X
 
 THE 
 
 COMMON OBJECTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE COUNTRY 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. .1. G. WOOD, M.A., F.L.S. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "THE ILLUSTRATED NATURAL HISTORY," 
 "COMMON OBJECTS OF THE SEA SHORE," "MY FEATHERED FRIENDS, 
 
 &c., &c. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTKATIONS BY COLEMAN, 
 
 PRINTED IN COLOURS BY EVANS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, 
 
 THE BKOADWAY, LUDGATE HILL. 
 
 N'KW YORK : 416, BROOME STREET. 
 
 1866.
 
 Price 2s. 6d. each, cloth gilt, with Illustrations, printed in colours, 
 COMMON OBJECTS OF THE MICROSCOPE. By the Rev. J. G. Woon. 
 COMMON OBJECTS OF THE SEA SHORE. By the Rev. J. G. WOOD. 
 COMMON OBJECTS OF THE COUNTRY. By the Rev. J. G. WOOD. 
 HAUNTS OF THE WILD FLOWERS. By ANNE PRATT 
 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS AND NESTS. By the Rev. J. C. ATKINSON. 
 
 BRITISH FERNS AND THEIR ALLIES. By THOMAS MOORK, 
 F.L.S., &c. 
 
 WANDERINGS AMONG THE WILD FLOWERS. By SPKITCRS 
 THOMPSON. 
 
 BRITISH BUTTERFLIES. By W. S. COLRMAX. 
 
 GEORGE ROUTT,F,T)GB AND SONS.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IN the following pages will be found short 
 and simple descriptions of some of the numerous 
 objects that are to be found in our fields, woods, 
 and waters. 
 
 As this little work is not intended for scientific 
 readers, but simply as a guide to those who are 
 desirous of learning something of natural objects, 
 scientific language has been studiously avoided, 
 and scientific names have been only given in 
 cases where no popular name can be found. In 
 so small a compass but little can be done; and 
 therefore I have been content to take certain 
 typical objects, which will serve as guides, aad 
 
 2091 215
 
 IT PREFACE. 
 
 to omit mention of those which can be classed. 
 under the same head. 
 
 Every object described by the pen is illustrated 
 by the pencil, in order to aid the reader in his 
 researches ; and the subjects have been so chosen, 
 that no one with observant eyes can walk in the 
 fields for half an hour without rinding very many 
 of the objects described in the book. 
 
 LONDON, April, 1 858.
 
 COMMON OBJECTS OF THE COUNTED. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EYES AND NO EYES DIFFICULTIES OF OBSERVERS THE BATS 
 LONG-EARED BAT ITS UTILITY SPORT AND MURDER SONG OF 
 THE BAT A BRAVE PRISONER HOW BATS FEED HAIR OF 
 BAT AND MOUSE WING OF THE BAT THE FIELD-MOUSE ITS 
 STEALTHY MOVEMENTS HARVEST MOUSE WATER RAT AN 
 INNOCENT VICTIM. 
 
 EVERY one has read, or at least heard of, the tale 
 entitled " Eyes and no Eyes ;" which tale is to be found 
 in the "Evenings at Home." Now this story, or 
 rather the moral of it, is in my opinion as often used 
 unfairly as rightly. 
 
 Although there are those who pass through life with 
 closed eyes and stopped ears, yet there are many more 
 who would be glad to use their eyes and ears, b v . 
 know not how to do so for want of proper teaching. 
 To one who has not learned to read, the Bible itself is 
 but a series of senseless black marks ; and similarly, the 
 unwritten Word that lies around, below, and above us, 
 is unmeaning to those who cannot read it. 
 ** B
 
 2 DIFFICULTIES OP OBSERVERS. 
 
 Many would like to read, but cannot do so ; and it is 
 in order to help such, to bring before them the first 
 alphabetical teaching, that the following pages are 
 written. 
 
 It is no matter of marvel that many an observant 
 person becomes bewildered among natural objects ; 
 that he is lost amid the variety of animal, vegetable, 
 and mineral life in which he lives ; and that, after vainly 
 attempting to comprehend some simple object, he finds 
 himself baffled, and so in despair ceases to inquire into 
 particulars, and contents himself with admiration of 
 and love for nature in general. 
 
 Objects change so rapidly and so constantly, that 
 there is hardly time to note a few remarks before the 
 season has passed away ; the object under examination 
 has changed with it, and a year must elapse before that 
 investigation can be continued. 
 
 From experience I know how valuable are even a 
 few hints by which the mind can be directed in a 
 straight course without wasting its strength and losing 
 its time by devious w wderings. Only hints can be 
 given, for the limits of the volume forbid any 
 lengthened discussion of single objects ; and besides, the 
 mind is more pleased to work out a subject according 
 to its own individuality, than to have it laid down as 
 completed, and to be forbidden to go any farther. 
 
 Almost every object that is described by the pen will
 
 THE BAT. 3 
 
 be figured by the pencil, in order to assist the reader 
 in identifying the creature in an easier manner than if 
 it were merely described in words. 
 
 Of the birds I shall not be able to treat, as they alone 
 would occupy the entire space of this volume ; and, for 
 the same reason, only a short account can be given of 
 each object. 
 
 As in the scale of creation the mammals fill the 
 highest place, we will speak of them first, taking, as far 
 as possible, each creature in its own order. 
 
 Perhaps there are few people who would not feel 
 some surprise when they learn that the very highest 
 of our British animals is the Bat. Usually the bat is 
 looked upon with rather a feeling of dread, and is 
 regarded as a creature of such ill-omen that its very 
 presence causes a shudder, and its approach would put 
 to flight many a human being. 
 
 There is certainly some ground for this feeling ; 
 for the night-loving propensities of the creature, its 
 weird-like aspect, its strange devious flight, and more 
 especially its organs of flight, are so interwoven with 
 the popular ideas of evil and its ministers, that bata 
 and imps appear to be synonymous terms. 
 
 Painters always represent their imps as upborne 
 by bats' wings, furnished with several supplementary 
 hooks ; and sculptors follow the same principle. 
 
 In consequence, all bats and objects connected with 
 B 2
 
 4 THE LONG-EARED BAT. 
 
 bats are viewed with great horror, with two exceptions : 
 a cricket-bat and a bat's-wing gas-burner. 
 
 Now I cannot but think that this is very hard on 
 the bats. It is said that the African negroes depict 
 and describe their evil spirits as white ; and that, in 
 consequence, the negro children fly in consternation if 
 perchance a white man comes into their territory. 
 
 Yet a white man is not so very horrid an object, after 
 all, if one only dare look at him ; and the same remark 
 holds good with the bats. 
 
 A very pretty creature is a bat, more especially the 
 long-eared species, Plecotus communis, as it is scienti- 
 
 CIJMMON LONfi-E 
 
 fically called, and its habits are most curious. It is 
 well worth the time to watch these little creatures on a 
 warm summer's night, as they flit about in the air, and 
 to note thfi enjoyment of their aerial hunt. They are
 
 FLIGHT OF THE BAT. 5 
 
 fearless animals ; and provided that the observer re- 
 mains tolerably still and does not speak, bats will often 
 flit so close to his face that he could almost catch them 
 in his hand. 
 
 Their flight is very singular, and reminds one of the 
 butterfly in its apparently vague flitting. Indeed, 
 there are many large moths that fly by night who can 
 hardly be distinguished from the bats, if the evening 
 be rather dark, so similar are they in their mode of 
 journeying through the air. 
 
 From this peculiarity of flight, they are accounted 
 difficult marks for a gun; and it is unfortunately a 
 custom with some ruthless powder-burners to practise 
 by day at swallows and by night at bats. Now, even 
 putting the matter in its lowest form, it is wrong to 
 shoot swallows ; for they are most useful birds, and 
 serve to thin the host of flies and other insects that 
 people the summer air. 
 
 As regards the swallow, this is well known, and does 
 serve to protect it from some persons who have more 
 compassion than the generality. Moreover, the swal- 
 lows, swifts, and martins are extremely pretty birds, 
 and their beauty is in some degree their shield. 
 
 But the bat is as useful a creature as the swallow, 
 and in the very same way ; for when the evening 
 comes on, and the swallow retires to its nest, the bat 
 issues from its home, and takes up the work just where
 
 C SPOKT OR MURESB. 
 
 the swallow leaves it, the two creatures dividing the 
 day and night between them. Therefore, let those 
 who refrain from swallow shooting include the bat 
 in their free list. 
 
 Some there are whom nothing can restrain from 
 killing, for the instinct of slaughter is strong in 
 them. With them, nothing is valuable unless it is to 
 be killed. If it can be eaten afterwards, so much the 
 better; but the great enjoyment consists in the mere 
 act of killing. 
 
 They contrive to disguise the ugliness of the thing 
 by giving it any name but the right one ; but, in spite 
 of the name, the thing exists. And, I wonder, if they 
 were to look very closely into themselves, whether 
 they would not find there a decided desire to kill men, 
 provided that they had no reason to dread the conse- 
 quences. Those who have practised the sport unani- 
 mously say that nothing is so exciting as man-hunting 
 and killing, and that all other sport is. tame in com- 
 parison. 
 
 The chief name under which this profanity is 
 disguised is that of "Sport," a word which always 
 reminds me of the "Frog and Boys" fable. There are 
 actually men who are audacious enough to declare that 
 there is no cruelty in " sport ;" that foxes are charmed 
 at being hunted, and that pheasants derive a singular 
 gratification from getting shot. Now, I never was
 
 SPORT OR MURDER. 7 
 
 either a fox or a pheasant ; but I entirely repudiate the 
 assertion that any animal likes to be chased or to be 
 wounded ; and moreover, I disbelieve the sincerity, of 
 the man who cau say such a thing. If he says openly 
 that he finds excitement in the chase, and means to 
 gratify himself without any reference to the feelings 
 of the creatures which he chases, I can understand 
 while I disapprove. But when a man justifies himself 
 by asserting that any animal likes to be hunted, I can 
 hardly find epithets too contemptuous for him ; and I 
 could see him run the gauntlet among the Sioux Indians 
 with but small pangs of conscience. 
 
 Some again call themselves Naturalists, and under 
 the shelter of that high-sounding name occupy them- 
 selves in destroying nature. The true naturalist never 
 destroys life without good cause, and when he does so, 
 it is with reluctance, and in the most merciful way ; 
 for the life is really the nature, and that gone, the 
 chief interest of the creature is gone too. We should 
 form but a poor notion of the human being, were we 
 only to see it presented to our eyes in the mummy ; 
 and equally insufficient is the idea that can be formed 
 of an animal from the inspection of its outward 
 frame. Nature and life belong to each other; and 
 if torn asunder, the one is objectless and the other 
 gone. 
 
 Lastly, let me remind those who find such gratifica-
 
 8 OEY OP THE BAT. 
 
 tion in destroying, that the word " Destroyer " is in the 
 Greek language " Apollyon." 
 
 As we do not intend to treat of the dead and dried 
 bodies of animals, but of their active life, we return to 
 our bat flitting in the evening dusk, and, instead of 
 shooting him, watch his proceedings. 
 
 Every creature is made for happiness, and receives 
 happiness according to its capacity ; and it is very 
 wrong to suppose that because we should be miserable 
 if we led the life of a vulture, or sloth, or a bat, 
 therefore those creatures are miserable. In truth, the 
 vulture is attracted to and feels its greatest gratification 
 in those substances which would drive us away with 
 averted eyes and stopped nostrils. The sloth is, on the 
 authority of Watertou, quite a jovial beast, and any- 
 thing but slothful when in his proper place ; and as for 
 the bat, it sings for very joy. True, the song is not 
 very melodious, neither is that of the swift, or the pea- 
 cock, nor, perhaps, that of the Cochin-China fowl, but it 
 is nevertheless a song from the abundance of the heart. 
 
 There are many human ears that are absolutely in- 
 capable of perceiving the cry of the bat, so keen and 
 sharp is the note ; a very razor's-edge of sound. 
 
 More than once I have been standing in a field over 
 which bats were flying in multitudes, filling the air 
 almost oppressively with their sharp needle-like cries. 
 Yet my companion, who was a musician, theoretically
 
 CRY OP THE BAT. 9 
 
 and practically, was unable to hear a sound, and could 
 not for some time believe* me when I spoke of the noisy 
 little creatures above. 
 
 The sound bears some resemblance to that produced 
 by a slate-pencil when held perpendicularly in writing 
 on the slate, only the bat's cry is several octaves more 
 acute. I never but once heard the sound correctly 
 imitated, and that was done by a graceless urchin, 
 during a long sermon, one Sunday morning. He had 
 contrived to arrange two keys in such a manner, that, 
 when grated over each other, they produced a squeak- 
 ing sound that exactly resembled the cry uttered by 
 the bat. So, by judicious management of his keys, he 
 kept the congregation on the look-out for the bat, and 
 beguiled the time much to his satisfaction. 
 
 Of so piercing and peculiar a nature is the cry, 
 that it gives no clue to the position or distance of the 
 creature that utters it, and it seems to proceed indis- 
 criminately from any portion of the air towards which 
 the attention happens to be directed. The note of 
 the grasshopper lark possesses somewhat of the same 
 quality. 
 
 Even in confinement the bat is an interesting creature, 
 and discovers certain traits of character and peculiarities 
 of habit which in its wild state cannot be seen. I might 
 here refer to several stories of domesticated and tamed 
 bats j but as they have already been given to the world.
 
 10 BAT-CATCHING. 
 
 and my space is limited, I prefer to give my own ex- 
 periences. 
 
 Not long ago, I received a message from a neigh- 
 bouring grocer, requesting me to capture a bat which 
 had flown into the shop, and which no one dared 
 tou.ch. 
 
 When I arrived, the creature had taken refuge on an 
 upper shelf, and had crawled among a pile of sugar- 
 loaves that were lying on their sides after the usual 
 custom. We pulled out several loaves near the spot 
 where the bat was last seen, and by casting a strong 
 light from a bull's eye lantern, discovered a little black 
 object snugly ensconced at the very back of the shelf. 
 
 I pushed my hand towards the spot, but for some 
 time could not seize the creature, as it was so tightly 
 packed, and squeezed into a corner. At last the bat 
 gave a flap with one of the wings, which I caught, and 
 so gently drew my prisoner forwards. 
 
 He was a brave little fellow, as well as discreet, and 
 bit savagely at my fingers. However, his little tiny 
 teeth could not do much damage, and I put him into a 
 cage which I brought with me. 
 
 The cage was originally made for the reception of 
 mice, and was of a rude character the back and ends 
 being of wood and the front of wire. In a very few 
 minutes after his entrance into tihe cage, the bat climbed 
 up the wooden back, by hitching his claws into the
 
 BAT'S EARS. . 11 
 
 slight inequalities of the wood, and there hung sus- 
 pended, head downwards. 
 
 When so placed, his aspect was curious enough. 
 The claws of the hind legs being fixed into a creTice, 
 so as to bear the weight of the body, the wings were 
 then extended to their utmost, and suddenly wrapped' 
 round the body. At the same time the large ears were 
 folded back under the wings and protected by them, 
 the orifice of the ear itself being guarded in a very 
 singular manner. 
 
 If the reader will refer to the figure of the bat on 
 page 4, he will see that inside the great ear is a 
 sharply-pointed membrane, somewhat resembling a 
 second ear. This membrane is called the "tragus" 
 and when the large ears are tucked away out of sight, 
 the tragus remains exposed, and gives the creature a 
 very strange appearance. 
 
 When the bat is living, the ears are of singular 
 beauty. Their substance is delicate, and semi-trans- 
 parent if viewed against the light ; so much so, indeed 
 that by the aid of a microscope the circulation of the 
 blood can be detected. As the creature moves about, 
 the ears are continually in motion, being thrown 
 into graceful and ever-changing curves. If people 
 only knew what a pretty pet the Long-eared Bat can 
 become, they would soon banish dormice and similar 
 creatures in favour of bats.
 
 12 - MODE OF FEEDING. 
 
 It was rather a remarkable circumstance, that the 
 bat of which I have just been speaking would not touch 
 a fly, although one which I had in my possession some 
 ten years since would eat flies and other insects readily. 
 Whenever it took the insect, it daintily ate up the 
 abdomen and thorax, rejecting the head, wings, and 
 legs. But my second bat entirely refused insects of 
 any kind, and would eat nothing but raw beef cut up 
 into very small morsels. I never had a pet so difficult 
 to feed or so dainty. 
 
 If the meat were not perfectly fresh, or if it were not 
 cut small enough, the bat would hardly look at it. 
 Now if a bit of raw meat about the size of a large pin's 
 head be placed in the air, a few minutes will dry and 
 harden its exterior ; and when this was the case, my 
 bat did not even notice it. So I had to make twenty 
 or more attempts daily, before the creature would 
 condescend to take any food. 
 
 When, however, it did eat, its mode of so doing was 
 remarkable enough. It seized the meat with a sharp 
 snap, retreated to the middle of the cage, sat upright 
 as in the engraving already alluded to thrust its 
 wings forward to form a kind of tent, and then, lower- 
 ing its head under its wings, disposed of the meat 
 unseen. 
 
 From the movement of the neck and upper portion 
 of the head, it would be seen that the creature ate the
 
 MODE OP FEEDING. 13 
 
 meat much after the mariner of a cat ; that is, by a 
 series of snaps or pecks ; for the teeth are all sharply 
 pointed, and have no power of grinding the food. 
 These teeth can be seen in the accompanying sketch of 
 a bat's skull. 
 
 In many parts of England, the 
 bats are called " Flitter-mice," and 
 are thought to be simply mice plus 
 wings. This opinion has been 
 formed from the resemblance between the general 
 shape, and especially that of the fur, of the two 
 animals. But if we look at the teeth, we find at 
 once that those of the bat are sharp and pointed, 
 extending tolerably equally all round the jaw-bone ; 
 while the teeth of the mice are of that chisel-shaped 
 character found in the rabbit and other rodent 
 animals. 
 
 Now if we turn to the fur, and examine it with a 
 microscope, we shall there find characteristics as decided 
 as those of the teeth. 
 
 On the next page is the magnified image of a single 
 hair, taken' from the Long-eared Bat. It will be seen 
 that the outline of the hair is deeply cut, and the mark- 
 ings run in a double line. These markings and outlines 
 are caused by the structure of the hair, which is covered 
 with a regular series of scales adhering but loosely to 
 its exterior. These scales can be removed by rough
 
 14: HAIR OP BAT AND MOUSE. 
 
 handling, and therefore the aspect of the hair can be 
 much altered. 
 
 Let us now take a hair from the common mouse, and 
 place it under the microscope. This being done, we 
 find the result to be as shown in the accompanying cut. 
 
 The two objects here shown are two portions of the 
 same hair ; the upper one showing the middle of the 
 hair, and the lower being taken from a portion nearer 
 the root. Both these specimens were taken by myself 
 from the animals, and drawn by myself by means of the 
 Camei-a Lucida, so that they are to be depended on. 
 
 To return to my caged bat. 
 
 Although it did not do much in the eating way, it 
 frequently came to the water vessel and drank there- 
 from ; but it was so timid when drinking, that I could 
 not see whether it lapped or drank. When disturbed, 
 it used to scuttle away over the floor, in a most absurd 
 manner, but with some speed. Sometimes it tried to
 
 OP THE BAT. 15 
 
 drink by crawling to a spot just over the vessel, and 
 lowering itself until its nose was within reach of the 
 water ; but the distance was too great for the attempt 
 to be successful. In its wild state, the bat hunts 
 insects, as they hover over the surface of water, and 
 drinks as it flies, by dipping its head in the water while 
 on the wing. 
 
 I rather think that my bat must have received some 
 injury from the brooms and caps that were aimed at 
 it when it entered the shop, for it only lived a fortnight 
 or so, and one morning I found it hanging by its hind 
 claws from the roof of the cage, quite dead. 
 
 I believe that bats generally die while thus suspended, 
 for it is a very common thing to find plenty of sus- 
 pended bats, dry and mummified, when entrance is made 
 into an unfrequented cave, or a hollow tree cut down, or 
 indeed when any bat-haunted spot is examined. 
 
 In speaking of the bat, I have used popular terms, 
 and therefore have employed the word " wing." But 
 the apparatus of the bat is not a wing at all, but only 
 a developed hand. Let the reader spread his hand as 
 wide as he can, and he will see that between each finger, 
 and especially between the forefinger and the thumb, 
 the skin forms a kind of webbing, something of the 
 same kind as that on the feet of ducks and other aquatic 
 birds. 
 
 Now if the bones of the fingers were drawn out like
 
 J6 WING OF THE BAT. 
 
 wire until they became some seven or eight feet long, 
 and the skin between them were extended to the nails 
 of the elongated fingers, we should have a structure 
 analogous to that of the bat's wing. The thumb joint 
 is left comparatively free ; and by means of this joint, 
 and the hooked claw at its extremity, the creature 
 walks on a level surface, or can crawl suspended from a 
 beam or a trunk. It is very curious to see the bat 
 stretching out its wings and feeling about for a con- 
 venient spot whereon to fix the hooks. 
 
 So tenacious are these hooks, that the baby bat is 
 often found enjoying an airing by clinging to the body 
 of its mother, and holding firm, while she flies in search 
 af prey. 
 
 It is true that the little creature is suspended with 
 its head downwards ; but it appears quite comfortable, 
 nevertheless. Bat-children do not suffer from determi- 
 nation of the blood to the brain. Neither do cei-tain 
 human children, it seems, if we are to take as a criterion 
 those whom we see hanging half out of perambulators, 
 fast asleep, and rolling from side to side with every 
 movement of the vehicle. 
 
 Both my bats were very particular, not to say 
 finicking, about their personal appearance. They 
 bestowed much time and pains on the combing of 
 their fur, and specially seemed to value a straight 
 parting down the back.
 
 FIELD-MOUSE. 17 
 
 It was most interesting to watch the little thing 
 parting its hair. The claw was drawn in a line straight 
 from the top of the head to the very tail, and the 
 fur parted at each side with a dexterity worthy of an 
 accomplished lady's-maid. The same habit has been 
 observed in other bats that have been tamed. 
 
 There are more than twenty British bats, but the 
 habits of all are very similar; and so I prefer to take 
 the prettiest, and having described it, to leave the re- 
 maining species for a future occasion. 
 
 Pass we now from the Flittermouse to the Mouse. 
 
 In the fields, in the farm-yards, in the barns, and in 
 the ricks are to be found myriads of certain little 
 animals called Field-mice. Acting on the principle that 
 T have just laid down, I shall take the most common and 
 I think the prettiest species the Common Short-tailed 
 Field-mouse, represented on next page. 
 
 The fur of this creature is strongly tinged with red, 
 and by its colour alone it is easily to be distinguished 
 from the common grey or brown mouse. Its tail is 
 short and stumpy, looking as if it had suffered ampu- 
 tation at an early period of life, and its nose is more 
 rounded than that of the common mouse. Indeed, it 
 has a very bluff and farmer-like aspect, and looks 
 as if it ought to wear top-boots. 
 
 Common as these little creatures arj, they are seldom 
 seen, because they keep themselves so close to the 

 
 18 
 
 ITS STEALTHY MOVEMENTS. 
 
 ground, and assimilate so nearly with it in colour, that 
 they cannot easily be descried among the grass stalks, 
 under shelter of which they pursue their noiseless way. 
 Their speed is not nearly so great as that of the 
 house-mice, but they are much more difficult to catch ; 
 for they wind among the grass so lithely, and pi-ess 
 upon the earth so closely, that the fingers cannot readily 
 close on them, even when they are discovered. 
 
 SHOKT-TilLED Fi: 
 
 From this facility of avoiding observation and cap- 
 ture, they seem to derive much audacity, and run about 
 a field in fear of nothing but the kestrel. 
 
 When first I made a personal acquaintance with 
 these creatures, it was under rather peculiar circum- 
 stances. There is a certain field, which was given up 
 to football, cricket, hockey, and similar games, as soon
 
 NUMBERS OF THE FIELD-MOUSE. 19 
 
 
 
 as the grass was converted into hay and removed. One 
 day I was very tired with running, and lay down to 
 rest on a pile of coats that had been laid aside; my 
 eyes were fixed on one spot of earth, just visible be- 
 tween the grass stalks, but without any particular 
 object. Presently I thought I saw a something red 
 glide across the spot, but was not certain. However, 
 I leaned over the place, and a little farther on saw the 
 same thing again. So I made a sharp pounce at the 
 object, and found that I had caught a short-tailed 
 field-mouse. 
 
 Now here was this impertinent little animal taking 
 a walk close to the wicket, in spite of the bats, ball, 
 and runners. In order to watch its proceedings, I 
 released it, and followed it in its progress. After 
 watching for a few minutes, I happened to look up for 
 a moment ; and when I again looked for the creature, 
 it was gone, and I could not find it again. 
 
 Subsequently I became sufficiently expert to find 
 them whenever I wished ; and if I wanted a field-mouse, 
 seldom had to examine more than a square yard of 
 ground without finding one. 
 
 They are very injurious little creatures, for they are 
 not content with eating corn, but nibble the young 
 shootb of various plants, and sometimes strip young 
 trees of their bark. , 
 
 Fortunately we have allies in air and on earth, in the 
 02
 
 20 DEPREDATIONS OF FIELD MICE. 
 
 persons of owls and kestrels, stoats and weasels, or the 
 damage done by these red-skinned marauders would be 
 more than serious. 
 
 borne idea of the damage that may be done by the 
 aggregate numbers of these small quadrupeds may be 
 formed from the fact, that in Dean Forest and the New 
 Forest great numbers of holly plants were entirely 
 destroyed by them, they having eaten off the bark for 
 a distance of several inches from the ground. And 
 other trees were favoured with the notice of the field- 
 mice, but in a different mode. Great numbers of oak 
 and chestnuts were found dead, and pulled up ; and 
 when pulled up, it was seen that their roots had been 
 gnawed through, about two inches below the level of the 
 ground. 
 
 Various modes of destroying the marauders were put 
 in practice, such as traps, poison, &c., but the most 
 effectual was, as effectual things generally are, the most 
 simple. 
 
 A great number of holes were dug in the ground, 
 about two feet long, eighteen inches wide, and eighteen 
 inches deep. This is the measurement at the bottom 
 of the hole ; but at the top the hole was only eighteen 
 inches long and nine wide, so that when mice fell into 
 it, they were unable to escape. 
 
 In these holes upwards of forty thousand mice were 
 taken in less than three months, irrespective of those
 
 HARVEST-MOUSE. 21 
 
 that were removed from the holes by the stoats, 
 weasels, crows, magpies, owls, and other creatures. 
 
 Like most of the mouse family, the field-mouse is 
 easily tamed : and I have seen one that would come to 
 the side of its cage, and take a grain of corn from its 
 owner's fingers. 
 
 There is another kind of mouse which may be found 
 in the autumn, together with its most curious nest. This 
 is the Harvest-mouse, the tiniest of British quadrupeds, 
 two harvest-mice being hardly equal in weight to a 
 halfpenny. 
 
 HAKTXST-MCUftX. 
 
 The chief point of interest in this little creature is 
 its nest, which is not unfrequently found by mowers 
 and haymakers when they choose to exert their eyes. 
 
 One of these nests, that was brought to me by a
 
 22 WATER-RAT. 
 
 mower, was about the size of a cricket ball, and almost 
 as spherical. It was composed of dried grass-stems, 
 interwoven with each other in a manner equally inge- 
 nioi.is and perplexing. It was hollow, without even 
 a vestige of an entrance ; and the substance was so thin 
 that every object would be visible through the walls. 
 How it was made to retain its spherical form, and how 
 the mice were to find ingress and egress, I could not 
 even imagine. The nest was fastened to two strong and 
 coarse stems of grass that had grown near a ditch, and 
 had overgrown themselves in consequence o f a super- 
 abundance of nourishment. 
 
 If we walk along the bank of a stream or a pond, we 
 shall probably hear a splash, and looking in its direc- 
 tion, may see a creature diving or swimming, which 
 creature we call a Water-rat ; to the title of Rat, 
 however, it has but little right, and ought properly to be 
 railed the "Water-vole." 
 
 On examining the banks we shall find the entrance to 
 its domicile, being a hole in the earth, just above the
 
 la
 
 WATER-RAT. 23 
 
 water, and generally, where possible, made just under 
 a root or a large stone. Sometimes the hole is made 
 at some height above the water, and then it often 
 happens that the kingfisher takes possession, and there 
 makes its home. Whether it ejects the rat or not I 
 cannot say, but I should think that it is quite capable 
 of doing so. Many a time I have seen the entrance to 
 a rat-hole decorated with a few stray fish-bones, which 
 the rustics told me were the relics of fish brought there 
 and eaten by the water-rat. But I soon found out that 
 fish-bones were a sign of kingfishers, and not of rats ; 
 and so guided, found plenty of the beautiful eggs of 
 this beautiful bird. Excepting the eggs of swallows 
 and martins, I hardly know any so delicately beautiful 
 as those of the kingfisher, with their slight rose tint 
 and semi-transparent shell. But, alas! when the in- 
 terior of the egg is removed, the pearly pinkiness 
 vanishes, and the shell becomes of a pure white, very 
 pretty, but not containing a tithe of its former beauty. 
 
