugse, 541
Spider-crab, 537
Small-toothed mungoose, 61
Solitarius, Pezophaps, 245
Spider-crab. Zoea-larva of, 530
Small-toothed palm-civets, 59
Smaller shrew-hedgehog, 45
Solitary ants, 579
Solium, Taenia, 686
Spider-monkey, Variegated,
25
Smelt, The, 508
Solomon Island frog, 437
Spider-monkey, Woolly, 25
Sinew, The, 297
Solpugidae, 541
Spilogale putorius, 78
INDEX.
765
Spilornis, 315
Squirrels, Ground, 91
Stomatidse, 632
Spilotis, Python, 419
Squirrel, Palm, 91
Stomatopoda, 535
Spinacidae, 519
Squirrels, Pigmy, 95
Stomias, 505
Spinax, 519
Squirrels, Spiny, 91
Stomiatidaa, 505
Spine-tailed swifts, 345
Squirrel-monkeys, 26
Stomoxys calcitrans, 607
Spiny dog-fishes, 519
Stag beetles, 558
Stone-curlew, 273
Spiny eels, 478
Stag, Kashmir, 143
Stone flies, 571
Spiny lizard, 401
Stag, Thian Shan, 143
Stone plovers, The, 273
Spiny loach, 500
Stair-case shells, 633
Stony corals, 701
Spiny lobsters, 537
Staphylinus cresareus, 556
Stork-billed kingfisher, 336
Spiny-mice, 106
Star-coral, 706
Storks, The, 278
Spiny shark, 519
Star-fish, 653
Stork, Black, 279
Spiny squirrels, 91
Star-gazers, 473
Stork, Hammer-head, 281
Spiralis, Trichina, 680
Spirifer, 651
Star-nosed mole, 48
Starlings, The, 360
Stork maguari, 279
Stork, Open-billed, 280
Spirifer sulcatus, 652
Starling, Common, 360
Stork, Shoe-billed, 282
Spirifex, Pelopaeus, 580
Starling, Field, 360
Stork, White, 278
Spirorbis, 672
Starling, Glossy, 360
Stork, White-necked, 280
Spirostreptus pyrocephalus,
Starling, Meadow, 361
Storks, Wood, The, 281
550
Starling, Red-winged, 361
Storm petrel, 257
Spirula, 646
Spirulidae, 646
Starling, True, 360
Staurotypus, b89
Stratiomyidae, 605
Strawberry anemone, 703
Spiza, 364
Steamer ducks, The, 297
Streaked tenrecs, 49
Spizaetus, 315
Steatomys, 101
Streperus, Acrocephalus, 370
Spizella, 364
Spondylus, 623
Steatornis gariepensis, 332
Steatornithes, 332
Strepsiceros, 154
Strepsiceros imberbis, 154
Sponges, The, 690
Steel-blue cuckoos, 351
Strepsiceros kudu, 154
Sponge, Bath, 693
Steganopodes, 297
Streptoneura, 631
Sponge, Birds'-nest, 693
Steganopus, 266
Striata, Hyaena, 62
Sponge, Glass-rope, 693
Stegostoma, 518
Striatus, Pseudobranchus, 453
Sponge, Lacework, 693
Steinbok, True, 151
Striges, 304
Sponge spicules, 693
Steinbok, Zanzibar, 151
Strigidse, 320
Sponge, System of a, 692
Sponges, Calcareous, 692
Sponges, Siliceous, 692
Stelleri, Heniconetta, 297
Stelleri, Otaria, 82
Stelleri, Ursina, 82
Strigirostris, Didunculus, 245
Strigoides, Podargus 333
Stringops habroptilus, 331
Sponsa, MX, 294
Steller's eider, 297
Striped gopher, 92
Spoon-bills, The, ?86
Steno frontatus, 181
Striped hyaena, 62
Spoon-bill, Common, 286
Stenodelphis blainvillei, 178
Striped wrasse, 48S
Spoon-bill, Rosy, 286
Stenoderma, 41
Strix Candida, 325
Spoon -billed sandpiper, 269
Stenogyra, 643
Strix capensis, 325
Sporocyst, 689
Stentor, 721
Strix flammea, 321
Sportive lemur, 30
Stenura, Gallinago, 268
Strobilation, 701
Spotted billed pelican, 302
Stercorariidae, 260
Stromateus, 472
Spotted crake, 251
Stercorarius, 264
Stromateidae, 471
Spotted cuscus, 200
Stercorarius crepidatus, 264
Strombidse, 636
Spotted-dasyure, 208
Stercorarius parasiticus, 263
Strombus gigas, 636
Spotted deer, 143
Spotted eagle, 314
Stercorarius pomatorhinus, 264
Stercoraria, Scatophaga, 608
Strurnella, 361
Struthersi, Ibidorhynchus, 270
Spotted emu, 223
Stereornithes, 278
Struthio australis, 223
Spotted Hyaena, 63
Sterlet, 512
Struthio camelus, 223
Spotted-narwhal, 178
Spotted-tailed dasyure, 208
Spratt, The, 507
Sterna cantiaca, 261
Sterna dougalli, 261
Sterna fluviatilis, 261
Struthio molybdophanes, 223
Struthiolariidae, 636
Struthiones, 220
Sprattus, Clupea, 507
Sterna fuliginosa, 262
Struthioniformes, 221
Springbok, 15 i
Sterna macrura, 61
Stump-tailed lizard, 410
Spring tails, 573
Sterna minuta, 261
Stumpy crocodile, 382
Spur-toed frogs, 444
Sterninae, 261
Sturgeons, 510
Spur-winged geese, The, 293
Sternoptychidae, 505
Sturgeon, Common, 511
Spur-winged plover, 271
Sternoptyx, 505
Sturio, Acipenser, 512
Squamata, 395
Sternothasrus, 393
Sturnia, 360
Square-tailed bee eaters, 340
Stick-insects, 551
Sturuidae, 360
Squatarola helvetica, 271
Stickle-backs, 480
Sturnus vulgaris, 360
Squatina vulgaris, 519
Stiff-tailed diving ducks, 297
Stylasteridae, 697
Squatinidae, 519
Stilbum amethystinum, 578
Stylifer, 633
Squilla mantis, 535
Stilts, The, 270
Stylommatophora, 641-642
Squillidae, 535
Sting-bull, 474
Stylophorus, 485
Squinado, Maia, 537
Stinging hymenoptera, 574
Subbuteo, Falco, 319
Squirrel tribe, The, 91
Stink-bugs, 596
Subcristatus, Conolophus, 402
Squirrel, African flying, 89
Stint, 269
Submytilacea, 623
Squirrel, Common, 91
Stizostedion, 464
Succinea, 642
Squirrel, Flying woolly, 95
Stoat, 81
Succineidae, 642
Squirrel, Groove-toothed, 91
Stock dove, 244
Sucking-fish, 473
766
INDEX.
