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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Book of Natural History, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Book of Natural History
+       Young Folks' Library Volume XIV.
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: David Starr Jordan
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2006 [EBook #18274]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Paul Ereaut, Laura Wisewell
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+   +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+   |                         YOUNG FOLKS'                         |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                           LIBRARY                            |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |    SELECTIONS FROM THE CHOICEST LITERATURE OF ALL LANDS:     |
+   |       FOLK-LORE, FAIRY TALES, FABLES, LEGENDS, NATURAL       |
+   |           HISTORY, WONDERS OF EARTH, SEA AND SKY,            |
+   |           ANIMAL STORIES, SEA TALES, BRAVE DEEDS,            |
+   |             EXPLORATIONS, STORIES OF SCHOOL AND              |
+   |                   COLLEGE LIFE, BIOGRAPHY,                   |
+   |                      HISTORY, PATRIOTIC                      |
+   |                      ELOQUENCE, POETRY                       |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                        THIRD EDITION                         |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                   REVISED IN CONFERENCE BY                   |
+   |                                                              |
+   |           THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF,            |
+   |               PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEWETT TUCKER,               |
+   |                 HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, HENRY                 |
+   |                VAN DYKE, NATHAN HASKELL DOLE                 |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |           _TWENTY VOLUMES_   _RICHLY ILLUSTRATED_            |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                            BOSTON                            |
+   |                    HALL AND LOCKE COMPANY                    |
+   |                          PUBLISHERS                          |
+   |                                                              |
+   +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+                           COPYRIGHT, 1902,
+                       BY HALL & LOCKE COMPANY.
+                           BOSTON, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+                            Stanhope Press
+                         F. H. GILSON COMPANY
+                           BOSTON, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+EDITORIAL BOARD
+
+
+  THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, Editor-in-chief,
+    Author, poet, former editor _Atlantic Monthly_, Boston, Mass.
+
+  The HON. GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR,
+    United States Senator, Worcester, Mass.
+
+  The HON. JOHN D. LONG,
+    Secretary of the United States Navy, Boston.
+
+  HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, LL.D.,
+    Author, literarian, associate editor _The Outlook_, New York.
+
+  ERNEST THOMPSON-SETON,
+    Artist, author, New York.
+
+  JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE,
+    Author, poet, and editor, Arlington, Mass.
+
+  The REVEREND CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY,
+    Archdeacon, author, Philadelphia.
+
+  JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS,
+    Humorous writer, Atlanta, Ga.
+
+  MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD,
+    Historical novelist, Chicago.
+
+  LAURA E. RICHARDS,
+    Author, Gardiner, Me.
+
+  ROSWELL FIELD,
+    Author, editor _The Evening Post_, Chicago.
+
+  TUDOR JENKS,
+    Author, associate editor _Saint Nicholas_, New York.
+
+  GEORGE A. HENTY,
+    Traveller, author, London, England.
+
+  KIRK MUNROE,
+    Writer of stories for boys, Cocoanut Grove, Fla.
+
+  EDITH M. THOMAS,
+    Poet, West New Brighton, N.Y.
+
+  CAROLINE TICKNOR,
+    Author, editor, Boston.
+
+  WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER, D.D., LL.D.,
+    President Chicago University.
+
+  DAVID STARR JORDAN, M.D., LL.D.,
+    President Leland Stanford Junior University, naturalist, writer,
+    Stanford University, Cal.
+
+  CHARLES ELIOT NORTON, A.M., LL.D., etc.,
+    Scholar, author, Emeritus Professor of Art at Harvard University.
+
+  HENRY VAN DYKE, D.D., LL.D.,
+    Clergyman, author, Professor Princeton University.
+
+  The REVEREND THOMAS J. SHAHAN,
+    Dean of the Faculty of Divinity, Professor of Early Ecclesiastical
+    History, Catholic University, Washington, D.C.
+
+  WILLIAM P. TRENT,
+    Author, editor, Professor of English Literature, Columbia
+    University, New York City.
+
+  EDWARD SINGLETON HOLDEN, A.M., LL.D.,
+    Ex-president University of California, astronomer, author, U.S.
+    Military Academy, West Point.
+
+  EDWIN ERLE SPARKS,
+    Professor of American History, Chicago University.
+
+  The VERY REV. GEORGE M. GRANT. D.D., LL.D.,
+    Educator, author, vice-principal Queen's College, Kingston, Ont.
+
+  NATHAN HASKELL DOLE,
+    Author, translator, literary editor _Current History_, Boston.
+
+  ABBIE FARWELL BROWN,
+    Author, Boston.
+
+  CHARLES WELSH, Managing Editor,
+    Author, lecturer, editor, Winthrop Highlands, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF VOLUMES
+
+
+  VOLUME I.
+
+  THE STORY TELLER
+    Edited by CHARLES ELIOT NORTON
+
+
+  VOLUME II.
+
+  THE MERRY MAKER
+    Edited by JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS
+
+
+  VOLUME III.
+
+  FAMOUS FAIRY TALES
+    Edited by ROSWELL FIELD
+
+
+  VOLUME IV.
+
+  TALES OF FANTASY
+    Edited by TUDOR JENKS
+
+
+  VOLUME V.
+
+  MYTHS AND LEGENDS
+    Edited by THOMAS J. SHAHAN
+
+
+  VOLUME VI.
+
+  THE ANIMAL STORY BOOK
+    Edited by ERNEST THOMPSON-SETON
+
+
+  VOLUME VII.
+
+  SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS
+    Edited by KIRK MUNROE and MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD
+
+
+  VOLUME VIII.
+
+  BOOK OF ADVENTURE
+    Edited by NATHAN HASKELL DOLE
+
+
+  VOLUME IX.
+
+  FAMOUS EXPLORERS
+    Edited by EDWIN ERLE SPARKS
+
+
+  VOLUME X.
+
+  BRAVE DEEDS
+    Edited by JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE
+
+
+  VOLUME XI.
+
+  WONDERS OF EARTH, SEA, AND SKY
+    Edited by EDWARD SINGLETON HOLDEN
+
+
+  VOLUME XII.
+
+  FAMOUS TRAVELS
+    Edited by GEORGE A. HENTY
+
+
+  VOLUME XIII.
+
+  SEA STORIES
+    Edited by CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY
+
+
+  VOLUME XIV.
+
+  A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY
+    Edited by DAVID STARR JORDAN
+
+
+  VOLUME XV.
+
+  HISTORIC SCENES IN FICTION
+    Edited by HENRY VAN DYKE
+
+
+  VOLUME XVI.
+
+  FAMOUS BATTLES BY LAND AND SEA
+    Edited by JOHN D. LONG
+
+
+  VOLUME XVII.
+
+  MEN WHO HAVE RISEN
+    Edited by HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE
+
+
+  VOLUME XVIII.
+
+  BOOK OF PATRIOTISM
+    Edited by GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR
+
+
+  VOLUME XIX.
+
+  LEADERS OF MEN, OR HISTORY TOLD IN BIOGRAPHY
+    Edited by WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER
+
+
+  VOLUME XX.
+
+  FAMOUS POEMS
+    Selected by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, with Poetical Foreword by
+    EDITH M. THOMAS.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE CONDOR.]
+
+
+
+
+   +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+   |                                                              |
+   |           _Young Folks' Library in Twenty Volumes_           |
+   |           _Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Editor-in-Chief_           |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                          A BOOK OF                           |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                           NATURAL                            |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                           HISTORY                            |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                          EDITED BY                           |
+   |                      DAVID STARR JORDAN                      |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                         _VOLUME XIV_                         |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                        [Illustration]                        |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                            BOSTON                            |
+   |                    HALL AND LOCKE COMPANY                    |
+   |                          PUBLISHERS                          |
+   |                                                              |
+   +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                    PAGE
+    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS                           xiii
+
+    ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND FISHES                        xv
+      BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+    THE WONDER OF LIFE                                 1
+      BY PROFESSOR T. H. HUXLEY.
+
+    LIFE GROWTH;--FROGS                               10
+      BY MARGARET WARNER MORLEY.
+
+    THE MAN-LIKE APES                                 15
+      BY PROFESSOR T. H. HUXLEY.
+
+    SOME STRANGE NURSERIES                            46
+      BY GRANT ALLEN.
+
+    HOW ANIMALS SPEND THE WINTER                      69
+      BY W. S. BLATCHLEY.
+
+    BIRDS' NESTS                                      88
+      BY JOHN BURROUGHS.
+
+    BIRDS IN THEIR RELATION TO AGRICULTURE           121
+      BY LAWRENCE BRUNER.
+
+    THE SCISSOR BEAK                                 143
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    THE CONDOR                                       146
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    THE UMBRELLA BIRD                                153
+      BY SIR A. R. WALLACE.
+
+    HUMMING BIRDS                                    155
+      BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+    THE FOUNDATIONS OF A WONDERFUL CITY              158
+      BY MAURICE MAETERLINCK.
+
+    WASPS                                            175
+      BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+    A WASP AND ITS PREY                              180
+      BY G. W. AND E. G. PECKHAM.
+
+    LEAF-CUTTING ANTS                                190
+      BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+    SOME WONDERFUL SPIDERS                           197
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    WHAT I SAW IN AN ANT'S NEST                      201
+      BY ANDREW WILSON.
+
+    THE WILD LLAMA                                   228
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    BATS                                             232
+      BY W. S. DALLAS, F.G.S.
+
+    HOW SNAKES EAT                                   258
+      BY CATHERINE C. HOPLEY.
+
+    WHAT WORMS DO                                    264
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    TWO FOPS AMONG THE FISHES                        284
+      BY W. S. BLATCHLEY.
+
+    SEA SLUGS AND CUTTLE-FISH                        292
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    THE COW FISH                                     295
+      BY SIR ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE.
+
+    OLD RATTLER AND THE KING SNAKE                   297
+      BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+    THE STORY OF A STRANGE LAND                      303
+      BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+    THE COLOR OF ANIMALS                             315
+      BY SIR JOHN LUBBOCK BART.
+
+    PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES IN SPIDERS               343
+      BY E. G. PECKHAM.
+
+    THE BATH OF THE BIRDS                            369
+      BY RICHARD JEFFERIES.
+
+    THE LOON                                         378
+      BY HENRY D. THOREAU.
+
+    THE DARTMOOR PONIES                              384
+      BY ARABELLA R. BUCKLEY.
+
+    BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES                               396
+
+    SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING            398
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+The publishers' acknowledgments are due to Miss Margaret Warner Morley
+and Messrs. A. C. McClurg & Co. for permission to use "Life
+Growth,--Frogs"; to Mr. W. S. Blatchley and _The Popular Science
+Monthly_ for "How Animals Spend the Winter" and "Two Fops Among the
+Fishes"; to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. for "Birds' Nests," by
+John Burroughs; to Mr. L. Bruner and the Nebraska Ornithologists'
+Union for "Birds in Their Relation to Agriculture"; to G. W. and E. G.
+Peckham for "A Wasp and Its Prey" and "Protective Resemblances in
+Spiders"; to President David Starr Jordan and _The Popular Science
+Monthly_ for "Old Rattler and the King Snake"; to President Jordan and
+A. C. McClurg & Co. for "The Story of a Strange Land."
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                    PAGE
+    THE CONDOR                              Frontispiece
+    THE GORILLA                            Face Page  40
+    THE YELLOW BELLIED WOODPECKER                     92
+    THE UMBRELLA BIRD                                154
+    THE GUANACO                                      230
+    THE VAMPIRE BAT                                  242
+    THE COW FISH                                     296
+
+AND ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-TWO BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE
+TEXT.
+
+
+
+
+ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND FISHES
+
+BY
+
+DAVID STARR JORDAN, LL.D.
+
+
+This volume is made up from the writings of naturalists who have told
+us of the behavior of animals as they have seen it at first hand and
+of the beginnings and the growth of life so far as they know about it.
+In selecting these from the wealth of available material the editor
+has been guided by this rule: The subject matter must be interesting
+to young people; it must be told in a clear and attractive style; and
+most important of all, it must deal with actualities. We have seen in
+the last few years a marked revival of nature studies. This has led to
+a wider range of interest in natural phenomena and in the growth and
+ways of animals and plants. If this movement is not to be merely a
+passing fad, the element of truthfulness must be constantly insisted
+upon. If a clever imagination, or worse, sentimental symbolism, be
+substituted for the truth of nature, the value of such studies is
+altogether lost.
+
+The essence of character-building lies in action. The chief value of
+nature study in character-building is that, like life itself, it
+deals with realities. One must in life make his own observations,
+frame his own inductions, and apply them in action as he goes along.
+The habit of finding out the best thing to do next and then doing it
+is the basis of character. Nature-study, if it be genuine, is
+essentially doing. To deal with truth is necessary, if we are to know
+truth when we see it in action. The rocks and shells, the frogs and
+lilies, always tell the absolute truth. Every leaf on the tree is an
+original document in botany. When a thousand are used or used up, the
+archives of Nature are just as full as ever. By the study of realities
+wisdom is built up. In the relations of objects he can touch and move,
+the child finds the limitations of his powers, the laws that govern
+phenomena, which his own actions must obey. So long as he deals with
+realities, these laws stand in their proper relation. "So simple, so
+natural, so true," says Agassiz. "This is the charm of dealing with
+nature herself. She brings us back to absolute truth so often as we
+wander."
+
+So long as a child is led from one reality to another, never lost in
+words or abstractions,--so long this natural relation remains. "What
+can I do with it?" is the beginning of wisdom. "What is it to me?" is
+the beginning of personal virtue.
+
+By adding near things to near, the child grows in Knowledge.
+Knowledge, tested and set in order, is Science. Nature-study is the
+beginning of science. It is the science of the child. The "world as
+it is" is the province of science. In proportion as our actions
+conform to the conditions of the world as it is, do we find the world
+beautiful, glorious, divine. The truth of the world as it is must be
+the final inspiration of art, poetry, and religion. The world, as men
+have agreed to say that it is, is quite another matter. The less our
+children hear of this, the less they may have to unlearn. Nature
+studies have long been valued as "a means of grace," because they
+arouse the enthusiasm, the love of work, which belongs to open-eyed
+youth. The child blasé with moral precepts and irregular conjugations
+turns with fresh delight to the unrolling of ferns or the song of
+birds.
+
+Nature must be questioned in earnest, or she will not reply. But to
+every serious question she will return a serious answer. "Simple,
+natural, and true," she tends to create simplicity and truth. Truth
+and virtue are but opposite sides of the same shield. As leaves pass
+over into flowers, and flowers into fruit, so are wisdom, virtue, and
+happiness inseparably related.
+
+This little volume is a contribution to the subject matter of Nature
+Study. It is the work of students of nature, and their work is
+"simple, natural, and true," in so far as it is represented here.
+
+[Illustration: (Signature) David Starr Jordan]
+
+LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY,
+CALIFORNIA, _April_ 22, 1902.
+
+
+
+
+A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY
+
+
+
+
+THE WONDER OF LIFE
+
+(FROM HIS SCIENCE PRIMER, INTRODUCTION.)
+
+BY PROFESSOR, T. H. HUXLEY.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Every one has seen a cornfield. If you pluck up one of the innumerable
+wheat plants which are fixed in the soil of the field, about harvest
+time, you will find that it consists of a stem which ends in a root at
+one end and an ear at the other, and that blades or leaves are
+attached to the sides of the stem. The ear contains a multitude of
+oval grains which are the seeds of the wheat plant. You know that when
+these seeds are cleared from the husk or bran in which they are
+enveloped, they are ground into fine powder in mills, and that this
+powder is the flour of which bread is made. If a handful of flour
+mixed with a little cold water is tied up in a coarse cloth bag, and
+the bag is then put into a large vessel of water and well kneaded with
+the hands, it will become pasty, while the water will become white. If
+this water is poured away into another vessel, and the kneading
+process continued with some fresh water, the same thing will happen.
+But if the operation is repeated the paste will become more and more
+sticky, while the water will be rendered less and less white, and at
+last will remain colorless. The sticky substance which is thus
+obtained by itself is called gluten; in commerce it is the substance
+known as maccaroni.
+
+If the water in which the flour has thus been washed is allowed to
+stand for a few hours, a white sediment will be found at the bottom of
+the vessel, while the fluid above will be clear and may be poured off.
+This white sediment consists of minute grains of starch, each of
+which, examined with the microscope, will be found to have a
+concentrically laminated structure. If the fluid from which the starch
+was deposited is now boiled it will become turbid, just as white of
+egg diluted with water does when it is boiled, and eventually a
+whitish lumpy substance will collect at the bottom of the vessel. This
+substance is called vegetable albumin.
+
+Besides the albumin, the gluten, and the starch, other substances
+about which this rough method of analysis gives us no information, are
+contained in the wheat grain. For example, there is woody matter or
+cellulose, and a certain quantity of sugar and fat. It would be
+possible to obtain a substance similar to albumin, starch, saccharine,
+and fatty matters, and cellulose, by treating the stem, leaves, and
+root in a similar fashion, but the cellulose would be in far larger
+proportion. Straw, in fact, which consists of the dry stem and leaves
+of the wheat plant, is almost wholly made up of cellulose. Besides
+this, however, it contains a certain proportion of mineral bodies,
+among them, pure flint or silica; and, if you should ever see a wheat
+rick burnt, you will find more or less of this silica, in a glassy
+condition, in the embers. In the living plant, all these bodies are
+combined with a large proportion of water, or are dissolved, or
+suspended in that fluid. The relative quantity of water is much
+greater in the stem and leaves than in the seed.
+
+Everybody has seen a common fowl. It is an active creature which runs
+about and sometimes flies. It has a body covered with feathers,
+provided with two wings and two legs, and ending at one end in a neck
+terminated by a head with a beak, between the two parts of which the
+mouth is placed. The hen lays eggs, each of which is inclosed in a
+hard shell. If you break an egg the contents flow out and are seen to
+consist of the colorless glairy "white" and the yellow "yolk." If the
+white is collected by itself in water and then heated it becomes
+turbid, forming a white solid, very similar to the vegetable albumin,
+which is called animal albumin.
+
+If the yolk is beaten up with water, no starch nor cellulose is
+obtained from it, but there will be plenty of fatty and some
+saccharine matter, besides substances more or less similar to albumin
+and gluten.
+
+The feathers of the fowl are chiefly composed of horn; if they are
+stripped off and the body is boiled for a long time, the water will be
+found to contain a quantity of gelatin, which sets into a jelly as it
+cools; and the body will fall to pieces, the bones and the flesh
+separating from one another. The bones consist almost entirely of a
+substance which yields gelatin when it is boiled in water, impregnated
+with a large quantity of salts of lime, just as the wood of the wheat
+stem is impregnated with silica. The flesh, on the other hand, will
+contain albumin, and some other substances which are very similar to
+albumin, termed fibrin and syntonin.
+
+In the living bird, all these bodies are united with a great quantity
+of water, or dissolved, or suspended in water; and it must be
+remembered that there are sundry other constituents of the fowl's body
+and of the egg, which are left unmentioned, as of no present
+importance.
+
+The wheat plant contains neither horn, nor gelatin, and the fowl
+contains neither starch, nor cellulose; but the albumin of the plant
+is very similar to that of the animal, and the fibrin and syntonin of
+the animal are bodies closely allied to both albumin and gluten.
+
+That there is a close likeness between all these bodies is obvious
+from the fact that when any of them is strongly heated, or allowed to
+putrefy, it gives off the same sort of disagreeable smell; and careful
+chemical analysis has shown that they are, in fact, all composed of
+the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, combined in very
+nearly the same proportions. Indeed, charcoal, which is impure carbon,
+might be obtained by strongly heating either a handful of corn, or a
+piece of fowl's flesh, in a vessel from which the air is excluded so
+as to keep the corn or the flesh from burning. And if the vessel were
+a still, so that the products of this destructive distillation, as it
+is called, could be condensed and collected, we should find water and
+ammonia, in some shape or other, in the receiver. Now ammonia is a
+compound of the elementary bodies, nitrogen and hydrogen; therefore
+both nitrogen and hydrogen must have been contained in the bodies from
+which it is derived.
+
+It is certain, then, that very similar nitrogenous compounds form a
+very large part of the bodies of both the wheat plant and the fowl,
+and these bodies are called proteids.
+
+It is a very remarkable fact that not only are such substances as
+albumin, gluten, fibrin, and syntonin, known exclusively as products
+of animal and vegetable bodies, but that every animal and every plant,
+at all periods of its existence, contains one or other of them,
+though, in other respects, the composition of living bodies may vary
+indefinitely. Thus, some plants contain neither starch nor cellulose,
+while these substances are found in some animals; while many animals
+contain no horny matter and no gelatin-yielding substance. So that the
+matter which appears to be the essential foundation of both the animal
+and the plant is the proteid united with water; though it is probable
+that, in all animals and plants, these are associated with more or
+less fatty and amyloid (or starchy and saccharine) substances, and
+with very small quantities of certain mineral bodies, of which the
+most important appear to be phosphorus, iron, lime, and potash.
+
+Thus there is a substance composed of water + proteids + fat +
+amyloids + mineral matters which is found in all animals and plants;
+and, when these are alive, this substance is termed protoplasm.
+
+The wheat plant in the field is said to be a living thing; the fowl
+running about the farmyard is also said to be a living thing. If the
+plant is plucked up, and if the fowl is knocked on the head, they soon
+die and become dead things. Both the fowl and the wheat plant, as we
+have seen, are composed of the same elements as those which enter into
+the composition of mineral matter, though united into compounds which
+do not exist in the mineral world. Why, then, do we distinguish this
+matter when it takes the shape of a wheat plant or a fowl, as living
+matter?
+
+In the spring a wheat-field is covered with small green plants. These
+grow taller and taller until they attain many times the size which
+they had when they first appeared; and they produce the heads of
+flowers which eventually change into ears of corn.
+
+In so far as this is a process of growth, accompanied by the
+assumption of a definite form, it might be compared with the growth of
+a crystal of salt in brine: but, on closer examination, it turns out
+to be something very different. For the crystal of salt grows by
+taking to itself the salt contained in the brine, which is added to
+its exterior; whereas the plant grows by addition to its interior: and
+there is not a trace of the characteristic compounds of the plant's
+body, albumin, gluten, starch, or cellulose, or fat, in the soil, or
+in the water, or in the air.
+
+Yet the plant creates nothing; and, therefore, the matter of the
+proteins and amyloids and fats which it contains must be supplied to
+it, and simply manufactured, or combined in new fashions, in the body
+of the plant.
+
+It is easy to see, in a general way, what the raw materials are which
+the plant works up, for the plant get nothing but the materials
+supplied to it by the atmosphere and by the soil. The atmosphere
+contains oxygen and nitrogen, a little carbonic acid gas, a minute
+quantity of ammoniacal salts, and a variable proportion of water. The
+soil contains clay and sand (silica), lime, iron, potash, phosphorus,
+sulphur, ammoniacal salts, and other matters which are of no
+importance. Thus, between them, the soil and the atmosphere contain
+all the elementary bodies which we find in the plant; but the plant
+has to separate them and join them together afresh.
+
+Moreover, the new matter, by the addition of which the plant grows, is
+not applied to its outer surface, but is manufactured in its interior;
+and the new molecules are diffused among the old ones.
+
+The grain of wheat is a part of the flower of the wheat plant, which,
+when it becomes ripe, is easily separated. It contains a minute and
+rudimentary plant; and, when it is sown, this gradually grows, or
+becomes developed into, the perfect plant, with its stem, roots,
+leaves, and flowers, which again give rise to similar seeds. No
+mineral body runs through a regular series of changes of form and
+size, and then gives off parts of its substance which take the same
+course. Mineral bodies present no such development, and give off no
+seeds or germs. They do not reproduce their kind.
+
+The fowl in the farmyard is incessantly pecking about and swallowing
+now a grain of corn, and now a fly or a worm. In fact, it is feeding,
+and, as every one knows, would soon die if not supplied with food. It
+is also a matter of every-day knowledge that it would not be of much
+use to give a fowl the soil of a cornfield, with plenty of air and
+water, to eat.
+
+In this respect, the fowl is like all other animals; it cannot
+manufacture the proteid materials of its body, but it has to take them
+ready made, or in a condition which requires but very slight
+modification by devouring the bodies either of other animals or of
+plants. The animal or vegetable substances devoured are taken into the
+animal's stomach; they are there digested or dissolved; and thus they
+are fitted to be distributed to all parts of the fowl's own body, and
+applied to its maintenance and growth.
+
+The fowl's egg is formed in the body of the hen, and is, in fact, part
+of her body inclosed in a shell and detached. It contains a minute
+rudiment of a fowl; and when it is kept at a proper temperature by the
+hen's sitting upon it, or otherwise for three weeks, this rudiment
+grows, or develops, at the expense of the materials contained in the
+yolk and the white, into a small bird, the chick, which is then
+hatched and grows into a fowl. The animal, therefore, is produced by
+the development of a germ in the same way as the plant; and, in this
+respect, all plants and all animals agree with one another, and differ
+from all mineral matter.
+
+Thus there is a very broad distinction between mineral matter and
+living matter. The elements of living matter are identical with those
+of mineral bodies; and the fundamental laws of matter and motion apply
+as much to living matter as to mineral matter; but every living body
+is, as it were, a complicated piece of mechanism which "goes," or
+lives, only under certain conditions. The germ contained in the
+fowl's egg requires nothing but a supply of warmth, within certain
+narrow limits of temperature, to build the molecules of the egg into
+the body of the chick. And the process of development of the egg, like
+that of the seed, is neither more nor less mysterious than that, in
+virtue of which, the molecules of water, when it is cooled down to the
+freezing-point, build themselves up into regular crystals.
+
+The further study of living bodies leads to the province of biology,
+of which there are two great divisions--botany, which deals with
+plants, and zoölogy, which treats of animals.
+
+Each of these divisions has its subdivisions--such as morphology,
+which treats of the form, structure, and development of living beings,
+and physiology, which explains their actions or functions, besides
+others.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE GROWTH;--FROGS
+
+(FROM A SONG OF LIFE.)
+
+BY MARGARET WARNER MORLEY.[1]
+
+[1] Copyright by A. C. McClurg & Co., 1891.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Somewhat higher than the fish in the scale of life is the frog.
+Although he begins life as a fish, and in the tadpole state breathes
+by gills, he soon discards the water-diluted air of the pond, and with
+perfect lungs boldly inhales the pure air of the upper world. His life
+as a tadpole, although so fish-like, is much inferior to true fish
+life: for though the fish has not the perfect lung, he has a
+modification of it which he fills with air, not for breathing
+purposes, but as an air-sac to make him float like a bubble in the
+water. Will he rise to the surface? he inflates the air-bladder. Will
+he sink to the bottom? he compresses the air-bladder. But in the frog
+the air-bladder changes into the lungs, and is never the delicate
+balloon which floats the fish in aqueous space. When the frog's lungs
+are perfected, his gills close, and he forever abandons fish-life,
+though being a cold-blooded creature he needs comparatively little
+air, and delights to return to his childhood's home in the bottom of
+the pond. But although he can stay under water for a long time, he is
+obliged to hold his breath while there, and when he would breathe must
+come to the surface to do so. It is possible to drown him by holding
+him under water.
+
+[Illustration: A FROG.]
+
+As a feeder the frog relies upon animal life, which he expertly seizes
+with a tongue fastened by the wrong end, as compared with our tongues.
+He is a certain marksman, and when he aims at an insect the chances
+are that the insect will enter his stomach and be there speedily
+changed into a new form of animal life.
+
+Although from the moment the gills disappear the frog is a true land
+animal, he is obliged, on account of the fish-like character of his
+young, to lay his eggs in the water. For this purpose the frogs enter
+the pools in early spring. The surface of every country pond swarms
+with the bright-eyed little creatures. They have awakened from a
+long, cold, winter sleep, to find the spring about them and within
+them. Life has suddenly become abundant and joyous. Their sluggish
+blood flows faster, their hearts beat quicker; they leap, they swim,
+they swell out their throats and call to each other in various keys.
+The toads are with them, and the pretty tree-frogs that change their
+color to suit their emotions. And all are rapturously screaming. Their
+voices are not musical, according to man's standard, but seem to
+afford great satisfaction to the performers in the shrill orchestra of
+the swamps, who thus give vent to the flood of life that sweeps
+through them after the still, icy winter.
+
+As though the new spring-life were too plentiful to find room in the
+frogs and toads already existing, it calls for more frogs and toads;
+and new creatures are born to share the extra vitality. Like the
+flowers and the fish, the frogs, too, give forth new life. Within
+them, too, the miracle is performed. The tiny eggs of the one wake up
+and begin to grow. The tiny living bodies in the fertilizing principle
+of the other also wake up and begin to grow. But higher life is better
+guarded, because less prolific. The frog and the toad lay but few eggs
+as compared with the fish. Fish eggs may drop under the stones or
+float away, and so escape the vital touch of the fertilizing
+principle. There are so many that numbers may be lost and yet enough
+remain to continue the family. Not so with the frog family. No egg may
+be lost. So we find that the eggs of the frog are not dropped singly,
+like so many shot, but are bound together by a colorless, transparent,
+jelly-like substance, much like that found in the morning-glory seed,
+and which like that supplies nourishment to the young life, for the
+tadpole feeds upon it until he is able to seek other food. Moreover,
+instinct has taught the frog the need of extreme caution in the act of
+fertilization. Every egg _must_ be fertilized. As the time draws near
+for the dropping of the few eggs into the water, the male frog so
+places himself that the moment the eggs are being laid, he pours over
+them, one by one, as they fall into the water, the fertilizing fluid.
+
+And thus the mystery of life is again repeated. The union of the
+living, microscopic bodies of the fertilizing principle with the new
+laid egg is followed by the growth of the two elements into a living
+creature, able to eat, to breathe, to see, to feel. In some unknown
+way the atom of fertilizing principle seems to have contained the
+whole life of the father-frog, for it can give to his sons and
+daughters any of his peculiarities, either of color, form, motion, or
+disposition; and the tiny egg seems to have contained the whole life
+of the mother-frog, and can give to her sons and daughters any of her
+peculiarities; though, as is true of all inheritance, the tadpoles, as
+the young frogs are called, share the natures of both parents,
+inheriting some peculiarities from the father and others from the
+mother.
+
+[Illustration: A FROG.]
+
+But, like other life, although the frogs may vary a good deal within
+frog limits, none of them can escape their own limits and enter into
+those of any other life. Once a frog, always a frog; and no frog-egg
+may hope to develop into a turtle, or a bird, or anything but a frog.
+The life in the fertilizing principle of the frog is sacred to frog
+eggs, and is lifeless in contact with any other.
+
+Our common frogs, like many of the fishes, do not trouble themselves
+about the fate of their eggs after they are carefully laid in a safe
+place. They trust Mother Nature to see the little tadpoles safely
+through the perils of childhood, to help them change their dresses and
+get rid of their tails, and cut, not their teeth, but their arms and
+legs.
+
+In Venezuela, however, there dwells a frog with well developed
+maternal instinct. The mothers have pockets on their backs, not for
+their own convenience, but as cradles for their babies. The fathers
+put the fertilized eggs into the pockets of the mothers; and there
+they remain, well guarded, until the young are able to care for
+themselves.
+
+[Illustration: TADPOLES.]
+
+
+
+
+THE MAN-LIKE APES
+
+(FROM EVIDENCE AS TO MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE.)
+
+BY PROFESSOR T. H. HUXLEY.
+
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF GORILLA.]
+
+Sound knowledge respecting the habits and mode of life of the man-like
+Apes has been even more difficult of attainment than correct
+information regarding their structure.
+
+Once in a generation, a Wallace may be found physically, mentally, and
+morally qualified to wander unscathed through the tropical wilds of
+America and of Asia, to form magnificent collections as he wanders,
+and withal to think out sagaciously the conclusions suggested by his
+collections; but, to the ordinary explorer or collector, the dense
+forests of equatorial Asia and Africa, which constitute the favorite
+habitation of the Orang, the Chimpanzee, and the Gorilla, present
+difficulties of no ordinary magnitude; and the man who risks his life
+by even a short visit to the malarious shores of those regions may
+well be excused if he shrinks from facing the dangers of the interior;
+if he contents himself with stimulating the industry of the
+better-seasoned natives, and collecting and collating the more or less
+mythical reports and traditions with which they are too ready to
+supply him.
+
+In such a manner most of the earlier accounts of the habits of the
+man-like Apes originated; and even now a good deal of what passes
+current must be admitted to have no very safe foundation. The best
+information we possess is that based almost wholly on direct European
+testimony respecting the Gibbons; the next best evidence relates to
+the Orangs; while our knowledge of the habits of the Chimpanzee and
+the Gorilla stands much in need of support and enlargement by
+additional testimony from instructed European eye-witnesses.
+
+It will therefore be convenient in endeavoring to form a notion of
+what we are justified in believing about these animals, to commence
+with the best known man-like Apes, the Gibbons, and Orangs; and to
+make use of the perfectly reliable information respecting them as a
+sort of criterion of the probable truth or falsehood of assertions
+respecting the others.
+
+Of the Gibbons, half a dozen species are found scattered over the
+Asiatic Islands, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and through Malacca, Siam,
+Arracan, and an uncertain extent of Hindostan on the mainland of Asia.
+The largest attain a few inches above three feet in height, from the
+crown to the heel, so that they are shorter than the other man-like
+Apes, while the slenderness of their bodies renders their mass far
+smaller in proportion even to this diminished height.
+
+Dr. Salomon Müller, an accomplished Dutch naturalist, who lived for
+many years in the Eastern Archipelago, and to the result of whose
+personal experience I shall frequently have occasion to refer, states
+that the Gibbons are true mountaineers, loving the slopes and edges of
+the hills, though they rarely ascend beyond the limit of the
+fig-trees. All day long they haunt the tops of the tall trees, and
+though toward evening, they descend in small troops to the open
+ground, no sooner do they spy a man than they dart up the hillsides
+and disappear in the darker valleys.
+
+All observers testify to the prodigious volume of voice possessed by
+these animals. According to the writer whom I have just cited, in one
+of them, the Siamang, "the voice is grave and penetrating, resembling
+the sounds gōek, gōek, gōek, gōek, goek ha ha ha ha haaāāā, and may be
+easily heard at a distance of half a league." While the cry is being
+uttered, the great membranous bag under the throat which communicates
+with the organ of voice, the so-called "laryngeal sac," becomes
+greatly distended, diminishing again when the creature relapses into
+silence.
+
+M. Duvaucel, likewise, affirms that the cry of the Siamang may be
+heard for miles--making the woods ring again. So Mr. Martin describes
+the cry of the agile Gibbon as "overpowering and deafening" in a room,
+and "from its strength, well calculated for resounding through the
+vast forests." Mr. Waterhouse, an accomplished musician as well as
+zoölogist, says, "The Gibbon's voice is certainly much more powerful
+than that of any singer I ever heard." And yet it is to be recollected
+that this animal is not half the height of, and far less bulky in
+proportion than, a man.
+
+[Illustration: A GIBBON.]
+
+There is good testimony that various species of Gibbon readily take to
+the erect posture. Mr. George Bennett, a very excellent observer, in
+describing the habits of a male _Hylobates syndactylus_ which remained
+for some time in his possession, says: "He invariably walks in the
+erect posture when on a level surface; and then the arms either hang
+down, enabling him to assist himself with his knuckles; or, what is
+more usual, he keeps his arms uplifted in nearly an erect position,
+with the hands pendent ready to seize a rope, and climb up on the
+approach of danger or on the obtrusion of strangers. He walks rather
+quick in the erect posture, but with a waddling gait, and is soon run
+down if, while pursued, he has no opportunity of escaping by
+climbing.... When he walks in the erect posture, he turns the leg and
+foot outward, which occasions him to have a waddling gait and to seem
+bow-legged."
+
+Dr. Burrough states of another Gibbon, the Horlack or Hooluk:
+
+"They walk erect; and when placed on the floor, or in an open field,
+balance themselves very prettily by raising their hands over their
+head and slightly bending the arm at the wrist and elbow, and then run
+tolerably fast, rocking from side to side; and, if urged to greater
+speed, they let fall their hands to the ground, and assist themselves
+forward, rather jumping than running, still keeping the body, however,
+nearly erect."
+
+Somewhat different evidence, however, is given by Dr. Winslow Lewis:
+
+"Their only manner of walking was on their posterior or inferior
+extremities, the others being raised upward to preserve their
+equilibrium, as rope-dancers are assisted by long poles at fairs.
+Their progression was not by placing one foot before the other, but by
+simultaneously using both, as in jumping." Dr. Salomon Müller also
+states that the Gibbons progress upon the ground by short series of
+tottering jumps, effected only by the hind limbs, the body being held
+altogether upright.
+
+But Mr. Martin, who also speaks from direct observation, says of the
+Gibbons generally:
+
+"Pre-eminently qualified for arboreal habits, and displaying among the
+branches amazing activity, the Gibbons are not so awkward or
+embarrassed on a level surface as might be imagined. They walk erect
+with a waddling or unsteady gait, but at a quick pace, the equilibrium
+of the body requiring to be kept up, either by touching the ground
+with the knuckles, first on one side then on the other, or by
+uplifting the arms so as to poise it. As with the Chimpanzee, the
+whole of the narrow, long sole of the foot is placed upon the ground
+at once, and raised at once, without any elasticity of step."
+
+After this mass of concurrent and independent testimony, it cannot
+reasonably be doubted that the Gibbons commonly and habitually assume
+the erect attitude.
+
+But level ground is not the place where these animals can display
+their very remarkable and peculiar locomotive powers, and that
+prodigious activity which almost tempts one to rank them among flying,
+rather than among ordinary climbing mammals.
+
+Mr. Martin has given so excellent and graphic an account of the
+movements of a _Hylobates agilis_, living in the Zoölogical Gardens,
+in 1840, that I will quote it in full:
+
+"It is almost impossible to convey in words an idea of the quickness
+and graceful address of her movements: they may indeed be termed
+aërial, as she seems merely to touch in her progress the branches
+among which she exhibits her evolutions. In these feats her hands and
+arms are the sole organs of locomotion, her body, hanging as if
+suspended by a rope, sustained by one hand (the right, for example),
+she launches herself, by an energetic movement, to a distant branch,
+which she catches with the left hand; but her hold is less than
+momentary; the impulse for the next launch is acquired; the branch
+then aimed at is attained by the right hand again, and quitted
+instantaneously, and so on, in alternate succession. In this manner
+spaces of twelve and eighteen feet are cleared, with the greatest ease
+and uninterruptedly, for hours together, without the slightest
+appearance of fatigue being manifested; and it is evident that, if
+more space could be allowed, distances very greatly exceeding eighteen
+feet would be as easily cleared; so that Duvaucel's assertion that he
+has seen these animals launch themselves from one branch to another,
+forty feet asunder, startling as it is, may be well credited.
+Sometimes, on seizing a branch in her progress, she will throw
+herself, by the power of one arm only, completely round it, making a
+revolution with such rapidity as almost to deceive the eye, and
+continue her progress with undiminished velocity. It is singular to
+observe how suddenly this Gibbon can stop, when the impetus giving by
+the rapidity and distance of her swinging leaps would seem to require
+a gradual abatement of her movements. In the very midst of her flight
+a branch is seized, the body raised, and she is seen, as if by magic,
+quietly seated on it, grasping it with her feet. As suddenly she again
+throws herself into action.
+
+"The following facts will convey some notion of her dexterity and
+quickness. A live bird was let loose in her apartment; she marked its
+flight, made a long swing to a distant branch, caught the bird with
+one hand in her passage, and attained the branch with her other hand,
+her aim, both at the bird and at the branch, being as successful as if
+one object only had engaged her attention. It may be added that she
+instantly bit off the head of the bird, picked its feathers, and then
+threw it down without attempting to eat it.
+
+"On another occasion this animal swung herself from a perch, across a
+passage at least twelve feet wide, against a window which it was
+thought would be immediately broken: but not so; to the surprise of
+all, she caught the narrow framework between the panes with her hand,
+in an instant attained the proper impetus, and sprang back again to
+the cage she had left--a feat requiring not only great strength, but
+the nicest precision."
+
+The Gibbons appear to be naturally very gentle, but there is very good
+evidence that they will bite severely when irritated, a female
+_Hylobates agilis_ having so severely lacerated one man with her long
+canines that he died; while she had injured others so much that, by
+way of precaution, these formidable teeth had been filed down; but if
+threatened she would still turn on her keeper. The Gibbons eat
+insects, but appear generally to avoid animal food. A Siamang,
+however, was seen by Mr. Bennett to seize and devour greedily a live
+lizard. They commonly drink by dipping their fingers in the liquid and
+then licking them. It is asserted that they sleep in a sitting
+posture.
+
+Duvaucel affirms that he has seen the females carry their young to the
+water-side and there wash their faces, in spite of resistance and
+cries. They are gentle and affectionate in captivity--full of tricks
+and pettishness, like spoiled children, and yet not devoid of a
+certain conscience, as an anecdote, told by Mr. Bennett will show. It
+would appear that his Gibbon had a peculiar inclination for
+disarranging things in the cabin. Among these articles a piece of soap
+would especially attract his notice, and for the removal of this he
+had been once or twice scolded. "One morning," says Mr. Bennett, "I
+was writing, the Ape being present in the cabin, when, casting my eyes
+toward him, I saw the little fellow taking the soap. I watched him
+without him perceiving that I did so: and he occasionally would cast a
+furtive glance toward the place where I sat. I pretended to write; he
+seeing me busily occupied, took the soap, and moved away with it in
+his paw. When he had walked half the length of the cabin, I spoke
+quietly, without frightening him. The instant he found I saw him he
+walked back again and deposited the soap nearly in the same place from
+whence he had taken it. There was certainly something more than
+instinct in that action: he evidently betrayed a consciousness of
+having done wrong both by his first and last actions--and what is
+reason if that is not an exercise of it?"
+
+The most elaborate account of the natural history of the Orang-Utan
+extant is that given in the "_Verhandelingen over de Natuurlijke
+Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche overzeeche Bezittingen (1839–45)_," by
+Dr. Salomon Müller and Dr. Schlegel, and I shall base what I have to
+say upon this subject almost entirely on their statements, adding here
+and there particulars of interest from the writings of Brooke,
+Wallace, and others.
+
+The Orang-Utan would rarely seem to exceed four feet in height, but
+the body is very bulky, measuring two thirds of the height in
+circumference.
+
+The Orang-Utan is found only in Sumatra and Borneo, and is common in
+either of these islands--in both of which it occurs always in low,
+flat plains, never in the mountains. It loves the densest and most
+sombre of the forests, which extend from the seashore inland, and thus
+is found only in the eastern half of Sumatra, where alone such forests
+occur, though, occasionally, it strays over to the western side.
+
+On the other hand it is generally distributed through Borneo, except
+in the mountains, or where the population is dense. In favorable
+places the hunter may, by good fortune, see three or four in a day.
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF ORANG-UTAN.]
+
+Except in the pairing time, the old males usually live by themselves.
+The old females and the immature males, on the other hand, are often
+met with in twos and threes; and the former occasionally have young
+with them, though the pregnant females usually separate themselves,
+and sometimes remain apart after they have given birth to their
+offspring. The young Orangs seem to remain unusually long under their
+mother's protection, probably in consequence of their slow growth.
+While climbing the mother always carries her young against her bosom,
+the young holding on by the mother's hair. At what time of life the
+Orang-Utan becomes capable of propagation, and how long the females go
+with young is unknown, but it is probable that they are not adult
+until they arrive at ten or fifteen years of age. A female which lived
+for five years at Batavia had not attained one-third the height of the
+wild females. It is probable that, after reaching adult years, they go
+on growing, though slowly, and that they live to forty or fifty years.
+The Dyaks tell of old Orangs which have not only lost all their
+teeth, but which find it so troublesome to climb that they maintain
+themselves on windfalls and juicy herbage.
+
+The Orang is sluggish, exhibiting none of that marvellous activity
+characteristic of the Gibbons. Hunger alone seems to stir him to
+exertion, and when it is stilled he relapses into repose. When the
+animal sits, it curves its back and bows its head, so as to look
+straight down on the ground; sometimes it holds on with its hands by a
+higher branch, sometimes lets them hang phlegmatically down by its
+side; and in these positions the Orang will remain for hours together,
+in the same spot, almost without stirring, and only now and then
+giving utterance to its deep, growling voice. By day he usually climbs
+from one tree-top to another, and only at night descends to the
+ground: and if then threatened with danger he seeks refuge among the
+underwood. When not hunted, he remains a long time in the same
+locality, and sometimes stops for many days on the same tree, a firm
+place among its branches serving him for a bed. It is rare for the
+Orang to pass the night in the summit of a large tree, probably
+because it is too windy and cold there for him; but as soon as night
+draws on he descends from the height and seeks out a fit bed in the
+lower and darker part, or in the leafy top of a small tree, among
+which he prefers Nibong palms, Pandani, or one of those parasitic
+orchids which gave the primeval forests of Borneo so characteristic
+and striking an appearance. But whenever he determines to sleep, there
+he prepares himself a sort of nest; little boughs and leaves are drawn
+together round the selected spot, and bent crosswise over one
+another; while to make the bed soft, great leaves of ferns, of
+orchids, of _Pandanus fascicularis_, _Nipa fruticans_, etc., are
+laid over them. Those which Müller saw, many of them being very fresh,
+were situated at a height of ten to twenty-five feet above the ground,
+and had a circumference, on the average, of two or three feet. Some
+were packed many inches thick with _pandanus_ leaves; others were
+remarkable only for the cracked twigs, which, united in a common
+centre, formed a regular platform. "The rude _hut_," says Sir James
+Brooke, "which they are stated to build in the trees, would be more
+properly called a seat or nest, for it has no roof or cover of any
+sort. The facility with which they form this nest is curious, and I
+had an opportunity of seeing a wounded female weave the branches
+together and seat herself within a minute."
+
+According to the Dyaks the Orang rarely leaves his bed before the sun
+is well above the horizon and has dissipated the mists. He gets up
+about nine, and goes to bed again about five; but sometimes not till
+late in the twilight. He lies sometimes on his back, or, by way of
+change, turns on one side or the other, drawing his limbs up to his
+body, and resting his head on his hand. When the night is cold, windy,
+or rainy, he usually covers his body with a heap of _pandanus nipa_,
+or fern leaves, like those of which his bed is made, and he is
+especially careful to wrap up his head in them. It is this habit of
+covering himself up which has probably led to the fable that the Orang
+builds huts in the trees.
+
+Although the Orang resides mostly amid the boughs of great trees
+during the daytime, he is very rarely seen squatting on a thick branch
+as other apes, and particularly the Gibbons, do. The Orang, on the
+contrary, confines himself to the slender leafy branches, so that he
+is seen right at the top of the trees, a mode of life which is closely
+related to the constitution of his hinder limbs, and especially to
+that of his seat. For this is provided with no callosites such as
+are possessed by many of the lower apes, and even by the Gibbons; and
+those bones of the pelvis, which are termed the ischia, and which form
+the solid framework of the surface on which the body rests in the
+sitting posture, are not expanded like those of the apes which possess
+callosities, but are more like those of man.
+
+An Orang climbs so slowly and cautiously as, in this act, to resemble
+a man more than an ape, taking great care of his feet, so that injury
+of them seems to affect him far more than it does other apes. Unlike
+the Gibbons, whose forearms do the greater part of the work as they
+swing from branch to branch, the Orang never makes even the smallest
+jump. In climbing, he moves alternately one hand and one foot, or,
+after having laid fast hold with the hands, he draws up both feet
+together. In passing from one tree to another he always seeks out a
+place where the twigs of both come close together, or interlace. Even
+when closely pursued, his circumspection is amazing; he shakes the
+branches to see if they will bear him, and then bending an overhanging
+bough down by throwing his weight gradually along it, he makes a
+bridge from the tree he wishes to quit to the next.
+
+On the ground the Orang always goes laboriously and shakily on all
+fours. At starting he will run faster than a man, though he may soon
+be overtaken. The very long arms which, when he runs, are but little
+bent, raise the body of the Orang remarkably, so that he assumes much
+the posture of a very old man bent down by age, and making his way
+along by the help of a stick. In walking, the body is usually directed
+straight forward, unlike the other apes, which run more or less
+obliquely, except the Gibbons, who in these, as in so many other
+respects, depart remarkably from their fellows.
+
+The Orang cannot put its feet flat on the ground, but is supported
+upon their outer edges, the heel resting more on the ground, while the
+curved toes partly rest upon the ground by the upper side of their
+first joint, the two outermost toes of each foot completely resting on
+this surface. The hands are held in the opposite manner, their inner
+edges serving as the chief support. The fingers are then bent out in
+such a manner that their foremost joints, especially those of the two
+inner-most fingers, rest upon the ground by their upper sides, while
+the point of the free and straight thumb serves as an additional
+fulcrum.
+
+The Orang never stands on its hind legs, and all the pictures
+representing it as so doing are as false as the assertion that it
+defends itself with sticks and the like.
+
+The long arms are of especial use, not only in climbing, but in the
+gathering of food from boughs to which the animal could not trust his
+weight. Figs, blossoms, and young leaves of various kinds, constitute
+the chief nutriment of the Orang; but strips of bamboo two or three
+feet long were found in the stomach of a male. They are not known to
+eat living animals.
+
+Although, when taken young, the Orang-Utan soon becomes domesticated,
+and indeed seems to court human society; it is naturally a very wild
+and shy animal, though apparently sluggish and melancholy. The Dyaks
+affirm that when the old males are wounded with arrows only they will
+occasionally leave the trees and rush raging upon their enemies, whose
+sole safety lies in instant flight, as they are sure to be killed if
+caught.
+
+But, though possessed of immense strength, it is rare for the Orang to
+attempt to defend itself, especially when attacked with firearms. On
+such occasions he endeavors to hide himself, or to escape along the
+top-most branches of the trees, breaking off and throwing down the
+boughs as he goes. When wounded he betakes himself to the highest
+attainable point of the tree, and emits a singular cry, consisting at
+first of high notes, which at length deepen into a low roar, not
+unlike that of a panther. While giving out the high notes the Orang
+thrusts out his lips into a funnel-shape; but in uttering the low
+notes he holds his mouth wide open, and at the same time the great
+throat bag, or laryngeal sac, becomes distended.
+
+According to the Dyaks, the only animal the Orang measures his
+strength with is the crocodile, who occasionally seizes him on his
+visits to the water-side. But they say that the Orang is more than a
+match for his enemy, and beats him to death, or rips up his throat by
+pulling the jaws asunder!
+
+Much of what has been here stated was probably derived by Dr. Müller
+from the reports of his Dyak hunters; but a large male, four feet
+high, lived in captivity under his observation for a month, and
+receives a very bad character.
+
+"He was a very wild beast," says Müller, "of prodigious strength, and
+false and wicked to the last degree. If any one approached he rose up
+slowly with a low growl, fixed his eyes in the direction in which he
+meant to make his attack, slowly passed his hand between the bars of
+his cage, and then, extending his long arm, gave a sudden
+grip--usually at the face." He never tried to bite (though Orangs will
+bite one another), his great weapons of offence and defence being his
+hands.
+
+His intelligence was very great; and Müller remarks that, though the
+faculties of the Orang have been estimated too highly, yet Cuvier, had
+he seen this specimen, would not have considered its intelligence to
+be only a little higher than that of a dog.
+
+His hearing was very acute, but the sense of vision seemed to be less
+perfect. The under lip was the great organ of touch, and played a very
+important part in drinking, being thrust out like a trough, so as
+either to catch the falling rain or to receive the contents of the
+half cocoanut shell full of water with which the Orang was supplied,
+and which, in drinking, he poured into the trough thus formed.
+
+In Borneo, the Orang-Utan of the Malays goes by the name of "_Mias_"
+among the Dyaks, who distinguish several kinds as _Mias Pappan_, or
+_Zimo_, _Mias Kassu_, and _Mias Rambi_. Whether these are distinct
+species, however, or whether they are mere races, and how far any of
+them are identical with the Sumatran Orang, as Mr. Wallace thinks the
+Mias Pappan to be, are problems which are at present undecided; and
+the variability of these great apes is so extensive that the
+settlement of the question is a matter of great difficulty. Of the
+form called "Mias Pappan," Mr. Wallace observes: "It is known by its
+large size, and by the lateral expansion of the face into fatty
+protuberances, or ridges, over the temporal muscles, which have been
+mistermed callosites, as they are perfectly soft, smooth, and
+flexible. Five of this form, measured by me, varied only from 4 feet
+1 inch to 4 feet 2 inches in height, from the heel to the crown of the
+head, the girth of the body from 3 feet to 3 feet 7½ inches, and the
+extent of the outstretched arms from 7 feet 2 inches to 7 feet
+6 inches; the width of the face from 10 to 13¼ inches. The color and
+length of the hair varied in different individuals, and in different
+parts of the same individual; some possessed a rudimentary nail on the
+great toe, others none at all; but they otherwise present no external
+differences on which to establish even varieties of a species.
+
+"Yet, when we examine the crania of these individuals, we find
+remarkable differences of form, proportion, and dimension, no two
+being exactly alike. The slope of the profile, and the projection of
+the muzzle, together with the size of the cranium, offer differences
+as decided as those existing between the most strongly marked forms of
+the Caucasian and African crania in the human species. The orbits vary
+in width and height, the cranial ridge is either single or double,
+either much or little developed, and the zygomatic aperture varies
+considerably in size. This variation in the proportions of the crania
+enables us satisfactorily to explain the marked difference presented
+by the single-crested and double-crested skulls, which have been
+thought to prove the existence of two large species of Orang. The
+external surface of the skull varies considerably in size, as do also
+the zygomatic aperture and the temporal muscle: but they bear no
+necessary relation to each other, a small muscle often existing with a
+large cranial surface, and vice versa. Now those skulls which have the
+largest and strongest jaws, and the widest zygomatic aperture, have
+the muscles so large that they meet on the crown of the skull, and
+deposit the bony ridge which separates them, and which is the highest
+in that which has the smallest cranial surface. In those which combine
+a large surface with comparatively weak jaws, and small zygomatic
+aperture, the muscles, on each side, do not extend to the crown, a
+space of from 1 to 2 inches remaining between them, and along their
+margins small ridges are formed. Intermediate forms are found, in
+which the ridges meet only in the hinder part of the skull. The form
+and size of the ridges are therefore independent of age, being
+sometimes more strongly developed in the less aged animal. Professor
+Temminck states that the series of skulls in the Leyden Museum shows
+the same result."
+
+Mr. Wallace observed two male adult Orangs (Mias Kassu of the Dyaks),
+however, so very different from any of these that he concludes them to
+be specially distinct; they were respectively 3 feet 8½ inches and
+3 feet 9½ inches high, and possessed no sign of the cheek excrescences,
+but otherwise resembled the larger kinds. The skull has no crest, but
+two bony ridges, 1¾ to 2 inches apart, as in the _Simia morio_ of
+Professor Owen. The teeth, however, are immense, equalling or
+surpassing those of the other species. The females of both these
+kinds, according to Mr. Wallace, are devoid of excrescences, and
+resemble the smaller males, but are shorter by 1½ to 3 inches, and
+their canine teeth are comparatively small, subtruncated and dilated
+at the base, as in the so-called _Simia morio_, which is, in all
+probability, the skull of a female of the same species as the smaller
+males. Both males and females of this smaller species are
+distinguishable, according to Mr. Wallace, by the comparatively large
+size of the middle incisors of the upper jaw.
+
+So far as I am aware, no one has attempted to dispute the accuracy of
+the statements which I have just quoted regarding the habits of the
+two Asiatic man-like Apes; and if true, they must be admitted as
+evidence that such an ape--
+
+1stly, May readily move along the ground in the erect, or semi-erect,
+position, and without direct support from its arms.
+
+2dly, That it may possess an extremely loud voice--so loud as to be
+readily heard one or two miles.
+
+3dly, That it may be capable of great viciousness and violence when
+irritated; and this is especially true of adult males.
+
+4thly, That it may build a nest to sleep in.
+
+Such being well-established facts respecting the Asiatic anthropoids,
+analogy alone might justify us in expecting the African species to
+offer similar peculiarities, separately or combined; or, at any rate,
+would destroy the force of any attempted _à priori_ argument against
+such direct testimony as might be adduced in favor of their existence.
+And if the organization of any of the African apes could be
+demonstrated to fit it better than either of its Asiatic allies for
+the erect position and for efficient attack, there would be still less
+reason for doubting its occasional adoption of the upright attitude,
+or of aggressive proceedings.
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF CHIMPANZEE.]
+
+From the time of Tyson and Tulpius downward the habits of the young
+Chimpanzee in a state of captivity have been abundantly reported and
+commented upon. But trustworthy evidence as to the manners and customs
+of adult anthropoids of this species, in their native woods, was
+almost wanting up to the time of the publication of the paper by Dr.
+Savage, to which I have already referred, containing notes of the
+observations which he made, and of the information which he collected
+from sources which he considered trustworthy, while resident at Cape
+Palmas, at the north-western limit of the Bight of Benin.
+
+The adult Chimpanzees, measured by Dr. Savage, never exceeded, though
+the males may almost attain, five feet in height.
+
+"When at rest, the sitting posture is that generally assumed. They are
+sometimes seen standing and walking, but when thus detected, they
+immediately take to all fours and flee from the presence of the
+observer. Such is their organization that they cannot stand erect, but
+lean forward. Hence they are seen, when standing, with the hands
+clasped over the occiput, or the lumbar region, which would seem
+necessary to balance or ease of posture.
+
+"The toes of the adult are strongly flexed and turned inward, and
+cannot be perfectly straightened. In the attempt the skin gathers into
+thick folds on the back, showing that the full expansion of the foot,
+as is necessary in walking, is unnatural. The natural position is on
+all fours, the body anteriorly resting upon the knuckles. These are
+greatly enlarged, with the skin protuberant and thickened like the
+sole of the foot.
+
+"They are expert climbers, as one would suppose from their
+organization. In their gambols they swing from limb to limb at a great
+distance, and leap with astonishing agility. It is not unusual to see
+the 'old folks' (in the language of an observer) sitting under a tree
+regaling themselves with fruit and friendly chat, while their
+'children' are leaping around them, and swinging from tree to tree
+with boisterous merriment.
+
+"As seen here, they cannot be called _gregarious_, seldom more than
+five, or ten at most, being found together. It has been said, on good
+authority, that they occasionally assemble in large numbers, in
+gambols. My informant asserts that he saw once not less than fifty so
+engaged, hooting, screaming, and drumming with sticks upon old logs,
+which is done in the latter case with equal facility by the four
+extremities. They do not appear ever to act on the offensive, and,
+seldom, if ever, really on the defensive. When about to be captured,
+they resist by throwing their arms about their opponent, and
+attempting to draw him into contact with their teeth."
+
+With respect to this last point Dr. Savage is very explicit in another
+place:
+
+"_Biting_ is their principal art of defence. I have seen one man who
+had been thus severely wounded in the feet.
+
+"The strong development of the canine teeth in the adult would seem to
+indicate a carnivorous propensity; but in no state save that of
+domestication do they manifest it. At first they reject flesh, but
+easily acquire a fondness for it. The canines are early developed, and
+evidently designed to act the important part of weapons of defence.
+When in contact with man almost the first effort of the animal is--_to
+bite_.
+
+"They avoid the abodes of men, and build their habitations in trees.
+Their construction is more that of _nests_ than _huts_, as they have
+been erroneously termed by some naturalists. They generally build not
+far above the ground. Branches or twigs are bent, or partly broken,
+and crossed, and the whole supported by the body of a limb or a
+crotch. Sometimes a nest will be found near the _end_ of a _strong
+leafy branch_ twenty or thirty feet from the ground. One I have lately
+seen that could not be less than forty feet, and more probably it was
+fifty. But this is an unusual height.
+
+"Their dwelling-place is not permanent, but changed in pursuit of food
+and solitude, according to the force of circumstances. We most often
+see them in elevated places; but this arises from the fact that the
+low grounds, being more favorable for the natives' rice-farms, are the
+oftener cleared, and hence are almost always wanting in suitable trees
+for their nests.... It is seldom that more than one or two nests are
+seen upon the same tree, or in the same neighborhood: five have been
+found, but it was an unusual circumstance." ...
+
+"They are very filthy in their habits. It is a tradition with the
+natives generally here that they were once members of their own tribe;
+that for their depraved habits they were expelled from all human
+society, and that, through an obstinate indulgence of their vile
+propensities, they have degenerated into their present state of
+organization. They are, however, eaten by them, and when cooked with
+the oil and pulp of the palm-nut considered a highly palatable morsel.
+
+"They exhibit a remarkable degree of intelligence in their habits,
+and, on the part of the mother, much affection for their young. The
+second female described was upon a tree when first discovered, with
+her mate and two young ones (a male and a female). Her first impulse
+was to descend with great rapidity and make off into the thicket with
+her mate and female offspring. The young male remaining behind, she
+soon returned to the rescue. She ascended and took him in her arms, at
+which moment she was shot, the ball passing through the forearm of the
+young one, on the way to the heart of the mother....
+
+"In a recent case the mother, when discovered, remained upon the tree
+with her offspring, watching intently the movements of the hunter. As
+he took aim, she motioned with her hand, precisely in the manner of a
+human being, to have him desist and go away. When the wound has not
+proved instantly fatal, they have been known to stop the flow of blood
+by pressing with the hand upon the part, and when they did not
+succeed, to apply leaves and grass.... When shot, they give a sudden
+screech, not unlike that of a human, being in sudden and acute
+distress.
+
+"The ordinary voice of the Chimpanzee, however, is affirmed to be
+hoarse, guttural, and not very loud, somewhat like 'whoo-whoo.'"
+
+The analogy of the Chimpanzee to the Orang, in its nest-building habit
+and in the mode of forming its nest, is exceedingly interesting,
+while, on the other hand, the activity of this ape, and its tendency
+to bite, are particulars in which it rather resembles the Gibbons. In
+extent of geographical range, again, the Chimpanzees--which are found
+from Sierra Leone to Congo--remind one of the Gibbons rather than of
+either of the other man-like Apes; and it seems not unlikely that, as
+is the case with the Gibbons, there may be several species spread over
+the geographical area of the genus.
+
+The same excellent observer, from whom I have borrowed the preceding
+account of the habits of the adult Chimpanzee, published an account of
+the Gorilla, which has, in its most essential points, been confirmed
+by subsequent observers, and to which so very little has really been
+added, that, in justice to Dr. Savage, I give it almost in full:
+
+"It should be borne in mind that my account is based upon the
+statements of the aborigines of that region (the Gaboon). In this
+connection it may also be proper for me to remark that, having been a
+missionary resident for several years, studying, from habitual
+intercourse, the African mind and character, I felt myself prepared to
+discriminate and decide upon the probability of their statements.
+Besides, being familiar with the history and habits of its interesting
+congener (_Trogniger_, Geoff.), I was able to separate their accounts
+of the two animals, which, having the same locality and a similarity
+of habit, are confounded in the minds of the mass, especially as but
+few--such as traders to the interior, and huntsmen--have ever seen the
+animal in question.
+
+"The tribe from which our knowledge of the animal is derived, and
+whose territory forms its habitat, is the _Mpongwe_, occupying both
+banks of the River Gaboon, from its mouth to some fifty or sixty miles
+upward....
+
+"If the word 'Pongo' be of African origin, it is probably a corruption
+of the word _Mpongwe_, the name of the tribe on the banks of the
+Gaboon, and hence applied to the region they inhabit. Their local name
+for the Chimpanzee is _Enché-eko_, as near as it can be Anglicized,
+from which the common term 'Jocko' probably conies. The _Mpongwe_
+apellation for its new congener is _Engé-ena_, prolonging the sound of
+the first vowel, and slightly sounding the second.
+
+"The habitat of the _Engé-ena_ is the interior of Lower Guinea, while
+that of the _Enché-eko_ is nearer the seaboard.
+
+"Its height is about five feet; it is disproportionately broad across
+the shoulders, thickly covered with coarse black hair, which is said
+to be similar in its arrangement to that of the _Enché-eko_; with age
+it becomes gray, which fact has given rise to the report that both
+animals are seen of different colors.
+
+"Head.--The prominent features of the head are the great width and
+elongation of the face, the depth of the molar region, the branches of
+the lower jaw being very deep and extending far backward, and the
+comparative smallness of the cranial portion; the eyes are very large,
+and said to be like those of the _Enché-eko_, a bright hazel; nose
+broad and flat, slightly elevated toward the root; the muzzle broad,
+and prominent lips and chin, with scattered gray hairs; the under lip
+highly mobile, and capable of great elongation when the animal is
+enraged, then hanging over the chin; skin of the face and ears naked
+and of a dark-brown, approaching to black.
+
+"The most remarkable feature of the head is a high ridge, or crest of
+hair, in the course of the sagittal suture, which meets posteriorly
+with a transverse ridge of the same, but less prominent, running round
+from the back of one ear to the other. The animal has the power of
+moving the scalp freely forward and back, and when enraged is said to
+contract it strongly over the brow, thus bringing down the hairy ridge
+and pointing the hair forward, so as to present an indescribably
+ferocious aspect.
+
+[Illustration: THE GORILLA.]
+
+"Neck short, thick, and hairy; chest and shoulders very broad, and
+said to be fully double the size of the _Enché-ekos;_ arms very long,
+reaching some way below the knee--the forearm much the shortest; hands
+very large, the thumbs much larger than the fingers....
+
+"The gait is shuffling; the motion of the body, which is never upright
+as in man, but bent forward, is somewhat rolling, or from side to
+side. The arms being longer than the Chimpanzee, it does not stoop as
+much in walking; like that animal, it makes progression by thrusting
+its arms forward, resting the hands on the ground, and then giving the
+body a half-jumping, half-swinging motion between them. In this act it
+is said not to flex the fingers, as does the Chimpanzee, resting on
+its knuckles, but to extend them, making a fulcrum of the hand. When
+it assumes the walking posture, to which it is said to be much
+inclined, it balances its huge body by flexing its arms upward.
+
+"They live in bands, but are not so numerous as the Chimpanzees; the
+females generally exceed the other sex in number. My informants all
+agree in the assertion that but one adult male is seen in a band; that
+where the young males grow up a contest takes place for mastery, and
+the strongest, by killing and driving out the others, establishes
+himself as the head of the community."
+
+Dr. Savage repudiates the stories about the Gorillas carrying off
+women and vanquishing elephants, and then adds:
+
+"Their dwellings, if they may be so called, are similar to those of
+the Chimpanzee, consisting simply of a few sticks and leafy branches,
+supported by the crotches and limbs of trees; they afford no shelter,
+and are occupied only at night.
+
+"They are exceedingly ferocious, and always offensive in their
+habits, never running from man, as does the Chimpanzee. They are
+objects of terror to the natives, and are never encountered by them
+except on the defensive. The few that have been captured were killed
+by elephant-hunters and native traders, as they came suddenly upon
+them while passing through the forests.
+
+"It is said that when the male is first seen he gives a terrific yell,
+that resounds far and wide through the forest, something like kh--ah!
+kh--ah! prolonged and shrill. His enormous jaws are widely opened at
+each expiration, his under-lip hangs over the chin, and the hairy
+ridge and scalp are contracted upon the brow, presenting an aspect of
+indescribable ferocity.
+
+"The females and young, at the first cry, quickly disappear. He then
+approaches the enemy in great fury, pouring out his horrid cries in
+quick succession. The hunter awaits his approach with his gun
+extended; if his aim is not sure he permits the animal to grasp the
+barrel, and as he carries it to his mouth (which is his habit) he
+fires. Should the gun fail to go off, the barrel (that of the ordinary
+musket, which is thin), is crashed between his teeth and the encounter
+soon proves fatal to the hunter.
+
+"In the wild state their habits are in general like those of the
+_Troglodytes niger_, building their nests loosely in trees, living
+on similar fruits, and changing their place of resort from force of
+circumstances."
+
+Dr. Savage's observations were confirmed and supplemented by those of
+Mr. Ford, who communicated an interesting paper on the Gorilla to the
+Philadelphian Academy of Sciences, in 1852. With respect to the
+geographical distribution of this greatest of all the man-like Apes,
+Mr. Ford remarks:
+
+"This animal inhabits the range of mountains that traverse the
+interior of Guinea from the Cameroon in the north to Angola in the
+south, and about one hundred miles inland, and called by the
+geographers Crystal Mountains. The limit to which this animal extends,
+either north or south, I am unable to define. But that limit is
+doubtless some distance north of this river [Gaboon]. I was able to
+certify myself of this fact in a late excursion to the head-waters of
+the Mooney (Danger) River, which comes into the sea some sixty miles
+from this place. I was informed (credibly, I think), that they were
+numerous among the mountains in which that river rises, and far north
+of that.
+
+"In the south, this species extends to the Congo River, as I am told
+by native traders who have visited the coast, between the Gaboon and
+that river. Beyond that, I am not informed. This animal is only found
+at a distance from the coast in most cases, and, according to my best
+information, approaches it nowhere so nearly as on the south side of
+this river, where they have been found within ten miles of the sea.
+This, however, is only of late occurrence. I am informed by some of
+the oldest Mpongwe men that formerly he was only found on the sources
+of the river, but that at present he may be found within half a day's
+walk of its mouth. Formerly he inhabited the mountainous ridge where
+Bushmen alone inhabited, but now he boldly approaches the Mpongwe
+plantations. This is doubtless the reason of the scarcity of
+information in years past, as the opportunities for receiving a
+knowledge of the animal have not been wanting; traders having for one
+hundred years frequented this river, and specimens, such as have been
+brought here within a year, could not have been exhibited without
+having attracted the attention of the most stupid."
+
+One specimen Mr. Ford examined weighed one hundred and seventy pounds,
+without the thoracic or pelvic viscera, and measured four feet four
+inches round the chest. This writer describes so minutely and
+graphically the onslaught of the Gorilla--though he does not for a
+moment pretend to have witnessed the scene--that I am tempted to give
+this part of his paper in full, for comparison with other narratives.
+
+"He always rises to his feet when making an attack, though he
+approaches his antagonist in a stooping posture.
+
+"Though he never lies in wait, yet, when he hears, sees, or scents a
+man, he immediately utters his characteristic cry, prepares for an
+attack, and always acts on the offensive. The cry he utters resembles
+a grunt more than a growl, and is similar to the cry of the Chimpanzee
+when irritated, but vastly louder. It is said to be audible at a great
+distance. His preparation consists in attending the females and young
+ones, by whom he is usually accompanied, to a little distance. He,
+however, soon returns with his crest erect and projecting forward, his
+nostrils dilated, and his under-lip thrown down; at the same time
+uttering his characteristic yell, designed, it would seem, to terrify
+his antagonist. Instantly, unless he is disabled by a well-directed
+shot, he makes an onset, and, striking his antagonist with the palm of
+his hands, or seizing him with a grasp from which there is no escape,
+he dashes him upon the ground, and lacerates him with his tusks.
+
+"He is said to seize a musket, and instantly crush the barrel between
+his teeth.... This animal's savage nature is very well shown by the
+implacable desperation of a young one that was brought here. It was
+taken very young, and kept four months, and many means were used to
+tame it; but it was incorrigible, so that it bit me an hour before it
+died."
+
+[Illustration: HAND OF GORILLA, ORANG, GIBBON, AND CHIMPANZEE.]
+
+
+
+
+SOME STRANGE NURSERIES
+
+(FROM NATURE'S WORKSHOP.)
+
+BY GRANT ALLEN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+You could hardly find a better rough test of relative development in
+the animal (or vegetable) world than the number of young produced and
+the care bestowed upon them. The fewer the offspring, the higher the
+type. Very low animals turn out thousands of eggs with reckless
+profusion; but they let them look after themselves, or be devoured by
+enemies, as chance will have it. The higher you go in the scale of
+being, the smaller the families, but the greater amount of pains
+expended upon the rearing and upbringing of the young. Large broods
+mean low organization; small broods imply higher types and more care
+in the nurture and education of the offspring. Primitive kinds produce
+eggs wholesale, on the off chance that some two or three among them
+may perhaps survive an infant mortality of ninety-nine per cent, so as
+to replace their parents. Advanced kinds produce half a dozen young,
+or less, but bring a large proportion of these on an average up to
+years of discretion.
+
+[Illustration: SEA-HORSES.]
+
+Without taking into account insects and such other "small deer,"--to
+quote Shakespeare's expression,--this fundamental principle of
+population will become at once apparent if we examine merely familiar
+instances of back-boned or vertebrate animals. The lowest vertebrates
+are clearly the fishes: and the true fishes have almost invariably
+gigantic families. A single cod, for example, is said to produce,
+roughly speaking, nine million eggs at a birth (I cannot pretend I
+have checked this calculation); but supposing they were only a
+million, and that one-tenth of those eggs alone ever came to maturity,
+there would still be a hundred thousand codfish in the sea this year
+for every pair that swam in it last year: and these would increase to
+a hundred thousand times that number next year; and so on, till in
+four or five years' time the whole sea would be but one solid mass of
+closely-packed cod-banks. We can see for ourselves that nothing of the
+sort actually occurs--practically speaking, there are about the same
+number of cod one year as another. In spite of this enormous
+birth-rate, therefore, the cod population is not increasing--it is at
+a standstill. What does that imply? Why, that taking one brood and one
+year with another, only a pair of cod, roughly speaking, survive to
+maturity out of each eight or nine million eggs. The mother cod lays
+its millions, in order that two may arrive at the period of spawning.
+All the rest get devoured as eggs, or snapped up as young fry, or else
+die of starvation, or are otherwise unaccounted for. It seems to us a
+wasteful way of replenishing the earth: but it is nature's way; we can
+only bow respectfully to her final decision.
+
+Frogs and other amphibians stand higher in the scale of life than
+fish; they have acquired legs in place of fins, and lungs instead of
+gills; they can hop about on shore with perfect freedom. Now, frogs
+still produce a great deal of spawn, as every one knows: but the eggs
+in each brood are numbered in their case by hundreds, or at most by a
+thousand or two, not by millions as with many fishes. The spawn
+hatches out as a rule in ponds, and we have all seen the little black
+tadpoles crowding the edges of the water in such innumerable masses
+that one would suppose the frogs to be developed from them must cover
+the length and breadth of England. Yet what becomes of them all?
+Hundreds are destroyed in the early tadpole stage--eaten up or
+starved, or crowded out for want of air and space and water: a few
+alone survive or develop four legs, and absorb their tails and hop on
+shore as tiny froglings. Even then the massacre of the innocents
+continues. Only a tithe of those which succeeded in quitting their
+native pond ever return to it full grown, to spawn in due time, and
+become the parents of further generations.
+
+Lizards and other reptiles make an obvious advance on the frog type;
+they lay relatively few eggs, but they begin to care for their young.
+The family is not here abandoned at birth, as among frogs, but is
+frequently tended and fed and overlooked by the mother. In birds we
+have a still higher development of the same marked parental tendency;
+only three or four eggs are laid each year, as a rule, and on these
+eggs the mother sits, while both parents feed the callow nestlings
+till such time as they are able to take care of themselves and pick
+up their own living. Among mammals, which stand undoubtedly at the
+head of created nature, the lower types, like mice and rabbits, have
+frequent broods of many young at a time; but the more advanced groups,
+such as the horses, cows, deer, and elephants, have usually one foal
+or calf at a birth, and seldom produce more than a couple. Moreover,
+in all these higher cases alike, the young are fed with milk by the
+mother, and so spared the trouble of providing for themselves in their
+early days, like the young codfish or the baby tadpole. Starvation at
+the outset is reduced to a minimum.
+
+It is interesting to note, too, that anticipations of higher types, so
+to speak, often occur among lower races. An animal here and there
+among the simpler forms hits upon some device essentially similar to
+that of some higher group with which it is really quite unrelated. For
+example, those who have read my account of the common earwig (given in
+the sixth chapter of "Flashlights on Nature") will recollect how that
+lowly insect sits on her eggs much as a hen does, and brings up her
+brood of callow grubs as if they were chickens. In much the same way,
+anticipations of the mammalian type occur pretty frequently among
+lower animals. Our commonest English lizard, for example, which
+frequents moors and sandhills, does not lay or deposit its eggs at
+all, but hatches them out in its own body, and so apparently brings
+them forth alive: while among snakes, the same habit occurs in the
+adder or viper. The very name _viper_, indeed, is a corruption of
+_vivipara_, the snake which produces living young. Still more closely
+do some birds resemble mammals in the habit of secreting a sort of
+milk for the sustenance of their nestlings. Most people think the
+phrase "pigeon's milk" is much like the phrase "the horse-marines," a
+burlesque name for an absurd and impossible monstrosity. But it is
+nothing of the sort: it answers to a real fact in the economy of
+certain doves, which eat grain or seeds, grind and digest it in their
+own gizzards into a fine soft pulp or porridge, and then feed their
+young with it from their crops and beaks. This is thus a sort of
+bird-like imitation of milk. Only the cow or the goat takes grass or
+leaves, chews, swallows, and digests them, and manufactures from them
+in her own body that much more nutritive substance, milk, with which
+all mammals feed their infant offspring.
+
+Now, after this rather long preamble, I am going to show you in this
+present article a few other examples of special care taken of the
+young in certain quarters where it might be least expected. Fish are
+not creatures from which we look for marked domestic virtues: yet we
+may find them there abundantly. Let us begin with that familiar friend
+of our childhood, the common English stickleback.
+
+Which of us cannot look back in youth to the mysteries of the
+stickleback fisheries? Captains courageous, we sailed forth with bent
+pin and piece of thread, to woo the wily quarry with half an inch of
+chopped earthworm. For stickleback abound in every running stream and
+pond in England. They are beautiful little creatures, too, when you
+come to examine them, great favorites in the fresh-water aquarium; the
+male in particular is exquisitely colored, his hues growing brighter
+and his sheen more conspicuous at the pairing season. There are many
+species of sticklebacks--in England we have three very different
+kinds--but all are alike in one point which gives them their common
+name, that is to say, in their aggressive and protective prickliness.
+They are armed against all comers. The dorsal fin is partly replaced
+in the whole family by strong spines or "stickles," which differ in
+number in the different species. One of our English sorts is a lover
+of salt water: he lives in the sea, especially off the Cornish coast,
+and has fifteen stickles or spines; on which account he is commonly
+known as the Fifteen-spined Stickleback; our other two sorts belong to
+fresher waters, and are known as the Ten-spined and the Three-spined
+respectively.
+
+The special peculiarity of the male stickleback consists in the fact
+that he is, above all things, a model father. In his acute sense of
+parental responsibility he has few equals. When spring comes round, he
+first exhibits his consciousness of his coming charge by suddenly
+enduing himself in a glowing coat of many colors and of iridescent
+brilliancy. That is in order to charm the eyes of the prospective
+mate, or rather mates, for I may as well confess the sad truth at once
+that our amiable friend is a good parent but an abandoned polygamist.
+We all know that
+
+   "In the spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast;
+    In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;
+    In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;
+    In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love."
+
+Not to be out of the fashion, therefore, the romantic stickleback does
+precisely the same thing as all these distinguished and poetical
+compeers. And he does it for the same reason, too; because he wants to
+get himself an appropriate partner. "There is a great deal of human
+nature in man," it has been said: I am always inclined to add, "And
+there is a great deal of human nature in plants and animals." The more
+we know of our dumb relations, the more closely do we realize the
+kinship between us. Fish in the spring are like young men at a
+fair--all eager for the attention of their prospective partners.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 1. FEMALE STICKLEBACK ABOUT TO ENTER NEST.]
+
+The first care of the male stickleback, when he has acquired his
+courting suit, is to build a suitable home for his future wives and
+children. So he picks up stems of grass and water-weeds with his
+mouth, and weaves them deftly into a compact nest as perfect as a
+bird's, though some what different in shape and pattern, it rather
+resembles a barrel, open at both ends, as though the bottom were
+knocked out: this form is rendered necessary because the eggs, when
+laid, have to be constantly aerated by passing a current of water
+through the nest as I shall describe hereafter. No. 1 shows us such a
+nest when completed, with the female stickleback loitering about
+undecided as to whether or not she shall plunge and enter it. You
+will observe that the fabric is woven round a fixed support of some
+waving water-weeds; but the cunning little architect does not trust in
+this matter to his textile skill alone; he cements the straws and
+other materials together with a gummy mortar of mucous threads
+secreted for the purpose by his internal organs.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 2. FEMALE STICKLEBACK LAYING EGGS IN NEST.]
+
+As soon as the building operations are fully completed, the eager
+little householder sallies forth into his pond or brook in search of
+a mate who will come and stock his neatly-built home for him. At this
+stage of the proceedings, his wedding-garment becomes even more
+brilliant and glancing than ever; he gleams in silver and changeful
+gems; when he finds his lady-love, he dances round her, "mad with
+excitement," as Darwin well phrased it, looking his handsomest and
+best with his lustrous colours glistening like an opal. If she will
+listen to his suit, he grows wild with delight, and coaxes her into
+the nest with most affectionate endearments. In No. 2, as you
+perceive, the mate of his choice has been induced to enter, and is
+laying her eggs in the dainty home his care has provided for her. The
+father fish, meanwhile dances and capers around, in a _pas de
+triomphe_ at the success of his endeavors.
+
+One wife, however, does not suffice to fill the nest with eggs; and
+the stickleback is a firm believer in the advantages of large
+families. So, as soon as his first mate has laid all her spawn, he
+sets out once more in search of another. Thus he goes on until the
+home is quite full of eggs, bringing back one wife after another, in
+proportion to his success in wooing and fighting. For, like almost all
+polygamists, your stickleback is a terrible fighter. The males join
+wager of battle with one another for possession of their mates; in
+their fierce duels they make fearful use of the formidable spines on
+their backs, sometimes entirely ripping up and cutting to pieces their
+ill-fated adversary. The spines thus answer to the spurs of the
+gamecock or the antlers of the deer; they are masculine weapons in the
+struggle for mates. Indeed, you may take it for granted that brilliant
+colors and decorative adjuncts in animals almost invariably go with
+irascible tempers, pugnacious habits, and the practice of fighting for
+the possession of the harem. The consequence is, with the
+sticklebacks, that many males get killed during the struggle for
+supremacy, so that the survivors wed half a dozen wives each, like
+little Turks that they are in their watery seraglios. Only the most
+beautiful and courageous fish succeed in gaining a harem of their own:
+and thus the wager of battle tells in the end for the advantage of the
+race, by eliminating the maimed, the ugly, and the cowardly, and
+encouraging the strong, the handsome, the enterprising, and the
+valiant. This is nature's way of preventing degeneracy.
+
+In No. 3 the nest is seen full of eggs, and the excellent father now
+comes out in his best light as their guardian and protector. He
+watches over them with ceaseless care, freeing them from parasites,
+and warding off the attacks of would-be enemies who desire to devour
+them, even though the intruder be several times his own size. The
+spines on his back here stand him once more in good stead: for small
+as he is, the stickleback is not an antagonist to be lightly despised:
+he can inflict a wound which a perch or a trout knows how to estimate
+at its full value. But that is not all the good parent's duty. He
+takes the eggs out of the nest every now and then with his snout, airs
+them a little in the fresh water outside, and then replaces and
+rearranges them, so that all may get a fair share of oxygen and may
+hatch out about simultaneously. It is this question of oxygen, indeed,
+which gives the father fish all the greatest trouble. That necessary
+of life is dissolved in water in very small quantities; and it is
+absolutely needed by every egg in order to enable it to undergo those
+vital changes which we know as hatching. To keep up a due supply of
+oxygen, therefore, the father stickleback ungrudgingly devotes
+laborious days in poising himself delicately just above the nest, as
+you see in No. 3, and fanning the eggs with his fins and tail, so as
+to set up a constant current of water through the centre of the
+barrel. He sits upon the eggs just as truly as a hen does; only, he
+sits upon them, not for warmth, but for aeration.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 3. MALE STICKLEBACK WATCHING EGGS IN NEST.]
+
+For weeks together this exemplary parent continues his monotonous
+task, ventilating the spawn many times every day, till the time comes
+for hatching. It takes about a month for the eggs to develop: and then
+the proud father's position grows more arduous than ever. He has to
+rock a thousand cradles at once, so to speak, and to pacify a thousand
+crying babies. On the one hand, enemies hover about, trying to eat the
+tender transparent glass-like little fry, and these he must drive off:
+on the other hand, the good nurse must take care that the active young
+fish do not stray far from the nest, and so expose themselves
+prematurely to the manifold dangers of the outer world. Till they are
+big enough to take care of themselves, he watches with incessant
+vigilance over their safety; as soon as they can go forth with
+tolerable security upon the world of their brook or pond, he takes a
+last well-merited holiday.
+
+It is not surprising under these circumstances to learn that
+sticklebacks are successful and increasing animals. Their numbers are
+enormous, wherever they get a fair chance in life, because they
+multiply rapidly up to the extreme limit of the means of subsistence,
+and develop as fast as food remains for them. There the inexorable
+Malthusian law at last steps in: when there is not food enough for all
+some must starve; that is the long and the short of the great
+population question. But while provender is forthcoming they increase
+gayly. Sticklebacks live mainly on the spawn of other fish, though
+they are so careful of their own, and they are therefore naturally
+hated by trout-preservers and owners of fisheries in general.
+Thousands and thousands are caught each year; in some places, indeed,
+they are so numerous that they are used as manure. It is their
+numbers, of course, that make them formidable; they are the locusts of
+the streams, well armed and pugnacious, and provided with most
+remarkable parental instincts of a protective character, which enables
+them to fill up all vacancies in their ranks as fast as they occur
+with astonishing promptitude.
+
+To those whose acquaintance with fish is mainly culinary, it may seem
+odd to hear that the father stickleback alone takes part in the care
+of the nursery. But this is the rule among the whole class of fish;
+wherever the young are tended, it is almost always the father, not the
+mother, who undertakes the duty of incubation. Only two instances
+occur where the female fish assumes maternal functions towards her
+young; about these I shall have more to say a little later on. We must
+remember that reptiles, birds, and mammals are in all probability
+descended from fish as ancestors, and it is therefore clear that the
+habit of handing over the care of the young to the female alone
+belongs to the higher grades of vertebrates--in other words, is of
+later origin. We need not be astonished, therefore, to find that in
+many cases among birds and other advanced vertebrates a partial
+reversion to the earlier habit not infrequently takes place. With
+doves, for example, the cock and hen birds sit equally on the eggs,
+taking turns about at the nest; and as for the ostriches, the male
+bird there does most of the incubation, for he accepts the whole of
+the night duty, and also assists at intervals during the daytime.
+There are numerous other cases where the father bird shares the tasks
+of the nursery at least equally with the mother. I will glance first,
+however, at one of the rare exceptions among fish where the main duty
+does not devolve on the devoted father.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 4. FEMALE TUBE-MOUTH.]
+
+In No. 4 we have an illustration of the tube-mouth or Solenostoma, one
+of the two known kinds of fish in which the female shows a sense of
+her position as a mother. The tube-mouth, as you can see at a glance,
+is a close relation of our old friend the seahorse, whose disguised
+and undisguised forms in Australia and the Mediterranean we have
+already observed when dealing with the question of animal
+masqueraders. Solenostoma is a native of the Indian Ocean, from
+Zanzibar to China. In the male, the lower pair of fins are separate,
+as is usual among fish; but in the female, represented in the
+accompanying sketch, they are lightly joined at the edge, so as to
+form a sort of pouch like a kangaroo's, in which the eggs are
+deposited after being laid, and thus carried about in the mother's
+safe keeping. No. 5 shows the arrangement of this pouch in detail,
+with the eggs inside it. The mother Solenostoma not only takes charge
+of the spawn while it is hatching in this receptacle, but also looks
+after the young fry, like the father stickleback, till they are of an
+age to go off on their own account in quest of adventures. The most
+frequent adventure that happens to them on the way is, of course,
+being eaten.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 5. POUCH OF TUBE-MOUTH.]
+
+[Illustration: NO. 6. PIPE-FISH.]
+
+The common English pipe-fish is a good example of the other and much
+more usual case in which the father alone is actuated by a proper
+sense of parental responsibility. The pipe-fish, indeed, might almost
+be described as a pure and blameless rate-payer. No. 6 shows you the
+outer form of this familiar creature, whom you will recognize at a
+glance as still more nearly allied to the sea-horses than even the
+tube-mouth. Pipe-fishes are timid and skulking creatures. Like their
+horse-headed relations, they lurk for the most part among sea-weed
+for protection, and being but poor swimmers, never venture far from
+the covering shelter of their native thicket. But the curious part of
+them is that in this family the father fish is provided with a pouch
+even more perfect than that of the female tube-mouth, and that he
+himself, not his mate takes sole charge of the young, incubates them
+in his sack, and escorts them about for some time after hatching. The
+pouch, which is more fully represented in No. 7, is formed by a loose
+fold of skin arising from either side of the creature. In the
+illustration this fold is partly withdrawn, so as to show the young
+pipe-fish within their safe retreat after hatching out. It is said, I
+know not how truly, that the young fry will stroll out for an
+occasional swim on their own account, but will return at any threat of
+danger to their father's bosom, for a considerable time after the
+first hatching. This is just like what one knows of kangaroos and many
+other pouched mammals, where the mother's pouch becomes a sort of
+nursery, or place of refuge, to which the little ones return for
+warmth or safety after every excursion.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 7. POUCH OF PIPE-FISH.]
+
+The sea-horses and many other fish have similar pouches; but, oddly
+enough, in every case it is the male fish which bears it, and which
+undertakes the arduous duty of nurse for his infant offspring.
+
+A few female fish, on the other hand, even hatch the eggs within their
+own bodies, and so apparently bring forth their young alive, like the
+English lizard among reptiles. This, however, is far from a common
+case: indeed, in an immense number of instances, neither parent pays
+the slightest attention to the eggs after they are once laid and got
+rid of: the spawn is left to lie on the bottom and be eaten or spared
+as chance directs, while the young fry have to take care of
+themselves, without the aid of parental advice and education. But
+exceptions occur where both parents show signs of realizing the
+responsibilities of their position. In some little South American
+river fish, for instance, the father and mother together build a nest
+of dead leaves for the spawn, and watch over it in unison until the
+young are hatched. This case is exactly analogous to that of the doves
+among birds: I may add that wherever such instances occur they always
+seem to be accompanied by a markedly gentle and affectionate nature.
+Brilliantly-coloured fighting polygamous fishes are fierce and cruel:
+monogamous and faithful animals are seldom bright-hued, but they mate
+for life and are usually remarkable for their domestic felicity. The
+doves and love-birds are familiar instances.
+
+Frogs are very closely allied to fish: indeed, one may almost say that
+every frog begins life as a fish, limbless, gill-bearing, and aquatic,
+and ends it as something very like a reptile, four-legged,
+lung-bearing, and more or less terrestrial. For the tadpole is
+practically in all essentials a fish. It is not odd, therefore, to
+find that certain frogs reproduce, in a very marked manner, the
+fatherly traits of their fish-like ancestors. There is a common kind
+of frog in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, which does not extend to
+England, but which closely recalls the habits of the stickleback and
+the pipe-fish. Among these eminently moral amphibians, it is the
+father, not the mother, who takes entire charge of the family. The
+female lays her spawn in the shape of long strings or rolls, looking
+at first sight like slimy necklaces. I have seen them as much as a
+couple of yards long, lying loose on the grass where the frog lays
+them. As soon as she has deposited them, however, the father frog hops
+up, twists the garlands dexterously in loose festoons round his legs
+and thighs, and then retires with his precious burden to some hole in
+the bank of his native pond, where he lurks in seclusion till the eggs
+develop. Frogs do not need frequent doses of food--their meals are
+often few and far between--and during the six or eight weeks that the
+eggs take to mature the father probably eats very little, though he
+may possibly sally forth at night, unobserved, in search of provender.
+At the end of that time the devoted parent, foreseeing developments,
+takes to the water once more, so that the tadpoles may be hatched in
+their proper element. I may add that this frog is a great musician in
+the breeding season, but that as soon as the tadpoles are hatched out
+he loses his voice entirely, and does not recover his manly croak till
+the succeeding spring. This is also the case with the song of many
+birds, the crest of the newt, the plumes of certain highly-decorated
+trogons and nightjars, and, roughly speaking, the decorative and
+attractive features of the male sex in general. Such features are
+given them during the mating period as allurements for their
+consorts: they disappear, for the time at least, like a ball-dress
+after a ball, as soon as no immediate use can any longer be made of
+them.
+
+[Illustration: POUCHED FROG.]
+
+Some American tree-frogs, on the other hand, imitate rather the
+motherly Solenostoma than the fatherly instincts of the pipe-fish or
+the stickleback. These pretty little creatures have a pouch like the
+kangaroo, but in their case (as in the kangaroo's) it is the female
+who bears it. Within this safe receptacle the eggs are placed by the
+male, who pushes them in with his hind feet; and they not only undergo
+their hatching in the pouch, but also pass through their whole tadpole
+development in the same place. Owing to the care which is thus
+extended to the eggs and young, these advanced tree-frogs are enabled
+to lay only about a dozen to fifteen eggs at a time, instead of the
+countless hundreds often produced by many of their relations.
+
+Tree-frogs have, of course, in most circumstances much greater
+difficulty in getting at water than pond-frogs; and this is especially
+true in certain tropical or desert districts. Hence most of the frogs
+which inhabit such regions have had to find out or invent some
+ingenious plan for passing through the tadpole stage with a minimum of
+moisture. The devices they have hit upon are very curious. Some of
+them make use of the little pools collected at the bases of huge
+tropical leaf-stalks, like those of the banana plant; others dispense
+with the aid of water altogether, and glue their new-laid eggs to
+their own backs, where the fry pass through the tadpole stage with the
+slimy mucus which surrounds them. Nature always discovers such cunning
+schemes to get over apparent difficulties in her way: and the
+tree-frogs have solved the problem for themselves in half a dozen
+manners in different localities. Oddest of all, perhaps, is the dodge
+invented by "Darwin's frog," a Chilean species, in which the male
+swallows the eggs as soon as laid, and gulps them into the
+throat-pouch beneath his capacious neck: there they hatch out and pass
+through their tadpole stage: and when at last they arrive at frogly
+maturity, they escape into the world through the mouth of their
+father.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 8. THE SURINAM TOAD.]
+
+The Surinam toad, represented in No. 8, is also the possessor of one
+of the strangest nurseries known to science. It lives in the dense
+tropical forests of Guiana and Brazil, and is a true water-haunter.
+But at the breeding season the female undergoes a curious change of
+integument. The skin on her back grows pulpy, soft, and jelly-like.
+She lays her eggs in the water: but as soon as she has laid them, her
+lord and master plasters them on to her impressionable back with his
+feet, so as to secure them from all assaults of enemies. Every egg is
+pressed separately into a bed of the soft skin, which soon closes over
+it automatically, thus burying each in a little cell or niche, where
+it undergoes its further development. The tadpoles pass through their
+larval stage within the cell, and then hop out, in the four-legged
+condition. As soon as they have gone off to shift for themselves, the
+mother toad finds herself with a ragged and honeycombed skin, which
+must be very uncomfortable. So she rubs the remnant of it off against
+stones or the bark of trees, and re-develops a similar back afresh at
+the next breeding season.
+
+Almost never do we find a device in nature which occurs once only. The
+unique hardly exists: nature is a great copyist. At least two animals
+of wholly unlike kinds are all but sure to hit independently upon the
+self-same mechanism. So it is not surprising to learn that a cat-fish
+has invented an exactly similar mode of carrying its young to that
+adopted by the Surinam toad: only, here it is on the under surface,
+not the upper one, that the spawn is plastered. The eggs of this
+cat-fish, whose scientific name is Aspredo, are pressed into the skin
+below the body, and so borne about by the mother till they hatch. This
+is the second instance of which I spoke above, where the female fish
+herself assumes the care of her offspring, instead of leaving it
+entirely to her excellent partner.
+
+Higher up in the scale of life we get many instances which show
+various stages in the same progressive development towards greater
+care for the safety and education of the young. Among the larger
+lizards, for example, a distinct advance may be traced between the
+comparatively uncivilized American alligator and his near ally, the
+much more cultivated African crocodile. On the banks of the
+Mississippi, the alligator lays a hundred eggs or thereabouts, which
+she deposits in a nest near the water's edge, and then covers them up
+with leaves and other decaying vegetable matter. The fermentation of
+these leaves produces heat and so does for the alligator's eggs what
+sitting does for those of hens and other birds: the mother deputes her
+maternal functions, so to speak, to a festering heap of decomposing
+plant-refuse. Nevertheless, she loiters about all the time, like
+Miriam round the ark which contained Moses, to see what happens; and
+when the eggs hatch out, she leads her little ones down to the river,
+and there makes alligators of them. This is a simple and relatively
+low stage in the nursery arrangements of the big lizards.
+
+The African crocodile, on the other hand, goes a stage higher. It lays
+only about thirty eggs, but these it buries in warm sand, and then
+lies on top of them at night, both to protect them from attack and to
+keep them warm during the cooler hours. In short, it sits upon them.
+When the young crocodiles within the eggs are ready to hatch, they
+utter an acute cry. The mother then digs down to the eggs, and lays
+them freely on the surface, so that the little reptiles may have space
+to work their way out unimpeded. This they do by biting at the shell
+with a specially developed tooth; at the end of two hours' nibbling
+they are free, and are led down to the water by their affectionate
+parent. In these two cases we see the beginnings of the instinct of
+hatching, which in birds, the next in order in the scale of being, has
+become almost universal.
+
+I say _almost_ universal, because even among birds there are a few
+kinds which have not to this day progressed beyond the alligator
+level. Australia is the happy hunting-ground of the zoölogist in
+search of antiquated forms, elsewhere extinct, and several Australian
+birds, such as the brush-turkeys, still treat their eggs essentially
+on the alligator method. The cock birds heap up huge mounds of earth
+and decaying vegetable matter, as much as would represent several
+cartloads of mould; and in this natural hot-bed the hens lay their
+eggs, burying each separately with a good stock of leaves around it.
+The heat of the sun and the fermenting mould hatch them out between
+them; to expedite the process, the birds uncover the eggs during the
+warmer part of the day, expose them to the sun, and bury them again in
+the hot-beds towards evening. Several intermediate steps may also be
+found between this early stage of communal nesting by proxy and the
+true hatching instinct; a good one is supplied by the ostrich, which
+partially buries its eggs in hot sand, but sits on them at intervals,
+both father and mother birds taking shares by turn in the duties of
+incubation.
+
+The vast subject which I have thus lightly skimmed is not without
+interest, again, from its human implications. Savages as a rule
+produce enormous families; but then, the infant mortality in savage
+tribes is proportionally great. Among civilized races, families are
+smaller, and deaths in infancy are far less numerous. The higher the
+class or the natural grade of a stock, the larger as a rule the
+proportion of children safely reared to the adult age. The goal
+towards which humanity is slowly moving would thus seem to be one
+where families in most cases will be relatively small--perhaps not
+more on an average than three to a household--but where most or all of
+the children brought into the world will be safely reared to full
+maturity. This is already becoming the rule in certain favored ranks
+of European society.
+
+[Illustration: TADPOLES AND YOUNG FROG.]
+
+
+
+
+HOW ANIMALS SPEND THE WINTER
+
+(FROM GLEANINGS FROM NATURE.)[2]
+
+BY W. S. BLATCHLEY.
+
+[2] "Popular Science Monthly," February, 1897. Copyright by William
+Stanley Blatchley, 1899.
+
+
+[Illustration: A COCOON.]
+
+One of the greatest problems which each of the living forms about us
+has had to solve, during the years of its existence on earth, is how
+best to perpetuate its kind during that cold season which once each
+year, in our temperate zone, is bound to come. Many are the solutions
+to this problem. Each form of life has, as it were, solved it best to
+suit its own peculiar case, and to the earnest student of Nature there
+is nothing more interesting than to pry into these solutions and note
+how varied, strange, and wonderful they are.
+
+To fully appreciate some of the facts mentioned below it must be borne
+in mind that there is no such thing as "spontaneous generation" of
+life. Every cell is the offspring of a pre-existing cell. Nothing but
+a living thing can produce a living thing. Hence every weed that next
+season will spring up and provoke the farmer's ire, and every insect
+which will then make life almost intolerable for man or beast, exists
+throughout the winter in some form....
+
+Beginning with the earth-worms and their kindred, we find that at the
+approach of winter they burrow deep down where the icy breath of the
+frost never reaches, and there they live, during the cold season, a
+life of comparative quiet. That they are exceedingly sensitive to
+warmth, however, may be proven by the fact that when a warm rain comes
+some night in February or March, thawing out the crust of the earth,
+the next morning reveals in our dooryards the mouths of hundreds of
+the pits or burrows of these primitive tillers of the soil, each
+surrounded by a little pile of pellets, the castings of the active
+artisans of the pits during the night before.
+
+If we will get up before dawn on such a morning we can find the worms
+crawling actively about over the surface of the ground, but when the
+first signs of day appear they seek once more their protective
+burrows, and only an occasional belated individual serves as a
+breakfast for the early birds.
+
+The eyes of these lowly creatures are not visible, and consist of
+single special cells scattered among the epidermal cells of the skin,
+and connected by means of a sensory nerve fibre with a little bunch of
+nervous matter in the body. Such a simple visual apparatus serves them
+only in distinguishing light from darkness, but this to them is most
+important knowledge, as it enables them to avoid the surface of the
+earth by day, when their worst enemies, the birds, are in active
+search for them.
+
+The fresh-water mussels and snails and the crayfish burrow deep into
+the mud and silt at the bottom of ponds and streams where they lie
+motionless during the winter. The land snails, in late autumn, crawl
+beneath logs, and, burrowing deep into the soft mould, they withdraw
+far into their shells. Then each one forms with a mucous secretion two
+thin transparent membranes, one across the opening of the shell and
+one a little farther within, thus making the interior of the shell
+perfectly air-tight. There for five or six months he sleeps, free from
+the pangs of hunger and the blasts of winter, and when the balmy
+breezes of spring blow up from the south he breaks down and devours
+the protecting membrane and goes forth with his home on his back to
+seek fresh leaves for food and to find for himself a mate.
+
+Next in the scale come the insects, which comprise four-fifths of all
+existing animals, and each one of the mighty horde seen in summer has
+passed the winter in some form. One must look for them in strange
+places and under many disguises; for they cannot migrate, as do the
+majority of the birds, nor can they live an active life while the
+source of their food supply, the plants, are inactive.
+
+The majority of those insects which in May or June will be found
+feeding on the buds or leaves of our trees, or crawling worm-like over
+the grass of our lawns, or burrowing beneath the roots of our garden
+plants, are represented in the winter by the eggs alone. These eggs
+are deposited in autumn by the mother insect, on or near the object
+destined to furnish the young, or larvæ, their food. Each egg
+corresponds to a seed of one of our annual plants; being, like it,
+but a form of life so fashioned and fitted as to withstand for a long
+period intense cold; the mother insect, like the summer form of the
+plant, succumbing to the first severe frost.
+
+Thus myriads of the eggs of grasshoppers are in the early autumn
+deposited in the ground, in compact masses of forty to sixty each.
+About mid-April they begin to hatch, and the sprightly little insects,
+devoid of wings, but otherwise like their parents, begin their
+life-work of changing grass into flesh.
+
+[Illustration: HEDGEHOG CATERPILLAR.]
+
+A comparatively small number of insects pass the winter in the larval
+or active stage of the young. Of these, perhaps the best known is the
+brown "woolly worm" or "hedgehog caterpillar," as it is familiarly
+called. It is thickly covered with stiff black hairs on each end, and
+with reddish hairs on the middle of the body. These hairs appear to be
+evenly and closely shorn, so as to give the animal a velvety look; and
+as they have a certain degree of elasticity, and the caterpillar curls
+up at the slightest touch, it generally manages to slip away when
+taken into the hand. Beneath loose bark, boards, rails, and stones,
+this caterpillar may be found in mid-winter, coiled up and apparently
+lifeless. On the first bright, sunny days of spring it may be seen
+crawling rapidly over the ground, seeking the earnest vegetation which
+will furnish it a literal "breakfast." In April or May the chrysalis,
+surrounded by a loose cocoon formed of the hairs of the body
+interwoven with coarse silk, may be found in situations similar to
+those in which the larva passed the winter. From this, the perfect
+insect, the Isabella tiger moth, _Pyrrharctia isabella_ Smith, emerges
+about the last of June. It is a medium sized moth, dull orange in
+color, with three rows of small black spots on the body, and some
+scattered spots of the same color on the wings.
+
+By breaking open rotten logs one can find in mid-winter the grubs or
+larvæ of many of the wood-boring beetles, and, beneath logs and stones
+near the margins of ponds and brooks, hordes of the maggots or larvæ
+of certain kinds of flies may often be found huddled together in great
+masses. The larvæ of a few butterflies also live over winter beneath
+chips or bunches of leaves near the roots of their food plant, or in
+webs of their own construction, which are woven on the stems close to
+the buds, whose expanding leaves will furnish them their first meal in
+spring.
+
+Many insects pass the winter in the quiescent or pupal stage; a state
+exceedingly well fitted for hibernating, requiring as it does, no
+food, and giving plenty of time for the marvellous changes which are
+then undergone. Some of these pupæ are enclosed in dense silken
+cocoons, which are bound to the twigs of the plants upon which the
+larvæ feed, and thus they swing securely in their silken hammocks
+through all the storms of winter. Perhaps the most common of these is
+that of the brown Cecropian moth, _Attacus cecropia_ L., the large
+oval cocoon of which is a conspicuous object in the winter on the
+twigs of our common shade and fruit trees. Many other pupæ may be
+found beneath logs or on the under side of bark, and usually have the
+chrysalis surrounded by a thin covering of hairs, which are rather
+loosely arranged. A number pass the cold season in the earth with no
+protective covering whatever. Among these is a large brown chrysalis
+with a long tongue case bent over so as to resemble the handle of a
+jug. Every farm boy has ploughed or spaded it up in the spring, and is
+it but the pupa of a large sphinx moth, _Protoparce celeus_ Hub., the
+larva of which is the great green worm, with a "horn on its tail," so
+common on tomato plants in the late summer.
+
+[Illustration: CHRYSALIS OF TOMATO WORM.]
+
+Each of the winter forms of insects above mentioned can withstand long
+and severe cold weather--in fact, may be frozen solid for weeks and
+retain life and vigor, both of which are shown when warm weather and
+food appear again. Indeed, it is not an unusually cold winter, but one
+of successive thawings and freezings, which is most destructive to
+insect life. A mild winter encourages the growth of mould which
+attacks the hibernating larvæ and pupæ as soon as, from excess of rain
+or humidity, they become sickly; and it also permits the continued
+activity of insectivorous mammals and birds. Thus, moles, shrews,
+and field mice, instead of burying themselves deeply in the ground,
+run about freely during an open winter and destroy enormous numbers
+of pupæ; while such birds as the woodpeckers, titmice, and chickadees
+are constantly on the alert, and searching in every crevice and cranny
+of fence and bark of tree for the hibernating larvæ.
+
+Of the creeping, wingless creatures, which can ever be found beneath
+rocks, rails, chunks, and especially beneath those old decaying logs
+which are half buried in the rich vegetable mould, the myriapods, or
+"thousand-legs," deserve more than a passing notice. They are typical
+examples of that great branch of the animal kingdom known as
+_arthropods_, which comprises all insects and crustaceans. Each
+arthropod has the body composed of rings placed end to end and bearing
+jointed appendages, and in the myriapods each ring and its appendages
+can be plainly seen; whereas in the higher forms of the branch many of
+the rings are so combined as to be very difficult to distinguish.
+
+Full forty kinds of myriapods occur in any area comprising one hundred
+square miles in the eastern United States. About twenty-five of them
+go by the general name of "thousand-legs" or millipedes, as each has
+from forty to fifty-five cylindrical rings in the body, and two pairs
+of legs to each ring. The other fifteen belong to the "centipede"
+group, the body consisting of about sixteen flattened segments, or
+rings, each bearing a single pair of legs. When disturbed, the
+"thousand-legs" generally coils up and remains motionless, shamming
+death, or "playing possum," as it is popularly put, as a means of
+defence; while the centipede scampers hurriedly away and endeavors to
+hide beneath leaf, chip, or other object.
+
+[Illustration: CENTIPEDE.]
+
+All those found in the Northern States are perfectly harmless, the
+true centipede, whose bite is reputed much more venomous than it
+really is, being found only in the South. True, some of the centipede
+group can pinch rather sharply with their beetle-like jaws; and one,
+our largest and most common species, a brownish red fellow about three
+inches long and without eyes, can even draw blood if its jaws happen
+to strike a tender place. When handled it always tries to bite,
+perhaps out of revenge for the abominably long Latin name given it by
+its describer. In fact the name is longer than the animal
+itself--_Sco-lo-po-cryp-tops sex-spi-no-sus_ (Say)--being its cognomen
+in full. With such a handle attached to it, who can blame it for
+attempting to bite? Yet, to the scientist up on his Latin, each part
+of the above name bears a definite and tangible meaning. All the
+myriapods found in the woods and fields feed upon decaying vegetation,
+such as leaves, stems of weeds, and rotten wood, and in winter three
+or four species can usually be found within or beneath every decaying
+log or stump. One species with very long legs, _Scutigera forceps_
+(Raf.), is often found in damp houses or in cellars. It is sometimes
+called the "wall-sweeper," on account of its rapid ungainly gait, and
+is even reputed to prey upon cockroaches and other household pests.
+
+Spiders, which do not undergo such changes as do most of the common,
+six-footed insects, winter either as eggs or in the mature form. The
+members of the "sedentary" or web-spinning group, as a rule, form
+nests in late autumn, in each of which are deposited from fifty to
+eighty eggs, which survive the winter and hatch in the spring, as soon
+as the food supply of gnats, flies, and mosquitoes appear. The
+different forms of spiders' nests are very interesting objects of
+study. Some are those close-spun, flat, button-shaped objects, about
+half an inch in diameter, which are so common in winter on the under
+side of bark, chunks and flat rocks. Others are balloon-shaped and
+attached to weeds. Within the latter the young spiders often hatch in
+early winter, make their first meal off their empty egg cases, and
+then begin a struggle for existence, the stronger preying upon the
+weaker until the south winds blow again, when they emerge and scatter
+far and wide in search of more nutritious sustenance.
+
+The "wandering" spiders never spin webs, but run actively about and
+pounce upon their prey with a tiger-like spring. Six or eight of the
+larger species of this group winter in the mature form beneath logs
+and chunks, being often frozen solid during cold weather, but thawing
+out as healthy as ever when the temperature rises. Retiring beneath
+the loose-fitting bark of hickory or maple trees, a number of the
+smaller tube-weaving spiders construct about themselves a protecting
+web of many layers of the finest silk. Within this snug retreat they
+lie from November until April--a handsome, small, black fellow, with
+green jaws and two orange spots on his abdomen, being the most common
+species found motionless within this seeming shroud of silk on a day
+in mid-winter.
+
+In any Northern State as many as four hundred different kinds of the
+six-footed or true insects, in the winged or adult stage, may be taken
+in winter by any one who is so disposed, and knows where to search for
+them. Among the _Orthoptera_, the "grouse grasshoppers" live during
+the cold season beneath the loose bark of logs, or beneath the bottom
+rails of the old Virginia worm fences. From these retreats every warm,
+sunny day tempts them forth in numbers. On such occasions the earth
+seems to swarm with them, as they leap before the intruder, their hard
+bodies striking the dead leaves with a sound similar to that produced
+by falling hail. The common field cricket belongs also to the
+_Orthoptera_, and the young of various sizes winter under rails and
+logs, bidding defiance to Jack Frost from within a little burrow or
+pit beneath the protecting shelter.
+
+[Illustration: CHINCH BUG.]
+
+The true bugs, or _Hemiptera_, hibernate in similar places; squash
+bugs, chinch bugs, "stink" bugs, and others being easily found in
+numbers beneath loose bark or hidden between the root leaves of
+mullein and other plants.
+
+Nearly three hundred species of _Coleoptera_, or beetles, occupy
+similar positions. Almost any rotten log or stump when broken open
+discloses a half dozen or more "horn" or "bess beetles," _Passalus
+cornutus_ L., great, shining, clumsy, black fellows with a curved horn
+on the head. They are often utilized as horses by country children,
+the horn furnishing an inviting projection to which may be fastened,
+by a thread or cord, chips and pieces of bark to be dragged about by
+the strong and never lagging beast of burden. When tired of "playing
+horse" they can make of the insect an instrument of music; for, when
+held by the body, it emits a creaking, hissing noise, produced by
+rubbing the abdomen up and down against the inside of the hard, horny
+wing covers. This beetle passes its entire life in cavities in the
+rotten wood on which it feeds, and when it wishes a larger or more
+commodious home it has only to eat the more.
+
+[Illustration: THIRTEEN-SPOTTED LADY BEETLE.]
+
+The handsome and beneficial lady beetles winter beneath fallen leaves
+or between and beneath the root leaves of the mullein and the thistle.
+Our most common species, the thirteen-spotted lady beetle, _Megilla
+maculata_ De G., is gregarious, collecting together by thousands on
+the approach of cold weather, and lying huddled up like sheep until a
+breath of spring gives them the signal to disperse. Snout beetles
+galore can be found beneath piles of weeds near streams and the
+borders of ponds or beneath chunks and logs in sandy places. All are
+injurious, and the farmer by burning their hibernating places in
+winter can cause their destruction in numbers. Rove beetles, ground
+beetles, and many others live deep down in the vegetable mould beneath
+old logs, where they are, no doubt, as secure from the ice king as if
+they followed the swallow to the tropics.
+
+Of the _Diptera_, or flies, but few forms winter in the perfect state,
+yet the myriads of house flies and their kin, which next summer will
+distract the busy house-wife, are represented in winter by a few
+isolated individuals which creep forth occasionally from crevice or
+cranny and greet us with a friendly buzz.
+
+In mid-winter one may also see in the air swarms of small, gnat-like
+insects. They belong to this order and live beneath the bark of
+freshly fallen beech and other logs. On warm, sunny days they go forth
+in numbers for a sort of rhythmical courtship; their movements while
+in the air being peculiar in that they usually rise and fall in the
+same vertical line--performing a curious aërial dance which is long
+continued.
+
+Among the dozen or more butterflies and moths which winter in the
+perfect state, the most common and the most handsome is the
+"Camberwell beauty" or "mourning cloak," _Vanessa antiopa_ L., a large
+butterfly whose wings are a rich purplish brown above, duller beneath,
+and broadly margined with a yellowish band. It is often found in
+winter beneath chunks which are raised a short distance above the
+ground, or in the crevices of old snags and fence rails. It is then
+apparently lifeless, with the antennæ resting close along the back,
+above which the wings are folded. But one or two warm days are
+necessary to restore it to activity, and I have seen it on the wing as
+early as the 2d of March, hovering over the open flowers of the little
+snow trillium.
+
+All the species of ants survive the winter as mature forms, either in
+their nests in the ground or huddled groups in half rotten logs and
+stumps; while here and there beneath logs a solitary queen bumble-bee,
+bald hornet, or yellow jacket is found--the sole representatives of
+their races.
+
+Thus insects survive the winter in many ways and in many places, some
+as eggs, others as larvæ, still others as pupæ, and a large number as
+adults--all being able to withstand severe cold and yet retain
+vitality sufficient to recover, live, grow, and replenish the earth
+with their progeny when the halcyon days of spring appear once more.
+
+In the scale of animal life the vertebrates or back-boned animals
+succeed the insects. Beginning with the fishes, we find that in late
+autumn they mostly seek some deep pool in pond or stream at the bottom
+of which the water does not freeze. Here the herbivorous forms eke out
+a precarious existence by feeding upon the innumerable diatoms and
+other small plants which are always to be found in water, while the
+carnivorous prey upon the herbivorous, and so maintain the struggle
+for existence. The moving to these deeper channels and pools in autumn
+and the scattering in the spring of the assembly which has gathered
+there constitute the so-called "migration of fishes," which is far
+from being so extensive and methodical as that practiced by the
+migratory birds.
+
+Many of the smaller species of fishes, upon leaving these winter
+resorts, ascend small, clear brooks in large numbers for the purpose
+of depositing their eggs; as, when hatched in such a place, the young
+will be comparatively free from the attacks of the larger carnivorous
+forms. Among the lowest vertebrate often found in numbers in early
+spring in these meadow rills and brooks is the lamprey, _Ammocœtes
+branchialis_ (L.), or "lamper eel," as it is sometimes called. It has
+a slender eel-like body, of a uniform leaden or blackish color, and
+with seven purse-shaped gill openings on each side. The mouth is
+fitted for sucking rather than biting, and with it they attach
+themselves to the bodies of fishes and feed on their flesh, which they
+scrape off with their rasp-like teeth. Later in the season they
+disappear from these smaller streams, probably returning in midsummer
+to deeper water. Thoreau, who studied their habits closely, says of
+them: "They are rarely seen on their way down stream, and it is
+thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste away and die,
+clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; a
+tragic feature to the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be
+remembered with Shakespeare's description of the sea floor."
+
+[Illustration: A LAMPREY.]
+
+A few of the fishes, as the mud minnow and smaller catfishes,
+together with most frogs, turtles, and salamanders, on the approach of
+winter, burrow into the mud at the bottom of the streams and ponds, or
+beneath logs near their margins. There they live without moving about
+and with all the vital processes in a partially dormant condition,
+thus needing little if any food.
+
+The box tortoise or "dry land terrapin," the common toad, and some
+salamanders burrow into the dry earth, usually going deep enough to
+escape frost; while snakes seek some crevice in the rocks or hole in
+the ground where they coil themselves together, oftentimes in vast
+numbers, and prepare for their winter's sleep. In an open winter this
+hibernation is often interrupted, the animal emerging from its retreat
+and seeking its usual summer haunts as though spring had come again.
+Thus I have, on one occasion, seen a soft-shelled turtle moving
+gracefully over the bottom of a stream on a day in late December, and
+have in mid-January captured snakes and salamanders from beneath a
+pile of drift-wood, where they had taken temporary refuge.
+
+[Illustration: TURTLE.]
+
+With frogs, especially, this hibernation is not a perfect one, and
+there is a doubt if in a mild winter some species hibernate at all.
+For example, the little cricket frog or "peeper" has been seen many
+times in mid-winter alongside the banks of flowing streams, and during
+the open winter of 1888–89 numerous specimens of leopard and green
+frogs were seen on different occasions in December and January, while
+on February 18th they, together with the "peepers," were in full
+chorus.
+
+Of our mammals, a few of the rodents or gnawers, as the ground-hogs,
+gophers and chipmunks, hibernate in burrows deep enough to escape the
+cold, and either feed on a stored supply of food, or, like the snakes
+and crayfish, do not feed at all.
+
+[Illustration: CHIPMUNK.]
+
+Others, as the rabbits, field-mice, and squirrels, are more or less
+active and forage freely on whatever they can find, eating many things
+which in summer they would spurn with scorn. To this class belongs
+that intelligent but injurious animal the musquash or muskrat. Those
+which inhabit the rivers and larger streams live in burrows dug deep
+beneath the banks, but those inhabiting sluggish streams and ponds
+usually construct a conical winter house about three feet in diameter
+and from two to three feet in height. These houses are made of coarse
+grasses, rushes, branches of shrubs, and small pieces of driftwood,
+closely cemented together with stiff, clayey mud. The top of the house
+usually projects two feet or more above the water, and when sun-dried
+is so strong as to easily sustain the weight of a man. The walls are
+generally about six inches in thickness and are very difficult to pull
+to pieces. Within is a single circular chamber with a shelf or floor
+of mud, sticks, leaves and grass, ingeniously supported on coarse
+sticks stuck endwise into the mud after the manner of piles. In the
+centre of this floor is an opening, from which six or eight diverging
+paths lead to the open water without, so that the little artisan has
+many avenues of escape in case of danger. These houses are often
+repaired and used for several winters in succession, but are vacated
+on the approach of spring. During the summer the muskrat is, in the
+main, a herbivorous animal, but in winter necessity develops its
+carnivorous propensities and it feeds then mainly upon the mussels and
+crayfish which it can dig from the bottom of the pond or stream in
+which its house is built.
+
+The bats pass the winter in caves, the attics of houses, and barns, or
+in hollow trees, hanging downward by their hind claws. Motionless for
+months they thus remain, and those in the more exposed situations are,
+doubtless, frozen solid. Yet, in time, their blood flows freely once
+again and they become as expert on the wing as though the year were
+one continual jubilee of insect chasing, and frost and snow were to
+them unknown.
+
+All the carnivora, or flesh-eaters, as the mink, skunk, opossum, fox,
+and wolf, are in winter active and voracious, needing much food to
+supply the necessary animal heat of the body. Hence they are then much
+more bold than in summer, and the hen yard or sheep pen of the farmer
+is too frequently called upon to supply this extra demand.
+
+[Illustration: A WOLF.]
+
+But of all our animals it seems to me the birds have solved the winter
+problem best. Possessing an enduring power of flight and a knowledge
+of a southern sunny sky, beneath which food is plentiful, they alone
+of all the living forms about us have little fear of the coming of the
+frost. True, fifty or more species remain in each of the Northern
+States during the cold season, but they are hardy birds which feed
+mainly upon seeds, as the snow-bird and song sparrow; on flesh, as the
+hawks and crows; or on burrowing insects, as the nut-hatches and
+woodpeckers.
+
+Such are some of the solutions to the problem of life in winter which
+the plants and animals about us have worked out; such some of the
+forms which they undergo; the places which they inhabit.
+
+To the thinking mind a knowledge of these solutions but begets other
+and greater problems, such as how can a living thing be frozen solid
+for weeks and yet retain vitality enough to fully recover? How can a
+warm-blooded animal sleep for months without partaking of food or
+drink? And greater than either, what is that which we call life?
+
+I hold in my hand two objects, similar in size, color, organs,
+everything--twins from the same mother in all outward respects. One
+pulsates and throbs with that which we call "life." It possesses heat,
+bodily motion, animal power. The other is cold, motionless, pulseless,
+throbless--a thing of clay. What is that "life" which the one
+possesses and the other lacks? Ah, there's the rub! With the wisest of
+men we can only answer, "_Quien sabe?_" (Who knows?)
+
+[Illustration: WINTER HOUSE OF MUSKRAT.]
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS' NESTS
+
+(FROM WAKE ROBIN.)[3]
+
+BY JOHN BURROUGHS.
+
+[3] Copyright by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+How alert and vigilant the birds are, even when absorbed in building
+their nests! In an open space in the woods, I see a pair of
+cedar-birds collecting moss from the top of a dead tree. Following the
+direction in which they fly, I soon discover the nest placed in the
+fork of a small soft-maple, which stands amid a thick growth of
+wild-cherry trees and young beeches. Carefully concealing myself
+beneath it, without any fear that the workmen will hit me with a chip
+or let fall a tool, I await the return of the busy pair. Presently I
+hear the well-known note, and the female sweeps down and settles
+unsuspectingly into the half-finished structure. Hardly have her wings
+rested, before her eye has penetrated my screen, and with a hurried
+movement of alarm, she darts away. In a moment, the male, with a tuft
+of wool in his beak (for there is a sheep pasture near), joins her,
+and the two reconnoitre the premises from the surrounding bushes. With
+their beaks still loaded, they move around with a frightened look, and
+refuse to approach the nest till I have moved off and lain down behind
+a log. Then one of them ventures to alight upon the nest, but, still
+suspecting all is not right, quickly darts away again. Then they both
+together come, and after much peeping and spying about, and apparently
+much anxious consultation, cautiously proceed to work. In less than
+half an hour, it would seem that wool enough has been brought to
+supply the whole family, real and prospective, with socks, if needles
+and fingers could be found fine enough to knit it up. In less than a
+week, the female has begun to deposit her eggs,--four of them in as
+many days,--white tinged with purple, with black spots on the larger
+end. After two weeks of incubation, the young are out.
+
+Excepting the American goldfinch, this bird builds later in the spring
+than any other, its nest, in our northern climate, seldom being
+undertaken till July. As with the goldfinch, the reason is, probably,
+that suitable food for the young cannot be had at an earlier period.
+
+Like most of our common species, as the robin, sparrow, bluebird,
+pewee, wren, etc., this bird sometimes seeks wild, remote localities
+in which to rear its young; at others, takes up its abode near that of
+man. I knew a pair of cedar-birds, one season, to build in an
+apple-tree, the branches of which rubbed against the house. For a day
+or two before the first straw was laid, I noticed the pair carefully
+exploring every branch of the tree the female taking the lead, the
+male following her with an anxious note and look. It was evident that
+the wife was to have her choice this time; and, like one who
+thoroughly knew her mind, she was proceeding to take it. Finally the
+site was chosen upon a high branch extending over one low wing of the
+house. Mutual congratulations and caresses followed, when both birds
+flew away in quest of building material. That most freely used is a
+sort of cotton-bearing plant, which grows in old, worn-out fields. The
+nest is large for the size of the bird, and very soft. It is in every
+respect a first-class domicile.
+
+On another occasion, while walking, or rather sauntering, in the woods
+(for I have discovered that one cannot run and read the book of
+nature), my attention was arrested by a dull hammering, evidently but
+a few rods off. I said to myself, "Some one is building a house." From
+what I had previously seen, I suspected the builder to be a red-headed
+woodpecker, in the top of a dead oak stub near by. Moving cautiously
+in that direction, I perceived a round hole, about the size of that
+made by an inch-and-a-half auger, near the top of the decayed trunk,
+and the white chips of the workman strewing the ground beneath. When
+but a few paces from the tree, my foot pressed upon a dry twig, which
+gave forth a very slight snap. Instantly the hammering ceased, and a
+scarlet head appeared at the door. Though I remained perfectly
+motionless, forbearing even to wink till my eye smarted, the bird
+refused to go on with his work, but flew quietly off to a neighboring
+tree. What surprised me was, that amid his busy occupation down in
+the heart of the old tree he should have been so alert and watchful as
+to catch the slightest sound from without.
+
+The woodpeckers all build in about the same manner, excavating the
+trunk or branch of a decayed tree, and depositing the eggs on the fine
+fragments of wood at the bottom of the cavity. Though the nest is not
+especially an artistic work,--requiring strength rather than
+skill,--yet the eggs and the young of few other birds are so
+completely housed from the elements, or protected from their natural
+enemies--the jays, crows, hawks, and owls. A tree with a natural
+cavity is never selected, but one which has been dead just long enough
+to have become soft and brittle throughout. The bird goes in
+horizontally for a few inches, making a hole perfectly round and
+smooth and adapted to his size; then turns downward, gradually
+enlarging the hole, as he proceeds, to the depth of ten, fifteen,
+twenty inches, according to the softness of the tree and the urgency
+of the mother bird to deposit her eggs. While excavating, male and
+female work alternately. After one has been engaged fifteen or twenty
+minutes, drilling, and carrying out chips, it ascends to an upper
+limb, utters a loud call or two, when its mate soon appears, and,
+alighting near it on the branch, the pair chatter and caress a moment;
+then the fresh one enters the cavity and the other flies away.
+
+A few days since, I climbed up to the nest of the downy woodpecker, in
+the decayed top of a sugar-maple. For better protection against
+driving rains, the hole which was rather more than an inch in
+diameter, was made immediately beneath a branch which stretched out
+almost horizontally from the main stem. It appeared merely a deeper
+shadow upon the dark and mottled surface of the bark with which the
+branches were covered, and could not be detected by the eye until one
+was within a few feet of it. The young chirped vociferously as I
+approached the nest, thinking it was the old one with food; but the
+clamor suddenly ceased as I put my hand on that part of the trunk in
+which they were concealed, the unusual jarring and rustling alarming
+them into silence. The cavity, which was about fifteen inches deep,
+was gourd-shaped, and was wrought with great skill and regularity. The
+walls were quite smooth and clean and new.
+
+[Illustration: WOODPECKER'S NEST. (Dotted lines indicate inside of
+nest and eggs).]
+
+I shall never forget the circumstance of observing a pair of
+yellow-bellied woodpeckers,--the most rare and secluded, and, next to
+the red-headed, the most beautiful species found in our
+woods,--breeding in an old, truncated beech in the Beaverkill
+Mountains, an off-shoot of the Catskills. We had been travelling,
+three of us, all day in search of a trout lake, which lay far in among
+the mountains, had twice lost our course in the trackless forest,
+and, weary and hungry, had sat down to rest upon a decayed log. The
+chattering of the young, and the passing to and fro of the parent
+birds, soon arrested my attention. The entrance to the nest was on the
+east side of the tree, about twenty-five feet from the ground. At
+intervals of scarcely a minute, the old birds, one after another,
+would light upon the edge of the hole with a grub or worm in their
+beaks; then each in turn would make a bow or two, cast an eye quickly
+around, and by a single movement place itself in the neck of the
+passage. Here it would pause a moment, as if to determine in which
+expectant mouth to place the morsel, and then disappear within. In
+about half a minute, during which time the chattering of the young
+gradually subsided, the bird would again emerge, but this time bearing
+in its beak the ordure of one of the helpless family. Flying away very
+slowly with head lowered and extended, as if anxious to hold the
+offensive object as far from its plumage as possible, the bird dropped
+the unsavory morsel in the course of a few yards, and, alighting on a
+tree, wiped its bill on the bark and moss. This seemed to be the order
+all day,--carrying in and carrying out. I watched the birds for an
+hour, while my companions were taking their turn in exploring the lay
+of the land around us, and noted no variation in the programme. It
+would be curious to know if the young are fed and waited upon in
+regular order, and how, amid the darkness and the crowded state of the
+apartment, the matter is so neatly managed. But ornithologists are all
+silent upon the subject.
+
+[Illustration: THE YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER.]
+
+This practice of the birds is not so uncommon as it might at first
+seem. It is, indeed, almost an invariable rule among all land birds.
+With woodpeckers and kindred species, and with birds that burrow in
+the ground, as bank swallows, kingfishers, etc., it is a necessity.
+The accumulation of the excrement in the nest would prove most fatal
+to the young.
+
+But even among birds that neither bore nor mine, but which build a
+shallow nest on the branch of a tree or upon the ground, as the robin,
+the finches, the buntings, etc., the ordure of the young is removed to
+a distance by the parent bird. When the robin is seen going away from
+its brood with a slow, heavy flight, entirely different from its
+manner a moment before on approaching the nest with a cherry or worm,
+it is certain to be engaged in this office. One may observe the social
+sparrow, when feeding its young, pause a moment after the worm has
+been given, and hop around on the brink of the nest, observing the
+movements within.
+
+The instinct of cleanliness no doubt prompts the action in all cases,
+though the disposition to secrecy or concealment may not be unmixed
+with it.
+
+The swallows form an exception to the rule, the excrement being voided
+by the young over the brink of the nest. They form an exception, also,
+to the rule of secrecy, aiming not so much to conceal the nest as to
+render it inaccessible.
+
+Other exceptions are the pigeons, hawks, and water-fowls.
+
+But to return. Having a good chance to note the color and markings of
+the woodpeckers as they passed in and out at the opening of the nest,
+I saw that Audubon had made a mistake in figuring or describing the
+female of this species with the red spot upon the head. I have seen a
+number of pairs of them, and in no instance have I seen the mother
+bird marked with red.
+
+The male was in full plumage, and I reluctantly shot him for a
+specimen. Passing by the place again next day, I paused a moment to
+note how matters stood. I confess it was not without some compunctions
+that I heard the cries of the young birds, and saw the widowed mother,
+her cares now doubled, hastening to and fro in the solitary woods. She
+would occasionally pause expectantly on the trunk of a tree, and utter
+a loud call.
+
+It usually happens when the male of any species is killed during the
+breeding season, that the female soon procures another mate. There
+are, most likely, always a few unmated birds of both sexes, within a
+given range, and through these the broken links may be restored.
+Audubon or Wilson, I forgot which, tells a pair of fish-hawks, or
+ospreys, that built their nest in an ancient oak. The male was so
+zealous in the defence of the young that it actually attacked with
+beak and claw a person who attempted to climb into his nest, putting
+his face and eyes in great jeopardy. Arming himself with a heavy club,
+the climber felled the gallant bird to the ground and killed him. In
+the course of a few days, the female had procured another mate. But
+naturally enough the step-father showed none of the spirit and pluck
+in defence of the brood that had been displayed by the original
+parent. When danger was nigh, he was seen afar off, sailing around in
+placid unconcern.
+
+It is generally known that when either the wild turkey or domestic
+turkey begins to lay, and afterwards to sit and rear the brood, she
+secludes herself from the male, who then, very sensibly, herds with
+others of his sex, and betakes himself to haunts of his own till male
+and female, old and young, meet again on common ground, late in the
+fall. But rob the sitting bird of her eggs, or destroy her tender
+young, and she immediately sets out in quest of a male, who is no
+laggard when he hears her call. The same is true of ducks and other
+aquatic fowls. The propagating instinct is strong, and surmounts all
+ordinary difficulties. No doubt the widowhood I had caused in the case
+of the woodpeckers was of short duration, and chance brought, or the
+widow drummed up, some forlorn male, who was not dismayed by the
+prospect of having a large family of half grown birds on his hands at
+the outset.
+
+I have seen a fine cock robin paying assiduous addresses to a female
+bird as late as the middle of July; and I have no doubt that his
+intentions were honorable. I watched the pair for half an hour. The
+hen, I took it, was in the market for the second time that season; but
+the cock, from his bright, unfaded plumage, looked like a new arrival.
+The hen resented every advance of the male. In vain he strutted around
+her and displayed his fine feathers; every now and then she would make
+at him in a most spiteful manner. He followed her to the ground,
+poured into her ear a fine, half-suppressed warble, offered her a
+worm, flew back to the tree again with a great spread of plumage,
+hopped around her on the branches, chirruped, chattered, flew
+gallantly at an intruder, and was back in an instant at her side. No
+use,--she cut him short at every turn.
+
+The _dénouement_ I cannot relate, as the artful bird, followed by her
+ardent suitor, soon flew away beyond my sight. It may not be rash to
+conclude, however that she held out no longer than was prudent.
+
+On the whole, there seems to be a system of Women's Rights prevailing
+among the birds, which, contemplated from the standpoint of the male,
+is quite admirable. In almost all cases of joint interest, the female
+bird is the most active. She determines the site of the nest, and is
+usually the most absorbed in its construction. Generally, she is more
+vigilant in caring for the young, and manifests the most concern when
+danger threatens. Hour after hour I have seen the mother of a brood of
+blue grossbeaks pass from the nearest meadow to the tree that held her
+nest, with a cricket or grasshopper in her bill, while her
+better-dressed half was singing serenely on a distant tree or pursuing
+his pleasure amid the branches.
+
+Yet among the majority of our song birds, the male is most conspicuous
+both by his color and manners and by his song, and is to that extent a
+shield to the female. It is thought that the female is humbler clad
+for her better concealment during incubation. But this is not
+satisfactory, as in some cases she is relieved from time to time by
+the male. In the case of the domestic dove, for instance, promptly at
+mid-day the cock is found upon the nest. I should say that the dull or
+neutral tints of the female were a provision of nature for her greater
+safety at all times, as her life is far more precious to the species
+than that of the male. The indispensable office of the male reduces
+itself to little more than a moment of time, while that of his mate
+extends over days and weeks, if not months.
+
+In migrating northward, the males precede the females by eight or ten
+days; returning in the fall, the females and young precede the males
+by about the same time.
+
+[Illustration: NEST OF THE CHICADEE.]
+
+After the woodpeckers have abandoned their nests, or rather chambers,
+which they do after the first season, their cousins, the nut-hatches,
+chickadees, and brown creepers, fall heir to them. These birds,
+especially the creepers and nut-hatches, have many of the habits of
+the _picidæ_, but lack their powers of bill, and so are unable to
+excavate a nest for themselves. Their habitation, therefore, is always
+second-hand. But each species carries in some soft material of various
+kinds, or, in other words, furnishes the tenement to its liking. The
+chickadee arranges in the bottom of the cavity a little mat of a
+light, felt-like substance, which looks as if it came from the
+hatter's, but which is probably the work of numerous worms or
+caterpillars. On this soft lining the female deposits six white eggs.
+
+I recently discovered one of these nests in a most interesting
+situation. The tree containing it, a variety of the wild cherry, stood
+upon the brink of the bald summit of a high mountain. Gray, time-worn
+rocks lay piled loosely about, or overtoppled the just visible by-ways
+of the red fox. The trees had a half-scared look, and that
+indescribable wildness which lurks about the tops of all remote
+mountains possessed the place. Standing there, I looked down upon the
+back of the red-tailed hawk as he flew out over the earth beneath me.
+Following him, my eye also took in farms, and settlements, and
+villages, and other mountain ranges that grew blue in the distance.
+
+The parent birds attracted my attention by appearing with food in
+their beaks, and by seeming much put out. Yet so wary were they of
+revealing the locality of their brood, or even of the precise tree
+that held them, that I lurked around over an hour without gaining a
+point on them. Finally a bright and curious boy who accompanied me
+secreted himself under a low, projecting rock close to the tree in
+which we supposed the nest to be, while I moved off around the
+mountain-side. It was not long before the youth had their secret. The
+tree, which was low and wide branching, and overrun with lichens,
+appeared at a cursory glance to contain not one dry or decayed limb.
+Yet there was one a few feet long, in which, when my eyes were piloted
+thither, I detected a small round orifice.
+
+As my weight began to shake the branches, the consternation of both
+old and young was great. The stump of a limb that held the nest was
+about three inches thick, and at the bottom of the tunnel was
+excavated quite to the bark. With my thumb I broke in the thin wall,
+and the young, which were full-fledged, looked out upon the world for
+the first time. Presently one of them, with a significant chirp, as
+much as to say, "It is time we were out of this," began to climb up
+toward the proper entrance. Placing himself in the hole, he looked
+around without manifesting any surprise at the grand scene that lay
+spread out before him. He was taking his bearings and determining how
+far he could trust the power of his untried wings to take him out of
+harm's way. After a moment's pause, with a loud chirrup, he launched
+out, and made tolerable headway. The others rapidly followed. Each
+one, as it started upward, from a sudden impulse, contemptuously
+saluted the abandoned nest with its excrement.
+
+[Illustration: BARN SWALLOW AND NEST.]
+
+Though generally regular in their habits and instincts, yet the birds
+sometimes seem as whimsical and capricious as superior beings. One is
+not safe, for instance, in making any absolute assertion as to their
+place or mode of building. Ground builders often get up into a bush,
+and tree builders sometimes get upon the ground or into a tussock of
+grass. The song-sparrow, which is a ground builder, has been known to
+build in the knot-hole of a fence rail, and a chimney swallow once got
+tired of soot and smoke, and fastened its nest on a rafter in a hay
+barn. A friend tells me of a pair of barn swallows which, taking a
+fanciful turn, saddled their nest in the loop of a rope that was
+pendent from a peg in the peak, and liked it so well that they
+repeated the experiment next year. I have known the social sparrow, or
+"hair bird," to build under a shed, in a tuft of hay that hung down,
+through the loose flooring, from the mow above. It usually contents
+itself with a half a dozen stalks of dry grass and a few long hairs
+from a cow's tail, loosely arranged on the branch of an apple-tree.
+The rough-winged swallow builds in the wall and in old stone heaps,
+and I have seen the robin build in similar localities. Others have
+found its nest in old, abandoned wells. The house wren will build in
+anything that has an accessible cavity, from an old boot to a
+bombshell. A pair of them once persisted in building their nest in the
+top of a certain pump-tree, getting in through the opening above the
+handle. The pump being in daily use, the nest was destroyed more than
+a score of times. This jealous little wretch has the wise forethought,
+when the box in which he builds contains two compartments, to fill up
+one of them, so as to avoid the risk of troublesome neighbors.
+
+The less skilful builders sometimes depart from their usual habit, and
+take up with the abandoned nest of some other species. The blue-jay
+now and then lays in an old crow's-nest or cuckoo's-nest. The
+crow-blackbird, seized with a fit of indolence, drops its eggs in the
+cavity of a decayed branch. I heard of a cuckoo that dispossessed a
+robin of its nest; of another that set a blue-jay adrift. Large, loose
+structures, like the nests of the osprey and certain of the herons,
+have been found with half a dozen nests of the blackbird set in the
+outer edges, like so many parasites, or, as Audubon says, like the
+retainers about the rude court of a feudal baron.
+
+[Illustration: BALTIMORE ORIOLE AND NEST.]
+
+The same birds breeding in a southern climate construct far less
+elaborate nests than when breeding in a northern climate. Certain
+species of water-fowl that abandon their eggs to the sand and the sun
+in the warmer zones, build a nest and sit in the usual way in
+Labrador. In Georgia, the Baltimore oriole places its nest upon the
+north side of the tree; in the Middle and Eastern States, it fixes it
+upon the south or east side, and makes it much thicker and Warner. I
+have seen one from the South that had some kind-of coarse reed or
+sedge woven into it, giving it an open-work appearance, like a
+basket.
+
+Very few species use the same material uniformly. I have seen the nest
+of the robin quite destitute of mud. In one instance, it was composed
+mainly of long, black horse-hairs, arranged in a circular manner, with
+a lining of fine yellow grass; the whole presenting quite a novel
+appearance. In another case, the nest was chiefly constructed of a
+species of rock moss.
+
+The nest for the second brood during the same season is often a mere
+make-shift. The haste of the female to deposit her eggs as the season
+advances seems very great, and the structure is apt to be prematurely
+finished. I was recently reminded of this fact by happening, about the
+last of July, to meet with several nests of the wood or bush sparrow
+in a remote blackberry field. The nests with eggs were far less
+elaborate and compact than the earlier nests, from which the young had
+flown.
+
+Day after day, as I go to a certain piece of woods, I observe a male
+indigo-bird sitting on precisely the same part of a high branch, and
+singing in his most vivacious style. As I approach, he ceases to sing,
+and, flirting his tail right and left with marked emphasis, chirps
+sharply. In a low bush near by, I come upon the object of his
+solicitude, a thick, compact nest, composed largely of dry leaves and
+fine grass, in which a plain brown bird is sitting upon four pale blue
+eggs.
+
+The wonder is, that a bird will leave the apparent security of the
+tree-tops, to place its nest in the way of the many dangers that walk
+and crawl upon the ground. There, far out of reach, sings the bird;
+here, not three feet from the ground, are its eggs or helpless young.
+The truth is, birds are the greatest enemies of birds, and it is with
+reference to this fact that many of the smaller species build.
+
+[Illustration: INDIGO BIRD'S NEST.]
+
+Perhaps the greatest proportion of birds breed along highways. I have
+known the ruffed grouse to come out of a dense wood and make its nest
+at the root of a tree within ten paces of the road, where, no doubt,
+hawks and crows, as well as skunks and foxes, would be less liable to
+find it out. Traversing remote mountain-roads through dense woods, I
+have repeatedly seen the veery, or Wilson's thrush, sitting upon her
+nest, so near me that I could almost take her from it by stretching
+out my hand. Birds of prey show none of this confidence in man, and,
+when locating their nests, avoid rather than seek his haunts.
+
+In a certain locality in the interior of New York, I know, every
+season, where I am sure to find a nest or two of the slate-colored
+snow-bird. It is under the brink of a low, mossy bank, so near the
+highway that it could be reached from a passing vehicle with a whip.
+Every horse or wagon or foot passenger disturbs the sitting bird. She
+awaits the near approach of a sound of feet or wheels, and then darts
+quickly across the road, barely clearing the ground, and disappears
+amid the bushes on the opposite side.
+
+In the trees that line one of the main streets and fashionable drives
+leading out of Washington city, and less than half a mile from the
+boundary, I have counted the nests of five different species at one
+time, and that without any very close scrutiny of the foliage, while
+in many acres of woodland, half a mile off, I searched in vain for a
+single nest. Among the five that interested me most was that of a blue
+grossbeak. Here this bird, which, according to Audubon's observations,
+in Louisiana is shy and recluse, affecting remote marshes and the
+borders of large ponds of stagnant water, had placed its nest in the
+lowest twig of the lowest branch of a large sycamore, immediately over
+a great thoroughfare, and so near the ground that a person standing in
+a cart or sitting on a horse could have reached it with his hand. The
+nest was composed mainly of fragments of newspaper and stalks of
+grass, and, though so low, was remarkably well concealed by one of the
+peculiar clusters of twigs and leaves which characterize this tree.
+The nest contained young when I discovered it, and though the parent
+birds were much annoyed by my loitering about beneath the tree, they
+paid little attention to the stream of vehicles that was constantly
+passing. It is a wonder to me when the birds could have built it, for
+they are much shyer when building than at other times. No doubt they
+worked mostly in the morning, having the early hours all to
+themselves.
+
+Another pair of blue grossbeaks built in a graveyard within the city
+limits. The nest was placed in a low bush, and the male continued to
+sing at intervals till the young were ready to fly. The song of this
+bird is a rapid, intricate warble, like that of the indigo-bird,
+though stronger and louder. Indeed, these two birds so much resemble
+each other in color, form, manner, voice, and general habits that,
+were it not for the difference in size,--the grossbeak being nearly as
+large again as the indigo-bird,--it would be a hard matter to tell
+them apart. The females of both species are clad in the same
+reddish-brown suits. So are the young the first season.
+
+Of course in the deep, primitive woods also are nests, but how rarely
+we find them! The simple art of the bird consists in choosing common,
+neutral-tinted material, as moss, dry leaves, twigs, and various odds
+and ends, and placing the structure on a convenient branch, where it
+blends in color with its surroundings; but how consummate is this art,
+and how skilfully is the nest concealed! We occasionally light upon
+it, but who, unaided by the movements of the bird, could find it out?
+During the present season, I went to the woods nearly every day for a
+fortnight, without making any discoveries of this kind, till one day,
+paying them a farewell visit, I chanced to come upon several nests. A
+black and white creeping warbler suddenly became much alarmed as I
+approached a crumbling old stump in a dense part of the forest. He
+alighted upon it, chirped sharply, ran up and down its sides, and
+finally left it with much reluctance. The nest, which contained three
+young birds nearly fledged, was placed upon the ground, at the foot of
+the stump, and in such a position that the color of the young
+harmonized perfectly with the bits of bark, sticks, etc., lying about.
+My eye rested upon them for the second time before I made them out.
+They hugged the nest very closely, but as I put down my hand they
+scampered off with loud cries for help, which caused the parent birds
+to place themselves almost within my reach. The nest was merely a
+little dry grass arranged in a thick bed of dry leaves.
+
+This was amid a thick undergrowth. Moving on into a passage of large,
+stately hemlocks, with only here and there a small beech or maple
+rising up into the perennial twilight, I paused to make out a note
+which was entirely new to me. It is still in my ear. Though
+unmistakably a bird note, it yet suggested the bleating of a tiny
+lambkin. Presently the birds appeared,--a pair of the solitary vireo.
+They came flitting from point to point, alighting only for a moment at
+a time, the male silent, but the female uttering this strange, tender
+note. It was a rendering into some new sylvan dialect of the human
+sentiment of maidenly love. It was really pathetic in its sweetness
+and childlike confidence and joy. I soon discovered that the pair were
+building a nest upon a low branch a few yards from me. The male flew
+cautiously to the spot, and adjusted something, and the twain moved
+on, the female calling to her mate at intervals, _love-e, love-e_,
+with a cadence and tenderness in the tone that rang in the ear long
+afterward. The nest was suspended to the fork of a small branch, as is
+usual with the vireos, plentifully lined with lichens, and bound and
+rebound with masses of coarse spider-webs. There was no attempt at
+concealment except in the neutral tints, which made it look like a
+natural growth of the dim, gray woods.
+
+Continuing my random walk, I next paused in a low part of the woods,
+where the larger trees began to give place to a thick second growth
+that covered an old Bark-peeling. I was standing by a large maple,
+when a small bird darted quickly away from it, as if it might have
+come out of a hole near its base. As the bird paused a few yards from
+me, and began to chirp uneasily, my curiosity was at once excited.
+When I saw it was the female mourning ground warbler, and remembered
+that the nest of this bird had not yet been seen by any
+naturalist,--that not even Dr. Brewer had ever seen the eggs,--I felt
+that here was something worth looking for. So I carefully began the
+search, exploring inch by inch the ground, the base and roots of the
+tree, and the various shrubby growths about it, till, finding nothing,
+and fearing I might really put my foot in it, I bethought me to
+withdraw to a distance and after some delay return again, and, thus
+forewarned, note the exact point from which the bird flew. This I did,
+and, returning, had little difficulty in discovering the nest. It was
+placed but a few feet from the maple-tree, in a bunch of ferns, and
+about six inches from the ground. It was quite a massive nest,
+composed entirely of the stalks and leaves of dry grass, with an inner
+lining of fine, dark-brown roots. The eggs, three in number, were of
+light flesh color, uniformly specked with fine brown specks. The
+cavity of the nest was so deep that the back of sitting bird sank
+below the edge.
+
+In the top of a tall tree, a short distance farther on, I saw the nest
+of the red-tailed hawk,--a large mass of twigs and dry sticks. The
+young had flown, but still lingered in the vicinity, and, as I
+approached, the mother bird flew about over me, squealing in a very
+angry, savage manner. Tufts of the hair and other indigestible
+material of the common meadow mouse lay around on the ground beneath
+the nest.
+
+[Illustration: NEST OF RED-EYED VIREO.]
+
+As I was about leaving the woods, my hat almost brushed the nest of
+the red-eyed vireo, which hung basket-like on the end of a low,
+drooping branch of the beech. I should never have seen it had the bird
+kept her place. It contained three eggs of the bird's own, and one of
+the cow-bunting. The strange egg was only just perceptibly larger than
+the others, yet three days after, when I looked into the nest again
+and found all but one egg hatched, the young interloper was at least
+four times as large as either of the others, and with such a
+superabundance of bowels as to almost smother his bedfellows beneath
+them. That the intruder should fare the same as the rightful
+occupants, and thrive with them, was more than ordinary potluck; but
+that it alone should thrive, devouring, as it were, all the rest, is
+one of those freaks of Nature in which she would seem to discourage
+the homely virtues of prudence and honesty. Weeds and parasites have
+the odds greatly against them, yet they wage a very successful war
+nevertheless.
+
+The woods hold not such another gem as the nest of the humming-bird.
+The finding of one is an event to date from. It is the next best thing
+to finding an eagle's nest. I have met with but two, both by chance.
+One was placed on the horizontal branch of a chestnut-tree, with a
+solitary green leaf, forming a complete canopy, about an inch and a
+half above it. The repeated spiteful dartings of the bird past my
+ears, as I stood under the tree, caused me to suspect that I was
+intruding upon some one's privacy; and following it with my eye, I
+soon saw the nest, which was in process of construction. Adopting my
+usual tactics of secreting myself near by, I had the satisfaction of
+seeing the tiny artist at work. It was the female, unassisted by her
+mate. At intervals of two or three minutes she would appear with a
+small tuft of some cottony substance in her beak, dart a few times
+through and around the tree, and alighting quickly in the nest arrange
+the material she had brought, using her breast as a model.
+
+The other nest I discovered in a dense forest on the side of a
+mountain. The sitting bird was disturbed as I passed beneath her. The
+whirring of her wings arrested my attention, when, after a short
+pause, I had the good luck to see, through an opening in the leaves,
+the bird return to her nest, which appeared like a mere wart or
+excrescence on a small branch. The humming-bird, unlike all others,
+does not alight upon the nest, but flies into it. She enters it as
+quick as a flash, but as light as any feather. Two eggs are the
+complement. They are perfectly white, and so frail that only a woman's
+fingers may touch them. Incubation lasts about ten days. In a week the
+young have flown.
+
+The only nest like the humming-bird's, and comparable to it in
+neatness and symmetry, is that of the blue-gray gnat-catcher. This is
+often saddled upon the limb in the same manner, though it is generally
+more or less pendent; it is deep and soft, composed mostly of some
+vegetable down, covered all over with delicate tree-lichens, and,
+except that it is much larger, appears almost identical with the nest
+of the humming-bird.
+
+But the nest of nests, the ideal nest, after we have left the deep
+woods, is unquestionably that of the Baltimore oriole. It is the only
+perfectly pensile nest we have. The nest of the orchard oriole is
+indeed mainly so, but this bird generally builds lower and shallower,
+more after the manner of the vireos.
+
+The Baltimore oriole loves to attach its nest to the swaying branches
+of the tallest elms, making no attempt at concealment, but satisfied
+if the position be high and the branch pendent. This nest would seem
+to cost more time and skill than any other bird structure. A peculiar
+flax-like substance seems to be always sought after, and always
+found. The nest when completed assumes the form of a large, suspended
+gourd. The walls are thin but firm, and proof against the most driving
+rain. The mouth is hemmed or over-handed with horse-hair, and the
+sides are usually sewed through and through with the same.
+
+Not particular as to the matter of secrecy, the bird is not particular
+as to material, so that it be of the nature of strings or threads. A
+lady friend once told me that while working by an open window, one of
+these birds approached during her momentary absence, and, seizing a
+skein of some kind of thread or yarn, made off with it to its
+half-finished nest. But the perverse yarn caught fast in the branches,
+and, in the bird's efforts to extricate it, got hopelessly tangled.
+She tugged away at it all day, but was finally obliged to content
+herself with a few detached portions. The fluttering strings were an
+eye-sore to her ever after, and passing and repassing, she would give
+them a spiteful jerk, as much as to say, "There is that confounded
+yarn that gave me so much trouble."
+
+From Pennsylvania, Vincent Barnard (to whom I am indebted for other
+curious facts) sent me this interesting story of an oriole. He says a
+friend of his, curious in such things, on observing the bird beginning
+to build, hung out near the prospective nest skeins of many-colored
+zephyr-yarn, which the eager artist readily appropriated. He managed
+it so that the bird used nearly equal quantities of various high,
+bright colors. The nest was made unusually deep and capacious, and it
+may be questioned if such a thing of beauty was ever before woven by
+the cunning of a bird.
+
+Nuttall, by far the most genial of American ornithologists, relates
+the following:--
+
+"A female (oriole), which I observed attentively, carried off to her
+nest a piece of lamp-wick ten or twelve feet long. This long string
+and many other shorter ones were left hanging out for about a week
+before both the ends were wattled into the sides of the nest. Some
+other little birds making use of similar materials, at times twitched
+these flowing ends, and generally brought out the busy Baltimore from
+her occupation in great anger.
+
+"I may perhaps claim indulgence for adding a little more of the
+biography of this particular bird, as a representative, also, of
+the instincts of her race. She completed the nest in about a week's
+time, without any aid from her mate, who, indeed, appeared but seldom
+in her company, and was now become nearly silent. For fibrous
+materials she broke, hackled, and gathered the flax of the _asclepias_
+and _hibiscus_ stalks, tearing off long strings and flying with them
+to the scene of her labors. She appeared very eager and hasty in her
+pursuits, and collected her materials without fear or restraint, while
+three men were working in the neighboring walks, and many persons
+visiting the garden. Her courage and perseverance were indeed truly
+admirable. If watched too narrowly, she saluted with her usual
+scolding, _tshrr, tshrr, tshrr_, seeing no reason, probably, why she
+should be interrupted in her indispensable occupation.
+
+"Though the males were now comparatively silent on the arrival of
+their busy mates, I could not help observing this female and a second,
+continually vociferating apparently in strife. At last she was
+observed to attack this second female very fiercely, who slyly
+intruded herself at times into the same tree where she was building.
+These contests were angry and often repeated. To account for this
+animosity, I now recollected that two fine males had been killed in
+our vicinity; and I therefore concluded the intruder to be left
+without a mate; yet she had gained the affections of the consort of
+the busy female, and thus the cause of their jealous quarrel became
+apparent. Having obtained the confidence of her faithless paramour,
+the second female began preparing to weave a nest in an adjoining elm,
+by tying together certain pendent twigs as a foundation. The male now
+associated chiefly with the intruder, whom he even assisted in her
+labor, yet did not wholly forget his first partner, who called on him
+one evening in a low, affectionate tone, which was answered in the
+same strain. While they were thus engaged in friendly whispers,
+suddenly appeared the rival, and a violent _rencontre_ ensued, so that
+one of the females appeared to be greatly agitated, and fluttered with
+spreading wings as if considerably hurt. The male, though prudently
+neutral in the contest, showed his culpable partiality by flying off
+with his paramour, and for the rest of the evening left the tree to
+his pugnacious consort. Cares of another kind, more imperious and
+tender, at length reconciled, or at least terminated, these disputes
+with the jealous females; and by the aid of the neighboring bachelors,
+who are never wanting among these and other birds, peace was at length
+completely restored, by the restitution of the quiet and happy
+condition of monogamy."
+
+Let me not forget to mention the nest under the mountain ledge, the
+nest of the common pewee, a modest mossy structure, with four
+pearl-white eggs, looking out upon some wild scene and overhung by
+beetling crags. After all has been said about the elaborate, high-hung
+structures, few nests, perhaps, awaken more pleasant emotions in the
+mind of the beholder than this of the pewee,--the gray, silent rocks,
+with caverns and dens where the fox and the wolf lurk, and just out of
+their reach, in a little niche, as if it grew there, the mossy
+tenement!
+
+Nearly every high projecting rock in my range has one of these nests.
+Following a trout stream up a wild mountain gorge, not long since, I
+counted five in the distance of a mile, all within easy reach, but
+safe from the minks and the skunks, and well housed from the storms.
+In my native town I know a pine and oak clad hill, round-topped, with
+a bold, precipitous front extending half-way around it. Near the top,
+and along this front or side, there crops out a ledge of rocks
+unusually high and cavernous. One immense layer projects many feet,
+allowing a person or many persons, standing upright, to move freely
+beneath it. There is a delicious spring of water there, and plenty of
+wild, cool air. The floor is of loose stone, now trod by sheep and
+foxes, once by the Indian and the wolf. How I have delighted from
+boyhood to spend a summer-day in this retreat or take refuge there
+from a sudden shower! Always the freshness and coolness, and always
+the delicate mossy nest of the phœbe-bird! The bird keeps her place
+till you are within a few feet of her, when she flits to a near
+branch, and, with many oscillations of her tail, observes you
+anxiously. Since the country has become settled, this pewee has fallen
+into the strange practice of occasionally placing its nest under a
+bridge, hay-shed, or other artificial structure, where it is subject
+to all kinds of interruptions and annoyances. When placed thus, the
+nest is larger and coarser. I know a hayloft beneath which a pair has
+regularly placed its nest for several successive seasons. Arranged
+along on a single pole, which sags down a few inches from the flooring
+it was intended to help support, are three of these structures,
+marking the number of years the birds have nested there. The
+foundation is of mud with a superstructure of moss, elaborately lined
+with hair and feathers. Nothing can be more perfect and exquisite than
+the interior of one of these nests, yet a new one is built every
+season. Three broods, however, are frequently reared in it.
+
+[Illustration: NEST OF PHŒBE.]
+
+The pewees, as a class, are the best architects we have. The king-bird
+builds a nest altogether admirable, using various soft cotton and
+woollen substances, and sparing neither time nor material to make it
+substantial and warm. The green-crested pewee builds its nest in many
+instances wholly of the blossoms of the white-oak. The wood pewee
+builds a neat, compact socket-shaped nest of moss and lichens on a
+horizontal branch. There is never a loose end or shred about it. The
+sitting bird is largely visible above the rim. She moves her head
+freely about, and seems entirely at her ease,--a circumstance which I
+have never observed in any other species. The nest of the
+great-crested flycatcher is seldom free from snake skins, three or
+four being sometimes woven into it.
+
+About the thinnest, shallowest nest, for its situation, that can be
+found is that of the turtle-dove. A few sticks and straws are
+carelessly thrown together, hardly sufficient to prevent the eggs from
+falling through or rolling off. The nest of the passenger pigeon is
+equally hasty and insufficient, and the squabs often fall to the
+ground and perish. The other extreme among our common birds is
+furnished by the ferruginous thrush, which collects together a mass of
+material that would fill a half-bushel measure; or by the fish-hawk,
+which adds to and repairs its nest year after year, till the whole
+would make a cart-load.
+
+The rarest of all nests is that of the eagle, because the eagle is the
+rarest of all birds. Indeed, so seldom is the eagle seen, that its
+presence always seems accidental. It appears as if merely pausing on
+the way, while bound for some distant unknown region. One September,
+while a youth, I saw the ring-tailed eagle, an immense, dusky bird,
+the sight of which filled me with awe. It lingered about the hills for
+two days. Some young cattle, a two year-old colt, and half a dozen
+sheep were at pasture on a high ridge that led up to the mountain,
+and in plain view of the house. On the second day, this dusky monarch
+was seen flying about above them. Presently he began to hover over
+them, after the manner of a hawk watching for mice. He then with
+extended legs let himself slowly down upon them, actually grappling
+the backs of the young cattle, and frightening the creatures so that
+they rushed about the field in great consternation; and finally, as he
+grew bolder and more frequent in his descents, the whole herd broke
+over the fence, and came tearing down to the house "like mad." It did
+not seem to be an assault with intent to kill, but was, perhaps, a
+stratagem resorted to in order to separate the herd and expose the
+lambs, which hugged the cattle very closely. When he occasionally
+alighted upon the oaks that stood near, the branch _could_ be seen to
+sway and bend beneath him. Finally, as a rifleman started out in
+pursuit of him, he launched into the air, set his wings, and sailed
+away southward. A few years afterward, in January, another eagle
+passed through the same locality, alighting in a field near some dead
+animal, but tarried briefly.
+
+[Illustration: EAGLE.]
+
+So much by way of identification. The bird is common to the northern
+parts of both hemispheres, and places its eyrie on high, precipitous
+rocks. A pair built on an inaccessible shelf of rock along the Hudson
+for eight successive years. A squad of Revolutionary soldiers also
+found a nest along this river, and had an adventure with the bird that
+came near costing one of their number his life. His comrades let him
+down by a rope to secure the eggs or young, when he was attacked by
+the female eagle with such fury that he was obliged to defend himself
+with his knife. In doing so, by a mis-stroke, he nearly severed the
+rope that held him, and was drawn up by a single strand from his
+perilous position. Audubon, from whom this anecdote is taken, figures
+and describes this bird as the golden eagle, though I have little
+doubt that Wilson was right, and that the golden eagle is a distinct
+species.
+
+The sea-eagle also builds on high rocks, according to Audubon, though
+Wilson describes the nest of one which he saw near Great Egg Harbor,
+in the top of a large yellow pine. It was a vast pile of sticks, sods,
+sedge, grass, reeds, etc., five or six feet high by four broad, and
+with little or no concavity. It had been used for many years, and he
+was told that the eagles made it a sort of home or lodging-place in
+all seasons. This agrees with the description which Audubon gives of
+the nest of the bald eagle. There is evidently a little confusion on
+both sides.
+
+The eagle in all cases uses one nest, with more or less repair, for
+several years. Many of our common birds do the same. The birds may be
+divided, with respect to this and kindred points, into five general
+classes. First, those that repair and appropriate the last year's
+nest, as the wren, swallow, blue-bird, great-crested flycatcher, owls,
+eagles, fish-hawk, and a few others. Secondly, those that build anew
+each season, though frequently rearing more than one brood in the same
+nest. Of these, the phœbe-bird is a well-known example. Thirdly, those
+that build a new nest for each brood, which includes by far the
+greatest number of species. Fourthly, a limited number that make no
+nest of their own, but appropriate the abandoned nests of other birds.
+Finally, those who use no nest at all, but deposit their eggs in the
+sand, which is the case with a large number of aquatic fowls. Thus the
+common gull breeds in vast numbers on the sand bars or sand islands
+off the south coast of Long Island. A little dent is made in the sand,
+the eggs are dropped, and the old birds go their way. In due time the
+eggs are hatched by the warmth of the sun, and the little creatures
+shift for themselves. In July countless numbers of them, of different
+ages and sizes, swarm upon these sandy wastes. As the waves roll out,
+they rush down the beach, picking up a kind of sea gluten, and then
+hasten back to avoid the next breaker.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS IN THEIR RELATION TO AGRICULTURE
+
+(FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEBRASKA ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION JANUARY,
+1901.)[4]
+
+BY LAURENCE BRUNER.
+
+[4] By permission.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+When civilized man takes possession of new regions and begins
+cultivating the soil and establishes his sovereignty there, the
+equilibrium as it existed upon his arrival is very quickly disturbed.
+One or more of the many forms of life--plant and animal--that were
+previously held within certain limits gain ascendency. The
+introduction of new crops that furnish an abundance of the proper food
+for some insect, enables this form to increase out of all proportions
+and harm soon results. The killing off of certain other forms of life
+that naturally keep still others in check also assists in disturbing
+the equilibrium further. The cutting down and clearing away of forests
+removes the shelter and homes of others, as does also the turning
+under of prairie grasses. Then, too, many of the natural residents of
+primeval forests and virgin prairies shun the sight of man, hence they
+gradually withdraw from the region, and their influence for good or
+evil goes with them. Since the majority of such forms are timid and
+inoffensive creatures, their withdrawal only adds that much more to
+the already overbalanced conditions. Year by year the gap which at
+first was scarcely noticeable becomes widened, so that frequent
+inroads are made and harm results. Instead of trying to ascertain the
+true cause for all this trouble perhaps exactly the wrong thing is
+done by the settlers. This of course only has the effect of further
+widening the gap between safety and danger. Since an insect or other
+animal becomes noticeably harmful only when present in alarming
+numbers, it stands to reason that anything which favors such an
+abnormal increase is a factor in disturbing nature and should be
+quickly rectified where possible. In order that these disturbances
+should be looked after the all-wise God of the universe created birds
+and gave them the power of flight that they might the more readily
+move about rapidly from place to place, where their services might be
+needed in balancing affairs. Hence birds have naturally and rightfully
+been called the "balancers" in nature. This being true, let us see
+just what their relations are to agriculture.
+
+The farmer sows in order that he may reap an increased measure of what
+he has sown. In doing this he must first turn over the soil. This
+destroys many existing plants as well as animals that depend upon them
+for food. The plants thus turned down cannot regain their position
+and must of necessity die. Not so with many of the animals, however,
+which soon work their way to the surface. Some of these attack the
+growing plants which have been made to occupy the place of those
+destroyed by the plough. Others take wing and seek suitable food in
+adjoining districts where they add to the numbers already drawing upon
+the vegetation up to the point of possible continued supply. Here,
+then, the scales begin to vibrate. In the field the new and tender
+crop entices the ever-shifting individuals of myriads of forms that
+have been crowded out elsewhere. The result here too is, or would be,
+very disastrous were it not for the timely visit of flocks of birds
+likewise in search of food.
+
+It is during the period of first settlement of a country, when the
+fields are small, few and widely separated, that injury may and
+frequently does result from birds. It is then a problem that needs
+careful consideration, not only for the time being, but also for the
+future welfare of that country. If animal life is destroyed
+indiscriminately and without intelligent forethought, calamities
+unforeseen are sure to follow in the not distant future.
+
+Birds can be useful to man in many ways. They can benefit him by
+carrying the seeds of various plants from place to place so as to
+assist him in establishing new groves in which to find shelter from
+the cold in winter and refuge from the heat of the noonday sun in
+summer. They plant various shrubs by the wayside that spring up and
+later are laden with luscious fruit. They also carry the spawn of
+fishes and small crustaceans among their feathers into new waters, and
+feed upon the countless seeds of weeds that are scattered broadcast
+over the face of the earth. Some kinds live almost exclusively upon
+insects, while others hunt out the small rodents that would, if left
+to themselves, destroy great quantities of grain and other vegetation.
+Still other birds benefit mankind by acting as scavengers in the
+removal of putrid and other offensive matter which would endanger our
+health. In addition to all these varied direct benefits which are
+brought about by the presence of birds, man is further indebted to
+these creatures for the cheer which their gay music, bright plumage
+and pleasant manners bring to him. The birds form a carefully
+organized army of police which is engaged in keeping affairs balanced
+in nature.
+
+But we can go even further summing up the benefits that men may derive
+from the birds. A great many kinds make excellent food, while others
+furnish sport and pleasure to a large number of men and boys who seem
+to require a certain kind of entertainment while accompanied with dog
+and gun. Dead birds when embalmed as mummies and attached to the
+head-gear worn by some girls and women are also claimed to cause much
+happiness.
+
+_Birds as Enemies._--It would be ridiculous for me to assert here that
+no injury ever results from the presence of birds on the farm or in
+the orchard. Quite a number of different species are continually
+stepping over to the wrong side of the "ledger" as it were, and
+committing depredations of various kinds which if considered alone
+would render the perpetrators liable to severe punishment--in some
+cases even unto death. Some of the crimes that can be charged to the
+feathered tribe are cherry and berry-stealing, grape-puncturing,
+apple-pecking, corn-pulling, grain-eating, the unintentional carrying
+from place to place of some kinds of scale insects that happen to
+crawl on their legs and feet, the possible spreading of hog cholera by
+crows and buzzards, the robbing of the poultry yard, and lastly some
+birds are accused of making noises that awaken us from our slumbers in
+the morning.
+
+Some of these crimes are genuine and are to be deplored, while others
+are more imaginary than real. A few of them could be prevented in part
+or altogether, while others might be diminished if we were inclined to
+take the trouble to do it.
+
+After all that can be said pro and con concerning the usefulness of
+birds in general there remains no doubt, in the minds of thinking
+people at least, as to the value of these creatures. It is only the
+vicious, biased, and thoughtless persons who continue ruthlessly to
+destroy birds indiscriminately without first pausing to consider
+whether or not it is a proper thing to do, whether it is right or
+wrong.
+
+_Food habits._--So varied is this task of evening up in nature that if
+attended to properly the workers must be numerous in individuals and
+possess widely different habits. That such is the case can readily be
+seen by the following brief account of the various groups of our
+Nebraska birds, along with brief statements of their food habits.
+
+The Grebes and Loons feed chiefly upon snails and other aquatic
+animals such as are found about their haunts. They also capture many
+grasshoppers and similar insects that happen in their way. They
+cannot, therefore, be classed among the especially beneficial birds,
+neither can they be termed injurious on account of what they eat.
+
+The Gulls, provided as they are with long wings and great powers for
+flight, are not confined to the seacoast, hence they reach far inland
+in their migrations, feeding extensively upon insects like locusts,
+June-beetles, crickets, etc., large numbers of which they destroy
+annually. Several kinds of these birds are known to follow the plough
+and pick up the white grubs and other insects that are turned up and
+laid bare. In early days, when grasshoppers did much harm in this
+state, numerous flocks of these birds were seen to feed upon these
+insects.
+
+The Cormorants and Pelicans are chiefly destroyers of fishes and
+frogs, hence can hardly be classed among the most beneficial forms;
+but whether or not they do any more than to maintain the necessary
+equilibrium in that particular part of the vast field of nature it is
+difficult to judge without time for investigation.
+
+The various Ducks and Geese which are also nearly as aquatic in their
+habits as some of the foregoing, frequently leave their haunts and
+make excursions into the surrounding country where in summer they feed
+upon locusts, beetles, and other injurious insects. They also partake
+of considerable quantities of vegetable food, as grains, weed seeds,
+grasses, and other herbage. While not included among the insectivorous
+forms these birds do much towards diminishing the ever increasing
+horde of creeping and jumping things. Ducks and geese on the other
+hand are largely utilized by us as food: while their feathers make
+comfortable pillows and coverlets.
+
+The Herons, Cranes, and Rails are frequenters of marshes and the
+margins of streams and bodies of water, where they assist in keeping
+the various forms among the animal life balanced. Fishes, frogs,
+snails, insects, and crustaceans are alike devoured by them.
+
+The Snipe, Sandpipers, Plovers, Phalaropes, Curlews, etc., are great
+destroyers of insects. Moving as many of them do in great flocks and
+spreading out over the meadows, pastures, and hillsides, as well as
+among the cultivated fields, they do a large amount of careful police
+service in arresting the culprits among insects. They even pry them
+out of burrows and crevices in the earth where these creatures lurk
+during daytime only to come forth after nightfall to destroy
+vegetation. The large flocks of Eskimo Curlews that formerly passed
+through eastern Nebraska did magnificent work during years when the
+Rocky Mountain Locust was with us, as did also the equally large
+flocks of Golden Plovers. The Bartramian Sandpiper even now is a great
+factor each summer in checking the increasing locusts on our prairies.
+
+The various members of the Grouse family, while belonging to a
+grain-eating group, are certainly quite prominent as insect
+destroyers. Especially is this so with respect to the Quail, Prairie
+Hen, Sharptailed Grouse, and Wild Turkey, all of which are occupied
+most of the summer months in capturing and destroying vast numbers of
+such insects as are found on the prairies. Grasshoppers, locusts,
+crickets, caterpillars, and similar insects comprise the bulk of their
+insect food--forms that are all among the most numerous as well as
+destructive species. In writing about these birds as insect
+destroyers Prof. Samuel Aughey writes: "I happened to be in the
+Republican Valley, in south-western Nebraska, in August, 1874, when
+the locust invaded that region. Prairie chickens and quails, that
+previous to their coming had a large number of seeds in their
+stomachs, when dissected, seemed now for a time to abandon all other
+kinds of food. At least from this onward for a month little else than
+locusts were found in their stomachs. All the birds seemed now to live
+solely on locusts for a while." In winter and at other times of the
+year when insect life is scarce and difficult to obtain, these birds
+feed more or less extensively upon seeds and other kinds of
+vegetation. Some even enter cultivated grounds and seek food that
+belongs to the farmer, thereby doing more or less direct injury. The
+extent of such injury, of course, depends upon the number of birds
+engaged in the depredations, and also on the time over which it is
+allowed to extend. If corn and other grain is harvested at the proper
+time, but little damage ensues; but if allowed to remain in the field
+throughout winter, much of the crop is liable to be taken by the
+birds.
+
+[Illustration: QUAIL.]
+
+Perhaps no other bird that frequents the farm pays higher prices for
+the grain it eats than does the Quail. Living about the hedgerows,
+groves, and ravines, where insect enemies gather and lurk during the
+greater part of the year, this bird not only seizes large numbers of
+these enemies daily during the summer months when they are "abroad in
+the land," but all winter through it scratches among the fallen leaves
+and other rubbish that accumulates about its haunts seeking for
+hibernating insects of various kinds. Being a timid little creature,
+the Quail seldom leaves cover to feed openly in the fields, and
+therefore does but little actual harm in the way of destroying grain.
+In fact it only takes stray kernels that otherwise might be lost. This
+bird is one of the few that feeds upon that unsavory insect, the
+chinch-bug; and the number of this pest that occasionally are
+destroyed by it is really astonishing. No farmer or fruit-grower
+should ever kill a quail himself nor allow anyone else to hunt it on
+his premises.
+
+Our domestic fowls, save ducks and geese, from which so much direct
+income is derived throughout the year, belong here. It would be folly
+on my part to assert that they are useless to the farmer. Besides
+furnishing eggs and meat for the table, they are great aids in keeping
+down a variety of noxious insects during spring, summer, and fall.
+
+The various species of Doves or Pigeons are not, as a rule, thought of
+as being especially harmful, yet repeated examinations of their
+stomach contents would indicate that their food seldom, if ever,
+consists of anything but grains and various kinds of seeds along with
+other particles of vegetation. The good done by these birds as
+destroyers of weed seeds more than pays for the harm done by them as
+grain-eaters.
+
+Recent careful study with reference to the food habits of Hawks and
+Owls carried on by the United States Department of Agriculture go to
+show that these birds, with but few exceptions, are the farmer's
+friends rather than his enemies. It appears that the good which they
+accomplish in the way of destroying mice, gophers, rabbits and other
+small mammals along with great quantities of noxious insects far
+exceeds the possible harm they do by the occasional destruction of
+poultry and other birds. A critical examination of the actual contents
+of about twenty-seven hundred stomachs of these birds showed that only
+six of the seventy-three species found in the United States are
+injurious. Three of these are so rare that they need not be
+considered. Of the remaining three the Fish Hawk is only indirectly
+injurious: hence but two remain to be considered, viz., the
+Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks. "Omitting the six species that feed
+largely on poultry and game, 2,212 stomachs were examined, of which
+56 per cent contained mice and other small mammals, 27 per cent insects,
+and only 3½ per cent poultry and game birds."
+
+The food habits of both the Turkey Vulture and Carrion Crow, or Black
+Vulture, are of such a nature that the destruction of these birds
+should be prohibited. In fact, in many of the states this is done by
+law. They live almost exclusively upon carrion or decomposing animal
+matter, and in this manner aid in the prevention of diseases that
+might result from the presence of such filth. They may, however, be
+the cause of indirectly spreading hog cholera where animals that have
+died from this disease are left unburied or unburned.
+
+The Cuckoos are among the few birds that habitually feed upon hairy
+caterpillars, such as the various "tent-making" species. They also
+destroy large numbers of other caterpillars, and do not object to
+beetles and other insects which they find among the foliage of trees.
+Although shy birds they are frequently seen in cities, where they do
+their share in protecting the shade trees from the ravages of insect
+defoliators.
+
+[Illustration: WOODPECKER.]
+
+Taking the Woodpeckers as a family, there are few persons but who will
+readily admit that these birds comprise a very useful group. Feeding,
+in fact, as most of them do, upon the larvæ of wood-boring insects,
+they can readily do much greater good for the actual number of insects
+destroyed than if they destroyed only those that feed upon the foliage
+of trees. Not unfrequently will a single borer kill an entire tree if
+left to itself, while hundreds of foliage-feeding caterpillars of the
+same size have but little effect upon the appearance, to say nothing
+of the health, of the same tree.
+
+Mr. M. L. Beal, assistant in the Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy
+of the United States Department of Agriculture, in summing up the
+results obtained from the examination of six hundred and seventy-nine
+stomachs of these birds, writes as follows:
+
+"In reviewing the results of these investigations and comparing one
+species with another, without losing sight of the fact that
+comparative good is not necessarily positive good, it appears that of
+seven species considered the Downy Woodpecker is the most beneficial."
+He then goes on to give the food habits based on contents of the
+stomachs of our most common species. "Judged by the stomach
+examinations of the Downy and Hairy Woodpecker and Flicker it would be
+hard to find three other species of our common birds with fewer
+harmful qualities."
+
+The Flicker is one of our most common woodpeckers in Nebraska and does
+much towards keeping down a number of different kinds of insects. It
+is very fond of ants as a diet, in fact is partial to them, and this
+element forms almost half of its entire food-supply during the year.
+It also occasionally feeds upon the chinch-bug, as can be attested by
+the fact that the stomach of a specimen killed near Lincoln contained
+in the vicinity of one thousand of these bugs. It is also a
+fruit-eater to the extent of about one-quarter of its entire bill of
+fare, but nature, not man, furnishes the supply. It takes the wild
+kinds in preference to those that are cultivated.
+
+The Whippoorwill, Night Hawk, and Swifts feed entirely on insects,
+and must consequently be classed among the beneficial birds. They all
+capture their prey while upon the wing, and naturally destroy large
+numbers of troublesome kinds.
+
+The various species of Flycatchers, as the name implies, destroy
+insects which they capture for the most part while on the wing. Flies
+and allied insects are quite prominent on their bill of fare; but
+these by no means are the only kinds of insects destroyed by them.
+Many a luckless locust, butterfly, moth or even beetle is snapped up
+and devoured by the different species of the family. The Bee-bird, or
+Kingbird as it is more frequently called, sometimes even catches bees.
+These latter, however, consist largely of drones, hence comparatively
+little harm is done.
+
+One should be unprejudiced in order to write a fair biography of even
+a bird, or group of birds. To say that I am without such prejudice
+with reference to some of the members of the family of birds now to be
+considered, would be a falsehood. Still, I shall endeavor to give as
+unbiased testimony as possible with reference to their food-habits at
+least, and let the reader judge for himself as to what would be the
+proper treatment for these birds. Taking the family as a whole that
+which is made up of birds like the Crows, Ravens, Magpies, Jays,
+Nut-crackers, "Camp-robbers," etc., though some of them have
+unenviable names and reputations at least, are not at all as bad as we
+are sometimes requested to believe them to be.
+
+The Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and immediate relatives are what might be
+termed "omnivorous" in food-habits, eating everything that comes their
+way. Crows, however, have been shown to feed largely on insects,
+which in great measure at least, offsets the harm done in other
+directions. They also feed on various substances, the removal of which
+is for the general good.
+
+The Raven is too rare a bird in this state to be taken into
+consideration in respect to food-habits, and the Magpie certainly can
+be put out of the question of doing any possible harm for the same
+reason. This leaves then to be considered, the Jays, of which we seem
+to have six or seven distinct kinds; but only two of these are at all
+common. The Blue Jay is found over the entire state, and is familiar
+to everybody. The second species is found only in the western and
+north-western portions among the pine forests, and is known as the
+Pinon Jay or "Camp-robber"--the latter name not very flattering to the
+bird I must confess.
+
+The Blue Jay does much of the mischief that is laid at the door of the
+Robin, orioles, thrushes, and other birds, and then sneaks away
+unobserved. He also destroys large numbers of insects and robs the
+nest of some small birds.
+
+In the Bobolink, Meadowlark, Orioles, and Black-birds, we have some of
+the most important insect destroyers among the feathered tribes. The
+Bobolink is with us only during the summer months when it is entirely
+insectivorous; and the same can be said of the Cowbird, although the
+latter has the bad habit of compelling other birds to rear its young.
+
+In the Red-winged Blackbird we have a friend that we little dream of
+when we see the large flocks gathering about our corn-fields during
+late summer, and early fall. During the balance of the year it is
+engaged most of the time in waging war on various insect pests,
+including such forms as the "grub-worms," cut-worms, grasshoppers,
+army worm, beet caterpillar, etc. Even when it visits our corn-fields
+it more than pays for the corn it eats by the destruction of the worms
+that lurk under the husks of a large per cent of the ears in every
+field.
+
+[Illustration: BOBOLINK.]
+
+Several years ago the beet fields in the vicinity of Grand Island were
+threatened great injury by a certain caterpillar that had nearly
+defoliated all the beets growing in many of them. At about this time
+large flocks of this bird appeared and after a week's sojourn the
+caterpillar plague had vanished, it having been converted into bird
+tissues. Numerous other records of the efficiency of their labor as
+destroyers of insect pests might be quoted in favor of this bird, but
+I do not believe this to be necessary, although considerable evidence
+has been recorded of its destroying both fruits and grains.
+
+The Baltimore Oriole has received such a bad reputation here in
+Nebraska as a grape thief during the past few years that I feel
+inclined to give extra time and space in endeavoring to "clear him"
+of such an unenviable charge. This, however, I hardly think necessary
+when the facts in the case are known. As insect destroyers both this
+bird and the Orchard Oriole have had an undisputed reputation for many
+years: and the kinds of insects destroyed by both are of such a class
+as to count greatly in their favor. Caterpillars and beetles belonging
+to injurious species comprising ninety-six per cent of the food of
+three specimens killed is the record we have in their favor. On the
+other hand, grapes have been punctured only "presumably by this bird,
+since he has so frequently been found in the vineyard and must be the
+culprit." Now I myself have seen the Oriole in apple orchards under
+compromising circumstances, and have heard pretty strong evidence to
+the effect that it will occasionally puncture ripe apples. It also
+belongs in the same family with some generally accepted "rascals"
+hence I will admit that possibly some of the charges with which he is
+credited may be true; but I still believe that most of the injuries
+to grapes in this and other states must be laid to the English
+Sparrow.
+
+[Illustration: RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD.]
+
+If we take pains to water our birds during the dry seasons they will
+be much less apt to seek this supply from the juices of fruits that
+are so temptingly near at hand. Place little pans of water in the
+orchard and vineyard where the birds can visit them without fear of
+being seized by the house cat or knocked over by a missile from the
+alert "small boy," and I am sure that the injury to fruit, to a great
+extent at least, will cease.
+
+Recent investigations tend to prove that the Grackle or Crow-Blackbird
+does more good than harm and should be protected.
+
+Our Sparrows and their allies, taken together, form a very extensive
+family of very beautiful as well as useful birds. Like the warblers,
+they occupy themselves with searching for and destroying insects all
+summer long; but this is not all they do that is good. In fall,
+winter, and early spring, when Mother Earth has lost her brilliant
+green and rests in sombre browns or beneath ice and snow, the
+longspurs, Snow Bunting, Snowbird, and some of the sparrows that have
+remained with us are busily engaged in gathering for themselves a
+living. They hop and fly about from place to place searching for and
+picking up little seeds of grass, grain and weeds, of shrubs and
+trees, and appropriating the same to their use, chirping merrily as
+they work away. The European House Sparrow, or the English Sparrow as
+it is more commonly called, has the worst reputation of the entire
+family. But even this bird has some redeeming traits.
+
+The Tanagers are insect destroyers, feeding for the most part on such
+forms as attack the foliage of trees.
+
+All of our Swallows are insect destroyers, capturing such forms as
+gnats, flies, etc., which they seize while on the wing. The large
+colonies of different species of these birds that breed within the
+state, as well as those that pass through during their migrations,
+destroy great numbers of these insects. They should be protected.
+
+The Waxwings, both the Cedar Bird and Bohemian Waxwing, feed
+principally upon berries, etc., which they find throughout the year.
+Still, in his studies of the food contents of the stomachs of a
+variety of birds taken in a certain orchard that was overrun with
+canker worms, Professor Forbes found that the seven specimens of the
+Ceder Waxwing had eaten nothing but canker-worms and a few dung
+beetles, the latter in such small numbers as to scarcely count. The
+number of caterpillars eaten by each bird ranged from 70 to 101.
+
+The Shrikes or "Butcher Birds" are known as veritable "brigands" or
+"pirates" when it comes to the destruction of other forms of life.
+They are true to their name, and "butcher" for pastime large numbers
+of insects, mice, lizards, small snakes, and even a few birds. They
+then fly to some thorn bush or barbed-wire fence and impale the
+luckless victim and leave it for future use, or to dry up and finally
+blow away. The good they do will outweigh the harm.
+
+The food of the various Greenlets or Vireos is made up almost entirely
+of insects, of which a large per cent are caterpillars, such as
+infest shade trees and the larger shrubs. They should be protected and
+encouraged, about the orchard in particular.
+
+In the words of that pleasing writer, Dr. Elliott Coues,[5] "The
+Warblers have we always with us, all in their own good time; they come
+out of the south, pass on, return, and are away again, their
+appearance and withdrawal scarcely less than a mystery; many stay with
+us all summer long, and some brave the winters in our midst. Some of
+these slight creatures, guided by unerring instinct, travel true to
+the meridian in the hours of darkness, slipping past like a 'thief
+in the night,' stopping at daybreak from their lofty nights to rest
+and recruit for the next stage of the journey. Others pass more
+leisurely from tree to tree, in a ceaseless tide of migration,
+gleaning as they go; the hardier males, in full song and plumage, lead
+the way for the weaker females and yearlings. With tireless industry
+do the warblers befriend the human race; their unconscious zeal plays
+due part in the nice adjustment of nature's forces, helping to bring
+about the balance of vegetable and insect life without which
+agriculture would be in vain. They visit the orchard when the apple
+and pear, the peach, plum, and cherry are in bloom, seeming to revel
+carelessly amid the sweet-scented and delicately-tinted blossoms, but
+never faltering in their good work. They peer into the crevices of the
+bark, scrutinize each leaf, and explore the very heart of the buds, to
+detect, drag forth, and destroy those tiny creatures, singly
+insignificant, collectively a scourge, which prey upon the hopes of
+the fruit-grower, and which, if undisturbed, would bring his care to
+naught. Some warblers flit incessantly in the terminal foliage of the
+tallest trees; others hug close to the scored trunks and gnarled
+boughs of the forest kings; some peep from the thicket, coppice, the
+impenetrable mantle of shrubbery that decks tiny water-courses,
+playing at hide-and-seek with all comers; others more humble still,
+descend to the ground, where they glide with pretty mincing steps and
+affected turning of the head this way and that, their delicate
+flesh-tinted feet just stirring the layer of withered leaves with
+which a past season carpeted the ground. We may seek warblers
+everywhere in the season; we shall find them a continued surprise; all
+mood and circumstance is theirs."
+
+[5] Key to North American Birds, p. 288.
+
+Much could be written concerning the food-habits of the various
+members of the group of Thrushes, Mocking-birds and Wrens. Three of
+the species at least are known to be more or less destructive to
+fruits, viz., Catbird, Brown Thrasher, and Mocking-bird. Still, if we
+take into account what these birds eat during the entire time spent
+within the state, the balance sheet stands in favor of the birds as
+insect destroyers. The wrens are pre-eminently insect destroyers, and
+the others are not much behind them in this respect.
+
+The members of the family of Nuthatches and Tits feed for the most
+part on insects. But we lack very definite figures regarding the kinds
+and numbers of insects that each destroys. We can be sure, however,
+that any favors shown them will not be thrown away.
+
+The Thrushes, Solitaires, Bluebirds, etc., are all beneficial as
+insect destroyers, and might be well compared with the Robin, which is
+described quite fully beyond, only they are even less liable to commit
+injuries to fruits.
+
+The Robin has certainly been accused often enough of being a
+first-class rascal to warrant the belief that there must be at least
+some grounds for such accusations being made. In his examination of
+one hundred and fourteen stomachs of this bird, taken during ten
+months of the year, Professor Forbes, of Illinois, found the contents
+to consist of sixty-five per cent insects and thirty-four per cent of
+fruits and seeds. In the estimates of these food percentages taken by
+the Robin, as well as by other birds, bulk for bulk is taken, i.e., a
+quart of caterpillars or other insects is equivalent to a quart of
+cherries or a quart of berries. Professor Forbes asks this question:
+"Will the destruction of seventeen quarts of average caterpillars,
+including at least eight quarts of cut-worms, pay for twenty-four
+quarts of cherries, blackberries, currents, and grapes?" and then
+answers it in these words: "To this question I, for my own part, can
+only reply that I do not believe that the horticulturist can sell his
+small fruits anywhere in the ordinary markets of the world at so high
+a price as to the Robin, provided that he uses proper diligence that
+the little huckster doesn't overreach him in the bargain."
+
+Much more might be said in favor of the Robin had I the time and space
+at my command.
+
+After having carefully scanned the foregoing notes concerning the
+food-habits of our birds we cannot afford to continue indifferent to
+our treatment of them, nor can we even allow our neighbors to kill
+them though we ourselves have decided to reform in this respect. We
+must work for a change of heart in our neighbors also.
+
+
+
+
+THE SCISSOR BEAK
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES, ETC.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It has short legs, web feet, extremely long--pointed wings, and is
+about the size of a tern. The beak is flattened laterally, that is, in
+a plane at right angles to that of a spoonbill or duck. It is as flat
+and elastic as an ivory paper-cutter, and the lower mandible,
+differently from every other bird, is an inch and a half longer than
+the upper. In a lake near Maldonado, from which the water had been
+nearly drained, and which, in consequence, swarmed with small fry, I
+saw several of these birds, generally in small flocks, flying rapidly
+backwards and forwards close to the surface of the lake. They kept
+their bills wide open, and the lower mandible half buried in the
+water. Thus skimming the surface, they ploughed it in their course;
+the water was quite smooth, and it formed a most curious spectacle to
+behold a flock, each bird leaving its narrow wake on the mirror-like
+surface. In their flight they frequently twist about with extreme
+quickness, and dexterously manage with their projecting lower mandible
+to plough up small fish, which are secured by the upper and shorter
+half of their scissor-like bills. This fact I repeatedly saw, as, like
+swallows, they continued to fly backwards and forwards close before
+me. Occasionally when leaving the surface of the water their flight
+was wild, irregular and rapid; then they uttered loud harsh cries.
+When these birds are fishing, the advantage of the long primary
+feathers of their wings, in keeping them dry, is very evident. When
+thus employed, their forms resemble the symbol by which many artists
+represent marine birds. Their tails are much used in steering their
+irregular course.
+
+These birds are common far inland along the course of the Rio Parana;
+it is said that they remain here during the whole year, and breed in
+the marshes. During the day they rest in flocks on the grassy plains,
+at some distance from the water. Being at anchor, as I have said, in
+one of the deep creeks between the islands of Parana, as the evening
+drew to a close, one of these scissor-beaks suddenly appeared. The
+water was quite still, and many little fish were rising. The bird
+continued for a long time to skim the surface, flying in its wild and
+irregular manner up and down the narrow canal, now dark with the
+growing night and the shadows of the overhanging trees. At Montevideo,
+I observed that some large flocks during the day remained on the
+mud-banks at the head of the harbor, in the same manner as on the
+grassy plains near the Parana; and every evening they took flight
+seaward. From these facts I suspect that the Rhynchops generally
+fishes by night, at which time many of the lower animals come most
+abundantly to the surface. M. Lesson states that he has seen these
+birds opening the shells of the mactrae buried in the sandbanks on the
+coast of Chile; from their weak bills, with the lower mandible so much
+projecting, their short legs and long wings, it is very improbable
+that this can be a general habit.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE CONDOR
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES, ETC.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This day I shot a condor. It measured from tip to tip of the wings
+eight and a half feet, and from beak to tail, four feet. This bird is
+known to have a wide geographical range, being found on the west coast
+of South America, from the Strait of Magellan along the Cordillera as
+far as eight degrees north of the equator. The steep cliff near the
+mouth of the Rio Negro is its northern limit on the Patagonian coast;
+and they have there wandered about four hundred miles from the great
+central line of their habitation in the Andes. Further south, among
+the bold precipices at the head of Port Desire, the condor is not
+uncommon; yet only a few stragglers occasionally visit the seacoast. A
+line of cliff near the mouth of the Santa Cruz is frequented by these
+birds, and about eighty miles up the river, where the sides of the
+valley are formed by steep basaltic precipices, the condor reappears.
+From these facts, it seems that the condors require perpendicular
+cliffs. In Chile, they haunt, during the greater part of the year, the
+lower country near the shores of the Pacific, and at night several
+roost together in one tree; but in the early part of summer, they
+retire to the most inaccessible parts of the inner Cordilleras, there
+to breed in peace.
+
+With respect to their propagation, I was told by the country people in
+Chile, that the condor makes no sort of nest, but in the months of
+November and December lays two large white eggs on a shelf of bare
+rock. It is said that the young condors cannot fly for an entire year;
+and long after they are able, they continue to roost by night, and
+hunt with their parents. The old birds generally live in pairs; but
+among the inland basaltic cliffs of the Santa Cruz, I found a spot,
+where scores must usually haunt. On coming suddenly to the brow of the
+precipice, it was a grand spectacle to see between twenty and thirty
+of these birds start heavily from their resting-place, and wheel away
+in majestic circles. From the quantity of dung on the rocks, they must
+long have frequented this place for roosting and breeding. Having
+gorged themselves with carrion on the plains below, they retire to
+these favorite ledges to digest their food. From these facts, the
+condor, like the gallinazo, must to a certain degree be considered as
+a gregarious bird. In this part of the country they live altogether on
+the guanacos which have died a natural death, or, as more commonly
+happens, have been killed by the pumas. I believe, from what I saw in
+Patagonia, they do not on ordinary occasions extend their daily
+excursions to any great distance from their regular sleeping-places.
+
+The condors may oftentimes be seen at a great height, soaring over a
+certain spot in the most graceful circles. On some occasions I am sure
+that they do this only for pleasure, but on others, the Chileno
+countryman tells you that they are watching a dying animal, or the
+puma devouring its prey. If the condors glide down, and then suddenly
+all rise together, the Chileno knows that it is the puma which,
+watching the carcass, has sprung out to drive away the robbers.
+Besides feeding on carrion, the condors frequently attack young goats
+and lambs; and the shepherd dogs are trained, whenever they pass over,
+to run out, and looking upwards to bark violently. The Chilenos
+destroy and catch numbers. Two methods are used; one is to place a
+carcass on a level piece of ground within an enclosure of sticks with
+an opening, and when the condors are gorged, to gallop up on horseback
+to the entrance, and thus enclose them; for when this bird has not
+space to run, it cannot give its body sufficient momentum to rise from
+the ground. The second method is to mark the trees in which,
+frequently to the number of five or six together, they roost, and then
+at night to climb up and noose them. They are such heavy sleepers, as
+I have myself witnessed, that this is not a difficult task. At
+Valpariso, I have seen a living condor sold for sixpence, but the
+common price is eight or ten shillings. One which I saw brought in had
+been tied with rope, and was much injured; yet, the moment the line
+was cut by which its bill was secured, although surrounded by people,
+it began ravenously to tear a piece of carrion. In a garden at the
+same place, between twenty and thirty were kept alive. They were fed
+only once a week, but they appeared in pretty good health. The Chileno
+countrymen assert that the condor will live, and retain its vigor,
+between five and six weeks without eating; I cannot answer for the
+truth of this, but it is a cruel experiment, which very likely has
+been tried.
+
+When an animal is killed in the country, it is well known that the
+condors, like other carrion-vultures, soon gain intelligence of it,
+and congregate in an inexplicable manner. In most cases it must not be
+overlooked, that the birds have discovered their prey, and have picked
+the skeleton clean, before the flesh is in the least degree tainted.
+Remembering the experiments of M. Audubon, on the little smelling
+powers of carrion-hawks, I tried in the above-mentioned garden the
+following experiment: the condors were tied, each by a rope, in a long
+row at the bottom of a wall; and having folded up a piece of meat in
+white paper, I walked backwards and forwards, carrying it in my hand
+at the distance of about three yards from them, but no notice whatever
+was taken. I then threw it on the ground, within one yard of an old
+male bird; he looked at it for a moment with attention, but then
+regarded it no more. With a stick I pushed it closer and closer, until
+at last he touched it with his beak; the paper was then instantly torn
+off with fury, and at the same moment, every bird in the long row
+began struggling and flapping its wings. Under the same circumstances,
+it would have been quite impossible to have deceived a dog. The
+evidence in favor of and against the acute smelling powers of
+carrion-vultures is singularly balanced. Professor Owen has
+demonstrated that the olfactory nerves of the turkey-buzzard
+(_Cathartes aura_) are highly developed; and on the evening when Mr.
+Owen's paper was read at the Zoölogical Society, it was mentioned by a
+gentleman that he had seen the carrion-hawks in the West Indies on two
+occasions collect on the roof of a house, when a corpse had become
+offensive from not having been buried: in this case, the intelligence
+could hardly have been acquired by sight. On the other hand, besides
+the experiments of Audubon and that one by myself, Mr. Bachman has
+tried in the United States many varied plans, showing that neither the
+turkey-buzzard (the species dissected by Professor Owen) nor the
+gallinazo find their food by smell. He covered portions of highly
+offensive offal with a thin canvas cloth, and strewed pieces of meat
+on it; these the carrion-vultures ate up, and then remained quietly
+standing, with their beaks within the eighth of an inch of the putrid
+mass, without discovering it. A small rent was made in the canvas, and
+the offal was immediately discovered; the canvas was replaced by a
+fresh piece, and meat again put on it, and was again devoured by the
+vultures without their discovering the hidden mass on which they were
+trampling. These facts are attested by the signatures of six
+gentlemen, besides that of Mr. Bachman.
+
+Often when lying down to rest on the open plains, on looking upwards,
+I have seen carrion-hawks sailing through the air at a great height.
+When the country is level I do not believe a space of the heavens, of
+more than fifteen degrees above the horizon, is commonly viewed with
+any attention by a person either walking or on horseback. If such be
+the case, and the vulture is on the wing at a height of between three
+or four thousand feet, before it could come within the range of
+vision, its distance in a straight line from the beholder's eye, would
+be rather more than two British miles. Might it not thus readily be
+overlooked? When an animal is killed by the sportsman in a lonely
+valley, may he not all the while be watched from above by the
+sharp-sighted bird? And will not the manner of its descent proclaim
+throughout the district to the whole family of carrion feeders, that
+their prey is at hand?
+
+When the condors are wheeling in a flock round and round any spot,
+their flight is beautiful. Except when rising from the ground, I do
+not recollect ever having seen one of these birds flap its wings. Near
+Lima, I watched several for nearly half an hour, without once taking
+off my eyes; they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles,
+descending and ascending without giving a single flap. As they glided
+close over my head, I intently watched from an oblique position, the
+outlines of the separate and great terminal feathers of each wing; and
+these separate feathers, if there had been the least vibratory
+movement, would have appeared as if blended together; for they were
+seen distinct against the blue sky. The head and neck were moved
+frequently, and apparently with force; and the extended wings seemed
+to form the fulcrum on which the movements of the neck, body, and tail
+acted. If the bird wished to descend, the wings were for a moment
+collapsed; and when again expanded with an altered inclination, the
+momentum gained by the rapid descent seemed to urge the bird upwards
+with the even and steady movement of a paper kite. In the case of any
+bird _soaring_, its motion must be sufficiently rapid, so that the
+action of the inclined surface of its body on the atmosphere may
+counterbalance its gravity. The force to keep up the momentum of a
+body moving in a horizontal plane in the air (in which there is so
+little friction) cannot be great, and this force is all that is
+wanted. The movement of the neck and body of the condor, we must
+suppose, is sufficient for this. However this may be, it is truly
+wonderful and beautiful to see so great a horde, hour after hour,
+without any apparent exertion, wheeling and gliding over mountain and
+river.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE UMBRELLA BIRD
+
+(FROM TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON.)
+
+BY SIR A. R. WALLACE.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This singular bird is about the size of a raven, and is of a similar
+color, but its feathers have a more scaly appearance, from being
+margined with a different shade of glossy blue. It is also allied to
+the crows in its structure, being very similar to them in its feet and
+bill. On its head it bears a crest, different from that of any other
+bird. It is formed of feathers more than two inches long, very thickly
+set, and with hairy plumes curving over at the end. These can be laid
+back so as to be hardly visible, or can be erected and spread out on
+every side, forming a hemi-spherical, or rather a hemi-ellipsoidal
+dome, completely covering the head, and even reaching beyond the point
+of the beak: the individual feathers then stand out something like the
+down-bearing seeds of the dandelion. Besides this, there is another
+ornamental appendage on the breast, formed by a fleshy tubercle, as
+thick as a quill and an inch and a half long, which hangs down from
+the neck, and is thickly covered with glossy feathers, forming a large
+pendant plume or tassel. This also the bird can either press to its
+breast, so as to be scarcely visible, or can swell out, so as almost
+to conceal the forepart of its body. In the female the crest and the
+neck-plume are less developed, and she is altogether a smaller and
+much less handsome bird. It inhabits the flooded islands of the Rio
+Negro and the Solimoes, never appearing on the mainland. It feeds on
+fruits, and utters a loud, hoarse cry, like some deep musical
+instrument; whence its Indian name, _Uera-mimbe_, "trumpet-bird." The
+whole of the neck, where the plume of feathers springs from, is
+covered internally with a thick coat of hard, muscular fat, very
+difficult to be cleaned away,--which in preparing the skins, must be
+done, as it would putrefy, and cause the feathers to drop off. The
+birds are tolerably abundant, but are shy, and perch on the highest
+trees, and, being very muscular, will not fall unless severely
+wounded.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: THE UMBRELLA BIRD.]
+
+
+
+
+HUMMING BIRDS
+
+(FROM THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.)
+
+BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Soon after crossing the muddy Artigua below Pavon, a beautifully clear
+and sparkling brook is reached, coming down to join its pure waters
+with the soiled river below. In the evening this was a favorite resort
+of many birds that came to drink at the pellucid stream, or catch
+insects playing above the water. Amongst the last was the beautiful
+blue, green and white humming-bird; the head and neck deep
+metallic-blue, bordered on the back by a pure white collar over the
+shoulders, followed by deep metallic-green; on the underside the blue
+neck is succeeded by green, the green from the centre of the breast to
+the end of the tail by pure white; the tail can be expanded to a half
+circle, and each feather widening towards the end makes the semicircle
+complete around the edge. When catching the ephemeridæ that play above
+the water, the tail is not expanded: it is reserved for times of
+courtship. I have seen the female sitting quietly on a branch, and
+two males displaying their charms in front of her. One would shoot up
+like a rocket, than suddenly expanding the snow-white tail like an
+inverted parachute, slowly descend in front of her, turning round
+gradually to show off both back and front. The effect was heightened
+by the wings being invisible from a distance of a few yards, both from
+their great velocity of movement and from not having the metallic
+lustre of the rest of the body. The expanded white tail covered more
+space than all the rest of the bird, and was evidently the grand
+feature in the performance. Whilst one was descending, the other would
+shoot up and come slowly down expanded. The entertainment would end in
+a fight between the two performers; but whether the most beautiful or
+the most pugnacious was the accepted suitor, I know not. Another fine
+humming-bird seen about this brook was the long-billed, fire-throated
+_Heliomaster pallidiceps_, Gould, generally seen probing long,
+narrow-throated red flowers, forming, with their attractive nectar,
+complete traps for the small insects on which the humming-birds feed,
+the bird returning the favor by carrying the pollen of one flower to
+another. A third species, also seen at this brook, _Petasophora
+delphinae_, Less., is of a dull brown color, with brilliant
+ear-feathers and metallic-green throat. Both it and the _Florisuga
+mellivora_ are short billed, generally catching flying insects, and do
+not frequent flowers so much as other humming-birds. I have seen the
+_Petasophora_ fly into the centre of a dancing column of midges and
+rapidly darting first at one end then at another secure half a dozen
+of the tiny flies before the column was broken up; then retire to a
+branch and wait until it was re-formed, when it made another sudden
+descent on them.... I have no doubt many humming-birds suck the honey
+from flowers, as I have seen it exude from their bills when shot; but
+others do not frequent them; and the principal food of all is small
+insects. I have examined scores of them, and never without finding
+insects in their crops. Their generally long bills have been spoken of
+by some naturalists as tubes into which they suck the honey by a
+piston-like movement of the tongue; but suction in the usual way would
+be just as effective; and I am satisfied that this is not the primary
+use of the tongue, nor of the mechanism which enables it to be exerted
+to a great length beyond the end of the bill. The tongue, for one-half
+of its length, is semi-horny and cleft in two, the two halves are laid
+flat against each other when at rest, but can be separated at the will
+of the bird and form a delicate pliable pair of forceps, most
+admirably adapted for picking out minute insects from amongst the
+stamens of the flowers.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE FOUNDATIONS OF A WONDERFUL CITY
+
+(FROM THE LIFE OF THE BEES.)
+
+BY MAURICE MAETERLINCK.
+
+(TRANSLATED BY MARIE JOSEPHINE WELSH.)
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Here in their new home there is nothing--not a drop of honey nor a
+single landmark in the shape of a piece of wax. The bee has no data
+and no starting-point; he has nothing but the desolate nakedness of
+the walls and the roof of an immense building. The walls are round and
+smooth, but all is dark within.... The bee does not understand useless
+regrets, or if he does, he does not encumber himself with them. Far
+from being discouraged by the conditions which now confront him, he is
+more determined than ever. The hive is no sooner set up in its proper
+place than the disorder of the crowd begins to diminish, and one sees
+in the swarming multitude clear and definite divisions which take
+shape in a most unexpected manner. The larger part of the bees, acting
+precisely like an army which is obeying the definite orders of its
+officer, at once begins to form thick columns along the whole length
+of the vertical partitions of the hive. The first to arrive at the top
+hang on to the arch by the claws of their hind legs, those who come
+after attach themselves to the first, and so on till long chains are
+formed which serve as bridges for the ever mounting crowd to pass
+over. Little by little these chains are multiplied with indefinite
+re-enforcements and interlacing each other become garlands, which,
+owing to the enormous and uninterrupted mounting of the bees upon
+them, are transformed into a thick triangular curtain, or rather into
+a sort of compact reversed cone, the point of which is attached to the
+top of the hive; the base of which is about two-thirds of the total
+height of the hive. Then the last bee, which would appear to be
+summoned by some interior voice to join this group, mounts this
+curtain, which is hung in the darkness, and little by little every
+movement among the vast crowd ceases, and this strange reversed cone
+remains for many hours in a silence which might be called religious,
+and in a statuesqueness which in such a mass of life is almost
+startling, waiting for the arrival of the mystery of the wax.
+
+[Illustration: CLUSTER OF BEES.]
+
+[Illustration: A BEE HIVE.]
+
+While this is going on, without taking any notice of the wonderful
+curtain from out of whose folds so magic a gift will come, without
+even appearing to be tempted to attach themselves to it, the rest of
+the bees, that is all those who are on the floor of the hive, begin to
+examine the building and to undertake the work which is necessary to
+be done. The floor is carefully swept, dead leaves, twigs, grains of
+sand are transferred to a considerable distance one by one, for bees
+have an absolute mania for cleanliness; so much is this the case that
+in the winter, when the extremely cold weather prevents them from
+taking what bee lovers know as their "flight of cleanliness," rather
+than soil the interior of the hive they perish in enormous numbers,
+victims of a disease of the stomach.
+
+After this cleaning up is done these same bees set themselves to work
+to carefully close up every opening which is round about the lower
+part of the hive. Finally when every crack has been carefully looked
+over, filled up and covered with propolis, they begin to varnish the
+whole of the interior sides. By this time guardians are placed at the
+entrance of the hive, and very soon a number of the working bees start
+on their first trip to the fields and begin to come back laden with
+nectar and pollen....
+
+Let us now lift up, so far as we may, one of the folds of this
+garlanded curtain in the midst of which the swarm is beginning to
+produce that strange exudation which is almost as white as snow, and
+is lighter than the down on a bird's breast. The wax which is now
+being made does not resemble at all that with which we are acquainted.
+It is colorless, and may be said to be imponderable. It is the very
+soul of the honey, which in its turn is the very spirit of the
+flowers, evolved by the bees in a species of silent and motionless
+incantation....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is very difficult to follow the various phases of the secretion and
+of the manner in which the wax is evolved by the swarm which is just
+beginning to build. The operation takes place in the midst of a dense
+crowd which becomes constantly more and more dense, thus producing a
+temperature favorable to the exudation of the wax in its first stage.
+
+Huber, who was the first to study these operations with marvellous
+patience, and sometimes not without personal danger, has written more
+than fifty pages on the subject, but they are very confused. For
+myself, as I am not writing a scientific book, I shall confine myself
+to describing what anybody can see if he will watch the movements of a
+swarm in a glass hive. At the same time I shall not fail to avail
+myself of Huber's studies whenever they may prove to be of service. We
+must admit at the very outset that the process by which the honey is
+transformed into wax in the bodies of this mysterious curtain of bees
+is still hidden in mystery. All that we know is that after about
+eighteen or twenty-four hours in a temperature so high that one might
+almost imagine there was a fire in the hive, small, white, transparent
+scales appear at the opening of the four little pockets which are to
+be found on each side of the abdomen of the bee. When the larger part
+of those who form the reversed cone have their abdomens decorated with
+these little ivory plates, one of them may be seen, as if under the
+influence of a sudden inspiration, to detach itself from the crowd and
+climb over the backs of its passive brethren until it reaches the apex
+of the cupola of the hive; attaching herself firmly to the top, she
+immediately sets to work to brush away those of her neighbors who may
+interfere with her movements. Then she seizes with her mouth one of
+the eight scales on the side of her abdomen and chews it, clips it,
+draws it out, steeps it in saliva, kneads it, crushes it, and makes it
+again into shape as dexterously as a carpenter would handle a piece of
+veneering. Then when the substance has been treated so as to bring it
+to the desired size and to the desired consistency, it is affixed to
+the very summit of the interior of the dome, and thus the first stone
+is laid of the new city, or rather the key-stone of the new city is
+placed in the arch, for we are considering a city turned upside down,
+which descends from the sky and which does not arise from the bosom of
+the earth as do terrestrial cities. Then she proceeds to apply to this
+key-stone more of the wax which she takes from her body, and having
+given to the whole of her part of the work one last finishing stroke,
+she retires as quickly as she came and is lost in the crowd; another
+replaces her and immediately takes up the work where she has left it
+off, adds her own to it, puts that right which appears to her to be
+not in conformity with the general plan, and disappears in her turn,
+while a third and a fourth and a fifth succeed her in a series of
+sudden and inspired apparitions, not one of whom finishes a piece of
+work, but all bring to it their common share.
+
+Now there hangs from the top of the vault a small block of wax which
+is yet without form. As soon as it appears to be thick enough there
+comes out of the group another bee bearing an entirely different
+aspect from that of those which have preceded it. One may well believe
+on seeing the certainty, the determination, with which he goes about
+his work and the manner in which those who stand round about him look
+on, that he is an expert engineer who has come to construct in space
+the place which the first cell shall occupy, the cell from which must
+mathematically depend everything which is afterwards constructed.
+Whatever he may be, this bee belongs to a class of the sculpturing, of
+chisel working bees who produce no wax and whose function seems to be
+to employ the materials with which the others furnish them. This bee
+then chooses the place of the first cell. She digs for a moment in the
+block of wax which has already been placed in position, and builds up
+the side of the cell with the wax that she picks from the cavity. Then
+in exactly the same way as her predecessors have done, she suddenly
+leaves the work she has designed; another impatient worker replaces
+her and carries it on another step, which is finished by a third one.
+In the meantime others are working round about her according to the
+same method of division of labor until the outer sides of each wall is
+finished.
+
+It would almost seem that an essential law of the hive was that every
+worker should take a pride in its work, and that all the work should
+be done in common, and so to speak, unanimously, in order that the
+fraternal spirit should not be disturbed by a sense of jealousy.
+
+Very soon the outline of the comb may be seen. In form it is still
+lenticular, for the little prismatic tubes of which it is composed are
+unequally prolonged, and they diminish as they get away from the
+centre towards the extremities. At this moment it might be compared,
+both in form and in thickness, to a human tongue hanging down from two
+of the sides of the hexagonal cells which are placed back to back.
+
+As soon as the first cells are constructed, the workers add a roof to
+the second and so on to the third and to the fourth. These sets of
+cells are divided by irregular intervals, and they are calculated in
+such a manner that when they are made to receive their full
+complement, the bees always have room enough to move about between the
+parallel walls of the honeycombs.
+
+It follows then that in making their original plan the different
+thicknesses of every honeycomb must be fixed upon, and at the same
+time the alley-ways which separate each must be different in turn,
+and this width must be twice the height of a bee since they have to
+pass each other between the upright combs.
+
+But even the bees are not infallible, and they do not always work with
+exact mechanical certainty. When they find themselves in a difficult
+place they sometimes make very great blunders. One often finds that
+they leave too much, and often too little, space between the
+honeycombs, and they remedy these faults as well as they
+can--sometimes in finishing the comb which is too near another in an
+oblique line, or sometimes when they have left too much space they
+interpose a smaller comb between it.
+
+Réamur, on this subject, says:--"Since bees sometimes make mistakes
+and rectify them, this must be a proof that they possess the power of
+reason."
+
+[Illustration: QUEEN BEE.]
+
+It is known that bees make four different kinds of cells. There are
+first the "royal cells" which are exceptional and are of acorn shape.
+Then there are the large cells in which the male bees are reared, and
+in which provisions are stored when the flowers furnish forth of their
+abundance. Then there are the little cells which may be called the
+"cradles of the working bees," which are also employed as ordinary
+store-rooms. These generally occupy about eight-tenth's of the
+total surface of the combs in a hive; and finally there are a certain
+number of what may be called transition cells. Although these latter
+are inevitably irregular, the dimensions of the second or third type
+are so well calculated that when the decimal system was first
+established, and people were seeking an incontestable standard of
+measurement, it was the cell of the bee which was proposed first of
+all by Réamur. Each one of these cells is an hexagonal tube placed
+upon a pyramid form, and each honeycomb is formed of two strata of
+these tubes, base to base, in such a way that the three lozenges which
+make the pyramid-like base of one cell form at the same time the
+pyramid-like bases of the three cells on the other side.
+
+[Illustration: WORKER.]  [Illustration: DRONE.]
+
+In these prismatic tubes the honey is stored away--and so that the
+honey shall not trickle out as it would be likely to do if they were
+built strictly horizontal--they are tilted up at the outer edge of an
+angle of four or five degrees.
+
+"Besides the saving in wax," says Réamur, speaking of this marvellous
+building, "which is effected by this arrangement of the
+cells,--besides the fact that by this plan the comb may be filled
+without a single gap, there are other advantages in the way of the
+solidity thus given.... Every possible advantage in the way of the
+solidity of each cell is brought about by the manner of its
+construction, and by its place with reference to the rest of the cells
+in the comb."
+
+"Students of geometry know," says Dr. Reid, "that there are only three
+shapes that can be employed to divide a surface into, uniform spaces,
+that shall be regular in shape, and without interstices.
+
+[Illustration: SECTION OF CELLS CONSTRUCTED BY BEES.]
+
+"They are the equilateral triangle, the square, and the regular
+hexagon, which latter, in the matter of cell construction, is superior
+to the two first both from the point of view of strength and utility,
+and it is just this form that the bees have adopted, precisely as
+though its advantages were familiar to them.
+
+"Furthermore, the bottoms of the cells form three planes meeting at
+one point, and it has been demonstrated that both in economy of labor
+and material this system of construction is the best--again, the angle
+of the inclination of the planes affects this question of economy:
+this problem has been solved by the bees and confirmed by Maclaurin by
+abstruse mathematical calculations published in the "Transactions of
+the Royal Society of London.""
+
+Of course I do not suppose for a moment that the bees themselves have
+made these calculations, but on the other hand I do not believe that
+chance, or accidental circumstance has brought about, these results.
+The wasps, for instance, have built hexagonal cells, but they have not
+displayed such ingenuity as the bees have done. Their combs have only
+one course of cells, and they have not the foundation which serves the
+bees for their double rows. Hence there is less strength, more
+irregularity, and a loss of time, of material, and of room, which
+really means that a quarter of the labor employed and a third of the
+space occupied is lost. We also find certain other domesticated bees,
+not so far progressed in civilization, which only build one row of
+cells for rearing their young, and which support horizontal combs one
+above another on costly columns of wax. Their food store-cells, are
+like a row of round pots, and the bees make but a clumsy use of the
+spaces between them. Indeed, when we compare their City with the
+Wonderful City of the bees of which we are speaking, it is like
+comparing a row of huts with a modern laid out city. If the result is
+not charming, it is severely logical, and demonstrates the genius of
+the race which is forever fighting to get the most out of matter,
+space, and time.
+
+Buffon had a theory which has been revived once more, that the bees
+did not intend to make hexagonal cells, but rather round ones, and
+that owing to the crowding of the workers all around, the round ones
+became hexagonal. It is said also that crystals, fish-scales of
+certain kinds, soap-bubbles, etc., follow the same law, and Buffon
+advances this experiment to prove it. "Take a vessel and fill it full
+with peas or any other round grains, pour as much water upon them as
+will fill the spaces between them, close the vessel tightly, and boil
+the water. It will be found that the round peas have become six-sided.
+One sees clearly that this must be so from purely mechanical causes;
+each one of the round grains tends in the course of swelling as it
+boils to fill up the utmost space that it can, and by the extension
+and pressure of all alike they become hexagonal. Each bee wishes to
+occupy as much room as possible in its allotted space, therefore as
+the bodies of the bees are round or cylindrical, their cells become
+hexagonal because of the extension and pressure of all alike."
+
+Here then we see reciprocal obstacles working a wonder, somewhat in
+the same way perhaps as the vices of men bring about a general virtue,
+so that the race odious, often so far as individuals are concerned, is
+tolerable in the mass. Broughman, Kirby, and Spence and others claim
+that the observations of soap-bubbles and peas prove nothing in this
+connection, for the effect of compression is only to produce irregular
+hexagonal forms, and does not explain the earlier form of the base of
+the cells.
+
+To this one might rejoin that there are more ways than one of dealing
+with the blind law of necessity, for the wasp and the bumble-bee and
+many other species in similar circumstances and with the same end in
+view, arrive at very different, and manifestly inferior, results.
+Indeed it might be said further that even if the bee-cells did conform
+to the laws of crystallization as in the case of snow, or Buffon's
+soap-bubbles, or boiled peas, they show also in their general
+symmetry, in their well-determined angle of inclination, etc., that
+there are many other laws not followed by inert matter to which they
+also conform.
+
+In order to assure myself that the hexagonal form of the cell was the
+outcome of the bee-brain, I cut out from the centre of a honey-comb a
+round piece not quite so large as a silver dollar, containing both
+brood-cells and honey-cells. I cut into this disc, at the point where
+the pyramidal bases of the cells were joined, and I fixed on the base
+of the section thus exposed a piece of tin of the same size, and so
+stout that the bees could not bend or twist it. Then I replaced the
+disc of comb, with the piece of tin as described. One side of the comb
+showed, of course, nothing extraordinary, but on the other side was to
+be seen a hole at the bottom of which was a round piece of tin
+occupying the place of about thirty cells. At first the bees were
+disconcerted, and came in crowds to examine and study this wonderful
+abyss; for some days they wandered about it in agitation without
+coming to any decision. But as I fed them well every evening, the time
+soon came when they needed more cells in which to store their
+provisions. Then most likely the famous engineers, the sculptors, and
+the waxmakers, were summoned to show the way to fill up this useless
+chasm.
+
+A heavy curtain, or garland, of the wax-making bees covered the spot
+so as to develop the necessary heat; others went down into the hole
+and began the work of solidly fixing the metal in place by means of
+little claws of wax around its entire circumference, attaching them to
+the walls of the cells which surrounded it. Then they set to work to
+make three or four cells in the upper part of the disc, attaching them
+to these waxen claws. Each of these new cells was more or less
+unfinished at the top, so as to leave material wherewith to fasten it
+to the next cell, but below on the piece of tin was always three very
+clear, and precise angles from which would grow the three upright
+lines which regularly marked the outline of the first half of the next
+cell. After about forty-eight hours, although three or four bees at
+most could work at the same time in the opening, the whole surface of
+the piece of tin was covered with the outlines of the new cells. They
+were certainly somewhat less regular than those in an ordinary
+comb.... But they were all perfectly hexagonal; not a line was bent,
+not an angle out of shape; nevertheless all the ordinary conditions of
+bee-life were changed. The cells were not dug out of a block of wax as
+Huber described, nor were they made according to Darwin, circular at
+first, and then made into hexagons by the pressure of their neighbors.
+Here was no question of reciprocal obstacles, seeing that the cells
+were made one by one, and these first outlines were sketched on a kind
+of table. It would appear therefore that the hexagonal form is not the
+result of any mechanical necessity, but that it forms the plan
+resulting from the experience, the intelligence, and the will of the
+bee. Another curious thing which I accidentally noticed was that the
+cells built upon the tin were not provided with any other floor than
+the tin itself. The engineers of the working party evidently reasoned
+that the tin was sufficient to retain the liquid honey, and that it
+was not necessary, therefore, to line it with wax. But a little while
+after, when some honey was placed in the cell, they probably found
+that the metal effected some change in it, for upon taking counsel
+together they covered the surface of the tin with a kind of diaphanous
+varnish.
+
+If we wish to throw light on all the secrets of this geometrical
+architecture, we shall find many more interesting questions to
+examine--for example, that of the form of the first cells, which are
+attached to the roof of the hive--a form which is modified so that the
+cells can fit its curve and touch the roof at the greatest possible
+number of points.
+
+It would be necessary to notice also, not only the direction in which
+the main streets of the hive run, but the alley-ways and passages
+which run in and out and around the comb, as much for the circulation
+of the air as for the traffic; and it should be remarked that these
+are planned so as to avoid long detours or confusion in the
+traffic....
+
+Before we leave this subject let us, only for a minute, stop to
+consider the wonderful and mysterious way in which the bees make their
+plans and work together when they are occupied in carving out their
+cells, on both sides of the comb, where neither can see the other.
+Look through one of these transparent combs, and you will see clearly
+and sharply cut out in this diaphanous wax a network of prisms
+arranged in so perfectly fitting a manner that one might think they
+were stamped out of steel.
+
+Those who have never seen the inside of a hive can have little idea of
+the appearance of these honeycombs. Let us take a countryman's hive in
+which the bee has been left free to work as he pleases. This
+bell-like shape is divided from top to bottom by five, six, eight, and
+sometimes ten, slices of wax, so to speak, perfectly parallel with
+each other, which take the exact shape of the curve of the walls of
+the hive. Between each one of these slices is a space of about half an
+inch in which the bees move about. When they begin to build one of
+these slices at the top of the hive, the wall of wax is quite thick,
+and hides entirely the fifty or sixty bees who are working on one side
+from the fifty or sixty at work on the other. Unless they have a sight
+which can pierce the most opaque bodies, neither can see what is doing
+on the other side. Nevertheless, a bee on one side does not dig a hole
+or add a fragment of wax which does not correspond exactly with a
+protuberance or a cavity on the other side. How do they contrive to do
+this? How does it happen that one does not dig too far, and the other
+not far enough?
+
+How is it that every angle coincides in such magnificent perfection?
+Who tells the bee to begin here and to end there? Once again we must
+be satisfied with the reply that does not answer: "It is one of the
+mysteries of the hive." Huber has tried to explain it by saying that
+at certain intervals, by the pressure of their feet or their teeth,
+they produce a slight projection of the wax on the other side of the
+comb, or that they can determine the thickness of the block of wax by
+its flexibility, its elasticity, or some other physical property which
+it may possess; or, again, that their antennæ are able to serve as
+compasses in enabling them to examine what is going on in the darkness
+of the other side; or, last of all, he suggests that all the cells
+mathematically derive their shape and dimensions from those of the
+first row, which is built without the need of further concert on the
+part of the workers. But one can easily see that these explanations
+are not sufficient; the first are guesses which cannot be verified;
+the others simply change but do not remove the mystery. But if it is
+good to change a mystery as often as possible, it is never good to
+flatter one's self that to change it means to remove it!
+
+
+
+
+WASPS
+
+(FROM THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.)
+
+BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+I one day saw a small black and yellow banded wasp hunting for
+spiders; it approached a web where a spider was stationed in the
+centre, made a dart towards it--apparently a feint to frighten the
+spider clear of its web; at any rate it had that effect, for it fell
+to the ground, and was immediately seized by the wasp, who stung it,
+then ran quickly backwards, dragging the spider after it, up a branch
+reaching to the ground until it got high enough, when it flew heavily
+off with it. It was so small, and the spider so heavy, that it
+probably could not have raised it from the ground by flight. All over
+the world there are wasps that store their nests with the bodies of
+spiders for their young to feed on. In Australia, I often witnessed a
+wasp combating with a large flat spider that is found on the bark of
+trees. It would fall to the ground, and lie on its back, so as to be
+able to grapple with its opponent; but the wasp was always the victor
+in the encounters I saw, although it was not always allowed to carry
+off its prey in peace. One day, sitting on the sandbanks on the coast
+of Hobson's Bay, I saw one dragging along a large spider. Three or
+four inches above it hovered two minute flies, keeping a little
+behind, and advancing with it. The wasp seemed much disturbed by the
+presence of the tiny flies, and twice left its prey to fly up towards
+them, but they darted away with it. As soon as the wasp returned to
+the spider, there they were hovering over and following it again. At
+last, unable to drive away its small tormentors, the wasp reached its
+burrow and took down the spider, and the two flies stationed
+themselves one on each side the entrance, and would, doubtless, when
+the wasp went away to seek another victim, descend and lay their own
+eggs in the nest.
+
+[Illustration: WASPS' NEST.]
+
+[Illustration: THE SAND-WASP.]
+
+The variety of wasps, as of all other insects, was very great around
+Santo Domingo. Many made papery nests, hanging from the undersides of
+large leaves. Others hung their open cells underneath verandahs and
+eaves of houses. One large black one was particularly abundant about
+houses, and many people got stung by them. They also built their
+pendent nests in the orange and lime trees, and it is not always safe
+to gather the fruit. Fortunately they are heavy flyers, and can often
+be struck down or evaded in their attacks. They do good where there
+are gardens, as they feed their young on caterpillars, and are
+continually hunting for them. Another species, banded brown and yellow
+(_Polistes carnifex_), has similar habits but is not so common.
+Bates, in his account of the habits of the sand-wasps at Santarem, on
+the Amazon, gives an interesting account of the way in which they took
+a few turns in the air around the hole they had made in the sand
+before leaving to seek for flies in the forest, apparently to mark
+well the position of the burrow, so that on their return they might
+find it without difficulty. He remarks that this precaution would be
+said to be instinctive, but that the instinct is no mysterious and
+unintelligible agent, but a mental process in each individual
+differing from the same in man only by its unerring certainty. I had
+an opportunity of confirming his account of the proceedings of wasps
+when quitting a locality to which they wished to return, in all but
+their unerring certainty. I could not help noting how similar they
+were to the way in which a man would act who wished to return to some
+spot not easily found out, and with which he was not previously
+acquainted. A specimen of the _Polistes carnifex_ was hunting about
+for caterpillars in my garden. I found one about an inch long, and
+held it out towards it on the point of a stick. It seized it
+immediately, and commenced biting it from head to tail, soon reducing
+the soft body to a mass of pulp. It rolled up about one-half of it
+into a ball, and prepared to carry it off. Being at the time amidst a
+thick mass of a fine-leaved climbing plant, before flying away, he
+took note of the place where it was leaving the other half. To do
+this, it hovered in front of it for a few seconds, then took small
+circles in front of it, then larger ones round the whole plant. I
+thought it had gone, but it returned again, and had another look at
+the opening in the dense foliage down which the other half of the
+caterpillar lay. It then flew away, but must have left its burden for
+distribution with its comrades at the nest, for it returned in less
+than two minutes, and making one circle around the bush, descended to
+the opening, alighted on a leaf, and ran inside. The green remnant of
+the caterpillar was lying on another leaf inside, but not connected
+with the one on which the wasp alighted, so that in running in it
+missed it, and soon got hopelessly lost in the thick foliage. Coming
+out again, it took another circle, and pounced down on the same spot
+again, as soon as it came opposite to it. Three small seed-pods, which
+here grew close together, formed the marks that I had myself taken to
+note the place, and these the wasp seemed also to have taken as its
+guide, for it flew directly down to them, and ran inside; but the
+small leaf on which the fragment of caterpillar lay, not being
+directly connected with any on the outside, it again missed it, and
+again got far away from the object of its search. It then flew out
+again, and the same process was repeated again and again. Always when
+in circling round it came in sight of the seed-pods down it pounced,
+alighted near them, and recommenced its quest on foot. I was surprised
+at its perseverance, and thought it would have given up the search;
+but not so, it returned at least half a dozen times, and seemed to get
+angry, hurrying about with buzzing wings. At last it stumbled across
+its prey, seized it eagerly, and as there was nothing more to come
+back for, flew straight off to its nest, without taking any further
+note of the locality. Such an action is not the result of blind
+instinct, but of a thinking mind: and it is wonderful to see an insect
+so differently constructed using a mental process similar to that of
+man. It is suggestive of the probability of many of the actions of
+insects that we ascribe to instinct being the result of the possession
+of reasoning powers.
+
+[Illustration: WASP AND HOLE IN THE SAND.]
+
+
+
+
+A WASP AND ITS PREY
+
+(FROM THE INSTINCTS AND HABITS OF THE SOLITARY WASPS.)[6]
+
+BY G. W. AND E. G. PECKHAM.
+
+[6] Reprinted by permission from Bulletin No. 2, Series I, of The
+Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, 1898.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Most graceful and attractive of all the wasps--as Fabre describes
+them, the Ammophiles, of all the inhabitants of the garden, hold the
+first place in our affections. Not so beautiful as the blue
+_Pelopaeus_ nor so industrious as the little red-girdled _Trypoxylon_,
+their intelligence, their distinct individuality, and their obliging
+tolerance of our society make them an unfailing source of interest.
+They are, moreover, the most remarkable of all genera in their
+stinging habits, and few things have given us deeper pleasure than
+our success in following the activities and penetrating the secrets of
+their lives. In our neighborhood we have but two species of
+_Ammophila_, _urnaria_ Cresson and _gracilis_ Cresson, both of them
+being very slender bodied wasps of about an inch in length, _gracilis_
+all black, and _urnaria_ with a red band around the front end of the
+abdomen. With two exceptions our observations relate to _urnaria_.
+
+During the earlier part of the summer we had often seen these wasps
+feeding upon the nectar of flowers, especially upon that of the sorrel
+of which they are particularly fond, but at that time we gave them but
+passing notice. One bright morning in the middle of July, however, we
+came upon one that was so evidently hunting, and hunting in earnest,
+that we gave up everything else to follow her. The ground was covered,
+more or less thickly, with patches of purslane, and it was under these
+weeds that our _Ammophila_ was eagerly searching for her prey. After
+thoroughly investigating one plant she would pass to another, running
+three or four steps and then bounding as though she were made of
+thistledown and were too light to remain upon the ground. We followed
+her easily, and as she was in full view nearly all of the time we had
+every hope of witnessing the capture, but in this we were destined to
+disappointment. We had been in attendance on her for about a quarter
+of an hour when, after disappearing for a few moments under the thick
+purslane leaves, she came out with a green caterpillar. We had missed
+the wonderful sight of the paralyzer at work, but we had no time to
+bemoan our loss for she was making off at so rapid a pace that we were
+well occupied in keeping up with her. She hurried along with the same
+motion as before, unembarrassed by the weight of her victim. Twice she
+dropped it and circled over it a moment before taking it again. For
+sixty feet she kept to open ground, passing between two rows of
+bushes, but at the end of this division of the garden, she plunged,
+very much to our dismay, into a field of standing corn. Here we had
+great difficulty in following her, since far from keeping to her
+former orderly course, she zigzagged among the plants in the most
+bewildering fashion, although keeping a general direction of
+northeast. It seemed quite impossible that she could know where she
+was going. The corn rose to a height of six feet all around us; the
+ground was uniform in appearance, and, to our eyes, each group of corn
+stalks was just like every other group, and yet, without pause or
+hesitation, the little creature passed quickly along, as we might
+through the familiar streets of our native town.
+
+[Illustration: "She Hurried along, Unembarrassed by the Weight of Her
+Victim."]
+
+At last she paused and laid her burden down. Ah! the power that has
+led her is not a blind, mechanically perfect instinct, for she has
+travelled a little too far. She must go back one row into the open
+space that she has already crossed, although not just at this point.
+Nothing like a nest is visible to us. The surface of the ground looks
+all alike, and it is with exclamations of wonder that we see our
+little guide lift two pellets of earth which have served as a covering
+to a small opening running down into the ground.
+
+The way being thus prepared she hurries back with her wings quivering
+and her whole manner betokening joyful triumph at the completion of
+her task. We, in the meantime, have become as much excited over the
+matter as she is herself. She picks up the caterpillar, brings it to
+the mouth of the burrow and lays it down. Then, backing in herself,
+she catches it in her mandibles and drags it out of sight, leaving us
+full of admiration and delight.
+
+How clear and accurate must be the observing powers of these wonderful
+little creatures! Every patch of ground must, for them, have its own
+character; a pebble here, a larger stone there, a trifling tuft of
+grass--these must be their landmarks. And the wonder of it is that
+their interest in each nest is so temporary. A burrow is dug,
+provisioned and closed up, all in two or three days, and then another
+is made in a new place with everything to learn over again.
+
+From this time (July thirteenth) on to the first of September our
+garden was full of these wasps, and they never lost their fascination
+for us, although owing to a decided difference between their taste and
+ours as to what constituted pleasant weather all our knowledge of them
+was gained by the sweat of our brows. When we wished to utilize the
+cool hours of the morning or of the late afternoon in studying them,
+or thought to take advantage of a cloud which cast a grateful shade
+over the sun at noonday, where were our Ammophiles? Out of sight
+entirely, or at best only to be seen idling about on the flowers of
+the onion or sorrel. At such a time they seemed to have no mission in
+life and no idea of duty. But when the air was clear and bright and
+the mercury rose higher and higher, all was changed. Their favorite
+working hours were from eleven in the morning to three in the
+afternoon, and when they did work they threw their whole souls into
+it. It was well that it was so, for they certainly needed all the
+enthusiasm and perseverance that they could muster for such wearisome
+and disappointing labor. Hour after hour was passed in search, and
+often there was nothing to show at the end of it, for, since the
+caterpillars that they wanted were nocturnal species, most of them
+were under ground in the day-time. The species observed by Fabre knew,
+by some subtle instinct, where to find the worm, and unearthed it from
+its burrow. _Urnaria_, on the contrary, never dug for her prey, but
+hunted on bare ground, on the purslane, and most of all on the
+bean-plants. These were examined carefully, the wasp going up and down
+the stems and looking under every leaf, but the search was so
+frequently unsuccessful that in estimating their work we are inclined
+to think that they can scarcely average one caterpillar a day. When
+they were hunting over bare ground they often paused and seemed to
+listen, and in the beginning we expected to see them burrow down and
+drag a victim from under the soil, but this never happened.
+
+In this species, as in every one that we have studied, we have a most
+interesting variation among the different individuals, not only in
+methods but in character and intellect. While one was beguiled from
+her hunting by every sorrel blossom she passed, another stuck to her
+work with indefatigable perseverance. While one stung her caterpillar
+so carelessly and made her nest in so shiftless a way that her young
+could only survive through some lucky chance, another devoted herself
+to these duties, not only with conscientious thoroughness, but with an
+apparent craving after artistic perfection that was touching to see.
+
+The method employed by the _Ammophilæ_ in stinging their prey is more
+complex than that of any other predatory wasp. The larvæ with which
+they provision their nests are made up of thirteen segments, and each
+of these has its own nervous centre or ganglion. Hence if the
+caterpillar is to be reduced to a state of immobility, or to state so
+nearly approaching immobility that the egg may be safely laid upon it,
+a single sting, such as is given by some of the _Pompilidæ_ to their
+captured spiders, will be scarcely sufficient. All this we knew from
+Fabre's "Souvenirs," and yet we were not at all prepared to believe
+that any plain American wasp could supply us with such a thrilling
+performance as that of the Gallic _hirsuta_, which he so dramatically
+describes. We were, however, most anxious to be present at the
+all-important moment that we might see for ourselves just how and
+where _Ammophila urnaria_ stings her victim.
+
+For a whole week of scorching summer weather we lived in the bean
+patch, scorning fatigue. We quoted to each other the example of
+Fabre's daughter Claire, whose determination to solve the problem of
+_Odynerus_ led to a sun-stroke. We followed scores of wasps as they
+hunted; we ran, we threw ourselves upon the ground, we scrambled along
+on our hands and knees in our desperate endeavors to keep them in
+view, and yet they escaped us. After we had kept one in sight for an
+hour or more some sudden flight would carry her far away and all our
+labor was lost.
+
+At last, however, our day came. We were doing a little hunting on our
+own account, hoping to find some larvæ which we could drop in view of
+the wasps and thus lead them to display their powers, when we saw an
+_urnaria_ fly up from the ground to the underside of a bean leaf and
+knock down a small green caterpillar. Breathless with an excitement
+which will be understood by those who have tasted the joy of such a
+moment, we hung over the actors in our little drama. The ground was
+bare, we were close by and could see every motion distinctly. Nothing
+more perfect could have been desired.
+
+The wasp attacked at once but was rudely repulsed, the caterpillar
+rolling and unrolling itself rapidly and with the most violent
+contortions of the whole body. Again and again its adversary descended
+but failed to gain a hold. The caterpillar in its struggles, flung
+itself here and there over the ground, and had there been any grass or
+other covering near by it might have reached a place of partial
+safety, but there was no shelter within reach, and at the fifth attack
+the wasp succeeded in alighting over it, near the anterior end, and in
+grasping its body firmly in her mandibles. Standing high on her long
+legs and disregarding the continued struggles of her victim, she
+lifted it from the ground, curved her abdomen under its body, and
+darted her sting between the third and fourth segments. From this
+instant there was a complete cessation of movement on the part of the
+unfortunate caterpillar. Limp and helpless, it could offer no further
+opposition to the will of its conqueror. For some moments the wasp
+remained motionless, and then, withdrawing her sting, she plunged it
+successively between the third and the second, and between the second
+and the first segments.
+
+[Illustration: WASP PLUNGING HER STING INTO THE CATERPILLAR.]
+
+The caterpillar was now left lying on the ground. For a moment the
+wasp circled above it and then, descending, seized it again, further
+back this time, and with great deliberation and nicety of action gave
+it four more stings, beginning between the ninth and tenth segments
+and progressing backward.
+
+_Urnaria_, probably feeling--as we certainly did--reaction from the
+strain of the last few minutes, and a relief at the completion of her
+task, now rested from her labors. Standing on the ground close by she
+proceeded to smooth her body with her long hind legs, standing in the
+meantime, almost on her head, with her abdomen directed upward. She
+then gave her face a thorough washing and rubbing with her first
+legs, and not until she had made a complete and satisfactory toilet
+did she return to the caterpillar.
+
+We saw _Ammophila_ capture her prey only three times during the whole
+summer, but from these observations and from the condition of her
+caterpillars taken at various times from nests, her method seems to be
+wonderfully close to that of _hirsuta_, with just about the same
+amount of variation in different individuals.
+
+Thus in our second example, she stung the first three segments in the
+regular order, the third, the second, and lastly (and most
+persistently) the first. She then went on, without a pause, to sting
+the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, stopping at this point and
+leaving the posterior segments untouched. In our first example, it
+will be remembered, the middle segments were spared. The sting being
+completed, she proceeded to the process known as _malaxation_, which
+consists in repeatedly squeezing the neck of the caterpillar, or other
+victim, between the mandibles, the subject of the treatment being
+turned around and around so that all sides may be equally affected.
+
+In our third case a caterpillar which we had caught was placed in
+front of a wasp just after she had carried the second larva into her
+nest. She seemed rather indifferent to it, passing it once or twice as
+she ran about, but finally picked it up and gave it one prolonged
+sting between the third and fourth segments. She then spent a long
+time in squeezing the neck, pinching it again and again. It was then
+left on the ground, and as she showed no further interest in it we
+carried it home for further study.
+
+In the three captures, then, that came under our observation, all the
+caterpillars being of the same species and almost exactly of the same
+size, three different methods were employed. In the first, seven
+stings were given at the extremities, the middle segments being left
+untouched, and no malaxation was practised. In the second, seven
+stings again but given in the anterior and middle segments, followed
+by slight malaxation. In the third, only one sting was given but the
+malaxation was prolonged and severe.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+LEAF-CUTTING ANTS
+
+(FROM THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.)
+
+BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Nearly all travellers in tropical America have described the ravages
+of the leaf-cutting ants (_Œcodoma_); their crowded, well-worn paths
+through the forests, their ceaseless pertinacity in the spoliation of
+the trees--more particularly of introduced species--which are left
+bare and ragged, with the mid-ribs and a few jagged points of the
+leaves only left. Many a young plantation of orange, mango, and lemon
+trees has been destroyed by them. Again and again have I been told in
+Nicaragua, when inquiring why no fruit-trees were grown at particular
+places, "It is no use planting them; the ants eat them up." The first
+acquaintance a stranger generally makes with them is on encountering
+their paths on the outskirts of the forest crowded with the ants; one
+lot carrying off the pieces of leaves, each piece about the size of a
+sixpence, and held up vertically between the jaws of the ant; another
+lot hurrying along in an opposite direction empty handed, but eager to
+get loaded with their leafy burdens. If he follows this last division,
+it will lead him to some young trees or shrubs, up which the ants
+mount; and where each one, stationing itself on the edge of a leaf,
+commences to make a circular cut, with its scissor-like jaws, from the
+edge, its hinder-feet being the centre on which it turns. When the
+piece is nearly cut off, it is still stationed upon it, and it looks
+as though it would fall to the ground with it; but, on being finally
+detached, the ant is generally found to have hold of the leaf with one
+foot, and soon righting itself, and arranging its burden to its
+satisfaction, it sets off at once on its return. Following it again,
+it is seen to join a throng of others, each laden like itself, and,
+without a moment's delay, it hurries along the well-worn path. As it
+proceeds, other paths, each thronged with busy workers, come in from
+the sides, until the main road often gets to be seven or eight inches
+broad, and more thronged than the streets of the city of London.
+
+[Illustration: SETS OFF AT ONCE ON ITS RETURN.]
+
+After travelling for some hundreds of yards, often for more than half
+a mile, the formicarium is reached. It consists of low, wide mounds of
+brown, clayey-looking earth, above and immediately around which the
+bushes have been killed by their buds and leaves having been
+persistently bitten off as they attempted to grow after their first
+defoliation. Under high trees in the thick forest the ants do not make
+their nests, because, I believe, the ventilation of their underground
+galleries, about which they are very particular, would be interfered
+with, and perhaps to avoid the drip from the trees. It is on the
+outskirts of the forest, or around clearings, or near wide roads that
+let in the sun, that these formicariums are generally found. Numerous
+round tunnels, varying from half an inch to seven or eight inches in
+diameter, lead down through the mounds of earth; and many more, from
+some distance around, also lead underneath them. At some of the holes
+on the mounds ants will be seen busily at work, bringing up little
+pellets of earth from below, and casting them down on the
+ever-increasing mounds, so that its surface is nearly always fresh and
+new-looking.
+
+Standing near the mounds, one sees from every point of the compass
+ant-paths leading to them, all thronged with the busy workers carrying
+their leafy burdens. As far as the eye can distinguish their tiny
+forms, troops upon troops of leaves are moving up towards the central
+point, and disappearing down the numerous tunnelled passages. The
+outgoing, empty-handed hosts are partly concealed amongst the bulky
+burdens of the incomers, and can only be distinguished by looking
+closely amongst them. The ceaseless, toiling hosts impress one with
+their power, and one asks--What forests can stand before such
+invaders? How is it that vegetation is not eaten off the face of the
+earth? Surely nowhere but in the tropics, where the recuperative
+powers of nature are immense and ever active, could such devastation
+be withstood.
+
+Further acquaintance with the subject will teach the inquirer that,
+just as many insects are preserved by being distasteful to
+insectivorous birds, so very many of the forest trees are protected
+from the ravages of the ants by their leaves either being distasteful
+to them, or unfitted for the purpose for which they are required,
+whilst some have special means of defence against their attacks.
+
+These ants do not confine themselves to leaves, but also carry off any
+vegetable substance that they find suitable for growing the fungus on.
+They are very partial to the inside white rind of oranges, and I have
+also seen them cutting up and carrying off the flowers of certain
+shrubs, the leaves of which they neglected. They are very particular
+about the ventilation of their underground chambers, and have numerous
+holes leading up to the surface from them. These they open out or
+close up, apparently to keep up a regular degree of temperature below.
+The great care they take that the pieces of leaves they carry into the
+nest should be neither too dry nor too damp, is also consistent with
+the idea that the object is the growth of a fungus that requires
+particular conditions of temperature and moisture to ensure its
+vigorous growth. If a sudden shower should come on, the ants do not
+carry the wet pieces into the burrows, but throw them down near the
+entrances. Should the weather clear up again, these pieces are picked
+up when nearly dried, and taken inside; should the rain, however,
+continue, they get sodden down into the ground, and are left there. On
+the contrary, in dry and hot weather, when the leaves would get dried
+up before they could be conveyed to the nest, the ants, when in
+exposed situations, do not go out at all during the hot hours, but
+bring in their leafy burdens in the cool of the day and during the
+night. As soon as the pieces of leaves are carried in they must be cut
+up by the small class of workers into little pieces. I have never seen
+the smallest class of ants carrying in leaves! their duties appear to
+be inside, cutting them up into smaller fragments, and nursing the
+immature ants. I have, however, seen them running out along the paths
+with the others; but instead of helping to carry in the burdens, they
+climb on the top of the pieces which are being carried along by the
+middle-sized workers, and so get a ride home again. It is very
+probable that they take a run out merely for air and exercise. The
+largest class of what are called workers are, I believe, the directors
+and protectors of the others. They are never seen out of the nest,
+excepting on particular occasions, such as the migrations of the ants,
+and when one of the working columns or nests is attacked, they then
+come stalking up, and attack the enemy with their strong jaws.
+Sometimes, when digging into the burrows, one of these giants has
+unperceived climbed up my dress, and the first intimation of his
+presence has been the burying of his jaws in my neck, from which he
+would not fail to draw blood. The stately observant way in which they
+stalk about, and their great size, compared with the others, always
+impressed me with the idea that in their bulky heads lay the brains
+that directed the community in their various duties. Many of their
+actions, such as that I have mentioned of two relays of workmen
+carrying out the ant food, can scarcely be blind instinct. Some of the
+ants make mistakes, and carry in unsuitable leaves. Thus grass is
+always rejected by them, but I have seen some ants, perhaps young
+ones, carrying leaves of grass; but after a while these pieces are
+always brought out again and thrown away. I can imagine a young ant
+getting a severe ear-wigging from one of the major-domos for its
+stupidity.
+
+[Illustration: SECTION THROUGH LEAF-CUTTING ANT'S NEST.]
+
+I shall conclude this long account of the leaf-cutting ants with one
+more instance of their reasoning powers.
+
+A nest was made near one of our tramways, and to get to the trees the
+ants had to cross the rails, over which the wagons were continually
+passing and repassing. Every time they came along a number of ants
+were crushed to death. They persevered in crossing for some time, but
+at last set to work and tunnelled underneath each rail. One day, when
+the wagons were not running, I stopped up the tunnels with stones; but
+although great numbers carrying leaves were thus cut off from the
+nest, they would not cross the rails, but set to work making fresh
+tunnels underneath them. Apparently an order had gone forth, or a
+general understanding been come to, that the rails were not to be
+crossed.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SOME WONDERFUL SPIDERS
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES, ETC.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The number of spiders, in proportion to other insects, is here
+compared with England very much larger; perhaps more so than with any
+other division of the articulate animals. The variety of species among
+the jumping spiders appears almost infinite. The genus, or rather
+family of Epeira, is here characterized by many singular forms; some
+species have pointed coriaceous shells, others enlarged and spiny
+tibiæ. Every path in the forest is barricaded with the strong yellow
+web of a species belonging to the same division with the Epeira
+clavipes of Fabricius, which was formerly said by Sloane to make, in
+the West Indies, webs so strong as to catch birds. A small and pretty
+kind of spider, with very long forelegs, and which appears to belong
+to an undescribed genus, lives as a parasite on almost every one of
+these webs. I suppose it is too insignificant to be noticed by the
+great Epeira, and is therefore allowed to prey on the minute insects,
+which, adhering to the lines, would, otherwise be wasted. When
+frightened, this little spider either feigns death by extending its
+front legs, or suddenly drops from the web. A large Epeira of the same
+division with Epeira tuberculata and conica is extremely common,
+especially in dry situations. Its web, which is generally placed among
+the great leaves of the common agave, is sometimes strengthened near
+the centre by a pair or even four zigzag ribbons, which connect two
+adjoining rays. When any large insect, as a grasshopper or wasp, is
+caught, the spider by a dexterous movement, makes it revolve very
+rapidly, and at the same time emitting a band of threads from its
+spinners, soon envelops its prey in a case like the cocoon of a silk
+worm. The spider now examines the powerless victim, and gives the
+fatal bite on the hinder part of its thorax; then retreating,
+patiently waits till the poison has taken effect. The virulence of
+this poison may be judged from the fact that in half a minute I opened
+the mesh, and found a large wasp quite lifeless. This Epeira always
+stands with its head downwards near the centre of the web. When
+disturbed, it acts differently according to circumstances: if there is
+a thicket below, it suddenly falls down; and I have distinctly seen
+the thread from the spinners lengthened by the animal while yet
+stationary, as preparatory to its fall. If the ground is clear
+beneath, the Epeira seldom falls, but moves quickly through a central
+passage from one side to the other. When still further disturbed, it
+practises a most curious manœuvre: Standing in the middle, it
+violently jerks the web, which is attached to elastic twigs, till at
+last the whole acquires such a rapid vibratory movement, that even the
+outline of the spider's body becomes indistinct.
+
+[Illustration: FOUR DIFFERENT SPIDERS.]
+
+It is well known that most of the British spiders, when a large insect
+is caught in their webs, endeavor to cut the lines and liberate their
+prey, to save their nests from being entirely spoiled. I once,
+however, saw in a hot-house in Shropshire a large female wasp caught
+in the irregular web of a quite small spider; and this spider, instead
+of cutting the web, most perseveringly continued to entangle the body,
+and especially the wings, of its prey. The wasp at first aimed in vain
+repeated thrusts with its sting at its little antagonist. Pitying the
+wasp, after allowing it to struggle for more than an hour, I killed it
+and put it back into the web. The spider soon returned; and an hour
+afterwards I was much surprised to find it with its jaws buried in the
+orifice, through which the sting is protruded by the living wasp. I
+drove the spider away two or three times, but for the next twenty-four
+hours I always found it again sucking at the same place. The spider
+became much distended by the juices of its prey, which was many times
+larger than itself.
+
+I may here just mention, that I found near St. Fe Bajada, many large
+black spiders, with ruby-colored marks on their backs, having
+gregarious habits. The webs were placed vertically, as is invariably
+the case with the genus Epeira; they were separated from each other by
+a space of about two feet, but were all attached to certain common
+lines, which were of great length, and extended to all parts of the
+community. In this manner the tops of some large bushes were
+encompassed by the united nets. Azara has described a gregarious
+spider in Paraguay, which Walckenaer thinks must be a Theridion, but
+probably it is an Epeira, and perhaps even the same species with mine.
+I cannot, however, recollect seeing a central nest as large as a hat,
+in which, during autumn, when the spiders die, Azara says the eggs are
+deposited. As all the spiders which I saw were of the same size, they
+must have been nearly of the same age. This gregarious habit, in so
+typical a genus as Epeira, among insects, which are so bloodthirsty
+and solitary that even the two sexes attack each other, is a very
+singular fact.
+
+[Illustration: JUMPING SPIDER.]
+
+
+
+
+WHAT I SAW IN AN ANT'S NEST
+
+(FROM FACTS AND FICTIONS OF ZOÖLOGY.)
+
+BY ANDREW WILSON.
+
+
+[Illustration: NEST OF TERMITES.]
+
+Amongst those spectacles and incidents in human existence which remain
+fixed on the memory of the spectator from their sad or unwonted
+nature, that of a panic-stricken crowd, gathered by the report of some
+national disaster, stands pre-eminent. Still more terrible in its
+details is the history of some catastrophe which has laid a city in
+ruins and wrought death and desolation to thousands of the
+inhabitants. A deadly epidemic, or fatal plague, searing a nation with
+its dread, mysterious power, is a calamity appalling enough; but the
+spectacle of a city overthrown at one fell swoop by the earthquake
+shock may perhaps rank foremost amongst the untoward incidents which
+environ the sphere of man. A certain event, occurring during a recent
+holiday by the sea, tended forcibly to impress upon the mind that the
+great catastrophes of life are not limited to humanity's special
+sphere, and that in lower life panic and alarm seem to exercise no
+small influence, as in man's estate; whilst the incident referred to
+also afforded food for reflection on topics not far removed from some
+weighty matters in the history of man's own nature and constitution.
+In this latter view, it is especially hoped the observations of a
+brief period of leisure-time may not be without their due meed of
+interest.
+
+The chance removal from its secure site, of a large stone placed in
+close proximity to the sea-beach, where the bliss of idleness was
+being fully exemplified by a small party of holiday-makers, proved, on
+close examination, to be the cause of a literal revolution in lower
+life. Imagine a city to be totally unroofed, try to conceive of the
+sudden downfall of houses and buildings, and the consequent panic of
+the inhabitants, and you may obtain an idea of the disturbance on
+simple procedure effected in the peaceable, well-ordered colony of
+ants which had located themselves securely beneath the friendly
+shelter of the stone. The scene presented to view was one of the most
+curious and interesting which could engage the attention of an
+observer in any field of inquiry, and the occurrence certainly
+banished the idle mood of the time, and lent a zest to the subsequent
+hours of our holiday. Running hither and thither in wild confusion
+were the denizens of this underground colony; their six little legs
+carrying their curious globular bodies backward and forward over the
+disturbed area from which the stone had been removed. At first the
+movements of the ants were extremely erratic and purposeless. Panic
+and alarm appeared to be the order of the day during the few minutes
+which elapsed after removal of the stone. But soon the eye could
+discern movements of purposive kind on the part of the alarmed
+residents. There was "racing and chasing" in all directions: but the
+ants which had at first radiated from the centre of disturbance, as if
+on some definite quest, soon returned thereunto, and continued to
+advance and retire from the field of action with tolerable regularity.
+Not less than sixty or seventy ants appeared to be engaged in this
+labor of scouring the country around. The object of their repeated
+journeys in all directions was soon discovered. They were the
+self-appointed scouts, engaged in the work of reconnoitring. Such at
+least is a fair interpretation of the acts of the ants, and such also
+is the conclusion borne out by the subsequent course of events. For,
+after the scouts had spent a considerable time in their rapid journeys
+to the environments of the nest, a new set of ants appeared upon the
+scene, destined to perform a highly important series of labors.
+
+The scouts continued their journeyings, and gave one the idea of a set
+of fussy individuals who were superintending, or even bullying, their
+new neighbors, who appeared from amongst the ruins and débris of the
+ant city, carrying in their mouths certain oval bodies of a
+dirty-white color, and measuring each about one-third of an inch in
+length. Each of these bodies closely resembled a grain of corn in
+shape, size, and appearance. The spectacle of these small insects
+carrying off these bodies in their powerful jaws impressed one
+forcibly with the idea that, relatively to its size, an ant is an
+herculean insect.
+
+Occasionally there might be seen certain rather ludicrous incidents
+connected with the removal of the objects in question. One ant might
+be witnessed in the endeavor to hoist the oval body it was carrying in
+its mouth over some obstacle lying in the path, and the staggering
+gait of the insect seemed very accurately to mimic the similar
+disposition of a human porter struggling under a burdensome load.
+Another ant, carrying the oval body before it, would arrive at a steep
+incline formed of loose sand, and presenting a treacherous surface
+even to the light feet of the insect. The efforts of the ant to carry
+the body upward being found to be fruitless, the insect might be seen
+to whirl about with great rapidity of action, and ascend the hill
+backward, pulling the body after it, instead of pushing it as before.
+
+Another instance might be witnessed in which an ant which had
+literally come to grief with its burden would be assisted by a kindly
+neighbor; but it was no uncommon sight to behold in the excessive
+eagerness of the insects an actual means of defeating the object they
+had in view, since two ants would in some cases seize the same burden,
+and then came the tug of war. One pulled one way whilst the other
+tugged in the opposite direction; and the observer could almost have
+supposed that the burden itself might have been parted in twain by the
+treatment to which it was subjected--the incident affording a new
+application of the remark that a surfeit of zeal is destructive of the
+best intentions. The nature of the bodies which the ants seemed so
+excessively anxious to preserve from injury was readily determined.
+The oval bodies, resembling grains of corn, were the _pupæ_ or
+_chrysalides_ of the ants--the sleeping babies and young hopefuls, on
+whom the hopes of the colony were, and I may say, are, founded. It is
+noteworthy, however, that upon some mistaken notions regarding the
+nature of these bodies many of the ideas concerning the frugal care of
+these insects were founded. Solomon's advice that the sluggard should
+"go to the ant," with the view of considering her ways and gaining
+wisdom as a result of the study, was in days of old thought to be
+approved by the observation that the ants husbanded their stores of
+food in the shape of the grains of corn they had gained from the
+autumnal store. There can be little doubt that some species of ants do
+store food; but their praiseworthy actions in this direction have been
+greatly exaggerated, and there appears, indeed, to be some danger of
+idle persons being prepared with the retort to the wise man, that the
+ant is by no means the model creature he thought her to be. If,
+however, the supposed corn-grains turn out to be the rising generation
+of ants in their chrysalis-state, it may be said that what the ants
+may have lost in the way of fame in this direction has been amply
+compensated for by the discovery of more wonderful traits of character
+than Solomon could possibly have dreamt of.
+
+The work of removing the developing population thus appeared in our
+ant's nest to absorb the entire energies of the alarmed denizens. Pupa
+after pupa was carried out from amongst the débris and taken for a
+considerable distance--certainly fifteen inches--to a place of
+security, beneath a small sloping stone of flat shape, which roofed
+over a hollow in the ground. So far as I could observe, the scouts
+must have discovered this place of refuge, and have communicated the
+intelligence to their neighbors. The regularity with which the
+slumbering innocents were conveyed to the same spot would appear to
+point to concerted work and to a definite idea, if one may so term it,
+having animated the laborers. I was careful to ascertain at an early
+stage of the proceedings that the place of refuge had no
+communications with the nest. It was, in point of fact, an entirely
+new habitation, and, as far as human judgment might venture upon an
+opinion, the new residence appeared to give promise of being a safe
+and convenient domicile. Now and then an ant would emerge from the
+ruins of the nest carrying a younger hopeful in the larva or
+caterpillar stage. This latter was a little white grub, which
+corresponds in its development to the grub or caterpillar of the
+butterfly or fly; the ants thus exemplifying insects which undergo a
+complete "metamorphosis." It was rather a difficult matter to
+ascertain clearly if the ants were actually excavating the chrysalides
+from amongst the débris. Bearing in mind what Sir John Lubbock has
+told us concerning the apparent inability of ants to discover the
+whereabouts of companions buried under earth, I rather lean to the
+belief that my ants simply conveyed to a place of safety those
+chrysalides which were at hand and readily obtainable. The latter fact
+I could not ascertain, since I feared to disturb the ants at their
+interesting labors; but a simple experiment served to show the
+feasibility of the idea that the chrysalides were probably within
+easy reach of the ants.
+
+Taking possession of one chrysalis which was being conveyed to the new
+domicile, I buried it about half an inch deep in the sand, directly in
+the track over which the ants were journeying to their new residence,
+and a second chrysalis I placed at a little distance from this track,
+but in a spot over which numerous ants were running apparently without
+any definite aim. The second pupa ant was not buried in any sense, and
+was covered merely with a sprinkling of sand. The result in both cases
+was negative. No attempt was made to disinter the chrysalis from the
+beaten track, although numberless ants walked directly over it; and I
+extricated the chrysalis five hours after its interment, and when the
+busy scene of the morning had been replaced by a dull prospect, over
+which only a single ant now and then hurried in a rapid fashion. The
+other chrysalis was also unnoticed, despite its proximity to the
+surface of the sand. Whether or not ants want a sense of smell or
+other means of guiding them to the whereabouts of their neighbors or
+children, is a subject difficult of determination either toward a
+positive or negative result. And I am the more inclined to wonder at
+the incapacity of the insects to discover their buried companions,
+since they appear to be perfectly capable of detecting them at a
+considerable distance above ground. When a chrysalis was placed in a
+spot remote from the nest, and an ant placed within a foot or so of
+the chrysalis, the insect would occasionally seem to be attracted to
+the neighborhood of the object. I frequently observed that if an ant
+happened to crawl within two or three inches of the chrysalis as it
+lay on the ground, it appeared to become conscious of the object,
+although at the same time it seemed ignorant of its precise locality.