 The piscatorial propensities of the kingfisher are not 
 the only cause of the slanderous reports concerning the 
 water-vole, and its crime of killing and eating fish. The 
 common house-rat often frequents the water-side; and, 
 it being a great flesh-eater, certainly does catch and eat 
 the fish. 
 
 But the water-rat is a vegetable feeder, and I believe 
 almost, if not entirely, a vegetarian in diet. That it ia
 
 24 AN INNOCENT VICTIM. 
 
 so in individual cases, at all events, I can personally 
 testify, having seen the creature engaged in eating. 
 
 In former days, when I thought the water-rats ate 
 fish, I waged war against them, for which warfare there 
 are great facilities at Oxford. However, a circumstance 
 occurred which showed me that I had been wrong. 
 
 I saw a water-rat sitting on a kind of raft that had 
 formed from a bundle of reeds which had been cut and 
 were floating down the river. Seeing it busily at work 
 feeding, I took it for granted that it was eating a cap- 
 tured fish, and shot it accordingly, stretching it dead 
 o'j its reed raft. 
 
 Oa rowing up to the spot, I was rather surprised to 
 find that there was no fish there ; and on examining the 
 reeds, I rather wondered at the regular grooves cut by 
 my shot. But a closer inspection revealed a very 
 different state of things ; namely, that the poor dead rat 
 was quite innocent of fish eating, and had been gnawing 
 the green bark from the reeds, the grooves being the 
 marks left by its teeth. After this I gave up rat 
 shooting on principle. 
 
 Once, though, a rather curious circumstance occurred. 
 
 In my possession was a pet pistol, which would throw 
 a ball with great accuracy, and I considered myself sure 
 of an apple at sixteen paces. One day, just as I was 
 standing by a branch of the river Cherwell, I saw a 
 water-rat sitting on the root of a tree at the opposite
 
 A BAD SHOT. 25 
 
 side of the river, and watching me closely. The river 
 was not above twelve or fourteen yards wide; and the 
 rat presented so good a mai'k that I fired at him, and 
 of course expected to see him on his back. 
 
 But there sat the rat, quite still on the stump, and 
 about two inches below him the round hole where the 
 bullet had struck. 
 
 As the creature seemed determined to stay there, 
 I reloaded, and took a good aim, determined to make 
 sure of him. As the smoke cleared away, I had the 
 satisfaction of seeing the rat in exactly the same posi- 
 tion, and another bullet-hole close by the former. Four 
 shots I made at that provoking animal, and four bullets 
 did I deposit just under him. As I was reloading for 
 a fifth shot, the rat walked calmly down the stump, 
 slid into the water, and departed. 
 
 Now, whether he acted from sheer impertinence, or 
 whether he was stunned by the violent blow beneath 
 him, I cannot say. The latter may perhaps be the case, 
 for squirrels are killed in North America by the shock 
 of the bullet against the bough on which they sit, so 
 that no hole is made in their skins, and the fur receives 
 no damage. Perhaps the rat was actuated by a supreme 
 contempt for rue and my shooting powers ; and, as the 
 result showed, was quite justified in his opinion.
 
 26 SHKEW-KOUaK. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SHREW-MOUSE DERIVATION OF ITS NAME SHREW- ASH THE SPIRIT. 
 AND THE LIFE WATER-SHREW ITS HABITS THE MOLE MOLE- 
 HILL A PET MOLE THE WEASEL. 
 
 I HAVE already mentioned that the water-rat has little 
 claim to the title of rat ; and there is another creature 
 which has even less claim to the title of mouse. This 
 is the Shrew, or Shrew-mouse, as it is generally called. 
 
 This creature bears a very close relationship to the 
 hedgehog, and is a distant connexion of the mole ; but 
 with the mouse it has nothing to do. 
 
 Numbers of the shrews may be found towards the 
 end of the autumn lying dead on the ground, from 
 some cause at present not perfectly ascertained. If 
 one of these dead shrews be taken, and its little mouth
 
 DERIVATION OF ITS NAME. 27 
 
 opened, an array of sharply-pointed teeth will be seen, 
 something like those of the mole, very like those of 
 the hedgehog ; but not at all resembling those of the 
 mouse. 
 
 The shrew is an insect and worm-devouring creature, 
 for which purpose its jaws, teeth, and whole structure 
 are framed. A rather powerful scent is diffused from 
 the shrew ; and probably on that account cats will 
 not eat a shrew, though they will kill it eagerly. 
 
 On examining Webster's Dictionary for the meaning 
 of the word " shrew," we find three things. 
 
 Firstly, that it signifies "a peevish, brawling, tur- 
 bulent, vexatious woman." 
 
 Secondly, that it signifies " a shrew-mouse." 
 
 Thirdly, that it is derived from a Saxon word, 
 " screawa? a combination of letters which defies any 
 attempt at pronunciation, except perhaps by a Russian 
 or a Welchman. 
 
 Now, it may be a matter of wonder that the same 
 word should be used to represent the very unpleasant 
 female above-mentioned and also such a pretty, harm- 
 less little creature as the shrew. The reason is shortly 
 as follows. 
 
 In days not long gone by, the shrew was considered 
 a most poisonous creature, as may be seen in the works 
 of many authors. In the time of Katherine the shrew 
 most celebrated of all shrews any cow or horse that
 
 28 THE SHREW-ASH. 
 
 was attacked with cramp, or indeed with any sudden 
 disease, was supposed to have suffered in consequence 
 of a shrew running over the injured part. In those 
 days homoeopathic remedies were generally resorted to; 
 and nothing but a shrew-infected plant could cure a 
 shrew-infected animal. And the shrew-ash, as the 
 remedial plant was called, was prepared in the following 
 manner. 
 
 In the stem of an ash-tree a hole was bored ; into 
 the hole a poor shrew was thrust alive, and the orifice 
 immediately closed with a wooden plug. The animal 
 strength of the shrew passed by absorption into the 
 substance of the tree, which ever after cured shrew- 
 struck animals by the touch of a leafy branch. 
 
 The poor creature that was imprisoned, Ariel-like, in 
 the tree, was, fortunately for itself, not gifted with 
 Ariel's powers of life ; and the orifice of the hole being 
 closed by the plug, we may hope that its sufferings 
 were not long, and that it perished immediately for 
 want of air. Still, our fathers were terribly and deli- 
 berately cruel ; and if the shrew's death was a merciful 
 one, no credit is due to the authors of it. 
 
 For on looking through a curious work on natural 
 history, of the date of 1658, where each animal is 
 treated of medicinally, I find recipes of such terrible 
 cruelty that I refrain from giving them, simply out of 
 tenderness for the feelings of my reader. Torture seems
 
 THE SPIRIT AND THE LIFE. 29 
 
 to be a necessary medium of healing ; and if a man 
 suffers from " the black and melancholy cholic," or " any 
 pain and grief in the winde-pipe or throat," he can 
 only be eased therefrom by medicines prepared from 
 some -wretched animal in modes too horrid to narrate, 
 or even to think of. 
 
 We are not quite so bad at the present day; but 
 still no one with moderate feelings of compassion can 
 pass through our streets without being greatly shocked 
 at the wanton cruelties practised by human beings on 
 *hose creatures that were intended for their use, but 
 not as mere machines. Charitably, we may hope that 
 such persons act from thoughtlessness, and not from 
 deliberate cruelty; for it does really seem a new idea 
 to many people that the inferior animals have any 
 feelings at all. 
 
 When a horse does not go fast enough to please the 
 driver, he flogs it on the same principle that he would 
 turn on steam to a locomotive engine, thinking about 
 as much of the feelings of one as of the other. 
 
 Much of the present heedlessness respecting animals 
 is caused by the popular idea that they have no souls, 
 and tha>. when they die they entirely perish. Whence 
 came that most preposterous idea ? Surely not from 
 the only source where we might expect to learn about 
 souls not from the Bible ; for there we distinctly read 
 of "the spirit of the sous of man;" and immediately
 
 30 THE LAW OF KINDNESS. 
 
 afterwards of " the spirit of the beast," one aspiring, 
 and the other not so. And the necessary consequence 
 of the spirit is a life after the death of the body. Let 
 any one wait in a frequented thoroughfare for only one 
 short hour, and watch the sufferings of the poor brutea 
 that pass by. Then, unless he denies the Divine Pro- 
 vidence, he will see clearly that unless these poor 
 creatures were compensated in another life, there is no 
 such quality as justice. 
 
 It is owing to sayings such as these, that men come 
 to deny an all-ruling Providence, and so become in- 
 fidels. They don't examine the Scriptures for them- 
 selves ; but take for granted the assertions of those 
 who assume to have done so ; and seeing the falsity of 
 the assertion, naturally deduce therefrom the falsity of 
 its source. If a man brings me a cup of putrid water, 
 I naturally conclude that the source is putrid too. And 
 when a man hears horrible and cruel doctrines, which 
 are asserted by theologians to be the religion of the 
 Scriptures, it is no wonder that he turns with disgust 
 from such a religion, and tries to find rest in infidelity. 
 In such a case, where is the fault ? 
 
 All created things in which there is life, must live for 
 ever. There is only one life, and all living things only 
 live as being recipients ; so that as that life is immor- 
 tality, all its recipients are immortal. 
 
 If people only knew how much better an animal
 
 THE LAW OP KINDNESS. 31 
 
 will work when kindly treated, they would act kindly 
 towards it, even from so low a motive. And it is so 
 easy to lead these animals by kindness, which will often 
 induce an obstinate creature to obey where the whip 
 would only confirm it in its obstinacy. All cruelty is 
 simply diabolical, and can in no way be justified. 
 
 Supposing that the two cases could be reversed for 
 just one hour, what a wonderful change there would be 
 in the opinion of men ; for it may be assumed that the 
 person most given to inflicting pain and suffering is the 
 least tolerant of it himself. 
 
 There is, perhaps, hardly one of my readers who 
 does not know some one person who finds an exquisite 
 delight in hurting the feelings of others by various 
 means, such as ridicule, practical jokes, ill-natured say- 
 ings, and so on. If so, he will be tolerably certain to 
 find that the same person is especially thin-skinned 
 himself, and resents the least approach to a joke of 
 which he is the subject. 
 
 So, if the shrew were to be the afflicted individual, 
 and the human the victim, there would be found no 
 one so averse to the medicinal process as he who had 
 formerly resorted to it under different circumstances. 
 
 This principle is finely carried out, in the terrible 
 scene of Dennis, the executioner's, last hours, in 
 " Barnaby Budge." 
 
 These are not pleasant subjects ; and we will pass on
 
 32 THE WATER SHREW. 
 
 to another shrew that is generally found in the water, 
 and called from thence the Water-shrew. It is a crea- 
 
 ture that may be found in many running streams, if 
 the eyes are sharp enough to observe it, and is well 
 worth examination. As it dives ani runs along the 
 bottom of the stream, it appears to be studded with 
 tiny silver beads, or glittering pearls, on account of the 
 air-bubbles that adhere to its fur. I have seen a whole 
 colony of them disporting themselves in a little brook- 
 let not two feet wide, and so had a good opportunity 
 of inspecting them. 
 
 I may mention here, as has been done in one or two 
 other works, that nothing is easier than to watch 
 animals or birds in their state of liberty. All that is 
 required is perfect quiet. If an observer just sits down 
 ^t the foot of a tree, and does not move, the most timid 
 creatures will come within a few yards as freely as if 
 no human being were within a mile. If he can shroud 
 himself in branches or grass, or fern, so much the 
 better j but quiet is the chief essential.
 
 THIB MOLE. 33 
 
 It is impossible to form an idea of the real beauty of 
 animal life, without seeing it displayed in a free and 
 unconstrained state ; and more real knowledge of 
 natural history will be gained in a single summer 
 spent in personal examination, than by years of book 
 study. 
 
 The characters of creatures come out so strongly; 
 they have such quaint comical little ways with them ; 
 such assumptions of dignity and sudden lowering of 
 the same ; such clever little cheateries ; such funny 
 flirtations and coquetries, that I have many a time for- 
 gotten myself, and burst into a laugh that scattered my 
 little friends for the next half-hour. It is far better 
 than a play, and one gets the fresh air besides. 
 
 These little water-shrews are most active in their 
 sports and their work, for which latter purpose they 
 make regular paths along the banks. And as to their 
 sport, they chase one another in and out of the water, 
 making as great a splash as possible, whisk round 
 roots, dodge behind stones, and act altogether just like 
 a set of boys let loose from the school-room. And then 
 what a revulsion of feeling to see a stuffed water- 
 shrew in a glass-case ! 
 
 Now for a few words respecting the distant relation 
 of the shrews, namely, the mole. Of its near relation, 
 the hedgehog, there will not be time to speak. 
 
 Every one is familiar with the little heaps of earth 
 D
 
 34 MOLE'S PUR. 
 
 thrown up by the mole, aud called mole-hills. But as 
 the animal itself lives almost entirely underground, 
 comparatively little is known of it j at all events, to 
 the generality of those who see the hills. The mole is 
 uot often seen alive ; and few who see it suspended 
 among the branches by the professional killer would 
 form any conception of the real character of this sub- 
 terranean animal. 
 
 Meek arid quiet as the mole looks, it is one of the 
 fiercest, if not the very fiercest, of animals ; it labours, 
 eats, fights, and loves as if animated by one of the 
 furies, or rather by all of them together. 
 
 Intervals of profound rest alternate with savage 
 action ; and, according to the accounts of country folks 
 near Oxford, it works and rests at regular intervals of 
 three hours each. 
 
 Useful as these creatures are as subsoil drain-makers, 
 they sometimes increase to an inconvenient extent, and 
 then the professed mole-catcher comes into practice, 
 and destroys the moles with an apparatus apparently
 
 MOLE-HILL. 36 
 
 inadequate to such a purpose. But the mole is easily 
 killed, and pressure he cannot survive ; so the traps are 
 formed for the purpose of squeezing the mole, not of 
 smashing or strangling him. 
 
 The mole- catchers are in the habit of suspending 
 then- victims on branches, mostly of the willow or 
 similar trees ; but their object I never could make out, 
 nor could they give me any reason, except that it was 
 the custom* 
 
 When a mole is taken out of the ground, very little 
 earth clings to it. There is always some on its great 
 digging claws ; but very little indeed on its fur, which 
 is beautifully formed to prevent such accumulation. 
 The fur of most animals " sets " in some definite direc- 
 tion, according to its position on the body ; but that of 
 the mole has no particular set, and is fixed almost per- 
 pendicularly on the creature's skin, much like the pile 
 of velvet. Indeed the mole's fur has much the feel of 
 silk- velvet ; and so the title of the " Little gentleman in 
 the velvet coat" is justly applied. 
 
 Those small heaps of earth that are so common in 
 the fields, and called mole-hills, are merely the result 
 of the mole's travelling in search of the earth-worms, 
 on which it principally feeds ; and in their structure 
 there is nothing remarkable. 
 
 But the great mole-hill, or mole -palace, in which 
 the animal makes its residence, is a very different affair, 
 D2
 
 36 MOLE DIET. 
 
 and complicated in its structure. In it is found a cen- 
 tral chamber, in which the mole resides ; and round 
 this chamber there run galleries or corridors in a re- 
 gular series, so as to form a kind of labyrinth, by means 
 of which the creature may make its escape, if threatened 
 with danger. 
 
 The accompanying cut shows the section of the 
 mole-palace. 
 
 MOLE-HILL 
 
 This palace is formed, if possible, under the protec- 
 tion of large stones, roots of trees, thick bushes, or 
 some such situation ; and is located as far as possible 
 from paths or roads. 
 
 The food of the mole mostly consists of earthworms, 
 in search of which it drives these tunnels with such 
 assiduity. The depth of the tunnel is necessarily 
 regulated by the position of the worms ; so that in 
 warm pleasant days or evenings the run, as it is called, 
 is within a few inches of the surface ; but in winter the 
 worms retire deeply into the unfrozen soil, and thither 
 the mole must follow them. For this purpose it sinks 
 perpendicular shafts, and from thence drives horizontal
 
 A PET MOLE. 37 
 
 tunnels. It may be seen, how useful this provision is, 
 when one thinks of the work that is done by the mole 
 when providing for its own sustenance. 
 
 Iii the cold months, it drives deeply into the ground, 
 thereby draining it, and preventing the roots of plants 
 from becoming sodden by the retention of water above : 
 and the earth is brought from below, where it was 
 useless, and, with all its properties inexhausted by crops, 
 is laid on the surface, there to be frozen, the particles 
 to be forced asunder by the icy particles with which it 
 is filled, and, after the thaw, to be vivified by the 
 oxygen of the atmosphere, and made ready for the 
 reception of seeds. 
 
 The worms have a mission of a similar nature ; but 
 their tunnels are smaller, and so are their hills. Every 
 floriculturist knows how useful for certain plants are 
 the little heaps of earth left by the worms at the en- 
 trance of their holes. And by the united exertions of 
 moles and worms, a new surface is made to the earth, 
 even without the intervention of human labour. 
 
 Among other pets, I have had a mole rather a 
 strange pet, one may say ; but I rather incline to pets, 
 and have numbered among them creatures that are not 
 generally petted snakes, to wit but which are very 
 interesting creatures, notwithstanding. 
 
 Being very desirous of watching the mole in its 
 living state, I directed a professional catcher to procure
 
 38 ESCAPE OP THE PET. 
 
 one alive, if possible ; and after awhile the animal was 
 produced. At first there was some difficulty in finding 
 a proper place in which to keep a creature so fond of 
 digging; but the difficulty was surmounted by pro- 
 curing a tub, and filling it half full of earth. 
 
 In this tub the mole was placed, and instantly sank 
 below the surface of the earth. It was fed by placing 
 large quantities of earth-worms or grubs in the cask ; 
 and the number of worms that this single mole de- 
 voured was quite surprising. 
 
 As far as regards actual inspection, this arrangement 
 was useless ; for the mole never would show itself, and 
 when it was wanted for observation, it had to be dug 
 up. But many opportunities for investigating its man- 
 ners were afforded by taking it from its tub, and letting 
 it run on a hard surface, such as a gravel-walk. 
 
 There it used to run with some speed, continually 
 grubbing with its long and powerful snout, trying to 
 discover a spot sufficiently soft for a tunnel. More than 
 once it did succeed in partially burying itself, and had 
 to be dragged out again, at the risk of personal damage. 
 At last it contrived to slip over the side of the gravel- 
 walk, and, finding a patch of soft mould, sank with a 
 rapidity that seemed the effect of magic. Spades were 
 put in requisition ; but a mole is more than a match for 
 a spade, and the pet mole was never seen more. 
 
 I was by no means pleased at the escape of my
 
 THIRSTINESS OP THE MOLE. 39 
 
 prisoner ; but there was one person more displeased than 
 myself namely, the gardener : for he, seeing in the far 
 perspective of the future a mole running wild in the 
 garden, disfiguring his lawn and destroying his seed- 
 beds, was extremely exasperated, and could by no 
 blandishments be pacified. 
 
 However, his fears and anxieties were all in vain, as 
 is often the case with such matters, and a mole-heap 
 was never seen in the garden. We therefore concluded 
 that the creature must have burrowed under the garden 
 wall, and so have got away. 
 
 Sometimes the fur of the mole takes other tints 
 besides that greyish black that is worn by most moles. 
 There are varieties where the fur is of an orange colour ; 
 and I have in my own possession a skin of a light 
 cream colour. 
 
 A perpetual thirst seems to be on the mole, for it 
 never chooses a locality at any great distance from 
 water; and should the season turn out too dry, and the 
 necessary supply of water be thus diminished or cut off, 
 the mole counteracts the drought by digging wells, until 
 it comes to a depth at which water is found. 
 
 I should like to say something of the Hedgehog, the 
 Stoat, and other wild animals ; but I must only take 
 one more example of the British Mammalia, the com- 
 mon Weasel. 
 
 Gifted with a lithe and almost snake-like body, a
 
 40 THE WEASEL. 
 
 long and yet powerful neck, and with a set of shnrp 
 teeth, this little quadruped attacks and destroys animals 
 which are as superior to itself in size as on elephant to 
 a dog. 
 
 Small men are generally the most pugnacious, and 
 the same circumstance is noted of small animals. The 
 weasel, although sufficiently discreet when discretion 
 will serve its purpose, is ever ready to lay down that 
 part of valour, and take up the other. 
 
 Many instances are known of attacks on man by 
 weasels, and in every case they proved to be dangerous 
 enemies. They can spring to a great distance, they can 
 climb almost anything, and are as active as weasels ; 
 for there is hardly any other animal so active : their 
 audacity is irrepressible, and their bite is fierce and 
 deep. So, when five or six weasels unite in one attack, 
 it may be imagined that their opponent has no trifling 
 combat before him before he can claim the victory. In 
 such attacks, they invariably direct their efforts to the 
 throat, whether their antagonist be man or beast.
 
 IMPERTINENCE OP A WEASEL. 4 1 
 
 They feed upon various animals, chiefly those of the 
 smaller sort, and especially affect mice ; so that they do 
 much service to the farmer. There is no benefit with- 
 out its drawbacks ; and in this case, the benefits which 
 the weasel confers on farmers by mouse-eating is coun- 
 terbalanced, in some degree, by a practice on the part 
 of the weasel of varying its mouse diet by an occasional 
 chicken, duckling, or young pheasant. Perhaps to the 
 destruction of the latter creature the farmer would 
 have no great objection. 
 
 The weasel is a notable hunter, using eyes and nose 
 in the pursuit of its game, which it tracks through 
 every winding, and which it seldom fails to secure. 
 Should it lose the scent, it quarters the ground like 
 a well-trained dog, and occasionally aids itself by sitting 
 upright. 
 
 Very impertinent looks has the weasel when it thus 
 sits up, and it has a way of crossing its fore-paws over 
 its nose that is almost insulting. At least I thought so 
 on one occasion, when I was out with a gun, ready to 
 shoot anything more shame to me ! There was a 
 stir at the bottom of a hedge, some thirty yards distant, 
 and catching a glimpse of some reddish animal glancing 
 among the leaves, I straightway fired at it. 
 
 Out ran a weasel, and, instead of trying to hide, went 
 into the very middle of a footpath on which 7 was 
 walking, sat upright, crossed its paws over its nose, and
 
 4-2 UNPLEASANTNESS OP THE WEASEL. 
 
 contemplated me steadily. It was a most humiliating 
 aftair. 
 
 The weasel has been tamed, and, strange to say, was 
 found to be a delightful little animal in every way but 
 one. The single exception was the evil odour which 
 exudes from the weasel tribe in general, and which 
 advances from merely being unpleasant, as in our Eng- 
 lish weasels, to the quintessence of stenches as exhibited 
 by the Skunk and the Teledu. A single individual of 
 the latter species has been known to infect a whole 
 village, and even to cause fainting in some persons ; 
 and the scent of the former is so powerful, that it 
 almost instantaneously tainted the provisions that were 
 in the vicinity, and they were all thrown away. 
 
 The Polecat, Ferret, Marten, and Stoat belong to the 
 true weasels ; the Otters and Gluttons claiming a near 
 relationship.
 
 THE LIZARD. 43 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE COMMON LIZARD SUDDEN CURTAILMENT BLIND-WORM 
 A CURIOUS DANCE THE VIPER CURE FOR ITS BITE THE 
 COMMON SNAKE SNAKE-HUNTING CURIOUS PETS SNAKE 
 AND FROG CASTING THE SKIN EGGS OF THE SNAKE HYBER- 
 NATION THE FROG THE TADPOLE THE EDIBLE FROG THE 
 TOAD TOADS IN FRANCE TOAD'S TEETH VALUE OF TOADS 
 MODE OF CATCHING PREY POISON OF THE TOAD CHANGE 
 OP ITS SKIN. 
 
 I HAVE already said that the birds must be entirely 
 passed over in this little work ; and therefore we make 
 a jump down two steps at once, and come upon the 
 Reptiles, of whom are many British examples. 
 
 The first reptile of which we shall treat is the 
 common little Lizard, that is found in profusion on 
 heaths, or, indeed, on most uncultivated grounds. 
 
 It is an agile and very pretty little creature, darting 
 about among the grass and heather, and twisting about 
 with such quickness that its capture is not always easy. 
 Sunny banks and sunny days are its delight ; and any 
 one who wishes to see this elegant little reptile need 
 only visit such a locality, and then he will run little 
 risk of disappointment. 
 
 There is one peculiarity about it that is rather
 
 44 FOOD OP THE LIZARD. 
 
 startling. If suddenly seized, it snaps off its tail, break- 
 ing it as if it were a stick of sealing-wax, or a glass rod. 
 Several lizards possess this curious faculty, and of one 
 of them we shall presently treat. 
 
 THE COKMUS 
 
 The food of this lizard is composed of insects, which 
 it catches with great agility as they settle on the leaves 
 or the ground. If captured without injury a feat 
 that cannot always be accomplished, on account of the 
 fragility of its tail it can be kept in a fern-case, and 
 has a very pretty effect there. 
 
 One of the chief beauties of this animal is its brilliant 
 eye ; and this feature will be found equally beautiful in 
 many of the reptiles, and especially in that generally- 
 hated one, the toad. 
 
 In the winter-time, the lizard is not seen ; for it is 
 lying fast asleep in a snug burrow under the roots of
 
 BLIND -WOUM. 
 
 45 
 
 any favourable shrub, and does not show itself until 
 the warm beams of the sun call it from its retreat. 
 
 Tne next British lizard that I shall mention is one 
 that is generally considered as a snake, and a poisonous 
 
 BLIND-WORM. 
 
 one ; both ideas being equally false. It is popularly 
 known by the name of the Blind-worm, or Slow-worm ; 
 and is not a snake at all, but a lizard of the Skink 
 tribe, without any legs. 
 
 The scientific name for it is Anguis fragilis; and it 
 is called fragile on account of its custom of snapping 
 itself in two, when struck. 
 
 Only very lately, I saw an example of this strange 
 propensity, and was the cause of it. Near Dover, there 
 is a small wood, where vipers are reported to dwell ; 
 and as I was walking in the wood, I caught a glimpse 
 of a snake-like body close by my foot. I struck, or 
 rather stabbed, it with a little stick, for it had a very
 
 46 A CUBIOUS DANCE. 
 
 viperine look about it, and with success rather re- 
 markable, for the very slight blow that the creature 
 could have received from so insignificant a weapon, 
 used in such a manner. The viper was clearly cut into 
 two parts, but how or where could not be seen, owing to 
 the thick leaves and grass that rose nearly knee-high. 
 
 On pushing among the leaves, I found with regret 
 that the creature was only a blindworm. 
 
 A curious performance was being exhibited by the 
 severed tail, a portion of the animal about five inches 
 Jonj.,; this was springing and jumping about with great 
 liveliness and agility, entirely on its own account, for 
 by this time the blindworm itself had made its escape, 
 and all search was unavailing. 
 
 Some ten minutes or so were consumed in looking 
 for the reptile itself; and by that time the activity of 
 the tail was at an end, and it was lying flat on the ground, 
 coiled into a curve of nearly three-fourths of a circle. 
 I gave it a push with the stick, when I was startled by 
 the severed member jumping fairly into the air, and 
 recommencing its dance with as much vigour as before. 
 This performance lasted for some minutes, and was 
 again exhibited when the tail was roused by another 
 touch from the stick. Nearly half an hour elapsed 
 before the touch of the stick failed to make the ail 
 jump, and even then it produced sharp convulsive 
 movements.
 
 BRITISH SNAKES. 47 
 
 The object of this strange compound of insensibility 
 and irritability may perhaps be, that when an assail- 
 ant's attention is occupied by looking at the tail, the 
 creature itself may quietly make its escape. 
 
 The food of the blindworm is generally of an insect 
 nature, and it seems to be fond of small slugs. The 
 country people declare that it is guilty of various 
 crimes, such as biting cattle and similar offences, of 
 which bite an old author says that, " unless remedy be 
 had, there followeth mortality or death, for the poyson 
 thereof is very strong." 
 
 Fortunately for us, we have but one poisonous rep- 
 tile, the viper; and the slow- worm is as innocent of 
 poison as an earthworm. It is true, that if provoked, 
 } t will sometimes bite ; but its mouth is so small* 
 and its teeth so minute, that it cannot even draw 
 blood. 
 
 The names that are given to it are hardly in accord- 
 ance with its formation, for it is not very sluggish in its 
 movements, although it can be easier taken than the 
 lizard; while it is anything but blind, and its eyes, 
 though small, are brilliant. Perhaps the epithets 
 ought to have been applied to the givers, and not to the 
 receiver. 
 
 As for the real snakes, there are but two species in 
 England, one being called the Viper, or Adder, and the 
 other the Kinged, or Grass-snake. The viper is rather
 
 48 THE VIPER. 
 
 to be avoided, as it is possessed of poison-fangs, and if 
 irritated, is not slow in using them. 
 