Sugar mite, 547
Symbranchidae, 495
Tape worms, The, 686
Suillus hylomys, 45
Synallaxinae, 375
Taphozous, 39
Suina, 135
Synaphobranchus, 495
Tapirs family, The, 124
Sulae, 298
Synapta, 661
Tapir, Malayan, 124
Sulcatus, Spirifer, 652
Sulphur-bottom, 174
Synaptomys, 103
Syndactylus hylobates, 19
Tapiridae, 124
Tapirus indicus, 124
Sulzori, Atypus, 543
Syngnathidae, 487
Tarandus, Rangifer, 145
Sumatran rhinoceros, 126
Syngnathus, 487
Tarantula, 543
Sumatrensis, Rhinoceros, 126
Synotus, 37
Tarbophis vivax, 423
Summer duck, 294
Syphax, Castnia, 590
Tarda, Otis, 273
Summer snipe, 269
Sypheotis, 273
Tardigrada, 547
Sun animalcules, 716
Syriacus, Ursus, 75
Tarentola, 398
Sun-birds, The, 366
Syrian bear, 75 '
Tarentula, Lycosa, 543
Sun-bird, Malachite, 366
Syringella, Gracilaria, 594
Tarsius, 31
Sun-bitterns, The, 276
Syrniinae, 321
Tarsiidae, 31
Sun-bittern, Large, 276
Syrnium, 824
Tarsipedinae, 203
Sun-bittern, South American,
Syrnium aluco, 321
Tarsipes rostratus, 203
276
Syrphidae, 606
Tarsius spectrum, 31
Sun -fish, 490
Sunset shells, 624
Syrrhoptes paradoxus, 241
Systema, Cacopus, 438
Tartarica, Saiga, 152
Tasmanian devil, 207
Superba menura, 357
Tasmanian wolf, 207
Superciliosa, Ceryle, 336
Tatlers, The, 269
Surciata tetradactyla, 61
T.
Tatouay, 186
Surinam water-toad, 444
Tatusia hybrida, 187
Surnia ulula, 323
Tabanidse, 605
Taurus, Bos, 165
Sus, 133
Tachininae, 607
Tawny eagle, 314
Sus africanus, 134
Tachornis, 346
Tawny owl, 321
Sus cristatus, 134
Tachybaptes albipennis, 253
Tawny -shoulder frog -mouth.
Sus porcus, 134
Tachybaptes capensis, 253
333
Sus salvanius, 134
Tachybaptes fluviatilis, 253
Taxicolor, Budorcas, 157
Sus scrofa, 133
Tachytriorchis, 312
Taxidea, 79
Susliks, 91
Tachytriorchis albicadautua,
Teal, 296
Susu, 177
312
Te'alia crassicornis, 703
Swainsoni, Pternistes, 233
Tachytriorchis abbreviatus, 312
Tectibranchiata, 639
Swallows, The, 373
Tadorna, 296
Tectospondyli, 519
Swallow, American barn, 373
Tadorna tadorna, 296
Teeth of gorilla, 6
Swallow, Cliff, 373
Taenia echinococeus, 688
Teeth of mammalia, 5
Swallow, Common, 373
Tsenia, Cobitis, 500
Tegu, The, 407
Swallow, Sea, 261
Taenia saginata, 687
Teiidae, 407
Swallow-fly, 608
Taenia solium, 686
Teirao, 229
Swallow shells, 622
Taeniata, Pygoscelis, 255
Telarius, Tetranychus, 547
Swallow-shrikes, The, 369
Taeniiformes, 484
Teleostomi, 462
Swallow-tail butterfly, 587
Taenioglossa, 633
Telfairi, Ericulus, 49
Swallow-tailed bee-eaters, 310
Taeniopterinae, 373
Tellinacea, 624
Swamp deer, 143
Taguan flying-phalanger, 201
Tellinidse, 624
Swamp quail, 235
Tahr, Himalayan, 159
Telmatornis, 248
Swans, The, 292
Tailed fruit-bats, 35
Telotremata, 651
Swan, Bewick's, 292
Tailless tunicata, 527
Temenuchus, 360
Swan, Black, 292
Takin, 157
Temera, 521
Swan, Chilian, 292
Talegallus, 226
Temmincki, Coracias, 335
Swan, Coscoroba, 293
Talischensis, Phasianus, 237
Temmincki, Macroclemmys,
Swan, Mute, 292
Talpa, 48
390
Swan, Polish, 592
Talpa caeca, 48
Temminck's snapper, 390
Swifts, The, 345
Talpa europaea, 48
Temporaria, Rana, 436
Swift, Common, 346
Talpa micrura, 48
Tenagodes, 636
Swift, Crested, 346
Talpa moschata, 48
Tenax, Eristalis, 606
Swift, Needle-tailed, 346
Talpidae, 47
Tench, 499
Swift, Palm, 346
Tamahoa, 184
Tenebrio molitor, 560
Swift, Pied, 346
Swift, Spine- tailed, 345
Tamandua tetradactyla, 184
Tamarins, 27
Teneriffae, Regulus, 369
Tengmalmi, Nyctalea, 324
Swiftlets, The Edible, 346
Tameng, 143
Tengmalm's owl, 324
Swift-moths, 591
Tamias, 91
Tenrecs, The, 49
Swimming-shrews, 47
Tana tupaia, 43
Tenrecs, Hedgehog, 49
Swinhoei, Cervus, 143
Sword-bill hummer, 348
Tanagers, The, 362
Tanagridae, 362
Tenrecs, Rice, 49
Tenrecs, Streaked, 49
Sword-fish, Common, 469
Tancrediidae, 6^5
Tentacle fish, 475
Syllis ramosa, 673
Tantalus, 278
Tentacled infusorians, 722
Sylvaticus, Mus, 105
Tantalus loculator, 281
Tenthredinidae, 574
Sylvestris, Cabalus, 249
Tanysiptera, 3s8
Tenui-spina, Murex, 637
Sylvia atricapilla, 370
Sylvia, Tanysiptera, 338
Sylviidse, 370
Tanysiptera salvadoriana, 339
Tanysiptera sylvia, 338
Tapacolas, 376
Teonoma, 102
Tequexin, Tupinambis, 407
Terebra, 638
INDEX.
