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LIBRARY
FACULTY OF FORESTRY
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

NATURAL HISTORY RAMBLES,

THE WOODLANDS.

BY

M. C COOKE, M.A. LLD.

FIFTH THOUSAND.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION
APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

LONDON.
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE;

NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS;
4, ROYAL EXCHANGE; AND 48, PICCADILLY.

NEW YORK: POTT, YOUNG, & CO.
1880.

http://www. archive.org/details/woodlandsOO0cook

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Digitized b& the Internet Archive
in nH h funding from
Univ f Toronto

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CONTENTS.

CHAPTER.
I. FORESTS AND THEIR USES

II. TIMBER TREES
III. SMALL TREES, SHRUBS, &c.

IV. FLOWERS AND GRASSES...

V. FERNS, MossEs, AND LIVERWORTS
VI. FuNcI AND LICHENS

VII. QuADRUPEDS
VIII. Birvs
IX. BEETLES
X. BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS
XI. ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES
XII. Two-wWINGED FLIES
XIII. PLANT-BuGs, ASPHIDES, AND SCALE...
XIV. DRAGON-FLIES AND OTHER INSECTS ...
‘ XV. SPIDERS
XVI. SLuGs AND SNAILS

XVII. GALS AND PARASITES .. ite tus ane

PoE MCUODLANDS.

CHAPTER I.
FORESTS AND THEIR USES.

From that remote period when Adam and his com-
panion walked “amongst the trees of the garden,”
down to these latter days, men have exhibited their at-
tachment to trees, woods, and forests. Some of the
earliest rites of idolatry were performed under the
shelter of trees. In all the worships of the world they
have been an important adjunct. The sculptures of
India, Assyria, and Egypt, represent trees as associated
with religious rites; and the aisles of our own
splendid cathedrals exhibit semblances of vistas of
stately trunks hewn in stone, the branches of which
meet in arches overhead.

Religiously, poetically, historically, man is associated
with forests, his first home, his first temple; and even
now his natural instincts lead him, whenever the cares
and business of life permit of relaxation, to seek a
ramble in the woods as a welcome relief. To know
something of the multitudinous objects with which
the woodlands teem is a reasonable desire that ac-
companies his wanderings, and such a silent com-

6 THE WOODLANDS.

panion as he longs for, it is the object of this little
volume to supply. Together, the wanderer and his
mentor, thus introduced, will henceforth gossip to-
gether over their favourite theme.

Going backwards to early English history we
discover that these islands were noted for their wood-
land character; for their numerous forests, of which
remains are still in existence. As cultivation has ex-
tended, population increased, and with it a greater
demand for timber, the old forests have gradually
diminished. We still retain the names and traditions
of the New Forest, Dean Forest, Whittlebury, and
Salcey Forests; Alice Holt, Woolmer, and Bere
Forests ; Wychwood, Hainault, and Epping ; Windsor,
Delamere, and Sherwood, in England ; not to mention
the old pine forests of Scotland, and others, north and
south, of which the names alone are left.

Ceesar says, “‘what the Britons call a town, is a
tract of woody country, surrounded by a high bank
and a ditch, for the security of themselves and cattle
against the incursions of their enemies ;” and Strabo
remarks that ‘the forests of the Britons are their
cities ; for when they have inclosed a very large circuit
with felled trees, they build within it houses for them-
selves, and hovels for their cattle.” Thus the early
records of the Briton associate him with a love for
trees and woods.

Gradually, but continually, during the past thousand
years, the original forests have diminished ; partly to
furnish timber for houses and ships, partly being en-
closed and brought under cultivation, but chiefly to
meet the wants of a rapidly increasing population.

FORESTS AND THEIR USES. /

On the other hand, fruit-trees, in orchards and gardens,
large parks with ornamental trees, young plantations,
and other forms of vegetation, having to a large extent
replaced the forests, less disastrous consequences have
followed their diminution than have resulted in many
other countries, as for example in Spain, as well as
some portions of France.

Forests, which are distributed so universally over
the surface of the globe, and are recklessly destroyed
in newly-colonized countries, without regard to con-
sequences, have important functions to perform in the
economy of nature. It is only in most recent times
that manhas awakened to the consciousness, that in the
wholesale destruction of forests the entire aspect of a
country is changed, equilibrium disturbed, and the
advent of desolation threatened. ‘The destruction of
forests in the Island of Cyprus, in order to furnish its
celebrated timber to the Romans, Jews, and other
nations, has reduced a paradise to a comparative
wilderness ; and the progress of similar destruction in
India aroused the Government to adopt a complete
system of forest conservancy in order to avert the
threatened evil.

Humboldt, the great traveller, could not fail to
observe the influence of forests on the climate of a
country, and consequently we find him urging in his
writings attention to this subject. ‘‘ By felling the
trees which cover the tops and the sides of mountains,”
he says, “men in every climate prepare at once two
calamities for future generations; want of fuel and
scarcity of water. Trees, by the nature of their
perspiration, and the radiation from their leaves in a

8 THE WOODLANDS,

sky without clouds, surround themselves with an
atmosphere constantly cold and misty. They affect
the copiousness of springs, not, as was long believed,
by a peculiar attraction for the vapours diffused through
the air, but because, by sheltering the soil from the
direct action of the sun, they diminish the evaporation
of water produced by rain. When forests are de-
stroyed, as they are everywhere in America by the
European planters, with imprudent precipitancy, the
springs are entirely dried up, or become less abundant.
The beds of the rivers, remaining dry during a part
of the year, are converted into torrents whenever great —
rains fall on the heights. As the sward and moss
disappear with the brushwood from the sides of the
mountains, the waters falling in rain are no longer
impeded in their course; and instead of slowly
augmenting the ijevel of the rivers by progressive filtra-
tions, they furrow, during heavy showers, the sides of
the hills, bearing down the loosened soil, and forming
sudden and destructive inundations. Hence it results,
that the clearing of forests, the want of permanent
springs, and the existence of torrents, are three
phenomena closely connected together. Countries
situated in opposite hemispheres, as, for example,
Lombardy, bordered by the Alps, and Lower Peru, in-
closed between the Pacific and the Cordillera of the
Andes, afford striking proofs of the justness of this
assertion.”

That this is not a mere sentimental complaint on
the part of a great naturalist, grieving over the destruc-
tion of forests, may be proved by reference to India,
and the famines which appear periodically in certain

FORESTS AND THEIR USES. 9

districts. Sir Richard Temple, reporting to the
Government, in consequence of the famine of 1877,
laments the continued destruction of forests. ‘“‘ In the
midst of cultivated tracts there are to be seen bare
sterile hill-sides, said to have been forest-clad within
living memory. In such localities the climate is sup-
posed to have changed for the worst. Beyond the
Ghat Mountains, in Bellary and Kurnool, the treeless,
shrubless aspect of the country is as wonderful as it is
melancholy. These are the very districts where famine
has been occasionally epidemic, and where scarcity
has been almost endemic. Any thoughtful spectator
must perceive that, according to all meteorological ex-
perience, and to the almost certain teaching of proved
facts, these fine districts were not destined by nature
to be the prey and sport of famine and scarcity, but
have been rendered subject to these calamities by the
thoughtless action of man.”

Not only does the destruction of forests alter the
climate,’ diminish permanent springs, render inunda-
tions common, but it consequently reduces productive
cultivation, and is the forerunner of scarcity and
famine. These are not, by any means, all the disasters
which may be traced to this source. Numerous
instances are recorded in the Government records in
support of the theory that cholera, one of the greatest
scourges of the East, increases as trees diminish.
The road to Sambalpoor runs for sixty or seventy
miles through forest, sometimes very dense; never-
theless, on this route, traversed daily by hundreds of
travellers, vehicles, and baggage trains, cholera rarely
appears, and when it does appear it is of a mild form.

Ge) THE WOODLANDS.

But when we come to the road from Arang, which
runs for about ninety miles through a barren treeless
plain, cholera appears every year in its worst form,
the dead and dying lying by the wayside, and trains
of vehicles, half of whose conductors are dead.
Similar testimony is given by medical officers of
barracks surrounded by trees, in which the inmates
were almost exempt from sickness, whilst in those ex-
posed to the full influence of the wind, without any
trees, cholera was prevalent. Dr. Bryden states that —
in the villages of the almost treeless district of Rajpoor
sixty or seventy per cent. of the inhabitants are some-
times swept away by cholera in three or four days,
while the wooded district of Sambalpoor is often free
from it, or it isnot there severe. These facts, it is true,
relate to a tropical country, remote from home, but they
serve to illustrate the theory here advanced that the
presence of trees is important to the well-being of
man, and that the destruction of forests is in many
ways detrimental.

In connection with this subject it may be remarked
that Ebermeyer has shown that the “temperature of
the trees in a forest, and even in the tops of them, is
always lower than the air in the forest. The shade of
a single tree, therefore, cools, not only by intercepting
the sun’s rays, but also by the effect of gentle fan-
ning. The shelter of a thick wood, however, is much
more agreeable than that of a single tree. The air in
a wood is cooler than that of an open space exposed
to the sun. The air from outside is drawn into the
wood, is cooled by it, and cools us again. And it is
not only the air that cools us, but the trees them-

FORESTS AND THEIR USES. BE

selves. Observation has shown that the trunks of
trees in a wood, breast high, even at the hottest time
of the day, are five per cent. cooler than the air.”
This is sufficient for the direct evidence of the
influence of trees on climate, water, cultivation, famine,
and disease, but there are also collateral aspects which
present themselves to the naturalist, to which the
economist pays little attention. He sees in the
destruction of trees a great disturbance of the equili-
brium of animal life ; with the absence of woodlands
he takes cognizance of the absence of all forms of life
which depend upon trees for their existence. He
contemplates a depauperized flora and fauna. Whole
genera disappear, and sometimes the individuals of
certain species increase to an enormous extent, until
the artificial conditions, produced by an interference
with the harmonies of nature, become merged into a
new equilibrium in accordance with the new con-
ditions.
No other class of animals is connected so closely
with the vegetable kingdom as insects ; very many of
them are not only destined to feed upon vegetables,
but even upon certain definite species or genera of
plants. ‘‘ From this,” writes Schouw, “ it will readily
be concluded that forests are of great importance to
insects. Myriads of these little animals live upon and
in the trunks of trees, upon their leaves, flowers, fruits,
and upon their parasitical plants ; myriads of others
live upon the vegetable feeders. In temperate zones
the number of insects is smaller than in the tropics,
but nevertheless large enough, so that particular species
of insects sometimes destroy great tracts of forest ;

12 THE WOODLANDS.

for example, those which bore into the trunks of
coniferous trees, or eat off their buds, as has been
done by the larve of a little beetle (Lostrichus), and
-of a moth, in the Hartz Forests.

It is well known to entomologists of our own country
how the great reduction or extirpation of a food-
plant has resulted in the disappearance of the insect
which fed upon it. In a similar manner that the
reclamation of fenny districts has caused many insects
almost entirely to disappear.

Next in importance to the insect world in the
forests is the feathered tribe. The climbing-birds,
especially fitted by the structure of their feet to live
upon trees, are particularly numerous among the
winged inhabitants of forests ; in the tropics it is the
parrots, in the temperate zone it is the woodpeckers,
who are the chief of the climbers which inhabit the
woods ; the grubs, which they find in the trunks of
the trees, forming their food ; but very many of the
family of the song-birds have their home here.

Reptiles are less abundant, and less connected with
the forests. Just as the birds have a peculiar forest-
family in the parrots, so also the mammals have one
in the monkeys. Among other animals in temperate
countries are smaller beasts of prey. Lastly, the
human race ; we see that nations in the lowest stage of
development are sometimes closely connected with
forests. At length civilization comes into hostile
contact with the forests, and thus, other conditions
being equal, the country in which civilization is oldest
possesses the fewest woods. Forests are more spar-
ingly met with in the countries of the Mediterranean

FORESTS AND THEIR USES. 13

than northward of the Alps, and more sparingly in
the centre than in the north of Europe. But enough
of this.

A woodland ramble is an enjoyable recreation at

BEECH TWIG.

all periods ofthe year. There isa beauty and a charm
which is peculiar to each season, and something new
may be learnt at all times. It is comparatively easy,

14 THE WOODLANDS.

for instance, to determine every tree in summer and
autumn when there are leaves to guide us, but in the
winter new aspects are encountered, and then it be-
comes a good exercise to determine trees by their
aspect, habit of growth, ramification, angular in-
cidence of the branches ; appearance of the bark ; and
thus, as it were, determine its name from its skeleton.
In the spring another exercise awaits us; it is the
determination of trees from the form and arrangement
of the young buds. Some are opposite to each other,
some are alternate, some are much elongated, others
are short and obtuse. A little study and practice will
soon enable any one to determine one twig from
another, and refer each to its proper tree.

The arrangement of the buds around a twig follows
in each species a uniform plan. If we take a beech
twig, for instance, we shall observe that the buds are
produced in two opposite rows, so that they occur
alternately on opposite sides of the twig. ‘The. first,
third, and fifth being over each other on one side,
and the second, fourth, and sixth on the other. If
we draw a line from any given bud spirally round the
twig, so as to pass through three consecutive buds, we
shall find when it has reached the third bud it is
directly over the point whence it started, has made
one turn of a spiral passed from one bud, through a
second, and ended at the third. This is a simple
arrangement of alternate buds. Let us take the
alder, and starting in the same manner from a given
bud, draw a line spirally through all the buds above
it until the line terminates at a bud directly over that
from which the spiral started. In this instance the

FORESTS AND THEIR USES., 15

fourth bud will be over the first, and the spiral has
made one revolution. Now, examine an oak twig in
the same manner, and the sixth bud will be found
directly over the first ; but to reach this the spiral
will make two revolutions instead of one; no bud
within one revolution of a spiral occurring just over
the starting point. In the same manner a willow
twig being examined, it will be seen that the spiral
makes three convolutions before a bud is reached
which is directly over the first, and the number of
buds included in the series is eight. Such an exer-
cise will give zest to a winter or early spring walk in
a wood, and at the same time become a source of
instruction. In order to facilitate the recording of
such observations a fractional method is adopted, the
number of convolutions of the spiral representing the
numerator, the number of buds encountered being
the denominator. ‘Thus, the beech is 4, the alder 4,
the oak 2, the willow 8, &c. The ash and horse-
chestnut, and some other trees, have the buds in
pairs opposite to each other, and the arrangement is
commonly that of the simple alternation of pairs. As
a matter of course the leaves of the same trees will
follow the same plan, and may be studied in the
same manner.

Although it is difficult to find two leaves on the
same tree so exactly alike that they cannot be dis-
tinguished from each other, yet the general outline,
or contour, will always be found to follow a particular
type, the veins wi]l diverge at a given angle, and
fallen leaves may, without any great difficulty, be
teferred, after a little practice, to the kind of tree to

16 THE WOODLANDS.

*

which they belong. This exercise will also furnish
young persons with occupation during a winter walk,
and one which may afterwards prove of considerable
service should their tastes lead them to the study of
the parasites of leaves.

A curious theory was once propounded, that the
primary veins of a given leaf diverge from the mid-rib
at the same angle as the branches of the parent tree
diverge from the stem. That in all trees there is a
coincidence of angle at which the primary veins,
branches, and roots diverge. This was probably
more fanciful than true, since the incidence is not
often uniform in the same tree.

We do not doubt that all persons, but especially
those who habitually reside in towns, enjoy an occa-
sional ramble through the woods ; without any specific
object beyond the enjoyment of its scenery, its atmo-
sphere, or its music, such an occasional ramble will
afford pleasure ; but, if we add to this inducement
something which shall call forth the powers of obser-
vation, how much more enjoyable the ramble be-
comes. It matters little what the particular object
may be which leads a person habitually to take a
woodland ramble, so long as it is something which
leads him to use his eyes, keeps his mental faculties
in exercise, and furnishes some material for after-
thought. A simple walk through a wood or a green
lane, as an expedient for killing time, must always
prove unsatisfactory, and yet the feat is accomplished
every day. Let those who would really and thoroughly
enjoy a woodland stroll undertake it with some
definite object, and they will find, not only that the

FORESTS AND THEIR USES. 17?

time passes too rapidly away, but that weariness
comes less speedily ; and the subsequent reflections
will, in a measure, repeat the enjoyment when the
stroll cannot be repeated. One person will go
through a wood who has a great love for birds; he
will watch all their movements, study their notes,
observe their habits, and return home on every occa-
sion with some new experience, some pleasant re-
miniscence of his stroll. Another has a fancy for
collecting galls, and rearing the insects they contain,
for studying their economy, and seeking to unveil the
mystery which enshrouds these curious productions.
Yet another, deeming, perhaps, that a collection of
moths or beetles would afford more instruction than
a collection of postage-stamps, has this object in view
during a woodland ramble. In each case there is
some definite object for which the walk is projected,
there is some purpose for which the powers of obser-
vation must be cultivated, and the result will be that
additional knowledge will be gained, consequently
additional material stored up for subsequent re-
flection.

In the following pages a brief outline, which some
will think far too meagre, is given of the various
objects, or classes of objects, which are to be en-
countered in woodlands. All that such a work can
hope to accomplish is to arouse a desire to cultivate
a better acquaintance with the objects to which a
passing allusion is made. The moral of such a
volume can only be, “Select your hobby and pur-
sue it !”

18 THE WOODLANDS.

CHAPTER il;
TIMBER TREES.

THE vegetation of woodlands may, for the sake of
convenience, be arranged in four groups. The first
group would consist of the large timber trees which
constitute the wood or forest. These, in some
instances, are chiefly of one or two kinds, as oak
woods, beech woods, or fir woods ; but in the ma-
jority of cases they are much more mixed, and con-
sist of several species growing together. The second
group consists of smaller trees which compose the
undergrowth, and shrubs which never attain the
dignity of trees. The third group will be the herba-
ceous vegetation, mixed with dwarf perennials. Whilst
the fourth group will include what are botanically
called cryptogams, such as the ferns, mosses, liver-
worts, lichens, and fungi. It will be advisable to
treat of this vegetation under these four groups, giving
examples of each, without attempting to enumerate
all; and as the arrangement is purely an artificial one,
at least in so far as the first three groups are con-
cerned, it must not be subjected to too critical a
test.

Much might have been written of the uses to which

TIMBER TREES, 19

each kind of timber has been applied, the economic
application of the bark and other portions, the trees
of each species remarkable for their size, age, or
historical associations ; but all this has been so ad-
mirably done already in a volume entitled the “ Forest
Trees of Great Britain,” ! that it may be omitted with
advantage.

The Oak? is the “king of the forest,” and is com-
mon in all our woodlands and parks. Some persons
are of opinion that what we term the “ oak” consists
of two species, others that these are only well marked
varieties. The distinctions are that in the pedun-
culate form the leaves have very short footstalks, and
the stalks of the fruits are much elongated. The buds
on the young wood are not prominent. In the sessile-
fruited form the leaves have long footstalks, the fruit
is seated close to the branch, and the buds on the
young wood are prominent. What, however, is of
still greater importance is, that the timber of the
sessile-fruited form is very greatly inferior to that
produced by the stalked-fruited or pedunculate form.
In the days of wooden ships our “three-deckers ”
were built of oak; and a curious calculation is made
in Brown’s “Forester” as to the quantity of oak
which was requisite to construct a first-class “‘ man-of-
war.” “It takes fully one hundred and fifty thousand
cubic feet of timber to build a seventy-four-gun ship ;
and allowing upon an average that the trees in an oak
forest, when arrived at maturity and ready for ship-
building, stood at the distance of about thirty feet

' Published by the S. P. C. K. 2 Quercus robur.
C2

20 THE WOODLANDS.

from each other, we could only have about fifty trees
from an acre; and supposing that the same trees
were from one hundred to one hundred and twenty
years old, there would probably be about seventy feet
of timber in each at an average: consequently, we
see from this calculation, which is pretty near the
truth, that no less than the matured crop of forty-four
acres of woodland, or two thousand two hundred full-
grown trees, are required for one such ship.” This
relates, however, to the past, as iron and steel have
superseded wood in naval construction.

A volume of gleanings might speedily be compiled
of stories, legends, and wonderful trees of this species,
for there is no other in which the Englishman has so
great a pride. The Britons regarded it as a symbol
of their god of thunder. The Yule-log, burnt at
Christmas in honour of their deities, was always of
oak. The Druids are said to have worshipped under
an oak, and to have offered sacrifices in wicker
baskets of oaken twigs. Criminals, we are told,
were tried under an oak tree. The Saxons
held their national meetings under an oak. The
celebrated conference of the invading Saxons and the
Britons was held under the oaks of Dartmoor. King
Arthur’s round table was made of its timber; so was
the cradle of Edward III. in order to conciliate
the Welsh. And it was considered unlucky to cut
down a celebrated tree, for Evelyn gravely relates
of two men who cut down the vicar’s oak, that the
one lost his eye, and the other broke his leg soon
afterwards.

Remarkable oak trees are more numerous than

TIMBER TREES. 21

those of any other species. Foremost is, or was, that
of Herne the hunter, who, as Shakspeare says,
‘€ Doth all the winter time, at still midnight,

Walk round about an oak, with great ragged horns,

And there he blasts the tree.”
Then we have King’s oak, Abbot’s oak, Pope’s oak,
Chenies oak, Flitton oak, Damory’s oak, Fairlop oak,
Merton oak, Chandos oak, Yardley oak, and we know
not how many more, to all of which there “hangs a
tale” ; but we must leave all these,—

‘* Whose boughs are moss’d with age
And high top bald with dry antiquity,’”—

and pass from the monarch to his humbler courtiers,
which are, in all respects, subsidiary, but not wholly
unworthy companions.

The AsuH! is a native of Britain, and one of our
most useful trees. The leaves are compound; that
is, each leaf consists of five or six pairs of leaflets
placed opposite to each other, along a central leaf-
stalk. In habit the tree is disposed rather to grow
tall than stout, so that in plantations and close woods
the trunk is thin, but in parks and open lawns it
becomes a large and imposing tree.

The duration of the ash is considerable, there
being instances in Scotland of trees nearly three hun-
dred years old, and many upwards of two hundred
years retain their health and vigour.

It was well known to the ancients, for Homer
celebrates the mighty ashen spear of Achilles, and
Virgil,—

‘** The towering ash is fairest in the woods.”

l Fraxinus excelsior.

22 THE WOODLANDS.

In the Edda the council of the gods is said to be
held beneath the sacred ash, whose branches cover
the surface of the world,

ASH SEED-VESSELS.

Large trees of this species have been recorded.
Dr. Walker says that he measured the trunk of a dead
ash in the churchyard of Lochaber which was fifty-
eight feet in circumference at five feet from the
ground; and at Domrey, near Clare, in Galway, an
ash stood a few years since forty-two feet in circum-
ference at four feet from the ground.

A curious circumstance is related by Dr. Plot of
an ash key (or winged seed, so called) rooting itself
on a decayed willow, and finding, as it increased. a
deficiency of nourishment in the mother plant, it began
to insinuate its fibres by degrees through the trunk

TIMBER TREES. 23

of the willow into the earth. There receiving an
additional sustenance it began to thrive, and expand
itself to such a size that it burst the willow in pieces,
which fell away from it on every side; and what was
before the root of the ash being now exposed to the
air became the solid trunk of a vigorous tree.

The Ex! is a large timber tree, seen to perfection
in the valley of the Severn. It is generally admitted
to be one of the finest of our trees for park scenery.
It grows tall and erect, without any great tendency to
spread, and attains a height
of eighty feet in as many
years. The leaves are dark
green, ovate, with a doubly-
toothed margin and a rough
surface. At the base, where
the lamina joins the short
petiole, it is unsymmetrical,
one side extending lower
down, and being more
rounded than the other.
The seeds are bordered by
an oblong membraneous AUS
wing, which is deeply cleft at the apex, but they
seldom ripen in England.

This tree is rarely cultivated in Scotland, where
the wych elm is preferred, but in England it forms
a prominent object in every landscape.

The elm was a funereal tree with the ancients, and
it is a curious fact that the wood is still in much
repute for coffins. The imperial city of Ulm (Ger-

1 Ulmus campestris.

24 THE WOODLANDS.

many) derives its name from the number of elms
which grow in its vicinity.

The large dimensions to which the elm will attain
may be judged from one mentioned by Ray, which
was felled in Staffordshire, one hundred and twenty
feet in length, and seventeen feet in diameter. When
sold its head produced forty-eight waggon loads of
firewood ; and its trunk, besides sixteen blocks, fur-
nished eight thousand six hundred and sixty feet of
planks, the whole mass being estimated at ninety-
seven tons.

The use which the Romans made of the elm as a
support to the vine has given rise to numerous allu-
sions by poets, ancient and modern ; from Ovid,—

“* Or, if that vine without her elm should grow
’T would creep, a poor neglected shrub, below,”—

to Milton, describing the occupations of Adam and

Eve,—
“* They led the vine
To wed her elm.”

The Wycu Erm! is a native of Scotland, where it
supplies the place of the English elm. It is a much
more spreading tree, with strong divergent limbs.
The leaves are larger than in the English species,
with a longer point, but like them are rough, and
unequal-sided at the base.

In many parts of the country the wych elm, or
witch hazel, is considered a preservative against
witches. In some of the midland counties Loudon
says that a little cavity is made in the churn to receive

1 Ulmus montana.

TIMBER TREES. 25,

a small portion of witch hazel, without which the
dairymaids imagine that they would not be able to
get the butter to come.

Gerard tells us that when long bows were in use
there were very many made of the wood of this tree,
for which purpose it is mentioned in the English
statutes by the name of witch hasell.

The Tutbury wych
elm, described and
measured by Strutt, had
a trunk sixteen feet nine
inches in circumference
at five feet from the
ground. An elm called
the Trysting Tree, at
Roxburgh, in Teviot-
dale, was measured in
1796, and its girth at
four feet from the sur-
face of the ground was
thirty feet. There are
still large trees of this

species in Scotland, \,

though not attaining the

above recorded dimen- LEAF OF WYCH ELM.
sions.

Ina note to “ Brand’s Antiquities ” the derivation (?)
of “witch” is thus given. ‘Witch is derived from
the Dutch ‘witchelen,’ which signifies whinnying and
neighing like a horse; in a secondary sense, also, to
foretell and prophesy; because the Germans, as

26 THE WOODLANDS.

Tacitus informs us, used to divine and foretell things
to come by the whinnying and neighing cf their
horses.”

The BeeEcu! is a very common English tree, and
equally common in a dwarf condition for hedges. It
is easily known from other trees in a park by its
smooth bark, and light green leaves. The latter are
ovate, and scarcely perceptibly toothed at the margin,
smooth, with the veins parallel to each other, and
proceeding direct to the edge of the leaf. When
quite young a delicate silky fringe can be distinctly
seen surrounding the margin, but this almost vanishes
from old leaves. Very often the dead leaves of the
beech may be seen still clinging to the branches in
the depth of winter, and this is especially the case in
beech hedges. Old trees do not exhibit this pecu-
liarity. It may usually be observed that the ground
beneath beeches is very bare, few herbs or grasses
caring to grow under its shadow. The triangular,
sharp-cornered nuts of the beech are enclosed within
a hard, tough involucre, which divides into four
spreading lobes, which diverge, and allow the seeds
to escape.

The finest beeches in Britain are said to grow in
Hampshire, and there is a curious legend of those in
the Forest of St. Leonard. This forest, which was
the abode of St. Leonard, abounds in noble beeches,
and the saint was particularly fond of reposing under
their shade, —

** Tityre, tu, patule recubans sub tegmine fagi.””

- Fagus sylvatica.

TIMBER TREES. 27

When he did so he was annoyed during the day by
vipers, and at night by the singing of the nightingale.
Accordingly he prayed that they might be removed,
and such was the efficacy of his prayers, that since
that time, in that forest,

“« The viper has ne’er been known to sting,
Or the nightingale e’er heard to sing.”

The Sycamore! is generally known in Scotland as
the plane, but the true plane-tree is not indigenous,
having been introduced from the Levant. The syca-
more grows to a considerable size, and attains a great
age. The leaves are as broad as long, deeply di-
vided into five lobes, and seated on long foot-stalks.
The seeds are produced in what is termed a samara,
two being united at the base, and the wings spreading
like a V.

WINGED SEED-VESSEL OF SYCAMORE,

A sycamore in the park of Scone Palace, in Perth-
shire, is said to have been planted in the time of
Mary Queen of Scots. Although three hundred years
of age it is still in perfect health. Another at
Arniston House, not more than sixty-five feet high,
contains three hundred cubic feet of timber, and is
said to be at least two hundred years of age.

' Acer pseudoplatanus.

28 THE WOODLANDS

The sap of this tree contains sugar, and experi-
ments have been made from time to time to obtain a
kind of sugar by evaporation. Sometimes an ounce
of sugar has been obtained from a quart of sap, but
the proportion varies. This sap has also been con-
verted into a kind of wine. In Scotland it is stated
that the children amuse themselves by cutting open-
ings in the bark, and sipping the sap that flows from
the wounds.

The sycamore tree on which Zaccheus climbed to
see Christ pass on his way to Jerusalem was not this
tree, but the sycamore fig, which latter is the tree
intended in all Scriptural references to the ‘‘ syca-
more.” The bright autumnal tints which the leaves
rapidly assume are alluded to by Cowper in the
lines, —

‘‘ The sycamore, capricious in attire ;

Now green, now tawny ; and ere autumn yet
Has changed the woods, in scarlet honours bright.”

The Pane! is one of the most common trees in
the parks and open spaces in London and its neigh-
bourhood, and may easily be recognized in winter by
its habit of shelling off the outer coating of the bark.
The leaves somewhat resemble in form those of the
sycamore, but the foot-stalks are shorter. The glo-
bose catkins, pendulous on long stalks, which are for
some time persistent on the trees, are sufficient to dis-
tinguish the planes from the sycamore, or any of the
maples. This tree grows to the height of seventy

» Platanus orientalis.

TIMBER TREES. 29

feet, or more, with wide-spreading branches, is highly
ornamental, and fortunately seems to thrive well
amidst the busy haunts of men.

ee

6

is Organs

= 9eg=
goes
;

“ys

PLANE LEAVES AND FLOWERS.

Herodotus says that Xerxes, when he invaded
Greece was so enchanted with a beautiful plane tree
which he found in Lycia that he encircled it with a
collar of gold, and confided the charge of it to one of
the ten thousand. Pliny relates that a governor of
Lycia feasted eighteen persons in the hollow of a
plane tree in that province.

The Oriental plane was introduced into England

30 THE WOODLANDS.

about the middle of the sixteenth century. One of
the oldest trees was recently to be seen at Lee Court,
in Kent; this tree was mentioned by Evelyn, in
1683, as one of the oldest introduced into this
country. It is one of the few trees which does not
appear to be injuriously affected by the smoke of our
large cities, hence it is one of the most common and
healthy of the trees in and around London. The
American plane! is less common in Britain, but is
very similar in its general appearance.

The Brack Popuar? is a rapidly growing tree of

LEAF OF BLACK POPLAR.

very doubtful value. It will reach considerable di-
mensions in a very short time, and is supposed to
attain its best condition in about fifty years. The

1 Platanus occidentalis. > Populus nigra.

TIMBER TREES. 31

leaves are nearly triangular, with the lower angles
rounded and the upper angle pointed, smooth on
both sides, seated on rather long foot-stalks. The
margin of the leaves is bluntly toothed.

According to Ovid, when Phaethon borrowed the
chariot and horses of the sun, and by his heedless
driving set half the world on fire, he was hurled from
the chariot by Jupiter into the Po, where he was
drowned ; and his sisters, the Heliades, wandering
on the banks of the river, were changed into trees.
Some authors believe these to have been ‘black
poplars,” which are now abundant on the banks of
that river.

** And eke those trees, in whose transform*d hue
The Sun’s sad daughters wail’d the rash decay
Of Phaethon, whose limbs with lightnings rent,
They gathering up, with sweet tears did lament.”—
(Spenser.)

The leaves of this, as well as the Aspen, and in-
deed most of the poplars, have long and slender foot-
stalks, so that they wave and flutter with the slightest
draught of wind. ‘This has afforded many a happy
allusion for the poets, from the time of Homer down
to modern days ; one Spanish poet compares the tree
to his lady’s hair,—

** Each wind that breathes, gallantly here and there
Waves the fine gold of her disordered hair,

As a green poplar leaf in wanton play
Dances for joy at rosy break of day.” —( Garcilasso.)

The ABELE,! or white poplar, is generally a small

1 Populus alba.

32 THE WOODLANDS.

tree, which may be known at a considerable distance
by the whiteness of its foliage. The leaves are rather
triangular, with irregular lobes and teeth, a difficult
form of leaf to describe in writing within a few words.
The under-side of the leaves is covered with a densy
coating of matted white down. Like the black pop-
lar, this tree loves a damp situation, where it grows
rapidly, but is seldom seen of any great size.

LEAVES OF WHITE POPLAR,

It is generally supposed not to have been a native
of Britain, but was introduced from Flanders. Ina
work published in 1659 it is stated that ten thousand
abeles were at once sent over to England from Flanders,
and transplanted into many counties. Evelyn men-
tions the “abeel” as “of late much transported out
of Holland.” This tree was known to the Romans
and Greeks, and was consecrated to Hercules. It is

TIMBER TREES. 33

also frequently mentioned by Homer and Horace.
Simoisius, when killed by Ajax, is compared in the
Iliad to the fall of a poplar :—

** So falls a poplar, that in watery ground
Raised high its head, with stately branches crown’d”

In France this tree is so abundant in some of the
forests as to form the prevailing tree over large tracts
of country, furnishing fuel to the neighbouring towns.
It is stated that in Paris the bakers’ ovens are almost
entirely heated with the wood of this tree, under the
name of “le bois blanc.” In Germany it is one of
the light woods which are extensively employed in
the manufacture of children’s toys.

It is said that the ancients consecrated this tree to
“time,” because the leaves are in constant agitation,
and, being of a blackish green on one side and white
on the other, they were supposed to indicate the
alternation of day and night,—

‘*The poplar, that with silver lines his leaf.”

The Brrcu! is a native tree, and even now forms
considerable forests in Scotland, yet it never attains
any great size. This is one of the most graceful of
trees from its slender delicate twigs, and drooping
tendency of the branches, especially in some of its
varieties. The leaves are small, somewhat triangular
in shape, with the lower angles rounded, and the
margin irregularly toothed. The chief position which

‘ Betula alba.
D

34 THE WOODLANDS.

the birch occupies in-our southern woods is as a
coppice-wood, or mixed with firs as a cover for
game.

The slender twigs of the birch are used for brooms
and another purpose too obvious to juveniles to need

LEAF AND FLOWER OF THE BIRCH.

mention. In early Rome the lictors had their fasces
made of the branches of this tree.

The bark of the birch readily separates into thin
papery layers, so that in early times it was employed
for writing upon. The books which Numa com-
posed (700 B.c.) were written on birch bark.

The sugary sap of the birch as it rises in March is
collected in some northern countries of Europe and
converted into wine. Loudon states that a birch has
been known to yield in the course of one season a
quantity of sap equal to its own weight. During

TIMBER TREES. 35

the siege of Hamburg by the Russians in 1814 almost
all the birch trees in the neighbourhood were de-
stroyed by the Boshkirs and other barbarian soldiers
in the Russian service, by being tapped for their
sap.

A considerable list might be compiled of the varied
uses of different parts of the tree, which Coleridge
calls the ‘ Lady of the Woods” ; and many quotations
from the modern poets, in its praise and honour,
not omitting Shenstone’s school children watching a
birchen tree,—

**For not a wind might curl the leaves that blew
But their limbs shudder’d, and their pulse beat low ;
And, as they look’d, they found their horror grew
And shaped it into rods, and tingled at the view.”

The CuHEstTNuT! is an Asiatic tree, which has for
many centuries been cultivated in Europe. The
leaves are lance-shaped, six or eight inches in length
and two inches in width, with veins proceeding direct
to the margin, and forming a tooth, so that the edges
of the leaves are serrated with distant teeth. The
fruit seldom attains any degree of perfection in this
country, although in some seasons better than
others.

In many woods the chestnut is only an under
shrub, but in France we have traversed large woods
composed entirely of this tree. In parks and open
places it attains to a greater size than the oak, and
will reach to a considerable age.

The chestnut tree is said to have been brought into

! Castanea vesca.
1D at

36 THE WOODLANDS.

Europe by the Greeks from Asia Minor, about 504
B.C. Theophrastus says that in his time Mount
Olympus was nearly covered with chestnut trees ; and
Pliny says that the nuts were ground into meal and
made into bread by the poor. Etna is celebrated for
the great age and colossal dimensions of its chestnut
trees. The noted Castagno di Cento Cavalli has a
circumference near the root of one hundred and eighty
feet, the Castagno di Santa Agata seventy feet, and the
Castagno della Nave sixty-four feet. The name of
‘Cento Cavalli” is said to have its origin in this wise.
When Jean of Arragon visited Mount Etna, attended
by her nobility, they were caught in a heavy shower ;
then the queen with a hundred cavaliers took shelter
under the branches of this tree, which completely
covered them from the rain.

Lovers of roasted chestnuts will remember that
Martial says,—

‘* For chestnuts roasted by a gentle heat,
No city can the learned Naples beat ;”

and that Milton alludes to the hearth where

‘* Blackening chestnuts start and crackle there.”

The HorseE-CHESTNUT! 1s the only conspicuous
flowered tree we have. The flowers in the majority
of our large trees are small and greenish, so as
scarcely to be seen; but in this tree they are pink
and white, growing in pyramidal clusters ; and when
a number of trees are in full bloom, as they are
annually in Bushy Park, it is a sight well worth a

1 Zesculus hippocastanum.

TIMBER TREES. 37

journey to see. ‘The leaves are large, with seven
lobes cut down to the base, or leaflets spreading like
the fingers, at the end of long foot-stalks. This is not
a native tree, but is acclimatized and bears the
climate well, growing rapidly, and soon attaining a
very large size.

The fruits are well known, especially to children,
but they are unwholesome and dangerous. In France
starch has been manufactured by washing from the
rasped horse-chestnuts, which, like all other starch, is
quite edible, though of little or no use as an article of
diet.

In Lincolnshire is a tree said to be the largest in
Britain, with immense branches extending over a
space of three hundred and five feet in circum-
ference; the branches are so large as to require
props, so that at a little distance it looks hke an
Indian banyan tree. At Coombe Abbey, in Warwick-
shire, a tree little more than one hundred years
old has a trunk seven feet three inches in diameter.

According to M. Sainte-Hilaire the horse-chestnut
was brought from the mountains of Thibet to Eng-
land in 1550, and was afterwards taken to Vienna by
Clusius, and thence to Paris. The earliest notice of
it in England is in Gerard’s Herbal, where, in 1579,
he speaks of it as a rare foreign tree. From Vienna
this tree also found its way into Germany, and was
introduced into Baden towards the close of the six-
teenth century. It is now generally cultivated in
Europe and North America.

The Lime! is a favourite tree for park avenues, and

1 Tilia Europea.

38 THE WOODLANDS.

is common throughout Europe. It is the inner bark
of this tree which is used in Russia for the manufac-
ture of the “‘ bast” matting so commonly used in this
country by nurserymen and others. The leaves are
heart-shaped, sharp-pointed at the apex, and seated
upon a long foot-stalk. The perfume of lime trees
about midsummer, when in full bloom, is powerful
and agreeable. At that time they are very much
frequented by bees. These trees attain to consider-
able dimensions, and will live and thrive for two
hundred years. Eight miles from Worcester there is
a wood of about five hundred acres, the undergrowth
of which is prineipally lime. In the same county are
trees estimated to be upwards of two hundred years
of age. At Ditton Park, in Berkshire, there is a tree
known to be upwards of two hundred years old, the
trunk of which has a diameter of twenty-two feet ten
inches at one foot from the ground. At Moor Park,
in Herefordshire, is a lime, the trunk of which
measures twenty-three feet three inches, and contains
eight hundred and_ seventy-five feet of timber.
In Worcestershire, between Horford and Ombersley,
is a tree with a circumference of thirty feet at eight
feet from the ground. ‘The celebrated avenue of
lime trees in Berlin is now historical.

The wood of the lime has been largely used for
carving, many of the fine carvings at Windsor Castle
and Chatsworth being of this wood ; and it is said
that the blocks employed by Holbein for wood
engravings were of the same material. Lime-tree
honey, which has obtained some repute, is said only
to be obtained at a small town in Lithuania, which is.

7

TIMBER TREES. 39

surrounded by forests of limes, although it is imitated
by the Polish Jews.

The HornsBeEam! is a very common tree in Epping
Forest, but in some parts of the country it only
appears as a hedge plant. It will attain a height of
from sixty to seventy feet under favourable condi-
tions. The leaves are about the size, and have some-
what the form of beech leaves, but are easily distin-
guished by the deeply serrated edges. The veins of
the leaves proceed direct to the margin, with a cor-
responding depression or furrow on the upper sur-
face, so that they have a plaited appearance. The
seeds have a leafy three-lobed wing, and cannot be .
confounded with the seeds of any other British tree.

At the time when geometrical gardening was in
vogue the hornbeam was much employed for fences,
labyrinths, arched galleries, &c. The remains of
work of this kind were until lately to be seen near
Ghent in a serpentine walk three hundred feet long,
covered with hornbeam trained in vaults. At the
same place is Pan’s Theatre, wholly formed of horn-
beam trees and bushes, which the shears have snipped
and tortured into the appearance of a stage with side
scenes, and of front and side boxes, and parterre or
pit. The use of hornbeam as a hedge plant, and for
“ mazes,’—

*« These many windings form a wilderness,
Which hornbeam hedges in trim neatness dress,”—

seems to preponderate in all accounts of the tree, to

1 Carpinus betulus.

40 THE WOODLANDS.

the exclusion of all reference to it as a timber tree,
which use is amply illustrated in Hainault and Epping
Forests.