 Of this latter I have little to say, and would not 
 have mentioned it excepting for two reasons; the one to 
 enable any person to distinguish it from the common 
 snake, and to avoid, as far as possible, the chance of 
 being bitten; and the other to tell how to heal the 
 bite, should so untoward an event happen. 
 
 Poisonous snakes may be readily known by the shape 
 of their head and neck ; the head being very wide at 
 the back, and the neck comparatively small. Some 
 persons compare the head of a poisonous snake to the 
 ace of spades, which comparison, although rather exag- 
 gerated, gives a good idea of the poison-bearing head.
 
 THE RINGED SNAKE. 49 
 
 It has a cruel and wicked look about it also, and one 
 recoils almost instinctively. 
 
 Should a person be bitten by the viper, the effects of 
 the poison may be much diminished by the liberal use 
 of olive oil; and the effect of the oil is said to be much 
 increased by heat. Strong ammonia, or hartshorn, as 
 it is popularly called, is also useful, as is the case with 
 the stings of bees and wasps, and for the same reason. 
 The evil consequences of the viper's bite vary much in 
 different persons, and at different times, according to the 
 temperament of the individual, or his state of health. 
 
 I may as well put in one word of favour for the 
 viper before it is dismissed. It is not a malignant 
 creature, nor does it seek after victims; but it is as 
 timid as any creature in existence, slipping away at the 
 sound of a footstep, and only using its fangs if trodden 
 on accidentally, or intentionally assaulted. 
 
 The second English snake is the common harmless 
 Ringed snake ; which does not bite, because it has no 
 teeth to speak of ; and does not poison people, because 
 it has no venom at all. 
 
 Its only mode of defence is by pouring forth a most 
 unpleasant, pungent odour, which adheres to the hands 
 or clothes so pertinaciously, that many washings are 
 required before it is expelled. Yet it is sparing enough 
 even of this solitary weapon, and may, after a while, be 
 handled without any inconvenience. 
 
 E
 
 COMMON SNAKE. 
 
 To this assertion I can bear personal and somewhat 
 extensive witness ; for I have caught and kept numbers 
 of snakes. The worthy villagers must have formed 
 
 COMMON SNAKE. 
 
 curious ideas of me, and I rather fancy must have 
 accredited me with something of the wizard character; 
 for I contrived to oppose their prejudices all, by the 
 way, of a cruel character in so many instances, that 
 they were rather afraid, as well as annoyed. To see 
 them run away, as if from a lighted shell, when I came 
 among them with a snake in each hand, was decidedly 
 amusing, and not less curious was the pertinacity with 
 which they clung.-to their prejudices.
 
 SNAKE-HUNTING. 51 
 
 In vain were arguments used to prove that the snake 
 was not a venomous animal, and ought not to be killed 
 and tortured; in vain did I put my finger into the 
 snake's mouth, and let its forked tongue glide over my 
 very hand or face ; they were not to be so taken in, and 
 they remained wise in their own conceit. 
 
 They certainly could not deny that the snake did not 
 bite me, and that its tongue did not pierce me, but the 
 conclusion deduced therefrom was simply that my con- 
 stitution, or perchance my magical art, was such that 
 I was unbiteable and unpoisonable. 
 
 No ! to them the snake was still poisonous, and its 
 tongue still envenomed. 
 
 At one time we had so many snakes that they were 
 kept in the crevices of an old wall, and left to stay or 
 go as they pleased. My boys I had a school at that 
 time took wonderfully to snake hunting, and every 
 half holiday produced a fresh supply of snakes. The 
 boys used to devise the strangest amusements in con- 
 nexion with their snakes, of which they were very 
 proud, each boy exhibiting his particular favourite, and 
 expatiating on its excellences. 
 
 One of their fashions, and one which lasted for some 
 time, was to make tunnels in the side of the Wiltshire 
 Downs, and to turn in their snakes at one end, merely 
 for the purpose of seeing them come out at the other. 
 
 Then there was a stone-quarry some three miles 
 
 E2
 
 52 A SNAKE BATH. 
 
 distant, which was in some parts of the year nearly 
 filled with water. Thither the boys were accustomed to 
 repair for the purpose of indulging their snakes with 
 a bath. They certainly seemed to enjoy the swim, and 
 were the better for it. 
 
 Sometimes there was great excitement ; for a snake 
 would now and then act in too independent a manner, 
 and instead of swimming straight across, so as to be 
 caught by a boy on the opposite side, would sink to the 
 bottom, and there lie flat and immoveable. Long 
 sticks could not be found there ; and their only mode of 
 making the snake stir was to startle it by throwing 
 stones. Even then there was a difficulty ; for if the 
 stones fell too far from the snake they had no effect, 
 and if they fell on him they might hurt him. 
 
 To wait until the truant chose to move would have 
 been hopeless, for snakes are able to take so much pure 
 air into their lungs, and they require so little of it 
 for respiration, that the patience of the boys would 
 be exhausted long before the snake felt a necessity 
 for moving. 
 
 Sometimes a snake would try to get away, and in- 
 sinuate his head and part of his body into a crevice : in 
 that case there was sad anxiety, and judicious manage- 
 ment was required to eliminate the reptile without 
 damage. It is a very difficult matter to drag a snake 
 backwards, because the creature sets up the edges of
 
 SNAKE AND FROG. 53 
 
 the scales, and each one serves as a point of resistance. 
 So, when the snake is within a crevice, where the scales 
 of the back can act as well as those of the belly, the 
 difficulty is increased. 
 
 When such an event took place, the best mode of 
 extracting the snake was to let it glide on, and so lower 
 its scales, and then to pluck it out with -a sudden jerk, 
 before it had time to erect them afresh. But as often 
 as otherwise, the snake got the better in the struggle, 
 and by slow degrees was lost to view. 
 
 Perhaps the pleasantest portion of snake-keeping was 
 the feeding. It was found that the snakes lost their 
 appetite, and would not eat, though frogs and newts 
 were liberally supplied. So the boys settled the matter 
 by opening the mouth of the snake, and pushing a newt 
 fairly down its throat. 
 
 One of the largest snakes that I have seen, was 
 engaged in feeding himself, not trusting to boys for any 
 help. I was walking in a field, and heard a strange cry 
 from a neighbouring ditch. On going towards the spot, 
 I saw there a large snake struggling with a frog. The 
 frog was comparatively as large as the snake, and as it 
 had a plain objection to being swallowed, there was 
 some turmoil. 
 
 The snake was stretched along the bottom of the 
 ditch, which at this time was dry, and he held in his 
 mouth both hind feet of the frog, who was also stretched
 
 54 EGGS OF THE SNAKE. 
 
 forward at full length, resisting with its forelegs the 
 attempts of the snake to draw it back, and croaking 
 dismally. The strife continued for some time, when I 
 made a sudden movement, and the snake, loosing its 
 hold of the frog, glided up the opposite bank. The 
 frog slowly gathered itself together, sat still for some 
 little time, and then hopped away. 
 
 The entire empty skin of the snake may often be found 
 among bushes, where the creature has gone in order to 
 assist itself in casting off its old skin. Snakes, as well 
 as other animals, wear out their coats, and are obliged 
 to change them for others. When the change is about 
 to take place, and a new coat has formed under the old, 
 like new skin under a blister, the creature betakes itself 
 to some spot where is thick grass, reeds, or similar 
 substances. A rent then opens in the neck, and the 
 snake, by wriggling about among the stems, literally 
 crawls out of its skin, which it leaves behind, turned 
 inside out. Even the covering of the eyes is cast away, 
 and in consequence the snake is partially blind for a day 
 or two previously to the moult, if we may call it so. 
 
 Eggs laid by the snake are also of frequent occur- 
 rence. I have found them in manure heaps, the warmth 
 of which places is attractive to them. The eggs are 
 white, and covered with a strong membrane, but have 
 no shell. They are laid in long strings, from sixteen to 
 twenty eggs being in each chain.
 
 THE PROG. 55 
 
 In the winter the Ringed snake retires to a conve- 
 nient cell, such as a hollow tree, or a heap of wood, and 
 there it remains in a torpid state until the warm, 
 weather. Many individuals have been found collected 
 together in these winter quarters, probably for the sake 
 of affording each other mutual warmth. 
 
 The reptiles of which we have just treated live exclu- 
 sively on land, though they may occasionally be found 
 in water ; but those which we shall now inspect belong 
 rather to the water than the land. The most common 
 of these amphibious reptiles, as they are called, is the 
 Frog. 
 
 A very curious animal is a frog, and well worth 
 examining, as well in its perfect state as in its inter- 
 mediate state. To begin at the beginning of a frog's 
 existence, we find it exhibited in masses of eggs, fixed
 
 56 FROG-SHOWERS. 
 
 to each other by a kind of gelatinous substance, and 
 floating in large quantities in ditches or ponds. Each 
 egg is about the size and shape of a pea, and in the 
 centre is the little black speck from which the young 
 frog proceeds. 
 
 In process of time the egg is hatched, and out 
 comes a queer little creature, with a big head and 
 a flat slender tail, called generally a tadpole, and 
 in some places a pollywog. In this state of life the 
 young creature is simply a fish, with fish-like bones, 
 and breathing through gills, after the manner of 
 fish. 
 
 Being very voracious, it grows rapidly : little legs 
 begin to show themselves ; and, at the proper season, 
 the gills are laid aside, the tail vanishes, and the little 
 frog is then in its usual form. The circulation of the 
 blood can be well exhibited by means of a microscope, 
 if a tadpole be laid on the stage so as to bring its tail 
 within the focus, care being taken to keep the member 
 well wetted. 
 
 At the time when the tail is laid aside, the young frog 
 is very small, and in this state is generally found to 
 swarm immediately after rain. The frog-showers, of 
 which we so often hear, are probably occasioned, not 
 by the actual descent of frogs from the clouds, but 
 from the genial influence of the moisture on the young 
 frogs who have already been hatched and developed,
 
 THIRSTINBSS OP FROGS. 57 
 
 and who have been biding their time before they dared 
 to venturs abroad. 
 
 Still I would not venture to say that frogs have not 
 descended in the rain, for there are several accredited 
 accounts of fish-showers, both being probably caused in 
 the same way. 
 
 For a drawing of the Tadpole, see page 88. 
 
 It is not often that frogs are found far from water, 
 for they are the thirstiest of beings, and drink with 
 every pore of their body. If, for example, a wrinkled 
 aiid emaciated frog is placed in confinement, and plen- 
 tifully supplied with water, it absorbs the grateful 
 moisture like a sponge, and plumps up in a wonderfully 
 short time. 
 
 From the same cause, it parts with its moisture with 
 equal rapidity ; and if a dead frog be laid in the open 
 air on a dry day, it speedily shrinks up, and becomes 
 hard as horn. The skin and lungs co-operate in respi- 
 ration, but only when the former is moist. So, in 
 order to secure that object, the frog is furnished with 
 an internal tank, so to speak, which receives the super- 
 abundance of the absorbed water, and keeps it pure 
 until it is required for use. So great is the power of 
 absorption, that a frog has been known to absorb a 
 quantity of water equal to itself in weight merely 
 through the pores of the abdominal surface, and this in 
 a very short time.
 
 58 FKOG-CONCEKT3. 
 
 In England we don't eat frogs, for what reason I 
 know not. One species of frog is very excellent food, 
 and it is but natural to suppose that another may be so, 
 i.e. if properly cooked. However, the old belief still 
 keeps its ground, that the French are the natural foes 
 of the English, and we ought to hate them, because they 
 " eat frogs and are saddled with wooden shoes." Still 
 I cannot but think that to eat frogs is better than 
 to starve or to steal, and that to wear wooden shoes 
 is not more humiliating than to wear no shoes at all. 
 
 After its fashion, the frog sings, though it is but 
 after a fashion. We call the frog's song a croak : I 
 wonder what name the frog would give to our singing. 
 When the frog sings, it generally sinks itself under 
 water, with the exception of its head, opens its mouth, 
 lays its lower jaw flat on the water, and sets to work as 
 if it meant to make the best of its time. Even in England 
 we have fine specimens of frog concerts, though not to 
 such an extent as in many other countries. In France 
 the frogs make such a croaking, that we hardly wonder 
 at the rather tyrannous conduct of the noblesse just 
 before the great Revolution. When the nobility or 
 courtiers spent any time in the country, the miserable 
 peasants were forced to flog the water all night, on 
 purpose to keep the frogs quiet, for their croaking was 
 so noisy that the fastidious senses of the fashionables 
 could not be lulled to sleep.
 
 THE TOAD. 59 
 
 Now-a-days, the people don't seem to be satisfied 
 with the country croakings, but they import the horrid 
 sounds into the city by means of a toy called a 
 " grenouille," which, when set in motion, makes a 
 croaking sound, just like that of a frog. 
 
 As a general fact, frogs ai'e just endurable, and 
 people will inspect them from a distance without 
 much ado. But the case is widely altered when they 
 see the frog's first-cousin, the Toad. 
 
 A large volume might easily be filled with tales 
 respecting this much-calumniated creature ; in which 
 tales the toad appears to be a very incarnation of 
 malignity, and to be wholly formed of poison. If it 
 burrowed near the root of a tree, every one who ate a 
 leaf of that tree would die ; and, if he only handled it, 
 would be struck with sudden cramp. And the cause of 
 this poisonous nature was its liver, which was "very 
 vitious, and causeth the whole body to be of an ill 
 temperament." 
 
 Fortunately, toads had two livers ; and although both 
 of them were corrupted, yet one was full of poison, and 
 the other resisted poison. As for remedies, the only 
 effectual one was of rather a complicated nature, and 
 consisted of plantain, black hellebore, powdered crabs, 
 the blood of the sea-tortoise mixed with wine, the 
 stalks of dogs' tongues, the powder of the right horn of 
 a hart, cummin, the vermet of a hare, the quintessence
 
 60 
 
 THE TOAD. 
 
 of treacle, and the oil of a scorpion, mixed and taken 
 ad libitum. 
 
 Even in the days when this prodigious prescription 
 was invented, some good was acknowledged to exist in a 
 toad, the one being the precious jewel in its head, and 
 
 THE COMMON TOAD. 
 
 the other its power as a styptic. Supposing any one 
 to fall down and knock his nose against a stone, he 
 could instantly stop the bleeding if he only had in his 
 pocket a toad that had been pierced through with a 
 piece of wood and dried in the shade or smoke. All 
 that was requisite was to hold the dried toad in the 
 hand, and the bleeding would immediately cease. The 
 reason for this effect is, that " horror and fear con- 
 strained the blocd to run into his proper place, for fear 
 of a beast so contrary to humane nature." 
 And, as a concluding instance of the wonderful
 
 PECULIARITIES OP FRENCH TOADS. 61 
 
 things that happened whenever toads were the subject, 
 we are told that at Darien, where the household slaves 
 water the door-steps in the evening, all the drops that 
 fall on the right hand turn into toads. 
 
 These poor creatures fare little better even now, as 
 far as public opinion goes ; and in France worse than in 
 England. 
 
 I was once walking in the forest at Meudon with a 
 party of friends, and was brought to a check by a sud- 
 den attack made on a large toad that was walking 
 along the pathway. I succeeded in stopping a blow 
 that was aimed at it ; and was stooping down, intending 
 to remove it to a place of safety, when I was hastily 
 pulled away, and horror was depicted on the coun- 
 tenances of all the spectators. 
 
 " It will bite you," cried one. 
 
 "Pouah!" exclaimed another, "it will spit poison 
 at you." * . 
 
 " In France, every one kills toads," said a third. 
 
 I objected that it could not bite, because it had no 
 teeth. 
 
 " No teeth !" they all exclaimed. " In France, toads 
 always have teeth." 
 
 " Well, then," I said, " I will open its mouth, and 
 show you that it has none." 
 
 But before I could touch it, I was again dragged 
 away.
 
 62 RESCUE OP A TOAD. 
 
 " Teeth come when the toads are fifty years old," 
 was the explanation that was given ; but still the 
 death-sentence had passed in every mind, and I knew 
 that when I moved the poor toad would be killed. 
 
 Just then, some one remarked that tobacco killed 
 toads, if put on their backs. So I took advantage of 
 the assertion, and made a compromise, that, on my 
 part, I would not handle the toad ; and that, on theirs, 
 the only mode by which they might kill it was by 
 putting tobacco on it. 
 
 The terms being thus arranged, plenty of tobacco 
 was produced and very bad tobacco, too, as is gene- 
 rally the case in France ; and, as no one but myself 
 dared come so near, I put about half an ounce of the 
 weed on the back of the toad, as it sat in a rut. For 
 a minute or more, the creature sat quite still, and all 
 the party began to exclaim 
 
 " See ! the toad is quite dead !" 
 
 " Ah ! the nasty animal ! " 
 
 "Monsieur Ool !" (no one ever made a better shot 
 at my name than Ool) " Monsieur Ool ! the toad is 
 dead!" 
 
 However, the toad rose, shook off all the tobacco, 
 and recommenced his march along the road. The only 
 good that was done was the saving of that individual 
 toad's life, for all the party retained their faith in 
 toads' teeth, and probably thought that the creature
 
 VALUE OP THE TOAD. G3 
 
 would not touch me because I was a trifle madder than 
 the rest of my nation, who are always very mad on the 
 French stage. 
 
 Afterwards, I found that the helief in toads' teeth 
 was quite general ; and one person offered to show me 
 some, half an inch in length, which he kept in a box 
 at home. But I was never fortunate enough to see 
 them. 
 
 In England, toads are sometimes valued for the 
 good which they do ; and the market-gardeners, whose 
 trim grounds surround London, actually import toads 
 from the country, paying for them a certain sum per 
 dozen. For toads are voracious creatures, feeding upon 
 slugs, worms, grubs, and insects of various kinds, and 
 so devour great numbers of these little pests to the 
 gardener. 
 
 The mode in which a toad catches its prey is curious 
 enough. Its tongue is fastened into its mouth in a 
 very peculiar way, the base of the tongue being fixed 
 at the entrance of the mouth, the tip pointing down its 
 throat when it is at rest. When, however, the toad 
 sees an insect or slug within reach, the tongue is sud- 
 denly shot out of the mouth, and again drawn back, 
 carrying the creature with it. 
 
 So rapidly is this operation performed, that the 
 insect seems to disappear by magic. The frog feeds in 
 the same manner
 
 64 POISON OP THE TOAD. 
 
 For the poisonous properties attributed to the toad, 
 there is some foundation, though a small one. But a 
 very small foundation is generally found strong enough 
 to bear a very large superstructure of calumny ; though 
 the reverse is the case when the report is a favourable 
 one. The skin of the toad is covered with small 
 tubercles, which secrete an acid humour sufficiently 
 sharp and unpleasant to prevent dogs from carrying 
 a toad in their mouths, though not so powerful as to 
 deter them from attacking toads and killing them. 
 
 A rather curious advantage has been taken of the 
 insect-eating propensities of the toad. A gentleman 
 had killed a toad at a very early hour one morning, 
 and after skinning it, for the purpose of stuffing the 
 skin, he dissected its digestive system. The contents 
 of the stomach he turned out into a basin of water, and 
 found there a mass of insects, some of them very rare 
 and in good preservation. 
 
 Afterwards, he was accustomed to kill toads for the 
 express purpose of collecting the insects that were found 
 within them, and which, being caught during the night, 
 were often of such species as are not often found. 
 
 The same experiment elicited another curious fact, 
 namely, the great tenacity of life possessed by some 
 insects. Before pinning out the insects that were 
 found, and which were mostly beetles, they had been 
 allowed to remain in the water for several days, and
 
 CHANGE OP SKIN. 65 
 
 were apparently dead. Yet, when they were pinned 
 on cork, they revived ; and, when they were visited, 
 were found sprawling about in quite a lively style. 
 
 Like all the reptiles, the toad changes its skin, but 
 the cast envelope is never found, although those of the 
 serpents are common enough. The reason why it is not 
 found is this : the toad is an economical animal, and does 
 not choose that so much substance should be wasted. 
 So, after the skin has been entirely thrown off, the 
 toad takes its old coat in its two fore-paws, and dexter- 
 ously rolls it, and pats it, and twists it, until the coat 
 has been formed into a ball. It is then taken between 
 the paws, pushed into the mouth, and swallowed at a 
 gulp like a big pill.
 
 NEWTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NEWTS A FISH WITH LEGS NEWTS FEEDING NEWT-CANNIBALS 
 CASTING THE SKIN STRANGE STORIES ANOTHER NEWT STORT-- 
 HATCHING OF YOUNG TENACITY OF LIFE THE STICKLEBACK- 
 ITS PUGNACITY ITS COLOURS ACCLIMATIZATION THE LAMPERN 
 A RUSTIC PHILOSOPHER THE CRAY-FISH HOW WE CAUGHT 
 IT REPRODUCTION OF LIMBS FRESH-WATER SHRIMP WOOD- 
 LOUSE AND ARMADILLO. 
 
 THE Newts, or Efts, or Evats, as they are called in 
 different parts of England, can be easily distinguished 
 from the lizard by the flattened tail, which being 
 intended for swimming, is formed accordingly. 
 
 Two species of these creatures are found in this 
 country, the common Water-Newt and the Smooth 
 Newt. These beautiful creatures may be found in 
 almost every piece of still water, from ponds and 
 ditches up to lakes. The full beauty of the newt is not 
 seen until the breeding season begins to come on, and 
 even then only in the male. 
 
 At this time the green back and orange belly attain 
 a brighter tint, and the back is decorated with a wavy 
 crest, tipped with crimson. This crest is continually 
 waving from side to side as the creature moves, and
 
 A FISH WITH LEGS. 
 
 forms graceful curves. The newts are equally at home 
 in water and on land, and in the latter case have often 
 been mistaken for lizards. 
 
 TUE COMMON HEW 
 
 One of these animals, when taking a walk, alarmed 
 an acquaintance of mine sadly. He was rather a tall man 
 than otherwise, and did not appear particularly timid ; 
 but one day he came to me looking rather pale, and 
 announced that he had just been terribly frightened. 
 
 " A fish, with legs ! " said he, "four legs ! got out of 
 the water and ran right across the path in front of me ! 
 I saw it run ! " 
 
 " A fish with legs ! " I replied ; " there are no such 
 creatures." 
 
 " Indeed there are, though, for I saw them. It had 
 v 2
 
 68 CASTING THE SKIN. 
 
 FOUR LEGS, and it waggled its tail ! It was horrible, 
 horrible ! " 
 
 " It was only a newt," I replied, " an eft. There is 
 nothing to be afraid of." 
 
 " It was the legs" said he, shuddering, " those 
 dreadful legs. I don't mind getting bitten, or stung, 
 but I can't stand legs." 
 
 Newts are very interesting animals, though they 
 have legs, and can easily be kept in a tank if fed 
 properly. Little red worms seem to be their favourite 
 food, and the newt eats them in a rather peculiar style. 
 I have had numbers of newts of all sizes and in all 
 stages of their growth, and always found them eat the 
 worm in the same way. As the worm sank through 
 the water, the newt would swim to it, and by a sudden 
 snap seize it in the middle. For nearly a minute it 
 would remain with the worm in its mouth, one end 
 protruding from each side of its jaws. Another snap 
 would then be given, and after an interval a third, 
 which generally disposed of the worm. 
 
 When they have been swimming freely in a large 
 pond, I have often seen large newts attack the smaller, 
 and try to eat them ; but I never saw the attempt suc- 
 cessful, though I hear that they have been seen to 
 devour the younger individuals. They always came 
 from behind, as if trying to avoid observation, and then 
 made a sudden dart forward, snapping at the tail of their
 
 THE NEWT. 69 
 
 intended victim. In confinement I never saw even an 
 attempt at cannibalism. 
 
 Whether it is invariably the case, I cannot say, but 
 every newt that I took cast its skin within a few hours 
 from the time that it was placed in the glass jar. The 
 general surface of the skin came off in flakes, but that 
 from the paws was drawn off like gloves, retaining on 
 their surface all the markings and creases which they 
 exhibited when in their proper place. 
 
 How the drawing off of their tiny gloves was effected, 
 I could not see, though I watched carefully. They 
 looked beautiful as they floated in the water, being 
 delicate as gossamer, white, and almost transparent. 
 They might have been made for Queen Mab herself, 
 and were so delicate that I never could preserve any 
 of them so as to give a proper idea of their form. 
 
 It may be that the change of water might cause the 
 change of skin, for the water in which they were kept 
 was drawn from a pump, and that in which they 
 formerly lived was the ordinary soft water found in 
 ponds. 
 
 Pretty as is the newt, it is as harmless as pretty, and 
 notwithstanding has suffered under the reputation of 
 being a venomous creature. The absurd tales that I 
 have heard of this creature could scarcely be believed ; 
 and how people with any share of sense could receive 
 such absurdities, is matter of wonder. And as usual,
 
 70 STRANGE TALES. 
 
 the moral of the stories is, that newts are to be killed 
 wherever found. The belief of the poisonous cha- 
 racter of the newt is of long standing, as may be seen 
 in the ancient works on natural history. In one of 
 these it is said that its poison is like that of vipers ; and 
 there is a description of the formation of its tail which 
 is rather beyond my comprehension : 
 
 " The tail standeth out betwixt the hinder-legs in the 
 middle, like the figure of a wheel-whisk, or rather so 
 contracted as if many of them were conjoined together, 
 and the void or empty places in the conjunctions were 
 filled." 
 
 The capture and domesticating of newts gave dire 
 offence in a village where I lived for some time ; and 
 the expressions used when I took a newt in my hands 
 were not unlike those of the Parisians respecting the 
 toad. Sundry ill-omened tales of effets were told me. 
 For example : A girl of the village was filling her 
 pitcher at a stream which runs near the village, when 
 an effet jumped out of the water, sprang on her arm, bit 
 out a piece of flesh, spat fire into the wound, and, leap- 
 ing into the water, escaped. The girl's arm instantly 
 swelled to the shoulder, and the doctor was obliged to 
 cut it off. 
 
 This was told me with an immensity of circum- 
 stantial details common to such narrators, and was 
 corroborated by the bystanders. The wounded lady
 
 ANOTHER NEWT STORY. 71 
 
 herself was not to be found, and cross-questions elicited 
 that it " weir afoor their time." I asked them how the 
 effet which lived in the water, and had just leaped out 
 of it, was able to keep a fire alight in its interior ; but 
 they were not in the least shaken, except perhaps in 
 their heads, which were wagged with a Lord Burleigh 
 kind of emphasis. 
 
 Then there was the sexton-clerk-gardener-musician 
 and general factotum, who had a newt tale of his own to 
 tell. He had been cutting grass in the churchyard, 
 and an effet ran at him, and bit him on the thumb. 
 He chopped off the effet's head with his knife, but his 
 thumb was veiy bad for a week. 
 
 Once they got the better of the argument, at all 
 events in the eyes of the owner of the farming stock, 
 and my poor newts were ejected. It happened 
 thus : 
 
 Two or three specimens I kept in my own room in a 
 glass vase, in order to watch them more closely ; and 
 some six or seven others lived as stock in the large 
 horse-trough, from whence they could be taken when 
 required. 
 
 One day the proprietor came to me and ordered 
 the destruction of my newts, for they had killed one of 
 his calves. 
 
 " But," I remonstrated, " they cannot kill a calf or 
 even a mouse, for they have no fangs and very little
 
 72 THE NEWT'S EGGS. 
 
 mouths. Besides, the calf has not come near this 
 trough." 
 
 So saying, I took \ap several of the newts, opened 
 their mouths no easy matter, by the way and showed 
 that they had no fangs. And I urged, that even if they 
 had been as poisonous as rattlesnakes, it would not have 
 made any difference to the calf, which had never left 
 the cowhouse, and was at the opposite end of the farm- 
 yard, separated by a barn and several gates. But all 
 was useless. 
 
 " There are the newts, and there is the dead calf ! " 
 .was the answer ; and so the newts had to go. However, 
 I would not suffer them to be killed, but put them 
 into a bag and took them back to the pond whence 
 they had come. 
 
 Afterwards the proprietor said that the calf died 
 because its mother had drunk at the trough in which 
 the poisonous newts were. 
 
 Now, the funniest part of the story is, that there 
 was not a horse-pond that did not swarm with efts, and 
 consequently all the foals and calves ought to have 
 died. Only they didn't. 
 
 The care which the female newt takes in depositing 
 her eggs is very remarkable. 
 
 Each egg is taken separately, and by the aid of the 
 fore-paws is regularly tied or twisted up in the leaves of 
 water-plants, for which process different people have
 
 TENACIT7 01 LIFE. 
 
 73 
 
 different reasons. Some think that it is for the purpose 
 of preventing too ready an access of water, and so to 
 
 THE FEMALE : 
 
 retard their hatching ; while some say that it is to 
 guard the egg against voracious water-animals. To the 
 latter opinion I rather incline ; perhaps both may be 
 right. 
 
 When hatched, the young newt is very like a tadpole, 
 breathing by gills outside its neck. After a while the 
 gills vanish and the legs appear ; but it keeps its tail. 
 It is rather curious that the frog tadpole puts forth its 
 hinder legs first ; while in the tadpole of the newt, the 
 fore-legs are the first to show themselves. 
 