767
Terebrantia, 574
Terebratula, 651
Terebella, 672
Terebridae, 638
Teredinidae, 627
Teredo, 627
Tergissus, Hyodon, 505
Termetidae, 571
Terns, The, 261
Tern, Arctic, 261
Tern, Black, 261
Tern, Caspian, 261
Tern, Common, 261
Tern, Lesser, 261
Tern, Marsh, 261
Tern, River, 262
Tern, Roseate, 261
Tern, Sandwich, 261
Tern, Snowy, 262
Tern, Sooty, 262
Terpsiphone, 373
Terrapins, 385
Testacellidas, 644
Testudinidie, 385
Testudo, 386
Testudo elegans, 386
Testudo ephippium, 3S7
Testudo geometrica, 386
Testudo graeca, 386
Testudo marginata, 386
Tetrabranchiata, 645
Tetraceros quadricornis, 151
Tetradactyla, Surciata, 61
Tetradactyla, Tamandua, 184
Tetradactylus macroscelides, 44
Tetradactylus, Oryzorictes, 49
Tetranychidse, 547
Tetranychus autumnalis, 547
Tetranychus telarius, 547
Tetrao kamtchaticus, 30
Tetrao parvirostris, 230
Tetrao uralensis, 230
Tetrao urogallus, 230
Tetraogallus, 232
Tetraogallus himalayensis, 232
Tetraonidse, 229
Tetrapneumones, 54 - ?
Tetraspis osteolgemus, 382
Tetrastemraa, 684
Tetrastemma agricola, 684
Tetrastemma aquaruin-dul-
cium, 684
Tetrastemma rodericanum, 684
Tetrastes, 231
Tetrax, 273
Tetrax tetrax, 273
Tetrix, Lyrurus, 230
Tetrodon, 489
Teucer, Caligo, 584
Thalassema, 678
Thalassiornis, '297
Thalassochelys caretta, 391
Thalassogeron cautus, 259
Thallassophryne, 474
Tharus, Polyborus, 307
Thaumastura, M8
Theraphosidae, 542
Theridiidse, 544
Theropithecus gelada, 22
Theropithecus obscurus, 22
Thian shan, 159
Thian shan stag, 143
Thick-knee, 273
Thick-knee, Long-legged, 273
Thick-lipped fishes, 486
Thick-tailed opossum, 213
Thinocorus, 266
Thinornis, 270
Thomensis, Throphorella, 643
Thomisidae, 543
Thomomys, 109
Thopha, 598
Thoracostraca, 535
Thorius, 450
Thornback skate, 521
Thorn-backs, 485
Thorny devil, 401
Thorny oyster, 623
Thorny-tailed lizard, 400
Thoroldi, Cervus, 143
Thorold's deer, 143
Thracia, 628
Thrasaetus, 313
Thrasaetus harpyia, 313
Thread worms, 678
Thread-worm, Turnip, 679
Three-banded armadillos, 187
Three-striped douroucouli, 26
Three-toed kingfisher, 337
Three-toed sloths, 182
Three-toed woodpecker, 354
Thresher, 517
Thripidse, 572
Thriponax, 355
Thriponax hargitti, 355
Thrips cerealium, 572
Thrushes, The, 370
Thrush, Ground, 370
Thrush, Song, 371
Thrush, True, 370
Thrush, White's, 370
Thrynomys, 112
Thylacine, 207
Thylacinus cynocephalus, 207
Thymallus, 509
Thynnidae, 579
Thynnus, 473
Thyrophorella thomensis, 643
Thyrophorellidae, 643
Thyroptera tricolor, 38
Thyrsitis, 470
Thysanoptera, 572
Thysanoteuthidae, 646
Thysanura, 573
Tibetan chiru, 152
Tibetan fox, 73
Tibetan yak, 164
Tibicina, 598
Tichodroma muraria, 366
Ticks, 545
Tiger, 53
Tiger-beetles, 554
Tiger-beetle, Green, 554
Tiger cat, 55
Tiger moths, 588
Tigris, Felis, 53
Tile-fish, 473
Timeliidas, 372
Timidus, Lepus, 118
Tinamiformes, 225
Tinamous, The, 225
Tinamou, Great, 226
Tinea, 499
Tinctorius, Dendrobates, 438
Tineas, 591
Tinea fulvimitrella, 593
Tineidae, 572
Tinker, 353
Tipulidae, 604
Tits, The, 367
Tit, Bearded, 368
Tit, Blue, S67
Tit, Bottle, 368
Tit, Crested, 368
Tit, Great, 367
Tit, Long-tailed, 368
Tit, Marsh, 367
Titis, 26
Titi, White-collared, 26
Titiscaniidae, 632
Tmetothylacus, 365
Toads, The, 441
Toad, Common, 442
Toad, Green, 442
Toad, Natterjack, 442
Tobanus bovinus, 605
Todidae, 342
Todies, The, 342
Todus viridis, 342
Tody, Jamaica, 342
Togata, Solenomya, 621
Tolypeutes, 187
Tomb-bats, 39
Tooth-billed partridges, 231
Tooth-billed pigeons, The 245
Toothed partridges, The, 240
Toothed whales, 171
Topaza, 348
Tope, 516
Tor, Bar bus, 498
Torda, Alca, 260
Tornaria, 528
Tornatina, 640
Tornatinidae, 640
Torpedinidae, 521
Torpedo, 521
Torquata, Callithrix, 26
Torquata, Ceryle, 336
Torquata, Chiromeles, 40
Torquatus, Astur, 311
Torquatus, Cuniculus, 103
Torquatus, Ursus, 75
Torquilla, lynginse, 354
Torrent ducks, The, 297
Tortoises and turtles, 383
Tortoise, Amazonian fresh
water, 393
Tortoise, Grecian, 386
Tortoise, Land, 385
Tortoise, Loggerhead, 891
Tortoise, Margined, 386
Tortoise, Pond, 388
Tortoise, Soft, 394
Tortoise, True Box, 388
Tortoise-shells, 585
Tortrices, 593
Tortrix, Green Oak, 593
Tortrix viridana, 593
Totaninse, 269
Totanu, 269
Toucans, The, 352
Touracoe, Lady Ross, 352
Touracoes, 351
Toxodon, 9
Toxoglossa, 638
Tracheophonae, 375
768
INDEX.