+In such a case the insect would proceed hither and thither in an
+erratic fashion, but would continue to hover or rotate around the
+chrysalis until it seized the object and bore it off in triumph in its
+jaws. Relatively to the size of the ant, we must consider this latter
+incident by no means a slight tribute to its acuteness.
+
+The busy scene resulting from the disturbance of the nest proceeded
+actively during at least two hours. The nest appeared to be by no
+means a large one. At the end of two hours, however, the ants were
+still rushing hither and thither, bent on errands unknown to their
+observers, although the work of conveying the chrysalides had at the
+lapse of the period just mentioned entirely ceased. Five and a half
+hours after the nest had been alarmed, not an ant was visible over the
+disturbed area, and our next task was that of investigating the manner
+in which the insects had dispersed themselves and their belongings in
+their new habitation by carefully removing the flat sloping stone
+already mentioned as that beneath which the main stream of the ants
+had disappeared. Not an insect was to be seen after this operation was
+performed, and it was only after the removal of several small stones
+which lay below the flat stone that the colony in its new sphere was
+brought into view. Our investigation once again excited the restless
+beings. Then ensued, for the second time, the seizure of the
+chrysalides, which, however, were to be seen packed together in a
+secure position and already partly covered with particles of earth
+and sand. To have reached the position in which we found them, the
+insects must have descended at least three inches after entering below
+the stone, and the labor of the continual ascent in search of fresh
+chrysalides must therefore have been of no light kind. We saw enough
+to convince us that the ants had already settled down in a new
+organization, which, with an undisturbed history, might repeat the
+peaceful state of their former life; and we also had the thought
+presented, that in the exercise of their duties under the pressure of
+an unwonted exigency, the insect behaved and acted with no small
+degree of intelligence, and apparently in harmonious concert to the
+desired end.
+
+But the thoughts suggested by the brief observation of the disturbed
+ant's nest hardly end thus. We may very naturally proceed to inquire
+into the regular organization and constitution of the ant colony, and
+also, as far as fact and theory may together lead, into the
+analogies--if analogies there be--which exist between the social
+instincts of ants and the ways of the higher animals, man included.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1. 1, Winged termite; 2, wingless termite; 3,
+soldier; 4, worker; 5, female swollen with eggs.]
+
+The common ants and their neighbors belong to the order of insects
+known as the _Hymenoptera_, a group represented by other insects of
+"social" habits, such as bees, wasps, and hornets. The termites, or
+white ants of the tropics, are the only "ants" foreign to this order
+of insects, the white ants being near relations of the dragonflies,
+may-flies, etc. The family history of the latter, as told by Mr.
+Bates, may serve to introduce us agreeably to ant society at large.
+The nests of the termites may attain a height of five feet, and
+present the appearance of conical hillocks, formed of earth particles
+"worked," says Mr. Bates, "with a material as hard as stone." In the
+neighborhood of the nests, narrow covered galleries or underground
+ways are everywhere to be seen, these latter being the passages along
+which the materials used for building the nests are conveyed. The
+termites are small soft-bodied animals of a pale color, but resemble
+the common or true ants in that they live in colonies, composed, like
+those of bees, of three chief grades of individuals. These grades are
+known as males, females, and blind "neuters," the latter forming at
+once the largest bulk of the population, and including in their
+numbers the true "working classes" of this curious community. In the
+common ants, the "neuters" are regarded as being Undeveloped female
+insects. These neuters exhibit in the termites a further division into
+ordinary "workers" (Figs. 1, 4), which perform the multifarious duties
+connected with the ordinary life of the colony, and "soldiers" (3),
+which perfectly exemplify the laws of military organization in higher
+life, in that they have no part in the common labor, but devote
+themselves entirely to the defence of the colony and to the
+
+   "Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war."
+
+The workers appear to perform a never-ending round of duties. They
+build the nests, make the roads, attend to the wants of the young,
+train up the latter in the ways of ant existence, wait on the
+sovereigns of the nest, and like diplomatic courtiers, duly arrange
+for the royal marriages of the future. As Mr. Bates remarks, "The
+wonderful part in the history of the termites is, that not only is
+there a rigid division of labor, but nature has given to each class a
+structure of body adapting it to the kind of labor it has to perform.
+The males and females form a class apart; they do no kind of work, but
+in the course of growth acquire wings to enable them to issue forth
+and disseminate their kind. The workers and soldiers are wingless, and
+differ solely in the shape and armature of the head. This member in
+the laborers is smooth and rounded, the mouth being adapted for the
+working of the materials in building the hive. In the soldier the head
+is of very large size, and is provided in almost every kind with
+special organs of offence and defence in the form of horny processes
+resembling pikes, tridents, and so forth.... The course of human
+events in our day seems, unhappily, to make it more than ever
+necessary for the citizens of civilized and industrious communities to
+set apart a numerous armed class for the protection of the rest; in
+this, nations only do what nature has of old done for the termites.
+The soldier termite, however, has not only the fighting instinct and
+function; he is constructed as a soldier, and carries his weapons not
+in his hand but growing out of his body." When a colony of termites is
+disturbed, the ordinary citizens disappear and the military are called
+out. "The soldiers mounted the breach," says Mr. Bates, "to cover the
+retreat of the workers," when a hole was made in the archway of one
+of their covered roads, and with military precision the rearmen fall
+into the vacant places in the front ranks as the latter are emptied by
+the misfortune of war.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2. THE QUEEN ANT; AND THE WORKERS CARRYING AWAY
+THE EGGS.]
+
+In a termite colony there is but one king and queen, the royal couple
+being the true parents of the colony. The state-apartments are
+situated in the centre of the hive, and are strictly guarded by
+workers. Both king and queen are wingless, and are of larger size than
+their subjects. The queen engages in a continual round of maternal
+duties, the eggs deposited by the sovereign-mother being at once
+seized by the workers and conveyed to special or "nursery cells,"
+where the young are duly tended and brought up. Once a year, at the
+beginning of the rainy season, winged termites appear in the hive as
+developments of certain of the eggs laid by the queen-termite. These
+latter are winged males and females (Fig. 1, 1), the two sexes being
+present in equal numbers. Some of these, after shedding their wings,
+become the founders--kings and queens--of new communities, the
+privilege of sex being thus associated with the important and
+self-denying work of perpetuating the species or race in time. Sooner
+or later--a termite family takes about a year to grow--a veritable
+exodus of the young winged termites takes place; and just before this
+emigration movement occurs, a hive may be seen to be stocked with
+"termites" of all castes and in all stages of development. The workers
+never exhibit a change of form during their growth; the soldiers begin
+to differ from the workers in the possession of larger heads and jaws;
+whilst the young which are destined to become the winged males and
+females are distinguished by the early possession of the germs of
+wings which become larger as the skin is successively moulted. Amongst
+the bees, blind Huber supposed that an ordinary or neuter egg develops
+into a queen bee if the larva is fed upon a special kind of
+food--"royal food," as it is called. Although some entomological
+authorities differ from Huber with regard to the exact means by which
+the queen bee is reared and specialized from other larvæ, yet the
+opinion thus expressed possesses a large amount of probability.
+Whatever may be the exact method or causes through or by which the
+queen bee is developed, Mr. Bates strongly asserts that the
+differences between the soldiers and worker termites are distinctly
+marked from the egg. This latter observer maintains that the
+difference is not due to variations in food or treatment during their
+early existence, but is fixed and apparent from the beginning of
+development. This fact is worthy of note, for it argues in favor of
+the view that if, as is most likely, the differences between the
+grades of termites may have originally been produced by natural
+selection or other causes, these differences have now become part and
+parcel of the constitution of these insects, and are propagated by the
+ordinary law of heredity. Thus acquired conditions have become in time
+the natural "way of life" of these animals.
+
+Mr. Bates has also placed on record the noteworthy fact that a species
+of termites exists in which the members of the soldier class did not
+differ at all from the workers "except in the fighting instinct." This
+observation, if it may be used at all in elucidation of the origin of
+the curious family life of these insects, points not to sudden
+creation, but to gradual acquirement and modification as having been
+the method of development of the specialized classes and castes in
+termite society. Firstly, we may thus regard the beginnings of the
+further development of a colony to appear in a nest in which workers
+and soldiers are alike, as stated by Mr. Bates. Then, through the
+practice of the fighting instinct, we may conceive that natural
+selection would be competent to adapt the soldiers more perfectly for
+their duties militant, by developing the head and jaws as offensive
+weapons. Possibly, were our knowledge of the termites at all complete,
+we should meet with all stages in the development and specialization
+of the various grades of society amongst these insects--at least the
+present state of our knowledge would seem to lead to such a conclusion
+as being much more feasible than the theory of special or sudden
+creation of the peculiarities of the race. It is admitted that the
+termites are in many respects inferior in structure to the bees and
+wasps, whilst the white ants themselves are the superiors of their own
+order--that of the _Neuroptera_. That the termites preceded the bees
+and their neighbors, the common ants, in the order of development of
+social instincts, is a conclusion supported by the fact that the
+_Neuroptera_ form the first group of insects which are preserved to us
+in the "records of the rocks." Fossil _Neuroptera_ occur in the
+Devonian rocks of North America; the first traces of insects allied to
+the bees and wasps being geologically more recent, and appearing in
+the oolitic strata. The occurrence of high social instincts in an
+ancient group of insects renders the repetition of these instincts in
+a later and higher group the less remarkable. The observation,
+however, does not of necessity carry with it any actual or implied
+connection between the termites and their higher neighbors, although,
+indeed, the likeness between the social life of the two orders of
+insects might warrant such a supposition.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3. RED, OR HORSE-ANT (_Formica rufa_.) a, male; b,
+female, winged; c, worker.]
+
+The common ants (Fig. 3), the study of which in their native haunts is
+a matter of no great difficulty, and one which will fully reward the
+seeking mind, like the termites, possess three grades of individuals.
+In a single ant's nest more than One female may be found, the ants
+differing from the bees in this respect; and in the nests of some
+species of ants there are apparently "soldiers" resembling the
+military termites in the possession of large heads and well-developed
+jaws. Very amazing differences are to be perceived amongst the various
+species of ants. Differences in size are of common occurrence, but
+naturalists have actually succeeded in classifying ants in a general
+way, by differences in manner and disposition. We know, for example,
+that the horse-ant (_Formica rufa_, Fig. 3) has little _individual_
+intelligence, but is extremely socialistic, and moves and acts _en
+masse_ with precision and tact. Another species (_F. fusca_) is timid
+and retiring. _F. pratensis_ is a revengeful creature, since it
+"worries" its fallen foes; _F. cinerea_ is bold and audacious; others
+are termed "thieves" and "cowards"; some are phlegmatic; and to
+complete the list of failings and traits which are human enough in
+character, one species is said to present an invariable greediness as
+its prevailing characteristic. The common ants resemble the termites
+in the general details of their life. We see in an ant's nest the same
+restless activity of the workers, the same earnest attention paid to
+the young and pupæ, the same instinct in shielding the young from
+danger, and much the same general routine of development. Certain
+rather special, and it may be said extraordinary, habits of ants may,
+however, demand notice before we attempt a brief survey of their
+instincts at large. Few readers are unacquainted with the _Aphides_,
+or plant-lice, those little wingless insects which infest our plants
+and herbs in myriads in summer. It is a fact now well known to
+naturalists, and first placed on record by Huber, that between the
+ants and plant-lice, relations of a very friendly and, as far as the
+ants are concerned, advantageous character have become established.
+Ants have been observed to stroke the tips of the bodies of the
+plant-lice with their antennæ, this act causing the plant-lice to
+exude drops of a clear, sweet fluid, of which the ants are extremely
+enamoured. The ants would thus appear to habitually "milk" their
+insect-neighbors, and, as far as observation goes, some ants seem not
+merely to keep the plant-lice in their nests so as to form a veritable
+dairy establishment, but also to make provision in the future by
+securing the eggs of the aphides, and bringing up the young as we rear
+calves.
+
+[Illustration: FIG 4. APPLE APHIS (_Eriosoma Mali_).]
+
+That the relation between the ants and plant-lice are of very stable
+kind is proved by the interesting remarks of Mr. Darwin, who "removed
+all the ants from a group of about a dozen aphides on a dock-plant,
+and prevented their attendance during several hours." Careful watching
+showed that the plant-lice after this interval did not excrete the
+sweet fluid. Mr. Darwin then stroked the plant-lice with a hair,
+endeavoring thus to imitate the action of the ant's feelers, but not a
+single plant-louse seemed disposed to emit the secretion. Thereafter a
+single ant was admitted to their company, the insect, in Mr. Darwin's
+words, appearing, "by its eager way of running about, to be well aware
+what a rich flock it had discovered." The ant first stroked one aphis
+and then another, each insect excreting a drop of the sweet juice "as
+soon as it felt the antennæ;" and "even the quite young aphides
+behaved in this manner, showing that the action was instinctive, and
+not the result of experience." If, as Mr. Darwin remarks, it is a
+convenience for the aphides to have the sweet secretion removed, and
+that "they do not excrete solely for the food of the ants," the
+observation does not in any degree lessen the curious nature of the
+relationship which has become established between the ants and their
+neighbors, or the interesting features in ant life which have
+inaugurated and perpetuated the habit.
+
+Not less remarkable are the "slave-making" instincts of certain
+species of ants. It may be safely maintained that the slave-making
+habit forms a subject of more than ordinary interest not merely to
+naturalists but to metaphysicians given to speculate on the origin and
+acquirement of the practices of human existence. Pierre Huber, son of
+the famous entomologist, was the first to describe the slave-making
+instincts in a species (_Polyergus rufescens_) noted for its
+predaceous instincts, and subsequent observations have shown that
+other species participate in these habits. _Polyergus_ is thoroughly
+dependent on slaves. Without these bonds-men it is difficult to see
+how the ants could exist. Huber tells us that the workers of this
+species perform no work save that of capturing slaves. Use and wont,
+and the habit of depending entirely on their servitors, have produced
+such changes in the structure of the ants that they are unable to help
+themselves. The jaws of these ants are not adapted for work; they are
+carried by their slaves from an old nest to a new one; and, more
+extraordinary still, they require to be fed by their slaves, even with
+plenty of food close at hand. Out of thirty of these ants placed by
+Huber in a box, with some of their larvæ and pupæ, and a store of
+honey, fifteen died in less than two days of hunger and of sheer
+inability to help themselves. When, however, one of their slaves was
+introduced, the willing servitor "established order, formed a chamber
+in the earth, gathered together the larvæ, extricated several young
+ants that were ready to quit the condition of pupæ, and preserved the
+life of the remaining Amazons." It must be noted that there are very
+varying degrees in the dependence of the ant-masters on their slaves.
+In the recognition of this graduated scale of relationship and
+dependence, indeed, will be found the clue to the acquirement of this
+instinct. The horse-ant (_Formica rufa_) will carry off the larvæ and
+pupæ of other ants _for food_, and it sometimes happens that some of
+these captives, spared by their cannibal neighbors, will grow up in
+the nest of their captor. A well-known ant, the _Formica sanguinea_,
+found in the South of England, is however, a true slave-making
+species, but exhibits no such utter dependence on its servitors as
+does _Polyergus_. The slave-making habit is not only typically
+developed in the _Sanguineas_, but the bearing of the captives to
+their masters indicate a degree of relationship and organization such
+as could hardly be conceived to exist outside human experience. The
+_Sanguineas_ make periodical excursions, and, like a powerful
+predatory clan, carry off the pupæ or chrysalides of a neighboring
+species, _F. fusca_. Thus the children of the latter race are born
+within the nest of their captors in an enslaved condition. As slaves
+"born and bred," so to speak, they fall at once into the routine of
+their duties, assist their masters in the work of the nest, and tend
+and nurse the young of the family. The slaves, curiously enough in
+this instance, are black in color, whilst the masters are twice the
+size of the servitors, and are red in color, and that the slaves are
+true importations is proved by the fact that males and females of the
+slave species are never developed within the nest of the masters, but
+only within those of their own colonies. The slaves in this instance
+rarely leave the nest, the masters foraging for food, and employing
+their captives in household work, as it were; whilst, when the work of
+emigration occurs, the masters carry the slaves in their mouths like
+household goods and chattels, instead of being carried by them, as in
+the case of _Polyergus_.
+
+Mr. Darwin gives an interesting account of the different attitudes
+exhibited by the _Sanguineas_ toward species of ants other than the
+black race from which their slaves are usually drawn. A few pupæ of
+the yellow ant (_F. flava_), a courageous and pugnacious little
+species, were placed within the reach of the slave-making
+_Sanguineas_. A like chance presented with the pupæ of their slave
+race was eagerly seized, and the chrysalides carried off. The pupæ of
+the yellow ants, however, were not merely left untouched, but the
+slave-makers exhibited every system of terror and alarm at the sight
+of the chrysalides of their yellow neighbors. Such an instance
+demonstrates the existence not merely of perception but also of the
+memory of past experience, probably of not over agreeable kind, of
+encounters with the yellow ants. When, on the contrary, a nest of the
+slaves is attacked, the _Sanguineas_ are both bold and wary. Mr.
+Darwin traced a long file of _Sanguineas_ for forty yards backward to
+a clump of heath, whence he perceived the last of the invaders
+marching homeward with a slave pupa in its mouth. Two or three
+individuals of the attacked and desolate nest were rushing about in
+wild despair, and "one," adds Mr. Darwin, "was perched motionless,
+with its own pupa in its mouth, on the top of a spray of heath, an
+image of despair over its ravaged home." The picture thus drawn is not
+the less eloquent because its subject is drawn from lower existence;
+although the pains and sorrows of ant life may not legitimately be
+judged by the standard of human woe.
+
+The explanation of the slave-making instinct in ants begins with the
+recognition of the fact that many ants, not slave-makers, store up
+pupæ of other species for food. If we suppose that some of the pupæ,
+originally acquired through a cannibal-like instinct, came to maturity
+within the nest of their captors, and in virtue of their own inherited
+instincts engaged in the work of the hive, we may conceive of a
+rational beginning of the slave-making instinct. If, further, the
+captors learned to appreciate the labors of their captives, as
+lightening their own work, the habit of collecting pupæ as slaves
+might succeed and supersede that of collecting them for food. In any
+case, we should require to postulate on the part of the slave-makers a
+degree of instinct altogether unusual in insects, or, indeed, in
+higher animals; but that such instinct is developed in ants other than
+slave-makers admits of no dispute. The strengthening, through
+repetition, of a habit useful to the species may thus be credited with
+the beginning of the practice of slavery amongst ants; whilst special
+circumstances--such as the number of the slaves as compared with the
+number of masters--would tend to develop a greater or less degree of
+dependence of the captors or their servitors.
+
+Huber, for instance, informs us that the _Fusca_-slaves of the
+_Sanguineas_ of Switzerland work with their masters in building the
+nest; they close and open the doors of the hive; but their chief
+office appears to be that of hunting for plant-lice. In England, on
+the contrary, the slaves are strictly household servants, rarely
+venturing out of doors. Such differences depend most probably on the
+fact that a greater number of slaves occur in Swiss than in English
+nests, and they may therefore be employed in a wider range of duties
+on the Continent than at home. A fewer number of slaves, a greater
+aptitude on the part of the slaves for their duties, the inability of
+the masters to perform the duties of the slaves--each or all of these
+causes combined would serve to increase the value of the servitors,
+and at the same time to reduce the independence of the masters.
+
+This increase of the value of the slaves as active factors in the ant
+community might at length proceed to such extremes as we see
+exemplified in the _Polyergus_, already referred to--a race which has
+become literally unable to feed itself, and to discharge the simplest
+duties of ant existence, and whose actual life is entirely spent in
+marauding expeditions on the nests of its neighbors.
+
+The subject of the general intelligence of ants, and of their ability
+to adapt themselves to awkward and unusual circumstances, may be
+briefly touched upon by way of conclusion.
+
+Between the reason and intelligence of higher animals and the
+"instinct" of ants there is unquestionably a great gulf fixed. I make
+this statement unhesitatingly, notwithstanding that I should no more
+willingly attempt to define "instinct" than to give an exact
+definition of "insanity." In the latter case one may make the
+definition so limited as practically to exclude all save one class of
+cases, or so wide as to include even the judge on the bench. In the
+case of instinct, the rigid definition of one authority might cause us
+to regard it as the exclusive property of lower forms and as having no
+relationship whatever with the mental powers of higher beings; or, on
+the other hand, as being but a modified form of, or in some respects
+identical with, these very powers. We know too little respecting the
+so-called "automatic" powers and ways, even of higher animals, to
+dogmatize regarding the acts of lower animals, but we may safely
+assume that one apparent ground or distinction between instinct and
+reason may be found in the common incompetence of instinct to move out
+of the beaten track of existence, and in the adaptation of reason,
+through the teachings of experience, to new and unwonted
+circumstances. Let Dr. Carpenter speak as an authority on such a
+subject. "The whole nervous system of invertebrated animals, then, may
+be regarded as ministering entirely to _automatic_ action; and its
+highest development, as in the class of insects, is coincident with
+the highest manifestations of the 'instinctive' powers, which, when
+carefully examined, are found to consist entirely in movements of the
+excito-motor and sensori-motor kinds. (The terms '_excito-motor_' and
+'_sensori-motor_' are applied to nervous actions resulting in
+movements of varying kinds, and produced by impressions made on
+nervous centres, but without any necessary emotion, reason, or
+consciousness.) When we attentively consider the habits of these
+animals, we find that their actions, though evidently adapted to the
+attainment of certain ends, are very far from evincing a _designed_
+adaptation on the part of the beings that perform them.... For, in the
+first place, these actions are invariably performed in the same manner
+by all the individuals of a species, when the conditions are the same;
+and thus are obviously to be attributed rather to a uniform impulse
+than to a free choice, the most remarkable example of this being
+furnished by the economy of bees, wasps, and other 'social' insects,
+in which every individual of the community performs its appropriated
+part with the exactitude and method of a perfect machine. The very
+perfection of the adaptation, again, is often of itself a sufficient
+evidence of the unreasoning character of the beings which perform the
+work; for if we attribute it to their own intelligence, we must admit
+that this intelligence frequently equals, if it does not surpass, that
+of the most accomplished Human Reasoner."
+
+Appealing to the most recent observations on ants, we may find
+evidence of the truth of Dr. Carpenter's statements, whilst at the
+same time we may also detect instances of the development of higher
+powers which are hardly to be classed as "automatic," and which, in
+certain species (as in the _Ecitons_, charmingly described by Mr. Belt
+in "The Naturalist in Nicaragua"), may be said to be elevated above
+the common instincts of the race. Dr. Henry Maudsley has also well
+summed up the relationship of the acts of these insects to the acts of
+higher forms, and to new adaptations when he says: "I do not say that
+the ant and the bee are entirely destitute of any power of adaptation
+to new experiences in their lives--that they are, in fact, purely
+organized machines, acting always with unvarying regularity; it would
+appear, indeed, from close observation, that these creatures do
+sometimes discover in their actions traces of a sensibility to strange
+experiences, and of corresponding adaptations of movements. We cannot,
+moreover, conceive how the remarkable instincts which they manifest
+can have been acquired originally, except by virtue of some such
+power. But the power in them now is evidently of a rudimentary kind,
+and must remain so while they have not those higher nerve-centres in
+which the sensations are combined into ideas, and perceptions of the
+relations of things are acquired. Granting, however, that the bee or
+ant has these traces of adaptive action, it must be allowed that they
+are truly rudiments of functions, which in the supreme nerve-centres
+we designate as reason and volition. Such a confession might be a
+trouble to a metaphysical physiologist, who would thereupon find it
+necessary to place a metaphysical entity behind the so-called
+instincts of the bee, but can be no trouble to the inductive
+physiologist--he simply recognizes an illustration of a physiological
+diffusion of properties, and of the physical conditions of primitive
+volition, and traces in the evolution of mind and its organs, as in
+the evolution of other functions and their organs, a progressive
+specialization and increasing complexity."
+
+The recently published experiments of Sir John Lubbock show that ants
+under certain circumstances are both stupid and devoid of any
+intelligent comprehension in the way of surmounting difficulties; but
+this distinguished observer has also shown that as regards
+communication between ants, and in the regulation of the ordinary
+circumstances of their lives, these insects evince a high degree of
+intelligence, and exhibit instincts of a very highly developed kind.
+Still, making every allowance for the development of extraordinary
+mental power in some species of ants, there can be little doubt of the
+purely automatic beginnings and nature of most, if not all, of the
+acts of ordinary ant existence. The young ant, wasp, or bee, will
+begin its labors and discharge them as perfectly at the beginning of
+its existence as a perfect insect, as at the close of life. Here there
+is no experience, no tuition, no consciousness, no reason, and no
+powers save such as have been transferred to the insect as a mere
+matter of heredity and derivation from its ancestors, who lived by an
+unconscious rule of thumb, so to speak. It is very hard at first to
+convince one's self, when watching an ant's nest, that intelligence
+and consciousness play little or no part in the apparently intelligent
+operation of these insects. But to assume the contrary would be to
+maintain that the insect stands on an equal footing to man himself,
+and for such a supposition there is neither lawful ground nor
+sympathy. The marvellous instinct of lower life stands on a platform
+of its own, has its own phases of development, and probably its own
+unconscious way of progress. The higher reason and intellect of
+humanity similarly possesses its own peculiar standard, rate, and
+method of culture. A man may seek and find in the ways of lower
+existence not merely a lesson in the ordering of his existence, but
+some comfort, also, in the thought that the progress of lower nature
+is not unknown in the domain of human hopes and aspirations.
+
+[Illustration: RETURN OF ANTS AFTER A BATTLE.]
+
+
+
+
+THE WILD LLAMA
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES, ETC.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF GUANACO.]
+
+The guanaco, or wild Llama, is the characteristic quadruped of the
+plains of Patagonia; it is the South American representative of the
+camel in the East. It is an elegant animal in a state of nature, with
+a long slender neck and fine legs. It is very common over the whole of
+the temperate parts of the continent, as far south as the islands near
+Cape Horn. It generally lives in small herds of from half a dozen to
+thirty in each; but on the banks of the St. Cruz we saw one herd which
+must have contained at least five hundred.
+
+They are generally wild and extremely wary. Mr. Stokes told me, that
+he one day saw through a glass a herd of these animals which evidently
+had been frightened, and were running away at full speed, although
+their distance was so great that he could not distinguish them with
+his naked eye. The sportsman frequently receives the first notice of
+their presence, by hearing from a long distance their peculiar shrill
+neighing note of alarm. If he then looks attentively, he will probably
+see the herd standing in a line on the side of some distant hill. On
+approaching nearer, a few more squeals are given, and off they set at
+an apparently slow, but really quick canter, along some narrow beaten
+track to a neighboring hill. If, however, by chance, he abruptly meets
+a single animal, or several together, they will generally stand
+motionless and intently gaze at him; then perhaps move on a few yards,
+turn round, and look again. What is the cause of this difference in
+their shyness? Do they mistake a man in the distance for their chief
+enemy the puma? Or does curiosity overcome their timidity? That they
+are curious is certain; for if a person lies on the ground, and plays
+strange antics, such as throwing up his feet in the air, they will
+almost always approach by degrees to reconnoitre him. It was an
+artifice that was repeatedly practised by our sportsmen with success,
+and it had moreover the advantage of allowing several shots to be
+fired, which were all taken as parts of the performance. On the
+mountains of the Tierra del Fuego, I have more than once seen a
+guanaco, on being approached, not only neigh and squeal, but prance
+and leap about in the most ridiculous manner, apparently in defiance
+as a challenge. These animals are very easily domesticated, and I have
+seen some thus kept in northern Patagonia near a house, though not
+under any restraint. They are in this state very bold, and readily
+attack a man by striking him from behind with both knees. It is
+asserted that the motive for these attacks is jealousy on account of
+their females. The wild guanacos, however, have no idea of defence;
+even a single dog will secure one of these large animals, till the
+huntsman can come up. In many of their habits they are like sheep in a
+flock. Thus when they see men approaching in several directions on
+horseback, they soon become bewildered, and know not which way to run.
+This greatly facilitates the Indian method of hunting, for they are
+thus easily driven to a central point, and are encompassed.
+
+[Illustration: THE GUANACO.]
+
+The guanacos readily take to the water: several times at Port Valdes
+they were seen swimming from island to island. Byron, in his voyage, says
+he saw them drinking salt water. Some of our officers likewise saw a
+herd apparently drinking the briny fluid from a salina near Cape Blanco.
+I imagine in several parts of the country, if they do not drink salt
+water, they drink none at all. In the middle of the day they frequently
+roll in the dust, in saucer-shaped hollows. The males fight together;
+two one day passed quite close to me, squealing and trying to bite each
+other; and several were shot with their hides deeply scarred. Herds
+sometimes appear to set out on exploring parties; at Bahia Blanca,
+where, within thirty miles of the coast, these animals are extremely
+unfrequent, I one day saw the tracks of thirty or forty, which had come
+in a direct line to a muddy salt-water creek. They then must have
+perceived that they were approaching the sea, for they had wheeled with
+the regularity of cavalry, and had returned back in as straight a line
+as they had advanced. The guanacos have one singular habit, which is
+to me quite inexplicable; namely, that on successive days they drop
+their dung in the same defined heap. I saw one of these heaps which
+was eight feet in diameter, and was composed of a large quantity. This
+habit, according to M. A. d'Orbigny, is common to all the species of
+the genus; it is very useful to the Peruvian Indians, who use the dung
+for fuel, and are thus saved the trouble of collecting it.
+
+The guanacos appear to have favorite spots for lying down to die. On
+the banks of the St. Cruz, in certain circumscribed spaces, which were
+generally bushy and all near the river, the ground was actually white
+with bones. On one such spot I counted between ten and twenty heads. I
+particularly examined the bones; they did not appear, as some
+scattered ones which I have seen, gnawed or broken, as if dragged
+together by beasts of prey. The animals in most cases must have
+crawled, before dying, beneath and amongst the bushes. Mr. Byron
+informs me that during a former voyage he observed the same
+circumstances on the banks of the Rio Gallegos. I do not at all
+understand the reason of this, but I may observe, that the wounded
+guanacos at the St. Cruz invariably walked towards the river. At St.
+Jago in the Cape de Verd islands, I remember having seen in a ravine a
+retired corner covered with bones of the goat; we at the time
+exclaimed that it was the burial-ground of all the goats in the
+island.
+
+
+
+
+BATS
+
+(FROM STUDIES OF ANIMATED NATURE.)
+
+BY W. S. DALLAS, F.L.S.
+
+
+[Illustration: SLEEPING BAT.]
+
+Among the sounds which greet the ear of the wayfarer as the shades of
+evening deepen into night, one of the commonest is a rather faint
+chirping noise which comes mysteriously from overhead. On looking up
+in search of the source of this peculiar sound, we may see a small,
+dark, shadow-like creature sweeping to and fro with great rapidity. It
+is one of the curious groups of animals called Bats, representatives
+of which are to be met with in in all countries, always active at
+night or in the twilight, and presenting a remarkable general
+similarity of structure, although in some respects they may differ
+considerably in habits. In the British Islands some fourteen species
+have been distinguished.
+
+Like the owls, with which they share the dominion of the evening air,
+the Bats have a perfectly noiseless flight; their activity is chiefly
+during the twilight, although some species are later, and in fact seem
+to keep up throughout the whole night. As they rest during the day,
+concealed usually in the most inaccessible places they can find, and
+are seen only upon the wing, their power of flight is their most
+striking peculiarity in the popular mind, and it is perhaps no great
+wonder that by many people, both in ancient and modern times they have
+been regarded as birds. Nevertheless, their hairy bodies and leathery
+wings are so unlike anything that we ordinarily understand as
+pertaining to a bird, that opinion was apparently always divided, as
+to the true nature of these creatures--"a mouse with wings," as
+Goldsmith called it once, according to James Boswell, is certainly a
+curious animal, and very difficult to classify so long as the would-be
+systematist has no particularly definite ideas to guide him. The
+likeness of the Bat to a winged mouse has made itself felt in the name
+given to the creature in many languages, such as the "Chauvesouris" of
+the French and the "Flitter-mouse" of some parts of England, the
+latter being reproduced almost literally in German, Dutch, and
+Swedish, while the Danes called the Bat a "Flogenmues," which has
+about the same meaning, and the Swedes have a second name, "Lädermus,"
+evidently referring to the texture of the wings, as well as to the
+mouse-like character of the body.
+
+But so soon as we have definite characters to appeal to in
+classification, we find no difficulty in assigning these puzzling
+creatures to their proper place in the system. Bats produce their
+young alive, and suckle them; the milk being produced by special
+glands. Now, these are characters which are peculiar among all animals
+to the vertebrate class Mammalia. They possess also other characters
+that are unmistakably mammalian. Leaving out of consideration the
+structure of the internal organs, they have teeth implanted in sockets
+in the jaws, four limbs, and a hairy covering to the skin, so that
+they possess more decidedly mammalian characters than some other
+members of the class, such as the marine whales and dolphins
+(_Cetacea_) and manatees (_Sirenia_), which are still often spoken of
+as fishes. In point of fact, although organized for flight, the Bat
+may, without any violence to language, be spoken of as a _quadruped_,
+for its fore-limbs contain all the parts found in those of other
+mammals fully developed, and they come into use when the creature is
+walking on the ground.
+
+Perhaps the special characteristics of the Bats will be brought out
+most distinctly by a comparison of their structure with that of a
+bird, seeing that the modification of the fore-limbs into wings is
+their most striking distinction from other Mammalia; for, although
+some other members of the class are spoken of as "flying," such as the
+Flying Squirrels, Flying Lemurs, and Flying Phalangers, these
+creatures do not really fly, but merely glide through the air to
+considerable distances by the action of a broad fold of skin which
+runs down each side of the body, and which, when stretched between
+the extended limbs, buoys the creatures up in the air after the
+fashion of a parachute.
+
+Most of us must have had occasion to pick the bones of a bird's wing,
+a piece of practical anatomy which may serve us in good stead at
+present. They consist of a long bone, which may be called the arm-bone
+(_humerus_), jointed to the shoulder-bones (the so-called "side-bones"
+of a fowl or turkey), followed by a pair of parallel bones
+constituting the fore-arm, at the end of which we find two or three
+small bones, then two parallel bones united at their extremities, and
+some smaller joints terminating the whole.
+
+We need say nothing about the arm-bone and the two bones of the
+fore-arm, the peculiarity of bird-structure lying chiefly in the
+terminal portion of the limb, or the hand. Here we find, after two
+little bones forming the wrist, a pair of long bones as above
+described, firmly united both at base and apex, and on the outside of
+the base of these, close to the wrist, a small bone, which may be
+either free or soldered to the others, and which represents the thumb
+in the human hand. At the other end of the piece formed by the two
+united bones, the limb is continued by two joints, forming a second
+finger, inside of which there is usually a single small bone,
+representing a third finger. But all these parts are stiffly attached
+to one another, admitting of very little motion, so that the whole
+hand forms as it were a single piece. The bony structure of the bird's
+wing is in point of fact a rod hinged in two places, at the elbow and
+the wrist, for the convenience of being folded into a small compass.
+The flight of the bird is effected by the agency of a number of stiff
+feathers implanted in the skin covering the bones and muscles of the
+arm and hand; these fold together like the sticks of a fan when the
+wing is folded, and are spread into an elastic instrument for striking
+the air when the different sections of the bony framework are extended
+by the action of their respective muscles.
+
+In the Bat the structure is very different. Of course, as in the
+Vertebrata generally, we find in the Bat's fore-limb the same three
+main sections as in birds; and as the function of the limb is the
+same, and a certain stiffness is necessary in the extended organ, the
+movements of the joints at the elbow and wrists are hinge-like. But
+the bones of the arm and fore-arm are longer and more slender,
+especially the latter; and in this part, in place of the two parallel
+bones of the bird's wing, we find in the Bat only a single long bone
+representing the smaller bone of the bird, the larger one being
+usually reduced to very small dimensions, and firmly united with the
+other into a single piece, although it still forms the elbow-joint. At
+the other end of this long fore-arm we find some small wrist-bones and
+to these the fingers are articulated. In birds, as we have seen, only
+two or three fingers are represented, and these are more or less
+reduced in size, and the most important of them soldered together;
+Bats, on the contrary, show the whole five fingers as distinctly as in
+the hand of man or any other mammals. The first of them, or the
+_thumb_, is short, slender, and flexible, and composed of three
+joints; the other four are very long and slender, but chiefly
+composed of the metacarpal bones, corresponding to those of the palm
+of the human hand. The first, or index finger, indeed, in many Bats,
+consists of this bone alone; but in the others it is followed by two
+or three slender joints, gradually tapering to the extremity, the
+second finger, corresponding to our middle finger, being always the
+longest of all.
+
+Just as is the bird's wing, these various parts can be folded together
+or extended by the action of the muscles, but in the Bat the long
+fingers become separated when the wing is stretched out, and by this
+action they at the same time stretch a thin leathery double membrane
+in which they are enclosed, which is thus converted into a broad
+surface for striking the air in flight. This membrane is continued
+from the fingers to the sides of the body, and even to the hind limbs,
+which are often included in it to the ankle-joints; while in the great
+majority of Bats there is even a further portion of membrane between
+the hind legs, enclosing the whole or a portion of the tail. There is
+usually also a narrow strip of the same membrane in front of each arm,
+so that the skin of the animal is extended as much as possible, in
+order to give it support in its aërial evolution. It is to be noted
+that the long second finger extends to the extreme point of the wing
+and that the first finger runs close beside it and thus assists in
+stiffening that part of the organ. The thumb is left free, and is
+furnished with a rather strong hooked claw.
+
+Supported by the action of these great leathery wings, the Bat flies
+about almost incessantly during the twilight, and often late into the
+night. In full career its flight is swift, though perfectly
+noiseless, and it has the power of executing rapid turns and changes
+of direction with the greatest facility, as required for the capture
+of its prey, which, in the great majority of cases, consists of the
+insects of various kinds that in most places fly by night. In pursuit
+of these, the Bats flit rapidly about trees, houses, and other
+buildings, now and then resting by clinging for a moment to the rough
+surfaces of the walls or the trunks and branches of trees. Old country
+church-yards, which are usually full of trees, are naturally favorite
+haunts of these nocturnal insect-hunters, offering them an excellent
+field for the chase of their prey, while at the same time, the church
+itself, with its architectural peculiarities, usually affords them a
+safe retirement during the day in the dark and secluded corners of its
+structure. Hence in the popular mind the Bat has long been associated
+with the church-yard, that spot so dreaded that few can pass through
+it after nightfall without experiencing certain peculiar feelings, so
+that it is no great wonder if a portion of the superstitious fear thus
+engendered has transferred itself to these frail and harmless
+creatures, and given them and their companions, the owls, something of
+an evil reputation. And it must be confessed that when seen against
+the light, flitting silently overhead, there is something weird in the
+Bat's form, and this is no doubt the reason why, while angels of all
+kinds are represented with birds' wings, those of Bats have, by
+universal consent, always been conferred upon demons, dragons, and
+similar uncanny creatures.
+
+When it descends from its flight upon the ground or any solid body,
+the Bat becomes to all intents and purposes a genuine quadruped. The
+fingers being drawn together, with the membranes of the wings thrown
+into folds between them, the whole hand of the creature is brought up
+parallel to the fore-arm, and so got out of the way, and the animal
+can then walk more or less easily, its hind legs, though short and
+rather feeble, being perfectly formed, and the fore limbs, from which
+the thumbs with their sharp claws now project freely, becoming
+available for terrestrial progression. Nevertheless, this progression
+is generally rather clumsy, as indeed might be expected from creatures
+so curiously constructed.
+
+While on the wing, our Bats are constantly engaged in the pursuit of
+the numerous insects of various kinds which, like themselves, are
+active in the evening and after dark, and of these they must destroy
+immense quantities. The swarms of delicate gnats and midges which
+disport themselves in the most complicated aërial dances, moths of all
+kinds, and even the hard-shelled beetles, many of which fly about in
+the evening or at night, fall a prey to these leathern-winged rovers
+of the night air, and weak as the latter would seem to be, some of
+them are able to seize and devour beetles which appear to be far
+beyond their powers. Thus, the largest of our British species, the
+Great Bat, or Noctule (_Scotophilus noctula_), which, however, is only
+about three inches in length, preys freely upon such large and
+hard-shelled insects as cockchafers; these, in fact, appear to be its
+favorite food, and for their consumption its broad and comparatively
+strong jaws would seem to be specially fitted, while its large and
+powerful wings, measuring fourteen or fifteen inches from tip to tip
+when expanded, enable it to fly with the rapidity necessary for the
+pursuit and capture of such powerful prey. When thus engaged, the
+Noctule haunts the neighborhood of trees, and generally flies at a
+considerable elevation, from which, however, his shrill cry easily
+reaches the ear of the passer-by. His addiction to large prey gives
+rise to a curious movement, thus noticed by Professor Bell in his
+valuable book on "British Quadrupeds." "An observer will not watch his
+movements long," says the Professor, "without noticing a manœuvre
+which at first looks--like the falling of a tumbler-pigeon, but on
+closer examination proves to be simply a closing of the wings, and a
+consequent drop of about a foot. Sometimes, this is repeated every few
+yards, as long as in sight. It is occasioned by some large and
+intractable insect having been captured, and the anterior joint of the
+wing, with its well-armed thumb, is required in retaining it until
+masticated." Notwithstanding this little difficulty, however, the
+Noctule is pretty rapid in disposing even of his most recusant prey,
+as he has been known to consume as many as thirteen cockchafers one
+after another.
+
+The foregoing statements apply to all our British Bats, and indeed, in
+the matter of food and general habits, to the great majority of the
+species of the order, in whatever country they may occur. But in the
+tropical and sub-tropical regions of the eastern hemisphere, we find a
+great and important group of Bats, which, although agreeing in general
+structure and habits with our European species, differ from them
+altogether in their diet. These Bats, distinguished generally, among
+other things, by their larger size and more robust construction, and
+by certain characters of the molar teeth (grinders), from the ordinary
+Bats, are almost exclusively confined to a fruit diet, in search of
+which they fly vigorously, often in flocks, like birds, at the
+commencement of the night. From this peculiarity of their food they
+are commonly known as Fruit Bats, while the larger species, such as
+the Indian Fruit Bat and the Kalong of the Eastern Archipelago, which
+are respectively eleven and fourteen inches in length, are sometimes
+called Flying Foxes, in allusion to the prevalence of a reddish tint
+in their fur, and their more or less lengthened and dog-like muzzles.
+In many parts of the Eastern world, in India, the Malayan Archipelago,
+Australia, Africa, and even in outlying islands at some distance from
+their main range, these Fruit Bats occur in great numbers. Swarms of
+them roost together during the day, hanging from the branches of the
+trees which they select as their regular resting-place, and taking
+wing at sunset, fly off frequently to great distances in search of
+their favorite articles of food; for they by no means devour
+indiscriminately any kind of fruit, but show a distinct preference for
+particular sorts, generally selecting such as are also prized by their
+human competitors. Hence they often do considerable damage in
+plantations of fruit trees, as when they meet with articles that suit
+taste, they seem, like some human gourmands, not to know when to leave
+off eating. Of one of the smaller Indian species, the Margined Fruit
+Bat, Mr. Dobson obtained a living specimen in Calcutta, and he gives
+the following account of its voracious appetite:--He gave it "a ripe
+banana, which, with the skin removed, weighed exactly two ounces. The
+animal immediately, as if famished with hunger, fell upon the fruit,
+seized it between the thumbs and the index fingers, and took large
+mouthfuls out of it, opening the mouth to the fullest extent with
+extreme voracity. In the space of three hours the whole fruit was
+consumed. Next morning the Bat was killed, and found to weigh one
+ounce, half the weight of the food eaten in three hours! Indeed, the
+animal when eating seemed to be a kind of living mill"--so
+continuously does its food pass through it.
+
+From the statements of some writers, it would appear that although
+these Bats live chiefly upon fruits, they occasionally, like many
+other frugivorous animals, diversify their diet with animal food,
+devouring insects of various kinds, caterpillars, birds' eggs, and
+even young birds, while there seems to be some reason to believe that
+one species even feeds upon shell-fish which it picks up upon the
+seashore.
+
+The fruit-eating Bats of this group are not found in the warmer parts
+of America, but some American Bats feed chiefly upon fruits, while
+many of the large essentially insectivorous species which occur there
+vary their diet more or less with fruits, and also occasionally attack
+and devour other vertebrate animals. Some of them--but it is still
+very doubtful how many--have another habit connected with their
+feeding, which renders them very decidedly objectionable, namely, that
+of inflicting wounds upon birds and mammals, even including man
+himself, and sucking up the blood that flows from them. This charge
+has been brought against many Bats of South and Central America,
+some of which have been commonly named Vampires in consequence, after
+the ghostly blood-suckers, which were formerly the objects of so much
+superstitious terror in Hungary and other parts of Eastern Europe; but
+so far as can be made out from a consideration of the evidence, a
+verdict of "not proven," at all events, must be arrived at in the case
+of all but two species, which constitute a little group distinguished
+by what is apparently a special organization adapting them to this
+peculiar diet. These wretched little beasts, which only measure two
+and a half or three inches in length, are furnished in the upper jaw
+with a single pair of incisor or front teeth, but these are of great
+size and strength, triangular in form, and so excessively sharp that
+when the creatures are seized they can draw blood from the hand of
+their captor by what seems a mere touch. This extreme sharpness of
+their weapons enables them, when attacking sleeping men or animals, to
+slice off a small portion of skin almost without causing any pain, and
+the little oval wounds thus produced, like the similar surface-cuts
+which a careless shaver sometimes inflicts upon his chin, bleed with
+particular freedom. The Desmodonts, as these true Vampires are called,
+will attack horses, mules, and cattle, which they generally wound on
+the back, near the spine, often in the region of the withers; and they
+also bite the combs of domestic fowls, and any part of the human body
+that they can get at. In the case of man, however, according to most
+authorities, the extremity of the great toe is the favorite part; and
+some writers, perhaps possessed of a strong poetical vein, have given
+wonderful descriptions of the artfulness with which these little
+blood-suckers make their approaches, and keep their victim comfortably
+asleep during the operation by fanning him with their wings. In fact,
+the Vampire Bats had so bad a reputation from the accounts given by
+travellers, that they seemed to be veritable scourges of the countries
+in which they live, but so far as can be made out from the most
+trustworthy reports, the mischief they cause may be summed up under
+two heads, namely, weakness produced by loss of blood, which continues
+to flow from the wounds long after the Bats have drunk their fill and
+gone quietly home to rest, and inflammatory affections, caused either
+by the irritation of the bite in the case of people of a bad habit of
+body, or by the friction of the saddle or collar upon the part bitten
+in the case of horses and mules, or of the shoe in the human patient.
+That the Desmodonts do really feed on blood is proved by evidence of
+various kinds. They have been captured in the act of blood-sucking,
+when their stomachs, which are peculiarly constructed and very long,
+are found filled with a black paste, which is evidently half-digested
+blood; and their teeth, which are in part so well adapted for
+producing the necessary wounds in other animals, are totally unfit for
+the mastication of an insect prey, such as constitutes the diet of
+their nearest allies.
+
+[Illustration: THE VAMPIRE BAT.]
+
+After all this feeding, Bats, whatever the nature of their diet, not
+unnaturally find themselves inclined for repose, and as they are
+active during the night or in the twilight, of course their rest has
+to be taken in the daytime. To pass the period of repose in security
+they seek shelter of various kinds, not only for protection against
+the weather, but also for the sake of concealment from other
+predaceous animals, some of which would no doubt be perfectly willing
+to make a meal of them. The great Eastern Fruit Bats, trusting perhaps
+to their size and strength, are content to resort to the branches of
+trees, from which, after the manner of Bats in general, they suspend
+themselves by the hind feet with the head downwards. From the
+statements of various writers it appears that after being out all
+night in search of food, the Flying Foxes and other allied Bats fly
+back to their regular resting-places, where they begin to arrive about
+or soon after dawn. The number resorting to the same retreat is
+usually so great that the whole of the branches are loaded with them,
+and in fact they are so crowded together that the settling down of the
+flock into their repose is preceded by a scene of squabbling and
+quarrelling of the most noisy description. Mr. Tickell, speaking of
+the common Indian Flying Fox, says:--"From the arrival of the first
+comer, until the sun is high above the horizon, a scene of incessant
+wrangling and contention is enacted among them, as each endeavors to
+secure a higher and better place, or to eject a neighbor from too
+close vicinage. In these struggles the Bats hook themselves along the
+branches, scrambling about hand over hand with some speed, biting each
+other severely, striking out with the long claw of the thumb,
+shrieking and cackling without intermission. Each new arrival is
+compelled to fly several times round the tree, being threatened from
+all points; and when he eventually hooks on, he has to go through a
+series of combats, and be probably ejected two or three times, before
+he makes good his tenure." This scene of selfish contention over, the
+Fruit Bats pass some hours in profound sleep, during which they remain
+suspended in rows along the branches, to which they cling by one foot
+only, the other with all the lower surface of the body being
+comfortably wrapped in the leathery mantle formed by the contracted
+wings. In this condition, as Dr. Horsfield says of the Great Kalong,
+"ranged in succession with the head downwards ... and often in close
+contact, they have little resemblance to living beings, and by a
+person not accustomed to their economy are easily mistaken for a part
+of the tree, or for a fruit of uncommon size suspended from its
+branches." In this position the head is folded down upon the breast.
+Dr. Bennett and Mr. Gould ascribed very similar habits to a large
+Fruit Bat common in the northern parts of New South Wales and in
+Queensland, which is said to be often exceedingly destructive to the
+peach and other fruit crops of the settlers in those colonies.
+
+The European Bats, and indeed all the Bats except these Flying Foxes
+and their immediate allies, seek a different kind of shelter. Their
+chief natural dormitories consist of hollow trees and the caves and
+fissures of rocks, to which they often resort in great numbers; but in
+populous countries they also find an abundance of convenient places of
+retirement in and about buildings of various kinds. Roofs, especially
+when covered with tiles, or otherwise provided with apertures through
+which the space immediately under the roofing is easily accessible,
+outbuildings of all kinds, church towers and other similar structures,
+disused chimneys, the spaces behind weather-boards and shutters which
+are not often moved, in fact any dark and sheltered places about our
+buildings, are readily resorted to by many species, although some few
+retain their taste for unadulterated nature so strongly that no
+artificial harbor will serve their turn. Thus among the British
+species the Great Bat or Noctule, a generally distributed though not
+abundant species throughout the southern and middle counties of
+England, seems generally to retreat for its diurnal sleep to the holes
+or cavities in the trunks of trees, and only to visit buildings when
+there is a scarcity of such accommodation; and the Horseshoe Bats show
+a decided preference for caverns and deserted quarries; but the great
+majority appear to be indifferent in the matter, and to resort to any
+shelter that seems convenient to them. Some, such as the Barbastelle
+of the southern parts of England, are solitary in their habits,
+generally retiring alone for their day's rest; others are more
+sociable, reposing in larger or smaller parties in their dormitories,
+whether natural or artificial, and sometimes, like the Fruit Bats,
+collecting in immense numbers.
+
+The common Bats, like the Fruit Bats, sleep in what we should consider
+an exceedingly uncomfortable position, namely, with their heads
+downwards, but they cling by the claws of _both_ hind feet to the
+small irregularities of the stone or wood forming the walls and other
+parts of the structure of their retreat. They frequent the same places
+year after year, so that, where they are numerous, the ground is often
+completely covered and discolored with their excrements, which in some
+cases accumulate in course of time to such an amount as to have given
+rise to the notion of carrying it away to be used as guano. The little
+blood-sucking Vampire Bats already mentioned take up their abode in
+caverns, and, according to Dr. Hensel, who observed their habits, they
+discharge their excrements, which are black and pasty, near the
+entrance of the cave just before starting on their evening flight, and
+this substance by degrees forms quite a thick layer (one foot or more)
+on the floor of the cavern. The Doctor says that a large dog which had
+paid a visit of curiosity to one of these caves came out again looking
+as if he had got long black boots on.
+
+In the warmer regions of the earth's surface, where their supply of
+food is constant, the activity of the Bats is not known to have any
+intermission, but in cold and temperate countries they pass the winter
+season in a state of torpidity. The period of this hibernation, as it
+is called, varies somewhat in the different species, but few of them
+are to be seen flying about, except when the weather is decidedly
+mild. The commonest of all our British species, the Pipistrelle, has a
+shorter winter sleep than any of its companions, it usually makes its
+appearance on the wing by the middle of March, and continues active
+until quite late in the year; in fact Mr. Gould has recorded the fact
+of his having shot a specimen of it on a warm sunny day just before
+Christmas. For the purpose of hibernation the Bats retire to their
+usual resting-places, but frequently, instead of suspending themselves
+by their hind feet, as when sleeping, pack themselves away in small
+parties in holes and crevices, an arrangement which probably furnishes
+a better protection against the inclemency of the season.
+
+It is probably in the dormitory that the birth of the young bats takes
+place--at least, so far as we know, the process is affected in a
+manner which must preclude active exertions on the part of the mother
+for some little time. The best account of the operation with which we
+are acquainted is that given fifty years ago by Mr. George Daniell, in
+a paper read before the Zoölogical Society, in which he described the
+habits of some Noctules kept by him in captivity. Four out of five
+died, and the survivor, a female, was observed on 23d June to become
+very restless, and to continue so for about an hour, although still
+suspended by the hind limbs in the attitude of repose. "Suddenly," to
+use Mr. Daniell's words, "she reversed her position, and attached
+herself by her anterior limbs to a cross wire of the cage, stretching
+her hind limbs to their utmost extent, curving the tail upwards, and
+expanding the interfemoral membrane, so as to form a perfect nestlike
+cavity for the reception of the young ... which was born on its back,
+perfectly destitute of hair, and blind. The mother then cleaned it,
+turning it over in its nest; and afterwards, resuming her usual
+position, placed the young in the membrane of her wing. She next
+cleaned herself, and wrapped up the young one so closely as to prevent
+any observation of the process of suckling. At the time of birth the
+young was larger than a new-born mouse, and its hind legs and claws
+were remarkably strong and serviceable, enabling it not only to cling
+to its dam, but also to the deal sides of the cage. On the 24th the
+animal took her food in the morning, and appeared very careful of her
+young, shifting it from side to side to suckle it, and folding it in
+the membranes of the tail and wings." Unfortunately, these
+interesting observations were cut short by the death of the mother,
+and the young animal, which was with some difficulty removed from the
+nipple, survived only eight days, during which it was fed with milk
+from a sponge, and made but little progress, its eyes being still
+unopened, and its body almost hairless.
+
+There can be no doubt that this process, varied in minor points in
+accordance with differences of structure, reveals to us what takes
+place in Bats generally in immediate connection with the birth of the
+young. From all the observations that have been made it appears
+certain that the female Bats produce only a single young one at a
+birth; that this is at first blind, naked, and helpless; and that the
+female nurses it carefully--a process which must be greatly
+facilitated by the power of clinging to its parent possessed by the
+young Bat from the first moment of its appearance in the world. The
+two nipples possessed by the female are situated upon the breast,
+sometimes quite at the sides under the arm-pits, a position which
+renders it particularly easy for the careful mother to tend her
+offspring, while she is also enabled to carry it about with her in her
+evening flights, the young creature clinging firmly to its mother's
+fur, and being quite out of the way of the movements of the wings.
+This part of the business, of course, could not be exemplified in Mr.
+Daniell's case, as the female was imprisoned in a cage, but it is a
+well-known fact in the natural history of these creatures that the
+mother does carry her young about with her so long as it continues
+helpless. Apparently, indeed, even after the young animal becomes
+capable of flying about, its mother still retains some interest in its
+well-being--at least, if we may apply generally a case recorded by Dr.
+Allen in his account of the Bats of North America. It relates to a
+small species, the Red Bat, very common throughout the United States,
+a young individual of which having been captured by a lad, "three
+hours afterwards, in the evening, as he was conveying it to the museum
+in his hand, while passing near the place where it was caught, the
+mother made her appearance, and followed the boy for two squares,
+flying around him, and finally alighted on his breast, such was her
+anxiety to save her offspring. Both were brought to the museum, the
+young one firmly adhering to its mother's teat. This faithful creature
+lived two days in the museum, and then died of injuries received from
+her captor. The young one being but half grown was still too young to
+take care of itself, and died shortly after."
+
+This little anecdote seems to set the moral character of the Bat in a
+very favorable light, at any rate as regards the family affections,
+and there is no doubt that the females of all the species of the group
+show considerable fondness for their young. In other respects,
+perhaps, they do not all shine quite so brilliantly, for, as we have
+seen, the Fruit Bats squabble very selfishly for the most convenient
+sleeping places, as indeed do other gregarious species of the order,
+and some of the former quarrel and fight over their food. As regards
+amiability of character, however, there is probably considerable
+difference between different kinds of Bats; at any rate, in
+confinement, they show much diversity of temper, some of them being
+sullen, refusing food, and biting vigorously at their captors or the
+bars of their prison, while others are easily tamed and soon become
+familiar. Two of the commonest species, the Pipistrelle, and the
+Long-eared Bat are among the latter. The Pipistrelle, which appears to
+be abundant throughout Britain, and indeed in most of the northern
+temperate regions of the eastern hemisphere, is a small reddish-brown
+species, measuring little more than one inch and a half in length
+without the tail, but with a spread of wing of more than eight inches.
+Its regular food consists chiefly of gnats, midges, and other small
+flies, in pursuit of which it often frequents the vicinity of water,
+but it has a curious predilection for raw meat, and in search of this
+it often makes its way into pantries, where the little thief will be
+found clinging to a joint of meat, and feeding upon it with avidity.
+This fondness for meat makes the Pipistrelle very easy to keep in
+confinement, as it diminishes the necessity of finding it insect food,
+and the little creature will in time become so tame as to take pieces
+of meat from its owner's fingers. It is an active and lively little
+creature, flying, running, and climbing about with great ease; in the
+latter operation, according to Professor Bell, it makes use of the
+extreme tip of the tail as if it was a finger.
+
+The Long-eared Bat, so called from the great size of its ears, which
+are nearly as long as the whole animal exclusive of the tail, has
+perhaps a wider distribution than the Pipistrelle, but is hardly so
+abundant in Britain. Its head and body measure nearly two inches long,
+while its wings spread to about ten inches. This Bat generally sleeps
+during the day under the roofs of houses and in church towers, and
+when sleeping its long ears are carefully stowed away under the folded
+wings, but the earlet or inner lobe of the ear still projects, so that
+the creature appears to have a pair of short-pointed ears. The
+Long-eared Bat flies very late in the evening, and indeed seems to
+continue its activity throughout the night; its food appears to
+consist to a great extent of the smaller moths, although other insects
+are by no means disdained. This species also soon becomes very tame
+and familiar; it will fly about the room, play with its fellows, and
+come fearlessly to take its food from the hand. Professor Bell gives
+an interesting account of one kept by Mr. James Sowerby, which, "when
+at liberty in the parlor, would fly to the hand of any of the young
+people who held up a fly toward it, and, pitching on the hand, take
+the fly without hesitation. If the insect was held between the lips,
+the Bat would then settle on its young patron's cheek, and take the
+fly with great gentleness from the mouth; and so far was this
+familiarity carried, that, when either of the young people made a
+humming noise with the mouth, in imitation of an insect, the Bat would
+search about the lips for the promised dainty." This habit of taking
+its food when off the wing, would seem to be natural to the Long-eared
+Bat under certain circumstances, as Mr. Tomes records his having seen
+one feeding in this manner upon the myriads of small moths which
+swarmed about a spindle tree in bloom.
+
+[Illustration: LONG-EARED BAT.]
+
+It is unnecessary to say that the creatures which display all this
+activity and intelligence are well endowed with at least all the
+senses possessed by the other animals of their class. The organs of
+smell and hearing are well developed, and in many cases associated
+with external membranous expansions of great size, as seen in the ears
+of the Long-eared Bat; and the eyes, though generally of small size
+except in the Fruit Bats, are bright and efficient, serving the
+creatures in good stead in the rapid pursuit of their insect-prey,
+which must be directed principally by sight. The common expression "as
+blind as a Bat," must be taken to apply to Bats accidentally driven
+from their retreats in the day-time, when it must be confessed that
+they fly about in a dazed manner; but at night and in their dark
+retreats they show no such imbecility of purpose, but find their way
+with astonishing precision and certainty. In fact, instead of being
+blind, the Bats must be especially sharp-sighted, if all their
+evolutions be guided by the sense of sight, for in many cases they
+habitually resort to the inmost recesses of caverns and other places
+where, so far as our judgment goes, no light can possibly penetrate.
+Hence it was long since suspected that some other sense than that of
+sight must come to their aid when they plunge into such outer darkness
+as prevails in some places through which they fly with the greatest
+freedom, and more than a century ago numerous experiment were made by
+a distinguished Italian naturalist, the Abbé Spallanzani, in order to
+discover, if possible, what might be the secret of these curious
+phenomena.
+
+He set free, in a long passage which was bent at a right angle about
+the middle of its length, a blinded Bat, which flew through the whole
+of this passage, turning the corner correctly, without anywhere
+touching the walls; while flying, too, it in some mysterious manner
+detected a hole in the roof at a distance of eighteen inches, and
+proceeded at once to ensconce itself in this shelter. In another
+experiment the Abbé took two Bats, one blinded, the other not, and
+placed them in a space shut off from a garden and roofed in with nets,
+and with sixteen strings suspended from the top in different parts.
+Both Bats flew about briskly and avoided the hanging strings equally
+well, until at length the _blinded_ Bat discovered that the meshes of
+the net were large enough for him to get through, when he at once made
+his escape, and after flying about for a short time, went off directly
+to the only roof in the vicinity, under which he disappeared. In
+short, from these experiments it became perfectly clear that under
+these circumstances the sense of sight was not of primary importance
+in guiding the course of the Bat. Similar trials with the organs of
+smell and hearing showed that they had nothing to do with it, and the
+only other sense that could be appealed to was the general sense of
+touch. Baron Cuvier, the great French comparative anatomist, was the
+first to suggest, from the consideration of the results obtained by
+the Abbé Spallanzani and others, especially by M. de Jurine, of
+Geneva, that the peculiar phenomena in question might be accounted for
+by the existence, especially in the great membranous expansions of the
+wings, of a most delicate sensibility; and subsequent investigations
+of the structure of those organs has tended to confirm this view, so
+that it is now the one generally accepted. It is found that these
+great membranes are traversed in all parts by numerous nerves, the
+delicate terminations of which form little loops, exactly resembling
+those which occur in our skin in those parts where the sense of touch
+is most highly developed; and this resemblance is heightened by the
+fact that the membrane is covered with rows of little points. Even the
+organs of circulation in the wings are so constructed as to render it
+almost certain that those organs have a quite exceptional sensibility.
+Their ramifications are very numerous, and the veins as well as the
+arteries have contractile walls, rendering the circulation of the
+blood exceedingly active, the conditions, as Professor St. George
+Mivart remarks, being almost those of a state of inflammation.
+
+If these membranous expansions have the functions just ascribed to
+them, we can easily understand that the larger they are the better,
+and this will explain why the Bats generally exhibit so great a
+tendency to run out into naked membranes. Thus although the ears, as
+organs of hearing, have probably nothing to do with guiding the Bat
+when flying in dark places, we find that in a great number of species
+the external ears are exceedingly large and delicately membranous, of
+which indeed we have an example in the British Long-eared Bat already
+referred to. In like manner, while the nose, as a nose, may also be
+left out of consideration, the development of membranous appendages of
+the part of the face in which the nostrils open is one of the most
+curious peculiarities of a vast number of Bats, in many of which these
+singular nose-leaves almost rival the ears in size, while their
+structure often renders them most grotesque. We have two Bats thus
+adorned in Britain, namely, the Greater and the Lesser Horseshoe Bats,
+but most of the leaf-nosed species are inhabitants of warmer regions,
+and it is there that they run out into the most remarkable
+eccentricities of structure. In Blainville's Bat, a small species
+inhabiting South America and the West Indies, these expansions of the
+skin of the face seem to have reached the utmost possible
+grotesqueness, but the membranous leaves are larger and the ears much
+more developed in many species allied to our own Horseshoe Bats,
+especially such as the Megaderms. We can hardly imagine that these
+great membranous expansions of the outer ears and the region of the
+nose can have any other purpose than that of enlarging the surface of
+highly sensitive skin specially adapted for the perception of external
+impressions, and it is a remarkable fact, strictly in accordance with
+this view, that, so far as we know, the Bats so endowed are more
+decidedly nocturnal in their habits and frequent darker retreats than
+their less gifted fellows. Thus our Long-eared Bat, as already stated,
+continues active on the wing throughout the whole night, and the
+Horseshoe Bats are distinguished as specially affecting dark caves.
+
+
+
+
+HOW SNAKES EAT
+
+(FROM SNAKES.)
+
+BY CATHERINE C. HOPLEY.
+
+
+[Illustration: HAMADRYAD SNAKE.]
+
+The Hamadryad's appointed diet is one ring-snake per week; but "Ophi,"
+as we now call him, is occasionally required--and with no sacrifice of
+his principles either--to eat an extra snake to satisfy the curiosity
+of some distinguished visitor. Sometimes, too, colubers are plentiful,
+and two small ones are not too much for his ten or twelve feet of
+appetite. This splendid serpent has rewarded care by remaining in
+perfect health, and growing several feet. He was between eight and
+nine feet long when he came, and is now not far short of twelve and
+proportionately larger in circumference. Sometimes during winter, when
+ring-snakes are scarce, "Ophi" is compelled to fast; for he is not
+then to be tempted with other food. During the first year of his
+residence in the Gardens, the supply was good, and he ate no less than
+eighty-two fellow-creatures before the winter was well over. Towards
+spring, however, the supply ran short, and only two more remained for
+him. He had now fasted two entire weeks, and looked hungry and eager.
+The keeper offered him a guinea-pig, at which he took great offence,
+raising his hood and hissing angrily for a long while. Eggs he
+declined, also a lizard and a rat, in great disgust. In India the
+Ophiophagi are said to feed on lizards and fish occasionally, but
+_our_ Ophiophagus preferred to fast. At last one of the two
+ring-snakes was produced, and Ophio was to be regaled. It was the 31st
+of March, 1876, and he had been a denizen of the Gardens just one
+year. My note-book informs me that it was a lovely, soft spring day,
+and that Ophio was quite lively. He had rejected frogs on his own
+account, but in the uncertainty of more ring-snakes arriving, he was
+now decoyed into eating half a dozen. Holland contrived that the snake
+destined for his dinner should answer the purpose of a feast, and had
+allowed it to eat as many frogs as it chose. Like the poor wretch who,
+doomed to the gallows, is permitted to fare sumptuously the last
+morning of his life, the ring-snake ate three frogs, by which the
+Ophiophagus was to derive chief benefit; he, all unconscious of the
+cause of his victim's unusual plumpness, swallowed him speedily.
+
+Soon after this Ophio doffed his winter coat entire, and having again
+fasted for ten days, was at once rewarded by the last remaining
+ring-snake in a similarly plethoric condition, namely, with three more
+frogs inside him. Now and then during the winter months the scarcity
+of ring-snakes has compelled the sacrifice of some far rarer colubers
+to Ophio's cannibal tastes. And yet each year we hear of hundreds of
+ring-snakes being ruthlessly killed in country districts, while at
+great cost and trouble others are purchased or brought from the
+Continent for the Hamadryad's sustenance. Lord Lilford, one of the
+Ophidarium's best patrons, sometimes sends presents of game in the
+shape of ring-snakes to the Hamadryad.
+
+While watching this snake-eater over his dinner, one is struck with
+the remarkable tenacity of life exhibited in the victim, or the slow
+action of the venom if poisoned in the first grasp. The Ophiophagus
+seizes it anywhere, that is, at whichever part happens to come first,
+and then, after holding it quietly for a time, works his jaws up to
+the head in the usual hand-over-hand, or "jaw-after-jaw" fashion,
+invariably swallowing the snake head first. On one occasion when I
+watched attentively, Ophio, having seized a ring-snake by the middle,
+held it doggedly still for one quarter of an hour, while the lesser
+snake did its very best to work its way out of the jaws, and also to
+fetter its captor by twirling itself over his head and coiling round
+his neck. This continued while Ophio, with his head and neck raised,
+remained motionless, and after the quarter of an hour commenced to
+work his jaws up towards the head of the ring snake, which, as more
+and more of its own body was free for action, twirled itself about,
+and at length coiled its tail round the bit of branch nailed into the
+cage.
+
+Persistently, like a sailor making his vessel fast to the windlass,
+the ring snake lashed as much of himself as was free round the branch
+a foot off, and so pulled and pulled till he looked in danger of
+severing himself in two. Meanwhile Ophio, slowly but surely advancing,
+caused its head and neck to disappear, grasping tightly with his
+venomous jaws, as if he would say, "We'll see who is master." It was a
+close tussle, so firmly did the little coluber retain his hold on the
+"tree"; but as the upper part of him was gradually drawn into those
+unrelaxing jaws, he by degrees gave way, and by and by was gone.
+
+Not far short of an hour was occupied in this meal, during which the
+victim showed no signs of being poisoned, nor were his coils round the
+stump relaxed in the slightest degree, till Ophio reached the tail.
+The ring snake is not a constrictor, yet he thus tied himself round
+the tree by the coils of his tail.
+
+One more singular case of tenacity of life must be recorded. A
+ring-snake had been caught in the usual way, and the usual struggle
+ensued between captor and captive. Coluber, with its head tightly
+gripped in the jaws of his enemy, had still all the rest of himself at
+liberty and in full activity, and after wriggling a violent protest,
+he coiled what was left of himself so closely round the neck of his
+persecutor that the latter made little or no progress with his dinner
+for a time. He seemed to be deliberating how to proceed next, and
+asking, "What is the meaning of this?" then shook his head, lowered it
+to the shingle, and tried to rub off the coils. The only result thus
+achieved was that the extreme end of Coluber's tail was loosened for a
+moment, but only to coil afresh around Ophio's jaws, which
+nevertheless slowly and surely advanced.
+
+For nearly an hour the progress was very slow; but when the ring-snake
+was nearly all swallowed except a few inches of tail, these became so
+tight a muzzle that Ophio in turn was the victim. Shaking his head and
+vainly endeavoring to free his jaws of this muzzle, a minute or two
+elapsed, during which he seemed to suffer some discomfort, when
+suddenly his mouth opened widely, and out crawled Natrix, apparently
+none the worse for this temporary entombment. He had turned round when
+two or three feet from daylight, and come back to see the world once
+more. But it so happened that Ophio closed his jaws in time over the
+few inches of tail which still remained between them. Nor did he once
+relax his grasp of this, but quickly and patiently began to work his
+way up to the head and recommence his meal, and this time with better
+success. An hour and a quarter I watched, nor was any evidence of
+poison seen, so as to reduce the powers of the bitten snake; for
+bitten it must have been in those prolonged and forcible grasps.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In these conflicts one could but observe a dogged stupidity on the
+part of the venomous snake, who, had he but brought coils to his aid,
+might have simplified matters so easily. The little Heterodons, and
+even the Lacertines, often assist themselves with coils in managing
+their prey, though not themselves constrictors; but the venomous ones
+have not the slightest notion of helping themselves in this way, as if
+confident that in time their venom would do its work.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+WHAT WORMS DO
+
+(FROM THE FORMATION OF VEGETABLE MOULD.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+We now come to treat of a curious and important subject,--namely, the
+amount of earth which is brought up by worms from beneath the surface,
+and is afterwards spread out more or less completely by the rain and
+wind. The amount can be judged of by two methods,--by the rate at
+which objects left on the surface are buried, and more accurately by
+weighing the quantity brought up within a given time. We will begin
+with the first method, as it was first followed.
+
+Near Maer Hall in Staffordshire, quick-lime had been spread, about the
+year 1827, thickly over a field of good pasture-land, which had not
+since been ploughed. Some square holes were dug in this field in the
+beginning of October, 1837, and the sections showed a layer of turf,
+formed by the matted roots of the grasses, ½ inch in thickness,
+beneath which, at a depth of 2½ inches (or 3 inches from the surface),
+a layer of the lime in powder or in small lumps could be distinctly
+seen running all round the vertical sides of the holes. The soil
+beneath the layer of lime was either gravelly or of a coarse sandy
+nature, and differed considerably in appearance from the overlying
+dark-coloured fine mould. Coal-cinders had been spread over a part of
+this same field either in the year 1833 or 1834; and when the above
+holes were dug, that is, after an interval of 3 or 4 years, the
+cinders formed a line of black spots round the holes, at a depth of
+1 inch beneath the surface, parallel to and above the white layer of
+lime. Over another part of this field cinders had been strewed, only
+about half a year before, and these either still lay on the surface or
+were entangled among the roots of the grasses; and I here saw the
+commencement of the burying process, for worm-castings had been heaped
+on several of the smaller fragments. After an interval of 4¾ years
+this field was re-examined, and now the two layers of lime and cinders
+were found almost everywhere at a greater depth than before by nearly
+1 inch, we will say by ¾ of an inch. Therefore, mould to an average
+thickness of .22 of an inch had been annually brought up by the worms,
+and had been spread over the surface of this field.
+
+Coal-cinders had been strewed over another field, at a date which
+could not be positively ascertained, so thickly that they formed
+(October, 1837) a layer, 1 inch in thickness at a depth of about
+3 inches from the surface. The layer was so continuous that the
+overlying dark vegetable mould was connected with the sub-soil of
+red clay only by the roots of the grasses; and when these were broken,
+the mould and the red clay fell apart. In a third field, on which
+coal-cinders and burnt marl had been strewed several times at unknown
+dates, holes were dug in 1842; and a layer of cinders could be traced
+at a depth of 3½ inches, beneath which at a depth of 9½ inches from
+the surface there was a line of cinders together with burnt marl. On
+the sides of one hole there were two layers of cinders, at 2 and
+3½ inches beneath the surface; and below them at a depth in parts of 9½,
+and in other parts of 10½ inches there were fragments of burnt marl.
+In a fourth field two layers of lime, one above the other could be
+distinctly traced, and beneath them a layer of cinders and burnt marl
+at a depth of from 10 to 12 inches below the surface.
+
+A piece of waste land was enclosed, drained, ploughed, harrowed, and
+thickly covered in the year 1822 with burnt marl and cinders. It was
+sowed with grass seeds, and now supports a tolerably good but coarse
+pasture. Holes were dug in this field in 1837, or 15 years after its
+reclamation, and we see in the accompanying diagram (Fig. 1) reduced
+to half of the natural scale, that the turf was ½ inch thick, beneath
+which there was a layer of vegetable mould 2½ inches thick. This layer
+did not contain fragments of any kind; but beneath it there was a
+layer of mould, 1½ inch in thickness, full of fragments of burnt marl,
+conspicuous from their red color, one of which near the bottom was an
+inch in length; and other fragments of coal-cinders together with a
+few white quartz pebbles. Beneath this layer and at a depth of
+4½ inches from the surface, the original black, peaty, sandy soil with a
+few quartz pebbles was encountered. Here, therefore, the fragments of
+burnt marl and cinders had been covered in the course of 15 years by a
+layer of fine vegetable mould, only 2½ inches in thickness, excluding
+the turf. Six and a half years subsequently this field was
+re-examined, and the fragments were now found at from 4 to 5 inches
+beneath the surface. So that in this interval of 6½ years, about
+1½ inch of mould had been added to the superficial layer. I am surprised
+that a greater quantity had not been brought up during the whole
+21½ years, for in the closely underlying black, peaty soil there were many
+worms. It is, however, probable that formerly, whilst the land
+remained poor, worms were scanty; and the mould would then have
+accumulated slowly. The average annual increase of thickness for the
+whole period is .19 of an inch.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1.
+Section of the vegetable mould in a field, drained and reclaimed
+    fifteen years previously; a, turf; b, vegetable mould without
+    any stones; c, mould with fragments of burnt marl, coal cinders,
+    and pebbles; d, sub-soil of black, peaty sand with quartz
+    pebbles.]
+
+Two other cases are worth recording. In the spring of 1835 a field,
+which had long existed as poor pasture, and was so swampy that it
+trembled slightly when stamped on, was thickly covered with red sand
+so that the whole surface appeared at first bright red. When holes
+were dug in this field after an interval of about 2½ years, the sand
+formed a layer at a depth of ¾ inch beneath the surface. In 1842
+(i.e., seven years after the sand had been laid on) fresh holes were
+dug, and now the red sand formed a distinct layer, 2 inches beneath
+the surface, or 1½ inch beneath the turf; so that on an average
+.21 inches of mould had been annually brought to the surface. Immediately
+beneath the layer of red sand the original sub-stratum of black, sandy
+peat extended.
+
+A grass field, likewise not far from Maer Hall, had formerly been
+thickly covered with marl, and was then left for several years as
+pasture; it was afterwards ploughed. A friend had three trenches dug
+in this field 28 years after the application of the marl, and a layer
+of the marl fragments could be traced at a depth, carefully
+measured, of 12 inches in some parts, and of 14 inches in other parts.
+This difference in depth depended on the layer being horizontal,
+whilst the surface consisted of ridges and furrows from the field
+having been ploughed. The tenant assured me that it had never been
+turned up to a greater depth than from 6 to 8 inches; and as the
+fragments formed an unbroken horizontal layer from 12 to 14 inches
+beneath the surface, these must have been buried by the worms whilst
+the land was in pasture before it was ploughed, for otherwise they
+would have been indiscriminately scattered by the plough throughout
+the whole thickness of the soil. Four and a half years afterwards I
+had three holes dug in this field, in which potatoes had been lately
+planted, and the layer of marl fragments was now found 13 inches
+beneath the bottoms of the furrows, and therefore probably 15 inches
+beneath the general level of the field. It should, however, be
+observed that the thickness of the blackish, sandy soil, which had
+been thrown up by the worms above the marl fragments in the course of
+32½ years, would have measured less than 15 inches, if the field had
+always remained as pasture, for the soil would in this case have been
+much more compact. The fragments of marl almost rested on an
+undisturbed sub-stratum of white sand with quartz pebbles; and as this
+would be little attractive to worms, the mould would hereafter be very
+slowly increased by their action.
+
+We will now give some cases of the action of worms, on land differing
+widely from the dry, sandy, or the swampy pasture just described. The
+chalk formation extends all round my house in Kent; and its surface,
+from having been exposed during an immense period to the dissolving
+action of rain-water, is extremely irregular, being abruptly festooned
+and penetrated by many deep, well-like cavities. During the
+dissolution of the chalk the insoluble matter, including a vast number
+of unrolled flints of all sizes, has been left on the surface and
+forms a bed of stiff red clay, full of flints, and generally from 6 to
+14 feet in thickness. Over the red clay, wherever the land has long
+remained as pasture, there is a layer a few inches in thickness of
+dark-coloured vegetable mould.
+
+A quantity of broken chalk was spread, on December 20, 1842, over a
+part of a field near my house, which had existed as pasture certainly
+for 30, probably for twice or thrice as many, years. The chalk was
+laid on the land for the sake of observing at some future period to
+what depth it would become buried. At the end of November, 1871, that
+is, after an interval of twenty-nine years, a trench was dug across
+this part of the field; and a line of white nodules could be traced on
+both sides of the trench, at a depth of 7 inches from the surface. The
+mould, therefore (excluding the turf), had here been thrown up at an
+average rate of .22 inches per year. Beneath the line of chalk nodules
+there was in parts hardly any fine earth free of flints, while in
+other parts there was a layer 2¼ inches in thickness. In this latter
+case the mould was altogether 9¼ inches thick; and in one such spot a
+nodule of chalk and a smooth flint pebble, both of which must have
+been left at some former time on the surface, were found at this
+depth. At from 11 to 12 inches beneath the surface, the undisturbed
+reddish clay, full of flints, extended. The appearance of the above
+nodules of chalk surprised me much at first, as they closely resembled
+water-worn pebbles, whereas the freshly-broken fragments had been
+angular. But on examining the nodules with a lens, they no longer
+appeared water-worn, for their surfaces were pitted through unequal
+corrosion, and minute, sharp points, formed of broken fossil shells,
+projected from them. It was evident that the corners of the original
+fragments of chalk had been wholly dissolved, from presenting a large
+surface to the carbonic acid dissolved in the rain-water and to that
+generated in soil containing vegetable matter, as well as the
+humus-acids. The projecting corners would also, relatively to the
+other parts, have been embraced by a larger number of living rootlets;
+and these have the power of even attacking marble, as Sachs has shown.
+Thus, in the course of twenty-nine years, buried angular fragments of
+chalk had been converted into well-rounded nodules.
+
+Another part of this same field was mossy, and as it was thought that
+sifted coal-cinders would improve the pasture, a thick layer was
+spread over this part either in 1842 or 1843, and another layer some
+years afterwards. In 1871 a trench was here dug, and many cinders lay
+in a line at a depth of 7 inches beneath the surface, with another
+line at a depth of 5½ inches parallel to the one beneath. In another
+part of this field, which had formerly existed as a separate one, and
+which it was believed had been pasture-land for more than a century,
+trenches were dug to see how thick the vegetable mould was. By chance
+the first trench was made at a spot where at some former period,
+certainly more than forty years before, a large hole had been filled
+up with coarse, red clay, flints, fragments of chalk, and gravel; and
+here the fine vegetable mould was only from 4⅛ to 4⅜ inches in
+thickness. In another and undisturbed place, the mould varied much in
+thickness, namely, from 6½ to 8½ inches; beneath which a few small
+fragments of brick were found in one place. From these several cases,
+it would appear, that during the last 29 years mould has been heaped
+on the surface at an average annual rate of from .2 to .22 of an
+inch. But in this district when a ploughed field is first laid down in
+grass, the mould accumulates at a much slower rate. The rate, also,
+must become very much slower after a bed of mould, several inches in
+thickness, has been formed; for the worms then live chiefly near the
+surface, and burrow down to a greater depth so as to bring up fresh
+earth from below, only during the winter, when the weather is very
+cold (at which time worms were found in this field at a depth of
+26 inches), and during summer, when the weather is very dry.
+
+A field which adjoins the one just described, slopes in one part
+rather steeply (viz., at from 10° to 15°); this part was last ploughed
+in 1841, was then harrowed and left to become pasture-land. For
+several years it was clothed with an extremely scant vegetation, and
+was so thickly covered with small and large flints (some of them half
+as large as a child's head) that the field was always called by my
+sons "the stony field." When they ran down the slope the stones
+clattered together. I remember doubting whether I should live to see
+these larger flints covered with vegetable mould and turf. But the
+smaller stones disappeared before many years had elapsed, as did every
+one of the larger ones after a time; so that after thirty years (1871)
+a horse could gallop over the compact turf from one end of the field
+to the other, and not strike a single stone with his shoes. To anyone
+who remembered the appearance of the field in 1842, the transformation
+was wonderful. This was certainly the work of the worms, for though
+castings were not frequent for several years, yet some were thrown up
+month after month, and these gradually increased in numbers as the
+pasture improved. In the year 1871 a trench was dug on the above
+slope, and the blades of grass were cut off close to the roots, so
+that the thickness of the turf and of the vegetable mould could be
+measured accurately. The turf was rather less than half an inch, and
+the mould, which did not contain any stones, 2½ inches in thickness.
+Beneath this lay coarse, clayey earth full of flints, like that in any
+of the neighboring ploughed fields. This coarse earth easily fell
+apart from the overlying mould when a split was lifted up. The average
+rate of accumulation of the mould during the whole thirty years was
+only .083 inch per year (i.e., nearly one inch in twelve years); but
+the rate must have been much slower at first, and afterwards
+considerably quicker.
+
+The transformation in the appearance of this field, which had been
+effected beneath my eyes, was afterwards rendered the more striking,
+when I examined in Knole Park a dense forest of lofty beech-trees,
+beneath which nothing grew. Here the ground was thickly strewed with
+large, naked stones, and worm-castings were almost wholly absent.
+Obscure lines and irregularities on the surface indicated that the
+land had been cultivated some centuries ago. It is probable that a
+thick wood of young beech-trees sprung up so quickly, that time enough
+was not allowed for worms to cover up the stone with their castings,
+before the site became unfitted for their existence. Anyhow, the
+contrast between the state of the now miscalled "stony field," well
+stocked with worms, and the present state of the ground beneath the
+old beech-trees in Knole Park, where worms appeared to be absent, was
+striking.
+
+A narrow path running across part of my lawn was paved in 1843 with
+small flag-stones, set edgeways; but worms threw up many castings, and
+weeds grew thickly between them. During several years the path was
+weeded and swept; but ultimately the weeds and worms prevailed, and
+the gardener ceased to sweep, merely moving off the weeds, as often as
+the lawn was mowed. The path soon became almost covered up, and after
+several years no trace of it was left. On removing, in 1877, the thin
+overlaying layer of turf, the small flag-stones, all in their proper
+places, were found covered by an inch of fine mould.
+
+Two recently published accounts of substances strewed on the surface
+of pasture-land, having become buried through the action of worms, may
+be here noticed. The Rev. H. C. Key had a ditch cut in a field, over
+which coal-ashes had been spread, as it was believed, 18 years before,
+and on the clean-cut perpendicular sides of the ditch, at a depth of
+at least 7 inches, there could be seen, for a length of 60 yards, "a
+distinct, very even, narrow line of coal-ashes, mixed with small coal,
+perfectly parallel with the top-sward." This parallelism and the
+length of the section gives interest to the case. Secondly, Mr. Dancer
+states that crushed bones had been thickly strewed over a field, and
+"some years afterwards" these were found "several inches below the
+surface, at a uniform depth." Worms appear to act in the same manner
+in New Zealand as in Europe; for Professor J. von Haast has described
+a section near the coast, consisting of mica-schist, "covered by 5 or
+6 feet of loess, above which about 12 inches of vegetable soil had
+accumulated." Between the loess and the mould there was a layer from 3
+to 6 inches in thickness, consisting of "cores, implements, flakes,
+and chips, all manufactured from hard basaltic rock." It is,
+therefore, probable, that the aborigines, at some former period, had
+left these objects on the surface, and that they had afterwards been
+slowly covered up by the castings of worms.
+
+Farmers in England are well aware that objects of all kinds, left on
+the surface of pasture-lands, after a time disappear, or, as they say,
+work themselves downwards. How powdered lime, cinders, and heavy
+stones, can work down, and at the same rate, through the matted roots
+of a grass-covered surface, is a question which has probably never
+occurred to them.
+
+_The sinking of great stones through the action of worms._--When a
+stone of large size and of irregular shape is left on the surface of
+the ground, it rests, of course, on the more protuberant parts; but
+worms soon fill up with their castings all the hollow spaces on the
+lower side; for, as Hensen remarks, they like the shelter of stones.
+As soon as the hollows are filled up, the worms eject the earth which
+they have swallowed beyond the circumference of the stones; and thus
+the surface of the ground is raised all round the stone. As the
+burrows excavated directly beneath the stone after a time collapse,
+the stone sinks a little. Hence it is, that boulders which at some
+ancient period have rolled down from a rocky mountain or cliff on to a
+meadow at its base, are always somewhat imbedded in the soil; and,
+when removed, leave an exact impression of their lower surfaces in
+the under-lying fine mould. If, however, a boulder is of such huge
+dimensions, that the earth beneath is kept dry, such earth will not be
+inhabited by worms, and the boulder will not sink into the ground.
+
+A lime-kiln formerly stood in a grass-field near Leith Hill Place, in
+Surrey, and was pulled down 35 years before my visit; all the loose
+rubbish had been carted away, excepting three large stones of
+quartzose sandstone, which it was thought might hereafter be of some
+use. An old workman remembered that they had been left on a bare
+surface of broken bricks and mortar, close to the foundations of the
+kiln; but the whole surrounding surface is now covered with turf and
+mould. The two largest of these stones had never since been moved; nor
+could this easily have been done, as, when I had them removed, it was
+the work of two men with levers. One of these stones, and not the
+largest, was 64 inches long, 17 inches broad, and from 9 to 10 inches
+in thickness. Its lower surface was somewhat protuberant in the
+middle; and this part still rested on broken bricks and mortar,
+showing the truth of the old workman's account. Beneath the brick
+rubbish the natural sandy soil, full of fragments of sandstone, was
+found; and this could have yielded very little, if at all, to the
+weight of the stone, as might have been expected if the sub-soil had
+been clay. The surface of the field, for a distance of about 9 inches
+round the stone, gradually sloped up to it, and close to the stone
+stood in most places about 4 inches above the surrounding ground. The
+base of the stone was buried from 1 to 2 inches beneath the general
+level, and the upper surface projected about 8 inches above this
+level, or about 4 inches above the sloping border of turf. After the
+removal of the stone it became evident that one of its pointed ends
+must at first have stood clear above the ground by some inches, but
+its upper surface was now on a level with the surrounding turf. When
+the stone was removed, an exact cast of its lower side, forming a
+shallow crateriform hollow, was left, the inner surface of which
+consisted of fine, black mould, excepting where the more protuberant
+parts rested on the brick-rubbish. A transverse section of this stone,
+together with its bed, drawn from measurements made after it had been
+displaced, is here given on a scale of ½ inch to a foot (Fig. 2). The
+turf-covered border which sloped up to the stone, consisted of fine
+vegetable mould, in one part 7 inches in thickness. This evidently
+consisted of worm-castings, several of which had been recently
+ejected. The whole stone had sunk in the thirty-five years, as far as
+I could judge, about 1½ inch; and this must have been due to the
+brick-rubbish beneath the more protuberant parts having been
+undermined by worms. At this rate, the upper surface of the stone, if
+it had been left undisturbed, would have sunk to the general level of
+the field in 247 years; but before this could have occurred, some
+earth would have been washed down by heavy rain from the castings on
+the raised border of turf over the upper surface of the stone.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2.
+Transverse section across a large stone, which had lain on a
+    grass-field for thirty-five years. _aa_, general level of the
+    field. The underlying brick of rubbish has not been represented.]
+
+The second stone was larger than the one just described, viz.,
+67 inches in length, 39 in breadth, and 15 in thickness. The lower
+surface was nearly flat, so that the worms must soon have been
+compelled to eject their castings beyond its circumference. The stone
+as a whole had sunk about 2 inches into the ground. At this rate it
+would have required 262 years for its upper surface to have sunk to
+the general level of the field. The upwardly sloping, turf-covered
+border round the stone was broader than in the last case, viz., from
+14 to 16 inches; and why this should be so, I could see no reason. In
+most parts this border was not so high as in the last case, viz., from
+2 to 2½ inches, but in one place it was as much as 5½. Its average
+height close to the stone was probably about 3 inches, and it thinned
+out to nothing. If so, a layer of fine earth, 15 inches in breadth and
+1½ inch in average thickness, of sufficient length to surround the
+whole of the much elongated slab, must have been brought up by the
+worms in chief part from beneath the stone in the course of 35 years.
+This amount would be amply sufficient to account for its having sunk
+about 2 inches into the ground; more especially if we bear in mind
+that a good deal of the finest earth would have been washed by heavy
+rain from the castings ejected on the sloping border down to the level
+of the field. Some fresh castings were seen close to the stone.
+Nevertheless, on digging a large hole to a depth of 18 inches where
+the stone had lain, only two worms and a few burrows were seen,
+although the soil was damp and seemed favorable for worms. There were
+some large colonies of ants beneath the stone, and possibly since
+their establishment the worms had decreased in number.
+
+The third stone was only about half as large as the others; and two
+strong boys could together have rolled it over. I have no doubt that
+it had been rolled over at a moderately recent time, for it now lay at
+some distance from the two other stones at the bottom of a little
+adjoining slope. It rested also on fine earth, instead of partly on
+brick-rubbish. In agreement with this conclusion, the raised
+surrounding border of turf was only 1 inch high in some parts, and
+2 inches in other parts. There were no colonies of ants beneath this
+stone, and on digging a hole where it had lain, several burrows and
+worms were found.
+
+At Stonehenge, some of the outer Druidical stones are now prostrate,
+having fallen at a remote but unknown period; and these have become
+buried to a moderate depth in the ground. They are surrounded by
+sloping borders of turf, on which recent castings were seen. Close to
+one of these fallen stones, which was 17 feet long, 6 feet broad, and
+28½ inches thick, a hole was dug; and here the vegetable mould was at
+least 9½ inches in thickness. At this depth a flint was found, and a
+little higher up on one side of the hole a fragment of glass. The base
+of the stone lay about 9½ inches beneath the level of the surrounding
+ground, and its upper surface 19 inches above the ground.
+
+A hole was also dug close to a second huge stone, which in falling had
+broken into two pieces; and this must have happened long ago, judging
+from the weathered aspect of the fractured ends. The base was buried
+to a depth of 10 inches, as was ascertained by driving an iron skewer
+horizontally into the ground beneath it. The vegetable mould forming
+the turf-covered sloping border round the stone, on which many
+castings had recently been ejected, was 10 inches in thickness; and
+most of this mould must have been brought up by worms from beneath its
+base. At a distance of 8 yards from the stone, the mould was only
+5½ inches in thickness (with a piece of tobacco pipe at a depth of
+4 inches), and this rested on broken flint and chalk which could not
+have easily yielded to the pressure or weight of the stone.
+
+A straight rod was fixed horizontally (by the aid of a spirit-level)
+across a third fallen stone, which was 7 feet 9 inches long; and the
+contour of the projecting parts and of the adjoining ground, which was
+not quite level, was thus ascertained, as shown in the accompanying
+diagram (Fig. 3) on a scale of ½ inch to a foot. The turf-covered
+border sloped up to the stone on one side to a height of 4 inches, and
+on the opposite side to only 2½ inches above the general level. A hole
+was dug on the eastern side, and the base of the stone was here found
+to lie at a depth of 4 inches beneath the general level of the
+ground, and of 8 inches beneath the top of the sloping turf-covered
+border.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3.
+Section through one of the fallen Druidical stones at Stonehenge,
+    showing how much it had sunk into the ground.]
+
+Sufficient evidence has now been given showing that small objects left
+on the surface of the land where worms abound soon get buried, and
+that large stones sink slowly downwards through the same means. Every
+step of the process could be followed, from the accidental deposition
+of a single casting on a small object lying loose on the surface, to
+its being entangled amidst the matted roots of the turf, and lastly to
+its being embedded in the mould at various depths beneath the surface.
+When the same field was re-examined after the interval of a few years,
+such objects were found at a greater depth than before. The
+straightness and regularity of the lines formed by the embedded
+objects, and their parallelism with the surface of the land, are the
+most striking features of the case; for this parallelism shows how
+equably the worms must have worked; the result being, partly the
+effect of the washing down of the fresh castings by rain. The specific
+gravity of the objects does not affect their rate of sinking, as could
+be seen by porous cinders, burnt marl, chalk and quartz pebbles,
+having all sunk to the same depth within the same time. Considering
+the nature of the sub-stratum, which at Leith Hill Place was sandy
+soil including many bits of rock, and at Stonehenge, chalk-rubble with
+broken flints; considering, also, the presence of the turf-covered
+sloping border of mould round the great fragments of stone at both
+these places, their sinking does not appear to have been sensibly
+aided by their weight, though this was considerable.
+
+_On the number of worms which live within a given space._--We will
+now show, first, what a vast number of worms live unseen by us beneath
+our feet, and, secondly, the actual weight of the earth which they
+bring up to the surface within a given space and within a given time.
+Hensen, who has published so full and interesting an account of the
+habits of worms, calculates, from the number which he found in a
+measured space, that there must exist 133,000 living worms in a
+hectare of land, or 53,767 in an acre. This latter number of worms
+would weigh 356 pounds, taking Hensen's standard of the weight of a
+single worm, namely, one gram. It should, however, be noted that this
+calculation is founded on the numbers found in a garden, and Hensen
+believes that worms are here twice as numerous as in corn-fields. The
+above result, astonishing though it be, seems to me credible, judging
+from the number of worms which I have sometimes seen, and from the
+number daily destroyed by birds without the species being
+exterminated. Some barrels of bad ale were left on Mr. Miller's land,
+in the hope of making vinegar, but the vinegar proved bad, and the
+barrels were upset. It should be premised that acetic acid is so
+deadly a poison to worms that Perrier found that a glass rod dipped
+into this acid and then into a considerable body of water in which
+worms were immersed, invariably killed them quickly. On the morning
+after the barrels had been upset, "the heaps of worms which lay dead
+on the ground were so amazing, that if Mr. Miller had not seen them,
+he could not have thought it possible for such numbers to have existed
+in the space." As further evidence of the large number of worms which
+live in the ground Hensen states that he found in a garden 64 open
+burrows in a space of 14½ square feet, that is, 9 in 2 square feet.
+But the burrows are sometimes much more numerous, for when digging in
+a grass-field near Maer Hall, I found a cake of dry earth, as large as
+my two open hands, which was penetrated by seven burrows, as large as
+goose-quills.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TWO FOPS AMONG THE FISHES
+
+(FROM GLEANINGS FROM NATURE.)[7]
+
+BY W. S. BLATCHLEY.
+
+[7] Copyright by W. S. Blatchley, 1899.
+
+
+I.--THE RAINBOW DARTER.
+
+"Little fishy in the brook."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Not the one "daddy caught with a hook," but another, too small for the
+hook, too small for the frying-pan, too small for aught else but
+beauty, and gracefulness of form; and yet not the young of a larger
+fish, but full grown of himself. In every brook in the State he may be
+found, yea, even in the rill, no more than a foot in width, which
+leads away from the old spring-house on the hillside. You will not
+find him swimming about like the minnows in the still, deep water of
+the stream, but where the clear, cold water is rushing rapidly over
+the stones of a ripple he makes his home. There he rests quietly on
+the bottom, waiting patiently for his food, the larvæ or young of
+gnats, mosquitoes, and other such insects, to float by.
+
+If you attempt to catch him, or your shadow suddenly frightens him,
+with a sweep of his broad pectoral or breast fins, he moves quicker
+than a flash a few feet farther up the stream, and then as suddenly
+comes to a stop, and resumes his quiet, "thoughtful" attitude. If you
+persist in your attempt to capture him, he will dart under a small
+stone or submerged leaf, where, like the foolish ostrich which when
+pursued hides her head under her wing, no longer seeing you, he thinks
+himself secure.
+
+[Illustration: RAINBOW DARTER.]
+
+On account of the shape of his body, as well as on account of his
+rapid movements, he has received the surname "darter." Belonging to
+the group which bears this surname, there are, in the eastern half of
+the United States, about forty-seven species or kinds, the largest of
+which, when full grown, measures only about six inches in length,
+while the smallest species never reaches a length of more than an inch
+and a half. They all have the same habits, and at least twenty-nine
+kinds of them are found in Indiana; but the one of which I am writing
+is much the more common. He is from two to two and a half inches in
+length, and, like the other members of his family, has two fins on his
+back; "dorsal" fins they are called by naturalists, the front one of
+which contains ten short spines. During eight months of the year, the
+males and females dress alike in a suit of brownish olive which is
+striped on the sides with ten or twelve narrow, black cross-bars, and
+more or less blotched on the back with darker spots. But on the first
+warm days of spring, when the breezes blow up from the gulf, awakening
+the gypsy in our blood, the little male fish feels, too, their
+influence, and in him there arises an irresistible desire to
+"a-courting go." Like most other beings of his sex, he thinks his
+every-day suit too plain for the important business before him. It
+will, in his opinion, ne'er catch the eye of his lady love. So he dons
+one of gaudy colors and from it takes his name,--the rainbow
+darter,--for in it he is best known, as it not only attracts the
+attention of his chosen one, but often also that of the wandering
+naturalist who happens along the stream.
+
+The blackish bars of other seasons are changed to indigo blue, while
+the space between them assumes a hue of the brightest orange. The fins
+are broadly edged with blue and have the bases orange, or orange and
+scarlet, while the cheeks assume the blue and the breast becomes an
+orange. Clad in this suit he ventures forth on his mission, and if
+successful, as he almost always is, the two construct a nest of tiny
+stones in which the eggs of the mother-fish are laid and watched over
+with jealous care by both parents until in time there issue forth sons
+destined some day to wear a coat of many colors, and "darters" to be
+attracted by those coats, as was their mother by the one their father
+wore.
+
+Although so abundant and so brilliant in the springtime, the rainbow
+darter is known to few but naturalists. The fishes in which the
+average country boy is interested are the larger ones--such as the
+goggle-eye, the sucker, chub, and sunfish--those which, when caught,
+will fill up the string and tickle the palate.
+
+But there are, let us hope, among our farmers' sons and daughters,
+some who are learning to take an interest in the objects of nature
+which are beautiful, as well as in those which are useful. To them I
+will say, if you wish to see something really pretty, make a seine
+from an old coffee sack or a piece of mosquito netting, and any day in
+spring drag two or three ripples of the branch which flows through the
+wood's pasture, and ten chances to one you will get some "rainbows."
+By placing them in a fruit jar three-fourths full of clear, cold
+water, and renewing the water every few hours, they can be kept for
+several days; but they cannot bear the confinement long, accustomed as
+they are to the free running stream from which they were taken.
+
+By taking the rainbow as the type of the darter and studying closely
+its habits, both in captivity and in the streams, much can be learned
+about a group which, in the words of Dr. S. A. Forbes, "are the
+mountaineers among fishes. Forced from the populous and fertile
+valleys of the river beds and lake bottoms, they have taken refuge
+from their enemies in the rocky highlands where the free waters play
+in ceaseless torrents, and there they have wrested from stubborn
+nature a meagre living. Although diminished in size by their
+continual struggle with the elements, they have developed an activity
+and hardihood, a vigor of life and a glow of high color almost unknown
+among the easier livers of the lower lands."
+
+
+II.--THE LONG-EARED SUNFISH.
+
+Among the most brightly colored of all the fresh-water members of the
+finny tribe is the long-eared sunfish. When full grown its length is
+about eight inches and the breadth one-half as much. The color is then
+a brilliant blue and orange, the former predominating above; the
+orange on the sides in spots, the blue in wavy, vertical streaks. The
+cheeks are orange with bright blue stripes; the fins with the
+membranes orange, and the rays blue. Extending back from the hind
+margin of each cheek is a conspicuous blackish membrane termed an
+"ear-flap," which in this species is longer than in any other of the
+sun-fish family, whence the specific name, _megalotis_, from two Greek
+words meaning "great" and "ear."
+
+[Illustration: LONG-EARED SUNFISH.]
+
+Within the placid pools of the brooks and larger streams of the State
+this sunfish has its favorite haunts. Mid-summer is the time when its
+habits can be best observed. On a recent August morn I sat for an
+hour or longer on the banks of a stream, which flows through a wooded
+blue-grass pasture, and watched the denizens of its waters. A peaceful
+calm existed, the water being without a ripple and with scarce the
+semblance of a flow--the air without the shadow of a breeze. Dragon
+flies lazily winged their way across the pool, now resting daintily
+upon a blade of sedge or swamp grass, now dipping the tips of their
+abdomens beneath the surface of the water while depositing their eggs.
+The only sounds of nature were the buzz of a bumble-bee feeding among
+the flowers of the _Brunella_ at my side, and an occasional drawl of a
+dog-day locust from the branches of the sycamore which threw a
+grateful shade about me.
+
+The sunfish "hung motionless" in the water, their heads towards me,
+holding their position only by a slow flapping of their dorsal and
+pectoral fins. Their nesting time over, their season's labor ended, it
+was with them, as with many other beings, a time of languor.
+
+These long-eared fishes are the lords and ladies of the respective
+pools wherein they abide. When they move other smaller fry clear the
+way. If a worm or gnat, falling upon the surface, tempts them, it is
+theirs. A leaf falls near them and is seemingly unnoticed--a fly, and
+how quickly their dormant energy is put into motion. With a dart and a
+gulp the insect is swallowed, and a new stage of waiting expectancy is
+ushered in.
+
+How admirably fitted their form for cleaving the water! They often
+seem to glide rather than propel themselves through its depths. Again,
+how swiftly the caudal fin moves when with straight unerring motion
+they dart upon their prey. At times one turns his body sideways, and,
+with a slow, upward-gliding motion, moves toward some object on the
+surface which is doubtfully "good to eat." He even takes it into his
+mouth and then, not having faith in his power to properly digest it,
+ejects it with force, and turning quickly darts back to the friendly
+shadow of a boulder beneath whose sides he has, in time of threatened
+danger, a safe retreat.
+
+I throw a grasshopper into the pool. Like a flash six of the sunfish
+are after it. One reaches it a tenth of a second in advance of the
+others, and with a lightning-like gulp, which disturbs the serenity of
+the surface of the pool, swallows the kicking prey. The energy of the
+sun's heat and light, stored in grass, transmitted to move muscles in
+gigantic leaps, will, in a short time, wag a caudal fin and propel the
+owner through these watery depths.
+
+Years are thus doubtless spent by these long-eared sunfish in a dreamy
+sort of existence, their energies quickened by the vernal season and
+growing duller on the approach of winter. Excepting the times when
+they are tempted by a wriggling worm on some boy's hook, theirs is a
+life exempt from danger. A kingfisher glancing down from his perch on
+the bent sycamore limb may, at times, discern them and lessen their
+ranks; but, methinks, the chub minnows, with fewer spines in their
+dorsal fins, are more agreeable to the king-fisher's palate. With all
+the tints of the rainbow gleaming from their sides they move to and
+fro, the brilliant rulers of these quiet pools.
+
+The king or monarch of those noted was most gorgeously arrayed. In
+addition to the hues above described, a streak of emerald bordered his
+dorsal and caudal fins and was bent around the edge of his upper
+lip--a green mustache, as it were. By tolling them with occasional
+bits of food I drew him and his retinue close into shore. There, for
+some time they rested, watching eagerly for additional morsels. As I
+was leaving I plucked from my sleeve an ant and threw it towards them.
+A dart, a gurgle, a gulp--the leader had leaped half his length from
+the water, and the ant was forever gone. The ripples receded and
+finally disappeared, and the last scene in this tragedy of nature was
+at an end.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SEA-SLUGS AND CUTTLE-FISH
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration: CUTTLE-FISH.]
+
+I was much interested, on several occasions, by watching the habits of
+an Octopus, or cuttle-fish. Although common in the pools of water left
+by the retiring tide, these animals were not easily caught. By means
+of their long arms and suckers, they could drag their bodies into very
+narrow crevices; and when thus fixed, it required great force to
+remove them. At other times they darted, tail first, with the rapidity
+of an arrow, from one side of the pool to the other, at the same
+instant discoloring the water with a dark chestnut-brown ink. These
+animals also escape detection by a very extraordinary, chameleon-like
+power of changing their color. They appear to vary their tints
+according to the nature of the ground over which they pass: when in
+deep water, their general shade was brownish-purple, but when placed
+on the land, or in shallow water, this dark tint changed into one of
+a yellowish green. The color, examined more carefully, was a French
+gray, with numerous minute spots of bright yellow: the former of these
+varied in intensity; the latter entirely disappeared and appeared
+again by turns. These changes were effected in such a manner, that
+clouds, varying in tint between a hyacinth red and a chestnut brown,
+were continually passing over the body. Any part, being subjected to a
+slight shock of galvanism, became almost black: a similar effect, but
+in a less degree, was produced by scratching the skin with a needle.
+These clouds, or blushes as they may be called, are said to be
+produced by the alternate contraction and expansion of minute
+vescicles containing variously colored fluids.
+
+This cuttle-fish displayed its chameleon-like power both during the
+act of swimming and whilst remaining stationary at the bottom. I was
+much amused by the various arts to escape detection used by one
+individual, which seemed fully aware that I was watching it. Remaining
+for a time motionless, it would then stealthily advance an inch or
+two, like a cat after a mouse; sometimes changing its color: it thus
+proceeded, till having gained a deeper part, it darted away, leaving a
+dusky train of ink to hide the hole into which it had crawled.
+
+While looking for marine animals, with my head about two feet above
+the rocky shore, I was more than once saluted by a jet of water,
+accompanied by a slight grating noise. At first I could not think what
+it was, but afterwards I found out that it was this cuttle-fish,
+which, though concealed in a hole, thus often led me to its discovery.
+That it possesses the power of ejecting water there is no doubt, and
+it appeared to me that it could certainly take good aim by directing
+the tube or siphon on the upper side of its body. From the difficulty
+which these animals have in carrying their heads, they cannot crawl
+with ease when placed on the ground. I observed that one which I kept
+in the cabin was slightly phosphorescent in the dark.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE COW-FISH
+
+(FROM TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON.)
+
+BY SIR ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE.
+
+
+[Illustration: SKULL OF COW-FISH.]
+
+It was a female, about six feet long, and nearly five in circumference
+in the thickest part. The body is perfectly smooth, and without any
+projections or inequalities, changing into a horizontal semicircular
+flat tail, with no appearance whatever of hind limbs. There is no
+distinct neck; the head is not very large, and is terminated by a
+large mouth and fleshy lips, somewhat resembling those of a cow. There
+are stiff bristles on the lips, and a few distantly scattered hairs
+over the body. Behind the head are two powerful oval fins, and just
+beneath them are the breasts, from which, on pressure being applied,
+flows a stream of beautiful white milk. The ears are minute holes, and
+the eyes very small. The color is a dusky lead, with some large
+pinkish-white marbled blotches on the belly. The skin is about an inch
+thick on the back, and a quarter of an inch on the belly. Beneath the
+skin is a layer of fat of a greater or less thickness, generally about
+an inch, which is boiled down to make an oil used for light and for
+cooking. The intestines are very voluminous, the heart about the size
+of a sheep's, and the lungs about two feet long, and six or seven
+inches wide, very cellular and spongy, and can be blown out like a
+bladder. The skull is large and solid, with no front teeth; the
+vertebræ extend to the very tip of the tail, but show no rudiments of
+posterior limbs; the fore limbs, on the contrary, are very highly
+developed, the bones exactly corresponding to those of the human arm,
+having even the five fingers, with every joint distinct, yet enclosed
+in a stiff inflexible skin, where not a joint can have any motion.
+
+The cow-fish feeds on grass at the borders of the rivers and lakes,
+and swims quickly with the tail and paddles; and though the external
+organs of sight and hearing are so imperfect, these senses are said by
+the hunters to be remarkably acute, and to render necessary all their
+caution and skill to capture the animals. They bring forth one, or
+rarely two, young ones, which they clasp in their arms or paddles
+while giving suck. They are harpooned or caught in a strong net, at
+the narrow entrance of a lake or stream. Each yields from five to
+twenty-five gallons of oil. The flesh is very good, being something
+between beef and pork, and this one furnished us with several meals,
+and was an agreeable change from our fish diet.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: THE COW FISH.]
+
+
+
+
+OLD RATTLER AND THE KING SNAKE[8]
+
+BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+PRESIDENT OF LELAND STANFORD, JUNIOR, UNIVERSITY.
+
+[8] From _The Popular Science Monthly_ by permission.
+
+
+   "I only know thee humble, bold,
+    Haughty, with miseries untold,
+    And the old curse that left thee cold,
+    And drove thee ever to the sun
+    On blistering rocks ...
+                        Thou whose fame
+    Searchest the grass with tongue of flame,
+    Making all creatures seem thy game,
+    When the whole woods before thee run,
+    Asked but--when all is said and done--
+    To lie, untrodden, in the sun!"
+                                  --BRET HARTE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Old Rattler was a snake, of course, and he lives in the King's River
+Cañon, high up and down deep in the mountains of California.
+
+He had a hole behind and below a large, flat granite rock, not far
+from the river, and he called it his home; for in it he slept all
+night and all winter, but when the sun came back in the spring and
+took the frost out of the air and the rocks, then he crawled out to
+lie until he got warm. The stream was clear and swift in the cañon,
+the waterfalls sang in the side gulch of Roaring River, the wind
+rustled in the long needles of the yellow pines, and the birds called
+to their mates in the branches. But Old Rattler did not care for such
+things. He was just a snake, you know, and his neighbors did not think
+him a good snake at that, for he was surly and silent, and his big,
+three-cornered, "coffin-shaped" head, set on a slim, flat neck, was
+very ugly to see. But when he opened his mouth he was uglier still,
+for in his upper jaw he had two long fangs, and each one was filled
+with deadly poison. His vicious old head was covered with gray and
+wrinkled scales, and his black, beadlike eyes snapped when he opened
+his mouth to find out whether his fangs were both in working order.
+
+Old Rattler was pretty stiff when he first came from his hole on the
+morning of this story. He had lain all night coiled up like a rope
+among the rocks, and his tail felt very cold. But the glad sun warmed
+the cockles of his heart, and in an hour or two he became limber, and
+this made him happy in his snaky fashion. But, being warm, he began to
+be hungry, for it had been a whole month since he had eaten anything.
+When the first new moon of August came, his skin loosened everywhere
+and slipped down over his eyes like a veil, so that he could see
+nothing about him, and could not hunt for frogs by the river, nor for
+chipmunks among the trees. But with the new moon of September all this
+was over. The rusty brown old coat was changed for a new suit of gray
+and black, and the diamond-shaped checkers all over it were clean and
+shiny as a set of new clothes out to be.
+
+There was a little striped chipmunk running up and down the sugar-pine
+tree over his head, pursing his little mouth and throwing himself into
+pretty attitudes, as though he were the centre of an admiring
+audience, and Old Rattler kept a steady eye on him. But he was in no
+hurry about it all. He must first get the kinks out of his neck, and
+the cold cramps from his tail. There was an old curse on his family,
+so the other beasts had heard, that kept him always cold, and his tail
+was the coldest part of all. So he shook it a little, just to show
+that it was growing limber, and the bone clappers on the end rustled
+with a sharp, angry noise. Fifteen rattles he had in all--fifteen and
+a button--and to have so many showed that he was no common member of
+his hated family. Then he shook his tail again, and more sharply. This
+was to show all the world that he, Old Rattler, was wide awake, and
+whoever stepped on him would better look out. Then all the big beasts
+and little beasts who heard the noise fled away just as fast as ever
+they could; and to run away was the best thing they could do, for when
+Old Rattler struck one of them with his fangs all was over with him.
+So there were many in the cañon, beasts and birds and snakes too, who
+hated Old Rattler, but only a few dared face him. And one of these was
+Glittershield, whom men call the King of Snakes, and in a minute I
+shall tell you why.
+
+And when Old Rattler was doing all that I have said, the King Snake
+lay low on a bed of pine needles, behind a bunch of fern, and watched
+him with keen, sharp eye. The angry buzz of Rattler's tail, which
+scared the chipmunks and the bullfrogs and all the rest of the beast
+folk, was music for Glittershield. He was a snake, too, and snakes
+understand some things better than any of the rest of us.
+
+Glittershield was slim and wiry in his body, as long as Old Rattler
+himself, but not so large around. His coat was smooth and glossy, not
+rough and wrinkly like Old Rattler's, and his upraised head was small
+and pretty--for a snake. He was the best dressed of all his kind, and
+he looked his finest as he faced Old Rattler. His head was shiny
+black, his throat and neck as white as milk while all down his body to
+the end of his tail he was painted with rings, first white, then
+black, then crimson, and every ring was bright as if it had just been
+freshly polished that very day.
+
+So the King Snake passed the sheltering fern and came right up to Old
+Rattler. Rattler opened his sleepy eyes, threw himself on guard with a
+snap and a buzz, and shook his bony clappers savagely. But the King of
+Snakes was not afraid. Every snake has a weak spot somewhere, and that
+is the place to strike him. If he hadn't a weak spot no one else could
+live about him, and then, perhaps he would starve to death at last. If
+he had not some strong points, where no one could harm him, he
+couldn't live himself.
+
+As the black crest rose, Old Rattler's tail grew cold, his head
+dropped, his mouth closed, he straightened out his coil, and staggered
+helplessly toward his hole.
+
+This was the chance for Glittershield. With a dash so swift that all
+the rings on his body--red, white, and black--melted into one purple
+flash, he seized Old Rattler by his throat. He carried no weapons, to
+be sure. He had neither fangs nor venom. He won his victories by
+force and dash, not by mean advantage. He was quick and strong, and
+his little hooked teeth held like the claws of a hawk. Old Rattler
+closed his mouth because he couldn't help it, and the fangs he could
+not use were folded back against the roof of his jaw.
+
+The King Snake leaped forward, wound his body in a "love-knot" around
+Old Rattler's neck, took a "half-hitch" with his tail about the
+stomach, while the rest of his body lay in a curve like the letter S
+between the two knots. Then all he had to do was to stiffen up his
+muscles, and Old Rattler's backbone was snapped off at the neck.
+
+[Illustration: "HE SEIZED OLD RATTLER BY HIS THROAT."]
+
+All that remained to Glittershield was to swallow his enemy. First he
+rubbed his lips all over the body, from the head to the tail, till it
+was slippery with slime. Then he opened his mouth very wide, with a
+huge snaky yawn, and face to face he began on Old Rattler. The ugly
+head was hard to manage, but, after much straining, he clasped his jaws
+around it, and the venom trickled down his throat like some fiery
+sauce. Slowly head and neck and body disappeared, and the tail
+wriggled despairingly, for the tail of the snake folk can not die
+till sundown, and when it went at last the fifteen rattles and the
+button were keeping up an angry buzz. And all night long the King of
+Snakes, twice as big as he ought to be, lay gorged and motionless upon
+Old Rattler's rock.
+
+And in the morning the little chipmunk ran out on a limb above him,
+pursed up his lips, and made all kinds of faces, as much as to say, "I
+did all this, and the whole world was watching while I did it."
+
+[Illustration: KING SNAKE.]
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF A STRANGE LAND
+
+(FROM SCIENCE SKETCHES.)[9]
+
+BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+PRESIDENT OF LELAND STANFORD, JUNIOR, UNIVERSITY.
+
+[9] Copyright, 1896, by A. C. Mclurg & Co.
+
+
+   "In one strange land,
+    And a long way from home,
+    I heard a mighty rumbling, and I couldn't tell where."
+                                            --NEGRO MELODY.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It happened a long time ago, it may be fifty thousand years in round
+numbers, or it may have been twice as many, that a strange thing
+took place in the heart of the Great Mountains. It was in the middle
+of the Pliocene epoch, a long, dull time that seemed as if it would
+never come to an end. There was then on the east side of the Great
+Divide a deep, rocky basin surrounded by high walls of granite gashed
+to the base by the wash of many streams. In this basin, we know not
+how--for the records all are burned or buried--the crust of the earth
+was broken, and a great outflow of melted larva surged up from below.
+This was no ordinary eruption, but a mighty outbreak of the earth's
+imprisoned forces. The steady stream of lava filled the whole mountain
+basin and ran out over its sides, covering the country all around so
+deeply that it has never been seen since. More than four thousand
+square miles of land lay buried under melted rock. No one can tell how
+deep the lava is, for no one has ever seen the bottom. Within its bed
+are deep clefts whose ragged walls descend to the depth of twelve
+hundred feet, and yet give no glimpse of the granite below, while at
+their side are mountains of lava whose crags tower a mile above the
+bottom of the ravines.
+
+[Illustration: "IT WOULD HISS AND BOIL HIGH IN THE AIR."]
+
+At last, after many years or centuries--time does not count for much
+in these Tertiary days--the flow of melted lava ceased. Its surface
+cooled, leaving a high, uneven plain, black and desolate, a hard, cold
+crust over a fiery and smoldering interior. About the crater lay great
+ropes and rolls of the slowly hardening lava, looking like knots and
+tangles of gigantic reptiles of some horrible extinct sort. There was
+neither grass nor trees, nor life of any sort. Nothing could grow in
+the coarse, black stone. The rivers and brooks had long since
+vanished in steam, the fishes were all dead, and the birds had flown
+away. The whole region wore the aspect of the desolation of death.
+
+But to let land go to waste is no part of Mother Nature's plan. So
+even this far-off corner of her domain was made ready for settlement.
+In the winter she sifted snow on the cold black plain, and in the
+summer the snow melted into a multitude of brooks and springs. The
+brooks gradually wore paths and furrows down the large bed, and the
+sands which they washed from one place they piled up in another. The
+winds blew the seeds of grasses about, and willows and aspens crept up
+the mountain-sides. Then came the squirrels, scattering the nuts of
+the pine. Other seeds came too, in other ways, till at last the barren
+hillside was no longer barren.
+
+The brooks ran over the surface of the crust undisturbed by the fires
+within, and were clear and cold as mountain brooks should be; but the
+rain and melted snow will never all remain on the surface. Some of it
+falls into cracks or joints or porous places in the rock, and from
+this come underground streams or springs. But in this region a stream
+could not run long underground without coming in contact with the old
+still-burning fires. When a crust is formed over the lava, it cools
+very slowly. When the crust is a rod or two deep, the lava within is
+almost as well protected as if it were at the center of the earth.
+
+Whenever the water came down into the fire, the hot rocks would be
+furious with indignation, and tearing the water to atoms they would
+throw it back to the surface as steam. Then the explosive force of the
+steam would in turn tear up the rocks, making still larger the hole
+through which the water came. When the rocks were very hot, a little
+water upon them would make a terrible commotion like the shock of an
+earthquake. When much water came down, it would hiss and boil high in
+the air, as it tried to break the cushion of steam which came between
+it and the lava.
+
+[Illustration: MOUTH OF GEYSER.]
+
+And all this went on in hundreds of places and maybe for thousands of
+years. The hot rocks glowed and sweltered in the ground, and the cold
+snow-water crept after them closer and closer, while more and more
+vigorously the rocks resented the intrusion. Sometimes the water would
+go down in a mass through a cleft, when it would be hurled bodily the
+very way it came. At other times the water came down little by little,
+insinuating itself into many places at once. Then the hot rocks threw
+it back in many little honeycomb channels, and by the spreading of
+these channels the rocks were at last crumbled to pieces. The hard
+black lava on the glass-like obsidian were changed to white kaolin as
+soft and powdery as chalk. And as the water fought its way, gaining a
+little every year, steadily working between the joints in the enemy's
+armor and as surely being thrown back with violence if it penetrated
+too far, the animals and the plants followed in the wake of the
+water, and took possession of the territory as fast as it was won.
+
+At last the Pliocene times were over, for all times come to an end.
+The one sure thing on the earth is the certainty of change. With the
+change of time came on the earth's great winter. The snow-drifts on
+the lava were piled up mountain-high. Snow is but ice gathered in
+little fragments which will grow solid under pressure. As the snow
+accumulated it began to move, forming great rivers of ice which ran
+down the courses of the stream. And as these slowly moving, gigantic
+ice-rivers tore away huge blocks of lava and pushed them down the
+mountain-sides, where the rocks had been softened by the action of
+steam, the ice wore out deep valleys, and everything that it touched
+was smoothed and polished. The winter of the great Ice age lasted a
+very long time, many thousands of years; but, long as it was and long
+ago, it came at last to an end--not to a full stop, of course, for
+even now, some of its snow still lingers on the highest peaks that
+surround the lava-beds.
+
+[Illustration: "CUTTING DEEP GORGES OR CAÑONS."]
+
+Then the winters grew shorter and the summers longer. The south winds
+blew and the ice melted away, first from the plain and then from the
+mountains. The water ran down the sides of the lava-bed, cutting deep
+gorges or canons, so deep that the sun can hardly see the bottom. And
+into the joints and clefts of the rocks more and more water went, to
+be hurled back with greater and greater violence, for all the waters
+of all the snow cannot put out a mile deep of fire.
+
+In the old depressions where the ice had chiselled away the softer
+rocks, there were formed lakes of the standing water, and one of these
+was more than thirty miles long, winding in and out among the
+mountain-ridges. In the lake bottom the water soaked through down to
+the hot lava below, from which it was thrown boiling back to the
+surface again, fountains of scalding water in the icy lake.
+
+The cold Ice age has killed all the plants in the region; and it had
+driven off the animals that could be driven, and had then buried the
+rest. But when the snow was gone the creatures all came back again.
+Grass and meadow-flowers of a hundred kinds came up from the valleys
+below. The willow and the aspen took their place again by the
+brook-side, and the red fir and the mountain pine covered the hills
+with their sombre green. The birds came back. The wild goose swam and
+screamed, and the winter wren caroled his bright song--loudest when
+there seemed least cause for rejoicing. The beaver cut his timber and
+patiently worked at his dams. The thriftless porcupine destroyed a
+tree for every morning meal. The gray jay, the "camp robber," followed
+the Indians about in hope that some forgotten piece of meat or of
+boiled root might fall to his share; while the buffalo, the bear, and
+the elk each carried on his affairs in his own way, as did a host of
+lesser animals, all of whom rejoiced when this snow-bound region was
+at last opened for settlement. Time went on. The water and the fire
+were every day in mortal struggle, and always when the water was
+thrown back repulsed, it renewed the contest as vigorously as before.
+The fire retreated, leaving great stretches of land to its enemy, that
+it might concentrate its strength where its strength was greatest. And
+the water steadily gained, for the great ocean ever lay behind it. So
+for century after century they wrestled with each other, the water,
+the fire, the snow, the animals and the plants. But the fishes who had
+once lived in the mountain torrents were no longer there. They had
+been boiled and frozen, and in one way or another destroyed or driven
+away. Now they could not get back. Every stream had its cañon, and in
+each cañon was a waterfall so high that no trout could leap up.
+Although they used to try it every day, not one ever succeeded.
+
+[Illustration: "AND IN EACH CAÑON WAS A WATERFALL."]
+
+So it went on. A great many things happened in other parts of the
+world. America had been discovered and the colonies were feeling their
+way toward the Pacific Ocean. And in the vanguard was the famous
+expedition of Lewis and Clarke, which went overland to the mouth of
+the river Columbia. John Colter was a hunter in this expedition, and
+by some chance he went across the mountains on the old trail of the
+Nez Percès Indians which leads across the Divide from the Missouri
+waters to those of the Columbia. When he came back from the Nez Percès
+trail he told most wonderful tales of what he had seen at the head of
+the Missouri. There were cataracts of scalding water which shot
+straight up into the air; there were blue ponds hot enough to boil
+fish; there were springs that came up snorting and steaming, and which
+would turn trees into stone; the woods were full of holes from which
+issued streams of sulphur; there were canons of untold depth with
+walls of ashes full of holes which let off steam like a locomotive,
+and there were springs which looked peaceful enough, but which at
+times, would burst like a bomb.
+
+In short, every one laughed at Colter and his yarns, and this place
+where all lies were true was familiarly known as "Colter's Hell." But
+for once John Colter told the truth, and the truth could not easily be
+exaggerated. But no one believed him. When others who afterwards
+followed him over the Nez Percès trail told the same stories, people
+said they had been up to "Colter's Hell" and had learned to lie.
+
+But, as time passed, other men told what they had seen, until, in
+1870, a sort of official survey was made under the lead of Washburne
+and Doane. This party got the general bearings of the region, named
+many of the mountains, and found so much of interest that the next
+year Dr. Hayden, the United States Geologist, sent out a party for
+systematic exploration. The Hayden party came up from Colorado on
+horseback, through dense and tangled forests, across mountain
+torrents, and other craggy peaks. The story of this expedition has
+been most charmingly told by its youngest member, another John
+Coulter. Professor Coulter was the botanist of the survey, and he won
+the first of his many laurels on this expedition. In 1872, acting on
+Hayden's report, Congress took the matter in hand and set apart this
+whole region as a "public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit
+and enjoyment of the people," and such it remains to this day.
+
+But, while only of late this region has had a public history, the
+long-forgotten years between the Glacial period and the expedition of
+Lewis and Clarke were not without interest in the history of the
+trout. For all these years the fishes have been trying to mount the
+waterfalls in order to ascend to the plateau above. Year after year,
+as the spawning-time came on, they leaped against the falls of the
+Gardiner, the Gibbon, and the Firehole Rivers, but only to fall back
+impotent in the pools at their bases. But the mightiest cataract of
+all, the great falls of the Yellowstone, they finally conquered, and
+in this way it was done: not by the trout of the Yellowstone River,
+but by their brothers on the other side of the Divide. These followed
+up the Columbia to the head-waters of the Snake River, its great
+tributary, past the beautiful Heart Lake, and then on to the stream
+now called Pacific Creek, which rises on the very crest of the
+Divide. In the space between this stream, which flows west to help
+form the Snake River, and a smaller stream now called Atlantic Creek,
+flowing down the east slope of the Divide, the great chain of the
+Rocky Mountains shrinks to a narrow plateau of damp meadow, not a
+fourth of a mile in width; and some years, when the snows are heavy
+and melt late in the spring, this whole region is covered with
+standing water. The trout had bided their time until they found it so,
+and now they were ready for action. Before the water was drained they
+had crossed the Divide and were descending on the Atlantic side toward
+the Yellowstone Lake. As the days went by, this colony of bold trout
+spirits grew and multiplied and filled the waters of the great clear
+lake, where their descendants remain to this day. And no other
+fishes--not the chub, nor the sucker, nor the white-fish, nor the
+minnow, nor the blob--had ever climbed Pacific Creek. None of them
+were able to follow where the trout had gone, and none of them have
+ever been seen in the Yellowstone Lake. What the trout had done in
+this lake--their victories and defeats, their struggles with the bears
+and pelicans, and with the terrible worm, joint enemy of trout and
+pelicans alike--must be left for another story.
+
+[Illustration: TROUT.]
+
+So the trout climbed the Yellowstone Falls by way of the back
+staircase. For all we know, they have gone down it on the other side.
+And in a similar way, by stealing over from Blacktail Deer Creek, they
+overcame the Undine Falls in Lava Creek and passed its steep obsidian
+walls, which not all the fishes in the world could climb.
+
+In the Gibbon River the cataracts have proved to the trout an
+impassible barrier; but, strangely enough, its despised associate, the
+sluggish, chunky blob, the little soft-bodied, smooth, black
+tadpole-like fellow, with twinkling eyes and a voracious appetite--a
+fish who cannot leap at all--has crossed this barrier. Hundreds of
+blob live under the stones in the upper reaches of the stream, the
+only fish in the Gibbon waters. There he is, and it is a standing
+puzzle even to himself to know how he got there. We might imagine,
+perhaps, that some far-off ancestor, some ancient Queen of the Blobs,
+was seized by an osprey and carried away in the air. Perhaps an eagle
+was watching and forced the osprey to give up its prey. Perhaps in the
+struggle the blob escaped, falling into the river above the falls, to
+form the beginning of the future colony. At any rate, there is the
+great impassable waterfall, the blob above it and below. The osprey
+has its nest on a broken pine tree, above the cataract, and its tyrant
+master, the bald eagle, watches it from a still higher crag whenever
+it goes fishing.
+
+Two years ago the Hon. Marshall McDonald, whose duty as United States
+Fish Commissioner it is to look after the fishes wherever they may be,
+sent me to this country to see what could be done for his wards. It
+was a proud day when I set out from Mammoth Hot Springs astride a
+black cayuse, or Indian pony, which answered to the name of Jump,
+followed by a long train of sixteen other cayuses of every variety of
+color and character, the most notable of all being a white pony called
+Tinker. At some remote and unidentified period of her life she had
+bucked and killed a tradesman who bestrode her against her will, and
+thereby, as in the old Norse legends, she has inherited his strength,
+his wickedness, and his name. And when, after many adventures, I came
+back from this strange land and told the story of its fishes other men
+were sent out from Washington with nets and buckets. They gathered up
+the trout and carried them to the rivers above the falls, and now all
+the brooks and pools of the old lava-bed, the fairest streams in the
+world, are full of their natural inhabitants.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE COLORS OF ANIMALS
+
+(FROM CHAPTERS IN POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY.)
+
+BY SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, BART., M.P., F.B.S., ETC.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The color of animals is by no means a matter of chance; it depends on
+many considerations, but in the majority of cases tends to protect the
+animal from danger by rendering it less conspicuous. Perhaps it may be
+said that if coloring is mainly protective, there ought to be but few
+brightly colored animals. There are, however, not a few cases in which
+vivid colors are themselves protective. The kingfisher itself, though
+so brightly colored, is by no means easy to see. The blue harmonizes
+with the water, and the bird as it darts along the stream looks almost
+like a flash of sunlight; besides which, protection is not the only
+consideration. Let us now consider the prevalent colors of animals and
+see how far they support the rule.
+
+Desert animals are generally the color of the desert. Thus, for
+instance, the lion, the antelope, and the wild ass are all
+sand-colored. "Indeed," says Canon Tristram, "in the desert, where
+neither trees, brushwood, nor even undulation of the surface afford
+the slightest protection to its foes, a modification of color which
+shall be assimilated to that of the surrounding country is absolutely
+necessary. Hence, without exception, the upper plumage of every bird,
+whether lark, chat, sylvain, or sand grouse, and also the fur of all
+the smaller mammals and the skin of all the snakes and lizards, is of
+one uniform sand color."
+
+It is interesting to note that, while the lion is sand-colored like
+the desert, the long, upright, yellow stripes of the tiger make it
+very difficult to see the animal among the long dry grasses of the
+Indian jungles in which it lives. The leopard, again, and other tree
+cats are generally marked with spots which resemble gleams of light
+glancing through the leaves.
+
+The colors of birds are in many cases perhaps connected with the
+position and mode of construction of their nests. Thus, we know that
+hen birds are generally less brightly colored than the cocks, and this
+is partly, perhaps, because bright colors would be a danger to the
+hens while sitting on their eggs. When the nest is placed underground
+or in the hole of a tree, etc., we find it no longer to be such an
+invariable rule that the hen bird is dull-colored; but, on the
+contrary, she is then often as gaily colored as the male. Such, for
+instance, is the case with the hen kingfisher, which is one of the
+brightest of British birds and one of the very few which make their
+nests underground; the hen woodpecker, which is also gaily colored and
+builds in hollow trees, forms a second instance.
+
+In the few cases where the hens are as conspicuously colored as the
+cocks, and yet the nest is open to view, we generally find that the
+hens are strong, pugnacious birds, and well able to defend themselves.
+There are even instances, though these are comparatively rare, in
+which the hens are more brilliantly colored than the cocks; and it is
+an interesting fact that it is then the cocks, and not the hens, which
+hatch the eggs.
+
+It therefore seems to be a rule, with very few exceptions, that when
+both the cocks and hens are of strikingly gay or conspicuous colors,
+the nest is such as to conceal the sitting bird; while, whenever there
+is a striking contrast of colors, the nest is open and the sitting
+bird exposed to view.
+
+Again, most fishes are dark above and pale below. This points to the
+same fact, for when one looks down into the dark water, the dark color
+of their backs renders them the less easy to distinguish; while, to an
+enemy looking up from below, the pale belly would be less conspicuous
+against the light of the sky. Those fishes which live deep down in the
+depths of the ocean present no such contrast between the upper and
+under surface. Many of the smaller animals which live in the sea are
+as transparent as glass, and are consequently very difficult to
+distinguish.
+
+It is sometimes said that if animals were really colored with
+reference to concealment, sheep would be green, like grass. This,
+however, is quite a mistake. If they were green they would really be
+more easy to see. In the gray of the morning and the evening twilight,
+just the time when wild animals generally feed, gray and stone colors
+are most difficult to distinguish. Sheep were originally mountain
+animals, and every one who has ever been on a mountain-side knows how
+difficult it is to distinguish a sheep, at some distance, from a mass
+of stone or rock.
+
+It is, again, a great advantage to the rabbit and hare to be colored
+like earth; black or white rabbits are more easy to see, and
+consequently more likely to be killed. This, however, does not apply
+to those which are kept in captivity, and we know that tame rabbits
+are often black and white. Again, in the far north, where for months
+together the ground is covered with snow, the white color, which would
+be a danger here, becomes an advantage; and many Arctic animals, like
+the polar bear and polar hare, are white, while others, such as the
+mountain hare and ptarmigan, change their color, being brown in summer
+and white in winter. So are the Arctic fox and the ermine, to whom it
+is then an advantage to be white, not to avoid danger, but in order
+that they may be the more easily able to steal unperceived upon their
+prey.
+
+Many of the cases in which certain insects escape danger by their
+similarity to plants are well known; the leaf insect and the
+walking-stick insect are familiar and most remarkable cases. The larvæ
+of insects afford, also, many interesting examples, and in other
+respects teach us, indeed, many instructive lessons. It would be a
+great mistake to regard them as merely preparatory stages in the
+development of the perfect insect. They are much more than this, for
+external circumstances act on the larvæ, as well as on the perfect
+insect: both, therefore, are liable to adaptation. In fact, the
+modifications which insect larvæ undergo may be divided into two
+kinds--developmental, or those which tend to approximation to the
+mature form; and adaptational or adaptive, those which tend to suit
+them to their own mode of life.
+
+It is a remarkable fact, that the forms of larvæ do not depend on
+those of the mature insect. In many cases, for instance, very similar
+larvæ produce extremely dissimilar insects. In other cases, similar,
+or comparatively similar, perfect insects have very dissimilar larvæ.
+Indeed, a classification of insects founded on larva would be quite
+different from that founded on the perfect insects. The group to which
+the bees, wasps, and ants belong, for instance, and which, so far as
+the perfect insects are concerned, form a very natural division, would
+be divided into two; or rather one portion of them--namely, the
+saw-flies--would be united to the butterflies and moths. Now, why do
+the larvæ of saw-flies differ from those of their allies, and resemble
+those of butterflies and moths? It is because their habits differ from
+those of ants and bees, and they feed on leaves like ordinary
+caterpillars.
+
+In some cases the form changes considerably during the larval state.
+From this point of view, the transformations of a small beetle, called
+_Sitaris_, which have been carefully observed by M. Fabre, are
+peculiarly interesting.
+
+The genus Sitaris, which is allied to the blister-fly and to the
+oil-beetle, is parasitic on a kind of solitary bee which excavates
+subterranean galleries, each leading to a cell. The eggs of the
+beetle, which are deposited at the entrance of the galleries made by
+the bees, are hatched at the end of September or beginning of
+October, and we might not unnaturally expect that the young larvæ,
+which are active little creatures with six serviceable legs, would at
+once eat their way into the cells of the bee. No such thing: till the
+month of April following they remain without leaving their birthplace,
+and consequently without food; nor do they in this long time change
+either in form or size. M. Fabre ascertained this, not only by
+examining the burrow of the bees, but also by direct observations of
+some young larvæ kept in captivity. In April, however, his captives at
+last awoke from their long lethargy, and hurried anxiously about their
+prisons. Naturally inferring that they were in search of food, M.
+Fabre supposed that this would consist either of the larvæ or pupæ of
+the bee, or of the honey with which it stores its cell. All three were
+tried without success. The first two were neglected; and the larvæ,
+when placed on the latter, either hurried away or perished in the
+attempt, being evidently unable to deal with the sticky substance. M.
+Fabre was in despair. The first ray of light came to him from our
+countryman Newport, who ascertained that a small parasite found on one
+of the wild bees was, in fact, the larva of the oil-beetle. The larvæ
+of Sitaris much resembled this larva. Acting on this hint, M. Fabre
+examined many specimens of the bee, and found on them at last the
+larvæ of his Sitaris. The males of the bee emerge from the pupæ sooner
+than the females, and M. Fabre ascertained that, as they come out of
+their galleries, the little Sitaris larvæ fasten upon them. Not,
+however, for long: instinct teaches them that they are not yet in the
+straight path of development; and, watching their opportunity, they
+pass from the male to the female bee. Guided by these indications, M.
+Fabre examined several cells of the bee; in some, the egg of the bee
+floated by itself on the surface of the honey; in others, on the egg,
+as on a raft, sat the still more minute larva of the Sitaris. The
+mystery was solved. At the moment when the egg is laid, the Sitaris
+larva springs upon it. Even while the poor mother is carefully
+fastening up her cell, her mortal enemy is beginning to devour her
+offspring; for the egg of the bee serves not only as a raft, but as a
+repast. The honey, which is enough for either, would be too little for
+both; and the Sitaris, therefore, at its first meal, relieves itself
+from its only rival. After eight days the egg is consumed, and on the
+empty shell the Sitaris undergoes its first transformation, and makes
+its appearance in a very different form.
+
+The honey, which was fatal before, is now necessary--the activity,
+which before was necessary, is now useless; consequently, with the
+change of skin, the active, slim larva changes into a white fleshy
+grub, so organized as to float on the surface of the honey, with the
+mouth beneath and the breathing-holes above the surface; for insects
+breathe, not as we do through the mouth, but through a row of holes
+arranged along the side. In this state it remains until the honey is
+consumed; then the animal contracts, and detaches itself from its
+skin, within which the further transformations take place. In the next
+stage the larva has a solid corneous envelope and an oval shape, and,
+in its color, consistency, and immobility, resembles the chrysalis of
+a fly. The time passed in this condition varies much. When it has
+elapsed, the animal moults again, again changes its form; after this,
+it becomes a pupa, without any remarkable peculiarities. Finally,
+after these wonderful changes and adventures, in the month of August
+the perfect beetle makes its appearance.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1. THE CATERPILLAR OF THE MARBLED WHITE BUTTERFLY
+(_Arge galathea_).]
+
+In fact, whenever in any group we find differences in form or color,
+we shall always find them associated with differences in habit. Let us
+take the case of Caterpillars. The prevailing color of caterpillars is
+green, like that of leaves. The value of this to the young insect, the
+protection it affords, are obvious. We must all have observed how
+difficult it is to distinguish small green caterpillars from the
+leaves on which they feed. When, however, they become somewhat larger,
+their form betrays them, and it is important that there should be
+certain marks to divert the eye from the outlines of the body. This is
+effected, and much protection is given, by longitudinal lines (Fig. 1),
+which accordingly are found on a great many caterpillars. These
+lines, both in color and thickness, much resemble some of the lines on
+leaves (those, for instance, of grasses), and also the streaks of
+shadow which occur among foliage. If this be the explanation of them,
+then they ought to be wanting, as a general rule, in very small
+caterpillars, and should prevail most among those which feed on or
+among grasses.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE EYED HAWK-MOTH
+(_Smerinthus ocellatus_).]
+
+Now, similar lines occur on a great number of caterpillars belonging
+to most different groups of butterflies and moths, as you may see by
+turning over the illustrations of any monograph of the group. They
+exist among the Hawk-moths--as, for instance, in the Humming-bird
+Hawk-moth; they occur in many butterflies, especially in those which
+feed on grass; and in many moths. But you will find that the smallest
+caterpillars rarely possess these white streaks. As regards the second
+point, also, the streaks are generally wanting in caterpillars which
+feed on large-leaved plants. The _Satyridæ_, on the contrary, all
+possess them, and all live on grass. In fact we may say, as a general
+rule, that these longitudinal streaks only occur on caterpillars which
+live on or among narrow-leaved plants. As the insect grows, these
+lines often disappear on certain segments, and are replaced by
+diagonal lines. These diagonal lines (Fig. 2) occur in a great many
+caterpillars, belonging to the most distinct families of butterflies
+and moths. They come off just at the same angle as the ribs of leaves,
+and resemble them very much in general effect. They occur also
+especially on species which feed on large-leaved plants; and I believe
+I may say that though a great many species of caterpillars present
+these lines, they rarely, if ever, occur in species which live on
+grass; while, on the contrary, they are very frequent in those
+species which live on large-leaved plants.
+
+It might at first be objected to this view that there are many cases,
+as in the Elephant-Hawk-moth, in which caterpillars have both. A
+little consideration, however, will explain this. In small
+caterpillars these oblique lines would be useless, because they must
+have some relation, not only in color, but in their distance apart, to
+the ribs of the leaves. Hence, while there are a great many species
+which have, longitudinal lines when young, and diagonal ones when they
+are older and larger, there is not, I believe, a single one which
+begins with diagonal lines, and then replaces them with longitudinal
+ones. The disappearance of the longitudinal lines on those segments
+which have diagonal ones, is striking, where the lines are marked. It
+is an advantage, because white lines crossing one another at such an
+angle have no relation to anything which occurs in plants, and would
+make the creature more conspicuous. When, therefore, the diagonal
+lines are developed, the longitudinal ones often disappear. There is
+one other point in connection with these diagonal lines to which I
+must call your attention.
+
+In many species they are white, but in some cases--as, for instance,
+in the beautiful green caterpillar of the Privet-Hawk-moth--the white
+streak is accompanied by a colored one, in that case lilac. At first
+we might think that this would be a disadvantage, as tending to make
+the caterpillar more conspicuous; and in fact, if we put one in full
+view--for instance, out on a table--and focus the eye on it, the
+colored lines are very striking. But we must remember that the habit
+of the insect is to sit on the lower side of the leaf, generally near
+the middle rib, and in the subdued light of such a situation,
+especially if the eye be not looking exactly at them, the colored
+lines beautifully simulate a line of soft shadow, such as must always
+accompany a strong rib; and I need not tell any artist that the
+shadows of yellowish-green must be purplish. Moreover, any one who has
+ever found one of these large caterpillars will, I am sure, agree with
+me that it is surprising, when we consider their size and conspicuous
+coloring, how difficult it is to see them.
+
+But though the prevailing color of caterpillars is green, there are
+numerous exceptions. In one great family of moths the prevailing color
+is brown. These caterpillars, however, escape observation by their
+great similarity to brown twigs--a resemblance which is heightened by
+their peculiar attitudes, and in many cases by the existence of warts
+or protuberances, which look like buds. Some, however, even of these
+caterpillars, when very young, are green. Again, some caterpillars are
+white. These feed on and burrow in wood. The Ringlet Butterfly also
+has whitish caterpillars, and this may at first sight appear to
+contradict the rule, since it feeds on grass. Its habit is, however,
+to keep at the roots by day, and feed only at night.
+
+In various genera we find Black caterpillars, which are of course very
+conspicuous, and, so far as I know, not distasteful to birds. In such
+cases, however, it will be found that they are covered with hairs or
+spines, which protect them from most birds. In these species the bold
+dark color may be an advantage, by rendering the hair more
+conspicuous. Many caterpillars are black and hairy, but I do not know
+any large caterpillar which is black and smooth.
+
+Brown caterpillars, also, are frequently protected by hairs or spines
+in the same way; but, unlike black ones, they are frequently naked.
+These fall into two principal categories: firstly, those which, like
+the Geometridæ, put themselves into peculiar and stiff attitudes, so
+that in form, color, and position they closely resemble bits of dry
+stick; and, secondly, those which feed on low plants, concealing
+themselves on the ground by day, and only coming out in the dark.
+
+Yellow and yellowish-green caterpillars are abundant, and their color
+is a protection. Red and blue, on the contrary, are much less common
+colors, and are generally present as spots.
+
+Moreover, caterpillars with red lines or spots are generally hairy,
+and this for the reason given above. Such species, therefore, would be
+avoided by birds. There are, no doubt, some apparent exceptions. The
+Swallow-tail Butterfly, for instance, has red spots and still is
+smooth; but as it emits a strongly-scented liquid when alarmed, it is
+probably distasteful to birds. I cannot recall any other case of a
+British caterpillar which has conspicuous red spots or lines, and yet
+is smooth.
+
+Blue is, among caterpillars, even a rarer color than red. Indeed,
+among our larger larvæ, the only cases I can recall are the Lappets,
+which have two conspicuous blue bands, the Death's-head Moth, which
+has broad diagonal bands, and two of the Hawk-moths, which have two
+bright blue oval patches on the third segment. The Lappets are
+protected by being hairy, but why they have the blue bands I have no
+idea. It is interesting, that both the other species frequent plants
+which have blue flowers. The peculiar hues of the Death's-head
+caterpillar, which feeds on the potato, unite so beautifully the brown
+of the earth, the yellow and green of the leaves, and the blue of the
+flowers, that, in spite of its size, it can scarcely be perceived
+unless the eye be focussed exactly upon it.
+
+The Oleander Hawk-moth is also an interesting case. Many of the
+Hawk-moth caterpillars have eye-like spots, to which I shall have to
+allude again presently. These are generally reddish or yellowish, but
+in this species, which feeds on the periwinkle, they are bright blue,
+and in form as well as color closely resemble the blue petals of that
+flower. One other species, the Sharp-winged Hawk-moth, also has two
+smaller blue spots, with reference to which I can make no suggestion.
+It is a very rare species, and I have never seen it. Possibly, in this
+case, the blue spots may be an inherited character, and have no
+reference to the present habits. They are, at any rate, quite small.
+
+No one who looks at any representations of Hawk-moth caterpillars can
+fail to be struck by the peculiar coloring of those belonging to the
+Pine Moth, which differ in style of coloring from all other sphinx
+larvæ, having longitudinal bands of brown and green. Why is this?
+Their _habitat_ is different. They feed on the leaves of the pinaster,
+and their peculiar coloring offers a general similarity to the brown
+twigs and narrow green leaves of a conifer. There are not many species
+of butterflies or moths which feed on the pine, but there are a few:
+and most, if not all of them, have a very analogous style of coloring
+to that of the Pine Moth, while the latter has also tufts of
+bluish-green hair which singularly mimic the leaves of the pine. It is
+still more remarkable that in a different order of insects we again
+find species--for instance one of the saw-flies--which live on the
+pine, and in which the same style of coloring is repeated.
+
+Let us now take a single group, and see how far we can explain its
+various colors and markings, and what are the lessons which they teach
+us. For this purpose, I think I cannot do better than select the larvæ
+of the Hawk-moths, which have just been the subject of a masterly work
+by Dr. Weissmann, from which most of the following facts are taken.
+
+The caterpillars of this group are very different in color--green,
+white, yellow, brown, sometimes even gaudy, varied with spots,
+patches, streaks, and lines. Now, are these differences merely casual
+and accidental, or have they a meaning and a purpose? In many, perhaps
+in most cases, the markings serve for the purpose of concealment.
+When, indeed, we see caterpillars represented on a white sheet of
+paper, or if we put them on a plain table, and focus the eye on them,
+the colors and markings would seem, if possible, to render them even
+more conspicuous; but amongst the intricate lines and varied colors of
+foliage and flowers, and if the insect be a little out of focus, the
+effect is very different.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chærocampa elpenor_). Full grown. Natural size.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 4.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chærocampa elpenor_). First stage.]
+
+Let us begin with the Elephant Hawk-moth. The caterpillars (Fig. 3),
+as represented in most entomological works, are of two varieties, most
+of them brown, but some green. Both have a white line on the three
+first segments; two remarkable eye-like spots on the fourth and fifth,
+and a very faint median line; and are rather more than four inches
+long. I will direct your attention specially, for the moment, to three
+points:--What do the eye-spots and the faint lateral line mean? and
+why are some green and some brown, offering thus such a marked
+contrast to the leaves of the small epilobe on which they feed? Other
+questions will suggest themselves later. I must now call your
+attention to the fact, that when the caterpillars first quit the egg,
+and come into the world (Fig. 4), they are quite different in
+appearance, being, like so many other small caterpillars, bright
+green, and almost exactly the color of the leaves on which they feed.
+That this color is not the necessary or direct consequence of the
+food, we see from the case of quadrupeds, which, as I need scarcely
+say, are never green. It is, however, so obviously a protection to
+small caterpillars, that this explanation of their green color
+suggests itself to every one.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 5.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chærocampa elpenor_). Second Stage.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 6.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chærocampa elpenor_). Just before the second moult.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 7.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chærocampa elpenor_). Third Stage.]
+
+After five or six days, and when they are about a quarter of an inch
+in length, they go through their first moult. In their second stage
+(Fig. 5), they have two white lines, stretching along the body from
+the horn to the head; and after a few days (Fig. 6), but not at first,
+traces of the eye-spots appear on the fourth and fifth segments, shown
+by a slight wave in the upper line. After another five or six days,
+and when about half an inch in length, our caterpillars moult again.
+In their third stage (Fig. 7), the commencement of the eye-spots is
+more marked, while, on the contrary, the lower longitudinal line has
+disappeared. After another moult (Fig. 8), the eye-spots are still
+more distinct, the white gradually becomes surrounded by a black line,
+while in the next stage (Fig. 9) the centre becomes somewhat violet.
+The white lines have almost or entirely disappeared, and in some
+specimens faint diagonal lines make their appearance. Some few assume
+a brownish tint, but not many. A fourth moult takes place in seven or
+eight days, and when the caterpillars are about an inch and a half in
+length. Now, the difference shows itself still more between the two
+varieties, some remaining green, while the majority become brown. The
+eye-spots are more marked, and the pupil more distinct, the diagonal
+lines plainer, while the white line is only indicated on the first
+three, and on the eleventh segment. The last stage (Fig. 9) has been
+already described.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 8.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chærocampa elpenor_). Fourth Stage.]
+
+Now, the principal points to which I wish to draw attention are (1)
+the green color, (2) the longitudinal lines, (3) the diagonal lines,
+(4) the brown color, and (5) the eye-spots.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 9.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chærocampa elpenor_). Fifth Stage.]
+
+As regards the first three, however, I think I need say no more. The
+value of the green color to the young larva is obvious; nor is it much
+less clear that when the insect is somewhat larger, the longitudinal
+lines are a great advantage, while subsequently diagonal ones become
+even more important.
+
+The next point is the color of the mature caterpillars. We have seen
+that some are green, and others brown. The green ones are obviously
+merely those which have retained their original color. Now for the
+brown color. This probably makes the caterpillar even more conspicuous
+among the green leaves than would otherwise be the case. Let us see,
+then, whether the habits of the insect will throw any light upon the
+riddle. What would you do if you were a big caterpillar? Why, like
+most other defenceless creatures, you would feed by night, and lie
+concealed by day. So do these caterpillars. When the morning light
+comes, they creep down the stem of the food plant, and lie concealed
+among the thick herbage, and dry sticks and leaves, near the ground;
+and it is obvious that under such circumstances the brown color really
+becomes a protection. It might indeed be argued that the caterpillars,
+having become brown, concealed themselves on the ground; and that we
+were, in fact, reversing the state of things. But this is not so;
+because, while we may say, as a general rule, that (with some
+exceptions due to obvious causes) large caterpillars feed by night and
+lie concealed by day, it is by no means always the case that they are
+brown; some of them still retaining the green color. We may then
+conclude that the habit of concealing themselves by day came first,
+and that the brown color is a later adaptation. It is, moreover,
+interesting to note that while the caterpillars which live on low
+plants often go down to the ground and turn brown, those which feed on
+large trees or plants remain on the under side of the leaves, and
+retain their green color.
+
+Thus, in the Eyed Hawk-moth, which feeds on the willow and sallow; the
+Poplar Hawk-moth, which feeds on the poplar; and the Lime Hawk-moth,
+which frequents the lime, the caterpillars all remain green; while in
+those which frequent low plants, such as the Convolvulus Hawk-moth,
+which frequents the convolvulus; the Oleander Hawk-moth, which feeds
+in this country on the periwinkle; and other species, most of the
+caterpillars turn brown. There are, indeed, some caterpillars which
+are brown, and still do not go down to the ground--as, for instance,
+those of the Geometridæ generally. These caterpillars, however, as
+already mentioned, place themselves in peculiar attitudes, which,
+combined with their brown color, make them look almost exactly like
+bits of stick or dead twigs.
+
+The last of the five points to which I called your attention was the
+eye-spots. In some cases, spots may serve for concealment, by
+resembling the marks on dead leaves. In one species, which feeds on
+the hippophæ, or sea buckthorn, a gray-green plant, the caterpillar
+also is a similar gray-green, and has, when full grown, a single red
+spot on each side--which, as Weissmann suggests, at first sight much
+resembles in color and size one of the berries of the hippophæ. This
+might, at first, be supposed to constitute a danger, and therefore to
+be a disadvantage; but the seeds, though present, are not ripe, and
+consequently are not touched by birds. Again, in another caterpillar,
+there is an eye-spot on each segment, which mimics the flower of the
+plant on which it feeds. White spots, in some cases, also resemble the
+spots of light which penetrate foliage. In other instances, however,
+and at any rate in our Elephant Hawk-moth, the eye-spots certainly
+render the insect more conspicuous.
+
+Now in some cases, this is an advantage, rather than a drawback.
+Suppose that from the nature of its food, from its being covered with
+hair, or from any other cause, a small green caterpillar were very
+bitter, or disagreeable or dangerous as food, still, in the number of
+small green caterpillars which birds love, it would be continually
+swallowed by mistake. If, on the other hand, it had a conspicuous and
+peculiar color, its evil taste would serve to protect it, because the
+birds would soon recognize and avoid it, as has been proved
+experimentally. I have already alluded to a case of this among the
+Hawk-moths, in a species which, feeding on euphorbia, with its bitter
+milky juice, is very distasteful to birds, and is thus actually
+protected by its bold and striking colors. The spots on our Elephant
+Hawk-moth caterpillar do not admit of this explanation, because the
+insect is quite good to eat--I mean, for birds. We must, therefore, if
+possible, account for these spots in some other way. There can, I
+think, be little doubt that Weissmann is right when he suggests that
+the eye-spots actually protect the caterpillar, by frightening its
+foes.
+
+Every one must have observed that these large caterpillars--as, for
+instance, that of the small Elephant Hawk-moth (Fig. 10)--have a sort
+of uncanny poisonous appearance; that they suggest a small thick snake
+or other evil beast, and the so-called "eyes" do much to increase the
+deception. Moreover, the segment on which they are placed is swollen,
+and the insect, when in danger, has the habit of retracting its head
+and front segments, which gives it an additional resemblance to some
+small reptile. That small birds are, as a matter of fact, afraid of
+these caterpillars (which, however, I need not say, are in reality
+altogether harmless), Weissmann has proved by actual experiment. He
+put one of these caterpillars in a tray in which he was accustomed to
+place seed for birds. Soon a little flock of sparrows and other small
+birds assembled to feed as usual. One of them lit on the edge of this
+tray, and was just going to hop in, when she spied the caterpillar.
+Immediately she began bobbing her head up and down, but was afraid to
+go nearer. Another joined her, and then another, until at last there
+was a little company of ten or twelve birds, all looking on in
+astonishment, but not one ventured into the tray; while one bird,
+which lit in it unsuspectingly, beat a hasty retreat in evident alarm,
+as soon as she perceived the caterpillar. After watching for some
+time, Weissmann removed it, when the birds soon attacked the seeds.
+Other caterpillars also are probably protected by their curious
+resemblance to spotted snakes.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 10.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE SMALL ELEPHANT
+HAWK-MOTH (_Chærocampa porcellus_).]
+
+Moreover, we may learn another very interesting lesson from these
+caterpillars. They leave the egg, as we have seen, a plain green, like
+so many other caterpillars, and gradually acquire a succession of
+markings, the utility of which I have just attempted to explain. The
+young larva, in fact, represents an old form, and the species, in the
+lapse of ages, has gone through the stage which each individual now
+passes through in a few weeks. Thus, the caterpillar of _Chærocampa
+porcellus_, a species very nearly allied to the Elephant Hawk-moth,
+passes through almost exactly the same stages as that species. But it
+leaves the egg with a subdorsal line, which the caterpillar of the
+Elephant Hawk-moth does not acquire until after its first moult. No
+one can doubt, however, that there was a time when the new-born
+caterpillars of the small Elephant Hawk-moth were plain green, like
+those of the large one. Again, if we compare the mature caterpillars
+of this group of Hawk-moths, we shall find there are some forms which
+never develop eye-spots, but which, even when full grown, correspond
+to the second stage of the Elephant Hawk-moth. Here, then, we seem to
+have species still in the stage which the Elephant Hawk-moth must have
+passed through long ago.
+
+The genus _Deilephila_, of which we have three species--the Euphorbia
+Hawk-moth, the Galium Hawk-moth, and the Rayed Hawk-moth--is also very
+instructive. The caterpillar of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth begins life of
+a clear green color, without a trace of the subsequent markings. After
+the first moult, however, it has a number of black patches, a white
+line, and a series of white dots, and has, therefore, at one bound,
+acquired characters which in the Elephant Hawk-moth, as we have seen,
+were only very gradually assumed. In the third stage, the line has
+disappeared, leaving the white spots. In the fourth, the caterpillars
+have become very variable, but are generally much darker than before,
+and have a number of white dots under the spots. In the fifth stage,
+there is a second row of white spots under the first. The caterpillars
+not being good to eat, there is, as has been already pointed out, no
+need for, or attempt at, concealment. Now if we compare the mature
+caterpillars of other species of the genus, we shall find that they
+represent phases in the development of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth. The
+Sea Buckthorn Hawk-moth, for instance, even when full grown, is a
+plain green, with only a trace of the line, and corresponds,
+therefore, with a very early stage of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth; there
+is another species found in South Russia, which has the line, and
+represents the second stage of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth; another has
+the line and the row of spots, and represents, therefore, the third
+stage; lastly, there are some which have progressed further, and lost
+the longitudinal line, but they never acquire the second row of spots
+which characterizes the last stage of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth.
+
+Thus, then, the individual life of certain caterpillars gives us a
+clue to the history of the species in past ages.
+
+For such inquiries as this, the larvæ of Lepidoptera are particularly
+suitable, because they live an exposed life; because the different
+species, even of the same genus, often feed on different plants, and
+are therefore exposed to different conditions; and last, not least,
+because we know more about the larvæ of the butterflies and moths than
+about those of any other insects. The larvæ of ants all live in the
+dark; they are fed by the perfect ants, and being therefore all
+subject to very similar conditions, are all very much alike. It would
+puzzle even a good naturalist to determine the species of an ant
+larva, while, as we all know, the caterpillars of butterflies and
+moths are as easy to distinguish as the perfect insects; they differ
+from one another as much as, sometimes more than, the butterflies and
+moths themselves.
+
+There are five principal types of coloring among caterpillars. Those
+which live inside wood, or leaves, or underground, are generally of a
+uniform pale hue; the small leaf-eating caterpillars are green, like
+the leaves on which they feed. The other three types may, to compare
+small things with great, be likened to the three types of coloring
+among cats. There are the ground cats, such as the lion or puma, which
+are brownish or sand color, like the open places they frequent. So
+also caterpillars which conceal themselves by day at the roots of
+their food-plant, tend, as we have seen, even if originally green, to
+assume the color of earth. Nor must I omit to mention the
+_Geometridæ_, to which I have already referred, and which, from their
+brown color, their peculiar attitudes, and the frequent presence of
+warts or protuberances, closely mimic bits of dry stick. That the
+caterpillars of these species were originally green, we may infer from
+the fact that some of them at least are still of that color when first
+born.
+
+Then there are the spotted or eyed cats, such as the leopard, which
+live among trees; and their peculiar coloring renders them less
+conspicuous by simulating spots of light which penetrate through
+foliage. So also many caterpillars are marked with spots, eyes, or
+patches of color. Lastly, there are the jungle cats, of which the
+tiger is the typical species, and which have stripes, rendering them
+very difficult to see among the brown grass which they frequent. It
+may, perhaps, be said that this comparison fails, because the stripes
+of tigers are perpendicular, while those of caterpillars are either
+longitudinal or oblique. This, however, so far from constituting a
+real difference, confirms the explanation; because in each case the
+direction of the lines follows that of the foliage. The tiger, walking
+horizontally on the ground, has transverse bars; the caterpillar,
+clinging to the grass in a vertical position, has longitudinal lines;
+while those which live on large-veined leaves have oblique lines, like
+the oblique ribs of the leaves.
+
+Red and blue are rare colors among caterpillars. Omitting minute dots,
+we have six species more or less marked with red or orange. Of these,
+two are spiny, two hairy, and one protected by scent-emitting
+tentacles. The orange medio-dorsal line of the Bedford Butterfly is
+not very conspicuous, and has been omitted in some descriptions. Blue
+is even rarer than red; in fact, none of our butterfly larvæ can be
+said to exhibit this color.
+
+Now let us turn to the moths. I have taken all the larger species,
+amounting to rather more than one hundred and twenty; out of which
+sixty-eight are hairy or downy; and of these forty-eight are marked
+with black or gray, fifteen brown or brownish, two yellowish-green,
+one bluish-gray, one striped with yellow and black, and one
+reddish-gray. There are two yellowish-green hairy species, which
+might be regarded as exceptions: one, that of the Five-spotted
+Burnet-moth, is marked with black and yellow, and the other is
+variable in color, some specimens of this caterpillar being orange.
+This last species is also marked with black, so that neither of these
+species can be considered of the green color which serves as a
+protection. Thus, among the larger caterpillars, there is not a single
+hairy species of the usual green color. On the other hand, there are
+fifty species with black or blackish caterpillars, and of these
+forty-eight are hairy or downy.
+
+In ten of our larger moths the caterpillars are more or less marked
+with red. Of these, three are hairy, one is an internal feeder, four
+have reddish lines, which probably serve for protection by simulating
+lines of shadow, and one, the Euphorbia Hawk-moth, is inedible. The
+last, the striped Hawk-moth, is rare, and I have never seen the
+caterpillar; but to judge from figures, the reddish line and spots
+would render it, not more, but less conspicuous amongst the low
+herbage which it frequents.
+
+Seven species only of the larger moths have any blue; of these, four
+are hairy, the other three are Hawk-moths. In one, the Death's Head,
+the violet color of the side stripes certainly renders the insect less
+conspicuous among the flowers of the potato, on which it feeds. In the
+Oleander Hawk-moth there are two blue patches, which, both in color
+and form, curiously resemble the petals of the periwinkle, on which it
+feeds. In the third species, the small Elephant Hawk-moth, the bluish
+spots form the centres of the above-mentioned eye-like spots.
+
+In one family, as already mentioned, the caterpillars are very often
+brown, and closely resemble bits of stick, the similarity being much
+increased by the peculiar attitudes they assume. On the other hand,
+the large brown caterpillars of certain Hawk-moths are night feeders,
+concealing themselves on the ground by day; and it is remarkable that
+while those species, such as the Convolvulus Hawk-moth, which feed on
+low plants, turn brown as they increase in age and size, others, which
+frequent trees, and cannot therefore descend to the ground for
+concealment, remain green throughout life. Omitting these, there are
+among the larger species, seventeen which are brown, of which twelve
+are hairy, and two have extensile caudal filaments. The others closely
+resemble bits of stick, and place themselves in peculiar and stiff
+attitudes.
+
+And thus, summing up the caterpillars, both of butterflies and moths,
+out of eighty-eight spiny and hairy species, only one is green, and
+even this may not be protectively colored, since it has conspicuous
+yellow warts. On the other hand, a very great majority of the black
+and brown caterpillars, as well as those more or less marked with blue
+and red, are either hairy or spiny, or have some special protection.
+
+Here, then, I think we see reasons, for many at any rate, of the
+variations of color and markings in caterpillars, which at first sight
+seem so fantastic and inexplicable. I should, however, produce an
+impression very different from that which I wish to convey, were I to
+lead you to suppose that all these varieties have been explained, or
+are understood. Far from it; they still offer a large field for study;
+nevertheless, I venture to think the evidence now brought forward,
+however imperfectly, is at least sufficient to justify the conclusion
+that there is not a hair or a line, not a spot or a color, for which
+there is not a reason--which has not a purpose or a meaning in the
+economy of nature.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES IN SPIDERS
+
+BY ELIZABETH G. PECKHAM.[10]
+
+[10] Abbreviated from the occasional Papers of the Natural History
+Society of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 1889. By permission.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+There are, among spiders, two forms of protective modification: the
+first, including all cases of protective resemblance to vegetable and
+inorganic things--that is, all modifications of color or of color and
+form that tend to make them inconspicuous in their natural
+relations--I shall call direct protection. The second form, which I
+shall call indirect protection, includes two classes, the spiders
+which are specially protected themselves and those which mimic other
+creatures which are specially protected.
+
+Spiders are specially protected when they become inedible through the
+acquisition of hard plates and sharp spines. The modification of form
+is frequently accompanied by conspicuous colors, which warn their
+enemies that they belong to an unpalatable class.
+
+The second class of indirectly protected spiders--those that mimic
+specially protected creatures--presents some difficulties, since it is
+not always easy to determine whether the purpose of mimicry is
+protection or the capture of prey. The resemblance may, as is
+frequently the case in direct protection, serve both purposes.
+
+In looking for instances of protective form and color among spiders we
+encounter one difficulty at the outset. The meaning of a protective
+peculiarity can be determined only when the animal is seen in its
+natural home. The number of strangely modified forms depicted in
+descriptive works on spiders is enormous. Bodies are twisted,
+elongated, inflated, flattened, truncated, covered with tubercles or
+spines, enclosed within chitinous plates, colored like bark, like
+lichens, like flowers of every imaginable hue, like bird droppings,
+like sand or stones, and in every one of these modifications there is
+doubtless an adaptation of the spider to its surroundings which, when
+it is studied out of its natural relations, we can only guess at.
+
+It has been well said that in these protective resemblances those
+features of the portrait are most attended to by nature which produce
+the most effective deception when seen in nature; the faithfulness of
+the resemblance being much less striking when seen in the cabinet....
+
+DIRECT PROTECTION. RESEMBLANCES TO VEGETABLE AND INORGANIC
+THINGS.--As a general rule the forms and colors of spiders are
+adapted to render them inconspicuous in their natural homes. Bright
+colored spiders, ... either keep hidden away or are found upon flowers
+whose tints harmonize with their own. This rule, while it has
+numerous exceptions, is borne out by the great majority of cases. A
+good illustration is found in the genus Uloborus, of which the members
+bear a deceptive resemblance to small pieces of bark, or to such bits
+of rubbish as commonly become entangled in old deserted webs. The only
+species in our neighborhood is Uloborus plumipes, which I have almost
+invariably found building in dead branches, where its disguise is more
+effective than it would be among fresh leaves. The spider is always
+found in the middle of the web, with its legs extended in a line with
+the body. There has been, in this species, a development along several
+lines, resulting in a disguise of considerable complexity. Its form
+and color make it like a scrap of bark, its body being truncated and
+diversified with small humps, while its first legs are very uneven,
+bearing heavy fringes of hair on the tibia and having the terminal
+joints slender. Its color is a soft wood-brown or gray, mottled with
+white. It has the habit of hanging motionless in the web for hours at
+a time, swaying in the wind like an inanimate object. The strands of
+its web are rough and inelastic, so that they are frequently broken;
+this gives it the appearance of one of those dilapidated and deserted
+webs in which bits of wind-blown rubbish are frequently entangled....
+
+Out of seven examples of the species taken during one summer, five
+were found in dead tamarack branches, one on a dead bush, and the
+seventh, an interesting variety, under the eaves of a porch. My eye
+was caught by what seemed to be a string of eleven cocoons (it is not
+common to see more than four in a web). On attempting to take them
+down I was surprised to see one of the supposed cocoons begin to shake
+the web violently. Ten were what they seemed to be, but the eleventh
+was the mother spider, whose color and general appearance was exactly
+like that of the little cases that she had made for her eggs....
+
+We come now to a large and interesting class in genus Epeira. I refer
+to those species, mostly nocturnal, which are protected during the
+day, not by hiding in crevices, nor in any way actually getting out of
+sight, but by the close resemblance which they bear to the bark of the
+trees to which they cling. This resemblance is brought about in two
+ways; through their color, which is like that of wood or lichens, and
+through their tuberculated and rugose forms, which resemble rough
+bark.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1.--CÆROSTRIS MITRALIS (from Vinson).]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2.--CÆROSTRIS MITRALIS, in profile (from Vinson).]
+
+One of the most remarkable of these forms is C. mitralis, a Madagascar
+species, which, looked at in profile, probably resembles a woody knot.
+The abdomen is divided into two divergent cones (Fig. 1). The entire
+upper surface of the body is covered with conical elevations, which
+render it rough and uneven; the sides of the abdomen are made up of
+several layers, which form stages, one above another, like the ridges
+of bark on a woody excrescence. The legs, formed of wide, flattened
+plates, make the base. The color of the spider is yellowish-gray,
+varied with white and dark reddish-brown. It has the habit of perching
+on a branch and clasping it like a bird, so that the elaborate
+modification of form, which would be useless if the spider hung
+exposed in the web, is made as effective as possible.
+
+To take an example nearer home, E. infumata is a large, round-bodied
+spider, with two humps on the abdomen, which Emerton describes from
+New England as being brown, mottled with white and black; he adds that
+when it draws in its feet it looks like a lump of dirt. Infumata, in
+Wisconsin, has always a good deal of bluish-green on the upper surface
+of the abdomen. This may be a variety which has been so developed as
+to resemble the lichens which cover the tree to which it clings. It is
+one of the spiders which bear a good deal of handling without
+uncurling its legs, or showing any sign of life. Its humpy form and
+its color give it a very inanimate appearance. It is rather common in
+our neighborhood and may be caught in the late twilight while building
+its web, but to search for it in the daytime, even among the trees
+that it most frequents, is an almost hopeless task. A more grotesque
+form is E. stellata, in which the abdomen has not two, but twelve or
+fifteen humps. These are so disposed that the edge of the abdomen, all
+around, is scalloped. The colors are light and dark brown, modified by
+gray and white hairs. This spider remains motionless during the
+daytime, keeping its legs drawn up to its body. It is common on grass
+and low bushes. It is not found in Wisconsin, but the description of
+it suggests a resemblance to a piece of dead leaf.
+
+There are many other spiders in this genus that have humps and are
+colored in brown, gray or dull yellow, as nordmanii, angulata,
+solitaria, etc. It is an almost universal habit among the Epeiridæ to
+drop to the ground when threatened, and when a humped gray or brown
+spider drops to the ground and draws in its legs it is nearly
+indistinguishable from the lumps of earth, sticks and stones that
+surround it.
+
+One of the Therididæ which has the same protection is Ulesanis
+americana (Fig. 3). The abdomen, which covers the cephalothorax nearly
+to the eyes, has a prominent hump in the middle of the back and four
+or five others behind. Its color is in shades of brown and yellow.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3.--ULESANIS AMERICANA (from Emerton).]
+
+Analogous to the humped Epeiridæ is Thomisus foka, of Madagascar, a
+spider which is regarded with great terror by the natives, as being so
+poisonous that even its breath is deadly. They say that cattle, when
+about to lie down, look carefully about to see if one of these spiders
+is in the neighborhood. This dread is, no doubt, inspired by the
+strange and uncanny aspect of a perfectly harmless creature. It has a
+rugose, tuberculated body of trapezoid form, the colors being brown
+and reddish, while the whole aspect is crab-like. The thick, short
+legs are reddish, covered with tubercules. The secret of its strange
+form is made clear when we learn that it resembles in color and
+general appearance the fruit of Hymenæa verrucosa, a tree common in
+the forests where this spider is found.
+
+Among the curious forms which must have been developed through
+advantageous variations but which we are unable to explain, is
+Eriauchenus workmanni (Fig. 4).
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 4.--ERIAUCHENUS WORKMANNI (from Cambridge).]
+
+Epeira prompta, a variety of parvula, is a common spider in the State
+of Wisconsin. It is most frequently seen on cedar bushes, where its
+color harmonizes with that of the foliage and fruit. During the day it
+usually rests on a branch near its web. The back of the abdomen is of
+a peculiar bluish-green, exactly like that of the lichens growing on
+tree trunks. The bluish color is broken by waving black lines which
+imitate the curling edges of the lichens. The one represented in the
+plate was found on an old cedar which was covered with lichens. It was
+kept for two weeks in a glass-covered box, where it spent most of the
+time crouching in a corner. It built no web, but spun some irregular
+lines to run about on. It ate gnats, flies, and once a little jumping
+spider, S. pulex, which we were keeping in the same box, leaping upon
+its prey, as noted by Hentz, like an Attus. This seems a curious habit
+to be acquired by an Epeirid, since spiders, as we have noticed among
+our captives, are usually dependent for food upon what is caught in
+their webs. Prompta moves awkwardly, but very rapidly.
+
+Drapetisca socialis, while quite a different looking spider, is
+protected in the same way--by its resemblance to the bark upon which
+it lives. Emerton speaks of finding it on the bark of spruce trees,
+which it "closely resembles in color." Menge says that it is common
+in Prussia, where it is seen in great numbers on fir trees, whose
+spotted bark it resembles in color, so that it is not easily seen. We
+have found them, most commonly, upon birch trees, and in this
+situation their color adaptation is perfect. Both the spider and the
+peeling bark of the tree are of a light silvery brown, covered with
+little blackish marks. On the bark these marks are, of course,
+irregular, while on the spider they form a pattern made up of straight
+and curved lines and dots, the legs being silvery, barred with
+blackish.
+
+Another little Theridion that is found on birch bark has the same
+colors arranged a little differently. The abdomen above has a large
+and peculiarly irregular black patch, which shades off into mottled
+brown and black on the sides and below. The cephalothorax has stripes
+of brown and black, and the legs are barred with light and dark brown.
+
+Spiders that live upon walls, fences, tree trunks, or on the ground
+harmonize in color with the surfaces upon which they are found, being
+usually gray, brown or yellow, mottled with black and white. This
+proposition is so well established as to need but few illustrations.
+The Therididæ furnish many examples, as T. murarium, a gray spider
+varied with black and white, said by Emerton to live usually "under
+stones and fences, where it is well concealed by its color"; and
+Lophocarenum rostratum, a yellowish-brown spider, found among leaves
+on the ground. Among the Attidæ bright sexual coloring often gains the
+ascendancy over the protective tints, yet this family gives us good
+examples in such species as M. familiaris and S. pulex.
+
+To these may be added an as yet undescribed species which we
+discovered last season in a neighborhood that we had searched
+thoroughly for eight summers. We found the new spider in great
+numbers, but could only detect it by a close scrutiny of the rail
+fences on which it lived, its color being dark gray....
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 5. ORNITHOSCATOÏDES DECIPIENS (from Cambridge).]
+
+The last instance that I shall cite is a predaceous spider which is
+disguised from both its enemies and its prey by an elaborate
+combination of form, color, position, and character of web. I refer to
+Ornithoscatoïdes decipiens (Fig. 5), first described by Forbes and
+afterwards by Cambridge, the latter author giving in the same paper
+descriptions of three other species of the same genus, whose habits
+have not been noted, but whose protection is evidently of the same
+order as that of decipiens. I give Forbes's interesting account of his
+capture of decipiens, quoting also the remarks by which Cambridge
+prefaces his description, since his explanation of the gradual
+development, through Natural Selection, of the spider's deceptive
+appearance applies as well to all the cases of protective disguise
+which have been here enumerated.
+
+The capture is described as follows:--
+
+"On June 25th, 1881, in the forest near the village of Lampar, on the
+banks of the Moesi river in Sumatra, while my 'boys' were procuring
+for me some botanical specimens from a high tree, I was rather
+dreamily looking on the shrubs before me, when I became conscious of
+my eyes resting on a bird-excreta-marked leaf. How strange, I thought,
+it is that I have never got another specimen of that curious spider I
+found in Java which simulated a patch just like this! I plucked the
+leaf by the petiole while so cogitating, and looked at it half
+listlessly for some moments, mentally remarking how closely that other
+spider had copied nature, when, to my delighted surprise, I discovered
+that I had actually secured a second specimen, but the imitation was
+so exquisite that I really did not perceive how matters stood for some
+moments. The spider never moved while I was plucking or twirling the
+leaf, and it was only when I placed the tip of my little finger on it,
+that I observed that it was a spider, when it, without any
+displacement of itself, flashed its falces into my flesh.
+
+"The first specimen I got was in W. Java, while hunting one day for
+Lepidoptera. I observed a specimen of one of the Hesperidæ sitting, as
+is often a custom of theirs, on the excreta of a bird on a leaf; I
+crept near it, intending to examine what they find in what one is
+inclined to consider incongruous food for a butterfly. I approached
+nearer and nearer, and at last caught it between my fingers, when I
+found that it had as I thought become glued by its feet to the mass;
+but on pulling gently the spider, to my amazement, disclosed itself by
+letting go its hold: only then did I discover that I was not looking
+on a veritable bird's excreta.... The spider is in general color
+white, spotted here and there with black; on the underside its rather
+irregularly shaped and prominent abdomen is almost all white, of a
+pure chalk white; the angles of the legs are, however, shining
+jet-black. The spider does not make an ordinary web, but only the
+thinnest film on the surface of the leaf. The appearance of the
+excreta rather recently left by a bird on a leaf is well known. There
+is a pure white deposit in the centre, thinning out round the margin,
+while in the central mass are dark portions variously disposed; as the
+leaf is rarely horizontal, the more liquid portions run for some
+distance. Now, this spider one might almost imagine to have in its
+rambles 'marked and inwardly discerned' what it had observed, and to
+have set about practising the 'wrinkles' gained; for it first weaves a
+small, irregular patch of white web on some prominent leaf, then a
+narrow streak laid down towards its sloping margin ending in a small
+knob; it then takes its place on the centre of the irregular spot on
+its back, crosses its black-angled legs over its thorax, and waits.
+Its pure white abdomen represents the central mass of the bird's
+excreta, the black legs the dark portions of the slime, while the web
+above described which it has spun represents the more watery marginal
+part (become dry), even to the run-off portion with the thickened knob
+(which was not accidental, as it occurred in both cases), like the
+residue which semi-fluid substances ending in a drop leave on
+evaporation. It keeps itself in position on its back by thrusting
+under the web below it the spines with which the anterior upper
+surfaces of the legs are furnished." ...
+
+PROTECTIVE HABITS.--Going along with these forms of
+protective resemblance, we find certain habits which sometimes serve
+independently to protect the spider, but oftener are supplemental to
+color and form. Many species hide in crevices or in leaves which they
+roll up and bind together at the edges. In the Epeiridæ some are like
+thaddeus, which makes a little tent of silk under a leaf near its web.
+The young thaddeus also makes a tent, but spins its little geometrical
+web on the under side of the leaf, the edges being bent downward. E.
+insularis has the more common habit of forming its tent by drawing the
+edges of two or three leaves together with strands of web; in this it
+sits all day, but at night descends and occupies the centre of the web
+during the hours of darkness. I have often found it in this position
+when hunting nocturnal species by lantern light. It is probable that
+in tropical countries the monkeys, and perhaps the birds, which devour
+these large Epeiridæ have learned to recognize their webs, which are
+very large and conspicuous, and to trace them to their hiding places
+close by; and thus may have arisen the curious habit noticed by Vinson
+as possessed by E. nocturna and E. Isabella of destroying the web each
+morning and rebuilding it at night; the spider in this way gaining
+greater security from diurnal enemies.
+
+Atypus abbotii builds a purse-shaped tube which is found attached to
+the bark of trees, and which has the external surface dark and covered
+with sand. The trap-doors which close the nest of some of the
+Territelariæ are wonderful examples of protective industry. They fit
+with such absolute accuracy into the openings of the nests and are so
+covered on the upper side with moss, earth, lichens, etc., as to be
+indistinguishable from the surrounding surface.
+
+The rectilinear lines which are stretched in front of the webs of
+many Epeirids are useful in taking and sending on to the spider the
+shock which tells of an approaching enemy. Some spiders, when danger
+threatens, shake the web so violently as to grow indistinct to the
+eye, and others, as Pholcus atlanticus, hang by the legs and whirl the
+body rapidly with the same bewildering result....
+
+A habit common to many spiders, especially among the Epeiridæ, is that
+of dropping to the ground at the approach of danger and resting
+motionless among the dirt, sticks, leaves, etc., which they resemble
+in color. The holding of the body in some peculiar position, as in
+Uloborus, Hyptioides, and the flower-like Thomisidæ, is a
+necessary accompaniment to the color modification.
+
+The cocoons of spiders are seldom left exposed and unprotected. We
+find them in corners and crevices, concealed in rolled up leaves or
+under bark. Very often the cocoon itself is covered over with a sheet
+of web. In some families the mother carries it about with her attached
+to the underside of the abdomen. In other she carries it in her falces
+until the young are hatched. The cocoons of others, as Uloborus,
+Argyrodes, etc., while hung out in the web are still concealed by
+deceptive form and color, or by being covered with rubbish.
+
+Cambridge speaks of A. brunnea, whose cocoons "are covered over very
+soon after they are made and the eggs deposited in them, with a
+coating of clay, which effectually destroys all their form and beauty.
+This coating of clay answers probably two ends: first, the concealment
+of the cocoon and its protection from insect enemies; and, secondly,
+the protection of the eggs from the too powerful rays of the sun, dry
+clay being (as is well known) one of the best non-conductors of heat."
+
+The peculiar cocoon of C. bisaccata is described by Emerton as
+follows: "Only one specimen of this (_bisaccata_) was found on a beech
+tree at New Haven with two cocoons. These were dark brown, as dark as
+the bark of the tree and as hard. Around the middle of each was a
+circle of irregular points. One of the cocoons was attached by a
+strong stem to the bark, and the other was attached in a similar way
+to the first cocoon. The spider held on to one of the cocoons." In
+this instance the egg has evidently the same protection as that
+possessed by the gray, bark-haunting spiders, with the added advantage
+of hardness.
+
+The habit of distributing the eggs through a number of cocoons made at
+intervals of several days, is protective. In this way, although one or
+two of the cocoons may be pierced by the ichneumon, there is a chance
+that part of the brood may survive.
+
+INDIRECT PROTECTION.--The indirectly protected group includes
+those spiders which are rendered inedible by the possession of sharp
+spines and chitinous plates, and also those that mimic other specially
+protected creatures.
+
+The females of the specially protected group are characterized by the
+following attributes:
+
+Their inedibility, which they owe to a more or less coriaceous
+epidermis and an armature of strong sharp spines (Fig. 6).
+
+Their brilliant colors--glistening black and white, yellow, fiery
+gold, metallic silver, rose-color, blue, orange and blood-red.
+
+Their habit of hanging always exposed in the centre of the web.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 6.--GASTERACANTHA CREPIDOPHORA (from Cambridge).]
+
+In an interesting discussion of the protective value of color and
+marking in insects, Poulton says that "the smaller convergent groups
+of nauseous insects often present us with ideally perfect types
+of warning patterns and colors--simple, crude, strongly
+contrasted--everything subordinated to the paramount necessity of
+becoming conspicuous," the memory of enemies being thus strongly
+appealed to.
+
+This proposition is well illustrated by the Gasteracanthidæ. Among
+larvæ the warning colors are almost invariably black and white, or
+black (or some very dark color), in contrast with yellow, orange and
+red. These are the colors that also constantly recur among the
+Gasteracanthidæ.
+
+Cases that may be more justly considered exceptions to the rule that
+these hard, uneatable spiders are conspicuous are such species as
+Acrosoma rugosa (Fig. 7). One of this species was sent me by Mrs.
+Treat last summer. It lived for several weeks in my window, making no
+regular web, but hanging among a few irregular strands. It ate
+nothing, although provided with insects, but drank greedily of water.
+It might seem that its black and white coloring would make it
+conspicuous, but in connection with its irregular shape and its way of
+hanging motionless in the web it had the opposite effect.
+
+We have no reason to suppose that the class represented in rugosa is
+like that touched upon by Poulton, in which very protectively colored
+larvæ suddenly assume a terrifying aspect on the near approach of an
+enemy; still they do enjoy a kind of double protection.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 7.--ACROSOMA RUGOSA. Left-hand figure female,
+right-hand figure male (from Emerton).]
+
+They are inconspicuous, and thus likely to escape attack, but in case
+they are attacked they have still the advantage of being quickly
+rejected. This experience cannot be as fatal to them as to the soft
+and thin skinned larvæ. Their hard covering and projecting spines
+would protect them to such an extent as to give them a fair chance of
+surviving.
+
+In one respect the inconspicuous Gasteracanthidæ have a decided
+advantage over their bright-colored relatives. The birds, indeed,
+avoid the conspicuous ones, but their brilliancy serves to attract
+another enemy against which spines are no protection--the hunter wasp,
+which, as we have seen in the work of Bates, sometimes provisions its
+nest wholly with spiders of this family. Mr. Smith gives like
+testimony, saying:
+
+"Spines on the abdomen of certain spiders would serve as a protection
+against vertebrate enemies, though they do not protect against the
+hunter wasps, which frequently provision their nests with these
+species." He adds, however, that most of the spiny spiders are common,
+and that their colors make them conspicuous; just as butterflies that
+are protected by an odor are common and bright-colored....
+
+MIMICRY.--Mimicry, or the imitation of animal forms, while it
+is a form of indirect protection, differs in no essential respect from
+the imitation of vegetable and inorganic things. As Bates has said,
+the object of mimetic tendencies is disguise, and they will work in
+any direction that answers this purpose.
+
+In nearly all respects spiders come under the three laws given by
+Wallace, as governing the development of mimetic resemblances in
+several large classes. These laws are as follows:
+
+1. In an overwhelming majority of cases of mimicry, the animals (or
+the groups) which resemble each other inhabit the same country, the
+same district, and in most cases are to be found together on the very
+same spot.
+
+2. These resemblances are not indiscriminate, but are limited to
+certain groups, which, in every case, are abundant in species and
+individuals, and can often be ascertained to have some special
+protection.
+
+3. The species which resemble or "mimic" these dominant groups, are
+comparatively less abundant in individuals, and are often very rare.
+
+The second and third of these laws are confirmed by what we know of
+mimetic resemblances among spiders. They mimic ants much oftener than
+other creatures, and ants are very abundant, are specially protected,
+and are much more numerous than the mimetic spiders. To the first
+law, also, they conform to a great extent, since everything tends to
+show that in tropical America and in Africa the ant and the spider,
+the one mimicked and the other mimicking, are always found together.
+So far as I can discover, however, the ant-like spiders of North
+America are not found in company with any species of ant which they
+resemble. This may be because they do not mimic any particular
+species, but only the general ant-like form; or, considering that the
+genera which contain their nearest relatives are much more abundant in
+Central and South America, it may be that these forms were originally
+tropical, mimicking some tropical species of ants, and that after the
+Glacial Epoch they migrated northward, leaving the ants behind them.
+However this may be, their peculiar form has served them well, since
+they have maintained themselves as fairly abundant species with a
+lower fecundity than is found in any other group of spiders.
+
+The cases in which one species mimics another may be divided,
+according to the kind of benefit derived, into four classes: Class 1.
+As a rule, where we find one species mimicking another, the mimicked
+species possesses some special means of defence against the enemies of
+both. This defence may consist of a disagreeable taste or odor, as in
+the Heliconidæ, which are mimicked by other butterflies; of some
+special weapon of offence, as where wasps and bees are mimicked by
+flies and moths, or poisonous vipers by harmless caterpillars; or of a
+hard shell, as where the coriaceous beetles are mimicked by those that
+are soft-bodied.
+
+Instances of this rule are exceedingly numerous; indeed, Wallace says
+that specially protected forms are always mimicked; still we have
+nothing mimicking our Gasteracanthidæ.
+
+Class 2. The mimetic may prey upon the mimicked species, its disguise
+enabling it to gain a near approach to its victims; as the mantis,
+mentioned by Bates as exactly resembling the white ants upon which it
+feeds; and the flies which mimic bees, upon which they are parasitic,
+and are thus able to enter the nests of the bees and lay eggs on the
+larvæ.
+
+Class 3. The mimetic species may, by its imitation, be protected from
+the attacks of the creature it mimics, as is the case with the
+crickets and grasshoppers which mimic their deadly foe, the hunter
+wasp.
+
+Class 4. The mimetic species may prey upon some creature which is
+found commonly with, and is not eaten by, the mimicked species.
+
+No two of these classes are mutually destructive so that in any case
+of mimicry a double advantage may be gained.
+
+Let us see which of these advantages has directed the development of
+mimetic tendencies among spiders.
+
+While among beetles and butterflies we most commonly find mimicry of
+one species by another within the same order, we have no instance of a
+spider mimicking another spider. This may be accounted for by the fact
+that the specially protected spiders depend for their safety upon the
+possession of hard plates and spinous processes, and although the
+hardened epidermis might be imitated (we know that hard-shelled
+beetles are mimicked by others that are soft), spines could scarcely
+be imitated by a soft-bodied creature with sufficient accuracy to
+insure disguise.
+
+While spiders most commonly mimic ants, we hear also of their
+imitating beetles, snail-shells, ichneumons and horseflies. There is
+also a curious Madagascar species which looks exactly like a little
+scorpion, the resemblance being heightened by its habit of curving its
+flexible tail up over its back when irritated.
+
+Those that resemble beetles comprise nearly all the species of the
+genera Coccorchestes and Homalattus. These are small spiders with
+short, convex bodies. The abdomen fits closely over the cephalothorax,
+and the epidermis, which has usually a metallic lustre, is sometimes
+coriaceous. Striking examples are found in H. coccinelloides, which
+bears a strong resemblance to beetles of the family Coccinelloidæ, and
+in C. cupreus, in which certain marks on the abdomen imitate the
+elytra of beetles.
+
+The following account of a spider which mimics a snail-shell is given
+by Mr. G. F. Atkinson;--
+
+"An undescribed species of _Cyrtarachne_ mimics a snail-shell, the
+inhabitant of which, during the summer and fall, is very abundant on
+the leaves of plants in this place. In the species of Cyrtarachne the
+abdomen partly covers the cephalothorax, is very broad at the base, in
+this species broader than the length of the spider, and rounds off at
+the apex. When it rests upon the under side of a leaf with its legs
+retracted it strongly resembles one of these snail-shells by the color
+and shape of its abdomen. The two specimens which I collected deceived
+me at first, but a few threads of silk led me to make the examination.
+The spider seemed so confident of its protection that it would not
+move when I jarred the plant, striking it several hard blows. I
+pulled the spider forcibly from the leaf, and it did not exhibit any
+signs of movement until transferred to the cyanide bottle." ...
+
+Trimen gives an account of the imitation, by spiders, of horseflies, a
+case falling into Class 2, as follows:--
+
+"Hunting spiders are in some cases very like their prey, as may
+everywhere be noticed in the case of the species of Salticus which
+catch horseflies on sunny walls and fences. The likeness is not in
+itself more than a general one of size, form and coloring; but its
+effect is greatly aided by the actions of the spider, which walks
+hurriedly for short distances, stopping abruptly, and rapidly moving
+its falces, in evident mimicry of the well-known movements so
+characteristic of flies."
+
+Instances of spiders mimicking ants are very numerous, and in many
+cases the resemblance is so close as to, at first sight, deceive a
+trained naturalist. This resemblance is brought about by the spider's
+body being elongated and strongly constricted, so that it appears to
+be composed of three segments instead of two, by the color, by the way
+in which the spider moves about, zig-zagging from side to side like an
+ant, and by its habit of holding up one pair of its legs and moving
+them in such a way that they look exactly like the antennæ of an ant.
+
+Ants may be regarded as specially protected, by their sharp, acid
+flavor, and in some species by the possession of stings or of horny
+processes.
+
+On the ground that there are birds which do eat ants, and eat them
+greedily, it has been thought by some naturalists that they cannot be
+considered specially protected creatures, and that, as spiders can
+therefore derive no protection from mimicking them, all cases of such
+mimicry depend upon the spider's increased ability to capture the ants
+as prey, but I am convinced that this is too hasty a conclusion. It is
+unquestionably true that some birds feed almost exclusively upon ants,
+but these are the exceptions. It is a common thing to find that
+specially protected groups, which are safe from the attacks of most
+creatures, have their special enemies. Thus, even the nauseous
+Heliconidæ are preyed upon by certain spiders and wasps; and bees, in
+spite of their stings, are preferred to other insects by the
+bee-eaters. Moreover, the ant-devouring birds are found largely among
+the wood-peckers, which eat the ants that run on the trunks of trees,
+and are therefore not a source of danger to the ant-like spiders, the
+American species of which, so far as I can learn, live entirely upon
+the ground.
+
+In the United States comparatively small numbers of either ants or
+spiders are eaten by birds, but in tropical America there are enormous
+numbers of humming-birds feeding almost exclusively upon spiders, and
+there the protective advantage of looking like ants must be of great
+importance to the smaller species.
+
+Belt considers that the advantages gained by ant-mimicking Central
+American spiders lies entirely on the side of protection. In relation
+to this subject he says: "Ant-like spiders have been noticed
+throughout tropical America and also in Africa. The use that the
+deceptive resemblance is to them has been explained to be the facility
+it affords them for approaching ants on which they prey. I am
+convinced that this explanation is incorrect, so far as the Central
+American species are concerned. Ants, and especially the stinging
+species are, so far as my experience goes, not preyed upon by any
+other insects. No disguise need be adopted to approach them, as they
+are so bold that they are more likely to attack a spider than a spider
+them. Neither have they wings to escape by flying, and generally go in
+large bodies easily found and approached. The use is, I doubt not, the
+protection the disguise affords against small insectivorous birds. I
+have found the crops of some humming-birds full of small, soft-bodied
+spiders, and many other birds feed on them. Stinging-ants, like bees
+and wasps, are closely resembled by a host of other insects; indeed,
+whenever I found any insect provided with special means of defence I
+looked for imitative forms, and was never disappointed in finding
+them."
+
+The ant-like species are probably protected by their appearance from
+the attacks of many of the larger spiders. We have kept great numbers
+of Attidæ in captivity, and, although they devoured flies, gnats,
+larvæ, and other spiders, they would never touch ants. Among spiders,
+however, as among birds, we find that certain groups subsist almost
+entirely upon ants.
+
+The class of spiders whose mimicry protects them from their enemies,
+whether they are birds or other spiders, probably includes at least
+two of our own ant-like species, Synageles picata and Synemosyna
+formica, which, in confinement, are always hungry for gnats, but will
+not touch ants, even of small size.
+
+The existence of a class of spiders which mimic the particular species
+of ants upon which they prey is not to be questioned, but it is
+doubtful whether the benefit to the spider is increased facility in
+capturing the ant, or whether it is merely protective. It may be that
+the spider, by virtue of its resemblance to the ant, not only gets an
+abundant supply of food, but also escapes being eaten itself, and thus
+enjoys a double advantage. Both Bates and Wallace take the ground that
+the advantage derived by the spider consists in greater ease in the
+capture of prey, but both of these writers refer to spiders only
+incidentally to illustrate a general proposition, without special
+consideration of their peculiar conditions.
+
+Mr. Herbert Smith, who has paid a good deal of attention to this
+subject, is inclined to believe that the mimicry in question is
+entirely protective. He writes as follows:--
+
+"In the United States there are a few rare spiders that mimic ants.
+Here at Taperinha we find a good score of species of these spiders
+aping the various kinds of ants very closely; even the odd, spiny
+wood-ant, _cryptocerus_, furnishes a pattern, and there are spiders
+that mimic the wingless ichneumons. We find, after a while, that the
+spiders prey upon ants just as our spiders catch flies; indeed, this
+fact has already been noted by other observers. But we go a step
+beyond the books when we discover not only that the spiders eat the
+ants, but that they eat the particular ants which they mimic. At all
+events, we verify this fact in a great number of cases, and we never
+find the spiders eating any but the mimicked species.... I do not like
+to hazard a theory on this case of mimicry. It is difficult to suppose
+that the quick-witted ants would be deceived even by so close a
+resemblance; and, in any case, it would seem that the spiders do not
+require such a disguise in order to capture slow-moving ants. Most
+birds will not eat ants; it seems likely, therefore, that this is
+simply another example of protection; the spider deceives its enemies,
+not its prey; it mimics the particular species that it feeds on,
+because it is seen in that company when it is hunting, and among a
+host of similar forms is likely to pass unnoticed."
+
+At first sight, and especially in view of the fact that such cases are
+not uncommon among insects, it would be naturally supposed that the
+object of the mimicry was to enable the spider to approach its victim
+without exciting suspicion; and it is difficult to account, on any
+other supposition, for the very close resemblance between certain
+species of spiders and the particular species of ants which they prey
+upon. It seems as though the highest point of _protective_ benefit
+would have been reached long before the resemblance of the spider to
+the ant had become so close as it really is. On the other hand, it is
+difficult to believe that ants are deceived, even by those spiders
+which mimic them most closely, when we remember that their perceptions
+are so keen that they discriminate not only between ants of their own
+and different species, but even between ants of their own species
+living in two different communities.
+
+The mimicry of ichneumon flies by spiders was noted some years ago by
+Mr. Herbert Smith. This case comes under Class 3, in which one species
+mimics another which preys upon it. Great destruction is caused by
+ichneumons which lay their eggs on the bodies of the live spiders,
+and the disguise probably protects the spider by leading the fly to
+mistake it for one of its own species.
+
+We have no proof that spiders ever mimic ants as a method of escaping
+from them, but it is possible that this sometimes happens. We know
+that some ants prey upon them. The foraging ants of South America
+destroy spiders as well as many kinds of insects, and Wallace mentions
+a small, wood-boring ant which fills its nest with small spiders.
+
+If the spiders that feed upon ants deceive them by their mimicry those
+which are preyed upon by ants would gain an advantage by a similar
+disguise. I once placed a little ant-like spider of the genus
+Herpyllus in a bottle with three ants no larger than itself, which I
+had caught with it in the sweep-net. In a very few minutes the ants
+had killed and begun to devour the spider. It may be that the
+resemblance was sufficiently close to deceive them in the open, but
+failed when spider and ants were confined together in close quarters.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATH OF THE BIRDS
+
+BY RICHARD JEFFERIES.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+One morning Sir Bevis went down to the brook. Standing on the brink,
+he said: "Brook, Brook! what are you singing? You promised to tell me
+what you were saying."
+
+The brook did not answer, but went on singing. Bevis listened a
+minute, and then he picked a willow leaf and threw it into the bubbles
+and watched it go whirling round and round in the eddies and back up
+under the fall, where it dived down and presently came up again, and
+the stream took it and carried it away past the flags. "Brook, Brook!"
+said Bevis, stamping his foot; "tell me what you are singing."
+
+And the brook, having now finished that part of his song, said:
+"Bevis, dear; sit down in the shadow of the willow, for it is very hot
+to-day, and the reapers are at work; sit down under the willow and I
+will tell you as much as I can remember."
+
+"But the reed said you could not remember anything," said Bevis,
+leaning back against the willow.
+
+"The reed did not tell you the truth, dear; indeed, he does not know
+all; the fact is, the reeds are so fond of talking that I scarcely
+ever answer them now or they would keep on all day long, and I should
+never hear the sound of my own voice, which I like best. So I do not
+encourage them, and that is why the reeds think I do not recollect."
+
+"And what is that you sing about?" said Bevis impatiently.
+
+"My darling," said the brook, "I do not know myself always what I am
+singing about. I am so happy I sing, sing, and never think about what
+it means; it does not matter what you mean as long as you sing.
+Sometimes I sing about the sun, who loves me dearly, and tries all day
+to get at me through the leaves and the green flags that hide me; he
+sparkles on me everywhere he can, and does not like me to be in the
+shadow. Sometimes I sing to the wind, who loves me next most dearly,
+and will come to me everywhere in places where the sun cannot get. He
+plays with me whenever he can, and strokes me softly and tells me the
+things he has heard in the woods and on the hills, and sends down the
+leaves to float along; for he knows I like something to carry. Fling
+me in some leaves, Bevis, dear.
+
+"Sometimes I sing to the earth and the grass; they are fond of me,
+too, and listen the best of all. I sing loudest at night to the stars;
+for they are so far away they would not otherwise hear me."
+
+"But what do you say?" said Bevis; but the brook was too occupied now
+to heed him and went on.
+
+"Sometimes I sing to the trees; they, too, are fond of me and come as
+near as they can; they would all come down close to me if they could.
+They love me like the rest, because I am so happy and never cease my
+chanting. If I am broken to pieces against a stone, I do not mind in
+the least; I laugh just the same and even louder. When I come over the
+hatch, I dash myself to fragments; and sometimes a rainbow comes and
+stays a little while with me. The trees drink me, and the grass drinks
+me; the birds come down and drink me; they splash me and are happy.
+The fishes swim about, and some of them hide in deep corners. Round
+the bend I go; and the osiers say they never have enough of me. The
+long grass waves and welcomes me; the moor-hens float with me; the
+kingfisher is always with me somewhere, and sits on the bough to see
+his ruddy breast in the water. And you come too, Bevis, now and then
+to listen to me; and it is all because I am so happy."
+
+"Why are you so happy?" said Bevis.
+
+"I do not know," said the brook. "Perhaps it is because all I think of
+is this minute; I do not know anything about the minute just gone by,
+and I do not care one bit about the minute that is just coming; all I
+care about is this minute, this very minute now. Fling me in some more
+leaves, Bevis. Why do you go about asking questions, dear? Why don't
+you sing and do nothing else?"
+
+"Oh, but I want to know all about everything," said Bevis. "Where did
+you come from, and where are you going, and why don't you go on and
+let the ground be dry--why don't you run on, and run all away? why are
+you always here?"
+
+The brook laughed and said: "My dear, I do not know where I came from,
+and I do not care at all where I am going. What does it matter, my
+love? All I know is I shall come back again; yes, I shall come back
+again." The brook sang very low and rather sadly now: "I shall go into
+the sea and shall be lost; and even you would not know me; ask your
+father, love; he has sailed over the sea in ships that come to
+Southampton, and I was close to him, but he did not know me. But by
+and by, when I am in the sea, the sun will lift me up, and the clouds
+will float along--look towards the hills, Bevis, dear, every morning
+and you will see the clouds coming and bringing me with them; and the
+rain and the dew, and sometimes the thunder and the lightning, will
+put me down again; and I shall run along here and sing to you, my
+sweet, if you will come and listen. Fling in some little twigs, my
+dear, and some bits of bark from the tree."
+
+"That I will," said Bevis; and he picked up a stone and flung it into
+the water with such a splash that the kingfisher flew away; but the
+brook only laughed and told him to throw another and to make haste and
+grow bigger and jump over him.
+
+"S--s, we shall meet by the drinking place," said the grasshopper; and
+was just hopping off, when Bevis asked him what the birds went down to
+bathe for.
+
+"I'm sure I do not know," said the grasshopper, speaking fast, for he
+was rather in a hurry to be gone; he never could stand still long
+together. "All I can tell you is, that on Midsummer Day every one of
+the birds has to go down to the brook and walk in and bathe; and it
+has been the law for so many, many years that no one can remember when
+it began. They like it very much, because they can show off their
+fine feathers which are just now in full color; and if you like to go
+with me, you will be sure to enjoy it."
+
+"So I will," said Bevis; and he followed the grasshopper, who hopped
+so far at every step that he had to walk fast to keep up with him.
+
+They went on in silence a good way, except that the grasshopper cried
+"S--s" to his friends in the grass as he passed, and said good-morning
+also to a mole, who peeped out for a moment.
+
+"Why don't you hop straight?" said Bevis presently. "It seems to me
+that you hop first one side and then the other, and go in such a
+zigzag fashion it will take us hours to reach the brook."
+
+"How very stupid you are!" said the grasshopper. "If you go straight,
+of course you can only see just what is under your feet; but if you go
+first this way and then that, then you see everything. You are nearly
+as silly as the ants, who never see anything beautiful all their
+lives. Be sure you have nothing to do with the ants, Bevis; they are a
+mean, wretched, miserly set, quite contemptible and beneath notice.
+Now, I go everywhere, all round the field, and spend my time searching
+for lovely things; sometimes I find flowers, and sometimes the
+butterflies come down into the grass and tell me the news; and I am so
+fond of the sunshine, I sing to it all day long. Tell me, now, is
+there anything so beautiful as the sunshine and the blue sky, and the
+green grass, and the velvet and blue and spotted butterflies, and the
+trees which cast such a pleasant shadow and talk so sweetly, and the
+brook which is always running? I should like to listen to it for a
+thousand years."
+
+"I like you," said Bevis; "jump into my hand and I will carry you." He
+held his hand out flat, and in a second up sprang the grasshopper and
+alighted on his palm and told him the way to go, and thus they went
+together merrily.
+
+"Bevis, dear, I do not sing at night; but I always go where I can see
+a star. I slept under a mushroom last night, and he told me he was
+pushing up as fast as he could before some one came and picked him to
+put on a gridiron. I do not lay up any store, because I know I shall
+die when the summer ends; and what is the use of wealth then? My store
+and my wealth is the sunshine, dear, and the blue sky, and the green
+grass, and the delicious brook who never ceases sing, sing, singing
+all day and night. And all the things are fond of me; the grass and
+the flowers, and the birds and the animals--all of them love me."
+
+"I think I shall take you home and put you under a glass case on the
+mantelpiece," said Bevis.
+
+Off jumped the grasshopper in a moment, and fell so lightly on the
+grass it did not hurt him in the least, though it was as far as if
+Bevis had tumbled down out of the clouds. Bevis tried to catch him,
+but he jumped so nimbly this way and that, and hopped to and fro, and
+lay down in the grass, that his green coat could not be seen. Bevis
+now went down to the brook and stood on the bank, where it was high,
+near a bush at the side of the drinking place. "Ah, dear little Sir
+Bevis!" whispered a reed, bending towards him as the wind blew,
+"please do not come any nearer; the bank is steep and treacherous, and
+hollow underneath where the water-rats run. So do not lean over after
+the forget-me-nots--they are too far for you. Sit down where you are,
+behind that little bush, and I will tell you all about the bathing.
+The birds come down to bathe every Midsummer Day, and the goldfinches,
+and the sparrows, and the blackbirds, and the thrushes, and the
+swallows, and the wrens, and the robins, and almost every one of them,
+except two or three, whose great-grandfathers got into disgrace a long
+while ago. The rooks do not come because they are thieves, and steal
+the mussels, nor the crows, who are a very bad lot; the swan does not
+come either, unless the brook is muddy after a storm. The swan is so
+tired of seeing himself in the water that he quite hates it, and that
+is the reason he holds his neck so high, that he may not see more of
+himself than he can help."
+
+Soon the birds came. They were all in their very best and brightest
+feathers, and as the sun shone on them and they splashed the water and
+strutted about, Bevis thought he had never seen anything so beautiful.
+
+They did not all bathe, for some of them were specially permitted only
+to drink instead, but they all came, and all in their newest dresses.
+So bright was the goldfinch's wing, that the lark, though she did not
+dare speak, had no doubt she rouged. The sparrow, brushed and neat, so
+quiet and subdued in his brown velvet, looked quite aristocratic among
+so much flaunting color. As for the blackbird he had carefully washed
+himself in the spring before he came to bathe in the brook, and he
+glanced round with a bold and defiant air, as much as to say: "There
+is not one of you who has so yellow a bill, and so beautiful a black
+coat as I have." In the bush the bullfinch, who did not care much to
+mix with the crowd, moved restlessly to and fro. The robin looked all
+the time at Bevis, so anxious was he for admiration. The wood-pigeon,
+very consequential, affected not to see the dove, whom Bevis longed to
+stroke, but could not, as he had promised the reed to keep still.
+
+Bevis looked up into the sky, and there was the hawk, almost up among
+the white clouds, soaring round and round, and watching all that was
+proceeding. Almost before he could look down again a shadow went by,
+and a cuckoo flew along very low, just over the drinking place.
+
+"Cuckoo!" he cried, "cuckoo! The goldfinch has the prettiest dress;"
+and off he went.
+
+Now the hawk had bribed the cuckoo, who was his cousin, to do this,
+and the cuckoo was not at all unwilling, for he had an interest
+himself in keeping the birds divided, so he said that although he had
+made up his mind to go on his summer tour, leaving his children to be
+taken care of by the wagtail, he would stop a day or two longer to
+manage this little business. No sooner had the cuckoo said this, than
+there was a most terrible uproar, and all the birds cried out at once.
+The blackbird was so disgusted that he flew straight off, chattering
+all across the field and up the hedge. The bullfinch tossed his head,
+and asked the goldfinch to come up in the bush and see which was
+stronger. The greenfinch and the chaffinch shrieked with derision; the
+wood-pigeon turned his back and said "Pooh!" and went off with a
+clatter. The sparrow flew to tell his mates on the house, and you
+could hear the chatter they made about it right down at the brook.
+But the wren screamed loudest of all, and said that the goldfinch was
+a painted impostor, and had not got half so much gold as the
+yellow-hammer. So they were all scattered in a minute, and Bevis stood
+up and hurried homeward.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE LOON
+
+(FROM WALDEN.)
+
+BY HENRY D. THOREAU.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It is remarkable how many creatures live wild and free, though secret,
+in the woods, and still sustain themselves in the neighborhood of
+towns, suspected by hunters only. How retired the otter manages to
+live here! He grows to be four feet long, as big as a small boy,
+perhaps without any human being getting a glimpse of him. I formerly
+saw the raccoon in the woods behind where my house is built, and
+probably still heard their whinnering at night. Commonly I rested an
+hour or two in the shade at noon, after planting, and ate my lunch,
+and read a little by a spring which was the source of a swamp and of a
+brook, oozing from under Brister's Hill, half a mile from my field.
+The approach to this was through a succession of descending grassy
+hollows, full of young pitch-pines, into a larger wood about the
+swamp.
+
+There, in a very secluded and shaded spot, under a spreading
+white-pine, there was yet a clean, firm sward to sit on. I had dug out
+the spring and made a well of clear gray water, where I could dip up a
+pailful without roiling it, and thither I went for this purpose almost
+every day in midsummer, when the pond was warmest. Thither, too, the
+wood-cock led her brood, to probe the mud for worms, flying but a foot
+above them down the bank, while they ran in a troop beneath; but at
+last, spying me, she would leave her young and circle round and round
+me, nearer and nearer till within four or five feet, pretending broken
+wings and legs, to attract my attention, and get off her young, who
+would already have taken up their march, with faint wiry peep, single
+file through the swamp, as she directed. Or I heard the peep of the
+young when I could not see the parent bird.
+
+There, too, the turtle-doves sat over the spring, or fluttered from
+bough to bough of the soft white-pines over, my head; or the red
+squirrel, coursing down the nearest bough, was particularly familiar
+and inquisitive. You only need sit still long enough in some
+attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit
+themselves to you by turns....
+
+In the fall the loon (_Colymbus glacialis_) came, as usual, to moult
+and bathe in the pond, making the woods ring with his wild laughter
+before I had risen. At rumor of his arrival all the Mill-dam sportsmen
+are on the alert, in gigs and on foot, two by two and three by three,
+with patent rifles and conical balls and spy-glasses. They come
+rustling through the woods like autumn leaves, at least ten men to one
+loon. Some station themselves on this side of the pond, some on that,
+for the poor bird cannot be omnipresent; if he dive here he must come
+up there.
+
+But now the kind October wind rises, rustling the leaves and rippling
+the surface of the water, so that no loon can be heard or seen, though
+his foes sweep the pond with spy-glasses, and make the woods resound
+with their discharges. The waves generously rise and dash angrily,
+taking sides with all waterfowl, and our sportsmen must beat a retreat
+to town and shop and unfinished jobs. But they were too often
+successful. When I went to get a pail of water early in the morning I
+frequently saw this stately bird sailing out of my cove within a few
+rods. If I endeavored to overtake him in a boat, in order to see how
+he would manœuvre, he would dive and be completely lost, so that I did
+not discover him again, sometimes, till the latter part of the day.
+But I was more than a match for him on the surface. He commonly went
+off in a rain.
+
+As I was paddling along the north shore one very calm October
+afternoon, for such days especially they settle on to the lakes, like
+the milkweed down, having looked in vain over the pond for a loon,
+suddenly one, sailing out from the shore toward the middle a few rods
+in front of me, set up his wild laugh and betrayed himself. I pursued
+with a paddle and he dived, but when he came up I was nearer than
+before. He dived again but I miscalculated the direction he would
+take, and we were fifty rods apart when he came to the surface this
+time, for I had helped to widen the interval; and again he laughed
+long and loud, and with more reason than before.
+
+He manœuvred so cunningly that I could not get within half a dozen
+rods of him. Each time when he came to the surface, turning his head
+this way and that, he coolly surveyed the water and the land, and
+apparently chose his course so that he might come up where there was
+the widest expanse of water and at the greatest distance from the
+boat. It was surprising how quickly he made up his mind and put his
+resolve into execution. He led me at once to the wildest part of the
+pond, and could not be driven from it. While he was thinking one thing
+in his brain, I was endeavoring to divine his thought in mine. It was
+a pretty game, played on the smooth surface of the pond, a man against
+a loon.
+
+Suddenly your adversary's checker disappears beneath the board, and
+the problem is to place yours nearest to where his will appear again.
+Sometimes he would come up unexpectedly on the opposite side of me,
+having apparently passed directly under the boat. So long-winded was
+he and so unweariable, that when he had swam farthest he would
+immediately plunge again, nevertheless; and then no wit could divine
+where in the deep pond, beneath the smooth surface, he might be
+speeding his way like a fish, for he had time and ability to visit the
+bottom of the pond in its deepest part. It is said that loons have
+been caught in the New York lakes eighty feet beneath the surface,
+with hooks set for trout,--though Walden is deeper than that. How
+surprised must the fishes be to see this ungainly visitor from another
+sphere speeding his way amid their schools!
+
+Yet he appeared to know his course as surely under water as on the
+surface, and swam much faster there. Once or twice I saw a ripple
+where he approached the surface, just put his head out to reconnoitre,
+and instantly dived again. I found that it was as well for me to rest
+on my oars and wait his reappearing as to endeavor to calculate where
+he would rise; for again and again, when I was straining my eyes over
+the surface one way, I would suddenly be startled by his unearthly
+laugh behind me. But why, after displaying so much cunning, did he
+invariably betray himself the moment he came up by that loud laugh?
+Did not his white breast enough betray him?
+
+He was indeed a silly loon, I thought. I could commonly hear the plash
+of the water when he came up, and so also detected him. But after an
+hour he seemed as fresh as ever, dived as willingly and swam yet
+farther than at first. It was surprising to see how serenely he sailed
+off with unruffled breast when he came to the surface, doing all the
+work with his webbed feet beneath. His usual note was this demoniac
+laughter, yet somewhat like that of a waterfowl; but occasionally when
+he had balked me most successfully and come up a long way off, he
+uttered a long-drawn unearthly howl, probably more like that of a wolf
+than any bird; as when a beast puts his muzzle to the ground and
+deliberately howls. This was his looning,--perhaps the wildest sound
+that is ever heard here, making the woods ring far and wide. I
+concluded that he laughed in derision of my efforts, confident of his
+own resources.
+
+Though the sky was by this time overcast, the pond was so smooth that
+I could see where he broke the surface when I did not hear him. His
+white breast, the stillness of the air, and the smoothness of the
+water were all against him. At length, having come up fifty rods off,
+he uttered one of those prolonged howls, as if calling on the god of
+loons to aid him, and immediately there came a wind from the east and
+rippled the surface, and filled the whole air with misty rain, and I
+was impressed as if it were the prayer of the loon answered, and his
+god was angry with me; and so I left him disappearing far away on the
+tumultuous surface.
+
+For hours, in fall days, I watched the ducks cunningly tack and veer
+and hold the middle of the pond, far from the sportsman; tricks which
+they will have less need to practise in Louisiana bayous. When
+compelled to rise they would sometimes circle round and round and over
+the pond at a considerable height, from which they could easily see to
+other ponds and the river, like black motes in the sky; and, when I
+thought they had gone off thither long since, they would settle down
+by a slanting flight of a quarter of a mile on to a distant part which
+was left free; but what beside safety they got by sailing in the
+middle of Walden I do not know, unless they love its water for the
+same reason that I do.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE DARTMOOR PONIES, OR THE WANDERINGS OF THE HORSE TRIBE
+
+(FROM "THROUGH MAGIC GLASSES.")
+
+BY ARABELLA B. BUCKLEY.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+I want you to take a journey with me which I took in imagination a few
+days ago, as I lay on my back on the sunny moor and watched the
+Dartmoor ponies.
+
+It was a calm misty morning one day last week, giving promise of a
+bright and sunny day, when I started off for a long walk across the
+moor to visit the famous stone-circles, many of which are to be found
+not far off the track, called Abbot's Way, leading from Buckfast
+Abbey, on the Dart, to the Abbey of Tavistock, on the Tavy.
+
+My mind was full of the olden times as I pictured to myself how, seven
+hundred years or more ago, some Benedictine monk from Tavistock Abbey,
+in his black robe and cowl, paced this narrow path on his way to his
+Cistercian brethren at Buckfast, meeting some of them on his road as
+they wandered over the desolate moor in their white robes and black
+scapularies in search of stray sheep. For the Cistercians were
+shepherds and wool-weavers, while the Benedictines devoted themselves
+to learning, and the track of about twenty-five miles from one abbey
+to the other, which still remains, was worn by the members of the two
+communities and their dependents, the only variety in whose lives
+consisted probably in these occasional visits one to the other.
+
+Yet even these monks belonged to modern times compared to the ancient
+Britons who raised the stone-circles, and buried their dead in the
+barrows scattered here and there over the moor; and my mind drifted
+back to the days when, long before that pathway was worn, men clad in
+the skins of beasts hunted wild animals over the ground on which I was
+treading, and lived in caves and holes of the ground.
+
+I wondered, as I thought of them, whether the cultured monks and the
+uncivilized Britons delighted as much in the rugged scenery of the
+moor as I did that morning. For many miles in front of me the moor
+stretched out wild and treeless; the sun was shining brightly upon the
+mass of yellow furze and deep-red heather, drawing up the moisture
+from the ground, and causing a kind of watery haze to shimmer over the
+landscape; while the early mist was rising off the _tors_, or
+hill-tops, in the distance, curling in fanciful wreaths around the
+rugged and stony summits, as it dispersed gradually in the increasing
+heat of the day.
+
+The cattle which were scattered in groups here and there feeding on
+the dewy grass were enjoying the happiest time of the year. The moor,
+which in winter affords them scarcely a bare subsistence, is now
+richly covered with fresh young grass, and the sturdy oxen fed
+solemnly and deliberately, while the wild Dartmoor ponies and their
+colts scampered joyously along, shaking their manes and long flowing
+tails, and neighing to each other as they went; or clustered together
+on some verdant spot, where the colts teased and bit each other for
+fun, as they gambolled round their mothers.
+
+It was a pleasure, there on the open moor, with the lark soaring
+overhead, and the butterflies and bees hovering among the
+sweet-smelling furze blossoms, to see horses free and joyous, with no
+thought of bit or bridle, harness or saddle, whose hoofs had never
+been handled by the shoeing-smith, nor their coats touched with the
+singeing iron. Those little colts, with their thick heads, shaggy
+coats, and flowing tails, will have at least two years more freedom
+before they know what it is to be driven or beaten. Only once a year
+are they gathered together, claimed by their owners and branded with
+an initial, and then left again to wander where they will. True, it is
+a freedom which sometimes has its drawbacks, for if the winter is
+severe the only food they can get will be the furze-tops, off which
+they scrape the snow with their feet; yet it is very precious in
+itself, for they can gallop when and where they choose, with head
+erect, sniffing at the wind and crying to each other for the very joy
+of life.
+
+Now as I strolled across the moor and watched their gambols, thinking
+how like free wild animals they seemed, my thoughts roamed far away,
+and I saw in imagination scenes where other untamed animals of the
+horse tribe are living unfettered all their lives long.
+
+First there rose before my mind the level grass-covered pampas of
+South America, where wild horses share the boundless plains with
+troops of the rhea, or American ostrich, and wander, each horse with
+as many mares as he can collect, in companies of hundreds or even
+thousands in a troop. These horses are now truly wild, and live freely
+from youth to age, unless they are unfortunate enough to be caught in
+the more inhabited regions by the lasso of the hunter. In the broad
+pampas, the home of herds of wild cattle, they dread nothing. There,
+as they roam with one bold stallion as their leader, even beasts of
+prey hesitate to approach them, for, when they form into a dense mass
+with the mothers and young in their centre, their heels deal blows
+which even the fierce jaguar does not care to encounter, and they
+trample their enemy to death in a very short time. Yet these are not
+the original wild horses we are seeking, they are the descendants of
+tame animals, brought from Europe by the Spaniards to Buenos Ayres in
+1535, whose descendants have regained their freedom on the boundless
+pampas and prairies.
+
+As I was picturing them careering over the plains, another scene
+presented itself and took their place. Now I no longer saw around me
+tall pampas-grass with the long necks of the rheas appearing above it,
+for I was on the edge of a dreary, scantily covered plain between the
+Aral Sea and the Balkash Lake in Tartary. To the south lies a barren
+sandy desert, to the north the fertile plains of the Kirghiz steppes,
+where the Tartar feeds his flocks, and herds of antelopes gallop over
+the fresh green pasture; and between these is a kind of no-man's
+land, where low scanty shrubs and stunted grass seem to promise but a
+poor feeding-ground.
+
+Yet here the small long-legged but powerful "Tarpans," the wild horses
+of the treeless plains of Russia and Tartary, were picking their
+morning meal. Sturdy wicked little fellows they are, with their shaggy
+light-brown coats, short wiry manes, erect ears, and fiery watchful
+eyes. They might well be supposed to be true wild horses, whose
+ancestors had never been tamed by man; and yet it is more probable
+that even they escaped in early times from the Tartars, and have held
+their own ever since, over the grassy steppes of Russia and on the
+confines of the plains of Tartary. Sometimes they live almost alone,
+especially on the barren wastes where they have been seen in winter,
+scraping the snow off the herbage as our ponies do on Dartmoor. At
+other times, as in the south of Russia, where they wander between the
+Dnieper and the Don, they gather in vast herds and live a free life,
+not fearing even the wolves, which they beat to the ground with their
+hoofs. From one green oasis to another they travel over miles of
+ground.
+
+   "A thousand horse--and none to ride!
+    With flowing tail, and flying mane,
+    Wide nostrils--never stretched by pain,
+    Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein,
+    And feet that iron never shod,
+    And flanks unscarred by spur or rod,
+    A thousand horse, the wild, the free,
+    Like waves that follow o'er the sea."[11]
+
+[11] Byron's _Mazeppa_.
+
+As I followed them in their course I fancied I saw troops of yet
+another animal of the horse tribe, the "Kulan," or _Equus hemionus_,
+which is a kind of half horse, half ass (p. 393), living on the
+Kirghiz steppes of Tartary and spreading far beyond the range of the
+Tarpan into Tibet. Here at last we have a truly wild animal, never
+probably brought into subjection by man. The number of names he
+possesses shows how widely he has spread. The Tartars call him
+"Kulan," the Tibetans "Kiang," while the Mongolians give him the
+unpronounceable name of "Dschiggetai." He will not submit to any of
+them, but if caught and confined soon breaks away again to his old
+life, a "free and fetterless creature."
+
+No one has ever yet settled the question whether he is a horse or an
+ass, probably because he represents an animal truly between the two.
+His head is graceful, his body light, his legs slender and fleet, yet
+his ears are long and ass-like; he has narrow hoofs, and a tail with a
+tuft at the end like all the ass tribe; his color is a yellow brown,
+and he has a short dark mane and a long dark stripe down his back as a
+donkey has, though this last character you may also see in many of our
+Devonshire ponies. Living often on the high plateaux, sometimes as
+much as fifteen hundred feet above the sea, this "child of the
+steppes" travels in large companies even as far as the rich meadows of
+Central Asia; in summer wandering in green pastures, and in winter
+seeking the hunger-steppes where sturdy plants grow. And when autumn
+comes the young steeds go off alone to the mountain heights to survey
+the country around and call wildly for mates, whom, when found, they
+will keep close to them through all the next year, even though they
+mingle with thousands of others.
+
+Till about ten years ago the _Equus hemionus_ was the only truly wild
+horse known, but in the winter of 1879–80 the Russian traveller
+Przevalsky brought back from Central Asia a much more horse-like
+animal, called by the Tartars "Kertag" and by the Mongols "Statur." It
+is a clumsy, thick-set, whitish-gray creature with strong legs and a
+large, heavy, reddish-colored head; its legs have a red tint down to
+the knees, beyond which they are blackish down to the hoofs. But the
+ears are small, and it has the broad hoofs of the true horse, and
+warts on his hind legs, which no animal of the ass tribe has. This
+horse, like the Kiang, travels in small troops of from five to
+fifteen, led through the wildest parts of the Dsungarian desert,
+between the Altai and Tianschan Mountains, by an old stallion. They
+are extremely shy, and see, hear, and smell very quickly, so that they
+are off like lightning whenever anything approaches them.
+
+So having travelled over America, Europe, and Asia, was my quest
+ended? No; for from the dreary Asiatic deserts my thoughts wandered to
+a far warmer and more fertile land, where between the Blue Nile and
+the Red Sea rise the lofty highlands of Abyssinia, among which the
+African wild ass (_Asinus tæniopus_), the probable ancestor of our
+donkeys, feeds in troops on the rich grasses of the slopes, and then
+onwards to the bank of a river in Central Africa where on the edge of
+a forest, with rich pastures beyond, elephants and rhinoceroses,
+antelopes and buffaloes, lions and hyænas, creep down in the cool of
+the evening to slake their thirst in the flowing stream. There I saw
+the herds of Zebras in all their striped beauty coming down from the
+mountain regions to the north, and mingling with the darker-colored
+but graceful quaggas from the southern plains, and I half-grieved at
+the thought how these untamed and free rovers are being slowly but
+surely surrounded by man closing in upon them on every side.
+
+I might now have travelled still farther in search of the Onager, or
+wild ass of the Asiatic and Indian deserts, but at this point a more
+interesting and far wider question presented itself, as I flung myself
+down on the moor to ponder over the early history of all these tribes.
+
+Where have they all come from? Where shall we look for the first
+ancestors of these wild and graceful animals? For the answer to this
+question I had to travel back to America, to those Western United
+States where Professor Marsh has made such grand discoveries in horse
+history. For there, in the very country where horses were supposed
+never to have been before the Spaniards brought them a few centuries
+ago, we have now found the true birthplace of the equine race.
+
+Come back with me to a time so remote that we cannot measure it even
+by hundred of thousands of years, and let us visit the territories of
+Utah and Wyoming. Those highlands were very different then from what
+they are now. Just risen out of the seas of the Cretaceous Period,
+they were then clothed with dense forests of palms, tree-ferns, and
+screw-pines, magnolias and laurels, interspersed with wide-spreading
+lakes, on the margins of which strange and curious animals fed and
+flourished. There were large beasts with teeth like the tapir and the
+bear, and feet like the elephant; and others far more dangerous, half
+bear, half hyæna, prowling around to attack the clumsy paleotherium or
+the anoplotherium, something between a rhinoceros and a horse, which
+grazed by the waterside, while graceful antelopes fed on the rich
+grass. And among these were some little animals no bigger than foxes,
+with four toes and a splint for the fifth, on their front feet, and
+three toes on the hind ones.
+
+These clumsy little animals, whose bones have been found in the rocks
+of Utah and Wyoming, have been called _Eohippus_, or horses of the
+dawn, by naturalists. They were animals with real toes, yet their
+bones and teeth show that they belonged to the horse tribe, and
+already the fifth toe common to most other toed animals was beginning
+to disappear.
+
+This was in the Eocene Period, and before it passed away with its
+screw-pines and tree-ferns, another rather larger animal, called the
+Orohippus, had taken the place of the small one, and he had only four
+toes on his front feet. The splint had disappeared, and as time went
+on still other animals followed, always with fewer toes, while they
+gained slender fleet legs, together with an increase in size and in
+gracefulness. First one as large as a sheep (Mesohippus) had only
+three toes and a splint. Then the splint again disappeared, and one
+large and two dwindling toes only remained, till finally these two
+became mere splints, leaving one large toe or hoof with almost
+imperceptible splints, which may be seen on the fetlock of a horse's
+skeleton.
+
+You must notice that a horse's foot really begins at the point which
+we call his knee in the front legs, and at his hock in his hind legs.
+His true knee and elbow are close up to the body. What we call his
+foot or hoof is really the end of the strong, broad, middle toe
+covered with a hoof, and farther up his foot we can feel two small
+splints, which are remains of two other toes.
+
+[Illustration: SKELETON OF HORSE OR ASS.
+    i, Incisor teeth. g, Grinding teeth, with the gap between the two
+    as in all grass-feeders. k, Knee. h, Hock or heel. f, Foot. s,
+    Splints or remains of the two lost toes. e, Elbow. w, Wrist. h,
+    Hand-bone. t, Middle toe of three joints, 1, 2, 3 forming the
+    hoof.]
+
+Meanwhile during these long succeeding ages while the foot was
+lengthening out into a slender limb the animals became larger, more
+powerful, and more swift, the neck and head became longer and more
+graceful, the brain-case larger in front and the teeth decreased in
+number, so that there is now a large gap between the biting teeth and
+the grinding teeth of a horse. Their slender limbs too became more
+flexible and fit for running and galloping, till we find the whole
+skeleton the same in shape, though not in size, as in our own horses
+and asses now.
+
+They did not, however, during all this time remain confined to
+America, for, from the time when they arrived at an animal called
+_Miohippus_, or lesser horse, which came after the Mesohippus and had
+only three toes on each foot, we find their remains in Europe, where
+they lived in company with the giraffes, opossums, and monkeys which
+roamed over these parts in those ancient times. Then a little later we
+find them in Africa and India; so that the horse tribe, represented by
+creatures about as large as donkeys, had spread far and wide over the
+world.
+
+And now, curiously enough, they began to forsake, or to die out in,
+the land of their birth. Why they did so we do not know; but while in
+the old world as asses, quaggas, and zebras, and probably horses, they
+flourished in Asia, Europe, and Africa, they certainly died out in
+America, so that ages afterwards, when that land was discovered, no
+animal of the horse tribe was found in it.
+
+And the true horse, where did he arise? Born and bred probably in
+Central Asia from some animal like the "Kulan," or the "Kertag," he
+proved too useful to savage tribes to be allowed his freedom, and it
+is doubtful whether in any part of the world he escaped subjection. In
+our own country he probably roamed as a wild animal till the savages,
+who fed upon him, learned in time to put him to work; and when the
+Romans came they found the Britons with fine and well-trained horses.
+
+Yet though tamed and made to know his master, he has, as we have seen,
+broken loose again in almost all parts of the world--in American on
+the prairies and pampas, in Europe and Asia on the steppes, and in
+Australia in the bush. And even in Great Britain, where so few patches
+of uncultivated land still remain, the young colts of Dartmoor,
+Exmoor, and Shetland, though born of domesticated mothers, seems to
+assert their descent from wild and free ancestors as they throw out
+their heels and toss up their heads with a shrill neigh, and fly
+against the wind with streaming manes and outstretched tails as the
+Kulan, the Tarpan, and the Zebra do in the wild desert or grassy
+plain.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+NOTES
+
+
+ALLEN, GRANT, English scientist and man of letters; born
+1848, died 1899. Was born in Canada, and passed his boyhood there.
+Educated in France and at Oxford University. He wrote "Physiological
+Æsthetics," "Vignettes from Nature," "The Evolutionist at Large,"
+"Force and Energy," many scientific papers in periodicals, and some
+fiction. "Strange Stories," "The Reverend John Creedy," "Philistia,"
+"The British Barbarians" among others.
+
+BELT, T. G., an English traveller of the nineteenth century,
+best known by his book, "The Naturalist in Nicaragua."
+
+BLATCHLEY, W. S., American naturalist and geologist, born
+1859. Has taken part in many important geological surveys, and is
+State geologist of Indiana. Among his writings are "Gleanings from
+Nature," and many important highly technical contributions to State
+scientific publications.
+
+BRUNER, L., American professor of entomology and ornithology
+at the University of Nebraska, born 1566. Is the State entomologist of
+Nebraska. Has written "An Introduction to the Study of Entomology,"
+and some papers on the locusts of Argentina, as well as many technical
+scientific reports in State papers, etc.
+
+BURROUGHS, JOHN, American essayist, born 1837. Has written
+much on nature observation. Among his books are "Wake Robin," "Winter
+Sunshine," "Birds and Poets," "Pepacton," "Fresh Fields," "Signs and
+Seasons," etc. He was at first a school teacher, then a clerk of the
+treasury, then a national bank examiner, and he now lives on a farm,
+devoting himself to literature and fruit culture.
+
+HOPLEY, MRS. C. C., an English author who lived much in
+America, and made a special study of "Snakes," on which subject she
+wrote a great deal. Her book entitled "Snakes" is the most important
+record of her work.
+
+HUXLEY, T. H., Famous English biologist, born 1825; died
+1895. Was assistant surgeon in the navy, then professor of natural
+history, rector of Aberdeen University, and president of the Royal
+Society. Among his books are, "Evidences as to Man's Place in Nature,"
+"Comparative Anatomy," "Lay Sermons," "Critiques and Addresses,"
+"Physiography," "The Crayfish," "Science and Culture," "Evolution and
+Ethics," "The Anatomy of Invertebrate Animals," etc.
+
+JEFFERIES, RICHARD, born near Swindon, Wiltshire, Nov. 6,
+1848; died Aug. 14, 1887. A naturalist whose fascinating writings were
+recognized as classics only after his death. Among his most popular
+books are, "The Gamekeeper at Home" (1878), "Wild Life in a Southern
+Country" (1879), "The Amateur Poacher" (1880), "Round About a Great
+Estate" (1881), "Nature Near London," and "The Story of My Heart"
+(1883), "Red Deer" (1884), and "The Open Air" (1885).
+
+JORDAN, DAVID STARR, President Leland Stanford, Jr.,
+University; born Gainesville, N.Y., Jan. 19, 1851; graduated Cornell
+M. S., 1872; M. D. Indiana Medical College, 1875; (Ph.D. Butler
+University, 1878; LL.D. Cornell University, 1886). Held chairs in
+various collegiate institutions, 1872–79; assistant to U. S. Fish
+Commission, 1877–91; professor of zoölogy 1879–85, and president
+1885–91, Indiana University; president Leland Stanford Jr.,
+University since 1891; president California Academy of Sciences
+1896–98; also U. S. Commissioner in charge of fur-seal investigations,
+etc. Author: "A Manual of Vertebrate Animals of Northern United
+States," "Science Sketches," "Fishes of North and Middle America"
+(4 vols.); "Footnotes to Evolution," "Matka and Kotik," "Care and Culture
+of Men," "The Innumerable Company," "Imperial Democracy," "Animal
+Life," "Animal Forms," "The Strength of Being Clean," "Standeth God
+within the Shadow," also numerous papers on Ichthyology, in procedures
+of various societies and government bureaus.
+
+MAETERLINK, MAURICE, Belgian dramatist and poet, born 1864.
+He began early to write plays, which were translated into English and
+represented in London. He has written "Le Trésor des Humbles,"
+"Aglavaine and Selysette," "Pélléas and Melisande," "The Intruder,"
+"Princess Maleine," "Wisdom and Destiny." He has been called the
+"Belgian Shakespeare."
+
+MORLEY, MARGARET W., author and teacher, born 1858. Has
+taught in New York State and in the West. She is the author of "A Song
+of Life," "Life and Love," "A Few Familiar Flowers," "Flowers and
+their Friends," "The Bee People," "The Honey Makers," "Seed Babies,"
+"Little Wanderers," "Wasps and their Ways," etc.
+
+THOREAU, HENRY DAVID, born at Concord, Mass., July 12, 1817;
+died May 6, 1862. After his graduation from Harvard, in 1837, he
+helped his father make lead pencils. In 1839 he began his careful
+studies on nature, and made a voyage on the Concord and Merrimac
+Rivers described in his first book. His most popular work, "Walden, or
+Life in the Woods," was published in 1854. After his death several
+volumes were made up from his voluminous diaries. His collected
+writings, in ten volumes, were published in 1893.
+
+WALLACE, A. R., noted English naturalist and traveller, born
+1822. Was educated as a land surveyor, but turned his attention
+exclusively to natural history. He explored the valleys of the Amazon
+and Rio Negro, travelled in the Malay Archipelago and Papua. He and
+Darwin both announced together the theory of natural selection. He
+wrote "Travels on the Amazon," "Palm Trees of the Amazon," "The Malay
+Archipelago," "Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection,"
+"Geographical Distribution of Animals," "Tropical Nature," "Island
+Life," etc.
+
+WILSON, A., English physiologist, lecturer, and journalist,
+born 1852. Educated Edinburgh University and Medical School. Has
+written much on popular physiology in the newspapers and magazines. Is
+the author of "Studies on Life," "Leisure Time Studies," "Science
+Stories," "Chapters on Evolution," "Leaves from a Naturalist's Note
+Book," "Wild Animals," "Elements of Zoölogy," etc.
+
+
+
+
+NATURAL HISTORY
+
+SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS
+
+
+    Days Out of Doors
+    CHARLES C. ABBOTT
+
+    First Lessons in Zoölogy
+    ELIZABETH C. AGASSIZ
+
+    Birds of America
+    JOHN J. AUDUBON
+
+    My Land and Water Friends
+    M. E. BAMFORD
+
+    Locusts and Wild Honey
+    JOHN BURROUGHS
+
+    Woodlands
+    MORDECAI C. COOK
+
+    A Year Among the Birds
+    WILSON FLAGG
+
+    The Out Door World
+    W. FURNEAUX
+
+    The Great World's Farm
+    SELINA GAYE
+
+    Monsters of the Sea
+    Chips from the Earth's Crust
+    J. GIBSON
+
+    Sharp Eyes
+    WILLIAM H. GIBSON
+
+    Practical Forestry
+    JOHN GIFFORD
+
+    Along the Florida Reefs
+    CHARLES F. HOLDER
+
+    About Pebbles
+    ALPHEUS HYATT
+
+    Country Cousins
+    ERNEST INGERSOLL
+
+    History of a Mouthful of Bread
+    JEAN MACÉ
+
+    Under Foot
+    L. D. NICHOLLS
+
+    Underground Treasures
+    JAMES ORTON
+
+    Among the Night People
+    C. D. PIERSON
+
+    Ethics of the Dust
+    JOHN RUSKIN
+
+    The Sea Children
+    WALTER RUSSELL
+
+    Aspects of the Earth
+    NATHANIEL S. SHALER
+
+    The Vacation Club
+    ADA J. TODD
+
+    The Complete Angler
+    IZAAK WALTON
+
+    Half Hours in Field and Forest
+    Half Hours with a Naturalist
+    J. G. WOOD
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Book of Natural History, by Various
+
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diff --git a/18274-0.zip b/18274-0.zip
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+++ b/18274-0.zip
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+++ b/18274-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11126 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Book of Natural History, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Book of Natural History
+       Young Folks' Library Volume XIV.
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: David Starr Jordan
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2006 [EBook #18274]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Paul Ereaut, Laura Wisewell
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+   +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+   |                         YOUNG FOLKS'                         |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                           LIBRARY                            |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |    SELECTIONS FROM THE CHOICEST LITERATURE OF ALL LANDS:     |
+   |       FOLK-LORE, FAIRY TALES, FABLES, LEGENDS, NATURAL       |
+   |           HISTORY, WONDERS OF EARTH, SEA AND SKY,            |
+   |           ANIMAL STORIES, SEA TALES, BRAVE DEEDS,            |
+   |             EXPLORATIONS, STORIES OF SCHOOL AND              |
+   |                   COLLEGE LIFE, BIOGRAPHY,                   |
+   |                      HISTORY, PATRIOTIC                      |
+   |                      ELOQUENCE, POETRY                       |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                        THIRD EDITION                         |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                   REVISED IN CONFERENCE BY                   |
+   |                                                              |
+   |           THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF,            |
+   |               PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEWETT TUCKER,               |
+   |                 HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, HENRY                 |
+   |                VAN DYKE, NATHAN HASKELL DOLE                 |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |           _TWENTY VOLUMES_   _RICHLY ILLUSTRATED_            |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                            BOSTON                            |
+   |                    HALL AND LOCKE COMPANY                    |
+   |                          PUBLISHERS                          |
+   |                                                              |
+   +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+                           COPYRIGHT, 1902,
+                       BY HALL & LOCKE COMPANY.
+                           BOSTON, U.�S.�A.
+
+
+
+                            Stanhope Press
+                         F.�H. GILSON COMPANY
+                           BOSTON, U.�S.�A.
+
+
+
+
+EDITORIAL BOARD
+
+
+  THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, Editor-in-chief,
+    Author, poet, former editor _Atlantic Monthly_, Boston, Mass.
+
+  The HON. GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR,
+    United States Senator, Worcester, Mass.
+
+  The HON. JOHN D. LONG,
+    Secretary of the United States Navy, Boston.
+
+  HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, LL.D.,
+    Author, literarian, associate editor _The Outlook_, New York.
+
+  ERNEST THOMPSON-SETON,
+    Artist, author, New York.
+
+  JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE,
+    Author, poet, and editor, Arlington, Mass.
+
+  The REVEREND CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY,
+    Archdeacon, author, Philadelphia.
+
+  JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS,
+    Humorous writer, Atlanta, Ga.
+
+  MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD,
+    Historical novelist, Chicago.
+
+  LAURA E. RICHARDS,
+    Author, Gardiner, Me.
+
+  ROSWELL FIELD,
+    Author, editor _The Evening Post_, Chicago.
+
+  TUDOR JENKS,
+    Author, associate editor _Saint Nicholas_, New York.
+
+  GEORGE A. HENTY,
+    Traveller, author, London, England.
+
+  KIRK MUNROE,
+    Writer of stories for boys, Cocoanut Grove, Fla.
+
+  EDITH M. THOMAS,
+    Poet, West New Brighton, N.Y.
+
+  CAROLINE TICKNOR,
+    Author, editor, Boston.
+
+  WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER, D.D., LL.D.,
+    President Chicago University.
+
+  DAVID STARR JORDAN, M.D., LL.D.,
+    President Leland Stanford Junior University, naturalist, writer,
+    Stanford University, Cal.
+
+  CHARLES ELIOT NORTON, A.M., LL.D., etc.,
+    Scholar, author, Emeritus Professor of Art at Harvard University.
+
+  HENRY VAN DYKE, D.D., LL.D.,
+    Clergyman, author, Professor Princeton University.
+
+  The REVEREND THOMAS J. SHAHAN,
+    Dean of the Faculty of Divinity, Professor of Early Ecclesiastical
+    History, Catholic University, Washington, D.C.
+
+  WILLIAM P. TRENT,
+    Author, editor, Professor of English Literature, Columbia
+    University, New York City.
+
+  EDWARD SINGLETON HOLDEN, A.M., LL.D.,
+    Ex-president University of California, astronomer, author, U.S.
+    Military Academy, West Point.
+
+  EDWIN ERLE SPARKS,
+    Professor of American History, Chicago University.
+
+  The VERY REV. GEORGE M. GRANT. D.D., LL.D.,
+    Educator, author, vice-principal Queen's College, Kingston, Ont.
+
+  NATHAN HASKELL DOLE,
+    Author, translator, literary editor _Current History_, Boston.
+
+  ABBIE FARWELL BROWN,
+    Author, Boston.
+
+  CHARLES WELSH, Managing Editor,
+    Author, lecturer, editor, Winthrop Highlands, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF VOLUMES
+
+
+  VOLUME I.
+
+  THE STORY TELLER
+    Edited by CHARLES ELIOT NORTON
+
+
+  VOLUME II.
+
+  THE MERRY MAKER
+    Edited by JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS
+
+
+  VOLUME III.
+
+  FAMOUS FAIRY TALES
+    Edited by ROSWELL FIELD
+
+
+  VOLUME IV.
+
+  TALES OF FANTASY
+    Edited by TUDOR JENKS
+
+
+  VOLUME V.
+
+  MYTHS AND LEGENDS
+    Edited by THOMAS J. SHAHAN
+
+
+  VOLUME VI.
+
+  THE ANIMAL STORY BOOK
+    Edited by ERNEST THOMPSON-SETON
+
+
+  VOLUME VII.
+
+  SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS
+    Edited by KIRK MUNROE and MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD
+
+
+  VOLUME VIII.
+
+  BOOK OF ADVENTURE
+    Edited by NATHAN HASKELL DOLE
+
+
+  VOLUME IX.
+
+  FAMOUS EXPLORERS
+    Edited by EDWIN ERLE SPARKS
+
+
+  VOLUME X.
+
+  BRAVE DEEDS
+    Edited by JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE
+
+
+  VOLUME XI.
+
+  WONDERS OF EARTH, SEA, AND SKY
+    Edited by EDWARD SINGLETON HOLDEN
+
+
+  VOLUME XII.
+
+  FAMOUS TRAVELS
+    Edited by GEORGE A. HENTY
+
+
+  VOLUME XIII.
+
+  SEA STORIES
+    Edited by CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY
+
+
+  VOLUME XIV.
+
+  A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY
+    Edited by DAVID STARR JORDAN
+
+
+  VOLUME XV.
+
+  HISTORIC SCENES IN FICTION
+    Edited by HENRY VAN DYKE
+
+
+  VOLUME XVI.
+
+  FAMOUS BATTLES BY LAND AND SEA
+    Edited by JOHN D. LONG
+
+
+  VOLUME XVII.
+
+  MEN WHO HAVE RISEN
+    Edited by HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE
+
+
+  VOLUME XVIII.
+
+  BOOK OF PATRIOTISM
+    Edited by GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR
+
+
+  VOLUME XIX.
+
+  LEADERS OF MEN, OR HISTORY TOLD IN BIOGRAPHY
+    Edited by WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER
+
+
+  VOLUME XX.
+
+  FAMOUS POEMS
+    Selected by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, with Poetical Foreword by
+    EDITH M. THOMAS.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE CONDOR.]
+
+
+
+
+   +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+   |                                                              |
+   |           _Young Folks' Library in Twenty Volumes_           |
+   |           _Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Editor-in-Chief_           |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                          A BOOK OF                           |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                           NATURAL                            |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                           HISTORY                            |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                          EDITED BY                           |
+   |                      DAVID STARR JORDAN                      |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                         _VOLUME XIV_                         |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                        [Illustration]                        |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                            BOSTON                            |
+   |                    HALL AND LOCKE COMPANY                    |
+   |                          PUBLISHERS                          |
+   |                                                              |
+   +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                    PAGE
+    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS                           xiii
+
+    ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND FISHES                        xv
+      BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+    THE WONDER OF LIFE                                 1
+      BY PROFESSOR T.�H. HUXLEY.
+
+    LIFE GROWTH;--FROGS                               10
+      BY MARGARET WARNER MORLEY.
+
+    THE MAN-LIKE APES                                 15
+      BY PROFESSOR T.�H. HUXLEY.
+
+    SOME STRANGE NURSERIES                            46
+      BY GRANT ALLEN.
+
+    HOW ANIMALS SPEND THE WINTER                      69
+      BY W.�S. BLATCHLEY.
+
+    BIRDS' NESTS                                      88
+      BY JOHN BURROUGHS.
+
+    BIRDS IN THEIR RELATION TO AGRICULTURE           121
+      BY LAWRENCE BRUNER.
+
+    THE SCISSOR BEAK                                 143
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    THE CONDOR                                       146
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    THE UMBRELLA BIRD                                153
+      BY SIR A.�R. WALLACE.
+
+    HUMMING BIRDS                                    155
+      BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+    THE FOUNDATIONS OF A WONDERFUL CITY              158
+      BY MAURICE MAETERLINCK.
+
+    WASPS                                            175
+      BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+    A WASP AND ITS PREY                              180
+      BY G.�W. AND E.�G. PECKHAM.
+
+    LEAF-CUTTING ANTS                                190
+      BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+    SOME WONDERFUL SPIDERS                           197
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    WHAT I SAW IN AN ANT'S NEST                      201
+      BY ANDREW WILSON.
+
+    THE WILD LLAMA                                   228
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    BATS                                             232
+      BY W.�S. DALLAS, F.G.S.
+
+    HOW SNAKES EAT                                   258
+      BY CATHERINE C. HOPLEY.
+
+    WHAT WORMS DO                                    264
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    TWO FOPS AMONG THE FISHES                        284
+      BY W.�S. BLATCHLEY.
+
+    SEA SLUGS AND CUTTLE-FISH                        292
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    THE COW FISH                                     295
+      BY SIR ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE.
+
+    OLD RATTLER AND THE KING SNAKE                   297
+      BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+    THE STORY OF A STRANGE LAND                      303
+      BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+    THE COLOR OF ANIMALS                             315
+      BY SIR JOHN LUBBOCK BART.
+
+    PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES IN SPIDERS               343
+      BY E.�G. PECKHAM.
+
+    THE BATH OF THE BIRDS                            369
+      BY RICHARD JEFFERIES.
+
+    THE LOON                                         378
+      BY HENRY D. THOREAU.
+
+    THE DARTMOOR PONIES                              384
+      BY ARABELLA R. BUCKLEY.
+
+    BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES                               396
+
+    SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING            398
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+The publishers' acknowledgments are due to Miss Margaret Warner Morley
+and Messrs. A.�C. McClurg & Co. for permission to use "Life
+Growth,--Frogs"; to Mr. W.�S. Blatchley and _The Popular Science
+Monthly_ for "How Animals Spend the Winter" and "Two Fops Among the
+Fishes"; to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. for "Birds' Nests," by
+John Burroughs; to Mr. L. Bruner and the Nebraska Ornithologists'
+Union for "Birds in Their Relation to Agriculture"; to G.�W. and E.�G.
+Peckham for "A Wasp and Its Prey" and "Protective Resemblances in
+Spiders"; to President David Starr Jordan and _The Popular Science
+Monthly_ for "Old Rattler and the King Snake"; to President Jordan and
+A.�C. McClurg & Co. for "The Story of a Strange Land."
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                    PAGE
+    THE CONDOR                              Frontispiece
+    THE GORILLA                            Face Page  40
+    THE YELLOW BELLIED WOODPECKER                     92
+    THE UMBRELLA BIRD                                154
+    THE GUANACO                                      230
+    THE VAMPIRE BAT                                  242
+    THE COW FISH                                     296
+
+AND ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-TWO BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE
+TEXT.
+
+
+
+
+ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND FISHES
+
+BY
+
+DAVID STARR JORDAN, LL.D.
+
+
+This volume is made up from the writings of naturalists who have told
+us of the behavior of animals as they have seen it at first hand and
+of the beginnings and the growth of life so far as they know about it.
+In selecting these from the wealth of available material the editor
+has been guided by this rule: The subject matter must be interesting
+to young people; it must be told in a clear and attractive style; and
+most important of all, it must deal with actualities. We have seen in
+the last few years a marked revival of nature studies. This has led to
+a wider range of interest in natural phenomena and in the growth and
+ways of animals and plants. If this movement is not to be merely a
+passing fad, the element of truthfulness must be constantly insisted
+upon. If a clever imagination, or worse, sentimental symbolism, be
+substituted for the truth of nature, the value of such studies is
+altogether lost.
+
+The essence of character-building lies in action. The chief value of
+nature study in character-building is that, like life itself, it
+deals with realities. One must in life make his own observations,
+frame his own inductions, and apply them in action as he goes along.
+The habit of finding out the best thing to do next and then doing it
+is the basis of character. Nature-study, if it be genuine, is
+essentially doing. To deal with truth is necessary, if we are to know
+truth when we see it in action. The rocks and shells, the frogs and
+lilies, always tell the absolute truth. Every leaf on the tree is an
+original document in botany. When a thousand are used or used up, the
+archives of Nature are just as full as ever. By the study of realities
+wisdom is built up. In the relations of objects he can touch and move,
+the child finds the limitations of his powers, the laws that govern
+phenomena, which his own actions must obey. So long as he deals with
+realities, these laws stand in their proper relation. "So simple, so
+natural, so true," says Agassiz. "This is the charm of dealing with
+nature herself. She brings us back to absolute truth so often as we
+wander."
+
+So long as a child is led from one reality to another, never lost in
+words or abstractions,--so long this natural relation remains. "What
+can I do with it?" is the beginning of wisdom. "What is it to me?" is
+the beginning of personal virtue.
+
+By adding near things to near, the child grows in Knowledge.
+Knowledge, tested and set in order, is Science. Nature-study is the
+beginning of science. It is the science of the child. The "world as
+it is" is the province of science. In proportion as our actions
+conform to the conditions of the world as it is, do we find the world
+beautiful, glorious, divine. The truth of the world as it is must be
+the final inspiration of art, poetry, and religion. The world, as men
+have agreed to say that it is, is quite another matter. The less our
+children hear of this, the less they may have to unlearn. Nature
+studies have long been valued as "a means of grace," because they
+arouse the enthusiasm, the love of work, which belongs to open-eyed
+youth. The child blas� with moral precepts and irregular conjugations
+turns with fresh delight to the unrolling of ferns or the song of
+birds.
+
+Nature must be questioned in earnest, or she will not reply. But to
+every serious question she will return a serious answer. "Simple,
+natural, and true," she tends to create simplicity and truth. Truth
+and virtue are but opposite sides of the same shield. As leaves pass
+over into flowers, and flowers into fruit, so are wisdom, virtue, and
+happiness inseparably related.
+
+This little volume is a contribution to the subject matter of Nature
+Study. It is the work of students of nature, and their work is
+"simple, natural, and true," in so far as it is represented here.
+
+[Illustration: (Signature) David Starr Jordan]
+
+LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY,
+CALIFORNIA, _April_ 22, 1902.
+
+
+
+
+A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY
+
+
+
+
+THE WONDER OF LIFE
+
+(FROM HIS SCIENCE PRIMER, INTRODUCTION.)
+
+BY PROFESSOR, T.�H. HUXLEY.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Every one has seen a cornfield. If you pluck up one of the innumerable
+wheat plants which are fixed in the soil of the field, about harvest
+time, you will find that it consists of a stem which ends in a root at
+one end and an ear at the other, and that blades or leaves are
+attached to the sides of the stem. The ear contains a multitude of
+oval grains which are the seeds of the wheat plant. You know that when
+these seeds are cleared from the husk or bran in which they are
+enveloped, they are ground into fine powder in mills, and that this
+powder is the flour of which bread is made. If a handful of flour
+mixed with a little cold water is tied up in a coarse cloth bag, and
+the bag is then put into a large vessel of water and well kneaded with
+the hands, it will become pasty, while the water will become white. If
+this water is poured away into another vessel, and the kneading
+process continued with some fresh water, the same thing will happen.
+But if the operation is repeated the paste will become more and more
+sticky, while the water will be rendered less and less white, and at
+last will remain colorless. The sticky substance which is thus
+obtained by itself is called gluten; in commerce it is the substance
+known as maccaroni.
+
+If the water in which the flour has thus been washed is allowed to
+stand for a few hours, a white sediment will be found at the bottom of
+the vessel, while the fluid above will be clear and may be poured off.
+This white sediment consists of minute grains of starch, each of
+which, examined with the microscope, will be found to have a
+concentrically laminated structure. If the fluid from which the starch
+was deposited is now boiled it will become turbid, just as white of
+egg diluted with water does when it is boiled, and eventually a
+whitish lumpy substance will collect at the bottom of the vessel. This
+substance is called vegetable albumin.
+
+Besides the albumin, the gluten, and the starch, other substances
+about which this rough method of analysis gives us no information, are
+contained in the wheat grain. For example, there is woody matter or
+cellulose, and a certain quantity of sugar and fat. It would be
+possible to obtain a substance similar to albumin, starch, saccharine,
+and fatty matters, and cellulose, by treating the stem, leaves, and
+root in a similar fashion, but the cellulose would be in far larger
+proportion. Straw, in fact, which consists of the dry stem and leaves
+of the wheat plant, is almost wholly made up of cellulose. Besides
+this, however, it contains a certain proportion of mineral bodies,
+among them, pure flint or silica; and, if you should ever see a wheat
+rick burnt, you will find more or less of this silica, in a glassy
+condition, in the embers. In the living plant, all these bodies are
+combined with a large proportion of water, or are dissolved, or
+suspended in that fluid. The relative quantity of water is much
+greater in the stem and leaves than in the seed.
+
+Everybody has seen a common fowl. It is an active creature which runs
+about and sometimes flies. It has a body covered with feathers,
+provided with two wings and two legs, and ending at one end in a neck
+terminated by a head with a beak, between the two parts of which the
+mouth is placed. The hen lays eggs, each of which is inclosed in a
+hard shell. If you break an egg the contents flow out and are seen to
+consist of the colorless glairy "white" and the yellow "yolk." If the
+white is collected by itself in water and then heated it becomes
+turbid, forming a white solid, very similar to the vegetable albumin,
+which is called animal albumin.
+
+If the yolk is beaten up with water, no starch nor cellulose is
+obtained from it, but there will be plenty of fatty and some
+saccharine matter, besides substances more or less similar to albumin
+and gluten.
+
+The feathers of the fowl are chiefly composed of horn; if they are
+stripped off and the body is boiled for a long time, the water will be
+found to contain a quantity of gelatin, which sets into a jelly as it
+cools; and the body will fall to pieces, the bones and the flesh
+separating from one another. The bones consist almost entirely of a
+substance which yields gelatin when it is boiled in water, impregnated
+with a large quantity of salts of lime, just as the wood of the wheat
+stem is impregnated with silica. The flesh, on the other hand, will
+contain albumin, and some other substances which are very similar to
+albumin, termed fibrin and syntonin.
+
+In the living bird, all these bodies are united with a great quantity
+of water, or dissolved, or suspended in water; and it must be
+remembered that there are sundry other constituents of the fowl's body
+and of the egg, which are left unmentioned, as of no present
+importance.
+
+The wheat plant contains neither horn, nor gelatin, and the fowl
+contains neither starch, nor cellulose; but the albumin of the plant
+is very similar to that of the animal, and the fibrin and syntonin of
+the animal are bodies closely allied to both albumin and gluten.
+
+That there is a close likeness between all these bodies is obvious
+from the fact that when any of them is strongly heated, or allowed to
+putrefy, it gives off the same sort of disagreeable smell; and careful
+chemical analysis has shown that they are, in fact, all composed of
+the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, combined in very
+nearly the same proportions. Indeed, charcoal, which is impure carbon,
+might be obtained by strongly heating either a handful of corn, or a
+piece of fowl's flesh, in a vessel from which the air is excluded so
+as to keep the corn or the flesh from burning. And if the vessel were
+a still, so that the products of this destructive distillation, as it
+is called, could be condensed and collected, we should find water and
+ammonia, in some shape or other, in the receiver. Now ammonia is a
+compound of the elementary bodies, nitrogen and hydrogen; therefore
+both nitrogen and hydrogen must have been contained in the bodies from
+which it is derived.
+
+It is certain, then, that very similar nitrogenous compounds form a
+very large part of the bodies of both the wheat plant and the fowl,
+and these bodies are called proteids.
+
+It is a very remarkable fact that not only are such substances as
+albumin, gluten, fibrin, and syntonin, known exclusively as products
+of animal and vegetable bodies, but that every animal and every plant,
+at all periods of its existence, contains one or other of them,
+though, in other respects, the composition of living bodies may vary
+indefinitely. Thus, some plants contain neither starch nor cellulose,
+while these substances are found in some animals; while many animals
+contain no horny matter and no gelatin-yielding substance. So that the
+matter which appears to be the essential foundation of both the animal
+and the plant is the proteid united with water; though it is probable
+that, in all animals and plants, these are associated with more or
+less fatty and amyloid (or starchy and saccharine) substances, and
+with very small quantities of certain mineral bodies, of which the
+most important appear to be phosphorus, iron, lime, and potash.