 After the gills are lost, the newt breathes by means 
 of lungs ; and if it is in the water, is forced to rise at 
 intervals for the purpose of breathing. 
 
 The tenacity with which these creatures cling to life 
 is quite surprising. Experiments have been tried pur-
 
 74 AN EXPERIMENT. 
 
 posely to see to what degree a body could be mutilated, 
 and yet retain life. They have even been frozen up 
 into a solid block of ice, and, after the thawing of their 
 cold prison, revived, and seemed none the worse for it. 
 I may as well mention that none of these experiments 
 were tried by myself, for I am not scientific enough to 
 care nothing for the infliction of pain ; but on one 
 occasion I did try an experiment, and, as it turned out, 
 a very cruel one, although it was not intended for an 
 experiment. 
 
 I was studying the anatomy of the frogs and newts ; 
 and having eight or ten fine specimens of the latter 
 creature, determined to take advantage of the oppor- 
 tunity. The first thing was, of course, to kill the 
 creature without injuring its structure, and I thought 
 that the best mode of so doing would be to put it 
 into my poison-bottle. This was a large glass jar filled 
 with spirits of wine, in which was held corrosive sub- 
 limate in solution. This mixture generally killed the 
 larger insects almost immediately, and seemed just the 
 thing for the newts. 
 
 So they were put into the jar but then there was a 
 scene which I will not describe, which I trust never to 
 see again, and of which I do not even like to think. 
 Suffice it to say, that nearly a quarter of an hour 
 elapsed before these miserable creatures died, though 
 in sheer mercy I kept them pressed below the surface.
 
 THE STICKLEBACK. 
 
 75 
 
 Changing our post of observation from the banks of 
 the ponds to those of the running streams, we shall 
 find there many creatures worthy of observation ; so 
 many, indeed, that it would be a hopeless task to 
 attempt to give even a slight account of one-fiftieth of 
 them. I shall, therefore, only mention two creatures, 
 as examples of the fish; and these two are chosen 
 because they are exceedingly common, and very 
 different from each other in colour and habits. 
 
 The first of these creatures is the common Stickle- 
 back, or Tittlebat, as it is sometimes called. There are 
 
 THE STICKLEBACK. 
 
 several species of British sticklebacks ; but the com- 
 monest, and I think the most beautiful, is the three- 
 spined stickleback. 
 
 These little fish derive their name from the sharp
 
 76 ITS PUGNACITY. 
 
 spines with which they are armed, and which they can 
 raise or depress at pleasure as I know to my cost. 
 For being, as boys often are, rather silly, I made a 
 wager that I would swallow a minnow alive ; and 
 having made the bet, proceeded to win it. Unfor- 
 tunately, instead of a minnow, a stickleback was handed 
 to me, which having its spines pressed close to the 
 body, was very like a minnow. Just as I swallowed it, 
 the creature stuck up all its spines, and fixed itself 
 firmly. 
 
 Neither way would it go, and the torture was horrid. 
 At last, a great piece of apple that I swallowed gave it 
 an impetus that started it from its position ; but it was 
 not for some time, that to me appeared hours, that the 
 fish was disposed of. And even then it left its traces ; 
 and if it would be any satisfaction to the fish to know 
 that ample vengeance was taken for its death, it must 
 have been thoroughly gratified. 
 
 There are few fish more favoured in point of deco- 
 ration than the stickleback; although the decoration, 
 like that of soldiers, is only given to the gentlemen, 
 and of them only to the victors in fight. 
 
 They are most irritable and pugnacious creatures, 
 that is, in the early spring months, when the great 
 business of the nursery is in progress. And the word 
 nursery is used advisedly ; for the stickleback does not 
 leave her eggs to the mercy of the waters, but esta-
 
 A FIGHT. 77 
 
 blishes a domicile, over which her husband keeps 
 guard. 
 
 The vigilance of this little sentry is wonderful ; and I 
 have often seen fierce fights taking place. Not a fish 
 passes within a certain distance of the forbidden spot, 
 but out darts the stickleback like an arrow, all his 
 spines at their full stretch, and his body glowing with 
 green and scarlet. So furious is the fish at this time, 
 that I have sometimes amused myself by making him 
 fight a walking-stick. 
 
 If the stick were placed in the water at the distance 
 of a yard or so, no notice was taken. But as the stick 
 was drawn through the water, the watchful sentinel 
 issued from his place of concealment, and when the 
 intruding stick came within the charmed circle, the 
 stickleback shot at it with such violence that he quite 
 jarred the stick. 
 
 His nose must have suffered terribly. If the stick 
 were moved, another attack would take place, and this 
 would be continued as long as I liked. 
 
 Sometimes a rival male comes by, with all Ms swords 
 drawn ready for battle, and his colours of red and 
 green flying. Then there is a fight that would require 
 the pen of Homer to describe. These valiant warriors 
 dart at each other; they bite, they manoeuvre, they 
 strike with their spines, and sometimes a well-aimed 
 cut will rip up the body of the adversary, and send him 
 to the bottom, dead.
 
 78 COLOURS OF THE STICKLEBACK. 
 
 When one of the combatants prefers ignominious 
 flight to a glorious death, he is pursued by the victor 
 with relentless fury, and may think himself fortunate 
 if he escapes. 
 
 Then comes a curious result. The conqueror 
 assumes brighter colours and a more insolent de- 
 meanour ; his green is tinged with gold, his scarlet is 
 of a triple dye, and he charges more furiously than 
 ever at intruders, or those whom he is pleased to 
 consider as such. But the vanquished warrior is dis- 
 graced ; he retires humbly to some obscure retreat ; he 
 loses his red, and green, and gold uniform, and becomes 
 a plain civilian in drab. 
 
 Sometimes I have brought on a battle royal between 
 the guardians of several palaces, by dropping in the 
 midst of them a temptation which they could not 
 resist. This was generally a fine fat grub taken from 
 a caddis case. The caddis is large and white, and so 
 can be seen to a considerable distance. 
 
 As this sank in the water, there would be a general 
 rush at it, and the ensuing contention was amusing in 
 the extreme. First one would catch it in his mouth 
 and shoot off ; half a dozen others would unite in 
 chase, overtake the too fortunate one, seize the grub 
 from all sides, and tug desperately, their tails flying, 
 their fins at work, and the whole mass revolving like a 
 wheel, the centre of which was the caddis worm.
 
 ACCLIMATIZATION. 79 
 
 It would be swallowed almost immediately ; but the 
 mouth of the stickleback is much too small to admit 
 an entire caddis, and the skin of the grub is too tough 
 to be easily pierced or torn. Half an hour often 
 ekpses before the great question is settled, and the 
 caddis eaten. 
 
 The rapidity of the evolutions and the fierceness of 
 the struggle must be seen to be appreciated and it is 
 a spectacle easily to be witnessed ; wherever there are 
 sticklebacks, caddis worms are nearly certainly found, 
 and it only needs to extract one of these from its case 
 and deposit it judiciously in the water. 
 
 The stickleback is a hardy little fish, and can easily 
 be kept in the aquarium, if plenty of room be given 
 to it. It has even been trained to live in sea-water, 
 by adding bay-salt to the water in which it dwelt ; 
 so that the plan of pickling salmon alive, by a judi- 
 cious admixture of vinegar and allspice with the 
 water, has something to which to appeal as collateral 
 evidence. 
 
 The other representative of the fishes is a very 
 curious one, and can be easily observed. It is called 
 the "Lampern," and is shown in the accompanying 
 figure. 
 
 In some parts of England the lampern goes by the 
 name of " Seven-eyes," in allusion to the row of eye- 
 like holes that may be seen extending along the side of
 
 80 THE LAMPERN. 
 
 the throat. These apertures are the openings by which 
 the water passes from the gills. 
 
 The chief external peculiarity in this creature is the 
 
 mouth, which, instead of being formed with jaws like 
 those of other fishes, resembles none of them, not even 
 those of the eel, which it most resembles externally. 
 Indeed, on looking at the mouth of a lampern, one is 
 forcibly reminded of the leech, for it is possessed of 
 no jaws, and adheres firmly to the skin by exhaustion 
 of the air. 
 
 Very delicate food are these lamperns, quite as good as 
 the lampreys themselves, whose excellence is reported to 
 have cost England one of her kings ; yet I never knew 
 but one person who would eat them, and very few who 
 would even touch them, they also being called poisonous. 
 
 In Germany they know better, and not only eat the 
 lamperns themselves, but packing them up in company 
 with vinegar, bay leaves, and spices, export them as au 
 article of sale.
 
 A RUSTIC PHILOSOPHER. 81 
 
 The solitary sensible individual of whom I have made 
 mention, was truly a wise man. He used to offer the 
 young urchins of the neighbourhood a reward for 
 bringing lamperns, at the rate of a halfpenny pet 
 wisket full. 
 
 A wisket, I may observe, is a kind of shallow basket, 
 made of very broad strips of willow ; and a wisket filled 
 with lamperns would be a tolerable load for a boy. 
 
 So for the sum of one halfpenny, that philosopher 
 was furnished with provisions for a day or more. 
 
 Really, the prejudice against the lamperu is most 
 singular. Even near London, when lamperns lived in 
 vast numbers in the Thames, they were only used as 
 bait, being sold for that purpose to the Dutch fisher- 
 men. In one season, four hundred thousand of these 
 creatures have been sold merely for bait for cod-fish 
 and turbot. 
 
 The scientific name for the lampreys is " Petromy- 
 zon" a word signifying " stone-sucker." The name is 
 rightly applied ; for when the lampern wishes to remain 
 still in one place, it applies its mouth to a stone, sticks 
 tightly to it by suction, and there remains firmly at 
 anchor, and defying the power of the stream. In 
 favourable spots, thousands of these fish may be seen 
 together, quite blackening the bottom of the stream 
 with their numbers. They seem specially to affect 
 shallow mountain streams ; and } in spite of the rapid 
 G
 
 82 HABITS OP THE LAMPREY. 
 
 current, wriggle their devious way up the stream with 
 great rapidity. When they are not quite pleased with 
 the spot on which they settle down for the time, they 
 scoop it out to their minds in a very short time. This 
 task is accomplished by means of the sucker-like 
 mouth. If a stone is placed in a position that incom- 
 modes them, they affix their mouths to it, and drag it 
 away down the stream. In this way they will remove 
 stones which are apparently beyond the power of so 
 small a creature. By perseverauce they thus scoop 
 out small hollows, about eighteen inches long, and a 
 foot wide, in which they lie in groups so thick that I 
 have more than once mistaken them for dark logs lying 
 in the stream, and was only undeceived by the waving 
 of the multitudinous tails. Year after year the lam- 
 perns followed the same course, and chose the same 
 positions, so that we could at any time tell where these 
 creatures would be found by the thousand, where they 
 would be found singly, and where none would be seen 
 at all. 
 
 The general thickness of this creature is that of a 
 large pencil, but it varies according to the individual. 
 The length is from one foot to fifteen inches or so. 
 
 There is a much smaller species of lampern called the 
 Pride, Sand-pride, or Mud Lamprey, which is not more 
 than half the length of the lampern, and only about the 
 thickness of an ordinary quill. This creature has not
 
 THE CEAY-FISH. 88 
 
 the power of affixing itself like the lampern, on account 
 of the construction of its mouth. 
 
 Having now taken, a hasty glance at the vertebrated 
 animals, we pass to those who have no bones at all, 
 and whose skeleton, so to speak, is earned outside. Our 
 representation of aquatic Crustacea, as such creatures 
 are called, will be the Cray-fish and the Water-Shrimp. 
 
 Every one knows the Cray-fish, because it is so like 
 a lobster, turning red when boiled in the same way. 
 
 THB CEAT-FISH 
 
 This red colour is brought out by heat even if applied 
 by placing the shell before a fire, and spirits of wine 
 has the same effect. The last fact I learned from ex- 
 perience, and was very sorry that it was a fact, for the 
 red shell quite spoiled the appearance of a dissected 
 cray-fish that was wanted to look nice in a museum. 
 
 Being very delicate food, and, in my opinion, much 
 better than the native lobster, they are much sought 
 G 2
 
 84 HOW WE CAUGHT IT. 
 
 after at the proper season, and are sold generally at the 
 rate of half-a-crown for one hundred and twenty. 
 
 There are many modes of catching them, which may 
 be practised indifferently. There are the " wheels," for 
 example, being wicker baskets made on the wire mouse- 
 trap principle, which the cray-fish enters and cannot 
 get out again. Also, there is a mode of fishing for 
 them with circular nets baited with a piece of meat. 
 A number of these nets are laid at intervals along the 
 river bank, and after a while are suddenly pulled out 
 of the water, bringing with them the cray-fish that 
 were devouring the meat. 
 
 But the most interesting and exciting mode of 
 cray-fish catching is by getting into the water, and 
 pulling them out of their holes. 
 
 Cray-fish take to themselves certain nooks and 
 crannies, formed by the roots of willows or other trees 
 that grow on the bank ; and they not unfrequently 
 take possession of holes which have been scooped by 
 the water-rat. The hand is thrust into every crevice 
 that can be detected, and if there is a cray-fish, its 
 presence is made known by the sharp thorny points of 
 the head, for the cray-fish always lies in the hole with 
 its head towards the entrance. 
 
 The business is, then, to draw the creature out of its 
 stronghold without being bitten a matter of no small 
 difficulty. If the hole is small, and the cray-fish large,
 
 CLAWS OF CRAY- FISH. 85 
 
 I always used to draw it forward by the antennae, or 
 horns, and then seize it across the back, so that its 
 claws were useless. 
 
 The power of the claws is extraordinary, considering 
 the size of the creature that bears them. They will 
 often pinch so hard as to bring blood ; and when they 
 have once secured a firm hold, they do not easily 
 become loosened. Still, the risk of a bite constitutes 
 one of the chief charms of the chase. 
 
 The legitimate mode of disposing of the cray-fish, 
 when taken, is to put them into the hat, and the hat 
 on the head ; but they stick their claws into the head 
 so continually, and pull the hair so hard, that only 
 people of tough skin can endure them. 
 
 Sometimes, when the bed of the river is stony, the 
 cray-fish live among and under the stones, and then they 
 are difficult of capture ; for with one flap of their tail 
 they can shoot through the water to a great distance, 
 and quite out of reach. 
 
 It is not unfrequent to find a cray-fish with one 
 large claw and the other very small. The same cir- 
 cumstance may be noted in lobsters. The reason 
 of this peculiarity is, that the claw has been injured, 
 generally in single combat ; for the cray-fish are 
 terrible fighters, and the mutilated limb has been 
 cast off. Most wonderfully is this managed. 
 
 The blood-vessels of the crustaceans are necessarily
 
 86 REPRODUCTION OP LIMBS. 
 
 so formed, that if wounded, they cannot easily heal ; 
 and if there were no provision against accidents, the 
 creature might soon bleed to death. 
 
 But when a limb, say one of the claws, is wounded, 
 the limb is thrown off not at the injured spot, but at 
 the joint immediately above. The space exposed at the 
 joints is very small in comparison with that of an entire 
 claw; and as the amputation takes place at a spot 
 where there is a soft membrane, it speedily closes. In 
 process of time, a new limb begins to sprout, and takes 
 the place of the member that had been thrown off. 
 
 The eyes of the cray-fish are set on footstalks, so as 
 to be turned in any direction, and they can also be 
 partially drawn back, if threatened by danger. If the 
 eye is examined through a magnifying glass of tolerable 
 power, it will be seen that it is not a single eye, but a 
 compound organ, containing a great number of separate 
 eyes, arranged in a wonderful order. As, however, 
 a description of an insect's eye will be given at a 
 succeeding page, we at present pass over this organ. 
 
 At the proper season of the year, the female cray-fish 
 may be seen laden with a large mass of eggs, which she 
 carries about with her, and by the movement of the 
 false legs that are arranged in double rows on the 
 under surface of the tail, keeps them supplied with 
 fresh streams of water. In process of time, the eggs 
 are hatched ; but very few, in comparison, reach
 
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 V ^ ' ^ * 
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 FRESH-WATER SHRIMP. 87 
 
 maturity. Even the mother herself is apt to eat 
 her own young, when they have set themselves free 
 from her control. I have known this to take place 
 when we were trying to breed cray-fish in a tank. 
 Only one attained to any size, and even that was not 
 so large as a house-fly when we took it from the 
 water. 
 
 The fresh-water Shrimp may generally be found in 
 plenty in any running stream. Its appearance and 
 
 habits very much resemble the Sandhopper, a little 
 creature that every one must have seen who has walked 
 on a sandy sea-shore. Like the cray-fish, this little 
 creature carries its eggs about until they are hatched. 
 It is a carnivorous animal, and is one of the numerous 
 scavengers of the water, without whose help every 
 stream would soon become putrid and loathsome. 
 
 Certain species of Crustacea inhabit the land ; two of 
 which are well known under the titles of Woodlouse 
 and Armadillo. They belong to the class of crustaceans 
 called " Isopod" or equal-footed, because the legs are 
 ail of the same nature ; whereas in the other crusta- 
 cean, some legs are used for walking, and others are
 
 88 WOODLOUSE AND ARMADILLO. 
 
 turned into claws, &c. The woodlouse is to be found 
 in myriads under the scaly bark of trees, under stones, 
 
 TATPOLES iXD TOtTS I ROO. 
 
 and, in fact, in almost every crevice. It feeds mostly on 
 decayed vegetable matters, but also eats animal sub- 
 stances, and vegetables that are not decayed. Some 
 gardeners hold the woodlouse in great horror, and say 
 that nothing is so hard or so bitter that a woodlouse will 
 not eat it. If the bark is removed from an ancient 
 willow tree, any number of these creatures may be 
 discovered, in every stage of existence, scuttling about 
 in great fear at the unwelcome light, and sticking close 
 to the wood in hopes that they may not be seen. 
 Dried coats of the woodlouse may be also seen, empty 
 and bleached to an ivory whiteness. They are night- 
 feeders; and, although they can run fast enough if
 
 disturbed, walk 
 in feeding. 
 
 ARMADILLO. 89 
 
 Deliberately when only employed 
 
 WOCDUJCAE, ARHAGILLO, AND PILL 
 
 The Armadillo-w oodlouse is very curious, and easily 
 recognised from its habit of rolling itself into a round 
 ball when alarmed, just like the quadruped armadillo. 
 Its habits are much the same as those of the common 
 woodlouse. Formerly the armadillo was used in 
 medicine, being swallowed as a pill in its rolled- up 
 state. I have seen a drawer half full of these creatures, 
 all dry and rolled up, ready to be swallowed. 
 
 On the preceding cut are two armadillo-like animals, 
 much resembling each other, but belonging to different 
 orders. Fig. a is the Woodlouse ; b, the Pill Millepede, 
 walking ; c, the same rolled up ; d is the true Arma- 
 dillo, walking ; and e, the same creature rolled up.
 
 90 A SHORT ESSAY ON LEGS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A SHORT ESSAY OK LEGS TAKING A WALK BRITISH FAKIRS 
 INSECT LIFE DEVELOPMENT THE TIGER MOTH GROWTH OF 
 THE CATERPILLAR HOW TO DISSECT INSECTS PLAN OF 
 CATERPILLAR ANATOMY SILK ORGANS ORGANS OF RESPIRA- 
 TION SPIRACLES AND THEIR USE WONDERS OF NATURE 
 THE CHRYSALIS SCIENTIFIC LANGUAGE. 
 
 As, in common with many other animals, mankind 
 are furnished with legs, and the power to move them, 
 it is universally acknowledged that those limbs ought 
 to be put to their proper use. But while men agree 
 respecting the importance of the members alluded to, 
 they differ greatly in the mode of employing them. 
 
 To the tailor, for example, legs are chiefly valuable 
 as cushions, whereon to lay his cloth. For the jockey, 
 the same members form a bifurcated or pronged 
 apparatus, by the help of which he sticks on a horse. 
 The legs of the acrobat are mostly employed to show 
 the extent of ill-treatment to which the hip-joint can 
 be subjected without suffering permanent dislocation. 
 The dancer values his leg solely on account of the " light 
 fantastic toe" which it carries at its extremity. The 
 turner sees that two legs are absolutely necessary to
 
 TAKING A WALK. 91 
 
 mankind, i.e. one to stand upon, and the other to 
 make a wheel run round. The surgeon views legs on 
 other people as objects affording facilities for amputa- 
 tion. The boxer professionally regards his legs as 
 " pins," upon which the striking apparatus is kept 
 off the ground. The soldier's opinion of his legs is 
 modified according to the temperament of the indi- 
 vidual, and the position of the enemy. Some people 
 employ their legs in continually mounting the same 
 stairs, and never getting any higher ; while others use 
 those limbs in continually pacing the same path and 
 never going any farther. 
 
 And of all these modes of employing the legs, the 
 last, which is called " taking a walk," is the dreariest and 
 least excusable. 
 
 For, in the preceding cases, the owners of the legs 
 gain their living, or at all events their life, by such 
 employment of those members ; and in the case of the 
 interminable stairs, the individual is not acting by his 
 own free will. But it does seem wonderful, that a 
 being possessed of intellectual powers should fancy 
 himself to be the possessor of a right leg and a left one, 
 merely that the right should mechanically pass the left 
 so many thousand times daily and in its turn be passed 
 by the left ; while the sentient being above was occu- 
 pied in exactly the same manner as if both legs were 
 at rest, snugly tucked under a table. .
 
 92 TAKING A WALK. 
 
 Sad to relate, such is the general method of taking 
 recreation. 
 
 A man who has been over-tasking his brain all the 
 early part of the day, rises corporeally from his work at 
 a certain time, places his hat above his brain, buttons 
 his coat underneath it, and sallies forth to take a walk. 
 
 Whatever subject he may be working upon, he takes 
 with him, and on that subject he concentrates his 
 attention. Supposing him to be a mathematician, and 
 that the prevalent idea in his mind is to prove that 
 A A B C=( L D E F + L G H I). He takes one final 
 look at his Euclid while drawing on his gloves, and sets 
 off with ABC before his eyes. 
 
 As he walks along, he sees nothing but ABC, hears 
 nothing but D E F, feels nothing but G H I, and 
 thinks of nothing but the connexion of all three. 
 
 An hour has passed away, and he re-enters his 
 room without any very definite recollection of the 
 manner in which he got there. He has mechanically 
 paced to a certain point, mechanically stopped and 
 turned round, mechanically retraced his steps, and 
 mechanically come back again. 
 
 He has not the least recollection of anything that 
 happened during his walk ; he don't know whether 
 the sky was blue or cloudy, whether there was any 
 wind, nor would he venture to say decidedly whether it 
 was night or day. He does recollect seeing a tree on a
 
 BRITISH FAKIRS. 93 
 
 hill and a spire in a valley, because, together with 
 himself, they formed an angle that illustrated the 
 proportions of the triangle, ABC; but whether the 
 tree had leaves, or not, he could not tell. But he 
 is happy in the consciousness of having performed 
 his duty; he has taken a walk, he has been for a 
 " constitutional." 
 
 deluded and misguided individual ! The walking 
 powers are meant to carry yourself not only your 
 corporeal body into other scenes, to give a fresh 
 current to your thoughts, and to give your brain an 
 airing as well as your nose. The mind requires variety 
 in its food, as does the body; and to obtain that 
 change of nutriment is the proper object of taking a 
 walk. 
 
 That a rational being can condemn himself to walk 
 three miles along a turnpike road, and three miles back 
 again, at one uniform pace, his eyes directed straight 
 ahead, and his thoughts at home with his books, seems 
 incredible to ordinary personages. 
 
 Yet such British fakirs may be seen daily in all 
 weathers, on the roads leading from university towns, 
 going at a rate of four miles per hour, their hats tilted 
 towards the back of their heads, their bodies inclining 
 forward at an angle of 80, their lips muttering poly- 
 syllabic language, and their eyes as beaming as those 
 of a boiled cod-fish.
 
 94 USE OP A WALK. 
 
 Now the real use of taking a walk is, to get away 
 from one's self, and to change the current of the 
 thoughts for a while, by changing the locality of the 
 individual. 
 
 In order so to do, he should cast his senses abroad, 
 instead of concentrating them all within himself; and 
 from sky, air, water, and earth draw a new succession 
 of images wherewith to relieve the monotony within. 
 There are various modes of attaining this object; and 
 each man will follow that mode which most accords 
 with his own character. 
 
 For example, if he is an astronomer, he will look to 
 the heavenly bodies; if a geologist, his eyes will be 
 directed to the earth; if a botanist, his mind seeks 
 employment among the vegetable productions ; if a 
 meteorologist, the wind's temperature and atmospheric 
 phenomena will claim his attention ; if an entomologist, 
 he will find recreation in watching the phases of insec*. 
 life, and so on. 
 
 It is evident enough that to treat of all these sub- 
 jects would render necessary a volume that numbered 
 its pages by thotisands, and its volumes by at least tens; 
 and therefore, in a work of this nature, it must be 
 sufficient to lay particular stress on one portion, tc 
 treat slightly of others, and to leavo many entirely 
 untouched. And that portion on which I shall lay the 
 chief stress, is that which is brought more constantly
 
 PREVALENCE OF INSECT LIFE. 95 
 
 before the eye and ear than any other, namely, the 
 entomological department. 
 
 As when approaching cities, the " busy hum of men " 
 is the first indication that meets the ear, so in the 
 country the busy hum of insects is, next to the song of 
 the birds, the sound that gives strongest evidence of a 
 life untrammelled by the artificial rules of society. 
 
 Not only do insects make their presence known to 
 the ear, but they also address themselves to the eye. 
 Their forms may be seen flitting through the air, run- 
 ning upon the ground, or making their abode on the 
 various examples of vegetable life. Comparatively 
 small as insects are, they are of vast importance col- 
 lectively ; and there is hardly a leaf of a tree, a blade 
 of grass, or a square inch of ground, where we may not 
 trace the work of some insect. Nearly all strange and 
 curious objects that are noticed by observant eyes in 
 the woods or fields, are caused by the action of insects, 
 and are often the insects themselves, in one or other of 
 the phases of their varied life. Certain examples of 
 insect life, and its effects, will now be given. No parti- 
 cular order will be observed, no long scientific terms will 
 be used, and every creature that is mentioned will be 
 so common that it may be found almost in every field. 
 
 The first creature that we will notice is that cater- 
 pillar which is so abundantly found at several seasons 
 of the spring and summer, and, from the long hairy
 
 96 DEVELOPMENT OF INSECTS. 
 
 skin in which it is enveloped, goes by the popular name 
 of the " Woolly Bear!" A figure of this creature may 
 be seen in plate B, fig. 5 a. This creature is the larva of 
 the common Tiger-moth, which is represented on the 
 same plate, fig. 5. 
 
 It will be necessary to pause here a little, before 
 proceeding to the description and histories of the various 
 insects, because in the course of description certain 
 terms must be used, which must be explained in order 
 to make the description intelligible. 
 
 In the first place, let it be laid down as a definite 
 rule, that 
 
 INSECTS NEVER GROW. 
 
 Many people fancy that a little fly is only little be- 
 cause it is young, and that it will grow up in process 
 of time to be as big as a blue-bottle. Now this idea is 
 entirely wrong ; for when an insect has once attained 
 to its winged state, it grows no more. All the growing, 
 and most part of the eating, is done in its previous 
 states of life ; and, indeed, there are many insects, such 
 as the silkworm-moth, which do not eat at all from 
 the time that they assume the chrysalis state to the 
 time when they die. 
 
 It is a universal rule in nature, that nothing comes 
 to its perfection at once, but has to pass through a 
 series of changes, which if carefully examined can
 
 THE TIGER-MOTH. 97 
 
 mostly be reduced to three in number. Sometimes 
 these changes glide imperceptibly into each other, but 
 mostly each stage of progress is marked clearly and 
 distinctly. Such is the case with the insect of which 
 we are now considering; and when we have examined 
 the development of the Tiger-moth through its phases 
 of existence, we have the key to the remainder of the 
 insects. 
 
 After an insect has left the egg, and entered upon 
 the world as an individual being, it has to pass through 
 three stages, which are called larva, pupa, and imago. 
 
 The word " larva," in Latin, signifies " a mask," and 
 this word is used because the insect is at that time 
 " masked," so to speak, under a covering quite different 
 from that which it will finally assume. In the present 
 instance, the Tiger-moth is so effectually masked under 
 the Woolly Bear, that no one who was ignorant of the 
 fact would imagine two creatures so dissimilar to have 
 any connexion with each other. 
 
 Throughout this work the word "larva" will be 
 always understood to signify the first of the three states 
 of insect life, whether it be a " caterpillar," a " grub," 
 or a "worm." 
 
 In its next stage the insect becomes a " pupa," which 
 word means a "mummy," or a body wrapped in 
 swaddling clothes. This name is employed, because in 
 very many insects the pupa is quite still, is shut up 
 
 H
 
 98 THE WOOLLY BEAR. 
 
 without the power of escape, and looks altogether 
 much like a mummy, wrapped round in folds of cloth. 
 In the moths and butterflies the insect in this stage 
 is called a " chrysalis," or " aurelia," both words having 
 the same import, the first Greek and the other Latin, 
 both derived from a word meaning "gold." Several 
 butterflies that of the common cabbage butterfly, for 
 example take a beautiful golden tinge on their pupal 
 garments, and from these individual instances the 
 golden title has been universally bestowed. 
 