Trachichthys, 468
Trilobita, 539
True mound-builders, 226
Trachinidse, 473
Trimeresaurus, 429
True palm-civets. 59
Trachinops, 46t
Tringa, 269
True parrots, The, 329
Trachinus, 473
Tringoides, 2fi9
True partridges, The, 234
Trachypteridae, 484
Trinitatis, Phyllobates, 438
True phalangers, 200
Trachypterus, 485
Triodon, 489
True pigeons, The, 244
Trachysaurus rugosus, 410
Trionychidae, 394
True pigs, 133
Tragelaphine, 154
Trionyx, 394
True pipits, The, 365
Tragelaphus, 156
Triphaena, 591
True plovers, 270
Tragelaphus angasi, 156
Tripudians, Naia, 424
True porcupine, 113
Tragelaphus, Ovis, 160
Trithemis umbrata, 569
True potto, 31
Tragelaplius scriptus, 156
Tritici diplosis, 603
True rails, 248
Tragelaphns spekei, 156
Tritici, Tylenchus, 679
True seals, 85
Tragocaraelus, Boselaphus, 154
Triton-shell, B36
True snipe, 268
Tragopan, 235
Tritonioidea, 641
True steinbok, 151
Tragulidae, 139
Trivialis, Anthus, 3R5
True tenrec, 49
Tragulus, 139
Trivirgatus, Nyctipithecus, 26
True thrushes, 370
Tragus, Rupicapra, 156
Trochidae, 632
True whales, 172
Transmontana, Columbia, 509
Trochili, 347
True woodcock, 267
Trap-door spiders, 543
Trochilus, Phylloscopus, 370
True wood-peckers, The, 354
Tratratratra, 33
Trochophore, t>73
Trumpet animalcule, 721
Traversia, 375
Trochopus tubiporus, 688
Trumpeters, The, 277
Tree-creepers, 362
Trochosphere, 673
Trumpeter, Common, 277
Tree-ducks, 296
Troglodytes, Anorthura, 371
Trumpeter fish, 467
Tree-frog, European, 442
Troglodytes, Anthropopithecus,
Truucatellidae, 634
Tree-kangaroos, 195
15
Truncatus, Chlamydophorus,
Tree-lizards, 399
Troglodytes, Sagartia, 704
188
Tree-mice, The, 101
Troglodytidae, 371
Trygon, 522
Tree-partridsre, The, 234
Trogons, The, 349
Trygonidae, 522
Tree-pipit, 365
Tree-shrews, 43
Trogon, American, 349
Trogon c'aligatus, 349
Trypancorax frugilegus, 358
Trypanns cossus, 590
Tree-starlings, The, 360
Trogon, Large-tailed, 349
Trypetinse, 608
Tree-swifts, The, 347
Trogonophis, 408
Tse-tse fly, 608 /
Trematoda, 688
Troile, Uria, 260
Tuatera, 480
Tremoctopodidse, 647
Trombidiidse, 547
Tube-making annelid, 672
Treronidae, 242
Tropic Birds, The, 298
Tube-nosed bats, 37
Treroninaj, 242
Tropic Bird, Yellow-billed, 298
Tube-nosed fruit-bats, 35
Tretenterata, 650
Tropical Anemones, 704
Tuberculatus, Chalinolobus, 40
Tretretretre", 33
Triacanthus, 489
Tropicoperdix, 234
Tropidonotus, 421
Tuberculatus mystacops, 40
Tubicola, 672
Trichechidse, 84
Tropidonotus natrix, 421
Tubifex rivulorum, 674
Trichechus rosmarus, 84
Tropterodon, 466
Tubinares, 256
Trichina spiralis, 680
True albatros, 258
Tubipora musica, 708
Trichinosis worm, 680
True ant-eaters, 183
Tubiporus, Trochopus, 688
Trichiosoma lucorum, 574
True argali, 160
Tubularia, 697
Trichiuridte, 470
True badgers, 79
Tubulifera, 578
Trichiuriformes, 470
True bittern, 284
Tuco-tucos, 111
Trichiurus, 470
True buzzards, The, 312
Tufted owls, The, 322
Trichoglossus, 328
True civets, 57
Tumulus, Megapodius, 228
Trichonotidse, 478
True coursers, 272
Tunicata, 527
Trichoptera, 572
True cranes, The, 274
Tunny, 473
Trichopterygidae, 562
True crocodile, 381
Tupaia, 44
Trichosurus, 200
True crows, 3c8
Tupaia tana, 43
Trichosurus vulpinus, 200
True cuckoo, 350
Tupaiidae, 43
Trichotropidae, 634
True dolphins, 181
Tupinambis tequexin, 407
Trichys, 113
True dotteral, 271
Turacaena, 244
Tricolor bat, 38
True ducks, The, 296
Turacus, 352
Tricolor, Thyroptera, 38
True eels, 478
Turbellaria, 685
Tridacna, 62t>
True falcon, The, 317
Turbinata. Bugula, 667
Tridacna gigas, 626
True finches, 363
Turbinellidse, 637
Tridactyla, Hissa, 263
True fruit-pigeon, 242
Turbinidfe. 632
Tridactylus, Bradypus, 183
True hamster, 101
Turbot, 492
Tddanidse, 626
True garial, 382
Turdidse, 370
Tridecemlineatus, Spermo-
True geese, 295
Turdus, 370
philus, 92
True grouse, The, 230
Turdus iliacus, 371
Triecphora yulnerata, 690
True gulls, 260
Turdus pilaris, 371
Trigla, 475
True hawks, The, 307
Turdus musicus, 371
Trigonia, 621
True kudu, 154
Turkey-brush, Australian 227
Trigoniacea, 621
True lemurs, 29
Turkish gecko, 397
Trigoniidae, 621
True marmots, 92
Turkey, Honduras, '240
Trigonocephalus, 429
True megapodes, 228
Turkey, Mexican, 240
Trigonorhina, 520
True moles, 48
Turkey vultures, The, S04
V
INDEX.
769
Turn-stones, The, 272
Undulata, Gallinago, 268
Vampirus, 41
Turn-stone, Black, 272
Ungulata, 118
Vampirus spectrum, 41
Turn-stone, Common, 272
Ungulina, 624
Vandeluria, 104
Turnip-beetles, 5<>1
Ungulinidae, l>-?4
Vandesius, Coregonus, 509
Turnip flies, 562
Unicincta, Erythrocnema, 310
Vanellus vanellus, . 71
Turnip thread-worm, 679
Unicinctus, Lysuirus, 186
Varanidae, 40 i
Turnix, 241
TurritelliuX 635
Unicolor, Cervus, 143
Unicolor, Xenopeltis, 421
Varanus, 405
Varanus nilot'cus, 406
Turtle-doves, *44
Unicorn fish, 484
Varia, Ceryle, 3:>6
Turtles, The, 390
Unicorn, Sea, 178
Varia, Oreocicla, b71
Turtle, Green, 391
Unicornis, Rhinoceros, 126
Variegata, Mesites, ?76
Turtle, Leathery, 391
Unionidae, 623
Variegated spider-monkey, 25
Turtur, Turturinse, 245
Upland geese, The, 295
Variezatus, Ateles, 25
Turturaena, 244
Upupa epops, 340
Varius, Phalacrocorax, 300
Tuvturinae, '244
Upupa indica, 340
Velox, Canis, 7.<
Turturinae risortus, 245
Upupae, 340
Velox potamogale, 48
Turturinse turtur, 245
Upupidae, 340
Velutina, Didelphys, 213
Twenty-plume moth, 594
Two-clawed ant-eater, 184
Uraeotyphlus, 454
Uralensis, Tetrao, 230
Velvety-opossum, 213
Venaticus, Icticyon, 74
Two-legged salamander, 453
Uraniidae, 588
Vendace, 509
Two-toed sloths, 182
Uranoscopus, 473
Veneracea, 623
Tylenchus tritici, C79
Urbica, Chelidon, 373
Veneris, Cestus, 712
Tylopoda, 136
Urens, Asthenosoma, 660
Venus' comb, (.37
Tvlotriton, 44S
Uria grylle, 260
Venus's flower basket, 693
Tylotriton andersoni, 448
Uria troile, 260
Venus's girdle, 71 .