The Larcu! is a native of the mountain regions of
Germany, but has been introduced into this country
for two hundred and fifty years and endures the cli-
mate well. It differs in one respect from other trees
of the fir tribe in shedding its leaves in the autumn.
These are thin, and about an inch in length, collected
in bundles or tufts. The trees will attain a height of
from eighty to one hundred feet, and produce a very
useful timber.

LARCH.

Amongst the timber brought to Rome for the pur-
pose of building the bridge called Naumachiaria
(about A.D. 20), was a larch which measured two
feet square in thickness throughout from end to end,
and was of the length of one hundred and twenty
feet, so that the entire tree could not have been less
than one hundred and fifty feet. Tiberius Cesar
would not allow it to be used for the erection, but

! Larix Europea.

TIMBER TREES. 41

commanded it to be placed where all could see it as
a curiosity, and it remained for thirty years until
Nero employed it in building his vast amphitheatre.!

The first allusion to the larch in Britain is by
Parkinson, in 1629, as a rare curiosity ; and in 1664,
Evelyn still writes of it as rare; but in 1731, Miller
describes it as now pretty common in English gar-
dens. It was about this time that it was first intro-
duced into Scotland, and from that period to the
present the Dukes of Athol have become famous for
their patronage of the larch. Unfortunately it is
subject to a disease, or rot, which baffles all culti-
vators either to comprehend or to cure.

Many other trees of this order of cone-bearing trees
are in cultivation in this country, but chiefly as orna-
mental trees, such as the spruce, silver fir, cedar of
Lebanon, cypress, and others.

The ScorcH PINE? is common throughout the
north of Europe, and the only tree of the tribe which
is a genuine native. The leaves are in pairs, and
from two to three inches in length. Some of the
trees remaining in the old Scotch pine forests are of
considerable dimensions. Inthe Duthal forests some
have been measured with a girth of from six to twelve
feet at a foot from the ground. In the forests of
Abernethy are trees reputed to be from two hundred
to two hundred and forty years old; and at Strathspey
some which are said to exceed three hundred.

It is this tree which is represented so prominently
in the foreground in many of Turner’s pictures, and

! Pliny, lib. xvi. cap. 4o. 2 Pinus sylvestris.

42 THE WOODLANDS.

the lines of Churchill are as appropriate to it in this
situation as in others :—

** That pine of mountain race,
The fir, the Scotch fir, never out of place.”

The indigenous pine forests of Scotland have lost
their original magnitude and splendour. ‘The sixteen
square miles of Rothiemurchus, the wide expanse of
Rannoch, are to a large extent dreams of the past,
but much of their old glory still attaches to the forests
of the Dee, where overhead,—

“* At every impulse of the moving breeze,
The fir grove murmurs with a sea-like sound.”

In Lapland and Norway it is customary in seasons
of scarcity to kiln-dry the inner bark of the Scotch fir
and grind it, mixed with oats, into meal. This meal
is formed into flat cakes, ‘‘ covering the bottom of a
girdle or frying-pan, and thin as a sheet of paper,
being put on the girdle in nearly a fluid state.”

The Weymouth pine has been introduced into
Britain for a century and a half, and stands the
climate of England better than that of Scotland.
The leaves are in clusters of five, by which the tree
may be distinguished.

bla.

THE WOODLANDS. 43

CHAPTER III.
SMALL TREES, SHRUBS, AND COPPICE.

In addition to the timber trees which adorn our
parks, flourish in the remains of our ancient forests,
or are cultivated in woods and plantations, there are
numerous smaller trees, which seldom proceed be-
yond a shrubby undergrowth, but in this capacity
often constitute a dense cover. These shrubs vary
much in different localities as the soil varies, in some
instances being almost composed of a single, or at
most of two or three species, and in others consisting
of a great variety. Oak, ash, chestnut, and some
other large trees are not uncommonly employed as
coppice, but beyond these there are a goodly number
which seldom or never aspire to the dignity of trees.
The character and extent of undergrowth has a con-
siderable influence on the animal life of woodlands.
It is useless expecting to find insects in woods which
do not furnish the plants on which the larvee feed ;
and birds which build in low shrubs may, in default
of finding such shelter, resort to hedges, but are not
likely to accept forest trees as a substitute. Herba-
ceous plants, and even fungi, have great dependence

44 THE WOODLANDS.

upon undergrowth. After a period of some years,
when the woodcutter clears away acres of under-
growth, leaving the gaunt and bare trunks of the
timber trees standing like spectre sentinels, the whole
character of the herbaceous vegetation exhibits a
marked change. Plants never seen under the shadow
of bushes now appear in profusion, and in the autumn
scores of fungi, which before were sought in vain,
become plentiful. The following are the principal
shrubs usually found as undergrowth :—

The Hazeu! composes almost the entire under-

HAZEL NUTS.

growth in some woodlands, where it is the delight of
squirrels, and small boys, in the autumn, when its
filberts are ripe. The prevalence of this shrub origi-
nated the names of several such places as Hazelbury
in Wilts Hazelingfield m Cambridgeshire, and Hazel-

1 Corylus avellana.

SMALL TREES, SHRUBS, AND COPPICE. 45

mere in Surrey. In Kent it abounds in all the native
woods.

In the dark ages the hazel was esteemed for its sup-
posed divining powers. More recently magic powers
were believed to be possessed by hazel-nuts burnt on
All-Hallows eve, as described by Gray :—

‘* Two hazel nuts I threw into the flame,
And to each nut I gave a sweetheart’s name.
This, with the loudest bounce me sore amazed,
That with a flame of brightest colour blazed.
As blazed the nut, so may thy passion grow,
For ’twas thy nut that did so brightly glow.”

The Cornet or Docwoop! claims a passing notice,
although more of a hedge plant than an undergrowth.
It is of ancient repute, for

‘* His cornel spear
Ulysses waved, to rouse the savage war.”

This tree, which furnished the ancients with javelins,.
supplies the moderns with skewers. Parkinson says’
it was called dogwood because its fruit was not even
fit for dogs. The young branches are of a beautiful
reddish colour, which become very conspicuous in
winter, when all the trees are bare; and in the
autumn the leaves of the dogwood assume bright
tints, which give a pleasing variety to the usual
sombre brown. This shrub is confined chiefly to
chalky soils, and is by no means uncommon in the
south of England.

1 Cornus sanguinea.

46 THE WOODLANDS.

The Wrttows are chiefly found in swampy situa-
tions; in marshes, beside rivers, and such places,
where a plentiful moisture can be secured. One
species, however, is common as an undergrowth in
woods, and that is the goat willow or sallow,! with
its broad elliptical greyish-green leaves, downy and
hoary on the under surface. It is chiefly the catkins
of this species which are collected by children on
Easter Sunday, and called “palm,” a relic of the
Catholic ceremony formerly performed in memory of
our Saviour’s entry into Jerusalem. The early flowering
of this willow in spring is considered of importance
to bees as furnishing them with food as their winter
stores become exhausted. ‘This is also the principal
willow which propagates itself by seeds, the others,
for the greater part, being propagated by cuttings.
The willows of Babylon were probably the “ weeping
willow.” 2

The Hotty® is a great favourite, with its spiny,
glossy, evergreen leaves and red berries ; and in most
woods a few bushes will be found scattered amongst
the undergrowth. This tree was formerly called
Hulver in some parts of England, and is still known
by it in Norfolk. It had the name of Holme in the
southern counties, and gave its name to many places
where it grew in plenty, as Holmwood, near Dorking ;
and Evelyn says that the vale near his house in
Surrey was Holmesdale. The name of Holly is an
undoubted corruption of oly. Dr. Turner, one of

) Salix caprea. 2 Salix Babylonica.
“ex aquifoliunt.

SMALL TREES, SHRUBS, AND COPPICE. 47

our earliest writers on plants, calls it the ‘‘ Holy tree.”
In Germany, Denmark, and Sweden it is ‘ Christ-
dorn,” or a modified form of that name, evidently
indicating its religious associations. Phillips says,
“The great feast of Saturn (in ancient Britain) was
held in December ; and as the oaks of this country
were then without
leaves, the priests
obliged the people to
bring in boughs and
sprigs of evergreens ;
and Christians, on the
twenty-fifth of the same
month, did the like;
from whence originated
the present custom of
placing holly and other
evergreens in our
churches and houses,
to show the feast of
Christmas is arrived.” No evergreen is so much
esteemed for Christmas decoration as the holly, and
the berries are in some places known as Christmas
berries.

Pliny says that Tiburtus built the city of Tibur near
three holly trees, and that these trees were standing in
his own time, and must therefore have been one thou-
sand two hundred years old. He also says that there
was a holly tree then growing near the Vatican in Rome,
on which was fixed a plate of brass with an inscription
in Tuscan, and that this tree was older than Rome
itself, which must have been more than eight hundred

HOLLY LEAF,

48 THE WOODLANDS.

years. Undoubtedly the holly will obtain a great
age and a considerable size. Withering mentions
large holly trees growing on the north of the Wrekin,
in Shropshire ; and trees sixty feet in height are said
to have grown near Frensham in Surrey. In the old
forests, as at Needwood, and the New Forest, as well
as in forests on the Dee and the Findhorn, in Scot-
land, holly abounds : in many instances the trees are
of considerable size. It is narrated in an old book
entitled “ Paradise of Plants,” that its author knew a
holly tree which grew in an orchard, and the owner
cut it down, caused it to be sawn into boards, and
made himself thereof a coffin, and, if I mistake not,
left enough to make his wife one also. Both the
parties were very corpulent, and therefore we may
imagine that the tree could not be small.

The belief that the leaves of the holly are always
spiny below, and without spines on the upper branches,
is more poetical than true.

The Mountain AsuH,! sometimes called the
“rowan,” is a well-known, but small tree or shrub,
which is conspicuous by its bunches of bright red
berries in the autumn. The compound leaves are
not unlike those of the ash, but it is more nearly
related to the pear and apple-tree, although this
would hardly be suspected by any except the bota-
nist. Ancient poets state that the Amazons formed
their spears of this wood, by which they boldly de-
fended themselves against mortals. In Wales, Evelyn
observes that in his time it was reputed so sacred

1 Pyrus aucuparia,

SMALL TREES, SHRUBS, AND COPPICE. 49

that there was not a churchyard without one of them
planted in it. It was one of the Druidical trees, and
Lightfoot says that it has been observed to grow

MOUNTAIN ASH,

more frequently than any in the neighbourhood of
the ancient circles of stones so often seen in North
Britain.

The BeErserry! is rather a hedge plant than a

! Berberis vulgaris.
E

50 THE WOODLANDS.

woodland shrub, but sometimes it will be found as
an undergrowth. ‘The branches are armed with long
straight sharp spines; and its drooping bunches of
bright yellow flowers are succeeded-by clusters of
shining bright red fruit. There is in many localities
a very strong prejudice against the berberry as a
hedge plant, on account of the current opinion that
it is in some way the cause of mildew in wheat.

Loudon says that this tree will live for two or
three centuries without increasing much in size. It
is found on Mount Etna, Mount Lebanon, and on
the slopes of the Himalayas, so that it has a wide
range. A medicinal extract is still made in India
from the wood and root, apparently identical with
that known to the ancients, derived from the same
source, two thousand years ago.

The Exper! is much used in some places for
hedges on account of its rapid growth, but beyond
this it is thoroughly useless, if we except its juicy
berries, which in many country localities still serve to
produce a domestic wine,—an old-fashioned Christ-
mas favourite. In woodlands this shrub, with its
malodorous flowers, still lingers amongst the under-
growth. It is an antique belief that the strong-
smelling flowers of the elder are injurious to health.
Evelyn mentions a story of a certain house in Spain
being seated amongst elder trees, which diseased and
killed almost all the inhabitants, but when the trees
were dug up, it became a wholesome place. The elder
was considered by the ancients to be emblematical of

1 Sambucus nigra.

SMALL TREES, SHRUBS, AND COPPICE. 51

death and sorrow, probably because it was said to
produce a narcotic stupor in those who slept beneath

SPINDLE TREE.

its shade, and sometimes to occasion death. Hence
all poetical allusions are of a mournful character.
The SPINDLE-TREE! flourishes in woods upon a

1 Luonymus Europaus.
E 2

52 THE WOODLANDS.

chalky soil, and is common in Kentish woods,
although as a small straggling bush. The curious
quadrangular fruits are rose-coloured or whitish,
splitting at the top in a cruciate manner, and ex-
hibiting the orange-coated seeds. The English name
of Prick-wood alludes te the employment of the
wood for toothpicks and skewers, which were for-
merly called “pricks.” In some of the Scottish
woods the trees abound, and are of a larger size than
in England. In Forfarshire they may be seen from
twenty-five to thirty-five feet in height, with trunks a
foot and upwards in diameter. In Germany the
wood is still said to be used for making spindles,
whence originated the name of “spindelbaum,” or
spindle-tree ; but, besides this, the sticks are bored,
and used as shanks for the earthenware tobacco-
pipes so universally in use amongst the Germans.
The GUELDER RosE,! and its companion the
Mealy Guelder Rose,? mingle in the undergrowth of
woods on the south side of London, apparently pre-
ferring a chalky soil. In its wild condition the
former does not produce the round white clusters of
abortive flowers, resembling a snowball, which are
the ornament of the cultivated variety, but the smaller
and irregular tufts really produced are fertile towards
the centre. The mealy Guelder Rose is very con-
spicuous in the autumn and winter, when the large
flat clusters of bright red berries are nodding and
bending beneath their own weight. The young twigs
and large elliptical leaves on the underside are

1 Viburnum Opulus. 2 Viburnum Lantana.

SMALL TREES, SHRUBS, AND COPPICE. 53

covered with a dense coating of stellate hairs, which
give the shrub a hoary or mealy appearance. The
Dutch are said to have named this the Geldersche
Roose, because they had it from Guelderland.

The BuckTHorn! is almost exclusively a hedge
plant, but the Alder Buckthorn? is not uncommon in
some woods, although totally absent from others. It
is certainly local inits distribution. There are several
species of Rhamnus, or buckthorn, more or less cul-
tivated, but the above are the only kinds we have
seen in woods. All of these contain a large amount
of colouring matter, both in the bark and the berries,
so that both are employed in dyeing. The yellow
berries, or Turkey berries, imported into this country
from the Levant, as a dye, are produced by two
kinds of AAamnus, which do not fruit here. The
small, greenish-white flowers of this shrub are said to
be particularly grateful to bees; the name of frangula
is said to be applied to it because of the brittleness of
its branches, but why it should be called the alder
buckthorn is not so clear, as it does not resemble the
alder in any feature.

_ The Box-TREE* was formerly much more common
with us than now. In the time of Gerarde it was
said to grow upon sundry waste and barren hills in
England. And Parkinson states that in the time
of Charles I. it was found with us in many woods.
Boxwell, in Gloucestershire, was so named from the
box ; and Box-hill had its origin from the same plant.

1 Rhamnus catharticus. ° 3 Buxus sempervirens.
2 Rhamnus frangula.

54 THE WOODLANDS.

The neighbourhood of Dorking is still beautified by
extensive shrubberies of box. In many parts of Asia
the box, which is a slow-growing tree, attains a con-
siderable size, and, as yet, its wood has been un-
equalled for wood-engraving, for which purpose it is
very extensively employed. Virgil says,—

** Nor box, nor limes, without their use are made,

Smooth-grain’d and proper for the turner’s trade,
Which curious hands may carve, and steel with ease invade,”

The Brirp-CHERRyY! is not uncommon in the
Scottish woods, although by no means common in
England. Gerarde says that in 1596 it grew wild in
the woods of Kent, where it was used as a stock to
graft cherries on. It is still to be met with scattered
over the Kentish woods. ‘This is a native of most
parts of Europe, and is plentiful in Northern Russia.
Birds are very fond of its berries, hence its name of
Bird-cherry, and its Latin name of padus was pro-
bably applied by the Romans after the river Padus,
the ancient name of the Po.

The SERVICE? is sometimes found in woods; but
this is not the true service-tree, which is very rare in
Britain. The wild service is still to be seen in the.
woods on the north side of London, where it was
noted as growing more than a century ago.

The WuITE BEAN-TREE? is more common than
the wild service, with its large ovate, doubly-toothed
leaves, white and woolly on the under surface. It
seems to prefer a chalky or limestone soil, but is

1 Pyrus aria. 3 Pyrus torminalis.
* Prunus padus.

SMALL TREES, SHRUBS, AND COPPICE. 55

found scattered over a great portion of the country.
This tree appears to have been known to the country
people all over Europe, for in every nation it has its

THE WHITE BEAN,

own popular name. The white beam is simply the
“white tree,” deam being the Saxon, as daum is now
the German word for “tree.” In Germany this is

56 THE WOODLANDS.

called the mealy tree (M/eh/daum), from the mealy
appearance of the under-side of the leaves. The
fruit is small, and rather acid, but not disagreeable
when bletted, or in a state of incipient decay, as
medlars are eaten. It is not usually eaten by man,
but is much relished by birds, squirrels, &c. The
beer formerly made from it by fermentation, or the
distilled spirit, does not seem to be now known.

The Aspen! is as often found in hedgerows as in
woods, but chiefly in damp situations. The leaves
are suspended on long flattened stalks, so that—

‘When zephyrs wake
The aspen’s trembling leaves must shake.”

One of the most curious superstitions respecting this
tree is that referred by Loudon to the Highlanders,
who believe that the cross of Christ was made of it,
and that, consequently, it can never rest. Old Gerarde
in his quaint manner compares the leaves to women’s
tongues, for they ‘seldom cease wagging.” Of course
women have their revenge, and do not consider
Gerarde’s book as worthy to be read. Even Sir
Walter Scott sinned in the same direction when he
wrote—
‘Oh, woman! in our hours of ease
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,

And variable as the shade
By the light quivering aspen made.”

The ALDER? is found in low swampy woods all over
Europe. In such situations it sometimes becomes

1 Populus tremula. 2 Alnus slutinosa.

SMALL TREES, SHRUBS, AND COPPICE. ST

a considerable tree, but in dry places and on moun-
tain slopes it is but a dwarf shrub. Virgil says that
the first boats were built of its wood; and Pliny
calls the wood “eternal” for water-pipes and piles
for buildings. Evelyn states that the bridge of the

ii
~

SSS OS

THE ALDER.

Rialto, in Venice, is built on piles of alder wood ;.
and Vitruvius, that the city of Ravenna was erected
on alder piles. The Dorset woodmen have a similar

58 THE WOODLANDS.

faith in its indestructibility for rafters, as expressed
in their adage,—

‘¢ Thatch me well, and keep me dry,
Heart of oak I will defy.”

One of the reasons which have been alleged to ac-
count for the absence of large alder-trees is, that the
wood is required for so many of the small uses of
man, as oak is of the large ones, that they are not
allowed to stand long enough to become large trees.
It is, nevertheless, certain that the wood is a very
useful one for many purposes. There is a little beetle
which is very destructive to the wood, and for this
reason the “sabots” made of it in France are smoked
so as to preserve them. Sir Thomas Lander sug-
gests, that if the logs be immersed in a large hole,
dug in a peat-moss, impregnating the water of the
hole with a quantity of lime, and left there for a few
months, they will be safe from attack. Probably one
of the chief uses for alder is the manufacture of
charcoal for gunpowder manufactories, it being held
in great esteem for that purpose, ‘This use is in
harmony with the poet’s description—

‘* The rigid alder its stiff image throws
Gloomy and sad, as though it scorned to please :
Emblem of woe, too great to be expressed,
Which broods in silence, and corrodes the breast.”

The Burcuer’s Broom! is a most insignificant
little evergreen, often not half a yard in height, and
seldom exceeding three feet, and yet it is to be found
scattered through woods in different parts of the

1 Ruscus aculeatus.

SMALL TREES, SHRUBS, AND COPPICE. 59

country, where it is known also as the knee-holly, or
knee-hulver. The Greeks called it by a name which
corresponds to “ prickly myrtle,” for it was known to
Greeks and Romans. What are called its leaves are
not in reality leaves, though assuming the form and
size of myrtle leaves, except in being thicker, and
terminating in a sharp prickle. The little, incon-
spicuous flowers grow from the sides of these leaves,
and there the bright red berry is finally perfected.
The plant was called butcher’s-broom (so it is said)
because of the custom of binding it into besoms for
sweeping butchers’ blocks, and defending their meat
from flies.

We might allude also to the Privet and Broom,
the Hawthorn, Sloe, and Hedge Maple, but these are
more especially plants of the hedgerows. We might
write of the beauties peculiar to spring which the
delicate green hues of the fresh-opened leaves of the
undergrowth impart to the woodlands ; of the mel-
low tints of autumn with its purple and gold; and
then conclude, as Longfellow has done—

**O what a glory doth this world put on
For him who, with a fervent heart, goes forth
Under the bright and glorious sky, and looks
On duties well performed and days well spent.
For him the wind, ay, and the yellow leaves
Shall have a voice, and give him eloquent teachings.
He shall so hear the solemn hymn, that Death
Has lifted up for all, that he shall go
To his long resting-place without a tear.”

60 THE WOODLANDS.

CHAPTER. LV.

FLOWERS AND GRASSES.

As different plants blossom at different periods of the
year, no one can expect to find all woodland flowers:
at the same time ; but in order to become acquainted
with them must make separate excursions during
spring and summer. Similarly the odours which
perfume a wood will vary, as one flower with strong
odour will reign supreme over all the rest. When
the little woodruff expands its little insignificant white
blossoms, the wood will have that peculiar scent
which resembles new-mown hay. Others not equally
pleasant will predominate at times. Whether in
flower or fruit there will ever be sufficient material at
hand for study, if the inclinations tend in that direc-
tion.
One of the earliest of flowers is—

‘‘ The coy anemone, that ne’er uncloses
Her leaves until they’re blown on by the wind.”

The wind flower, or wood anemone, as it is called,
is a very delicate little harbinger of spring. The
true leaves do not make their appearance until after
the flowering is past. The three leaf-like bodies.

FLOWERS AND GRASSES. 61

which stand together, half way up the stalk, support-
ing the flower, are not the true leaves, which latter
proceed direct from the root, but bracts, or false
leaves. The curious little black root-stocks lie dor-
mant in the ground during the winter, but begin to
sprout as soon as the snow has passed away.

The Crowfoot is another early flower, or, as it is
more commonly called, ‘ Buttercup.” There are
several species, but all of them are only known to
the majority of people as buttercups. Yet the true
buttercup of the woods is a different plant from those
of pastures or roadsides. ‘There is another name.
that of Goldilocks, which is sometimes applied to the
wood buttercup.1 The yellow flowers of all the
species are very similar in form, though differing in
size, and hence the whole plant must be studied in
order to distinguish one species from another. It is
worthy of note that although other kinds of butter-
cup, if the leaves are tasted, will be found acrid and
biting to the tongue, those of the wood crowfoot are
mild.

All the violets more or less flourish in the reputa-
tion of the sweet-scented violet. It might be pro-
pounded that the scentless violets have assumed the
form and colour of the scented species as a protec-
tion; or that the odorous violet has been evolved
from the inodorous by natural selection, for some in-
scrutable purpose. Conjectures of this kind are by
no means rare, and equally probable. All poets in
all ages have sung in praise of this “lowly flower,”

1 Ranunculus auricomius,

62 THE WOODLANDS.

and miraculous virtues have been assigned to it
which it never deserved. Homer wrote of—

‘Meadows of softest verdure purpled o’er
With violets ; it was a scene to fill
A god from heaven with wonder and delight.”

In the autumn seed-vessels are often observed on
plants of the sweet violet, when no flowers had been
previously seen. These result from inconspicuous
flowers, consisting of the essential parts, but deficient
in the floral leaves, which are produced as a second
crop. Cottagers will sometimes allude to this mys-
terious circumstance of seeds being produced without
flowers, as they believe, which adds to the reverence
with which they cherish the plant.

The only wild representative of the “Pink” of
gardens, which is found in woodlands, is the Red
Campion,! although there are two or three stitch-
worts, which belong to the same order, common in
such localities. Some of the plants of this family
are very subject to the attacks of parasitic fungi. In
some the centre of the flower, which is occupied by
the stamens, is black with the soot-like powder of one
of these parasites. In other cases the parasites are
found on the leaves, those of the little three-veined
chickweed being seldom exempt. ‘The seeds of the
red campion afford pretty objects for the microscope.
They are somewhat kidney-shaped, and rough on the
surface. A similar character prevails throughout the
family. The petals in the chickweeds are notched
at the apex, but it will be observed in the Wood

4 Selene diurna.

FLOWERS AND GRASSES. 63

Chickweed ! that this notch is so deep that the flowers
seem to consist of twice as many petals as they really
possess. Country children call the flowers of the
stitchwort ‘Ladies’ Thimbles.” How these little
white flowers come to be associated with thimbles
and stitches those learned in folk-lore alone can tell.

Saint John’s Wort indicates the dedication of a
piant bearing that name to St. John. The true St.
John’s Wort? is not a woodland species, but the
Tutsan® is not uncommon in the Kentish woods.
The flowers are of a golden yellow in all the species,
with a large number of radiating stamens in the
centre. In the days of witchcraft the St. John’s wort
was a plant of importance, for it was considered a
sovereign remedy for all diseases resulting from
magical influences. ‘That it had also other virtues
is intimated in the lines—

** Thou silver glow-worm, oh lend me thy light,
I must gather the mystic St. John’s wort to-night ;
The wonderful herb whose leaf will decide
If the coming year shall see me a bride.”

In Lower Saxony there is a superstition that if the
plant be gathered by maidens on Midsummer night
and hung up in their bedchambers, its fresh or withered
appearance in the morning will betoken whether they
are to become brides during the ensuing year.

The Cranesbills (Geranium) are sometimes to be
found in woods, but chiefly on hedgebanks and in

1 Stellaria nemorunt. 3 Hypericum androsemun.
2 Hypericum perforatum.

64 THE WOODLANDS.

waste places. The name is derived from the long ©
beak in the centre of the fruits.

The Wood Sorrel! is a delicate little plant with
three-lobed leaves, resembling those of the white
clover. The flowers are pinkish-white, on slender
peduncles, often concealed amongst the leaves, and
are called in Wales “ fairy-bells.” It has been con-
tended that this is the true “shamrock,” whilst others

WOOD SORREL.

hold that magical plant to be the white clover. The
evidence is greatly in favour of the wood sorrel,
whilst the Irish practice is in favour of clover. The
ancient Druids held the wood sorrel in veneration,

1 Oxalts acetosella.

FLOWERS AND GRASSES. 65

and the old monkish herbalists called it “ Halle-
lujah.” The taste of the leaves of this plant is a
pleasant acid, and they have been eaten in Ireland
from time immemorial as a spring salad. It is a
plant very sensitive to the changes of the atmosphere,
not only closing its flowers and folding its leaves at
sunset, but also as the result of rude handling or
blows.

Of the large number of plants belonging to the
pea-flower family only a few are sylvan in their habits.
Of these may be mentioned the Bush Vetch! and the
Wood Vetch,? the latter being the most rare of the
two—

** And where profuse the wood vetch clings

Round ash and elm in verdant rings,

Its pale and azure pencilled flower

Should canopy Titania’s bower.”
The pretty little Grass-leaved Vetch,? with its solitary
crimson flowers, is one of the stray gems of southern
woods. Before flowering the plants cannot be dis-
tinguished from the grass amongst which they grow,
and it is only by the bright flowers that they are dis-
covered ; hence the plant is considered rare. The
tuberous-rooted Bitter Vetch* is the only other plant
of the family which need be named of the whole
number of nearly eighty that are British.

The little Barren Strawberry,° so common on the
ground in woods, is with difficulty distinguished
by the uninitiated from the Wild Strawberry. So

! Vicia sepium. 4 Orobus tuberosus, L.
2 Vicia sylvatica. 5 Fotentilla fragariastrum.
3 Lathyrus nissolia. & Fragaria vesca.

F

66 THE WOODLANDS.

plentiful is the wild strawberry in the woods and forests
around the city of Vienna, that during the season the
fruit may be seen exposed for sale in the markets,
and at all the fruit shops in profusion. The little
wood strawberry is undoubtedly the parent of many
of the varieties in cultivation. The Vienna wild
strawberry is probably the “ Hautbois,” which is the

WOOD STRAWBERRY.

parent of another group of cultivated varieties. As
to the origin of the name of “ strawberry ” no feasible
explanation has yet been offered, though several have
been attempted.

The wild raspberry, as found in woods, differs less
from the commoner kinds of cultivated raspberry

FLOWERS AND GRASSES. 67

than do the strawberries. The fruit has the same
flavour, although smaller, and the habit and foliage
of the plants is almost the same. The raspberry
plant is a “ bramble” as well as the blackberry, but,
of course, a different species. Indeed, some botanists
recognize so many different species of bramble that
it is extremely difficult to distinguish one from
another, but of the difference between the raspberry
and the blackberry there is no room for doubt. Out
of the forty supposed species of bramble it would be
fruitless to attempt to distinguish those commonly
found in woods. Some of them have more pleasant
fruits than others, and some are more thorny than
others, but to us they must all remain as brambles,
and nothing more.

The wild roses are almost as prolific in species as
the brambles, and almost as difficult for the non-
scientific to distinguish from each other, except, per-
haps, in a few strongly-marked instances. There is,
for instance, the sweet-briar, which is not a woodland
species. ‘Then there is the common dog-rose, many
forms of which are found in thickets; but for more
than twenty kinds of dog-rose, some say sfecies, we
shall simply refer our readers to some _ botanical
manual in which they are fully described, declaring
simply our own faith in the “ dog-rose,” and leaving
the discovery of minor distinctions to those who have
the taste and leisure to pursue the investigation.

According to old legends, the rose was created
without thorns, which grew on the plant in conse-
quence of the wickedness of man. Poetry and
romance, in the East and the West, are rich in

F 2

68 THE WOODLANDS.

imagery, redolent with the odour of the rose. The
red and white roses occupy a place in English history
not soon to be forgotten.

Attention should be directed to a large family of
plants, some of them very useful, in which the small
flowers are usually produced at the apex of short
pedicels which radiate from a common centre, and
form a broad flat expanse of flowers, on the same
level, as in the cultivated carrot and parsnip. Of
this family some are found in woods, and amongst
them the Wood Sanicle,! in former times so highly
esteemed for its medicinal virtues that it was said
“he who keeps sanicle has no business with a doctor.”
It has been supposed that this plant, being dedicated
to Saint Nicholas, its present name is a corruption of
Saint Nickel, as “ sanicle.”

The Pig-nut, or Ground-nut, of schoolboys, is the
round tuberous root of a plant of this family,? not at
all uncommon in open places in woods, as well as
churchyards, and other open places. These roots are
about the size of a filbert, sweet and pleasant, much
relished by pigs, and they easily find them out by
their scent, and root them up.

The wild Angelica® has much of the odour of the
garden angelica, and some of its qualities. The tall
hollow stems of this and the common Cow-parsnip 4
are prominent objects in woods ; especially in autumn
and winter, when dead, withered, and dry, they stand,
four or five feet in height, as monuments of their

1 Sanicula Europea. 3 Angelica sylvestris.
2 Buniten feexuosum. 4 Heracleum spondylium.

FLOWERS AND GRASSES, 69

summer glory. The stems of a third species, in the
hemlock, are common in the same localities.

The little Woodruff, with its whorls of bright green
leaves and small white flowers, is a general favourite,
on account of its hay-like odour, which increases with
the drying of the plant, and is retained for years.

The wild Teazel! is common enough in the Kentish
woods, and was formerly in repute for the maggots
in its head, which, being suspended from the neck
of a person afflicted with ague, were said to work a
marvellous cure. Gerarde confesses that, having ‘“‘a
grievous ague, and of long continuance, notwith-
standing physicke charms, these worms hanged about
my neck, spiders put into a walnut-shell, and divers
such foolish stories, that I was constrained to take
by fantasticke people’s procurement ; notwithstanding,
I say, my helpe came from God himself, for these
medicines and all other such things did me no good
at all.”

Persons deficient in botanical knowledge, and not
in the habit of close observation, consider the flower-
ing heads of composite plants, such as the daisy and
dandelion, as simple flowers, whereas, if they would
sit down and pull one of these flowering heads in
pieces, they would find a vast number of flowers,
each more or less complete in itself, compactly seated
upon a cushion-like expansion of the top of the stem,
and thus constituting a dense head of miniature
flowers. Usually those of the margin have one of
the petals elongated, whilst those of the centre, cr

1 Dipsacus sylvestri .

7° THE WOODLANDS.

disc, have the petals equal. A little study of these
flowers by those unacquainted with their structure
will amply repay the trouble.

Some of the plants which possess a structure of
this kind are habitually found in woods. The
purple- headed
Saw - wort,!
something like
a small “‘knap-
weed ;” the tall
erect “Golden-
rod,”? at one
time called
“ woundwort ”
and enjoying
a good repute
as a vulnerary,
for which a
high price was
paid as a for-
eign herb, until
it was found
growing wild
near London,
when Gerarde
says it was
neglected ; some hawkweeds,? more easily to be
named than described, usually yellow ; and perhaps
a “sroundsel” or two, with here and there a “sow-
thistle.”4 To the ordinary observer these are very

HAWKWEED.

1 Serratula. ? Solidago. 3 eracium. 4 Sonchus.

FLOWERS AND GRASSES. Vi

uninviting flowers, and even children seldom care
to add them to their nosegays; but to the lovers
of nature’s marvels they will furnish much material
for study and reflection.

When the flowers have faded and the seeds are
ripened, these plants still furnish material for obser-
vation. Each seed, or fruit, is terminated at the
apex with slender filaments supported on a long
pedicel; sometimes these are interlaced in an ex-
panded disc, so that the appearance is not unlike a
miniature parasol. These winged fruits are borne
upon the wind to a very great distance; and the evident
use of such appendages is to aid in the dispersion of
the seeds. Let the dandelion, or any species of “ rag-
wort,” or thistle, be observed when the heads are
ripe, and this mode of dispersion will at once be
manifested. Perhaps one of the most perfect of
*‘ parachutes,” in our common composite plants, will
be found on the “ goatsbeard,” which springs up
freely on railway banks. ‘The manner in which the
seeds of plants aid in their own dispersion by the
means of wings, hooks, spines, &c., or by some
special contrivance of the capsule, is deserving of
observation.

“ Blue-bells” is a name often inaccurately given
to the wild hyacinth, but the true “blue-bells” are
undoubtedly species of Campanula. ‘The erect large
bell-flower, not uncommon in woods in the south of
England, is sometimes called Canterbury-bells,! from
its supposed resemblance to the bells carried by the

1 Campanula trachelium.

72 THE WOODLANDS.

Canterbury pilgrims. The leaves are not unlike
those of the nettle, excepting the stinging hairs. In

Y
Ze
% AZ)

NETTLE-LEAVED BELL-FLOWER.

Scotland this plant is replaced by another species
which is very rare in the south. The pretty little
hare-bell, known to every village child, and often

FLOWERS AND GRASSES. 73

called “ witches’ thimbles,” is a plant of heaths and
open places, —

‘* The hare-bell that, for her stainless azure blue,
Claims to be worn of none but those who are true.”

Heathy woods in the north are often sprinkled with
patches of the spreading, tough, wiry stems and ever-
green leaves of the red Whortleberry.! The little
pendant flowers, of a pale pink colour, grow in small
clusters, and are succeeded by a shining succulent
black berry, which may be made into tarts, and are
said to be sometimes sold as cranberries. The
bright green leaves of this plant somewhat resemble
those of the box, and the flowers are not unlike those
of some kinds of “heath.” Another species is much
more common in similar situations in the south.
This is the Bilberry,” often seen in large patches
covering the ground in woods, as in the neighbour-
hood of Shere in Surrey, and other places. The
flowers resemble those of the whortleberry, but grow
singly, and the leaves are deciduous. The berries
also are edible. These two are, properly speaking,
miniature shrubs.

One of the most conspicuous plants in the Kentish
woods, and not uncommon throughout the country,
is the Foxglove,* well known in gardens. The tall
spikes of thimble-shaped purple flowers make it an
imposing object wherever it

‘© Rears its pyramid of bells
Gloriously freckled, purple and white.”

1 Vaccinium vitis Idea. 3 Digitalis purpurea,
2 Vaccinium myrtillus.

74 THE WOODLANDS.

Whether the name of ‘foxglove” is a corruption of
folk’s-glove, in allusion to the “little folks” or fairies,
or whether it had any other origin, it would scarce
be profitable to inquire. In Wales it is still be-
lieved that fairies lurk in the pendant bells of this
flower. More prosaic persons hold with Wordsworth,
that
‘* The foxglove now in crimson tresses rich

Depends, whose freckled bells to insect tribes
Afford a canopy of velvet bliss.”

The “insect tribes” are the only “little folks” which
inhabit the foxglove bells in modern times.

The Speedwells are sometimes erroneously called
forget-me-not, but that name belongs to quite a dif-
ferent plant. Although we have several species of
speedwell, they are not common in woods. The
kinds most usually met with in such localities are the
common Speedwell! and the Germander Speedwell; ?

‘* Flower whose hedge-side gaze is like an infant’s,”

indicates that it is as common on hedge-banks. The
closing of the flowers at night is alluded to by the
Ettrick Shepherd in the lines—
“¢ When the blewart bears a pearl,
And the daisy turns a pea ;

When the bonnie lenken gowan
Has fauldit up her e’e.”

The Cow-wheat? is one of those plants which annoy
plant-collectors by its persistent habit of turning black
in drying. Why it came to be called “ Cow-wheat”

1 Veronica officinalis. 3 Melampyrum pratense.
2 Veronica chamedrys.

FLOWERS AND GRASSES. 75

has never been very satisfactorily explained. It is
said that there was an old notion that the seeds falling
to the ground were transformed into wheat, but this
would only in part ac-
count for the name. It
is a poor straggling plant,
with little to recommend
it to notice, except its
being very common in
every wood.

Two curious parasiti-
cal plants are now and
then to be met with in
woods. Neither of them
has true leaves, but the
stem is clothed with
scales. One called
* Bird’s - nest,”! at the
roots of beeches and firs ;
the other “Toothwort,” 2
growing on the roots of
hazel, oak, ash, elm, and
other trees. These are
such _ singular - looking
plants, from their livid,
pallid hue, absence of
leaves, and coarse habit,
that they are sure to be noted as curiosities by any.
one finding them.

“Sell your coat and buy betony” was an old

WOOD BETONY.:

1 Monotropa hypopitys. 2 Lathrea squamaria.

76 THE WOODLANDS.

proverb, intended to represent the great value of the
Wood Betony,! which was held in great repute, not
only for its medicinal virtues, but as a charm against
evil spirits. Unfortunately, its virtues are not equal
to its repute, as it is a plant common enough in
England, though rare in Scotland and Ireland. The
Bugle? enjoyed similar repute, but is equally of little
value. ‘This is also common in woodlands, with here
and there the ‘‘ Hedge Woundwort,” 3 and the pretty
yellow Dead-nettle or yellow Archangel.*

Of all the plants in this family none are so profuse
as the Wood Sage.* The whole plant has a bitter
taste, and is said to have been used as a substitute
for hops in brewing; at any rate it was formerly
employed as a tonic, and probably possesses useful
properties in that direction. It is a very sombre-
looking plant, with its green flowers and dull sage-
hike leaves. In some parts of France it is called
Ambrosia.

The true Forget-me-not (JZyosotis) is an aquatic
species—

“* By rivulet, or wet road-side,

That blue and bright-eyed flow’ret of the brook,
Hope’s gentle gem, the sweet forget-me-not.”

But there are similar plants in woods, such as the
wood Forget-me-not, which is almost confined to
Scotland, and the field Forget-me-not,* which is occa-
sionally met with in woods, but is a poor substitute

' Stachys betonica. 4 Lamium galeobdolon.

2 Ajuga reptans. ° Teucrium scorodonia,

3 Stachys sylvatica, 8 Myosotis arvensis.
Ty,

FLOWERS AND GRASSES. dh

for the flower of “the rivulet or wet roadside.” The
old story of the drowning knight who cast to his
ladye-love a handful of these flowers, exclaiming,
“Forget me not,” as he was carried away by the
stream, is cherished as the poetical origin of the
name.

Scarcely less cherished is the Primrose, the memory
of which haunts the exile from his native land. As an
illustration of this, it is said that a living plant was car-
ried over to Australia, where it was publicly exhibited
in one of the large towns, and was visited by thou-
sands. Many who saw it then thought little of it in
their native land. They were like him of whom it is
written—

‘* A primrose by the river’s brim
Or by the cottage door,

A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more.”

In towns and villages there is a little plant much
cherished by cottagers under the name of “ Creeping
Jenny,” which grows wild by the side of ditches. A
similar plant is common in woods, with rather smaller
yellow flowers, but the same creeping habit. It is
the “ Yellow Pimpernel,”! with the form, but without
the romance and poetry, of the scarlet pimpernel or
*‘ poor man’s weather-glass.”

Docks, of course, will assert themselves amongst
trees as well as amongst corn, and, consequently,
here we meet with the Red-veined Dock? as well as
in hedges, and sometimes one or other of the field-

1 Lystmachia nemorum. 2 Rumex sanguineus.

7k er THE WOODLANDS.

loving docks, with the common Sorrel,! in open
spaces. Plants so universally common could scarce
be absent anywhere. Old Culpepper says that all

THE WOOD SPURGE.

docks boiled with meat make it boil the quicker.
The sorrel appears plentifully during summer in the

! R. acetosa.

FLOWERS AND GRASSES. 79

markets of Paris as a salad. It might prove bene-
ficial to our healths, in this meat-loving country, if
we acquired a little more of the Continental pre-
dilection for vegetables and salads.

The Wood Spurge! is the only spurge usually
found in woods: other of the woodland species are
all rare. These plants are so filled with a milky
juice that wherever broken, or a leaf plucked, the
white milk oozes from the wound. This juice is
somewhat of the nature of caoutchouc or India-
rubber when evaporated. The dried juice of some
of the large Indian spurges is employed to some
extent as a substitute for gutta-percha. The milk of
the spurges is acrid and poisonous.