 The last, and perfected state, is called the " imago," 
 or image, because now each individual is an image and 
 representative of the entire species. 
 
 The Woolly Bear, then, is the larva of the Tiger-moth ; 
 and if any inquiring reader would like to keep the 
 creature, and watch it through its stages, he will find it 
 an interesting occupation. There is less difficulty than 
 with most insects ; for the creature is very hardy, and the 
 plant on which it mostly feeds is exceedingly common. 
 
 Generally, the Woolly Bear is found feeding on 
 the common blind nettle ; but it may often be detected 
 at some distance from its food, getting over the ground 
 at a great rate, and reminding the spectator of the por- 
 cupine. In this case it is usually seeking for a re- 
 tired spot, whither'it resorts for the purpose of passing 
 the helpless period of pupa-hood. 
 
 If it is captured on such an occasion, there will be
 
 GROWTH OF THE CATERPILLAR. 93 
 
 little trouble in feeding, as it will generally refuse food 
 altogether, and, betaking itself to a quiet corner, pre- 
 pare for its next stage of existence. 
 
 If taken at an earlier period of its life, it feeds 
 greedily on the nettle above-mentioned, and the amount 
 of nutriment which one caterpillar will consume is 
 perfectly astounding. I once had nearly four hundred 
 of them all alive at the same time, and they used to be 
 furnished with nettles by the armful. Of course so 
 large a number is not necessary for ordinary purposes ; 
 but this regiment was required for the purpose of 
 watching the development and anatomy of the creature 
 through its entire life. 
 
 As the skins of caterpillars are not capable of growth, 
 and the creature itself grows with singular rapidity, it 
 is evident that the skins themselves must be changed, 
 as is the case with many other animals of a higher 
 class, such as the snakes, newts, &c. 
 
 For this purpose the skin of the caterpillar splits 
 along the back of the neck, and by degrees the creature 
 emerges, soft, moist, and helpless. A very short time 
 suffices for the hardening of the new envelope ; and as 
 the caterpillar has been obliged to fast for a day or two, 
 previously to changing the skin, it sets to work to make 
 up for lost time, and does make up effectually. 
 
 In the case of the Woolly Bear, and several others, 
 the cast skin retains nearly the same shape and appear- 
 H 2
 
 100 HOW TO DISSECT INSECTS. 
 
 ance as when it formed the living envelope of the 
 caterpillar ; and, consequently, if any number of these 
 insects are kept, the interior of their habitation soon 
 becomes peopled with these imitation caterpillars. Each 
 individual changes its skin some ten or eleven times, 
 each time leaving behind it a model of its former 
 self, so that caterpillars seem to multiply almost 
 miraculously. 
 
 Although even the exterior appearance of an insect is 
 very wonderful, yet its interior anatomy is, if possible, 
 even more wonderful, and, if possible, should be ex- 
 amined. The mode of doing so is simple and easy. If 
 the Woolly Bear, for example, is to be dissected, the 
 easiest mode of doing so is as follows : 
 
 Get a shallow vessel, glass if possible, about an inch 
 or so in depth ; load a flat piece of cork with lead, put 
 it at the bottom of the vessel, and fill it nearly to the 
 top with water. Now take the caterpillar, which may 
 be killed by a momentary immersion in boiling water, 
 or by being placed in spirits of wine, and with a few 
 minikin pins fasten it on its back on the cork. The 
 pins of course must only just run through the skin, 
 and two will be sufficient at first, one at each end. 
 
 Now take a pair of fine scissors, and carefully slit 
 up the skin the entire length of the creature, draw the 
 skin aside right and left, and pin it down to the cork. 
 
 The creature will now exhibit portions of organs of
 
 CATEEPILLAR ANATOMY. 
 
 101 
 
 different shapes and characters, the remainder being 
 concealed under the mass of fat that is collected in the 
 interior. This fat must be carefully removed in order 
 to show the vital organs ; and this object is best attained 
 by using a fine needle stuck into a handle. I generally 
 use a common crochet-needle 
 handle, so that needles of various 
 sizes can be used at pleasure. 
 
 Now will appear a number of 
 organs closely packed together, D 
 and mostly stretching along the 
 entire length of the creature. In 
 
 order to assist the inquirer, I 
 
 I* 
 here present a plan or chart of 
 
 the interior of the caterpillar 
 when thus opened. It must be 
 understood that the drawing is 
 not meant to represent the par- 
 ticular anatomy of any one 
 species, but to give a general 
 view, by means of which the 
 anatomical details of any cater- 
 pillar may be recognised. And 
 in order to give greater distinctness, only one of each 
 organ is seen, though, with the exception of the intes- 
 tinal canal, there is a double set of each organ, one ou 
 each side. 
 
 C.ViEltlMLLiK
 
 102 CATERPILLAR ANATOMY. 
 
 Running in a straight line from head to tail is seen 
 the digestive apparatus, consisting of throat, stomach, 
 and intestines, with their modifications; and this 
 apparatus is marked A A in the cut. 
 
 On the surface of the digestive apparatus, and straight 
 along its centre, lies the nervous system, represented 
 by tiny white threads, dotted at regular distances by 
 rather larger spots of the same substance. If the 
 nerve is examined closely, it will be seen to be com- 
 posed of two very slender threads, lying closely against 
 each other, but easily separable : in which state they 
 are shown. And the little knobs are called " ganglia," 
 each forming a nervous centre, from which smaller 
 nerves radiate to the different portions of the body. 
 
 As for brains, the caterpillar dispenses with them 
 almost entirely ; and instead of wearing one large brain 
 in the head, is furnished with a row of lesser brains, or 
 ganglia, extending thi-ough its whole length. This is 
 the reason why caterpillars are so tenacious of life. If 
 a man loses his head, he dies immediately; but an 
 insect is not nearly so fastidious, and continues to live 
 for a long time without any head at all. Indeed, there 
 are some insects, which, if beheaded, die, not so much 
 on account of the head, but of the stomach : for, having 
 then no mouth, they cannot eat, and so die of hunger. 
 And some insects there are which positively live longer 
 if decapitated than if left in possession of their head.
 
 H
 
 SILK-PRODUCING ORGANS. 103 
 
 On the right hand may be seen a curiously twisted 
 organ, marked o, swelling to a considerable size in the 
 middle, and diminishing to a mere thread at each end. 
 This is one of the vessels that contain the silk, or rather 
 the substance which becomes silk when it is spun. 
 
 If this organ be cut open in the middle, it will be 
 seen filled with a gummy substance of curious texture, 
 partly brittle and partly tough. From this substance 
 silk is spun, by passing up the tube, through the 
 thread-like portion, and so at last into a tiny tube, 
 called the spinneret, which opens from the mouth, and 
 wherefrom it issues in a fine thread. 
 
 There are two of these silk-making organs, and both 
 unite in the spinneret. Consequently, if silk is examined 
 in the microscope, the double thread can clearly be 
 made out, both threads adhering to each other, but 
 still distinguishable. If the threads lie parallel to each 
 other, the silk is good ; if not so, it is of an inferior 
 quality, and liable to snap. 
 
 Most caterpillars possess this silk-factory, but some 
 have it much more largely developed than others 
 the silkworm, for instance. It is of considerable size 
 in the larva which we are examining, because the 
 Woolly Bear has to spin for itself a silken hammock in 
 which to swing while it is in the sleep of its pupal 
 state. Just before it begins to spin, the organ is of 
 very large size, and distended with the liquid silk j but
 
 104 HOW INSECTS BREATHE. 
 
 after the hammock is completed, the organ diminishes 
 to a mere thread, and is soon altogether absorbed. 
 
 At the left hand of the drawing may be seen a 
 curious structure, marked B B. This is the chief por- 
 tion of the respiratory system, and may be at once 
 recognised by the ringed structure of the tube. Indeed, 
 it is quite analogous to that of the windpipe in 
 animals. 
 
 The mode in which insects breathe differs much from 
 that of the higher animals. In them the breathing 
 apparatus is gathered into one mass, called lungs or 
 gills, as the case may be ; but with insects, the respira- 
 tory system runs entirely over, round, and through the 
 body, even to the tips of the claws, and the end of the 
 feelers or antennae. 
 
 Every internal organ is also surrounded and enve- 
 loped by the breathing tubes ; and this often to such 
 an extent, that the dissector is sadly perplexed how to 
 remove the tracheal tubes, as they are called, without 
 injuring the organs to which they so tightly cling. 
 Sometimes they are so strongly bound together, that 
 they may be removed like a net, but mostly each must 
 be taken away separately. The mode in which these 
 tracheal tubes supply the digestive apparatus may be 
 seen at b b ; and as there is a double set of them, it 
 may be seen how closely thav envelop the organ to 
 which they direct their course
 
 USE OP THE SPIRACLES. 105 
 
 The ringed structure runs throughout the entire 
 course of the air tubes, and is caused by a thread 
 running spirally between the two membranes of which 
 the tube is composed. The object of this curious 
 thread is to keep the tube always distended, and ready 
 for the passage of air. Otherwise, whenever the insect 
 bends its flexible body, it would cut off the supply 
 of air in every tube which partook of the flexure of 
 the body. 
 
 The structure is precisely similar to that of a spiral 
 wire bell-spring; and so strong is the thread, that I 
 have succeeded in unwinding nearly two inches of it 
 from the trachea of a humble-bee. 
 
 The air obtains entrance into these tubes, not 
 through the mouth or nostrils, but through a set of 
 oval apertures arranged along the sides of the insect, 
 which apertures are called " spiracles ; " and two of 
 them are indicated at 6* 6*. 
 
 In order to prevent dust, water, or anything but air, 
 from entering, the spiracles are defended by an elabo- 
 rate ckevaux de frise of hair, or rather quill, so dis- 
 posed as to keep out every particle that could injure. 
 So powerful are these defences, that, even under the- 
 air-pump, I was unable to force a single particle of 
 mercury through them, though a stick will be entirely 
 permeated by the metal, so that if cut it starts from 
 every pore. I kept the creature in a vacuum for three
 
 106 HOW TO KILL INSECTS MERCIFULLY. 
 
 days, then plunged it under mercury, and let in the 
 air. Even then, no effect was produced, except that 
 the whole of the stomach and intestinal canal were 
 charged with mercury. 
 
 But, though the spiracles are such excellent defences 
 against obnoxious substances, they are not capable of 
 throwing off any substance that may choke them. 
 Consequently, nothing is easier than to kill an insect 
 humanely, if one only knows how ; and few things more 
 difficult, if one does not know. 
 
 For example, if ladies catch a wasp, they proceed to 
 immolate it, by snipping it in two with their scissors ; 
 a dreadfully cruel process, for the poor creature has 
 still some four or five brains left intact, and lives for 
 many hours. But if a feather is dipped in oil and 
 swept across the body of the creature, it collapses, 
 turns on its back, and dies straightway. For the oil 
 has stopped up the spiracles, and so the supply of air 
 is cut off from every portion of the body at once. The 
 same rule holds good with all insects. 
 
 There is yet one more organ to which I must draw 
 attention, and that is the curious bag-shaped object 
 marked E. 
 
 Just as the silk is contained in the vessel c, so the 
 saliva is contained in E, and is developed according to 
 the character and habits of the insect. Some insects 
 require a large supply of that liquid, which is used for
 
 LIVER OF CATERPILLAR. 107 
 
 various purposes, and others require comparatively little. 
 The caterpillar in which these receptacles may be found 
 best developed is the larva of the Goat-moth, which 
 may be easily found within the substance of decaying 
 trees. Of the Goat-moth we may speak in a future 
 page. 
 
 If the reader will again refer to the engraving on 
 p. 101, he will see that between the tracheal tube and 
 the digestive apparatus is a curiously waved line, 
 forming two loops in its upper portion, and running 
 into a confused entanglement below. This entangle- 
 ment, however, is only apparent, for in nature there is 
 no entangling all is perfect in order. 
 
 This wavy line represents one of the numerous 
 thread-like vessels that surround this portion of the 
 digestive apparatus, and are called the biliary vessels, 
 being, in fact, the insect's liver. There is a large mass 
 of these biliary vessels, and they are found so closely 
 entwined among each other, and so encircled with the 
 air tubes, that to separate them is no easy matter. 
 Their microscopic structure is curious, and will repay 
 a careful examination. 
 
 In examining the creature for the first time, the dis- 
 sector will be tolerably sure to damage the organs and 
 unfit it for preservation, and therefore it is best to take 
 such a course for granted, and to make the best of it. 
 
 Removing all these vital organs, he should then
 
 108 HIDDEN WONDERS. 
 
 examine the wonderful and most complicated muscular 
 structure, by "which the caterpillar is enabled to 
 lengthen, shorten, twist, and bend its body in almost 
 any direction, and that with such power that many 
 caterpillars are enabled to stretch themselves horizon- 
 tally into the air, and there to keep themselves motion- 
 less for hours together. 
 
 Few people have any idea of the wonders that they 
 will find inside even so lowly a creature as a catei- 
 pillar wonders, too, that only increase in number and 
 beauty the more closely they are examined. When 
 the outer form has been carefully made out, there yet 
 remains the microscopical view, and after that the 
 chemical, in either of which lie hidden innumerable 
 treasures. 
 
 A very forcible and unsophisticated opinion was once 
 expressed to me, after I had dissected and explained 
 the anatomy of a silkworm to an elderly friend. He 
 remained silent for some time, and then uttered dis- 
 connected exclamations of astonishment. 
 
 I asked him what had so much astonished him. 
 
 " Why," said he, " it's that caterpillar. It is a new 
 world to me. I always thought that caterpillars were 
 nothing but skin and squash." 
 
 Having now seen something of the exterior and 
 interior of the caterpillar, we will watch it as it 
 prepares for its next state of existence.
 
 THE CHRYSALIS. 109 
 
 Hitherto it has been tolerably active, and if alarmed 
 while feeding, it curls itself round like a hedgehog 
 and falls to the ground, hoping to He concealed among 
 the foliage, and guarded from the effects of the fall by 
 its hairy armour, which stands out on all sides, and 
 secures it from harm. But a time approaches wherein 
 it will have no defence and no means of escape, so it 
 must find a means of lying quiet and concealed. This 
 object it achieves in the following manner. 
 
 It leaves its food, and sets off on its travels to find 
 a retired spot where it may sling its hammock and 
 sleep in peace. Having found a convenient spot, it sets 
 busily to work, and in a very short time spins for itself 
 a kind of silken net, much like a sailor's hammock in 
 shape, and used in the same manner. It is not a very 
 solid piece of work, for the creature can be seen through 
 the meshes ; but it is more than sufficiently strong to 
 bear the weight of the inclosed insect, and to guard it 
 from small foes. 
 
 On plate B, and fig. 5 b, the silken hammock is re- 
 presented, the form of the pupa inside being visible. 
 It casts off its skin for the last time, and instead of 
 being a hirsute and active caterpillar, becomes a smooth 
 and quiescent chrysalis. In this state it abides for 
 a time that varies according to the time of year and 
 the degree of temperature, and at last bursts its earthy 
 holdi ngs, coming to the light of the sun a perfect insect
 
 110 SCIENTIFIC DESCRIPTION OF WOOLLY BEAK. 
 
 When first the creature becomes a chrysalis, its colour 
 is white, and its surface is bathed in an oily kind of 
 liquid, which soon hardens in the air, and darkens in 
 the light. 
 
 On one occasion, I watched a Woolly Bear changing 
 its skin, and, seizing it immediately that the task was 
 accomplished, put it into spirits of wine, intending to 
 keep it for observation. 
 
 Next day, the spirit was found to have dissolved 
 away the oily coating, and all the limbs and wings of 
 the future moth were standing boldly out. 
 
 Before closing this chapter, I must just remark that 
 the absence of scientific terms throughout the work 
 will be intentional, from a wish to make the subject 
 intelligible, instead of imposing. It would have been 
 easy enough to speak of the Woolly Bear as the larva 
 of Arctia Caja ; to describe it as a chilognathiform 
 larva, with a subcylindrical body, and no thoracic 
 shield : passing through an obtected metamorphosis, 
 and becoming a pomeridian lepidopterous imago ; and to 
 have proceeded in the same style throughout. But as 
 nearly every one who has taken a country walk has 
 seen Woolly Bears, and hardly any one knows what is 
 meant by " chilognathiform," the subject is treated of 
 for the benefit of the many, even at the risk of incurring 
 the contempt of the few.
 
 THE PUSS-MOTH. Ill 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 THE PUSS-MOTH CURIOUS CATERPILLAR A STRONG PORTRESS 
 THE BURNET-MOTH OAK EGGER HOW TO KILL INSECTS 
 TWOFOLD LIFE VICTIMS OF LOVE ACUTE SENSES THE STORT 
 OP INSECT LIFE DRINKER MOTH CATERPILLAR BOX EM- 
 PEROR MOTH TYPE OF THE MOUSETRAP. 
 
 JUST at the right-hand of the Tiger-moth, on plate B, 
 may be seen a caterpillar of a very strange and eccen- 
 tric form, and marked by the number 4 a. This is the 
 larva or caterpillar of the Puss-moth, and is no less 
 beautiful in colouring than fantastic in form. Its atti- 
 tude, too, when it is at rest, is quite as curious as its 
 general appearance. 
 
 While eating, it sits on the leaves and twigs much as 
 any other caterpillar ; but when it ceases to feed, and 
 reposes itself, it grasps the twig firmly with the claspers 
 with which the hinder portion of its body is furnished, 
 and raises the fore-part of its body half upright. In this 
 attitude it much resembles that of the Egyptian Sphinx, 
 and from this circumstance the moth itself is called 
 a Sphinx. An old gardener was once quite put out of 
 temper by seeing several of these caterpillars for the 
 first time, because they had so consequential an air. 
 
 The colouring of this creature varies according to
 
 112 CUEIOUS CATERPILLAR. 
 
 the time of year ; but it may be easily recognised by 
 its form alone, which is very peculiar. 
 
 One of the most remarkable points in the creature is 
 the forked apparatus at the end of the tail, and which 
 frightens people who do not know the habits of the 
 caterpillar. These forks are black externally, and rather 
 stiff, but are only sheaths for two curious rose-coloured 
 tentacles, which are usually kept hidden, but which may 
 be seen by touching the caterpillar with the point of 
 a needle. When the creature is thus irritated, it will 
 protrude these tentacles from their sheath, and will 
 then strike the part that had been touched. 
 
 It is supposed that this apparatus is intended as a 
 kind of whip, wherewith to drive away the ichneumon 
 flies, and other parasites, that inflict such annoyance on 
 many caterpillars. 
 
 When this caterpillar proceeds to its pupal state, it 
 makes itself a wonderful fortress not suspended like 
 that of the Tiger-moth, nor hidden in a dark spot; but 
 it boldly fixes its residence on the exterior of the tree 
 on which it feeds, trusting to its similitude to the bark 
 for concealment, and to the strength of its habitation 
 for safety, even if discovered. 
 
 It is furnished with a gummy substance, something 
 after the manner of the silk of the Tiger-moth ; but 
 instead of spinning that substance into threads, it uses 
 it in the following manner.
 
 A STRONG FORTRESS. 113 
 
 Biting little chips of wood from the bark of the tree, 
 the caterpillar glues them together with this natural 
 cement ; and so builds an arched house for itself, much 
 about the size and shape of half a walnut-shell. So 
 strongly compacted is this residence, that rain and wind 
 have no effect on it, and a penknife does not find an 
 easy entrance. 
 
 One or two of these caterpillars which I brought 
 home modified their dwellings in a curious manner. 
 One of them nibbled to pieces a portion of a cardboard 
 box, and so made a kind of papier-mache" house ; while 
 others, who were placed under a glass-tumbler, and 
 upon a stone surface, simply made their house of the 
 hardened gum. In this state, it appeared as if it had 
 been made of thin horn, and was so transparent that 
 the chrysalis could be seen through the walls. 
 
 The caterpillar is common enough, and may be 
 found on the willow or poplar. And a sharp eye will 
 soon learn to detect the winter house, which to an 
 unpractised eyfr looks as if it were merely a natural 
 excrescence on the bark. 
 
 If one of these habitations is found, the best mode of 
 removing it is to avoid touching the dwelling itself, but 
 to cut away the bark round it ; and then, by inserting 
 the point of a stout knife, gently raise up the house, 
 together with the bark on which it is placed. This is 
 one of the modes by which an entomologist may find 
 I
 
 114 PUSS-MOTH. 
 
 employment even during the winter months, and others 
 will be mentioned in the course of this work. 
 
 The moth itself may be seen figured on plate B, 
 flg. 4. It is called the Puss-moth, on account of the 
 soft furry down with which its body is covered, and 
 it is fancifully thought to resemble the fur of the cat. 
 
 It is rather a difficult moth to preserve effectually, 
 as it is apt to become " greasy " that is, to have its 
 whole beauty destroyed by an oiliness that exudes from 
 the body, and gradually creeps even over the wings. 
 The best preservative is to remove the contents of the 
 abdomen, and stuff it with cotton-wool that has been 
 scented with spirits of turpentine. But even that plan 
 is rather precarious, and the delicate, downy plumage 
 is apt to be sadly damaged during the process of 
 stuffing. 
 
 Still keeping to the same plate, and referring to the 
 right-hand corner at the top, a moth of strange aspect 
 will be seen ; and immediately below it an object that 
 somewhat resembles the hammock of the Tiger-moth, 
 affixed in a perpendicular instead of an horizontal 
 direction. This moth is called the Burnet-moth, and 
 the hammock is the pupa case of the same insect. 
 
 The colouring of this moth is very rich and beautiful. 
 The two upper wings are green, and of a tint so deep 
 that, like green velvet, they almost appear to be black. 
 On each of these wings are several red spots, varying in
 
 BURNET-MOTH. 115 
 
 number according to the species; some wearing six 
 spots, and others only five. The two under-wings are 
 of a carmine red, edged with a border of black, in which 
 is a tinge of steely blue. The body is velvety-black, 
 with the same blue tint. 
 
 The moth is rather local ; but when one is found in 
 a field, hundreds will certainly be near. 
 
 At the best of times it is not an active insect, and on 
 a cold or a dull day hundreds of them may be seen 
 clinging to the upright grass stems, from which th?y 
 can be removed at pleasure. 
 
 The caterpillar of this beautiful moth keeps close to 
 the ground, and feeds on grasses, the speedwell, dande- 
 lion, and other plants. When it is about to become 
 a pupa, it ascends some slender upright plant, generally 
 a grass stem, and then spins for itself the residence 
 which is represented on the plate. 
 
 In this state it may be gathered, and placed under 
 a glass shade ; and in the summer months the perfect 
 insect will make its appearance. There are some places 
 which it specially favours, and where it may be found 
 in great profusion. At Hastings, for example, the 
 fields about the cliffs were so populated by these moths, 
 that hardly a grass stem was without its Burnet-moth's 
 habitation. 
 
 Feeding on the same plant as the Tiger-moth cater- 
 pillar, may often be found another caterpillar of a very 
 I 2
 
 116 OAK-EGGER MOTH. 
 
 different aspect. It is very much larger, and instead of 
 presenting an array of stiff bristles, is covered with 
 thick soft hair of a yellowish-brown colour, diversified 
 with stripes of a deep velvety black, arranged so as to 
 reeemblo tLo slashed vestments that were so fashionable 
 some centuries ago. 
 
 This caterpillar is the larva of the Oak-Egger moth, 
 and is not so remarkable as a caterpillar as for the 
 house which it builds for its pupal residence. 
 
 After changing its skin the requisite number of 
 times, the caterpillar ceases to feed, and, proceeding to 
 some convenient spot (generally a faded thorn-branch), 
 spins its temporary habitation. This cocoon, as it is 
 called, is about an inch in length ; and into that narrow 
 space the creature contrives to push, not only itself, 
 but also its last and largest skin. 
 
 The substance of the cocoon is hard and rather 
 brittle when dry ; and in texture somewhat resembles 
 thin brown cardboard. In its substance, and on its 
 surface, are woven many of the hairs with which the 
 caterpillar is furnished. If the cocoon is carefully 
 opened, the chrysalis will be found within, its head 
 towards the spot where the moth is to emerge, and the 
 cast caterpillar-skin crumpled down by its tail. 
 
 In course of time, the chrysalis passes through its 
 development, and the egger-moth itself pushes its 
 way out of the cocoon, with wings and body wet and
 
 HOW TO KILL A BEETLE. 117 
 
 wrinkled, but soon to assume their proper form arid 
 strength. The cocoon is shown at plate I, fig. 5 a. 
 
 Sometimes the cocoon remains unbroken beyond the 
 proper season ; and if it is examined, one or two little 
 holes will generally be found in it. These are signs 
 that the egger has met with an untimely fate, and that 
 it has fallen a victim to those scourges of the insect 
 world, the ichneumon flies. Of these creatures we shall 
 speak in a future page, and therefore omit to describe 
 them here. The moth is shown at fig. 5. 
 
 If the moth is intended to be killed, and then placed 
 in a cabinet, the use of sulphur must be avoided. It 
 kills the moth, certainly ; but it kills the colours also, 
 and quite ruins its appearance. Sulphur is always a 
 dangerous instrument in insect killing, and should on 
 no account be used. There are many ways of destroy- 
 ing insects humanely, and extinguishing their life as if 
 by a lightning flash ; but these modes vary according 
 to the size, sex, and nature of the insect. Some of 
 them I will here mention. 
 
 If the insect is a beetle, it may be plunged into 
 boiling water, or into spirits of wine, in which a very 
 little corrosive sublimate has been dissolved. Both 
 modes will destroy the life rapidly, but the former is 
 the better of the two. When walking in the fields or 
 woods, a wide-mouthed, strong bottle, about half full 
 of spirits of wine, is a useful auxiliary, as all kinds of
 
 118 HEAD NOT THE VITAL PART OF INSECTS, 
 
 beetles, and even flies and bees, can be put into it ; and 
 if dried in a thorough draught, will look as well as 
 before. If this precaution be not taken, all the insects 
 that have long hair, as the humble-bee and others, will 
 lose their good looks, and their hair will be matted 
 together in unseemly elf-locks. 
 
 Butterflies, and most of the Diptera, or two-winged 
 flies, can be instantaneously killed by a sharp pinch on 
 the under-surface of the thorax among the legs, as the 
 great mass of nerves is there collected. Many people 
 seem to fancy that the head is the vital part in an 
 insect ; and having pinched or run a pin through its 
 head, they think that they have effectually slain the 
 creature, and marvel much to see it lively some twenty- 
 four hours afterwards. 
 
 Especially is this the case with the large-bodied 
 moths, whose vitality is quite astonishing. You may 
 even stamp upon them, and yet not crush the life out 
 of that frail casket. If you drive the life out of one- 
 half of the creature, it only seems to take refuge in the 
 other; and then retain a more powerful hold, like a 
 garrison driven into a small redoubt. 
 
 It is not at all uncommon to find one of these moths 
 dead and dry as to its wings and limbs, which snap like 
 withered sticks if touched, and yet with so much life in 
 it as to writhe its abdomen if irritated, and to deposit 
 its eggs just as if it were in full activity.
 
 H0\ TO KILL MOTHS. 119 
 
 Indeed, so strong is this power that the creature 
 seems to be gifted with a double life, one for itself and 
 the other for its progeny. The former is comparatively 
 weak, and but loosely clings to its home ; but the latter 
 intrenches itself in every organ, penetrates every fibre, 
 and, until its great work is completed, refuses to be ex- 
 pelled. So, unless the entire mechanism of the insect 
 be killed, the poor creature may live for days in pain. 
 
 Fortunately, there is a mode of so doing ; and this 
 is the way of doing it : 
 
 Make a strong solution of oxalic aci'd, or get a little 
 bottle of prussic acid it is the better of the two, if you 
 have discretion as beseems a naturalist. Also make a 
 bone or iron instrument, something like a pen, but 
 without a nib. Dip this instrument into the poison 
 as you would a pen, and then you have a weapon as 
 deadly as the cobra's tooth, and infinitely more rapid 
 in its work. Now hold your moth delicately as ento- 
 mologists hold moths, near the root of the wings. Keep 
 the creature from fluttering; plunge the instrument 
 smartly into the thorax, between the insertion of the 
 first and second pair of legs ; withdraw it as smartly, 
 and the effect will be instantaneous. The moth will 
 stretch out all its legs to their full extent ; there will 
 be a slight quiver of the extremities; they will be 
 gently folded over each other ; and you lay your 
 dead moth on the table.
 
 120 VICTIMS OF LOVE. 
 
 The reason of this rapid decease is of a twofold 
 nature. 
 