Tylotriton verrucosus, 448
Urial, 160
Vermes, 670
Tyinpanuchus, 231
Urosetus, 313
Vermetidse, 635
Typhlomolge rathbuni, 452
Uroaetus audax, 314
Vermicularis, Oxvuris, 679
Typhlomys, 106
Urochorda, 527
Vermiculus, 683
Typhlonectes, 455
Urogallus, Tetras, 230.
Verreauxia, 354
Typhlonus, 491
Urogymnus, 522
Verreauxia africana, 54
Tvphlopidae, 417
Urulophus, 522
Vesrucosus, Tylotriton, 448
Typhlops, 417
Uromastix, 400
Versicolar, Phasianus, ^38
Tyyhlops, Notoryctes, 210
Uromys, 10 i
Vertebrata, 1
Typhlosaurus, 411
Uropeltidse, 42l
Vertebrates, Characteristics of, 1
Typhlotriton, 450
Uroplates, b98
Verticalis, Botys, 592
T) phlus, Spalax, 106
Uroplatklse, 398
Verticordiidae, 628
Typical bats, :;6
Uropoda, 545
Vesicatoria, Cantharis, 560
Typical cuckoo, 350
Uropsilus, 47
Vespa, 580
Typical frogs, 436
Urospatha, 341
Vespa crabro, 580
Typical seals, The, 85
Urotrichus, 47
Vesperimus, 101
Typical tree-shrews, 14
Urotriorchis, 310
Vespertilio bechsteini, 38
Typicus, Rhinodon, 517
Ursidse, 74
Vespertilio daubentoni, 37
Tyrannidse, 373
Ursinus, Melursus, 75
Vespertilio hodgsoni, 38
Tyranninae, 373
Ursinus, Phalanger, 200
Vespertiiio welwitschi, 38
Tyrants, The, b73
Ursinus, Sarcophilus, 207
Vespertilionidae, 3
Tyroglyphidse, 547
Ursus, 75
Vesperugo, 38
Tyroglyphus sacchari, 547
Ursus americanus, 75
Vesperugo noctula, ' 7
Tyroglyphus siro, 547
Ursus arctus, 75
Vesperugo pipiptrellus, 7
Ursus crowther, 75
v'esperugo serotinus, o7
Ursus horribilis, 75
Vespillo, Necrophorus, 55 5
U.
Ursus isabellinus, 75
Vestimenti, Pediculus, 602
Ursus malayanus, 75
Victor, Chrysaenas, '243
Uacaria, 27
Ursus maritimus, 75
Victoriae, Ptilorhis, 359
Uacaria, Bald, 27
Ursus ornatus, 75
Vicuna, 138
Uacaria, Black-faced, 27
Ursus syriacus, 75
Vicufia, Lama, 133
Uacaria calva, -LI
Ursus torquaters, 75
Vignei, Ovis, IfiQ
Uacaria melanocephala, 27
Urticata, iJotys, 592
Villosus, Dasypus, 186
Uacaria rubicunda. z7
Urubitinga, 313
Vinegar eel, 679
Uakari, Red, 27
Vinia, M28
Uakaris, *7
Vinia kuhli, 328
Uloboridae, 544
V.
Violacea, Xylocopa, 581
Ulula, Surnia, >23
Vipers, The, 427
Umbrata, Trithemis, C63
Vagans. ^Egithalus, 68
Viper, British, 427
Umbrella, 640
Umbrellidge, i 40
Vaginuli, 642
Vaginulidae, 642
Viper, Halys, 4 9
Viper, Horned, 427
Umbretta, Scopus, 281
Valvata, Gt5
Viper, Pit, 428
Umbridaa, 502
Valvatidee, 635
Viper, Russell's, 428
Umbrina, 4f 8
Vampire-bats, 40
Viper, Sand, 427
Umbrine, The, 468
Umbonia, 601
Uncia, Felis, 53
Vampire, Common, 42
Vampire, Great, 41
Vampires, Harmless, 41
Viper, Saw, 4 7
Vjper tribe, The, 426
Vipera ammodytes, 427
50
770
INDEX.
Vipera arietans, 427 Vultures, Eared, 306 Weasles, 80
Vipera berus, 427
Vipera russelli, 428
Vulture, Egyptian, 306
Vulture, Turkey, 304
Weasel, Common, 80
Weasel tribe, The, 76
Viperidae, 42
Vulture, White-headed, 306
Weaver birds, The, 362
Viperinae, 427
Vulturidse, 305
Weaver, Baya, 362
Virens, Gadus, 491
Vulturine guinea-fowl, 240
Webbed newt, 448
Vireo, 370
Vulturinum, Acryllium, 240
Web-footed moles, 47
Vireonidse, 370
Web-footed shrew, 47
Virginian deer, 146
Weddelli, Leptonychotes, 87
Virginian fox, 72
W.
