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diff --git a/37119.txt b/37119.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..470a2f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/37119.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4046 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sea-Weeds, Shells and Fossils, by +Peter Gray and B. B. Woodward + +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: Sea-Weeds, Shells and Fossils + +Author: Peter Gray + B. B. Woodward + +Release Date: August 18, 2011 [EBook #37119] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEA-WEEDS, SHELLS AND FOSSILS *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Tom Cosmas and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + SEA-WEEDS, SHELLS AND FOSSILS. + + BY + + PETER GRAY, A.B.S. EDIN.; + + AND + + B. B. WOODWARD, + + _Of the British Museum (Natural History), South Kensington._ + + [Illustration] + + LONDON: + SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, LE BAS & LOWREY, + PATERNOSTER SQUARE. + + + BUTLER & TANNER, + THE SELWOOD PRINTING WORKS + FROME, AND LONDON. + + + + + +SEA-WEEDS. + +BY PETER GRAY. + + +Algae, popularly known as sea-weeds, although many species are +inhabitants of fresh water, or grow on moist ground, may be briefly +described as cellular, flowerless plants, having no proper roots, but +imbibing nutriment by their whole surface from the medium in which +they grow. As far as has been ascertained, the total number of species +is about 9000 or 10,000. Many of them are microscopic, as the Desmids +and Diatoms, others, as Lessonia, and some of the larger Laminariae +(oarweeds), are arborescent, covering the bed of the sea around the +coast with a submarine forest; while in the Pacific, off the +northwestern shores of America, Nereocystis, a genus allied to +Laminaria, has a stem over 300 feet in length, which, although not +thicker than whipcord, is stout enough to moor a bladder, +barrel-shaped, six or seven feet long, and crowned with a tuft of +fifty leaves or more, each from thirty to forty feet in length. This +vegetable buoy is a favourite resting place of the sea otter; and +where the plant exists in any quantity, the surface of the sea is +rendered impassable to boats. The stem of Macrocystis, which "girds +the globe in the southern temperate zone," is stated to extend +sometimes to the enormous length of 1500 feet. It is no thicker than +the finger anywhere, and the upper branches are as slender as +pack-thread; but at the base of each leaf there is placed a buoy, in +the shape of a vesicle filled with air. + +Although the worthlessness of Algae has been proverbial, as in the +"alga inutile" of Horace and Virgil's "projecta vilior alga," they are +not without importance in botanical economics. A dozen or more species +found in the British seas are made use of, raw or prepared in several +ways, as food for man. Of these edible Algae, Dr. Harvey considers the +two species of Porphyra, or laver, the most valuable. Berkeley says, +"The best way of preparing this vegetable or condiment, which is +extremely wholesome, is to heat it thoroughly with a little strong +gravy or broth, adding, before it is served on toast, a small quantity +of butter and lemon juice." A species of Nostoc is largely consumed in +China as an ingredient in soup. A similar use is made of Enteromorpha +intestinalis in Japan. Many species of fish and other animals, turtle +included, live upon sea-weed. Fucus vesiculosus is a grateful food for +cattle. In Norway, cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs are largely fed +upon it, and on our own coasts cattle eagerly browse on that and +kindred species at low water. In some northern countries, Fucus +serratus sprinkled with meal is used as winter fodder. + + [Illustration: Fig. 1. Group of Sea-weeds (chiefly Laminariae)] + +All the marine Algae contain iodine; and even before the value of that +substance in glandular complaints had been ascertained, stems of a +sea-weed were chewed as a remedy by the inhabitants of certain +districts of South America where goitre is prevalent. Chondrus crispus +and (Gigartina) mamillosa constitute the Irish moss of commerce, which +dissolves into a nutritious and delicate jelly, and the restorative +value of which in consumption doubtless depends in some degree on the +presence of iodine. The freshwater Algae not only furnish abundant and +nourishing food to the fish and other animals living in ponds and +streams, but by their action in the decomposition of carburetted +hydrogen and other noxious gases purify the element in which they +live, thus becoming important sanitary agents. The value of aquatic +plants in the aquarium is well known. A Chinese species of Gigartina +is much employed as a glue and varnish; and also much used in China in +the manufacture of lanterns and transparencies, and in that country +and Japan for glazing windows. Handles for table knives and forks, +tools, and other implements have been made from the thick stems of +oarweeds, and fishing lines from Chorda filum. Tripoli powder, +extensively used for polishing, consists mainly of the silicious +shells of Diatoms. On various parts of our coast, the coarser species +of sea-weed, now used as a valuable manure, were formerly extensively +burnt for kelp, an impure carbonate of soda. This industry, when +carried on upon a large scale, became a fruitful source of income to +some of the poorest districts in the kingdom, bringing, in the last +decade of last century, nearly L30,000 per annum into Orkney alone. +Since the production of soda from rock salt has become general, kelp +is now only burnt for the extraction of iodine, this being the easiest +way of obtaining that substance. + +Although the vegetable structure and mode of reproduction are +essentially the same in all Algae, as regards the former they vary from +the simple cell, through cells arranged in threads, to a stem and +leaves simulating the vegetation of higher tribes. And although the +simpler kinds are obviously formed of threads, most of the more +compound may also be resolved into the same structure by maceration in +hot water or diluted muriatic acid. In substance some are mere masses +of slime or jelly, others are silky to the feel, horny, cartilaginous +or leather-like, and even apparently woody. A few species secrete +carbonate of lime from the water, laying it up in their tissues; +others cover themselves completely with that mineral, while some coat +themselves with silex or flint. Many Algae are beautifully coloured, +even when growing at depths to which very little light penetrates. As +in their vegetative organs, so in their reproductive, Algae exhibit +many modifications of structure without much real difference. In the +green sea-weeds reproduction is effected by simple cell division in +the unicellular species, and by spores resulting from the union of the +contents of two cells in the others. The red sea-weeds have a double +system of reproduction, a distinctly sexual one, by spores and +antheridia, and another by tetraspores, which by some are considered +to be of the nature of gemmae, or buds. The spores are generally +situated in distinct hollow conceptacles (favellae, ceramidium, +coccidium). The tetraspore is also sometimes contained in a +conceptacle. It consists of a more or less globular, transparent cell, +which when mature contains within it four (rarely three) sporules. +Reproduction in the olive sea-weeds is also double, by zoospores, +generally considered gemmae, and by spores and antherozoids, which is a +sexual process. + + [Illustration: Fig. 2. A, Species of Gleocapsa, one of the + Palmelleae, in various stages. A becomes B, C, D, and E by + repeated division. Magnified 300 diameters.] + +Following the classification adopted by Professor Harvey, which is +that generally employed in English systematic manuals, we divide the +order into three sub-orders, named from the prevailing colour of their +spores. 1. Chlorospermeae, with green spores; 2. Rhodospermeae, with red +spores; and 3. Melanospermeae, with olive-coloured spores. The entire +plant in the first group is usually grass-green, but occasionally +olive, purple, blue, and sometimes almost black; in the second it is +some shade or other of red, very seldom green; and in the third, while +generally olive green, it is occasionally brown olive or yellow. + +The Chlorospermeae are extremely varied in form, often threadlike, and +are propagated either by the simple division of the contents of their +cells (endochrome), by the transformation of particular joints, or by +the change of the contents of the cells into zoospores, which are +cells moving freely in water by means of hairlike appendages. In their +lower forms they are among the most rudimentary of all plants, and +thus of special interest physiologically, as representing the +component parts of which higher plants are formed. They are subdivided +into twelve groups, as follows: + +The first group, Palmelleae, are unicellular plants, the cells of which +are either free or surrounded by a gelatinous mass, and they are +propagated by the division of the endochrome. One of the most +remarkable of the species of this family is Protococcus cruentus, +which is found at the foot of walls having a northern aspect, looking +as if blood had been poured out on the ground or on stones. +Protococcus nivalis, again, is the cause of the red snow, of which +early arctic navigators used to give such marvellous accounts. +(Fig. 2.) + + [Illustration: Fig. 3. A, Fragment of a Filament of Zygnema, + one of the Conjugateae; B, Closterium; C, Euastrium; two + desmids.] + +The Desmideaceae, together with the plants of the next succeeding +group, are favourite subjects of investigation or observation by the +possessors of microscopes, an attention they merit from the beauty and +variety of their forms. They are minute plants of a green colour, +consisting of cells generally independent of each other, but sometimes +forming brittle threads or minute fronds, and are reproduced by spores +generated by the conjugation of two distinct individuals. The process +of conjugation in Desmids and Diatoms consists in the union of the +endochrome of two individuals, each of which in these families is +composed of a single cell. This ultimately forms a rounded body or +resting spore, which afterwards germinates, the resulting plant not +however acquiring the normal form until the third generation. (Fig. +3.) + +The Diatomaceae, closely allied to the preceding group in structure and +reproduction, are however distinguished from them by their flinty +shells, which are often beautifully sculptured. Their endochrome is a +golden brown, instead of green as in the Desmideaceae. The latter, +also, are confined to fresh water, while the Diatomaceae are found, +though not exclusively, in the sea, where their shells sometimes, +microscopically minute as they are individually, form banks extending +several hundred miles. It is stated that in the collection made by Sir +Joseph Hooker in the Himalayas the species closely resemble our own. + +In the next group, Confervaceae, we are introduced to forms more like +the general notion of what a plant should be. The individuals of which +it consists are composed of threads, jointed, either simple or +branched, mostly of a grass-green colour, and propagating either by +minute zoospores or by metamorphosed joints. They are found both in +fresh and salt water, and in damp situations. The number of species is +very great. A considerable number consist of unbranched threads; the +branched forms grow sometimes so densely as to assume the form of +solid balls. After floods, when the water stands for several days, +they sometimes increase to such an extent, as to form on its +subsidence a uniform paper-like stratum, which while decomposing is +extremely disagreeable. The name Conferva has been almost discontinued +as a generic title, the majority of British species being now ranged +under Clado- and Chaeto-phora. The latter are branched, and require +great care and attention in order to distinguish them, on account of +their general resemblance to each other. Good characters are however +to be found in their mode of branching and the form and comparative +size of the terminal joints. + +The Batrachospermeae constitute a small but very beautiful group, +consisting of gelatinous threads variously woven into a branched +cylindrical frond. The branches are sometimes arranged, as in the +British species, so that the plants appear like necklaces. In colour +they pass from green, through intermediate shades of olive and purple, +to black. In common with some of the higher Algae, the threads of the +superficial branches send joints down the stem, changing it from +simple to compound. The native species are all fluviatile. + +The Hydrodicteae are among the most remarkable of Algae. Hydrodictyon +utriculatum, the solitary British species, is found in the large pond +at Hampton Court, and in similar situations in various parts of the +country, but not very generally. It resembles a green purse or net, +from four to six inches in length, with delicate and regular meshes, +the reticulations being about four lines long. Its method of +reproduction is no less than its form. Each of the cells +forms within itself an enormous mass of small elliptic grains. These +become attached by the extremities so as to form a network inside the +cell, and, its walls being dissolved, a new plant is set free to grow +to the size of the parent Hydrodictyon. + +The Nostochineae grow in fresh water, or attached to moist soil. They +consist of slender, beaded threads surrounded by a firm jelly, and +often spreading into large, wavy fronds. The larger beads on the +inclosed threads are reproductive spores. (Fig. 4, A.) + + [Illustration: Fig. 4. A, Fragment of a Filament of Nostoc. B, + End of a Filament of Oscillatoria.] + +The Oscillatoreae are another remarkable group, on account of the +peculiar animal-like motions they exhibit. They occur both in salt and +fresh water, and on almost every kind of site in which there is +sufficient moisture. The threads of which they are composed are +jointed, and generally unbranched; they are of various tints of blue, +red, and green, and, where their fructification has been ascertained, +are propagated by cell division. The most curious point about them is, +however, the movements of their fronds. According to Dr. Harvey, these +are of three kinds--a pendulum-like movement from side to side, +performed by one end, whilst the other remains fixed, so as to form a +pivot; a movement of flexure of the filament itself, the oscillating +extremity bending over from one side to the other, like the head of a +worm or caterpillar seeking something on its line of march; and +lastly, a simple onward movement of progression, the whole phenomenon +being, Dr. Harvey thinks, resolvable into a spiral onward movement of +the filament. Whatever is the cause of this motion, it is not, as used +to be supposed, of an animal nature; for the individuals of this group +are undoubted plants. (Fig. 4, B.) Several species of Rivularia, +belonging to the Oscillatoreae, are found both in the sea and in fresh +water. They are gelatinous, and have something of the appearance of +Nostoc, in aspect as well as in minute structure. + +The Conjugatae are freshwater articulated Algae, which reproduce +themselves by the union of two endochromes. They are very interesting +objects under the microscope, owing to the spiral or zigzag +arrangement of the endochrome of many of them, and the delicacy of +all. + +The Bulbochaeteae constitute a small group, some half-a-dozen species +being British. They are freshwater plants, composed of articulate +branched filaments, with fertile bulbshaped branchlets. The endochrome +is believed to be fertilized by bodies developed in antheridia, the +contents of each fertilized cell dividing into four ovate zoospores. + +The last two groups of green sea-weeds consist chiefly of marine +plants. Of these the first, Siphoneae, is so called because the plant, +however complicated, is composed invariably of a single cell. It +propagates by minute zoospores, by large quiescent spores, or by large +active spores clothed with cilia. It includes the remarkable genus +Codium, three species of which inhabit the British seas. In Codium +Bursa the filamentous frond is spherical and hollow, presenting more +the appearance of a round sponge or puff-ball than a sea-weed, and is +somewhat rare. Another species greatly resembles a branched sponge, +and the third forms a velvety crust on the surface of rocks. Another +genus, Vaucheria, is of a beautiful green colour, forming a velvety +surface on moist soil, on mud-covered rocks overflowed by the tide, or +parasitic on other sea-weeds. The most attractive plants of this +family are however those of the genus Bryopsis, two of which are found +on the British shores. The most common one is B. plumosa, the fronds +of which grow usually in the shady and sheltered sides of rock pools. + +The fronds of the last of the green-weed groups, the Ulvaceae, are +membranous, and either flat or tubular. Two of them, Ulva latissima, +the green, and Porphyra laciniata, the purple laver, are among the +most common sea-weeds, growing well up from low-water mark. The +propagation in all of them is by zoospores. An allied genus, +Enteromorpha, is protean in its forms, which have been classed under +many species. They may, however, be reduced to half a dozen. Some of +them are very slender, so as almost to be mistaken for confervoid +plants. + +With the Rhodospermeae we enter a sub-order of Algae, exclusively +marine, the plants in which have always held out great attractions to +the collector. In structure they are expanded or filamentous, nearly +always rose-coloured or purple in colour. Of the fourteen groups into +which they are divided by Harvey, the first is Ceramiaceae, articulate +Algae, constituting a large proportion of the marine plants of our +shores. Of the genus Ceramium, C. rubrum is the most frequent, and it +is found in every latitude, almost from pole to pole. It is very +variable in aspect, but can always be recognized by its fruit. C. +diaphanum is a very handsome species, growing often in rock pools +along with the other. There are about fifteen native species +altogether, some of them rare, and all very beautiful, both as +displayed on paper and seen under the microscope. Crouania attenuata +is a beautiful plant, parasitic upon a Cladostephus or Corallina +officinalis. It is however extremely rare, being only found in England +about Land's End. A more common and conspicuous, but equally handsome +plant is Ptilota plumosa (Fig. 9), which is mostly confined to our +northern coasts; although P. sericea, a smaller species, or variety, +is common in the south, and easily distinguished from its congener, +which it otherwise greatly resembles, by its jointed branchlets and +pinnules. Callithamnion, Halurus and Griffithsia, articulate like +Ceramium, furnish also several handsome species. (Fig. 5.) + + [Illustration: Fig. 5. Species of Callithamnion.] + +The group Spyridiaceae contains only one English plant, Spyridia +filamentosa, which is curiously and irregularly branched, the branches +being articulate and of a pinky red. One of its kinds of fruit, +consisting of crimson spores, is contained in a transparent network +basket, formed by the favellae, or short branches, whence its name. + + [Illustration: Fig. 6. Chondrus crispus.] + +The Cryptonemiaceae are very numerous in genera and species. They all +have inarticulate branches, some are thread-like. Grateloupia filicina +is a neat little plant, met with rarely on the south and west coasts. +Gigartina mamillosa, a common plant everywhere, is the plant sold, +along with Chondrus crispus, as Irish or Carrageen moss. A handsome +little plant, Stenogramme interrupta, is very rare, but it has been +gathered both on the Irish and English coasts. The Phyllophorae, one +species of which is frequent on all our shores, may be recognised by +the way in which the points and surfaces of their fronds throw out +proliferous leaves. Gymnogongrus has two British species, one much +resembling Chondrus crispus, already named, of which it was formerly +considered a congener. Their fructification is however very different. +Ahnfeltia plicata is a curiouswiry, entangled plant, almost black in +colour, and like horse-hair when dry, and can scarcely be mistaken. +Cystoclonium purpurascens is very commonly cast up by the tide on most +of our coasts. It varies in colour, but is easily distinguished by the +spore-bearing tubercles imbedded in its slender branches. Callophyllis +laciniata is a handsome species, of a rich crimson colour, and +sometimes a foot square. It can scarcely have escaped the notice of +the sea-side visitor, for it is widely distributed and often thrown +out in great abundance; one writer describes the shore near Tynemouth +as having been red for upwards of a mile with this superb sea-weed. +Kalymenia reniformis is another of the broad, flat Algae, but it is +scarcer, and of a colour not so conspicuous. Among the most frequent +of our sea-weeds, both as growing in the rock pools and cast ashore, +is Chondrus crispus, already twice referred to in connexion with its +officinal uses. It is very variable in form, one author figuring as +many as thirty-six different varieties. (Fig. 6.) Chylocladia +clavellosa, which is sometimes cast ashore a foot and a half long, is +closely set with branches, and these again clothed with branchlets in +one or two series. The whole plant is fleshy, of a rose-red or +brilliant pink colour, turning to golden yellow in decay. There is +another small species, confined to the extreme north of Britain. +Halymenia ligulata is another flat red weed, but sometimes very narrow +in its ramifications. Furcellaria fastigiata has a round, branched, +taper stem, swollen at the summit, which contains the fruit, +consisting of masses of tetraspores in a pod-like receptacle. +Schizymenia edulis, better known perhaps by its old name Iridea, is a +flat, inversely egg-shaped leaf with scarcely any stem. It is one of +the edible Algae, and pretty frequent in shady rock pools. +Gloiosiphonia capillaris is a remarkably beautiful plant, and not +common, being confined to certain parts of the southern coasts. The +stem is very soft and gelatinous; the spores are produced in red +globular masses imbedded in the marginal filaments, which have a fine +appearance under the microscope when fresh. + + [Illustration: Fig. 7. Rhodomenia palmata.