The Herb Mercury? often covers large patches
several square yards in extent, about a foot high, and
not altogether unlike young nettles. Some of the
plants are males and others are females, but both
grow harmoniously together. If the leaves are
steeped in water, they are said to afford a blue
colouring matter, somewhat like indigo, but very
fugitive. Children gathering flowers may be re-
minded that nettles will grow in woods. The flowers
in mercury and nettles are green, small, and very
uninteresting to any except botanists, or those who
desire to become such. There is, however, a sug-
gestion of interest in the fact stated above, that in
these plants there are separate male and female
flowers, and these sometimes on different plants.
How do the ovaries become fertilized under ‘such

1 Euphorbia amygdaloides. ® Mercurialis perennis.

So THE WOODLANDS.

circumstances? Modern investigation has shown
that this is accomplished largely by means of the
agency of insects. Bees and flies entering certain
flowers brush off the pollen and carry it away with
them ; they enter other flowers and the pollen is left
behind, adhering to the stigma. An entire volume
of considerable size, teeming with facts, has been
written on this simple subject, especially with re-
ference to one order of plants, the Orchids. It is
impossible to summarize such a work in a few lines :
the conclusion may be thus stated. Insects and
other agencies are constantly at work, contributing to
the fertilization of plants.

The orchids are plants which abound in damp
tropical forests. The flowers have the most singular
of forms, often resembling insects; and the structure
of them is very peculiar, indeed, so much so, that
external agencies are essential to achieve their ferti-
lization. Some orchids are epiphytal, growing upon
trees; others are terrestrial, growing on the ground.
Terrestrial orchids are the only kinds represented in
our flora, and of these several species occur in woods.
The flowers are very irregular in form, sometimes with
a sweet spicy odour, without any true stamens, but
the pollen combined in two compact waxy masses,
the roots in many cases furnished with a tuber, which
is replaced by a new one every year.

One of the commonest of wood orchids is the Tway-
blade,! with a pair of leaves, between which rises a
spike of small green flowers. Another common

! Listera ovata.

FLOWERS AND GRASSES. 81

species is the Spotted Orchis,! with smooth shining
spotted leaves, and a dense spike of pinkish flowers.
There is also the Purple Orchis,? the Bird’s-nest Orchis,?
and the Helleborines,* with occasionally one or two
others. Many of the species prefer a calcareous soil,
and some of the most attractive grow on open downs.
They are all interesting and instructive when studied
by the light of modern investigation.

The Stinking Iris ® is one of the wild representatives
of the Garden Iris, or ‘‘ Flag.” It has sword-shaped
leaves and purplish flowers. When ripe, the three-
limbed capsule splits down each division and exposes
the bright red seeds. It is by no means uncommon
in the chalky woods of the South, but is rare in the
North. The leaves when crushed have a strong
odour, which is sickly and oppressive, but hardly foetid.

The curious “ Herb Paris”® is very local, but it
occurs generally in woods. It is one of the plants
which, when once seen, will always afterwards be
recognized, from its weird and singular appearance.

The sweet little “Lily of the Valley”? we have
seen extending for a great distance over the ground in
some of the Kentish woods and elsewhere.

“* The lily-of-the-vale, whose virgin flower
Trembles at every breeze, beneath its leafy bower,”
is sometimes called ‘‘Jacob’s Ladder,” and is con-
sidered the type of humility. The fragrance of its
fresh blossoms is universally admired, and it is by

1 Orchis maculata. 5 Tris feetidissima.
2 Orchis mascula. 6 Paris quadrifolia.
3 Neottia nidus-avis. 7 Convallaria maalis.

* Cephaianthera.

82 THE WOODLANDS.

no means surprising that many poets have sung its
praises. The larger, but less admired, and less
common ‘Solomon’s Seal,”! is sometimes found in
woods.

THE HERB PARIS.

The wild wood Hyacinth,? with its drooping blue
flowers, is so common and so great a favourite that
a spring nosegay of wild flowers would seem imper-
fect without it. Children will always call them
“bluebells,” although the Campanula alone merits

1 Polyconatum multiflorunt. 2 Scilla nutans.
VS

FLOWERS AND GRASSES. 83

that name. In spring some woods seem to be
carpeted with green and blue from the profusion of
these flowers, which deserve always to be associated
with “ buttercups and daisies ” and primroses.

The only wild Garlic we have met with in woods
is the Ramsons.! It has a strong odour of garlic,
and is said to be a great favourite with the Russians
as a seasoning for their food :—

‘¢ Eat leeks in Tide, and ramsons in May,
And all the year after physicians may play.”

After all these there still remain some plants which
have flowers so insignificant that they are not popu-
larly classed with flowers at all, but receive the
general and vague designation of grasses. Not that
they are all grasses which the popular application of
the word includes, but they are grass-like in their
appearance and in the character of their flowers.
This group includes the rushes, the sedges, and the
grasses. The rushes are associated in one’s mind
with marshes and swamps, but there are what are
termed wood-rushes, which have leaves that resemble
those of grasses and the flowers of rushes. Two of
these may be named as the most common—they are
the Hairy Wood-rush? and the Great Wood-rush.®
The leaves are fringed with long soft hairs, unlike
those of any grass; and when in flower the rigid,
erect, branched flower-stalk, not to hint at botanical
distinctions, more resembles a rush.

The sedges again resemble grasses in the form of
their leaves, but they are more rigid, usually larger

1 Aliium ursinum. ? Luzula pilosa. * Luzula sylvatica.
G 2

84 THE WOODLANDS.

and coarser, and more addicted to swamps. The
wood Club-rush ! reaches the height of three feet in
damp corners of woods ; the great drooping serge,?
with its long pendulous “ cat’s-tail” spikes is easily
recognized ; as also the pendulous wood:sedge,’ with
its looser, more straggling spikes. There are also a
few smaller species commonly sylvan in their habits,
but offering no special cause for mention.

The true grasses—some of them are the same as are
found in lanes and by roadsides, such as the common
Cock’s-foot, and the sweet-scented vernal grass,* which
has the odour of melilot in drying, and, in fact, gives
the odour to new-mown hay. ‘Then there will be
found the tall Brome-grass;> the rough Brome-
grass ;° the wood Couch-grass ;7 the Oat-grass ; 8 the
wood reed ;® and the false Brome-grass.!° In addition
to these will doubtless be the tufted Hair-grass,!! and
the Soft-grass,!” which will not by any means exhaust
the list.

Grasses are particularly subject to two kinds of
parasites. One consists of a soot-like dust which
smothers and destroys the flowering heads, and is
known as smut,!3 common to all the cultivated grains
as well as the grasses. The other is a black, hard,
horny body, which absorbs and takes the place of

1 Scirpus sylvaticus. 8 Arrhenatherum avenaceum,
2 Carex pendula. 9 Calamagrostis epigetos.

5 Carex sylvatica. 10 Brachypodium sylvaticum.
4 Anthoxanthum odoratum. N Atra cespitosa.

5 Bromus giganteus. 12 Ffolcus mollis.

6 Bromus asper. 13. U/stilago carbo.

7

Triticum caninum,

FLOWERS AND GRASSES. 85

some of the seeds, standing out like a spur from the
scales of the flower-heads, and is known as “ Ergot.”
These are two of the most common diseases of the
grass tribe, all the world over, except perhaps the
“rust” and the “ mildew,” which are about equally
common. As for the insectivorous pests of grasses
these are almost multitudinous. We can only suggest
that the vegetable and animal parasites of the grasses
and rushes are so numerous that an entire volume of
considerable size might be filled with mere descrip-
tions of them.

86 THE WOODLANDS.

CHAPTER V.

FERNS, MOSSES, AND LIVERWORTS.

THE cultivation of ferns has of late years become so
universal, that it has tended very much to spread a
more accurate knowledge of these interesting plants,
and at the same time not alittle towards reducing the
number of plants growing wild of our rarer species.
The woodland ferns are in most instances widely dis-
tributed species, including the majority of the larger
and more imposing kinds. The mountain species
are small and comparatively rare. It is the latter
which are most suitable for growing under shades
and in Wardian cases, for which most of the wood-
land species are not fitted. Fern spores, analogous
to seeds, are produced in capsules, collected in tufts
on the underside of the fronds, or leaves. In olden
times fern-seed was supposed to possess magical
powers if gathered on Midsummer-eve. Grose says,
“A person who went to gather it reported that the
spirits whisked by his ears, and sometimes struck his
hat and other parts of his body; and at length when
he thought he had got a good quantity of it and
secured it in papers and a box, when he came home
he found both empty.”

FERNS, MOSSES, AND LIVERWORTS. 87

Brand narrates the experience of a man who in
1793, told him that when young he was often present
at the ceremony of catching the fern-seed at mid-
night on the eve of St. John Baptist. ‘ The attempt,”
he said, ‘‘ was often unsuccessful, for the seed was to
fall into the plate of its own accord, and that too
without shaking the plant.” Our ancestors imagined
that ferns produced seed which was invisible ; hence
they concluded that those who possessed the secret of
wearing this seed about them would become invisible.

Ben Jonson writes,—
*<T had
No medicine, sir, to go invisible,
No fern-seed in my pocket.”

No fern is better known than the “ Brake,” or
“‘ Bracken,” ! which is not only common on heaths
and open places, but equally so in woods, so that it
is difficult to say in which place it is most plentiful.
It is a gaunt, ungainly plant, but when growing in
large quantities is not without beauty. The name
aquilina is from the Latin aguzla, an eagle, because
when the stem is cut across there is a dark mark
shown on the section, which has been supposed to
resemble a spread eagle. In an old English book
printed in 1551, this supposition is alluded to : “ Pera-
venture they ymagyne the symylytude of a tode to be
there, evyn as we suppose when we cutte the fearne-
stalke there to be an egle.” It has been said that
this plant is of no use whatever ; but in the North it
was formerly the custom to mow it green, and, burn-

1 Pteris aquilina.

$38 THE WOODLANDS.

ing it to ashes, make those ashes up into balls with a
little water, which they then dried in the sun and
made use of to wash their linen instead of soap. It
is also certa‘u that they are, even nowadays, employed
for packing fruit; and it has been stated on good
authority, that apples stored for the winter, when laid
upon and covered with bracken, are much better pre-
served than in any other way.

The male fern! is almost as common, but the
plants are less gregarious in their habit. Plants
found in woods are seldom so luxurious as those met
with in damp shazty lanes. In the latter situations
fronds will be seen a yard in length, with a rootstock,
formed by the remains of the fronds of previous
years, standing up six inches above the ground, after
the manner of tropical tree-ferns. Young plants trans-
planted from woods into gardens, speedily accommo-
date themselves to the change, and this requires
scarcely any attention thereafter.

The female fern ? must be sought in damper situa-
tions.

‘* Search for her in the summer woods,

Where rills keep moist the ground.”
We have seen it growing at the head of Bala Lake
with fronds five feet in length, and thirty to forty in
a single tuft proceeding from the same root. It is
a much more delicately cut and graceful fern than the
male fern, but does not always succeed so well when
transplanted. Perhaps none is more given to varia-
tion under cultivation. Some of the cultivated
varieties are wholly unlike the original. Poets have

1 Lastrea Filix-mas. 2 Athyrium Filix-femina.

FERNS, MOSSES, AND LIVERWORTS. 89

shown special attention to this fern, and in addition
to the beautiful lines of Calder Campbell, which are
too long to quote entire, there is a happy allusion to
its haunts by Sir Walter Scott :—

‘* Where the copse-wood is the greenest,
Where the fountain glistens sheenest,
Where the morning dew lies longest,
There the lady fern grows strongest.”

Another fern with some external resemblance in its:
habit to the female fern, is found in damp woods.

THE POLYPODY.

It has no good characteristic common name, but is:
known to botanists as Lastrea dilatata. It is often
found with the male fern, and seems to affect similar
localities.

go THE WOODLANDS.

Less common than any of these is the Shield fern,!
both on hedge-banks and in woods. It is quite dis-
tinct in its habit of growth, and comparatively smaller.

Of course the common polypody will be seen in old
forests and woods on pollard trunks.

The Hart’s Tongue,? with its glossy green, smooth
fronds, like green ribbons, has sometimes been called
the Seaweed fern. It loves moisture, combined with
shade, but is very indiscriminate in its choice of
locality. In some woods we have remarked it in
great profusion, in others scarce a frond could be seen.
Up an old wall, down a well, on a bank, under a
rotten stump, it would be difficult to name all the
possible places for this erratic fern.

The Hard fern,? or Rough Spleenwort, as it was
called in olden times, will often retain some of its
fronds green throughout the winter. Damp situations
in woods, as well as heaths, sometimes furnish this
plant plentifully, but it is by no means so success-
fully transplanted as the Hart’s-tongue, and will often
die off under cultivation.

Those who would make a botanical collection of
ferns must select clean perfect fronds which are fully
mature, taking care that they are well in fruit, that is,
that the clusters of spores are formed on the under
surface. ‘The entire length of the stipe, or foot-stalk,
should also be secured down to its point of attach-
ment. These fronds may be dried between sheets of
bibulous paper in the same manner as other plants.

1 Polystichum angulare. 3 Blechnum spicant.
2 Scolopendrium vulgare.

FERNS, MOSSES, AND LIVERWORTS. 91

For cultivation, the small or seedling plants should
be selected, as these are most likely to succeed ; they
should be dug up, and not pulled up, with a portion
of the soil attached, forming a ball round the roots.

THE HARD FERN,

Lower in the scale of being, but not less beautiful,
are the mosses. They may not have so many en-
thusiastic admirers as the ferns, perhaps because they
are smaller, and rather more difficult to determine,

g2 THE WOODLANDS.

principally because fashion, that tyrant of modern
society, has not yet taken them under protection.
Many of them may be cultivated in a similar manner
to ferns, but—their time has not yet come.

The fruit of mosses is a capsule, borne at the top
of a stalk or stem, which is sometimes almost sup-
pressed, and surmounted by a lid or operculum, which
falls away and allows the spores to be dispersed.
Some species have a branched straggling habit, others
are almost reduced to a rosette of miniature leaves,
and these generally gregarious. For all the mysteries
of growth, reproduction, and classification, we must
refer the reader to the manuals which are specially
devoted to this subject.

Hasselquist considers that the wise king of Israel
was conversant with mosses, and that the hyssop on
the wall of which he discoursed was a small moss
still found growing on the walls of Jerusalem. Be
this as it may, the smallest or the meanest thing is
not beneath the consideration of the truly wise.
Pascal observed that “man is placed in the middle
between the two infinities—the infinitely great, and
the infinitely little—both of which are incomprehen-
sible to him.” The microscope has helped him to
some knowledge of the latter, but only sufficient to
expose still more his ignorance, and convince him of
how little it is he knows. The microscope may be
requisite to understand the structure and minute
characters of mosses, but very much may be accom-
plished in studying them by the aid of a simple lens.

That earnest lover of nature, John Ruskin, thus
writes of mosses : “ No words that I know of will say

FERNS, MOSSES, AND LIVERWORTS. 93

what these mosses are; none are delicate enough,
none perfect enough, none rich enough—as the earth’s
first mercy, so they are its
last gift to us. When all
other service is vain from
plant and tree, the soft
mosses and gray lichen
take up their watch by the
head-stone. The woods,
the blossoms, the gift-
bearing grasses have done
their parts for a time, but
these do service for ever.
Trees for the builder’s
yard, flowers for the
bride’s chamber, corn for
the granary, moss for the
grave. Yet, as in one
sense, the humblest, in
another, they are the
most honoured of the
earth-children ; unfading
as motionless, the warm
summer frets them not,
and the autumn wastes
not. Strong in lowliness,
they neither blanch in
heat, nor pine in frost.
To them, slow- fingered,
constant - headed, is_ en-
trusted the weaving of
the dark eternal tapes-

COMMON HAIR-MOSS,

94 THE WOODLANDS.

tries of the hills; to them, slow-pencilled, iris-dyed,
the tender framing of their endless imagery.”

One of the first, as one of the largest, most
common, and easily distinguished of mosses found
growing on the ground in woods is the common
Hair-moss.1 The simple stems are from a few
inches to a foot in length, growing in large dense
patches, of a deep green, with narrow sharp-pointed
leaves; the prominent capsules standing erect on
their long stalks and surmounted by a hood, sharp-
pointed at the top, not unlike an extinguisher. It is
much used by the Laplanders for beds ; brooms and
dusters have been made of it. The tired wanderer
will not despise it for a lounge.

A smaller species with similar general characters
is also common in the same localities, which is some-
times called the dwarf Hair-moss.? It does not
occur in such large patches, and its botanical name
is derived from its supposed resemblance to a minia-
ture aloe.

In these mosses the tops of the stems will often be
seen to present a beautiful starlike
appearance, certain supplementary
developments of gemme, here and
there brightly coloured, which de-
serve attention and study, but it
would take us into too wide a di-
DWARF HAIR-Moss. gression to do more than suggest

them.

Mungo Park and his moss has been so often alluded

1 Polytrichum commute. 2 Polytrichum aloides.

FERNS, MOSSES, AND LIVERWORTS. 95

to, and the anecdote related so many times, that we
need not repeat it.
“© One tiny tuft of moss alone,
Mantling with freshest green a stone,
Fix’d his delighted gaze ;
Through bursting tears of joy he smiled,
And while he raised the tendril wild,
His lips o’erflow’d with praise.”

This little moss, with its small plume-shaped
branches, “ frequently of a deep metallic-green colour,
are seen reviving under the influence of autumn’s
showers on almost every shaded clayey bank, as it
seems to shun spots that are much exposed to the
light.! The interest is increased when, towards the
close of winter, its dark green capsules throw off the
protecting lid, and display the bright red peristome,
closing or expanding according to the state of the
atmosphere.”

There is another moss,? allied to this in some
respects, which grows in extensive patches, but is
more common in marshy places than woods. The
stems are sometimes four inches in length, but the
distinctive characters of these species would be too
technical for our present purpose, and it is hardly
possible without them to convey an accurate idea of
their differences. Nevertheless, the “‘ Broom Moss,”
is one which is almost certain to attract attention.
The dense tufts are yellowish green, and from two to
four inches in height. The capsules are mature at
the end of summer, chestnut-coloured, and slightly

: , ; , ee
1 Dicranum bryoides. 3 Dicranum scoparium.
2 Dicranum undulatum.

96 THE WOODLANDS.

curved, the lid being surmounted by a long beak.
The long, narrow, pointed leaves are directed towards
one side, so as to impart a peculiar appearance,
which is readily recognized.

** How glorious are the summer woods,
Where the bright broom fork-moss grows ;
With their gush of love-born melody,
And their world of verdant boughs.”

The microscope has made many persons acquainted
with the capsules of a moss, which are often exhibited
to admiring friends by the possessors of that instru-
ment. These capsules are so sensitive to moisture
that when breathed upon, the teeth of the margin,
called peristome, expand like the tentacles of a minia-
ture sea anemone, and then, as the moisture evaporates,
close again. It is sometimes called the “Cord Moss,”
but in this case it is, perhaps, better known by its
scientific name of /unaria hygrometrica, or as the
hygrometric moss.

Those scorched places in woods where charcoal
has been burnt is a favourite locality for this little
moss, which the French consequently call Ja Char-
bonniere. The orange-red capsules are pear-shaped,
with the mouth turned over on one side, and may be
found throughout the summer in such a locality.

The most common of the tufted mosses which
grow on the trunks of trees are certain species of
Orthotrichum. They grow in round, more or less com-
pact tufts, are often of a dull deep green, and the
leaves are very susceptible of moisture when dry,
being often curved, twisted, and contorted, but as

FERNS, MOSSES, AND LIVERWORTS. 97

soon as moistened, becoming more or less expanded.
In many of the species the capsule is closely seated
amongst the leaves, in others it is shortly stalked.
The capsules are marked downwards with eight
coloured strize, rarely more, and are often very hand-
some. ‘The most common species has erect flaccid
leaves,! rather pale capsules, and a pale green hairy
hood at first covering them. In another species the
long trumpet-shaped capsule,” with its outer fringe
of eight broad reflexed teeth, looks something like the
flowers of a minute heath.

The Thyme-leaved moss? is one of the commonest
and most attractive of the terrestrial species in damp
woods. The beautiful bright green of the delicate
crisped leaves, its spreading habit, and peculiar
appearance are sure to rivet the attention, although
it is not common to find it bearing its lisse capsules
in this country.

In all the examples hitherto cited the capsules are
terminal, that is, produced at the end of the stem or its
branches. ‘There are, however, many species in
which the capsules spring from the sides of the stems
or branches, and these are mostly of a straggling
habit, spreading and branching considerably, and
consequently presenting quite a different appearance
even to the untutored eye.

Two of these species are met with amongst grass
in woods, the acute leaves of which are bent back so
as to give a rough scaly appearance to the long wiry

1 Orthotrichum affine. 3 Mnium undulatum.
? Orthotrichum crispum.

H

98 THE WOODLANDS.

branches. Though in many respects they are very
like each other, they are very different, on account of
their rough squarrose habit, from other woodland
species.

Others of this family are flattened, with the branches
all on the same plane, one imitating on a reduced

THE THYME-LEAVED MOSS.

scale the branches of a cypress, another something
like a delicate fern, with deeply-cut fronds ; others,
equally elaborate in their ramification, are glossy,
silky, glittering, and are, as far as beauty of form is
concerned, the princes of the mossy tribe.

How fruitless is it in a running commentary of this
character to give any satisfactory idea of the variety
of form, the diversity of character, and yet withal the

FERNS, MOSSES, AND LIVERWORTS. 99

harmony of design which prevail in these small and
humble plants. They are without odour to attract,
without gaudy flowers to allure, or luscious fruits to
entice, not only the pleasure-seeking butterfly and the
honey-seeking bee, but even the human lounger in the
woods. They appeal not to any power of gratifying
the taste or the smell as an apology for existence, but,
humbly and without ostentation, perform the task
allotted to them in the world. Thus silently, in their
myriad forms, scattered from pole to pole, from the
burning tropics nearly to the limits of eternal snow,
preachers are they, to those whose ears are attuned
to their accents, of the wondrous power, the infinite
wisdom of the great Father of all.

Under the name of Liverworts, or Hepatice,a
small group of plants, similar in some respects to the
mosses, are distributed over similar stations. As with
the mosses, so some of these are found on the ground,
on the bark of trees, on rocks, beside springs and
streams, in bogs, &c. Some are sylvan in their habits,
others belong to moors and open places. The number
of species is small, and their omission would hardly
be of importance were it not for the fact that the differ-
ence of structure in the fruit is such as even to attract
the attention of the non-scientific.

Passing over the leaves, and the mode in which
they are arranged on the stem, those of the family
which occur in woods produce capsules which when
matured split into four valves or segments, which fall
back, and assume a stellate form. These capsules

* Hyprnum triquetrum and Hypnum squarresum.
H 2

I0o

THE WOODLANDS.

contain within them the spores, mixed with thread-like
filaments called elaters. These elaters are subject to
the influences of moisture and dryness, being formed
of spirals, which uncoil or coil under hygrometric

JUNGERMANNIA.

conditions. Their function is
probably to aid in the dispersion
of the spores.

Such as are found growing on
the bark of trees creep along close
to the surface, are very much
branched, have very thin, delicate
leaves, and are not of such lively
green as the mosses, but often
purplish, olive, and scarcely con-
spicuous when dry. A little ex-
perience will soon enable one to
distinguish them from the mosses,
even in a barren state, but when
the capsules are present there will
be no difficulty, for the habit of
splitting into four valves is so de-
cided a feature that it will deter-
mine the question at once.

There are some of the terrestrial
species occasionally found on the
ground in woods, but in damp
situations, for most of the species
are great lovers of moisture. The
very singular M/archantia is not a

sylvan plant, or we should be compelled to advert to
it at some length. The same may be said of the
forms known as Azccia and Anthoceros.

x

FERNS, MOSSES, AND LIVERWORTS. TOL

What method may be followed with the mosses and
Liverworts to gain instruction, as well as amusement,
and convert a woodland visit to some better purpose
than a mere idle stroll? What is applicable to the
one is also to the other. Mosses should be collected
when in fruit, that is, when they exhibit their capsules.
In this condition they should be taken from the
ground or trees, and each wrapped in thin paper by
itself. The locality to be written outside in pencil,
with the date. Arrived at home, all mould or ex-
traneous matters should be removed, the specimens
laid out flat between sheets of paper, and pressed by
a heavy weight until dry. When dried they may be
kept in envelopes, to be studied or named at any time.
After years of rest, these specimens will not appear to
differ from what they did on the day of their collec-
tion, except a slight fading of the bright green colour.
Not only will they prove souvenirs of many a pleasant
ramble, but if the localities and dates are attached,
they will always afford interest to bryological friends,
or they will furnish material for fireside study and
intellectual amusement during the evenings of winter.

102 THE WOODLANDS.

CHAPTER VI.
FUNGI AND LICHENS.

Any visitor of our woodlands in September and
October will at once recognise a peculiar kind of
vegetation not observable in spring and summer.
This peculiarity consists in the large number of fungi
with which the ground is sprinkled in all directions.
Some people believe that fungi only make their ap-
pearance in autumn, because it is only then that they
obtrude themselves upon the eye, by reason of the
profusion in which they are produced. It is, never-
theless, a fact that the class of vegetables known as
fungi are being developed all the year round, the
larger and more conspicuous kinds being in a great
measure autumnal. No one can pass through a
moist wood in October without being impressed with
the profusion and variety of what are commonly called
“toadstools,” growing upon the ground or on old
stumps oftrees. It is only the student of these obscure
plants who really knows the immense variety which
our woods produce; the hundreds of species which
make their appearance, flourish for a few weeks, and
then disappear, leaving behind scarcely a visible trace
of their visitation. No plants depend so much onthe
character of the season as these ; moisture, combined

FUNGI AND LICHENS. 103

with a certain amount of warmth, is indispensable.
In seasons wholly favourable their profusion is
astonishing, and the artist will find ample work in
portraying the diversities of form, and delicate grada-
tions of colour which these organisms assume. In
the majority of cases, indeed in all, with a few rare
exceptions, the species which are found in woods
may be sought in vain elsewhere. It is also a note-
worthy fact that some kinds are found growing only
in proximity to certain species of trees. Fir woods
have fungi belonging to certain particular species ;
beech woods will produce other and distinct species,
and oak woods others again different, whilst a few
species will probably be common to all. It has been
a popular notion that all fungi have the form of the
common mushroom slightly modified, or rather that
those only are fungi which have an upright stem
surmounted by a cap, as in the Parasol Mush-
room, of which our figure illustrates a young
specimen. This is a very great mistake, as great
as that of a country gentleman who gravely in-
formed us on one occasion that there might pro-
bably be six kinds of fungi, but he did not believe
there were more ; there were the mushroom, the cham-
pillion (for champignon), the toadstool, the puff-ball,
and the hard things which grow upon trees ; he knew
no more. Although they do not confess it so plainly,
there are many persons whose knowledge of fungi is
very little in advance of this. ‘To them it would seem
incredulous that three thousand different species of
fungi had been found in the British Isles, and that
not less than twenty-five thousand species are scatiered
over the face of the globe.

104 THE WOODLANDS.

It is not a very easy task to describe in a few plain
words what constitutes a fungus, since with the
minuter accuracy of scientific language no such defini-
tion yet attempted has been absolutely satisfactory.
That they are plants of a low organization is un-
doubted, growing on the ground, or on other plants
as parasites, and obtaining their support from the

PARASOL MUSHROOM (young).

decay of animal and vegetable matter. It may be ac-
cepted as a general rule that wherever fungi are found
growing they are in intimate association with, and
as the result of, disease and decay. Dead leaves,
rotten twigs, and putrid fruits are rapidly disinte-
grated by the growth of fungi. By this means trees
manure their own soil, being assisted in that operation
by fungi converting their veyectamenta into vegetable
humus, and thus an obscure and little known class of

FUNGI AND LICHENS. 105

plants perform their part in the circle of Nature, con-
firming good old George Herbert :—

“* More servants wait on man
Than he'll take notice of: in every path
He treads down that which doth befriend him
When sickness makes him pale and wan.
Oh, mighty love! Man is one world, and hath
Another to attend him.”

One of the most imposing and attractive of fungi
is the Fly Agaric, which grows on the ground in
woods. It has a snow-white stem, swollen like an
onion-bulb at the base, about six or eight inches high,
with a spreading cap on the top, five or six inches in
breadth, of the most beautiful and vivid crimson, often
with a yellow tint at the edge, and sprinkled over the
surface with dirty white or yellowish patches, or
warts. Once seen this is never to be forgotten. Most
beautiful to the eye, but to the taste one of the most
poisonous species that grows ; a small fragment being
sufficient to produce a kind of intoxication, for which
purpose it has long been in use in Kamtschatka,
whilst in Southern and Western Europe its use as a
poison for killing flies is said to have been the origin
of its name of Agaricus muscarius, or Fly Agaric.
During the past few years it has been discovered that
this agaric, which had for so long a period been sup-
posed to have no higher use than the poisoning of
flies, is in reality a most valuable medicinal agent.
The poison of the nightshade family and that of this
agaric being found to be antidotes to each other, the
one may be employed to counteract the other. In
other words, the alkaloid amanttine, obtained from
the fungus, neutralises afropine, and solanine, the

106 THE WOODLANDS.

poisonous alkaloids of belladonna and other plants of
the nightshade family, and wece versa.

Hunting through the woods in search of the red
agaric just named it is exceedingly probable that
another fungus will make its presence known by its
odour:long before it can anywhere be seen. This is
well named the Stinkhorn,! for its strong, peculiar, and
offensive odour extends for some distance, twenty
yards at least, from the object. This fungus grows to-
six or eight inches in height, and an inch or more in
thickness, of an ivory whiteness, surmounted by a
close conical cap of a dirty olive colour, or more ac-
curately speaking, covered at the top with a dirty olive,
eed mass, attractive to flies, but with the odour of
putrid flesh ; when this falls away the
cap is white like the stem, which latter
is punctured throughout its whole length
with little holes like a sponge, and is in
itself quite devoid of odour. This is also
a remarkable fungus ; when first breaking
through the ground it has just the appear-
ance and size of a hen’s egg, the upper
end is fractured by the growing stem,
which bursts through and grows to its
full height during a single night, and
soon fills the surrounding air with its
fetid perfume. Occasionally this unwel-
come visitor makes its appearance in
highly -cultivated gardens, coming up:
STINKHORN near the same spot year by year. Like

(reduced). 4] very strong odours this is unpleasant.

1 Phallus impudicus.

FUNGI AND LICHENS. I07

in its concentrated form, but when diluted or diffused
it is much less unpleasant; indeed, we have heard it
maintained that the odour is agreeable, having some-
what that of violets when inhaled at a distance from
the centre of diffusion.

Amongst the grass and leaves, beside the narrow
paths leading through damp mixed woods, one of the
common fungi is the Chantarelle.! It grows on the
ground as the mushroom does, but is of a bright
orange-yellow colour, like the yolk of an egg. In
height it does not exceed two or three inches, and
about the same in breadth, but the cap is depressed in
the centre, and concave instead of convex, and the
margin is lobed, twisted, and contorted, never being
so round and regular as in the mushroom. Under-
neath the cap broad veins run upwards from the
stem, in place of the flat gills
of the mushroom. In most
European countries this bright-
ly-coloured fungus is cooked
and eaten ; some writers have
been enthusiastic in its praise,
whilst others deprecate its
toughness; at the best it seems
to us to be a poor substitute
forthe genuine mushroom, but
it has a most attractive appear-
ance, and should be better
known.

In company with this last, or in similar situations,

THE CHANTARELLE.

1 Cantharellus cibarius.

108 THE WOODLANDS.

another fungus, usually somewhat larger and more
irregular in form, may be found. It is ofa dull pinkish-
white colour, of a rather peculiar tint, with a very
short, thickish stem and brittle substance. ‘This may
be recognised at once by the under-side of the cap
consisting not of gills or veins, but being covered with
little pointed teeth or spines, packed close together,
like the spines of a hedgehog, so that this has been
called the ‘‘ Hedgehog Mushroom.”! It may be
cooked and eaten, but the flavour is rather strong,
which to some palates would be unpleasant. It is
noteworthy that this fungus affords an example, in
the spiny character of the under-side of the cap, of a
group of fungi which botanists call ydnum, repre-
sented by several other less common, or less im-
portant species which occur in this country.

y : hat
Ga,
i Ope

Ge)

HEDGEHOG MUSHROOM.

It is not unusual in fir woods, or under clumps of
fir-trees, to find a little dark brown “‘ Hydnum” grow-

1 Hydnum repandum.

FUNGI AND LICHENS. 109g

ing on oid fir cones,! which have been for some time
lying on the ground. The cap is not much over
half an inch broad, placed obliquely on the top of a
slender stem about two inches in length, and nearly
black. Although it has no ascertained use, this fungus
may be sought for as another illustration of that
peculiar structure of the under-side of the cap in
which the gill-plates of the mushroom tribe are replaced.
by spines.

It would scarcely be possible within the limits of
this work to enumerate half the species of fungi to be
found growing in woods in the autumn. All we can
hope to do is to point out some of the commonest
types of the most important groups, and thus give a
general idea of the great variety of form and structure
which these little-known vegetables assume. One of
the largest of the pileate fungi, that is, such as have
an erect stem surmounted by an expanded cap, after
the manner of an open umbrella, is called by
botanists Boletus edulis. It has no popular name with
us because its good qualities have never been ap-
preciated. The stem is from three to five inches in
height, and from an inch to an inch and a half in
thickness, of a dirty-whitish colour, reticulated near
the top with minute darker-coloured veins. The cap:
is sometimes seven or eight inches broad, convex,
and of a pleasant nut-brown colour, rather slimy to
the touch when moist. Underneath, instead of gills.
or spines, the surface is even, of a greenish-yellow
colour, punctured with myriads of little round holes,
as if it had been pricked all over with a pin. To

1 Hydnum auriscalpium.

a7

110 THE WOODLANDS.

comprehend it properly the pocket-knife must be
called into requisition, and the fungus divided into
two halves, splitting down the stem through its entire
length, and through the cap, so that each half shows
the outline of its form. By this means it will be seen
that the flesh of the cap is thick, through the whole
not less than an inch, but whilst the upper half consists
of the solid substance, the lower half will be seen to
be composed of little, slender tubes closely packed
side by side and that the mouths of these tubes cor-
respond to the pinholes which were observed covering
the under surface before it was cut in two. Here,
then, we have the gill plates of the mushroom replaced
by slender tubes closely packed side by side in a
compact mass.

The special interest which attaches to this fungus
lies in the extensive use as an esculent which is made
of it on the Continent. The tubes under the cap are
scraped away, the fleshy substance is cut up into thin
slices and dried in the air, and in this form it is sold
for domestic use throughout the year. In Austria,
and some parts of Germany and France, it is exposed
for sale in all the shops where meal, haricots, and
other comestibles are retailed. In Vienna it appears
in all the smaller shops of the poor localities as one
of the regular articles of trade, and its consumption
must be enormous. In England it has never stood
in high repute as an esculent, probably the most ap-
proved mode of cooking has not been adopted, at any
rate hundreds and thousands of them flourish and
decay year after year, and no one advocates their
utilization.

FUNGI AND LICHENS. III

There are two or three kinds of Boletus less common
in woods, with the under-side of the cap either ofa
blood-red colour, or.of a lurid red colour, and these
are dangerously poisonous. When one of them is cut
down the centre, in the manner just suggested, the
flesh almost instantly becomes of an intense blue
when exposed to the air.

The habitual rambler in our woods cannot fail to
have observed on old trees, certain hard, semicircular
excrescences projecting from the trunks, which re-
quire some considerable force to remove. The
upper side is more or less corrugated, sometimes
smooth, sometimes woolly, according to the species,
but always firm, except in the young state of a few

SULPHURY POLYPORUS.

kinds. The under-surface is punctured with pores,
like pinholes, in the same manner as in the Boletus.
The substance of these fungi is hard and woody,
usually brownish ; if cut into slices and well beaten
the texture resembles that of soft leather. In Ger-
many two or three of these species of Polyporus are
collected in the forests, cut into slices, and beaten

II2 THE WOODLANDS.

until softened. In this condition they constitute
what is called Amadou, or ‘‘ German tinder.” Warm
and comfortable chest-protectors, caps, and other
articles are made of this prepared fungus, which was
at one time a more important article of trade than
now. Not a single species, amongst the one hun-
dred found in the British Islands, has been applied
to any practical use.

Looking from the erect trunks to old stumps or
prostrate trunks of fallen trees, and we shall be sure
to find another fungus, of an ochry-orange colour,
either extending in irregular flat patches for some
inches, or with the edges projecting nearly an inch
from the back, or with a series of these projections

ogi pyo> one above another, at
slight distances apart, for
six inches or a foot up-
wards of the stump. When
so reflexed, the upper sur-
face is greyish-ochre and
hairy, the under -surface
smooth and orange, with a
frost-like bloom. The chief
interest which attaches to
this Orange Stereum,! be-
sides its being really very
beautiful and attractive when well grown, is that
it is extremely common. It is one of the few fungi
which is sure to be found on old stumps all the year
round, but in its greatest beauty in the autumn.

ORANGE STEREUM.

l Stereum hirsutum.

FUNGI AND LICHENS. 113

Another less brightly-coloured species is often found
in company with it, but in this the under-surface has
a tinge of purple.!

Turning from the dead stumps for a moment to
the fallen branches of an oak, lying on the
ground in a state of decay, we shall find that
although but recently shaken down by the wind the
branch has rotted upon the tree, and may be broken
into fragments with the slightest effort. If the
weather be moist we shall be sure to find on these
fallen branches little black masses of a shaky,
tremulous substance about an inch in diameter, with
the under surface rough like black crape; but if the
weather be dry these will have shrivelled into shining
flat patches like blotches of pitch. Placed in water
for half-an-hour these shrivelled specimens swell, and
again assume the same dimensions and appearance
as when in their fresh and growing condition. This
is the “‘Witches’ Butter,”? one of the Tremelloid
Fungi; of which several species will be found on
dead branches, some in convolute masses as large as
the fist, some not unlike mulberry fruit, and some
as small as the head of a good-sized pin. They all
contain a large amount of water in their composition,
so that they shake and tremble like masses of jelly
when moist and fresh; but as they become dry the
water evaporates, and the fungus shrinks and shrivels
almost to a mere film.

It is by no means uncommon to see dead branches
lying on the ground, and bearing upon them a

1 Stereum purpureum. 2 Exidia slandulosia.

114 THE WOODLANDS.

Tremella of a deep yellow colour, sometimes about
the size of a filbert, at others as large as a walnut ;
the surface deeply furrowed, waved, and convoluted,
when moist, but shrivelling when dry to one-tenth
the original size, and scarcely recognisable.!

YELLOW TREMELLA. BULGARIA.

It is not unusual to see prostrate trunks of beech
and oak when lying in damp situations sprinkled
with hundreds of blackish fungi, soft and yielding to
the touch, but much firmer than the Tremellas.
These bodies range from less than half an inch to
more than one inch in diameter, are regularly dis-
coid, like large buttons with a thick stem. Externally
they are of a bay brown colour, but the flat disc on
the top is of a dull black, and usually in groups
of two or three together. The name of black
“ Bulgaria,” which is applied to them, is one which
for various reasons is not likely to be forgotten.?

' Tremella mesenterica. ? Bulgariainguinans.

FUNGI AND LICHENS. Ii5

On the ground, amongst grass, moss, and dead

leaves some very delicate and often beautiful forms
of branched or club-shaped fungi will be observed.
The species are numerous, but perhaps the finest and
most attractive of common
species is the fusiform Clav-
aria, which grows in Epping
Forest, in clusters as large as
one’s fist; it is of a bright
yellow colour, and consists of
numerous erect, straight stems,
not thicker than an ordinary
slate pencil, pointed at the top °
and narrowed below, where
they all spring from one com-
mon root. Each of these stems
is from two to four inches in _
length, and brittle, so that if ==
roughly handled they snap in ¢ystrorm cLAVARIA.
two like threads of glass.
There are other species which have the stems
very much branched, and often united at the base
into one thick trunk. Some are milky white, others
the colour of yellow ochre, and others of a beautiful
lilac or violet. They are all known by the name of
Clavaria.

Whilst looking on the ground for these it is very
probable that some curious little cups will be found
which would never have been noticed but for close
examination of the ground. These little cups will be
found in clusters, sometimes a great number of them
growing together, not more than from a quarter to

12

116 THE WOODLANDS.

three-eighths of an inch in diameter, pale grey, almost
white within, and containing three or four little
roundish bodies clustered in the centre, like eggs in
a bird’s-nest. It has been called the “ Bird’s-nest
Fungus”! from this resemblance. Each
cup is little more than half an inch high,
narrowed towards the bottom, and on the
outside dark brown, covered with shaggy
hair. More closely examined, it will be
noticed that the little egg-like bodies are
pirp’s-nesr Very firmly fixed in the nest, each one

FuNGus, being attached on the under-side by a

thin elastic thread. At the first the mouth
of the cups is closed, but as they mature so they
expand, and assume the bird’s-nest appearance.
Another species, equally common on dead twigs
(Crucibulum vulgare), is smaller, and of a pale olive
colour.

Searching for one thing may lead to the finding
of another, and instead of the above, some little cups
of quite another character may be found. As there
are so many species, some not more than the one-
tenth of an inch in diameter, and others three or four
inches, with all intermediate sizes, it is difficult to
predict what particular one may be discovered. ‘These
are called by the general name of /esiza, and may
be found, on the ground, amongst moss, upon dead
wood, rotten branches, old bark, and even very much
smaller ones on dead leaves and the dead stems of
herbs and grasses. There is one very beautiful
species, with cups spreading from one to two or three

1 Cyathus striatus.

FUNGI AND LICHENS. Mnf

inches in diameter, of a bright, glowing orange colour,
and often twenty or thirty of them growing together
within a space of two or three yards.!_ Watch them
carefully, and if itis a bright day, ever and anona
little puff of delicate smoke will be jerked out from
the disc ; touch them gently with a piece of grass,
and another and another puff will follow. These are
the spores, or microscopical seeds, forced out in a
little cloud, and so it is presumed the species in-
creases its kind.