 In the first place, the chief nerve mass is cut asunder, 
 and even thus a large portion of the life is destroyed. 
 But the chief breathing tubes are also severed, and a 
 drop of poison deposited at their severed portions. 
 Consequently, at the next inspiration, either the poison 
 itself or its subtle atmosphere rushes to every part, and 
 to every joint of the insect, thus carrying death through 
 its whole substance. 
 
 The male insect is very different in appearance to 
 the female, and in general is hardly more than two- 
 thirds of her size. The colours, too, are very different ; 
 for in the male insect the wings are partially of a dark 
 chesnut brown, with a light band running round them, 
 as may be seen in the engraving ; while in the female 
 the wings are almost entirely of a uniform yellowish 
 brown. 
 
 The antennae, too, of the male are deeply cleft, like 
 the teeth of a comb ; while those of the female are 
 narrow, and comparatively slightly toothed. 
 
 As is the case with several other moths, the male 
 oak eggers are sad victims to the tender passion, and 
 fall in love not only at first sight, but long before they 
 see the object of their affection at all. 
 
 If a female egger is caught immediately after her 
 entrance into the regions of air, and placed in a per-
 
 POWER OP INSTINCT. 121 
 
 fbrated box near an open window, her unseen charms 
 will be so powerfully felt by gentlemen of her own 
 race that they will flock to the casket that contains 
 their desired treasure, and fearlessly run about it, flut- 
 tering their wings, and striving to gain admission. So 
 entirely do they abandon themselves to the captivity of 
 love, that they do not fear the risk of a bodily cap- 
 tivity, and will suffer themselves to be taken by hand, 
 without even an endeavour to escape. 
 
 Carry the imprisoned moth into the fields, and even 
 there the eager suitors will arrive from all quarters, 
 and boldly alight on the box while in the hand of the 
 entomologist. 
 
 Most wonderful must be the influence that can 
 emanate from so small a creature, and extend to so 
 great a distance an influence which, although entirely 
 inappreciable by any human sense, exercises so potent 
 a sway on all sides, and to so great a distance. 
 
 The conditions, too, of this mysterious influence are 
 singularly delicate ; for after the moth has once found 
 her mate, she may be placed amid a crowd of gentle- 
 men, and not one will take the least notice of her. 
 
 Like the young beauty of the ball-room, who whilom 
 attracted to herself crowds of beaux, that fluttered 
 around her, and contended with each other for a look 
 or a smile of their temporary divinity, but who finds 
 herself deserted by the fickle crowd when her election
 
 122 STORY OP INSECT LIFE. 
 
 is made ; so our Lady Lasiocampa Quercus, after set- 
 ting all hearts ablaze for a time, makes happy one 
 favoured individual, is deserted by the many re- 
 jected, and left in quiet to the duties of a wife and 
 a mother. 
 
 Her married life is but short, for her husband rarely 
 survives his happiness more than a few hours, and she, 
 after making due preparation for the welfare of her 
 numerous family, whom she is never to see, feels that 
 she has fulfilled her destiny, and gives up a life which 
 has now no further object. 
 
 There is really something very human in the life 
 even of an insect. Many a life story have I watched in 
 the insect world, which, if transferred to the human 
 world, would be full of interest. There is also one 
 great advantage in the insect life, namely, that as it 
 only consists of a year or two, the events of several 
 successive generations come under the observation of a 
 single historian. 
 
 First, a number of tiny, purposeless beings come into 
 the world, spreading about much at random, and seem- 
 ing to have no other object except to eat. It is but 
 just to them to say that they don't cry, and are always 
 contented with the food that is given them. 
 
 They rapidly increase in size, pass through a regular 
 series of childish complaints, which we mass together 
 under this single term, "moulting," but which are
 
 COMPANIONSHIP IN INSECTS. 123 
 
 probably to their senses as distinct as measles, and 
 chicken-pox, and hooping-cough. 
 
 They outgrow a great many suits of clothes in a 
 wonderfully short period ; they retire for a time to 
 finish their education ; and then come before the world 
 in all the glory of their new attire. 
 
 Up to this time they are nearly exa'ctly alike in 
 habits and manners ; but, when freed from the tram- 
 mels that held them, they diverge, each in his appointed 
 way, each exulting for a short space in the buoyancy of 
 youth, and fluttering indeterminately in the new world, 
 but soon settling down to the business for which they 
 were made. 
 
 So even in insects a human soul can find a compa- 
 nionship, and a solitary man need never feel entirely 
 alone as long as he can watch the life of a humble 
 moth, and see in that despised creature some mani- 
 festations of the same feelings which actuate himself. 
 
 And it even seems that, through this companionship, 
 the higher nature communicates itself in some degree 
 to the lower, as is shown by the many instances of men 
 who have tamed spiders and other creatures quite as 
 far removed from the human nature. In such a case it 
 seems very clear that either the higher nature gives to 
 the lower an intelligence not its own, or that it de- 
 velops powers which would have lain dormant had they 
 not been called forth by the contact of a superior being.
 
 124 DRINKER MOTH. 
 
 This subject is a very wide one, and well worth fol- 
 lowing up. But as it runs through the whole creation, 
 and this book is only to consist of a few pages, it must 
 suffice merely to put forth the idea. 
 
 To pass to another insect. 
 
 On plate E, and fig. 1 and 1 a, may be seen an insect 
 which somewhat resembles the oak-egger moth, and is 
 often mistaken for it by inexperienced eyes. This is the 
 " Drinker " moth, remarkable for the thick furry coat 
 which it wears, as a caterpillar and as a moth, and 
 which it employs in the construction of its cocoon. 
 This moth is one of my particular friends ; and I have 
 had hundreds of them from the egg to their perfect 
 state. I had quite a large establishment for the educa- 
 tion and development of lepidoptera, and especially 
 favoured the tiger-moth, the oak egger, and the 
 drinker. 
 
 The caterpillar of this moth is entirely covered with 
 dense hair, even down to the very feet ; and by means 
 of this protection it is enabled to brave the winter frost, 
 needing not to pass the cold months in a torpid state. 
 It is a pretty caterpillar, and very easily recognised by 
 the figure. Its chief peculiarities are the two tufts of 
 hair that it bears at its opposite extremities, and the 
 double line of black spots along its sides. 
 
 Generally, it feeds on various grasses, but it is not 
 dainty, as are many caterpillars; and I have always
 
 CATERPILLAR BOX. 125 
 
 found it to eat freely of the same food as the oak egger 
 larva. This caterpillar is seen at fig. 1 6. 
 
 When alarmed, it loosens its hold of the plant on 
 which it is feeding, rolls itself into a ring, and drops to 
 the ground, hoping to evade notice among the foliage. 
 This habit used to be rather perplexing to me, not 
 because the creature could escape by so well-known a 
 trick, but because it would not go into the box prepared 
 for its reception. 
 
 It is necessary to have a box of a peculiar form for 
 the collection of caterpillars. If the lid is raised every 
 time that a fresh capture is made, difficulties increase 
 in proportion to the number of caterpillars. For, when 
 some thirty larvae are in the box, they all begin to crawl 
 out when the lid is opened; and Hercules had hardly a 
 more bewildering task among the hydra's heads than 
 the entomologist among his captives. 
 
 No sooner is the light admitted, than a dozen heads 
 are over the side; and as fast as one is replaced, six or 
 seven more make their appearance. The only remedy 
 is to sweep them all back with a rapid movement of the 
 hand, to shake them all to the bottom, and then to re- 
 place the lid as fast as possible. Even with all precaution, 
 caterpillars are crushed ; and, besides, they are delicate 
 in their constitutions, and require gentle handling. 
 
 Fo the best plan is to have a tin box made with a 
 short tube, through which the caterpillars can be intro-
 
 126 
 
 COCOON OP DRINKER CATERPILLAR. 
 
 duced, and which can be stopped by a cork when the 
 creatures are fairly inside. 
 
 Now, although this is a capital contrivance for cater- 
 pillars that hold themselves straight, it fails entirely 
 when they curl themselves into a ring and refuse to be 
 straightened. It is as impossible to straighten a rolled- 
 up hedgehog as a caterpillar in a similar attitude ; and 
 if force is used in either case, the creature will be mor- 
 tally injured. However, gentle means succeed when 
 violence fails, with insects as with men. A Bheel rob- 
 ber will steal the bedding from under a sleeping man 
 without waking him; and, by an analogous process, 
 the refractory caterpillar is lodged in his prison before 
 he is fairly awake to his condition. 
 
 The entomologist feels a justifiable pride in executing 
 similar achievements ; for there is 
 quite as much force of intellect 
 needed to outwit a caterpillar as a 
 quadruped. 
 
 When the Drinker Caterpillar 
 passes into its pupal state, it makes 
 for itself a very curious cocoon, not 
 unlike a weaver's shuttle in shape, 
 being large in the middle, and 
 tapering to a point at each end. The texture is soft 
 and flexible, as if the cocoon were made of very thin 
 folt, and the larval hairs are quite distinguishable on 
 
 CX-OOON OT THE EMPEROR JIOTB.
 
 EMPEROR MOTH. 127 
 
 its surface. The moth leaves the cocoon about August. 
 For the cocoon, see fig. 1 c. 
 
 I found that few caterpillars are so liable to the 
 attack of ichneumon flies as those of the Drinker moth. 
 A cocoon now before me is pierced with thirteen holes 
 from which ichneumon flies have issued, having eaten 
 up the caterpillar. The eggs are shown at fig. 1 e. 
 
 If the reader will now refer to plate C, the central 
 figure will be found to represent a strikingly handsome 
 moth, called, from its gorgeous plumage, the " Em- 
 peror Moth." 
 
 Its body is covered with a thick downy raiment, and 
 the wings are clothed with plumage of a peculiarly 
 soft character, which is well represented in the figure. 
 The antennae, too, are elaborately feathered. 
 
 Although the beauty of this insect would entitle it to 
 notice in its perfect state, and the peculiar shape of its 
 larva (see plate C, fig. 4 a) would draw attention, 
 yet its chief title to admiration lies in the cocoon which 
 it constructs for its pupal existence. 
 
 Externally, there is nothing remarkable in the cocoon; 
 and, as may be seen in the same plate, fig. 4 b, it is a 
 very ordinary, rough, flask-shaped piece of workman- 
 ship. But if the outer covering be carefully removed, 
 or if the cocoon be divided lengthways, a very won- 
 derful structure is exhibited. 
 
 The inventor of lobster-pots is not known, and
 
 128 COCOON OP EMPEROR MOTH. 
 
 history has failed to record the name of the man who 
 first made wire mouse-traps with conical entrances, into 
 which the mice can squeeze themselves, but exit from 
 which is impossible. 
 
 But, though the principle had not been applied to 
 lobsters or mice, it was in existence ages upon ages ago. 
 Before human emperors had been invented, and very 
 probably long before mankind had been placed on our 
 earth, the caterpillar of the Emperor Moth wove its 
 wondrous cell, and thereby became a silent teacher to 
 the cunning race of mankind how to make mouse-traps 
 and lobster-pots. 
 
 For inside the rough outer case, which is composed 
 of silken threads, woven almost at random, and very 
 delicate, is a lesser case, corresponding in shape with 
 its covering, but made of stiff threads laid nearly 
 parallel to each other, their points converging at 
 the small end of the case. See the cut on page 126. 
 
 It will now be seen that the moth when it leaves its 
 chrysalid case can easily walk out of the cocoon, but 
 that no other creature could enter. So within its 
 trapped case the chrysalis lies secure, until time 
 and warmth bring it to its perfection. It breaks 
 from its pupal shell, walks forward, the threads separate 
 to permit its egress, and then converge again so closely 
 that to all appearance the cocoon is precisely the .same 
 as when the moth was within.
 
 NATURAL TRAP. 129 
 
 Now, any observant member of the human race, who 
 had been meditating upon traps, and happened in a con- 
 templative mood to open one of these cocoons, would 
 feel a new light break in upon him, and, Archimedes- 
 like, he would exclaim " Eureka," or its equivalent, " I 
 have found my trap !" Reverse the process, make the 
 converging threads to lead into instead of out of the 
 trap, and the thing is done. " I will make it of wire, 
 put it on my shelf, and I catch mice and rats. I will 
 make it of osier, sink it to the bottom of the sea, and I 
 catch lobsters and crabs. I will lay it in a rapid, and 
 I catch roach and dace ; I will place it under the river 
 banks, and then I have cray-fish." 
 
 So might he soliloquize on the future achievements of 
 his newly-discovered principle. But unless he had the 
 prophetic afflatus strong within him, never would he 
 imagine that in future times his discovery would catch 
 a monarch, and an Elector to boot.
 
 130 ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BLEPHANT HAWK-MOTH PRIVET HAWK-MOTH DIGGING FOR 
 LARV.E BUFF-TIPP MOTH GOLD-TAILED MOTH CASE FOR ITS 
 EGGS CURIOUS PROPERTY OF ITS CATERPILLAR VAPOURER 
 MOTH LEAF- ROLLERS GREEN OAK MOTH ITS CONSTANT 
 ENEMY LEAF MINERS LACKEY MOTH EGG BRACELETS. 
 
 IT will be noticed that the insects mentioned in the 
 preceding chapter are mostly remarkable for the cocoons 
 which they construct, and that the peculiarities of the 
 larva and the perfect insect are but casually men- 
 tioned. Those, however, which will be noticed in this 
 chapter are chosen because there is "something rare 
 and strange" in the habits and manners of the creatures 
 themselves. 
 
 As it will be more convenient to keep to the same 
 plate as much as possible, we still refer to plate C. 
 On casting the eye over the objects there depicted, the 
 strangest and most fantastic shape is evidently that 
 creature which is marked 5 a. 
 
 The aspect of the creature is almost appalling, and 
 it seems to glare at us with two malignant eyes, 
 threatening the poisoned blow which the horrid tail 
 seems well able to deliver.
 
 PRIVET HAWK-MOTH. 131 
 
 Yet this is as harmless a creature as lives, and it can 
 injure nothing except the leaves of the plant on which 
 it feeds. The eye-like spots are not eyes at all, but 
 simply markings on the surface of the skin, and the 
 formidable horn at the tail cannot scratch the most 
 delicate skin. 
 
 The creature is in fact simply the caterpillar of a very 
 beautiful moth, represented in fig. 5, and called the 
 Elephant Hawk-moth elephant, on account of its long 
 proboscis, and hawk on account of its sharp hawk-like 
 wings and flight. The caterpillar may be found in 
 many places, and especially on the banks of streams, 
 feeding on various plants, such as the willow- 
 herbs. 
 
 Another kind of Hawk-moth is much more common 
 than the elephant, and is represented on plate A ; the 
 moth itself at fig. 5, and its caterpillar at fig. 5, a. 
 
 This is called the Privet Hawk-moth, because the 
 caterpillar feeds on the leaves of that shrub. The 
 colours of both moth and caterpillar are very beautiful, 
 and not unlike in character. 
 
 The bright leafy green tint of the caterpillar, and the 
 seven rose-coloured stripes on each side, make it a very 
 conspicuous insect, and raise wishes that tints so 
 beautiful could be preserved. But as yet it cannot be 
 done, for even in the most successful specimens the 
 colours fade sadly in a day or two, and after a while
 
 132 DIGGING FOR LARV.E. 
 
 there is a determination towards a blackish brown tint 
 that cannot be checked. 
 
 Any one, however, who wishes to try the experiment 
 may easily do so, for there are few privet hedges without 
 their inhabitants, who may keep out of sight, but can 
 be brought tumbling to the ground by some sharp taps 
 administered to the stems of the bushes. 
 
 In the winter the chrysalis may be obtained by 
 digging under privet bushes. There the caterpillar 
 resorts, and works a kind of cell in the ground for its 
 reception. It is better not to choose a frosty day for 
 the disinterment, or the sudden cold may kill the insect, 
 and the seeker's labour be lost. 
 
 Should it be desirable to capture the larva and to 
 keep it alive, the object can be easily attained ; for the 
 creature is hardy enough, and privet bushes grow 
 everywhere. In default of privet leaves, it will eat 
 those of the syringa and the ash. When it reaches its 
 full growth, it should be provided with a vessel con- 
 taining earth some inches in depth. Into this earth it 
 will burrow, and remain there until the moth issues 
 forth. 
 
 Care should be taken to keep the earth rather moist, 
 as otherwise the chrysalis skin becomes so hard that the 
 moth cannot break out of its prison, and perishes 
 miserably. 
 
 On the same plate, fig. 4, may be seen a moth of a
 
 BUFF-TIP MOTH. 133 
 
 curious shape, very feathery about the thorax, the head 
 being all but concealed by the dense down, and as 
 difficult to find as the head of a Skye-terrier, were not 
 its position marked by the antennae. This is the Buff- 
 tip moth, so called on account of the upper wing-tips 
 being marked with buff-coloured scales. 
 
 The caterpillar, which is represented immediately 
 above, and marked 4 a, is a very singular creature, its 
 habits being indicated by the marks on its skin. As 
 soon as the young caterpillars are hatched, they arrange 
 themselves in regular order, much after the fashion of 
 the dark stripes, and so march over leaf and branch, 
 devastating their course with the same ease and regu- 
 larity as an invading army in an enemy's land. 
 
 When they increase to a tolerably large size, they 
 disband their forces, and each individual proceeds on 
 its own course of destruction. "Were it not for the 
 colours which they assume, these creatures would do 
 great damage ; but the ground being yellow and the 
 stripes black, the caterpillars are so conspicuous that 
 sharp-sighted birds soon find them out, and having 
 discovered a colony, hold revelry thereon, and extermi- 
 nate the band. 
 
 Comparatively few escape their foes and attain 
 maturity. When they have reached their full age, 
 they let themselves drop from the branches, and when 
 they come to soft ground, bury themselves therein to
 
 134 GOLD- TAILED MOTH. 
 
 await their last change. Individuals may often be 
 seen crossing gravel paths, which, they are unable to 
 penetrate, and getting over the ground with such speed 
 and in so evident a hurry that they seem to be aware 
 that birds are on the watch and ichneumons awaiting 
 their opportunity. 
 
 There is a very pretty moth covered with a downy 
 white plumage even to the very toes, and carrying at 
 the extremity of its tail a tuft of golden silky hair. 
 From this coloured tuft, the creature bears the name 
 of Gold-tailed Moth. It may often be found sticking 
 tightly to the bark of tree stems, its glossy white wings 
 folded roof-like over its back, and the golden tuft just 
 showing itself from the white wings. 
 
 This golden tuft is only found fully developed in the 
 female moth, and comes into use when she deposits 
 her eggs. The moth is shown on plate E, fig. 4. 
 
 As the eggs are laid in the summer time, they 
 need no guard from cold ; but they do require to be 
 sheltered from too high a degree of temperature, and 
 for this purpose the silken tuft is used. 
 
 At the very end of the tail the moth carries a pair of 
 pincers, which she can twist about in all directions; 
 and this tool is used for the proper settlement of the 
 eggs. The moth, after fixing on a proper spot, pinches 
 off a tiny tuft of down, spreads it smoothly, lays an egg 
 upon it, covers it over, and finally combs the hair so as
 
 THE PALMER- WORM. 135 
 
 to lie evenly. And when she has laid the full com- 
 plement, she gives the whole mass some finishing 
 touches, like a mother tucking-in her little baby in 
 the bed-clothes, and smoothing them neatly over it. 
 
 The egg masses are common enough, and are readily 
 discovered by means of their bright yellow covering. 
 
 The caterpillar of this moth is a very brilliant scarlet 
 and black creature, commonly known by the name of 
 the " palmer-worm," and to be found plentifully of all 
 sizes. 
 
 People possessed of delicate skins must beware of 
 touching the palmer-worm, or they may suffer for 
 their temerity. I was a victim to the creature for 
 some time before I discovered the reason of my suffer- 
 ings. And the case was as follows. 
 
 Being much struck with the vivid colours of the 
 caterpillar, I was anxious to preserve some specimens 
 if possible, in a manner that would retain the scarlet 
 and black tints. One mode that seemed feasible 
 was, to make a very small snuff-box, as ladies call a 
 rectangular rent, in the creature's skin, to remove the 
 entire vital organs, to fill the space with dry sand, and 
 then, when the skin was quite dry, to pour out all the 
 sand, leaving the empty skin. 
 
 After treating six or seven caterpillars in this fashion, 
 I perceived a violent irritation about my face, lips, and 
 eyes, which only became worse when rubbed. In an
 
 136 CURIOUS PROPERTY. 
 
 hour or so, my face was swollen into a very horrid 
 and withal a very absurd mass of hard knobs, as if a 
 number of young kidney potatoes had been inserted 
 under the skin. 
 
 Of course, I was invisible for some days, and after 
 returning to my work, was attacked in precisely the 
 same manner again. This second mischance set me 
 thinking ; and on consultation with the medical depart- 
 ment, the fault was attributed to the hot sand which I 
 had been using. 
 
 So, when I went again to the work, I discarded sand, 
 and stuffed the caterpillars with cotton wool cut very 
 short, like chopped straw. My horror may be con- 
 jectured, but not imagined, when I found, for the third 
 time, that my face was beginning to assume its tuber- 
 cular aspect. 
 
 Then I did what I ought to have done before, went 
 to my entomological books, and found that various 
 caterpillars possessed this "urticating" property, as 
 they learnedly called it, or as I should say, that they 
 stung worse than nettles. Since that time, I have 
 never touched a palmer- worm with my fingers. 
 
 It was perhaps a proper punishment for neglecting 
 the knowledge that others had recorded. But I always 
 had rather an aversion to book entomology, and used 
 to work out an insect as far as possible, and then see 
 what books said about it. Certainly, although not a
 
 NEST OP PALMER-WORM. 137 
 
 very rapid mode of work, yet it was a very sure one, 
 arid fixed the knowledge in the mind. 
 
 On the same plate, fig. 4 a, is shown the caterpillar 
 of this moth, a creature conspicuous from the tufts of 
 beautifully-coloured hair which are set on its body like 
 camel-hair brushes. 
 
 The caterpillar spins for itself a silken nest wherein 
 to pass its pupa state, and in general there is nothing 
 remarkable about the nest. But I have one in my 
 collection of insect habitations, that is very curious. 
 
 I had caught, killed, and pinned out a large dragon- 
 fly, and placed it in a cardboard box for a time. Some 
 days afterwards, a palmer-worm had been captured, and 
 was imprisoned in the same box. I was not aware that 
 such a circumstance had happened, and so did not open 
 the box for a week or two, when I expected to find the 
 dragon-fly quite dry and ready for the cabinet. 
 
 When, however, the box was opened, a curious state 
 of matters was disclosed. The caterpillar had not 
 only spun its cocoon, but had shredded up the dragon- 
 fly's wings, and woven them into the substance of its 
 cell. The glittering particles of the wing have a 
 curious effect as they sparkle among the silver fibres. 
 
 On plate D, fig. 3 a, is represented a creature whose 
 Bole claim to admiration is its domestic virtue, for 
 elegance or beauty it has none. It hardly seems 
 possible, but it is the fact, that this clumsy creature is
 
 138 VAPOURER MOTH. 
 
 the female Vapourer Moth, the male being represented 
 immediately below fig. 3. 
 
 Why the two sexes should be so entirely different in 
 aspect, it is not easy to understand. The female has 
 only the smallest imaginable apologies for wings, and 
 during her whole lifetime never leaves her home, 
 seeming to despise earth as she cannot attain air. 
 
 This moth is not obliged to form laboriously a warm 
 habitation for her eggs, for she places them in the silken 
 web which she occupied in her pupal state, and from 
 which she never travels. 
 
 Curiously enough, her eggs are not placed within the 
 hollow of the cocoon as might be supposed, but are 
 scattered irregularly and apparently at random over its 
 surface. Even there, though, they are warm enough ; 
 for the cocoon itself is generally placed in a sheltered 
 spot, so that the eggs are guarded from the undue in- 
 fluence of the elements, and at the same time protected 
 from too rapid changes of temperature. 
 
 In the hot summer months, the leaves of trees are 
 crowded with insects of various kinds, which fly out in 
 alarm when the branches are sharply struck. Oak trees 
 are especially insect-haunted, and mostly by one spe- 
 cies of moth, a figure of which is given on plate B, 
 fig.l. 
 
 This little moth is a pretty object to the eyes, but a 
 terribly destructive creature when in its caterpillar
 
 LEAP ROLLERS. 139 
 
 state, compensating for its diminutive size by its col- 
 lective numbers. The caterpillar is one of those called 
 " Leaf Rollers," because they roll up the leaves on 
 which they feed, and take up their habitation within. 
 
 There are many kinds of leaf rollers, each employing 
 a different mode of rolling the leaf, but in all cases the 
 leaf is held in position by the silken threads spun by 
 the caterpillar. 
 
 Some use three or four leaves to make one habitation, 
 by binding them together by their edges. Some take 
 a single leaf, and, fastening silken cords to its edges, 
 gradually contract them, until the edges are brought 
 together and there held. Some, not so ambitious in 
 their tastes, content themselves with a portion of a leaf, 
 snipping out the parts that they require and rolling it 
 round. 
 
 The insect before us, however, requires an entire leaf 
 for its habitation, and there lies in tolerable security 
 from enemies. There are plenty of birds about the 
 trees, and they know well enough that within the 
 circled leaves little caterpillars reside. But they do 
 not find that they can always make a meal on the 
 caterpillars, and for the following reason. 
 
 The curled leaf is like a tube open at both ends, 
 the caterpillar lying snugly in the interior. So, when 
 a bird puts its beak into one end of the tube, the cater- 
 pillar tumbles out at the other, and lets itself drop to
 
 140 GREEN OAK MOTH. 
 
 the distance of some feet, supporting itself by a silken 
 thread that it spins. 
 
 The bird finds that its prey has escaped, and not 
 having sufficient inductive reason to trace the silken 
 thread and so find the caterpillar, goes off to try 
 its fortune elsevhere. The danger being over, the 
 caterpillar ascends its silken ladder, and quietly regains 
 possession of its home. 
 
 Myriads of these rolled leaves may be found on the 
 oak trees, and the caterpillars may be driven out in 
 numbers by a sharp jar given to a branch. It is quite 
 amusing to see the simultaneous descent of some 
 hundred caterpillars, each swaying in the breeze at the 
 end of the line, and occasionally dropping another foot 
 or so, as if dissatisfied with its position. 
 
 Each caterpillar consumes about three or four leaves 
 in the whole of its existence, and literally eats itself out 
 of house and home. But when it has eaten one house, 
 it only has to walk a few steps to find the materials of 
 another, and in a very short time it is newly lodged 
 and boarded. 
 
 The perfect insect is called the " Green Oak Moth." 
 The colour of its two upper wings is a bright apple 
 green ; and as the creature generally sits with its wings 
 closed over its back, it harmonizes so periectly with the 
 green oak leaves, that even an accustomed eye fails to 
 perceive it. So numerous are these little moths, that
 
 THE EMPIS. 141 
 
 their progeny would shortly devastate a forest, were 
 they not subject to the attacks of another insect. 
 This insect is a little fly of a shape something re- 
 sembling that of a large gnat ; and which has, as far as 
 I know, no English name. Its scientific title is 
 Empis. There are several species of this useful fly, one 
 attaining some size; but the one that claims our 
 notice just at present is the little empis, scientifically 
 Empis tessellata. 
 
 I well remember how much T was struck with the 
 discovery that the empis preyed on the little oak 
 moths, and the manner in which they did so. 
 
 One summer's day, I was entomologizing in a wood, 
 when a curious kind of insect caught my attention. I 
 could make nothing of it, for it was partly green, like a 
 butterfly or moth, and partly glittering like a fly, and 
 had passed out of reach before it could be approached. 
 On walking to the spot whence it had come, I found 
 many of the same creatures flying about, and appa- 
 rently enjoying themselves very much. 
 
 A sweep of the net captured four or five ; and then 
 was disclosed the secret. The compound creature was, 
 in fact, a living empis, clasping in its arms the body of 
 an oak moth which it had killed, and into whose body 
 its long beak was driven. I might have caught 
 hundreds if it had been desirable. The grasp of the 
 fly was wonderful, and if the creature had been mag-
 
 142 A REMORSELESS ENEMY. 
 
 nified to the human size, it would have afforded the 
 very type of a remorseless, deadly, unyieldiug gripe. 
 Never did miser tighter grasp a golden coin, than the 
 empis fasten its hold on its green prey. Never did 
 usurer suck his client more thoroughly than the empis 
 drains the life juices from the victim moth. 
 
 He is a terrible fellow, this empis, quiet and insigni- 
 ficant in aspect, with a sober brown coat, slim and 
 genteel legs, and just a modest little tuft on the top of 
 his head. But, woe is me for the gay and very greeu 
 insect that flies within reach of this estimable indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 The great hornet that comes rushing by is not half 
 so dangerous, for all his sharp teeth and his terrible 
 sting. The stag-beetle may frighten our green young 
 friend out of his senses by his truculent aspect and 
 gigantic stature. But better a thousand stag-beetles 
 than one little empis. For when once the slim and 
 genteel legs have come on the track of the little moth, 
 it is all over with him. Claw after claw is hooked 
 on him, gradually and surely the clasp tightens, and 
 when once he is hopelessly captured, out comes a horrid 
 long bill, and drains him dry. Poor green little moth ! 
 