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 8. Wormskioldia sanguinea.] + +The Rhodomeniaceae are purplish or blood-red sea-weeds, inarticulate, +membranaceous, and cellular. Among the dark-coloured is Rhodomenia +palmata, better known as dulse, a common and edible species. (Fig. 7.) +Wormskioldia sanguinea is not only the most beautiful sea-weed, but +the finest of all leaves or fronds. It is usually about six inches +long, but sometimes nearly double that length and six inches broad, +with a distinct midrib and branching veins, and a delicate wavy +lamina, pink or deep red. The fruit is produced in winter from small +leaflets growing upon the bare midrib. (Fig. 8.) The commonest of all +red sea-weeds on our coast, one of the most elegant, and much sought +after by sea-weed picture makers, Plocamium coccineum, belongs to this +group. Calliblepharis ciliata and jubata are coarser plants, the +latter being the more frequent. They were formerly included in the +genus Rhodymenia, from which they were removed when their fruit was +better understood. + + [Illustration: Fig. 9. Ptilota plumosa.] + +Wrangelia and Naccaria are the only British genera in Wrangeliaceae. +There is only one native species in each, both being rare, the latter +especially. + +The Helminthocladiae are also a limited group, of a gelatinous +structure; so much so that on being gathered they feel like a bunch of +slimy worms, whence the name of the family. Helminthora purpurea and +divaricata with Nemaleon multifidum and Scinaia furcellata represent +them in Britain. They are nearly all very rare, pretty plants, and +very effective as microscopic objects. + +The Squamariae, formerly included in the Corallinaceae, are a small +group of inconspicuous plants resembling lichens, of a leathery +texture, and growing on rocks and shells attached by their lower +surface. + +A single genus only, Polyides, represents the Spongiocarpeae. Polyides +rotundus resembles Furcellaria fastigiata very closely, but differs +widely in the fruit, which consists of spongy warts surrounding the +frond, composed of spores and articulated threads. + +Of the next group represented in Britain, Gelidiaceae, we have only one +plant, Gelidium corneum, very common on our shores, and perhaps the +most variable of all vegetable species. + +The Sphaerococcidae include both membranaceous and cartilaginous +species. Of the latter is Sphaerococcus coronopifolius, which cannot +easily be mistaken, owing to the numerous berry-like fruits that tip +its branchlets. It is rather rare on the northern, but often thrown +ashore in large quantities on the southern coasts. The genus +Delesseria has four British species, the largest being the well-known +D. sinuosa, the fronds of which resemble an oak leaf in outline. The +handsomest are D. ruscifolia and D. hypoglossum, which are more +delicate and of a finer colour than sinuosa. There are three British +species of Gracillaria, in two of which the branches are cylindrical, +and in the other flat. G. compressa makes an excellent preserve and +pickle, but unfortunately it is the rarest of the three. Nitophyllum +is one of the greatest ornaments of this tribe. There are six British +species, which are amongst the most delicate and beautiful of our +native Algae. + +The Corallinaceae are remarkable for the property they possess of +absorbing carbonate of lime into their tissues, so that they appear as +a succession of chalky articulations or incrustations. The most common +is Corallina officinalis. There are two British species of Corallina, +and two also of the nearly allied genus, Jania. Of the foliaceous +group there are likewise two British genera, Melobesia and +Hildenbrantia. + +The next group, the Laurenciaceae, are cartilaginous and cylindrical or +compressed, the frond in the greater portion of them being +inarticulate and solid. They contain several species valued by +collectors, although some of them are amongst our commonest plants. +Their colour is, when perfect, a dull purple or brownish red, but they +change under the influence of light and air, while fresh water is +rapidly destructive to their tints. (Fig. 10.) + + [Illustration: Fig. 10. Laurencia pinnatifida.] + +The Chylocladiae are curiously jointed plants, removed by Agardh to a +new genus, Lomentaria, and a new order Chondriae. Bonnemaisonia +asparagoides is the most rare and beautiful of the tribe. + +The last tribe of red weeds, Rhodomelaceae, varies greatly in the +structure of the frond, but the fruit is more uniform. Polysiphonia +and Dasya contain the finest of the filiform division; the leafy one, +Odonthalia, a northern form, is a very beautiful sea-weed both as +respects form and colour. Well-grown specimens are not unlike a +hawthorn twig, and of a blood red colour. + +The plants of the sub-order Melanospermeae, are, like the red +sea-weeds, exclusively marine. They are usually large and coarse, and +confined mostly to comparatively shallow water. In the Laminariaceae we +find the gigantic oarweeds already briefly referred to. Lessonia, +which encircles in submarine forests the antarctic coasts, is an +erect, tree-like plant, with a trunk from five to ten feet high, +forked branches, and drooping leaves, one to three feet in length, and +has been compared to a weeping willow. Sir Joseph Hooker says, that +from a boat there may on a calm day be witnessed in the antarctic +regions, over these submarine groves, "as busy a scene as is presented +by the coral reefs of the tropics. The leaves of the Lessoniae are +crowded with Sertulariae and Mollusca, or encircled with Flustra; on +the trunks parasitic Algae abound, together with chitons, limpets, and +other shells; at the base and among the tangled roots swarm thousands +of Crustaceae and Radiata, while fish of several species dart among the +leaves and branches." Of these and other gigantic melanosperms, flung +ashore by the waves, a belt of decaying vegetable matter is formed, +miles in extent, some yards broad, and three feet in depth; and Sir J. +Hooker adds that the trunks of Lessonia so much resemble driftwood +that no persuasion could prevent an ignorant shipmaster from employing +his crew, during two bitterly cold days, in collecting this +incombustible material for fuel. Macrocystis and Nereocystis are also +giant members of this sub-order. Some of the Laminariae which form a +belt around our own coasts not seldom attain a length of from eight to +twelve feet. The common bladder-wrack (Fucus vesiculosus) sometimes +grows in Jutland to a height of ten feet, and in clusters several feet +in diameter. The colour of most of the plants in this sub-order is +some shade of olive, but several of them turn to green in drying. + +The first group, Ectocarpeae, is composed of thread-like jointed +plants, the fructification of which consists of external spores, +sometimes formed by the swelling of a branchlet. The typical genus, +Ectocarpus, abounds in species, a dozen or so of which, very nearly +allied plants, being found around our own shores. One or two of them +are very handsome. There are also some very beautiful plants in the +genus Sphacelaria, belonging to this group, several of them resembling +miniature ferns. All the Sphacelariae are easily recognized by the +withered appearance of the tips of the fruiting branches. Myriotrichia +is a genus of small parasitical plants, the two British species of +which grow chiefly on the sea thongs (Chorda). + +The Chordariae are sometimes gelatinous in structure, in other cases +cartilaginous. The fruit is contained in the substance of the frond. +The genus Chordaria consists of plants which have the appearance of +dark coloured twine. There are two British species, one being rather +common. Chorda filum, sea-rope, another string-like sea-weed, grows in +tufts from a few inches to many feet in length, and tapering at the +roots to about the thickness of a pig's bristle. In quiet land-locked +bays with a sandy or muddy bottom, it sometimes extends to forty feet +in length, forming extensive meadows, obstructing the passage of +boats, and endangering the lives of swimmers entangled in its slimy +cords, whence probably its other name of "dead men's lines." + + [Illustration: Fig. 11. Padina pavonia.] + +The Mesogloieae in a fresh state resemble bundles of green, slimy +worms. There are three British species, two of which are not uncommon. +Although so unattractive in external aspect, they, like many others of +the same description, prove very interesting under the microscope. One +of the cartilaginous species, Leathsia tuberiformis, has the +appearance, when growing, of a mass of distorted tubers. + +The species of Elachista, composed of minute parasites, are, as well +as unattractive like the Mesogloieae, inconspicuous, but are beautiful +objects when placed under the microscope. Myrionemae are also +parasitic, and even smaller than the plants of the preceding genus. + +In the Dictyoteae the frond is mostly flat, with a reticulated surface, +which is sprinkled when in fruit with groups of naked spores or spore +cysts. This tribe includes not a few of the most elegant among the +Algae. In structure they are coriaceous, and include plants both with +broad and narrow, branched and unbranched fronds. In Haliseris there +is a distinct midrib. The largest of the British Dictyoteae is Cutleria +multifida, sometimes found a foot and a half long; and the best known +is doubtless Padina pavonia, much sought after by seaside visitors +where it grows. Its segments are fan-shaped, variegated with lighter +curved lines, and fringed with golden tinted filaments. (Fig. 11.) +Owing to its power of decomposing light, its fronds, when growing +under water, suggest the train of the peacock, whence its specific +name. Taonia atomaria somewhat resembles Cutleria, but exhibits also +the wavy lines of Padina. The plant of this group most often cast +ashore is Dictyota dichotoma. It makes a handsome specimen when well +dried, and is interesting on account of the manner in which it varies +in the breadth of its divisions. The variety intricata is curiously +curled and entangled. Dictyosiphon foeniculaceus, the solitary +British example of its genus, is a bushy filiform plant, remarkable +for the beautiful net-like markings of its surface. The Punctariae have +flattened fronds, marked with dots, which sufficiently distinguish +them from all the others. A small form is often found parasitic on +Chorda filum, spreading out horizontally like the hairs of a bottle +brush. Asperococcus derives its name from its roughened surface, +occasioned by the thickly scattered spots of fructification. + +The Laminariaceae are inarticulate, mostly flat, often strap-shaped. +Their spores occur in superficial patches, or covering the whole +frond. The plants of this order, as we have already seen, include the +giants of submarine vegetation. In point of mass they constitute the +larger part of our native Algae, although they number only a few +species. They are popularly known as tangle or oarweeds, and the stems +of Laminaria saccharina and the midrib of Alaria esculenta are used as +food. + +The Sporochnaceae are a small but beautiful tribe, inarticulate, and +producing their spores in jointed filaments or knob-like masses, and +remarkable for their property of turning from olive brown to a +verdigris green when exposed to the atmosphere. + + + [Illustration: Fig. 12. Fucus serratus, showing a transverse + section of the Conceptacle, and Antheridium with Antherozoids + escaping.] + + +They are deep sea plants, or at least grow about low water mark. The +largest of the group is Desmarestia ligulata, which, with the other +British species, D. aculeata, is often cast ashore. The latter +species, at an early period of its existence, is clothed with tufts of +slender hairs, springing from the margin of the frond. Desmarestia +viridis is the most delicate and also the rarest of the three. Nothing +like fruit has been discovered on any of them. Arthocladia villosa and +Sporochnus pedunculatus are branched sea-weeds, covered also with +tufts of closely set hairs. Carpomitra Cabrerae, a rare species, bears, +in common with the two preceding species, its spores in a special +receptacle. In the first the receptacle is pod-like; in the second +knotted; and in the last mitriform. + +The concluding group of Algae is the Fucaceae, including the universally +known sea wrack (Fucus). The frond in all of them is jointless. They +are reproduced by means of antheridia and oogonia developed in +conceptacles, clustered together at the apex of the branches. Both +from their bulk and their decided sexual distinctions, they deserve to +rank at the head of the order. Of all sea-weeds they are also perhaps +of the greatest use to man. One of the most interesting among them is +the Gulfweed (Sargassum bacciferum), occupying a tract of the Atlantic +extending over many degrees of latitude. Pieces of it, and of its +congener, S. vulgare, are occasionally drifted to our shores, and they +consequently find a place in works on British Algae, although they have +no claim to be considered native plants. On rocky coasts the various +species of Fucus occupy the greater part of the space between +tide-marks, the most plentiful being Fucus vesiculosus. F. serratus +(Fig. 12) is the handsomest of the genus, the other species being F. +nodosus, said to be the most useful for making kelp, and F. +canaliculatus. Halidrys siliquosa is remarkable for its spore +receptacles, which have quite the appearance of the seed vessel of a +flowering plant. The species of Cystoseira, chiefly confined to the +southern coasts, are also very interesting. Their submerged fronds are +beautifully iridescent, and the stems, of the largest species at +least, are generally covered with a great variety of parasites, animal +and vegetable, the former consisting of Hydrozoa and Polyzoa, and +other curious forms. Himanthalia lorea is another remarkable plant. It +has conspicuous forked fruit-bearing receptacles; but the real plants +are the small cones at the base of these, and from which they are shed +when ripe. + +As to conditions of site and geographical distribution, Algae do not +differ from land plants. Latitude, depth of water, and currents +influence them in the same way as latitude, elevation, and station +operate on the latter; and the analogy is maintained in the almost +cosmopolitan range of some, and the restricted habitat of others. Not +many extra-European species of Desmids are known, but those of Diatoms +are far more widely diffused, and extend beyond the limits of all +other vegetation, existing wherever there is water sufficient to allow +of their production; and they are found not only in water, but also +on the moist surface of the ground and on other plants, in hot springs +and amid polar ice. They are said to occur in such countless myriads +in the South Polar Sea as to stain the berg and pack ice wherever +these are washed by the surge. A deposit of mud, chiefly consisting of +the shells of Diatoms, 400 miles long, 120 miles broad, and of unknown +thickness, was found at a depth of between 200 and 400 feet on the +flanks of Victoria Land in 70 deg. south latitude. Such is their abundance +in some rivers and estuaries that Professor Ehrenberg goes the length +of affirming that they have exercised an important influence in +blocking up harbours and diminishing the depth of channels. The trade +and other winds distribute large quantities over the earth, which may +account for the universality of their specific distribution; for Sir +Joseph Hooker found the Himalayan species to closely resemble our own. +Common British species also occur in Ceylon, Italy, Virginia, and +Peru. The typical species of the Confervaceae are also distributed over +the whole surface of the globe. They inhabit both fresh and salt +water, and are found alike in the polar seas and in the boiling +springs of Iceland, in mineral waters and in chemical solutions. Some +of the tropical ones are exceedingly large and dense. Batrachospermum +vagum, in the next tribe, a native of England, is also found in New +Zealand. An edible species of Nostochineae, produced on the boggy +slopes bordering the Arctic Ocean, is blown about by the winds +sometimes ten miles from land, where it is found lying in small +depressions in the snow upon the ice. The common Nostoc of moist +ground in England occurs also in Kerguelen's Land, high in the +southern hemisphere. Floating masses of Monormia are often the cause +of the green hue assumed by the water of ponds and lakes. Certain +species of Oscillatoria of a deep red colour live in hot springs in +India, and the Red Sea is supposed to have derived its name from a +species of this tribe, which covers it with a scum for many miles, +according to the direction of the wind. The lake of Glaslough in +County Monaghan, Ireland, owes its colour and its name to Oscillatoria +aerugescens, and large masses of water in Scotland and Switzerland are +tinted green or purple by a similar agency. A few species of Siphoneae +have a very wide range, two British species of Codium occurring in New +Zealand. The Ulvaceae abound principally in the colder latitudes. +Enteromorpha intestinalis, a common British species, is as frequent in +Japan, where it is used, when dried, in soup. The Rhodosperms are +found in every sea, although the geographical boundaries of genera are +often well-marked. Gloiosiphonia, one of our rarest and most +beautiful Algae, is widely diffused. Of Melanosperms the Laminariae +affect the higher northern latitudes, Sargassa abound in the warmer +seas, while Durvillaea, Lessonia, and Macrocystis characterize the +marine flora of the Southern Ocean. The Fucaceae are most abundant +towards the poles, where they attain their greatest size. The marine +meadows of Sargassum, conceived by some naturalists to mark the site +of the lost Atlantis, and which give its name to the Sargasso Sea, +extending between 20 deg. and 25 deg. north latitude, in 40 deg. west longitude, +occupy now the same position as when the early navigators, with +considerable trepidation, forced through their masses on the way to +the New World. Sargassum is drifted into this tract of ocean by +currents, the plants being all detached; and they do not produce fruit +in that state, being propagated by buds, which originate new branches +and leaves. (Fig. 13.) + + [Illustration: Fig. 13. The Gulf-weed (Sargassum bacciforum).] + +Owing to their soft, cellular structure, Algae are not likely to be +preserved in a fossil state; but what have been considered such have +been found as low down as the Silurian formation, although their +identity has been disputed, and several of them, it is more than +probable, belong to other orders, and some even to the animal kingdom. +Freshwater forms, all of existing genera and species, are believed to +have been detected in the carboniferous rocks of Britain and France; +others also of the green-coloured division are said to occur from the +Silurian to the Eocene, and the Florideae to be represented from the +Lias to the Miocene. The indestructible nature of the shells of the +Diatomaceae has enabled them to survive where the less protected +species may have perished. Tripoli stone, a Tertiary rock, is entirely +composed of the remains of microscopic plants of this tribe. It is +from their silicious shells that mineral acquires its use in the arts, +as powder for polishing stones and metals. Ehrenberg estimates that in +every cubic inch of the tripoli of Bilin, in Bohemia, there are +41,000,000 of Gaillonella distans. Districts recovered from the sea +frequently contain myriads of Diatoms, forming strata of considerable +thickness; and similar deposits occur in the ancient sites of lakes in +this and other countries. + + * * * * * + +Before setting out in search of Algae the collector ought to provide +himself with a pair of stout boots to guard his feet from the +sharp-pointed rocks, as well as a staff or pole to balance himself in +rock-climbing, which ought to have a hook for drawing floating weed +ashore. A stout table-knife tied to the other end will be found very +useful. A basket--a fishing-basket does very well--or a waterproof +bag, for stowing away his plants, is also necessary. It is advisable +to carry a few bottles for the very small and delicate plants, and +care should be taken to keep apart, and in sea-water, any specimens of +the Sporochnaceae; for they are not only apt to decay themselves but to +become a cause of corruption in the other weeds with which they come +in contact. These bottles should always be carried in the bag or +pocket, never in the hand. + +Sea-weeds, as every visitor to the coast knows, are torn up in great +numbers by the waves, especially during storms, and afterwards left on +the shore by the retiring tide. Many shallow-growing species are also +to be found attached to the rocks, and in the rock pools, between high +and low water mark. There are three points on the beach where the +greatest accumulations of floating Algae are found: high water mark, +mid-tide level, and low water mark. Low water occurs about five or +five and a half hours after high water. The best time for the +collector to commence is half an hour or so before dead low water. He +can then work to the lowest point safely, and, retiring before the +approaching tide, examine the higher part of the beach up to high +water mark. If the coarse weeds in the rock pools and chinks are +turned back, many rare and delicate Algae will be found growing under +them, especially at the lowest level. The most effective method of +collecting the plants of deeper water is by dredging, or going round +with a boat at the extreme ebb, and taking them from the rocks and +from the Laminaria stems, on which a great number have their station. +Stems of Laminaria thrown out by the waves should also be carefully +examined. In all cases the weed should be well rinsed in a clear rock +pool before being put away in the bag or other receptacle. + +The next thing to be considered is the laying out and preserving of +the specimens selected for the herbarium. Wherever possible these +should be laid out on paper, and put under pressure as soon as +gathered, or on the same day at all events. When this is +impracticable, they may be spread between the folds of soft and thick +towels and rolled up. Thus treated the most delicate plants will keep +fresh until next day. Another way is to pack the plants in layers of +salt, like herrings; but the most usual method of roughly preserving +sea-weeds collected during an unprepared visit to the shore is by +moderately drying them in an airy room out of the direct rays of the +sun. They are then to be placed lightly in bags, and afterwards +relaxed by immersion