It would be easy to enumerate many others of the
same kind. One dirty white species, not more than
an inch in diameter, grows singly on the ground by
the side of paths in woods. If scratched, a yellow
juice oozes like blood from the wound.? Another
kind, not more than a quarter of an inch in diameter,
grows on damp rotten wood and old stumps. The
disc is of a beautiful crimson, surrounded bya margin
of long, brown hairs. By the side of brooks, water-
courses, swamps, gullies, and in the dampest places
in the wood, some one or more of these Pezzza will
be found in spring or autumn, or through the
summer, if not too dry. Fir woods invariably afford
a neat little species not much larger than the head
of a good-sized pin, but growing in companies on the
little dead twigs or the larger branches of larch and
pine. ‘The disc is of a deep orange, but the margin
and outside nearly white, and covered with downy
hairs. When the weather is dry the cups will be
closed, and the orange disc invisible; but with

1 Peziza succosa. 2 Pesizaz aurantia.

118 THE WOODLANDS.

moisture the cups expand, and will be more easily
detected.

There is one group of fungi which had well-nigh
been forgotten, and these are the Puff-balls. All
schoolboys know the “ snuff-boxes,” as they call them
in some districts, and delight to puff them in each
other’s faces: a dangerous operation to eyes and
throat, since swallowing a puff of this dust was nearly
fatal to a gentleman in Edinburgh a year or two
since. ‘These Puff-balls grow upon the ground, or on
old stumps; when young, nearly white and juicy,
when old, brownish, and full of snuff-coloured spores.

The great Puff-ball, as large as a man’s head, or
larger, grows in fields and gardens, and on banks, and
when young affords a most delicious meal, after being
sliced and fried in butter or fat.

STARRY PUFF-BALL.

The most interesting of the Puffball family are
the stellate puff-balls. We have collected a hun-
dred of them sometimes in a few minutes, in a small
grove of fir-trees. These balls have a double coat ;
the outer one is thick, and splits from the top
in a radiating manner, each segment falling back

FUNGI AND LICHENS. 11g

so as to have a starlike appearance, with the little
ball, covered with its inner tunic, standing in the
centre. When quite ripe this ball is full of snuff-
coloured spores, which are ejected from an opening
at the top. If the weather proves dry the ex-
panded segments of the outer coat close up again
round the inner ball, and in this manner they are
blown about and roll about, mingled with dead
leaves. Some species are found in fir woods, others
under hedges and by roadsides, and others again on
sandy banks and hillocks by the sea-shore.

Besides all those larger and more conspicuous
fungi which we have named, there are others, and of
these a very large number, which the uneducated eye
would fail to recognise as belonging to this order.
Of this class are the black, pitchy blotches on the
leaves of maple and sycamore. No one can have
observed trees at all with an intelligent or appreciative
eye and not noticed the large black spots, as large
as sixpence, on the upper surface of the still green
leaves of the maple. During the winter as these
leaves lie on the ground and decay, so step by step
the fungus matures itself, and in the spring arrives at
its final stage. This is not the only fungus which
attacks the leaves of trees, for if those of the poplar,
birch, willow, goat-willow, and sometimes the oak,
whilst still green or just fading, be examined on
the under-surface, the yellow spores of a Uredo
will be seen scattered over them like a golden dust.

After the leaves have fallen from the trees, and
whilst lying on the ground undergoing decay, they
will in this condition nourish almost innumerable

120 THE WOODLANDS.

species of fungi, some of them so minute that they
cannot be seen by the naked eye,—species of
Spheria, of minute ezzza, or of Phacidium or
Discosta, and many others,—fully to comprehend
which the microscope must be employed, when it
will not be impossible to detect as many as a
thousand individual fungi, each complete and perfect
in itself, and containing more than a hundred spores,
and all growing upon a single dead oak-leaf. The
more closely and more intimately we examine these
minute species by the aid of a microscope, the more
are we astonished at the wonderful work. A small
feziza no larger than a pin’s point, with cup and
stem covered with delicate hairs, has a perfect repro-
ductive system, asc, sporidia, and all its organization
as complete as in the large specimens we may have
gathered from the soil, and measuring from three to
four inches in diameter.

Not only the leaves, but nearly every dead twig,
rotten stick, stem of herb, tuft of grass, has its para-
site, its little fungus flourishing upon its decay.
Whether in the garden, the orchard, or the wood,
one is sure to see little twigs, covered with pink pus-
tules, bursting through the bark, and standing up
like little knobs, not so large as a grain of mustard-
seed. This is one of the most common of minute
fungi,! and its history is elaborate and instructive.
Yet this is only one of hundreds of minute fungi
furnished by the dead twigs of trees and shrubs of
all kinds, so that we are justified in saying that for
every large fungus which the unaided eye can detect

* Tubercularia vulgare.

FUNGI AND LICHENS. 12k

and recognise, there are ten, nay, a hundred, of the
minute microscopical forms which demand the use
of the microscope for their investigation.

It may be added that, as a rule, fungi do not
grow on the bark, branches, or twigs of living trees.
It is only in very rare cases that fungi are developed
in that condition, and it should be borne in mind
when hunting for them in a wood that growing trees,
and branches recently cut and sound, will of afford
fungi, but they z7// furnish lichens, of which anon.
Fungi are the consequences of decay and putre-
faction. Wherever there is a close, damp atmo-
sphere, which fosters decay, there will be found the
mould and the mildew. In this instance we have
death, decay, resurrection into a new life, illustrated
in the new forms and new species which succeed
and flourish upon the disintegrated and crumbling
remains of forms that have passed away.

There is still another kind of vegetation, of a
humble character, but still different from anything to-
which we have referred, and sufficiently common all
the world over not to permit of exclusion. ‘These are
called Lichens, and although some people may still
be found who call them “a sort of moss,” such
errors are becoming comparatively rare. ‘There is a
crude sort of rhythmical description of them in the
lines,—

«© Some are reddish, some brown, some grey, and some black,
And they’re pucker’d, edged, button’d, or fringed, front and
back ;
Some are lying like leather close under your feet,
Some waving from trees in the forest you’ll meet.”

122 THE WOODLANDS.

The variety of form is so great as almost to baffle
any general description. That which is applicable to
one group is not applicable to another. Sometimes
they so closely resemble forms of microscopical fungi
as to puzzle botanists themselves. The fruiting organs
are usually a kind of disc, or flattened cup, seated on
a thin leathery substance, often corrugated, but with-
out veins, and more like a piece of seaweed than a
leaf or a moss, or sometimes without any apparent
substratum.

For instance, “old man’s beard,”! or “ beard-
moss,” is found on old forest trees, especially firs, of
a greyish, or greenish-yellow colour, forming shaggy
tufts. Each filament is branched, and these branches
have secondary thread-like branches throughout their
entire length. The cup, or fruit-bearer, is surrounded
by a fringe of similar threads. In olden times its use
was extolled in medicine ; in modern times the bird-
stuffer uses it to decorate the stumps and twigs, on
which his birds are perched.

The “ Horse-tail Lichen,”? hangs also in tufts on the
branches of old fir-trees, but the filaments are thinner
than in the last, much divided, and interlaced, but
without the bristling side-shoots of the “old man’s
beard.” The cups are rarely met with, small, and
not fringed. The common conditions of this lichen
are rather like tufts of hair when seen hanging from
the boughs. With closer examination this resemblance
vanishes.

The boughs of old ash-trees,? as well as the trunks,

1 Osnea barbata. 3 Ramalina fraxinea.
2 Cornicularia jubata,

FUNGI AND LICHENS. 123

and those also of the oak, nourish another tufted
lichen. The filaments are broad and _ strap-like,
flattened, notched, lobed, or slightly branched, and
nearly of the colour of the bark. ‘The cups are either
scattered over the filaments, or at the tips of the lobes
or branches. ‘These are rather large, smooth, and
darker coloured. This lichen varies considerably in
its general appearance.

A much more mealy form, found on forest trees,!
has the filaments narrower, very much divided into
pointed segments, with the cups much smaller, and
rarely developed. It has been stated that this lichen
is very palatable when eaten with salt: although one
of our commonest species, no one seems to have
been induced to try the experiment. Some lichens
are edible, as, for instance, that called “Iceland
moss,” which is not a “moss,” but a lichen; and
-during voyages to the north polar regions, explorers
have had to eke out their food with such lichens
-as they could find, under the name of rock tripe. In
Iceland, and other northern countries, lichens are
frequently eaten in times of scarcity. The “Iceland
moss” and “reindeer moss” (another lichen) are
both found in the British isles.

The “ash-coloured Ground Lichen,” ? is even now
sold by herbalists; it was formerly celebrated as a
cure for hydrophobia. It has amembranaceous frond,
or thallus, which spreads on the ground, of a greyish
colour, whitish beneath, and giving off little fibrils
resembling rootlets. The margin is rounded and

+ R. farinacea. 2 Peltigera canina.

124 THE WOODLANDS.

lobed, bearing the brownish, flattened fruit-cups at
the edge. This has quite a distinct appearance from
the tree-loving species above cited. Instead of fila-
ments, the vegetative portion consists of a broad leaf-
like expansion, lobed like an oak-leaf, and turned up at
the edges. Most lichens have a peculiar odour, which
this also possesses, and its texture is tough and
leathery.

OAK-LUNGS.

A larger foliaceous lichen growing on old trees is
called “oak-lungs”! It is rather of an olive colour,
very much reticulated, or veined in such a manner
as to leave depressions or pits all over the surface.
This was called ‘‘Lungwort,” or “ oak-lungs,” on
account partly of its supposed resemblance to lungs,
and partly from its alleged virtues in lung diseases.
It contains a bitter principle, which has been used
as a substitute for hops. A Siberian monastery once
acquired a celebrity for its beer, which was flavoured
with the “bitters” of oak-lungs. In addition, it has

1 Sticta pulmonaria.

FUNGI AND LICHENS.

125

been employed by the peasantry of Scotland and
Ireland as a domestic dye-stuff for stockings and yarn.

We have lichens of still another form,
which is represented by the somewhat
rounded bright-yellow patches which ad-
here closely to barn-doors, old rails, apple-
trees, and the trunks of various forest
trees.1 In this instance the thallus, or
leaf-like stratum, is more or less rounded
at first, but often confluent and irregular,
adhering closely and firmly, with the sur-
face raised in warts and folds. The cups
are darker coloured, freely scattered over
the surface. There are many lichens of
this type; some are greenish-grey, some
bluish-grey, some brownish. ‘The cups,
too, are different in colour, sometimes
with very bright tints. Having made
the acquaintance of the wall lichen, any of
these forms will at once be recognized as
lichens. Even at the present day some
lichens are still marketable commodities
as affording a dye, but the discovery of
aniline dyes has much restricted their use.

The thallus, or substratum, is reduced in
some lichens to merely a powdery white
patch on the bark of trees, and upon this
the fruit-cups are seated. These latter no
longer retain the form of cups, but be-
come elongated, and closed above, with a

' Parmelia parietina,

OPEGRAPHA
SCRIPTA.

126 THE WOODLANDS.

narrow slit down the centre. Two or three! of the
common species are found on oak, beech, elm, ash,
birch, holly, &c., and are a transition series to another
group, in which the powdery stratum is so thin and
delicate that, if present, it can scarcely be seen. The
fruit-cups are entirely replaced by long, narrow, thin,
and fantastically curved and branched raised lines,
with a slit down the centre.? These often resemble
the characters of Oriental writing, and most of their
names contain some allusion to this peculiarity.
There is only one other lichen to which we are
able to allude. It is one which is found on dead
wood, and the substratum is not distinguishable.
It consists of little, erect, hair-like black stems, with
a round black head at the top, and resembling small
black pins thrust into the wood, with the heads ex-
posed. These heads contain the spores, as in some
other forms they are produced in cups, and altogether
so small as scarcely to be seen by the naked eye.®
As we have now done with the plant-life of the
woods, let us end with lines which but repeat in
poetical language what we have urged in prose :—

‘* Not a plant, a leaf, a flower but contains
A folio volume. We may read, and read,
And read again, and still find something new,—
Something to please,—something to instruct,—
Even in the noisome weed,”

' Opegrapha. 2 Graphis. 3 Calicium.

THE WOODLANDS. 127

CHAPTER VII.

QUADRUPEDS.

Many generations have passed away since the larger
carnivorous animals inhabited these islands. History
gives us but slender information of the reign of the
brown bear. Pennant says that there is proof of
their infesting Scotland so late as the year 1057,
when a Gordon, in reward for his valour for killing
a fierce bear, was directed by the king to carry three
bears’ heads on his banner. More recently the wolf
flourished in Scotland, for Hollingshed states that it
was noxious to the flocks until 1577, and was not
entirely extirpated till about 1680. Ireland was not
delivered from them for some time after this, since
the last presentment for killing wolves was made in
the county of Cork about the year 1710. As to the
wild boar, that also disappeared at a remote period.
At the time when a vast forest grew on the north
side of London, it was the retreat of stags, fallow-
deer, wild boars, and bulls. Hunting the wild boar
was a sport protected by the Norman kings; and
Charles I. tried to restore the sport by the introduc-
tion of wild boars into the New Forest; but these
were soon extirpated. Amongst the extinct British

128 THE WOODLANDS.

animals the beaver should also be mentioned. Géiral-
dus Cambrensis, in his itinerary through Wales in
1188, says that in his time they were only found in
the river Teivi. Pennant saw two of their supposed
haunts, ‘‘one in the stream that runs through Nant
Frankon, the other in the Conway, a few miles
above Llanrwst.”

These records of the last of a savage race bring to
mind many a romantic story and interesting legend
in which they performed a part. Such stories linger
about Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, more than Eng-
land. The traveller in Wales will not fail to hear
the narrative of Llewellyn and his dog, and the wolf
still flourishes in the legends of Scotland. The last
English wild boar’s head smoked on the baron’s
Christmas table many centuries ago, and the last
wolf was decapitated in times now remote, yet we are
ever and anon reminded of them in our Christmas
customs and nursery tales.

The largest of our indigenous wild animals, which
frequent woodlands, is the Fox, and the protection
which this creature has enjoyed for the sake of sport,
has had much to do with its preservation. All other
circumstances taken into consideration, exclusive of
this, and “Reynard ” would have been extirpated long
ago. Its distribution is very variable in different
counties; in some it is very rare, in others equally
common, in proportion to the protection it enjoys.
This well-known animal lives in woods and thickets,
keeping itself concealed during the day, and sallies
forth at night in search of prey. Its favourite food is
partridges, grouse, rabbits, and leverets; the farmer

QUADRUPEDS. 129

knows, to his cost, its predilection for poultry ; and
smaller birds and quadrupeds fall victims to his
hunger when the larger fail. The cunning of the
fox is proverbial, and so also its odour; and Pennant
says that it is a great admirer of its bushy tail, with
which it frequently amuses and exercises itself by
running in circles to catch it, and in cold weather
wraps it round its nose.

THE FOX.

Charles Waterton writes of this animal: “(Common
opinion seems to concur in attributing to the fox an
extraordinary amount of cunning—‘as cunning as a
fox, —still Iam not prepared to concede this prero-
gative to the fox alone, as I am acquainted with

K

130 THE WOODLANDS.

many other animals capable of disputing the prize
with it. Once it so happened that Reynard (and
possibly some members of his family) had made an
excellent supper on an unprotected flock of fine young
turkeys about half-grown,—eight of these were missing
the next morning. It seems that. after the four-footed
thief had satisfied his call of hunger, he naturally
bethought himself that his wife and children would
like a bit of turkey for supper on the following night ;
so he buried five of the remaining victims in an open
garden which was close by. Now, if the simpleton
had covered them all over with the soil on the
garden bed, I would have given him credit for
superior sagacity, but he actually left one wing of
each bird exposed to view, and it was this exposure
which led to their discovery. An ass in such a case
would have shown just as much talent and cunning
as Reynard had here exhibited.

“In early youth I would often mount into a fine
old oak-tree on a moonlight night to watch the foxes
at their vesper pastime. ‘Thus seated aloft I could
see the cubs as playful as kittens, catching each other
by their brushes, now standing on three legs as if in
the act of listening, then performing somersets, some-
times snarling, sometimes barking, and often playing
at a kind of hide-and-seek, as we used to do when I
was a lad at school.”

Much more rare is the Badger, which is equal to
‘the Fox in size, but more clumsy and retiring in its
habits. Badger-baiting was one of the cruel pastimes
of a more barbarous age; but since its abolition we
seldom hear of the badger except in association with

QUADRUPEDS. 13%

the “badger hair-softeners” employed by artists. In
a few more years this will probably become extinct as
a British wild animal. It is a sluggish, indolent crea-
ture, which conceals itself during the day in a burrow
excavated in some quiet corner of a wood or thicket,
coming out in the evening to feed on roots, fruits.
insects, or small animals. It is said, that if taken
young it may easily be domesticated, but never be-
come a very desirable companion, as it possesses an
odour not entirely agreeable.

By far the most common, vivacious, and interesting
of woodland quadrupeds is the Squirrel. From child-
hood it is familiar to us, whirling round in its little
wire cage, and cracking nuts; but the poor little
creatures we are accustomed to see under confine
ment are satires upon the free, uncaged squirrels
leaping from bough to bough, scrambling along the
branches, scampering up and down the trunks and
gambolling in their native woods. The squirrel is
very fond of nuts and acorns, yet there are many
other things which compose its bill of fare when nuts
and acorns are not to be found. It is entirely a
vegetable-feeder, and the young succulent shoots of
trees and shrubs furnish it with many a meal.
Perched upon its haunches, its long bushy tail
turned on its back, it sits erect, holding the filbert
or acorn in its paws, cracking and divesting it of its
shell in as leisurely and methodical a manner as
monkeys perform the same operation. Its nest is
usually built near the top of a high tree, and is
nearly as large as a man’s head, formed of moss,
leaves, and twigs, with a hole at the side for ingress

K 2

132 THE WOODLANDS.

and egress. Naturalists say that squirrels are provi-
dent animals, never leaving their food to chance, but

THE SQUIRREL.

securing in some hollow tree a vast magazine of nuts

for winter provision.
In some respects the little Dormouse! resembles

1 ALyoxus avellanarius.

QUADRUPEDS, 133

the Squirrel, but it is very much smaller and not so
nimble. Its aspirations are not so high, for it builds
its nest in the hollow of a tree or in some shrub near
the ground. This nest is made of entwined grasses
mixed with leaves, with an opening so contrived that
it is difficult to be seen. This little animal retires
to rest during the depth of the winter, but in the
autumn it stores up in the vicinity of its nest a little
magazine of nuts and seeds to await its wakening in
the spring. The Dormouse is more common than

THE DORMOUSE.

many suppose because it is so seldom seen. The
cause of this may be found in its being nocturnal in
its habits, sleeping during the greater part of the day,
and only issuing forth in the evening. For this
reason it is rather an uninteresting animal in confine-
ment, rolled up like a ball throughout the day, and
hence remarkably sleepy and sluggish as compared
with the squirrel. Under such circumstances its nest
is much less artistic than when constructed in a state
of nature ; it seems to comprehend that in its changed
condition less severe cold has to be provided against.

The Hedgehog is another nocturnal animal, of timid
and retiring habits, not unusually domesticated in

134 THE WOODLANDS.

town kitchens, in order that it may war upon the
profusion of cockroaches which flourish in those
localities. Under such circumstances the Hedgehog
is omnivorous. Insects of all kinds, scraps of meat,
fragments of cheese, bread, fruits, worms, nothing
seems to be refused. The Rev. Leonard Jenyns
gives an interesting account of a hedgehog’s meal :—
**T fell in with one,” he says, ‘‘in a sheltered part of
the garden, which I was enabled to watch unobserved,
and which afforded me an opportunity of seeing a
little into its habits and mode of feeding. It was
creeping up and down a grass walk apparently in
busy search for worms. It carried its snout very low,
insinuating it among the roots of the herbage, and
snuffing about under the dead leaves which lay about.
After a time it commenced scratching at a particular
spot, to which it seemed directed by the scent, and
drew out a very large worm from just beneath the
surface of the ground. This it immediately began to
devour, taking it into the mouth by one extremity,
and gradually eating its way to the other, an opera-
tion which lasted some time, and was attended by an
incessant action of the teeth, which grated upon one
another with a peculiar noise. After the worm was
gone, as I thought, I was surprised to see the whole
put out of the mouth again, and, from the appearance
of the cast, I was led to believe that it had been only
subjected to the action of the teeth, for the purpose
of being bruised, and squeezing out the soft internal
parts cf the body, which alone were eaten in the first
instance ; the skin itself, however, was shortly retaken
into the mouth and the whole clean devoured.”

QUADRUPEDS. 135

This helpless little creature has no means of de-
‘fending itself from its persecutors except by rolling
itself in a ball, and thus presenting nothing but
spines to their attacks. It runs rapidly, keeping up
a peculiar low gurgling sound, but becomes silent at
the slightest alarm, and prepares to make a ball of
itself should the necessity arise. During the winter
it envelops itself in leaves, and lies in a state of
torpidity until the spring. In a state of captivity it
exhibits some traits of domesticity. Our “ Bobby”
responds to a call by its peculiar gurgling sound, and
makes its appearance at meal-times, especially at
supper, in expectation of its customary bread and
butter and draught of milk. During the day it sleeps,
retiring from the light, and wrapping itself in any
cloth or soft cushion under which it can hide, but
scratching and remaining very restless unless some
covering can be found.

The Mole is very common in woods; some natu-
ralists believe that they are more common in such
places than in open fields ; still we can scarcely re-
gard them as woodland animals.

There are, however, two or three animals of car-
nivorous propensities, which, from their savage pre-
datory natures, are little better than miniature wolves.
The first of these is the Polecat or Fitchet, a common
inhabitant of woods and plantations in all parts of
the country. It is a sleek dusky-brown animal of
the Weasel kind, about eighteen inches in length,
exclusive of the tail, and is possessed of an odour so
disagreeable as to have passed into a proverb. Its
favourite food is rabbits, leverets, poultry, and even

136 THE WOODLANDS.

eggs. Bewick says that it will attack eels, of which
eleven were found in the retreat of one of these
animals. When the Polecat finds its way into a
poultry-yard, it commits great depredations; not con-
tent with killing as much as it requires for food, it
slaughters everything within its reach, and is in

THE POLECAT.

reality the most bloodthirsty of all our indigenous
animals. When attacked by man, and without chance
of escape, it will fight most savagely for its life, and
attack him in return unless promptly prevented. The
one redeeming feature in the character of the Polecat
is its enmity to rats and mice. Gamekeepers gene-
rally condemn it in unmeasured terms ; and it is one
of the animals which they delight to exhibit amongst

QUADRUPEDS. 137

their trophies nailed to a tree, or against a barn-
door.

Smaller than the Polecat, but equally active and
courageous, is the Stoat or Ermine, although less
confined to thickets, and rather an animal of the
heath or moor than of the woodland.

Similarly, the Weasel is found in woods in com-
mon with other places, such as hedges, stack-
yards, and the vicinity of human habitations. It is
smaller than the Stoat, and preys principally on mice,
moles, and small birds. Both the Stoat and the
Weasel will climb trees in pursuit of birds. Many
anecdotes are related of the boldness of these little
creatures. One day in June, says a writer in the
“ Zoologist,” as a lady was sitting in a room at IIford,
the window of which opened to the ground, she was
very much surprised by the appearance of a weasel,
which, after trying round the window for an entrance,
stood up on its hind legs against one of the panes of
glass, and remained there, notwithstanding the furious
barking of a little terrier that was in the room, until
the window was opened, when he started off very
leisurely, but was overtaken and killed by the dog.

“One evening in summer,” Charles Waterton tells us
in one of his charming essays, “ I sat down on a lonely
bank near a plantation. A full-grown rabbit made its
appearance. It took a circuit of nearly ten paces
and re-entered the plantation. Scarcely had it dis-
appeared from view when a weasel came out upon its
track and followed scent with the sagacity of a hound.
The rabbit soon came out of the wood again in violent
agitation, and quickly returned to cover. Out came

138 THE WOODLANDS.

the weasel a second time, and followed up the track:
with surprising assiduity. The rabbit took cover once-
more, but it was for the last time ; for scarcely had it
proceeded a dozen yards ere I saw that all was over.
It stopped short, and panted for breath, as though its.
heart would have burst through its ribs, and then
it began to squeal most piteously. It never took
another step to save its life, but sat down on the
grass, still continuing its wailing. The weasel bolted
from the bushes and jumped upon the rabbit’s back,
inflicting a death-wound on its prey by biting it just
behind the ear. I was sitting still at the time, and
could easily have despatched either the rabbit or the
weasel, but I did not interfere until the affair was
concluded, and then I took the rabbit for my share,
and allowed the weasel to go in search of another
supper when and where it might think fit.”

In many parts of the country it is only necessary
to sit down quietly by the roadside in the neighbour-
hood of a plantation, and remain there motionless for
a time, to be rewarded by a sight of the rapid, but
stealthy, movements of the Weasel.

The Marten is another of the same tribe, of which:
there are two kinds, the one with a white throat and.
breast, called the Beech Marten, and one with a
yellow throat and breast, called the Pine Marten.
Some consider them distinct species.

The Beech Marten is the most common of the
two in the South, inhabiting woods, and making its
home in hollow trees. The Pine Marten is the most
common in Scotland, where it frequents the fir woods,
and builds its nest in the tops of trees. In their

QUADRUPEDS. 139

habits and mode of life Martens greatly resemble the
Stoat and Weasel. Sir William Jardine says: “It
sometimes takes up its abode in ruined buildings and
hollow trees, and it can ascend a wall or a tree with
as much agility as the wild cat; but its arboreal habits
are much exaggerated by authors, and its chief ex-

GREAT BAT.

Scotland, where it is named Taghan and Polecat, it
has been known to destroy very young lambs, but
scarcely ever ventures into the vicinity of human
habitations at night, as it is said sometimes to do in
England, where farmyards have been plundered by
it. Whatever may be the case on the Continent, it
cannot with truth be said that in Britain the Marten
resides chiefly in trees, however admirably its struc-

ture may be supposed to be adapted to this mode of
life.”

140 THE WOODLANDS.

Only two kinds of bats are addicted to trees ; these
are the Noctule or Great Bat, and Natterer’s Bat,
but these are by no means confined to woods. Bats
may often be seen flying about in woodlands in search
of insects ; and so many other of our indigenous ani-
mals, not enumerated here, are occasionally to be
met with in such situations,—shrews, rats, mice,
rabbits, &c.; but as they are not exclusively or chiefly
sylvan species, it has not been considered necessary
to notice them. No “hard-and-fast line” can be
drawn, either with animals or plants, in many in-
stances, because, in some conditions, and under some
circumstances, they will be found in one locality, and
at other times in another. There are animals, as well
as plants, which have the faculty of accommodating
themselves to varied conditions.

The total number of British quadrupeds is small,
but after eliminating the aquatic species it will be
observed that half of that number, and certainly those
which possess the greatest interest, are sylvan in their
habits. If the whole number be estimated at sixty
species, there are not less than eighteen of these
aquatic, and sixteen bats; so that there really remain
only twenty-six to be accounted for, and of these one-
half are more or less sylvan in their habits, the residue
including deer, hare, rabbit, rats, mice, shrews, otter,
and arvicoles.

JHE WOODLANDS. 14k

CHAPTER VIII.

BIRDS.

Or all the inhabitants of the woods birds are the
most universal favourites. The most poetical eulogy
of them in prose is the volume entitled ‘“ The Bird,”
by Michelet ; the most enchanting histories, those of
Wilson and Audubon. The former tells us that
“‘Man could not have lived without the bird, which
alone could save him from the insect and the reptile ;
but the bird had lived without man. Man or no
man, the eagle had reigned on his Alpine throne.
The swallow would not the less have performed
her yearly migration. The frigate-bird, unseen by
human eyes, had still hovered over the lonely ocean
waters. Without waiting for human listeners, and
with all the greater security, the nightingale had still
chanted in the forest his sublime hymn. And for
whom? For her whom he loves, for his offspring,
for the woodlands, and, finally, for himself, his most
fastidious auditor.” Then again he writes forcibly
of the services rendered to us by birds. ‘ Many are
the assiduous guardians of our herds. The heron
gardebeuf, making use of his bill as a lancet, cuts
the flesh of the ox to extract from it a parasitical
worm which sucks the blood and life of the animal.

142 THE WOODLANDS.

The wagtails and the starlings render very similar
services to our cattle. The swallows destroy myriads
of winged insects which never rest, and which we see
dancing in the sun’s rays: gnats, midges, and flies.
The goat-suckers and the martinets, twilight hunters,
effect the disappearance of the cockchafers, the
gnats, the moths, and a swarm of nibbling insects
which work only by night. The magpie hunts after
the insects which, concealed beneath the bark of
trees, live upon its sap. The humming-bird, the fly-
catcher, in tropical countries purify the chalice of
the flower. The bee-eater in all lands carries on a
fierce hostility against the wasps which ruin our fruit.
The goldfinch, partial to uncultivated soil and the
seeds of the thistle, prevents the latter from spreading
over the ground. Our garden birds—the chaffinches,
blackcaps, blackbirds, tits—strip our fruit bushes and
great trees of the grubs, caterpillars, and beetles,
whose ravages would be incalculable. A _ large
number of these insects remain during winter in
the egg or the larva, waiting for spring to burst into
life; but in this state they are diligently hunted
up by the mavis, the wren, the troglodyte. The
former turn over the leaves which strew the earth ;
the latter climb to the loftiest branches, or clear
out the trunk. In wet meadows you may see
the crows and storks boring the ground to seize
on the white worm which for three years, before
metamorphosing into a cockchafer, gnaws at the
roots of grasses. Here we pause, not to weary our
reader, and yet the list of useful birds is scarcely
glanced at.”

BIRDS. 143

We are thus introduced to the company of the
feathered race, the liveliest and most ubiquitous of
woodland denizens. Some of them come there only
to breed, spending most of their time, when not so
occupied, in the “open.” This is the case with the

THE KESTREL

larger birds of prey, of which two only can claim to
have their home in such places. One of these is
the Kestrel, and the other the Sparrow-hawk. The
Kestrel! is sometimes called the Windhover, from the
manner in which it hovers in the air when in search

1 Falco tinnuncuius.

I44 THE WOODLANDS.

of prey, which consists of smaller birds and small
animals. Some deny that it attacks small birds at
all, and that the whole of its prey consists of mice and
shrews, and on the faith of this they contend that
it is a very useful bird and should not be destroyed
by gamekeepers, as often is the case. Unfortunately,
the remains of birds have frequently been found in
its stomach, and hence it cannot be acquitted.
Kestrels breed in rocks as well as trees, so that even
in the breeding season they are not wholly sylvan
in their habits.

The Sparrow-hawk! is one of the boldest of its
tribe and the terror of small birds, which fly off,
screaming, at its approach. ‘It comes,” writes
one, “‘ silently and swiftly gliding, at the height of a
few feet, over the grass field, now shooting along
the hedge, now gliding over it to scan the other side,
and again advancing with easy strokes of its half
expanded wings. As if suspecting the concealment
of something among the grass it now hovers awhile,
balancing itself with rapid but gentle beats of its
wings, and a vibratory motion of its expanded tail ;
but unable to discover any desirable object, away it
speeds, bounds over the stone wall, and curving
upwards alights on that stunted and solitary ash, and
surveys the neighbourhood. From such a station it
will sometimes dart suddenly on some unsuspecting
bird not far off, but more frequently it proceeds to a
distance before it finds its prey. So rapid is the
descent of this plunderer that, to one who has
unexpectedly witnessed it, nothing can be much more

1 Falco nisus.

BIRDS. 145

surprising. I have seen a sparrow-hawk rush head-
long into the midst of a dense thicket, and suddenly
emerge on the other side, carrying off a thrush in its
talons.” As an evidence of its audacity, Macgillivray
says that while some sparrows were quietly enjoying
the pickings of some horse-dung on one of the streets
in Edinburgh, on which many persons, including him-
self, were passing, a sparrow-hawk glancing among
them carried one off in a moment.

The predacious birds which hunt during the night
are also represented by ordinary woodland species—
the Long-horned Owl andthe Tawny Owl. The silent
flight of these birds is very peculiar, and is described
by Shakespeare as the ‘“ night owl’s lazy flight.” The
Long-eared Owl! is common in fir woods in the North.
If one of these birds appears in the face of day, the
small birds surround him. ‘They buffet him, peck
at and menace him on every side; while the owl
turns his eyes from party to party, evading their blows
as wellas he can. The uproar is now great; each
bird, in its mother tongue, venting execration on the
poor owl. On such occasions one may get within a
few feet of it. At length he takes wing, generally
flies a short distance, often pursued by a chaffinch or
two.” In Norfolk this “ mobbing of the owl” by
small birds is a circumstance well known to the
country-folk.

The Tawny Owl? hides during the day in dense
woods, coming out at dusk to feed on rats, mice,
birds, and insects. This bird, as well as some other

1 Otus vulgaris. 2 Syrniun: aluco.

146 THE WOODLANDS.

owls, has been credited with a fishing propensity.
Waterton was watching one of them carrying mice to
its nest, when suddenly she dropped perpendicularly
into the water. Thinking she had fallen down in
an epilepsy, his first thought was to go and fetch the
boat ; but before he had got to the end of the bridge
on which he was standing, he saw the owl rise out
of the water with a fish in her claws, and take it to
the nest.

THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE,

A much smaller predatory bird than any of these
is the Red-backed Shrike,! a summer visitant found at

1 Zanius collurio.

BIRDS. 147

the outskirts of woods and in hedges. It is some-
times called the Butcher-bird, from its habit of
impaling its prey upon thorns in the vicinity of its
nest. Mr. Hewitson says, “Seeing a Red-backed
Shrike busy in a hedge, I found, upon approaching
it, a small bird, upon which it had been operating,
firmly fixed upon a blunt thorn ; its head was torn
off, and its body entirely plucked.” This is a
sufficient answer to those who assert that this bird
does not “spike ” its prey.

We might class together all our birds under three
groups,—our permanent residents, another of summer
visitors, and a third of winter visitors; or we
might associate together the birds of prey and the
insectivorous birds, and the granivorous birds; but
for all the purposes of this work no elaborate system
is essential, and they may be named in the usual
order in which they are commonly classed.

The Blackbird and Thrush, although plentiful
enough and well known, are not exclusively wood
birds ; but this cannot be said of another :—

“Tis the merry Nightingale
.That crowds, and hurries, and precipitates,
With fast thick warble his delicious notes,
As he were fearful that an April night
Would be too short for him to utter forth
His love chant, and disburthen his full soul
Of all its music,”

This “‘syren of the woods” is one of our visitors,
and a welcome one, too, for its song is unsurpassed.
Many a writer has pronounced eulogies on the music

E 2

148 THE WOODLANDS.

of the Nightingale! but none more flattering than
that of old Izaak Walton. ‘ He that at midnight,
when the very labourer sleeps securely, should hear, as
I have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants,
the natural rising and falling, the doubling and re-
doubling of her voice, might well be lifted above
earth, and say, Lord, what music hast Thou provided
for the saints in Heaven, when Thou affordest bad
men such music on earth.” It seems to be a refine-
ment of cruelty to shut up such a songster in a cage,
and a just revenge that the song obtained under such
conditions is inferior to that chanted freely amongst
the trees. Catching nightingales is a profitable em-
ployment around large towns. Mr. Harting tells ot
one adept at bird-catching near London, who at one
time rented a cottage at Z1oa year. ‘If there was
what he called a good nightingale season, he made
more than enough to pay his rent by the capture and
sale of these birds! In one season alone he caught
fifteen dozen, receiving eighteen shillings a dozen for
them in London. He told me also that on one
occasion he caught no less than nineteen nightingales
before breakfast in the grounds of one gentleman,
and in sight of the windows ; for which, as I told him,
he ought to have been transported.”

The Blackcap? is considered by some as a warbler
second only to the Nightingale. It also is asummer
visitor, and of very modest plumage. In song it is
almost a “mocking bird,” for it will seem to copy the
notes of the Nightingale and other birds that it chances

1 Sylvia luscinia. 2? Sylvia atricapilla.

BIRDS. 149

to hear sing. Sometimes it resembles the Thrush,
then the Robin, and at another time the Lark ; and
yet those who study the language of birds declare it to
be no imitator, but that its own natural melody com-
bines the beauties of all into one harmonious strain.

The Garden Warbler,! or Pettychaps, leads a quiet,
retired life while it stays with us in the summer
amongst thick brambles, and the undergrowth in
woods and plantations, whence it rambles into the
gardens which may be in the neighbourhood. It
never seems to be so common as the Blackcap, but is
widely dispersed.

Two of the commonest of our warblers are the White-
throat,? and the Lesser White-throat.2 The former
is the most common of the two. Both are probably
greater lovers of quiet lanes and hedgerows than
woods. ‘Their lively habits render them amusing
objects. “If you happen to approach its nest, it
comes up scolding vehemently, with a churring sort
of voice, and flits about until you leave the place,
attempting by short flights to induce you to pursue it,
when it flies along the hedge before you. Its song is
often heard very late at night, and is amongst the
earliest that come on the ear in the fine summer
mornings. If you be walking along a hedge in the
early twilight, the little creature is sure to come up,
announcing its presence by its song, and flitting in
advance for, perhaps, a long way.” Like most war-
blers, they are only summer visitors.

There are only three other warblers to which it is

1 Sylvia hortensis. 3 Sylvia curruca.
2 Sylvia cinerea.

150 THE WOODLANDS.

necessary to allude here. These are the Wood Wren,}
the Willow Wren,? and the Chiff-chaff.? The last is the
least commonly seen in woods of the three. The chief
food of all of them consists of insects, of which they
destroy a large number, and yet short-sighted man
makes war upon all small birds, whilst they are his
greatest friends. The Wood Wren, or Wood Warbler,
has a “shrill, shaking sort of note, which may be
heard at a great distance, and cannot be confounded
with the song of any other bird.” ‘The song of the
Willow Wren is very soft and pleasing, consisting of
several plaintive notes in a descending scale. The
latter becomes very tame in confinement, and one
author states that a bird of this species became so
familiar that it would take flies out of his hand.

Every one knows the Tits, all the family of the
Tits—the Great Tit, the Blue Tit, the Long-tailed Tit,
the Cole Tit, the Marsh Tits, and all the little Tits.
They are the very mountebank of birds, head upwards,
head downwards, creeping over the branches, now on
one side, now on the other, twittering, and bobbing
around on all sides, ever restless in their search for
insects ; now and then pecking away at the young
buds, though not with mischievous intent, but because
they know that an insect is concealed within. It is
not the buds they eat, but the maggots which they
contain. Immense numbers of oak-galls are robbed
of their insects every year by these lively little Tits,
and yet they are persecuted, whilst they should be

! Sylvia sylvicola. 3 Sylvia hippolais.
2 Sylvia trochulus.

BIRDS. I5I

assiduously protected. “If you happen to be sulky
or moody, look on; you cannot fail to be cheered
and soothed by the sight, so lively, merry, and frisky
a creature must needs divert you. Tom-tit is no
actor, but an original, and a very clever one withal.”

THE BLUE TITMOUSE.

The Pipits are something like larks in appearance.
and yet not larks. There is one of them which falls
in our circuit, and that is the Tree Pipit,) which makes
its appearance here in May, and goes at once to the
woods. Perched on the tops of the highest trees,
they twitter, but during descent to the ground they
perform their song. ‘Few lovers of Nature can have
failed to observe this small brown bird, perched on

1 Anthus arboreus.

152 THE WOODLANDS.

the topmost twig of an oak. Rising ten or twelve
feet into the air with joyous song, it hovers for a few
seconds over the tree, singing the while, and then,
with wings expanded, and almost meeting over its
back, and legs hanging straight, it drops perpendi-
cularly upon the twig from whence it arose.”

THE TREE PIPIT.

Larks do not add much to the music of the woods,
for the Wood Lark is scarcely common anywhere, and
is seldom in the woods. ‘The Buntings deserve a like
report, for even the common Yellow-hammer must
be sought in the green lanes.

Finches are numerous, both in species and indivi-
duals. Leaving the saucy Chaffinch to enjoy himself
in gardens, and the House-sparrow to his predilection

BIRDS. 153

for human habitations, we have still others which hang
about the borders of woods. The Brambling is fond
of beech mast, and hence may be seen in autumn and
winter near beech-trees, but, being only a winter
visitor, he will be sought in vain during the summer
months. The Greenfinch, Linnet, Twite, and Gold-
finch more or less congregate in companies, and
frequent the waste places, where thistles, dandelions,
groundsel, and other herbaceous plants furnish their

THE SISKIN.

favourite food. The Siskin and the Redpole are also
sociable birds, but they have a tendency to hang
about the margins of woods, and some individuals will
be found penetrating into the interior. The Bullfinch,
on the other hand, seems most at home in the woods,
whence he strays now and then in search of seeds,

154 THE WOODLANDS.

or, perhaps, a flight into some neighbouring garden.
One of the most singular and noticeable of the Finches
is the Hawfinch.! It is not usually considered a
common bird, and in some localities is certainly rare.
Many of the Finches—almost all of tllem—are to be
seen in the London bird-shops, but it is seldom that
the Hawfinch is in theircompany. In Epping Forest
this bird is to be seen throughout the year, feeding on

THE HAWFINCH.

‘the seeds of the hornbeam and other berries, and
may be considered common. It is a poor songster,
but a good nutcracker, for which its large, hard, -
powerful beak is admirably adapted.