Weddell's seal, 87
Virginian quail, 240
Weevil, 560
Virginianus, Bubo, 322
Wagtails, The, 364
Weevil, Nut, 560
Virginianus, Canis, 72
Wagtail, Field, 365
Weevil, Palm, 560
Virginianus, Cervus, 146
Virginianus, Ortyx, 240
Wagtail, Grey, 365
Wagtail, Pied, 365
Weka rails, 251
Wels, The, 497
Viridana, Tortrix, 593
Wagtail, Ray's, 365
Welwit-chi, Vespertilio, 38
Viridis, Bufo, 442
Wagtail, Water, 365
Wentle-traps, 633
Viridis, Calyptomena, 353
Walabatus, Macropus, 194
West African chevrotains, 139
Viridis, Lacerta, 409
Wall gecko, 398
Whales, &c., 169
Viridis, Todus, -.4'
Wallabies, The, 194
Whale, Arnux's, 177
Viridis, Vortex, 686
Wallabies, Hare, 194
Whale, Beaked, 177
Viscacha, 114
Wallabies, Rock, 194
Whale, Cuvier's, 177
Vison, Mustela, 81
Wallaby, Agile, 194
Whale, Fin, 173
Vitrea cellaria, C44
Wallaby, Aru Island, 194
Whale, Greenland, 172
Vivax, Tarbophis, 423
Wallaby, Banded, 196
Whale, Grev, 172
Viverra, 57
Wallaby, Bennett's, 194
Whale, Humpback, 173
Viverra civetta, 57
Wallaby, Sombre, 194
Whale, Lesser sperm, 176
Viverra malaccensis, 57
Wallacii, Eulipoa, 228
Whale, Pigmy, 172
Viverricula, 57
Wallacii, Habroptila, 249
Whale, Right, 172
Viverridse, 56
Walleri, Lithocranias, 153
Whale, Sperm, 175
Viverrinse, 60
Waller's gazelle, 153
Whale, Toothed, 175
Viverrinus, Dasyurus, 208
Walliehii, Catreus, 237
Whale, Whalebone, 171
Vivipara, Lacerta, 409
Walrus family, The, 84
Whale, White, 179
Vivipara, Monopora, 684
Waltzing-mice, 105
Whalebone whales, 171
Viviparidae, 635
Wandering albatros, 258
Whale-louse, 535
Viviparous lizard, 409
Viviparous wrasses, 486
Wapiti, North American, 143
Warblers, The, 370
Wheat eel, 679
Wheat midge, 603
Vocifer, Haliaetus, 315
Warbler, Orass, 370
Wheel animalcules, 68?
Volans, Draco, 399
Warbler, Reed, 370
Wheel bugs, 596
Volans, Galdopithecums, 43
Warbler, Sedge, 370
Whip snakes, 423
Volins, Petauroides, 201
Warbler, Willow, 370
Whirligig beetles, 556
Voles, The, 103
Vole, Bank, 103
Wart-hog, 134
Warty salamander, 448
White admiral, 585
White ants, 571
Vole, Field, 103
Warty sea-leech, 677
White bats, 39
Vole, Groove-toothed, 103
Wasps, 580
White-bellied sea-eagle, 315
Vole group, The, 103
Wasps, Ruby-tailed, 578
White-billed diver, 254
Vole, Red, 103
Wasps, Sand, 579
White-collared titi, 26
Vole, Water, 103
Wasps, Wood, 575
White-eyes, The, 367
Volutidae, 638
Water-animals, 694
White-footed mice, 101
Volvox globator, 719
Water-beetle, Great, 557
White-fronted goose, 295
Volvulella, 640
Water-beetles, Carnivorous, 555
White gos-hawk, 311
Vortex viridis, 686
Water-boatmen, 537
White-headed vultures, The,
Vorticellidse, 721
Water-buck, 152
o06
Vulgaris, Bufo, 442
Water-bugs, 597
White-necked stork, 280
Vulgaris, Chamseleon, 412
Water-flea, 531
White owls, The, 325
Vulgaris, Conga, 494
Water-hens, The, 252
White plume moth, 594
Vulgaris, Lota, 491
Water-opossum, 211
White stork, 278
Vulgaris, Melolontha, 557
Water-ouzels, 371
Whi'e stork, Black-billed, 279
Vulgaris, Molge, 448
Water-rail, 249
White-tailed eagle, 315
Vulgaris, Mustela, 81
Water-scorpion, 597
White tailed hawk, 12
Vulgaris, Sciurus, 91
Water-shrews, 46
White-throated capuchin, 24
Vulgaris, Squatina, 519
Water-snakes, 421
White whale, 179
Vulgaris, Sturnus, 360
Water-spider, 544
V\ hite-winged chough, 358
Vulgata, Epliemera, 571
Water-toad, Surinam, 444
W 7 hite-winged crake, 251
Vulnerata, Triecphora, 600
Water-vole, 103
Whiteheadi, Calyptomena, 356
Vulpes, 70
Water-wagtails, 365
White's thrush, 370
Vulpes, Alopecias, 517
Wattled ant-thrushes, 375
Whiting, The, 491
Vulpes, Canis, 71
Wattled fruit-pigeon, 243
Whooper, 292
Vulpinus, Trichosurus, 200
Wattled grakles, 360
Wigeon, 296
Vultur, 306
Wattled plovers, The, 271
Wild boar, 133
Vultur monachus, 306
Waxwing, The, 369
Wild cat, 55
Vulture, Black, 306
Waxwing, Japanese, 369
Wild ducks, 296
INDEX.
771
Willow-grouse, 229 !
Worm, Bristled-footed, 671
Y.
Willow-warbler, 370
Worm, Earth, 674
Wilson's phalarope, 166
Worm, Flat, 685
Yaffle, 354
Wingless insects, 573
Worm, Fluke, 688
Yak, Tibetan, 164
Wing-shells, 636
Worm, Gephyrean, 677
Yapock, 214
Wire-tailed snipe, 268
Worm, Guinea, 679
Yarelli, Bagarius, 496
Wire worms, 559
Worm, Horse-hair, 680
Yellow baboon, 3
Wolf -like animals, 64
Worm, Lug, 672
Yellow-billed cuckoo, 351
Wolf, Aard, 62
Worm, Medina, 679
Yellow-billed sheathbill, -J65
Wolf, Antarctic, 64
Worm, Nemertine, 684
Yellow-billed tropicfbird, 298
Wolf, Common, 64
Worm, Ringed, 671
Yellow fo*; 71
Wolf, Indian, 65
Worm, Round, 679
Yellow hammer, 364
Wolf, Tasmanian, 207
Worm, Sand, 672
Yellow-tailed mole, 48
Wolf-fish, 478
Worm, Tape, 686
Yellow-throated marten, 80
Wolf -spiders, 543
Wolverine, 81
Worm, Thread, 678
Worm, Trichinosis, 680
Yellow underwing moth, 591
Yellow-winged woodpecker, 35 1
Wombats, 204
Worms, Planarian, 1 85
Yoldia, 621
Wood ant, 579
Wrasse, Parrot, 486
Ypecaha, Aramides, 250
Wood chat, 369
Wrasse, Striped, 486
Ypecaha wood-rail, 250
Wood-hewers, The, 375
Wrasses, Viviparous, 486
Wood-hewer, Bridge's, 375
Wrens, The, 371
Wood hoopoes, *40
Wren, Common, 371
Z.