and prepared in the usual way. The finer plants, +however, suffer more or less by this delay. If carried directly home +from the sea the plants should be emptied into a vessel of sea-water. +A flat dish, about fourteen inches square and three deep, is then to +be filled with clean water. For most plants this may be fresh, for +some it is essential that it should be salt. Some of the Polysiphonias +and others begin to decompose at once if placed in fresh water. The +Griffithsias burst and let out their colouring matter, and a good many +change their colour. The appliances required are some fine white +paper--good printing demy, thirty-six pounds or so in weight per ream, +does very well,--an ample supply of smooth blotting paper, the coarse +paper used by grocers and called "sugar royal," or, best of all, +Bentall's botanical drying paper, pieces of well-washed book muslin, a +camel's hair brush, a bodkin for assisting to spread out the plants, a +pair of scissors, and a pair of forceps. The mounting paper may be cut +in three sizes: 5 in. by 4 in., 71/2 in. by 51/4 in., and 10 in. by +71/2 in. Then having selected a specimen, place it in the flat dish +referred to above, and prune it if necessary. Next take a piece of +the mounting paper of suitable size, and slip it into the water +underneath the plant, keeping hold of it with the thumb of the left +hand. Having arranged the plant in a natural manner on the paper, +brush it gently with the camel's hair brush to remove any dirt or +fragments, draw out paper and plant gently and carefully in an oblique +direction, and set them on end for a short time to drain. Having in +this way transferred as many specimens as will cover a sheet of drying +paper, lay them upon it neatly side by side, and cover them with a +piece of old muslin. Four sheets of drying paper are then to be placed +upon this, then another layer of plants and muslin and four more +sheets of drying paper, until a heap, it may be six or eight inches +thick, is built up. Place this between two flat boards, weighted with +stones, bricks, or other weights; but the pressure should be moderate +at first, otherwise the texture of the muslin may be stamped on both +paper and plant. The papers must be changed in about three hours' +time, and afterwards every twelve hours. In three or four days, +according to the state of the weather, the muslin may be removed, the +plants again transferred to dry paper, and subjected to rather severe +pressure for several days. + +The very gelatinous plants require particular treatment. One way is to +put them in drying paper and under a board but to apply no other +pressure, change the drying paper at least twice during the first half +hour, and after the second change of dryers apply very gentle +pressure, increasing it until the specimens are fully dry. A safer and +less troublesome way, for the efficacy of which we can vouch, is to +lay down the plants and dry them without any pressure, afterwards +damping the back of the mounting papers and placing them in the drying +press. Some Algae will scarcely adhere to paper. These should be +pressed until tolerably dry, then be immersed in skim-milk for a +quarter of an hour, and pressed and dried as before. A slight +application of isinglass, dissolved in alcohol, to the under side of +the specimen is sometimes necessary. Before mounting, or at all events +before transference to the herbarium, care should be taken to write in +pencil on the back of the paper the name of the plant, if known, the +place where gathered, and the date. The coarse olive weeds, such as +the bladder-wrack, Halidrys, and the like, may in the case of a short +visit to the coast be allowed to dry in an airy place, and taken home +in the rough. Before pressing, in any case, they should be steeped in +boiling water for about half an hour to extract the salt, then washed +in clean fresh water, dried between coarse towels, and pressed and +dried in the same way as flowering plants. A collection of Algae may be +fastened on sheets of paper of the usual herbarium size and kept in a +cabinet or portfolios, or attached to the leaves of an album. For +scientific purposes, however, the latter is the least convenient way. + +There are few objects more beautiful than many of the sea-weeds when +well preserved; but the filiform species, especially those of the +first sub-order, do not retain their distinguishing characters when +pressed as has been described. Portions of these, however, as well as +sections of stems and fruit, may be usefully dried on small squares of +thin mica, for subsequent microscopic examination, or they may be +mounted on the ordinary microscope slides. This is the only course +possible with Desmids and Diatoms. The former are to be sought in +shallow pools, especially in open boggy moors. The larger species +commonly lie in a thin gelatinous stratum at the bottom of the pools, +and by gently passing the fingers under them they will be caused to +rise towards the surface, when they can be lifted with a scoop. Other +species form a greenish or dirty cloud on the stems and leaves of +other aquatic plants, and by stripping the plant between the fingers +these also may be similarly detached and secured. If they are much +diffused through the water, they may be separated by straining through +linen; and this is a very common way of procuring them. Living Diatoms +are found on aquatic plants, on rocks and stones, under water or on +mud, presenting themselves as coloured fringes, cushion-like tufts, or +filmy strata. In colour the masses vary from a yellowish brown to +almost black. They are difficult, both when living and dead, to +separate from foreign matter; but repeated washings are effectual in +both cases, and, for the living ones, their tendency to move towards +the light may also be taken advantage of. When only the shells are +wanted for mounting, the cell contents are removed by means of +hydrochloric and nitric acid. The most satisfactory medium for +preserving fresh Desmids and Diatoms is distilled water, and if the +water is saturated with camphor, or has dissolved in it a grain of +alum and a grain of bay salt to an ounce of water, confervoid growths +will be prevented. For larger preparations of Algae, Thwaites' fluid is +strongly recommended. This is made by adding to one part of rectified +spirit as many drops of creasote as will saturate it, and then +gradually mixing with it in a pestle and mortar some prepared chalk, +with sixteen parts of water; an equal quantity of water saturated with +camphor is then to be added, and the mixture, after standing for a +few days, to be carefully filtered. + +For authorities on the morphology and classification of the Algae, +students may be referred to Sachs' "Text Book" and Le Maout's "System +of Botany," of which there are good translations, and the +"Introduction to Cryptogamic Botany," by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley; for +descriptions and the identification of species, to the text and +figures of Harvey's "Phycologia Britannica," and "Nature-Printed +Sea-weeds." Both of these are however costly. Among the cheaper works +are "British Sea-weeds," by S. O. Gray (Lovell, Reeve & Co.), +"Harvey's Manual" and an abridgment by Mrs. A. Gatty, with reduced but +well executed copies of the figures, of the Phycologia. This synopsis +can often be picked up cheap at second-hand book-stalls; and there is +a very excellent low-priced work suitable for amateurs, Grattann's +"British Marine Algae," containing recognizable figures of nearly all +our native species. Landsborough's "Popular History of British +Sea-weeds," and Mrs. Lane Clarke's "Common Sea-weeds," are also cheap +and useful manuals on the subject. + + [Illustration: Floral design] + + + + +SHELLS. + +BY + +B. B. WOODWARD. + + +[Illustration: POND SNAILS.] + + + + +SHELLS. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +In the very earliest times, long before there was any attempt at the +scientific classification and arrangement of shells, they appear to +have been objects of admiration, and to have been valued on account of +their beauty, for we find that the pre-historic men, who, in company +with the mammoth, or hairy elephant, and other animals now extinct, +inhabited Southern France in days long gone by, used to bore holes in +them, and, like the savage of to-day, wear them as ornaments. The +Greek physician and philosopher, Aristotle, is said to have been the +first to study the formation of shells, and to raise the knowledge +thus acquired into the position of a science; by him shells were +divided into three orders--an arrangement preserved, with some small +changes, by Linnaeus. It is possible that the world-wide renown of the +Swedish naturalist during the last century, and the ardour with which +he pursued his investigations, may have given an impetus to the study +of natural objects, for we find that at that period large sums were +often given by collectors for choice specimens of shells. Nor is this +to be wondered at, for few things look nicer, or better repay trouble +expended on them, than does a well-arranged and carefully mounted and +named collection of shells. Certainly nothing looks worse than a +number of shells of all descriptions, of every kind, shape, and +colour, thrown promiscuously into a box, like the unfortunate animals +in a toy Noah's ark, to the great detriment of their value and beauty; +for, as the inevitable result of shaking against each other, the +natural polish is taken off some, the delicate points and ornaments +are broken off others, the whole collection becoming in time unsightly +and disappointing, and all for want of a little care at the outset. + +In this, as in every other undertaking, "how to set about it" is the +chief difficulty with beginners; and here, perhaps, a few hints +gathered from experience may not be without value. One thing a young +collector should always bear in mind, however, is, that no +instructions can be of any avail to him unless, for his part, he is +prepared to bring patience, neatness, and attention to detail, to bear +upon his work. + +Since it is important to know the best way of storing specimens +already acquired, we will, in the first place, devote a few words to +this point, and then proceed to describe the best means of collecting +specimens, and of naming, mounting, and arranging the same. + + + + +HOW TO MAKE A CABINET. + + +It is a common mistake, both with old and young, to imagine that a +handsome cabinet is, in the first instance, a necessity; but no +greater blunder can be made: the cabinet should be considered merely +an accessory, the collection itself being just as valuable, and +generally more useful, when kept in a series of plain wooden or +cardboard boxes. We intend, therefore, to describe the simplest +possible means of keeping a collection of shells, leaving elaborate +and costly methods to those who value the case more than its contents. + +The first thing required is some method of keeping the different +species of shells apart, so that they may not get mixed, or be +difficult to find when wanted. The simplest plan of doing this is to +collect all the empty chip match-boxes you can find, throw away the +cases in which they slide, and keep the trays, trying to get as many +of a size as possible. (The ordinary Bryant & May's, or Bell & +Black's, are the most useful, and with them the trays of the small +Swedish match-boxes, two of which, placed side by side, occupy nearly +exactly the same space as one and a half of the larger size, and so +fit in with them nicely.) In these trays your shells should be placed, +one kind in each tray; but although very convenient for most +specimens, they will of course be too small for very many, and so the +larger trays must be made. This may easily be done as follows: cut a +rectangular piece of cardboard two inches longer one way than the +length of the match-tray, and two inches more the other way than twice +the width of the match-tray; then with a pencil rule lines one inch +from the edges and parallel with them (Fig. 1); next cut out the +little squares (_a_ _a_, _a_ _a_) these lines form in the corners of +the piece of cardboard, and then with a penknife cut _half_ through the +card, exactly on the remaining pencil-lines, and bend up the pieces, +which will then form sides for your tray; and by binding it round with +a piece of blue paper, you will have one that will look neat, uniform +with the others, and yet be just twice their size. If required, you +can make in the same way any size, only take care that they are all +multiples of one standard size, as loss of space will thereby be +avoided when you come to the next process in your cabinet. This is, to +get a large box or tray in which to hold your smaller ones. + + [Illustration: Fig. 1. How to cut a cardboard tray.] + + +---+-----------+---+ + |_a_| |_a_| + +---+-----------+---+ + | | | | + | | | | + | | | | + | | | | + | | | | + | | | | + | | | | + | | | | + +---+-----------+---+ + |_a_| |_a_| + +---+-----------+---+ + +The simplest plan is to get some half-dozen cardboard boxes (such as +may be obtained for the asking or for a very trifling cost at any +draper's), having a depth of from one to two inches (according to the +size of your shells); in these your trays may be arranged in columns, +and the boxes can be kept one above the other in a cupboard or in a +larger box. More boxes and trays can, from time to time, be added as +occasion requires, and thus the whole collection may be kept in good +working order at a trifling cost. A more durable form of cheap cabinet +may be made by collecting the wooden boxes so common in grocers' +shops, cleaning them with sand-paper, staining and varnishing them +outside, and lining them inside with paper; or, if handy at +carpentering, you may make all your boxes, or even a real cabinet, for +yourself. + + + + +HOW TO COLLECT SHELLS. + + +Provision being thus made for the comfortable accommodation of your +treasures, the next consideration is, how to set about collecting +them. Mollusca are to be found all over the globe, from the frozen +north to the sun-baked tropics, on the land or in lakes, rivers, or +seas--wherever, in fact, they can find the food and other conditions +suitable for their growth and development; but the collector who is +not also a great traveller, must of course rely for his foreign +specimens upon the generosity of friends, or else procure them from +dealers. In most districts of our own country, there are, however, to +be found large numbers of shells whose variety and beauty will +astonish and reward the efforts of any patient seeker. Begin with your +own garden,--search in the out-of-the-way, and especially damp, +corners; turn over the flower-pots and stones which have lain longest +in one place, search amongst the roots of the grass growing under +walls, and in the moss round the roots of the trees, and you will be +surprised at the number of different shells you may find in a very +short space of time. When the resources of the garden have been +exhausted, go into the nearest lanes and again search the grass and at +the roots of plants, especially the nettles which grow beside ditches +and in damp places; hunt amongst the dead leaves in plantations, and +literally leave no stone unturned. All the apparatus it is necessary +to take on these excursions consists of a few small match or +pill-boxes in which to carry home the specimens; a pair of forceps to +pick up the smaller ones, or to get them out of cracks; a hooked stick +to beat down and pull away the nettles; and, above all, sharp eyes +trained to powers of observation. The best time to go out, is just +after a warm shower, when all the grass and leaves are still wet, for +the land-snails are very fond of moisture, and the shower entices them +out of their lurking-places. Where the ground is made of chalk or +limestone, they will be found most abundant; for as the snail's shell +is composed of layers of animal tissue, strengthened by depositions of +calcareous earthy-matter which the creature gets from the plants on +which it feeds, and these in their turn obtain from the soil--it +naturally follows that the snail prefers to dwell where that article +is most abundant, as an hour's hunt on any chalk-down will soon show. + +When garden and lanes are both exhausted, you may then turn to the +ponds and streams in the neighbourhood, where you will find several +new kinds. Some will be crawling up the rushes near the margin of the +water, others will be found in the water near the bank, while others +may be obtained by pulling on shore pieces of wood and branches that +may be floating in the water; but the best are sure to be beyond the +reach of arm or stick, and it will be necessary to employ a net, which +may be easily made by bending a piece of wire into a circle of about +four inches in diameter, and sewing to it a small gauze bag; it may be +mounted either on a long bamboo, or, better still, on one of those +ingenious Japanese walking-stick fishing-rods. For heavier work, +however, such as getting fresh-water mussels and other mollusca from +the bottom, you will require a net something like the accompanying +figure (Fig. 2), about one foot in diameter. This, when attached to a +long rope, may be thrown out some distance and dragged through the +water-weeds to the shore, or if made with a square instead of a +circular mouth, it may be so weighted that it will sink to the bottom, +and be used as a dredge for catching the mussels which live +half-buried in the mud. To carry the water-snails home, you will find +it necessary to have tin boxes (empty mustard-tins are the best), as +match-boxes come to pieces when wetted. + + [Illustration: Fig. 2. Net for taking water-snails.] + +The finest collections of shells, however, are to be made at the +sea-side, for the marine mollusca are both more varied in kind and +more abundant than the land and fresh-water ones, and quite an +extensive collection may be made in the course of an afternoon's +ramble along the shore; it is necessary, however, to carefully reject +such specimens as are worn by having been rolled by the waves upon the +beach, as they are not of any great value in a collection; it is +better, in fact, if possible, to go down to the rocks at low water and +collect the living specimens. Search well about and under the +sea-weeds, and in the rock-pools, and, when boating, throw your +dredge-net out and tow it behind, hauling it in occasionally to see +what you have caught, and to empty the stones and rubbish out. + +At low tide also, look out for rocks with a number of round holes in +them, all close together, for in these holes the Pholas (Fig. 22) +dwells, having bored a burrow in the solid rock, though _how_ he does +it we do not yet quite know. + +The Razor-shells and Cockles live in the sand, their presence being +indicated by a small round hole; but they bury themselves so fast that +you will find it difficult to get at them. Some good specimens, too, +of the deeper water forms are sure to be found near the spots where +fishermen drag their boats ashore, as they are often thrown away in +clearing out the nets; moreover, if you can make friends with any of +the said fishermen, they will be able to find and bring you many nice +specimens from time to time. + +The reason that so much has been said about collecting living +specimens, is not only because in them the shell is more likely to be +perfect, but also because in its living state the shell is coated with +a layer of animal matter, sometimes thin and transparent, at others +thick and opaque, called the _periostracum_ (or _epidermis_), which +serves to protect the shell from the weather, but which perishes with +the animal, so that dead shells which have lain for some time +tenantless on the ground, or at the bottom of the water, exposed to +the destructive agencies that are constantly at work in nature, have +almost invariably lost both their natural polish and their varied +hues, and are besides only too often broken as well. Since, however, +even a damaged specimen is better than none at all, such should always +be kept until a more perfect example can be obtained. + + + + +HOW TO PREPARE THE SHELLS FOR THE CABINET. + + +The question with which we have next to deal is, after collecting a +number of living mollusks, how, in the quickest and most painless +manner possible, to kill the animals in order to obtain possession of +their shells. There is but one way we know of in which this may be +accomplished, and that is by placing the creatures in an earthen jar +and pouring _boiling_ water on them. With land, or fresh-water snails, +the addition of a large spoonful of table-salt is advisable, as it +acts upon them chemically, and not only puts them sooner out of pain, +but also renders their subsequent extraction far easier. Death by this +process is instantaneous, and consequently painless; but to leave +snails in cold salt water is to inflict on them the tortures of a +lingering death; while for the brutality of gardeners and other +thoughtless persons who seek to destroy the poor snail they find +eating their plants by crushing it under foot on the gravel path, no +words of condemnation are too strong, since it must always be borne in +mind that snails have not, like us, _one_ nervous centre, but three, +and are far more tenacious of life; hence, unless all the nerves are +destroyed at once, a great deal of suffering is entailed on the poor +creature; and if merely crushed under foot, the mangled portions _will +live for hours_. Hot water has also the advantage of tending to remove +the dirt which is almost sure to have gathered on the shells, and so +helping to prepare them better for the cabinet. As soon as the water +is cool enough, fish out the shells one by one and proceed to extract +the dead animals. This, if the mollusk is _univalve_ (_i.e._, whose +shell is composed of a single piece), such as an ordinary garden +snail, can easily be done by picking them out with a pin; you will +find, probably, that some of the smaller ones have shrunk back so far +into their shells as to be beyond the reach of a straight pin, so it +will be necessary to bend the pin with a pair of pliers, or, if none +are at hand, a key will answer the purpose if the pin be put into one +of the notches and bent over the edge until sufficiently curved to +reach up the shell. You will find it convenient to keep a set of pins +bent to different curves, to which you may fit handles by cutting off +the heads and sticking them into match stems. It is a good plan to +soak some of the smaller snails in clean cold water before killing +them, as they swell out with