1 Fringilla coccothraustes.

BIRDS. 155

The Crossbills are such uncommon birds in the
South, generally confining themselves to fir woods,
and feeding on the seeds of the Scotch fir, larch, and
other pines, that many persons well conversant with
all our feathered friends have never seen one at large.
They are sometimes met with in captivity, and are
very amusing captives. Flocks of them in exceptional
years make their appearance in the eastern and
midland counties, and one fortunate observer says,—
“*T have seen them, hundreds of times, when on the
larch, cut the cone from the branch with their beak,
and, holding it firmly in both claws, as a hawk
would a bird, extract the seeds with the most surpris-
ing dexterity and quickness.” These birds are called
*‘ Crossbills,” because, when their beaks are closed,
the curved extremities cross each other.

Although crows and rooks nest in high trees, they
are much more birds of fields and open places; but
the Magpie and Jay, especially the latter, are true
wood birds. ‘The mischievous propensities of the
Magpie are proverbial, and belong to the whole of
the Crow family. This, above all the rest, is con-
victed of egg-stealing, and hence a war of extermina-
tion is waged against it by gamekeepers, which
reduces its numbers, so that now it is nowhere
truly common. The Jay is a handsome, but a very
noisy, unmusical screecher, and of a quarrelsome
nature. One is almost certain to hear, if not to see
jays, in most woods, for they get up a squabble
amongst themselves incessantly, and in consequence
are often shot for their trouble. Montague says that
a jay “will at intervals imitate the bleating of a lamb,

156 THE WOODLANDS.

the mewing of a cat, the note of a kite or buzzard,
hooting of an owl, and even the neighing of a horse.
These imitations are so exact, even in a natural wild
state, that we have frequently been deceived.” Truly
a happy combination, more melancholy than musical;
the like of which we never heard, and certainly cherish
no great desire to add to our experiences.

The Woodpecker, “‘ tapping at the old oak-tree,” is.
a bird of the South of Britain, but certainly prefers.
tapping at the elm to the oak. The Green Wood-
pecker is more common generally than the Spotted
Woodpecker, and may occasionally be seen climbing
up the old trunk of some tree, or resting midway and
tapping the bark, catching up stray insects with its.
long tongue. It is very fond of ants, and will perch
itself on a hillock, and feast at leisure upon its inha-
bitants, never scratching, but turning over the soil
with its strong bill.

There is some similarity between the habits of the
Woodpeckers and the Wryneck.! The latter is a
smaller bird, with plumage of sober brown, with the
same habit of climbing trees or walls in search of
insects, and building its nest in the hole of a tree.
When disturbed in its nest, it utters a hissing sound,
which some compare to that of a turkey-cock, and
others to that of a serpent. For this reason it has
obtained the names of Snake-bird and Turkey-bird.
“ Cuckoo’s mate” is another name which it has
acquired, on account of arriving in this country about
the same time as the Cuckoo. The Wryneck is

' Vunx torguilla,

BIRDS. F597

remarkable for a habit of twisting the neck with a
slow undulatory movement, like that of a snake, turn-
ing its head back and closing its eyes. In 1865 a pair
of these birds built their nest in a hole in an apple-tree ~
in an orchard near Burnham. ‘The female was caught
one day while sitting on her eggs and carried to Eton,
where it was sold to a gentleman who set it at liberty.
Its captor observed the bird on the apple-tree the
next morning, and as he had marked it there could
have been no mistake. Instinct had enabled this
bird to find its way back again, after having been
carried in the boy’s pocket a distance of seven miles.

The little “Creeper”! is a still smaller bird, of
rather livelier habits, often seen clinging to the rough
bark of an old elm, and advancing by short jerks.
As it climbs it searches every crevice, proceeding up-
wards, now on one side, and now on the other. At
length it reaches the branches and moves along them,
sometimes on the top, but as often beneath, hanging
on meanwhile with its back towards the ground.
Thus like a mouse it creeps over the tree, uttering at
times a shrill and feeble cry, and then flies off to
another, commencing again at the base.

The “ Nuthatch”? is a rarer and more local bird,
although it remains throughout the year. It has the
same habit of creeping up the bark of trees, but differs
in one respect from the other climbers in the readi-
ness with which it passes downwards head foremost.
Its food is not by any means confined to insects,
but is varied with nuts and seeds. One writer says,

1 Certhia familiaris. 2 Sitta Europea.

158 THE WOODLANDS.

“Tts dexterity in opening nuts and the stones of
fruits is curious ; it fixes the nut in a crack on the top
of a post, or on the bark of a tree, and placing itself
above it, head downwards, strikes with great force and
rapidity with its strong wedge-shaped bill on the edge
of the shell till it splits it open. When the food of
these birds is plentiful, they have a favourite crack for
unshelling the kernels, as sometimes a peck of broken
shells may be seen under this crack.”
** Cuckoo! Cuckoo! O! welcome, welcome notes !
Fields, woods, and waves rejoice

In that recovered voice,
As on the wind its fluty music floats.”

We all welcome the Cuckoo, because it assures us
that spring has commenced ; and the sound by which
its presence is announced is so familiar, and so un-
like any other, that the little child and the gray-haired
veteran recognise it alike and give it welcome. If
the note of the Cuckoo is observed, it will be found
to commence with the interval of a minor third, and
during the season proceed upwards until it reaches
the interval of a fifth. It is said never to attain a
minor sixth. ‘Have you heard the Cuckoo?” isa
common inquiry in early spring. And this perhaps
leads to other inquiries, for there are superstitions
and omens associated even with the Cuckoo. It is
considered an unlucky omen if you have no money in
your pocket when you hear the Cuckoo for the first
time ina season. Those who hear the Cuckoo first
are supposed to be the most fortunate, and those who
hear the notes repeated the greatest number of times
on the first occasion in the year have the advantage.

BIRDS. 159

It was considered a reproach to one to have heard
the Cuckoo while hungry. The one feature in this
bird’s character which is justly charged upon it as dis-
reputable, is that instead of building a nest and rear-
ing its young, the female lays her egg in the nest of’
some other bird, and leaves to strangers all the labour
of hatching and bringing up its progeny.

The “Fern Owl,” or “ Goatsucker,” flies in the
dusk round the borders of woods through the summer,
and catches insects in its flight. Heathy places, and
open downs, wherever insects most do congregate,
are attractive, but its method of hunting cannot be
pursued in a dense wood. This bird is also called
the “ Night-jar,” and the “ Moth-hawk,” so that it is
well furnished witl popular names. There is, un-
fortunately a prejudice against this bird amongst
gamekeepers, but without any reason ; it is difficult to
discover how such a prejudice originated, as its food
consists of insects, which it catches on the wing. The
name of ‘‘ Goatsucker ” is derived from the supposition
that it sucks the udders of cows and goats, but this is
entirely a vulgar error, as any one may become con-
vinced by a little patient observation.

The Ring-dove, or Wood-Pigeon, is found in
all the wooded districts of England and Scotland,
where it prefers the highest trees. ‘No bird in the
British dominions,” writes Waterton, ‘“‘ seems to resort
to so many trees and shrubs for the purpose of in-
cubation as the Ring-dove. Not a tree, from the
towering pine to the lowly thorn, ever comes amiss to
it. ‘There is something too peculiarly singular in the
locality of some of the nests. While one is seen

160 THE WOODLANDS.

placed nearly on the topmost branches of the lofty
sycamore, another may be found within four feet of
the ground, in the humble shelter of the hedgerow
bush.” And again, “ Ring-doves are exceedingly
numerous here during summer ; and when winter sets
in many thousands come every evening to take up
their quarters for the night. They retire early to
roost, and never leave the trees till all the other birds
are on the stir.” There seems to be a mournfulness
in the monotonous “ Coo-Coo” of the Ring-dove
when heard in the depths of a forest, a kind of
fretful complaint of which the notes of songsters do not
partake.

We are closing our gossip on the feathered tribes
without scarcely a mention of those charming produc-
tions of their instinct and perseverance, “ birds’ nests.”
We have done so advisedly, so as not to stimulate the
curiosity of our younger readers into a desire for birds-
nesting, or give them an excuse for its pursuit. We
have had interesting books written on ‘‘ Bird Archi-
tecture,” on ‘‘ Homes without Hands,” and kindred
topics, which have almost exhausted the subject ;
whilst at the same time they have exhibited such
marvellous examples of ingenuity, of instinct bordering
on intelligence, that we are fain to believe would
inspire their readers with such respect for the little
architects as to leave their homes in peace.

There is as much of character in the nest and the
eggs as in the birds themselves. It is not difficult to
determine the bird from its nest, much less from its
eggs. Insome instances there is evidence ofa refined
architectural taste, if such a term may be applied ;

BIRDS. 161

in others there is less care, less elaboration, less neat-
ness, even amounting to slovenliness and carelessness.
And the eggs too differ, not only in size, but also in
colour and in ornamentation. The eggs of such
birds as the Kestrel, and especially of the Guillemot
(a water-bird), vary so much in their markings that
two can rarely be found absolutely alike, and yet the
general colour and the character of the markings are
so decided that there is never any difficulty in deter-
mining the bird to which they belong. In our juvenile
days we remember that schoolboys in the country
were always ambitious to outnumber each other in
the birds’ eggs collected during a season. For this
purpose the shells were threaded upon a string as they
were plundered, and in many cottages a long trophy
of birds’ egg-shells hung suspended from the ceiling.
This barbarous practice is now checked, and it is
hoped that farmers and gardeners are beginning to
learn that small birds are their greatest friends.

M

162 THE WOODLANDS.

CHAPTER IX.

BEETLES.

Insects abound wherever vegetable life is profuse.
The green plant or the decaying plant furnishes food
to myriads of minute insects ; larger carnivorous insects
find here the favourable conditions which their habits
demand ; hence they collect in such spots, and prey
upon the smaller and weaker. Birds and reptiles
follow the insects ; quadrupeds in their turn follow
the birds. The flesh-feeders thus depending one
upon another for existence, have a primary depen-
dence upon vegetable life. There are, of course,
exceptions to this, in the case of the quadrupeds and
birds which are direct vegetable-feeders. In all cases
the original source of support to animal life lies in
the vegetable ; hence, wherever there is the greatest
variety of plants there will naturally be the greatest
variety of animals, whether quadrupeds, birds, reptiles,
or insects.

1 «* Facts serve to show,”’ writes C.V. Riley, ‘‘ that, seek where
we may, we cannot find a place ora substance in which or on
which some insect does not feed. They people the atmosphere
around us, swim at ease in the water, and penetrate the solid
earth beneath our feet, while some of them inhabit indifferently
all three of these elements at different epochs of their lives.”

BEETLES. 163

Insects, unlike the higher animals, have three stages
of existence—the caterpillar stage, the pupa or chry-
salis stage, and the imago, or perfect insect. Through
these stages they all pass, whether beetles, bugs,
butterflies, moths, bees, flies, &c. From each of the
preliminary stages the entomologist can determine
the ultimate order to which the mature insect will
belong. The immense number of insects which spring
into existence during every month of the year where-
ever there is vegetation, would startle those who have
had no experience amongst them. ‘“ From such con-
siderations,” writes Schrank, ‘‘ are we not alarmed for
our forests, gardens, and groves? Do not these in-
numerable millions of insects which incessantly labour
at their destruction confuse our understanding when
we begin to reckon them, and terrify our imagination
which magnifies them? And can I be believed if I
assert that I discover beneficence in such unspeakable
destruction, beauty in these devastations, wisdom in
this disorder, and life in this manifold death ? Never-
theless it is so. Whatever many may say of nature
growing old, the naturalist finds her always young and
beautiful, always estimable, just as she came from the

-hand of her Creator, and as she, indeed, every moment

issues afresh from the hand of the Almighty Being.
In His hand the youth of nature is continually re-
newed, and under His all-ruling providence all the
millions of apparently destructive beings only labour
in preserving her existence and embellishment.”

Insects are classed by those who study them in
several groups or orders, each of which has some
feature which is peculiar to all the genera and species

M 2

164 THE WOODLANDS.

which the order contains. Beetles have two mem-
branous wings, which are folded up and concealed
during repose beneath a pair of hard, horny, or leathery
wing-cases. Butterflies and moths have four wings,
covered with minute scales. Bees, wasps, &c., have
four clear, transparent wings, and flies (as they are
usually termed), or Diptera, have two transparent
wings. ‘Thus through all the orders a general feature
prevails, by means of which the insects of one order
may be distinguished from those of another. Beetles
are the first insects to which our attention must be
directed, and they may best be illustrated by one of
the most common and best known of our indigenous
species.

The habits and transformations of the common
Cockchafer have been carefully observed, and will
serve to exemplify those of the other insects of this
family, which, as far as they are known, seem to be
nearly the same. ‘This insect devours the leaves of
trees and shrubs. Its duration in the perfect state is
very short, each individual living only about a week,
and the species entirely disappearing in the course of
amonth. After the sexes have paired, the males
perish, and the females enter the earth to the depth
of six inches or more, making their way by means of
the strong teeth which arm the forelegs ; here they
deposit their eggs, amounting, according to some
writers, to nearly one hundred, or, as others assert, to
two hundred, from each female, which are abandoned
by the parent, who generally ascends again to the
surface, and perishes in a short time.

From the eggs are hatched, in the space of fourteen

BEELLES. 165

days, little whitish grubs, each provided with six legs
near the head, and a mouth furnished with strong
jaws. When ina state of rest, these grubs usually
curl themselves in the shape of a crescent. They
subsist on the tender roots of various plants, commit-
ting ravages among these vegetable substances on some
occasions of the most deplorable kind, so as totally to
disappoint the best-founded hopes of the husband-
man. During the summer they live under the thin
coat of vegetable mould near the surface, but as
winter approaches they descend below the reach of
frost, and remain torpid until the succeeding spring,
at which time they change their skins, and reascend
to the surface for food. At the close of their third
summer (or as some say of their fourth or fifth), they
cease eating, and penetrate about two feet deep into
the earth ; there each grub by its motions from side to
side forms an oval cavity, which is lined by some
glutinous substance thrown from its mouth. In this
cavity it is changed to a pupa by casting off its skin.
In this state the legs, antennze, and wing-cases of the
future beetle are visible through the transparent skin
which envelops them, but appear of a yellowish-white
colour, and thus the pupa remains till February,
when the thin film which encloses the body is rent,
and three months afterwards the perfected beetle digs
its way to the surface, from which it finally emerges
during the night. According to Kirby and Spence,
the grubs of the cockchafer sometimes destroy whole
acres of grass by feeding on its roots. They under-
mine the richest meadows, and so loosen the turf that
it will roll up as if cut by a turfing-spade. They do

166 THE WOODLANDS.

not confine themselves to grass, but eat the roots of
wheat, of other grains, and also those of young trees.
About seventy years ago a farmer near Norwich
suffered much by them, and, with his man, gathered!
eighty bushels of the beetles. In the year 1785 many
provinces in France were so ravaged by them, that a
premium was offered by Government for the best
mode of destroying them. The Society of Arts in
London during many years held forth a premium for
the best account of this insect, and the means. of
checking its ravages, but without having produced one
successful claimant.!

The largest beetle we possess is called the “‘ Stag-
Beetle,” ? because its large mandibles, projecting im
front of the head, resemble the horns of a stag. If
any one should find it crawling over the ground in a
wood, he may test the strength and importance of
these mandibles or horns, and discover that they have
a considerable nipping power. Professor Bradley has.
given a remarkable instance of the strength of one of
these creatures. He asserts that he saw the beetle
carry awand a foot and a half long, and half an inch
thick, and even fly with it, to the distance of several
yards. Linnzus observes that if the elephant was as.
strong in proportion as the stag-beetle, it would be
able to tear up rocks and level mountains.

Such an insect would have a caterpillar of corre-
sponding size, and it is the belief of some authors that
the famous “ Cossus,” a caterpillar which was fattedi
and eaten by the ancient Romans, was the larva of

1 Harris’s ‘‘ Injurious Insects.” 2 Lucanius cervus.

BEETLES. 167

this beetle, whilst others contend that it was the
caterpillar of the Goat-moth.

Dung-beetles, as the name suggests, inhabit dung,
or are to be found in its neighbourhood. They are
not mentioned so much on account of some of them
being occasionally found in woods, as from their
historical interest. These insects are possessed of
considerable strength, as may be tested by placing
them under a book, and watching their movements.
Dr. Birchell was supping one evening in a pianter’s
house of North Carolina, when two or three beetles
were placed without his knowledge under the candle-
stick. A few blows were struck on the table, when, to
his great surprise, the candlestick began to move
about, apparently without any agency, except that of a
spiritual nature, and his surprise was not lessened
when, on taking one of them up, he discovered that
it was only a beetle that moved.

These beetles have a habit of enclosing their eggs
in round pellets of dung resembling pills, and this
habit is associated with the legends and stories of the
Egyptians and others, who held the Dung-beetle in
esteem, regarding it as sacred.

The Scarabzeus was considered among'the Hindoos
as.a symbol of the Creator. This association passed
from them to the Egyptians, and the sacred beetle is '
figured extensively upon their monuments. From
Egypt the legend of the sacred beetle passed into
Scandinavia. Plutarch says that the Scarabeeus was
adopted as an emblem of the sun, because these insects
cast the seed of generation into round balls of dung, as
a genial nidus, and roll them backward with their feet,

168 THE WOODLANDS,

while they themselves look directly forward ; and as
the sun appears to proceed in the heavens in a course
contrary to the signs, thus the Scaravez turn their
balls toward the west, while they themselves continue
creeping towards the east ; by the first of these motions
exhibiting the diurnal, and by the second the annual
motion of the earth and the planets.

As to the beetle-worship of Egypt, Pliny writes :—
“The greater part of Egypt honourall beetles,and adore
them as gods, or, at least, having some divine power
in them.” Not only
were they venerated
during life, but em-
balmed after death,
in which state they
are found at Thebes.
A colossal Egyptian
beetle in stone may
be seen in the lower
room of antiquities
in the British Mu-
seum. Small images
of the Scarabzeus in

Gia eRe eS. baked earth, or other
material, are found
in great number with the mummies of Egypt. Placed
over the stomach, it was deemed a talisman to
shield the soul of its wearer against the evil spirits.
Watching the Dung-beetle pursuing the same instinct
which has guided its progenitors for thousands of years,
we shall scarce fail to be reminded of its association
with some of the oldest nations of the world.

BEETLES. 169

Whatever may have originated the stories of “ Will-
o-the-Wisp” luring travellers to destruction, it is
certain that the glowworm has a real existence, and
in most instances is the luminous female of a kind of
beetle.! “If you take one of these glowworms home
with you for examination,” writes Kirby, ‘you will
find that in shape it somewhat resembles a caterpillar,
only that it is much more depressed ; and you will
observe that the light proceeds from a pale-coloured
patch that terminates the underside of the abdomen.
It is not, however, the larva of an insect, but the
perfect female of a winged beetle, from which it is
altogether so different that nothing but actual obser-
vation could have inferred the fact of their being the
sexes of the same insect.”

The “ little light” of our own glowworms is poor in
comparison with that emitted by the fire-flies of the
tropics :—

** One while they stream’d
A bright blue radiance upon flowers that closed
Their gorgeous colours from the eye of day ;
Now motionless and dark, eluded search,

Self-shrouded ; and, anon, starring the sky,
Rose like a shower of fire.”

Yet most of these fire-flies are beetles ; and travellers
tell not only of reading by their light, but of using
them as candles in lighting the house, as torches to
guide them when travelling by night, and, on festivals,
of their being tied all over the garments of young
people, who gallop through the streets on horses
similarly ornamented, producing on a dark evening

' Lampyris noctiluca, and other species.

170 THE WOODLANDS.

the effect of a large moving body of light. The
Chinese lantern-fly is not a beetle; and even centi-
pedes have the power of emitting light, as we have
proved by experience.

The State Entomologist in a country speaking our
own language, but in which the State encourages the
pursuit of economic science much more than in our
own, summarizes in a very compact manner the
general features of the Snout Beetles, or Weevils, of
which he remarks that there are not less than ten
thousand good and distinct species known to be
dispersed over the globe. He says they are at once
distinguished from al! other families by the front of
the head being produced into a more or less elongated
snout or rostrum, at the extremity of which the mouth
is situated. The larvee are whitish or yellowish fleshy
grubs. Now there is hardly one of the one hundred
families of insects from which so many injurious
species can be enumerated, for, with the exception of
one species, whose larva was found to destroy bark-
lice, they are all vegetarians, the larvee inhabiting
either the roots, stems, leaves, or fruits of plants; and
the beetles feeding on the same. So whenever you
find an insect with the character just given, you may
rest morally certain that it is injurious, and should be
destroyed without mercy. This family is not only
one of the most injurious, but, on account of the
secretive habits of the larvze, the insects comprising
it are the most difficult to control. When a worm is
openly and above-board denuding our trees, we at
least readily become aware of the fact, and can, if we
choose, apply the remedy ; but when it surreptitiously,

BEETLES. 178

and always under cover, gnaws away at the heart of
our grains and fruits, we become in a measure helpless
to defend ourselves. But even here, where the enemy
is so well ambushed and hidden, the proper tactics,
based on thorough knowledge, will frequently enable
us to penetrate the defences, and conquer the foe.

Some of these beetles are so minute as scarcely to
exceed a good-sized flea. It is difficult to enumerate
all the varied haunts to which these destroyers find
their way. Suffice it to say that they are plentiful in
woods, as well as gardens, granaries, and even houses.
The habits of one of them are unfortunately those of
a great number. This Weevil,! which attacks the
Lime, Birch, Mountain Ash, and other trees, makes
its ascent during the night and feeds on the foliage
and bark both of young and old shoots, and during
the day lodges at the foot of the tree, slightly con-
cealed in the earth, from its great resemblance to which
it is difficult to detect. They commence their de-
predations about the middle or the latter end of April,
and continue them for several weeks.

The Pine Weevil? is but too common in fir
plantations, especially in the North, and is large for
the family. They attack both the bark and buds, and
not only the bark of the branches and twigs, but also
the roots near the surface of the ground, wherein the
female is. believed to deposit her eggs. This beetle is
more injurious in its perfect state than in the larva.
Young slender trees are often so much gnawed, as to
be easily broken by the wind. When a bud is once

1 Onorhynchus picites. 2 Tylobius abietis.
uy }

172 THE WOODLANDS.

pierced, it unfolds with difficulty or remains stunted.
So wily is this weevil, that as soon as it hears a foot-
step it withdraws to a secure situation, and when
there is the smallest movement of the bushes, the

THE WILLOW BORING BEETLE,

whole brood fall into the grass below, so as not to be
seen, and only a few stragglers can with difficulty be
discovered on the ground.

Professor Westwood has given full particulars of
one of these beetles which is very destructive to
willows, although for a long time these injuries were
attributed to another insect, which being attracted to
the spot by the extravasated sap and rotten sawdust
made by the larve of the Weevil, came to be con-
sidered as the cause of the mischief. The whole of
the trunk in which these larvee were found emitted a
strong smell, somewhat like beer in a state of fermenta-
tion. The little white grub is very similar to that of
the Nut-Weevil (another species not uncommon in

BEETLES. 173

hazel-nuts), and it is said that when they first attack
a tree they eat through the bark and into the centre
of the tree, sometimes not going so far as the centre,
and sometimes eating for a considerable distance be-
tween the bark and the wood before entering the
latter. They appear to attack the trees at or near the
ground and eat their way from bottom to top of the
main stem, occasionally eating through the outer bark.
They begin their ascent by eating a round tubular
hole several inches in length, occasionally winding off
the first course at right angles. On looking amongst
the trees so destroyed, at first sight they had every
appearance of some one having wilfully taken a gimlet
and bored holes for their own amusement. The
perfect insect! varies from one third to half an inch
in length, of an opaque dirty-black colour, sprinkled
with white scales, mixed with tufts of black ones. It
feeds also on the alder. The beetle in its mature
state may be found on the trunk or leaves of willow-
trees during August and September. At an earlier
period the grubs must be sought in their channels in
the wood.

Allied to the Snout-beetles or Weevils, we may
name a small beetle,” with its body rather covered with
hair, having a polished black thorax and brown wing-
cases, which may be seen in numbers running over
the trunks of elms from the end of March to the first
days of July, but principally about the end of May
or commencement of June. It may then be seen
entering into holes, with which the bark appears per-

1 Cryptorhynchus Lapathe. 2 Scolytus destructor.

174 THE WOODLANDS.

forated as though with a gimlet. It insinuates itself
into these holes, or into the crevices of the bark, for
the purpose of depositing its eggs. On stripping off
a piece of the loose bark, we may easily understand
how the barking of trees is effected by these minute
animals, for the surface of the wood thus exposed
presents to the view innumerable impressions, which

THE ELM-DESTROYING BEETLE,

may be compared to impressions or casts of large and
broad Scolopendre. The middle or body of this
singular impression marks the path of the perfect
female insect while employed in laying her eggs,
which is to her, as to most other winged insects, the
immediate forerunner of death. From this tubular
path, however, in which she deposits her eggs, the
larvee, which are hatched from these eggs in the shape
of little white footless worms, proceed nearly at right
angles, eating their way in parallel smaller tubes,
which, lying close to each other, effectually serve to
separate the bark from the tree. The larve remain
feeding in the tree, generally between the bark and the

BEETLES. 175

wood, throughout the winter season. About the com-
mencement of spring they assume the pupa state, and
before the end of this season the bark of an infected
tree begins to appear as if all its crevices were full of
a very fine sawdust. The last change of the insect
takes place, and being now winged, it tries to arrive
at the external air for the purpose of ‘propagating its
species, and laying its eggs in other trees. Each hole,
which now appears as if made with a gimlet, marks
the exit of a perfect insect. In the first instance the
voracity of the larve, and in the second, the en-
deavours of the perfect insects to liberate themselves
from the wood, particularly when such attempts are
made by almost infinite numbers, soon occasion the
bark to fall in large pieces. The consequence is that
the new leaves only make their appearance to wither,
and the tree perishes.!

This is only one of several small beetles having
nearly identical habits, similar in form and size, but
with specific differences recognized by naturalists,
living at the expense of growing trees. All over
Europe they are recognized as the enemies of forest
trees, and constantly efforts are being made to reduce
the extent of their ravages. In 1842 it was stated
that there was scarcely a tree in the vicinity of North-
wich which did not show symptoms of the decay in
consequence of the depredations of the little “‘ Ash
Beetle.”” This beetle pierces the bark, in the inner
part of which it forms a horizontal passage, and at
right angles to this passages on both sides of the

1 W. S. Macleay. 2 Tfyleeinus Fraxint.

176 THE WOODLANDS.

same the larve form other minute cavities nearly
parallel to each other. The larve are small fleshy
grubs with white bodies and chestnut heads.

In pine forests a similar little beetle is destructive
in another way. This beetle! burrows for one or
several inches below the terminal bud on the youngest
shoots of the Scotch fir, eating out the pith straight
upwards, and gnawing out again near the bud or
through it. It bores through the shoots of Spruce in
like manner when there are none of the Scotch pine
to be found. Its eggs are laid under the bark of
sickly or felled pines. It would be useless to attempt
to enumerate the minute beetles which revel in the
vegetation of our woodlands, not only injuring the
larger trees, but establishing themselves in the stems
of herbaceous plants, taking possession of old fungi,
and going down to the roots of grasses, in one or
other of their stages.

Of all noteworthy beetles, none surpass in interest the
pretty little “ Ladybirds,” and fewinsectsare moreuseful.

**T would not hurt it for the world ;
Its prettiness says, Spare me ; and it bears
Armour so beautiful upon its back,
I could not injure it to be a queen.
Look, sir, its coat is scarlet dropp’d with jet,
Its eyes pure ivory.”

Throughout its whole career, this little insect is the
determined foe of the Aphis, or Plant-louse, myriads
of which it annually destroys. Immense swarms are
sometimes seen in Kent and Sussex, where they feed

1 Hylurgus piniperda.

PEETLES. 177

on the hop-fly. In many places it is considered
very unlucky to kill a ladybird. In Norfolk they
are called Bishop Barnabee, and the children hold
them in their open hands when caught, chanting
meanwhile,—
‘** Bishop, Bishop Barnabee,

Tell me when my wedding be ;

If it be to-morrow day,

Take your wings and fly away;

Fly to the east, fly to the west,

Fly to him that I love best.”

It cannot have escaped observation that the Lady-
birds are a considerable family, some of which have
the wing-cases scarlet, others yellow ; some are spotted
with five, seven, or twenty-two black spots; others
with ten, fourteen, or sixteen white spots ; and others,
again, with white or black spots of some other
number. ‘These all vary a little in their habits and
food, and, consequently, in the places where they
should be sought. There is, nevertheless, a family
likeness which will lead to their recognition, although
ignorant persons have been known to capture them
on suspicion of their being the terrible ‘‘ Colorado
beatle,”

The American enemy of the potato, which has had
a bugbear season in this country, but not wholly
without reason, belongs to a somewhat mischievous
group. One, which might be called the “ Willow
Bug,” except that it is a true -beetle,! is occasionally
injurious to narrow-leaved willows. It is a pretty
insect, of a shining blue or green colour, and of an

1 Chrysonela vulgattssima.
N

178 THE WOODLANDS.

oblong-oval form, about one-sixth of an inch in length.
It is found during winter months in great profusion
under the loose bark of willows in damp localities.
Its eggs are deposited on the young leaves, and, when
hatched, the larvee form little associations, feeding
together in regular rows, the heads of the second row
touching the tails of the first. In this manner they
proceed from the base to the extremity of the leaf,
which they soon stnip of its parenchyma. They then
attack the next leaf, and so on, until they are full-
grown, when they descend into the ground and as-
sume the pupa state. After remaining a short time
in this condition, they finally emerge in their full and
perfect state. Some foreign species of this group are
handsome bright-coloured little insects, which are
strung as beads, or used in other ways for personal
adornment by the ladies in the countries where they
abound.

The Rove Beetles are very different from these last,
and have long slender bodies, with very short wing-
cases, so that the tail portion of the body is exposed,—
an unusual circumstance with beetles. When a Rove
Beetle is assaulted, or even at the approach of any
one, this little creature’s anger and courage are
instantly manifested ; he assumes a most formidable
attitude, and is ready to defy even man himself:
with his broad head erected and his terrific jaws
widely expanded, his six legs spread out, and his tail
curled up, he becomes at once an object of terror to
the young and ignorant, and, indeed, to those who
have unhappily neglected to make themselves ac-
quainted with the habits of the insect world. How-

BEETLES. 179

ever, in the common affairs of life we must not be
carried away altogether by outside appearances ; and
vicious as this little animal may be, despised or
feared by all, and trampled upon by every one as an
odious being not fit to live, it has, nevertheless, its
virtues, which counterbalance its repulsive appearance.
The larve of these beetles feed entirely upon animal
matter, and therefore are not destructive to trees or
plants ; and the mature insect is one of the deadliest
enemies of the Earwig, which it attacks and at once
kills with a nip from its formidable jaws, afterwards
sucking out the contents of its body. This insect is
not uncommon in gardens, and is known to children
and gardeners as the “ Devil’s Coach-horse.”! Some
of its representatives may be found in woods, and
may, at first, even be mistaken for earwigs. At the
least intimation of danger, up goes the tail portion,
and by this, as well as the naked extremities, the
“«Staphs” may be known from others of the great
commonwealth of beetles.

We might write of the Cefonizde, or Rose-chafers,
of the Gold Beetles, of the family which includes the
mysterious insects of which it is written :—

** And chambermaids christen this worm a Death-watch,

Because, like a watch, it always cries click.
Then woe be to those in the house that are sick !’”—

Of the Oil Beetles and Blister Flies, of Mealworms.
and Musk Beetles until we filled the volume with
beetle lore, to the disadvantage of other insects. Nor
is it necessary, for every one who desires to know

1 Staphylinus olens.
NZ

180 THE WOODLANDS.

more of these marvellous creatures, and this wonder-
ful world, will discover for himself more than we
could teach him. His experience will then be akin
to that of the Rev. Charles Kingsley when he wrote,
“T have so long enjoyed the wonders of nature;
never, I can honestly say, alone, because when man
was not with me I had companions in every bee, and
flower, and pebble ; and never idle, because I could
not pass a swamp or a tuft of heather without finding
in it a fairy tale of which I could but decipher here
and there a line or two, and. yet found them more
interesting than all the books, save one, which were
ever written upon earth.”

THE WOODLANDS. 181

CHAPTER X.

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS.

THE most attractive of all insects are the Lepzdoptera,
especially those which from their habit of flying about
during the day are called diurnal Lepidoptera or
Butterflies. As other perfect insects, so these pass
through three stages of existence,—caterpillar, chrysalis,
and imago, or winged insect. The most beautiful,
as well as pleasing, emblem among the Egyptians
was exhibited under the character of Psyche—the
soul. This was originally no other than a butterfly,
but it afterwards was represented as a lovely female
child with the beautiful wings of that insect. The
butterfly, after its first and second stages as an egg
and larva, lies for a season in a manner dead, and is
enclosed in a sort of coffin. In this state it remains
a shorter or longer period; but at last, bursting its
bonds, it comes out with new life, and in the most
beautiful attire. The Egyptians thought this a very
proper picture of the soul of man, and of the immor-
tality to which it aspired. But they made it more
particularly an emblem of Osiris, who having been
confined in an ark or coffin, and in a state of death,
at last quitted his prison, and enjoyed a renewal of

182 THE WOODLANDS.

life. This symbol passed over to the Greeks and
Romans, who also considered the butterfly as the
symbol of Zephyr.

The day-flying butterflies are neither so large, so
numerous, nor so brightly coloured in our northern
climate as in the Tropics, yet we have two or three
which, both for size and colouring, compare favourably
with those of more sunny lands.

The first of all our British butterfles, entitled fully
to its name, is the “ Emperor”; and although it
hovers over the tops of the highest oaks, and is con-
sidered a habitant of woods, he may consider himself

THE SILVER-WASHED FRITILLARY.

fortunate who succeeds once during his life to capture
a specimen for himself. Entomologists delight to re-
count their adventures in quest of this royal game,
and some have achieved great success. It is a but-

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 183

terfly of rather depraved tastes, as proved by the
fact that swine’s dung, dead stoats, and such un-
savoury odours have proved the best means of luring
them to their destruction.

The White Admiral, although a woodland species,
is certainly local, and is confined to the southern
portion of England. The tortoiseshells, and allied
species, are usually met with outside the woods, and
not in the woods themselves.

Perhaps the most decidedly woodland species are
the Fritillaries. The large Silver-washed Fritillary! is
to be seen in extensive woods, and seems to be fond
of hovering about the blossoms of the bramble. The
Pearl-bordered Fritillary, or Euphrosyne, is not an
uncommon woodland butterfly, and in some woods is
found in considerable numbers in May and June.
The small pearl-bordered (Se/ene) is much less com-
mon, although it affects similar localities. Finally,
the Heath Fritillary occurs in open places in woods,
as well as on heaths, especially if heather be found
there.

But wherefore “ Fritillaries”? This group of but-
terflies is distinguished by the silvery spots and streaks
with which the under side of the hind wings is
adorned ; while the upper surface is marked or
chequered with black on a ground colour of golden-
brown, and in this device they obscurely resemble the
old-fashioned liliaceous flowers called ‘“ Fritillary,”
whence it is conjectured that the name of the insects
has been derived. The caterpillars are cylindrical

} Argynoria Parthia,

184 THE WOODLANDS.

and spiny, feeding chiefly on some species of violet.
The chrysalis is humpy and irregular, suspended by
the tail. Spiny caterpillars and suspended chrysalids
are not confined to the Fritillaries.

The Ringlets are usually very modestly attired in
brown of various shades, with a pair or more of round
black spots on the wings not unlike an eye, hence called
oscelli, The ‘Speckled Wood” is sometimes called
the Wood Argus,! or many-eyed, from the rows of
black spots, resembling eyes, which adorn the wings.
Its scientific name is yeria, after a nymph celebrated
by the Romans as the wife of Numa, who became so
disconsolate at his death that she melted into tears.
The caterpillars are warted, and not spiny, feeding on
different kinds of grasses.

The Wall Butterfly is a lover of the sunlight, and is
most addicted to lakes and sunny banks. But the
most common of the family is the Meadow Brown,
fluttering in sunshine and in shade over pastures and
hill-sides, along the road, and occasionally straying
into woods. One of the ancient deities of classical
authors is said to have had fifty daughters called
Nereides, and one of these was “ Janica,” whose
name this butterfly bears.

The Ringlet? has its upper surface almost entirely
of a uniform sepia brown, with slight eye-spots. These
are very distinct on the lighter brown under surface,
surrounded by a very pale ring. The greenish cater-
pillar feeds on grasses during the night, and for that
reason is seldom seen, unless sought after with a

1 Pyrarga Egeria. 2 Hipparchia hyperanthus.

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 185

lantern amongst the long grass on the borders of
woods.

The smallest of these brown insects is the small
Heath,! a little tawny-coloured butterfly with a single

RINGLETS.,

eye-spot on the outer angle of each fore wing. It.
flutters about heaths and rough places in company

1 Cenonympha Pamphilus.

186 THE WOODLANDS.

with little ‘‘ Blues,” and is not uncommon in open
places in woods. Probably this modest little insect
obtained its scientific name from a celebrated Mace-
donian painter named Pamphilus, who originated a
law that only the children of noble parents should be
permitted to learn painting. The relationship between
an ancient Greek artist and a modest little brown but-
terfly is rather obscure.

When we were boys, and insect-hunters, the cap-
ture of a Hairstreak was considered an achievement
worthy of note. The Hairstreaks! are rather plain-
coloured little butterflies, lovers of trees, true nymphs
of the forest, distinguished by a small tail-like pro-
jection on the lower edge of the hind wings, which is
sometimes reduced to a small tooth. The caterpillar
is short and thick, shaped something like a woodlouse.
That of the Green Hairstreak feeds on the bramble,
that of the Purple Hairstreak on the oak, of the
Black Hairstreak on the elm, and of the Dark Hair-
streak and the Brown Hairstreak on the blackthorn.
The whole of them are rather solitary in their habits,
and local. One entomologist states that he saw on
one occasion thousands of one species in a wood, but
that he visited the same spot annually for thirteen
years, and never saw a single specimen. It is un-
usual, nevertheless, to see many together, and in
some seasons they are rarely seen at all.

The pretty little butterflies called the “ Blues” are
not all blue, sometimes only one sex is blue, and
occasionally neither. They are jerky little insects,

1 Thecla.

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 187

common in lanes and on heaths and downs at mid-
summer, especially in chalky districts. The under
surface of the wings is very prettily spotted and
marked, with scarcely a tint of blue, that colour
being reserved for the upper surface. There is only
one really woodland species, called the “‘ Azure Blue,”!
and that is chiefly confined to the South of England
and Ireland. The caterpillar feeds upon the flowers
of the holly and ivy.

A little copper-coloured butterfly? is often seen
in company with the commoner blue ones, and some-
times without them, since it is found almost every-
where. It is scarcely more than an inch in expanse
of wing, but often compensates in numbers for what
is wanting in size.

A large, sluggish butterfly is sometimes to be seen
flying about even whilst the snow is on the ground.
It is of a bright, sulphur colour, and of solitary habits.
This is the Brimstone,* and the caterpillar feeds on
the buckthorn. As the food plants are as often to
be seen as an undergrowth in woods, in some
counties, as in the hedgerows, it would be anticipated
also that the mature insect is not uncommon in
woods. It is scarcely possible to mistake this insect
on the wing, although it is more lively during warm
weather ; but generally it has a lazy kind of flight,
and juvenile insect-hunters find it sure game.

White butterflies—sometimes all of them are called
cabbage butterflies—are lovers of gardens, fields, and

1 Lycena argiolus. 3 Gonepleryx rhamni.
2 Chrysophanus phieas,

188 THE WOODLANDS.

lanes, and only stray into woods by accident, except
one, which is called the Wood White,! of a much
more slender and delicate form, but by no means
so common. Mr. Newman writes, “I have often
watched its characteristic flight ; one specimen will
make its appearance, approach as it were on
wearied wing, and if unmolested, pass by and go on
out of sight; in a few minutes another will appear
at the same spot, will follow the exact course of the
first, and press onward in the same direction; and so
on during the whole of a summer’s morning, each
seemingly bent on the performance of some in-
exorable duty, in which, however, despatch or hurry
was totally out of the question.”

The last of the butterflies are the “ skippers,” and
these in some respects resemble moths, in others,
butterflies. One of the most noteworthy differences,
beyond structure, is that the “skippers” spin a
cocoon in which to enclose themselves in the chrysalis
stage, whereas the chrysalis of all the other butter-
flies remains naked, or exposed. ‘These are little,
modest coloured insects, with thick bodies, flying
short distances ata time. The “grizzled skipper”?
frequents the borders of woods, and lays its eggs on
the bramble and raspberry. The “large skipper” 3
frequents grassy places in and around woods. ‘The
caterpillar feeds on grasses. ‘The remaining species
are either local, or they occur in open places, and
hence do not come within our limits. The number

1 Leucophasia sinapis. 3 Pamphila sylvanus.
2 Thymele alveolus.

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 189

of different species of British butterflies is very small
as compared with the moths, but they are much
more generally known and recognized by the non-
scientific, principally on account of their diurnal
habits, and partly by reason of their brighter
colours.

In a popular volume on British moths there occurs
the following summary of the differences between
moths and butterflies :—“ In the first place, moths
fly by night instead of by day ; in the second place,
their bodies are not nipped at the middle, or waist,
like those of butterflies; in the third place, their
feelers, or antenne, have no
knobs at the end like those of
butterflies ; and, in the fourth,
and last place, when a moth is ®
at rest its wings are either laid
on its body or folded round its
sides, whilst those of a butterfly
stand up straight, quite upright,
and back to back.” Bearing these four distinctions
in mind, no difficulty need be experienced.