+
+Thus there is a substance composed of water + proteids + fat +
+amyloids + mineral matters which is found in all animals and plants;
+and, when these are alive, this substance is termed protoplasm.
+
+The wheat plant in the field is said to be a living thing; the fowl
+running about the farmyard is also said to be a living thing. If the
+plant is plucked up, and if the fowl is knocked on the head, they soon
+die and become dead things. Both the fowl and the wheat plant, as we
+have seen, are composed of the same elements as those which enter into
+the composition of mineral matter, though united into compounds which
+do not exist in the mineral world. Why, then, do we distinguish this
+matter when it takes the shape of a wheat plant or a fowl, as living
+matter?
+
+In the spring a wheat-field is covered with small green plants. These
+grow taller and taller until they attain many times the size which
+they had when they first appeared; and they produce the heads of
+flowers which eventually change into ears of corn.
+
+In so far as this is a process of growth, accompanied by the
+assumption of a definite form, it might be compared with the growth of
+a crystal of salt in brine: but, on closer examination, it turns out
+to be something very different. For the crystal of salt grows by
+taking to itself the salt contained in the brine, which is added to
+its exterior; whereas the plant grows by addition to its interior: and
+there is not a trace of the characteristic compounds of the plant's
+body, albumin, gluten, starch, or cellulose, or fat, in the soil, or
+in the water, or in the air.
+
+Yet the plant creates nothing; and, therefore, the matter of the
+proteins and amyloids and fats which it contains must be supplied to
+it, and simply manufactured, or combined in new fashions, in the body
+of the plant.
+
+It is easy to see, in a general way, what the raw materials are which
+the plant works up, for the plant get nothing but the materials
+supplied to it by the atmosphere and by the soil. The atmosphere
+contains oxygen and nitrogen, a little carbonic acid gas, a minute
+quantity of ammoniacal salts, and a variable proportion of water. The
+soil contains clay and sand (silica), lime, iron, potash, phosphorus,
+sulphur, ammoniacal salts, and other matters which are of no
+importance. Thus, between them, the soil and the atmosphere contain
+all the elementary bodies which we find in the plant; but the plant
+has to separate them and join them together afresh.
+
+Moreover, the new matter, by the addition of which the plant grows, is
+not applied to its outer surface, but is manufactured in its interior;
+and the new molecules are diffused among the old ones.
+
+The grain of wheat is a part of the flower of the wheat plant, which,
+when it becomes ripe, is easily separated. It contains a minute and
+rudimentary plant; and, when it is sown, this gradually grows, or
+becomes developed into, the perfect plant, with its stem, roots,
+leaves, and flowers, which again give rise to similar seeds. No
+mineral body runs through a regular series of changes of form and
+size, and then gives off parts of its substance which take the same
+course. Mineral bodies present no such development, and give off no
+seeds or germs. They do not reproduce their kind.
+
+The fowl in the farmyard is incessantly pecking about and swallowing
+now a grain of corn, and now a fly or a worm. In fact, it is feeding,
+and, as every one knows, would soon die if not supplied with food. It
+is also a matter of every-day knowledge that it would not be of much
+use to give a fowl the soil of a cornfield, with plenty of air and
+water, to eat.
+
+In this respect, the fowl is like all other animals; it cannot
+manufacture the proteid materials of its body, but it has to take them
+ready made, or in a condition which requires but very slight
+modification by devouring the bodies either of other animals or of
+plants. The animal or vegetable substances devoured are taken into the
+animal's stomach; they are there digested or dissolved; and thus they
+are fitted to be distributed to all parts of the fowl's own body, and
+applied to its maintenance and growth.
+
+The fowl's egg is formed in the body of the hen, and is, in fact, part
+of her body inclosed in a shell and detached. It contains a minute
+rudiment of a fowl; and when it is kept at a proper temperature by the
+hen's sitting upon it, or otherwise for three weeks, this rudiment
+grows, or develops, at the expense of the materials contained in the
+yolk and the white, into a small bird, the chick, which is then
+hatched and grows into a fowl. The animal, therefore, is produced by
+the development of a germ in the same way as the plant; and, in this
+respect, all plants and all animals agree with one another, and differ
+from all mineral matter.
+
+Thus there is a very broad distinction between mineral matter and
+living matter. The elements of living matter are identical with those
+of mineral bodies; and the fundamental laws of matter and motion apply
+as much to living matter as to mineral matter; but every living body
+is, as it were, a complicated piece of mechanism which "goes," or
+lives, only under certain conditions. The germ contained in the
+fowl's egg requires nothing but a supply of warmth, within certain
+narrow limits of temperature, to build the molecules of the egg into
+the body of the chick. And the process of development of the egg, like
+that of the seed, is neither more nor less mysterious than that, in
+virtue of which, the molecules of water, when it is cooled down to the
+freezing-point, build themselves up into regular crystals.
+
+The further study of living bodies leads to the province of biology,
+of which there are two great divisions--botany, which deals with
+plants, and zo�logy, which treats of animals.
+
+Each of these divisions has its subdivisions--such as morphology,
+which treats of the form, structure, and development of living beings,
+and physiology, which explains their actions or functions, besides
+others.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE GROWTH;--FROGS
+
+(FROM A SONG OF LIFE.)
+
+BY MARGARET WARNER MORLEY.[1]
+
+[1] Copyright by A.�C. McClurg & Co., 1891.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Somewhat higher than the fish in the scale of life is the frog.
+Although he begins life as a fish, and in the tadpole state breathes
+by gills, he soon discards the water-diluted air of the pond, and with
+perfect lungs boldly inhales the pure air of the upper world. His life
+as a tadpole, although so fish-like, is much inferior to true fish
+life: for though the fish has not the perfect lung, he has a
+modification of it which he fills with air, not for breathing
+purposes, but as an air-sac to make him float like a bubble in the
+water. Will he rise to the surface? he inflates the air-bladder. Will
+he sink to the bottom? he compresses the air-bladder. But in the frog
+the air-bladder changes into the lungs, and is never the delicate
+balloon which floats the fish in aqueous space. When the frog's lungs
+are perfected, his gills close, and he forever abandons fish-life,
+though being a cold-blooded creature he needs comparatively little
+air, and delights to return to his childhood's home in the bottom of
+the pond. But although he can stay under water for a long time, he is
+obliged to hold his breath while there, and when he would breathe must
+come to the surface to do so. It is possible to drown him by holding
+him under water.
+
+[Illustration: A FROG.]
+
+As a feeder the frog relies upon animal life, which he expertly seizes
+with a tongue fastened by the wrong end, as compared with our tongues.
+He is a certain marksman, and when he aims at an insect the chances
+are that the insect will enter his stomach and be there speedily
+changed into a new form of animal life.
+
+Although from the moment the gills disappear the frog is a true land
+animal, he is obliged, on account of the fish-like character of his
+young, to lay his eggs in the water. For this purpose the frogs enter
+the pools in early spring. The surface of every country pond swarms
+with the bright-eyed little creatures. They have awakened from a
+long, cold, winter sleep, to find the spring about them and within
+them. Life has suddenly become abundant and joyous. Their sluggish
+blood flows faster, their hearts beat quicker; they leap, they swim,
+they swell out their throats and call to each other in various keys.
+The toads are with them, and the pretty tree-frogs that change their
+color to suit their emotions. And all are rapturously screaming. Their
+voices are not musical, according to man's standard, but seem to
+afford great satisfaction to the performers in the shrill orchestra of
+the swamps, who thus give vent to the flood of life that sweeps
+through them after the still, icy winter.
+
+As though the new spring-life were too plentiful to find room in the
+frogs and toads already existing, it calls for more frogs and toads;
+and new creatures are born to share the extra vitality. Like the
+flowers and the fish, the frogs, too, give forth new life. Within
+them, too, the miracle is performed. The tiny eggs of the one wake up
+and begin to grow. The tiny living bodies in the fertilizing principle
+of the other also wake up and begin to grow. But higher life is better
+guarded, because less prolific. The frog and the toad lay but few eggs
+as compared with the fish. Fish eggs may drop under the stones or
+float away, and so escape the vital touch of the fertilizing
+principle. There are so many that numbers may be lost and yet enough
+remain to continue the family. Not so with the frog family. No egg may
+be lost. So we find that the eggs of the frog are not dropped singly,
+like so many shot, but are bound together by a colorless, transparent,
+jelly-like substance, much like that found in the morning-glory seed,
+and which like that supplies nourishment to the young life, for the
+tadpole feeds upon it until he is able to seek other food. Moreover,
+instinct has taught the frog the need of extreme caution in the act of
+fertilization. Every egg _must_ be fertilized. As the time draws near
+for the dropping of the few eggs into the water, the male frog so
+places himself that the moment the eggs are being laid, he pours over
+them, one by one, as they fall into the water, the fertilizing fluid.
+
+And thus the mystery of life is again repeated. The union of the
+living, microscopic bodies of the fertilizing principle with the new
+laid egg is followed by the growth of the two elements into a living
+creature, able to eat, to breathe, to see, to feel. In some unknown
+way the atom of fertilizing principle seems to have contained the
+whole life of the father-frog, for it can give to his sons and
+daughters any of his peculiarities, either of color, form, motion, or
+disposition; and the tiny egg seems to have contained the whole life
+of the mother-frog, and can give to her sons and daughters any of her
+peculiarities; though, as is true of all inheritance, the tadpoles, as
+the young frogs are called, share the natures of both parents,
+inheriting some peculiarities from the father and others from the
+mother.
+
+[Illustration: A FROG.]
+
+But, like other life, although the frogs may vary a good deal within
+frog limits, none of them can escape their own limits and enter into
+those of any other life. Once a frog, always a frog; and no frog-egg
+may hope to develop into a turtle, or a bird, or anything but a frog.
+The life in the fertilizing principle of the frog is sacred to frog
+eggs, and is lifeless in contact with any other.
+
+Our common frogs, like many of the fishes, do not trouble themselves
+about the fate of their eggs after they are carefully laid in a safe
+place. They trust Mother Nature to see the little tadpoles safely
+through the perils of childhood, to help them change their dresses and
+get rid of their tails, and cut, not their teeth, but their arms and
+legs.
+
+In Venezuela, however, there dwells a frog with well developed
+maternal instinct. The mothers have pockets on their backs, not for
+their own convenience, but as cradles for their babies. The fathers
+put the fertilized eggs into the pockets of the mothers; and there
+they remain, well guarded, until the young are able to care for
+themselves.
+
+[Illustration: TADPOLES.]
+
+
+
+
+THE MAN-LIKE APES
+
+(FROM EVIDENCE AS TO MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE.)
+
+BY PROFESSOR T.�H. HUXLEY.
+
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF GORILLA.]
+
+Sound knowledge respecting the habits and mode of life of the man-like
+Apes has been even more difficult of attainment than correct
+information regarding their structure.
+
+Once in a generation, a Wallace may be found physically, mentally, and
+morally qualified to wander unscathed through the tropical wilds of
+America and of Asia, to form magnificent collections as he wanders,
+and withal to think out sagaciously the conclusions suggested by his
+collections; but, to the ordinary explorer or collector, the dense
+forests of equatorial Asia and Africa, which constitute the favorite
+habitation of the Orang, the Chimpanzee, and the Gorilla, present
+difficulties of no ordinary magnitude; and the man who risks his life
+by even a short visit to the malarious shores of those regions may
+well be excused if he shrinks from facing the dangers of the interior;
+if he contents himself with stimulating the industry of the
+better-seasoned natives, and collecting and collating the more or less
+mythical reports and traditions with which they are too ready to
+supply him.
+
+In such a manner most of the earlier accounts of the habits of the
+man-like Apes originated; and even now a good deal of what passes
+current must be admitted to have no very safe foundation. The best
+information we possess is that based almost wholly on direct European
+testimony respecting the Gibbons; the next best evidence relates to
+the Orangs; while our knowledge of the habits of the Chimpanzee and
+the Gorilla stands much in need of support and enlargement by
+additional testimony from instructed European eye-witnesses.
+
+It will therefore be convenient in endeavoring to form a notion of
+what we are justified in believing about these animals, to commence
+with the best known man-like Apes, the Gibbons, and Orangs; and to
+make use of the perfectly reliable information respecting them as a
+sort of criterion of the probable truth or falsehood of assertions
+respecting the others.
+
+Of the Gibbons, half a dozen species are found scattered over the
+Asiatic Islands, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and through Malacca, Siam,
+Arracan, and an uncertain extent of Hindostan on the mainland of Asia.
+The largest attain a few inches above three feet in height, from the
+crown to the heel, so that they are shorter than the other man-like
+Apes, while the slenderness of their bodies renders their mass far
+smaller in proportion even to this diminished height.
+
+Dr. Salomon M�ller, an accomplished Dutch naturalist, who lived for
+many years in the Eastern Archipelago, and to the result of whose
+personal experience I shall frequently have occasion to refer, states
+that the Gibbons are true mountaineers, loving the slopes and edges of
+the hills, though they rarely ascend beyond the limit of the
+fig-trees. All day long they haunt the tops of the tall trees, and
+though toward evening, they descend in small troops to the open
+ground, no sooner do they spy a man than they dart up the hillsides
+and disappear in the darker valleys.
+
+All observers testify to the prodigious volume of voice possessed by
+these animals. According to the writer whom I have just cited, in one
+of them, the Siamang, "the voice is grave and penetrating, resembling
+the sounds goek, goek, goek, goek, goek ha ha ha ha haaaaa, and may be
+easily heard at a distance of half a league." While the cry is being
+uttered, the great membranous bag under the throat which communicates
+with the organ of voice, the so-called "laryngeal sac," becomes
+greatly distended, diminishing again when the creature relapses into
+silence.
+
+M. Duvaucel, likewise, affirms that the cry of the Siamang may be
+heard for miles--making the woods ring again. So Mr. Martin describes
+the cry of the agile Gibbon as "overpowering and deafening" in a room,
+and "from its strength, well calculated for resounding through the
+vast forests." Mr. Waterhouse, an accomplished musician as well as
+zo�logist, says, "The Gibbon's voice is certainly much more powerful
+than that of any singer I ever heard." And yet it is to be recollected
+that this animal is not half the height of, and far less bulky in
+proportion than, a man.
+
+[Illustration: A GIBBON.]
+
+There is good testimony that various species of Gibbon readily take to
+the erect posture. Mr. George Bennett, a very excellent observer, in
+describing the habits of a male _Hylobates syndactylus_ which remained
+for some time in his possession, says: "He invariably walks in the
+erect posture when on a level surface; and then the arms either hang
+down, enabling him to assist himself with his knuckles; or, what is
+more usual, he keeps his arms uplifted in nearly an erect position,
+with the hands pendent ready to seize a rope, and climb up on the
+approach of danger or on the obtrusion of strangers. He walks rather
+quick in the erect posture, but with a waddling gait, and is soon run
+down if, while pursued, he has no opportunity of escaping by
+climbing.... When he walks in the erect posture, he turns the leg and
+foot outward, which occasions him to have a waddling gait and to seem
+bow-legged."
+
+Dr. Burrough states of another Gibbon, the Horlack or Hooluk:
+
+"They walk erect; and when placed on the floor, or in an open field,
+balance themselves very prettily by raising their hands over their
+head and slightly bending the arm at the wrist and elbow, and then run
+tolerably fast, rocking from side to side; and, if urged to greater
+speed, they let fall their hands to the ground, and assist themselves
+forward, rather jumping than running, still keeping the body, however,
+nearly erect."
+
+Somewhat different evidence, however, is given by Dr. Winslow Lewis:
+
+"Their only manner of walking was on their posterior or inferior
+extremities, the others being raised upward to preserve their
+equilibrium, as rope-dancers are assisted by long poles at fairs.
+Their progression was not by placing one foot before the other, but by
+simultaneously using both, as in jumping." Dr. Salomon M�ller also
+states that the Gibbons progress upon the ground by short series of
+tottering jumps, effected only by the hind limbs, the body being held
+altogether upright.
+
+But Mr. Martin, who also speaks from direct observation, says of the
+Gibbons generally:
+
+"Pre-eminently qualified for arboreal habits, and displaying among the
+branches amazing activity, the Gibbons are not so awkward or
+embarrassed on a level surface as might be imagined. They walk erect
+with a waddling or unsteady gait, but at a quick pace, the equilibrium
+of the body requiring to be kept up, either by touching the ground
+with the knuckles, first on one side then on the other, or by
+uplifting the arms so as to poise it. As with the Chimpanzee, the
+whole of the narrow, long sole of the foot is placed upon the ground
+at once, and raised at once, without any elasticity of step."
+
+After this mass of concurrent and independent testimony, it cannot
+reasonably be doubted that the Gibbons commonly and habitually assume
+the erect attitude.
+
+But level ground is not the place where these animals can display
+their very remarkable and peculiar locomotive powers, and that
+prodigious activity which almost tempts one to rank them among flying,
+rather than among ordinary climbing mammals.
+
+Mr. Martin has given so excellent and graphic an account of the
+movements of a _Hylobates agilis_, living in the Zo�logical Gardens,
+in 1840, that I will quote it in full:
+
+"It is almost impossible to convey in words an idea of the quickness
+and graceful address of her movements: they may indeed be termed
+a�rial, as she seems merely to touch in her progress the branches
+among which she exhibits her evolutions. In these feats her hands and
+arms are the sole organs of locomotion, her body, hanging as if
+suspended by a rope, sustained by one hand (the right, for example),
+she launches herself, by an energetic movement, to a distant branch,
+which she catches with the left hand; but her hold is less than
+momentary; the impulse for the next launch is acquired; the branch
+then aimed at is attained by the right hand again, and quitted
+instantaneously, and so on, in alternate succession. In this manner
+spaces of twelve and eighteen feet are cleared, with the greatest ease
+and uninterruptedly, for hours together, without the slightest
+appearance of fatigue being manifested; and it is evident that, if
+more space could be allowed, distances very greatly exceeding eighteen
+feet would be as easily cleared; so that Duvaucel's assertion that he
+has seen these animals launch themselves from one branch to another,
+forty feet asunder, startling as it is, may be well credited.
+Sometimes, on seizing a branch in her progress, she will throw
+herself, by the power of one arm only, completely round it, making a
+revolution with such rapidity as almost to deceive the eye, and
+continue her progress with undiminished velocity. It is singular to
+observe how suddenly this Gibbon can stop, when the impetus giving by
+the rapidity and distance of her swinging leaps would seem to require
+a gradual abatement of her movements. In the very midst of her flight
+a branch is seized, the body raised, and she is seen, as if by magic,
+quietly seated on it, grasping it with her feet. As suddenly she again
+throws herself into action.
+
+"The following facts will convey some notion of her dexterity and
+quickness. A live bird was let loose in her apartment; she marked its
+flight, made a long swing to a distant branch, caught the bird with
+one hand in her passage, and attained the branch with her other hand,
+her aim, both at the bird and at the branch, being as successful as if
+one object only had engaged her attention. It may be added that she
+instantly bit off the head of the bird, picked its feathers, and then
+threw it down without attempting to eat it.
+
+"On another occasion this animal swung herself from a perch, across a
+passage at least twelve feet wide, against a window which it was
+thought would be immediately broken: but not so; to the surprise of
+all, she caught the narrow framework between the panes with her hand,
+in an instant attained the proper impetus, and sprang back again to
+the cage she had left--a feat requiring not only great strength, but
+the nicest precision."
+
+The Gibbons appear to be naturally very gentle, but there is very good
+evidence that they will bite severely when irritated, a female
+_Hylobates agilis_ having so severely lacerated one man with her long
+canines that he died; while she had injured others so much that, by
+way of precaution, these formidable teeth had been filed down; but if
+threatened she would still turn on her keeper. The Gibbons eat
+insects, but appear generally to avoid animal food. A Siamang,
+however, was seen by Mr. Bennett to seize and devour greedily a live
+lizard. They commonly drink by dipping their fingers in the liquid and
+then licking them. It is asserted that they sleep in a sitting
+posture.
+
+Duvaucel affirms that he has seen the females carry their young to the
+water-side and there wash their faces, in spite of resistance and
+cries. They are gentle and affectionate in captivity--full of tricks
+and pettishness, like spoiled children, and yet not devoid of a
+certain conscience, as an anecdote, told by Mr. Bennett will show. It
+would appear that his Gibbon had a peculiar inclination for
+disarranging things in the cabin. Among these articles a piece of soap
+would especially attract his notice, and for the removal of this he
+had been once or twice scolded. "One morning," says Mr. Bennett, "I
+was writing, the Ape being present in the cabin, when, casting my eyes
+toward him, I saw the little fellow taking the soap. I watched him
+without him perceiving that I did so: and he occasionally would cast a
+furtive glance toward the place where I sat. I pretended to write; he
+seeing me busily occupied, took the soap, and moved away with it in
+his paw. When he had walked half the length of the cabin, I spoke
+quietly, without frightening him. The instant he found I saw him he
+walked back again and deposited the soap nearly in the same place from
+whence he had taken it. There was certainly something more than
+instinct in that action: he evidently betrayed a consciousness of
+having done wrong both by his first and last actions--and what is
+reason if that is not an exercise of it?"
+
+The most elaborate account of the natural history of the Orang-Utan
+extant is that given in the "_Verhandelingen over de Natuurlijke
+Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche overzeeche Bezittingen (1839-45)_," by
+Dr. Salomon M�ller and Dr. Schlegel, and I shall base what I have to
+say upon this subject almost entirely on their statements, adding here
+and there particulars of interest from the writings of Brooke,
+Wallace, and others.
+
+The Orang-Utan would rarely seem to exceed four feet in height, but
+the body is very bulky, measuring two thirds of the height in
+circumference.
+
+The Orang-Utan is found only in Sumatra and Borneo, and is common in
+either of these islands--in both of which it occurs always in low,
+flat plains, never in the mountains. It loves the densest and most
+sombre of the forests, which extend from the seashore inland, and thus
+is found only in the eastern half of Sumatra, where alone such forests
+occur, though, occasionally, it strays over to the western side.
+
+On the other hand it is generally distributed through Borneo, except
+in the mountains, or where the population is dense. In favorable
+places the hunter may, by good fortune, see three or four in a day.
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF ORANG-UTAN.]
+
+Except in the pairing time, the old males usually live by themselves.
+The old females and the immature males, on the other hand, are often
+met with in twos and threes; and the former occasionally have young
+with them, though the pregnant females usually separate themselves,
+and sometimes remain apart after they have given birth to their
+offspring. The young Orangs seem to remain unusually long under their
+mother's protection, probably in consequence of their slow growth.
+While climbing the mother always carries her young against her bosom,
+the young holding on by the mother's hair. At what time of life the
+Orang-Utan becomes capable of propagation, and how long the females go
+with young is unknown, but it is probable that they are not adult
+until they arrive at ten or fifteen years of age. A female which lived
+for five years at Batavia had not attained one-third the height of the
+wild females. It is probable that, after reaching adult years, they go
+on growing, though slowly, and that they live to forty or fifty years.
+The Dyaks tell of old Orangs which have not only lost all their
+teeth, but which find it so troublesome to climb that they maintain
+themselves on windfalls and juicy herbage.
+
+The Orang is sluggish, exhibiting none of that marvellous activity
+characteristic of the Gibbons. Hunger alone seems to stir him to
+exertion, and when it is stilled he relapses into repose. When the
+animal sits, it curves its back and bows its head, so as to look
+straight down on the ground; sometimes it holds on with its hands by a
+higher branch, sometimes lets them hang phlegmatically down by its
+side; and in these positions the Orang will remain for hours together,
+in the same spot, almost without stirring, and only now and then
+giving utterance to its deep, growling voice. By day he usually climbs
+from one tree-top to another, and only at night descends to the
+ground: and if then threatened with danger he seeks refuge among the
+underwood. When not hunted, he remains a long time in the same
+locality, and sometimes stops for many days on the same tree, a firm
+place among its branches serving him for a bed. It is rare for the
+Orang to pass the night in the summit of a large tree, probably
+because it is too windy and cold there for him; but as soon as night
+draws on he descends from the height and seeks out a fit bed in the
+lower and darker part, or in the leafy top of a small tree, among
+which he prefers Nibong palms, Pandani, or one of those parasitic
+orchids which gave the primeval forests of Borneo so characteristic
+and striking an appearance. But whenever he determines to sleep, there
+he prepares himself a sort of nest; little boughs and leaves are drawn
+together round the selected spot, and bent crosswise over one
+another; while to make the bed soft, great leaves of ferns, of
+orchids, of _Pandanus fascicularis_, _Nipa fruticans_, etc., are
+laid over them. Those which M�ller saw, many of them being very fresh,
+were situated at a height of ten to twenty-five feet above the ground,
+and had a circumference, on the average, of two or three feet. Some
+were packed many inches thick with _pandanus_ leaves; others were
+remarkable only for the cracked twigs, which, united in a common
+centre, formed a regular platform. "The rude _hut_," says Sir James
+Brooke, "which they are stated to build in the trees, would be more
+properly called a seat or nest, for it has no roof or cover of any
+sort. The facility with which they form this nest is curious, and I
+had an opportunity of seeing a wounded female weave the branches
+together and seat herself within a minute."
+
+According to the Dyaks the Orang rarely leaves his bed before the sun
+is well above the horizon and has dissipated the mists. He gets up
+about nine, and goes to bed again about five; but sometimes not till
+late in the twilight. He lies sometimes on his back, or, by way of
+change, turns on one side or the other, drawing his limbs up to his
+body, and resting his head on his hand. When the night is cold, windy,
+or rainy, he usually covers his body with a heap of _pandanus nipa_,
+or fern leaves, like those of which his bed is made, and he is
+especially careful to wrap up his head in them. It is this habit of
+covering himself up which has probably led to the fable that the Orang
+builds huts in the trees.
+
+Although the Orang resides mostly amid the boughs of great trees
+during the daytime, he is very rarely seen squatting on a thick branch
+as other apes, and particularly the Gibbons, do. The Orang, on the
+contrary, confines himself to the slender leafy branches, so that he
+is seen right at the top of the trees, a mode of life which is closely
+related to the constitution of his hinder limbs, and especially to
+that of his seat. For this is provided with no callosites such as
+are possessed by many of the lower apes, and even by the Gibbons; and
+those bones of the pelvis, which are termed the ischia, and which form
+the solid framework of the surface on which the body rests in the
+sitting posture, are not expanded like those of the apes which possess
+callosities, but are more like those of man.
+
+An Orang climbs so slowly and cautiously as, in this act, to resemble
+a man more than an ape, taking great care of his feet, so that injury
+of them seems to affect him far more than it does other apes. Unlike
+the Gibbons, whose forearms do the greater part of the work as they
+swing from branch to branch, the Orang never makes even the smallest
+jump. In climbing, he moves alternately one hand and one foot, or,
+after having laid fast hold with the hands, he draws up both feet
+together. In passing from one tree to another he always seeks out a
+place where the twigs of both come close together, or interlace. Even
+when closely pursued, his circumspection is amazing; he shakes the
+branches to see if they will bear him, and then bending an overhanging
+bough down by throwing his weight gradually along it, he makes a
+bridge from the tree he wishes to quit to the next.
+
+On the ground the Orang always goes laboriously and shakily on all
+fours. At starting he will run faster than a man, though he may soon
+be overtaken. The very long arms which, when he runs, are but little
+bent, raise the body of the Orang remarkably, so that he assumes much
+the posture of a very old man bent down by age, and making his way
+along by the help of a stick. In walking, the body is usually directed
+straight forward, unlike the other apes, which run more or less
+obliquely, except the Gibbons, who in these, as in so many other
+respects, depart remarkably from their fellows.
+
+The Orang cannot put its feet flat on the ground, but is supported
+upon their outer edges, the heel resting more on the ground, while the
+curved toes partly rest upon the ground by the upper side of their
+first joint, the two outermost toes of each foot completely resting on
+this surface. The hands are held in the opposite manner, their inner
+edges serving as the chief support. The fingers are then bent out in
+such a manner that their foremost joints, especially those of the two
+inner-most fingers, rest upon the ground by their upper sides, while
+the point of the free and straight thumb serves as an additional
+fulcrum.
+
+The Orang never stands on its hind legs, and all the pictures
+representing it as so doing are as false as the assertion that it
+defends itself with sticks and the like.
+
+The long arms are of especial use, not only in climbing, but in the
+gathering of food from boughs to which the animal could not trust his
+weight. Figs, blossoms, and young leaves of various kinds, constitute
+the chief nutriment of the Orang; but strips of bamboo two or three
+feet long were found in the stomach of a male. They are not known to
+eat living animals.
+
+Although, when taken young, the Orang-Utan soon becomes domesticated,
+and indeed seems to court human society; it is naturally a very wild
+and shy animal, though apparently sluggish and melancholy. The Dyaks
+affirm that when the old males are wounded with arrows only they will
+occasionally leave the trees and rush raging upon their enemies, whose
+sole safety lies in instant flight, as they are sure to be killed if
+caught.
+
+But, though possessed of immense strength, it is rare for the Orang to
+attempt to defend itself, especially when attacked with firearms. On
+such occasions he endeavors to hide himself, or to escape along the
+top-most branches of the trees, breaking off and throwing down the
+boughs as he goes. When wounded he betakes himself to the highest
+attainable point of the tree, and emits a singular cry, consisting at
+first of high notes, which at length deepen into a low roar, not
+unlike that of a panther. While giving out the high notes the Orang
+thrusts out his lips into a funnel-shape; but in uttering the low
+notes he holds his mouth wide open, and at the same time the great
+throat bag, or laryngeal sac, becomes distended.
+
+According to the Dyaks, the only animal the Orang measures his
+strength with is the crocodile, who occasionally seizes him on his
+visits to the water-side. But they say that the Orang is more than a
+match for his enemy, and beats him to death, or rips up his throat by
+pulling the jaws asunder!
+
+Much of what has been here stated was probably derived by Dr. M�ller
+from the reports of his Dyak hunters; but a large male, four feet
+high, lived in captivity under his observation for a month, and
+receives a very bad character.
+
+"He was a very wild beast," says M�ller, "of prodigious strength, and
+false and wicked to the last degree. If any one approached he rose up
+slowly with a low growl, fixed his eyes in the direction in which he
+meant to make his attack, slowly passed his hand between the bars of
+his cage, and then, extending his long arm, gave a sudden
+grip--usually at the face." He never tried to bite (though Orangs will
+bite one another), his great weapons of offence and defence being his
+hands.
+
+His intelligence was very great; and M�ller remarks that, though the
+faculties of the Orang have been estimated too highly, yet Cuvier, had
+he seen this specimen, would not have considered its intelligence to
+be only a little higher than that of a dog.
+
+His hearing was very acute, but the sense of vision seemed to be less
+perfect. The under lip was the great organ of touch, and played a very
+important part in drinking, being thrust out like a trough, so as
+either to catch the falling rain or to receive the contents of the
+half cocoanut shell full of water with which the Orang was supplied,
+and which, in drinking, he poured into the trough thus formed.
+
+In Borneo, the Orang-Utan of the Malays goes by the name of "_Mias_"
+among the Dyaks, who distinguish several kinds as _Mias Pappan_, or
+_Zimo_, _Mias Kassu_, and _Mias Rambi_. Whether these are distinct
+species, however, or whether they are mere races, and how far any of
+them are identical with the Sumatran Orang, as Mr. Wallace thinks the
+Mias Pappan to be, are problems which are at present undecided; and
+the variability of these great apes is so extensive that the
+settlement of the question is a matter of great difficulty. Of the
+form called "Mias Pappan," Mr. Wallace observes: "It is known by its
+large size, and by the lateral expansion of the face into fatty
+protuberances, or ridges, over the temporal muscles, which have been
+mistermed callosites, as they are perfectly soft, smooth, and
+flexible. Five of this form, measured by me, varied only from 4 feet
+1�inch to 4�feet 2�inches in height, from the heel to the crown of the
+head, the girth of the body from 3�feet to 3�feet 7��inches, and the
+extent of the outstretched arms from 7�feet 2�inches to 7�feet
+6�inches; the width of the face from 10�to 13��inches. The color and
+length of the hair varied in different individuals, and in different
+parts of the same individual; some possessed a rudimentary nail on the
+great toe, others none at all; but they otherwise present no external
+differences on which to establish even varieties of a species.
+
+"Yet, when we examine the crania of these individuals, we find
+remarkable differences of form, proportion, and dimension, no two
+being exactly alike. The slope of the profile, and the projection of
+the muzzle, together with the size of the cranium, offer differences
+as decided as those existing between the most strongly marked forms of
+the Caucasian and African crania in the human species. The orbits vary
+in width and height, the cranial ridge is either single or double,
+either much or little developed, and the zygomatic aperture varies
+considerably in size. This variation in the proportions of the crania
+enables us satisfactorily to explain the marked difference presented
+by the single-crested and double-crested skulls, which have been
+thought to prove the existence of two large species of Orang. The
+external surface of the skull varies considerably in size, as do also
+the zygomatic aperture and the temporal muscle: but they bear no
+necessary relation to each other, a small muscle often existing with a
+large cranial surface, and vice versa. Now those skulls which have the
+largest and strongest jaws, and the widest zygomatic aperture, have
+the muscles so large that they meet on the crown of the skull, and
+deposit the bony ridge which separates them, and which is the highest
+in that which has the smallest cranial surface. In those which combine
+a large surface with comparatively weak jaws, and small zygomatic
+aperture, the muscles, on each side, do not extend to the crown, a
+space of from 1�to 2�inches remaining between them, and along their
+margins small ridges are formed. Intermediate forms are found, in
+which the ridges meet only in the hinder part of the skull. The form
+and size of the ridges are therefore independent of age, being
+sometimes more strongly developed in the less aged animal. Professor
+Temminck states that the series of skulls in the Leyden Museum shows
+the same result."
+
+Mr. Wallace observed two male adult Orangs (Mias Kassu of the Dyaks),
+however, so very different from any of these that he concludes them to
+be specially distinct; they were respectively 3�feet 8��inches and
+3�feet 9��inches high, and possessed no sign of the cheek excrescences,
+but otherwise resembled the larger kinds. The skull has no crest, but
+two bony ridges, 1� to 2�inches apart, as in the _Simia morio_ of
+Professor Owen. The teeth, however, are immense, equalling or
+surpassing those of the other species. The females of both these
+kinds, according to Mr. Wallace, are devoid of excrescences, and
+resemble the smaller males, but are shorter by 1� to 3�inches, and
+their canine teeth are comparatively small, subtruncated and dilated
+at the base, as in the so-called _Simia morio_, which is, in all
+probability, the skull of a female of the same species as the smaller
+males. Both males and females of this smaller species are
+distinguishable, according to Mr. Wallace, by the comparatively large
+size of the middle incisors of the upper jaw.
+
+So far as I am aware, no one has attempted to dispute the accuracy of
+the statements which I have just quoted regarding the habits of the
+two Asiatic man-like Apes; and if true, they must be admitted as
+evidence that such an ape--
+
+1stly, May readily move along the ground in the erect, or semi-erect,
+position, and without direct support from its arms.
+
+2dly, That it may possess an extremely loud voice--so loud as to be
+readily heard one or two miles.
+
+3dly, That it may be capable of great viciousness and violence when
+irritated; and this is especially true of adult males.
+
+4thly, That it may build a nest to sleep in.
+
+Such being well-established facts respecting the Asiatic anthropoids,
+analogy alone might justify us in expecting the African species to
+offer similar peculiarities, separately or combined; or, at any rate,
+would destroy the force of any attempted _� priori_ argument against
+such direct testimony as might be adduced in favor of their existence.
+And if the organization of any of the African apes could be
+demonstrated to fit it better than either of its Asiatic allies for
+the erect position and for efficient attack, there would be still less
+reason for doubting its occasional adoption of the upright attitude,
+or of aggressive proceedings.
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF CHIMPANZEE.]
+
+From the time of Tyson and Tulpius downward the habits of the young
+Chimpanzee in a state of captivity have been abundantly reported and
+commented upon. But trustworthy evidence as to the manners and customs
+of adult anthropoids of this species, in their native woods, was
+almost wanting up to the time of the publication of the paper by Dr.
+Savage, to which I have already referred, containing notes of the
+observations which he made, and of the information which he collected
+from sources which he considered trustworthy, while resident at Cape
+Palmas, at the north-western limit of the Bight of Benin.
+
+The adult Chimpanzees, measured by Dr. Savage, never exceeded, though
+the males may almost attain, five feet in height.
+
+"When at rest, the sitting posture is that generally assumed. They are
+sometimes seen standing and walking, but when thus detected, they
+immediately take to all fours and flee from the presence of the
+observer. Such is their organization that they cannot stand erect, but
+lean forward. Hence they are seen, when standing, with the hands
+clasped over the occiput, or the lumbar region, which would seem
+necessary to balance or ease of posture.
+
+"The toes of the adult are strongly flexed and turned inward, and
+cannot be perfectly straightened. In the attempt the skin gathers into
+thick folds on the back, showing that the full expansion of the foot,
+as is necessary in walking, is unnatural. The natural position is on
+all fours, the body anteriorly resting upon the knuckles. These are
+greatly enlarged, with the skin protuberant and thickened like the
+sole of the foot.
+
+"They are expert climbers, as one would suppose from their
+organization. In their gambols they swing from limb to limb at a great
+distance, and leap with astonishing agility. It is not unusual to see
+the 'old folks' (in the language of an observer) sitting under a tree
+regaling themselves with fruit and friendly chat, while their
+'children' are leaping around them, and swinging from tree to tree
+with boisterous merriment.
+
+"As seen here, they cannot be called _gregarious_, seldom more than
+five, or ten at most, being found together. It has been said, on good
+authority, that they occasionally assemble in large numbers, in
+gambols. My informant asserts that he saw once not less than fifty so
+engaged, hooting, screaming, and drumming with sticks upon old logs,
+which is done in the latter case with equal facility by the four
+extremities. They do not appear ever to act on the offensive, and,
+seldom, if ever, really on the defensive. When about to be captured,
+they resist by throwing their arms about their opponent, and
+attempting to draw him into contact with their teeth."
+
+With respect to this last point Dr. Savage is very explicit in another
+place:
+
+"_Biting_ is their principal art of defence. I have seen one man who
+had been thus severely wounded in the feet.
+
+"The strong development of the canine teeth in the adult would seem to
+indicate a carnivorous propensity; but in no state save that of
+domestication do they manifest it. At first they reject flesh, but
+easily acquire a fondness for it. The canines are early developed, and
+evidently designed to act the important part of weapons of defence.
+When in contact with man almost the first effort of the animal is--_to
+bite_.
+
+"They avoid the abodes of men, and build their habitations in trees.
+Their construction is more that of _nests_ than _huts_, as they have
+been erroneously termed by some naturalists. They generally build not
+far above the ground. Branches or twigs are bent, or partly broken,
+and crossed, and the whole supported by the body of a limb or a
+crotch. Sometimes a nest will be found near the _end_ of a _strong
+leafy branch_ twenty or thirty feet from the ground. One I have lately
+seen that could not be less than forty feet, and more probably it was
+fifty. But this is an unusual height.
+
+"Their dwelling-place is not permanent, but changed in pursuit of food
+and solitude, according to the force of circumstances. We most often
+see them in elevated places; but this arises from the fact that the
+low grounds, being more favorable for the natives' rice-farms, are the
+oftener cleared, and hence are almost always wanting in suitable trees
+for their nests.... It is seldom that more than one or two nests are
+seen upon the same tree, or in the same neighborhood: five have been
+found, but it was an unusual circumstance." ...
+
+"They are very filthy in their habits. It is a tradition with the
+natives generally here that they were once members of their own tribe;
+that for their depraved habits they were expelled from all human
+society, and that, through an obstinate indulgence of their vile
+propensities, they have degenerated into their present state of
+organization. They are, however, eaten by them, and when cooked with
+the oil and pulp of the palm-nut considered a highly palatable morsel.
+
+"They exhibit a remarkable degree of intelligence in their habits,
+and, on the part of the mother, much affection for their young. The
+second female described was upon a tree when first discovered, with
+her mate and two young ones (a male and a female). Her first impulse
+was to descend with great rapidity and make off into the thicket with
+her mate and female offspring. The young male remaining behind, she
+soon returned to the rescue. She ascended and took him in her arms, at
+which moment she was shot, the ball passing through the forearm of the
+young one, on the way to the heart of the mother....
+
+"In a recent case the mother, when discovered, remained upon the tree
+with her offspring, watching intently the movements of the hunter. As
+he took aim, she motioned with her hand, precisely in the manner of a
+human being, to have him desist and go away. When the wound has not
+proved instantly fatal, they have been known to stop the flow of blood
+by pressing with the hand upon the part, and when they did not
+succeed, to apply leaves and grass.... When shot, they give a sudden
+screech, not unlike that of a human, being in sudden and acute
+distress.
+
+"The ordinary voice of the Chimpanzee, however, is affirmed to be
+hoarse, guttural, and not very loud, somewhat like 'whoo-whoo.'"
+
+The analogy of the Chimpanzee to the Orang, in its nest-building habit
+and in the mode of forming its nest, is exceedingly interesting,
+while, on the other hand, the activity of this ape, and its tendency
+to bite, are particulars in which it rather resembles the Gibbons. In
+extent of geographical range, again, the Chimpanzees--which are found
+from Sierra Leone to Congo--remind one of the Gibbons rather than of
+either of the other man-like Apes; and it seems not unlikely that, as
+is the case with the Gibbons, there may be several species spread over
+the geographical area of the genus.
+
+The same excellent observer, from whom I have borrowed the preceding
+account of the habits of the adult Chimpanzee, published an account of
+the Gorilla, which has, in its most essential points, been confirmed
+by subsequent observers, and to which so very little has really been
+added, that, in justice to Dr. Savage, I give it almost in full:
+
+"It should be borne in mind that my account is based upon the
+statements of the aborigines of that region (the Gaboon). In this
+connection it may also be proper for me to remark that, having been a
+missionary resident for several years, studying, from habitual
+intercourse, the African mind and character, I felt myself prepared to
+discriminate and decide upon the probability of their statements.
+Besides, being familiar with the history and habits of its interesting
+congener (_Trogniger_, Geoff.), I was able to separate their accounts
+of the two animals, which, having the same locality and a similarity
+of habit, are confounded in the minds of the mass, especially as but
+few--such as traders to the interior, and huntsmen--have ever seen the
+animal in question.
+
+"The tribe from which our knowledge of the animal is derived, and
+whose territory forms its habitat, is the _Mpongwe_, occupying both
+banks of the River Gaboon, from its mouth to some fifty or sixty miles
+upward....
+
+"If the word 'Pongo' be of African origin, it is probably a corruption
+of the word _Mpongwe_, the name of the tribe on the banks of the
+Gaboon, and hence applied to the region they inhabit. Their local name
+for the Chimpanzee is _Ench�-eko_, as near as it can be Anglicized,
+from which the common term 'Jocko' probably conies. The _Mpongwe_
+apellation for its new congener is _Eng�-ena_, prolonging the sound of
+the first vowel, and slightly sounding the second.
+
+"The habitat of the _Eng�-ena_ is the interior of Lower Guinea, while
+that of the _Ench�-eko_ is nearer the seaboard.
+
+"Its height is about five feet; it is disproportionately broad across
+the shoulders, thickly covered with coarse black hair, which is said
+to be similar in its arrangement to that of the _Ench�-eko_; with age
+it becomes gray, which fact has given rise to the report that both
+animals are seen of different colors.
+
+"Head.--The prominent features of the head are the great width and
+elongation of the face, the depth of the molar region, the branches of
+the lower jaw being very deep and extending far backward, and the
+comparative smallness of the cranial portion; the eyes are very large,
+and said to be like those of the _Ench�-eko_, a bright hazel; nose
+broad and flat, slightly elevated toward the root; the muzzle broad,
+and prominent lips and chin, with scattered gray hairs; the under lip
+highly mobile, and capable of great elongation when the animal is
+enraged, then hanging over the chin; skin of the face and ears naked
+and of a dark-brown, approaching to black.
+
+"The most remarkable feature of the head is a high ridge, or crest of
+hair, in the course of the sagittal suture, which meets posteriorly
+with a transverse ridge of the same, but less prominent, running round
+from the back of one ear to the other. The animal has the power of
+moving the scalp freely forward and back, and when enraged is said to
+contract it strongly over the brow, thus bringing down the hairy ridge
+and pointing the hair forward, so as to present an indescribably
+ferocious aspect.
+
+[Illustration: THE GORILLA.]
+
+"Neck short, thick, and hairy; chest and shoulders very broad, and
+said to be fully double the size of the _Ench�-ekos;_ arms very long,
+reaching some way below the knee--the forearm much the shortest; hands
+very large, the thumbs much larger than the fingers....
+
+"The gait is shuffling; the motion of the body, which is never upright
+as in man, but bent forward, is somewhat rolling, or from side to
+side. The arms being longer than the Chimpanzee, it does not stoop as
+much in walking; like that animal, it makes progression by thrusting
+its arms forward, resting the hands on the ground, and then giving the
+body a half-jumping, half-swinging motion between them. In this act it
+is said not to flex the fingers, as does the Chimpanzee, resting on
+its knuckles, but to extend them, making a fulcrum of the hand. When
+it assumes the walking posture, to which it is said to be much
+inclined, it balances its huge body by flexing its arms upward.
+
+"They live in bands, but are not so numerous as the Chimpanzees; the
+females generally exceed the other sex in number. My informants all
+agree in the assertion that but one adult male is seen in a band; that
+where the young males grow up a contest takes place for mastery, and
+the strongest, by killing and driving out the others, establishes
+himself as the head of the community."
+
+Dr. Savage repudiates the stories about the Gorillas carrying off
+women and vanquishing elephants, and then adds:
+
+"Their dwellings, if they may be so called, are similar to those of
+the Chimpanzee, consisting simply of a few sticks and leafy branches,
+supported by the crotches and limbs of trees; they afford no shelter,
+and are occupied only at night.
+
+"They are exceedingly ferocious, and always offensive in their
+habits, never running from man, as does the Chimpanzee. They are
+objects of terror to the natives, and are never encountered by them
+except on the defensive. The few that have been captured were killed
+by elephant-hunters and native traders, as they came suddenly upon
+them while passing through the forests.
+
+"It is said that when the male is first seen he gives a terrific yell,
+that resounds far and wide through the forest, something like kh--ah!
+kh--ah! prolonged and shrill. His enormous jaws are widely opened at
+each expiration, his under-lip hangs over the chin, and the hairy
+ridge and scalp are contracted upon the brow, presenting an aspect of
+indescribable ferocity.
+
+"The females and young, at the first cry, quickly disappear. He then
+approaches the enemy in great fury, pouring out his horrid cries in
+quick succession. The hunter awaits his approach with his gun
+extended; if his aim is not sure he permits the animal to grasp the
+barrel, and as he carries it to his mouth (which is his habit) he
+fires. Should the gun fail to go off, the barrel (that of the ordinary
+musket, which is thin), is crashed between his teeth and the encounter
+soon proves fatal to the hunter.
+
+"In the wild state their habits are in general like those of the
+_Troglodytes niger_, building their nests loosely in trees, living
+on similar fruits, and changing their place of resort from force of
+circumstances."
+
+Dr. Savage's observations were confirmed and supplemented by those of
+Mr. Ford, who communicated an interesting paper on the Gorilla to the
+Philadelphian Academy of Sciences, in 1852. With respect to the
+geographical distribution of this greatest of all the man-like Apes,
+Mr. Ford remarks:
+
+"This animal inhabits the range of mountains that traverse the
+interior of Guinea from the Cameroon in the north to Angola in the
+south, and about one hundred miles inland, and called by the
+geographers Crystal Mountains. The limit to which this animal extends,
+either north or south, I am unable to define. But that limit is
+doubtless some distance north of this river [Gaboon]. I was able to
+certify myself of this fact in a late excursion to the head-waters of
+the Mooney (Danger) River, which comes into the sea some sixty miles
+from this place. I was informed (credibly, I think), that they were
+numerous among the mountains in which that river rises, and far north
+of that.
+
+"In the south, this species extends to the Congo River, as I am told
+by native traders who have visited the coast, between the Gaboon and
+that river. Beyond that, I am not informed. This animal is only found
+at a distance from the coast in most cases, and, according to my best
+information, approaches it nowhere so nearly as on the south side of
+this river, where they have been found within ten miles of the sea.
+This, however, is only of late occurrence. I am informed by some of
+the oldest Mpongwe men that formerly he was only found on the sources
+of the river, but that at present he may be found within half a day's
+walk of its mouth. Formerly he inhabited the mountainous ridge where
+Bushmen alone inhabited, but now he boldly approaches the Mpongwe
+plantations. This is doubtless the reason of the scarcity of
+information in years past, as the opportunities for receiving a
+knowledge of the animal have not been wanting; traders having for one
+hundred years frequented this river, and specimens, such as have been
+brought here within a year, could not have been exhibited without
+having attracted the attention of the most stupid."
+
+One specimen Mr. Ford examined weighed one hundred and seventy pounds,
+without the thoracic or pelvic viscera, and measured four feet four
+inches round the chest. This writer describes so minutely and
+graphically the onslaught of the Gorilla--though he does not for a
+moment pretend to have witnessed the scene--that I am tempted to give
+this part of his paper in full, for comparison with other narratives.
+
+"He always rises to his feet when making an attack, though he
+approaches his antagonist in a stooping posture.
+
+"Though he never lies in wait, yet, when he hears, sees, or scents a
+man, he immediately utters his characteristic cry, prepares for an
+attack, and always acts on the offensive. The cry he utters resembles
+a grunt more than a growl, and is similar to the cry of the Chimpanzee
+when irritated, but vastly louder. It is said to be audible at a great
+distance. His preparation consists in attending the females and young
+ones, by whom he is usually accompanied, to a little distance. He,
+however, soon returns with his crest erect and projecting forward, his
+nostrils dilated, and his under-lip thrown down; at the same time
+uttering his characteristic yell, designed, it would seem, to terrify
+his antagonist. Instantly, unless he is disabled by a well-directed
+shot, he makes an onset, and, striking his antagonist with the palm of
+his hands, or seizing him with a grasp from which there is no escape,
+he dashes him upon the ground, and lacerates him with his tusks.
+
+"He is said to seize a musket, and instantly crush the barrel between
+his teeth.... This animal's savage nature is very well shown by the
+implacable desperation of a young one that was brought here. It was
+taken very young, and kept four months, and many means were used to
+tame it; but it was incorrigible, so that it bit me an hour before it
+died."
+
+[Illustration: HAND OF GORILLA, ORANG, GIBBON, AND CHIMPANZEE.]
+
+
+
+
+SOME STRANGE NURSERIES
+
+(FROM NATURE'S WORKSHOP.)
+
+BY GRANT ALLEN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+You could hardly find a better rough test of relative development in
+the animal (or vegetable) world than the number of young produced and
+the care bestowed upon them. The fewer the offspring, the higher the
+type. Very low animals turn out thousands of eggs with reckless
+profusion; but they let them look after themselves, or be devoured by
+enemies, as chance will have it. The higher you go in the scale of
+being, the smaller the families, but the greater amount of pains
+expended upon the rearing and upbringing of the young. Large broods
+mean low organization; small broods imply higher types and more care
+in the nurture and education of the offspring. Primitive kinds produce
+eggs wholesale, on the off chance that some two or three among them
+may perhaps survive an infant mortality of ninety-nine per cent, so as
+to replace their parents. Advanced kinds produce half a dozen young,
+or less, but bring a large proportion of these on an average up to
+years of discretion.
+
+[Illustration: SEA-HORSES.]
+
+Without taking into account insects and such other "small deer,"--to
+quote Shakespeare's expression,--this fundamental principle of
+population will become at once apparent if we examine merely familiar
+instances of back-boned or vertebrate animals. The lowest vertebrates
+are clearly the fishes: and the true fishes have almost invariably
+gigantic families. A single cod, for example, is said to produce,
+roughly speaking, nine million eggs at a birth (I cannot pretend I
+have checked this calculation); but supposing they were only a
+million, and that one-tenth of those eggs alone ever came to maturity,
+there would still be a hundred thousand codfish in the sea this year
+for every pair that swam in it last year: and these would increase to
+a hundred thousand times that number next year; and so on, till in
+four or five years' time the whole sea would be but one solid mass of
+closely-packed cod-banks. We can see for ourselves that nothing of the
+sort actually occurs--practically speaking, there are about the same
+number of cod one year as another. In spite of this enormous
+birth-rate, therefore, the cod population is not increasing--it is at
+a standstill. What does that imply? Why, that taking one brood and one
+year with another, only a pair of cod, roughly speaking, survive to
+maturity out of each eight or nine million eggs. The mother cod lays
+its millions, in order that two may arrive at the period of spawning.
+All the rest get devoured as eggs, or snapped up as young fry, or else
+die of starvation, or are otherwise unaccounted for. It seems to us a
+wasteful way of replenishing the earth: but it is nature's way; we can
+only bow respectfully to her final decision.
+
+Frogs and other amphibians stand higher in the scale of life than
+fish; they have acquired legs in place of fins, and lungs instead of
+gills; they can hop about on shore with perfect freedom. Now, frogs
+still produce a great deal of spawn, as every one knows: but the eggs
+in each brood are numbered in their case by hundreds, or at most by a
+thousand or two, not by millions as with many fishes. The spawn
+hatches out as a rule in ponds, and we have all seen the little black
+tadpoles crowding the edges of the water in such innumerable masses
+that one would suppose the frogs to be developed from them must cover
+the length and breadth of England. Yet what becomes of them all?
+Hundreds are destroyed in the early tadpole stage--eaten up or
+starved, or crowded out for want of air and space and water: a few
+alone survive or develop four legs, and absorb their tails and hop on
+shore as tiny froglings. Even then the massacre of the innocents
+continues. Only a tithe of those which succeeded in quitting their
+native pond ever return to it full grown, to spawn in due time, and
+become the parents of further generations.
+
+Lizards and other reptiles make an obvious advance on the frog type;
+they lay relatively few eggs, but they begin to care for their young.
+The family is not here abandoned at birth, as among frogs, but is
+frequently tended and fed and overlooked by the mother. In birds we
+have a still higher development of the same marked parental tendency;
+only three or four eggs are laid each year, as a rule, and on these
+eggs the mother sits, while both parents feed the callow nestlings
+till such time as they are able to take care of themselves and pick
+up their own living. Among mammals, which stand undoubtedly at the
+head of created nature, the lower types, like mice and rabbits, have
+frequent broods of many young at a time; but the more advanced groups,
+such as the horses, cows, deer, and elephants, have usually one foal
+or calf at a birth, and seldom produce more than a couple. Moreover,
+in all these higher cases alike, the young are fed with milk by the
+mother, and so spared the trouble of providing for themselves in their
+early days, like the young codfish or the baby tadpole. Starvation at
+the outset is reduced to a minimum.
+
+It is interesting to note, too, that anticipations of higher types, so
+to speak, often occur among lower races. An animal here and there
+among the simpler forms hits upon some device essentially similar to
+that of some higher group with which it is really quite unrelated. For
+example, those who have read my account of the common earwig (given in
+the sixth chapter of "Flashlights on Nature") will recollect how that
+lowly insect sits on her eggs much as a hen does, and brings up her
+brood of callow grubs as if they were chickens. In much the same way,
+anticipations of the mammalian type occur pretty frequently among
+lower animals. Our commonest English lizard, for example, which
+frequents moors and sandhills, does not lay or deposit its eggs at
+all, but hatches them out in its own body, and so apparently brings
+them forth alive: while among snakes, the same habit occurs in the
+adder or viper. The very name _viper_, indeed, is a corruption of
+_vivipara_, the snake which produces living young. Still more closely
+do some birds resemble mammals in the habit of secreting a sort of
+milk for the sustenance of their nestlings. Most people think the
+phrase "pigeon's milk" is much like the phrase "the horse-marines," a
+burlesque name for an absurd and impossible monstrosity. But it is
+nothing of the sort: it answers to a real fact in the economy of
+certain doves, which eat grain or seeds, grind and digest it in their
+own gizzards into a fine soft pulp or porridge, and then feed their
+young with it from their crops and beaks. This is thus a sort of
+bird-like imitation of milk. Only the cow or the goat takes grass or
+leaves, chews, swallows, and digests them, and manufactures from them
+in her own body that much more nutritive substance, milk, with which
+all mammals feed their infant offspring.
+
+Now, after this rather long preamble, I am going to show you in this
+present article a few other examples of special care taken of the
+young in certain quarters where it might be least expected. Fish are
+not creatures from which we look for marked domestic virtues: yet we
+may find them there abundantly. Let us begin with that familiar friend
+of our childhood, the common English stickleback.
+
+Which of us cannot look back in youth to the mysteries of the
+stickleback fisheries? Captains courageous, we sailed forth with bent
+pin and piece of thread, to woo the wily quarry with half an inch of
+chopped earthworm. For stickleback abound in every running stream and
+pond in England. They are beautiful little creatures, too, when you
+come to examine them, great favorites in the fresh-water aquarium; the
+male in particular is exquisitely colored, his hues growing brighter
+and his sheen more conspicuous at the pairing season. There are many
+species of sticklebacks--in England we have three very different
+kinds--but all are alike in one point which gives them their common
+name, that is to say, in their aggressive and protective prickliness.
+They are armed against all comers. The dorsal fin is partly replaced
+in the whole family by strong spines or "stickles," which differ in
+number in the different species. One of our English sorts is a lover
+of salt water: he lives in the sea, especially off the Cornish coast,
+and has fifteen stickles or spines; on which account he is commonly
+known as the Fifteen-spined Stickleback; our other two sorts belong to
+fresher waters, and are known as the Ten-spined and the Three-spined
+respectively.
+
+The special peculiarity of the male stickleback consists in the fact
+that he is, above all things, a model father. In his acute sense of
+parental responsibility he has few equals. When spring comes round, he
+first exhibits his consciousness of his coming charge by suddenly
+enduing himself in a glowing coat of many colors and of iridescent
+brilliancy. That is in order to charm the eyes of the prospective
+mate, or rather mates, for I may as well confess the sad truth at once
+that our amiable friend is a good parent but an abandoned polygamist.
+We all know that
+
+   "In the spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast;
+    In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;
+    In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;
+    In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love."
+
+Not to be out of the fashion, therefore, the romantic stickleback does
+precisely the same thing as all these distinguished and poetical
+compeers. And he does it for the same reason, too; because he wants to
+get himself an appropriate partner. "There is a great deal of human
+nature in man," it has been said: I am always inclined to add, "And
+there is a great deal of human nature in plants and animals." The more
+we know of our dumb relations, the more closely do we realize the
+kinship between us. Fish in the spring are like young men at a
+fair--all eager for the attention of their prospective partners.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 1. FEMALE STICKLEBACK ABOUT TO ENTER NEST.]
+
+The first care of the male stickleback, when he has acquired his
+courting suit, is to build a suitable home for his future wives and
+children. So he picks up stems of grass and water-weeds with his
+mouth, and weaves them deftly into a compact nest as perfect as a
+bird's, though some what different in shape and pattern, it rather
+resembles a barrel, open at both ends, as though the bottom were
+knocked out: this form is rendered necessary because the eggs, when
+laid, have to be constantly aerated by passing a current of water
+through the nest as I shall describe hereafter. No.�1 shows us such a
+nest when completed, with the female stickleback loitering about
+undecided as to whether or not she shall plunge and enter it. You
+will observe that the fabric is woven round a fixed support of some
+waving water-weeds; but the cunning little architect does not trust in
+this matter to his textile skill alone; he cements the straws and
+other materials together with a gummy mortar of mucous threads
+secreted for the purpose by his internal organs.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 2. FEMALE STICKLEBACK LAYING EGGS IN NEST.]
+
+As soon as the building operations are fully completed, the eager
+little householder sallies forth into his pond or brook in search of
+a mate who will come and stock his neatly-built home for him. At this
+stage of the proceedings, his wedding-garment becomes even more
+brilliant and glancing than ever; he gleams in silver and changeful
+gems; when he finds his lady-love, he dances round her, "mad with
+excitement," as Darwin well phrased it, looking his handsomest and
+best with his lustrous colours glistening like an opal. If she will
+listen to his suit, he grows wild with delight, and coaxes her into
+the nest with most affectionate endearments. In No.�2, as you
+perceive, the mate of his choice has been induced to enter, and is
+laying her eggs in the dainty home his care has provided for her. The
+father fish, meanwhile dances and capers around, in a _pas de
+triomphe_ at the success of his endeavors.
+
+One wife, however, does not suffice to fill the nest with eggs; and
+the stickleback is a firm believer in the advantages of large
+families. So, as soon as his first mate has laid all her spawn, he
+sets out once more in search of another. Thus he goes on until the
+home is quite full of eggs, bringing back one wife after another, in
+proportion to his success in wooing and fighting. For, like almost all
+polygamists, your stickleback is a terrible fighter. The males join
+wager of battle with one another for possession of their mates; in
+their fierce duels they make fearful use of the formidable spines on
+their backs, sometimes entirely ripping up and cutting to pieces their
+ill-fated adversary. The spines thus answer to the spurs of the
+gamecock or the antlers of the deer; they are masculine weapons in the
+struggle for mates. Indeed, you may take it for granted that brilliant
+colors and decorative adjuncts in animals almost invariably go with
+irascible tempers, pugnacious habits, and the practice of fighting for
+the possession of the harem. The consequence is, with the
+sticklebacks, that many males get killed during the struggle for
+supremacy, so that the survivors wed half a dozen wives each, like
+little Turks that they are in their watery seraglios. Only the most
+beautiful and courageous fish succeed in gaining a harem of their own:
+and thus the wager of battle tells in the end for the advantage of the
+race, by eliminating the maimed, the ugly, and the cowardly, and
+encouraging the strong, the handsome, the enterprising, and the
+valiant. This is nature's way of preventing degeneracy.
+
+In No.�3 the nest is seen full of eggs, and the excellent father now
+comes out in his best light as their guardian and protector. He
+watches over them with ceaseless care, freeing them from parasites,
+and warding off the attacks of would-be enemies who desire to devour
+them, even though the intruder be several times his own size. The
+spines on his back here stand him once more in good stead: for small
+as he is, the stickleback is not an antagonist to be lightly despised:
+he can inflict a wound which a perch or a trout knows how to estimate
+at its full value. But that is not all the good parent's duty. He
+takes the eggs out of the nest every now and then with his snout, airs
+them a little in the fresh water outside, and then replaces and
+rearranges them, so that all may get a fair share of oxygen and may
+hatch out about simultaneously. It is this question of oxygen, indeed,
+which gives the father fish all the greatest trouble. That necessary
+of life is dissolved in water in very small quantities; and it is
+absolutely needed by every egg in order to enable it to undergo those
+vital changes which we know as hatching. To keep up a due supply of
+oxygen, therefore, the father stickleback ungrudgingly devotes
+laborious days in poising himself delicately just above the nest, as
+you see in No.�3, and fanning the eggs with his fins and tail, so as
+to set up a constant current of water through the centre of the
+barrel. He sits upon the eggs just as truly as a hen does; only, he
+sits upon them, not for warmth, but for aeration.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 3. MALE STICKLEBACK WATCHING EGGS IN NEST.]
+
+For weeks together this exemplary parent continues his monotonous
+task, ventilating the spawn many times every day, till the time comes
+for hatching. It takes about a month for the eggs to develop: and then
+the proud father's position grows more arduous than ever. He has to
+rock a thousand cradles at once, so to speak, and to pacify a thousand
+crying babies. On the one hand, enemies hover about, trying to eat the
+tender transparent glass-like little fry, and these he must drive off:
+on the other hand, the good nurse must take care that the active young
+fish do not stray far from the nest, and so expose themselves
+prematurely to the manifold dangers of the outer world. Till they are
+big enough to take care of themselves, he watches with incessant
+vigilance over their safety; as soon as they can go forth with
+tolerable security upon the world of their brook or pond, he takes a
+last well-merited holiday.
+
+It is not surprising under these circumstances to learn that
+sticklebacks are successful and increasing animals. Their numbers are
+enormous, wherever they get a fair chance in life, because they
+multiply rapidly up to the extreme limit of the means of subsistence,
+and develop as fast as food remains for them. There the inexorable
+Malthusian law at last steps in: when there is not food enough for all
+some must starve; that is the long and the short of the great
+population question. But while provender is forthcoming they increase
+gayly. Sticklebacks live mainly on the spawn of other fish, though
+they are so careful of their own, and they are therefore naturally
+hated by trout-preservers and owners of fisheries in general.
+Thousands and thousands are caught each year; in some places, indeed,
+they are so numerous that they are used as manure. It is their
+numbers, of course, that make them formidable; they are the locusts of
+the streams, well armed and pugnacious, and provided with most
+remarkable parental instincts of a protective character, which enables
+them to fill up all vacancies in their ranks as fast as they occur
+with astonishing promptitude.
+
+To those whose acquaintance with fish is mainly culinary, it may seem
+odd to hear that the father stickleback alone takes part in the care
+of the nursery. But this is the rule among the whole class of fish;
+wherever the young are tended, it is almost always the father, not the
+mother, who undertakes the duty of incubation. Only two instances
+occur where the female fish assumes maternal functions towards her
+young; about these I shall have more to say a little later on. We must
+remember that reptiles, birds, and mammals are in all probability
+descended from fish as ancestors, and it is therefore clear that the
+habit of handing over the care of the young to the female alone
+belongs to the higher grades of vertebrates--in other words, is of
+later origin. We need not be astonished, therefore, to find that in
+many cases among birds and other advanced vertebrates a partial
+reversion to the earlier habit not infrequently takes place. With
+doves, for example, the cock and hen birds sit equally on the eggs,
+taking turns about at the nest; and as for the ostriches, the male
+bird there does most of the incubation, for he accepts the whole of
+the night duty, and also assists at intervals during the daytime.
+There are numerous other cases where the father bird shares the tasks
+of the nursery at least equally with the mother. I will glance first,
+however, at one of the rare exceptions among fish where the main duty
+does not devolve on the devoted father.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 4. FEMALE TUBE-MOUTH.]
+
+In No.�4 we have an illustration of the tube-mouth or Solenostoma, one
+of the two known kinds of fish in which the female shows a sense of
+her position as a mother. The tube-mouth, as you can see at a glance,
+is a close relation of our old friend the seahorse, whose disguised
+and undisguised forms in Australia and the Mediterranean we have
+already observed when dealing with the question of animal
+masqueraders. Solenostoma is a native of the Indian Ocean, from
+Zanzibar to China. In the male, the lower pair of fins are separate,
+as is usual among fish; but in the female, represented in the
+accompanying sketch, they are lightly joined at the edge, so as to
+form a sort of pouch like a kangaroo's, in which the eggs are
+deposited after being laid, and thus carried about in the mother's
+safe keeping. No.�5 shows the arrangement of this pouch in detail,
+with the eggs inside it. The mother Solenostoma not only takes charge
+of the spawn while it is hatching in this receptacle, but also looks
+after the young fry, like the father stickleback, till they are of an
+age to go off on their own account in quest of adventures. The most
+frequent adventure that happens to them on the way is, of course,
+being eaten.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 5. POUCH OF TUBE-MOUTH.]
+
+[Illustration: NO. 6. PIPE-FISH.]
+
+The common English pipe-fish is a good example of the other and much
+more usual case in which the father alone is actuated by a proper
+sense of parental responsibility. The pipe-fish, indeed, might almost
+be described as a pure and blameless rate-payer. No.�6 shows you the
+outer form of this familiar creature, whom you will recognize at a
+glance as still more nearly allied to the sea-horses than even the
+tube-mouth. Pipe-fishes are timid and skulking creatures. Like their
+horse-headed relations, they lurk for the most part among sea-weed
+for protection, and being but poor swimmers, never venture far from
+the covering shelter of their native thicket. But the curious part of
+them is that in this family the father fish is provided with a pouch
+even more perfect than that of the female tube-mouth, and that he
+himself, not his mate takes sole charge of the young, incubates them
+in his sack, and escorts them about for some time after hatching. The
+pouch, which is more fully represented in No.�7, is formed by a loose
+fold of skin arising from either side of the creature. In the
+illustration this fold is partly withdrawn, so as to show the young
+pipe-fish within their safe retreat after hatching out. It is said, I
+know not how truly, that the young fry will stroll out for an
+occasional swim on their own account, but will return at any threat of
+danger to their father's bosom, for a considerable time after the
+first hatching. This is just like what one knows of kangaroos and many
+other pouched mammals, where the mother's pouch becomes a sort of
+nursery, or place of refuge, to which the little ones return for
+warmth or safety after every excursion.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 7. POUCH OF PIPE-FISH.]
+
+The sea-horses and many other fish have similar pouches; but, oddly
+enough, in every case it is the male fish which bears it, and which
+undertakes the arduous duty of nurse for his infant offspring.
+
+A few female fish, on the other hand, even hatch the eggs within their
+own bodies, and so apparently bring forth their young alive, like the
+English lizard among reptiles. This, however, is far from a common
+case: indeed, in an immense number of instances, neither parent pays
+the slightest attention to the eggs after they are once laid and got
+rid of: the spawn is left to lie on the bottom and be eaten or spared
+as chance directs, while the young fry have to take care of
+themselves, without the aid of parental advice and education. But
+exceptions occur where both parents show signs of realizing the
+responsibilities of their position. In some little South American
+river fish, for instance, the father and mother together build a nest
+of dead leaves for the spawn, and watch over it in unison until the
+young are hatched. This case is exactly analogous to that of the doves
+among birds: I may add that wherever such instances occur they always
+seem to be accompanied by a markedly gentle and affectionate nature.
+Brilliantly-coloured fighting polygamous fishes are fierce and cruel:
+monogamous and faithful animals are seldom bright-hued, but they mate
+for life and are usually remarkable for their domestic felicity. The
+doves and love-birds are familiar instances.
+
+Frogs are very closely allied to fish: indeed, one may almost say that
+every frog begins life as a fish, limbless, gill-bearing, and aquatic,
+and ends it as something very like a reptile, four-legged,
+lung-bearing, and more or less terrestrial. For the tadpole is
+practically in all essentials a fish. It is not odd, therefore, to
+find that certain frogs reproduce, in a very marked manner, the
+fatherly traits of their fish-like ancestors. There is a common kind
+of frog in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, which does not extend to
+England, but which closely recalls the habits of the stickleback and
+the pipe-fish. Among these eminently moral amphibians, it is the
+father, not the mother, who takes entire charge of the family. The
+female lays her spawn in the shape of long strings or rolls, looking
+at first sight like slimy necklaces. I have seen them as much as a
+couple of yards long, lying loose on the grass where the frog lays
+them. As soon as she has deposited them, however, the father frog hops
+up, twists the garlands dexterously in loose festoons round his legs
+and thighs, and then retires with his precious burden to some hole in
+the bank of his native pond, where he lurks in seclusion till the eggs
+develop. Frogs do not need frequent doses of food--their meals are
+often few and far between--and during the six or eight weeks that the
+eggs take to mature the father probably eats very little, though he
+may possibly sally forth at night, unobserved, in search of provender.
+At the end of that time the devoted parent, foreseeing developments,
+takes to the water once more, so that the tadpoles may be hatched in
+their proper element. I may add that this frog is a great musician in
+the breeding season, but that as soon as the tadpoles are hatched out
+he loses his voice entirely, and does not recover his manly croak till
+the succeeding spring. This is also the case with the song of many
+birds, the crest of the newt, the plumes of certain highly-decorated
+trogons and nightjars, and, roughly speaking, the decorative and
+attractive features of the male sex in general. Such features are
+given them during the mating period as allurements for their
+consorts: they disappear, for the time at least, like a ball-dress
+after a ball, as soon as no immediate use can any longer be made of
+them.
+
+[Illustration: POUCHED FROG.]
+
+Some American tree-frogs, on the other hand, imitate rather the
+motherly Solenostoma than the fatherly instincts of the pipe-fish or
+the stickleback. These pretty little creatures have a pouch like the
+kangaroo, but in their case (as in the kangaroo's) it is the female
+who bears it. Within this safe receptacle the eggs are placed by the
+male, who pushes them in with his hind feet; and they not only undergo
+their hatching in the pouch, but also pass through their whole tadpole
+development in the same place. Owing to the care which is thus
+extended to the eggs and young, these advanced tree-frogs are enabled
+to lay only about a dozen to fifteen eggs at a time, instead of the
+countless hundreds often produced by many of their relations.
+
+Tree-frogs have, of course, in most circumstances much greater
+difficulty in getting at water than pond-frogs; and this is especially
+true in certain tropical or desert districts. Hence most of the frogs
+which inhabit such regions have had to find out or invent some
+ingenious plan for passing through the tadpole stage with a minimum of
+moisture. The devices they have hit upon are very curious. Some of
+them make use of the little pools collected at the bases of huge
+tropical leaf-stalks, like those of the banana plant; others dispense
+with the aid of water altogether, and glue their new-laid eggs to
+their own backs, where the fry pass through the tadpole stage with the
+slimy mucus which surrounds them. Nature always discovers such cunning
+schemes to get over apparent difficulties in her way: and the
+tree-frogs have solved the problem for themselves in half a dozen
+manners in different localities. Oddest of all, perhaps, is the dodge
+invented by "Darwin's frog," a Chilean species, in which the male
+swallows the eggs as soon as laid, and gulps them into the
+throat-pouch beneath his capacious neck: there they hatch out and pass
+through their tadpole stage: and when at last they arrive at frogly
+maturity, they escape into the world through the mouth of their
+father.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 8. THE SURINAM TOAD.]
+
+The Surinam toad, represented in No.�8, is also the possessor of one
+of the strangest nurseries known to science. It lives in the dense
+tropical forests of Guiana and Brazil, and is a true water-haunter.
+But at the breeding season the female undergoes a curious change of
+integument. The skin on her back grows pulpy, soft, and jelly-like.
+She lays her eggs in the water: but as soon as she has laid them, her
+lord and master plasters them on to her impressionable back with his
+feet, so as to secure them from all assaults of enemies. Every egg is
+pressed separately into a bed of the soft skin, which soon closes over
+it automatically, thus burying each in a little cell or niche, where
+it undergoes its further development. The tadpoles pass through their
+larval stage within the cell, and then hop out, in the four-legged
+condition. As soon as they have gone off to shift for themselves, the
+mother toad finds herself with a ragged and honeycombed skin, which
+must be very uncomfortable. So she rubs the remnant of it off against
+stones or the bark of trees, and re-develops a similar back afresh at
+the next breeding season.
+
+Almost never do we find a device in nature which occurs once only. The
+unique hardly exists: nature is a great copyist. At least two animals
+of wholly unlike kinds are all but sure to hit independently upon the
+self-same mechanism. So it is not surprising to learn that a cat-fish
+has invented an exactly similar mode of carrying its young to that
+adopted by the Surinam toad: only, here it is on the under surface,
+not the upper one, that the spawn is plastered. The eggs of this
+cat-fish, whose scientific name is Aspredo, are pressed into the skin
+below the body, and so borne about by the mother till they hatch. This
+is the second instance of which I spoke above, where the female fish
+herself assumes the care of her offspring, instead of leaving it
+entirely to her excellent partner.
+
+Higher up in the scale of life we get many instances which show
+various stages in the same progressive development towards greater
+care for the safety and education of the young. Among the larger
+lizards, for example, a distinct advance may be traced between the
+comparatively uncivilized American alligator and his near ally, the
+much more cultivated African crocodile. On the banks of the
+Mississippi, the alligator lays a hundred eggs or thereabouts, which
+she deposits in a nest near the water's edge, and then covers them up
+with leaves and other decaying vegetable matter. The fermentation of
+these leaves produces heat and so does for the alligator's eggs what
+sitting does for those of hens and other birds: the mother deputes her
+maternal functions, so to speak, to a festering heap of decomposing
+plant-refuse. Nevertheless, she loiters about all the time, like
+Miriam round the ark which contained Moses, to see what happens; and
+when the eggs hatch out, she leads her little ones down to the river,
+and there makes alligators of them. This is a simple and relatively
+low stage in the nursery arrangements of the big lizards.
+
+The African crocodile, on the other hand, goes a stage higher. It lays
+only about thirty eggs, but these it buries in warm sand, and then
+lies on top of them at night, both to protect them from attack and to
+keep them warm during the cooler hours. In short, it sits upon them.
+When the young crocodiles within the eggs are ready to hatch, they
+utter an acute cry. The mother then digs down to the eggs, and lays
+them freely on the surface, so that the little reptiles may have space
+to work their way out unimpeded. This they do by biting at the shell
+with a specially developed tooth; at the end of two hours' nibbling
+they are free, and are led down to the water by their affectionate
+parent. In these two cases we see the beginnings of the instinct of
+hatching, which in birds, the next in order in the scale of being, has
+become almost universal.
+
+I say _almost_ universal, because even among birds there are a few
+kinds which have not to this day progressed beyond the alligator
+level. Australia is the happy hunting-ground of the zo�logist in
+search of antiquated forms, elsewhere extinct, and several Australian
+birds, such as the brush-turkeys, still treat their eggs essentially
+on the alligator method. The cock birds heap up huge mounds of earth
+and decaying vegetable matter, as much as would represent several
+cartloads of mould; and in this natural hot-bed the hens lay their
+eggs, burying each separately with a good stock of leaves around it.
+The heat of the sun and the fermenting mould hatch them out between
+them; to expedite the process, the birds uncover the eggs during the
+warmer part of the day, expose them to the sun, and bury them again in
+the hot-beds towards evening. Several intermediate steps may also be
+found between this early stage of communal nesting by proxy and the
+true hatching instinct; a good one is supplied by the ostrich, which
+partially buries its eggs in hot sand, but sits on them at intervals,
+both father and mother birds taking shares by turn in the duties of
+incubation.
+
+The vast subject which I have thus lightly skimmed is not without
+interest, again, from its human implications. Savages as a rule
+produce enormous families; but then, the infant mortality in savage
+tribes is proportionally great. Among civilized races, families are
+smaller, and deaths in infancy are far less numerous. The higher the
+class or the natural grade of a stock, the larger as a rule the
+proportion of children safely reared to the adult age. The goal
+towards which humanity is slowly moving would thus seem to be one
+where families in most cases will be relatively small--perhaps not
+more on an average than three to a household--but where most or all of
+the children brought into the world will be safely reared to full
+maturity. This is already becoming the rule in certain favored ranks
+of European society.
+
+[Illustration: TADPOLES AND YOUNG FROG.]
+
+
+
+
+HOW ANIMALS SPEND THE WINTER
+
+(FROM GLEANINGS FROM NATURE.)[2]
+
+BY W.�S. BLATCHLEY.
+
+[2] "Popular Science Monthly," February, 1897. Copyright by William
+Stanley Blatchley, 1899.
+
+
+[Illustration: A COCOON.]
+
+One of the greatest problems which each of the living forms about us
+has had to solve, during the years of its existence on earth, is how
+best to perpetuate its kind during that cold season which once each
+year, in our temperate zone, is bound to come. Many are the solutions
+to this problem. Each form of life has, as it were, solved it best to
+suit its own peculiar case, and to the earnest student of Nature there
+is nothing more interesting than to pry into these solutions and note
+how varied, strange, and wonderful they are.
+
+To fully appreciate some of the facts mentioned below it must be borne
+in mind that there is no such thing as "spontaneous generation" of
+life. Every cell is the offspring of a pre-existing cell. Nothing but
+a living thing can produce a living thing. Hence every weed that next
+season will spring up and provoke the farmer's ire, and every insect
+which will then make life almost intolerable for man or beast, exists
+throughout the winter in some form....
+
+Beginning with the earth-worms and their kindred, we find that at the
+approach of winter they burrow deep down where the icy breath of the
+frost never reaches, and there they live, during the cold season, a
+life of comparative quiet. That they are exceedingly sensitive to
+warmth, however, may be proven by the fact that when a warm rain comes
+some night in February or March, thawing out the crust of the earth,
+the next morning reveals in our dooryards the mouths of hundreds of
+the pits or burrows of these primitive tillers of the soil, each
+surrounded by a little pile of pellets, the castings of the active
+artisans of the pits during the night before.
+
+If we will get up before dawn on such a morning we can find the worms
+crawling actively about over the surface of the ground, but when the
+first signs of day appear they seek once more their protective
+burrows, and only an occasional belated individual serves as a
+breakfast for the early birds.
+
+The eyes of these lowly creatures are not visible, and consist of
+single special cells scattered among the epidermal cells of the skin,
+and connected by means of a sensory nerve fibre with a little bunch of
+nervous matter in the body. Such a simple visual apparatus serves them
+only in distinguishing light from darkness, but this to them is most
+important knowledge, as it enables them to avoid the surface of the
+earth by day, when their worst enemies, the birds, are in active
+search for them.
+
+The fresh-water mussels and snails and the crayfish burrow deep into
+the mud and silt at the bottom of ponds and streams where they lie
+motionless during the winter. The land snails, in late autumn, crawl
+beneath logs, and, burrowing deep into the soft mould, they withdraw
+far into their shells. Then each one forms with a mucous secretion two
+thin transparent membranes, one across the opening of the shell and
+one a little farther within, thus making the interior of the shell
+perfectly air-tight. There for five or six months he sleeps, free from
+the pangs of hunger and the blasts of winter, and when the balmy
+breezes of spring blow up from the south he breaks down and devours
+the protecting membrane and goes forth with his home on his back to
+seek fresh leaves for food and to find for himself a mate.
+
+Next in the scale come the insects, which comprise four-fifths of all
+existing animals, and each one of the mighty horde seen in summer has
+passed the winter in some form. One must look for them in strange
+places and under many disguises; for they cannot migrate, as do the
+majority of the birds, nor can they live an active life while the
+source of their food supply, the plants, are inactive.
+
+The majority of those insects which in May or June will be found
+feeding on the buds or leaves of our trees, or crawling worm-like over
+the grass of our lawns, or burrowing beneath the roots of our garden
+plants, are represented in the winter by the eggs alone. These eggs
+are deposited in autumn by the mother insect, on or near the object
+destined to furnish the young, or larv�, their food. Each egg
+corresponds to a seed of one of our annual plants; being, like it,
+but a form of life so fashioned and fitted as to withstand for a long
+period intense cold; the mother insect, like the summer form of the
+plant, succumbing to the first severe frost.
+
+Thus myriads of the eggs of grasshoppers are in the early autumn
+deposited in the ground, in compact masses of forty to sixty each.
+About mid-April they begin to hatch, and the sprightly little insects,
+devoid of wings, but otherwise like their parents, begin their
+life-work of changing grass into flesh.
+
+[Illustration: HEDGEHOG CATERPILLAR.]
+
+A comparatively small number of insects pass the winter in the larval
+or active stage of the young. Of these, perhaps the best known is the
+brown "woolly worm" or "hedgehog caterpillar," as it is familiarly
+called. It is thickly covered with stiff black hairs on each end, and
+with reddish hairs on the middle of the body. These hairs appear to be
+evenly and closely shorn, so as to give the animal a velvety look; and
+as they have a certain degree of elasticity, and the caterpillar curls
+up at the slightest touch, it generally manages to slip away when
+taken into the hand. Beneath loose bark, boards, rails, and stones,
+this caterpillar may be found in mid-winter, coiled up and apparently
+lifeless. On the first bright, sunny days of spring it may be seen
+crawling rapidly over the ground, seeking the earnest vegetation which
+will furnish it a literal "breakfast." In April or May the chrysalis,
+surrounded by a loose cocoon formed of the hairs of the body
+interwoven with coarse silk, may be found in situations similar to
+those in which the larva passed the winter. From this, the perfect
+insect, the Isabella tiger moth, _Pyrrharctia isabella_ Smith, emerges
+about the last of June. It is a medium sized moth, dull orange in
+color, with three rows of small black spots on the body, and some
+scattered spots of the same color on the wings.
+
+By breaking open rotten logs one can find in mid-winter the grubs or
+larv� of many of the wood-boring beetles, and, beneath logs and stones
+near the margins of ponds and brooks, hordes of the maggots or larv�
+of certain kinds of flies may often be found huddled together in great
+masses. The larv� of a few butterflies also live over winter beneath
+chips or bunches of leaves near the roots of their food plant, or in
+webs of their own construction, which are woven on the stems close to
+the buds, whose expanding leaves will furnish them their first meal in
+spring.
+
+Many insects pass the winter in the quiescent or pupal stage; a state
+exceedingly well fitted for hibernating, requiring as it does, no
+food, and giving plenty of time for the marvellous changes which are
+then undergone. Some of these pup� are enclosed in dense silken
+cocoons, which are bound to the twigs of the plants upon which the
+larv� feed, and thus they swing securely in their silken hammocks
+through all the storms of winter. Perhaps the most common of these is
+that of the brown Cecropian moth, _Attacus cecropia_ L., the large
+oval cocoon of which is a conspicuous object in the winter on the
+twigs of our common shade and fruit trees. Many other pup� may be
+found beneath logs or on the under side of bark, and usually have the
+chrysalis surrounded by a thin covering of hairs, which are rather
+loosely arranged. A number pass the cold season in the earth with no
+protective covering whatever. Among these is a large brown chrysalis
+with a long tongue case bent over so as to resemble the handle of a
+jug. Every farm boy has ploughed or spaded it up in the spring, and is
+it but the pupa of a large sphinx moth, _Protoparce celeus_ Hub., the
+larva of which is the great green worm, with a "horn on its tail," so
+common on tomato plants in the late summer.
+
+[Illustration: CHRYSALIS OF TOMATO WORM.]
+
+Each of the winter forms of insects above mentioned can withstand long
+and severe cold weather--in fact, may be frozen solid for weeks and
+retain life and vigor, both of which are shown when warm weather and
+food appear again. Indeed, it is not an unusually cold winter, but one
+of successive thawings and freezings, which is most destructive to
+insect life. A mild winter encourages the growth of mould which
+attacks the hibernating larv� and pup� as soon as, from excess of rain
+or humidity, they become sickly; and it also permits the continued
+activity of insectivorous mammals and birds. Thus, moles, shrews,
+and field mice, instead of burying themselves deeply in the ground,
+run about freely during an open winter and destroy enormous numbers
+of pup�; while such birds as the woodpeckers, titmice, and chickadees
+are constantly on the alert, and searching in every crevice and cranny
+of fence and bark of tree for the hibernating larv�.
+
+Of the creeping, wingless creatures, which can ever be found beneath
+rocks, rails, chunks, and especially beneath those old decaying logs
+which are half buried in the rich vegetable mould, the myriapods, or
+"thousand-legs," deserve more than a passing notice. They are typical
+examples of that great branch of the animal kingdom known as
+_arthropods_, which comprises all insects and crustaceans. Each
+arthropod has the body composed of rings placed end to end and bearing
+jointed appendages, and in the myriapods each ring and its appendages
+can be plainly seen; whereas in the higher forms of the branch many of
+the rings are so combined as to be very difficult to distinguish.
+
+Full forty kinds of myriapods occur in any area comprising one hundred
+square miles in the eastern United States. About twenty-five of them
+go by the general name of "thousand-legs" or millipedes, as each has
+from forty to fifty-five cylindrical rings in the body, and two pairs
+of legs to each ring. The other fifteen belong to the "centipede"
+group, the body consisting of about sixteen flattened segments, or
+rings, each bearing a single pair of legs. When disturbed, the
+"thousand-legs" generally coils up and remains motionless, shamming
+death, or "playing possum," as it is popularly put, as a means of
+defence; while the centipede scampers hurriedly away and endeavors to
+hide beneath leaf, chip, or other object.
+
+[Illustration: CENTIPEDE.]
+
+All those found in the Northern States are perfectly harmless, the
+true centipede, whose bite is reputed much more venomous than it
+really is, being found only in the South. True, some of the centipede
+group can pinch rather sharply with their beetle-like jaws; and one,
+our largest and most common species, a brownish red fellow about three
+inches long and without eyes, can even draw blood if its jaws happen
+to strike a tender place. When handled it always tries to bite,
+perhaps out of revenge for the abominably long Latin name given it by
+its describer. In fact the name is longer than the animal
+itself--_Sco-lo-po-cryp-tops sex-spi-no-sus_ (Say)--being its cognomen
+in full. With such a handle attached to it, who can blame it for
+attempting to bite? Yet, to the scientist up on his Latin, each part
+of the above name bears a definite and tangible meaning. All the
+myriapods found in the woods and fields feed upon decaying vegetation,
+such as leaves, stems of weeds, and rotten wood, and in winter three
+or four species can usually be found within or beneath every decaying
+log or stump. One species with very long legs, _Scutigera forceps_
+(Raf.), is often found in damp houses or in cellars. It is sometimes
+called the "wall-sweeper," on account of its rapid ungainly gait, and
+is even reputed to prey upon cockroaches and other household pests.
+
+Spiders, which do not undergo such changes as do most of the common,
+six-footed insects, winter either as eggs or in the mature form. The
+members of the "sedentary" or web-spinning group, as a rule, form
+nests in late autumn, in each of which are deposited from fifty to
+eighty eggs, which survive the winter and hatch in the spring, as soon
+as the food supply of gnats, flies, and mosquitoes appear. The
+different forms of spiders' nests are very interesting objects of
+study. Some are those close-spun, flat, button-shaped objects, about
+half an inch in diameter, which are so common in winter on the under
+side of bark, chunks and flat rocks. Others are balloon-shaped and
+attached to weeds. Within the latter the young spiders often hatch in
+early winter, make their first meal off their empty egg cases, and
+then begin a struggle for existence, the stronger preying upon the
+weaker until the south winds blow again, when they emerge and scatter
+far and wide in search of more nutritious sustenance.
+
+The "wandering" spiders never spin webs, but run actively about and
+pounce upon their prey with a tiger-like spring. Six or eight of the
+larger species of this group winter in the mature form beneath logs
+and chunks, being often frozen solid during cold weather, but thawing
+out as healthy as ever when the temperature rises. Retiring beneath
+the loose-fitting bark of hickory or maple trees, a number of the
+smaller tube-weaving spiders construct about themselves a protecting
+web of many layers of the finest silk. Within this snug retreat they
+lie from November until April--a handsome, small, black fellow, with
+green jaws and two orange spots on his abdomen, being the most common
+species found motionless within this seeming shroud of silk on a day
+in mid-winter.
+
+In any Northern State as many as four hundred different kinds of the
+six-footed or true insects, in the winged or adult stage, may be taken
+in winter by any one who is so disposed, and knows where to search for
+them. Among the _Orthoptera_, the "grouse grasshoppers" live during
+the cold season beneath the loose bark of logs, or beneath the bottom
+rails of the old Virginia worm fences. From these retreats every warm,
+sunny day tempts them forth in numbers. On such occasions the earth
+seems to swarm with them, as they leap before the intruder, their hard
+bodies striking the dead leaves with a sound similar to that produced
+by falling hail. The common field cricket belongs also to the
+_Orthoptera_, and the young of various sizes winter under rails and
+logs, bidding defiance to Jack Frost from within a little burrow or
+pit beneath the protecting shelter.
+
+[Illustration: CHINCH BUG.]
+
+The true bugs, or _Hemiptera_, hibernate in similar places; squash
+bugs, chinch bugs, "stink" bugs, and others being easily found in
+numbers beneath loose bark or hidden between the root leaves of
+mullein and other plants.
+
+Nearly three hundred species of _Coleoptera_, or beetles, occupy
+similar positions. Almost any rotten log or stump when broken open
+discloses a half dozen or more "horn" or "bess beetles," _Passalus
+cornutus_ L., great, shining, clumsy, black fellows with a curved horn
+on the head. They are often utilized as horses by country children,
+the horn furnishing an inviting projection to which may be fastened,
+by a thread or cord, chips and pieces of bark to be dragged about by
+the strong and never lagging beast of burden. When tired of "playing
+horse" they can make of the insect an instrument of music; for, when
+held by the body, it emits a creaking, hissing noise, produced by
+rubbing the abdomen up and down against the inside of the hard, horny
+wing covers. This beetle passes its entire life in cavities in the
+rotten wood on which it feeds, and when it wishes a larger or more
+commodious home it has only to eat the more.
+
+[Illustration: THIRTEEN-SPOTTED LADY BEETLE.]
+
+The handsome and beneficial lady beetles winter beneath fallen leaves
+or between and beneath the root leaves of the mullein and the thistle.
+Our most common species, the thirteen-spotted lady beetle, _Megilla
+maculata_ De G., is gregarious, collecting together by thousands on
+the approach of cold weather, and lying huddled up like sheep until a
+breath of spring gives them the signal to disperse. Snout beetles
+galore can be found beneath piles of weeds near streams and the
+borders of ponds or beneath chunks and logs in sandy places. All are
+injurious, and the farmer by burning their hibernating places in
+winter can cause their destruction in numbers. Rove beetles, ground
+beetles, and many others live deep down in the vegetable mould beneath
+old logs, where they are, no doubt, as secure from the ice king as if
+they followed the swallow to the tropics.
+
+Of the _Diptera_, or flies, but few forms winter in the perfect state,
+yet the myriads of house flies and their kin, which next summer will
+distract the busy house-wife, are represented in winter by a few
+isolated individuals which creep forth occasionally from crevice or
+cranny and greet us with a friendly buzz.
+
+In mid-winter one may also see in the air swarms of small, gnat-like
+insects. They belong to this order and live beneath the bark of
+freshly fallen beech and other logs. On warm, sunny days they go forth
+in numbers for a sort of rhythmical courtship; their movements while
+in the air being peculiar in that they usually rise and fall in the
+same vertical line--performing a curious a�rial dance which is long
+continued.
+
+Among the dozen or more butterflies and moths which winter in the
+perfect state, the most common and the most handsome is the
+"Camberwell beauty" or "mourning cloak," _Vanessa antiopa_ L., a large
+butterfly whose wings are a rich purplish brown above, duller beneath,
+and broadly margined with a yellowish band. It is often found in
+winter beneath chunks which are raised a short distance above the
+ground, or in the crevices of old snags and fence rails. It is then
+apparently lifeless, with the antenn� resting close along the back,
+above which the wings are folded. But one or two warm days are
+necessary to restore it to activity, and I have seen it on the wing as
+early as the 2d of March, hovering over the open flowers of the little
+snow trillium.
+
+All the species of ants survive the winter as mature forms, either in
+their nests in the ground or huddled groups in half rotten logs and
+stumps; while here and there beneath logs a solitary queen bumble-bee,
+bald hornet, or yellow jacket is found--the sole representatives of
+their races.
+
+Thus insects survive the winter in many ways and in many places, some
+as eggs, others as larv�, still others as pup�, and a large number as
+adults--all being able to withstand severe cold and yet retain
+vitality sufficient to recover, live, grow, and replenish the earth
+with their progeny when the halcyon days of spring appear once more.
+
+In the scale of animal life the vertebrates or back-boned animals
+succeed the insects. Beginning with the fishes, we find that in late
+autumn they mostly seek some deep pool in pond or stream at the bottom
+of which the water does not freeze. Here the herbivorous forms eke out
+a precarious existence by feeding upon the innumerable diatoms and
+other small plants which are always to be found in water, while the
+carnivorous prey upon the herbivorous, and so maintain the struggle
+for existence. The moving to these deeper channels and pools in autumn
+and the scattering in the spring of the assembly which has gathered
+there constitute the so-called "migration of fishes," which is far
+from being so extensive and methodical as that practiced by the
+migratory birds.
+
+Many of the smaller species of fishes, upon leaving these winter
+resorts, ascend small, clear brooks in large numbers for the purpose
+of depositing their eggs; as, when hatched in such a place, the young
+will be comparatively free from the attacks of the larger carnivorous
+forms. Among the lowest vertebrate often found in numbers in early
+spring in these meadow rills and brooks is the lamprey, _Ammocoetes
+branchialis_ (L.), or "lamper eel," as it is sometimes called. It has
+a slender eel-like body, of a uniform leaden or blackish color, and
+with seven purse-shaped gill openings on each side. The mouth is
+fitted for sucking rather than biting, and with it they attach
+themselves to the bodies of fishes and feed on their flesh, which they
+scrape off with their rasp-like teeth. Later in the season they
+disappear from these smaller streams, probably returning in midsummer
+to deeper water. Thoreau, who studied their habits closely, says of
+them: "They are rarely seen on their way down stream, and it is
+thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste away and die,
+clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; a
+tragic feature to the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be
+remembered with Shakespeare's description of the sea floor."
+
+[Illustration: A LAMPREY.]
+
+A few of the fishes, as the mud minnow and smaller catfishes,
+together with most frogs, turtles, and salamanders, on the approach of
+winter, burrow into the mud at the bottom of the streams and ponds, or
+beneath logs near their margins. There they live without moving about
+and with all the vital processes in a partially dormant condition,
+thus needing little if any food.
+
+The box tortoise or "dry land terrapin," the common toad, and some
+salamanders burrow into the dry earth, usually going deep enough to
+escape frost; while snakes seek some crevice in the rocks or hole in
+the ground where they coil themselves together, oftentimes in vast
+numbers, and prepare for their winter's sleep. In an open winter this
+hibernation is often interrupted, the animal emerging from its retreat
+and seeking its usual summer haunts as though spring had come again.
+Thus I have, on one occasion, seen a soft-shelled turtle moving
+gracefully over the bottom of a stream on a day in late December, and
+have in mid-January captured snakes and salamanders from beneath a
+pile of drift-wood, where they had taken temporary refuge.
+
+[Illustration: TURTLE.]
+
+With frogs, especially, this hibernation is not a perfect one, and
+there is a doubt if in a mild winter some species hibernate at all.
+For example, the little cricket frog or "peeper" has been seen many
+times in mid-winter alongside the banks of flowing streams, and during
+the open winter of 1888-89 numerous specimens of leopard and green
+frogs were seen on different occasions in December and January, while
+on February 18th they, together with the "peepers," were in full
+chorus.
+
+Of our mammals, a few of the rodents or gnawers, as the ground-hogs,
+gophers and chipmunks, hibernate in burrows deep enough to escape the
+cold, and either feed on a stored supply of food, or, like the snakes
+and crayfish, do not feed at all.
+
+[Illustration: CHIPMUNK.]
+
+Others, as the rabbits, field-mice, and squirrels, are more or less
+active and forage freely on whatever they can find, eating many things
+which in summer they would spurn with scorn. To this class belongs
+that intelligent but injurious animal the musquash or muskrat. Those
+which inhabit the rivers and larger streams live in burrows dug deep
+beneath the banks, but those inhabiting sluggish streams and ponds
+usually construct a conical winter house about three feet in diameter
+and from two to three feet in height. These houses are made of coarse
+grasses, rushes, branches of shrubs, and small pieces of driftwood,
+closely cemented together with stiff, clayey mud. The top of the house
+usually projects two feet or more above the water, and when sun-dried
+is so strong as to easily sustain the weight of a man. The walls are
+generally about six inches in thickness and are very difficult to pull
+to pieces. Within is a single circular chamber with a shelf or floor
+of mud, sticks, leaves and grass, ingeniously supported on coarse
+sticks stuck endwise into the mud after the manner of piles. In the
+centre of this floor is an opening, from which six or eight diverging
+paths lead to the open water without, so that the little artisan has
+many avenues of escape in case of danger. These houses are often
+repaired and used for several winters in succession, but are vacated
+on the approach of spring. During the summer the muskrat is, in the
+main, a herbivorous animal, but in winter necessity develops its
+carnivorous propensities and it feeds then mainly upon the mussels and
+crayfish which it can dig from the bottom of the pond or stream in
+which its house is built.
+
+The bats pass the winter in caves, the attics of houses, and barns, or
+in hollow trees, hanging downward by their hind claws. Motionless for
+months they thus remain, and those in the more exposed situations are,
+doubtless, frozen solid. Yet, in time, their blood flows freely once
+again and they become as expert on the wing as though the year were
+one continual jubilee of insect chasing, and frost and snow were to
+them unknown.
+
+All the carnivora, or flesh-eaters, as the mink, skunk, opossum, fox,
+and wolf, are in winter active and voracious, needing much food to
+supply the necessary animal heat of the body. Hence they are then much
+more bold than in summer, and the hen yard or sheep pen of the farmer
+is too frequently called upon to supply this extra demand.
+
+[Illustration: A WOLF.]
+
+But of all our animals it seems to me the birds have solved the winter
+problem best. Possessing an enduring power of flight and a knowledge
+of a southern sunny sky, beneath which food is plentiful, they alone
+of all the living forms about us have little fear of the coming of the
+frost. True, fifty or more species remain in each of the Northern
+States during the cold season, but they are hardy birds which feed
+mainly upon seeds, as the snow-bird and song sparrow; on flesh, as the
+hawks and crows; or on burrowing insects, as the nut-hatches and
+woodpeckers.
+
+Such are some of the solutions to the problem of life in winter which
+the plants and animals about us have worked out; such some of the
+forms which they undergo; the places which they inhabit.
+
+To the thinking mind a knowledge of these solutions but begets other
+and greater problems, such as how can a living thing be frozen solid
+for weeks and yet retain vitality enough to fully recover? How can a
+warm-blooded animal sleep for months without partaking of food or
+drink? And greater than either, what is that which we call life?
+
+I hold in my hand two objects, similar in size, color, organs,
+everything--twins from the same mother in all outward respects. One
+pulsates and throbs with that which we call "life." It possesses heat,
+bodily motion, animal power. The other is cold, motionless, pulseless,
+throbless--a thing of clay. What is that "life" which the one
+possesses and the other lacks? Ah, there's the rub! With the wisest of
+men we can only answer, "_Quien sabe?_" (Who knows?)
+
+[Illustration: WINTER HOUSE OF MUSKRAT.]
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS' NESTS
+
+(FROM WAKE ROBIN.)[3]
+
+BY JOHN BURROUGHS.
+
+[3] Copyright by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+How alert and vigilant the birds are, even when absorbed in building
+their nests! In an open space in the woods, I see a pair of
+cedar-birds collecting moss from the top of a dead tree. Following the
+direction in which they fly, I soon discover the nest placed in the
+fork of a small soft-maple, which stands amid a thick growth of
+wild-cherry trees and young beeches. Carefully concealing myself
+beneath it, without any fear that the workmen will hit me with a chip
+or let fall a tool, I await the return of the busy pair. Presently I
+hear the well-known note, and the female sweeps down and settles
+unsuspectingly into the half-finished structure. Hardly have her wings
+rested, before her eye has penetrated my screen, and with a hurried
+movement of alarm, she darts away. In a moment, the male, with a tuft
+of wool in his beak (for there is a sheep pasture near), joins her,
+and the two reconnoitre the premises from the surrounding bushes. With
+their beaks still loaded, they move around with a frightened look, and
+refuse to approach the nest till I have moved off and lain down behind
+a log. Then one of them ventures to alight upon the nest, but, still
+suspecting all is not right, quickly darts away again. Then they both
+together come, and after much peeping and spying about, and apparently
+much anxious consultation, cautiously proceed to work. In less than
+half an hour, it would seem that wool enough has been brought to
+supply the whole family, real and prospective, with socks, if needles
+and fingers could be found fine enough to knit it up. In less than a
+week, the female has begun to deposit her eggs,--four of them in as
+many days,--white tinged with purple, with black spots on the larger
+end. After two weeks of incubation, the young are out.
+
+Excepting the American goldfinch, this bird builds later in the spring
+than any other, its nest, in our northern climate, seldom being
+undertaken till July. As with the goldfinch, the reason is, probably,
+that suitable food for the young cannot be had at an earlier period.
+
+Like most of our common species, as the robin, sparrow, bluebird,
+pewee, wren, etc., this bird sometimes seeks wild, remote localities
+in which to rear its young; at others, takes up its abode near that of
+man. I knew a pair of cedar-birds, one season, to build in an
+apple-tree, the branches of which rubbed against the house. For a day
+or two before the first straw was laid, I noticed the pair carefully
+exploring every branch of the tree the female taking the lead, the
+male following her with an anxious note and look. It was evident that
+the wife was to have her choice this time; and, like one who
+thoroughly knew her mind, she was proceeding to take it. Finally the
+site was chosen upon a high branch extending over one low wing of the
+house. Mutual congratulations and caresses followed, when both birds
+flew away in quest of building material. That most freely used is a
+sort of cotton-bearing plant, which grows in old, worn-out fields. The
+nest is large for the size of the bird, and very soft. It is in every
+respect a first-class domicile.
+
+On another occasion, while walking, or rather sauntering, in the woods
+(for I have discovered that one cannot run and read the book of
+nature), my attention was arrested by a dull hammering, evidently but
+a few rods off. I said to myself, "Some one is building a house." From
+what I had previously seen, I suspected the builder to be a red-headed
+woodpecker, in the top of a dead oak stub near by. Moving cautiously
+in that direction, I perceived a round hole, about the size of that
+made by an inch-and-a-half auger, near the top of the decayed trunk,
+and the white chips of the workman strewing the ground beneath. When
+but a few paces from the tree, my foot pressed upon a dry twig, which
+gave forth a very slight snap. Instantly the hammering ceased, and a
+scarlet head appeared at the door. Though I remained perfectly
+motionless, forbearing even to wink till my eye smarted, the bird
+refused to go on with his work, but flew quietly off to a neighboring
+tree. What surprised me was, that amid his busy occupation down in
+the heart of the old tree he should have been so alert and watchful as
+to catch the slightest sound from without.
+
+The woodpeckers all build in about the same manner, excavating the
+trunk or branch of a decayed tree, and depositing the eggs on the fine
+fragments of wood at the bottom of the cavity. Though the nest is not
+especially an artistic work,--requiring strength rather than
+skill,--yet the eggs and the young of few other birds are so
+completely housed from the elements, or protected from their natural
+enemies--the jays, crows, hawks, and owls. A tree with a natural
+cavity is never selected, but one which has been dead just long enough
+to have become soft and brittle throughout. The bird goes in
+horizontally for a few inches, making a hole perfectly round and
+smooth and adapted to his size; then turns downward, gradually
+enlarging the hole, as he proceeds, to the depth of ten, fifteen,
+twenty inches, according to the softness of the tree and the urgency
+of the mother bird to deposit her eggs. While excavating, male and
+female work alternately. After one has been engaged fifteen or twenty
+minutes, drilling, and carrying out chips, it ascends to an upper
+limb, utters a loud call or two, when its mate soon appears, and,
+alighting near it on the branch, the pair chatter and caress a moment;
+then the fresh one enters the cavity and the other flies away.
+
+A few days since, I climbed up to the nest of the downy woodpecker, in
+the decayed top of a sugar-maple. For better protection against
+driving rains, the hole which was rather more than an inch in
+diameter, was made immediately beneath a branch which stretched out
+almost horizontally from the main stem. It appeared merely a deeper
+shadow upon the dark and mottled surface of the bark with which the
+branches were covered, and could not be detected by the eye until one
+was within a few feet of it. The young chirped vociferously as I
+approached the nest, thinking it was the old one with food; but the
+clamor suddenly ceased as I put my hand on that part of the trunk in
+which they were concealed, the unusual jarring and rustling alarming
+them into silence. The cavity, which was about fifteen inches deep,
+was gourd-shaped, and was wrought with great skill and regularity. The
+walls were quite smooth and clean and new.
+
+[Illustration: WOODPECKER'S NEST. (Dotted lines indicate inside of
+nest and eggs).]
+
+I shall never forget the circumstance of observing a pair of
+yellow-bellied woodpeckers,--the most rare and secluded, and, next to
+the red-headed, the most beautiful species found in our
+woods,--breeding in an old, truncated beech in the Beaverkill
+Mountains, an off-shoot of the Catskills. We had been travelling,
+three of us, all day in search of a trout lake, which lay far in among
+the mountains, had twice lost our course in the trackless forest,
+and, weary and hungry, had sat down to rest upon a decayed log. The
+chattering of the young, and the passing to and fro of the parent
+birds, soon arrested my attention. The entrance to the nest was on the
+east side of the tree, about twenty-five feet from the ground. At
+intervals of scarcely a minute, the old birds, one after another,
+would light upon the edge of the hole with a grub or worm in their
+beaks; then each in turn would make a bow or two, cast an eye quickly
+around, and by a single movement place itself in the neck of the
+passage. Here it would pause a moment, as if to determine in which
+expectant mouth to place the morsel, and then disappear within. In
+about half a minute, during which time the chattering of the young
+gradually subsided, the bird would again emerge, but this time bearing
+in its beak the ordure of one of the helpless family. Flying away very
+slowly with head lowered and extended, as if anxious to hold the
+offensive object as far from its plumage as possible, the bird dropped
+the unsavory morsel in the course of a few yards, and, alighting on a
+tree, wiped its bill on the bark and moss. This seemed to be the order
+all day,--carrying in and carrying out. I watched the birds for an
+hour, while my companions were taking their turn in exploring the lay
+of the land around us, and noted no variation in the programme. It
+would be curious to know if the young are fed and waited upon in
+regular order, and how, amid the darkness and the crowded state of the
+apartment, the matter is so neatly managed. But ornithologists are all
+silent upon the subject.
+
+[Illustration: THE YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER.]
+
+This practice of the birds is not so uncommon as it might at first
+seem. It is, indeed, almost an invariable rule among all land birds.
+With woodpeckers and kindred species, and with birds that burrow in
+the ground, as bank swallows, kingfishers, etc., it is a necessity.
+The accumulation of the excrement in the nest would prove most fatal
+to the young.
+
+But even among birds that neither bore nor mine, but which build a
+shallow nest on the branch of a tree or upon the ground, as the robin,
+the finches, the buntings, etc., the ordure of the young is removed to
+a distance by the parent bird. When the robin is seen going away from
+its brood with a slow, heavy flight, entirely different from its
+manner a moment before on approaching the nest with a cherry or worm,
+it is certain to be engaged in this office. One may observe the social
+sparrow, when feeding its young, pause a moment after the worm has
+been given, and hop around on the brink of the nest, observing the
+movements within.
+
+The instinct of cleanliness no doubt prompts the action in all cases,
+though the disposition to secrecy or concealment may not be unmixed
+with it.
+
+The swallows form an exception to the rule, the excrement being voided
+by the young over the brink of the nest. They form an exception, also,
+to the rule of secrecy, aiming not so much to conceal the nest as to
+render it inaccessible.
+
+Other exceptions are the pigeons, hawks, and water-fowls.
+
+But to return. Having a good chance to note the color and markings of
+the woodpeckers as they passed in and out at the opening of the nest,
+I saw that Audubon had made a mistake in figuring or describing the
+female of this species with the red spot upon the head. I have seen a
+number of pairs of them, and in no instance have I seen the mother
+bird marked with red.
+
+The male was in full plumage, and I reluctantly shot him for a
+specimen. Passing by the place again next day, I paused a moment to
+note how matters stood. I confess it was not without some compunctions
+that I heard the cries of the young birds, and saw the widowed mother,
+her cares now doubled, hastening to and fro in the solitary woods. She
+would occasionally pause expectantly on the trunk of a tree, and utter
+a loud call.
+
+It usually happens when the male of any species is killed during the
+breeding season, that the female soon procures another mate. There
+are, most likely, always a few unmated birds of both sexes, within a
+given range, and through these the broken links may be restored.
+Audubon or Wilson, I forgot which, tells a pair of fish-hawks, or
+ospreys, that built their nest in an ancient oak. The male was so
+zealous in the defence of the young that it actually attacked with
+beak and claw a person who attempted to climb into his nest, putting
+his face and eyes in great jeopardy. Arming himself with a heavy club,
+the climber felled the gallant bird to the ground and killed him. In
+the course of a few days, the female had procured another mate. But
+naturally enough the step-father showed none of the spirit and pluck
+in defence of the brood that had been displayed by the original
+parent. When danger was nigh, he was seen afar off, sailing around in
+placid unconcern.
+
+It is generally known that when either the wild turkey or domestic
+turkey begins to lay, and afterwards to sit and rear the brood, she
+secludes herself from the male, who then, very sensibly, herds with
+others of his sex, and betakes himself to haunts of his own till male
+and female, old and young, meet again on common ground, late in the
+fall. But rob the sitting bird of her eggs, or destroy her tender
+young, and she immediately sets out in quest of a male, who is no
+laggard when he hears her call. The same is true of ducks and other
+aquatic fowls. The propagating instinct is strong, and surmounts all
+ordinary difficulties. No doubt the widowhood I had caused in the case
+of the woodpeckers was of short duration, and chance brought, or the
+widow drummed up, some forlorn male, who was not dismayed by the
+prospect of having a large family of half grown birds on his hands at
+the outset.
+
+I have seen a fine cock robin paying assiduous addresses to a female
+bird as late as the middle of July; and I have no doubt that his
+intentions were honorable. I watched the pair for half an hour. The
+hen, I took it, was in the market for the second time that season; but
+the cock, from his bright, unfaded plumage, looked like a new arrival.
+The hen resented every advance of the male. In vain he strutted around
+her and displayed his fine feathers; every now and then she would make
+at him in a most spiteful manner. He followed her to the ground,
+poured into her ear a fine, half-suppressed warble, offered her a
+worm, flew back to the tree again with a great spread of plumage,
+hopped around her on the branches, chirruped, chattered, flew
+gallantly at an intruder, and was back in an instant at her side. No
+use,--she cut him short at every turn.
+
+The _d�nouement_ I cannot relate, as the artful bird, followed by her
+ardent suitor, soon flew away beyond my sight. It may not be rash to
+conclude, however that she held out no longer than was prudent.
+
+On the whole, there seems to be a system of Women's Rights prevailing
+among the birds, which, contemplated from the standpoint of the male,
+is quite admirable. In almost all cases of joint interest, the female
+bird is the most active. She determines the site of the nest, and is
+usually the most absorbed in its construction. Generally, she is more
+vigilant in caring for the young, and manifests the most concern when
+danger threatens. Hour after hour I have seen the mother of a brood of
+blue grossbeaks pass from the nearest meadow to the tree that held her
+nest, with a cricket or grasshopper in her bill, while her
+better-dressed half was singing serenely on a distant tree or pursuing
+his pleasure amid the branches.
+
+Yet among the majority of our song birds, the male is most conspicuous
+both by his color and manners and by his song, and is to that extent a
+shield to the female. It is thought that the female is humbler clad
+for her better concealment during incubation. But this is not
+satisfactory, as in some cases she is relieved from time to time by
+the male. In the case of the domestic dove, for instance, promptly at
+mid-day the cock is found upon the nest. I should say that the dull or
+neutral tints of the female were a provision of nature for her greater
+safety at all times, as her life is far more precious to the species
+than that of the male. The indispensable office of the male reduces
+itself to little more than a moment of time, while that of his mate
+extends over days and weeks, if not months.
+
+In migrating northward, the males precede the females by eight or ten
+days; returning in the fall, the females and young precede the males
+by about the same time.
+
+[Illustration: NEST OF THE CHICADEE.]
+
+After the woodpeckers have abandoned their nests, or rather chambers,
+which they do after the first season, their cousins, the nut-hatches,
+chickadees, and brown creepers, fall heir to them. These birds,
+especially the creepers and nut-hatches, have many of the habits of
+the _picid�_, but lack their powers of bill, and so are unable to
+excavate a nest for themselves. Their habitation, therefore, is always
+second-hand. But each species carries in some soft material of various
+kinds, or, in other words, furnishes the tenement to its liking. The
+chickadee arranges in the bottom of the cavity a little mat of a
+light, felt-like substance, which looks as if it came from the
+hatter's, but which is probably the work of numerous worms or
+caterpillars. On this soft lining the female deposits six white eggs.
+
+I recently discovered one of these nests in a most interesting
+situation. The tree containing it, a variety of the wild cherry, stood
+upon the brink of the bald summit of a high mountain. Gray, time-worn
+rocks lay piled loosely about, or overtoppled the just visible by-ways
+of the red fox. The trees had a half-scared look, and that
+indescribable wildness which lurks about the tops of all remote
+mountains possessed the place. Standing there, I looked down upon the
+back of the red-tailed hawk as he flew out over the earth beneath me.
+Following him, my eye also took in farms, and settlements, and
+villages, and other mountain ranges that grew blue in the distance.
+
+The parent birds attracted my attention by appearing with food in
+their beaks, and by seeming much put out. Yet so wary were they of
+revealing the locality of their brood, or even of the precise tree
+that held them, that I lurked around over an hour without gaining a
+point on them. Finally a bright and curious boy who accompanied me
+secreted himself under a low, projecting rock close to the tree in
+which we supposed the nest to be, while I moved off around the
+mountain-side. It was not long before the youth had their secret. The
+tree, which was low and wide branching, and overrun with lichens,
+appeared at a cursory glance to contain not one dry or decayed limb.
+Yet there was one a few feet long, in which, when my eyes were piloted
+thither, I detected a small round orifice.
+
+As my weight began to shake the branches, the consternation of both
+old and young was great. The stump of a limb that held the nest was
+about three inches thick, and at the bottom of the tunnel was
+excavated quite to the bark. With my thumb I broke in the thin wall,
+and the young, which were full-fledged, looked out upon the world for
+the first time. Presently one of them, with a significant chirp, as
+much as to say, "It is time we were out of this," began to climb up
+toward the proper entrance. Placing himself in the hole, he looked
+around without manifesting any surprise at the grand scene that lay
+spread out before him. He was taking his bearings and determining how
+far he could trust the power of his untried wings to take him out of
+harm's way. After a moment's pause, with a loud chirrup, he launched
+out, and made tolerable headway. The others rapidly followed. Each
+one, as it started upward, from a sudden impulse, contemptuously
+saluted the abandoned nest with its excrement.
+
+[Illustration: BARN SWALLOW AND NEST.]
+
+Though generally regular in their habits and instincts, yet the birds
+sometimes seem as whimsical and capricious as superior beings. One is
+not safe, for instance, in making any absolute assertion as to their
+place or mode of building. Ground builders often get up into a bush,
+and tree builders sometimes get upon the ground or into a tussock of
+grass. The song-sparrow, which is a ground builder, has been known to
+build in the knot-hole of a fence rail, and a chimney swallow once got
+tired of soot and smoke, and fastened its nest on a rafter in a hay
+barn. A friend tells me of a pair of barn swallows which, taking a
+fanciful turn, saddled their nest in the loop of a rope that was
+pendent from a peg in the peak, and liked it so well that they
+repeated the experiment next year. I have known the social sparrow, or
+"hair bird," to build under a shed, in a tuft of hay that hung down,
+through the loose flooring, from the mow above. It usually contents
+itself with a half a dozen stalks of dry grass and a few long hairs
+from a cow's tail, loosely arranged on the branch of an apple-tree.
+The rough-winged swallow builds in the wall and in old stone heaps,
+and I have seen the robin build in similar localities. Others have
+found its nest in old, abandoned wells. The house wren will build in
+anything that has an accessible cavity, from an old boot to a
+bombshell. A pair of them once persisted in building their nest in the
+top of a certain pump-tree, getting in through the opening above the
+handle. The pump being in daily use, the nest was destroyed more than
+a score of times. This jealous little wretch has the wise forethought,
+when the box in which he builds contains two compartments, to fill up
+one of them, so as to avoid the risk of troublesome neighbors.
+
+The less skilful builders sometimes depart from their usual habit, and
+take up with the abandoned nest of some other species. The blue-jay
+now and then lays in an old crow's-nest or cuckoo's-nest. The
+crow-blackbird, seized with a fit of indolence, drops its eggs in the
+cavity of a decayed branch. I heard of a cuckoo that dispossessed a
+robin of its nest; of another that set a blue-jay adrift. Large, loose
+structures, like the nests of the osprey and certain of the herons,
+have been found with half a dozen nests of the blackbird set in the
+outer edges, like so many parasites, or, as Audubon says, like the
+retainers about the rude court of a feudal baron.
+
+[Illustration: BALTIMORE ORIOLE AND NEST.]
+
+The same birds breeding in a southern climate construct far less
+elaborate nests than when breeding in a northern climate. Certain
+species of water-fowl that abandon their eggs to the sand and the sun
+in the warmer zones, build a nest and sit in the usual way in
+Labrador. In Georgia, the Baltimore oriole places its nest upon the
+north side of the tree; in the Middle and Eastern States, it fixes it
+upon the south or east side, and makes it much thicker and Warner. I
+have seen one from the South that had some kind-of coarse reed or
+sedge woven into it, giving it an open-work appearance, like a
+basket.
+
+Very few species use the same material uniformly. I have seen the nest
+of the robin quite destitute of mud. In one instance, it was composed
+mainly of long, black horse-hairs, arranged in a circular manner, with
+a lining of fine yellow grass; the whole presenting quite a novel
+appearance. In another case, the nest was chiefly constructed of a
+species of rock moss.
+
+The nest for the second brood during the same season is often a mere
+make-shift. The haste of the female to deposit her eggs as the season
+advances seems very great, and the structure is apt to be prematurely
+finished. I was recently reminded of this fact by happening, about the
+last of July, to meet with several nests of the wood or bush sparrow
+in a remote blackberry field. The nests with eggs were far less
+elaborate and compact than the earlier nests, from which the young had
+flown.
+
+Day after day, as I go to a certain piece of woods, I observe a male
+indigo-bird sitting on precisely the same part of a high branch, and
+singing in his most vivacious style. As I approach, he ceases to sing,
+and, flirting his tail right and left with marked emphasis, chirps
+sharply. In a low bush near by, I come upon the object of his
+solicitude, a thick, compact nest, composed largely of dry leaves and
+fine grass, in which a plain brown bird is sitting upon four pale blue
+eggs.
+
+The wonder is, that a bird will leave the apparent security of the
+tree-tops, to place its nest in the way of the many dangers that walk
+and crawl upon the ground. There, far out of reach, sings the bird;
+here, not three feet from the ground, are its eggs or helpless young.
+The truth is, birds are the greatest enemies of birds, and it is with
+reference to this fact that many of the smaller species build.
+
+[Illustration: INDIGO BIRD'S NEST.]
+
+Perhaps the greatest proportion of birds breed along highways. I have
+known the ruffed grouse to come out of a dense wood and make its nest
+at the root of a tree within ten paces of the road, where, no doubt,
+hawks and crows, as well as skunks and foxes, would be less liable to
+find it out. Traversing remote mountain-roads through dense woods, I
+have repeatedly seen the veery, or Wilson's thrush, sitting upon her
+nest, so near me that I could almost take her from it by stretching
+out my hand. Birds of prey show none of this confidence in man, and,
+when locating their nests, avoid rather than seek his haunts.
+
+In a certain locality in the interior of New York, I know, every
+season, where I am sure to find a nest or two of the slate-colored
+snow-bird. It is under the brink of a low, mossy bank, so near the
+highway that it could be reached from a passing vehicle with a whip.
+Every horse or wagon or foot passenger disturbs the sitting bird. She
+awaits the near approach of a sound of feet or wheels, and then darts
+quickly across the road, barely clearing the ground, and disappears
+amid the bushes on the opposite side.
+
+In the trees that line one of the main streets and fashionable drives
+leading out of Washington city, and less than half a mile from the
+boundary, I have counted the nests of five different species at one
+time, and that without any very close scrutiny of the foliage, while
+in many acres of woodland, half a mile off, I searched in vain for a
+single nest. Among the five that interested me most was that of a blue
+grossbeak. Here this bird, which, according to Audubon's observations,
+in Louisiana is shy and recluse, affecting remote marshes and the
+borders of large ponds of stagnant water, had placed its nest in the
+lowest twig of the lowest branch of a large sycamore, immediately over
+a great thoroughfare, and so near the ground that a person standing in
+a cart or sitting on a horse could have reached it with his hand. The
+nest was composed mainly of fragments of newspaper and stalks of
+grass, and, though so low, was remarkably well concealed by one of the
+peculiar clusters of twigs and leaves which characterize this tree.
+The nest contained young when I discovered it, and though the parent
+birds were much annoyed by my loitering about beneath the tree, they
+paid little attention to the stream of vehicles that was constantly
+passing. It is a wonder to me when the birds could have built it, for
+they are much shyer when building than at other times. No doubt they
+worked mostly in the morning, having the early hours all to
+themselves.
+
+Another pair of blue grossbeaks built in a graveyard within the city
+limits. The nest was placed in a low bush, and the male continued to
+sing at intervals till the young were ready to fly. The song of this
+bird is a rapid, intricate warble, like that of the indigo-bird,
+though stronger and louder. Indeed, these two birds so much resemble
+each other in color, form, manner, voice, and general habits that,
+were it not for the difference in size,--the grossbeak being nearly as
+large again as the indigo-bird,--it would be a hard matter to tell
+them apart. The females of both species are clad in the same
+reddish-brown suits. So are the young the first season.
+
+Of course in the deep, primitive woods also are nests, but how rarely
+we find them! The simple art of the bird consists in choosing common,
+neutral-tinted material, as moss, dry leaves, twigs, and various odds
+and ends, and placing the structure on a convenient branch, where it
+blends in color with its surroundings; but how consummate is this art,
+and how skilfully is the nest concealed! We occasionally light upon
+it, but who, unaided by the movements of the bird, could find it out?
+During the present season, I went to the woods nearly every day for a
+fortnight, without making any discoveries of this kind, till one day,
+paying them a farewell visit, I chanced to come upon several nests. A
+black and white creeping warbler suddenly became much alarmed as I
+approached a crumbling old stump in a dense part of the forest. He
+alighted upon it, chirped sharply, ran up and down its sides, and
+finally left it with much reluctance. The nest, which contained three
+young birds nearly fledged, was placed upon the ground, at the foot of
+the stump, and in such a position that the color of the young
+harmonized perfectly with the bits of bark, sticks, etc., lying about.
+My eye rested upon them for the second time before I made them out.
+They hugged the nest very closely, but as I put down my hand they
+scampered off with loud cries for help, which caused the parent birds
+to place themselves almost within my reach. The nest was merely a
+little dry grass arranged in a thick bed of dry leaves.
+
+This was amid a thick undergrowth. Moving on into a passage of large,
+stately hemlocks, with only here and there a small beech or maple
+rising up into the perennial twilight, I paused to make out a note
+which was entirely new to me. It is still in my ear. Though
+unmistakably a bird note, it yet suggested the bleating of a tiny
+lambkin. Presently the birds appeared,--a pair of the solitary vireo.
+They came flitting from point to point, alighting only for a moment at
+a time, the male silent, but the female uttering this strange, tender
+note. It was a rendering into some new sylvan dialect of the human
+sentiment of maidenly love. It was really pathetic in its sweetness
+and childlike confidence and joy. I soon discovered that the pair were
+building a nest upon a low branch a few yards from me. The male flew
+cautiously to the spot, and adjusted something, and the twain moved
+on, the female calling to her mate at intervals, _love-e, love-e_,
+with a cadence and tenderness in the tone that rang in the ear long
+afterward. The nest was suspended to the fork of a small branch, as is
+usual with the vireos, plentifully lined with lichens, and bound and
+rebound with masses of coarse spider-webs. There was no attempt at
+concealment except in the neutral tints, which made it look like a
+natural growth of the dim, gray woods.
+
+Continuing my random walk, I next paused in a low part of the woods,
+where the larger trees began to give place to a thick second growth
+that covered an old Bark-peeling. I was standing by a large maple,
+when a small bird darted quickly away from it, as if it might have
+come out of a hole near its base. As the bird paused a few yards from
+me, and began to chirp uneasily, my curiosity was at once excited.
+When I saw it was the female mourning ground warbler, and remembered
+that the nest of this bird had not yet been seen by any
+naturalist,--that not even Dr. Brewer had ever seen the eggs,--I felt
+that here was something worth looking for. So I carefully began the
+search, exploring inch by inch the ground, the base and roots of the
+tree, and the various shrubby growths about it, till, finding nothing,
+and fearing I might really put my foot in it, I bethought me to
+withdraw to a distance and after some delay return again, and, thus
+forewarned, note the exact point from which the bird flew. This I did,
+and, returning, had little difficulty in discovering the nest. It was
+placed but a few feet from the maple-tree, in a bunch of ferns, and
+about six inches from the ground. It was quite a massive nest,
+composed entirely of the stalks and leaves of dry grass, with an inner
+lining of fine, dark-brown roots. The eggs, three in number, were of
+light flesh color, uniformly specked with fine brown specks. The
+cavity of the nest was so deep that the back of sitting bird sank
+below the edge.
+
+In the top of a tall tree, a short distance farther on, I saw the nest
+of the red-tailed hawk,--a large mass of twigs and dry sticks. The
+young had flown, but still lingered in the vicinity, and, as I
+approached, the mother bird flew about over me, squealing in a very
+angry, savage manner. Tufts of the hair and other indigestible
+material of the common meadow mouse lay around on the ground beneath
+the nest.
+
+[Illustration: NEST OF RED-EYED VIREO.]
+
+As I was about leaving the woods, my hat almost brushed the nest of
+the red-eyed vireo, which hung basket-like on the end of a low,
+drooping branch of the beech. I should never have seen it had the bird
+kept her place. It contained three eggs of the bird's own, and one of
+the cow-bunting. The strange egg was only just perceptibly larger than
+the others, yet three days after, when I looked into the nest again
+and found all but one egg hatched, the young interloper was at least
+four times as large as either of the others, and with such a
+superabundance of bowels as to almost smother his bedfellows beneath
+them. That the intruder should fare the same as the rightful
+occupants, and thrive with them, was more than ordinary potluck; but
+that it alone should thrive, devouring, as it were, all the rest, is
+one of those freaks of Nature in which she would seem to discourage
+the homely virtues of prudence and honesty. Weeds and parasites have
+the odds greatly against them, yet they wage a very successful war
+nevertheless.
+
+The woods hold not such another gem as the nest of the humming-bird.
+The finding of one is an event to date from. It is the next best thing
+to finding an eagle's nest. I have met with but two, both by chance.
+One was placed on the horizontal branch of a chestnut-tree, with a
+solitary green leaf, forming a complete canopy, about an inch and a
+half above it. The repeated spiteful dartings of the bird past my
+ears, as I stood under the tree, caused me to suspect that I was
+intruding upon some one's privacy; and following it with my eye, I
+soon saw the nest, which was in process of construction. Adopting my
+usual tactics of secreting myself near by, I had the satisfaction of
+seeing the tiny artist at work. It was the female, unassisted by her
+mate. At intervals of two or three minutes she would appear with a
+small tuft of some cottony substance in her beak, dart a few times
+through and around the tree, and alighting quickly in the nest arrange
+the material she had brought, using her breast as a model.
+
+The other nest I discovered in a dense forest on the side of a
+mountain. The sitting bird was disturbed as I passed beneath her. The
+whirring of her wings arrested my attention, when, after a short
+pause, I had the good luck to see, through an opening in the leaves,
+the bird return to her nest, which appeared like a mere wart or
+excrescence on a small branch. The humming-bird, unlike all others,
+does not alight upon the nest, but flies into it. She enters it as
+quick as a flash, but as light as any feather. Two eggs are the
+complement. They are perfectly white, and so frail that only a woman's
+fingers may touch them. Incubation lasts about ten days. In a week the
+young have flown.
+
+The only nest like the humming-bird's, and comparable to it in
+neatness and symmetry, is that of the blue-gray gnat-catcher. This is
+often saddled upon the limb in the same manner, though it is generally
+more or less pendent; it is deep and soft, composed mostly of some
+vegetable down, covered all over with delicate tree-lichens, and,
+except that it is much larger, appears almost identical with the nest
+of the humming-bird.
+
+But the nest of nests, the ideal nest, after we have left the deep
+woods, is unquestionably that of the Baltimore oriole. It is the only
+perfectly pensile nest we have. The nest of the orchard oriole is
+indeed mainly so, but this bird generally builds lower and shallower,
+more after the manner of the vireos.
+
+The Baltimore oriole loves to attach its nest to the swaying branches
+of the tallest elms, making no attempt at concealment, but satisfied
+if the position be high and the branch pendent. This nest would seem
+to cost more time and skill than any other bird structure. A peculiar
+flax-like substance seems to be always sought after, and always
+found. The nest when completed assumes the form of a large, suspended
+gourd. The walls are thin but firm, and proof against the most driving
+rain. The mouth is hemmed or over-handed with horse-hair, and the
+sides are usually sewed through and through with the same.
+
+Not particular as to the matter of secrecy, the bird is not particular
+as to material, so that it be of the nature of strings or threads. A
+lady friend once told me that while working by an open window, one of
+these birds approached during her momentary absence, and, seizing a
+skein of some kind of thread or yarn, made off with it to its
+half-finished nest. But the perverse yarn caught fast in the branches,
+and, in the bird's efforts to extricate it, got hopelessly tangled.
+She tugged away at it all day, but was finally obliged to content
+herself with a few detached portions. The fluttering strings were an
+eye-sore to her ever after, and passing and repassing, she would give
+them a spiteful jerk, as much as to say, "There is that confounded
+yarn that gave me so much trouble."
+
+From Pennsylvania, Vincent Barnard (to whom I am indebted for other
+curious facts) sent me this interesting story of an oriole. He says a
+friend of his, curious in such things, on observing the bird beginning
+to build, hung out near the prospective nest skeins of many-colored
+zephyr-yarn, which the eager artist readily appropriated. He managed
+it so that the bird used nearly equal quantities of various high,
+bright colors. The nest was made unusually deep and capacious, and it
+may be questioned if such a thing of beauty was ever before woven by
+the cunning of a bird.
+
+Nuttall, by far the most genial of American ornithologists, relates
+the following:--
+
+"A female (oriole), which I observed attentively, carried off to her
+nest a piece of lamp-wick ten or twelve feet long. This long string
+and many other shorter ones were left hanging out for about a week
+before both the ends were wattled into the sides of the nest. Some
+other little birds making use of similar materials, at times twitched
+these flowing ends, and generally brought out the busy Baltimore from
+her occupation in great anger.
+
+"I may perhaps claim indulgence for adding a little more of the
+biography of this particular bird, as a representative, also, of
+the instincts of her race. She completed the nest in about a week's
+time, without any aid from her mate, who, indeed, appeared but seldom
+in her company, and was now become nearly silent. For fibrous
+materials she broke, hackled, and gathered the flax of the _asclepias_
+and _hibiscus_ stalks, tearing off long strings and flying with them
+to the scene of her labors. She appeared very eager and hasty in her
+pursuits, and collected her materials without fear or restraint, while
+three men were working in the neighboring walks, and many persons
+visiting the garden. Her courage and perseverance were indeed truly
+admirable. If watched too narrowly, she saluted with her usual
+scolding, _tshrr, tshrr, tshrr_, seeing no reason, probably, why she
+should be interrupted in her indispensable occupation.
+
+"Though the males were now comparatively silent on the arrival of
+their busy mates, I could not help observing this female and a second,
+continually vociferating apparently in strife. At last she was
+observed to attack this second female very fiercely, who slyly
+intruded herself at times into the same tree where she was building.
+These contests were angry and often repeated. To account for this
+animosity, I now recollected that two fine males had been killed in
+our vicinity; and I therefore concluded the intruder to be left
+without a mate; yet she had gained the affections of the consort of
+the busy female, and thus the cause of their jealous quarrel became
+apparent. Having obtained the confidence of her faithless paramour,
+the second female began preparing to weave a nest in an adjoining elm,
+by tying together certain pendent twigs as a foundation. The male now
+associated chiefly with the intruder, whom he even assisted in her
+labor, yet did not wholly forget his first partner, who called on him
+one evening in a low, affectionate tone, which was answered in the
+same strain. While they were thus engaged in friendly whispers,
+suddenly appeared the rival, and a violent _rencontre_ ensued, so that
+one of the females appeared to be greatly agitated, and fluttered with
+spreading wings as if considerably hurt. The male, though prudently
+neutral in the contest, showed his culpable partiality by flying off
+with his paramour, and for the rest of the evening left the tree to
+his pugnacious consort. Cares of another kind, more imperious and
+tender, at length reconciled, or at least terminated, these disputes
+with the jealous females; and by the aid of the neighboring bachelors,
+who are never wanting among these and other birds, peace was at length
+completely restored, by the restitution of the quiet and happy
+condition of monogamy."
+
+Let me not forget to mention the nest under the mountain ledge, the
+nest of the common pewee, a modest mossy structure, with four
+pearl-white eggs, looking out upon some wild scene and overhung by
+beetling crags. After all has been said about the elaborate, high-hung
+structures, few nests, perhaps, awaken more pleasant emotions in the
+mind of the beholder than this of the pewee,--the gray, silent rocks,
+with caverns and dens where the fox and the wolf lurk, and just out of
+their reach, in a little niche, as if it grew there, the mossy
+tenement!
+
+Nearly every high projecting rock in my range has one of these nests.
+Following a trout stream up a wild mountain gorge, not long since, I
+counted five in the distance of a mile, all within easy reach, but
+safe from the minks and the skunks, and well housed from the storms.
+In my native town I know a pine and oak clad hill, round-topped, with
+a bold, precipitous front extending half-way around it. Near the top,
+and along this front or side, there crops out a ledge of rocks
+unusually high and cavernous. One immense layer projects many feet,
+allowing a person or many persons, standing upright, to move freely
+beneath it. There is a delicious spring of water there, and plenty of
+wild, cool air. The floor is of loose stone, now trod by sheep and
+foxes, once by the Indian and the wolf. How I have delighted from
+boyhood to spend a summer-day in this retreat or take refuge there
+from a sudden shower! Always the freshness and coolness, and always
+the delicate mossy nest of the phoebe-bird! The bird keeps her place
+till you are within a few feet of her, when she flits to a near
+branch, and, with many oscillations of her tail, observes you
+anxiously. Since the country has become settled, this pewee has fallen
+into the strange practice of occasionally placing its nest under a
+bridge, hay-shed, or other artificial structure, where it is subject
+to all kinds of interruptions and annoyances. When placed thus, the
+nest is larger and coarser. I know a hayloft beneath which a pair has
+regularly placed its nest for several successive seasons. Arranged
+along on a single pole, which sags down a few inches from the flooring
+it was intended to help support, are three of these structures,
+marking the number of years the birds have nested there. The
+foundation is of mud with a superstructure of moss, elaborately lined
+with hair and feathers. Nothing can be more perfect and exquisite than
+the interior of one of these nests, yet a new one is built every
+season. Three broods, however, are frequently reared in it.
+
+[Illustration: NEST OF PHOEBE.]
+
+The pewees, as a class, are the best architects we have. The king-bird
+builds a nest altogether admirable, using various soft cotton and
+woollen substances, and sparing neither time nor material to make it
+substantial and warm. The green-crested pewee builds its nest in many
+instances wholly of the blossoms of the white-oak. The wood pewee
+builds a neat, compact socket-shaped nest of moss and lichens on a
+horizontal branch. There is never a loose end or shred about it. The
+sitting bird is largely visible above the rim. She moves her head
+freely about, and seems entirely at her ease,--a circumstance which I
+have never observed in any other species. The nest of the
+great-crested flycatcher is seldom free from snake skins, three or
+four being sometimes woven into it.
+
+About the thinnest, shallowest nest, for its situation, that can be
+found is that of the turtle-dove. A few sticks and straws are
+carelessly thrown together, hardly sufficient to prevent the eggs from
+falling through or rolling off. The nest of the passenger pigeon is
+equally hasty and insufficient, and the squabs often fall to the
+ground and perish. The other extreme among our common birds is
+furnished by the ferruginous thrush, which collects together a mass of
+material that would fill a half-bushel measure; or by the fish-hawk,
+which adds to and repairs its nest year after year, till the whole
+would make a cart-load.
+
+The rarest of all nests is that of the eagle, because the eagle is the
+rarest of all birds. Indeed, so seldom is the eagle seen, that its
+presence always seems accidental. It appears as if merely pausing on
+the way, while bound for some distant unknown region. One September,
+while a youth, I saw the ring-tailed eagle, an immense, dusky bird,
+the sight of which filled me with awe. It lingered about the hills for
+two days. Some young cattle, a two year-old colt, and half a dozen
+sheep were at pasture on a high ridge that led up to the mountain,
+and in plain view of the house. On the second day, this dusky monarch
+was seen flying about above them. Presently he began to hover over
+them, after the manner of a hawk watching for mice. He then with
+extended legs let himself slowly down upon them, actually grappling
+the backs of the young cattle, and frightening the creatures so that
+they rushed about the field in great consternation; and finally, as he
+grew bolder and more frequent in his descents, the whole herd broke
+over the fence, and came tearing down to the house "like mad." It did
+not seem to be an assault with intent to kill, but was, perhaps, a
+stratagem resorted to in order to separate the herd and expose the
+lambs, which hugged the cattle very closely. When he occasionally
+alighted upon the oaks that stood near, the branch _could_ be seen to
+sway and bend beneath him. Finally, as a rifleman started out in
+pursuit of him, he launched into the air, set his wings, and sailed
+away southward. A few years afterward, in January, another eagle
+passed through the same locality, alighting in a field near some dead
+animal, but tarried briefly.
+
+[Illustration: EAGLE.]
+
+So much by way of identification. The bird is common to the northern
+parts of both hemispheres, and places its eyrie on high, precipitous
+rocks. A pair built on an inaccessible shelf of rock along the Hudson
+for eight successive years. A squad of Revolutionary soldiers also
+found a nest along this river, and had an adventure with the bird that
+came near costing one of their number his life. His comrades let him
+down by a rope to secure the eggs or young, when he was attacked by
+the female eagle with such fury that he was obliged to defend himself
+with his knife. In doing so, by a mis-stroke, he nearly severed the
+rope that held him, and was drawn up by a single strand from his
+perilous position. Audubon, from whom this anecdote is taken, figures
+and describes this bird as the golden eagle, though I have little
+doubt that Wilson was right, and that the golden eagle is a distinct
+species.
+
+The sea-eagle also builds on high rocks, according to Audubon, though
+Wilson describes the nest of one which he saw near Great Egg Harbor,
+in the top of a large yellow pine. It was a vast pile of sticks, sods,
+sedge, grass, reeds, etc., five or six feet high by four broad, and
+with little or no concavity. It had been used for many years, and he
+was told that the eagles made it a sort of home or lodging-place in
+all seasons. This agrees with the description which Audubon gives of
+the nest of the bald eagle. There is evidently a little confusion on
+both sides.
+
+The eagle in all cases uses one nest, with more or less repair, for
+several years. Many of our common birds do the same. The birds may be
+divided, with respect to this and kindred points, into five general
+classes. First, those that repair and appropriate the last year's
+nest, as the wren, swallow, blue-bird, great-crested flycatcher, owls,
+eagles, fish-hawk, and a few others. Secondly, those that build anew
+each season, though frequently rearing more than one brood in the same
+nest. Of these, the phoebe-bird is a well-known example. Thirdly, those
+that build a new nest for each brood, which includes by far the
+greatest number of species. Fourthly, a limited number that make no
+nest of their own, but appropriate the abandoned nests of other birds.
+Finally, those who use no nest at all, but deposit their eggs in the
+sand, which is the case with a large number of aquatic fowls. Thus the
+common gull breeds in vast numbers on the sand bars or sand islands
+off the south coast of Long Island. A little dent is made in the sand,
+the eggs are dropped, and the old birds go their way. In due time the
+eggs are hatched by the warmth of the sun, and the little creatures
+shift for themselves. In July countless numbers of them, of different
+ages and sizes, swarm upon these sandy wastes. As the waves roll out,
+they rush down the beach, picking up a kind of sea gluten, and then
+hasten back to avoid the next breaker.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS IN THEIR RELATION TO AGRICULTURE
+
+(FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEBRASKA ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION JANUARY,
+1901.)[4]
+
+BY LAURENCE BRUNER.
+
+[4] By permission.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+When civilized man takes possession of new regions and begins
+cultivating the soil and establishes his sovereignty there, the
+equilibrium as it existed upon his arrival is very quickly disturbed.
+One or more of the many forms of life--plant and animal--that were
+previously held within certain limits gain ascendency. The
+introduction of new crops that furnish an abundance of the proper food
+for some insect, enables this form to increase out of all proportions
+and harm soon results. The killing off of certain other forms of life
+that naturally keep still others in check also assists in disturbing
+the equilibrium further. The cutting down and clearing away of forests
+removes the shelter and homes of others, as does also the turning
+under of prairie grasses. Then, too, many of the natural residents of
+primeval forests and virgin prairies shun the sight of man, hence they
+gradually withdraw from the region, and their influence for good or
+evil goes with them. Since the majority of such forms are timid and
+inoffensive creatures, their withdrawal only adds that much more to
+the already overbalanced conditions. Year by year the gap which at
+first was scarcely noticeable becomes widened, so that frequent
+inroads are made and harm results. Instead of trying to ascertain the
+true cause for all this trouble perhaps exactly the wrong thing is
+done by the settlers. This of course only has the effect of further
+widening the gap between safety and danger. Since an insect or other
+animal becomes noticeably harmful only when present in alarming
+numbers, it stands to reason that anything which favors such an
+abnormal increase is a factor in disturbing nature and should be
+quickly rectified where possible. In order that these disturbances
+should be looked after the all-wise God of the universe created birds
+and gave them the power of flight that they might the more readily
+move about rapidly from place to place, where their services might be
+needed in balancing affairs. Hence birds have naturally and rightfully
+been called the "balancers" in nature. This being true, let us see
+just what their relations are to agriculture.
+
+The farmer sows in order that he may reap an increased measure of what
+he has sown. In doing this he must first turn over the soil. This
+destroys many existing plants as well as animals that depend upon them
+for food. The plants thus turned down cannot regain their position
+and must of necessity die. Not so with many of the animals, however,
+which soon work their way to the surface. Some of these attack the
+growing plants which have been made to occupy the place of those
+destroyed by the plough. Others take wing and seek suitable food in
+adjoining districts where they add to the numbers already drawing upon
+the vegetation up to the point of possible continued supply. Here,
+then, the scales begin to vibrate. In the field the new and tender
+crop entices the ever-shifting individuals of myriads of forms that
+have been crowded out elsewhere. The result here too is, or would be,
+very disastrous were it not for the timely visit of flocks of birds
+likewise in search of food.
+
+It is during the period of first settlement of a country, when the
+fields are small, few and widely separated, that injury may and
+frequently does result from birds. It is then a problem that needs
+careful consideration, not only for the time being, but also for the
+future welfare of that country. If animal life is destroyed
+indiscriminately and without intelligent forethought, calamities
+unforeseen are sure to follow in the not distant future.
+
+Birds can be useful to man in many ways. They can benefit him by
+carrying the seeds of various plants from place to place so as to
+assist him in establishing new groves in which to find shelter from
+the cold in winter and refuge from the heat of the noonday sun in
+summer. They plant various shrubs by the wayside that spring up and
+later are laden with luscious fruit. They also carry the spawn of
+fishes and small crustaceans among their feathers into new waters, and
+feed upon the countless seeds of weeds that are scattered broadcast
+over the face of the earth. Some kinds live almost exclusively upon
+insects, while others hunt out the small rodents that would, if left
+to themselves, destroy great quantities of grain and other vegetation.
+Still other birds benefit mankind by acting as scavengers in the
+removal of putrid and other offensive matter which would endanger our
+health. In addition to all these varied direct benefits which are
+brought about by the presence of birds, man is further indebted to
+these creatures for the cheer which their gay music, bright plumage
+and pleasant manners bring to him. The birds form a carefully
+organized army of police which is engaged in keeping affairs balanced
+in nature.
+
+But we can go even further summing up the benefits that men may derive
+from the birds. A great many kinds make excellent food, while others
+furnish sport and pleasure to a large number of men and boys who seem
+to require a certain kind of entertainment while accompanied with dog
+and gun. Dead birds when embalmed as mummies and attached to the
+head-gear worn by some girls and women are also claimed to cause much
+happiness.
+
+_Birds as Enemies._--It would be ridiculous for me to assert here that
+no injury ever results from the presence of birds on the farm or in
+the orchard. Quite a number of different species are continually
+stepping over to the wrong side of the "ledger" as it were, and
+committing depredations of various kinds which if considered alone
+would render the perpetrators liable to severe punishment--in some
+cases even unto death. Some of the crimes that can be charged to the
+feathered tribe are cherry and berry-stealing, grape-puncturing,
+apple-pecking, corn-pulling, grain-eating, the unintentional carrying
+from place to place of some kinds of scale insects that happen to
+crawl on their legs and feet, the possible spreading of hog cholera by
+crows and buzzards, the robbing of the poultry yard, and lastly some
+birds are accused of making noises that awaken us from our slumbers in
+the morning.
+
+Some of these crimes are genuine and are to be deplored, while others
+are more imaginary than real. A few of them could be prevented in part
+or altogether, while others might be diminished if we were inclined to
+take the trouble to do it.
+
+After all that can be said pro and con concerning the usefulness of
+birds in general there remains no doubt, in the minds of thinking
+people at least, as to the value of these creatures. It is only the
+vicious, biased, and thoughtless persons who continue ruthlessly to
+destroy birds indiscriminately without first pausing to consider
+whether or not it is a proper thing to do, whether it is right or
+wrong.
+
+_Food habits._--So varied is this task of evening up in nature that if
+attended to properly the workers must be numerous in individuals and
+possess widely different habits. That such is the case can readily be
+seen by the following brief account of the various groups of our
+Nebraska birds, along with brief statements of their food habits.
+
+The Grebes and Loons feed chiefly upon snails and other aquatic
+animals such as are found about their haunts. They also capture many
+grasshoppers and similar insects that happen in their way. They
+cannot, therefore, be classed among the especially beneficial birds,
+neither can they be termed injurious on account of what they eat.
+
+The Gulls, provided as they are with long wings and great powers for
+flight, are not confined to the seacoast, hence they reach far inland
+in their migrations, feeding extensively upon insects like locusts,
+June-beetles, crickets, etc., large numbers of which they destroy
+annually. Several kinds of these birds are known to follow the plough
+and pick up the white grubs and other insects that are turned up and
+laid bare. In early days, when grasshoppers did much harm in this
+state, numerous flocks of these birds were seen to feed upon these
+insects.
+
+The Cormorants and Pelicans are chiefly destroyers of fishes and
+frogs, hence can hardly be classed among the most beneficial forms;
+but whether or not they do any more than to maintain the necessary
+equilibrium in that particular part of the vast field of nature it is
+difficult to judge without time for investigation.
+
+The various Ducks and Geese which are also nearly as aquatic in their
+habits as some of the foregoing, frequently leave their haunts and
+make excursions into the surrounding country where in summer they feed
+upon locusts, beetles, and other injurious insects. They also partake
+of considerable quantities of vegetable food, as grains, weed seeds,
+grasses, and other herbage. While not included among the insectivorous
+forms these birds do much towards diminishing the ever increasing
+horde of creeping and jumping things. Ducks and geese on the other
+hand are largely utilized by us as food: while their feathers make
+comfortable pillows and coverlets.
+
+The Herons, Cranes, and Rails are frequenters of marshes and the
+margins of streams and bodies of water, where they assist in keeping
+the various forms among the animal life balanced. Fishes, frogs,
+snails, insects, and crustaceans are alike devoured by them.
+
+The Snipe, Sandpipers, Plovers, Phalaropes, Curlews, etc., are great
+destroyers of insects. Moving as many of them do in great flocks and
+spreading out over the meadows, pastures, and hillsides, as well as
+among the cultivated fields, they do a large amount of careful police
+service in arresting the culprits among insects. They even pry them
+out of burrows and crevices in the earth where these creatures lurk
+during daytime only to come forth after nightfall to destroy
+vegetation. The large flocks of Eskimo Curlews that formerly passed
+through eastern Nebraska did magnificent work during years when the
+Rocky Mountain Locust was with us, as did also the equally large
+flocks of Golden Plovers. The Bartramian Sandpiper even now is a great
+factor each summer in checking the increasing locusts on our prairies.
+
+The various members of the Grouse family, while belonging to a
+grain-eating group, are certainly quite prominent as insect
+destroyers. Especially is this so with respect to the Quail, Prairie
+Hen, Sharptailed Grouse, and Wild Turkey, all of which are occupied
+most of the summer months in capturing and destroying vast numbers of
+such insects as are found on the prairies. Grasshoppers, locusts,
+crickets, caterpillars, and similar insects comprise the bulk of their
+insect food--forms that are all among the most numerous as well as
+destructive species. In writing about these birds as insect
+destroyers Prof. Samuel Aughey writes: "I happened to be in the
+Republican Valley, in south-western Nebraska, in August, 1874, when
+the locust invaded that region. Prairie chickens and quails, that
+previous to their coming had a large number of seeds in their
+stomachs, when dissected, seemed now for a time to abandon all other
+kinds of food. At least from this onward for a month little else than
+locusts were found in their stomachs. All the birds seemed now to live
+solely on locusts for a while." In winter and at other times of the
+year when insect life is scarce and difficult to obtain, these birds
+feed more or less extensively upon seeds and other kinds of
+vegetation. Some even enter cultivated grounds and seek food that
+belongs to the farmer, thereby doing more or less direct injury. The
+extent of such injury, of course, depends upon the number of birds
+engaged in the depredations, and also on the time over which it is
+allowed to extend. If corn and other grain is harvested at the proper
+time, but little damage ensues; but if allowed to remain in the field
+throughout winter, much of the crop is liable to be taken by the
+birds.
+
+[Illustration: QUAIL.]
+
+Perhaps no other bird that frequents the farm pays higher prices for
+the grain it eats than does the Quail. Living about the hedgerows,
+groves, and ravines, where insect enemies gather and lurk during the
+greater part of the year, this bird not only seizes large numbers of
+these enemies daily during the summer months when they are "abroad in
+the land," but all winter through it scratches among the fallen leaves
+and other rubbish that accumulates about its haunts seeking for
+hibernating insects of various kinds. Being a timid little creature,
+the Quail seldom leaves cover to feed openly in the fields, and
+therefore does but little actual harm in the way of destroying grain.
+In fact it only takes stray kernels that otherwise might be lost. This
+bird is one of the few that feeds upon that unsavory insect, the
+chinch-bug; and the number of this pest that occasionally are
+destroyed by it is really astonishing. No farmer or fruit-grower
+should ever kill a quail himself nor allow anyone else to hunt it on
+his premises.
+
+Our domestic fowls, save ducks and geese, from which so much direct
+income is derived throughout the year, belong here. It would be folly
+on my part to assert that they are useless to the farmer. Besides
+furnishing eggs and meat for the table, they are great aids in keeping
+down a variety of noxious insects during spring, summer, and fall.
+
+The various species of Doves or Pigeons are not, as a rule, thought of
+as being especially harmful, yet repeated examinations of their
+stomach contents would indicate that their food seldom, if ever,
+consists of anything but grains and various kinds of seeds along with
+other particles of vegetation. The good done by these birds as
+destroyers of weed seeds more than pays for the harm done by them as
+grain-eaters.
+
+Recent careful study with reference to the food habits of Hawks and
+Owls carried on by the United States Department of Agriculture go to
+show that these birds, with but few exceptions, are the farmer's
+friends rather than his enemies. It appears that the good which they
+accomplish in the way of destroying mice, gophers, rabbits and other
+small mammals along with great quantities of noxious insects far
+exceeds the possible harm they do by the occasional destruction of
+poultry and other birds. A critical examination of the actual contents
+of about twenty-seven hundred stomachs of these birds showed that only
+six of the seventy-three species found in the United States are
+injurious. Three of these are so rare that they need not be
+considered. Of the remaining three the Fish Hawk is only indirectly
+injurious: hence but two remain to be considered, viz., the
+Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks. "Omitting the six species that feed
+largely on poultry and game, 2,212 stomachs were examined, of which
+56�per cent contained mice and other small mammals, 27�per cent insects,
+and only 3��per cent poultry and game birds."
+
+The food habits of both the Turkey Vulture and Carrion Crow, or Black
+Vulture, are of such a nature that the destruction of these birds
+should be prohibited. In fact, in many of the states this is done by
+law. They live almost exclusively upon carrion or decomposing animal
+matter, and in this manner aid in the prevention of diseases that
+might result from the presence of such filth. They may, however, be
+the cause of indirectly spreading hog cholera where animals that have
+died from this disease are left unburied or unburned.
+
+The Cuckoos are among the few birds that habitually feed upon hairy
+caterpillars, such as the various "tent-making" species. They also
+destroy large numbers of other caterpillars, and do not object to
+beetles and other insects which they find among the foliage of trees.
+Although shy birds they are frequently seen in cities, where they do
+their share in protecting the shade trees from the ravages of insect
+defoliators.
+
+[Illustration: WOODPECKER.]
+
+Taking the Woodpeckers as a family, there are few persons but who will
+readily admit that these birds comprise a very useful group. Feeding,
+in fact, as most of them do, upon the larv� of wood-boring insects,
+they can readily do much greater good for the actual number of insects
+destroyed than if they destroyed only those that feed upon the foliage
+of trees. Not unfrequently will a single borer kill an entire tree if
+left to itself, while hundreds of foliage-feeding caterpillars of the
+same size have but little effect upon the appearance, to say nothing
+of the health, of the same tree.
+
+Mr. M.�L. Beal, assistant in the Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy
+of the United States Department of Agriculture, in summing up the
+results obtained from the examination of six hundred and seventy-nine
+stomachs of these birds, writes as follows:
+
+"In reviewing the results of these investigations and comparing one
+species with another, without losing sight of the fact that
+comparative good is not necessarily positive good, it appears that of
+seven species considered the Downy Woodpecker is the most beneficial."
+He then goes on to give the food habits based on contents of the
+stomachs of our most common species. "Judged by the stomach
+examinations of the Downy and Hairy Woodpecker and Flicker it would be
+hard to find three other species of our common birds with fewer
+harmful qualities."
+
+The Flicker is one of our most common woodpeckers in Nebraska and does
+much towards keeping down a number of different kinds of insects. It
+is very fond of ants as a diet, in fact is partial to them, and this
+element forms almost half of its entire food-supply during the year.
+It also occasionally feeds upon the chinch-bug, as can be attested by
+the fact that the stomach of a specimen killed near Lincoln contained
+in the vicinity of one thousand of these bugs. It is also a
+fruit-eater to the extent of about one-quarter of its entire bill of
+fare, but nature, not man, furnishes the supply. It takes the wild
+kinds in preference to those that are cultivated.
+
+The Whippoorwill, Night Hawk, and Swifts feed entirely on insects,
+and must consequently be classed among the beneficial birds. They all
+capture their prey while upon the wing, and naturally destroy large
+numbers of troublesome kinds.
+
+The various species of Flycatchers, as the name implies, destroy
+insects which they capture for the most part while on the wing. Flies
+and allied insects are quite prominent on their bill of fare; but
+these by no means are the only kinds of insects destroyed by them.
+Many a luckless locust, butterfly, moth or even beetle is snapped up
+and devoured by the different species of the family. The Bee-bird, or
+Kingbird as it is more frequently called, sometimes even catches bees.
+These latter, however, consist largely of drones, hence comparatively
+little harm is done.
+
+One should be unprejudiced in order to write a fair biography of even
+a bird, or group of birds. To say that I am without such prejudice
+with reference to some of the members of the family of birds now to be
+considered, would be a falsehood. Still, I shall endeavor to give as
+unbiased testimony as possible with reference to their food-habits at
+least, and let the reader judge for himself as to what would be the
+proper treatment for these birds. Taking the family as a whole that
+which is made up of birds like the Crows, Ravens, Magpies, Jays,
+Nut-crackers, "Camp-robbers," etc., though some of them have
+unenviable names and reputations at least, are not at all as bad as we
+are sometimes requested to believe them to be.
+
+The Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and immediate relatives are what might be
+termed "omnivorous" in food-habits, eating everything that comes their
+way. Crows, however, have been shown to feed largely on insects,
+which in great measure at least, offsets the harm done in other
+directions. They also feed on various substances, the removal of which
+is for the general good.
+
+The Raven is too rare a bird in this state to be taken into
+consideration in respect to food-habits, and the Magpie certainly can
+be put out of the question of doing any possible harm for the same
+reason. This leaves then to be considered, the Jays, of which we seem
+to have six or seven distinct kinds; but only two of these are at all
+common. The Blue Jay is found over the entire state, and is familiar
+to everybody. The second species is found only in the western and
+north-western portions among the pine forests, and is known as the
+Pinon Jay or "Camp-robber"--the latter name not very flattering to the
+bird I must confess.
+
+The Blue Jay does much of the mischief that is laid at the door of the
+Robin, orioles, thrushes, and other birds, and then sneaks away
+unobserved. He also destroys large numbers of insects and robs the
+nest of some small birds.
+
+In the Bobolink, Meadowlark, Orioles, and Black-birds, we have some of
+the most important insect destroyers among the feathered tribes. The
+Bobolink is with us only during the summer months when it is entirely
+insectivorous; and the same can be said of the Cowbird, although the
+latter has the bad habit of compelling other birds to rear its young.
+
+In the Red-winged Blackbird we have a friend that we little dream of
+when we see the large flocks gathering about our corn-fields during
+late summer, and early fall. During the balance of the year it is
+engaged most of the time in waging war on various insect pests,
+including such forms as the "grub-worms," cut-worms, grasshoppers,
+army worm, beet caterpillar, etc. Even when it visits our corn-fields
+it more than pays for the corn it eats by the destruction of the worms
+that lurk under the husks of a large per cent of the ears in every
+field.
+
+[Illustration: BOBOLINK.]
+
+Several years ago the beet fields in the vicinity of Grand Island were
+threatened great injury by a certain caterpillar that had nearly
+defoliated all the beets growing in many of them. At about this time
+large flocks of this bird appeared and after a week's sojourn the
+caterpillar plague had vanished, it having been converted into bird
+tissues. Numerous other records of the efficiency of their labor as
+destroyers of insect pests might be quoted in favor of this bird, but
+I do not believe this to be necessary, although considerable evidence
+has been recorded of its destroying both fruits and grains.
+
+The Baltimore Oriole has received such a bad reputation here in
+Nebraska as a grape thief during the past few years that I feel
+inclined to give extra time and space in endeavoring to "clear him"
+of such an unenviable charge. This, however, I hardly think necessary
+when the facts in the case are known. As insect destroyers both this
+bird and the Orchard Oriole have had an undisputed reputation for many
+years: and the kinds of insects destroyed by both are of such a class
+as to count greatly in their favor. Caterpillars and beetles belonging
+to injurious species comprising ninety-six per cent of the food of
+three specimens killed is the record we have in their favor. On the
+other hand, grapes have been punctured only "presumably by this bird,
+since he has so frequently been found in the vineyard and must be the
+culprit." Now I myself have seen the Oriole in apple orchards under
+compromising circumstances, and have heard pretty strong evidence to
+the effect that it will occasionally puncture ripe apples. It also
+belongs in the same family with some generally accepted "rascals"
+hence I will admit that possibly some of the charges with which he is
+credited may be true; but I still believe that most of the injuries
+to grapes in this and other states must be laid to the English
+Sparrow.
+
+[Illustration: RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD.]
+
+If we take pains to water our birds during the dry seasons they will
+be much less apt to seek this supply from the juices of fruits that
+are so temptingly near at hand. Place little pans of water in the
+orchard and vineyard where the birds can visit them without fear of
+being seized by the house cat or knocked over by a missile from the
+alert "small boy," and I am sure that the injury to fruit, to a great
+extent at least, will cease.
+
+Recent investigations tend to prove that the Grackle or Crow-Blackbird
+does more good than harm and should be protected.
+
+Our Sparrows and their allies, taken together, form a very extensive
+family of very beautiful as well as useful birds. Like the warblers,
+they occupy themselves with searching for and destroying insects all
+summer long; but this is not all they do that is good. In fall,
+winter, and early spring, when Mother Earth has lost her brilliant
+green and rests in sombre browns or beneath ice and snow, the
+longspurs, Snow Bunting, Snowbird, and some of the sparrows that have
+remained with us are busily engaged in gathering for themselves a
+living. They hop and fly about from place to place searching for and
+picking up little seeds of grass, grain and weeds, of shrubs and
+trees, and appropriating the same to their use, chirping merrily as
+they work away. The European House Sparrow, or the English Sparrow as
+it is more commonly called, has the worst reputation of the entire
+family. But even this bird has some redeeming traits.
+
+The Tanagers are insect destroyers, feeding for the most part on such
+forms as attack the foliage of trees.
+
+All of our Swallows are insect destroyers, capturing such forms as
+gnats, flies, etc., which they seize while on the wing. The large
+colonies of different species of these birds that breed within the
+state, as well as those that pass through during their migrations,
+destroy great numbers of these insects. They should be protected.
+
+The Waxwings, both the Cedar Bird and Bohemian Waxwing, feed
+principally upon berries, etc., which they find throughout the year.
+Still, in his studies of the food contents of the stomachs of a
+variety of birds taken in a certain orchard that was overrun with
+canker worms, Professor Forbes found that the seven specimens of the
+Ceder Waxwing had eaten nothing but canker-worms and a few dung
+beetles, the latter in such small numbers as to scarcely count. The
+number of caterpillars eaten by each bird ranged from 70 to 101.
+
+The Shrikes or "Butcher Birds" are known as veritable "brigands" or
+"pirates" when it comes to the destruction of other forms of life.
+They are true to their name, and "butcher" for pastime large numbers
+of insects, mice, lizards, small snakes, and even a few birds. They
+then fly to some thorn bush or barbed-wire fence and impale the
+luckless victim and leave it for future use, or to dry up and finally
+blow away. The good they do will outweigh the harm.
+
+The food of the various Greenlets or Vireos is made up almost entirely
+of insects, of which a large per cent are caterpillars, such as
+infest shade trees and the larger shrubs. They should be protected and
+encouraged, about the orchard in particular.
+
+In the words of that pleasing writer, Dr. Elliott Coues,[5] "The
+Warblers have we always with us, all in their own good time; they come
+out of the south, pass on, return, and are away again, their
+appearance and withdrawal scarcely less than a mystery; many stay with
+us all summer long, and some brave the winters in our midst. Some of
+these slight creatures, guided by unerring instinct, travel true to
+the meridian in the hours of darkness, slipping past like a 'thief
+in the night,' stopping at daybreak from their lofty nights to rest
+and recruit for the next stage of the journey. Others pass more
+leisurely from tree to tree, in a ceaseless tide of migration,
+gleaning as they go; the hardier males, in full song and plumage, lead
+the way for the weaker females and yearlings. With tireless industry
+do the warblers befriend the human race; their unconscious zeal plays
+due part in the nice adjustment of nature's forces, helping to bring
+about the balance of vegetable and insect life without which
+agriculture would be in vain. They visit the orchard when the apple
+and pear, the peach, plum, and cherry are in bloom, seeming to revel
+carelessly amid the sweet-scented and delicately-tinted blossoms, but
+never faltering in their good work. They peer into the crevices of the
+bark, scrutinize each leaf, and explore the very heart of the buds, to
+detect, drag forth, and destroy those tiny creatures, singly
+insignificant, collectively a scourge, which prey upon the hopes of
+the fruit-grower, and which, if undisturbed, would bring his care to
+naught. Some warblers flit incessantly in the terminal foliage of the
+tallest trees; others hug close to the scored trunks and gnarled
+boughs of the forest kings; some peep from the thicket, coppice, the
+impenetrable mantle of shrubbery that decks tiny water-courses,
+playing at hide-and-seek with all comers; others more humble still,
+descend to the ground, where they glide with pretty mincing steps and
+affected turning of the head this way and that, their delicate
+flesh-tinted feet just stirring the layer of withered leaves with
+which a past season carpeted the ground. We may seek warblers
+everywhere in the season; we shall find them a continued surprise; all
+mood and circumstance is theirs."
+
+[5] Key to North American Birds, p. 288.
+
+Much could be written concerning the food-habits of the various
+members of the group of Thrushes, Mocking-birds and Wrens. Three of
+the species at least are known to be more or less destructive to
+fruits, viz., Catbird, Brown Thrasher, and Mocking-bird. Still, if we
+take into account what these birds eat during the entire time spent
+within the state, the balance sheet stands in favor of the birds as
+insect destroyers. The wrens are pre-eminently insect destroyers, and
+the others are not much behind them in this respect.
+
+The members of the family of Nuthatches and Tits feed for the most
+part on insects. But we lack very definite figures regarding the kinds
+and numbers of insects that each destroys. We can be sure, however,
+that any favors shown them will not be thrown away.
+
+The Thrushes, Solitaires, Bluebirds, etc., are all beneficial as
+insect destroyers, and might be well compared with the Robin, which is
+described quite fully beyond, only they are even less liable to commit
+injuries to fruits.
+
+The Robin has certainly been accused often enough of being a
+first-class rascal to warrant the belief that there must be at least
+some grounds for such accusations being made. In his examination of
+one hundred and fourteen stomachs of this bird, taken during ten
+months of the year, Professor Forbes, of Illinois, found the contents
+to consist of sixty-five per cent insects and thirty-four per cent of
+fruits and seeds. In the estimates of these food percentages taken by
+the Robin, as well as by other birds, bulk for bulk is taken, i.e., a
+quart of caterpillars or other insects is equivalent to a quart of
+cherries or a quart of berries. Professor Forbes asks this question:
+"Will the destruction of seventeen quarts of average caterpillars,
+including at least eight quarts of cut-worms, pay for twenty-four
+quarts of cherries, blackberries, currents, and grapes?" and then
+answers it in these words: "To this question I, for my own part, can
+only reply that I do not believe that the horticulturist can sell his
+small fruits anywhere in the ordinary markets of the world at so high
+a price as to the Robin, provided that he uses proper diligence that
+the little huckster doesn't overreach him in the bargain."
+
+Much more might be said in favor of the Robin had I the time and space
+at my command.
+
+After having carefully scanned the foregoing notes concerning the
+food-habits of our birds we cannot afford to continue indifferent to
+our treatment of them, nor can we even allow our neighbors to kill
+them though we ourselves have decided to reform in this respect. We
+must work for a change of heart in our neighbors also.
+
+
+
+
+THE SCISSOR BEAK
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES, ETC.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It has short legs, web feet, extremely long--pointed wings, and is
+about the size of a tern. The beak is flattened laterally, that is, in
+a plane at right angles to that of a spoonbill or duck. It is as flat
+and elastic as an ivory paper-cutter, and the lower mandible,
+differently from every other bird, is an inch and a half longer than
+the upper. In a lake near Maldonado, from which the water had been
+nearly drained, and which, in consequence, swarmed with small fry, I
+saw several of these birds, generally in small flocks, flying rapidly
+backwards and forwards close to the surface of the lake. They kept
+their bills wide open, and the lower mandible half buried in the
+water. Thus skimming the surface, they ploughed it in their course;
+the water was quite smooth, and it formed a most curious spectacle to
+behold a flock, each bird leaving its narrow wake on the mirror-like
+surface. In their flight they frequently twist about with extreme
+quickness, and dexterously manage with their projecting lower mandible
+to plough up small fish, which are secured by the upper and shorter
+half of their scissor-like bills. This fact I repeatedly saw, as, like
+swallows, they continued to fly backwards and forwards close before
+me. Occasionally when leaving the surface of the water their flight
+was wild, irregular and rapid; then they uttered loud harsh cries.
+When these birds are fishing, the advantage of the long primary
+feathers of their wings, in keeping them dry, is very evident. When
+thus employed, their forms resemble the symbol by which many artists
+represent marine birds. Their tails are much used in steering their
+irregular course.
+
+These birds are common far inland along the course of the Rio Parana;
+it is said that they remain here during the whole year, and breed in
+the marshes. During the day they rest in flocks on the grassy plains,
+at some distance from the water. Being at anchor, as I have said, in
+one of the deep creeks between the islands of Parana, as the evening
+drew to a close, one of these scissor-beaks suddenly appeared. The
+water was quite still, and many little fish were rising. The bird
+continued for a long time to skim the surface, flying in its wild and
+irregular manner up and down the narrow canal, now dark with the
+growing night and the shadows of the overhanging trees. At Montevideo,
+I observed that some large flocks during the day remained on the
+mud-banks at the head of the harbor, in the same manner as on the
+grassy plains near the Parana; and every evening they took flight
+seaward. From these facts I suspect that the Rhynchops generally
+fishes by night, at which time many of the lower animals come most
+abundantly to the surface. M. Lesson states that he has seen these
+birds opening the shells of the mactrae buried in the sandbanks on the
+coast of Chile; from their weak bills, with the lower mandible so much
+projecting, their short legs and long wings, it is very improbable
+that this can be a general habit.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE CONDOR
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES, ETC.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This day I shot a condor. It measured from tip to tip of the wings
+eight and a half feet, and from beak to tail, four feet. This bird is
+known to have a wide geographical range, being found on the west coast
+of South America, from the Strait of Magellan along the Cordillera as
+far as eight degrees north of the equator. The steep cliff near the
+mouth of the Rio Negro is its northern limit on the Patagonian coast;
+and they have there wandered about four hundred miles from the great
+central line of their habitation in the Andes. Further south, among
+the bold precipices at the head of Port Desire, the condor is not
+uncommon; yet only a few stragglers occasionally visit the seacoast. A
+line of cliff near the mouth of the Santa Cruz is frequented by these
+birds, and about eighty miles up the river, where the sides of the
+valley are formed by steep basaltic precipices, the condor reappears.
+From these facts, it seems that the condors require perpendicular
+cliffs. In Chile, they haunt, during the greater part of the year, the
+lower country near the shores of the Pacific, and at night several
+roost together in one tree; but in the early part of summer, they
+retire to the most inaccessible parts of the inner Cordilleras, there
+to breed in peace.
+
+With respect to their propagation, I was told by the country people in
+Chile, that the condor makes no sort of nest, but in the months of
+November and December lays two large white eggs on a shelf of bare
+rock. It is said that the young condors cannot fly for an entire year;
+and long after they are able, they continue to roost by night, and
+hunt with their parents. The old birds generally live in pairs; but
+among the inland basaltic cliffs of the Santa Cruz, I found a spot,
+where scores must usually haunt. On coming suddenly to the brow of the
+precipice, it was a grand spectacle to see between twenty and thirty
+of these birds start heavily from their resting-place, and wheel away
+in majestic circles. From the quantity of dung on the rocks, they must
+long have frequented this place for roosting and breeding. Having
+gorged themselves with carrion on the plains below, they retire to
+these favorite ledges to digest their food. From these facts, the
+condor, like the gallinazo, must to a certain degree be considered as
+a gregarious bird. In this part of the country they live altogether on
+the guanacos which have died a natural death, or, as more commonly
+happens, have been killed by the pumas. I believe, from what I saw in
+Patagonia, they do not on ordinary occasions extend their daily
+excursions to any great distance from their regular sleeping-places.
+
+The condors may oftentimes be seen at a great height, soaring over a
+certain spot in the most graceful circles. On some occasions I am sure
+that they do this only for pleasure, but on others, the Chileno
+countryman tells you that they are watching a dying animal, or the
+puma devouring its prey. If the condors glide down, and then suddenly
+all rise together, the Chileno knows that it is the puma which,
+watching the carcass, has sprung out to drive away the robbers.
+Besides feeding on carrion, the condors frequently attack young goats
+and lambs; and the shepherd dogs are trained, whenever they pass over,
+to run out, and looking upwards to bark violently. The Chilenos
+destroy and catch numbers. Two methods are used; one is to place a
+carcass on a level piece of ground within an enclosure of sticks with
+an opening, and when the condors are gorged, to gallop up on horseback
+to the entrance, and thus enclose them; for when this bird has not
+space to run, it cannot give its body sufficient momentum to rise from
+the ground. The second method is to mark the trees in which,
+frequently to the number of five or six together, they roost, and then
+at night to climb up and noose them. They are such heavy sleepers, as
+I have myself witnessed, that this is not a difficult task. At
+Valpariso, I have seen a living condor sold for sixpence, but the
+common price is eight or ten shillings. One which I saw brought in had
+been tied with rope, and was much injured; yet, the moment the line
+was cut by which its bill was secured, although surrounded by people,
+it began ravenously to tear a piece of carrion. In a garden at the
+same place, between twenty and thirty were kept alive. They were fed
+only once a week, but they appeared in pretty good health. The Chileno
+countrymen assert that the condor will live, and retain its vigor,
+between five and six weeks without eating; I cannot answer for the
+truth of this, but it is a cruel experiment, which very likely has
+been tried.
+
+When an animal is killed in the country, it is well known that the
+condors, like other carrion-vultures, soon gain intelligence of it,
+and congregate in an inexplicable manner. In most cases it must not be
+overlooked, that the birds have discovered their prey, and have picked
+the skeleton clean, before the flesh is in the least degree tainted.
+Remembering the experiments of M. Audubon, on the little smelling
+powers of carrion-hawks, I tried in the above-mentioned garden the
+following experiment: the condors were tied, each by a rope, in a long
+row at the bottom of a wall; and having folded up a piece of meat in
+white paper, I walked backwards and forwards, carrying it in my hand
+at the distance of about three yards from them, but no notice whatever
+was taken. I then threw it on the ground, within one yard of an old
+male bird; he looked at it for a moment with attention, but then
+regarded it no more. With a stick I pushed it closer and closer, until
+at last he touched it with his beak; the paper was then instantly torn
+off with fury, and at the same moment, every bird in the long row
+began struggling and flapping its wings. Under the same circumstances,
+it would have been quite impossible to have deceived a dog. The
+evidence in favor of and against the acute smelling powers of
+carrion-vultures is singularly balanced. Professor Owen has
+demonstrated that the olfactory nerves of the turkey-buzzard
+(_Cathartes aura_) are highly developed; and on the evening when Mr.
+Owen's paper was read at the Zo�logical Society, it was mentioned by a
+gentleman that he had seen the carrion-hawks in the West Indies on two
+occasions collect on the roof of a house, when a corpse had become
+offensive from not having been buried: in this case, the intelligence
+could hardly have been acquired by sight. On the other hand, besides
+the experiments of Audubon and that one by myself, Mr. Bachman has
+tried in the United States many varied plans, showing that neither the
+turkey-buzzard (the species dissected by Professor Owen) nor the
+gallinazo find their food by smell. He covered portions of highly
+offensive offal with a thin canvas cloth, and strewed pieces of meat
+on it; these the carrion-vultures ate up, and then remained quietly
+standing, with their beaks within the eighth of an inch of the putrid
+mass, without discovering it. A small rent was made in the canvas, and
+the offal was immediately discovered; the canvas was replaced by a
+fresh piece, and meat again put on it, and was again devoured by the
+vultures without their discovering the hidden mass on which they were
+trampling. These facts are attested by the signatures of six
+gentlemen, besides that of Mr. Bachman.
+
+Often when lying down to rest on the open plains, on looking upwards,
+I have seen carrion-hawks sailing through the air at a great height.
+When the country is level I do not believe a space of the heavens, of
+more than fifteen degrees above the horizon, is commonly viewed with
+any attention by a person either walking or on horseback. If such be
+the case, and the vulture is on the wing at a height of between three
+or four thousand feet, before it could come within the range of
+vision, its distance in a straight line from the beholder's eye, would
+be rather more than two British miles. Might it not thus readily be
+overlooked? When an animal is killed by the sportsman in a lonely
+valley, may he not all the while be watched from above by the
+sharp-sighted bird? And will not the manner of its descent proclaim
+throughout the district to the whole family of carrion feeders, that
+their prey is at hand?
+
+When the condors are wheeling in a flock round and round any spot,
+their flight is beautiful. Except when rising from the ground, I do
+not recollect ever having seen one of these birds flap its wings. Near
+Lima, I watched several for nearly half an hour, without once taking
+off my eyes; they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles,
+descending and ascending without giving a single flap. As they glided
+close over my head, I intently watched from an oblique position, the
+outlines of the separate and great terminal feathers of each wing; and
+these separate feathers, if there had been the least vibratory
+movement, would have appeared as if blended together; for they were
+seen distinct against the blue sky. The head and neck were moved
+frequently, and apparently with force; and the extended wings seemed
+to form the fulcrum on which the movements of the neck, body, and tail
+acted. If the bird wished to descend, the wings were for a moment
+collapsed; and when again expanded with an altered inclination, the
+momentum gained by the rapid descent seemed to urge the bird upwards
+with the even and steady movement of a paper kite. In the case of any
+bird _soaring_, its motion must be sufficiently rapid, so that the
+action of the inclined surface of its body on the atmosphere may
+counterbalance its gravity. The force to keep up the momentum of a
+body moving in a horizontal plane in the air (in which there is so
+little friction) cannot be great, and this force is all that is
+wanted. The movement of the neck and body of the condor, we must
+suppose, is sufficient for this. However this may be, it is truly
+wonderful and beautiful to see so great a horde, hour after hour,
+without any apparent exertion, wheeling and gliding over mountain and
+river.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE UMBRELLA BIRD
+
+(FROM TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON.)
+
+BY SIR A.�R. WALLACE.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This singular bird is about the size of a raven, and is of a similar
+color, but its feathers have a more scaly appearance, from being
+margined with a different shade of glossy blue. It is also allied to
+the crows in its structure, being very similar to them in its feet and
+bill. On its head it bears a crest, different from that of any other
+bird. It is formed of feathers more than two inches long, very thickly
+set, and with hairy plumes curving over at the end. These can be laid
+back so as to be hardly visible, or can be erected and spread out on
+every side, forming a hemi-spherical, or rather a hemi-ellipsoidal
+dome, completely covering the head, and even reaching beyond the point
+of the beak: the individual feathers then stand out something like the
+down-bearing seeds of the dandelion. Besides this, there is another
+ornamental appendage on the breast, formed by a fleshy tubercle, as
+thick as a quill and an inch and a half long, which hangs down from
+the neck, and is thickly covered with glossy feathers, forming a large
+pendant plume or tassel. This also the bird can either press to its
+breast, so as to be scarcely visible, or can swell out, so as almost
+to conceal the forepart of its body. In the female the crest and the
+neck-plume are less developed, and she is altogether a smaller and
+much less handsome bird. It inhabits the flooded islands of the Rio
+Negro and the Solimoes, never appearing on the mainland. It feeds on
+fruits, and utters a loud, hoarse cry, like some deep musical
+instrument; whence its Indian name, _Uera-mimbe_, "trumpet-bird." The
+whole of the neck, where the plume of feathers springs from, is
+covered internally with a thick coat of hard, muscular fat, very
+difficult to be cleaned away,--which in preparing the skins, must be
+done, as it would putrefy, and cause the feathers to drop off. The
+birds are tolerably abundant, but are shy, and perch on the highest
+trees, and, being very muscular, will not fall unless severely
+wounded.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: THE UMBRELLA BIRD.]
+
+
+
+
+HUMMING BIRDS
+
+(FROM THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.)
+
+BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Soon after crossing the muddy Artigua below Pavon, a beautifully clear
+and sparkling brook is reached, coming down to join its pure waters
+with the soiled river below. In the evening this was a favorite resort
+of many birds that came to drink at the pellucid stream, or catch
+insects playing above the water. Amongst the last was the beautiful
+blue, green and white humming-bird; the head and neck deep
+metallic-blue, bordered on the back by a pure white collar over the
+shoulders, followed by deep metallic-green; on the underside the blue
+neck is succeeded by green, the green from the centre of the breast to
+the end of the tail by pure white; the tail can be expanded to a half
+circle, and each feather widening towards the end makes the semicircle
+complete around the edge. When catching the ephemerid� that play above
+the water, the tail is not expanded: it is reserved for times of
+courtship. I have seen the female sitting quietly on a branch, and
+two males displaying their charms in front of her. One would shoot up
+like a rocket, than suddenly expanding the snow-white tail like an
+inverted parachute, slowly descend in front of her, turning round
+gradually to show off both back and front. The effect was heightened
+by the wings being invisible from a distance of a few yards, both from
+their great velocity of movement and from not having the metallic
+lustre of the rest of the body. The expanded white tail covered more
+space than all the rest of the bird, and was evidently the grand
+feature in the performance. Whilst one was descending, the other would
+shoot up and come slowly down expanded. The entertainment would end in
+a fight between the two performers; but whether the most beautiful or
+the most pugnacious was the accepted suitor, I know not. Another fine
+humming-bird seen about this brook was the long-billed, fire-throated
+_Heliomaster pallidiceps_, Gould, generally seen probing long,
+narrow-throated red flowers, forming, with their attractive nectar,
+complete traps for the small insects on which the humming-birds feed,
+the bird returning the favor by carrying the pollen of one flower to
+another. A third species, also seen at this brook, _Petasophora
+delphinae_, Less., is of a dull brown color, with brilliant
+ear-feathers and metallic-green throat. Both it and the _Florisuga
+mellivora_ are short billed, generally catching flying insects, and do
+not frequent flowers so much as other humming-birds. I have seen the
+_Petasophora_ fly into the centre of a dancing column of midges and
+rapidly darting first at one end then at another secure half a dozen
+of the tiny flies before the column was broken up; then retire to a
+branch and wait until it was re-formed, when it made another sudden
+descent on them.... I have no doubt many humming-birds suck the honey
+from flowers, as I have seen it exude from their bills when shot; but
+others do not frequent them; and the principal food of all is small
+insects. I have examined scores of them, and never without finding
+insects in their crops. Their generally long bills have been spoken of
+by some naturalists as tubes into which they suck the honey by a
+piston-like movement of the tongue; but suction in the usual way would
+be just as effective; and I am satisfied that this is not the primary
+use of the tongue, nor of the mechanism which enables it to be exerted
+to a great length beyond the end of the bill. The tongue, for one-half
+of its length, is semi-horny and cleft in two, the two halves are laid
+flat against each other when at rest, but can be separated at the will
+of the bird and form a delicate pliable pair of forceps, most
+admirably adapted for picking out minute insects from amongst the
+stamens of the flowers.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE FOUNDATIONS OF A WONDERFUL CITY
+
+(FROM THE LIFE OF THE BEES.)
+
+BY MAURICE MAETERLINCK.
+
+(TRANSLATED BY MARIE JOSEPHINE WELSH.)
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Here in their new home there is nothing--not a drop of honey nor a
+single landmark in the shape of a piece of wax. The bee has no data
+and no starting-point; he has nothing but the desolate nakedness of
+the walls and the roof of an immense building. The walls are round and
+smooth, but all is dark within.... The bee does not understand useless
+regrets, or if he does, he does not encumber himself with them. Far
+from being discouraged by the conditions which now confront him, he is
+more determined than ever. The hive is no sooner set up in its proper
+place than the disorder of the crowd begins to diminish, and one sees
+in the swarming multitude clear and definite divisions which take
+shape in a most unexpected manner. The larger part of the bees, acting
+precisely like an army which is obeying the definite orders of its
+officer, at once begins to form thick columns along the whole length
+of the vertical partitions of the hive. The first to arrive at the top
+hang on to the arch by the claws of their hind legs, those who come
+after attach themselves to the first, and so on till long chains are
+formed which serve as bridges for the ever mounting crowd to pass
+over. Little by little these chains are multiplied with indefinite
+re-enforcements and interlacing each other become garlands, which,
+owing to the enormous and uninterrupted mounting of the bees upon
+them, are transformed into a thick triangular curtain, or rather into
+a sort of compact reversed cone, the point of which is attached to the
+top of the hive; the base of which is about two-thirds of the total
+height of the hive. Then the last bee, which would appear to be
+summoned by some interior voice to join this group, mounts this
+curtain, which is hung in the darkness, and little by little every
+movement among the vast crowd ceases, and this strange reversed cone
+remains for many hours in a silence which might be called religious,
+and in a statuesqueness which in such a mass of life is almost
+startling, waiting for the arrival of the mystery of the wax.
+
+[Illustration: CLUSTER OF BEES.]
+
+[Illustration: A BEE HIVE.]
+
+While this is going on, without taking any notice of the wonderful
+curtain from out of whose folds so magic a gift will come, without
+even appearing to be tempted to attach themselves to it, the rest of
+the bees, that is all those who are on the floor of the hive, begin to
+examine the building and to undertake the work which is necessary to
+be done. The floor is carefully swept, dead leaves, twigs, grains of
+sand are transferred to a considerable distance one by one, for bees
+have an absolute mania for cleanliness; so much is this the case that
+in the winter, when the extremely cold weather prevents them from
+taking what bee lovers know as their "flight of cleanliness," rather
+than soil the interior of the hive they perish in enormous numbers,
+victims of a disease of the stomach.
+
+After this cleaning up is done these same bees set themselves to work
+to carefully close up every opening which is round about the lower
+part of the hive. Finally when every crack has been carefully looked
+over, filled up and covered with propolis, they begin to varnish the
+whole of the interior sides. By this time guardians are placed at the
+entrance of the hive, and very soon a number of the working bees start
+on their first trip to the fields and begin to come back laden with
+nectar and pollen....
+
+Let us now lift up, so far as we may, one of the folds of this
+garlanded curtain in the midst of which the swarm is beginning to
+produce that strange exudation which is almost as white as snow, and
+is lighter than the down on a bird's breast. The wax which is now
+being made does not resemble at all that with which we are acquainted.
+It is colorless, and may be said to be imponderable. It is the very
+soul of the honey, which in its turn is the very spirit of the
+flowers, evolved by the bees in a species of silent and motionless
+incantation....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is very difficult to follow the various phases of the secretion and
+of the manner in which the wax is evolved by the swarm which is just
+beginning to build. The operation takes place in the midst of a dense
+crowd which becomes constantly more and more dense, thus producing a
+temperature favorable to the exudation of the wax in its first stage.
+
+Huber, who was the first to study these operations with marvellous
+patience, and sometimes not without personal danger, has written more
+than fifty pages on the subject, but they are very confused. For
+myself, as I am not writing a scientific book, I shall confine myself
+to describing what anybody can see if he will watch the movements of a
+swarm in a glass hive. At the same time I shall not fail to avail
+myself of Huber's studies whenever they may prove to be of service. We
+must admit at the very outset that the process by which the honey is
+transformed into wax in the bodies of this mysterious curtain of bees
+is still hidden in mystery. All that we know is that after about
+eighteen or twenty-four hours in a temperature so high that one might
+almost imagine there was a fire in the hive, small, white, transparent
+scales appear at the opening of the four little pockets which are to
+be found on each side of the abdomen of the bee. When the larger part
+of those who form the reversed cone have their abdomens decorated with
+these little ivory plates, one of them may be seen, as if under the
+influence of a sudden inspiration, to detach itself from the crowd and
+climb over the backs of its passive brethren until it reaches the apex
+of the cupola of the hive; attaching herself firmly to the top, she
+immediately sets to work to brush away those of her neighbors who may
+interfere with her movements. Then she seizes with her mouth one of
+the eight scales on the side of her abdomen and chews it, clips it,
+draws it out, steeps it in saliva, kneads it, crushes it, and makes it
+again into shape as dexterously as a carpenter would handle a piece of
+veneering. Then when the substance has been treated so as to bring it
+to the desired size and to the desired consistency, it is affixed to
+the very summit of the interior of the dome, and thus the first stone
+is laid of the new city, or rather the key-stone of the new city is
+placed in the arch, for we are considering a city turned upside down,
+which descends from the sky and which does not arise from the bosom of
+the earth as do terrestrial cities. Then she proceeds to apply to this
+key-stone more of the wax which she takes from her body, and having
+given to the whole of her part of the work one last finishing stroke,
+she retires as quickly as she came and is lost in the crowd; another
+replaces her and immediately takes up the work where she has left it
+off, adds her own to it, puts that right which appears to her to be
+not in conformity with the general plan, and disappears in her turn,
+while a third and a fourth and a fifth succeed her in a series of
+sudden and inspired apparitions, not one of whom finishes a piece of
+work, but all bring to it their common share.
+
+Now there hangs from the top of the vault a small block of wax which
+is yet without form. As soon as it appears to be thick enough there
+comes out of the group another bee bearing an entirely different
+aspect from that of those which have preceded it. One may well believe
+on seeing the certainty, the determination, with which he goes about
+his work and the manner in which those who stand round about him look
+on, that he is an expert engineer who has come to construct in space
+the place which the first cell shall occupy, the cell from which must
+mathematically depend everything which is afterwards constructed.
+Whatever he may be, this bee belongs to a class of the sculpturing, of
+chisel working bees who produce no wax and whose function seems to be
+to employ the materials with which the others furnish them. This bee
+then chooses the place of the first cell. She digs for a moment in the
+block of wax which has already been placed in position, and builds up
+the side of the cell with the wax that she picks from the cavity. Then
+in exactly the same way as her predecessors have done, she suddenly
+leaves the work she has designed; another impatient worker replaces
+her and carries it on another step, which is finished by a third one.
+In the meantime others are working round about her according to the
+same method of division of labor until the outer sides of each wall is
+finished.
+
+It would almost seem that an essential law of the hive was that every
+worker should take a pride in its work, and that all the work should
+be done in common, and so to speak, unanimously, in order that the
+fraternal spirit should not be disturbed by a sense of jealousy.
+
+Very soon the outline of the comb may be seen. In form it is still
+lenticular, for the little prismatic tubes of which it is composed are
+unequally prolonged, and they diminish as they get away from the
+centre towards the extremities. At this moment it might be compared,
+both in form and in thickness, to a human tongue hanging down from two
+of the sides of the hexagonal cells which are placed back to back.
+
+As soon as the first cells are constructed, the workers add a roof to
+the second and so on to the third and to the fourth. These sets of
+cells are divided by irregular intervals, and they are calculated in
+such a manner that when they are made to receive their full
+complement, the bees always have room enough to move about between the
+parallel walls of the honeycombs.
+
+It follows then that in making their original plan the different
+thicknesses of every honeycomb must be fixed upon, and at the same
+time the alley-ways which separate each must be different in turn,
+and this width must be twice the height of a bee since they have to
+pass each other between the upright combs.
+
+But even the bees are not infallible, and they do not always work with
+exact mechanical certainty. When they find themselves in a difficult
+place they sometimes make very great blunders. One often finds that
+they leave too much, and often too little, space between the
+honeycombs, and they remedy these faults as well as they
+can--sometimes in finishing the comb which is too near another in an
+oblique line, or sometimes when they have left too much space they
+interpose a smaller comb between it.
+
+R�amur, on this subject, says:--"Since bees sometimes make mistakes
+and rectify them, this must be a proof that they possess the power of
+reason."
+
+[Illustration: QUEEN BEE.]
+
+It is known that bees make four different kinds of cells. There are
+first the "royal cells" which are exceptional and are of acorn shape.
+Then there are the large cells in which the male bees are reared, and
+in which provisions are stored when the flowers furnish forth of their
+abundance. Then there are the little cells which may be called the
+"cradles of the working bees," which are also employed as ordinary
+store-rooms. These generally occupy about eight-tenth's of the
+total surface of the combs in a hive; and finally there are a certain
+number of what may be called transition cells. Although these latter
+are inevitably irregular, the dimensions of the second or third type
+are so well calculated that when the decimal system was first
+established, and people were seeking an incontestable standard of
+measurement, it was the cell of the bee which was proposed first of
+all by R�amur. Each one of these cells is an hexagonal tube placed
+upon a pyramid form, and each honeycomb is formed of two strata of
+these tubes, base to base, in such a way that the three lozenges which
+make the pyramid-like base of one cell form at the same time the
+pyramid-like bases of the three cells on the other side.
+
+[Illustration: WORKER.]  [Illustration: DRONE.]
+
+In these prismatic tubes the honey is stored away--and so that the
+honey shall not trickle out as it would be likely to do if they were
+built strictly horizontal--they are tilted up at the outer edge of an
+angle of four or five degrees.
+
+"Besides the saving in wax," says R�amur, speaking of this marvellous
+building, "which is effected by this arrangement of the
+cells,--besides the fact that by this plan the comb may be filled
+without a single gap, there are other advantages in the way of the
+solidity thus given.... Every possible advantage in the way of the
+solidity of each cell is brought about by the manner of its
+construction, and by its place with reference to the rest of the cells
+in the comb."
+
+"Students of geometry know," says Dr. Reid, "that there are only three
+shapes that can be employed to divide a surface into, uniform spaces,
+that shall be regular in shape, and without interstices.
+
+[Illustration: SECTION OF CELLS CONSTRUCTED BY BEES.]
+
+"They are the equilateral triangle, the square, and the regular
+hexagon, which latter, in the matter of cell construction, is superior
+to the two first both from the point of view of strength and utility,
+and it is just this form that the bees have adopted, precisely as
+though its advantages were familiar to them.
+
+"Furthermore, the bottoms of the cells form three planes meeting at
+one point, and it has been demonstrated that both in economy of labor
+and material this system of construction is the best--again, the angle
+of the inclination of the planes affects this question of economy:
+this problem has been solved by the bees and confirmed by Maclaurin by
+abstruse mathematical calculations published in the "Transactions of
+the Royal Society of London.""
+
+Of course I do not suppose for a moment that the bees themselves have
+made these calculations, but on the other hand I do not believe that
+chance, or accidental circumstance has brought about, these results.
+The wasps, for instance, have built hexagonal cells, but they have not
+displayed such ingenuity as the bees have done. Their combs have only
+one course of cells, and they have not the foundation which serves the
+bees for their double rows. Hence there is less strength, more
+irregularity, and a loss of time, of material, and of room, which
+really means that a quarter of the labor employed and a third of the
+space occupied is lost. We also find certain other domesticated bees,
+not so far progressed in civilization, which only build one row of
+cells for rearing their young, and which support horizontal combs one
+above another on costly columns of wax. Their food store-cells, are
+like a row of round pots, and the bees make but a clumsy use of the
+spaces between them. Indeed, when we compare their City with the
+Wonderful City of the bees of which we are speaking, it is like
+comparing a row of huts with a modern laid out city. If the result is
+not charming, it is severely logical, and demonstrates the genius of
+the race which is forever fighting to get the most out of matter,
+space, and time.
+
+Buffon had a theory which has been revived once more, that the bees
+did not intend to make hexagonal cells, but rather round ones, and
+that owing to the crowding of the workers all around, the round ones
+became hexagonal. It is said also that crystals, fish-scales of
+certain kinds, soap-bubbles, etc., follow the same law, and Buffon
+advances this experiment to prove it. "Take a vessel and fill it full
+with peas or any other round grains, pour as much water upon them as
+will fill the spaces between them, close the vessel tightly, and boil
+the water. It will be found that the round peas have become six-sided.
+One sees clearly that this must be so from purely mechanical causes;
+each one of the round grains tends in the course of swelling as it
+boils to fill up the utmost space that it can, and by the extension
+and pressure of all alike they become hexagonal. Each bee wishes to
+occupy as much room as possible in its allotted space, therefore as
+the bodies of the bees are round or cylindrical, their cells become
+hexagonal because of the extension and pressure of all alike."
+
+Here then we see reciprocal obstacles working a wonder, somewhat in
+the same way perhaps as the vices of men bring about a general virtue,
+so that the race odious, often so far as individuals are concerned, is
+tolerable in the mass. Broughman, Kirby, and Spence and others claim
+that the observations of soap-bubbles and peas prove nothing in this
+connection, for the effect of compression is only to produce irregular
+hexagonal forms, and does not explain the earlier form of the base of
+the cells.
+
+To this one might rejoin that there are more ways than one of dealing
+with the blind law of necessity, for the wasp and the bumble-bee and
+many other species in similar circumstances and with the same end in
+view, arrive at very different, and manifestly inferior, results.
+Indeed it might be said further that even if the bee-cells did conform
+to the laws of crystallization as in the case of snow, or Buffon's
+soap-bubbles, or boiled peas, they show also in their general
+symmetry, in their well-determined angle of inclination, etc., that
+there are many other laws not followed by inert matter to which they
+also conform.
+
+In order to assure myself that the hexagonal form of the cell was the
+outcome of the bee-brain, I cut out from the centre of a honey-comb a
+round piece not quite so large as a silver dollar, containing both
+brood-cells and honey-cells. I cut into this disc, at the point where
+the pyramidal bases of the cells were joined, and I fixed on the base
+of the section thus exposed a piece of tin of the same size, and so
+stout that the bees could not bend or twist it. Then I replaced the
+disc of comb, with the piece of tin as described. One side of the comb
+showed, of course, nothing extraordinary, but on the other side was to
+be seen a hole at the bottom of which was a round piece of tin
+occupying the place of about thirty cells. At first the bees were
+disconcerted, and came in crowds to examine and study this wonderful
+abyss; for some days they wandered about it in agitation without
+coming to any decision. But as I fed them well every evening, the time
+soon came when they needed more cells in which to store their
+provisions. Then most likely the famous engineers, the sculptors, and
+the waxmakers, were summoned to show the way to fill up this useless
+chasm.
+
+A heavy curtain, or garland, of the wax-making bees covered the spot
+so as to develop the necessary heat; others went down into the hole
+and began the work of solidly fixing the metal in place by means of
+little claws of wax around its entire circumference, attaching them to
+the walls of the cells which surrounded it. Then they set to work to
+make three or four cells in the upper part of the disc, attaching them
+to these waxen claws. Each of these new cells was more or less
+unfinished at the top, so as to leave material wherewith to fasten it
+to the next cell, but below on the piece of tin was always three very
+clear, and precise angles from which would grow the three upright
+lines which regularly marked the outline of the first half of the next
+cell. After about forty-eight hours, although three or four bees at
+most could work at the same time in the opening, the whole surface of
+the piece of tin was covered with the outlines of the new cells. They
+were certainly somewhat less regular than those in an ordinary
+comb.... But they were all perfectly hexagonal; not a line was bent,
+not an angle out of shape; nevertheless all the ordinary conditions of
+bee-life were changed. The cells were not dug out of a block of wax as
+Huber described, nor were they made according to Darwin, circular at
+first, and then made into hexagons by the pressure of their neighbors.
+Here was no question of reciprocal obstacles, seeing that the cells
+were made one by one, and these first outlines were sketched on a kind
+of table. It would appear therefore that the hexagonal form is not the
+result of any mechanical necessity, but that it forms the plan
+resulting from the experience, the intelligence, and the will of the
+bee. Another curious thing which I accidentally noticed was that the
+cells built upon the tin were not provided with any other floor than
+the tin itself. The engineers of the working party evidently reasoned
+that the tin was sufficient to retain the liquid honey, and that it
+was not necessary, therefore, to line it with wax. But a little while
+after, when some honey was placed in the cell, they probably found
+that the metal effected some change in it, for upon taking counsel
+together they covered the surface of the tin with a kind of diaphanous
+varnish.
+
+If we wish to throw light on all the secrets of this geometrical
+architecture, we shall find many more interesting questions to
+examine--for example, that of the form of the first cells, which are
+attached to the roof of the hive--a form which is modified so that the
+cells can fit its curve and touch the roof at the greatest possible
+number of points.
+
+It would be necessary to notice also, not only the direction in which
+the main streets of the hive run, but the alley-ways and passages
+which run in and out and around the comb, as much for the circulation
+of the air as for the traffic; and it should be remarked that these
+are planned so as to avoid long detours or confusion in the
+traffic....
+
+Before we leave this subject let us, only for a minute, stop to
+consider the wonderful and mysterious way in which the bees make their
+plans and work together when they are occupied in carving out their
+cells, on both sides of the comb, where neither can see the other.
+Look through one of these transparent combs, and you will see clearly
+and sharply cut out in this diaphanous wax a network of prisms
+arranged in so perfectly fitting a manner that one might think they
+were stamped out of steel.
+
+Those who have never seen the inside of a hive can have little idea of
+the appearance of these honeycombs. Let us take a countryman's hive in
+which the bee has been left free to work as he pleases. This
+bell-like shape is divided from top to bottom by five, six, eight, and
+sometimes ten, slices of wax, so to speak, perfectly parallel with
+each other, which take the exact shape of the curve of the walls of
+the hive. Between each one of these slices is a space of about half an
+inch in which the bees move about. When they begin to build one of
+these slices at the top of the hive, the wall of wax is quite thick,
+and hides entirely the fifty or sixty bees who are working on one side
+from the fifty or sixty at work on the other. Unless they have a sight
+which can pierce the most opaque bodies, neither can see what is doing
+on the other side. Nevertheless, a bee on one side does not dig a hole
+or add a fragment of wax which does not correspond exactly with a
+protuberance or a cavity on the other side. How do they contrive to do
+this? How does it happen that one does not dig too far, and the other
+not far enough?
+
+How is it that every angle coincides in such magnificent perfection?
+Who tells the bee to begin here and to end there? Once again we must
+be satisfied with the reply that does not answer: "It is one of the
+mysteries of the hive." Huber has tried to explain it by saying that
+at certain intervals, by the pressure of their feet or their teeth,
+they produce a slight projection of the wax on the other side of the
+comb, or that they can determine the thickness of the block of wax by
+its flexibility, its elasticity, or some other physical property which
+it may possess; or, again, that their antenn� are able to serve as
+compasses in enabling them to examine what is going on in the darkness
+of the other side; or, last of all, he suggests that all the cells
+mathematically derive their shape and dimensions from those of the
+first row, which is built without the need of further concert on the
+part of the workers. But one can easily see that these explanations
+are not sufficient; the first are guesses which cannot be verified;
+the others simply change but do not remove the mystery. But if it is
+good to change a mystery as often as possible, it is never good to
+flatter one's self that to change it means to remove it!
+
+
+
+
+WASPS
+
+(FROM THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.)
+
+BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+I one day saw a small black and yellow banded wasp hunting for
+spiders; it approached a web where a spider was stationed in the
+centre, made a dart towards it--apparently a feint to frighten the
+spider clear of its web; at any rate it had that effect, for it fell
+to the ground, and was immediately seized by the wasp, who stung it,
+then ran quickly backwards, dragging the spider after it, up a branch
+reaching to the ground until it got high enough, when it flew heavily
+off with it. It was so small, and the spider so heavy, that it
+probably could not have raised it from the ground by flight. All over
+the world there are wasps that store their nests with the bodies of
+spiders for their young to feed on. In Australia, I often witnessed a
+wasp combating with a large flat spider that is found on the bark of
+trees. It would fall to the ground, and lie on its back, so as to be
+able to grapple with its opponent; but the wasp was always the victor
+in the encounters I saw, although it was not always allowed to carry
+off its prey in peace. One day, sitting on the sandbanks on the coast
+of Hobson's Bay, I saw one dragging along a large spider. Three or
+four inches above it hovered two minute flies, keeping a little
+behind, and advancing with it. The wasp seemed much disturbed by the
+presence of the tiny flies, and twice left its prey to fly up towards
+them, but they darted away with it. As soon as the wasp returned to
+the spider, there they were hovering over and following it again. At
+last, unable to drive away its small tormentors, the wasp reached its
+burrow and took down the spider, and the two flies stationed
+themselves one on each side the entrance, and would, doubtless, when
+the wasp went away to seek another victim, descend and lay their own
+eggs in the nest.
+
+[Illustration: WASPS' NEST.]
+
+[Illustration: THE SAND-WASP.]
+
+The variety of wasps, as of all other insects, was very great around
+Santo Domingo. Many made papery nests, hanging from the undersides of
+large leaves. Others hung their open cells underneath verandahs and
+eaves of houses. One large black one was particularly abundant about
+houses, and many people got stung by them. They also built their
+pendent nests in the orange and lime trees, and it is not always safe
+to gather the fruit. Fortunately they are heavy flyers, and can often
+be struck down or evaded in their attacks. They do good where there
+are gardens, as they feed their young on caterpillars, and are
+continually hunting for them. Another species, banded brown and yellow
+(_Polistes carnifex_), has similar habits but is not so common.
+Bates, in his account of the habits of the sand-wasps at Santarem, on
+the Amazon, gives an interesting account of the way in which they took
+a few turns in the air around the hole they had made in the sand
+before leaving to seek for flies in the forest, apparently to mark
+well the position of the burrow, so that on their return they might
+find it without difficulty. He remarks that this precaution would be
+said to be instinctive, but that the instinct is no mysterious and
+unintelligible agent, but a mental process in each individual
+differing from the same in man only by its unerring certainty. I had
+an opportunity of confirming his account of the proceedings of wasps
+when quitting a locality to which they wished to return, in all but
+their unerring certainty. I could not help noting how similar they
+were to the way in which a man would act who wished to return to some
+spot not easily found out, and with which he was not previously
+acquainted. A specimen of the _Polistes carnifex_ was hunting about
+for caterpillars in my garden. I found one about an inch long, and
+held it out towards it on the point of a stick. It seized it
+immediately, and commenced biting it from head to tail, soon reducing
+the soft body to a mass of pulp. It rolled up about one-half of it
+into a ball, and prepared to carry it off. Being at the time amidst a
+thick mass of a fine-leaved climbing plant, before flying away, he
+took note of the place where it was leaving the other half. To do
+this, it hovered in front of it for a few seconds, then took small
+circles in front of it, then larger ones round the whole plant. I
+thought it had gone, but it returned again, and had another look at
+the opening in the dense foliage down which the other half of the
+caterpillar lay. It then flew away, but must have left its burden for
+distribution with its comrades at the nest, for it returned in less
+than two minutes, and making one circle around the bush, descended to
+the opening, alighted on a leaf, and ran inside. The green remnant of
+the caterpillar was lying on another leaf inside, but not connected
+with the one on which the wasp alighted, so that in running in it
+missed it, and soon got hopelessly lost in the thick foliage. Coming
+out again, it took another circle, and pounced down on the same spot
+again, as soon as it came opposite to it. Three small seed-pods, which
+here grew close together, formed the marks that I had myself taken to
+note the place, and these the wasp seemed also to have taken as its
+guide, for it flew directly down to them, and ran inside; but the
+small leaf on which the fragment of caterpillar lay, not being
+directly connected with any on the outside, it again missed it, and
+again got far away from the object of its search. It then flew out
+again, and the same process was repeated again and again. Always when
+in circling round it came in sight of the seed-pods down it pounced,
+alighted near them, and recommenced its quest on foot. I was surprised
+at its perseverance, and thought it would have given up the search;
+but not so, it returned at least half a dozen times, and seemed to get
+angry, hurrying about with buzzing wings. At last it stumbled across
+its prey, seized it eagerly, and as there was nothing more to come
+back for, flew straight off to its nest, without taking any further
+note of the locality. Such an action is not the result of blind
+instinct, but of a thinking mind: and it is wonderful to see an insect
+so differently constructed using a mental process similar to that of
+man. It is suggestive of the probability of many of the actions of
+insects that we ascribe to instinct being the result of the possession
+of reasoning powers.
+
+[Illustration: WASP AND HOLE IN THE SAND.]
+
+
+
+
+A WASP AND ITS PREY
+
+(FROM THE INSTINCTS AND HABITS OF THE SOLITARY WASPS.)[6]
+
+BY G.�W. AND E.�G. PECKHAM.
+
+[6] Reprinted by permission from Bulletin No.�2, Series I, of The
+Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, 1898.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Most graceful and attractive of all the wasps--as Fabre describes
+them, the Ammophiles, of all the inhabitants of the garden, hold the
+first place in our affections. Not so beautiful as the blue
+_Pelopaeus_ nor so industrious as the little red-girdled _Trypoxylon_,
+their intelligence, their distinct individuality, and their obliging
+tolerance of our society make them an unfailing source of interest.
+They are, moreover, the most remarkable of all genera in their
+stinging habits, and few things have given us deeper pleasure than
+our success in following the activities and penetrating the secrets of
+their lives. In our neighborhood we have but two species of
+_Ammophila_, _urnaria_ Cresson and _gracilis_ Cresson, both of them
+being very slender bodied wasps of about an inch in length, _gracilis_
+all black, and _urnaria_ with a red band around the front end of the
+abdomen. With two exceptions our observations relate to _urnaria_.
+
+During the earlier part of the summer we had often seen these wasps
+feeding upon the nectar of flowers, especially upon that of the sorrel
+of which they are particularly fond, but at that time we gave them but
+passing notice. One bright morning in the middle of July, however, we
+came upon one that was so evidently hunting, and hunting in earnest,
+that we gave up everything else to follow her. The ground was covered,
+more or less thickly, with patches of purslane, and it was under these
+weeds that our _Ammophila_ was eagerly searching for her prey. After
+thoroughly investigating one plant she would pass to another, running
+three or four steps and then bounding as though she were made of
+thistledown and were too light to remain upon the ground. We followed
+her easily, and as she was in full view nearly all of the time we had
+every hope of witnessing the capture, but in this we were destined to
+disappointment. We had been in attendance on her for about a quarter
+of an hour when, after disappearing for a few moments under the thick
+purslane leaves, she came out with a green caterpillar. We had missed
+the wonderful sight of the paralyzer at work, but we had no time to
+bemoan our loss for she was making off at so rapid a pace that we were
+well occupied in keeping up with her. She hurried along with the same
+motion as before, unembarrassed by the weight of her victim. Twice she
+dropped it and circled over it a moment before taking it again. For
+sixty feet she kept to open ground, passing between two rows of
+bushes, but at the end of this division of the garden, she plunged,
+very much to our dismay, into a field of standing corn. Here we had
+great difficulty in following her, since far from keeping to her
+former orderly course, she zigzagged among the plants in the most
+bewildering fashion, although keeping a general direction of
+northeast. It seemed quite impossible that she could know where she
+was going. The corn rose to a height of six feet all around us; the
+ground was uniform in appearance, and, to our eyes, each group of corn
+stalks was just like every other group, and yet, without pause or
+hesitation, the little creature passed quickly along, as we might
+through the familiar streets of our native town.
+
+[Illustration: "She Hurried along, Unembarrassed by the Weight of Her
+Victim."]
+
+At last she paused and laid her burden down. Ah! the power that has
+led her is not a blind, mechanically perfect instinct, for she has
+travelled a little too far. She must go back one row into the open
+space that she has already crossed, although not just at this point.
+Nothing like a nest is visible to us. The surface of the ground looks
+all alike, and it is with exclamations of wonder that we see our
+little guide lift two pellets of earth which have served as a covering
+to a small opening running down into the ground.
+
+The way being thus prepared she hurries back with her wings quivering
+and her whole manner betokening joyful triumph at the completion of
+her task. We, in the meantime, have become as much excited over the
+matter as she is herself. She picks up the caterpillar, brings it to
+the mouth of the burrow and lays it down. Then, backing in herself,
+she catches it in her mandibles and drags it out of sight, leaving us
+full of admiration and delight.
+
+How clear and accurate must be the observing powers of these wonderful
+little creatures! Every patch of ground must, for them, have its own
+character; a pebble here, a larger stone there, a trifling tuft of
+grass--these must be their landmarks. And the wonder of it is that
+their interest in each nest is so temporary. A burrow is dug,
+provisioned and closed up, all in two or three days, and then another
+is made in a new place with everything to learn over again.
+
+From this time (July thirteenth) on to the first of September our
+garden was full of these wasps, and they never lost their fascination
+for us, although owing to a decided difference between their taste and
+ours as to what constituted pleasant weather all our knowledge of them
+was gained by the sweat of our brows. When we wished to utilize the
+cool hours of the morning or of the late afternoon in studying them,
+or thought to take advantage of a cloud which cast a grateful shade
+over the sun at noonday, where were our Ammophiles? Out of sight
+entirely, or at best only to be seen idling about on the flowers of
+the onion or sorrel. At such a time they seemed to have no mission in
+life and no idea of duty. But when the air was clear and bright and
+the mercury rose higher and higher, all was changed. Their favorite
+working hours were from eleven in the morning to three in the
+afternoon, and when they did work they threw their whole souls into
+it. It was well that it was so, for they certainly needed all the
+enthusiasm and perseverance that they could muster for such wearisome
+and disappointing labor. Hour after hour was passed in search, and
+often there was nothing to show at the end of it, for, since the
+caterpillars that they wanted were nocturnal species, most of them
+were under ground in the day-time. The species observed by Fabre knew,
+by some subtle instinct, where to find the worm, and unearthed it from
+its burrow. _Urnaria_, on the contrary, never dug for her prey, but
+hunted on bare ground, on the purslane, and most of all on the
+bean-plants. These were examined carefully, the wasp going up and down
+the stems and looking under every leaf, but the search was so
+frequently unsuccessful that in estimating their work we are inclined
+to think that they can scarcely average one caterpillar a day. When
+they were hunting over bare ground they often paused and seemed to
+listen, and in the beginning we expected to see them burrow down and
+drag a victim from under the soil, but this never happened.
+
+In this species, as in every one that we have studied, we have a most
+interesting variation among the different individuals, not only in
+methods but in character and intellect. While one was beguiled from
+her hunting by every sorrel blossom she passed, another stuck to her
+work with indefatigable perseverance. While one stung her caterpillar
+so carelessly and made her nest in so shiftless a way that her young
+could only survive through some lucky chance, another devoted herself
+to these duties, not only with conscientious thoroughness, but with an
+apparent craving after artistic perfection that was touching to see.
+
+The method employed by the _Ammophil�_ in stinging their prey is more
+complex than that of any other predatory wasp. The larv� with which
+they provision their nests are made up of thirteen segments, and each
+of these has its own nervous centre or ganglion. Hence if the
+caterpillar is to be reduced to a state of immobility, or to state so
+nearly approaching immobility that the egg may be safely laid upon it,
+a single sting, such as is given by some of the _Pompilid�_ to their
+captured spiders, will be scarcely sufficient. All this we knew from
+Fabre's "Souvenirs," and yet we were not at all prepared to believe
+that any plain American wasp could supply us with such a thrilling
+performance as that of the Gallic _hirsuta_, which he so dramatically
+describes. We were, however, most anxious to be present at the
+all-important moment that we might see for ourselves just how and
+where _Ammophila urnaria_ stings her victim.
+
+For a whole week of scorching summer weather we lived in the bean
+patch, scorning fatigue. We quoted to each other the example of
+Fabre's daughter Claire, whose determination to solve the problem of
+_Odynerus_ led to a sun-stroke. We followed scores of wasps as they
+hunted; we ran, we threw ourselves upon the ground, we scrambled along
+on our hands and knees in our desperate endeavors to keep them in
+view, and yet they escaped us. After we had kept one in sight for an
+hour or more some sudden flight would carry her far away and all our
+labor was lost.
+
+At last, however, our day came. We were doing a little hunting on our
+own account, hoping to find some larv� which we could drop in view of
+the wasps and thus lead them to display their powers, when we saw an
+_urnaria_ fly up from the ground to the underside of a bean leaf and
+knock down a small green caterpillar. Breathless with an excitement
+which will be understood by those who have tasted the joy of such a
+moment, we hung over the actors in our little drama. The ground was
+bare, we were close by and could see every motion distinctly. Nothing
+more perfect could have been desired.
+
+The wasp attacked at once but was rudely repulsed, the caterpillar
+rolling and unrolling itself rapidly and with the most violent
+contortions of the whole body. Again and again its adversary descended
+but failed to gain a hold. The caterpillar in its struggles, flung
+itself here and there over the ground, and had there been any grass or
+other covering near by it might have reached a place of partial
+safety, but there was no shelter within reach, and at the fifth attack
+the wasp succeeded in alighting over it, near the anterior end, and in
+grasping its body firmly in her mandibles. Standing high on her long
+legs and disregarding the continued struggles of her victim, she
+lifted it from the ground, curved her abdomen under its body, and
+darted her sting between the third and fourth segments. From this
+instant there was a complete cessation of movement on the part of the
+unfortunate caterpillar. Limp and helpless, it could offer no further
+opposition to the will of its conqueror. For some moments the wasp
+remained motionless, and then, withdrawing her sting, she plunged it
+successively between the third and the second, and between the second
+and the first segments.
+
+[Illustration: WASP PLUNGING HER STING INTO THE CATERPILLAR.]
+
+The caterpillar was now left lying on the ground. For a moment the
+wasp circled above it and then, descending, seized it again, further
+back this time, and with great deliberation and nicety of action gave
+it four more stings, beginning between the ninth and tenth segments
+and progressing backward.
+
+_Urnaria_, probably feeling--as we certainly did--reaction from the
+strain of the last few minutes, and a relief at the completion of her
+task, now rested from her labors. Standing on the ground close by she
+proceeded to smooth her body with her long hind legs, standing in the
+meantime, almost on her head, with her abdomen directed upward. She
+then gave her face a thorough washing and rubbing with her first
+legs, and not until she had made a complete and satisfactory toilet
+did she return to the caterpillar.
+
+We saw _Ammophila_ capture her prey only three times during the whole
+summer, but from these observations and from the condition of her
+caterpillars taken at various times from nests, her method seems to be
+wonderfully close to that of _hirsuta_, with just about the same
+amount of variation in different individuals.
+
+Thus in our second example, she stung the first three segments in the
+regular order, the third, the second, and lastly (and most
+persistently) the first. She then went on, without a pause, to sting
+the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, stopping at this point and
+leaving the posterior segments untouched. In our first example, it
+will be remembered, the middle segments were spared. The sting being
+completed, she proceeded to the process known as _malaxation_, which
+consists in repeatedly squeezing the neck of the caterpillar, or other
+victim, between the mandibles, the subject of the treatment being
+turned around and around so that all sides may be equally affected.
+
+In our third case a caterpillar which we had caught was placed in
+front of a wasp just after she had carried the second larva into her
+nest. She seemed rather indifferent to it, passing it once or twice as
+she ran about, but finally picked it up and gave it one prolonged
+sting between the third and fourth segments. She then spent a long
+time in squeezing the neck, pinching it again and again. It was then
+left on the ground, and as she showed no further interest in it we
+carried it home for further study.
+
+In the three captures, then, that came under our observation, all the
+caterpillars being of the same species and almost exactly of the same
+size, three different methods were employed. In the first, seven
+stings were given at the extremities, the middle segments being left
+untouched, and no malaxation was practised. In the second, seven
+stings again but given in the anterior and middle segments, followed
+by slight malaxation. In the third, only one sting was given but the
+malaxation was prolonged and severe.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+LEAF-CUTTING ANTS
+
+(FROM THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.)
+
+BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Nearly all travellers in tropical America have described the ravages
+of the leaf-cutting ants (_OEcodoma_); their crowded, well-worn paths
+through the forests, their ceaseless pertinacity in the spoliation of
+the trees--more particularly of introduced species--which are left
+bare and ragged, with the mid-ribs and a few jagged points of the
+leaves only left. Many a young plantation of orange, mango, and lemon
+trees has been destroyed by them. Again and again have I been told in
+Nicaragua, when inquiring why no fruit-trees were grown at particular
+places, "It is no use planting them; the ants eat them up." The first
+acquaintance a stranger generally makes with them is on encountering
+their paths on the outskirts of the forest crowded with the ants; one
+lot carrying off the pieces of leaves, each piece about the size of a
+sixpence, and held up vertically between the jaws of the ant; another
+lot hurrying along in an opposite direction empty handed, but eager to
+get loaded with their leafy burdens. If he follows this last division,
+it will lead him to some young trees or shrubs, up which the ants
+mount; and where each one, stationing itself on the edge of a leaf,
+commences to make a circular cut, with its scissor-like jaws, from the
+edge, its hinder-feet being the centre on which it turns. When the
+piece is nearly cut off, it is still stationed upon it, and it looks
+as though it would fall to the ground with it; but, on being finally
+detached, the ant is generally found to have hold of the leaf with one
+foot, and soon righting itself, and arranging its burden to its
+satisfaction, it sets off at once on its return. Following it again,
+it is seen to join a throng of others, each laden like itself, and,
+without a moment's delay, it hurries along the well-worn path. As it
+proceeds, other paths, each thronged with busy workers, come in from
+the sides, until the main road often gets to be seven or eight inches
+broad, and more thronged than the streets of the city of London.
+
+[Illustration: SETS OFF AT ONCE ON ITS RETURN.]
+
+After travelling for some hundreds of yards, often for more than half
+a mile, the formicarium is reached. It consists of low, wide mounds of
+brown, clayey-looking earth, above and immediately around which the
+bushes have been killed by their buds and leaves having been
+persistently bitten off as they attempted to grow after their first
+defoliation. Under high trees in the thick forest the ants do not make
+their nests, because, I believe, the ventilation of their underground
+galleries, about which they are very particular, would be interfered
+with, and perhaps to avoid the drip from the trees. It is on the
+outskirts of the forest, or around clearings, or near wide roads that
+let in the sun, that these formicariums are generally found. Numerous
+round tunnels, varying from half an inch to seven or eight inches in
+diameter, lead down through the mounds of earth; and many more, from
+some distance around, also lead underneath them. At some of the holes
+on the mounds ants will be seen busily at work, bringing up little
+pellets of earth from below, and casting them down on the
+ever-increasing mounds, so that its surface is nearly always fresh and
+new-looking.
+
+Standing near the mounds, one sees from every point of the compass
+ant-paths leading to them, all thronged with the busy workers carrying
+their leafy burdens. As far as the eye can distinguish their tiny
+forms, troops upon troops of leaves are moving up towards the central
+point, and disappearing down the numerous tunnelled passages. The
+outgoing, empty-handed hosts are partly concealed amongst the bulky
+burdens of the incomers, and can only be distinguished by looking
+closely amongst them. The ceaseless, toiling hosts impress one with
+their power, and one asks--What forests can stand before such
+invaders? How is it that vegetation is not eaten off the face of the
+earth? Surely nowhere but in the tropics, where the recuperative
+powers of nature are immense and ever active, could such devastation
+be withstood.
+
+Further acquaintance with the subject will teach the inquirer that,
+just as many insects are preserved by being distasteful to
+insectivorous birds, so very many of the forest trees are protected
+from the ravages of the ants by their leaves either being distasteful
+to them, or unfitted for the purpose for which they are required,
+whilst some have special means of defence against their attacks.
+
+These ants do not confine themselves to leaves, but also carry off any
+vegetable substance that they find suitable for growing the fungus on.
+They are very partial to the inside white rind of oranges, and I have
+also seen them cutting up and carrying off the flowers of certain
+shrubs, the leaves of which they neglected. They are very particular
+about the ventilation of their underground chambers, and have numerous
+holes leading up to the surface from them. These they open out or
+close up, apparently to keep up a regular degree of temperature below.
+The great care they take that the pieces of leaves they carry into the
+nest should be neither too dry nor too damp, is also consistent with
+the idea that the object is the growth of a fungus that requires
+particular conditions of temperature and moisture to ensure its
+vigorous growth. If a sudden shower should come on, the ants do not
+carry the wet pieces into the burrows, but throw them down near the
+entrances. Should the weather clear up again, these pieces are picked
+up when nearly dried, and taken inside; should the rain, however,
+continue, they get sodden down into the ground, and are left there. On
+the contrary, in dry and hot weather, when the leaves would get dried
+up before they could be conveyed to the nest, the ants, when in
+exposed situations, do not go out at all during the hot hours, but
+bring in their leafy burdens in the cool of the day and during the
+night. As soon as the pieces of leaves are carried in they must be cut
+up by the small class of workers into little pieces. I have never seen
+the smallest class of ants carrying in leaves! their duties appear to
+be inside, cutting them up into smaller fragments, and nursing the
+immature ants. I have, however, seen them running out along the paths
+with the others; but instead of helping to carry in the burdens, they
+climb on the top of the pieces which are being carried along by the
+middle-sized workers, and so get a ride home again. It is very
+probable that they take a run out merely for air and exercise. The
+largest class of what are called workers are, I believe, the directors
+and protectors of the others. They are never seen out of the nest,
+excepting on particular occasions, such as the migrations of the ants,
+and when one of the working columns or nests is attacked, they then
+come stalking up, and attack the enemy with their strong jaws.
+Sometimes, when digging into the burrows, one of these giants has
+unperceived climbed up my dress, and the first intimation of his
+presence has been the burying of his jaws in my neck, from which he
+would not fail to draw blood. The stately observant way in which they
+stalk about, and their great size, compared with the others, always
+impressed me with the idea that in their bulky heads lay the brains
+that directed the community in their various duties. Many of their
+actions, such as that I have mentioned of two relays of workmen
+carrying out the ant food, can scarcely be blind instinct. Some of the
+ants make mistakes, and carry in unsuitable leaves. Thus grass is
+always rejected by them, but I have seen some ants, perhaps young
+ones, carrying leaves of grass; but after a while these pieces are
+always brought out again and thrown away. I can imagine a young ant
+getting a severe ear-wigging from one of the major-domos for its
+stupidity.
+
+[Illustration: SECTION THROUGH LEAF-CUTTING ANT'S NEST.]
+
+I shall conclude this long account of the leaf-cutting ants with one
+more instance of their reasoning powers.
+
+A nest was made near one of our tramways, and to get to the trees the
+ants had to cross the rails, over which the wagons were continually
+passing and repassing. Every time they came along a number of ants
+were crushed to death. They persevered in crossing for some time, but
+at last set to work and tunnelled underneath each rail. One day, when
+the wagons were not running, I stopped up the tunnels with stones; but
+although great numbers carrying leaves were thus cut off from the
+nest, they would not cross the rails, but set to work making fresh
+tunnels underneath them. Apparently an order had gone forth, or a
+general understanding been come to, that the rails were not to be
+crossed.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SOME WONDERFUL SPIDERS
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES, ETC.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The number of spiders, in proportion to other insects, is here
+compared with England very much larger; perhaps more so than with any
+other division of the articulate animals. The variety of species among
+the jumping spiders appears almost infinite. The genus, or rather
+family of Epeira, is here characterized by many singular forms; some
+species have pointed coriaceous shells, others enlarged and spiny
+tibi�. Every path in the forest is barricaded with the strong yellow
+web of a species belonging to the same division with the Epeira
+clavipes of Fabricius, which was formerly said by Sloane to make, in
+the West Indies, webs so strong as to catch birds. A small and pretty
+kind of spider, with very long forelegs, and which appears to belong
+to an undescribed genus, lives as a parasite on almost every one of
+these webs. I suppose it is too insignificant to be noticed by the
+great Epeira, and is therefore allowed to prey on the minute insects,
+which, adhering to the lines, would, otherwise be wasted. When
+frightened, this little spider either feigns death by extending its
+front legs, or suddenly drops from the web. A large Epeira of the same
+division with Epeira tuberculata and conica is extremely common,
+especially in dry situations. Its web, which is generally placed among
+the great leaves of the common agave, is sometimes strengthened near
+the centre by a pair or even four zigzag ribbons, which connect two
+adjoining rays. When any large insect, as a grasshopper or wasp, is
+caught, the spider by a dexterous movement, makes it revolve very
+rapidly, and at the same time emitting a band of threads from its
+spinners, soon envelops its prey in a case like the cocoon of a silk
+worm. The spider now examines the powerless victim, and gives the
+fatal bite on the hinder part of its thorax; then retreating,
+patiently waits till the poison has taken effect. The virulence of
+this poison may be judged from the fact that in half a minute I opened
+the mesh, and found a large wasp quite lifeless. This Epeira always
+stands with its head downwards near the centre of the web. When
+disturbed, it acts differently according to circumstances: if there is
+a thicket below, it suddenly falls down; and I have distinctly seen
+the thread from the spinners lengthened by the animal while yet
+stationary, as preparatory to its fall. If the ground is clear
+beneath, the Epeira seldom falls, but moves quickly through a central
+passage from one side to the other. When still further disturbed, it
+practises a most curious manoeuvre: Standing in the middle, it
+violently jerks the web, which is attached to elastic twigs, till at
+last the whole acquires such a rapid vibratory movement, that even the
+outline of the spider's body becomes indistinct.
+
+[Illustration: FOUR DIFFERENT SPIDERS.]
+
+It is well known that most of the British spiders, when a large insect
+is caught in their webs, endeavor to cut the lines and liberate their
+prey, to save their nests from being entirely spoiled. I once,
+however, saw in a hot-house in Shropshire a large female wasp caught
+in the irregular web of a quite small spider; and this spider, instead
+of cutting the web, most perseveringly continued to entangle the body,
+and especially the wings, of its prey. The wasp at first aimed in vain
+repeated thrusts with its sting at its little antagonist. Pitying the
+wasp, after allowing it to struggle for more than an hour, I killed it
+and put it back into the web. The spider soon returned; and an hour
+afterwards I was much surprised to find it with its jaws buried in the
+orifice, through which the sting is protruded by the living wasp. I
+drove the spider away two or three times, but for the next twenty-four
+hours I always found it again sucking at the same place. The spider
+became much distended by the juices of its prey, which was many times
+larger than itself.
+
+I may here just mention, that I found near St. Fe Bajada, many large
+black spiders, with ruby-colored marks on their backs, having
+gregarious habits. The webs were placed vertically, as is invariably
+the case with the genus Epeira; they were separated from each other by
+a space of about two feet, but were all attached to certain common
+lines, which were of great length, and extended to all parts of the
+community. In this manner the tops of some large bushes were
+encompassed by the united nets. Azara has described a gregarious
+spider in Paraguay, which Walckenaer thinks must be a Theridion, but
+probably it is an Epeira, and perhaps even the same species with mine.
+I cannot, however, recollect seeing a central nest as large as a hat,
+in which, during autumn, when the spiders die, Azara says the eggs are
+deposited. As all the spiders which I saw were of the same size, they
+must have been nearly of the same age. This gregarious habit, in so
+typical a genus as Epeira, among insects, which are so bloodthirsty
+and solitary that even the two sexes attack each other, is a very
+singular fact.
+
+[Illustration: JUMPING SPIDER.]
+
+
+
+
+WHAT I SAW IN AN ANT'S NEST
+
+(FROM FACTS AND FICTIONS OF ZO�LOGY.)
+
+BY ANDREW WILSON.
+
+
+[Illustration: NEST OF TERMITES.]
+
+Amongst those spectacles and incidents in human existence which remain
+fixed on the memory of the spectator from their sad or unwonted
+nature, that of a panic-stricken crowd, gathered by the report of some
+national disaster, stands pre-eminent. Still more terrible in its
+details is the history of some catastrophe which has laid a city in
+ruins and wrought death and desolation to thousands of the
+inhabitants. A deadly epidemic, or fatal plague, searing a nation with
+its dread, mysterious power, is a calamity appalling enough; but the
+spectacle of a city overthrown at one fell swoop by the earthquake
+shock may perhaps rank foremost amongst the untoward incidents which
+environ the sphere of man. A certain event, occurring during a recent
+holiday by the sea, tended forcibly to impress upon the mind that the
+great catastrophes of life are not limited to humanity's special
+sphere, and that in lower life panic and alarm seem to exercise no
+small influence, as in man's estate; whilst the incident referred to
+also afforded food for reflection on topics not far removed from some
+weighty matters in the history of man's own nature and constitution.
+In this latter view, it is especially hoped the observations of a
+brief period of leisure-time may not be without their due meed of
+interest.
+
+The chance removal from its secure site, of a large stone placed in
+close proximity to the sea-beach, where the bliss of idleness was
+being fully exemplified by a small party of holiday-makers, proved, on
+close examination, to be the cause of a literal revolution in lower
+life. Imagine a city to be totally unroofed, try to conceive of the
+sudden downfall of houses and buildings, and the consequent panic of
+the inhabitants, and you may obtain an idea of the disturbance on
+simple procedure effected in the peaceable, well-ordered colony of
+ants which had located themselves securely beneath the friendly
+shelter of the stone. The scene presented to view was one of the most
+curious and interesting which could engage the attention of an
+observer in any field of inquiry, and the occurrence certainly
+banished the idle mood of the time, and lent a zest to the subsequent
+hours of our holiday. Running hither and thither in wild confusion
+were the denizens of this underground colony; their six little legs
+carrying their curious globular bodies backward and forward over the
+disturbed area from which the stone had been removed. At first the
+movements of the ants were extremely erratic and purposeless. Panic
+and alarm appeared to be the order of the day during the few minutes
+which elapsed after removal of the stone. But soon the eye could
+discern movements of purposive kind on the part of the alarmed
+residents. There was "racing and chasing" in all directions: but the
+ants which had at first radiated from the centre of disturbance, as if
+on some definite quest, soon returned thereunto, and continued to
+advance and retire from the field of action with tolerable regularity.
+Not less than sixty or seventy ants appeared to be engaged in this
+labor of scouring the country around. The object of their repeated
+journeys in all directions was soon discovered. They were the
+self-appointed scouts, engaged in the work of reconnoitring. Such at
+least is a fair interpretation of the acts of the ants, and such also
+is the conclusion borne out by the subsequent course of events. For,
+after the scouts had spent a considerable time in their rapid journeys
+to the environments of the nest, a new set of ants appeared upon the
+scene, destined to perform a highly important series of labors.
+
+The scouts continued their journeyings, and gave one the idea of a set
+of fussy individuals who were superintending, or even bullying, their
+new neighbors, who appeared from amongst the ruins and d�bris of the
+ant city, carrying in their mouths certain oval bodies of a
+dirty-white color, and measuring each about one-third of an inch in
+length. Each of these bodies closely resembled a grain of corn in
+shape, size, and appearance. The spectacle of these small insects
+carrying off these bodies in their powerful jaws impressed one
+forcibly with the idea that, relatively to its size, an ant is an
+herculean insect.
+
+Occasionally there might be seen certain rather ludicrous incidents
+connected with the removal of the objects in question. One ant might
+be witnessed in the endeavor to hoist the oval body it was carrying in
+its mouth over some obstacle lying in the path, and the staggering
+gait of the insect seemed very accurately to mimic the similar
+disposition of a human porter struggling under a burdensome load.
+Another ant, carrying the oval body before it, would arrive at a steep
+incline formed of loose sand, and presenting a treacherous surface
+even to the light feet of the insect. The efforts of the ant to carry
+the body upward being found to be fruitless, the insect might be seen
+to whirl about with great rapidity of action, and ascend the hill
+backward, pulling the body after it, instead of pushing it as before.
+
+Another instance might be witnessed in which an ant which had
+literally come to grief with its burden would be assisted by a kindly
+neighbor; but it was no uncommon sight to behold in the excessive
+eagerness of the insects an actual means of defeating the object they
+had in view, since two ants would in some cases seize the same burden,
+and then came the tug of war. One pulled one way whilst the other
+tugged in the opposite direction; and the observer could almost have
+supposed that the burden itself might have been parted in twain by the
+treatment to which it was subjected--the incident affording a new
+application of the remark that a surfeit of zeal is destructive of the
+best intentions. The nature of the bodies which the ants seemed so
+excessively anxious to preserve from injury was readily determined.
+The oval bodies, resembling grains of corn, were the _pup�_ or
+_chrysalides_ of the ants--the sleeping babies and young hopefuls, on
+whom the hopes of the colony were, and I may say, are, founded. It is
+noteworthy, however, that upon some mistaken notions regarding the
+nature of these bodies many of the ideas concerning the frugal care of
+these insects were founded. Solomon's advice that the sluggard should
+"go to the ant," with the view of considering her ways and gaining
+wisdom as a result of the study, was in days of old thought to be
+approved by the observation that the ants husbanded their stores of
+food in the shape of the grains of corn they had gained from the
+autumnal store. There can be little doubt that some species of ants do
+store food; but their praiseworthy actions in this direction have been
+greatly exaggerated, and there appears, indeed, to be some danger of
+idle persons being prepared with the retort to the wise man, that the
+ant is by no means the model creature he thought her to be. If,
+however, the supposed corn-grains turn out to be the rising generation
+of ants in their chrysalis-state, it may be said that what the ants
+may have lost in the way of fame in this direction has been amply
+compensated for by the discovery of more wonderful traits of character
+than Solomon could possibly have dreamt of.
+
+The work of removing the developing population thus appeared in our
+ant's nest to absorb the entire energies of the alarmed denizens. Pupa
+after pupa was carried out from amongst the d�bris and taken for a
+considerable distance--certainly fifteen inches--to a place of
+security, beneath a small sloping stone of flat shape, which roofed
+over a hollow in the ground. So far as I could observe, the scouts
+must have discovered this place of refuge, and have communicated the
+intelligence to their neighbors. The regularity with which the
+slumbering innocents were conveyed to the same spot would appear to
+point to concerted work and to a definite idea, if one may so term it,
+having animated the laborers. I was careful to ascertain at an early
+stage of the proceedings that the place of refuge had no
+communications with the nest. It was, in point of fact, an entirely
+new habitation, and, as far as human judgment might venture upon an
+opinion, the new residence appeared to give promise of being a safe
+and convenient domicile. Now and then an ant would emerge from the
+ruins of the nest carrying a younger hopeful in the larva or
+caterpillar stage. This latter was a little white grub, which
+corresponds in its development to the grub or caterpillar of the
+butterfly or fly; the ants thus exemplifying insects which undergo a
+complete "metamorphosis." It was rather a difficult matter to
+ascertain clearly if the ants were actually excavating the chrysalides
+from amongst the d�bris. Bearing in mind what Sir John Lubbock has
+told us concerning the apparent inability of ants to discover the
+whereabouts of companions buried under earth, I rather lean to the
+belief that my ants simply conveyed to a place of safety those
+chrysalides which were at hand and readily obtainable. The latter fact
+I could not ascertain, since I feared to disturb the ants at their
+interesting labors; but a simple experiment served to show the
+feasibility of the idea that the chrysalides were probably within
+easy reach of the ants.
+
+Taking possession of one chrysalis which was being conveyed to the new
+domicile, I buried it about half an inch deep in the sand, directly in
+the track over which the ants were journeying to their new residence,
+and a second chrysalis I placed at a little distance from this track,
+but in a spot over which numerous ants were running apparently without
+any definite aim. The second pupa ant was not buried in any sense, and
+was covered merely with a sprinkling of sand. The result in both cases
+was negative. No attempt was made to disinter the chrysalis from the
+beaten track, although numberless ants walked directly over it; and I
+extricated the chrysalis five hours after its interment, and when the
+busy scene of the morning had been replaced by a dull prospect, over
+which only a single ant now and then hurried in a rapid fashion. The
+other chrysalis was also unnoticed, despite its proximity to the
+surface of the sand. Whether or not ants want a sense of smell or
+other means of guiding them to the whereabouts of their neighbors or
+children, is a subject difficult of determination either toward a
+positive or negative result. And I am the more inclined to wonder at
+the incapacity of the insects to discover their buried companions,
+since they appear to be perfectly capable of detecting them at a
+considerable distance above ground. When a chrysalis was placed in a
+spot remote from the nest, and an ant placed within a foot or so of
+the chrysalis, the insect would occasionally seem to be attracted to
+the neighborhood of the object. I frequently observed that if an ant
+happened to crawl within two or three inches of the chrysalis as it
+lay on the ground, it appeared to become conscious of the object,
+although at the same time it seemed ignorant of its precise locality.
+In such a case the insect would proceed hither and thither in an
+erratic fashion, but would continue to hover or rotate around the
+chrysalis until it seized the object and bore it off in triumph in its
+jaws. Relatively to the size of the ant, we must consider this latter
+incident by no means a slight tribute to its acuteness.
+
+The busy scene resulting from the disturbance of the nest proceeded
+actively during at least two hours. The nest appeared to be by no
+means a large one. At the end of two hours, however, the ants were
+still rushing hither and thither, bent on errands unknown to their
+observers, although the work of conveying the chrysalides had at the
+lapse of the period just mentioned entirely ceased. Five and a half
+hours after the nest had been alarmed, not an ant was visible over the
+disturbed area, and our next task was that of investigating the manner
+in which the insects had dispersed themselves and their belongings in
+their new habitation by carefully removing the flat sloping stone
+already mentioned as that beneath which the main stream of the ants
+had disappeared. Not an insect was to be seen after this operation was
+performed, and it was only after the removal of several small stones
+which lay below the flat stone that the colony in its new sphere was
+brought into view. Our investigation once again excited the restless
+beings. Then ensued, for the second time, the seizure of the
+chrysalides, which, however, were to be seen packed together in a
+secure position and already partly covered with particles of earth
+and sand. To have reached the position in which we found them, the
+insects must have descended at least three inches after entering below
+the stone, and the labor of the continual ascent in search of fresh
+chrysalides must therefore have been of no light kind. We saw enough
+to convince us that the ants had already settled down in a new
+organization, which, with an undisturbed history, might repeat the
+peaceful state of their former life; and we also had the thought
+presented, that in the exercise of their duties under the pressure of
+an unwonted exigency, the insect behaved and acted with no small
+degree of intelligence, and apparently in harmonious concert to the
+desired end.
+
+But the thoughts suggested by the brief observation of the disturbed
+ant's nest hardly end thus. We may very naturally proceed to inquire
+into the regular organization and constitution of the ant colony, and
+also, as far as fact and theory may together lead, into the
+analogies--if analogies there be--which exist between the social
+instincts of ants and the ways of the higher animals, man included.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1. 1, Winged termite; 2, wingless termite; 3,
+soldier; 4, worker; 5, female swollen with eggs.]
+
+The common ants and their neighbors belong to the order of insects
+known as the _Hymenoptera_, a group represented by other insects of
+"social" habits, such as bees, wasps, and hornets. The termites, or
+white ants of the tropics, are the only "ants" foreign to this order
+of insects, the white ants being near relations of the dragonflies,
+may-flies, etc. The family history of the latter, as told by Mr.
+Bates, may serve to introduce us agreeably to ant society at large.
+The nests of the termites may attain a height of five feet, and
+present the appearance of conical hillocks, formed of earth particles
+"worked," says Mr. Bates, "with a material as hard as stone." In the
+neighborhood of the nests, narrow covered galleries or underground
+ways are everywhere to be seen, these latter being the passages along
+which the materials used for building the nests are conveyed. The
+termites are small soft-bodied animals of a pale color, but resemble
+the common or true ants in that they live in colonies, composed, like
+those of bees, of three chief grades of individuals. These grades are
+known as males, females, and blind "neuters," the latter forming at
+once the largest bulk of the population, and including in their
+numbers the true "working classes" of this curious community. In the
+common ants, the "neuters" are regarded as being Undeveloped female
+insects. These neuters exhibit in the termites a further division into
+ordinary "workers" (Figs. 1, 4), which perform the multifarious duties
+connected with the ordinary life of the colony, and "soldiers" (3),
+which perfectly exemplify the laws of military organization in higher
+life, in that they have no part in the common labor, but devote
+themselves entirely to the defence of the colony and to the
+
+   "Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war."
+
+The workers appear to perform a never-ending round of duties. They
+build the nests, make the roads, attend to the wants of the young,
+train up the latter in the ways of ant existence, wait on the
+sovereigns of the nest, and like diplomatic courtiers, duly arrange
+for the royal marriages of the future. As Mr. Bates remarks, "The
+wonderful part in the history of the termites is, that not only is
+there a rigid division of labor, but nature has given to each class a
+structure of body adapting it to the kind of labor it has to perform.
+The males and females form a class apart; they do no kind of work, but
+in the course of growth acquire wings to enable them to issue forth
+and disseminate their kind. The workers and soldiers are wingless, and
+differ solely in the shape and armature of the head. This member in
+the laborers is smooth and rounded, the mouth being adapted for the
+working of the materials in building the hive. In the soldier the head
+is of very large size, and is provided in almost every kind with
+special organs of offence and defence in the form of horny processes
+resembling pikes, tridents, and so forth.... The course of human
+events in our day seems, unhappily, to make it more than ever
+necessary for the citizens of civilized and industrious communities to
+set apart a numerous armed class for the protection of the rest; in
+this, nations only do what nature has of old done for the termites.
+The soldier termite, however, has not only the fighting instinct and
+function; he is constructed as a soldier, and carries his weapons not
+in his hand but growing out of his body." When a colony of termites is
+disturbed, the ordinary citizens disappear and the military are called
+out. "The soldiers mounted the breach," says Mr. Bates, "to cover the
+retreat of the workers," when a hole was made in the archway of one
+of their covered roads, and with military precision the rearmen fall
+into the vacant places in the front ranks as the latter are emptied by
+the misfortune of war.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2. THE QUEEN ANT; AND THE WORKERS CARRYING AWAY
+THE EGGS.]
+
+In a termite colony there is but one king and queen, the royal couple
+being the true parents of the colony. The state-apartments are
+situated in the centre of the hive, and are strictly guarded by
+workers. Both king and queen are wingless, and are of larger size than
+their subjects. The queen engages in a continual round of maternal
+duties, the eggs deposited by the sovereign-mother being at once
+seized by the workers and conveyed to special or "nursery cells,"
+where the young are duly tended and brought up. Once a year, at the
+beginning of the rainy season, winged termites appear in the hive as
+developments of certain of the eggs laid by the queen-termite. These
+latter are winged males and females (Fig.�1, 1), the two sexes being
+present in equal numbers. Some of these, after shedding their wings,
+become the founders--kings and queens--of new communities, the
+privilege of sex being thus associated with the important and
+self-denying work of perpetuating the species or race in time. Sooner
+or later--a termite family takes about a year to grow--a veritable
+exodus of the young winged termites takes place; and just before this
+emigration movement occurs, a hive may be seen to be stocked with
+"termites" of all castes and in all stages of development. The workers
+never exhibit a change of form during their growth; the soldiers begin
+to differ from the workers in the possession of larger heads and jaws;
+whilst the young which are destined to become the winged males and
+females are distinguished by the early possession of the germs of
+wings which become larger as the skin is successively moulted. Amongst
+the bees, blind Huber supposed that an ordinary or neuter egg develops
+into a queen bee if the larva is fed upon a special kind of
+food--"royal food," as it is called. Although some entomological
+authorities differ from Huber with regard to the exact means by which
+the queen bee is reared and specialized from other larv�, yet the
+opinion thus expressed possesses a large amount of probability.
+Whatever may be the exact method or causes through or by which the
+queen bee is developed, Mr. Bates strongly asserts that the
+differences between the soldiers and worker termites are distinctly
+marked from the egg. This latter observer maintains that the
+difference is not due to variations in food or treatment during their
+early existence, but is fixed and apparent from the beginning of
+development. This fact is worthy of note, for it argues in favor of
+the view that if, as is most likely, the differences between the
+grades of termites may have originally been produced by natural
+selection or other causes, these differences have now become part and
+parcel of the constitution of these insects, and are propagated by the
+ordinary law of heredity. Thus acquired conditions have become in time
+the natural "way of life" of these animals.
+
+Mr. Bates has also placed on record the noteworthy fact that a species
+of termites exists in which the members of the soldier class did not
+differ at all from the workers "except in the fighting instinct." This
+observation, if it may be used at all in elucidation of the origin of
+the curious family life of these insects, points not to sudden
+creation, but to gradual acquirement and modification as having been
+the method of development of the specialized classes and castes in
+termite society. Firstly, we may thus regard the beginnings of the
+further development of a colony to appear in a nest in which workers
+and soldiers are alike, as stated by Mr. Bates. Then, through the
+practice of the fighting instinct, we may conceive that natural
+selection would be competent to adapt the soldiers more perfectly for
+their duties militant, by developing the head and jaws as offensive
+weapons. Possibly, were our knowledge of the termites at all complete,
+we should meet with all stages in the development and specialization
+of the various grades of society amongst these insects--at least the
+present state of our knowledge would seem to lead to such a conclusion
+as being much more feasible than the theory of special or sudden
+creation of the peculiarities of the race. It is admitted that the
+termites are in many respects inferior in structure to the bees and
+wasps, whilst the white ants themselves are the superiors of their own
+order--that of the _Neuroptera_. That the termites preceded the bees
+and their neighbors, the common ants, in the order of development of
+social instincts, is a conclusion supported by the fact that the
+_Neuroptera_ form the first group of insects which are preserved to us
+in the "records of the rocks." Fossil _Neuroptera_ occur in the
+Devonian rocks of North America; the first traces of insects allied to
+the bees and wasps being geologically more recent, and appearing in
+the oolitic strata. The occurrence of high social instincts in an
+ancient group of insects renders the repetition of these instincts in
+a later and higher group the less remarkable. The observation,
+however, does not of necessity carry with it any actual or implied
+connection between the termites and their higher neighbors, although,
+indeed, the likeness between the social life of the two orders of
+insects might warrant such a supposition.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3. RED, OR HORSE-ANT (_Formica rufa_.) a, male; b,
+female, winged; c, worker.]
+
+The common ants (Fig.�3), the study of which in their native haunts is
+a matter of no great difficulty, and one which will fully reward the
+seeking mind, like the termites, possess three grades of individuals.
+In a single ant's nest more than One female may be found, the ants
+differing from the bees in this respect; and in the nests of some
+species of ants there are apparently "soldiers" resembling the
+military termites in the possession of large heads and well-developed
+jaws. Very amazing differences are to be perceived amongst the various
+species of ants. Differences in size are of common occurrence, but
+naturalists have actually succeeded in classifying ants in a general
+way, by differences in manner and disposition. We know, for example,
+that the horse-ant (_Formica rufa_, Fig.�3) has little _individual_
+intelligence, but is extremely socialistic, and moves and acts _en
+masse_ with precision and tact. Another species (_F. fusca_) is timid
+and retiring. _F. pratensis_ is a revengeful creature, since it
+"worries" its fallen foes; _F. cinerea_ is bold and audacious; others
+are termed "thieves" and "cowards"; some are phlegmatic; and to
+complete the list of failings and traits which are human enough in
+character, one species is said to present an invariable greediness as
+its prevailing characteristic. The common ants resemble the termites
+in the general details of their life. We see in an ant's nest the same
+restless activity of the workers, the same earnest attention paid to
+the young and pup�, the same instinct in shielding the young from
+danger, and much the same general routine of development. Certain
+rather special, and it may be said extraordinary, habits of ants may,
+however, demand notice before we attempt a brief survey of their
+instincts at large. Few readers are unacquainted with the _Aphides_,
+or plant-lice, those little wingless insects which infest our plants
+and herbs in myriads in summer. It is a fact now well known to
+naturalists, and first placed on record by Huber, that between the
+ants and plant-lice, relations of a very friendly and, as far as the
+ants are concerned, advantageous character have become established.
+Ants have been observed to stroke the tips of the bodies of the
+plant-lice with their antenn�, this act causing the plant-lice to
+exude drops of a clear, sweet fluid, of which the ants are extremely
+enamoured. The ants would thus appear to habitually "milk" their
+insect-neighbors, and, as far as observation goes, some ants seem not
+merely to keep the plant-lice in their nests so as to form a veritable
+dairy establishment, but also to make provision in the future by
+securing the eggs of the aphides, and bringing up the young as we rear
+calves.
+
+[Illustration: FIG 4. APPLE APHIS (_Eriosoma Mali_).]
+
+That the relation between the ants and plant-lice are of very stable
+kind is proved by the interesting remarks of Mr. Darwin, who "removed
+all the ants from a group of about a dozen aphides on a dock-plant,
+and prevented their attendance during several hours." Careful watching
+showed that the plant-lice after this interval did not excrete the
+sweet fluid. Mr. Darwin then stroked the plant-lice with a hair,
+endeavoring thus to imitate the action of the ant's feelers, but not a
+single plant-louse seemed disposed to emit the secretion. Thereafter a
+single ant was admitted to their company, the insect, in Mr. Darwin's
+words, appearing, "by its eager way of running about, to be well aware
+what a rich flock it had discovered." The ant first stroked one aphis
+and then another, each insect excreting a drop of the sweet juice "as
+soon as it felt the antenn�;" and "even the quite young aphides
+behaved in this manner, showing that the action was instinctive, and
+not the result of experience." If, as Mr. Darwin remarks, it is a
+convenience for the aphides to have the sweet secretion removed, and
+that "they do not excrete solely for the food of the ants," the
+observation does not in any degree lessen the curious nature of the
+relationship which has become established between the ants and their
+neighbors, or the interesting features in ant life which have
+inaugurated and perpetuated the habit.
+
+Not less remarkable are the "slave-making" instincts of certain
+species of ants. It may be safely maintained that the slave-making
+habit forms a subject of more than ordinary interest not merely to
+naturalists but to metaphysicians given to speculate on the origin and
+acquirement of the practices of human existence. Pierre Huber, son of
+the famous entomologist, was the first to describe the slave-making
+instincts in a species (_Polyergus rufescens_) noted for its
+predaceous instincts, and subsequent observations have shown that
+other species participate in these habits. _Polyergus_ is thoroughly
+dependent on slaves. Without these bonds-men it is difficult to see
+how the ants could exist. Huber tells us that the workers of this
+species perform no work save that of capturing slaves. Use and wont,
+and the habit of depending entirely on their servitors, have produced
+such changes in the structure of the ants that they are unable to help
+themselves. The jaws of these ants are not adapted for work; they are
+carried by their slaves from an old nest to a new one; and, more
+extraordinary still, they require to be fed by their slaves, even with
+plenty of food close at hand. Out of thirty of these ants placed by
+Huber in a box, with some of their larv� and pup�, and a store of
+honey, fifteen died in less than two days of hunger and of sheer
+inability to help themselves. When, however, one of their slaves was
+introduced, the willing servitor "established order, formed a chamber
+in the earth, gathered together the larv�, extricated several young
+ants that were ready to quit the condition of pup�, and preserved the
+life of the remaining Amazons." It must be noted that there are very
+varying degrees in the dependence of the ant-masters on their slaves.
+In the recognition of this graduated scale of relationship and
+dependence, indeed, will be found the clue to the acquirement of this
+instinct. The horse-ant (_Formica rufa_) will carry off the larv� and
+pup� of other ants _for food_, and it sometimes happens that some of
+these captives, spared by their cannibal neighbors, will grow up in
+the nest of their captor. A well-known ant, the _Formica sanguinea_,
+found in the South of England, is however, a true slave-making
+species, but exhibits no such utter dependence on its servitors as
+does _Polyergus_. The slave-making habit is not only typically
+developed in the _Sanguineas_, but the bearing of the captives to
+their masters indicate a degree of relationship and organization such
+as could hardly be conceived to exist outside human experience. The
+_Sanguineas_ make periodical excursions, and, like a powerful
+predatory clan, carry off the pup� or chrysalides of a neighboring
+species, _F. fusca_. Thus the children of the latter race are born
+within the nest of their captors in an enslaved condition. As slaves
+"born and bred," so to speak, they fall at once into the routine of
+their duties, assist their masters in the work of the nest, and tend
+and nurse the young of the family. The slaves, curiously enough in
+this instance, are black in color, whilst the masters are twice the
+size of the servitors, and are red in color, and that the slaves are
+true importations is proved by the fact that males and females of the
+slave species are never developed within the nest of the masters, but
+only within those of their own colonies. The slaves in this instance
+rarely leave the nest, the masters foraging for food, and employing
+their captives in household work, as it were; whilst, when the work of
+emigration occurs, the masters carry the slaves in their mouths like
+household goods and chattels, instead of being carried by them, as in
+the case of _Polyergus_.
+
+Mr. Darwin gives an interesting account of the different attitudes
+exhibited by the _Sanguineas_ toward species of ants other than the
+black race from which their slaves are usually drawn. A few pup� of
+the yellow ant (_F. flava_), a courageous and pugnacious little
+species, were placed within the reach of the slave-making
+_Sanguineas_. A like chance presented with the pup� of their slave
+race was eagerly seized, and the chrysalides carried off. The pup� of
+the yellow ants, however, were not merely left untouched, but the
+slave-makers exhibited every system of terror and alarm at the sight
+of the chrysalides of their yellow neighbors. Such an instance
+demonstrates the existence not merely of perception but also of the
+memory of past experience, probably of not over agreeable kind, of
+encounters with the yellow ants. When, on the contrary, a nest of the
+slaves is attacked, the _Sanguineas_ are both bold and wary. Mr.
+Darwin traced a long file of _Sanguineas_ for forty yards backward to
+a clump of heath, whence he perceived the last of the invaders
+marching homeward with a slave pupa in its mouth. Two or three
+individuals of the attacked and desolate nest were rushing about in
+wild despair, and "one," adds Mr. Darwin, "was perched motionless,
+with its own pupa in its mouth, on the top of a spray of heath, an
+image of despair over its ravaged home." The picture thus drawn is not
+the less eloquent because its subject is drawn from lower existence;
+although the pains and sorrows of ant life may not legitimately be
+judged by the standard of human woe.
+
+The explanation of the slave-making instinct in ants begins with the
+recognition of the fact that many ants, not slave-makers, store up
+pup� of other species for food. If we suppose that some of the pup�,
+originally acquired through a cannibal-like instinct, came to maturity
+within the nest of their captors, and in virtue of their own inherited
+instincts engaged in the work of the hive, we may conceive of a
+rational beginning of the slave-making instinct. If, further, the
+captors learned to appreciate the labors of their captives, as
+lightening their own work, the habit of collecting pup� as slaves
+might succeed and supersede that of collecting them for food. In any
+case, we should require to postulate on the part of the slave-makers a
+degree of instinct altogether unusual in insects, or, indeed, in
+higher animals; but that such instinct is developed in ants other than
+slave-makers admits of no dispute. The strengthening, through
+repetition, of a habit useful to the species may thus be credited with
+the beginning of the practice of slavery amongst ants; whilst special
+circumstances--such as the number of the slaves as compared with the
+number of masters--would tend to develop a greater or less degree of
+dependence of the captors or their servitors.
+
+Huber, for instance, informs us that the _Fusca_-slaves of the
+_Sanguineas_ of Switzerland work with their masters in building the
+nest; they close and open the doors of the hive; but their chief
+office appears to be that of hunting for plant-lice. In England, on
+the contrary, the slaves are strictly household servants, rarely
+venturing out of doors. Such differences depend most probably on the
+fact that a greater number of slaves occur in Swiss than in English
+nests, and they may therefore be employed in a wider range of duties
+on the Continent than at home. A fewer number of slaves, a greater
+aptitude on the part of the slaves for their duties, the inability of
+the masters to perform the duties of the slaves--each or all of these
+causes combined would serve to increase the value of the servitors,
+and at the same time to reduce the independence of the masters.
+
+This increase of the value of the slaves as active factors in the ant
+community might at length proceed to such extremes as we see
+exemplified in the _Polyergus_, already referred to--a race which has
+become literally unable to feed itself, and to discharge the simplest
+duties of ant existence, and whose actual life is entirely spent in
+marauding expeditions on the nests of its neighbors.
+
+The subject of the general intelligence of ants, and of their ability
+to adapt themselves to awkward and unusual circumstances, may be
+briefly touched upon by way of conclusion.