the water, and do not, when dead, retreat +so far into their shells. If you have a microscope, and wish to keep +the animals till you have time to get the tongues out, drop the bodies +into small bottles of methylated spirit and water, when they will keep +till required, otherwise they should of course be thrown away at once. +The now empty shells should be washed in clean warm water, and, if +very dirty, gently scrubbed with a soft nail or tooth brush, and then +carefully dried. + +In such shells as the Periwinkle, Whelk, etc., whose inhabitants close +the entrance of their dwelling with a trap-door, or _operculum_ as it +is called, you should be careful to preserve each with its proper +shell. + +If you are cleaning _bivalves_, or shells composed of two pieces, like +the common mussel, you will have to remove the animal with a penknife, +and while leaving the inside quite clean, be very careful not to break +the ligament which serves as a hinge; then wash as before, and tie +them together to prevent their gaping open when dry. + +Sometimes the fresh-water or marine shells are so coated over with a +vegetable growth that no scrubbing with water alone will remove it, +and in these cases a weak solution of caustic soda may be used, but +very carefully, since, if too strong a solution be employed, the +surface of the shell will be removed with the dirt, and the specimen +spoilt. In some shells the periostracum is very thick and coarse, and +must be removed before the shell itself can be seen; but it is always +well to keep at least one specimen in its rough state as an example. +In other shells the periostracum is covered over with very fine, +delicate hairs (_Helix sericea_ and _Helix hispida_, Fig. 3), and +great care must then be taken not to brush these off. + + [Illustration: Fig. 3. (_a_) _Helix sericea_ and + (_b_) _Helix hispida_.] + + + + +HOW TO MOUNT THE SHELLS FOR THE CABINET. + + +When the specimens are thoroughly cleaned, the next process is to sort +out the different kinds, placing each description in a different tray, +and then to get them ready for mounting, for no collection will look +well unless each kind is so arranged that it may be seen to the best +advantage, and is also carefully named. Where you have a good number, +pick out first the largest specimens of their kind, then the smallest, +then a series, as you have room for them, of the most perfect; and +finally those which show any peculiarity of structure or marking. Try, +too, to get young forms as well as adult, for the young are often very +different in appearance from the full-grown shell. Mark on them, +especially on such as you have found yourself, the locality they came +from, as it is very important to the shell collector to know this, +since specimens common enough in one district are often rare in +another. Either write the name of the place in ink on a corner of the +shell itself, or gum a small label just inside it, or simply number +it, and write the name of the place with a corresponding number +against it in a book kept for the purpose. Next select a tray large +enough to hold all you have of this kind; place a piece of cotton wool +at the bottom, and lay your shells upon it. For small shells, however, +this method is not suitable, as the cotton wool acts on them like a +spring mattress, and they are liable on the least shock to be jerked +out of their trays and lost. This difficulty may be met by cutting a +piece of cardboard so that it just fits into your tray, and then +gumming the shells on to it in rows; but remember that, in this plan +of mounting, it is impossible to take the shells up and examine them +on all sides as you do the loose ones, and so you must mount a good +many, and place them in many different positions, so that they may be +seen from as many points of view as possible. The gum used should +always have nearly one-sixth of its bulk of pure glycerine added to +it; this prevents it from becoming brittle when dry, otherwise your +specimens would be liable after a time to break away from the card and +get lost. If the shells will not stay in the position you require, +wedge them up with little pieces of cork until the gum is dry. + +When the shells are mounted, you must try, if you have not already +done so, to get the proper names for them; it is as important to be +able to call shells by their right names as it is to know people by +theirs. The commoner sorts you will be able to name from the figures +of them given in text-books, such as those quoted in the list at the +end of this little work; but some you will find it very difficult to +name, and it will then be necessary to ask friends who have +collections to help you, or to take them to some museum and compare +them with the named specimens there exhibited. When the right name is +discovered, your label must then be written in a very small, neat +hand, and gummed to the edge of the tray or on the card if your +specimens are mounted. At the top you put the Latin name, ruling a +line underneath it, and then, if you like, add the English name; next, +put the name of the place and the date at which it was found, thus:-- + + ===================================== + Helix aspersa (Common snail), + ----------------------------- + Lane near Hampstead Heath, + July 10th, 1882. + ===================================== + +A double red ink line ruled at the top and bottom will add a finished +appearance to it. + + + + +HOW TO CLASSIFY THE SHELLS FOR THE CABINET. + + +All the foregoing processes, except the naming of your specimens, are +more or less mechanical, and are only the means to the end--a properly +arranged collection. For, however well a collection may be mounted, it +is practically useless if the different shells composing it be not +properly classified. By classification is meant the bringing together +those kinds that most resemble each other, first of all into large +groups having special characteristics in common, and then by +subdividing these into other smaller groups, and so on. Thus the +animal kingdom is divided, first of all, into _Sub-kingdoms_, then +each _Sub-kingdom_ into so many _Classes_ containing those which have +further characteristics in common, the _Classes_ into _Orders_, the +_Orders_ into _Families_, the _Families_ into _Genera_, and these +again into species or kinds. + +The Mollusca, or soft-bodied animals, of whose protecting shells your +collection consists, form a sub-kingdom, and are subdivided into four +classes:-- + + 1. Cephalopoda. + 2. Gasteropoda. + 3. Pteropoda. + 4. Lamellibranchiata (or Conchifera). + +And these again into Families, Genera, and Species. + +The space at our disposal being limited, it is impossible to do more +than furnish some general outlines of the different forms. For further +details it will be necessary to refer to one of the larger works, a +list of which will be found on the last page. + + [Illustration: Fig. 4. _Argonauta Argo._] + + [Illustration: Fig. 5. "Bone" of _Sepia officinalis_.] + + +CLASS I.--The CEPHALOPODA (Head-footed) contains those mollusca that, +like the common Octopus, have a number of feet (or arms) set round +the mouth, and is divided into those having two gills. (Order I. +Dibranchiata); and those with four (Order II. Tetrabranchiata). Order +I. is again divided into: (_a._) Those with _eight_ feet like the +Argonaut (or Paper-nautilus, Fig. 4), which fable has so long endowed +with the power of sailing on the surface of the ocean, (it is even +represented in one book as propelling itself through the air!) and the +common Octopus. (_b._) Those with _ten_ feet, such as the Loligo (or +Squid, Fig. 6), whose delicate internal shell so much resembles a pen +in shape; the Cuttle-fish (Sepia, Figs. 5 & 7), whose so-called +"bone" (once largely used as an ink eraser) is frequently found on our +southern coasts; and the pretty little _Spirula_ (Fig. 8). + + [Illustration: Fig. 6. _Loligo vulgaris_, and "Pen."] + + [Illustration: Fig. 7. _Sepia officinalis._] + +The only representative of the four-gilled order now living is the +well-known Pearly Nautilus; but in former times the Tetrabranchiata +were extremely numerous, especially the _Ammonites_. + + [Illustration: Fig. 8. _Spirula_.] + + +CLASS II.--GASTEROPODA (Belly-footed) comprises those mollusca which, +like the common snail, creep on the under-surface of the body, and +with one exception (_Chiton_, Fig. 20) their shells are univalve +(_i.e._, composed of one piece). But before we go further, it may be +well to point out the names given to different parts of a univalve +shell. The aperture whence the animal issues is called the _mouth_, +and its outer edge the _lip_; each turn of the shell is a _whorl_; the +last and biggest, the _body-whorl_, the whorls, from the point at the +top, or _apex_, down to the mouth form the _spire_; and the line where +the whorls join each other is called the _suture_. The axis of the +shell around which the whorls are coiled is sometimes open or hollow, +and the shell is then said to be _umbilicated_ (as in Fig. 3_b_); when +closely coiled, a pillar of shell, or _columella_, is left (as in Fig. +9). Sometimes the corner of the mouth farthest from the spire and +next the columella, is produced into a channel, the _anterior canal_ +(as in Fig. 9); whilst where the mouth meets the base of the spire +there may be a kind of notch which is termed the _posterior canal_. +Most Gasteropods are _dextral_, that is to say, the mouth is to the +right of the axis as you look at it; a few, however, are _sinistral_, +or wound to the left (like _Physa_); whilst reversed varieties of both +kinds are met with. + +Gasteropods of the first order have comb-like gills placed in advance +of the heart, and are hence termed PROSOBRANCHIATA. They are divided +into two groups: (_a_) _Siphonostomata_ (Tube-mouthed), in which the +animal has a long proboscis, and a tube, or siphon, from the +breathing-chamber that passes along the anterior canal of the shell, +which in this group is well developed. They have a horny operculum, or +lid, with which to close the aperture. (_b_) _Holostomata_ (or +Whole-mouthed). In these the siphon is not so produced, and does not +want to be protected; accordingly the mouth of the shell is _entire_, +_i.e._ has no canal. The operculum is horny or shelly. The former +(group _a_) includes several families: + +1. _Strombidae_, comprising shells, like the huge _Strombus_, or +"Fountain-shell," which is so often used to adorn the mantelpiece or +rockery, and from which cameos are cut. + +2. The _Muricidae_, of which the _Murex_ (an extraordinary form of this +is the "Venus' comb," _Murex tenuispina_, Fig. 9), the Mitre-shells, +and the Red-Whelks (_Fusus_) are examples. + + [Illustration: Fig. 9. _Murex tenuispina._] + +3. The _Buccinidae_, taking its name from its type, the Common Whelk +(_Buccinum undatum_), and including such other forms as the Dog-Whelk +(_Nassa_), the _Purpura_, the strange _Magilus_, and the lovely +Harp-Shells and Olives (Fig. 10). + + [Illustration: Fig. 10. _Oliva tessellata._] + +4. The _Cassididae_, or "Helmet-Shells." _Cassis rufa_, from West +Africa, is noted as the best species of shell for cameo engraving; +with it are classed the "Tun" (_Dolium_) and the great "Triton" +(_Triton tritonis_), such as the sea-gods of mythology are represented +blowing into by way of trumpet, and which are used by the Polynesian +Islanders to this day instead of horns. + +5. The _Conidae_, whose type, the "Cone-shell" (Fig. 11), is at once +distinctive and handsome, but which in the living state is covered by +a dull yellowish-brown periostracum that has to be carefully removed +before the full beauties of the shell are displayed. + + [Illustration: Fig. 11. Conus vermiculatus.] + +6. The _Volutidae_, embracing the Volutes and "Boat-shells" (_Cymba_). + +7. The _Cypraeidae_, or Cowries (Fig. 12), which owe their high polish +to the size of the shell-secreting organ (mantle), whose edges meet +over the back of the shell, concealing it within its folds. With these +is classed the "China-shell" (_Ovulum_). + + [Illustration: Fig. 12. Cypraea oniscus.] + +The second group, or _Holostomata_, is divided into nineteen families, +beginning with-- + +1. The _Naticidae_, whose type, the genus _Natica_, is well known to +all shell-collectors through the common _Natica monilifera_ of our +coasts. + +2. The _Cancellariadae_, in which the shells are cancellated or +cross-barred by a double series of lines running, one set with the +whorls, and the other across them. + +3. The _Pyramidellidae_, which are high-spired, elongated, and slender +shells, with the exception of the genus _Stylina_, which lives +attached to the spines of sea-urchins or buried in living star-fishes +and corals. 4. The _Solaridae_ or "Staircase-shells," whose umbilicus +is so wide that, as you look down it, the projecting edges of the +whorls appear like a winding staircase. It is a very short-spired +shell. + +5. The _Scalaridae_, "Wentle-traps" or "Ladder-shells," which may be +readily recognised from their white and lustrous appearance and the +strong rib-like markings of the periodic mouths that encircle the +whorls. + +6. The _Cerithiadae_, or "Horn-shells," which are very high-spired, and +whose columella and anterior canal are produced in the form of an +impudent little tail, the effect of which, however, in the genus +_Aporrhais_, or "Spout-shells," is taken away by the expanded and +thickened lip. + +7. In the next family, the _Turritellidae_, or "Tower-shells," the type +Turritella is spiral; but in the allied form _Vermetus_, though the +spire begins in the natural manner, it goes off into a twisted tube +resembling somewhat an ill-made corkscrew. The mouth in this family is +often nearly round. + +8. The _Melaniadae_, and 9. The _Paludinidae_, are fresh-water shells. +The former are turreted, and the latter conical or globular. Both are +furnished with opercula, but the mouth in the first is more or less +oval and frequently notched in front, while in the latter it is +rounded and entire. + +10. The _Litorinidae_, or Periwinkles, need no word from us. + +11. The _Calyptraeidae_ comprise the "Bonnet-limpet," or _Pileopsis_, +and "Cup-and-saucer-limpets" (_Calyptraea_). They may be described +briefly as limpets with traces of a spire left. The genus _Phorus_, +however, is spiral, and resembles a _Trochus_. They have been called +"Carriers" from their strange habit of building any stray fragments of +shell or stone into their house, thus rendering themselves almost +indistinguishable from the ground on which they crawl. + +12. The _Turbinidae_, or "Top-shells," are next in order, and of these +the great _Turbo marmoreus_ is a well-known example, being prepared as +an ornament for the whatnot or mantelpiece by removing the external +layer of the shell in order to display the brilliant pearly nacre +below. These mollusca close their mouths with a horny operculum, +coated on its exterior by a thick layer of porcelain-like shelly +matter. With them are classed the familiar _Trochus_ and other closely +allied genera. + +13. The _Haliotidae_ offer in the representative genus _Haliotis_, or +the "Ear-shell," another familiar mantelpiece ornament. + +14. The _Ianthinidae_, or "Violet-snails," that float about in +mid-Atlantic upon the gulf-weed, and at certain seasons secrete a +curious float or raft, to which their eggs are attached, are next in +order, and are followed by-- + +15. The _Fissurellidae_, or "Key-hole" and "Notched limpets," whose +name sufficiently describes them. To these succeed-- + +16. The _Neritidae_, an unmistakable group of globular shells, having +next to no spire and a very glossy exterior, generally ornamented with +a great variety of spots and bands. + +17. The _Patellidae_, or true Limpets, are well known to every sea-side +visitor: large species, as much as two inches across, are to be found +on the coast of Devon, but these are pigmies compared with a South +American variety which attains a foot in diameter. + +18. The _Dentaliadae_, represented by the genus _Dentalium_, or +"Tooth-shell," are simply slightly curved tubes, open at both ends and +tapering from the mouth downwards, and cannot be mistaken. + +19. Lastly, we have the _Chitonidae_, whose single genus _Chiton_ +possesses shells differing from all other mollusca in being composed +of eight plates overlapping each other, and in appearance reminding +one of the wood-louse. This animal is not only like the limpet in form +but also in habits, being found adhering to the rocks and stones at +low-water. + + +Order II.--PULMONIFERA. Contains the air-breathing _Gasteropods_, and +to it consequently belong all the terrestrial mollusca, though some +few aquatic genera are also included. The members of this order have +an air-chamber instead of gills, and are divided into two groups, +(_a_) those without an operculum, and (_b_) those having an operculum. +Foremost in the first group stands the great family-- + +1. _Helicidae_, named after its chief representative, the genus +_Helix_. It also includes the "Glass-shell" (_Vitrina_), the +"Amber-shell" (_Succinea_), and such genera as _Bulimus_, _Achatina_, +_Pupa_, _Clausilia_ (Fig. 13), etc., which differ from the typical +_Helix_ in appearance, possessing as they do comparatively high +spires. + + [Illustration: Fig. 13. _Clausilia biplicata._] + +2. The _Limacidae_, or "slugs," follow next; of these only one, the +genus _Testacella_, has an external shell stuck on the end of its +tail; the rest have either a more or less imperfect shell concealed +underneath the mantle, or else none at all. + +3. The _Oncidiadae_ are slug-like, and devoid of shell. + +4. The _Limnaeidae_ embrace the "Pond-snails," chief of whom is the +well-known, high-spired _Limnaea stagnalis_. Other shells of this +family associated with _Limnaea_ are, however, very different in shape; +for instance, _Physa_ has its whorls turning to the left instead of to +the right; _Ancylus_ (Fig. 24), or the freshwater limpet, is of course +limpet-like; while _Planorbis_, or the "Coil-shell," is wound like a +watch-spring. + +5. The _Auriculidae_ includes both spiral shells, such as _Auricula_ +and _Charychium_, and a limpet-like one _Siphonaria_. + +At the head of group _b_ stands 1, _Cyclostomidae_. _Cyclostoma +elegans_ is a common shell on our chalk-downs, and well illustrates +its family, in which the mouth is nearly circular. Foreign examples of +this genus are much esteemed by collectors. The other two families +are, (2) _Helicinidae_ and (3) _Aciculidae_. + + +Order III.--OPISTHOBRANCHIATA. These animals carry their gills exposed +on the back and sides, towards the rear of the body. Only a few have +any shell. 1. The _Tornatellidae_, which have a stout little spiral +shell. 2. The _Bullidae_, in which the spire is concealed (Fig. 26). 3. +The _Aplysiadae_, where the shell is flat and oblong or triangular in +shape. The remaining families are slug-like and shell-less. + + [Illustration: Fig. 14. _Bulla ampulla._] + + +Order IV.--NUCLEOBRANCHIATA. Derives its name from the fact that the +animals constituting it have their respiratory and digestive organs in +a sort of nucleus on the posterior part of the back, and covered by a +minute shell. As they are pelagic, the shells are not readily to be +obtained. They are divided into two families, _Firolidae_ and +_Atlantidae_. + + +CLASS III.--PTEROPODA. Like the last, these pretty little mollusca are +ocean-swimmers. The members of one division of them, to which the +_Cleodora_ belongs, is furnished with iridescent external shells. + + [Illustration: Fig. 15. _Petunculus guerangeri._] + + [Illustration: Fig. 16. _Venus plicata._] + + +CLASS IV.--The LAMELLIBRANCHIATA (Plate-gilled), or CONCHIFERA +(Shell-bearing), includes the mollusca commonly known as "bivalves," +the animal being snugly hidden between two more or less closely +fitting shelly valves. The oysters, cockles, etc., are examples of +this class. The two valves are fastened together near their points, or +beaks (technically called _umbones_), by a tough elastic ligament, +sometimes supplemented by an internal cartilage. If this be severed +and the valves parted, it will be found that in most cases they are +further articulated by projecting ridges or points called the _teeth_, +which, when the valves are together, interlock and form a hinge; the +margin of the shell on which the teeth and ligament are situated is +termed the _hinge-line_. A bivalve is said to be _equivalve_ when the +two shells composing it are of the same size, _inequivalve_ when they +are not. If the umbones are in the middle, the shell is _equilateral_ +(Fig. 15); but _inequilateral_ when they are nearer one side than the +other (Fig. 16). If the shell be an oyster or a scallop, you will find +on the inside a single circular scar-like mark near the centre; this +is the point to which the muscles that close the valves and hold them +so tightly together are attached. In the majority of bivalves, +however, there are two such muscular impressions, or scars, one on +either side of each valve of the shell. The former group on this +account are often called _Monomyaria_ (having one shell-muscle), and +the latter _Dimyaria_ (having two shell-muscles). In the last named +the two muscular impressions are united by a fine groove (or +_pallial-line_), which in some runs parallel to the margin of the +shell (Fig. 15), whilst in others it makes a bend in (_pallial-sinus_) +on one side of the valve towards the centre (Fig. 16). In Monomyaria +it will be found running parallel to the margin of the shell. It marks +the line of attachment of the mantle or shell-secreting organ of the +animal to the shell which grows by the addition of fresh matter along +its edges, so that the concentric curved markings so often seen on the +exterior correspond in their origin with the periodic mouths of the +Gasteropods. The bivalves are all aquatic, and many bury themselves in +the sand or mud by means of a fleshy, muscular foot. These are +furnished with two siphons, or fleshy tubes, sometimes united, +sometimes separate, through which they respire, drawing the water in +through one and expelling it by the other. Those kinds whose habit it +is to bury themselves below the surface of the mud or sand are +furnished with long retractile siphons, and to admit of their +withdrawal into the shell, the mantle is at this point attached +farther back, giving rise to the _pallial-sinus_ above described; this +sinus is deeper as the siphons are proportionately longer, and in +many cases, too, the valves do not meet at this point when the shell +is closed. + +Attention to these particulars is necessary when arranging your +bivalves, as on them their classification depends, the class being +divided into-- + +_a._ ASIPHONIDA (Siphonless). + +_b._ SIPHONIDA _Integro-pallialia_ (with Siphons).