The Hawk-moths, or Sphinxes, have long, very
thick bodies, and long, narrow wings. Once seen,
never to be forgotten. We have taken the privet
hawk-moth, and the lime hawk-moth, in woods,
but they are not lovers of such localities ; gardens are
generally more productive. Caterpillars as large as
the little finger, often of a pea-green colour, with a
prominent horn near the tail, should be preserved
and fed. By this means one may make the ac-
quaintance of a hawk-moth.

CLEARWING.

190 THE WOODLANDS.

Moths with clear, transparent wings and striped
bodies, not unlike wasps, may be seen flying about in
the sunshine, unlike other moths. For these reasons
none but an entomologist would dream of their being
moths. The caterpillars, like white maggots, live in
the solid wood of trees. Some prefer poplars, others
willows, &c.; and they change to a chrysalis in the
galleries they excavate. We have heard of sixty or
seventy being found in one piece of wood not more
than three inches in length. These and two or three
others which follow, cause great injury to trees.

The Goat-moth is one of the largest of our noc-
turnal Lesidoptera. ‘The name of Cossus! has been
applied to it on the supposition that it is identical
with the cossus of the Romans. The perfect insect
is from two and three-quarters to three and a half
inches in the expansion of its fore wings, which are
ashy brown, clouded with brown, and marked with a
number of transverse black, irregular streaks, forming
reticulations. The hind wings are brown, with less
distinct reticulations. The caterpillar is dull yellow-
ish, with dark chestnut scales on the back of each
wing, and when full-grown, as large as a man’s fore-
finger. It feeds on willows and poplars, but will attack
other trees. It bores into the solid wood, forming large,
cylindrical channels, and does great damage, inasmuch
as it is three years before it becomes full grown. Young
trees are often rendered so weak by the channelling
as to be blown down by the first gale. The cocoon
is formed of chips of wood fastened together by a

1 Cossus ligniperda.

=

ag

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. Igt

glutinous secretion, and lined with silk. It is con-
structed near the mouth of the burrow, a hole being
cut through the bark to the surface, so as to enable the
emerging moth to escape. This takes place in June and
July. The moth isa heavy, lazy creature, and will sit all
day long on the trunk of a tree which it has brought
to destruction. In summer the presence of the
invader is readily indicated by the exuzvie of the
chrysalis sticking out of the trunk or branch.

Pliny, alluding to the cossus of the Romans, says,
‘These worms even have now begun to be looked
upon as delicacies by epicures, and the large ones
found in the oak are held in high esteem; they are
known to us by the name of ‘cossis,’ and are even
fed with meal, in order to fatten them.” Some think
that these grubs were the larvee of the stag beetles,
others that they were the caterpillar of the goat-
moth. Caterpillars are not now esteemed a delicacy
in Europe.

The Wood Leopard! is a smaller insect than the
goat-moth, which it resembles in its habits. The
caterpillar is only about an inch and a half long, of:
a yellowish colour, with four or five black spots on
each side of the segments. It lives on various trees,—
ash, elm, oak, holly, beech, &c. The males are
evolved from the pupa in June, and the females a
month later. The female measures a little over two
inches across. The wings are rather transparent, and
spotted with black. ‘The males are active and lively
in the evening, but the females are sluggish. ‘The

V Zeuzera escult,

192 THE WOODLANDS.

latter deposits as many as three hundred eggs ina
mass. The young caterpillars when first hatched
feed upon the bark, but they afterwards enter the
solid wood. The tunnels ultimately constructed are
as large as a swan’s quill, and the presence of the ex-
cavator may often be detected by the sawdust outside.

The Buff Tip,! when its wings are expanded,
measures from two and a half to three inches wide;
the wings are of a light ash grey with a large, nearly
round spot at the tip. When this moth appears in
May or June it sits with its wings close to its body,
and in this condition it resembles a stick, the cut end
represented by the terminal spots. The caterpillar
feeds on the lime, and is dark brown with longitudi-
nal yellow stripes. Other trees often come in for a
share of its favours, and as it attains two inches in
length when full-grown, the quantity of food it requires
is considerable. We have given a more explicit
description of these insects than space will permit us
to do for others, because they are so common, so
destructive, so thoroughly woodland insects, and of
such a size that they cannot well be overlooked.

It may be remarked here that some insects when
at rest so greatly resemble the vegetation amongst
which they are found as to be scarcely distinguish-
able from it. We do not allude alone to the remark-
able “leaf insects” and “stick insects” of tropical
countries, of which specimens may be seen in the
India Museum at South Kensington, but to the less
pretentious insects of our own lands. Out of fifty-

1 Pyoea bucephala.

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 193

two autumn flying moths it has been noticed that a
large proportion are of various tints of yellow and
brown, so as exactly to match with the “sere and
yellow leaf” ; while in winter they are of grey and
silvery tints like the washed-out leaves and grass, the
fog and the hoar-frost which give a tone to every land-
scape at this season. One of the most curious of
these resemblances, pointed out by Mr. Alfred Wal-
lace when writing of the “ Disguises of Insects,” is
that of the Buff-tip moth. This insect closes its wings
so as almost to forma cylinder, and on the tip of each
wing is an oval yellowish spot, edged with a dark
brown double line. The wings are greyish and hoary,
and the head again is much contracted beneath the
large thorax, which is also of a buff colour, with a
double brown marginal line. The result of this ar-
rangement is that the insect looks at first sight like a
piece of stick, one end being broken off nearly square,
the other end more obliquely, and as it often rests on
the ground among grass or on leaves, it may easily be
mistaken for a piece of a broken branch which has
fallen to the ground.

The Lappet Moth when at rest resembles very
closely a small bunch of dead leaves, and at a little
distance could hardly be taken to be a moth, so
curiously does it spread out its hind wings so as to
project beyond the others. Many such instances
have been indicated, and many others probably re-
main to be observed even amongst our commonest
insects.

Readers need scarcely be reminded that the beauti-
ful silken fabrics which are the pride of manufacturers

fe)

194 THE WOODLANDS.

are produced by a moth, or at least by the caterpillar
of a moth, called a silkworm, which feeds on mul-
berry-leaves. This is not a British insect, but we

have others which have a like habit of spinning a_

silky cocoon in which the transformation takes place.
The silk of which these cocoons are composed is not

of the beautiful texture of that of the true silk-moth. .

In other countries the silk of wild moths is turned to
a useful purpose, but we have none capable of being
successfully cultivated for their cocoons.

The moth called the Oak-Eggar ! is one of the silk-
spinning moths, which forms an egg-shaped brown
cocoon. The moth is from two to three inches in
expanse of wing, the male chocolate-brown, and the
female tawny, with a large woolly body. This isa
very common insect, and is developed from a large
densely hairy caterpillar which rolls itself up when
touched. Another cocoon-spinning moth is the Fox-
Moth,? which is similar in appearance, and has also
a large hairy caterpillar, which feeds on the bramble.

The Drinker belongs to the same family, and is
said to have derived its name from its hairy cater-
pillar sucking up drops of moisture from the leaves on
which it feeds. Larger than this is the Lappet,* but
not so common. The caterpillar feeds on the sloe
and willow. The Kentish Glory® is certainly a
splendid moth ; it is rather given to flying in the day-
light, but is not very easily caught. It spins a brown
cocoon of rather a loose texture, amongst fallen lenves.

1 Lastocampa quercus. 4 Gastropacha quercifolia.
>» * Lasiocampa rust. > Endromis versicolora.
3 Odonestes potatoria.

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 195

The insect which approaches nearest to the wild
silk-moths of India is our “ Emperor Moth,” ! with a
large eye-spot near the centre of each wing. It is
much more abundant than the Kentish Glory. The
caterpillar is green, and feeds upon willow, blackthorn,
and other plants. Its cocoon is pear-shaped, with an
opening at one end.

Observers of insect life will have observed a snow-
white moth hanging about hedges, and even the
undergrowth in woods, which is very sluggish in its
habits ; so lazy that it may be caught with the fingers.
If it falls down ina clumsy attempt to take it, then it
gathers up its legs and lies still, as if to simulate
death. There are two or three species of these
sluggish white moths, and one of them has a tuft of
brown hairs at the tail,2 and another much more
common has a tuft of yellow hairs at the tail. ‘These,
and some others, spin a slight web, on which their
eggs are laid, and the chrysalis is hairy. Of the
former of these moths it is recorded that in 1783 the
caterpillars were so numerous and destructive in the
neighbourhood of London, that “subscriptions were
opened to employ the poor in cutting off and collect-
ing the webs ; and it is said that not less than eighty
bushels were collected and burnt in one day in the
parish of Clapham. And even in some places prayers
were offered up in the churches to avert the calamities
of which they were supposed by the ignorant to be
the forerunner.” We transcribe this account as it is

1 Salurnia pavonia minor. 3 P. aurijlua.
® Porthesia chrysorrhea.
O 2

196 THE WOODLANDS.

recorded. In times past there was undoubtedly a
prevalent belief that an unusually large number of
insects making their appearance was a presage of
coming evil.

Insect-hunters, like anglers, adopt manceuvres to
beguile their prey, and of these the most universal is
called “sugaring.” It consists in smearing the trunks
of trees on the borders of woods with a mixture of
coarse sugar dissolved in beer and flavoured with a
spoonful of rum. ‘This is done at dusk, and shortly
afterwards the trees are visited in turn with a “ bull’s-
eye” lantern, when moths will be found busy at the
sugar, and are then transferred deftly into pill-boxes.
The moths caught by this method in the greatest
number are the sombre-coloured, thick-bodied
“ Noctuas,” which are almost exclusively night-fliers.
Some few are more brightly coloured, but the rule is
in favour of funereal tints. As a rule, the fore-wings
entirely cover and hide the hind-wings when the
insect is at rest. The tracery of the fore-wings is
rarely continued on the hind-wings, which latter are
commonly of a uniform colour, except a marginal band
or line.

One of the most common of these moths is the
Grey-dagger, with dagger-like marks conspicuous
amongst the delicate tracery of the fore-wings. The
caterpillar is a tree-feeder, and the chrysalis is found
in the cracks of the bark. The Wainscots are all
very deficient in characteristic markings. The large
and small yellow underwings are common everywhere
at midsummer, and are favourites with young entomo-
logists because they are large, showy, and readily

a

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 197

distinguished. None are more ubiquitous than the
“Silver Y,” with a bright silvery mark on the fore-
wings not unlike a “y,” or a Greek gamma (y). It
is difficult to fix the limits of these common species ;
gardens or woods, they seem to be equally at home
everywhere. Our space compels us to be content
with a few suggestions, and then to hurry on.
Caterpillars are in themselves a study, and a
very interesting one. Some are hairy, and some
smooth. Of the hairy kinds, some have the
hairs rather equally distributed, others have them
collected in tufts. Almost every large group of
moths exhibits some peculiarity in the caterpillars ;
hence the practical entomologist will be able to
determine the group to which the moth resulting
from any given caterpillar belongs. One large group
of caterpillars have this peculiarity, that the legs are
confined to the two extremities, so that in walking.
they proceed by a series of loops, projecting their
heads forward, then drawing up their tails they form
a loop, and for this reason they are called “ loopers.”
The insects developed from these caterpillars have
slender bodies and large wings, the latter usually
remaining expanded when the moth is at rest. One
of the largest of these moths is the pale, sulphur-
coloured swallow-tail moth,! which flies along hedges
at dusk. Probably the commonest is the ‘‘ Yellow
Shell,” ? which will be found in every bush. Nearly
as common is the large black and white “‘ Magpie,”
especially in gardens on gooseberry and currant

1 Ourapteryx sambucaria, 2 Campitogamma bilineata.
fe)

198 THE WOODLANDS.

bushes. ‘These common examples will illustrate the
general appearance of the moths developed from
looping caterpillars. We have in Britain more than
two hundred and fifty species belonging to this
group. The caterpillars of many of them feed on
the leaves of forest trees and shrubs, as well as the
herbaceous plants which grow beneath them. Some
of the moths are called “ Pugs,” others are
“ Carpets,” others again are called ‘‘ Waves” and
“Thorns.” To recognize them and their differences
must be a work of time and experience.

By striking the branches of an oak in autumn we
shall certainly disturb a small pea-green moth which
flutters a little while on the wing, and then settles
again, perhaps in some position in which we can gaze
upon it leisurely, admire its uniform colour, so nearly
like that of the leaves on which it feeds, its peculiar
form when the wings are closed, and thus obtain some
rude idea of the variety of three hundred different
species which inhabit the British Islands. ‘These are
called Zortrices, and the larve of some of them are
very destructive. The one to which allusion has just
been made sometimes entirely strips an oak of its
leaves in June. Others attack fruit-trees, and in
France one is destructive to vines.

It is not unusual to observe two neighbouring leaves.
on a shrub fastened together, one over the other, by
means of silky threads as fine almost as a spider's.
web. If these are separated, the small larve of one
of these Zortrices will probably be found busy
between them. In the decaying fungi which are
found adhering to stumps, larve like maggots will be

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 199

seen in numbers. Of these some will belong to
beetles, but others will, in many instances, develop
into Zortrices. It is difficult for the unpractised eye
of a person who is not an entomologist to determine
at once whether any one of these larve belongs to
beetles or moths; but there ave characters which
enable the practised eye to detect the difference at
once. If we look down a list of the British species
of the Zortrices, we shall be surprised to see how
variable are the homes and haunts of these diminu-
tive creatures, and what widespread injury they must
inflict on vegetation if there were not also natural
checks to their increase in insectivorous insects
and birds, continually at work reducing their
numbers.

There exists a very strong prejudice, in domestic
circles at least, against all the small moths, the
little, sombre-coloured insects which flutter about
everywhere in the summer-time, and, when fully ex-
panded, are not larger than one’s finger nail. All of
these are called Clothes Moths, and a war of exter-
mination is ever going on against them in all well-
regulated families. It must be admitted that the
caterpillars of some of the Zimeima, as they are
called, feed on clothes, sofa linings, and other articles
of personal use; but of the six or seven hundred
British species this number is comparatively few.
Many of them are in this stage leaf-miners, that is,
the caterpillars, or maggots, eat a gallery under the
cuticle of living leaves, ornamenting the leaf in a
manner peculiar to each species. These are the
woodland species, which appertain to our subject.

200 THE WOODLANDS.

Our best authority thus writes: ‘Sometimes the
same leaf will be mined by two or three species, each
of which imparts to the leaf a mark, recognisable by
the initiated, indicating what species has fed on the
leaf long after the larva has itself departed. A mined
leaf is hence inscribed with hieroglyphic characters,
and the key wherewith to decipher these is obtainable
by patient and continued observation.

“‘ Bramble-leaves may frequently be found with two
different kinds of mines; in one, the leaf remains
perfectly flat, and a long, slender, serpentine gallery
winds its way across the leaf, and generally attains a
length of from two to three inches. This mine,
which is scarcely visible whilst the larva is still at
work, the discoloration being then so slight. becomes
very conspicuous after it has been long deserted, the
dry, loosened upper skin eventually becoming almost
white, and contrasting strongly with the dark green
colour of the leaf. The creature that makes this
mine is a small, pale umber, semi-transparent larva,
with no real legs, and when full fed it crawls out of
its mine, and proceeds to some convenient corner, in
which it spins a small, flat, brownish-green silken
cocoon, from which, at the end of two or three
weeks, there emerges a brilliant little moth,! about a
quarter of an inch in expanse of the wings, of which
the fore-wings are of a rich golden brown, tinged
with purple beyond the middle, and with a nearly
straight, pale, golden band beyond the middle.”

One of the Zinezna, called the ““Apple-tree Moth,” ?
attacks apple-trees and hawthorns in spring. The

1 Nesticula aurella. 2 Hyponomeuta padelius.
L J

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. 20r

whole tree soon appears to be covered with a mass
of web, which swarms with little caterpillars. Ina
short time every green leaf on the tree is consumed.
The caterpillars reign supreme. In a Journal of
Arts, published in 1827, we read of an effort made
in Bavaria to turn these little weaving caterpillars to
practical account. ‘The larvee of Zinea padella have
been directed by M. Habenstreet, of Munich, so as
to work on a paper model suspended from a ceiling
of aroom. To this model he can give any form and
dimensions, and he has thus been enabled to obtain
square shawls, an air balloon four feet high, and a
woman’s complete robe, with the sleeves, but without
seams. One or two larve can weave a square inch
of cloth. A great number are of course employed,
and their motions are interdicted from the parts of
the model not to be covered, by oiling them. The
cloth exceeds in fineness the lightest gauze, and has
been worn, as a robe over her court dress, by the
Queen of Bavaria.”

1)
O
tN

THE WOODLANDS.

CHAPTER, Xt
ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES.

OnE of the orders of British insects is called by
naturalists Zymenoptera. ‘This is characterized by the
possession of two pairs of clear, membrane-like wings
and a peculiar instrument at the posterior extremity
of the females, which in the saw-flies is a saw, in the
gall-flies bristles, in the ruby wasps a tube, and in the
ants, bees, wasps, and sand wasps it is a sting. The
gall-flies will receive notice in connection with the
galls which they cause; the ants, bees, and wasps
being the most interesting of the remaining groups
demand attention here. The other groups are of
more interest to the scientific entomologist.

Ants have been a favourite theme for authors, and
from Solomon to the present time have been appealed
to as furnishing lessons for the human race. Unfor-
tunately in some instances facts have not entirely
supported the elevated views which have prevailed
concerning them; yet, notwithstanding this, they are
an interesting and instructive group of insects, well
worthy of minute study. Some species prefer woods,
whilst others affect gardens, and even houses, but
their habits and domestic economy are similar in all,

It is reported of the celebrated Timour, that being

ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 203

once forced to take shelter from his enemies in a
ruined building, he sat alone many hours, and, desi-
rous of diverting his mind from his hopeless condition,
at length fixed his observation upon an ant, which was
carrying a grain of corn (probably a pupa, which
somewhat resembles a grain of corn in shape and
size) larger than itself, up a high wall. Numbering
the efforts it made to accomplish this object, he found
that the grain fell sixty-nine times to the ground, but
the seventieth time it reached the top of the wall.
“This sight,” said Timour, ‘“‘ gave me courage at the
moment, and I have never forgotten the lesson it
conveyed.”

Huber narrates the results of his watching the
labours of an ant onarainy day. The insect began
by scooping out a groove of earth about a quarter of
an inch in depth, kneading the earth which it removed
into little pellets, and placing them on each side of
the groove, so as to form a kind of wall. The interior
of the groove was beautifully smooth and regular, and
when completed it looked very like a railway-cutting,
and performed a similar office. After completing this
task, it looked about and found that there was another
opening in the nest, to which a road must be made,
and straightway set to work upon a second sunken
path of a similar character, parallel to the first, and
being separated from it by a wall a third of an inch
in height. After relating this, the Rev. J. G. Wood
compares the labour of this ant with what would be
an equal amount of work fora man. He must have
excavated two parallel trenches, each of seventy-two
feet in length, and four feet six inches in depth. He

204 THE WOODLANDS.

must have made bricks from the clay he dug out, and
with them built a wall along each side of the trenches
from two to three feet in height, and fourteen or fifteen
inches in thickness ; and, lastly, he must have gone
over the whole of his work again, and smoothed the
interior until it was exactly true, straight, and level.
All this work must also have been done without the
least assistance, and the ground must be supposed to
be filled with huge boulders, and covered with tree
trunks, broken logs, and other impediments.

That ants are industrious, persevering, and ingenious
there can be no doubt, but the recent careful obser-
vations and experiments of Sir John Lubbock prove
that these traits have been overrated. He has shown
that they would not raise a mound of earth half an
inch to reach an object which they desired. That
they would take a long and circuitous route rather than
drop or leap the length of their own bodies ; that if a
straw were misplaced along which they had travelled
for food, they did not attempt to replace it ; that, in
fact, they did not in these things exhibit as much
intelligence as is shown by many other creatures.

Franklin believed that ants could communicate
their thoughts or desires to one another, and confirmed
his opinion by experiment. In like manner Sir John
Lubbock has demonstrated that ants do communicate
with each other, that they recognize each other, and
their mystic signs consist in the rubbing together of
their antenne. He has shown that ants will return
to their nests and bring with them other ants to share
the food they have found, but that they were unable
to direct them, except by accompanying them; that

ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 205

they pursued their course partly by sight, and partly
by scent. Ants will communicate with each other,
but no evidence has been obtained by recent experi-
ments that they can direct their companions to food
except by accompanying them.

It has been shown that ants are affected by different
coloured lights and media ; that they are very sensi-
tive to violet, and would not go under glass of that
colour if it could be avoided, for whilst during an
experiment 8go ants went under glass of a red colour,
only five were found under violet. It is also demon-
strated that wasps, as well as bees, are capable of
distinguishing colour.

Ants belonging to different nests are generally
enemies, but M. Forel says that when they first quit
the pupal stage they do not distinguish friends from
foes, though three or four days are sufficient for them
to do so. He is convinced that ants recognized their
companions after a separation of four months, but
believes they would not do so for more than one
season. Lubbock proved that for more than a year
ants remembered their old companions, and received
them amicably whilst they attacked strangers. That
old acquaintances were evidently recognized is clear,
because they were never attacked, while any ant from
a different nest, even of the same species, would be
set upon and killed if she did not succeed in escaping
from the nest. In one case the ants had not seen one
another for more than a year.

Forel asserts that if an ant is a little ill, or slightly
wounded, she is carefully tended by her companions,
while those dangerously ill or wounded are carried

206 THE WOODLANDS.

out of the nest to die. This is an interesting trait in
ant-character if true ; but although there may be “good
Samaritans” amongst ants, the conclusions from
Lubbock’s experiments are against its truth. On one
occasion a wounded ant was placed on her back, near
some syrup, soon a companion came up, and recog-
nized her, then went to feed at the syrup. Three
other ants did the same, none of them taking any
further notice of her. One ant was left in water till
to all appearances drowned ; she lay exposed for half
an hour before she recovered, but during this time
an ant from the same nest passed her eighteen times
without taking any notice of her.

This experiment being again repeated, one ant
passed thirty times, and another twenty-eight times
without taking any notice. On one occasion an ant
lost the terminal portion of both antennz, and seemed
to have lost her wits. She was put into her nest, but
the others took no notice of her; she then retired
into a solitary place, where she remained for five
hours without moving. She came out, and remained
out all day; on the following morning she was dead.

Huber states that the Amazon ants are so depen-
dent upon their slaves as to perish in two or three
days if separated from them. ‘That this is the case
has been shown by subsequent observers. It is of no
use giving them food ; they will not touch it, or rather
they walk carelessly over it, smear their legs, and die
if a slave is not put in to clean and dry them. Lubbock
found that he could keep even a single Polyergus alive
for more than three months by giving her a slave for
about an hour a day to attend upon and feed her.

ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 207

To show how persistently Sir John Lubbock has
studied the history and mystery of ant-life, he has
stated that he possesses ants which are five years old. It
may safely be asserted that no insects so amply repay
study and afford so much interest as those which
compose the order to which ants belong, including
as it does the bees and wasps. We have only hinted
at some of the remarkable facts which are to be col-
lected from the elaborate details of recent experi-
ments.1 These form but a small portion of the
domestic economy of these minute but extraordinary
insects.

In all that concerns British bees the works of Mr.
W. E. Shuckard contain such a fund of information
that we must at once admit the source whence much
of our information has been derived. It is confessedly
a section of entomology in which there are but few
active workers, and the life and powers of man are
too circumscribed to permit of any one individual
becoming more than superficially acquainted with
many of the elaborate leaves in the Book of Nature.
The bees and wasps are rather lovers of sandy and
open spots than woods and forests, nevertheless many
of them will often be found there, and it would be
considered a grave omission if we were wholly to
exclude them from our generalizations.

A pretty little bee, called Ceratina, on account of
its bearing a small horn between its antenne, is rare,
but has been found plentifully in some localities. It

' Recorded in the ‘‘ Journal of the Linnean Society” from
1874 to 1878.

208 THE WOODLANDS.

excavates the pith of bramble or briar sticks, in which
its eggs are laid. The prevalent colour of the bee is
black or brown, with a metallic tinge. The only
flower it has been known to frequent is the Viper’s
Bugloss.

The bees of the genus Womada have been called
Wasp-bees, because of their general resemblance to
wasps in colour. They may be found hovering about
hedgerows or banks. The colours are red or yellow,
mixed with black in bands or spots. It is curious
that these are really parasitic bees, each species having
its peculiar object of attack.

Amongst the most interest-
ing are the Leaf-cutter Bees,
of the genus AZegachile. They
are so called from the habit
they have of cutting pieces
from the leaves of various
shrubs and trees, for the pur-
pose of lining their nests. One
species burrows in decaying
wood, and makes use of the
cuttings of rose- leaves and
the leaves of the Mercury.
Another species bores into
sound oak and mountain ash, as well as rotten elm,
and uses cuttings of elm-leaves to line the nests.
This last is the largest of indigenous species, and
is found abundantly round London on the flowers
of the thistle. The proceedings of these bees are
curious. After preparing a cylindrical tube in wood
or the ground, the insect starts in search of material

THE LEAF-CUTTER BEE.

ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 209

for its lining. Having fixed upon the preferred plant,
rose, or willow, or whatever else it may be, it alights
upon the leaf, and fixing itself upon the edge, it holds
it with three legs on each side, then, usiug its man-
dibles as a cutter would his scissors, this ingenious
little creature plies the tools it is furnished with by
nature. The oval, or semicircular cutting being thus
speedily dispatched, with the legs still clinging to the
surfaces, the insect biting its way backwards, the
piece cut off necessarily remains within the clutch of
the legs, and when about falling, the rejoicing labourer
expands her wings, and flies off with it, with a hum of
delighted triumph, the cutting being carried perpendi-
cularly to her body. When she reaches the mouth of
the burrow, she rolls the cutting to its requisite tubular
form, and thrusts it forward to the bottom of the
cavity. She withdraws backwards, again flies off to
the same plant as before, makes fresh cuttings, and so
continues until the lining of the burrow is complete.
Another duty has now to be performed, for which all
the previous labours have been undertaken,—provision
for its young. Honey and pollen are gathered from
different kinds of thistles, and the nest is filled with it
to within a line of its top; the egg is then deposited,
and the coating of leaves which surrounds the cell
secures the store from lateral absorption, although the
mixture is rather more fluid than usual. The cell has
now to be closed, and the artificer, knowing the section
of the cylinder is circular, again flies forth, and cuts
the leaf again in that form, and this process is repeated
three or four to five or six times. The separation
between the cells is consolidated, and the whole pro-
P

210 THE WOODLANDS.

cess is repeated until the completion of five or six
cells necessary to fill the tube, when another is con-
structed with the same routine, until her store of eggs.
is exhausted. The outer cell, after being closed in the
usual way, is filled up with earth.

Another wild bee makes provision for its progeny
in a similar manner, but with different materials.
The Anthidium, instead of making its own burrow,
takes one already made by the boring larvee of other
insects. ‘This it lines to a suitable depth with the
cottony down which it scrapes from the leaves of
woolly-leaved plants. This down is collected by aid
of its mandibles, is rolled up in a little ball, and then
carried off to the nest. This operation is continued
until sufficient is accumulated for the purpose. She
then forms cells in it in succession, gluing the material
together to resist the escape of the pollen and honey
with which it is to be filled. ‘The cell is closed after
the deposit of the egg, and another similar cell is
proceeded with until the cavity is filled, or the store
of eggs exhausted.

The Carpenter Bees belong to the genus Chelostoma,
and are abundant in some localities. They have
strong mandibles, which cross each other when at
rest. Sometimes. they appropriate burrows already
formed, at others they construct tubes for themselves.
When they drill their own cylinders they are extremely
persevering in their execution, and in the process, the
fine sawdust which they make is drawn from the
bottom of the cavity, passed beneath them, and
thrown out of the cavity by means of their hinder-legs,
for they cannot turn round in the cavities they

ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 21k

excavate. Having drilled a cavity, they collect a
store of provender for their prospective young, on
which they deposit the egg. They then collect a
small quantity of clay mixed with sand, which they
knead together by the aid of a viscous secretion which
they disgorge, and this forms a concrete that hardens
rapidly and firmly. With this substance rolled up in
a ball within their mandibles they fly back to their
cavity and close the cell, separating it securely from
the next store of provision which is placed upon it
and upon which another egg is laid. Thus a second
and a third cell are formed and sealed up, and so on,
until the cavity is filled.

Two beautiful little Hymenopterous insects (Chrysés
ignita and Chrysis cyanea) are parasites, bred at the
expense of these Carpenter Bees.

The Mason Bees, of the genus Osmia, domicile
themselves in old walls, sandbanks, and decaying
willow stumps. They have been called Masons from
the habit they have of agglutinating particles of sand
or earth, mixed with minute pebbles scarcely larger
than grains of sand, or raspings of wood combined in
the same manner with a secretion which they emit,
and of which they form their cells. These cells are
rather rough externally, according to the nature of the
material of which they are composed, but they are
very smooth within. Where the cavity is restricted,
they place them end to end, but where it is more
roomy they affix them side by side, adapting them-
selves to the circumstances in which they may be
placed. ‘The insects may be found frequenting many
kinds of flowers, especially those which are abundant

BE 2

212 THE WOODLANDS.

around the locality they inhabit, especially the flowers
of composite plants, such as the Hawkweeds.

One other group of bees, and we have done with
them. ‘These are the largest of British species, and
are called by the generic name of Bombus ; perhaps
“‘ Bumble-bees ” is a corruption of this name. There
are nearly twenty species in this genus, which, except
the Honey-bee, are our only social bees. The most
interesting part of their history is that which concerns
the structure of their nests. ‘This is particularly the
case with those called ‘‘ Carder bees,” which felt
and plait the filaments of moss to form their home.
Such species select a spot close to an abundant supply
of material, which they make pellets of. To these
nests a long arched passage is formed of the same
material, large enough to permit the free passage of
the bees to and fro. To construct this the bees form
a chain one behind the other from the growing
material to the entrance of the passage, all their
heads being turned towards the moss and their backs
to the nest. The first bites off the raw material, rolls
and twists it, passes it to the second, by whom, and
by the succeeding ones it undergoes further manipu-
lation, and at the termination of the chain and com-
mencement of the passage another bee receives it
and conveys it along to the interior, and then either
applies it herself, or passes it to others to be applied
where required. A vaulted covering and sides are
thus formed within the cavity, by plaiting or twining
together these sprigs of moss, and the inside is further
strengthened by being plastered with a coating of
false wax, which smells very much like true wax, and

ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 213

with which the loose filaments of the moss are com-
bined, so that one cannot be separated from another
without tearing the whole in pieces. In this way
some of the species build. In all the communities,
which vary in size, the domestic arrangements are the
same ; the females and neuters are the labourers, per-
forming all the building, and rearing the young. The
function of the males is restricted to the perpetuation
of the species.

There is scarcely a more industrious or instructive
group of insects to be found than the bees, even ex-
clusive of the hive-bee, which has ever been indicated
as the pattern of industry and ingenuity. Even the
brief observations which the limits of this work
permit us to make must be sufficient to establish this
fact. Let us hope that it may induce some who have
never paid any attention to their habits hitherto, to
exercise an observant eye on the economy of these
humble creatures, which may furnish them with silent
and simple lessons for their guidance through life.

Wasps are generally grouped, for the purposes of
study, in two groups, the solitary wasps, and the
social wasps. The solitary wasps dwell apart by
themselves, and the social wasps in communities,
The former very much resemble the latter to the
untrained eye, and may be seen in summer flying
about flowers, preparing for the great operation of
their lives, the perpetuation of their species.

The social wasps are in part builders in the ground,
as in sandy banks, and part on trees or externally.
The tree wasps found in this country consist of but
three species, and of these one is very rare, so that

214 THE WOODLANDS.

practically there are but two social wasps which are
arboreal in their habits. These construct nests upon
a similar plan, and with a like material, which is
manipulated with care and ingenuity.

Wasp-paper, or the substance of which the nests
are composed, is made up of various substances ;
such as fragments of wood or bark, paper-cuttings,
vegetable filaments, &c. To a certain extent the
cohesion of these filaments is mechanical, for a kind
of felting or interlacing may be traced; but the
materials are for the most part held together by the
mucous secretion with which they are worked up
into pulp. Wasps may be watched at a row of
palings on a summer morning scraping off fibrils with
which to construct their nests, forming them into
pellets, and conveying them to the place where the
nest is being constructed. Dr. Ormerod says that
when a wasp comes home laden with the building
materials, she does not immediately apply them, but
enters the nest, and then, after about half a minute,
she emerges and sets to work. Mounted astride on
the edge of one of the covering sheets, she presses
her pellet firmly down with her forelegs till it adheres
to the edge, and, walking backwards, continues the
same process of pressing and kneading till the pellet
is used up, and her track is marked bya short, dark
cord lying along the thin edge to which she has
fastened it. Then she runs forwards, and as she
returns again backwards over the same ground,
she draws the cord through her mandibles, repeating
this process two or three times till it is flattened out
into a little strip or ribbon of paper, which only needs

ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 215

drying to be undistinguishable from the rest of the
sheet to which it is attached.

The outer walls, or shell of the nest, are first con-
structed, so that it is difficult to watch the processes
by which the cells are formed. The material
appears to be the same as the external shell, but
thicker and more compact, and the nests are often
more irregular than the comb constructed by the
hive bee.

The Hedge Wasp ! generally builds in low bushes or
hedgerows, but sometimes in trees. The outline of
the nest is pear-shaped. The opening is on one side,
and often, instead of a simple hole, there is a kind of
porch, in which the sentinel, whom it is the habit of
this wasp to post, mounts guard.

The Wood Wasp? makes a nest of quite a distinct
character. It is, from the first, of a ball or bell shape.
At the bottom is a round hole, with the edges
slightly turned out. Over this are laid one or more
separate hoods of the same slight, graceful con-
struction, but not reaching so far down as the mouth
of the bell in which the second coat terminates. The
resemblance of this nest to a toy bell led to this
insect receiving the name of the Bell Wasp.
Finally, this nest assumes a pear-shape with a central
aperture.

The social life of wasps is a subject of interest,
inasmuch as it differs in some points, whilst it
resembles in others, that of ants and bees. Quoting
again from Dr. Ormerod, he says, “ When a wasp

1 Vespa Britannica. 2 Vespa sylvestris.

216 THE WOODLANDS.

appears with her crop full of fluid, she becomes
immediately a centre of attraction. ‘Two or three
gather round her, and take up the fluid as she
gradually lets it drop out on the upper surface of
the comb. ‘Then the larve are visited in their cells,
and take their food in the most sisterly way, from
mouth to mouth, till the supply is exhausted, and
the nurse is at liberty to go away and replenish
her crop. The solid food which is brought in cannot
be so easily distributed, but, however it is portioned
out, there is never any quarrelling. Strong as
the instinct is in wasps to snatch and hold their
own against all the rest of the world, yet no
feeling of resentment seems to be aroused by the
loss of their prey. Once gone, whether to friend
or foe, it is lost, and they make no angry attempts to
recover it.

A butcher often revenged himself on the wasps
which stole his meat, by clipping their wings. Long
practice, with a sharp pair of scissors, had made
him so dexterous that he could snip off a wing with-
out interrupting the wasp at her work. When the
wasp had cut off a piece of meat she tried to fly
away with it, but finding she could not fly, thought
the piece was too large to carry, and cut it in
half; and so she went on, cutting the meat smaller
and smaller, as long as the butcher would let her,
attributing her inability to fly to the size of her
burden, not to the mutilation of her wings.

Although, in their popular aspect, the ants, bees,

1 Ormerod’s ‘“Natural History of Wasps,” p. 253.

ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 217

and wasps are the most generally interesting of all
those termed Hymenopterous insects, yet they are
only a portion of the order to which they belong.
There are, for instance, the Ichneumons, most
strange-looking flies, with thin, attenuated waists,
and tails furnished with long and strong ovipositors.
They are veritable cuckoos amongst insects, for they
have a habit of puncturing other living insects, and
depositing eggs in their bodies ; these, when hatched,
live at the expense of, and ultimately devour, their
host. We should be afraid to venture a guess at the
number of species of the smaller Hymenopterous
insects which are true parasites. In this we recognize
one provision for keeping in check the enormous
production of flies of all kinds, which otherwise
might so swarm as to devour every green thing.
There is scarcely a gall insect which produces galls
upon plants but has its peculiar parasite, generally
of these four-winged flies, and thus they become
parasites of each other, fora great number of galls:
are the production of this kind of insect. Bees and
wasps have their parasites, in what might be termed
* cousins,” of the same family. In fact, parasitism
is carried to an extreme amongst insects just lauded
for sociable qualities, and for the possession of a
large share of instinct almost bordering upon
intelligence.

Another group consists of ‘ Saw-Flies.” Some of
these are very destructive in pine woods, and one! is
often very troublesome in our plantations. After

* LZophyrus pini.

218 THE WOODLANDS.

pairing, the female looks out for a place where she
can safely deposit her eggs, from eighty to one hun-
dred and twenty, and where she thinks they may find
suitable nourishment when hatched into caterpillars.
This food is either the foliage of the end of the last
year’s shoot, or that of the shoot not quite ex-
panded. When prepared, she makes an incision the
whole length of the leaf, with her ovipositor, and
hollows out the leaf from the edge towards the mid-
dle, so that one or two eggs can lie in the narrow
space; the eggs are then laid in it, and closely
covered up with a tough, resinous material, mixed
with the substance scraped from the leaf. ‘Thus she
proceeds until all the eggs are deposited on several
leaves. After from sixteen to twenty-four days the
caterpillars appear from the eggs, about a line long.
In this condition the insect is a great glutton. A
full-grown caterpillar requires from six to twelve
strong, healthy leaves daily, which it consumes from
the point to the sheath. According to Miiller! these
caterpillars were so numerous in 1819, in some of
the pine forests of Franconia, that none of the
foliage could be seen for them. ‘They fell in
thousands from the trees, collected themselves in
heaps, not unfrequently of the size of a man’s head,
and marched in dense flocks from those trees which
they had stripped to those that were still green.
According to the calculations of this writer, a pair
of these insects would, in ten years, if unchecked,
produce an offspring of nearly two hundred thousand

1 “* Gard. Chron.,” 1852, p. 708.

ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 219

billions, a number for the support of which all the
German forests would not be sufficient.

The Saw-flies are so numerous and so common
that it would be easy to quote many examples, but
one or two instances must suffice. During the winter
months certain oval brown cocoons will be found
adhering to the twigs of the whitethorn. These are
the cocoons of an insect somewhat resembling a bee,
but with a longer body and legs.!_ Itis of a blackish
colour, with ashy, orange hairs. By means of their
curious saw-like apparatus the females form small
channels in the tender branches where they deposit
their eggs, the larve being hatched in August, when
they are of a pale dull-green colour. When alarmed
they discharge a clear, greenish, watery fluid from the
lateral pores, placed above the spiracles, to a con-
siderable distance. The object of this is evidently
to drive off parasitical enemies, in which it is not
always successful, for it is common to find the inside
of the cocoons filled with the small cocoons of an
ichneumon, sometimes of two different species,
which have flourished at the expense of their host.

Another species with a black body and black legs,
frequents not only the plum and cherry, but also the
oak.2- The slimy grub, after feeding to the full on
the leaves of these trees, descends into the ground to
undergo the change into the pupa state, and the
perfect fly makes its appearance at the end of July.

In association with these may be named another

1 Tenthredo ( Trichiosoma) lucorunt,
2 Selandria atra.

220 THE WOODLANDS.

small black sawfly which lays its eggs upon roses in
gardens, from which the grubs are hatched in May.
These larvz devour the upper cuticle of the leaves, so
as to impart to them a blighted appearance.! They
are little, yellowish-green caterpillars, about half an
inch long, with an orange-coloured head. When these
have changed their skins several times and arrived
at their full size, they descend into the ground and
rest in little cells during the winter as pupz, making
their final appearance as perfect flies in the spring.

SIREX.

A most formidable-looking insect, mistaken by
some people for a “hornet,” occasionally even finds
its way into our houses, the larve being brought in
with the wood it inhabits.2, The larva is like a large
maggot from an inch and a half to two inches in

} Selandria AEthiops. 2 Sirex gigas.

ANTS, WASPS, AND BEES. 22I

length. The female insect bores a hole with its strong
ovipositor in the bark of the fir, in which a single egg
is deposited. After seven weeks the larva has attained
its full size, when it is usually buried six inches deep
in the wood; here it remains a long time in a pupa
state, and as the eggs are usually deposited in cut
trees in preference to growing one, the pupz are
often found in squared and cut timber. The yellow
body of the female insect is terminated by the sheath
of the ovipositor, which the uninitiated are prone to
regard as its sting; and hence the insect always inspires
dread. As the female will lay some hundreds of eggs
during the season, it is by no means a rare insect, but
must be sought amongst pine-trees. Larch posts and
palings are subject to its attacks. Strange stories
have been told of this insect, but they bear so little
of the impress of veracity that it were better not to
repeat them.

There is one feature of the wings in many of these
insects which will interest the microscopist. This con-
sists in the row of hooks with which the upper edges of
the hind wings are furnished. Not alone one feature
but many await the investigator of their minute
structure ; the saws of the “ sawflies,” the ovipositors
of the ichneumons, the stings of wasps and bees, the
eyes of all, it would be long ere all the wonders are
exhausted which the microscope would reveal in the
minute anatomy of these four-winged flies.

222 THE WOODLANDS.

CHAPTER XII.

TWO-WINGED FLIES.