+
+Between the reason and intelligence of higher animals and the
+"instinct" of ants there is unquestionably a great gulf fixed. I make
+this statement unhesitatingly, notwithstanding that I should no more
+willingly attempt to define "instinct" than to give an exact
+definition of "insanity." In the latter case one may make the
+definition so limited as practically to exclude all save one class of
+cases, or so wide as to include even the judge on the bench. In the
+case of instinct, the rigid definition of one authority might cause us
+to regard it as the exclusive property of lower forms and as having no
+relationship whatever with the mental powers of higher beings; or, on
+the other hand, as being but a modified form of, or in some respects
+identical with, these very powers. We know too little respecting the
+so-called "automatic" powers and ways, even of higher animals, to
+dogmatize regarding the acts of lower animals, but we may safely
+assume that one apparent ground or distinction between instinct and
+reason may be found in the common incompetence of instinct to move out
+of the beaten track of existence, and in the adaptation of reason,
+through the teachings of experience, to new and unwonted
+circumstances. Let Dr. Carpenter speak as an authority on such a
+subject. "The whole nervous system of invertebrated animals, then, may
+be regarded as ministering entirely to _automatic_ action; and its
+highest development, as in the class of insects, is coincident with
+the highest manifestations of the 'instinctive' powers, which, when
+carefully examined, are found to consist entirely in movements of the
+excito-motor and sensori-motor kinds. (The terms '_excito-motor_' and
+'_sensori-motor_' are applied to nervous actions resulting in
+movements of varying kinds, and produced by impressions made on
+nervous centres, but without any necessary emotion, reason, or
+consciousness.) When we attentively consider the habits of these
+animals, we find that their actions, though evidently adapted to the
+attainment of certain ends, are very far from evincing a _designed_
+adaptation on the part of the beings that perform them.... For, in the
+first place, these actions are invariably performed in the same manner
+by all the individuals of a species, when the conditions are the same;
+and thus are obviously to be attributed rather to a uniform impulse
+than to a free choice, the most remarkable example of this being
+furnished by the economy of bees, wasps, and other 'social' insects,
+in which every individual of the community performs its appropriated
+part with the exactitude and method of a perfect machine. The very
+perfection of the adaptation, again, is often of itself a sufficient
+evidence of the unreasoning character of the beings which perform the
+work; for if we attribute it to their own intelligence, we must admit
+that this intelligence frequently equals, if it does not surpass, that
+of the most accomplished Human Reasoner."
+
+Appealing to the most recent observations on ants, we may find
+evidence of the truth of Dr. Carpenter's statements, whilst at the
+same time we may also detect instances of the development of higher
+powers which are hardly to be classed as "automatic," and which, in
+certain species (as in the _Ecitons_, charmingly described by Mr. Belt
+in "The Naturalist in Nicaragua"), may be said to be elevated above
+the common instincts of the race. Dr. Henry Maudsley has also well
+summed up the relationship of the acts of these insects to the acts of
+higher forms, and to new adaptations when he says: "I do not say that
+the ant and the bee are entirely destitute of any power of adaptation
+to new experiences in their lives--that they are, in fact, purely
+organized machines, acting always with unvarying regularity; it would
+appear, indeed, from close observation, that these creatures do
+sometimes discover in their actions traces of a sensibility to strange
+experiences, and of corresponding adaptations of movements. We cannot,
+moreover, conceive how the remarkable instincts which they manifest
+can have been acquired originally, except by virtue of some such
+power. But the power in them now is evidently of a rudimentary kind,
+and must remain so while they have not those higher nerve-centres in
+which the sensations are combined into ideas, and perceptions of the
+relations of things are acquired. Granting, however, that the bee or
+ant has these traces of adaptive action, it must be allowed that they
+are truly rudiments of functions, which in the supreme nerve-centres
+we designate as reason and volition. Such a confession might be a
+trouble to a metaphysical physiologist, who would thereupon find it
+necessary to place a metaphysical entity behind the so-called
+instincts of the bee, but can be no trouble to the inductive
+physiologist--he simply recognizes an illustration of a physiological
+diffusion of properties, and of the physical conditions of primitive
+volition, and traces in the evolution of mind and its organs, as in
+the evolution of other functions and their organs, a progressive
+specialization and increasing complexity."
+
+The recently published experiments of Sir John Lubbock show that ants
+under certain circumstances are both stupid and devoid of any
+intelligent comprehension in the way of surmounting difficulties; but
+this distinguished observer has also shown that as regards
+communication between ants, and in the regulation of the ordinary
+circumstances of their lives, these insects evince a high degree of
+intelligence, and exhibit instincts of a very highly developed kind.
+Still, making every allowance for the development of extraordinary
+mental power in some species of ants, there can be little doubt of the
+purely automatic beginnings and nature of most, if not all, of the
+acts of ordinary ant existence. The young ant, wasp, or bee, will
+begin its labors and discharge them as perfectly at the beginning of
+its existence as a perfect insect, as at the close of life. Here there
+is no experience, no tuition, no consciousness, no reason, and no
+powers save such as have been transferred to the insect as a mere
+matter of heredity and derivation from its ancestors, who lived by an
+unconscious rule of thumb, so to speak. It is very hard at first to
+convince one's self, when watching an ant's nest, that intelligence
+and consciousness play little or no part in the apparently intelligent
+operation of these insects. But to assume the contrary would be to
+maintain that the insect stands on an equal footing to man himself,
+and for such a supposition there is neither lawful ground nor
+sympathy. The marvellous instinct of lower life stands on a platform
+of its own, has its own phases of development, and probably its own
+unconscious way of progress. The higher reason and intellect of
+humanity similarly possesses its own peculiar standard, rate, and
+method of culture. A man may seek and find in the ways of lower
+existence not merely a lesson in the ordering of his existence, but
+some comfort, also, in the thought that the progress of lower nature
+is not unknown in the domain of human hopes and aspirations.
+
+[Illustration: RETURN OF ANTS AFTER A BATTLE.]
+
+
+
+
+THE WILD LLAMA
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES, ETC.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF GUANACO.]
+
+The guanaco, or wild Llama, is the characteristic quadruped of the
+plains of Patagonia; it is the South American representative of the
+camel in the East. It is an elegant animal in a state of nature, with
+a long slender neck and fine legs. It is very common over the whole of
+the temperate parts of the continent, as far south as the islands near
+Cape Horn. It generally lives in small herds of from half a dozen to
+thirty in each; but on the banks of the St. Cruz we saw one herd which
+must have contained at least five hundred.
+
+They are generally wild and extremely wary. Mr. Stokes told me, that
+he one day saw through a glass a herd of these animals which evidently
+had been frightened, and were running away at full speed, although
+their distance was so great that he could not distinguish them with
+his naked eye. The sportsman frequently receives the first notice of
+their presence, by hearing from a long distance their peculiar shrill
+neighing note of alarm. If he then looks attentively, he will probably
+see the herd standing in a line on the side of some distant hill. On
+approaching nearer, a few more squeals are given, and off they set at
+an apparently slow, but really quick canter, along some narrow beaten
+track to a neighboring hill. If, however, by chance, he abruptly meets
+a single animal, or several together, they will generally stand
+motionless and intently gaze at him; then perhaps move on a few yards,
+turn round, and look again. What is the cause of this difference in
+their shyness? Do they mistake a man in the distance for their chief
+enemy the puma? Or does curiosity overcome their timidity? That they
+are curious is certain; for if a person lies on the ground, and plays
+strange antics, such as throwing up his feet in the air, they will
+almost always approach by degrees to reconnoitre him. It was an
+artifice that was repeatedly practised by our sportsmen with success,
+and it had moreover the advantage of allowing several shots to be
+fired, which were all taken as parts of the performance. On the
+mountains of the Tierra del Fuego, I have more than once seen a
+guanaco, on being approached, not only neigh and squeal, but prance
+and leap about in the most ridiculous manner, apparently in defiance
+as a challenge. These animals are very easily domesticated, and I have
+seen some thus kept in northern Patagonia near a house, though not
+under any restraint. They are in this state very bold, and readily
+attack a man by striking him from behind with both knees. It is
+asserted that the motive for these attacks is jealousy on account of
+their females. The wild guanacos, however, have no idea of defence;
+even a single dog will secure one of these large animals, till the
+huntsman can come up. In many of their habits they are like sheep in a
+flock. Thus when they see men approaching in several directions on
+horseback, they soon become bewildered, and know not which way to run.
+This greatly facilitates the Indian method of hunting, for they are
+thus easily driven to a central point, and are encompassed.
+
+[Illustration: THE GUANACO.]
+
+The guanacos readily take to the water: several times at Port Valdes
+they were seen swimming from island to island. Byron, in his voyage, says
+he saw them drinking salt water. Some of our officers likewise saw a
+herd apparently drinking the briny fluid from a salina near Cape Blanco.
+I imagine in several parts of the country, if they do not drink salt
+water, they drink none at all. In the middle of the day they frequently
+roll in the dust, in saucer-shaped hollows. The males fight together;
+two one day passed quite close to me, squealing and trying to bite each
+other; and several were shot with their hides deeply scarred. Herds
+sometimes appear to set out on exploring parties; at Bahia Blanca,
+where, within thirty miles of the coast, these animals are extremely
+unfrequent, I one day saw the tracks of thirty or forty, which had come
+in a direct line to a muddy salt-water creek. They then must have
+perceived that they were approaching the sea, for they had wheeled with
+the regularity of cavalry, and had returned back in as straight a line
+as they had advanced. The guanacos have one singular habit, which is
+to me quite inexplicable; namely, that on successive days they drop
+their dung in the same defined heap. I saw one of these heaps which
+was eight feet in diameter, and was composed of a large quantity. This
+habit, according to M.�A. d'Orbigny, is common to all the species of
+the genus; it is very useful to the Peruvian Indians, who use the dung
+for fuel, and are thus saved the trouble of collecting it.
+
+The guanacos appear to have favorite spots for lying down to die. On
+the banks of the St. Cruz, in certain circumscribed spaces, which were
+generally bushy and all near the river, the ground was actually white
+with bones. On one such spot I counted between ten and twenty heads. I
+particularly examined the bones; they did not appear, as some
+scattered ones which I have seen, gnawed or broken, as if dragged
+together by beasts of prey. The animals in most cases must have
+crawled, before dying, beneath and amongst the bushes. Mr. Byron
+informs me that during a former voyage he observed the same
+circumstances on the banks of the Rio Gallegos. I do not at all
+understand the reason of this, but I may observe, that the wounded
+guanacos at the St. Cruz invariably walked towards the river. At St.
+Jago in the Cape de Verd islands, I remember having seen in a ravine a
+retired corner covered with bones of the goat; we at the time
+exclaimed that it was the burial-ground of all the goats in the
+island.
+
+
+
+
+BATS
+
+(FROM STUDIES OF ANIMATED NATURE.)
+
+BY W.�S. DALLAS, F.L.S.
+
+
+[Illustration: SLEEPING BAT.]
+
+Among the sounds which greet the ear of the wayfarer as the shades of
+evening deepen into night, one of the commonest is a rather faint
+chirping noise which comes mysteriously from overhead. On looking up
+in search of the source of this peculiar sound, we may see a small,
+dark, shadow-like creature sweeping to and fro with great rapidity. It
+is one of the curious groups of animals called Bats, representatives
+of which are to be met with in in all countries, always active at
+night or in the twilight, and presenting a remarkable general
+similarity of structure, although in some respects they may differ
+considerably in habits. In the British Islands some fourteen species
+have been distinguished.
+
+Like the owls, with which they share the dominion of the evening air,
+the Bats have a perfectly noiseless flight; their activity is chiefly
+during the twilight, although some species are later, and in fact seem
+to keep up throughout the whole night. As they rest during the day,
+concealed usually in the most inaccessible places they can find, and
+are seen only upon the wing, their power of flight is their most
+striking peculiarity in the popular mind, and it is perhaps no great
+wonder that by many people, both in ancient and modern times they have
+been regarded as birds. Nevertheless, their hairy bodies and leathery
+wings are so unlike anything that we ordinarily understand as
+pertaining to a bird, that opinion was apparently always divided, as
+to the true nature of these creatures--"a mouse with wings," as
+Goldsmith called it once, according to James Boswell, is certainly a
+curious animal, and very difficult to classify so long as the would-be
+systematist has no particularly definite ideas to guide him. The
+likeness of the Bat to a winged mouse has made itself felt in the name
+given to the creature in many languages, such as the "Chauvesouris" of
+the French and the "Flitter-mouse" of some parts of England, the
+latter being reproduced almost literally in German, Dutch, and
+Swedish, while the Danes called the Bat a "Flogenmues," which has
+about the same meaning, and the Swedes have a second name, "L�dermus,"
+evidently referring to the texture of the wings, as well as to the
+mouse-like character of the body.
+
+But so soon as we have definite characters to appeal to in
+classification, we find no difficulty in assigning these puzzling
+creatures to their proper place in the system. Bats produce their
+young alive, and suckle them; the milk being produced by special
+glands. Now, these are characters which are peculiar among all animals
+to the vertebrate class Mammalia. They possess also other characters
+that are unmistakably mammalian. Leaving out of consideration the
+structure of the internal organs, they have teeth implanted in sockets
+in the jaws, four limbs, and a hairy covering to the skin, so that
+they possess more decidedly mammalian characters than some other
+members of the class, such as the marine whales and dolphins
+(_Cetacea_) and manatees (_Sirenia_), which are still often spoken of
+as fishes. In point of fact, although organized for flight, the Bat
+may, without any violence to language, be spoken of as a _quadruped_,
+for its fore-limbs contain all the parts found in those of other
+mammals fully developed, and they come into use when the creature is
+walking on the ground.
+
+Perhaps the special characteristics of the Bats will be brought out
+most distinctly by a comparison of their structure with that of a
+bird, seeing that the modification of the fore-limbs into wings is
+their most striking distinction from other Mammalia; for, although
+some other members of the class are spoken of as "flying," such as the
+Flying Squirrels, Flying Lemurs, and Flying Phalangers, these
+creatures do not really fly, but merely glide through the air to
+considerable distances by the action of a broad fold of skin which
+runs down each side of the body, and which, when stretched between
+the extended limbs, buoys the creatures up in the air after the
+fashion of a parachute.
+
+Most of us must have had occasion to pick the bones of a bird's wing,
+a piece of practical anatomy which may serve us in good stead at
+present. They consist of a long bone, which may be called the arm-bone
+(_humerus_), jointed to the shoulder-bones (the so-called "side-bones"
+of a fowl or turkey), followed by a pair of parallel bones
+constituting the fore-arm, at the end of which we find two or three
+small bones, then two parallel bones united at their extremities, and
+some smaller joints terminating the whole.
+
+We need say nothing about the arm-bone and the two bones of the
+fore-arm, the peculiarity of bird-structure lying chiefly in the
+terminal portion of the limb, or the hand. Here we find, after two
+little bones forming the wrist, a pair of long bones as above
+described, firmly united both at base and apex, and on the outside of
+the base of these, close to the wrist, a small bone, which may be
+either free or soldered to the others, and which represents the thumb
+in the human hand. At the other end of the piece formed by the two
+united bones, the limb is continued by two joints, forming a second
+finger, inside of which there is usually a single small bone,
+representing a third finger. But all these parts are stiffly attached
+to one another, admitting of very little motion, so that the whole
+hand forms as it were a single piece. The bony structure of the bird's
+wing is in point of fact a rod hinged in two places, at the elbow and
+the wrist, for the convenience of being folded into a small compass.
+The flight of the bird is effected by the agency of a number of stiff
+feathers implanted in the skin covering the bones and muscles of the
+arm and hand; these fold together like the sticks of a fan when the
+wing is folded, and are spread into an elastic instrument for striking
+the air when the different sections of the bony framework are extended
+by the action of their respective muscles.
+
+In the Bat the structure is very different. Of course, as in the
+Vertebrata generally, we find in the Bat's fore-limb the same three
+main sections as in birds; and as the function of the limb is the
+same, and a certain stiffness is necessary in the extended organ, the
+movements of the joints at the elbow and wrists are hinge-like. But
+the bones of the arm and fore-arm are longer and more slender,
+especially the latter; and in this part, in place of the two parallel
+bones of the bird's wing, we find in the Bat only a single long bone
+representing the smaller bone of the bird, the larger one being
+usually reduced to very small dimensions, and firmly united with the
+other into a single piece, although it still forms the elbow-joint. At
+the other end of this long fore-arm we find some small wrist-bones and
+to these the fingers are articulated. In birds, as we have seen, only
+two or three fingers are represented, and these are more or less
+reduced in size, and the most important of them soldered together;
+Bats, on the contrary, show the whole five fingers as distinctly as in
+the hand of man or any other mammals. The first of them, or the
+_thumb_, is short, slender, and flexible, and composed of three
+joints; the other four are very long and slender, but chiefly
+composed of the metacarpal bones, corresponding to those of the palm
+of the human hand. The first, or index finger, indeed, in many Bats,
+consists of this bone alone; but in the others it is followed by two
+or three slender joints, gradually tapering to the extremity, the
+second finger, corresponding to our middle finger, being always the
+longest of all.
+
+Just as is the bird's wing, these various parts can be folded together
+or extended by the action of the muscles, but in the Bat the long
+fingers become separated when the wing is stretched out, and by this
+action they at the same time stretch a thin leathery double membrane
+in which they are enclosed, which is thus converted into a broad
+surface for striking the air in flight. This membrane is continued
+from the fingers to the sides of the body, and even to the hind limbs,
+which are often included in it to the ankle-joints; while in the great
+majority of Bats there is even a further portion of membrane between
+the hind legs, enclosing the whole or a portion of the tail. There is
+usually also a narrow strip of the same membrane in front of each arm,
+so that the skin of the animal is extended as much as possible, in
+order to give it support in its a�rial evolution. It is to be noted
+that the long second finger extends to the extreme point of the wing
+and that the first finger runs close beside it and thus assists in
+stiffening that part of the organ. The thumb is left free, and is
+furnished with a rather strong hooked claw.
+
+Supported by the action of these great leathery wings, the Bat flies
+about almost incessantly during the twilight, and often late into the
+night. In full career its flight is swift, though perfectly
+noiseless, and it has the power of executing rapid turns and changes
+of direction with the greatest facility, as required for the capture
+of its prey, which, in the great majority of cases, consists of the
+insects of various kinds that in most places fly by night. In pursuit
+of these, the Bats flit rapidly about trees, houses, and other
+buildings, now and then resting by clinging for a moment to the rough
+surfaces of the walls or the trunks and branches of trees. Old country
+church-yards, which are usually full of trees, are naturally favorite
+haunts of these nocturnal insect-hunters, offering them an excellent
+field for the chase of their prey, while at the same time, the church
+itself, with its architectural peculiarities, usually affords them a
+safe retirement during the day in the dark and secluded corners of its
+structure. Hence in the popular mind the Bat has long been associated
+with the church-yard, that spot so dreaded that few can pass through
+it after nightfall without experiencing certain peculiar feelings, so
+that it is no great wonder if a portion of the superstitious fear thus
+engendered has transferred itself to these frail and harmless
+creatures, and given them and their companions, the owls, something of
+an evil reputation. And it must be confessed that when seen against
+the light, flitting silently overhead, there is something weird in the
+Bat's form, and this is no doubt the reason why, while angels of all
+kinds are represented with birds' wings, those of Bats have, by
+universal consent, always been conferred upon demons, dragons, and
+similar uncanny creatures.
+
+When it descends from its flight upon the ground or any solid body,
+the Bat becomes to all intents and purposes a genuine quadruped. The
+fingers being drawn together, with the membranes of the wings thrown
+into folds between them, the whole hand of the creature is brought up
+parallel to the fore-arm, and so got out of the way, and the animal
+can then walk more or less easily, its hind legs, though short and
+rather feeble, being perfectly formed, and the fore limbs, from which
+the thumbs with their sharp claws now project freely, becoming
+available for terrestrial progression. Nevertheless, this progression
+is generally rather clumsy, as indeed might be expected from creatures
+so curiously constructed.
+
+While on the wing, our Bats are constantly engaged in the pursuit of
+the numerous insects of various kinds which, like themselves, are
+active in the evening and after dark, and of these they must destroy
+immense quantities. The swarms of delicate gnats and midges which
+disport themselves in the most complicated a�rial dances, moths of all
+kinds, and even the hard-shelled beetles, many of which fly about in
+the evening or at night, fall a prey to these leathern-winged rovers
+of the night air, and weak as the latter would seem to be, some of
+them are able to seize and devour beetles which appear to be far
+beyond their powers. Thus, the largest of our British species, the
+Great Bat, or Noctule (_Scotophilus noctula_), which, however, is only
+about three inches in length, preys freely upon such large and
+hard-shelled insects as cockchafers; these, in fact, appear to be its
+favorite food, and for their consumption its broad and comparatively
+strong jaws would seem to be specially fitted, while its large and
+powerful wings, measuring fourteen or fifteen inches from tip to tip
+when expanded, enable it to fly with the rapidity necessary for the
+pursuit and capture of such powerful prey. When thus engaged, the
+Noctule haunts the neighborhood of trees, and generally flies at a
+considerable elevation, from which, however, his shrill cry easily
+reaches the ear of the passer-by. His addiction to large prey gives
+rise to a curious movement, thus noticed by Professor Bell in his
+valuable book on "British Quadrupeds." "An observer will not watch his
+movements long," says the Professor, "without noticing a manoeuvre
+which at first looks--like the falling of a tumbler-pigeon, but on
+closer examination proves to be simply a closing of the wings, and a
+consequent drop of about a foot. Sometimes, this is repeated every few
+yards, as long as in sight. It is occasioned by some large and
+intractable insect having been captured, and the anterior joint of the
+wing, with its well-armed thumb, is required in retaining it until
+masticated." Notwithstanding this little difficulty, however, the
+Noctule is pretty rapid in disposing even of his most recusant prey,
+as he has been known to consume as many as thirteen cockchafers one
+after another.
+
+The foregoing statements apply to all our British Bats, and indeed, in
+the matter of food and general habits, to the great majority of the
+species of the order, in whatever country they may occur. But in the
+tropical and sub-tropical regions of the eastern hemisphere, we find a
+great and important group of Bats, which, although agreeing in general
+structure and habits with our European species, differ from them
+altogether in their diet. These Bats, distinguished generally, among
+other things, by their larger size and more robust construction, and
+by certain characters of the molar teeth (grinders), from the ordinary
+Bats, are almost exclusively confined to a fruit diet, in search of
+which they fly vigorously, often in flocks, like birds, at the
+commencement of the night. From this peculiarity of their food they
+are commonly known as Fruit Bats, while the larger species, such as
+the Indian Fruit Bat and the Kalong of the Eastern Archipelago, which
+are respectively eleven and fourteen inches in length, are sometimes
+called Flying Foxes, in allusion to the prevalence of a reddish tint
+in their fur, and their more or less lengthened and dog-like muzzles.
+In many parts of the Eastern world, in India, the Malayan Archipelago,
+Australia, Africa, and even in outlying islands at some distance from
+their main range, these Fruit Bats occur in great numbers. Swarms of
+them roost together during the day, hanging from the branches of the
+trees which they select as their regular resting-place, and taking
+wing at sunset, fly off frequently to great distances in search of
+their favorite articles of food; for they by no means devour
+indiscriminately any kind of fruit, but show a distinct preference for
+particular sorts, generally selecting such as are also prized by their
+human competitors. Hence they often do considerable damage in
+plantations of fruit trees, as when they meet with articles that suit
+taste, they seem, like some human gourmands, not to know when to leave
+off eating. Of one of the smaller Indian species, the Margined Fruit
+Bat, Mr. Dobson obtained a living specimen in Calcutta, and he gives
+the following account of its voracious appetite:--He gave it "a ripe
+banana, which, with the skin removed, weighed exactly two ounces. The
+animal immediately, as if famished with hunger, fell upon the fruit,
+seized it between the thumbs and the index fingers, and took large
+mouthfuls out of it, opening the mouth to the fullest extent with
+extreme voracity. In the space of three hours the whole fruit was
+consumed. Next morning the Bat was killed, and found to weigh one
+ounce, half the weight of the food eaten in three hours! Indeed, the
+animal when eating seemed to be a kind of living mill"--so
+continuously does its food pass through it.
+
+From the statements of some writers, it would appear that although
+these Bats live chiefly upon fruits, they occasionally, like many
+other frugivorous animals, diversify their diet with animal food,
+devouring insects of various kinds, caterpillars, birds' eggs, and
+even young birds, while there seems to be some reason to believe that
+one species even feeds upon shell-fish which it picks up upon the
+seashore.
+
+The fruit-eating Bats of this group are not found in the warmer parts
+of America, but some American Bats feed chiefly upon fruits, while
+many of the large essentially insectivorous species which occur there
+vary their diet more or less with fruits, and also occasionally attack
+and devour other vertebrate animals. Some of them--but it is still
+very doubtful how many--have another habit connected with their
+feeding, which renders them very decidedly objectionable, namely, that
+of inflicting wounds upon birds and mammals, even including man
+himself, and sucking up the blood that flows from them. This charge
+has been brought against many Bats of South and Central America,
+some of which have been commonly named Vampires in consequence, after
+the ghostly blood-suckers, which were formerly the objects of so much
+superstitious terror in Hungary and other parts of Eastern Europe; but
+so far as can be made out from a consideration of the evidence, a
+verdict of "not proven," at all events, must be arrived at in the case
+of all but two species, which constitute a little group distinguished
+by what is apparently a special organization adapting them to this
+peculiar diet. These wretched little beasts, which only measure two
+and a half or three inches in length, are furnished in the upper jaw
+with a single pair of incisor or front teeth, but these are of great
+size and strength, triangular in form, and so excessively sharp that
+when the creatures are seized they can draw blood from the hand of
+their captor by what seems a mere touch. This extreme sharpness of
+their weapons enables them, when attacking sleeping men or animals, to
+slice off a small portion of skin almost without causing any pain, and
+the little oval wounds thus produced, like the similar surface-cuts
+which a careless shaver sometimes inflicts upon his chin, bleed with
+particular freedom. The Desmodonts, as these true Vampires are called,
+will attack horses, mules, and cattle, which they generally wound on
+the back, near the spine, often in the region of the withers; and they
+also bite the combs of domestic fowls, and any part of the human body
+that they can get at. In the case of man, however, according to most
+authorities, the extremity of the great toe is the favorite part; and
+some writers, perhaps possessed of a strong poetical vein, have given
+wonderful descriptions of the artfulness with which these little
+blood-suckers make their approaches, and keep their victim comfortably
+asleep during the operation by fanning him with their wings. In fact,
+the Vampire Bats had so bad a reputation from the accounts given by
+travellers, that they seemed to be veritable scourges of the countries
+in which they live, but so far as can be made out from the most
+trustworthy reports, the mischief they cause may be summed up under
+two heads, namely, weakness produced by loss of blood, which continues
+to flow from the wounds long after the Bats have drunk their fill and
+gone quietly home to rest, and inflammatory affections, caused either
+by the irritation of the bite in the case of people of a bad habit of
+body, or by the friction of the saddle or collar upon the part bitten
+in the case of horses and mules, or of the shoe in the human patient.
+That the Desmodonts do really feed on blood is proved by evidence of
+various kinds. They have been captured in the act of blood-sucking,
+when their stomachs, which are peculiarly constructed and very long,
+are found filled with a black paste, which is evidently half-digested
+blood; and their teeth, which are in part so well adapted for
+producing the necessary wounds in other animals, are totally unfit for
+the mastication of an insect prey, such as constitutes the diet of
+their nearest allies.
+
+[Illustration: THE VAMPIRE BAT.]
+
+After all this feeding, Bats, whatever the nature of their diet, not
+unnaturally find themselves inclined for repose, and as they are
+active during the night or in the twilight, of course their rest has
+to be taken in the daytime. To pass the period of repose in security
+they seek shelter of various kinds, not only for protection against
+the weather, but also for the sake of concealment from other
+predaceous animals, some of which would no doubt be perfectly willing
+to make a meal of them. The great Eastern Fruit Bats, trusting perhaps
+to their size and strength, are content to resort to the branches of
+trees, from which, after the manner of Bats in general, they suspend
+themselves by the hind feet with the head downwards. From the
+statements of various writers it appears that after being out all
+night in search of food, the Flying Foxes and other allied Bats fly
+back to their regular resting-places, where they begin to arrive about
+or soon after dawn. The number resorting to the same retreat is
+usually so great that the whole of the branches are loaded with them,
+and in fact they are so crowded together that the settling down of the
+flock into their repose is preceded by a scene of squabbling and
+quarrelling of the most noisy description. Mr. Tickell, speaking of
+the common Indian Flying Fox, says:--"From the arrival of the first
+comer, until the sun is high above the horizon, a scene of incessant
+wrangling and contention is enacted among them, as each endeavors to
+secure a higher and better place, or to eject a neighbor from too
+close vicinage. In these struggles the Bats hook themselves along the
+branches, scrambling about hand over hand with some speed, biting each
+other severely, striking out with the long claw of the thumb,
+shrieking and cackling without intermission. Each new arrival is
+compelled to fly several times round the tree, being threatened from
+all points; and when he eventually hooks on, he has to go through a
+series of combats, and be probably ejected two or three times, before
+he makes good his tenure." This scene of selfish contention over, the
+Fruit Bats pass some hours in profound sleep, during which they remain
+suspended in rows along the branches, to which they cling by one foot
+only, the other with all the lower surface of the body being
+comfortably wrapped in the leathery mantle formed by the contracted
+wings. In this condition, as Dr. Horsfield says of the Great Kalong,
+"ranged in succession with the head downwards ... and often in close
+contact, they have little resemblance to living beings, and by a
+person not accustomed to their economy are easily mistaken for a part
+of the tree, or for a fruit of uncommon size suspended from its
+branches." In this position the head is folded down upon the breast.
+Dr. Bennett and Mr. Gould ascribed very similar habits to a large
+Fruit Bat common in the northern parts of New South Wales and in
+Queensland, which is said to be often exceedingly destructive to the
+peach and other fruit crops of the settlers in those colonies.
+
+The European Bats, and indeed all the Bats except these Flying Foxes
+and their immediate allies, seek a different kind of shelter. Their
+chief natural dormitories consist of hollow trees and the caves and
+fissures of rocks, to which they often resort in great numbers; but in
+populous countries they also find an abundance of convenient places of
+retirement in and about buildings of various kinds. Roofs, especially
+when covered with tiles, or otherwise provided with apertures through
+which the space immediately under the roofing is easily accessible,
+outbuildings of all kinds, church towers and other similar structures,
+disused chimneys, the spaces behind weather-boards and shutters which
+are not often moved, in fact any dark and sheltered places about our
+buildings, are readily resorted to by many species, although some few
+retain their taste for unadulterated nature so strongly that no
+artificial harbor will serve their turn. Thus among the British
+species the Great Bat or Noctule, a generally distributed though not
+abundant species throughout the southern and middle counties of
+England, seems generally to retreat for its diurnal sleep to the holes
+or cavities in the trunks of trees, and only to visit buildings when
+there is a scarcity of such accommodation; and the Horseshoe Bats show
+a decided preference for caverns and deserted quarries; but the great
+majority appear to be indifferent in the matter, and to resort to any
+shelter that seems convenient to them. Some, such as the Barbastelle
+of the southern parts of England, are solitary in their habits,
+generally retiring alone for their day's rest; others are more
+sociable, reposing in larger or smaller parties in their dormitories,
+whether natural or artificial, and sometimes, like the Fruit Bats,
+collecting in immense numbers.
+
+The common Bats, like the Fruit Bats, sleep in what we should consider
+an exceedingly uncomfortable position, namely, with their heads
+downwards, but they cling by the claws of _both_ hind feet to the
+small irregularities of the stone or wood forming the walls and other
+parts of the structure of their retreat. They frequent the same places
+year after year, so that, where they are numerous, the ground is often
+completely covered and discolored with their excrements, which in some
+cases accumulate in course of time to such an amount as to have given
+rise to the notion of carrying it away to be used as guano. The little
+blood-sucking Vampire Bats already mentioned take up their abode in
+caverns, and, according to Dr. Hensel, who observed their habits, they
+discharge their excrements, which are black and pasty, near the
+entrance of the cave just before starting on their evening flight, and
+this substance by degrees forms quite a thick layer (one foot or more)
+on the floor of the cavern. The Doctor says that a large dog which had
+paid a visit of curiosity to one of these caves came out again looking
+as if he had got long black boots on.
+
+In the warmer regions of the earth's surface, where their supply of
+food is constant, the activity of the Bats is not known to have any
+intermission, but in cold and temperate countries they pass the winter
+season in a state of torpidity. The period of this hibernation, as it
+is called, varies somewhat in the different species, but few of them
+are to be seen flying about, except when the weather is decidedly
+mild. The commonest of all our British species, the Pipistrelle, has a
+shorter winter sleep than any of its companions, it usually makes its
+appearance on the wing by the middle of March, and continues active
+until quite late in the year; in fact Mr. Gould has recorded the fact
+of his having shot a specimen of it on a warm sunny day just before
+Christmas. For the purpose of hibernation the Bats retire to their
+usual resting-places, but frequently, instead of suspending themselves
+by their hind feet, as when sleeping, pack themselves away in small
+parties in holes and crevices, an arrangement which probably furnishes
+a better protection against the inclemency of the season.
+
+It is probably in the dormitory that the birth of the young bats takes
+place--at least, so far as we know, the process is affected in a
+manner which must preclude active exertions on the part of the mother
+for some little time. The best account of the operation with which we
+are acquainted is that given fifty years ago by Mr. George Daniell, in
+a paper read before the Zo�logical Society, in which he described the
+habits of some Noctules kept by him in captivity. Four out of five
+died, and the survivor, a female, was observed on 23d June to become
+very restless, and to continue so for about an hour, although still
+suspended by the hind limbs in the attitude of repose. "Suddenly," to
+use Mr. Daniell's words, "she reversed her position, and attached
+herself by her anterior limbs to a cross wire of the cage, stretching
+her hind limbs to their utmost extent, curving the tail upwards, and
+expanding the interfemoral membrane, so as to form a perfect nestlike
+cavity for the reception of the young ... which was born on its back,
+perfectly destitute of hair, and blind. The mother then cleaned it,
+turning it over in its nest; and afterwards, resuming her usual
+position, placed the young in the membrane of her wing. She next
+cleaned herself, and wrapped up the young one so closely as to prevent
+any observation of the process of suckling. At the time of birth the
+young was larger than a new-born mouse, and its hind legs and claws
+were remarkably strong and serviceable, enabling it not only to cling
+to its dam, but also to the deal sides of the cage. On the 24th the
+animal took her food in the morning, and appeared very careful of her
+young, shifting it from side to side to suckle it, and folding it in
+the membranes of the tail and wings." Unfortunately, these
+interesting observations were cut short by the death of the mother,
+and the young animal, which was with some difficulty removed from the
+nipple, survived only eight days, during which it was fed with milk
+from a sponge, and made but little progress, its eyes being still
+unopened, and its body almost hairless.
+
+There can be no doubt that this process, varied in minor points in
+accordance with differences of structure, reveals to us what takes
+place in Bats generally in immediate connection with the birth of the
+young. From all the observations that have been made it appears
+certain that the female Bats produce only a single young one at a
+birth; that this is at first blind, naked, and helpless; and that the
+female nurses it carefully--a process which must be greatly
+facilitated by the power of clinging to its parent possessed by the
+young Bat from the first moment of its appearance in the world. The
+two nipples possessed by the female are situated upon the breast,
+sometimes quite at the sides under the arm-pits, a position which
+renders it particularly easy for the careful mother to tend her
+offspring, while she is also enabled to carry it about with her in her
+evening flights, the young creature clinging firmly to its mother's
+fur, and being quite out of the way of the movements of the wings.
+This part of the business, of course, could not be exemplified in Mr.
+Daniell's case, as the female was imprisoned in a cage, but it is a
+well-known fact in the natural history of these creatures that the
+mother does carry her young about with her so long as it continues
+helpless. Apparently, indeed, even after the young animal becomes
+capable of flying about, its mother still retains some interest in its
+well-being--at least, if we may apply generally a case recorded by Dr.
+Allen in his account of the Bats of North America. It relates to a
+small species, the Red Bat, very common throughout the United States,
+a young individual of which having been captured by a lad, "three
+hours afterwards, in the evening, as he was conveying it to the museum
+in his hand, while passing near the place where it was caught, the
+mother made her appearance, and followed the boy for two squares,
+flying around him, and finally alighted on his breast, such was her
+anxiety to save her offspring. Both were brought to the museum, the
+young one firmly adhering to its mother's teat. This faithful creature
+lived two days in the museum, and then died of injuries received from
+her captor. The young one being but half grown was still too young to
+take care of itself, and died shortly after."
+
+This little anecdote seems to set the moral character of the Bat in a
+very favorable light, at any rate as regards the family affections,
+and there is no doubt that the females of all the species of the group
+show considerable fondness for their young. In other respects,
+perhaps, they do not all shine quite so brilliantly, for, as we have
+seen, the Fruit Bats squabble very selfishly for the most convenient
+sleeping places, as indeed do other gregarious species of the order,
+and some of the former quarrel and fight over their food. As regards
+amiability of character, however, there is probably considerable
+difference between different kinds of Bats; at any rate, in
+confinement, they show much diversity of temper, some of them being
+sullen, refusing food, and biting vigorously at their captors or the
+bars of their prison, while others are easily tamed and soon become
+familiar. Two of the commonest species, the Pipistrelle, and the
+Long-eared Bat are among the latter. The Pipistrelle, which appears to
+be abundant throughout Britain, and indeed in most of the northern
+temperate regions of the eastern hemisphere, is a small reddish-brown
+species, measuring little more than one inch and a half in length
+without the tail, but with a spread of wing of more than eight inches.
+Its regular food consists chiefly of gnats, midges, and other small
+flies, in pursuit of which it often frequents the vicinity of water,
+but it has a curious predilection for raw meat, and in search of this
+it often makes its way into pantries, where the little thief will be
+found clinging to a joint of meat, and feeding upon it with avidity.
+This fondness for meat makes the Pipistrelle very easy to keep in
+confinement, as it diminishes the necessity of finding it insect food,
+and the little creature will in time become so tame as to take pieces
+of meat from its owner's fingers. It is an active and lively little
+creature, flying, running, and climbing about with great ease; in the
+latter operation, according to Professor Bell, it makes use of the
+extreme tip of the tail as if it was a finger.
+
+The Long-eared Bat, so called from the great size of its ears, which
+are nearly as long as the whole animal exclusive of the tail, has
+perhaps a wider distribution than the Pipistrelle, but is hardly so
+abundant in Britain. Its head and body measure nearly two inches long,
+while its wings spread to about ten inches. This Bat generally sleeps
+during the day under the roofs of houses and in church towers, and
+when sleeping its long ears are carefully stowed away under the folded
+wings, but the earlet or inner lobe of the ear still projects, so that
+the creature appears to have a pair of short-pointed ears. The
+Long-eared Bat flies very late in the evening, and indeed seems to
+continue its activity throughout the night; its food appears to
+consist to a great extent of the smaller moths, although other insects
+are by no means disdained. This species also soon becomes very tame
+and familiar; it will fly about the room, play with its fellows, and
+come fearlessly to take its food from the hand. Professor Bell gives
+an interesting account of one kept by Mr. James Sowerby, which, "when
+at liberty in the parlor, would fly to the hand of any of the young
+people who held up a fly toward it, and, pitching on the hand, take
+the fly without hesitation. If the insect was held between the lips,
+the Bat would then settle on its young patron's cheek, and take the
+fly with great gentleness from the mouth; and so far was this
+familiarity carried, that, when either of the young people made a
+humming noise with the mouth, in imitation of an insect, the Bat would
+search about the lips for the promised dainty." This habit of taking
+its food when off the wing, would seem to be natural to the Long-eared
+Bat under certain circumstances, as Mr. Tomes records his having seen
+one feeding in this manner upon the myriads of small moths which
+swarmed about a spindle tree in bloom.
+
+[Illustration: LONG-EARED BAT.]
+
+It is unnecessary to say that the creatures which display all this
+activity and intelligence are well endowed with at least all the
+senses possessed by the other animals of their class. The organs of
+smell and hearing are well developed, and in many cases associated
+with external membranous expansions of great size, as seen in the ears
+of the Long-eared Bat; and the eyes, though generally of small size
+except in the Fruit Bats, are bright and efficient, serving the
+creatures in good stead in the rapid pursuit of their insect-prey,
+which must be directed principally by sight. The common expression "as
+blind as a Bat," must be taken to apply to Bats accidentally driven
+from their retreats in the day-time, when it must be confessed that
+they fly about in a dazed manner; but at night and in their dark
+retreats they show no such imbecility of purpose, but find their way
+with astonishing precision and certainty. In fact, instead of being
+blind, the Bats must be especially sharp-sighted, if all their
+evolutions be guided by the sense of sight, for in many cases they
+habitually resort to the inmost recesses of caverns and other places
+where, so far as our judgment goes, no light can possibly penetrate.
+Hence it was long since suspected that some other sense than that of
+sight must come to their aid when they plunge into such outer darkness
+as prevails in some places through which they fly with the greatest
+freedom, and more than a century ago numerous experiment were made by
+a distinguished Italian naturalist, the Abb� Spallanzani, in order to
+discover, if possible, what might be the secret of these curious
+phenomena.
+
+He set free, in a long passage which was bent at a right angle about
+the middle of its length, a blinded Bat, which flew through the whole
+of this passage, turning the corner correctly, without anywhere
+touching the walls; while flying, too, it in some mysterious manner
+detected a hole in the roof at a distance of eighteen inches, and
+proceeded at once to ensconce itself in this shelter. In another
+experiment the Abb� took two Bats, one blinded, the other not, and
+placed them in a space shut off from a garden and roofed in with nets,
+and with sixteen strings suspended from the top in different parts.
+Both Bats flew about briskly and avoided the hanging strings equally
+well, until at length the _blinded_ Bat discovered that the meshes of
+the net were large enough for him to get through, when he at once made
+his escape, and after flying about for a short time, went off directly
+to the only roof in the vicinity, under which he disappeared. In
+short, from these experiments it became perfectly clear that under
+these circumstances the sense of sight was not of primary importance
+in guiding the course of the Bat. Similar trials with the organs of
+smell and hearing showed that they had nothing to do with it, and the
+only other sense that could be appealed to was the general sense of
+touch. Baron Cuvier, the great French comparative anatomist, was the
+first to suggest, from the consideration of the results obtained by
+the Abb� Spallanzani and others, especially by M. de Jurine, of
+Geneva, that the peculiar phenomena in question might be accounted for
+by the existence, especially in the great membranous expansions of the
+wings, of a most delicate sensibility; and subsequent investigations
+of the structure of those organs has tended to confirm this view, so
+that it is now the one generally accepted. It is found that these
+great membranes are traversed in all parts by numerous nerves, the
+delicate terminations of which form little loops, exactly resembling
+those which occur in our skin in those parts where the sense of touch
+is most highly developed; and this resemblance is heightened by the
+fact that the membrane is covered with rows of little points. Even the
+organs of circulation in the wings are so constructed as to render it
+almost certain that those organs have a quite exceptional sensibility.
+Their ramifications are very numerous, and the veins as well as the
+arteries have contractile walls, rendering the circulation of the
+blood exceedingly active, the conditions, as Professor St. George
+Mivart remarks, being almost those of a state of inflammation.
+
+If these membranous expansions have the functions just ascribed to
+them, we can easily understand that the larger they are the better,
+and this will explain why the Bats generally exhibit so great a
+tendency to run out into naked membranes. Thus although the ears, as
+organs of hearing, have probably nothing to do with guiding the Bat
+when flying in dark places, we find that in a great number of species
+the external ears are exceedingly large and delicately membranous, of
+which indeed we have an example in the British Long-eared Bat already
+referred to. In like manner, while the nose, as a nose, may also be
+left out of consideration, the development of membranous appendages of
+the part of the face in which the nostrils open is one of the most
+curious peculiarities of a vast number of Bats, in many of which these
+singular nose-leaves almost rival the ears in size, while their
+structure often renders them most grotesque. We have two Bats thus
+adorned in Britain, namely, the Greater and the Lesser Horseshoe Bats,
+but most of the leaf-nosed species are inhabitants of warmer regions,
+and it is there that they run out into the most remarkable
+eccentricities of structure. In Blainville's Bat, a small species
+inhabiting South America and the West Indies, these expansions of the
+skin of the face seem to have reached the utmost possible
+grotesqueness, but the membranous leaves are larger and the ears much
+more developed in many species allied to our own Horseshoe Bats,
+especially such as the Megaderms. We can hardly imagine that these
+great membranous expansions of the outer ears and the region of the
+nose can have any other purpose than that of enlarging the surface of
+highly sensitive skin specially adapted for the perception of external
+impressions, and it is a remarkable fact, strictly in accordance with
+this view, that, so far as we know, the Bats so endowed are more
+decidedly nocturnal in their habits and frequent darker retreats than
+their less gifted fellows. Thus our Long-eared Bat, as already stated,
+continues active on the wing throughout the whole night, and the
+Horseshoe Bats are distinguished as specially affecting dark caves.
+
+
+
+
+HOW SNAKES EAT
+
+(FROM SNAKES.)
+
+BY CATHERINE C. HOPLEY.
+
+
+[Illustration: HAMADRYAD SNAKE.]
+
+The Hamadryad's appointed diet is one ring-snake per week; but "Ophi,"
+as we now call him, is occasionally required--and with no sacrifice of
+his principles either--to eat an extra snake to satisfy the curiosity
+of some distinguished visitor. Sometimes, too, colubers are plentiful,
+and two small ones are not too much for his ten or twelve feet of
+appetite. This splendid serpent has rewarded care by remaining in
+perfect health, and growing several feet. He was between eight and
+nine feet long when he came, and is now not far short of twelve and
+proportionately larger in circumference. Sometimes during winter, when
+ring-snakes are scarce, "Ophi" is compelled to fast; for he is not
+then to be tempted with other food. During the first year of his
+residence in the Gardens, the supply was good, and he ate no less than
+eighty-two fellow-creatures before the winter was well over. Towards
+spring, however, the supply ran short, and only two more remained for
+him. He had now fasted two entire weeks, and looked hungry and eager.
+The keeper offered him a guinea-pig, at which he took great offence,
+raising his hood and hissing angrily for a long while. Eggs he
+declined, also a lizard and a rat, in great disgust. In India the
+Ophiophagi are said to feed on lizards and fish occasionally, but
+_our_ Ophiophagus preferred to fast. At last one of the two
+ring-snakes was produced, and Ophio was to be regaled. It was the 31st
+of March, 1876, and he had been a denizen of the Gardens just one
+year. My note-book informs me that it was a lovely, soft spring day,
+and that Ophio was quite lively. He had rejected frogs on his own
+account, but in the uncertainty of more ring-snakes arriving, he was
+now decoyed into eating half a dozen. Holland contrived that the snake
+destined for his dinner should answer the purpose of a feast, and had
+allowed it to eat as many frogs as it chose. Like the poor wretch who,
+doomed to the gallows, is permitted to fare sumptuously the last
+morning of his life, the ring-snake ate three frogs, by which the
+Ophiophagus was to derive chief benefit; he, all unconscious of the
+cause of his victim's unusual plumpness, swallowed him speedily.
+
+Soon after this Ophio doffed his winter coat entire, and having again
+fasted for ten days, was at once rewarded by the last remaining
+ring-snake in a similarly plethoric condition, namely, with three more
+frogs inside him. Now and then during the winter months the scarcity
+of ring-snakes has compelled the sacrifice of some far rarer colubers
+to Ophio's cannibal tastes. And yet each year we hear of hundreds of
+ring-snakes being ruthlessly killed in country districts, while at
+great cost and trouble others are purchased or brought from the
+Continent for the Hamadryad's sustenance. Lord Lilford, one of the
+Ophidarium's best patrons, sometimes sends presents of game in the
+shape of ring-snakes to the Hamadryad.
+
+While watching this snake-eater over his dinner, one is struck with
+the remarkable tenacity of life exhibited in the victim, or the slow
+action of the venom if poisoned in the first grasp. The Ophiophagus
+seizes it anywhere, that is, at whichever part happens to come first,
+and then, after holding it quietly for a time, works his jaws up to
+the head in the usual hand-over-hand, or "jaw-after-jaw" fashion,
+invariably swallowing the snake head first. On one occasion when I
+watched attentively, Ophio, having seized a ring-snake by the middle,
+held it doggedly still for one quarter of an hour, while the lesser
+snake did its very best to work its way out of the jaws, and also to
+fetter its captor by twirling itself over his head and coiling round
+his neck. This continued while Ophio, with his head and neck raised,
+remained motionless, and after the quarter of an hour commenced to
+work his jaws up towards the head of the ring snake, which, as more
+and more of its own body was free for action, twirled itself about,
+and at length coiled its tail round the bit of branch nailed into the
+cage.
+
+Persistently, like a sailor making his vessel fast to the windlass,
+the ring snake lashed as much of himself as was free round the branch
+a foot off, and so pulled and pulled till he looked in danger of
+severing himself in two. Meanwhile Ophio, slowly but surely advancing,
+caused its head and neck to disappear, grasping tightly with his
+venomous jaws, as if he would say, "We'll see who is master." It was a
+close tussle, so firmly did the little coluber retain his hold on the
+"tree"; but as the upper part of him was gradually drawn into those
+unrelaxing jaws, he by degrees gave way, and by and by was gone.
+
+Not far short of an hour was occupied in this meal, during which the
+victim showed no signs of being poisoned, nor were his coils round the
+stump relaxed in the slightest degree, till Ophio reached the tail.
+The ring snake is not a constrictor, yet he thus tied himself round
+the tree by the coils of his tail.
+
+One more singular case of tenacity of life must be recorded. A
+ring-snake had been caught in the usual way, and the usual struggle
+ensued between captor and captive. Coluber, with its head tightly
+gripped in the jaws of his enemy, had still all the rest of himself at
+liberty and in full activity, and after wriggling a violent protest,
+he coiled what was left of himself so closely round the neck of his
+persecutor that the latter made little or no progress with his dinner
+for a time. He seemed to be deliberating how to proceed next, and
+asking, "What is the meaning of this?" then shook his head, lowered it
+to the shingle, and tried to rub off the coils. The only result thus
+achieved was that the extreme end of Coluber's tail was loosened for a
+moment, but only to coil afresh around Ophio's jaws, which
+nevertheless slowly and surely advanced.
+
+For nearly an hour the progress was very slow; but when the ring-snake
+was nearly all swallowed except a few inches of tail, these became so
+tight a muzzle that Ophio in turn was the victim. Shaking his head and
+vainly endeavoring to free his jaws of this muzzle, a minute or two
+elapsed, during which he seemed to suffer some discomfort, when
+suddenly his mouth opened widely, and out crawled Natrix, apparently
+none the worse for this temporary entombment. He had turned round when
+two or three feet from daylight, and come back to see the world once
+more. But it so happened that Ophio closed his jaws in time over the
+few inches of tail which still remained between them. Nor did he once
+relax his grasp of this, but quickly and patiently began to work his
+way up to the head and recommence his meal, and this time with better
+success. An hour and a quarter I watched, nor was any evidence of
+poison seen, so as to reduce the powers of the bitten snake; for
+bitten it must have been in those prolonged and forcible grasps.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In these conflicts one could but observe a dogged stupidity on the
+part of the venomous snake, who, had he but brought coils to his aid,
+might have simplified matters so easily. The little Heterodons, and
+even the Lacertines, often assist themselves with coils in managing
+their prey, though not themselves constrictors; but the venomous ones
+have not the slightest notion of helping themselves in this way, as if
+confident that in time their venom would do its work.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+WHAT WORMS DO
+
+(FROM THE FORMATION OF VEGETABLE MOULD.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+We now come to treat of a curious and important subject,--namely, the
+amount of earth which is brought up by worms from beneath the surface,
+and is afterwards spread out more or less completely by the rain and
+wind. The amount can be judged of by two methods,--by the rate at
+which objects left on the surface are buried, and more accurately by
+weighing the quantity brought up within a given time. We will begin
+with the first method, as it was first followed.
+
+Near Maer Hall in Staffordshire, quick-lime had been spread, about the
+year 1827, thickly over a field of good pasture-land, which had not
+since been ploughed. Some square holes were dug in this field in the
+beginning of October, 1837, and the sections showed a layer of turf,
+formed by the matted roots of the grasses, ��inch in thickness,
+beneath which, at a depth of 2��inches (or 3�inches from the surface),
+a layer of the lime in powder or in small lumps could be distinctly
+seen running all round the vertical sides of the holes. The soil
+beneath the layer of lime was either gravelly or of a coarse sandy
+nature, and differed considerably in appearance from the overlying
+dark-coloured fine mould. Coal-cinders had been spread over a part of
+this same field either in the year 1833 or 1834; and when the above
+holes were dug, that is, after an interval of 3 or 4 years, the
+cinders formed a line of black spots round the holes, at a depth of
+1�inch beneath the surface, parallel to and above the white layer of
+lime. Over another part of this field cinders had been strewed, only
+about half a year before, and these either still lay on the surface or
+were entangled among the roots of the grasses; and I here saw the
+commencement of the burying process, for worm-castings had been heaped
+on several of the smaller fragments. After an interval of 4��years
+this field was re-examined, and now the two layers of lime and cinders
+were found almost everywhere at a greater depth than before by nearly
+1�inch, we will say by � of an inch. Therefore, mould to an average
+thickness of .22 of an inch had been annually brought up by the worms,
+and had been spread over the surface of this field.
+
+Coal-cinders had been strewed over another field, at a date which
+could not be positively ascertained, so thickly that they formed
+(October, 1837) a layer, 1�inch in thickness at a depth of about
+3�inches from the surface. The layer was so continuous that the
+overlying dark vegetable mould was connected with the sub-soil of
+red clay only by the roots of the grasses; and when these were broken,
+the mould and the red clay fell apart. In a third field, on which
+coal-cinders and burnt marl had been strewed several times at unknown
+dates, holes were dug in 1842; and a layer of cinders could be traced
+at a depth of 3��inches, beneath which at a depth of 9��inches from
+the surface there was a line of cinders together with burnt marl. On
+the sides of one hole there were two layers of cinders, at 2 and
+3��inches beneath the surface; and below them at a depth in parts of 9�,
+and in other parts of 10��inches there were fragments of burnt marl.
+In a fourth field two layers of lime, one above the other could be
+distinctly traced, and beneath them a layer of cinders and burnt marl
+at a depth of from 10 to 12�inches below the surface.
+
+A piece of waste land was enclosed, drained, ploughed, harrowed, and
+thickly covered in the year 1822 with burnt marl and cinders. It was
+sowed with grass seeds, and now supports a tolerably good but coarse
+pasture. Holes were dug in this field in 1837, or 15�years after its
+reclamation, and we see in the accompanying diagram (Fig.�1) reduced
+to half of the natural scale, that the turf was ��inch thick, beneath
+which there was a layer of vegetable mould 2��inches thick. This layer
+did not contain fragments of any kind; but beneath it there was a
+layer of mould, 1��inch in thickness, full of fragments of burnt marl,
+conspicuous from their red color, one of which near the bottom was an
+inch in length; and other fragments of coal-cinders together with a
+few white quartz pebbles. Beneath this layer and at a depth of
+4��inches from the surface, the original black, peaty, sandy soil with a
+few quartz pebbles was encountered. Here, therefore, the fragments of
+burnt marl and cinders had been covered in the course of 15�years by a
+layer of fine vegetable mould, only 2��inches in thickness, excluding
+the turf. Six and a half years subsequently this field was
+re-examined, and the fragments were now found at from 4 to 5�inches
+beneath the surface. So that in this interval of 6��years, about
+1��inch of mould had been added to the superficial layer. I am surprised
+that a greater quantity had not been brought up during the whole
+21��years, for in the closely underlying black, peaty soil there were many
+worms. It is, however, probable that formerly, whilst the land
+remained poor, worms were scanty; and the mould would then have
+accumulated slowly. The average annual increase of thickness for the
+whole period is .19 of an inch.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1.
+Section of the vegetable mould in a field, drained and reclaimed
+    fifteen years previously; a, turf; b, vegetable mould without
+    any stones; c, mould with fragments of burnt marl, coal cinders,
+    and pebbles; d, sub-soil of black, peaty sand with quartz
+    pebbles.]
+
+Two other cases are worth recording. In the spring of 1835 a field,
+which had long existed as poor pasture, and was so swampy that it
+trembled slightly when stamped on, was thickly covered with red sand
+so that the whole surface appeared at first bright red. When holes
+were dug in this field after an interval of about 2��years, the sand
+formed a layer at a depth of ��inch beneath the surface. In 1842
+(i.e., seven years after the sand had been laid on) fresh holes were
+dug, and now the red sand formed a distinct layer, 2�inches beneath
+the surface, or 1��inch beneath the turf; so that on an average
+.21�inches of mould had been annually brought to the surface. Immediately
+beneath the layer of red sand the original sub-stratum of black, sandy
+peat extended.
+
+A grass field, likewise not far from Maer Hall, had formerly been
+thickly covered with marl, and was then left for several years as
+pasture; it was afterwards ploughed. A friend had three trenches dug
+in this field 28�years after the application of the marl, and a layer
+of the marl fragments could be traced at a depth, carefully
+measured, of 12�inches in some parts, and of 14�inches in other parts.
+This difference in depth depended on the layer being horizontal,
+whilst the surface consisted of ridges and furrows from the field
+having been ploughed. The tenant assured me that it had never been
+turned up to a greater depth than from 6 to 8�inches; and as the
+fragments formed an unbroken horizontal layer from 12 to 14�inches
+beneath the surface, these must have been buried by the worms whilst
+the land was in pasture before it was ploughed, for otherwise they
+would have been indiscriminately scattered by the plough throughout
+the whole thickness of the soil. Four and a half years afterwards I
+had three holes dug in this field, in which potatoes had been lately
+planted, and the layer of marl fragments was now found 13�inches
+beneath the bottoms of the furrows, and therefore probably 15�inches
+beneath the general level of the field. It should, however, be
+observed that the thickness of the blackish, sandy soil, which had
+been thrown up by the worms above the marl fragments in the course of
+32��years, would have measured less than 15�inches, if the field had
+always remained as pasture, for the soil would in this case have been
+much more compact. The fragments of marl almost rested on an
+undisturbed sub-stratum of white sand with quartz pebbles; and as this
+would be little attractive to worms, the mould would hereafter be very
+slowly increased by their action.
+
+We will now give some cases of the action of worms, on land differing
+widely from the dry, sandy, or the swampy pasture just described. The
+chalk formation extends all round my house in Kent; and its surface,
+from having been exposed during an immense period to the dissolving
+action of rain-water, is extremely irregular, being abruptly festooned
+and penetrated by many deep, well-like cavities. During the
+dissolution of the chalk the insoluble matter, including a vast number
+of unrolled flints of all sizes, has been left on the surface and
+forms a bed of stiff red clay, full of flints, and generally from 6 to
+14�feet in thickness. Over the red clay, wherever the land has long
+remained as pasture, there is a layer a few inches in thickness of
+dark-coloured vegetable mould.
+
+A quantity of broken chalk was spread, on December 20, 1842, over a
+part of a field near my house, which had existed as pasture certainly
+for 30, probably for twice or thrice as many, years. The chalk was
+laid on the land for the sake of observing at some future period to
+what depth it would become buried. At the end of November, 1871, that
+is, after an interval of twenty-nine years, a trench was dug across
+this part of the field; and a line of white nodules could be traced on
+both sides of the trench, at a depth of 7�inches from the surface. The
+mould, therefore (excluding the turf), had here been thrown up at an
+average rate of .22�inches per year. Beneath the line of chalk nodules
+there was in parts hardly any fine earth free of flints, while in
+other parts there was a layer 2��inches in thickness. In this latter
+case the mould was altogether 9��inches thick; and in one such spot a
+nodule of chalk and a smooth flint pebble, both of which must have
+been left at some former time on the surface, were found at this
+depth. At from 11 to 12�inches beneath the surface, the undisturbed
+reddish clay, full of flints, extended. The appearance of the above
+nodules of chalk surprised me much at first, as they closely resembled
+water-worn pebbles, whereas the freshly-broken fragments had been
+angular. But on examining the nodules with a lens, they no longer
+appeared water-worn, for their surfaces were pitted through unequal
+corrosion, and minute, sharp points, formed of broken fossil shells,
+projected from them. It was evident that the corners of the original
+fragments of chalk had been wholly dissolved, from presenting a large
+surface to the carbonic acid dissolved in the rain-water and to that
+generated in soil containing vegetable matter, as well as the
+humus-acids. The projecting corners would also, relatively to the
+other parts, have been embraced by a larger number of living rootlets;
+and these have the power of even attacking marble, as Sachs has shown.
+Thus, in the course of twenty-nine years, buried angular fragments of
+chalk had been converted into well-rounded nodules.
+
+Another part of this same field was mossy, and as it was thought that
+sifted coal-cinders would improve the pasture, a thick layer was
+spread over this part either in 1842 or 1843, and another layer some
+years afterwards. In 1871 a trench was here dug, and many cinders lay
+in a line at a depth of 7�inches beneath the surface, with another
+line at a depth of 5��inches parallel to the one beneath. In another
+part of this field, which had formerly existed as a separate one, and
+which it was believed had been pasture-land for more than a century,
+trenches were dug to see how thick the vegetable mould was. By chance
+the first trench was made at a spot where at some former period,
+certainly more than forty years before, a large hole had been filled
+up with coarse, red clay, flints, fragments of chalk, and gravel; and
+here the fine vegetable mould was only from 4 1/8 to 4 3/8�inches in
+thickness. In another and undisturbed place, the mould varied much in
+thickness, namely, from 6� to 8��inches; beneath which a few small
+fragments of brick were found in one place. From these several cases,
+it would appear, that during the last 29�years mould has been heaped
+on the surface at an average annual rate of from .2 to .22 of an
+inch. But in this district when a ploughed field is first laid down in
+grass, the mould accumulates at a much slower rate. The rate, also,
+must become very much slower after a bed of mould, several inches in
+thickness, has been formed; for the worms then live chiefly near the
+surface, and burrow down to a greater depth so as to bring up fresh
+earth from below, only during the winter, when the weather is very
+cold (at which time worms were found in this field at a depth of
+26�inches), and during summer, when the weather is very dry.
+
+A field which adjoins the one just described, slopes in one part
+rather steeply (viz., at from 10� to 15�); this part was last ploughed
+in 1841, was then harrowed and left to become pasture-land. For
+several years it was clothed with an extremely scant vegetation, and
+was so thickly covered with small and large flints (some of them half
+as large as a child's head) that the field was always called by my
+sons "the stony field." When they ran down the slope the stones
+clattered together. I remember doubting whether I should live to see
+these larger flints covered with vegetable mould and turf. But the
+smaller stones disappeared before many years had elapsed, as did every
+one of the larger ones after a time; so that after thirty years (1871)
+a horse could gallop over the compact turf from one end of the field
+to the other, and not strike a single stone with his shoes. To anyone
+who remembered the appearance of the field in 1842, the transformation
+was wonderful. This was certainly the work of the worms, for though
+castings were not frequent for several years, yet some were thrown up
+month after month, and these gradually increased in numbers as the
+pasture improved. In the year 1871 a trench was dug on the above
+slope, and the blades of grass were cut off close to the roots, so
+that the thickness of the turf and of the vegetable mould could be
+measured accurately. The turf was rather less than half an inch, and
+the mould, which did not contain any stones, 2��inches in thickness.
+Beneath this lay coarse, clayey earth full of flints, like that in any
+of the neighboring ploughed fields. This coarse earth easily fell
+apart from the overlying mould when a split was lifted up. The average
+rate of accumulation of the mould during the whole thirty years was
+only .083�inch per year (i.e., nearly one inch in twelve years); but
+the rate must have been much slower at first, and afterwards
+considerably quicker.
+
+The transformation in the appearance of this field, which had been
+effected beneath my eyes, was afterwards rendered the more striking,
+when I examined in Knole Park a dense forest of lofty beech-trees,
+beneath which nothing grew. Here the ground was thickly strewed with
+large, naked stones, and worm-castings were almost wholly absent.
+Obscure lines and irregularities on the surface indicated that the
+land had been cultivated some centuries ago. It is probable that a
+thick wood of young beech-trees sprung up so quickly, that time enough
+was not allowed for worms to cover up the stone with their castings,
+before the site became unfitted for their existence. Anyhow, the
+contrast between the state of the now miscalled "stony field," well
+stocked with worms, and the present state of the ground beneath the
+old beech-trees in Knole Park, where worms appeared to be absent, was
+striking.
+
+A narrow path running across part of my lawn was paved in 1843 with
+small flag-stones, set edgeways; but worms threw up many castings, and
+weeds grew thickly between them. During several years the path was
+weeded and swept; but ultimately the weeds and worms prevailed, and
+the gardener ceased to sweep, merely moving off the weeds, as often as
+the lawn was mowed. The path soon became almost covered up, and after
+several years no trace of it was left. On removing, in 1877, the thin
+overlaying layer of turf, the small flag-stones, all in their proper
+places, were found covered by an inch of fine mould.
+
+Two recently published accounts of substances strewed on the surface
+of pasture-land, having become buried through the action of worms, may
+be here noticed. The Rev. H.�C. Key had a ditch cut in a field, over
+which coal-ashes had been spread, as it was believed, 18�years before,
+and on the clean-cut perpendicular sides of the ditch, at a depth of
+at least 7�inches, there could be seen, for a length of 60�yards, "a
+distinct, very even, narrow line of coal-ashes, mixed with small coal,
+perfectly parallel with the top-sward." This parallelism and the
+length of the section gives interest to the case. Secondly, Mr. Dancer
+states that crushed bones had been thickly strewed over a field, and
+"some years afterwards" these were found "several inches below the
+surface, at a uniform depth." Worms appear to act in the same manner
+in New Zealand as in Europe; for Professor J. von Haast has described
+a section near the coast, consisting of mica-schist, "covered by 5 or
+6�feet of loess, above which about 12�inches of vegetable soil had
+accumulated." Between the loess and the mould there was a layer from 3
+to 6�inches in thickness, consisting of "cores, implements, flakes,
+and chips, all manufactured from hard basaltic rock." It is,
+therefore, probable, that the aborigines, at some former period, had
+left these objects on the surface, and that they had afterwards been
+slowly covered up by the castings of worms.
+
+Farmers in England are well aware that objects of all kinds, left on
+the surface of pasture-lands, after a time disappear, or, as they say,
+work themselves downwards. How powdered lime, cinders, and heavy
+stones, can work down, and at the same rate, through the matted roots
+of a grass-covered surface, is a question which has probably never
+occurred to them.
+
+_The sinking of great stones through the action of worms._--When a
+stone of large size and of irregular shape is left on the surface of
+the ground, it rests, of course, on the more protuberant parts; but
+worms soon fill up with their castings all the hollow spaces on the
+lower side; for, as Hensen remarks, they like the shelter of stones.
+As soon as the hollows are filled up, the worms eject the earth which
+they have swallowed beyond the circumference of the stones; and thus
+the surface of the ground is raised all round the stone. As the
+burrows excavated directly beneath the stone after a time collapse,
+the stone sinks a little. Hence it is, that boulders which at some
+ancient period have rolled down from a rocky mountain or cliff on to a
+meadow at its base, are always somewhat imbedded in the soil; and,
+when removed, leave an exact impression of their lower surfaces in
+the under-lying fine mould. If, however, a boulder is of such huge
+dimensions, that the earth beneath is kept dry, such earth will not be
+inhabited by worms, and the boulder will not sink into the ground.
+
+A lime-kiln formerly stood in a grass-field near Leith Hill Place, in
+Surrey, and was pulled down 35�years before my visit; all the loose
+rubbish had been carted away, excepting three large stones of
+quartzose sandstone, which it was thought might hereafter be of some
+use. An old workman remembered that they had been left on a bare
+surface of broken bricks and mortar, close to the foundations of the
+kiln; but the whole surrounding surface is now covered with turf and
+mould. The two largest of these stones had never since been moved; nor
+could this easily have been done, as, when I had them removed, it was
+the work of two men with levers. One of these stones, and not the
+largest, was 64�inches long, 17�inches broad, and from 9 to 10�inches
+in thickness. Its lower surface was somewhat protuberant in the
+middle; and this part still rested on broken bricks and mortar,
+showing the truth of the old workman's account. Beneath the brick
+rubbish the natural sandy soil, full of fragments of sandstone, was
+found; and this could have yielded very little, if at all, to the
+weight of the stone, as might have been expected if the sub-soil had
+been clay. The surface of the field, for a distance of about 9�inches
+round the stone, gradually sloped up to it, and close to the stone
+stood in most places about 4�inches above the surrounding ground. The
+base of the stone was buried from 1 to 2�inches beneath the general
+level, and the upper surface projected about 8�inches above this
+level, or about 4�inches above the sloping border of turf. After the
+removal of the stone it became evident that one of its pointed ends
+must at first have stood clear above the ground by some inches, but
+its upper surface was now on a level with the surrounding turf. When
+the stone was removed, an exact cast of its lower side, forming a
+shallow crateriform hollow, was left, the inner surface of which
+consisted of fine, black mould, excepting where the more protuberant
+parts rested on the brick-rubbish. A transverse section of this stone,
+together with its bed, drawn from measurements made after it had been
+displaced, is here given on a scale of ��inch to a foot (Fig.�2). The
+turf-covered border which sloped up to the stone, consisted of fine
+vegetable mould, in one part 7�inches in thickness. This evidently
+consisted of worm-castings, several of which had been recently
+ejected. The whole stone had sunk in the thirty-five years, as far as
+I could judge, about 1��inch; and this must have been due to the
+brick-rubbish beneath the more protuberant parts having been
+undermined by worms. At this rate, the upper surface of the stone, if
+it had been left undisturbed, would have sunk to the general level of
+the field in 247�years; but before this could have occurred, some
+earth would have been washed down by heavy rain from the castings on
+the raised border of turf over the upper surface of the stone.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2.
+Transverse section across a large stone, which had lain on a
+    grass-field for thirty-five years. _aa_, general level of the
+    field. The underlying brick of rubbish has not been represented.]
+
+The second stone was larger than the one just described, viz.,
+67�inches in length, 39 in breadth, and 15 in thickness. The lower
+surface was nearly flat, so that the worms must soon have been
+compelled to eject their castings beyond its circumference. The stone
+as a whole had sunk about 2�inches into the ground. At this rate it
+would have required 262�years for its upper surface to have sunk to
+the general level of the field. The upwardly sloping, turf-covered
+border round the stone was broader than in the last case, viz., from
+14 to 16�inches; and why this should be so, I could see no reason. In
+most parts this border was not so high as in the last case, viz., from
+2 to 2��inches, but in one place it was as much as 5�. Its average
+height close to the stone was probably about 3�inches, and it thinned
+out to nothing. If so, a layer of fine earth, 15�inches in breadth and
+1��inch in average thickness, of sufficient length to surround the
+whole of the much elongated slab, must have been brought up by the
+worms in chief part from beneath the stone in the course of 35�years.
+This amount would be amply sufficient to account for its having sunk
+about 2�inches into the ground; more especially if we bear in mind
+that a good deal of the finest earth would have been washed by heavy
+rain from the castings ejected on the sloping border down to the level
+of the field. Some fresh castings were seen close to the stone.
+Nevertheless, on digging a large hole to a depth of 18�inches where
+the stone had lain, only two worms and a few burrows were seen,
+although the soil was damp and seemed favorable for worms. There were
+some large colonies of ants beneath the stone, and possibly since
+their establishment the worms had decreased in number.
+
+The third stone was only about half as large as the others; and two
+strong boys could together have rolled it over. I have no doubt that
+it had been rolled over at a moderately recent time, for it now lay at
+some distance from the two other stones at the bottom of a little
+adjoining slope. It rested also on fine earth, instead of partly on
+brick-rubbish. In agreement with this conclusion, the raised
+surrounding border of turf was only 1�inch high in some parts, and
+2�inches in other parts. There were no colonies of ants beneath this
+stone, and on digging a hole where it had lain, several burrows and
+worms were found.
+
+At Stonehenge, some of the outer Druidical stones are now prostrate,
+having fallen at a remote but unknown period; and these have become
+buried to a moderate depth in the ground. They are surrounded by
+sloping borders of turf, on which recent castings were seen. Close to
+one of these fallen stones, which was 17�feet long, 6�feet broad, and
+28��inches thick, a hole was dug; and here the vegetable mould was at
+least 9��inches in thickness. At this depth a flint was found, and a
+little higher up on one side of the hole a fragment of glass. The base
+of the stone lay about 9��inches beneath the level of the surrounding
+ground, and its upper surface 19�inches above the ground.
+
+A hole was also dug close to a second huge stone, which in falling had
+broken into two pieces; and this must have happened long ago, judging
+from the weathered aspect of the fractured ends. The base was buried
+to a depth of 10�inches, as was ascertained by driving an iron skewer
+horizontally into the ground beneath it. The vegetable mould forming
+the turf-covered sloping border round the stone, on which many
+castings had recently been ejected, was 10�inches in thickness; and
+most of this mould must have been brought up by worms from beneath its
+base. At a distance of 8�yards from the stone, the mould was only
+5��inches in thickness (with a piece of tobacco pipe at a depth of
+4�inches), and this rested on broken flint and chalk which could not
+have easily yielded to the pressure or weight of the stone.
+
+A straight rod was fixed horizontally (by the aid of a spirit-level)
+across a third fallen stone, which was 7�feet 9�inches long; and the
+contour of the projecting parts and of the adjoining ground, which was
+not quite level, was thus ascertained, as shown in the accompanying
+diagram (Fig.�3) on a scale of ��inch to a foot. The turf-covered
+border sloped up to the stone on one side to a height of 4�inches, and
+on the opposite side to only 2��inches above the general level. A hole
+was dug on the eastern side, and the base of the stone was here found
+to lie at a depth of 4�inches beneath the general level of the
+ground, and of 8�inches beneath the top of the sloping turf-covered
+border.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3.
+Section through one of the fallen Druidical stones at Stonehenge,
+    showing how much it had sunk into the ground.]
+
+Sufficient evidence has now been given showing that small objects left
+on the surface of the land where worms abound soon get buried, and
+that large stones sink slowly downwards through the same means. Every
+step of the process could be followed, from the accidental deposition
+of a single casting on a small object lying loose on the surface, to
+its being entangled amidst the matted roots of the turf, and lastly to
+its being embedded in the mould at various depths beneath the surface.
+When the same field was re-examined after the interval of a few years,
+such objects were found at a greater depth than before. The
+straightness and regularity of the lines formed by the embedded
+objects, and their parallelism with the surface of the land, are the
+most striking features of the case; for this parallelism shows how
+equably the worms must have worked; the result being, partly the
+effect of the washing down of the fresh castings by rain. The specific
+gravity of the objects does not affect their rate of sinking, as could
+be seen by porous cinders, burnt marl, chalk and quartz pebbles,
+having all sunk to the same depth within the same time. Considering
+the nature of the sub-stratum, which at Leith Hill Place was sandy
+soil including many bits of rock, and at Stonehenge, chalk-rubble with
+broken flints; considering, also, the presence of the turf-covered
+sloping border of mould round the great fragments of stone at both
+these places, their sinking does not appear to have been sensibly
+aided by their weight, though this was considerable.
+
+_On the number of worms which live within a given space._--We will
+now show, first, what a vast number of worms live unseen by us beneath
+our feet, and, secondly, the actual weight of the earth which they
+bring up to the surface within a given space and within a given time.
+Hensen, who has published so full and interesting an account of the
+habits of worms, calculates, from the number which he found in a
+measured space, that there must exist 133,000 living worms in a
+hectare of land, or 53,767 in an acre. This latter number of worms
+would weigh 356�pounds, taking Hensen's standard of the weight of a
+single worm, namely, one gram. It should, however, be noted that this
+calculation is founded on the numbers found in a garden, and Hensen
+believes that worms are here twice as numerous as in corn-fields. The
+above result, astonishing though it be, seems to me credible, judging
+from the number of worms which I have sometimes seen, and from the
+number daily destroyed by birds without the species being
+exterminated. Some barrels of bad ale were left on Mr. Miller's land,
+in the hope of making vinegar, but the vinegar proved bad, and the
+barrels were upset. It should be premised that acetic acid is so
+deadly a poison to worms that Perrier found that a glass rod dipped
+into this acid and then into a considerable body of water in which
+worms were immersed, invariably killed them quickly. On the morning
+after the barrels had been upset, "the heaps of worms which lay dead
+on the ground were so amazing, that if Mr. Miller had not seen them,
+he could not have thought it possible for such numbers to have existed
+in the space." As further evidence of the large number of worms which
+live in the ground Hensen states that he found in a garden 64 open
+burrows in a space of 14��square feet, that is, 9 in 2�square feet.
+But the burrows are sometimes much more numerous, for when digging in
+a grass-field near Maer Hall, I found a cake of dry earth, as large as
+my two open hands, which was penetrated by seven burrows, as large as
+goose-quills.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TWO FOPS AMONG THE FISHES
+
+(FROM GLEANINGS FROM NATURE.)[7]
+
+BY W.�S. BLATCHLEY.
+
+[7] Copyright by W.�S. Blatchley, 1899.
+
+
+I.--THE RAINBOW DARTER.
+
+"Little fishy in the brook."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Not the one "daddy caught with a hook," but another, too small for the
+hook, too small for the frying-pan, too small for aught else but
+beauty, and gracefulness of form; and yet not the young of a larger
+fish, but full grown of himself. In every brook in the State he may be
+found, yea, even in the rill, no more than a foot in width, which
+leads away from the old spring-house on the hillside. You will not
+find him swimming about like the minnows in the still, deep water of
+the stream, but where the clear, cold water is rushing rapidly over
+the stones of a ripple he makes his home. There he rests quietly on
+the bottom, waiting patiently for his food, the larv� or young of
+gnats, mosquitoes, and other such insects, to float by.
+
+If you attempt to catch him, or your shadow suddenly frightens him,
+with a sweep of his broad pectoral or breast fins, he moves quicker
+than a flash a few feet farther up the stream, and then as suddenly
+comes to a stop, and resumes his quiet, "thoughtful" attitude. If you
+persist in your attempt to capture him, he will dart under a small
+stone or submerged leaf, where, like the foolish ostrich which when
+pursued hides her head under her wing, no longer seeing you, he thinks
+himself secure.
+
+[Illustration: RAINBOW DARTER.]
+
+On account of the shape of his body, as well as on account of his
+rapid movements, he has received the surname "darter." Belonging to
+the group which bears this surname, there are, in the eastern half of
+the United States, about forty-seven species or kinds, the largest of
+which, when full grown, measures only about six inches in length,
+while the smallest species never reaches a length of more than an inch
+and a half. They all have the same habits, and at least twenty-nine
+kinds of them are found in Indiana; but the one of which I am writing
+is much the more common. He is from two to two and a half inches in
+length, and, like the other members of his family, has two fins on his
+back; "dorsal" fins they are called by naturalists, the front one of
+which contains ten short spines. During eight months of the year, the
+males and females dress alike in a suit of brownish olive which is
+striped on the sides with ten or twelve narrow, black cross-bars, and
+more or less blotched on the back with darker spots. But on the first
+warm days of spring, when the breezes blow up from the gulf, awakening
+the gypsy in our blood, the little male fish feels, too, their
+influence, and in him there arises an irresistible desire to
+"a-courting go." Like most other beings of his sex, he thinks his
+every-day suit too plain for the important business before him. It
+will, in his opinion, ne'er catch the eye of his lady love. So he dons
+one of gaudy colors and from it takes his name,--the rainbow
+darter,--for in it he is best known, as it not only attracts the
+attention of his chosen one, but often also that of the wandering
+naturalist who happens along the stream.
+
+The blackish bars of other seasons are changed to indigo blue, while
+the space between them assumes a hue of the brightest orange. The fins
+are broadly edged with blue and have the bases orange, or orange and
+scarlet, while the cheeks assume the blue and the breast becomes an
+orange. Clad in this suit he ventures forth on his mission, and if
+successful, as he almost always is, the two construct a nest of tiny
+stones in which the eggs of the mother-fish are laid and watched over
+with jealous care by both parents until in time there issue forth sons
+destined some day to wear a coat of many colors, and "darters" to be
+attracted by those coats, as was their mother by the one their father
+wore.
+
+Although so abundant and so brilliant in the springtime, the rainbow
+darter is known to few but naturalists. The fishes in which the
+average country boy is interested are the larger ones--such as the
+goggle-eye, the sucker, chub, and sunfish--those which, when caught,
+will fill up the string and tickle the palate.
+
+But there are, let us hope, among our farmers' sons and daughters,
+some who are learning to take an interest in the objects of nature
+which are beautiful, as well as in those which are useful. To them I
+will say, if you wish to see something really pretty, make a seine
+from an old coffee sack or a piece of mosquito netting, and any day in
+spring drag two or three ripples of the branch which flows through the
+wood's pasture, and ten chances to one you will get some "rainbows."
+By placing them in a fruit jar three-fourths full of clear, cold
+water, and renewing the water every few hours, they can be kept for
+several days; but they cannot bear the confinement long, accustomed as
+they are to the free running stream from which they were taken.
+
+By taking the rainbow as the type of the darter and studying closely
+its habits, both in captivity and in the streams, much can be learned
+about a group which, in the words of Dr. S.�A. Forbes, "are the
+mountaineers among fishes. Forced from the populous and fertile
+valleys of the river beds and lake bottoms, they have taken refuge
+from their enemies in the rocky highlands where the free waters play
+in ceaseless torrents, and there they have wrested from stubborn
+nature a meagre living. Although diminished in size by their
+continual struggle with the elements, they have developed an activity
+and hardihood, a vigor of life and a glow of high color almost unknown
+among the easier livers of the lower lands."
+
+
+II.--THE LONG-EARED SUNFISH.
+
+Among the most brightly colored of all the fresh-water members of the
+finny tribe is the long-eared sunfish. When full grown its length is
+about eight inches and the breadth one-half as much. The color is then
+a brilliant blue and orange, the former predominating above; the
+orange on the sides in spots, the blue in wavy, vertical streaks. The
+cheeks are orange with bright blue stripes; the fins with the
+membranes orange, and the rays blue. Extending back from the hind
+margin of each cheek is a conspicuous blackish membrane termed an
+"ear-flap," which in this species is longer than in any other of the
+sun-fish family, whence the specific name, _megalotis_, from two Greek
+words meaning "great" and "ear."
+
+[Illustration: LONG-EARED SUNFISH.]
+
+Within the placid pools of the brooks and larger streams of the State
+this sunfish has its favorite haunts. Mid-summer is the time when its
+habits can be best observed. On a recent August morn I sat for an
+hour or longer on the banks of a stream, which flows through a wooded
+blue-grass pasture, and watched the denizens of its waters. A peaceful
+calm existed, the water being without a ripple and with scarce the
+semblance of a flow--the air without the shadow of a breeze. Dragon
+flies lazily winged their way across the pool, now resting daintily
+upon a blade of sedge or swamp grass, now dipping the tips of their
+abdomens beneath the surface of the water while depositing their eggs.
+The only sounds of nature were the buzz of a bumble-bee feeding among
+the flowers of the _Brunella_ at my side, and an occasional drawl of a
+dog-day locust from the branches of the sycamore which threw a
+grateful shade about me.
+
+The sunfish "hung motionless" in the water, their heads towards me,
+holding their position only by a slow flapping of their dorsal and
+pectoral fins. Their nesting time over, their season's labor ended, it
+was with them, as with many other beings, a time of languor.
+
+These long-eared fishes are the lords and ladies of the respective
+pools wherein they abide. When they move other smaller fry clear the
+way. If a worm or gnat, falling upon the surface, tempts them, it is
+theirs. A leaf falls near them and is seemingly unnoticed--a fly, and
+how quickly their dormant energy is put into motion. With a dart and a
+gulp the insect is swallowed, and a new stage of waiting expectancy is
+ushered in.
+
+How admirably fitted their form for cleaving the water! They often
+seem to glide rather than propel themselves through its depths. Again,
+how swiftly the caudal fin moves when with straight unerring motion
+they dart upon their prey. At times one turns his body sideways, and,
+with a slow, upward-gliding motion, moves toward some object on the
+surface which is doubtfully "good to eat." He even takes it into his
+mouth and then, not having faith in his power to properly digest it,
+ejects it with force, and turning quickly darts back to the friendly
+shadow of a boulder beneath whose sides he has, in time of threatened
+danger, a safe retreat.
+
+I throw a grasshopper into the pool. Like a flash six of the sunfish
+are after it. One reaches it a tenth of a second in advance of the
+others, and with a lightning-like gulp, which disturbs the serenity of
+the surface of the pool, swallows the kicking prey. The energy of the
+sun's heat and light, stored in grass, transmitted to move muscles in
+gigantic leaps, will, in a short time, wag a caudal fin and propel the
+owner through these watery depths.
+
+Years are thus doubtless spent by these long-eared sunfish in a dreamy
+sort of existence, their energies quickened by the vernal season and
+growing duller on the approach of winter. Excepting the times when
+they are tempted by a wriggling worm on some boy's hook, theirs is a
+life exempt from danger. A kingfisher glancing down from his perch on
+the bent sycamore limb may, at times, discern them and lessen their
+ranks; but, methinks, the chub minnows, with fewer spines in their
+dorsal fins, are more agreeable to the king-fisher's palate. With all
+the tints of the rainbow gleaming from their sides they move to and
+fro, the brilliant rulers of these quiet pools.
+
+The king or monarch of those noted was most gorgeously arrayed. In
+addition to the hues above described, a streak of emerald bordered his
+dorsal and caudal fins and was bent around the edge of his upper
+lip--a green mustache, as it were. By tolling them with occasional
+bits of food I drew him and his retinue close into shore. There, for
+some time they rested, watching eagerly for additional morsels. As I
+was leaving I plucked from my sleeve an ant and threw it towards them.
+A dart, a gurgle, a gulp--the leader had leaped half his length from
+the water, and the ant was forever gone. The ripples receded and
+finally disappeared, and the last scene in this tragedy of nature was
+at an end.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SEA-SLUGS AND CUTTLE-FISH
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration: CUTTLE-FISH.]
+
+I was much interested, on several occasions, by watching the habits of
+an Octopus, or cuttle-fish. Although common in the pools of water left
+by the retiring tide, these animals were not easily caught. By means
+of their long arms and suckers, they could drag their bodies into very
+narrow crevices; and when thus fixed, it required great force to
+remove them. At other times they darted, tail first, with the rapidity
+of an arrow, from one side of the pool to the other, at the same
+instant discoloring the water with a dark chestnut-brown ink. These
+animals also escape detection by a very extraordinary, chameleon-like
+power of changing their color. They appear to vary their tints
+according to the nature of the ground over which they pass: when in
+deep water, their general shade was brownish-purple, but when placed
+on the land, or in shallow water, this dark tint changed into one of
+a yellowish green. The color, examined more carefully, was a French
+gray, with numerous minute spots of bright yellow: the former of these
+varied in intensity; the latter entirely disappeared and appeared
+again by turns. These changes were effected in such a manner, that
+clouds, varying in tint between a hyacinth red and a chestnut brown,
+were continually passing over the body. Any part, being subjected to a
+slight shock of galvanism, became almost black: a similar effect, but
+in a less degree, was produced by scratching the skin with a needle.
+These clouds, or blushes as they may be called, are said to be
+produced by the alternate contraction and expansion of minute
+vescicles containing variously colored fluids.
+
+This cuttle-fish displayed its chameleon-like power both during the
+act of swimming and whilst remaining stationary at the bottom. I was
+much amused by the various arts to escape detection used by one
+individual, which seemed fully aware that I was watching it. Remaining
+for a time motionless, it would then stealthily advance an inch or
+two, like a cat after a mouse; sometimes changing its color: it thus
+proceeded, till having gained a deeper part, it darted away, leaving a
+dusky train of ink to hide the hole into which it had crawled.
+
+While looking for marine animals, with my head about two feet above
+the rocky shore, I was more than once saluted by a jet of water,
+accompanied by a slight grating noise. At first I could not think what
+it was, but afterwards I found out that it was this cuttle-fish,
+which, though concealed in a hole, thus often led me to its discovery.
+That it possesses the power of ejecting water there is no doubt, and
+it appeared to me that it could certainly take good aim by directing
+the tube or siphon on the upper side of its body. From the difficulty
+which these animals have in carrying their heads, they cannot crawl
+with ease when placed on the ground. I observed that one which I kept
+in the cabin was slightly phosphorescent in the dark.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE COW-FISH
+
+(FROM TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON.)
+
+BY SIR ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE.
+
+
+[Illustration: SKULL OF COW-FISH.]
+
+It was a female, about six feet long, and nearly five in circumference
+in the thickest part. The body is perfectly smooth, and without any
+projections or inequalities, changing into a horizontal semicircular
+flat tail, with no appearance whatever of hind limbs. There is no
+distinct neck; the head is not very large, and is terminated by a
+large mouth and fleshy lips, somewhat resembling those of a cow. There
+are stiff bristles on the lips, and a few distantly scattered hairs
+over the body. Behind the head are two powerful oval fins, and just
+beneath them are the breasts, from which, on pressure being applied,
+flows a stream of beautiful white milk. The ears are minute holes, and
+the eyes very small. The color is a dusky lead, with some large
+pinkish-white marbled blotches on the belly. The skin is about an inch
+thick on the back, and a quarter of an inch on the belly. Beneath the
+skin is a layer of fat of a greater or less thickness, generally about
+an inch, which is boiled down to make an oil used for light and for
+cooking. The intestines are very voluminous, the heart about the size
+of a sheep's, and the lungs about two feet long, and six or seven
+inches wide, very cellular and spongy, and can be blown out like a
+bladder. The skull is large and solid, with no front teeth; the
+vertebr� extend to the very tip of the tail, but show no rudiments of
+posterior limbs; the fore limbs, on the contrary, are very highly
+developed, the bones exactly corresponding to those of the human arm,
+having even the five fingers, with every joint distinct, yet enclosed
+in a stiff inflexible skin, where not a joint can have any motion.
+
+The cow-fish feeds on grass at the borders of the rivers and lakes,
+and swims quickly with the tail and paddles; and though the external
+organs of sight and hearing are so imperfect, these senses are said by
+the hunters to be remarkably acute, and to render necessary all their
+caution and skill to capture the animals. They bring forth one, or
+rarely two, young ones, which they clasp in their arms or paddles
+while giving suck. They are harpooned or caught in a strong net, at
+the narrow entrance of a lake or stream. Each yields from five to
+twenty-five gallons of oil. The flesh is very good, being something
+between beef and pork, and this one furnished us with several meals,
+and was an agreeable change from our fish diet.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: THE COW FISH.]
+
+
+
+
+OLD RATTLER AND THE KING SNAKE[8]
+
+BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+PRESIDENT OF LELAND STANFORD, JUNIOR, UNIVERSITY.
+
+[8] From _The Popular Science Monthly_ by permission.
+
+
+   "I only know thee humble, bold,
+    Haughty, with miseries untold,
+    And the old curse that left thee cold,
+    And drove thee ever to the sun
+    On blistering rocks ...
+                        Thou whose fame
+    Searchest the grass with tongue of flame,
+    Making all creatures seem thy game,
+    When the whole woods before thee run,
+    Asked but--when all is said and done--
+    To lie, untrodden, in the sun!"
+                                  --BRET HARTE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Old Rattler was a snake, of course, and he lives in the King's River
+Ca�on, high up and down deep in the mountains of California.
+
+He had a hole behind and below a large, flat granite rock, not far
+from the river, and he called it his home; for in it he slept all
+night and all winter, but when the sun came back in the spring and
+took the frost out of the air and the rocks, then he crawled out to
+lie until he got warm. The stream was clear and swift in the ca�on,
+the waterfalls sang in the side gulch of Roaring River, the wind
+rustled in the long needles of the yellow pines, and the birds called
+to their mates in the branches. But Old Rattler did not care for such
+things. He was just a snake, you know, and his neighbors did not think
+him a good snake at that, for he was surly and silent, and his big,
+three-cornered, "coffin-shaped" head, set on a slim, flat neck, was
+very ugly to see. But when he opened his mouth he was uglier still,
+for in his upper jaw he had two long fangs, and each one was filled
+with deadly poison. His vicious old head was covered with gray and
+wrinkled scales, and his black, beadlike eyes snapped when he opened
+his mouth to find out whether his fangs were both in working order.
+
+Old Rattler was pretty stiff when he first came from his hole on the
+morning of this story. He had lain all night coiled up like a rope
+among the rocks, and his tail felt very cold. But the glad sun warmed
+the cockles of his heart, and in an hour or two he became limber, and
+this made him happy in his snaky fashion. But, being warm, he began to
+be hungry, for it had been a whole month since he had eaten anything.
+When the first new moon of August came, his skin loosened everywhere
+and slipped down over his eyes like a veil, so that he could see
+nothing about him, and could not hunt for frogs by the river, nor for
+chipmunks among the trees. But with the new moon of September all this
+was over. The rusty brown old coat was changed for a new suit of gray
+and black, and the diamond-shaped checkers all over it were clean and
+shiny as a set of new clothes out to be.
+
+There was a little striped chipmunk running up and down the sugar-pine
+tree over his head, pursing his little mouth and throwing himself into
+pretty attitudes, as though he were the centre of an admiring
+audience, and Old Rattler kept a steady eye on him. But he was in no
+hurry about it all. He must first get the kinks out of his neck, and
+the cold cramps from his tail. There was an old curse on his family,
+so the other beasts had heard, that kept him always cold, and his tail
+was the coldest part of all. So he shook it a little, just to show
+that it was growing limber, and the bone clappers on the end rustled
+with a sharp, angry noise. Fifteen rattles he had in all--fifteen and
+a button--and to have so many showed that he was no common member of
+his hated family. Then he shook his tail again, and more sharply. This
+was to show all the world that he, Old Rattler, was wide awake, and
+whoever stepped on him would better look out. Then all the big beasts
+and little beasts who heard the noise fled away just as fast as ever
+they could; and to run away was the best thing they could do, for when
+Old Rattler struck one of them with his fangs all was over with him.
+So there were many in the ca�on, beasts and birds and snakes too, who
+hated Old Rattler, but only a few dared face him. And one of these was
+Glittershield, whom men call the King of Snakes, and in a minute I
+shall tell you why.
+
+And when Old Rattler was doing all that I have said, the King Snake
+lay low on a bed of pine needles, behind a bunch of fern, and watched
+him with keen, sharp eye. The angry buzz of Rattler's tail, which
+scared the chipmunks and the bullfrogs and all the rest of the beast
+folk, was music for Glittershield. He was a snake, too, and snakes
+understand some things better than any of the rest of us.
+
+Glittershield was slim and wiry in his body, as long as Old Rattler
+himself, but not so large around. His coat was smooth and glossy, not
+rough and wrinkly like Old Rattler's, and his upraised head was small
+and pretty--for a snake. He was the best dressed of all his kind, and
+he looked his finest as he faced Old Rattler. His head was shiny
+black, his throat and neck as white as milk while all down his body to
+the end of his tail he was painted with rings, first white, then
+black, then crimson, and every ring was bright as if it had just been
+freshly polished that very day.
+
+So the King Snake passed the sheltering fern and came right up to Old
+Rattler. Rattler opened his sleepy eyes, threw himself on guard with a
+snap and a buzz, and shook his bony clappers savagely. But the King of
+Snakes was not afraid. Every snake has a weak spot somewhere, and that
+is the place to strike him. If he hadn't a weak spot no one else could
+live about him, and then, perhaps he would starve to death at last. If
+he had not some strong points, where no one could harm him, he
+couldn't live himself.
+
+As the black crest rose, Old Rattler's tail grew cold, his head
+dropped, his mouth closed, he straightened out his coil, and staggered
+helplessly toward his hole.
+
+This was the chance for Glittershield. With a dash so swift that all
+the rings on his body--red, white, and black--melted into one purple
+flash, he seized Old Rattler by his throat. He carried no weapons, to
+be sure. He had neither fangs nor venom. He won his victories by
+force and dash, not by mean advantage. He was quick and strong, and
+his little hooked teeth held like the claws of a hawk. Old Rattler
+closed his mouth because he couldn't help it, and the fangs he could
+not use were folded back against the roof of his jaw.
+
+The King Snake leaped forward, wound his body in a "love-knot" around
+Old Rattler's neck, took a "half-hitch" with his tail about the
+stomach, while the rest of his body lay in a curve like the letter S
+between the two knots. Then all he had to do was to stiffen up his
+muscles, and Old Rattler's backbone was snapped off at the neck.
+
+[Illustration: "HE SEIZED OLD RATTLER BY HIS THROAT."]
+
+All that remained to Glittershield was to swallow his enemy. First he
+rubbed his lips all over the body, from the head to the tail, till it
+was slippery with slime. Then he opened his mouth very wide, with a
+huge snaky yawn, and face to face he began on Old Rattler. The ugly
+head was hard to manage, but, after much straining, he clasped his jaws
+around it, and the venom trickled down his throat like some fiery
+sauce. Slowly head and neck and body disappeared, and the tail
+wriggled despairingly, for the tail of the snake folk can not die
+till sundown, and when it went at last the fifteen rattles and the
+button were keeping up an angry buzz. And all night long the King of
+Snakes, twice as big as he ought to be, lay gorged and motionless upon
+Old Rattler's rock.
+
+And in the morning the little chipmunk ran out on a limb above him,
+pursed up his lips, and made all kinds of faces, as much as to say, "I
+did all this, and the whole world was watching while I did it."
+
+[Illustration: KING SNAKE.]
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF A STRANGE LAND
+
+(FROM SCIENCE SKETCHES.)[9]
+
+BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+PRESIDENT OF LELAND STANFORD, JUNIOR, UNIVERSITY.
+
+[9] Copyright, 1896, by A.�C. Mclurg & Co.
+
+
+   "In one strange land,
+    And a long way from home,
+    I heard a mighty rumbling, and I couldn't tell where."
+                                            --NEGRO MELODY.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It happened a long time ago, it may be fifty thousand years in round
+numbers, or it may have been twice as many, that a strange thing
+took place in the heart of the Great Mountains. It was in the middle
+of the Pliocene epoch, a long, dull time that seemed as if it would
+never come to an end. There was then on the east side of the Great
+Divide a deep, rocky basin surrounded by high walls of granite gashed
+to the base by the wash of many streams. In this basin, we know not
+how--for the records all are burned or buried--the crust of the earth
+was broken, and a great outflow of melted larva surged up from below.
+This was no ordinary eruption, but a mighty outbreak of the earth's
+imprisoned forces. The steady stream of lava filled the whole mountain
+basin and ran out over its sides, covering the country all around so
+deeply that it has never been seen since. More than four thousand
+square miles of land lay buried under melted rock. No one can tell how
+deep the lava is, for no one has ever seen the bottom. Within its bed
+are deep clefts whose ragged walls descend to the depth of twelve
+hundred feet, and yet give no glimpse of the granite below, while at
+their side are mountains of lava whose crags tower a mile above the
+bottom of the ravines.
+
+[Illustration: "IT WOULD HISS AND BOIL HIGH IN THE AIR."]
+
+At last, after many years or centuries--time does not count for much
+in these Tertiary days--the flow of melted lava ceased. Its surface
+cooled, leaving a high, uneven plain, black and desolate, a hard, cold
+crust over a fiery and smoldering interior. About the crater lay great
+ropes and rolls of the slowly hardening lava, looking like knots and
+tangles of gigantic reptiles of some horrible extinct sort. There was
+neither grass nor trees, nor life of any sort. Nothing could grow in
+the coarse, black stone. The rivers and brooks had long since
+vanished in steam, the fishes were all dead, and the birds had flown
+away. The whole region wore the aspect of the desolation of death.
+
+But to let land go to waste is no part of Mother Nature's plan. So
+even this far-off corner of her domain was made ready for settlement.
+In the winter she sifted snow on the cold black plain, and in the
+summer the snow melted into a multitude of brooks and springs. The
+brooks gradually wore paths and furrows down the large bed, and the
+sands which they washed from one place they piled up in another. The
+winds blew the seeds of grasses about, and willows and aspens crept up
+the mountain-sides. Then came the squirrels, scattering the nuts of
+the pine. Other seeds came too, in other ways, till at last the barren
+hillside was no longer barren.
+
+The brooks ran over the surface of the crust undisturbed by the fires
+within, and were clear and cold as mountain brooks should be; but the
+rain and melted snow will never all remain on the surface. Some of it
+falls into cracks or joints or porous places in the rock, and from
+this come underground streams or springs. But in this region a stream
+could not run long underground without coming in contact with the old
+still-burning fires. When a crust is formed over the lava, it cools
+very slowly. When the crust is a rod or two deep, the lava within is
+almost as well protected as if it were at the center of the earth.
+
+Whenever the water came down into the fire, the hot rocks would be
+furious with indignation, and tearing the water to atoms they would
+throw it back to the surface as steam. Then the explosive force of the
+steam would in turn tear up the rocks, making still larger the hole
+through which the water came. When the rocks were very hot, a little
+water upon them would make a terrible commotion like the shock of an
+earthquake. When much water came down, it would hiss and boil high in
+the air, as it tried to break the cushion of steam which came between
+it and the lava.
+
+[Illustration: MOUTH OF GEYSER.]
+
+And all this went on in hundreds of places and maybe for thousands of
+years. The hot rocks glowed and sweltered in the ground, and the cold
+snow-water crept after them closer and closer, while more and more
+vigorously the rocks resented the intrusion. Sometimes the water would
+go down in a mass through a cleft, when it would be hurled bodily the
+very way it came. At other times the water came down little by little,
+insinuating itself into many places at once. Then the hot rocks threw
+it back in many little honeycomb channels, and by the spreading of
+these channels the rocks were at last crumbled to pieces. The hard
+black lava on the glass-like obsidian were changed to white kaolin as
+soft and powdery as chalk. And as the water fought its way, gaining a
+little every year, steadily working between the joints in the enemy's
+armor and as surely being thrown back with violence if it penetrated
+too far, the animals and the plants followed in the wake of the
+water, and took possession of the territory as fast as it was won.
+
+At last the Pliocene times were over, for all times come to an end.
+The one sure thing on the earth is the certainty of change. With the
+change of time came on the earth's great winter. The snow-drifts on
+the lava were piled up mountain-high. Snow is but ice gathered in
+little fragments which will grow solid under pressure. As the snow
+accumulated it began to move, forming great rivers of ice which ran
+down the courses of the stream. And as these slowly moving, gigantic
+ice-rivers tore away huge blocks of lava and pushed them down the
+mountain-sides, where the rocks had been softened by the action of
+steam, the ice wore out deep valleys, and everything that it touched
+was smoothed and polished. The winter of the great Ice age lasted a
+very long time, many thousands of years; but, long as it was and long
+ago, it came at last to an end--not to a full stop, of course, for
+even now, some of its snow still lingers on the highest peaks that
+surround the lava-beds.
+
+[Illustration: "CUTTING DEEP GORGES OR CA�ONS."]
+
+Then the winters grew shorter and the summers longer. The south winds
+blew and the ice melted away, first from the plain and then from the
+mountains. The water ran down the sides of the lava-bed, cutting deep
+gorges or canons, so deep that the sun can hardly see the bottom. And
+into the joints and clefts of the rocks more and more water went, to
+be hurled back with greater and greater violence, for all the waters
+of all the snow cannot put out a mile deep of fire.
+
+In the old depressions where the ice had chiselled away the softer
+rocks, there were formed lakes of the standing water, and one of these
+was more than thirty miles long, winding in and out among the
+mountain-ridges. In the lake bottom the water soaked through down to
+the hot lava below, from which it was thrown boiling back to the
+surface again, fountains of scalding water in the icy lake.
+
+The cold Ice age has killed all the plants in the region; and it had
+driven off the animals that could be driven, and had then buried the
+rest. But when the snow was gone the creatures all came back again.
+Grass and meadow-flowers of a hundred kinds came up from the valleys
+below. The willow and the aspen took their place again by the
+brook-side, and the red fir and the mountain pine covered the hills
+with their sombre green. The birds came back. The wild goose swam and
+screamed, and the winter wren caroled his bright song--loudest when
+there seemed least cause for rejoicing. The beaver cut his timber and
+patiently worked at his dams. The thriftless porcupine destroyed a
+tree for every morning meal. The gray jay, the "camp robber," followed
+the Indians about in hope that some forgotten piece of meat or of
+boiled root might fall to his share; while the buffalo, the bear, and
+the elk each carried on his affairs in his own way, as did a host of
+lesser animals, all of whom rejoiced when this snow-bound region was
+at last opened for settlement. Time went on. The water and the fire
+were every day in mortal struggle, and always when the water was
+thrown back repulsed, it renewed the contest as vigorously as before.
+The fire retreated, leaving great stretches of land to its enemy, that
+it might concentrate its strength where its strength was greatest. And
+the water steadily gained, for the great ocean ever lay behind it. So
+for century after century they wrestled with each other, the water,
+the fire, the snow, the animals and the plants. But the fishes who had
+once lived in the mountain torrents were no longer there. They had
+been boiled and frozen, and in one way or another destroyed or driven
+away. Now they could not get back. Every stream had its ca�on, and in
+each ca�on was a waterfall so high that no trout could leap up.
+Although they used to try it every day, not one ever succeeded.
+
+[Illustration: "AND IN EACH CA�ON WAS A WATERFALL."]
+
+So it went on. A great many things happened in other parts of the
+world. America had been discovered and the colonies were feeling their
+way toward the Pacific Ocean. And in the vanguard was the famous
+expedition of Lewis and Clarke, which went overland to the mouth of
+the river Columbia. John Colter was a hunter in this expedition, and
+by some chance he went across the mountains on the old trail of the
+Nez Perc�s Indians which leads across the Divide from the Missouri
+waters to those of the Columbia. When he came back from the Nez Perc�s
+trail he told most wonderful tales of what he had seen at the head of
+the Missouri. There were cataracts of scalding water which shot
+straight up into the air; there were blue ponds hot enough to boil
+fish; there were springs that came up snorting and steaming, and which
+would turn trees into stone; the woods were full of holes from which
+issued streams of sulphur; there were canons of untold depth with
+walls of ashes full of holes which let off steam like a locomotive,
+and there were springs which looked peaceful enough, but which at
+times, would burst like a bomb.
+
+In short, every one laughed at Colter and his yarns, and this place
+where all lies were true was familiarly known as "Colter's Hell." But
+for once John Colter told the truth, and the truth could not easily be
+exaggerated. But no one believed him. When others who afterwards
+followed him over the Nez Perc�s trail told the same stories, people
+said they had been up to "Colter's Hell" and had learned to lie.
+
+But, as time passed, other men told what they had seen, until, in
+1870, a sort of official survey was made under the lead of Washburne
+and Doane. This party got the general bearings of the region, named
+many of the mountains, and found so much of interest that the next
+year Dr. Hayden, the United States Geologist, sent out a party for
+systematic exploration. The Hayden party came up from Colorado on
+horseback, through dense and tangled forests, across mountain
+torrents, and other craggy peaks. The story of this expedition has
+been most charmingly told by its youngest member, another John
+Coulter. Professor Coulter was the botanist of the survey, and he won
+the first of his many laurels on this expedition. In 1872, acting on
+Hayden's report, Congress took the matter in hand and set apart this
+whole region as a "public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit
+and enjoyment of the people," and such it remains to this day.
+
+But, while only of late this region has had a public history, the
+long-forgotten years between the Glacial period and the expedition of
+Lewis and Clarke were not without interest in the history of the
+trout. For all these years the fishes have been trying to mount the
+waterfalls in order to ascend to the plateau above. Year after year,
+as the spawning-time came on, they leaped against the falls of the
+Gardiner, the Gibbon, and the Firehole Rivers, but only to fall back
+impotent in the pools at their bases. But the mightiest cataract of
+all, the great falls of the Yellowstone, they finally conquered, and
+in this way it was done: not by the trout of the Yellowstone River,
+but by their brothers on the other side of the Divide. These followed
+up the Columbia to the head-waters of the Snake River, its great
+tributary, past the beautiful Heart Lake, and then on to the stream
+now called Pacific Creek, which rises on the very crest of the
+Divide. In the space between this stream, which flows west to help
+form the Snake River, and a smaller stream now called Atlantic Creek,
+flowing down the east slope of the Divide, the great chain of the
+Rocky Mountains shrinks to a narrow plateau of damp meadow, not a
+fourth of a mile in width; and some years, when the snows are heavy
+and melt late in the spring, this whole region is covered with
+standing water. The trout had bided their time until they found it so,
+and now they were ready for action. Before the water was drained they
+had crossed the Divide and were descending on the Atlantic side toward
+the Yellowstone Lake. As the days went by, this colony of bold trout
+spirits grew and multiplied and filled the waters of the great clear
+lake, where their descendants remain to this day. And no other
+fishes--not the chub, nor the sucker, nor the white-fish, nor the
+minnow, nor the blob--had ever climbed Pacific Creek. None of them
+were able to follow where the trout had gone, and none of them have
+ever been seen in the Yellowstone Lake. What the trout had done in
+this lake--their victories and defeats, their struggles with the bears
+and pelicans, and with the terrible worm, joint enemy of trout and
+pelicans alike--must be left for another story.
+
+[Illustration: TROUT.]
+
+So the trout climbed the Yellowstone Falls by way of the back
+staircase. For all we know, they have gone down it on the other side.
+And in a similar way, by stealing over from Blacktail Deer Creek, they
+overcame the Undine Falls in Lava Creek and passed its steep obsidian
+walls, which not all the fishes in the world could climb.
+
+In the Gibbon River the cataracts have proved to the trout an
+impassible barrier; but, strangely enough, its despised associate, the
+sluggish, chunky blob, the little soft-bodied, smooth, black
+tadpole-like fellow, with twinkling eyes and a voracious appetite--a
+fish who cannot leap at all--has crossed this barrier. Hundreds of
+blob live under the stones in the upper reaches of the stream, the
+only fish in the Gibbon waters. There he is, and it is a standing
+puzzle even to himself to know how he got there. We might imagine,
+perhaps, that some far-off ancestor, some ancient Queen of the Blobs,
+was seized by an osprey and carried away in the air. Perhaps an eagle
+was watching and forced the osprey to give up its prey. Perhaps in the
+struggle the blob escaped, falling into the river above the falls, to
+form the beginning of the future colony. At any rate, there is the
+great impassable waterfall, the blob above it and below. The osprey
+has its nest on a broken pine tree, above the cataract, and its tyrant
+master, the bald eagle, watches it from a still higher crag whenever
+it goes fishing.
+
+Two years ago the Hon. Marshall McDonald, whose duty as United States
+Fish Commissioner it is to look after the fishes wherever they may be,
+sent me to this country to see what could be done for his wards. It
+was a proud day when I set out from Mammoth Hot Springs astride a
+black cayuse, or Indian pony, which answered to the name of Jump,
+followed by a long train of sixteen other cayuses of every variety of
+color and character, the most notable of all being a white pony called
+Tinker. At some remote and unidentified period of her life she had
+bucked and killed a tradesman who bestrode her against her will, and
+thereby, as in the old Norse legends, she has inherited his strength,
+his wickedness, and his name. And when, after many adventures, I came
+back from this strange land and told the story of its fishes other men
+were sent out from Washington with nets and buckets. They gathered up
+the trout and carried them to the rivers above the falls, and now all
+the brooks and pools of the old lava-bed, the fairest streams in the
+world, are full of their natural inhabitants.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE COLORS OF ANIMALS
+
+(FROM CHAPTERS IN POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY.)
+
+BY SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, BART., M.P., F.B.S., ETC.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The color of animals is by no means a matter of chance; it depends on
+many considerations, but in the majority of cases tends to protect the
+animal from danger by rendering it less conspicuous. Perhaps it may be
+said that if coloring is mainly protective, there ought to be but few
+brightly colored animals. There are, however, not a few cases in which
+vivid colors are themselves protective. The kingfisher itself, though
+so brightly colored, is by no means easy to see. The blue harmonizes
+with the water, and the bird as it darts along the stream looks almost
+like a flash of sunlight; besides which, protection is not the only
+consideration. Let us now consider the prevalent colors of animals and
+see how far they support the rule.
+
+Desert animals are generally the color of the desert. Thus, for
+instance, the lion, the antelope, and the wild ass are all
+sand-colored. "Indeed," says Canon Tristram, "in the desert, where
+neither trees, brushwood, nor even undulation of the surface afford
+the slightest protection to its foes, a modification of color which
+shall be assimilated to that of the surrounding country is absolutely
+necessary. Hence, without exception, the upper plumage of every bird,
+whether lark, chat, sylvain, or sand grouse, and also the fur of all
+the smaller mammals and the skin of all the snakes and lizards, is of
+one uniform sand color."
+
+It is interesting to note that, while the lion is sand-colored like
+the desert, the long, upright, yellow stripes of the tiger make it
+very difficult to see the animal among the long dry grasses of the
+Indian jungles in which it lives. The leopard, again, and other tree
+cats are generally marked with spots which resemble gleams of light
+glancing through the leaves.
+
+The colors of birds are in many cases perhaps connected with the
+position and mode of construction of their nests. Thus, we know that
+hen birds are generally less brightly colored than the cocks, and this
+is partly, perhaps, because bright colors would be a danger to the
+hens while sitting on their eggs. When the nest is placed underground
+or in the hole of a tree, etc., we find it no longer to be such an
+invariable rule that the hen bird is dull-colored; but, on the
+contrary, she is then often as gaily colored as the male. Such, for
+instance, is the case with the hen kingfisher, which is one of the
+brightest of British birds and one of the very few which make their
+nests underground; the hen woodpecker, which is also gaily colored and
+builds in hollow trees, forms a second instance.
+
+In the few cases where the hens are as conspicuously colored as the
+cocks, and yet the nest is open to view, we generally find that the
+hens are strong, pugnacious birds, and well able to defend themselves.
+There are even instances, though these are comparatively rare, in
+which the hens are more brilliantly colored than the cocks; and it is
+an interesting fact that it is then the cocks, and not the hens, which
+hatch the eggs.
+
+It therefore seems to be a rule, with very few exceptions, that when
+both the cocks and hens are of strikingly gay or conspicuous colors,
+the nest is such as to conceal the sitting bird; while, whenever there
+is a striking contrast of colors, the nest is open and the sitting
+bird exposed to view.
+
+Again, most fishes are dark above and pale below. This points to the
+same fact, for when one looks down into the dark water, the dark color
+of their backs renders them the less easy to distinguish; while, to an
+enemy looking up from below, the pale belly would be less conspicuous
+against the light of the sky. Those fishes which live deep down in the
+depths of the ocean present no such contrast between the upper and
+under surface. Many of the smaller animals which live in the sea are
+as transparent as glass, and are consequently very difficult to
+distinguish.
+
+It is sometimes said that if animals were really colored with
+reference to concealment, sheep would be green, like grass. This,
+however, is quite a mistake. If they were green they would really be
+more easy to see. In the gray of the morning and the evening twilight,
+just the time when wild animals generally feed, gray and stone colors
+are most difficult to distinguish. Sheep were originally mountain
+animals, and every one who has ever been on a mountain-side knows how
+difficult it is to distinguish a sheep, at some distance, from a mass
+of stone or rock.
+
+It is, again, a great advantage to the rabbit and hare to be colored
+like earth; black or white rabbits are more easy to see, and
+consequently more likely to be killed. This, however, does not apply
+to those which are kept in captivity, and we know that tame rabbits
+are often black and white. Again, in the far north, where for months
+together the ground is covered with snow, the white color, which would
+be a danger here, becomes an advantage; and many Arctic animals, like
+the polar bear and polar hare, are white, while others, such as the
+mountain hare and ptarmigan, change their color, being brown in summer
+and white in winter. So are the Arctic fox and the ermine, to whom it
+is then an advantage to be white, not to avoid danger, but in order
+that they may be the more easily able to steal unperceived upon their
+prey.
+
+Many of the cases in which certain insects escape danger by their
+similarity to plants are well known; the leaf insect and the
+walking-stick insect are familiar and most remarkable cases. The larv�
+of insects afford, also, many interesting examples, and in other
+respects teach us, indeed, many instructive lessons. It would be a
+great mistake to regard them as merely preparatory stages in the
+development of the perfect insect. They are much more than this, for
+external circumstances act on the larv�, as well as on the perfect
+insect: both, therefore, are liable to adaptation. In fact, the
+modifications which insect larv� undergo may be divided into two
+kinds--developmental, or those which tend to approximation to the
+mature form; and adaptational or adaptive, those which tend to suit
+them to their own mode of life.
+
+It is a remarkable fact, that the forms of larv� do not depend on
+those of the mature insect. In many cases, for instance, very similar
+larv� produce extremely dissimilar insects. In other cases, similar,
+or comparatively similar, perfect insects have very dissimilar larv�.
+Indeed, a classification of insects founded on larva would be quite
+different from that founded on the perfect insects. The group to which
+the bees, wasps, and ants belong, for instance, and which, so far as
+the perfect insects are concerned, form a very natural division, would
+be divided into two; or rather one portion of them--namely, the
+saw-flies--would be united to the butterflies and moths. Now, why do
+the larv� of saw-flies differ from those of their allies, and resemble
+those of butterflies and moths? It is because their habits differ from
+those of ants and bees, and they feed on leaves like ordinary
+caterpillars.
+
+In some cases the form changes considerably during the larval state.
+From this point of view, the transformations of a small beetle, called
+_Sitaris_, which have been carefully observed by M. Fabre, are
+peculiarly interesting.
+
+The genus Sitaris, which is allied to the blister-fly and to the
+oil-beetle, is parasitic on a kind of solitary bee which excavates
+subterranean galleries, each leading to a cell. The eggs of the
+beetle, which are deposited at the entrance of the galleries made by
+the bees, are hatched at the end of September or beginning of
+October, and we might not unnaturally expect that the young larv�,
+which are active little creatures with six serviceable legs, would at
+once eat their way into the cells of the bee. No such thing: till the
+month of April following they remain without leaving their birthplace,
+and consequently without food; nor do they in this long time change
+either in form or size. M. Fabre ascertained this, not only by
+examining the burrow of the bees, but also by direct observations of
+some young larv� kept in captivity. In April, however, his captives at
+last awoke from their long lethargy, and hurried anxiously about their
+prisons. Naturally inferring that they were in search of food, M.
+Fabre supposed that this would consist either of the larv� or pup� of
+the bee, or of the honey with which it stores its cell. All three were
+tried without success. The first two were neglected; and the larv�,
+when placed on the latter, either hurried away or perished in the
+attempt, being evidently unable to deal with the sticky substance. M.
+Fabre was in despair. The first ray of light came to him from our
+countryman Newport, who ascertained that a small parasite found on one
+of the wild bees was, in fact, the larva of the oil-beetle. The larv�
+of Sitaris much resembled this larva. Acting on this hint, M. Fabre
+examined many specimens of the bee, and found on them at last the
+larv� of his Sitaris. The males of the bee emerge from the pup� sooner
+than the females, and M. Fabre ascertained that, as they come out of
+their galleries, the little Sitaris larv� fasten upon them. Not,
+however, for long: instinct teaches them that they are not yet in the
+straight path of development; and, watching their opportunity, they
+pass from the male to the female bee. Guided by these indications, M.
+Fabre examined several cells of the bee; in some, the egg of the bee
+floated by itself on the surface of the honey; in others, on the egg,
+as on a raft, sat the still more minute larva of the Sitaris. The
+mystery was solved. At the moment when the egg is laid, the Sitaris
+larva springs upon it. Even while the poor mother is carefully
+fastening up her cell, her mortal enemy is beginning to devour her
+offspring; for the egg of the bee serves not only as a raft, but as a
+repast. The honey, which is enough for either, would be too little for
+both; and the Sitaris, therefore, at its first meal, relieves itself
+from its only rival. After eight days the egg is consumed, and on the
+empty shell the Sitaris undergoes its first transformation, and makes
+its appearance in a very different form.
+
+The honey, which was fatal before, is now necessary--the activity,
+which before was necessary, is now useless; consequently, with the
+change of skin, the active, slim larva changes into a white fleshy
+grub, so organized as to float on the surface of the honey, with the
+mouth beneath and the breathing-holes above the surface; for insects
+breathe, not as we do through the mouth, but through a row of holes
+arranged along the side. In this state it remains until the honey is
+consumed; then the animal contracts, and detaches itself from its
+skin, within which the further transformations take place. In the next
+stage the larva has a solid corneous envelope and an oval shape, and,
+in its color, consistency, and immobility, resembles the chrysalis of
+a fly. The time passed in this condition varies much. When it has
+elapsed, the animal moults again, again changes its form; after this,
+it becomes a pupa, without any remarkable peculiarities. Finally,
+after these wonderful changes and adventures, in the month of August
+the perfect beetle makes its appearance.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1. THE CATERPILLAR OF THE MARBLED WHITE BUTTERFLY
+(_Arge galathea_).]
+
+In fact, whenever in any group we find differences in form or color,
+we shall always find them associated with differences in habit. Let us
+take the case of Caterpillars. The prevailing color of caterpillars is
+green, like that of leaves. The value of this to the young insect, the
+protection it affords, are obvious. We must all have observed how
+difficult it is to distinguish small green caterpillars from the
+leaves on which they feed. When, however, they become somewhat larger,
+their form betrays them, and it is important that there should be
+certain marks to divert the eye from the outlines of the body. This is
+effected, and much protection is given, by longitudinal lines (Fig.�1),
+which accordingly are found on a great many caterpillars. These
+lines, both in color and thickness, much resemble some of the lines on
+leaves (those, for instance, of grasses), and also the streaks of
+shadow which occur among foliage. If this be the explanation of them,
+then they ought to be wanting, as a general rule, in very small
+caterpillars, and should prevail most among those which feed on or
+among grasses.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE EYED HAWK-MOTH
+(_Smerinthus ocellatus_).]
+
+Now, similar lines occur on a great number of caterpillars belonging
+to most different groups of butterflies and moths, as you may see by
+turning over the illustrations of any monograph of the group. They
+exist among the Hawk-moths--as, for instance, in the Humming-bird
+Hawk-moth; they occur in many butterflies, especially in those which
+feed on grass; and in many moths. But you will find that the smallest
+caterpillars rarely possess these white streaks. As regards the second
+point, also, the streaks are generally wanting in caterpillars which
+feed on large-leaved plants. The _Satyrid�_, on the contrary, all
+possess them, and all live on grass. In fact we may say, as a general
+rule, that these longitudinal streaks only occur on caterpillars which
+live on or among narrow-leaved plants. As the insect grows, these
+lines often disappear on certain segments, and are replaced by
+diagonal lines. These diagonal lines (Fig.�2) occur in a great many
+caterpillars, belonging to the most distinct families of butterflies
+and moths. They come off just at the same angle as the ribs of leaves,
+and resemble them very much in general effect. They occur also
+especially on species which feed on large-leaved plants; and I believe
+I may say that though a great many species of caterpillars present
+these lines, they rarely, if ever, occur in species which live on
+grass; while, on the contrary, they are very frequent in those
+species which live on large-leaved plants.
+
+It might at first be objected to this view that there are many cases,
+as in the Elephant-Hawk-moth, in which caterpillars have both. A
+little consideration, however, will explain this. In small
+caterpillars these oblique lines would be useless, because they must
+have some relation, not only in color, but in their distance apart, to
+the ribs of the leaves. Hence, while there are a great many species
+which have, longitudinal lines when young, and diagonal ones when they
+are older and larger, there is not, I believe, a single one which
+begins with diagonal lines, and then replaces them with longitudinal
+ones. The disappearance of the longitudinal lines on those segments
+which have diagonal ones, is striking, where the lines are marked. It
+is an advantage, because white lines crossing one another at such an
+angle have no relation to anything which occurs in plants, and would
+make the creature more conspicuous. When, therefore, the diagonal
+lines are developed, the longitudinal ones often disappear. There is
+one other point in connection with these diagonal lines to which I
+must call your attention.
+
+In many species they are white, but in some cases--as, for instance,
+in the beautiful green caterpillar of the Privet-Hawk-moth--the white
+streak is accompanied by a colored one, in that case lilac. At first
+we might think that this would be a disadvantage, as tending to make
+the caterpillar more conspicuous; and in fact, if we put one in full
+view--for instance, out on a table--and focus the eye on it, the
+colored lines are very striking. But we must remember that the habit
+of the insect is to sit on the lower side of the leaf, generally near
+the middle rib, and in the subdued light of such a situation,
+especially if the eye be not looking exactly at them, the colored
+lines beautifully simulate a line of soft shadow, such as must always
+accompany a strong rib; and I need not tell any artist that the
+shadows of yellowish-green must be purplish. Moreover, any one who has
+ever found one of these large caterpillars will, I am sure, agree with
+me that it is surprising, when we consider their size and conspicuous
+coloring, how difficult it is to see them.
+
+But though the prevailing color of caterpillars is green, there are
+numerous exceptions. In one great family of moths the prevailing color
+is brown. These caterpillars, however, escape observation by their
+great similarity to brown twigs--a resemblance which is heightened by
+their peculiar attitudes, and in many cases by the existence of warts
+or protuberances, which look like buds. Some, however, even of these
+caterpillars, when very young, are green. Again, some caterpillars are
+white. These feed on and burrow in wood. The Ringlet Butterfly also
+has whitish caterpillars, and this may at first sight appear to
+contradict the rule, since it feeds on grass. Its habit is, however,
+to keep at the roots by day, and feed only at night.
+
+In various genera we find Black caterpillars, which are of course very
+conspicuous, and, so far as I know, not distasteful to birds. In such
+cases, however, it will be found that they are covered with hairs or
+spines, which protect them from most birds. In these species the bold
+dark color may be an advantage, by rendering the hair more
+conspicuous. Many caterpillars are black and hairy, but I do not know
+any large caterpillar which is black and smooth.
+
+Brown caterpillars, also, are frequently protected by hairs or spines
+in the same way; but, unlike black ones, they are frequently naked.
+These fall into two principal categories: firstly, those which, like
+the Geometrid�, put themselves into peculiar and stiff attitudes, so
+that in form, color, and position they closely resemble bits of dry
+stick; and, secondly, those which feed on low plants, concealing
+themselves on the ground by day, and only coming out in the dark.
+
+Yellow and yellowish-green caterpillars are abundant, and their color
+is a protection. Red and blue, on the contrary, are much less common
+colors, and are generally present as spots.
+
+Moreover, caterpillars with red lines or spots are generally hairy,
+and this for the reason given above. Such species, therefore, would be
+avoided by birds. There are, no doubt, some apparent exceptions. The
+Swallow-tail Butterfly, for instance, has red spots and still is
+smooth; but as it emits a strongly-scented liquid when alarmed, it is
+probably distasteful to birds. I cannot recall any other case of a
+British caterpillar which has conspicuous red spots or lines, and yet
+is smooth.
+
+Blue is, among caterpillars, even a rarer color than red. Indeed,
+among our larger larv�, the only cases I can recall are the Lappets,
+which have two conspicuous blue bands, the Death's-head Moth, which
+has broad diagonal bands, and two of the Hawk-moths, which have two
+bright blue oval patches on the third segment. The Lappets are
+protected by being hairy, but why they have the blue bands I have no
+idea. It is interesting, that both the other species frequent plants
+which have blue flowers. The peculiar hues of the Death's-head
+caterpillar, which feeds on the potato, unite so beautifully the brown
+of the earth, the yellow and green of the leaves, and the blue of the
+flowers, that, in spite of its size, it can scarcely be perceived
+unless the eye be focussed exactly upon it.
+
+The Oleander Hawk-moth is also an interesting case. Many of the
+Hawk-moth caterpillars have eye-like spots, to which I shall have to
+allude again presently. These are generally reddish or yellowish, but
+in this species, which feeds on the periwinkle, they are bright blue,
+and in form as well as color closely resemble the blue petals of that
+flower. One other species, the Sharp-winged Hawk-moth, also has two
+smaller blue spots, with reference to which I can make no suggestion.
+It is a very rare species, and I have never seen it. Possibly, in this
+case, the blue spots may be an inherited character, and have no
+reference to the present habits. They are, at any rate, quite small.
+
+No one who looks at any representations of Hawk-moth caterpillars can
+fail to be struck by the peculiar coloring of those belonging to the
+Pine Moth, which differ in style of coloring from all other sphinx
+larv�, having longitudinal bands of brown and green. Why is this?
+Their _habitat_ is different. They feed on the leaves of the pinaster,
+and their peculiar coloring offers a general similarity to the brown
+twigs and narrow green leaves of a conifer. There are not many species
+of butterflies or moths which feed on the pine, but there are a few:
+and most, if not all of them, have a very analogous style of coloring
+to that of the Pine Moth, while the latter has also tufts of
+bluish-green hair which singularly mimic the leaves of the pine. It is
+still more remarkable that in a different order of insects we again
+find species--for instance one of the saw-flies--which live on the
+pine, and in which the same style of coloring is repeated.
+
+Let us now take a single group, and see how far we can explain its
+various colors and markings, and what are the lessons which they teach
+us. For this purpose, I think I cannot do better than select the larv�
+of the Hawk-moths, which have just been the subject of a masterly work
+by Dr. Weissmann, from which most of the following facts are taken.
+
+The caterpillars of this group are very different in color--green,
+white, yellow, brown, sometimes even gaudy, varied with spots,
+patches, streaks, and lines. Now, are these differences merely casual
+and accidental, or have they a meaning and a purpose? In many, perhaps
+in most cases, the markings serve for the purpose of concealment.
+When, indeed, we see caterpillars represented on a white sheet of
+paper, or if we put them on a plain table, and focus the eye on them,
+the colors and markings would seem, if possible, to render them even
+more conspicuous; but amongst the intricate lines and varied colors of
+foliage and flowers, and if the insect be a little out of focus, the
+effect is very different.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Ch�rocampa elpenor_). Full grown. Natural size.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 4.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Ch�rocampa elpenor_). First stage.]
+
+Let us begin with the Elephant Hawk-moth. The caterpillars (Fig.�3),
+as represented in most entomological works, are of two varieties, most
+of them brown, but some green. Both have a white line on the three
+first segments; two remarkable eye-like spots on the fourth and fifth,
+and a very faint median line; and are rather more than four inches
+long. I will direct your attention specially, for the moment, to three
+points:--What do the eye-spots and the faint lateral line mean? and
+why are some green and some brown, offering thus such a marked
+contrast to the leaves of the small epilobe on which they feed? Other
+questions will suggest themselves later. I must now call your
+attention to the fact, that when the caterpillars first quit the egg,
+and come into the world (Fig.�4), they are quite different in
+appearance, being, like so many other small caterpillars, bright
+green, and almost exactly the color of the leaves on which they feed.
+That this color is not the necessary or direct consequence of the
+food, we see from the case of quadrupeds, which, as I need scarcely
+say, are never green. It is, however, so obviously a protection to
+small caterpillars, that this explanation of their green color
+suggests itself to every one.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 5.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Ch�rocampa elpenor_). Second Stage.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 6.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Ch�rocampa elpenor_). Just before the second moult.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 7.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Ch�rocampa elpenor_). Third Stage.]
+
+After five or six days, and when they are about a quarter of an inch
+in length, they go through their first moult. In their second stage
+(Fig.�5), they have two white lines, stretching along the body from
+the horn to the head; and after a few days (Fig.�6), but not at first,
+traces of the eye-spots appear on the fourth and fifth segments, shown
+by a slight wave in the upper line. After another five or six days,
+and when about half an inch in length, our caterpillars moult again.
+In their third stage (Fig.�7), the commencement of the eye-spots is
+more marked, while, on the contrary, the lower longitudinal line has
+disappeared. After another moult (Fig.�8), the eye-spots are still
+more distinct, the white gradually becomes surrounded by a black line,
+while in the next stage (Fig.�9) the centre becomes somewhat violet.
+The white lines have almost or entirely disappeared, and in some
+specimens faint diagonal lines make their appearance. Some few assume
+a brownish tint, but not many. A fourth moult takes place in seven or
+eight days, and when the caterpillars are about an inch and a half in
+length. Now, the difference shows itself still more between the two
+varieties, some remaining green, while the majority become brown. The
+eye-spots are more marked, and the pupil more distinct, the diagonal
+lines plainer, while the white line is only indicated on the first
+three, and on the eleventh segment. The last stage (Fig.�9) has been
+already described.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 8.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Ch�rocampa elpenor_). Fourth Stage.]
+
+Now, the principal points to which I wish to draw attention are (1)
+the green color, (2) the longitudinal lines, (3) the diagonal lines,
+(4) the brown color, and (5) the eye-spots.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 9.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Ch�rocampa elpenor_). Fifth Stage.]
+
+As regards the first three, however, I think I need say no more. The
+value of the green color to the young larva is obvious; nor is it much
+less clear that when the insect is somewhat larger, the longitudinal
+lines are a great advantage, while subsequently diagonal ones become
+even more important.
+
+The next point is the color of the mature caterpillars. We have seen
+that some are green, and others brown. The green ones are obviously
+merely those which have retained their original color. Now for the
+brown color. This probably makes the caterpillar even more conspicuous
+among the green leaves than would otherwise be the case. Let us see,
+then, whether the habits of the insect will throw any light upon the
+riddle. What would you do if you were a big caterpillar? Why, like
+most other defenceless creatures, you would feed by night, and lie
+concealed by day. So do these caterpillars. When the morning light
+comes, they creep down the stem of the food plant, and lie concealed
+among the thick herbage, and dry sticks and leaves, near the ground;
+and it is obvious that under such circumstances the brown color really
+becomes a protection. It might indeed be argued that the caterpillars,
+having become brown, concealed themselves on the ground; and that we
+were, in fact, reversing the state of things. But this is not so;
+because, while we may say, as a general rule, that (with some
+exceptions due to obvious causes) large caterpillars feed by night and
+lie concealed by day, it is by no means always the case that they are
+brown; some of them still retaining the green color. We may then
+conclude that the habit of concealing themselves by day came first,
+and that the brown color is a later adaptation. It is, moreover,
+interesting to note that while the caterpillars which live on low
+plants often go down to the ground and turn brown, those which feed on
+large trees or plants remain on the under side of the leaves, and
+retain their green color.
+
+Thus, in the Eyed Hawk-moth, which feeds on the willow and sallow; the
+Poplar Hawk-moth, which feeds on the poplar; and the Lime Hawk-moth,
+which frequents the lime, the caterpillars all remain green; while in
+those which frequent low plants, such as the Convolvulus Hawk-moth,
+which frequents the convolvulus; the Oleander Hawk-moth, which feeds
+in this country on the periwinkle; and other species, most of the
+caterpillars turn brown. There are, indeed, some caterpillars which
+are brown, and still do not go down to the ground--as, for instance,
+those of the Geometrid� generally. These caterpillars, however, as
+already mentioned, place themselves in peculiar attitudes, which,
+combined with their brown color, make them look almost exactly like
+bits of stick or dead twigs.
+
+The last of the five points to which I called your attention was the
+eye-spots. In some cases, spots may serve for concealment, by
+resembling the marks on dead leaves. In one species, which feeds on
+the hippoph�, or sea buckthorn, a gray-green plant, the caterpillar
+also is a similar gray-green, and has, when full grown, a single red
+spot on each side--which, as Weissmann suggests, at first sight much
+resembles in color and size one of the berries of the hippoph�. This
+might, at first, be supposed to constitute a danger, and therefore to
+be a disadvantage; but the seeds, though present, are not ripe, and
+consequently are not touched by birds. Again, in another caterpillar,
+there is an eye-spot on each segment, which mimics the flower of the
+plant on which it feeds. White spots, in some cases, also resemble the
+spots of light which penetrate foliage. In other instances, however,
+and at any rate in our Elephant Hawk-moth, the eye-spots certainly
+render the insect more conspicuous.
+
+Now in some cases, this is an advantage, rather than a drawback.
+Suppose that from the nature of its food, from its being covered with
+hair, or from any other cause, a small green caterpillar were very
+bitter, or disagreeable or dangerous as food, still, in the number of
+small green caterpillars which birds love, it would be continually
+swallowed by mistake. If, on the other hand, it had a conspicuous and
+peculiar color, its evil taste would serve to protect it, because the
+birds would soon recognize and avoid it, as has been proved
+experimentally. I have already alluded to a case of this among the
+Hawk-moths, in a species which, feeding on euphorbia, with its bitter
+milky juice, is very distasteful to birds, and is thus actually
+protected by its bold and striking colors. The spots on our Elephant
+Hawk-moth caterpillar do not admit of this explanation, because the
+insect is quite good to eat--I mean, for birds. We must, therefore, if
+possible, account for these spots in some other way. There can, I
+think, be little doubt that Weissmann is right when he suggests that
+the eye-spots actually protect the caterpillar, by frightening its
+foes.
+
+Every one must have observed that these large caterpillars--as, for
+instance, that of the small Elephant Hawk-moth (Fig.�10)--have a sort
+of uncanny poisonous appearance; that they suggest a small thick snake
+or other evil beast, and the so-called "eyes" do much to increase the
+deception. Moreover, the segment on which they are placed is swollen,
+and the insect, when in danger, has the habit of retracting its head
+and front segments, which gives it an additional resemblance to some
+small reptile. That small birds are, as a matter of fact, afraid of
+these caterpillars (which, however, I need not say, are in reality
+altogether harmless), Weissmann has proved by actual experiment. He
+put one of these caterpillars in a tray in which he was accustomed to
+place seed for birds. Soon a little flock of sparrows and other small
+birds assembled to feed as usual. One of them lit on the edge of this
+tray, and was just going to hop in, when she spied the caterpillar.
+Immediately she began bobbing her head up and down, but was afraid to
+go nearer. Another joined her, and then another, until at last there
+was a little company of ten or twelve birds, all looking on in
+astonishment, but not one ventured into the tray; while one bird,
+which lit in it unsuspectingly, beat a hasty retreat in evident alarm,
+as soon as she perceived the caterpillar. After watching for some
+time, Weissmann removed it, when the birds soon attacked the seeds.
+Other caterpillars also are probably protected by their curious
+resemblance to spotted snakes.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 10.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE SMALL ELEPHANT
+HAWK-MOTH (_Ch�rocampa porcellus_).]
+
+Moreover, we may learn another very interesting lesson from these
+caterpillars. They leave the egg, as we have seen, a plain green, like
+so many other caterpillars, and gradually acquire a succession of
+markings, the utility of which I have just attempted to explain. The
+young larva, in fact, represents an old form, and the species, in the
+lapse of ages, has gone through the stage which each individual now
+passes through in a few weeks. Thus, the caterpillar of _Ch�rocampa
+porcellus_, a species very nearly allied to the Elephant Hawk-moth,
+passes through almost exactly the same stages as that species. But it
+leaves the egg with a subdorsal line, which the caterpillar of the
+Elephant Hawk-moth does not acquire until after its first moult. No
+one can doubt, however, that there was a time when the new-born
+caterpillars of the small Elephant Hawk-moth were plain green, like
+those of the large one. Again, if we compare the mature caterpillars
+of this group of Hawk-moths, we shall find there are some forms which
+never develop eye-spots, but which, even when full grown, correspond
+to the second stage of the Elephant Hawk-moth. Here, then, we seem to
+have species still in the stage which the Elephant Hawk-moth must have
+passed through long ago.
+
+The genus _Deilephila_, of which we have three species--the Euphorbia
+Hawk-moth, the Galium Hawk-moth, and the Rayed Hawk-moth--is also very
+instructive. The caterpillar of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth begins life of
+a clear green color, without a trace of the subsequent markings. After
+the first moult, however, it has a number of black patches, a white
+line, and a series of white dots, and has, therefore, at one bound,
+acquired characters which in the Elephant Hawk-moth, as we have seen,
+were only very gradually assumed. In the third stage, the line has
+disappeared, leaving the white spots. In the fourth, the caterpillars
+have become very variable, but are generally much darker than before,
+and have a number of white dots under the spots. In the fifth stage,
+there is a second row of white spots under the first. The caterpillars
+not being good to eat, there is, as has been already pointed out, no
+need for, or attempt at, concealment. Now if we compare the mature
+caterpillars of other species of the genus, we shall find that they
+represent phases in the development of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth. The
+Sea Buckthorn Hawk-moth, for instance, even when full grown, is a
+plain green, with only a trace of the line, and corresponds,
+therefore, with a very early stage of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth; there
+is another species found in South Russia, which has the line, and
+represents the second stage of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth; another has
+the line and the row of spots, and represents, therefore, the third
+stage; lastly, there are some which have progressed further, and lost
+the longitudinal line, but they never acquire the second row of spots
+which characterizes the last stage of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth.
+
+Thus, then, the individual life of certain caterpillars gives us a
+clue to the history of the species in past ages.
+
+For such inquiries as this, the larv� of Lepidoptera are particularly
+suitable, because they live an exposed life; because the different
+species, even of the same genus, often feed on different plants, and
+are therefore exposed to different conditions; and last, not least,
+because we know more about the larv� of the butterflies and moths than
+about those of any other insects. The larv� of ants all live in the
+dark; they are fed by the perfect ants, and being therefore all
+subject to very similar conditions, are all very much alike. It would
+puzzle even a good naturalist to determine the species of an ant
+larva, while, as we all know, the caterpillars of butterflies and
+moths are as easy to distinguish as the perfect insects; they differ
+from one another as much as, sometimes more than, the butterflies and
+moths themselves.
+
+There are five principal types of coloring among caterpillars. Those
+which live inside wood, or leaves, or underground, are generally of a
+uniform pale hue; the small leaf-eating caterpillars are green, like
+the leaves on which they feed. The other three types may, to compare
+small things with great, be likened to the three types of coloring
+among cats. There are the ground cats, such as the lion or puma, which
+are brownish or sand color, like the open places they frequent. So
+also caterpillars which conceal themselves by day at the roots of
+their food-plant, tend, as we have seen, even if originally green, to
+assume the color of earth. Nor must I omit to mention the
+_Geometrid�_, to which I have already referred, and which, from their
+brown color, their peculiar attitudes, and the frequent presence of
+warts or protuberances, closely mimic bits of dry stick. That the
+caterpillars of these species were originally green, we may infer from
+the fact that some of them at least are still of that color when first
+born.
+
+Then there are the spotted or eyed cats, such as the leopard, which
+live among trees; and their peculiar coloring renders them less
+conspicuous by simulating spots of light which penetrate through
+foliage. So also many caterpillars are marked with spots, eyes, or
+patches of color. Lastly, there are the jungle cats, of which the
+tiger is the typical species, and which have stripes, rendering them
+very difficult to see among the brown grass which they frequent. It
+may, perhaps, be said that this comparison fails, because the stripes
+of tigers are perpendicular, while those of caterpillars are either
+longitudinal or oblique. This, however, so far from constituting a
+real difference, confirms the explanation; because in each case the
+direction of the lines follows that of the foliage. The tiger, walking
+horizontally on the ground, has transverse bars; the caterpillar,
+clinging to the grass in a vertical position, has longitudinal lines;
+while those which live on large-veined leaves have oblique lines, like
+the oblique ribs of the leaves.
+
+Red and blue are rare colors among caterpillars. Omitting minute dots,
+we have six species more or less marked with red or orange. Of these,
+two are spiny, two hairy, and one protected by scent-emitting
+tentacles. The orange medio-dorsal line of the Bedford Butterfly is
+not very conspicuous, and has been omitted in some descriptions. Blue
+is even rarer than red; in fact, none of our butterfly larv� can be
+said to exhibit this color.
+
+Now let us turn to the moths. I have taken all the larger species,
+amounting to rather more than one hundred and twenty; out of which
+sixty-eight are hairy or downy; and of these forty-eight are marked
+with black or gray, fifteen brown or brownish, two yellowish-green,
+one bluish-gray, one striped with yellow and black, and one
+reddish-gray. There are two yellowish-green hairy species, which
+might be regarded as exceptions: one, that of the Five-spotted
+Burnet-moth, is marked with black and yellow, and the other is
+variable in color, some specimens of this caterpillar being orange.
+This last species is also marked with black, so that neither of these
+species can be considered of the green color which serves as a
+protection. Thus, among the larger caterpillars, there is not a single
+hairy species of the usual green color. On the other hand, there are
+fifty species with black or blackish caterpillars, and of these
+forty-eight are hairy or downy.
+
+In ten of our larger moths the caterpillars are more or less marked
+with red. Of these, three are hairy, one is an internal feeder, four
+have reddish lines, which probably serve for protection by simulating
+lines of shadow, and one, the Euphorbia Hawk-moth, is inedible. The
+last, the striped Hawk-moth, is rare, and I have never seen the
+caterpillar; but to judge from figures, the reddish line and spots
+would render it, not more, but less conspicuous amongst the low
+herbage which it frequents.
+
+Seven species only of the larger moths have any blue; of these, four
+are hairy, the other three are Hawk-moths. In one, the Death's Head,
+the violet color of the side stripes certainly renders the insect less
+conspicuous among the flowers of the potato, on which it feeds. In the
+Oleander Hawk-moth there are two blue patches, which, both in color
+and form, curiously resemble the petals of the periwinkle, on which it
+feeds. In the third species, the small Elephant Hawk-moth, the bluish
+spots form the centres of the above-mentioned eye-like spots.
+
+In one family, as already mentioned, the caterpillars are very often
+brown, and closely resemble bits of stick, the similarity being much
+increased by the peculiar attitudes they assume. On the other hand,
+the large brown caterpillars of certain Hawk-moths are night feeders,
+concealing themselves on the ground by day; and it is remarkable that
+while those species, such as the Convolvulus Hawk-moth, which feed on
+low plants, turn brown as they increase in age and size, others, which
+frequent trees, and cannot therefore descend to the ground for
+concealment, remain green throughout life. Omitting these, there are
+among the larger species, seventeen which are brown, of which twelve
+are hairy, and two have extensile caudal filaments. The others closely
+resemble bits of stick, and place themselves in peculiar and stiff
+attitudes.
+
+And thus, summing up the caterpillars, both of butterflies and moths,
+out of eighty-eight spiny and hairy species, only one is green, and
+even this may not be protectively colored, since it has conspicuous
+yellow warts. On the other hand, a very great majority of the black
+and brown caterpillars, as well as those more or less marked with blue
+and red, are either hairy or spiny, or have some special protection.
+
+Here, then, I think we see reasons, for many at any rate, of the
+variations of color and markings in caterpillars, which at first sight
+seem so fantastic and inexplicable. I should, however, produce an
+impression very different from that which I wish to convey, were I to
+lead you to suppose that all these varieties have been explained, or
+are understood. Far from it; they still offer a large field for study;
+nevertheless, I venture to think the evidence now brought forward,
+however imperfectly, is at least sufficient to justify the conclusion
+that there is not a hair or a line, not a spot or a color, for which
+there is not a reason--which has not a purpose or a meaning in the
+economy of nature.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES IN SPIDERS
+
+BY ELIZABETH G. PECKHAM.[10]
+
+[10] Abbreviated from the occasional Papers of the Natural History
+Society of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 1889. By permission.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+There are, among spiders, two forms of protective modification: the
+first, including all cases of protective resemblance to vegetable and
+inorganic things--that is, all modifications of color or of color and
+form that tend to make them inconspicuous in their natural
+relations--I shall call direct protection. The second form, which I
+shall call indirect protection, includes two classes, the spiders
+which are specially protected themselves and those which mimic other
+creatures which are specially protected.
+
+Spiders are specially protected when they become inedible through the
+acquisition of hard plates and sharp spines. The modification of form
+is frequently accompanied by conspicuous colors, which warn their
+enemies that they belong to an unpalatable class.
+
+The second class of indirectly protected spiders--those that mimic
+specially protected creatures--presents some difficulties, since it is
+not always easy to determine whether the purpose of mimicry is
+protection or the capture of prey. The resemblance may, as is
+frequently the case in direct protection, serve both purposes.
+
+In looking for instances of protective form and color among spiders we
+encounter one difficulty at the outset. The meaning of a protective
+peculiarity can be determined only when the animal is seen in its
+natural home. The number of strangely modified forms depicted in
+descriptive works on spiders is enormous. Bodies are twisted,
+elongated, inflated, flattened, truncated, covered with tubercles or
+spines, enclosed within chitinous plates, colored like bark, like
+lichens, like flowers of every imaginable hue, like bird droppings,
+like sand or stones, and in every one of these modifications there is
+doubtless an adaptation of the spider to its surroundings which, when
+it is studied out of its natural relations, we can only guess at.
+
+It has been well said that in these protective resemblances those
+features of the portrait are most attended to by nature which produce
+the most effective deception when seen in nature; the faithfulness of
+the resemblance being much less striking when seen in the cabinet....
+
+DIRECT PROTECTION. RESEMBLANCES TO VEGETABLE AND INORGANIC
+THINGS.--As a general rule the forms and colors of spiders are
+adapted to render them inconspicuous in their natural homes. Bright
+colored spiders, ... either keep hidden away or are found upon flowers
+whose tints harmonize with their own. This rule, while it has
+numerous exceptions, is borne out by the great majority of cases. A
+good illustration is found in the genus Uloborus, of which the members
+bear a deceptive resemblance to small pieces of bark, or to such bits
+of rubbish as commonly become entangled in old deserted webs. The only
+species in our neighborhood is Uloborus plumipes, which I have almost
+invariably found building in dead branches, where its disguise is more
+effective than it would be among fresh leaves. The spider is always
+found in the middle of the web, with its legs extended in a line with
+the body. There has been, in this species, a development along several
+lines, resulting in a disguise of considerable complexity. Its form
+and color make it like a scrap of bark, its body being truncated and
+diversified with small humps, while its first legs are very uneven,
+bearing heavy fringes of hair on the tibia and having the terminal
+joints slender. Its color is a soft wood-brown or gray, mottled with
+white. It has the habit of hanging motionless in the web for hours at
+a time, swaying in the wind like an inanimate object. The strands of
+its web are rough and inelastic, so that they are frequently broken;
+this gives it the appearance of one of those dilapidated and deserted
+webs in which bits of wind-blown rubbish are frequently entangled....
+
+Out of seven examples of the species taken during one summer, five
+were found in dead tamarack branches, one on a dead bush, and the
+seventh, an interesting variety, under the eaves of a porch. My eye
+was caught by what seemed to be a string of eleven cocoons (it is not
+common to see more than four in a web). On attempting to take them
+down I was surprised to see one of the supposed cocoons begin to shake
+the web violently. Ten were what they seemed to be, but the eleventh
+was the mother spider, whose color and general appearance was exactly
+like that of the little cases that she had made for her eggs....
+
+We come now to a large and interesting class in genus Epeira. I refer
+to those species, mostly nocturnal, which are protected during the
+day, not by hiding in crevices, nor in any way actually getting out of
+sight, but by the close resemblance which they bear to the bark of the
+trees to which they cling. This resemblance is brought about in two
+ways; through their color, which is like that of wood or lichens, and
+through their tuberculated and rugose forms, which resemble rough
+bark.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1.--C�ROSTRIS MITRALIS (from Vinson).]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2.--C�ROSTRIS MITRALIS, in profile (from Vinson).]
+
+One of the most remarkable of these forms is C. mitralis, a Madagascar
+species, which, looked at in profile, probably resembles a woody knot.
+The abdomen is divided into two divergent cones (Fig.�1). The entire
+upper surface of the body is covered with conical elevations, which
+render it rough and uneven; the sides of the abdomen are made up of
+several layers, which form stages, one above another, like the ridges
+of bark on a woody excrescence. The legs, formed of wide, flattened
+plates, make the base. The color of the spider is yellowish-gray,
+varied with white and dark reddish-brown. It has the habit of perching
+on a branch and clasping it like a bird, so that the elaborate
+modification of form, which would be useless if the spider hung
+exposed in the web, is made as effective as possible.
+
+To take an example nearer home, E. infumata is a large, round-bodied
+spider, with two humps on the abdomen, which Emerton describes from
+New England as being brown, mottled with white and black; he adds that
+when it draws in its feet it looks like a lump of dirt. Infumata, in
+Wisconsin, has always a good deal of bluish-green on the upper surface
+of the abdomen. This may be a variety which has been so developed as
+to resemble the lichens which cover the tree to which it clings. It is
+one of the spiders which bear a good deal of handling without
+uncurling its legs, or showing any sign of life. Its humpy form and
+its color give it a very inanimate appearance. It is rather common in
+our neighborhood and may be caught in the late twilight while building
+its web, but to search for it in the daytime, even among the trees
+that it most frequents, is an almost hopeless task. A more grotesque
+form is E. stellata, in which the abdomen has not two, but twelve or
+fifteen humps. These are so disposed that the edge of the abdomen, all
+around, is scalloped. The colors are light and dark brown, modified by
+gray and white hairs. This spider remains motionless during the
+daytime, keeping its legs drawn up to its body. It is common on grass
+and low bushes. It is not found in Wisconsin, but the description of
+it suggests a resemblance to a piece of dead leaf.
+
+There are many other spiders in this genus that have humps and are
+colored in brown, gray or dull yellow, as nordmanii, angulata,
+solitaria, etc. It is an almost universal habit among the Epeirid� to
+drop to the ground when threatened, and when a humped gray or brown
+spider drops to the ground and draws in its legs it is nearly
+indistinguishable from the lumps of earth, sticks and stones that
+surround it.
+
+One of the Theridid� which has the same protection is Ulesanis
+americana (Fig.�3). The abdomen, which covers the cephalothorax nearly
+to the eyes, has a prominent hump in the middle of the back and four
+or five others behind. Its color is in shades of brown and yellow.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3.--ULESANIS AMERICANA (from Emerton).]
+
+Analogous to the humped Epeirid� is Thomisus foka, of Madagascar, a
+spider which is regarded with great terror by the natives, as being so
+poisonous that even its breath is deadly. They say that cattle, when
+about to lie down, look carefully about to see if one of these spiders
+is in the neighborhood. This dread is, no doubt, inspired by the
+strange and uncanny aspect of a perfectly harmless creature. It has a
+rugose, tuberculated body of trapezoid form, the colors being brown
+and reddish, while the whole aspect is crab-like. The thick, short
+legs are reddish, covered with tubercules. The secret of its strange
+form is made clear when we learn that it resembles in color and
+general appearance the fruit of Hymen�a verrucosa, a tree common in
+the forests where this spider is found.
+
+Among the curious forms which must have been developed through
+advantageous variations but which we are unable to explain, is
+Eriauchenus workmanni (Fig.�4).
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 4.--ERIAUCHENUS WORKMANNI (from Cambridge).]
+
+Epeira prompta, a variety of parvula, is a common spider in the State
+of Wisconsin. It is most frequently seen on cedar bushes, where its
+color harmonizes with that of the foliage and fruit. During the day it
+usually rests on a branch near its web. The back of the abdomen is of
+a peculiar bluish-green, exactly like that of the lichens growing on
+tree trunks. The bluish color is broken by waving black lines which
+imitate the curling edges of the lichens. The one represented in the
+plate was found on an old cedar which was covered with lichens. It was
+kept for two weeks in a glass-covered box, where it spent most of the
+time crouching in a corner. It built no web, but spun some irregular
+lines to run about on. It ate gnats, flies, and once a little jumping
+spider, S. pulex, which we were keeping in the same box, leaping upon
+its prey, as noted by Hentz, like an Attus. This seems a curious habit
+to be acquired by an Epeirid, since spiders, as we have noticed among
+our captives, are usually dependent for food upon what is caught in
+their webs. Prompta moves awkwardly, but very rapidly.
+
+Drapetisca socialis, while quite a different looking spider, is
+protected in the same way--by its resemblance to the bark upon which
+it lives. Emerton speaks of finding it on the bark of spruce trees,
+which it "closely resembles in color." Menge says that it is common
+in Prussia, where it is seen in great numbers on fir trees, whose
+spotted bark it resembles in color, so that it is not easily seen. We
+have found them, most commonly, upon birch trees, and in this
+situation their color adaptation is perfect. Both the spider and the
+peeling bark of the tree are of a light silvery brown, covered with
+little blackish marks. On the bark these marks are, of course,
+irregular, while on the spider they form a pattern made up of straight
+and curved lines and dots, the legs being silvery, barred with
+blackish.
+
+Another little Theridion that is found on birch bark has the same
+colors arranged a little differently. The abdomen above has a large
+and peculiarly irregular black patch, which shades off into mottled
+brown and black on the sides and below. The cephalothorax has stripes
+of brown and black, and the legs are barred with light and dark brown.
+
+Spiders that live upon walls, fences, tree trunks, or on the ground
+harmonize in color with the surfaces upon which they are found, being
+usually gray, brown or yellow, mottled with black and white. This
+proposition is so well established as to need but few illustrations.
+The Theridid� furnish many examples, as T. murarium, a gray spider
+varied with black and white, said by Emerton to live usually "under
+stones and fences, where it is well concealed by its color"; and
+Lophocarenum rostratum, a yellowish-brown spider, found among leaves
+on the ground. Among the Attid� bright sexual coloring often gains the
+ascendancy over the protective tints, yet this family gives us good
+examples in such species as M. familiaris and S. pulex.
+
+To these may be added an as yet undescribed species which we
+discovered last season in a neighborhood that we had searched
+thoroughly for eight summers. We found the new spider in great
+numbers, but could only detect it by a close scrutiny of the rail
+fences on which it lived, its color being dark gray....
+
+[Illustration: FIG.�5. ORNITHOSCATO�DES DECIPIENS (from Cambridge).]
+
+The last instance that I shall cite is a predaceous spider which is
+disguised from both its enemies and its prey by an elaborate
+combination of form, color, position, and character of web. I refer to
+Ornithoscato�des decipiens (Fig.�5), first described by Forbes and
+afterwards by Cambridge, the latter author giving in the same paper
+descriptions of three other species of the same genus, whose habits
+have not been noted, but whose protection is evidently of the same
+order as that of decipiens. I give Forbes's interesting account of his
+capture of decipiens, quoting also the remarks by which Cambridge
+prefaces his description, since his explanation of the gradual
+development, through Natural Selection, of the spider's deceptive
+appearance applies as well to all the cases of protective disguise
+which have been here enumerated.
+
+The capture is described as follows:--
+
+"On June 25th, 1881, in the forest near the village of Lampar, on the
+banks of the Moesi river in Sumatra, while my 'boys' were procuring
+for me some botanical specimens from a high tree, I was rather
+dreamily looking on the shrubs before me, when I became conscious of
+my eyes resting on a bird-excreta-marked leaf. How strange, I thought,
+it is that I have never got another specimen of that curious spider I
+found in Java which simulated a patch just like this! I plucked the
+leaf by the petiole while so cogitating, and looked at it half
+listlessly for some moments, mentally remarking how closely that other
+spider had copied nature, when, to my delighted surprise, I discovered
+that I had actually secured a second specimen, but the imitation was
+so exquisite that I really did not perceive how matters stood for some
+moments. The spider never moved while I was plucking or twirling the
+leaf, and it was only when I placed the tip of my little finger on it,
+that I observed that it was a spider, when it, without any
+displacement of itself, flashed its falces into my flesh.
+
+"The first specimen I got was in W. Java, while hunting one day for
+Lepidoptera. I observed a specimen of one of the Hesperid� sitting, as
+is often a custom of theirs, on the excreta of a bird on a leaf; I
+crept near it, intending to examine what they find in what one is
+inclined to consider incongruous food for a butterfly. I approached
+nearer and nearer, and at last caught it between my fingers, when I
+found that it had as I thought become glued by its feet to the mass;
+but on pulling gently the spider, to my amazement, disclosed itself by
+letting go its hold: only then did I discover that I was not looking
+on a veritable bird's excreta.... The spider is in general color
+white, spotted here and there with black; on the underside its rather
+irregularly shaped and prominent abdomen is almost all white, of a
+pure chalk white; the angles of the legs are, however, shining
+jet-black. The spider does not make an ordinary web, but only the
+thinnest film on the surface of the leaf. The appearance of the
+excreta rather recently left by a bird on a leaf is well known. There
+is a pure white deposit in the centre, thinning out round the margin,
+while in the central mass are dark portions variously disposed; as the
+leaf is rarely horizontal, the more liquid portions run for some
+distance. Now, this spider one might almost imagine to have in its
+rambles 'marked and inwardly discerned' what it had observed, and to
+have set about practising the 'wrinkles' gained; for it first weaves a
+small, irregular patch of white web on some prominent leaf, then a
+narrow streak laid down towards its sloping margin ending in a small
+knob; it then takes its place on the centre of the irregular spot on
+its back, crosses its black-angled legs over its thorax, and waits.
+Its pure white abdomen represents the central mass of the bird's
+excreta, the black legs the dark portions of the slime, while the web
+above described which it has spun represents the more watery marginal
+part (become dry), even to the run-off portion with the thickened knob
+(which was not accidental, as it occurred in both cases), like the
+residue which semi-fluid substances ending in a drop leave on
+evaporation. It keeps itself in position on its back by thrusting
+under the web below it the spines with which the anterior upper
+surfaces of the legs are furnished." ...
+
+PROTECTIVE HABITS.--Going along with these forms of
+protective resemblance, we find certain habits which sometimes serve
+independently to protect the spider, but oftener are supplemental to
+color and form. Many species hide in crevices or in leaves which they
+roll up and bind together at the edges. In the Epeirid� some are like
+thaddeus, which makes a little tent of silk under a leaf near its web.
+The young thaddeus also makes a tent, but spins its little geometrical
+web on the under side of the leaf, the edges being bent downward. E.
+insularis has the more common habit of forming its tent by drawing the
+edges of two or three leaves together with strands of web; in this it
+sits all day, but at night descends and occupies the centre of the web
+during the hours of darkness. I have often found it in this position
+when hunting nocturnal species by lantern light. It is probable that
+in tropical countries the monkeys, and perhaps the birds, which devour
+these large Epeirid� have learned to recognize their webs, which are
+very large and conspicuous, and to trace them to their hiding places
+close by; and thus may have arisen the curious habit noticed by Vinson
+as possessed by E. nocturna and E. Isabella of destroying the web each
+morning and rebuilding it at night; the spider in this way gaining
+greater security from diurnal enemies.
+
+Atypus abbotii builds a purse-shaped tube which is found attached to
+the bark of trees, and which has the external surface dark and covered
+with sand. The trap-doors which close the nest of some of the
+Territelari� are wonderful examples of protective industry. They fit
+with such absolute accuracy into the openings of the nests and are so
+covered on the upper side with moss, earth, lichens, etc., as to be
+indistinguishable from the surrounding surface.
+
+The rectilinear lines which are stretched in front of the webs of
+many Epeirids are useful in taking and sending on to the spider the
+shock which tells of an approaching enemy. Some spiders, when danger
+threatens, shake the web so violently as to grow indistinct to the
+eye, and others, as Pholcus atlanticus, hang by the legs and whirl the
+body rapidly with the same bewildering result....
+
+A habit common to many spiders, especially among the Epeirid�, is that
+of dropping to the ground at the approach of danger and resting
+motionless among the dirt, sticks, leaves, etc., which they resemble
+in color. The holding of the body in some peculiar position, as in
+Uloborus, Hyptioides, and the flower-like Thomisid�, is a
+necessary accompaniment to the color modification.
+
+The cocoons of spiders are seldom left exposed and unprotected. We
+find them in corners and crevices, concealed in rolled up leaves or
+under bark. Very often the cocoon itself is covered over with a sheet
+of web. In some families the mother carries it about with her attached
+to the underside of the abdomen. In other she carries it in her falces
+until the young are hatched. The cocoons of others, as Uloborus,
+Argyrodes, etc., while hung out in the web are still concealed by
+deceptive form and color, or by being covered with rubbish.
+
+Cambridge speaks of A. brunnea, whose cocoons "are covered over very
+soon after they are made and the eggs deposited in them, with a
+coating of clay, which effectually destroys all their form and beauty.
+This coating of clay answers probably two ends: first, the concealment
+of the cocoon and its protection from insect enemies; and, secondly,
+the protection of the eggs from the too powerful rays of the sun, dry
+clay being (as is well known) one of the best non-conductors of heat."
+
+The peculiar cocoon of C. bisaccata is described by Emerton as
+follows: "Only one specimen of this (_bisaccata_) was found on a beech
+tree at New Haven with two cocoons. These were dark brown, as dark as
+the bark of the tree and as hard. Around the middle of each was a
+circle of irregular points. One of the cocoons was attached by a
+strong stem to the bark, and the other was attached in a similar way
+to the first cocoon. The spider held on to one of the cocoons." In
+this instance the egg has evidently the same protection as that
+possessed by the gray, bark-haunting spiders, with the added advantage
+of hardness.
+
+The habit of distributing the eggs through a number of cocoons made at
+intervals of several days, is protective. In this way, although one or
+two of the cocoons may be pierced by the ichneumon, there is a chance
+that part of the brood may survive.
+
+INDIRECT PROTECTION.--The indirectly protected group includes
+those spiders which are rendered inedible by the possession of sharp
+spines and chitinous plates, and also those that mimic other specially
+protected creatures.
+
+The females of the specially protected group are characterized by the
+following attributes:
+
+Their inedibility, which they owe to a more or less coriaceous
+epidermis and an armature of strong sharp spines (Fig.�6).
+
+Their brilliant colors--glistening black and white, yellow, fiery
+gold, metallic silver, rose-color, blue, orange and blood-red.
+
+Their habit of hanging always exposed in the centre of the web.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 6.--GASTERACANTHA CREPIDOPHORA (from Cambridge).]
+
+In an interesting discussion of the protective value of color and
+marking in insects, Poulton says that "the smaller convergent groups
+of nauseous insects often present us with ideally perfect types
+of warning patterns and colors--simple, crude, strongly
+contrasted--everything subordinated to the paramount necessity of
+becoming conspicuous," the memory of enemies being thus strongly
+appealed to.
+
+This proposition is well illustrated by the Gasteracanthid�. Among
+larv� the warning colors are almost invariably black and white, or
+black (or some very dark color), in contrast with yellow, orange and
+red. These are the colors that also constantly recur among the
+Gasteracanthid�.
+
+Cases that may be more justly considered exceptions to the rule that
+these hard, uneatable spiders are conspicuous are such species as
+Acrosoma rugosa (Fig.�7). One of this species was sent me by Mrs.
+Treat last summer. It lived for several weeks in my window, making no
+regular web, but hanging among a few irregular strands. It ate
+nothing, although provided with insects, but drank greedily of water.
+It might seem that its black and white coloring would make it
+conspicuous, but in connection with its irregular shape and its way of
+hanging motionless in the web it had the opposite effect.
+
+We have no reason to suppose that the class represented in rugosa is
+like that touched upon by Poulton, in which very protectively colored
+larv� suddenly assume a terrifying aspect on the near approach of an
+enemy; still they do enjoy a kind of double protection.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 7.--ACROSOMA RUGOSA. Left-hand figure female,
+right-hand figure male (from Emerton).]
+
+They are inconspicuous, and thus likely to escape attack, but in case
+they are attacked they have still the advantage of being quickly
+rejected. This experience cannot be as fatal to them as to the soft
+and thin skinned larv�. Their hard covering and projecting spines
+would protect them to such an extent as to give them a fair chance of
+surviving.
+
+In one respect the inconspicuous Gasteracanthid� have a decided
+advantage over their bright-colored relatives. The birds, indeed,
+avoid the conspicuous ones, but their brilliancy serves to attract
+another enemy against which spines are no protection--the hunter wasp,
+which, as we have seen in the work of Bates, sometimes provisions its
+nest wholly with spiders of this family. Mr. Smith gives like
+testimony, saying:
+
+"Spines on the abdomen of certain spiders would serve as a protection
+against vertebrate enemies, though they do not protect against the
+hunter wasps, which frequently provision their nests with these
+species." He adds, however, that most of the spiny spiders are common,
+and that their colors make them conspicuous; just as butterflies that
+are protected by an odor are common and bright-colored....
+
+MIMICRY.--Mimicry, or the imitation of animal forms, while it
+is a form of indirect protection, differs in no essential respect from
+the imitation of vegetable and inorganic things. As Bates has said,
+the object of mimetic tendencies is disguise, and they will work in
+any direction that answers this purpose.
+
+In nearly all respects spiders come under the three laws given by
+Wallace, as governing the development of mimetic resemblances in
+several large classes. These laws are as follows:
+
+1. In an overwhelming majority of cases of mimicry, the animals (or
+the groups) which resemble each other inhabit the same country, the
+same district, and in most cases are to be found together on the very
+same spot.
+
+2. These resemblances are not indiscriminate, but are limited to
+certain groups, which, in every case, are abundant in species and
+individuals, and can often be ascertained to have some special
+protection.
+
+3. The species which resemble or "mimic" these dominant groups, are
+comparatively less abundant in individuals, and are often very rare.
+
+The second and third of these laws are confirmed by what we know of
+mimetic resemblances among spiders. They mimic ants much oftener than
+other creatures, and ants are very abundant, are specially protected,
+and are much more numerous than the mimetic spiders. To the first
+law, also, they conform to a great extent, since everything tends to
+show that in tropical America and in Africa the ant and the spider,
+the one mimicked and the other mimicking, are always found together.
+So far as I can discover, however, the ant-like spiders of North
+America are not found in company with any species of ant which they
+resemble. This may be because they do not mimic any particular
+species, but only the general ant-like form; or, considering that the
+genera which contain their nearest relatives are much more abundant in
+Central and South America, it may be that these forms were originally
+tropical, mimicking some tropical species of ants, and that after the
+Glacial Epoch they migrated northward, leaving the ants behind them.
+However this may be, their peculiar form has served them well, since
+they have maintained themselves as fairly abundant species with a
+lower fecundity than is found in any other group of spiders.
+
+The cases in which one species mimics another may be divided,
+according to the kind of benefit derived, into four classes: Class 1.
+As a rule, where we find one species mimicking another, the mimicked
+species possesses some special means of defence against the enemies of
+both. This defence may consist of a disagreeable taste or odor, as in
+the Heliconid�, which are mimicked by other butterflies; of some
+special weapon of offence, as where wasps and bees are mimicked by
+flies and moths, or poisonous vipers by harmless caterpillars; or of a
+hard shell, as where the coriaceous beetles are mimicked by those that
+are soft-bodied.
+
+Instances of this rule are exceedingly numerous; indeed, Wallace says
+that specially protected forms are always mimicked; still we have
+nothing mimicking our Gasteracanthid�.
+
+Class 2. The mimetic may prey upon the mimicked species, its disguise
+enabling it to gain a near approach to its victims; as the mantis,
+mentioned by Bates as exactly resembling the white ants upon which it
+feeds; and the flies which mimic bees, upon which they are parasitic,
+and are thus able to enter the nests of the bees and lay eggs on the
+larv�.
+
+Class 3. The mimetic species may, by its imitation, be protected from
+the attacks of the creature it mimics, as is the case with the
+crickets and grasshoppers which mimic their deadly foe, the hunter
+wasp.
+
+Class 4. The mimetic species may prey upon some creature which is
+found commonly with, and is not eaten by, the mimicked species.
+
+No two of these classes are mutually destructive so that in any case
+of mimicry a double advantage may be gained.
+
+Let us see which of these advantages has directed the development of
+mimetic tendencies among spiders.
+
+While among beetles and butterflies we most commonly find mimicry of
+one species by another within the same order, we have no instance of a
+spider mimicking another spider. This may be accounted for by the fact
+that the specially protected spiders depend for their safety upon the
+possession of hard plates and spinous processes, and although the
+hardened epidermis might be imitated (we know that hard-shelled
+beetles are mimicked by others that are soft), spines could scarcely
+be imitated by a soft-bodied creature with sufficient accuracy to
+insure disguise.
+
+While spiders most commonly mimic ants, we hear also of their
+imitating beetles, snail-shells, ichneumons and horseflies. There is
+also a curious Madagascar species which looks exactly like a little
+scorpion, the resemblance being heightened by its habit of curving its
+flexible tail up over its back when irritated.
+
+Those that resemble beetles comprise nearly all the species of the
+genera Coccorchestes and Homalattus. These are small spiders with
+short, convex bodies. The abdomen fits closely over the cephalothorax,
+and the epidermis, which has usually a metallic lustre, is sometimes
+coriaceous. Striking examples are found in H. coccinelloides, which
+bears a strong resemblance to beetles of the family Coccinelloid�, and
+in C. cupreus, in which certain marks on the abdomen imitate the
+elytra of beetles.
+
+The following account of a spider which mimics a snail-shell is given
+by Mr. G.�F. Atkinson;--
+
+"An undescribed species of _Cyrtarachne_ mimics a snail-shell, the
+inhabitant of which, during the summer and fall, is very abundant on
+the leaves of plants in this place. In the species of Cyrtarachne the
+abdomen partly covers the cephalothorax, is very broad at the base, in
+this species broader than the length of the spider, and rounds off at
+the apex. When it rests upon the under side of a leaf with its legs
+retracted it strongly resembles one of these snail-shells by the color
+and shape of its abdomen. The two specimens which I collected deceived
+me at first, but a few threads of silk led me to make the examination.
+The spider seemed so confident of its protection that it would not
+move when I jarred the plant, striking it several hard blows. I
+pulled the spider forcibly from the leaf, and it did not exhibit any
+signs of movement until transferred to the cyanide bottle." ...
+
+Trimen gives an account of the imitation, by spiders, of horseflies, a
+case falling into Class 2, as follows:--
+
+"Hunting spiders are in some cases very like their prey, as may
+everywhere be noticed in the case of the species of Salticus which
+catch horseflies on sunny walls and fences. The likeness is not in
+itself more than a general one of size, form and coloring; but its
+effect is greatly aided by the actions of the spider, which walks
+hurriedly for short distances, stopping abruptly, and rapidly moving
+its falces, in evident mimicry of the well-known movements so
+characteristic of flies."
+
+Instances of spiders mimicking ants are very numerous, and in many
+cases the resemblance is so close as to, at first sight, deceive a
+trained naturalist. This resemblance is brought about by the spider's
+body being elongated and strongly constricted, so that it appears to
+be composed of three segments instead of two, by the color, by the way
+in which the spider moves about, zig-zagging from side to side like an
+ant, and by its habit of holding up one pair of its legs and moving
+them in such a way that they look exactly like the antenn� of an ant.
+
+Ants may be regarded as specially protected, by their sharp, acid
+flavor, and in some species by the possession of stings or of horny
+processes.
+
+On the ground that there are birds which do eat ants, and eat them
+greedily, it has been thought by some naturalists that they cannot be
+considered specially protected creatures, and that, as spiders can
+therefore derive no protection from mimicking them, all cases of such
+mimicry depend upon the spider's increased ability to capture the ants
+as prey, but I am convinced that this is too hasty a conclusion. It is
+unquestionably true that some birds feed almost exclusively upon ants,
+but these are the exceptions. It is a common thing to find that
+specially protected groups, which are safe from the attacks of most
+creatures, have their special enemies. Thus, even the nauseous
+Heliconid� are preyed upon by certain spiders and wasps; and bees, in
+spite of their stings, are preferred to other insects by the
+bee-eaters. Moreover, the ant-devouring birds are found largely among
+the wood-peckers, which eat the ants that run on the trunks of trees,
+and are therefore not a source of danger to the ant-like spiders, the
+American species of which, so far as I can learn, live entirely upon
+the ground.
+
+In the United States comparatively small numbers of either ants or
+spiders are eaten by birds, but in tropical America there are enormous
+numbers of humming-birds feeding almost exclusively upon spiders, and
+there the protective advantage of looking like ants must be of great
+importance to the smaller species.
+
+Belt considers that the advantages gained by ant-mimicking Central
+American spiders lies entirely on the side of protection. In relation
+to this subject he says: "Ant-like spiders have been noticed
+throughout tropical America and also in Africa. The use that the
+deceptive resemblance is to them has been explained to be the facility
+it affords them for approaching ants on which they prey. I am
+convinced that this explanation is incorrect, so far as the Central
+American species are concerned. Ants, and especially the stinging
+species are, so far as my experience goes, not preyed upon by any
+other insects. No disguise need be adopted to approach them, as they
+are so bold that they are more likely to attack a spider than a spider
+them. Neither have they wings to escape by flying, and generally go in
+large bodies easily found and approached. The use is, I doubt not, the
+protection the disguise affords against small insectivorous birds. I
+have found the crops of some humming-birds full of small, soft-bodied
+spiders, and many other birds feed on them. Stinging-ants, like bees
+and wasps, are closely resembled by a host of other insects; indeed,
+whenever I found any insect provided with special means of defence I
+looked for imitative forms, and was never disappointed in finding
+them."
+
+The ant-like species are probably protected by their appearance from
+the attacks of many of the larger spiders. We have kept great numbers
+of Attid� in captivity, and, although they devoured flies, gnats,
+larv�, and other spiders, they would never touch ants. Among spiders,
+however, as among birds, we find that certain groups subsist almost
+entirely upon ants.
+
+The class of spiders whose mimicry protects them from their enemies,
+whether they are birds or other spiders, probably includes at least
+two of our own ant-like species, Synageles picata and Synemosyna
+formica, which, in confinement, are always hungry for gnats, but will
+not touch ants, even of small size.
+
+The existence of a class of spiders which mimic the particular species
+of ants upon which they prey is not to be questioned, but it is
+doubtful whether the benefit to the spider is increased facility in
+capturing the ant, or whether it is merely protective. It may be that
+the spider, by virtue of its resemblance to the ant, not only gets an
+abundant supply of food, but also escapes being eaten itself, and thus
+enjoys a double advantage. Both Bates and Wallace take the ground that
+the advantage derived by the spider consists in greater ease in the
+capture of prey, but both of these writers refer to spiders only
+incidentally to illustrate a general proposition, without special
+consideration of their peculiar conditions.
+
+Mr. Herbert Smith, who has paid a good deal of attention to this
+subject, is inclined to believe that the mimicry in question is
+entirely protective. He writes as follows:--
+
+"In the United States there are a few rare spiders that mimic ants.
+Here at Taperinha we find a good score of species of these spiders
+aping the various kinds of ants very closely; even the odd, spiny
+wood-ant, _cryptocerus_, furnishes a pattern, and there are spiders
+that mimic the wingless ichneumons. We find, after a while, that the
+spiders prey upon ants just as our spiders catch flies; indeed, this
+fact has already been noted by other observers. But we go a step
+beyond the books when we discover not only that the spiders eat the
+ants, but that they eat the particular ants which they mimic. At all
+events, we verify this fact in a great number of cases, and we never
+find the spiders eating any but the mimicked species.... I do not like
+to hazard a theory on this case of mimicry. It is difficult to suppose
+that the quick-witted ants would be deceived even by so close a
+resemblance; and, in any case, it would seem that the spiders do not
+require such a disguise in order to capture slow-moving ants. Most
+birds will not eat ants; it seems likely, therefore, that this is
+simply another example of protection; the spider deceives its enemies,
+not its prey; it mimics the particular species that it feeds on,
+because it is seen in that company when it is hunting, and among a
+host of similar forms is likely to pass unnoticed."
+
+At first sight, and especially in view of the fact that such cases are
+not uncommon among insects, it would be naturally supposed that the
+object of the mimicry was to enable the spider to approach its victim
+without exciting suspicion; and it is difficult to account, on any
+other supposition, for the very close resemblance between certain
+species of spiders and the particular species of ants which they prey
+upon. It seems as though the highest point of _protective_ benefit
+would have been reached long before the resemblance of the spider to
+the ant had become so close as it really is. On the other hand, it is
+difficult to believe that ants are deceived, even by those spiders
+which mimic them most closely, when we remember that their perceptions
+are so keen that they discriminate not only between ants of their own
+and different species, but even between ants of their own species
+living in two different communities.
+
+The mimicry of ichneumon flies by spiders was noted some years ago by
+Mr. Herbert Smith. This case comes under Class 3, in which one species
+mimics another which preys upon it. Great destruction is caused by
+ichneumons which lay their eggs on the bodies of the live spiders,
+and the disguise probably protects the spider by leading the fly to
+mistake it for one of its own species.
+
+We have no proof that spiders ever mimic ants as a method of escaping
+from them, but it is possible that this sometimes happens. We know
+that some ants prey upon them. The foraging ants of South America
+destroy spiders as well as many kinds of insects, and Wallace mentions
+a small, wood-boring ant which fills its nest with small spiders.
+
+If the spiders that feed upon ants deceive them by their mimicry those
+which are preyed upon by ants would gain an advantage by a similar
+disguise. I once placed a little ant-like spider of the genus
+Herpyllus in a bottle with three ants no larger than itself, which I
+had caught with it in the sweep-net. In a very few minutes the ants
+had killed and begun to devour the spider. It may be that the
+resemblance was sufficiently close to deceive them in the open, but
+failed when spider and ants were confined together in close quarters.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATH OF THE BIRDS
+
+BY RICHARD JEFFERIES.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+One morning Sir Bevis went down to the brook. Standing on the brink,
+he said: "Brook, Brook! what are you singing? You promised to tell me
+what you were saying."
+
+The brook did not answer, but went on singing. Bevis listened a
+minute, and then he picked a willow leaf and threw it into the bubbles
+and watched it go whirling round and round in the eddies and back up
+under the fall, where it dived down and presently came up again, and
+the stream took it and carried it away past the flags. "Brook, Brook!"
+said Bevis, stamping his foot; "tell me what you are singing."
+
+And the brook, having now finished that part of his song, said:
+"Bevis, dear; sit down in the shadow of the willow, for it is very hot
+to-day, and the reapers are at work; sit down under the willow and I
+will tell you as much as I can remember."
+
+"But the reed said you could not remember anything," said Bevis,
+leaning back against the willow.
+
+"The reed did not tell you the truth, dear; indeed, he does not know
+all; the fact is, the reeds are so fond of talking that I scarcely
+ever answer them now or they would keep on all day long, and I should
+never hear the sound of my own voice, which I like best. So I do not
+encourage them, and that is why the reeds think I do not recollect."
+
+"And what is that you sing about?" said Bevis impatiently.
+
+"My darling," said the brook, "I do not know myself always what I am
+singing about. I am so happy I sing, sing, and never think about what
+it means; it does not matter what you mean as long as you sing.
+Sometimes I sing about the sun, who loves me dearly, and tries all day
+to get at me through the leaves and the green flags that hide me; he
+sparkles on me everywhere he can, and does not like me to be in the
+shadow. Sometimes I sing to the wind, who loves me next most dearly,
+and will come to me everywhere in places where the sun cannot get. He
+plays with me whenever he can, and strokes me softly and tells me the
+things he has heard in the woods and on the hills, and sends down the
+leaves to float along; for he knows I like something to carry. Fling
+me in some leaves, Bevis, dear.
+
+"Sometimes I sing to the earth and the grass; they are fond of me,
+too, and listen the best of all. I sing loudest at night to the stars;
+for they are so far away they would not otherwise hear me."
+
+"But what do you say?" said Bevis; but the brook was too occupied now
+to heed him and went on.
+
+"Sometimes I sing to the trees; they, too, are fond of me and come as
+near as they can; they would all come down close to me if they could.
+They love me like the rest, because I am so happy and never cease my
+chanting. If I am broken to pieces against a stone, I do not mind in
+the least; I laugh just the same and even louder. When I come over the
+hatch, I dash myself to fragments; and sometimes a rainbow comes and
+stays a little while with me. The trees drink me, and the grass drinks
+me; the birds come down and drink me; they splash me and are happy.
+The fishes swim about, and some of them hide in deep corners. Round
+the bend I go; and the osiers say they never have enough of me. The
+long grass waves and welcomes me; the moor-hens float with me; the
+kingfisher is always with me somewhere, and sits on the bough to see
+his ruddy breast in the water. And you come too, Bevis, now and then
+to listen to me; and it is all because I am so happy."
+
+"Why are you so happy?" said Bevis.
+
+"I do not know," said the brook. "Perhaps it is because all I think of
+is this minute; I do not know anything about the minute just gone by,
+and I do not care one bit about the minute that is just coming; all I
+care about is this minute, this very minute now. Fling me in some more
+leaves, Bevis. Why do you go about asking questions, dear? Why don't
+you sing and do nothing else?"
+
+"Oh, but I want to know all about everything," said Bevis. "Where did
+you come from, and where are you going, and why don't you go on and
+let the ground be dry--why don't you run on, and run all away? why are
+you always here?"
+
+The brook laughed and said: "My dear, I do not know where I came from,
+and I do not care at all where I am going. What does it matter, my
+love? All I know is I shall come back again; yes, I shall come back
+again." The brook sang very low and rather sadly now: "I shall go into
+the sea and shall be lost; and even you would not know me; ask your
+father, love; he has sailed over the sea in ships that come to
+Southampton, and I was close to him, but he did not know me. But by
+and by, when I am in the sea, the sun will lift me up, and the clouds
+will float along--look towards the hills, Bevis, dear, every morning
+and you will see the clouds coming and bringing me with them; and the
+rain and the dew, and sometimes the thunder and the lightning, will
+put me down again; and I shall run along here and sing to you, my
+sweet, if you will come and listen. Fling in some little twigs, my
+dear, and some bits of bark from the tree."
+
+"That I will," said Bevis; and he picked up a stone and flung it into
+the water with such a splash that the kingfisher flew away; but the
+brook only laughed and told him to throw another and to make haste and
+grow bigger and jump over him.
+
+"S--s, we shall meet by the drinking place," said the grasshopper; and
+was just hopping off, when Bevis asked him what the birds went down to
+bathe for.
+
+"I'm sure I do not know," said the grasshopper, speaking fast, for he
+was rather in a hurry to be gone; he never could stand still long
+together. "All I can tell you is, that on Midsummer Day every one of
+the birds has to go down to the brook and walk in and bathe; and it
+has been the law for so many, many years that no one can remember when
+it began. They like it very much, because they can show off their
+fine feathers which are just now in full color; and if you like to go
+with me, you will be sure to enjoy it."
+
+"So I will," said Bevis; and he followed the grasshopper, who hopped
+so far at every step that he had to walk fast to keep up with him.
+
+They went on in silence a good way, except that the grasshopper cried
+"S--s" to his friends in the grass as he passed, and said good-morning
+also to a mole, who peeped out for a moment.
+
+"Why don't you hop straight?" said Bevis presently. "It seems to me
+that you hop first one side and then the other, and go in such a
+zigzag fashion it will take us hours to reach the brook."
+
+"How very stupid you are!" said the grasshopper. "If you go straight,
+of course you can only see just what is under your feet; but if you go
+first this way and then that, then you see everything. You are nearly
+as silly as the ants, who never see anything beautiful all their
+lives. Be sure you have nothing to do with the ants, Bevis; they are a
+mean, wretched, miserly set, quite contemptible and beneath notice.
+Now, I go everywhere, all round the field, and spend my time searching
+for lovely things; sometimes I find flowers, and sometimes the
+butterflies come down into the grass and tell me the news; and I am so
+fond of the sunshine, I sing to it all day long. Tell me, now, is
+there anything so beautiful as the sunshine and the blue sky, and the
+green grass, and the velvet and blue and spotted butterflies, and the
+trees which cast such a pleasant shadow and talk so sweetly, and the
+brook which is always running? I should like to listen to it for a
+thousand years."
+
+"I like you," said Bevis; "jump into my hand and I will carry you." He
+held his hand out flat, and in a second up sprang the grasshopper and
+alighted on his palm and told him the way to go, and thus they went
+together merrily.
+
+"Bevis, dear, I do not sing at night; but I always go where I can see
+a star. I slept under a mushroom last night, and he told me he was
+pushing up as fast as he could before some one came and picked him to
+put on a gridiron. I do not lay up any store, because I know I shall
+die when the summer ends; and what is the use of wealth then? My store
+and my wealth is the sunshine, dear, and the blue sky, and the green
+grass, and the delicious brook who never ceases sing, sing, singing
+all day and night. And all the things are fond of me; the grass and
+the flowers, and the birds and the animals--all of them love me."
+
+"I think I shall take you home and put you under a glass case on the
+mantelpiece," said Bevis.
+
+Off jumped the grasshopper in a moment, and fell so lightly on the
+grass it did not hurt him in the least, though it was as far as if
+Bevis had tumbled down out of the clouds. Bevis tried to catch him,
+but he jumped so nimbly this way and that, and hopped to and fro, and
+lay down in the grass, that his green coat could not be seen. Bevis
+now went down to the brook and stood on the bank, where it was high,
+near a bush at the side of the drinking place. "Ah, dear little Sir
+Bevis!" whispered a reed, bending towards him as the wind blew,
+"please do not come any nearer; the bank is steep and treacherous, and
+hollow underneath where the water-rats run. So do not lean over after
+the forget-me-nots--they are too far for you. Sit down where you are,
+behind that little bush, and I will tell you all about the bathing.
+The birds come down to bathe every Midsummer Day, and the goldfinches,
+and the sparrows, and the blackbirds, and the thrushes, and the
+swallows, and the wrens, and the robins, and almost every one of them,
+except two or three, whose great-grandfathers got into disgrace a long
+while ago. The rooks do not come because they are thieves, and steal
+the mussels, nor the crows, who are a very bad lot; the swan does not
+come either, unless the brook is muddy after a storm. The swan is so
+tired of seeing himself in the water that he quite hates it, and that
+is the reason he holds his neck so high, that he may not see more of
+himself than he can help."
+
+Soon the birds came. They were all in their very best and brightest
+feathers, and as the sun shone on them and they splashed the water and
+strutted about, Bevis thought he had never seen anything so beautiful.
+
+They did not all bathe, for some of them were specially permitted only
+to drink instead, but they all came, and all in their newest dresses.
+So bright was the goldfinch's wing, that the lark, though she did not
+dare speak, had no doubt she rouged. The sparrow, brushed and neat, so
+quiet and subdued in his brown velvet, looked quite aristocratic among
+so much flaunting color. As for the blackbird he had carefully washed
+himself in the spring before he came to bathe in the brook, and he
+glanced round with a bold and defiant air, as much as to say: "There
+is not one of you who has so yellow a bill, and so beautiful a black
+coat as I have." In the bush the bullfinch, who did not care much to
+mix with the crowd, moved restlessly to and fro. The robin looked all
+the time at Bevis, so anxious was he for admiration. The wood-pigeon,
+very consequential, affected not to see the dove, whom Bevis longed to
+stroke, but could not, as he had promised the reed to keep still.
+
+Bevis looked up into the sky, and there was the hawk, almost up among
+the white clouds, soaring round and round, and watching all that was
+proceeding. Almost before he could look down again a shadow went by,
+and a cuckoo flew along very low, just over the drinking place.
+
+"Cuckoo!" he cried, "cuckoo! The goldfinch has the prettiest dress;"
+and off he went.
+
+Now the hawk had bribed the cuckoo, who was his cousin, to do this,
+and the cuckoo was not at all unwilling, for he had an interest
+himself in keeping the birds divided, so he said that although he had
+made up his mind to go on his summer tour, leaving his children to be
+taken care of by the wagtail, he would stop a day or two longer to
+manage this little business. No sooner had the cuckoo said this, than
+there was a most terrible uproar, and all the birds cried out at once.
+The blackbird was so disgusted that he flew straight off, chattering
+all across the field and up the hedge. The bullfinch tossed his head,
+and asked the goldfinch to come up in the bush and see which was
+stronger. The greenfinch and the chaffinch shrieked with derision; the
+wood-pigeon turned his back and said "Pooh!" and went off with a
+clatter. The sparrow flew to tell his mates on the house, and you
+could hear the chatter they made about it right down at the brook.
+But the wren screamed loudest of all, and said that the goldfinch was
+a painted impostor, and had not got half so much gold as the
+yellow-hammer. So they were all scattered in a minute, and Bevis stood
+up and hurried homeward.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE LOON
+
+(FROM WALDEN.)
+
+BY HENRY D. THOREAU.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It is remarkable how many creatures live wild and free, though secret,
+in the woods, and still sustain themselves in the neighborhood of
+towns, suspected by hunters only. How retired the otter manages to
+live here! He grows to be four feet long, as big as a small boy,
+perhaps without any human being getting a glimpse of him. I formerly
+saw the raccoon in the woods behind where my house is built, and
+probably still heard their whinnering at night. Commonly I rested an
+hour or two in the shade at noon, after planting, and ate my lunch,
+and read a little by a spring which was the source of a swamp and of a
+brook, oozing from under Brister's Hill, half a mile from my field.
+The approach to this was through a succession of descending grassy
+hollows, full of young pitch-pines, into a larger wood about the
+swamp.
+
+There, in a very secluded and shaded spot, under a spreading
+white-pine, there was yet a clean, firm sward to sit on. I had dug out
+the spring and made a well of clear gray water, where I could dip up a
+pailful without roiling it, and thither I went for this purpose almost
+every day in midsummer, when the pond was warmest. Thither, too, the
+wood-cock led her brood, to probe the mud for worms, flying but a foot
+above them down the bank, while they ran in a troop beneath; but at
+last, spying me, she would leave her young and circle round and round
+me, nearer and nearer till within four or five feet, pretending broken
+wings and legs, to attract my attention, and get off her young, who
+would already have taken up their march, with faint wiry peep, single
+file through the swamp, as she directed. Or I heard the peep of the
+young when I could not see the parent bird.
+
+There, too, the turtle-doves sat over the spring, or fluttered from
+bough to bough of the soft white-pines over, my head; or the red
+squirrel, coursing down the nearest bough, was particularly familiar
+and inquisitive. You only need sit still long enough in some
+attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit
+themselves to you by turns....
+
+In the fall the loon (_Colymbus glacialis_) came, as usual, to moult
+and bathe in the pond, making the woods ring with his wild laughter
+before I had risen. At rumor of his arrival all the Mill-dam sportsmen
+are on the alert, in gigs and on foot, two by two and three by three,
+with patent rifles and conical balls and spy-glasses. They come
+rustling through the woods like autumn leaves, at least ten men to one
+loon. Some station themselves on this side of the pond, some on that,
+for the poor bird cannot be omnipresent; if he dive here he must come
+up there.
+
+But now the kind October wind rises, rustling the leaves and rippling
+the surface of the water, so that no loon can be heard or seen, though
+his foes sweep the pond with spy-glasses, and make the woods resound
+with their discharges. The waves generously rise and dash angrily,
+taking sides with all waterfowl, and our sportsmen must beat a retreat
+to town and shop and unfinished jobs. But they were too often
+successful. When I went to get a pail of water early in the morning I
+frequently saw this stately bird sailing out of my cove within a few
+rods. If I endeavored to overtake him in a boat, in order to see how
+he would manoeuvre, he would dive and be completely lost, so that I did
+not discover him again, sometimes, till the latter part of the day.
+But I was more than a match for him on the surface. He commonly went
+off in a rain.
+
+As I was paddling along the north shore one very calm October
+afternoon, for such days especially they settle on to the lakes, like
+the milkweed down, having looked in vain over the pond for a loon,
+suddenly one, sailing out from the shore toward the middle a few rods
+in front of me, set up his wild laugh and betrayed himself. I pursued
+with a paddle and he dived, but when he came up I was nearer than
+before. He dived again but I miscalculated the direction he would
+take, and we were fifty rods apart when he came to the surface this
+time, for I had helped to widen the interval; and again he laughed
+long and loud, and with more reason than before.
+
+He manoeuvred so cunningly that I could not get within half a dozen
+rods of him. Each time when he came to the surface, turning his head
+this way and that, he coolly surveyed the water and the land, and
+apparently chose his course so that he might come up where there was
+the widest expanse of water and at the greatest distance from the
+boat. It was surprising how quickly he made up his mind and put his
+resolve into execution. He led me at once to the wildest part of the
+pond, and could not be driven from it. While he was thinking one thing
+in his brain, I was endeavoring to divine his thought in mine. It was
+a pretty game, played on the smooth surface of the pond, a man against
+a loon.
+
+Suddenly your adversary's checker disappears beneath the board, and
+the problem is to place yours nearest to where his will appear again.
+Sometimes he would come up unexpectedly on the opposite side of me,
+having apparently passed directly under the boat. So long-winded was
+he and so unweariable, that when he had swam farthest he would
+immediately plunge again, nevertheless; and then no wit could divine
+where in the deep pond, beneath the smooth surface, he might be
+speeding his way like a fish, for he had time and ability to visit the
+bottom of the pond in its deepest part. It is said that loons have
+been caught in the New York lakes eighty feet beneath the surface,
+with hooks set for trout,--though Walden is deeper than that. How
+surprised must the fishes be to see this ungainly visitor from another
+sphere speeding his way amid their schools!
+
+Yet he appeared to know his course as surely under water as on the
+surface, and swam much faster there. Once or twice I saw a ripple
+where he approached the surface, just put his head out to reconnoitre,
+and instantly dived again. I found that it was as well for me to rest
+on my oars and wait his reappearing as to endeavor to calculate where
+he would rise; for again and again, when I was straining my eyes over
+the surface one way, I would suddenly be startled by his unearthly
+laugh behind me. But why, after displaying so much cunning, did he
+invariably betray himself the moment he came up by that loud laugh?
+Did not his white breast enough betray him?
+
+He was indeed a silly loon, I thought. I could commonly hear the plash
+of the water when he came up, and so also detected him. But after an
+hour he seemed as fresh as ever, dived as willingly and swam yet
+farther than at first. It was surprising to see how serenely he sailed
+off with unruffled breast when he came to the surface, doing all the
+work with his webbed feet beneath. His usual note was this demoniac
+laughter, yet somewhat like that of a waterfowl; but occasionally when
+he had balked me most successfully and come up a long way off, he
+uttered a long-drawn unearthly howl, probably more like that of a wolf
+than any bird; as when a beast puts his muzzle to the ground and
+deliberately howls. This was his looning,--perhaps the wildest sound
+that is ever heard here, making the woods ring far and wide. I
+concluded that he laughed in derision of my efforts, confident of his
+own resources.
+
+Though the sky was by this time overcast, the pond was so smooth that
+I could see where he broke the surface when I did not hear him. His
+white breast, the stillness of the air, and the smoothness of the
+water were all against him. At length, having come up fifty rods off,
+he uttered one of those prolonged howls, as if calling on the god of
+loons to aid him, and immediately there came a wind from the east and
+rippled the surface, and filled the whole air with misty rain, and I
+was impressed as if it were the prayer of the loon answered, and his
+god was angry with me; and so I left him disappearing far away on the
+tumultuous surface.
+
+For hours, in fall days, I watched the ducks cunningly tack and veer
+and hold the middle of the pond, far from the sportsman; tricks which
+they will have less need to practise in Louisiana bayous. When
+compelled to rise they would sometimes circle round and round and over
+the pond at a considerable height, from which they could easily see to
+other ponds and the river, like black motes in the sky; and, when I
+thought they had gone off thither long since, they would settle down
+by a slanting flight of a quarter of a mile on to a distant part which
+was left free; but what beside safety they got by sailing in the
+middle of Walden I do not know, unless they love its water for the
+same reason that I do.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE DARTMOOR PONIES, OR THE WANDERINGS OF THE HORSE TRIBE
+
+(FROM "THROUGH MAGIC GLASSES.")
+
+BY ARABELLA B. BUCKLEY.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+I want you to take a journey with me which I took in imagination a few
+days ago, as I lay on my back on the sunny moor and watched the
+Dartmoor ponies.
+
+It was a calm misty morning one day last week, giving promise of a
+bright and sunny day, when I started off for a long walk across the
+moor to visit the famous stone-circles, many of which are to be found
+not far off the track, called Abbot's Way, leading from Buckfast
+Abbey, on the Dart, to the Abbey of Tavistock, on the Tavy.
+
+My mind was full of the olden times as I pictured to myself how, seven
+hundred years or more ago, some Benedictine monk from Tavistock Abbey,
+in his black robe and cowl, paced this narrow path on his way to his
+Cistercian brethren at Buckfast, meeting some of them on his road as
+they wandered over the desolate moor in their white robes and black
+scapularies in search of stray sheep. For the Cistercians were
+shepherds and wool-weavers, while the Benedictines devoted themselves
+to learning, and the track of about twenty-five miles from one abbey
+to the other, which still remains, was worn by the members of the two
+communities and their dependents, the only variety in whose lives
+consisted probably in these occasional visits one to the other.
+
+Yet even these monks belonged to modern times compared to the ancient
+Britons who raised the stone-circles, and buried their dead in the
+barrows scattered here and there over the moor; and my mind drifted
+back to the days when, long before that pathway was worn, men clad in
+the skins of beasts hunted wild animals over the ground on which I was
+treading, and lived in caves and holes of the ground.
+
+I wondered, as I thought of them, whether the cultured monks and the
+uncivilized Britons delighted as much in the rugged scenery of the
+moor as I did that morning. For many miles in front of me the moor
+stretched out wild and treeless; the sun was shining brightly upon the
+mass of yellow furze and deep-red heather, drawing up the moisture
+from the ground, and causing a kind of watery haze to shimmer over the
+landscape; while the early mist was rising off the _tors_, or
+hill-tops, in the distance, curling in fanciful wreaths around the
+rugged and stony summits, as it dispersed gradually in the increasing
+heat of the day.
+
+The cattle which were scattered in groups here and there feeding on
+the dewy grass were enjoying the happiest time of the year. The moor,
+which in winter affords them scarcely a bare subsistence, is now
+richly covered with fresh young grass, and the sturdy oxen fed
+solemnly and deliberately, while the wild Dartmoor ponies and their
+colts scampered joyously along, shaking their manes and long flowing
+tails, and neighing to each other as they went; or clustered together
+on some verdant spot, where the colts teased and bit each other for
+fun, as they gambolled round their mothers.
+
+It was a pleasure, there on the open moor, with the lark soaring
+overhead, and the butterflies and bees hovering among the
+sweet-smelling furze blossoms, to see horses free and joyous, with no
+thought of bit or bridle, harness or saddle, whose hoofs had never
+been handled by the shoeing-smith, nor their coats touched with the
+singeing iron. Those little colts, with their thick heads, shaggy
+coats, and flowing tails, will have at least two years more freedom
+before they know what it is to be driven or beaten. Only once a year
+are they gathered together, claimed by their owners and branded with
+an initial, and then left again to wander where they will. True, it is
+a freedom which sometimes has its drawbacks, for if the winter is
+severe the only food they can get will be the furze-tops, off which
+they scrape the snow with their feet; yet it is very precious in
+itself, for they can gallop when and where they choose, with head
+erect, sniffing at the wind and crying to each other for the very joy
+of life.
+
+Now as I strolled across the moor and watched their gambols, thinking
+how like free wild animals they seemed, my thoughts roamed far away,
+and I saw in imagination scenes where other untamed animals of the
+horse tribe are living unfettered all their lives long.
+
+First there rose before my mind the level grass-covered pampas of
+South America, where wild horses share the boundless plains with
+troops of the rhea, or American ostrich, and wander, each horse with
+as many mares as he can collect, in companies of hundreds or even
+thousands in a troop. These horses are now truly wild, and live freely
+from youth to age, unless they are unfortunate enough to be caught in
+the more inhabited regions by the lasso of the hunter. In the broad
+pampas, the home of herds of wild cattle, they dread nothing. There,
+as they roam with one bold stallion as their leader, even beasts of
+prey hesitate to approach them, for, when they form into a dense mass
+with the mothers and young in their centre, their heels deal blows
+which even the fierce jaguar does not care to encounter, and they
+trample their enemy to death in a very short time. Yet these are not
+the original wild horses we are seeking, they are the descendants of
+tame animals, brought from Europe by the Spaniards to Buenos Ayres in
+1535, whose descendants have regained their freedom on the boundless
+pampas and prairies.
+
+As I was picturing them careering over the plains, another scene
+presented itself and took their place. Now I no longer saw around me
+tall pampas-grass with the long necks of the rheas appearing above it,
+for I was on the edge of a dreary, scantily covered plain between the
+Aral Sea and the Balkash Lake in Tartary. To the south lies a barren
+sandy desert, to the north the fertile plains of the Kirghiz steppes,
+where the Tartar feeds his flocks, and herds of antelopes gallop over
+the fresh green pasture; and between these is a kind of no-man's
+land, where low scanty shrubs and stunted grass seem to promise but a
+poor feeding-ground.
+
+Yet here the small long-legged but powerful "Tarpans," the wild horses
+of the treeless plains of Russia and Tartary, were picking their
+morning meal. Sturdy wicked little fellows they are, with their shaggy
+light-brown coats, short wiry manes, erect ears, and fiery watchful
+eyes. They might well be supposed to be true wild horses, whose
+ancestors had never been tamed by man; and yet it is more probable
+that even they escaped in early times from the Tartars, and have held
+their own ever since, over the grassy steppes of Russia and on the
+confines of the plains of Tartary. Sometimes they live almost alone,
+especially on the barren wastes where they have been seen in winter,
+scraping the snow off the herbage as our ponies do on Dartmoor. At
+other times, as in the south of Russia, where they wander between the
+Dnieper and the Don, they gather in vast herds and live a free life,
+not fearing even the wolves, which they beat to the ground with their
+hoofs. From one green oasis to another they travel over miles of
+ground.
+
+   "A thousand horse--and none to ride!
+    With flowing tail, and flying mane,
+    Wide nostrils--never stretched by pain,
+    Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein,
+    And feet that iron never shod,
+    And flanks unscarred by spur or rod,
+    A thousand horse, the wild, the free,
+    Like waves that follow o'er the sea."[11]
+
+[11] Byron's _Mazeppa_.
+
+As I followed them in their course I fancied I saw troops of yet
+another animal of the horse tribe, the "Kulan," or _Equus hemionus_,
+which is a kind of half horse, half ass (p. 393), living on the
+Kirghiz steppes of Tartary and spreading far beyond the range of the
+Tarpan into Tibet. Here at last we have a truly wild animal, never
+probably brought into subjection by man. The number of names he
+possesses shows how widely he has spread. The Tartars call him
+"Kulan," the Tibetans "Kiang," while the Mongolians give him the
+unpronounceable name of "Dschiggetai." He will not submit to any of
+them, but if caught and confined soon breaks away again to his old
+life, a "free and fetterless creature."
+
+No one has ever yet settled the question whether he is a horse or an
+ass, probably because he represents an animal truly between the two.
+His head is graceful, his body light, his legs slender and fleet, yet
+his ears are long and ass-like; he has narrow hoofs, and a tail with a
+tuft at the end like all the ass tribe; his color is a yellow brown,
+and he has a short dark mane and a long dark stripe down his back as a
+donkey has, though this last character you may also see in many of our
+Devonshire ponies. Living often on the high plateaux, sometimes as
+much as fifteen hundred feet above the sea, this "child of the
+steppes" travels in large companies even as far as the rich meadows of
+Central Asia; in summer wandering in green pastures, and in winter
+seeking the hunger-steppes where sturdy plants grow. And when autumn
+comes the young steeds go off alone to the mountain heights to survey
+the country around and call wildly for mates, whom, when found, they
+will keep close to them through all the next year, even though they
+mingle with thousands of others.
+
+Till about ten years ago the _Equus hemionus_ was the only truly wild
+horse known, but in the winter of 1879-80 the Russian traveller
+Przevalsky brought back from Central Asia a much more horse-like
+animal, called by the Tartars "Kertag" and by the Mongols "Statur." It
+is a clumsy, thick-set, whitish-gray creature with strong legs and a
+large, heavy, reddish-colored head; its legs have a red tint down to
+the knees, beyond which they are blackish down to the hoofs. But the
+ears are small, and it has the broad hoofs of the true horse, and
+warts on his hind legs, which no animal of the ass tribe has. This
+horse, like the Kiang, travels in small troops of from five to
+fifteen, led through the wildest parts of the Dsungarian desert,
+between the Altai and Tianschan Mountains, by an old stallion. They
+are extremely shy, and see, hear, and smell very quickly, so that they
+are off like lightning whenever anything approaches them.
+
+So having travelled over America, Europe, and Asia, was my quest
+ended? No; for from the dreary Asiatic deserts my thoughts wandered to
+a far warmer and more fertile land, where between the Blue Nile and
+the Red Sea rise the lofty highlands of Abyssinia, among which the
+African wild ass (_Asinus t�niopus_), the probable ancestor of our
+donkeys, feeds in troops on the rich grasses of the slopes, and then
+onwards to the bank of a river in Central Africa where on the edge of
+a forest, with rich pastures beyond, elephants and rhinoceroses,
+antelopes and buffaloes, lions and hy�nas, creep down in the cool of
+the evening to slake their thirst in the flowing stream. There I saw
+the herds of Zebras in all their striped beauty coming down from the
+mountain regions to the north, and mingling with the darker-colored
+but graceful quaggas from the southern plains, and I half-grieved at
+the thought how these untamed and free rovers are being slowly but
+surely surrounded by man closing in upon them on every side.
+
+I might now have travelled still farther in search of the Onager, or
+wild ass of the Asiatic and Indian deserts, but at this point a more
+interesting and far wider question presented itself, as I flung myself
+down on the moor to ponder over the early history of all these tribes.
+
+Where have they all come from? Where shall we look for the first
+ancestors of these wild and graceful animals? For the answer to this
+question I had to travel back to America, to those Western United
+States where Professor Marsh has made such grand discoveries in horse
+history. For there, in the very country where horses were supposed
+never to have been before the Spaniards brought them a few centuries
+ago, we have now found the true birthplace of the equine race.
+
+Come back with me to a time so remote that we cannot measure it even
+by hundred of thousands of years, and let us visit the territories of
+Utah and Wyoming. Those highlands were very different then from what
+they are now. Just risen out of the seas of the Cretaceous Period,
+they were then clothed with dense forests of palms, tree-ferns, and
+screw-pines, magnolias and laurels, interspersed with wide-spreading
+lakes, on the margins of which strange and curious animals fed and
+flourished. There were large beasts with teeth like the tapir and the
+bear, and feet like the elephant; and others far more dangerous, half
+bear, half hy�na, prowling around to attack the clumsy paleotherium or
+the anoplotherium, something between a rhinoceros and a horse, which
+grazed by the waterside, while graceful antelopes fed on the rich
+grass. And among these were some little animals no bigger than foxes,
+with four toes and a splint for the fifth, on their front feet, and
+three toes on the hind ones.
+
+These clumsy little animals, whose bones have been found in the rocks
+of Utah and Wyoming, have been called _Eohippus_, or horses of the
+dawn, by naturalists. They were animals with real toes, yet their
+bones and teeth show that they belonged to the horse tribe, and
+already the fifth toe common to most other toed animals was beginning
+to disappear.
+
+This was in the Eocene Period, and before it passed away with its
+screw-pines and tree-ferns, another rather larger animal, called the
+Orohippus, had taken the place of the small one, and he had only four
+toes on his front feet. The splint had disappeared, and as time went
+on still other animals followed, always with fewer toes, while they
+gained slender fleet legs, together with an increase in size and in
+gracefulness. First one as large as a sheep (Mesohippus) had only
+three toes and a splint. Then the splint again disappeared, and one
+large and two dwindling toes only remained, till finally these two
+became mere splints, leaving one large toe or hoof with almost
+imperceptible splints, which may be seen on the fetlock of a horse's
+skeleton.
+
+You must notice that a horse's foot really begins at the point which
+we call his knee in the front legs, and at his hock in his hind legs.
+His true knee and elbow are close up to the body. What we call his
+foot or hoof is really the end of the strong, broad, middle toe
+covered with a hoof, and farther up his foot we can feel two small
+splints, which are remains of two other toes.
+
+[Illustration: SKELETON OF HORSE OR ASS.
+    i, Incisor teeth. g, Grinding teeth, with the gap between the two
+    as in all grass-feeders. k, Knee. h, Hock or heel. f, Foot. s,
+    Splints or remains of the two lost toes. e, Elbow. w, Wrist. h,
+    Hand-bone. t, Middle toe of three joints, 1, 2, 3 forming the
+    hoof.]
+
+Meanwhile during these long succeeding ages while the foot was
+lengthening out into a slender limb the animals became larger, more
+powerful, and more swift, the neck and head became longer and more
+graceful, the brain-case larger in front and the teeth decreased in
+number, so that there is now a large gap between the biting teeth and
+the grinding teeth of a horse. Their slender limbs too became more
+flexible and fit for running and galloping, till we find the whole
+skeleton the same in shape, though not in size, as in our own horses
+and asses now.
+
+They did not, however, during all this time remain confined to
+America, for, from the time when they arrived at an animal called
+_Miohippus_, or lesser horse, which came after the Mesohippus and had
+only three toes on each foot, we find their remains in Europe, where
+they lived in company with the giraffes, opossums, and monkeys which
+roamed over these parts in those ancient times. Then a little later we
+find them in Africa and India; so that the horse tribe, represented by
+creatures about as large as donkeys, had spread far and wide over the
+world.
+
+And now, curiously enough, they began to forsake, or to die out in,
+the land of their birth. Why they did so we do not know; but while in
+the old world as asses, quaggas, and zebras, and probably horses, they
+flourished in Asia, Europe, and Africa, they certainly died out in
+America, so that ages afterwards, when that land was discovered, no
+animal of the horse tribe was found in it.
+
+And the true horse, where did he arise? Born and bred probably in
+Central Asia from some animal like the "Kulan," or the "Kertag," he
+proved too useful to savage tribes to be allowed his freedom, and it
+is doubtful whether in any part of the world he escaped subjection. In
+our own country he probably roamed as a wild animal till the savages,
+who fed upon him, learned in time to put him to work; and when the
+Romans came they found the Britons with fine and well-trained horses.
+
+Yet though tamed and made to know his master, he has, as we have seen,
+broken loose again in almost all parts of the world--in American on
+the prairies and pampas, in Europe and Asia on the steppes, and in
+Australia in the bush. And even in Great Britain, where so few patches
+of uncultivated land still remain, the young colts of Dartmoor,
+Exmoor, and Shetland, though born of domesticated mothers, seems to
+assert their descent from wild and free ancestors as they throw out
+their heels and toss up their heads with a shrill neigh, and fly
+against the wind with streaming manes and outstretched tails as the
+Kulan, the Tarpan, and the Zebra do in the wild desert or grassy
+plain.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+NOTES
+
+
+ALLEN, GRANT, English scientist and man of letters; born
+1848, died 1899. Was born in Canada, and passed his boyhood there.
+Educated in France and at Oxford University. He wrote "Physiological
+�sthetics," "Vignettes from Nature," "The Evolutionist at Large,"
+"Force and Energy," many scientific papers in periodicals, and some
+fiction. "Strange Stories," "The Reverend John Creedy," "Philistia,"
+"The British Barbarians" among others.
+
+BELT, T.�G., an English traveller of the nineteenth century,
+best known by his book, "The Naturalist in Nicaragua."
+
+BLATCHLEY, W.�S., American naturalist and geologist, born
+1859. Has taken part in many important geological surveys, and is
+State geologist of Indiana. Among his writings are "Gleanings from
+Nature," and many important highly technical contributions to State
+scientific publications.
+
+BRUNER, L., American professor of entomology and ornithology
+at the University of Nebraska, born 1566. Is the State entomologist of
+Nebraska. Has written "An Introduction to the Study of Entomology,"
+and some papers on the locusts of Argentina, as well as many technical
+scientific reports in State papers, etc.
+
+BURROUGHS, JOHN, American essayist, born 1837. Has written
+much on nature observation. Among his books are "Wake Robin," "Winter
+Sunshine," "Birds and Poets," "Pepacton," "Fresh Fields," "Signs and
+Seasons," etc. He was at first a school teacher, then a clerk of the
+treasury, then a national bank examiner, and he now lives on a farm,
+devoting himself to literature and fruit culture.
+
+HOPLEY, MRS. C.�C., an English author who lived much in
+America, and made a special study of "Snakes," on which subject she
+wrote a great deal. Her book entitled "Snakes" is the most important
+record of her work.
+
+HUXLEY, T.�H., Famous English biologist, born 1825; died
+1895. Was assistant surgeon in the navy, then professor of natural
+history, rector of Aberdeen University, and president of the Royal
+Society. Among his books are, "Evidences as to Man's Place in Nature,"
+"Comparative Anatomy," "Lay Sermons," "Critiques and Addresses,"
+"Physiography," "The Crayfish," "Science and Culture," "Evolution and
+Ethics," "The Anatomy of Invertebrate Animals," etc.
+
+JEFFERIES, RICHARD, born near Swindon, Wiltshire, Nov. 6,
+1848; died Aug. 14, 1887. A naturalist whose fascinating writings were
+recognized as classics only after his death. Among his most popular
+books are, "The Gamekeeper at Home" (1878), "Wild Life in a Southern
+Country" (1879), "The Amateur Poacher" (1880), "Round About a Great
+Estate" (1881), "Nature Near London," and "The Story of My Heart"
+(1883), "Red Deer" (1884), and "The Open Air" (1885).
+
+JORDAN, DAVID STARR, President Leland Stanford, Jr.,
+University; born Gainesville, N.Y., Jan. 19, 1851; graduated Cornell
+M.�S., 1872; M.�D. Indiana Medical College, 1875; (Ph.D. Butler
+University, 1878; LL.D. Cornell University, 1886). Held chairs in
+various collegiate institutions, 1872-79; assistant to U.�S. Fish
+Commission, 1877-91; professor of zo�logy 1879-85, and president
+1885-91, Indiana University; president Leland Stanford Jr.,
+University since 1891; president California Academy of Sciences
+1896-98; also U.�S. Commissioner in charge of fur-seal investigations,
+etc. Author: "A Manual of Vertebrate Animals of Northern United
+States," "Science Sketches," "Fishes of North and Middle America"
+(4�vols.); "Footnotes to Evolution," "Matka and Kotik," "Care and Culture
+of Men," "The Innumerable Company," "Imperial Democracy," "Animal
+Life," "Animal Forms," "The Strength of Being Clean," "Standeth God
+within the Shadow," also numerous papers on Ichthyology, in procedures
+of various societies and government bureaus.
+
+MAETERLINK, MAURICE, Belgian dramatist and poet, born 1864.
+He began early to write plays, which were translated into English and
+represented in London. He has written "Le Tr�sor des Humbles,"
+"Aglavaine and Selysette," "P�ll�as and Melisande," "The Intruder,"
+"Princess Maleine," "Wisdom and Destiny." He has been called the
+"Belgian Shakespeare."
+
+MORLEY, MARGARET W., author and teacher, born 1858. Has
+taught in New York State and in the West. She is the author of "A Song
+of Life," "Life and Love," "A Few Familiar Flowers," "Flowers and
+their Friends," "The Bee People," "The Honey Makers," "Seed Babies,"
+"Little Wanderers," "Wasps and their Ways," etc.
+
+THOREAU, HENRY DAVID, born at Concord, Mass., July 12, 1817;
+died May 6, 1862. After his graduation from Harvard, in 1837, he
+helped his father make lead pencils. In 1839 he began his careful
+studies on nature, and made a voyage on the Concord and Merrimac
+Rivers described in his first book. His most popular work, "Walden, or
+Life in the Woods," was published in 1854. After his death several
+volumes were made up from his voluminous diaries. His collected
+writings, in ten volumes, were published in 1893.
+
+WALLACE, A.�R., noted English naturalist and traveller, born
+1822. Was educated as a land surveyor, but turned his attention
+exclusively to natural history. He explored the valleys of the Amazon
+and Rio Negro, travelled in the Malay Archipelago and Papua. He and
+Darwin both announced together the theory of natural selection. He
+wrote "Travels on the Amazon," "Palm Trees of the Amazon," "The Malay
+Archipelago," "Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection,"
+"Geographical Distribution of Animals," "Tropical Nature," "Island
+Life," etc.
+
+WILSON, A., English physiologist, lecturer, and journalist,
+born 1852. Educated Edinburgh University and Medical School. Has
+written much on popular physiology in the newspapers and magazines. Is
+the author of "Studies on Life," "Leisure Time Studies," "Science
+Stories," "Chapters on Evolution," "Leaves from a Naturalist's Note
+Book," "Wild Animals," "Elements of Zo�logy," etc.
+
+
+
+
+NATURAL HISTORY
+
+SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS
+
+
+    Days Out of Doors
+    CHARLES C. ABBOTT
+
+    First Lessons in Zo�logy
+    ELIZABETH C. AGASSIZ
+
+    Birds of America
+    JOHN J. AUDUBON
+
+    My Land and Water Friends
+    M.�E. BAMFORD
+
+    Locusts and Wild Honey
+    JOHN BURROUGHS
+
+    Woodlands
+    MORDECAI C. COOK
+
+    A Year Among the Birds
+    WILSON FLAGG
+
+    The Out Door World
+    W. FURNEAUX
+
+    The Great World's Farm
+    SELINA GAYE
+
+    Monsters of the Sea
+    Chips from the Earth's Crust
+    J. GIBSON
+
+    Sharp Eyes
+    WILLIAM H. GIBSON
+
+    Practical Forestry
+    JOHN GIFFORD
+
+    Along the Florida Reefs
+    CHARLES F. HOLDER
+
+    About Pebbles
+    ALPHEUS HYATT
+
+    Country Cousins
+    ERNEST INGERSOLL
+
+    History of a Mouthful of Bread
+    JEAN MAC�
+
+    Under Foot
+    L.�D. NICHOLLS
+
+    Underground Treasures
+    JAMES ORTON
+
+    Among the Night People
+    C.�D. PIERSON
+
+    Ethics of the Dust
+    JOHN RUSKIN
+
+    The Sea Children
+    WALTER RUSSELL
+
+    Aspects of the Earth
+    NATHANIEL S. SHALER
+
+    The Vacation Club
+    ADA J. TODD
+
+    The Complete Angler
+    IZAAK WALTON
+
+    Half Hours in Field and Forest
+    Half Hours with a Naturalist
+    J.�G. WOOD
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Book of Natural History, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY ***
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+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Book of Natural History, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Book of Natural History
+       Young Folks' Library Volume XIV.
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: David Starr Jordan
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2006 [EBook #18274]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Paul Ereaut, Laura Wisewell
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 269px;">
+<a href="images/cover-h.jpg" title="Larger image"><img class="jpg" src="images/cover-t.jpg" width="269" height="500" alt="Cover of the book" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="box">
+<h1 style="font-size:300%; letter-spacing:0.1em;">YOUNG FOLKS&#8217;<br />
+LIBRARY</h1>
+
+<p class="title" style="font-size:small;"><i>SELECTIONS FROM THE CHOICEST LITERATURE OF ALL LANDS:<br />
+FOLK-LORE, FAIRY TALES, FABLES, LEGENDS, NATURAL<br />
+HISTORY, WONDERS OF EARTH, SEA AND SKY,<br />
+ANIMAL STORIES, SEA TALES, BRAVE DEEDS,<br />
+EXPLORATIONS, STORIES OF SCHOOL<br />AND
+COLLEGE LIFE, BIOGRAPHY,<br />
+HISTORY, PATRIOTIC<br />
+ELOQUENCE,<br />POETRY</i>
+</p>
+
+<p class="title">
+THIRD EDITION<br />
+<br />
+<small>REVISED IN CONFERENCE BY</small><br />
+<br />
+THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, <span class="smcap">Editor-in-Chief</span>,<br />
+PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEWETT TUCKER,<br />
+HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, HENRY<br />
+VAN DYKE, NATHAN HASKELL DOLE
+</p>
+<p class="title">
+<i>TWENTY VOLUMES  <span style="margin:2em;">&nbsp;</span>  RICHLY ILLUSTRATED</i></p>
+<p class="title">
+BOSTON<br />
+HALL AND LOCKE COMPANY<br />
+PUBLISHERS<br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p class="title smcap">Copyright, 1902,<br />
+By HALL &amp; LOCKE COMPANY.<br />
+Boston, U.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;A.</p>
+
+
+<p class="title">Stanhope Press<br />
+F.&nbsp;H. GILSON COMPANY<br />
+BOSTON, U.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;A.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="EDITORIAL_BOARD" id="EDITORIAL_BOARD"></a>EDITORIAL BOARD</h2>
+<dl>
+<dt>THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, Editor-in-chief,</dt>
+<dd>Author, poet, former editor <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, Boston, Mass.</dd>
+
+<dt>The HON. GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR,</dt>
+<dd>United States Senator, Worcester, Mass.</dd>
+
+<dt>The HON. JOHN D. LONG,</dt>
+<dd>Secretary of the United States Navy, Boston.</dd>
+
+<dt>HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, LL.D.,</dt>
+<dd>Author, literarian, associate editor <i>The Outlook</i>, New York.</dd>
+
+<dt>ERNEST THOMPSON-SETON,</dt>
+<dd>Artist, author, New York.</dd>
+
+<dt>JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE,</dt>
+<dd>Author, poet, and editor, Arlington, Mass.</dd>
+
+<dt>The REVEREND CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY,</dt>
+<dd>Archdeacon, author, Philadelphia.</dd>
+
+<dt>JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS,</dt>
+<dd>Humorous writer, Atlanta, Ga.</dd>
+
+<dt>MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD,</dt>
+<dd>Historical novelist, Chicago.</dd>
+
+<dt>LAURA E. RICHARDS,</dt>
+<dd>Author, Gardiner, Me.</dd>
+
+<dt>ROSWELL FIELD,</dt>
+<dd>Author, editor <i>The Evening Post</i>, Chicago.</dd>
+
+<dt>TUDOR JENKS,</dt>
+<dd>Author, associate editor <i>Saint Nicholas</i>, New York.</dd>
+
+<dt>GEORGE A. HENTY,</dt>
+<dd>Traveller, author, London, England.</dd>
+
+<dt>KIRK MUNROE,</dt>
+<dd>Writer of stories for boys, Cocoanut Grove, Fla.</dd>
+
+<dt>EDITH M. THOMAS,</dt>
+<dd>Poet, West New Brighton, N.Y.</dd>
+
+<dt>CAROLINE TICKNOR,</dt>
+<dd>Author, editor, Boston.</dd>
+
+<dt>WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER, D.D., LL.D.,</dt>
+<dd>President Chicago University.</dd>
+
+<dt><a href="#Jordan">DAVID STARR JORDAN</a>, M.D., LL.D.,</dt>
+<dd>President Leland Stanford Junior University, naturalist, writer,
+Stanford University, Cal.</dd>
+
+<dt>CHARLES ELIOT NORTON, A.M., LL.D., etc.,</dt>
+<dd>Scholar, author, Emeritus Professor of Art at Harvard University.</dd>
+
+<dt>HENRY VAN DYKE, D.D., LL.D.,</dt>
+<dd>Clergyman, author, Professor Princeton University.</dd>
+
+<dt>The REVEREND THOMAS J. SHAHAN,</dt>
+<dd>Dean of the Faculty of Divinity, Professor of Early Ecclesiastical
+History, Catholic University, Washington, D.C.</dd>
+
+<dt>WILLIAM P. TRENT,</dt>
+<dd>Author, editor, Professor of English Literature, Columbia University,
+New York City.</dd>
+
+<dt>EDWARD SINGLETON HOLDEN, A.M., LL.D.,</dt>
+<dd>Ex-president University of California, astronomer, author, U.S.
+Military Academy, West Point.</dd>
+
+<dt>EDWIN ERLE SPARKS,</dt>
+<dd>Professor of American History, Chicago University.</dd>
+
+<dt>The VERY REV. GEORGE M. GRANT. D.D., LL.D.,</dt>
+<dd>Educator, author, vice-principal Queen&#8217;s College, Kingston, Ont.</dd>
+
+<dt>NATHAN HASKELL DOLE,</dt>
+<dd>Author, translator, literary editor <i>Current History</i>, Boston.</dd>
+
+<dt>ABBIE FARWELL BROWN,</dt>
+<dd>Author, Boston.</dd>
+
+<dt>CHARLES WELSH, Managing Editor,</dt>
+<dd>Author, lecturer, editor, Winthrop Highlands, Mass.</dd>
+</dl>
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="LIST_OF_VOLUMES" id="LIST_OF_VOLUMES"></a>LIST OF VOLUMES</h2>
+
+
+<ol>
+<li><h4>Volume I.</h4>
+<p><b>THE STORY TELLER</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Charles Eliot Norton</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume II.</h4>
+<p><b>THE MERRY MAKER</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Joel Chandler Harris</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume III.</h4>
+<p><b>FAMOUS FAIRY TALES</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Roswell Field</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume IV.</h4>
+<p><b>TALES OF FANTASY</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Tudor Jenks</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume V.</h4>
+<p><b>MYTHS AND LEGENDS</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Thomas J. Shahan</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume VI.</h4>
+<p><b>THE ANIMAL STORY BOOK</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Ernest Thompson-Seton</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume VII.</h4>
+<p><b>SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Kirk Munroe</span> and <span class="smcap">Mary Hartwell Catherwood</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume VIII.</h4>
+<p><b>BOOK OF ADVENTURE</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Nathan Haskell Dole</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume IX.</h4>
+<p><b>FAMOUS EXPLORERS</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Edwin Erle Sparks</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume X.</h4>
+<p><b>BRAVE DEEDS</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">John Townsend Trowbridge</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume XI.</h4>
+<p><b>WONDERS OF EARTH, SEA, AND SKY</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Edward Singleton Holden</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume XII.</h4>
+<p><b>FAMOUS TRAVELS</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">George A. Henty</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume XIII.</h4>
+<p><b>SEA STORIES</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Cyrus Townsend Brady</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4><a href="#NH">Volume XIV.</a></h4>
+<p><b><a href="#NH">A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY</a></b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap"><a href="#Jordan">David Starr Jordan</a></span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume XV.</h4>
+<p><b>HISTORIC SCENES IN FICTION</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Henry Van Dyke</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume XVI.</h4>
+<p><b>FAMOUS BATTLES BY LAND AND SEA</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">John D. Long</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume XVII.</h4>
+<p><b>MEN WHO HAVE RISEN</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">Hamilton Wright Mabie</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume XVIII.</h4>
+<p><b>BOOK OF PATRIOTISM</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">George Frisbie Hoar</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume XIX.</h4>
+<p><b>LEADERS OF MEN, OR HISTORY TOLD IN BIOGRAPHY</b><br />
+Edited by <span class="smcap">William Rainey Harper</span></p></li>
+
+
+<li><h4>Volume XX.</h4>
+<p><b>FAMOUS POEMS</b><br />
+Selected by <span class="smcap">Thomas Bailey Aldrich</span>, with Poetical Foreword by <span class="smcap">Edith M. Thomas.</span></p></li>
+</ol>
+
+
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;"><a name="frontispiece" id="frontispiece"></a>
+<a href="images/condor-h.jpg" title="Larger image"><img class="jpg" src="images/condor-t.jpg" width="320" height="500" alt="The Condor." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption"><a href="#THE_CONDOR">The Condor.</a></p>
+</div>
+<div class="box">
+<p class="title"><a name="NH" id="NH"></a>
+<i>Young Folks&#8217; Library in Twenty Volumes<br />
+Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Editor-in-Chief</i></p>
+
+<h1 style="font-size:300%; letter-spacing:0.1em;">A BOOK OF<br />
+NATURAL<br />
+HISTORY</h1>
+
+<p class="title"><small>EDITED BY</small><br />
+DAVID STARR JORDAN</p>
+
+<p class="title"><i>VOLUME XIV</i></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width:106px;">
+<a href="images/logo.png"><img src="images/logo.png" alt="Publisher logo" height="100" width="106" /></a>
+</div>
+<p class="title">BOSTON<br />
+HALL AND LOCKE COMPANY<br />
+PUBLISHERS
+</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_xi" id="Pg_xi"></a></h2>
+
+
+<table class="toc" summary="Table of Contents">
+<col />
+<col style="text-align:right; font-variant:normal; vertical-align:top;" />
+<tr><th></th><th>PAGE</th></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#LIST_OF_COLORED_ILLUSTRATIONS">List of Illustrations</a></td><td><a href="#Pg_xiii">xiii</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#ANIMALS_BIRDS_AND_FISHES">Animals, Birds, and Fishes</a><br />By <a href="#Jordan">David Starr Jordan</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_xv">xv</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_WONDER_OF_LIFE">The Wonder of Life</a><br />By <a href="#Huxley">Professor T.&nbsp;H. Huxley</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#LIFE_GROWTH_FROGS">Life Growth;&mdash;Frogs</a><br />By <a href="#Morley">Margaret Warner Morley</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_10">10</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_MAN-LIKE_APES">The Man-Like Apes</a><br />By <a href="#Huxley">Professor T.&nbsp;H. Huxley</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_15">15</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#SOME_STRANGE_NURSERIES">Some Strange Nurseries</a><br />By <a href="#Allen">Grant Allen</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_46">46</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#HOW_ANIMALS_SPEND_THE_WINTER">How Animals Spend the Winter</a><br />By <a href="#Blatchley">W.&nbsp;S. Blatchley</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_69">69</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#BIRDS_NESTS">Birds&#8217; Nests</a><br />By <a href="#Burroughs">John Burroughs</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_88">88</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#BIRDS_IN_THEIR_RELATION_TO_AGRICULTURE">Birds in Their Relation to Agriculture</a><br />By <a href="#Bruner">Lawrence Bruner</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_121">121</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_SCISSOR_BEAK">The Scissor Beak</a><br />By Charles Darwin.</td><td><a href="#Pg_143">143</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_CONDOR">The Condor</a><br />By Charles Darwin.</td><td><a href="#Pg_146">146</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_UMBRELLA_BIRD">The Umbrella Bird</a><br />By <a href="#Wallace">Sir A.&nbsp;R. Wallace</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_153">153</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#HUMMING_BIRDS">Humming Birds</a><br />By <a href="#Belt">Thomas G. Belt</a>, F.G.S.</td><td><a href="#Pg_155">155</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_FOUNDATIONS_OF_A_WONDERFUL_CITY">The Foundations of a Wonderful City</a><br />By <a href="#Maeterlink">Maurice Maeterlinck</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_158">158</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#WASPS">Wasps</a><br />By <a href="#Belt">Thomas G. Belt</a>, F.G.S.</td><td><a href="#Pg_175">175</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#A_WASP_AND_ITS_PREY">A Wasp and Its Prey</a><br />By G.&nbsp;W. And E.&nbsp;G. Peckham.</td><td><a href="#Pg_180">180</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#LEAF-CUTTING_ANTS">Leaf-Cutting Ants</a><br />By <a href="#Belt">Thomas G. Belt</a>, F.G.S.</td><td><a href="#Pg_190">190</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#SOME_WONDERFUL_SPIDERS">Some Wonderful Spiders</a><br />By Charles Darwin.</td><td><a href="#Pg_197">197</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#WHAT_I_SAW_IN_AN_ANTS_NEST">What I Saw in an Ant&#8217;s Nest</a><br /><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_xii" id="Pg_xii"></a>By <a href="#Wilson">Andrew Wilson</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_201">201</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_WILD_LLAMA">The Wild Llama</a><br />By Charles Darwin.</td><td><a href="#Pg_228">228</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#BATS">Bats</a><br />By W.&nbsp;S. Dallas, F.G.S.</td><td><a href="#Pg_232"><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original mistakenly read '233'.">232</ins></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#HOW_SNAKES_EAT">How Snakes Eat</a><br />By <a href="#Hopley">Catherine C. Hopley</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_258"><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original mistakenly read '260'.">258</ins></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#WHAT_WORMS_DO">What Worms Do</a><br />By Charles Darwin.</td><td><a href="#Pg_264"><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original mistakenly read '266'.">264</ins></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#TWO_FOPS_AMONG_THE_FISHES">Two Fops Among the Fishes</a><br />By <a href="#Blatchley">W.&nbsp;S. Blatchley</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_284"><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original mistakenly read '286'.">284</ins></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#SEA-SLUGS_AND_CUTTLE-FISH">Sea Slugs and Cuttle-fish</a><br />By Charles Darwin.</td><td><a href="#Pg_292"><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original mistakenly read '294'.">292</ins></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_COW-FISH">The Cow Fish</a><br />By <a href="#Wallace">Sir Alfred Russell Wallace</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_295"><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original mistakenly read '297'.">295</ins></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#OLD_RATTLER_AND_THE_KING_SNAKE8">Old Rattler and the King Snake</a><br />By <a href="#Jordan">David Starr Jordan</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_297"><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original mistakenly read '299'.">297</ins></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_STORY_OF_A_STRANGE_LAND">The Story of a Strange Land</a><br />By <a href="#Jordan">David Starr Jordan</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_303"><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original mistakenly read '305'.">303</ins></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_COLORS_OF_ANIMALS">The Color of Animals</a><br />By Sir John Lubbock Bart.</td><td><a href="#Pg_315">315</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#PROTECTIVE_RESEMBLANCES_IN_SPIDERS">Protective Resemblances in Spiders</a><br />By E.&nbsp;G. Peckham.</td><td><a href="#Pg_343">343</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_BATH_OF_THE_BIRDS">The Bath of the Birds</a><br />By <a href="#Jefferies">Richard Jefferies</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_369">369</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_LOON">The Loon</a><br />By <a href="#Thoreau">Henry D. Thoreau</a>.</td><td><a href="#Pg_378">378</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#THE_DARTMOOR_PONIES_OR_THE_WANDERINGS_OF_THE_HORSE_TRIBE">The Dartmoor Ponies</a><br />By Arabella R. Buckley.</td><td><a href="#Pg_384">384</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#NOTES">Biographical Notes</a></td><td><a href="#Pg_396">396</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#SUPP">Suggestions for Supplementary Reading</a></td><td><a href="#Pg_398">398</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<h3>NOTE.</h3>
+
+<p>The publishers&#8217; acknowledgments are due to <a href="#Morley">Miss Margaret Warner Morley</a>
+and Messrs. A.&nbsp;C. McClurg &amp; Co. for permission to use &ldquo;<a href="#LIFE_GROWTH_FROGS">Life
+Growth,&mdash;Frogs</a>&rdquo;; to <a href="#Blatchley">Mr. W.&nbsp;S. Blatchley</a> and <i>The Popular Science
+Monthly</i> for &ldquo;<a href="#HOW_ANIMALS_SPEND_THE_WINTER">How Animals Spend the Winter</a>&rdquo; and &ldquo;<a href="#TWO_FOPS_AMONG_THE_FISHES">Two Fops Among the
+Fishes</a>&rdquo;; to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin &amp; Co. for &ldquo;<a href="#BIRDS_NESTS">Birds&#8217; Nests</a>,&rdquo; by
+<a href="#Burroughs">John Burroughs</a>; to <a href="#Bruner">Mr. L. Bruner</a> and the Nebraska Ornithologists&#8217;
+Union for &ldquo;<a href="#BIRDS_IN_THEIR_RELATION_TO_AGRICULTURE">Birds in Their Relation to Agriculture</a>&rdquo;; to G.&nbsp;W. and E.&nbsp;G.
+Peckham for &ldquo;<a href="#A_WASP_AND_ITS_PREY">A Wasp and Its Prey</a>&rdquo; and &ldquo;<a href="#PROTECTIVE_RESEMBLANCES_IN_SPIDERS">Protective Resemblances in
+Spiders</a>&rdquo;; to <a href="#Jordan">President David Starr Jordan</a> and <i>The Popular Science
+Monthly</i> for &ldquo;<a href="#OLD_RATTLER_AND_THE_KING_SNAKE8">Old Rattler and the King Snake</a>&rdquo;; to <a href="#Jordan">President Jordan</a> and
+A.&nbsp;C. McClurg &amp; Co. for &ldquo;<a href="#THE_STORY_OF_A_STRANGE_LAND">The Story of a Strange Land</a>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="LIST_OF_COLORED_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_COLORED_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_xiii" id="Pg_xiii"></a></h2>
+
+
+
+<table class="toc" summary="List of Illustrations">
+<col /><col style="text-align:right; font-variant:normal; vertical-align:top;" />
+<tr><th></th><th>PAGE</th></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#frontispiece">The Condor</a></td><td><i><a href="#frontispiece">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#gorilla">The Gorilla</a></td><td><i>Face Page&nbsp;&nbsp;</i> <a href="#Pg_40">40</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#woodpecker">The Yellow Bellied Woodpecker</a></td><td><a href="#Pg_92">92</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#umbrella">The Umbrella Bird</a></td><td><a href="#Pg_154">154</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#guanaco">The Guanaco</a></td><td><a href="#Pg_230">230</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#vampire">The Vampire Bat</a></td><td><a href="#Pg_242">242</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td><a href="#cowfish">The Cow Fish</a></td><td><a href="#Pg_296">296</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p class="smcap center">And One Hundred and Forty-two Black and White Illustrations in the
+Text.<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_xiv" id="Pg_xiv"></a></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="ANIMALS_BIRDS_AND_FISHES" id="ANIMALS_BIRDS_AND_FISHES"></a>ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND FISHES<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_xv" id="Pg_xv"></a><br />
+<span class="subh2">
+<small>BY</small><br />
+<a href="#Jordan">DAVID STARR JORDAN</a>, LL.D.</span></h2>
+
+
+<p>This volume is made up from the writings of naturalists who have told
+us of the behavior of animals as they have seen it at first hand and
+of the beginnings and the growth of life so far as they know about it.
+In selecting these from the wealth of available material the editor
+has been guided by this rule: The subject matter must be interesting
+to young people; it must be told in a clear and attractive style; and
+most important of all, it must deal with actualities. We have seen in
+the last few years a marked revival of nature studies. This has led to
+a wider range of interest in natural phenomena and in the growth and
+ways of animals and plants. If this movement is not to be merely a
+passing fad, the element of truthfulness must be constantly insisted
+upon. If a clever imagination, or worse, sentimental symbolism, be
+substituted for the truth of nature, the value of such studies is
+altogether lost.</p>
+
+<p>The essence of character-building lies in action. The chief value of
+nature study in character-building is that,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_xvi" id="Pg_xvi"></a> like life itself, it
+deals with realities. One must in life make his own observations,
+frame his own inductions, and apply them in action as he goes along.
+The habit of finding out the best thing to do next and then doing it
+is the basis of character. Nature-study, if it be genuine, is
+essentially doing. To deal with truth is necessary, if we are to know
+truth when we see it in action. The rocks and shells, the frogs and
+lilies, always tell the absolute truth. Every leaf on the tree is an
+original document in botany. When a thousand are used or used up, the
+archives of Nature are just as full as ever. By the study of realities
+wisdom is built up. In the relations of objects he can touch and move,
+the child finds the limitations of his powers, the laws that govern
+phenomena, which his own actions must obey. So long as he deals with
+realities, these laws stand in their proper relation. &ldquo;So simple, so
+natural, so true,&rdquo; says Agassiz. &ldquo;This is the charm of dealing with
+nature herself. She brings us back to absolute truth so often as we
+wander.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So long as a child is led from one reality to another, never lost in
+words or abstractions,&mdash;so long this natural relation remains. &ldquo;What
+can I do with it?&rdquo; is the beginning of wisdom. &ldquo;What is it to me?&rdquo; is
+the beginning of personal virtue.</p>
+
+<p>By adding near things to near, the child grows in Knowledge.
+Knowledge, tested and set in order, is Science. Nature-study is the
+beginning of science.<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_xvii" id="Pg_xvii"></a> It is the science of the child. The &ldquo;world as
+it is&rdquo; is the province of science. In proportion as our actions
+conform to the conditions of the world as it is, do we find the world
+beautiful, glorious, divine. The truth of the world as it is must be
+the final inspiration of art, poetry, and religion. The world, as men
+have agreed to say that it is, is quite another matter. The less our
+children hear of this, the less they may have to unlearn. Nature
+studies have long been valued as &ldquo;a means of grace,&rdquo; because they
+arouse the enthusiasm, the love of work, which belongs to open-eyed
+youth. The child blas&eacute; with moral precepts and irregular conjugations
+turns with fresh delight to the unrolling of ferns or the song of
+birds.</p>
+
+<p>Nature must be questioned in earnest, or she will not reply. But to
+every serious question she will return a serious answer. &ldquo;Simple,
+natural, and true,&rdquo; she tends to create simplicity and truth. Truth
+and virtue are but opposite sides of the same shield. As leaves pass
+over into flowers, and flowers into fruit, so are wisdom, virtue, and
+happiness inseparably related.</p>
+
+<p>This little volume is a contribution to the subject matter of Nature
+Study. It is the work of students of nature, and their work is
+&ldquo;simple, natural, and true,&rdquo; in so far as it is represented here.</p>
+
+<div class="wrapright" style="width: 300px; margin:0 0 0 auto;">
+<a href="images/signature.png"><img src="images/signature.png" width="300" height="39" alt="(Signature) David Starr Jordan" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-2em; margin-left:4em; clear:right;">
+<span class="smcap">Leland Stanford Jr. University,<br />
+California</span>, <i>April</i> 22, 1902.
+<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_xviii" id="Pg_xviii"></a></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="margin:3em auto 3em auto;"/>
+<h1><a name="A_BOOK_OF_NATURAL_HISTORY" id="A_BOOK_OF_NATURAL_HISTORY"></a>A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_1" id="Pg_1"></a></h1>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="THE_WONDER_OF_LIFE" id="THE_WONDER_OF_LIFE"></a>THE WONDER OF LIFE<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From His Science Primer, Introduction.)<br />
+By <a href="#Huxley">PROFESSOR, T.&nbsp;H. HUXLEY</a>.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 100px;">
+<a href="images/001e.gif"><img src="images/001e.gif" width="100" height="427" alt="E, decorated with stem of corn" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-15px;"><span class="cap">E</span>very one has seen a cornfield. If you pluck up one of the innumerable
+wheat plants which are fixed in the soil of the field, about harvest
+time, you will find that it consists of a stem which ends in a root at
+one end and an ear at the other, and that blades or leaves are
+attached to the sides of the stem. The ear contains a multitude of
+oval grains which are the seeds of the wheat plant. You know that when
+these seeds are cleared from the husk or bran in which they are
+enveloped, they are ground into fine powder in mills, and that this
+powder is the flour of which bread is made. If a handful of flour
+mixed with a little cold water is tied up in a coarse cloth bag, and
+the bag is then put into a large vessel of water and well kneaded with
+the hands, it will become pasty, while the water will become white. If
+this water is poured away into another vessel, and<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_2" id="Pg_2"></a> the kneading
+process continued with some fresh water, the same thing will happen.
+But if the operation is repeated the paste will become more and more
+sticky, while the water will be rendered less and less white, and at
+last will remain colorless. The sticky substance which is thus
+obtained by itself is called gluten; in commerce it is the substance
+known as maccaroni.</p>
+
+<p>If the water in which the flour has thus been washed is allowed to
+stand for a few hours, a white sediment will be found at the bottom of
+the vessel, while the fluid above will be clear and may be poured off.
+This white sediment consists of minute grains of starch, each of
+which, examined with the microscope, will be found to have a
+concentrically laminated structure. If the fluid from which the starch
+was deposited is now boiled it will become turbid, just as white of
+egg diluted with water does when it is boiled, and eventually a
+whitish lumpy substance will collect at the bottom of the vessel. This
+substance is called vegetable albumin.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the albumin, the gluten, and the starch, other substances
+about which this rough method of analysis gives us no information, are
+contained in the wheat grain. For example, there is woody matter or
+cellulose, and a certain quantity of sugar and fat. It would be
+possible to obtain a substance similar to albumin, starch, saccharine,
+and fatty matters, and cellulose, by treating the stem, leaves, and
+root in a similar fashion, but the cellulose would be in far larger
+proportion. Straw, in fact, which consists of the dry stem and leaves
+of the wheat plant, is almost wholly made up of cellulose. Besides
+this, however,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_3" id="Pg_3"></a> it contains a certain proportion of mineral bodies,
+among them, pure flint or silica; and, if you should ever see a wheat
+rick burnt, you will find more or less of this silica, in a glassy
+condition, in the embers. In the living plant, all these bodies are
+combined with a large proportion of water, or are dissolved, or
+suspended in that fluid. The relative quantity of water is much
+greater in the stem and leaves than in the seed.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody has seen a common fowl. It is an active creature which runs
+about and sometimes flies. It has a body covered with feathers,
+provided with two wings and two legs, and ending at one end in a neck
+terminated by a head with a beak, between the two parts of which the
+mouth is placed. The hen lays eggs, each of which is inclosed in a
+hard shell. If you break an egg the contents flow out and are seen to
+consist of the colorless glairy &ldquo;white&rdquo; and the yellow &ldquo;yolk.&rdquo; If the
+white is collected by itself in water and then heated it becomes
+turbid, forming a white solid, very similar to the vegetable albumin,
+which is called animal albumin.</p>
+
+<p>If the yolk is beaten up with water, no starch nor cellulose is
+obtained from it, but there will be plenty of fatty and some
+saccharine matter, besides substances more or less similar to albumin
+and gluten.</p>
+
+<p>The feathers of the fowl are chiefly composed of horn; if they are
+stripped off and the body is boiled for a long time, the water will be
+found to contain a quantity of gelatin, which sets into a jelly as it
+cools; and the body will fall to pieces, the bones and the flesh
+separating from one another. The bones<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_4" id="Pg_4"></a> consist almost entirely of a
+substance which yields gelatin when it is boiled in water, impregnated
+with a large quantity of salts of lime, just as the wood of the wheat
+stem is impregnated with silica. The flesh, on the other hand, will
+contain albumin, and some other substances which are very similar to
+albumin, termed <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'fibrim'.">fibrin</ins> and syntonin.</p>
+
+<p>In the living bird, all these bodies are united with a great quantity
+of water, or dissolved, or suspended in water; and it must be
+remembered that there are sundry other constituents of the fowl&#8217;s body
+and of the egg, which are left unmentioned, as of no present
+importance.</p>
+
+<p>The wheat plant contains neither horn, nor gelatin, and the fowl
+contains neither starch, nor cellulose; but the albumin of the plant
+is very similar to that of the animal, and the fibrin and syntonin of
+the animal are bodies closely allied to both albumin and gluten.</p>
+
+<p>That there is a close likeness between all these bodies is obvious
+from the fact that when any of them is strongly heated, or allowed to
+putrefy, it gives off the same sort of disagreeable smell; and careful
+chemical analysis has shown that they are, in fact, all composed of
+the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, combined in very
+nearly the same proportions. Indeed, charcoal, which is impure carbon,
+might be obtained by strongly heating either a handful of corn, or a
+piece of fowl&#8217;s flesh, in a vessel from which the air is excluded so
+as to keep the corn or the flesh from burning. And if the vessel were
+a still, so that the products of this destructive distillation, as it
+is called, could be condensed and collected, we should<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_5" id="Pg_5"></a> find water and
+ammonia, in some shape or other, in the receiver. Now ammonia is a
+compound of the elementary bodies, nitrogen and hydrogen; therefore
+both nitrogen and hydrogen must have been contained in the bodies from
+which it is derived.</p>
+
+<p>It is certain, then, that very similar nitrogenous compounds form a
+very large part of the bodies of both the wheat plant and the fowl,
+and these bodies are called proteids.</p>
+
+<p>It is a very remarkable fact that not only are such substances as
+albumin, gluten, fibrin, and syntonin, known exclusively as products
+of animal and vegetable bodies, but that every animal and every plant,
+at all periods of its existence, contains one or other of them,
+though, in other respects, the composition of living bodies may vary
+indefinitely. Thus, some plants contain neither starch nor cellulose,
+while these substances are found in some animals; while many animals
+contain no horny matter and no gelatin-yielding substance. So that the
+matter which appears to be the essential foundation of both the animal
+and the plant is the proteid united with water; though it is probable
+that, in all animals and plants, these are associated with more or
+less fatty and amyloid (or starchy and saccharine) substances, and
+with very small quantities of certain mineral bodies, of which the
+most important appear to be phosphorus, iron, lime, and potash.</p>
+
+<p>Thus there is a substance composed of water + proteids + fat +
+amyloids + mineral matters which is found in all animals and plants;
+and, when these are alive, this substance is termed protoplasm.</p>
+
+<p>The wheat plant in the field is said to be a living<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_6" id="Pg_6"></a> thing; the fowl
+running about the farmyard is also said to be a living thing. If the
+plant is plucked up, and if the fowl is knocked on the head, they soon
+die and become dead things. Both the fowl and the wheat plant, as we
+have seen, are composed of the same elements as those which enter into
+the composition of mineral matter, though united into compounds which
+do not exist in the mineral world. Why, then, do we distinguish this
+matter when it takes the shape of a wheat plant or a fowl, as living
+matter?</p>
+
+<p>In the spring a wheat-field is covered with small green plants. These
+grow taller and taller until they attain many times the size which
+they had when they first appeared; and they produce the heads of
+flowers which eventually change into ears of corn.</p>
+
+<p>In so far as this is a process of growth, accompanied by the
+assumption of a definite form, it might be compared with the growth of
+a crystal of salt in brine: but, on closer examination, it turns out
+to be something very different. For the crystal of salt grows by
+taking to itself the salt contained in the brine, which is added to
+its exterior; whereas the plant grows by addition to its interior: and
+there is not a trace of the characteristic compounds of the plant&#8217;s
+body, albumin, gluten, starch, or cellulose, or fat, in the soil, or
+in the water, or in the air.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the plant creates nothing; and, therefore, the matter of the
+proteins and amyloids and fats which it contains must be supplied to
+it, and simply manufactured, or combined in new fashions, in the body
+of the plant.</p>
+
+<p>It is easy to see, in a general way, what the raw<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_7" id="Pg_7"></a> materials are which
+the plant works up, for the plant get nothing but the materials
+supplied to it by the atmosphere and by the soil. The atmosphere
+contains oxygen and nitrogen, a little carbonic acid gas, a minute
+quantity of ammoniacal salts, and a variable proportion of water. The
+soil contains clay and sand (silica), lime, iron, potash, phosphorus,
+sulphur, ammoniacal salts, and other matters which are of no
+importance. Thus, between them, the soil and the atmosphere contain
+all the elementary bodies which we find in the plant; but the plant
+has to separate them and join them together afresh.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the new matter, by the addition of which the plant grows, is
+not applied to its outer surface, but is manufactured in its interior;
+and the new molecules are diffused among the old ones.</p>
+
+<p>The grain of wheat is a part of the flower of the wheat plant, which,
+when it becomes ripe, is easily separated. It contains a minute and
+rudimentary plant; and, when it is sown, this gradually grows, or
+becomes developed into, the perfect plant, with its stem, roots,
+leaves, and flowers, which again give rise to similar seeds. No
+mineral body runs through a regular series of changes of form and
+size, and then gives off parts of its substance which take the same
+course. Mineral bodies present no such development, and give off no
+seeds or germs. They do not reproduce their kind.</p>
+
+<p>The fowl in the farmyard is incessantly pecking about and swallowing
+now a grain of corn, and now a fly or a worm. In fact, it is feeding,
+and, as every one knows, would soon die if not supplied with food.<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_8" id="Pg_8"></a> It
+is also a matter of every-day knowledge that it would not be of much
+use to give a fowl the soil of a cornfield, with plenty of air and
+water, to eat.</p>
+
+<p>In this respect, the fowl is like all other animals; it cannot
+manufacture the proteid materials of its body, but it has to take them
+ready made, or in a condition which requires but very slight
+modification by devouring the bodies either of other animals or of
+plants. The animal or vegetable substances devoured are taken into the
+animal&#8217;s stomach; they are there digested or dissolved; and thus they
+are fitted to be distributed to all parts of the fowl&#8217;s own body, and
+applied to its maintenance and growth.</p>
+
+<p>The fowl&#8217;s egg is formed in the body of the hen, and is, in fact, part
+of her body inclosed in a shell and detached. It contains a minute
+rudiment of a fowl; and when it is kept at a proper temperature by the
+hen&#8217;s sitting upon it, or otherwise for three weeks, this rudiment
+grows, or develops, at the expense of the materials contained in the
+yolk and the white, into a small bird, the chick, which is then
+hatched and grows into a fowl. The animal, therefore, is produced by
+the development of a germ in the same way as the plant; and, in this
+respect, all plants and all animals agree with one another, and differ
+from all mineral matter.</p>
+
+<p>Thus there is a very broad distinction between mineral matter and
+living matter. The elements of living matter are identical with those
+of mineral bodies; and the fundamental laws of matter and motion apply
+as much to living matter as to mineral matter; but every living body
+is, as it were, a complicated piece of mechanism which &ldquo;goes,&rdquo; or
+lives, only under certain<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_9" id="Pg_9"></a> conditions. The germ contained in the
+fowl&#8217;s egg requires nothing but a supply of warmth, within certain
+narrow limits of temperature, to build the molecules of the egg into
+the body of the chick. And the process of development of the egg, like
+that of the seed, is neither more nor less mysterious than that, in
+virtue of which, the molecules of water, when it is cooled down to the
+freezing-point, build themselves up into regular crystals.</p>
+
+<p>The further study of living bodies leads to the province of biology,
+of which there are two great divisions&mdash;botany, which deals with
+plants, and zo&ouml;logy, which treats of animals.</p>
+
+<p>Each of these divisions has its subdivisions&mdash;such as morphology,
+which treats of the form, structure, and development of living beings,
+and physiology, which explains their actions or functions, besides
+others.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/009cock.png"><img src="images/009cock.png" width="350" height="212" alt="Cockerel" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_10" id="Pg_10"></a><a name="LIFE_GROWTH_FROGS" id="LIFE_GROWTH_FROGS"></a>LIFE GROWTH;&mdash;FROGS<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From A Song of Life.)<br />
+By <a href="#Morley">MARGARET WARNER MORLEY</a>.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></span></h2>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1">[1]</a> Copyright by A.&nbsp;C. McClurg &amp; Co., 1891.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/010s.gif"><img src="images/010s.gif" width="350" height="309" alt="S, decorated with lily pads" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-10px;"><span class="cap">S</span>omewhat higher than the fish in the scale of life is the frog.
+Although he begins life as a fish, and in the tadpole state breathes
+by gills, he soon discards the water-diluted air of the pond, and with
+perfect lungs boldly inhales the pure air of the upper world. His life
+as a tadpole, although so fish-like, is much inferior to true fish
+life: for though the fish has not the perfect lung, he has a
+modification of it which he fills with air, not for breathing
+purposes,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_11" id="Pg_11"></a> but as an air-sac to make him float like a bubble in the
+water. Will he rise to the surface? he inflates the air-bladder. Will
+he sink to the bottom? he compresses the air-bladder. But in the frog
+the air-bladder changes into the lungs, and is never the delicate
+balloon which floats the fish in aqueous space. When the frog&#8217;s lungs
+are perfected, his gills close, and he forever abandons fish-life,
+though being a cold-blooded creature he needs comparatively little
+air, and delights to return to his childhood&#8217;s home in the bottom of
+the pond. But although he can stay under water for a long time, he is
+obliged to hold his breath while there, and when he would breathe must
+come to the surface to do so. It is possible to drown him by holding
+him under water.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/011frog.png"><img src="images/011frog.png" width="400" height="186" alt="A Frog." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">A Frog.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>As a feeder the frog relies upon animal life, which he expertly seizes
+with a tongue fastened by the wrong end, as compared with our tongues.
+He is a certain marksman, and when he aims at an insect the chances
+are that the insect will enter his stomach and be there speedily
+changed into a new form of animal life.</p>
+
+<p>Although from the moment the gills disappear the frog is a true land
+animal, he is obliged, on account of the fish-like character of his
+young, to lay his eggs in the water. For this purpose the frogs enter
+the pools in early spring. The surface of every country pond swarms
+with the bright-eyed little creatures. They<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_12" id="Pg_12"></a> have awakened from a
+long, cold, winter sleep, to find the spring about them and within
+them. Life has suddenly become abundant and joyous. Their sluggish
+blood flows faster, their hearts beat quicker; they leap, they swim,
+they swell out their throats and call to each other in various keys.
+The toads are with them, and the pretty tree-frogs that change their
+color to suit their emotions. And all are rapturously screaming. Their
+voices are not musical, according to man&#8217;s standard, but seem to
+afford great satisfaction to the performers in the shrill orchestra of
+the swamps, who thus give vent to the flood of life that sweeps
+through them after the still, icy winter.</p>
+
+<p>As though the new spring-life were too plentiful to find room in the
+frogs and toads already existing, it calls for more frogs and toads;
+and new creatures are born to share the extra vitality. Like the
+flowers and the fish, the frogs, too, give forth new life. Within
+them, too, the miracle is performed. The tiny eggs of the one wake up
+and begin to grow. The tiny living bodies in the fertilizing principle
+of the other also wake up and begin to grow. But higher life is better
+guarded, because less prolific. The frog and the toad lay but few eggs
+as compared with the fish. Fish eggs may drop under the stones or
+float away, and so escape the vital touch of the fertilizing
+principle. There are so many that numbers may be lost and yet enough
+remain to continue the family. Not so with the frog family. No egg may
+be lost. So we find that the eggs of the frog are not dropped singly,
+like so many shot, but are bound together by a colorless, transparent,
+jelly-like substance, much like that found in the morn<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_13" id="Pg_13"></a>ing-glory seed,
+and which like that supplies nourishment to the young life, for the
+tadpole feeds upon it until he is able to seek other food. Moreover,
+instinct has taught the frog the need of extreme caution in the act of
+fertilization. Every egg <i>must</i> be fertilized. As the time draws near
+for the dropping of the few eggs into the water, the male frog so
+places himself that the moment the eggs are being laid, he pours over
+them, one by one, as they fall into the water, the fertilizing fluid.</p>
+
+<p>And thus the mystery of life is again repeated. The union of the
+living, microscopic bodies of the fertilizing principle with the new
+laid egg is followed by the growth of the two elements into a living
+creature, able to eat, to breathe, to see, to feel. In some unknown
+way the atom of fertilizing principle seems to have contained the
+whole life of the father-frog, for it can give to his sons and
+daughters any of his peculiarities, either of color, form, motion, or
+disposition; and the tiny egg seems to have contained the whole life
+of the mother-frog, and can give to her sons and daughters any of her
+peculiarities; though, as is true of all inheritance, the tadpoles, as
+the young frogs are called, share the natures of both parents,
+inheriting some peculiarities from the father and others from the
+mother.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/013frog.png"><img src="images/013frog.png" width="500" height="304" alt="A Frog." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">A Frog.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_14" id="Pg_14"></a>But, like other life, although the frogs may vary a good deal within
+frog limits, none of them can escape their own limits and enter into
+those of any other life. Once a frog, always a frog; and no frog-egg
+may hope to develop into a turtle, or a bird, or anything but a frog.