--Pallial-line entire. + +_c._ SIPHONIDA _Sinu-pallialia_ (with Siphons).--Sinus in pallial-line. + + +DIVISION _a_.--ASIPHONIDA--is next subdivided into-- + +1. The _Ostreidae_, or oysters, which are deservedly a distinct family +in themselves. + +2. The _Anomiadae_, comprising the multiform and curiously constructed +_Anomia_, with the "Window-shells" (_Placuna_). + +3. The _Pectinidae_, taking its name from the genus _Pecten_, or +"Scallop-shells," of which one kind (_P. maximus_) is frequently to be +seen at the fishmongers' shops. The "Thorney oysters" (_Spondylus_) +take rank here, and are highly esteemed by collectors, one specimen +indeed having been valued at L25! + +4. The _Aviculidae_, or "Wing-shells," among which are numbered the +"Pearl-oyster" of commerce (_Meleagrina margaritifera_). The strange +T-shaped "Hammer oyster" belongs to this family, as does also the +_Pinna_. The Pinnas, like the mussels and some other bivalves, moor +themselves to rocks by means of a number of threads spun by the foot +of the mollusc, and termed the _byssus_, which in this genus is finer, +more silky, than in any other, and has been woven into articles of +dress. + +5. The _Mytilidae_, or mussels, including the _Lithodomus_, or +"Date-shell," which bores into corals and even hard limestone rocks. + + [Illustration: Fig. 17. Hinge-teeth of _Arca barbata_.] + +6. The _Arcadae_, or "Noah's-ark-shells," characterized by their long +straight hinge-line set with numerous very fine teeth (Fig. 17). The +"Nut-shell" (_Nucula_) belongs to this family. + +7. The _Trigoniadae_, whose single living genus, the handsome _Trigonia_ +(Fig. 18), is confined to the Australian coast-line, whereas in times +now long past they had a world-wide distribution. + + [Illustration: Fig. 18. _Trigonia margaritacea._] + +8. The _Unionidae_, comprising the fresh-water mussels. + + +DIVISION _b_.--SIPHONIDA _Integropallialia_. + +1. The _Chamidae_, represented by the reef-dwelling _Chama_. + +2. The _Tridacnidae_, whose sole genus _Tridacna_ contains the largest +specimen of the whole class of bivalves, the shells sometimes +measuring two feet and more across. + +3. The _Cardiadae_, or cockles. + +4. The _Lucinidae_, in which the valves are nearly circular, and as a +rule not very attractive in appearance, though the "Basket-shell" +(_Corbis_) has an elegantly sculptured exterior. + +5. The _Cycladidae_, whose typical genus _Cyclas_, with its round form +and thin horny shell, is to be found in most of our ponds and streams. + +6. The _Astartidae_, a family of shells having very strongly developed +teeth, and the surface of whose valves is often concentrically ribbed. + + [Illustration: Fig. 19. Hinge of _Cardita sinuata_.] + +7. The _Cyprinidae_, which have very solid oval or elongated shells and +conspicuous teeth (Fig. 19). The "Heart-cockle" (_Isocardia_) belongs to +this family. + + +DIVISION _c_.--SIPHONIDA _Sinu-pallialia_. + +1. The _Veneridae_. The hard, solid shells of this family are for +elegance of form and beauty of colour amongst the most attractive a +collector can posses. Their shells are more or less oval and have +three teeth in each valve (Fig. 20). + + [Illustration: Fig. 20. Hinge of _Cytherea crycina_.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 21. Hinge of _Lutraria elliptica_] + +2. The _Mactridae_ are somewhat triangular in shape, and may be at once +recognised by the pit for the hinge-ligament, which also assumes that +form, as seen in the accompanying figure of _Lutraria elliptica_ +(Fig. 21). + +3. The _Tellinidae_ comprise some of the most delicately tinted, both +externally and internally, of all shells. In some, coloured bands +radiate from the umbones, and well bear out the fanciful name of +"Sunset shells" bestowed upon them. Their valves are generally much +compressed. + +4. The _Solenidae_, or "Razor-shells," rank next, and are readily +recognised by the extreme length of the valves in proportion to their +width, and also by their gaping at both ends. + +5. The _Myacidae_ or "Gapers," have the siphonal ends wide apart (in +the genus _Mya_ both ends gape), and are further characterized by the +triangular process for the cartilage, which projects into the interior +of the shell. One valve (the left) is generally smaller than the +other. + +6. The _Anatinidae_ have thin, often inequivalve pearly shells. The +genus _Pandora_ is the form most frequently met with in collections. + +7. The _Gastrochaenidae_ embraces two genera (_Gastrochaena_ and +_Saxicava_) of boring mollusca, which perforate shells and rocks, and +also, the remarkable tube-like "Watering-pot-shell" (_Aspergillum_) +which is hardly recognisable as a bivalve at all. + + [Illustration: Fig. 22. _Pholas dactylus._] + +8. The _Pholadidae_ concludes the list of bivalves, and comprises the +common rock-boring Pholas (Fig. 22) of our coasts and the wood-boring +shipworm "Teredo" (Fig. 23). + + * * * * * + +Although the _Brachiopoda_, or "Lamp-shells," are not true mollusca, +they are not very far removed from them, and are so often to be found +in cabinets that it will not do to pass them over, especially since in +past times they were very abundant, an enormous number occurring in +the fossil state. Only eight genera are now living. Shells belonging +to this class are readily recognised by the fact of one valve being +larger than the other, and possessing a distinct peak, the apex of +which is perforated. The _Terebratulidae_ are the most extensive family +of this class. + + [Illustration: Fig. 23. _Teredo navalis._] + + + + +HOW TO ARRANGE THE SHELLS IN THE CABINET. + + +When you have arranged your specimens in the order above indicated, +proceed to place them in your boxes, arranging and labelling them after +the manner shown in the accompanying diagram. + + +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ + | Class. | | | | | + +----------+ Species. | Species. | Species. | Species. | + | Order. | | | | | + +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ + | Family | | | | | + | Name. | | | | | + +----------+ Species. | Species. | Species. | Species. | + | Generic | | | | | + | Name. | | +----------+ | + +----------+----------+----------+ Family +----------+ + | | | | Name. | | + | Species. | Species. | Species. +----------+ Species. | + | | | | Generic | | + +----------+----------+----------+ Name. +----------+ + | | | +----------+ | + | | Generic | | | | + | Species. | Name. | Species. | Species. | Species. | + | | | | | | + +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ + | | | | | Generic | + | Species. | Species. | Species. | Species. | Name. | + | | | | | | + +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ + | | | Generic | | | + | Species. | Species. | Name. | Species. | Species. | + | | | | | | + +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ + | | | | | | + | Species. | Species. | Species. | Species. | Species. | + | | | | | | + +----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ + +On the lid, or on a slip of paper or card placed at the head of your +columns of trays, write the class and order, with its proper number +(I., II., etc., as the case may be); then at the top of your left-hand +column place the family and its number, and under it the name of the +first genus. The species (one in each tray) come next, then the name +of the next genus following it, succeeded by its species, and so on. + +The object of the young collector should be to obtain examples of as +many _genera_ as possible, since a collection in which a great number +of genera are represented is far more useful and instructive than one +composed of a great many species referable to but few genera. He will +also find it very convenient to separate the British Shells from his +general collection, sub-dividing them for convenience into "Land and +Fresh-water," and "Marine." Of these he should endeavour to get every +species, and even variety, making the thing as complete as possible. +Or a separate collection may be made of all those kinds which he can +find within a certain distance of his own home. A collection of this +sort possesses, in addition to its scientific worth, an interest of +its own, owing to the local associations that invariably connect +themselves with it. + + + + +TABLE OF SOME OF THE MORE IMPORTANT GENERA, SHOWING THE APPROXIMATE +NUMBER OF SPECIES BELONGING TO EACH GENUS AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION. + + + +CLASS I.--CEPHALOPODA. + + + ORDER I.--Dibranchiata. + + Section A.--_Octopoda._ + + Family. Genus. No. of Species. Distribution. + + 1. Argonauta 4 Tropical seas. + 2. Octopus 46 Rocky coasts in temperate and + tropical regions. + Section B.--_Decapoda_. + + 3. Loligo 19 Cosmopolitan. + 4. Sepia 30 On all coasts. + 5. Spirula 3 All the warmer seas. + + + ORDER II.--_Tetrabranchiata_. + + 6. Nautilus 3 or 4 Chinese Seas, Indian Ocean, + Persian Gulf. + + + +CLASS II.--GASTEROPODA. + + + ORDER I.--Prosobranchiata. + + Division _a_.--_Siphonostomata._ + + No. of + Family. Genus. Species. Distribution. + + 1. Strombus 60 W. Indies, Mediterranean, Red Sea, + Indian Ocean, Pacific--low water + to 10 fathoms. + Pteroceras 12 India, China. + 2. Murex 180 On all coasts. + Columbella 200 Sub-tropical regions, in shallow + water on stones. + Mitra 350 Tropical regions, from low water + to 80 fathoms. + Fusus 100 On all coasts. + 3. Buccinum 20 Northern seas, from low water to + 140 fathoms. + Eburna 9 Red Sea, India, Australia, China, + Cape of Good Hope. + Nassa 210 World-wide--low water to 50 fathoms. + Purpura 140 World-wide--low water to 25 fathoms. + Harpa 9 Tropical--deep water, sand, muddy + bottoms. + Oliva 117 Sub-tropical--low water to 25 fathoms. + 4. Cassis 34 Tropical regions, in shallow water. + Dolium 15 Mediterranean, India, China, W. + Indies, Brazil, New Guinea, Pacific. + Triton 100 Temperate and sub-tropical regions, + from low water to 50 fathoms. + Ranella 50 Tropical regions, on rocks and + coral-reefs. + Pyrula 40 Sub-tropical regions, in 17 to 35 + fathoms. + 5. Conus 300 Equatorial seas--shallow water to 50 + fathoms. + Pleurotoma 500 Almost world-wide--low water to 100 + fathoms. + 6. Voluta 100 On tropical coasts, from the shore to + 100 fathoms. + Cymba 10 West Coast of Africa, Lisbon, Straits + of Gibraltar. + Marginella 90 Mostly tropical. + 7. Cypraea 150 Warmer seas of the globe, on rocks + and coral-reefs. + Ovulum 36 Britain, Mediterranean, W. Indies, + China, W. America. + + Division _b_.--_Holostomata._ + + 8. Natica 90 Arctic to tropical regions, on sandy + and gravelly bottoms, from low water + to 90 feet. + Sigaretus 26 E. and W. Indies, China, Peru. + 9. Cancellaria 70 W. Indies, China, S. America, E. + Archipelago--low water to 40 fathoms. + 10. Pyramidella 11 W. Indies, Mauritius, Australia, in + sandy bays and on shallow mud-banks. + Odostomia 35 Britain, Mediterranean, and + Madeira--low water to 50 fathoms. + Chemnitzia 70 World-wide--low water to 100 fathoms. + Eulima 26 Cuba, Norway, Britain, India, + Mediterranean, Australia--5 + to 90 fathoms. + 11. Solarium 25 Sub-tropical and tropical--widely + distributed. + 12. Scalaria 100 World-wide--low water to 100 fathoms. + 13. Cerithium 100 World-wide. + Potamides 41 Africa and India, in mud of large + rivers. + Aporrhais 3 Labrador, Norway, Britain, + Mediterranean--20 to 100 fathoms. + 14. Turritella 50 World-wide--low water to 100 fathoms. + Vermetus 31 Portugal, Mediterranean, Africa, + India. + 15. Melania 160 S. Europe, India, Philippines and + Pacific Islands--in rivers. + Melanopsis 20 Spain, Australia, Asia Minor, New + Zealand--in rivers. + 16. Paludina 60 Northern Hemispheres, Africa, India, + China, etc.--in lakes and rivers. + Ampullaria 50 S. America, W. Indies, Africa, + India--in lakes and rivers. + 17. Litorina 40 On all shores. + Rissoa 70 World-wide--in shallow water on + sea-weed to 100 fathoms. + 18. Calyptrea 50 World-wide--adherent to rocks, etc. + Crepidula 40 West Indies, Mediterranean, Cape of + Good Hope, Australia. + Pileopsis 7 Britain, Norway, Mediterranean, E. + and W. Indies, Australia. + Hipponyx 70 W. Indies, Galapagos, Philippines, + Australia. + Phorus 9 W. Indies, India, Javan and Chinese + Seas--in deep water. + 19. Turbo 60 On the shores of Tropical seas. + Phasinella 30 Australia, Pacific, W. Indies, + Mediterranean. + Imperator 20 S. Africa, India, etc. + Trochus 150 World-wide--from low water to 100 + fathoms. + Rotella 18 India, Philippines, China, New + Zealand. + Stomatella 20 Cape, India, Australia, etc. + 20. Haliotis 75 Britain, Canaries, India, Australia, + California--on rocks at low water. + Stomatia 12 Java, Philippines, Pacific, etc.-- + under stones at low water. + 21. Ianthina 6 Gregarious in the open seas of the + Atlantic and Pacific. + 22. Fissurella 120 World-wide--on rocks from low water + to 5 fathoms. + Emarginula 26 Britain, Norway, Philippines, + Australia--from low water to + 90 fathoms. + 23. Nerita 116 On the shores of all warm seas. + Neritina 110 In fresh waters of all warm countries, + and in Britain. + Navicella 24 India, Mauritius, Moluccas, Australia, + Pacific--in fresh water, attached + to stones. + 24. Patella 100 On all coasts--adhering to stones and + rocks. + 25. Dentalium 30 World-wide--buried in mud. + 26. Chiton 200 World-wide--low water to 100 fathoms. + + + ORDER II.--Pulmonifera. + + Division _a_.--_Inoperculata._ + + No. of + Family. Genus. Species. Distribution. + + 27. Helix 1,600 } + Succinea 68 } World-wide--on land in moist places. + Bulimus 650 } + Achatina 120 World-wide--burrowing at roots and + bulbs. + Pupa 236 World-wide--amongst wet moss. + Clausilia 400 Europe and Asia--in moist spots. + 28. Limax 22 Europe and Canaries--on land in damp + localities. + Testacella 3 S. Europe, Canaries, and Britain-- + burrowing in gardens. + 29. Oncidium 16 Britain, Red Sea, Mediterranean--on + rocks on the seashore. + 30. Limnaea 50 Europe, Madeira, India, China, N. + America--in ponds, rivers, lakes, etc. + Physa 20 America, Europe, S. Africa, India, + Philippines--in ponds, rivers, + lakes, etc. + Ancylus 14 Europe, N. and S. America--in ponds, + rivers, lakes, etc. + Planorbis 145 Europe, N. America, India, China--in + ponds, rivers, lakes, etc. + 31. Auricula 50 Tropical--in salt marshes. + Siphonaria 30 World-wide--between high and low water. + + Division _b_.--_Operculata._ + + 32. Cyclostoma 80 S. Europe, Africa } + Cyclophorus 100 India, Philippines }--on land. + Pupina 80 Philippines, New Guinea } + 33. Helicina 150 W. Indies, Philippines, Central + America, Islands in Pacific--on land. + 34. Acicula 5 Britain, Europe, Vanicoro--on leaves + and at roots of grass. + Geomelania 21 Jamaica--on land. + + + ORDER III.--Opisthobranchiata. + + Division _a_.--_Tectibranchiata._ + + No. of + Family. Genus. Species. Distribution. + + 35. Tornatella 16 Red Sea, Philippines, Japan--in deep + water. + 36. Bulla 50 Widely distributed--low water to 30 + fathoms. + 37. Aplysia 40 Britain, Norway, W. Indies--low water + to 15 fathoms on sea-weed. + 38. Pleurobranchus 20 Britain, Norway, Mediterranean. + + Division _b_.--_Nudibranchiata._ + + 39-44. All shell-less. + + + ORDER IV.--Nucleobranchiata. + + No. of + Family. Genus. Species. Distribution. + + 45. Firola 8 Atlantic, Mediterranean. + Carinaria 5 Atlantic and Indian Oceans. + 46. Atlanta 15 Warmer parts of the Atlantic. + + + +CLASS III.--PTEROPODA. + + + Division _a_.--_Thecosomata._ + + No. of + Family. Genus. Species. Distribution. + + 1. Hyalea 19 } + Cleodora 12 } Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean. + 2. Limacina 2 Arctic and Antarctic Seas. + + + Division _b_.--_Gymnosomata._ + + 3. Clio, etc. Shell-less. + + + +CLASS IV.--LAMELLIBRANCHIATA. + + + No. of + Family. Genus. Species. Distribution. + + Division _a_.--_Asiphonida._ + + 1. Ostrea 100 World-wide--in estuaries, attached. + 2. Anomia 20 India, Australia, China, Ceylon-- + attached to shells from low water + to 100 fathoms. + Placuna 4 Scinde, North Australia, China--in + brackish water. + 3. Pecten 176 World-wide--from 3 to 40 fathoms. + Lima 20 Norway, Britain, India, Australia-- + from 1 to 150 fathoms. + Spondylus 70 Tropical seas--attached to coral-reefs. + 4. Avicula 25 Britain, Mediterranean, India-- + 25 fathoms. + Perna 18 In tropical seas--attached. + Pinna 30 United States, Britain, Mediterranean, + Australia, Pacific--low water to + 60 fathoms. + 5. Mytilus 70 World-wide--between high and low water + mark. + Modiola 70 British and tropical seas--low water + to 100 fathoms. + 6. Arca 400 In warm seas--from low water to 200 + fathoms. + Pectunculus 58 West Indies, Britain, New Zealand-- + from 8 to 60 fathoms. + Nucula 70 Norway, Japan--from 5 to 100 fathoms. + 7. Trigonia 3 Off the coast of Australia. + 8. Unio 420 World-wide--in fresh waters. + Anodon 100 North America, Europe, Siberia--in + fresh waters. + + Division _b_.--_Siphonida._ + + 9. Chama 50 In tropical seas on coral reefs. + 10. Tridacna 7 Indian and Pacific Oceans, Chinese Seas. + 11. Cardium 200 World-wide--from the shore line to + 140 fathoms. + 12. Lucina 70 Tropical and temperate seas--sandy and + muddy bottoms--from low water to + 200 fathoms. + Kellia 20 Norway, New Zealand, California--low + water to 200 fathoms. + 13. Cyclas 60 Temperate regions--in all fresh waters. + Cyrena 130 From the Nile and other rivers to + China--and in mangrove swamps. + 14. Astarte 20 Mostly Arctic--from 30 to 112 fathoms. + Crassatella 34 Australia, Philippines, Africa, etc. + 15. Cyprina 1 From Britain to the most northerly + point yet reached--from 5 to + 80 fathoms. + Circe 40 Britain, Australia, India, Red Sea-- + 8 to 50 fathoms. + Isocardia 5 Mediterranean, China, Japan--burrowing + in sand. + Cardita 54 Tropical seas--from shallow water to + 150 fathoms. + 16. Venus 176 } World-wide--buried in sand, from low + Cytherea 113 } water to 100 fathoms. + Artemis 100 Northern to tropical seas--from low + water to 100 fathoms. + Tapes 80 Widely distributed--burrowing in sand, + from low water to 100 fathoms. + Venerupis 20 Britain, Canaries, India, Peru--in + crevices of rocks. + 17. Mactra 125 World-wide--burrowing in sand. + Lutraria 18 Widely distributed--burrowing in sand. + 18. Tellina 300 In all seas--from the shore line to + 15 fathoms. + Psammobia 50 Britain, Pacific and Indian Oceans-- + from the littoral zone to 100 fathoms. + Sanguinolaria 20 W. Indies, Australia, Peru. + Semele 60 Brazil, India, China, etc. + Donax 68 Norway, Baltic, Britain--in sand near + low water mark. + 19. Solen 33 World-wide--burrowing in sand. + Solecurtus 25 Britain, Africa, Madeira, + Mediterranean--burrowing in sand. + 20. Mya 10 North Seas, W. Africa, Philippines, + etc.--river mouths from low water to + 25 fathoms. + Corbula 60 United States, Britain, Norway, + Mediterranean, W. Africa, China-- + from 15 to 80 fathoms. + 21. Anatina 50 India, W. Africa, Philippines, + New Zealand. + Thracia 17 Greenland to Canaries and China--from + 4 to 120 fathoms. + Pandora 18 Spitzbergen, Panama, India--from 4 to + 110 fathoms, burrowing in sand and mud. + 22. Gastrochaena 10 W. Indies, Britain, Red Sea, Pacific + Islands--from shore line to 30 fathoms. + Saxicava Arctic Seas, Britain, Mediterranean, + Canaries and the Cape--in crevices + and boring into limestone and rocks. + Aspergillum 21 Red Sea, Java, New Zealand--in sand. + 23. Pholas 32 Almost universal--from low water to + 25 fathoms. + Xylophaga 2 Norway, Britain, S. America--boring + into floating wood. + Teredo 14 In tropical seas--from low water to + 100 fathoms. + + + + +SOME WORKS OF REFERENCE. + + +MOLLUSCA IN GENERAL. + +"A Manual of Mollusca." By Dr. S. P. Woodward. + +"Tabular View of the Orders and Families of the Mollusca." Published by +the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. + +"Cassell's Natural History," latest edition, article on the Mollusca. By +Dr. Henry Woodward. + + +BRITISH MOLLUSCA. + +"A History of British Mollusca and their Shells." By Professor E. Forbes +and S. Hanley. + +"British Conchology." By J. G. Jeffreys. + +"Common Shells of the Sea-shore." By Rev. J. G. Wood. + + +BRITISH LAND AND FRESH-WATER MOLLUSCA. + +"Land and Fresh-water Mollusca indigenous to the British Isles." By +Lovell Reeve. + +"A Plain and Easy Account of the Land and Fresh-water Mollusca of Great +Britain." By Ralph Tate. + + + + +[Illustration] + + +FOSSILS. + +BY + +B. B. WOODWARD. + + + + +FOSSILS. + + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +Geology is of all "hobbies" the one best calculated not only to develop +the physical powers, but also, if pursued with any degree of +earnestness, to train and extend the mental faculties. To study geology +properly, the rocks themselves must be visited and carefully observed, +their appearance noted, and the fossils, if any, which they contain, +collected. This necessitates many a pleasant walk into the open country +to quarries and cuttings, or rambles along the sea-shore to cliffs which +may be worth investigating, whilst botany, entomology, or any other +congenial pursuit, may be followed on the way; for natural science in +its different branches has so many points of connection that it is +impossible to study one of them without increasing one's interest in, +and knowledge of, all the others. Again, in arranging, classifying, and +studying at home the specimens collected on these expeditions, many an +hour may be usefully spent; habits of exactitude and neatness are +acquired; whilst in endeavouring to draw correct conclusions as to the +way in which particular rocks were formed, and by what agencies brought +to their present position, the reasoning faculties are exercised and +developed. + +The existence of fossil shells and bones in various strata of the +earth's crust attracted attention at a very early date of the world's +history; the Egyptian priests were aware of the existence of marine +shells in the hills bounding the Nile valley, and from this fact +Herodotus drew the conclusion that the sea formerly covered the spot. +The bones of the larger mammalia (rhinoceros, elephant, etc.), were, +however, thought by the ancients to be human, and hence arose the idea +of a race of giants having existed at some previous period of the +earth's history. It was not, however, until near the end of the last +century that geology began to be recognised as a science, and the true +bearing of fossils in relation to the rocks in which they were found was +conclusively proved. William Smith in England, and Werner in Germany, +while working independently of each other, both came to the same +conclusion, viz. that the numerous strata invariably rested on each +other in a certain order, and that this order was never inverted,[1] +whilst William Smith in addition proved that each group of rocks, and +even each stratum, had its own peculiar set of fossils, by which it +might be recognised wherever it occurred. From that time forth the study +of the various fossils began to be considered as a separate science +apart from that of the beds containing them; this is now known as +Palaeontology, the study of the composition of the rocks themselves being +termed Petrology. + + [1] Except in such cases where the rocks themselves have been + displaced by movements of the earth's crust. + +At this moment, however, we are less concerned with the study of rocks +and fossils than with the best and simplest way of collecting, +preparing, and arranging specimens as a means to this study. + + + + +THE CABINET. + + +With regard to the cabinet for such specimens as you are able to +collect, the same advice holds good as that given in a previous Manual +(The Young Collector's Shell Book), namely, the simpler the cabinet the +better, though of course card-board boxes would not as a rule be strong +enough to stand the weight of the specimens, and hence it is advisable +to have wooden ones. The boxes in which Oakey's Wellington Knife-powder +is sent out (they measure about 15 in. x 10 in. x 3 in.) are on the +whole the most convenient size, and are easily obtainable at any oil and +colourman's. These, when painted over with Berlin Black, after first +removing the external labels, look very neat. The inside may be papered +according to taste, when the trays may be arranged in order ready for +the reception of your specimens.