Two-WINGED Flies, or Diftera, as they are called by
entomologists, are exceedingly numerous. There are
said to be not less than ten thousand species in
Europe distributed through six hundred and eighty
genera, but in this country their study is exceedingly
limited, yet the number must be very large. Their
habits are very variable. The greater number act as
scavengers in the water and on the land, and thus
become sanitary agents. They are the earliest to
appear in spring, and the latest to depart in autumn.
Active at all times, by night and by day, in rain or
in sunshine, most of them prefer the latter. This
book has no pretension to being a guide to species,
or the task here would be a formidable one, and there-
fore we shall rest content with brief allusions to some
of the most important groups. Of these the Gnat
family need not detain us ; for although some of them
fly in woods, they are more associated with the ponds
and ditches in which the larve are reared. The two-
winged gall-flies are termed Cecidomyide, and these
on the contrary are addicted to vegetation of all

TWO-WINGED FLIES. 223

kinds, whether in gardens, woods, or cultivated fields,
where they inflict considerable injury. They are
mostly very small, and are sometimes called “‘ Midges,”
indeed many of them are quite microscopic ; such as
the wheat-midges, so destructive to wheat. These
insects are usually studied in association with the
galls, distortions, and deformations of the plants which
they inhabit. They are in themselves so tiny and
delicate, and so difficult to preserve, that it is fortunate
for the entomologist that he obtains so much assistance
in the prosecution of his studies from the malforma-
tion of the foster-plants. The larvee live in preference
on living plants, nevertheless some species have oc-
curred in rotten wood, and some dwell beneath the
bark of trees, or in the cones of firs. Most of the
larvee confine themselves to one species of plant,
whilst some inhabit the galls of other species as para-
sites. Those found under the bark of, trees live for
the most part in company with other larve. It is
probable that the little orange-larvze which are found
so commonly living on the orange Uredinous fungi
belong to this group. These little creatures, which
resemble small maggots, will be seen crawling over
the under surface of the leaves of coltsfoot, when it
is infested with its habitual orange rust. All the
larvee have fourteen joints, which is an apparent ex-
ception from all other larva, which as a general rule
have thirteen.

Every part of a plant, from the root to the flower
and fruit, is subject to their attacks, but each species
usually attacks the same part of the plant, and de-
forms it in the same way. These deformations are

224 THE WOODLANDS.

very numerous; at one extreme of the series is the
true gall, a growth of constant and definite form, at-
tached to the plant by a very small portion of its
surface, and at the other extreme a simple deforma-
tion, as for instance the folding of a leaf, the swelling
of the veins of a leaf, or the arrest of the growth of a
bud or a stalk. Several attempts have been made to
classify the insects according to the nature and shape
of these malformations.

The injury which these minute insects inflict is out
of all proportion to their size. One little fly not a
line in length, and with a larva scarce half the size of
a caraway-seed, attacks the twigs of osier willows,!
and perforate them to such an extent as to render
them wholly unfit for basket-making. The little flies
when on the wing swarm about the low boggy places
where osiers are cultivated. It is very customary for
country people to call all the little two-winged flies
“midges,” which congregate in flocks, but these are
much more commonly Ephemera.

Another of the “midges” attacks the larger wil-
lows, and this is a little larger than the preceding
species.2 The bark flakes off, or is bored so as to
be easily removed, and then the surface of the wood
is found to be burrowed into a number of elongated
cells, in each of which a minute orange maggot will
be found. This little pest is scarcely so large as a cara-
way-seed, which it resembles in shape, being entirely
destitute of legs. From this condition it passes into
the pupa stage. When ready to emerge as a perfect

1 Cecidomyia viminalis. 2 Cecidomyia saliciperda.

a ad

TWO-WINGED FLIES. 225

insect, these pupz thrust themselves halfway out of
the circular hole in which they have been resident,
and even after the insects have escaped, the empty
cases may be seen protruding from the holes in the
bark and wood. The fly is something like a small
gnat, with a dark grey body, terminated, in the case
of the female, by a long borer, which enables the
insect to introduce its eggs in the crevices of bark.

A similar midge has been known to attack poplars,
but those already named will be sufficient illustrations
of a numerous group of destructive little insects.

Daddy Long-legs and Old Father Long-legs are
the trivial names given to the large gnats, which in
autumn are swarming in our pasture-lands, fields, and
pleasure-grounds, and in some gardens bordering on
low lands they are frequently abundant. In the
United States it is the spider-like creature called
Harvestman which is called Daddy Long-legs.
Familiar as every child is with Daddy Long-legs, its
transformations and history are but imperfectly known,
and even cultivators seldom suspect that the surface
grubs, or Leather Jackets, as the dirty-looking larvee
are called which do so much mischief in market-
gardens, are the offspring of our old and familiar ac-
quaintance. It is impossible to glance along palings,
rails, and even on tree-trunks near parks and grassy
places, in September or early in October, without ob-
serving these gnats, especially in the morning, with
legs extended and wings half-spread, under the shade
of thorns and trees, five-sixths of these insects being
females. Even later in chill and frosty mornings they
are often abundant, hanging by their fore-feet, cheer-

Q

226 THE WOODLANDS.

less and stupefied with cold, their wings covered with
dew, and lying closed on their backs. As the day
advances they become reanimated, and at every step
through the grass multitudes of these flies rise, drag-
ging their long legs after them. The females not un-
frequently lay as many as three hundred eggs. The
grubs often become as much as an inch in length,
and as thick as a small goose-quill, of a dirty earth-
colour. It was the opinion of Réaumur that they
fed upon earth, but they really feed upon the roots of
soft herbaceous plants, frequently causing consider-
able mischief in gardens. ‘There are many species of
these flies, but one of the most common is Zzpula
oleracea.

There are also other Dipterous flies which feed
very largely upon decaying fungi, and these are
classed together under a name which means “ fungi-
lovers.” They do not possess any particular features
which would be easily recognized by the unscientific,
nevertheless they are very numerous in woodland dis-
tricts, where the fungi which furnish them with their
natural food abound. ‘The larve of one of these
flies live in society, and move in files in a soldierlike
manner. First goes one, next follow two, then three,
&c., so as to present a singular appearance. In
Germany it is said that the people regard these grubs
with dread, because they consider them ominous of
war.

A plague of flies means much more in warmer
climates than in our own. So numerous are they in
the East that a custom is said to prevail of passing
wine and other liquors through a strainer, so that no

TWO-WINGED FLIES. 227

flies can pass into the cup. The passage which is
usually read as “strain at a gnat and swallow a
camel” is said to refer to this custom, the correct
reading of which would be, “Strain owt a gnat.” To
this rendering Biblical critics have offered no objec-
tion, since it is conformable to the sense of the
passage.

Flies, so called distinctively, are termed by ento-
mologists Muscide, of which the most popular types
are the House-fly and the Blow-fly. Although these
are regarded as household companions, there are
many similar flies to be observed, ‘‘far from the busy
haunts of men,” which belong to the same family.
These are most annoying insects when occurring in
great numbers, and yet flies as well as beetles have
had their portion of human worship. In Purchas’s
“Pilgrims” it is said that ‘‘at Accaron was wor-
shipped Baalzebub, that is, the Lord of Flies, either
of contempt of his idolatrie, so called, or rather of
the multitude of flies which attended the multitude
of his sacrifices, when, from the sacrifices at the
Temple of Jerusalem, as some say, they were wholly
free; or for that hee was their Larder-god, to drive
away flies, or for that from a forme of a flie in which
he was worshipped.” Josephus has a rendering of
2 Kings 1. 2, which seems to be an allusion to this
worship: ‘Now it happened that Ahaziah, as he
was coming down from the top of his house, fell
down from it, and in his sickness sent to the Fly
(Baalzebub), which was the god of Ekron, for that
was his god’s name, to inquire about his recovery.”
It has been conjectured that the fly under which

Q 2

228 THE WOODLANDS.

Baalzebub was represented was the Dung Beetle, or
Scarabeus, already referred to.

Many instances are on record of flies making their
appearance in immense numbers, and also of the
popular belief that their coming was a presage of
evil. ‘In the summer of 1834, which season was.
remarkable in England for its swarms and shoals of
insects, the air was constantly filled,” says a writer in
the “ Mirror,” “ with millions of small, delicate flies ;
and the sea, in many places, particularly on the Nor-
folk coasts, was perfectly blackened by the amazing
shoals. The length of these masses was not ascer-
tained, but they were, it is asserted, at least a league
broad.”

There is a much older record of a similar occur-
rence given by Southey :—“ In 1699, at Kerton, in
Lincolnshire, the sky seemed to darken north-west-
ward at a little distance from the town, as though it
had been a shower of hailstones or snow; but when
it came near the town it appeared to be a prodigious
swarm of flies, which went with such a force toward
the south-east, that persons were forced to turn their
backs of them.”

Amongst the games and plays of the ancient
Greeks was one called the Brazen Fly, a kind of
Blind Man’s Buff, in which a boy, having his eyes
bound with a fillet, went groping round, calling out,
“TI am seeking the Brazen Fly.” His companions
replied, “ You may seek, but you will not find it,” at
the same time striking him with cords made of the
inner bark of the papyrus, and thus they proceeded
till one of them was taken.

TWO-WINGED FLIES. 229

The superstitions associated with flies are now very
much things of the past, yet a few of them still linger
in rural districts, such as—when flies bite more perti-
naciously than usual, it forebodes rain or wet weather.
If flies die in great numbers in a house, it is a sure
sign of death to some of the family. To dream of
flies denotes enemies of all sorts. If a fly falls into
a glass from which one is about to drink, it is a sure
_ omen of good luck.

Many people speak of the House-fly and the Gnat
as if there were but two species of these insects
common to our habitations, whereas, as an excellent
naturalist observes, there are at least fifty, perhaps a
hundred, different sorts of gnats and flies which
annually visit our apartments ; that is, regular domes-
tics, for, if casual visitors be included, the numbers
would be quadrupled.

The economy of all the flies of the House-fly
type is very similar: they lay eggs in dunghills,
amongst putrefying vegetables, and in other places,
from which are hatched minute maggots of a yel-
lowish-white colour, and these feed and grow until
they attain maturity. When full-fed the larvee lie
dormant a few hours, during which time the skin
hardens until it becomes a horny case, darkening to
a chestnut-brown, and within this transformation to
the perfect insect takes place. At length the fly
creeps out of its case by means of a lid-covered
opening at one end, and is then as large as at any
subsequent period of its existence. The abdomen is
often larger than afterwards, for it is distended with
fluid, which ultimately is discharged. When the fly

230 THE WOODLANDS.

issues forth, the wings alone have to grow. These
two little crumpled-up objects lie on each side of the
body, as the newly-escaped fly crawls up a straw or a
stick, where the wrinkles expand, and the wings at
length take their proper form, covered with a deli-
cate iridescent membrane; and when this is dried in
the air, the fly is ready to take its first flight. The
popular notion that the small flies which abound, in
company with the larger ones, are the young of the
same species, is of course an error.

One of the most noteworthy of two-winged flies is a
representative of a group of some sixteen species found
in this country, some of which have a buzzing flight,
and a form and colouring not unlike that of the
hive-bee. The most common is an insect which may
often be seen hovering about thistle-heads, and the
flowers of dandelion and other composite plants.!
The larve are aquatic, and are very peculiar, from
their long flexible tails.) The change into a pupa
stage takes place out of the water, in which state they
may be found in crevices with the tail still adhering.
There is nothing very extraordinary in the appearance
of the mature insect, and only an entomologist would
appreciate a full description of it. The males fre-
quently hover in the air, vibrating their strong wings
with a rapidity which renders them invisible; and
the body of the insect appears to be immovable and
suspended in the air until it darts off in pursuit of a
female, and not unusually returns to the same spot.

1 Fristalis tenax.

THE WOODLANDS. 23%

CHAPTER XIII.
PLANT BUGS, APHIDES, AND SCALE.

SHOULD any of our readers cherish a favourite rose in
his garden or greenhouse, he will be well enough
acquainted with the “ green-fly.” Not that this insect,
or its congeners, is confined to roses, but if one kind
of them should be known, it will be easy to recognize
others. The most prolific, and in some points extra-
ordinary, of all the insect tribe are the Aphides, or
“ oreen flies.” When they are seen at all, it is in very
large numbers, and we pity the poorest observer of
nature who has not seen them. Little, juicy-looking
insects, not larger than the head ofa pin, often green,
with long, thin, wiry legs, clustering about the young
and juicy parts of growing plants. Some call them
“blight,” gardeners know them as “green-fly,” and
entomologists as aphides, or “plant lice.”

They usually show a preference to the sunny side
of a wood, writes Mr. Buckton, rather than to its
northern or eastern aspects. A secluded valley, a
ravine with its brook of water, a light thicket on a
hanging hill, or the warm side of a hillock, with its
rank herbage, may be advantageously sought as being
the favourite haunts of these insects. The number

232 THE WOODLANDS.

of species inhabiting a district is found to be governed,
as might be supposed, by the varied character of its
flora. Some aphides affect timber-trees exclusively,
others feed on soft, succulent vegetables and low
herbs ; others again infest the roots of grasses, or hide
under stones and the rotten mortar of old walls, &c.

Although certain trees, as the lime, &c., appear
to be attacked exclusively by their particular aphis,
other trees give shelter indiscriminately to numerous
species. ‘Thus, the oak is infested by at least six, the
birch and willow by eight, the elm by four, the fir
tribe by eight, and the currant bush by three different
species.

In times past much has been conjectured and
written about ‘‘ honeydew,” a sweet secretion, which
is found in summer freely sprinkled over the upper
surface of the leaves of various trees, notably of the
lime and the sycamore. Some held it to be an exuda-
tion from the plant, others as a secretion exuded by
aphides, and, more ancient still, that it was nectar dis-
tilled from the skies. It is now generally conceded that
the honeydew as found upon leaves is derived from
these insects, which is strengthened by the following
memorandum from the note-book of an observer :—
“ Bright, sunny morning ; the under-sides of the oak-
trees well tenanted by winged and apterous females of
an oak aphis. The upper surfaces of the leaves of
the Portugal laurels, growing under the oaks, are
freely sprinkled with shining spots of honeydew. On
gently touching one of the winged females, the abdo-
men was raised, and a bright particle, easily seen in
the sunshine, was projected from the summit of one

PLANT BUGS, APHIDES, AND SCALE. 23%

of the short cornicles. The garden seats on the open
lawn are also sprinkled with the same spots.”

That the aphides also cause transformations and
distortions of parts of plants, resembling galls, some-
times termed pseudo-galls, will be shown when we
come to write of galls and gall insects.

A casual observation of a colony of these insects
will prove that they are not all alike, some being
winged and others not; more minute investigation
will reveal other and less evident differences.

The males are either winged, or without wings, the
former being the most common. In this sex the
abdomen is smaller, and the colour usually brighter.
The females are also winged, or wingless in some
allied genera, but in the true aphides those females
which deposit eggs are uniformly without wings. Late
in the season winged females bring forth their young
alive, as well as some without wings. Hence we have
wingless males and winged males, wingless oviparous
females and, late in the year, both winged and wing-
less females, which bring forth their young alive.

The multiplication of aphides is enormous ; some
species probably are confined to one brood, while
others reach to twenty, or, it is stated, to as many as
ninety. Latreille says one female during summer will
produce young at the rate of about twenty-five a.day.
Réaumur calculates that one aphis may be the mother
of the enormous number of 5,904,900,000 individuals
during the month or six weeks of her existence. Pro-
fessor Huxley has made a calculation which affords
an approximate idea of what these immense numbers
mean, Assuming that an aphis weighs as little as one-

234 THE WOODLANDS.

thousandth part of a grain, and that it requires a man
to be very stout to weigh more than two million grains,
he shows that the tenth brood of aphides alone,
without adding the products of all the generations.
which precede the tenth, if. all the members survive
the perils to which they are exposed, contains more

ponderable substance than five hundred millions of

stout men; that is, more than the whole population
of China. Enormous as this calculation may seem,
it is clearly below the mark, for subsequent calcula-
tions, based on ascertained facts given in Buckton’s.
“Monograph of Aphides,” throws the one above given
into the shade.

If this reproductive power really exist, then it
will be asked, how is it that the world is not all
aphides? ‘This may be as readily accounted for in
the fact that the persistent destruction almost keeps.
pace with their production. Ladybirds, both in their
larval and mature condition, devour myriads of plant-
lice. For this purpose they swarm around the hop-
gardens of Kent and Sussex. The larve of these
little beetles are voracious enemies of the “* Hop-fly ”
and its kindred. This, however, is but one out of
many foes. Take, as an example, the aphis which
attacks wheat-ears, when in the pupa state it is
attacked by a small black fly called Zphedrus, which
deposits an egg in its interior. This egg soon de-
velops a small maggot, which flourishes within, and
at the expense of the aphis. Later in the season
another small fly visits the wheat, and deposits its egg
within the already infected pupa. This egg in the
course of time is hatched, and now preys upon the

_

PLANT BUGS, APHIDES, AND SCALE. 235

maggot of the Zphedrus, so that not only is the young
aphis destroyed, but its destroyer also meets with its
retribution, for in turn it becomes the prey of Cera-
phron. The aphis is a parasite upon the wheat, the
Ephedrus a parasite on the aphis, and the Cevaphron
a parasite on the Zphedrus. Parasite destroys para-
site, and the wheat is freed. By such means the
otherwise overwhelming numbers of the plant-lice are
kept in check.

Some of the most pernicious of insect pests are to
be found amongst this fraternity. Foremost of all in
the excitement and panic it has created is the Pzy/-
loxera, which has attacked the vines on the Continent,
and even made its appearance in England. We have
long suffered in our hop-gardens from the devastations
of the Hop-fly. The white, woolly substance so
common on apple-trees, and known as “ American
blight,” is another of these insects. So, also, is a
similar appearance which may be observed on larch.
We are not deficient in the number of those which
cause direct injury, but can recognize none which
confer direct benefits, or at least any benefits which
we can appreciate.

As an instance of the injurious effects of the “ fly”
in hop-gardens, it has been stated that in the year
1802 the excise duty on hops, which in the previous
year was £100,000, fell to £14,000, and that the
deterioration in value was entirely ascribed to the
ravages of the “fly.”

Passing from these minute insects, we have another
group known as Plant Bugs, of a much larger size,
but not capable of inflicting such widespread injury.

236 THE WOODLANDS.

We have seen these insects in woods and forests on
the Continent in much larger numbers than in our
own islands; except, indeed, some aquatic species,
they would seem to be rather rare with us. The
Hemipterous insects, as they are termed, have four
wings, two of which form hard coverings, with mem-
branous ends, and the mouth-organs are formed of
bristles, which compose a sucker, inclosed in an arti-
culated sheath, forming a projecting beak.

These might appropriately be called sucking
insects; and those who divide and group them for
scientific purposes, recognise the Bugs—viz., House
Bugs, ‘Tree Bugs, and Water Bugs—as one family ;
the noisy Cicadas, or Harvest-flies, as another; then
the Frog-hoppers, the Plant Lice (Aphides), and
Scale insects, as other families. Tree Bugs, or rather
Plant Bugs, for they are not confined to trees, are
insects of a retiring habit ; hence they are seldom seen
except when sought after. They are often very
angularly-shaped insects, and, as we should say of
individuals, broad in the shoulders, so that it is
often easy to recognize a plant bug at a glance.
Sometimes a number will congregate together in
the cracks of the bark of trees, and may be easily
caught ; others must be sought in flowers. The
majority of species are predacious, feeding upon
other insects, sucking out their juices ; but some few
perform the same operation on plants.

Any one who has taken up a United States
journal, even of a popular science character, will
have observed that many insects are called ‘‘ Bugs ”
which have no right or title to the name. Thus

PLANT BUGS, APHIDES, AND SCALE. 237

the Colorado Beetle was, and perhaps still is, called
the Potato Bug; and others which are in reality
beetles are degraded into bugs. This would be of
very little importance to those who know and recog-
nize the value of the scientific names ; but it serves.
to illustrate the fact that the use of popular names
alone will be found of but little service to those who
desire to step over the threshold which separates
popular knowledge (or popular ignorance) from
practical knowledge.

The common Froth-fly (Zettigonia spumaria) may
be seen in spring in small patches of white, frothy
matter on the young shoots of herbaceous plants.
This froth is termed Cuckoo Spittle by country
people, from its being conspicuous about the time
when the cuckoo arrives in this country. On
removing the froth, one or two small green larve
will be found concealed in the midst, which are able
te skip away when disturbed. About the middle of
June they become pupz. When the perfect insect
escapes, it leaves amongst the froth a transparent,
horny case attached to the stem by its feet. For- .
merly they were called Cicadas, but they are not
true Cicadas. The perfect insect is of a dirty
yellowish-white, thickly clothed with short hairs.
The head is triangular and broad, with an eye on
each side at the base, and two small ones on the
crown. ‘The face has a black stripe down the centre,
with several horizontal lines, radiating on each side
like a comb. The wing-covers are brown, more or
less mottled with olive, with four large whitish
patches on the margin; the wings are transparent

238 THE WOODLANDS.
and iridescent. There is, however, considerable
variation in the colour and markings of the perfect
insects, and they may be seen, resting upon flowers,
as late as September and October. These, too,
have their enemies, which aid in keeping their
numbers in check, for a species of Sand Wasp!
has been seen carrying away the pupe into its cells
in neighbouring banks, in order to feed its young.”
Scale insects, sometimes called Bark Lice, are very
troublesome in hothouses, where they attach them-
selves to exotic plants; but there are other species
than these,and as common in woods and hedges.
The females may be seen adhering to the bark of
pear and apple-trees in gardens, to the sloe in hedge-
rows, and to the beech and other trees in woods.
These females are gregarious in considerable num-
bers, and resemble miniature mussel. and oyster
shells, which adhere firmly to the bark. Remove
one of these scales with the point of a penknife, and
beneath the hollow shell and shrivelled remains of
the old insect a cluster of eggs will probably be
found, waiting their time to reproduce the species.
The males are winged, and thus afford a singular
contrast to the females. ‘These are important insects
commercially, although the native species are re-
garded as pests. One species furnishes the well-
known cochineal dye, and is a native of Mexico,
where it feeds upon a cactus. Another, common in
India on the twigs of various trees, secretes a

1 Gorytes campestris.
2 «« Gardener’s Chronicle,” p. 508. 1842.

PLANT BUGS, APHIDES, AND SCALE. 239

resinous substance which also contains a colouring
matter known as lac-dye, and the resinous portion,
being melted down after the colour is extracted, is
shell-lac, or seed-lac, according to the manner in
which it is prepared. Yet another species was found
in the neighbourhood of Mount Sinai feeding on the
tamarisk, on which it produced a sweet secretion
resembling manna. And in China a beautiful white
wax is due to insects of this family. If the oranges
which are imported into this country are carefully
examined, a few female cect will often be found
adhering to the rind; and any gardener will furnish
specimens of a “scale” which persistently adheres to
the fronds of cultivated palms and other plants.

If a gardener be asked his experience of these
insects in hothouse cultivation, he will furnish plenty
of material for judgment on their capacity for mis-
chief in what he may have to tell of the Mealy
Bug, and the Pineapple Scale, and the Orange
Scale, and unfortunately many others. Some of
the herbaceous plants in lanes and woods are often
densely covered about the stems with little scale in-
sects; but they so little resemble insects in appear-
ance, that they are liable to be mistaken for some
unhealthy condition of the plant.

There are two ways in which these and all other
insects may be made objects of study. The one
and most common method, is to collect the insects
wherever they can be found, kill them, and expand
and arrange their wings and legs, attach to them
the names by which they are scientifically known,
and arrange them in boxes, in an orderly manner,

eget

240 THE WOODLANDS.

in accordance with their relationship, the one with
the other. There is another method which limits
the student to a few species; these he seeks to
comprehend as individuals, to trace their life-history,
their modes of existence, transformations, and, above
all, their entire structure. The microscope, of course,
is fully employed in such researches ; and, as may
be expected, this is the method which will best
satisfy those who seek to become acquainted
with the mysteries of life as exhibited in the
minute creatures which abound everywhere, — to
comprehend
‘© How He who makes and peoples worlds still works

In secrecy, behind a veil of light ;

Yet through that hiding of his power, such glimpses

Of glory break as strike presumption blind,

But humble and exalt the humbled soul,

Whose faith the things invisible discerns,
And God informing, guiding, ruling all.”

THE WOODLANDS. 241

CHAPTER XIV.

DRAGON-FLIES AND OTHER INSECTS.

Most dwellers in towns have had some experience of
the disagreeable process of “removing.” Such being
the case, they will understand what we mean when
we allude to the “last load,” as a heterogeneous
medley coming from all parts of the old house,
defying classification, and more troublesome in their
disposal than all the rest. With this chapter we are
almost in the same position as the householder with
the last load. We have a miscellaneous collection of
insects, none of them of very great importance or
interest, belonging to different orders, and without
any other excuse for coming together than that which
prevails in the “ last load.”

Foremost amongst these is the Earwig (forficula
auricularia), an old acquaintance in gardens, but as
common in woods and many places beside. It is
not every one who is aware that earwigs can fly; but
they have wings amply sufficient for this purpose, and
when at rest these are folded and hidden so as not
to be suspected. These insects belong to the
Orthoptera, which have all delicate wings, and are

R

242 THE WOODLANDS.

nocturnal in their habits. The female earwig broods
over her eggs after the manner of ahen. De Geer,
having found an earwig so occupied, placed her in a
box with some earth, scattering her eggs in all di-
rections; these she soon collected in a heap, and
then sat upon them as before. When the young are
hatched, they creep, like a brood of chickens, under
the belly of the mother, who suffers them to push
between her feet, and will often, as De Geer found,
sit over them in this posture for hours.

The Cockroach (often called the Black Beetle)
and the Cricket are both members of this same
order; and so also are the Mole Cricket, Field Cricket,
Grasshopper, and Locust. Fortunately, the latter
causes us very little inconvenience. in our island
home, but in the Orient it is very destructive.
Stick insects and leaf insects, so called from their
resemblance to sticks and leaves, and the Praying
Mantis, all belong to this order.

It is doubtful, even if locusts were common with
us, if we should revenge ourselves upon them exactly
in the same way as Jackson relates of them in
Barbary, where he says, that dishes of locusts were
generally served up at the principal tables, and es-
teemed a great delicacy. “They are,’ he says,
“preferred by the Moors to pigeons, and a person
may eat a plateful of two or three hundred without
feeling any ill-effects.” To what extent cockroaches.
are eaten by the Turkish ladies we cannot affirm,
but they are said to promote obesity, one attribute of
beauty.

That crickets and grasshoppers when in con-

SSS SS SS es ee

DRAGON-FLIES AND OTHER INSECTS. 243

finement will eat raw meat, and even harder sub-
stances, approaching to leather, if not leather itself,
has been demonstrated. This becomes less sur-
prising when a knowledge of their minute anatomy is
obtained ; for they possess gizzards furnished with an
elaborate arrangement of gastric teeth, as most micro-
scopists are aware, the gizzard of a cricket being quite
a “stock object.”

Jaeger says that the youth of Germany are ex-
tremely fond of field crickets, so much so, that there
is scarcely a boy to be seen who has not several
small boxes made expressly for keeping these insects
in. So much delighted are they, too, with their
music, that they carry these boxes of crickets into
their bedrooms at night, and are soothed to sleep
with their chirping lullaby.

Minute Neuropterous insects which might be mis-
taken for aphides are not uncommon. These are
called the Psocid@e. In all their states they probably
feed on dry vegetable substances and lichens. They
are universally common, living more or less in societies
on tree trunks and palings and amongst the herbage
of trees, especially firs, larches, and yews; and some
species in houses and warehouses. The eggs are laid
in patches on leaves, bark, or other objects, and the
females cover them with a web. Mr. McLachlan be-
lieves that both sexes possess the power of spinning a
web, not distinguishable from that of spiders. The
larve and pupz greatly resemble the perfect insects.
One of these little insects which is found running over
books and collections of preserved insects in cabinets,
has been supposed to be one of the “death watches,”

R 2

244 THE WOODLANDS.

about which superstition has much to relate. Ento- °
mologists generally do not believe that the little Azvo-
pos divinatorius, with its soft body, is capable of pro-
ducing the ticking sounds which have been attributed
to it. Whoever has the misfortune to possess a large
herbarium of dried plants will soon become conscious
of the presence of little soft-bodied insects, not much
larger than mites, but members
of this family, which are very
lable to make themselves at
home in such places.

The Day-flies! or May-flies
appear in swarms in the neigh-
bourhood of rivers, and some-
times these swarms are so large
that they inspire dread in coun-

ATROPOS. try districts. Réaumur once

saw them descend so fast that

the step on which he stood by the river’s bank was

covered by a thick layer in a few minutes. He com-

pares their falling to that of snow with the largest

flakes. Being aquatic in their habits, they are only
alluded to in passing.

The Aphis lion is one of the names which have
been applied to the larvze of what is also termed the
Lace-wing fly,2 one of a group of Neuropterous in-
sects with small slender bodies, four large transparent
net-like wings, and prominent golden eyes. The
wings have a greenish tint and reflect delicate prisma-
tic colours. The insects fly in the twilight, remaining

1 Ephentera. 2 Hemerobius perla.

DRAGON-FLIES AND OTHER INSECTS. 245

inactive during the day, and when touched emit an
offensive odour. The females deposit their eggs upon
plants, especially those infested with aphides, attach-
ing them at the ends of long, slender, rigid footstalks,
the base of which is attached to the leaf. These
stalked eggs have somewhat the appearance of minute
fungi, and it is a fact that an excellent mycologist
once described and figured them as the type of
a new genus of microscopic fungi. The larve which
are produced from these eggs are the ant-lions, which
Professor Westwood has graphically described. In
the month of May, he says, a singular-looking object
may be occasionally seen walking over plants, having
very little of the appearance of an insect, resembling
rather a moving mass of cottony or other materials:
on carefully examining the mass with a magnifying
glass, we perceive a head furnished with two long and
slender curved jaws, followed by three pairs of legs
protruded from the mass, which being removed we find
an active fleshy larva, something like that of the lady-
bird, covered with scattered hairs. This larva feeds
upon aphides, and is extremely voracious, seizing
them with its jaws and sucking their juices. These
jaws are moreover used by the insects for the further
purpose of forming the covering which it carries upon
its back, and which often consists of the skins of the
dead bodies of its victims. When full grown this larva
spins a cocoon, within which it is transformed into a
pupa. In this state it often remains through the
winter. There are several of these aphis-lions, differ
ing from each other somewhat in form.

During a woodland ramble in summer-time one is

246 THE WOODLANDS.

certain to encounter the great Dragon-fly restlessly
darting about the avenues. Yet, from their associa-
tions, we should rather be disposed to regard them

as insects belonging to rivers and marshes. ‘Their .

larvee are aquatic, but the mature insects may be seen
skimming about almost everywhere. Dr. Packard
says : “ Were we to select from among the insects a
type of all that is savage, relentless, and bloodthirsty,
the Dragon-fly would be our choice. From the mo-
ment of its birth until its death, nearly a twelvemonth,
it riots in bloodshed and carnage. Living beneath
the waters perhaps eleven months of its life, in the
larva and pupa states, it is literally a walking pitfall
for luckless aquatic insects; but when transformed
into a fly, ever on the wing in pursuit of its prey, it
throws off all concealment, and reveals the more un-
blushingly its rapacious character. Not only does its
horrid visage and ferocious bearing frighten children,
who call it the Devil’s darning-needle, but it even
distresses older persons, so that its name has become
a by-word. Could we understand the language of
insects, what tales of horror would be revealed ! What
traditions, sagas, fables, and myths must adorn the
annals of animal life regarding this dragon amongst
insects.”

The Springtails are little insects generally found
on the ground in damp places, under stones, old
bark, rotten wood, and dead leaves. Some kinds fre-
quent damp cellars and dark cupboards. On being
disturbed, most species skip off like fleas to a great
distance, by means of a forked apparatus which is
pressed under and close to the belly. By striking this

DRAGON-FLIES AND OTHER INSECTS. 24

“JI

out backwards with considerable force, the insect is
thrown forwards with a spring. Dark lead-coloured
individuals of this group may be sometimes seen in
immense numbers in roadside puddles, or by the
margin of ponds, like grains of gunpowder. Other
species are found but few together and almost solitary.
Some controversy has of late years been carried on as
to the true interpretation of the marking on the scales
with which many of the species are furnished, and in
these communications they are spoken of as Podura
scales, although that general term includes two or
three different genera. It is sufficient for our purpose
to call them Poduride. They appear to be very par-
tial to mites as food.

The “world of insects” is not a mere phrase, it is a
reality, of which we have taken but the poorest
glimpse. To know all the inhabitants of this world,
even by name, is the work of a lifetime, but what of
their structure, their economy, their loves, their lives,
their instincts? These are mysteries of which we have
as yet learnt but little, compared with what remains
to be known. If any man be vain of his knowledge,
thinking himself wise, let him but visit the “ world of
insects,” and question himself which is the greatest,
his knowledge or his ignorance.

248 THE WOODLANDS.

CHAPTER XV.

SPIDERS.

As we look from our windows at the shrubs _ out-
side during the autumn, it is a very common
occurrence to see two or three large geometric
spiders’ webs constructed from branch to branch.
A large, full-bodied, plump spider is in the centre,
motionless, and ready for business. He remains
there with his head downwards, and if we ap-
proach, it is evident that on the back of his plump
carcase there is a distinct white cross. This is one
of our finest, as itis one of our commonest species,
and it is not confined either to gardens or conserva-
tories, but will be seen also in woods and forests.

SPIDERS. 249

He will serve as a good introduction for us to the
Spider tribe, and the Diadem Spider! may be taken
as a type of spiders.

At one time spiders were included with insects
in the same class, and so now many people speak of
them as insects, but they are more nearly allied to the
crustacea, or crabs and lobsters, than to butterflies
and beetles. ‘They have, as a rule, four pairs of legs,
and in this respect the minute Acari or mites agree
with them, and are included in the same class.

Some persons have a great dislike to spiders, and
it is said that both Turenne and Gustavus Adolphus,
notwithstanding their general courage, would shudder
at the sight of these little creatures. They have their
place in history from the time of Domitian to that of
Robert Bruce. The story of the latter is too well
known to need repetition, and a similar anecdote is
related of Mahomet, that when himself and a com-
panion were fleeing from their enemies, they hid for
three days in a cave, over the mouth of which a
spider spread its web, and a pigeon laid two eggs there,
the sight of which made their pursuers pass on, and
not enter in search of them.

When Pelisson was confined in the Bastile in com-
pany with a Basque, who played on the bagpipe, a
spider was accustomed to make its appearance
at the window on hearing the music, and on these
occasions was fed by the prisoners, so that it
became a regular visitor to solace their captivity.
The governor of the Bastile, it is added, hearing

1 Epeira diadema.

250 THE WOODLANDS.

that the unfortunate prisoner had found a solace
in the society of a spider, paid Pelisson a visit,
desiring to see the manceuvres of the little creature.
The Basque struck up his music, the spider instantly
came to be fed by his friend, but the moment it
appeared on the floor of the cell the governor placed
his foot on its body, and crushed it to death.

When Lauzun was captive, he was consoled by the
visits of a friendly spider ; but a still more interest-
ing narrative of Quatremer Disjonval, and how he
obtained his release from prison, through watching
spiders, is recorded in the Quarterly Review (January,
1844). Hereafter let no one shudder at the presence
of a spider.

One of the things not generally known is the pecu-
liarity in the eyes of spiders. In the majority of
species they have eight eyes, in some only six, and in
a very few only two. The eight eyes are placed in
different positions relatively in different genera of
spiders ; in insects the eyes are generally compound,
but in the Spider all the eyes are simple.

When spiders are about to deposit their eggs they
usually spin silken cocoons for them, which are placed
in various situations. Many species abandon their
cocoons as soon as they are completed ; others show
the greatest attachment to them, and watch them with
solicitude, and some carry them about with them
wherever they go. Before the young spiders reach
maturity, they moult several times. One species has
been known to moult five times, another nine times.
Mutilated limbs are reproduced at the time of chang-
ing the integument, or moulting. It is uncertain to

SPIDERS. 251

what age spiders will attain; some have been known
to live four years.

“Under the guidance of their respective instincts,”
says Mr. Blackwell, “a high degree of skill and in-
dustry is displayed in the construction of their retreats.
Many species occupy holes formed by themselves
beneath the surface of the earth, some of which, of a
cylindrical shape, are lined with a compact tissue of
silk, and have the entrance closed by a valve, pro-
vided with a hinge, which can be opened and shut at
pleasure. Other species fabricate in the crevices of
walls, the crannies of rocks, beneath stones, on the
leaves of vegetables, and under the exfoliating bark of
trees,—tubes, cells, or domes of silk, on whose exterior
surface-soil minute pebbles and other heterogeneous
materials are frequently distributed. A TZheridion
fabricates a slender conical tube of silk, of a very
slight texture, measuring from one and a half to two
and a half inches in length, and about half an inch in
diameter at its lower extremity. It is closed above,
open below, thickly covered externally with bits of
indurated earth, small stones, and withered leaves and
flowers, which are incorporated with it, and is sus-
pended perpendicularly by lines attached to its sides
and apex, in the irregular snare constructed by this
species. In the upper part of this singular domicile
the female spins several globular cocoons of yellowish-
white silk, of a slight texture, whose mean diameter is
about one-eighth of an inch, in each of which she
deposits from twenty to sixty small spherical eggs,
of a pale yellowish-white colour, not agglutinated
together. ‘The young remain with the mother for a

252 THE WOODLANDS.

long period after quitting the cocoons, and are pro-
vided by her with food, which consists chiefly of
ants.”

This little spider called Zheridion riparium is not
more than one-seventh of an inch in length, and is
found about banks in woods, its domicile being formed:
in August. Two other allied but more common
species are found in the same localities. One of these
incloses its cocoon in a tissue of white silk on the
under surface of leaves of trees and shrubs;! the
margins of the leaves are drawn in around the nidus,
and held in that position by silken lines. The other
constructs a cocoon of dull green silk amongst foliage,
and placed beneath a dome-shaped canopy of silk,
around which withered leaves are accumulated. In
both these instances the young continue to live with
their mother until they are old enough to take care of
themselves. The web, or snare, of the species in
this genus consists of crossed lines, which intersect
each other at various angles, and without any apparent
regular plan.

Returning again to the Diadem Spider,? with which
we started, we have a great contrast to the Zheridion
last named in the regular geometrical webs which all
the species of Zfeira construct. Radiating lines are
united by a spiral thread, thickly studded with minute
globules of liquid gum; but the central convolutions
are devoid of globules, so that its owner may rest
there and watch for prey without being incommoded
by its own snare. It has been stated that all these

) Theridion lineatum. 2 Theridion nervosumt.

SPIDERS. 253

species of Zfeira place themselves in the centre of
their net, with their heads directed downwards.

The Melon Spider! is not more than a quarter of
an inch in length, and its conspicuous oval abdomen
is of a melon-green colour, with a red spot at the outer
extremity. Its geometrical net is often horizontal, but
sometimes inclined, attached to shrubs, to which also
its cocoon, of bright yellow silk, is affixed. Another,?
even more common, species constructs a geometrical
net in woods, with a vacant space in the centre, which
it usually occupies. Whenever disturbed, it drops
suddenly, as if falling to the ground, but really remains
suspended by a thread, along which it regains its
position in the centre of its snare when all danger is
past. Most of the species in this group have the
abdomen beautifully variegated with white and black
spots and lines.

Mr. Blackwell has calculated the number of viscid
globules which would be distributed over a geometric
web of a medium size. Hesays that ‘‘ The mean dis-
tance between two adjacent radii is about seven-tenths
of an inch: if, therefore, the number seven be multi-
plied by 20, the mean number of globules which
occur on one-tenth of an inch of the elastic spiral
line at the ordinary degree of tension, the product will
be 140, the mean number of globules deposited on
seven-tenths of an inch of the elastic spiral line. This
product multiplied by 24, the mean number of cir-
cumvolutions described by the elastic spiral line, gives
3,360, the mean number of globules contained between

1 Ppeira cucurbitina. 2 Epeira inclinata,

254 THE WOODLANDS.

two radii, which multiplied by 26, the mean number
of radii, produces 87,360, the total number of viscid
globules in a finished net of average dimensions. A
large net, fourteen or sixteen inches in diameter, will
be found by a similar calculation to contain upwards
of 120,000 viscid globules, and yet an Lfeiva will
complete its snare in about forty minutes, if it meets
with no interruption.”

There is a family of spiders called the Linyphiide,
which are allied to the family to which the Diadem
Spider belongs, and which usually inhabit the branches
and foliage of trees and shrubs. In general ap-
pearance the body is proportionately longer and
narrower than in the Z“feiride. They are rather
small, often mottled, and fabricate a thin sheet of
web of variable extent, on the under surface of which
they take their station in an inverted position. Some
of the species are rare, but there are two or three
which are sufficiently common to be met with ina
stroll in the woods.

“Tt is really remarkable,” observes the Rev. J. G.
Wood, ‘that considering the great number of species
which inhabit England so very few should have been
sufficiently distinguished to receive popular names.
Owing in all probability to the foolish dislike towards
spiders entertained by most persons, a dislike which
has been instilled into their minds at a very early
age, these wonderful and interesting creatures are
seldom watched, and there are very few persons who
really know one spider from another, or who have
any idea of their exceeding usefulness when in the
places which they were intended to inhabit.” The

SPIDERS. 255.

species of Zénzyphia just alluded to have no popular
names, as indeed is the case with nearly all the species
to which we shall have occasion to refer.

One species, not uncommon, belongs to a small
group having a peculiar modification of structure to
suit its condition of life. This is called Cinzjfo atrox.
The modification consists in each hind leg being
furnished towards the extremity with two parallel rows
of movable spines, which are used as a curling ap-
paratus. The snare is composed of silky threads,
some of which are elaborately curled by means of the
curling-spines just alluded to. The entire length of
the spider is about three-eighths of an inch, and
amongst other places it is found under the bark of
old trees. It is worthy of note that this spider has
an additional, or fourth pair of spinners.