+The life in the fertilizing principle of the frog is sacred to frog
+eggs, and is lifeless in contact with any other.</p>
+
+<p>Our common frogs, like many of the fishes, do not trouble themselves
+about the fate of their eggs after they are carefully laid in a safe
+place. They trust Mother Nature to see the little tadpoles safely
+through the perils of childhood, to help them change their dresses and
+get rid of their tails, and cut, not their teeth, but their arms and
+legs.</p>
+
+<p>In Venezuela, however, there dwells a frog with well developed
+maternal instinct. The mothers have pockets on their backs, not for
+their own convenience, but as cradles for their babies. The fathers
+put the fertilized eggs into the pockets of the mothers; and there
+they remain, well guarded, until the young are able to care for
+themselves.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/014tadpoles.png"><img src="images/014tadpoles.png" width="400" height="263" alt="Tadpoles." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Tadpoles.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_15" id="Pg_15"></a><a name="THE_MAN-LIKE_APES" id="THE_MAN-LIKE_APES"></a>THE MAN-LIKE APES<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Evidence as to Man&#8217;s Place in Nature.)<br />
+By <a href="#Huxley">PROFESSOR T.&nbsp;H. HUXLEY</a>.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/015s.gif"><img src="images/015s.gif" width="350" height="427" alt="Head of Gorilla." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Head of Gorilla.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-15px;"><span class="cap">S</span>ound knowledge respecting the habits and mode of life of the man-like
+Apes has been even more difficult of attainment than correct
+information regarding their structure.</p>
+
+<p>Once in a generation, a Wallace may be found physically, mentally, and
+morally qualified to wander unscathed through the tropical wilds of
+America and of Asia, to form magnificent collections as he wanders,
+and withal to think out sagaciously the conclusions suggested by his
+collections; but, to the ordinary explorer or collector, the dense
+forests of equatorial Asia and Africa, which constitute the favorite
+habitation of the Orang, the Chimpanzee, and the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_16" id="Pg_16"></a> Gorilla, present
+difficulties of no ordinary magnitude; and the man who risks his life
+by even a short visit to the malarious shores of those regions may
+well be excused if he shrinks from facing the dangers of the interior;
+if he contents himself with stimulating the industry of the
+better-seasoned natives, and collecting and collating the more or less
+mythical reports and traditions with which they are too ready to
+supply him.</p>
+
+<p>In such a manner most of the earlier accounts of the habits of the
+man-like Apes originated; and even now a good deal of what passes
+current must be admitted to have no very safe foundation. The best
+information we possess is that based almost wholly on direct European
+testimony respecting the Gibbons; the next best evidence relates to
+the Orangs; while our knowledge of the habits of the Chimpanzee and
+the Gorilla stands much in need of support and enlargement by
+additional testimony from instructed European eye-witnesses.</p>
+
+<p>It will therefore be convenient in endeavoring to form a notion of
+what we are justified in believing about these animals, to commence
+with the best known man-like Apes, the Gibbons, and Orangs; and to
+make use of the perfectly reliable information respecting them as a
+sort of criterion of the probable truth or falsehood of assertions
+respecting the others.</p>
+
+<p>Of the Gibbons, half a dozen species are found scattered over the
+Asiatic Islands, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and through Malacca, Siam,
+Arracan, and an uncertain extent of Hindostan on the mainland of Asia.
+The largest attain a few inches above three feet in height, from the
+crown to the heel, so that they are shorter than the other man-like
+Apes, while the slenderness of<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_17" id="Pg_17"></a> their bodies renders their mass far
+smaller in proportion even to this diminished height.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Salomon M&uuml;ller, an accomplished Dutch naturalist, who lived for
+many years in the Eastern Archipelago, and to the result of whose
+personal experience I shall frequently have occasion to refer, states
+that the Gibbons are true mountaineers, loving the slopes and edges of
+the hills, though they rarely ascend beyond the limit of the
+fig-trees. All day long they haunt the tops of the tall trees, and
+though toward evening, they descend in small troops to the open
+ground, no sooner do they spy a man than they dart up the hillsides
+and disappear in the darker valleys.</p>
+
+<p>All observers testify to the prodigious volume of voice possessed by
+these animals. According to the writer whom I have just cited, in one
+of them, the Siamang, &ldquo;the voice is grave and penetrating, resembling
+the sounds g&#333;ek, g&#333;ek, g&#333;ek, g&#333;ek, goek ha ha ha ha haa&#257;&#257;&#257;, and may be
+easily heard at a distance of half a league.&rdquo; While the cry is being
+uttered, the great membranous bag under the throat which communicates
+with the organ of voice, the so-called &ldquo;laryngeal sac,&rdquo; becomes
+greatly distended, diminishing again when the creature relapses into
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>M. Duvaucel, likewise, affirms that the cry of the Siamang may be
+heard for miles&mdash;making the woods ring again. So Mr. Martin describes
+the cry of the agile Gibbon as &ldquo;overpowering and deafening&rdquo; in a room,
+and &ldquo;from its strength, well calculated for resounding through the
+vast forests.&rdquo; Mr. Waterhouse, an accomplished musician as well as
+zo&ouml;logist, says, &ldquo;The Gibbon&#8217;s voice is certainly much more powerful<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_18" id="Pg_18"></a>
+than that of any singer I ever heard.&rdquo; And yet it is to be recollected
+that this animal is not half the height of, and far less bulky in
+proportion than, a man.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;">
+<a href="images/018gibbon.png"><img src="images/018gibbon.png" width="200" height="345" alt="A Gibbon." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">A Gibbon.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>There is good testimony that various species of Gibbon readily take to
+the erect posture. Mr. George Bennett, a very excellent observer, in
+describing the habits of a male <i>Hylobates syndactylus</i> which remained
+for some time in his possession, says: &ldquo;He invariably walks in the
+erect posture when on a level surface; and then the arms either hang
+down, enabling him to assist himself with his knuckles; or, what is
+more usual, he keeps his arms uplifted in nearly an erect position,
+with the hands pendent ready to seize a rope, and climb up on the
+approach of danger or on the obtrusion of strangers. He walks rather
+quick in the erect posture, but with a waddling gait, and is soon run
+down if, while pursued, he has no opportunity of escaping by
+climbing.... When he walks in the erect posture, he turns the leg and
+foot outward, which occasions him to have a waddling gait and to seem
+bow-legged.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Burrough states of another Gibbon, the Horlack or Hooluk:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They walk erect; and when placed on the floor, or in an open field,
+balance themselves very prettily by<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_19" id="Pg_19"></a> raising their hands over their
+head and slightly bending the arm at the wrist and elbow, and then run
+tolerably fast, rocking from side to side; and, if urged to greater
+speed, they let fall their hands to the ground, and assist themselves
+forward, rather jumping than running, still keeping the body, however,
+nearly erect.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Somewhat different evidence, however, is given by Dr. Winslow Lewis:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Their only manner of walking was on their posterior or inferior
+extremities, the others being raised upward to preserve their
+equilibrium, as rope-dancers are assisted by long poles at fairs.
+Their progression was not by placing one foot before the other, but by
+simultaneously using both, as in jumping.&rdquo; Dr. Salomon M&uuml;ller also
+states that the Gibbons progress upon the ground by short series of
+tottering jumps, effected only by the hind limbs, the body being held
+altogether upright.</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Martin, who also speaks from direct observation, says of the
+Gibbons generally:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Pre-eminently qualified for arboreal habits, and displaying among the
+branches amazing activity, the Gibbons are not so awkward or
+embarrassed on a level surface as might be imagined. They walk erect
+with a waddling or unsteady gait, but at a quick pace, the equilibrium
+of the body requiring to be kept up, either by touching the ground
+with the knuckles, first on one side then on the other, or by
+uplifting the arms so as to poise it. As with the Chimpanzee, the
+whole of the narrow, long sole of the foot is placed upon the ground
+at once, and raised at once, without any elasticity of step.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_20" id="Pg_20"></a>After this mass of concurrent and independent testimony, it cannot
+reasonably be doubted that the Gibbons commonly and habitually assume
+the erect attitude.</p>
+
+<p>But level ground is not the place where these animals can display
+their very remarkable and peculiar locomotive powers, and that
+prodigious activity which almost tempts one to rank them among flying,
+rather than among ordinary climbing mammals.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Martin has given so excellent and graphic an account of the
+movements of a <i>Hylobates agilis</i>, living in the Zo&ouml;logical Gardens,
+in 1840, that I will quote it in full:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is almost impossible to convey in words an idea of the quickness
+and graceful address of her movements: they may indeed be termed
+a&euml;rial, as she seems merely to touch in her progress the branches
+among which she exhibits her evolutions. In these feats her hands and
+arms are the sole organs of locomotion, her body, hanging as if
+suspended by a rope, sustained by one hand (the right, for example),
+she launches herself, by an energetic movement, to a distant branch,
+which she catches with the left hand; but her hold is less than
+momentary; the impulse for the next launch is acquired; the branch
+then aimed at is attained by the right hand again, and quitted
+instantaneously, and so on, in alternate succession. In this manner
+spaces of twelve and eighteen feet are cleared, with the greatest ease
+and uninterruptedly, for hours together, without the <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'slighest'.">slightest</ins>
+appearance of fatigue being manifested; and it is evident that, if
+more space could be allowed, distances very greatly exceeding eighteen
+feet would<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_21" id="Pg_21"></a> be as easily cleared; so that Duvaucel&#8217;s assertion that he
+has seen these animals launch themselves from one branch to another,
+forty feet asunder, startling as it is, may be well credited.
+Sometimes, on seizing a branch in her progress, she will throw
+herself, by the power of one arm only, completely round it, making a
+revolution with such rapidity as almost to deceive the eye, and
+continue her progress with undiminished velocity. It is singular to
+observe how suddenly this Gibbon can stop, when the impetus giving by
+the rapidity and distance of her swinging leaps would seem to require
+a gradual abatement of her movements. In the very midst of her flight
+a branch is seized, the body raised, and she is seen, as if by magic,
+quietly seated on it, grasping it with her feet. As suddenly she again
+throws herself into action.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The following facts will convey some notion of her dexterity and
+quickness. A live bird was let loose in her apartment; she marked its
+flight, made a long swing to a distant branch, caught the bird with
+one hand in her passage, and attained the branch with her other hand,
+her aim, both at the bird and at the branch, being as successful as if
+one object only had engaged her attention. It may be added that she
+instantly bit off the head of the bird, picked its feathers, and then
+threw it down without attempting to eat it.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;On another occasion this animal swung herself from a perch, across a
+passage at least twelve feet wide, against a window which it was
+thought would be immediately broken: but not so; to the surprise of
+all, she caught the narrow framework between the panes with her hand,
+in an instant attained the proper im<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_22" id="Pg_22"></a>petus, and sprang back again to
+the cage she had left&mdash;a feat requiring not only great strength, but
+the nicest precision.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Gibbons appear to be naturally very gentle, but there is very good
+evidence that they will bite severely when irritated, a female
+<i>Hylobates agilis</i> having so severely lacerated one man with her long
+canines that he died; while she had injured others so much that, by
+way of precaution, these formidable teeth had been filed down; but if
+threatened she would still turn on her keeper. The Gibbons eat
+insects, but appear generally to avoid animal food. A Siamang,
+however, was seen by Mr. Bennett to seize and devour greedily a live
+lizard. They commonly drink by dipping their fingers in the liquid and
+then licking them. It is asserted that they sleep in a sitting
+posture.</p>
+
+<p>Duvaucel affirms that he has seen the females carry their young to the
+water-side and there wash their faces, in spite of resistance and
+cries. They are gentle and affectionate in captivity&mdash;full of tricks
+and pettishness, like spoiled children, and yet not devoid of a
+certain conscience, as an anecdote, told by Mr. Bennett will show. It
+would appear that his Gibbon had a peculiar inclination for
+disarranging things in the cabin. Among these articles a piece of soap
+would especially attract his notice, and for the removal of this he
+had been once or twice scolded. &ldquo;One morning,&rdquo; says Mr. Bennett, &ldquo;I
+was writing, the Ape being present in the cabin, when, casting my eyes
+toward him, I saw the little fellow taking the soap. I watched him
+without him perceiving that I did so: and he occasionally would cast a
+furtive glance toward the place<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_23" id="Pg_23"></a> where I sat. I pretended to write; he
+seeing me busily occupied, took the soap, and moved away with it in
+his paw. When he had walked half the length of the cabin, I spoke
+quietly, without frightening him. The instant he found I saw him he
+walked back again and deposited the soap nearly in the same place from
+whence he had taken it. There was certainly something more than
+instinct in that action: he evidently betrayed a consciousness of
+having done wrong both by his first and last actions&mdash;and what is
+reason if that is not an exercise of it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The most elaborate account of the natural history of the Orang-Utan
+extant is that given in the &ldquo;<i>Verhandelingen over de Natuurlijke
+Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche overzeeche Bezittingen (1839&#8211;45)</i>,&rdquo; by
+Dr. Salomon M&uuml;ller and Dr. Schlegel, and I shall base what I have to
+say upon this subject almost entirely on their statements, adding here
+and there particulars of interest from the writings of Brooke,
+Wallace, and others.</p>
+
+<p>The Orang-Utan would rarely seem to exceed four feet in height, but
+the body is very bulky, measuring two thirds of the height in
+circumference.</p>
+
+<p>The Orang-Utan is found only in Sumatra and Borneo, and is common in
+either of these islands&mdash;in both of which it occurs always in low,
+flat plains, never in the mountains. It loves the densest and most
+sombre of the forests, which extend from the seashore inland, and thus
+is found only in the eastern half of Sumatra, where alone such forests
+occur, though, occasionally, it strays over to the western side.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand it is generally distributed through<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_24" id="Pg_24"></a> Borneo, except
+in the mountains, or where the population is dense. In favorable
+places the hunter may, by good fortune, see three or four in a day.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/024orang.png"><img src="images/024orang.png" width="300" height="329" alt="Head of Orang-Utan." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Head of Orang-Utan.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Except in the pairing time, the old males usually live by themselves.
+The old females and the immature males, on the other hand, are often
+met with in twos and threes; and the former occasionally have young
+with them, though the pregnant females usually separate themselves,
+and sometimes remain apart after they have given birth to their
+offspring. The young Orangs seem to remain unusually long under their
+mother&#8217;s protection, probably in consequence of their slow growth.
+While climbing the mother always carries her young against her bosom,
+the young holding on by the mother&#8217;s hair. At what time of life the
+Orang-Utan becomes capable of propagation, and how long the females go
+with young is unknown, but it is probable that they are not adult
+until they arrive at ten or fifteen years of age. A female which lived
+for five years at Batavia had not attained one-third the height of the
+wild females. It is probable that, after reaching adult years, they go
+on growing, though slowly, and that they live to forty or fifty years.
+The Dyaks tell of old Orangs which have<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_25" id="Pg_25"></a> not only lost all their
+teeth, but which find it so troublesome to climb that they maintain
+themselves on windfalls and juicy herbage.</p>
+
+<p>The Orang is sluggish, exhibiting none of that marvellous activity
+characteristic of the Gibbons. Hunger alone seems to stir him to
+exertion, and when it is stilled he <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'relapes'.">relapses</ins> into repose. When the
+animal sits, it curves its back and bows its head, so as to look
+straight down on the ground; sometimes it holds on with its hands by a
+higher branch, sometimes lets them hang phlegmatically down by its
+side; and in these positions the Orang will remain for hours together,
+in the same spot, almost without stirring, and only now and then
+giving utterance to its deep, growling voice. By day he usually climbs
+from one tree-top to another, and only at night descends to the
+ground: and if then threatened with danger he seeks refuge among the
+underwood. When not hunted, he remains a long time in the same
+locality, and sometimes stops for many days on the same tree, a firm
+place among its branches serving him for a bed. It is rare for the
+Orang to pass the night in the summit of a large tree, <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'probaby'.">probably</ins>
+because it is too windy and cold there for him; but as soon as night
+draws on he descends from the height and seeks out a fit bed in the
+lower and darker part, or in the leafy top of a small tree, among
+which he prefers Nibong palms, Pandani, or one of those parasitic
+orchids which gave the primeval forests of Borneo so characteristic
+and striking an appearance. But whenever he determines to sleep, there
+he prepares himself a sort of nest; little boughs and leaves are drawn
+together round the selected spot, and bent cross<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_26" id="Pg_26"></a>wise over one
+another; while to make the bed soft, great leaves of ferns, of
+orchids, of <i>Pandanus fascicularis</i>, <i>Nipa <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'fruticians'.">fruticans</ins></i>, etc., are
+laid over them. Those which M&uuml;ller saw, many of them being very fresh,
+were situated at a height of ten to twenty-five feet above the ground,
+and had a circumference, on the average, of two or three feet. Some
+were packed many inches thick with <i>pandanus</i> leaves; others were
+remarkable only for the cracked twigs, which, united in a common
+centre, formed a regular platform. &ldquo;The rude <i>hut</i>,&rdquo; says Sir James
+Brooke, &ldquo;which they are stated to build in the trees, would be more
+properly called a seat or nest, for it has no roof or cover of any
+sort. The facility with which they form this nest is curious, and I
+had an opportunity of seeing a wounded female weave the branches
+together and seat herself within a minute.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>According to the Dyaks the Orang rarely leaves his bed before the sun
+is well above the horizon and has dissipated the mists. He gets up
+about nine, and goes to bed again about five; but sometimes not till
+late in the twilight. He lies sometimes on his back, or, by way of
+change, turns on one side or the other, drawing his limbs up to his
+body, and resting his head on his hand. When the night is cold, windy,
+or rainy, he usually covers his body with a heap of <i>pandanus nipa</i>,
+or fern leaves, like those of which his bed is made, and he is
+especially careful to wrap up his head in them. It is this habit of
+covering himself up which has probably led to the fable that the Orang
+builds huts in the trees.</p>
+
+<p>Although the Orang resides mostly amid the boughs <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_27" id="Pg_27"></a>of great trees
+during the daytime, he is very rarely seen squatting on a thick branch
+as other apes, and particularly the Gibbons, do. The Orang, on the
+contrary, confines himself to the slender leafy branches, so that he
+is seen right at the top of the trees, a mode of life which is closely
+related to the constitution of his hinder limbs, and especially to
+that of his seat. For this is provided with no callosites such as
+are possessed by many of the lower apes, and even by the Gibbons; and
+those bones of the pelvis, which are termed the ischia, and which form
+the solid framework of the surface on which the body rests in the
+sitting posture, are not expanded like those of the apes which possess
+callosities, but are more like those of man.</p>
+
+<p>An Orang climbs so slowly and cautiously as, in this act, to resemble
+a man more than an ape, taking great care of his feet, so that injury
+of them seems to affect him far more than it does other apes. Unlike
+the Gibbons, whose forearms do the greater part of the work as they
+swing from branch to branch, the Orang never makes even the smallest
+jump. In climbing, he moves alternately one hand and one foot, or,
+after having laid fast hold with the hands, he draws up both feet
+together. In passing from one tree to another he always seeks out a
+place where the twigs of both come close together, or interlace. Even
+when closely pursued, his circumspection is amazing; he shakes the
+branches to see if they will bear him, and then bending an overhanging
+bough down by throwing his weight gradually along it, he makes a
+bridge from the tree he wishes to quit to the next.</p>
+
+<p>On the ground the Orang always goes laboriously<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_28" id="Pg_28"></a> and shakily on all
+fours. At starting he will run faster than a man, though he may soon
+be overtaken. The very long arms which, when he runs, are but little
+bent, raise the body of the Orang remarkably, so that he assumes much
+the posture of a very old man bent down by age, and making his way
+along by the help of a stick. In walking, the body is usually directed
+straight forward, unlike the other apes, which run more or less
+obliquely, except the Gibbons, who in these, as in so many other
+respects, depart remarkably from their fellows.</p>
+
+<p>The Orang cannot put its feet flat on the ground, but is supported
+upon their outer edges, the heel resting more on the ground, while the
+curved toes partly rest upon the ground by the upper side of their
+first joint, the two outermost toes of each foot completely resting on
+this surface. The hands are held in the opposite manner, their inner
+edges serving as the chief support. The fingers are then bent out in
+such a manner that their foremost joints, especially those of the two
+inner-most fingers, rest upon the ground by their upper sides, while
+the point of the free and straight thumb serves as an additional
+fulcrum.</p>
+
+<p>The Orang never stands on its hind legs, and all the pictures
+representing it as so doing are as false as the assertion that it
+defends itself with sticks and the like.</p>
+
+<p>The long arms are of especial use, not only in climbing, but in the
+gathering of food from boughs to which the animal could not trust his
+weight. Figs, blossoms, and young leaves of various kinds, constitute
+the chief nutriment of the Orang; but strips of bamboo two or<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_29" id="Pg_29"></a> three
+feet long were found in the stomach of a male. They are not known to
+eat living animals.</p>
+
+<p>Although, when taken young, the Orang-Utan soon becomes domesticated,
+and indeed seems to court human society; it is naturally a very wild
+and shy animal, though apparently sluggish and melancholy. The Dyaks
+affirm that when the old males are wounded with arrows only they will
+occasionally leave the trees and rush raging upon their enemies, whose
+sole safety lies in instant flight, as they are sure to be killed if
+caught.</p>
+
+<p>But, though possessed of immense strength, it is rare for the Orang to
+attempt to defend itself, especially when attacked with firearms. On
+such occasions he endeavors to hide himself, or to escape along the
+top-most branches of the trees, breaking off and throwing down the
+boughs as he goes. When wounded he betakes himself to the highest
+attainable point of the tree, and emits a singular cry, consisting at
+first of high notes, which at length deepen into a low roar, not
+unlike that of a panther. While giving out the high notes the Orang
+thrusts out his lips into a funnel-shape; but in uttering the low
+notes he holds his mouth wide open, and at the same time the great
+throat bag, or laryngeal sac, becomes distended.</p>
+
+<p>According to the Dyaks, the only animal the Orang measures his
+strength with is the crocodile, who occasionally seizes him on his
+visits to the water-side. But they say that the Orang is more than a
+match for his enemy, and beats him to death, or rips up his throat by
+pulling the jaws asunder!</p>
+
+<p>Much of what has been here stated was probably<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_30" id="Pg_30"></a> derived by Dr. M&uuml;ller
+from the reports of his Dyak hunters; but a large male, four feet
+high, lived in captivity under his observation for a month, and
+receives a very bad character.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He was a very wild beast,&rdquo; says M&uuml;ller, &ldquo;of prodigious strength, and
+false and wicked to the last degree. If any one approached he rose up
+slowly with a low growl, fixed his eyes in the direction in which he
+meant to make his attack, slowly passed his hand between the bars of
+his cage, and then, extending his long arm, gave a sudden
+grip&mdash;usually at the face.&rdquo; He never tried to bite (though Orangs will
+bite one another), his great weapons of offence and defence being his
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>His intelligence was very great; and M&uuml;ller remarks that, though the
+faculties of the Orang have been estimated too highly, yet Cuvier, had
+he seen this specimen, would not have considered its intelligence to
+be only a little higher than that of a dog.</p>
+
+<p>His hearing was very acute, but the sense of vision seemed to be less
+perfect. The under lip was the great organ of touch, and played a very
+important part in drinking, being thrust out like a trough, so as
+either to catch the falling rain or to receive the contents of the
+half cocoanut shell full of water with which the Orang was supplied,
+and which, in drinking, he poured into the trough thus formed.</p>
+
+<p>In Borneo, the Orang-Utan of the Malays goes by the name of &ldquo;<i>Mias</i>&rdquo;
+among the Dyaks, who distinguish several kinds as <i>Mias Pappan</i>, or
+<i>Zimo</i>, <i>Mias Kassu</i>, and <i>Mias Rambi</i>. Whether these are distinct
+species, however, or whether they are mere races, and how far<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_31" id="Pg_31"></a> any of
+them are identical with the Sumatran Orang, as Mr. Wallace thinks the
+Mias Pappan to be, are problems which are at present undecided; and
+the variability of these great apes is so extensive that the
+settlement of the question is a matter of great difficulty. Of the
+form called &ldquo;Mias Pappan,&rdquo; Mr. Wallace observes: &ldquo;It is known by its
+large size, and by the lateral expansion of the face into fatty
+protuberances, or ridges, over the temporal muscles, which have been
+mistermed callosites, as they are perfectly soft, smooth, and
+flexible. Five of this form, measured by me, varied only from 4&nbsp;feet
+1&nbsp;inch to 4&nbsp;feet 2&nbsp;inches in height, from the heel to the crown of the
+head, the girth of the body from 3&nbsp;feet to 3&nbsp;feet 7&frac12;&nbsp;inches, and the
+extent of the outstretched arms from 7&nbsp;feet 2&nbsp;inches to 7&nbsp;feet
+6&nbsp;inches; the width of the face from 10 to 13&frac14;&nbsp;inches. The color and
+length of the hair varied in different individuals, and in different
+parts of the same individual; some possessed a rudimentary nail on the
+great toe, others none at all; but they otherwise present no external
+differences on which to establish even varieties of a species.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yet, when we examine the crania of these individuals, we find
+remarkable differences of form, proportion, and dimension, no two
+being exactly alike. The slope of the profile, and the projection of
+the muzzle, together with the size of the cranium, offer differences
+as decided as those existing between the most strongly marked forms of
+the Caucasian and African crania in the human species. The orbits vary
+in width and height, the cranial ridge is either single or double,
+either much or little developed, and the zygomatic<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_32" id="Pg_32"></a> aperture varies
+considerably in size. This variation in the proportions of the crania
+enables us satisfactorily to explain the marked difference presented
+by the single-crested and double-crested skulls, which have been
+thought to prove the existence of two large species of Orang. The
+external surface of the skull varies considerably in size, as do also
+the zygomatic aperture and the temporal muscle: but they bear no
+necessary relation to each other, a small muscle often existing with a
+large cranial surface, and vice versa. Now those skulls which have the
+largest and strongest jaws, and the widest zygomatic aperture, have
+the muscles so large that they meet on the crown of the skull, and
+deposit the bony ridge which separates them, and which is the highest
+in that which has the smallest cranial surface. In those which combine
+a large surface with comparatively weak jaws, and small zygomatic
+aperture, the muscles, on each side, do not extend to the crown, a
+space of from 1 to 2&nbsp;inches remaining between them, and along their
+margins small ridges are formed. Intermediate forms are found, in
+which the ridges meet only in the hinder part of the skull. The form
+and size of the ridges are therefore independent of age, being
+sometimes more strongly developed in the less aged animal. Professor
+Temminck states that the series of skulls in the Leyden Museum shows
+the same result.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Wallace observed two male adult Orangs (Mias Kassu of the Dyaks),
+however, so very different from any of these that he concludes them to
+be specially distinct; they were respectively 3&nbsp;feet 8&frac12;&nbsp;inches and
+3&nbsp;feet 9&frac12;&nbsp;inches high, and possessed no sign of the ch<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_33" id="Pg_33"></a>eek excrescences,
+but otherwise resembled the larger kinds. The skull has no crest, but
+two bony ridges, 1&frac34; to 2&nbsp;inches apart, as in the <i>Simia morio</i> of
+Professor Owen. The teeth, however, are immense, equalling or
+surpassing those of the other species. The females of both these
+kinds, according to Mr. Wallace, are devoid of excrescences, and
+resemble the smaller males, but are shorter by 1&frac12; to 3&nbsp;inches, and
+their canine teeth are comparatively small, subtruncated and dilated
+at the base, as in the so-called <i>Simia morio</i>, which is, in all
+probability, the skull of a female of the same species as the smaller
+males. Both males and females of this smaller species are
+distinguishable, according to Mr. Wallace, by the comparatively large
+size of the middle incisors of the upper jaw.</p>
+
+<p>So far as I am aware, no one has attempted to dispute the accuracy of
+the statements which I have just quoted regarding the habits of the
+two Asiatic man-like Apes; and if true, they must be admitted as
+evidence that such an ape&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1stly, May readily move along the ground in the erect, or semi-erect,
+position, and without direct support from its arms.</p>
+
+<p>2dly, That it may possess an extremely loud voice&mdash;so loud as to be
+readily heard one or two miles.</p>
+
+<p>3dly, That it may be capable of great viciousness and violence when
+irritated; and this is especially true of adult males.</p>
+
+<p>4thly, That it may build a nest to sleep in.</p>
+
+<p>Such being well-established facts respecting the Asiatic anthropoids,
+analogy alone might justify us in expecting the African species to
+offer similar peculiar<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_34" id="Pg_34"></a>ities, separately or combined; or, at any rate,
+would destroy the force of any attempted <i>&agrave; priori</i> argument against
+such direct testimony as might be adduced in favor of their existence.
+And if the organization of any of the African apes could be
+demonstrated to fit it better than either of its Asiatic allies for
+the erect position and for efficient attack, there would be still less
+reason for doubting its occasional adoption of the upright attitude,
+or of aggressive proceedings.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/034chimp.png"><img src="images/034chimp.png" width="300" height="331" alt="Head of Chimpanzee." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Head of Chimpanzee.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>From the time of Tyson and Tulpius downward the habits of the young
+Chimpanzee in a state of captivity have been abundantly reported and
+commented upon. But trustworthy evidence as to the manners and customs
+of adult anthropoids of this species, in their native woods, was
+almost wanting up to the time of the publication of the paper by Dr.
+Savage, to which I have already referred, containing notes of the
+observations which he made, and of the information which he collected
+from sources which he considered trustworthy, while resident at Cape
+Palmas, at the north-western limit of the Bight of Benin.</p>
+
+<p>The adult Chimpanzees, measured by Dr. Savage,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_35" id="Pg_35"></a> never exceeded, though
+the males may almost attain, five feet in height.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;When at rest, the sitting posture is that generally assumed. They are
+sometimes seen standing and walking, but when thus detected, they
+immediately take to all fours and flee from the presence of the
+observer. Such is their organization that they cannot stand erect, but
+lean forward. Hence they are seen, when standing, with the hands
+clasped over the occiput, or the lumbar region, which would seem
+necessary to balance or ease of posture.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The toes of the adult are strongly flexed and turned inward, and
+cannot be perfectly straightened. In the attempt the skin gathers into
+thick folds on the back, showing that the full expansion of the foot,
+as is necessary in walking, is unnatural. The natural position is on
+all fours, the body anteriorly resting upon the knuckles. These are
+greatly enlarged, with the skin protuberant and thickened like the
+sole of the foot.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They are expert climbers, as one would suppose from their
+organization. In their gambols they swing from limb to limb at a great
+distance, and leap with astonishing agility. It is not unusual to see
+the &lsquo;old folks&rsquo; (in the language of an observer) sitting under a tree
+regaling themselves with fruit and friendly chat, while their
+&lsquo;children&rsquo; are leaping around them, and swinging from tree to tree
+with boisterous merriment.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;As seen here, they cannot be called <i>gregarious</i>, seldom more than
+five, or ten at most, being found together. It has been said, on good
+authority, that they occasionally assemble in large numbers, in
+gambols. My informant asserts that he saw once not less than<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_36" id="Pg_36"></a> fifty so
+engaged, hooting, screaming, and drumming with sticks upon old logs,
+which is done in the latter case with equal facility by the four
+extremities. They do not appear ever to act on the offensive, and,
+seldom, if ever, really on the defensive. When about to be captured,
+they resist by throwing their arms about their opponent, and
+attempting to draw him into contact with their teeth.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>With respect to this last point Dr. Savage is very explicit in another
+place:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Biting</i> is their principal art of defence. I have seen one man who
+had been thus severely wounded in the feet.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The strong development of the canine teeth in the adult would seem to
+indicate a carnivorous propensity; but in no state save that of
+domestication do they manifest it. At first they reject flesh, but
+easily acquire a fondness for it. The canines are early developed, and
+evidently designed to act the important part of weapons of defence.
+When in contact with man almost the first effort of the animal is&mdash;<i>to
+bite</i>.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They avoid the abodes of men, and build their habitations in trees.
+Their construction is more that of <i>nests</i> than <i>huts</i>, as they have
+been erroneously termed by some naturalists. They generally build not
+far above the ground. Branches or twigs are bent, or partly broken,
+and crossed, and the whole supported by the body of a limb or a
+crotch. Sometimes a nest will be found near the <i>end</i> of a <i>strong
+leafy branch</i> twenty or thirty feet from the ground. One I have lately
+seen that could not be less than forty feet, and more probably it was
+fifty. But this is an unusual height.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_37" id="Pg_37"></a>&ldquo;Their dwelling-place is not permanent, but changed in pursuit of food
+and solitude, according to the force of circumstances. We most often
+see them in elevated places; but this arises from the fact that the
+low grounds, being more favorable for the natives&#8217; rice-farms, are the
+oftener cleared, and hence are almost always wanting in suitable trees
+for their nests.... It is seldom that more than one or two nests are
+seen upon the same tree, or in the same neighborhood: five have been
+found, but it was an unusual circumstance.&rdquo; ...</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They are very filthy in their habits. It is a tradition with the
+natives generally here that they were once members of their own tribe;
+that for their depraved habits they were expelled from all human
+society, and that, through an obstinate indulgence of their vile
+propensities, they have degenerated into their present state of
+organization. They are, however, eaten by them, and when cooked with
+the oil and pulp of the palm-nut considered a highly palatable morsel.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They exhibit a remarkable degree of intelligence in their habits,
+and, on the part of the mother, much affection for their young. The
+second female described was upon a tree when first discovered, with
+her mate and two young ones (a male and a female). Her first impulse
+was to descend with great rapidity and make off into the thicket with
+her mate and female offspring. The young male remaining behind, she
+soon returned to the rescue. She ascended and took him in her arms, at
+which moment she was shot, the ball passing through the forearm of the
+young one, on the way to the heart of the mother....</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_38" id="Pg_38"></a>&ldquo;In a recent case the mother, when discovered, remained upon the tree
+with her offspring, watching intently the movements of the hunter. As
+he took aim, she motioned with her hand, precisely in the manner of a
+human being, to have him desist and go away. When the wound has not
+proved instantly fatal, they have been known to stop the flow of blood
+by pressing with the hand upon the part, and when they did not
+succeed, to apply leaves and grass.... When shot, they give a sudden
+screech, not unlike that of a human, being in sudden and acute
+distress.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The ordinary voice of the Chimpanzee, however, is affirmed to be
+hoarse, guttural, and not very loud, somewhat like &lsquo;whoo-whoo.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The analogy of the Chimpanzee to the Orang, in its nest-building habit
+and in the mode of forming its nest, is exceedingly interesting,
+while, on the other hand, the activity of this ape, and its tendency
+to bite, are particulars in which it rather resembles the Gibbons. In
+extent of geographical range, again, the Chimpanzees&mdash;which are found
+from Sierra Leone to Congo&mdash;remind one of the Gibbons rather than of
+either of the other man-like Apes; and it seems not unlikely that, as
+is the case with the Gibbons, there may be several species spread over
+the geographical area of the genus.</p>
+
+<p>The same excellent observer, from whom I have borrowed the preceding
+account of the habits of the adult Chimpanzee, published an account of
+the Gorilla, which has, in its most essential points, been confirmed
+by subsequent observers, and to which so very little has really been
+added, that, in justice to Dr. Savage, I give it almost in full:</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_39" id="Pg_39"></a>&ldquo;It should be borne in mind that my account is based upon the
+statements of the aborigines of that region (the Gaboon). In this
+connection it may also be proper for me to remark that, having been a
+missionary resident for several years, studying, from habitual
+intercourse, the African mind and character, I felt myself prepared to
+discriminate and decide upon the probability of their statements.
+Besides, being familiar with the history and habits of its interesting
+congener (<i>Trogniger</i>, Geoff.), I was able to separate their accounts
+of the two animals, which, having the same locality and a similarity
+of habit, are confounded in the minds of the mass, especially as but
+few&mdash;such as traders to the interior, and huntsmen&mdash;have ever seen the
+animal in question.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The tribe from which our knowledge of the animal is derived, and
+whose territory forms its habitat, is the <i>Mpongwe</i>, occupying both
+banks of the River Gaboon, from its mouth to some fifty or sixty miles
+upward....</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If the word &lsquo;Pongo&rsquo; be of African origin, it is probably a corruption
+of the word <i>Mpongwe</i>, the name of the tribe on the banks of the
+Gaboon, and hence applied to the region they inhabit. Their local name
+for the Chimpanzee is <i>Ench&eacute;-eko</i>, as near as it can be Anglicized,
+from which the common term &lsquo;Jocko&rsquo; probably conies. The <i>Mpongwe</i>
+apellation for its new congener is <i>Eng&eacute;-ena</i>, prolonging the sound of
+the first vowel, and slightly sounding the second.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The habitat of the <i>Eng&eacute;-ena</i> is the interior of Lower Guinea, while
+that of the <i>Ench&eacute;-eko</i> is nearer the seaboard.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_40" id="Pg_40"></a>&ldquo;Its height is about five feet; it is disproportionately broad across
+the shoulders, thickly covered with coarse black hair, which is said
+to be similar in its arrangement to that of the <i>Ench&eacute;-eko</i>; with age
+it becomes gray, which fact has given rise to the report that both
+animals are seen of different colors.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Head.&mdash;The prominent features of the head are the great width and
+elongation of the face, the depth of the molar region, the branches of
+the lower jaw being very deep and extending far backward, and the
+comparative smallness of the cranial portion; the eyes are very large,
+and said to be like those of the <i>Ench&eacute;-eko</i>, a bright hazel; nose
+broad and flat, slightly elevated toward the root; the muzzle broad,
+and prominent lips and chin, with scattered gray hairs; the under lip
+highly mobile, and capable of great elongation when the animal is
+enraged, then hanging over the chin; skin of the face and ears naked
+and of a dark-brown, approaching to black.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The most remarkable feature of the head is a high ridge, or crest of
+hair, in the course of the sagittal suture, which meets posteriorly
+with a transverse ridge of the same, but less prominent, running round
+from the back of one ear to the other. The animal has the power of
+moving the scalp freely forward and back, and when enraged is said to
+contract it strongly over the brow, thus bringing down the hairy ridge
+and pointing the hair forward, so as to present an indescribably
+ferocious aspect.</p>
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 322px;"><a name="gorilla" id="gorilla"></a>
+<a href="images/gorilla-h.jpg" title="Larger image"><img class="jpg" src="images/gorilla-t.jpg" width="322" height="500" alt="The Gorilla." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">The Gorilla.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Neck short, thick, and hairy; chest and shoulders very broad, and
+said to be fully double the size of the <i>Ench&eacute;-ekos;</i> arms very long,
+reaching some way below the knee&mdash;the forearm much the shortest; hands
+very large, the thumbs much larger than the fingers....</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_41" id="Pg_41"></a>&ldquo;The gait is shuffling; the motion of the body, which is never upright
+as in man, but bent forward, is somewhat rolling, or from side to
+side. The arms being longer than the Chimpanzee, it does not stoop as
+much in walking; like that animal, it makes progression by thrusting
+its arms forward, resting the hands on the ground, and then giving the
+body a half-jumping, half-swinging motion between them. In this act it
+is said not to flex the fingers, as does the Chimpanzee, resting on
+its knuckles, but to extend them, making a fulcrum of the hand. When
+it assumes the walking posture, to which it is said to be much
+inclined, it balances its huge body by flexing its arms upward.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They live in bands, but are not so numerous as the Chimpanzees; the
+females generally exceed the other sex in number. My informants all
+agree in the assertion that but one adult male is seen in a band; that
+where the young males grow up a contest takes place for mastery, and
+the strongest, by killing and driving out the others, establishes
+himself as the head of the community.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Savage repudiates the stories about the Gorillas carrying off
+women and vanquishing elephants, and then adds:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Their dwellings, if they may be so called, are similar to those of
+the Chimpanzee, consisting simply of a few sticks and leafy branches,
+supported by the crotches and limbs of trees; they afford no shelter,
+and are occupied only at night.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They are exceedingly ferocious, and always offen<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_42" id="Pg_42"></a>sive in their
+habits, never running from man, as does the Chimpanzee. They are
+objects of terror to the natives, and are never encountered by them
+except on the defensive. The few that have been captured were killed
+by elephant-hunters and native traders, as they came suddenly upon
+them while passing through the forests.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is said that when the male is first seen he gives a terrific yell,
+that resounds far and wide through the forest, something like kh&mdash;ah!
+kh&mdash;ah! prolonged and shrill. His enormous jaws are widely opened at
+each expiration, his under-lip hangs over the chin, and the hairy
+ridge and scalp are contracted upon the brow, presenting an aspect of
+indescribable ferocity.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The females and young, at the first cry, quickly disappear. He then
+approaches the enemy in great fury, pouring out his horrid cries in
+quick succession. The hunter awaits his approach with his gun
+extended; if his aim is not sure he permits the animal to grasp the
+barrel, and as he carries it to his mouth (which is his habit) he
+fires. Should the gun fail to go off, the barrel (that of the ordinary
+musket, which is thin), is crashed between his teeth and the encounter
+soon proves fatal to the hunter.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In the wild state their habits are in general like those of the
+<i><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'Trogloytes'.">Troglodytes</ins> niger</i>, building their nests loosely in trees, living
+on similar fruits, and changing their place of resort from force of
+circumstances.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Savage&#8217;s observations were confirmed and supplemented by those of
+Mr. Ford, who communicated an interesting paper on the Gorilla to the
+Philadelphian Academy of Sciences, in 1852. With respect to the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_43" id="Pg_43"></a>
+geographical distribution of this greatest of all the man-like Apes,
+Mr. Ford remarks:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This animal inhabits the range of mountains that traverse the
+interior of Guinea from the Cameroon in the north to Angola in the
+south, and about one hundred miles inland, and called by the
+geographers Crystal Mountains. The limit to which this animal extends,
+either north or south, I am unable to define. But that limit is
+doubtless some distance north of this river [Gaboon]. I was able to
+certify myself of this fact in a late excursion to the head-waters of
+the Mooney (Danger) River, which comes into the sea some sixty miles
+from this place. I was informed (credibly, I think), that they were
+numerous among the mountains in which that river rises, and far north
+of that.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In the south, this species extends to the Congo River, as I am told
+by native traders who have visited the coast, between the Gaboon and
+that river. Beyond that, I am not informed. This animal is only found
+at a distance from the coast in most cases, and, according to my best
+information, approaches it nowhere so nearly as on the south side of
+this river, where they have been found within ten miles of the sea.
+This, however, is only of late occurrence. I am informed by some of
+the oldest Mpongwe men that formerly he was only found on the sources
+of the river, but that at present he may be found within half a day&#8217;s
+walk of its mouth. Formerly he inhabited the mountainous ridge where
+Bushmen alone inhabited, but now he boldly approaches the Mpongwe
+plantations. This is doubtless the reason of the scarcity of
+information in years past, as the opportunities for receiving a<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_44" id="Pg_44"></a>
+knowledge of the animal have not been wanting; traders having for one
+hundred years frequented this river, and specimens, such as have been
+brought here within a year, could not have been exhibited without
+having attracted the attention of the most stupid.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>One specimen Mr. Ford examined weighed one hundred and seventy pounds,
+without the thoracic or pelvic viscera, and measured four feet four
+inches round the chest. This writer describes so minutely and
+graphically the onslaught of the Gorilla&mdash;though he does not for a
+moment pretend to have witnessed the scene&mdash;that I am tempted to give
+this part of his paper in full, for comparison with other narratives.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He always rises to his feet when making an attack, though he
+approaches his antagonist in a stooping posture.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Though he never lies in wait, yet, when he hears, sees, or scents a
+man, he immediately utters his characteristic cry, prepares for an
+attack, and always acts on the offensive. The cry he utters resembles
+a grunt more than a growl, and is similar to the cry of the Chimpanzee
+when irritated, but vastly louder. It is said to be audible at a great
+distance. His preparation consists in attending the females and young
+ones, by whom he is usually accompanied, to a little distance. He,
+however, soon returns with his crest erect and projecting forward, his
+nostrils dilated, and his under-lip thrown down; at the same time
+uttering his characteristic yell, designed, it would seem, to terrify
+his antagonist. Instantly, unless he is disabled by a well-directed
+shot, he makes an onset, and, striking his antagonist with the palm of
+his hands, or seizing him<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_45" id="Pg_45"></a> with a grasp from which there is no escape,
+he dashes him upon the ground, and lacerates him with his tusks.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He is said to seize a musket, and instantly crush the barrel between
+his teeth.... This animal&#8217;s savage nature is very well shown by the
+implacable desperation of a young one that was brought here. It was
+taken very young, and kept four months, and many means were used to
+tame it; but it was incorrigible, so that it bit me an hour before it
+died.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/045hands.png"><img src="images/045hands.png" width="500" height="249" alt="Hand of Gorilla, Orang, Gibbon, and Chimpanzee." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Hand of Gorilla, Orang, Gibbon, and
+Chimpanzee.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_46" id="Pg_46"></a><a name="SOME_STRANGE_NURSERIES" id="SOME_STRANGE_NURSERIES"></a>SOME STRANGE NURSERIES<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Nature&#8217;s Workshop.)<br />
+By <a href="#Allen">GRANT ALLEN</a>.</span></h2>
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/046y.png"><img src="images/046y-1.gif" width="300" height="155" alt="Sea-horses." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 242px;">
+<a href="images/046y.png"><img src="images/046y-2.png" width="242" height="85" alt="Sea-horses." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 194px;">
+<a href="images/046y.png"><img src="images/046y-3.png" width="194" height="92" alt="Sea-horses." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Sea-horses.</p>
+</div>
+<p style="text-indent:-10px; margin-top:40px;"><span class="cap">Y</span>ou could hardly find a better rough test of relative development in
+the animal (or vegetable) world than the number of young produced and
+the care bestowed upon them. The fewer the offspring, the higher the
+type. Very low animals turn out thousands of eggs with reckless
+profusion; but they let them look after themselves, or be devoured by
+enemies, as chance will have it. The higher you go in the scale of
+being, the smaller the families, but the greater amount of pains
+expended upon the rearing and upbringing of the young. Large broods
+mean low organization; small broods imply higher types and more care
+in the nurture and education of the offspring. Primitive kinds produce
+eggs wholesale, on the off chance that some two or three among them
+may perhaps survive an infant mortality of ninety-nine per cent, so as
+to replace their parents. Advanced kinds produce half a dozen young,
+or less, but bring a large proportion of these on an average up to
+years of discretion.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_47" id="Pg_47"></a>Without taking into
+account insects and such other &ldquo;small deer,&rdquo;&mdash;to
+quote Shakespeare&#8217;s expression,&mdash;this fundamental principle of
+population will become at once apparent if we examine merely familiar
+instances of back-boned or vertebrate animals. The lowest vertebrates
+are clearly the fishes: and the true fishes have almost invariably
+gigantic families. A single cod, for example, is said to produce,
+roughly speaking, nine million eggs at a birth (I cannot pretend I
+have checked this calculation); but supposing they were only a
+million, and that one-tenth of those eggs alone ever came to maturity,
+there would still be a hundred thousand codfish in the sea this year
+for every pair that swam in it last year: and these would increase to
+a hundred thousand times that number next year; and so on, till in
+four or five years&#8217; time the whole sea would be but one solid mass of
+closely-packed cod-banks. We can see for ourselves that nothing of the
+sort actually occurs&mdash;practically speaking, there are about the same
+number of cod one year as another. In spite of this enormous
+birth-rate, therefore, the cod population is not increasing&mdash;it is at
+a standstill. What does that imply? Why, that taking one brood and one
+year with another, only a pair of cod, roughly speaking, survive to
+maturity out of each eight or nine million eggs. The mother cod lays
+its millions, in order that two may arrive at the period of spawning.
+All the rest get devoured as eggs, or snapped up as young fry, or else
+die of starvation, or are otherwise unaccounted for. It seems to us a
+wasteful way of replenishing the earth: but it is nature&#8217;s way; we can
+only bow respectfully to her final decision.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_48" id="Pg_48"></a>Frogs and other amphibians stand higher in the scale of life than
+fish; they have acquired legs in place of fins, and lungs instead of
+gills; they can hop about on shore with perfect freedom. Now, frogs
+still produce a great deal of spawn, as every one knows: but the eggs
+in each brood are numbered in their case by hundreds, or at most by a
+thousand or two, not by millions as with many fishes. The spawn
+hatches out as a rule in ponds, and we have all seen the little black
+tadpoles crowding the edges of the water in such innumerable masses
+that one would suppose the frogs to be developed from them must cover
+the length and breadth of England. Yet what becomes of them all?
+Hundreds are destroyed in the early tadpole stage&mdash;eaten up or
+starved, or crowded out for want of air and space and water: a few
+alone survive or develop four legs, and absorb their tails and hop on
+shore as tiny <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'froglins'.">froglings</ins>. Even then the massacre of the innocents
+continues. Only a tithe of those which succeeded in quitting their
+native pond ever return to it full grown, to spawn in due time, and
+become the parents of further generations.</p>
+
+<p>Lizards and other reptiles make an obvious advance on the frog type;
+they lay relatively few eggs, but they begin to care for their young.
+The family is not here abandoned at birth, as among frogs, but is
+frequently tended and fed and overlooked by the mother. In birds we
+have a still higher development of the same marked parental tendency;
+only three or four eggs are laid each year, as a rule, and on these
+eggs the mother sits, while both parents feed the callow nestlings
+till such time as they are able to take care of<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_49" id="Pg_49"></a> themselves and pick
+up their own living. Among mammals, which stand undoubtedly at the
+head of created nature, the lower types, like mice and rabbits, have
+frequent broods of many young at a time; but the more advanced groups,
+such as the horses, cows, deer, and elephants, have usually one foal
+or calf at a birth, and seldom produce more than a couple. Moreover,
+in all these higher cases alike, the young are fed with milk by the
+mother, and so spared the trouble of providing for themselves in their
+early days, like the young codfish or the baby tadpole. Starvation at
+the outset is reduced to a minimum.</p>
+
+<p>It is interesting to note, too, that anticipations of higher types, so
+to speak, often occur among lower races. An animal here and there
+among the simpler forms hits upon some device essentially similar to
+that of some higher group with which it is really quite unrelated. For
+example, those who have read my account of the common earwig (given in
+the sixth chapter of &ldquo;Flashlights on Nature&rdquo;) will recollect how that
+lowly insect sits on her eggs much as a hen does, and brings up her
+brood of callow grubs as if they were chickens. In much the same way,
+anticipations of the mammalian type occur pretty frequently among
+lower animals. Our commonest English lizard, for example, which
+frequents moors and sandhills, does not lay or deposit its eggs at
+all, but hatches them out in its own body, and so apparently brings
+them forth alive: while among snakes, the same habit occurs in the
+adder or viper. The very name <i>viper</i>, indeed, is a corruption of
+<i>vivipara</i>, the snake which produces living young. Still more closely
+do some birds resemble mammals in the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_50" id="Pg_50"></a> habit of secreting a sort of
+milk for the sustenance of their nestlings. Most people think the
+phrase &ldquo;pigeon&#8217;s milk&rdquo; is much like the phrase &ldquo;the horse-marines,&rdquo; a
+burlesque name for an absurd and impossible monstrosity. But it is
+nothing of the sort: it answers to a real fact in the economy of
+certain doves, which eat grain or seeds, grind and digest it in their
+own gizzards into a fine soft pulp or porridge, and then feed their
+young with it from their crops and beaks. This is thus a sort of
+bird-like imitation of milk. Only the cow or the goat takes grass or
+leaves, chews, swallows, and digests them, and manufactures from them
+in her own body that much more nutritive substance, milk, with which
+all mammals feed their infant offspring.</p>
+
+<p>Now, after this rather long preamble, I am going to show you in this
+present article a few other examples of special care taken of the
+young in certain quarters where it might be least expected. Fish are
+not creatures from which we look for marked domestic virtues: yet we
+may find them there abundantly. Let us begin with that familiar friend
+of our childhood, the common English stickleback.</p>
+
+<p>Which of us cannot look back in youth to the mysteries of the
+stickleback fisheries? Captains courageous, we sailed forth with bent
+pin and piece of thread, to woo the wily quarry with half an inch of
+chopped earthworm. For stickleback abound in every running stream and
+pond in England. They are beautiful little creatures, too, when you
+come to examine them, great favorites in the fresh-water aquarium; the
+male in particular is exquisitely colored, his hues growing brighter
+and his sheen more conspicuous at the pairing<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_51" id="Pg_51"></a> season. There are many
+species of sticklebacks&mdash;in England we have three very different
+kinds&mdash;but all are alike in one point which gives them their common
+name, that is to say, in their aggressive and protective prickliness.
+They are armed against all comers. The dorsal fin is partly replaced
+in the whole family by strong spines or &ldquo;stickles,&rdquo; which differ in
+number in the different species. One of our English sorts is a lover
+of salt water: he lives in the sea, especially off the Cornish coast,
+and has fifteen stickles or spines; on which account he is commonly
+known as the Fifteen-spined Stickleback; our other two sorts belong to
+fresher waters, and are known as the Ten-spined and the Three-spined
+respectively.</p>
+
+<p>The special peculiarity of the male stickleback consists in the fact
+that he is, above all things, a model father. In his acute sense of
+parental responsibility he has few equals. When spring comes round, he
+first exhibits his consciousness of his coming charge by suddenly
+enduing himself in a glowing coat of many colors and of iridescent
+brilliancy. That is in order to charm the eyes of the prospective
+mate, or rather mates, for I may as well confess the sad truth at once
+that our amiable friend is a good parent but an abandoned polygamist.
+We all know that</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+&ldquo;In the spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin&#8217;s breast;<br />
+In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;<br />
+In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish&#8217;d dove;<br />
+In the spring a young man&#8217;s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.&rdquo;
+</div>
+
+<p>Not to be out of the fashion, therefore, the romantic stickleback does
+precisely the same thing as all these<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_52" id="Pg_52"></a> distinguished and poetical
+compeers. And he does it for the same reason, too; because he wants to
+get himself an appropriate partner. &ldquo;There is a great deal of human
+nature in man,&rdquo; it has been said: I am always inclined to add, &ldquo;And
+there is a great deal of human nature in plants and animals.&rdquo; The more
+we know of our dumb relations, the more closely do we realize the
+kinship between us. Fish in the spring are like young men at a
+fair&mdash;all eager for the attention of their prospective partners.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="stickle_no1" id="stickle_no1"></a>
+<a href="images/052stickle-no1.png"><img src="images/052stickle-no1.png" width="500" height="358" alt="No. 1. Female Stickleback about to Enter Nest." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">No.&nbsp;1. Female Stickleback about to Enter
+Nest.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The first care of the male stickleback, when he has acquired his
+courting suit, is to build a suitable home for his future wives and
+children. So he picks up stems of grass and water-weeds with his
+mouth, and weaves them deftly into a compact nest as perfect as a
+bird&#8217;s, though some what different in shape and pattern, it rather
+resembles a barrel, open at both ends, as though the bottom were
+knocked out: this form is rendered necessary because the eggs, when
+laid, have to be constantly aerated by passing a current of water
+through the nest as I shall describe hereafter.
+<a href="#stickle_no1">No.&nbsp;1</a> shows us such a
+nest when completed, with the female stickleback loitering about
+undecided as to whether or<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_53" id="Pg_53"></a> not she shall plunge and enter it. You
+will observe that the fabric is woven round a fixed support of some
+waving water-weeds; but the cunning little architect does not trust in
+this matter to his textile skill alone; he cements the straws and
+other materials together with a gummy mortar of mucous threads
+secreted for the purpose by his internal organs.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;"><a name="stickle_no2" id="stickle_no2"></a>
+<a href="images/053stickle-no2.png"><img src="images/053stickle-no2.png" width="400" height="479" alt="No. 2. Female Stickleback Laying Eggs in Nest." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">No.&nbsp;2. Female Stickleback Laying Eggs in
+Nest.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>As soon as the building operations are fully completed, the eager
+little householder sallies forth into his pond or brook in search of
+a mate who will come and stock his neatly-built home for him. At this
+stage of the proceedings, his wedding-garment becomes even more
+brilliant and glancing than ever; he gleams in silver and changeful
+gems; when he finds his lady-love, he dances round her, &ldquo;mad with
+excitement,&rdquo; as Darwin well phrased it, looking his handsomest and
+best with his lustrous colours glistening like an opal. If she will
+listen to his suit, he grows wild with delight, and coaxes her into
+the nest with most affectionate endearments. In <a href="#stickle_no2">No.&nbsp;2</a>, as you
+perceive, the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_54" id="Pg_54"></a> mate of his choice has been induced to enter, and is
+laying her eggs in the dainty home his care has provided for her. The
+father fish, meanwhile dances and capers around, in a <i>pas de
+triomphe</i> at the success of his endeavors.</p>
+
+<p>One wife, however, does not suffice to fill the nest with eggs; and
+the stickleback is a firm believer in the advantages of large
+families. So, as soon as his first mate has laid all her spawn, he
+sets out once more in search of another. Thus he goes on until the
+home is quite full of eggs, bringing back one wife after another, in
+proportion to his success in wooing and fighting. For, like almost all
+polygamists, your stickleback is a terrible fighter. The males join
+wager of battle with one another for possession of their mates; in
+their fierce duels they make fearful use of the formidable spines on
+their backs, sometimes entirely ripping up and cutting to pieces their
+ill-fated adversary. The spines thus answer to the spurs of the
+gamecock or the antlers of the deer; they are masculine weapons in the
+struggle for mates. Indeed, you may take it for granted that brilliant
+colors and decorative adjuncts in animals almost invariably go with
+irascible tempers, pugnacious habits, and the practice of fighting for
+the possession of the harem. The consequence is, with the
+sticklebacks, that many males get killed during the struggle for
+supremacy, so that the survivors wed half a dozen wives each, like
+little Turks that they are in their watery seraglios. Only the most
+beautiful and courageous fish succeed in gaining a harem of their own:
+and thus the wager of battle tells in the end for the advantage of the
+race, by eliminating the maimed,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_55" id="Pg_55"></a> the ugly, and the cowardly, and
+encouraging the strong, the handsome, the enterprising, and the
+valiant. This is nature&#8217;s way of preventing degeneracy.</p>
+
+<p>In <a href="#stickle_no3">No.&nbsp;3</a> the nest is seen full of eggs, and the excellent father now
+comes out in his best light as their guardian and protector. He
+watches over them with ceaseless care, freeing them from parasites,
+and warding off the attacks of would-be enemies who desire to devour
+them, even though the intruder be several times his own size. The
+spines on his back here stand him once more in good stead: for small
+as he is, the stickleback is not an antagonist to be lightly despised:
+he can inflict a wound which a perch or a trout knows how to estimate
+at its full value. But that is not all the good parent&#8217;s duty. He
+takes the eggs out of the nest every now and then with his snout, airs
+them a little in the fresh water outside, and then replaces and
+rearranges them, so that all may get a fair share of oxygen and may
+hatch out about simultaneously. It is this question of oxygen, indeed,
+which gives the father fish all the greatest trouble. That necessary
+of life is dissolved in water in very small quantities; and it is
+absolutely needed by every egg in order to enable it to undergo those
+vital changes which we know as hatching. To keep up a due supply of
+oxygen, therefore, the father stickleback ungrudgingly devotes
+laborious days in poising himself delicately just above the nest, as
+you see in <a href="#stickle_no3">No.&nbsp;3</a>, and fanning the eggs with his fins and tail, so as
+to set up a constant current of water through the centre of the
+barrel. He sits upon the eggs just as truly as a hen does; only, he
+sits upon them, not for warmth, but for aeration.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 350px;"><a name="stickle_no3" id="stickle_no3"></a>
+<a href="images/056stickle-no3.png"><img src="images/056stickle-no3.png" width="350" height="406" alt="No. 3. Male Stickleback Watching Eggs in Nest." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">No.&nbsp;3. Male Stickleback Watching Eggs in
+Nest.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_56" id="Pg_56"></a>For weeks together this exemplary parent continues his monotonous
+task, ventilating the spawn many times every day, till the time comes
+for hatching. It takes about a month for the eggs to develop: and then
+the proud father&#8217;s position grows more arduous than ever. He has to
+rock a thousand cradles at once, so to speak, and to pacify a thousand
+crying babies. On the one hand, enemies hover about, trying to eat the
+tender transparent glass-like little fry, and these he must drive off:
+on the other hand, the good nurse must take care that the active young
+fish do not stray far from the nest, and so expose themselves
+prematurely to the manifold dangers of the outer world. Till they are
+big enough to take care of themselves, he watches with incessant
+vigilance over their safety; as soon as they can go forth with
+tolerable security upon the world of their brook or pond, he takes a
+last well-merited holiday.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_57" id="Pg_57"></a>It is not surprising under these circumstances to learn that
+sticklebacks are successful and increasing animals. Their numbers are
+enormous, wherever they get a fair chance in life, because they
+multiply rapidly up to the extreme limit of the means of subsistence,
+and develop as fast as food remains for them. There the inexorable
+Malthusian law at last steps in: when there is not food enough for all
+some must starve; that is the long and the short of the great
+population question. But while provender is forthcoming they increase
+gayly. Sticklebacks live mainly on the spawn of other fish, though
+they are so careful of their own, and they are therefore naturally
+hated by trout-preservers and owners of fisheries in general.
+Thousands and thousands are caught each year; in some places, indeed,
+they are so numerous that they are used as manure. It is their
+numbers, of course, that make them formidable; they are the locusts of
+the streams, well armed and pugnacious, and provided with most
+remarkable parental instincts of a protective character, which enables
+them to fill up all vacancies in their ranks as fast as they occur
+with astonishing promptitude.</p>
+
+<p>To those whose acquaintance with fish is mainly culinary, it may seem
+odd to hear that the father stickleback alone takes part in the care
+of the nursery. But this is the rule among the whole class of fish;
+wherever the young are tended, it is almost always the father, not the
+mother, who undertakes the duty of incubation. Only two instances
+occur where the female fish assumes maternal functions towards her
+young; about these I shall have more to say a little later on. We must
+remember that rep<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_58" id="Pg_58"></a>tiles, birds, and mammals are in all probability
+descended from fish as ancestors, and it is therefore clear that the
+habit of handing over the care of the young to the female alone
+belongs to the higher grades of vertebrates&mdash;in other words, is of
+later origin. We need not be astonished, therefore, to find that in
+many cases among birds and other advanced vertebrates a partial
+reversion to the earlier habit not infrequently takes place. With
+doves, for example, the cock and hen birds sit equally on the eggs,
+taking turns about at the nest; and as for the ostriches, the male
+bird there does most of the incubation, for he accepts the whole of
+the night duty, and also assists at intervals during the daytime.
+There are numerous other cases where the father bird shares the tasks
+of the nursery at least equally with the mother. I will glance first,
+however, at one of the rare exceptions among fish where the main duty
+does not devolve on the devoted father.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;"><a name="tube_no4" id="tube_no4"></a>
+<a href="images/058tube-no4.png"><img src="images/058tube-no4.png" width="400" height="161" alt="No. 4. Female Tube-Mouth." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">No.&nbsp;4. Female Tube-Mouth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In <a href="#tube_no4">No.&nbsp;4</a> we have an illustration of the tube-mouth or Solenostoma, one
+of the two known kinds of fish in which the female shows a sense of
+her position as a mother. The tube-mouth, as you can see at a glance,
+is a close relation of our old friend the seahorse, whose disguised
+and undisguised forms in Australia and the Mediterranean we have
+already observed when dealing with the question of animal
+masqueraders. Solenostoma is a native of the Indian Ocean, from<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_59" id="Pg_59"></a>
+Zanzibar to China. In the male, the lower pair of fins are separate,
+as is usual among fish; but in the female, represented in the
+accompanying sketch, they are lightly joined at the edge, so as to
+form a sort of pouch like a kangaroo&#8217;s, in which the eggs are
+deposited after being laid, and thus carried about in the mother&#8217;s
+safe keeping. <a href="#tube_no5">No.&nbsp;5</a> shows the arrangement of this pouch in detail,
+with the eggs inside it. The mother Solenostoma not only takes charge
+of the spawn while it is hatching in this receptacle, but also looks
+after the young fry, like the father stickleback, till they are of an
+age to go off on their own account in quest of adventures. The most
+frequent adventure that happens to them on the way is, of course,
+being eaten.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 100px;"><a name="tube_no5" id="tube_no5"></a>
+<a href="images/059tube-no5.png"><img src="images/059tube-no5.png" width="100" height="375" alt="No. 5. Pouch of Tube-Mouth." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">No.&nbsp;5. Pouch of Tube-Mouth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The common English pipe-fish is a good example of the other and much
+more usual case in which the father alone is actuated by a proper
+sense of parental responsibility. The pipe-fish, indeed, might almost
+be described as a pure and blameless rate-payer. <a href="#pipe_no6">No.&nbsp;6</a> shows you the
+outer form of this familiar creature, whom you will recognize at a
+glance as still more nearly allied to the sea-horses than even the
+tube-mouth. Pipe-fishes are timid and skulking creatures. Like their
+horse-headed relations, they lurk for the most<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_60" id="Pg_60"></a> part among sea-weed
+for protection, and being but poor swimmers, never venture far from
+the covering shelter of their native thicket. But the curious part of
+them is that in this family the father fish is provided with a pouch
+even more perfect than that of the female tube-mouth, and that he
+himself, not his mate takes sole charge of the young, incubates them
+in his sack, and escorts them about for some time after hatching. The
+pouch, which is more fully represented in <a href="#pipe_no7">No.&nbsp;7</a>, is formed by a loose
+fold of skin arising from either side of the creature. In the
+illustration this fold is partly withdrawn, so as to show the young
+pipe-fish within their safe retreat after hatching out. It is said, I
+know not how truly, that the young fry will stroll out for an
+occasional swim on their own account, but will return at any threat of
+danger to their father&#8217;s bosom, for a considerable time after the
+first hatching. This is just like what one knows of kangaroos and many
+other pouched mammals, where the mother&#8217;s pouch becomes a sort of
+nursery, or place of refuge, to which the little ones return for
+warmth or safety after every excursion.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="pipe_no6" id="pipe_no6"></a>
+<a href="images/059pipe-no6.png"><img src="images/059pipe-no6.png" width="400" height="159" alt="No. 6. Pipe-Fish." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">No.&nbsp;6. Pipe-Fish.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"><a name="pipe_no7" id="pipe_no7"></a>
+<a href="images/060pipe-no7.png"><img src="images/060pipe-no7.png" width="500" height="147" alt="No. 7. Pouch of Pipe-Fish." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">No.&nbsp;7. Pouch of Pipe-Fish.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The sea-horses and many other fish have similar pouches; but, oddly
+enough, in every case it is the male fish which bears it, and which
+undertakes the arduous duty of nurse for his infant offspring.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_61" id="Pg_61"></a>A few female fish, on the other hand, even hatch the eggs within their
+own bodies, and so apparently bring forth their young alive, like the
+English lizard among reptiles. This, however, is far from a common
+case: indeed, in an immense number of instances, neither parent pays
+the slightest attention to the eggs after they are once laid and got
+rid of: the spawn is left to lie on the bottom and be eaten or spared
+as chance directs, while the young fry have to take care of
+themselves, without the aid of parental advice and education. But
+exceptions occur where both parents show signs of realizing the
+responsibilities of their position. In some little South American
+river fish, for instance, the father and mother together build a nest
+of dead leaves for the spawn, and watch over it in unison until the
+young are hatched. This case is exactly analogous to that of the doves
+among birds: I may add that wherever such instances occur they always
+seem to be accompanied by a markedly gentle and affectionate nature.
+Brilliantly-coloured fighting polygamous fishes are fierce and cruel:
+monogamous and faithful animals are seldom bright-hued, but they mate
+for life and are usually remarkable for their domestic felicity. The
+doves and love-birds are familiar instances.</p>
+
+<p>Frogs are very closely allied to fish: indeed, one may almost say that
+every frog begins life as a fish, limbless, gill-bearing, and aquatic,
+and ends it as something very like a reptile, four-legged,
+lung-bearing, and more or less terrestrial. For the tadpole is
+practically in all essentials a fish. It is not odd, therefore, to
+find that certain frogs reproduce, in a very marked manner, the
+fatherly traits of their fish-like ancestors. There<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_62" id="Pg_62"></a> is a common kind
+of frog in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, which does not extend to
+England, but which closely recalls the habits of the stickleback and
+the pipe-fish. Among these eminently moral amphibians, it is the
+father, not the mother, who takes entire charge of the family. The
+female lays her spawn in the shape of long strings or rolls, looking
+at first sight like slimy necklaces. I have seen them as much as a
+couple of yards long, lying loose on the grass where the frog lays
+them. As soon as she has deposited them, however, the father frog hops
+up, twists the garlands dexterously in loose festoons round his legs
+and thighs, and then retires with his precious burden to some hole in
+the bank of his native pond, where he lurks in seclusion till the eggs
+develop. Frogs do not need frequent doses of food&mdash;their meals are
+often few and far between&mdash;and during the six or eight weeks that the
+eggs take to mature the father probably eats very little, though he
+may possibly sally forth at night, unobserved, in search of provender.
+At the end of that time the devoted parent, foreseeing developments,
+takes to the water once more, so that the tadpoles may be hatched in
+their proper element. I may add that this frog is a great musician in
+the breeding season, but that as soon as the tadpoles are hatched out
+he loses his voice entirely, and does not recover his manly croak till
+the succeeding spring. This is also the case with the song of many
+birds, the crest of the newt, the plumes of certain highly-decorated
+trogons and nightjars, and, roughly speaking, the decorative and
+attractive features of the male sex in general. Such features are
+given them<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_63" id="Pg_63"></a> during the mating period as allurements for their
+consorts: they disappear, for the time at least, like a ball-dress
+after a ball, as soon as no immediate use can any longer be made of
+them.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/063frog.png"><img src="images/063frog.png" width="300" height="363" alt="Pouched Frog." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Pouched Frog.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Some American tree-frogs, on the other hand, imitate rather the
+motherly Solenostoma than the fatherly instincts of the pipe-fish or
+the stickleback. These pretty little creatures have a pouch like the
+kangaroo, but in their case (as in the kangaroo&#8217;s) it is the female
+who bears it. Within this safe receptacle the eggs are placed by the
+male, who pushes them in with his hind feet; and they not only undergo
+their hatching in the pouch, but also pass through their whole tadpole
+development in the same place. Owing to the care which is thus
+extended to the eggs and young, these advanced tree-frogs are enabled
+to lay only about a dozen to fifteen eggs at a time, instead of the
+countless hundreds often produced by many of their relations.</p>
+
+<p>Tree-frogs have, of course, in most circumstances much greater
+difficulty in getting at water than pond-frogs; and this is especially
+true in certain tropical or desert districts. Hence most of the frogs
+which inhabit such regions have had to find out or invent some
+ingenious plan for passing through the tadpole stage with a minimum of
+moisture. The devices they have hit upon are very curious. Some of
+them make use of the little pools collected at the bases of huge
+tropical leaf-stalks, like those of the banana plant; others dis<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_64" id="Pg_64"></a>pense
+with the aid of water altogether, and glue their new-laid eggs to
+their own backs, where the fry pass through the tadpole stage with the
+slimy mucus which surrounds them. Nature always discovers such cunning
+schemes to get over apparent difficulties in her way: and the
+tree-frogs have solved the problem for themselves in half a dozen
+manners in different localities. Oddest of all, perhaps, is the dodge
+invented by &ldquo;Darwin&#8217;s frog,&rdquo; a Chilean species, in which the male
+swallows the eggs as soon as laid, and gulps them into the
+throat-pouch beneath his capacious neck: there they hatch out and pass
+through their tadpole stage: and when at last they arrive at frogly
+maturity, they escape into the world through the mouth of their
+father.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 350px;"><a name="toad_no8" id="toad_no8"></a>
+<a href="images/064toad.png"><img src="images/064toad.png" width="350" height="228" alt="No. 8. The Surinam Toad." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">No.&nbsp;8. The Surinam Toad.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Surinam toad, represented in <a href="#toad_no8">No.&nbsp;8</a>, is also the possessor of one
+of the strangest nurseries known to science. It lives in the dense
+tropical forests of Guiana and Brazil, and is a true water-haunter.
+But at the breeding season the female undergoes a curious change of
+integument. The skin on her back grows pulpy, soft, and jelly-like.
+She lays her eggs in the water: but as soon as she has laid them, her
+lord and master plasters them on to her impressionable back with his
+feet, so as to secure them from all assaults of enemies.<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_65" id="Pg_65"></a> Every egg is
+pressed separately into a bed of the soft skin, which soon closes over
+it automatically, thus burying each in a little cell or niche, where
+it undergoes its further development. The tadpoles pass through their
+larval stage within the cell, and then hop out, in the four-legged
+condition. As soon as they have gone off to shift for themselves, the
+mother toad finds herself with a ragged and honeycombed skin, which
+must be very uncomfortable. So she rubs the remnant of it off against
+stones or the bark of trees, and re-develops a similar back afresh at
+the next breeding season.</p>
+
+<p>Almost never do we find a device in nature which occurs once only. The
+unique hardly exists: nature is a great copyist. At least two animals
+of wholly unlike kinds are all but sure to hit independently upon the
+self-same mechanism. So it is not surprising to learn that a cat-fish
+has invented an exactly similar mode of carrying its young to that
+adopted by the Surinam toad: only, here it is on the under surface,
+not the upper one, that the spawn is plastered. The eggs of this
+cat-fish, whose scientific name is Aspredo, are pressed into the skin
+below the body, and so borne about by the mother till they hatch. This
+is the second instance of which I spoke above, where the female fish
+herself assumes the care of her offspring, instead of leaving it
+entirely to her excellent partner.</p>
+
+<p>Higher up in the scale of life we get many instances which show
+various stages in the same progressive development towards greater
+care for the safety and education of the young. Among the larger
+lizards, for example, a distinct advance may be traced between the
+comparatively uncivilized American alligator and his<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_66" id="Pg_66"></a> near ally, the
+much more cultivated African crocodile. On the banks of the
+Mississippi, the alligator lays a hundred eggs or thereabouts, which
+she deposits in a nest near the water&#8217;s edge, and then covers them up
+with leaves and other decaying vegetable matter. The fermentation of
+these leaves produces heat and so does for the alligator&#8217;s eggs what
+sitting does for those of hens and other birds: the mother deputes her
+maternal functions, so to speak, to a festering heap of decomposing
+plant-refuse. Nevertheless, she loiters about all the time, like
+Miriam round the ark which contained Moses, to see what happens; and
+when the eggs hatch out, she leads her little ones down to the river,
+and there makes alligators of them. This is a simple and relatively
+low stage in the nursery arrangements of the big lizards.</p>
+
+<p>The African crocodile, on the other hand, goes a stage higher. It lays
+only about thirty eggs, but these it buries in warm sand, and then
+lies on top of them at night, both to protect them from attack and to
+keep them warm during the cooler hours. In short, it sits upon them.
+When the young crocodiles within the eggs are ready to hatch, they
+utter an acute cry. The mother then digs down to the eggs, and lays
+them freely on the surface, so that the little reptiles may have space
+to work their way out unimpeded. This they do by biting at the shell
+with a specially developed tooth; at the end of two hours&#8217; nibbling
+they are free, and are led down to the water by their affectionate
+parent. In these two cases we see the beginnings of the instinct of
+hatching, which in birds, the next in order in the scale of being, has
+become almost universal.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_67" id="Pg_67"></a>I say <i>almost</i> universal, because even among birds there are a few
+kinds which have not to this day progressed beyond the alligator
+level. Australia is the happy hunting-ground of the zo&ouml;logist in
+search of antiquated forms, elsewhere extinct, and several Australian
+birds, such as the brush-turkeys, still treat their eggs essentially
+on the alligator method. The cock birds heap up huge mounds of earth
+and decaying vegetable matter, as much as would represent several
+cartloads of mould; and in this natural hot-bed the hens lay their
+eggs, burying each separately with a good stock of leaves around it.
+The heat of the sun and the fermenting mould hatch them out between
+them; to expedite the process, the birds uncover the eggs during the
+warmer part of the day, expose them to the sun, and bury them again in
+the hot-beds towards evening. Several intermediate steps may also be
+found between this early stage of communal nesting by proxy and the
+true hatching instinct; a good one is supplied by the ostrich, which
+partially buries its eggs in hot sand, but sits on them at intervals,
+both father and mother birds taking shares by turn in the duties of
+incubation.</p>
+
+<p>The vast subject which I have thus lightly skimmed is not without
+interest, again, from its human implications. Savages as a rule
+produce enormous families; but then, the infant mortality in savage
+tribes is proportionally great. Among civilized races, families are
+smaller, and deaths in infancy are far less numerous. The higher the
+class or the natural grade of a stock, the larger as a rule the
+proportion of children safely reared to the adult age. The goal
+towards which<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_68" id="Pg_68"></a> humanity is slowly moving would thus seem to be one
+where families in most cases will be relatively small&mdash;perhaps not
+more on an average than three to a household&mdash;but where most or all of
+the children brought into the world will be safely reared to full
+maturity. This is already becoming the rule in certain favored ranks
+of European society.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/068tadpoles.png"><img src="images/068tadpoles.png" width="400" height="227" alt="Tadpoles and Young Frog." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Tadpoles and Young Frog.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_69" id="Pg_69"></a><a name="HOW_ANIMALS_SPEND_THE_WINTER" id="HOW_ANIMALS_SPEND_THE_WINTER"></a>HOW ANIMALS SPEND THE WINTER<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Gleanings from Nature.)<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a><br />
+By <a href="#Blatchley">W.&nbsp;S. BLATCHLEY</a>.</span></h2>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2">[2]</a> &ldquo;Popular Science Monthly,&rdquo; February, 1897. Copyright by
+William Stanley Blatchley, 1899.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 200px;">
+<a href="images/069o.png"><img src="images/069o-1.gif" width="200" height="121" alt="A Cocoon." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 129px;">
+<a href="images/069o.png"><img src="images/069o-2.png" width="129" height="347" alt="A Cocoon." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">A Cocoon.</p>
+</div>
+<p style="text-indent:-15px;"><span class="cap">O</span>ne of the greatest problems which each of the living forms about us
+has had to solve, during the years of its existence on earth, is how
+best to perpetuate its kind during that cold season which once each
+year, in our temperate zone, is bound to come. Many are the solutions
+to this problem. Each form of life has, as it were, solved it best to
+suit its own peculiar case, and to the earnest student of Nature there
+is nothing more interesting than to pry into these solutions and note
+how varied, strange, and wonderful they are.</p>
+
+<p>To fully appreciate some of the facts mentioned below it must be borne
+in mind that there is no such thing as &ldquo;spontaneous generation&rdquo; of
+life. Every cell is the offspring of a pre-existing cell. Nothing but
+a living thing can produce a living thing.<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_70" id="Pg_70"></a> Hence every weed that next
+season will spring up and provoke the farmer&#8217;s ire, and every insect
+which will then make life almost intolerable for man or beast, exists
+throughout the winter in some form....</p>
+
+<p>Beginning with the earth-worms and their kindred, we find that at the
+approach of winter they burrow deep down where the icy breath of the
+frost never reaches, and there they live, during the cold season, a
+life of comparative quiet. That they are exceedingly sensitive to
+warmth, however, may be proven by the fact that when a warm rain comes
+some night in February or March, thawing out the crust of the earth,
+the next morning reveals in our dooryards the mouths of hundreds of
+the pits or burrows of these primitive tillers of the soil, each
+surrounded by a little pile of pellets, the castings of the active
+artisans of the pits during the night before.</p>
+
+<p>If we will get up before dawn on such a morning we can find the worms
+crawling actively about over the surface of the ground, but when the
+first signs of day appear they seek once more their protective
+burrows, and only an occasional belated individual serves as a
+breakfast for the early birds.</p>
+
+<p>The eyes of these lowly creatures are not visible, and consist of
+single special cells scattered among the epidermal cells of the skin,
+and connected by means of a sensory nerve fibre with a little bunch of
+nervous matter in the body. Such a simple visual apparatus serves them
+only in distinguishing light from darkness, but this to them is most
+important knowledge, as it enables them to avoid the surface of the
+earth by day, when their worst enemies, the birds, are in active
+search for them.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_71" id="Pg_71"></a>The fresh-water mussels and snails and the crayfish burrow deep into
+the mud and silt at the bottom of ponds and streams where they lie
+motionless during the winter. The land snails, in late autumn, crawl
+beneath logs, and, burrowing deep into the soft mould, they withdraw
+far into their shells. Then each one forms with a mucous secretion two
+thin transparent membranes, one across the opening of the shell and
+one a little farther within, thus making the interior of the shell
+perfectly air-tight. There for five or six months he sleeps, free from
+the pangs of hunger and the blasts of winter, and when the balmy
+breezes of spring blow up from the south he breaks down and devours
+the protecting membrane and goes forth with his home on his back to
+seek fresh leaves for food and to find for himself a mate.</p>
+
+<p>Next in the scale come the insects, which comprise four-fifths of all
+existing animals, and each one of the mighty horde seen in summer has
+passed the winter in some form. One must look for them in strange
+places and under many disguises; for they cannot migrate, as do the
+majority of the birds, nor can they live an active life while the
+source of their food supply, the plants, are inactive.</p>
+
+<p>The majority of those insects which in May or June will be found
+feeding on the buds or leaves of our trees, or crawling worm-like over
+the grass of our lawns, or burrowing beneath the roots of our garden
+plants, are represented in the winter by the eggs alone. These eggs
+are deposited in autumn by the mother insect, on or near the object
+destined to furnish the young, or larv&aelig;, their food. Each egg
+corre<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_72" id="Pg_72"></a>sponds to a seed of one of our annual plants; being, like it,
+but a form of life so fashioned and fitted as to withstand for a long
+period intense cold; the mother insect, like the summer form of the
+plant, succumbing to the first severe frost.</p>
+
+<p>Thus myriads of the eggs of grasshoppers are in the early autumn
+deposited in the ground, in compact masses of forty to sixty each.
+About mid-April they begin to hatch, and the sprightly little insects,
+devoid of wings, but otherwise like their parents, begin their
+life-work of changing grass into flesh.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/072cater.png"><img src="images/072cater.png" width="500" height="149" alt="Hedgehog Caterpillar." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Hedgehog Caterpillar.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A comparatively small number of insects pass the winter in the larval
+or active stage of the young. Of these, perhaps the best known is the
+brown &ldquo;woolly worm&rdquo; or &ldquo;hedgehog caterpillar,&rdquo; as it is familiarly
+called. It is thickly covered with stiff black hairs on each end, and
+with reddish hairs on the middle of the body. These hairs appear to be
+evenly and closely shorn, so as to give the animal a velvety look; and
+as they have a certain degree of elasticity, and the caterpillar curls
+up at the slightest touch, it generally manages to slip away when
+taken into the hand. Beneath loose bark, boards, rails, and stones,
+this caterpillar may be found in mid-winter, coiled up and apparently
+lifeless. On the first bright, sunny days of spring it may be seen
+crawling rapidly over the ground, seeking the earnest vegetation which
+will furnish it a literal &ldquo;breakfast.&rdquo; In April<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_73" id="Pg_73"></a> or May the chrysalis,
+surrounded by a loose cocoon formed of the hairs of the body
+interwoven with coarse silk, may be found in situations similar to
+those in which the larva passed the winter. From this, the perfect
+insect, the Isabella tiger moth, <i>Pyrrharctia isabella</i> Smith, emerges
+about the last of June. It is a medium sized moth, dull orange in
+color, with three rows of small black spots on the body, and some
+scattered spots of the same color on the wings.</p>
+
+<p>By breaking open rotten logs one can find in mid-winter the grubs or
+larv&aelig; of many of the wood-boring beetles, and, beneath logs and stones
+near the margins of ponds and brooks, hordes of the maggots or larv&aelig;
+of certain kinds of flies may often be found huddled together in great
+masses. The larv&aelig; of a few butterflies also live over winter beneath
+chips or bunches of leaves near the roots of their food plant, or in
+webs of their own construction, which are woven on the stems close to
+the buds, whose expanding leaves will furnish them their first meal in
+spring.</p>
+
+<p>Many insects pass the winter in the quiescent or pupal stage; a state
+exceedingly well fitted for hibernating, requiring as it does, no
+food, and giving plenty of time for the marvellous changes which are
+then undergone. Some of these pup&aelig; are enclosed in dense silken
+cocoons, which are bound to the twigs of the plants upon which the
+larv&aelig; feed, and thus they swing securely in their silken hammocks
+through all the storms of winter. Perhaps the most common of these is
+that of the brown Cecropian moth, <i>Attacus cecropia</i> L., the large
+oval cocoon of which is a conspicuous object in the winter on the
+twigs of our common shade<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_74" id="Pg_74"></a> and fruit trees. Many other pup&aelig; may be
+found beneath logs or on the under side of bark, and usually have the
+chrysalis surrounded by a thin covering of hairs, which are rather
+loosely arranged. A number pass the cold season in the earth with no
+protective covering whatever. Among these is a large brown chrysalis
+with a long tongue case bent over so as to resemble the handle of a
+jug. Every farm boy has ploughed or spaded it up in the spring, and is
+it but the pupa of a large sphinx moth, <i>Protoparce celeus</i> Hub., the
+larva of which is the great green worm, with a &ldquo;horn on its tail,&rdquo; so
+common on tomato plants in the late summer.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/074chrysalis.png"><img src="images/074chrysalis.png" width="500" height="149" alt="Chrysalis of Tomato Worm." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Chrysalis of Tomato Worm.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Each of the winter forms of insects above mentioned can withstand long
+and severe cold weather&mdash;in fact, may be frozen solid for weeks and
+retain life and vigor, both of which are shown when warm weather and
+food appear again. Indeed, it is not an unusually cold winter, but one
+of successive thawings and freezings, which is most destructive to
+insect life. A mild winter encourages the growth of mould which
+attacks the hibernating larv&aelig; and pup&aelig; as soon as, from excess of rain
+or humidity, they become sickly; and it also permits the continued
+activity of <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'insectivorus'.">insectivorous</ins> mammals and birds. Thus, moles, shrews,
+and field mice, instead of burying themselves deeply in the ground,
+run about<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_75" id="Pg_75"></a> freely during an open winter and destroy enormous numbers
+of pup&aelig;; while such birds as the woodpeckers, titmice, and chickadees
+are constantly on the alert, and searching in every crevice and cranny
+of fence and bark of tree for the hibernating larv&aelig;.</p>
+
+<p>Of the creeping, wingless creatures, which can ever be found beneath
+rocks, rails, chunks, and especially beneath those old decaying logs
+which are half buried in the rich vegetable mould, the myriapods, or
+&ldquo;thousand-legs,&rdquo; deserve more than a passing notice. They are typical
+examples of that great branch of the animal kingdom known as
+<i>arthropods</i>, which comprises all insects and crustaceans. Each
+arthropod has the body composed of rings placed end to end and bearing
+jointed appendages, and in the myriapods each ring and its appendages
+can be plainly seen; whereas in the higher forms of the branch many of
+the rings are so combined as to be very difficult to distinguish.</p>
+
+<p>Full forty kinds of myriapods occur in any area comprising one hundred
+square miles in the eastern United States. About twenty-five of them
+go by the general name of &ldquo;thousand-legs&rdquo; or millipedes, as each has
+from forty to fifty-five cylindrical rings in the body, and two pairs
+of legs to each ring. The other fifteen belong to the &ldquo;centipede&rdquo;
+group, the body consisting of about sixteen flattened segments, or
+rings, each bearing a single pair of legs. When disturbed, the
+&ldquo;thousand-legs&rdquo; generally coils up and remains motionless, shamming
+death, or &ldquo;playing possum,&rdquo; as it is popularly put, as a means of
+defence; while the centipede scampers hurriedly away and endeavors to
+hide beneath leaf, chip, or other object.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 116px;">
+<a href="images/076centipede.png"><img src="images/076centipede.png" width="116" height="550" alt="Centipede." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Centipede.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_76" id="Pg_76"></a>All those found in the Northern States are perfectly harmless, the
+true centipede, whose bite is reputed much more venomous than it
+really is, being found only in the South. True, some of the centipede
+group can pinch rather sharply with their beetle-like jaws; and one,
+our largest and most common species, a brownish red fellow about three
+inches long and without eyes, can even draw blood if its jaws happen
+to strike a tender place. When handled it always tries to bite,
+perhaps out of revenge for the abominably long Latin name given it by
+its describer. In fact the name is longer than the animal
+itself&mdash;<i>Sco-lo-po-cryp-tops sex-spi-no-sus</i> (Say)&mdash;being its cognomen
+in full. With such a handle attached to it, who can blame it for
+attempting to bite? Yet, to the scientist up on his Latin, each part
+of the above name bears a definite and tangible meaning. All the
+myriapods found in the woods and fields feed upon decaying vegetation,
+such as leaves, stems of weeds, and rotten wood, and in winter three
+or four species can usually be found within or beneath every decaying
+log or stump. One species with very long legs, <i>Scutigera forceps</i>
+(Raf.), is often found in damp houses or in cellars. It is sometimes
+called the &ldquo;wall-sweeper,&rdquo; on account of its rapid ungainly gait, and
+is even reputed to prey upon cockroaches and other household pests.</p>
+
+<p>Spiders, which do not undergo such changes as do<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_77" id="Pg_77"></a> most of the common,
+six-footed insects, winter either as eggs or in the mature form. The
+members of the &ldquo;sedentary&rdquo; or web-spinning group, as a rule, form
+nests in late autumn, in each of which are deposited from fifty to
+eighty eggs, which survive the winter and hatch in the spring, as soon
+as the food supply of gnats, flies, and mosquitoes appear. The
+different forms of spiders&#8217; nests are very interesting objects of
+study. Some are those close-spun, flat, button-shaped objects, about
+half an inch in diameter, which are so common in winter on the under
+side of bark, chunks and flat rocks. Others are balloon-shaped and
+attached to weeds. Within the latter the young spiders often hatch in
+early winter, make their first meal off their empty egg cases, and
+then begin a struggle for existence, the stronger preying upon the
+weaker until the south winds blow again, when they emerge and scatter
+far and wide in search of more nutritious sustenance.</p>
+
+<p>The &ldquo;wandering&rdquo; spiders never spin webs, but run actively about and
+pounce upon their prey with a tiger-like spring. Six or eight of the
+larger species of this group winter in the mature form beneath logs
+and chunks, being often frozen solid during cold weather, but thawing
+out as healthy as ever when the temperature rises. Retiring beneath
+the loose-fitting bark of hickory or maple trees, a number of the
+smaller tube-weaving spiders construct about themselves a protecting
+web of many layers of the finest silk. Within this snug retreat they
+lie from November until April&mdash;a handsome, small, black fellow, with
+green jaws and two orange spots on his abdomen, being the most<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_78" id="Pg_78"></a> common
+species found motionless within this seeming shroud of silk on a day
+in mid-winter.</p>
+
+<p>In any Northern State as many as four hundred different kinds of the
+six-footed or true insects, in the winged or adult stage, may be taken
+in winter by any one who is so disposed, and knows where to search for
+them. Among the <i>Orthoptera</i>, the &ldquo;grouse grasshoppers&rdquo; live during
+the cold season beneath the loose bark of logs, or beneath the bottom
+rails of the old Virginia worm fences. From these retreats every warm,
+sunny day tempts them forth in numbers. On such occasions the earth
+seems to swarm with them, as they leap before the intruder, their hard
+bodies striking the dead leaves with a sound similar to that produced
+by falling hail. The common field cricket belongs also to the
+<i>Orthoptera</i>, and the young of various sizes winter under rails and
+logs, bidding defiance to Jack Frost from within a little burrow or
+pit beneath the protecting shelter.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 250px;">
+<a href="images/078chinch.png"><img src="images/078chinch.png" width="250" height="385" alt="Chinch Bug." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Chinch Bug.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The true bugs, or <i>Hemiptera</i>, hibernate in similar places; squash
+bugs, chinch bugs, &ldquo;stink&rdquo; bugs, and others being easily found in
+numbers beneath loose bark or hidden between the root leaves of
+mullein and other plants.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly three hundred species of <i>Coleoptera</i>, or<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_79" id="Pg_79"></a> beetles, occupy
+similar positions. Almost any rotten log or stump when broken open
+discloses a half dozen or more &ldquo;horn&rdquo; or &ldquo;bess beetles,&rdquo; <i>Passalus
+cornutus</i> L., great, shining, clumsy, black fellows with a curved horn
+on the head. They are often utilized as horses by country children,
+the horn furnishing an inviting projection to which may be fastened,
+by a thread or cord, chips and pieces of bark to be dragged about by
+the strong and never lagging beast of burden. When tired of &ldquo;playing
+horse&rdquo; they can make of the insect an instrument of music; for, when
+held by the body, it emits a creaking, hissing noise, produced by
+rubbing the abdomen up and down against the inside of the hard, horny
+wing covers. This beetle passes its entire life in cavities in the
+rotten wood on which it feeds, and when it wishes a larger or more
+commodious home it has only to eat the more.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 250px;">
+<a href="images/079beetle.png"><img src="images/079beetle.png" width="250" height="309" alt="Thirteen-Spotted Lady Beetle." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Thirteen-Spotted Lady Beetle.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The handsome and beneficial lady beetles winter beneath fallen leaves
+or between and beneath the root leaves of the mullein and the thistle.
+Our most common species, the thirteen-spotted lady beetle, <i>Megilla
+maculata</i> De G., is gregarious, collecting together by thousands on
+the approach of cold weather, and lying huddled up like sheep until a
+breath of spring gives them the signal to disperse. Snout beetles
+galore can be found beneath piles of weeds near streams and the
+borders of ponds or beneath chunks and logs in sandy<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_80" id="Pg_80"></a> places. All are
+injurious, and the farmer by burning their hibernating places in
+winter can cause their destruction in numbers. Rove beetles, ground
+beetles, and many others live deep down in the vegetable mould beneath
+old logs, where they are, no doubt, as secure from the ice king as if
+they followed the swallow to the tropics.</p>
+
+<p>Of the <i>Diptera</i>, or flies, but few forms winter in the perfect state,
+yet the myriads of house flies and their kin, which next summer will
+distract the busy house-wife, are represented in winter by a few
+isolated individuals which creep forth occasionally from crevice or
+cranny and greet us with a friendly buzz.</p>
+
+<p>In mid-winter one may also see in the air swarms of small, gnat-like
+insects. They belong to this order and live beneath the bark of
+freshly fallen beech and other logs. On warm, sunny days they go forth
+in numbers for a sort of rhythmical courtship; their movements while
+in the air being peculiar in that they usually rise and fall in the
+same vertical line&mdash;performing a curious a&euml;rial dance which is long
+continued.</p>
+
+<p>Among the dozen or more butterflies and moths which winter in the
+perfect state, the most common and the most handsome is the
+&ldquo;Camberwell beauty&rdquo; or &ldquo;mourning cloak,&rdquo; <i>Vanessa antiopa</i> L., a large
+butterfly whose wings are a rich purplish brown above, duller beneath,
+and broadly margined with a yellowish band. It is often found in
+winter beneath chunks which are raised a short distance above the
+ground, or in the crevices of old snags and fence rails. It is then
+apparently lifeless, with the antenn&aelig; resting close along the back,
+above which the wings are folded. But one or<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_81" id="Pg_81"></a> two warm days are
+necessary to restore it to activity, and I have seen it on the wing as
+early as the 2d of March, hovering over the open flowers of the little
+snow trillium.</p>
+
+<p>All the species of ants survive the winter as mature forms, either in
+their nests in the ground or huddled groups in half rotten logs and
+stumps; while here and there beneath logs a solitary queen bumble-bee,
+bald hornet, or yellow jacket is found&mdash;the sole representatives of
+their races.</p>
+
+<p>Thus insects survive the winter in many ways and in many places, some
+as eggs, others as larv&aelig;, still others as pup&aelig;, and a large number as
+adults&mdash;all being able to withstand severe cold and yet retain
+vitality sufficient to recover, live, grow, and replenish the earth
+with their progeny when the halcyon days of spring appear once more.</p>
+
+<p>In the scale of animal life the vertebrates or back-boned animals
+succeed the insects. Beginning with the fishes, we find that in late
+autumn they mostly seek some deep pool in pond or stream at the bottom
+of which the water does not freeze. Here the herbivorous forms eke out
+a precarious existence by feeding upon the innumerable diatoms and
+other small plants which are always to be found in water, while the
+carnivorous prey upon the herbivorous, and so maintain the struggle
+for existence. The moving to these deeper channels and pools in autumn
+and the scattering in the spring of the assembly which has gathered
+there constitute the so-called &ldquo;migration of fishes,&rdquo; which is far
+from being so extensive and methodical as that practiced by the
+migratory birds.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_82" id="Pg_82"></a>Many of the smaller species of fishes, upon leaving these winter
+resorts, ascend small, clear brooks in large numbers for the purpose
+of depositing their eggs; as, when hatched in such a place, the young
+will be comparatively free from the attacks of the larger carnivorous
+forms. Among the lowest vertebrate often found in numbers in early
+spring in these meadow rills and brooks is the lamprey, <i>Ammoc&#339;tes
+branchialis</i> (L.), or &ldquo;lamper eel,&rdquo; as it is sometimes called. It has
+a slender eel-like body, of a uniform leaden or blackish color, and
+with seven purse-shaped gill openings on each side. The mouth is
+fitted for sucking rather than biting, and with it they attach
+themselves to the bodies of fishes and feed on their flesh, which they
+scrape off with their rasp-like teeth. Later in the season they
+disappear from these smaller streams, probably returning in midsummer
+to deeper water. Thoreau, who studied their habits closely, says of
+them: &ldquo;They are rarely seen on their way down stream, and it is
+thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste away and die,
+clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; a
+tragic feature to the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be
+remembered with Shakespeare&#8217;s description of the sea floor.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/082lamprey.png"><img src="images/082lamprey.png" width="400" height="200" alt="A Lamprey." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">A Lamprey.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A few of the fishes, as the mud minnow and smaller<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_83" id="Pg_83"></a> catfishes,
+together with most frogs, turtles, and salamanders, on the approach of
+winter, burrow into the mud at the bottom of the streams and ponds, or
+beneath logs near their margins. There they live without moving about
+and with all the vital processes in a partially dormant condition,
+thus needing little if any food.</p>
+
+<p>The box tortoise or &ldquo;dry land terrapin,&rdquo; the common toad, and some
+salamanders burrow into the dry earth, usually going deep enough to
+escape frost; while snakes seek some crevice in the rocks or hole in
+the ground where they coil themselves together, oftentimes in vast
+numbers, and prepare for their winter&#8217;s sleep. In an open winter this
+hibernation is often interrupted, the animal emerging from its retreat
+and seeking its usual summer haunts as though spring had come again.
+Thus I have, on one occasion, seen a soft-shelled turtle moving
+gracefully over the bottom of a stream on a day in late December, and
+have in mid-January captured snakes and salamanders from beneath a
+pile of drift-wood, where they had taken temporary refuge.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/083turtle.png"><img src="images/083turtle.png" width="400" height="200" alt="Turtle." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Turtle.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>With frogs, especially, this hibernation is not a perfect one, and
+there is a doubt if in a mild winter some species hibernate at all.
+For example, the little cricket<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_84" id="Pg_84"></a> frog or &ldquo;peeper&rdquo; has been seen many
+times in mid-winter alongside the banks of flowing streams, and during
+the open winter of 1888&#8211;89 numerous specimens of leopard and green
+frogs were seen on different occasions in December and January, while
+on February 18th they, together with the &ldquo;peepers,&rdquo; were in full
+chorus.</p>
+
+<p>Of our mammals, a few of the rodents or gnawers, as the ground-hogs,
+gophers and chipmunks, hibernate in burrows deep enough to escape the
+cold, and either feed on a stored supply of food, or, like the snakes
+and crayfish, do not feed at all.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/084chipmunk.png"><img src="images/084chipmunk.png" width="500" height="180" alt="Chipmunk." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Chipmunk.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Others, as the rabbits, field-mice, and squirrels, are more or less
+active and forage freely on whatever they can find, eating many things
+which in summer they would spurn with scorn. To this class belongs
+that intelligent but injurious animal the musquash or muskrat. Those
+which inhabit the rivers and larger streams live in burrows dug deep
+beneath the banks, but those inhabiting sluggish streams and ponds
+usually construct a conical winter house about three feet in diameter
+and from two to three feet in height. These houses are made of coarse
+grasses, rushes, branches of shrubs, and small pieces of driftwood,
+closely cemented together with stiff, clayey mud. The top of the house
+usually<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_85" id="Pg_85"></a> projects two feet or more above the water, and when sun-dried
+is so strong as to easily sustain the weight of a man. The walls are
+generally about six inches in thickness and are very difficult to pull
+to pieces. Within is a single circular chamber with a shelf or floor
+of mud, sticks, leaves and grass, ingeniously supported on coarse
+sticks stuck endwise into the mud after the manner of piles. In the
+centre of this floor is an opening, from which six or eight diverging
+paths lead to the open water without, so that the little artisan has
+many avenues of escape in case of danger. These houses are often
+repaired and used for several winters in succession, but are vacated
+on the approach of spring. During the summer the muskrat is, in the
+main, a herbivorous animal, but in winter necessity develops its
+carnivorous propensities and it feeds then mainly upon the mussels and
+crayfish which it can dig from the bottom of the pond or stream in
+which its house is built.</p>
+
+<p>The bats pass the winter in caves, the attics of houses, and barns, or
+in hollow trees, hanging downward by their hind claws. Motionless for
+months they thus remain, and those in the more exposed situations are,
+doubtless, frozen solid. Yet, in time, their blood flows freely once
+again and they become as expert on the wing as though the year were
+one continual jubilee of insect chasing, and frost and snow were to
+them unknown.</p>
+
+<p>All the carnivora, or flesh-eaters, as the mink, skunk, opossum, fox,
+and wolf, are in winter active and voracious, needing much food to
+supply the necessary animal heat of the body. Hence they are then much
+more<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_86" id="Pg_86"></a> bold than in summer, and the hen yard or sheep pen of the farmer
+is too frequently called upon to supply this extra demand.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/086wolf.png"><img src="images/086wolf.png" width="500" height="209" alt="A Wolf." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">A Wolf.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>But of all our animals it seems to me the birds have solved the winter
+problem best. Possessing an enduring power of flight and a knowledge
+of a southern sunny sky, beneath which food is plentiful, they alone
+of all the living forms about us have little fear of the coming of the
+frost. True, fifty or more species remain in each of the Northern
+States during the cold season, but they are hardy birds which feed
+mainly upon seeds, as the snow-bird and song sparrow; on flesh, as the
+hawks and crows; or on burrowing insects, as the nut-hatches and
+woodpeckers.</p>
+
+<p>Such are some of the solutions to the problem of life in winter which
+the plants and animals about us have worked out; such some of the
+forms which they undergo; the places which they inhabit.</p>
+
+<p>To the thinking mind a knowledge of these solutions but begets other
+and greater problems, such as how can a living thing be frozen solid
+for weeks and yet retain vitality enough to fully recover? How can a
+warm-blooded animal sleep for months without partaking of<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_87" id="Pg_87"></a> food or
+drink? And greater than either, what is that which we call life?</p>
+
+<p>I hold in my hand two objects, similar in size, color, organs,
+everything&mdash;twins from the same mother in all outward respects. One
+pulsates and throbs with that which we call &ldquo;life.&rdquo; It possesses heat,
+bodily motion, animal power. The other is cold, motionless, pulseless,
+throbless&mdash;a thing of clay. What is that &ldquo;life&rdquo; which the one
+possesses and the other lacks? Ah, there&#8217;s the rub! With the wisest of
+men we can only answer, &ldquo;<i>Quien sabe?</i>&rdquo; (Who knows?)</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/087winter.png"><img src="images/087winter.png" width="500" height="208" alt="Winter House of Muskrat." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Winter House of Muskrat.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_88" id="Pg_88"></a><a name="BIRDS_NESTS" id="BIRDS_NESTS"></a>BIRDS&#8217; NESTS<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Wake Robin.)<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a><br />
+By <a href="#Burroughs">JOHN BURROUGHS</a>.</span></h2>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3">[3]</a> Copyright by Houghton, Mifflin &amp; Co.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 200px;">
+<a href="images/088h.gif"><img src="images/088h.gif" width="200" height="282" alt="H, decorated with a bird&#8217;s nest" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-0.5em;"><span class="cap">H</span>ow alert and vigilant the birds are, even when absorbed in building
+their nests! In an open space in the woods, I see a pair of
+cedar-birds collecting moss from the top of a dead tree. Following the
+direction in which they fly, I soon discover the nest placed in the
+fork of a small soft-maple, which stands amid a thick growth of
+wild-cherry trees and young beeches. Carefully concealing myself
+beneath it, without any fear that the workmen will hit me with a chip
+or let fall a tool, I await the return of the busy pair. Presently I
+hear the well-known note, and the female sweeps down and settles
+unsuspectingly into the half-finished structure. Hardly have her wings
+rested, before her eye has penetrated my screen, and with a hurried
+movement of alarm, she darts away. In a moment, the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_89" id="Pg_89"></a> male, with a tuft
+of wool in his beak (for there is a sheep pasture near), joins her,
+and the two reconnoitre the premises from the surrounding bushes. With
+their beaks still loaded, they move around with a frightened look, and
+refuse to approach the nest till I have moved off and lain down behind
+a log. Then one of them ventures to alight upon the nest, but, still
+suspecting all is not right, quickly darts away again. Then they both
+together come, and after much peeping and spying about, and apparently
+much anxious consultation, cautiously proceed to work. In less than
+half an hour, it would seem that wool enough has been brought to
+supply the whole family, real and prospective, with socks, if needles
+and fingers could be found fine enough to knit it up. In less than a
+week, the female has begun to deposit her eggs,&mdash;four of them in as
+many days,&mdash;white tinged with purple, with black spots on the larger
+end. After two weeks of incubation, the young are out.</p>
+
+<p>Excepting the American goldfinch, this bird builds later in the spring
+than any other, its nest, in our northern climate, seldom being
+undertaken till July. As with the goldfinch, the reason is, probably,
+that suitable food for the young cannot be had at an earlier period.</p>
+
+<p>Like most of our common species, as the robin, sparrow, bluebird,
+pewee, wren, etc., this bird sometimes seeks wild, remote localities
+in which to rear its young; at others, takes up its abode near that of
+man. I knew a pair of cedar-birds, one season, to build in an
+apple-tree, the branches of which rubbed against the house. For a day
+or two before the first straw was<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_90" id="Pg_90"></a> laid, I noticed the pair carefully
+exploring every branch of the tree the female taking the lead, the
+male following her with an anxious note and look. It was evident that
+the wife was to have her choice this time; and, like one who
+thoroughly knew her mind, she was proceeding to take it. Finally the
+site was chosen upon a high branch extending over one low wing of the
+house. Mutual congratulations and caresses followed, when both birds
+flew away in quest of building material. That most freely used is a
+sort of cotton-bearing plant, which grows in old, worn-out fields. The
+nest is large for the size of the bird, and very soft. It is in every
+respect a first-class domicile.</p>
+
+<p>On another occasion, while walking, or rather sauntering, in the woods
+(for I have discovered that one cannot run and read the book of
+nature), my attention was arrested by a dull hammering, evidently but
+a few rods off. I said to myself, &ldquo;Some one is building a house.&rdquo; From
+what I had previously seen, I suspected the builder to be a red-headed
+woodpecker, in the top of a dead oak stub near by. Moving cautiously
+in that direction, I perceived a round hole, about the size of that
+made by an inch-and-a-half auger, near the top of the decayed trunk,
+and the white chips of the workman strewing the ground beneath. When
+but a few paces from the tree, my foot pressed upon a dry twig, which
+gave forth a very slight snap. Instantly the hammering ceased, and a
+scarlet head appeared at the door. Though I remained perfectly
+motionless, forbearing even to wink till my eye smarted, the bird
+refused to go on with his work, but flew quietly off to a neighboring
+tree. What surprised me was, that amid<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_91" id="Pg_91"></a> his busy occupation down in
+the heart of the old tree he should have been so alert and watchful as
+to catch the slightest sound from without.</p>
+
+<p>The woodpeckers all build in about the same manner, excavating the
+trunk or branch of a decayed tree, and depositing the eggs on the fine
+fragments of wood at the bottom of the cavity. Though the nest is not
+especially an artistic work,&mdash;requiring strength rather than
+skill,&mdash;yet the eggs and the young of few other birds are so
+completely housed from the elements, or protected from their natural
+enemies&mdash;the jays, crows, hawks, and owls. A tree with a natural
+cavity is never selected, but one which has been dead just long enough
+to have become soft and brittle throughout. The bird goes in
+horizontally for a few inches, making a hole perfectly round and
+smooth and adapted to his size; then turns downward, gradually
+enlarging the hole, as he proceeds, to the depth of ten, fifteen,
+twenty inches, according to the softness of the tree and the urgency
+of the mother bird to deposit her eggs. While excavating, male and
+female work alternately. After one has been engaged fifteen or twenty
+minutes, drilling, and carrying out chips, it ascends to an upper
+limb, utters a loud call or two, when its mate soon appears, and,
+alighting near it on the branch, the pair chatter and caress a moment;
+then the fresh one enters the cavity and the other flies away.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 318px;"><a name="woodpecker" id="woodpecker"></a>
+<a href="images/woodpecker-h.jpg" title="Larger image"><img class="jpg" src="images/woodpecker-t.jpg" width="318" height="500" alt="The Yellow-Bellied Woodpecker." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">The Yellow-Bellied Woodpecker.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>A few days since, I climbed up to the nest of the downy woodpecker, in
+the decayed top of a sugar-maple. For better protection against
+driving rains, the hole which was rather more than an inch in
+diameter, was made immediately beneath a branch<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_92" id="Pg_92"></a> which stretched out
+almost horizontally from the main stem. It appeared merely a deeper
+shadow upon the dark and mottled surface of the bark with which the
+branches were covered, and could not be detected by the eye until one
+was within a few feet of it. The young chirped vociferously as I
+approached the nest, thinking it was the old one with food; but the
+clamor suddenly ceased as I put my hand on that part of the trunk in
+which they were concealed, the unusual jarring and rustling alarming
+them into silence. The cavity, which was about fifteen inches deep,
+was gourd-shaped, and was wrought with great skill and regularity. The
+walls were quite smooth and clean and new.</p>
+
+<div class="tleft" style="width: 165px;">
+<a href="images/092nest.png"><img src="images/092nest-1.png" width="165" height="155" alt="Woodpecker's Nest. (Dotted lines indicate inside of nest and eggs)." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/092nest.png"><img src="images/092nest-2.gif" width="300" height="98" alt="Woodpecker's Nest. (Dotted lines indicate inside of nest and eggs)." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="bleft" style="width: 248px;">
+<a href="images/092nest.png"><img src="images/092nest-3.png" width="248" height="182" alt="Woodpecker's Nest. (Dotted lines indicate inside of nest and eggs)." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Woodpecker&#8217;s Nest.</p>
+<p class="caption2" style="text-align:center;">(Dotted lines indicate
+inside of nest and eggs).</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>I shall never forget the circumstance of observing a pair of
+yellow-bellied woodpeckers,&mdash;the most rare and secluded, and, next to
+the red-headed, the most beautiful species found in our
+woods,&mdash;breeding in an old, truncated beech in the Beaverkill
+Mountains, an off-shoot of the Catskills. We had been travelling,
+three of us, all day in search of a trout lake, which lay far in among
+the mountains, had twice lost our course in the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_93" id="Pg_93"></a> trackless forest,
+and, weary and hungry, had sat down to rest upon a decayed log. The
+chattering of the young, and the passing to and fro of the parent
+birds, soon arrested my attention. The entrance to the nest was on the
+east side of the tree, about twenty-five feet from the ground. At
+intervals of scarcely a minute, the old birds, one after another,
+would light upon the edge of the hole with a grub or worm in their
+beaks; then each in turn would make a bow or two, cast an eye quickly
+around, and by a single movement place itself in the neck of the
+passage. Here it would pause a moment, as if to determine in which
+expectant mouth to place the morsel, and then disappear within. In
+about half a minute, during which time the chattering of the young
+gradually subsided, the bird would again emerge, but this time bearing
+in its beak the ordure of one of the helpless family. Flying away very
+slowly with head lowered and extended, as if anxious to hold the
+offensive object as far from its plumage as possible, the bird dropped
+the unsavory morsel in the course of a few yards, and, alighting on a
+tree, wiped its bill on the bark and moss. This seemed to be the order
+all day,&mdash;carrying in and carrying out. I watched the birds for an
+hour, while my companions were taking their turn in exploring the lay
+of the land around us, and noted no variation in the programme. It
+would be curious to know if the young are fed and waited upon in
+regular order, and how, amid the darkness and the crowded state of the
+apartment, the matter is so neatly managed. But ornithologists are all
+silent upon the subject.</p>
+
+<p>This practice of the birds is not so uncommon as it<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_94" id="Pg_94"></a> might at first
+seem. It is, indeed, almost an invariable rule among all land birds.
+With woodpeckers and kindred species, and with birds that burrow in
+the ground, as bank swallows, kingfishers, etc., it is a necessity.
+The accumulation of the excrement in the nest would prove most fatal
+to the young.</p>
+
+<p>But even among birds that neither bore nor mine, but which build a
+shallow nest on the branch of a tree or upon the ground, as the robin,
+the finches, the buntings, etc., the ordure of the young is removed to
+a distance by the parent bird. When the robin is seen going away from
+its brood with a slow, heavy flight, entirely different from its
+manner a moment before on approaching the nest with a cherry or worm,
+it is certain to be engaged in this office. One may observe the social
+sparrow, when feeding its young, pause a moment after the worm has
+been given, and hop around on the brink of the nest, observing the
+movements within.</p>
+
+<p>The instinct of cleanliness no doubt prompts the action in all cases,
+though the disposition to secrecy or concealment may not be unmixed
+with it.</p>
+
+<p>The swallows form an exception to the rule, the excrement being voided
+by the young over the brink of the nest. They form an exception, also,
+to the rule of secrecy, aiming not so much to conceal the nest as to
+render it inaccessible.</p>
+
+<p>Other exceptions are the pigeons, hawks, and water-fowls.</p>
+
+<p>But to return. Having a good chance to note the color and markings of
+the woodpeckers as they passed in and out at the opening of the nest,
+I saw that Audubon had made a mistake in figuring or describing the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_95" id="Pg_95"></a>
+female of this species with the red spot upon the head. I have seen a
+number of pairs of them, and in no instance have I seen the mother
+bird marked with red.</p>
+
+<p>The male was in full plumage, and I reluctantly shot him for a
+specimen. Passing by the place again next day, I paused a moment to
+note how matters stood. I confess it was not without some compunctions
+that I heard the cries of the young birds, and saw the widowed mother,
+her cares now doubled, hastening to and fro in the solitary woods. She
+would occasionally pause expectantly on the trunk of a tree, and utter
+a loud call.</p>
+
+<p>It usually happens when the male of any species is killed during the
+breeding season, that the female soon procures another mate. There
+are, most likely, always a few unmated birds of both sexes, within a
+given range, and through these the broken links may be restored.
+Audubon or Wilson, I forgot which, tells a pair of fish-hawks, or
+ospreys, that built their nest in an ancient oak. The male was so
+zealous in the defence of the young that it actually attacked with
+beak and claw a person who attempted to climb into his nest, putting
+his face and eyes in great jeopardy. Arming himself with a heavy club,
+the climber felled the gallant bird to the ground and killed him. In
+the course of a few days, the female had procured another mate. But
+naturally enough the step-father showed none of the spirit and pluck
+in defence of the brood that had been displayed by the original
+parent. When danger was nigh, he was seen afar off, sailing around in
+placid unconcern.</p>
+
+<p>It is generally known that when either the wild turkey or domestic
+turkey begins to lay, and afterwards<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_96" id="Pg_96"></a> to sit and rear the brood, she
+secludes herself from the male, who then, very sensibly, herds with
+others of his sex, and betakes himself to haunts of his own till male
+and female, old and young, meet again on common ground, late in the
+fall. But rob the sitting bird of her eggs, or destroy her tender
+young, and she immediately sets out in quest of a male, who is no
+laggard when he hears her call. The same is true of ducks and other
+aquatic fowls. The propagating instinct is strong, and surmounts all
+ordinary difficulties. No doubt the widowhood I had caused in the case
+of the woodpeckers was of short duration, and chance brought, or the
+widow drummed up, some forlorn male, who was not dismayed by the
+prospect of having a large family of half grown birds on his hands at
+the outset.</p>
+
+<p>I have seen a fine cock robin paying assiduous addresses to a female
+bird as late as the middle of July; and I have no doubt that his
+intentions were honorable. I watched the pair for half an hour. The
+hen, I took it, was in the market for the second time that season; but
+the cock, from his bright, unfaded plumage, looked like a new arrival.
+The hen resented every advance of the male. In vain he strutted around
+her and displayed his fine feathers; every now and then she would make
+at him in a most spiteful manner. He followed her to the ground,
+poured into her ear a fine, half-suppressed warble, offered her a
+worm, flew back to the tree again with a great spread of plumage,
+hopped around her on the branches, chirruped, chattered, flew
+gallantly at an intruder, and was back in an instant at her side. No
+use,&mdash;she cut him short at every turn.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_97" id="Pg_97"></a>The <i>d&eacute;nouement</i> I cannot relate, as the artful bird, followed by her
+ardent suitor, soon flew away beyond my sight. It may not be rash to
+conclude, however that she held out no longer than was prudent.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, there seems to be a system of Women&#8217;s Rights prevailing
+among the birds, which, contemplated from the standpoint of the male,
+is quite admirable. In almost all cases of joint interest, the female
+bird is the most active. She determines the site of the nest, and is
+usually the most absorbed in its construction. Generally, she is more
+vigilant in caring for the young, and manifests the most concern when
+danger threatens. Hour after hour I have seen the mother of a brood of
+blue grossbeaks pass from the nearest meadow to the tree that held her
+nest, with a cricket or grasshopper in her bill, while her
+better-dressed half was singing serenely on a distant tree or pursuing
+his pleasure amid the branches.</p>
+
+<p>Yet among the majority of our song birds, the male is most conspicuous
+both by his color and manners and by his song, and is to that extent a
+shield to the female. It is thought that the female is humbler clad
+for her better concealment during incubation. But this is not
+satisfactory, as in some cases she is relieved from time to time by
+the male. In the case of the domestic dove, for instance, <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'promply'.">promptly</ins> at
+mid-day the cock is found upon the nest. I should say that the dull or
+neutral tints of the female were a provision of nature for her greater
+safety at all times, as her life is far more precious to the species
+than that of the male. The indispensable office of the male reduces
+itself to little more than a moment of time, while that of his mate
+extends over days and weeks, if not months.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_98" id="Pg_98"></a>In migrating northward, the males precede the females by eight or ten
+days; returning in the fall, the females and young precede the males
+by about the same time.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/098nest.png"><img src="images/098nest.png" width="300" height="402" alt="Nest of the Chicadee." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Nest of the Chicadee.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>After the woodpeckers have abandoned their nests, or rather chambers,
+which they do after the first season, their cousins, the nut-hatches,
+chickadees, and brown creepers, fall heir to them. These birds,
+especially the creepers and nut-hatches, have many of the habits of
+the <i>picid&aelig;</i>, but lack their powers of bill, and so are unable to
+excavate a nest for themselves. Their habitation, therefore, is always
+second-hand. But each species carries in some soft material of various
+kinds, or, in other words, furnishes the tenement to its liking. The
+chickadee arranges in the bottom of the cavity a little mat of a
+light, felt-like substance, which looks as if it came from the
+hatter&#8217;s, but which is probably the work of numerous worms or
+caterpillars. On this soft lining the female deposits six white eggs.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_99" id="Pg_99"></a>I recently discovered one of these nests in a most interesting
+situation. The tree containing it, a variety of the wild cherry, stood
+upon the brink of the bald summit of a high mountain. Gray, time-worn
+rocks lay piled loosely about, or overtoppled the just visible by-ways
+of the red fox. The trees had a half-scared look, and that
+indescribable wildness which lurks about the tops of all remote
+mountains possessed the place. Standing there, I looked down upon the
+back of the red-tailed hawk as he flew out over the earth beneath me.
+Following him, my eye also took in farms, and settlements, and
+villages, and other mountain ranges that grew blue in the distance.</p>
+
+<p>The parent birds attracted my attention by appearing with food in
+their beaks, and by seeming much put out. Yet so wary were they of
+revealing the locality of their brood, or even of the precise tree
+that held them, that I lurked around over an hour without gaining a
+point on them. Finally a bright and curious boy who accompanied me
+secreted himself under a low, projecting rock close to the tree in
+which we supposed the nest to be, while I moved off around the
+mountain-side. It was not long before the youth had their secret. The
+tree, which was low and wide branching, and overrun with lichens,
+appeared at a cursory glance to contain not one dry or decayed limb.
+Yet there was one a few feet long, in which, when my eyes were piloted
+thither, I detected a small round orifice.</p>
+
+<p>As my weight began to shake the branches, the consternation of both
+old and young was great. The stump of a limb that held the nest was
+about three inches thick, and at the bottom of the tunnel was
+excavated<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_100" id="Pg_100"></a> quite to the bark. With my thumb I broke in the thin wall,
+and the young, which were full-fledged, looked out upon the world for
+the first time. Presently one of them, with a significant chirp, as
+much as to say, &ldquo;It is time we were out of this,&rdquo; began to climb up
+toward the proper entrance. Placing himself in the hole, he looked
+around without manifesting any surprise at the grand scene that lay
+spread out before him. He was taking his bearings and determining how
+far he could trust the power of his untried wings to take him out of
+harm&#8217;s way. After a moment&#8217;s pause, with a loud chirrup, he launched
+out, and made tolerable headway. The others rapidly followed. Each
+one, as it started upward, from a sudden impulse, contemptuously
+saluted the abandoned nest with its excrement.</p>
+
+<div class="tleft" style="width: 278px;">
+<a href="images/100swallow.png"><img src="images/100swallow-1.png" width="278" height="80" alt="Barn Swallow and Nest." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="bleft" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/100swallow.png"><img src="images/100swallow-2.gif" width="400" height="152" alt="Barn Swallow and Nest." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Barn Swallow and Nest.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Though generally regular in their habits and instincts, yet the birds
+sometimes seem as whimsical and capricious as superior beings. One is
+not safe, for instance, in making any absolute assertion as to their
+place or mode of building. Ground builders often get up into a bush,
+and tree builders sometimes get upon the ground or into a tussock of
+grass. The song-sparrow, which is a ground builder, has been known to<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_101" id="Pg_101"></a>
+build in the knot-hole of a fence rail, and a chimney swallow once got
+tired of soot and smoke, and fastened its nest on a rafter in a hay
+barn. A friend tells me of a pair of barn swallows which, taking a
+fanciful turn, saddled their nest in the loop of a rope that was
+pendent from a peg in the peak, and liked it so well that they
+repeated the experiment next year. I have known the social sparrow, or
+&ldquo;hair bird,&rdquo; to build under a shed, in a tuft of hay that hung down,
+through the loose flooring, from the mow above. It usually contents
+itself with a half a dozen stalks of dry grass and a few long hairs
+from a cow&#8217;s tail, loosely arranged on the branch of an apple-tree.
+The rough-winged swallow builds in the wall and in old stone heaps,
+and I have seen the robin build in similar localities. Others have
+found its nest in old, abandoned wells. The house wren will build in
+anything that has an accessible cavity, from an old boot to a
+bombshell. A pair of them once persisted in building their nest in the
+top of a certain pump-tree, getting in through the opening above the
+handle. The pump being in daily use, the nest was destroyed more than
+a score of times. This jealous little wretch has the wise forethought,
+when the box in which he builds contains two compartments, to fill up
+one of them, so as to avoid the risk of troublesome neighbors.</p>
+
+<p>The less skilful builders sometimes depart from their usual habit, and
+take up with the abandoned nest of some other species. The blue-jay
+now and then lays in an old crow&#8217;s-nest or cuckoo&#8217;s-nest. The
+crow-blackbird, seized with a fit of indolence, drops its eggs in the
+cavity of a decayed branch. I heard of a cuckoo<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_102" id="Pg_102"></a> that dispossessed a
+robin of its nest; of another that set a blue-jay adrift. Large, loose
+structures, like the nests of the osprey and certain of the herons,
+have been found with half a dozen nests of the blackbird set in the
+outer edges, like so many parasites, or, as Audubon says, like the
+retainers about the rude court of a feudal baron.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/102oriole.png"><img src="images/102oriole.png" width="300" height="348" alt="Baltimore Oriole and Nest." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Baltimore Oriole and Nest.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The same birds breeding in a southern climate construct far less
+elaborate nests than when breeding in a northern climate. Certain
+species of water-fowl that abandon their eggs to the sand and the sun
+in the warmer zones, build a nest and sit in the usual way in
+Labrador. In Georgia, the Baltimore oriole places its nest upon the
+north side of the tree; in the Middle and Eastern States, it fixes it
+upon the south or east side, and makes it much thicker and Warner. I
+have seen one from the South that had some kind-of coarse reed or
+sedge woven into it, giving it an open-work appearance, like a
+basket.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_103" id="Pg_103"></a>Very few species use the same material uniformly. I have seen the nest
+of the robin quite destitute of mud. In one instance, it was composed
+mainly of long, black horse-hairs, arranged in a circular manner, with
+a lining of fine yellow grass; the whole presenting quite a novel
+appearance. In another case, the nest was chiefly constructed of a
+species of rock moss.</p>
+
+<p>The nest for the second brood during the same season is often a mere
+make-shift. The haste of the female to deposit her eggs as the season
+advances seems very great, and the structure is apt to be prematurely
+finished. I was recently reminded of this fact by happening, about the
+last of July, to meet with several nests of the wood or bush sparrow
+in a remote blackberry field. The nests with eggs were far less
+elaborate and compact than the earlier nests, from which the young had
+flown.</p>
+
+<p>Day after day, as I go to a certain piece of woods, I observe a male
+indigo-bird sitting on precisely the same part of a high branch, and
+singing in his most vivacious style. As I approach, he ceases to sing,
+and, flirting his tail right and left with marked emphasis, chirps
+sharply. In a low bush near by, I come upon the object of his
+solicitude, a thick, compact nest, composed largely of dry leaves and
+fine grass, in which a plain brown bird is sitting upon four pale blue
+eggs.</p>
+
+<p>The wonder is, that a bird will leave the apparent security of the
+tree-tops, to place its nest in the way of the many dangers that walk
+and crawl upon the ground. There, far out of reach, sings the bird;
+here, not three feet from the ground, are its eggs or helpless young.
+The truth is, birds are the greatest enemies of birds,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_104" id="Pg_104"></a> and it is with
+reference to this fact that many of the smaller species build.</p>
+
+<div class="tleft" style="width: 276px;">
+<a href="images/104nest.png"><img src="images/104nest-1.png" width="276" height="67" alt="Indigo Bird&#8217;s Nest." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/104nest.png"><img src="images/104nest-2.gif" width="350" height="156" alt="Indigo Bird&#8217;s Nest." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="bleft" style="width: 240px;">
+<a href="images/104nest.png"><img src="images/104nest-3.png" width="240" height="145" alt="Indigo Bird&#8217;s Nest." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Indigo Bird&#8217;s Nest.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Perhaps the greatest proportion of birds breed along highways. I have
+known the ruffed grouse to come out of a dense wood and make its nest
+at the root of a tree within ten paces of the road, where, no doubt,
+hawks and crows, as well as skunks and foxes, would be less liable to
+find it out. Traversing remote mountain-roads through dense woods, I
+have repeatedly seen the veery, or Wilson&#8217;s thrush, sitting upon her
+nest, so near me that I could almost take her from it by stretching
+out my hand. Birds of prey show none of this confidence in man, and,
+when locating their nests, avoid rather than seek his haunts.</p>
+
+<p>In a certain locality in the interior of New York, I know, every
+season, where I am sure to find a nest or two of the slate-colored
+snow-bird. It is under the brink of a low, mossy bank, so near the
+highway that it could be reached from a passing vehicle with a whip.
+Every horse or wagon or foot passenger disturbs the sitting bird. She
+awaits the near approach of a sound<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_105" id="Pg_105"></a> of feet or wheels, and then darts
+quickly across the road, barely clearing the ground, and disappears
+amid the bushes on the opposite side.</p>
+
+<p>In the trees that line one of the main streets and fashionable drives
+leading out of Washington city, and less than half a mile from the
+boundary, I have counted the nests of five different species at one
+time, and that without any very close scrutiny of the foliage, while
+in many acres of woodland, half a mile off, I searched in vain for a
+single nest. Among the five that interested me most was that of a blue
+grossbeak. Here this bird, which, according to Audubon&#8217;s observations,
+in Louisiana is shy and recluse, affecting remote marshes and the
+borders of large ponds of stagnant water, had placed its nest in the
+lowest twig of the lowest branch of a large sycamore, immediately over
+a great thoroughfare, and so near the ground that a person standing in
+a cart or sitting on a horse could have reached it with his hand. The
+nest was composed mainly of fragments of newspaper and stalks of
+grass, and, though so low, was remarkably well concealed by one of the
+peculiar clusters of twigs and leaves which characterize this tree.
+The nest contained young when I discovered it, and though the parent
+birds were much annoyed by my loitering about beneath the tree, they
+paid little attention to the stream of vehicles that was constantly
+passing. It is a wonder to me when the birds could have built it, for
+they are much shyer when building than at other times. No doubt they
+worked mostly in the morning, having the early hours all to
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Another pair of blue grossbeaks built in a graveyard<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_106" id="Pg_106"></a> within the city
+limits. The nest was placed in a low bush, and the male continued to
+sing at intervals till the young were ready to fly. The song of this
+bird is a rapid, intricate warble, like that of the indigo-bird,
+though stronger and louder. Indeed, these two birds so much resemble
+each other in color, form, manner, voice, and general habits that,
+were it not for the difference in size,&mdash;the grossbeak being nearly as
+large again as the indigo-bird,&mdash;it would be a hard matter to tell
+them apart. The females of both species are clad in the same
+reddish-brown suits. So are the young the first season.</p>
+
+<p>Of course in the deep, primitive woods also are nests, but how rarely
+we find them! The simple art of the bird consists in choosing common,
+neutral-tinted material, as moss, dry leaves, twigs, and various odds
+and ends, and placing the structure on a convenient branch, where it
+blends in color with its surroundings; but how consummate is this art,
+and how skilfully is the nest concealed! We occasionally light upon
+it, but who, unaided by the movements of the bird, could find it out?
+During the present season, I went to the woods nearly every day for a
+fortnight, without making any discoveries of this kind, till one day,
+paying them a farewell visit, I chanced to come upon several nests. A
+black and white creeping warbler suddenly became much alarmed as I
+approached a crumbling old stump in a dense part of the forest. He
+alighted upon it, chirped sharply, ran up and down its sides, and
+finally left it with much reluctance. The nest, which contained three
+young birds nearly fledged, was placed upon the ground, at the foot of
+the stump, and in such<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_107" id="Pg_107"></a> a position that the color of the young
+harmonized perfectly with the bits of bark, sticks, etc., lying about.
+My eye rested upon them for the second time before I made them out.
+They hugged the nest very closely, but as I put down my hand they
+scampered off with loud cries for help, which caused the parent birds
+to place themselves almost within my reach. The nest was merely a
+little dry grass arranged in a thick bed of dry leaves.</p>
+
+<p>This was amid a thick undergrowth. Moving on into a passage of large,
+stately hemlocks, with only here and there a small beech or maple
+rising up into the perennial twilight, I paused to make out a note
+which was entirely new to me. It is still in my ear. Though
+unmistakably a bird note, it yet suggested the bleating of a tiny
+lambkin. Presently the birds appeared,&mdash;a pair of the solitary vireo.
+They came flitting from point to point, alighting only for a moment at
+a time, the male silent, but the female uttering this strange, tender
+note. It was a rendering into some new sylvan dialect of the human
+sentiment of maidenly love. It was really pathetic in its sweetness
+and childlike confidence and joy. I soon discovered that the pair were
+building a nest upon a low branch a few yards from me. The male flew
+cautiously to the spot, and adjusted something, and the twain moved
+on, the female calling to her mate at intervals, <i>love-e, love-e</i>,
+with a cadence and tenderness in the tone that rang in the ear long
+afterward. The nest was suspended to the fork of a small branch, as is
+usual with the vireos, plentifully lined with lichens, and bound and
+rebound with masses of coarse spider-webs. There<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_108" id="Pg_108"></a> was no attempt at
+concealment except in the neutral tints, which made it look like a
+natural growth of the dim, gray woods.</p>
+
+<p>Continuing my random walk, I next paused in a low part of the woods,
+where the larger trees began to give place to a thick second growth
+that covered an old Bark-peeling. I was standing by a large maple,
+when a small bird darted quickly away from it, as if it might have
+come out of a hole near its base. As the bird paused a few yards from
+me, and began to chirp uneasily, my curiosity was at once excited.
+When I saw it was the female mourning ground warbler, and remembered
+that the nest of this bird had not yet been seen by any
+naturalist,&mdash;that not even Dr. Brewer had ever seen the eggs,&mdash;I felt
+that here was something worth looking for. So I carefully began the
+search, exploring inch by inch the ground, the base and roots of the
+tree, and the various shrubby growths about it, till, finding nothing,
+and fearing I might really put my foot in it, I bethought me to
+withdraw to a distance and after some delay return again, and, thus
+forewarned, note the exact point from which the bird flew. This I did,
+and, returning, had little difficulty in discovering the nest. It was
+placed but a few feet from the maple-tree, in a bunch of ferns, and
+about six inches from the ground. It was quite a massive nest,
+composed entirely of the stalks and leaves of dry grass, with an inner
+lining of fine, dark-brown roots. The eggs, three in number, were of
+light flesh color, uniformly specked with fine brown specks. The
+cavity of the nest was so deep that the back of sitting bird sank
+below the edge.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_109" id="Pg_109"></a>In the top of a tall tree, a short distance farther on, I saw the nest
+of the red-tailed hawk,&mdash;a large mass of twigs and dry sticks. The
+young had flown, but still lingered in the vicinity, and, as I
+approached, the mother bird flew about over me, squealing in a very
+angry, savage manner. Tufts of the hair and other indigestible
+material of the common meadow mouse lay around on the ground beneath
+the nest.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/109nest.png"><img src="images/109nest.png" width="400" height="373" alt="Nest of Red-eyed Vireo." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Nest of Red-eyed Vireo.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>As I was about leaving the woods, my hat almost brushed the nest of
+the red-eyed vireo, which hung basket-like on the end of a low,
+drooping branch of the beech. I should never have seen it had the bird
+kept her place. It contained three eggs of the bird&#8217;s own, and one of
+the cow-bunting. The strange egg was only just perceptibly larger than
+the others, yet three days after, when I looked into the nest again
+and found all but one egg hatched, the young inter<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_110" id="Pg_110"></a>loper was at least
+four times as large as either of the others, and with such a
+superabundance of bowels as to almost smother his bedfellows beneath
+them. That the intruder should fare the same as the rightful
+occupants, and thrive with them, was more than ordinary potluck; but
+that it alone should thrive, devouring, as it were, all the rest, is
+one of those freaks of Nature in which she would seem to discourage
+the homely virtues of prudence and honesty. Weeds and parasites have
+the odds greatly against them, yet they wage a very successful war
+nevertheless.</p>
+
+<p>The woods hold not such another gem as the nest of the humming-bird.
+The finding of one is an event to date from. It is the next best thing
+to finding an eagle&#8217;s nest. I have met with but two, both by chance.
+One was placed on the horizontal branch of a chestnut-tree, with a
+solitary green leaf, forming a complete canopy, about an inch and a
+half above it. The repeated spiteful dartings of the bird <ins class="correction" title="sic.">past</ins> my
+ears, as I stood under the tree, caused me to suspect that I was
+intruding upon some one&#8217;s privacy; and following it with my eye, I
+soon saw the nest, which was in process of construction. Adopting my
+usual tactics of secreting myself near by, I had the satisfaction of
+seeing the tiny artist at work. It was the female, unassisted by her
+mate. At intervals of two or three minutes she would appear with a
+small tuft of some cottony substance in her beak, dart a few times
+through and around the tree, and alighting quickly in the nest arrange
+the material she had brought, using her breast as a model.</p>
+
+<p>The other nest I discovered in a dense forest on the side of a
+mountain. The sitting bird was disturbed as<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_111" id="Pg_111"></a> I passed beneath her. The
+whirring of her wings arrested my attention, when, after a short
+pause, I had the good luck to see, through an opening in the leaves,
+the bird return to her nest, which appeared like a mere wart or
+excrescence on a small branch. The humming-bird, unlike all others,
+does not alight upon the nest, but flies into it. She enters it as
+quick as a flash, but as light as any feather. Two eggs are the
+complement. They are perfectly white, and so frail that only a woman&#8217;s
+fingers may touch them. Incubation lasts about ten days. In a week the
+young have flown.</p>
+
+<p>The only nest like the humming-bird&#8217;s, and comparable to it in
+neatness and symmetry, is that of the blue-gray gnat-catcher. This is
+often saddled upon the limb in the same manner, though it is generally
+more or less pendent; it is deep and soft, composed mostly of some
+vegetable down, covered all over with delicate tree-lichens, and,
+except that it is much larger, appears almost identical with the nest
+of the humming-bird.</p>
+
+<p>But the nest of nests, the ideal nest, after we have left the deep
+woods, is unquestionably that of the Baltimore oriole. It is the only
+perfectly pensile nest we have. The nest of the orchard oriole is
+indeed mainly so, but this bird generally builds lower and shallower,
+more after the manner of the vireos.</p>
+
+<p>The Baltimore oriole loves to attach its nest to the swaying branches
+of the tallest elms, making no attempt at concealment, but satisfied
+if the position be high and the branch pendent. This nest would seem
+to cost more time and skill than any other bird structure. A peculiar
+flax-like substance seems to be always<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_112" id="Pg_112"></a> sought after, and always
+found. The nest when completed assumes the form of a large, suspended
+gourd. The walls are thin but firm, and proof against the most driving
+rain. The mouth is hemmed or over-handed with horse-hair, and the
+sides are usually sewed through and through with the same.</p>
+
+<p>Not particular as to the matter of secrecy, the bird is not particular
+as to material, so that it be of the nature of strings or threads. A
+lady friend once told me that while working by an open window, one of
+these birds approached during her momentary absence, and, seizing a
+skein of some kind of thread or yarn, made off with it to its
+half-finished nest. But the perverse yarn caught fast in the branches,
+and, in the bird&#8217;s efforts to extricate it, got hopelessly tangled.
+She tugged away at it all day, but was finally obliged to content
+herself with a few detached portions. The fluttering strings were an
+eye-sore to her ever after, and passing and repassing, she would give
+them a spiteful jerk, as much as to say, &ldquo;There is that confounded
+yarn that gave me so much trouble.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>From Pennsylvania, Vincent Barnard (to whom I am indebted for other
+curious facts) sent me this interesting story of an oriole. He says a
+friend of his, curious in such things, on observing the bird beginning
+to build, hung out near the prospective nest skeins of many-colored
+zephyr-yarn, which the eager artist readily appropriated. He managed
+it so that the bird used nearly equal quantities of various high,
+bright colors. The nest was made unusually deep and capacious, and it
+may be questioned if such a thing of beauty was ever before woven by
+the cunning of a bird.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_113" id="Pg_113"></a>Nuttall, by far the most genial of American ornithologists, relates
+the following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A female (oriole), which I observed attentively, carried off to her
+nest a piece of lamp-wick ten or twelve feet long. This long string
+and many other shorter ones were left hanging out for about a week
+before both the ends were wattled into the sides of the nest. Some
+other little birds making use of similar materials, at times twitched
+these flowing ends, and generally brought out the busy Baltimore from
+her occupation in great anger.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I may perhaps claim indulgence for adding a little more of the
+biography of this particular bird, as a <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'represensative'.">representative</ins>, also, of
+the instincts of her race. She completed the nest in about a week&#8217;s
+time, without any aid from her mate, who, indeed, appeared but seldom
+in her company, and was now become nearly silent. For fibrous
+materials she broke, hackled, and gathered the flax of the <i>asclepias</i>
+and <i>hibiscus</i> stalks, tearing off long strings and flying with them
+to the scene of her labors. She appeared very eager and hasty in her
+pursuits, and collected her materials without fear or restraint, while
+three men were working in the neighboring walks, and many persons
+visiting the garden. Her courage and perseverance were indeed truly
+admirable. If watched too narrowly, she saluted with her usual
+scolding, <i>tshrr, tshrr, tshrr</i>, seeing no reason, probably, why she
+should be interrupted in her indispensable occupation.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Though the males were now comparatively silent on the arrival of
+their busy mates, I could not help observing this female and a second,
+continually vocif<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_114" id="Pg_114"></a>erating apparently in strife. At last she was
+observed to attack this second female very fiercely, who slyly
+intruded herself at times into the same tree where she was building.
+These contests were angry and often repeated. To account for this
+animosity, I now recollected that two fine males had been killed in
+our vicinity; and I therefore concluded the intruder to be left
+without a mate; yet she had gained the affections of the consort of
+the busy female, and thus the cause of their jealous quarrel became
+apparent. Having obtained the confidence of her faithless paramour,
+the second female began preparing to weave a nest in an adjoining elm,
+by tying together certain pendent twigs as a foundation. The male now
+associated chiefly with the intruder, whom he even assisted in her
+labor, yet did not wholly forget his first partner, who called on him
+one evening in a low, affectionate tone, which was answered in the
+same strain. While they were thus engaged in friendly whispers,
+suddenly appeared the rival, and a violent <i>rencontre</i> ensued, so that
+one of the females appeared to be greatly agitated, and fluttered with
+spreading wings as if considerably hurt. The male, though prudently
+neutral in the contest, showed his culpable partiality by flying off
+with his paramour, and for the rest of the evening left the tree to
+his pugnacious consort. Cares of another kind, more imperious and
+tender, at length reconciled, or at least terminated, these disputes
+with the jealous females; and by the aid of the neighboring bachelors,
+who are never wanting among these and other birds, peace was at length
+completely restored, by the restitution of the quiet and happy
+condition of monogamy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_115" id="Pg_115"></a>Let me not forget to mention the nest under the mountain ledge, the
+nest of the common pewee, a modest mossy structure, with four
+pearl-white eggs, looking out upon some wild scene and overhung by
+beetling crags. After all has been said about the elaborate, high-hung
+structures, few nests, perhaps, awaken more pleasant emotions in the
+mind of the beholder than this of the pewee,&mdash;the gray, silent rocks,
+with caverns and dens where the fox and the wolf lurk, and just out of
+their reach, in a little niche, as if it grew there, the mossy
+tenement!</p>
+
+<p>Nearly every high projecting rock in my range has one of these nests.
+Following a trout stream up a wild mountain gorge, not long since, I
+counted five in the distance of a mile, all within easy reach, but
+safe from the minks and the skunks, and well housed from the storms.
+In my native town I know a pine and oak clad hill, round-topped, with
+a bold, precipitous front extending half-way around it. Near the top,
+and along this front or side, there crops out a ledge of rocks
+unusually high and cavernous. One immense layer projects many feet,
+allowing a person or many persons, standing upright, to move freely
+beneath it. There is a delicious spring of water there, and plenty of
+wild, cool air. The floor is of loose stone, now trod by sheep and
+foxes, once by the Indian and the wolf. How I have delighted from
+boyhood to spend a summer-day in this retreat or take refuge there
+from a sudden shower! Always the freshness and coolness, and always
+the delicate mossy nest of the ph&#339;be-bird! The bird keeps her place
+till you are within a few feet of her, when she flits to a near
+branch, and, with many oscillations<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_116" id="Pg_116"></a> of her tail, observes you
+anxiously. Since the country has become settled, this pewee has fallen
+into the strange practice of occasionally placing its nest under a
+bridge, hay-shed, or other artificial structure, where it is subject
+to all kinds of interruptions and annoyances. When placed thus, the
+nest is larger and coarser. I know a hayloft beneath which a pair has
+regularly placed its nest for several successive seasons. Arranged
+along on a single pole, which sags down a few inches from the flooring
+it was intended to help support, are three of these structures,
+marking the number of years the birds have nested there. The
+foundation is of mud with a superstructure of moss, elaborately lined
+with hair and feathers. Nothing can be more perfect and exquisite than
+the interior of one of these nests, yet a new one is built every
+season. Three broods, however, are frequently reared in it.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/116nest.png"><img src="images/116nest.png" width="300" height="297" alt="Nest of Phoebe." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Nest of Ph&#339;be.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The pewees, as a class, are the best architects we have. The king-bird
+builds a nest altogether admirable, using various soft cotton and
+woollen substances, and sparing neither time nor material to make it
+substantial and warm. The green-crested pewee builds its<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_117" id="Pg_117"></a> nest in many
+instances wholly of the blossoms of the white-oak. The wood pewee
+builds a neat, compact socket-shaped nest of moss and lichens on a
+horizontal branch. There is never a loose end or shred about it. The
+sitting bird is largely visible above the rim. She moves her head
+freely about, and seems entirely at her ease,&mdash;a circumstance which I
+have never observed in any other species. The nest of the
+great-crested flycatcher is seldom free from snake skins, three or
+four being sometimes woven into it.</p>
+
+<p>About the thinnest, shallowest nest, for its situation, that can be
+found is that of the turtle-dove. A few sticks and straws are
+carelessly thrown together, hardly sufficient to prevent the eggs from
+falling through or rolling off. The nest of the passenger pigeon is
+equally hasty and insufficient, and the squabs often fall to the
+ground and perish. The other extreme among our common birds is
+furnished by the ferruginous thrush, which collects together a mass of
+material that would fill a half-bushel measure; or by the fish-hawk,
+which adds to and repairs its nest year after year, till the whole
+would make a cart-load.</p>
+
+<p>The rarest of all nests is that of the eagle, because the eagle is the
+rarest of all birds. Indeed, so seldom is the eagle seen, that its
+presence always seems accidental. It appears as if merely pausing on
+the way, while bound for some distant unknown region. One September,
+while a youth, I saw the ring-tailed eagle, an immense, dusky bird,
+the sight of which filled me with awe. It lingered about the hills for
+two days. Some young cattle, a two year-old colt, and half a dozen
+sheep were at pasture on a high ridge that led up to<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_118" id="Pg_118"></a> the mountain,
+and in plain view of the house. On the second day, this dusky monarch
+was seen flying about above them. Presently he began to hover over
+them, after the manner of a hawk watching for mice. He then with
+extended legs let himself slowly down upon them, actually grappling
+the backs of the young cattle, and frightening the creatures so that
+they rushed about the field in great consternation; and finally, as he
+grew bolder and more frequent in his descents, the whole herd broke
+over the fence, and came tearing down to the house &ldquo;like mad.&rdquo; It did
+not seem to be an assault with intent to kill, but was, perhaps, a
+stratagem resorted to in order to separate the herd and expose the
+lambs, which hugged the cattle very closely. When he occasionally
+alighted upon the oaks that stood near, the branch <i>could</i> be seen to
+sway and bend beneath him. Finally, as a rifleman started out in
+pursuit of him, he launched into the air, set his wings, and sailed
+away southward. A few years afterward, in January, another eagle
+passed through the same locality, alighting in a field near some dead
+animal, but tarried briefly.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/118eagle.png"><img src="images/118eagle.png" width="300" height="283" alt="Eagle." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Eagle.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_119" id="Pg_119"></a>So much by way of identification. The bird is common to the northern
+parts of both hemispheres, and places its eyrie on high, precipitous
+rocks. A pair built on an inaccessible shelf of rock along the Hudson
+for eight successive years. A squad of Revolutionary soldiers also
+found a nest along this river, and had an adventure with the bird that
+came near costing one of their number his life. His comrades let him
+down by a rope to secure the eggs or young, when he was attacked by
+the female eagle with such fury that he was obliged to defend himself
+with his knife. In doing so, by a mis-stroke, he nearly severed the
+rope that held him, and was drawn up by a single strand from his
+perilous position. Audubon, from whom this anecdote is taken, figures
+and describes this bird as the golden eagle, though I have little
+doubt that Wilson was right, and that the golden eagle is a distinct
+species.</p>
+
+<p>The sea-eagle also builds on high rocks, according to Audubon, though
+Wilson describes the nest of one which he saw near Great Egg Harbor,
+in the top of a large yellow pine. It was a vast pile of sticks, sods,
+sedge, grass, reeds, etc., five or six feet high by four broad, and
+with little or no concavity. It had been used for many years, and he
+was told that the eagles made it a sort of home or lodging-place in
+all seasons. This agrees with the description which Audubon gives of
+the nest of the bald eagle. There is evidently a little confusion on
+both sides.</p>
+
+<p>The eagle in all cases uses one nest, with more or less repair, for
+several years. Many of our common birds do the same. The birds may be
+divided, with respect to this and kindred points, into five general<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_120" id="Pg_120"></a>
+classes. First, those that repair and appropriate the last year&#8217;s
+nest, as the wren, swallow, blue-bird, great-crested flycatcher, owls,
+eagles, fish-hawk, and a few others. Secondly, those that build anew
+each season, though frequently rearing more than one brood in the same
+nest. Of these, the ph&#339;be-bird is a well-known example. Thirdly, those
+that build a new nest for each brood, which includes by far the
+greatest number of species. Fourthly, a limited number that make no
+nest of their own, but appropriate the abandoned nests of other birds.
+Finally, those who use no nest at all, but deposit their eggs in the
+sand, which is the case with a large number of aquatic fowls. Thus the
+common gull breeds in vast numbers on the sand bars or sand islands
+off the south coast of Long Island. A little dent is made in the sand,
+the eggs are dropped, and the old birds go their way. In due time the
+eggs are hatched by the warmth of the sun, and the little creatures
+shift for themselves. In July countless numbers of them, of different
+ages and sizes, swarm upon these sandy wastes. As the waves roll out,
+they rush down the beach, picking up a kind of sea gluten, and then
+hasten back to avoid the next breaker.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/120nest.png"><img src="images/120nest.png" width="500" height="258" alt="A bird&#8217;s nest" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_121" id="Pg_121"></a><a name="BIRDS_IN_THEIR_RELATION_TO_AGRICULTURE" id="BIRDS_IN_THEIR_RELATION_TO_AGRICULTURE"></a>BIRDS IN THEIR RELATION TO AGRICULTURE<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From the Proceedings of the Nebraska Ornithologists&#8217; Union January,
+1901.)<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a><br />
+By <a href="#Bruner">LAURENCE BRUNER</a>.</span></h2>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4">[4]</a> By permission.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/121w.png"><img src="images/121w-1.gif" width="300" height="115" alt="W, decorated with a bird" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 248px;">
+<a href="images/121w.png"><img src="images/121w-2.png" width="248" height="96" alt="W, decorated with a bird" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 180px;">
+<a href="images/121w.png"><img src="images/121w-3.png" width="180" height="51" alt="W, decorated with a bird" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<p style="text-indent:-10px;"><span class="cap">W</span>hen civilized man takes possession of new regions and begins
+cultivating the soil and establishes his sovereignty there, the
+equilibrium as it existed upon his arrival is very quickly disturbed.
+One or more of the many forms of life&mdash;plant and animal&mdash;that were
+previously held within certain limits gain ascendency. The
+introduction of new crops that furnish an abundance of the proper food
+for some insect, enables this form to increase out of all proportions
+and harm soon results. The killing off of certain other forms of life
+that naturally keep still others in check also assists in disturbing
+the equilibrium further. The cutting down and clearing away of forests
+removes the shelter and homes of others, as does also the turning
+under of<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_122" id="Pg_122"></a> prairie grasses. Then, too, many of the natural residents of
+primeval forests and virgin prairies shun the sight of man, hence they
+gradually withdraw from the region, and their influence for good or
+evil goes with them. Since the majority of such forms are timid and
+inoffensive creatures, their withdrawal only adds that much more to
+the already overbalanced conditions. Year by year the gap which at
+first was scarcely noticeable becomes widened, so that frequent
+inroads are made and harm results. Instead of trying to ascertain the
+true cause for all this trouble perhaps exactly the wrong thing is
+done by the settlers. This of course only has the effect of further
+widening the gap between safety and danger. Since an insect or other
+animal becomes noticeably harmful only when present in alarming
+numbers, it stands to reason that anything which favors such an
+abnormal increase is a factor in disturbing nature and should be
+quickly rectified where possible. In order that these disturbances
+should be looked after the all-wise God of the universe created birds
+and gave them the power of flight that they might the more readily
+move about rapidly from place to place, where their services might be
+needed in balancing affairs. Hence birds have naturally and rightfully
+been called the &ldquo;balancers&rdquo; in nature. This being true, let us see
+just what their relations are to agriculture.</p>
+
+<p>The farmer sows in order that he may reap an increased measure of what
+he has sown. In doing this he must first turn over the soil. This
+destroys many existing plants as well as animals that depend upon them
+for food. The plants thus turned down cannot<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_123" id="Pg_123"></a> regain their position
+and must of necessity die. Not so with many of the animals, however,
+which soon work their way to the surface. Some of these attack the
+growing plants which have been made to occupy the place of those
+destroyed by the plough. Others take wing and seek suitable food in
+adjoining districts where they add to the numbers already drawing upon
+the vegetation up to the point of possible continued supply. Here,
+then, the scales begin to vibrate. In the field the new and tender
+crop entices the ever-shifting individuals of myriads of forms that
+have been crowded out elsewhere. The result here too is, or would be,
+very disastrous were it not for the timely visit of flocks of birds
+likewise in search of food.</p>
+
+<p>It is during the period of first settlement of a country, when the
+fields are small, few and widely separated, that injury may and
+frequently does result from birds. It is then a problem that needs
+careful consideration, not only for the time being, but also for the
+future welfare of that country. If animal life is destroyed
+indiscriminately and without intelligent forethought, calamities
+unforeseen are sure to follow in the not distant future.</p>
+
+<p>Birds can be useful to man in many ways. They can benefit him by
+carrying the seeds of various plants from place to place so as to
+assist him in establishing new groves in which to find shelter from
+the cold in winter and refuge from the heat of the noonday sun in
+summer. They plant various shrubs by the wayside that spring up and
+later are laden with luscious fruit. They also carry the spawn of
+fishes and small crustaceans among their feathers into new waters, and
+feed<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_124" id="Pg_124"></a> upon the countless seeds of weeds that are scattered broadcast
+over the face of the earth. Some kinds live almost exclusively upon
+insects, while others hunt out the small rodents that would, if left
+to themselves, destroy great quantities of grain and other vegetation.
+Still other birds benefit mankind by acting as scavengers in the
+removal of putrid and other offensive matter which would endanger our
+health. In addition to all these varied direct benefits which are
+brought about by the presence of birds, man is further indebted to
+these creatures for the cheer which their gay music, bright plumage
+and pleasant manners bring to him. The birds form a carefully
+organized army of police which is engaged in keeping affairs balanced
+in nature.</p>
+
+<p>But we can go even further summing up the benefits that men may derive
+from the birds. A great many kinds make excellent food, while others
+furnish sport and pleasure to a large number of men and boys who seem
+to require a certain kind of entertainment while accompanied with dog
+and gun. Dead birds when embalmed as mummies and attached to the
+head-gear worn by some girls and women are also claimed to cause much
+happiness.</p>
+
+<p><i>Birds as Enemies.</i>&mdash;It would be ridiculous for me to assert here that
+no injury ever results from the presence of birds on the farm or in
+the orchard. Quite a number of different species are continually
+stepping over to the wrong side of the &ldquo;ledger&rdquo; as it were, and
+committing depredations of various kinds which if considered alone
+would render the perpetrators liable to severe punishment&mdash;in some
+cases even unto death. Some of the crimes that can be charged to the
+feathered<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_125" id="Pg_125"></a> tribe are cherry and berry-stealing, grape-puncturing,
+apple-pecking, corn-pulling, grain-eating, the unintentional carrying
+from place to place of some kinds of scale insects that happen to
+crawl on their legs and feet, the possible spreading of hog cholera by
+crows and buzzards, the robbing of the poultry yard, and lastly some
+birds are accused of making noises that awaken us from our slumbers in
+the morning.</p>
+
+<p>Some of these crimes are genuine and are to be deplored, while others
+are more imaginary than real. A few of them could be prevented in part
+or altogether, while others might be diminished if we were inclined to
+take the trouble to do it.</p>
+
+<p>After all that can be said pro and con concerning the usefulness of
+birds in general there remains no doubt, in the minds of thinking
+people at least, as to the value of these creatures. It is only the
+vicious, biased, and thoughtless persons who continue ruthlessly to
+destroy birds indiscriminately without first pausing to consider
+whether or not it is a proper thing to do, whether it is right or
+wrong.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food habits.</i>&mdash;So varied is this task of evening up in nature that if
+attended to properly the workers must be numerous in individuals and
+possess widely different habits. That such is the case can readily be
+seen by the following brief account of the various groups of our
+Nebraska birds, along with brief statements of their food habits.</p>
+
+<p>The Grebes and Loons feed chiefly upon snails and other aquatic
+animals such as are found about their haunts. They also capture many
+grasshoppers and similar insects that happen in their way. They
+cannot,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_126" id="Pg_126"></a> therefore, be classed among the especially beneficial birds,
+neither can they be termed injurious on account of what they eat.</p>
+
+<p>The Gulls, provided as they are with long wings and great powers for
+flight, are not confined to the seacoast, hence they reach far inland
+in their migrations, feeding extensively upon insects like locusts,
+June-beetles, crickets, etc., large numbers of which they destroy
+annually. Several kinds of these birds are known to follow the plough
+and pick up the white grubs and other insects that are turned up and
+laid bare. In early days, when grasshoppers did much harm in this
+state, numerous flocks of these birds were seen to feed upon these
+insects.</p>
+
+<p>The Cormorants and Pelicans are chiefly destroyers of fishes and
+frogs, hence can hardly be classed among the most beneficial forms;
+but whether or not they do any more than to maintain the necessary
+equilibrium in that particular part of the vast field of nature it is
+difficult to judge without time for investigation.</p>
+
+<p>The various Ducks and Geese which are also nearly as aquatic in their
+habits as some of the foregoing, frequently leave their haunts and
+make excursions into the surrounding country where in summer they feed
+upon locusts, beetles, and other injurious insects. They also partake
+of considerable quantities of vegetable food, as grains, weed seeds,
+grasses, and other herbage. While not included among the insectivorous
+forms these birds do much towards diminishing the ever increasing
+horde of creeping and jumping things. Ducks and geese on the other
+hand are largely utilized by us as food: while their feathers make
+comfortable pillows and coverlets.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_127" id="Pg_127"></a>The Herons, Cranes, and Rails are frequenters of marshes and the
+margins of streams and bodies of water, where they assist in keeping
+the various forms among the animal life balanced. Fishes, frogs,
+snails, insects, and crustaceans are alike devoured by them.</p>
+
+<p>The Snipe, Sandpipers, Plovers, Phalaropes, Curlews, etc., are great
+destroyers of insects. Moving as many of them do in great flocks and
+spreading out over the meadows, pastures, and hillsides, as well as
+among the cultivated fields, they do a large amount of careful police
+service in arresting the culprits among insects. They even pry them
+out of burrows and crevices in the earth where these creatures lurk
+during daytime only to come forth after nightfall to destroy
+vegetation. The large flocks of Eskimo Curlews that formerly passed
+through eastern Nebraska did magnificent work during years when the
+Rocky Mountain Locust was with us, as did also the equally large
+flocks of Golden Plovers. The Bartramian Sandpiper even now is a great
+factor each summer in checking the increasing locusts on our prairies.</p>
+
+<p>The various members of the Grouse family, while belonging to a
+grain-eating group, are certainly quite prominent as insect
+destroyers. Especially is this so with respect to the Quail, Prairie
+Hen, Sharptailed Grouse, and Wild Turkey, all of which are occupied
+most of the summer months in capturing and destroying vast numbers of
+such insects as are found on the prairies. Grasshoppers, locusts,
+crickets, caterpillars, and similar insects comprise the bulk of their
+insect food&mdash;forms that are all among the most numerous as well as
+destructive species. In writing about these<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_128" id="Pg_128"></a> birds as insect
+destroyers Prof. Samuel Aughey writes: &ldquo;I happened to be in the
+Republican Valley, in south-western Nebraska, in August, 1874, when
+the locust invaded that region. Prairie chickens and quails, that
+previous to their coming had a large number of seeds in their
+stomachs, when dissected, seemed now for a time to abandon all other
+kinds of food. At least from this onward for a month little else than
+locusts were found in their stomachs. All the birds seemed now to live
+solely on locusts for a while.&rdquo; In winter and at other times of the
+year when insect life is scarce and difficult to obtain, these birds
+feed more or less extensively upon seeds and other kinds of
+vegetation. Some even enter cultivated grounds and seek food that
+belongs to the farmer, thereby doing more or less direct injury. The
+extent of such injury, of course, depends upon the number of birds
+engaged in the depredations, and also on the time over which it is
+allowed to extend. If corn and other grain is harvested at the proper
+time, but little damage ensues; but if allowed to remain in the field
+throughout winter, much of the crop is liable to be taken by the
+birds.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/128quail.png"><img src="images/128quail.png" width="350" height="353" alt="Quail." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Quail.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_129" id="Pg_129"></a>Perhaps no other bird that frequents the farm pays higher prices for
+the grain it eats than does the Quail. Living about the hedgerows,
+groves, and ravines, where insect enemies gather and lurk during the
+greater part of the year, this bird not only seizes large numbers of
+these enemies daily during the summer months when they are &ldquo;abroad in
+the land,&rdquo; but all winter through it scratches among the fallen leaves
+and other rubbish that accumulates about its haunts seeking for
+hibernating insects of various kinds. Being a timid little creature,
+the Quail seldom leaves cover to feed openly in the fields, and
+therefore does but little actual harm in the way of destroying grain.
+In fact it only takes stray kernels that otherwise might be lost. This
+bird is one of the few that feeds upon that unsavory insect, the
+chinch-bug; and the number of this pest that occasionally are
+destroyed by it is really astonishing. No farmer or fruit-grower
+should ever kill a quail himself nor allow anyone else to hunt it on
+his premises.</p>
+
+<p>Our domestic fowls, save ducks and geese, from which so much direct
+income is derived throughout the year, belong here. It would be folly
+on my part to assert that they are useless to the farmer. Besides
+furnishing eggs and meat for the table, they are great aids in keeping
+down a variety of noxious insects during spring, summer, and fall.</p>
+
+<p>The various species of Doves or Pigeons are not, as a rule, thought of
+as being especially harmful, yet repeated examinations of their
+stomach contents would indicate that their food seldom, if ever,
+consists of anything but grains and various kinds of seeds along with
+other particles of vegetation. The good done by these<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_130" id="Pg_130"></a> birds as
+destroyers of weed seeds more than pays for the harm done by them as
+grain-eaters.</p>
+
+<p>Recent careful study with reference to the food habits of Hawks and
+Owls carried on by the United States Department of Agriculture go to
+show that these birds, with but few exceptions, are the farmer&#8217;s
+friends rather than his enemies. It appears that the good which they
+accomplish in the way of destroying mice, gophers, rabbits and other
+small mammals along with great quantities of noxious insects far
+exceeds the possible harm they do by the occasional destruction of
+poultry and other birds. A critical examination of the actual contents
+of about twenty-seven hundred stomachs of these birds showed that only
+six of the seventy-three species found in the United States are
+injurious. Three of these are so rare that they need not be
+considered. Of the remaining three the Fish Hawk is only indirectly
+injurious: hence but two remain to be considered, viz., the
+Sharp-shinned and Cooper&#8217;s Hawks. &ldquo;Omitting the six species that feed
+largely on poultry and game, 2,212 stomachs were examined, of which
+56&nbsp;per cent contained mice and other small mammals, 27&nbsp;per cent insects,
+and only 3&frac12;&nbsp;per cent poultry and game birds.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The food habits of both the Turkey Vulture and Carrion Crow, or Black
+Vulture, are of such a nature that the destruction of these birds
+should be prohibited. In fact, in many of the states this is done by
+law. They live almost exclusively upon carrion or decomposing animal
+matter, and in this manner aid in the prevention of diseases that
+might result from the presence of such filth. They may, however, be
+the cause<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_131" id="Pg_131"></a> of indirectly spreading hog cholera where animals that have
+died from this disease are left unburied or unburned.</p>
+
+<p>The Cuckoos are among the few birds that habitually feed upon hairy
+caterpillars, such as the various &ldquo;tent-making&rdquo; species. They also
+destroy large numbers of other caterpillars, and do not object to
+beetles and other insects which they find among the foliage of trees.
+Although shy birds they are frequently seen in cities, where they do
+their share in protecting the shade trees from the ravages of insect
+defoliators.</p>
+
+<div class="tleft" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/131woodpecker.png"><img src="images/131woodpecker-1.png" width="350" height="300" alt="Woodpecker." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="bleft" style="width: 230px;">
+<a href="images/131woodpecker.png"><img src="images/131woodpecker-2.png" width="230" height="199" alt="Woodpecker." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Woodpecker.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Taking the Woodpeckers as a family, there are few persons but who will
+readily admit that these birds comprise a very useful group. Feeding,
+in fact, as most of them do, upon the larv&aelig; of wood-boring insects,
+they can readily do much greater good for the actual number of insects
+destroyed than if they destroyed only those that feed upon the foliage
+of trees. Not unfrequently will a single borer kill an entire tree if
+left to itself, while hundreds of foliage-feeding caterpillars of the
+same<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_132" id="Pg_132"></a> size have but little effect upon the appearance, to say nothing
+of the health, of the same tree.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. M.&nbsp;L. Beal, assistant in the Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy
+of the United States Department of Agriculture, in summing up the
+results obtained from the examination of six hundred and seventy-nine
+stomachs of these birds, writes as follows:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In reviewing the results of these investigations and comparing one
+species with another, without losing sight of the fact that
+comparative good is not necessarily positive good, it appears that of
+seven species considered the Downy Woodpecker is the most beneficial.&rdquo;
+He then goes on to give the food habits based on contents of the
+stomachs of our most common species. &ldquo;Judged by the stomach
+examinations of the Downy and Hairy Woodpecker and Flicker it would be
+hard to find three other species of our common birds with fewer
+harmful qualities.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Flicker is one of our most common woodpeckers in Nebraska and does
+much towards keeping down a number of different kinds of insects. It
+is very fond of ants as a diet, in fact is partial to them, and this
+element forms almost half of its entire food-supply during the year.
+It also occasionally feeds upon the chinch-bug, as can be attested by
+the fact that the stomach of a specimen killed near Lincoln contained
+in the vicinity of one thousand of these bugs. It is also a
+fruit-eater to the extent of about one-quarter of its entire bill of
+fare, but nature, not man, furnishes the supply. It takes the wild
+kinds in preference to those that are cultivated.</p>
+
+<p>The Whippoorwill, Night Hawk, and Swifts feed<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_133" id="Pg_133"></a> entirely on insects,
+and must consequently be classed among the beneficial birds. They all
+capture their prey while upon the wing, and naturally destroy large
+numbers of troublesome kinds.</p>
+
+<p>The various species of Flycatchers, as the name <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'imples'.">implies</ins>, destroy
+insects which they capture for the most part while on the wing. Flies
+and allied insects are quite prominent on their bill of fare; but
+these by no means are the only kinds of insects destroyed by them.
+Many a luckless locust, butterfly, moth or even beetle is snapped up
+and devoured by the different species of the family. The Bee-bird, or
+Kingbird as it is more frequently called, sometimes even catches bees.
+These latter, however, consist largely of drones, hence comparatively
+little harm is done.</p>
+
+<p>One should be unprejudiced in order to write a fair biography of even
+a bird, or group of birds. To say that I am without such prejudice
+with reference to some of the members of the family of birds now to be
+considered, would be a falsehood. Still, I shall endeavor to give as
+unbiased testimony as possible with reference to their food-habits at
+least, and let the reader judge for himself as to what would be the
+proper treatment for these birds. Taking the family as a whole that
+which is made up of birds like the Crows, Ravens, Magpies, Jays,
+Nut-crackers, &ldquo;Camp-robbers,&rdquo; etc., though some of them have
+unenviable names and reputations at least, are not at all as bad as we
+are sometimes requested to believe them to be.</p>
+
+<p>The Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and immediate relatives are what might be
+termed &ldquo;omnivorous&rdquo; in food-habits, eating everything that comes their
+way. Crows,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_134" id="Pg_134"></a> however, have been shown to feed largely on insects,
+which in great measure at least, offsets the harm done in other
+directions. They also feed on various substances, the removal of which
+is for the general good.</p>
+
+<p>The Raven is too rare a bird in this state to be taken into
+consideration in respect to food-habits, and the Magpie certainly can
+be put out of the question of doing any possible harm for the same
+reason. This leaves then to be considered, the Jays, of which we seem
+to have six or seven distinct kinds; but only two of these are at all
+common. The Blue Jay is found over the entire state, and is familiar
+to everybody. The second species is found only in the western and
+north-western portions among the pine forests, and is known as the
+Pinon Jay or &ldquo;Camp-robber&rdquo;&mdash;the latter name not very flattering to the
+bird I must confess.</p>
+
+<p>The Blue Jay does much of the mischief that is laid at the door of the
+Robin, orioles, thrushes, and other birds, and then sneaks away
+unobserved. He also destroys large numbers of insects and robs the
+nest of some small birds.</p>
+
+<p>In the Bobolink, Meadowlark, Orioles, and Black-birds, we have some of
+the most important insect destroyers among the feathered tribes. The
+Bobolink is with us only during the summer months when it is entirely
+insectivorous; and the same can be said of the Cowbird, although the
+latter has the bad habit of compelling other birds to rear its young.</p>
+
+<p>In the Red-winged Blackbird we have a friend that we little dream of
+when we see the large flocks gathering about our corn-fields during
+late summer, and early<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_135" id="Pg_135"></a> fall. During the balance of the year it is
+engaged most of the time in waging war on various insect pests,
+including such forms as the &ldquo;grub-worms,&rdquo; cut-worms, grasshoppers,
+army worm, beet caterpillar, etc. Even when it visits our corn-fields
+it more than pays for the corn it eats by the destruction of the worms
+that lurk under the husks of a large per cent of the ears in every
+field.</p>
+
+<div class="tright" style="width: 60px;">
+<a href="images/135bobolink.png"><img src="images/135bobolink-1.png" width="60" height="45" alt="Bobolink." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapright" style="width: 265px;">
+<a href="images/135bobolink.png"><img src="images/135bobolink-2.gif" width="265" height="190" alt="Bobolink." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="bright" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/135bobolink.png"><img src="images/135bobolink-3.gif" width="350" height="241" alt="Bobolink." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Bobolink.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Several years ago the beet fields in the vicinity of Grand Island were
+threatened great injury by a certain caterpillar that had nearly
+defoliated all the beets growing in many of them. At about this time
+large flocks of this bird appeared and after a week&#8217;s sojourn the
+caterpillar plague had vanished, it having been converted into bird
+tissues. Numerous other records of the efficiency of their labor as
+destroyers of insect pests might be quoted in favor of this bird, but
+I do not believe this to be necessary, although considerable evidence
+has been recorded of its destroying both fruits and grains.</p>
+
+<p>The Baltimore Oriole has received such a bad reputation here in
+Nebraska as a grape thief during the past few years that I feel
+inclined to give extra time<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_136" id="Pg_136"></a> and space in endeavoring to &ldquo;clear him&rdquo;
+of such an unenviable charge. This, however, I hardly think necessary
+when the facts in the case are known. As insect destroyers both this
+bird and the Orchard Oriole have had an undisputed reputation for many
+years: and the kinds of insects destroyed by both are of such a class
+as to count greatly in their favor. Caterpillars and beetles belonging
+to injurious species comprising ninety-six per cent of the food of
+three specimens killed is the record we have in their favor. On the
+other hand, grapes have been punctured only &ldquo;presumably by this bird,
+since he has so frequently been found in the vineyard and must be the
+culprit.&rdquo; Now I myself have seen the Oriole in apple orchards under
+compromising circumstances, and have heard pretty strong evidence to
+the effect that it will occasionally puncture ripe apples. It also
+belongs in the same family with some generally accepted &ldquo;rascals&rdquo;
+hence I will admit that possibly some of the charges with which he is
+credited may be true;<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_137" id="Pg_137"></a> but I still believe that most of the injuries
+to grapes in this and other states must be laid to the English
+Sparrow.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/136blackbird.png"><img src="images/136blackbird.png" width="400" height="382" alt="Red-winged Blackbird." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Red-winged Blackbird.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>If we take pains to water our birds during the dry seasons they will
+be much less apt to seek this supply from the juices of fruits that
+are so temptingly near at hand. Place little pans of water in the
+orchard and vineyard where the birds can visit them without fear of
+being seized by the house cat or knocked over by a missile from the
+alert &ldquo;small boy,&rdquo; and I am sure that the injury to fruit, to a great
+extent at least, will cease.</p>
+
+<p>Recent investigations tend to prove that the Grackle or Crow-Blackbird
+does more good than harm and should be protected.</p>
+
+<p>Our Sparrows and their allies, taken together, form a very extensive
+family of very beautiful as well as useful birds. Like the warblers,
+they occupy themselves with searching for and destroying insects all
+summer long; but this is not all they do that is good. In fall,
+winter, and early spring, when Mother Earth has lost her brilliant
+green and rests in sombre browns or beneath ice and snow, the
+longspurs, Snow Bunting, Snowbird, and some of the sparrows that have
+remained with us are busily engaged in gathering for themselves a
+living. They hop and fly about from place to place searching for and
+picking up little seeds of grass, grain and weeds, of shrubs and
+trees, and appropriating the same to their use, chirping merrily as
+they work away. The European House Sparrow, or the English Sparrow as
+it is more commonly called, has the worst reputation of the entire
+family. But even this bird has some redeeming traits.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_138" id="Pg_138"></a>The Tanagers are insect destroyers, feeding for the most part on such
+forms as attack the foliage of trees.</p>
+
+<p>All of our Swallows are insect destroyers, capturing such forms as
+gnats, flies, etc., which they seize while on the wing. The large
+colonies of different species of these birds that breed within the
+state, as well as those that pass through during their migrations,
+destroy great numbers of these insects. They should be protected.</p>
+
+<p>The Waxwings, both the Cedar Bird and Bohemian Waxwing, feed
+principally upon berries, etc., which they find throughout the year.
+Still, in his studies of the food contents of the stomachs of a
+variety of birds taken in a certain orchard that was overrun with
+canker worms, Professor Forbes found that the seven specimens of the
+Ceder Waxwing had eaten nothing but canker-worms and a few dung
+beetles, the latter in such small numbers as to scarcely count. The
+number of caterpillars eaten by each bird ranged from 70 to 101.</p>
+
+<p>The Shrikes or &ldquo;Butcher Birds&rdquo; are known as veritable &ldquo;brigands&rdquo; or
+&ldquo;pirates&rdquo; when it comes to the destruction of other forms of life.
+They are true to their name, and &ldquo;butcher&rdquo; for pastime large numbers
+of insects, mice, lizards, small snakes, and even a few birds. They
+then fly to some thorn bush or barbed-wire fence and impale the
+luckless victim and leave it for future use, or to dry up and finally
+blow away. The good they do will outweigh the harm.</p>
+
+<p>The food of the various Greenlets or Vireos is made up almost entirely
+of insects, of which a large per cent<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_139" id="Pg_139"></a> are caterpillars, such as
+infest shade trees and the larger shrubs. They should be protected and
+encouraged, about the orchard in particular.</p>
+
+<p>In the words of that pleasing writer, Dr. Elliott
+Coues,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> &ldquo;The
+Warblers have we always with us, all in their own good time; they come
+out of the south, pass on, return, and are away again, their
+appearance and withdrawal scarcely less than a mystery; many stay with
+us all summer long, and some brave the winters in our midst. Some of
+these slight creatures, guided by unerring instinct, travel true to
+the <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'meridan'.">meridian</ins> in the hours of darkness, slipping past like a &lsquo;thief
+in the night,&rsquo; stopping at daybreak from their lofty nights to rest
+and recruit for the next stage of the journey. Others pass more
+leisurely from tree to tree, in a ceaseless tide of migration,
+gleaning as they go; the hardier males, in full song and plumage, lead
+the way for the weaker females and yearlings. With tireless industry
+do the warblers befriend the human race; their unconscious zeal plays
+due part in the nice adjustment of nature&#8217;s forces, helping to bring
+about the balance of vegetable and insect life without which
+agriculture would be in vain. They visit the orchard when the apple
+and pear, the peach, plum, and cherry are in bloom, seeming to revel
+carelessly amid the sweet-scented and delicately-tinted blossoms, but
+never faltering in their good work. They peer into the crevices of the
+bark, scrutinize each leaf, and explore the very heart of the buds, to
+detect, drag forth, and destroy those tiny creatures, singly
+insignificant, collectively a scourge, which prey upon the hopes of
+the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_140" id="Pg_140"></a> fruit-grower, and which, if undisturbed, would bring his care to
+naught. Some warblers flit incessantly in the terminal foliage of the
+tallest trees; others hug close to the scored trunks and gnarled
+boughs of the forest kings; some peep from the thicket, coppice, the
+impenetrable mantle of shrubbery that decks tiny water-courses,
+playing at hide-and-seek with all comers; others more humble still,
+descend to the ground, where they glide with pretty mincing steps and
+affected turning of the head this way and that, their delicate
+flesh-tinted feet just stirring the layer of withered leaves with
+which a past season carpeted the ground. We may seek warblers
+everywhere in the season; we shall find them a continued surprise; all
+mood and circumstance is theirs.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5">[5]</a> Key to North American Birds, p. 288.</p></div>
+
+<p>Much could be written concerning the food-habits of the various
+members of the group of Thrushes, Mocking-birds and Wrens. Three of
+the species at least are known to be more or less destructive to
+fruits, viz., Catbird, Brown Thrasher, and Mocking-bird. Still, if we
+take into account what these birds eat during the entire time spent
+within the state, the balance sheet stands in favor of the birds as
+insect destroyers. The wrens are pre-eminently insect destroyers, and
+the others are not much behind them in this respect.</p>
+
+<p>The members of the family of Nuthatches and Tits feed for the most
+part on insects. But we lack very definite figures regarding the kinds
+and numbers of insects that each destroys. We can be sure, however,
+that any favors shown them will not be thrown away.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_141" id="Pg_141"></a>The Thrushes, Solitaires, Bluebirds, etc., are all beneficial as
+insect destroyers, and might be well compared with the Robin, which is
+described quite fully beyond, only they are even less liable to commit
+injuries to fruits.</p>
+
+<p>The Robin has certainly been accused often enough of being a
+first-class rascal to warrant the belief that there must be at least
+some grounds for such accusations being made. In his examination of
+one hundred and fourteen stomachs of this bird, taken during ten
+months of the year, Professor Forbes, of Illinois, found the contents
+to consist of sixty-five per cent insects and thirty-four per cent of
+fruits and seeds. In the estimates of these food percentages taken by
+the Robin, as well as by other birds, bulk for bulk is taken, i.e., a
+quart of caterpillars or other insects is equivalent to a quart of
+cherries or a quart of berries. Professor Forbes asks this question:
+&ldquo;Will the destruction of seventeen quarts of average caterpillars,
+including at least eight quarts of cut-worms, pay for twenty-four
+quarts of cherries, blackberries, currents, and grapes?&rdquo; and then
+answers it in these words: &ldquo;To this question I, for my own part, can
+only reply that I do not believe that the horticulturist can sell his
+small fruits anywhere in the ordinary markets of the world at so high
+a price as to the Robin, provided that he uses proper diligence that
+the little huckster doesn&#8217;t overreach him in the bargain.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Much more might be said in favor of the Robin had I the time and space
+at my command.</p>
+
+<p>After having carefully scanned the foregoing notes concerning the
+food-habits of our birds we cannot afford<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_142" id="Pg_142"></a> to continue indifferent to
+our treatment of them, nor can we even allow our neighbors to kill
+them though we ourselves have decided to reform in this respect. We
+must work for a change of heart in our neighbors also.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/142image.png"><img src="images/142image.png" width="500" height="177" alt="A farm" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_143" id="Pg_143"></a><a name="THE_SCISSOR_BEAK" id="THE_SCISSOR_BEAK"></a>THE SCISSOR BEAK<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From A Journal of Researches, Etc.)<br />
+By CHARLES DARWIN.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 250px;">
+<a href="images/143i.png"><img src="images/143i-1.gif" width="250" height="255" alt="I, decorated with a bird" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 175px;">
+<a href="images/143i.png"><img src="images/143i-2.png" width="175" height="105" alt="I, decorated with a bird" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">I</span>t has short legs, web feet, extremely long&mdash;pointed wings, and is
+about the size of a tern. The beak is flattened laterally, that is, in
+a plane at right angles to that of a spoonbill or duck. It is as flat
+and elastic as an ivory paper-cutter, and the lower mandible,
+differently from every other bird, is an inch and a half longer than
+the upper. In a lake near Maldonado, from which the water had been
+nearly drained, and which, in consequence, swarmed with small fry, I
+saw several of these birds, generally in small flocks, flying rapidly
+backwards and forwards close to the surface of the lake. They kept
+their bills wide open, and the lower mandible half buried in the
+water. Thus skimming the surface, they ploughed it in their course;
+the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_144" id="Pg_144"></a> water was quite smooth, and it formed a most curious spectacle to
+behold a flock, each bird leaving its narrow wake on the mirror-like
+surface. In their flight they frequently twist about with extreme
+quickness, and dexterously manage with their projecting lower mandible
+to plough up small fish, which are secured by the upper and shorter
+half of their scissor-like bills. This fact I repeatedly saw, as, like
+swallows, they continued to fly backwards and forwards close before
+me. Occasionally when leaving the surface of the water their flight
+was wild, irregular and rapid; then they uttered loud harsh cries.
+When these birds are fishing, the advantage of the long primary
+feathers of their wings, in keeping them dry, is very evident. When
+thus employed, their forms resemble the symbol by which many artists
+represent marine birds. Their tails are much used in steering their
+irregular course.</p>
+
+<p>These birds are common far inland along the course of the Rio Parana;
+it is said that they remain here during the whole year, and breed in
+the marshes. During the day they rest in flocks on the grassy plains,
+at some distance from the water. Being at anchor, as I have said, in
+one of the deep creeks between the islands of Parana, as the evening
+drew to a close, one of these scissor-beaks suddenly appeared. The
+water was quite still, and many little fish were rising. The bird
+continued for a long time to skim the surface, flying in its wild and
+irregular manner up and down the narrow canal, now dark with the
+growing night and the shadows of the overhanging trees. At Montevideo,
+I observed that some large flocks during the day<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_145" id="Pg_145"></a> remained on the
+mud-banks at the head of the harbor, in the same manner as on the
+grassy plains near the Parana; and every evening they took flight
+seaward. From these facts I suspect that the Rhynchops generally
+fishes by night, at which time many of the lower animals come most
+abundantly to the surface. M. Lesson states that he has seen these
+birds opening the shells of the mactrae buried in the sandbanks on the
+coast of Chile; from their weak bills, with the lower mandible so much
+projecting, their short legs and long wings, it is very improbable
+that this can be a general habit.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<a href="images/145scissor.png"><img src="images/145scissor.png" width="450" height="232" alt="A bird flying" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_146" id="Pg_146"></a><a name="THE_CONDOR" id="THE_CONDOR"></a><a href="#frontispiece">THE CONDOR</a><br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From A Journal of Researches, Etc.)<br />
+By CHARLES DARWIN.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 250px;">
+<a href="images/146t.gif"><img src="images/146t.gif" width="250" height="400" alt="T, decorated with a bird on a rock" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">T</span>his day I shot a condor. It measured from tip to tip of the wings
+eight and a half feet, and from beak to tail, four feet. This bird is
+known to have a wide geographical range, being found on the west coast
+of South America, from the Strait of Magellan along the Cordillera as
+far as eight degrees north of the equator. The steep cliff near the
+mouth of the Rio Negro is its northern limit on the Patagonian coast;
+and they have there wandered about four hundred miles from the great
+central line of their habitation in the Andes. Further south, among
+the bold precipices at the head of Port Desire, the condor is not
+uncommon; yet only a few stragglers occasionally visit the seacoast. A
+line of cliff near the mouth of the Santa Cruz is frequented by these
+birds, and about eighty miles up the river, where the sides of the
+valley are formed by steep<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_147" id="Pg_147"></a> basaltic precipices, the condor reappears.
+From these facts, it seems that the condors require perpendicular
+cliffs. In Chile, they haunt, during the greater part of the year, the
+lower country near the shores of the Pacific, and at night several
+roost together in one tree; but in the early part of summer, they
+retire to the most inaccessible parts of the inner Cordilleras, there
+to breed in peace.</p>
+
+<p>With respect to their propagation, I was told by the country people in
+Chile, that the condor makes no sort of nest, but in the months of
+November and December lays two large white eggs on a shelf of bare
+rock. It is said that the young condors cannot fly for an entire year;
+and long after they are able, they continue to roost by night, and
+hunt with their parents. The old birds generally live in pairs; but
+among the inland basaltic cliffs of the Santa Cruz, I found a spot,
+where scores must usually haunt. On coming suddenly to the brow of the
+precipice, it was a grand spectacle to see between twenty and thirty
+of these birds start heavily from their resting-place, and wheel away
+in majestic circles. From the quantity of dung on the rocks, they must
+long have frequented this place for roosting and breeding. Having
+gorged themselves with carrion on the plains below, they retire to
+these favorite ledges to digest their food. From these facts, the
+condor, like the gallinazo, must to a certain degree be considered as
+a gregarious bird. In this part of the country they live altogether on
+the guanacos which have died a natural death, or, as more commonly
+happens, have been killed by the pumas. I believe, from what I saw in
+Patagonia, they do not on ordinary occa<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_148" id="Pg_148"></a>sions extend their daily
+excursions to any great distance from their regular sleeping-places.</p>
+
+<p>The condors may oftentimes be seen at a great height, soaring over a
+certain spot in the most graceful circles. On some occasions I am sure
+that they do this only for pleasure, but on others, the Chileno
+countryman tells you that they are watching a dying animal, or the
+puma devouring its prey. If the condors glide down, and then suddenly
+all rise together, the Chileno knows that it is the puma which,
+watching the carcass, has sprung out to drive away the robbers.
+Besides feeding on carrion, the condors frequently attack young goats
+and lambs; and the shepherd dogs are trained, whenever they pass over,
+to run out, and looking upwards to bark violently. The Chilenos
+destroy and catch numbers. Two methods are used; one is to place a
+carcass on a level piece of ground within an enclosure of sticks with
+an opening, and when the condors are gorged, to gallop up on horseback
+to the entrance, and thus enclose them; for when this bird has not
+space to run, it cannot give its body sufficient momentum to rise from
+the ground. The second method is to mark the trees in which,
+frequently to the number of five or six together, they roost, and then
+at night to climb up and noose them. They are such heavy sleepers, as
+I have myself witnessed, that this is not a difficult task. At
+Valpariso, I have seen a living condor sold for sixpence, but the
+common price is eight or ten shillings. One which I saw brought in had
+been tied with rope, and was much injured; yet, the moment the line
+was cut by which its bill was secured, although surrounded by<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_149" id="Pg_149"></a> people,
+it began ravenously to tear a piece of carrion. In a garden at the
+same place, between twenty and thirty were kept alive. They were fed
+only once a week, but they appeared in pretty good health. The Chileno
+countrymen assert that the condor will live, and retain its vigor,
+between five and six weeks without eating; I cannot answer for the
+truth of this, but it is a cruel experiment, which very likely has
+been tried.</p>
+
+<p>When an animal is killed in the country, it is well known that the
+condors, like other carrion-vultures, soon gain intelligence of it,
+and congregate in an inexplicable manner. In most cases it must not be
+overlooked, that the birds have discovered their prey, and have picked
+the skeleton clean, before the flesh is in the least degree tainted.
+Remembering the experiments of M. Audubon, on the little smelling
+powers of carrion-hawks, I tried in the above-mentioned garden the
+following experiment: the condors were tied, each by a rope, in a long
+row at the bottom of a wall; and having folded up a piece of meat in
+white paper, I walked backwards and forwards, carrying it in my hand
+at the distance of about three yards from them, but no notice whatever
+was taken. I then threw it on the ground, within one yard of an old
+male bird; he looked at it for a moment with attention, but then
+regarded it no more. With a stick I pushed it closer and closer, until
+at last he touched it with his beak; the paper was then instantly torn
+off with fury, and at the same moment, every bird in the long row
+began struggling and flapping its wings. Under the same circumstances,
+it would have been quite impossible to have<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_150" id="Pg_150"></a> deceived a dog. The
+evidence in favor of and against the acute smelling powers of
+carrion-vultures is singularly balanced. Professor Owen has
+demonstrated that the olfactory nerves of the turkey-buzzard
+(<i>Cathartes aura</i>) are highly developed; and on the evening when Mr.
+Owen&#8217;s paper was read at the Zo&ouml;logical Society, it was mentioned by a
+gentleman that he had seen the carrion-hawks in the West Indies on two
+occasions collect on the roof of a house, when a corpse had become
+offensive from not having been buried: in this case, the intelligence
+could hardly have been acquired by sight. On the other hand, besides
+the experiments of Audubon and that one by myself, Mr. Bachman has
+tried in the United States many varied plans, showing that neither the
+turkey-buzzard (the species dissected by Professor Owen) nor the
+gallinazo find their food by smell. He covered portions of highly
+offensive offal with a thin canvas cloth, and strewed pieces of meat
+on it; these the carrion-vultures ate up, and then remained quietly
+standing, with their beaks within the eighth of an inch of the putrid
+mass, without discovering it. A small rent was made in the canvas, and
+the offal was immediately discovered; the canvas was replaced by a
+fresh piece, and meat again put on it, and was again devoured by the
+vultures without their discovering the hidden mass on which they were
+trampling. These facts are attested by the signatures of six
+gentlemen, besides that of Mr. Bachman.</p>
+
+<p>Often when lying down to rest on the open plains, on looking upwards,
+I have seen carrion-hawks sailing through the air at a great height.
+When the country is level I do not believe a space of the heavens, of
+more<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_151" id="Pg_151"></a> than fifteen degrees above the horizon, is commonly viewed with
+any attention by a person either walking or on horseback. If such be
+the case, and the vulture is on the wing at a height of between three
+or four thousand feet, before it could come within the range of
+vision, its distance in a straight line from the beholder&#8217;s eye, would
+be rather more than two British miles. Might it not thus readily be
+overlooked? When an animal is killed by the sportsman in a lonely
+valley, may he not all the while be watched from above by the
+sharp-sighted bird? And will not the manner of its descent proclaim
+throughout the district to the whole family of carrion feeders, that
+their prey is at hand?</p>
+
+<p>When the condors are wheeling in a flock round and round any spot,
+their flight is beautiful. Except when rising from the ground, I do
+not recollect ever having seen one of these birds flap its wings. Near
+Lima, I watched several for nearly half an hour, without once taking
+off my eyes; they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles,
+descending and ascending without giving a single flap. As they glided
+close over my head, I intently watched from an oblique position, the
+outlines of the separate and great terminal feathers of each wing; and
+these separate feathers, if there had been the least vibratory
+movement, would have appeared as if blended together; for they were
+seen distinct against the blue sky. The head and neck were moved
+frequently, and apparently with force; and the extended wings seemed
+to form the fulcrum on which the movements of the neck, body, and tail
+acted. If the bird wished to descend, the wings were for a moment
+collapsed; and when again expanded with an altered inclination, the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_152" id="Pg_152"></a>
+momentum gained by the rapid descent seemed to urge the bird upwards
+with the even and steady movement of a paper kite. In the case of any
+bird <i>soaring</i>, its motion must be sufficiently rapid, so that the
+action of the inclined surface of its body on the atmosphere may
+counterbalance its gravity. The force to keep up the momentum of a
+body moving in a horizontal plane in the air (in which there is so
+little friction) cannot be great, and this force is all that is
+wanted. The movement of the neck and body of the condor, we must
+suppose, is sufficient for this. However this may be, it is truly
+wonderful and beautiful to see so great a horde, hour after hour,
+without any apparent exertion, wheeling and gliding over mountain and
+river.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<a href="images/152condor.png"><img src="images/152condor.png" width="450" height="178" alt="A large bird flying" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_153" id="Pg_153"></a><a name="THE_UMBRELLA_BIRD" id="THE_UMBRELLA_BIRD"></a>THE UMBRELLA BIRD<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Travels on the Amazon.)<br />
+By <a href="#Wallace">SIR A.&nbsp;R. WALLACE</a>.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 289px;">
+<a href="images/153umbrella.png"><img src="images/153umbrella-1.gif" width="289" height="90" alt="T, decorated with an umbrella bird" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 255px;">
+<a href="images/153umbrella.png"><img src="images/153umbrella-2.png" width="255" height="175" alt="T, decorated with an umbrella bird" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 175px;">
+<a href="images/153umbrella.png"><img src="images/153umbrella-3.png" width="175" height="106" alt="T, decorated with an umbrella bird" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<p style="text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">T</span>his singular bird is about the size of a raven, and is of a similar
+color, but its feathers have a more scaly appearance, from being
+margined with a different shade of glossy blue. It is also allied to
+the crows in its structure, being very similar to them in its feet and
+bill. On its head it bears a crest, different from that of any other
+bird. It is formed of feathers more than two inches long, very thickly
+set, and with hairy plumes curving over at the end. These can be laid
+back so as to be hardly visible, or can be erected and spread out on
+every side, forming a hemi-spherical, or rather a hemi-ellipsoidal
+dome, completely covering the head, and even reaching beyond the point
+of the beak: the individual feathers then stand out something like the
+down-bearing seeds of the dandelion. Besides this, there is another
+ornamental appendage on<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_154" id="Pg_154"></a> the breast, formed by a fleshy tubercle, as
+thick as a quill and an inch and a half long, which hangs down from
+the neck, and is thickly covered with glossy feathers, forming a large
+pendant plume or tassel. This also the bird can either press to its
+breast, so as to be scarcely visible, or can swell out, so as almost
+to conceal the forepart of its body. In the female the crest and the
+neck-plume are less developed, and she is altogether a smaller and
+much less handsome bird. It inhabits the flooded islands of the Rio
+Negro and the Solimoes, never appearing on the mainland. It feeds on
+fruits, and utters a loud, hoarse cry, like some deep musical
+instrument; whence its Indian name, <i>Uera-mimbe</i>, &ldquo;trumpet-bird.&rdquo; The
+whole of the neck, where the plume of feathers springs from, is
+covered internally with a thick coat of hard, muscular fat, very
+difficult to be cleaned away,&mdash;which in preparing the skins, must be
+done, as it would putrefy, and cause the feathers to drop off. The
+birds are tolerably abundant, but are shy, and perch on the highest
+trees, and, being very muscular, will not fall unless severely
+wounded.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<a href="images/154palm.png"><img src="images/154palm.png" width="450" height="208" alt="Palm trees" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 321px;"><a name="umbrella" id="umbrella"></a>
+<a href="images/umbrella-h.jpg" title="Larger image"><img class="jpg" src="images/umbrella-t.jpg" width="321" height="500" alt="The Umbrella Bird." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">The Umbrella Bird.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_155" id="Pg_155"></a><a name="HUMMING_BIRDS" id="HUMMING_BIRDS"></a>HUMMING BIRDS<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From The Naturalist in Nicaragua.)<br />
+By <a href="#Belt">THOMAS G. BELT</a>, F.G.S.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 250px;">
+<a href="images/155s.png"><img src="images/155s-1.gif" width="250" height="225" alt="S, decorated with a humming bird" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 200px;">
+<a href="images/155s.png"><img src="images/155s-2.png" width="200" height="83" alt="S, decorated with a humming bird" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">S</span>oon after crossing the muddy Artigua below Pavon, a beautifully clear
+and sparkling brook is reached, coming down to join its pure waters
+with the soiled river below. In the evening this was a favorite resort
+of many birds that came to drink at the pellucid stream, or catch
+insects playing above the water. Amongst the last was the beautiful
+blue, green and white humming-bird; the head and neck deep
+metallic-blue, bordered on the back by a pure white collar over the
+shoulders, followed by deep metallic-green; on the underside the blue
+neck is succeeded by green, the green from the centre of the breast to
+the end of the tail by pure white; the tail can be expanded to a half
+circle, and each feather widening towards the end makes the semicircle
+complete around the edge. When catching the ephemerid&aelig; that play above
+the water, the tail is not expanded: it is reserved for times of
+courtship. I have seen the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_156" id="Pg_156"></a> female sitting quietly on a branch, and
+two males displaying their charms in front of her. One would shoot up
+like a rocket, than suddenly expanding the snow-white tail like an
+inverted parachute, slowly descend in front of her, turning round
+gradually to show off both back and front. The effect was heightened
+by the wings being invisible from a distance of a few yards, both from
+their great velocity of movement and from not having the metallic
+lustre of the rest of the body. The expanded white tail covered more
+space than all the rest of the bird, and was evidently the grand
+feature in the performance. Whilst one was descending, the other would
+shoot up and come slowly down expanded. The entertainment would end in
+a fight between the two performers; but whether the most beautiful or
+the most pugnacious was the accepted suitor, I know not. Another fine
+humming-bird seen about this brook was the long-billed, fire-throated
+<i>Heliomaster pallidiceps</i>, Gould, generally seen probing long,
+narrow-throated red flowers, forming, with their attractive nectar,
+complete traps for the small insects on which the humming-birds feed,
+the bird returning the favor by carrying the pollen of one flower to
+another. A third species, also seen at this brook, <i>Petasophora
+delphinae</i>, Less., is of a dull brown color, with brilliant
+ear-feathers and metallic-green throat. Both it and the <i>Florisuga
+mellivora</i> are short billed, generally catching flying insects, and do
+not frequent flowers so much as other humming-birds. I have seen the
+<i>Petasophora</i> fly into the centre of a dancing column of midges and
+rapidly darting first at one end then at another secure half a dozen
+of the tiny flies before the column was<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_157" id="Pg_157"></a> broken up; then retire to a
+branch and wait until it was re-formed, when it made another sudden
+descent on them.... I have no doubt many humming-birds suck the honey
+from flowers, as I have seen it exude from their bills when shot; but
+others do not frequent them; and the principal food of all is small
+insects. I have examined scores of them, and never without finding
+insects in their crops. Their generally long bills have been spoken of
+by some naturalists as tubes into which they suck the honey by a
+piston-like movement of the tongue; but suction in the usual way would
+be just as effective; and I am satisfied that this is not the primary
+use of the tongue, nor of the mechanism which enables it to be exerted
+to a great length beyond the end of the bill. The tongue, for one-half
+of its length, is semi-horny and cleft in two, the two halves are laid
+flat against each other when at rest, but can be separated at the will
+of the bird and form a delicate pliable pair of forceps, most
+admirably adapted for picking out minute insects from amongst the
+stamens of the flowers.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/157bird.png"><img src="images/157bird.png" width="500" height="207" alt="A humming bird approaching a flower" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_158" id="Pg_158"></a><a name="THE_FOUNDATIONS_OF_A_WONDERFUL_CITY" id="THE_FOUNDATIONS_OF_A_WONDERFUL_CITY"></a>THE FOUNDATIONS OF A WONDERFUL CITY<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From The Life of the Bees.)<br />
+By <a href="#Maeterlink">MAURICE MAETERLINCK</a>.<br />
+(Translated by Marie Josephine Welsh.)</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 307px;">
+<a href="images/158h.png"><img src="images/158h-1.gif" width="307" height="100" alt="H, decorated with a flower and a bee" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 255px;">
+<a href="images/158h.png"><img src="images/158h-2.png" width="255" height="381" alt="H, decorated with a flower and a bee" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">H</span>ere in their new home there is nothing&mdash;not a drop of honey nor a
+single landmark in the shape of a piece of wax. The bee has no data
+and no starting-point; he has nothing but the desolate nakedness of
+the walls and the roof of an immense building. The walls are round and
+smooth, but all is dark within.... The bee does not understand useless
+regrets, or if he does, he does not encumber himself with them. Far
+from being discouraged by the conditions which now confront him, he is
+more determined than ever. The hive is no sooner set up in its proper
+place<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_159" id="Pg_159"></a> than the disorder of the crowd begins to diminish, and one sees
+in the swarming multitude clear and definite divisions which take
+shape in a most unexpected manner. The larger part of the bees, acting
+precisely like an army which is obeying the definite orders of its
+officer, at once begins to form thick columns along the whole length
+of the vertical partitions of the hive. The first to arrive at the top
+hang on to the arch by the claws of their hind legs, those who come
+after attach themselves to the first, and so on till long chains are
+formed which serve as bridges for the ever mounting crowd to pass
+over. Little by little these chains are multiplied with indefinite
+re-enforcements and interlacing each other become garlands, which,
+owing to the enormous and uninterrupted mounting of the bees upon
+them, are transformed into a thick triangular curtain, or rather into
+a sort of compact reversed cone, the point of which is attached to the
+top of the hive; the base of which is about two-thirds of the total
+height of the hive. Then the last bee, which would appear to be
+summoned by some interior voice<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_160" id="Pg_160"></a> to join this group, mounts this
+curtain, which is hung in the darkness, and little by little every
+movement among the vast crowd ceases, and this strange reversed cone
+remains for many hours in a silence which might be called religious,
+and in a statuesqueness which in such a mass of life is almost
+startling, waiting for the arrival of the mystery of the wax.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/159bees.png"><img src="images/159bees.png" width="300" height="433" alt="Cluster of Bees." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Cluster of Bees.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>While this is going on, without taking any notice of the wonderful
+curtain from out of whose folds so magic a gift will come, without
+even appearing to be tempted to attach themselves to it, the rest of
+the bees, that is all those who are on the floor of the hive, begin to
+examine the building and to undertake the work which is necessary to
+be done. The floor is carefully swept, dead leaves, twigs, grains of
+sand are transferred to a considerable distance one by one, for bees
+have an absolute mania for cleanliness; so much is this the case that
+in the winter, when the extremely cold weather prevents them from
+taking what bee lovers know as their &ldquo;flight of cleanliness,&rdquo; rather
+than soil the interior of the hive they perish in enormous numbers,
+victims of a disease of the stomach.</p>
+
+<p>After this cleaning up is done these same bees set<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_161" id="Pg_161"></a> themselves to work
+to carefully close up every opening which is round about the lower
+part of the hive. Finally when every crack has been carefully looked
+over, filled up and covered with propolis, they begin to varnish the
+whole of the interior sides. By this time guardians are placed at the
+entrance of the hive, and very soon a number of the working bees start
+on their first trip to the fields and begin to come back laden with
+nectar and pollen....</p>
+
+<p>Let us now lift up, so far as we may, one of the folds of this
+garlanded curtain in the midst of which the swarm is beginning to
+produce that strange exudation which is almost as white as snow, and
+is lighter than the down on a bird&#8217;s breast. The wax which is now
+being made does not resemble at all that with which we are acquainted.
+It is colorless, and may be said to be imponderable. It is the very
+soul of the honey, which in its turn is the very spirit of the
+flowers, evolved by the bees in a species of silent and motionless
+incantation....</p>
+
+<p style="margin-top:2.5em;">It is very difficult to follow the various phases of the secretion and
+of the manner in which the wax is evolved by the swarm which is just
+beginning to build. The operation takes place in the midst of a dense
+crowd which becomes constantly more and more dense, thus producing a
+temperature favorable to the exudation of the wax in its first stage.</p>
+
+<p>Huber, who was the first to study these operations with marvellous
+patience, and sometimes not without personal danger, has written more
+than fifty pages on the subject, but they are very confused. For
+myself,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_162" id="Pg_162"></a> as I am not writing a scientific book, I shall confine myself
+to describing what anybody can see if he will watch the movements of a
+swarm in a glass hive. At the same time I shall not fail to avail
+myself of Huber&#8217;s studies whenever they may prove to be of service. We
+must admit at the very outset that the process by which the honey is
+transformed into wax in the bodies of this mysterious curtain of bees
+is still hidden in mystery. All that we know is that after about
+eighteen or twenty-four hours in a temperature so high that one might
+almost imagine there was a fire in the hive, small, white, transparent
+scales appear at the opening of the four little pockets which are to
+be found on each side of the abdomen of the bee. When the larger part
+of those who form the reversed cone have their abdomens decorated with
+these little ivory plates, one of them may be seen, as if under the
+influence of a sudden inspiration, to detach itself from the crowd and
+climb over the backs of its passive brethren until it reaches the apex
+of the cupola of the hive; attaching herself firmly to the top, she
+immediately sets to work to brush away those of her neighbors who may
+interfere with her movements. Then she seizes with her mouth one of
+the eight scales on the side of her abdomen and chews it, clips it,
+draws it out, steeps it in saliva, kneads it, crushes it, and makes it
+again into shape as dexterously as a carpenter would handle a piece of
+veneering. Then when the substance has been treated so as to bring it
+to the desired size and to the desired consistency, it is affixed to
+the very summit of the interior of the dome, and thus the first stone
+is laid of the new city, or rather the key-stone of the new<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_163" id="Pg_163"></a> city is
+placed in the arch, for we are considering a city turned upside down,
+which descends from the sky and which does not arise from the bosom of
+the earth as do terrestrial cities. Then she proceeds to apply to this
+key-stone more of the wax which she takes from her body, and having
+given to the whole of her part of the work one last finishing stroke,
+she retires as quickly as she came and is lost in the crowd; another
+replaces her and immediately takes up the work where she has left it
+off, adds her own to it, puts that right which appears to her to be
+not in conformity with the general plan, and disappears in her turn,
+while a third and a fourth and a fifth succeed her in a series of
+sudden and inspired apparitions, not one of whom finishes a piece of
+work, but all bring to it their common share.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 250px;">
+<a href="images/160hive.png"><img src="images/160hive.png" width="250" height="314" alt="A Bee Hive." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">A Bee Hive.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Now there hangs from the top of the vault a small block of wax which
+is yet without form. As soon as it appears to be thick enough there
+comes out of the group another bee bearing an entirely different
+aspect from that of those which have preceded it. One may well believe
+on seeing the certainty, the determination, with which he goes about
+his work and the manner in which those who stand round about him look
+on, that he is an expert engineer who has come to construct in space
+the place which the first cell shall occupy, the cell from which must
+mathematically depend everything which is afterwards constructed.
+Whatever he may be, this bee belongs to a class of the sculpturing, of
+chisel working bees who produce no wax and whose function seems to be
+to employ the materials with which the others furnish them. This bee
+then chooses the place of the first cell. She digs for a moment in the
+block of wax<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_164" id="Pg_164"></a> which has already been placed in position, and builds up
+the side of the cell with the wax that she picks from the cavity. Then
+in exactly the same way as her predecessors have done, she suddenly
+leaves the work she has designed; another impatient worker replaces
+her and carries it on another step, which is finished by a third one.
+In the meantime others are working round about her according to the
+same method of division of labor until the outer sides of each wall is
+finished.</p>
+
+<p>It would almost seem that an essential law of the hive was that every
+worker should take a pride in its work, and that all the work should
+be done in common, and so to speak, unanimously, in order that the
+fraternal spirit should not be disturbed by a sense of jealousy.</p>
+
+<p>Very soon the outline of the comb may be seen. In form it is still
+lenticular, for the little prismatic tubes of which it is composed are
+unequally prolonged, and they diminish as they get away from the
+centre towards the extremities. At this moment it might be compared,
+both in form and in thickness, to a human tongue hanging down from two
+of the sides of the hexagonal cells which are placed back to back.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the first cells are constructed, the workers add a roof to
+the second and so on to the third and to the fourth. These sets of
+cells are divided by irregular intervals, and they are calculated in
+such a manner that when they are made to receive their full
+complement, the bees always have room enough to move about between the
+parallel walls of the honeycombs.</p>
+
+<p>It follows then that in making their original plan the different
+thicknesses of every honeycomb must be fixed upon, and at the same
+time the alley-ways which sepa<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_165" id="Pg_165"></a>rate each must be different in turn,
+and this width must be twice the height of a bee since they have to
+pass each other between the upright combs.</p>
+
+<p>But even the bees are not infallible, and they do not always work with
+exact mechanical certainty. When they find themselves in a difficult
+place they sometimes make very great blunders. One often finds that
+they leave too much, and often too little, space between the
+honeycombs, and they remedy these faults as well as they
+can&mdash;sometimes in finishing the comb which is too near another in an
+oblique line, or sometimes when they have left too much space they
+interpose a smaller comb between it.</p>
+
+<p>R&eacute;amur, on this subject, says:&mdash;&ldquo;Since bees sometimes make mistakes
+and rectify them, this must be a proof that they possess the power of
+reason.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/165queen.png"><img src="images/165queen.png" width="400" height="368" alt="Queen Bee." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Queen Bee.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is known that bees make four different kinds of cells. There are
+first the &ldquo;royal cells&rdquo; which are exceptional and are of acorn shape.
+Then there are the large cells in which the male bees are reared, and
+in which provisions are stored when the flowers furnish forth of their
+abundance. Then there are the little cells which may be called the
+&ldquo;cradles of the working bees,&rdquo;<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_166" id="Pg_166"></a> which are also employed as ordinary
+store-rooms. These generally occupy about <ins class="correction" title="sic.">eight-tenth&#8217;s</ins> of the
+total surface of the combs in a hive; and finally there are a certain
+number of what may be called transition cells. Although these latter
+are inevitably irregular, the dimensions of the second or third type
+are so well calculated that when the decimal system was first
+established, and people were seeking an incontestable standard of
+measurement, it was the cell of the bee which was proposed first of
+all by R&eacute;amur. Each one of these cells is an hexagonal tube placed
+upon a pyramid form, and each honeycomb is formed of two strata of
+these tubes, base to base, in such a way that the three lozenges which
+make the pyramid-like base of one cell form at the same time the
+pyramid-like bases of the three cells on the other side.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<a href="images/166bees.png"><img src="images/166bees.png" width="450" height="212" alt="Worker and Drone." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption"><span style="float:left;">Worker.</span> <span style="float:right;">Drone.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In these prismatic tubes the honey is stored away&mdash;and so that the
+honey shall not trickle out as it would be likely to do if they were
+built strictly horizontal&mdash;they are tilted up at the outer edge of an
+angle of four or five degrees.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Besides the saving in wax,&rdquo; says R&eacute;amur, speaking of this marvellous
+building, &ldquo;which is effected by this<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_167" id="Pg_167"></a> arrangement of the
+cells,&mdash;besides the fact that by this plan the comb may be filled
+without a single gap, there are other advantages in the way of the
+solidity thus given.... Every possible advantage in the way of the
+solidity of each cell is brought about by the manner of its
+construction, and by its place with reference to the rest of the cells
+in the comb.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Students of geometry know,&rdquo; says Dr. Reid, &ldquo;that there are only three
+shapes that can be employed to divide a surface into, uniform spaces,
+that shall be regular in shape, and without interstices.</p>
+
+<p><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original omits the opening quotation mark.">&ldquo;They</ins> are the equilateral triangle, the square, and the regular
+hexagon, which latter, in the matter of cell construction, is superior
+to the two first both from the point of view of strength and utility,
+and it is just this form that the bees have adopted, precisely as
+though its advantages were <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'familar'.">familiar</ins> to them.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/167comb.png"><img src="images/167comb.png" width="300" height="273" alt="Section of Cells Constructed by Bees." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Section of Cells Constructed by Bees.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Furthermore, the bottoms of the cells form three planes meeting at
+one point, and it has been demonstrated that both in economy of labor
+and material this system of construction is the best&mdash;again, the angle
+of the inclination of the planes affects this question of economy:
+this problem has been solved by the bees and confirmed by Maclaurin by
+abstruse mathematical calculations published in the &ldquo;Transactions of
+the Royal Society of <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original omits the second closing quotation mark.">London.&rdquo;&nbsp;&rdquo;</ins></p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_168" id="Pg_168"></a>Of course I do not suppose for a moment that the bees themselves have
+made these calculations, but on the other hand I do not believe that
+chance, or accidental circumstance has brought about, these results.
+The wasps, for instance, have built hexagonal cells, but they have not
+displayed such ingenuity as the bees have done. Their combs have only
+one course of cells, and they have not the foundation which serves the
+bees for their double rows. Hence there is less strength, more
+irregularity, and a loss of time, of material, and of room, which
+really means that a quarter of the labor employed and a third of the
+space occupied is lost. We also find certain other domesticated bees,
+not so far progressed in civilization, which only build one row of
+cells for rearing their young, and which support horizontal combs one
+above another on costly columns of wax. Their food store-cells, are
+like a row of round pots, and the bees make but a clumsy use of the
+spaces between them. Indeed, when we compare their City with the
+Wonderful City of the bees of which we are speaking, it is like
+comparing a row of huts with a modern laid out city. If the result is
+not charming, it is severely logical, and demonstrates the genius of
+the race which is forever fighting to get the most out of matter,
+space, and time.</p>
+
+<p>Buffon had a theory which has been revived once more, that the bees
+did not intend to make hexagonal cells, but rather round ones, and
+that owing to the crowding of the workers all around, the round ones
+became hexagonal. It is said also that crystals, fish-scales of
+certain kinds, soap-bubbles, etc., follow the same law, and Buffon
+advances this experiment to prove<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_169" id="Pg_169"></a> it. &ldquo;Take a vessel and fill it full
+with peas or any other round grains, pour as much water upon them as
+will fill the spaces between them, close the vessel tightly, and boil
+the water. It will be found that the round peas have become six-sided.
+One sees clearly that this must be so from purely mechanical causes;
+each one of the round grains tends in the course of swelling as it
+boils to fill up the utmost space that it can, and by the extension
+and pressure of all alike they become hexagonal. Each bee wishes to
+occupy as much room as possible in its allotted space, therefore as
+the bodies of the bees are round or cylindrical, their cells become
+hexagonal because of the extension and pressure of all alike.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Here then we see reciprocal obstacles working a wonder, somewhat in
+the same way perhaps as the vices of men bring about a general virtue,
+so that the race odious, often so far as individuals are concerned, is
+tolerable in the mass. Broughman, Kirby, and Spence and others claim
+that the observations of soap-bubbles and peas prove nothing in this
+connection, for the effect of compression is only to produce irregular
+hexagonal forms, and does not explain the earlier form of the base of
+the cells.</p>
+
+<p>To this one might rejoin that there are more ways than one of dealing
+with the blind law of necessity, for the wasp and the bumble-bee and
+many other species in similar circumstances and with the same end in
+view, arrive at very different, and manifestly inferior, results.
+Indeed it might be said further that even if the bee-cells did conform
+to the laws of crystallization as in the case of snow, or Buffon&#8217;s
+soap-bubbles, or boiled<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_170" id="Pg_170"></a> peas, they show also in their general
+symmetry, in their well-determined angle of inclination, etc., that
+there are many other laws not followed by inert matter to which they
+also conform.</p>
+
+<p>In order to assure myself that the hexagonal form of the cell was the
+outcome of the bee-brain, I cut out from the centre of a honey-comb a
+round piece not quite so large as a silver dollar, containing both
+brood-cells and honey-cells. I cut into this disc, at the point where
+the pyramidal bases of the cells were joined, and I fixed on the base
+of the section thus exposed a piece of tin of the same size, and so
+stout that the bees could not bend or twist it. Then I replaced the
+disc of comb, with the piece of tin as described. One side of the comb
+showed, of course, nothing extraordinary, but on the other side was to
+be seen a hole at the bottom of which was a round piece of tin
+occupying the place of about thirty cells. At first the bees were
+disconcerted, and came in crowds to examine and study this wonderful
+abyss; for some days they wandered about it in agitation without
+coming to any decision. But as I fed them well every evening, the time
+soon came when they needed more cells in which to store their
+provisions. Then most likely the famous engineers, the sculptors, and
+the waxmakers, were summoned to show the way to fill up this useless
+chasm.</p>
+
+<p>A heavy curtain, or garland, of the wax-making bees covered the spot
+so as to develop the necessary heat; others went down into the hole
+and began the work of solidly fixing the metal in place by means of
+little claws of wax around its entire circumference, attaching them to
+the walls of the cells which surrounded it.<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_171" id="Pg_171"></a> Then they set to work to
+make three or four cells in the upper part of the disc, attaching them
+to these waxen claws. Each of these new cells was more or less
+unfinished at the top, so as to leave material wherewith to fasten it
+to the next cell, but below on the piece of tin was always three very
+clear, and precise angles from which would grow the three upright
+lines which regularly marked the outline of the first half of the next
+cell. After about forty-eight hours, although three or four bees at
+most could work at the same time in the opening, the whole surface of
+the piece of tin was covered with the outlines of the new cells. They
+were certainly somewhat less regular than those in an ordinary
+comb.... But they were all perfectly hexagonal; not a line was bent,
+not an angle out of shape; nevertheless all the ordinary conditions of
+bee-life were changed. The cells were not dug out of a block of wax as
+Huber described, nor were they made according to Darwin, circular at
+first, and then made into hexagons by the pressure of their neighbors.
+Here was no question of reciprocal obstacles, seeing that the cells
+were made one by one, and these first outlines were sketched on a kind
+of table. It would appear therefore that the hexagonal form is not the
+result of any mechanical necessity, but that it forms the plan
+resulting from the experience, the intelligence, and the will of the
+bee. Another curious thing which I accidentally noticed was that the
+cells built upon the tin were not provided with any other floor than
+the tin itself. The engineers of the working party evidently reasoned
+that the tin was sufficient to retain the liquid honey, and that it
+was not necessary, therefore, to line it with wax.<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_172" id="Pg_172"></a> But a little while
+after, when some honey was placed in the cell, they probably found
+that the metal effected some change in it, for upon taking counsel
+together they covered the surface of the tin with a kind of diaphanous
+varnish.</p>
+
+<p>If we wish to throw light on all the secrets of this geometrical
+architecture, we shall find many more interesting questions to
+examine&mdash;for example, that of the form of the first cells, which are
+attached to the roof of the hive&mdash;a form which is modified so that the
+cells can fit its curve and touch the roof at the greatest possible
+number of points.</p>
+
+<p>It would be necessary to notice also, not only the direction in which
+the main streets of the hive run, but the alley-ways and passages
+which run in and out and around the comb, as much for the circulation
+of the air as for the traffic; and it should be remarked that these
+are planned so as to avoid long detours or confusion in the
+traffic....</p>
+
+<p>Before we leave this subject let us, only for a minute, stop to
+consider the wonderful and mysterious way in which the bees make their
+plans and work together when they are occupied in carving out their
+cells, on both sides of the comb, where neither can see the other.
+Look through one of these transparent combs, and you will see clearly
+and sharply cut out in this diaphanous wax a network of prisms
+arranged in so perfectly fitting a manner that one might think they
+were stamped out of steel.</p>
+
+<p>Those who have never seen the inside of a hive can have little idea of
+the appearance of these honeycombs. Let us take a countryman&#8217;s hive in
+which the bee has<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_173" id="Pg_173"></a> been left free to work as he pleases. This
+bell-like shape is divided from top to bottom by five, six, eight, and
+sometimes ten, slices of wax, so to speak, perfectly parallel with
+each other, which take the exact shape of the curve of the walls of
+the hive. Between each one of these slices is a space of about half an
+inch in which the bees move about. When they begin to build one of
+these slices at the top of the hive, the wall of wax is quite thick,
+and hides entirely the fifty or sixty bees who are working on one side
+from the fifty or sixty at work on the other. Unless they have a sight
+which can pierce the most opaque bodies, neither can see what is doing
+on the other side. Nevertheless, a bee on one side does not dig a hole
+or add a fragment of wax which does not correspond exactly with a
+protuberance or a cavity on the other side. How do they contrive to do
+this? How does it happen that one does not dig too far, and the other
+not far enough?</p>
+
+<p>How is it that every angle coincides in such magnificent perfection?
+Who tells the bee to begin here and to end there? Once again we must
+be satisfied with the reply that does not answer: &ldquo;It is one of the
+mysteries of the hive.&rdquo; Huber has tried to explain it by saying that
+at certain intervals, by the pressure of their feet or their teeth,
+they produce a slight projection of the wax on the other side of the
+comb, or that they can determine the thickness of the block of wax by
+its flexibility, its elasticity, or some other physical property which
+it may possess; or, again, that their antenn&aelig; are able to serve as
+compasses in enabling them to examine what is going on in the darkness
+of the other side; or, last of all, he suggests that all the cells
+mathematically<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_174" id="Pg_174"></a> derive their shape and dimensions from those of the
+first row, which is built without the need of further concert on the
+part of the workers. But one can easily see that these explanations
+are not sufficient; the first are guesses which cannot be verified;
+the others simply change but do not remove the mystery. But if it is
+good to change a mystery as often as possible, it is never good to
+flatter one&#8217;s self that to change it means to remove it!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<a href="images/174hive.png"><img src="images/174hive.png" width="450" height="220" alt="A bee hive" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_175" id="Pg_175"></a><a name="WASPS" id="WASPS"></a>WASPS<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From The Naturalist in Nicaragua.)<br />
+By <a href="#Belt">THOMAS G. BELT</a>, F.G.S.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 283px;">
+<a href="images/175i.gif"><img src="images/175i.gif" width="283" height="292" alt="I, decorated with a wasps&#8217; nest" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="margin-top:60px;"><span class="cap">I </span>one day saw a small black and yellow banded wasp hunting for
+spiders; it approached a web where a spider was stationed in the
+centre, made a dart towards it&mdash;apparently a feint to frighten the
+spider clear of its web; at any rate it had that effect, for it fell
+to the ground, and was immediately seized by the wasp, who stung it,
+then ran quickly backwards, dragging the spider after it, up a branch
+reaching to the ground until it got high enough, when it flew heavily
+off with it. It was so small, and the spider so heavy, that it
+probably could not have raised it from the ground by flight. All over
+the world there are wasps that store their nests with the bodies of
+spiders for their young to feed on. In Australia, I often witnessed a
+wasp combating with a large flat spider that is found on the bark of
+trees. It would fall to the ground, and lie on its back, so as to be
+able to grapple with its opponent;<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_176" id="Pg_176"></a> but the wasp was always the victor
+in the encounters I saw, although it was not always allowed to carry
+off its prey in peace. One day, sitting on the sandbanks on the coast
+of Hobson&#8217;s Bay, I saw one dragging along a large spider. Three or
+four inches above it hovered two minute flies, keeping a little
+behind, and advancing with it. The wasp seemed much disturbed by the
+presence of the tiny flies, and twice left its prey to fly up towards
+them, but they darted away with it. As soon as the wasp returned to
+the spider, there they were hovering over and following it again. At
+last, unable to drive away its small tormentors, the wasp reached its
+burrow and took down the spider, and the two flies stationed
+themselves one on each side the entrance, and would, doubtless, when
+the wasp went away to seek another victim, descend and lay their own
+eggs in the nest.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/176bike.png"><img src="images/176bike.png" width="400" height="266" alt="Wasps' Nest." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Wasps&#8217; Nest.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/177wasp.png"><img src="images/177wasp.png" width="350" height="269" alt="The Sand-Wasp." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">The Sand-Wasp.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The variety of wasps, as of all other insects, was very great around
+Santo Domingo. Many made papery nests, hanging from the undersides of
+large leaves. Others hung their open cells underneath verandahs and
+eaves of houses. One large black one was particularly abundant about
+houses, and many people got stung by them. They also built their
+pendent nests in the orange and lime trees, and it is not always safe
+to gather the fruit. Fortunately they are heavy flyers, and can<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_177" id="Pg_177"></a> often
+be struck down or evaded in their attacks. They do good where there
+are gardens, as they feed their young on caterpillars, and are
+continually hunting for them. Another species, banded brown and yellow
+(<i>Polistes carnifex</i>), has similar habits but is not so <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original has a comma in place of the full-stop.">common.</ins>
+Bates, in his account of the habits of the sand-wasps at Santarem, on
+the Amazon, gives an interesting account of the way in which they took
+a few turns in the air around the hole they had made in the sand
+before leaving to seek for flies in the forest, apparently to mark
+well the position of the burrow, so that on their return they might
+find it without difficulty. He remarks that this precaution would be
+said to be instinctive, but that the instinct is no mysterious and
+unintelligible agent, but a mental process in each individual
+differing from the same in man only by its unerring certainty. I had
+an opportunity of confirming his account of the proceedings of wasps
+when quitting a locality to which they wished to return, in all but
+their unerring certainty. I could not help noting how similar they
+were to the way in which a man would act who wished to return to some
+spot not<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_178" id="Pg_178"></a> easily found out, and with which he was not previously
+acquainted. A specimen of the <i>Polistes carnifex</i> was hunting about
+for caterpillars in my garden. I found one about an inch long, and
+held it out towards it on the point of a stick. It seized it
+immediately, and commenced biting it from head to tail, soon reducing
+the soft body to a mass of pulp. It rolled up about one-half of it
+into a ball, and prepared to carry it off. Being at the time amidst a
+thick mass of a fine-leaved climbing plant, before flying away, he
+took note of the place where it was leaving the other half. To do
+this, it hovered in front of it for a few seconds, then took small
+circles in front of it, then larger ones round the whole plant. I
+thought it had gone, but it returned again, and had another look at
+the opening in the dense foliage down which the other half of the
+caterpillar lay. It then flew away, but must have left its burden for
+distribution with its comrades at the nest, for it returned in less
+than two minutes, and making one circle around the bush, descended to
+the opening, alighted on a leaf, and ran inside. The green remnant of
+the caterpillar was lying on another leaf inside, but not connected
+with the one on which the wasp alighted,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_179" id="Pg_179"></a> so that in running in it
+missed it, and soon got hopelessly lost in the thick foliage. Coming
+out again, it took another circle, and pounced down on the same spot
+again, as soon as it came opposite to it. Three small seed-pods, which
+here grew close together, formed the marks that I had myself taken to
+note the place, and these the wasp seemed also to have taken as its
+guide, for it flew directly down to them, and ran inside; but the
+small leaf on which the fragment of caterpillar lay, not being
+directly connected with any on the outside, it again missed it, and
+again got far away from the object of its search. It then flew out
+again, and the same process was repeated again and again. Always when
+in circling round it came in sight of the seed-pods down it pounced,
+alighted near them, and recommenced its quest on foot. I was surprised
+at its perseverance, and thought it would have given up the search;
+but not so, it returned at least half a dozen times, and seemed to get
+angry, hurrying about with buzzing wings. At last it stumbled across
+its prey, seized it eagerly, and as there was nothing more to come
+back for, flew straight off to its nest, without taking any further
+note of the locality. Such an action is not the result of blind
+instinct, but of a thinking mind: and it is wonderful to see an insect
+so differently constructed using a mental process similar to that of
+man. It is suggestive of the probability of many of the actions of
+insects that we ascribe to instinct being the result of the possession
+of reasoning powers.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/178wasp.png"><img src="images/178wasp.png" width="350" height="302" alt="Wasp and Hole in the Sand." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Wasp and Hole in the Sand.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_180" id="Pg_180"></a><a name="A_WASP_AND_ITS_PREY" id="A_WASP_AND_ITS_PREY"></a>A WASP AND ITS PREY<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From The Instincts and Habits of the Solitary Wasps.)<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a><br />
+By G.&nbsp;W. and E.&nbsp;G. PECKHAM.</span></h2>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6">[6]</a> Reprinted by permission from Bulletin No.&nbsp;2, Series I, of
+The Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, 1898.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/180m.png"><img src="images/180m-1.gif" width="300" height="251" alt="M, decorated with a wasp" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 245px;">
+<a href="images/180m.png"><img src="images/180m-2.png" width="245" height="80" alt="M, decorated with a wasp" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 160px;">
+<a href="images/180m.png"><img src="images/180m-3.png" width="160" height="55" alt="M, decorated with a wasp" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="margin-top:50px; text-indent:-10px;"><span class="cap">M</span>ost graceful and attractive of all the wasps&mdash;as Fabre describes
+them, the Ammophiles, of all the inhabitants of the garden, hold the
+first place in our affections. Not so beautiful as the blue
+<i>Pelopaeus</i> nor so industrious as the little red-girdled <i>Trypoxylon</i>,
+their intelligence, their distinct individuality, and their obliging
+tolerance of our society make them an unfailing source of interest.
+They are, moreover, the most remarkable of all genera in their
+stinging habits, and few things have<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_181" id="Pg_181"></a> given us deeper pleasure than
+our success in following the activities and penetrating the secrets of
+their lives. In our neighborhood we have but two species of
+<i>Ammophila</i>, <i>urnaria</i> Cresson and <i>gracilis</i> Cresson, both of them
+being very slender bodied wasps of about an inch in length, <i>gracilis</i>
+all black, and <i>urnaria</i> with a red band around the front end of the
+abdomen. With two exceptions our observations relate to <i>urnaria</i>.</p>
+
+<p>During the earlier part of the summer we had often seen these wasps
+feeding upon the nectar of flowers, especially upon that of the sorrel
+of which they are particularly fond, but at that time we gave them but
+passing notice. One bright morning in the middle of July, however, we
+came upon one that was so evidently hunting, and hunting in earnest,
+that we gave up everything else to follow her. The ground was covered,
+more or less thickly, with patches of purslane, and it was under these
+weeds that our <i>Ammophila</i> was eagerly searching for her prey. After
+thoroughly investigating one plant she would pass to another, running
+three or four steps and then bounding as though she were made of
+thistledown and were too light to remain upon the ground. We followed
+her easily, and as she was in full view nearly all of the time we had
+every hope of witnessing the capture, but in this we were destined to
+disappointment. We had been in attendance on her for about a quarter
+of an hour when, after disappearing for a few moments under the thick
+purslane leaves, she came out with a green caterpillar. We had missed
+the wonderful sight of the paralyzer at work, but we had no time to
+bemoan our loss for she was making off at so rapid a pace that we were
+well occupied in keeping<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_182" id="Pg_182"></a> up with her. She hurried along with the same
+motion as before, unembarrassed by the weight of her victim. Twice she
+dropped it and circled over it a moment before taking it again. For
+sixty feet she kept to open ground, passing between two rows of
+bushes, but at the end of this division of the garden, she plunged,
+very much to our dismay, into a field of standing corn. Here we had
+great difficulty in following her, since far from keeping to her
+former orderly course, she zigzagged among the plants in the most
+bewildering fashion, although keeping a general direction of
+northeast. It seemed quite impossible that she could know where she
+was going. The corn rose to a height of six feet all around us; the
+ground was uniform in appearance, and, to our eyes, each group of corn
+stalks was just like every other group, and yet, without pause or
+hesitation, the little creature passed quickly along, as we might
+through the familiar streets of our native town.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/182wasp.png"><img src="images/182wasp.png" width="400" height="225" alt='"She Hurried along, Unembarrassed by the Weight of Her Victim."' title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">&ldquo;She Hurried along, Unembarrassed by the Weight of Her
+Victim.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>At last she paused and laid her burden down. Ah! the power that has
+led her is not a blind, mechanically perfect instinct, for she has
+travelled a little too far. She must go back one row into the open
+space that she has already crossed, although not just at this point.<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_183" id="Pg_183"></a>
+Nothing like a nest is visible to us. The surface of the ground looks
+all alike, and it is with exclamations of wonder that we see our
+little guide lift two pellets of earth which have served as a covering
+to a small opening running down into the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The way being thus prepared she hurries back with her wings quivering
+and her whole manner betokening joyful triumph at the completion of
+her task. We, in the meantime, have become as much excited over the
+matter as she is herself. She picks up the caterpillar, brings it to
+the mouth of the burrow and lays it down. Then, backing in herself,
+she catches it in her mandibles and drags it out of sight, leaving us
+full of admiration and delight.</p>
+
+<p>How clear and accurate must be the observing powers of these wonderful
+little creatures! Every patch of ground must, for them, have its own
+character; a pebble here, a larger stone there, a trifling tuft of
+grass&mdash;these must be their landmarks. And the wonder of it is that
+their interest in each nest is so temporary. A burrow is dug,
+provisioned and closed up, all in two or three days, and then another
+is made in a new place with everything to learn over again.</p>
+
+<p>From this time (July thirteenth) on to the first of September our
+garden was full of these wasps, and they never lost their fascination
+for us, although owing to a decided difference between their taste and
+ours as to what constituted pleasant weather all our knowledge of them
+was gained by the sweat of our brows. When we wished to utilize the
+cool hours of the morning or of the late afternoon in studying them,
+or thought to take advantage of a cloud which cast a<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_184" id="Pg_184"></a> grateful shade
+over the sun at noonday, where were our Ammophiles? Out of sight
+entirely, or at best only to be seen idling about on the flowers of
+the onion or sorrel. At such a time they seemed to have no mission in
+life and no idea of duty. But when the air was clear and bright and
+the mercury rose higher and higher, all was changed. Their favorite
+working hours were from eleven in the morning to three in the
+afternoon, and when they did work they threw their whole souls into
+it. It was well that it was so, for they certainly needed all the
+enthusiasm and perseverance that they could muster for such wearisome
+and disappointing labor. Hour after hour was passed in search, and
+often there was nothing to show at the end of it, for, since the
+caterpillars that they wanted were nocturnal species, most of them
+were under ground in the day-time. The species observed by Fabre knew,
+by some subtle instinct, where to find the worm, and unearthed it from
+its burrow. <i>Urnaria</i>, on the contrary, never dug for her prey, but
+hunted on bare ground, on the purslane, and most of all on the
+bean-plants. These were examined carefully, the wasp going up and down
+the stems and looking under every leaf, but the search was so
+frequently unsuccessful that in estimating their work we are inclined
+to think that they can scarcely average one caterpillar a day. When
+they were hunting over bare ground they often paused and seemed to
+listen, and in the beginning we expected to see them burrow down and
+drag a victim from under the soil, but this never happened.</p>
+
+<p>In this species, as in every one that we have studied, we have a most
+interesting variation among the dif<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_185" id="Pg_185"></a>ferent individuals, not only in
+methods but in character and intellect. While one was beguiled from
+her hunting by every sorrel blossom she passed, another stuck to her
+work with indefatigable perseverance. While one stung her caterpillar
+so carelessly and made her nest in so shiftless a way that her young
+could only survive through some lucky chance, another devoted herself
+to these duties, not only with conscientious thoroughness, but with an
+apparent craving after artistic perfection that was touching to see.</p>
+
+<p>The method employed by the <i>Ammophil&aelig;</i> in stinging their prey is more
+complex than that of any other predatory wasp. The larv&aelig; with which
+they provision their nests are made up of thirteen segments, and each
+of these has its own nervous centre or ganglion. Hence if the
+caterpillar is to be reduced to a state of immobility, or to state so
+nearly approaching immobility that the egg may be safely laid upon it,
+a single sting, such as is given by some of the <i>Pompilid&aelig;</i> to their
+captured spiders, will be scarcely sufficient. All this we knew from
+Fabre&#8217;s &ldquo;Souvenirs,&rdquo; and yet we were not at all prepared to believe
+that any plain American wasp could supply us with such a thrilling
+performance as that of the Gallic <i>hirsuta</i>, which he so dramatically
+describes. We were, however, most anxious to be present at the
+all-important moment that we might see for ourselves just how and
+where <i>Ammophila urnaria</i> stings her victim.</p>
+
+<p>For a whole week of scorching summer weather we lived in the bean
+patch, scorning fatigue. We quoted to each other the example of
+Fabre&#8217;s daughter Claire, whose determination to solve the problem of
+<i>Odynerus</i><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_186" id="Pg_186"></a> led to a sun-stroke. We followed scores of wasps as they
+hunted; we ran, we threw ourselves upon the ground, we scrambled along
+on our hands and knees in our desperate endeavors to keep them in
+view, and yet they escaped us. After we had kept one in sight for an
+hour or more some sudden flight would carry her far away and all our
+labor was lost.</p>
+
+<p>At last, however, our day came. We were doing a little hunting on our
+own account, hoping to find some larv&aelig; which we could drop in view of
+the wasps and thus lead them to display their powers, when we saw an
+<i>urnaria</i> fly up from the ground to the underside of a bean leaf and
+knock down a small green caterpillar. Breathless with an excitement
+which will be understood by those who have tasted the joy of such a
+moment, we hung over the actors in our little drama. The ground was
+bare, we were close by and could see every motion distinctly. Nothing
+more perfect could have been desired.</p>
+
+<p>The wasp attacked at once but was rudely repulsed, the caterpillar
+rolling and unrolling itself rapidly and with the most violent
+contortions of the whole body. Again and again its adversary descended
+but failed to gain a hold. The caterpillar in its struggles, flung
+itself here and there over the ground, and had there been any grass or
+other covering near by it might have reached a place of partial
+safety, but there was no shelter within reach, and at the fifth attack
+the wasp succeeded in alighting over it, near the anterior end, and in
+grasping its body firmly in her mandibles. Standing high on her long
+legs and disregarding the continued struggles of her victim, she
+lifted it from<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_187" id="Pg_187"></a> the ground, curved her abdomen under its body, and
+darted her sting between the third and fourth segments. From this
+instant there was a complete cessation of movement on the part of the
+unfortunate caterpillar. Limp and helpless, it could offer no further
+opposition to the will of its conqueror. For some moments the wasp
+remained motionless, and then, withdrawing her sting, she plunged it
+successively between the third and the second, and between the second
+and the first segments.</p>
+
+<div class="tright" style="width: 230px;">
+<a href="images/187wasp.png"><img src="images/187wasp-1.png" width="230" height="82" alt="Wasp Plunging Her Sting into the Caterpillar." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="bright" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/187wasp.png"><img src="images/187wasp-2.gif" width="350" height="205" alt="Wasp Plunging Her Sting into the Caterpillar." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Wasp Plunging Her Sting into the Caterpillar.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The caterpillar was now left lying on the ground. For a moment the
+wasp circled above it and then, descending, seized it again, further
+back this time, and with great deliberation and nicety of action gave
+it four more stings, beginning between the ninth and tenth segments
+and progressing backward.</p>
+
+<p><i>Urnaria</i>, probably feeling&mdash;as we certainly did&mdash;reaction from the
+strain of the last few minutes, and a relief at the completion of her
+task, now rested from her labors. Standing on the ground close by she
+proceeded to smooth her body with her long hind legs, standing in the
+meantime, almost on her head, with her abdomen directed upward. She
+then gave her face a thorough washing and rubbing with her first<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_188" id="Pg_188"></a>
+legs, and not until she had made a complete and satisfactory toilet
+did she return to the caterpillar.</p>
+
+<p>We saw <i>Ammophila</i> capture her prey only three times during the whole
+summer, but from these observations and from the condition of her
+caterpillars taken at various times from nests, her method seems to be
+wonderfully close to that of <i>hirsuta</i>, with just about the same
+amount of variation in different individuals.</p>
+
+<p>Thus in our second example, she stung the first three segments in the
+regular order, the third, the second, and lastly (and most
+persistently) the first. She then went on, without a pause, to sting
+the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, stopping at this point and
+leaving the posterior segments untouched. In our first example, it
+will be remembered, the middle segments were spared. The sting being
+completed, she proceeded to the process known as <i>malaxation</i>, which
+consists in repeatedly squeezing the neck of the caterpillar, or other
+victim, between the mandibles, the subject of the treatment being
+turned around and around so that all sides may be equally affected.</p>
+
+<p>In our third case a caterpillar which we had caught was placed in
+front of a wasp just after she had carried the second larva into her
+nest. She seemed rather indifferent to it, passing it once or twice as
+she ran about, but finally picked it up and gave it one prolonged
+sting between the third and fourth segments. She then spent a long
+time in squeezing the neck, pinching it again and again. It was then
+left on the ground, and as she showed no further interest in it we
+carried it home for further study.</p>
+
+<p>In the three captures, then, that came under our ob<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_189" id="Pg_189"></a>servation, all the
+caterpillars being of the same species and almost exactly of the same
+size, three different methods were employed. In the first, seven
+stings were given at the extremities, the middle segments being left
+untouched, and no malaxation was practised. In the second, seven
+stings again but given in the anterior and middle segments, followed
+by slight malaxation. In the third, only one sting was given but the
+malaxation was prolonged and severe.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/189wasp.png"><img src="images/189wasp.png" width="400" height="340" alt="A wasp" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_190" id="Pg_190"></a><a name="LEAF-CUTTING_ANTS" id="LEAF-CUTTING_ANTS"></a>LEAF-CUTTING ANTS<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From The Naturalist in Nicaragua.)<br />
+By <a href="#Belt">THOMAS G. BELT</a>, F.G.S.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 250px;">
+<a href="images/190n.png"><img src="images/190n-1.gif" width="250" height="260" alt="N, decorated with a plant" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 130px;">
+<a href="images/190n.png"><img src="images/190n-2.png" width="130" height="136" alt="N, decorated with a plant" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="margin-top:60px; text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">N</span>early all travellers in tropical America have described the ravages
+of the leaf-cutting ants (<i>&#338;codoma</i>); their crowded, well-worn paths
+through the forests, their ceaseless pertinacity in the spoliation of
+the trees&mdash;more particularly of introduced species&mdash;which are left
+bare and ragged, with the mid-ribs and a few jagged points of the
+leaves only left. Many a young plantation of orange, mango, and lemon
+trees has been destroyed by them. Again and again have I been told in
+Nicaragua, when inquiring why no fruit-trees were grown at particular
+places, &ldquo;It is no use<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_191" id="Pg_191"></a>
+planting them; the ants eat them up.&rdquo; The first
+acquaintance a stranger generally makes with them is on encountering
+their paths on the outskirts of the forest crowded with the ants; one
+lot carrying off the pieces of leaves, each piece about the size of a
+sixpence, and held up vertically between the jaws of the ant; another
+lot hurrying along in an opposite direction empty handed, but eager to
+get loaded with their leafy burdens. If he follows this last division,
+it will lead him to some young trees or shrubs, up which the ants
+mount; and where each one, stationing itself on the edge of a leaf,
+commences to make a circular cut, with its scissor-like jaws, from the
+edge, its hinder-feet being the centre on which it turns. When the
+piece is nearly cut off, it is still stationed upon it, and it looks
+as though it would fall to the ground with it; but, on being finally
+detached, the ant is generally found to have hold of the leaf with one
+foot, and soon righting itself, and arranging its burden to its
+satisfaction, it sets off at once on its return. Following it again,
+it is seen to join a throng of others, each laden like itself, and,
+without a moment&#8217;s delay, it hurries along the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_192" id="Pg_192"></a> well-worn path. As it
+proceeds, other paths, each thronged with busy workers, come in from
+the sides, until the main road often gets to be seven or eight inches
+broad, and more thronged than the streets of the city of London.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<a href="images/191ants.png"><img src="images/191ants.png" width="450" height="210" alt="Sets off at Once on Its Return." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Sets off at Once on Its Return.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>After travelling for some hundreds of yards, often for more than half
+a mile, the formicarium is reached. It consists of low, wide mounds of
+brown, clayey-looking earth, above and immediately around which the
+bushes have been killed by their buds and leaves having been
+persistently bitten off as they attempted to grow after their first
+defoliation. Under high trees in the thick forest the ants do not make
+their nests, because, I believe, the ventilation of their underground
+galleries, about which they are very particular, would be interfered
+with, and perhaps to avoid the drip from the trees. It is on the
+outskirts of the forest, or around clearings, or near wide roads that
+let in the sun, that these formicariums are generally found. Numerous
+round tunnels, varying from half an inch to seven or eight inches in
+diameter, lead down through the mounds of earth; and many more, from
+some distance around, also lead underneath them. At some of the holes
+on the mounds ants will be seen busily at work, bringing up little
+pellets of earth from below, and casting them down on the
+ever-increasing mounds, so that its surface is nearly always fresh and
+new-looking.</p>
+
+<p>Standing near the mounds, one sees from every point of the compass
+ant-paths leading to them, all thronged with the busy workers carrying
+their leafy burdens. As far as the eye can distinguish their tiny
+forms, troops upon troops of leaves are moving up towards the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_193" id="Pg_193"></a> central
+point, and disappearing down the numerous tunnelled passages. The
+outgoing, empty-handed hosts are partly concealed amongst the bulky
+burdens of the incomers, and can only be distinguished by looking
+closely amongst them. The ceaseless, toiling hosts impress one with
+their power, and one asks&mdash;What forests can stand before such
+invaders? How is it that vegetation is not eaten off the face of the
+earth? Surely nowhere but in the tropics, where the recuperative
+powers of nature are immense and ever active, could such devastation
+be withstood.</p>
+
+<p><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'Futher'.">Further</ins> acquaintance with the subject will teach the inquirer that,
+just as many insects are preserved by being distasteful to
+insectivorous birds, so very many of the forest trees are protected
+from the ravages of the ants by their leaves either being distasteful
+to them, or unfitted for the purpose for which they are required,
+whilst some have special means of defence against their attacks.</p>
+
+<p>These ants do not confine themselves to leaves, but also carry off any
+vegetable substance that they find suitable for growing the fungus on.
+They are very partial to the inside white rind of oranges, and I have
+also seen them cutting up and carrying off the flowers of certain
+shrubs, the leaves of which they neglected. They are very particular
+about the ventilation of their underground chambers, and have numerous
+holes leading up to the surface from them. These they open out or
+close up, apparently to keep up a regular degree of temperature below.
+The great care they take that the pieces of leaves they carry into the
+nest should be neither too dry nor too damp, is also consistent with<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_194" id="Pg_194"></a>
+the idea that the object is the growth of a fungus that requires
+particular conditions of temperature and moisture to ensure its
+vigorous growth. If a sudden shower should come on, the ants do not
+carry the wet pieces into the burrows, but throw them down near the
+entrances. Should the weather clear up again, these pieces are picked
+up when nearly dried, and taken inside; should the rain, however,
+continue, they get sodden down into the ground, and are left there. On
+the contrary, in dry and hot weather, when the leaves would get dried
+up before they could be conveyed to the nest, the ants, when in
+exposed situations, do not go out at all during the hot hours, but
+bring in their leafy burdens in the cool of the day and during the
+night. As soon as the pieces of leaves are carried in they must be cut
+up by the small class of workers into little pieces. I have never seen
+the smallest class of ants carrying in leaves! their duties appear to
+be inside, cutting them up into smaller fragments, and nursing the
+immature ants. I have, however, seen them running out along the paths
+with the others; but instead of helping to carry in the burdens, they
+climb on the top of the pieces which are being carried along by the
+middle-sized workers, and so get a ride home again. It is very
+probable that they take a run out merely for air and exercise. The
+largest class of what are called workers are, I believe, the directors
+and protectors of the others. They are never seen out of the nest,
+excepting on particular occasions, such as the migrations of the ants,
+and when one of the working columns or nests is attacked, they then
+come stalking up, and attack the enemy with their strong<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_195" id="Pg_195"></a> jaws.
+Sometimes, when digging into the burrows, one of these giants has
+unperceived climbed up my dress, and the first intimation of his
+presence has been the burying of his jaws in my neck, from which he
+would not fail to draw blood. The stately observant way in which they
+stalk about, and their great size, compared with the others, always
+impressed me with the idea that in their bulky heads lay the brains
+that directed the community in their various duties. Many of their
+actions, such as that I have mentioned of two relays of workmen
+carrying out the ant food, can scarcely be blind instinct. Some of the
+ants make mistakes, and carry in unsuitable leaves. Thus grass is
+always rejected by them, but I have seen some ants, perhaps young
+ones, carrying leaves of grass; but after a while these pieces are
+always brought out again and thrown away. I can imagine a young ant
+getting a severe ear-wigging from one of the major-domos for its
+stupidity.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<a href="images/196antsnest.png"><img src="images/196antsnest.png" width="450" height="170" alt="Section Through Leaf-cutting Ant&#8217;s Nest." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Section Through Leaf-cutting Ant&#8217;s Nest.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>I shall conclude this long account of the leaf-cutting ants with one
+more instance of their reasoning powers.</p>
+
+<p>A nest was made near one of our tramways, and to get to the trees the
+ants had to cross the rails, over which the wagons were continually
+passing and repassing. Every time they came along a number of ants<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_196" id="Pg_196"></a>
+were crushed to death. They persevered in crossing for some time, but
+at last set to work and tunnelled underneath each rail. One day, when
+the wagons were not running, I stopped up the tunnels with stones; but
+although great numbers carrying leaves were thus cut off from the
+nest, they would not cross the rails, but set to work making fresh
+tunnels underneath them. Apparently an order had gone forth, or a
+general understanding been come to, that the rails were not to be
+crossed.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 496px;">
+<a href="images/196church.png"><img src="images/196church.png" width="496" height="249" alt="A churchyard" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_197" id="Pg_197"></a><a name="SOME_WONDERFUL_SPIDERS" id="SOME_WONDERFUL_SPIDERS"></a>SOME WONDERFUL SPIDERS<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From A Journal of Researches, etc.)<br />
+By CHARLES DARWIN.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/197t.gif"><img src="images/197t.gif" width="300" height="307" alt="T, decorated with a spider&#8217;s web" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">T</span>he number of spiders, in proportion to other insects, is here
+compared with England very much larger; perhaps more so than with any
+other division of the articulate animals. The variety of species among
+the jumping spiders appears almost infinite. The genus, or rather
+family of Epeira, is here characterized by many singular forms; some
+species have pointed coriaceous shells, others enlarged and spiny
+tibi&aelig;. Every path in the forest is barricaded with the strong yellow
+web of a species belonging to the same division with the Epeira
+clavipes of Fabricius, which was formerly said by Sloane to make, in
+the West Indies, webs so strong as to catch birds. A small and pretty
+kind of spider, with very long forelegs, and which appears to belong
+to an undescribed<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_198" id="Pg_198"></a> genus, lives as a parasite on almost every one of
+these webs. I suppose it is too insignificant to be noticed by the
+great Epeira, and is therefore allowed to prey on the minute insects,
+which, adhering to the lines, would, otherwise be wasted. When
+frightened, this little spider either feigns death by extending its
+front legs, or suddenly drops from the web. A large Epeira of the same
+division with Epeira tuberculata and conica is extremely common,
+especially in dry situations. Its web, which is generally placed among
+the great leaves of the common agave, is sometimes strengthened near
+the centre by a pair or even four zigzag ribbons, which connect two
+adjoining rays. When any large insect, as a grasshopper or wasp, is
+caught, the spider by a dexterous movement, makes it revolve very
+rapidly, and at the same time emitting a band of threads from its
+spinners, soon envelops its prey in a case like the cocoon of a silk
+worm. The spider now examines the powerless victim, and gives the
+fatal bite on the hinder part of its thorax; then retreating,
+patiently waits till the poison has taken effect. The virulence of
+this poison may be judged from the fact that in half a minute I opened
+the mesh, and found a large wasp quite lifeless. This Epeira always
+stands with its head downwards near the centre of the web. When
+disturbed, it acts differently according to circumstances: if there is
+a thicket below, it suddenly falls down; and I have distinctly seen
+the thread from the spinners lengthened by the animal while yet
+stationary, as preparatory to its fall. If the ground is clear
+beneath, the Epeira seldom falls, but moves quickly through a central
+passage from one side to the other. When still<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_199" id="Pg_199"></a> further disturbed, it
+practises a most curious man&#339;uvre: Standing in the middle, it
+violently jerks the web, which is attached to elastic twigs, till at
+last the whole acquires such a rapid vibratory movement, that even the
+outline of the spider&#8217;s body becomes indistinct.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/199spiders.png"><img src="images/199spiders.png" width="400" height="312" alt="Four Different Spiders." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Four Different Spiders.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is well known that most of the British spiders, when a large insect
+is caught in their webs, endeavor to cut the lines and liberate their
+prey, to save their nests from being entirely spoiled. I once,
+however, saw in a hot-house in Shropshire a large female wasp caught
+in the irregular web of a quite small spider; and this spider, instead
+of cutting the web, most perseveringly continued to entangle the body,
+and especially the wings, of its prey. The wasp at first aimed in vain
+repeated thrusts with its sting at its little antagonist. Pitying the
+wasp, after allowing it to struggle for more than an hour, I killed it
+and put it back into the web. The spider soon returned; and an hour
+afterwards I was much surprised to find it with its jaws buried in the
+orifice, through which the sting is protruded by the living wasp. I
+drove the spider away two or three times, but for the next twenty-four
+hours I always found it again sucking at the same place. The spider
+became much distended by the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_200" id="Pg_200"></a> juices of its prey, which was many times
+larger than itself.</p>
+
+<p>I may here just mention, that I found near St. Fe Bajada, many large
+black spiders, with ruby-colored marks on their backs, having
+gregarious habits. The webs were placed vertically, as is invariably
+the case with the genus Epeira; they were separated from each other by
+a space of about two <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'feeet'.">feet</ins>, but were all attached to certain common
+lines, which were of great length, and extended to all parts of the
+community. In this manner the tops of some large bushes were
+encompassed by the united nets. Azara has described a gregarious
+spider in Paraguay, which Walckenaer thinks must be a Theridion, but
+probably it is an Epeira, and perhaps even the same species with mine.
+I cannot, however, recollect seeing a central nest as large as a hat,
+in which, during autumn, when the spiders die, Azara says the eggs are
+deposited. As all the spiders which I saw were of the same size, they
+must have been nearly of the same age. This gregarious habit, in so
+typical a genus as Epeira, among insects, which are so bloodthirsty
+and solitary that even the two sexes attack each other, is a very
+singular fact.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<a href="images/200spider.png"><img src="images/200spider.png" width="450" height="180" alt="Jumping Spider." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Jumping Spider.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_201" id="Pg_201"></a><a name="WHAT_I_SAW_IN_AN_ANTS_NEST" id="WHAT_I_SAW_IN_AN_ANTS_NEST"></a>WHAT I SAW IN AN ANT&#8217;S NEST<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Facts and Fictions of Zo&ouml;logy.)<br />
+By <a href="#Wilson">ANDREW WILSON</a>.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/201a.png"><img src="images/201a-1.gif" width="350" height="272" alt="Nest of Termites." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 295px;">
+<a href="images/201a.png"><img src="images/201a-2.png" width="295" height="90" alt="Nest of Termites." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 240px;">
+<a href="images/201a.png"><img src="images/201a-3.png" width="240" height="73" alt="Nest of Termites." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Nest of Termites.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-50px;"><span class="cap">A</span>mongst those spectacles and incidents in human existence which remain
+fixed on the memory of the spectator from their sad or unwonted
+nature, that of a panic-stricken crowd, gathered by the report of some
+national disaster, stands pre-eminent. Still more terrible in its
+details is the history of some catastrophe which has laid a city in
+ruins and wrought death and desolation to thousands of the
+inhabitants. A deadly epidemic, or fatal plague, searing a nation with
+its dread, mysterious power, is a calamity appalling enough; but the
+spectacle of a city overthrown at one fell swoop by the earthquake
+shock may perhaps rank foremost amongst the untoward incidents which
+environ the sphere of man. A certain event,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_202" id="Pg_202"></a> occurring during a recent
+holiday by the sea, tended forcibly to impress upon the mind that the
+great catastrophes of life are not limited to humanity&#8217;s special
+sphere, and that in lower life panic and alarm seem to exercise no
+small influence, as in man&#8217;s estate; whilst the incident referred to
+also afforded food for reflection on topics not far removed from some
+weighty matters in the history of man&#8217;s own nature and constitution.
+In this latter view, it is especially hoped the observations of a
+brief period of leisure-time may not be without their due meed of
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>The chance removal from its secure site, of a large stone placed in
+close proximity to the sea-beach, where the bliss of idleness was
+being fully exemplified by a small party of holiday-makers, proved, on
+close examination, to be the cause of a literal revolution in lower
+life. Imagine a city to be totally unroofed, try to conceive of the
+sudden downfall of houses and buildings, and the consequent panic of
+the inhabitants, and you may obtain an idea of the disturbance on
+simple procedure effected in the peaceable, well-ordered colony of
+ants which had located themselves securely beneath the friendly
+shelter of the stone. The scene presented to view was one of the most
+curious and interesting which could engage the attention of an
+observer in any field of inquiry, and the occurrence certainly
+banished the idle mood of the time, and lent a zest to the subsequent
+hours of our holiday. Running hither and thither in wild confusion
+were the denizens of this underground colony; their six little legs
+carrying their curious globular bodies backward and forward over the
+disturbed area from which the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_203" id="Pg_203"></a> stone had been removed. At first the
+movements of the ants were extremely erratic and purposeless. Panic
+and alarm appeared to be the order of the day during the few minutes
+which elapsed after removal of the stone. But soon the eye could
+discern movements of purposive kind on the part of the alarmed
+residents. There was &ldquo;racing and chasing&rdquo; in all directions: but the
+ants which had at first radiated from the centre of disturbance, as if
+on some definite quest, soon returned thereunto, and continued to
+advance and retire from the field of action with tolerable regularity.
+Not less than sixty or seventy ants appeared to be engaged in this
+labor of scouring the country around. The object of their repeated
+journeys in all directions was soon discovered. They were the
+self-appointed scouts, engaged in the work of reconnoitring. Such at
+least is a fair interpretation of the acts of the ants, and such also
+is the conclusion borne out by the subsequent course of events. For,
+after the scouts had spent a considerable time in their rapid journeys
+to the environments of the nest, a new set of ants appeared upon the
+scene, destined to perform a highly important series of labors.</p>
+
+<p>The scouts continued their journeyings, and gave one the idea of a set
+of fussy individuals who were superintending, or even bullying, their
+new neighbors, who appeared from amongst the ruins and d&eacute;bris of the
+ant city, carrying in their mouths certain oval bodies of a
+dirty-white color, and measuring each about one-third of an inch in
+length. Each of these bodies closely resembled a grain of corn in
+shape, size, and appearance. The spectacle of these small insects
+carrying off these bodies in their powerful jaws impressed one
+forcibly<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_204" id="Pg_204"></a> with the idea that, relatively to its size, an ant is an
+herculean insect.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally there might be seen certain rather ludicrous incidents
+connected with the removal of the objects in question. One ant might
+be witnessed in the endeavor to hoist the oval body it was carrying in
+its mouth over some obstacle lying in the path, and the staggering
+gait of the insect seemed very accurately to mimic the similar
+disposition of a human porter struggling under a burdensome load.
+Another ant, carrying the oval body before it, would arrive at a steep
+incline formed of loose sand, and presenting a treacherous surface
+even to the light feet of the insect. The efforts of the ant to carry
+the body upward being found to be fruitless, the insect might be seen
+to whirl about with great rapidity of action, and ascend the hill
+backward, pulling the body after it, instead of pushing it as before.</p>
+
+<p>Another instance might be witnessed in which an ant which had
+literally come to grief with its burden would be assisted by a kindly
+neighbor; but it was no uncommon sight to behold in the excessive
+eagerness of the insects an actual means of defeating the object they
+had in view, since two ants would in some cases seize the same burden,
+and then came the tug of war. One pulled one way whilst the other
+tugged in the opposite direction; and the observer could almost have
+supposed that the burden itself might have been parted in twain by the
+treatment to which it was subjected&mdash;the incident affording a new
+application of the remark that a surfeit of zeal is destructive of the
+best intentions. The nature of the bodies which the ants<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_205" id="Pg_205"></a> seemed so
+excessively anxious to preserve from injury was readily determined.
+The oval bodies, resembling grains of corn, were the <i>pup&aelig;</i> or
+<i>chrysalides</i> of the ants&mdash;the sleeping babies and young hopefuls, on
+whom the hopes of the colony were, and I may say, are, founded. It is
+noteworthy, however, that upon some mistaken notions regarding the
+nature of these bodies many of the ideas concerning the frugal care of
+these insects were founded. Solomon&#8217;s advice that the sluggard should
+&ldquo;go to the ant,&rdquo; with the view of considering her ways and gaining
+wisdom as a result of the study, was in days of old thought to be
+approved by the observation that the ants husbanded their stores of
+food in the shape of the grains of corn they had gained from the
+autumnal store. There can be little doubt that some species of ants do
+store food; but their praiseworthy actions in this direction have been
+greatly exaggerated, and there appears, indeed, to be some danger of
+idle persons being prepared with the retort to the wise man, that the
+ant is by no means the model creature he thought her to be. If,
+however, the supposed corn-grains turn out to be the rising generation
+of ants in their chrysalis-state, it may be said that what the ants
+may have lost in the way of fame in this direction has been amply
+compensated for by the discovery of more wonderful traits of character
+than Solomon could possibly have dreamt of.</p>
+
+<p>The work of removing the developing population thus appeared in our
+ant&#8217;s nest to absorb the entire energies of the alarmed denizens. Pupa
+after pupa was carried out from amongst the d&eacute;bris and taken for a
+considerable distance&mdash;certainly fifteen inches&mdash;to<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_206" id="Pg_206"></a> a place of
+security, beneath a small sloping stone of flat shape, which roofed
+over a hollow in the ground. So far as I could observe, the scouts
+must have discovered this place of refuge, and have communicated the
+intelligence to their neighbors. The regularity with which the
+slumbering innocents were conveyed to the same spot would appear to
+point to concerted work and to a definite idea, if one may so term it,
+having animated the laborers. I was careful to ascertain at an early
+stage of the proceedings that the place of refuge had no
+communications with the nest. It was, in point of fact, an entirely
+new habitation, and, as far as human judgment might venture upon an
+opinion, the new residence appeared to give promise of being a safe
+and convenient domicile. Now and then an ant would emerge from the
+ruins of the nest carrying a younger hopeful in the larva or
+caterpillar stage. This latter was a little white grub, which
+corresponds in its development to the grub or caterpillar of the
+butterfly or fly; the ants thus exemplifying insects which undergo a
+complete &ldquo;metamorphosis.&rdquo; It was rather a difficult matter to
+ascertain clearly if the ants were actually excavating the chrysalides
+from amongst the d&eacute;bris. Bearing in mind what Sir John Lubbock has
+told us concerning the apparent inability of ants to discover the
+whereabouts of companions buried under earth, I rather lean to the
+belief that my ants simply conveyed to a place of safety those
+chrysalides which were at hand and readily obtainable. The latter fact
+I could not ascertain, since I feared to disturb the ants at their
+interesting labors; but a simple experiment served to show the
+feasibility of the idea<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_207" id="Pg_207"></a> that the <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'crysalides'.">chrysalides</ins> were probably within
+easy reach of the ants.</p>
+
+<p>Taking possession of one chrysalis which was being conveyed to the new
+domicile, I buried it about half an inch deep in the sand, directly in
+the track over which the ants were journeying to their new residence,
+and a second chrysalis I placed at a little distance from this track,
+but in a spot over which numerous ants were running apparently without
+any definite aim. The second pupa ant was not buried in any sense, and
+was covered merely with a sprinkling of sand. The result in both cases
+was negative. No attempt was made to disinter the chrysalis from the
+beaten track, although numberless ants walked directly over it; and I
+extricated the chrysalis five hours after its interment, and when the
+busy scene of the morning had been replaced by a dull prospect, over
+which only a single ant now and then hurried in a rapid fashion. The
+other chrysalis was also unnoticed, despite its proximity to the
+surface of the sand. Whether or not ants want a sense of smell or
+other means of guiding them to the whereabouts of their neighbors or
+children, is a subject difficult of determination either toward a
+positive or negative result. And I am the more inclined to wonder at
+the incapacity of the insects to discover their buried companions,
+since they appear to be perfectly capable of detecting them at a
+considerable distance above ground. When a chrysalis was placed in a
+spot remote from the nest, and an ant placed within a foot or so of
+the chrysalis, the insect would occasionally seem to be attracted to
+the neighborhood of the object. I frequently observed that if an ant
+happened to crawl<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_208" id="Pg_208"></a> within two or three inches of the chrysalis as it
+lay on the ground, it appeared to become conscious of the object,
+although at the same time it seemed ignorant of its precise locality.