 Still continuing our research among the oak leaves, 
 we shall find many of them marked in a very peculiar 
 manner. A white wavy line meanders about the leaf like 
 the course of a river, and, even as the river, increases in
 
 LEAF-MINERS. 143 
 
 width as it proceeds on its course. This effect is pro- 
 duced by the caterpillar of one of the leaf-mining 
 insects, tiny creatures, which live between the layers 
 of the leaf, and eat their way about it. 
 
 Of course, the larger the creature becomes, the more 
 food it eats, the more space it occupies, and the wider 
 is its road ; so that, although at its commencement the 
 path is no wider than a needle-scratch, it becomes 
 nearly the fifth of an inch wide at its termination. 
 It is easy to trace the insect, and to find it at the 
 widest extremity of its path, either as caterpillar or 
 chrysalis. Often, though, the creature has escaped, and 
 the empty case is the only relic of its being. 
 
 There are many insects which are leaf-miners in their 
 larval state. Very many of them belong to the minutest 
 known examples of the moth tribes, the very humming- 
 bird of the moths, and, like the humming-birds, re- 
 splendent in colours beyond description. These Micro- 
 Lepidoptera, as they are called, are so numerous, that 
 the study of them and their habits has become quite a 
 distinct branch of insect lore. 
 
 Some, again, are the larvse of certain flies, while 
 others are the larvae of small beetles. Their tastes, too, 
 are very comprehensive, for there are few indigenous 
 plants whose leaves show no sign of the miner's track, 
 and even in the leaves of many imported plants the 
 meandering path may be seen.
 
 144 LEAF-MINERS. 
 
 There are some plants, such as the eglantine, the 
 dewberry, and others, that are especially the haunts oi 
 these insects, and on whose branches nearly every other 
 leaf is marked with the winding path. I have now 
 before me a little branch containing seven leaves, and 
 six of them have been tunnelled, while one leaf has been 
 occupied by two insects, each keeping to his own side. 
 
 The course which these creatures pursue is very 
 curious. Sometimes, as in the figure on plate A, fig, 
 1, the caterpillar makes a decided and bold track, 
 keeping mostly to the central portion of the leaf. 
 
 Sometimes it makes a confused tortuous jumble of 
 paths, so that it is not easy to discover any definite 
 course. 
 
 Sometimes it prefers the edges of the leaves, and skirts 
 them with strange exactness, adapting its course to 
 every notch, and following the outline as if it were 
 tracing a plan. 
 
 This propensity seems to exhibit itself most strongly 
 in the deeply cut leaves. And the shape or direction 
 of the path seems to be as property belonging to this 
 species of the insect which makes it j for there may be 
 tracks of totally distinct forms, and yet the insects pro- 
 ducing them are found to belong to the same species. 
 
 If the twigs of an ordinary thorn-bush be examined 
 during the winter months, many of them will be seen 
 surrounded with curious little objects, called "fairy
 
 LACKEY MOTH. 14/5 
 
 bracelets " by the vulgar, and by the learned " ova of 
 Clisiocampa Neustria." These are the eggs of the 
 Lackey Moth, and are fastened round the twigs by the 
 mother insect, a brown-coloured moth, that may be 
 found in any number at the right time. 
 
 It is wonderful how the shape of the egg is adapted 
 to the peculiar form into which they have to be 
 moulded, and how perfectly they all fit together. Each 
 egg is much wider at the top than at the bottom ; and 
 this increase of width is so accurately proportioned, 
 that when the eggs are fitted together round a branch, 
 the circle described by their upper surfaces corresponds 
 precisely with that of the branch. 
 
 These eggs are left exposed to every change of the 
 elements, and are frequently actually enveloped in a 
 coat of ice when a frost suddenly succeeds a thaw. 
 But they are guarded from actual contact with ice 
 and snow by a coating of varnish which is laid over 
 them, and which performs the double office of acting 
 as a waterproof garment and of gluing the eggs 
 firmly together. So tightly do they adhere to each 
 other, that if the twig be cut off close to the bracelet, 
 the little egg circlet can be slipped off entire.
 
 146 LAPPET MOTH. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LAPPET MOTH BRIMSTONE MOTH IT8 CATERPILLAR CURRANT 
 MOTH CLEAR- WINGS WHITE- PLUME MOTH TWENT Y-PLUME 
 MOTH ADELA AN INSECT CINDERELLA NAMING INSECTS THE 
 ATALANTA AN INSECT CRIPPLE PEACOCK BUTTERFLY BLUE 
 AND OTHER BUTTERFLIES. 
 
 THE cut on the next page is a good representation of a 
 very singular creature called the " Lappet Moth." As 
 may be seen by the engraving, when it is settled 
 quietly upon a leaf with folded wings, it bears a closer 
 resemblance to a bundle of vithered leaves than to 
 any living creature. In this strange form lies its chief 
 safety, for there are few eyes sufficiently sharp to 
 detect an insect while hiding its character under so 
 strange a mask. 
 
 There are several other examples of this curious 
 resemblance between the animal and vegetable king- 
 doms, one or two of which will be mentioned in suc- 
 ceeding pages. 
 
 The name of " Lappet Moth " is hardly applicable, 
 as it ought rather to be called the moth of the Lappet 
 caterpillar. This title is given to the creature because 
 it is furnished with a series of fleshy protuberances along
 
 LAPPET MOTH. 
 
 H7 
 
 the sides, to which objects the name of Lappets has 
 been fancifully given. 
 
 LAPPET MOTH. 
 
 It is generally supposed to be a rare moth ; but 1 
 have not found much difficulty in procuring specimens 
 either in the larval state or as moths. Both moth 
 and caterpillar are of a large size, the caterpillar being 
 about the length and thickness of a man's finger. Its 
 colour is a tolerably dark grey, but subject to some 
 variation in tint. There is no difficulty hi ascertain- 
 ing this species of the creature, as it is clearly distin- 
 
 L2
 
 148 BRIMSTONE MOTH. 
 
 guished from caterpillars of a similar shape or line by 
 two blue marks on the back of its neck, as if a fine 
 brush filled with blue paint had been twice drawn 
 smartly across it. The curious "lappets" too are so 
 conspicuous that they alone would be sufficient for 
 identification. 
 
 One of the examples of animal life simulating vege- 
 tation now comes before us in the person of the Brim- 
 stone Moth, or rather its caterpillar. 
 
 This is a very common insect, and may be recognised 
 at once by its portrait on plate C, fig. 3. 
 
 The caterpillar is represented immediately above, 
 fig. 3 a. This is one of the caterpillars called " Loopers," 
 on account of their peculiar mode of walking. 
 
 They have no legs on the middle portion of their 
 bodies, but only the usual six little legs at the three 
 rings nearest the head, and a few false legs by the tail ; 
 so when they want to walk, they attain their object by 
 holding fast with their false or pro-legs as they are 
 called, and stretching themselves forward to their fullest 
 extent. The real legs then take their hold, and the 
 pro-legs are drawn up to them, thus making the creature 
 put up its back like an angry cat. 
 
 The grasp of the pro-legs is wonderfully powerful, 
 and in them lies the chief peculiarity of the creature. 
 The surface of the body is of a brownish tint, just resem- 
 bling that of the little twigs on which it sits ; there are
 
 MAGPIE MOTH. 149 
 
 rings and lines on its surface that simulate the cracks 
 and irregularities of the bark, and in one or two places 
 it is furnished with sham thorns. 
 
 Trusting in its mask, the caterpillar grasps the twig 
 firmly, stretches out its body to its full length, and so 
 remains, rigid and immovable as the twigs themselves. 
 People have been known to frighten themselves very 
 much by taking hold of a caterpillar, thinking it to be 
 a dead branch. 
 
 The only precaution taken by the creature is to have 
 a thread ready spun from its mouth to the branch, so 
 that if it should be discovered, it might drop down 
 suddenly, and when the danger was over, climb up its 
 rope and regain its home. 
 
 The commonest of the loopers is the well-known 
 caterpillar of the Currant or Magpie Moth, plate E, 
 fig. 3. This creature is remarkable from the circum- 
 stance that its colours are of the same character 
 throughout its entire existence ; the caterpillar, chry- 
 salis, and perfect moth showing a similar rich colour 
 and variety of tint, as seen on figs. 3 a and 3 b. 
 
 It is a curious fact that almost every stratagem of 
 animals is used by man ; whether intuitively, or 
 whether on account of taking a hint, I cannot say. 
 
 For example, Parkyns, the Abyssinian traveller, tells 
 an amusing tale of a party of Barea robbers, who when 
 pui-sued got up a tableau vivant at a moment's notice.
 
 150 CLEAR-WINGS. 
 
 One man personated a charred tree-stump, and the 
 others converted themselves into blackened logs and 
 stones lying about its base. 
 
 It seemed so impossible for human beings to remain 
 so still, that a rifle-ball was sent towards the stump, and 
 caused it to take to its heels, followed by the logs and 
 stones. 
 
 I have heard of a similar stratagem that was put in 
 force by a robber who was interrupted on his way into 
 the tent by the appearance of its inmate, an officer. 
 He was so completely deceived, that he actually hung 
 his helmet on one of the branches, which branch was 
 in fact the robber's leg. The joke was almost too good, 
 but the stump stood fast, until the officer leaned his 
 back against it. Officer and stump came to the ground 
 together, and the stump escaped, carrying off the helmet 
 as a trophy. I think that he deserved it. 
 
 I conclude this chapter with a short notice of five 
 beautiful and curious little moths. 
 
 The first of these, the " Currant Clear-wing," is 
 frequently mistaken for a gnat or a fly, and it is 
 sometimes a difficult task to persuade those who are 
 unaccustomed to insects, that it can be a moth. As 
 a general rule, the wings of moths are covered with 
 feathers, and many are even as downy in their texture 
 as the plumage of the owl. But there is a family of 
 moth, called the clear-wings, whose wings are as trans-
 
 WHITE PLUME MOTH. 151 
 
 parent as those of bees or flies. Some of these are as 
 large as hornets, and resemble these insects closely in 
 general aspect. 
 
 Some fourteen or fifteen species of these curious 
 creatures are found in England ; and each of them 
 bears so close a likeness to some other insect, that it is 
 named accordingly. For example, the species -which 
 we are now examining is called the " gnat-like Egeria," 
 another is the " bee-like," another the " hornet-like," 
 another the " ant-like," and so on. Plate A, fig. 3. 
 
 The currant clear-wing may be found on the leaves of 
 currant bushes, where it loves to rest. In 1856 I took 
 a great number of them in one small garden, often 
 finding two or more specimens on one currant bush. 
 
 Next come two beautiful examples of the Plum6 
 Moth, the White Plume and the Twenty Plume. 
 
 The first of these insects is very common on hedges 
 or the skirts of copses, and comes out just about dusk, 
 when it may be easily captured, its white wings making 
 it very conspicuous. See Plate H, fig. 9. 
 
 The chief distinguishing point in the plume moth 
 is that the wings are deeply cut from the point almost 
 to the very base, and thus more resemble the wings of 
 birds than those of insects. 
 
 In the white plume there are five of these rays or 
 plumes, three belonging to the upper pair of wings and 
 two to the lower.
 
 152 TWENTY-PLUME MOTH. 
 
 From the peculiarly long and delicate down with 
 which the body and wings are covered, it is no easy 
 matter to secure the moth without damaging its 
 aspect. The scissors-net is, perhaps, the best that can 
 be used for their capture ; for, as they always sit on 
 leaves and grass with their wings extended, they are 
 inclosed at once in a proper position, and cannot 
 struggle. A sharp pinch in the thorax from the 
 forceps, which a collector ought always to have with 
 him, kills the creature instantly ; for it holds life on 
 very slender tenure. The slender entomological pin 
 can then be passed through the thorax, while the net is 
 still closed, and thus the head of the pin can be drawn 
 through the meshes of the net when it is opened. 
 
 In this way the moth may be preserved without the 
 least injury to its appearance, or without ruffling the 
 vanes of one of its beautiful plumes. 
 
 Of all the plume moths this is the largest, as a fine 
 specimen will sometimes measure more than an inch 
 across the wings. There is a brown species, nearly as 
 large, and quite as common ; but which is often over- 
 looked on account of its sober colouring ; and as often 
 mistaken for a common c{ daddy-long-legs," to which 
 fly it bears a close resemblance. 
 
 The Twenty-plume Moth (plate C, fig. 9) is hardly 
 named as it deserves ; for as the wings on each side 
 are divided into twelve plumes, it ought to be named
 
 LONG HORN MOTH. 15? 
 
 the twenty-four plume. A better title is that of the 
 " Many-plume Moth." 
 
 It is very much smaller than either of the preceding 
 " plumes ;" and its radiating feathers are so small and 
 so numerous, that at a hasty glance it scarcely seems 
 to present any remarkable structure. It must be 
 examined with the aid of a magnifying glass before its 
 real beauty can be distinguished. 
 
 The moth is common enough, and may be easily 
 caught, as it has a strange liking for civilised society, 
 and constantly enters houses. As insects generally do, 
 it flies to the window, and scuds unceasingly up and 
 down the panes of glass, just as if it wished to make 
 itself as conspicuous as possible. 
 
 The last of our moths is the beautiful Long-horn, for 
 a figure of which see plate H, fig. 4. Another Long- 
 horn Moth, the Green Adela, is shown on plate C, 
 fig. 10. It is nearly as common as the last-mentioned 
 insect. ' 
 
 It is a horrid name, for its agricultural associa- 
 tions are so potent, that the idea conveyed to the 
 mind by the term "Long-horn," is that of a huge 
 bovine quadruped, with sleek solid sides telling of oil- 
 cake, with Lorns that are long enough to spike four 
 men at once, two oil each horn, and with a ponderous 
 tread that rivals that of the hippopotamus. 
 
 Whereas, our little moth is the epitome of every
 
 154 ADELA DE GEERELLA. 
 
 fragile, fairy-like beauty, and seems fitter for fairy tale, 
 " once upon a time," than for this nineteenth century. 
 Its "horns," as the antennae are called, are wondrously 
 long and slender. I have just taken measurement of 
 one of these moths, and find that the body and head 
 together are barely a quarter of an inch in length, 
 while the antennae are an inch and a quarter long. It 
 is hardly possible to conceive any living structure more 
 delicately slender than their antennae. The moth 
 delights in sunny glades, as so sunny a creature ought 
 to do ; it sits on a leaf, basking in the glaring sun- 
 beams, while its antennae, waving about in graceful 
 curves, are only to be traced by the light that sparkles 
 along them. They are as slender as the gossamer 
 threads floating in the air, and like them only seen as 
 lines of light. They are too delicate even for Mab's 
 chariot traces. The grey-coated gnat might use one 
 of them as his whip ; but it would only be for show, as 
 beseemeth the whip of a state-coach ; for it could not 
 hurt the tiniest atomy ever harnessed. 
 
 And yet the little Adela, for such is her scientific 
 title, flies undauntedly among the trees, threading her 
 way with perfect ease through the thickest foliage, her 
 wondrous antennae escaping all injury, and gleaming 
 now and then as a stray sunbeam touches them. 
 
 There is nothing very striking in the Adela's external 
 appearance ; she is just a pretty, unobtrusive, bronze-
 
 BRILLIANT COLOURS OF ADELA. 155 
 
 coloured little thing, from whom many an eye would 
 turn with indifference, if not with contempt. Truly, 
 in vain are there pearls, while the swinish nature prefers 
 dry husks. 
 
 Place this quiet, bronze-coloured little creature under 
 a microscope, and Cinderella herself never exhibited 
 such a transformation. The mind of man has never 
 conceived a robe so gorgeous as that which enwraps 
 a small brown moth. Refulgent golden feathers cover 
 its body and wings, sparkling gem-like points scatter 
 light in all directions, while on the edges of each 
 feather rainbow tints dance and quiver. It seems as if 
 the creature wore two robes a loose golden-feather 
 vesture above, and the rainbow itself beneath. Each 
 fibre of the fringe that edges the wings is a prism, and 
 even the slender antennae are covered with golden 
 feathers. Words cannot describe the wondrous beauty 
 of this creature. 
 
 Methinks a view of these earthly creatures can the 
 better enable one to appreciate the ineffable glories of 
 the heavenly beings. Even the earth-insect is beautiful 
 beyond the power of words to describe how much 
 more so the heavenly angel ! 
 
 When the study of entomology first rose to the 
 dignity of a science, it was found necessary that each 
 insect should be distinguished by a definite title. 
 Formerly, it was necessary to describe the insect when
 
 156 NAMES OP INSECTS. 
 
 speaking of it ; aiid in consequence both cabinets and 
 memories were overloaded with words. 
 
 For example, the Meadow-brown Butterfly was named 
 " Papilio media alis superioribus superne media parte 
 rufis." In English, " The middle-sized butterfly, the 
 centre of whose upper wings are reddish on the upper 
 surface." Cromwell's Puritan soldier might have taken 
 a lesson in nomenclature from an entomologist cabi- 
 net ; and it is not easy to say which would occupy the 
 greater time in reading, the list of butterflies or the 
 regimental roll-call. These difficulties being patent, 
 the nomenclators leaped at once, as is the habit of 
 human nature, into the opposite extreme ; and so, 
 instead of making an insect name an elaborate descrip- 
 tion of its appearance, gave it a title which did not 
 describe it at all, and would have been just as appli- 
 cable to any other insect. Old Homer's pages afforded 
 a valuable treasury of names ; and, accordingly, Greek 
 and Trojan may reasonably be astonished to find their 
 names again revived on earth. 
 
 Even our British butterflies have appropriated 
 Homeric titles. For example, the two first on the list 
 are named Machaon and Podalirius, known to students 
 of Homer as the two medical officers that accompanied 
 the Greek army. 
 
 Numerous, however, as are the Homeric heroes and 
 heroines, the insects far outnumbered them. So, after
 
 UNMEANING NAMES. 157 
 
 exhausting Homer, the dramatists were called into 
 requisition, and plundered of their " personze." Fiction 
 failing, history, or that which is dignified by the name 
 of history, was next sought ; and kings, queens, generals, 
 and statesmen lent their names to swell the insect 
 catalogue. 
 
 The Latin authors now are required to make up the 
 deficiency, Terence being especially useful. We have 
 in our English list Davus, Pamphilus, and Chrysis, all 
 out of one play, the " Audria." 
 
 At last, when Greek and Latin, prose and verse, 
 history and mythology, had been quite exhausted, some 
 enterprising and imaginative men boldly invented new 
 names for new insects. The import of the name was of 
 no consequence to them, and any harmonious combina- 
 tion of syllables was all that they required. Many a 
 valuable hour have they wasted, or rather caused others 
 to waste, in seeking through lexicons and dictionaries for 
 the purpose of discovering the derivation of those un- 
 meaning and underived names. 
 
 At last, men of science began to see that the name 
 ought to be descriptive of the creature, or its habits, 
 and yet as short as possible ; and when this idea was 
 matured, true nomenclature began. In the reformed 
 system, insects are gathered together in societies, 
 through which some general characteristic runs, and 
 each individual bears the name of its genus, as the
 
 158 THE ATALANTA. 
 
 society is called ; and also a second name that dis 
 tmguishes its species. 
 
 The first butterfly which will be mentioned in these 
 pages, is seen figured on plate D, fig. 4 ; and very 
 appropriately bears the name of Atalanta. Those 
 skilled in mythology, or Hangnail's skimmings thereof, 
 will remember that Atalanta was a young lady, so 
 swift of foot that she could run over the sea without 
 splashing her ankles, or on the corn-fields without 
 bending an ear of corn under her weight. The flight of 
 this butterfly is so easy and graceful, that poetical 
 entomologists invested it with the name of the swift- 
 footed Atalanta. 
 
 Also it is called the Scarlet-Admiral, in which two 
 names is to be seen the confusion respecting sexes 
 which is found in nautical matters generally. Perhaps 
 the discrepancy might have been avoided by calling the 
 butterfly Cleopatra, that lady being her own Admiral. 
 
 Few insects are so conspicuous, or have so magni- 
 ficent an effect on the wing, as the Atalanta ; its velvety- 
 black wings, with their scarlet bands, white spots, and 
 azure edges, presenting a bold contrast of colour that is 
 seldom seen, and in its way cannot be surpassed. Jt is 
 certainly a grand insect; and it seems to be quite 
 aware of its own beauty as it comes sailing through the 
 sunny glades, gracefully inclining from side to side, as 
 if to show its colours to the best advantage. Perhape
 
 AN INSECT CRIPPLE. 159 
 
 its best aspect is when it sits upon a teazle-head, quietly 
 fanning its wings in the sun ; for the quiet purple and 
 brown tints of the teazle set off the magnificent pure 
 colours of the insect. 
 
 These brilliant colours are only found on the upper 
 surface of the wings, the under surface being covered 
 with elaborate tracery of blacks, browns, ambers, sober 
 blues, and dusky reds, so that when the wings are closed 
 over the creature's back, it is hardly to be distin- 
 guished from a dried leaf, unless examined closely. 
 
 This distinction of tint often proves to be the insect's 
 best refuge ; for, if it can only slip round a tree or 
 a bush, it suddenly settles on some dark spot, shuts up 
 its wings, and there remains motionless until the danger 
 is past. The rough, brown elm bark is a favourite 
 refuge under these circumstances ; and it takes a sharp 
 eye to discover the butterfly when settled. 
 
 Sometimes the creature is not quite so magnificent, 
 and even appears shorn of its fair proportions. I have 
 now such a specimen before me, which I found on a 
 sandy bank, unable to fly. 
 
 My attention was drawn to it by observing a curious 
 fluttering movement of the grasses that covered the 
 bank ; and on going up to the spot to see what was the 
 cause, I discovered an Atalanta butterfly that had 
 apparently lost both wings of the left side, and was 
 endeavouring to fly with the remaining pair. Of course
 
 160 CATERPILLAR OP ATALANTA. 
 
 it could only make short leaps into the air, turn over, 
 and again fall to the ground. Wishing to put it out 
 of pain, I killed it, and on examination found that it 
 had never been endowed with wings on its left side, and 
 that those organs had still remained in the undeveloped 
 state in which they had lain under the chrysalis case. 
 Even the right pair had not attained their full deve- 
 lopment ; but in every other respect the insect was 
 perfect. 
 
 I suppose that the caterpillar must have selected too 
 dry a spot for its habitation when it became a pupa ; 
 and that in consequence the pupa shell was so dry and 
 hard that the butterfly could not make its escape in 
 proper time. I have often seen similar examples in my 
 own caterpillar-breeding experiences. 
 
 There are also in one of my insect cases two speci- 
 mens of the little white butterfly, who have met with 
 even a worse fate ; for they have not been able to 
 escape at all out of the chrysalis, and so present the 
 curious appearance of a chrysalis, furnished with head, 
 antennae, wings, and legs. The cause of the disaster 
 was probably the same in both cases. 
 
 The caterpillar of the Atalanta is shown on plate D, 
 fig. 4 a, and is a creature worthy of notice. 
 
 It is a well-known saying, that " what is one man's 
 meat, is another's poison ;" and the proverb holds good 
 in the case of the Atalanta caterpillar. For its meat is
 
 CURIOUS POSITION OF CHRYSALIS. 161 
 
 the common stinging-nettle, which is, undoubtedly, 
 poisonous enough to qualify any such proverb. 
 
 The colour of the caterpillar is green-black, and along 
 each side runs a spotty yellowish band. Its general 
 shape and appearance can be seen by referring to the 
 figure. 
 
 After passing through the usual coat-changing 
 common to all caterpillars, it begins, just before its 
 last change, to prepare a spot where it may pass its 
 pupal state. Its mode of so doing is very curious, and 
 is briefly as follows : 
 
 The chrysalis is intended to remain in an attitude 
 which we should think singularly uncomfortable, but 
 which seems to suit the constitution of certain crea- 
 tures, such as bats and chrysalides ; namely, with its 
 head downward. Why some insects should be thus 
 suspended, while others lie horizontally, is not known as 
 yet. But there can be no doubt but that some pur- 
 pose is served by the various positions and localities 
 assumed by insects in their pupal state. 
 
 Any one of a reflective mind, on hearing that a 
 chrysalis was to be suspended by its tail, would feel 
 some perplexity as to the means by which such a 
 position could be attained. For the old caterpillar's 
 skin has to be shed, and thus the legless, limbless 
 chrysalis is left without any apparent power to suspend 
 itself. The attitude which it assumes may be seen on 
 M
 
 162 PEACOCK BUTTERFLY. 
 
 plate D, fig. 4 b. On examining the chrysalis itself, 
 and the leaf or twig to which it is suspended, it will be 
 seen that a little silken mound is fastened to the leaf, 
 and the chrysalis is furnished with some hooked pro- 
 cesses on its tail, which are hitched upon the silken 
 threads, and thus hold the creature in the proper 
 position. 
 
 The Peacock butterfly, plate H, fig. 8, is an insect of 
 very similar habits and manners. The under-side of 
 the wings is very dark, and when they are closed over 
 the back, the butterfly looks more like a flat piece of 
 brown paper than an insect. The spots on the upper 
 surface of the wing are especially beautiful ; and the 
 mode in which those spots are coloured by their 
 feathers is shown in plate L, fig. 4, where a portion of 
 the wing-spot is slightly magnified. This figure shows 
 also the manner in which the feather-dust of the 
 butterfly's wing is arranged. The larva of this beautiful 
 insect is shown on fig. 8 6. Like that of the Atalanta, 
 it feeds on the stinging-nettle. 
 
 On plate D, fig. 1, is drawn a very lovely insect, one 
 of the numerous blue butterflies that may be seen 
 flitting about the flowers in a garden, themselves of so 
 flower-like an azure, that they may often be mistaken 
 for a blue blossom. The caterpillar, fig. 1 6, is, as may 
 be seen, rather curious in shape, and the pupa, fig. 1 c, 
 is hardly less so.
 
 CABBAGE BUTTEEFLT. 163 
 
 Among the scales of this insect occur certain speci- 
 mens called from their shape " battledore " scales, some 
 of which may be seen on plate K, fig. 8, contrasted with 
 the ordinary scales. 
 
 On the same plate as the blue butterfly, fig. 2, is seen 
 a very pretty and common insect, called the " Orange- 
 tip," on account of the colour of the wings. Only the 
 male butterfly possesses these decorations, the female 
 having wings merely white above, although she retains 
 the beautiful green speckling of the under- wings. 
 
 Two more butterflies, and those the commonest of all, 
 will complete this chapter. One will be at once re- 
 cognised from the drawing, plate I, fig. 4, as the White 
 Cabbage butterfly. The specimen here represented is 
 the female ; the male is smaller and has darker spots. 
 
 This is the parent of those green and black cater- 
 pillars which devastate our cabbage-beds, make sieves 
 of the leaves, and are so disagreeably tenacious of their 
 rights of possession. Pest as it is to the gardeners, to 
 cooks, and sometimes, alas ! to consumers, it would be 
 a hundredfold worse but for the exertions of a fly so 
 small as hardly to be noticed, but by its effects. 
 This insect belongs to the same order as the bees, and 
 is shown upon plate J, fig. 6. Small though it be, 
 one such insect can compass the destruction of many a 
 caterpillar, though not one-thousandth part of the size 
 of a single victim. While the caterpillar is feeding, 
 
 Jf2
 
 164 ICHNEUMON-PLY. 
 
 the ichneumon fly, as it is called, settles upon its back, 
 pierces its skin with a little drill, wherewith it is 
 furnished, and in the wound deposits an egg. This 
 process is repeated until the ichneumon's work is done. 
 As each wound is made, the caterpillar seems to 
 wince, but shows no farther sense of uneasiness, and 
 proceeds with its eating as usual. But its food serves 
 very little for its own nourishment, because the 
 ichneumon's eggs are speedily hatched into ichneumon 
 grubs, and consume the fatty portions of the caterpillar 
 as fast as it is formed. 
 
 In process of time the caterpillar ought to take the 
 chrysalis shape, and for that purpose leaves its food 
 and seeks a convenient spot for its change. 
 
 That change never comes, for the ichneumons have 
 been growing as fast as the caterpillar, with whose 
 development they keep pace. And no sooner has 
 their victim ceased to feed, than they simultaneously 
 eat their way out of the doomed creature, and imme- 
 diately spin for themselves a number of bright yellow 
 cocoons, among which the dying caterpillar is often 
 hopelessly fixed. Sometimes it has sufficient strength 
 to escape, but it never survives. 
 
 In the later summer months, these cocoon masses may 
 be seen abundantly on walls, palings, and similar spots. 
 Plate I, fig. 3, shows the Brimstone Butterfly, one of 
 the first to appear as the herald of spring.
 
 BTAG-BEETLE. 165 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BT A G-BEETLE MUSK-BEETLE TIGER-BEETLE COCK-TAIL VARI- 
 OUS BUBTINQ-BEETLE8 BOSS-BEETLE GLOW-WORM GROUND 
 AND SUK-BEETLES, ETC. HUMBLE-BEES, HORNETS AND THEIB 
 ALLIES DRAGON-FLIES CADDIS-FLY WATER BOATMAN 
 CUCKOO-SPIT HOPPERS, EARWIG, AND LACE-FLY. 
 