The hunting spiders are very pretty little creatures,
rather elaborately coloured and marked, and often
singular in form. One of the species is well known,
at least to microscopists, and this is perhaps the most
common.! It is not more than a quarter of an inch
in length, and is generally to be found hunting for
insects on the trunks of trees. It is said to be a very
pugnacious little marauder, capturing its prey by
leaping upon it unawares, at the same time spinning a
thread which is attached to the place whence it takes
its spring, in order to be provided against a fall.
The legs are modified for leaping, at which it is
expert. Indeed this is a very Nimrod amongst the
spiders. As we have seventeen or eighteen species

1 Salticus scenicus.

256 THE WOODLANDS.

of these hunting spiders in Britain, it should not be
difficult to become acquainted with some of them.
Although from their habits of life they can dispense
with a snare, the female constructs a cocoon of white
silk for her eggs, and this is concealed under the bark
of old trees or in crevices of wails and rocks.

There is another family of spiders called Thomuside,
which hunt their prey in a similar manner, but they
are not so attractive in appearance. The Drassid@
construct for themselves little cells amongst leaves,
and in these they lie in wait for their prey, leaping
upon unwary insects that may pass their dens.

It is worthy of remembrance that some spiders are
quite nocturnal in their habits. They do not make
their appearance at all in the daytime; and hence
many kinds may seldom or never be seen except by
those who know where to search for them, and then
only rarely. Night in the woods is not absolutely a
period of quiet and repose. Birds, quadrupeds, in-
sects, spiders, molluscs, have all theirnocturnal species,
and these retire to rest during the day.

The “ Gossamer Spider” is a term which has been
often used in a manner which would lead to the con-
clusion that there is one particular spider which per-
forms the aérial flights so often alluded to or described.
Whereas it is probably the young as well as the mature
of several species which are concerned in these
evolutions. As in most phenomena which did not
receive immediate elucidation, this became entangled
with a little romance.

Lister says that one day in autumn, when the air
was full of wefts, he mounted to the top of the highest

SPIDERS. 257

steeple of York Minster, from whence he could dis-
cern the floating webs still very high above him.
Some spiders that fell and were entangled upon the
pinnacle he took. They were of a kind that never
enter houses, and therefore could not be supposed to
take their flight from the steeple. From his observa-
tions it is clear that he did not consider this faculty
to be confined to one species of spider, but common
to several, though only in their half-grown state. Of
one, he says, certainly this is an excellent rope-dancer,
and is wonderfully delighted with darting its threads ;
nor is it only carried in the air, but it effects itself its
ascent and sailing; for by means of its legs closely
applied to each other it as it were balances itself, and
promotes and directs its course no otherwise than as if
nature had furnished it with wings or oars.

Mr. Blackwell gives a summary of the facts as far
as they are known :—“ Although spiders,” he says,
‘‘are not provided with wings, and consequently are
incapable of flying in the strict sense of the word,
yet by the aid of their silken filaments numerous
species belonging to various genera are enabled to
accomplish distant journeys through the atmosphere.
These aérial excursions, which appear to result from
an instinctive desire to migrate, are undertaken when
the weather is bright and serene, particularly in
autumn, both by adult and immature individuals, and
are éffected in the following manner. After climb-
ing to the summits of different objects, they raise
themselves still higher by straightening the limbs ; then
elevating the abdomen by bringing it from the usual
horizontal position into one almost perpendicular, they

S

258 THE WOODLANDS.

emit from the spinners a small quantity of viscid
fluid, which is drawn out into fine lines by the as-
cending current occasioned by the rarefaction of the
air contiguous to the heated ground. Against these
lines the current of rarefied air impinges, till the
animals, feeling themselves acted upon with sufficient
force, quit their hold of the objects on which they
stand and mount aloft.”

Spiders do not always ascend into the atmosphere
by a vertical movement, but are observed to sail
through it in various directions ; and the fact admits
of an easy explanation when the disturbing causes by
which that subtle medium is liable to be affected are
taken into consideration. A direction parallel to the
horizon will be given by a current of air moving in
that plane ; a perpendicular one by the ascent of the
air rarefied ; and directions intermediate between these
will in general depend upon the composition of forces.
When the horizontal and vertical currents are equal
in force, the line of direction will describe an angle
of 45° nearly with the plane of the horizon ; but when
their forces are unequal, the angle formed with that
plane will be greater or less as one current or the other
predominates.

The manner in which the lines are carried out from
the spinners by a current of air appears to be this. As
a preparatory measure, the spinning mammulz are
brought into close contact, and viscid matter is emitted
from the papillz ; they are then separated by a lateral
motion, which extends the viscid matter into fine
filaments connecting the papillz ; on these filaments
the current impinges, drawing them out to a length

SPIDERS. 259

which is regulated by the will of the animal, and on
the mamillz being again brought together, the fila-
ments coalesce and form a compound line.

This author believes that spiders are unable to dart
lines from their spinners, and proposes certain experi-
ments by which this can be proved. ‘There is one
curious notion suggested by Robert Hook, one of the
earliest fellows of the Royal Society, which shows to
what an extent theorizing may go. Writing of these
gossamer webs he says, “they were of the same weight,
or very little heavier than the air, and ’tis not unlikely
but that those great white clouds, that appear all the
summer time may be of the same substance.”

Gilbert White describes a shower of these webs
which occurred in 1741 :—“About nine an appearance
very unusual began to demand our attention, a shower
of cobwebs falling from very elevated regions, and
continuing, without any interruption, till the close of
the day. These webs were not single filmy threads
floating in the air in all directions, but perfect flakes
of rags ; some near an inch broad, and five or six
long. On every side, as the observer turned his eyes,
might he behold a continual succession of fresh flakes
falling into his sight, and twinkling like stars.”

The Zzmes of Oct. 9, 1826, relates a similar occur-
rence at Wigan :—“ The fields and roads were covered
with a light filmy substance, which by many persons
was mistaken for cotton. In walking in the fields the
shoes were completely covered with it, and its floating
fibres came in contact with the face in all directions.
Every tree, lamp-post, or other projecting body had
arrested a portion of it. It profusely descended at

S/2

260 THE WOODLANDS.

Wigan like a sheet, and in such quantities as to affect
the appearance of the atmosphere. On examination
it was found to contain small flies, some of which
were so diminutive as to require a magnifying glass to
render them perceptible. The substance so abundant
in quantity was the gossamer of the garden or field
spider, often met with in fine weather in the country,
and of which, according to Buffon, it would take
663,552 spiders to produce a single pound.”

A far more ancient shower is recorded by Pliny, for
he says: “In the year that L. Paulus and C. Marcellus
were consuls it rained wool about the castle Carissa,
near to which a year after T. Annius Milo was slain.”

The question of spider poison, and of the power of
spiders to eject venom into the wounds which it
causes, need not be entered upon in detail here. The
fact is undoubted that the falces terminate in a hard,
sharp, curved fang, with a slit or fissure near the point.
That a secretory gland exists near its base with a
channel from it to the orifice. And that a poisonous
fluid can be emitted from the fang, at least a fluid
which renders insensible the small insects which are
wounded by it, although probably not sufficiently
poisonous to incommode higher animals.

Long-legged, spider-like animals, called Harvestmen
or Harvest-spiders, appear to live equally well about
houses or in the most lonely forests. ‘They seem to
be most active in the early morning or evening, pre-
ferring twilight to the glare of the sun. Unlike the
true spiders, they have only one pair of eyes, but their
legs are extravagantly long. They are carnivorous,
feeding on small insects, with a partiality for aphides.

SPIDERS. 261

The spiders are content with sucking the juices
of their victims, but the Harvestmen devour them
bodily. When walking the body is raised but little
from the ground, so that it is upon a level with its
prey. They spring and pounce upon their victim as
a cat upon a mouse, and hold it with their palpi as if
with hands. Mr. Fulk writes: “I have repeatedly
seen individuals of Phalangium when in confinement
pursue each other with the utmost pertinacity, the
larger generally pouncing upon the smaller, and
having brought them within reach of their palpi by
grappling them with their long legs, proceed to devour
the body, leaving the extremities untouched. They
use one of their legs occasionally to support the food
to their mouth. ‘Towards the close of summer all the
females are full of eggs. These are laid in protected
crevices, under dry stones, &c., and are hatched out
in the spring.” ‘The name of Harvestmen has been
given to these spiders, it is said, on account of a pre-
valent superstitious belief that if killed there will be a
bad harvest. Be this as it may, there is certainly a
prejudice in their favour amongst country people
which protects them against being wantonly destroyed.
In the United States they are called Daddy Long-legs.

Closely allied to the spiders are those small but
almost innumerable little creatures, the Acari or Mites,
such as are found in coarse sugar, old cheese, stale
meal, and various other articles of domestic utility.
They abound in woods, but are so minute that they
cannot be distinguished except by the aid of a lens.
Birds have their own particular species which is para-
sitic upon them. Beetles may be seen running about,

262 THE WOODLANDS.

bearing them upontheir bodies. Dead leaves and decay-
ing fungi swarm with them. ‘The rotting bark of old
stumps incloses them, and they may be seen even on the
bark of living trees. Wherever there is putrefaction and
decay they are sure to be found, and in many other
places where there is no evidence of either. Some of
them live in large colonies, weaving webs almost in
the manner of spiders. Others are aquatic and float
in ponds like tadpoles. Some are black as a fragment
of jet, others white as snow, others again of the most
vivid scarlet, crimson, or green. In their mature con-
dition they have four pairs of legs like spiders, and,
like them, they moult or change their skins before
they arrive at maturity. If there are any animals
which can be described as ubiquitous, they are the
mites, for it would be exceedingly difficult to name
bodies organic or inorganic on which they have never
been found. ‘The historian of these minute creatures
would require a large volume to record their names
and detail their characteristic distinctions. From us
they can only receive this general allusion as we pass
on to larger and more visible objects.

When a strip of bark is torn from an old stump, or
from a tree trunk which has lain for a long time on
the ground, a medley of animated creatures will be
seen scampering off in all directions to hide them-
selves. Doubtless there will be myriapods, or mille-
pedes, for that is just the kind of locality suited to
their propensities, and there will be wood-lice, rolling
themselves into shining balls like pills, for protection,
mites, springtails, small beetles, a spider or two, and
probably some cocoons of spiders’ eggs. It is more

SPIDERS. 263

particularly the strange creatures with a great number
of legs on each side of their body, called Myriapods,
or manyfooted, which must for a short time detain us.
They are curious creatures, with very few friends, al-
though comparatively harmless, some of them even
being useful; it will be sufficient to notice them under
three types, the Wood-lice, the Millepedes, and the
Centipedes.

The Wood-lice consist of several species, and these
are known locally as Sow-bugs, Old sows, Pig-lice,
Carpenters, and Slaters. Some of them, as the Ar-
madillo (Oniscus armadillo, L.), roll themselves in a
ball when touched, others (as Ozzscus asellus) do not
habitually roll up. They are covered with horny
plates like coats of mail, and have seven pairs of legs.
The two species above named are found in gardens
and amongst rubbish, but similar species are to be
met with in woods, and sometimes the same. They
walk slowly unless disturbed, when they run away
fast. ‘They shun the light and the heat of the sun,
and hence are seldom to be seen during the day, un-
less disturbed in their hiding-places. The food of
this group is undoubtedly vegetable, and they are the
most destructive of all, being troublesome in gardens.

The Millepedes, or Snake Millepedes, are several
kinds of /zus, from half an inch to nearly two inches
in length, with rounded cylindrical bodies covered
with horny plates, and about a hundred pairs of short
legs. When touched or disturbed they coil themselves
up spirally into a compact coil. They all walk slowly,
or rather glide along in a peculiar kind of way, from
the immense number of legs they possess, and which,

264 THE WOODLANDS.

when in motion, look like a fringe of hairs. Several
species of them are found in England, delighting in
loose bark and old stumps, feeding on decayed vege-
table matter, on decomposing animal substances, and
acting as a kind of scavenger. Some of them delight
in Acari, but it is doubtful if any of them feed at all
upon living plants. The most common species !
has from 160 to 200 legs, and is from an inch to an
inch and a half in length.

Still more interesting, but equally common, is at
least one species of centipede,? found under stones or
fallen timber. It is from two to three inches long,
and has from fifty-one to fifty-five pairs of legs. The
female lays from thirty to fifty eggs in a cell in the
ground, and coils herself round them, in which posi-
tion she remains for two or three weeks, until the
young brood is hatched. Both sexes are luminous,
shining almost as brightly as the glow-worm. What-
ever the luminous substance may be, it certainly ad-
heres to the fingers like phosphorus when the animals
are handled. We have several times collected in the
dark, luminous creatures under the impression that
they were glow-worms, and when brought to the light .
discovered that they were centipedes. Another small
centipede® is common in hop-gardens, hybernating
in clusters of six or eight, rolled up like a ball, but
whether luminous or not we cannot affirm.

Although only partially related to our locality, we
cannot forbear a parting word with the Worms. It is

1 Fulus terrestris. 3 Geophilus humuli.
2 Arthronomalus longicornis.

SPIDERS. 265

customary to say the common Earth-worm, but there
are several‘which the naturalist knows how to dis-
tinguish the one from the other. Montpellier has
determined thirty-five species, in Britain the number
has been fixed at eleven. The late Dr. Baird gave
some interesting details of the habits of worms. He
says, “ The Earth-worm! moves along the surface, or
in the soil, by alternate elongations and contractions
of a determinate portion of the body. It can move
backwards or forwards with nearly equal facility, and
when seized in its progress it wriggles and twists
itself into many coiled knots and circles. This it
does also when wounded, and its writhings surely
indicate a severe degree of suffering in the poor
worm, which is too often wantonly trodden upon.
The movements of the earth-worm in its burrow are
performed with much greater rapidity than on the
surface, a superiority which results from the dis-
position of the bristles along the sides ; for in a cir
cular tube alone can they all be brought into action
and made to act as fulcra, the animal having the
power of protruding them to a slight extent. Hence
we find that the hole of the worm is of the same
figure as its body, and nearly of the same calibre ;
that the ascent and descent may be retarded neither
by over straightness, nor by a wideness which would
render the contact of the bristles against its walls
impossible. ‘The holes are in general sinuous, and
worked in an oblique direction, and lined with the
slimy juice which exudes from the skin, They vary

1 Lumbricus terrestris.

266 THE WOODLANDS.

in depth from a few inches to upwards of four feet,
and have two, or occasionally several, apertures, of
which one is the vent, whence they eject those
vermicular pellets of earth that have passed through
the intestine, and are in fact moulded and fashioned
within it.”

Wishing to burrow, and having selected a soft,
moist earth, the worm stretches forward the anterior
portion of its body and stiffens it. It now pouts out
the upper lip, and rendering it, too, tense and elastic,
the worm pushes it under the soil or clod, raises it
and casts it aside; then again it digs and loosens
another portion of the earth, until, by many repeti-
tions and. much patience, the tunnel is insensibly
yet speedily completed. As the worm swallows the
greater proportion of the soil raised in the progress of
the work, nature has furnished it with no instruments
for the removal of the obstacle, such as have been
given to many other boring insects.

Their favourite residence is a recent vegetable
mould heap, the under side of a flat stone in damp
situations, and the earth immediately below half-dried
cow-dung. It deposits its eggs in capsules at a con-
siderable depth in the soil.

Gardeners and farmers express their detestation of
worms, and yet even worms have a mission which
gardeners and farmers fail to comprehend.

ee

THE WOODLANDS. 267

CHAPTER XVI.

SLUGS AND SNAILS.

WE almost despair of exciting any sympathy in
the attempt to develop an interest in ‘Slugs and
Snails.” Every one has for himself arrived at the
conclusion that they are nasty, slimy things, which
could not possibly exhibit any redeeming feature.
Prejudice is a very powerful enemy, still we are
bound to ignore it in dealing with natural objects,
affirming meanwhile that nothing which has been
created is without fitness for the station it is designed
to fill, or without use in the great economy of which
it forms a part. We possess no privilege to despise
the meanest thing which crawls, and undoubtedly
we know least of the objects we dislike the most.
We should rather distrust ourselves in regarding any
living thing as beneath our notice, because, accurately
interpreted, it only means an expression of our own
ignorance. It may be taken for granted, that those
who estimate most highly the Creator’s works, even
the humblest, are those who investigate them most
and know them best.

Snails and slugs, especially the former, have few
personal attractions for strangers, yet they improve
upon acquaintance; and we venture to think that

268 THE WOODLANDS.

whoever will take upon himself the task of inves-
tigating them, comprehending their history, and
unveiling the mysteries of their existence, will ulti-
mately cease to despise them, and even become their
champions.

Slugs are not all alike. The little Grey Slug, so
common in gardens, is very different from the two
kinds usually found in woods. One of these is a
large, black creature, which when contracted into
‘a quiescent attitude has longitudinal grooves, or
wrinkles, down its body. It is abundant in wet
weather, and when in motion is often three or four
inches in length, sometimes more. The snail carries
his shell on his back, and so does the slug, but in the
latter case it is only a small plate imbedded beneath
the skin. Like the snail, the slug has four tentacles,
called horns by juveniles, which are retractile, and
two of them have eyes at their extremities. The
natural food of the black slug is green vegetables,
and of these it will consume a considerable quantity ;
hence all cultivators, whether farmers or gardeners,
treat them with slight respect.

The other wood slug is sometimes called the Tree
Slug, because it is usually found under decayed wood,
on which it is said to subsist. It much more nearly
resembles the common garden slug, is of a tawny-
grey colour, and is narrowed towards the tail. These
are the only two common slugs that we are privileged
to mention, and these are by no means confined to
woods, whilst others resort by preference to gardens,
yet are by no means rare in woods. It requires some
little practical knowledge to distinguish the different

SLUGS AND SNAILS. 269

kinds of grey slugs from each other, but this is soon
acquired. Snails and slugs should be sought early in
the morning whilst the grass is still wet with dew, or
after a shower.

The ancient Romans, and some modern nations,
held the larger snails in esteem as a great delicacy.
They fattened them for the table until they are said
to have attained an enormous size. The largest
British snail, called
the Apple Snail,! is
reported to have
been a great favour-
ite with the Ro-
mans. Some assert
that it was brought
to this country first
by the Roman con-
querors, and is only
now found in the
south, where the
shells are discov- APPLE SNAIL.
ered buried in the
vicinity of old Roman encampments. Others say
that Sir Kenelm Digby introduced them for medicinal
purposes. Others, again, that they were brought to
Albury, in Surrey, by Mr. Howard, in the sixteenth
century. Whichever account be true, it is admitted
that they are not indigenous, and even now are only
found in chalky districts. Several Continental nations
retain snails as a fashionable delicacy. In France

1 Helix pomatia.

27° THE WOODLANDS.

they abound in the vineyards, and are consumed
regularly in the restaurants of Paris. The proprietor
of one snailery near Dijon is affirmed to clear annu-
ally three hundred pounds by his snails. In Switzer-
land there are established gardens for their cultivation.
In Austria and some parts of Italy they are con-
sumed regularly as a matter of course. About sixty
thousand pounds of snails are annually exported
from the island of Crete for consumption. The taste
for this delicacy has also extended to North America.
That they were eaten in Spain is evident from a
picture by Murillo, in the collection of the Duke of
Devonshire, of a beggar boy eating a snail-pie. A
writer, passing through the markets of Rome in
March, states that he saw exposed for sale “ baskets
of frogs and shell snails; these were crawling about,

WOOD SNAIL,

and were pushed back by the boys.” Why may these
not be as good food as the sea-snails, called whelks
and periwinkles, which are consumed in enormous
quantities, even in England, where the land-snail is
despised ?

If it should be conceded that living snails are not
the most agreeable creatures to collect and study,
the same objection will not hold against their shells ;

SLUGS AND SNAILS. 271

and therefore we may excuse ourselves for enume-
rating some “land-shells,” which should be sought
in woodlands.

As we have commenced with the large apple snail,
we will proceed first with the snails which have a
shell similar in form, but considerably smaller. The
common garden snail may be omitted ; but we have a
still smaller snail, scarcely an inch in diameter, often
less, of a brown colour, mottled, and marked by a
single band, with a white lip, found in moist woods.
It is sometimes called the Orchard Snail.

ORCHARD SNAIL.

The Wood Snail? is very variable in colour,
often yellow, with a brown band running through the
spiral, but with a dark brown lip. A less common
and smaller snail has often several bands, but some-
times none.* It may be distinguished by having
the lip white. These two shells may be confounded
by the novice unless the different colour of the lip
be regarded. Both may also be found in hedge-
rows, and we pity the taste of those who fail to

1 Helix arbustorum. 3 Helix hortensis.
2 Helix nemoralis.

272 THE WOODLANDS.

recognize the beauty of their form and colouring,
which latter has at times a delicate tinge of pink or
peach blossom.

Still smaller, less conspicuous, of a horny-brown
colour, sometimes hairy, sometimes silky, and some-
times smooth, is the Bristly Snail,! scarcely more
than a quarter of an inch in diameter. It must be
sought under stones, climbing up herbaceous plants,
or amongst leaves.

We might name several other small shells with a
somewhat similar contour which are to be found
amongst fallen leaves or amongst grass. The most
abundant of these is a much more flattened shell
than any yet enumerated, of a rufous colour, but
most readily distinguished by deep radiating lines.”
It is a shell which when once seen can never be
mistaken.

Hitherto the shells we have named may be charac-
terized as shorter from the apex of the spiral to the
mouth than across at right-angles to it, or about equal
in length, whilst those remaining to be noticed are
longer in the direction of the spiral than their broadest
diameter. One of these is found amongst leaves and
upon trunks ; it is of a brownish horn-colour, but the
animal has a singular habit of rolling its shell in mud,
apparently to render it less easy of detection, so that
it needs a practised eye to find it, for the coating of
mud on the shell closely resembles the bark.

Some small shells are named Pufpa, because of
their resemblance in form to the pupz of certain

| Helix hispida. 2 Helix rotundata.

SLUGS AND SNAILS. 273

insects. The most common of these has a chocolate-
coloured shell, with a white lip, and a single tooth at
the mouth.! It isa very minute shell, scarce more than
one-eighth of an inch long, and half as thick, found
amongst leaves and in the fissures of oak-bark, often
clustered together in considerable numbers.

The last group of shells with which we need trouble
our reader are termed in science C/ausilia, because
the throat of the shell is closed over the retreating
animal by a palate, or kind of lid, called a clausium,
which is thus described by Gray :—‘‘ It consists of a
spirally-twisted shelly plate, inclosed in the last whorl
of the shell. When the animal is retracted within its
shell this shelly plate nearly covers the aperture at a
little distance within the mouth, and coming in con-
tact with a transverse plait on the outer lip, leaves
only a small canal formed between the outer plait and
the posterior angle of the mouth, and sometimes an
elongated longitudinal plait on the inner lip. When
the animal wishes to protrude itself, it pushes the plate
on one side into a groove, situated between the inner
‘plait and the columella, where it is detained by the
pressure of the body of the animal, leaving the aper-
ture free ; and when the animal withdraws itself, the
plate springs forward by the elasticity of the pedicel,
and closes the aperture.”

The first of these is the largest, often three-quarters
of an inch long, found amongst decaying beech-leaves,
especially in the south. It is generally of a brownish

1 Bulimus obscurus. 3 Clausilia laminata.
2 Pupa umbilicata.

274 THE WOODLANDS.

colour, and the spiral consists of ten whorls. In form
it is not unlike the buds of the beech-tree, on the
trunks of which it is also sometimes found.

Another is less common, being confined chiefly to
chalky districts, inhabiting woods and hedges, and is
of a dark greyish-brown colour.! It consists of ten
or twelve whorls in the spiral, is rather smaller than
the last, and is marked with regular longitudinal strize
or lines.

There are other small shells found in the woodlands,
but to describe them we must enter into too minute
detail, and should our woodland companion have so
far overcome his repugnance to snails as to desire
their better acquaintance, he will experience no diffi-
culty in obtaining a small handbook, which will teach
him better than we can hope to do with so wide a field
to scamper over, and thus make good our omissions.
Those who would find the small and delicate shells,
the tenants of which inhabit dead leaves and moss,
must not be afraid to go down upon their knees
in the wood, and search diligently if they would be
successful.

It may be desirable to add a hint or two on mani-
pulation. When a trip has been successful, and a
number of living snails collected and brought home,
they should at once be thrown into boiling water, in
order to kill the animal and preserve the brightness
of the shells. They should then be at once taken
out of the hot, and thrown into cold water. The
dead animals may then easily be turned out by means

1 Clausilia biplicata.

SLUGS AND SNAILS. 275

of a needle or a pin, in the same way that periwinkles
are treated for a similar purpose. ‘The shells may be
preserved, with a little cotton-wool to keep them from
shaking, in small pill-boxes, or glued down upon
cardboard.

There has never been much that is romantic asso-
ciated with snails, neither have they been great favour-
ites with poets. Nevertheless, in the Eastern Counties,
where they are called “ Dodmans,” we have seen
children holding them in their fingers, chanting to
them meanwhile as prognosticators of the weather—

Dodman, dodman, pull out your horn
And show ’twill be a good day i’ the morn,

In addition to this, we read of snails being used as
a kind of love divination, when they were set to crawl
on the hearth, and were thought to mark in the ashes
the initials of the lover’s name. As these divinations
were usually associated with some particular day, so
the snail divination was only effectual when performed
on May-day. Gay refers to the practice in the follow-.
ing lines :—

Last May-day fair I search’d to find a snail,
That might my secret lover’s name reveal :

Upon a gooseberry-bush a snail I found,

For always snails near sweetest fruit abound.

I seized the vermin ; home I quickly sped,

And on the hearth the milk-white embers spread :
Slow crawled the-snail, and, if I right can spell,
In the soft ashes marked a curious L.

Oh, may this wondrous omen lucky prove !

For L is found in Lubberkin and Love.

Abe

276 THE WOODLANDS.

CHAPTER XVII
GALLS AND PARASITES.

CERTAIN plants are liable to be punctured in their
soft parts by insects, for the purpose of depositing
their eggs under such conditions that when hatched
they may procure food. The violation caused by the
insertion of this foreign substance results in the accu-
mulation of an abnormal quantity of tissue in the
neighbourhood of the puncture, and a swollen body,
termed a “gall,” is formed. ‘These galls, therefore,
indicate the presence of some insect parasite upon the
plant so affected. Some plants are more subject than
others to these parasites, as, for instance, the family of
Oaks. We have a catalogue of no less than forty-one
kinds of gall, which are found upon different species
of oak, and this is probably now below the real
number known. Amongst herbaceous plants those of
the composite family seem to be peculiarly liable to
such excrescences.

Not only have we insects parasitic upon plants, but
also some plants are parasitic upon others; as the
mistletoe and dodder not to mention many species of
fungi.

Then, again, animals are parasitic upon each
other: many gall insects have their special parasites ;

GALLS AND PARASITES. 277

bees have their parasites ; beetles often carry about
with them a parasitic mite ; nearly every bird has one
or more kind of parasite; quadrupeds have their
fleas, and some bipeds, too, unfortunately ; whilst even
fish and reptiles are not without them. As most inti-
mately connected with our subject, galls deserve more
than the rest a special enumeration.

OaK-APPLES.—These galls are known to every
schoolboy old enough to put one in his cap on the 29th
of May. They are softer and more spongy in texture
than the majority of oak-galls, and are produced
plentifully in the spring. A writer in an old book,
dated 1660, says, “If you take an oak-apple from an
oak-tree, and upon the same you shall find a little
worm therein, which if it doth flye away it signifies
wars ; if it creeps, it betokens scarceness of corn ; if
it runs about, then it foreshows the plague. This is
the countryman’s astrology, which they have long
observed for truth.”

Another method which we would recommend to
be adopted in preference is to collect some of these
galls when they appear to be fully matured, and con-
fine them in a box, or, still better, in a wide-mouthed
glass jar, and watch for the insects when they make
their escape. Under these conditions they may
betoken an addition to the observer’s stock of know-
ledge, provided he is so minded.

There are, of course, general features in which all
these gall-flies, called Cyzzps,! agree with each other,
but there will be no better method of cultivating the

1 Cynips terminalis.

278 THE WOODLANDS.

faculty of observation than that of comparing similar
insects, one with another, and thus ascertaining
wherein they differ, and wherein they agree. It must
always be remembered that gall insects are particularly
subject to parasitism, and it is very probable that,
mixed with the true gall-flies, other insects will be
found which from their different general appearance
will at once be recognized as intruders. _

ARTICHOKE GALLS, so called because they bear a
miniature resemblance to the scaly calyx of the arti-
choke, are transformed buds, which are stunted and
rendered abortive by the puncture of an insect, and
thus converted into a kind of scaly gall. These galls
are consequently produced upon the young twigs, and
remain persistent upon the trees even till the winter.
If they are cut through the centre, the grub will be
found inclosed within the cell. So common are they
that it is almost certain that many specimens may be
collected in any oak wood, on the young undergrowth
where the oak is coppiced.

Another kind of gall has been found on the young
twigs of oak, which are presumably caused by an
earlier puncture of the buds than the preceding, and
by a different insect. In this instance the exterior of
the gall does not become scaly, but they retain the
appearance of swollen buds, and might be mistaken
for such, only that their growth proceeds no further,
so that they never attain one-fourth of the diameter of
the artichoke galls. These are not so readily dis-
tinguished as the above, from their smaller size and
their resemblance to buds, neither are they so common.
They are, of course, produced by a different insect, as

GALLS AND PARASITES. 279

the galls of the same insect are always of the same
character.

Common Oak GALLS were at first called Devon-
shire Galls, because they were first observed upon
oaks in Devonshire, but have since spread all over
the kingdom. They are very different from the soft,
round galls of the leaves, being almost as hard as
bullets, but dif-
fermg from the
commercial Tur-
key galls in being
smooth on the
surface, and more
resembling the
inferior ‘‘ white
galls” of trade.
These galls are
either single, or
two or three toge-
ther, or in dense
clusters on the
young branches
of oak, and are
so persistent that
they will still be a.
seen adhering to
the tree when the leaves are all gone and the snow
covers the ground. It was about twenty-five years
ago that these galls were first noticed in the south of
England, and until recently we had a specimen which
we obtained about 1855 with the greatest difficulty,
and at that time regarded as a rare prize. Their ap-

280 ‘THE WOODLANDS.

pearance in Devon was first observed in 1848 and
1849 ; in Somerset in 1854; in Gloucester, west of
the Severn, in 1855; east of the Severn in 1856;
Worcester, 1857; in the neighbourhood of London,
1858; in North Wales, 1859; Sussex, 1860; Alice
Holt Forest, 1861 ; and Cirencester in 1862. Atthe
present time they may be regarded as almost as
common as acorns all over the kingdom. It was
prognosticated at the time that if these galls were per-
mitted to spread they would entirely eradicate the
oak from the country. Undoubtedly this gall has
long been known upon the Continent, as there is an
excellent figure of it in Rosel’s work on insects, which
is dated 1750. The insect which produces it is
a pretty little fat-bodied fly, which may be easily
obtained by collecting a quantity of the galls and
keeping them in a wide-mouthed bottle until the
insects escape. They belong to the same genus,
Cynzps,1 as do so many other of the gall-flies.
BALANIFORM GALLS are produced on the twigs of
the common oak in this country, and on the Conti-
nent by a little fly, or Cyzzps,? and were so called by
Mr. Curtis because they somewhat resembled the bar-
nacles (Balani) found attached to oyster-shells. They
grow in dense masses, or clusters, surrounding the
smaller branches, especially near the base ; each gall
is somewhat conical with an obtuse apex, and when
cut transversely will be found to consist of a single
chamber, or cell, containing the larva of the fly. We
have met with similar galls on the branches of other

1 Cynips Kollert. 2 Cynips corticalis.

GALLS AND PARASITES. 281

trees and shrubs, but unfortunately not until after the
insects had escaped. Doubtless they were produced
by a similar fly.

Oak-rRoot Gatts.—Irregular excrescences, often
as large as the fist, at the root of oaks, are a kind of
gall produced by another species of Cyzzfs.! These
may be easily mistaken for mere woody expansions
or gouty swellings, without suspicion of insect work,
but if they are cut into with a strong knife, their real
character will soon be discovered, with the cells, and
probably the larvee inclosed within them. These ex-
crescences are by no means uncommon, although they
are rather difficult to remove, as they grow upon the
thick roots, and are almost as hard as the timber
itself. Another kind of gall, consisting of single cells,
has been once or twice observed at the extremities of
the rootlets of oak.

Oak SPANGLES.—Two kinds of flat discoid galls
are very commonly produced on the under surface
of oak-leaves. One of these, called Oak Spangles,
consists of a small lentil-shaped body, thickest in the
middle, and attached beneath by a small point like
the shank of a button. ‘The upper surface of these
galls is sprinkled with tufts of small hairs. It is often
supposed that these are fungi by persons who are un-
acquainted with those polymorphic plants; but they
are in reality the work of insects. Leaves bearing
these galls fall from the tree in autumn, and lie on the
ground through the winter, during which time the in-
closed insect is being developed. If decaying oak-

! Cynips radicis.

282 THE WOODLANDS.

leaves are turned over in spring, these galls will be
found still adhering, but more swollen than in the
preceding autumn. If then collected and placed in a
wide-mouthed bottle, it is almost certain that in a few
days the little imprisoned insects! will make their
escape from the galls, and be seen moving about in
the bottle. We have collected them at the end of
February, and in a warm room the lively little flies
have been seen moving about in the bottle within a

week. Any one who finds the male insect will do good

service, for the males of these flies are by no means
satisfactorily known, and some are not known at all.
Button Gattis are less in diameter than the
Spangles, with the margin thickened so as to form a
kind of shallow cup; the surface is silky, with close-
pressed fibrils, and it is attached to the leaf by the
centre, in the same manner as the spangles. It is
caused and inhabited by a different insect, although
often found in company with the spangles. The name
of the insect said to produce these galls is Vewrobius
Réaumuri. Hitherto we have not succeeded in rear-
ing the insect from the button galls, and we have
heard the same complaint from others. Probably they
have not yet been collected in proper condition, or
not been preserved with sufficient attention to the
maintenance of a proper amount of moisture.
Another saucer-shaped gall has been described as
occurring on oak-leaves, but this we do not remember
to have met with. This is said to be larger than the
button galls, and to have been found in November.

1 Cynips longipennis.

ee

GALLS AND PARASITES. 283

It was recorded in the “Gardener’s Chronicle” in
1843 (p. 52), and the insect was then named Cymzps
quercus tiare.

There is still another gall occurring on the under-
side of oak-leaves, which is globose, and often as large
as a cherry, brightly
coloured, and quite
smooth. It is by no
means an uncommon
gall, and in most cases
seems to arise from a
puncture of the midrib.
The insect which in-
habits it is a Cynzps,
but that is often ac-
companied by one, if
not two kinds of para-
sites.! It is a curious
fact that these gall in- CURRANT GALL.
sects, which are para-
sites upon the oak, have often other insects which
are parasitic upon them.

CURRANT Oak-GALLs.—Small round galls are not
uncommon in spring on the flower-stalks of the oak
They are nearly of the size and resemble red-currants,
the more so when several of them are growing together
on the same peduncle. The Cyzzfs,? or little fly
which produces this gall, has also two parasites,° to
the attacks of one or both of which it is subjected.

1 Decatoma Cooperi and a species of Callimone.
2 Cynips pedunculi.
3 Callimone flavipes and Platymesopus tibialis.

284 THE WOODLANDS.

WooLLy Oaxk-GaLt.—Another gall is found on the
flower-stalk of the oak. It occurs on the male catkins
in May, forming a mass as large as a horse-chestnut,
of a whitish colour, and woolly, something like a tuft
of sheep’s wool. It has only rarely been found in
Britain, but has long been known on the Continent.
The little fly which causes it belongs to the same
genus, but is a different species from the foregoing.

This does not exhaust the list of galls produced by
insects on oaks of different species, but it includes the
majority of those found in Britain. The Turkey
Galls, as they are called, are never found here, the
particular species of oak is not generally cultivated,
and even the Turkey oak, which is not uncommon
in our parks, does not produce here the Knoppern
galls which are common upon it in Eastern Europe.
So few entomologists devote themselves to the special
study of galls that it is quite possible we may have
others which have hitherto escaped notice. If galls.
are collected before the larvz are well fed, the galls
become dry and shrivel, the maggots die, and con-
sequently the insect cannot be determined.

Ei_m Gatis.—Rarely galls are found upon the
branches of the elm, at the apex of the short lateral
twigs, and these attain a size from that of a walnut to
a large apple. These are hollow, and contain a con-
siderable quantity of fluid. They inclose an entire
colony of insects, of the affzs or plant-louse tribe,
and should more properly be termed cases than galls,
aithough they originate from a similar cause. The
insects are said to be a species of Eriosoma, and the
galls which they produce are common in Italy and

1 Cynips quercus ramult.

—

GALLS AND PARASITES. 285

France, where the liquid which they contain is called
eau de l’Orme, and is recommended as a wash for
wounds, contusions, and sore eyes. In the autumn,
when the galls become dry, the residue has the form
of a yellow balsam, when it is said to be employed
for diseases of the chest.

Etm-root GaLis.—Other galls are found upon the
roots of the elm, varying in size from that of a pea
to a walnut, uniting together in irregular masses, and
having a rough, reticulated exterior, so as to resemble
truffles. These inclose insects of the Cynzps! kind,
but both sexes are without wings. They are not com-
mon in Britain.

SPRUCE-CONE GALLs.—The young twigs of spruce
are liable to assume the appearance of small fir-
cones, with part of a branch springing from the top,
but they are in reality a peculiar form of gall, caused
by aphides,? and inclosing quite a colony. These
galls are about an inch in length, and half as much in
diameter. From their resemblance to small cones these
curious malformations are liable to be overlooked.

POPLAR-LEAF GALL.—It is a very common circum-
stance to find the petioles, or leaf-stalks of the poplar,
especially of the common biack poplar, swollen in a
gouty manner into an oval cr irregular-shaped gall,
which occasionally occurs on the midrib of the leaf |
itself. This gall is not much larger than a pea, but
it usually contains a large number of aphides? with-
out wings, together with four or five winged ones.
As in the case of the elm galls, these are hollow ;
indeed, the structure of the galls, or cases, which are
produced by aphides, is quite different from that

1 Cynips aptera. * Adelges abietis. * Eriosoma bursaria,

286 THE WOODLANDS.

produced by Cyzzfs. Whereas the former inclose
quite a colony, the latter only one or two.

THISTLE GALLs. — Of the many galls, or cases,
found on herbaceous plants, one of the most common
and most interesting is that which occurs on thistles.
The stem is swollen in an unnatural manner for an
inch or more to two or three times its proper size ;
and this swollen part contains several cells, in which
the grubs of a fly may be found. In the spring fol-
lowing the autumn in which the galls are formed the
insects make their escape about May or June as a
pretty little two-winged fly.1 In former days these
galls were considered an unfailing remedy against
certain diseases, being carried about by the patients
in little bags. It was believed that they were effica-
cious against the most powerful fevers. The insect
which causes this gall is often accompanied by a
Hymenopterous parasite.

The ground ivy, ragwort, tansy, thyme, speed-
well, betony, burdock, mugwort, tansy, and other
herbaceous plants are subject to galls. The Bedeguar,
or Robin’s pincushion, on the wild rose, is too well
known to need description. Some are on the leaves,
some on the stems, some on the roots, and each has
a history which is worth the trouble of reading. But
our end has come, and with it one more appeal for
the studies introduced. Let this be spoken by one
who has gone to his rest, but who never tired in
bidding all to ‘‘look through Nature up to Nature’s
God.”

“ Believe me,” he says,” “‘ you need not go far to

1 Musca ( Tephritis) carduz. ? Kingsley’s ‘ Miscellanies.’

ee a

GALLS AND PARASITES. 287

find more than you will ever understand. An hour’s
summer walk in the company of some one who
knows what to look for, and how to look for it, by
the side of one of those stagnant dykes in the
meadows below, would furnish you with subjects for
a month’s investigation, in the form of plants, shells,
and animalcules, on each of which a whole volume
might be written. And even at this seemingly dead
season of the year fancy not that nature is dead
—not even that she sleeps awhile. Every leaf which
drops from the bough, to return again into its gases
and its dust, is working out chemical problems which
have puzzled a Boyle and a Lavoisier, and about
which a Liebig and a Faraday will now tell you that
they have but some dim guess, and that they stand
upon the threshold of knowledge, like (as Newton said
of himself) children gathering a few pebbles upon the
shore of an illimitable sea. In every woodland, too,
innumerable fungi are at work, raising from the lower
soil rich substances, which strewed on the surface by
quick decay will form food for plants higher than
themselves ; while they, by their variety and beauty,
both of form and colour, might well form studies for
any painter, and, by the obscure laws of their repro-
duction, studies for any philosopher. Why, there is
not a heap of dead leaves among which by picking it
through carefully you might not find some twenty
species of delicate and elegant land shells ; hardly a
tree at which, among the moss and mould, you might
not find the chrysalides of beautiful moths, where
caterpillars have crawled down the trunk in autumn,
to lie there self-buried, and die to live again next
spring in a new and fairer shape. And if you cannot

288 THE WOODLANDS.

reach even there, go to the water-butt in the nearest
yard, and there, in one pinch of green scum, in one
spoonful of water, behold a whole ‘Divina Commedia’
of living forms, more fantastic a thousand times than
those with which Dante peopled his unseen world ;
and then feel, as you should feel, abashed at the
ignorance and weakness of mortal man ; abashed still
more at that rash conceit of his, which makes him
fancy himself the measure of all things ; and say with
me: ‘O Lord, Thy works are manifold, Thy ways are
very deep. In wisdom hast Thou made them all, the
earth is full of Thy riches. Thou openest Thine hand,
and fillest all things living with plenteousness ; they
continue this day according to Thine ordinance, for all
things serve Thee. ‘Thou hast made them fast for
ever and ever, Thou hast given them a law which shall
not be broken. Let them praise the name of the Lord;
for He spake the word and they were made, He com-
manded, and they were created !’”

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