[2] + + [2] For description of trays, see "The Young Collector's Shell-Book." + + + + +IMPLEMENTS REQUIRED WHEN COLLECTING. + + +A certain amount of apparatus is needful in collecting geological +specimens. It is necessary to break open the hard rocks in order to get +at the fossils within, and for this purpose a strong hammer is required. +One end of the hammer-head should be square, tapering, slightly, to a +flat striking face; for when thus shaped the edges and corners are less +likely to break off; the other side should be produced into a rather +long, flat, and slightly curved pick, terminating in a chisel-edge at +right-angles to the handle; the total length of the head should not +exceed 91/2 in., the striking face being 3 in. from the centre of the eye +in which the handle (18 in. long) is inserted; the latter should be made +of the toughest ash, American hickory, or "green-heart," and fixed in +with an iron wedge ("roughed" to prevent its coming out again), taking +care that 1/4 in. of the handle protrudes on the other side. It is the +usual practice, but a mistaken one, to cut it off level with the hammer +head, which is likely, under these circumstances, to come off after it +has been in use for a time, whereas, by leaving a small portion of the +wedged-out end projecting, this mischance is avoided, and your weapon +will not fail even when used to drag its owner up a stiff ascent. It is +better to shape and fix the handle yourself, as by this means you can +not only cut it to fit your hand, but may rely upon its being properly +fastened in. By filing grooves around it an inch apart, it will serve to +take rough measurements with, while a firm grasp may be insured by +bees-waxing instead of polishing it. Another and much smaller hammer +will also be necessary, chiefly for home use, to trim the specimens +before putting them away in the cabinet; the head of this hammer must +not be more than 21/2 inches long, the handle springing from the centre; +one end has a flat striking face, square in section, the other, instead +of being formed like a pick, is wedge-shaped, the sharp edge being at +right-angles to the handle. Next to a hammer, a cold chisel is +indispensable to the collector, since without its aid many a choice +specimen embedded in the middle of a mass of rock too large to break +with the hammer would have to be left behind. There is one thing, +however, to beware of in using this tool--it has sometimes to be hit +with great force, and should you chance to miss it and strike your hand +instead, the result may be more serious than even a severe bruise. To +prevent this, procure from the shoemaker or saddler a piece of thick +leather, about 4 inches in diameter, having a hole cut in the centre +through which to pass the shank of the chisel, and, thus protected, you +may wield the hammer with impunity. + +For digging fossils out of clay, an old, stout knife, such as the +worn-down stump of a carver, is handy, and in sandy beds an ordinary +garden trowel is very useful, whilst in a chalk-pit a small saw is +sometimes of great aid in extricating a desirable specimen. The same may +be said of an ordinary carpenter's wood-chisel. For picking up small and +delicate specimens, a pair of forceps should be carried, whilst without +a pocket lens no true naturalist ever stirs abroad. An ordinary stout +canvas satchel, such as is commonly used by schoolboys, is the best +thing for carrying home your specimens; this may be made much stronger +by the addition of two short strips of leather stitched on the back and +running, one from each ring, to which the strap passing over the +shoulder is fastened, down to the bottom of the bag; by leaving a small +portion unstitched near the bottom of each of these, wide enough for the +shoulder-strap to pass through, the satchel may at a moment's notice be +slung knapsackwise on the shoulders--a method of carrying it which is, +as all who have tried it know, by far the most convenient when it is +heavily laden or not in immediate requisition. A stout leather belt may +be worn in which to carry all your hammers, supporting it on the side +where the heavy hammer hangs by a band passing over the opposite +shoulder. Before starting on an excursion, make a practice of seeing +that you have everything with you, or when the critical moment comes, +and some choice and fragile specimen is ready to be borne off, you may +find that you are without the means necessary for taking it home. For +ordinary hard specimens, newspaper well crumpled around them is without +its equal, but some of the more delicate must be first wrapped in tissue +paper or even cotton-wool, whilst the most fragile fossils should be +packed in tins with bran or sawdust, the particles of which fill in all +the corners and press equally everywhere, a useful faculty which cotton +wool does not possess. When neither of these are to be obtained, dry +sand will answer quite as well, though it is heavier to carry. + +Although not absolutely necessary in the field, it is often useful to +have a small bottle of acid in your pocket (nitric acid diluted to +1-12th with distilled water is the best) with which to test for +limestones; a drop of acid placed on a rock will, if there be any +carbonate of lime in it, immediately begin to fizz. Finally, every young +collector should carry a note-book, and carefully record in it what he +sees in each pit he visits, while, if it can be procured or borrowed, a +geological map of the district you are exploring is a great help, for +with its aid and that of a good compass you become practically +independent of much extraneous assistance. + + + + +HOW TO USE YOUR IMPLEMENTS. + + +We will suppose by way of illustration that near us flows a river, on +the rising ground above which is a pit that we propose to visit for the +purpose of putting our apparatus into practical operation. When we have +reached the floor of the pit, and stand looking up at the section before +us, we are at first rather puzzled as to what the beds, which we see +before us, are; for as the pit has not been worked for some time, its +sides are partially overgrown with grass, and in places bits and pieces +of the upper beds have fallen down and form a heap beneath which the +lower ones lie buried. We must therefore make our way to those spots +where the beds are left clear, and find out, if possible, what they are. +By climbing up one of the heaps of fallen earth (_talus_) we reach the +top, where, first of all, under the roots of the grass and shrubs, we +find the mould in which these grow, and which is formed of the broken up +(_disintegrated_) rocks forming the still higher ground above, and which +the rains, frosts and snows, aided afterwards by the earthworms, have +converted into mould. This, geologically speaking, is called _surface +soil_, and is here about two feet deep. Just below it we find a layer of +coarse gravel; the pebbles of which this is composed are of all sorts, +sizes, and shapes, and are stained a deep brown by oxide of iron. Most +of them are flints, and by diligent search you may find casts and +impressions in these of sponges, shells, spines of sea urchins, etc. +Flints, whether from gravel or their parent rock the chalk, are easiest +broken by a light smart tap of the hammer, though when it is desired to +shape them for the cabinet a soft iron hammer should be used, and the +piece to be shaped placed on a soft pad on the knee, for when struck +with a steel hammer flints splinter in all directions, and often through +the very portion you most desire to preserve. In one spot we find a mass +of sand included in the gravel; this mass is thickest in the middle, and +tapers away towards each end, its total length being about fifty feet. +Could we see the whole mass, we should probably find it to be a patch +lying on the gravel and thinning out all around its edges; in other +words it would be shaped like a lens--"_lenticular_" as geologists term +it. When we examine this mass more closely, we find that the layers of +sand do not run parallel with the bed, but are inclined in different +directions, sometimes lying one way, sometimes another. This _false +bedding_ is due to the sand having been thrown down in waters agitated +by strong currents that swept over the spot, now in one direction and +now in another, scattering at one moment half the sand they had just +piled up one way only to redeposit it the next minute in another. In the +gravel also may be observed a similar though less marked arrangement, +owing to the larger size of its constituents, which of course required a +still stronger current action to wash them down. + +Amongst the sand we now see some shells, and set to work to dig them out +very carefully, for they are exceedingly brittle. The best specimens are +to be obtained by throwing down masses of the sandy material and +searching in it; but only the stronger and finer examples will bear such +usage. We next notice that these shells are precisely similar to those +still found with living occupants in the river below, only they are no +longer of a brownish colour, but owing to the loss of the animal matter +of the shell have an earthy, dirty-white appearance. To carry these home +they should be packed in bran in one of your tins with a note as follows +made on a piece of paper and placed just inside--"Sand in gravel: +topmost bed ---- pit, August 2nd, 188-." Then if you are not able to +work them out at once on reaching home, you will not forget whence they +came. From the appearance of these sands and gravels, and the presence +in them of shells exactly like those in the river below, it may +reasonably be inferred that they once formed a portion of the bed of +that river long ago, before it had scooped out its valley to the present +depth. There is, however, something else in this sand-bed--a piece of +bone protruding; clear away the sand above it, and dig back until the +whole is visible. It is broken through in one or two places, but +otherwise is in fair condition; remove the pieces carefully one by one, +and wrap them in separate pieces of paper, and then proceed to search +for others. These bones, which are plentiful in some of our river valley +gravel-beds, are the remains of animals that once roamed in the forests +which at that time covered the country; they were probably either +drowned in crossing the water, or got stuck in the mud on the banks on +coming down to drink. A fine collection was made at Ilford by the late +Sir Antonio Brady, and is now in the British Museum (Natural History) at +South Kensington. Besides the bones of animals, you may expect to find +examples of all, or nearly all, the different rocks in which the river +has cut its valley, and samples of these may be picked out and taken +home. Each specimen should be wrapped in a separate piece of paper to +prevent its rubbing against others, care being taken to note the +locality either by writing it on the paper or by affixing to the +specimen a number corresponding to one in your note book against the +description you have written of the bed. The gravel, with its +accompanying bed of sand, may be traced down, by scraping away the +surface, for about ten feet, when you will discover that it rests +unevenly upon the beds below, which, instead of being horizontal, slope +(_dip_) in a N.N.E. direction, making an angle of about 45 deg. with the +floor of the pit; the gravel therefore rests successively upon the +upturned ends of the lower beds, and, geologically speaking, is +"unconformable" to them. Now as these underlying rocks were of course +originally deposited in an horizontal position, they must have been +pushed up and the upper parts worn away (_denuded_) before the gravel +was deposited on them, for the accomplishment of which process an amount +of time must have elapsed that it would be impossible to reckon by +years. + +When we come to examine these lower beds, we find first a stratum of +stiff dark-brown clay containing fossils disposed in layers: those near +the outer surface have been rendered so brittle by the weather, that it +is necessary to make use of the pick end of the hammer and dig a little +way into the face of the section before we come upon some which will +bear removal by cutting them out with a knife. Pack them in a tin with +bran, or, where much clay still adheres to them, wrap them in paper. + +The true top of this bed is not visible, being concealed beneath a heap +of earth in the corner of the pit, but we can see and measure about six +feet of it. + +The next bed in order is a light brownish band of sandy clay that +splits along its layers into thin pieces or "_laminae_," whence we may +describe it as a sandy, _laminated_ clay. On the freshly split surface +of one piece we see scattered a number of small darker brown +fragments; an examination with a pocket lens clearly shows that these +are little bits of leaves and stems, with here and there a more +perfect specimen. These beds must have been deposited in the still +waters just off the main stream of a large river which brought the +plants floating down to this spot, where they became water-logged and +sunk; so, too, if you examine the shells in the bed immediately above, +you will see that they are very like though not the same as those +which at the present day love to dwell in the mud off the estuaries of +big rivers in warmer parts of the globe; hence we discover that at +some far distant period a big river, but one which had no connection +with that running close by, once flowed over this very spot. On +tracing the leaf-bed down, we come all at once, at about three feet +from its upper surface, upon a narrow band one or two inches thick of +a substance composed of numerous bits of sticks and stalks closely +matted together and partially mineralized. Vegetable matter in this +form is known as lignite, and is one of the first stages towards the +formation of coal out of plant remains. Below this lignite band we +find our leaf-bed getting sandier and sandier, and losing all trace of +the plants by degrees till it becomes almost pure sand. Here and +there, however, it contains some curiously shaped masses, which, when +broken through with the hammer, seem composed of nothing but the same +grains of sand cemented together into a hard mass. In one there is, +however, a curiously shaped hollow, which, upon examining it closely, +you will see is a perfect cast of a small shell that has itself +disappeared. A drop of acid on it fizzes away and sinks in between the +grains of sand which in this spot become loose. A mass of sand or +particles of clay thus cemented together, be it by iron, lime, or any +other substance, is termed a "_nodule_" or "_concretion_," and in this +particular instance has been formed as follows:--The rain-water +falling on the sand where it comes to the surface sinks in and filters +through the bed. Now there is always a certain amount of carbonic acid +in rain-water, and this acid acted on the carbonate of lime of which +the shell was composed, dissolving and dispersing it amongst the +neighbouring grains of sand where it was re-deposited, cementing them +together as we have seen. The bottom of this bed of sand we find to be +just fifteen feet from the lignite band when measured at right-angles +to the bed, and it is succeeded by a hard greyish rock, which requires +a smart blow of the hammer to break it, but the surface of which, +where it has been exposed to the weather, is much crumbled +("_weathered_"), and breaks readily into small pieces. It is easily +scratched with the point of a knife, and therefore is not flint; +moreover, it fizzes strongly when touched with acid--hence there is a +great deal of carbonate of lime in it, and we know that it is +limestone. + +Limestones are very largely, sometimes almost entirely, made up of the +calcareous portions of marine creatures, such as the hard parts of +corals, the tests of sea-urchins, the shells of mollusca, etc., +welded, so to speak, into one mass by the heat, pressure, and chemical +changes which the bed has undergone since its deposition at the bottom +of the sea. There would be every reason, therefore, one might suppose, +to expect a number of fossils in this bed; but, alas! disappointment +awaits the young explorer, for with the exception of chalk and a few +other limestones, these rocks are generally of such uniform texture +that on being struck with the hammer they split through fossils and +all, the fractured surface only too frequently showing nought save a +few obscure markings. But what we fail to accomplish in our +impatience, nature effects by slow degrees, and if you will turn over +the weathered pieces and blocks lying about, you will soon find plenty +of fossils sticking out all over them; by a judicious use of hammer +and chisel any of these may be detached and added to your stock, each +being separately packed in paper and the locality written on the +outside. Some seventy or eighty feet is all that is visible of this +limestone; the rest is unexcavated. + +Before leaving the pit, it will be as well to select such rock +specimens as you wish to place in your cabinet, trimming them to the +required size on the spot, for should you, as is not unlikely, spoil +two or three, you can readily pick a fresh one. Having secured our +specimens, we will take a look at our note-book, to see if we have +noted all the details we require. If so, our entries should run +something as follows:--First, we have made a rough sketch of the +position of the beds, carefully numbering each one; then follow our +notes on the individual beds, preceded by numbers corresponding with +those in the sketch, thus:-- + + 1. Surface Soil 2 ft. + 2. River Gravel, including a lenticular mass of } + 3. Sand, with land and fresh-water shells and bones of } 10 ft. + animals } + 4. Stiff dark-brown clay, with estuarine shells 6 ft. seen. + 5. Light-brown sandy clay, with leaves and stems of plants 3 ft. + 6. Band of Lignite 2 in. + 7. Same as 5, passing into-- } + 8. Pure Sand, with layers of concretions containing casts } + of shells } 15 ft. + 9. Dark-Grey Limestone, with numerous fossils 80 ft. seen. + + Beds 4 to 9 dip at an angle of 45 deg. to the N.N.E. + +Our imaginary pit is of course only a sort of geological Juan Fernandez, +but it will serve in some degree to illustrate the method of dealing +with various rocks and fossils when met with in the field, and how they +may best be collected and carried home. A few additional suggestions +where to look for fossils may, however, be given here. To begin with, I +never neglect to search the fallen masses, especially their weathered +surfaces, or to look carefully over the heaps of quarried materials, +whatever they may happen to be, piled on the floor of the pit. In +working at the beds themselves, remember that fossils frequently occur +in layers which of course represent the old sea-bottom of the period; to +find these, it is necessary to follow the beds in a direction at right +angles to their stratification, till you arrive at the sought-for +layers, or _zones_. + +Do not be surprised, when collecting from a formation you have never +before studied, if the fossils are not at first apparent, though many +are known to be present. The eye requires a few days in which to become +accustomed to its fresh surroundings, and when the same spot has been +carefully hunted over every day for a week, it is astonishing what a +quantity of fossils are discernible where not one in the first instance +was recognised. + + + + +HOW TO PREPARE THE SPECIMENS FOR THE CABINET. + + +The first thing to be done on unpacking our specimens is to pick out +those which require the least attention, and get them out of the way. +These will be your rock specimens, which, if they have been trimmed +properly in the pit, will not need much further manipulation; a word or +two, however, as to the best method of proceeding when it is desirable +to reduce a specimen, will not be out of place. If you wish to divide it +in two, or detach any considerable portion, the specimen may, while held +in the hand, be struck a smart blow with the hammer; as, however, it not +frequently happens that even with the greatest care the specimen under +this treatment breaks in an opposite direction to that required, it is +advisable to adopt a somewhat surer method, namely, to procure a block +of tough wood, and in the centre bore a hole just large enough to +receive the shank of the cold chisel, and thus hold it in an upright +position with the cutting edge uppermost; placing the specimen on this, +and then hitting it immediately above with the hammer, it may be +fractured through in any required direction. To trim off a small +projection, hold the specimen in your hand with the corner towards you +and directed slightly downwards, then with the edge of the striking face +of the hammer hit it a smart blow at the line along which you wish it to +break off; the object of inclining the specimen is to make sure that the +blow shall fall in a direction inclined away from the portion you wish +to preserve, a _modus operandi_ which it is necessary to bear well in +mind if you would not spoil many a choice specimen. Anything beyond very +general directions, however, it is impossible to give in such matters as +this: experience, and a few hints from those who have themselves had +practice in collecting and arranging specimens, are worth more than any +written description, however lengthy and elaborate. + +Having reduced your specimen to the required size and shape, the next +thing to be done is to write a neat little label for it--the smaller the +better--stating, first the nature of the specimen, secondly the +geological formation to which it belongs, thirdly the locality from +which it was procured, and fourthly the date when acquired, thus-- + + Limestone. + Lower Carboniferous. + Quarry, 1 mile N.W. of ---- + 21. 