 OP the remaining objects, only a very brief description 
 can be given. Enough, however, will be said to assist 
 the observer in identifying the object, and to serve as a 
 guide to its locality and manners. We will first take 
 the beetles ; and as the largest is the most conspicuous, 
 the great Stag-beetle shall have the precedence. 
 
 This insect (plate E, fig. 5) is quite unmistakeable ; 
 and, from its very ferocious aspect, would deter many 
 from touching it. But it is very lamb-like in disposi- 
 tion, and sometimes as playful as a lamb. Its numerous 
 jaws can certainly pinch with much violence; but are 
 not used for the purpose of killing other creatures, as 
 might be supposed. 
 
 The food of the stag-beetle is simply the juices of 
 plants, which it sweeps up with that little brush-like 
 organ that may be seen in the very centre of the jaws.
 
 166 MUSK-BEETLE. 
 
 In winter it buries itself in the ground, and then, 
 making a smooth vault, abides the winter's cold un- 
 harmed. 
 
 Only the male beetle possesses these tremendous 
 jaws ; those of the female being hardly one-tenth of their 
 size, but so sharp at their points that their bite is just 
 as severe. 
 
 The insect that next comes under notice is the 
 Musk-beetle (plate I, fig. 7), a beautiful and con- 
 spicuous insect, of a rich green colour above, and a 
 purplish blue below. Its name of musk-beetle is 
 derived from the fragrant scent which it emits ; a scent, 
 however, not the least like musk, but more resembling 
 that of roses. It is so powerful that the presence of 
 the insect may often be detected by the nostrils, though 
 it is hidden from the eyes. It may be found chiefly 
 on willow-trees. 
 
 There is another beetle that gives out a sweet scent, 
 much resembling that of the verbena leaf. This is the 
 Tiger-beetle (plate D, fig. 8). With the exception of 
 the white spots on the wing covers, the colours of 
 this insect are much the same as those of the musk- 
 beetle. 
 
 Its name seems hardly commensurate with its aspect ; 
 but never was a title better deserved. And, space 
 allowing, I could here draw a terrible character ; but as 
 brevity is enforced, I can but say that this sparkling
 
 *!
 
 BUEYING-BEETLB. 167 
 
 and beautiful insect seems to have the spirit of twenty 
 tigers compressed into its little body. 
 
 All things have their opposites ; and opposed to these 
 perfume-bearing beetles are some who are just insect 
 skunks. Chief among these is the common black Cock- 
 tail, a creature of truly diabolical aspect. It is a carrion 
 eater, and intensifies the carrion odour. Still, repulsive 
 as it is, it has its beauties. Its wings are very beautiful, 
 and the mode in which these organs are packed away 
 under their small cases is most wonderful. It is to aid 
 in this process that the cock-tail possesses the faculty 
 of turning its tail over its back. Plate H, fig. 1 2. 
 
 Another beetle of an abominable odour is the Burying- 
 beetle, one of which is shown on plate C, fig. 8. There 
 are many burying-beetles, but this species is the most 
 common. 
 
 Their name is derived from their habit of burying any 
 piece of meat or dead animal that may be lying on the 
 surface of the earth, not so much for the sake of them- 
 selves as for their progeny. In the buried animal their 
 eggs are laid, and its putrefying substance affords them 
 nourishment. The rapidity with which these and 
 similar insects will consume even a large animal is 
 marvellous. I have seen a large sheep stripped to the 
 very bones in three days, nothing but bones and wool 
 being left to mark the spot where it had lain. 
 
 Another kind of burying-beetle is seen on plate B,
 
 1 68 ROSE-BEETLE. 
 
 fig. 7 ; but instead of dead meat, it buries the droppiiiga 
 of living animals, those of the cow being preferred. 
 For this purpose it drives a perpendicular shaft into 
 the ground, makes up a round ball of the droppings, 
 puts an egg into the middle of the ball, rolls it into 
 the hole, and after pushing some earth after it, sets 
 to work at another shaft. 
 
 It is evident how beneficial the labours of these insects 
 must be ; for by their means the earth is pierced with 
 passages for air, part is thrown out on the surface, 
 where it becomes regenerated by the atmosphere, 
 noxious substances are removed from the surface, where 
 they would do harm, and placed deep in the ground, 
 where they do good. 
 
 The popular name for this beetle is the Watchman, 
 because in the dusk of the evening it "wheels its 
 drowsy flight," much as watchmen made their sleepy 
 rounds. It belongs to the same family of insects as the 
 sacred Scarabseus of the Egyptians. 
 
 On plate C, fig. 11, is depicted the common Rose- 
 beetle, so called because it is an insect of refined habits, 
 and chiefly dwells in the bosom of white roses. Yet it 
 loves earth too, and in pursuance of its mission falls 
 from its rose to earth, and there digs a receptacle for 
 its future progeny. But though in earth, it is not of 
 aarth ; and, burrow as it may, it returns to its rose 
 without a stain upon its burnished wings.
 
 GLOW-WORM. 169 
 
 The curious Glow-worm, as it is called falsely, it 
 being a beetle, and not a worm, is shown on plate J, 
 fig. 1. Both the male and female insect give out this 
 light, as I have often seen, though that of the female is 
 the more powerful. The two sexes are very different in 
 appearance, as may be seen by reference to the plate, 
 fig. 1 being the male, and 1 a the female. The object 
 of the light is by no means certain, nor the mode in 
 which it is produced. 
 
 On the same plate, fig. 11, is seen the Oil-beetle, an 
 eccentric kind of insect, who, when frightened, pours a 
 drop of oil out of every joint, just as if it were a walking 
 oil- barrel with self-acting taps. 
 
 One of the commonest beetles, the Ground-beetle, is 
 seen on the same plate, fig. 10. There are very many 
 ground-beetles, but this is one of the handsomest and 
 most conspicuous. The embossment of its upper surface 
 is worth a close examination, and its colouring is pecu- 
 liarly rich and deep. 
 
 Hot sunny days always seem to bring out a host of 
 insects, among which the Sun-beetles are notable ex- 
 amples. One of these insects is shown in plate D, fig. 6. 
 They are beautifully brilliant as they run among the 
 gravel-stones or over paths, their smooth surface glit- 
 tering in the sun resplendently. 
 
 As an aquatic balance to the terrene Sun-beetles, the 
 Whirligigs (plate F, fig. 4) make their appearance on
 
 1 70 LADY-BIRD. 
 
 the surface of the water on any light sunny day. What 
 rule they observe in their mazy dance is more difficult 
 to comprehend than the " Lancers," or a cotillon ; but 
 that there must be a rule, is clear from the wonderful 
 way in which they avoid striking against each other in 
 their passage. 
 
 Every one knows the Lady Bird, with its pretty red 
 wings and black spots. Its larva (plate B, fig. 8) is a 
 very singular creature, and destructive withal, spearing 
 and eating Aphides as ruthlessly as Polyphemus im- 
 paled and devoured the captured sailors. It has a 
 curious history, but there is no room for it here. 
 
 On plate H, fig. 7, is represented one of the many 
 Skipjack-beetles, who afford such amusement to juve- 
 niles by their sudden leaps into the air, when laid on 
 their backs. This feat is performed by means of a sudden 
 blow of the head and thorax. Farmers, however, are 
 not all amused by it ; for it is the parent of the terrible 
 " wire-worm," so deadly a foe to corn and potatoes. 
 
 Some insects prefer corn when placed in granaries ; 
 and these are the Weevils, whose grubs populate sea- 
 biscuit, and run races across plates for wagers. Nuts 
 also fall victims to the weevil represented on plate I, 
 fig. 9, or rather to its grub, " Time out of mind the 
 fairies' coachmaker." 
 
 There is a very common little green weevil shown on 
 plate C } fig. 7, which, although ordinary enough to the
 
 HUMBLE-BEES. 171 
 
 unassisted eye, yet under the microscope glows with 
 jewels and gold. It is, in truth, the British Diamond- 
 beetle. An idea of its appearance may be obtained from 
 plate L, fig. 6, but to give the real glory of the colouring 
 is impossible. 
 
 One of the little insects called Death-watches is 
 shown on plate J, fig. 8. There are many insects that 
 go by this name, because they make a slight tapping 
 sound with their heads, probably to call their mates; 
 and which sound has been thought to prognosticate 
 death rather than marriage. 
 
 The curious Tortoise-beetle is depicted on plate C, 
 fig. 6. Its chief peculiarity is in its larval state, when 
 it carries a kind of parasol, formed from the remains 
 of the leaves on which it has been feeding. 
 
 Last and least of the beetles comes one as destructive 
 as it is small, the Turnip-hopper. This little animal, 
 no larger than a small pin's head, does great damage to 
 the turnip crops, and is therefore hated by farmers. It 
 is shown, much magnified, on plate J, fig. 13. 
 
 From the beetles we proceed to the Bee tribe ; and 
 first take the common Humble-bee, several of which 
 are shown on plate H, fig. 10, representing the " Red- 
 hipped Humble-bee," which mostly makes its nest among 
 stone-heaps. Fig. 11 is the common Humble-bee, that 
 burrows in the ground, and there builds its thimble- 
 like cells. These cells are very irregular in shape, and
 
 172 SAW-PLIES. 
 
 are affixed to each other without any definite order. 
 Of these two insects, the latter is harmless enough ; but 
 the former becomes very fierce if its nest is approached 
 too closely. 
 
 A magnified view of some hairs of the Humble-bee 
 is given on plate K, fig. 11. 
 
 There are some bees which make their nests in old 
 walls, where they either dig for themselves a hole, or 
 oftener take advantage of a nail-hole, and so save them- 
 selves much trouble. One of these bees is shown on 
 plate H, fig. 2, and is chiefly remarkable for the beauti- 
 fully tufted extremities of its middle pair of legs. 
 
 On plate D, fig. 7, is seen the common Hornet, one of 
 the really terrible of our insects. It mostly makes its 
 nest in hollow trees, and it behoves one to keep very 
 clear of the neighbourhood. The nest is made of wood- 
 fibre, nibbled, and made into a primitive papier-macb.6. 
 
 Two of the Saw-flies may be seen on plate J. Fig. 2 
 is the common green Saw-fly, and fig. 3 the dreaded 
 Turnip-fly. These are called Saw-flies because they are 
 furnished with saw- like implements, by means of which 
 they cut grooves in certain plants, ancf. in those grooves 
 lay their eggs. 
 
 Mention has already been made of the little Ich- 
 neumon fly. One of these insects is shown magnified on 
 plate J, fig. 12 a, and one of the large species is depicted 
 on plate H, fig. 3. The threefold appendage to the tail
 
 PLIES. 173 
 
 is the ovipositor, or instrument by means of which they 
 pierce their victims and deposit their eggs. 
 
 There are some allied insects that pierce vegetables 
 instead of insects ; and one of their works may be seen 
 figured on plate A, where a bramble-branch has been 
 perforated by them. The well-known oak-apples, 
 plate B, fig. 6, are caused by a Cynips, as the little 
 creature is called ; and so is the common Bedeguar of 
 the rose, seen on plate C, fig. 2. 
 
 The last of these insects that will be named is the 
 beautiful Fire-tail, plate D, fig. 5, one of the most bril- 
 liant insects that our island can boast. There are 
 many British species of this insect, but they all much 
 resemble each other, and are insect cuckoos, laying 
 their eggs in the nests of other insects. 
 
 
 
 From the bees, we pass to the Flies ; and first take a 
 most singular insect, shown on plate H, fig. 5. This 
 insect is found on the blackberry blossoms, and the 
 upper part of its body is so transparent that the leaf on 
 which it sits can be seen through it. It is swift of 
 wing and wary, requiring a quick eye and hand for ita 
 capture. 
 
 On the same plate, fig. 6, is shown one of the travel- 
 ler's pests, a fly that bites, or rather bores, the skin, and 
 that with such virulence that it can even strike its 
 poisoned dart through a cloth coat, and make its victim 
 to lament for many an hour after.
 
 174 VARIOUS FLIES. 
 
 One of the various hoverer-flies is shown on plate J, 
 fig. 9. The larva of this insect is very remarkable, on 
 account of its curious breathing apparatus. The larva 
 is properly called the Rat-tailed Maggot, and is shown 
 on the same plate t fig. 8 a. The body of the creature 
 is found buried in the mud at the bottom of stag- 
 nant pools or cisterns, and the respiration is carried on 
 through the telescopic tail, which is long enough to 
 protrude through the mud, and to convey the necessary 
 oxygen to the system through two flexible air-tubes 
 that pass through the " tail." 
 
 It will be remembered that in mentioning the Green 
 Oak Moth, the Destroying Empis was also noticed. 
 One of these flies is shown on plate J, fig. 5, with the 
 poor Tortrix in its grasp. Plate K, fig. 1, shows its foot, 
 and fig. 3 its head, together with its long beak. 
 
 The beak of this fly somewhat reminds one of the 
 corresponding portion of the Gnat, which insect is not 
 itself depicted, though on plate F, fig. 10, is shown the 
 wonderful little egg-boat which it makes. This insect 
 glues together its eggs in such a manner that they are 
 formed into a true life-boat, which cannot be upset, or 
 sunk, or filled with water, but floats securely on the 
 surface until the young are hatched. That object 
 accomplished, the gnat-larvae tumble into the water, and 
 there undergo their transformation. 
 
 The last of the two-winged flies that will be men-
 
 DRAGON-FLIES. 175 
 
 tioned is the common Daddy Long Legs, or Crane-fly, 
 which seems to set such little value on its limbs. It is 
 a very injurious insect in its larval state, feeding on 
 roots, and doing great damage. Plate H, fig. 1, 
 shows a very pretty species, covered with yellow 
 rings. 
 
 Every one must have noticed the beautiful and active 
 insects that are with great truth called Dragon-flies. 
 Their habits and peculiarities would demand a volume ; 
 and here they can but be mentioned. Plate F, fig. 6, 
 shows the common Flat Dragon-fly, that may be seen 
 chasing and following flies of all sizes, and even butter- 
 flies. Fig. 8 is the elegant Demoiselle, the male of 
 which is shown here, with its dark purple spots on the 
 wings, and dark blue body. The female is of a uniform 
 green. Its larva is shown at fig. 8 a, where the singu- 
 lar leafy gills may be seen at the end of its tail. Fig. 7 
 shows another very common Dragon-fly, very thin and 
 ringed with blue circlets. 
 
 On the same plate, fig. 12, may be seen several 
 varieties of the objects known to fishermen as " Cad- 
 dis " cases. These are residences built by the larva of 
 the common Caddis, or Stone-fly, which is represented 
 on the same plate, fig. 9. 
 
 Still keeping to plate F, and referring to fig. 1, is 
 seen the horrid-looking Water-scorpion, a creature which, 
 though it does not sting, has much of the scorpion
 
 176 VARIOUS PLIES. 
 
 nature, and so bites. Fig. 1 a shows the same insect 
 as it appears when flying. 
 
 At fig. 3 is seen the Water Boatman, so called because 
 it lies on its back, which is ridged like the keel of a boat, 
 and then rows itself about by means of its middle pair 
 of legs, which closely resemble oars. 
 
 Fig. 5 shows a very curious insect which is common 
 enough on the margin of pools, and runs on the surface 
 of the water as if it were dry land. When alarmed, it 
 shuts up all its legs, and looks just like a piece of dry 
 grass or thin stick. 
 
 Another insect much resembling it, is the common 
 Gerris, seen on plate I, fig. 6. It may be seen on 
 every pond or still water, running over its surface, 
 and is furnished with wings wherewith it can fly to 
 great distances. I have found specimens on the tops of 
 hills, far from any water, and hiding under stones 
 out of the sun's heat. Fig. 1 shows the common 
 May-fly. 
 
 All gardeners have been annoyed with the curious 
 production called the Cuckoo-spit. This proceeds from 
 the larva of one of the hoppers, and on removing the 
 frothy substance, the little soft, greenish insect may be 
 found within. The perfect insect is shown on plate C, 
 fig. 1 a, and the exudation itself at fig. 1. 
 
 There is another hopper seen on plate B, fig. 2, called 
 from its colour the Scarlet Hopper. It is common
 
 FUNGI AND MOSSES. 177 
 
 enough on ferns, and may be found chiefly in the open 
 spots of forests where ferns abound. 
 
 On plate J, fig. 7 a, is the common Green Grass- 
 hopper, as it appears when standing ; and on fig. 7, the 
 same insect as it appears when using its wings. 
 
 The common Earwig, plate I, fig. 8, is introduced 
 for the purpose of showing the very beautiful wing 
 which this insect possesses, and which is seen expanded 
 at fig. 8 a. 
 
 The very lovely, though ill-odoured Lace-wing Fly, is 
 shown on plate J, fig. 4, and its very remarkable egga 
 at 4 a. Each egg is placed at the end of a footstalk, 
 whereby it is kept out of the reach of certain predacious 
 insects. 
 
 Various shells are drawn on one or two of the plates, 
 but there is not space for any description. Their names 
 may be found on the Index to Plates. Plate G contains 
 certain fungi and mosses. Fig. 1 is that peculiar plant 
 which rein-deer scrape from under the snow in the 
 winter time. Fig. 2 was once dreaded by rustics as 
 " Witch's butter." Fig. 6 shows the curious Earth-star, 
 chiefly remarkable for its resemblance to the marine 
 Star-fish.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Adela, 154. 
 
 Admiral Butterfly, 158. 
 
 Armadillo, 89. 
 
 Bat, 3. 
 
 Bedeguar, 173. 
 Bird-nest moss, 177. 
 Blindworm, 45. 
 Blue Butterfly, 162. 
 Brimstone Butterfly, 164. 
 Brimstone Moth, 148. 
 Buff-tip Moth, 133. 
 Burnet Moth, 115. 
 Burying Beetle, 167. 
 
 Cabbage Butterfly, 163. 
 Caddis, 175. 
 Clear-wing Moth, 150. 
 Cock-tail Beetle, 167. 
 Crane-fly, 175. 
 Cray-fish, 83. 
 Cuckoo-spit, 176. 
 Cup Moss, 177. 
 Cynips, 173. 
 
 Death-watch, 171. 
 Drinker Moth, 124. 
 Dragon-flies, 175. 
 
 Earwig, 177. 
 
 Eft, 67. 
 
 Elephant Hawk Moth, 131. 
 
 Emperor Moth, 127. 
 
 Empis, 141. 
 
 Field Mouse, 17. 
 Firetail, 173. 
 Frog, 55. 
 
 Galls, 172. 
 Gerris, 176. 
 Glowworm, 169. 
 Gnat Eggs, 174. 
 Gold-tailed Moth, 134. 
 Grasshopper, 177. 
 Ground Beetle, 169. 
 
 Harvest Mouse, 21. 
 Hopper, scarlet, 176. 
 
 Cuckoo, 176. 
 
 Hornet, 172. 
 Hoverer Fly, 174. 
 Humble-Bee, 171. 
 Hydrometra, 176. 
 
 Ichneumon, Microgaster, 164. 
 
 Lacewing Fly, 177. 
 Lackey Moth, 145. 
 Lady-bird, 170. 
 Lampern, 80. 
 Lappet Moth, 146. 
 Leaf -Miners, 144. 
 Lizard, 43. 
 Longhorn Moths, 153. 
 
 Magpie Moth, 149. 
 Mason Bee, 172. 
 May-fly, 176. 
 
 K 2
 
 180 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Mole, 33. 
 Mouse, Field, 17. 
 
 Harvest, 21. 
 
 Shrew, 26. 
 
 Musk Beetle, 166. 
 
 Newt, 67. 
 
 Oak-apples, 173. 
 Oak Egger-moth, 116. 
 Oak Moth, 140. 
 Oil Beetle, 169. 
 Orange-tip, 163. 
 
 Peacock Butterfly, 162. 
 Pill Millepede, 89. 
 Plume Moths, 151. 
 Privet Hawk-moth, 131. 
 Puss Moth, 114. 
 
 Rat, Water, 22. 
 Eat-tailed Maggot, 1 74. 
 Reindeer Moss, 177. 
 Rose Beetle, 168. 
 
 Shrew, 26. 
 
 Water, 32. 
 
 Shrimp, Fresh-water, 87 
 
 Skip-jack Beetle, 170. 
 Snake, 50. 
 Stag Beetle, 165. 
 Stickleback, 75. 
 Sting-fly, 173. 
 Stone-fly, 175. 
 Sun Beetle, 169. 
 
 Tiger Beetle, 166. 
 
 Moth, 97. 
 
 Toad, 59. 
 
 Tortoise Beetle, 171. 
 Turnip Fly, 172. 
 Hopper, 171. 
 
 Vapourer Moth, 138. 
 Viper, 48. 
 Volucella, 173. 
 
 Watchman Beetle, 168. 
 Water Scorpion, 175. 
 
 Boatman, 176. 
 
 Weasel, 40. 
 Weevils, 170. 
 Whirligig Beetle, 16&. 
 Witch Butter, 177. 
 WoodJouse, 8S
 
 INDEX TO PLATES. 
 
 A. (Front.) 
 
 1. Tubercled Gall on Bramble- 
 stem. 
 
 S. Track of Leaf-Miner on Bram- 
 ble-leaf. 
 
 3. Gnat Clearwing Moth. 
 
 4. Buff-tip Moth. 
 
 a. Caterpillar of do. 
 
 5. Privet Moth. 
 
 a. Caterpillar of do. 
 
 6 Snail (Helix nemoralit). 
 
 ?. Do. (Helix nemoralis) var. 
 
 8. Do (Helix cantiana) 
 
 9. Do. (Helix ericetorum). 
 
 10. Do. (Helix lapicida). 
 
 11. Shell (Cyclottoma). 
 
 12. Do. (Zonitea). 
 
 13. Do. (Helix caperata). 
 
 14. Do (Pupa). 
 
 15. Do. (Clausilia). 
 
 B. 
 
 1. Green Oak-Moth (Tortrix). 
 
 2. Scarlet Hopper (Cercopis). 
 S. Burnet Moth. 
 
 a. Cocoon uf do. 
 
 4. Puss Moth. 
 
 a. Caterpillar of do. 
 
 5. Tiger-Moth (Arctia). 
 a. Caterpillar of do. 
 b. Cocoon of do. 
 
 6. Oak-galls. 
 
 7. Watchman-Beetle (Geotrupe.s). 
 
 8. Lady-bird (Coccinella). 
 a. Larva of do. 
 
 C. 
 
 1. Cuckoo-spit. 
 
 t. Cuckoo Hopper (Teltigonia). 
 *. Bedeguar of Rose. 
 S. Brimstone Moth. 
 a. Caterpillar of do. 
 
 4. Emperor Moth. 
 a. Caterpillar of do. 
 ft. Cocoon of do. 
 
 5. Elephant Hawk-Moth. 
 a. Caterpillar of do. 
 
 6. Tortoise Beetle (Castida). 
 
 7. Green Weevil. 
 
 8. Burying-Beetle (Necrophorus). 
 
 9. Twenty-Plume Moth. 
 
 10. Green Adela. 
 
 11. Rose-Beetle. 
 
 D. 
 
 1. Blue Butterfly (Alextt). 
 a. Do. Wings closed. 
 ft. Caterpillar of do. 
 
 c. Pupa of do. 
 
 2. Orange-tip Butterfly. 
 
 3. Vapourer Moth, Male. 
 a. Do. Female. 
 
 4. Red Admiral. 
 
 a. Caterpillar of do. 
 6. Pupa of do. 
 
 5. Firetail (Chrysis). 
 
 6. Sun-Beetle. 
 
 7. Hornet. 
 
 8. Tiger Beetle. 
 a. Do. Flying. 
 
 E. 
 
 1. Drinker Moth, Male. 
 a. Do. Female. 
 
 ft. Do. Caterpillar. 
 c. Do. Cocoon. 
 it. Do. Chrysalis. 
 e. Do. Eggs. 
 
 2. Humble-bee Fly (Bombyliut). 
 
 3. Magpie Moth. 
 
 a. Do. Chrysalis, 
 ft. Do. Caterpillar. 
 
 4. Gold-tailed Moth (Porthesia). 
 a. Do. Caterpillar. 
 
 5. Stag-Beetle. 
 
 P. 
 
 1. Water Scorpion. 
 a. Do. flying. 
 
 2. Amber Shell (Succinea^ 
 
 3. Water Boatman. 
 
 4. Whirligig Beetle. 
 
 5. Hydrometra. 
 
 6. Dragon-Fly (Libellula). 
 
 7. Do. (Agnon). 
 
 8. Do. Demoiselle (Calepteryx). 
 a. Do. Larva. 
 
 9. Stone-Fly (Phryganea). 
 10. Eggs of Gnat. 
 
 12. Caddis-cases, composed 
 a. Of flat stones. 
 6. Of bark, 
 c. Of sand. 
 rf. Of grass. 
 . Of grass-stems. 
 /. Of shell*.
 
 182 
 
 INDEX TO PLATES. 
 
 13. Water shells. 
 g. Planorbis. 
 h. Ancylus, 
 i. Lymnaeus. 
 k. Paludina. 
 
 G. 
 
 1. Rein-deer Moss (Cladonid). 
 
 2. "Witch-butter (Tremella). 
 
 3. Polytrichura. 
 
 4. Bird-nest Moss (Nidularia). 
 
 5. Xylaria. 
 
 6. Earth-star (Geastrum). 
 a. Do. closed. 
 
 7. Arscyria. 
 
 8. Cup-moss (Cenomrce). 
 
 9. Scarlet Cup-moss (Peziza). 
 10. Marchantia. 
 
 H. 
 
 1. Crane-fly. 
 
 2. Mason Bee (Megachile). 
 
 3. Ichneumon (Pimpla). 
 
 4. Adela Long-horn. 
 
 5. Volucella. 
 
 6. Sting-fly (Chrysops). 
 
 7. Skip-jack Beetle (Elater). 
 
 8. Peacock Butterfly. 
 a. Do. wings closed. 
 6. Do. Caterpillar. 
 
 9. White Plume-Moth. 
 
 10. Red-tailed Humble-Bee. 
 
 11. Common do. 
 
 12. Cock-tail Beetle (Goeritit). 
 
 I. 
 
 1. May-fly (Ephemera). 
 
 2. Scorpion-fly. 
 
 3. Brimstone Butterfly. 
 
 4. Cabbage White Butterfly. 
 a. Do. Caterpillar. 
 
 5. Oak-Egger Moth, female. 
 "a. Do. Cocoon. 
 
 6. Gerris. 
 
 7. Musk Beetle. 
 
 8. Earwig. 
 a. Do. flying. 
 
 9. Nut Weevil. 
 
 J. 
 
 la. Glowworm, male. 
 b. Do. female. 
 
 2. Green Sawfly (Tenthredo). 
 
 3. Turnip-fly. 
 
 4. Lacewing Fly. 
 
 a. Eggs of do. on lilac branch. 
 
 . Empis. 
 
 -a. Do. killing Oak-moth. 
 
 . Ichneumon (Microgaster) and 
 cocoons. 
 
 . Grasshopper, flying. 
 
 -a. Do. walking. 
 
 . Death-watch \Anobium), 
 
 . Hoverer-fly. 
 
 -a. Rat-tailed Maggot. 
 
 . Ground Beetle (Carabus). 
 
 . Oil Beetle. 
 
 . Cocoon of Microgaster, mag- 
 nified. 
 
 -a. Microgaster, magnified. 
 
 . Turnip-hopper (Jfallica), mag- 
 nified. 
 
 -a. Do. natural size. 
 
 . Cyclops, magnified, showing 
 egg-sacs. 
 
 . Scarlet Spider (Trombidium), 
 magnified. 
 
 -a. Do. natural size. 
 
 K. 
 
 Mi 
 
 1. Foot of Empis. 
 
 2. Pollen a. Sunflower. 
 
 b. Passion Flower. 
 
 c. Lily. 
 
 3. Head of Empis. 
 
 4. Foot of Male Water-Beetle (Dy- 
 
 ticus). 
 
 5. Trunk of Blue-bottle Fly. 
 
 6. Foot of Frog, showing circula- 
 
 tion. 
 
 7. Petal of Geranium, showing 
 
 stomata. 
 
 8. Battledore Scales of Blue But- 
 
 terfly. 
 
 9. Scale of Fritillary Butterfly. 
 
 10. Eye of Butterfly. 
 
 11. Hairs of Humble-Bee. 
 
 L. 
 
 MICROSCOPICAL. 
 
 1 and 3. Scales of various Butter- 
 flies. 
 2. Ej e of Hemerobius. 
 
 4. Wing of Peacock Butterfly. 
 
 5. Poppy seeds. 
 
 6. Wing-case of Green Weevil. 
 
 7. Egg of Red Underwing Moth. 
 
 8. of Small White Butterfly 
 
 9. of Tortoiseshell Butterfly. 
 
 JO. of Lathonia Butterfly. 
 
 B. CLAY. SON, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,
 
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 000 048 012 9