+In such a case the insect would proceed hither and thither in an
+erratic fashion, but would continue to hover or rotate around the
+chrysalis until it seized the object and bore it off in triumph in its
+jaws. Relatively to the size of the ant, we must consider this latter
+incident by no means a slight tribute to its acuteness.</p>
+
+<p>The busy scene resulting from the disturbance of the nest proceeded
+actively during at least two hours. The nest appeared to be by no
+means a large one. At the end of two hours, however, the ants were
+still rushing hither and thither, bent on errands <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'unkown'.">unknown</ins> to their
+observers, although the work of conveying the chrysalides had at the
+lapse of the period just mentioned entirely ceased. Five and a half
+hours after the nest had been alarmed, not an ant was visible over the
+disturbed area, and our next task was that of investigating the manner
+in which the insects had dispersed themselves and their belongings in
+their new habitation by carefully removing the flat sloping stone
+already mentioned as that beneath which the main stream of the ants
+had disappeared. Not an insect was to be seen after this operation was
+performed, and it was only after the removal of several small stones
+which lay below the flat stone that the colony in its new sphere was
+brought into view. Our investigation once again excited the restless
+beings. Then ensued, for the second time, the seizure of the
+chrysalides, which, however, were to be seen packed together in a
+secure position and already<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_209" id="Pg_209"></a> partly covered with particles of earth
+and sand. To have reached the position in which we found them, the
+insects must have descended at least three inches after entering below
+the stone, and the labor of the continual ascent in search of fresh
+chrysalides must therefore have been of no light kind. We saw enough
+to convince us that the ants had already settled down in a new
+organization, which, with an undisturbed history, might repeat the
+peaceful state of their former life; and we also had the thought
+presented, that in the exercise of their duties under the pressure of
+an unwonted exigency, the insect behaved and acted with no small
+degree of intelligence, and apparently in harmonious concert to the
+desired end.</p>
+
+<p>But the thoughts suggested by the brief observation of the disturbed
+ant&#8217;s nest hardly end thus. We may very naturally proceed to inquire
+into the regular organization and constitution of the ant colony, and
+also, as far as fact and theory may together lead, into the
+analogies&mdash;if analogies there be&mdash;which exist between the social
+instincts of ants and the ways of the higher animals, man included.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"><a name="termites_fig1" id="termites_fig1"></a>
+<a href="images/210termites.png"><img src="images/210termites.png" width="350" height="305" alt="Fig. 1. 1, Winged termite; 2, wingless termite; 3, soldier; 4, worker; 5, female swollen with eggs." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;1. <span style="font-variant:normal;">1, Winged termite; 2, wingless
+termite; 3, soldier; 4, worker; 5, female swollen with eggs.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The common ants and their neighbors belong to the order of insects
+known as the <i>Hymenoptera</i>, a group represented by other insects of
+&ldquo;social&rdquo; habits, such as bees, wasps, and hornets. The termites, or
+white ants of the tropics, are the only &ldquo;ants&rdquo; foreign to this order
+of insects, the white ants being near relations of the dragonflies,
+may-flies, etc. The family history of the latter, as told by Mr.
+Bates, may serve to introduce us agreeably to ant society at large.
+The nests of the termites may attain a height of five feet, and
+present the appearance<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_210" id="Pg_210"></a> of conical hillocks, formed of earth particles
+&ldquo;worked,&rdquo; says Mr. Bates, &ldquo;with a material as hard as stone.&rdquo; In the
+neighborhood of the nests, narrow covered galleries or underground
+ways are everywhere to be seen, these latter being the passages along
+which the materials used for building the nests are conveyed. The
+termites are small soft-bodied animals of a pale color, but resemble
+the common or true ants in that they live in colonies, composed, like
+those of bees, of three chief grades of individuals. These grades are
+known as males, females, and blind &ldquo;neuters,&rdquo; the latter forming at
+once the largest bulk of the population, and including in their
+numbers the true &ldquo;working classes&rdquo; of this curious community. In the
+common ants, the &ldquo;neuters&rdquo; are regarded as being Undeveloped female
+insects. These neuters exhibit in the termites a further division into
+ordinary &ldquo;workers&rdquo; (<a href="#termites_fig1">Figs.&nbsp;1, 4</a>), which perform the multifarious duties
+connected with the ordinary life of the colony, and &ldquo;soldiers&rdquo; (<a href="#termites_fig1">3</a>),
+which perfectly exemplify the laws of military organization in higher
+life, in that they have no part in the common labor, but devote
+themselves entirely to the defence of the colony and to the</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+&ldquo;Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>The workers appear to perform a never-ending round<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_211" id="Pg_211"></a> of duties. They
+build the nests, make the roads, attend to the wants of the young,
+train up the latter in the ways of ant existence, wait on the
+sovereigns of the nest, and like diplomatic courtiers, duly arrange
+for the royal marriages of the future. As Mr. Bates remarks, &ldquo;The
+wonderful part in the history of the termites is, that not only is
+there a rigid division of labor, but nature has given to each class a
+structure of body adapting it to the kind of labor it has to perform.
+The males and females form a class apart; they do no kind of work, but
+in the course of growth acquire wings to enable them to issue forth
+and disseminate their kind. The workers and soldiers are wingless, and
+differ solely in the shape and armature of the head. This member in
+the laborers is smooth and rounded, the mouth being adapted for the
+working of the materials in building the hive. In the soldier the head
+is of very large size, and is provided in almost every kind with
+special organs of offence and defence in the form of horny processes
+resembling pikes, tridents, and so forth.... The course of human
+events in our day seems, unhappily, to make it more than ever
+necessary for the citizens of civilized and industrious communities to
+set apart a numerous armed class for the protection of the rest; in
+this, nations only do what nature has of old done for the termites.
+The soldier termite, however, has not only the fighting instinct and
+function; he is constructed as a soldier, and carries his weapons not
+in his hand but growing out of his body.&rdquo; When a colony of termites is
+disturbed, the ordinary citizens disappear and the military are called
+out. &ldquo;The soldiers mounted the breach,&rdquo; says Mr. Bates, &ldquo;to cover the
+retreat of the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_212" id="Pg_212"></a> workers,&rdquo; when a hole was made in the archway of one
+of their covered roads, and with military precision the rearmen fall
+into the vacant places in the front ranks as the latter are emptied by
+the misfortune of war.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/212qant.png"><img src="images/212qant.png" width="400" height="313" alt="Fig. 2. The Queen Ant; and the Workers Carrying away the Eggs." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;2. The Queen Ant; and the Workers Carrying
+away the Eggs.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In a termite colony there is but one king and queen, the royal couple
+being the true parents of the colony. The state-apartments are
+situated in the centre of the hive, and are strictly guarded by
+workers. Both king and queen are wingless, and are of larger size than
+their subjects. The queen engages in a continual round of maternal
+duties, the eggs deposited by the sovereign-mother being at once
+seized by the workers and conveyed to special or &ldquo;nursery cells,&rdquo;
+where the young are duly tended and brought up. Once a year, at the
+beginning of the rainy season, winged termites appear in the hive as
+developments of certain of the eggs laid by the queen-termite. These
+latter are winged males and females (<a href="#termites_fig1">Fig.&nbsp;1, 1</a>), the two sexes being
+present in equal numbers. Some of these, after shedding their wings,
+become the founders&mdash;kings and queens&mdash;of new<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_213" id="Pg_213"></a> communities, the
+privilege of sex being thus associated with the important and
+self-denying work of perpetuating the species or race in time. Sooner
+or later&mdash;a termite family takes about a year to grow&mdash;a veritable
+exodus of the young winged termites takes place; and just before this
+emigration movement occurs, a hive may be seen to be stocked with
+&ldquo;termites&rdquo; of all castes and in all stages of development. The workers
+never exhibit a change of form during their growth; the soldiers begin
+to differ from the workers in the possession of larger heads and jaws;
+whilst the young which are destined to become the winged males and
+females are distinguished by the early possession of the germs of
+wings which become larger as the skin is successively moulted. Amongst
+the bees, blind Huber supposed that an ordinary or neuter egg develops
+into a queen bee if the larva is fed upon a special kind of
+food&mdash;&ldquo;royal food,&rdquo; as it is called. Although some entomological
+authorities differ from Huber with regard to the exact means by which
+the queen bee is reared and specialized from other larv&aelig;, yet the
+opinion thus expressed possesses a large amount of probability.
+Whatever may be the exact method or causes through or by which the
+queen bee is developed, Mr. Bates strongly asserts that the
+differences between the soldiers and worker termites are distinctly
+marked from the egg. This latter observer maintains that the
+difference is not due to variations in food or treatment during their
+early existence, but is fixed and apparent from the beginning of
+development. This fact is worthy of note, for it argues in favor of
+the view that if, as is most likely, the differ<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_214" id="Pg_214"></a>ences between the
+grades of termites may have originally been produced by natural
+selection or other causes, these differences have now become part and
+parcel of the constitution of these insects, and are propagated by the
+ordinary law of heredity. Thus acquired conditions have become in time
+the natural &ldquo;way of life&rdquo; of these animals.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Bates has also placed on record the noteworthy fact that a species
+of termites exists in which the members of the soldier class did not
+differ at all from the workers &ldquo;except in the fighting instinct.&rdquo; This
+observation, if it may be used at all in elucidation of the origin of
+the curious family life of these insects, points not to sudden
+creation, but to gradual acquirement and modification as having been
+the method of development of the specialized classes and castes in
+termite society. Firstly, we may thus regard the beginnings of the
+further development of a colony to appear in a nest in which workers
+and soldiers are alike, as stated by Mr. Bates. Then, through the
+practice of the fighting instinct, we may conceive that natural
+selection would be competent to adapt the soldiers more perfectly for
+their duties militant, by developing the head and jaws as offensive
+weapons. Possibly, were our knowledge of the termites at all complete,
+we should meet with all stages in the development and specialization
+of the various grades of society amongst these insects&mdash;at least the
+present state of our knowledge would seem to lead to such a conclusion
+as being much more feasible than the theory of special or sudden
+creation of the peculiarities of the race. It is admitted that the
+termites are in many respects inferior<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_215" id="Pg_215"></a> in structure to the bees and
+wasps, whilst the white ants themselves are the superiors of their own
+order&mdash;that of the <i>Neuroptera</i>. That the termites preceded the bees
+and their neighbors, the common ants, in the order of development of
+social instincts, is a conclusion supported by the fact that the
+<i>Neuroptera</i> form the first group of insects which are preserved to us
+in the &ldquo;records of the rocks.&rdquo; Fossil <i>Neuroptera</i> occur in the
+Devonian rocks of North America; the first traces of insects allied to
+the bees and wasps being geologically more recent, and appearing in
+the oolitic strata. The occurrence of high social instincts in an
+ancient group of insects renders the repetition of these instincts in
+a later and higher group the less remarkable. The observation,
+however, does not of necessity carry with it any actual or implied
+connection between the termites and their higher neighbors, although,
+indeed, the likeness between the social life of the two orders of
+insects might warrant such a supposition.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"><a name="ants_fig3" id="ants_fig3"></a>
+<a href="images/215ants.png"><img src="images/215ants.png" width="300" height="170" alt="Fig. 3. Red, or Horse-Ant (Formica rufa.) a, male; b, female, winged; c, worker." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;3. Red, or Horse-Ant <span style="font-variant:normal;">(<i>Formica rufa</i>.)<br />
+<i>a</i>, male; <i>b</i>, female, winged; <i>c</i>, worker.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The common ants (<a href="#ants_fig3">Fig.&nbsp;3</a>), the study of which in their native haunts is
+a matter of no great difficulty, and one which will fully reward the
+seeking mind, like the termites, possess three grades of individuals.
+In a single ant&#8217;s nest more than One female may be found, the ants
+differing from the bees in this respect; and in the nests of some
+species of ants there are apparently &ldquo;soldiers&rdquo; resembling<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_216" id="Pg_216"></a> the
+military termites in the possession of large heads and well-developed
+jaws. Very amazing differences are to be perceived amongst the various
+species of ants. Differences in size are of common occurrence, but
+naturalists have actually succeeded in classifying ants in a general
+way, by differences in manner and disposition. We know, for example,
+that the horse-ant (<i>Formica rufa</i>, <a href="#ants_fig3">Fig.&nbsp;3</a>) has little <i>individual</i>
+intelligence, but is extremely socialistic, and moves and acts <i>en
+masse</i> with precision and tact. Another species (<i>F. fusca</i>) is timid
+and retiring. <i>F. pratensis</i> is a revengeful creature, since it
+&ldquo;worries&rdquo; its fallen foes; <i>F. cinerea</i> is bold and audacious; others
+are termed &ldquo;thieves&rdquo; and &ldquo;cowards&rdquo;; some are phlegmatic; and to
+complete the list of failings and traits which are human enough in
+character, one species is said to present an invariable greediness as
+its prevailing characteristic. The common ants resemble the termites
+in the general details of their life. We see in an ant&#8217;s nest the same
+restless activity of the workers, the same earnest attention paid to
+the young and pup&aelig;, the same instinct in shielding the young from
+danger, and much the same general routine of development. Certain
+rather special, and it may be said extraordinary, habits of ants may,
+however, demand notice before we attempt a brief survey of their
+instincts at large. Few readers are unacquainted with the <i>Aphides</i>,
+or plant-lice, those little wingless insects which infest our plants
+and herbs in myriads in summer. It is a fact now well known to
+naturalists, and first placed on record by Huber, that between the
+ants and plant-lice, relations of a very friendly and, as far<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_217" id="Pg_217"></a> as the
+ants are concerned, advantageous character have become established.
+Ants have been observed to stroke the tips of the bodies of the
+plant-lice with their <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'attennae'.">antenn&aelig;</ins>, this act causing the plant-lice to
+exude drops of a clear, sweet fluid, of which the ants are extremely
+enamoured. The ants would thus appear to habitually &ldquo;milk&rdquo; their
+insect-neighbors, and, as far as observation goes, some ants seem not
+merely to keep the plant-lice in their nests so as to form a veritable
+dairy establishment, but also to make provision in the future by
+securing the eggs of the aphides, and bringing up the young as we rear
+calves.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/217aphis.png"><img src="images/217aphis.png" width="300" height="188" alt="Fig 4. Apple Aphis (Eriosoma Mali)." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig 4. Apple Aphis <span style="font-variant:normal;">(<i>Eriosoma Mali</i>).</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>That the relation between the ants and plant-lice are of very stable
+kind is proved by the interesting remarks of Mr. Darwin, who &ldquo;removed
+all the ants from a group of about a dozen aphides on a dock-plant,
+and prevented their attendance during several hours.&rdquo; Careful watching
+showed that the plant-lice after this interval did not excrete the
+sweet fluid. Mr. Darwin then stroked the plant-lice with a hair,
+endeavoring thus to imitate the action of the ant&#8217;s feelers, but not a
+single plant-louse seemed disposed to emit the secretion. Thereafter a
+single ant was admitted to their company, the insect, in Mr. Darwin&#8217;s
+words, appearing, &ldquo;by its eager way of running about, to be well aware
+what a rich flock it had discovered.&rdquo; The ant first stroked one aphis
+and then another, each insect excret<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_218" id="Pg_218"></a>ing a drop of the sweet juice &ldquo;as
+soon as it felt the antenn&aelig;;&rdquo; and &ldquo;even the quite young aphides
+behaved in this manner, showing that the action was instinctive, and
+not the result of experience.&rdquo; If, as Mr. Darwin remarks, it is a
+convenience for the aphides to have the sweet secretion removed, and
+that &ldquo;they do not excrete solely for the food of the ants,&rdquo; the
+observation does not in any degree lessen the curious nature of the
+relationship which has become established between the ants and their
+neighbors, or the interesting features in ant life which have
+inaugurated and perpetuated the habit.</p>
+
+<p>Not less remarkable are the &ldquo;slave-making&rdquo; instincts of certain
+species of ants. It may be safely maintained that the slave-making
+habit forms a subject of more than ordinary interest not merely to
+naturalists but to metaphysicians given to speculate on the origin and
+acquirement of the practices of human existence. Pierre Huber, son of
+the famous entomologist, was the first to describe the slave-making
+instincts in a species (<i>Polyergus rufescens</i>) noted for its
+predaceous instincts, and subsequent observations have shown that
+other species participate in these habits. <i>Polyergus</i> is thoroughly
+dependent on slaves. Without these bonds-men it is difficult to see
+how the ants could exist. Huber tells us that the workers of this
+species perform no work save that of capturing slaves. Use and wont,
+and the habit of depending entirely on their servitors, have produced
+such changes in the structure of the ants that they are unable to help
+themselves. The jaws of these ants are not adapted for work; they are
+carried by their slaves from an old nest to a new one;<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_219" id="Pg_219"></a> and, more
+extraordinary still, they require to be fed by their slaves, even with
+plenty of food close at hand. Out of thirty of these ants placed by
+Huber in a box, with some of their larv&aelig; and pup&aelig;, and a store of
+honey, fifteen died in less than two days of hunger and of sheer
+inability to help themselves. When, however, one of their slaves was
+introduced, the willing servitor &ldquo;established order, formed a chamber
+in the earth, gathered together the larv&aelig;, extricated several young
+ants that were ready to quit the condition of pup&aelig;, and preserved the
+life of the remaining Amazons.&rdquo; It must be noted that there are very
+varying degrees in the dependence of the ant-masters on their slaves.
+In the recognition of this graduated scale of relationship and
+dependence, indeed, will be found the clue to the acquirement of this
+instinct. The horse-ant (<i>Formica rufa</i>) will carry off the larv&aelig; and
+pup&aelig; of other ants <i>for food</i>, and it sometimes happens that some of
+these captives, spared by their cannibal neighbors, will grow up in
+the nest of their captor. A well-known ant, the <i>Formica sanguinea</i>,
+found in the South of England, is however, a true slave-making
+species, but exhibits no such utter dependence on its servitors as
+does <i>Polyergus</i>. The slave-making habit is not only typically
+developed in the <i>Sanguineas</i>, but the bearing of the captives to
+their masters indicate a degree of relationship and organization such
+as could hardly be conceived to exist outside human experience. The
+<i>Sanguineas</i> make periodical excursions, and, like a powerful
+predatory clan, carry off the pup&aelig; or chrysalides of a neighboring
+species, <i>F. fusca</i>. Thus the children of the latter race are born
+within the nest of their captors<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_220" id="Pg_220"></a> in an enslaved condition. As slaves
+&ldquo;born and bred,&rdquo; so to speak, they fall at once into the routine of
+their duties, assist their masters in the work of the nest, and tend
+and nurse the young of the family. The slaves, curiously enough in
+this instance, are black in color, whilst the masters are twice the
+size of the servitors, and are red in color, and that the slaves are
+true importations is proved by the fact that males and females of the
+slave species are never developed within the nest of the masters, but
+only within those of their own colonies. The slaves in this instance
+rarely leave the nest, the masters foraging for food, and employing
+their captives in household work, as it were; whilst, when the work of
+emigration occurs, the masters carry the slaves in their mouths like
+household goods and chattels, instead of being carried by them, as in
+the case of <i>Polyergus</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Darwin gives an interesting account of the different attitudes
+exhibited by the <i>Sanguineas</i> toward species of ants other than the
+black race from which their slaves are usually drawn. A few pup&aelig; of
+the yellow ant (<i>F. flava</i>), a courageous and pugnacious little
+species, were placed within the reach of the slave-making
+<i>Sanguineas</i>. A like chance presented with the pup&aelig; of their slave
+race was eagerly seized, and the chrysalides carried off. The pup&aelig; of
+the yellow ants, however, were not merely left untouched, but the
+slave-makers exhibited every system of terror and alarm at the sight
+of the chrysalides of their yellow neighbors. Such an instance
+demonstrates the existence not merely of perception but also of the
+memory of past experience, probably of not over agreeable kind, of
+encounters<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_221" id="Pg_221"></a> with the yellow ants. When, on the contrary, a nest of the
+slaves is attacked, the <i>Sanguineas</i> are both bold and wary. Mr.
+Darwin traced a long file of <i>Sanguineas</i> for forty yards backward to
+a clump of heath, whence he perceived the last of the invaders
+marching homeward with a slave pupa in its mouth. Two or three
+individuals of the attacked and desolate nest were rushing about in
+wild despair, and &ldquo;one,&rdquo; adds Mr. Darwin, &ldquo;was perched motionless,
+with its own pupa in its mouth, on the top of a spray of heath, an
+image of despair over its ravaged home.&rdquo; The picture thus drawn is not
+the less eloquent because its subject is drawn from lower existence;
+although the pains and sorrows of ant life may not legitimately be
+judged by the standard of human woe.</p>
+
+<p>The explanation of the slave-making instinct in ants begins with the
+recognition of the fact that many ants, not slave-makers, store up
+pup&aelig; of other species for food. If we suppose that some of the pup&aelig;,
+originally acquired through a cannibal-like instinct, came to maturity
+within the nest of their captors, and in virtue of their own inherited
+instincts engaged in the work of the hive, we may conceive of a
+rational beginning of the slave-making instinct. If, further, the
+captors learned to appreciate the labors of their captives, as
+lightening their own work, the habit of collecting pup&aelig; as slaves
+might succeed and supersede that of collecting them for food. In any
+case, we should require to postulate on the part of the slave-makers a
+degree of instinct altogether unusual in insects, or, indeed, in
+higher animals; but that such instinct is developed in ants other than
+slave-makers admits of no dispute.<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_222" id="Pg_222"></a> The strengthening, through
+repetition, of a habit useful to the species may thus be credited with
+the beginning of the practice of slavery amongst ants; whilst special
+circumstances&mdash;such as the number of the slaves as compared with the
+number of masters&mdash;would tend to develop a greater or less degree of
+dependence of the captors or their servitors.</p>
+
+<p>Huber, for instance, informs us that the <i>Fusca</i>-slaves of the
+<i>Sanguineas</i> of Switzerland work with their masters in building the
+nest; they close and open the doors of the hive; but their chief
+office appears to be that of hunting for plant-lice. In England, on
+the contrary, the slaves are strictly household servants, rarely
+venturing out of doors. Such differences depend most probably on the
+fact that a greater number of slaves occur in Swiss than in English
+nests, and they may therefore be employed in a wider range of duties
+on the Continent than at home. A fewer number of slaves, a greater
+aptitude on the part of the slaves for their duties, the inability of
+the masters to perform the duties of the slaves&mdash;each or all of these
+causes combined would serve to increase the value of the servitors,
+and at the same time to reduce the independence of the masters.</p>
+
+<p>This increase of the value of the slaves as active factors in the ant
+community might at length proceed to such extremes as we see
+exemplified in the <i>Polyergus</i>, already referred to&mdash;a race which has
+become literally unable to feed itself, and to discharge the simplest
+duties of ant existence, and whose actual life is entirely spent in
+marauding expeditions on the nests of its neighbors.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_223" id="Pg_223"></a>The subject of the general intelligence of ants, and of their ability
+to adapt themselves to awkward and unusual circumstances, may be
+briefly touched upon by way of conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>Between the reason and intelligence of higher animals and the
+&ldquo;instinct&rdquo; of ants there is unquestionably a great gulf fixed. I make
+this statement unhesitatingly, notwithstanding that I should no more
+willingly attempt to define &ldquo;instinct&rdquo; than to give an exact
+definition of &ldquo;insanity.&rdquo; In the latter case one may make the
+definition so limited as practically to exclude all save one class of
+cases, or so wide as to include even the judge on the bench. In the
+case of instinct, the rigid definition of one authority might cause us
+to regard it as the exclusive property of lower forms and as having no
+relationship whatever with the mental powers of higher beings; or, on
+the other hand, as being but a modified form of, or in some respects
+identical with, these very powers. We know too little respecting the
+so-called &ldquo;automatic&rdquo; powers and ways, even of higher animals, to
+dogmatize regarding the acts of lower animals, but we may safely
+assume that one apparent ground or distinction between instinct and
+reason may be found in the common incompetence of instinct to move out
+of the beaten track of existence, and in the adaptation of reason,
+through the teachings of experience, to new and unwonted
+circumstances. Let Dr. Carpenter speak as an authority on such a
+subject. &ldquo;The whole nervous system of invertebrated animals, then, may
+be regarded as ministering entirely to <i>automatic</i> action; and its
+highest development, as in the class of insects, is coincident with
+the highest man<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_224" id="Pg_224"></a>ifestations of the &lsquo;instinctive&rsquo; powers, which, when
+carefully examined, are found to consist entirely in movements of the
+excito-motor and sensori-motor kinds. (The terms &lsquo;<i>excito-motor</i>&rsquo; and
+&lsquo;<i>sensori-motor</i>&rsquo; are applied to nervous actions resulting in
+movements of varying kinds, and produced by impressions made on
+nervous centres, but without any necessary emotion, reason, or
+consciousness.) When we attentively consider the habits of these
+animals, we find that their actions, though evidently adapted to the
+attainment of certain ends, are very far from evincing a <i>designed</i>
+adaptation on the part of the beings that perform them.... For, in the
+first place, these actions are invariably performed in the same manner
+by all the individuals of a species, when the conditions are the same;
+and thus are obviously to be attributed rather to a uniform impulse
+than to a free choice, the most remarkable example of this being
+furnished by the economy of bees, wasps, and other &lsquo;social&rsquo; insects,
+in which every individual of the community performs its appropriated
+part with the exactitude and method of a perfect machine. The very
+perfection of the adaptation, again, is often of itself a sufficient
+evidence of the unreasoning character of the beings which perform the
+work; for if we attribute it to their own intelligence, we must admit
+that this intelligence frequently equals, if it does not surpass, that
+of the most accomplished Human Reasoner.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Appealing to the most recent observations on ants, we may find
+evidence of the truth of Dr. Carpenter&#8217;s statements, whilst at the
+same time we may also detect instances of the development of higher
+powers which<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_225" id="Pg_225"></a> are hardly to be classed as &ldquo;automatic,&rdquo; and which, in
+certain species (as in the <i>Ecitons</i>, charmingly described by Mr. Belt
+in &ldquo;The Naturalist in Nicaragua&rdquo;), may be said to be elevated above
+the common instincts of the race. Dr. Henry Maudsley has also well
+summed up the relationship of the acts of these insects to the acts of
+higher forms, and to new adaptations when he says: &ldquo;I do not say that
+the ant and the bee are entirely destitute of any power of adaptation
+to new experiences in their lives&mdash;that they are, in fact, purely
+organized machines, acting always with unvarying regularity; it would
+appear, indeed, from close observation, that these creatures do
+sometimes discover in their actions traces of a sensibility to strange
+experiences, and of corresponding adaptations of movements. We cannot,
+moreover, conceive how the remarkable instincts which they manifest
+can have been acquired originally, except by virtue of some such
+power. But the power in them now is evidently of a rudimentary kind,
+and must remain so while they have not those higher nerve-centres in
+which the sensations are combined into ideas, and perceptions of the
+relations of things are acquired. Granting, however, that the bee or
+ant has these traces of adaptive action, it must be allowed that they
+are truly rudiments of functions, which in the supreme nerve-centres
+we designate as reason and volition. Such a confession might be a
+trouble to a metaphysical physiologist, who would thereupon find it
+necessary to place a metaphysical entity behind the so-called
+instincts of the bee, but can be no trouble to the inductive
+physiologist&mdash;he simply recognizes an illustration of a physiological
+diffusion of<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_226" id="Pg_226"></a> properties, and of the physical conditions of primitive
+volition, and traces in the evolution of mind and its organs, as in
+the evolution of other functions and their organs, a progressive
+specialization and increasing complexity.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The recently published experiments of Sir John Lubbock show that ants
+under certain circumstances are both stupid and devoid of any
+intelligent comprehension in the way of surmounting difficulties; but
+this distinguished observer has also shown that as regards
+communication between ants, and in the regulation of the ordinary
+circumstances of their lives, these insects evince a high degree of
+intelligence, and exhibit instincts of a very highly developed kind.
+Still, making every allowance for the development of extraordinary
+mental power in some species of ants, there can be little doubt of the
+purely automatic beginnings and nature of most, if not all, of the
+acts of ordinary ant existence. The young ant, wasp, or bee, will
+begin its labors and discharge them as perfectly at the beginning of
+its existence as a perfect insect, as at the close of life. Here there
+is no experience, no tuition, no consciousness, no reason, and no
+powers save such as have been transferred to the insect as a mere
+matter of heredity and derivation from its ancestors, who lived by an
+unconscious rule of thumb, so to speak. It is very hard at first to
+convince one&#8217;s self, when watching an ant&#8217;s nest, that intelligence
+and consciousness play little or no part in the apparently intelligent
+operation of these insects. But to assume the contrary would be to
+maintain that the insect stands on an equal footing to man himself,
+and for such a supposi<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_227" id="Pg_227"></a>tion there is neither lawful ground nor
+sympathy. The marvellous instinct of lower life stands on a platform
+of its own, has its own phases of development, and probably its own
+unconscious way of progress. The higher reason and intellect of
+humanity similarly possesses its own peculiar standard, rate, and
+method of culture. A man may seek and find in the ways of lower
+existence not merely a lesson in the ordering of his existence, but
+some comfort, also, in the thought that the progress of lower nature
+is not unknown in the domain of human hopes and aspirations.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<a href="images/227ants.png"><img src="images/227ants.png" width="450" height="146" alt="Return of Ants after a Battle." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Return of Ants after a Battle.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_228" id="Pg_228"></a><a name="THE_WILD_LLAMA" id="THE_WILD_LLAMA"></a>THE WILD LLAMA<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From A Journal of Researches, etc.)<br />
+By CHARLES DARWIN.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/228t.png"><img src="images/228t-1.gif" width="300" height="120" alt="Head of Guanaco." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 245px;">
+<a href="images/228t.png"><img src="images/228t-2.png" width="245" height="192" alt="Head of Guanaco." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Head of Guanaco.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">T</span>he guanaco, or wild Llama, is the characteristic quadruped of the
+plains of Patagonia; it is the South American representative of the
+camel in the East. It is an elegant animal in a state of nature, with
+a long slender neck and fine legs. It is very common over the whole of
+the temperate parts of the continent, as far south as the islands near
+Cape Horn. It generally lives in small herds of from half a dozen to
+thirty in each; but on the banks of the St. Cruz we saw one herd which
+must have contained at least five hundred.</p>
+
+<p>They are generally wild and extremely wary. Mr. Stokes told me, that
+he one day saw through a glass a herd of these animals which evidently
+had been<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_229" id="Pg_229"></a> frightened, and were running away at full speed, although
+their distance was so great that he could not distinguish them with
+his naked eye. The sportsman frequently receives the first notice of
+their presence, by hearing from a long distance their peculiar shrill
+neighing note of alarm. If he then looks attentively, he will probably
+see the herd standing in a line on the side of some distant hill. On
+approaching nearer, a few more squeals are given, and off they set at
+an apparently slow, but really quick canter, along some narrow beaten
+track to a neighboring hill. If, however, by chance, he abruptly meets
+a single animal, or several together, they will generally stand
+motionless and intently gaze at him; then perhaps move on a few yards,
+turn round, and look again. What is the cause of this difference in
+their shyness? Do they mistake a man in the distance for their chief
+enemy the puma? Or does curiosity overcome their timidity? That they
+are curious is certain; for if a person lies on the ground, and plays
+strange antics, such as throwing up his feet in the air, they will
+almost always approach by degrees to reconnoitre him. It was an
+artifice that was repeatedly practised by our sportsmen with success,
+and it had moreover the advantage of allowing several shots to be
+fired, which were all taken as parts of the performance. On the
+mountains of the Tierra del Fuego, I have more than once seen a
+guanaco, on being approached, not only neigh and squeal, but prance
+and leap about in the most ridiculous manner, apparently in defiance
+as a challenge. These animals are very easily domesticated, and I have
+seen some thus kept in northern Patagonia near a house, though not
+under any restraint. They are in this state very bold, and readily
+attack a man by striking him from behind with both knees. It is
+asserted that the motive for these attacks is jealousy on account of
+their females. The wild guanacos, however, have no idea of defence;
+even a single dog will secure one of these large animals, till the
+huntsman can come up. In many of their habits they are like sheep in a
+flock. Thus when they see men approaching in several directions on
+horseback, they soon become bewildered, and know not which way to run.
+This greatly facilitates the Indian method of hunting, for they are
+thus easily driven to a central point, and are encompassed.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 301px;"><a name="guanaco" id="guanaco"></a>
+<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_230" id="Pg_230"></a><a href="images/guanaco-h.jpg" title="Larger image"><img class="jpg" src="images/guanaco-t.jpg" width="301" height="500" alt="The Guanaco." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">The Guanaco.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_231" id="Pg_231"></a>The guanacos readily take to the water: several times at Port Valdes
+they were seen swimming from island to island. Byron, in his voyage, says
+he saw them drinking salt water. Some of our <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'officiers'.">officers</ins> likewise saw a
+herd apparently drinking the briny fluid from a salina near Cape Blanco.
+I imagine in several parts of the country, if they do not drink salt
+water, they drink none at all. In the middle of the day they frequently
+roll in the dust, in saucer-shaped hollows. The males fight together;
+two one day passed quite close to me, squealing and trying to bite each
+other; and several were shot with their hides deeply scarred. Herds
+sometimes appear to set out on exploring parties; at Bahia Blanca,
+where, within thirty miles of the coast, these animals are extremely
+unfrequent, I one day saw the tracks of thirty or forty, which had come
+in a direct line to a muddy salt-water creek. They then must have
+perceived that they were approaching the sea, for they had wheeled with
+the regularity of cavalry, and had returned back in as straight a line as they had
+advanced. The guanacos have one singular habit, which is to me quite
+inexplicable; namely, that on successive days they drop their dung in
+the same defined heap. I saw one of these heaps which was eight feet
+in diameter, and was composed of a large quantity. This habit,
+according to M.&nbsp;A. d&#8217;Orbigny, is common to all the species of the
+genus; it is very useful to the Peruvian Indians, who use the dung for
+fuel, and are thus saved the trouble of collecting it.</p>
+
+<p>The guanacos appear to have favorite spots for lying down to die. On
+the banks of the St. Cruz, in certain circumscribed spaces, which were
+generally bushy and all near the river, the ground was actually white
+with bones. On one such spot I counted between ten and twenty heads. I
+particularly examined the bones; they did not appear, as some
+scattered ones which I have seen, gnawed or broken, as if dragged
+together by beasts of prey. The animals in most cases must have
+crawled, before dying, beneath and amongst the bushes. Mr. Byron
+informs me that during a former voyage he observed the same
+circumstances on the banks of the Rio Gallegos. I do not at all
+understand the reason of this, but I may observe, that the wounded
+guanacos at the St. Cruz invariably walked towards the river. At St.
+Jago in the Cape de Verd islands, I remember having seen in a ravine a
+retired corner covered with bones of the goat; we at the time
+exclaimed that it was the burial-ground of all the goats in the
+island.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_232" id="Pg_232"></a><a name="BATS" id="BATS"></a>BATS<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Studies of Animated Nature.)<br />
+By W.&nbsp;S. DALLAS, F.L.S.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/232a.gif"><img src="images/232a.gif" width="300" height="459" alt="Sleeping Bat." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Sleeping Bat.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-40px;"><span class="cap">A</span>mong the sounds which greet the ear of the wayfarer as the shades of
+evening deepen into night, one of the commonest is a rather faint
+chirping noise which comes mysteriously from overhead. On looking up
+in search of the source of this peculiar sound, we may see a small,
+dark, shadow-like creature sweeping to and fro with great rapidity. It
+is one of the curious groups of animals called Bats, representatives
+of which are to be met with in in all countries, always active at
+night or in the twilight, and presenting a remarkable general
+similarity of structure, although in some respects they may differ<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_233" id="Pg_233"></a>
+considerably in habits. In the British Islands some fourteen species
+have been distinguished.</p>
+
+<p>Like the owls, with which they share the dominion of the evening air,
+the Bats have a perfectly noiseless flight; their activity is chiefly
+during the twilight, although some species are later, and in fact seem
+to keep up throughout the whole night. As they rest during the day,
+concealed usually in the most inaccessible places they can find, and
+are seen only upon the wing, their power of flight is their most
+striking peculiarity in the popular mind, and it is perhaps no great
+wonder that by many people, both in ancient and modern times they have
+been regarded as birds. Nevertheless, their hairy bodies and leathery
+wings are so unlike anything that we ordinarily understand as
+pertaining to a bird, that opinion was apparently always divided, as
+to the true nature of these creatures&mdash;&ldquo;a mouse with wings,&rdquo; as
+Goldsmith called it once, according to James Boswell, is certainly a
+curious animal, and very difficult to classify so long as the would-be
+systematist has no particularly definite ideas to guide him. The
+likeness of the Bat to a winged mouse has made itself felt in the name
+given to the creature in many languages, such as the &ldquo;Chauvesouris&rdquo; of
+the French and the &ldquo;Flitter-mouse&rdquo; of some parts of England, the
+latter being reproduced almost literally in German, Dutch, and
+Swedish, while the Danes called the Bat a &ldquo;Flogenmues,&rdquo; which has
+about the same meaning, and the Swedes have a second name, &ldquo;L&auml;dermus,&rdquo;
+evidently referring to the texture of the wings, as well as to the
+mouse-like character of the body.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_234" id="Pg_234"></a>But so soon as we have definite characters to appeal to in
+classification, we find no difficulty in assigning these puzzling
+creatures to their proper place in the system. Bats produce their
+young alive, and suckle them; the milk being produced by special
+glands. Now, these are characters which are peculiar among all animals
+to the vertebrate class Mammalia. They possess also other characters
+that are unmistakably mammalian. Leaving out of consideration the
+structure of the internal organs, they have teeth implanted in sockets
+in the jaws, four limbs, and a hairy covering to the skin, so that
+they possess more decidedly mammalian characters than some other
+members of the class, such as the marine whales and dolphins
+(<i>Cetacea</i>) and manatees (<i>Sirenia</i>), which are still often spoken of
+as fishes. In point of fact, although organized for flight, the Bat
+may, without any violence to language, be spoken of as a <i>quadruped</i>,
+for its fore-limbs contain all the parts found in those of other
+mammals fully developed, and they come into use when the creature is
+walking on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps the special characteristics of the Bats will be brought out
+most distinctly by a comparison of their structure with that of a
+bird, seeing that the modification of the fore-limbs into wings is
+their most striking distinction from other Mammalia; for, although
+some other members of the class are spoken of as &ldquo;flying,&rdquo; such as the
+Flying Squirrels, Flying Lemurs, and Flying Phalangers, these
+creatures do not really fly, but merely glide through the air to
+considerable distances by the action of a broad fold of skin which
+runs down each side of the body, and<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_235" id="Pg_235"></a> which, when stretched between
+the extended limbs, buoys the creatures up in the air after the
+fashion of a parachute.</p>
+
+<p>Most of us must have had occasion to pick the bones of a bird&#8217;s wing,
+a piece of practical anatomy which may serve us in good stead at
+present. They consist of a long bone, which may be called the arm-bone
+(<i>humerus</i>), jointed to the shoulder-bones (the so-called &ldquo;side-bones&rdquo;
+of a fowl or turkey), followed by a pair of parallel bones
+constituting the fore-arm, at the end of which we find two or three
+small bones, then two parallel bones united at their extremities, and
+some smaller joints terminating the whole.</p>
+
+<p>We need say nothing about the arm-bone and the two bones of the
+fore-arm, the peculiarity of bird-structure lying chiefly in the
+terminal portion of the limb, or the hand. Here we find, after two
+little bones forming the wrist, a pair of long bones as above
+described, firmly united both at base and apex, and on the outside of
+the base of these, close to the wrist, a small bone, which may be
+either free or soldered to the others, and which represents the thumb
+in the human hand. At the other end of the piece formed by the two
+united bones, the limb is continued by two joints, forming a second
+finger, inside of which there is usually a single small bone,
+representing a third finger. But all these parts are stiffly attached
+to one another, admitting of very little motion, so that the whole
+hand forms as it were a single piece. The bony structure of the bird&#8217;s
+wing is in point of fact a rod hinged in two places, at the elbow and
+the wrist, for the convenience of being folded into a small compass.
+The<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_236" id="Pg_236"></a> flight of the bird is effected by the agency of a number of stiff
+feathers implanted in the skin covering the bones and muscles of the
+arm and hand; these fold together like the sticks of a fan when the
+wing is folded, and are spread into an elastic instrument for striking
+the air when the different sections of the bony framework are extended
+by the action of their respective muscles.</p>
+
+<p>In the Bat the structure is very different. Of course, as in the
+Vertebrata generally, we find in the Bat&#8217;s fore-limb the same three
+main sections as in birds; and as the function of the limb is the
+same, and a certain stiffness is necessary in the extended organ, the
+movements of the joints at the elbow and wrists are hinge-like. But
+the bones of the arm and fore-arm are longer and more slender,
+especially the latter; and in this part, in place of the two parallel
+bones of the bird&#8217;s wing, we find in the Bat only a single long bone
+representing the smaller bone of the bird, the larger one being
+usually reduced to very small dimensions, and firmly united with the
+other into a single piece, although it still forms the elbow-joint. At
+the other end of this long fore-arm we find some small wrist-bones and
+to these the fingers are articulated. In birds, as we have seen, only
+two or three fingers are represented, and these are more or less
+reduced in size, and the most important of them soldered together;
+Bats, on the contrary, show the whole five fingers as distinctly as in
+the hand of man or any other mammals. The first of them, or the
+<i>thumb</i>, is short, slender, and flexible, and composed of three
+joints; the other four are very long and slender,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_237" id="Pg_237"></a> but chiefly
+composed of the metacarpal bones, corresponding to those of the palm
+of the human hand. The first, or index finger, indeed, in many Bats,
+consists of this bone alone; but in the others it is followed by two
+or three slender joints, gradually tapering to the extremity, the
+second finger, corresponding to our middle finger, being always the
+longest of all.</p>
+
+<p>Just as is the bird&#8217;s wing, these various parts can be folded together
+or extended by the action of the muscles, but in the Bat the long
+fingers become separated when the wing is stretched out, and by this
+action they at the same time stretch a thin leathery double membrane
+in which they are enclosed, which is thus converted into a broad
+surface for striking the air in flight. This membrane is continued
+from the fingers to the sides of the body, and even to the hind limbs,
+which are often included in it to the ankle-joints; while in the great
+majority of Bats there is even a further portion of membrane between
+the hind legs, enclosing the whole or a portion of the tail. There is
+usually also a narrow strip of the same membrane in front of each arm,
+so that the skin of the animal is extended as much as possible, in
+order to give it support in its a&euml;rial evolution. It is to be noted
+that the long second finger extends to the extreme point of the wing
+and that the first finger runs close beside it and thus assists in
+stiffening that part of the organ. The thumb is left free, and is
+furnished with a rather strong hooked claw.</p>
+
+<p>Supported by the action of these great leathery wings, the Bat flies
+about almost incessantly during the twilight, and often late into the
+night. In full<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_238" id="Pg_238"></a> career its flight is swift, though perfectly
+noiseless, and it has the power of executing rapid turns and changes
+of direction with the greatest facility, as required for the capture
+of its prey, which, in the great majority of cases, consists of the
+insects of various kinds that in most places fly by night. In pursuit
+of these, the Bats flit rapidly about trees, houses, and other
+buildings, now and then resting by clinging for a moment to the rough
+surfaces of the walls or the trunks and branches of trees. Old country
+church-yards, which are usually full of trees, are naturally favorite
+haunts of these nocturnal insect-hunters, offering them an excellent
+field for the chase of their prey, while at the same time, the church
+itself, with its architectural peculiarities, usually affords them a
+safe retirement during the day in the dark and secluded corners of its
+structure. Hence in the popular mind the Bat has long been associated
+with the church-yard, that spot so dreaded that few can pass through
+it after nightfall without experiencing certain peculiar feelings, so
+that it is no great wonder if a portion of the superstitious fear thus
+engendered has transferred itself to these frail and harmless
+creatures, and given them and their companions, the owls, something of
+an evil reputation. And it must be confessed that when seen against
+the light, flitting silently overhead, there is something weird in the
+Bat&#8217;s form, and this is no doubt the reason why, while angels of all
+kinds are represented with birds&#8217; wings, those of Bats have, by
+universal consent, always been conferred upon demons, dragons, and
+similar uncanny creatures.</p>
+
+<p>When it descends from its flight upon the ground or<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_239" id="Pg_239"></a> any solid body,
+the Bat becomes to all intents and purposes a genuine quadruped. The
+fingers being drawn together, with the membranes of the wings thrown
+into folds between them, the whole hand of the creature is brought up
+parallel to the fore-arm, and so got out of the way, and the animal
+can then walk more or less easily, its hind legs, though short and
+rather feeble, being perfectly formed, and the fore limbs, from which
+the thumbs with their sharp claws now project freely, becoming
+available for terrestrial progression. Nevertheless, this progression
+is generally rather clumsy, as indeed might be expected from creatures
+so curiously constructed.</p>
+
+<p>While on the wing, our Bats are constantly engaged in the pursuit of
+the numerous insects of various kinds which, like themselves, are
+active in the evening and after dark, and of these they must destroy
+immense quantities. The swarms of delicate gnats and midges which
+disport themselves in the most complicated a&euml;rial dances, moths of all
+kinds, and even the hard-shelled beetles, many of which fly about in
+the evening or at night, fall a prey to these leathern-winged rovers
+of the night air, and weak as the latter would seem to be, some of
+them are able to seize and devour beetles which appear to be far
+beyond their powers. Thus, the largest of our British species, the
+Great Bat, or Noctule (<i>Scotophilus noctula</i>), which, however, is only
+about three inches in length, preys freely upon such large and
+hard-shelled insects as cockchafers; these, in fact, appear to be its
+favorite food, and for their consumption its broad and comparatively
+strong jaws would seem to be specially fitted, while its large and<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_240" id="Pg_240"></a>
+powerful wings, measuring fourteen or fifteen inches from tip to tip
+when expanded, enable it to fly with the rapidity necessary for the
+pursuit and capture of such powerful prey. When thus engaged, the
+Noctule haunts the neighborhood of trees, and generally flies at a
+considerable elevation, from which, however, his shrill cry easily
+reaches the ear of the passer-by. His addiction to large prey gives
+rise to a curious movement, thus noticed by Professor Bell in his
+valuable book on &ldquo;British Quadrupeds.&rdquo; &ldquo;An observer will not watch his
+movements long,&rdquo; says the Professor, &ldquo;without noticing a man&#339;uvre
+which at first looks&mdash;like the falling of a tumbler-pigeon, but on
+closer examination proves to be simply a closing of the wings, and a
+consequent drop of about a foot. Sometimes, this is repeated every few
+yards, as long as in sight. It is occasioned by some large and
+intractable insect having been captured, and the anterior joint of the
+wing, with its well-armed thumb, is required in retaining it until
+masticated.&rdquo; Notwithstanding this little difficulty, however, the
+Noctule is pretty rapid in disposing even of his most recusant prey,
+as he has been known to consume as many as thirteen cockchafers one
+after another.</p>
+
+<p>The foregoing statements apply to all our British Bats, and indeed, in
+the matter of food and general habits, to the great majority of the
+species of the order, in whatever country they may occur. But in the
+tropical and sub-tropical regions of the eastern hemisphere, we find a
+great and important group of Bats, which, although agreeing in general
+structure and habits with our European species, differ from them
+altogether in<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_241" id="Pg_241"></a> their diet. These Bats, distinguished generally, among
+other things, by their larger size and more robust construction, and
+by certain characters of the molar teeth (grinders), from the ordinary
+Bats, are almost exclusively confined to a fruit diet, in search of
+which they fly vigorously, often in flocks, like birds, at the
+commencement of the night. From this peculiarity of their food they
+are commonly known as Fruit Bats, while the larger species, such as
+the Indian Fruit Bat and the Kalong of the Eastern Archipelago, which
+are respectively eleven and fourteen inches in length, are sometimes
+called Flying Foxes, in allusion to the prevalence of a reddish tint
+in their fur, and their more or less lengthened and dog-like muzzles.
+In many parts of the Eastern world, in India, the Malayan Archipelago,
+Australia, Africa, and even in outlying islands at some distance from
+their main range, these Fruit Bats occur in great numbers. Swarms of
+them roost together during the day, hanging from the branches of the
+trees which they select as their regular resting-place, and taking
+wing at sunset, fly off frequently to great distances in search of
+their favorite articles of food; for they by no means devour
+indiscriminately any kind of fruit, but show a distinct preference for
+particular sorts, generally selecting such as are also prized by their
+human competitors. Hence they often do considerable damage in
+plantations of fruit trees, as when they meet with articles that suit
+taste, they seem, like some human gourmands, not to know when to leave
+off eating. Of one of the smaller Indian species, the Margined Fruit
+Bat, Mr. Dobson obtained a living specimen in Calcutta, and he gives
+the following account<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_242" id="Pg_242"></a> of its voracious appetite:&mdash;He gave it &ldquo;a ripe
+banana, which, with the skin removed, weighed exactly two ounces. The
+animal immediately, as if famished with hunger, fell upon the fruit,
+seized it between the thumbs and the index fingers, and took large
+mouthfuls out of it, opening the mouth to the fullest extent with
+extreme voracity. In the space of three hours the whole fruit was
+consumed. Next morning the Bat was killed, and found to weigh one
+ounce, half the weight of the food eaten in three hours! Indeed, the
+animal when eating seemed to be a kind of living mill&rdquo;&mdash;so
+continuously does its food pass through it.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 319px;"><a name="vampire" id="vampire"></a>
+<a href="images/bat-h.jpg" title="Larger image"><img class="jpg" src="images/bat-t.jpg" width="319" height="500" alt="The Vampire Bat." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">The Vampire Bat.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>From the statements of some writers, it would appear that although
+these Bats live chiefly upon fruits, they occasionally, like many
+other frugivorous animals, diversify their diet with animal food,
+devouring insects of various kinds, caterpillars, birds&#8217; eggs, and
+even young birds, while there seems to be some reason to believe that
+one species even feeds upon shell-fish which it picks up upon the
+seashore.</p>
+
+<p>The fruit-eating Bats of this group are not found in the warmer parts
+of America, but some American Bats feed chiefly upon fruits, while
+many of the large essentially insectivorous species which occur there
+vary their diet more or less with fruits, and also occasionally attack
+and devour other vertebrate animals. Some of them&mdash;but it is still
+very doubtful how many&mdash;have another habit connected with their
+feeding, which renders them very decidedly objectionable, namely, that
+of inflicting wounds upon birds and mammals, even including man
+himself, and sucking up the blood that flows from them. This charge
+has been brought <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_243" id="Pg_243"></a>against many Bats of South and Central America,
+some of which have been commonly named Vampires in consequence, after
+the ghostly blood-suckers, which were formerly the objects of so much
+superstitious terror in Hungary and other parts of Eastern Europe; but
+so far as can be made out from a consideration of the evidence, a
+verdict of &ldquo;not proven,&rdquo; at all events, must be arrived at in the case
+of all but two species, which constitute a little group distinguished
+by what is apparently a special organization adapting them to this
+peculiar diet. These wretched little beasts, which only measure two
+and a half or three inches in length, are furnished in the upper jaw
+with a single pair of incisor or front teeth, but these are of great
+size and strength, triangular in form, and so excessively sharp that
+when the creatures are seized they can draw blood from the hand of
+their captor by what seems a mere touch. This extreme sharpness of
+their weapons enables them, when attacking sleeping men or animals, to
+slice off a small portion of skin almost without causing any pain, and
+the little oval wounds thus produced, like the similar surface-cuts
+which a careless shaver sometimes inflicts upon his chin, bleed with
+particular freedom. The Desmodonts, as these true Vampires are called,
+will attack horses, mules, and cattle, which they generally wound on
+the back, near the spine, often in the region of the withers; and they
+also bite the combs of domestic fowls, and any part of the human body
+that they can get at. In the case of man, however, according to most
+authorities, the extremity of the great toe is the favorite part; and
+some writers, perhaps possessed of a strong poetical vein, have given
+wonderful<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_244" id="Pg_244"></a> descriptions of the artfulness with which these little
+blood-suckers make their approaches, and keep their victim comfortably
+asleep during the operation by fanning him with their wings. In fact,
+the Vampire Bats had so bad a reputation from the accounts given by
+travellers, that they seemed to be veritable scourges of the countries
+in which they live, but so far as can be made out from the most
+trustworthy reports, the mischief they cause may be summed up under
+two heads, namely, weakness produced by loss of blood, which continues
+to flow from the wounds long after the Bats have drunk their fill and
+gone quietly home to rest, and inflammatory affections, caused either
+by the irritation of the bite in the case of people of a bad habit of
+body, or by the friction of the saddle or collar upon the part bitten
+in the case of horses and mules, or of the shoe in the human patient.
+That the Desmodonts do really feed on blood is proved by evidence of
+various kinds. They have been captured in the act of blood-sucking,
+when their stomachs, which are peculiarly constructed and very long,
+are found filled with a black paste, which is evidently half-digested
+blood; and their teeth, which are in part so well adapted for
+producing the necessary wounds in other animals, are totally unfit for
+the mastication of an insect prey, such as constitutes the diet of
+their nearest allies.</p>
+
+<p>After all this feeding, Bats, whatever the nature of their diet, not
+unnaturally find themselves inclined for repose, and as they are
+active during the night or in the twilight, of course their rest has
+to be taken in the daytime. To pass the period of repose in security
+they seek shelter of various kinds, not only for protection<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_245" id="Pg_245"></a> against
+the weather, but also for the sake of concealment from other
+predaceous animals, some of which would no doubt be perfectly willing
+to make a meal of them. The great Eastern Fruit Bats, trusting perhaps
+to their size and strength, are content to resort to the branches of
+trees, from which, after the manner of Bats in general, they suspend
+themselves by the hind feet with the head downwards. From the
+statements of various writers it appears that after being out all
+night in search of food, the Flying Foxes and other allied Bats fly
+back to their regular resting-places, where they begin to arrive about
+or soon after dawn. The number resorting to the same retreat is
+usually so great that the whole of the branches are loaded with them,
+and in fact they are so crowded together that the settling down of the
+flock into their repose is preceded by a scene of squabbling and
+quarrelling of the most noisy description. Mr. Tickell, speaking of
+the common Indian Flying Fox, says:&mdash;&ldquo;From the arrival of the first
+comer, until the sun is high above the horizon, a scene of incessant
+wrangling and contention is enacted among them, as each endeavors to
+secure a higher and better place, or to eject a neighbor from too
+close vicinage. In these struggles the Bats hook themselves along the
+branches, scrambling about hand over hand with some speed, biting each
+other severely, striking out with the long claw of the thumb,
+shrieking and cackling without intermission. Each new arrival is
+compelled to fly several times round the tree, being threatened from
+all points; and when he eventually hooks on, he has to go through a
+series of combats, and be probably ejected two or three times, before
+he<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_246" id="Pg_246"></a> makes good his tenure.&rdquo; This scene of selfish contention over, the
+Fruit Bats pass some hours in profound sleep, during which they remain
+suspended in rows along the branches, to which they cling by one foot
+only, the other with all the lower surface of the body being
+comfortably wrapped in the leathery mantle formed by the contracted
+wings. In this condition, as Dr. Horsfield says of the Great Kalong,
+&ldquo;ranged in succession with the head downwards ... and often in close
+contact, they have little resemblance to living beings, and by a
+person not accustomed to their economy are easily mistaken for a part
+of the tree, or for a fruit of uncommon size suspended from its
+branches.&rdquo; In this position the head is folded down upon the breast.
+Dr. Bennett and Mr. Gould ascribed very similar habits to a large
+Fruit Bat common in the northern parts of New South Wales and in
+Queensland, which is said to be often exceedingly destructive to the
+peach and other fruit crops of the settlers in those colonies.</p>
+
+<p>The European Bats, and indeed all the Bats except these Flying Foxes
+and their immediate allies, seek a different kind of shelter. Their
+chief natural dormitories consist of hollow trees and the caves and
+fissures of rocks, to which they often resort in great numbers; but in
+populous countries they also find an abundance of convenient places of
+retirement in and about buildings of various kinds. Roofs, especially
+when covered with tiles, or otherwise provided with apertures through
+which the space immediately under the roofing is easily accessible,
+outbuildings of all kinds, church towers and other similar structures,
+disused chimneys, the spaces<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_247" id="Pg_247"></a> behind weather-boards and shutters which
+are not often moved, in fact any dark and sheltered places about our
+buildings, are readily resorted to by many species, although some few
+retain their taste for unadulterated nature so strongly that no
+artificial harbor will serve their turn. Thus among the British
+species the Great Bat or Noctule, a generally distributed though not
+abundant species throughout the southern and middle counties of
+England, seems generally to retreat for its diurnal sleep to the holes
+or cavities in the trunks of trees, and only to visit buildings when
+there is a scarcity of such accommodation; and the Horseshoe Bats show
+a decided preference for caverns and deserted quarries; but the great
+majority appear to be indifferent in the matter, and to resort to any
+shelter that seems convenient to them. Some, such as the Barbastelle
+of the southern parts of England, are solitary in their habits,
+generally retiring alone for their day&#8217;s rest; others are more
+sociable, reposing in larger or smaller parties in their dormitories,
+whether natural or artificial, and sometimes, like the Fruit Bats,
+collecting in immense numbers.</p>
+
+<p>The common Bats, like the Fruit Bats, sleep in what we should consider
+an exceedingly uncomfortable position, namely, with their heads
+downwards, but they cling by the claws of <i>both</i> hind feet to the
+small irregularities of the stone or wood forming the walls and other
+parts of the structure of their retreat. They frequent the same places
+year after year, so that, where they are numerous, the ground is often
+completely covered and discolored with their excrements, which in some
+cases accumulate in course of time to such an amount<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_248" id="Pg_248"></a> as to have given
+rise to the notion of carrying it away to be used as guano. The little
+blood-sucking Vampire Bats already mentioned take up their abode in
+caverns, and, according to Dr. Hensel, who observed their habits, they
+discharge their excrements, which are black and pasty, near the
+entrance of the cave just before starting on their evening flight, and
+this substance by degrees forms quite a thick layer (one foot or more)
+on the floor of the cavern. The Doctor says that a large dog which had
+paid a visit of curiosity to one of these caves came out again looking
+as if he had got long black boots on.</p>
+
+<p>In the warmer regions of the earth&#8217;s surface, where their supply of
+food is constant, the activity of the Bats is not known to have any
+intermission, but in cold and temperate countries they pass the winter
+season in a state of torpidity. The period of this hibernation, as it
+is called, varies somewhat in the different species, but few of them
+are to be seen flying about, except when the weather is decidedly
+mild. The commonest of all our British species, the Pipistrelle, has a
+shorter winter sleep than any of its companions, it usually makes its
+appearance on the wing by the middle of March, and continues active
+until quite late in the year; in fact Mr. Gould has recorded the fact
+of his having shot a specimen of it on a warm sunny day just before
+Christmas. For the purpose of hibernation the Bats retire to their
+usual resting-places, but frequently, instead of suspending themselves
+by their hind feet, as when sleeping, pack themselves away in small
+parties in holes and crevices, an arrangement which probably furnishes
+a better protection against the inclemency of the season.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_249" id="Pg_249"></a>It is probably in the dormitory that the birth of the young bats takes
+place&mdash;at least, so far as we know, the process is affected in a
+manner which must preclude active exertions on the part of the mother
+for some little time. The best account of the operation with which we
+are acquainted is that given fifty years ago by Mr. George Daniell, in
+a paper read before the Zo&ouml;logical Society, in which he described the
+habits of some Noctules kept by him in captivity. Four out of five
+died, and the survivor, a female, was observed on 23d June to become
+very restless, and to continue so for about an hour, although still
+suspended by the hind limbs in the attitude of repose. &ldquo;Suddenly,&rdquo; to
+use Mr. Daniell&#8217;s words, &ldquo;she reversed her position, and attached
+herself by her anterior limbs to a cross wire of the cage, stretching
+her hind limbs to their utmost extent, curving the tail upwards, and
+expanding the interfemoral membrane, so as to form a perfect nestlike
+cavity for the reception of the young ... which was born on its back,
+perfectly destitute of hair, and blind. The mother then cleaned it,
+turning it over in its nest; and afterwards, resuming her usual
+position, placed the young in the membrane of her wing. She next
+cleaned herself, and wrapped up the young one so closely as to prevent
+any observation of the process of suckling. At the time of birth the
+young was larger than a new-born mouse, and its hind legs and claws
+were remarkably strong and serviceable, enabling it not only to cling
+to its dam, but also to the deal sides of the cage. On the 24th the
+animal took her food in the morning, and appeared very careful of her
+young, shifting it from side to side to suckle it, and folding it in
+the membranes of<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_250" id="Pg_250"></a> the
+tail and wings.&rdquo; Unfortunately, these
+interesting observations were cut short by the death of the mother,
+and the young animal, which was with some difficulty removed from the
+nipple, survived only eight days, during which it was fed with milk
+from a sponge, and made but little progress, its eyes being still
+unopened, and its body almost hairless.</p>
+
+<p>There can be no doubt that this process, varied in minor points in
+accordance with differences of structure, reveals to us what takes
+place in Bats generally in immediate connection with the birth of the
+young. From all the observations that have been made it appears
+certain that the female Bats produce only a single young one at a
+birth; that this is at first blind, naked, and helpless; and that the
+female nurses it carefully&mdash;a process which must be greatly
+facilitated by the power of clinging to its parent possessed by the
+young Bat from the first moment of its appearance in the world. The
+two nipples possessed by the female are situated upon the breast,
+sometimes quite at the sides under the arm-pits, a position which
+renders it particularly easy for the careful mother to tend her
+offspring, while she is also enabled to carry it about with her in her
+evening flights, the young creature clinging firmly to its mother&#8217;s
+fur, and being quite out of the way of the movements of the wings.
+This part of the business, of course, could not be exemplified in Mr.
+Daniell&#8217;s case, as the female was imprisoned in a cage, but it is a
+well-known fact in the natural history of these creatures that the
+mother does carry her young about with her so long as it continues
+helpless. Apparently, indeed, even after the young animal becomes<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_251" id="Pg_251"></a>
+capable of flying about, its mother still retains some interest in its
+well-being&mdash;at least, if we may apply generally a case recorded by Dr.
+Allen in his account of the Bats of North America. It relates to a
+small species, the Red Bat, very common throughout the United States,
+a young individual of which having been captured by a lad, &ldquo;three
+hours afterwards, in the evening, as he was conveying it to the museum
+in his hand, while passing near the place where it was caught, the
+mother made her appearance, and followed the boy for two squares,
+flying around him, and finally alighted on his breast, such was her
+anxiety to save her offspring. Both were brought to the museum, the
+young one firmly adhering to its mother&#8217;s teat. This faithful creature
+lived two days in the museum, and then died of injuries received from
+her captor. The young one being but half grown was still too young to
+take care of itself, and died shortly after.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>This little anecdote seems to set the moral character of the Bat in a
+very favorable light, at any rate as regards the family affections,
+and there is no doubt that the females of all the species of the group
+show considerable fondness for their young. In other respects,
+perhaps, they do not all shine quite so brilliantly, for, as we have
+seen, the Fruit Bats squabble very selfishly for the most convenient
+sleeping places, as indeed do other gregarious species of the order,
+and some of the former quarrel and fight over their food. As regards
+amiability of character, however, there is probably considerable
+difference between different kinds of Bats; at any rate, in
+confinement, they show much diversity of temper, some of them being
+sullen, refusing food, and<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_252" id="Pg_252"></a> biting vigorously at their captors or the
+bars of their prison, while others are easily tamed and soon become
+familiar. Two of the commonest species, the Pipistrelle, and the
+Long-eared Bat are among the latter. The Pipistrelle, which appears to
+be abundant throughout Britain, and indeed in most of the northern
+temperate regions of the eastern hemisphere, is a small reddish-brown
+species, measuring little more than one inch and a half in length
+without the tail, but with a spread of wing of more than eight inches.
+Its regular food consists chiefly of gnats, midges, and other small
+flies, in pursuit of which it often frequents the vicinity of water,
+but it has a curious predilection for raw meat, and in search of this
+it often makes its way into pantries, where the little thief will be
+found clinging to a joint of meat, and feeding upon it with avidity.
+This fondness for meat makes the Pipistrelle very easy to keep in
+confinement, as it diminishes the necessity of finding it insect food,
+and the little creature will in time become so tame as to take pieces
+of meat from its owner&#8217;s fingers. It is an active and lively little
+creature, flying, running, and climbing about with great ease; in the
+latter operation, according to Professor Bell, it makes use of the
+extreme tip of the tail as if it was a finger.</p>
+
+<p>The Long-eared Bat, so called from the great size of its ears, which
+are nearly as long as the whole animal exclusive of the tail, has
+perhaps a wider distribution than the Pipistrelle, but is hardly so
+abundant in Britain. Its head and body measure nearly two inches long,
+while its wings spread to about ten inches. This Bat generally sleeps
+during the day under the roofs of<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_253" id="Pg_253"></a> houses and in church towers, and
+when sleeping its long ears are carefully stowed away under the folded
+wings, but the earlet or inner lobe of the ear still projects, so that
+the creature appears to have a pair of short-pointed ears. The
+Long-eared Bat flies very late in the evening, and indeed seems to
+continue its activity throughout the night; its food appears to
+consist to a great extent of the smaller moths, although other insects
+are by no means disdained. This species also soon becomes very tame
+and familiar; it will fly about the room, play with its fellows, and
+come fearlessly to take its food from the hand. Professor Bell gives
+an interesting account of one kept by Mr. James Sowerby, which, &ldquo;when
+at liberty in the parlor, would fly to the hand of any of the young
+people who held up a fly toward it, and, pitching on the hand, take
+the fly without hesitation. If the insect was held between the lips,
+the Bat would then settle on its young patron&#8217;s cheek, and take the
+fly with great gentleness from the mouth; and so far was this
+familiarity carried, that, when either of the young people made a
+humming noise with the mouth, in imitation of an insect, the Bat would
+search about the lips for the promised<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_254" id="Pg_254"></a> dainty.&rdquo; This habit of taking
+its food when off the wing, would seem to be natural to the Long-eared
+Bat under certain circumstances, as Mr. Tomes records his having seen
+one feeding in this manner upon the myriads of small moths which
+swarmed about a spindle tree in bloom.</p>
+
+<div class="tright" style="width: 200px;">
+<a href="images/253bat.png"><img src="images/253bat-1.png" width="200" height="85" alt="Long-eared Bat." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapright" style="width: 305px;">
+<a href="images/253bat.png"><img src="images/253bat-2.gif" width="305" height="75" alt="Long-eared Bat." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="bright" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/253bat.png"><img src="images/253bat-3.gif" width="400" height="126" alt="Long-eared Bat." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Long-eared Bat.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>It is unnecessary to say that the creatures which display all this
+activity and intelligence are well endowed with at least all the
+senses possessed by the other animals of their class. The organs of
+smell and hearing are well developed, and in many cases associated
+with external membranous expansions of great size, as seen in the ears
+of the Long-eared Bat; and the eyes, though generally of small size
+except in the Fruit Bats, are bright and efficient, serving the
+creatures in good stead in the rapid pursuit of their insect-prey,
+which must be directed principally by sight. The common expression &ldquo;as
+blind as a Bat,&rdquo; must be taken to apply to Bats accidentally driven
+from their retreats in the day-time, when it must be confessed that
+they fly about in a dazed manner; but at night and in their dark
+retreats they show no such imbecility of purpose, but find their way
+with astonishing precision and certainty. In fact, instead of being
+blind, the Bats must be especially sharp-sighted, if all their
+evolutions be guided by the sense of sight, for in many cases they
+habitually resort to the inmost recesses of caverns and other places
+where, so far as our judgment goes, no light can possibly penetrate.
+Hence it was long since suspected that some other sense than that of
+sight must come to their aid when they plunge into such outer darkness
+as prevails in some places through<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_255" id="Pg_255"></a> which they fly with the greatest
+freedom, and more than a century ago numerous experiment were made by
+a distinguished Italian naturalist, the Abb&eacute; Spallanzani, in order to
+discover, if possible, what might be the secret of these curious
+phenomena.</p>
+
+<p>He set free, in a long passage which was bent at a right angle about
+the middle of its length, a blinded Bat, which flew through the whole
+of this passage, turning the corner correctly, without anywhere
+touching the walls; while flying, too, it in some mysterious manner
+detected a hole in the roof at a distance of eighteen inches, and
+proceeded at once to ensconce itself in this shelter. In another
+experiment the Abb&eacute; took two Bats, one blinded, the other not, and
+placed them in a space shut off from a garden and roofed in with nets,
+and with sixteen strings suspended from the top in different parts.
+Both Bats flew about briskly and avoided the hanging strings equally
+well, until at length the <i>blinded</i> Bat discovered that the meshes of
+the net were large enough for him to get through, when he at once made
+his escape, and after flying about for a short time, went off directly
+to the only roof in the vicinity, under which he disappeared. In
+short, from these experiments it became perfectly clear that under
+these circumstances the sense of sight was not of primary importance
+in guiding the course of the Bat. Similar trials with the organs of
+smell and hearing showed that they had nothing to do with it, and the
+only other sense that could be appealed to was the general sense of
+touch. Baron Cuvier, the great French comparative anatomist, was the
+first to suggest, from the consideration of the results obtained by
+the Abb&eacute;<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_256" id="Pg_256"></a> Spallanzani and others, especially by M. de Jurine, of
+Geneva, that the peculiar phenomena in question might be accounted for
+by the existence, especially in the great membranous expansions of the
+wings, of a most delicate sensibility; and subsequent investigations
+of the structure of those organs has tended to confirm this view, so
+that it is now the one generally accepted. It is found that these
+great membranes are traversed in all parts by numerous nerves, the
+delicate terminations of which form little loops, exactly resembling
+those which occur in our skin in those parts where the sense of touch
+is most highly developed; and this resemblance is heightened by the
+fact that the membrane is covered with rows of little points. Even the
+organs of circulation in the wings are so constructed as to render it
+almost certain that those organs have a quite exceptional sensibility.
+Their ramifications are very numerous, and the veins as well as the
+arteries have contractile walls, rendering the circulation of the
+blood exceedingly active, the conditions, as Professor St. George
+Mivart remarks, being almost those of a state of inflammation.</p>
+
+<p>If these membranous expansions have the functions just ascribed to
+them, we can easily understand that the larger they are the better,
+and this will explain why the Bats generally exhibit so great a
+tendency to run out into naked membranes. Thus although the ears, as
+organs of hearing, have probably nothing to do with guiding the Bat
+when flying in dark places, we find that in a great number of species
+the external ears are exceedingly large and delicately membranous, of
+which indeed we have an example in the British Long-<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_257" id="Pg_257"></a>eared Bat already
+referred to. In like manner, while the nose, as a nose, may also be
+left out of consideration, the development of membranous appendages of
+the part of the face in which the nostrils open is one of the most
+curious peculiarities of a vast number of Bats, in many of which these
+singular nose-leaves almost rival the ears in size, while their
+structure often renders them most grotesque. We have two Bats thus
+adorned in Britain, namely, the Greater and the Lesser Horseshoe Bats,
+but most of the leaf-nosed species are inhabitants of warmer regions,
+and it is there that they run out into the most remarkable
+eccentricities of structure. In Blainville&#8217;s Bat, a small species
+inhabiting South America and the West Indies, these expansions of the
+skin of the face seem to have reached the utmost possible
+grotesqueness, but the membranous leaves are larger and the ears much
+more developed in many species allied to our own Horseshoe Bats,
+especially such as the Megaderms. We can hardly imagine that these
+great membranous expansions of the outer ears and the region of the
+nose can have any other purpose than that of enlarging the surface of
+highly sensitive skin specially adapted for the perception of external
+impressions, and it is a remarkable fact, strictly in accordance with
+this view, that, so far as we know, the Bats so endowed are more
+decidedly nocturnal in their habits and frequent darker retreats than
+their less gifted fellows. Thus our Long-eared Bat, as already stated,
+continues active on the wing throughout the whole night, and the
+Horseshoe Bats are distinguished as specially affecting dark caves.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_258" id="Pg_258"></a><a name="HOW_SNAKES_EAT" id="HOW_SNAKES_EAT"></a>HOW SNAKES EAT<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Snakes.)<br />
+By <a href="#Hopley">CATHERINE C. HOPLEY</a>.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/258t.png"><img src="images/258t-1.gif" width="350" height="110" alt="Hamadryad Snake." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 290px;">
+<a href="images/258t.png"><img src="images/258t-2.png" width="290" height="286" alt="Hamadryad Snake." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Hamadryad Snake.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">T</span>he Hamadryad&#8217;s appointed diet is one ring-snake per week; but &ldquo;Ophi,&rdquo;
+as we now call him, is occasionally required&mdash;and with no sacrifice of
+his principles either&mdash;to eat an extra snake to satisfy the curiosity
+of some distinguished visitor. Sometimes, too, colubers are plentiful,
+and two small ones are not too much for his ten or twelve feet of
+appetite. This splendid serpent has rewarded care by remaining in
+perfect health, and growing several feet. He was between eight and
+nine feet long when he came,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_259" id="Pg_259"></a> and is now not far short of twelve and
+proportionately larger in circumference. Sometimes during winter, when
+ring-snakes are scarce, &ldquo;Ophi&rdquo; is compelled to fast; for he is not
+then to be tempted with other food. During the first year of his
+residence in the Gardens, the supply was good, and he ate no less than
+eighty-two fellow-creatures before the winter was well over. Towards
+spring, however, the supply ran short, and only two more remained for
+him. He had now fasted two entire weeks, and looked hungry and eager.
+The keeper offered him a guinea-pig, at which he took great offence,
+raising his hood and hissing angrily for a long while. Eggs he
+declined, also a lizard and a rat, in great disgust. In India the
+Ophiophagi are said to feed on lizards and fish occasionally, but
+<i>our</i> Ophiophagus preferred to fast. At last one of the two
+ring-snakes was produced, and Ophio was to be regaled. It was the 31st
+of March, 1876, and he had been a denizen of the Gardens just one
+year. My note-book informs me that it was a lovely, soft spring day,
+and that Ophio was quite lively. He had rejected frogs on his own
+account, but in the uncertainty of more ring-snakes arriving, he was
+now decoyed into eating half a dozen. Holland contrived that the snake
+destined for his dinner should answer the purpose of a feast, and had
+allowed it to eat as many frogs as it chose. Like the poor wretch who,
+doomed to the gallows, is permitted to fare sumptuously the last
+morning of his life, the ring-snake ate three frogs, by which the
+Ophiophagus was to derive chief benefit; he, all unconscious of the
+cause of his victim&#8217;s unusual plumpness, swallowed him speedily.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after this Ophio doffed his winter coat entire,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_260" id="Pg_260"></a> and having again
+fasted for ten days, was at once rewarded by the last remaining
+ring-snake in a similarly plethoric condition, namely, with three more
+frogs inside him. Now and then during the winter months the scarcity
+of ring-snakes has compelled the sacrifice of some far rarer colubers
+to Ophio&#8217;s cannibal tastes. And yet each year we hear of hundreds of
+ring-snakes being ruthlessly killed in country districts, while at
+great cost and trouble others are purchased or brought from the
+Continent for the Hamadryad&#8217;s sustenance. Lord Lilford, one of the
+Ophidarium&#8217;s best patrons, sometimes sends presents of game in the
+shape of ring-snakes to the <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'Hamadyrad'.">Hamadryad</ins>.</p>
+
+<p>While watching this snake-eater over his dinner, one is struck with
+the remarkable tenacity of life exhibited in the victim, or the slow
+action of the venom if poisoned in the first grasp. The Ophiophagus
+seizes it anywhere, that is, at whichever part happens to come first,
+and then, after holding it quietly for a time, works his jaws up to
+the head in the usual hand-over-hand, or &ldquo;jaw-after-jaw&rdquo; fashion,
+invariably swallowing the snake head first. On one occasion when I
+watched attentively, Ophio, having seized a ring-snake by the middle,
+held it doggedly still for one quarter of an hour, while the lesser
+snake did its very best to work its way out of the jaws, and also to
+fetter its captor by twirling itself over his head and coiling round
+his neck. This continued while Ophio, with his head and neck raised,
+remained motionless, and after the quarter of an hour commenced to
+work his jaws up towards the head of the ring snake, which, as more
+and more of its own body was free for action, twirled itself about,
+and at<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_261" id="Pg_261"></a> length coiled its tail round the bit of branch nailed into the
+cage.</p>
+
+<p>Persistently, like a sailor making his vessel fast to the windlass,
+the ring snake lashed as much of himself as was free round the branch
+a foot off, and so pulled and pulled till he looked in danger of
+severing himself in two. Meanwhile Ophio, slowly but surely advancing,
+caused its head and neck to disappear, grasping tightly with his
+venomous jaws, as if he would say, &ldquo;We&#8217;ll see who is master.&rdquo; It was a
+close tussle, so firmly did the little coluber retain his hold on the
+&ldquo;tree&rdquo;; but as the upper part of him was gradually drawn into those
+unrelaxing jaws, he by degrees gave way, and by and by was gone.</p>
+
+<p>Not far short of an hour was occupied in this meal, during which the
+victim showed no signs of being poisoned, nor were his coils round the
+stump relaxed in the slightest degree, till Ophio reached the tail.
+The ring snake is not a constrictor, yet he thus tied himself round
+the tree by the coils of his tail.</p>
+
+<p>One more singular case of tenacity of life must be recorded. A
+ring-snake had been caught in the usual way, and the usual struggle
+ensued between captor and captive. Coluber, with its head tightly
+gripped in the jaws of his enemy, had still all the rest of himself at
+liberty and in full activity, and after wriggling a violent protest,
+he coiled what was left of himself so closely round the neck of his
+persecutor that the latter made little or no progress with his dinner
+for a time. He seemed to be deliberating how to proceed next, and
+asking, &ldquo;What is the meaning of this?&rdquo; then shook his head, lowered it
+to the shingle, and tried to rub off<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_262" id="Pg_262"></a> the coils. The only result thus
+achieved was that the extreme end of Coluber&#8217;s tail was loosened for a
+moment, but only to coil afresh around Ophio&#8217;s jaws, which
+nevertheless slowly and surely advanced.</p>
+
+<p>For nearly an hour the progress was very slow; but when the ring-snake
+was nearly all swallowed except a few inches of tail, these became so
+tight a muzzle that Ophio in turn was the victim. Shaking his head and
+vainly endeavoring to free his jaws of this muzzle, a minute or two
+elapsed, during which he seemed to suffer some discomfort, when
+suddenly his mouth opened widely, and out crawled Natrix, apparently
+none the worse for this temporary entombment. He had turned round when
+two or three feet from daylight, and come back to see the world once
+more. But it so happened that Ophio closed his jaws in time over the
+few inches of tail which still remained between them. Nor did he once
+relax his grasp of this, but quickly and patiently began to work his
+way up to the head and recommence his meal, and this time with better
+success. An hour and a quarter I watched, nor was any evidence of
+poison seen, so as to reduce the powers of the bitten snake; for
+bitten it must have been in those prolonged and forcible grasps.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/262snake.png"><img src="images/262snake.png" width="350" height="169" alt="A snake" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p>In these conflicts one could but observe a dogged stupidity on the
+part of the venomous snake, who, had he but brought coils to his aid,
+might have simplified<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_263" id="Pg_263"></a> matters so easily. The little Heterodons, and
+even the Lacertines, often assist themselves with coils in managing
+their prey, though not themselves constrictors; but the venomous ones
+have not the slightest notion of helping themselves in this way, as if
+confident that in time their venom would do its work.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/263palm.png"><img src="images/263palm.png" width="400" height="184" alt="Palm trees" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_264" id="Pg_264"></a><a name="WHAT_WORMS_DO" id="WHAT_WORMS_DO"></a>WHAT WORMS DO<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From The Formation of Vegetable Mould.)<br />
+By CHARLES DARWIN.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/264w.png"><img src="images/264w-1.gif" width="350" height="255" alt="W, decorated with worms" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 270px;">
+<a href="images/264w.png"><img src="images/264w-2.png" width="270" height="117" alt="W, decorated with worms" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">W</span>e now come to treat of a curious and important subject,&mdash;namely, the
+amount of earth which is brought up by worms from beneath the surface,
+and is afterwards spread out more or less completely by the rain and
+wind. The amount can be judged of by two methods,&mdash;by the rate at
+which objects left on the surface are buried, and more accurately by
+weighing the quantity brought up within a given time. We will begin
+with the first method, as it was first followed.</p>
+
+
+<p>Near Maer Hall in Staffordshire, quick-lime had been spread, about the
+year 1827, thickly over a field of good pasture-land, which had not
+since been ploughed. Some square holes were dug in this field in the
+beginning of October, 1837, and the sections showed a layer<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_265" id="Pg_265"></a> of turf,
+formed by the matted roots of the grasses, &frac12;&nbsp;inch in thickness,
+beneath which, at a depth of 2&frac12;&nbsp;inches (or 3&nbsp;inches from the surface),
+a layer of the lime in powder or in small lumps could be distinctly
+seen running all round the vertical sides of the holes. The soil
+beneath the layer of lime was either gravelly or of a coarse sandy
+nature, and differed considerably in appearance from the overlying
+dark-coloured fine mould. Coal-cinders had been spread over a part of
+this same field either in the year 1833 or 1834; and when the above
+holes were dug, that is, after an interval of 3 or 4&nbsp;years, the
+cinders formed a line of black spots round the holes, at a depth of
+1&nbsp;inch beneath the surface, parallel to and above the white layer of
+lime. Over another part of this field cinders had been strewed, only
+about half a year before, and these either still lay on the surface or
+were entangled among the roots of the grasses; and I here saw the
+commencement of the burying process, for worm-castings had been heaped
+on several of the smaller fragments. After an interval of 4&frac34;&nbsp;years
+this field was re-examined, and now the two layers of lime and cinders
+were found almost everywhere at a greater depth than before by nearly
+1&nbsp;inch, we will say by &frac34; of an inch. Therefore, mould to an average
+thickness of .22 of an inch had been annually brought up by the worms,
+and had been spread over the surface of this field.</p>
+
+<p>Coal-cinders had been strewed over another field, at a date which
+could not be positively ascertained, so thickly that they formed
+(October, 1837) a layer, 1&nbsp;inch in thickness at a depth of about
+3&nbsp;inches from the surface. The layer was so continuous that the
+overl<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_266" id="Pg_266"></a>ying dark vegetable mould was connected with the sub-soil of
+red clay only by the roots of the grasses; and when these were broken,
+the mould and the red clay fell apart. In a third field, on which
+coal-cinders and burnt marl had been strewed several times at unknown
+dates, holes were dug in 1842; and a layer of cinders could be traced
+at a depth of 3&frac12;&nbsp;inches, beneath which at a depth of 9&frac12;&nbsp;inches from
+the surface there was a line of cinders together with burnt marl. On
+the sides of one hole there were two layers of cinders, at 2 and
+3&frac12;&nbsp;inches beneath the surface; and below them at a depth in parts of 9&frac12;,
+and in other parts of 10&frac12;&nbsp;inches there were fragments of burnt marl.
+In a fourth field two layers of lime, one above the other could be
+distinctly traced, and beneath them a layer of cinders and burnt marl
+at a depth of from 10 to 12&nbsp;inches below the surface.</p>
+
+<p>A piece of waste land was enclosed, drained, ploughed, harrowed, and
+thickly covered in the year 1822 with burnt marl and cinders. It was
+sowed with grass seeds, and now supports a tolerably good but coarse
+pasture. Holes were dug in this field in 1837, or 15&nbsp;years after its
+reclamation, and we see in the accompanying diagram (<a href="#soil_fig1">Fig.&nbsp;1</a>) reduced
+to half of the natural scale, that the turf was &frac12;&nbsp;inch thick, beneath
+which there was a layer of vegetable mould 2&frac12;&nbsp;inches thick. This layer
+did not contain fragments of any kind; but beneath it there was a
+layer of mould, 1&frac12;&nbsp;inch in thickness, full of fragments of burnt marl,
+conspicuous from their red color, one of which near the bottom was an
+inch in length; and other fragments of coal-cinders together with a
+few white quartz pebbles.<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_267" id="Pg_267"></a> Beneath this layer and at a depth of
+4&frac12;&nbsp;inches from the surface, the original black, peaty, sandy soil with a
+few quartz pebbles was encountered. Here, therefore, the fragments of
+burnt marl and cinders had been covered in the course of 15&nbsp;years by a
+layer of fine vegetable mould, only 2&frac12;&nbsp;inches in thickness, excluding
+the turf. Six and a half years subsequently this field was
+re-examined, and the fragments were now found at from 4 to 5&nbsp;inches
+beneath the surface. So that in this interval of 6&frac12;&nbsp;years, about
+1&frac12;&nbsp;inch of mould had been added to the superficial layer. I am surprised
+that a greater quantity had not been brought up during the whole
+21&frac12;&nbsp;years, for in the closely underlying black, peaty soil there were many
+worms. It is, however, probable that formerly, whilst the land
+remained poor, worms were scanty; and the mould would then have
+accumulated slowly. The average annual in<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_268" id="Pg_268"></a>crease of thickness for the
+whole period is .19 of an inch.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"><a name="soil_fig1" id="soil_fig1"></a>
+<a href="images/267soil.png"><img src="images/267soil.png" width="350" height="347" alt="Fig. 1. Section of vegetable mould" title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;1.</p>
+<p class="caption3">Section of the vegetable mould in a field, drained
+and reclaimed fifteen years previously; <i>a</i>, turf; <i>b</i>, vegetable mould
+without any stones; <i>c</i>, mould with fragments of burnt marl, coal cinders, and pebbles;
+<i>d</i>, sub-soil of black, peaty sand with quartz pebbles.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Two other cases are worth recording. In the spring of 1835 a field,
+which had long existed as poor pasture, and was so swampy that it
+trembled slightly when stamped on, was thickly covered with red sand
+so that the whole surface appeared at first bright red. When holes
+were dug in this field after an interval of about 2&frac12; years, the sand
+formed a layer at a depth of &frac34;&nbsp;inch beneath the surface. In 1842
+(i.e., seven years after the sand had been laid on) fresh holes were
+dug, and now the red sand formed a distinct layer, 2&nbsp;inches beneath
+the surface, or 1&frac12;&nbsp;inch beneath the turf; so that on an average
+.21&nbsp;inches of mould had been annually brought to the surface. Immediately
+beneath the layer of red sand the original sub-stratum of black, sandy
+peat extended.</p>
+
+<p>A grass field, likewise not far from Maer Hall, had formerly been
+thickly covered with marl, and was then left for several years as
+pasture; it was afterwards ploughed. A friend had three trenches dug
+in this field 28&nbsp;years after the application of the marl, and a layer
+of the marl fragments could be traced at a depth, <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'carefuly'.">carefully</ins>
+measured, of 12&nbsp;inches in some parts, and of 14&nbsp;inches in other parts.
+This difference in depth depended on the layer being horizontal,
+whilst the surface consisted of ridges and furrows from the field
+having been ploughed. The tenant assured me that it had never been
+turned up to a greater depth than from 6 to 8&nbsp;inches; and as the
+fragments formed an unbroken horizontal layer from 12 to 14&nbsp;inches
+beneath the surface, these must have been buried by<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_269" id="Pg_269"></a> the worms whilst
+the land was in pasture before it was ploughed, for otherwise they
+would have been indiscriminately scattered by the plough throughout
+the whole thickness of the soil. Four and a half years afterwards I
+had three holes dug in this field, in which potatoes had been lately
+planted, and the layer of marl fragments was now found 13&nbsp;inches
+beneath the bottoms of the furrows, and therefore probably 15&nbsp;inches
+beneath the general level of the field. It should, however, be
+observed that the thickness of the blackish, sandy soil, which had
+been thrown up by the worms above the marl fragments in the course of
+32&frac12;&nbsp;years, would have measured less than 15&nbsp;inches, if the field had
+always remained as pasture, for the soil would in this case have been
+much more compact. The fragments of marl almost rested on an
+undisturbed sub-stratum of white sand with quartz pebbles; and as this
+would be little attractive to worms, the mould would hereafter be very
+slowly increased by their action.</p>
+
+<p>We will now give some cases of the action of worms, on land differing
+widely from the dry, sandy, or the swampy pasture just described. The
+chalk formation extends all round my house in Kent; and its surface,
+from having been exposed during an immense period to the dissolving
+action of rain-water, is extremely irregular, being abruptly festooned
+and penetrated by many deep, well-like cavities. During the
+dissolution of the chalk the insoluble matter, including a vast number
+of unrolled flints of all sizes, has been left on the surface and
+forms a bed of stiff red clay, full of flints, and generally from 6 to
+14&nbsp;feet in thickness. Over the red clay, wherever the land has long
+remained as pas<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_270" id="Pg_270"></a>ture, there is a layer a few inches in thickness of
+dark-coloured vegetable mould.</p>
+
+<p>A quantity of broken chalk was spread, on December 20, 1842, over a
+part of a field near my house, which had existed as pasture certainly
+for 30, probably for twice or thrice as many, years. The chalk was
+laid on the land for the sake of observing at some future period to
+what depth it would become buried. At the end of November, 1871, that
+is, after an interval of twenty-nine years, a trench was dug across
+this part of the field; and a line of white nodules could be traced on
+both sides of the trench, at a depth of 7&nbsp;inches from the surface. The
+mould, therefore (excluding the turf), had here been thrown up at an
+average rate of .22&nbsp;inches per year. Beneath the line of chalk nodules
+there was in parts hardly any fine earth free of flints, while in
+other parts there was a layer 2&frac14;&nbsp;inches in thickness. In this latter
+case the mould was altogether 9&frac14;&nbsp;inches thick; and in one such spot a
+nodule of chalk and a smooth flint pebble, both of which must have
+been left at some former time on the surface, were found at this
+depth. At from 11 to 12&nbsp;inches beneath the surface, the undisturbed
+reddish clay, full of flints, extended. The appearance of the above
+nodules of chalk surprised me much at first, as they closely resembled
+water-worn pebbles, whereas the freshly-broken fragments had been
+angular. But on examining the nodules with a lens, they no longer
+appeared water-worn, for their surfaces were pitted through unequal
+corrosion, and minute, sharp points, formed of broken fossil shells,
+projected from them. It was evident that the corners of the original
+fragments of chalk had been<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_271" id="Pg_271"></a> wholly dissolved, from presenting a large
+surface to the carbonic acid dissolved in the rain-water and to that
+generated in soil containing vegetable matter, as well as the
+humus-acids. The projecting corners would also, relatively to the
+other parts, have been embraced by a larger number of living rootlets;
+and these have the power of even attacking marble, as Sachs has shown.
+Thus, in the course of twenty-nine years, buried angular fragments of
+chalk had been converted into well-rounded nodules.</p>
+
+<p>Another part of this same field was mossy, and as it was thought that
+sifted coal-cinders would improve the pasture, a thick layer was
+spread over this part either in 1842 or 1843, and another layer some
+years afterwards. In 1871 a trench was here dug, and many cinders lay
+in a line at a depth of 7&nbsp;inches beneath the surface, with another
+line at a depth of 5&frac12;&nbsp;inches parallel to the one beneath. In another
+part of this field, which had formerly existed as a separate one, and
+which it was believed had been pasture-land for more than a century,
+trenches were dug to see how thick the vegetable mould was. By chance
+the first trench was made at a spot where at some former period,
+certainly more than forty years before, a large hole had been filled
+up with coarse, red clay, flints, fragments of chalk, and gravel; and
+here the fine vegetable mould was only from 4&#8539; to 4&#8540;&nbsp;inches in
+thickness. In another and undisturbed place, the mould varied much in
+thickness, namely, from 6&frac12; to 8&frac12;&nbsp;inches; beneath which a few small
+fragments of brick were found in one place. From these several cases,
+it would appear, that during the last 29&nbsp;years mould has been heaped
+on the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_272" id="Pg_272"></a> surface at an average annual rate of from .2 to .22 of an
+inch. But in this district when a ploughed field is first laid down in
+grass, the mould accumulates at a much slower rate. The rate, also,
+must become very much slower after a bed of mould, several inches in
+thickness, has been formed; for the worms then live chiefly near the
+surface, and burrow down to a greater depth so as to bring up fresh
+earth from below, only during the winter, when the weather is very
+cold (at which time worms were found in this field at a depth of
+26&nbsp;inches), and during summer, when the weather is very dry.</p>
+
+<p>A field which adjoins the one just described, slopes in one part
+rather steeply (viz., at from 10&deg; to 15&deg;); this part was last ploughed
+in 1841, was then harrowed and left to become pasture-land. For
+several years it was clothed with an extremely scant vegetation, and
+was so thickly covered with small and large flints (some of them half
+as large as a child&#8217;s head) that the field was always called by my
+sons &ldquo;the stony field.&rdquo; When they ran down the slope the stones
+clattered together. I remember doubting whether I should live to see
+these larger flints covered with vegetable mould and turf. But the
+smaller stones disappeared before many years had elapsed, as did every
+one of the larger ones after a time; so that after thirty years (1871)
+a horse could gallop over the compact turf from one end of the field
+to the other, and not strike a single stone with his shoes. To anyone
+who remembered the appearance of the field in 1842, the transformation
+was wonderful. This was certainly the work of the worms, for though
+castings were not frequent for several years,<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_273" id="Pg_273"></a> yet some were thrown up
+month after month, and these gradually increased in numbers as the
+pasture improved. In the year 1871 a trench was dug on the above
+slope, and the blades of grass were cut off close to the roots, so
+that the thickness of the turf and of the vegetable mould could be
+measured accurately. The turf was rather less than half an inch, and
+the mould, which did not contain any stones, 2&frac12;&nbsp;inches in thickness.
+Beneath this lay coarse, clayey earth full of flints, like that in any
+of the neighboring ploughed fields. This coarse earth easily fell
+apart from the overlying mould when a split was lifted up. The average
+rate of accumulation of the mould during the whole thirty years was
+only .083&nbsp;inch per year (i.e., nearly one inch in twelve years); but
+the rate must have been much slower at first, and afterwards
+considerably quicker.</p>
+
+<p>The transformation in the appearance of this field, which had been
+effected beneath my eyes, was afterwards rendered the more striking,
+when I examined in Knole Park a dense forest of lofty beech-trees,
+beneath which nothing grew. Here the ground was thickly strewed with
+large, naked stones, and worm-castings were almost wholly absent.
+Obscure lines and irregularities on the surface indicated that the
+land had been cultivated some centuries ago. It is probable that a
+thick wood of young beech-trees sprung up so quickly, that time enough
+was not allowed for worms to cover up the stone with their castings,
+before the site became unfitted for their existence. Anyhow, the
+contrast between the state of the now miscalled &ldquo;stony field,&rdquo; well
+stocked with worms, and the present state of the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_274" id="Pg_274"></a> ground beneath the
+old beech-trees in Knole Park, where worms appeared to be absent, was
+striking.</p>
+
+<p>A narrow path running across part of my lawn was paved in 1843 with
+small flag-stones, set edgeways; but worms threw up many castings, and
+weeds grew thickly between them. During several years the path was
+weeded and swept; but ultimately the weeds and worms prevailed, and
+the gardener ceased to sweep, merely moving off the weeds, as often as
+the lawn was mowed. The path soon became almost covered up, and after
+several years no trace of it was left. On removing, in 1877, the thin
+overlaying layer of turf, the small flag-stones, all in their proper
+places, were found covered by an inch of fine mould.</p>
+
+<p>Two recently published accounts of substances strewed on the surface
+of pasture-land, having become buried through the action of worms, may
+be here noticed. The Rev. H.&nbsp;C. Key had a ditch cut in a field, over
+which coal-ashes had been spread, as it was believed, 18&nbsp;years before,
+and on the clean-cut perpendicular sides of the ditch, at a depth of
+at least 7&nbsp;inches, there could be seen, for a length of 60&nbsp;yards, &ldquo;a
+distinct, very even, narrow line of coal-ashes, mixed with small coal,
+perfectly parallel with the top-sward.&rdquo; This parallelism and the
+length of the section gives interest to the case. Secondly, Mr. Dancer
+states that crushed bones had been thickly strewed over a field, and
+&ldquo;some years afterwards&rdquo; these were found &ldquo;several inches below the
+surface, at a uniform depth.&rdquo; Worms appear to act in the same manner
+in New Zealand as in Europe; for Professor J. von Haast has described
+a section near the coast, consisting of mica-<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_275" id="Pg_275"></a>schist, &ldquo;covered by 5 or
+6&nbsp;feet of loess, above which about 12&nbsp;inches of vegetable soil had
+accumulated.&rdquo; Between the loess and the mould there was a layer from 3
+to 6&nbsp;inches in thickness, consisting of &ldquo;cores, implements, flakes,
+and chips, all manufactured from hard basaltic rock.&rdquo; It is,
+therefore, probable, that the aborigines, at some former period, had
+left these objects on the surface, and that they had afterwards been
+slowly covered up by the castings of worms.</p>
+
+<p>Farmers in England are well aware that objects of all kinds, left on
+the surface of pasture-lands, after a time disappear, or, as they say,
+work themselves downwards. How powdered lime, cinders, and heavy
+stones, can work down, and at the same rate, through the matted roots
+of a grass-covered surface, is a question which has probably never
+occurred to them.</p>
+
+<p><i>The sinking of great stones through the action of worms.</i>&mdash;When a
+stone of large size and of irregular shape is left on the surface of
+the ground, it rests, of course, on the more protuberant parts; but
+worms soon fill up with their castings all the hollow spaces on the
+lower side; for, as Hensen remarks, they like the shelter of stones.
+As soon as the hollows are filled up, the worms eject the earth which
+they have swallowed beyond the circumference of the stones; and thus
+the surface of the ground is raised all round the stone. As the
+burrows excavated directly beneath the stone after a time collapse,
+the stone sinks a little. Hence it is, that boulders which at some
+ancient period have rolled down from a rocky mountain or cliff on to a
+meadow at its base, are always somewhat imbedded in the soil; and,
+when removed, leave an exact impression of their<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_276" id="Pg_276"></a> lower surfaces in
+the under-lying fine mould. If, however, a boulder is of such huge
+dimensions, that the earth beneath is kept dry, such earth will not be
+inhabited by worms, and the boulder will not sink into the ground.</p>
+
+<p>A lime-kiln formerly stood in a grass-field near Leith Hill Place, in
+Surrey, and was pulled down 35&nbsp;years before my visit; all the loose
+rubbish had been carted away, excepting three large stones of
+quartzose sandstone, which it was thought might hereafter be of some
+use. An old workman remembered that they had been left on a bare
+surface of broken bricks and mortar, close to the foundations of the
+kiln; but the whole surrounding surface is now covered with turf and
+mould. The two largest of these stones had never since been moved; nor
+could this easily have been done, as, when I had them removed, it was
+the work of two men with levers. One of these stones, and not the
+largest, was 64&nbsp;inches long, 17&nbsp;inches broad, and from 9 to 10&nbsp;inches
+in thickness. Its lower surface was somewhat protuberant in the
+middle; and this part still rested on broken bricks and mortar,
+showing the truth of the old workman&#8217;s account. Beneath the brick
+rubbish the natural sandy soil, full of fragments of sandstone, was
+found; and this could have yielded very little, if at all, to the
+weight of the stone, as might have been expected if the sub-soil had
+been clay. The surface of the field, for a distance of about 9&nbsp;inches
+round the stone, gradually sloped up to it, and close to the stone
+stood in most places about 4&nbsp;inches above the surrounding ground. The
+base of the stone was buried from 1 to 2&nbsp;inches beneath the general<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_277" id="Pg_277"></a>
+level, and the upper surface projected about 8&nbsp;inches above this
+level, or about 4&nbsp;inches above the sloping border of turf. After the
+removal of the stone it became evident that one of its pointed ends
+must at first have stood clear above the ground by some inches, but
+its upper surface was now on a level with the surrounding turf. When
+the stone was removed, an exact cast of its lower side, forming a
+shallow crateriform hollow, was left, the inner surface of which
+consisted of fine, black mould, excepting where the more protuberant
+parts rested on the brick-rubbish. A transverse section of this stone,
+together with its bed, drawn from measurements made after it had been
+displaced, is here given on a scale of &frac12;&nbsp;inch to a foot (<a href="#stone_fig2">Fig.&nbsp;2</a>). The
+turf-covered border which sloped up to the stone, consisted of fine
+vegetable mould, in one part 7&nbsp;inches in thickness. This evidently
+consisted of worm-castings, several of which had been recently
+ejected. The whole stone had sunk in the thirty-five years, as far as
+I could judge, about 1&frac12;&nbsp;inch; and this must have been due to the
+brick-rubbish beneath the more protuberant parts having been
+undermined by worms. At this rate, the upper surface of the stone, if
+it had been left undisturbed, would have sunk to the general level of
+the field in 247&nbsp;years; but before<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_278" id="Pg_278"></a> this could have occurred, some
+earth would have been washed down by heavy rain from the castings on
+the raised border of turf over the upper surface of the stone.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"><a name="stone_fig2" id="stone_fig2"></a>
+<a href="images/277stone.png"><img src="images/277stone.png" width="300" height="133" alt="Fig. 2. Transverse section across a large stone, which had lain on a grass-field for thirty-five years." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;2.</p>
+
+<p class="caption3">Transverse section across a large stone, which had lain on a
+grass-field for thirty-five years. <i>aa</i>, general level of the
+field. The underlying brick of rubbish has not been represented.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The second stone was larger than the one just described, viz.,
+67&nbsp;inches in length, 39 in breadth, and 15 in thickness. The lower
+surface was nearly flat, so that the worms must soon have been
+compelled to eject their castings beyond its circumference. The stone
+as a whole had sunk about 2&nbsp;inches into the ground. At this rate it
+would have required 262&nbsp;years for its upper surface to have sunk to
+the general level of the field. The upwardly sloping, turf-covered
+border round the stone was broader than in the last case, viz., from
+14 to 16&nbsp;inches; and why this should be so, I could see no reason. In
+most parts this border was not so high as in the last case, viz., from
+2 to 2&frac12;&nbsp;inches, but in one place it was as much as 5&frac12;. Its average
+height close to the stone was probably about 3&nbsp;inches, and it thinned
+out to nothing. If so, a layer of fine earth, 15&nbsp;inches in breadth and
+1&frac12;&nbsp;inch in average thickness, of sufficient length to surround the
+whole of the much elongated slab, must have been brought up by the
+worms in chief part from beneath the stone in the course of 35&nbsp;years.
+This amount would be amply sufficient to account for its having sunk
+about 2&nbsp;inches into the ground; more especially if we bear in mind
+that a good deal of the finest earth would have been washed by heavy
+rain from the castings ejected on the sloping border down to the level
+of the field. Some fresh castings were seen close to the stone.
+Nevertheless, on digging a large hole to a depth of 18&nbsp;inches where
+the stone had lain, only two worms and a few burrows<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_279" id="Pg_279"></a> were seen,
+although the soil was damp and seemed favorable for worms. There were
+some large colonies of ants beneath the stone, and possibly since
+their establishment the worms had decreased in number.</p>
+
+<p>The third stone was only about half as large as the others; and two
+strong boys could together have rolled it over. I have no doubt that
+it had been rolled over at a moderately recent time, for it now lay at
+some distance from the two other stones at the bottom of a little
+adjoining slope. It rested also on fine earth, instead of partly on
+brick-rubbish. In agreement with this conclusion, the raised
+surrounding border of turf was only 1&nbsp;inch high in some parts, and
+2&nbsp;inches in other parts. There were no colonies of ants beneath this
+stone, and on digging a hole where it had lain, several burrows and
+worms were found.</p>
+
+<p>At Stonehenge, some of the outer Druidical stones are now prostrate,
+having fallen at a remote but unknown period; and these have become
+buried to a moderate depth in the ground. They are surrounded by
+sloping borders of turf, on which recent castings were seen. Close to
+one of these fallen stones, which was 17&nbsp;feet long, 6&nbsp;feet broad, and
+28&frac12;&nbsp;inches thick, a hole was dug; and here the vegetable mould was at
+least 9&frac12;&nbsp;inches in thickness. At this depth a flint was found, and a
+little higher up on one side of the hole a fragment of glass. The base
+of the stone lay about 9&frac12;&nbsp;inches beneath the level of the surrounding
+ground, and its upper surface 19&nbsp;inches above the ground.</p>
+
+<p>A hole was also dug close to a second huge stone, which in falling had
+broken into two pieces; and this<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_280" id="Pg_280"></a> must have happened long ago, judging
+from the weathered aspect of the fractured ends. The base was buried
+to a depth of 10&nbsp;inches, as was ascertained by driving an iron skewer
+horizontally into the ground beneath it. The vegetable mould forming
+the turf-covered sloping border round the stone, on which many
+castings had recently been ejected, was 10&nbsp;inches in thickness; and
+most of this mould must have been brought up by worms from beneath its
+base. At a distance of 8&nbsp;yards from the stone, the mould was only
+5&frac12;&nbsp;inches in thickness (with a piece of tobacco pipe at a depth of
+4&nbsp;inches), and this rested on broken flint and chalk which could not
+have easily yielded to the pressure or weight of the stone.</p>
+
+<p>A straight rod was fixed horizontally (by the aid of a spirit-level)
+across a third fallen stone, which was 7&nbsp;feet 9&nbsp;inches long; and the
+contour of the projecting parts and of the adjoining ground, which was
+not quite level, was thus ascertained, as shown in the accompanying
+diagram (<a href="#stone_fig3">Fig.&nbsp;3</a>) on a scale of &frac12;&nbsp;inch to a foot. The turf-covered
+border sloped up to the stone on one side to a height of 4&nbsp;inches, and
+on the opposite side to only 2&frac12;&nbsp;inches above the general level. A hole
+was dug on the eastern side, and the base of the stone was here found
+to lie at a depth of 4&nbsp;inches beneath the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_281" id="Pg_281"></a> general level of the
+ground, and of 8&nbsp;inches beneath the top of the sloping turf-covered
+border.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"><a name="stone_fig3" id="stone_fig3"></a>
+<a href="images/280stone.png"><img src="images/280stone.png" width="300" height="150" alt="Fig. 3. Section through one of the fallen Druidical stones at Stonehenge, showing how much it had sunk into the ground." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;3.</p>
+<p class="caption3">
+Section through one of the fallen Druidical stones at Stonehenge,
+showing how much it had sunk into the ground.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Sufficient evidence has now been given showing that small objects left
+on the surface of the land where worms abound soon get buried, and
+that large stones sink slowly downwards through the same means. Every
+step of the process could be followed, from the accidental deposition
+of a single casting on a small object lying loose on the surface, to
+its being entangled amidst the matted roots of the turf, and lastly to
+its being embedded in the mould at various depths beneath the surface.
+When the same field was re-examined after the interval of a few years,
+such objects were found at a greater depth than before. The
+straightness and regularity of the lines formed by the embedded
+objects, and their parallelism with the surface of the land, are the
+most striking features of the case; for this parallelism shows how
+equably the worms must have worked; the result being, partly the
+effect of the washing down of the fresh castings by rain. The specific
+gravity of the objects does not affect their rate of sinking, as could
+be seen by porous cinders, burnt marl, chalk and quartz pebbles,
+having all sunk to the same depth within the same time. Considering
+the nature of the sub-stratum, which at Leith Hill Place was sandy
+soil including many bits of rock, and at Stonehenge, chalk-rubble with
+broken flints; considering, also, the presence of the turf-covered
+sloping border of mould round the great fragments of stone at both
+these places, their sinking does not appear to have been sensibly
+aided by their weight, though this was considerable.</p>
+
+<p><i>On the number of worms which live within a given<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_282" id="Pg_282"></a> space.</i>&mdash;We will
+now show, first, what a vast number of worms live unseen by us beneath
+our feet, and, secondly, the actual weight of the earth which they
+bring up to the surface within a given space and within a given time.
+Hensen, who has published so full and interesting an account of the
+habits of worms, calculates, from the number which he found in a
+measured space, that there must exist 133,000 living worms in a
+hectare of land, or 53,767 in an acre. This latter number of worms
+would weigh 356&nbsp;pounds, taking Hensen&#8217;s standard of the weight of a
+single worm, namely, one gram. It should, however, be noted that this
+calculation is founded on the numbers found in a garden, and Hensen
+believes that worms are here twice as numerous as in corn-fields. The
+above result, astonishing though it be, seems to me credible, judging
+from the number of worms which I have sometimes seen, and from the
+number daily destroyed by birds without the species being
+exterminated. Some barrels of bad ale were left on Mr. Miller&#8217;s land,
+in the hope of making vinegar, but the vinegar proved bad, and the
+barrels were upset. It should be premised that acetic acid is so
+deadly a poison to worms that Perrier found that a glass rod dipped
+into this acid and then into a considerable body of water in which
+worms were immersed, invariably killed them quickly. On the morning
+after the barrels had been upset, &ldquo;the heaps of worms which lay dead
+on the ground were so amazing, that if Mr. Miller had not seen them,
+he could not have thought it possible for such numbers to have existed
+in the space.&rdquo; As further evidence of the large number of worms which
+live in the ground Hensen states that he found in a<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_283" id="Pg_283"></a> garden 64 open
+burrows in a space of 14&frac12;&nbsp;square feet, that is, 9 in 2&nbsp;square feet.
+But the burrows are sometimes much more numerous, for when digging in
+a grass-field near Maer Hall, I found a cake of dry earth, as large as
+my two open hands, which was penetrated by seven burrows, as large as
+goose-quills.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/283image.png"><img src="images/283image.png" width="350" height="207" alt="Landscape" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_284" id="Pg_284"></a><a name="TWO_FOPS_AMONG_THE_FISHES" id="TWO_FOPS_AMONG_THE_FISHES"></a>TWO FOPS AMONG THE FISHES<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Gleanings From Nature.)<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a><br />
+By <a href="#Blatchley">W.&nbsp;S. BLATCHLEY</a>.</span></h2>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7">[7]</a> Copyright by W.&nbsp;S. Blatchley, 1899.</p></div>
+
+
+<h3>I.&mdash;THE RAINBOW DARTER.<br />
+<small>&ldquo;Little fishy in the brook.&rdquo;</small></h3>
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/284n.gif"><img src="images/284n.gif" width="350" height="439" alt="N, decorated with a waterfall" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">N</span>ot the one &ldquo;daddy caught with a hook,&rdquo; but another, too small for the
+hook, too small for the frying-pan, too small for aught else but
+beauty, and gracefulness of form; and yet not the young of a larger
+fish, but full grown of himself. In every brook in the State he may be
+found, yea, even in the rill, no more than a foot in width, which
+leads away from the old spring-house on the hillside. You will not
+find him swimming about like the minnows in the still, deep<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_285" id="Pg_285"></a> water of
+the stream, but where the clear, cold water is rushing rapidly over
+the stones of a ripple he makes his home. There he rests quietly on
+the bottom, waiting patiently for his food, the larv&aelig; or young of
+gnats, mosquitoes, and other such insects, to float by.</p>
+
+<p>If you attempt to catch him, or your shadow suddenly frightens him,
+with a sweep of his broad pectoral or breast fins, he moves quicker
+than a flash a few feet farther up the stream, and then as suddenly
+comes to a stop, and resumes his quiet, &ldquo;thoughtful&rdquo; attitude. If you
+persist in your attempt to capture him, he will dart under a small
+stone or submerged leaf, where, like the foolish ostrich which when
+pursued hides her head under her wing, no longer seeing you, he thinks
+himself secure.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/285fish.png"><img src="images/285fish.png" width="400" height="144" alt="Rainbow Darter." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Rainbow Darter.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>On account of the shape of his body, as well as on account of his
+rapid movements, he has received the surname &ldquo;darter.&rdquo; Belonging to
+the group which bears this surname, there are, in the eastern half of
+the United States, about forty-seven species or kinds, the largest of
+which, when full grown, measures only about six inches in length,
+while the smallest species never reaches a length of more than an inch
+and a half. They all have the same habits, and at least twenty-nine
+kinds of them are found in Indiana; but the one of which I am writing
+is much the more common. He is from two<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_286" id="Pg_286"></a> to two and a half inches in
+length, and, like the other members of his family, has two fins on his
+back; &ldquo;dorsal&rdquo; fins they are called by naturalists, the front one of
+which contains ten short spines. During eight months of the year, the
+males and females dress alike in a suit of brownish olive which is
+striped on the sides with ten or twelve narrow, black cross-bars, and
+more or less blotched on the back with darker spots. But on the first
+warm days of spring, when the breezes blow up from the gulf, awakening
+the gypsy in our blood, the little male fish feels, too, their
+influence, and in him there arises an irresistible desire to
+&ldquo;a-courting go.&rdquo; Like most other beings of his sex, he thinks his
+every-day suit too plain for the important business before him. It
+will, in his opinion, ne&#8217;er catch the eye of his lady love. So he dons
+one of gaudy colors and from it takes his name,&mdash;the rainbow
+darter,&mdash;for in it he is best known, as it not only attracts the
+attention of his chosen one, but often also that of the wandering
+naturalist who happens along the stream.</p>
+
+<p>The blackish bars of other seasons are changed to indigo blue, while
+the space between them assumes a hue of the brightest orange. The fins
+are broadly edged with blue and have the bases orange, or orange and
+scarlet, while the cheeks assume the blue and the breast becomes an
+orange. Clad in this suit he ventures forth on his mission, and if
+successful, as he almost always is, the two construct a nest of tiny
+stones in which the eggs of the mother-fish are laid and watched over
+with jealous care by both parents until in time there issue forth sons
+destined some day to wear a coat of many colors, and &ldquo;darters&rdquo; to be<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_287" id="Pg_287"></a>
+attracted by those coats, as was their mother by the one their father
+wore.</p>
+
+<p>Although so abundant and so brilliant in the springtime, the rainbow
+darter is known to few but naturalists. The fishes in which the
+average country boy is interested are the larger ones&mdash;such as the
+goggle-eye, the sucker, chub, and sunfish&mdash;those which, when caught,
+will fill up the string and tickle the palate.</p>
+
+<p>But there are, let us hope, among our farmers&#8217; sons and daughters,
+some who are learning to take an interest in the objects of nature
+which are beautiful, as well as in those which are useful. To them I
+will say, if you wish to see something really pretty, make a seine
+from an old coffee sack or a piece of mosquito netting, and any day in
+spring drag two or three ripples of the branch which flows through the
+wood&#8217;s pasture, and ten chances to one you will get some &ldquo;rainbows.&rdquo;
+By placing them in a fruit jar three-fourths full of clear, cold
+water, and renewing the water every few hours, they can be kept for
+several days; but they cannot bear the confinement long, accustomed as
+they are to the free running stream from which they were taken.</p>
+
+<p>By taking the rainbow as the type of the darter and studying closely
+its habits, both in captivity and in the streams, much can be learned
+about a group which, in the words of Dr. S.&nbsp;A. Forbes, &ldquo;are the
+mountaineers among fishes. Forced from the populous and fertile
+valleys of the river beds and lake bottoms, they have taken refuge
+from their enemies in the rocky highlands where the free waters play
+in ceaseless torrents, and there they have wrested from stubborn
+nature a meagre living. Although diminished in size by their
+continual<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_288" id="Pg_288"></a> struggle with the elements, they have developed an activity
+and hardihood, a vigor of life and a glow of high color almost unknown
+among the easier livers of the lower lands.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+<h3>II.&mdash;THE LONG-EARED SUNFISH.</h3>
+
+<p>Among the most brightly colored of all the fresh-water members of the
+finny tribe is the long-eared sunfish. When full grown its length is
+about eight inches and the breadth one-half as much. The color is then
+a brilliant blue and orange, the former predominating above; the
+orange on the sides in spots, the blue in wavy, vertical streaks. The
+cheeks are orange with bright blue stripes; the fins with the
+membranes orange, and the rays blue. Extending back from the hind
+margin of each cheek is a conspicuous blackish membrane termed an
+&ldquo;ear-flap,&rdquo; which in this species is longer than in any other of the
+sun-fish family, whence the specific name, <i>megalotis</i>, from two Greek
+words meaning &ldquo;great&rdquo; and &ldquo;ear.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<a href="images/288sunfish.png"><img src="images/288sunfish.png" width="450" height="218" alt="Long-eared Sunfish." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Long-eared Sunfish.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Within the placid pools of the brooks and larger streams of the State
+this sunfish has its favorite haunts. Mid-summer is the time when its
+habits can<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_289" id="Pg_289"></a> be best observed. On a recent August morn I sat for an
+hour or longer on the banks of a stream, which flows through a wooded
+blue-grass pasture, and watched the denizens of its waters. A peaceful
+calm existed, the water being without a ripple and with scarce the
+semblance of a flow&mdash;the air without the shadow of a breeze. Dragon
+flies lazily winged their way across the pool, now resting daintily
+upon a blade of sedge or swamp grass, now dipping the tips of their
+abdomens beneath the surface of the water while depositing their eggs.
+The only sounds of nature were the buzz of a bumble-bee feeding among
+the flowers of the <i>Brunella</i> at my side, and an occasional drawl of a
+dog-day locust from the branches of the sycamore which threw a
+grateful shade about me.</p>
+
+<p>The sunfish &ldquo;hung motionless&rdquo; in the water, their heads towards me,
+holding their position only by a slow flapping of their dorsal and
+pectoral fins. Their nesting time over, their season&#8217;s labor ended, it
+was with them, as with many other beings, a time of languor.</p>
+
+<p>These long-eared fishes are the lords and ladies of the respective
+pools wherein they abide. When they move other smaller fry clear the
+way. If a worm or gnat, falling upon the surface, tempts them, it is
+theirs. A leaf falls near them and is seemingly unnoticed&mdash;a fly, and
+how quickly their dormant energy is put into motion. With a dart and a
+gulp the insect is swallowed, and a new stage of waiting expectancy is
+ushered in.</p>
+
+<p>How admirably fitted their form for cleaving the water! They often
+seem to glide rather than propel themselves through its depths. Again,
+how swiftly<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_290" id="Pg_290"></a> the caudal fin moves when with straight unerring motion
+they dart upon their prey. At times one turns his body sideways, and,
+with a slow, upward-gliding motion, moves toward some object on the
+surface which is doubtfully &ldquo;good to eat.&rdquo; He even takes it into his
+mouth and then, not having faith in his power to properly digest it,
+ejects it with force, and turning quickly darts back to the friendly
+shadow of a boulder beneath whose sides he has, in time of threatened
+danger, a safe retreat.</p>
+
+<p>I throw a grasshopper into the pool. Like a flash six of the sunfish
+are after it. One reaches it a tenth of a second in advance of the
+others, and with a lightning-like gulp, which disturbs the serenity of
+the surface of the pool, swallows the kicking prey. The energy of the
+sun&#8217;s heat and light, stored in grass, transmitted to move muscles in
+gigantic leaps, will, in a short time, wag a caudal fin and propel the
+owner through these watery depths.</p>
+
+<p>Years are thus doubtless spent by these long-eared sunfish in a dreamy
+sort of existence, their energies quickened by the vernal season and
+growing duller on the approach of winter. Excepting the times when
+they are tempted by a wriggling worm on some boy&#8217;s hook, theirs is a
+life exempt from danger. A kingfisher glancing down from his perch on
+the bent sycamore limb may, at times, discern them and lessen their
+ranks; but, methinks, the chub minnows, with fewer spines in their
+dorsal fins, are more agreeable to the king-fisher&#8217;s palate. With all
+the tints of the rainbow gleaming from their sides they move to and
+fro, the brilliant rulers of these quiet pools.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_291" id="Pg_291"></a>The king or monarch of those noted was most gorgeously arrayed. In
+addition to the hues above described, a streak of emerald bordered his
+dorsal and caudal fins and was bent around the edge of his upper
+lip&mdash;a green mustache, as it were. By tolling them with occasional
+bits of food I drew him and his retinue close into shore. There, for
+some time they rested, watching eagerly for additional morsels. As I
+was leaving I plucked from my sleeve an ant and threw it towards them.
+A dart, a gurgle, a gulp&mdash;the leader had leaped half his length from
+the water, and the ant was forever gone. The ripples receded and
+finally disappeared, and the last scene in this tragedy of nature was
+at an end.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/291image.png"><img src="images/291image.png" width="400" height="196" alt="Aquatic plants" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_292" id="Pg_292"></a><a name="SEA-SLUGS_AND_CUTTLE-FISH" id="SEA-SLUGS_AND_CUTTLE-FISH"></a>SEA-SLUGS AND CUTTLE-FISH<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From A Journal of Researches.)<br />
+By CHARLES DARWIN.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 250px;">
+<a href="images/292i.gif"><img src="images/292i.gif" width="250" height="363" alt="Cuttle-fish." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Cuttle-fish.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="cap">I </span>was much interested, on several occasions, by watching the habits of
+an Octopus, or cuttle-fish. Although common in the pools of water left
+by the retiring tide, these animals were not easily caught. By means
+of their long arms and suckers, they could drag their bodies into very
+narrow crevices; and when thus fixed, it required great force to
+remove them. At other times they darted, tail first, with the rapidity
+of an arrow, from one side of the pool to the other, at the same
+instant discoloring the water with a dark chestnut-brown ink. These
+animals also escape detection by a very extraordinary, chameleon-like
+power of changing their color. They appear to vary their tints
+according to the nature of the ground over which they pass: when in
+deep water, their general shade was brownish-purple, but when placed
+on the land, or in<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_293" id="Pg_293"></a> shallow water, this dark tint changed into one of
+a yellowish green. The color, examined more carefully, was a French
+gray, with numerous minute spots of bright yellow: the former of these
+varied in intensity; the latter entirely disappeared and appeared
+again by turns. These changes were effected in such a manner, that
+clouds, varying in tint between a hyacinth red and a chestnut brown,
+were continually passing over the body. Any part, being subjected to a
+slight shock of galvanism, became almost black: a similar effect, but
+in a less degree, was produced by scratching the skin with a needle.
+These clouds, or blushes as they may be called, are said to be
+produced by the alternate contraction and expansion of minute
+<ins class="correction" title="sic.">vescicles</ins> containing variously colored fluids.</p>
+
+<p>This cuttle-fish displayed its chameleon-like power both during the
+act of swimming and whilst remaining stationary at the bottom. I was
+much amused by the various arts to escape detection used by one
+individual, which seemed fully aware that I was watching it. Remaining
+for a time motionless, it would then stealthily advance an inch or
+two, like a cat after a mouse; sometimes changing its color: it thus
+proceeded, till having gained a deeper part, it darted away, leaving a
+dusky train of ink to hide the hole into which it had crawled.</p>
+
+<p>While looking for marine animals, with my head about two feet above
+the rocky shore, I was more than once saluted by a jet of water,
+accompanied by a slight grating noise. At first I could not think what
+it was, but afterwards I found out that it was this cuttle-fish,
+which, though concealed in a hole, thus often led me to its discovery.
+That it possesses the power of ejecting<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_294" id="Pg_294"></a> water there is no doubt, and
+it appeared to me that it could certainly take good aim by directing
+the tube or siphon on the upper side of its body. From the difficulty
+which these animals have in carrying their heads, they cannot crawl
+with ease when placed on the ground. I observed that one which I kept
+in the cabin was slightly phosphorescent in the dark.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/294image.png"><img src="images/294image.png" width="400" height="184" alt="Cuttle-fish" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_295" id="Pg_295"></a><a name="THE_COW-FISH" id="THE_COW-FISH"></a>THE COW-FISH<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Travels on the Amazon.)<br />
+By <a href="#Wallace">SIR ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE</a>.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/295i.gif"><img src="images/295i.gif" width="300" height="192" alt="Skull of Cow-fish." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Skull of Cow-fish.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-10px;"><span class="cap">I</span>t was a female, about six feet long, and nearly five in circumference
+in the thickest part. The body is perfectly smooth, and without any
+projections or inequalities, changing into a horizontal semicircular
+flat tail, with no appearance whatever of hind limbs. There is no
+distinct neck; the head is not very large, and is terminated by a
+large mouth and fleshy lips, somewhat resembling those of a cow. There
+are stiff bristles on the lips, and a few distantly scattered hairs
+over the body. Behind the head are two powerful oval fins, and just
+beneath them are the breasts, from which, on pressure being applied,
+flows a stream of beautiful white milk. The ears are minute holes, and
+the eyes very small. The color is a dusky lead, with some large
+pinkish-white marbled blotches on the belly. The skin is about an inch
+thick on the back, and a quarter of an inch on the belly. Beneath the
+skin is a layer of fat of a greater or less thickness, generally about
+an inch, which is boiled down to make an oil used for light and for
+cooking. The in<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_296" id="Pg_296"></a>testines are very voluminous, the heart about the size
+of a sheep&#8217;s, and the lungs about two feet long, and six or seven
+inches wide, very cellular and spongy, and can be blown out like a
+bladder. The skull is large and solid, with no front teeth; the
+vertebr&aelig; extend to the very tip of the tail, but show no rudiments of
+posterior limbs; the fore limbs, on the contrary, are very highly
+developed, the bones exactly corresponding to those of the human arm,
+having even the five fingers, with every joint distinct, yet enclosed
+in a stiff inflexible skin, where not a joint can have any motion.</p>
+
+<p>The cow-fish feeds on grass at the borders of the rivers and lakes,
+and swims quickly with the tail and paddles; and though the external
+organs of sight and hearing are so imperfect, these senses are said by
+the hunters to be remarkably acute, and to render necessary all their
+caution and skill to capture the animals. They bring forth one, or
+rarely two, young ones, which they clasp in their arms or paddles
+while giving suck. They are harpooned or caught in a strong net, at
+the narrow entrance of a lake or stream. Each yields from five to
+twenty-five gallons of oil. The flesh is very good, being something
+between beef and pork, and this one furnished us with several meals,
+and was an agreeable change from our fish diet.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<a href="images/296cowfish.png"><img src="images/296cowfish.png" width="450" height="208" alt="Cow-fish" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 321px;"><a name="cowfish" id="cowfish"></a>
+<a href="images/cowfish-h.jpg" title="Larger image"><img class="jpg" src="images/cowfish-t.jpg" width="321" height="500" alt="The Cow Fish." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">The Cow Fish.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_297" id="Pg_297"></a><a name="OLD_RATTLER_AND_THE_KING_SNAKE8" id="OLD_RATTLER_AND_THE_KING_SNAKE8"></a>OLD RATTLER AND THE KING SNAKE<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a><br />
+<span class="subh2">
+By <a href="#Jordan">DAVID STARR JORDAN</a>.<br />
+President of Leland Stanford, Junior, University.</span></h2>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8">[8]</a> From <i>The Popular Science Monthly</i> by permission.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="poem" style="margin-bottom:2em;">
+&ldquo;I only know thee humble, bold,<br />
+Haughty, with miseries untold,<br />
+And the old curse that left thee cold,<br />
+And drove thee ever to the sun<br />
+On blistering rocks ...<br />
+<span style="margin-left:9em;">Thou whose fame</span><br />
+Searchest the grass with tongue of flame,<br />
+Making all creatures seem thy game,<br />
+When the whole woods before thee run,<br />
+Asked but&mdash;when all is said and done&mdash;<br />
+To lie, untrodden, in the <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original omits the closing quotation mark.">sun!&rdquo;</ins>
+<p class="sig">&mdash;Bret Harte.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/297o.gif"><img src="images/297o.gif" width="300" height="398" alt="O, decorated with a rattlesnake" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-15px;"><span class="cap">O</span>ld Rattler was a snake, of course, and he lives in the King&#8217;s River
+Ca&ntilde;on, high up and down deep in the mountains of California.</p>
+
+<p>He had a hole behind and below a large, flat granite rock, not far
+from the river, and he called it his home; for in it he slept all
+night and all winter, but when the sun came back in the spring and
+took the frost out of the air and the rocks, then he crawled out to
+lie until he got warm. The stream was clear and swift in<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_298" id="Pg_298"></a> the ca&ntilde;on,
+the waterfalls sang in the side gulch of Roaring River, the wind
+rustled in the long needles of the yellow pines, and the birds called
+to their mates in the branches. But Old Rattler did not care for such
+things. He was just a snake, you know, and his neighbors did not think
+him a good snake at that, for he was surly and silent, and his big,
+three-cornered, &ldquo;coffin-shaped&rdquo; head, set on a slim, flat neck, was
+very ugly to see. But when he opened his mouth he was uglier still,
+for in his upper jaw he had two long fangs, and each one was filled
+with deadly poison. His vicious old head was covered with gray and
+wrinkled scales, and his black, beadlike eyes snapped when he opened
+his mouth to find out whether his fangs were both in working order.</p>
+
+<p>Old Rattler was pretty stiff when he first came from his hole on the
+morning of this story. He had lain all night coiled up like a rope
+among the rocks, and his tail felt very cold. But the glad sun warmed
+the cockles of his heart, and in an hour or two he became limber, and
+this made him happy in his snaky fashion. But, being warm, he began to
+be hungry, for it had been a whole month since he had eaten anything.
+When the first new moon of August came, his skin loosened everywhere
+and slipped down over his eyes like a veil, so that he could see
+nothing about him, and could not hunt for frogs by the river, nor for
+chipmunks among the trees. But with the new moon of September all this
+was over. The rusty brown old coat was changed for a new suit of gray
+and black, and the diamond-shaped checkers all over it were clean and
+shiny as a set of new clothes out to be.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_299" id="Pg_299"></a>There was a little striped chipmunk running up and down the sugar-pine
+tree over his head, pursing his little mouth and throwing himself into
+pretty attitudes, as though he were the centre of an admiring
+audience, and Old Rattler kept a steady eye on him. But he was in no
+hurry about it all. He must first get the kinks out of his neck, and
+the cold cramps from his tail. There was an old curse on his family,
+so the other beasts had heard, that kept him always cold, and his tail
+was the coldest part of all. So he shook it a little, just to show
+that it was growing limber, and the bone clappers on the end rustled
+with a sharp, angry noise. Fifteen rattles he had in all&mdash;fifteen and
+a button&mdash;and to have so many showed that he was no common member of
+his hated family. Then he shook his tail again, and more sharply. This
+was to show all the world that he, Old Rattler, was wide awake, and
+whoever stepped on him would better look out. Then all the big beasts
+and little beasts who heard the noise fled away just as fast as ever
+they could; and to run away was the best thing they could do, for when
+Old Rattler struck one of them with his fangs all was over with him.
+So there were many in the ca&ntilde;on, beasts and birds and snakes too, who
+hated Old Rattler, but only a few dared face him. And one of these was
+Glittershield, whom men call the King of Snakes, and in a minute I
+shall tell you why.</p>
+
+<p>And when Old Rattler was doing all that I have said, the King Snake
+lay low on a bed of pine needles, behind a bunch of fern, and watched
+him with keen, sharp eye. The angry buzz of Rattler&#8217;s tail, which
+scared the chipmunks and the bullfrogs and all the rest<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_300" id="Pg_300"></a> of the beast
+folk, was music for Glittershield. He was a snake, too, and snakes
+understand some things better than any of the rest of us.</p>
+
+<p>Glittershield was slim and wiry in his body, as long as Old Rattler
+himself, but not so large around. His coat was smooth and glossy, not
+rough and wrinkly like Old Rattler&#8217;s, and his upraised head was small
+and pretty&mdash;for a snake. He was the best dressed of all his kind, and
+he looked his finest as he faced Old Rattler. His head was shiny
+black, his throat and neck as white as milk while all down his body to
+the end of his tail he was painted with rings, first white, then
+black, then crimson, and every ring was bright as if it had just been
+freshly polished that very day.</p>
+
+<p>So the King Snake passed the sheltering fern and came right up to Old
+Rattler. Rattler opened his sleepy eyes, threw himself on guard with a
+snap and a buzz, and shook his bony clappers savagely. But the King of
+Snakes was not afraid. Every snake has a weak spot somewhere, and that
+is the place to strike him. If he hadn&#8217;t a weak spot no one else could
+live about him, and then, perhaps he would starve to death at last. If
+he had not some strong points, where no one could harm him, he
+couldn&#8217;t live himself.</p>
+
+<p>As the black crest rose, Old Rattler&#8217;s tail grew cold, his head
+dropped, his mouth closed, he straightened out his coil, and staggered
+helplessly toward his hole.</p>
+
+<div class="tright" style="width: 260px;">
+<a href="images/301snake.png"><img src="images/301snake-1.png" width="260" height="70" alt='"He Seized Old Rattler by His Throat."' title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="bright" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/301snake.png"><img src="images/301snake-2.gif" width="350" height="229" alt='"He Seized Old Rattler by His Throat."' title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">&ldquo;He Seized Old Rattler by His Throat.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>This was the chance for Glittershield. With a dash so swift that all
+the rings on his body&mdash;red, white, and black&mdash;melted into one purple
+flash, he seized Old Rattler by his throat. He carried no weapons, to
+be sure. He had neither fangs nor venom. He won his<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_301" id="Pg_301"></a> victories by
+force and dash, not by mean advantage. He was quick and strong, and
+his little hooked teeth held like the claws of a hawk. Old Rattler
+closed his mouth because he couldn&#8217;t help it, and the fangs he could
+not use were folded back against the roof of his jaw.</p>
+
+<p>The King Snake leaped forward, wound his body in a &ldquo;love-knot&rdquo; around
+Old Rattler&#8217;s neck, took a &ldquo;half-hitch&rdquo; with his tail about the
+stomach, while the rest of his body lay in a curve like the letter S
+between the two knots. Then all he had to do was to stiffen up his
+muscles, and Old Rattler&#8217;s backbone was snapped off at the neck.</p>
+
+<p>All that remained to Glittershield was to swallow his enemy. First he
+rubbed his lips all over the body, from the head to the tail, till it
+was slippery with slime. Then he opened his mouth very wide, with a
+huge snaky yawn, and face to face he began on Old Rattler. The ugly
+head was hard to manage, but, after much <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'training'.">straining</ins>, he clasped his jaws
+around it, and the venom trickled down his throat like some fiery
+sauce. Slowly head and neck and body disap<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_302" id="Pg_302"></a>peared, and the tail
+wriggled <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'desparingly'.">despairingly</ins>, for the tail of the snake folk can not die
+till sundown, and when it went at last the fifteen rattles and the
+button were keeping up an angry buzz. And all night long the King of
+Snakes, twice as big as he ought to be, lay gorged and motionless upon
+Old Rattler&#8217;s rock.</p>
+
+<p>And in the morning the little chipmunk ran out on a limb above him,
+pursed up his lips, and made all kinds of faces, as much as to say, &ldquo;I
+did all this, and the whole world was watching while I did it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/302snake.png"><img src="images/302snake.png" width="400" height="214" alt="King Snake." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">King Snake.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_303" id="Pg_303"></a><a name="THE_STORY_OF_A_STRANGE_LAND" id="THE_STORY_OF_A_STRANGE_LAND"></a>THE STORY OF A STRANGE LAND<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Science Sketches.)<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a><br />
+By <a href="#Jordan">DAVID STARR JORDAN</a>.<br />
+President of Leland Stanford, Junior, University.</span></h2>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9">[9]</a> Copyright, 1896, by A.&nbsp;C. Mclurg &amp; Co.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="poem">
+&ldquo;In one strange land,<br />
+And a long way from home,<br />
+I heard a mighty rumbling, and I couldn&#8217;t tell where.&rdquo;
+<p class="sig">&mdash;Negro Melody.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/303i.gif"><img src="images/303i.gif" width="300" height="339" alt="I, decorated with a waterfall" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">I</span>t happened a long time ago, it may be fifty thousand years in round
+numbers, or it may have been twice as many, that a strange <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original reads 'thing thing&#8217;.">thing</ins>
+took place in the heart of the Great Mountains. It was in the middle
+of the Pliocene epoch, a long, dull time that seemed as if it would
+never come to an end. There was then on the east side of the Great
+Divide a deep, rocky basin surrounded by high walls of granite gashed
+to the base by the wash of many streams. In this basin, we know not
+how&mdash;for the records all are burned or<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_304" id="Pg_304"></a> buried&mdash;the crust of the earth
+was broken, and a great outflow of melted larva surged up from below.
+This was no ordinary eruption, but a mighty outbreak of the earth&#8217;s
+imprisoned forces. The steady stream of lava filled the whole mountain
+basin and ran out over its sides, covering the country all around so
+deeply that it has never been seen since. More than four thousand
+square miles of land lay buried under melted rock. No one can tell how
+deep the lava is, for no one has ever seen the bottom. Within its bed
+are deep clefts whose ragged walls descend to the depth of twelve
+hundred feet, and yet give no glimpse of the granite below, while at
+their side are mountains of lava whose crags tower a mile above the
+bottom of the ravines.</p>
+
+<div class="tleft" style="width: 230px;">
+<a href="images/304smoke.png"><img src="images/304smoke-1.png" width="230" height="315" alt='"It Would Hiss and Boil High in the Air."' title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="bleft" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/304smoke.png"><img src="images/304smoke-2.gif" width="350" height="201" alt='"It Would Hiss and Boil High in the Air."' title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">&ldquo;It Would Hiss and Boil High in the Air.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>At last, after many years or centuries&mdash;time does not count for much
+in these Tertiary days&mdash;the flow of melted lava ceased. Its surface
+cooled, leaving a high, uneven plain, black and desolate, a hard, cold
+crust over a fiery and smoldering interior. About the crater lay great
+ropes and rolls of the slowly hardening lava, looking like knots and
+tangles of gigantic reptiles of some horrible extinct sort. There was
+neither grass nor trees, nor life of any sort. Nothing could grow in
+the coarse, black stone. The rivers<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_305" id="Pg_305"></a> and brooks had long since
+vanished in steam, the fishes were all dead, and the birds had flown
+away. The whole region wore the aspect of the desolation of death.</p>
+
+<p>But to let land go to waste is no part of Mother Nature&#8217;s plan. So
+even this far-off corner of her domain was made ready for settlement.
+In the winter she sifted snow on the cold black plain, and in the
+summer the snow melted into a multitude of brooks and springs. The
+brooks gradually wore paths and furrows down the large bed, and the
+sands which they washed from one place they piled up in another. The
+winds blew the seeds of grasses about, and willows and aspens crept up
+the mountain-sides. Then came the squirrels, scattering the nuts of
+the pine. Other seeds came too, in other ways, till at last the barren
+hillside was no longer barren.</p>
+
+<p>The brooks ran over the surface of the crust undisturbed by the fires
+within, and were clear and cold as mountain brooks should be; but the
+rain and melted snow will never all remain on the surface. Some of it
+falls into cracks or joints or porous places in the rock, and from
+this come underground streams or springs. But in this region a stream
+could not run long underground without coming in contact with the old
+still-burning fires. When a crust is formed over the lava, it cools
+very slowly. When the crust is a rod or two deep, the lava within is
+almost as well protected as if it were at the center of the earth.</p>
+
+<p>Whenever the water came down into the fire, the hot rocks would be
+furious with indignation, and tearing the water to atoms they would
+throw it back to the surface as steam. Then the explosive force of the
+steam<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_306" id="Pg_306"></a> would in turn tear up the rocks, making still larger the hole
+through which the water came. When the rocks were very hot, a little
+water upon them would make a terrible commotion like the shock of an
+earthquake. When much water came down, it would hiss and boil high in
+the air, as it tried to break the cushion of steam which came between
+it and the lava.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/306geyser.png"><img src="images/306geyser.png" width="400" height="118" alt="Mouth of Geyser." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Mouth of Geyser.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>And all this went on in hundreds of places and maybe for thousands of
+years. The hot rocks glowed and sweltered in the ground, and the cold
+snow-water crept after them closer and closer, while more and more
+vigorously the rocks resented the intrusion. Sometimes the water would
+go down in a mass through a cleft, when it would be hurled bodily the
+very way it came. At other times the water came down little by little,
+insinuating itself into many places at once. Then the hot rocks threw
+it back in many little honeycomb channels, and by the spreading of
+these channels the rocks were at last crumbled to pieces. The hard
+black lava on the glass-like obsidian were changed to white kaolin as
+soft and powdery as chalk. And as the water fought its way, gaining a
+little every year, steadily working between the joints in the enemy&#8217;s
+armor and as surely being thrown back with violence if it penetrated
+too far, the animals and the plants followed in<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_307" id="Pg_307"></a> the wake of the
+water, and took possession of the territory as fast as it was won.</p>
+
+<p>At last the Pliocene times were over, for all times come to an end.
+The one sure thing on the earth is the certainty of change. With the
+change of time came on the earth&#8217;s great winter. The snow-drifts on
+the lava were piled up mountain-high. Snow is but ice gathered in
+little fragments which will grow solid under pressure. As the snow
+accumulated it began to move, forming great rivers of ice which ran
+down the courses of the stream. And as these slowly moving, gigantic
+ice-rivers tore away huge blocks of lava and pushed them down the
+mountain-sides, where the rocks had been softened by the action of
+steam, the ice wore out deep valleys, and everything that it touched
+was smoothed and polished. The winter of the great Ice age lasted a
+very long time, many thousands of years; but, long as it was and long
+ago, it came at last to an end&mdash;not to a full stop, of course, for
+even now, some of its snow still lingers on the highest peaks that
+surround the lava-beds.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/307gorge.png"><img src="images/307gorge.png" width="350" height="383" alt='"Cutting Deep Gorges or Canons."' title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">&ldquo;Cutting Deep Gorges or Ca&ntilde;ons.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Then the winters grew shorter and the summers<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_308" id="Pg_308"></a> longer. The south winds
+blew and the ice melted away, first from the plain and then from the
+mountains. The water ran down the sides of the lava-bed, cutting deep
+gorges or canons, so deep that the sun can hardly see the bottom. And
+into the joints and clefts of the rocks more and more water went, to
+be hurled back with greater and greater violence, for all the waters
+of all the snow cannot put out a mile deep of fire.</p>
+
+<p>In the old depressions where the ice had chiselled away the softer
+rocks, there were formed lakes of the standing water, and one of these
+was more than thirty miles long, winding in and out among the
+mountain-ridges. In the lake bottom the water soaked through down to
+the hot lava below, from which it was thrown boiling back to the
+surface again, fountains of scalding water in the icy lake.</p>
+
+<p>The cold Ice age has killed all the plants in the region; and it had
+driven off the animals that could be driven, and had then buried the
+rest. But when the snow was gone the creatures all came back again.
+Grass and meadow-flowers of a hundred kinds came up from the valleys
+below. The willow and the aspen took their place again by the
+brook-side, and the red fir and the mountain pine covered the hills
+with their sombre green. The birds came back. The wild goose swam and
+screamed, and the winter wren caroled his bright song&mdash;loudest when
+there seemed least cause for rejoicing. The beaver cut his timber and
+patiently worked at his dams. The thriftless porcupine destroyed a
+tree for every morning meal. The gray jay, the &ldquo;camp robber,&rdquo; followed
+the Indians about in hope that<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_309" id="Pg_309"></a> some forgotten piece of meat or of
+boiled root might fall to his share; while the buffalo, the bear, and
+the elk each carried on his affairs in his own way, as did a host of
+lesser animals, all of whom rejoiced when this snow-bound region was
+at last opened for settlement. Time went on. The water and the fire
+were every day in mortal struggle, and always when the water was
+thrown back repulsed, it renewed the contest as vigorously as before.
+The fire retreated, leaving great stretches of land to its enemy, that
+it might concentrate its strength where its strength was greatest. And
+the water steadily gained, for the great ocean ever lay behind it. So
+for century after century they wrestled with each other, the water,
+the fire, the snow, the animals and the plants. But the fishes who had
+once lived in the mountain torrents were no longer there. They had
+been boiled and frozen, and in one way or another destroyed or driven
+away. Now they could not get back. Every stream had its ca&ntilde;on, and in
+each ca&ntilde;on was a waterfall so high that no trout could leap up.
+Although they used to try it every day, not one ever succeeded.</p>
+
+<div class="tright" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/309waterfall.png"><img src="images/309waterfall-1.png" width="300" height="185" alt='"And in Each Ca&ntilde;on was a Waterfall."' title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="bright" style="width: 245px;">
+<a href="images/309waterfall.png"><img src="images/309waterfall-2.png" width="245" height="276" alt='"And in Each Ca&ntilde;on was a Waterfall."' title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">&ldquo;And in Each Ca&ntilde;on was a Waterfall.&rdquo;</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>So it went on. A great many things happened in<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_310" id="Pg_310"></a> other parts of the
+world. America had been discovered and the colonies were feeling their
+way toward the Pacific Ocean. And in the vanguard was the famous
+expedition of Lewis and Clarke, which went overland to the mouth of
+the river Columbia. John Colter was a hunter in this expedition, and
+by some chance he went across the mountains on the old trail of the
+Nez Perc&egrave;s Indians which leads across the Divide from the Missouri
+waters to those of the Columbia. When he came back from the Nez Perc&egrave;s
+trail he told most wonderful tales of what he had seen at the head of
+the Missouri. There were cataracts of scalding water which shot
+straight up into the air; there were blue ponds hot enough to boil
+fish; there were springs that came up snorting and steaming, and which
+would turn trees into stone; the woods were full of holes from which
+issued streams of sulphur; there were canons of untold depth with
+walls of ashes full of holes which let off steam like a locomotive,
+and there were springs which looked peaceful enough, but which at
+times, would burst like a bomb.</p>
+
+<p>In short, every one laughed at Colter and his yarns, and this place
+where all lies were true was familiarly known as &ldquo;Colter&#8217;s Hell.&rdquo; But
+for once John Colter told the truth, and the truth could not easily be
+exaggerated. But no one believed him. When others who afterwards
+followed him over the Nez Perc&egrave;s trail told the same stories, people
+said they had been up to &ldquo;Colter&#8217;s Hell&rdquo; and had learned to lie.</p>
+
+<p>But, as time passed, other men told what they had seen, until, in
+1870, a sort of official survey was made under the lead of Washburne
+and Doane. This party<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_311" id="Pg_311"></a> got the general bearings of the region, named
+many of the mountains, and found so much of interest that the next
+year Dr. Hayden, the United States Geologist, sent out a party for
+systematic exploration. The Hayden party came up from Colorado on
+horseback, through dense and tangled forests, across mountain
+torrents, and other craggy peaks. The story of this expedition has
+been most charmingly told by its youngest member, another John
+Coulter. Professor Coulter was the botanist of the survey, and he won
+the first of his many laurels on this expedition. In 1872, acting on
+Hayden&#8217;s report, Congress took the matter in hand and set apart this
+whole region as a &ldquo;public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit
+and enjoyment of the people,&rdquo; and such it remains to this day.</p>
+
+<p>But, while only of late this region has had a public history, the
+long-forgotten years between the Glacial period and the expedition of
+Lewis and Clarke were not without interest in the history of the
+trout. For all these years the fishes have been trying to mount the
+waterfalls in order to ascend to the plateau above. Year after year,
+as the spawning-time came on, they leaped against the falls of the
+Gardiner, the Gibbon, and the Firehole Rivers, but only to fall back
+impotent in the pools at their bases. But the mightiest cataract of
+all, the great falls of the Yellowstone, they finally conquered, and
+in this way it was done: not by the trout of the Yellowstone River,
+but by their brothers on the other side of the Divide. These followed
+up the Columbia to the head-waters of the Snake River, its great
+tributary, past the beautiful Heart Lake, and then on to the stream
+now called Pacific Creek, which<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_312" id="Pg_312"></a> rises on the very crest of the
+Divide. In the space between this stream, which flows west to help
+form the Snake River, and a smaller stream now called Atlantic Creek,
+flowing down the east slope of the Divide, the great chain of the
+Rocky Mountains shrinks to a narrow plateau of damp meadow, not a
+fourth of a mile in width; and some years, when the snows are heavy
+and melt late in the spring, this whole region is covered with
+standing water. The trout had bided their time until they found it so,
+and now they were ready for action. Before the water was drained they
+had crossed the Divide and were descending on the Atlantic side toward
+the Yellowstone Lake. As the days went by, this colony of bold trout
+spirits grew and multiplied and filled the waters of the great clear
+lake, where their descendants remain to this day. And no other
+fishes&mdash;not the chub, nor the sucker, nor the white-fish, nor the
+minnow, nor the blob&mdash;had ever climbed Pacific Creek. None of them
+were able to follow where the trout had gone, and none of them have
+ever been seen in the Yellowstone Lake. What the trout had done in
+this lake&mdash;their victories and defeats, their struggles with the bears
+and pelicans, and with the terrible worm, joint enemy of trout and
+pelicans alike&mdash;must be left for another story.</p>
+
+<div class="tleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<a href="images/312trout.png"><img src="images/312trout-1.png" width="300" height="190" alt="Trout." title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="bleft" style="width: 95px;">
+<a href="images/312trout.png"><img src="images/312trout-2.png" width="95" height="65" alt="Trout." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Trout.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>So the trout climbed the Yellowstone Falls by way<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_313" id="Pg_313"></a> of the back
+staircase. For all we know, they have gone down it on the other side.
+And in a similar way, by stealing over from Blacktail Deer Creek, they
+overcame the Undine Falls in Lava Creek and passed its steep obsidian
+walls, which not all the fishes in the world could climb.</p>
+
+<p>In the Gibbon River the cataracts have proved to the trout an
+impassible barrier; but, strangely enough, its despised associate, the
+sluggish, chunky blob, the little soft-bodied, smooth, black
+tadpole-like fellow, with twinkling eyes and a voracious appetite&mdash;a
+fish who cannot leap at all&mdash;has crossed this barrier. Hundreds of
+blob live under the stones in the upper reaches of the stream, the
+only fish in the Gibbon waters. There he is, and it is a standing
+puzzle even to himself to know how he got there. We might imagine,
+perhaps, that some far-off ancestor, some ancient Queen of the Blobs,
+was seized by an osprey and carried away in the air. Perhaps an eagle
+was watching and forced the osprey to give up its prey. Perhaps in the
+struggle the blob escaped, falling into the river above the falls, to
+form the beginning of the future colony. At any rate, there is the
+great impassable waterfall, the blob above it and below. The osprey
+has its nest on a broken pine tree, above the cataract, and its tyrant
+master, the bald eagle, watches it from a still higher crag whenever
+it goes fishing.</p>
+
+<p>Two years ago the Hon. Marshall McDonald, whose duty as United States
+Fish Commissioner it is to look after the fishes wherever they may be,
+sent me to this country to see what could be done for his wards. It
+was a proud day when I set out from Mammoth Hot<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_314" id="Pg_314"></a> Springs astride a
+black cayuse, or Indian pony, which answered to the name of Jump,
+followed by a long train of sixteen other cayuses of every variety of
+color and character, the most notable of all being a white pony called
+Tinker. At some remote and unidentified period of her life she had
+bucked and killed a tradesman who bestrode her against her will, and
+thereby, as in the old Norse legends, she has inherited his strength,
+his wickedness, and his name. And when, after many adventures, I came
+back from this strange land and told the story of its fishes other men
+were sent out from Washington with nets and buckets. They gathered up
+the trout and carried them to the rivers above the falls, and now all
+the brooks and pools of the old lava-bed, the fairest streams in the
+world, are full of their natural inhabitants.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/314image.png"><img src="images/314image.png" width="400" height="213" alt="A mountain" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_315" id="Pg_315"></a><a name="THE_COLORS_OF_ANIMALS" id="THE_COLORS_OF_ANIMALS"></a>THE COLORS OF ANIMALS<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Chapters in Popular Natural History.)<br />
+By SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, BART., M.P., F.B.S., etc.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 250px;">
+<a href="images/315t.png"><img src="images/315t-1.gif" width="250" height="325" alt="T, decorated with leaves and a caterpillar" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 127px;">
+<a href="images/315t.png"><img src="images/315t-2.png" width="127" height="151" alt="T, decorated with leaves and a caterpillar" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<p style="margin-top:90px; text-indent:-8px;"><span class="cap">T</span>he color of animals is by no means a matter of chance; it depends on
+many considerations, but in the majority of cases tends to protect the
+animal from danger by rendering it less conspicuous. Perhaps it may be
+said that if coloring is mainly protective, there ought to be but few
+brightly colored animals. There are, however, not a few cases in which
+vivid colors are themselves protective. The kingfisher itself, though
+so brightly colored, is by no means easy to see. The blue harmonizes
+with the water, and the bird as it darts along the stream looks almost
+like a flash of sunlight; besides which, protection is not the only
+consideration. Let us now consider the prevalent colors of animals and
+see how far they support the rule.</p>
+
+<p>Desert animals are generally the color of the desert. Thus, for
+instance, the lion, the antelope, and the wild<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_316" id="Pg_316"></a> ass are all
+sand-colored. &ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; says Canon Tristram, &ldquo;in the desert, where
+neither trees, brushwood, nor even undulation of the surface afford
+the slightest protection to its foes, a modification of color which
+shall be assimilated to that of the surrounding country is absolutely
+necessary. Hence, without exception, the upper plumage of every bird,
+whether lark, chat, sylvain, or sand grouse, and also the fur of all
+the smaller mammals and the skin of all the snakes and lizards, is of
+one uniform sand color.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It is interesting to note that, while the lion is sand-colored like
+the desert, the long, upright, yellow stripes of the tiger make it
+very difficult to see the animal among the long dry grasses of the
+Indian jungles in which it lives. The leopard, again, and other tree
+cats are generally marked with spots which resemble gleams of light
+glancing through the leaves.</p>
+
+<p>The colors of birds are in many cases perhaps connected with the
+position and mode of construction of their nests. Thus, we know that
+hen birds are generally less brightly colored than the cocks, and this
+is partly, perhaps, because bright colors would be a danger to the
+hens while sitting on their eggs. When the nest is placed underground
+or in the hole of a tree, etc., we find it no longer to be such an
+invariable rule that the hen bird is dull-colored; but, on the
+contrary, she is then often as gaily colored as the male. Such, for
+instance, is the case with the hen kingfisher, which is one of the
+brightest of British birds and one of the very few which make their
+nests underground; the hen woodpecker, which is also gaily colored and
+builds in hollow trees, forms a second instance.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_317" id="Pg_317"></a>In the few cases where the hens are as conspicuously colored as the
+cocks, and yet the nest is open to view, we generally find that the
+hens are strong, pugnacious birds, and well able to defend themselves.
+There are even instances, though these are comparatively rare, in
+which the hens are more brilliantly colored than the cocks; and it is
+an interesting fact that it is then the cocks, and not the hens, which
+hatch the eggs.</p>
+
+<p>It therefore seems to be a rule, with very few exceptions, that when
+both the cocks and hens are of strikingly gay or conspicuous colors,
+the nest is such as to conceal the sitting bird; while, whenever there
+is a striking contrast of colors, the nest is open and the sitting
+bird exposed to view.</p>
+
+<p>Again, most fishes are dark above and pale below. This points to the
+same fact, for when one looks down into the dark water, the dark color
+of their backs renders them the less easy to distinguish; while, to an
+enemy looking up from below, the pale belly would be less conspicuous
+against the light of the sky. Those fishes which live deep down in the
+depths of the ocean present no such contrast between the upper and
+under surface. Many of the smaller animals which live in the sea are
+as transparent as glass, and are consequently very difficult to
+distinguish.</p>
+
+<p>It is sometimes said that if animals were really colored with
+reference to concealment, sheep would be green, like grass. This,
+however, is quite a mistake. If they were green they would really be
+more easy to see. In the gray of the morning and the evening twilight,
+just the time when wild animals generally feed, gray and stone colors
+are most difficult to distinguish.<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_318" id="Pg_318"></a> Sheep were originally mountain
+animals, and every one who has ever been on a mountain-side knows how
+difficult it is to distinguish a sheep, at some distance, from a mass
+of stone or rock.</p>
+
+<p>It is, again, a great advantage to the rabbit and hare to be colored
+like earth; black or white rabbits are more easy to see, and
+consequently more likely to be killed. This, however, does not apply
+to those which are kept in captivity, and we know that tame rabbits
+are often black and white. Again, in the far north, where for months
+together the ground is covered with snow, the white color, which would
+be a danger here, becomes an advantage; and many Arctic animals, like
+the polar bear and polar hare, are white, while others, such as the
+mountain hare and ptarmigan, change their color, being brown in summer
+and white in winter. So are the Arctic fox and the ermine, to whom it
+is then an advantage to be white, not to avoid danger, but in order
+that they may be the more easily able to steal unperceived upon their
+prey.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the cases in which certain insects escape danger by their
+similarity to plants are well known; the leaf insect and the
+walking-stick insect are familiar and most remarkable cases. The larv&aelig;
+of insects afford, also, many interesting examples, and in other
+respects teach us, indeed, many instructive lessons. It would be a
+great mistake to regard them as merely preparatory stages in the
+development of the perfect insect. They are much more than this, for
+external circumstances act on the larv&aelig;, as well as on the perfect
+insect: both, therefore, are liable to adaptation. In fact, the
+modifications which insect larv&aelig; undergo<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_319" id="Pg_319"></a> may be divided into two
+kinds&mdash;developmental, or those which tend to approximation to the
+mature form; and adaptational or adaptive, those which tend to suit
+them to their own mode of life.</p>
+
+<p>It is a remarkable fact, that the forms of larv&aelig; do not depend on
+those of the mature insect. In many cases, for instance, very similar
+larv&aelig; produce extremely dissimilar insects. In other cases, similar,
+or comparatively similar, perfect insects have very dissimilar larv&aelig;.
+Indeed, a classification of insects founded on larva would be quite
+different from that founded on the perfect insects. The group to which
+the bees, wasps, and ants belong, for instance, and which, so far as
+the perfect insects are concerned, form a very natural division, would
+be divided into two; or rather one portion of them&mdash;namely, the
+saw-flies&mdash;would be united to the butterflies and moths. Now, why do
+the larv&aelig; of saw-flies differ from those of their allies, and resemble
+those of butterflies and moths? It is because their habits differ from
+those of ants and bees, and they feed on leaves like ordinary
+caterpillars.</p>
+
+<p>In some cases the form changes considerably during the larval state.
+From this point of view, the transformations of a small beetle, called
+<i>Sitaris</i>, which have been carefully observed by M. Fabre, are
+peculiarly interesting.</p>
+
+<p>The genus Sitaris, which is allied to the blister-fly and to the
+oil-beetle, is parasitic on a kind of solitary bee which excavates
+subterranean galleries, each leading to a cell. The eggs of the
+beetle, which are deposited at the entrance of the galleries made by
+the bees, are hatched at the end of September or beginning of
+Octo<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_320" id="Pg_320"></a>ber, and we might not unnaturally expect that the young larv&aelig;,
+which are active little creatures with six serviceable legs, would at
+once eat their way into the cells of the bee. No such thing: till the
+month of April following they remain without leaving their birthplace,
+and consequently without food; nor do they in this long time change
+either in form or size. M. Fabre ascertained this, not only by
+examining the burrow of the bees, but also by direct observations of
+some young larv&aelig; kept in captivity. In April, however, his captives at
+last awoke from their long lethargy, and hurried anxiously about their
+prisons. Naturally inferring that they were in search of food, M.
+Fabre supposed that this would consist either of the larv&aelig; or pup&aelig; of
+the bee, or of the honey with which it stores its cell. All three were
+tried without success. The first two were neglected; and the larv&aelig;,
+when placed on the latter, either hurried away or perished in the
+attempt, being evidently unable to deal with the sticky substance. M.
+Fabre was in despair. The first ray of light came to him from our
+countryman Newport, who ascertained that a small parasite found on one
+of the wild bees was, in fact, the larva of the oil-beetle. The larv&aelig;
+of Sitaris much resembled this larva. Acting on this hint, M. Fabre
+examined many specimens of the bee, and found on them at last the
+larv&aelig; of his Sitaris. The males of the bee emerge from the pup&aelig; sooner
+than the females, and M. Fabre ascertained that, as they come out of
+their galleries, the little Sitaris larv&aelig; fasten upon them. Not,
+however, for long: instinct teaches them that they are not yet in the
+straight path of development; and, watching their opportunity, they<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_321" id="Pg_321"></a>
+pass from the male to the female bee. Guided by these indications, M.
+Fabre examined several cells of the bee; in some, the egg of the bee
+floated by itself on the surface of the honey; in others, on the egg,
+as on a raft, sat the still more minute larva of the Sitaris. The
+mystery was solved. At the moment when the egg is laid, the Sitaris
+larva springs upon it. Even while the poor mother is carefully
+fastening up her cell, her mortal enemy is beginning to devour her
+offspring; for the egg of the bee serves not only as a raft, but as a
+repast. The honey, which is enough for either, would be too little for
+both; and the Sitaris, therefore, at its first meal, relieves itself
+from its only rival. After eight days the egg is consumed, and on the
+empty shell the Sitaris undergoes its first transformation, and makes
+its appearance in a very different form.</p>
+
+<p>The honey, which was fatal before, is now necessary&mdash;the activity,
+which before was necessary, is now useless; consequently, with the
+change of skin, the active, slim larva changes into a white fleshy
+grub, so organized as to float on the surface of the honey, with the
+mouth beneath and the breathing-holes above the surface; for insects
+breathe, not as we do through the mouth, but through a row of holes
+arranged along the side. In this state it remains until the honey is
+consumed; then the animal contracts, and detaches itself from its
+skin, within which the further transformations take place. In the next
+stage the larva has a solid corneous envelope and an oval shape, and,
+in its color, consistency, and immobility, resembles the chrysalis of
+a fly. The time passed in this condition varies much. When it has<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_322" id="Pg_322"></a>
+elapsed, the animal moults again, again changes its form; after this,
+it becomes a pupa, without any remarkable peculiarities. Finally,
+after these wonderful changes and adventures, in the month of August
+the perfect beetle makes its appearance.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 250px;"><a name="cater_fig1" id="cater_fig1"></a>
+<a href="images/322cater.png"><img src="images/322cater.png" width="250" height="493" alt="Fig. 1. The Caterpillar of the Marbled White Butterfly (Arge galathea)." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;1. <br />The Caterpillar of the Marbled White
+Butterfly <span style="font-variant:normal;">(<i>Arge galathea</i>).</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In fact, whenever in any group we find differences in form or color,
+we shall always find them associated with differences in habit. Let us
+take the case of Caterpillars. The prevailing color of caterpillars is
+green, like that of leaves. The value of this to the young insect, the
+protection it affords, are obvious. We must all have observed how
+difficult it is to distinguish small green caterpillars from the
+leaves on which they feed. When, however, they become somewhat larger,
+their form betrays them, and it is important that there should be
+certain marks to divert the eye from the outlines of the body. This is
+effected, and much protection is given, by longitudinal lines (<a href="#cater_fig1">Fig.&nbsp;1</a>), which accordingly are found on a great many caterpillars. These
+lines, both in color and thickness, much resemble some of the lines on
+leaves (those, for instance, of grasses), and also the streaks of
+shadow which occur among foliage. If this be the explanation of them,
+then they ought to be wanting, as a general rule, in very small
+caterpillars, and should prevail most among those which feed on or
+among grasses.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 150px;"><a name="cater_fig2" id="cater_fig2"></a>
+<a href="images/323cater.png"><img src="images/323cater.png" width="150" height="411" alt="Fig. 2.--The Caterpillar of the Eyed Hawk-Moth (Smerinthus ocellatus)." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;2.&mdash;The Caterpillar of the Eyed Hawk-Moth
+<span style="font-variant:normal;">(<i>Smerinthus ocellatus</i>).</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_323" id="Pg_323"></a>Now, similar lines occur on a great number of caterpillars belonging
+to most different groups of butterflies and moths, as you may see by
+turning over the illustrations of any monograph of the group. They
+exist among the Hawk-moths&mdash;as, for instance, in the Humming-bird
+Hawk-moth; they occur in many butterflies, especially in those which
+feed on grass; and in many moths. But you will find that the smallest
+caterpillars rarely possess these white streaks. As regards the second
+point, also, the streaks are generally wanting in caterpillars which
+feed on large-leaved plants. The <i>Satyrid&aelig;</i>, on the contrary, all
+possess them, and all live on grass. In fact we may say, as a general
+rule, that these longitudinal streaks only occur on caterpillars which
+live on or among narrow-leaved plants. As the insect grows, these
+lines often disappear on certain segments, and are replaced by
+diagonal lines. These diagonal lines (<a href="#cater_fig2">Fig.&nbsp;2</a>) occur in a great many
+caterpillars, belonging to the most distinct families of butterflies
+and moths. They come off just at the same angle as the ribs of leaves,
+and resemble them very much in general effect. They occur also
+especially on species which feed on large-leaved plants; and I believe
+I may say that though a great many species of caterpillars present
+these lines, they rarely, if ever, occur in species which live on
+grass; while, on the contrary, they are very frequent in those
+species which li<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_324" id="Pg_324"></a>ve on large-leaved plants.</p>
+
+<p>It might at first be objected to this view that there are many cases,
+as in the Elephant-Hawk-moth, in which caterpillars have both. A
+little consideration, however, will explain this. In small
+caterpillars these oblique lines would be useless, because they must
+have some relation, not only in color, but in their distance apart, to
+the ribs of the leaves. Hence, while there are a great many species
+which have, longitudinal lines when young, and diagonal ones when they
+are older and larger, there is not, I believe, a single one which
+begins with diagonal lines, and then replaces them with longitudinal
+ones. The disappearance of the longitudinal lines on those segments
+which have diagonal ones, is striking, where the lines are marked. It
+is an advantage, because white lines crossing one another at such an
+angle have no relation to anything which occurs in plants, and would
+make the creature more conspicuous. When, therefore, the diagonal
+lines are developed, the longitudinal ones often disappear. There is
+one other point in connection with these diagonal lines to which I
+must call your attention.</p>
+
+<p>In many species they are white, but in some cases&mdash;as, for instance,
+in the beautiful green caterpillar of the Privet-Hawk-moth&mdash;the white
+streak is accompanied by a colored one, in that case lilac. At first
+we might think that this would be a disadvantage, as tending to make
+the caterpillar more conspicuous; and in fact, if we put one in full
+view&mdash;for instance, out on a table&mdash;and focus the eye on it, the
+colored lines are very striking. But we must remember that the habit
+of the insect is to sit on the lower side of the leaf, general<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_325" id="Pg_325"></a>ly near
+the middle rib, and in the subdued light of such a situation,
+especially if the eye be not looking exactly at them, the colored
+lines beautifully simulate a line of soft shadow, such as must always
+accompany a strong rib; and I need not tell any artist that the
+shadows of yellowish-green must be purplish. Moreover, any one who has
+ever found one of these large caterpillars will, I am sure, agree with
+me that it is surprising, when we consider their size and conspicuous
+coloring, how difficult it is to see them.</p>
+
+<p>But though the prevailing color of caterpillars is green, there are
+numerous exceptions. In one great family of moths the prevailing color
+is brown. These caterpillars, however, escape observation by their
+great similarity to brown twigs&mdash;a resemblance which is heightened by
+their peculiar attitudes, and in many cases by the existence of warts
+or protuberances, which look like buds. Some, however, even of these
+caterpillars, when very young, are green. Again, some caterpillars are
+white. These feed on and burrow in wood. The Ringlet Butterfly also
+has whitish caterpillars, and this may at first sight appear to
+contradict the rule, since it feeds on grass. Its habit is, however,
+to keep at the roots by day, and feed only at night.</p>
+
+<p>In various genera we find Black caterpillars, which are of course very
+conspicuous, and, so far as I know, not distasteful to birds. In such
+cases, however, it will be found that they are covered with hairs or
+spines, which protect them from most birds. In these species the bold
+dark color may be an advantage, by rendering the hair more
+conspicuous. Many caterpillars are black <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_326" id="Pg_326"></a>and hairy, but I do not know
+any large caterpillar which is black and smooth.</p>
+
+<p>Brown caterpillars, also, are frequently protected by hairs or spines
+in the same way; but, unlike black ones, they are frequently naked.
+These fall into two principal categories: firstly, those which, like
+the Geometrid&aelig;, put themselves into peculiar and stiff attitudes, so
+that in form, color, and position they closely resemble bits of dry
+stick; and, secondly, those which feed on low plants, concealing
+themselves on the ground by day, and only coming out in the dark.</p>
+
+<p>Yellow and yellowish-green caterpillars are abundant, and their color
+is a protection. Red and blue, on the contrary, are much less common
+colors, and are generally present as spots.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, caterpillars with red lines or spots are generally hairy,
+and this for the reason given above. Such species, therefore, would be
+avoided by birds. There are, no doubt, some apparent exceptions. The
+Swallow-tail Butterfly, for instance, has red spots and still is
+smooth; but as it emits a strongly-scented liquid when alarmed, it is
+probably distasteful to birds. I cannot recall any other case of a
+British caterpillar which has conspicuous red spots or lines, and yet
+is smooth.</p>
+
+<p>Blue is, among caterpillars, even a rarer color than red. Indeed,
+among our larger larv&aelig;, the only cases I can recall are the Lappets,
+which have two conspicuous blue bands, the Death&#8217;s-head Moth, which
+has broad diagonal bands, and two of the Hawk-moths, which have two
+bright blue oval patches on the third segment. The Lappets are
+protected by being hairy, but why the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_327" id="Pg_327"></a>y have the blue bands I have no
+idea. It is interesting, that both the other species frequent plants
+which have blue flowers. The peculiar hues of the Death&#8217;s-head
+caterpillar, which feeds on the potato, unite so beautifully the brown
+of the earth, the yellow and green of the leaves, and the blue of the
+flowers, that, in spite of its size, it can scarcely be perceived
+unless the eye be focussed exactly upon it.</p>
+
+<p>The Oleander Hawk-moth is also an interesting case. Many of the
+Hawk-moth caterpillars have eye-like spots, to which I shall have to
+allude again presently. These are generally reddish or yellowish, but
+in this species, which feeds on the periwinkle, they are bright blue,
+and in form as well as color closely resemble the blue petals of that
+flower. One other species, the Sharp-winged Hawk-moth, also has two
+smaller blue spots, with reference to which I can make no suggestion.
+It is a very rare species, and I have never seen it. Possibly, in this
+case, the blue spots may be an inherited character, and have no
+reference to the present habits. They are, at any rate, quite small.</p>
+
+<p>No one who looks at any representations of Hawk-moth caterpillars can
+fail to be struck by the peculiar coloring of those belonging to the
+Pine Moth, which differ in style of coloring from all other sphinx
+larv&aelig;, having longitudinal bands of brown and green. Why is this?
+Their <i>habitat</i> is different. They feed on the leaves of the pinaster,
+and their peculiar coloring offers a general similarity to the brown
+twigs and narrow green leaves of a conifer. There are not many species
+of butterflies or moths which feed on the pine, but there are a few:
+and most, if not all of them, have a very analo<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_328" id="Pg_328"></a>gous style of coloring
+to that of the Pine Moth, while the latter has also tufts of
+bluish-green hair which singularly mimic the leaves of the pine. It is
+still more remarkable that in a different order of insects we again
+find species&mdash;for instance one of the saw-flies&mdash;which live on the
+pine, and in which the same style of coloring is repeated.</p>
+
+<p>Let us now take a single group, and see how far we can explain its
+various colors and markings, and what are the lessons which they teach
+us. For this purpose, I think I cannot do better than select the larv&aelig;
+of the Hawk-moths, which have just been the subject of a masterly work
+by Dr. Weissmann, from which most of the following facts are taken.</p>
+
+<p>The caterpillars of this group are very different in color&mdash;green,
+white, yellow, brown, sometimes even gaudy, varied with spots,
+patches, streaks, and lines. Now, are these differences merely casual
+and accidental, or have they a meaning and a purpose? In many, perhaps
+in most cases, the markings serve for the purpose of concealment.
+When, indeed, we see caterpillars represented on a white sheet of
+paper, or if we put them on a plain table, and focus the eye on them,
+the colors and markings would seem, if possible, to render them even
+more conspicuous; but amongst the intricate lines and varied colors of
+foliage and flowers, and if the insect be a little out of focus, the
+effect is very different.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"><a name="cater_fig3" id="cater_fig3"></a>
+<a href="images/329cater3.png"><img src="images/329cater3.png" width="350" height="138" alt="Fig. 3.--The Caterpillar of the Elephant Hawk-Moth (Chaerocampa elpenor). Full grown. Natural size." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;3.&mdash;The Caterpillar of the Elephant
+Hawk-Moth <span style="font-variant:normal;">(<i>Ch&aelig;rocampa elpenor</i>). Full grown. Natural size.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 275px;"><a name="cater_fig4" id="cater_fig4"></a>
+<a href="images/329cater4.png"><img src="images/329cater4.png" width="275" height="70" alt="Fig. 4.--The Caterpillar of the Elephant Hawk-Moth (Chaerocampa elpenor). First stage." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;4.&mdash;The Caterpillar of the Elephant
+Hawk-Moth <span style="font-variant:normal;">(<i>Ch&aelig;rocampa elpenor</i>). First stage.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Let us begin with the Elephant Hawk-moth. The caterpillars (<a href="#cater_fig3">Fig.&nbsp;3</a>),
+as represented in most entomological works, are of two varieties, most
+of them brown, but some green. Both have a white line on the three
+first segments; two remarkable eye-like spots on the fourth and fi<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_329" id="Pg_329"></a>fth,
+and a very faint median line; and are rather more than four inches
+long. I will direct your attention specially, for the moment, to three
+points:&mdash;What do the eye-spots and the faint lateral line mean? and
+why are some green and some brown, offering thus such a marked
+contrast to the leaves of the small epilobe on which they feed? Other
+questions will suggest themselves later. I must now call your
+attention to the fact, that when the caterpillars first quit the egg,
+and come into the world (<a href="#cater_fig4">Fig.&nbsp;4</a>), they are quite different in
+appearance, being, like so many other small caterpillars, bright
+green, and almost exactly the color of the leaves on which they feed.
+That this color is not the necessary or direct consequence of the
+food, we see from the case of quadrupeds, which, as I need scarcely
+say, are never green. It is, however, so obviously a protection to
+small caterpillars, that this explanation of their green color
+suggests itself to every one.</p>
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_330" id="Pg_330"></a></p>
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px; clear:both;"><a name="cater_fig5" id="cater_fig5"></a>
+<a href="images/330cater5.png"><img src="images/330cater5.png" width="300" height="79" alt="Fig. 5.--The Caterpillar of the Elephant Hawk-Moth (Chaerocampa elpenor). Second Stage." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;5.&mdash;The Caterpillar of the Elephant
+Hawk-Moth <span style="font-variant:normal;">(<i>Ch&aelig;rocampa elpenor</i>). Second Stage.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px; clear:both;"><a name="cater_fig6" id="cater_fig6"></a>
+<a href="images/330cater6.png"><img src="images/330cater6.png" width="300" height="75" alt="Fig. 6.--The Caterpillar of the Elephant Hawk-Moth (Chaerocampa elpenor). Just before the second moult." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;6.&mdash;The Caterpillar of the Elephant
+Hawk-Moth <span style="font-variant:normal;">(<i>Ch&aelig;rocampa elpenor</i>). Just before the second moult.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px; clear:both;"><a name="cater_fig7" id="cater_fig7"></a>
+<a href="images/330cater7.png"><img src="images/330cater7.png" width="300" height="124" alt="Fig. 7.--The Caterpillar of the Elephant Hawk-Moth (Chaerocampa elpenor). Third Stage." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;7.&mdash;The Caterpillar of the Elephant
+Hawk-Moth <span style="font-variant:normal;">(<i>Ch&aelig;rocampa elpenor</i>). Third Stage.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>After five or six days, and when they are about a quarter of an inch
+in length, they go through their first moult. In their second stage
+(<a href="#cater_fig5">Fig.&nbsp;5</a>), they have two white lines, stretching along the body from
+the horn to the head; and after a few days (<a href="#cater_fig6">Fig.&nbsp;6</a>), but not at first,
+traces of the eye-spots appear on the fourth and fifth segments, shown
+by a slight wave in the upper line. After another five or six days,
+and when about half an inch in length, our caterpillars moult again.
+In their third stage (<a href="#cater_fig7">Fig.&nbsp;7</a>), the commencement of the eye-spots is
+more marked, while, on the contrary, the lower longitudinal line has
+disappeared. After another moult (<a href="#cater_fig8">Fig.&nbsp;8</a>), the eye-spots are still
+more distinct, the white gradually becomes surrounded by a black line,
+while in the next stage (<a href="#cater_fig9">Fig.&nbsp;9</a>) the centre becomes somewhat violet.
+The white lines have almost or entirely disappeared, and in some
+specimens faint diagonal lines make their appearance. Some few assume
+a brownish tint, but not many. A fourth moult takes place in seven or
+eight days, and when the caterpillars are about an inch and a half in
+length. Now, the difference shows itself still more between the two
+varieties, some remaini<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_331" id="Pg_331"></a>ng green, while the majority become brown. The
+eye-spots are more marked, and the pupil more distinct, the diagonal
+lines plainer, while the white line is only indicated on the first
+three, and on the eleventh segment. The last stage (<a href="#cater_fig9">Fig.&nbsp;9</a>) has been
+already described.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"><a name="cater_fig8" id="cater_fig8"></a>
+<a href="images/331cater8.png"><img src="images/331cater8.png" width="350" height="109" alt="Fig. 8.--The Caterpillar of the Elephant Hawk-Moth (Chaerocampa elpenor). Fourth Stage." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;8.&mdash;The Caterpillar of the Elephant
+Hawk-Moth <span style="font-variant:normal;">(<i>Ch&aelig;rocampa elpenor</i>). Fourth Stage.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Now, the principal points to which I wish to draw attention are (1)
+the green color, (2) the longitudinal lines, (3) the diagonal lines,
+(4) the brown color, and (5) the eye-spots.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;"><a name="cater_fig9" id="cater_fig9"></a>
+<a href="images/331cater9.png"><img src="images/331cater9.png" width="350" height="71" alt="Fig. 9.--The Caterpillar of the Elephant Hawk-Moth (Chaerocampa elpenor). Fifth Stage." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;9.&mdash;The Caterpillar of the Elephant
+Hawk-Moth <span style="font-variant:normal;">(<i>Ch&aelig;rocampa elpenor</i>). Fifth Stage.</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>As regards the first three, however, I think I need say no more. The
+value of the green color to the young larva is obvious; nor is it much
+less clear that when the insect is somewhat larger, the longitudinal
+lines are a great advantage, while subsequently diagonal ones become
+even more important.</p>
+
+<p>The next point is the color of the mature caterpillars. We have seen
+that some are green, and others brown. The green ones are obviously
+merely those which have retaine<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_332" id="Pg_332"></a>d their original color. Now for the
+brown color. This probably makes the caterpillar even more conspicuous
+among the green leaves than would otherwise be the case. Let us see,
+then, whether the habits of the insect will throw any light upon the
+riddle. What would you do if you were a big caterpillar? Why, like
+most other defenceless creatures, you would feed by night, and lie
+concealed by day. So do these caterpillars. When the morning light
+comes, they creep down the stem of the food plant, and lie concealed
+among the thick herbage, and dry sticks and leaves, near the ground;
+and it is obvious that under such circumstances the brown color really
+becomes a protection. It might indeed be argued that the caterpillars,
+having become brown, concealed themselves on the ground; and that we
+were, in fact, reversing the state of things. But this is not so;
+because, while we may say, as a general rule, that (with some
+exceptions due to obvious causes) large caterpillars feed by night and
+lie concealed by day, it is by no means always the case that they are
+brown; some of them still retaining the green color. We may then
+conclude that the habit of concealing themselves by day came first,
+and that the brown color is a later adaptation. It is, moreover,
+interesting to note that while the caterpillars which live on low
+plants often go down to the ground and turn brown, those which feed on
+large trees or plants remain on the under side of the leaves, and
+retain their green color.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, in the Eyed Hawk-moth, which feeds on the willow and sallow; the
+Poplar Hawk-moth, which feeds on the poplar; and the Lime Hawk-moth,
+which frequents the lime, the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_333" id="Pg_333"></a> caterpillars all remain green; while in
+those which frequent low plants, such as the Convolvulus Hawk-moth,
+which frequents the convolvulus; the Oleander Hawk-moth, which feeds
+in this country on the periwinkle; and other species, most of the
+caterpillars turn brown. There are, indeed, some caterpillars which
+are brown, and still do not go down to the ground&mdash;as, for instance,
+those of the Geometrid&aelig; generally. These caterpillars, however, as
+already mentioned, place themselves in peculiar attitudes, which,
+combined with their brown color, make them look almost exactly like
+bits of stick or dead twigs.</p>
+
+<p>The last of the five points to which I called your attention was the
+eye-spots. In some cases, spots may serve for concealment, by
+resembling the marks on dead leaves. In one species, which feeds on
+the hippoph&aelig;, or sea buckthorn, a gray-green plant, the caterpillar
+also is a similar gray-green, and has, when full grown, a single red
+spot on each side&mdash;which, as Weissmann suggests, at first sight much
+resembles in color and size one of the berries of the hippoph&aelig;. This
+might, at first, be supposed to constitute a danger, and therefore to
+be a disadvantage; but the seeds, though present, are not ripe, and
+consequently are not touched by birds. Again, in another caterpillar,
+there is an eye-spot on each segment, which mimics the flower of the
+plant on which it feeds. White spots, in some cases, also resemble the
+spots of light which penetrate foliage. In other instances, however,
+and at any rate in our Elephant Hawk-moth, the eye-spots certainly
+render the insect more conspicuous.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_334" id="Pg_334"></a>Now in some cases, this is an advantage, rather than a drawback.
+Suppose that from the nature of its food, from its being covered with
+hair, or from any other cause, a small green caterpillar were very
+bitter, or disagreeable or dangerous as food, still, in the number of
+small green caterpillars which birds love, it would be continually
+swallowed by mistake. If, on the other hand, it had a conspicuous and
+peculiar color, its evil taste would serve to protect it, because the
+birds would soon recognize and avoid it, as has been proved
+experimentally. I have already alluded to a case of this among the
+Hawk-moths, in a species which, feeding on euphorbia, with its bitter
+milky juice, is very distasteful to birds, and is thus actually
+protected by its bold and striking colors. The spots on our Elephant
+Hawk-moth caterpillar do not admit of this explanation, because the
+insect is quite good to eat&mdash;I mean, for birds. We must, therefore, if
+possible, account for these spots in some other way. There can, I
+think, be little doubt that Weissmann is right when he suggests that
+the eye-spots actually protect the caterpillar, by frightening its
+foes.</p>
+
+<p>Every one must have observed that these large caterpillars&mdash;as, for
+instance, that of the small Elephant Hawk-moth (<a href="#cater_fig10">Fig.&nbsp;10</a>)&mdash;have a sort
+of uncanny poisonous appearance; that they suggest a small thick snake
+or other evil beast, and the so-called &ldquo;eyes&rdquo; do much to increase the
+deception. Moreover, the segment on which they are placed is swollen,
+and the insect, when in danger, has the habit of retracting its head
+and front segments, which gives it an additional resemblance to some
+small reptile. That small birds are, as a matter of fact, afraid of
+these caterpillars (which, however, I need not s<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_335" id="Pg_335"></a>ay, are in reality
+altogether harmless), Weissmann has proved by actual experiment. He
+put one of these caterpillars in a tray in which he was accustomed to
+place seed for birds. Soon a little flock of sparrows and other small
+birds assembled to feed as usual. One of them lit on the edge of this
+tray, and was just going to hop in, when she spied the caterpillar.
+Immediately she began bobbing her head up and down, but was afraid to
+go nearer. Another joined her, and then another, until at last there
+was a little company of ten or twelve birds, all looking on in
+astonishment, but not one ventured into the tray; while one bird,
+which lit in it unsuspectingly, beat a hasty retreat in evident alarm,
+as soon as she perceived the caterpillar. After watching for some
+time, Weissmann removed it, when the birds soon attacked the seeds.
+Other caterpillars also are probably protected by their curious
+resemblance to spotted snakes.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"><a name="cater_fig10" id="cater_fig10"></a>
+<a href="images/335cater.png"><img src="images/335cater.png" width="400" height="74" alt="Fig. 10.--The Caterpillar of the Small Elephant Hawk-moth (Chaerocampa porcellus)." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;10.&mdash;The Caterpillar of the Small Elephant
+Hawk-moth <span style="font-variant:normal;">(<i>Ch&aelig;rocampa porcellus</i>).</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Moreover, we may learn another very interesting lesson from these
+caterpillars. They leave the egg, as we have seen, a plain green, like
+so many other caterpillars, and gradually acquire a succession of
+markings, the utility of which I have just attempted to explain. The
+young larva, in fact, represents an old form, and the species, in the
+lapse of ages, has gone through the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_336" id="Pg_336"></a> stage which each individual now
+passes through in a few weeks. Thus, the caterpillar of <i>Ch&aelig;rocampa
+porcellus</i>, a species very nearly allied to the Elephant Hawk-moth,
+passes through almost exactly the same stages as that species. But it
+leaves the egg with a subdorsal line, which the caterpillar of the
+Elephant Hawk-moth does not acquire until after its first moult. No
+one can doubt, however, that there was a time when the new-born
+caterpillars of the small Elephant Hawk-moth were plain green, like
+those of the large one. Again, if we compare the mature caterpillars
+of this group of Hawk-moths, we shall find there are some forms which
+never develop eye-spots, but which, even when full grown, correspond
+to the second stage of the Elephant Hawk-moth. Here, then, we seem to
+have species still in the stage which the Elephant Hawk-moth must have
+passed through long ago.</p>
+
+<p>The genus <i>Deilephila</i>, of which we have three species&mdash;the Euphorbia
+Hawk-moth, the Galium Hawk-moth, and the Rayed Hawk-moth&mdash;is also very
+instructive. The caterpillar of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth begins life of
+a clear green color, without a trace of the subsequent markings. After
+the first moult, however, it has a number of black patches, a white
+line, and a series of white dots, and has, therefore, at one bound,
+acquired characters which in the Elephant Hawk-moth, as we have seen,
+were only very gradually assumed. In the third stage, the line has
+disappeared, leaving the white spots. In the fourth, the caterpillars
+have become very variable, but are generally much darker than before,
+and have a number of white dots under the spots. In the fifth<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_337" id="Pg_337"></a> stage,
+there is a second row of white spots under the first. The caterpillars
+not being good to eat, there is, as has been already pointed out, no
+need for, or attempt at, concealment. Now if we compare the mature
+caterpillars of other species of the genus, we shall find that they
+represent phases in the development of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth. The
+Sea Buckthorn Hawk-moth, for instance, even when full grown, is a
+plain green, with only a trace of the line, and corresponds,
+therefore, with a very early stage of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth; there
+is another species found in South Russia, which has the line, and
+represents the second stage of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth; another has
+the line and the row of spots, and represents, therefore, the third
+stage; lastly, there are some which have progressed further, and lost
+the longitudinal line, but they never acquire the second row of spots
+which characterizes the last stage of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, then, the individual life of certain caterpillars gives us a
+clue to the history of the species in past ages.</p>
+
+<p>For such inquiries as this, the larv&aelig; of Lepidoptera are particularly
+suitable, because they live an exposed life; because the different
+species, even of the same genus, often feed on different plants, and
+are therefore exposed to different conditions; and last, not least,
+because we know more about the larv&aelig; of the butterflies and moths than
+about those of any other insects. The larv&aelig; of ants all live in the
+dark; they are fed by the perfect ants, and being therefore all
+subject to very similar conditions, are all very much alike. It would
+puzzle even a g<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_338" id="Pg_338"></a>ood naturalist to determine the species of an ant
+larva, while, as we all know, the caterpillars of butterflies and
+moths are as easy to distinguish as the perfect insects; they differ
+from one another as much as, sometimes more than, the butterflies and
+moths themselves.</p>
+
+<p>There are five principal types of coloring among caterpillars. Those
+which live inside wood, or leaves, or underground, are generally of a
+uniform pale hue; the small leaf-eating caterpillars are green, like
+the leaves on which they feed. The other three types may, to compare
+small things with great, be likened to the three types of coloring
+among cats. There are the ground cats, such as the lion or puma, which
+are brownish or sand color, like the open places they frequent. So
+also caterpillars which conceal themselves by day at the roots of
+their food-plant, tend, as we have seen, even if originally green, to
+assume the color of earth. Nor must I omit to mention the
+<i>Geometrid&aelig;</i>, to which I have already referred, and which, from their
+brown color, their peculiar attitudes, and the frequent presence of
+warts or protuberances, closely mimic bits of dry stick. That the
+caterpillars of these species were originally green, we may infer from
+the fact that some of them at least are still of that color when first
+born.</p>
+
+<p>Then there are the spotted or eyed cats, such as the leopard, which
+live among trees; and their peculiar coloring renders them less
+conspicuous by simulating spots of light which penetrate through
+foliage. So also many caterpillars are marked with spots, eyes, or
+patches of color. Lastly, there are the jungle cat<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_339" id="Pg_339"></a>s, of which the
+tiger is the typical species, and which have stripes, rendering them
+very difficult to see among the brown grass which they frequent. It
+may, perhaps, be said that this comparison fails, because the stripes
+of tigers are perpendicular, while those of caterpillars are either
+longitudinal or oblique. This, however, so far from constituting a
+real difference, confirms the explanation; because in each case the
+direction of the lines follows that of the foliage. The tiger, walking
+horizontally on the ground, has transverse bars; the caterpillar,
+clinging to the grass in a vertical position, has longitudinal lines;
+while those which live on large-veined leaves have oblique lines, like
+the oblique ribs of the leaves.</p>
+
+<p>Red and blue are rare colors among caterpillars. Omitting minute dots,
+we have six species more or less marked with red or orange. Of these,
+two are spiny, two hairy, and one protected by scent-emitting
+tentacles. The orange medio-dorsal line of the Bedford Butterfly is
+not very conspicuous, and has been omitted in some descriptions. Blue
+is even rarer than red; in fact, none of our butterfly larv&aelig; can be
+said to exhibit this color.</p>
+
+<p>Now let us turn to the moths. I have taken all the larger species,
+amounting to rather more than one hundred and twenty; out of which
+sixty-eight are hairy or downy; and of these forty-eight are marked
+with black or gray, fifteen brown or brownish, two yellowish-green,
+one bluish-gray, one striped with yellow and black, and one
+reddish-gray. There are two yellowish-green hairy species, which
+might be regarded as except<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_340" id="Pg_340"></a>ions: one, that of the Five-spotted
+Burnet-moth, is marked with black and yellow, and the other is
+variable in color, some specimens of this caterpillar being orange.
+This last species is also marked with black, so that neither of these
+species can be considered of the green color which serves as a
+protection. Thus, among the larger caterpillars, there is not a single
+hairy species of the usual green color. On the other hand, there are
+fifty species with black or blackish caterpillars, and of these
+forty-eight are hairy or downy.</p>
+
+<p>In ten of our larger moths the caterpillars are more or less marked
+with red. Of these, three are hairy, one is an internal feeder, four
+have reddish lines, which probably serve for protection by simulating
+lines of shadow, and one, the Euphorbia Hawk-moth, is inedible. The
+last, the striped Hawk-moth, is rare, and I have never seen the
+caterpillar; but to judge from figures, the reddish line and spots
+would render it, not more, but less conspicuous amongst the low
+herbage which it frequents.</p>
+
+<p>Seven species only of the larger moths have any blue; of these, four
+are hairy, the other three are Hawk-moths. In one, the Death&#8217;s Head,
+the violet color of the side stripes certainly renders the insect less
+conspicuous among the flowers of the potato, on which it feeds. In the
+Oleander Hawk-moth there are two blue patches, which, both in color
+and form, curiously resemble the petals of the periwinkle, on which it
+feeds. In the third species, the small Elephant Hawk-moth, the bluish
+spots form the centres of the above-mentioned eye-like spots.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_341" id="Pg_341"></a>
+In one family, as already mentioned, the caterpillars are very often
+brown, and closely resemble bits of stick, the similarity being much
+increased by the peculiar attitudes they assume. On the other hand,
+the large brown caterpillars of certain Hawk-moths are night feeders,
+concealing themselves on the ground by day; and it is remarkable that
+while those species, such as the Convolvulus Hawk-moth, which feed on
+low plants, turn brown as they increase in age and size, others, which
+frequent trees, and cannot therefore descend to the ground for
+concealment, remain green throughout life. Omitting these, there are
+among the larger species, seventeen which are brown, of which twelve
+are hairy, and two have extensile caudal filaments. The others closely
+resemble bits of stick, and place themselves in peculiar and stiff
+attitudes.</p>
+
+<p>And thus, summing up the caterpillars, both of butterflies and moths,
+out of eighty-eight spiny and hairy species, only one is green, and
+even this may not be protectively colored, since it has conspicuous
+yellow warts. On the other hand, a very great majority of the black
+and brown caterpillars, as well as those more or less marked with blue
+and red, are either hairy or spiny, or have some special protection.</p>
+
+<p>Here, then, I think we see reasons, for many at any rate, of the
+variations of color and markings in caterpillars, which at first sight
+seem so fantastic and inexplicable. I should, however, produce an
+impression very different from that which I wish to convey, were I to
+lead you to suppose that all these varieties have been explained, or
+are understood. Far from it; they still offer a large field for study;
+nevertheless, I venture to think the evidence now brought forward,
+however imperfectly<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_342" id="Pg_342"></a>, is at least sufficient to justify the conclusion
+that there is not a hair or a line, not a spot or a color, for which
+there is not a reason&mdash;which has not a purpose or a meaning in the
+economy of nature.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 350px;">
+<a href="images/342leaf.png"><img src="images/342leaf.png" width="350" height="125" alt="Stalk with partly-eaten leaves" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_343" id="Pg_343"></a><a name="PROTECTIVE_RESEMBLANCES_IN_SPIDERS" id="PROTECTIVE_RESEMBLANCES_IN_SPIDERS"></a>PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES IN SPIDERS<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+By ELIZABETH G. PECKHAM.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></span></h2>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10">[10]</a> Abbreviated from the occasional Papers of the Natural
+History Society of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 1889. By permission.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 250px;">
+<a href="images/343t.gif"><img src="images/343t.gif" width="250" height="267" alt="T, decorated with a spider" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-5px;"><span class="cap">T</span>here are, among spiders, two forms of protective modification: the
+first, including all cases of protective resemblance to vegetable and
+inorganic things&mdash;that is, all modifications of color or of color and
+form that tend to make them inconspicuous in their natural
+relations&mdash;I shall call direct protection. The second form, which I
+shall call indirect protection, includes two classes, the spiders
+which are specially protected themselves and those which mimic other
+creatures which are specially protected.</p>
+
+<p>Spiders are specially protected when they become inedible through the
+acquisition of hard plates and sharp spines. The modification of form
+is frequently accompanied by conspicuous colors, which warn their
+enemies that they belong to an unpalatable class.</p>
+
+<p>The second class of indirectly protected spiders&mdash;those that mimic
+specially protected creatures&mdash;presents some diffi<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_344" id="Pg_344"></a>culties, since it is
+not always easy to determine whether the purpose of mimicry is
+protection or the capture of prey. The resemblance may, as is
+frequently the case in direct protection, serve both purposes.</p>
+
+<p>In looking for instances of protective form and color among spiders we
+encounter one difficulty at the outset. The meaning of a protective
+peculiarity can be determined only when the animal is seen in its
+natural home. The number of strangely modified forms depicted in
+descriptive works on spiders is enormous. Bodies are twisted,
+elongated, inflated, flattened, truncated, covered with tubercles or
+spines, enclosed within chitinous plates, colored like bark, like
+lichens, like flowers of every imaginable hue, like bird droppings,
+like sand or stones, and in every one of these modifications there is
+doubtless an adaptation of the spider to its surroundings which, when
+it is studied out of its natural relations, we can only guess at.</p>
+
+<p>It has been well said that in these protective resemblances those
+features of the portrait are most attended to by nature which produce
+the most effective deception when seen in nature; the faithfulness of
+the resemblance being much less striking when seen in the cabinet....</p>
+
+<p><b class="sansserif">Direct Protection. Resemblances to Vegetable and Inorganic
+Things.</b>&mdash;As a general rule the forms and colors of spiders are
+adapted to render them inconspicuous in their natural homes. Bright
+colored spiders, ... either keep hidden away or are found upon flowers
+whose tints harmonize with their own. This rule, while it has
+numerous exceptions, is borne out by <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_345" id="Pg_345"></a>the great majority of cases. A
+good illustration is found in the genus Uloborus, of which the members
+bear a deceptive resemblance to small pieces of bark, or to such bits
+of rubbish as commonly become entangled in old deserted webs. The only
+species in our neighborhood is Uloborus plumipes, which I have almost
+invariably found building in dead branches, where its disguise is more
+effective than it would be among fresh leaves. The spider is always
+found in the middle of the web, with its legs extended in a line with
+the body. There has been, in this species, a development along several
+lines, resulting in a disguise of considerable complexity. Its form
+and color make it like a scrap of bark, its body being truncated and
+diversified with small humps, while its first legs are very uneven,
+bearing heavy fringes of hair on the tibia and having the terminal
+joints slender. Its color is a soft wood-brown or gray, mottled with
+white. It has the habit of hanging motionless in the web for hours at
+a time, swaying in the wind like an inanimate object. The strands of
+its web are rough and inelastic, so that they are frequently broken;
+this gives it the appearance of one of those dilapidated and deserted
+webs in which bits of wind-blown rubbish are frequently entangled....</p>
+
+<p>Out of seven examples of the species taken during one summer, five
+were found in dead tamarack branches, one on a dead bush, and the
+seventh, an interesting variety, under the eaves of a porch. My eye
+was caught by what seemed to be a string of eleven cocoons (it is not
+common to see more than four in a web). On attempting to take them
+down I was surprised to see one of the <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_346" id="Pg_346"></a>supposed cocoons begin to shake
+the web violently. Ten were what they seemed to be, but the eleventh
+was the mother spider, whose color and general appearance was exactly
+like that of the little cases that she had made for her eggs....</p>
+
+<p>We come now to a large and interesting class in genus Epeira. I refer
+to those species, mostly nocturnal, which are protected during the
+day, not by hiding in crevices, nor in any way actually getting out of
+sight, but by the close resemblance which they bear to the bark of the
+trees to which they cling. This resemblance is brought about in two
+ways; through their color, which is like that of wood or lichens, and
+through their tuberculated and rugose forms, which resemble rough
+bark.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"><a name="mitralis_fig1" id="mitralis_fig1"></a>
+<a href="images/346mitralis.png"><img src="images/346mitralis.png" width="300" height="175" alt="Fig. 1.--Caerostris Mitralis (from Vinson)." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;1.&mdash;C&aelig;rostris Mitralis <br /><span style="font-variant:normal;">(from Vinson).</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px; clear:both;"><a name="mitralis_fig2" id="mitralis_fig2"></a>
+<a href="images/346mitralis2.png"><img src="images/346mitralis2.png" width="300" height="180" alt="Fig. 2.--Caerostris Mitralis, in profile (from Vinson)." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;2.&mdash;C&aelig;rostris Mitralis, <span style="font-variant:normal;">in profile <br />(from
+Vinson).</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>One of the most remarkable of these forms is C. mitralis, a Madagascar
+species, which, looked at in profile, probably resembles a woody knot.
+The abdomen is divided into two divergent cones (<a href="#mitralis_fig1">Fig.&nbsp;1</a>). The entire
+upper surface of the body is covered with conical elevations, which
+render it rough and uneven; the sides of the abdomen are made up of
+several layers, which form stages, one above another, like the ridges
+of bark on a woody excrescence. The legs, formed of wide, flattened
+plates, make the base. The color of the spider is yellowish-gray,
+varied <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_347" id="Pg_347"></a>with white and dark reddish-brown. It has the habit of perching
+on a branch and clasping it like a bird, so that the elaborate
+modification of form, which would be useless if the spider hung
+exposed in the web, is made as effective as possible.</p>
+
+<p>To take an example nearer home, E. infumata is a large, round-bodied
+spider, with two humps on the abdomen, which Emerton describes from
+New England as being brown, mottled with white and black; he adds that
+when it draws in its feet it looks like a lump of dirt. Infumata, in
+Wisconsin, has always a good deal of bluish-green on the upper surface
+of the abdomen. This may be a variety which has been so developed as
+to resemble the lichens which cover the tree to which it clings. It is
+one of the spiders which bear a good deal of handling without
+uncurling its legs, or showing any sign of life. Its humpy form and
+its color give it a very inanimate appearance. It is rather common in
+our neighborhood and may be caught in the late twilight while building
+its web, but to search for it in the daytime, even among the trees
+that it most frequents, is an almost hopeless task. A more grotesque
+form is E. stellata, in which the abdomen has not two, but twelve or
+fifteen humps. These are so disposed that the edge of the abdomen, all
+around, is scalloped. The colors are light and dark brown, modified by
+gray and white hairs. This spider remains motionless during the
+daytime, keeping its legs drawn up to its body. It is common on grass
+and low bushes. It is not found in Wisconsin, but the description of
+it suggests a resemblance to a piece of dead leaf.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_348" id="Pg_348"></a>
+There are many other spiders in this genus that have humps and are
+colored in brown, gray or dull yellow, as nordmanii, angulata,
+solitaria, etc. It is an almost universal habit among the Epeirid&aelig; to
+drop to the ground when threatened, and when a humped gray or brown
+spider drops to the ground and draws in its legs it is nearly
+indistinguishable from the lumps of earth, sticks and stones that
+surround it.</p>
+
+<p>One of the Theridid&aelig; which has the same protection is Ulesanis
+americana (<a href="#ulesanis_fig3">Fig.&nbsp;3</a>). The abdomen, which covers the cephalothorax nearly
+to the eyes, has a prominent hump in the middle of the back and four
+or five others behind. Its color is in shades of brown and yellow.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"><a name="ulesanis_fig3" id="ulesanis_fig3"></a>
+<a href="images/348fig3.png"><img src="images/348fig3.png" width="200" height="202" alt="Fig. 3.--Ulesanis Americana (from Emerton)." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;3.&mdash;Ulesanis Americana <br /><span style="font-variant:normal;">(from Emerton).</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Analogous to the humped Epeirid&aelig; is Thomisus foka, of Madagascar, a
+spider which is regarded with great terror by the natives, as being so
+poisonous that even its breath is deadly. They say that cattle, when
+about to lie down, look carefully about to see if one of these spiders
+is in the neighborhood. This dread is, no doubt, inspired by the
+strange and uncanny aspect of a perfectly harmless creature. It has a
+rugose, tuberculated body of trapezoid form, the colors being brown
+and reddish, while the whole aspect is crab-like. The thick, short
+legs are reddish, covered with tubercules. The secret of its strange
+form is made clear when we learn that it resembles in color and
+general appearance the fruit of Hymen&aelig;a verrucosa, a tree common in
+the forests where this spider is found.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_349" id="Pg_349"></a>
+Among the curious forms which must have been developed through
+advantageous variations but which we are unable to explain, is
+Eriauchenus workmanni (<a href="#workmanni_fig4">Fig.&nbsp;4</a>).</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 200px;"><a name="workmanni_fig4" id="workmanni_fig4"></a>
+<a href="images/349fig4.png"><img src="images/349fig4.png" width="200" height="196" alt="Fig. 4.--Eriauchenus Workmanni (from Cambridge)." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;4.&mdash;Eriauchenus Workmanni <br /><span style="font-variant:normal;">(from
+Cambridge).</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Epeira prompta, a variety of parvula, is a common spider in the State
+of Wisconsin. It is most frequently seen on cedar bushes, where its
+color harmonizes with that of the foliage and fruit. During the day it
+usually rests on a branch near its web. The back of the abdomen is of
+a peculiar bluish-green, exactly like that of the lichens growing on
+tree trunks. The bluish color is broken by waving black lines which
+imitate the curling edges of the lichens. The one represented in the
+plate was found on an old cedar which was covered with lichens. It was
+kept for two weeks in a glass-covered box, where it spent most of the
+time crouching in a corner. It built no web, but spun some irregular
+lines to run about on. It ate gnats, flies, and once a little jumping
+spider, S. pulex, which we were keeping in the same box, leaping upon
+its prey, as noted by Hentz, like an Attus. This seems a curious habit
+to be acquired by an Epeirid, since spiders, as we have noticed among
+our captives, are usually dependent for food upon what is caught in
+their webs. Prompta moves awkwardly, but very rapidly.</p>
+
+<p>Drapetisca socialis, while quite a different looking spider, is
+protected in the same way&mdash;by its resemblance to the bark upon which
+it lives. Emerton speaks of finding it on the bark of spruce trees,
+which it &ldquo;closely resembles in color.&rdquo; Menge says that it is common
+in Prussia, where it is seen in great numbers on fir trees, <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_350" id="Pg_350"></a>whose
+spotted bark it resembles in color, so that it is not easily seen. We
+have found them, most commonly, upon birch trees, and in this
+situation their color adaptation is perfect. Both the spider and the
+peeling bark of the tree are of a light silvery brown, covered with
+little blackish marks. On the bark these marks are, of course,
+irregular, while on the spider they form a pattern made up of straight
+and curved lines and dots, the legs being silvery, barred with
+blackish.</p>
+
+<p>Another little Theridion that is found on birch bark has the same
+colors arranged a little differently. The abdomen above has a large
+and peculiarly irregular black patch, which shades off into mottled
+brown and black on the sides and below. The cephalothorax has stripes
+of brown and black, and the legs are barred with light and dark brown.</p>
+
+<p>Spiders that live upon walls, fences, tree trunks, or on the ground
+harmonize in color with the surfaces upon which they are found, being
+usually gray, brown or yellow, mottled with black and white. This
+proposition is so well established as to need but few illustrations.
+The Theridid&aelig; furnish many examples, as T. murarium, a gray spider
+varied with black and white, said by Emerton to live usually &ldquo;under
+stones and fences, where it is well concealed by its color&rdquo;; and
+Lophocarenum rostratum, a yellowish-brown spider, found among leaves
+on the ground. Among the Attid&aelig; bright sexual coloring often gains the
+ascendancy over the protective tints, yet this family gives us good
+examples in such species as M. familiaris and S. pulex.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_351" id="Pg_351"></a>
+To these may be added an as yet undescribed species which we
+discovered last season in a neighborhood that we had searched
+thoroughly for eight summers. We found the new spider in great
+numbers, but could only detect it by a close scrutiny of the rail
+fences on which it lived, its color being dark gray....</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"><a name="decipiens_fig5" id="decipiens_fig5"></a>
+<a href="images/351fig5.png"><img src="images/351fig5.png" width="200" height="187" alt="Fig. 5. Ornithoscatoides Decipiens (from Cambridge)." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;5. Ornithoscato&iuml;des Decipiens <br /><span style="font-variant:normal;">(from
+Cambridge).</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The last instance that I shall cite is a predaceous spider which is
+disguised from both its enemies and its prey by an elaborate
+combination of form, color, position, and character of web. I refer to
+Ornithoscato&iuml;des decipiens (<a href="#decipiens_fig5">Fig.&nbsp;5</a>), first described by Forbes and
+afterwards by Cambridge, the latter author giving in the same paper
+descriptions of three other species of the same genus, whose habits
+have not been noted, but whose protection is evidently of the same
+order as that of decipiens. I give Forbes&#8217;s interesting account of his
+capture of decipiens, quoting also the remarks by which Cambridge
+prefaces his description, since his explanation of the gradual
+development, through Natural Selection, of the spider&#8217;s deceptive
+appearance applies as well to all the cases of protective disguise
+which have been here enumerated.</p>
+
+<p>The capture is described as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;On June 25th, 1881, in the forest near the village of Lampar, on the
+banks of the Moesi river in Sumatra, while my &lsquo;boys&rsquo; were procuring
+for me some botanical specimens from a high tree, I was rather
+dreamily looking on the shrubs before me, when I became conscious of
+my eyes resting on a bird-excreta-marked leaf. How strange, I tho<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_352" id="Pg_352"></a>ught,
+it is that I have never got another specimen of that curious spider I
+found in Java which simulated a patch just like this! I plucked the
+leaf by the petiole while so cogitating, and looked at it half
+listlessly for some moments, mentally remarking how closely that other
+spider had copied nature, when, to my delighted surprise, I discovered
+that I had actually secured a second specimen, but the imitation was
+so exquisite that I really did not perceive how matters stood for some
+moments. The spider never moved while I was plucking or twirling the
+leaf, and it was only when I placed the tip of my little finger on it,
+that I observed that it was a spider, when it, without any
+displacement of itself, flashed its falces into my flesh.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The first specimen I got was in W. Java, while hunting one day for
+Lepidoptera. I observed a specimen of one of the Hesperid&aelig; sitting, as
+is often a custom of theirs, on the excreta of a bird on a leaf; I
+crept near it, intending to examine what they find in what one is
+inclined to consider incongruous food for a butterfly. I approached
+nearer and nearer, and at last caught it between my fingers, when I
+found that it had as I thought become glued by its feet to the mass;
+but on pulling gently the spider, to my amazement, disclosed itself by
+letting go its hold: only then did I discover that I was not looking
+on a veritable bird&#8217;s excreta.... The spider is in general color
+white, spotted here and there with black; on the underside its rather
+irregularly shaped and prominent abdomen is almost all white, of a
+pure chalk white; the angles of the legs are, however, shining
+jet-black. The spider does not <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_353" id="Pg_353"></a>make an ordinary web, but only the
+thinnest film on the surface of the leaf. The appearance of the
+excreta rather recently left by a bird on a leaf is well known. There
+is a pure white deposit in the centre, thinning out round the margin,
+while in the central mass are dark portions variously disposed; as the
+leaf is rarely horizontal, the more liquid portions run for some
+distance. Now, this spider one might almost imagine to have in its
+rambles &lsquo;marked and inwardly discerned&rsquo; what it had observed, and to
+have set about practising the &lsquo;wrinkles&rsquo; gained; for it first weaves a
+small, irregular patch of white web on some prominent leaf, then a
+narrow streak laid down towards its sloping margin ending in a small
+knob; it then takes its place on the centre of the irregular spot on
+its back, crosses its black-angled legs over its thorax, and waits.
+Its pure white abdomen represents the central mass of the bird&#8217;s
+excreta, the black legs the dark portions of the slime, while the web
+above described which it has spun represents the more watery marginal
+part (become dry), even to the run-off portion with the thickened knob
+(which was not accidental, as it occurred in both cases), like the
+residue which semi-fluid substances ending in a drop leave on
+evaporation. It keeps itself in position on its back by thrusting
+under the web below it the spines with which the anterior upper
+surfaces of the legs are furnished.&rdquo; ...</p>
+
+<p><b class="sansserif">Protective Habits.</b>&mdash;Going along with these forms of
+protective resemblance, we find certain habits which sometimes serve
+independently to protect the spider, but oftener are supplemental to
+color and form. Many species hide in crevices or in leaves which they
+roll up and bind tog<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_354" id="Pg_354"></a>ether at the edges. In the Epeirid&aelig; some are like
+thaddeus, which makes a little tent of silk under a leaf near its web.
+The young thaddeus also makes a tent, but spins its little geometrical
+web on the under side of the leaf, the edges being bent downward. E.
+insularis has the more common habit of forming its tent by drawing the
+edges of two or three leaves together with strands of web; in this it
+sits all day, but at night descends and occupies the centre of the web
+during the hours of darkness. I have often found it in this position
+when hunting nocturnal species by lantern light. It is probable that
+in tropical countries the monkeys, and perhaps the birds, which devour
+these large Epeirid&aelig; have learned to recognize their webs, which are
+very large and conspicuous, and to trace them to their hiding places
+close by; and thus may have arisen the curious habit noticed by Vinson
+as possessed by E. nocturna and E. Isabella of destroying the web each
+morning and rebuilding it at night; the spider in this way gaining
+greater security from diurnal enemies.</p>
+
+<p>Atypus abbotii builds a purse-shaped tube which is found attached to
+the bark of trees, and which has the external surface dark and covered
+with sand. The trap-doors which close the nest of some of the
+Territelari&aelig; are wonderful examples of protective industry. They fit
+with such absolute accuracy into the openings of the nests and are so
+covered on the upper side with moss, earth, lichens, etc., as to be
+indistinguishable from the surrounding surface.</p>
+
+<p>The rectilinear lines which are stretched in front of the webs of
+many Epeirids are useful in taking and sending on to <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_355" id="Pg_355"></a>the spider the
+shock which tells of an approaching enemy. Some spiders, when danger
+threatens, shake the web so violently as to grow indistinct to the
+eye, and others, as Pholcus atlanticus, hang by the legs and whirl the
+body rapidly with the same bewildering result....</p>
+
+<p>A habit common to many spiders, especially among the Epeirid&aelig;, is that
+of dropping to the ground at the approach of danger and resting
+motionless among the dirt, sticks, leaves, etc., which they resemble
+in color. The holding of the body in some peculiar position, as in
+Uloborus, Hyptioides, and the flower-like Thomisid&aelig;, is a
+necessary accompaniment to the color modification.</p>
+
+<p>The cocoons of spiders are seldom left exposed and unprotected. We
+find them in corners and crevices, concealed in rolled up leaves or
+under bark. Very often the cocoon itself is covered over with a sheet
+of web. In some families the mother carries it about with her attached
+to the underside of the abdomen. In other she carries it in her falces
+until the young are hatched. The cocoons of others, as Uloborus,
+Argyrodes, etc., while hung out in the web are still concealed by
+deceptive form and color, or by being covered with rubbish.</p>
+
+<p>Cambridge speaks of A. brunnea, whose cocoons &ldquo;are covered over very
+soon after they are made and the eggs deposited in them, with a
+coating of clay, which effectually destroys all their form and beauty.
+This coating of clay answers probably two ends: first, the concealment
+of the cocoon and its protection from insect enemies; and, secondly,
+the protection of the eggs from the t<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_356" id="Pg_356"></a>oo powerful rays of the sun, dry
+clay being (as is well known) one of the best non-conductors of heat.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The peculiar cocoon of C. bisaccata is described by Emerton as
+follows: &ldquo;Only one specimen of this (<i>bisaccata</i>) was found on a beech
+tree at New Haven with two cocoons. These were dark brown, as dark as
+the bark of the tree and as hard. Around the middle of each was a
+circle of irregular points. One of the cocoons was attached by a
+strong stem to the bark, and the other was attached in a similar way
+to the first cocoon. The spider held on to one of the cocoons.&rdquo; In
+this instance the egg has evidently the same protection as that
+possessed by the gray, bark-haunting spiders, with the added advantage
+of hardness.</p>
+
+<p>The habit of distributing the eggs through a number of cocoons made at
+intervals of several days, is protective. In this way, although one or
+two of the cocoons may be pierced by the ichneumon, there is a chance
+that part of the brood may survive.</p>
+
+<p><b class="sansserif">Indirect Protection.</b>&mdash;The indirectly protected group includes
+those spiders which are rendered inedible by the possession of sharp
+spines and chitinous plates, and also those that mimic other specially
+protected creatures.</p>
+
+<p>The females of the specially protected group are characterized by the
+following attributes:</p>
+
+<p>Their inedibility, which they owe to a more or less coriaceous
+epidermis and an armature of strong sharp spines (<a href="#crepid_fig6">Fig.&nbsp;6</a>).</p>
+
+<p>Their brilliant colors&mdash;glistening black and white, yellow, fiery
+gold, metallic silver, rose-color, blue, orange and<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_357" id="Pg_357"></a> blood-red.</p>
+
+<p>Their habit of hanging always exposed in the centre of the web.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;"><a name="crepid_fig6" id="crepid_fig6"></a>
+<a href="images/357fig6.png"><img src="images/357fig6.png" width="300" height="277" alt="Fig. 6.--Gasteracantha Crepidophora (from Cambridge)." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Fig.&nbsp;6.&mdash;Gasteracantha Crepidophora <br /><span style="font-variant:normal;">(from
+Cambridge).</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In an interesting discussion of the protective value of color and
+marking in insects, Poulton says that &ldquo;the smaller convergent groups
+of nauseous insects often present us with ideally perfect types of
+warning patterns and colors&mdash;simple, crude, strongly
+contrasted&mdash;everything subordinated to the paramount necessity of
+becoming conspicuous,&rdquo; the memory of enemies being thus strongly
+appealed to.</p>
+
+<p>This proposition is well illustrated by the Gasteracanthid&aelig;. Among
+larv&aelig; the warning colors are almost invariably black and white, or
+black (or some very dark color), in contrast with yellow, orange and
+red. These are the colors that also constantly recur among the
+Gasteracanthid&aelig;.</p>
+
+<p>Cases that may be more justly considered exceptions to the rule that
+these hard, uneatable spiders are conspicuous are such species as
+Acrosoma rugosa (<a href="#rugosa_fig7">Fig.&nbsp;7</a>). One of this species was sent me by Mrs.
+Treat last summer. It lived for several weeks in my window, making no
+regular web, but hanging among a few irregular strands. It ate
+nothing, although provided with insects, but drank greedily of water.
+It might seem that its black and white coloring would make it
+conspicu<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_358" id="Pg_358"></a>ous, but in connection with its irregular shape and its way of
+hanging motionless in the web it had the opposite effect.</p>
+
+<p>We have no reason to suppose that the class represented in rugosa is
+like that touched upon by Poulton, in which very protectively colored
+larv&aelig; suddenly assume a terrifying aspect on the near approach of an
+enemy; still they do enjoy a kind of double protection.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"><a name="rugosa_fig7" id="rugosa_fig7"></a>
+<a href="images/358fig7.png"><img src="images/358fig7.png" width="300" height="236" alt="Fig. 7.--Acrosoma Rugosa. Left-hand figure female, right-hand figure male (from Emerton)." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption3"><span class="smcap">Fig.&nbsp;7.&mdash;Acrosoma Rugosa.</span> Left-hand figure
+female, right-hand figure male (from Emerton).</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>They are inconspicuous, and thus likely to escape attack, but in case
+they are attacked they have still the advantage of being quickly
+rejected. This experience cannot be as fatal to them as to the soft
+and thin skinned larv&aelig;. Their hard covering and projecting spines
+would protect them to such an extent as to give them a fair chance of
+surviving.</p>
+
+<p>In one respect the inconspicuous Gasteracanthid&aelig; have a decided
+advantage over their bright-colored relatives. The birds, indeed,
+avoid the conspicuous ones, but their brilliancy serves to attract
+another enemy against which spines are no protection&mdash;the hunter wasp,
+which, as we have seen in the work of Bates, sometimes provisions its
+nest wholly with spiders of this family. Mr. Smith gives like
+testimony, saying:</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Spines on the abdomen of certain spiders would serve as a protection
+against vertebrate enemies, though they do not protect against the
+hunter wasps, which frequently pro<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_359" id="Pg_359"></a>vision their nests with these
+species.&rdquo; He adds, however, that most of the spiny spiders are common,
+and that their colors make them conspicuous; just as butterflies that
+are protected by an odor are common and bright-colored....</p>
+
+<p><b class="sansserif">Mimicry.</b>&mdash;Mimicry, or the imitation of animal forms, while it
+is a form of indirect protection, differs in no essential respect from
+the imitation of vegetable and inorganic things. As Bates has said,
+the object of mimetic tendencies is disguise, and they will work in
+any direction that answers this purpose.</p>
+
+<p>In nearly all respects spiders come under the three laws given by
+Wallace, as governing the development of mimetic resemblances in
+several large classes. These laws are as follows:</p>
+
+<p>1. In an overwhelming majority of cases of mimicry, the animals (or
+the groups) which resemble each other inhabit the same country, the
+same district, and in most cases are to be found together on the very
+same spot.</p>
+
+<p>2. These resemblances are not indiscriminate, but are limited to
+certain groups, which, in every case, are abundant in species and
+individuals, and can often be ascertained to have some special
+protection.</p>
+
+<p>3. The species which resemble or &ldquo;mimic&rdquo; these dominant groups, are
+comparatively less abundant in individuals, and are often very rare.</p>
+
+<p>The second and third of these laws are confirmed by what we know of
+mimetic resemblances among spiders. They mimic ants much oftener than
+other creatures, and ants are very abundant, are specially protected,
+and are much more numerous than the mimetic spiders. To the first
+law, also, they conform to a great extent, since eve<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_360" id="Pg_360"></a>rything tends to
+show that in tropical America and in Africa the ant and the spider,
+the one mimicked and the other mimicking, are always found together.
+So far as I can discover, however, the ant-like spiders of North
+America are not found in company with any species of ant which they
+resemble. This may be because they do not mimic any particular
+species, but only the general ant-like form; or, considering that the
+genera which contain their nearest relatives are much more abundant in
+Central and South America, it may be that these forms were originally
+tropical, mimicking some tropical species of ants, and that after the
+Glacial Epoch they migrated northward, leaving the ants behind them.
+However this may be, their peculiar form has served them well, since
+they have maintained themselves as fairly abundant species with a
+lower fecundity than is found in any other group of spiders.</p>
+
+<p>The cases in which one species mimics another may be divided,
+according to the kind of benefit derived, into four classes: Class 1.
+As a rule, where we find one species mimicking another, the mimicked
+species possesses some special means of defence against the enemies of
+both. This defence may consist of a disagreeable taste or odor, as in
+the Heliconid&aelig;, which are mimicked by other butterflies; of some
+special weapon of offence, as where wasps and bees are mimicked by
+flies and moths, or poisonous vipers by harmless caterpillars; or of a
+hard shell, as where the coriaceous beetles are mimicked by those that
+are soft-bodied.</p>
+
+<p>Instances of this rule are exceedingly numerous; indeed, Wallace says
+that specially protected forms are always mimicked; still we have
+nothing mimicking our Gasteracanth<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_361" id="Pg_361"></a>id&aelig;.</p>
+
+<p>Class 2. The mimetic may prey upon the mimicked species, its disguise
+enabling it to gain a near approach to its victims; as the mantis,
+mentioned by Bates as exactly resembling the white ants upon which it
+feeds; and the flies which mimic bees, upon which they are parasitic,
+and are thus able to enter the nests of the bees and lay eggs on the
+larv&aelig;.</p>
+
+<p>Class 3. The mimetic species may, by its imitation, be protected from
+the attacks of the creature it mimics, as is the case with the
+crickets and grasshoppers which mimic their deadly foe, the hunter
+wasp.</p>
+
+<p>Class 4. The mimetic species may prey upon some creature which is
+found commonly with, and is not eaten by, the mimicked species.</p>
+
+<p>No two of these classes are mutually destructive so that in any case
+of mimicry a double advantage may be gained.</p>
+
+<p>Let us see which of these advantages has directed the development of
+mimetic tendencies among spiders.</p>
+
+<p>While among beetles and butterflies we most commonly find mimicry of
+one species by another within the same order, we have no instance of a
+spider mimicking another spider. This may be accounted for by the fact
+that the specially protected spiders depend for their safety upon the
+possession of hard plates and spinous processes, and although the
+hardened epidermis might be imitated (we know that hard-shelled
+beetles are mimicked by others that are soft), spines could scarcely
+be imitated by a soft-bodied creature with sufficient accuracy to
+insure disguise.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_362" id="Pg_362"></a>
+While spiders most commonly mimic ants, we hear also of their
+imitating beetles, snail-shells, ichneumons and horseflies. There is
+also a curious Madagascar species which looks exactly like a little
+scorpion, the resemblance being heightened by its habit of curving its
+flexible tail up over its back when irritated.</p>
+
+<p>Those that resemble beetles comprise nearly all the species of the
+genera Coccorchestes and Homalattus. These are small spiders with
+short, convex bodies. The abdomen fits closely over the cephalothorax,
+and the epidermis, which has usually a metallic lustre, is sometimes
+coriaceous. Striking examples are found in H. coccinelloides, which
+bears a strong resemblance to beetles of the family Coccinelloid&aelig;, and
+in C. cupreus, in which certain marks on the abdomen imitate the
+elytra of beetles.</p>
+
+<p>The following account of a spider which mimics a snail-shell is given
+by Mr. G.&nbsp;F. Atkinson;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;An undescribed species of <i>Cyrtarachne</i> mimics a snail-shell, the
+inhabitant of which, during the summer and fall, is very abundant on
+the leaves of plants in this place. In the species of Cyrtarachne the
+abdomen partly covers the cephalothorax, is very broad at the base, in
+this species broader than the length of the spider, and rounds off at
+the apex. When it rests upon the under side of a leaf with its legs
+retracted it strongly resembles one of these snail-shells by the color
+and shape of its abdomen. The two specimens which I collected deceived
+me at first, but a few threads of silk led me to make the examination.
+The spider seemed so confident of its protection that it would not
+move when I jarred the plant, striking it several hard blows. I
+pulled the spider forcibly from the leaf, and it did not exhi<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_363" id="Pg_363"></a>bit any
+signs of movement until transferred to the cyanide bottle.&rdquo; ...</p>
+
+<p>Trimen gives an account of the imitation, by spiders, of horseflies, a
+case falling into Class 2, as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Hunting spiders are in some cases very like their prey, as may
+everywhere be noticed in the case of the species of Salticus which
+catch horseflies on sunny walls and fences. The likeness is not in
+itself more than a general one of size, form and coloring; but its
+effect is greatly aided by the actions of the spider, which walks
+hurriedly for short distances, stopping abruptly, and rapidly moving
+its falces, in evident mimicry of the well-known movements so
+characteristic of flies.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Instances of spiders mimicking ants are very numerous, and in many
+cases the resemblance is so close as to, at first sight, deceive a
+trained naturalist. This resemblance is brought about by the spider&#8217;s
+body being elongated and strongly constricted, so that it appears to
+be composed of three segments instead of two, by the color, by the way
+in which the spider moves about, zig-zagging from side to side like an
+ant, and by its habit of holding up one pair of its legs and moving
+them in such a way that they look exactly like the antenn&aelig; of an ant.</p>
+
+<p>Ants may be regarded as specially protected, by their sharp, acid
+flavor, and in some species by the possession of stings or of horny
+processes.</p>
+
+<p>On the ground that there are birds which do eat ants, and eat them
+greedily, it has been thought by some naturalists that they cannot be
+considered specially protected creatures, and that, as spiders can
+therefore derive no protection from mimicking them, all cases of such
+mimicry d<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_364" id="Pg_364"></a>epend upon the spider&#8217;s increased ability to capture the ants
+as prey, but I am convinced that this is too hasty a conclusion. It is
+unquestionably true that some birds feed almost exclusively upon ants,
+but these are the exceptions. It is a common thing to find that
+specially protected groups, which are safe from the attacks of most
+creatures, have their special enemies. Thus, even the nauseous
+Heliconid&aelig; are preyed upon by certain spiders and wasps; and bees, in
+spite of their stings, are preferred to other insects by the
+bee-eaters. Moreover, the ant-devouring birds are found largely among
+the wood-peckers, which eat the ants that run on the trunks of trees,
+and are therefore not a source of danger to the ant-like spiders, the
+American species of which, so far as I can learn, live entirely upon
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>In the United States comparatively small numbers of either ants or
+spiders are eaten by birds, but in tropical America there are enormous
+numbers of humming-birds feeding almost exclusively upon spiders, and
+there the protective advantage of looking like ants must be of great
+importance to the smaller species.</p>
+
+<p>Belt considers that the advantages gained by ant-mimicking Central
+American spiders lies entirely on the side of protection. In relation
+to this subject he says: &ldquo;Ant-like spiders have been noticed
+throughout tropical America and also in Africa. The use that the
+deceptive resemblance is to them has been explained to be the facility
+it affords them for approaching ants on which they prey. I am
+convinced that this explanation is incorrect, so far as the Central
+American species are concerned. Ants, and especially the stinging
+species are, so <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_365" id="Pg_365"></a>far as my experience goes, not preyed upon by any
+other insects. No disguise need be adopted to approach them, as they
+are so bold that they are more likely to attack a spider than a spider
+them. Neither have they wings to escape by flying, and generally go in
+large bodies easily found and approached. The use is, I doubt not, the
+protection the disguise affords against small insectivorous birds. I
+have found the crops of some humming-birds full of small, soft-bodied
+spiders, and many other birds feed on them. Stinging-ants, like bees
+and wasps, are closely resembled by a host of other insects; indeed,
+whenever I found any insect provided with special means of defence I
+looked for imitative forms, and was never disappointed in finding
+them.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The ant-like species are probably protected by their appearance from
+the attacks of many of the larger spiders. We have kept great numbers
+of Attid&aelig; in captivity, and, although they devoured flies, gnats,
+larv&aelig;, and other spiders, they would never touch ants. Among spiders,
+however, as among birds, we find that certain groups subsist almost
+entirely upon ants.</p>
+
+<p>The class of spiders whose mimicry protects them from their enemies,
+whether they are birds or other spiders, probably includes at least
+two of our own ant-like species, Synageles picata and Synemosyna
+formica, which, in confinement, are always hungry for gnats, but will
+not touch ants, even of small size.</p>
+
+<p>The existence of a class of spiders which mimic the particular species
+of ants upon which they prey is not to be questioned, but it is
+doubtful whether the benefit to the spider is increased facility in
+capturing the ant, or whethe<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_366" id="Pg_366"></a>r it is merely protective. It may be that
+the spider, by virtue of its resemblance to the ant, not only gets an
+abundant supply of food, but also escapes being eaten itself, and thus
+enjoys a double advantage. Both Bates and Wallace take the ground that
+the advantage derived by the spider consists in greater ease in the
+capture of prey, but both of these writers refer to spiders only
+incidentally to illustrate a general proposition, without special
+consideration of their peculiar conditions.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Herbert Smith, who has paid a good deal of attention to this
+subject, is inclined to believe that the mimicry in question is
+entirely protective. He writes as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In the United States there are a few rare spiders that mimic ants.
+Here at Taperinha we find a good score of species of these spiders
+aping the various kinds of ants very closely; even the odd, spiny
+wood-ant, <i>cryptocerus</i>, furnishes a pattern, and there are spiders
+that mimic the wingless ichneumons. We find, after a while, that the
+spiders prey upon ants just as our spiders catch flies; indeed, this
+fact has already been noted by other observers. But we go a step
+beyond the books when we discover not only that the spiders eat the
+ants, but that they eat the particular ants which they mimic. At all
+events, we verify this fact in a great number of cases, and we never
+find the spiders eating any but the mimicked species.... I do not like
+to hazard a theory on this case of mimicry. It is difficult to suppose
+that the quick-witted ants would be deceived even by so close a
+resemblance; and, in any case, it would seem that the spiders do not
+require such a di<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_367" id="Pg_367"></a>sguise in order to capture slow-moving ants. Most
+birds will not eat ants; it seems likely, therefore, that this is
+simply another example of protection; the spider deceives its enemies,
+not its prey; it mimics the particular species that it feeds on,
+because it is seen in that company when it is hunting, and among a
+host of similar forms is likely to pass unnoticed.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>At first sight, and especially in view of the fact that such cases are
+not uncommon among insects, it would be naturally supposed that the
+object of the mimicry was to enable the spider to approach its victim
+without exciting suspicion; and it is difficult to account, on any
+other supposition, for the very close resemblance between certain
+species of spiders and the particular species of ants which they prey
+upon. It seems as though the highest point of <i>protective</i> benefit
+would have been reached long before the resemblance of the spider to
+the ant had become so close as it really is. On the other hand, it is
+difficult to believe that ants are deceived, even by those spiders
+which mimic them most closely, when we remember that their perceptions
+are so keen that they discriminate not only between ants of their own
+and different species, but even between ants of their own species
+living in two different communities.</p>
+
+<p>The mimicry of ichneumon flies by spiders was noted some years ago by
+Mr. Herbert Smith. This case comes under Class 3, in which one species
+mimics another which preys upon it. Great destruction is caused by
+ichneumons which lay their eggs on the bodies of the live spiders,
+and the disguise probably protects the<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_368" id="Pg_368"></a> spider by leading the fly to
+mistake it for one of its own species.</p>
+
+<p>We have no proof that spiders ever mimic ants as a method of escaping
+from them, but it is possible that this sometimes happens. We know
+that some ants prey upon them. The foraging ants of South America
+destroy spiders as well as many kinds of insects, and Wallace mentions
+a small, wood-boring ant which fills its nest with small spiders.</p>
+
+<p>If the spiders that feed upon ants deceive them by their mimicry those
+which are preyed upon by ants would gain an advantage by a similar
+disguise. I once placed a little ant-like spider of the genus
+Herpyllus in a bottle with three ants no larger than itself, which I
+had caught with it in the sweep-net. In a very few minutes the ants
+had killed and begun to devour the spider. It may be that the
+resemblance was sufficiently close to deceive them in the open, but
+failed when spider and ants were confined together in close quarters.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_369" id="Pg_369"></a><a name="THE_BATH_OF_THE_BIRDS" id="THE_BATH_OF_THE_BIRDS"></a>THE BATH OF THE BIRDS<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+By <a href="#Jefferies">RICHARD JEFFERIES</a>.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 150px;">
+<a href="images/369o.gif"><img src="images/369o.gif" width="150" height="175" alt="O, decorated" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="margin-top:60px; text-indent:-10px;"><span class="cap">O</span>ne morning Sir Bevis went down to the brook. Standing on the brink,
+he said: &ldquo;Brook, Brook! what are you singing? You promised to tell me
+what you were saying.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The brook did not answer, but went on singing. Bevis listened a
+minute, and then he picked a willow leaf and threw it into the bubbles
+and watched it go whirling round and round in the eddies and back up
+under the fall, where it dived down and presently came up again, and
+the stream took it and carried it away past the flags. &ldquo;Brook, Brook!&rdquo;
+said Bevis, stamping his foot; &ldquo;tell me what you are singing.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>And the brook, having now finished that part of his song, said:
+&ldquo;Bevis, dear; sit down in the shadow of the willow, for it is very hot
+to-day, and the reapers are at work; sit down under the willow and I
+will tell you as much as I can remember.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But the reed said you could not remember anything,&rdquo; said Bevis,
+leaning back against the willow.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The reed did not tell you the truth, dear; indeed, he does not know
+all; the fact is, the reeds are so fond of talking that I scarcely
+ever answer them now or they would keep on all day long, and I should
+never hear the sound of my o<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_370" id="Pg_370"></a>wn voice, which I like best. So I do not
+encourage them, and that is why the reeds think I do not recollect.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;And what is that you sing about?&rdquo; said Bevis impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My darling,&rdquo; said the brook, &ldquo;I do not know myself always what I am
+singing about. I am so happy I sing, sing, and never think about what
+it means; it does not matter what you mean as long as you sing.
+Sometimes I sing about the sun, who loves me dearly, and tries all day
+to get at me through the leaves and the green flags that hide me; he
+sparkles on me everywhere he can, and does not like me to be in the
+shadow. Sometimes I sing to the wind, who loves me next most dearly,
+and will come to me everywhere in places where the sun cannot get. He
+plays with me whenever he can, and strokes me softly and tells me the
+things he has heard in the woods and on the hills, and sends down the
+leaves to float along; for he knows I like something to carry. Fling
+me in some leaves, Bevis, dear.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sometimes I sing to the earth and the grass; they are fond of me,
+too, and listen the best of all. I sing loudest at night to the stars;
+for they are so far away they would not otherwise hear me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;But what do you say?&rdquo; said Bevis; but the brook was too occupied now
+to heed him and went on.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Sometimes I sing to the trees; they, too, are fond of me and come as
+near as they can; they would all come down close to me if they could.
+They love me like the rest, because I am so happy and never cease my
+chanting. If I am broken to pieces against a stone, I do not mind<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_371" id="Pg_371"></a> in
+the least; I laugh just the same and even louder. When I come over the
+hatch, I dash myself to fragments; and sometimes a rainbow comes and
+stays a little while with me. The trees drink me, and the grass drinks
+me; the birds come down and drink me; they splash me and are happy.
+The fishes swim about, and some of them hide in deep corners. Round
+the bend I go; and the osiers say they never have enough of me. The
+long grass waves and welcomes me; the moor-hens float with me; the
+kingfisher is always with me somewhere, and sits on the bough to see
+his ruddy breast in the water. And you come too, Bevis, now and then
+to listen to me; and it is all because I am so happy.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why are you so happy?&rdquo; said Bevis.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; said the brook. &ldquo;Perhaps it is because all I think of
+is this minute; I do not know anything about the minute just gone by,
+and I do not care one bit about the minute that is just coming; all I
+care about is this minute, this very minute now. Fling me in some more
+leaves, Bevis. Why do you go about asking questions, dear? Why don&#8217;t
+you sing and do nothing else?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh, but I want to know all about everything,&rdquo; said Bevis. &ldquo;Where did
+you come from, and where are you going, and why don&#8217;t you go on and
+let the ground be dry&mdash;why don&#8217;t you run on, and run all away? why are
+you always here?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The brook laughed and said: &ldquo;My dear, I do not know where I came from,
+and I do not care at all where I am going. What does it matter, my
+love? All I know is I shall come back again; yes, I shall come back
+again.&rdquo; The brook s<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_372" id="Pg_372"></a>ang very low and rather sadly now: &ldquo;I shall go into
+the sea and shall be lost; and even you would not know me; ask your
+father, love; he has sailed over the sea in ships that come to
+Southampton, and I was close to him, but he did not know me. But by
+and by, when I am in the sea, the sun will lift me up, and the clouds
+will float along&mdash;look towards the hills, Bevis, dear, every morning
+and you will see the clouds coming and bringing me with them; and the
+rain and the dew, and sometimes the thunder and the lightning, will
+put me down again; and I shall run along here and sing to you, my
+sweet, if you will come and listen. Fling in some little twigs, my
+dear, and some bits of bark from the tree.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That I will,&rdquo; said Bevis; and he picked up a stone and flung it into
+the water with such a splash that the kingfisher flew away; but the
+brook only laughed and told him to throw another and to make haste and
+grow bigger and jump over him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;S&mdash;s, we shall meet by the drinking place,&rdquo; said the grasshopper; and
+was just hopping off, when Bevis asked him what the birds went down to
+bathe for.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&#8217;m sure I do not know,&rdquo; said the grasshopper, speaking fast, for he
+was rather in a hurry to be gone; he never could stand still long
+together. &ldquo;All I can tell you is, that on Midsummer Day every one of
+the birds has to go down to the brook and walk in and bathe; and it
+has been the law for so many, many years that no one can remember when
+it began. They like it very much, because they can show off their
+fine feathers which are just now in full color; and if you like to go
+with<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_373" id="Pg_373"></a> me, you will be sure to enjoy it.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;So I will,&rdquo; said Bevis; and he followed the grasshopper, who hopped
+so far at every step that he had to walk fast to keep up with him.</p>
+
+<p>They went on in silence a good way, except that the grasshopper cried
+&ldquo;S&mdash;s&rdquo; to his friends in the grass as he passed, and said good-morning
+also to a mole, who peeped out for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why don&#8217;t you hop straight?&rdquo; said Bevis presently. &ldquo;It seems to me
+that you hop first one side and then the other, and go in such a
+zigzag fashion it will take us hours to reach the brook.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;How very stupid you are!&rdquo; said the grasshopper. &ldquo;If you go straight,
+of course you can only see just what is under your feet; but if you go
+first this way and then that, then you see everything. You are nearly
+as silly as the ants, who never see anything beautiful all their
+lives. Be sure you have nothing to do with the ants, Bevis; they are a
+mean, wretched, miserly set, quite contemptible and beneath notice.
+Now, I go everywhere, all round the field, and spend my time searching
+for lovely things; sometimes I find flowers, and sometimes the
+butterflies come down into the grass and tell me the news; and I am so
+fond of the sunshine, I sing to it all day long. Tell me, now, is
+there anything so beautiful as the sunshine and the blue sky, and the
+green grass, and the velvet and blue and spotted butterflies, and the
+trees which cast such a pleasant shadow and talk so sweetly, and the
+brook which is always running? I should like to listen to it for a
+thousand years.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_374" id="Pg_374"></a>
+&ldquo;I like you,&rdquo; said Bevis; &ldquo;jump into my hand and I will carry you.&rdquo; He
+held his hand out flat, and in a second up sprang the grasshopper and
+alighted on his palm and told him the way to go, and thus they went
+together merrily.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Bevis, dear, I do not sing at night; but I always go where I can see
+a star. I slept under a mushroom last night, and he told me he was
+pushing up as fast as he could before some one came and picked him to
+put on a gridiron. I do not lay up any store, because I know I shall
+die when the summer ends; and what is the use of wealth then? My store
+and my wealth is the sunshine, dear, and the blue sky, and the green
+grass, and the delicious brook who never ceases sing, sing, singing
+all day and night. And all the things are fond of me; the grass and
+the flowers, and the birds and the animals&mdash;all of them love me.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think I shall take you home and put you under a glass case on the
+mantelpiece,&rdquo; said Bevis.</p>
+
+<p>Off jumped the grasshopper in a moment, and fell so lightly on the
+grass it did not hurt him in the least, though it was as far as if
+Bevis had tumbled down out of the clouds. Bevis tried to catch him,
+but he jumped so nimbly this way and that, and hopped to and fro, and
+lay down in the grass, that his green coat could not be seen. Bevis
+now went down to the brook and stood on the bank, where it was high,
+near a bush at the side of the drinking place. &ldquo;Ah, dear little Sir
+Bevis!&rdquo; whispered a reed, bending towards him as the wind blew,
+&ldquo;please do not come any nearer; the bank is steep and treacherous, and
+hollow underneath where the water-rats run. So do not lean over after
+the forget-me-nots&mdash;they are too far for you. Sit down where you are,
+beh<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_375" id="Pg_375"></a>ind that little bush, and I will tell you all about the bathing.
+The birds come down to bathe every Midsummer Day, and the goldfinches,
+and the sparrows, and the blackbirds, and the thrushes, and the
+swallows, and the wrens, and the robins, and almost every one of them,
+except two or three, whose great-grandfathers got into disgrace a long
+while ago. The rooks do not come because they are thieves, and steal
+the mussels, nor the crows, who are a very bad lot; the swan does not
+come either, unless the brook is muddy after a storm. The swan is so
+tired of seeing himself in the water that he quite hates it, and that
+is the reason he holds his neck so high, that he may not see more of
+himself than he can help.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Soon the birds came. They were all in their very best and brightest
+feathers, and as the sun shone on them and they splashed the water and
+strutted about, Bevis thought he had never seen anything so beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>They did not all bathe, for some of them were specially permitted only
+to drink instead, but they all came, and all in their newest dresses.
+So bright was the goldfinch&#8217;s wing, that the lark, though she did not
+dare speak, had no doubt she rouged. The sparrow, brushed and neat, so
+quiet and subdued in his brown velvet, looked quite aristocratic among
+so much flaunting color. As for the blackbird he had carefully washed
+himself in the spring before he came to bathe in the brook, and he
+glanced round with a bold and defiant air, as much as to say: &ldquo;There
+is not one of you who has so yellow a bill, and so beautiful a black
+coat as I have.&rdquo; In the bush the bullfinch, who did not care much to
+mix with <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_376" id="Pg_376"></a>the crowd, moved restlessly to and fro. The robin looked all
+the time at Bevis, so anxious was he for admiration. The wood-pigeon,
+very consequential, affected not to see the dove, whom Bevis longed to
+stroke, but could not, as he had promised the reed to keep still.</p>
+
+<p>Bevis looked up into the sky, and there was the hawk, almost up among
+the white clouds, soaring round and round, and watching all that was
+proceeding. Almost before he could look down again a shadow went by,
+and a cuckoo flew along very low, just over the drinking place.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Cuckoo!&rdquo; he cried, &ldquo;cuckoo! The goldfinch has the prettiest dress;&rdquo;
+and off he went.</p>
+
+<p>Now the hawk had bribed the cuckoo, who was his cousin, to do this,
+and the cuckoo was not at all unwilling, for he had an interest
+himself in keeping the birds divided, so he said that although he had
+made up his mind to go on his summer tour, leaving his children to be
+taken care of by the wagtail, he would stop a day or two longer to
+manage this little business. No sooner had the cuckoo said this, than
+there was a most terrible uproar, and all the birds cried out at once.
+The blackbird was so disgusted that he flew straight off, chattering
+all across the field and up the hedge. The bullfinch tossed his head,
+and asked the goldfinch to come up in the bush and see which was
+stronger. The greenfinch and the chaffinch shrieked with derision; the
+wood-pigeon turned his back and said &ldquo;Pooh!&rdquo; and went off with a
+clatter. The sparrow flew to tell his mates on the house, and you
+could hear the chatter they made about it right down at the brook.
+But the wren screamed loudest of<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_377" id="Pg_377"></a> all, and said that the goldfinch was
+a painted impostor, and had not got half so much gold as the
+yellow-hammer. So they were all scattered in a minute, and Bevis stood
+up and hurried homeward.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/377image.png"><img src="images/377image.png" width="500" height="188" alt="Decorative floral motif" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_378" id="Pg_378"></a><a name="THE_LOON" id="THE_LOON"></a>THE LOON<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From Walden.)<br />
+By <a href="#Thoreau">HENRY D. THOREAU</a>.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 75px;">
+<a href="images/378i.gif"><img src="images/378i.gif" width="75" height="174" alt="I, decorated" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+<p style="text-indent:-15px;"><span class="cap">I</span>t is remarkable how many creatures live wild and free, though secret,
+in the woods, and still sustain themselves in the neighborhood of
+towns, suspected by hunters only. How retired the otter manages to
+live here! He grows to be four feet long, as big as a small boy,
+perhaps without any human being getting a glimpse of him. I formerly
+saw the raccoon in the woods behind where my house is built, and
+probably still heard their whinnering at night. Commonly I rested an
+hour or two in the shade at noon, after planting, and ate my lunch,
+and read a little by a spring which was the source of a swamp and of a
+brook, oozing from under Brister&#8217;s Hill, half a mile from my field.
+The approach to this was through a succession of descending grassy
+hollows, full of young pitch-pines, into a larger wood about the
+swamp.</p>
+
+<p>There, in a very secluded and shaded spot, under a spreading
+white-pine, there was yet a clean, firm sward to sit on. I had dug out
+the spring and made a well of clear gray water, where I could dip up a
+pailful without roiling it, and thither I went for this purpose almost
+every day in midsummer, when the pond was warmest. Thither, too, the
+wood-cock led her brood, to probe the mud<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_379" id="Pg_379"></a> for worms, flying but a foot
+above them down the bank, while they ran in a troop beneath; but at
+last, spying me, she would leave her young and circle round and round
+me, nearer and nearer till within four or five feet, pretending broken
+wings and legs, to attract my attention, and get off her young, who
+would already have taken up their march, with faint wiry peep, single
+file through the swamp, as she directed. Or I heard the peep of the
+young when I could not see the parent bird.</p>
+
+<p>There, too, the turtle-doves sat over the spring, or fluttered from
+bough to bough of the soft white-pines over, my head; or the red
+squirrel, coursing down the nearest bough, was particularly familiar
+and inquisitive. You only need sit still long enough in some
+attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit
+themselves to you by turns....</p>
+
+<p>In the fall the loon (<i>Colymbus glacialis</i>) came, as usual, to moult
+and bathe in the pond, making the woods ring with his wild laughter
+before I had risen. At rumor of his arrival all the Mill-dam sportsmen
+are on the alert, in gigs and on foot, two by two and three by three,
+with patent rifles and conical balls and spy-glasses. They come
+rustling through the woods like autumn leaves, at least ten men to one
+loon. Some station themselves on this side of the pond, some on that,
+for the poor bird cannot be omnipresent; if he dive here he must come
+up there.</p>
+
+<p>But now the kind October wind rises, rustling the leaves and rippling
+the surface of the water, so that no loon can be heard or seen, though
+his foes sweep the pond with spy-glasses, and make the woods resound
+with their dischar<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_380" id="Pg_380"></a>ges. The waves generously rise and dash angrily,
+taking sides with all waterfowl, and our sportsmen must beat a retreat
+to town and shop and unfinished jobs. But they were too often
+successful. When I went to get a pail of water early in the morning I
+frequently saw this stately bird sailing out of my cove within a few
+rods. If I endeavored to overtake him in a boat, in order to see how
+he would man&#339;uvre, he would dive and be completely lost, so that I did
+not discover him again, sometimes, till the latter part of the day.
+But I was more than a match for him on the surface. He commonly went
+off in a rain.</p>
+
+<p>As I was paddling along the north shore one very calm October
+afternoon, for such days especially they settle on to the lakes, like
+the milkweed down, having looked in vain over the pond for a loon,
+suddenly one, sailing out from the shore toward the middle a few rods
+in front of me, set up his wild laugh and betrayed himself. I pursued
+with a paddle and he dived, but when he came up I was nearer than
+before. He dived again but I miscalculated the direction he would
+take, and we were fifty rods apart when he came to the surface this
+time, for I had helped to widen the interval; and again he laughed
+long and loud, and with more reason than before.</p>
+
+<p>He man&#339;uvred so cunningly that I could not get within half a dozen
+rods of him. Each time when he came to the surface, turning his head
+this way and that, he coolly surveyed the water and the land, and
+apparently chose his course so that he might come up where there was
+the widest expanse of water and at the greatest distance from the
+boat. It was surprising how quickly he made up <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_381" id="Pg_381"></a>his mind and put his
+resolve into execution. He led me at once to the wildest part of the
+pond, and could not be driven from it. While he was thinking one thing
+in his brain, I was endeavoring to divine his thought in mine. It was
+a pretty game, played on the smooth surface of the pond, a man against
+a loon.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly your adversary&#8217;s checker disappears beneath the board, and
+the problem is to place yours nearest to where his will appear again.
+Sometimes he would come up unexpectedly on the opposite side of me,
+having apparently passed directly under the boat. So long-winded was
+he and so unweariable, that when he had swam farthest he would
+immediately plunge again, nevertheless; and then no wit could divine
+where in the deep pond, beneath the smooth surface, he might be
+speeding his way like a fish, for he had time and ability to visit the
+bottom of the pond in its deepest part. It is said that loons have
+been caught in the New York lakes eighty feet beneath the surface,
+with hooks set for trout,&mdash;though Walden is deeper than that. How
+surprised must the fishes be to see this ungainly visitor from another
+sphere speeding his way amid their schools!</p>
+
+<p>Yet he appeared to know his course as surely under water as on the
+surface, and swam much faster there. Once or twice I saw a ripple
+where he approached the surface, just put his head out to reconnoitre,
+and instantly dived again. I found that it was as well for me to rest
+on my oars and wait his reappearing as to endeavor to calculate where
+he would rise; for again and again, when I was straining my eyes over
+the surface one way, I would suddenly be startled by his unearthly
+lau<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_382" id="Pg_382"></a>gh behind me. But why, after displaying so much cunning, did he
+invariably betray himself the moment he came up by that loud laugh?
+Did not his white breast enough betray him?</p>
+
+<p>He was indeed a silly loon, I thought. I could commonly hear the plash
+of the water when he came up, and so also detected him. But after an
+hour he seemed as fresh as ever, dived as willingly and swam yet
+farther than at first. It was surprising to see how serenely he sailed
+off with unruffled breast when he came to the surface, doing all the
+work with his webbed feet beneath. His usual note was this demoniac
+laughter, yet somewhat like that of a waterfowl; but occasionally when
+he had balked me most successfully and come up a long way off, he
+uttered a long-drawn unearthly howl, probably more like that of a wolf
+than any bird; as when a beast puts his muzzle to the ground and
+deliberately howls. This was his looning,&mdash;perhaps the wildest sound
+that is ever heard here, making the woods ring far and wide. I
+concluded that he laughed in derision of my efforts, confident of his
+own resources.</p>
+
+<p>Though the sky was by this time overcast, the pond was so smooth that
+I could see where he broke the surface when I did not hear him. His
+white breast, the stillness of the air, and the smoothness of the
+water were all against him. At length, having come up fifty rods off,
+he uttered one of those prolonged howls, as if calling on the god of
+loons to aid him, and immediately there came a wind from the east and
+rippled the surface, and filled the whole air with misty rain, and I
+was impressed as if it were the prayer of the loon answered, and his
+god was angry with me; and so I left him disappear<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_383" id="Pg_383"></a>ing far away on the
+tumultuous surface.</p>
+
+<p>For hours, in fall days, I watched the ducks cunningly tack and veer
+and hold the middle of the pond, far from the sportsman; tricks which
+they will have less need to practise in Louisiana bayous. When
+compelled to rise they would sometimes circle round and round and over
+the pond at a considerable height, from which they could easily see to
+other ponds and the river, like black motes in the sky; and, when I
+thought they had gone off thither long since, they would settle down
+by a slanting flight of a quarter of a mile on to a distant part which
+was left free; but what beside safety they got by sailing in the
+middle of Walden I do not know, unless they love its water for the
+same reason that I do.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/383image.png"><img src="images/383image.png" width="500" height="94" alt="Decorative floral motif" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_384" id="Pg_384"></a><a name="THE_DARTMOOR_PONIES_OR_THE_WANDERINGS_OF_THE_HORSE_TRIBE" id="THE_DARTMOOR_PONIES_OR_THE_WANDERINGS_OF_THE_HORSE_TRIBE"></a>THE DARTMOOR PONIES, OR THE WANDERINGS OF THE HORSE TRIBE<br />
+<span class="subh2">
+(From &ldquo;Through Magic Glasses.&rdquo;)<br />
+By ARABELLA B. BUCKLEY.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 250px;">
+<a href="images/384i.png"><img src="images/384i-1.gif" width="250" height="180" alt="I, decorated with a horse" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<div class="wrapleft" style="width: 197px;">
+<a href="images/384i.png"><img src="images/384i-2.png" width="197" height="111" alt="I, decorated with a horse" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+<p><span class="cap">I </span>want you to take a journey with me which I took in imagination a few
+days ago, as I lay on my back on the sunny moor and watched the
+Dartmoor ponies.</p>
+
+<p>It was a calm misty morning one day last week, giving promise of a
+bright and sunny day, when I started off for a long walk across the
+moor to visit the famous stone-circles, many of which are to be found
+not far off the track, called Abbot&#8217;s Way, leading from Buckfast
+Abbey, on the Dart, to the Abbey of Tavistock, on the Tavy.</p>
+
+<p>My mind was full of the olden times as I pictured to myself how, seven
+hundred years or more ago, some Benedictine monk from Tavistock Abbey,
+in his black robe and cowl, paced this narrow path on his way to his
+Cistercian brethren at Buckfast, meeting some of them on his road as
+they wandered over the desolate moor in their white robes and black
+scapularies in search of stray <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_385" id="Pg_385"></a>sheep. For the Cistercians were
+shepherds and wool-weavers, while the Benedictines devoted themselves
+to learning, and the track of about twenty-five miles from one abbey
+to the other, which still remains, was worn by the members of the two
+communities and their dependents, the only variety in whose lives
+consisted probably in these occasional visits one to the other.</p>
+
+<p>Yet even these monks belonged to modern times compared to the ancient
+Britons who raised the stone-circles, and buried their dead in the
+barrows scattered here and there over the moor; and my mind drifted
+back to the days when, long before that pathway was worn, men clad in
+the skins of beasts hunted wild animals over the ground on which I was
+treading, and lived in caves and holes of the ground.</p>
+
+<p>I wondered, as I thought of them, whether the cultured monks and the
+uncivilized Britons delighted as much in the rugged scenery of the
+moor as I did that morning. For many miles in front of me the moor
+stretched out wild and treeless; the sun was shining brightly upon the
+mass of yellow furze and deep-red heather, drawing up the moisture
+from the ground, and causing a kind of watery haze to shimmer over the
+landscape; while the early mist was rising off the <i>tors</i>, or
+hill-tops, in the distance, curling in fanciful wreaths around the
+rugged and stony summits, as it dispersed gradually in the increasing
+heat of the day.</p>
+
+<p>The cattle which were scattered in groups here and there feeding on
+the dewy grass were enjoying the happiest time of the year. The moor,
+which in winter affords them scarcely a bare subsistence, is now
+richly covered with fre<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_386" id="Pg_386"></a>sh young grass, and the sturdy oxen fed
+solemnly and deliberately, while the wild Dartmoor ponies and their
+colts scampered joyously along, shaking their manes and long flowing
+tails, and neighing to each other as they went; or clustered together
+on some verdant spot, where the colts teased and bit each other for
+fun, as they gambolled round their mothers.</p>
+
+<p>It was a pleasure, there on the open moor, with the lark soaring
+overhead, and the butterflies and bees hovering among the
+sweet-smelling furze blossoms, to see horses free and joyous, with no
+thought of bit or bridle, harness or saddle, whose hoofs had never
+been handled by the shoeing-smith, nor their coats touched with the
+singeing iron. Those little colts, with their thick heads, shaggy
+coats, and flowing tails, will have at least two years more freedom
+before they know what it is to be driven or beaten. Only once a year
+are they gathered together, claimed by their owners and branded with
+an initial, and then left again to wander where they will. True, it is
+a freedom which sometimes has its drawbacks, for if the winter is
+severe the only food they can get will be the furze-tops, off which
+they scrape the snow with their feet; yet it is very precious in
+itself, for they can gallop when and where they choose, with head
+erect, sniffing at the wind and crying to each other for the very joy
+of life.</p>
+
+<p>Now as I strolled across the moor and watched their gambols, thinking
+how like free wild animals they seemed, my thoughts roamed far away,
+and I saw in imagination scenes where other untamed animals of the
+horse tribe are living unfettered all their lives long.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_387" id="Pg_387"></a>
+First there rose before my mind the level grass-covered pampas of
+South America, where wild horses share the boundless plains with
+troops of the rhea, or American ostrich, and wander, each horse with
+as many mares as he can collect, in companies of hundreds or even
+thousands in a troop. These horses are now truly wild, and live freely
+from youth to age, unless they are unfortunate enough to be caught in
+the more inhabited regions by the lasso of the hunter. In the broad
+pampas, the home of herds of wild cattle, they dread nothing. There,
+as they roam with one bold stallion as their leader, even beasts of
+prey hesitate to approach them, for, when they form into a dense mass
+with the mothers and young in their centre, their heels deal blows
+which even the fierce jaguar does not care to encounter, and they
+trample their enemy to death in a very short time. Yet these are not
+the original wild horses we are seeking, they are the descendants of
+tame animals, brought from Europe by the Spaniards to Buenos Ayres in
+1535, whose descendants have regained their freedom on the boundless
+pampas and prairies.</p>
+
+<p>As I was picturing them careering over the plains, another scene
+presented itself and took their place. Now I no longer saw around me
+tall pampas-grass with the long necks of the rheas appearing above it,
+for I was on the edge of a dreary, scantily covered plain between the
+Aral Sea and the Balkash Lake in Tartary. To the south lies a barren
+sandy desert, to the north the fertile plains of the Kirghiz steppes,
+where the Tartar feeds his flocks, and herds of antelopes gallop over
+the fresh green pasture; and between these is a kind of no-man&#8217;s
+land, where low scanty shrubs and st<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_388" id="Pg_388"></a>unted grass seem to promise but a
+poor feeding-ground.</p>
+
+<p>Yet here the small long-legged but powerful &ldquo;Tarpans,&rdquo; the wild horses
+of the treeless plains of Russia and Tartary, were picking their
+morning meal. Sturdy wicked little fellows they are, with their shaggy
+light-brown coats, short wiry manes, erect ears, and fiery watchful
+eyes. They might well be supposed to be true wild horses, whose
+ancestors had never been tamed by man; and yet it is more probable
+that even they escaped in early times from the Tartars, and have held
+their own ever since, over the grassy steppes of Russia and on the
+confines of the plains of Tartary. Sometimes they live almost alone,
+especially on the barren wastes where they have been seen in winter,
+scraping the snow off the herbage as our ponies do on Dartmoor. At
+other times, as in the south of Russia, where they wander between the
+Dnieper and the Don, they gather in vast herds and live a free life,
+not fearing even the wolves, which they beat to the ground with their
+hoofs. From one green oasis to another they travel over miles of
+ground.</p>
+
+<div class="poem">
+&ldquo;A thousand horse&mdash;and none to ride!<br />
+With flowing tail, and flying mane,<br />
+Wide nostrils&mdash;never stretched by pain,<br />
+Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein,<br />
+And feet that iron never shod,<br />
+And flanks unscarred by spur or rod,<br />
+A thousand horse, the wild, the free,<br />
+Like waves that follow o&#8217;er the sea.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11">[11]</a> Byron&#8217;s <i>Mazeppa</i>.</p></div>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_389" id="Pg_389"></a>
+As I followed them in their course I fancied I saw troops of yet
+another animal of the horse tribe, the &ldquo;Kulan,&rdquo; or <i>Equus hemionus</i>,
+which is a kind of half horse, half ass (<a href="#Pg_393">p.&nbsp;393</a>), living on the
+Kirghiz steppes of Tartary and spreading far beyond the range of the
+Tarpan into Tibet. Here at last we have a truly wild animal, never
+probably brought into subjection by man. The number of names he
+possesses shows how widely he has spread. The Tartars call him
+&ldquo;Kulan,&rdquo; the Tibetans &ldquo;Kiang,&rdquo; while the Mongolians give him the
+unpronounceable name of &ldquo;Dschiggetai.&rdquo; He will not submit to any of
+them, but if caught and confined soon breaks away again to his old
+life, a &ldquo;free and fetterless creature.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>No one has ever yet settled the question whether he is a horse or an
+ass, probably because he represents an animal truly between the two.