8. 8-. + +ruling a neat line at the top and bottom (red ink lines give a more +finished appearance than black). When the label is dry, damp it to +render it more pliant, and gum it on to the flattest available surface +of the specimen, pressing it well into any small inequalities that it +may hold the firmer. A small quantity of pure glycerine (about an eighth +part) should be added to the gum before use, in order to prevent its +drying hard and brittle. The specimen is now ready to place in its tray +and be put away in the cabinet. + +In the next place, pick out the fossils which you obtained from the +limestone. With the cold chisel set in its block of wood, and the +trimming hammer, remove as much of the surrounding rock (_matrix_) as +you can without damaging the fossil, and with a smaller chisel any +pieces that may be sticking to and obscuring it. Fossils in soft +limestone, such as chalk, are best cleaned with an old penknife, and +needles fixed into wooden handles, and finished off by the application +of water with a nail-brush. Should you have the misfortune to break any +specimen in the process of trimming, it should at once be mended. The +most effectual cement for this purpose is made by simply dissolving +isinglass in acetic acid, or, where the specimen contains much iron +pyrites, and there would be a danger in starting decomposition, shellac +dissolved in spirits of wine. When, however, neither of these are handy, +chalk scraped with a penknife into a powder, and mixed with gum to the +consistency of a thick paste, answers admirably. Failing this, however, +gum alone will frequently suffice. + +The next thing is to place the like kinds together in their several +trays, writing a label, as before, for each tray, but leaving a blank +space at the top for the insertion of the name when ascertained. The +commoner sorts may be named from the figures of them given in the +text-books (see list at the back of the title page); but failing this, +it will be the best plan to seek the help of any friends who have +collections, or to take the fossils to some museum, and compare them +with the named specimens there exhibited. The label may be laid at the +bottom of the tray with the fossils loose on the top of it, each fossil +being marked with a number corresponding to one on the label. Another +plan is to fasten the label by one of its edges to the side of the tray; +or, if the fossils are small and mounted on a piece of card fitting into +the tray, it may be gummed with them to the card. + +Now let us take the shells we obtained from the dark-blue clay, with +those and the bones from the old river bed up above. Gently turn them +out of the tins, in which they were packed in the quarry, on to a paper +or the lid of a card-board box, and with a pair of forceps pick them +carefully out of the bran, and place them in large shallow trays, taking +care not to mix those from the different beds. As we found when +collecting them, these shells are extremely brittle from loss of animal +matter, and our first object is therefore to harden them by some +process, so that they will bear handling. To accomplish this you must +get a saucepan, one of those wire contrivances for holding eggs when +boiling, or a big wire spoon, such as formerly was used for cooking +purposes, a packet of gelatine, and some flat pieces of tin, which last +are easily procured by hammering out an old mustard or other tin, having +previously melted in a gas flame the solder wherewith it is joined. Half +fill the saucepan with clean water, and put in as much gelatine as when +cold will make a stiff jelly; melt this over the fire, placing the +fossils meanwhile in a warm (not hot) corner of the fire-place; then +when the gelatine is quite dissolved, pile as many of them, whole or in +pieces, into the egg-boiler, or spoon, as it will contain, hold them for +a second in the steam, and then lower them gradually into the hot +gelatine until it completely covers them. Little bubbles of air will +rise and float on the surface. As soon as these cease to appear, raise +the fossils above the surface and allow them to drip; then pick them up +one by one with the forceps, and spread them out on pieces of tin before +the fire, but not too close to it. As soon as their exterior surfaces +become dry, and before the gelatine gets hard, they should be taken up +(they may be handled fearlessly now), and the superfluous gelatine +sticking to the surface gently removed with a camel's-hair brush dipped +in clean warm water; otherwise, when dry, they present an unnatural +varnished appearance, and have a tendency, on small provocation, to +become unpleasantly sticky. + +Small bones may be treated in like manner, but for large ones, weak glue +is to be preferred to gelatine, which is only suitable for the finer and +more delicate objects. Where it is desired to harden only a few things, +it is better to mix the gelatine in a gallipot, which can be heated when +required by standing it in a saucepan of water on the fire. In any case +the gelatine need never be wasted, as it will keep almost any length of +time, and can therefore be put by for future use. In default of the +egg-boiler or wire-net spoon, an equally useful plan is to make a +strainer from a piece of perforated zinc by turning up the edges all +around, and attaching copper wire to it by which to lower the fossils +into the gelatine, and raise them again. + +When the fossils are quite dry they can be sorted, and those which have +come to pieces may be mended with diamond cement (_i.e._ isinglass +dissolved in acetic acid), and then properly labelled and placed in +trays, or mounted as previously described. + +To the plant remains and Lignite there is little that can be done beyond +trimming them to suit the trays. Should there be much iron pyrites in +the Lignite, it is sure, sooner or later, to decompose, when all that +can be done is to throw it away. In the case, however, of valuable +fruits and seeds, such as those from the London Clay of Sheppey, it is +worth while to preserve them, if possible, in almost the only way known, +viz. by keeping them in glycerine in wide-mouthed stoppered bottles, or +by saturating them with paraffin. + +Having prepared the specimens for the cabinet, the next thing is to +arrange them in proper order. There are several ways of doing this, but +for those who have not had much experience the following plan will be +found the best:--Group the specimens according to the formations to +which they belong, and arrange these groups in proper sequence (_vide_ +Table, p. 16); then take each group, and arrange the specimens it +comprises in columns. Beginning at the top of the left-hand corner, +place first the specimens of the rock itself, and under it any examples +of minerals, concretions, etc., found in that rock; next the fossil +plants, if any; and finally, such animal remains as you have arranged +according to their zoological sequence, beginning with the lower forms +(_vide_ Table, p. 32). Unless cramped for room, each formation should +begin a new box, its name being written on a slip of paper and placed at +the head of the columns of trays. A label setting forth its contents +should be fixed outside each of the boxes, which can then be put away on +your cupboard shelves. + + + + +TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL FOSSILIFEROUS STRATA ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL +ORDER. + + + _Land Plants._-----------+ + _Invertebrata._--------+ | + _Fishes._------------+ | | + _Amphibia._--------+ | | | + _Reptiles._------+ | | | | + _Birds._-------+ | | | | | + _Mammalia._--+ | | | | | | + _Man._-----+ | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | + {Alluvial Deposits, | | | | | | | | + _Quaternary, { River Valley | | | | | | | | + or { Gravels and | | | | | | | | + Pleistocene._ { Cave Deposits. | | | | | | | | + {Drift and Glacial | | | | | | | | + { Deposits. V | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | + _Cainozoic, {Pliocene. | | | | | | | + or {Miocene. | | | | | | | + Tertiary._ {Eocene. | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | + { {Chalk. | | | | | | | + M { _Cretaceous._ {Upper Greensand. | | | | | | | + E { {Gault. | | | | | | | + S { | | | | | | | + O { _Neocomian._ {Lower Greensand. | V | | | | | + Z { {Wealden. | : | | | | | + O { | : | | | | | + I { { {Purbeck. | : | | | | | + C, { {_Upper._{Portland. | : | | | | | + { { {Kimmeridge Clay. | : | | | | | + or { { | : | | | | | + { { _Mid._ {Coral Rag. | : | | | | | + S { { _Oo- { {Oxford Clay. | : | | | | | + E { {lites._{ | : | | | | | + C { { { {Cornbrash and | : | | | | | + O { { { { Forest Marble. | : | | | | | + N { _Jurassic._{ {_Lower._{Great Oolite. | : | | | | | + D { { { {Fullers' Earth. | : | | | | | + A { { { {Inferior Oolite. | : | | | | | + R { { | : | | | | | + Y { { Lias. | : | | | | | + | : | | | | | + { {Trias, or New | : | | | | | + P { _Poikilitic._ { Red Sandstone. V ? V | | | | + A { {Permian. | | | | + L { | | | | + AE { {Coal Measures. V | | | + O { {Millstone Grit | | | + Z { _Carboniferous._ { and Yoredale | | | + O { { Rocks. | | | + I { {Carboniferous | | | + C, { { Limestone, etc. | | | + { | | | + or { Devonian and Old | | | + { Red Sandstone. | | | + P { | | | + R { {Ludlow Beds. | | | + I { {Wenlock Beds. | | V + M { _Silurian._ {Woolhope Beds. | | + A { {Tarannon Shale. | | + R { {Llandovery or May | | + Y. { { Hill Group. V | + { | + { {Bala and | + { { Caradoc Beds. | + { {Llandeilo Flags. | + { {Arenig Group. | + { _Cambrian._ {Tremadoc Slates. | + { {Lingula Flags. | + { {Menevian Beds. | + { {Longmynd and | + { { Harlech Group. V + { : + { Pre-Cambrian and : + { Laurentian. ? + + + + +NOTES ON THE DIFFERENT FORMATIONS MENTIONED IN THE TABLE. + + +RECENT.--The alluvial deposits of most river valleys and some estuaries +still in course of formation, containing fossil shells and mammals, all +of living species. + + +QUATERNARY, POST-PLIOCENE, or PLEISTOCENE.--1. Including the raised +beaches around the coast, the older gravels of river valleys and the +cave deposits, in all of which the shells are identical with those +living in the rivers and seas of to-day, whilst the animals are many of +them extinct, only a few being now found living on the spot. + +2. The glacial drifts that cover all England north of the Thames, and +which consist of sands, gravels, and clays, full of big angular stones +frequently flattened on one side, scratched and sometimes polished from +having been fixed in moving ice and forced over other rocks. A very +interesting collection of these "boulders," as they are called, can be +easily made, for they belong to almost every formation in England, and +have some of them been brought from great distances, whilst the number +and variety obtainable from a single pit is astonishing. + + +CAINOZOIC, or TERTIARY.--Beds of this age, in England at all events, are +for the most part made up of comparatively soft rocks, gravels, sands, +and clays, and are found in the eastern and south-eastern counties. They +are divided into-- + + +1. Pliocene, mainly consisting of a series of iron-stained sands, with +abundant shell remains, and locally known as "crags." The shells are +very partial in their distribution, the beds in places being almost +entirely made up of them, whilst in others scarcely one is to be found. +The great majority are of the same species as many still living. The +Pliocene is subdivided into three groups:-- + +_a._ The _Norwich Crag Series_, sometimes called the "Mammaliferous +Crag," as at its base the bones of mastodon, elephant, hippopotamus, +rhinoceros, and some deer have been found. The shells in it are such as +still abound on the beaches of the eastern coast to-day--whelks, scallop +shells, cockles, periwinkles, etc. + +_b._ The _Red_ or _Suffolk Crag_, its two names indicating its +characteristic colour (a dark red-brown) and chief locality. From +the base are obtained the celebrated phosphatic nodules miscalled +"Coprolites," whence is manufactured an artificial manure, and with them +are found the rolled and phosphatized bones and teeth of whales, sharks, +etc. Amongst the shells the Reversed Whelks (_Fusus contrarius_), +_Fecten opercularis_, _Pectunculus glycimeris_, several kinds of +_Mactra_ and _Cardium_, etc., are the commonest. Walton-on-the-Naze, +Felixstowe, and Woodbridge are the best known localities. + +_c._ The _White_ or _Coralline Crag_ is generally of a pale buff colour, +and is in places almost entirely composed of the remains of Polyzoa. +These (formerly called Corallines, whence the name Coralline Crag) are +beautiful objects for a low-power microscope, or pocket lens, and are +easily mounted in deep cells on slides. The bits of shell and sand that +stick to them should be carefully removed with the point of a needle. A +very large number of shells occur in this crag: of bivalves, the +_Pecten_ is very abundant, and its valves are frequently thickly grown +over with Polyzoa; _Cyprina Islandica_, _Cardita Senilis_ are also +plentiful; and of univalves, the genus _Natica_ is common. The Coralline +Crag is best seen in the neighbourhood of Aldborough, Orford, +Woodbridge, and other places in Suffolk. + + +2. Miocene, possibly represented in the British Isles by a small patch +of clays and lignites at Bovey Tracey. + + +3. Eocene, divided into-- + +_a._ _Upper Eocene_, consisting of a series of very fossiliferous sands, +clays, and limestones, exposed in the cliffs at the eastern and western +ends of the Isle of Wight and on the neighbouring coast of Hampshire. +They are partly of freshwater origin, when they contain the remains of +freshwater shells such as _Limnoea Paludina_, _Planorbis_, etc.; +partly of marine origin, when shells belonging to such genera as +_Ostrea_, _Venus_, etc., take their place; partly of estuarine, when the +brackish water mollusca are found with bones and scutes of crocodiles +and tortoises. + +_b._ _Middle Eocene_, or the _Bagshot Beds_, composed of sands and +clays. The beautiful coloured sands of Alum Bay, the sands of the Surrey +and Hampstead Heaths, are familiar examples of the beds of this age. +Very few fossils indeed have been found in them. The clay-beds on the +contrary as seen at Barton and Hordwell on the Hampshire coast and again +in the Isle of Wight, abound with shells belonging to genera such as +_Conus_, _Voluta_ and _Venus_, that inhabit warm seas. With them are the +Nummulites, looking externally very like buttons, but on the inside +divided into innumerable chambers in which the complex animal that +formed the nummulite dwelt. + +_c._ _Lower Eocene_, the well-known London clay, may almost be said to +compose this division, for the underlying sands, gravels, and clays are +in mass comparatively insignificant. The London clay contains plenty of +fossils, only as they are disposed in layers (_zones_) at a considerable +distance apart, they are not often hit upon. Layers of Septaria or +cement-stones are of frequent occurrence. Sheppy is the great locality +for London clay fossils, as the sea annually washes down large masses of +the cliffs and breaks them up on the beach. A great many fossil fruits +and seeds, remains of crabs, shells of Nautili, Volutes, and other +mollusca, besides turtles, a species of snake, a bird with teeth, and a +tapir-like animal, have at different times and in various places been +found in this deposit, which sometimes attains a thickness of over 400 +ft. The "Bognor Rock" is a local variety of the basement bed of this +formation. + + [Illustration: _Aturia Zic-zac_ (from the London clay).] + + +The MESOZOIC or SECONDARY rocks embrace a series of limestone, clays, +sands, and sandstones that on the whole are well consolidated. The main +mass of them lies to the west of a line drawn across the map of England +from the mouth of the Tyne, in Northumberland, southwards to Nottingham, +and thence to the mouth of the Teign in Devonshire. In the south-eastern +counties they underlie the tertiary rocks of the London and Hampshire +basins, as they are called, at no great depth from the surface. Outlying +patches of secondary rocks occur in Scotland, where they are found near +Brora on the east coast, and in the islands of Skye and Mull on the +west. In Ireland they are scantily represented round about the +neighbourhood of Antrim. The secondary rocks are divided into-- + + +1. Cretaceous. + +_a._ The _Chalk_ is too well known to need description, though +technically it may be described as a soft white limestone chiefly built +up of the microscopic shells of _Foraminifera_, and characterized in its +upper part by nodules and bands of flint. These flints frequently +inclose casts of fossils (sponges, sea-urchins, etc.), and sometimes +shells themselves. Fossils, too, are fairly abundant, scattered +throughout the mass. Amongst the commoner may be noticed the +sea-urchins, such as the "sugar loaf" (_Ananchytes_) and the +heart-shaped _Micraster_, the Brachiopods or Lamp-shells (_Terebratula_, +_Rhynchonella_), a "Thorny Oyster" (_Spondylus spinosus_), besides +Ammonites, Belemnites (part of the internal shell of a kind of +cuttle-fish), and the teeth of several species of sharks. Altogether the +chalk is about 1,000 feet thick. + + [Illustration: _Ammonites various_ (from the chalk).] + +_b._ _Upper Greensand_ is a series of greenish-grey sands and +sandstones. The green colour, on close inspection, is seen to be due to +the presence of innumerable small green grains of a mineral called +glauconite. These are frequently casts of the chambers of the very same +foraminifera that the chalk is so largely composed of. + + [Illustration: _Rhynchonella depressa_ (a Brachiopod, from the Upper + Greensand).] + +Nodules and layers of "chert" (an impure kind of flint) occur in it, +whilst in places it forms a hard rock called "firestone." The commonest +fossils are Brachiopods, very similar to those in the chalk, a +scallop-shell with four strongly marked ribs on it (_Pecten +quodricostatus_), an oyster with a curved beak (_Exogyra columba_), and +a pear-shaped sponge (_Siphonia pyriformis_). The Upper Greensand is +better seen at places in the southern part of the Isle of Wight, in +cliffs on the Dorsetshire coast, in Wiltshire, at Sidmouth, and in some +parts of Surrey. + + [Illustration: _Ammonites auritus_ (from the Gault).] + +_c._ _Gault_, a stiff blue clay abounding in fossils: Ammonites often +retaining their pearly shell; Belemnites, a bivalve with very deep +furrows on it (_Inoccramus sulcatus_), and its first cousin (_I. +concentricus_, p. 21), in which the ridge-like markings correspond with +the lines of growth, besides many others, may be obtained in abundance +from it. Layers of phosphatic nodules occur at irregular intervals. The +gault is best studied at East Wear Bay, near Folkstone; it may also be +seen in Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, and Cambridgeshire; lately it has been +found as far west as Exeter. + + +2. Neocomian. + +_a._ The so-called _Lower Green Sand_, named in contradistinction to the +_Upper Green Sand_, includes a series of iron stained sands, sandstones +and clays of great thickness. The clayey beds are seen at Atherfield in +the Isle of Wight, and at Nutfield in Surrey, while the sandy beds are +met with at Speeton, at Folkestone, and near Reigate. Besides +brachiopods and oysters, these beds have furnished a species of _Perna_ +(_P. Mulleti_), an elongated mussel (_Gervillia anceps_), a pretty +_Trigonia_ (_T. cordata_), some _Ammonites_ and Nautili, with the teeth +and bones of big reptiles. The celebrated "Kentish Rag" and the sponge +gravels of Farringdon are of this age. + +_b._ _Wealden._ The main mass of these rocks occupies the area inclosed +between the North and South Downs, and forms the Valley of the Weald, +whence they take their name. They consist of a series of sands, +sandstones, clays, and shelly limestones that were deposited in the +delta and off the mouth of a big river. The shells in them belong to +freshwater genera, _Cyrena_, _Unio_, _Paludina_, etc. Bones of a huge +lizard that hopped along on his hind legs (_Iguanodon_), and those of +crocodiles, etc., are from time to time brought to light. The Wealden +rocks occur also on both eastern and western sides of the Isle of Wight, +and in Dorsetshire. + + [Illustration: _Inoceramus concentricus_ (from the Gault).] + + +3. Oolites (or Roe-stones) are so named because the characteristic +limestones of this formation resemble very much the roe of a fish. The +small round grains, of which the typical examples are built up, when cut +or broken through will be seen to be formed of numerous layers of +carbonate of lime, disposed like the coats of an onion, around some +central nucleus, generally a grain of sand, a fragment of coral, or the +shell of one of the Foraminifera. They are divided into Upper, Middle, +and Lower Oolites, and these again are subdivided as follows-- + +Upper Oolite. + +_a._ _Purbeck Beds_, a series of fresh-water, with a few estuarine, or +marine beds, which in point of fact connect the deposits we are next +coming to with the Wealden just passed. They contain numerous +fresh-water shells--_Paludina_, _Physa_, _Limnaea_, etc., with the +microscopic valves of the little fresh-water crustacean _Cypris_, whose +descendants are abundant in the rivers and lakes of to-day. An oyster +occurs in the "Cinder Bed" and Plant remains in the "Dirt Beds." But the +Purbecks are best known for the numerous remains of small mammals +(_Plagiaulax_) allied to the kangaroo rat, at present living in +Australia. + +_b._ The _Portland Stone and Sand_, which come next in order, are +largely quarried in the island whence they take their name. The +quarrymen point out fossils in the stone, which they call +"Horses'-heads" and "Portland screws." The former is the cast