Wood-ibises, 278
Wry-billed plover, 270
Wood larks, 364
Wrynecks, ;<54
Zabrus gibbus, 555
Wood lice, 534
Wryneck, Common, 354
Zaglossus, 217
Wood-mouse, 105
Zaitha aurantiaca, 597
Wood-owls, 21
Zamensis, 422
Wood-pigeon, 244
Zamensis gemonensis, 422
Wood rails, The, 249
X.
Zamensis hippocrepis, 422
Wood-rats, 102
Zammara, 598
Wood sandpiper, 269
Xantharpyia, 35
Zanzibar steinbok, 151
Wood-snakes, American, 422
Xantholseina hsemacephala, 353
Zapornia parva, 251
Wood-snipe, 268
Xanthomelus aurens, 359
Zapus, 110
Wood storks, 278
Xanthonotus indicator, 353
Zebra, Burchell's, 128
Wood stork, American, 281
Xanthopygus, Cervus, 143
Zebra, Equus, 128
Wood-swallows, 369
Xanthura, 358
Zebra, Grevy's, 1-28
Wood wasps, 575
Xema, 62
Zebra, Mountain, 128
Woodcocks, The, 268
Xema furcata, 262
Zebra-fish, 465
Woodcock, True, 267
Xema sabinii, 262
Zebra shark, 518
Woodpeckers, The, 353
Xenicus, b75
Zebrilus, 284
Woodpecker, Great black, 354
Xeniscidae, 373, 375
Zeledoni, Canchroma, 284
Woodpecker, Green, :-54
Xenodermichthys, 507
Zenaidinae, 244
Woodpecker, Ground, 354
Xenopeltidae, 421
Zerda, Canis, 73
Woodpecker, Hargitt's, 355
Xenopeltis unicolor, 421
Zeus faber, 471
Woodpecker, Narrow-necked,
Xenophoridae, 634
Zeuzeridae, 590
354
Xenopicus, 354
Zibellina, Mustela, 80
Woodpecker, Pied, 354
Xenopodidae, 444
Zibethicus, Fiber, 103
Woodpecker, Three-toed, 354
Xenopus, 444
Ziphius, 177
Woodpecker, True, :+54
Xenosaurus, 403
Zoarces, 478
Woodpecker, Yellow- winged,
Xenosuridae, 403
Zcea, 530
:54
Xeromys, 100
Zrea-larva of spider-crab, 530
Woodpecker-like birds, 353
Xerus, 91
Zonitidse, 643
Woolly avahi, 29
Xiphias, 469
Zonotrichia, 364
Woolly flying squirrel, 95
Woolly monkeys, 24
Xiphidiopterus, 271
Xiphiidae, 469
Zonuridaa, 403
Zonurus, 404
Woolly monkey, Humboldt's,
Xiphiiformes, 469
Zoophytes, 696
24
Xiphosura, 538
Zoothamnium, 722
Woolly spider-monkey, 25
Worms, The, 670
Xylocopa, 581
Xylocopa violacea, 581
Zorilla, Ictonyx, 80
Zosteropidse, 367
Worm, Arrow, 682
Zygsenidaj, 588
Worm, Bladder, 687
Zygogeoniys, 109
THE END.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS.
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HE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE AND
OBSERVATIONS ON NATURE. By GILBERT WHITE.
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D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
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D. APPLETON AND COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS.
AND BOOK OF BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH
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D. APPLETON AND COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS.
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D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY ; S PUBLICATIONS.
AM I LIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. By F.
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T
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language of an expert.
" It would be hard to say too much in praise of this superb work. As a record
of mountaineering it is almost, if not quite, unique. Among records of Himalayan
exploration it certainly stands alone. . . . The farther Himalayas . . . have never
been so faithfully in other words, so poetically presented as in the masterly delicate
sketches with which Mr. McCormick has adorned this book." London Daily News.
" This stately volume is a worthy record of a splendid journey. . . . The book is
not merely the narrative of the best organized and most successful mountaineering
expedition as yet made ; it is a most valuable and minute account, based on first-hand
evidence, of a most fascinating region of the heaven-soaring Himalayas." Pall Mall
Gazette.
" Mr. Conway's volume is a splendid record of a daring and adventurous scientific
expedition. . . . What Mr. Whymper did for the northern Andes, Mr. Conway has
done for the Karakorum Himalayas." London Times.
" It would be difficult to say which of the many classes of readers who will wel-
come the work will find most enjoyment in its fascinating pages. Mr. Conway's pen
and Mr. McCormick's pencil have made their countrymen partners in their pleasure."
London Standard.
" . . . In addition to this, Mr. Conway is a man of letters, a student (and a
teacher, too) of art, a scholar in several languages ; one, too, who knows the Latin
names of plants, and the use of theodolite and plane table. From him, therefore, if
from any one, the world had a right to expect a book that should combine accurate
observation and intelligible reporting with an original and acute record of impressions ;
nor will the world have any reason to be disappointed." London Athen&um.
' ' With its three hundred illustrations we have seldom seen a volume which speaks
to the eye and understanding so pleasantly and expressively on every page. . . . We
have an exhaustive panorama of the Himalayan scenery, of the manner in which the
rough marching was conducted, of ascents achieved under the most dangerous condi-
tions, and of the troubles and humors of the shifting camps where the coolies rested
from their labors." London Saturday Review.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS.
/JCTUAL AFRICA ; or, The Coming Continent. A Tour
-*^ of Exploration. By FRANK VINCENT, author of " The Land
of the White Elephant," etc. With Map and 102 Illustrations.
8vo. Cloth, $5.00.
This thorough and comprehensive work furnishes a survey of the entire continent,
which this experienced traveler has circumnavigated in addition to his inland explora-
tions. The latter have included journeys in northern Africa, Madagascar, southern
Africa, and an expedition into the Congo country which has covered fresh ground.
His book has the distinction of presenting a comprehensive summary, instead of offer-
ing an account of one special district. It is more ' elaborately illustrated than any
book upon the subject, and contains a large map carefully corrected to date.
" Mr. Frank Vincent's books of travel merit to be ranked among the very best, not
only for their thoroughness, but for the animation of their narrative, and the skill
with which he fastens upon his reader's mind the impression made upon him by his
voy agings." Boston Saturday Evening Gazette.
" A new volume from Mr. Frank Vincent is always welcome, for the reading pub-
lic have learned to regard him as one of the most intelligent and observing of travel-
ers." New York Tribune.
AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA : Twenty
** Months of Quest and Query. By FRANK VINCENT. With
Maps, Plans, and 54 full-page Illustrations. 8vo, xxiv + 473
pages. Ornamental cloth, $5.00.