+His head is graceful, his body light, his legs slender and fleet, yet
+his ears are long and ass-like; he has narrow hoofs, and a tail with a
+tuft at the end like all the ass tribe; his color is a yellow brown,
+and he has a short dark mane and a long dark stripe down his back as a
+donkey has, though this last character you may also see in many of our
+Devonshire ponies. Living often on the high plateaux, sometimes as
+much as fifteen hundred feet above the sea, this &ldquo;child of the
+steppes&rdquo; travels in large companies even as far as the rich meadows of
+Central Asia; in summer wandering in green pastures, and in winter
+seeking the hunger-steppes where sturdy plants grow. And when autumn
+comes the young steeds go off alone to the mountain heights to survey
+the country around and call wildly for mates, whom, when found, they
+will keep close to them through all the next year, even <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_390" id="Pg_390"></a>though they
+mingle with thousands of others.</p>
+
+<p>Till about ten years ago the <i>Equus hemionus</i> was the only truly wild
+horse known, but in the winter of 1879&#8211;80 the Russian traveller
+Przevalsky brought back from Central Asia a much more horse-like
+animal, called by the Tartars &ldquo;Kertag&rdquo; and by the Mongols &ldquo;Statur.&rdquo; It
+is a clumsy, thick-set, whitish-gray creature with strong legs and a
+large, heavy, reddish-colored head; its legs have a red tint down to
+the knees, beyond which they are blackish down to the hoofs. But the
+ears are small, and it has the broad hoofs of the true horse, and
+warts on his hind legs, which no animal of the ass tribe has. This
+horse, like the Kiang, travels in small troops of from five to
+fifteen, led through the wildest parts of the Dsungarian desert,
+between the Altai and Tianschan Mountains, by an old stallion. They
+are extremely shy, and see, hear, and smell very quickly, so that they
+are off like lightning whenever anything approaches them.</p>
+
+<p>So having travelled over America, Europe, and Asia, was my quest
+ended? No; for from the dreary Asiatic deserts my thoughts wandered to
+a far warmer and more fertile land, where between the Blue Nile and
+the Red Sea rise the lofty highlands of Abyssinia, among which the
+African wild ass (<i>Asinus t&aelig;niopus</i>), the probable ancestor of our
+donkeys, feeds in troops on the rich grasses of the slopes, and then
+onwards to the bank of a river in Central Africa where on the edge of
+a forest, with rich pastures beyond, elephants and rhinoceroses,
+antelopes and buffaloes, lions and hy&aelig;nas, creep down in the cool of
+the evening to slake their thirst <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_391" id="Pg_391"></a>in the flowing stream. There I saw
+the herds of Zebras in all their striped beauty coming down from the
+mountain regions to the north, and mingling with the darker-colored
+but graceful quaggas from the southern plains, and I half-grieved at
+the thought how these untamed and free rovers are being slowly but
+surely surrounded by man closing in upon them on every side.</p>
+
+<p>I might now have travelled still farther in search of the Onager, or
+wild ass of the Asiatic and Indian deserts, but at this point a more
+interesting and far wider question presented itself, as I flung myself
+down on the moor to ponder over the early history of all these tribes.</p>
+
+<p>Where have they all come from? Where shall we look for the first
+ancestors of these wild and graceful animals? For the answer to this
+question I had to travel back to America, to those Western United
+States where Professor Marsh has made such grand discoveries in horse
+history. For there, in the very country where horses were supposed
+never to have been before the Spaniards brought them a few centuries
+ago, we have now found the true birthplace of the equine race.</p>
+
+<p>Come back with me to a time so remote that we cannot measure it even
+by hundred of thousands of years, and let us visit the territories of
+Utah and Wyoming. Those highlands were very different then from what
+they are now. Just risen out of the seas of the Cretaceous Period,
+they were then clothed with dense forests of palms, tree-ferns, and
+screw-pines, magnolias and laurels, interspersed with wide-spreading
+lakes, on the margins <a class="pagenum" name="Pg_392" id="Pg_392"></a>of which strange and curious animals fed and
+flourished. There were large beasts with teeth like the tapir and the
+bear, and feet like the elephant; and others far more dangerous, half
+bear, half hy&aelig;na, prowling around to attack the clumsy paleotherium or
+the anoplotherium, something between a rhinoceros and a horse, which
+grazed by the waterside, while graceful antelopes fed on the rich
+grass. And among these were some little animals no bigger than foxes,
+with four toes and a splint for the fifth, on their front feet, and
+three toes on the hind ones.</p>
+
+<p>These clumsy little animals, whose bones have been found in the rocks
+of Utah and Wyoming, have been called <i>Eohippus</i>, or horses of the
+dawn, by naturalists. They were animals with real toes, yet their
+bones and teeth show that they belonged to the horse tribe, and
+already the fifth toe common to most other toed animals was beginning
+to disappear.</p>
+
+<p>This was in the Eocene Period, and before it passed away with its
+screw-pines and tree-ferns, another rather larger animal, called the
+Orohippus, had taken the place of the small one, and he had only four
+toes on his front feet. The splint had disappeared, and as time went
+on still other animals followed, always with fewer toes, while they
+gained slender fleet legs, together with an increase in size and in
+gracefulness. First one as large as a sheep (Mesohippus) had only
+three toes and a splint. Then the splint again disappeared, and one
+large and two dwindling toes only remained, till finally these two
+became mere splints, leaving one large toe or hoof with almost
+imperceptible splints, which may be seen on the fetlock of a horse&#8217;s
+skeleton.</p>
+
+<p><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_393" id="Pg_393"></a>You must notice that a horse&#8217;s foot really begins at the point which
+we call his knee in the front legs, and at his hock in his hind legs.
+His true knee and elbow are close up to the body. What we call his
+foot or hoof is really the end of the strong, broad, middle toe
+covered with a hoof, and farther up his foot we can feel two small
+splints, which are remains of two other toes.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 450px;">
+<a href="images/393horse.png"><img src="images/393horse.png" width="450" height="335" alt="Skeleton of Horse or Ass." title="" /></a>
+<p class="caption">Skeleton of Horse or Ass.</p>
+
+<p class="caption2"><i>i</i>, Incisor teeth. <i>g</i>, Grinding teeth, with the gap between the two
+as in all grass-feeders. <i>k</i>, Knee. <i>h</i>, Hock or heel. <i>f</i>, Foot. <i>s</i>,
+Splints or remains of the two lost toes. <i>e</i>, Elbow. <i>w</i>, Wrist. <i>h</i>,
+Hand-bone. <i>t</i>, Middle toe of three joints, 1, 2, 3 forming the hoof.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>Meanwhile during these long succeeding ages while the foot was
+lengthening out into a slender limb the animals became larger, more
+powerful, and more swift, the neck and head became longer and more
+graceful, the brain-case larger in front and the teeth decreased in
+number, so that there is now a large gap between the biting teeth and
+the grinding teeth of a horse. Their slender limbs t<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_394" id="Pg_394"></a>oo became more
+flexible and fit for running and galloping, till we find the whole
+skeleton the same in shape, though not in size, as in our own horses
+and asses now.</p>
+
+<p>They did not, however, during all this time remain confined to
+America, for, from the time when they arrived at an animal called
+<i>Miohippus</i>, or lesser horse, which came after the Mesohippus and had
+only three toes on each foot, we find their remains in Europe, where
+they lived in company with the giraffes, opossums, and monkeys which
+roamed over these parts in those ancient times. Then a little later we
+find them in Africa and India; so that the horse tribe, represented by
+creatures about as large as donkeys, had spread far and wide over the
+world.</p>
+
+<p>And now, curiously enough, they began to forsake, or to die out in,
+the land of their birth. Why they did so we do not know; but while in
+the old world as asses, quaggas, and zebras, and probably horses, they
+flourished in Asia, Europe, and Africa, they certainly died out in
+America, so that ages afterwards, when that land was discovered, no
+animal of the horse tribe was found in it.</p>
+
+<p>And the true horse, where did he arise? Born and bred probably in
+Central Asia from some animal like the &ldquo;Kulan,&rdquo; or the &ldquo;Kertag,&rdquo; he
+proved too useful to savage tribes to be allowed his freedom, and it
+is doubtful whether in any part of the world he escaped subjection. In
+our own country he probably roamed as a wild animal till the savages,
+who fed upon him, learned in time to put him to work; and when the
+Romans came they found the Britons with fine and well-trained hors<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_395" id="Pg_395"></a>es.</p>
+
+<p>Yet though tamed and made to know his master, he has, as we have seen,
+broken loose again in almost all parts of the world&mdash;in American on
+the prairies and pampas, in Europe and Asia on the steppes, and in
+Australia in the bush. And even in Great Britain, where so few patches
+of uncultivated land still remain, the young colts of Dartmoor,
+Exmoor, and Shetland, though born of domesticated mothers, seems to
+assert their descent from wild and free ancestors as they throw out
+their heels and toss up their heads with a shrill neigh, and fly
+against the wind with streaming manes and outstretched tails as the
+Kulan, the Tarpan, and the Zebra do in the wild desert or grassy
+plain.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/395image.png"><img src="images/395image.png" width="400" height="134" alt="Decorative motif containing a fruit basket" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_396" id="Pg_396"></a><a name="NOTES" id="NOTES"></a>NOTES</h2>
+
+
+<p><a name="Allen" id="Allen"></a><span class="smcap">Allen, Grant</span>, English scientist and man of letters; born
+1848, died 1899. Was born in Canada, and passed his boyhood there.
+Educated in France and at Oxford University. He wrote &ldquo;Physiological
+&AElig;sthetics,&rdquo; &ldquo;Vignettes from Nature,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Evolutionist at Large,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Force and Energy,&rdquo; many scientific papers in periodicals, and some
+fiction. &ldquo;Strange Stories,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Reverend John Creedy,&rdquo; &ldquo;Philistia,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;The British Barbarians&rdquo; among others.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Belt" id="Belt"></a><span class="smcap">Belt, T.&nbsp;G.</span>, an English traveller of the nineteenth century,
+best known by his book, &ldquo;The Naturalist in Nicaragua.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><a name="Blatchley" id="Blatchley"></a><span class="smcap">Blatchley, W.&nbsp;S.</span>, American naturalist and geologist, born
+1859. Has taken part in many important geological surveys, and is
+State geologist of Indiana. Among his writings are &ldquo;Gleanings from
+Nature,&rdquo; and many important highly technical contributions to State
+scientific publications.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Bruner" id="Bruner"></a><span class="smcap">Bruner, L.</span>, American professor of entomology and ornithology
+at the University of Nebraska, born 1566. Is the State entomologist of
+Nebraska. Has written &ldquo;An Introduction to the Study of Entomology,&rdquo;
+and some papers on the locusts of Argentina, as well as many technical
+scientific reports in State papers, etc.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Burroughs" id="Burroughs"></a><span class="smcap">Burroughs, John</span>, American essayist, born 1837. Has written
+much on nature observation. Among his books are &ldquo;Wake Robin,&rdquo; &ldquo;Winter
+Sunshine,&rdquo; &ldquo;Birds and Poets,&rdquo; &ldquo;Pepacton,&rdquo; &ldquo;Fresh Fields,&rdquo; &ldquo;Signs and
+Seasons,&rdquo; etc. He was at first a school teacher, then a clerk of the
+treasury, then a national bank examiner, and he now lives on a farm,
+devoting himself to literature and fruit culture.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Hopley" id="Hopley"></a><span class="smcap">Hopley, Mrs. C.&nbsp;C.</span>, an English author who lived much in
+America, and made a special study of &ldquo;Snakes,&rdquo; on which subject she
+wrote a great deal. Her book entitled &ldquo;Snakes&rdquo; is the most important
+record of her work.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Huxley" id="Huxley"></a><span class="smcap">Huxley, T.&nbsp;H.</span><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original omits this comma.">,</ins> Famous English biologist, born 1825; died
+1895. Was assistant surgeon in the navy, then professor of natural
+history, rector of Aberdeen University, and president of the Royal
+Society. Among his books are, &ldquo;Evidences as to Man&#8217;s Place in Nature,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Comparative Anatomy,&rdquo; &ldquo;Lay Sermons,&rdquo; &ldquo;Critiques and Addresses,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Physiography,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Crayfish,&rdquo; &ldquo;Science and Culture,&rdquo; &ldquo;Evolution and
+Ethics,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Anatomy of Invertebrate Animals,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Jefferies" id="Jefferies"></a><span class="smcap">Jefferies, Richard</span>, born near Swindon, Wiltshire, Nov. 6,
+1848; died Aug. 14, 1887. A naturalist whose fascinating writings were
+recognized as classics only after his death. Among his most popular
+books are, &ldquo;The Gamekeeper at Home&rdquo; (1878), &ldquo;Wild Life in a Southern
+Country&rdquo; (1879), &ldquo;The Amateur Poacher&rdquo; (1880), &ldquo;Round About a Great
+Estate&rdquo; (1881), &ldquo;Nature Near London,&rdquo; and &ldquo;The Story of My Heart&rdquo;
+(1883), &ldquo;Red Deer&rdquo; (1884), and &ldquo;The Open Air&rdquo; (1885).</p>
+
+<p><a name="Jordan" id="Jordan"></a><span class="smcap">Jordan, David Starr</span>, President Leland Stanford, Jr.,
+University; born Gainesville, N.Y., Jan. 19, 1851; graduated Cornell
+M.&nbsp;S., 1872; M.&nbsp;D. Indiana Medical College, 1875; (Ph.D. Butler
+University, 1878; LL.D. Cornell University, 1886). Held chairs in
+various collegiate institutions, 1872&#8211;79; assistant to U.&nbsp;S. Fish
+Commission, 1877&#8211;91; professor of zo&ouml;logy 1879&#8211;85, and president
+1885&#8211;91, Indiana University; president Leland Stanford Jr.,
+University since 189<a class="pagenum" name="Pg_397" id="Pg_397"></a>1; president California Academy of Sciences
+1896&#8211;98; also U.&nbsp;S. Commissioner in charge of fur-seal investigations,
+etc. Author: &ldquo;A Manual of Vertebrate Animals of Northern United
+States,&rdquo; &ldquo;Science Sketches,&rdquo; &ldquo;Fishes of North and Middle America&rdquo;
+(4&nbsp;vols.); &ldquo;Footnotes to Evolution,&rdquo; &ldquo;Matka and Kotik,&rdquo; &ldquo;Care and Culture
+of Men,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Innumerable Company,&rdquo; &ldquo;Imperial Democracy,&rdquo; &ldquo;Animal
+Life,&rdquo; &ldquo;Animal Forms,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Strength of Being Clean,&rdquo; &ldquo;Standeth God
+within the Shadow,&rdquo; also numerous papers on Ichthyology, in procedures
+of various societies and government bureaus.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Maeterlink" id="Maeterlink"></a><span class="smcap"><ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Elsewhere in the text this name is spelt 'Maeterlinck'.">Maeterlink</ins>, Maurice</span>, Belgian dramatist and poet, born 1864.
+He began early to write plays, which were translated into English and
+represented in London. He has written &ldquo;Le Tr&eacute;sor des Humbles,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Aglavaine and Selysette,&rdquo; &ldquo;<ins class="correction" title="sic.">P&eacute;ll&eacute;as and Melisande</ins>,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Intruder,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Princess Maleine,&rdquo; &ldquo;Wisdom and Destiny.&rdquo; He has been called the
+&ldquo;Belgian Shakespeare.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p><a name="Morley" id="Morley"></a><span class="smcap">Morley, Margaret W.</span>, author and teacher, born 1858. Has
+taught in New York State and in the West. She is the author of &ldquo;A Song
+of Life,&rdquo; &ldquo;Life and Love,&rdquo; &ldquo;A Few Familiar Flowers,&rdquo; &ldquo;Flowers and
+their Friends,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Bee People,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Honey Makers,&rdquo; &ldquo;Seed Babies,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Little Wanderers,&rdquo; &ldquo;Wasps and their Ways,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Thoreau" id="Thoreau"></a><span class="smcap">Thoreau, Henry David</span>, born at Concord, Mass., July 12, 1817;
+died May 6, 1862. After his graduation from Harvard, in 1837, he
+helped his father make lead pencils. In 1839 he began his careful
+studies on nature, and made a voyage on the Concord and Merrimac
+Rivers described in his first book. His most popular work, &ldquo;Walden, or
+Life in the Woods,&rdquo; was published in 1854. After his death several
+volumes were made up from his voluminous diaries. His collected
+writings, in ten volumes, were published in 1893.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Wallace" id="Wallace"></a><span class="smcap">Wallace, A.&nbsp;R.</span>, noted English naturalist and traveller, born
+1822. Was educated as a land surveyor, but turned his attention
+exclusively to natural history. He explored the valleys of the Amazon
+and Rio Negro, travelled in the Malay Archipelago and Papua. He and
+Darwin both announced together the theory of natural selection. He
+wrote &ldquo;Travels on the Amazon,&rdquo; &ldquo;Palm Trees of the Amazon,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Malay
+Archipelago,&rdquo; &ldquo;Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection,&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Geographical Distribution of Animals,&rdquo; <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original omits the opening quotation mark.">&ldquo;Tropical Nature,&rdquo;</ins> &ldquo;Island
+Life,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Wilson" id="Wilson"></a><span class="smcap">Wilson, A.</span>, English physiologist, lecturer, and journalist,
+born 1852. Educated Edinburgh University and Medical School. Has
+written much on popular physiology in the newspapers and magazines. Is
+the author of &ldquo;Studies on Life,<ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Original omits the opening quotation mark.">&rdquo;</ins> &ldquo;Leisure Time Studies,&rdquo; &ldquo;Science
+Stories,&rdquo; &ldquo;Chapters on Evolution,&rdquo; &ldquo;Leaves from a Naturalist&#8217;s Note
+Book,&rdquo; &ldquo;Wild Animals,&rdquo; &ldquo;Elements of Zo&ouml;logy,&rdquo; etc.</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="SUPP" id="SUPP"></a><a class="pagenum" name="Pg_398" id="Pg_398"></a>NATURAL HISTORY</h2>
+
+<h3>SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS</h3>
+
+
+<dl class="supp">
+<dt>Days Out of Doors</dt>
+<dd>Charles C. Abbott</dd>
+<dt>First Lessons in Zo&ouml;logy</dt>
+<dd>Elizabeth C. Agassiz</dd>
+<dt>Birds of America</dt>
+<dd>John J. Audubon</dd>
+<dt>My Land and Water Friends</dt>
+<dd>M.&nbsp;E. Bamford</dd>
+<dt>Locusts and Wild Honey</dt>
+<dd><a href="#Burroughs">John Burroughs</a></dd>
+<dt>Woodlands</dt>
+<dd>Mordecai C. Cook</dd>
+<dt>A Year Among the Birds</dt>
+<dd>Wilson Flagg</dd>
+<dt>The Out Door World</dt>
+<dd>W. Furneaux</dd>
+<dt>The Great World&#8217;s Farm</dt>
+<dd>Selina Gaye</dd>
+<dt>Monsters of the Sea<br />
+Chips from the Earth&#8217;s Crust</dt>
+<dd>J. Gibson</dd>
+<dt>Sharp Eyes</dt>
+<dd>William H. Gibson</dd>
+<dt>Practical Forestry</dt>
+<dd>John Gifford</dd>
+<dt>Along the Florida Reefs</dt>
+<dd>Charles F. Holder</dd>
+<dt>About Pebbles</dt>
+<dd>Alpheus Hyatt</dd>
+<dt>Country Cousins</dt>
+<dd>Ernest Ingersoll</dd>
+<dt>History of a Mouthful of Bread</dt>
+<dd>Jean Mac&eacute;</dd>
+<dt>Under Foot</dt>
+<dd>L.&nbsp;D. Nicholls</dd>
+<dt>Underground Treasures</dt>
+<dd>James Orton</dd>
+<dt>Among the Night People</dt>
+<dd>C.&nbsp;D. Pierson</dd>
+<dt>Ethics of the Dust</dt>
+<dd>John Ruskin</dd>
+<dt>The Sea Children</dt>
+<dd>Walter Russell</dd>
+<dt>Aspects of the Earth</dt>
+<dd>Nathaniel S. Shaler</dd>
+<dt>The Vacation Club</dt>
+<dd>Ada J. Todd</dd>
+<dt>The Complete Angler</dt>
+<dd>Izaak Walton</dd>
+<dt>Half Hours in Field and Forest<br />
+Half Hours with a Naturalist</dt>
+<dd>J.&nbsp;G. Wood</dd>
+</dl>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<a href="images/endpaper-h.jpg" title="Larger image"><img class="jpg" src="images/endpaper-t.jpg" width="500" height="362" alt="Endpaper of book" title="" /></a>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Book of Natural History, by Various
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+</body>
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@@ -0,0 +1,11126 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Book of Natural History, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Book of Natural History
+       Young Folks' Library Volume XIV.
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: David Starr Jordan
+
+Release Date: April 28, 2006 [EBook #18274]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Paul Ereaut, Laura Wisewell
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+   +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+   |                         YOUNG FOLKS'                         |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                           LIBRARY                            |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |    SELECTIONS FROM THE CHOICEST LITERATURE OF ALL LANDS:     |
+   |       FOLK-LORE, FAIRY TALES, FABLES, LEGENDS, NATURAL       |
+   |           HISTORY, WONDERS OF EARTH, SEA AND SKY,            |
+   |           ANIMAL STORIES, SEA TALES, BRAVE DEEDS,            |
+   |             EXPLORATIONS, STORIES OF SCHOOL AND              |
+   |                   COLLEGE LIFE, BIOGRAPHY,                   |
+   |                      HISTORY, PATRIOTIC                      |
+   |                      ELOQUENCE, POETRY                       |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                        THIRD EDITION                         |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                   REVISED IN CONFERENCE BY                   |
+   |                                                              |
+   |           THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF,            |
+   |               PRESIDENT WILLIAM JEWETT TUCKER,               |
+   |                 HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, HENRY                 |
+   |                VAN DYKE, NATHAN HASKELL DOLE                 |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |           _TWENTY VOLUMES_   _RICHLY ILLUSTRATED_            |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                            BOSTON                            |
+   |                    HALL AND LOCKE COMPANY                    |
+   |                          PUBLISHERS                          |
+   |                                                              |
+   +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+                           COPYRIGHT, 1902,
+                       BY HALL & LOCKE COMPANY.
+                           BOSTON, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+                            Stanhope Press
+                         F. H. GILSON COMPANY
+                           BOSTON, U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+EDITORIAL BOARD
+
+
+  THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, Editor-in-chief,
+    Author, poet, former editor _Atlantic Monthly_, Boston, Mass.
+
+  The HON. GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR,
+    United States Senator, Worcester, Mass.
+
+  The HON. JOHN D. LONG,
+    Secretary of the United States Navy, Boston.
+
+  HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, LL.D.,
+    Author, literarian, associate editor _The Outlook_, New York.
+
+  ERNEST THOMPSON-SETON,
+    Artist, author, New York.
+
+  JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE,
+    Author, poet, and editor, Arlington, Mass.
+
+  The REVEREND CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY,
+    Archdeacon, author, Philadelphia.
+
+  JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS,
+    Humorous writer, Atlanta, Ga.
+
+  MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD,
+    Historical novelist, Chicago.
+
+  LAURA E. RICHARDS,
+    Author, Gardiner, Me.
+
+  ROSWELL FIELD,
+    Author, editor _The Evening Post_, Chicago.
+
+  TUDOR JENKS,
+    Author, associate editor _Saint Nicholas_, New York.
+
+  GEORGE A. HENTY,
+    Traveller, author, London, England.
+
+  KIRK MUNROE,
+    Writer of stories for boys, Cocoanut Grove, Fla.
+
+  EDITH M. THOMAS,
+    Poet, West New Brighton, N.Y.
+
+  CAROLINE TICKNOR,
+    Author, editor, Boston.
+
+  WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER, D.D., LL.D.,
+    President Chicago University.
+
+  DAVID STARR JORDAN, M.D., LL.D.,
+    President Leland Stanford Junior University, naturalist, writer,
+    Stanford University, Cal.
+
+  CHARLES ELIOT NORTON, A.M., LL.D., etc.,
+    Scholar, author, Emeritus Professor of Art at Harvard University.
+
+  HENRY VAN DYKE, D.D., LL.D.,
+    Clergyman, author, Professor Princeton University.
+
+  The REVEREND THOMAS J. SHAHAN,
+    Dean of the Faculty of Divinity, Professor of Early Ecclesiastical
+    History, Catholic University, Washington, D.C.
+
+  WILLIAM P. TRENT,
+    Author, editor, Professor of English Literature, Columbia
+    University, New York City.
+
+  EDWARD SINGLETON HOLDEN, A.M., LL.D.,
+    Ex-president University of California, astronomer, author, U.S.
+    Military Academy, West Point.
+
+  EDWIN ERLE SPARKS,
+    Professor of American History, Chicago University.
+
+  The VERY REV. GEORGE M. GRANT. D.D., LL.D.,
+    Educator, author, vice-principal Queen's College, Kingston, Ont.
+
+  NATHAN HASKELL DOLE,
+    Author, translator, literary editor _Current History_, Boston.
+
+  ABBIE FARWELL BROWN,
+    Author, Boston.
+
+  CHARLES WELSH, Managing Editor,
+    Author, lecturer, editor, Winthrop Highlands, Mass.
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF VOLUMES
+
+
+  VOLUME I.
+
+  THE STORY TELLER
+    Edited by CHARLES ELIOT NORTON
+
+
+  VOLUME II.
+
+  THE MERRY MAKER
+    Edited by JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS
+
+
+  VOLUME III.
+
+  FAMOUS FAIRY TALES
+    Edited by ROSWELL FIELD
+
+
+  VOLUME IV.
+
+  TALES OF FANTASY
+    Edited by TUDOR JENKS
+
+
+  VOLUME V.
+
+  MYTHS AND LEGENDS
+    Edited by THOMAS J. SHAHAN
+
+
+  VOLUME VI.
+
+  THE ANIMAL STORY BOOK
+    Edited by ERNEST THOMPSON-SETON
+
+
+  VOLUME VII.
+
+  SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS
+    Edited by KIRK MUNROE and MARY HARTWELL CATHERWOOD
+
+
+  VOLUME VIII.
+
+  BOOK OF ADVENTURE
+    Edited by NATHAN HASKELL DOLE
+
+
+  VOLUME IX.
+
+  FAMOUS EXPLORERS
+    Edited by EDWIN ERLE SPARKS
+
+
+  VOLUME X.
+
+  BRAVE DEEDS
+    Edited by JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE
+
+
+  VOLUME XI.
+
+  WONDERS OF EARTH, SEA, AND SKY
+    Edited by EDWARD SINGLETON HOLDEN
+
+
+  VOLUME XII.
+
+  FAMOUS TRAVELS
+    Edited by GEORGE A. HENTY
+
+
+  VOLUME XIII.
+
+  SEA STORIES
+    Edited by CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY
+
+
+  VOLUME XIV.
+
+  A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY
+    Edited by DAVID STARR JORDAN
+
+
+  VOLUME XV.
+
+  HISTORIC SCENES IN FICTION
+    Edited by HENRY VAN DYKE
+
+
+  VOLUME XVI.
+
+  FAMOUS BATTLES BY LAND AND SEA
+    Edited by JOHN D. LONG
+
+
+  VOLUME XVII.
+
+  MEN WHO HAVE RISEN
+    Edited by HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE
+
+
+  VOLUME XVIII.
+
+  BOOK OF PATRIOTISM
+    Edited by GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR
+
+
+  VOLUME XIX.
+
+  LEADERS OF MEN, OR HISTORY TOLD IN BIOGRAPHY
+    Edited by WILLIAM RAINEY HARPER
+
+
+  VOLUME XX.
+
+  FAMOUS POEMS
+    Selected by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH, with Poetical Foreword by
+    EDITH M. THOMAS.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE CONDOR.]
+
+
+
+
+   +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+   |                                                              |
+   |           _Young Folks' Library in Twenty Volumes_           |
+   |           _Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Editor-in-Chief_           |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                          A BOOK OF                           |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                           NATURAL                            |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                           HISTORY                            |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                          EDITED BY                           |
+   |                      DAVID STARR JORDAN                      |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                         _VOLUME XIV_                         |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                        [Illustration]                        |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                                                              |
+   |                            BOSTON                            |
+   |                    HALL AND LOCKE COMPANY                    |
+   |                          PUBLISHERS                          |
+   |                                                              |
+   +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                    PAGE
+    LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS                           xiii
+
+    ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND FISHES                        xv
+      BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+    THE WONDER OF LIFE                                 1
+      BY PROFESSOR T. H. HUXLEY.
+
+    LIFE GROWTH;--FROGS                               10
+      BY MARGARET WARNER MORLEY.
+
+    THE MAN-LIKE APES                                 15
+      BY PROFESSOR T. H. HUXLEY.
+
+    SOME STRANGE NURSERIES                            46
+      BY GRANT ALLEN.
+
+    HOW ANIMALS SPEND THE WINTER                      69
+      BY W. S. BLATCHLEY.
+
+    BIRDS' NESTS                                      88
+      BY JOHN BURROUGHS.
+
+    BIRDS IN THEIR RELATION TO AGRICULTURE           121
+      BY LAWRENCE BRUNER.
+
+    THE SCISSOR BEAK                                 143
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    THE CONDOR                                       146
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    THE UMBRELLA BIRD                                153
+      BY SIR A. R. WALLACE.
+
+    HUMMING BIRDS                                    155
+      BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+    THE FOUNDATIONS OF A WONDERFUL CITY              158
+      BY MAURICE MAETERLINCK.
+
+    WASPS                                            175
+      BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+    A WASP AND ITS PREY                              180
+      BY G. W. AND E. G. PECKHAM.
+
+    LEAF-CUTTING ANTS                                190
+      BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+    SOME WONDERFUL SPIDERS                           197
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    WHAT I SAW IN AN ANT'S NEST                      201
+      BY ANDREW WILSON.
+
+    THE WILD LLAMA                                   228
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    BATS                                             232
+      BY W. S. DALLAS, F.G.S.
+
+    HOW SNAKES EAT                                   258
+      BY CATHERINE C. HOPLEY.
+
+    WHAT WORMS DO                                    264
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    TWO FOPS AMONG THE FISHES                        284
+      BY W. S. BLATCHLEY.
+
+    SEA SLUGS AND CUTTLE-FISH                        292
+      BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+    THE COW FISH                                     295
+      BY SIR ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE.
+
+    OLD RATTLER AND THE KING SNAKE                   297
+      BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+    THE STORY OF A STRANGE LAND                      303
+      BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+    THE COLOR OF ANIMALS                             315
+      BY SIR JOHN LUBBOCK BART.
+
+    PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES IN SPIDERS               343
+      BY E. G. PECKHAM.
+
+    THE BATH OF THE BIRDS                            369
+      BY RICHARD JEFFERIES.
+
+    THE LOON                                         378
+      BY HENRY D. THOREAU.
+
+    THE DARTMOOR PONIES                              384
+      BY ARABELLA R. BUCKLEY.
+
+    BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES                               396
+
+    SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING            398
+
+
+NOTE.
+
+The publishers' acknowledgments are due to Miss Margaret Warner Morley
+and Messrs. A. C. McClurg & Co. for permission to use "Life
+Growth,--Frogs"; to Mr. W. S. Blatchley and _The Popular Science
+Monthly_ for "How Animals Spend the Winter" and "Two Fops Among the
+Fishes"; to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. for "Birds' Nests," by
+John Burroughs; to Mr. L. Bruner and the Nebraska Ornithologists'
+Union for "Birds in Their Relation to Agriculture"; to G. W. and E. G.
+Peckham for "A Wasp and Its Prey" and "Protective Resemblances in
+Spiders"; to President David Starr Jordan and _The Popular Science
+Monthly_ for "Old Rattler and the King Snake"; to President Jordan and
+A. C. McClurg & Co. for "The Story of a Strange Land."
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                    PAGE
+    THE CONDOR                              Frontispiece
+    THE GORILLA                            Face Page  40
+    THE YELLOW BELLIED WOODPECKER                     92
+    THE UMBRELLA BIRD                                154
+    THE GUANACO                                      230
+    THE VAMPIRE BAT                                  242
+    THE COW FISH                                     296
+
+AND ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-TWO BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE
+TEXT.
+
+
+
+
+ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND FISHES
+
+BY
+
+DAVID STARR JORDAN, LL.D.
+
+
+This volume is made up from the writings of naturalists who have told
+us of the behavior of animals as they have seen it at first hand and
+of the beginnings and the growth of life so far as they know about it.
+In selecting these from the wealth of available material the editor
+has been guided by this rule: The subject matter must be interesting
+to young people; it must be told in a clear and attractive style; and
+most important of all, it must deal with actualities. We have seen in
+the last few years a marked revival of nature studies. This has led to
+a wider range of interest in natural phenomena and in the growth and
+ways of animals and plants. If this movement is not to be merely a
+passing fad, the element of truthfulness must be constantly insisted
+upon. If a clever imagination, or worse, sentimental symbolism, be
+substituted for the truth of nature, the value of such studies is
+altogether lost.
+
+The essence of character-building lies in action. The chief value of
+nature study in character-building is that, like life itself, it
+deals with realities. One must in life make his own observations,
+frame his own inductions, and apply them in action as he goes along.
+The habit of finding out the best thing to do next and then doing it
+is the basis of character. Nature-study, if it be genuine, is
+essentially doing. To deal with truth is necessary, if we are to know
+truth when we see it in action. The rocks and shells, the frogs and
+lilies, always tell the absolute truth. Every leaf on the tree is an
+original document in botany. When a thousand are used or used up, the
+archives of Nature are just as full as ever. By the study of realities
+wisdom is built up. In the relations of objects he can touch and move,
+the child finds the limitations of his powers, the laws that govern
+phenomena, which his own actions must obey. So long as he deals with
+realities, these laws stand in their proper relation. "So simple, so
+natural, so true," says Agassiz. "This is the charm of dealing with
+nature herself. She brings us back to absolute truth so often as we
+wander."
+
+So long as a child is led from one reality to another, never lost in
+words or abstractions,--so long this natural relation remains. "What
+can I do with it?" is the beginning of wisdom. "What is it to me?" is
+the beginning of personal virtue.
+
+By adding near things to near, the child grows in Knowledge.
+Knowledge, tested and set in order, is Science. Nature-study is the
+beginning of science. It is the science of the child. The "world as
+it is" is the province of science. In proportion as our actions
+conform to the conditions of the world as it is, do we find the world
+beautiful, glorious, divine. The truth of the world as it is must be
+the final inspiration of art, poetry, and religion. The world, as men
+have agreed to say that it is, is quite another matter. The less our
+children hear of this, the less they may have to unlearn. Nature
+studies have long been valued as "a means of grace," because they
+arouse the enthusiasm, the love of work, which belongs to open-eyed
+youth. The child blase with moral precepts and irregular conjugations
+turns with fresh delight to the unrolling of ferns or the song of
+birds.
+
+Nature must be questioned in earnest, or she will not reply. But to
+every serious question she will return a serious answer. "Simple,
+natural, and true," she tends to create simplicity and truth. Truth
+and virtue are but opposite sides of the same shield. As leaves pass
+over into flowers, and flowers into fruit, so are wisdom, virtue, and
+happiness inseparably related.
+
+This little volume is a contribution to the subject matter of Nature
+Study. It is the work of students of nature, and their work is
+"simple, natural, and true," in so far as it is represented here.
+
+[Illustration: (Signature) David Starr Jordan]
+
+LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY,
+CALIFORNIA, _April_ 22, 1902.
+
+
+
+
+A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY
+
+
+
+
+THE WONDER OF LIFE
+
+(FROM HIS SCIENCE PRIMER, INTRODUCTION.)
+
+BY PROFESSOR, T. H. HUXLEY.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Every one has seen a cornfield. If you pluck up one of the innumerable
+wheat plants which are fixed in the soil of the field, about harvest
+time, you will find that it consists of a stem which ends in a root at
+one end and an ear at the other, and that blades or leaves are
+attached to the sides of the stem. The ear contains a multitude of
+oval grains which are the seeds of the wheat plant. You know that when
+these seeds are cleared from the husk or bran in which they are
+enveloped, they are ground into fine powder in mills, and that this
+powder is the flour of which bread is made. If a handful of flour
+mixed with a little cold water is tied up in a coarse cloth bag, and
+the bag is then put into a large vessel of water and well kneaded with
+the hands, it will become pasty, while the water will become white. If
+this water is poured away into another vessel, and the kneading
+process continued with some fresh water, the same thing will happen.
+But if the operation is repeated the paste will become more and more
+sticky, while the water will be rendered less and less white, and at
+last will remain colorless. The sticky substance which is thus
+obtained by itself is called gluten; in commerce it is the substance
+known as maccaroni.
+
+If the water in which the flour has thus been washed is allowed to
+stand for a few hours, a white sediment will be found at the bottom of
+the vessel, while the fluid above will be clear and may be poured off.
+This white sediment consists of minute grains of starch, each of
+which, examined with the microscope, will be found to have a
+concentrically laminated structure. If the fluid from which the starch
+was deposited is now boiled it will become turbid, just as white of
+egg diluted with water does when it is boiled, and eventually a
+whitish lumpy substance will collect at the bottom of the vessel. This
+substance is called vegetable albumin.
+
+Besides the albumin, the gluten, and the starch, other substances
+about which this rough method of analysis gives us no information, are
+contained in the wheat grain. For example, there is woody matter or
+cellulose, and a certain quantity of sugar and fat. It would be
+possible to obtain a substance similar to albumin, starch, saccharine,
+and fatty matters, and cellulose, by treating the stem, leaves, and
+root in a similar fashion, but the cellulose would be in far larger
+proportion. Straw, in fact, which consists of the dry stem and leaves
+of the wheat plant, is almost wholly made up of cellulose. Besides
+this, however, it contains a certain proportion of mineral bodies,
+among them, pure flint or silica; and, if you should ever see a wheat
+rick burnt, you will find more or less of this silica, in a glassy
+condition, in the embers. In the living plant, all these bodies are
+combined with a large proportion of water, or are dissolved, or
+suspended in that fluid. The relative quantity of water is much
+greater in the stem and leaves than in the seed.
+
+Everybody has seen a common fowl. It is an active creature which runs
+about and sometimes flies. It has a body covered with feathers,
+provided with two wings and two legs, and ending at one end in a neck
+terminated by a head with a beak, between the two parts of which the
+mouth is placed. The hen lays eggs, each of which is inclosed in a
+hard shell. If you break an egg the contents flow out and are seen to
+consist of the colorless glairy "white" and the yellow "yolk." If the
+white is collected by itself in water and then heated it becomes
+turbid, forming a white solid, very similar to the vegetable albumin,
+which is called animal albumin.
+
+If the yolk is beaten up with water, no starch nor cellulose is
+obtained from it, but there will be plenty of fatty and some
+saccharine matter, besides substances more or less similar to albumin
+and gluten.
+
+The feathers of the fowl are chiefly composed of horn; if they are
+stripped off and the body is boiled for a long time, the water will be
+found to contain a quantity of gelatin, which sets into a jelly as it
+cools; and the body will fall to pieces, the bones and the flesh
+separating from one another. The bones consist almost entirely of a
+substance which yields gelatin when it is boiled in water, impregnated
+with a large quantity of salts of lime, just as the wood of the wheat
+stem is impregnated with silica. The flesh, on the other hand, will
+contain albumin, and some other substances which are very similar to
+albumin, termed fibrin and syntonin.
+
+In the living bird, all these bodies are united with a great quantity
+of water, or dissolved, or suspended in water; and it must be
+remembered that there are sundry other constituents of the fowl's body
+and of the egg, which are left unmentioned, as of no present
+importance.
+
+The wheat plant contains neither horn, nor gelatin, and the fowl
+contains neither starch, nor cellulose; but the albumin of the plant
+is very similar to that of the animal, and the fibrin and syntonin of
+the animal are bodies closely allied to both albumin and gluten.
+
+That there is a close likeness between all these bodies is obvious
+from the fact that when any of them is strongly heated, or allowed to
+putrefy, it gives off the same sort of disagreeable smell; and careful
+chemical analysis has shown that they are, in fact, all composed of
+the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, combined in very
+nearly the same proportions. Indeed, charcoal, which is impure carbon,
+might be obtained by strongly heating either a handful of corn, or a
+piece of fowl's flesh, in a vessel from which the air is excluded so
+as to keep the corn or the flesh from burning. And if the vessel were
+a still, so that the products of this destructive distillation, as it
+is called, could be condensed and collected, we should find water and
+ammonia, in some shape or other, in the receiver. Now ammonia is a
+compound of the elementary bodies, nitrogen and hydrogen; therefore
+both nitrogen and hydrogen must have been contained in the bodies from
+which it is derived.
+
+It is certain, then, that very similar nitrogenous compounds form a
+very large part of the bodies of both the wheat plant and the fowl,
+and these bodies are called proteids.
+
+It is a very remarkable fact that not only are such substances as
+albumin, gluten, fibrin, and syntonin, known exclusively as products
+of animal and vegetable bodies, but that every animal and every plant,
+at all periods of its existence, contains one or other of them,
+though, in other respects, the composition of living bodies may vary
+indefinitely. Thus, some plants contain neither starch nor cellulose,
+while these substances are found in some animals; while many animals
+contain no horny matter and no gelatin-yielding substance. So that the
+matter which appears to be the essential foundation of both the animal
+and the plant is the proteid united with water; though it is probable
+that, in all animals and plants, these are associated with more or
+less fatty and amyloid (or starchy and saccharine) substances, and
+with very small quantities of certain mineral bodies, of which the
+most important appear to be phosphorus, iron, lime, and potash.
+
+Thus there is a substance composed of water + proteids + fat +
+amyloids + mineral matters which is found in all animals and plants;
+and, when these are alive, this substance is termed protoplasm.
+
+The wheat plant in the field is said to be a living thing; the fowl
+running about the farmyard is also said to be a living thing. If the
+plant is plucked up, and if the fowl is knocked on the head, they soon
+die and become dead things. Both the fowl and the wheat plant, as we
+have seen, are composed of the same elements as those which enter into
+the composition of mineral matter, though united into compounds which
+do not exist in the mineral world. Why, then, do we distinguish this
+matter when it takes the shape of a wheat plant or a fowl, as living
+matter?
+
+In the spring a wheat-field is covered with small green plants. These
+grow taller and taller until they attain many times the size which
+they had when they first appeared; and they produce the heads of
+flowers which eventually change into ears of corn.
+
+In so far as this is a process of growth, accompanied by the
+assumption of a definite form, it might be compared with the growth of
+a crystal of salt in brine: but, on closer examination, it turns out
+to be something very different. For the crystal of salt grows by
+taking to itself the salt contained in the brine, which is added to
+its exterior; whereas the plant grows by addition to its interior: and
+there is not a trace of the characteristic compounds of the plant's
+body, albumin, gluten, starch, or cellulose, or fat, in the soil, or
+in the water, or in the air.
+
+Yet the plant creates nothing; and, therefore, the matter of the
+proteins and amyloids and fats which it contains must be supplied to
+it, and simply manufactured, or combined in new fashions, in the body
+of the plant.
+
+It is easy to see, in a general way, what the raw materials are which
+the plant works up, for the plant get nothing but the materials
+supplied to it by the atmosphere and by the soil. The atmosphere
+contains oxygen and nitrogen, a little carbonic acid gas, a minute
+quantity of ammoniacal salts, and a variable proportion of water. The
+soil contains clay and sand (silica), lime, iron, potash, phosphorus,
+sulphur, ammoniacal salts, and other matters which are of no
+importance. Thus, between them, the soil and the atmosphere contain
+all the elementary bodies which we find in the plant; but the plant
+has to separate them and join them together afresh.
+
+Moreover, the new matter, by the addition of which the plant grows, is
+not applied to its outer surface, but is manufactured in its interior;
+and the new molecules are diffused among the old ones.
+
+The grain of wheat is a part of the flower of the wheat plant, which,
+when it becomes ripe, is easily separated. It contains a minute and
+rudimentary plant; and, when it is sown, this gradually grows, or
+becomes developed into, the perfect plant, with its stem, roots,
+leaves, and flowers, which again give rise to similar seeds. No
+mineral body runs through a regular series of changes of form and
+size, and then gives off parts of its substance which take the same
+course. Mineral bodies present no such development, and give off no
+seeds or germs. They do not reproduce their kind.
+
+The fowl in the farmyard is incessantly pecking about and swallowing
+now a grain of corn, and now a fly or a worm. In fact, it is feeding,
+and, as every one knows, would soon die if not supplied with food. It
+is also a matter of every-day knowledge that it would not be of much
+use to give a fowl the soil of a cornfield, with plenty of air and
+water, to eat.
+
+In this respect, the fowl is like all other animals; it cannot
+manufacture the proteid materials of its body, but it has to take them
+ready made, or in a condition which requires but very slight
+modification by devouring the bodies either of other animals or of
+plants. The animal or vegetable substances devoured are taken into the
+animal's stomach; they are there digested or dissolved; and thus they
+are fitted to be distributed to all parts of the fowl's own body, and
+applied to its maintenance and growth.
+
+The fowl's egg is formed in the body of the hen, and is, in fact, part
+of her body inclosed in a shell and detached. It contains a minute
+rudiment of a fowl; and when it is kept at a proper temperature by the
+hen's sitting upon it, or otherwise for three weeks, this rudiment
+grows, or develops, at the expense of the materials contained in the
+yolk and the white, into a small bird, the chick, which is then
+hatched and grows into a fowl. The animal, therefore, is produced by
+the development of a germ in the same way as the plant; and, in this
+respect, all plants and all animals agree with one another, and differ
+from all mineral matter.
+
+Thus there is a very broad distinction between mineral matter and
+living matter. The elements of living matter are identical with those
+of mineral bodies; and the fundamental laws of matter and motion apply
+as much to living matter as to mineral matter; but every living body
+is, as it were, a complicated piece of mechanism which "goes," or
+lives, only under certain conditions. The germ contained in the
+fowl's egg requires nothing but a supply of warmth, within certain
+narrow limits of temperature, to build the molecules of the egg into
+the body of the chick. And the process of development of the egg, like
+that of the seed, is neither more nor less mysterious than that, in
+virtue of which, the molecules of water, when it is cooled down to the
+freezing-point, build themselves up into regular crystals.
+
+The further study of living bodies leads to the province of biology,
+of which there are two great divisions--botany, which deals with
+plants, and zooelogy, which treats of animals.
+
+Each of these divisions has its subdivisions--such as morphology,
+which treats of the form, structure, and development of living beings,
+and physiology, which explains their actions or functions, besides
+others.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+LIFE GROWTH;--FROGS
+
+(FROM A SONG OF LIFE.)
+
+BY MARGARET WARNER MORLEY.[1]
+
+[1] Copyright by A. C. McClurg & Co., 1891.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Somewhat higher than the fish in the scale of life is the frog.
+Although he begins life as a fish, and in the tadpole state breathes
+by gills, he soon discards the water-diluted air of the pond, and with
+perfect lungs boldly inhales the pure air of the upper world. His life
+as a tadpole, although so fish-like, is much inferior to true fish
+life: for though the fish has not the perfect lung, he has a
+modification of it which he fills with air, not for breathing
+purposes, but as an air-sac to make him float like a bubble in the
+water. Will he rise to the surface? he inflates the air-bladder. Will
+he sink to the bottom? he compresses the air-bladder. But in the frog
+the air-bladder changes into the lungs, and is never the delicate
+balloon which floats the fish in aqueous space. When the frog's lungs
+are perfected, his gills close, and he forever abandons fish-life,
+though being a cold-blooded creature he needs comparatively little
+air, and delights to return to his childhood's home in the bottom of
+the pond. But although he can stay under water for a long time, he is
+obliged to hold his breath while there, and when he would breathe must
+come to the surface to do so. It is possible to drown him by holding
+him under water.
+
+[Illustration: A FROG.]
+
+As a feeder the frog relies upon animal life, which he expertly seizes
+with a tongue fastened by the wrong end, as compared with our tongues.
+He is a certain marksman, and when he aims at an insect the chances
+are that the insect will enter his stomach and be there speedily
+changed into a new form of animal life.
+
+Although from the moment the gills disappear the frog is a true land
+animal, he is obliged, on account of the fish-like character of his
+young, to lay his eggs in the water. For this purpose the frogs enter
+the pools in early spring. The surface of every country pond swarms
+with the bright-eyed little creatures. They have awakened from a
+long, cold, winter sleep, to find the spring about them and within
+them. Life has suddenly become abundant and joyous. Their sluggish
+blood flows faster, their hearts beat quicker; they leap, they swim,
+they swell out their throats and call to each other in various keys.
+The toads are with them, and the pretty tree-frogs that change their
+color to suit their emotions. And all are rapturously screaming. Their
+voices are not musical, according to man's standard, but seem to
+afford great satisfaction to the performers in the shrill orchestra of
+the swamps, who thus give vent to the flood of life that sweeps
+through them after the still, icy winter.
+
+As though the new spring-life were too plentiful to find room in the
+frogs and toads already existing, it calls for more frogs and toads;
+and new creatures are born to share the extra vitality. Like the
+flowers and the fish, the frogs, too, give forth new life. Within
+them, too, the miracle is performed. The tiny eggs of the one wake up
+and begin to grow. The tiny living bodies in the fertilizing principle
+of the other also wake up and begin to grow. But higher life is better
+guarded, because less prolific. The frog and the toad lay but few eggs
+as compared with the fish. Fish eggs may drop under the stones or
+float away, and so escape the vital touch of the fertilizing
+principle. There are so many that numbers may be lost and yet enough
+remain to continue the family. Not so with the frog family. No egg may
+be lost. So we find that the eggs of the frog are not dropped singly,
+like so many shot, but are bound together by a colorless, transparent,
+jelly-like substance, much like that found in the morning-glory seed,
+and which like that supplies nourishment to the young life, for the
+tadpole feeds upon it until he is able to seek other food. Moreover,
+instinct has taught the frog the need of extreme caution in the act of
+fertilization. Every egg _must_ be fertilized. As the time draws near
+for the dropping of the few eggs into the water, the male frog so
+places himself that the moment the eggs are being laid, he pours over
+them, one by one, as they fall into the water, the fertilizing fluid.
+
+And thus the mystery of life is again repeated. The union of the
+living, microscopic bodies of the fertilizing principle with the new
+laid egg is followed by the growth of the two elements into a living
+creature, able to eat, to breathe, to see, to feel. In some unknown
+way the atom of fertilizing principle seems to have contained the
+whole life of the father-frog, for it can give to his sons and
+daughters any of his peculiarities, either of color, form, motion, or
+disposition; and the tiny egg seems to have contained the whole life
+of the mother-frog, and can give to her sons and daughters any of her
+peculiarities; though, as is true of all inheritance, the tadpoles, as
+the young frogs are called, share the natures of both parents,
+inheriting some peculiarities from the father and others from the
+mother.
+
+[Illustration: A FROG.]
+
+But, like other life, although the frogs may vary a good deal within
+frog limits, none of them can escape their own limits and enter into
+those of any other life. Once a frog, always a frog; and no frog-egg
+may hope to develop into a turtle, or a bird, or anything but a frog.
+The life in the fertilizing principle of the frog is sacred to frog
+eggs, and is lifeless in contact with any other.
+
+Our common frogs, like many of the fishes, do not trouble themselves
+about the fate of their eggs after they are carefully laid in a safe
+place. They trust Mother Nature to see the little tadpoles safely
+through the perils of childhood, to help them change their dresses and
+get rid of their tails, and cut, not their teeth, but their arms and
+legs.
+
+In Venezuela, however, there dwells a frog with well developed
+maternal instinct. The mothers have pockets on their backs, not for
+their own convenience, but as cradles for their babies. The fathers
+put the fertilized eggs into the pockets of the mothers; and there
+they remain, well guarded, until the young are able to care for
+themselves.
+
+[Illustration: TADPOLES.]
+
+
+
+
+THE MAN-LIKE APES
+
+(FROM EVIDENCE AS TO MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE.)
+
+BY PROFESSOR T. H. HUXLEY.
+
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF GORILLA.]
+
+Sound knowledge respecting the habits and mode of life of the man-like
+Apes has been even more difficult of attainment than correct
+information regarding their structure.
+
+Once in a generation, a Wallace may be found physically, mentally, and
+morally qualified to wander unscathed through the tropical wilds of
+America and of Asia, to form magnificent collections as he wanders,
+and withal to think out sagaciously the conclusions suggested by his
+collections; but, to the ordinary explorer or collector, the dense
+forests of equatorial Asia and Africa, which constitute the favorite
+habitation of the Orang, the Chimpanzee, and the Gorilla, present
+difficulties of no ordinary magnitude; and the man who risks his life
+by even a short visit to the malarious shores of those regions may
+well be excused if he shrinks from facing the dangers of the interior;
+if he contents himself with stimulating the industry of the
+better-seasoned natives, and collecting and collating the more or less
+mythical reports and traditions with which they are too ready to
+supply him.
+
+In such a manner most of the earlier accounts of the habits of the
+man-like Apes originated; and even now a good deal of what passes
+current must be admitted to have no very safe foundation. The best
+information we possess is that based almost wholly on direct European
+testimony respecting the Gibbons; the next best evidence relates to
+the Orangs; while our knowledge of the habits of the Chimpanzee and
+the Gorilla stands much in need of support and enlargement by
+additional testimony from instructed European eye-witnesses.
+
+It will therefore be convenient in endeavoring to form a notion of
+what we are justified in believing about these animals, to commence
+with the best known man-like Apes, the Gibbons, and Orangs; and to
+make use of the perfectly reliable information respecting them as a
+sort of criterion of the probable truth or falsehood of assertions
+respecting the others.
+
+Of the Gibbons, half a dozen species are found scattered over the
+Asiatic Islands, Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and through Malacca, Siam,
+Arracan, and an uncertain extent of Hindostan on the mainland of Asia.
+The largest attain a few inches above three feet in height, from the
+crown to the heel, so that they are shorter than the other man-like
+Apes, while the slenderness of their bodies renders their mass far
+smaller in proportion even to this diminished height.
+
+Dr. Salomon Mueller, an accomplished Dutch naturalist, who lived for
+many years in the Eastern Archipelago, and to the result of whose
+personal experience I shall frequently have occasion to refer, states
+that the Gibbons are true mountaineers, loving the slopes and edges of
+the hills, though they rarely ascend beyond the limit of the
+fig-trees. All day long they haunt the tops of the tall trees, and
+though toward evening, they descend in small troops to the open
+ground, no sooner do they spy a man than they dart up the hillsides
+and disappear in the darker valleys.
+
+All observers testify to the prodigious volume of voice possessed by
+these animals. According to the writer whom I have just cited, in one
+of them, the Siamang, "the voice is grave and penetrating, resembling
+the sounds goek, goek, goek, goek, goek ha ha ha ha haaaaa, and may be
+easily heard at a distance of half a league." While the cry is being
+uttered, the great membranous bag under the throat which communicates
+with the organ of voice, the so-called "laryngeal sac," becomes
+greatly distended, diminishing again when the creature relapses into
+silence.
+
+M. Duvaucel, likewise, affirms that the cry of the Siamang may be
+heard for miles--making the woods ring again. So Mr. Martin describes
+the cry of the agile Gibbon as "overpowering and deafening" in a room,
+and "from its strength, well calculated for resounding through the
+vast forests." Mr. Waterhouse, an accomplished musician as well as
+zooelogist, says, "The Gibbon's voice is certainly much more powerful
+than that of any singer I ever heard." And yet it is to be recollected
+that this animal is not half the height of, and far less bulky in
+proportion than, a man.
+
+[Illustration: A GIBBON.]
+
+There is good testimony that various species of Gibbon readily take to
+the erect posture. Mr. George Bennett, a very excellent observer, in
+describing the habits of a male _Hylobates syndactylus_ which remained
+for some time in his possession, says: "He invariably walks in the
+erect posture when on a level surface; and then the arms either hang
+down, enabling him to assist himself with his knuckles; or, what is
+more usual, he keeps his arms uplifted in nearly an erect position,
+with the hands pendent ready to seize a rope, and climb up on the
+approach of danger or on the obtrusion of strangers. He walks rather
+quick in the erect posture, but with a waddling gait, and is soon run
+down if, while pursued, he has no opportunity of escaping by
+climbing.... When he walks in the erect posture, he turns the leg and
+foot outward, which occasions him to have a waddling gait and to seem
+bow-legged."
+
+Dr. Burrough states of another Gibbon, the Horlack or Hooluk:
+
+"They walk erect; and when placed on the floor, or in an open field,
+balance themselves very prettily by raising their hands over their
+head and slightly bending the arm at the wrist and elbow, and then run
+tolerably fast, rocking from side to side; and, if urged to greater
+speed, they let fall their hands to the ground, and assist themselves
+forward, rather jumping than running, still keeping the body, however,
+nearly erect."
+
+Somewhat different evidence, however, is given by Dr. Winslow Lewis:
+
+"Their only manner of walking was on their posterior or inferior
+extremities, the others being raised upward to preserve their
+equilibrium, as rope-dancers are assisted by long poles at fairs.
+Their progression was not by placing one foot before the other, but by
+simultaneously using both, as in jumping." Dr. Salomon Mueller also
+states that the Gibbons progress upon the ground by short series of
+tottering jumps, effected only by the hind limbs, the body being held
+altogether upright.
+
+But Mr. Martin, who also speaks from direct observation, says of the
+Gibbons generally:
+
+"Pre-eminently qualified for arboreal habits, and displaying among the
+branches amazing activity, the Gibbons are not so awkward or
+embarrassed on a level surface as might be imagined. They walk erect
+with a waddling or unsteady gait, but at a quick pace, the equilibrium
+of the body requiring to be kept up, either by touching the ground
+with the knuckles, first on one side then on the other, or by
+uplifting the arms so as to poise it. As with the Chimpanzee, the
+whole of the narrow, long sole of the foot is placed upon the ground
+at once, and raised at once, without any elasticity of step."
+
+After this mass of concurrent and independent testimony, it cannot
+reasonably be doubted that the Gibbons commonly and habitually assume
+the erect attitude.
+
+But level ground is not the place where these animals can display
+their very remarkable and peculiar locomotive powers, and that
+prodigious activity which almost tempts one to rank them among flying,
+rather than among ordinary climbing mammals.
+
+Mr. Martin has given so excellent and graphic an account of the
+movements of a _Hylobates agilis_, living in the Zooelogical Gardens,
+in 1840, that I will quote it in full:
+
+"It is almost impossible to convey in words an idea of the quickness
+and graceful address of her movements: they may indeed be termed
+aerial, as she seems merely to touch in her progress the branches
+among which she exhibits her evolutions. In these feats her hands and
+arms are the sole organs of locomotion, her body, hanging as if
+suspended by a rope, sustained by one hand (the right, for example),
+she launches herself, by an energetic movement, to a distant branch,
+which she catches with the left hand; but her hold is less than
+momentary; the impulse for the next launch is acquired; the branch
+then aimed at is attained by the right hand again, and quitted
+instantaneously, and so on, in alternate succession. In this manner
+spaces of twelve and eighteen feet are cleared, with the greatest ease
+and uninterruptedly, for hours together, without the slightest
+appearance of fatigue being manifested; and it is evident that, if
+more space could be allowed, distances very greatly exceeding eighteen
+feet would be as easily cleared; so that Duvaucel's assertion that he
+has seen these animals launch themselves from one branch to another,
+forty feet asunder, startling as it is, may be well credited.
+Sometimes, on seizing a branch in her progress, she will throw
+herself, by the power of one arm only, completely round it, making a
+revolution with such rapidity as almost to deceive the eye, and
+continue her progress with undiminished velocity. It is singular to
+observe how suddenly this Gibbon can stop, when the impetus giving by
+the rapidity and distance of her swinging leaps would seem to require
+a gradual abatement of her movements. In the very midst of her flight
+a branch is seized, the body raised, and she is seen, as if by magic,
+quietly seated on it, grasping it with her feet. As suddenly she again
+throws herself into action.
+
+"The following facts will convey some notion of her dexterity and
+quickness. A live bird was let loose in her apartment; she marked its
+flight, made a long swing to a distant branch, caught the bird with
+one hand in her passage, and attained the branch with her other hand,
+her aim, both at the bird and at the branch, being as successful as if
+one object only had engaged her attention. It may be added that she
+instantly bit off the head of the bird, picked its feathers, and then
+threw it down without attempting to eat it.
+
+"On another occasion this animal swung herself from a perch, across a
+passage at least twelve feet wide, against a window which it was
+thought would be immediately broken: but not so; to the surprise of
+all, she caught the narrow framework between the panes with her hand,
+in an instant attained the proper impetus, and sprang back again to
+the cage she had left--a feat requiring not only great strength, but
+the nicest precision."
+
+The Gibbons appear to be naturally very gentle, but there is very good
+evidence that they will bite severely when irritated, a female
+_Hylobates agilis_ having so severely lacerated one man with her long
+canines that he died; while she had injured others so much that, by
+way of precaution, these formidable teeth had been filed down; but if
+threatened she would still turn on her keeper. The Gibbons eat
+insects, but appear generally to avoid animal food. A Siamang,
+however, was seen by Mr. Bennett to seize and devour greedily a live
+lizard. They commonly drink by dipping their fingers in the liquid and
+then licking them. It is asserted that they sleep in a sitting
+posture.
+
+Duvaucel affirms that he has seen the females carry their young to the
+water-side and there wash their faces, in spite of resistance and
+cries. They are gentle and affectionate in captivity--full of tricks
+and pettishness, like spoiled children, and yet not devoid of a
+certain conscience, as an anecdote, told by Mr. Bennett will show. It
+would appear that his Gibbon had a peculiar inclination for
+disarranging things in the cabin. Among these articles a piece of soap
+would especially attract his notice, and for the removal of this he
+had been once or twice scolded. "One morning," says Mr. Bennett, "I
+was writing, the Ape being present in the cabin, when, casting my eyes
+toward him, I saw the little fellow taking the soap. I watched him
+without him perceiving that I did so: and he occasionally would cast a
+furtive glance toward the place where I sat. I pretended to write; he
+seeing me busily occupied, took the soap, and moved away with it in
+his paw. When he had walked half the length of the cabin, I spoke
+quietly, without frightening him. The instant he found I saw him he
+walked back again and deposited the soap nearly in the same place from
+whence he had taken it. There was certainly something more than
+instinct in that action: he evidently betrayed a consciousness of
+having done wrong both by his first and last actions--and what is
+reason if that is not an exercise of it?"
+
+The most elaborate account of the natural history of the Orang-Utan
+extant is that given in the "_Verhandelingen over de Natuurlijke
+Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche overzeeche Bezittingen (1839-45)_," by
+Dr. Salomon Mueller and Dr. Schlegel, and I shall base what I have to
+say upon this subject almost entirely on their statements, adding here
+and there particulars of interest from the writings of Brooke,
+Wallace, and others.
+
+The Orang-Utan would rarely seem to exceed four feet in height, but
+the body is very bulky, measuring two thirds of the height in
+circumference.
+
+The Orang-Utan is found only in Sumatra and Borneo, and is common in
+either of these islands--in both of which it occurs always in low,
+flat plains, never in the mountains. It loves the densest and most
+sombre of the forests, which extend from the seashore inland, and thus
+is found only in the eastern half of Sumatra, where alone such forests
+occur, though, occasionally, it strays over to the western side.
+
+On the other hand it is generally distributed through Borneo, except
+in the mountains, or where the population is dense. In favorable
+places the hunter may, by good fortune, see three or four in a day.
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF ORANG-UTAN.]
+
+Except in the pairing time, the old males usually live by themselves.
+The old females and the immature males, on the other hand, are often
+met with in twos and threes; and the former occasionally have young
+with them, though the pregnant females usually separate themselves,
+and sometimes remain apart after they have given birth to their
+offspring. The young Orangs seem to remain unusually long under their
+mother's protection, probably in consequence of their slow growth.
+While climbing the mother always carries her young against her bosom,
+the young holding on by the mother's hair. At what time of life the
+Orang-Utan becomes capable of propagation, and how long the females go
+with young is unknown, but it is probable that they are not adult
+until they arrive at ten or fifteen years of age. A female which lived
+for five years at Batavia had not attained one-third the height of the
+wild females. It is probable that, after reaching adult years, they go
+on growing, though slowly, and that they live to forty or fifty years.
+The Dyaks tell of old Orangs which have not only lost all their
+teeth, but which find it so troublesome to climb that they maintain
+themselves on windfalls and juicy herbage.
+
+The Orang is sluggish, exhibiting none of that marvellous activity
+characteristic of the Gibbons. Hunger alone seems to stir him to
+exertion, and when it is stilled he relapses into repose. When the
+animal sits, it curves its back and bows its head, so as to look
+straight down on the ground; sometimes it holds on with its hands by a
+higher branch, sometimes lets them hang phlegmatically down by its
+side; and in these positions the Orang will remain for hours together,
+in the same spot, almost without stirring, and only now and then
+giving utterance to its deep, growling voice. By day he usually climbs
+from one tree-top to another, and only at night descends to the
+ground: and if then threatened with danger he seeks refuge among the
+underwood. When not hunted, he remains a long time in the same
+locality, and sometimes stops for many days on the same tree, a firm
+place among its branches serving him for a bed. It is rare for the
+Orang to pass the night in the summit of a large tree, probably
+because it is too windy and cold there for him; but as soon as night
+draws on he descends from the height and seeks out a fit bed in the
+lower and darker part, or in the leafy top of a small tree, among
+which he prefers Nibong palms, Pandani, or one of those parasitic
+orchids which gave the primeval forests of Borneo so characteristic
+and striking an appearance. But whenever he determines to sleep, there
+he prepares himself a sort of nest; little boughs and leaves are drawn
+together round the selected spot, and bent crosswise over one
+another; while to make the bed soft, great leaves of ferns, of
+orchids, of _Pandanus fascicularis_, _Nipa fruticans_, etc., are
+laid over them. Those which Mueller saw, many of them being very fresh,
+were situated at a height of ten to twenty-five feet above the ground,
+and had a circumference, on the average, of two or three feet. Some
+were packed many inches thick with _pandanus_ leaves; others were
+remarkable only for the cracked twigs, which, united in a common
+centre, formed a regular platform. "The rude _hut_," says Sir James
+Brooke, "which they are stated to build in the trees, would be more
+properly called a seat or nest, for it has no roof or cover of any
+sort. The facility with which they form this nest is curious, and I
+had an opportunity of seeing a wounded female weave the branches
+together and seat herself within a minute."
+
+According to the Dyaks the Orang rarely leaves his bed before the sun
+is well above the horizon and has dissipated the mists. He gets up
+about nine, and goes to bed again about five; but sometimes not till
+late in the twilight. He lies sometimes on his back, or, by way of
+change, turns on one side or the other, drawing his limbs up to his
+body, and resting his head on his hand. When the night is cold, windy,
+or rainy, he usually covers his body with a heap of _pandanus nipa_,
+or fern leaves, like those of which his bed is made, and he is
+especially careful to wrap up his head in them. It is this habit of
+covering himself up which has probably led to the fable that the Orang
+builds huts in the trees.
+
+Although the Orang resides mostly amid the boughs of great trees
+during the daytime, he is very rarely seen squatting on a thick branch
+as other apes, and particularly the Gibbons, do. The Orang, on the
+contrary, confines himself to the slender leafy branches, so that he
+is seen right at the top of the trees, a mode of life which is closely
+related to the constitution of his hinder limbs, and especially to
+that of his seat. For this is provided with no callosites such as
+are possessed by many of the lower apes, and even by the Gibbons; and
+those bones of the pelvis, which are termed the ischia, and which form
+the solid framework of the surface on which the body rests in the
+sitting posture, are not expanded like those of the apes which possess
+callosities, but are more like those of man.
+
+An Orang climbs so slowly and cautiously as, in this act, to resemble
+a man more than an ape, taking great care of his feet, so that injury
+of them seems to affect him far more than it does other apes. Unlike
+the Gibbons, whose forearms do the greater part of the work as they
+swing from branch to branch, the Orang never makes even the smallest
+jump. In climbing, he moves alternately one hand and one foot, or,
+after having laid fast hold with the hands, he draws up both feet
+together. In passing from one tree to another he always seeks out a
+place where the twigs of both come close together, or interlace. Even
+when closely pursued, his circumspection is amazing; he shakes the
+branches to see if they will bear him, and then bending an overhanging
+bough down by throwing his weight gradually along it, he makes a
+bridge from the tree he wishes to quit to the next.
+
+On the ground the Orang always goes laboriously and shakily on all
+fours. At starting he will run faster than a man, though he may soon
+be overtaken. The very long arms which, when he runs, are but little
+bent, raise the body of the Orang remarkably, so that he assumes much
+the posture of a very old man bent down by age, and making his way
+along by the help of a stick. In walking, the body is usually directed
+straight forward, unlike the other apes, which run more or less
+obliquely, except the Gibbons, who in these, as in so many other
+respects, depart remarkably from their fellows.
+
+The Orang cannot put its feet flat on the ground, but is supported
+upon their outer edges, the heel resting more on the ground, while the
+curved toes partly rest upon the ground by the upper side of their
+first joint, the two outermost toes of each foot completely resting on
+this surface. The hands are held in the opposite manner, their inner
+edges serving as the chief support. The fingers are then bent out in
+such a manner that their foremost joints, especially those of the two
+inner-most fingers, rest upon the ground by their upper sides, while
+the point of the free and straight thumb serves as an additional
+fulcrum.
+
+The Orang never stands on its hind legs, and all the pictures
+representing it as so doing are as false as the assertion that it
+defends itself with sticks and the like.
+
+The long arms are of especial use, not only in climbing, but in the
+gathering of food from boughs to which the animal could not trust his
+weight. Figs, blossoms, and young leaves of various kinds, constitute
+the chief nutriment of the Orang; but strips of bamboo two or three
+feet long were found in the stomach of a male. They are not known to
+eat living animals.
+
+Although, when taken young, the Orang-Utan soon becomes domesticated,
+and indeed seems to court human society; it is naturally a very wild
+and shy animal, though apparently sluggish and melancholy. The Dyaks
+affirm that when the old males are wounded with arrows only they will
+occasionally leave the trees and rush raging upon their enemies, whose
+sole safety lies in instant flight, as they are sure to be killed if
+caught.
+
+But, though possessed of immense strength, it is rare for the Orang to
+attempt to defend itself, especially when attacked with firearms. On
+such occasions he endeavors to hide himself, or to escape along the
+top-most branches of the trees, breaking off and throwing down the
+boughs as he goes. When wounded he betakes himself to the highest
+attainable point of the tree, and emits a singular cry, consisting at
+first of high notes, which at length deepen into a low roar, not
+unlike that of a panther. While giving out the high notes the Orang
+thrusts out his lips into a funnel-shape; but in uttering the low
+notes he holds his mouth wide open, and at the same time the great
+throat bag, or laryngeal sac, becomes distended.
+
+According to the Dyaks, the only animal the Orang measures his
+strength with is the crocodile, who occasionally seizes him on his
+visits to the water-side. But they say that the Orang is more than a
+match for his enemy, and beats him to death, or rips up his throat by
+pulling the jaws asunder!
+
+Much of what has been here stated was probably derived by Dr. Mueller
+from the reports of his Dyak hunters; but a large male, four feet
+high, lived in captivity under his observation for a month, and
+receives a very bad character.
+
+"He was a very wild beast," says Mueller, "of prodigious strength, and
+false and wicked to the last degree. If any one approached he rose up
+slowly with a low growl, fixed his eyes in the direction in which he
+meant to make his attack, slowly passed his hand between the bars of
+his cage, and then, extending his long arm, gave a sudden
+grip--usually at the face." He never tried to bite (though Orangs will
+bite one another), his great weapons of offence and defence being his
+hands.
+
+His intelligence was very great; and Mueller remarks that, though the
+faculties of the Orang have been estimated too highly, yet Cuvier, had
+he seen this specimen, would not have considered its intelligence to
+be only a little higher than that of a dog.
+
+His hearing was very acute, but the sense of vision seemed to be less
+perfect. The under lip was the great organ of touch, and played a very
+important part in drinking, being thrust out like a trough, so as
+either to catch the falling rain or to receive the contents of the
+half cocoanut shell full of water with which the Orang was supplied,
+and which, in drinking, he poured into the trough thus formed.
+
+In Borneo, the Orang-Utan of the Malays goes by the name of "_Mias_"
+among the Dyaks, who distinguish several kinds as _Mias Pappan_, or
+_Zimo_, _Mias Kassu_, and _Mias Rambi_. Whether these are distinct
+species, however, or whether they are mere races, and how far any of
+them are identical with the Sumatran Orang, as Mr. Wallace thinks the
+Mias Pappan to be, are problems which are at present undecided; and
+the variability of these great apes is so extensive that the
+settlement of the question is a matter of great difficulty. Of the
+form called "Mias Pappan," Mr. Wallace observes: "It is known by its
+large size, and by the lateral expansion of the face into fatty
+protuberances, or ridges, over the temporal muscles, which have been
+mistermed callosites, as they are perfectly soft, smooth, and
+flexible. Five of this form, measured by me, varied only from 4 feet
+1 inch to 4 feet 2 inches in height, from the heel to the crown of the
+head, the girth of the body from 3 feet to 3 feet 71/2 inches, and the
+extent of the outstretched arms from 7 feet 2 inches to 7 feet
+6 inches; the width of the face from 10 to 131/4 inches. The color and
+length of the hair varied in different individuals, and in different
+parts of the same individual; some possessed a rudimentary nail on the
+great toe, others none at all; but they otherwise present no external
+differences on which to establish even varieties of a species.
+
+"Yet, when we examine the crania of these individuals, we find
+remarkable differences of form, proportion, and dimension, no two
+being exactly alike. The slope of the profile, and the projection of
+the muzzle, together with the size of the cranium, offer differences
+as decided as those existing between the most strongly marked forms of
+the Caucasian and African crania in the human species. The orbits vary
+in width and height, the cranial ridge is either single or double,
+either much or little developed, and the zygomatic aperture varies
+considerably in size. This variation in the proportions of the crania
+enables us satisfactorily to explain the marked difference presented
+by the single-crested and double-crested skulls, which have been
+thought to prove the existence of two large species of Orang. The
+external surface of the skull varies considerably in size, as do also
+the zygomatic aperture and the temporal muscle: but they bear no
+necessary relation to each other, a small muscle often existing with a
+large cranial surface, and vice versa. Now those skulls which have the
+largest and strongest jaws, and the widest zygomatic aperture, have
+the muscles so large that they meet on the crown of the skull, and
+deposit the bony ridge which separates them, and which is the highest
+in that which has the smallest cranial surface. In those which combine
+a large surface with comparatively weak jaws, and small zygomatic
+aperture, the muscles, on each side, do not extend to the crown, a
+space of from 1 to 2 inches remaining between them, and along their
+margins small ridges are formed. Intermediate forms are found, in
+which the ridges meet only in the hinder part of the skull. The form
+and size of the ridges are therefore independent of age, being
+sometimes more strongly developed in the less aged animal. Professor
+Temminck states that the series of skulls in the Leyden Museum shows
+the same result."
+
+Mr. Wallace observed two male adult Orangs (Mias Kassu of the Dyaks),
+however, so very different from any of these that he concludes them to
+be specially distinct; they were respectively 3 feet 81/2 inches and
+3 feet 91/2 inches high, and possessed no sign of the cheek excrescences,
+but otherwise resembled the larger kinds. The skull has no crest, but
+two bony ridges, 13/4 to 2 inches apart, as in the _Simia morio_ of
+Professor Owen. The teeth, however, are immense, equalling or
+surpassing those of the other species. The females of both these
+kinds, according to Mr. Wallace, are devoid of excrescences, and
+resemble the smaller males, but are shorter by 11/2 to 3 inches, and
+their canine teeth are comparatively small, subtruncated and dilated
+at the base, as in the so-called _Simia morio_, which is, in all
+probability, the skull of a female of the same species as the smaller
+males. Both males and females of this smaller species are
+distinguishable, according to Mr. Wallace, by the comparatively large
+size of the middle incisors of the upper jaw.
+
+So far as I am aware, no one has attempted to dispute the accuracy of
+the statements which I have just quoted regarding the habits of the
+two Asiatic man-like Apes; and if true, they must be admitted as
+evidence that such an ape--
+
+1stly, May readily move along the ground in the erect, or semi-erect,
+position, and without direct support from its arms.
+
+2dly, That it may possess an extremely loud voice--so loud as to be
+readily heard one or two miles.
+
+3dly, That it may be capable of great viciousness and violence when
+irritated; and this is especially true of adult males.
+
+4thly, That it may build a nest to sleep in.
+
+Such being well-established facts respecting the Asiatic anthropoids,
+analogy alone might justify us in expecting the African species to
+offer similar peculiarities, separately or combined; or, at any rate,
+would destroy the force of any attempted _a priori_ argument against
+such direct testimony as might be adduced in favor of their existence.
+And if the organization of any of the African apes could be
+demonstrated to fit it better than either of its Asiatic allies for
+the erect position and for efficient attack, there would be still less
+reason for doubting its occasional adoption of the upright attitude,
+or of aggressive proceedings.
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF CHIMPANZEE.]
+
+From the time of Tyson and Tulpius downward the habits of the young
+Chimpanzee in a state of captivity have been abundantly reported and
+commented upon. But trustworthy evidence as to the manners and customs
+of adult anthropoids of this species, in their native woods, was
+almost wanting up to the time of the publication of the paper by Dr.
+Savage, to which I have already referred, containing notes of the
+observations which he made, and of the information which he collected
+from sources which he considered trustworthy, while resident at Cape
+Palmas, at the north-western limit of the Bight of Benin.
+
+The adult Chimpanzees, measured by Dr. Savage, never exceeded, though
+the males may almost attain, five feet in height.
+
+"When at rest, the sitting posture is that generally assumed. They are
+sometimes seen standing and walking, but when thus detected, they
+immediately take to all fours and flee from the presence of the
+observer. Such is their organization that they cannot stand erect, but
+lean forward. Hence they are seen, when standing, with the hands
+clasped over the occiput, or the lumbar region, which would seem
+necessary to balance or ease of posture.
+
+"The toes of the adult are strongly flexed and turned inward, and
+cannot be perfectly straightened. In the attempt the skin gathers into
+thick folds on the back, showing that the full expansion of the foot,
+as is necessary in walking, is unnatural. The natural position is on
+all fours, the body anteriorly resting upon the knuckles. These are
+greatly enlarged, with the skin protuberant and thickened like the
+sole of the foot.
+
+"They are expert climbers, as one would suppose from their
+organization. In their gambols they swing from limb to limb at a great
+distance, and leap with astonishing agility. It is not unusual to see
+the 'old folks' (in the language of an observer) sitting under a tree
+regaling themselves with fruit and friendly chat, while their
+'children' are leaping around them, and swinging from tree to tree
+with boisterous merriment.
+
+"As seen here, they cannot be called _gregarious_, seldom more than
+five, or ten at most, being found together. It has been said, on good
+authority, that they occasionally assemble in large numbers, in
+gambols. My informant asserts that he saw once not less than fifty so
+engaged, hooting, screaming, and drumming with sticks upon old logs,
+which is done in the latter case with equal facility by the four
+extremities. They do not appear ever to act on the offensive, and,
+seldom, if ever, really on the defensive. When about to be captured,
+they resist by throwing their arms about their opponent, and
+attempting to draw him into contact with their teeth."
+
+With respect to this last point Dr. Savage is very explicit in another
+place:
+
+"_Biting_ is their principal art of defence. I have seen one man who
+had been thus severely wounded in the feet.
+
+"The strong development of the canine teeth in the adult would seem to
+indicate a carnivorous propensity; but in no state save that of
+domestication do they manifest it. At first they reject flesh, but
+easily acquire a fondness for it. The canines are early developed, and
+evidently designed to act the important part of weapons of defence.
+When in contact with man almost the first effort of the animal is--_to
+bite_.
+
+"They avoid the abodes of men, and build their habitations in trees.
+Their construction is more that of _nests_ than _huts_, as they have
+been erroneously termed by some naturalists. They generally build not
+far above the ground. Branches or twigs are bent, or partly broken,
+and crossed, and the whole supported by the body of a limb or a
+crotch. Sometimes a nest will be found near the _end_ of a _strong
+leafy branch_ twenty or thirty feet from the ground. One I have lately
+seen that could not be less than forty feet, and more probably it was
+fifty. But this is an unusual height.
+
+"Their dwelling-place is not permanent, but changed in pursuit of food
+and solitude, according to the force of circumstances. We most often
+see them in elevated places; but this arises from the fact that the
+low grounds, being more favorable for the natives' rice-farms, are the
+oftener cleared, and hence are almost always wanting in suitable trees
+for their nests.... It is seldom that more than one or two nests are
+seen upon the same tree, or in the same neighborhood: five have been
+found, but it was an unusual circumstance." ...
+
+"They are very filthy in their habits. It is a tradition with the
+natives generally here that they were once members of their own tribe;
+that for their depraved habits they were expelled from all human
+society, and that, through an obstinate indulgence of their vile
+propensities, they have degenerated into their present state of
+organization. They are, however, eaten by them, and when cooked with
+the oil and pulp of the palm-nut considered a highly palatable morsel.
+
+"They exhibit a remarkable degree of intelligence in their habits,
+and, on the part of the mother, much affection for their young. The
+second female described was upon a tree when first discovered, with
+her mate and two young ones (a male and a female). Her first impulse
+was to descend with great rapidity and make off into the thicket with
+her mate and female offspring. The young male remaining behind, she
+soon returned to the rescue. She ascended and took him in her arms, at
+which moment she was shot, the ball passing through the forearm of the
+young one, on the way to the heart of the mother....
+
+"In a recent case the mother, when discovered, remained upon the tree
+with her offspring, watching intently the movements of the hunter. As
+he took aim, she motioned with her hand, precisely in the manner of a
+human being, to have him desist and go away. When the wound has not
+proved instantly fatal, they have been known to stop the flow of blood
+by pressing with the hand upon the part, and when they did not
+succeed, to apply leaves and grass.... When shot, they give a sudden
+screech, not unlike that of a human, being in sudden and acute
+distress.
+
+"The ordinary voice of the Chimpanzee, however, is affirmed to be
+hoarse, guttural, and not very loud, somewhat like 'whoo-whoo.'"
+
+The analogy of the Chimpanzee to the Orang, in its nest-building habit
+and in the mode of forming its nest, is exceedingly interesting,
+while, on the other hand, the activity of this ape, and its tendency
+to bite, are particulars in which it rather resembles the Gibbons. In
+extent of geographical range, again, the Chimpanzees--which are found
+from Sierra Leone to Congo--remind one of the Gibbons rather than of
+either of the other man-like Apes; and it seems not unlikely that, as
+is the case with the Gibbons, there may be several species spread over
+the geographical area of the genus.
+
+The same excellent observer, from whom I have borrowed the preceding
+account of the habits of the adult Chimpanzee, published an account of
+the Gorilla, which has, in its most essential points, been confirmed
+by subsequent observers, and to which so very little has really been
+added, that, in justice to Dr. Savage, I give it almost in full:
+
+"It should be borne in mind that my account is based upon the
+statements of the aborigines of that region (the Gaboon). In this
+connection it may also be proper for me to remark that, having been a
+missionary resident for several years, studying, from habitual
+intercourse, the African mind and character, I felt myself prepared to
+discriminate and decide upon the probability of their statements.
+Besides, being familiar with the history and habits of its interesting
+congener (_Trogniger_, Geoff.), I was able to separate their accounts
+of the two animals, which, having the same locality and a similarity
+of habit, are confounded in the minds of the mass, especially as but
+few--such as traders to the interior, and huntsmen--have ever seen the
+animal in question.
+
+"The tribe from which our knowledge of the animal is derived, and
+whose territory forms its habitat, is the _Mpongwe_, occupying both
+banks of the River Gaboon, from its mouth to some fifty or sixty miles
+upward....
+
+"If the word 'Pongo' be of African origin, it is probably a corruption
+of the word _Mpongwe_, the name of the tribe on the banks of the
+Gaboon, and hence applied to the region they inhabit. Their local name
+for the Chimpanzee is _Enche-eko_, as near as it can be Anglicized,
+from which the common term 'Jocko' probably conies. The _Mpongwe_
+apellation for its new congener is _Enge-ena_, prolonging the sound of
+the first vowel, and slightly sounding the second.
+
+"The habitat of the _Enge-ena_ is the interior of Lower Guinea, while
+that of the _Enche-eko_ is nearer the seaboard.
+
+"Its height is about five feet; it is disproportionately broad across
+the shoulders, thickly covered with coarse black hair, which is said
+to be similar in its arrangement to that of the _Enche-eko_; with age
+it becomes gray, which fact has given rise to the report that both
+animals are seen of different colors.
+
+"Head.--The prominent features of the head are the great width and
+elongation of the face, the depth of the molar region, the branches of
+the lower jaw being very deep and extending far backward, and the
+comparative smallness of the cranial portion; the eyes are very large,
+and said to be like those of the _Enche-eko_, a bright hazel; nose
+broad and flat, slightly elevated toward the root; the muzzle broad,
+and prominent lips and chin, with scattered gray hairs; the under lip
+highly mobile, and capable of great elongation when the animal is
+enraged, then hanging over the chin; skin of the face and ears naked
+and of a dark-brown, approaching to black.
+
+"The most remarkable feature of the head is a high ridge, or crest of
+hair, in the course of the sagittal suture, which meets posteriorly
+with a transverse ridge of the same, but less prominent, running round
+from the back of one ear to the other. The animal has the power of
+moving the scalp freely forward and back, and when enraged is said to
+contract it strongly over the brow, thus bringing down the hairy ridge
+and pointing the hair forward, so as to present an indescribably
+ferocious aspect.
+
+[Illustration: THE GORILLA.]
+
+"Neck short, thick, and hairy; chest and shoulders very broad, and
+said to be fully double the size of the _Enche-ekos;_ arms very long,
+reaching some way below the knee--the forearm much the shortest; hands
+very large, the thumbs much larger than the fingers....
+
+"The gait is shuffling; the motion of the body, which is never upright
+as in man, but bent forward, is somewhat rolling, or from side to
+side. The arms being longer than the Chimpanzee, it does not stoop as
+much in walking; like that animal, it makes progression by thrusting
+its arms forward, resting the hands on the ground, and then giving the
+body a half-jumping, half-swinging motion between them. In this act it
+is said not to flex the fingers, as does the Chimpanzee, resting on
+its knuckles, but to extend them, making a fulcrum of the hand. When
+it assumes the walking posture, to which it is said to be much
+inclined, it balances its huge body by flexing its arms upward.
+
+"They live in bands, but are not so numerous as the Chimpanzees; the
+females generally exceed the other sex in number. My informants all
+agree in the assertion that but one adult male is seen in a band; that
+where the young males grow up a contest takes place for mastery, and
+the strongest, by killing and driving out the others, establishes
+himself as the head of the community."
+
+Dr. Savage repudiates the stories about the Gorillas carrying off
+women and vanquishing elephants, and then adds:
+
+"Their dwellings, if they may be so called, are similar to those of
+the Chimpanzee, consisting simply of a few sticks and leafy branches,
+supported by the crotches and limbs of trees; they afford no shelter,
+and are occupied only at night.
+
+"They are exceedingly ferocious, and always offensive in their
+habits, never running from man, as does the Chimpanzee. They are
+objects of terror to the natives, and are never encountered by them
+except on the defensive. The few that have been captured were killed
+by elephant-hunters and native traders, as they came suddenly upon
+them while passing through the forests.
+
+"It is said that when the male is first seen he gives a terrific yell,
+that resounds far and wide through the forest, something like kh--ah!
+kh--ah! prolonged and shrill. His enormous jaws are widely opened at
+each expiration, his under-lip hangs over the chin, and the hairy
+ridge and scalp are contracted upon the brow, presenting an aspect of
+indescribable ferocity.
+
+"The females and young, at the first cry, quickly disappear. He then
+approaches the enemy in great fury, pouring out his horrid cries in
+quick succession. The hunter awaits his approach with his gun
+extended; if his aim is not sure he permits the animal to grasp the
+barrel, and as he carries it to his mouth (which is his habit) he
+fires. Should the gun fail to go off, the barrel (that of the ordinary
+musket, which is thin), is crashed between his teeth and the encounter
+soon proves fatal to the hunter.
+
+"In the wild state their habits are in general like those of the
+_Troglodytes niger_, building their nests loosely in trees, living
+on similar fruits, and changing their place of resort from force of
+circumstances."
+
+Dr. Savage's observations were confirmed and supplemented by those of
+Mr. Ford, who communicated an interesting paper on the Gorilla to the
+Philadelphian Academy of Sciences, in 1852. With respect to the
+geographical distribution of this greatest of all the man-like Apes,
+Mr. Ford remarks:
+
+"This animal inhabits the range of mountains that traverse the
+interior of Guinea from the Cameroon in the north to Angola in the
+south, and about one hundred miles inland, and called by the
+geographers Crystal Mountains. The limit to which this animal extends,
+either north or south, I am unable to define. But that limit is
+doubtless some distance north of this river [Gaboon]. I was able to
+certify myself of this fact in a late excursion to the head-waters of
+the Mooney (Danger) River, which comes into the sea some sixty miles
+from this place. I was informed (credibly, I think), that they were
+numerous among the mountains in which that river rises, and far north
+of that.
+
+"In the south, this species extends to the Congo River, as I am told
+by native traders who have visited the coast, between the Gaboon and
+that river. Beyond that, I am not informed. This animal is only found
+at a distance from the coast in most cases, and, according to my best
+information, approaches it nowhere so nearly as on the south side of
+this river, where they have been found within ten miles of the sea.
+This, however, is only of late occurrence. I am informed by some of
+the oldest Mpongwe men that formerly he was only found on the sources
+of the river, but that at present he may be found within half a day's
+walk of its mouth. Formerly he inhabited the mountainous ridge where
+Bushmen alone inhabited, but now he boldly approaches the Mpongwe
+plantations. This is doubtless the reason of the scarcity of
+information in years past, as the opportunities for receiving a
+knowledge of the animal have not been wanting; traders having for one
+hundred years frequented this river, and specimens, such as have been
+brought here within a year, could not have been exhibited without
+having attracted the attention of the most stupid."
+
+One specimen Mr. Ford examined weighed one hundred and seventy pounds,
+without the thoracic or pelvic viscera, and measured four feet four
+inches round the chest. This writer describes so minutely and
+graphically the onslaught of the Gorilla--though he does not for a
+moment pretend to have witnessed the scene--that I am tempted to give
+this part of his paper in full, for comparison with other narratives.
+
+"He always rises to his feet when making an attack, though he
+approaches his antagonist in a stooping posture.
+
+"Though he never lies in wait, yet, when he hears, sees, or scents a
+man, he immediately utters his characteristic cry, prepares for an
+attack, and always acts on the offensive. The cry he utters resembles
+a grunt more than a growl, and is similar to the cry of the Chimpanzee
+when irritated, but vastly louder. It is said to be audible at a great
+distance. His preparation consists in attending the females and young
+ones, by whom he is usually accompanied, to a little distance. He,
+however, soon returns with his crest erect and projecting forward, his
+nostrils dilated, and his under-lip thrown down; at the same time
+uttering his characteristic yell, designed, it would seem, to terrify
+his antagonist. Instantly, unless he is disabled by a well-directed
+shot, he makes an onset, and, striking his antagonist with the palm of
+his hands, or seizing him with a grasp from which there is no escape,
+he dashes him upon the ground, and lacerates him with his tusks.
+
+"He is said to seize a musket, and instantly crush the barrel between
+his teeth.... This animal's savage nature is very well shown by the
+implacable desperation of a young one that was brought here. It was
+taken very young, and kept four months, and many means were used to
+tame it; but it was incorrigible, so that it bit me an hour before it
+died."
+
+[Illustration: HAND OF GORILLA, ORANG, GIBBON, AND CHIMPANZEE.]
+
+
+
+
+SOME STRANGE NURSERIES
+
+(FROM NATURE'S WORKSHOP.)
+
+BY GRANT ALLEN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+You could hardly find a better rough test of relative development in
+the animal (or vegetable) world than the number of young produced and
+the care bestowed upon them. The fewer the offspring, the higher the
+type. Very low animals turn out thousands of eggs with reckless
+profusion; but they let them look after themselves, or be devoured by
+enemies, as chance will have it. The higher you go in the scale of
+being, the smaller the families, but the greater amount of pains
+expended upon the rearing and upbringing of the young. Large broods
+mean low organization; small broods imply higher types and more care
+in the nurture and education of the offspring. Primitive kinds produce
+eggs wholesale, on the off chance that some two or three among them
+may perhaps survive an infant mortality of ninety-nine per cent, so as
+to replace their parents. Advanced kinds produce half a dozen young,
+or less, but bring a large proportion of these on an average up to
+years of discretion.
+
+[Illustration: SEA-HORSES.]
+
+Without taking into account insects and such other "small deer,"--to
+quote Shakespeare's expression,--this fundamental principle of
+population will become at once apparent if we examine merely familiar
+instances of back-boned or vertebrate animals. The lowest vertebrates
+are clearly the fishes: and the true fishes have almost invariably
+gigantic families. A single cod, for example, is said to produce,
+roughly speaking, nine million eggs at a birth (I cannot pretend I
+have checked this calculation); but supposing they were only a
+million, and that one-tenth of those eggs alone ever came to maturity,
+there would still be a hundred thousand codfish in the sea this year
+for every pair that swam in it last year: and these would increase to
+a hundred thousand times that number next year; and so on, till in
+four or five years' time the whole sea would be but one solid mass of
+closely-packed cod-banks. We can see for ourselves that nothing of the
+sort actually occurs--practically speaking, there are about the same
+number of cod one year as another. In spite of this enormous
+birth-rate, therefore, the cod population is not increasing--it is at
+a standstill. What does that imply? Why, that taking one brood and one
+year with another, only a pair of cod, roughly speaking, survive to
+maturity out of each eight or nine million eggs. The mother cod lays
+its millions, in order that two may arrive at the period of spawning.
+All the rest get devoured as eggs, or snapped up as young fry, or else
+die of starvation, or are otherwise unaccounted for. It seems to us a
+wasteful way of replenishing the earth: but it is nature's way; we can
+only bow respectfully to her final decision.
+
+Frogs and other amphibians stand higher in the scale of life than
+fish; they have acquired legs in place of fins, and lungs instead of
+gills; they can hop about on shore with perfect freedom. Now, frogs
+still produce a great deal of spawn, as every one knows: but the eggs
+in each brood are numbered in their case by hundreds, or at most by a
+thousand or two, not by millions as with many fishes. The spawn
+hatches out as a rule in ponds, and we have all seen the little black
+tadpoles crowding the edges of the water in such innumerable masses
+that one would suppose the frogs to be developed from them must cover
+the length and breadth of England. Yet what becomes of them all?
+Hundreds are destroyed in the early tadpole stage--eaten up or
+starved, or crowded out for want of air and space and water: a few
+alone survive or develop four legs, and absorb their tails and hop on
+shore as tiny froglings. Even then the massacre of the innocents
+continues. Only a tithe of those which succeeded in quitting their
+native pond ever return to it full grown, to spawn in due time, and
+become the parents of further generations.
+
+Lizards and other reptiles make an obvious advance on the frog type;
+they lay relatively few eggs, but they begin to care for their young.
+The family is not here abandoned at birth, as among frogs, but is
+frequently tended and fed and overlooked by the mother. In birds we
+have a still higher development of the same marked parental tendency;
+only three or four eggs are laid each year, as a rule, and on these
+eggs the mother sits, while both parents feed the callow nestlings
+till such time as they are able to take care of themselves and pick
+up their own living. Among mammals, which stand undoubtedly at the
+head of created nature, the lower types, like mice and rabbits, have
+frequent broods of many young at a time; but the more advanced groups,
+such as the horses, cows, deer, and elephants, have usually one foal
+or calf at a birth, and seldom produce more than a couple. Moreover,
+in all these higher cases alike, the young are fed with milk by the
+mother, and so spared the trouble of providing for themselves in their
+early days, like the young codfish or the baby tadpole. Starvation at
+the outset is reduced to a minimum.
+
+It is interesting to note, too, that anticipations of higher types, so
+to speak, often occur among lower races. An animal here and there
+among the simpler forms hits upon some device essentially similar to
+that of some higher group with which it is really quite unrelated. For
+example, those who have read my account of the common earwig (given in
+the sixth chapter of "Flashlights on Nature") will recollect how that
+lowly insect sits on her eggs much as a hen does, and brings up her
+brood of callow grubs as if they were chickens. In much the same way,
+anticipations of the mammalian type occur pretty frequently among
+lower animals. Our commonest English lizard, for example, which
+frequents moors and sandhills, does not lay or deposit its eggs at
+all, but hatches them out in its own body, and so apparently brings
+them forth alive: while among snakes, the same habit occurs in the
+adder or viper. The very name _viper_, indeed, is a corruption of
+_vivipara_, the snake which produces living young. Still more closely
+do some birds resemble mammals in the habit of secreting a sort of
+milk for the sustenance of their nestlings. Most people think the
+phrase "pigeon's milk" is much like the phrase "the horse-marines," a
+burlesque name for an absurd and impossible monstrosity. But it is
+nothing of the sort: it answers to a real fact in the economy of
+certain doves, which eat grain or seeds, grind and digest it in their
+own gizzards into a fine soft pulp or porridge, and then feed their
+young with it from their crops and beaks. This is thus a sort of
+bird-like imitation of milk. Only the cow or the goat takes grass or
+leaves, chews, swallows, and digests them, and manufactures from them
+in her own body that much more nutritive substance, milk, with which
+all mammals feed their infant offspring.
+
+Now, after this rather long preamble, I am going to show you in this
+present article a few other examples of special care taken of the
+young in certain quarters where it might be least expected. Fish are
+not creatures from which we look for marked domestic virtues: yet we
+may find them there abundantly. Let us begin with that familiar friend
+of our childhood, the common English stickleback.
+
+Which of us cannot look back in youth to the mysteries of the
+stickleback fisheries? Captains courageous, we sailed forth with bent
+pin and piece of thread, to woo the wily quarry with half an inch of
+chopped earthworm. For stickleback abound in every running stream and
+pond in England. They are beautiful little creatures, too, when you
+come to examine them, great favorites in the fresh-water aquarium; the
+male in particular is exquisitely colored, his hues growing brighter
+and his sheen more conspicuous at the pairing season. There are many
+species of sticklebacks--in England we have three very different
+kinds--but all are alike in one point which gives them their common
+name, that is to say, in their aggressive and protective prickliness.
+They are armed against all comers. The dorsal fin is partly replaced
+in the whole family by strong spines or "stickles," which differ in
+number in the different species. One of our English sorts is a lover
+of salt water: he lives in the sea, especially off the Cornish coast,
+and has fifteen stickles or spines; on which account he is commonly
+known as the Fifteen-spined Stickleback; our other two sorts belong to
+fresher waters, and are known as the Ten-spined and the Three-spined
+respectively.
+
+The special peculiarity of the male stickleback consists in the fact
+that he is, above all things, a model father. In his acute sense of
+parental responsibility he has few equals. When spring comes round, he
+first exhibits his consciousness of his coming charge by suddenly
+enduing himself in a glowing coat of many colors and of iridescent
+brilliancy. That is in order to charm the eyes of the prospective
+mate, or rather mates, for I may as well confess the sad truth at once
+that our amiable friend is a good parent but an abandoned polygamist.
+We all know that
+
+   "In the spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast;
+    In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;
+    In the spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;
+    In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love."
+
+Not to be out of the fashion, therefore, the romantic stickleback does
+precisely the same thing as all these distinguished and poetical
+compeers. And he does it for the same reason, too; because he wants to
+get himself an appropriate partner. "There is a great deal of human
+nature in man," it has been said: I am always inclined to add, "And
+there is a great deal of human nature in plants and animals." The more
+we know of our dumb relations, the more closely do we realize the
+kinship between us. Fish in the spring are like young men at a
+fair--all eager for the attention of their prospective partners.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 1. FEMALE STICKLEBACK ABOUT TO ENTER NEST.]
+
+The first care of the male stickleback, when he has acquired his
+courting suit, is to build a suitable home for his future wives and
+children. So he picks up stems of grass and water-weeds with his
+mouth, and weaves them deftly into a compact nest as perfect as a
+bird's, though some what different in shape and pattern, it rather
+resembles a barrel, open at both ends, as though the bottom were
+knocked out: this form is rendered necessary because the eggs, when
+laid, have to be constantly aerated by passing a current of water
+through the nest as I shall describe hereafter. No. 1 shows us such a
+nest when completed, with the female stickleback loitering about
+undecided as to whether or not she shall plunge and enter it. You
+will observe that the fabric is woven round a fixed support of some
+waving water-weeds; but the cunning little architect does not trust in
+this matter to his textile skill alone; he cements the straws and
+other materials together with a gummy mortar of mucous threads
+secreted for the purpose by his internal organs.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 2. FEMALE STICKLEBACK LAYING EGGS IN NEST.]
+
+As soon as the building operations are fully completed, the eager
+little householder sallies forth into his pond or brook in search of
+a mate who will come and stock his neatly-built home for him. At this
+stage of the proceedings, his wedding-garment becomes even more
+brilliant and glancing than ever; he gleams in silver and changeful
+gems; when he finds his lady-love, he dances round her, "mad with
+excitement," as Darwin well phrased it, looking his handsomest and
+best with his lustrous colours glistening like an opal. If she will
+listen to his suit, he grows wild with delight, and coaxes her into
+the nest with most affectionate endearments. In No. 2, as you
+perceive, the mate of his choice has been induced to enter, and is
+laying her eggs in the dainty home his care has provided for her. The
+father fish, meanwhile dances and capers around, in a _pas de
+triomphe_ at the success of his endeavors.
+
+One wife, however, does not suffice to fill the nest with eggs; and
+the stickleback is a firm believer in the advantages of large
+families. So, as soon as his first mate has laid all her spawn, he
+sets out once more in search of another. Thus he goes on until the
+home is quite full of eggs, bringing back one wife after another, in
+proportion to his success in wooing and fighting. For, like almost all
+polygamists, your stickleback is a terrible fighter. The males join
+wager of battle with one another for possession of their mates; in
+their fierce duels they make fearful use of the formidable spines on
+their backs, sometimes entirely ripping up and cutting to pieces their
+ill-fated adversary. The spines thus answer to the spurs of the
+gamecock or the antlers of the deer; they are masculine weapons in the
+struggle for mates. Indeed, you may take it for granted that brilliant
+colors and decorative adjuncts in animals almost invariably go with
+irascible tempers, pugnacious habits, and the practice of fighting for
+the possession of the harem. The consequence is, with the
+sticklebacks, that many males get killed during the struggle for
+supremacy, so that the survivors wed half a dozen wives each, like
+little Turks that they are in their watery seraglios. Only the most
+beautiful and courageous fish succeed in gaining a harem of their own:
+and thus the wager of battle tells in the end for the advantage of the
+race, by eliminating the maimed, the ugly, and the cowardly, and
+encouraging the strong, the handsome, the enterprising, and the
+valiant. This is nature's way of preventing degeneracy.
+
+In No. 3 the nest is seen full of eggs, and the excellent father now
+comes out in his best light as their guardian and protector. He
+watches over them with ceaseless care, freeing them from parasites,
+and warding off the attacks of would-be enemies who desire to devour
+them, even though the intruder be several times his own size. The
+spines on his back here stand him once more in good stead: for small
+as he is, the stickleback is not an antagonist to be lightly despised:
+he can inflict a wound which a perch or a trout knows how to estimate
+at its full value. But that is not all the good parent's duty. He
+takes the eggs out of the nest every now and then with his snout, airs
+them a little in the fresh water outside, and then replaces and
+rearranges them, so that all may get a fair share of oxygen and may
+hatch out about simultaneously. It is this question of oxygen, indeed,
+which gives the father fish all the greatest trouble. That necessary
+of life is dissolved in water in very small quantities; and it is
+absolutely needed by every egg in order to enable it to undergo those
+vital changes which we know as hatching. To keep up a due supply of
+oxygen, therefore, the father stickleback ungrudgingly devotes
+laborious days in poising himself delicately just above the nest, as
+you see in No. 3, and fanning the eggs with his fins and tail, so as
+to set up a constant current of water through the centre of the
+barrel. He sits upon the eggs just as truly as a hen does; only, he
+sits upon them, not for warmth, but for aeration.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 3. MALE STICKLEBACK WATCHING EGGS IN NEST.]
+
+For weeks together this exemplary parent continues his monotonous
+task, ventilating the spawn many times every day, till the time comes
+for hatching. It takes about a month for the eggs to develop: and then
+the proud father's position grows more arduous than ever. He has to
+rock a thousand cradles at once, so to speak, and to pacify a thousand
+crying babies. On the one hand, enemies hover about, trying to eat the
+tender transparent glass-like little fry, and these he must drive off:
+on the other hand, the good nurse must take care that the active young
+fish do not stray far from the nest, and so expose themselves
+prematurely to the manifold dangers of the outer world. Till they are
+big enough to take care of themselves, he watches with incessant
+vigilance over their safety; as soon as they can go forth with
+tolerable security upon the world of their brook or pond, he takes a
+last well-merited holiday.
+
+It is not surprising under these circumstances to learn that
+sticklebacks are successful and increasing animals. Their numbers are
+enormous, wherever they get a fair chance in life, because they
+multiply rapidly up to the extreme limit of the means of subsistence,
+and develop as fast as food remains for them. There the inexorable
+Malthusian law at last steps in: when there is not food enough for all
+some must starve; that is the long and the short of the great
+population question. But while provender is forthcoming they increase
+gayly. Sticklebacks live mainly on the spawn of other fish, though
+they are so careful of their own, and they are therefore naturally
+hated by trout-preservers and owners of fisheries in general.
+Thousands and thousands are caught each year; in some places, indeed,
+they are so numerous that they are used as manure. It is their
+numbers, of course, that make them formidable; they are the locusts of
+the streams, well armed and pugnacious, and provided with most
+remarkable parental instincts of a protective character, which enables
+them to fill up all vacancies in their ranks as fast as they occur
+with astonishing promptitude.
+
+To those whose acquaintance with fish is mainly culinary, it may seem
+odd to hear that the father stickleback alone takes part in the care
+of the nursery. But this is the rule among the whole class of fish;
+wherever the young are tended, it is almost always the father, not the
+mother, who undertakes the duty of incubation. Only two instances
+occur where the female fish assumes maternal functions towards her
+young; about these I shall have more to say a little later on. We must
+remember that reptiles, birds, and mammals are in all probability
+descended from fish as ancestors, and it is therefore clear that the
+habit of handing over the care of the young to the female alone
+belongs to the higher grades of vertebrates--in other words, is of
+later origin. We need not be astonished, therefore, to find that in
+many cases among birds and other advanced vertebrates a partial
+reversion to the earlier habit not infrequently takes place. With
+doves, for example, the cock and hen birds sit equally on the eggs,
+taking turns about at the nest; and as for the ostriches, the male
+bird there does most of the incubation, for he accepts the whole of
+the night duty, and also assists at intervals during the daytime.
+There are numerous other cases where the father bird shares the tasks
+of the nursery at least equally with the mother. I will glance first,
+however, at one of the rare exceptions among fish where the main duty
+does not devolve on the devoted father.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 4. FEMALE TUBE-MOUTH.]
+
+In No. 4 we have an illustration of the tube-mouth or Solenostoma, one
+of the two known kinds of fish in which the female shows a sense of
+her position as a mother. The tube-mouth, as you can see at a glance,
+is a close relation of our old friend the seahorse, whose disguised
+and undisguised forms in Australia and the Mediterranean we have
+already observed when dealing with the question of animal
+masqueraders. Solenostoma is a native of the Indian Ocean, from
+Zanzibar to China. In the male, the lower pair of fins are separate,
+as is usual among fish; but in the female, represented in the
+accompanying sketch, they are lightly joined at the edge, so as to
+form a sort of pouch like a kangaroo's, in which the eggs are
+deposited after being laid, and thus carried about in the mother's
+safe keeping. No. 5 shows the arrangement of this pouch in detail,
+with the eggs inside it. The mother Solenostoma not only takes charge
+of the spawn while it is hatching in this receptacle, but also looks
+after the young fry, like the father stickleback, till they are of an
+age to go off on their own account in quest of adventures. The most
+frequent adventure that happens to them on the way is, of course,
+being eaten.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 5. POUCH OF TUBE-MOUTH.]
+
+[Illustration: NO. 6. PIPE-FISH.]
+
+The common English pipe-fish is a good example of the other and much
+more usual case in which the father alone is actuated by a proper
+sense of parental responsibility. The pipe-fish, indeed, might almost
+be described as a pure and blameless rate-payer. No. 6 shows you the
+outer form of this familiar creature, whom you will recognize at a
+glance as still more nearly allied to the sea-horses than even the
+tube-mouth. Pipe-fishes are timid and skulking creatures. Like their
+horse-headed relations, they lurk for the most part among sea-weed
+for protection, and being but poor swimmers, never venture far from
+the covering shelter of their native thicket. But the curious part of
+them is that in this family the father fish is provided with a pouch
+even more perfect than that of the female tube-mouth, and that he
+himself, not his mate takes sole charge of the young, incubates them
+in his sack, and escorts them about for some time after hatching. The
+pouch, which is more fully represented in No. 7, is formed by a loose
+fold of skin arising from either side of the creature. In the
+illustration this fold is partly withdrawn, so as to show the young
+pipe-fish within their safe retreat after hatching out. It is said, I
+know not how truly, that the young fry will stroll out for an
+occasional swim on their own account, but will return at any threat of
+danger to their father's bosom, for a considerable time after the
+first hatching. This is just like what one knows of kangaroos and many
+other pouched mammals, where the mother's pouch becomes a sort of
+nursery, or place of refuge, to which the little ones return for
+warmth or safety after every excursion.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 7. POUCH OF PIPE-FISH.]
+
+The sea-horses and many other fish have similar pouches; but, oddly
+enough, in every case it is the male fish which bears it, and which
+undertakes the arduous duty of nurse for his infant offspring.
+
+A few female fish, on the other hand, even hatch the eggs within their
+own bodies, and so apparently bring forth their young alive, like the
+English lizard among reptiles. This, however, is far from a common
+case: indeed, in an immense number of instances, neither parent pays
+the slightest attention to the eggs after they are once laid and got
+rid of: the spawn is left to lie on the bottom and be eaten or spared
+as chance directs, while the young fry have to take care of
+themselves, without the aid of parental advice and education. But
+exceptions occur where both parents show signs of realizing the
+responsibilities of their position. In some little South American
+river fish, for instance, the father and mother together build a nest
+of dead leaves for the spawn, and watch over it in unison until the
+young are hatched. This case is exactly analogous to that of the doves
+among birds: I may add that wherever such instances occur they always
+seem to be accompanied by a markedly gentle and affectionate nature.
+Brilliantly-coloured fighting polygamous fishes are fierce and cruel:
+monogamous and faithful animals are seldom bright-hued, but they mate
+for life and are usually remarkable for their domestic felicity. The
+doves and love-birds are familiar instances.
+
+Frogs are very closely allied to fish: indeed, one may almost say that
+every frog begins life as a fish, limbless, gill-bearing, and aquatic,
+and ends it as something very like a reptile, four-legged,
+lung-bearing, and more or less terrestrial. For the tadpole is
+practically in all essentials a fish. It is not odd, therefore, to
+find that certain frogs reproduce, in a very marked manner, the
+fatherly traits of their fish-like ancestors. There is a common kind
+of frog in France, Belgium, and Switzerland, which does not extend to
+England, but which closely recalls the habits of the stickleback and
+the pipe-fish. Among these eminently moral amphibians, it is the
+father, not the mother, who takes entire charge of the family. The
+female lays her spawn in the shape of long strings or rolls, looking
+at first sight like slimy necklaces. I have seen them as much as a
+couple of yards long, lying loose on the grass where the frog lays
+them. As soon as she has deposited them, however, the father frog hops
+up, twists the garlands dexterously in loose festoons round his legs
+and thighs, and then retires with his precious burden to some hole in
+the bank of his native pond, where he lurks in seclusion till the eggs
+develop. Frogs do not need frequent doses of food--their meals are
+often few and far between--and during the six or eight weeks that the
+eggs take to mature the father probably eats very little, though he
+may possibly sally forth at night, unobserved, in search of provender.
+At the end of that time the devoted parent, foreseeing developments,
+takes to the water once more, so that the tadpoles may be hatched in
+their proper element. I may add that this frog is a great musician in
+the breeding season, but that as soon as the tadpoles are hatched out
+he loses his voice entirely, and does not recover his manly croak till
+the succeeding spring. This is also the case with the song of many
+birds, the crest of the newt, the plumes of certain highly-decorated
+trogons and nightjars, and, roughly speaking, the decorative and
+attractive features of the male sex in general. Such features are
+given them during the mating period as allurements for their
+consorts: they disappear, for the time at least, like a ball-dress
+after a ball, as soon as no immediate use can any longer be made of
+them.
+
+[Illustration: POUCHED FROG.]
+
+Some American tree-frogs, on the other hand, imitate rather the
+motherly Solenostoma than the fatherly instincts of the pipe-fish or
+the stickleback. These pretty little creatures have a pouch like the
+kangaroo, but in their case (as in the kangaroo's) it is the female
+who bears it. Within this safe receptacle the eggs are placed by the
+male, who pushes them in with his hind feet; and they not only undergo
+their hatching in the pouch, but also pass through their whole tadpole
+development in the same place. Owing to the care which is thus
+extended to the eggs and young, these advanced tree-frogs are enabled
+to lay only about a dozen to fifteen eggs at a time, instead of the
+countless hundreds often produced by many of their relations.
+
+Tree-frogs have, of course, in most circumstances much greater
+difficulty in getting at water than pond-frogs; and this is especially
+true in certain tropical or desert districts. Hence most of the frogs
+which inhabit such regions have had to find out or invent some
+ingenious plan for passing through the tadpole stage with a minimum of
+moisture. The devices they have hit upon are very curious. Some of
+them make use of the little pools collected at the bases of huge
+tropical leaf-stalks, like those of the banana plant; others dispense
+with the aid of water altogether, and glue their new-laid eggs to
+their own backs, where the fry pass through the tadpole stage with the
+slimy mucus which surrounds them. Nature always discovers such cunning
+schemes to get over apparent difficulties in her way: and the
+tree-frogs have solved the problem for themselves in half a dozen
+manners in different localities. Oddest of all, perhaps, is the dodge
+invented by "Darwin's frog," a Chilean species, in which the male
+swallows the eggs as soon as laid, and gulps them into the
+throat-pouch beneath his capacious neck: there they hatch out and pass
+through their tadpole stage: and when at last they arrive at frogly
+maturity, they escape into the world through the mouth of their
+father.
+
+[Illustration: NO. 8. THE SURINAM TOAD.]
+
+The Surinam toad, represented in No. 8, is also the possessor of one
+of the strangest nurseries known to science. It lives in the dense
+tropical forests of Guiana and Brazil, and is a true water-haunter.
+But at the breeding season the female undergoes a curious change of
+integument. The skin on her back grows pulpy, soft, and jelly-like.
+She lays her eggs in the water: but as soon as she has laid them, her
+lord and master plasters them on to her impressionable back with his
+feet, so as to secure them from all assaults of enemies. Every egg is
+pressed separately into a bed of the soft skin, which soon closes over
+it automatically, thus burying each in a little cell or niche, where
+it undergoes its further development. The tadpoles pass through their
+larval stage within the cell, and then hop out, in the four-legged
+condition. As soon as they have gone off to shift for themselves, the
+mother toad finds herself with a ragged and honeycombed skin, which
+must be very uncomfortable. So she rubs the remnant of it off against
+stones or the bark of trees, and re-develops a similar back afresh at
+the next breeding season.
+
+Almost never do we find a device in nature which occurs once only. The
+unique hardly exists: nature is a great copyist. At least two animals
+of wholly unlike kinds are all but sure to hit independently upon the
+self-same mechanism. So it is not surprising to learn that a cat-fish
+has invented an exactly similar mode of carrying its young to that
+adopted by the Surinam toad: only, here it is on the under surface,
+not the upper one, that the spawn is plastered. The eggs of this
+cat-fish, whose scientific name is Aspredo, are pressed into the skin
+below the body, and so borne about by the mother till they hatch. This
+is the second instance of which I spoke above, where the female fish
+herself assumes the care of her offspring, instead of leaving it
+entirely to her excellent partner.
+
+Higher up in the scale of life we get many instances which show
+various stages in the same progressive development towards greater
+care for the safety and education of the young. Among the larger
+lizards, for example, a distinct advance may be traced between the
+comparatively uncivilized American alligator and his near ally, the
+much more cultivated African crocodile. On the banks of the
+Mississippi, the alligator lays a hundred eggs or thereabouts, which
+she deposits in a nest near the water's edge, and then covers them up
+with leaves and other decaying vegetable matter. The fermentation of
+these leaves produces heat and so does for the alligator's eggs what
+sitting does for those of hens and other birds: the mother deputes her
+maternal functions, so to speak, to a festering heap of decomposing
+plant-refuse. Nevertheless, she loiters about all the time, like
+Miriam round the ark which contained Moses, to see what happens; and
+when the eggs hatch out, she leads her little ones down to the river,
+and there makes alligators of them. This is a simple and relatively
+low stage in the nursery arrangements of the big lizards.
+
+The African crocodile, on the other hand, goes a stage higher. It lays
+only about thirty eggs, but these it buries in warm sand, and then
+lies on top of them at night, both to protect them from attack and to
+keep them warm during the cooler hours. In short, it sits upon them.
+When the young crocodiles within the eggs are ready to hatch, they
+utter an acute cry. The mother then digs down to the eggs, and lays
+them freely on the surface, so that the little reptiles may have space
+to work their way out unimpeded. This they do by biting at the shell
+with a specially developed tooth; at the end of two hours' nibbling
+they are free, and are led down to the water by their affectionate
+parent. In these two cases we see the beginnings of the instinct of
+hatching, which in birds, the next in order in the scale of being, has
+become almost universal.
+
+I say _almost_ universal, because even among birds there are a few
+kinds which have not to this day progressed beyond the alligator
+level. Australia is the happy hunting-ground of the zooelogist in
+search of antiquated forms, elsewhere extinct, and several Australian
+birds, such as the brush-turkeys, still treat their eggs essentially
+on the alligator method. The cock birds heap up huge mounds of earth
+and decaying vegetable matter, as much as would represent several
+cartloads of mould; and in this natural hot-bed the hens lay their
+eggs, burying each separately with a good stock of leaves around it.
+The heat of the sun and the fermenting mould hatch them out between
+them; to expedite the process, the birds uncover the eggs during the
+warmer part of the day, expose them to the sun, and bury them again in
+the hot-beds towards evening. Several intermediate steps may also be
+found between this early stage of communal nesting by proxy and the
+true hatching instinct; a good one is supplied by the ostrich, which
+partially buries its eggs in hot sand, but sits on them at intervals,
+both father and mother birds taking shares by turn in the duties of
+incubation.
+
+The vast subject which I have thus lightly skimmed is not without
+interest, again, from its human implications. Savages as a rule
+produce enormous families; but then, the infant mortality in savage
+tribes is proportionally great. Among civilized races, families are
+smaller, and deaths in infancy are far less numerous. The higher the
+class or the natural grade of a stock, the larger as a rule the
+proportion of children safely reared to the adult age. The goal
+towards which humanity is slowly moving would thus seem to be one
+where families in most cases will be relatively small--perhaps not
+more on an average than three to a household--but where most or all of
+the children brought into the world will be safely reared to full
+maturity. This is already becoming the rule in certain favored ranks
+of European society.
+
+[Illustration: TADPOLES AND YOUNG FROG.]
+
+
+
+
+HOW ANIMALS SPEND THE WINTER
+
+(FROM GLEANINGS FROM NATURE.)[2]
+
+BY W. S. BLATCHLEY.
+
+[2] "Popular Science Monthly," February, 1897. Copyright by William
+Stanley Blatchley, 1899.
+
+
+[Illustration: A COCOON.]
+
+One of the greatest problems which each of the living forms about us
+has had to solve, during the years of its existence on earth, is how
+best to perpetuate its kind during that cold season which once each
+year, in our temperate zone, is bound to come. Many are the solutions
+to this problem. Each form of life has, as it were, solved it best to
+suit its own peculiar case, and to the earnest student of Nature there
+is nothing more interesting than to pry into these solutions and note
+how varied, strange, and wonderful they are.
+
+To fully appreciate some of the facts mentioned below it must be borne
+in mind that there is no such thing as "spontaneous generation" of
+life. Every cell is the offspring of a pre-existing cell. Nothing but
+a living thing can produce a living thing. Hence every weed that next
+season will spring up and provoke the farmer's ire, and every insect
+which will then make life almost intolerable for man or beast, exists
+throughout the winter in some form....
+
+Beginning with the earth-worms and their kindred, we find that at the
+approach of winter they burrow deep down where the icy breath of the
+frost never reaches, and there they live, during the cold season, a
+life of comparative quiet. That they are exceedingly sensitive to
+warmth, however, may be proven by the fact that when a warm rain comes
+some night in February or March, thawing out the crust of the earth,
+the next morning reveals in our dooryards the mouths of hundreds of
+the pits or burrows of these primitive tillers of the soil, each
+surrounded by a little pile of pellets, the castings of the active
+artisans of the pits during the night before.
+
+If we will get up before dawn on such a morning we can find the worms
+crawling actively about over the surface of the ground, but when the
+first signs of day appear they seek once more their protective
+burrows, and only an occasional belated individual serves as a
+breakfast for the early birds.
+
+The eyes of these lowly creatures are not visible, and consist of
+single special cells scattered among the epidermal cells of the skin,
+and connected by means of a sensory nerve fibre with a little bunch of
+nervous matter in the body. Such a simple visual apparatus serves them
+only in distinguishing light from darkness, but this to them is most
+important knowledge, as it enables them to avoid the surface of the
+earth by day, when their worst enemies, the birds, are in active
+search for them.
+
+The fresh-water mussels and snails and the crayfish burrow deep into
+the mud and silt at the bottom of ponds and streams where they lie
+motionless during the winter. The land snails, in late autumn, crawl
+beneath logs, and, burrowing deep into the soft mould, they withdraw
+far into their shells. Then each one forms with a mucous secretion two
+thin transparent membranes, one across the opening of the shell and
+one a little farther within, thus making the interior of the shell
+perfectly air-tight. There for five or six months he sleeps, free from
+the pangs of hunger and the blasts of winter, and when the balmy
+breezes of spring blow up from the south he breaks down and devours
+the protecting membrane and goes forth with his home on his back to
+seek fresh leaves for food and to find for himself a mate.
+
+Next in the scale come the insects, which comprise four-fifths of all
+existing animals, and each one of the mighty horde seen in summer has
+passed the winter in some form. One must look for them in strange
+places and under many disguises; for they cannot migrate, as do the
+majority of the birds, nor can they live an active life while the
+source of their food supply, the plants, are inactive.
+
+The majority of those insects which in May or June will be found
+feeding on the buds or leaves of our trees, or crawling worm-like over
+the grass of our lawns, or burrowing beneath the roots of our garden
+plants, are represented in the winter by the eggs alone. These eggs
+are deposited in autumn by the mother insect, on or near the object
+destined to furnish the young, or larvae, their food. Each egg
+corresponds to a seed of one of our annual plants; being, like it,
+but a form of life so fashioned and fitted as to withstand for a long
+period intense cold; the mother insect, like the summer form of the
+plant, succumbing to the first severe frost.
+
+Thus myriads of the eggs of grasshoppers are in the early autumn
+deposited in the ground, in compact masses of forty to sixty each.
+About mid-April they begin to hatch, and the sprightly little insects,
+devoid of wings, but otherwise like their parents, begin their
+life-work of changing grass into flesh.
+
+[Illustration: HEDGEHOG CATERPILLAR.]
+
+A comparatively small number of insects pass the winter in the larval
+or active stage of the young. Of these, perhaps the best known is the
+brown "woolly worm" or "hedgehog caterpillar," as it is familiarly
+called. It is thickly covered with stiff black hairs on each end, and
+with reddish hairs on the middle of the body. These hairs appear to be
+evenly and closely shorn, so as to give the animal a velvety look; and
+as they have a certain degree of elasticity, and the caterpillar curls
+up at the slightest touch, it generally manages to slip away when
+taken into the hand. Beneath loose bark, boards, rails, and stones,
+this caterpillar may be found in mid-winter, coiled up and apparently
+lifeless. On the first bright, sunny days of spring it may be seen
+crawling rapidly over the ground, seeking the earnest vegetation which
+will furnish it a literal "breakfast." In April or May the chrysalis,
+surrounded by a loose cocoon formed of the hairs of the body
+interwoven with coarse silk, may be found in situations similar to
+those in which the larva passed the winter. From this, the perfect
+insect, the Isabella tiger moth, _Pyrrharctia isabella_ Smith, emerges
+about the last of June. It is a medium sized moth, dull orange in
+color, with three rows of small black spots on the body, and some
+scattered spots of the same color on the wings.
+
+By breaking open rotten logs one can find in mid-winter the grubs or
+larvae of many of the wood-boring beetles, and, beneath logs and stones
+near the margins of ponds and brooks, hordes of the maggots or larvae
+of certain kinds of flies may often be found huddled together in great
+masses. The larvae of a few butterflies also live over winter beneath
+chips or bunches of leaves near the roots of their food plant, or in
+webs of their own construction, which are woven on the stems close to
+the buds, whose expanding leaves will furnish them their first meal in
+spring.
+
+Many insects pass the winter in the quiescent or pupal stage; a state
+exceedingly well fitted for hibernating, requiring as it does, no
+food, and giving plenty of time for the marvellous changes which are
+then undergone. Some of these pupae are enclosed in dense silken
+cocoons, which are bound to the twigs of the plants upon which the
+larvae feed, and thus they swing securely in their silken hammocks
+through all the storms of winter. Perhaps the most common of these is
+that of the brown Cecropian moth, _Attacus cecropia_ L., the large
+oval cocoon of which is a conspicuous object in the winter on the
+twigs of our common shade and fruit trees. Many other pupae may be
+found beneath logs or on the under side of bark, and usually have the
+chrysalis surrounded by a thin covering of hairs, which are rather
+loosely arranged. A number pass the cold season in the earth with no
+protective covering whatever. Among these is a large brown chrysalis
+with a long tongue case bent over so as to resemble the handle of a
+jug. Every farm boy has ploughed or spaded it up in the spring, and is
+it but the pupa of a large sphinx moth, _Protoparce celeus_ Hub., the
+larva of which is the great green worm, with a "horn on its tail," so
+common on tomato plants in the late summer.
+
+[Illustration: CHRYSALIS OF TOMATO WORM.]
+
+Each of the winter forms of insects above mentioned can withstand long
+and severe cold weather--in fact, may be frozen solid for weeks and
+retain life and vigor, both of which are shown when warm weather and
+food appear again. Indeed, it is not an unusually cold winter, but one
+of successive thawings and freezings, which is most destructive to
+insect life. A mild winter encourages the growth of mould which
+attacks the hibernating larvae and pupae as soon as, from excess of rain
+or humidity, they become sickly; and it also permits the continued
+activity of insectivorous mammals and birds. Thus, moles, shrews,
+and field mice, instead of burying themselves deeply in the ground,
+run about freely during an open winter and destroy enormous numbers
+of pupae; while such birds as the woodpeckers, titmice, and chickadees
+are constantly on the alert, and searching in every crevice and cranny
+of fence and bark of tree for the hibernating larvae.
+
+Of the creeping, wingless creatures, which can ever be found beneath
+rocks, rails, chunks, and especially beneath those old decaying logs
+which are half buried in the rich vegetable mould, the myriapods, or
+"thousand-legs," deserve more than a passing notice. They are typical
+examples of that great branch of the animal kingdom known as
+_arthropods_, which comprises all insects and crustaceans. Each
+arthropod has the body composed of rings placed end to end and bearing
+jointed appendages, and in the myriapods each ring and its appendages
+can be plainly seen; whereas in the higher forms of the branch many of
+the rings are so combined as to be very difficult to distinguish.
+
+Full forty kinds of myriapods occur in any area comprising one hundred
+square miles in the eastern United States. About twenty-five of them
+go by the general name of "thousand-legs" or millipedes, as each has
+from forty to fifty-five cylindrical rings in the body, and two pairs
+of legs to each ring. The other fifteen belong to the "centipede"
+group, the body consisting of about sixteen flattened segments, or
+rings, each bearing a single pair of legs. When disturbed, the
+"thousand-legs" generally coils up and remains motionless, shamming
+death, or "playing possum," as it is popularly put, as a means of
+defence; while the centipede scampers hurriedly away and endeavors to
+hide beneath leaf, chip, or other object.
+
+[Illustration: CENTIPEDE.]
+
+All those found in the Northern States are perfectly harmless, the
+true centipede, whose bite is reputed much more venomous than it
+really is, being found only in the South. True, some of the centipede
+group can pinch rather sharply with their beetle-like jaws; and one,
+our largest and most common species, a brownish red fellow about three
+inches long and without eyes, can even draw blood if its jaws happen
+to strike a tender place. When handled it always tries to bite,
+perhaps out of revenge for the abominably long Latin name given it by
+its describer. In fact the name is longer than the animal
+itself--_Sco-lo-po-cryp-tops sex-spi-no-sus_ (Say)--being its cognomen
+in full. With such a handle attached to it, who can blame it for
+attempting to bite? Yet, to the scientist up on his Latin, each part
+of the above name bears a definite and tangible meaning. All the
+myriapods found in the woods and fields feed upon decaying vegetation,
+such as leaves, stems of weeds, and rotten wood, and in winter three
+or four species can usually be found within or beneath every decaying
+log or stump. One species with very long legs, _Scutigera forceps_
+(Raf.), is often found in damp houses or in cellars. It is sometimes
+called the "wall-sweeper," on account of its rapid ungainly gait, and
+is even reputed to prey upon cockroaches and other household pests.
+
+Spiders, which do not undergo such changes as do most of the common,
+six-footed insects, winter either as eggs or in the mature form. The
+members of the "sedentary" or web-spinning group, as a rule, form
+nests in late autumn, in each of which are deposited from fifty to
+eighty eggs, which survive the winter and hatch in the spring, as soon
+as the food supply of gnats, flies, and mosquitoes appear. The
+different forms of spiders' nests are very interesting objects of
+study. Some are those close-spun, flat, button-shaped objects, about
+half an inch in diameter, which are so common in winter on the under
+side of bark, chunks and flat rocks. Others are balloon-shaped and
+attached to weeds. Within the latter the young spiders often hatch in
+early winter, make their first meal off their empty egg cases, and
+then begin a struggle for existence, the stronger preying upon the
+weaker until the south winds blow again, when they emerge and scatter
+far and wide in search of more nutritious sustenance.
+
+The "wandering" spiders never spin webs, but run actively about and
+pounce upon their prey with a tiger-like spring. Six or eight of the
+larger species of this group winter in the mature form beneath logs
+and chunks, being often frozen solid during cold weather, but thawing
+out as healthy as ever when the temperature rises. Retiring beneath
+the loose-fitting bark of hickory or maple trees, a number of the
+smaller tube-weaving spiders construct about themselves a protecting
+web of many layers of the finest silk. Within this snug retreat they
+lie from November until April--a handsome, small, black fellow, with
+green jaws and two orange spots on his abdomen, being the most common
+species found motionless within this seeming shroud of silk on a day
+in mid-winter.
+
+In any Northern State as many as four hundred different kinds of the
+six-footed or true insects, in the winged or adult stage, may be taken
+in winter by any one who is so disposed, and knows where to search for
+them. Among the _Orthoptera_, the "grouse grasshoppers" live during
+the cold season beneath the loose bark of logs, or beneath the bottom
+rails of the old Virginia worm fences. From these retreats every warm,
+sunny day tempts them forth in numbers. On such occasions the earth
+seems to swarm with them, as they leap before the intruder, their hard
+bodies striking the dead leaves with a sound similar to that produced
+by falling hail. The common field cricket belongs also to the
+_Orthoptera_, and the young of various sizes winter under rails and
+logs, bidding defiance to Jack Frost from within a little burrow or
+pit beneath the protecting shelter.
+
+[Illustration: CHINCH BUG.]
+
+The true bugs, or _Hemiptera_, hibernate in similar places; squash
+bugs, chinch bugs, "stink" bugs, and others being easily found in
+numbers beneath loose bark or hidden between the root leaves of
+mullein and other plants.
+
+Nearly three hundred species of _Coleoptera_, or beetles, occupy
+similar positions. Almost any rotten log or stump when broken open
+discloses a half dozen or more "horn" or "bess beetles," _Passalus
+cornutus_ L., great, shining, clumsy, black fellows with a curved horn
+on the head. They are often utilized as horses by country children,
+the horn furnishing an inviting projection to which may be fastened,
+by a thread or cord, chips and pieces of bark to be dragged about by
+the strong and never lagging beast of burden. When tired of "playing
+horse" they can make of the insect an instrument of music; for, when
+held by the body, it emits a creaking, hissing noise, produced by
+rubbing the abdomen up and down against the inside of the hard, horny
+wing covers. This beetle passes its entire life in cavities in the
+rotten wood on which it feeds, and when it wishes a larger or more
+commodious home it has only to eat the more.
+
+[Illustration: THIRTEEN-SPOTTED LADY BEETLE.]
+
+The handsome and beneficial lady beetles winter beneath fallen leaves
+or between and beneath the root leaves of the mullein and the thistle.
+Our most common species, the thirteen-spotted lady beetle, _Megilla
+maculata_ De G., is gregarious, collecting together by thousands on
+the approach of cold weather, and lying huddled up like sheep until a
+breath of spring gives them the signal to disperse. Snout beetles
+galore can be found beneath piles of weeds near streams and the
+borders of ponds or beneath chunks and logs in sandy places. All are
+injurious, and the farmer by burning their hibernating places in
+winter can cause their destruction in numbers. Rove beetles, ground
+beetles, and many others live deep down in the vegetable mould beneath
+old logs, where they are, no doubt, as secure from the ice king as if
+they followed the swallow to the tropics.
+
+Of the _Diptera_, or flies, but few forms winter in the perfect state,
+yet the myriads of house flies and their kin, which next summer will
+distract the busy house-wife, are represented in winter by a few
+isolated individuals which creep forth occasionally from crevice or
+cranny and greet us with a friendly buzz.
+
+In mid-winter one may also see in the air swarms of small, gnat-like
+insects. They belong to this order and live beneath the bark of
+freshly fallen beech and other logs. On warm, sunny days they go forth
+in numbers for a sort of rhythmical courtship; their movements while
+in the air being peculiar in that they usually rise and fall in the
+same vertical line--performing a curious aerial dance which is long
+continued.
+
+Among the dozen or more butterflies and moths which winter in the
+perfect state, the most common and the most handsome is the
+"Camberwell beauty" or "mourning cloak," _Vanessa antiopa_ L., a large
+butterfly whose wings are a rich purplish brown above, duller beneath,
+and broadly margined with a yellowish band. It is often found in
+winter beneath chunks which are raised a short distance above the
+ground, or in the crevices of old snags and fence rails. It is then
+apparently lifeless, with the antennae resting close along the back,
+above which the wings are folded. But one or two warm days are
+necessary to restore it to activity, and I have seen it on the wing as
+early as the 2d of March, hovering over the open flowers of the little
+snow trillium.
+
+All the species of ants survive the winter as mature forms, either in
+their nests in the ground or huddled groups in half rotten logs and
+stumps; while here and there beneath logs a solitary queen bumble-bee,
+bald hornet, or yellow jacket is found--the sole representatives of
+their races.
+
+Thus insects survive the winter in many ways and in many places, some
+as eggs, others as larvae, still others as pupae, and a large number as
+adults--all being able to withstand severe cold and yet retain
+vitality sufficient to recover, live, grow, and replenish the earth
+with their progeny when the halcyon days of spring appear once more.
+
+In the scale of animal life the vertebrates or back-boned animals
+succeed the insects. Beginning with the fishes, we find that in late
+autumn they mostly seek some deep pool in pond or stream at the bottom
+of which the water does not freeze. Here the herbivorous forms eke out
+a precarious existence by feeding upon the innumerable diatoms and
+other small plants which are always to be found in water, while the
+carnivorous prey upon the herbivorous, and so maintain the struggle
+for existence. The moving to these deeper channels and pools in autumn
+and the scattering in the spring of the assembly which has gathered
+there constitute the so-called "migration of fishes," which is far
+from being so extensive and methodical as that practiced by the
+migratory birds.
+
+Many of the smaller species of fishes, upon leaving these winter
+resorts, ascend small, clear brooks in large numbers for the purpose
+of depositing their eggs; as, when hatched in such a place, the young
+will be comparatively free from the attacks of the larger carnivorous
+forms. Among the lowest vertebrate often found in numbers in early
+spring in these meadow rills and brooks is the lamprey, _Ammocoetes
+branchialis_ (L.), or "lamper eel," as it is sometimes called. It has
+a slender eel-like body, of a uniform leaden or blackish color, and
+with seven purse-shaped gill openings on each side. The mouth is
+fitted for sucking rather than biting, and with it they attach
+themselves to the bodies of fishes and feed on their flesh, which they
+scrape off with their rasp-like teeth. Later in the season they
+disappear from these smaller streams, probably returning in midsummer
+to deeper water. Thoreau, who studied their habits closely, says of
+them: "They are rarely seen on their way down stream, and it is
+thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste away and die,
+clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; a
+tragic feature to the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be
+remembered with Shakespeare's description of the sea floor."
+
+[Illustration: A LAMPREY.]
+
+A few of the fishes, as the mud minnow and smaller catfishes,
+together with most frogs, turtles, and salamanders, on the approach of
+winter, burrow into the mud at the bottom of the streams and ponds, or
+beneath logs near their margins. There they live without moving about
+and with all the vital processes in a partially dormant condition,
+thus needing little if any food.
+
+The box tortoise or "dry land terrapin," the common toad, and some
+salamanders burrow into the dry earth, usually going deep enough to
+escape frost; while snakes seek some crevice in the rocks or hole in
+the ground where they coil themselves together, oftentimes in vast
+numbers, and prepare for their winter's sleep. In an open winter this
+hibernation is often interrupted, the animal emerging from its retreat
+and seeking its usual summer haunts as though spring had come again.
+Thus I have, on one occasion, seen a soft-shelled turtle moving
+gracefully over the bottom of a stream on a day in late December, and
+have in mid-January captured snakes and salamanders from beneath a
+pile of drift-wood, where they had taken temporary refuge.
+
+[Illustration: TURTLE.]
+
+With frogs, especially, this hibernation is not a perfect one, and
+there is a doubt if in a mild winter some species hibernate at all.
+For example, the little cricket frog or "peeper" has been seen many
+times in mid-winter alongside the banks of flowing streams, and during
+the open winter of 1888-89 numerous specimens of leopard and green
+frogs were seen on different occasions in December and January, while
+on February 18th they, together with the "peepers," were in full
+chorus.
+
+Of our mammals, a few of the rodents or gnawers, as the ground-hogs,
+gophers and chipmunks, hibernate in burrows deep enough to escape the
+cold, and either feed on a stored supply of food, or, like the snakes
+and crayfish, do not feed at all.
+
+[Illustration: CHIPMUNK.]
+
+Others, as the rabbits, field-mice, and squirrels, are more or less
+active and forage freely on whatever they can find, eating many things
+which in summer they would spurn with scorn. To this class belongs
+that intelligent but injurious animal the musquash or muskrat. Those
+which inhabit the rivers and larger streams live in burrows dug deep
+beneath the banks, but those inhabiting sluggish streams and ponds
+usually construct a conical winter house about three feet in diameter
+and from two to three feet in height. These houses are made of coarse
+grasses, rushes, branches of shrubs, and small pieces of driftwood,
+closely cemented together with stiff, clayey mud. The top of the house
+usually projects two feet or more above the water, and when sun-dried
+is so strong as to easily sustain the weight of a man. The walls are
+generally about six inches in thickness and are very difficult to pull
+to pieces. Within is a single circular chamber with a shelf or floor
+of mud, sticks, leaves and grass, ingeniously supported on coarse
+sticks stuck endwise into the mud after the manner of piles. In the
+centre of this floor is an opening, from which six or eight diverging
+paths lead to the open water without, so that the little artisan has
+many avenues of escape in case of danger. These houses are often
+repaired and used for several winters in succession, but are vacated
+on the approach of spring. During the summer the muskrat is, in the
+main, a herbivorous animal, but in winter necessity develops its
+carnivorous propensities and it feeds then mainly upon the mussels and
+crayfish which it can dig from the bottom of the pond or stream in
+which its house is built.
+
+The bats pass the winter in caves, the attics of houses, and barns, or
+in hollow trees, hanging downward by their hind claws. Motionless for
+months they thus remain, and those in the more exposed situations are,
+doubtless, frozen solid. Yet, in time, their blood flows freely once
+again and they become as expert on the wing as though the year were
+one continual jubilee of insect chasing, and frost and snow were to
+them unknown.
+
+All the carnivora, or flesh-eaters, as the mink, skunk, opossum, fox,
+and wolf, are in winter active and voracious, needing much food to
+supply the necessary animal heat of the body. Hence they are then much
+more bold than in summer, and the hen yard or sheep pen of the farmer
+is too frequently called upon to supply this extra demand.
+
+[Illustration: A WOLF.]
+
+But of all our animals it seems to me the birds have solved the winter
+problem best. Possessing an enduring power of flight and a knowledge
+of a southern sunny sky, beneath which food is plentiful, they alone
+of all the living forms about us have little fear of the coming of the
+frost. True, fifty or more species remain in each of the Northern
+States during the cold season, but they are hardy birds which feed
+mainly upon seeds, as the snow-bird and song sparrow; on flesh, as the
+hawks and crows; or on burrowing insects, as the nut-hatches and
+woodpeckers.
+
+Such are some of the solutions to the problem of life in winter which
+the plants and animals about us have worked out; such some of the
+forms which they undergo; the places which they inhabit.
+
+To the thinking mind a knowledge of these solutions but begets other
+and greater problems, such as how can a living thing be frozen solid
+for weeks and yet retain vitality enough to fully recover? How can a
+warm-blooded animal sleep for months without partaking of food or
+drink? And greater than either, what is that which we call life?
+
+I hold in my hand two objects, similar in size, color, organs,
+everything--twins from the same mother in all outward respects. One
+pulsates and throbs with that which we call "life." It possesses heat,
+bodily motion, animal power. The other is cold, motionless, pulseless,
+throbless--a thing of clay. What is that "life" which the one
+possesses and the other lacks? Ah, there's the rub! With the wisest of
+men we can only answer, "_Quien sabe?_" (Who knows?)
+
+[Illustration: WINTER HOUSE OF MUSKRAT.]
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS' NESTS
+
+(FROM WAKE ROBIN.)[3]
+
+BY JOHN BURROUGHS.
+
+[3] Copyright by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+How alert and vigilant the birds are, even when absorbed in building
+their nests! In an open space in the woods, I see a pair of
+cedar-birds collecting moss from the top of a dead tree. Following the
+direction in which they fly, I soon discover the nest placed in the
+fork of a small soft-maple, which stands amid a thick growth of
+wild-cherry trees and young beeches. Carefully concealing myself
+beneath it, without any fear that the workmen will hit me with a chip
+or let fall a tool, I await the return of the busy pair. Presently I
+hear the well-known note, and the female sweeps down and settles
+unsuspectingly into the half-finished structure. Hardly have her wings
+rested, before her eye has penetrated my screen, and with a hurried
+movement of alarm, she darts away. In a moment, the male, with a tuft
+of wool in his beak (for there is a sheep pasture near), joins her,
+and the two reconnoitre the premises from the surrounding bushes. With
+their beaks still loaded, they move around with a frightened look, and
+refuse to approach the nest till I have moved off and lain down behind
+a log. Then one of them ventures to alight upon the nest, but, still
+suspecting all is not right, quickly darts away again. Then they both
+together come, and after much peeping and spying about, and apparently
+much anxious consultation, cautiously proceed to work. In less than
+half an hour, it would seem that wool enough has been brought to
+supply the whole family, real and prospective, with socks, if needles
+and fingers could be found fine enough to knit it up. In less than a
+week, the female has begun to deposit her eggs,--four of them in as
+many days,--white tinged with purple, with black spots on the larger
+end. After two weeks of incubation, the young are out.
+
+Excepting the American goldfinch, this bird builds later in the spring
+than any other, its nest, in our northern climate, seldom being
+undertaken till July. As with the goldfinch, the reason is, probably,
+that suitable food for the young cannot be had at an earlier period.
+
+Like most of our common species, as the robin, sparrow, bluebird,
+pewee, wren, etc., this bird sometimes seeks wild, remote localities
+in which to rear its young; at others, takes up its abode near that of
+man. I knew a pair of cedar-birds, one season, to build in an
+apple-tree, the branches of which rubbed against the house. For a day
+or two before the first straw was laid, I noticed the pair carefully
+exploring every branch of the tree the female taking the lead, the
+male following her with an anxious note and look. It was evident that
+the wife was to have her choice this time; and, like one who
+thoroughly knew her mind, she was proceeding to take it. Finally the
+site was chosen upon a high branch extending over one low wing of the
+house. Mutual congratulations and caresses followed, when both birds
+flew away in quest of building material. That most freely used is a
+sort of cotton-bearing plant, which grows in old, worn-out fields. The
+nest is large for the size of the bird, and very soft. It is in every
+respect a first-class domicile.
+
+On another occasion, while walking, or rather sauntering, in the woods
+(for I have discovered that one cannot run and read the book of
+nature), my attention was arrested by a dull hammering, evidently but
+a few rods off. I said to myself, "Some one is building a house." From
+what I had previously seen, I suspected the builder to be a red-headed
+woodpecker, in the top of a dead oak stub near by. Moving cautiously
+in that direction, I perceived a round hole, about the size of that
+made by an inch-and-a-half auger, near the top of the decayed trunk,
+and the white chips of the workman strewing the ground beneath. When
+but a few paces from the tree, my foot pressed upon a dry twig, which
+gave forth a very slight snap. Instantly the hammering ceased, and a
+scarlet head appeared at the door. Though I remained perfectly
+motionless, forbearing even to wink till my eye smarted, the bird
+refused to go on with his work, but flew quietly off to a neighboring
+tree. What surprised me was, that amid his busy occupation down in
+the heart of the old tree he should have been so alert and watchful as
+to catch the slightest sound from without.
+
+The woodpeckers all build in about the same manner, excavating the
+trunk or branch of a decayed tree, and depositing the eggs on the fine
+fragments of wood at the bottom of the cavity. Though the nest is not
+especially an artistic work,--requiring strength rather than
+skill,--yet the eggs and the young of few other birds are so
+completely housed from the elements, or protected from their natural
+enemies--the jays, crows, hawks, and owls. A tree with a natural
+cavity is never selected, but one which has been dead just long enough
+to have become soft and brittle throughout. The bird goes in
+horizontally for a few inches, making a hole perfectly round and
+smooth and adapted to his size; then turns downward, gradually
+enlarging the hole, as he proceeds, to the depth of ten, fifteen,
+twenty inches, according to the softness of the tree and the urgency
+of the mother bird to deposit her eggs. While excavating, male and
+female work alternately. After one has been engaged fifteen or twenty
+minutes, drilling, and carrying out chips, it ascends to an upper
+limb, utters a loud call or two, when its mate soon appears, and,
+alighting near it on the branch, the pair chatter and caress a moment;
+then the fresh one enters the cavity and the other flies away.
+
+A few days since, I climbed up to the nest of the downy woodpecker, in
+the decayed top of a sugar-maple. For better protection against
+driving rains, the hole which was rather more than an inch in
+diameter, was made immediately beneath a branch which stretched out
+almost horizontally from the main stem. It appeared merely a deeper
+shadow upon the dark and mottled surface of the bark with which the
+branches were covered, and could not be detected by the eye until one
+was within a few feet of it. The young chirped vociferously as I
+approached the nest, thinking it was the old one with food; but the
+clamor suddenly ceased as I put my hand on that part of the trunk in
+which they were concealed, the unusual jarring and rustling alarming
+them into silence. The cavity, which was about fifteen inches deep,
+was gourd-shaped, and was wrought with great skill and regularity. The
+walls were quite smooth and clean and new.
+
+[Illustration: WOODPECKER'S NEST. (Dotted lines indicate inside of
+nest and eggs).]
+
+I shall never forget the circumstance of observing a pair of
+yellow-bellied woodpeckers,--the most rare and secluded, and, next to
+the red-headed, the most beautiful species found in our
+woods,--breeding in an old, truncated beech in the Beaverkill
+Mountains, an off-shoot of the Catskills. We had been travelling,
+three of us, all day in search of a trout lake, which lay far in among
+the mountains, had twice lost our course in the trackless forest,
+and, weary and hungry, had sat down to rest upon a decayed log. The
+chattering of the young, and the passing to and fro of the parent
+birds, soon arrested my attention. The entrance to the nest was on the
+east side of the tree, about twenty-five feet from the ground. At
+intervals of scarcely a minute, the old birds, one after another,
+would light upon the edge of the hole with a grub or worm in their
+beaks; then each in turn would make a bow or two, cast an eye quickly
+around, and by a single movement place itself in the neck of the
+passage. Here it would pause a moment, as if to determine in which
+expectant mouth to place the morsel, and then disappear within. In
+about half a minute, during which time the chattering of the young
+gradually subsided, the bird would again emerge, but this time bearing
+in its beak the ordure of one of the helpless family. Flying away very
+slowly with head lowered and extended, as if anxious to hold the
+offensive object as far from its plumage as possible, the bird dropped
+the unsavory morsel in the course of a few yards, and, alighting on a
+tree, wiped its bill on the bark and moss. This seemed to be the order
+all day,--carrying in and carrying out. I watched the birds for an
+hour, while my companions were taking their turn in exploring the lay
+of the land around us, and noted no variation in the programme. It
+would be curious to know if the young are fed and waited upon in
+regular order, and how, amid the darkness and the crowded state of the
+apartment, the matter is so neatly managed. But ornithologists are all
+silent upon the subject.
+
+[Illustration: THE YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER.]
+
+This practice of the birds is not so uncommon as it might at first
+seem. It is, indeed, almost an invariable rule among all land birds.
+With woodpeckers and kindred species, and with birds that burrow in
+the ground, as bank swallows, kingfishers, etc., it is a necessity.
+The accumulation of the excrement in the nest would prove most fatal
+to the young.
+
+But even among birds that neither bore nor mine, but which build a
+shallow nest on the branch of a tree or upon the ground, as the robin,
+the finches, the buntings, etc., the ordure of the young is removed to
+a distance by the parent bird. When the robin is seen going away from
+its brood with a slow, heavy flight, entirely different from its
+manner a moment before on approaching the nest with a cherry or worm,
+it is certain to be engaged in this office. One may observe the social
+sparrow, when feeding its young, pause a moment after the worm has
+been given, and hop around on the brink of the nest, observing the
+movements within.
+
+The instinct of cleanliness no doubt prompts the action in all cases,
+though the disposition to secrecy or concealment may not be unmixed
+with it.
+
+The swallows form an exception to the rule, the excrement being voided
+by the young over the brink of the nest. They form an exception, also,
+to the rule of secrecy, aiming not so much to conceal the nest as to
+render it inaccessible.
+
+Other exceptions are the pigeons, hawks, and water-fowls.
+
+But to return. Having a good chance to note the color and markings of
+the woodpeckers as they passed in and out at the opening of the nest,
+I saw that Audubon had made a mistake in figuring or describing the
+female of this species with the red spot upon the head. I have seen a
+number of pairs of them, and in no instance have I seen the mother
+bird marked with red.
+
+The male was in full plumage, and I reluctantly shot him for a
+specimen. Passing by the place again next day, I paused a moment to
+note how matters stood. I confess it was not without some compunctions
+that I heard the cries of the young birds, and saw the widowed mother,
+her cares now doubled, hastening to and fro in the solitary woods. She
+would occasionally pause expectantly on the trunk of a tree, and utter
+a loud call.
+
+It usually happens when the male of any species is killed during the
+breeding season, that the female soon procures another mate. There
+are, most likely, always a few unmated birds of both sexes, within a
+given range, and through these the broken links may be restored.
+Audubon or Wilson, I forgot which, tells a pair of fish-hawks, or
+ospreys, that built their nest in an ancient oak. The male was so
+zealous in the defence of the young that it actually attacked with
+beak and claw a person who attempted to climb into his nest, putting
+his face and eyes in great jeopardy. Arming himself with a heavy club,
+the climber felled the gallant bird to the ground and killed him. In
+the course of a few days, the female had procured another mate. But
+naturally enough the step-father showed none of the spirit and pluck
+in defence of the brood that had been displayed by the original
+parent. When danger was nigh, he was seen afar off, sailing around in
+placid unconcern.
+
+It is generally known that when either the wild turkey or domestic
+turkey begins to lay, and afterwards to sit and rear the brood, she
+secludes herself from the male, who then, very sensibly, herds with
+others of his sex, and betakes himself to haunts of his own till male
+and female, old and young, meet again on common ground, late in the
+fall. But rob the sitting bird of her eggs, or destroy her tender
+young, and she immediately sets out in quest of a male, who is no
+laggard when he hears her call. The same is true of ducks and other
+aquatic fowls. The propagating instinct is strong, and surmounts all
+ordinary difficulties. No doubt the widowhood I had caused in the case
+of the woodpeckers was of short duration, and chance brought, or the
+widow drummed up, some forlorn male, who was not dismayed by the
+prospect of having a large family of half grown birds on his hands at
+the outset.
+
+I have seen a fine cock robin paying assiduous addresses to a female
+bird as late as the middle of July; and I have no doubt that his
+intentions were honorable. I watched the pair for half an hour. The
+hen, I took it, was in the market for the second time that season; but
+the cock, from his bright, unfaded plumage, looked like a new arrival.
+The hen resented every advance of the male. In vain he strutted around
+her and displayed his fine feathers; every now and then she would make
+at him in a most spiteful manner. He followed her to the ground,
+poured into her ear a fine, half-suppressed warble, offered her a
+worm, flew back to the tree again with a great spread of plumage,
+hopped around her on the branches, chirruped, chattered, flew
+gallantly at an intruder, and was back in an instant at her side. No
+use,--she cut him short at every turn.
+
+The _denouement_ I cannot relate, as the artful bird, followed by her
+ardent suitor, soon flew away beyond my sight. It may not be rash to
+conclude, however that she held out no longer than was prudent.
+
+On the whole, there seems to be a system of Women's Rights prevailing
+among the birds, which, contemplated from the standpoint of the male,
+is quite admirable. In almost all cases of joint interest, the female
+bird is the most active. She determines the site of the nest, and is
+usually the most absorbed in its construction. Generally, she is more
+vigilant in caring for the young, and manifests the most concern when
+danger threatens. Hour after hour I have seen the mother of a brood of
+blue grossbeaks pass from the nearest meadow to the tree that held her
+nest, with a cricket or grasshopper in her bill, while her
+better-dressed half was singing serenely on a distant tree or pursuing
+his pleasure amid the branches.
+
+Yet among the majority of our song birds, the male is most conspicuous
+both by his color and manners and by his song, and is to that extent a
+shield to the female. It is thought that the female is humbler clad
+for her better concealment during incubation. But this is not
+satisfactory, as in some cases she is relieved from time to time by
+the male. In the case of the domestic dove, for instance, promptly at
+mid-day the cock is found upon the nest. I should say that the dull or
+neutral tints of the female were a provision of nature for her greater
+safety at all times, as her life is far more precious to the species
+than that of the male. The indispensable office of the male reduces
+itself to little more than a moment of time, while that of his mate
+extends over days and weeks, if not months.
+
+In migrating northward, the males precede the females by eight or ten
+days; returning in the fall, the females and young precede the males
+by about the same time.
+
+[Illustration: NEST OF THE CHICADEE.]
+
+After the woodpeckers have abandoned their nests, or rather chambers,
+which they do after the first season, their cousins, the nut-hatches,
+chickadees, and brown creepers, fall heir to them. These birds,
+especially the creepers and nut-hatches, have many of the habits of
+the _picidae_, but lack their powers of bill, and so are unable to
+excavate a nest for themselves. Their habitation, therefore, is always
+second-hand. But each species carries in some soft material of various
+kinds, or, in other words, furnishes the tenement to its liking. The
+chickadee arranges in the bottom of the cavity a little mat of a
+light, felt-like substance, which looks as if it came from the
+hatter's, but which is probably the work of numerous worms or
+caterpillars. On this soft lining the female deposits six white eggs.
+
+I recently discovered one of these nests in a most interesting
+situation. The tree containing it, a variety of the wild cherry, stood
+upon the brink of the bald summit of a high mountain. Gray, time-worn
+rocks lay piled loosely about, or overtoppled the just visible by-ways
+of the red fox. The trees had a half-scared look, and that
+indescribable wildness which lurks about the tops of all remote
+mountains possessed the place. Standing there, I looked down upon the
+back of the red-tailed hawk as he flew out over the earth beneath me.
+Following him, my eye also took in farms, and settlements, and
+villages, and other mountain ranges that grew blue in the distance.
+
+The parent birds attracted my attention by appearing with food in
+their beaks, and by seeming much put out. Yet so wary were they of
+revealing the locality of their brood, or even of the precise tree
+that held them, that I lurked around over an hour without gaining a
+point on them. Finally a bright and curious boy who accompanied me
+secreted himself under a low, projecting rock close to the tree in
+which we supposed the nest to be, while I moved off around the
+mountain-side. It was not long before the youth had their secret. The
+tree, which was low and wide branching, and overrun with lichens,
+appeared at a cursory glance to contain not one dry or decayed limb.
+Yet there was one a few feet long, in which, when my eyes were piloted
+thither, I detected a small round orifice.
+
+As my weight began to shake the branches, the consternation of both
+old and young was great. The stump of a limb that held the nest was
+about three inches thick, and at the bottom of the tunnel was
+excavated quite to the bark. With my thumb I broke in the thin wall,
+and the young, which were full-fledged, looked out upon the world for
+the first time. Presently one of them, with a significant chirp, as
+much as to say, "It is time we were out of this," began to climb up
+toward the proper entrance. Placing himself in the hole, he looked
+around without manifesting any surprise at the grand scene that lay
+spread out before him. He was taking his bearings and determining how
+far he could trust the power of his untried wings to take him out of
+harm's way. After a moment's pause, with a loud chirrup, he launched
+out, and made tolerable headway. The others rapidly followed. Each
+one, as it started upward, from a sudden impulse, contemptuously
+saluted the abandoned nest with its excrement.
+
+[Illustration: BARN SWALLOW AND NEST.]
+
+Though generally regular in their habits and instincts, yet the birds
+sometimes seem as whimsical and capricious as superior beings. One is
+not safe, for instance, in making any absolute assertion as to their
+place or mode of building. Ground builders often get up into a bush,
+and tree builders sometimes get upon the ground or into a tussock of
+grass. The song-sparrow, which is a ground builder, has been known to
+build in the knot-hole of a fence rail, and a chimney swallow once got
+tired of soot and smoke, and fastened its nest on a rafter in a hay
+barn. A friend tells me of a pair of barn swallows which, taking a
+fanciful turn, saddled their nest in the loop of a rope that was
+pendent from a peg in the peak, and liked it so well that they
+repeated the experiment next year. I have known the social sparrow, or
+"hair bird," to build under a shed, in a tuft of hay that hung down,
+through the loose flooring, from the mow above. It usually contents
+itself with a half a dozen stalks of dry grass and a few long hairs
+from a cow's tail, loosely arranged on the branch of an apple-tree.
+The rough-winged swallow builds in the wall and in old stone heaps,
+and I have seen the robin build in similar localities. Others have
+found its nest in old, abandoned wells. The house wren will build in
+anything that has an accessible cavity, from an old boot to a
+bombshell. A pair of them once persisted in building their nest in the
+top of a certain pump-tree, getting in through the opening above the
+handle. The pump being in daily use, the nest was destroyed more than
+a score of times. This jealous little wretch has the wise forethought,
+when the box in which he builds contains two compartments, to fill up
+one of them, so as to avoid the risk of troublesome neighbors.
+
+The less skilful builders sometimes depart from their usual habit, and
+take up with the abandoned nest of some other species. The blue-jay
+now and then lays in an old crow's-nest or cuckoo's-nest. The
+crow-blackbird, seized with a fit of indolence, drops its eggs in the
+cavity of a decayed branch. I heard of a cuckoo that dispossessed a
+robin of its nest; of another that set a blue-jay adrift. Large, loose
+structures, like the nests of the osprey and certain of the herons,
+have been found with half a dozen nests of the blackbird set in the
+outer edges, like so many parasites, or, as Audubon says, like the
+retainers about the rude court of a feudal baron.
+
+[Illustration: BALTIMORE ORIOLE AND NEST.]
+
+The same birds breeding in a southern climate construct far less
+elaborate nests than when breeding in a northern climate. Certain
+species of water-fowl that abandon their eggs to the sand and the sun
+in the warmer zones, build a nest and sit in the usual way in
+Labrador. In Georgia, the Baltimore oriole places its nest upon the
+north side of the tree; in the Middle and Eastern States, it fixes it
+upon the south or east side, and makes it much thicker and Warner. I
+have seen one from the South that had some kind-of coarse reed or
+sedge woven into it, giving it an open-work appearance, like a
+basket.
+
+Very few species use the same material uniformly. I have seen the nest
+of the robin quite destitute of mud. In one instance, it was composed
+mainly of long, black horse-hairs, arranged in a circular manner, with
+a lining of fine yellow grass; the whole presenting quite a novel
+appearance. In another case, the nest was chiefly constructed of a
+species of rock moss.
+
+The nest for the second brood during the same season is often a mere
+make-shift. The haste of the female to deposit her eggs as the season
+advances seems very great, and the structure is apt to be prematurely
+finished. I was recently reminded of this fact by happening, about the
+last of July, to meet with several nests of the wood or bush sparrow
+in a remote blackberry field. The nests with eggs were far less
+elaborate and compact than the earlier nests, from which the young had
+flown.
+
+Day after day, as I go to a certain piece of woods, I observe a male
+indigo-bird sitting on precisely the same part of a high branch, and
+singing in his most vivacious style. As I approach, he ceases to sing,
+and, flirting his tail right and left with marked emphasis, chirps
+sharply. In a low bush near by, I come upon the object of his
+solicitude, a thick, compact nest, composed largely of dry leaves and
+fine grass, in which a plain brown bird is sitting upon four pale blue
+eggs.
+
+The wonder is, that a bird will leave the apparent security of the
+tree-tops, to place its nest in the way of the many dangers that walk
+and crawl upon the ground. There, far out of reach, sings the bird;
+here, not three feet from the ground, are its eggs or helpless young.
+The truth is, birds are the greatest enemies of birds, and it is with
+reference to this fact that many of the smaller species build.
+
+[Illustration: INDIGO BIRD'S NEST.]
+
+Perhaps the greatest proportion of birds breed along highways. I have
+known the ruffed grouse to come out of a dense wood and make its nest
+at the root of a tree within ten paces of the road, where, no doubt,
+hawks and crows, as well as skunks and foxes, would be less liable to
+find it out. Traversing remote mountain-roads through dense woods, I
+have repeatedly seen the veery, or Wilson's thrush, sitting upon her
+nest, so near me that I could almost take her from it by stretching
+out my hand. Birds of prey show none of this confidence in man, and,
+when locating their nests, avoid rather than seek his haunts.
+
+In a certain locality in the interior of New York, I know, every
+season, where I am sure to find a nest or two of the slate-colored
+snow-bird. It is under the brink of a low, mossy bank, so near the
+highway that it could be reached from a passing vehicle with a whip.
+Every horse or wagon or foot passenger disturbs the sitting bird. She
+awaits the near approach of a sound of feet or wheels, and then darts
+quickly across the road, barely clearing the ground, and disappears
+amid the bushes on the opposite side.
+
+In the trees that line one of the main streets and fashionable drives
+leading out of Washington city, and less than half a mile from the
+boundary, I have counted the nests of five different species at one
+time, and that without any very close scrutiny of the foliage, while
+in many acres of woodland, half a mile off, I searched in vain for a
+single nest. Among the five that interested me most was that of a blue
+grossbeak. Here this bird, which, according to Audubon's observations,
+in Louisiana is shy and recluse, affecting remote marshes and the
+borders of large ponds of stagnant water, had placed its nest in the
+lowest twig of the lowest branch of a large sycamore, immediately over
+a great thoroughfare, and so near the ground that a person standing in
+a cart or sitting on a horse could have reached it with his hand. The
+nest was composed mainly of fragments of newspaper and stalks of
+grass, and, though so low, was remarkably well concealed by one of the
+peculiar clusters of twigs and leaves which characterize this tree.
+The nest contained young when I discovered it, and though the parent
+birds were much annoyed by my loitering about beneath the tree, they
+paid little attention to the stream of vehicles that was constantly
+passing. It is a wonder to me when the birds could have built it, for
+they are much shyer when building than at other times. No doubt they
+worked mostly in the morning, having the early hours all to
+themselves.
+
+Another pair of blue grossbeaks built in a graveyard within the city
+limits. The nest was placed in a low bush, and the male continued to
+sing at intervals till the young were ready to fly. The song of this
+bird is a rapid, intricate warble, like that of the indigo-bird,
+though stronger and louder. Indeed, these two birds so much resemble
+each other in color, form, manner, voice, and general habits that,
+were it not for the difference in size,--the grossbeak being nearly as
+large again as the indigo-bird,--it would be a hard matter to tell
+them apart. The females of both species are clad in the same
+reddish-brown suits. So are the young the first season.
+
+Of course in the deep, primitive woods also are nests, but how rarely
+we find them! The simple art of the bird consists in choosing common,
+neutral-tinted material, as moss, dry leaves, twigs, and various odds
+and ends, and placing the structure on a convenient branch, where it
+blends in color with its surroundings; but how consummate is this art,
+and how skilfully is the nest concealed! We occasionally light upon
+it, but who, unaided by the movements of the bird, could find it out?
+During the present season, I went to the woods nearly every day for a
+fortnight, without making any discoveries of this kind, till one day,
+paying them a farewell visit, I chanced to come upon several nests. A
+black and white creeping warbler suddenly became much alarmed as I
+approached a crumbling old stump in a dense part of the forest. He
+alighted upon it, chirped sharply, ran up and down its sides, and
+finally left it with much reluctance. The nest, which contained three
+young birds nearly fledged, was placed upon the ground, at the foot of
+the stump, and in such a position that the color of the young
+harmonized perfectly with the bits of bark, sticks, etc., lying about.
+My eye rested upon them for the second time before I made them out.
+They hugged the nest very closely, but as I put down my hand they
+scampered off with loud cries for help, which caused the parent birds
+to place themselves almost within my reach. The nest was merely a
+little dry grass arranged in a thick bed of dry leaves.
+
+This was amid a thick undergrowth. Moving on into a passage of large,
+stately hemlocks, with only here and there a small beech or maple
+rising up into the perennial twilight, I paused to make out a note
+which was entirely new to me. It is still in my ear. Though
+unmistakably a bird note, it yet suggested the bleating of a tiny
+lambkin. Presently the birds appeared,--a pair of the solitary vireo.
+They came flitting from point to point, alighting only for a moment at
+a time, the male silent, but the female uttering this strange, tender
+note. It was a rendering into some new sylvan dialect of the human
+sentiment of maidenly love. It was really pathetic in its sweetness
+and childlike confidence and joy. I soon discovered that the pair were
+building a nest upon a low branch a few yards from me. The male flew
+cautiously to the spot, and adjusted something, and the twain moved
+on, the female calling to her mate at intervals, _love-e, love-e_,
+with a cadence and tenderness in the tone that rang in the ear long
+afterward. The nest was suspended to the fork of a small branch, as is
+usual with the vireos, plentifully lined with lichens, and bound and
+rebound with masses of coarse spider-webs. There was no attempt at
+concealment except in the neutral tints, which made it look like a
+natural growth of the dim, gray woods.
+
+Continuing my random walk, I next paused in a low part of the woods,
+where the larger trees began to give place to a thick second growth
+that covered an old Bark-peeling. I was standing by a large maple,
+when a small bird darted quickly away from it, as if it might have
+come out of a hole near its base. As the bird paused a few yards from
+me, and began to chirp uneasily, my curiosity was at once excited.
+When I saw it was the female mourning ground warbler, and remembered
+that the nest of this bird had not yet been seen by any
+naturalist,--that not even Dr. Brewer had ever seen the eggs,--I felt
+that here was something worth looking for. So I carefully began the
+search, exploring inch by inch the ground, the base and roots of the
+tree, and the various shrubby growths about it, till, finding nothing,
+and fearing I might really put my foot in it, I bethought me to
+withdraw to a distance and after some delay return again, and, thus
+forewarned, note the exact point from which the bird flew. This I did,
+and, returning, had little difficulty in discovering the nest. It was
+placed but a few feet from the maple-tree, in a bunch of ferns, and
+about six inches from the ground. It was quite a massive nest,
+composed entirely of the stalks and leaves of dry grass, with an inner
+lining of fine, dark-brown roots. The eggs, three in number, were of
+light flesh color, uniformly specked with fine brown specks. The
+cavity of the nest was so deep that the back of sitting bird sank
+below the edge.
+
+In the top of a tall tree, a short distance farther on, I saw the nest
+of the red-tailed hawk,--a large mass of twigs and dry sticks. The
+young had flown, but still lingered in the vicinity, and, as I
+approached, the mother bird flew about over me, squealing in a very
+angry, savage manner. Tufts of the hair and other indigestible
+material of the common meadow mouse lay around on the ground beneath
+the nest.
+
+[Illustration: NEST OF RED-EYED VIREO.]
+
+As I was about leaving the woods, my hat almost brushed the nest of
+the red-eyed vireo, which hung basket-like on the end of a low,
+drooping branch of the beech. I should never have seen it had the bird
+kept her place. It contained three eggs of the bird's own, and one of
+the cow-bunting. The strange egg was only just perceptibly larger than
+the others, yet three days after, when I looked into the nest again
+and found all but one egg hatched, the young interloper was at least
+four times as large as either of the others, and with such a
+superabundance of bowels as to almost smother his bedfellows beneath
+them. That the intruder should fare the same as the rightful
+occupants, and thrive with them, was more than ordinary potluck; but
+that it alone should thrive, devouring, as it were, all the rest, is
+one of those freaks of Nature in which she would seem to discourage
+the homely virtues of prudence and honesty. Weeds and parasites have
+the odds greatly against them, yet they wage a very successful war
+nevertheless.
+
+The woods hold not such another gem as the nest of the humming-bird.
+The finding of one is an event to date from. It is the next best thing
+to finding an eagle's nest. I have met with but two, both by chance.
+One was placed on the horizontal branch of a chestnut-tree, with a
+solitary green leaf, forming a complete canopy, about an inch and a
+half above it. The repeated spiteful dartings of the bird past my
+ears, as I stood under the tree, caused me to suspect that I was
+intruding upon some one's privacy; and following it with my eye, I
+soon saw the nest, which was in process of construction. Adopting my
+usual tactics of secreting myself near by, I had the satisfaction of
+seeing the tiny artist at work. It was the female, unassisted by her
+mate. At intervals of two or three minutes she would appear with a
+small tuft of some cottony substance in her beak, dart a few times
+through and around the tree, and alighting quickly in the nest arrange
+the material she had brought, using her breast as a model.
+
+The other nest I discovered in a dense forest on the side of a
+mountain. The sitting bird was disturbed as I passed beneath her. The
+whirring of her wings arrested my attention, when, after a short
+pause, I had the good luck to see, through an opening in the leaves,
+the bird return to her nest, which appeared like a mere wart or
+excrescence on a small branch. The humming-bird, unlike all others,
+does not alight upon the nest, but flies into it. She enters it as
+quick as a flash, but as light as any feather. Two eggs are the
+complement. They are perfectly white, and so frail that only a woman's
+fingers may touch them. Incubation lasts about ten days. In a week the
+young have flown.
+
+The only nest like the humming-bird's, and comparable to it in
+neatness and symmetry, is that of the blue-gray gnat-catcher. This is
+often saddled upon the limb in the same manner, though it is generally
+more or less pendent; it is deep and soft, composed mostly of some
+vegetable down, covered all over with delicate tree-lichens, and,
+except that it is much larger, appears almost identical with the nest
+of the humming-bird.
+
+But the nest of nests, the ideal nest, after we have left the deep
+woods, is unquestionably that of the Baltimore oriole. It is the only
+perfectly pensile nest we have. The nest of the orchard oriole is
+indeed mainly so, but this bird generally builds lower and shallower,
+more after the manner of the vireos.
+
+The Baltimore oriole loves to attach its nest to the swaying branches
+of the tallest elms, making no attempt at concealment, but satisfied
+if the position be high and the branch pendent. This nest would seem
+to cost more time and skill than any other bird structure. A peculiar
+flax-like substance seems to be always sought after, and always
+found. The nest when completed assumes the form of a large, suspended
+gourd. The walls are thin but firm, and proof against the most driving
+rain. The mouth is hemmed or over-handed with horse-hair, and the
+sides are usually sewed through and through with the same.
+
+Not particular as to the matter of secrecy, the bird is not particular
+as to material, so that it be of the nature of strings or threads. A
+lady friend once told me that while working by an open window, one of
+these birds approached during her momentary absence, and, seizing a
+skein of some kind of thread or yarn, made off with it to its
+half-finished nest. But the perverse yarn caught fast in the branches,
+and, in the bird's efforts to extricate it, got hopelessly tangled.
+She tugged away at it all day, but was finally obliged to content
+herself with a few detached portions. The fluttering strings were an
+eye-sore to her ever after, and passing and repassing, she would give
+them a spiteful jerk, as much as to say, "There is that confounded
+yarn that gave me so much trouble."
+
+From Pennsylvania, Vincent Barnard (to whom I am indebted for other
+curious facts) sent me this interesting story of an oriole. He says a
+friend of his, curious in such things, on observing the bird beginning
+to build, hung out near the prospective nest skeins of many-colored
+zephyr-yarn, which the eager artist readily appropriated. He managed
+it so that the bird used nearly equal quantities of various high,
+bright colors. The nest was made unusually deep and capacious, and it
+may be questioned if such a thing of beauty was ever before woven by
+the cunning of a bird.
+
+Nuttall, by far the most genial of American ornithologists, relates
+the following:--
+
+"A female (oriole), which I observed attentively, carried off to her
+nest a piece of lamp-wick ten or twelve feet long. This long string
+and many other shorter ones were left hanging out for about a week
+before both the ends were wattled into the sides of the nest. Some
+other little birds making use of similar materials, at times twitched
+these flowing ends, and generally brought out the busy Baltimore from
+her occupation in great anger.
+
+"I may perhaps claim indulgence for adding a little more of the
+biography of this particular bird, as a representative, also, of
+the instincts of her race. She completed the nest in about a week's
+time, without any aid from her mate, who, indeed, appeared but seldom
+in her company, and was now become nearly silent. For fibrous
+materials she broke, hackled, and gathered the flax of the _asclepias_
+and _hibiscus_ stalks, tearing off long strings and flying with them
+to the scene of her labors. She appeared very eager and hasty in her
+pursuits, and collected her materials without fear or restraint, while
+three men were working in the neighboring walks, and many persons
+visiting the garden. Her courage and perseverance were indeed truly
+admirable. If watched too narrowly, she saluted with her usual
+scolding, _tshrr, tshrr, tshrr_, seeing no reason, probably, why she
+should be interrupted in her indispensable occupation.
+
+"Though the males were now comparatively silent on the arrival of
+their busy mates, I could not help observing this female and a second,
+continually vociferating apparently in strife. At last she was
+observed to attack this second female very fiercely, who slyly
+intruded herself at times into the same tree where she was building.
+These contests were angry and often repeated. To account for this
+animosity, I now recollected that two fine males had been killed in
+our vicinity; and I therefore concluded the intruder to be left
+without a mate; yet she had gained the affections of the consort of
+the busy female, and thus the cause of their jealous quarrel became
+apparent. Having obtained the confidence of her faithless paramour,
+the second female began preparing to weave a nest in an adjoining elm,
+by tying together certain pendent twigs as a foundation. The male now
+associated chiefly with the intruder, whom he even assisted in her
+labor, yet did not wholly forget his first partner, who called on him
+one evening in a low, affectionate tone, which was answered in the
+same strain. While they were thus engaged in friendly whispers,
+suddenly appeared the rival, and a violent _rencontre_ ensued, so that
+one of the females appeared to be greatly agitated, and fluttered with
+spreading wings as if considerably hurt. The male, though prudently
+neutral in the contest, showed his culpable partiality by flying off
+with his paramour, and for the rest of the evening left the tree to
+his pugnacious consort. Cares of another kind, more imperious and
+tender, at length reconciled, or at least terminated, these disputes
+with the jealous females; and by the aid of the neighboring bachelors,
+who are never wanting among these and other birds, peace was at length
+completely restored, by the restitution of the quiet and happy
+condition of monogamy."
+
+Let me not forget to mention the nest under the mountain ledge, the
+nest of the common pewee, a modest mossy structure, with four
+pearl-white eggs, looking out upon some wild scene and overhung by
+beetling crags. After all has been said about the elaborate, high-hung
+structures, few nests, perhaps, awaken more pleasant emotions in the
+mind of the beholder than this of the pewee,--the gray, silent rocks,
+with caverns and dens where the fox and the wolf lurk, and just out of
+their reach, in a little niche, as if it grew there, the mossy
+tenement!
+
+Nearly every high projecting rock in my range has one of these nests.
+Following a trout stream up a wild mountain gorge, not long since, I
+counted five in the distance of a mile, all within easy reach, but
+safe from the minks and the skunks, and well housed from the storms.
+In my native town I know a pine and oak clad hill, round-topped, with
+a bold, precipitous front extending half-way around it. Near the top,
+and along this front or side, there crops out a ledge of rocks
+unusually high and cavernous. One immense layer projects many feet,
+allowing a person or many persons, standing upright, to move freely
+beneath it. There is a delicious spring of water there, and plenty of
+wild, cool air. The floor is of loose stone, now trod by sheep and
+foxes, once by the Indian and the wolf. How I have delighted from
+boyhood to spend a summer-day in this retreat or take refuge there
+from a sudden shower! Always the freshness and coolness, and always
+the delicate mossy nest of the phoebe-bird! The bird keeps her place
+till you are within a few feet of her, when she flits to a near
+branch, and, with many oscillations of her tail, observes you
+anxiously. Since the country has become settled, this pewee has fallen
+into the strange practice of occasionally placing its nest under a
+bridge, hay-shed, or other artificial structure, where it is subject
+to all kinds of interruptions and annoyances. When placed thus, the
+nest is larger and coarser. I know a hayloft beneath which a pair has
+regularly placed its nest for several successive seasons. Arranged
+along on a single pole, which sags down a few inches from the flooring
+it was intended to help support, are three of these structures,
+marking the number of years the birds have nested there. The
+foundation is of mud with a superstructure of moss, elaborately lined
+with hair and feathers. Nothing can be more perfect and exquisite than
+the interior of one of these nests, yet a new one is built every
+season. Three broods, however, are frequently reared in it.
+
+[Illustration: NEST OF PHOEBE.]
+
+The pewees, as a class, are the best architects we have. The king-bird
+builds a nest altogether admirable, using various soft cotton and
+woollen substances, and sparing neither time nor material to make it
+substantial and warm. The green-crested pewee builds its nest in many
+instances wholly of the blossoms of the white-oak. The wood pewee
+builds a neat, compact socket-shaped nest of moss and lichens on a
+horizontal branch. There is never a loose end or shred about it. The
+sitting bird is largely visible above the rim. She moves her head
+freely about, and seems entirely at her ease,--a circumstance which I
+have never observed in any other species. The nest of the
+great-crested flycatcher is seldom free from snake skins, three or
+four being sometimes woven into it.
+
+About the thinnest, shallowest nest, for its situation, that can be
+found is that of the turtle-dove. A few sticks and straws are
+carelessly thrown together, hardly sufficient to prevent the eggs from
+falling through or rolling off. The nest of the passenger pigeon is
+equally hasty and insufficient, and the squabs often fall to the
+ground and perish. The other extreme among our common birds is
+furnished by the ferruginous thrush, which collects together a mass of
+material that would fill a half-bushel measure; or by the fish-hawk,
+which adds to and repairs its nest year after year, till the whole
+would make a cart-load.
+
+The rarest of all nests is that of the eagle, because the eagle is the
+rarest of all birds. Indeed, so seldom is the eagle seen, that its
+presence always seems accidental. It appears as if merely pausing on
+the way, while bound for some distant unknown region. One September,
+while a youth, I saw the ring-tailed eagle, an immense, dusky bird,
+the sight of which filled me with awe. It lingered about the hills for
+two days. Some young cattle, a two year-old colt, and half a dozen
+sheep were at pasture on a high ridge that led up to the mountain,
+and in plain view of the house. On the second day, this dusky monarch
+was seen flying about above them. Presently he began to hover over
+them, after the manner of a hawk watching for mice. He then with
+extended legs let himself slowly down upon them, actually grappling
+the backs of the young cattle, and frightening the creatures so that
+they rushed about the field in great consternation; and finally, as he
+grew bolder and more frequent in his descents, the whole herd broke
+over the fence, and came tearing down to the house "like mad." It did
+not seem to be an assault with intent to kill, but was, perhaps, a
+stratagem resorted to in order to separate the herd and expose the
+lambs, which hugged the cattle very closely. When he occasionally
+alighted upon the oaks that stood near, the branch _could_ be seen to
+sway and bend beneath him. Finally, as a rifleman started out in
+pursuit of him, he launched into the air, set his wings, and sailed
+away southward. A few years afterward, in January, another eagle
+passed through the same locality, alighting in a field near some dead
+animal, but tarried briefly.
+
+[Illustration: EAGLE.]
+
+So much by way of identification. The bird is common to the northern
+parts of both hemispheres, and places its eyrie on high, precipitous
+rocks. A pair built on an inaccessible shelf of rock along the Hudson
+for eight successive years. A squad of Revolutionary soldiers also
+found a nest along this river, and had an adventure with the bird that
+came near costing one of their number his life. His comrades let him
+down by a rope to secure the eggs or young, when he was attacked by
+the female eagle with such fury that he was obliged to defend himself
+with his knife. In doing so, by a mis-stroke, he nearly severed the
+rope that held him, and was drawn up by a single strand from his
+perilous position. Audubon, from whom this anecdote is taken, figures
+and describes this bird as the golden eagle, though I have little
+doubt that Wilson was right, and that the golden eagle is a distinct
+species.
+
+The sea-eagle also builds on high rocks, according to Audubon, though
+Wilson describes the nest of one which he saw near Great Egg Harbor,
+in the top of a large yellow pine. It was a vast pile of sticks, sods,
+sedge, grass, reeds, etc., five or six feet high by four broad, and
+with little or no concavity. It had been used for many years, and he
+was told that the eagles made it a sort of home or lodging-place in
+all seasons. This agrees with the description which Audubon gives of
+the nest of the bald eagle. There is evidently a little confusion on
+both sides.
+
+The eagle in all cases uses one nest, with more or less repair, for
+several years. Many of our common birds do the same. The birds may be
+divided, with respect to this and kindred points, into five general
+classes. First, those that repair and appropriate the last year's
+nest, as the wren, swallow, blue-bird, great-crested flycatcher, owls,
+eagles, fish-hawk, and a few others. Secondly, those that build anew
+each season, though frequently rearing more than one brood in the same
+nest. Of these, the phoebe-bird is a well-known example. Thirdly, those
+that build a new nest for each brood, which includes by far the
+greatest number of species. Fourthly, a limited number that make no
+nest of their own, but appropriate the abandoned nests of other birds.
+Finally, those who use no nest at all, but deposit their eggs in the
+sand, which is the case with a large number of aquatic fowls. Thus the
+common gull breeds in vast numbers on the sand bars or sand islands
+off the south coast of Long Island. A little dent is made in the sand,
+the eggs are dropped, and the old birds go their way. In due time the
+eggs are hatched by the warmth of the sun, and the little creatures
+shift for themselves. In July countless numbers of them, of different
+ages and sizes, swarm upon these sandy wastes. As the waves roll out,
+they rush down the beach, picking up a kind of sea gluten, and then
+hasten back to avoid the next breaker.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+BIRDS IN THEIR RELATION TO AGRICULTURE
+
+(FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE NEBRASKA ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION JANUARY,
+1901.)[4]
+
+BY LAURENCE BRUNER.
+
+[4] By permission.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+When civilized man takes possession of new regions and begins
+cultivating the soil and establishes his sovereignty there, the
+equilibrium as it existed upon his arrival is very quickly disturbed.
+One or more of the many forms of life--plant and animal--that were
+previously held within certain limits gain ascendency. The
+introduction of new crops that furnish an abundance of the proper food
+for some insect, enables this form to increase out of all proportions
+and harm soon results. The killing off of certain other forms of life
+that naturally keep still others in check also assists in disturbing
+the equilibrium further. The cutting down and clearing away of forests
+removes the shelter and homes of others, as does also the turning
+under of prairie grasses. Then, too, many of the natural residents of
+primeval forests and virgin prairies shun the sight of man, hence they
+gradually withdraw from the region, and their influence for good or
+evil goes with them. Since the majority of such forms are timid and
+inoffensive creatures, their withdrawal only adds that much more to
+the already overbalanced conditions. Year by year the gap which at
+first was scarcely noticeable becomes widened, so that frequent
+inroads are made and harm results. Instead of trying to ascertain the
+true cause for all this trouble perhaps exactly the wrong thing is
+done by the settlers. This of course only has the effect of further
+widening the gap between safety and danger. Since an insect or other
+animal becomes noticeably harmful only when present in alarming
+numbers, it stands to reason that anything which favors such an
+abnormal increase is a factor in disturbing nature and should be
+quickly rectified where possible. In order that these disturbances
+should be looked after the all-wise God of the universe created birds
+and gave them the power of flight that they might the more readily
+move about rapidly from place to place, where their services might be
+needed in balancing affairs. Hence birds have naturally and rightfully
+been called the "balancers" in nature. This being true, let us see
+just what their relations are to agriculture.
+
+The farmer sows in order that he may reap an increased measure of what
+he has sown. In doing this he must first turn over the soil. This
+destroys many existing plants as well as animals that depend upon them
+for food. The plants thus turned down cannot regain their position
+and must of necessity die. Not so with many of the animals, however,
+which soon work their way to the surface. Some of these attack the
+growing plants which have been made to occupy the place of those
+destroyed by the plough. Others take wing and seek suitable food in
+adjoining districts where they add to the numbers already drawing upon
+the vegetation up to the point of possible continued supply. Here,
+then, the scales begin to vibrate. In the field the new and tender
+crop entices the ever-shifting individuals of myriads of forms that
+have been crowded out elsewhere. The result here too is, or would be,
+very disastrous were it not for the timely visit of flocks of birds
+likewise in search of food.
+
+It is during the period of first settlement of a country, when the
+fields are small, few and widely separated, that injury may and
+frequently does result from birds. It is then a problem that needs
+careful consideration, not only for the time being, but also for the
+future welfare of that country. If animal life is destroyed
+indiscriminately and without intelligent forethought, calamities
+unforeseen are sure to follow in the not distant future.
+
+Birds can be useful to man in many ways. They can benefit him by
+carrying the seeds of various plants from place to place so as to
+assist him in establishing new groves in which to find shelter from
+the cold in winter and refuge from the heat of the noonday sun in
+summer. They plant various shrubs by the wayside that spring up and
+later are laden with luscious fruit. They also carry the spawn of
+fishes and small crustaceans among their feathers into new waters, and
+feed upon the countless seeds of weeds that are scattered broadcast
+over the face of the earth. Some kinds live almost exclusively upon
+insects, while others hunt out the small rodents that would, if left
+to themselves, destroy great quantities of grain and other vegetation.
+Still other birds benefit mankind by acting as scavengers in the
+removal of putrid and other offensive matter which would endanger our
+health. In addition to all these varied direct benefits which are
+brought about by the presence of birds, man is further indebted to
+these creatures for the cheer which their gay music, bright plumage
+and pleasant manners bring to him. The birds form a carefully
+organized army of police which is engaged in keeping affairs balanced
+in nature.
+
+But we can go even further summing up the benefits that men may derive
+from the birds. A great many kinds make excellent food, while others
+furnish sport and pleasure to a large number of men and boys who seem
+to require a certain kind of entertainment while accompanied with dog
+and gun. Dead birds when embalmed as mummies and attached to the
+head-gear worn by some girls and women are also claimed to cause much
+happiness.
+
+_Birds as Enemies._--It would be ridiculous for me to assert here that
+no injury ever results from the presence of birds on the farm or in
+the orchard. Quite a number of different species are continually
+stepping over to the wrong side of the "ledger" as it were, and
+committing depredations of various kinds which if considered alone
+would render the perpetrators liable to severe punishment--in some
+cases even unto death. Some of the crimes that can be charged to the
+feathered tribe are cherry and berry-stealing, grape-puncturing,
+apple-pecking, corn-pulling, grain-eating, the unintentional carrying
+from place to place of some kinds of scale insects that happen to
+crawl on their legs and feet, the possible spreading of hog cholera by
+crows and buzzards, the robbing of the poultry yard, and lastly some
+birds are accused of making noises that awaken us from our slumbers in
+the morning.
+
+Some of these crimes are genuine and are to be deplored, while others
+are more imaginary than real. A few of them could be prevented in part
+or altogether, while others might be diminished if we were inclined to
+take the trouble to do it.
+
+After all that can be said pro and con concerning the usefulness of
+birds in general there remains no doubt, in the minds of thinking
+people at least, as to the value of these creatures. It is only the
+vicious, biased, and thoughtless persons who continue ruthlessly to
+destroy birds indiscriminately without first pausing to consider
+whether or not it is a proper thing to do, whether it is right or
+wrong.
+
+_Food habits._--So varied is this task of evening up in nature that if
+attended to properly the workers must be numerous in individuals and
+possess widely different habits. That such is the case can readily be
+seen by the following brief account of the various groups of our
+Nebraska birds, along with brief statements of their food habits.
+
+The Grebes and Loons feed chiefly upon snails and other aquatic
+animals such as are found about their haunts. They also capture many
+grasshoppers and similar insects that happen in their way. They
+cannot, therefore, be classed among the especially beneficial birds,
+neither can they be termed injurious on account of what they eat.
+
+The Gulls, provided as they are with long wings and great powers for
+flight, are not confined to the seacoast, hence they reach far inland
+in their migrations, feeding extensively upon insects like locusts,
+June-beetles, crickets, etc., large numbers of which they destroy
+annually. Several kinds of these birds are known to follow the plough
+and pick up the white grubs and other insects that are turned up and
+laid bare. In early days, when grasshoppers did much harm in this
+state, numerous flocks of these birds were seen to feed upon these
+insects.
+
+The Cormorants and Pelicans are chiefly destroyers of fishes and
+frogs, hence can hardly be classed among the most beneficial forms;
+but whether or not they do any more than to maintain the necessary
+equilibrium in that particular part of the vast field of nature it is
+difficult to judge without time for investigation.
+
+The various Ducks and Geese which are also nearly as aquatic in their
+habits as some of the foregoing, frequently leave their haunts and
+make excursions into the surrounding country where in summer they feed
+upon locusts, beetles, and other injurious insects. They also partake
+of considerable quantities of vegetable food, as grains, weed seeds,
+grasses, and other herbage. While not included among the insectivorous
+forms these birds do much towards diminishing the ever increasing
+horde of creeping and jumping things. Ducks and geese on the other
+hand are largely utilized by us as food: while their feathers make
+comfortable pillows and coverlets.
+
+The Herons, Cranes, and Rails are frequenters of marshes and the
+margins of streams and bodies of water, where they assist in keeping
+the various forms among the animal life balanced. Fishes, frogs,
+snails, insects, and crustaceans are alike devoured by them.
+
+The Snipe, Sandpipers, Plovers, Phalaropes, Curlews, etc., are great
+destroyers of insects. Moving as many of them do in great flocks and
+spreading out over the meadows, pastures, and hillsides, as well as
+among the cultivated fields, they do a large amount of careful police
+service in arresting the culprits among insects. They even pry them
+out of burrows and crevices in the earth where these creatures lurk
+during daytime only to come forth after nightfall to destroy
+vegetation. The large flocks of Eskimo Curlews that formerly passed
+through eastern Nebraska did magnificent work during years when the
+Rocky Mountain Locust was with us, as did also the equally large
+flocks of Golden Plovers. The Bartramian Sandpiper even now is a great
+factor each summer in checking the increasing locusts on our prairies.
+
+The various members of the Grouse family, while belonging to a
+grain-eating group, are certainly quite prominent as insect
+destroyers. Especially is this so with respect to the Quail, Prairie
+Hen, Sharptailed Grouse, and Wild Turkey, all of which are occupied
+most of the summer months in capturing and destroying vast numbers of
+such insects as are found on the prairies. Grasshoppers, locusts,
+crickets, caterpillars, and similar insects comprise the bulk of their
+insect food--forms that are all among the most numerous as well as
+destructive species. In writing about these birds as insect
+destroyers Prof. Samuel Aughey writes: "I happened to be in the
+Republican Valley, in south-western Nebraska, in August, 1874, when
+the locust invaded that region. Prairie chickens and quails, that
+previous to their coming had a large number of seeds in their
+stomachs, when dissected, seemed now for a time to abandon all other
+kinds of food. At least from this onward for a month little else than
+locusts were found in their stomachs. All the birds seemed now to live
+solely on locusts for a while." In winter and at other times of the
+year when insect life is scarce and difficult to obtain, these birds
+feed more or less extensively upon seeds and other kinds of
+vegetation. Some even enter cultivated grounds and seek food that
+belongs to the farmer, thereby doing more or less direct injury. The
+extent of such injury, of course, depends upon the number of birds
+engaged in the depredations, and also on the time over which it is
+allowed to extend. If corn and other grain is harvested at the proper
+time, but little damage ensues; but if allowed to remain in the field
+throughout winter, much of the crop is liable to be taken by the
+birds.
+
+[Illustration: QUAIL.]
+
+Perhaps no other bird that frequents the farm pays higher prices for
+the grain it eats than does the Quail. Living about the hedgerows,
+groves, and ravines, where insect enemies gather and lurk during the
+greater part of the year, this bird not only seizes large numbers of
+these enemies daily during the summer months when they are "abroad in
+the land," but all winter through it scratches among the fallen leaves
+and other rubbish that accumulates about its haunts seeking for
+hibernating insects of various kinds. Being a timid little creature,
+the Quail seldom leaves cover to feed openly in the fields, and
+therefore does but little actual harm in the way of destroying grain.
+In fact it only takes stray kernels that otherwise might be lost. This
+bird is one of the few that feeds upon that unsavory insect, the
+chinch-bug; and the number of this pest that occasionally are
+destroyed by it is really astonishing. No farmer or fruit-grower
+should ever kill a quail himself nor allow anyone else to hunt it on
+his premises.
+
+Our domestic fowls, save ducks and geese, from which so much direct
+income is derived throughout the year, belong here. It would be folly
+on my part to assert that they are useless to the farmer. Besides
+furnishing eggs and meat for the table, they are great aids in keeping
+down a variety of noxious insects during spring, summer, and fall.
+
+The various species of Doves or Pigeons are not, as a rule, thought of
+as being especially harmful, yet repeated examinations of their
+stomach contents would indicate that their food seldom, if ever,
+consists of anything but grains and various kinds of seeds along with
+other particles of vegetation. The good done by these birds as
+destroyers of weed seeds more than pays for the harm done by them as
+grain-eaters.
+
+Recent careful study with reference to the food habits of Hawks and
+Owls carried on by the United States Department of Agriculture go to
+show that these birds, with but few exceptions, are the farmer's
+friends rather than his enemies. It appears that the good which they
+accomplish in the way of destroying mice, gophers, rabbits and other
+small mammals along with great quantities of noxious insects far
+exceeds the possible harm they do by the occasional destruction of
+poultry and other birds. A critical examination of the actual contents
+of about twenty-seven hundred stomachs of these birds showed that only
+six of the seventy-three species found in the United States are
+injurious. Three of these are so rare that they need not be
+considered. Of the remaining three the Fish Hawk is only indirectly
+injurious: hence but two remain to be considered, viz., the
+Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks. "Omitting the six species that feed
+largely on poultry and game, 2,212 stomachs were examined, of which
+56 per cent contained mice and other small mammals, 27 per cent insects,
+and only 31/2 per cent poultry and game birds."
+
+The food habits of both the Turkey Vulture and Carrion Crow, or Black
+Vulture, are of such a nature that the destruction of these birds
+should be prohibited. In fact, in many of the states this is done by
+law. They live almost exclusively upon carrion or decomposing animal
+matter, and in this manner aid in the prevention of diseases that
+might result from the presence of such filth. They may, however, be
+the cause of indirectly spreading hog cholera where animals that have
+died from this disease are left unburied or unburned.
+
+The Cuckoos are among the few birds that habitually feed upon hairy
+caterpillars, such as the various "tent-making" species. They also
+destroy large numbers of other caterpillars, and do not object to
+beetles and other insects which they find among the foliage of trees.
+Although shy birds they are frequently seen in cities, where they do
+their share in protecting the shade trees from the ravages of insect
+defoliators.
+
+[Illustration: WOODPECKER.]
+
+Taking the Woodpeckers as a family, there are few persons but who will
+readily admit that these birds comprise a very useful group. Feeding,
+in fact, as most of them do, upon the larvae of wood-boring insects,
+they can readily do much greater good for the actual number of insects
+destroyed than if they destroyed only those that feed upon the foliage
+of trees. Not unfrequently will a single borer kill an entire tree if
+left to itself, while hundreds of foliage-feeding caterpillars of the
+same size have but little effect upon the appearance, to say nothing
+of the health, of the same tree.
+
+Mr. M. L. Beal, assistant in the Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy
+of the United States Department of Agriculture, in summing up the
+results obtained from the examination of six hundred and seventy-nine
+stomachs of these birds, writes as follows:
+
+"In reviewing the results of these investigations and comparing one
+species with another, without losing sight of the fact that
+comparative good is not necessarily positive good, it appears that of
+seven species considered the Downy Woodpecker is the most beneficial."
+He then goes on to give the food habits based on contents of the
+stomachs of our most common species. "Judged by the stomach
+examinations of the Downy and Hairy Woodpecker and Flicker it would be
+hard to find three other species of our common birds with fewer
+harmful qualities."
+
+The Flicker is one of our most common woodpeckers in Nebraska and does
+much towards keeping down a number of different kinds of insects. It
+is very fond of ants as a diet, in fact is partial to them, and this
+element forms almost half of its entire food-supply during the year.
+It also occasionally feeds upon the chinch-bug, as can be attested by
+the fact that the stomach of a specimen killed near Lincoln contained
+in the vicinity of one thousand of these bugs. It is also a
+fruit-eater to the extent of about one-quarter of its entire bill of
+fare, but nature, not man, furnishes the supply. It takes the wild
+kinds in preference to those that are cultivated.
+
+The Whippoorwill, Night Hawk, and Swifts feed entirely on insects,
+and must consequently be classed among the beneficial birds. They all
+capture their prey while upon the wing, and naturally destroy large
+numbers of troublesome kinds.
+
+The various species of Flycatchers, as the name implies, destroy
+insects which they capture for the most part while on the wing. Flies
+and allied insects are quite prominent on their bill of fare; but
+these by no means are the only kinds of insects destroyed by them.
+Many a luckless locust, butterfly, moth or even beetle is snapped up
+and devoured by the different species of the family. The Bee-bird, or
+Kingbird as it is more frequently called, sometimes even catches bees.
+These latter, however, consist largely of drones, hence comparatively
+little harm is done.
+
+One should be unprejudiced in order to write a fair biography of even
+a bird, or group of birds. To say that I am without such prejudice
+with reference to some of the members of the family of birds now to be
+considered, would be a falsehood. Still, I shall endeavor to give as
+unbiased testimony as possible with reference to their food-habits at
+least, and let the reader judge for himself as to what would be the
+proper treatment for these birds. Taking the family as a whole that
+which is made up of birds like the Crows, Ravens, Magpies, Jays,
+Nut-crackers, "Camp-robbers," etc., though some of them have
+unenviable names and reputations at least, are not at all as bad as we
+are sometimes requested to believe them to be.
+
+The Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and immediate relatives are what might be
+termed "omnivorous" in food-habits, eating everything that comes their
+way. Crows, however, have been shown to feed largely on insects,
+which in great measure at least, offsets the harm done in other
+directions. They also feed on various substances, the removal of which
+is for the general good.
+
+The Raven is too rare a bird in this state to be taken into
+consideration in respect to food-habits, and the Magpie certainly can
+be put out of the question of doing any possible harm for the same
+reason. This leaves then to be considered, the Jays, of which we seem
+to have six or seven distinct kinds; but only two of these are at all
+common. The Blue Jay is found over the entire state, and is familiar
+to everybody. The second species is found only in the western and
+north-western portions among the pine forests, and is known as the
+Pinon Jay or "Camp-robber"--the latter name not very flattering to the
+bird I must confess.
+
+The Blue Jay does much of the mischief that is laid at the door of the
+Robin, orioles, thrushes, and other birds, and then sneaks away
+unobserved. He also destroys large numbers of insects and robs the
+nest of some small birds.
+
+In the Bobolink, Meadowlark, Orioles, and Black-birds, we have some of
+the most important insect destroyers among the feathered tribes. The
+Bobolink is with us only during the summer months when it is entirely
+insectivorous; and the same can be said of the Cowbird, although the
+latter has the bad habit of compelling other birds to rear its young.
+
+In the Red-winged Blackbird we have a friend that we little dream of
+when we see the large flocks gathering about our corn-fields during
+late summer, and early fall. During the balance of the year it is
+engaged most of the time in waging war on various insect pests,
+including such forms as the "grub-worms," cut-worms, grasshoppers,
+army worm, beet caterpillar, etc. Even when it visits our corn-fields
+it more than pays for the corn it eats by the destruction of the worms
+that lurk under the husks of a large per cent of the ears in every
+field.
+
+[Illustration: BOBOLINK.]
+
+Several years ago the beet fields in the vicinity of Grand Island were
+threatened great injury by a certain caterpillar that had nearly
+defoliated all the beets growing in many of them. At about this time
+large flocks of this bird appeared and after a week's sojourn the
+caterpillar plague had vanished, it having been converted into bird
+tissues. Numerous other records of the efficiency of their labor as
+destroyers of insect pests might be quoted in favor of this bird, but
+I do not believe this to be necessary, although considerable evidence
+has been recorded of its destroying both fruits and grains.
+
+The Baltimore Oriole has received such a bad reputation here in
+Nebraska as a grape thief during the past few years that I feel
+inclined to give extra time and space in endeavoring to "clear him"
+of such an unenviable charge. This, however, I hardly think necessary
+when the facts in the case are known. As insect destroyers both this
+bird and the Orchard Oriole have had an undisputed reputation for many
+years: and the kinds of insects destroyed by both are of such a class
+as to count greatly in their favor. Caterpillars and beetles belonging
+to injurious species comprising ninety-six per cent of the food of
+three specimens killed is the record we have in their favor. On the
+other hand, grapes have been punctured only "presumably by this bird,
+since he has so frequently been found in the vineyard and must be the
+culprit." Now I myself have seen the Oriole in apple orchards under
+compromising circumstances, and have heard pretty strong evidence to
+the effect that it will occasionally puncture ripe apples. It also
+belongs in the same family with some generally accepted "rascals"
+hence I will admit that possibly some of the charges with which he is
+credited may be true; but I still believe that most of the injuries
+to grapes in this and other states must be laid to the English
+Sparrow.
+
+[Illustration: RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD.]
+
+If we take pains to water our birds during the dry seasons they will
+be much less apt to seek this supply from the juices of fruits that
+are so temptingly near at hand. Place little pans of water in the
+orchard and vineyard where the birds can visit them without fear of
+being seized by the house cat or knocked over by a missile from the
+alert "small boy," and I am sure that the injury to fruit, to a great
+extent at least, will cease.
+
+Recent investigations tend to prove that the Grackle or Crow-Blackbird
+does more good than harm and should be protected.
+
+Our Sparrows and their allies, taken together, form a very extensive
+family of very beautiful as well as useful birds. Like the warblers,
+they occupy themselves with searching for and destroying insects all
+summer long; but this is not all they do that is good. In fall,
+winter, and early spring, when Mother Earth has lost her brilliant
+green and rests in sombre browns or beneath ice and snow, the
+longspurs, Snow Bunting, Snowbird, and some of the sparrows that have
+remained with us are busily engaged in gathering for themselves a
+living. They hop and fly about from place to place searching for and
+picking up little seeds of grass, grain and weeds, of shrubs and
+trees, and appropriating the same to their use, chirping merrily as
+they work away. The European House Sparrow, or the English Sparrow as
+it is more commonly called, has the worst reputation of the entire
+family. But even this bird has some redeeming traits.
+
+The Tanagers are insect destroyers, feeding for the most part on such
+forms as attack the foliage of trees.
+
+All of our Swallows are insect destroyers, capturing such forms as
+gnats, flies, etc., which they seize while on the wing. The large
+colonies of different species of these birds that breed within the
+state, as well as those that pass through during their migrations,
+destroy great numbers of these insects. They should be protected.
+
+The Waxwings, both the Cedar Bird and Bohemian Waxwing, feed
+principally upon berries, etc., which they find throughout the year.
+Still, in his studies of the food contents of the stomachs of a
+variety of birds taken in a certain orchard that was overrun with
+canker worms, Professor Forbes found that the seven specimens of the
+Ceder Waxwing had eaten nothing but canker-worms and a few dung
+beetles, the latter in such small numbers as to scarcely count. The
+number of caterpillars eaten by each bird ranged from 70 to 101.
+
+The Shrikes or "Butcher Birds" are known as veritable "brigands" or
+"pirates" when it comes to the destruction of other forms of life.
+They are true to their name, and "butcher" for pastime large numbers
+of insects, mice, lizards, small snakes, and even a few birds. They
+then fly to some thorn bush or barbed-wire fence and impale the
+luckless victim and leave it for future use, or to dry up and finally
+blow away. The good they do will outweigh the harm.
+
+The food of the various Greenlets or Vireos is made up almost entirely
+of insects, of which a large per cent are caterpillars, such as
+infest shade trees and the larger shrubs. They should be protected and
+encouraged, about the orchard in particular.
+
+In the words of that pleasing writer, Dr. Elliott Coues,[5] "The
+Warblers have we always with us, all in their own good time; they come
+out of the south, pass on, return, and are away again, their
+appearance and withdrawal scarcely less than a mystery; many stay with
+us all summer long, and some brave the winters in our midst. Some of
+these slight creatures, guided by unerring instinct, travel true to
+the meridian in the hours of darkness, slipping past like a 'thief
+in the night,' stopping at daybreak from their lofty nights to rest
+and recruit for the next stage of the journey. Others pass more
+leisurely from tree to tree, in a ceaseless tide of migration,
+gleaning as they go; the hardier males, in full song and plumage, lead
+the way for the weaker females and yearlings. With tireless industry
+do the warblers befriend the human race; their unconscious zeal plays
+due part in the nice adjustment of nature's forces, helping to bring
+about the balance of vegetable and insect life without which
+agriculture would be in vain. They visit the orchard when the apple
+and pear, the peach, plum, and cherry are in bloom, seeming to revel
+carelessly amid the sweet-scented and delicately-tinted blossoms, but
+never faltering in their good work. They peer into the crevices of the
+bark, scrutinize each leaf, and explore the very heart of the buds, to
+detect, drag forth, and destroy those tiny creatures, singly
+insignificant, collectively a scourge, which prey upon the hopes of
+the fruit-grower, and which, if undisturbed, would bring his care to
+naught. Some warblers flit incessantly in the terminal foliage of the
+tallest trees; others hug close to the scored trunks and gnarled
+boughs of the forest kings; some peep from the thicket, coppice, the
+impenetrable mantle of shrubbery that decks tiny water-courses,
+playing at hide-and-seek with all comers; others more humble still,
+descend to the ground, where they glide with pretty mincing steps and
+affected turning of the head this way and that, their delicate
+flesh-tinted feet just stirring the layer of withered leaves with
+which a past season carpeted the ground. We may seek warblers
+everywhere in the season; we shall find them a continued surprise; all
+mood and circumstance is theirs."
+
+[5] Key to North American Birds, p. 288.
+
+Much could be written concerning the food-habits of the various
+members of the group of Thrushes, Mocking-birds and Wrens. Three of
+the species at least are known to be more or less destructive to
+fruits, viz., Catbird, Brown Thrasher, and Mocking-bird. Still, if we
+take into account what these birds eat during the entire time spent
+within the state, the balance sheet stands in favor of the birds as
+insect destroyers. The wrens are pre-eminently insect destroyers, and
+the others are not much behind them in this respect.
+
+The members of the family of Nuthatches and Tits feed for the most
+part on insects. But we lack very definite figures regarding the kinds
+and numbers of insects that each destroys. We can be sure, however,
+that any favors shown them will not be thrown away.
+
+The Thrushes, Solitaires, Bluebirds, etc., are all beneficial as
+insect destroyers, and might be well compared with the Robin, which is
+described quite fully beyond, only they are even less liable to commit
+injuries to fruits.
+
+The Robin has certainly been accused often enough of being a
+first-class rascal to warrant the belief that there must be at least
+some grounds for such accusations being made. In his examination of
+one hundred and fourteen stomachs of this bird, taken during ten
+months of the year, Professor Forbes, of Illinois, found the contents
+to consist of sixty-five per cent insects and thirty-four per cent of
+fruits and seeds. In the estimates of these food percentages taken by
+the Robin, as well as by other birds, bulk for bulk is taken, i.e., a
+quart of caterpillars or other insects is equivalent to a quart of
+cherries or a quart of berries. Professor Forbes asks this question:
+"Will the destruction of seventeen quarts of average caterpillars,
+including at least eight quarts of cut-worms, pay for twenty-four
+quarts of cherries, blackberries, currents, and grapes?" and then
+answers it in these words: "To this question I, for my own part, can
+only reply that I do not believe that the horticulturist can sell his
+small fruits anywhere in the ordinary markets of the world at so high
+a price as to the Robin, provided that he uses proper diligence that
+the little huckster doesn't overreach him in the bargain."
+
+Much more might be said in favor of the Robin had I the time and space
+at my command.
+
+After having carefully scanned the foregoing notes concerning the
+food-habits of our birds we cannot afford to continue indifferent to
+our treatment of them, nor can we even allow our neighbors to kill
+them though we ourselves have decided to reform in this respect. We
+must work for a change of heart in our neighbors also.
+
+
+
+
+THE SCISSOR BEAK
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES, ETC.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It has short legs, web feet, extremely long--pointed wings, and is
+about the size of a tern. The beak is flattened laterally, that is, in
+a plane at right angles to that of a spoonbill or duck. It is as flat
+and elastic as an ivory paper-cutter, and the lower mandible,
+differently from every other bird, is an inch and a half longer than
+the upper. In a lake near Maldonado, from which the water had been
+nearly drained, and which, in consequence, swarmed with small fry, I
+saw several of these birds, generally in small flocks, flying rapidly
+backwards and forwards close to the surface of the lake. They kept
+their bills wide open, and the lower mandible half buried in the
+water. Thus skimming the surface, they ploughed it in their course;
+the water was quite smooth, and it formed a most curious spectacle to
+behold a flock, each bird leaving its narrow wake on the mirror-like
+surface. In their flight they frequently twist about with extreme
+quickness, and dexterously manage with their projecting lower mandible
+to plough up small fish, which are secured by the upper and shorter
+half of their scissor-like bills. This fact I repeatedly saw, as, like
+swallows, they continued to fly backwards and forwards close before
+me. Occasionally when leaving the surface of the water their flight
+was wild, irregular and rapid; then they uttered loud harsh cries.
+When these birds are fishing, the advantage of the long primary
+feathers of their wings, in keeping them dry, is very evident. When
+thus employed, their forms resemble the symbol by which many artists
+represent marine birds. Their tails are much used in steering their
+irregular course.
+
+These birds are common far inland along the course of the Rio Parana;
+it is said that they remain here during the whole year, and breed in
+the marshes. During the day they rest in flocks on the grassy plains,
+at some distance from the water. Being at anchor, as I have said, in
+one of the deep creeks between the islands of Parana, as the evening
+drew to a close, one of these scissor-beaks suddenly appeared. The
+water was quite still, and many little fish were rising. The bird
+continued for a long time to skim the surface, flying in its wild and
+irregular manner up and down the narrow canal, now dark with the
+growing night and the shadows of the overhanging trees. At Montevideo,
+I observed that some large flocks during the day remained on the
+mud-banks at the head of the harbor, in the same manner as on the
+grassy plains near the Parana; and every evening they took flight
+seaward. From these facts I suspect that the Rhynchops generally
+fishes by night, at which time many of the lower animals come most
+abundantly to the surface. M. Lesson states that he has seen these
+birds opening the shells of the mactrae buried in the sandbanks on the
+coast of Chile; from their weak bills, with the lower mandible so much
+projecting, their short legs and long wings, it is very improbable
+that this can be a general habit.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE CONDOR
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES, ETC.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This day I shot a condor. It measured from tip to tip of the wings
+eight and a half feet, and from beak to tail, four feet. This bird is
+known to have a wide geographical range, being found on the west coast
+of South America, from the Strait of Magellan along the Cordillera as
+far as eight degrees north of the equator. The steep cliff near the
+mouth of the Rio Negro is its northern limit on the Patagonian coast;
+and they have there wandered about four hundred miles from the great
+central line of their habitation in the Andes. Further south, among
+the bold precipices at the head of Port Desire, the condor is not
+uncommon; yet only a few stragglers occasionally visit the seacoast. A
+line of cliff near the mouth of the Santa Cruz is frequented by these
+birds, and about eighty miles up the river, where the sides of the
+valley are formed by steep basaltic precipices, the condor reappears.
+From these facts, it seems that the condors require perpendicular
+cliffs. In Chile, they haunt, during the greater part of the year, the
+lower country near the shores of the Pacific, and at night several
+roost together in one tree; but in the early part of summer, they
+retire to the most inaccessible parts of the inner Cordilleras, there
+to breed in peace.
+
+With respect to their propagation, I was told by the country people in
+Chile, that the condor makes no sort of nest, but in the months of
+November and December lays two large white eggs on a shelf of bare
+rock. It is said that the young condors cannot fly for an entire year;
+and long after they are able, they continue to roost by night, and
+hunt with their parents. The old birds generally live in pairs; but
+among the inland basaltic cliffs of the Santa Cruz, I found a spot,
+where scores must usually haunt. On coming suddenly to the brow of the
+precipice, it was a grand spectacle to see between twenty and thirty
+of these birds start heavily from their resting-place, and wheel away
+in majestic circles. From the quantity of dung on the rocks, they must
+long have frequented this place for roosting and breeding. Having
+gorged themselves with carrion on the plains below, they retire to
+these favorite ledges to digest their food. From these facts, the
+condor, like the gallinazo, must to a certain degree be considered as
+a gregarious bird. In this part of the country they live altogether on
+the guanacos which have died a natural death, or, as more commonly
+happens, have been killed by the pumas. I believe, from what I saw in
+Patagonia, they do not on ordinary occasions extend their daily
+excursions to any great distance from their regular sleeping-places.
+
+The condors may oftentimes be seen at a great height, soaring over a
+certain spot in the most graceful circles. On some occasions I am sure
+that they do this only for pleasure, but on others, the Chileno
+countryman tells you that they are watching a dying animal, or the
+puma devouring its prey. If the condors glide down, and then suddenly
+all rise together, the Chileno knows that it is the puma which,
+watching the carcass, has sprung out to drive away the robbers.
+Besides feeding on carrion, the condors frequently attack young goats
+and lambs; and the shepherd dogs are trained, whenever they pass over,
+to run out, and looking upwards to bark violently. The Chilenos
+destroy and catch numbers. Two methods are used; one is to place a
+carcass on a level piece of ground within an enclosure of sticks with
+an opening, and when the condors are gorged, to gallop up on horseback
+to the entrance, and thus enclose them; for when this bird has not
+space to run, it cannot give its body sufficient momentum to rise from
+the ground. The second method is to mark the trees in which,
+frequently to the number of five or six together, they roost, and then
+at night to climb up and noose them. They are such heavy sleepers, as
+I have myself witnessed, that this is not a difficult task. At
+Valpariso, I have seen a living condor sold for sixpence, but the
+common price is eight or ten shillings. One which I saw brought in had
+been tied with rope, and was much injured; yet, the moment the line
+was cut by which its bill was secured, although surrounded by people,
+it began ravenously to tear a piece of carrion. In a garden at the
+same place, between twenty and thirty were kept alive. They were fed
+only once a week, but they appeared in pretty good health. The Chileno
+countrymen assert that the condor will live, and retain its vigor,
+between five and six weeks without eating; I cannot answer for the
+truth of this, but it is a cruel experiment, which very likely has
+been tried.
+
+When an animal is killed in the country, it is well known that the
+condors, like other carrion-vultures, soon gain intelligence of it,
+and congregate in an inexplicable manner. In most cases it must not be
+overlooked, that the birds have discovered their prey, and have picked
+the skeleton clean, before the flesh is in the least degree tainted.
+Remembering the experiments of M. Audubon, on the little smelling
+powers of carrion-hawks, I tried in the above-mentioned garden the
+following experiment: the condors were tied, each by a rope, in a long
+row at the bottom of a wall; and having folded up a piece of meat in
+white paper, I walked backwards and forwards, carrying it in my hand
+at the distance of about three yards from them, but no notice whatever
+was taken. I then threw it on the ground, within one yard of an old
+male bird; he looked at it for a moment with attention, but then
+regarded it no more. With a stick I pushed it closer and closer, until
+at last he touched it with his beak; the paper was then instantly torn
+off with fury, and at the same moment, every bird in the long row
+began struggling and flapping its wings. Under the same circumstances,
+it would have been quite impossible to have deceived a dog. The
+evidence in favor of and against the acute smelling powers of
+carrion-vultures is singularly balanced. Professor Owen has
+demonstrated that the olfactory nerves of the turkey-buzzard
+(_Cathartes aura_) are highly developed; and on the evening when Mr.
+Owen's paper was read at the Zooelogical Society, it was mentioned by a
+gentleman that he had seen the carrion-hawks in the West Indies on two
+occasions collect on the roof of a house, when a corpse had become
+offensive from not having been buried: in this case, the intelligence
+could hardly have been acquired by sight. On the other hand, besides
+the experiments of Audubon and that one by myself, Mr. Bachman has
+tried in the United States many varied plans, showing that neither the
+turkey-buzzard (the species dissected by Professor Owen) nor the
+gallinazo find their food by smell. He covered portions of highly
+offensive offal with a thin canvas cloth, and strewed pieces of meat
+on it; these the carrion-vultures ate up, and then remained quietly
+standing, with their beaks within the eighth of an inch of the putrid
+mass, without discovering it. A small rent was made in the canvas, and
+the offal was immediately discovered; the canvas was replaced by a
+fresh piece, and meat again put on it, and was again devoured by the
+vultures without their discovering the hidden mass on which they were
+trampling. These facts are attested by the signatures of six
+gentlemen, besides that of Mr. Bachman.
+
+Often when lying down to rest on the open plains, on looking upwards,
+I have seen carrion-hawks sailing through the air at a great height.
+When the country is level I do not believe a space of the heavens, of
+more than fifteen degrees above the horizon, is commonly viewed with
+any attention by a person either walking or on horseback. If such be
+the case, and the vulture is on the wing at a height of between three
+or four thousand feet, before it could come within the range of
+vision, its distance in a straight line from the beholder's eye, would
+be rather more than two British miles. Might it not thus readily be
+overlooked? When an animal is killed by the sportsman in a lonely
+valley, may he not all the while be watched from above by the
+sharp-sighted bird? And will not the manner of its descent proclaim
+throughout the district to the whole family of carrion feeders, that
+their prey is at hand?
+
+When the condors are wheeling in a flock round and round any spot,
+their flight is beautiful. Except when rising from the ground, I do
+not recollect ever having seen one of these birds flap its wings. Near
+Lima, I watched several for nearly half an hour, without once taking
+off my eyes; they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles,
+descending and ascending without giving a single flap. As they glided
+close over my head, I intently watched from an oblique position, the
+outlines of the separate and great terminal feathers of each wing; and
+these separate feathers, if there had been the least vibratory
+movement, would have appeared as if blended together; for they were
+seen distinct against the blue sky. The head and neck were moved
+frequently, and apparently with force; and the extended wings seemed
+to form the fulcrum on which the movements of the neck, body, and tail
+acted. If the bird wished to descend, the wings were for a moment
+collapsed; and when again expanded with an altered inclination, the
+momentum gained by the rapid descent seemed to urge the bird upwards
+with the even and steady movement of a paper kite. In the case of any
+bird _soaring_, its motion must be sufficiently rapid, so that the
+action of the inclined surface of its body on the atmosphere may
+counterbalance its gravity. The force to keep up the momentum of a
+body moving in a horizontal plane in the air (in which there is so
+little friction) cannot be great, and this force is all that is
+wanted. The movement of the neck and body of the condor, we must
+suppose, is sufficient for this. However this may be, it is truly
+wonderful and beautiful to see so great a horde, hour after hour,
+without any apparent exertion, wheeling and gliding over mountain and
+river.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE UMBRELLA BIRD
+
+(FROM TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON.)
+
+BY SIR A. R. WALLACE.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+This singular bird is about the size of a raven, and is of a similar
+color, but its feathers have a more scaly appearance, from being
+margined with a different shade of glossy blue. It is also allied to
+the crows in its structure, being very similar to them in its feet and
+bill. On its head it bears a crest, different from that of any other
+bird. It is formed of feathers more than two inches long, very thickly
+set, and with hairy plumes curving over at the end. These can be laid
+back so as to be hardly visible, or can be erected and spread out on
+every side, forming a hemi-spherical, or rather a hemi-ellipsoidal
+dome, completely covering the head, and even reaching beyond the point
+of the beak: the individual feathers then stand out something like the
+down-bearing seeds of the dandelion. Besides this, there is another
+ornamental appendage on the breast, formed by a fleshy tubercle, as
+thick as a quill and an inch and a half long, which hangs down from
+the neck, and is thickly covered with glossy feathers, forming a large
+pendant plume or tassel. This also the bird can either press to its
+breast, so as to be scarcely visible, or can swell out, so as almost
+to conceal the forepart of its body. In the female the crest and the
+neck-plume are less developed, and she is altogether a smaller and
+much less handsome bird. It inhabits the flooded islands of the Rio
+Negro and the Solimoes, never appearing on the mainland. It feeds on
+fruits, and utters a loud, hoarse cry, like some deep musical
+instrument; whence its Indian name, _Uera-mimbe_, "trumpet-bird." The
+whole of the neck, where the plume of feathers springs from, is
+covered internally with a thick coat of hard, muscular fat, very
+difficult to be cleaned away,--which in preparing the skins, must be
+done, as it would putrefy, and cause the feathers to drop off. The
+birds are tolerably abundant, but are shy, and perch on the highest
+trees, and, being very muscular, will not fall unless severely
+wounded.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: THE UMBRELLA BIRD.]
+
+
+
+
+HUMMING BIRDS
+
+(FROM THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.)
+
+BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Soon after crossing the muddy Artigua below Pavon, a beautifully clear
+and sparkling brook is reached, coming down to join its pure waters
+with the soiled river below. In the evening this was a favorite resort
+of many birds that came to drink at the pellucid stream, or catch
+insects playing above the water. Amongst the last was the beautiful
+blue, green and white humming-bird; the head and neck deep
+metallic-blue, bordered on the back by a pure white collar over the
+shoulders, followed by deep metallic-green; on the underside the blue
+neck is succeeded by green, the green from the centre of the breast to
+the end of the tail by pure white; the tail can be expanded to a half
+circle, and each feather widening towards the end makes the semicircle
+complete around the edge. When catching the ephemeridae that play above
+the water, the tail is not expanded: it is reserved for times of
+courtship. I have seen the female sitting quietly on a branch, and
+two males displaying their charms in front of her. One would shoot up
+like a rocket, than suddenly expanding the snow-white tail like an
+inverted parachute, slowly descend in front of her, turning round
+gradually to show off both back and front. The effect was heightened
+by the wings being invisible from a distance of a few yards, both from
+their great velocity of movement and from not having the metallic
+lustre of the rest of the body. The expanded white tail covered more
+space than all the rest of the bird, and was evidently the grand
+feature in the performance. Whilst one was descending, the other would
+shoot up and come slowly down expanded. The entertainment would end in
+a fight between the two performers; but whether the most beautiful or
+the most pugnacious was the accepted suitor, I know not. Another fine
+humming-bird seen about this brook was the long-billed, fire-throated
+_Heliomaster pallidiceps_, Gould, generally seen probing long,
+narrow-throated red flowers, forming, with their attractive nectar,
+complete traps for the small insects on which the humming-birds feed,
+the bird returning the favor by carrying the pollen of one flower to
+another. A third species, also seen at this brook, _Petasophora
+delphinae_, Less., is of a dull brown color, with brilliant
+ear-feathers and metallic-green throat. Both it and the _Florisuga
+mellivora_ are short billed, generally catching flying insects, and do
+not frequent flowers so much as other humming-birds. I have seen the
+_Petasophora_ fly into the centre of a dancing column of midges and
+rapidly darting first at one end then at another secure half a dozen
+of the tiny flies before the column was broken up; then retire to a
+branch and wait until it was re-formed, when it made another sudden
+descent on them.... I have no doubt many humming-birds suck the honey
+from flowers, as I have seen it exude from their bills when shot; but
+others do not frequent them; and the principal food of all is small
+insects. I have examined scores of them, and never without finding
+insects in their crops. Their generally long bills have been spoken of
+by some naturalists as tubes into which they suck the honey by a
+piston-like movement of the tongue; but suction in the usual way would
+be just as effective; and I am satisfied that this is not the primary
+use of the tongue, nor of the mechanism which enables it to be exerted
+to a great length beyond the end of the bill. The tongue, for one-half
+of its length, is semi-horny and cleft in two, the two halves are laid
+flat against each other when at rest, but can be separated at the will
+of the bird and form a delicate pliable pair of forceps, most
+admirably adapted for picking out minute insects from amongst the
+stamens of the flowers.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE FOUNDATIONS OF A WONDERFUL CITY
+
+(FROM THE LIFE OF THE BEES.)
+
+BY MAURICE MAETERLINCK.
+
+(TRANSLATED BY MARIE JOSEPHINE WELSH.)
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Here in their new home there is nothing--not a drop of honey nor a
+single landmark in the shape of a piece of wax. The bee has no data
+and no starting-point; he has nothing but the desolate nakedness of
+the walls and the roof of an immense building. The walls are round and
+smooth, but all is dark within.... The bee does not understand useless
+regrets, or if he does, he does not encumber himself with them. Far
+from being discouraged by the conditions which now confront him, he is
+more determined than ever. The hive is no sooner set up in its proper
+place than the disorder of the crowd begins to diminish, and one sees
+in the swarming multitude clear and definite divisions which take
+shape in a most unexpected manner. The larger part of the bees, acting
+precisely like an army which is obeying the definite orders of its
+officer, at once begins to form thick columns along the whole length
+of the vertical partitions of the hive. The first to arrive at the top
+hang on to the arch by the claws of their hind legs, those who come
+after attach themselves to the first, and so on till long chains are
+formed which serve as bridges for the ever mounting crowd to pass
+over. Little by little these chains are multiplied with indefinite
+re-enforcements and interlacing each other become garlands, which,
+owing to the enormous and uninterrupted mounting of the bees upon
+them, are transformed into a thick triangular curtain, or rather into
+a sort of compact reversed cone, the point of which is attached to the
+top of the hive; the base of which is about two-thirds of the total
+height of the hive. Then the last bee, which would appear to be
+summoned by some interior voice to join this group, mounts this
+curtain, which is hung in the darkness, and little by little every
+movement among the vast crowd ceases, and this strange reversed cone
+remains for many hours in a silence which might be called religious,
+and in a statuesqueness which in such a mass of life is almost
+startling, waiting for the arrival of the mystery of the wax.
+
+[Illustration: CLUSTER OF BEES.]
+
+[Illustration: A BEE HIVE.]
+
+While this is going on, without taking any notice of the wonderful
+curtain from out of whose folds so magic a gift will come, without
+even appearing to be tempted to attach themselves to it, the rest of
+the bees, that is all those who are on the floor of the hive, begin to
+examine the building and to undertake the work which is necessary to
+be done. The floor is carefully swept, dead leaves, twigs, grains of
+sand are transferred to a considerable distance one by one, for bees
+have an absolute mania for cleanliness; so much is this the case that
+in the winter, when the extremely cold weather prevents them from
+taking what bee lovers know as their "flight of cleanliness," rather
+than soil the interior of the hive they perish in enormous numbers,
+victims of a disease of the stomach.
+
+After this cleaning up is done these same bees set themselves to work
+to carefully close up every opening which is round about the lower
+part of the hive. Finally when every crack has been carefully looked
+over, filled up and covered with propolis, they begin to varnish the
+whole of the interior sides. By this time guardians are placed at the
+entrance of the hive, and very soon a number of the working bees start
+on their first trip to the fields and begin to come back laden with
+nectar and pollen....
+
+Let us now lift up, so far as we may, one of the folds of this
+garlanded curtain in the midst of which the swarm is beginning to
+produce that strange exudation which is almost as white as snow, and
+is lighter than the down on a bird's breast. The wax which is now
+being made does not resemble at all that with which we are acquainted.
+It is colorless, and may be said to be imponderable. It is the very
+soul of the honey, which in its turn is the very spirit of the
+flowers, evolved by the bees in a species of silent and motionless
+incantation....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is very difficult to follow the various phases of the secretion and
+of the manner in which the wax is evolved by the swarm which is just
+beginning to build. The operation takes place in the midst of a dense
+crowd which becomes constantly more and more dense, thus producing a
+temperature favorable to the exudation of the wax in its first stage.
+
+Huber, who was the first to study these operations with marvellous
+patience, and sometimes not without personal danger, has written more
+than fifty pages on the subject, but they are very confused. For
+myself, as I am not writing a scientific book, I shall confine myself
+to describing what anybody can see if he will watch the movements of a
+swarm in a glass hive. At the same time I shall not fail to avail
+myself of Huber's studies whenever they may prove to be of service. We
+must admit at the very outset that the process by which the honey is
+transformed into wax in the bodies of this mysterious curtain of bees
+is still hidden in mystery. All that we know is that after about
+eighteen or twenty-four hours in a temperature so high that one might
+almost imagine there was a fire in the hive, small, white, transparent
+scales appear at the opening of the four little pockets which are to
+be found on each side of the abdomen of the bee. When the larger part
+of those who form the reversed cone have their abdomens decorated with
+these little ivory plates, one of them may be seen, as if under the
+influence of a sudden inspiration, to detach itself from the crowd and
+climb over the backs of its passive brethren until it reaches the apex
+of the cupola of the hive; attaching herself firmly to the top, she
+immediately sets to work to brush away those of her neighbors who may
+interfere with her movements. Then she seizes with her mouth one of
+the eight scales on the side of her abdomen and chews it, clips it,
+draws it out, steeps it in saliva, kneads it, crushes it, and makes it
+again into shape as dexterously as a carpenter would handle a piece of
+veneering. Then when the substance has been treated so as to bring it
+to the desired size and to the desired consistency, it is affixed to
+the very summit of the interior of the dome, and thus the first stone
+is laid of the new city, or rather the key-stone of the new city is
+placed in the arch, for we are considering a city turned upside down,
+which descends from the sky and which does not arise from the bosom of
+the earth as do terrestrial cities. Then she proceeds to apply to this
+key-stone more of the wax which she takes from her body, and having
+given to the whole of her part of the work one last finishing stroke,
+she retires as quickly as she came and is lost in the crowd; another
+replaces her and immediately takes up the work where she has left it
+off, adds her own to it, puts that right which appears to her to be
+not in conformity with the general plan, and disappears in her turn,
+while a third and a fourth and a fifth succeed her in a series of
+sudden and inspired apparitions, not one of whom finishes a piece of
+work, but all bring to it their common share.
+
+Now there hangs from the top of the vault a small block of wax which
+is yet without form. As soon as it appears to be thick enough there
+comes out of the group another bee bearing an entirely different
+aspect from that of those which have preceded it. One may well believe
+on seeing the certainty, the determination, with which he goes about
+his work and the manner in which those who stand round about him look
+on, that he is an expert engineer who has come to construct in space
+the place which the first cell shall occupy, the cell from which must
+mathematically depend everything which is afterwards constructed.
+Whatever he may be, this bee belongs to a class of the sculpturing, of
+chisel working bees who produce no wax and whose function seems to be
+to employ the materials with which the others furnish them. This bee
+then chooses the place of the first cell. She digs for a moment in the
+block of wax which has already been placed in position, and builds up
+the side of the cell with the wax that she picks from the cavity. Then
+in exactly the same way as her predecessors have done, she suddenly
+leaves the work she has designed; another impatient worker replaces
+her and carries it on another step, which is finished by a third one.
+In the meantime others are working round about her according to the
+same method of division of labor until the outer sides of each wall is
+finished.
+
+It would almost seem that an essential law of the hive was that every
+worker should take a pride in its work, and that all the work should
+be done in common, and so to speak, unanimously, in order that the
+fraternal spirit should not be disturbed by a sense of jealousy.
+
+Very soon the outline of the comb may be seen. In form it is still
+lenticular, for the little prismatic tubes of which it is composed are
+unequally prolonged, and they diminish as they get away from the
+centre towards the extremities. At this moment it might be compared,
+both in form and in thickness, to a human tongue hanging down from two
+of the sides of the hexagonal cells which are placed back to back.
+
+As soon as the first cells are constructed, the workers add a roof to
+the second and so on to the third and to the fourth. These sets of
+cells are divided by irregular intervals, and they are calculated in
+such a manner that when they are made to receive their full
+complement, the bees always have room enough to move about between the
+parallel walls of the honeycombs.
+
+It follows then that in making their original plan the different
+thicknesses of every honeycomb must be fixed upon, and at the same
+time the alley-ways which separate each must be different in turn,
+and this width must be twice the height of a bee since they have to
+pass each other between the upright combs.
+
+But even the bees are not infallible, and they do not always work with
+exact mechanical certainty. When they find themselves in a difficult
+place they sometimes make very great blunders. One often finds that
+they leave too much, and often too little, space between the
+honeycombs, and they remedy these faults as well as they
+can--sometimes in finishing the comb which is too near another in an
+oblique line, or sometimes when they have left too much space they
+interpose a smaller comb between it.
+
+Reamur, on this subject, says:--"Since bees sometimes make mistakes
+and rectify them, this must be a proof that they possess the power of
+reason."
+
+[Illustration: QUEEN BEE.]
+
+It is known that bees make four different kinds of cells. There are
+first the "royal cells" which are exceptional and are of acorn shape.
+Then there are the large cells in which the male bees are reared, and
+in which provisions are stored when the flowers furnish forth of their
+abundance. Then there are the little cells which may be called the
+"cradles of the working bees," which are also employed as ordinary
+store-rooms. These generally occupy about eight-tenth's of the
+total surface of the combs in a hive; and finally there are a certain
+number of what may be called transition cells. Although these latter
+are inevitably irregular, the dimensions of the second or third type
+are so well calculated that when the decimal system was first
+established, and people were seeking an incontestable standard of
+measurement, it was the cell of the bee which was proposed first of
+all by Reamur. Each one of these cells is an hexagonal tube placed
+upon a pyramid form, and each honeycomb is formed of two strata of
+these tubes, base to base, in such a way that the three lozenges which
+make the pyramid-like base of one cell form at the same time the
+pyramid-like bases of the three cells on the other side.
+
+[Illustration: WORKER.]  [Illustration: DRONE.]
+
+In these prismatic tubes the honey is stored away--and so that the
+honey shall not trickle out as it would be likely to do if they were
+built strictly horizontal--they are tilted up at the outer edge of an
+angle of four or five degrees.
+
+"Besides the saving in wax," says Reamur, speaking of this marvellous
+building, "which is effected by this arrangement of the
+cells,--besides the fact that by this plan the comb may be filled
+without a single gap, there are other advantages in the way of the
+solidity thus given.... Every possible advantage in the way of the
+solidity of each cell is brought about by the manner of its
+construction, and by its place with reference to the rest of the cells
+in the comb."
+
+"Students of geometry know," says Dr. Reid, "that there are only three
+shapes that can be employed to divide a surface into, uniform spaces,
+that shall be regular in shape, and without interstices.
+
+[Illustration: SECTION OF CELLS CONSTRUCTED BY BEES.]
+
+"They are the equilateral triangle, the square, and the regular
+hexagon, which latter, in the matter of cell construction, is superior
+to the two first both from the point of view of strength and utility,
+and it is just this form that the bees have adopted, precisely as
+though its advantages were familiar to them.
+
+"Furthermore, the bottoms of the cells form three planes meeting at
+one point, and it has been demonstrated that both in economy of labor
+and material this system of construction is the best--again, the angle
+of the inclination of the planes affects this question of economy:
+this problem has been solved by the bees and confirmed by Maclaurin by
+abstruse mathematical calculations published in the "Transactions of
+the Royal Society of London.""
+
+Of course I do not suppose for a moment that the bees themselves have
+made these calculations, but on the other hand I do not believe that
+chance, or accidental circumstance has brought about, these results.
+The wasps, for instance, have built hexagonal cells, but they have not
+displayed such ingenuity as the bees have done. Their combs have only
+one course of cells, and they have not the foundation which serves the
+bees for their double rows. Hence there is less strength, more
+irregularity, and a loss of time, of material, and of room, which
+really means that a quarter of the labor employed and a third of the
+space occupied is lost. We also find certain other domesticated bees,
+not so far progressed in civilization, which only build one row of
+cells for rearing their young, and which support horizontal combs one
+above another on costly columns of wax. Their food store-cells, are
+like a row of round pots, and the bees make but a clumsy use of the
+spaces between them. Indeed, when we compare their City with the
+Wonderful City of the bees of which we are speaking, it is like
+comparing a row of huts with a modern laid out city. If the result is
+not charming, it is severely logical, and demonstrates the genius of
+the race which is forever fighting to get the most out of matter,
+space, and time.
+
+Buffon had a theory which has been revived once more, that the bees
+did not intend to make hexagonal cells, but rather round ones, and
+that owing to the crowding of the workers all around, the round ones
+became hexagonal. It is said also that crystals, fish-scales of
+certain kinds, soap-bubbles, etc., follow the same law, and Buffon
+advances this experiment to prove it. "Take a vessel and fill it full
+with peas or any other round grains, pour as much water upon them as
+will fill the spaces between them, close the vessel tightly, and boil
+the water. It will be found that the round peas have become six-sided.
+One sees clearly that this must be so from purely mechanical causes;
+each one of the round grains tends in the course of swelling as it
+boils to fill up the utmost space that it can, and by the extension
+and pressure of all alike they become hexagonal. Each bee wishes to
+occupy as much room as possible in its allotted space, therefore as
+the bodies of the bees are round or cylindrical, their cells become
+hexagonal because of the extension and pressure of all alike."
+
+Here then we see reciprocal obstacles working a wonder, somewhat in
+the same way perhaps as the vices of men bring about a general virtue,
+so that the race odious, often so far as individuals are concerned, is
+tolerable in the mass. Broughman, Kirby, and Spence and others claim
+that the observations of soap-bubbles and peas prove nothing in this
+connection, for the effect of compression is only to produce irregular
+hexagonal forms, and does not explain the earlier form of the base of
+the cells.
+
+To this one might rejoin that there are more ways than one of dealing
+with the blind law of necessity, for the wasp and the bumble-bee and
+many other species in similar circumstances and with the same end in
+view, arrive at very different, and manifestly inferior, results.
+Indeed it might be said further that even if the bee-cells did conform
+to the laws of crystallization as in the case of snow, or Buffon's
+soap-bubbles, or boiled peas, they show also in their general
+symmetry, in their well-determined angle of inclination, etc., that
+there are many other laws not followed by inert matter to which they
+also conform.
+
+In order to assure myself that the hexagonal form of the cell was the
+outcome of the bee-brain, I cut out from the centre of a honey-comb a
+round piece not quite so large as a silver dollar, containing both
+brood-cells and honey-cells. I cut into this disc, at the point where
+the pyramidal bases of the cells were joined, and I fixed on the base
+of the section thus exposed a piece of tin of the same size, and so
+stout that the bees could not bend or twist it. Then I replaced the
+disc of comb, with the piece of tin as described. One side of the comb
+showed, of course, nothing extraordinary, but on the other side was to
+be seen a hole at the bottom of which was a round piece of tin
+occupying the place of about thirty cells. At first the bees were
+disconcerted, and came in crowds to examine and study this wonderful
+abyss; for some days they wandered about it in agitation without
+coming to any decision. But as I fed them well every evening, the time
+soon came when they needed more cells in which to store their
+provisions. Then most likely the famous engineers, the sculptors, and
+the waxmakers, were summoned to show the way to fill up this useless
+chasm.
+
+A heavy curtain, or garland, of the wax-making bees covered the spot
+so as to develop the necessary heat; others went down into the hole
+and began the work of solidly fixing the metal in place by means of
+little claws of wax around its entire circumference, attaching them to
+the walls of the cells which surrounded it. Then they set to work to
+make three or four cells in the upper part of the disc, attaching them
+to these waxen claws. Each of these new cells was more or less
+unfinished at the top, so as to leave material wherewith to fasten it
+to the next cell, but below on the piece of tin was always three very
+clear, and precise angles from which would grow the three upright
+lines which regularly marked the outline of the first half of the next
+cell. After about forty-eight hours, although three or four bees at
+most could work at the same time in the opening, the whole surface of
+the piece of tin was covered with the outlines of the new cells. They
+were certainly somewhat less regular than those in an ordinary
+comb.... But they were all perfectly hexagonal; not a line was bent,
+not an angle out of shape; nevertheless all the ordinary conditions of
+bee-life were changed. The cells were not dug out of a block of wax as
+Huber described, nor were they made according to Darwin, circular at
+first, and then made into hexagons by the pressure of their neighbors.
+Here was no question of reciprocal obstacles, seeing that the cells
+were made one by one, and these first outlines were sketched on a kind
+of table. It would appear therefore that the hexagonal form is not the
+result of any mechanical necessity, but that it forms the plan
+resulting from the experience, the intelligence, and the will of the
+bee. Another curious thing which I accidentally noticed was that the
+cells built upon the tin were not provided with any other floor than
+the tin itself. The engineers of the working party evidently reasoned
+that the tin was sufficient to retain the liquid honey, and that it
+was not necessary, therefore, to line it with wax. But a little while
+after, when some honey was placed in the cell, they probably found
+that the metal effected some change in it, for upon taking counsel
+together they covered the surface of the tin with a kind of diaphanous
+varnish.
+
+If we wish to throw light on all the secrets of this geometrical
+architecture, we shall find many more interesting questions to
+examine--for example, that of the form of the first cells, which are
+attached to the roof of the hive--a form which is modified so that the
+cells can fit its curve and touch the roof at the greatest possible
+number of points.
+
+It would be necessary to notice also, not only the direction in which
+the main streets of the hive run, but the alley-ways and passages
+which run in and out and around the comb, as much for the circulation
+of the air as for the traffic; and it should be remarked that these
+are planned so as to avoid long detours or confusion in the
+traffic....
+
+Before we leave this subject let us, only for a minute, stop to
+consider the wonderful and mysterious way in which the bees make their
+plans and work together when they are occupied in carving out their
+cells, on both sides of the comb, where neither can see the other.
+Look through one of these transparent combs, and you will see clearly
+and sharply cut out in this diaphanous wax a network of prisms
+arranged in so perfectly fitting a manner that one might think they
+were stamped out of steel.
+
+Those who have never seen the inside of a hive can have little idea of
+the appearance of these honeycombs. Let us take a countryman's hive in
+which the bee has been left free to work as he pleases. This
+bell-like shape is divided from top to bottom by five, six, eight, and
+sometimes ten, slices of wax, so to speak, perfectly parallel with
+each other, which take the exact shape of the curve of the walls of
+the hive. Between each one of these slices is a space of about half an
+inch in which the bees move about. When they begin to build one of
+these slices at the top of the hive, the wall of wax is quite thick,
+and hides entirely the fifty or sixty bees who are working on one side
+from the fifty or sixty at work on the other. Unless they have a sight
+which can pierce the most opaque bodies, neither can see what is doing
+on the other side. Nevertheless, a bee on one side does not dig a hole
+or add a fragment of wax which does not correspond exactly with a
+protuberance or a cavity on the other side. How do they contrive to do
+this? How does it happen that one does not dig too far, and the other
+not far enough?
+
+How is it that every angle coincides in such magnificent perfection?
+Who tells the bee to begin here and to end there? Once again we must
+be satisfied with the reply that does not answer: "It is one of the
+mysteries of the hive." Huber has tried to explain it by saying that
+at certain intervals, by the pressure of their feet or their teeth,
+they produce a slight projection of the wax on the other side of the
+comb, or that they can determine the thickness of the block of wax by
+its flexibility, its elasticity, or some other physical property which
+it may possess; or, again, that their antennae are able to serve as
+compasses in enabling them to examine what is going on in the darkness
+of the other side; or, last of all, he suggests that all the cells
+mathematically derive their shape and dimensions from those of the
+first row, which is built without the need of further concert on the
+part of the workers. But one can easily see that these explanations
+are not sufficient; the first are guesses which cannot be verified;
+the others simply change but do not remove the mystery. But if it is
+good to change a mystery as often as possible, it is never good to
+flatter one's self that to change it means to remove it!
+
+
+
+
+WASPS
+
+(FROM THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.)
+
+BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+I one day saw a small black and yellow banded wasp hunting for
+spiders; it approached a web where a spider was stationed in the
+centre, made a dart towards it--apparently a feint to frighten the
+spider clear of its web; at any rate it had that effect, for it fell
+to the ground, and was immediately seized by the wasp, who stung it,
+then ran quickly backwards, dragging the spider after it, up a branch
+reaching to the ground until it got high enough, when it flew heavily
+off with it. It was so small, and the spider so heavy, that it
+probably could not have raised it from the ground by flight. All over
+the world there are wasps that store their nests with the bodies of
+spiders for their young to feed on. In Australia, I often witnessed a
+wasp combating with a large flat spider that is found on the bark of
+trees. It would fall to the ground, and lie on its back, so as to be
+able to grapple with its opponent; but the wasp was always the victor
+in the encounters I saw, although it was not always allowed to carry
+off its prey in peace. One day, sitting on the sandbanks on the coast
+of Hobson's Bay, I saw one dragging along a large spider. Three or
+four inches above it hovered two minute flies, keeping a little
+behind, and advancing with it. The wasp seemed much disturbed by the
+presence of the tiny flies, and twice left its prey to fly up towards
+them, but they darted away with it. As soon as the wasp returned to
+the spider, there they were hovering over and following it again. At
+last, unable to drive away its small tormentors, the wasp reached its
+burrow and took down the spider, and the two flies stationed
+themselves one on each side the entrance, and would, doubtless, when
+the wasp went away to seek another victim, descend and lay their own
+eggs in the nest.
+
+[Illustration: WASPS' NEST.]
+
+[Illustration: THE SAND-WASP.]
+
+The variety of wasps, as of all other insects, was very great around
+Santo Domingo. Many made papery nests, hanging from the undersides of
+large leaves. Others hung their open cells underneath verandahs and
+eaves of houses. One large black one was particularly abundant about
+houses, and many people got stung by them. They also built their
+pendent nests in the orange and lime trees, and it is not always safe
+to gather the fruit. Fortunately they are heavy flyers, and can often
+be struck down or evaded in their attacks. They do good where there
+are gardens, as they feed their young on caterpillars, and are
+continually hunting for them. Another species, banded brown and yellow
+(_Polistes carnifex_), has similar habits but is not so common.
+Bates, in his account of the habits of the sand-wasps at Santarem, on
+the Amazon, gives an interesting account of the way in which they took
+a few turns in the air around the hole they had made in the sand
+before leaving to seek for flies in the forest, apparently to mark
+well the position of the burrow, so that on their return they might
+find it without difficulty. He remarks that this precaution would be
+said to be instinctive, but that the instinct is no mysterious and
+unintelligible agent, but a mental process in each individual
+differing from the same in man only by its unerring certainty. I had
+an opportunity of confirming his account of the proceedings of wasps
+when quitting a locality to which they wished to return, in all but
+their unerring certainty. I could not help noting how similar they
+were to the way in which a man would act who wished to return to some
+spot not easily found out, and with which he was not previously
+acquainted. A specimen of the _Polistes carnifex_ was hunting about
+for caterpillars in my garden. I found one about an inch long, and
+held it out towards it on the point of a stick. It seized it
+immediately, and commenced biting it from head to tail, soon reducing
+the soft body to a mass of pulp. It rolled up about one-half of it
+into a ball, and prepared to carry it off. Being at the time amidst a
+thick mass of a fine-leaved climbing plant, before flying away, he
+took note of the place where it was leaving the other half. To do
+this, it hovered in front of it for a few seconds, then took small
+circles in front of it, then larger ones round the whole plant. I
+thought it had gone, but it returned again, and had another look at
+the opening in the dense foliage down which the other half of the
+caterpillar lay. It then flew away, but must have left its burden for
+distribution with its comrades at the nest, for it returned in less
+than two minutes, and making one circle around the bush, descended to
+the opening, alighted on a leaf, and ran inside. The green remnant of
+the caterpillar was lying on another leaf inside, but not connected
+with the one on which the wasp alighted, so that in running in it
+missed it, and soon got hopelessly lost in the thick foliage. Coming
+out again, it took another circle, and pounced down on the same spot
+again, as soon as it came opposite to it. Three small seed-pods, which
+here grew close together, formed the marks that I had myself taken to
+note the place, and these the wasp seemed also to have taken as its
+guide, for it flew directly down to them, and ran inside; but the
+small leaf on which the fragment of caterpillar lay, not being
+directly connected with any on the outside, it again missed it, and
+again got far away from the object of its search. It then flew out
+again, and the same process was repeated again and again. Always when
+in circling round it came in sight of the seed-pods down it pounced,
+alighted near them, and recommenced its quest on foot. I was surprised
+at its perseverance, and thought it would have given up the search;
+but not so, it returned at least half a dozen times, and seemed to get
+angry, hurrying about with buzzing wings. At last it stumbled across
+its prey, seized it eagerly, and as there was nothing more to come
+back for, flew straight off to its nest, without taking any further
+note of the locality. Such an action is not the result of blind
+instinct, but of a thinking mind: and it is wonderful to see an insect
+so differently constructed using a mental process similar to that of
+man. It is suggestive of the probability of many of the actions of
+insects that we ascribe to instinct being the result of the possession
+of reasoning powers.
+
+[Illustration: WASP AND HOLE IN THE SAND.]
+
+
+
+
+A WASP AND ITS PREY
+
+(FROM THE INSTINCTS AND HABITS OF THE SOLITARY WASPS.)[6]
+
+BY G. W. AND E. G. PECKHAM.
+
+[6] Reprinted by permission from Bulletin No. 2, Series I, of The
+Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, 1898.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Most graceful and attractive of all the wasps--as Fabre describes
+them, the Ammophiles, of all the inhabitants of the garden, hold the
+first place in our affections. Not so beautiful as the blue
+_Pelopaeus_ nor so industrious as the little red-girdled _Trypoxylon_,
+their intelligence, their distinct individuality, and their obliging
+tolerance of our society make them an unfailing source of interest.
+They are, moreover, the most remarkable of all genera in their
+stinging habits, and few things have given us deeper pleasure than
+our success in following the activities and penetrating the secrets of
+their lives. In our neighborhood we have but two species of
+_Ammophila_, _urnaria_ Cresson and _gracilis_ Cresson, both of them
+being very slender bodied wasps of about an inch in length, _gracilis_
+all black, and _urnaria_ with a red band around the front end of the
+abdomen. With two exceptions our observations relate to _urnaria_.
+
+During the earlier part of the summer we had often seen these wasps
+feeding upon the nectar of flowers, especially upon that of the sorrel
+of which they are particularly fond, but at that time we gave them but
+passing notice. One bright morning in the middle of July, however, we
+came upon one that was so evidently hunting, and hunting in earnest,
+that we gave up everything else to follow her. The ground was covered,
+more or less thickly, with patches of purslane, and it was under these
+weeds that our _Ammophila_ was eagerly searching for her prey. After
+thoroughly investigating one plant she would pass to another, running
+three or four steps and then bounding as though she were made of
+thistledown and were too light to remain upon the ground. We followed
+her easily, and as she was in full view nearly all of the time we had
+every hope of witnessing the capture, but in this we were destined to
+disappointment. We had been in attendance on her for about a quarter
+of an hour when, after disappearing for a few moments under the thick
+purslane leaves, she came out with a green caterpillar. We had missed
+the wonderful sight of the paralyzer at work, but we had no time to
+bemoan our loss for she was making off at so rapid a pace that we were
+well occupied in keeping up with her. She hurried along with the same
+motion as before, unembarrassed by the weight of her victim. Twice she
+dropped it and circled over it a moment before taking it again. For
+sixty feet she kept to open ground, passing between two rows of
+bushes, but at the end of this division of the garden, she plunged,
+very much to our dismay, into a field of standing corn. Here we had
+great difficulty in following her, since far from keeping to her
+former orderly course, she zigzagged among the plants in the most
+bewildering fashion, although keeping a general direction of
+northeast. It seemed quite impossible that she could know where she
+was going. The corn rose to a height of six feet all around us; the
+ground was uniform in appearance, and, to our eyes, each group of corn
+stalks was just like every other group, and yet, without pause or
+hesitation, the little creature passed quickly along, as we might
+through the familiar streets of our native town.
+
+[Illustration: "She Hurried along, Unembarrassed by the Weight of Her
+Victim."]
+
+At last she paused and laid her burden down. Ah! the power that has
+led her is not a blind, mechanically perfect instinct, for she has
+travelled a little too far. She must go back one row into the open
+space that she has already crossed, although not just at this point.
+Nothing like a nest is visible to us. The surface of the ground looks
+all alike, and it is with exclamations of wonder that we see our
+little guide lift two pellets of earth which have served as a covering
+to a small opening running down into the ground.
+
+The way being thus prepared she hurries back with her wings quivering
+and her whole manner betokening joyful triumph at the completion of
+her task. We, in the meantime, have become as much excited over the
+matter as she is herself. She picks up the caterpillar, brings it to
+the mouth of the burrow and lays it down. Then, backing in herself,
+she catches it in her mandibles and drags it out of sight, leaving us
+full of admiration and delight.
+
+How clear and accurate must be the observing powers of these wonderful
+little creatures! Every patch of ground must, for them, have its own
+character; a pebble here, a larger stone there, a trifling tuft of
+grass--these must be their landmarks. And the wonder of it is that
+their interest in each nest is so temporary. A burrow is dug,
+provisioned and closed up, all in two or three days, and then another
+is made in a new place with everything to learn over again.
+
+From this time (July thirteenth) on to the first of September our
+garden was full of these wasps, and they never lost their fascination
+for us, although owing to a decided difference between their taste and
+ours as to what constituted pleasant weather all our knowledge of them
+was gained by the sweat of our brows. When we wished to utilize the
+cool hours of the morning or of the late afternoon in studying them,
+or thought to take advantage of a cloud which cast a grateful shade
+over the sun at noonday, where were our Ammophiles? Out of sight
+entirely, or at best only to be seen idling about on the flowers of
+the onion or sorrel. At such a time they seemed to have no mission in
+life and no idea of duty. But when the air was clear and bright and
+the mercury rose higher and higher, all was changed. Their favorite
+working hours were from eleven in the morning to three in the
+afternoon, and when they did work they threw their whole souls into
+it. It was well that it was so, for they certainly needed all the
+enthusiasm and perseverance that they could muster for such wearisome
+and disappointing labor. Hour after hour was passed in search, and
+often there was nothing to show at the end of it, for, since the
+caterpillars that they wanted were nocturnal species, most of them
+were under ground in the day-time. The species observed by Fabre knew,
+by some subtle instinct, where to find the worm, and unearthed it from
+its burrow. _Urnaria_, on the contrary, never dug for her prey, but
+hunted on bare ground, on the purslane, and most of all on the
+bean-plants. These were examined carefully, the wasp going up and down
+the stems and looking under every leaf, but the search was so
+frequently unsuccessful that in estimating their work we are inclined
+to think that they can scarcely average one caterpillar a day. When
+they were hunting over bare ground they often paused and seemed to
+listen, and in the beginning we expected to see them burrow down and
+drag a victim from under the soil, but this never happened.
+
+In this species, as in every one that we have studied, we have a most
+interesting variation among the different individuals, not only in
+methods but in character and intellect. While one was beguiled from
+her hunting by every sorrel blossom she passed, another stuck to her
+work with indefatigable perseverance. While one stung her caterpillar
+so carelessly and made her nest in so shiftless a way that her young
+could only survive through some lucky chance, another devoted herself
+to these duties, not only with conscientious thoroughness, but with an
+apparent craving after artistic perfection that was touching to see.
+
+The method employed by the _Ammophilae_ in stinging their prey is more
+complex than that of any other predatory wasp. The larvae with which
+they provision their nests are made up of thirteen segments, and each
+of these has its own nervous centre or ganglion. Hence if the
+caterpillar is to be reduced to a state of immobility, or to state so
+nearly approaching immobility that the egg may be safely laid upon it,
+a single sting, such as is given by some of the _Pompilidae_ to their
+captured spiders, will be scarcely sufficient. All this we knew from
+Fabre's "Souvenirs," and yet we were not at all prepared to believe
+that any plain American wasp could supply us with such a thrilling
+performance as that of the Gallic _hirsuta_, which he so dramatically
+describes. We were, however, most anxious to be present at the
+all-important moment that we might see for ourselves just how and
+where _Ammophila urnaria_ stings her victim.
+
+For a whole week of scorching summer weather we lived in the bean
+patch, scorning fatigue. We quoted to each other the example of
+Fabre's daughter Claire, whose determination to solve the problem of
+_Odynerus_ led to a sun-stroke. We followed scores of wasps as they
+hunted; we ran, we threw ourselves upon the ground, we scrambled along
+on our hands and knees in our desperate endeavors to keep them in
+view, and yet they escaped us. After we had kept one in sight for an
+hour or more some sudden flight would carry her far away and all our
+labor was lost.
+
+At last, however, our day came. We were doing a little hunting on our
+own account, hoping to find some larvae which we could drop in view of
+the wasps and thus lead them to display their powers, when we saw an
+_urnaria_ fly up from the ground to the underside of a bean leaf and
+knock down a small green caterpillar. Breathless with an excitement
+which will be understood by those who have tasted the joy of such a
+moment, we hung over the actors in our little drama. The ground was
+bare, we were close by and could see every motion distinctly. Nothing
+more perfect could have been desired.
+
+The wasp attacked at once but was rudely repulsed, the caterpillar
+rolling and unrolling itself rapidly and with the most violent
+contortions of the whole body. Again and again its adversary descended
+but failed to gain a hold. The caterpillar in its struggles, flung
+itself here and there over the ground, and had there been any grass or
+other covering near by it might have reached a place of partial
+safety, but there was no shelter within reach, and at the fifth attack
+the wasp succeeded in alighting over it, near the anterior end, and in
+grasping its body firmly in her mandibles. Standing high on her long
+legs and disregarding the continued struggles of her victim, she
+lifted it from the ground, curved her abdomen under its body, and
+darted her sting between the third and fourth segments. From this
+instant there was a complete cessation of movement on the part of the
+unfortunate caterpillar. Limp and helpless, it could offer no further
+opposition to the will of its conqueror. For some moments the wasp
+remained motionless, and then, withdrawing her sting, she plunged it
+successively between the third and the second, and between the second
+and the first segments.
+
+[Illustration: WASP PLUNGING HER STING INTO THE CATERPILLAR.]
+
+The caterpillar was now left lying on the ground. For a moment the
+wasp circled above it and then, descending, seized it again, further
+back this time, and with great deliberation and nicety of action gave
+it four more stings, beginning between the ninth and tenth segments
+and progressing backward.
+
+_Urnaria_, probably feeling--as we certainly did--reaction from the
+strain of the last few minutes, and a relief at the completion of her
+task, now rested from her labors. Standing on the ground close by she
+proceeded to smooth her body with her long hind legs, standing in the
+meantime, almost on her head, with her abdomen directed upward. She
+then gave her face a thorough washing and rubbing with her first
+legs, and not until she had made a complete and satisfactory toilet
+did she return to the caterpillar.
+
+We saw _Ammophila_ capture her prey only three times during the whole
+summer, but from these observations and from the condition of her
+caterpillars taken at various times from nests, her method seems to be
+wonderfully close to that of _hirsuta_, with just about the same
+amount of variation in different individuals.
+
+Thus in our second example, she stung the first three segments in the
+regular order, the third, the second, and lastly (and most
+persistently) the first. She then went on, without a pause, to sting
+the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh, stopping at this point and
+leaving the posterior segments untouched. In our first example, it
+will be remembered, the middle segments were spared. The sting being
+completed, she proceeded to the process known as _malaxation_, which
+consists in repeatedly squeezing the neck of the caterpillar, or other
+victim, between the mandibles, the subject of the treatment being
+turned around and around so that all sides may be equally affected.
+
+In our third case a caterpillar which we had caught was placed in
+front of a wasp just after she had carried the second larva into her
+nest. She seemed rather indifferent to it, passing it once or twice as
+she ran about, but finally picked it up and gave it one prolonged
+sting between the third and fourth segments. She then spent a long
+time in squeezing the neck, pinching it again and again. It was then
+left on the ground, and as she showed no further interest in it we
+carried it home for further study.
+
+In the three captures, then, that came under our observation, all the
+caterpillars being of the same species and almost exactly of the same
+size, three different methods were employed. In the first, seven
+stings were given at the extremities, the middle segments being left
+untouched, and no malaxation was practised. In the second, seven
+stings again but given in the anterior and middle segments, followed
+by slight malaxation. In the third, only one sting was given but the
+malaxation was prolonged and severe.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+LEAF-CUTTING ANTS
+
+(FROM THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA.)