of a +_Trigonia_ shell; the latter, that of a tall spired univalve +(_Cerithium_). + +In Wiltshire, a coral (_Isastrea oblonga_) is found in the sandy beds, +the original calcareous matter of which has been replaced by silex. + +_c._ _Kimmeridge Clay._ This, by the pressure of the rocks subsequently +deposited on it, has in greater part been hardened, and possesses a +tendency to split in thin layers, and hence is termed by geologists a +shale. It is seen at various points between Kimmeridge on the +Dorsetshire coast and the Vale of Pickering in Yorkshire, and forms +broad valleys. The principal fossils in it are Ammonites, a +triangular-shaped oyster (_Ostrea deltoidea_), and one resembling a +comma (_Exogyra virgula_). + +Middle Oolites. + +_a._ The _Coral Rag_, or _Coralline Oolite_, comprises a most variable +set of beds, but principally a series of limestone, with fossil corals +still in the position in which they grew, and resembling in form the +reef-building corals of the Pacific. They rest on + +_b._ _Oxford Clay_, a dark blue or slate-coloured clay without any +corals, but containing a great many _Ammonites_ and _Belemnites_. The +_Kelloway Rock_, a sandy limestone at the base of the Oxford Clay, is +well developed in Yorkshire, and furnishes amongst other fossils a large +belemnite and an oyster (_Gryphaea dilatata_). + +Lower Oolites. + +_a._ _Cornbrash_, a very shelly deposit of pale-coloured earthy, and +rubbly or sometimes compact limestone with plenty of fossils. The +commonest are Brachiopods, Limas, oysters (_Ostrea Marshii_), +Pholadomyas and Ammonites. It is best seen in Dorsetshire, +Somersetshire, and near Scarborough in Yorkshire. + +_b._ _Forest Marble_ and _Bradford Clay_. The former is an exceedingly +shelly limestone, often splitting into thin slabs. On the surfaces of +some of the beds may be seen the ripple marks the sea made countless +years ago, and the tracks of worms and crabs that dwelt in the mud or +crawled on its surface at a time when it was soft mud. The Bradford clay +is a very local deposit, taking its name from Bradford in Wiltshire, +where it is most developed, and its characteristic fossil is the +pear-shaped Encrinite or "stone-lily" (_Apiocrinus Parkinsoni_). + +_c._ The _Great_ or _Bath Oolite_, comprising a series of shelly +limestones and fine Oolites, or freestones. The latter are largely +quarried in the neighbourhood of Bath, and used for mantelpieces and the +stone facings of windows. The great Oolite is rich in univalve mollusca, +amongst which may be noted a limpet (_Patella rugosa_) and the handsome, +tall-spired _Nerinaea Voltzii_, numerous bivalves belonging to the genera +_Pholadomya Trigonia_, _Ostrea_ (_O. gregaria_), and _Pecten_, besides +Brachiopods (_Terebratula digona_, which looks very like a sack of +flour, and _T. perovalis_, etc.). + +At the base of the Great Oolite are the "Stonesfield slates," +so-called--a series of thin shelly Oolites, etc., that split readily +into very thin slabs. They are principally of interest to geologists on +account of the discovery in them of the remains of small insect-feeding +and possibly pouched mammals. With these are associated the bones of +that big reptile the _Megalosaurus_; the flying lizards called +Pterodactyles; fish teeth and spines; lamp shells; oysters, a _Trigonia_ +(_T. impressa_); and the impressions of insects, including a butterfly, +and of plants. + +_d._ _Fullers' Earth_, a clayey deposit occurring in the southwestern +parts of England, but not in the north. It abounds with a small oyster +(_O. acuminata_) and Brachiopods (e.g. _Terebratula ornithocephala_), +etc. + +_e._ _Inferior Oolite_ (including the Midford Sands). As these beds are +followed across the country from the south-west of England to Yorkshire, +they are found to change greatly in character. Limestone and marine beds +in the south are replaced by sandy and estuarine beds in the north. +Amongst other fossils from beds of this age may be found several +Echinoderms, a crinkly lamp shell (_Terebratula frimbriata_), and a +spiny one (_Rhynchonella spinosa_), bivalves belonging to the Genera +_Ostrea_, _Trigonia_, _Pholadomya_, etc., and some very handsome +Ammonites (e.g. _A. Humphresianus_). + + [Illustration: _Ichthyosaurus_, or Fish-lizard (from the Lias).] + + [Illustration: _Plesiosaurus_ (from the Lias).] + + +4. Lias. + +This for the most part consists of very regular alternations of +argillaceous (clayey) limestone and clay, or shale. It is of great +thickness, and hence for convenience has been divided into (a) _Upper +Lias_, (b) _Middle Lias_ or _Marl-stone_, and (c) _Lower Lias_. A large +number of fossils are to be found in it. Lyme Regis and Whitby are +perhaps the best known localities; the former, on account of the great +number of specimens obtained of the huge fish-lizard (_Ichthyosaurus_, +p. 24), and long-necked _Plesiosaurus_ (p. 25), besides numberless fish; +whilst the latter is renowned for its jet (or fossilized wood) and its +"snake-stones" (_Ammonites_), concerning which curious old stories are +told. _Ammonites_ are plentiful in the Lias, which has been subdivided +into zones, or layers, named after the ammonite occurring in greatest +numbers in that particular zone. There is one thin limestone band in the +Marlstone composed entirely of the shells of _Ammonites planicostatus_. +A curious kind of oyster (_Gryphaea incurva_), locally known as the +devil's toenail, a huge _Lima_ (_L. gigantea_), a magnificent Encrinite +(_Extracrinus Briareus_), and numerous other fossils, are also to be +obtained by patient search. + + [Illustration: _Belemnitas elongatus_(from the Lias).] + + +5. Rhaetic, Penarth Beds, or White Lias. + +These beds are not of any considerable thickness, but are very +persistent, and of great interest, inasmuch as they yield the remains of +the oldest known mammal (_Microlestes_), a small insect-feeder. They are +composed of limestones, shales and marls (_i.e._ limey clays), and are +best studied in Somersetshire and Dorsetshire. The "landscape marble" +belongs to this formation, which also contains a bone bed, or thin layer +made up of the bones and teeth, etc., of fish. Shells are not numerous, +though the casts of one species (_Avicula contorta_) is plentiful. + + +6. Trias, or New Red Sandstone, a thick series of sandstones and marls, +the great mass of which forms the subsoil of the western midland +counties, Birmingham being nearly in the centre, thence they extend in +three directions, one branch passing towards the north-west, through +Cheshire, to the sea at Liverpool, reappearing on the coast line of +Lancashire, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, where it also forms the Valley +of the Eden. Another branch extends through Derby and York to South +Shields, whilst the third may be traced southwards in isolated patches +down into Devonshire. + +There are scarcely any fossils in it, but in Worcestershire and +Warwickshire the bivalve shell of a small crustacean (_Estheria minuta_) +occurs in the upper beds; whilst now and again the teeth and bones of +some strange amphibians (_Labyrinthodon_), or the impressions of their +feet (_Cheirotherium_) where they crawled on the then soft mud of the +foreshore, are found. The Trias is divided into Upper Trias or Keuper, +and Lower Trias or Bunter. The middle beds (Muschelkalk), which are +found in Germany, where they contain plenty of fossils, are wanting in +this country. In the lower beds of the Keuper, layers of rock salt, +sometimes of great thickness, occur, whilst casts (called pseudomorphs) +of detached salt-crystals are found abundantly in the sandy marls. +Northwich, Nantwich, Droitwich, and several other towns in Cheshire and +Worcestershire, are famed for their salt works, the salt being either +mined or pumped up as brine from these beds. + + [Illustration: _Ceratites nodosus_ (from the Muschelkalk).] + + +PALAEOZOIC or PRIMARY.--Beds of this age generally possess a more +crystalline and slaty structure than any of those already mentioned, are +usually more highly inclined and disturbed, and form for the most part +more elevated ground. They are the principal store-houses of our mineral +wealth, containing as they do coal, iron, and other metals. The +Palaeozoic rocks are found in England to the north and west of the +secondary series, beneath which they disappear when traced to the +south-east. Wales, and the greater part of Scotland and Ireland, consist +of beds of this age. + + +1. Permian. Under this term are included beds of red sandstones and +marls, closely resembling those of Trias, and like them containing but +few fossils, as well as a very fossiliferous limestone, known as the +Magnesian Limestone, from the abundance of magnesia it contains. A +pretty polyzoan (_Fenestella retiformis_), a spiny brachiopod +(_Productus horridus_), various genera of fish, chiefly found in a marl +state underlying the limestone, some Labyrinthodonts and plant remains, +are the principal forms met with in this formation. + + +2. Carboniferous. This, from a commercial point of view, is the most +important of all the formations, comprising as it does the coal-bearing +strata. It is subdivided into-- + +_a._ _Coalmeasures_, a series of sandstones and shales with which are +interstratified the seams of coal, varying in thickness from six inches +to as much in one instance as thirty feet. + +Coal is the carbonized remains of innumerable plants, chiefly ferns and +gigantic clubmosses, that grew in swamps bordering on the sea-coast of +the period. Each coal seam is underlain by a bed of clay called +"under-clay," containing the roots of the plants that grew on it. Some +of the best impressions of ferns, etc., are to be obtained in the shaley +beds forming the roof of the coal seam; many good specimens, however, +are to be got by searching the refuse heap at the pit's mouth. Besides +plants, the remains of fish are abundant in some of the beds of shale. +And in Nova Scotia the bones of air-breathing reptiles and land snails +have been discovered. Cockroaches and other insects were also denizens +of the carboniferous forests. + +The following are the principal coalfields:-- + + 1. Northumberland and Durham coalfield. + 2. South Lancashire coalfield. + 3. Derbyshire coalfield. + 4. Leicestershire and Staffordshire coalfields. + 5. South Wales coalfield. + 6. Bristol and Somerset coalfields. + +_b._ _Millstone grit_ or _Farewell-rock_. The former term explains +itself, the latter designation has been applied to it in the southern +districts, because when it is reached, then good-bye to all workable +coal-seams. + +It consists of coarse sandstones, shales, and conglomerates with a few +small seams of coal. Fossils are not very common in it. + +_c._ Yoredale Rocks, a series of flagstones, gritstones, limestones and +shales, with seams of coal, occurring in the northern counties. It is +underlain by-- + +_d._ _Carboniferous_ or _Mountain Limestone_, which in places is upwards +of 1,000 feet thick, and full of fossils. The stems of encrinites, or +"stone-lilies," corals, brachiopods (_e.g._ _Productus_, _Orthis_, +etc.), and Mollusca, including some Cephalopods, like _Goniatites_ and +the straight Nautilus (_Orthoceras_), with fish teeth, etc., go to +compose this tough, bluish-grey limestone which is largely quarried for +marble mantlepieces, etc. + +_e._ The _Tuedian group_ in the north, and _Lower Limestone Shale_ in +the south, follow next, and consist of shales, sandstones, limestones, +and conglomerates, varying greatly in different districts, and +containing few fossils. + + +3. Devonian or Old Red Sandstone. To this age are assigned a perplexing +series of strata, the principal members of which consist of (_a_) a +thick limestone, well seen in the cliffs and marble quarries of south +Devon, and full of fossil-corals (_e.g._ _Favosites polymorpha_ [or +_cervicornis_]) Brachiopods, and Mollusca, etc. + +_b._ A series of sandstones, slates, and limestones in North Devon +containing Trilobites (_Phacops_, _Bronteus_, etc.), Brachiopods, and +other fossils. + +_c._ The _Old Red Sandstone_ of Wales, the North of England, and +Scotland, consisting of red and grey sandstone and marly beds, with +remains of fish. + +These fish, unlike most now living, were more or less covered with hard +external plates, and possessed merely a cartilaginous skeleton. In one +set of individuals, indeed (_Pterichthys_), the armour plates formed +quite a little box. These creatures propelled themselves by means of two +arm-like flippers, rather than fins. They were but a few inches long, +and appear pigmies in contrast to the strange half-lobster-like +crustacean, _Pterygotus_, that lived with them, and attained sometimes +as much as five feet in length. + + +4. Silurian. Named by Sir Roderick Murchison after a tribe of Ancient +Britons that dwelt in that part of Wales, where these rocks were first +observed. Some of Murchison's Lower Silurian beds were included by +Professor Sedgwick in his Cambrian, of which we shall have to speak +next; and as these two geologists never could agree on a divisional line +between their respective formations, and since succeeding observers have +followed sometimes one and sometimes the other method of classification, +considerable confusion has resulted. Here, however, for several reasons, +we propose to follow Sedgwick's arrangement; and hence, under the term +Silurian, retain only Murchison's Upper beds. They consist of a series +of sandstones, gritstones, conglomerates, shales, limestones, etc. + +Amongst the more important fossils, which are very abundant in the +limestones, are various corals (_e.g._ the Chain-coral _Halysites_), +Star-fish, Crinoids, Trilobites (_Phacops_, etc.), Polyzoa, Brachiopods +and Mollusca, especially Cephalopoda (_Orthoceras_, _Nautilus_, etc.). + +These rocks occur principally in the border land between England and +Wales, and the adjacent counties; but are also represented in +Westmoreland, Scotland, and Ireland. Their principal subdivisions are +given in the Table on p. 16. + + [Illustration: Trilobite (_Asaphus candatus_), (from the Silurian).] + + [Illustration: _Orthoceras subannulatum_ (from the Silurian).] + + +5. Cambrian. Under this term, derived from the old name for Wales, are +included many sandstones, grits, slates and flags, with here and there a +limestone band. They form the greater part of the western counties of +Wales, where they rise to a considerable height above the sea level. The +highest hills of Westmoreland and more than half of Scotland are +composed of beds of this age. + +The fossils, save in the limestone bands, are not easy to find, but in +places they are fairly abundant. Brachiopods are far more numerous than +the Mollusca properly so-called. Of these, the genus _Orthis_ was most +abundant at about the close of this period. Certain beds of this age +have received the name of Lingula Flags, owing this prevalence in them +of the curious Brachiopod _Lingula_ so like the species now living in +some of the warm seas of the tropics. The Trilobites included several +forms, and one species (_Paradoxides Davidis_) attained the length of +nearly two feet. A few star-fish, some Hydrozoans (_Graptolites_), and +the tubes and casts of Annelides and tracks of Trilobites, complete the +list of more remarkable fossils. The subdivisions of the Cambrian rocks +will be found in the table on p. 16. + + +6. Pre-Cambrian.--Near St. David's Head and some other places in Wales, +in Anglesea, Shropshire, etc., some yet older rocks have been found. +They are probably for the most part of volcanic origin, but they have +been so much changed since they were first deposited, and as hitherto no +fossils have been found in them, little is known concerning them. + +Parts of the western coast of Northern Scotland and the Hebrides are +composed of a crystalline rock called Gneiss, and supposed to be the +oldest member of the British strata. No fossils have been found in it. + + [Illustration: Skull of _Deinotherium giganteum_, a huge extinct + animal, related to the elephants (from the Miocene of Germany).] + + +VOLCANIC ROCKS. Although there are fortunately no volcanoes to disturb +the peace of our country at the present day, there is abundant evidence +of their existence in the past. Not only are some of the beds, +especially those of Paleozoic age, composed of the dust and ashes thrown +out of volcanoes, with here and there a lava flow now hardened into +solid rock, but the stumps of the volcanoes themselves are left to tell +the tale. The cones indeed are gone, carried off piecemeal by the rain +and frosts, and other destructive agencies, in the course of countless +ages: not so the once fluid rock within; _that_ cooled down into +Granite, and though originally below the surface, it now, owing to the +removal of the overlying softer strata, forms raised ground overlooking +the surrounding country. The granite masses of Cornwall, of Dartmoor, in +the south-west of Mt. Sorrel; the variety called Syenite at Malvern and +Charnwood Forest; the Basalts of the Cheviot Hills and of Antrim; the +volcanic rocks of Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, and of the islands of Skye +and Mull, etc., are examples of this class of rock. They are of +different ages, and belong to different periods of the earth's history, +from early Palaeozoic down to Miocene times. + + + + +TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM, TO SHOW THE +ORDER IN WHICH THE FOSSILS SHOULD BE ARRANGED. + + +INVERTEBRATA. + + _Foraminifera_, minute chambered shells like the Nummulite. + + _Spongida_, Sponges. + + _Hydrozoa_, Graptolites, etc. + + _Actinozoa_, Corals. + + _Echinodermata_, Sea-urchins, Stone-lilies, Starfish, etc. + + _Annelida_, Worm tracks. + + _Crustacea_, Trilobites, Crabs, etc. + + _Arachnida_, Scorpions and Spiders. + + _Myriapoda_, Centipedes. + + _Insecta_, Beetles, Butterflies, etc. + + _Polyzoa_ (_Bryozoa_) or Moss Animals. + + _Brachiopods_, Lampshells. + + { _Lamellibranchiata_, Bivalves. + _Mollusca_ { _Gasteropoda_, Univalves. + { _Cephalopoda_, Cuttlefish, Ammonites. + + +VERTEBRATA. + + _Pisces_, Fish. + + _Amphibia_, Labyrinthodonts, Frogs, and Newts. + + _Reptilia_, Reptiles. + + _Aves_, Birds. + + _Mammalia_, Mammals. + + + + +WORKS OF REFERENCE. + + +FOR NAMING COMMON FOSSILS. + + =Tabular View of Characteristic British Fossils Stratigraphically + Arranged.= + By J. W. LOWRY. _Soc. Prom. Christ. Knowledge._ 1853. + + =Figures of the Characteristic British Tertiary Fossils (Chiefly + Mollusca) + Stratigraphically Arranged.= By J. W. LOWRY and others. _London_ + (_Stanford_). 1866. + + +PALAEONTOLOGY. + + =The Ancient Life History of the Earth.= + By H. A. NICHOLSON. 8vo. _Edinburgh and London._ 1877. + + =A Manual of Palaeontology.= + By H. A. NICHOLSON. 2nd edition. 2 vols. 8vo. _Edinburgh and + London._ 1879. + + +PETROLOGY. + + =The Study of Rocks.= + By F. RUTLEY. (Text Books of Science.) 8vo. _London._ 1879. + + +FIELD GEOLOGY. + + =A Text-Book of Field Geology.= + By W. H. PENNING. With a Section on Palaeontology, by A. J. + JUKES-BROWN. 2nd edition. 8vo. _London._ 1879. + + +GEOLOGY IN GENERAL. + + =The Student's Elements of Geology.= + By SIR CHARLES LYELL, Bart. 4th edition. 8vo. _London._ 1884. + + =The Principles of Geology.= + By SIR CHARLES LYELL, Bart. 12th edition. 2 vols. 8vo. _London._ + 1875. + + =Phillip's Manual of Geology.= + 2nd edition. By SEELEY AND ETHERIDGE. 2 vols., 8vo. _London._ 1885. + + =Tabular View of Geological Systems, with their Lithological + Composition and Palaeontological Remains.= + By D. E. CLEMENT. _London (Sonnenschein)._ 1882. + + +BRITISH GEOLOGY. + + =The Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain.= + By SIR ANDREW C. RAMSEY. 5th edition. 8vo. _London._ 1878. + + =The Geology of England and Wales.= + By HORACE B. WOODWARD. 8vo. _London._ 1876. + + =Geology of the Counties of England and Wales.= + By W. J. HARRISON. 8vo. _London._ 1882. + + + * * * * * + + + + +POPULAR ILLUSTRATED SCIENTIFIC BOOKS, PUBLISHED BY SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. +UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME. ALL FULLY ILLUSTRATED. + + + =BRITISH BUTTERFLIES, MOTHS, AND BEETLES.= + By W. F. KIRBY (Brit. Mus.). Crown 8vo, cloth, 1_s._ + + =MOSSES, LICHENS, AND FUNGI.= + By PETER GRAY and E. M. HOLMES. Crown 8vo, cloth, 1_s._ + + =ENGLISH COINS AND TOKENS.= + By LLEWELLYNN JEWITT, F.S.A.; with a chapter on =Greek and Roman + Coins=, by BARCLAY V. HEAD, M.R.A.S. Crown 8vo, cloth, 1_s._ + + =FLOWERS AND FLOWER LORE.= + By Rev. HILDERIC FRIEND, F.L.S. Illustrated. Third Edition, + demy 8vo, cloth gilt, 7_s._ 6_d._ + + =THE DYNAMO: How Made and How Used.= + By S. R. BOTTONE. Numerous Cuts. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2_s._ 6_d._ + + =A SEASON AMONG THE WILD FLOWERS.= + By Rev. H. WOOD. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 2_s._ 6_d._ + + =HISTORY OF BRITISH FERNS.= + By E. NEWMAN, F.L.S. Fifth Edition, Illustrated. 12mo, cloth, 2_s._ + + =THE INSECT HUNTER'S COMPANION.= + By Rev. J. GREENE. Third Edition. Cuts. 12mo, boards, 1_s._ + + =TABULAR VIEW OF GEOLOGICAL SYSTEMS.= + By Dr. E. CLEMENT. Crown 8vo, limp cloth, 1_s._ + + +SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., PATERNOSTER SQUARE. + + + * * * * * + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + + +As there appear to be section and subsections in the second and third +units (Shells and Fossils) of this book, Tables of Contents were +created for the electronic edition. A number of the images were moved +where they split paragraphs. There is a reference to a Figure 24 for +Ancylus; but no Fig. 24 was included. The reference to Fig. 26 for +Bullidae was assumed to be a reference to Fig. 14. Bulla ampulla. + +With the exception of the following items, all page number references +in the original text were retained. There are references to two tables +on Page 77. The first was listed a "vide Table, p. 16" and the second +as "vide Table, p. 32" which appear to refer to the tables on page 78 +and 94 respectively. The page references were corrected. + +Species name are assumed to be correct for the time of publication +(ca. 1886). For example, Charychium is today listed as Carychium. + + +Text Emphasis + + _Text_ - Italics + + =Text+ - Bold + + +Typographic Corrections + + Page Correction + ---- ------------------------ + 14 fond => foot + 27 it => if + 27 pencil => brush + 55 beak => peak + 56 tis => its + 60 Keilia => Kellia + 73 inever => "I never" + 91 crustucean => crustacean + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sea-Weeds, Shells and Fossils, by +Peter Gray and B. B. 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