" South America, with its civilization, its resources, and its charms, is being con-
stantly introduced to us, and constantly surprises us. ... The Parisian who thinks
us all barbarians is probably not denser in his prejudices than most of us are about our
Southern continent. We are content not to know, there seeming to be no reason why
we should. Fashion has not yet directed her steps there, and there has been nothing
to stir us out of our lethargy. . . . Mr. Vincent observes very carefully, is always
good-humored, and gives us the best of what he sees. ... The reader of his book
will gain a clear idea of a marvelous country. Maps and illustrations add greatly to
the value of this work." New York Commercial Advertiser .
"The author's style is unusually simple and straightforward, the printing is re-
markably accurate, and the forty odd illustrations are refreshingly original for the
most part." The Nation.
" Mr. Vincent has succeeded in giving a most interesting and valuable narrative.
His account is made doubly valuable by the exceptionally good illustrations, most of
them photographic reproductions. The printing of both text and plates is beyond
criticism." Philadelphia Public Ledger.
TN AND OUT OF CENTRAL AMERICA ; and Other
* Sketches and Studies of Travel. By FRANK VINCENT. With
Maps and Illustrations. I2mo. Cloth, $2.00.
"Few living travelers have had a literary success equal to Mr. Vincent's."
Harper's Weekly.
" Mr. Vincent has now seen all the most interesting parts of the world, having
traveled, during a total period of eleven years, two hundred and sixty-five thousand
miles. His personal knowledge of man and Nature is probably as varied and com-
plete as that of any person living." New York Home Journal.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS.
BEGINNERS OF A NA TION. A History of
the Source and Rise of the Earliest English Settlements in
America, with Special Reference to the Life and Character of
the People. The first volume in A History of Life in the United
States. By EDWARD EGGLESTON. Small 8vo. Cloth, gilt
top, uncut, with Maps, $1.50.
" Few works on the period which it covers can compare with this in point of mere
literary attractiveness, and we fancy that many to whom its scholarly value vill
not appeal will read the volume with interest and delight." New York Evening
Post.
" Written with a firm grasp of the theme, inspired by ample knowledge, and made
attractive by a vigorous and resonant style, the book will receive much attention. It
is a great theme the author has taken up, and he grasps it with the confidence of a
master." New York Times.
" Mr. Eggleston's ' Beginners ' is unique. No similar historical study has, to our
knowledge, ever been done iq the same way. Mr. Eggleston is a reliable reporter of
facts ; but he is also an exceedingly keen critic. He writes history without the effort
to merge the critic in the historian. His sense of humor is never dormant. He ren-
ders some of the dullest passages in colonial annals actually amusing by his witty
treatment of them. He finds a laugh for his readers where most of his predecessors
have found yawns. And with all this he does not sacrifice the dignity of history for
an instant." Boston Saturday Evening Gazette.
" The delightful style, the clear flow of the narrative, the philosophical tone, and
the able analysis of men and events will commend Mr. Eggleston's work to earnest
students." Philadelphia Public Ledger.
" The work is worthy of careful reading, not only because of the author's ability as
a literary artist, but because of his conspicuous proficiency in interpreting the causes
of and changes in American life and character." Boston Journal.
" It is noticeable that Mr. Eggleston has followed no beaten track, but has drawn
his own conclusions as to the early period, and they differ from the generally received
version not a little. The book is stimulating, and will prove of great value to the stu-
dent of history." Minneapolis Journal.
"A very interesting as well as a valuable book. ... A distinct advance upon
most that has been written, particularly of the settlement of New England." New-
ark Advertiser.
" One of the most important books of the year. It is a work of art as well as of
historical science, and its distinctive purpose is to give an insight into the real life and
character of people. . . . The author's style is charming, and the history is fully as
interesting as a novel." Brooklyn Standard-Union.
" The value of Mr. Eggleston's work is in that it is really a history of 'life,' not
merely a record of events. . . . The comprehensive purpose of his volume has been
excellently performed. The book is eminently readable." Philadelphia Times.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS.
THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES.
NOW READY.
BEGINNINGS OF ART. By ERNST GROSSE,
Professor of Philosophy in the University of Freiburg. A new
volume in the Anthropological Series, edited by Professor
FREDERICK STARR. Illustrated. i2mo. Cloth, $1.75.
This is an inquiry into the laws which control the life and development of art, and
into the relations existing between it and certain forms of civilization. The origin of
an artistic activity should be sought amon^ the most primitive peoples, like the native
Australians, the Mincopies of the Andaman Islands, the Botpcudos of South America,
and the Eskimos ; and with these alone the author studies his subject. Their arts are
regarded as a social phenomenon and a social function, and are classified as arts of
rest and arts of motion. The arts of rest comprise decoration, first of the body by
scarification, painting, tattooing, and dress ; and then of implements, painting, and
sculpture ; while the arts of motion are the dance (a living sculpture), poetry or song,
with rhythm, and music.
J/f7O 'MAN'S SHARE IN PRIMITIVE CULTURE.
rr By OTIS TUFTON MASON, A. M., Curator of the Department
of Ethnology in the United States National Museum. With
numerous Illustrations. 121110. Cloth, $1.75.
" A most interesting resume' of the revelations which science has made concerning
the habits of human beings in primitive times, and especially as to the place, the
duties, and the customs of women." Philadelphia Inquirer.
PYGMIES. By A. DE QUATREFAGES, late Professor
of Anthropology at the Museum of Natural History, Paris.
With numerous Illustrations. I2mo. Cloth, $1.75.
"Probably no one was better equipped to illustrate the general subject than
Quatrefages. While constantly occupied upon the anatomical and osseous phases of
his subject, he was none the less well acquainted with what literature and history had
to say concerning the pygmies. . . . This book ought to be in every divinity school
in which man as well as God is studied, and from which missionaries go out to con-
vert the human being of reality and not the man of rhetoric and text-books." Boston
Literary World.
BEGINNINGS OF WRITING. By W. J.
HOFFMAN, M. D. With numerous Illustrations. i2mo. Cloth,
$1.75-
This interesting book gives a most attractive account of the rude methods employed
by primitive man for recording his deeds. The earliest writing consists of pictographs
which were traced on stone, wood, bone, skins, and various paperiike substances. Dr.
Hoffman shows how the several classes of symbols used in these records are to be in-
terpreted, and traces the growth of conventional signs up to syllabaries and alphabets
the two classes of signs employed by modern peoples.
IN PREPARATION.
THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS. By Dr. SCHMELTZ.
THE ZUNI. By FRANK HAMILTON GUSHING.
THE AZTECS. By Mrs. ZELIA NUTTALL.
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.
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