+
+BY THOMAS G. BELT, F.G.S.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Nearly all travellers in tropical America have described the ravages
+of the leaf-cutting ants (_OEcodoma_); their crowded, well-worn paths
+through the forests, their ceaseless pertinacity in the spoliation of
+the trees--more particularly of introduced species--which are left
+bare and ragged, with the mid-ribs and a few jagged points of the
+leaves only left. Many a young plantation of orange, mango, and lemon
+trees has been destroyed by them. Again and again have I been told in
+Nicaragua, when inquiring why no fruit-trees were grown at particular
+places, "It is no use planting them; the ants eat them up." The first
+acquaintance a stranger generally makes with them is on encountering
+their paths on the outskirts of the forest crowded with the ants; one
+lot carrying off the pieces of leaves, each piece about the size of a
+sixpence, and held up vertically between the jaws of the ant; another
+lot hurrying along in an opposite direction empty handed, but eager to
+get loaded with their leafy burdens. If he follows this last division,
+it will lead him to some young trees or shrubs, up which the ants
+mount; and where each one, stationing itself on the edge of a leaf,
+commences to make a circular cut, with its scissor-like jaws, from the
+edge, its hinder-feet being the centre on which it turns. When the
+piece is nearly cut off, it is still stationed upon it, and it looks
+as though it would fall to the ground with it; but, on being finally
+detached, the ant is generally found to have hold of the leaf with one
+foot, and soon righting itself, and arranging its burden to its
+satisfaction, it sets off at once on its return. Following it again,
+it is seen to join a throng of others, each laden like itself, and,
+without a moment's delay, it hurries along the well-worn path. As it
+proceeds, other paths, each thronged with busy workers, come in from
+the sides, until the main road often gets to be seven or eight inches
+broad, and more thronged than the streets of the city of London.
+
+[Illustration: SETS OFF AT ONCE ON ITS RETURN.]
+
+After travelling for some hundreds of yards, often for more than half
+a mile, the formicarium is reached. It consists of low, wide mounds of
+brown, clayey-looking earth, above and immediately around which the
+bushes have been killed by their buds and leaves having been
+persistently bitten off as they attempted to grow after their first
+defoliation. Under high trees in the thick forest the ants do not make
+their nests, because, I believe, the ventilation of their underground
+galleries, about which they are very particular, would be interfered
+with, and perhaps to avoid the drip from the trees. It is on the
+outskirts of the forest, or around clearings, or near wide roads that
+let in the sun, that these formicariums are generally found. Numerous
+round tunnels, varying from half an inch to seven or eight inches in
+diameter, lead down through the mounds of earth; and many more, from
+some distance around, also lead underneath them. At some of the holes
+on the mounds ants will be seen busily at work, bringing up little
+pellets of earth from below, and casting them down on the
+ever-increasing mounds, so that its surface is nearly always fresh and
+new-looking.
+
+Standing near the mounds, one sees from every point of the compass
+ant-paths leading to them, all thronged with the busy workers carrying
+their leafy burdens. As far as the eye can distinguish their tiny
+forms, troops upon troops of leaves are moving up towards the central
+point, and disappearing down the numerous tunnelled passages. The
+outgoing, empty-handed hosts are partly concealed amongst the bulky
+burdens of the incomers, and can only be distinguished by looking
+closely amongst them. The ceaseless, toiling hosts impress one with
+their power, and one asks--What forests can stand before such
+invaders? How is it that vegetation is not eaten off the face of the
+earth? Surely nowhere but in the tropics, where the recuperative
+powers of nature are immense and ever active, could such devastation
+be withstood.
+
+Further acquaintance with the subject will teach the inquirer that,
+just as many insects are preserved by being distasteful to
+insectivorous birds, so very many of the forest trees are protected
+from the ravages of the ants by their leaves either being distasteful
+to them, or unfitted for the purpose for which they are required,
+whilst some have special means of defence against their attacks.
+
+These ants do not confine themselves to leaves, but also carry off any
+vegetable substance that they find suitable for growing the fungus on.
+They are very partial to the inside white rind of oranges, and I have
+also seen them cutting up and carrying off the flowers of certain
+shrubs, the leaves of which they neglected. They are very particular
+about the ventilation of their underground chambers, and have numerous
+holes leading up to the surface from them. These they open out or
+close up, apparently to keep up a regular degree of temperature below.
+The great care they take that the pieces of leaves they carry into the
+nest should be neither too dry nor too damp, is also consistent with
+the idea that the object is the growth of a fungus that requires
+particular conditions of temperature and moisture to ensure its
+vigorous growth. If a sudden shower should come on, the ants do not
+carry the wet pieces into the burrows, but throw them down near the
+entrances. Should the weather clear up again, these pieces are picked
+up when nearly dried, and taken inside; should the rain, however,
+continue, they get sodden down into the ground, and are left there. On
+the contrary, in dry and hot weather, when the leaves would get dried
+up before they could be conveyed to the nest, the ants, when in
+exposed situations, do not go out at all during the hot hours, but
+bring in their leafy burdens in the cool of the day and during the
+night. As soon as the pieces of leaves are carried in they must be cut
+up by the small class of workers into little pieces. I have never seen
+the smallest class of ants carrying in leaves! their duties appear to
+be inside, cutting them up into smaller fragments, and nursing the
+immature ants. I have, however, seen them running out along the paths
+with the others; but instead of helping to carry in the burdens, they
+climb on the top of the pieces which are being carried along by the
+middle-sized workers, and so get a ride home again. It is very
+probable that they take a run out merely for air and exercise. The
+largest class of what are called workers are, I believe, the directors
+and protectors of the others. They are never seen out of the nest,
+excepting on particular occasions, such as the migrations of the ants,
+and when one of the working columns or nests is attacked, they then
+come stalking up, and attack the enemy with their strong jaws.
+Sometimes, when digging into the burrows, one of these giants has
+unperceived climbed up my dress, and the first intimation of his
+presence has been the burying of his jaws in my neck, from which he
+would not fail to draw blood. The stately observant way in which they
+stalk about, and their great size, compared with the others, always
+impressed me with the idea that in their bulky heads lay the brains
+that directed the community in their various duties. Many of their
+actions, such as that I have mentioned of two relays of workmen
+carrying out the ant food, can scarcely be blind instinct. Some of the
+ants make mistakes, and carry in unsuitable leaves. Thus grass is
+always rejected by them, but I have seen some ants, perhaps young
+ones, carrying leaves of grass; but after a while these pieces are
+always brought out again and thrown away. I can imagine a young ant
+getting a severe ear-wigging from one of the major-domos for its
+stupidity.
+
+[Illustration: SECTION THROUGH LEAF-CUTTING ANT'S NEST.]
+
+I shall conclude this long account of the leaf-cutting ants with one
+more instance of their reasoning powers.
+
+A nest was made near one of our tramways, and to get to the trees the
+ants had to cross the rails, over which the wagons were continually
+passing and repassing. Every time they came along a number of ants
+were crushed to death. They persevered in crossing for some time, but
+at last set to work and tunnelled underneath each rail. One day, when
+the wagons were not running, I stopped up the tunnels with stones; but
+although great numbers carrying leaves were thus cut off from the
+nest, they would not cross the rails, but set to work making fresh
+tunnels underneath them. Apparently an order had gone forth, or a
+general understanding been come to, that the rails were not to be
+crossed.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SOME WONDERFUL SPIDERS
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES, ETC.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The number of spiders, in proportion to other insects, is here
+compared with England very much larger; perhaps more so than with any
+other division of the articulate animals. The variety of species among
+the jumping spiders appears almost infinite. The genus, or rather
+family of Epeira, is here characterized by many singular forms; some
+species have pointed coriaceous shells, others enlarged and spiny
+tibiae. Every path in the forest is barricaded with the strong yellow
+web of a species belonging to the same division with the Epeira
+clavipes of Fabricius, which was formerly said by Sloane to make, in
+the West Indies, webs so strong as to catch birds. A small and pretty
+kind of spider, with very long forelegs, and which appears to belong
+to an undescribed genus, lives as a parasite on almost every one of
+these webs. I suppose it is too insignificant to be noticed by the
+great Epeira, and is therefore allowed to prey on the minute insects,
+which, adhering to the lines, would, otherwise be wasted. When
+frightened, this little spider either feigns death by extending its
+front legs, or suddenly drops from the web. A large Epeira of the same
+division with Epeira tuberculata and conica is extremely common,
+especially in dry situations. Its web, which is generally placed among
+the great leaves of the common agave, is sometimes strengthened near
+the centre by a pair or even four zigzag ribbons, which connect two
+adjoining rays. When any large insect, as a grasshopper or wasp, is
+caught, the spider by a dexterous movement, makes it revolve very
+rapidly, and at the same time emitting a band of threads from its
+spinners, soon envelops its prey in a case like the cocoon of a silk
+worm. The spider now examines the powerless victim, and gives the
+fatal bite on the hinder part of its thorax; then retreating,
+patiently waits till the poison has taken effect. The virulence of
+this poison may be judged from the fact that in half a minute I opened
+the mesh, and found a large wasp quite lifeless. This Epeira always
+stands with its head downwards near the centre of the web. When
+disturbed, it acts differently according to circumstances: if there is
+a thicket below, it suddenly falls down; and I have distinctly seen
+the thread from the spinners lengthened by the animal while yet
+stationary, as preparatory to its fall. If the ground is clear
+beneath, the Epeira seldom falls, but moves quickly through a central
+passage from one side to the other. When still further disturbed, it
+practises a most curious manoeuvre: Standing in the middle, it
+violently jerks the web, which is attached to elastic twigs, till at
+last the whole acquires such a rapid vibratory movement, that even the
+outline of the spider's body becomes indistinct.
+
+[Illustration: FOUR DIFFERENT SPIDERS.]
+
+It is well known that most of the British spiders, when a large insect
+is caught in their webs, endeavor to cut the lines and liberate their
+prey, to save their nests from being entirely spoiled. I once,
+however, saw in a hot-house in Shropshire a large female wasp caught
+in the irregular web of a quite small spider; and this spider, instead
+of cutting the web, most perseveringly continued to entangle the body,
+and especially the wings, of its prey. The wasp at first aimed in vain
+repeated thrusts with its sting at its little antagonist. Pitying the
+wasp, after allowing it to struggle for more than an hour, I killed it
+and put it back into the web. The spider soon returned; and an hour
+afterwards I was much surprised to find it with its jaws buried in the
+orifice, through which the sting is protruded by the living wasp. I
+drove the spider away two or three times, but for the next twenty-four
+hours I always found it again sucking at the same place. The spider
+became much distended by the juices of its prey, which was many times
+larger than itself.
+
+I may here just mention, that I found near St. Fe Bajada, many large
+black spiders, with ruby-colored marks on their backs, having
+gregarious habits. The webs were placed vertically, as is invariably
+the case with the genus Epeira; they were separated from each other by
+a space of about two feet, but were all attached to certain common
+lines, which were of great length, and extended to all parts of the
+community. In this manner the tops of some large bushes were
+encompassed by the united nets. Azara has described a gregarious
+spider in Paraguay, which Walckenaer thinks must be a Theridion, but
+probably it is an Epeira, and perhaps even the same species with mine.
+I cannot, however, recollect seeing a central nest as large as a hat,
+in which, during autumn, when the spiders die, Azara says the eggs are
+deposited. As all the spiders which I saw were of the same size, they
+must have been nearly of the same age. This gregarious habit, in so
+typical a genus as Epeira, among insects, which are so bloodthirsty
+and solitary that even the two sexes attack each other, is a very
+singular fact.
+
+[Illustration: JUMPING SPIDER.]
+
+
+
+
+WHAT I SAW IN AN ANT'S NEST
+
+(FROM FACTS AND FICTIONS OF ZOOeLOGY.)
+
+BY ANDREW WILSON.
+
+
+[Illustration: NEST OF TERMITES.]
+
+Amongst those spectacles and incidents in human existence which remain
+fixed on the memory of the spectator from their sad or unwonted
+nature, that of a panic-stricken crowd, gathered by the report of some
+national disaster, stands pre-eminent. Still more terrible in its
+details is the history of some catastrophe which has laid a city in
+ruins and wrought death and desolation to thousands of the
+inhabitants. A deadly epidemic, or fatal plague, searing a nation with
+its dread, mysterious power, is a calamity appalling enough; but the
+spectacle of a city overthrown at one fell swoop by the earthquake
+shock may perhaps rank foremost amongst the untoward incidents which
+environ the sphere of man. A certain event, occurring during a recent
+holiday by the sea, tended forcibly to impress upon the mind that the
+great catastrophes of life are not limited to humanity's special
+sphere, and that in lower life panic and alarm seem to exercise no
+small influence, as in man's estate; whilst the incident referred to
+also afforded food for reflection on topics not far removed from some
+weighty matters in the history of man's own nature and constitution.
+In this latter view, it is especially hoped the observations of a
+brief period of leisure-time may not be without their due meed of
+interest.
+
+The chance removal from its secure site, of a large stone placed in
+close proximity to the sea-beach, where the bliss of idleness was
+being fully exemplified by a small party of holiday-makers, proved, on
+close examination, to be the cause of a literal revolution in lower
+life. Imagine a city to be totally unroofed, try to conceive of the
+sudden downfall of houses and buildings, and the consequent panic of
+the inhabitants, and you may obtain an idea of the disturbance on
+simple procedure effected in the peaceable, well-ordered colony of
+ants which had located themselves securely beneath the friendly
+shelter of the stone. The scene presented to view was one of the most
+curious and interesting which could engage the attention of an
+observer in any field of inquiry, and the occurrence certainly
+banished the idle mood of the time, and lent a zest to the subsequent
+hours of our holiday. Running hither and thither in wild confusion
+were the denizens of this underground colony; their six little legs
+carrying their curious globular bodies backward and forward over the
+disturbed area from which the stone had been removed. At first the
+movements of the ants were extremely erratic and purposeless. Panic
+and alarm appeared to be the order of the day during the few minutes
+which elapsed after removal of the stone. But soon the eye could
+discern movements of purposive kind on the part of the alarmed
+residents. There was "racing and chasing" in all directions: but the
+ants which had at first radiated from the centre of disturbance, as if
+on some definite quest, soon returned thereunto, and continued to
+advance and retire from the field of action with tolerable regularity.
+Not less than sixty or seventy ants appeared to be engaged in this
+labor of scouring the country around. The object of their repeated
+journeys in all directions was soon discovered. They were the
+self-appointed scouts, engaged in the work of reconnoitring. Such at
+least is a fair interpretation of the acts of the ants, and such also
+is the conclusion borne out by the subsequent course of events. For,
+after the scouts had spent a considerable time in their rapid journeys
+to the environments of the nest, a new set of ants appeared upon the
+scene, destined to perform a highly important series of labors.
+
+The scouts continued their journeyings, and gave one the idea of a set
+of fussy individuals who were superintending, or even bullying, their
+new neighbors, who appeared from amongst the ruins and debris of the
+ant city, carrying in their mouths certain oval bodies of a
+dirty-white color, and measuring each about one-third of an inch in
+length. Each of these bodies closely resembled a grain of corn in
+shape, size, and appearance. The spectacle of these small insects
+carrying off these bodies in their powerful jaws impressed one
+forcibly with the idea that, relatively to its size, an ant is an
+herculean insect.
+
+Occasionally there might be seen certain rather ludicrous incidents
+connected with the removal of the objects in question. One ant might
+be witnessed in the endeavor to hoist the oval body it was carrying in
+its mouth over some obstacle lying in the path, and the staggering
+gait of the insect seemed very accurately to mimic the similar
+disposition of a human porter struggling under a burdensome load.
+Another ant, carrying the oval body before it, would arrive at a steep
+incline formed of loose sand, and presenting a treacherous surface
+even to the light feet of the insect. The efforts of the ant to carry
+the body upward being found to be fruitless, the insect might be seen
+to whirl about with great rapidity of action, and ascend the hill
+backward, pulling the body after it, instead of pushing it as before.
+
+Another instance might be witnessed in which an ant which had
+literally come to grief with its burden would be assisted by a kindly
+neighbor; but it was no uncommon sight to behold in the excessive
+eagerness of the insects an actual means of defeating the object they
+had in view, since two ants would in some cases seize the same burden,
+and then came the tug of war. One pulled one way whilst the other
+tugged in the opposite direction; and the observer could almost have
+supposed that the burden itself might have been parted in twain by the
+treatment to which it was subjected--the incident affording a new
+application of the remark that a surfeit of zeal is destructive of the
+best intentions. The nature of the bodies which the ants seemed so
+excessively anxious to preserve from injury was readily determined.
+The oval bodies, resembling grains of corn, were the _pupae_ or
+_chrysalides_ of the ants--the sleeping babies and young hopefuls, on
+whom the hopes of the colony were, and I may say, are, founded. It is
+noteworthy, however, that upon some mistaken notions regarding the
+nature of these bodies many of the ideas concerning the frugal care of
+these insects were founded. Solomon's advice that the sluggard should
+"go to the ant," with the view of considering her ways and gaining
+wisdom as a result of the study, was in days of old thought to be
+approved by the observation that the ants husbanded their stores of
+food in the shape of the grains of corn they had gained from the
+autumnal store. There can be little doubt that some species of ants do
+store food; but their praiseworthy actions in this direction have been
+greatly exaggerated, and there appears, indeed, to be some danger of
+idle persons being prepared with the retort to the wise man, that the
+ant is by no means the model creature he thought her to be. If,
+however, the supposed corn-grains turn out to be the rising generation
+of ants in their chrysalis-state, it may be said that what the ants
+may have lost in the way of fame in this direction has been amply
+compensated for by the discovery of more wonderful traits of character
+than Solomon could possibly have dreamt of.
+
+The work of removing the developing population thus appeared in our
+ant's nest to absorb the entire energies of the alarmed denizens. Pupa
+after pupa was carried out from amongst the debris and taken for a
+considerable distance--certainly fifteen inches--to a place of
+security, beneath a small sloping stone of flat shape, which roofed
+over a hollow in the ground. So far as I could observe, the scouts
+must have discovered this place of refuge, and have communicated the
+intelligence to their neighbors. The regularity with which the
+slumbering innocents were conveyed to the same spot would appear to
+point to concerted work and to a definite idea, if one may so term it,
+having animated the laborers. I was careful to ascertain at an early
+stage of the proceedings that the place of refuge had no
+communications with the nest. It was, in point of fact, an entirely
+new habitation, and, as far as human judgment might venture upon an
+opinion, the new residence appeared to give promise of being a safe
+and convenient domicile. Now and then an ant would emerge from the
+ruins of the nest carrying a younger hopeful in the larva or
+caterpillar stage. This latter was a little white grub, which
+corresponds in its development to the grub or caterpillar of the
+butterfly or fly; the ants thus exemplifying insects which undergo a
+complete "metamorphosis." It was rather a difficult matter to
+ascertain clearly if the ants were actually excavating the chrysalides
+from amongst the debris. Bearing in mind what Sir John Lubbock has
+told us concerning the apparent inability of ants to discover the
+whereabouts of companions buried under earth, I rather lean to the
+belief that my ants simply conveyed to a place of safety those
+chrysalides which were at hand and readily obtainable. The latter fact
+I could not ascertain, since I feared to disturb the ants at their
+interesting labors; but a simple experiment served to show the
+feasibility of the idea that the chrysalides were probably within
+easy reach of the ants.
+
+Taking possession of one chrysalis which was being conveyed to the new
+domicile, I buried it about half an inch deep in the sand, directly in
+the track over which the ants were journeying to their new residence,
+and a second chrysalis I placed at a little distance from this track,
+but in a spot over which numerous ants were running apparently without
+any definite aim. The second pupa ant was not buried in any sense, and
+was covered merely with a sprinkling of sand. The result in both cases
+was negative. No attempt was made to disinter the chrysalis from the
+beaten track, although numberless ants walked directly over it; and I
+extricated the chrysalis five hours after its interment, and when the
+busy scene of the morning had been replaced by a dull prospect, over
+which only a single ant now and then hurried in a rapid fashion. The
+other chrysalis was also unnoticed, despite its proximity to the
+surface of the sand. Whether or not ants want a sense of smell or
+other means of guiding them to the whereabouts of their neighbors or
+children, is a subject difficult of determination either toward a
+positive or negative result. And I am the more inclined to wonder at
+the incapacity of the insects to discover their buried companions,
+since they appear to be perfectly capable of detecting them at a
+considerable distance above ground. When a chrysalis was placed in a
+spot remote from the nest, and an ant placed within a foot or so of
+the chrysalis, the insect would occasionally seem to be attracted to
+the neighborhood of the object. I frequently observed that if an ant
+happened to crawl within two or three inches of the chrysalis as it
+lay on the ground, it appeared to become conscious of the object,
+although at the same time it seemed ignorant of its precise locality.
+In such a case the insect would proceed hither and thither in an
+erratic fashion, but would continue to hover or rotate around the
+chrysalis until it seized the object and bore it off in triumph in its
+jaws. Relatively to the size of the ant, we must consider this latter
+incident by no means a slight tribute to its acuteness.
+
+The busy scene resulting from the disturbance of the nest proceeded
+actively during at least two hours. The nest appeared to be by no
+means a large one. At the end of two hours, however, the ants were
+still rushing hither and thither, bent on errands unknown to their
+observers, although the work of conveying the chrysalides had at the
+lapse of the period just mentioned entirely ceased. Five and a half
+hours after the nest had been alarmed, not an ant was visible over the
+disturbed area, and our next task was that of investigating the manner
+in which the insects had dispersed themselves and their belongings in
+their new habitation by carefully removing the flat sloping stone
+already mentioned as that beneath which the main stream of the ants
+had disappeared. Not an insect was to be seen after this operation was
+performed, and it was only after the removal of several small stones
+which lay below the flat stone that the colony in its new sphere was
+brought into view. Our investigation once again excited the restless
+beings. Then ensued, for the second time, the seizure of the
+chrysalides, which, however, were to be seen packed together in a
+secure position and already partly covered with particles of earth
+and sand. To have reached the position in which we found them, the
+insects must have descended at least three inches after entering below
+the stone, and the labor of the continual ascent in search of fresh
+chrysalides must therefore have been of no light kind. We saw enough
+to convince us that the ants had already settled down in a new
+organization, which, with an undisturbed history, might repeat the
+peaceful state of their former life; and we also had the thought
+presented, that in the exercise of their duties under the pressure of
+an unwonted exigency, the insect behaved and acted with no small
+degree of intelligence, and apparently in harmonious concert to the
+desired end.
+
+But the thoughts suggested by the brief observation of the disturbed
+ant's nest hardly end thus. We may very naturally proceed to inquire
+into the regular organization and constitution of the ant colony, and
+also, as far as fact and theory may together lead, into the
+analogies--if analogies there be--which exist between the social
+instincts of ants and the ways of the higher animals, man included.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1. 1, Winged termite; 2, wingless termite; 3,
+soldier; 4, worker; 5, female swollen with eggs.]
+
+The common ants and their neighbors belong to the order of insects
+known as the _Hymenoptera_, a group represented by other insects of
+"social" habits, such as bees, wasps, and hornets. The termites, or
+white ants of the tropics, are the only "ants" foreign to this order
+of insects, the white ants being near relations of the dragonflies,
+may-flies, etc. The family history of the latter, as told by Mr.
+Bates, may serve to introduce us agreeably to ant society at large.
+The nests of the termites may attain a height of five feet, and
+present the appearance of conical hillocks, formed of earth particles
+"worked," says Mr. Bates, "with a material as hard as stone." In the
+neighborhood of the nests, narrow covered galleries or underground
+ways are everywhere to be seen, these latter being the passages along
+which the materials used for building the nests are conveyed. The
+termites are small soft-bodied animals of a pale color, but resemble
+the common or true ants in that they live in colonies, composed, like
+those of bees, of three chief grades of individuals. These grades are
+known as males, females, and blind "neuters," the latter forming at
+once the largest bulk of the population, and including in their
+numbers the true "working classes" of this curious community. In the
+common ants, the "neuters" are regarded as being Undeveloped female
+insects. These neuters exhibit in the termites a further division into
+ordinary "workers" (Figs. 1, 4), which perform the multifarious duties
+connected with the ordinary life of the colony, and "soldiers" (3),
+which perfectly exemplify the laws of military organization in higher
+life, in that they have no part in the common labor, but devote
+themselves entirely to the defence of the colony and to the
+
+   "Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war."
+
+The workers appear to perform a never-ending round of duties. They
+build the nests, make the roads, attend to the wants of the young,
+train up the latter in the ways of ant existence, wait on the
+sovereigns of the nest, and like diplomatic courtiers, duly arrange
+for the royal marriages of the future. As Mr. Bates remarks, "The
+wonderful part in the history of the termites is, that not only is
+there a rigid division of labor, but nature has given to each class a
+structure of body adapting it to the kind of labor it has to perform.
+The males and females form a class apart; they do no kind of work, but
+in the course of growth acquire wings to enable them to issue forth
+and disseminate their kind. The workers and soldiers are wingless, and
+differ solely in the shape and armature of the head. This member in
+the laborers is smooth and rounded, the mouth being adapted for the
+working of the materials in building the hive. In the soldier the head
+is of very large size, and is provided in almost every kind with
+special organs of offence and defence in the form of horny processes
+resembling pikes, tridents, and so forth.... The course of human
+events in our day seems, unhappily, to make it more than ever
+necessary for the citizens of civilized and industrious communities to
+set apart a numerous armed class for the protection of the rest; in
+this, nations only do what nature has of old done for the termites.
+The soldier termite, however, has not only the fighting instinct and
+function; he is constructed as a soldier, and carries his weapons not
+in his hand but growing out of his body." When a colony of termites is
+disturbed, the ordinary citizens disappear and the military are called
+out. "The soldiers mounted the breach," says Mr. Bates, "to cover the
+retreat of the workers," when a hole was made in the archway of one
+of their covered roads, and with military precision the rearmen fall
+into the vacant places in the front ranks as the latter are emptied by
+the misfortune of war.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2. THE QUEEN ANT; AND THE WORKERS CARRYING AWAY
+THE EGGS.]
+
+In a termite colony there is but one king and queen, the royal couple
+being the true parents of the colony. The state-apartments are
+situated in the centre of the hive, and are strictly guarded by
+workers. Both king and queen are wingless, and are of larger size than
+their subjects. The queen engages in a continual round of maternal
+duties, the eggs deposited by the sovereign-mother being at once
+seized by the workers and conveyed to special or "nursery cells,"
+where the young are duly tended and brought up. Once a year, at the
+beginning of the rainy season, winged termites appear in the hive as
+developments of certain of the eggs laid by the queen-termite. These
+latter are winged males and females (Fig. 1, 1), the two sexes being
+present in equal numbers. Some of these, after shedding their wings,
+become the founders--kings and queens--of new communities, the
+privilege of sex being thus associated with the important and
+self-denying work of perpetuating the species or race in time. Sooner
+or later--a termite family takes about a year to grow--a veritable
+exodus of the young winged termites takes place; and just before this
+emigration movement occurs, a hive may be seen to be stocked with
+"termites" of all castes and in all stages of development. The workers
+never exhibit a change of form during their growth; the soldiers begin
+to differ from the workers in the possession of larger heads and jaws;
+whilst the young which are destined to become the winged males and
+females are distinguished by the early possession of the germs of
+wings which become larger as the skin is successively moulted. Amongst
+the bees, blind Huber supposed that an ordinary or neuter egg develops
+into a queen bee if the larva is fed upon a special kind of
+food--"royal food," as it is called. Although some entomological
+authorities differ from Huber with regard to the exact means by which
+the queen bee is reared and specialized from other larvae, yet the
+opinion thus expressed possesses a large amount of probability.
+Whatever may be the exact method or causes through or by which the
+queen bee is developed, Mr. Bates strongly asserts that the
+differences between the soldiers and worker termites are distinctly
+marked from the egg. This latter observer maintains that the
+difference is not due to variations in food or treatment during their
+early existence, but is fixed and apparent from the beginning of
+development. This fact is worthy of note, for it argues in favor of
+the view that if, as is most likely, the differences between the
+grades of termites may have originally been produced by natural
+selection or other causes, these differences have now become part and
+parcel of the constitution of these insects, and are propagated by the
+ordinary law of heredity. Thus acquired conditions have become in time
+the natural "way of life" of these animals.
+
+Mr. Bates has also placed on record the noteworthy fact that a species
+of termites exists in which the members of the soldier class did not
+differ at all from the workers "except in the fighting instinct." This
+observation, if it may be used at all in elucidation of the origin of
+the curious family life of these insects, points not to sudden
+creation, but to gradual acquirement and modification as having been
+the method of development of the specialized classes and castes in
+termite society. Firstly, we may thus regard the beginnings of the
+further development of a colony to appear in a nest in which workers
+and soldiers are alike, as stated by Mr. Bates. Then, through the
+practice of the fighting instinct, we may conceive that natural
+selection would be competent to adapt the soldiers more perfectly for
+their duties militant, by developing the head and jaws as offensive
+weapons. Possibly, were our knowledge of the termites at all complete,
+we should meet with all stages in the development and specialization
+of the various grades of society amongst these insects--at least the
+present state of our knowledge would seem to lead to such a conclusion
+as being much more feasible than the theory of special or sudden
+creation of the peculiarities of the race. It is admitted that the
+termites are in many respects inferior in structure to the bees and
+wasps, whilst the white ants themselves are the superiors of their own
+order--that of the _Neuroptera_. That the termites preceded the bees
+and their neighbors, the common ants, in the order of development of
+social instincts, is a conclusion supported by the fact that the
+_Neuroptera_ form the first group of insects which are preserved to us
+in the "records of the rocks." Fossil _Neuroptera_ occur in the
+Devonian rocks of North America; the first traces of insects allied to
+the bees and wasps being geologically more recent, and appearing in
+the oolitic strata. The occurrence of high social instincts in an
+ancient group of insects renders the repetition of these instincts in
+a later and higher group the less remarkable. The observation,
+however, does not of necessity carry with it any actual or implied
+connection between the termites and their higher neighbors, although,
+indeed, the likeness between the social life of the two orders of
+insects might warrant such a supposition.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3. RED, OR HORSE-ANT (_Formica rufa_.) a, male; b,
+female, winged; c, worker.]
+
+The common ants (Fig. 3), the study of which in their native haunts is
+a matter of no great difficulty, and one which will fully reward the
+seeking mind, like the termites, possess three grades of individuals.
+In a single ant's nest more than One female may be found, the ants
+differing from the bees in this respect; and in the nests of some
+species of ants there are apparently "soldiers" resembling the
+military termites in the possession of large heads and well-developed
+jaws. Very amazing differences are to be perceived amongst the various
+species of ants. Differences in size are of common occurrence, but
+naturalists have actually succeeded in classifying ants in a general
+way, by differences in manner and disposition. We know, for example,
+that the horse-ant (_Formica rufa_, Fig. 3) has little _individual_
+intelligence, but is extremely socialistic, and moves and acts _en
+masse_ with precision and tact. Another species (_F. fusca_) is timid
+and retiring. _F. pratensis_ is a revengeful creature, since it
+"worries" its fallen foes; _F. cinerea_ is bold and audacious; others
+are termed "thieves" and "cowards"; some are phlegmatic; and to
+complete the list of failings and traits which are human enough in
+character, one species is said to present an invariable greediness as
+its prevailing characteristic. The common ants resemble the termites
+in the general details of their life. We see in an ant's nest the same
+restless activity of the workers, the same earnest attention paid to
+the young and pupae, the same instinct in shielding the young from
+danger, and much the same general routine of development. Certain
+rather special, and it may be said extraordinary, habits of ants may,
+however, demand notice before we attempt a brief survey of their
+instincts at large. Few readers are unacquainted with the _Aphides_,
+or plant-lice, those little wingless insects which infest our plants
+and herbs in myriads in summer. It is a fact now well known to
+naturalists, and first placed on record by Huber, that between the
+ants and plant-lice, relations of a very friendly and, as far as the
+ants are concerned, advantageous character have become established.
+Ants have been observed to stroke the tips of the bodies of the
+plant-lice with their antennae, this act causing the plant-lice to
+exude drops of a clear, sweet fluid, of which the ants are extremely
+enamoured. The ants would thus appear to habitually "milk" their
+insect-neighbors, and, as far as observation goes, some ants seem not
+merely to keep the plant-lice in their nests so as to form a veritable
+dairy establishment, but also to make provision in the future by
+securing the eggs of the aphides, and bringing up the young as we rear
+calves.
+
+[Illustration: FIG 4. APPLE APHIS (_Eriosoma Mali_).]
+
+That the relation between the ants and plant-lice are of very stable
+kind is proved by the interesting remarks of Mr. Darwin, who "removed
+all the ants from a group of about a dozen aphides on a dock-plant,
+and prevented their attendance during several hours." Careful watching
+showed that the plant-lice after this interval did not excrete the
+sweet fluid. Mr. Darwin then stroked the plant-lice with a hair,
+endeavoring thus to imitate the action of the ant's feelers, but not a
+single plant-louse seemed disposed to emit the secretion. Thereafter a
+single ant was admitted to their company, the insect, in Mr. Darwin's
+words, appearing, "by its eager way of running about, to be well aware
+what a rich flock it had discovered." The ant first stroked one aphis
+and then another, each insect excreting a drop of the sweet juice "as
+soon as it felt the antennae;" and "even the quite young aphides
+behaved in this manner, showing that the action was instinctive, and
+not the result of experience." If, as Mr. Darwin remarks, it is a
+convenience for the aphides to have the sweet secretion removed, and
+that "they do not excrete solely for the food of the ants," the
+observation does not in any degree lessen the curious nature of the
+relationship which has become established between the ants and their
+neighbors, or the interesting features in ant life which have
+inaugurated and perpetuated the habit.
+
+Not less remarkable are the "slave-making" instincts of certain
+species of ants. It may be safely maintained that the slave-making
+habit forms a subject of more than ordinary interest not merely to
+naturalists but to metaphysicians given to speculate on the origin and
+acquirement of the practices of human existence. Pierre Huber, son of
+the famous entomologist, was the first to describe the slave-making
+instincts in a species (_Polyergus rufescens_) noted for its
+predaceous instincts, and subsequent observations have shown that
+other species participate in these habits. _Polyergus_ is thoroughly
+dependent on slaves. Without these bonds-men it is difficult to see
+how the ants could exist. Huber tells us that the workers of this
+species perform no work save that of capturing slaves. Use and wont,
+and the habit of depending entirely on their servitors, have produced
+such changes in the structure of the ants that they are unable to help
+themselves. The jaws of these ants are not adapted for work; they are
+carried by their slaves from an old nest to a new one; and, more
+extraordinary still, they require to be fed by their slaves, even with
+plenty of food close at hand. Out of thirty of these ants placed by
+Huber in a box, with some of their larvae and pupae, and a store of
+honey, fifteen died in less than two days of hunger and of sheer
+inability to help themselves. When, however, one of their slaves was
+introduced, the willing servitor "established order, formed a chamber
+in the earth, gathered together the larvae, extricated several young
+ants that were ready to quit the condition of pupae, and preserved the
+life of the remaining Amazons." It must be noted that there are very
+varying degrees in the dependence of the ant-masters on their slaves.
+In the recognition of this graduated scale of relationship and
+dependence, indeed, will be found the clue to the acquirement of this
+instinct. The horse-ant (_Formica rufa_) will carry off the larvae and
+pupae of other ants _for food_, and it sometimes happens that some of
+these captives, spared by their cannibal neighbors, will grow up in
+the nest of their captor. A well-known ant, the _Formica sanguinea_,
+found in the South of England, is however, a true slave-making
+species, but exhibits no such utter dependence on its servitors as
+does _Polyergus_. The slave-making habit is not only typically
+developed in the _Sanguineas_, but the bearing of the captives to
+their masters indicate a degree of relationship and organization such
+as could hardly be conceived to exist outside human experience. The
+_Sanguineas_ make periodical excursions, and, like a powerful
+predatory clan, carry off the pupae or chrysalides of a neighboring
+species, _F. fusca_. Thus the children of the latter race are born
+within the nest of their captors in an enslaved condition. As slaves
+"born and bred," so to speak, they fall at once into the routine of
+their duties, assist their masters in the work of the nest, and tend
+and nurse the young of the family. The slaves, curiously enough in
+this instance, are black in color, whilst the masters are twice the
+size of the servitors, and are red in color, and that the slaves are
+true importations is proved by the fact that males and females of the
+slave species are never developed within the nest of the masters, but
+only within those of their own colonies. The slaves in this instance
+rarely leave the nest, the masters foraging for food, and employing
+their captives in household work, as it were; whilst, when the work of
+emigration occurs, the masters carry the slaves in their mouths like
+household goods and chattels, instead of being carried by them, as in
+the case of _Polyergus_.
+
+Mr. Darwin gives an interesting account of the different attitudes
+exhibited by the _Sanguineas_ toward species of ants other than the
+black race from which their slaves are usually drawn. A few pupae of
+the yellow ant (_F. flava_), a courageous and pugnacious little
+species, were placed within the reach of the slave-making
+_Sanguineas_. A like chance presented with the pupae of their slave
+race was eagerly seized, and the chrysalides carried off. The pupae of
+the yellow ants, however, were not merely left untouched, but the
+slave-makers exhibited every system of terror and alarm at the sight
+of the chrysalides of their yellow neighbors. Such an instance
+demonstrates the existence not merely of perception but also of the
+memory of past experience, probably of not over agreeable kind, of
+encounters with the yellow ants. When, on the contrary, a nest of the
+slaves is attacked, the _Sanguineas_ are both bold and wary. Mr.
+Darwin traced a long file of _Sanguineas_ for forty yards backward to
+a clump of heath, whence he perceived the last of the invaders
+marching homeward with a slave pupa in its mouth. Two or three
+individuals of the attacked and desolate nest were rushing about in
+wild despair, and "one," adds Mr. Darwin, "was perched motionless,
+with its own pupa in its mouth, on the top of a spray of heath, an
+image of despair over its ravaged home." The picture thus drawn is not
+the less eloquent because its subject is drawn from lower existence;
+although the pains and sorrows of ant life may not legitimately be
+judged by the standard of human woe.
+
+The explanation of the slave-making instinct in ants begins with the
+recognition of the fact that many ants, not slave-makers, store up
+pupae of other species for food. If we suppose that some of the pupae,
+originally acquired through a cannibal-like instinct, came to maturity
+within the nest of their captors, and in virtue of their own inherited
+instincts engaged in the work of the hive, we may conceive of a
+rational beginning of the slave-making instinct. If, further, the
+captors learned to appreciate the labors of their captives, as
+lightening their own work, the habit of collecting pupae as slaves
+might succeed and supersede that of collecting them for food. In any
+case, we should require to postulate on the part of the slave-makers a
+degree of instinct altogether unusual in insects, or, indeed, in
+higher animals; but that such instinct is developed in ants other than
+slave-makers admits of no dispute. The strengthening, through
+repetition, of a habit useful to the species may thus be credited with
+the beginning of the practice of slavery amongst ants; whilst special
+circumstances--such as the number of the slaves as compared with the
+number of masters--would tend to develop a greater or less degree of
+dependence of the captors or their servitors.
+
+Huber, for instance, informs us that the _Fusca_-slaves of the
+_Sanguineas_ of Switzerland work with their masters in building the
+nest; they close and open the doors of the hive; but their chief
+office appears to be that of hunting for plant-lice. In England, on
+the contrary, the slaves are strictly household servants, rarely
+venturing out of doors. Such differences depend most probably on the
+fact that a greater number of slaves occur in Swiss than in English
+nests, and they may therefore be employed in a wider range of duties
+on the Continent than at home. A fewer number of slaves, a greater
+aptitude on the part of the slaves for their duties, the inability of
+the masters to perform the duties of the slaves--each or all of these
+causes combined would serve to increase the value of the servitors,
+and at the same time to reduce the independence of the masters.
+
+This increase of the value of the slaves as active factors in the ant
+community might at length proceed to such extremes as we see
+exemplified in the _Polyergus_, already referred to--a race which has
+become literally unable to feed itself, and to discharge the simplest
+duties of ant existence, and whose actual life is entirely spent in
+marauding expeditions on the nests of its neighbors.
+
+The subject of the general intelligence of ants, and of their ability
+to adapt themselves to awkward and unusual circumstances, may be
+briefly touched upon by way of conclusion.
+
+Between the reason and intelligence of higher animals and the
+"instinct" of ants there is unquestionably a great gulf fixed. I make
+this statement unhesitatingly, notwithstanding that I should no more
+willingly attempt to define "instinct" than to give an exact
+definition of "insanity." In the latter case one may make the
+definition so limited as practically to exclude all save one class of
+cases, or so wide as to include even the judge on the bench. In the
+case of instinct, the rigid definition of one authority might cause us
+to regard it as the exclusive property of lower forms and as having no
+relationship whatever with the mental powers of higher beings; or, on
+the other hand, as being but a modified form of, or in some respects
+identical with, these very powers. We know too little respecting the
+so-called "automatic" powers and ways, even of higher animals, to
+dogmatize regarding the acts of lower animals, but we may safely
+assume that one apparent ground or distinction between instinct and
+reason may be found in the common incompetence of instinct to move out
+of the beaten track of existence, and in the adaptation of reason,
+through the teachings of experience, to new and unwonted
+circumstances. Let Dr. Carpenter speak as an authority on such a
+subject. "The whole nervous system of invertebrated animals, then, may
+be regarded as ministering entirely to _automatic_ action; and its
+highest development, as in the class of insects, is coincident with
+the highest manifestations of the 'instinctive' powers, which, when
+carefully examined, are found to consist entirely in movements of the
+excito-motor and sensori-motor kinds. (The terms '_excito-motor_' and
+'_sensori-motor_' are applied to nervous actions resulting in
+movements of varying kinds, and produced by impressions made on
+nervous centres, but without any necessary emotion, reason, or
+consciousness.) When we attentively consider the habits of these
+animals, we find that their actions, though evidently adapted to the
+attainment of certain ends, are very far from evincing a _designed_
+adaptation on the part of the beings that perform them.... For, in the
+first place, these actions are invariably performed in the same manner
+by all the individuals of a species, when the conditions are the same;
+and thus are obviously to be attributed rather to a uniform impulse
+than to a free choice, the most remarkable example of this being
+furnished by the economy of bees, wasps, and other 'social' insects,
+in which every individual of the community performs its appropriated
+part with the exactitude and method of a perfect machine. The very
+perfection of the adaptation, again, is often of itself a sufficient
+evidence of the unreasoning character of the beings which perform the
+work; for if we attribute it to their own intelligence, we must admit
+that this intelligence frequently equals, if it does not surpass, that
+of the most accomplished Human Reasoner."
+
+Appealing to the most recent observations on ants, we may find
+evidence of the truth of Dr. Carpenter's statements, whilst at the
+same time we may also detect instances of the development of higher
+powers which are hardly to be classed as "automatic," and which, in
+certain species (as in the _Ecitons_, charmingly described by Mr. Belt
+in "The Naturalist in Nicaragua"), may be said to be elevated above
+the common instincts of the race. Dr. Henry Maudsley has also well
+summed up the relationship of the acts of these insects to the acts of
+higher forms, and to new adaptations when he says: "I do not say that
+the ant and the bee are entirely destitute of any power of adaptation
+to new experiences in their lives--that they are, in fact, purely
+organized machines, acting always with unvarying regularity; it would
+appear, indeed, from close observation, that these creatures do
+sometimes discover in their actions traces of a sensibility to strange
+experiences, and of corresponding adaptations of movements. We cannot,
+moreover, conceive how the remarkable instincts which they manifest
+can have been acquired originally, except by virtue of some such
+power. But the power in them now is evidently of a rudimentary kind,
+and must remain so while they have not those higher nerve-centres in
+which the sensations are combined into ideas, and perceptions of the
+relations of things are acquired. Granting, however, that the bee or
+ant has these traces of adaptive action, it must be allowed that they
+are truly rudiments of functions, which in the supreme nerve-centres
+we designate as reason and volition. Such a confession might be a
+trouble to a metaphysical physiologist, who would thereupon find it
+necessary to place a metaphysical entity behind the so-called
+instincts of the bee, but can be no trouble to the inductive
+physiologist--he simply recognizes an illustration of a physiological
+diffusion of properties, and of the physical conditions of primitive
+volition, and traces in the evolution of mind and its organs, as in
+the evolution of other functions and their organs, a progressive
+specialization and increasing complexity."
+
+The recently published experiments of Sir John Lubbock show that ants
+under certain circumstances are both stupid and devoid of any
+intelligent comprehension in the way of surmounting difficulties; but
+this distinguished observer has also shown that as regards
+communication between ants, and in the regulation of the ordinary
+circumstances of their lives, these insects evince a high degree of
+intelligence, and exhibit instincts of a very highly developed kind.
+Still, making every allowance for the development of extraordinary
+mental power in some species of ants, there can be little doubt of the
+purely automatic beginnings and nature of most, if not all, of the
+acts of ordinary ant existence. The young ant, wasp, or bee, will
+begin its labors and discharge them as perfectly at the beginning of
+its existence as a perfect insect, as at the close of life. Here there
+is no experience, no tuition, no consciousness, no reason, and no
+powers save such as have been transferred to the insect as a mere
+matter of heredity and derivation from its ancestors, who lived by an
+unconscious rule of thumb, so to speak. It is very hard at first to
+convince one's self, when watching an ant's nest, that intelligence
+and consciousness play little or no part in the apparently intelligent
+operation of these insects. But to assume the contrary would be to
+maintain that the insect stands on an equal footing to man himself,
+and for such a supposition there is neither lawful ground nor
+sympathy. The marvellous instinct of lower life stands on a platform
+of its own, has its own phases of development, and probably its own
+unconscious way of progress. The higher reason and intellect of
+humanity similarly possesses its own peculiar standard, rate, and
+method of culture. A man may seek and find in the ways of lower
+existence not merely a lesson in the ordering of his existence, but
+some comfort, also, in the thought that the progress of lower nature
+is not unknown in the domain of human hopes and aspirations.
+
+[Illustration: RETURN OF ANTS AFTER A BATTLE.]
+
+
+
+
+THE WILD LLAMA
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES, ETC.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF GUANACO.]
+
+The guanaco, or wild Llama, is the characteristic quadruped of the
+plains of Patagonia; it is the South American representative of the
+camel in the East. It is an elegant animal in a state of nature, with
+a long slender neck and fine legs. It is very common over the whole of
+the temperate parts of the continent, as far south as the islands near
+Cape Horn. It generally lives in small herds of from half a dozen to
+thirty in each; but on the banks of the St. Cruz we saw one herd which
+must have contained at least five hundred.
+
+They are generally wild and extremely wary. Mr. Stokes told me, that
+he one day saw through a glass a herd of these animals which evidently
+had been frightened, and were running away at full speed, although
+their distance was so great that he could not distinguish them with
+his naked eye. The sportsman frequently receives the first notice of
+their presence, by hearing from a long distance their peculiar shrill
+neighing note of alarm. If he then looks attentively, he will probably
+see the herd standing in a line on the side of some distant hill. On
+approaching nearer, a few more squeals are given, and off they set at
+an apparently slow, but really quick canter, along some narrow beaten
+track to a neighboring hill. If, however, by chance, he abruptly meets
+a single animal, or several together, they will generally stand
+motionless and intently gaze at him; then perhaps move on a few yards,
+turn round, and look again. What is the cause of this difference in
+their shyness? Do they mistake a man in the distance for their chief
+enemy the puma? Or does curiosity overcome their timidity? That they
+are curious is certain; for if a person lies on the ground, and plays
+strange antics, such as throwing up his feet in the air, they will
+almost always approach by degrees to reconnoitre him. It was an
+artifice that was repeatedly practised by our sportsmen with success,
+and it had moreover the advantage of allowing several shots to be
+fired, which were all taken as parts of the performance. On the
+mountains of the Tierra del Fuego, I have more than once seen a
+guanaco, on being approached, not only neigh and squeal, but prance
+and leap about in the most ridiculous manner, apparently in defiance
+as a challenge. These animals are very easily domesticated, and I have
+seen some thus kept in northern Patagonia near a house, though not
+under any restraint. They are in this state very bold, and readily
+attack a man by striking him from behind with both knees. It is
+asserted that the motive for these attacks is jealousy on account of
+their females. The wild guanacos, however, have no idea of defence;
+even a single dog will secure one of these large animals, till the
+huntsman can come up. In many of their habits they are like sheep in a
+flock. Thus when they see men approaching in several directions on
+horseback, they soon become bewildered, and know not which way to run.
+This greatly facilitates the Indian method of hunting, for they are
+thus easily driven to a central point, and are encompassed.
+
+[Illustration: THE GUANACO.]
+
+The guanacos readily take to the water: several times at Port Valdes
+they were seen swimming from island to island. Byron, in his voyage, says
+he saw them drinking salt water. Some of our officers likewise saw a
+herd apparently drinking the briny fluid from a salina near Cape Blanco.
+I imagine in several parts of the country, if they do not drink salt
+water, they drink none at all. In the middle of the day they frequently
+roll in the dust, in saucer-shaped hollows. The males fight together;
+two one day passed quite close to me, squealing and trying to bite each
+other; and several were shot with their hides deeply scarred. Herds
+sometimes appear to set out on exploring parties; at Bahia Blanca,
+where, within thirty miles of the coast, these animals are extremely
+unfrequent, I one day saw the tracks of thirty or forty, which had come
+in a direct line to a muddy salt-water creek. They then must have
+perceived that they were approaching the sea, for they had wheeled with
+the regularity of cavalry, and had returned back in as straight a line
+as they had advanced. The guanacos have one singular habit, which is
+to me quite inexplicable; namely, that on successive days they drop
+their dung in the same defined heap. I saw one of these heaps which
+was eight feet in diameter, and was composed of a large quantity. This
+habit, according to M. A. d'Orbigny, is common to all the species of
+the genus; it is very useful to the Peruvian Indians, who use the dung
+for fuel, and are thus saved the trouble of collecting it.
+
+The guanacos appear to have favorite spots for lying down to die. On
+the banks of the St. Cruz, in certain circumscribed spaces, which were
+generally bushy and all near the river, the ground was actually white
+with bones. On one such spot I counted between ten and twenty heads. I
+particularly examined the bones; they did not appear, as some
+scattered ones which I have seen, gnawed or broken, as if dragged
+together by beasts of prey. The animals in most cases must have
+crawled, before dying, beneath and amongst the bushes. Mr. Byron
+informs me that during a former voyage he observed the same
+circumstances on the banks of the Rio Gallegos. I do not at all
+understand the reason of this, but I may observe, that the wounded
+guanacos at the St. Cruz invariably walked towards the river. At St.
+Jago in the Cape de Verd islands, I remember having seen in a ravine a
+retired corner covered with bones of the goat; we at the time
+exclaimed that it was the burial-ground of all the goats in the
+island.
+
+
+
+
+BATS
+
+(FROM STUDIES OF ANIMATED NATURE.)
+
+BY W. S. DALLAS, F.L.S.
+
+
+[Illustration: SLEEPING BAT.]
+
+Among the sounds which greet the ear of the wayfarer as the shades of
+evening deepen into night, one of the commonest is a rather faint
+chirping noise which comes mysteriously from overhead. On looking up
+in search of the source of this peculiar sound, we may see a small,
+dark, shadow-like creature sweeping to and fro with great rapidity. It
+is one of the curious groups of animals called Bats, representatives
+of which are to be met with in in all countries, always active at
+night or in the twilight, and presenting a remarkable general
+similarity of structure, although in some respects they may differ
+considerably in habits. In the British Islands some fourteen species
+have been distinguished.
+
+Like the owls, with which they share the dominion of the evening air,
+the Bats have a perfectly noiseless flight; their activity is chiefly
+during the twilight, although some species are later, and in fact seem
+to keep up throughout the whole night. As they rest during the day,
+concealed usually in the most inaccessible places they can find, and
+are seen only upon the wing, their power of flight is their most
+striking peculiarity in the popular mind, and it is perhaps no great
+wonder that by many people, both in ancient and modern times they have
+been regarded as birds. Nevertheless, their hairy bodies and leathery
+wings are so unlike anything that we ordinarily understand as
+pertaining to a bird, that opinion was apparently always divided, as
+to the true nature of these creatures--"a mouse with wings," as
+Goldsmith called it once, according to James Boswell, is certainly a
+curious animal, and very difficult to classify so long as the would-be
+systematist has no particularly definite ideas to guide him. The
+likeness of the Bat to a winged mouse has made itself felt in the name
+given to the creature in many languages, such as the "Chauvesouris" of
+the French and the "Flitter-mouse" of some parts of England, the
+latter being reproduced almost literally in German, Dutch, and
+Swedish, while the Danes called the Bat a "Flogenmues," which has
+about the same meaning, and the Swedes have a second name, "Laedermus,"
+evidently referring to the texture of the wings, as well as to the
+mouse-like character of the body.
+
+But so soon as we have definite characters to appeal to in
+classification, we find no difficulty in assigning these puzzling
+creatures to their proper place in the system. Bats produce their
+young alive, and suckle them; the milk being produced by special
+glands. Now, these are characters which are peculiar among all animals
+to the vertebrate class Mammalia. They possess also other characters
+that are unmistakably mammalian. Leaving out of consideration the
+structure of the internal organs, they have teeth implanted in sockets
+in the jaws, four limbs, and a hairy covering to the skin, so that
+they possess more decidedly mammalian characters than some other
+members of the class, such as the marine whales and dolphins
+(_Cetacea_) and manatees (_Sirenia_), which are still often spoken of
+as fishes. In point of fact, although organized for flight, the Bat
+may, without any violence to language, be spoken of as a _quadruped_,
+for its fore-limbs contain all the parts found in those of other
+mammals fully developed, and they come into use when the creature is
+walking on the ground.
+
+Perhaps the special characteristics of the Bats will be brought out
+most distinctly by a comparison of their structure with that of a
+bird, seeing that the modification of the fore-limbs into wings is
+their most striking distinction from other Mammalia; for, although
+some other members of the class are spoken of as "flying," such as the
+Flying Squirrels, Flying Lemurs, and Flying Phalangers, these
+creatures do not really fly, but merely glide through the air to
+considerable distances by the action of a broad fold of skin which
+runs down each side of the body, and which, when stretched between
+the extended limbs, buoys the creatures up in the air after the
+fashion of a parachute.
+
+Most of us must have had occasion to pick the bones of a bird's wing,
+a piece of practical anatomy which may serve us in good stead at
+present. They consist of a long bone, which may be called the arm-bone
+(_humerus_), jointed to the shoulder-bones (the so-called "side-bones"
+of a fowl or turkey), followed by a pair of parallel bones
+constituting the fore-arm, at the end of which we find two or three
+small bones, then two parallel bones united at their extremities, and
+some smaller joints terminating the whole.
+
+We need say nothing about the arm-bone and the two bones of the
+fore-arm, the peculiarity of bird-structure lying chiefly in the
+terminal portion of the limb, or the hand. Here we find, after two
+little bones forming the wrist, a pair of long bones as above
+described, firmly united both at base and apex, and on the outside of
+the base of these, close to the wrist, a small bone, which may be
+either free or soldered to the others, and which represents the thumb
+in the human hand. At the other end of the piece formed by the two
+united bones, the limb is continued by two joints, forming a second
+finger, inside of which there is usually a single small bone,
+representing a third finger. But all these parts are stiffly attached
+to one another, admitting of very little motion, so that the whole
+hand forms as it were a single piece. The bony structure of the bird's
+wing is in point of fact a rod hinged in two places, at the elbow and
+the wrist, for the convenience of being folded into a small compass.
+The flight of the bird is effected by the agency of a number of stiff
+feathers implanted in the skin covering the bones and muscles of the
+arm and hand; these fold together like the sticks of a fan when the
+wing is folded, and are spread into an elastic instrument for striking
+the air when the different sections of the bony framework are extended
+by the action of their respective muscles.
+
+In the Bat the structure is very different. Of course, as in the
+Vertebrata generally, we find in the Bat's fore-limb the same three
+main sections as in birds; and as the function of the limb is the
+same, and a certain stiffness is necessary in the extended organ, the
+movements of the joints at the elbow and wrists are hinge-like. But
+the bones of the arm and fore-arm are longer and more slender,
+especially the latter; and in this part, in place of the two parallel
+bones of the bird's wing, we find in the Bat only a single long bone
+representing the smaller bone of the bird, the larger one being
+usually reduced to very small dimensions, and firmly united with the
+other into a single piece, although it still forms the elbow-joint. At
+the other end of this long fore-arm we find some small wrist-bones and
+to these the fingers are articulated. In birds, as we have seen, only
+two or three fingers are represented, and these are more or less
+reduced in size, and the most important of them soldered together;
+Bats, on the contrary, show the whole five fingers as distinctly as in
+the hand of man or any other mammals. The first of them, or the
+_thumb_, is short, slender, and flexible, and composed of three
+joints; the other four are very long and slender, but chiefly
+composed of the metacarpal bones, corresponding to those of the palm
+of the human hand. The first, or index finger, indeed, in many Bats,
+consists of this bone alone; but in the others it is followed by two
+or three slender joints, gradually tapering to the extremity, the
+second finger, corresponding to our middle finger, being always the
+longest of all.
+
+Just as is the bird's wing, these various parts can be folded together
+or extended by the action of the muscles, but in the Bat the long
+fingers become separated when the wing is stretched out, and by this
+action they at the same time stretch a thin leathery double membrane
+in which they are enclosed, which is thus converted into a broad
+surface for striking the air in flight. This membrane is continued
+from the fingers to the sides of the body, and even to the hind limbs,
+which are often included in it to the ankle-joints; while in the great
+majority of Bats there is even a further portion of membrane between
+the hind legs, enclosing the whole or a portion of the tail. There is
+usually also a narrow strip of the same membrane in front of each arm,
+so that the skin of the animal is extended as much as possible, in
+order to give it support in its aerial evolution. It is to be noted
+that the long second finger extends to the extreme point of the wing
+and that the first finger runs close beside it and thus assists in
+stiffening that part of the organ. The thumb is left free, and is
+furnished with a rather strong hooked claw.
+
+Supported by the action of these great leathery wings, the Bat flies
+about almost incessantly during the twilight, and often late into the
+night. In full career its flight is swift, though perfectly
+noiseless, and it has the power of executing rapid turns and changes
+of direction with the greatest facility, as required for the capture
+of its prey, which, in the great majority of cases, consists of the
+insects of various kinds that in most places fly by night. In pursuit
+of these, the Bats flit rapidly about trees, houses, and other
+buildings, now and then resting by clinging for a moment to the rough
+surfaces of the walls or the trunks and branches of trees. Old country
+church-yards, which are usually full of trees, are naturally favorite
+haunts of these nocturnal insect-hunters, offering them an excellent
+field for the chase of their prey, while at the same time, the church
+itself, with its architectural peculiarities, usually affords them a
+safe retirement during the day in the dark and secluded corners of its
+structure. Hence in the popular mind the Bat has long been associated
+with the church-yard, that spot so dreaded that few can pass through
+it after nightfall without experiencing certain peculiar feelings, so
+that it is no great wonder if a portion of the superstitious fear thus
+engendered has transferred itself to these frail and harmless
+creatures, and given them and their companions, the owls, something of
+an evil reputation. And it must be confessed that when seen against
+the light, flitting silently overhead, there is something weird in the
+Bat's form, and this is no doubt the reason why, while angels of all
+kinds are represented with birds' wings, those of Bats have, by
+universal consent, always been conferred upon demons, dragons, and
+similar uncanny creatures.
+
+When it descends from its flight upon the ground or any solid body,
+the Bat becomes to all intents and purposes a genuine quadruped. The
+fingers being drawn together, with the membranes of the wings thrown
+into folds between them, the whole hand of the creature is brought up
+parallel to the fore-arm, and so got out of the way, and the animal
+can then walk more or less easily, its hind legs, though short and
+rather feeble, being perfectly formed, and the fore limbs, from which
+the thumbs with their sharp claws now project freely, becoming
+available for terrestrial progression. Nevertheless, this progression
+is generally rather clumsy, as indeed might be expected from creatures
+so curiously constructed.
+
+While on the wing, our Bats are constantly engaged in the pursuit of
+the numerous insects of various kinds which, like themselves, are
+active in the evening and after dark, and of these they must destroy
+immense quantities. The swarms of delicate gnats and midges which
+disport themselves in the most complicated aerial dances, moths of all
+kinds, and even the hard-shelled beetles, many of which fly about in
+the evening or at night, fall a prey to these leathern-winged rovers
+of the night air, and weak as the latter would seem to be, some of
+them are able to seize and devour beetles which appear to be far
+beyond their powers. Thus, the largest of our British species, the
+Great Bat, or Noctule (_Scotophilus noctula_), which, however, is only
+about three inches in length, preys freely upon such large and
+hard-shelled insects as cockchafers; these, in fact, appear to be its
+favorite food, and for their consumption its broad and comparatively
+strong jaws would seem to be specially fitted, while its large and
+powerful wings, measuring fourteen or fifteen inches from tip to tip
+when expanded, enable it to fly with the rapidity necessary for the
+pursuit and capture of such powerful prey. When thus engaged, the
+Noctule haunts the neighborhood of trees, and generally flies at a
+considerable elevation, from which, however, his shrill cry easily
+reaches the ear of the passer-by. His addiction to large prey gives
+rise to a curious movement, thus noticed by Professor Bell in his
+valuable book on "British Quadrupeds." "An observer will not watch his
+movements long," says the Professor, "without noticing a manoeuvre
+which at first looks--like the falling of a tumbler-pigeon, but on
+closer examination proves to be simply a closing of the wings, and a
+consequent drop of about a foot. Sometimes, this is repeated every few
+yards, as long as in sight. It is occasioned by some large and
+intractable insect having been captured, and the anterior joint of the
+wing, with its well-armed thumb, is required in retaining it until
+masticated." Notwithstanding this little difficulty, however, the
+Noctule is pretty rapid in disposing even of his most recusant prey,
+as he has been known to consume as many as thirteen cockchafers one
+after another.
+
+The foregoing statements apply to all our British Bats, and indeed, in
+the matter of food and general habits, to the great majority of the
+species of the order, in whatever country they may occur. But in the
+tropical and sub-tropical regions of the eastern hemisphere, we find a
+great and important group of Bats, which, although agreeing in general
+structure and habits with our European species, differ from them
+altogether in their diet. These Bats, distinguished generally, among
+other things, by their larger size and more robust construction, and
+by certain characters of the molar teeth (grinders), from the ordinary
+Bats, are almost exclusively confined to a fruit diet, in search of
+which they fly vigorously, often in flocks, like birds, at the
+commencement of the night. From this peculiarity of their food they
+are commonly known as Fruit Bats, while the larger species, such as
+the Indian Fruit Bat and the Kalong of the Eastern Archipelago, which
+are respectively eleven and fourteen inches in length, are sometimes
+called Flying Foxes, in allusion to the prevalence of a reddish tint
+in their fur, and their more or less lengthened and dog-like muzzles.
+In many parts of the Eastern world, in India, the Malayan Archipelago,
+Australia, Africa, and even in outlying islands at some distance from
+their main range, these Fruit Bats occur in great numbers. Swarms of
+them roost together during the day, hanging from the branches of the
+trees which they select as their regular resting-place, and taking
+wing at sunset, fly off frequently to great distances in search of
+their favorite articles of food; for they by no means devour
+indiscriminately any kind of fruit, but show a distinct preference for
+particular sorts, generally selecting such as are also prized by their
+human competitors. Hence they often do considerable damage in
+plantations of fruit trees, as when they meet with articles that suit
+taste, they seem, like some human gourmands, not to know when to leave
+off eating. Of one of the smaller Indian species, the Margined Fruit
+Bat, Mr. Dobson obtained a living specimen in Calcutta, and he gives
+the following account of its voracious appetite:--He gave it "a ripe
+banana, which, with the skin removed, weighed exactly two ounces. The
+animal immediately, as if famished with hunger, fell upon the fruit,
+seized it between the thumbs and the index fingers, and took large
+mouthfuls out of it, opening the mouth to the fullest extent with
+extreme voracity. In the space of three hours the whole fruit was
+consumed. Next morning the Bat was killed, and found to weigh one
+ounce, half the weight of the food eaten in three hours! Indeed, the
+animal when eating seemed to be a kind of living mill"--so
+continuously does its food pass through it.
+
+From the statements of some writers, it would appear that although
+these Bats live chiefly upon fruits, they occasionally, like many
+other frugivorous animals, diversify their diet with animal food,
+devouring insects of various kinds, caterpillars, birds' eggs, and
+even young birds, while there seems to be some reason to believe that
+one species even feeds upon shell-fish which it picks up upon the
+seashore.
+
+The fruit-eating Bats of this group are not found in the warmer parts
+of America, but some American Bats feed chiefly upon fruits, while
+many of the large essentially insectivorous species which occur there
+vary their diet more or less with fruits, and also occasionally attack
+and devour other vertebrate animals. Some of them--but it is still
+very doubtful how many--have another habit connected with their
+feeding, which renders them very decidedly objectionable, namely, that
+of inflicting wounds upon birds and mammals, even including man
+himself, and sucking up the blood that flows from them. This charge
+has been brought against many Bats of South and Central America,
+some of which have been commonly named Vampires in consequence, after
+the ghostly blood-suckers, which were formerly the objects of so much
+superstitious terror in Hungary and other parts of Eastern Europe; but
+so far as can be made out from a consideration of the evidence, a
+verdict of "not proven," at all events, must be arrived at in the case
+of all but two species, which constitute a little group distinguished
+by what is apparently a special organization adapting them to this
+peculiar diet. These wretched little beasts, which only measure two
+and a half or three inches in length, are furnished in the upper jaw
+with a single pair of incisor or front teeth, but these are of great
+size and strength, triangular in form, and so excessively sharp that
+when the creatures are seized they can draw blood from the hand of
+their captor by what seems a mere touch. This extreme sharpness of
+their weapons enables them, when attacking sleeping men or animals, to
+slice off a small portion of skin almost without causing any pain, and
+the little oval wounds thus produced, like the similar surface-cuts
+which a careless shaver sometimes inflicts upon his chin, bleed with
+particular freedom. The Desmodonts, as these true Vampires are called,
+will attack horses, mules, and cattle, which they generally wound on
+the back, near the spine, often in the region of the withers; and they
+also bite the combs of domestic fowls, and any part of the human body
+that they can get at. In the case of man, however, according to most
+authorities, the extremity of the great toe is the favorite part; and
+some writers, perhaps possessed of a strong poetical vein, have given
+wonderful descriptions of the artfulness with which these little
+blood-suckers make their approaches, and keep their victim comfortably
+asleep during the operation by fanning him with their wings. In fact,
+the Vampire Bats had so bad a reputation from the accounts given by
+travellers, that they seemed to be veritable scourges of the countries
+in which they live, but so far as can be made out from the most
+trustworthy reports, the mischief they cause may be summed up under
+two heads, namely, weakness produced by loss of blood, which continues
+to flow from the wounds long after the Bats have drunk their fill and
+gone quietly home to rest, and inflammatory affections, caused either
+by the irritation of the bite in the case of people of a bad habit of
+body, or by the friction of the saddle or collar upon the part bitten
+in the case of horses and mules, or of the shoe in the human patient.
+That the Desmodonts do really feed on blood is proved by evidence of
+various kinds. They have been captured in the act of blood-sucking,
+when their stomachs, which are peculiarly constructed and very long,
+are found filled with a black paste, which is evidently half-digested
+blood; and their teeth, which are in part so well adapted for
+producing the necessary wounds in other animals, are totally unfit for
+the mastication of an insect prey, such as constitutes the diet of
+their nearest allies.
+
+[Illustration: THE VAMPIRE BAT.]
+
+After all this feeding, Bats, whatever the nature of their diet, not
+unnaturally find themselves inclined for repose, and as they are
+active during the night or in the twilight, of course their rest has
+to be taken in the daytime. To pass the period of repose in security
+they seek shelter of various kinds, not only for protection against
+the weather, but also for the sake of concealment from other
+predaceous animals, some of which would no doubt be perfectly willing
+to make a meal of them. The great Eastern Fruit Bats, trusting perhaps
+to their size and strength, are content to resort to the branches of
+trees, from which, after the manner of Bats in general, they suspend
+themselves by the hind feet with the head downwards. From the
+statements of various writers it appears that after being out all
+night in search of food, the Flying Foxes and other allied Bats fly
+back to their regular resting-places, where they begin to arrive about
+or soon after dawn. The number resorting to the same retreat is
+usually so great that the whole of the branches are loaded with them,
+and in fact they are so crowded together that the settling down of the
+flock into their repose is preceded by a scene of squabbling and
+quarrelling of the most noisy description. Mr. Tickell, speaking of
+the common Indian Flying Fox, says:--"From the arrival of the first
+comer, until the sun is high above the horizon, a scene of incessant
+wrangling and contention is enacted among them, as each endeavors to
+secure a higher and better place, or to eject a neighbor from too
+close vicinage. In these struggles the Bats hook themselves along the
+branches, scrambling about hand over hand with some speed, biting each
+other severely, striking out with the long claw of the thumb,
+shrieking and cackling without intermission. Each new arrival is
+compelled to fly several times round the tree, being threatened from
+all points; and when he eventually hooks on, he has to go through a
+series of combats, and be probably ejected two or three times, before
+he makes good his tenure." This scene of selfish contention over, the
+Fruit Bats pass some hours in profound sleep, during which they remain
+suspended in rows along the branches, to which they cling by one foot
+only, the other with all the lower surface of the body being
+comfortably wrapped in the leathery mantle formed by the contracted
+wings. In this condition, as Dr. Horsfield says of the Great Kalong,
+"ranged in succession with the head downwards ... and often in close
+contact, they have little resemblance to living beings, and by a
+person not accustomed to their economy are easily mistaken for a part
+of the tree, or for a fruit of uncommon size suspended from its
+branches." In this position the head is folded down upon the breast.
+Dr. Bennett and Mr. Gould ascribed very similar habits to a large
+Fruit Bat common in the northern parts of New South Wales and in
+Queensland, which is said to be often exceedingly destructive to the
+peach and other fruit crops of the settlers in those colonies.
+
+The European Bats, and indeed all the Bats except these Flying Foxes
+and their immediate allies, seek a different kind of shelter. Their
+chief natural dormitories consist of hollow trees and the caves and
+fissures of rocks, to which they often resort in great numbers; but in
+populous countries they also find an abundance of convenient places of
+retirement in and about buildings of various kinds. Roofs, especially
+when covered with tiles, or otherwise provided with apertures through
+which the space immediately under the roofing is easily accessible,
+outbuildings of all kinds, church towers and other similar structures,
+disused chimneys, the spaces behind weather-boards and shutters which
+are not often moved, in fact any dark and sheltered places about our
+buildings, are readily resorted to by many species, although some few
+retain their taste for unadulterated nature so strongly that no
+artificial harbor will serve their turn. Thus among the British
+species the Great Bat or Noctule, a generally distributed though not
+abundant species throughout the southern and middle counties of
+England, seems generally to retreat for its diurnal sleep to the holes
+or cavities in the trunks of trees, and only to visit buildings when
+there is a scarcity of such accommodation; and the Horseshoe Bats show
+a decided preference for caverns and deserted quarries; but the great
+majority appear to be indifferent in the matter, and to resort to any
+shelter that seems convenient to them. Some, such as the Barbastelle
+of the southern parts of England, are solitary in their habits,
+generally retiring alone for their day's rest; others are more
+sociable, reposing in larger or smaller parties in their dormitories,
+whether natural or artificial, and sometimes, like the Fruit Bats,
+collecting in immense numbers.
+
+The common Bats, like the Fruit Bats, sleep in what we should consider
+an exceedingly uncomfortable position, namely, with their heads
+downwards, but they cling by the claws of _both_ hind feet to the
+small irregularities of the stone or wood forming the walls and other
+parts of the structure of their retreat. They frequent the same places
+year after year, so that, where they are numerous, the ground is often
+completely covered and discolored with their excrements, which in some
+cases accumulate in course of time to such an amount as to have given
+rise to the notion of carrying it away to be used as guano. The little
+blood-sucking Vampire Bats already mentioned take up their abode in
+caverns, and, according to Dr. Hensel, who observed their habits, they
+discharge their excrements, which are black and pasty, near the
+entrance of the cave just before starting on their evening flight, and
+this substance by degrees forms quite a thick layer (one foot or more)
+on the floor of the cavern. The Doctor says that a large dog which had
+paid a visit of curiosity to one of these caves came out again looking
+as if he had got long black boots on.
+
+In the warmer regions of the earth's surface, where their supply of
+food is constant, the activity of the Bats is not known to have any
+intermission, but in cold and temperate countries they pass the winter
+season in a state of torpidity. The period of this hibernation, as it
+is called, varies somewhat in the different species, but few of them
+are to be seen flying about, except when the weather is decidedly
+mild. The commonest of all our British species, the Pipistrelle, has a
+shorter winter sleep than any of its companions, it usually makes its
+appearance on the wing by the middle of March, and continues active
+until quite late in the year; in fact Mr. Gould has recorded the fact
+of his having shot a specimen of it on a warm sunny day just before
+Christmas. For the purpose of hibernation the Bats retire to their
+usual resting-places, but frequently, instead of suspending themselves
+by their hind feet, as when sleeping, pack themselves away in small
+parties in holes and crevices, an arrangement which probably furnishes
+a better protection against the inclemency of the season.
+
+It is probably in the dormitory that the birth of the young bats takes
+place--at least, so far as we know, the process is affected in a
+manner which must preclude active exertions on the part of the mother
+for some little time. The best account of the operation with which we
+are acquainted is that given fifty years ago by Mr. George Daniell, in
+a paper read before the Zooelogical Society, in which he described the
+habits of some Noctules kept by him in captivity. Four out of five
+died, and the survivor, a female, was observed on 23d June to become
+very restless, and to continue so for about an hour, although still
+suspended by the hind limbs in the attitude of repose. "Suddenly," to
+use Mr. Daniell's words, "she reversed her position, and attached
+herself by her anterior limbs to a cross wire of the cage, stretching
+her hind limbs to their utmost extent, curving the tail upwards, and
+expanding the interfemoral membrane, so as to form a perfect nestlike
+cavity for the reception of the young ... which was born on its back,
+perfectly destitute of hair, and blind. The mother then cleaned it,
+turning it over in its nest; and afterwards, resuming her usual
+position, placed the young in the membrane of her wing. She next
+cleaned herself, and wrapped up the young one so closely as to prevent
+any observation of the process of suckling. At the time of birth the
+young was larger than a new-born mouse, and its hind legs and claws
+were remarkably strong and serviceable, enabling it not only to cling
+to its dam, but also to the deal sides of the cage. On the 24th the
+animal took her food in the morning, and appeared very careful of her
+young, shifting it from side to side to suckle it, and folding it in
+the membranes of the tail and wings." Unfortunately, these
+interesting observations were cut short by the death of the mother,
+and the young animal, which was with some difficulty removed from the
+nipple, survived only eight days, during which it was fed with milk
+from a sponge, and made but little progress, its eyes being still
+unopened, and its body almost hairless.
+
+There can be no doubt that this process, varied in minor points in
+accordance with differences of structure, reveals to us what takes
+place in Bats generally in immediate connection with the birth of the
+young. From all the observations that have been made it appears
+certain that the female Bats produce only a single young one at a
+birth; that this is at first blind, naked, and helpless; and that the
+female nurses it carefully--a process which must be greatly
+facilitated by the power of clinging to its parent possessed by the
+young Bat from the first moment of its appearance in the world. The
+two nipples possessed by the female are situated upon the breast,
+sometimes quite at the sides under the arm-pits, a position which
+renders it particularly easy for the careful mother to tend her
+offspring, while she is also enabled to carry it about with her in her
+evening flights, the young creature clinging firmly to its mother's
+fur, and being quite out of the way of the movements of the wings.
+This part of the business, of course, could not be exemplified in Mr.
+Daniell's case, as the female was imprisoned in a cage, but it is a
+well-known fact in the natural history of these creatures that the
+mother does carry her young about with her so long as it continues
+helpless. Apparently, indeed, even after the young animal becomes
+capable of flying about, its mother still retains some interest in its
+well-being--at least, if we may apply generally a case recorded by Dr.
+Allen in his account of the Bats of North America. It relates to a
+small species, the Red Bat, very common throughout the United States,
+a young individual of which having been captured by a lad, "three
+hours afterwards, in the evening, as he was conveying it to the museum
+in his hand, while passing near the place where it was caught, the
+mother made her appearance, and followed the boy for two squares,
+flying around him, and finally alighted on his breast, such was her
+anxiety to save her offspring. Both were brought to the museum, the
+young one firmly adhering to its mother's teat. This faithful creature
+lived two days in the museum, and then died of injuries received from
+her captor. The young one being but half grown was still too young to
+take care of itself, and died shortly after."
+
+This little anecdote seems to set the moral character of the Bat in a
+very favorable light, at any rate as regards the family affections,
+and there is no doubt that the females of all the species of the group
+show considerable fondness for their young. In other respects,
+perhaps, they do not all shine quite so brilliantly, for, as we have
+seen, the Fruit Bats squabble very selfishly for the most convenient
+sleeping places, as indeed do other gregarious species of the order,
+and some of the former quarrel and fight over their food. As regards
+amiability of character, however, there is probably considerable
+difference between different kinds of Bats; at any rate, in
+confinement, they show much diversity of temper, some of them being
+sullen, refusing food, and biting vigorously at their captors or the
+bars of their prison, while others are easily tamed and soon become
+familiar. Two of the commonest species, the Pipistrelle, and the
+Long-eared Bat are among the latter. The Pipistrelle, which appears to
+be abundant throughout Britain, and indeed in most of the northern
+temperate regions of the eastern hemisphere, is a small reddish-brown
+species, measuring little more than one inch and a half in length
+without the tail, but with a spread of wing of more than eight inches.
+Its regular food consists chiefly of gnats, midges, and other small
+flies, in pursuit of which it often frequents the vicinity of water,
+but it has a curious predilection for raw meat, and in search of this
+it often makes its way into pantries, where the little thief will be
+found clinging to a joint of meat, and feeding upon it with avidity.
+This fondness for meat makes the Pipistrelle very easy to keep in
+confinement, as it diminishes the necessity of finding it insect food,
+and the little creature will in time become so tame as to take pieces
+of meat from its owner's fingers. It is an active and lively little
+creature, flying, running, and climbing about with great ease; in the
+latter operation, according to Professor Bell, it makes use of the
+extreme tip of the tail as if it was a finger.
+
+The Long-eared Bat, so called from the great size of its ears, which
+are nearly as long as the whole animal exclusive of the tail, has
+perhaps a wider distribution than the Pipistrelle, but is hardly so
+abundant in Britain. Its head and body measure nearly two inches long,
+while its wings spread to about ten inches. This Bat generally sleeps
+during the day under the roofs of houses and in church towers, and
+when sleeping its long ears are carefully stowed away under the folded
+wings, but the earlet or inner lobe of the ear still projects, so that
+the creature appears to have a pair of short-pointed ears. The
+Long-eared Bat flies very late in the evening, and indeed seems to
+continue its activity throughout the night; its food appears to
+consist to a great extent of the smaller moths, although other insects
+are by no means disdained. This species also soon becomes very tame
+and familiar; it will fly about the room, play with its fellows, and
+come fearlessly to take its food from the hand. Professor Bell gives
+an interesting account of one kept by Mr. James Sowerby, which, "when
+at liberty in the parlor, would fly to the hand of any of the young
+people who held up a fly toward it, and, pitching on the hand, take
+the fly without hesitation. If the insect was held between the lips,
+the Bat would then settle on its young patron's cheek, and take the
+fly with great gentleness from the mouth; and so far was this
+familiarity carried, that, when either of the young people made a
+humming noise with the mouth, in imitation of an insect, the Bat would
+search about the lips for the promised dainty." This habit of taking
+its food when off the wing, would seem to be natural to the Long-eared
+Bat under certain circumstances, as Mr. Tomes records his having seen
+one feeding in this manner upon the myriads of small moths which
+swarmed about a spindle tree in bloom.
+
+[Illustration: LONG-EARED BAT.]
+
+It is unnecessary to say that the creatures which display all this
+activity and intelligence are well endowed with at least all the
+senses possessed by the other animals of their class. The organs of
+smell and hearing are well developed, and in many cases associated
+with external membranous expansions of great size, as seen in the ears
+of the Long-eared Bat; and the eyes, though generally of small size
+except in the Fruit Bats, are bright and efficient, serving the
+creatures in good stead in the rapid pursuit of their insect-prey,
+which must be directed principally by sight. The common expression "as
+blind as a Bat," must be taken to apply to Bats accidentally driven
+from their retreats in the day-time, when it must be confessed that
+they fly about in a dazed manner; but at night and in their dark
+retreats they show no such imbecility of purpose, but find their way
+with astonishing precision and certainty. In fact, instead of being
+blind, the Bats must be especially sharp-sighted, if all their
+evolutions be guided by the sense of sight, for in many cases they
+habitually resort to the inmost recesses of caverns and other places
+where, so far as our judgment goes, no light can possibly penetrate.
+Hence it was long since suspected that some other sense than that of
+sight must come to their aid when they plunge into such outer darkness
+as prevails in some places through which they fly with the greatest
+freedom, and more than a century ago numerous experiment were made by
+a distinguished Italian naturalist, the Abbe Spallanzani, in order to
+discover, if possible, what might be the secret of these curious
+phenomena.
+
+He set free, in a long passage which was bent at a right angle about
+the middle of its length, a blinded Bat, which flew through the whole
+of this passage, turning the corner correctly, without anywhere
+touching the walls; while flying, too, it in some mysterious manner
+detected a hole in the roof at a distance of eighteen inches, and
+proceeded at once to ensconce itself in this shelter. In another
+experiment the Abbe took two Bats, one blinded, the other not, and
+placed them in a space shut off from a garden and roofed in with nets,
+and with sixteen strings suspended from the top in different parts.
+Both Bats flew about briskly and avoided the hanging strings equally
+well, until at length the _blinded_ Bat discovered that the meshes of
+the net were large enough for him to get through, when he at once made
+his escape, and after flying about for a short time, went off directly
+to the only roof in the vicinity, under which he disappeared. In
+short, from these experiments it became perfectly clear that under
+these circumstances the sense of sight was not of primary importance
+in guiding the course of the Bat. Similar trials with the organs of
+smell and hearing showed that they had nothing to do with it, and the
+only other sense that could be appealed to was the general sense of
+touch. Baron Cuvier, the great French comparative anatomist, was the
+first to suggest, from the consideration of the results obtained by
+the Abbe Spallanzani and others, especially by M. de Jurine, of
+Geneva, that the peculiar phenomena in question might be accounted for
+by the existence, especially in the great membranous expansions of the
+wings, of a most delicate sensibility; and subsequent investigations
+of the structure of those organs has tended to confirm this view, so
+that it is now the one generally accepted. It is found that these
+great membranes are traversed in all parts by numerous nerves, the
+delicate terminations of which form little loops, exactly resembling
+those which occur in our skin in those parts where the sense of touch
+is most highly developed; and this resemblance is heightened by the
+fact that the membrane is covered with rows of little points. Even the
+organs of circulation in the wings are so constructed as to render it
+almost certain that those organs have a quite exceptional sensibility.
+Their ramifications are very numerous, and the veins as well as the
+arteries have contractile walls, rendering the circulation of the
+blood exceedingly active, the conditions, as Professor St. George
+Mivart remarks, being almost those of a state of inflammation.
+
+If these membranous expansions have the functions just ascribed to
+them, we can easily understand that the larger they are the better,
+and this will explain why the Bats generally exhibit so great a
+tendency to run out into naked membranes. Thus although the ears, as
+organs of hearing, have probably nothing to do with guiding the Bat
+when flying in dark places, we find that in a great number of species
+the external ears are exceedingly large and delicately membranous, of
+which indeed we have an example in the British Long-eared Bat already
+referred to. In like manner, while the nose, as a nose, may also be
+left out of consideration, the development of membranous appendages of
+the part of the face in which the nostrils open is one of the most
+curious peculiarities of a vast number of Bats, in many of which these
+singular nose-leaves almost rival the ears in size, while their
+structure often renders them most grotesque. We have two Bats thus
+adorned in Britain, namely, the Greater and the Lesser Horseshoe Bats,
+but most of the leaf-nosed species are inhabitants of warmer regions,
+and it is there that they run out into the most remarkable
+eccentricities of structure. In Blainville's Bat, a small species
+inhabiting South America and the West Indies, these expansions of the
+skin of the face seem to have reached the utmost possible
+grotesqueness, but the membranous leaves are larger and the ears much
+more developed in many species allied to our own Horseshoe Bats,
+especially such as the Megaderms. We can hardly imagine that these
+great membranous expansions of the outer ears and the region of the
+nose can have any other purpose than that of enlarging the surface of
+highly sensitive skin specially adapted for the perception of external
+impressions, and it is a remarkable fact, strictly in accordance with
+this view, that, so far as we know, the Bats so endowed are more
+decidedly nocturnal in their habits and frequent darker retreats than
+their less gifted fellows. Thus our Long-eared Bat, as already stated,
+continues active on the wing throughout the whole night, and the
+Horseshoe Bats are distinguished as specially affecting dark caves.
+
+
+
+
+HOW SNAKES EAT
+
+(FROM SNAKES.)
+
+BY CATHERINE C. HOPLEY.
+
+
+[Illustration: HAMADRYAD SNAKE.]
+
+The Hamadryad's appointed diet is one ring-snake per week; but "Ophi,"
+as we now call him, is occasionally required--and with no sacrifice of
+his principles either--to eat an extra snake to satisfy the curiosity
+of some distinguished visitor. Sometimes, too, colubers are plentiful,
+and two small ones are not too much for his ten or twelve feet of
+appetite. This splendid serpent has rewarded care by remaining in
+perfect health, and growing several feet. He was between eight and
+nine feet long when he came, and is now not far short of twelve and
+proportionately larger in circumference. Sometimes during winter, when
+ring-snakes are scarce, "Ophi" is compelled to fast; for he is not
+then to be tempted with other food. During the first year of his
+residence in the Gardens, the supply was good, and he ate no less than
+eighty-two fellow-creatures before the winter was well over. Towards
+spring, however, the supply ran short, and only two more remained for
+him. He had now fasted two entire weeks, and looked hungry and eager.
+The keeper offered him a guinea-pig, at which he took great offence,
+raising his hood and hissing angrily for a long while. Eggs he
+declined, also a lizard and a rat, in great disgust. In India the
+Ophiophagi are said to feed on lizards and fish occasionally, but
+_our_ Ophiophagus preferred to fast. At last one of the two
+ring-snakes was produced, and Ophio was to be regaled. It was the 31st
+of March, 1876, and he had been a denizen of the Gardens just one
+year. My note-book informs me that it was a lovely, soft spring day,
+and that Ophio was quite lively. He had rejected frogs on his own
+account, but in the uncertainty of more ring-snakes arriving, he was
+now decoyed into eating half a dozen. Holland contrived that the snake
+destined for his dinner should answer the purpose of a feast, and had
+allowed it to eat as many frogs as it chose. Like the poor wretch who,
+doomed to the gallows, is permitted to fare sumptuously the last
+morning of his life, the ring-snake ate three frogs, by which the
+Ophiophagus was to derive chief benefit; he, all unconscious of the
+cause of his victim's unusual plumpness, swallowed him speedily.
+
+Soon after this Ophio doffed his winter coat entire, and having again
+fasted for ten days, was at once rewarded by the last remaining
+ring-snake in a similarly plethoric condition, namely, with three more
+frogs inside him. Now and then during the winter months the scarcity
+of ring-snakes has compelled the sacrifice of some far rarer colubers
+to Ophio's cannibal tastes. And yet each year we hear of hundreds of
+ring-snakes being ruthlessly killed in country districts, while at
+great cost and trouble others are purchased or brought from the
+Continent for the Hamadryad's sustenance. Lord Lilford, one of the
+Ophidarium's best patrons, sometimes sends presents of game in the
+shape of ring-snakes to the Hamadryad.
+
+While watching this snake-eater over his dinner, one is struck with
+the remarkable tenacity of life exhibited in the victim, or the slow
+action of the venom if poisoned in the first grasp. The Ophiophagus
+seizes it anywhere, that is, at whichever part happens to come first,
+and then, after holding it quietly for a time, works his jaws up to
+the head in the usual hand-over-hand, or "jaw-after-jaw" fashion,
+invariably swallowing the snake head first. On one occasion when I
+watched attentively, Ophio, having seized a ring-snake by the middle,
+held it doggedly still for one quarter of an hour, while the lesser
+snake did its very best to work its way out of the jaws, and also to
+fetter its captor by twirling itself over his head and coiling round
+his neck. This continued while Ophio, with his head and neck raised,
+remained motionless, and after the quarter of an hour commenced to
+work his jaws up towards the head of the ring snake, which, as more
+and more of its own body was free for action, twirled itself about,
+and at length coiled its tail round the bit of branch nailed into the
+cage.
+
+Persistently, like a sailor making his vessel fast to the windlass,
+the ring snake lashed as much of himself as was free round the branch
+a foot off, and so pulled and pulled till he looked in danger of
+severing himself in two. Meanwhile Ophio, slowly but surely advancing,
+caused its head and neck to disappear, grasping tightly with his
+venomous jaws, as if he would say, "We'll see who is master." It was a
+close tussle, so firmly did the little coluber retain his hold on the
+"tree"; but as the upper part of him was gradually drawn into those
+unrelaxing jaws, he by degrees gave way, and by and by was gone.
+
+Not far short of an hour was occupied in this meal, during which the
+victim showed no signs of being poisoned, nor were his coils round the
+stump relaxed in the slightest degree, till Ophio reached the tail.
+The ring snake is not a constrictor, yet he thus tied himself round
+the tree by the coils of his tail.
+
+One more singular case of tenacity of life must be recorded. A
+ring-snake had been caught in the usual way, and the usual struggle
+ensued between captor and captive. Coluber, with its head tightly
+gripped in the jaws of his enemy, had still all the rest of himself at
+liberty and in full activity, and after wriggling a violent protest,
+he coiled what was left of himself so closely round the neck of his
+persecutor that the latter made little or no progress with his dinner
+for a time. He seemed to be deliberating how to proceed next, and
+asking, "What is the meaning of this?" then shook his head, lowered it
+to the shingle, and tried to rub off the coils. The only result thus
+achieved was that the extreme end of Coluber's tail was loosened for a
+moment, but only to coil afresh around Ophio's jaws, which
+nevertheless slowly and surely advanced.
+
+For nearly an hour the progress was very slow; but when the ring-snake
+was nearly all swallowed except a few inches of tail, these became so
+tight a muzzle that Ophio in turn was the victim. Shaking his head and
+vainly endeavoring to free his jaws of this muzzle, a minute or two
+elapsed, during which he seemed to suffer some discomfort, when
+suddenly his mouth opened widely, and out crawled Natrix, apparently
+none the worse for this temporary entombment. He had turned round when
+two or three feet from daylight, and come back to see the world once
+more. But it so happened that Ophio closed his jaws in time over the
+few inches of tail which still remained between them. Nor did he once
+relax his grasp of this, but quickly and patiently began to work his
+way up to the head and recommence his meal, and this time with better
+success. An hour and a quarter I watched, nor was any evidence of
+poison seen, so as to reduce the powers of the bitten snake; for
+bitten it must have been in those prolonged and forcible grasps.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In these conflicts one could but observe a dogged stupidity on the
+part of the venomous snake, who, had he but brought coils to his aid,
+might have simplified matters so easily. The little Heterodons, and
+even the Lacertines, often assist themselves with coils in managing
+their prey, though not themselves constrictors; but the venomous ones
+have not the slightest notion of helping themselves in this way, as if
+confident that in time their venom would do its work.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+WHAT WORMS DO
+
+(FROM THE FORMATION OF VEGETABLE MOULD.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+We now come to treat of a curious and important subject,--namely, the
+amount of earth which is brought up by worms from beneath the surface,
+and is afterwards spread out more or less completely by the rain and
+wind. The amount can be judged of by two methods,--by the rate at
+which objects left on the surface are buried, and more accurately by
+weighing the quantity brought up within a given time. We will begin
+with the first method, as it was first followed.
+
+Near Maer Hall in Staffordshire, quick-lime had been spread, about the
+year 1827, thickly over a field of good pasture-land, which had not
+since been ploughed. Some square holes were dug in this field in the
+beginning of October, 1837, and the sections showed a layer of turf,
+formed by the matted roots of the grasses, 1/2 inch in thickness,
+beneath which, at a depth of 21/2 inches (or 3 inches from the surface),
+a layer of the lime in powder or in small lumps could be distinctly
+seen running all round the vertical sides of the holes. The soil
+beneath the layer of lime was either gravelly or of a coarse sandy
+nature, and differed considerably in appearance from the overlying
+dark-coloured fine mould. Coal-cinders had been spread over a part of
+this same field either in the year 1833 or 1834; and when the above
+holes were dug, that is, after an interval of 3 or 4 years, the
+cinders formed a line of black spots round the holes, at a depth of
+1 inch beneath the surface, parallel to and above the white layer of
+lime. Over another part of this field cinders had been strewed, only
+about half a year before, and these either still lay on the surface or
+were entangled among the roots of the grasses; and I here saw the
+commencement of the burying process, for worm-castings had been heaped
+on several of the smaller fragments. After an interval of 43/4 years
+this field was re-examined, and now the two layers of lime and cinders
+were found almost everywhere at a greater depth than before by nearly
+1 inch, we will say by 3/4 of an inch. Therefore, mould to an average
+thickness of .22 of an inch had been annually brought up by the worms,
+and had been spread over the surface of this field.
+
+Coal-cinders had been strewed over another field, at a date which
+could not be positively ascertained, so thickly that they formed
+(October, 1837) a layer, 1 inch in thickness at a depth of about
+3 inches from the surface. The layer was so continuous that the
+overlying dark vegetable mould was connected with the sub-soil of
+red clay only by the roots of the grasses; and when these were broken,
+the mould and the red clay fell apart. In a third field, on which
+coal-cinders and burnt marl had been strewed several times at unknown
+dates, holes were dug in 1842; and a layer of cinders could be traced
+at a depth of 31/2 inches, beneath which at a depth of 91/2 inches from
+the surface there was a line of cinders together with burnt marl. On
+the sides of one hole there were two layers of cinders, at 2 and
+31/2 inches beneath the surface; and below them at a depth in parts of 91/2,
+and in other parts of 101/2 inches there were fragments of burnt marl.
+In a fourth field two layers of lime, one above the other could be
+distinctly traced, and beneath them a layer of cinders and burnt marl
+at a depth of from 10 to 12 inches below the surface.
+
+A piece of waste land was enclosed, drained, ploughed, harrowed, and
+thickly covered in the year 1822 with burnt marl and cinders. It was
+sowed with grass seeds, and now supports a tolerably good but coarse
+pasture. Holes were dug in this field in 1837, or 15 years after its
+reclamation, and we see in the accompanying diagram (Fig. 1) reduced
+to half of the natural scale, that the turf was 1/2 inch thick, beneath
+which there was a layer of vegetable mould 21/2 inches thick. This layer
+did not contain fragments of any kind; but beneath it there was a
+layer of mould, 11/2 inch in thickness, full of fragments of burnt marl,
+conspicuous from their red color, one of which near the bottom was an
+inch in length; and other fragments of coal-cinders together with a
+few white quartz pebbles. Beneath this layer and at a depth of
+41/2 inches from the surface, the original black, peaty, sandy soil with a
+few quartz pebbles was encountered. Here, therefore, the fragments of
+burnt marl and cinders had been covered in the course of 15 years by a
+layer of fine vegetable mould, only 21/2 inches in thickness, excluding
+the turf. Six and a half years subsequently this field was
+re-examined, and the fragments were now found at from 4 to 5 inches
+beneath the surface. So that in this interval of 61/2 years, about
+11/2 inch of mould had been added to the superficial layer. I am surprised
+that a greater quantity had not been brought up during the whole
+211/2 years, for in the closely underlying black, peaty soil there were many
+worms. It is, however, probable that formerly, whilst the land
+remained poor, worms were scanty; and the mould would then have
+accumulated slowly. The average annual increase of thickness for the
+whole period is .19 of an inch.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1.
+Section of the vegetable mould in a field, drained and reclaimed
+    fifteen years previously; a, turf; b, vegetable mould without
+    any stones; c, mould with fragments of burnt marl, coal cinders,
+    and pebbles; d, sub-soil of black, peaty sand with quartz
+    pebbles.]
+
+Two other cases are worth recording. In the spring of 1835 a field,
+which had long existed as poor pasture, and was so swampy that it
+trembled slightly when stamped on, was thickly covered with red sand
+so that the whole surface appeared at first bright red. When holes
+were dug in this field after an interval of about 21/2 years, the sand
+formed a layer at a depth of 3/4 inch beneath the surface. In 1842
+(i.e., seven years after the sand had been laid on) fresh holes were
+dug, and now the red sand formed a distinct layer, 2 inches beneath
+the surface, or 11/2 inch beneath the turf; so that on an average
+.21 inches of mould had been annually brought to the surface. Immediately
+beneath the layer of red sand the original sub-stratum of black, sandy
+peat extended.
+
+A grass field, likewise not far from Maer Hall, had formerly been
+thickly covered with marl, and was then left for several years as
+pasture; it was afterwards ploughed. A friend had three trenches dug
+in this field 28 years after the application of the marl, and a layer
+of the marl fragments could be traced at a depth, carefully
+measured, of 12 inches in some parts, and of 14 inches in other parts.
+This difference in depth depended on the layer being horizontal,
+whilst the surface consisted of ridges and furrows from the field
+having been ploughed. The tenant assured me that it had never been
+turned up to a greater depth than from 6 to 8 inches; and as the
+fragments formed an unbroken horizontal layer from 12 to 14 inches
+beneath the surface, these must have been buried by the worms whilst
+the land was in pasture before it was ploughed, for otherwise they
+would have been indiscriminately scattered by the plough throughout
+the whole thickness of the soil. Four and a half years afterwards I
+had three holes dug in this field, in which potatoes had been lately
+planted, and the layer of marl fragments was now found 13 inches
+beneath the bottoms of the furrows, and therefore probably 15 inches
+beneath the general level of the field. It should, however, be
+observed that the thickness of the blackish, sandy soil, which had
+been thrown up by the worms above the marl fragments in the course of
+321/2 years, would have measured less than 15 inches, if the field had
+always remained as pasture, for the soil would in this case have been
+much more compact. The fragments of marl almost rested on an
+undisturbed sub-stratum of white sand with quartz pebbles; and as this
+would be little attractive to worms, the mould would hereafter be very
+slowly increased by their action.
+
+We will now give some cases of the action of worms, on land differing
+widely from the dry, sandy, or the swampy pasture just described. The
+chalk formation extends all round my house in Kent; and its surface,
+from having been exposed during an immense period to the dissolving
+action of rain-water, is extremely irregular, being abruptly festooned
+and penetrated by many deep, well-like cavities. During the
+dissolution of the chalk the insoluble matter, including a vast number
+of unrolled flints of all sizes, has been left on the surface and
+forms a bed of stiff red clay, full of flints, and generally from 6 to
+14 feet in thickness. Over the red clay, wherever the land has long
+remained as pasture, there is a layer a few inches in thickness of
+dark-coloured vegetable mould.
+
+A quantity of broken chalk was spread, on December 20, 1842, over a
+part of a field near my house, which had existed as pasture certainly
+for 30, probably for twice or thrice as many, years. The chalk was
+laid on the land for the sake of observing at some future period to
+what depth it would become buried. At the end of November, 1871, that
+is, after an interval of twenty-nine years, a trench was dug across
+this part of the field; and a line of white nodules could be traced on
+both sides of the trench, at a depth of 7 inches from the surface. The
+mould, therefore (excluding the turf), had here been thrown up at an
+average rate of .22 inches per year. Beneath the line of chalk nodules
+there was in parts hardly any fine earth free of flints, while in
+other parts there was a layer 21/4 inches in thickness. In this latter
+case the mould was altogether 91/4 inches thick; and in one such spot a
+nodule of chalk and a smooth flint pebble, both of which must have
+been left at some former time on the surface, were found at this
+depth. At from 11 to 12 inches beneath the surface, the undisturbed
+reddish clay, full of flints, extended. The appearance of the above
+nodules of chalk surprised me much at first, as they closely resembled
+water-worn pebbles, whereas the freshly-broken fragments had been
+angular. But on examining the nodules with a lens, they no longer
+appeared water-worn, for their surfaces were pitted through unequal
+corrosion, and minute, sharp points, formed of broken fossil shells,
+projected from them. It was evident that the corners of the original
+fragments of chalk had been wholly dissolved, from presenting a large
+surface to the carbonic acid dissolved in the rain-water and to that
+generated in soil containing vegetable matter, as well as the
+humus-acids. The projecting corners would also, relatively to the
+other parts, have been embraced by a larger number of living rootlets;
+and these have the power of even attacking marble, as Sachs has shown.
+Thus, in the course of twenty-nine years, buried angular fragments of
+chalk had been converted into well-rounded nodules.
+
+Another part of this same field was mossy, and as it was thought that
+sifted coal-cinders would improve the pasture, a thick layer was
+spread over this part either in 1842 or 1843, and another layer some
+years afterwards. In 1871 a trench was here dug, and many cinders lay
+in a line at a depth of 7 inches beneath the surface, with another
+line at a depth of 51/2 inches parallel to the one beneath. In another
+part of this field, which had formerly existed as a separate one, and
+which it was believed had been pasture-land for more than a century,
+trenches were dug to see how thick the vegetable mould was. By chance
+the first trench was made at a spot where at some former period,
+certainly more than forty years before, a large hole had been filled
+up with coarse, red clay, flints, fragments of chalk, and gravel; and
+here the fine vegetable mould was only from 4 1/8 to 4 3/8 inches in
+thickness. In another and undisturbed place, the mould varied much in
+thickness, namely, from 61/2 to 81/2 inches; beneath which a few small
+fragments of brick were found in one place. From these several cases,
+it would appear, that during the last 29 years mould has been heaped
+on the surface at an average annual rate of from .2 to .22 of an
+inch. But in this district when a ploughed field is first laid down in
+grass, the mould accumulates at a much slower rate. The rate, also,
+must become very much slower after a bed of mould, several inches in
+thickness, has been formed; for the worms then live chiefly near the
+surface, and burrow down to a greater depth so as to bring up fresh
+earth from below, only during the winter, when the weather is very
+cold (at which time worms were found in this field at a depth of
+26 inches), and during summer, when the weather is very dry.
+
+A field which adjoins the one just described, slopes in one part
+rather steeply (viz., at from 10 deg. to 15 deg.); this part was last ploughed
+in 1841, was then harrowed and left to become pasture-land. For
+several years it was clothed with an extremely scant vegetation, and
+was so thickly covered with small and large flints (some of them half
+as large as a child's head) that the field was always called by my
+sons "the stony field." When they ran down the slope the stones
+clattered together. I remember doubting whether I should live to see
+these larger flints covered with vegetable mould and turf. But the
+smaller stones disappeared before many years had elapsed, as did every
+one of the larger ones after a time; so that after thirty years (1871)
+a horse could gallop over the compact turf from one end of the field
+to the other, and not strike a single stone with his shoes. To anyone
+who remembered the appearance of the field in 1842, the transformation
+was wonderful. This was certainly the work of the worms, for though
+castings were not frequent for several years, yet some were thrown up
+month after month, and these gradually increased in numbers as the
+pasture improved. In the year 1871 a trench was dug on the above
+slope, and the blades of grass were cut off close to the roots, so
+that the thickness of the turf and of the vegetable mould could be
+measured accurately. The turf was rather less than half an inch, and
+the mould, which did not contain any stones, 21/2 inches in thickness.
+Beneath this lay coarse, clayey earth full of flints, like that in any
+of the neighboring ploughed fields. This coarse earth easily fell
+apart from the overlying mould when a split was lifted up. The average
+rate of accumulation of the mould during the whole thirty years was
+only .083 inch per year (i.e., nearly one inch in twelve years); but
+the rate must have been much slower at first, and afterwards
+considerably quicker.
+
+The transformation in the appearance of this field, which had been
+effected beneath my eyes, was afterwards rendered the more striking,
+when I examined in Knole Park a dense forest of lofty beech-trees,
+beneath which nothing grew. Here the ground was thickly strewed with
+large, naked stones, and worm-castings were almost wholly absent.
+Obscure lines and irregularities on the surface indicated that the
+land had been cultivated some centuries ago. It is probable that a
+thick wood of young beech-trees sprung up so quickly, that time enough
+was not allowed for worms to cover up the stone with their castings,
+before the site became unfitted for their existence. Anyhow, the
+contrast between the state of the now miscalled "stony field," well
+stocked with worms, and the present state of the ground beneath the
+old beech-trees in Knole Park, where worms appeared to be absent, was
+striking.
+
+A narrow path running across part of my lawn was paved in 1843 with
+small flag-stones, set edgeways; but worms threw up many castings, and
+weeds grew thickly between them. During several years the path was
+weeded and swept; but ultimately the weeds and worms prevailed, and
+the gardener ceased to sweep, merely moving off the weeds, as often as
+the lawn was mowed. The path soon became almost covered up, and after
+several years no trace of it was left. On removing, in 1877, the thin
+overlaying layer of turf, the small flag-stones, all in their proper
+places, were found covered by an inch of fine mould.
+
+Two recently published accounts of substances strewed on the surface
+of pasture-land, having become buried through the action of worms, may
+be here noticed. The Rev. H. C. Key had a ditch cut in a field, over
+which coal-ashes had been spread, as it was believed, 18 years before,
+and on the clean-cut perpendicular sides of the ditch, at a depth of
+at least 7 inches, there could be seen, for a length of 60 yards, "a
+distinct, very even, narrow line of coal-ashes, mixed with small coal,
+perfectly parallel with the top-sward." This parallelism and the
+length of the section gives interest to the case. Secondly, Mr. Dancer
+states that crushed bones had been thickly strewed over a field, and
+"some years afterwards" these were found "several inches below the
+surface, at a uniform depth." Worms appear to act in the same manner
+in New Zealand as in Europe; for Professor J. von Haast has described
+a section near the coast, consisting of mica-schist, "covered by 5 or
+6 feet of loess, above which about 12 inches of vegetable soil had
+accumulated." Between the loess and the mould there was a layer from 3
+to 6 inches in thickness, consisting of "cores, implements, flakes,
+and chips, all manufactured from hard basaltic rock." It is,
+therefore, probable, that the aborigines, at some former period, had
+left these objects on the surface, and that they had afterwards been
+slowly covered up by the castings of worms.
+
+Farmers in England are well aware that objects of all kinds, left on
+the surface of pasture-lands, after a time disappear, or, as they say,
+work themselves downwards. How powdered lime, cinders, and heavy
+stones, can work down, and at the same rate, through the matted roots
+of a grass-covered surface, is a question which has probably never
+occurred to them.
+
+_The sinking of great stones through the action of worms._--When a
+stone of large size and of irregular shape is left on the surface of
+the ground, it rests, of course, on the more protuberant parts; but
+worms soon fill up with their castings all the hollow spaces on the
+lower side; for, as Hensen remarks, they like the shelter of stones.
+As soon as the hollows are filled up, the worms eject the earth which
+they have swallowed beyond the circumference of the stones; and thus
+the surface of the ground is raised all round the stone. As the
+burrows excavated directly beneath the stone after a time collapse,
+the stone sinks a little. Hence it is, that boulders which at some
+ancient period have rolled down from a rocky mountain or cliff on to a
+meadow at its base, are always somewhat imbedded in the soil; and,
+when removed, leave an exact impression of their lower surfaces in
+the under-lying fine mould. If, however, a boulder is of such huge
+dimensions, that the earth beneath is kept dry, such earth will not be
+inhabited by worms, and the boulder will not sink into the ground.
+
+A lime-kiln formerly stood in a grass-field near Leith Hill Place, in
+Surrey, and was pulled down 35 years before my visit; all the loose
+rubbish had been carted away, excepting three large stones of
+quartzose sandstone, which it was thought might hereafter be of some
+use. An old workman remembered that they had been left on a bare
+surface of broken bricks and mortar, close to the foundations of the
+kiln; but the whole surrounding surface is now covered with turf and
+mould. The two largest of these stones had never since been moved; nor
+could this easily have been done, as, when I had them removed, it was
+the work of two men with levers. One of these stones, and not the
+largest, was 64 inches long, 17 inches broad, and from 9 to 10 inches
+in thickness. Its lower surface was somewhat protuberant in the
+middle; and this part still rested on broken bricks and mortar,
+showing the truth of the old workman's account. Beneath the brick
+rubbish the natural sandy soil, full of fragments of sandstone, was
+found; and this could have yielded very little, if at all, to the
+weight of the stone, as might have been expected if the sub-soil had
+been clay. The surface of the field, for a distance of about 9 inches
+round the stone, gradually sloped up to it, and close to the stone
+stood in most places about 4 inches above the surrounding ground. The
+base of the stone was buried from 1 to 2 inches beneath the general
+level, and the upper surface projected about 8 inches above this
+level, or about 4 inches above the sloping border of turf. After the
+removal of the stone it became evident that one of its pointed ends
+must at first have stood clear above the ground by some inches, but
+its upper surface was now on a level with the surrounding turf. When
+the stone was removed, an exact cast of its lower side, forming a
+shallow crateriform hollow, was left, the inner surface of which
+consisted of fine, black mould, excepting where the more protuberant
+parts rested on the brick-rubbish. A transverse section of this stone,
+together with its bed, drawn from measurements made after it had been
+displaced, is here given on a scale of 1/2 inch to a foot (Fig. 2). The
+turf-covered border which sloped up to the stone, consisted of fine
+vegetable mould, in one part 7 inches in thickness. This evidently
+consisted of worm-castings, several of which had been recently
+ejected. The whole stone had sunk in the thirty-five years, as far as
+I could judge, about 11/2 inch; and this must have been due to the
+brick-rubbish beneath the more protuberant parts having been
+undermined by worms. At this rate, the upper surface of the stone, if
+it had been left undisturbed, would have sunk to the general level of
+the field in 247 years; but before this could have occurred, some
+earth would have been washed down by heavy rain from the castings on
+the raised border of turf over the upper surface of the stone.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2.
+Transverse section across a large stone, which had lain on a
+    grass-field for thirty-five years. _aa_, general level of the
+    field. The underlying brick of rubbish has not been represented.]
+
+The second stone was larger than the one just described, viz.,
+67 inches in length, 39 in breadth, and 15 in thickness. The lower
+surface was nearly flat, so that the worms must soon have been
+compelled to eject their castings beyond its circumference. The stone
+as a whole had sunk about 2 inches into the ground. At this rate it
+would have required 262 years for its upper surface to have sunk to
+the general level of the field. The upwardly sloping, turf-covered
+border round the stone was broader than in the last case, viz., from
+14 to 16 inches; and why this should be so, I could see no reason. In
+most parts this border was not so high as in the last case, viz., from
+2 to 21/2 inches, but in one place it was as much as 51/2. Its average
+height close to the stone was probably about 3 inches, and it thinned
+out to nothing. If so, a layer of fine earth, 15 inches in breadth and
+11/2 inch in average thickness, of sufficient length to surround the
+whole of the much elongated slab, must have been brought up by the
+worms in chief part from beneath the stone in the course of 35 years.
+This amount would be amply sufficient to account for its having sunk
+about 2 inches into the ground; more especially if we bear in mind
+that a good deal of the finest earth would have been washed by heavy
+rain from the castings ejected on the sloping border down to the level
+of the field. Some fresh castings were seen close to the stone.
+Nevertheless, on digging a large hole to a depth of 18 inches where
+the stone had lain, only two worms and a few burrows were seen,
+although the soil was damp and seemed favorable for worms. There were
+some large colonies of ants beneath the stone, and possibly since
+their establishment the worms had decreased in number.
+
+The third stone was only about half as large as the others; and two
+strong boys could together have rolled it over. I have no doubt that
+it had been rolled over at a moderately recent time, for it now lay at
+some distance from the two other stones at the bottom of a little
+adjoining slope. It rested also on fine earth, instead of partly on
+brick-rubbish. In agreement with this conclusion, the raised
+surrounding border of turf was only 1 inch high in some parts, and
+2 inches in other parts. There were no colonies of ants beneath this
+stone, and on digging a hole where it had lain, several burrows and
+worms were found.
+
+At Stonehenge, some of the outer Druidical stones are now prostrate,
+having fallen at a remote but unknown period; and these have become
+buried to a moderate depth in the ground. They are surrounded by
+sloping borders of turf, on which recent castings were seen. Close to
+one of these fallen stones, which was 17 feet long, 6 feet broad, and
+281/2 inches thick, a hole was dug; and here the vegetable mould was at
+least 91/2 inches in thickness. At this depth a flint was found, and a
+little higher up on one side of the hole a fragment of glass. The base
+of the stone lay about 91/2 inches beneath the level of the surrounding
+ground, and its upper surface 19 inches above the ground.
+
+A hole was also dug close to a second huge stone, which in falling had
+broken into two pieces; and this must have happened long ago, judging
+from the weathered aspect of the fractured ends. The base was buried
+to a depth of 10 inches, as was ascertained by driving an iron skewer
+horizontally into the ground beneath it. The vegetable mould forming
+the turf-covered sloping border round the stone, on which many
+castings had recently been ejected, was 10 inches in thickness; and
+most of this mould must have been brought up by worms from beneath its
+base. At a distance of 8 yards from the stone, the mould was only
+51/2 inches in thickness (with a piece of tobacco pipe at a depth of
+4 inches), and this rested on broken flint and chalk which could not
+have easily yielded to the pressure or weight of the stone.
+
+A straight rod was fixed horizontally (by the aid of a spirit-level)
+across a third fallen stone, which was 7 feet 9 inches long; and the
+contour of the projecting parts and of the adjoining ground, which was
+not quite level, was thus ascertained, as shown in the accompanying
+diagram (Fig. 3) on a scale of 1/2 inch to a foot. The turf-covered
+border sloped up to the stone on one side to a height of 4 inches, and
+on the opposite side to only 21/2 inches above the general level. A hole
+was dug on the eastern side, and the base of the stone was here found
+to lie at a depth of 4 inches beneath the general level of the
+ground, and of 8 inches beneath the top of the sloping turf-covered
+border.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3.
+Section through one of the fallen Druidical stones at Stonehenge,
+    showing how much it had sunk into the ground.]
+
+Sufficient evidence has now been given showing that small objects left
+on the surface of the land where worms abound soon get buried, and
+that large stones sink slowly downwards through the same means. Every
+step of the process could be followed, from the accidental deposition
+of a single casting on a small object lying loose on the surface, to
+its being entangled amidst the matted roots of the turf, and lastly to
+its being embedded in the mould at various depths beneath the surface.
+When the same field was re-examined after the interval of a few years,
+such objects were found at a greater depth than before. The
+straightness and regularity of the lines formed by the embedded
+objects, and their parallelism with the surface of the land, are the
+most striking features of the case; for this parallelism shows how
+equably the worms must have worked; the result being, partly the
+effect of the washing down of the fresh castings by rain. The specific
+gravity of the objects does not affect their rate of sinking, as could
+be seen by porous cinders, burnt marl, chalk and quartz pebbles,
+having all sunk to the same depth within the same time. Considering
+the nature of the sub-stratum, which at Leith Hill Place was sandy
+soil including many bits of rock, and at Stonehenge, chalk-rubble with
+broken flints; considering, also, the presence of the turf-covered
+sloping border of mould round the great fragments of stone at both
+these places, their sinking does not appear to have been sensibly
+aided by their weight, though this was considerable.
+
+_On the number of worms which live within a given space._--We will
+now show, first, what a vast number of worms live unseen by us beneath
+our feet, and, secondly, the actual weight of the earth which they
+bring up to the surface within a given space and within a given time.
+Hensen, who has published so full and interesting an account of the
+habits of worms, calculates, from the number which he found in a
+measured space, that there must exist 133,000 living worms in a
+hectare of land, or 53,767 in an acre. This latter number of worms
+would weigh 356 pounds, taking Hensen's standard of the weight of a
+single worm, namely, one gram. It should, however, be noted that this
+calculation is founded on the numbers found in a garden, and Hensen
+believes that worms are here twice as numerous as in corn-fields. The
+above result, astonishing though it be, seems to me credible, judging
+from the number of worms which I have sometimes seen, and from the
+number daily destroyed by birds without the species being
+exterminated. Some barrels of bad ale were left on Mr. Miller's land,
+in the hope of making vinegar, but the vinegar proved bad, and the
+barrels were upset. It should be premised that acetic acid is so
+deadly a poison to worms that Perrier found that a glass rod dipped
+into this acid and then into a considerable body of water in which
+worms were immersed, invariably killed them quickly. On the morning
+after the barrels had been upset, "the heaps of worms which lay dead
+on the ground were so amazing, that if Mr. Miller had not seen them,
+he could not have thought it possible for such numbers to have existed
+in the space." As further evidence of the large number of worms which
+live in the ground Hensen states that he found in a garden 64 open
+burrows in a space of 141/2 square feet, that is, 9 in 2 square feet.
+But the burrows are sometimes much more numerous, for when digging in
+a grass-field near Maer Hall, I found a cake of dry earth, as large as
+my two open hands, which was penetrated by seven burrows, as large as
+goose-quills.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+TWO FOPS AMONG THE FISHES
+
+(FROM GLEANINGS FROM NATURE.)[7]
+
+BY W. S. BLATCHLEY.
+
+[7] Copyright by W. S. Blatchley, 1899.
+
+
+I.--THE RAINBOW DARTER.
+
+"Little fishy in the brook."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Not the one "daddy caught with a hook," but another, too small for the
+hook, too small for the frying-pan, too small for aught else but
+beauty, and gracefulness of form; and yet not the young of a larger
+fish, but full grown of himself. In every brook in the State he may be
+found, yea, even in the rill, no more than a foot in width, which
+leads away from the old spring-house on the hillside. You will not
+find him swimming about like the minnows in the still, deep water of
+the stream, but where the clear, cold water is rushing rapidly over
+the stones of a ripple he makes his home. There he rests quietly on
+the bottom, waiting patiently for his food, the larvae or young of
+gnats, mosquitoes, and other such insects, to float by.
+
+If you attempt to catch him, or your shadow suddenly frightens him,
+with a sweep of his broad pectoral or breast fins, he moves quicker
+than a flash a few feet farther up the stream, and then as suddenly
+comes to a stop, and resumes his quiet, "thoughtful" attitude. If you
+persist in your attempt to capture him, he will dart under a small
+stone or submerged leaf, where, like the foolish ostrich which when
+pursued hides her head under her wing, no longer seeing you, he thinks
+himself secure.
+
+[Illustration: RAINBOW DARTER.]
+
+On account of the shape of his body, as well as on account of his
+rapid movements, he has received the surname "darter." Belonging to
+the group which bears this surname, there are, in the eastern half of
+the United States, about forty-seven species or kinds, the largest of
+which, when full grown, measures only about six inches in length,
+while the smallest species never reaches a length of more than an inch
+and a half. They all have the same habits, and at least twenty-nine
+kinds of them are found in Indiana; but the one of which I am writing
+is much the more common. He is from two to two and a half inches in
+length, and, like the other members of his family, has two fins on his
+back; "dorsal" fins they are called by naturalists, the front one of
+which contains ten short spines. During eight months of the year, the
+males and females dress alike in a suit of brownish olive which is
+striped on the sides with ten or twelve narrow, black cross-bars, and
+more or less blotched on the back with darker spots. But on the first
+warm days of spring, when the breezes blow up from the gulf, awakening
+the gypsy in our blood, the little male fish feels, too, their
+influence, and in him there arises an irresistible desire to
+"a-courting go." Like most other beings of his sex, he thinks his
+every-day suit too plain for the important business before him. It
+will, in his opinion, ne'er catch the eye of his lady love. So he dons
+one of gaudy colors and from it takes his name,--the rainbow
+darter,--for in it he is best known, as it not only attracts the
+attention of his chosen one, but often also that of the wandering
+naturalist who happens along the stream.
+
+The blackish bars of other seasons are changed to indigo blue, while
+the space between them assumes a hue of the brightest orange. The fins
+are broadly edged with blue and have the bases orange, or orange and
+scarlet, while the cheeks assume the blue and the breast becomes an
+orange. Clad in this suit he ventures forth on his mission, and if
+successful, as he almost always is, the two construct a nest of tiny
+stones in which the eggs of the mother-fish are laid and watched over
+with jealous care by both parents until in time there issue forth sons
+destined some day to wear a coat of many colors, and "darters" to be
+attracted by those coats, as was their mother by the one their father
+wore.
+
+Although so abundant and so brilliant in the springtime, the rainbow
+darter is known to few but naturalists. The fishes in which the
+average country boy is interested are the larger ones--such as the
+goggle-eye, the sucker, chub, and sunfish--those which, when caught,
+will fill up the string and tickle the palate.
+
+But there are, let us hope, among our farmers' sons and daughters,
+some who are learning to take an interest in the objects of nature
+which are beautiful, as well as in those which are useful. To them I
+will say, if you wish to see something really pretty, make a seine
+from an old coffee sack or a piece of mosquito netting, and any day in
+spring drag two or three ripples of the branch which flows through the
+wood's pasture, and ten chances to one you will get some "rainbows."
+By placing them in a fruit jar three-fourths full of clear, cold
+water, and renewing the water every few hours, they can be kept for
+several days; but they cannot bear the confinement long, accustomed as
+they are to the free running stream from which they were taken.
+
+By taking the rainbow as the type of the darter and studying closely
+its habits, both in captivity and in the streams, much can be learned
+about a group which, in the words of Dr. S. A. Forbes, "are the
+mountaineers among fishes. Forced from the populous and fertile
+valleys of the river beds and lake bottoms, they have taken refuge
+from their enemies in the rocky highlands where the free waters play
+in ceaseless torrents, and there they have wrested from stubborn
+nature a meagre living. Although diminished in size by their
+continual struggle with the elements, they have developed an activity
+and hardihood, a vigor of life and a glow of high color almost unknown
+among the easier livers of the lower lands."
+
+
+II.--THE LONG-EARED SUNFISH.
+
+Among the most brightly colored of all the fresh-water members of the
+finny tribe is the long-eared sunfish. When full grown its length is
+about eight inches and the breadth one-half as much. The color is then
+a brilliant blue and orange, the former predominating above; the
+orange on the sides in spots, the blue in wavy, vertical streaks. The
+cheeks are orange with bright blue stripes; the fins with the
+membranes orange, and the rays blue. Extending back from the hind
+margin of each cheek is a conspicuous blackish membrane termed an
+"ear-flap," which in this species is longer than in any other of the
+sun-fish family, whence the specific name, _megalotis_, from two Greek
+words meaning "great" and "ear."
+
+[Illustration: LONG-EARED SUNFISH.]
+
+Within the placid pools of the brooks and larger streams of the State
+this sunfish has its favorite haunts. Mid-summer is the time when its
+habits can be best observed. On a recent August morn I sat for an
+hour or longer on the banks of a stream, which flows through a wooded
+blue-grass pasture, and watched the denizens of its waters. A peaceful
+calm existed, the water being without a ripple and with scarce the
+semblance of a flow--the air without the shadow of a breeze. Dragon
+flies lazily winged their way across the pool, now resting daintily
+upon a blade of sedge or swamp grass, now dipping the tips of their
+abdomens beneath the surface of the water while depositing their eggs.
+The only sounds of nature were the buzz of a bumble-bee feeding among
+the flowers of the _Brunella_ at my side, and an occasional drawl of a
+dog-day locust from the branches of the sycamore which threw a
+grateful shade about me.
+
+The sunfish "hung motionless" in the water, their heads towards me,
+holding their position only by a slow flapping of their dorsal and
+pectoral fins. Their nesting time over, their season's labor ended, it
+was with them, as with many other beings, a time of languor.
+
+These long-eared fishes are the lords and ladies of the respective
+pools wherein they abide. When they move other smaller fry clear the
+way. If a worm or gnat, falling upon the surface, tempts them, it is
+theirs. A leaf falls near them and is seemingly unnoticed--a fly, and
+how quickly their dormant energy is put into motion. With a dart and a
+gulp the insect is swallowed, and a new stage of waiting expectancy is
+ushered in.
+
+How admirably fitted their form for cleaving the water! They often
+seem to glide rather than propel themselves through its depths. Again,
+how swiftly the caudal fin moves when with straight unerring motion
+they dart upon their prey. At times one turns his body sideways, and,
+with a slow, upward-gliding motion, moves toward some object on the
+surface which is doubtfully "good to eat." He even takes it into his
+mouth and then, not having faith in his power to properly digest it,
+ejects it with force, and turning quickly darts back to the friendly
+shadow of a boulder beneath whose sides he has, in time of threatened
+danger, a safe retreat.
+
+I throw a grasshopper into the pool. Like a flash six of the sunfish
+are after it. One reaches it a tenth of a second in advance of the
+others, and with a lightning-like gulp, which disturbs the serenity of
+the surface of the pool, swallows the kicking prey. The energy of the
+sun's heat and light, stored in grass, transmitted to move muscles in
+gigantic leaps, will, in a short time, wag a caudal fin and propel the
+owner through these watery depths.
+
+Years are thus doubtless spent by these long-eared sunfish in a dreamy
+sort of existence, their energies quickened by the vernal season and
+growing duller on the approach of winter. Excepting the times when
+they are tempted by a wriggling worm on some boy's hook, theirs is a
+life exempt from danger. A kingfisher glancing down from his perch on
+the bent sycamore limb may, at times, discern them and lessen their
+ranks; but, methinks, the chub minnows, with fewer spines in their
+dorsal fins, are more agreeable to the king-fisher's palate. With all
+the tints of the rainbow gleaming from their sides they move to and
+fro, the brilliant rulers of these quiet pools.
+
+The king or monarch of those noted was most gorgeously arrayed. In
+addition to the hues above described, a streak of emerald bordered his
+dorsal and caudal fins and was bent around the edge of his upper
+lip--a green mustache, as it were. By tolling them with occasional
+bits of food I drew him and his retinue close into shore. There, for
+some time they rested, watching eagerly for additional morsels. As I
+was leaving I plucked from my sleeve an ant and threw it towards them.
+A dart, a gurgle, a gulp--the leader had leaped half his length from
+the water, and the ant was forever gone. The ripples receded and
+finally disappeared, and the last scene in this tragedy of nature was
+at an end.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+SEA-SLUGS AND CUTTLE-FISH
+
+(FROM A JOURNAL OF RESEARCHES.)
+
+BY CHARLES DARWIN.
+
+
+[Illustration: CUTTLE-FISH.]
+
+I was much interested, on several occasions, by watching the habits of
+an Octopus, or cuttle-fish. Although common in the pools of water left
+by the retiring tide, these animals were not easily caught. By means
+of their long arms and suckers, they could drag their bodies into very
+narrow crevices; and when thus fixed, it required great force to
+remove them. At other times they darted, tail first, with the rapidity
+of an arrow, from one side of the pool to the other, at the same
+instant discoloring the water with a dark chestnut-brown ink. These
+animals also escape detection by a very extraordinary, chameleon-like
+power of changing their color. They appear to vary their tints
+according to the nature of the ground over which they pass: when in
+deep water, their general shade was brownish-purple, but when placed
+on the land, or in shallow water, this dark tint changed into one of
+a yellowish green. The color, examined more carefully, was a French
+gray, with numerous minute spots of bright yellow: the former of these
+varied in intensity; the latter entirely disappeared and appeared
+again by turns. These changes were effected in such a manner, that
+clouds, varying in tint between a hyacinth red and a chestnut brown,
+were continually passing over the body. Any part, being subjected to a
+slight shock of galvanism, became almost black: a similar effect, but
+in a less degree, was produced by scratching the skin with a needle.
+These clouds, or blushes as they may be called, are said to be
+produced by the alternate contraction and expansion of minute
+vescicles containing variously colored fluids.
+
+This cuttle-fish displayed its chameleon-like power both during the
+act of swimming and whilst remaining stationary at the bottom. I was
+much amused by the various arts to escape detection used by one
+individual, which seemed fully aware that I was watching it. Remaining
+for a time motionless, it would then stealthily advance an inch or
+two, like a cat after a mouse; sometimes changing its color: it thus
+proceeded, till having gained a deeper part, it darted away, leaving a
+dusky train of ink to hide the hole into which it had crawled.
+
+While looking for marine animals, with my head about two feet above
+the rocky shore, I was more than once saluted by a jet of water,
+accompanied by a slight grating noise. At first I could not think what
+it was, but afterwards I found out that it was this cuttle-fish,
+which, though concealed in a hole, thus often led me to its discovery.
+That it possesses the power of ejecting water there is no doubt, and
+it appeared to me that it could certainly take good aim by directing
+the tube or siphon on the upper side of its body. From the difficulty
+which these animals have in carrying their heads, they cannot crawl
+with ease when placed on the ground. I observed that one which I kept
+in the cabin was slightly phosphorescent in the dark.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE COW-FISH
+
+(FROM TRAVELS ON THE AMAZON.)
+
+BY SIR ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE.
+
+
+[Illustration: SKULL OF COW-FISH.]
+
+It was a female, about six feet long, and nearly five in circumference
+in the thickest part. The body is perfectly smooth, and without any
+projections or inequalities, changing into a horizontal semicircular
+flat tail, with no appearance whatever of hind limbs. There is no
+distinct neck; the head is not very large, and is terminated by a
+large mouth and fleshy lips, somewhat resembling those of a cow. There
+are stiff bristles on the lips, and a few distantly scattered hairs
+over the body. Behind the head are two powerful oval fins, and just
+beneath them are the breasts, from which, on pressure being applied,
+flows a stream of beautiful white milk. The ears are minute holes, and
+the eyes very small. The color is a dusky lead, with some large
+pinkish-white marbled blotches on the belly. The skin is about an inch
+thick on the back, and a quarter of an inch on the belly. Beneath the
+skin is a layer of fat of a greater or less thickness, generally about
+an inch, which is boiled down to make an oil used for light and for
+cooking. The intestines are very voluminous, the heart about the size
+of a sheep's, and the lungs about two feet long, and six or seven
+inches wide, very cellular and spongy, and can be blown out like a
+bladder. The skull is large and solid, with no front teeth; the
+vertebrae extend to the very tip of the tail, but show no rudiments of
+posterior limbs; the fore limbs, on the contrary, are very highly
+developed, the bones exactly corresponding to those of the human arm,
+having even the five fingers, with every joint distinct, yet enclosed
+in a stiff inflexible skin, where not a joint can have any motion.
+
+The cow-fish feeds on grass at the borders of the rivers and lakes,
+and swims quickly with the tail and paddles; and though the external
+organs of sight and hearing are so imperfect, these senses are said by
+the hunters to be remarkably acute, and to render necessary all their
+caution and skill to capture the animals. They bring forth one, or
+rarely two, young ones, which they clasp in their arms or paddles
+while giving suck. They are harpooned or caught in a strong net, at
+the narrow entrance of a lake or stream. Each yields from five to
+twenty-five gallons of oil. The flesh is very good, being something
+between beef and pork, and this one furnished us with several meals,
+and was an agreeable change from our fish diet.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration: THE COW FISH.]
+
+
+
+
+OLD RATTLER AND THE KING SNAKE[8]
+
+BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+PRESIDENT OF LELAND STANFORD, JUNIOR, UNIVERSITY.
+
+[8] From _The Popular Science Monthly_ by permission.
+
+
+   "I only know thee humble, bold,
+    Haughty, with miseries untold,
+    And the old curse that left thee cold,
+    And drove thee ever to the sun
+    On blistering rocks ...
+                        Thou whose fame
+    Searchest the grass with tongue of flame,
+    Making all creatures seem thy game,
+    When the whole woods before thee run,
+    Asked but--when all is said and done--
+    To lie, untrodden, in the sun!"
+                                  --BRET HARTE.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Old Rattler was a snake, of course, and he lives in the King's River
+Canon, high up and down deep in the mountains of California.
+
+He had a hole behind and below a large, flat granite rock, not far
+from the river, and he called it his home; for in it he slept all
+night and all winter, but when the sun came back in the spring and
+took the frost out of the air and the rocks, then he crawled out to
+lie until he got warm. The stream was clear and swift in the canon,
+the waterfalls sang in the side gulch of Roaring River, the wind
+rustled in the long needles of the yellow pines, and the birds called
+to their mates in the branches. But Old Rattler did not care for such
+things. He was just a snake, you know, and his neighbors did not think
+him a good snake at that, for he was surly and silent, and his big,
+three-cornered, "coffin-shaped" head, set on a slim, flat neck, was
+very ugly to see. But when he opened his mouth he was uglier still,
+for in his upper jaw he had two long fangs, and each one was filled
+with deadly poison. His vicious old head was covered with gray and
+wrinkled scales, and his black, beadlike eyes snapped when he opened
+his mouth to find out whether his fangs were both in working order.
+
+Old Rattler was pretty stiff when he first came from his hole on the
+morning of this story. He had lain all night coiled up like a rope
+among the rocks, and his tail felt very cold. But the glad sun warmed
+the cockles of his heart, and in an hour or two he became limber, and
+this made him happy in his snaky fashion. But, being warm, he began to
+be hungry, for it had been a whole month since he had eaten anything.
+When the first new moon of August came, his skin loosened everywhere
+and slipped down over his eyes like a veil, so that he could see
+nothing about him, and could not hunt for frogs by the river, nor for
+chipmunks among the trees. But with the new moon of September all this
+was over. The rusty brown old coat was changed for a new suit of gray
+and black, and the diamond-shaped checkers all over it were clean and
+shiny as a set of new clothes out to be.
+
+There was a little striped chipmunk running up and down the sugar-pine
+tree over his head, pursing his little mouth and throwing himself into
+pretty attitudes, as though he were the centre of an admiring
+audience, and Old Rattler kept a steady eye on him. But he was in no
+hurry about it all. He must first get the kinks out of his neck, and
+the cold cramps from his tail. There was an old curse on his family,
+so the other beasts had heard, that kept him always cold, and his tail
+was the coldest part of all. So he shook it a little, just to show
+that it was growing limber, and the bone clappers on the end rustled
+with a sharp, angry noise. Fifteen rattles he had in all--fifteen and
+a button--and to have so many showed that he was no common member of
+his hated family. Then he shook his tail again, and more sharply. This
+was to show all the world that he, Old Rattler, was wide awake, and
+whoever stepped on him would better look out. Then all the big beasts
+and little beasts who heard the noise fled away just as fast as ever
+they could; and to run away was the best thing they could do, for when
+Old Rattler struck one of them with his fangs all was over with him.
+So there were many in the canon, beasts and birds and snakes too, who
+hated Old Rattler, but only a few dared face him. And one of these was
+Glittershield, whom men call the King of Snakes, and in a minute I
+shall tell you why.
+
+And when Old Rattler was doing all that I have said, the King Snake
+lay low on a bed of pine needles, behind a bunch of fern, and watched
+him with keen, sharp eye. The angry buzz of Rattler's tail, which
+scared the chipmunks and the bullfrogs and all the rest of the beast
+folk, was music for Glittershield. He was a snake, too, and snakes
+understand some things better than any of the rest of us.
+
+Glittershield was slim and wiry in his body, as long as Old Rattler
+himself, but not so large around. His coat was smooth and glossy, not
+rough and wrinkly like Old Rattler's, and his upraised head was small
+and pretty--for a snake. He was the best dressed of all his kind, and
+he looked his finest as he faced Old Rattler. His head was shiny
+black, his throat and neck as white as milk while all down his body to
+the end of his tail he was painted with rings, first white, then
+black, then crimson, and every ring was bright as if it had just been
+freshly polished that very day.
+
+So the King Snake passed the sheltering fern and came right up to Old
+Rattler. Rattler opened his sleepy eyes, threw himself on guard with a
+snap and a buzz, and shook his bony clappers savagely. But the King of
+Snakes was not afraid. Every snake has a weak spot somewhere, and that
+is the place to strike him. If he hadn't a weak spot no one else could
+live about him, and then, perhaps he would starve to death at last. If
+he had not some strong points, where no one could harm him, he
+couldn't live himself.
+
+As the black crest rose, Old Rattler's tail grew cold, his head
+dropped, his mouth closed, he straightened out his coil, and staggered
+helplessly toward his hole.
+
+This was the chance for Glittershield. With a dash so swift that all
+the rings on his body--red, white, and black--melted into one purple
+flash, he seized Old Rattler by his throat. He carried no weapons, to
+be sure. He had neither fangs nor venom. He won his victories by
+force and dash, not by mean advantage. He was quick and strong, and
+his little hooked teeth held like the claws of a hawk. Old Rattler
+closed his mouth because he couldn't help it, and the fangs he could
+not use were folded back against the roof of his jaw.
+
+The King Snake leaped forward, wound his body in a "love-knot" around
+Old Rattler's neck, took a "half-hitch" with his tail about the
+stomach, while the rest of his body lay in a curve like the letter S
+between the two knots. Then all he had to do was to stiffen up his
+muscles, and Old Rattler's backbone was snapped off at the neck.
+
+[Illustration: "HE SEIZED OLD RATTLER BY HIS THROAT."]
+
+All that remained to Glittershield was to swallow his enemy. First he
+rubbed his lips all over the body, from the head to the tail, till it
+was slippery with slime. Then he opened his mouth very wide, with a
+huge snaky yawn, and face to face he began on Old Rattler. The ugly
+head was hard to manage, but, after much straining, he clasped his jaws
+around it, and the venom trickled down his throat like some fiery
+sauce. Slowly head and neck and body disappeared, and the tail
+wriggled despairingly, for the tail of the snake folk can not die
+till sundown, and when it went at last the fifteen rattles and the
+button were keeping up an angry buzz. And all night long the King of
+Snakes, twice as big as he ought to be, lay gorged and motionless upon
+Old Rattler's rock.
+
+And in the morning the little chipmunk ran out on a limb above him,
+pursed up his lips, and made all kinds of faces, as much as to say, "I
+did all this, and the whole world was watching while I did it."
+
+[Illustration: KING SNAKE.]
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF A STRANGE LAND
+
+(FROM SCIENCE SKETCHES.)[9]
+
+BY DAVID STARR JORDAN.
+
+PRESIDENT OF LELAND STANFORD, JUNIOR, UNIVERSITY.
+
+[9] Copyright, 1896, by A. C. Mclurg & Co.
+
+
+   "In one strange land,
+    And a long way from home,
+    I heard a mighty rumbling, and I couldn't tell where."
+                                            --NEGRO MELODY.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It happened a long time ago, it may be fifty thousand years in round
+numbers, or it may have been twice as many, that a strange thing
+took place in the heart of the Great Mountains. It was in the middle
+of the Pliocene epoch, a long, dull time that seemed as if it would
+never come to an end. There was then on the east side of the Great
+Divide a deep, rocky basin surrounded by high walls of granite gashed
+to the base by the wash of many streams. In this basin, we know not
+how--for the records all are burned or buried--the crust of the earth
+was broken, and a great outflow of melted larva surged up from below.
+This was no ordinary eruption, but a mighty outbreak of the earth's
+imprisoned forces. The steady stream of lava filled the whole mountain
+basin and ran out over its sides, covering the country all around so
+deeply that it has never been seen since. More than four thousand
+square miles of land lay buried under melted rock. No one can tell how
+deep the lava is, for no one has ever seen the bottom. Within its bed
+are deep clefts whose ragged walls descend to the depth of twelve
+hundred feet, and yet give no glimpse of the granite below, while at
+their side are mountains of lava whose crags tower a mile above the
+bottom of the ravines.
+
+[Illustration: "IT WOULD HISS AND BOIL HIGH IN THE AIR."]
+
+At last, after many years or centuries--time does not count for much
+in these Tertiary days--the flow of melted lava ceased. Its surface
+cooled, leaving a high, uneven plain, black and desolate, a hard, cold
+crust over a fiery and smoldering interior. About the crater lay great
+ropes and rolls of the slowly hardening lava, looking like knots and
+tangles of gigantic reptiles of some horrible extinct sort. There was
+neither grass nor trees, nor life of any sort. Nothing could grow in
+the coarse, black stone. The rivers and brooks had long since
+vanished in steam, the fishes were all dead, and the birds had flown
+away. The whole region wore the aspect of the desolation of death.
+
+But to let land go to waste is no part of Mother Nature's plan. So
+even this far-off corner of her domain was made ready for settlement.
+In the winter she sifted snow on the cold black plain, and in the
+summer the snow melted into a multitude of brooks and springs. The
+brooks gradually wore paths and furrows down the large bed, and the
+sands which they washed from one place they piled up in another. The
+winds blew the seeds of grasses about, and willows and aspens crept up
+the mountain-sides. Then came the squirrels, scattering the nuts of
+the pine. Other seeds came too, in other ways, till at last the barren
+hillside was no longer barren.
+
+The brooks ran over the surface of the crust undisturbed by the fires
+within, and were clear and cold as mountain brooks should be; but the
+rain and melted snow will never all remain on the surface. Some of it
+falls into cracks or joints or porous places in the rock, and from
+this come underground streams or springs. But in this region a stream
+could not run long underground without coming in contact with the old
+still-burning fires. When a crust is formed over the lava, it cools
+very slowly. When the crust is a rod or two deep, the lava within is
+almost as well protected as if it were at the center of the earth.
+
+Whenever the water came down into the fire, the hot rocks would be
+furious with indignation, and tearing the water to atoms they would
+throw it back to the surface as steam. Then the explosive force of the
+steam would in turn tear up the rocks, making still larger the hole
+through which the water came. When the rocks were very hot, a little
+water upon them would make a terrible commotion like the shock of an
+earthquake. When much water came down, it would hiss and boil high in
+the air, as it tried to break the cushion of steam which came between
+it and the lava.
+
+[Illustration: MOUTH OF GEYSER.]
+
+And all this went on in hundreds of places and maybe for thousands of
+years. The hot rocks glowed and sweltered in the ground, and the cold
+snow-water crept after them closer and closer, while more and more
+vigorously the rocks resented the intrusion. Sometimes the water would
+go down in a mass through a cleft, when it would be hurled bodily the
+very way it came. At other times the water came down little by little,
+insinuating itself into many places at once. Then the hot rocks threw
+it back in many little honeycomb channels, and by the spreading of
+these channels the rocks were at last crumbled to pieces. The hard
+black lava on the glass-like obsidian were changed to white kaolin as
+soft and powdery as chalk. And as the water fought its way, gaining a
+little every year, steadily working between the joints in the enemy's
+armor and as surely being thrown back with violence if it penetrated
+too far, the animals and the plants followed in the wake of the
+water, and took possession of the territory as fast as it was won.
+
+At last the Pliocene times were over, for all times come to an end.
+The one sure thing on the earth is the certainty of change. With the
+change of time came on the earth's great winter. The snow-drifts on
+the lava were piled up mountain-high. Snow is but ice gathered in
+little fragments which will grow solid under pressure. As the snow
+accumulated it began to move, forming great rivers of ice which ran
+down the courses of the stream. And as these slowly moving, gigantic
+ice-rivers tore away huge blocks of lava and pushed them down the
+mountain-sides, where the rocks had been softened by the action of
+steam, the ice wore out deep valleys, and everything that it touched
+was smoothed and polished. The winter of the great Ice age lasted a
+very long time, many thousands of years; but, long as it was and long
+ago, it came at last to an end--not to a full stop, of course, for
+even now, some of its snow still lingers on the highest peaks that
+surround the lava-beds.
+
+[Illustration: "CUTTING DEEP GORGES OR CANONS."]
+
+Then the winters grew shorter and the summers longer. The south winds
+blew and the ice melted away, first from the plain and then from the
+mountains. The water ran down the sides of the lava-bed, cutting deep
+gorges or canons, so deep that the sun can hardly see the bottom. And
+into the joints and clefts of the rocks more and more water went, to
+be hurled back with greater and greater violence, for all the waters
+of all the snow cannot put out a mile deep of fire.
+
+In the old depressions where the ice had chiselled away the softer
+rocks, there were formed lakes of the standing water, and one of these
+was more than thirty miles long, winding in and out among the
+mountain-ridges. In the lake bottom the water soaked through down to
+the hot lava below, from which it was thrown boiling back to the
+surface again, fountains of scalding water in the icy lake.
+
+The cold Ice age has killed all the plants in the region; and it had
+driven off the animals that could be driven, and had then buried the
+rest. But when the snow was gone the creatures all came back again.
+Grass and meadow-flowers of a hundred kinds came up from the valleys
+below. The willow and the aspen took their place again by the
+brook-side, and the red fir and the mountain pine covered the hills
+with their sombre green. The birds came back. The wild goose swam and
+screamed, and the winter wren caroled his bright song--loudest when
+there seemed least cause for rejoicing. The beaver cut his timber and
+patiently worked at his dams. The thriftless porcupine destroyed a
+tree for every morning meal. The gray jay, the "camp robber," followed
+the Indians about in hope that some forgotten piece of meat or of
+boiled root might fall to his share; while the buffalo, the bear, and
+the elk each carried on his affairs in his own way, as did a host of
+lesser animals, all of whom rejoiced when this snow-bound region was
+at last opened for settlement. Time went on. The water and the fire
+were every day in mortal struggle, and always when the water was
+thrown back repulsed, it renewed the contest as vigorously as before.
+The fire retreated, leaving great stretches of land to its enemy, that
+it might concentrate its strength where its strength was greatest. And
+the water steadily gained, for the great ocean ever lay behind it. So
+for century after century they wrestled with each other, the water,
+the fire, the snow, the animals and the plants. But the fishes who had
+once lived in the mountain torrents were no longer there. They had
+been boiled and frozen, and in one way or another destroyed or driven
+away. Now they could not get back. Every stream had its canon, and in
+each canon was a waterfall so high that no trout could leap up.
+Although they used to try it every day, not one ever succeeded.
+
+[Illustration: "AND IN EACH CANON WAS A WATERFALL."]
+
+So it went on. A great many things happened in other parts of the
+world. America had been discovered and the colonies were feeling their
+way toward the Pacific Ocean. And in the vanguard was the famous
+expedition of Lewis and Clarke, which went overland to the mouth of
+the river Columbia. John Colter was a hunter in this expedition, and
+by some chance he went across the mountains on the old trail of the
+Nez Perces Indians which leads across the Divide from the Missouri
+waters to those of the Columbia. When he came back from the Nez Perces
+trail he told most wonderful tales of what he had seen at the head of
+the Missouri. There were cataracts of scalding water which shot
+straight up into the air; there were blue ponds hot enough to boil
+fish; there were springs that came up snorting and steaming, and which
+would turn trees into stone; the woods were full of holes from which
+issued streams of sulphur; there were canons of untold depth with
+walls of ashes full of holes which let off steam like a locomotive,
+and there were springs which looked peaceful enough, but which at
+times, would burst like a bomb.
+
+In short, every one laughed at Colter and his yarns, and this place
+where all lies were true was familiarly known as "Colter's Hell." But
+for once John Colter told the truth, and the truth could not easily be
+exaggerated. But no one believed him. When others who afterwards
+followed him over the Nez Perces trail told the same stories, people
+said they had been up to "Colter's Hell" and had learned to lie.
+
+But, as time passed, other men told what they had seen, until, in
+1870, a sort of official survey was made under the lead of Washburne
+and Doane. This party got the general bearings of the region, named
+many of the mountains, and found so much of interest that the next
+year Dr. Hayden, the United States Geologist, sent out a party for
+systematic exploration. The Hayden party came up from Colorado on
+horseback, through dense and tangled forests, across mountain
+torrents, and other craggy peaks. The story of this expedition has
+been most charmingly told by its youngest member, another John
+Coulter. Professor Coulter was the botanist of the survey, and he won
+the first of his many laurels on this expedition. In 1872, acting on
+Hayden's report, Congress took the matter in hand and set apart this
+whole region as a "public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit
+and enjoyment of the people," and such it remains to this day.
+
+But, while only of late this region has had a public history, the
+long-forgotten years between the Glacial period and the expedition of
+Lewis and Clarke were not without interest in the history of the
+trout. For all these years the fishes have been trying to mount the
+waterfalls in order to ascend to the plateau above. Year after year,
+as the spawning-time came on, they leaped against the falls of the
+Gardiner, the Gibbon, and the Firehole Rivers, but only to fall back
+impotent in the pools at their bases. But the mightiest cataract of
+all, the great falls of the Yellowstone, they finally conquered, and
+in this way it was done: not by the trout of the Yellowstone River,
+but by their brothers on the other side of the Divide. These followed
+up the Columbia to the head-waters of the Snake River, its great
+tributary, past the beautiful Heart Lake, and then on to the stream
+now called Pacific Creek, which rises on the very crest of the
+Divide. In the space between this stream, which flows west to help
+form the Snake River, and a smaller stream now called Atlantic Creek,
+flowing down the east slope of the Divide, the great chain of the
+Rocky Mountains shrinks to a narrow plateau of damp meadow, not a
+fourth of a mile in width; and some years, when the snows are heavy
+and melt late in the spring, this whole region is covered with
+standing water. The trout had bided their time until they found it so,
+and now they were ready for action. Before the water was drained they
+had crossed the Divide and were descending on the Atlantic side toward
+the Yellowstone Lake. As the days went by, this colony of bold trout
+spirits grew and multiplied and filled the waters of the great clear
+lake, where their descendants remain to this day. And no other
+fishes--not the chub, nor the sucker, nor the white-fish, nor the
+minnow, nor the blob--had ever climbed Pacific Creek. None of them
+were able to follow where the trout had gone, and none of them have
+ever been seen in the Yellowstone Lake. What the trout had done in
+this lake--their victories and defeats, their struggles with the bears
+and pelicans, and with the terrible worm, joint enemy of trout and
+pelicans alike--must be left for another story.
+
+[Illustration: TROUT.]
+
+So the trout climbed the Yellowstone Falls by way of the back
+staircase. For all we know, they have gone down it on the other side.
+And in a similar way, by stealing over from Blacktail Deer Creek, they
+overcame the Undine Falls in Lava Creek and passed its steep obsidian
+walls, which not all the fishes in the world could climb.
+
+In the Gibbon River the cataracts have proved to the trout an
+impassible barrier; but, strangely enough, its despised associate, the
+sluggish, chunky blob, the little soft-bodied, smooth, black
+tadpole-like fellow, with twinkling eyes and a voracious appetite--a
+fish who cannot leap at all--has crossed this barrier. Hundreds of
+blob live under the stones in the upper reaches of the stream, the
+only fish in the Gibbon waters. There he is, and it is a standing
+puzzle even to himself to know how he got there. We might imagine,
+perhaps, that some far-off ancestor, some ancient Queen of the Blobs,
+was seized by an osprey and carried away in the air. Perhaps an eagle
+was watching and forced the osprey to give up its prey. Perhaps in the
+struggle the blob escaped, falling into the river above the falls, to
+form the beginning of the future colony. At any rate, there is the
+great impassable waterfall, the blob above it and below. The osprey
+has its nest on a broken pine tree, above the cataract, and its tyrant
+master, the bald eagle, watches it from a still higher crag whenever
+it goes fishing.
+
+Two years ago the Hon. Marshall McDonald, whose duty as United States
+Fish Commissioner it is to look after the fishes wherever they may be,
+sent me to this country to see what could be done for his wards. It
+was a proud day when I set out from Mammoth Hot Springs astride a
+black cayuse, or Indian pony, which answered to the name of Jump,
+followed by a long train of sixteen other cayuses of every variety of
+color and character, the most notable of all being a white pony called
+Tinker. At some remote and unidentified period of her life she had
+bucked and killed a tradesman who bestrode her against her will, and
+thereby, as in the old Norse legends, she has inherited his strength,
+his wickedness, and his name. And when, after many adventures, I came
+back from this strange land and told the story of its fishes other men
+were sent out from Washington with nets and buckets. They gathered up
+the trout and carried them to the rivers above the falls, and now all
+the brooks and pools of the old lava-bed, the fairest streams in the
+world, are full of their natural inhabitants.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE COLORS OF ANIMALS
+
+(FROM CHAPTERS IN POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY.)
+
+BY SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, BART., M.P., F.B.S., ETC.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The color of animals is by no means a matter of chance; it depends on
+many considerations, but in the majority of cases tends to protect the
+animal from danger by rendering it less conspicuous. Perhaps it may be
+said that if coloring is mainly protective, there ought to be but few
+brightly colored animals. There are, however, not a few cases in which
+vivid colors are themselves protective. The kingfisher itself, though
+so brightly colored, is by no means easy to see. The blue harmonizes
+with the water, and the bird as it darts along the stream looks almost
+like a flash of sunlight; besides which, protection is not the only
+consideration. Let us now consider the prevalent colors of animals and
+see how far they support the rule.
+
+Desert animals are generally the color of the desert. Thus, for
+instance, the lion, the antelope, and the wild ass are all
+sand-colored. "Indeed," says Canon Tristram, "in the desert, where
+neither trees, brushwood, nor even undulation of the surface afford
+the slightest protection to its foes, a modification of color which
+shall be assimilated to that of the surrounding country is absolutely
+necessary. Hence, without exception, the upper plumage of every bird,
+whether lark, chat, sylvain, or sand grouse, and also the fur of all
+the smaller mammals and the skin of all the snakes and lizards, is of
+one uniform sand color."
+
+It is interesting to note that, while the lion is sand-colored like
+the desert, the long, upright, yellow stripes of the tiger make it
+very difficult to see the animal among the long dry grasses of the
+Indian jungles in which it lives. The leopard, again, and other tree
+cats are generally marked with spots which resemble gleams of light
+glancing through the leaves.
+
+The colors of birds are in many cases perhaps connected with the
+position and mode of construction of their nests. Thus, we know that
+hen birds are generally less brightly colored than the cocks, and this
+is partly, perhaps, because bright colors would be a danger to the
+hens while sitting on their eggs. When the nest is placed underground
+or in the hole of a tree, etc., we find it no longer to be such an
+invariable rule that the hen bird is dull-colored; but, on the
+contrary, she is then often as gaily colored as the male. Such, for
+instance, is the case with the hen kingfisher, which is one of the
+brightest of British birds and one of the very few which make their
+nests underground; the hen woodpecker, which is also gaily colored and
+builds in hollow trees, forms a second instance.
+
+In the few cases where the hens are as conspicuously colored as the
+cocks, and yet the nest is open to view, we generally find that the
+hens are strong, pugnacious birds, and well able to defend themselves.
+There are even instances, though these are comparatively rare, in
+which the hens are more brilliantly colored than the cocks; and it is
+an interesting fact that it is then the cocks, and not the hens, which
+hatch the eggs.
+
+It therefore seems to be a rule, with very few exceptions, that when
+both the cocks and hens are of strikingly gay or conspicuous colors,
+the nest is such as to conceal the sitting bird; while, whenever there
+is a striking contrast of colors, the nest is open and the sitting
+bird exposed to view.
+
+Again, most fishes are dark above and pale below. This points to the
+same fact, for when one looks down into the dark water, the dark color
+of their backs renders them the less easy to distinguish; while, to an
+enemy looking up from below, the pale belly would be less conspicuous
+against the light of the sky. Those fishes which live deep down in the
+depths of the ocean present no such contrast between the upper and
+under surface. Many of the smaller animals which live in the sea are
+as transparent as glass, and are consequently very difficult to
+distinguish.
+
+It is sometimes said that if animals were really colored with
+reference to concealment, sheep would be green, like grass. This,
+however, is quite a mistake. If they were green they would really be
+more easy to see. In the gray of the morning and the evening twilight,
+just the time when wild animals generally feed, gray and stone colors
+are most difficult to distinguish. Sheep were originally mountain
+animals, and every one who has ever been on a mountain-side knows how
+difficult it is to distinguish a sheep, at some distance, from a mass
+of stone or rock.
+
+It is, again, a great advantage to the rabbit and hare to be colored
+like earth; black or white rabbits are more easy to see, and
+consequently more likely to be killed. This, however, does not apply
+to those which are kept in captivity, and we know that tame rabbits
+are often black and white. Again, in the far north, where for months
+together the ground is covered with snow, the white color, which would
+be a danger here, becomes an advantage; and many Arctic animals, like
+the polar bear and polar hare, are white, while others, such as the
+mountain hare and ptarmigan, change their color, being brown in summer
+and white in winter. So are the Arctic fox and the ermine, to whom it
+is then an advantage to be white, not to avoid danger, but in order
+that they may be the more easily able to steal unperceived upon their
+prey.
+
+Many of the cases in which certain insects escape danger by their
+similarity to plants are well known; the leaf insect and the
+walking-stick insect are familiar and most remarkable cases. The larvae
+of insects afford, also, many interesting examples, and in other
+respects teach us, indeed, many instructive lessons. It would be a
+great mistake to regard them as merely preparatory stages in the
+development of the perfect insect. They are much more than this, for
+external circumstances act on the larvae, as well as on the perfect
+insect: both, therefore, are liable to adaptation. In fact, the
+modifications which insect larvae undergo may be divided into two
+kinds--developmental, or those which tend to approximation to the
+mature form; and adaptational or adaptive, those which tend to suit
+them to their own mode of life.
+
+It is a remarkable fact, that the forms of larvae do not depend on
+those of the mature insect. In many cases, for instance, very similar
+larvae produce extremely dissimilar insects. In other cases, similar,
+or comparatively similar, perfect insects have very dissimilar larvae.
+Indeed, a classification of insects founded on larva would be quite
+different from that founded on the perfect insects. The group to which
+the bees, wasps, and ants belong, for instance, and which, so far as
+the perfect insects are concerned, form a very natural division, would
+be divided into two; or rather one portion of them--namely, the
+saw-flies--would be united to the butterflies and moths. Now, why do
+the larvae of saw-flies differ from those of their allies, and resemble
+those of butterflies and moths? It is because their habits differ from
+those of ants and bees, and they feed on leaves like ordinary
+caterpillars.
+
+In some cases the form changes considerably during the larval state.
+From this point of view, the transformations of a small beetle, called
+_Sitaris_, which have been carefully observed by M. Fabre, are
+peculiarly interesting.
+
+The genus Sitaris, which is allied to the blister-fly and to the
+oil-beetle, is parasitic on a kind of solitary bee which excavates
+subterranean galleries, each leading to a cell. The eggs of the
+beetle, which are deposited at the entrance of the galleries made by
+the bees, are hatched at the end of September or beginning of
+October, and we might not unnaturally expect that the young larvae,
+which are active little creatures with six serviceable legs, would at
+once eat their way into the cells of the bee. No such thing: till the
+month of April following they remain without leaving their birthplace,
+and consequently without food; nor do they in this long time change
+either in form or size. M. Fabre ascertained this, not only by
+examining the burrow of the bees, but also by direct observations of
+some young larvae kept in captivity. In April, however, his captives at
+last awoke from their long lethargy, and hurried anxiously about their
+prisons. Naturally inferring that they were in search of food, M.
+Fabre supposed that this would consist either of the larvae or pupae of
+the bee, or of the honey with which it stores its cell. All three were
+tried without success. The first two were neglected; and the larvae,
+when placed on the latter, either hurried away or perished in the
+attempt, being evidently unable to deal with the sticky substance. M.
+Fabre was in despair. The first ray of light came to him from our
+countryman Newport, who ascertained that a small parasite found on one
+of the wild bees was, in fact, the larva of the oil-beetle. The larvae
+of Sitaris much resembled this larva. Acting on this hint, M. Fabre
+examined many specimens of the bee, and found on them at last the
+larvae of his Sitaris. The males of the bee emerge from the pupae sooner
+than the females, and M. Fabre ascertained that, as they come out of
+their galleries, the little Sitaris larvae fasten upon them. Not,
+however, for long: instinct teaches them that they are not yet in the
+straight path of development; and, watching their opportunity, they
+pass from the male to the female bee. Guided by these indications, M.
+Fabre examined several cells of the bee; in some, the egg of the bee
+floated by itself on the surface of the honey; in others, on the egg,
+as on a raft, sat the still more minute larva of the Sitaris. The
+mystery was solved. At the moment when the egg is laid, the Sitaris
+larva springs upon it. Even while the poor mother is carefully
+fastening up her cell, her mortal enemy is beginning to devour her
+offspring; for the egg of the bee serves not only as a raft, but as a
+repast. The honey, which is enough for either, would be too little for
+both; and the Sitaris, therefore, at its first meal, relieves itself
+from its only rival. After eight days the egg is consumed, and on the
+empty shell the Sitaris undergoes its first transformation, and makes
+its appearance in a very different form.
+
+The honey, which was fatal before, is now necessary--the activity,
+which before was necessary, is now useless; consequently, with the
+change of skin, the active, slim larva changes into a white fleshy
+grub, so organized as to float on the surface of the honey, with the
+mouth beneath and the breathing-holes above the surface; for insects
+breathe, not as we do through the mouth, but through a row of holes
+arranged along the side. In this state it remains until the honey is
+consumed; then the animal contracts, and detaches itself from its
+skin, within which the further transformations take place. In the next
+stage the larva has a solid corneous envelope and an oval shape, and,
+in its color, consistency, and immobility, resembles the chrysalis of
+a fly. The time passed in this condition varies much. When it has
+elapsed, the animal moults again, again changes its form; after this,
+it becomes a pupa, without any remarkable peculiarities. Finally,
+after these wonderful changes and adventures, in the month of August
+the perfect beetle makes its appearance.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1. THE CATERPILLAR OF THE MARBLED WHITE BUTTERFLY
+(_Arge galathea_).]
+
+In fact, whenever in any group we find differences in form or color,
+we shall always find them associated with differences in habit. Let us
+take the case of Caterpillars. The prevailing color of caterpillars is
+green, like that of leaves. The value of this to the young insect, the
+protection it affords, are obvious. We must all have observed how
+difficult it is to distinguish small green caterpillars from the
+leaves on which they feed. When, however, they become somewhat larger,
+their form betrays them, and it is important that there should be
+certain marks to divert the eye from the outlines of the body. This is
+effected, and much protection is given, by longitudinal lines (Fig. 1),
+which accordingly are found on a great many caterpillars. These
+lines, both in color and thickness, much resemble some of the lines on
+leaves (those, for instance, of grasses), and also the streaks of
+shadow which occur among foliage. If this be the explanation of them,
+then they ought to be wanting, as a general rule, in very small
+caterpillars, and should prevail most among those which feed on or
+among grasses.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE EYED HAWK-MOTH
+(_Smerinthus ocellatus_).]
+
+Now, similar lines occur on a great number of caterpillars belonging
+to most different groups of butterflies and moths, as you may see by
+turning over the illustrations of any monograph of the group. They
+exist among the Hawk-moths--as, for instance, in the Humming-bird
+Hawk-moth; they occur in many butterflies, especially in those which
+feed on grass; and in many moths. But you will find that the smallest
+caterpillars rarely possess these white streaks. As regards the second
+point, also, the streaks are generally wanting in caterpillars which
+feed on large-leaved plants. The _Satyridae_, on the contrary, all
+possess them, and all live on grass. In fact we may say, as a general
+rule, that these longitudinal streaks only occur on caterpillars which
+live on or among narrow-leaved plants. As the insect grows, these
+lines often disappear on certain segments, and are replaced by
+diagonal lines. These diagonal lines (Fig. 2) occur in a great many
+caterpillars, belonging to the most distinct families of butterflies
+and moths. They come off just at the same angle as the ribs of leaves,
+and resemble them very much in general effect. They occur also
+especially on species which feed on large-leaved plants; and I believe
+I may say that though a great many species of caterpillars present
+these lines, they rarely, if ever, occur in species which live on
+grass; while, on the contrary, they are very frequent in those
+species which live on large-leaved plants.
+
+It might at first be objected to this view that there are many cases,
+as in the Elephant-Hawk-moth, in which caterpillars have both. A
+little consideration, however, will explain this. In small
+caterpillars these oblique lines would be useless, because they must
+have some relation, not only in color, but in their distance apart, to
+the ribs of the leaves. Hence, while there are a great many species
+which have, longitudinal lines when young, and diagonal ones when they
+are older and larger, there is not, I believe, a single one which
+begins with diagonal lines, and then replaces them with longitudinal
+ones. The disappearance of the longitudinal lines on those segments
+which have diagonal ones, is striking, where the lines are marked. It
+is an advantage, because white lines crossing one another at such an
+angle have no relation to anything which occurs in plants, and would
+make the creature more conspicuous. When, therefore, the diagonal
+lines are developed, the longitudinal ones often disappear. There is
+one other point in connection with these diagonal lines to which I
+must call your attention.
+
+In many species they are white, but in some cases--as, for instance,
+in the beautiful green caterpillar of the Privet-Hawk-moth--the white
+streak is accompanied by a colored one, in that case lilac. At first
+we might think that this would be a disadvantage, as tending to make
+the caterpillar more conspicuous; and in fact, if we put one in full
+view--for instance, out on a table--and focus the eye on it, the
+colored lines are very striking. But we must remember that the habit
+of the insect is to sit on the lower side of the leaf, generally near
+the middle rib, and in the subdued light of such a situation,
+especially if the eye be not looking exactly at them, the colored
+lines beautifully simulate a line of soft shadow, such as must always
+accompany a strong rib; and I need not tell any artist that the
+shadows of yellowish-green must be purplish. Moreover, any one who has
+ever found one of these large caterpillars will, I am sure, agree with
+me that it is surprising, when we consider their size and conspicuous
+coloring, how difficult it is to see them.
+
+But though the prevailing color of caterpillars is green, there are
+numerous exceptions. In one great family of moths the prevailing color
+is brown. These caterpillars, however, escape observation by their
+great similarity to brown twigs--a resemblance which is heightened by
+their peculiar attitudes, and in many cases by the existence of warts
+or protuberances, which look like buds. Some, however, even of these
+caterpillars, when very young, are green. Again, some caterpillars are
+white. These feed on and burrow in wood. The Ringlet Butterfly also
+has whitish caterpillars, and this may at first sight appear to
+contradict the rule, since it feeds on grass. Its habit is, however,
+to keep at the roots by day, and feed only at night.
+
+In various genera we find Black caterpillars, which are of course very
+conspicuous, and, so far as I know, not distasteful to birds. In such
+cases, however, it will be found that they are covered with hairs or
+spines, which protect them from most birds. In these species the bold
+dark color may be an advantage, by rendering the hair more
+conspicuous. Many caterpillars are black and hairy, but I do not know
+any large caterpillar which is black and smooth.
+
+Brown caterpillars, also, are frequently protected by hairs or spines
+in the same way; but, unlike black ones, they are frequently naked.
+These fall into two principal categories: firstly, those which, like
+the Geometridae, put themselves into peculiar and stiff attitudes, so
+that in form, color, and position they closely resemble bits of dry
+stick; and, secondly, those which feed on low plants, concealing
+themselves on the ground by day, and only coming out in the dark.
+
+Yellow and yellowish-green caterpillars are abundant, and their color
+is a protection. Red and blue, on the contrary, are much less common
+colors, and are generally present as spots.
+
+Moreover, caterpillars with red lines or spots are generally hairy,
+and this for the reason given above. Such species, therefore, would be
+avoided by birds. There are, no doubt, some apparent exceptions. The
+Swallow-tail Butterfly, for instance, has red spots and still is
+smooth; but as it emits a strongly-scented liquid when alarmed, it is
+probably distasteful to birds. I cannot recall any other case of a
+British caterpillar which has conspicuous red spots or lines, and yet
+is smooth.
+
+Blue is, among caterpillars, even a rarer color than red. Indeed,
+among our larger larvae, the only cases I can recall are the Lappets,
+which have two conspicuous blue bands, the Death's-head Moth, which
+has broad diagonal bands, and two of the Hawk-moths, which have two
+bright blue oval patches on the third segment. The Lappets are
+protected by being hairy, but why they have the blue bands I have no
+idea. It is interesting, that both the other species frequent plants
+which have blue flowers. The peculiar hues of the Death's-head
+caterpillar, which feeds on the potato, unite so beautifully the brown
+of the earth, the yellow and green of the leaves, and the blue of the
+flowers, that, in spite of its size, it can scarcely be perceived
+unless the eye be focussed exactly upon it.
+
+The Oleander Hawk-moth is also an interesting case. Many of the
+Hawk-moth caterpillars have eye-like spots, to which I shall have to
+allude again presently. These are generally reddish or yellowish, but
+in this species, which feeds on the periwinkle, they are bright blue,
+and in form as well as color closely resemble the blue petals of that
+flower. One other species, the Sharp-winged Hawk-moth, also has two
+smaller blue spots, with reference to which I can make no suggestion.
+It is a very rare species, and I have never seen it. Possibly, in this
+case, the blue spots may be an inherited character, and have no
+reference to the present habits. They are, at any rate, quite small.
+
+No one who looks at any representations of Hawk-moth caterpillars can
+fail to be struck by the peculiar coloring of those belonging to the
+Pine Moth, which differ in style of coloring from all other sphinx
+larvae, having longitudinal bands of brown and green. Why is this?
+Their _habitat_ is different. They feed on the leaves of the pinaster,
+and their peculiar coloring offers a general similarity to the brown
+twigs and narrow green leaves of a conifer. There are not many species
+of butterflies or moths which feed on the pine, but there are a few:
+and most, if not all of them, have a very analogous style of coloring
+to that of the Pine Moth, while the latter has also tufts of
+bluish-green hair which singularly mimic the leaves of the pine. It is
+still more remarkable that in a different order of insects we again
+find species--for instance one of the saw-flies--which live on the
+pine, and in which the same style of coloring is repeated.
+
+Let us now take a single group, and see how far we can explain its
+various colors and markings, and what are the lessons which they teach
+us. For this purpose, I think I cannot do better than select the larvae
+of the Hawk-moths, which have just been the subject of a masterly work
+by Dr. Weissmann, from which most of the following facts are taken.
+
+The caterpillars of this group are very different in color--green,
+white, yellow, brown, sometimes even gaudy, varied with spots,
+patches, streaks, and lines. Now, are these differences merely casual
+and accidental, or have they a meaning and a purpose? In many, perhaps
+in most cases, the markings serve for the purpose of concealment.
+When, indeed, we see caterpillars represented on a white sheet of
+paper, or if we put them on a plain table, and focus the eye on them,
+the colors and markings would seem, if possible, to render them even
+more conspicuous; but amongst the intricate lines and varied colors of
+foliage and flowers, and if the insect be a little out of focus, the
+effect is very different.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chaerocampa elpenor_). Full grown. Natural size.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 4.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chaerocampa elpenor_). First stage.]
+
+Let us begin with the Elephant Hawk-moth. The caterpillars (Fig. 3),
+as represented in most entomological works, are of two varieties, most
+of them brown, but some green. Both have a white line on the three
+first segments; two remarkable eye-like spots on the fourth and fifth,
+and a very faint median line; and are rather more than four inches
+long. I will direct your attention specially, for the moment, to three
+points:--What do the eye-spots and the faint lateral line mean? and
+why are some green and some brown, offering thus such a marked
+contrast to the leaves of the small epilobe on which they feed? Other
+questions will suggest themselves later. I must now call your
+attention to the fact, that when the caterpillars first quit the egg,
+and come into the world (Fig. 4), they are quite different in
+appearance, being, like so many other small caterpillars, bright
+green, and almost exactly the color of the leaves on which they feed.
+That this color is not the necessary or direct consequence of the
+food, we see from the case of quadrupeds, which, as I need scarcely
+say, are never green. It is, however, so obviously a protection to
+small caterpillars, that this explanation of their green color
+suggests itself to every one.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 5.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chaerocampa elpenor_). Second Stage.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 6.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chaerocampa elpenor_). Just before the second moult.]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 7.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chaerocampa elpenor_). Third Stage.]
+
+After five or six days, and when they are about a quarter of an inch
+in length, they go through their first moult. In their second stage
+(Fig. 5), they have two white lines, stretching along the body from
+the horn to the head; and after a few days (Fig. 6), but not at first,
+traces of the eye-spots appear on the fourth and fifth segments, shown
+by a slight wave in the upper line. After another five or six days,
+and when about half an inch in length, our caterpillars moult again.
+In their third stage (Fig. 7), the commencement of the eye-spots is
+more marked, while, on the contrary, the lower longitudinal line has
+disappeared. After another moult (Fig. 8), the eye-spots are still
+more distinct, the white gradually becomes surrounded by a black line,
+while in the next stage (Fig. 9) the centre becomes somewhat violet.
+The white lines have almost or entirely disappeared, and in some
+specimens faint diagonal lines make their appearance. Some few assume
+a brownish tint, but not many. A fourth moult takes place in seven or
+eight days, and when the caterpillars are about an inch and a half in
+length. Now, the difference shows itself still more between the two
+varieties, some remaining green, while the majority become brown. The
+eye-spots are more marked, and the pupil more distinct, the diagonal
+lines plainer, while the white line is only indicated on the first
+three, and on the eleventh segment. The last stage (Fig. 9) has been
+already described.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 8.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chaerocampa elpenor_). Fourth Stage.]
+
+Now, the principal points to which I wish to draw attention are (1)
+the green color, (2) the longitudinal lines, (3) the diagonal lines,
+(4) the brown color, and (5) the eye-spots.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 9.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH
+(_Chaerocampa elpenor_). Fifth Stage.]
+
+As regards the first three, however, I think I need say no more. The
+value of the green color to the young larva is obvious; nor is it much
+less clear that when the insect is somewhat larger, the longitudinal
+lines are a great advantage, while subsequently diagonal ones become
+even more important.
+
+The next point is the color of the mature caterpillars. We have seen
+that some are green, and others brown. The green ones are obviously
+merely those which have retained their original color. Now for the
+brown color. This probably makes the caterpillar even more conspicuous
+among the green leaves than would otherwise be the case. Let us see,
+then, whether the habits of the insect will throw any light upon the
+riddle. What would you do if you were a big caterpillar? Why, like
+most other defenceless creatures, you would feed by night, and lie
+concealed by day. So do these caterpillars. When the morning light
+comes, they creep down the stem of the food plant, and lie concealed
+among the thick herbage, and dry sticks and leaves, near the ground;
+and it is obvious that under such circumstances the brown color really
+becomes a protection. It might indeed be argued that the caterpillars,
+having become brown, concealed themselves on the ground; and that we
+were, in fact, reversing the state of things. But this is not so;
+because, while we may say, as a general rule, that (with some
+exceptions due to obvious causes) large caterpillars feed by night and
+lie concealed by day, it is by no means always the case that they are
+brown; some of them still retaining the green color. We may then
+conclude that the habit of concealing themselves by day came first,
+and that the brown color is a later adaptation. It is, moreover,
+interesting to note that while the caterpillars which live on low
+plants often go down to the ground and turn brown, those which feed on
+large trees or plants remain on the under side of the leaves, and
+retain their green color.
+
+Thus, in the Eyed Hawk-moth, which feeds on the willow and sallow; the
+Poplar Hawk-moth, which feeds on the poplar; and the Lime Hawk-moth,
+which frequents the lime, the caterpillars all remain green; while in
+those which frequent low plants, such as the Convolvulus Hawk-moth,
+which frequents the convolvulus; the Oleander Hawk-moth, which feeds
+in this country on the periwinkle; and other species, most of the
+caterpillars turn brown. There are, indeed, some caterpillars which
+are brown, and still do not go down to the ground--as, for instance,
+those of the Geometridae generally. These caterpillars, however, as
+already mentioned, place themselves in peculiar attitudes, which,
+combined with their brown color, make them look almost exactly like
+bits of stick or dead twigs.
+
+The last of the five points to which I called your attention was the
+eye-spots. In some cases, spots may serve for concealment, by
+resembling the marks on dead leaves. In one species, which feeds on
+the hippophae, or sea buckthorn, a gray-green plant, the caterpillar
+also is a similar gray-green, and has, when full grown, a single red
+spot on each side--which, as Weissmann suggests, at first sight much
+resembles in color and size one of the berries of the hippophae. This
+might, at first, be supposed to constitute a danger, and therefore to
+be a disadvantage; but the seeds, though present, are not ripe, and
+consequently are not touched by birds. Again, in another caterpillar,
+there is an eye-spot on each segment, which mimics the flower of the
+plant on which it feeds. White spots, in some cases, also resemble the
+spots of light which penetrate foliage. In other instances, however,
+and at any rate in our Elephant Hawk-moth, the eye-spots certainly
+render the insect more conspicuous.
+
+Now in some cases, this is an advantage, rather than a drawback.
+Suppose that from the nature of its food, from its being covered with
+hair, or from any other cause, a small green caterpillar were very
+bitter, or disagreeable or dangerous as food, still, in the number of
+small green caterpillars which birds love, it would be continually
+swallowed by mistake. If, on the other hand, it had a conspicuous and
+peculiar color, its evil taste would serve to protect it, because the
+birds would soon recognize and avoid it, as has been proved
+experimentally. I have already alluded to a case of this among the
+Hawk-moths, in a species which, feeding on euphorbia, with its bitter
+milky juice, is very distasteful to birds, and is thus actually
+protected by its bold and striking colors. The spots on our Elephant
+Hawk-moth caterpillar do not admit of this explanation, because the
+insect is quite good to eat--I mean, for birds. We must, therefore, if
+possible, account for these spots in some other way. There can, I
+think, be little doubt that Weissmann is right when he suggests that
+the eye-spots actually protect the caterpillar, by frightening its
+foes.
+
+Every one must have observed that these large caterpillars--as, for
+instance, that of the small Elephant Hawk-moth (Fig. 10)--have a sort
+of uncanny poisonous appearance; that they suggest a small thick snake
+or other evil beast, and the so-called "eyes" do much to increase the
+deception. Moreover, the segment on which they are placed is swollen,
+and the insect, when in danger, has the habit of retracting its head
+and front segments, which gives it an additional resemblance to some
+small reptile. That small birds are, as a matter of fact, afraid of
+these caterpillars (which, however, I need not say, are in reality
+altogether harmless), Weissmann has proved by actual experiment. He
+put one of these caterpillars in a tray in which he was accustomed to
+place seed for birds. Soon a little flock of sparrows and other small
+birds assembled to feed as usual. One of them lit on the edge of this
+tray, and was just going to hop in, when she spied the caterpillar.
+Immediately she began bobbing her head up and down, but was afraid to
+go nearer. Another joined her, and then another, until at last there
+was a little company of ten or twelve birds, all looking on in
+astonishment, but not one ventured into the tray; while one bird,
+which lit in it unsuspectingly, beat a hasty retreat in evident alarm,
+as soon as she perceived the caterpillar. After watching for some
+time, Weissmann removed it, when the birds soon attacked the seeds.
+Other caterpillars also are probably protected by their curious
+resemblance to spotted snakes.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 10.--THE CATERPILLAR OF THE SMALL ELEPHANT
+HAWK-MOTH (_Chaerocampa porcellus_).]
+
+Moreover, we may learn another very interesting lesson from these
+caterpillars. They leave the egg, as we have seen, a plain green, like
+so many other caterpillars, and gradually acquire a succession of
+markings, the utility of which I have just attempted to explain. The
+young larva, in fact, represents an old form, and the species, in the
+lapse of ages, has gone through the stage which each individual now
+passes through in a few weeks. Thus, the caterpillar of _Chaerocampa
+porcellus_, a species very nearly allied to the Elephant Hawk-moth,
+passes through almost exactly the same stages as that species. But it
+leaves the egg with a subdorsal line, which the caterpillar of the
+Elephant Hawk-moth does not acquire until after its first moult. No
+one can doubt, however, that there was a time when the new-born
+caterpillars of the small Elephant Hawk-moth were plain green, like
+those of the large one. Again, if we compare the mature caterpillars
+of this group of Hawk-moths, we shall find there are some forms which
+never develop eye-spots, but which, even when full grown, correspond
+to the second stage of the Elephant Hawk-moth. Here, then, we seem to
+have species still in the stage which the Elephant Hawk-moth must have
+passed through long ago.
+
+The genus _Deilephila_, of which we have three species--the Euphorbia
+Hawk-moth, the Galium Hawk-moth, and the Rayed Hawk-moth--is also very
+instructive. The caterpillar of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth begins life of
+a clear green color, without a trace of the subsequent markings. After
+the first moult, however, it has a number of black patches, a white
+line, and a series of white dots, and has, therefore, at one bound,
+acquired characters which in the Elephant Hawk-moth, as we have seen,
+were only very gradually assumed. In the third stage, the line has
+disappeared, leaving the white spots. In the fourth, the caterpillars
+have become very variable, but are generally much darker than before,
+and have a number of white dots under the spots. In the fifth stage,
+there is a second row of white spots under the first. The caterpillars
+not being good to eat, there is, as has been already pointed out, no
+need for, or attempt at, concealment. Now if we compare the mature
+caterpillars of other species of the genus, we shall find that they
+represent phases in the development of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth. The
+Sea Buckthorn Hawk-moth, for instance, even when full grown, is a
+plain green, with only a trace of the line, and corresponds,
+therefore, with a very early stage of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth; there
+is another species found in South Russia, which has the line, and
+represents the second stage of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth; another has
+the line and the row of spots, and represents, therefore, the third
+stage; lastly, there are some which have progressed further, and lost
+the longitudinal line, but they never acquire the second row of spots
+which characterizes the last stage of the Euphorbia Hawk-moth.
+
+Thus, then, the individual life of certain caterpillars gives us a
+clue to the history of the species in past ages.
+
+For such inquiries as this, the larvae of Lepidoptera are particularly
+suitable, because they live an exposed life; because the different
+species, even of the same genus, often feed on different plants, and
+are therefore exposed to different conditions; and last, not least,
+because we know more about the larvae of the butterflies and moths than
+about those of any other insects. The larvae of ants all live in the
+dark; they are fed by the perfect ants, and being therefore all
+subject to very similar conditions, are all very much alike. It would
+puzzle even a good naturalist to determine the species of an ant
+larva, while, as we all know, the caterpillars of butterflies and
+moths are as easy to distinguish as the perfect insects; they differ
+from one another as much as, sometimes more than, the butterflies and
+moths themselves.
+
+There are five principal types of coloring among caterpillars. Those
+which live inside wood, or leaves, or underground, are generally of a
+uniform pale hue; the small leaf-eating caterpillars are green, like
+the leaves on which they feed. The other three types may, to compare
+small things with great, be likened to the three types of coloring
+among cats. There are the ground cats, such as the lion or puma, which
+are brownish or sand color, like the open places they frequent. So
+also caterpillars which conceal themselves by day at the roots of
+their food-plant, tend, as we have seen, even if originally green, to
+assume the color of earth. Nor must I omit to mention the
+_Geometridae_, to which I have already referred, and which, from their
+brown color, their peculiar attitudes, and the frequent presence of
+warts or protuberances, closely mimic bits of dry stick. That the
+caterpillars of these species were originally green, we may infer from
+the fact that some of them at least are still of that color when first
+born.
+
+Then there are the spotted or eyed cats, such as the leopard, which
+live among trees; and their peculiar coloring renders them less
+conspicuous by simulating spots of light which penetrate through
+foliage. So also many caterpillars are marked with spots, eyes, or
+patches of color. Lastly, there are the jungle cats, of which the
+tiger is the typical species, and which have stripes, rendering them
+very difficult to see among the brown grass which they frequent. It
+may, perhaps, be said that this comparison fails, because the stripes
+of tigers are perpendicular, while those of caterpillars are either
+longitudinal or oblique. This, however, so far from constituting a
+real difference, confirms the explanation; because in each case the
+direction of the lines follows that of the foliage. The tiger, walking
+horizontally on the ground, has transverse bars; the caterpillar,
+clinging to the grass in a vertical position, has longitudinal lines;
+while those which live on large-veined leaves have oblique lines, like
+the oblique ribs of the leaves.
+
+Red and blue are rare colors among caterpillars. Omitting minute dots,
+we have six species more or less marked with red or orange. Of these,
+two are spiny, two hairy, and one protected by scent-emitting
+tentacles. The orange medio-dorsal line of the Bedford Butterfly is
+not very conspicuous, and has been omitted in some descriptions. Blue
+is even rarer than red; in fact, none of our butterfly larvae can be
+said to exhibit this color.
+
+Now let us turn to the moths. I have taken all the larger species,
+amounting to rather more than one hundred and twenty; out of which
+sixty-eight are hairy or downy; and of these forty-eight are marked
+with black or gray, fifteen brown or brownish, two yellowish-green,
+one bluish-gray, one striped with yellow and black, and one
+reddish-gray. There are two yellowish-green hairy species, which
+might be regarded as exceptions: one, that of the Five-spotted
+Burnet-moth, is marked with black and yellow, and the other is
+variable in color, some specimens of this caterpillar being orange.
+This last species is also marked with black, so that neither of these
+species can be considered of the green color which serves as a
+protection. Thus, among the larger caterpillars, there is not a single
+hairy species of the usual green color. On the other hand, there are
+fifty species with black or blackish caterpillars, and of these
+forty-eight are hairy or downy.
+
+In ten of our larger moths the caterpillars are more or less marked
+with red. Of these, three are hairy, one is an internal feeder, four
+have reddish lines, which probably serve for protection by simulating
+lines of shadow, and one, the Euphorbia Hawk-moth, is inedible. The
+last, the striped Hawk-moth, is rare, and I have never seen the
+caterpillar; but to judge from figures, the reddish line and spots
+would render it, not more, but less conspicuous amongst the low
+herbage which it frequents.
+
+Seven species only of the larger moths have any blue; of these, four
+are hairy, the other three are Hawk-moths. In one, the Death's Head,
+the violet color of the side stripes certainly renders the insect less
+conspicuous among the flowers of the potato, on which it feeds. In the
+Oleander Hawk-moth there are two blue patches, which, both in color
+and form, curiously resemble the petals of the periwinkle, on which it
+feeds. In the third species, the small Elephant Hawk-moth, the bluish
+spots form the centres of the above-mentioned eye-like spots.
+
+In one family, as already mentioned, the caterpillars are very often
+brown, and closely resemble bits of stick, the similarity being much
+increased by the peculiar attitudes they assume. On the other hand,
+the large brown caterpillars of certain Hawk-moths are night feeders,
+concealing themselves on the ground by day; and it is remarkable that
+while those species, such as the Convolvulus Hawk-moth, which feed on
+low plants, turn brown as they increase in age and size, others, which
+frequent trees, and cannot therefore descend to the ground for
+concealment, remain green throughout life. Omitting these, there are
+among the larger species, seventeen which are brown, of which twelve
+are hairy, and two have extensile caudal filaments. The others closely
+resemble bits of stick, and place themselves in peculiar and stiff
+attitudes.
+
+And thus, summing up the caterpillars, both of butterflies and moths,
+out of eighty-eight spiny and hairy species, only one is green, and
+even this may not be protectively colored, since it has conspicuous
+yellow warts. On the other hand, a very great majority of the black
+and brown caterpillars, as well as those more or less marked with blue
+and red, are either hairy or spiny, or have some special protection.
+
+Here, then, I think we see reasons, for many at any rate, of the
+variations of color and markings in caterpillars, which at first sight
+seem so fantastic and inexplicable. I should, however, produce an
+impression very different from that which I wish to convey, were I to
+lead you to suppose that all these varieties have been explained, or
+are understood. Far from it; they still offer a large field for study;
+nevertheless, I venture to think the evidence now brought forward,
+however imperfectly, is at least sufficient to justify the conclusion
+that there is not a hair or a line, not a spot or a color, for which
+there is not a reason--which has not a purpose or a meaning in the
+economy of nature.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCES IN SPIDERS
+
+BY ELIZABETH G. PECKHAM.[10]
+
+[10] Abbreviated from the occasional Papers of the Natural History
+Society of Wisconsin, Vol. I., 1889. By permission.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+There are, among spiders, two forms of protective modification: the
+first, including all cases of protective resemblance to vegetable and
+inorganic things--that is, all modifications of color or of color and
+form that tend to make them inconspicuous in their natural
+relations--I shall call direct protection. The second form, which I
+shall call indirect protection, includes two classes, the spiders
+which are specially protected themselves and those which mimic other
+creatures which are specially protected.
+
+Spiders are specially protected when they become inedible through the
+acquisition of hard plates and sharp spines. The modification of form
+is frequently accompanied by conspicuous colors, which warn their
+enemies that they belong to an unpalatable class.
+
+The second class of indirectly protected spiders--those that mimic
+specially protected creatures--presents some difficulties, since it is
+not always easy to determine whether the purpose of mimicry is
+protection or the capture of prey. The resemblance may, as is
+frequently the case in direct protection, serve both purposes.
+
+In looking for instances of protective form and color among spiders we
+encounter one difficulty at the outset. The meaning of a protective
+peculiarity can be determined only when the animal is seen in its
+natural home. The number of strangely modified forms depicted in
+descriptive works on spiders is enormous. Bodies are twisted,
+elongated, inflated, flattened, truncated, covered with tubercles or
+spines, enclosed within chitinous plates, colored like bark, like
+lichens, like flowers of every imaginable hue, like bird droppings,
+like sand or stones, and in every one of these modifications there is
+doubtless an adaptation of the spider to its surroundings which, when
+it is studied out of its natural relations, we can only guess at.
+
+It has been well said that in these protective resemblances those
+features of the portrait are most attended to by nature which produce
+the most effective deception when seen in nature; the faithfulness of
+the resemblance being much less striking when seen in the cabinet....
+
+DIRECT PROTECTION. RESEMBLANCES TO VEGETABLE AND INORGANIC
+THINGS.--As a general rule the forms and colors of spiders are
+adapted to render them inconspicuous in their natural homes. Bright
+colored spiders, ... either keep hidden away or are found upon flowers
+whose tints harmonize with their own. This rule, while it has
+numerous exceptions, is borne out by the great majority of cases. A
+good illustration is found in the genus Uloborus, of which the members
+bear a deceptive resemblance to small pieces of bark, or to such bits
+of rubbish as commonly become entangled in old deserted webs. The only
+species in our neighborhood is Uloborus plumipes, which I have almost
+invariably found building in dead branches, where its disguise is more
+effective than it would be among fresh leaves. The spider is always
+found in the middle of the web, with its legs extended in a line with
+the body. There has been, in this species, a development along several
+lines, resulting in a disguise of considerable complexity. Its form
+and color make it like a scrap of bark, its body being truncated and
+diversified with small humps, while its first legs are very uneven,
+bearing heavy fringes of hair on the tibia and having the terminal
+joints slender. Its color is a soft wood-brown or gray, mottled with
+white. It has the habit of hanging motionless in the web for hours at
+a time, swaying in the wind like an inanimate object. The strands of
+its web are rough and inelastic, so that they are frequently broken;
+this gives it the appearance of one of those dilapidated and deserted
+webs in which bits of wind-blown rubbish are frequently entangled....
+
+Out of seven examples of the species taken during one summer, five
+were found in dead tamarack branches, one on a dead bush, and the
+seventh, an interesting variety, under the eaves of a porch. My eye
+was caught by what seemed to be a string of eleven cocoons (it is not
+common to see more than four in a web). On attempting to take them
+down I was surprised to see one of the supposed cocoons begin to shake
+the web violently. Ten were what they seemed to be, but the eleventh
+was the mother spider, whose color and general appearance was exactly
+like that of the little cases that she had made for her eggs....
+
+We come now to a large and interesting class in genus Epeira. I refer
+to those species, mostly nocturnal, which are protected during the
+day, not by hiding in crevices, nor in any way actually getting out of
+sight, but by the close resemblance which they bear to the bark of the
+trees to which they cling. This resemblance is brought about in two
+ways; through their color, which is like that of wood or lichens, and
+through their tuberculated and rugose forms, which resemble rough
+bark.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 1.--CAEROSTRIS MITRALIS (from Vinson).]
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 2.--CAEROSTRIS MITRALIS, in profile (from Vinson).]
+
+One of the most remarkable of these forms is C. mitralis, a Madagascar
+species, which, looked at in profile, probably resembles a woody knot.
+The abdomen is divided into two divergent cones (Fig. 1). The entire
+upper surface of the body is covered with conical elevations, which
+render it rough and uneven; the sides of the abdomen are made up of
+several layers, which form stages, one above another, like the ridges
+of bark on a woody excrescence. The legs, formed of wide, flattened
+plates, make the base. The color of the spider is yellowish-gray,
+varied with white and dark reddish-brown. It has the habit of perching
+on a branch and clasping it like a bird, so that the elaborate
+modification of form, which would be useless if the spider hung
+exposed in the web, is made as effective as possible.
+
+To take an example nearer home, E. infumata is a large, round-bodied
+spider, with two humps on the abdomen, which Emerton describes from
+New England as being brown, mottled with white and black; he adds that
+when it draws in its feet it looks like a lump of dirt. Infumata, in
+Wisconsin, has always a good deal of bluish-green on the upper surface
+of the abdomen. This may be a variety which has been so developed as
+to resemble the lichens which cover the tree to which it clings. It is
+one of the spiders which bear a good deal of handling without
+uncurling its legs, or showing any sign of life. Its humpy form and
+its color give it a very inanimate appearance. It is rather common in
+our neighborhood and may be caught in the late twilight while building
+its web, but to search for it in the daytime, even among the trees
+that it most frequents, is an almost hopeless task. A more grotesque
+form is E. stellata, in which the abdomen has not two, but twelve or
+fifteen humps. These are so disposed that the edge of the abdomen, all
+around, is scalloped. The colors are light and dark brown, modified by
+gray and white hairs. This spider remains motionless during the
+daytime, keeping its legs drawn up to its body. It is common on grass
+and low bushes. It is not found in Wisconsin, but the description of
+it suggests a resemblance to a piece of dead leaf.
+
+There are many other spiders in this genus that have humps and are
+colored in brown, gray or dull yellow, as nordmanii, angulata,
+solitaria, etc. It is an almost universal habit among the Epeiridae to
+drop to the ground when threatened, and when a humped gray or brown
+spider drops to the ground and draws in its legs it is nearly
+indistinguishable from the lumps of earth, sticks and stones that
+surround it.
+
+One of the Therididae which has the same protection is Ulesanis
+americana (Fig. 3). The abdomen, which covers the cephalothorax nearly
+to the eyes, has a prominent hump in the middle of the back and four
+or five others behind. Its color is in shades of brown and yellow.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 3.--ULESANIS AMERICANA (from Emerton).]
+
+Analogous to the humped Epeiridae is Thomisus foka, of Madagascar, a
+spider which is regarded with great terror by the natives, as being so
+poisonous that even its breath is deadly. They say that cattle, when
+about to lie down, look carefully about to see if one of these spiders
+is in the neighborhood. This dread is, no doubt, inspired by the
+strange and uncanny aspect of a perfectly harmless creature. It has a
+rugose, tuberculated body of trapezoid form, the colors being brown
+and reddish, while the whole aspect is crab-like. The thick, short
+legs are reddish, covered with tubercules. The secret of its strange
+form is made clear when we learn that it resembles in color and
+general appearance the fruit of Hymenaea verrucosa, a tree common in
+the forests where this spider is found.
+
+Among the curious forms which must have been developed through
+advantageous variations but which we are unable to explain, is
+Eriauchenus workmanni (Fig. 4).
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 4.--ERIAUCHENUS WORKMANNI (from Cambridge).]
+
+Epeira prompta, a variety of parvula, is a common spider in the State
+of Wisconsin. It is most frequently seen on cedar bushes, where its
+color harmonizes with that of the foliage and fruit. During the day it
+usually rests on a branch near its web. The back of the abdomen is of
+a peculiar bluish-green, exactly like that of the lichens growing on
+tree trunks. The bluish color is broken by waving black lines which
+imitate the curling edges of the lichens. The one represented in the
+plate was found on an old cedar which was covered with lichens. It was
+kept for two weeks in a glass-covered box, where it spent most of the
+time crouching in a corner. It built no web, but spun some irregular
+lines to run about on. It ate gnats, flies, and once a little jumping
+spider, S. pulex, which we were keeping in the same box, leaping upon
+its prey, as noted by Hentz, like an Attus. This seems a curious habit
+to be acquired by an Epeirid, since spiders, as we have noticed among
+our captives, are usually dependent for food upon what is caught in
+their webs. Prompta moves awkwardly, but very rapidly.
+
+Drapetisca socialis, while quite a different looking spider, is
+protected in the same way--by its resemblance to the bark upon which
+it lives. Emerton speaks of finding it on the bark of spruce trees,
+which it "closely resembles in color." Menge says that it is common
+in Prussia, where it is seen in great numbers on fir trees, whose
+spotted bark it resembles in color, so that it is not easily seen. We
+have found them, most commonly, upon birch trees, and in this
+situation their color adaptation is perfect. Both the spider and the
+peeling bark of the tree are of a light silvery brown, covered with
+little blackish marks. On the bark these marks are, of course,
+irregular, while on the spider they form a pattern made up of straight
+and curved lines and dots, the legs being silvery, barred with
+blackish.
+
+Another little Theridion that is found on birch bark has the same
+colors arranged a little differently. The abdomen above has a large
+and peculiarly irregular black patch, which shades off into mottled
+brown and black on the sides and below. The cephalothorax has stripes
+of brown and black, and the legs are barred with light and dark brown.
+
+Spiders that live upon walls, fences, tree trunks, or on the ground
+harmonize in color with the surfaces upon which they are found, being
+usually gray, brown or yellow, mottled with black and white. This
+proposition is so well established as to need but few illustrations.
+The Therididae furnish many examples, as T. murarium, a gray spider
+varied with black and white, said by Emerton to live usually "under
+stones and fences, where it is well concealed by its color"; and
+Lophocarenum rostratum, a yellowish-brown spider, found among leaves
+on the ground. Among the Attidae bright sexual coloring often gains the
+ascendancy over the protective tints, yet this family gives us good
+examples in such species as M. familiaris and S. pulex.
+
+To these may be added an as yet undescribed species which we
+discovered last season in a neighborhood that we had searched
+thoroughly for eight summers. We found the new spider in great
+numbers, but could only detect it by a close scrutiny of the rail
+fences on which it lived, its color being dark gray....
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 5. ORNITHOSCATOIDES DECIPIENS (from Cambridge).]
+
+The last instance that I shall cite is a predaceous spider which is
+disguised from both its enemies and its prey by an elaborate
+combination of form, color, position, and character of web. I refer to
+Ornithoscatoides decipiens (Fig. 5), first described by Forbes and
+afterwards by Cambridge, the latter author giving in the same paper
+descriptions of three other species of the same genus, whose habits
+have not been noted, but whose protection is evidently of the same
+order as that of decipiens. I give Forbes's interesting account of his
+capture of decipiens, quoting also the remarks by which Cambridge
+prefaces his description, since his explanation of the gradual
+development, through Natural Selection, of the spider's deceptive
+appearance applies as well to all the cases of protective disguise
+which have been here enumerated.
+
+The capture is described as follows:--
+
+"On June 25th, 1881, in the forest near the village of Lampar, on the
+banks of the Moesi river in Sumatra, while my 'boys' were procuring
+for me some botanical specimens from a high tree, I was rather
+dreamily looking on the shrubs before me, when I became conscious of
+my eyes resting on a bird-excreta-marked leaf. How strange, I thought,
+it is that I have never got another specimen of that curious spider I
+found in Java which simulated a patch just like this! I plucked the
+leaf by the petiole while so cogitating, and looked at it half
+listlessly for some moments, mentally remarking how closely that other
+spider had copied nature, when, to my delighted surprise, I discovered
+that I had actually secured a second specimen, but the imitation was
+so exquisite that I really did not perceive how matters stood for some
+moments. The spider never moved while I was plucking or twirling the
+leaf, and it was only when I placed the tip of my little finger on it,
+that I observed that it was a spider, when it, without any
+displacement of itself, flashed its falces into my flesh.
+
+"The first specimen I got was in W. Java, while hunting one day for
+Lepidoptera. I observed a specimen of one of the Hesperidae sitting, as
+is often a custom of theirs, on the excreta of a bird on a leaf; I
+crept near it, intending to examine what they find in what one is
+inclined to consider incongruous food for a butterfly. I approached
+nearer and nearer, and at last caught it between my fingers, when I
+found that it had as I thought become glued by its feet to the mass;
+but on pulling gently the spider, to my amazement, disclosed itself by
+letting go its hold: only then did I discover that I was not looking
+on a veritable bird's excreta.... The spider is in general color
+white, spotted here and there with black; on the underside its rather
+irregularly shaped and prominent abdomen is almost all white, of a
+pure chalk white; the angles of the legs are, however, shining
+jet-black. The spider does not make an ordinary web, but only the
+thinnest film on the surface of the leaf. The appearance of the
+excreta rather recently left by a bird on a leaf is well known. There
+is a pure white deposit in the centre, thinning out round the margin,
+while in the central mass are dark portions variously disposed; as the
+leaf is rarely horizontal, the more liquid portions run for some
+distance. Now, this spider one might almost imagine to have in its
+rambles 'marked and inwardly discerned' what it had observed, and to
+have set about practising the 'wrinkles' gained; for it first weaves a
+small, irregular patch of white web on some prominent leaf, then a
+narrow streak laid down towards its sloping margin ending in a small
+knob; it then takes its place on the centre of the irregular spot on
+its back, crosses its black-angled legs over its thorax, and waits.
+Its pure white abdomen represents the central mass of the bird's
+excreta, the black legs the dark portions of the slime, while the web
+above described which it has spun represents the more watery marginal
+part (become dry), even to the run-off portion with the thickened knob
+(which was not accidental, as it occurred in both cases), like the
+residue which semi-fluid substances ending in a drop leave on
+evaporation. It keeps itself in position on its back by thrusting
+under the web below it the spines with which the anterior upper
+surfaces of the legs are furnished." ...
+
+PROTECTIVE HABITS.--Going along with these forms of
+protective resemblance, we find certain habits which sometimes serve
+independently to protect the spider, but oftener are supplemental to
+color and form. Many species hide in crevices or in leaves which they
+roll up and bind together at the edges. In the Epeiridae some are like
+thaddeus, which makes a little tent of silk under a leaf near its web.
+The young thaddeus also makes a tent, but spins its little geometrical
+web on the under side of the leaf, the edges being bent downward. E.
+insularis has the more common habit of forming its tent by drawing the
+edges of two or three leaves together with strands of web; in this it
+sits all day, but at night descends and occupies the centre of the web
+during the hours of darkness. I have often found it in this position
+when hunting nocturnal species by lantern light. It is probable that
+in tropical countries the monkeys, and perhaps the birds, which devour
+these large Epeiridae have learned to recognize their webs, which are
+very large and conspicuous, and to trace them to their hiding places
+close by; and thus may have arisen the curious habit noticed by Vinson
+as possessed by E. nocturna and E. Isabella of destroying the web each
+morning and rebuilding it at night; the spider in this way gaining
+greater security from diurnal enemies.
+
+Atypus abbotii builds a purse-shaped tube which is found attached to
+the bark of trees, and which has the external surface dark and covered
+with sand. The trap-doors which close the nest of some of the
+Territelariae are wonderful examples of protective industry. They fit
+with such absolute accuracy into the openings of the nests and are so
+covered on the upper side with moss, earth, lichens, etc., as to be
+indistinguishable from the surrounding surface.
+
+The rectilinear lines which are stretched in front of the webs of
+many Epeirids are useful in taking and sending on to the spider the
+shock which tells of an approaching enemy. Some spiders, when danger
+threatens, shake the web so violently as to grow indistinct to the
+eye, and others, as Pholcus atlanticus, hang by the legs and whirl the
+body rapidly with the same bewildering result....
+
+A habit common to many spiders, especially among the Epeiridae, is that
+of dropping to the ground at the approach of danger and resting
+motionless among the dirt, sticks, leaves, etc., which they resemble
+in color. The holding of the body in some peculiar position, as in
+Uloborus, Hyptioides, and the flower-like Thomisidae, is a
+necessary accompaniment to the color modification.
+
+The cocoons of spiders are seldom left exposed and unprotected. We
+find them in corners and crevices, concealed in rolled up leaves or
+under bark. Very often the cocoon itself is covered over with a sheet
+of web. In some families the mother carries it about with her attached
+to the underside of the abdomen. In other she carries it in her falces
+until the young are hatched. The cocoons of others, as Uloborus,
+Argyrodes, etc., while hung out in the web are still concealed by
+deceptive form and color, or by being covered with rubbish.
+
+Cambridge speaks of A. brunnea, whose cocoons "are covered over very
+soon after they are made and the eggs deposited in them, with a
+coating of clay, which effectually destroys all their form and beauty.
+This coating of clay answers probably two ends: first, the concealment
+of the cocoon and its protection from insect enemies; and, secondly,
+the protection of the eggs from the too powerful rays of the sun, dry
+clay being (as is well known) one of the best non-conductors of heat."
+
+The peculiar cocoon of C. bisaccata is described by Emerton as
+follows: "Only one specimen of this (_bisaccata_) was found on a beech
+tree at New Haven with two cocoons. These were dark brown, as dark as
+the bark of the tree and as hard. Around the middle of each was a
+circle of irregular points. One of the cocoons was attached by a
+strong stem to the bark, and the other was attached in a similar way
+to the first cocoon. The spider held on to one of the cocoons." In
+this instance the egg has evidently the same protection as that
+possessed by the gray, bark-haunting spiders, with the added advantage
+of hardness.
+
+The habit of distributing the eggs through a number of cocoons made at
+intervals of several days, is protective. In this way, although one or
+two of the cocoons may be pierced by the ichneumon, there is a chance
+that part of the brood may survive.
+
+INDIRECT PROTECTION.--The indirectly protected group includes
+those spiders which are rendered inedible by the possession of sharp
+spines and chitinous plates, and also those that mimic other specially
+protected creatures.
+
+The females of the specially protected group are characterized by the
+following attributes:
+
+Their inedibility, which they owe to a more or less coriaceous
+epidermis and an armature of strong sharp spines (Fig. 6).
+
+Their brilliant colors--glistening black and white, yellow, fiery
+gold, metallic silver, rose-color, blue, orange and blood-red.
+
+Their habit of hanging always exposed in the centre of the web.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 6.--GASTERACANTHA CREPIDOPHORA (from Cambridge).]
+
+In an interesting discussion of the protective value of color and
+marking in insects, Poulton says that "the smaller convergent groups
+of nauseous insects often present us with ideally perfect types
+of warning patterns and colors--simple, crude, strongly
+contrasted--everything subordinated to the paramount necessity of
+becoming conspicuous," the memory of enemies being thus strongly
+appealed to.
+
+This proposition is well illustrated by the Gasteracanthidae. Among
+larvae the warning colors are almost invariably black and white, or
+black (or some very dark color), in contrast with yellow, orange and
+red. These are the colors that also constantly recur among the
+Gasteracanthidae.
+
+Cases that may be more justly considered exceptions to the rule that
+these hard, uneatable spiders are conspicuous are such species as
+Acrosoma rugosa (Fig. 7). One of this species was sent me by Mrs.
+Treat last summer. It lived for several weeks in my window, making no
+regular web, but hanging among a few irregular strands. It ate
+nothing, although provided with insects, but drank greedily of water.
+It might seem that its black and white coloring would make it
+conspicuous, but in connection with its irregular shape and its way of
+hanging motionless in the web it had the opposite effect.
+
+We have no reason to suppose that the class represented in rugosa is
+like that touched upon by Poulton, in which very protectively colored
+larvae suddenly assume a terrifying aspect on the near approach of an
+enemy; still they do enjoy a kind of double protection.
+
+[Illustration: FIG. 7.--ACROSOMA RUGOSA. Left-hand figure female,
+right-hand figure male (from Emerton).]
+
+They are inconspicuous, and thus likely to escape attack, but in case
+they are attacked they have still the advantage of being quickly
+rejected. This experience cannot be as fatal to them as to the soft
+and thin skinned larvae. Their hard covering and projecting spines
+would protect them to such an extent as to give them a fair chance of
+surviving.
+
+In one respect the inconspicuous Gasteracanthidae have a decided
+advantage over their bright-colored relatives. The birds, indeed,
+avoid the conspicuous ones, but their brilliancy serves to attract
+another enemy against which spines are no protection--the hunter wasp,
+which, as we have seen in the work of Bates, sometimes provisions its
+nest wholly with spiders of this family. Mr. Smith gives like
+testimony, saying:
+
+"Spines on the abdomen of certain spiders would serve as a protection
+against vertebrate enemies, though they do not protect against the
+hunter wasps, which frequently provision their nests with these
+species." He adds, however, that most of the spiny spiders are common,
+and that their colors make them conspicuous; just as butterflies that
+are protected by an odor are common and bright-colored....
+
+MIMICRY.--Mimicry, or the imitation of animal forms, while it
+is a form of indirect protection, differs in no essential respect from
+the imitation of vegetable and inorganic things. As Bates has said,
+the object of mimetic tendencies is disguise, and they will work in
+any direction that answers this purpose.
+
+In nearly all respects spiders come under the three laws given by
+Wallace, as governing the development of mimetic resemblances in
+several large classes. These laws are as follows:
+
+1. In an overwhelming majority of cases of mimicry, the animals (or
+the groups) which resemble each other inhabit the same country, the
+same district, and in most cases are to be found together on the very
+same spot.
+
+2. These resemblances are not indiscriminate, but are limited to
+certain groups, which, in every case, are abundant in species and
+individuals, and can often be ascertained to have some special
+protection.
+
+3. The species which resemble or "mimic" these dominant groups, are
+comparatively less abundant in individuals, and are often very rare.
+
+The second and third of these laws are confirmed by what we know of
+mimetic resemblances among spiders. They mimic ants much oftener than
+other creatures, and ants are very abundant, are specially protected,
+and are much more numerous than the mimetic spiders. To the first
+law, also, they conform to a great extent, since everything tends to
+show that in tropical America and in Africa the ant and the spider,
+the one mimicked and the other mimicking, are always found together.
+So far as I can discover, however, the ant-like spiders of North
+America are not found in company with any species of ant which they
+resemble. This may be because they do not mimic any particular
+species, but only the general ant-like form; or, considering that the
+genera which contain their nearest relatives are much more abundant in
+Central and South America, it may be that these forms were originally
+tropical, mimicking some tropical species of ants, and that after the
+Glacial Epoch they migrated northward, leaving the ants behind them.
+However this may be, their peculiar form has served them well, since
+they have maintained themselves as fairly abundant species with a
+lower fecundity than is found in any other group of spiders.
+
+The cases in which one species mimics another may be divided,
+according to the kind of benefit derived, into four classes: Class 1.
+As a rule, where we find one species mimicking another, the mimicked
+species possesses some special means of defence against the enemies of
+both. This defence may consist of a disagreeable taste or odor, as in
+the Heliconidae, which are mimicked by other butterflies; of some
+special weapon of offence, as where wasps and bees are mimicked by
+flies and moths, or poisonous vipers by harmless caterpillars; or of a
+hard shell, as where the coriaceous beetles are mimicked by those that
+are soft-bodied.
+
+Instances of this rule are exceedingly numerous; indeed, Wallace says
+that specially protected forms are always mimicked; still we have
+nothing mimicking our Gasteracanthidae.
+
+Class 2. The mimetic may prey upon the mimicked species, its disguise
+enabling it to gain a near approach to its victims; as the mantis,
+mentioned by Bates as exactly resembling the white ants upon which it
+feeds; and the flies which mimic bees, upon which they are parasitic,
+and are thus able to enter the nests of the bees and lay eggs on the
+larvae.
+
+Class 3. The mimetic species may, by its imitation, be protected from
+the attacks of the creature it mimics, as is the case with the
+crickets and grasshoppers which mimic their deadly foe, the hunter
+wasp.
+
+Class 4. The mimetic species may prey upon some creature which is
+found commonly with, and is not eaten by, the mimicked species.
+
+No two of these classes are mutually destructive so that in any case
+of mimicry a double advantage may be gained.
+
+Let us see which of these advantages has directed the development of
+mimetic tendencies among spiders.
+
+While among beetles and butterflies we most commonly find mimicry of
+one species by another within the same order, we have no instance of a
+spider mimicking another spider. This may be accounted for by the fact
+that the specially protected spiders depend for their safety upon the
+possession of hard plates and spinous processes, and although the
+hardened epidermis might be imitated (we know that hard-shelled
+beetles are mimicked by others that are soft), spines could scarcely
+be imitated by a soft-bodied creature with sufficient accuracy to
+insure disguise.
+
+While spiders most commonly mimic ants, we hear also of their
+imitating beetles, snail-shells, ichneumons and horseflies. There is
+also a curious Madagascar species which looks exactly like a little
+scorpion, the resemblance being heightened by its habit of curving its
+flexible tail up over its back when irritated.
+
+Those that resemble beetles comprise nearly all the species of the
+genera Coccorchestes and Homalattus. These are small spiders with
+short, convex bodies. The abdomen fits closely over the cephalothorax,
+and the epidermis, which has usually a metallic lustre, is sometimes
+coriaceous. Striking examples are found in H. coccinelloides, which
+bears a strong resemblance to beetles of the family Coccinelloidae, and
+in C. cupreus, in which certain marks on the abdomen imitate the
+elytra of beetles.
+
+The following account of a spider which mimics a snail-shell is given
+by Mr. G. F. Atkinson;--
+
+"An undescribed species of _Cyrtarachne_ mimics a snail-shell, the
+inhabitant of which, during the summer and fall, is very abundant on
+the leaves of plants in this place. In the species of Cyrtarachne the
+abdomen partly covers the cephalothorax, is very broad at the base, in
+this species broader than the length of the spider, and rounds off at
+the apex. When it rests upon the under side of a leaf with its legs
+retracted it strongly resembles one of these snail-shells by the color
+and shape of its abdomen. The two specimens which I collected deceived
+me at first, but a few threads of silk led me to make the examination.
+The spider seemed so confident of its protection that it would not
+move when I jarred the plant, striking it several hard blows. I
+pulled the spider forcibly from the leaf, and it did not exhibit any
+signs of movement until transferred to the cyanide bottle." ...
+
+Trimen gives an account of the imitation, by spiders, of horseflies, a
+case falling into Class 2, as follows:--
+
+"Hunting spiders are in some cases very like their prey, as may
+everywhere be noticed in the case of the species of Salticus which
+catch horseflies on sunny walls and fences. The likeness is not in
+itself more than a general one of size, form and coloring; but its
+effect is greatly aided by the actions of the spider, which walks
+hurriedly for short distances, stopping abruptly, and rapidly moving
+its falces, in evident mimicry of the well-known movements so
+characteristic of flies."
+
+Instances of spiders mimicking ants are very numerous, and in many
+cases the resemblance is so close as to, at first sight, deceive a
+trained naturalist. This resemblance is brought about by the spider's
+body being elongated and strongly constricted, so that it appears to
+be composed of three segments instead of two, by the color, by the way
+in which the spider moves about, zig-zagging from side to side like an
+ant, and by its habit of holding up one pair of its legs and moving
+them in such a way that they look exactly like the antennae of an ant.
+
+Ants may be regarded as specially protected, by their sharp, acid
+flavor, and in some species by the possession of stings or of horny
+processes.
+
+On the ground that there are birds which do eat ants, and eat them
+greedily, it has been thought by some naturalists that they cannot be
+considered specially protected creatures, and that, as spiders can
+therefore derive no protection from mimicking them, all cases of such
+mimicry depend upon the spider's increased ability to capture the ants
+as prey, but I am convinced that this is too hasty a conclusion. It is
+unquestionably true that some birds feed almost exclusively upon ants,
+but these are the exceptions. It is a common thing to find that
+specially protected groups, which are safe from the attacks of most
+creatures, have their special enemies. Thus, even the nauseous
+Heliconidae are preyed upon by certain spiders and wasps; and bees, in
+spite of their stings, are preferred to other insects by the
+bee-eaters. Moreover, the ant-devouring birds are found largely among
+the wood-peckers, which eat the ants that run on the trunks of trees,
+and are therefore not a source of danger to the ant-like spiders, the
+American species of which, so far as I can learn, live entirely upon
+the ground.
+
+In the United States comparatively small numbers of either ants or
+spiders are eaten by birds, but in tropical America there are enormous
+numbers of humming-birds feeding almost exclusively upon spiders, and
+there the protective advantage of looking like ants must be of great
+importance to the smaller species.
+
+Belt considers that the advantages gained by ant-mimicking Central
+American spiders lies entirely on the side of protection. In relation
+to this subject he says: "Ant-like spiders have been noticed
+throughout tropical America and also in Africa. The use that the
+deceptive resemblance is to them has been explained to be the facility
+it affords them for approaching ants on which they prey. I am
+convinced that this explanation is incorrect, so far as the Central
+American species are concerned. Ants, and especially the stinging
+species are, so far as my experience goes, not preyed upon by any
+other insects. No disguise need be adopted to approach them, as they
+are so bold that they are more likely to attack a spider than a spider
+them. Neither have they wings to escape by flying, and generally go in
+large bodies easily found and approached. The use is, I doubt not, the
+protection the disguise affords against small insectivorous birds. I
+have found the crops of some humming-birds full of small, soft-bodied
+spiders, and many other birds feed on them. Stinging-ants, like bees
+and wasps, are closely resembled by a host of other insects; indeed,
+whenever I found any insect provided with special means of defence I
+looked for imitative forms, and was never disappointed in finding
+them."
+
+The ant-like species are probably protected by their appearance from
+the attacks of many of the larger spiders. We have kept great numbers
+of Attidae in captivity, and, although they devoured flies, gnats,
+larvae, and other spiders, they would never touch ants. Among spiders,
+however, as among birds, we find that certain groups subsist almost
+entirely upon ants.
+
+The class of spiders whose mimicry protects them from their enemies,
+whether they are birds or other spiders, probably includes at least
+two of our own ant-like species, Synageles picata and Synemosyna
+formica, which, in confinement, are always hungry for gnats, but will
+not touch ants, even of small size.
+
+The existence of a class of spiders which mimic the particular species
+of ants upon which they prey is not to be questioned, but it is
+doubtful whether the benefit to the spider is increased facility in
+capturing the ant, or whether it is merely protective. It may be that
+the spider, by virtue of its resemblance to the ant, not only gets an
+abundant supply of food, but also escapes being eaten itself, and thus
+enjoys a double advantage. Both Bates and Wallace take the ground that
+the advantage derived by the spider consists in greater ease in the
+capture of prey, but both of these writers refer to spiders only
+incidentally to illustrate a general proposition, without special
+consideration of their peculiar conditions.
+
+Mr. Herbert Smith, who has paid a good deal of attention to this
+subject, is inclined to believe that the mimicry in question is
+entirely protective. He writes as follows:--
+
+"In the United States there are a few rare spiders that mimic ants.
+Here at Taperinha we find a good score of species of these spiders
+aping the various kinds of ants very closely; even the odd, spiny
+wood-ant, _cryptocerus_, furnishes a pattern, and there are spiders
+that mimic the wingless ichneumons. We find, after a while, that the
+spiders prey upon ants just as our spiders catch flies; indeed, this
+fact has already been noted by other observers. But we go a step
+beyond the books when we discover not only that the spiders eat the
+ants, but that they eat the particular ants which they mimic. At all
+events, we verify this fact in a great number of cases, and we never
+find the spiders eating any but the mimicked species.... I do not like
+to hazard a theory on this case of mimicry. It is difficult to suppose
+that the quick-witted ants would be deceived even by so close a
+resemblance; and, in any case, it would seem that the spiders do not
+require such a disguise in order to capture slow-moving ants. Most
+birds will not eat ants; it seems likely, therefore, that this is
+simply another example of protection; the spider deceives its enemies,
+not its prey; it mimics the particular species that it feeds on,
+because it is seen in that company when it is hunting, and among a
+host of similar forms is likely to pass unnoticed."
+
+At first sight, and especially in view of the fact that such cases are
+not uncommon among insects, it would be naturally supposed that the
+object of the mimicry was to enable the spider to approach its victim
+without exciting suspicion; and it is difficult to account, on any
+other supposition, for the very close resemblance between certain
+species of spiders and the particular species of ants which they prey
+upon. It seems as though the highest point of _protective_ benefit
+would have been reached long before the resemblance of the spider to
+the ant had become so close as it really is. On the other hand, it is
+difficult to believe that ants are deceived, even by those spiders
+which mimic them most closely, when we remember that their perceptions
+are so keen that they discriminate not only between ants of their own
+and different species, but even between ants of their own species
+living in two different communities.
+
+The mimicry of ichneumon flies by spiders was noted some years ago by
+Mr. Herbert Smith. This case comes under Class 3, in which one species
+mimics another which preys upon it. Great destruction is caused by
+ichneumons which lay their eggs on the bodies of the live spiders,
+and the disguise probably protects the spider by leading the fly to
+mistake it for one of its own species.
+
+We have no proof that spiders ever mimic ants as a method of escaping
+from them, but it is possible that this sometimes happens. We know
+that some ants prey upon them. The foraging ants of South America
+destroy spiders as well as many kinds of insects, and Wallace mentions
+a small, wood-boring ant which fills its nest with small spiders.
+
+If the spiders that feed upon ants deceive them by their mimicry those
+which are preyed upon by ants would gain an advantage by a similar
+disguise. I once placed a little ant-like spider of the genus
+Herpyllus in a bottle with three ants no larger than itself, which I
+had caught with it in the sweep-net. In a very few minutes the ants
+had killed and begun to devour the spider. It may be that the
+resemblance was sufficiently close to deceive them in the open, but
+failed when spider and ants were confined together in close quarters.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATH OF THE BIRDS
+
+BY RICHARD JEFFERIES.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+One morning Sir Bevis went down to the brook. Standing on the brink,
+he said: "Brook, Brook! what are you singing? You promised to tell me
+what you were saying."
+
+The brook did not answer, but went on singing. Bevis listened a
+minute, and then he picked a willow leaf and threw it into the bubbles
+and watched it go whirling round and round in the eddies and back up
+under the fall, where it dived down and presently came up again, and
+the stream took it and carried it away past the flags. "Brook, Brook!"
+said Bevis, stamping his foot; "tell me what you are singing."
+
+And the brook, having now finished that part of his song, said:
+"Bevis, dear; sit down in the shadow of the willow, for it is very hot
+to-day, and the reapers are at work; sit down under the willow and I
+will tell you as much as I can remember."
+
+"But the reed said you could not remember anything," said Bevis,
+leaning back against the willow.
+
+"The reed did not tell you the truth, dear; indeed, he does not know
+all; the fact is, the reeds are so fond of talking that I scarcely
+ever answer them now or they would keep on all day long, and I should
+never hear the sound of my own voice, which I like best. So I do not
+encourage them, and that is why the reeds think I do not recollect."
+
+"And what is that you sing about?" said Bevis impatiently.
+
+"My darling," said the brook, "I do not know myself always what I am
+singing about. I am so happy I sing, sing, and never think about what
+it means; it does not matter what you mean as long as you sing.
+Sometimes I sing about the sun, who loves me dearly, and tries all day
+to get at me through the leaves and the green flags that hide me; he
+sparkles on me everywhere he can, and does not like me to be in the
+shadow. Sometimes I sing to the wind, who loves me next most dearly,
+and will come to me everywhere in places where the sun cannot get. He
+plays with me whenever he can, and strokes me softly and tells me the
+things he has heard in the woods and on the hills, and sends down the
+leaves to float along; for he knows I like something to carry. Fling
+me in some leaves, Bevis, dear.
+
+"Sometimes I sing to the earth and the grass; they are fond of me,
+too, and listen the best of all. I sing loudest at night to the stars;
+for they are so far away they would not otherwise hear me."
+
+"But what do you say?" said Bevis; but the brook was too occupied now
+to heed him and went on.
+
+"Sometimes I sing to the trees; they, too, are fond of me and come as
+near as they can; they would all come down close to me if they could.
+They love me like the rest, because I am so happy and never cease my
+chanting. If I am broken to pieces against a stone, I do not mind in
+the least; I laugh just the same and even louder. When I come over the
+hatch, I dash myself to fragments; and sometimes a rainbow comes and
+stays a little while with me. The trees drink me, and the grass drinks
+me; the birds come down and drink me; they splash me and are happy.
+The fishes swim about, and some of them hide in deep corners. Round
+the bend I go; and the osiers say they never have enough of me. The
+long grass waves and welcomes me; the moor-hens float with me; the
+kingfisher is always with me somewhere, and sits on the bough to see
+his ruddy breast in the water. And you come too, Bevis, now and then
+to listen to me; and it is all because I am so happy."
+
+"Why are you so happy?" said Bevis.
+
+"I do not know," said the brook. "Perhaps it is because all I think of
+is this minute; I do not know anything about the minute just gone by,
+and I do not care one bit about the minute that is just coming; all I
+care about is this minute, this very minute now. Fling me in some more
+leaves, Bevis. Why do you go about asking questions, dear? Why don't
+you sing and do nothing else?"
+
+"Oh, but I want to know all about everything," said Bevis. "Where did
+you come from, and where are you going, and why don't you go on and
+let the ground be dry--why don't you run on, and run all away? why are
+you always here?"
+
+The brook laughed and said: "My dear, I do not know where I came from,
+and I do not care at all where I am going. What does it matter, my
+love? All I know is I shall come back again; yes, I shall come back
+again." The brook sang very low and rather sadly now: "I shall go into
+the sea and shall be lost; and even you would not know me; ask your
+father, love; he has sailed over the sea in ships that come to
+Southampton, and I was close to him, but he did not know me. But by
+and by, when I am in the sea, the sun will lift me up, and the clouds
+will float along--look towards the hills, Bevis, dear, every morning
+and you will see the clouds coming and bringing me with them; and the
+rain and the dew, and sometimes the thunder and the lightning, will
+put me down again; and I shall run along here and sing to you, my
+sweet, if you will come and listen. Fling in some little twigs, my
+dear, and some bits of bark from the tree."
+
+"That I will," said Bevis; and he picked up a stone and flung it into
+the water with such a splash that the kingfisher flew away; but the
+brook only laughed and told him to throw another and to make haste and
+grow bigger and jump over him.
+
+"S--s, we shall meet by the drinking place," said the grasshopper; and
+was just hopping off, when Bevis asked him what the birds went down to
+bathe for.
+
+"I'm sure I do not know," said the grasshopper, speaking fast, for he
+was rather in a hurry to be gone; he never could stand still long
+together. "All I can tell you is, that on Midsummer Day every one of
+the birds has to go down to the brook and walk in and bathe; and it
+has been the law for so many, many years that no one can remember when
+it began. They like it very much, because they can show off their
+fine feathers which are just now in full color; and if you like to go
+with me, you will be sure to enjoy it."
+
+"So I will," said Bevis; and he followed the grasshopper, who hopped
+so far at every step that he had to walk fast to keep up with him.
+
+They went on in silence a good way, except that the grasshopper cried
+"S--s" to his friends in the grass as he passed, and said good-morning
+also to a mole, who peeped out for a moment.
+
+"Why don't you hop straight?" said Bevis presently. "It seems to me
+that you hop first one side and then the other, and go in such a
+zigzag fashion it will take us hours to reach the brook."
+
+"How very stupid you are!" said the grasshopper. "If you go straight,
+of course you can only see just what is under your feet; but if you go
+first this way and then that, then you see everything. You are nearly
+as silly as the ants, who never see anything beautiful all their
+lives. Be sure you have nothing to do with the ants, Bevis; they are a
+mean, wretched, miserly set, quite contemptible and beneath notice.
+Now, I go everywhere, all round the field, and spend my time searching
+for lovely things; sometimes I find flowers, and sometimes the
+butterflies come down into the grass and tell me the news; and I am so
+fond of the sunshine, I sing to it all day long. Tell me, now, is
+there anything so beautiful as the sunshine and the blue sky, and the
+green grass, and the velvet and blue and spotted butterflies, and the
+trees which cast such a pleasant shadow and talk so sweetly, and the
+brook which is always running? I should like to listen to it for a
+thousand years."
+
+"I like you," said Bevis; "jump into my hand and I will carry you." He
+held his hand out flat, and in a second up sprang the grasshopper and
+alighted on his palm and told him the way to go, and thus they went
+together merrily.
+
+"Bevis, dear, I do not sing at night; but I always go where I can see
+a star. I slept under a mushroom last night, and he told me he was
+pushing up as fast as he could before some one came and picked him to
+put on a gridiron. I do not lay up any store, because I know I shall
+die when the summer ends; and what is the use of wealth then? My store
+and my wealth is the sunshine, dear, and the blue sky, and the green
+grass, and the delicious brook who never ceases sing, sing, singing
+all day and night. And all the things are fond of me; the grass and
+the flowers, and the birds and the animals--all of them love me."
+
+"I think I shall take you home and put you under a glass case on the
+mantelpiece," said Bevis.
+
+Off jumped the grasshopper in a moment, and fell so lightly on the
+grass it did not hurt him in the least, though it was as far as if
+Bevis had tumbled down out of the clouds. Bevis tried to catch him,
+but he jumped so nimbly this way and that, and hopped to and fro, and
+lay down in the grass, that his green coat could not be seen. Bevis
+now went down to the brook and stood on the bank, where it was high,
+near a bush at the side of the drinking place. "Ah, dear little Sir
+Bevis!" whispered a reed, bending towards him as the wind blew,
+"please do not come any nearer; the bank is steep and treacherous, and
+hollow underneath where the water-rats run. So do not lean over after
+the forget-me-nots--they are too far for you. Sit down where you are,
+behind that little bush, and I will tell you all about the bathing.
+The birds come down to bathe every Midsummer Day, and the goldfinches,
+and the sparrows, and the blackbirds, and the thrushes, and the
+swallows, and the wrens, and the robins, and almost every one of them,
+except two or three, whose great-grandfathers got into disgrace a long
+while ago. The rooks do not come because they are thieves, and steal
+the mussels, nor the crows, who are a very bad lot; the swan does not
+come either, unless the brook is muddy after a storm. The swan is so
+tired of seeing himself in the water that he quite hates it, and that
+is the reason he holds his neck so high, that he may not see more of
+himself than he can help."
+
+Soon the birds came. They were all in their very best and brightest
+feathers, and as the sun shone on them and they splashed the water and
+strutted about, Bevis thought he had never seen anything so beautiful.
+
+They did not all bathe, for some of them were specially permitted only
+to drink instead, but they all came, and all in their newest dresses.
+So bright was the goldfinch's wing, that the lark, though she did not
+dare speak, had no doubt she rouged. The sparrow, brushed and neat, so
+quiet and subdued in his brown velvet, looked quite aristocratic among
+so much flaunting color. As for the blackbird he had carefully washed
+himself in the spring before he came to bathe in the brook, and he
+glanced round with a bold and defiant air, as much as to say: "There
+is not one of you who has so yellow a bill, and so beautiful a black
+coat as I have." In the bush the bullfinch, who did not care much to
+mix with the crowd, moved restlessly to and fro. The robin looked all
+the time at Bevis, so anxious was he for admiration. The wood-pigeon,
+very consequential, affected not to see the dove, whom Bevis longed to
+stroke, but could not, as he had promised the reed to keep still.
+
+Bevis looked up into the sky, and there was the hawk, almost up among
+the white clouds, soaring round and round, and watching all that was
+proceeding. Almost before he could look down again a shadow went by,
+and a cuckoo flew along very low, just over the drinking place.
+
+"Cuckoo!" he cried, "cuckoo! The goldfinch has the prettiest dress;"
+and off he went.
+
+Now the hawk had bribed the cuckoo, who was his cousin, to do this,
+and the cuckoo was not at all unwilling, for he had an interest
+himself in keeping the birds divided, so he said that although he had
+made up his mind to go on his summer tour, leaving his children to be
+taken care of by the wagtail, he would stop a day or two longer to
+manage this little business. No sooner had the cuckoo said this, than
+there was a most terrible uproar, and all the birds cried out at once.
+The blackbird was so disgusted that he flew straight off, chattering
+all across the field and up the hedge. The bullfinch tossed his head,
+and asked the goldfinch to come up in the bush and see which was
+stronger. The greenfinch and the chaffinch shrieked with derision; the
+wood-pigeon turned his back and said "Pooh!" and went off with a
+clatter. The sparrow flew to tell his mates on the house, and you
+could hear the chatter they made about it right down at the brook.
+But the wren screamed loudest of all, and said that the goldfinch was
+a painted impostor, and had not got half so much gold as the
+yellow-hammer. So they were all scattered in a minute, and Bevis stood
+up and hurried homeward.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE LOON
+
+(FROM WALDEN.)
+
+BY HENRY D. THOREAU.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+It is remarkable how many creatures live wild and free, though secret,
+in the woods, and still sustain themselves in the neighborhood of
+towns, suspected by hunters only. How retired the otter manages to
+live here! He grows to be four feet long, as big as a small boy,
+perhaps without any human being getting a glimpse of him. I formerly
+saw the raccoon in the woods behind where my house is built, and
+probably still heard their whinnering at night. Commonly I rested an
+hour or two in the shade at noon, after planting, and ate my lunch,
+and read a little by a spring which was the source of a swamp and of a
+brook, oozing from under Brister's Hill, half a mile from my field.
+The approach to this was through a succession of descending grassy
+hollows, full of young pitch-pines, into a larger wood about the
+swamp.
+
+There, in a very secluded and shaded spot, under a spreading
+white-pine, there was yet a clean, firm sward to sit on. I had dug out
+the spring and made a well of clear gray water, where I could dip up a
+pailful without roiling it, and thither I went for this purpose almost
+every day in midsummer, when the pond was warmest. Thither, too, the
+wood-cock led her brood, to probe the mud for worms, flying but a foot
+above them down the bank, while they ran in a troop beneath; but at
+last, spying me, she would leave her young and circle round and round
+me, nearer and nearer till within four or five feet, pretending broken
+wings and legs, to attract my attention, and get off her young, who
+would already have taken up their march, with faint wiry peep, single
+file through the swamp, as she directed. Or I heard the peep of the
+young when I could not see the parent bird.
+
+There, too, the turtle-doves sat over the spring, or fluttered from
+bough to bough of the soft white-pines over, my head; or the red
+squirrel, coursing down the nearest bough, was particularly familiar
+and inquisitive. You only need sit still long enough in some
+attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit
+themselves to you by turns....
+
+In the fall the loon (_Colymbus glacialis_) came, as usual, to moult
+and bathe in the pond, making the woods ring with his wild laughter
+before I had risen. At rumor of his arrival all the Mill-dam sportsmen
+are on the alert, in gigs and on foot, two by two and three by three,
+with patent rifles and conical balls and spy-glasses. They come
+rustling through the woods like autumn leaves, at least ten men to one
+loon. Some station themselves on this side of the pond, some on that,
+for the poor bird cannot be omnipresent; if he dive here he must come
+up there.
+
+But now the kind October wind rises, rustling the leaves and rippling
+the surface of the water, so that no loon can be heard or seen, though
+his foes sweep the pond with spy-glasses, and make the woods resound
+with their discharges. The waves generously rise and dash angrily,
+taking sides with all waterfowl, and our sportsmen must beat a retreat
+to town and shop and unfinished jobs. But they were too often
+successful. When I went to get a pail of water early in the morning I
+frequently saw this stately bird sailing out of my cove within a few
+rods. If I endeavored to overtake him in a boat, in order to see how
+he would manoeuvre, he would dive and be completely lost, so that I did
+not discover him again, sometimes, till the latter part of the day.
+But I was more than a match for him on the surface. He commonly went
+off in a rain.
+
+As I was paddling along the north shore one very calm October
+afternoon, for such days especially they settle on to the lakes, like
+the milkweed down, having looked in vain over the pond for a loon,
+suddenly one, sailing out from the shore toward the middle a few rods
+in front of me, set up his wild laugh and betrayed himself. I pursued
+with a paddle and he dived, but when he came up I was nearer than
+before. He dived again but I miscalculated the direction he would
+take, and we were fifty rods apart when he came to the surface this
+time, for I had helped to widen the interval; and again he laughed
+long and loud, and with more reason than before.
+
+He manoeuvred so cunningly that I could not get within half a dozen
+rods of him. Each time when he came to the surface, turning his head
+this way and that, he coolly surveyed the water and the land, and
+apparently chose his course so that he might come up where there was
+the widest expanse of water and at the greatest distance from the
+boat. It was surprising how quickly he made up his mind and put his
+resolve into execution. He led me at once to the wildest part of the
+pond, and could not be driven from it. While he was thinking one thing
+in his brain, I was endeavoring to divine his thought in mine. It was
+a pretty game, played on the smooth surface of the pond, a man against
+a loon.
+
+Suddenly your adversary's checker disappears beneath the board, and
+the problem is to place yours nearest to where his will appear again.
+Sometimes he would come up unexpectedly on the opposite side of me,
+having apparently passed directly under the boat. So long-winded was
+he and so unweariable, that when he had swam farthest he would
+immediately plunge again, nevertheless; and then no wit could divine
+where in the deep pond, beneath the smooth surface, he might be
+speeding his way like a fish, for he had time and ability to visit the
+bottom of the pond in its deepest part. It is said that loons have
+been caught in the New York lakes eighty feet beneath the surface,
+with hooks set for trout,--though Walden is deeper than that. How
+surprised must the fishes be to see this ungainly visitor from another
+sphere speeding his way amid their schools!
+
+Yet he appeared to know his course as surely under water as on the
+surface, and swam much faster there. Once or twice I saw a ripple
+where he approached the surface, just put his head out to reconnoitre,
+and instantly dived again. I found that it was as well for me to rest
+on my oars and wait his reappearing as to endeavor to calculate where
+he would rise; for again and again, when I was straining my eyes over
+the surface one way, I would suddenly be startled by his unearthly
+laugh behind me. But why, after displaying so much cunning, did he
+invariably betray himself the moment he came up by that loud laugh?
+Did not his white breast enough betray him?
+
+He was indeed a silly loon, I thought. I could commonly hear the plash
+of the water when he came up, and so also detected him. But after an
+hour he seemed as fresh as ever, dived as willingly and swam yet
+farther than at first. It was surprising to see how serenely he sailed
+off with unruffled breast when he came to the surface, doing all the
+work with his webbed feet beneath. His usual note was this demoniac
+laughter, yet somewhat like that of a waterfowl; but occasionally when
+he had balked me most successfully and come up a long way off, he
+uttered a long-drawn unearthly howl, probably more like that of a wolf
+than any bird; as when a beast puts his muzzle to the ground and
+deliberately howls. This was his looning,--perhaps the wildest sound
+that is ever heard here, making the woods ring far and wide. I
+concluded that he laughed in derision of my efforts, confident of his
+own resources.
+
+Though the sky was by this time overcast, the pond was so smooth that
+I could see where he broke the surface when I did not hear him. His
+white breast, the stillness of the air, and the smoothness of the
+water were all against him. At length, having come up fifty rods off,
+he uttered one of those prolonged howls, as if calling on the god of
+loons to aid him, and immediately there came a wind from the east and
+rippled the surface, and filled the whole air with misty rain, and I
+was impressed as if it were the prayer of the loon answered, and his
+god was angry with me; and so I left him disappearing far away on the
+tumultuous surface.
+
+For hours, in fall days, I watched the ducks cunningly tack and veer
+and hold the middle of the pond, far from the sportsman; tricks which
+they will have less need to practise in Louisiana bayous. When
+compelled to rise they would sometimes circle round and round and over
+the pond at a considerable height, from which they could easily see to
+other ponds and the river, like black motes in the sky; and, when I
+thought they had gone off thither long since, they would settle down
+by a slanting flight of a quarter of a mile on to a distant part which
+was left free; but what beside safety they got by sailing in the
+middle of Walden I do not know, unless they love its water for the
+same reason that I do.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+THE DARTMOOR PONIES, OR THE WANDERINGS OF THE HORSE TRIBE
+
+(FROM "THROUGH MAGIC GLASSES.")
+
+BY ARABELLA B. BUCKLEY.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+I want you to take a journey with me which I took in imagination a few
+days ago, as I lay on my back on the sunny moor and watched the
+Dartmoor ponies.
+
+It was a calm misty morning one day last week, giving promise of a
+bright and sunny day, when I started off for a long walk across the
+moor to visit the famous stone-circles, many of which are to be found
+not far off the track, called Abbot's Way, leading from Buckfast
+Abbey, on the Dart, to the Abbey of Tavistock, on the Tavy.
+
+My mind was full of the olden times as I pictured to myself how, seven
+hundred years or more ago, some Benedictine monk from Tavistock Abbey,
+in his black robe and cowl, paced this narrow path on his way to his
+Cistercian brethren at Buckfast, meeting some of them on his road as
+they wandered over the desolate moor in their white robes and black
+scapularies in search of stray sheep. For the Cistercians were
+shepherds and wool-weavers, while the Benedictines devoted themselves
+to learning, and the track of about twenty-five miles from one abbey
+to the other, which still remains, was worn by the members of the two
+communities and their dependents, the only variety in whose lives
+consisted probably in these occasional visits one to the other.
+
+Yet even these monks belonged to modern times compared to the ancient
+Britons who raised the stone-circles, and buried their dead in the
+barrows scattered here and there over the moor; and my mind drifted
+back to the days when, long before that pathway was worn, men clad in
+the skins of beasts hunted wild animals over the ground on which I was
+treading, and lived in caves and holes of the ground.
+
+I wondered, as I thought of them, whether the cultured monks and the
+uncivilized Britons delighted as much in the rugged scenery of the
+moor as I did that morning. For many miles in front of me the moor
+stretched out wild and treeless; the sun was shining brightly upon the
+mass of yellow furze and deep-red heather, drawing up the moisture
+from the ground, and causing a kind of watery haze to shimmer over the
+landscape; while the early mist was rising off the _tors_, or
+hill-tops, in the distance, curling in fanciful wreaths around the
+rugged and stony summits, as it dispersed gradually in the increasing
+heat of the day.
+
+The cattle which were scattered in groups here and there feeding on
+the dewy grass were enjoying the happiest time of the year. The moor,
+which in winter affords them scarcely a bare subsistence, is now
+richly covered with fresh young grass, and the sturdy oxen fed
+solemnly and deliberately, while the wild Dartmoor ponies and their
+colts scampered joyously along, shaking their manes and long flowing
+tails, and neighing to each other as they went; or clustered together
+on some verdant spot, where the colts teased and bit each other for
+fun, as they gambolled round their mothers.
+
+It was a pleasure, there on the open moor, with the lark soaring
+overhead, and the butterflies and bees hovering among the
+sweet-smelling furze blossoms, to see horses free and joyous, with no
+thought of bit or bridle, harness or saddle, whose hoofs had never
+been handled by the shoeing-smith, nor their coats touched with the
+singeing iron. Those little colts, with their thick heads, shaggy
+coats, and flowing tails, will have at least two years more freedom
+before they know what it is to be driven or beaten. Only once a year
+are they gathered together, claimed by their owners and branded with
+an initial, and then left again to wander where they will. True, it is
+a freedom which sometimes has its drawbacks, for if the winter is
+severe the only food they can get will be the furze-tops, off which
+they scrape the snow with their feet; yet it is very precious in
+itself, for they can gallop when and where they choose, with head
+erect, sniffing at the wind and crying to each other for the very joy
+of life.
+
+Now as I strolled across the moor and watched their gambols, thinking
+how like free wild animals they seemed, my thoughts roamed far away,
+and I saw in imagination scenes where other untamed animals of the
+horse tribe are living unfettered all their lives long.
+
+First there rose before my mind the level grass-covered pampas of
+South America, where wild horses share the boundless plains with
+troops of the rhea, or American ostrich, and wander, each horse with
+as many mares as he can collect, in companies of hundreds or even
+thousands in a troop. These horses are now truly wild, and live freely
+from youth to age, unless they are unfortunate enough to be caught in
+the more inhabited regions by the lasso of the hunter. In the broad
+pampas, the home of herds of wild cattle, they dread nothing. There,
+as they roam with one bold stallion as their leader, even beasts of
+prey hesitate to approach them, for, when they form into a dense mass
+with the mothers and young in their centre, their heels deal blows
+which even the fierce jaguar does not care to encounter, and they
+trample their enemy to death in a very short time. Yet these are not
+the original wild horses we are seeking, they are the descendants of
+tame animals, brought from Europe by the Spaniards to Buenos Ayres in
+1535, whose descendants have regained their freedom on the boundless
+pampas and prairies.
+
+As I was picturing them careering over the plains, another scene
+presented itself and took their place. Now I no longer saw around me
+tall pampas-grass with the long necks of the rheas appearing above it,
+for I was on the edge of a dreary, scantily covered plain between the
+Aral Sea and the Balkash Lake in Tartary. To the south lies a barren
+sandy desert, to the north the fertile plains of the Kirghiz steppes,
+where the Tartar feeds his flocks, and herds of antelopes gallop over
+the fresh green pasture; and between these is a kind of no-man's
+land, where low scanty shrubs and stunted grass seem to promise but a
+poor feeding-ground.
+
+Yet here the small long-legged but powerful "Tarpans," the wild horses
+of the treeless plains of Russia and Tartary, were picking their
+morning meal. Sturdy wicked little fellows they are, with their shaggy
+light-brown coats, short wiry manes, erect ears, and fiery watchful
+eyes. They might well be supposed to be true wild horses, whose
+ancestors had never been tamed by man; and yet it is more probable
+that even they escaped in early times from the Tartars, and have held
+their own ever since, over the grassy steppes of Russia and on the
+confines of the plains of Tartary. Sometimes they live almost alone,
+especially on the barren wastes where they have been seen in winter,
+scraping the snow off the herbage as our ponies do on Dartmoor. At
+other times, as in the south of Russia, where they wander between the
+Dnieper and the Don, they gather in vast herds and live a free life,
+not fearing even the wolves, which they beat to the ground with their
+hoofs. From one green oasis to another they travel over miles of
+ground.
+
+   "A thousand horse--and none to ride!
+    With flowing tail, and flying mane,
+    Wide nostrils--never stretched by pain,
+    Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein,
+    And feet that iron never shod,
+    And flanks unscarred by spur or rod,
+    A thousand horse, the wild, the free,
+    Like waves that follow o'er the sea."[11]
+
+[11] Byron's _Mazeppa_.
+
+As I followed them in their course I fancied I saw troops of yet
+another animal of the horse tribe, the "Kulan," or _Equus hemionus_,
+which is a kind of half horse, half ass (p. 393), living on the
+Kirghiz steppes of Tartary and spreading far beyond the range of the
+Tarpan into Tibet. Here at last we have a truly wild animal, never
+probably brought into subjection by man. The number of names he
+possesses shows how widely he has spread. The Tartars call him
+"Kulan," the Tibetans "Kiang," while the Mongolians give him the
+unpronounceable name of "Dschiggetai." He will not submit to any of
+them, but if caught and confined soon breaks away again to his old
+life, a "free and fetterless creature."
+
+No one has ever yet settled the question whether he is a horse or an
+ass, probably because he represents an animal truly between the two.
+His head is graceful, his body light, his legs slender and fleet, yet
+his ears are long and ass-like; he has narrow hoofs, and a tail with a
+tuft at the end like all the ass tribe; his color is a yellow brown,
+and he has a short dark mane and a long dark stripe down his back as a
+donkey has, though this last character you may also see in many of our
+Devonshire ponies. Living often on the high plateaux, sometimes as
+much as fifteen hundred feet above the sea, this "child of the
+steppes" travels in large companies even as far as the rich meadows of
+Central Asia; in summer wandering in green pastures, and in winter
+seeking the hunger-steppes where sturdy plants grow. And when autumn
+comes the young steeds go off alone to the mountain heights to survey
+the country around and call wildly for mates, whom, when found, they
+will keep close to them through all the next year, even though they
+mingle with thousands of others.
+
+Till about ten years ago the _Equus hemionus_ was the only truly wild
+horse known, but in the winter of 1879-80 the Russian traveller
+Przevalsky brought back from Central Asia a much more horse-like
+animal, called by the Tartars "Kertag" and by the Mongols "Statur." It
+is a clumsy, thick-set, whitish-gray creature with strong legs and a
+large, heavy, reddish-colored head; its legs have a red tint down to
+the knees, beyond which they are blackish down to the hoofs. But the
+ears are small, and it has the broad hoofs of the true horse, and
+warts on his hind legs, which no animal of the ass tribe has. This
+horse, like the Kiang, travels in small troops of from five to
+fifteen, led through the wildest parts of the Dsungarian desert,
+between the Altai and Tianschan Mountains, by an old stallion. They
+are extremely shy, and see, hear, and smell very quickly, so that they
+are off like lightning whenever anything approaches them.
+
+So having travelled over America, Europe, and Asia, was my quest
+ended? No; for from the dreary Asiatic deserts my thoughts wandered to
+a far warmer and more fertile land, where between the Blue Nile and
+the Red Sea rise the lofty highlands of Abyssinia, among which the
+African wild ass (_Asinus taeniopus_), the probable ancestor of our
+donkeys, feeds in troops on the rich grasses of the slopes, and then
+onwards to the bank of a river in Central Africa where on the edge of
+a forest, with rich pastures beyond, elephants and rhinoceroses,
+antelopes and buffaloes, lions and hyaenas, creep down in the cool of
+the evening to slake their thirst in the flowing stream. There I saw
+the herds of Zebras in all their striped beauty coming down from the
+mountain regions to the north, and mingling with the darker-colored
+but graceful quaggas from the southern plains, and I half-grieved at
+the thought how these untamed and free rovers are being slowly but
+surely surrounded by man closing in upon them on every side.
+
+I might now have travelled still farther in search of the Onager, or
+wild ass of the Asiatic and Indian deserts, but at this point a more
+interesting and far wider question presented itself, as I flung myself
+down on the moor to ponder over the early history of all these tribes.
+
+Where have they all come from? Where shall we look for the first
+ancestors of these wild and graceful animals? For the answer to this
+question I had to travel back to America, to those Western United
+States where Professor Marsh has made such grand discoveries in horse
+history. For there, in the very country where horses were supposed
+never to have been before the Spaniards brought them a few centuries
+ago, we have now found the true birthplace of the equine race.
+
+Come back with me to a time so remote that we cannot measure it even
+by hundred of thousands of years, and let us visit the territories of
+Utah and Wyoming. Those highlands were very different then from what
+they are now. Just risen out of the seas of the Cretaceous Period,
+they were then clothed with dense forests of palms, tree-ferns, and
+screw-pines, magnolias and laurels, interspersed with wide-spreading
+lakes, on the margins of which strange and curious animals fed and
+flourished. There were large beasts with teeth like the tapir and the
+bear, and feet like the elephant; and others far more dangerous, half
+bear, half hyaena, prowling around to attack the clumsy paleotherium or
+the anoplotherium, something between a rhinoceros and a horse, which
+grazed by the waterside, while graceful antelopes fed on the rich
+grass. And among these were some little animals no bigger than foxes,
+with four toes and a splint for the fifth, on their front feet, and
+three toes on the hind ones.
+
+These clumsy little animals, whose bones have been found in the rocks
+of Utah and Wyoming, have been called _Eohippus_, or horses of the
+dawn, by naturalists. They were animals with real toes, yet their
+bones and teeth show that they belonged to the horse tribe, and
+already the fifth toe common to most other toed animals was beginning
+to disappear.
+
+This was in the Eocene Period, and before it passed away with its
+screw-pines and tree-ferns, another rather larger animal, called the
+Orohippus, had taken the place of the small one, and he had only four
+toes on his front feet. The splint had disappeared, and as time went
+on still other animals followed, always with fewer toes, while they
+gained slender fleet legs, together with an increase in size and in
+gracefulness. First one as large as a sheep (Mesohippus) had only
+three toes and a splint. Then the splint again disappeared, and one
+large and two dwindling toes only remained, till finally these two
+became mere splints, leaving one large toe or hoof with almost
+imperceptible splints, which may be seen on the fetlock of a horse's
+skeleton.
+
+You must notice that a horse's foot really begins at the point which
+we call his knee in the front legs, and at his hock in his hind legs.
+His true knee and elbow are close up to the body. What we call his
+foot or hoof is really the end of the strong, broad, middle toe
+covered with a hoof, and farther up his foot we can feel two small
+splints, which are remains of two other toes.
+
+[Illustration: SKELETON OF HORSE OR ASS.
+    i, Incisor teeth. g, Grinding teeth, with the gap between the two
+    as in all grass-feeders. k, Knee. h, Hock or heel. f, Foot. s,
+    Splints or remains of the two lost toes. e, Elbow. w, Wrist. h,
+    Hand-bone. t, Middle toe of three joints, 1, 2, 3 forming the
+    hoof.]
+
+Meanwhile during these long succeeding ages while the foot was
+lengthening out into a slender limb the animals became larger, more
+powerful, and more swift, the neck and head became longer and more
+graceful, the brain-case larger in front and the teeth decreased in
+number, so that there is now a large gap between the biting teeth and
+the grinding teeth of a horse. Their slender limbs too became more
+flexible and fit for running and galloping, till we find the whole
+skeleton the same in shape, though not in size, as in our own horses
+and asses now.
+
+They did not, however, during all this time remain confined to
+America, for, from the time when they arrived at an animal called
+_Miohippus_, or lesser horse, which came after the Mesohippus and had
+only three toes on each foot, we find their remains in Europe, where
+they lived in company with the giraffes, opossums, and monkeys which
+roamed over these parts in those ancient times. Then a little later we
+find them in Africa and India; so that the horse tribe, represented by
+creatures about as large as donkeys, had spread far and wide over the
+world.
+
+And now, curiously enough, they began to forsake, or to die out in,
+the land of their birth. Why they did so we do not know; but while in
+the old world as asses, quaggas, and zebras, and probably horses, they
+flourished in Asia, Europe, and Africa, they certainly died out in
+America, so that ages afterwards, when that land was discovered, no
+animal of the horse tribe was found in it.
+
+And the true horse, where did he arise? Born and bred probably in
+Central Asia from some animal like the "Kulan," or the "Kertag," he
+proved too useful to savage tribes to be allowed his freedom, and it
+is doubtful whether in any part of the world he escaped subjection. In
+our own country he probably roamed as a wild animal till the savages,
+who fed upon him, learned in time to put him to work; and when the
+Romans came they found the Britons with fine and well-trained horses.
+
+Yet though tamed and made to know his master, he has, as we have seen,
+broken loose again in almost all parts of the world--in American on
+the prairies and pampas, in Europe and Asia on the steppes, and in
+Australia in the bush. And even in Great Britain, where so few patches
+of uncultivated land still remain, the young colts of Dartmoor,
+Exmoor, and Shetland, though born of domesticated mothers, seems to
+assert their descent from wild and free ancestors as they throw out
+their heels and toss up their heads with a shrill neigh, and fly
+against the wind with streaming manes and outstretched tails as the
+Kulan, the Tarpan, and the Zebra do in the wild desert or grassy
+plain.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+NOTES
+
+
+ALLEN, GRANT, English scientist and man of letters; born
+1848, died 1899. Was born in Canada, and passed his boyhood there.
+Educated in France and at Oxford University. He wrote "Physiological
+AEsthetics," "Vignettes from Nature," "The Evolutionist at Large,"
+"Force and Energy," many scientific papers in periodicals, and some
+fiction. "Strange Stories," "The Reverend John Creedy," "Philistia,"
+"The British Barbarians" among others.
+
+BELT, T. G., an English traveller of the nineteenth century,
+best known by his book, "The Naturalist in Nicaragua."
+
+BLATCHLEY, W. S., American naturalist and geologist, born
+1859. Has taken part in many important geological surveys, and is
+State geologist of Indiana. Among his writings are "Gleanings from
+Nature," and many important highly technical contributions to State
+scientific publications.
+
+BRUNER, L., American professor of entomology and ornithology
+at the University of Nebraska, born 1566. Is the State entomologist of
+Nebraska. Has written "An Introduction to the Study of Entomology,"
+and some papers on the locusts of Argentina, as well as many technical
+scientific reports in State papers, etc.
+
+BURROUGHS, JOHN, American essayist, born 1837. Has written
+much on nature observation. Among his books are "Wake Robin," "Winter
+Sunshine," "Birds and Poets," "Pepacton," "Fresh Fields," "Signs and
+Seasons," etc. He was at first a school teacher, then a clerk of the
+treasury, then a national bank examiner, and he now lives on a farm,
+devoting himself to literature and fruit culture.
+
+HOPLEY, MRS. C. C., an English author who lived much in
+America, and made a special study of "Snakes," on which subject she
+wrote a great deal. Her book entitled "Snakes" is the most important
+record of her work.
+
+HUXLEY, T. H., Famous English biologist, born 1825; died
+1895. Was assistant surgeon in the navy, then professor of natural
+history, rector of Aberdeen University, and president of the Royal
+Society. Among his books are, "Evidences as to Man's Place in Nature,"
+"Comparative Anatomy," "Lay Sermons," "Critiques and Addresses,"
+"Physiography," "The Crayfish," "Science and Culture," "Evolution and
+Ethics," "The Anatomy of Invertebrate Animals," etc.
+
+JEFFERIES, RICHARD, born near Swindon, Wiltshire, Nov. 6,
+1848; died Aug. 14, 1887. A naturalist whose fascinating writings were
+recognized as classics only after his death. Among his most popular
+books are, "The Gamekeeper at Home" (1878), "Wild Life in a Southern
+Country" (1879), "The Amateur Poacher" (1880), "Round About a Great
+Estate" (1881), "Nature Near London," and "The Story of My Heart"
+(1883), "Red Deer" (1884), and "The Open Air" (1885).
+
+JORDAN, DAVID STARR, President Leland Stanford, Jr.,
+University; born Gainesville, N.Y., Jan. 19, 1851; graduated Cornell
+M. S., 1872; M. D. Indiana Medical College, 1875; (Ph.D. Butler
+University, 1878; LL.D. Cornell University, 1886). Held chairs in
+various collegiate institutions, 1872-79; assistant to U. S. Fish
+Commission, 1877-91; professor of zooelogy 1879-85, and president
+1885-91, Indiana University; president Leland Stanford Jr.,
+University since 1891; president California Academy of Sciences
+1896-98; also U. S. Commissioner in charge of fur-seal investigations,
+etc. Author: "A Manual of Vertebrate Animals of Northern United
+States," "Science Sketches," "Fishes of North and Middle America"
+(4 vols.); "Footnotes to Evolution," "Matka and Kotik," "Care and Culture
+of Men," "The Innumerable Company," "Imperial Democracy," "Animal
+Life," "Animal Forms," "The Strength of Being Clean," "Standeth God
+within the Shadow," also numerous papers on Ichthyology, in procedures
+of various societies and government bureaus.
+
+MAETERLINK, MAURICE, Belgian dramatist and poet, born 1864.
+He began early to write plays, which were translated into English and
+represented in London. He has written "Le Tresor des Humbles,"
+"Aglavaine and Selysette," "Pelleas and Melisande," "The Intruder,"
+"Princess Maleine," "Wisdom and Destiny." He has been called the
+"Belgian Shakespeare."
+
+MORLEY, MARGARET W., author and teacher, born 1858. Has
+taught in New York State and in the West. She is the author of "A Song
+of Life," "Life and Love," "A Few Familiar Flowers," "Flowers and
+their Friends," "The Bee People," "The Honey Makers," "Seed Babies,"
+"Little Wanderers," "Wasps and their Ways," etc.
+
+THOREAU, HENRY DAVID, born at Concord, Mass., July 12, 1817;
+died May 6, 1862. After his graduation from Harvard, in 1837, he
+helped his father make lead pencils. In 1839 he began his careful
+studies on nature, and made a voyage on the Concord and Merrimac
+Rivers described in his first book. His most popular work, "Walden, or
+Life in the Woods," was published in 1854. After his death several
+volumes were made up from his voluminous diaries. His collected
+writings, in ten volumes, were published in 1893.
+
+WALLACE, A. R., noted English naturalist and traveller, born
+1822. Was educated as a land surveyor, but turned his attention
+exclusively to natural history. He explored the valleys of the Amazon
+and Rio Negro, travelled in the Malay Archipelago and Papua. He and
+Darwin both announced together the theory of natural selection. He
+wrote "Travels on the Amazon," "Palm Trees of the Amazon," "The Malay
+Archipelago," "Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection,"
+"Geographical Distribution of Animals," "Tropical Nature," "Island
+Life," etc.
+
+WILSON, A., English physiologist, lecturer, and journalist,
+born 1852. Educated Edinburgh University and Medical School. Has
+written much on popular physiology in the newspapers and magazines. Is
+the author of "Studies on Life," "Leisure Time Studies," "Science
+Stories," "Chapters on Evolution," "Leaves from a Naturalist's Note
+Book," "Wild Animals," "Elements of Zooelogy," etc.
+
+
+
+
+NATURAL HISTORY
+
+SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS
+
+
+    Days Out of Doors
+    CHARLES C. ABBOTT
+
+    First Lessons in Zooelogy
+    ELIZABETH C. AGASSIZ
+
+    Birds of America
+    JOHN J. AUDUBON
+
+    My Land and Water Friends
+    M. E. BAMFORD
+
+    Locusts and Wild Honey
+    JOHN BURROUGHS
+
+    Woodlands
+    MORDECAI C. COOK
+
+    A Year Among the Birds
+    WILSON FLAGG
+
+    The Out Door World
+    W. FURNEAUX
+
+    The Great World's Farm
+    SELINA GAYE
+
+    Monsters of the Sea
+    Chips from the Earth's Crust
+    J. GIBSON
+
+    Sharp Eyes
+    WILLIAM H. GIBSON
+
+    Practical Forestry
+    JOHN GIFFORD
+
+    Along the Florida Reefs
+    CHARLES F. HOLDER
+
+    About Pebbles
+    ALPHEUS HYATT
+
+    Country Cousins
+    ERNEST INGERSOLL
+
+    History of a Mouthful of Bread
+    JEAN MACE
+
+    Under Foot
+    L. D. NICHOLLS
+
+    Underground Treasures
+    JAMES ORTON
+
+    Among the Night People
+    C. D. PIERSON
+
+    Ethics of the Dust
+    JOHN RUSKIN
+
+    The Sea Children
+    WALTER RUSSELL
+
+    Aspects of the Earth
+    NATHANIEL S. SHALER
+
+    The Vacation Club
+    ADA J. TODD
+
+    The Complete Angler
+    IZAAK WALTON
+
+    Half Hours in Field and Forest
+    Half Hours with a Naturalist
+    J. G. WOOD
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Book of Natural History, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY ***
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